The Traitor
"We're lost, dammit." said disgruntled trooper Dan.
Dan was a private under Sgnt. Luther's command. They were deep in tropic jungles; on a mission somewhere to find something that none of them knew about. The only person who knew anything about the hike was Sgnt. Luther.
'Luther.' his Leiutenant told him. 'There's somone dangerous up in them jungles outside of camp. Go wipe em out, and do it quickly.'Luther turned back towards the complaining Dan and replied to his grumbles,
"Shut your mouth private, I know exactly where we're going." Truth be told, Luther had no idea, but he wasn't about to tell the troops. He had a vague idea that his superiors knew
exactly what he was supposed to hunt down, but he knew enough to keep his mouth shut. It was a good thing that he did.
"Sure ya do." whispered Dan, quite obviously not sharing Luther's caution about disrespecting his superiors.
Unfortunately for Dan, Luther didn't hear him.
Someone else did.
Luther called a halt at midday to let his troopers get some rest and sleep. They had been tracking for half a day, and under the hot tropical canopies above, rest was needed more often. While Luther caught a few winks of sleep, the rest of the troops huddled close around a dim fire to talk.
"He's off his rocker he is." said Dan. "I ain't ever heard of Sgnt. Luther goin off into the woods to chase after fairy tales. If you ask me, its all hocus, he'll run us to the ground with all this stupid searchin."
Some of the soldiers agreed, some of them didn't.
"Don't speak of what you don't know." said another, older trooper. "I've seen some things in my day to marvel at. Sometimes you never know whats out there till you look for it, and then before you know it, its on top of you."
"Nonsense." said Dan, "There's nothing in this jungle besides animals and natives. Nothing a blaster can't handle." he said this with a smile and a pat of his gun, which got a chuckle from some of the men.
"I seen me one day a strange sight." said one named Red. I seen a man dressed all in black, with a silent walk and a piercing gaze. I seen him carrying a great sword of red lightning, lightning that cut through men like they was air; and all in black he was, like a shadow. I seen him come out of nowhere and kill a man, quicker than he even knew what hit em!"
The men grew so quiet, that Sgnt. Luther's snores could be heard twenty yards off.
"What was it?" asked another.
"I'll tell you what it was." said the vet. "Twas a Dark Jedi."
The men were very silent. All of them were as solemn as the grave. They knew very little about the Dark Jedi, but they knew that they were dangerous, which entitled them to a certain respect that almost everyone gave them.
Dan looked around the fire with an amused look on his face.
A respect that almost everyone gave them..."Look at your faces!" he laughed. "I... haha, I can hardly believe that you listen to these.... fairy tales!"
"They ain't fairy tales." said the vet. He nodded towards Red. "I seen the same man who was struck down by a Dark Jedi, Kat was his name. A stupid man, said there weren't no Dark Jedi and next minute he was killed. Right there in front of us."
"Right." sneered Dan. "Killed em with his lightning-sword, right?"
"Tis called a lightsaber." replied the vet. "Most dangerous weapon I ever seen."
"Well then." said Dan. "Let him show himself. Let's all see this 'Dark Jedi' kill a doubter. C'mon Dark Jedi, let's see you! Show yourself!"
Of course nothing happened at all.
"Your full of air." laughed Dan. "There aint nothing hiding to kill me, and there never will be. There aint nothing thats a Dark Jedi, and there never will be. And besides..."
"Finish it later." said Sgnt. Luther, suddenly. "Time to move on." the tone of his voice, accompanied by his distance away from the group assured the rest of the men that the topic of conversation was unknown to Sgnt. Luther. So they all got up, and followed Luther. Dan and the vet followed last, however the vet made sure that Dan kept in the rear of the group.
"You ain't afraid of anything, Dan?" said the vet. "Then you keep up the rear."
Dan accepted the post with indifference. There was no Dark Jedi, so there was nothing to fear. He kept the pace with the rest of the group well enough to know that if anything
did come out, he would have sufficient help to kill it.
Hours passed by and twilight started to descend on the group. Strange noises came out of the forest, whispers and unworldly sounds that haunted the hearts of the troopers. But none of them were as afraid as Dan. He now regretted his earlier words, and remembered the fate of earlier doubters before him. But he was too proud to admit it, as his mumblings betrayed.
"Dark Jedi... there aint no Dark Jedi... thems a legend, thems fake, thems not true... Dark Jedi..."
He heard a snap behind him. Wheeling around, he pointed his gun in the direction of the noise. He saw nothing. Dan walked backwards slowly, making sure that there really was nothing there, before turning round again.
Another snap to the right! This time he turned quickly and fired a round into the heavy jungle along the path. He was sweating profusely now, and cursing loudly to himself.
A fern moved to the left, and so Dan spun over to kill it, whatever it was. As he spun, he tripped over his own feet, and fell to the ground. But he kept fireing into the fern. He was crawling now, flat on his back, propelling himself backwards with his legs and arms whenever he wasn't firing his gun.
"Damn you!" he screamed. "Damn you, what ARE you? Leave me alone!"
Another noise on the path ahead. Dan flinched and jumped up, spurting another round from his blaster into the pathway. He was heedlessly firing now, not caring if he hit anything or not. He was mad with fright.
"I'll kill you Jedi! I'll kill you!" he screamed. Dan was nearly frothing at the mouth with ecstacy, his eyes were as large as eggs, and his hands twitched with fright.
He would have continued in this state had he not run out of ammo. As his gun clicked empty. Dan threw it away, and fell to the ground, closing his eyes and huddling in cowardice. He was freezing now, the sweat that poured from him earlier was cooling and made him shivver.
He remained like this until he revived his senses. Having not heard any more noises, and having temporarily forgot his previous fright, Dan started to regain his former contempt for the Jedi.
"Stupid. No Jedi, no nothing. All scared over..."
"HISSS."
Dan heard the lightsaber before he saw it. He reeled around slowly behind him, and came face to face with a fearful menace, lit up by the blood red glow of his lightsaber.
"Me." said the Dark Jedi, finishing Dan's statement.
"NO!" screamed Dan, "I believe! I believe! I believe!"
The next morning came late, with a red sunrise. Sgnt. Luther awoke with a start, one of the men men shook him hurriedly, saying, "Sgnt. Luther, we cant find Dan... we think he fell behind last night."
Luther shook himself into wakefullness and looked around the makeshift camp. There were sleeping troopers scattered around, but sure enough, no Private Dan.
"Let's go find him." sighed Luther. "Corporal, send two men into the jungle, with yourself. I'll go down the path and see if I can find him."
"Yes Sir." the corporal replied.
It did not take Luther long before he smelled the stench of burnt flesh. As he rounded a bend in the path, he stepped back in fright as he came before a disembowled body, with no legs, arms, or insides. He only recognized the body as Private Dan's, due to his tag found on the ground below him. Luther covered his nose from the smell, and inspected the wounds.
"These are no ordinary cuts..." started Luther.
"Do not move." hissed a voice in the jungle. "Or you shall find out quickly how painful those wounds can be."
Luther snatched out his gun quickly, but said calmly, "Who are you?"
The voice remained hidden, but replied, "I am someone not to be trifled with; a member of an ancient, secret order. You, Sergeant, have entered heedlessly into dangerous territory."
"The Dark Jedi Order!" gulped Luther. "But why would I be ordered to come here?!"
"Ordered?" hissed the voice. "You were ordered to seek me out and to kill me, were you not?"
"No! No! I knew nothing of you! I knew not what I was sent out to destroy! My orders..."
"Your Orders?" said the voice. "Who's orders?"
"The Lieutenant's! On my life, it was the Lieutenant's orders!"
"You lie!" spewed the voice. "That's treachery!!"
"I swear it was!" said Luther. "On pain of death I swear it!"
The voice was silent for a moment.
"Perhaps he did." it said at last. "But do not worry, you shall never be ordered in such a manner again."
"You..." gulped Luther. "You're going to kill me?"
No response was given.
Luther stood in shock for a long time before he dared return to camp. Upon returning, he found the men huddled cautiously away from three severed heads of the soldiers sent out to find Private Dan. Luther gulped and said, "Men, we are returning to camp immediately. Now pack up and get moving!"
Ten minutes later, they were trotting along the jungle path, each and every one of them as afraid as their leader. They were all duely frightened when they passed the corpse of Dan, but nothing frightened them nearly as much as the prospect of the monster that was still at large somewhere in the jungle.
Once back at the main camp, Sgnt. Luther went immediately to find his commanding officer to report what had happened. But he never spoke to the officer again. For when Luther entered the tent, he found the mangled body of the officer upon the floor, covered with a white sheet, and written on that: words in blood,
"TRAITOR"
