Ask Tatooine Murder of Crows

[Dismas Zaa Fenn]

MURDER OF CROWS
A term for a group of 'Crows' often used to describe Crix Dolan's kin.

Dismas was set to leave for the Discovery Exploration Corps on Corellia and there board the DECS Pathfinder for an exploration mission into uncharted space on the far side of the galaxy. His mother had told him he could take the Rache-2, but Dismas had refused, preferring to take the starliner that departed the next morning. That gave him one more night at the Belching Frog Saloon.

Unfortunately, of the three individuals he counted as family, only one seemed to be around. His mother, Kara, was off chasing a guild bounty so she could maintain her high standing with the Bounty Hunter's Guild. His uncle, Preef, was off with the Supreme Mogul of the Hutt Cartel. Something about Trandosha, or Shaddaa, or Kessel, or wherever the two kingpins of the five syndicates had decided to lord their control over. Honestly, having grown up with criminals of their calibre, Dismas often felt the pressure of becoming worthy to follow in their footsteps.

Instead he had found his niche and passion in astronavigation. Not blasterfights, not mercenary work, but he was excited about being a mere salary-worker onboard a corporate exploration vessel. Dismas Dolan instead of Zaa Fenn.

The saloon played a track by the Furry Fantastics as Dismas sipped from his glass filled with Chandrilan Rum. Without Kara and Preef, most of their gang was also off, either accompanying them or collecting the Chakaph all across Tatooine for the cartel. That meant that -on his last day on Tatooine- Dismas sat by himself in a only sparsely crowded saloon.


@Zay

 

[Crix Dolan]

Crix was on Tatooine. He fucking hated Tatooine, but when the invitation came he knew he had to be here. Since rescuing Dismas from Imperial Czerk, Crix had gone relatively straight. He wasn’t Crow any more, he was just Crix, but on Tatooine he was known by another name.

“Ayeee, the Devil walks among us, lads, look alive!” wailed a weequay pirate in a heavily accented tongue. Crix leveled the guy with a wry grin and shook his head with a laugh. The only thing saving the pirate being the sparse occupancy of the bar. He frowned. Where the fuck was everyone? He thought.

He spotted Dismas and a genuine smile spread across his face. He sidled up next to his son and leaned on the bar, “Dantooine Cognac, Mayaz, we’re celebrating today!”

Crix clapped Dismas on the back giving him a side hug.

“Alright, boy, tell me everything,” he said, turning toward his son with his drink in hand.

@Eccles

 

[Dismas Zaa Fenn]

There was always somethig unsettling about interacting with your parents. At least, it was when your parents were Crix Dolan and Kara Zaa Fenn. Both were known as murderers and thieves and Dismas had been forced to listen to the retelling of how his abduction by Czerka had turned his mother into a corporate assassin, perhaps a hundred times. Crix Dolan's career in smuggling and piracy was epic, too. The one who found the kriffing Crown Jewels of Onderon. So when a nearby weequay suddenly wailed out a warning that the Devil was among them, Dismas didn't, like so many in the Core, even consider the possibility that a Devaronian entered the saloon. No, in these parts the Devil only ever referred to Crix Dolan.

"Hey dad," Dismas replied with the same genuine smile, perhaps relieved that he didn't have to spend his last day on Tatooine alone, after all. "It's a Geophysic-class cruiser, brand-new, too-" his smile widened as he motioned for Mayaz to refill his glass, "Tulo's Kowakian-" he referred to Tall Tulo's Cumulus-class Corsair he'd been travelling on for the past few weeks, "-it's ancient compared to the DECS Pathfinder." his enthusiasm for the ship was obvious. He was genuinely excited to work with proper modern equipment, charting previously unexplored areas of the galaxy and perhaps even discover one of the lost wrecks of ancient pirate kings that took refuge in the previously unknown regions of space.

The Chandrilum rum was out of his glass faster than it had been poured as Dismas shotted it.

@Zay

 

[Crix Dolan]

Crix watched Dismas with pride. The kid was taking a chance and doing something with his life. Choosing to do something “normal” when Crix had heard he’d practically fallen out of his captain’s seat. There were a lot of ways Crix had failed as a father. He’d been a hound for Imperial Czerk for years. He’d missed a lot of his son’s life and it killed him. The last thing Crix wanted was for his only child to follow in his footsteps.

Crix didn’t give a shit what Kara and Peef thought. It wasn’t Dismas’ responsibility to carry on their legacy.

So, when he saw the excited smile and the light in the boy’s eyes he nearly teared up. He didn’t of course, but he could feel the emotion behind his eyes.

“I’ve heard those ships can do just about anything,” he said, hiding that tinge of pride filled emotion behind a sip of his Cognac. He pulled out a ratty pack of cigarra and lit up offering one to Dismas.

“Get the hell out of here, are you serious?” he asked.

The Kowakian was a hell of a ship. To hear the Pathfinder outclassed it was substantial.

“Hearing all this, I wish I was going with you,” he teased. “Wouldn’t that be cool? Us on our own adventure?”

Crix took a second to look around. Where the fuck was Kara? Was she really going to miss her Son’s last day? Peef he understood. The Rodian had been the Cartel’s biggest threat for years, but the guy was getting old. No telling how much time he had left in that position. Imagining a galaxy without Callo holding up the Cartel wasn’t one he wanted to think about.

@Eccles

 

[Dismas Zaa Fenn]

As for all kids, the prospect of one of his parents joining him on his first journey away from home was excruciating to Dismas. So he looked at his empty glass and shook his head, "I think there's an age-restriction," the young astronavigator smiled as the glasses of Dantooinian Cognac that his father ordered were placed before them. He didn't miss his father's frustrated look around the saloon and that prompted Dismas to shake his head with a short smile, "She isn't on Tatooine."

His mother had never been around much. Always distracted by schemes, jobs and her own all-encompassing goal of revenge. Kara Zaa Fenn had it in for the Czerka Megacorporation for what they had done to her, and her child. Most likely the bounty she was hunting down had something to do with the corporations and Imperial space. Whatever she could do to gain a leverage or hurt their bottom line. To Dismas it seemed a fantasy. Megacorporations were too big to fail, that's why people started putting 'Mega' in front of corporation and his mother was, despite her best efforts, doomed to be nothing but a small fly that they'd squash once it got irritating enough.

That line of thought made Dismas blurt out something that had been on his mind for months; "You ever think of moving out of Hutt space?" There had been a reason that he had taken his navigation courses on Eriadu, which was the furthest from the cartel that he could get while still enjoying the protection from the Zaa Fenn remnants on that particular planet. "Would you," Dismas fingered his glass of Cognac and refused to look at his father, "go legit?"

@Zay

 

[Crix Dolan]

Crix watched the expression that washed over Dismas’s face and he laughed. The boy had gotten most of his looks and personality from his mother, and Crix thanked the stars for that, but one thing he’d inherited from his father were his facial expressions.

“Too old?!” Crix complained with obvious disbelief in his voice. “I could still out fly you with my eyes closed, lil Devil,” Dolan teased.

Dismas’s statement caught Crix flat footed. She wasn’t here. Figures. Revenge was an all consuming fire. It was like ignited phosphorus, even water couldn’t put it out. For years Crix had been a slave to his fury— to his rage and only after pulling Dismas from the arms of Julia Hypori had sated that need.

His anger had cost him his life. He’d been thrust into a universe of lies, betrayal, and pain. If there was anything he could do to save his kid from it he would. So, when Dismas asked if he would ever go legit Crix scoffed, “Boy, if I could, I’d have gone legit, years ago.”

Crix wasn’t sure what came over him, but in that moment he turned to face his Son.

“I haven’t always been The Devil of Denon,” he chuckled, “Your mother made that name stick.” He took a drag on his cigarra. There was a look in his eye that Dismas wouldn’t be familiar with. Crix had never spoken about his life before he became what Dismas knew him as, but when your kid is at a crossroads, a good father—which he tried to be—should shed the callouses the universe put on them.

“Before I was the Devil, before I was Crow,” he shrugged, “I was just a starship engineer from Denon,” there was a wistfulness in his expression, like he was looking through time. Crix cleared his throat and with it a little emotion, “Before you were born, all I wanted was to go back to that. I just wanted to be at peace in a shitty warehouse doing custom jobs for pilots too cocky for their own good.”

Crix smiled at his kid, “Look, you’ve got your whole life ahead of you,” he gestured to the bar around them, “This isn’t your burden, unless you want it to be.”

Crix punctuated his point with a sip of his Cognac.

@Eccles

 

[Dismas Zaa Fenn]

Although he had been averting his gaze from his father while he asked the question that weighed so heavily on his mind, Dismas' eyes shot up to meet him the moment he replied. His father -the kriffing Devil of Denon- had been and always wanted to be a simple starship engineer? Dismas needed a moment to let that sink in.. perhaps the binka fruit didn't fall that far from the tree, after all.

"Pilots are too kriffing cocky," he finally laughed as he released all that penned up tension in his shoulders. "Especially the smugglers-" Dismas gave his dad a sly grin and finally took a sip of his own cognac. You could say a lot about the Devil of Denon, Crow and Crix Dolan. You could say he was a cocky kriffer, a cocky thief, a cocky smuggler and a cocky pirate annex crimelord. It always included that same descriptive.

The grin disappeared after the sip of cognac, though, and that had nothing to do with the drink itself. "Being Zaa Fenn is like a reputation to live up to," he sighed, "Crymorah leaders, planet cullers, Hutt-killers and now with mom we're one of the most dependable hunters and contractors in the Outer Rim." in others words; the name Zaa Fenn was hard to live up to. Marissa Zaa Fenn, Preef Zaa Fenn, Gareth Zaa Fenn, Kara Zaa Fenn. They were all adopted into the crymorah because they were already enforcers and ringleaders of note within the Five Syndicates. Dismas was the first to be born Zaa Fenn in almost forty years.

"It sure is a burden," the smile returned for a moment, "which is why I joined the Discovery Corps as Dismas Dolan," he looked at his dad again trying to gauge what his reaction would be to him using his paternal last name. In most of the galaxy this was the custom, after all, but not when it came to Crymorah crime families, which worked more like 'clans' than families related strictly by blood.

@Zay

 

[Crix Dolan]

Crix watched the anxiety melt from his son and as Dismas made a crack about pilots and smugglers, Crix couldn’t help but laugh. He quickly adapted an expression of mock offense while saying, “Easy there navigator, there’s a fine line between cocky and confident and I walk it with just the right amount of swagger.”

The cocky smuggler watched the grin on Dismas’ face dissolve as he began to expound on the real source of his anxiety. Crix didn’t comment on the name of Zaa Fenn. There’d been a time when Crix had sought to join the family, just never worked out, well, never officially. The older Dolan sipped his drink and considered his son’s words. Then the little shit hit him with something unexpected.

He was taking Crix’s name.

The Devil faced his son, giving him a once over, “Well, it’s about time.”

Crix ashed his cigarra. There was a small smile tugging at the corners of his mouth he was struggling to hold back. He’d never felt so proud in his life. If the cocky smuggler were being honest, he never thought his boy would take his name. Why would he when he could claim Zaa Fenn.

The Enforcer took a drag on his vice and said, “A name is just an amalgamation of sounds we choose to be identified by, the weight that comes with it? That comes from us.” He blew out a plume of smoke and chuckled, “Shit, the funny thing about burdens, boy, is they’re just problems we choose to carry,” he took another drag on his cigarra, “but it sounds like you’re well on the way to putting some of yours down, and I’m proud of you for that.”

Crix drained his glass, “How’s your mom?”

@Eccles

 

[Dismas Zaa Fenn]

A name is just an amalgation of sounds we choose to be identified by..

"Kriff," Dismas couldn't suppress a laugh, "My dad using fancy words like a Coreworlder." He should probably start to get used to it, seeing that the DESC Pathfinder's captain is a former Republic Navy captain from Corellia, but kriff it if it sounded wrong as kark after you spend your childhood surrounded by pirates like Tall Tulo and barely literate gunslingers like Preef Callo. "Crimson Dawn finally rubbing off is it?" Dismas almost crossed an almost unspoken rule as he mentioned the Dawn. He knew, as did they all, that Crix hadn't just been some ringleader's enforcer for years now.

The Five Syndicates as a faction might've been gone for decades now, but Dismas' dad was one of the prime examples of why it could've worked. A Crimson Dawn Crimelord with familial ties to a Crymorah Crimelord that all worked for the Hutt Cartel while they lived on a cartel world and under its protection. Kriff if that didn't blur the lines of at least three syndicates already.

"Mom's fine," Dismas replied before taking another sip of his drink, "Busy. You know how she is." Kara Zaa Fenn cared more for her reputation and standard in the Bounty Hunter's Guild than she did running a traditional crime family. The oldtimers had told Dismas that in the old days when Marissa still ran things they had synthetic spice operations everywhere. Different protection rackets, extortion schemes and the Coruscant Underworld Police on their payroll.

These days the Zaa Fenn Crime Family was split between the gunslingers of the Callo Gang that worked primarily with the cartel and its many rackets on Tatooine, and Kara's crew of slicers, droids and bounty hunters. The latter had a lot of one-timers. Hired for a specific job, role or simply for being expendable. Dismas found his mother to be cold and calculated as kriff. A true underworld fixer, sure, but also much of what he didn't want to become.

"By the way," Dismas was eager to change the subject, "Tulo told me the other day that mom's diamond," the one that was inlayed into a very specific ring, "was part of the Onderon Crown Jewels. That true?"


@Zay

 

[Crix Dolan]

“Easy smart ass I’ve got a college degree,” he said with mock anger. All the while that smile he’d been fighting spread across his face. He laughed when Dismas shot back with a comment about Crimson Dawn, “Hardly…” he muttered before ordering another drink, “You need one?”

Dismas’ answer was pretty much what Crix expected. Her appetite was insatiable. But that was her. Kara would always be Zaa Fenn first. He sighed, “Yeah, sounds about right.” he said, sliding on to the stool in front of him with a grunt.

“Shut up,” he warned before Dismas could run his mouth.

Not that it would stop the little shit. Kids.

His son’s next question snatched his attention from the cognac being set down in front of him. He eyed Dismas for a moment. Crix took the hint and moved on.

The Devil shrugged, “Yeah,” he said as he took a sip of his drink and lit another cigarra. Damn things would be the end of him one day. Worst fucking habit he ever picked up.

“Why?” he asked.

@Eccles

 

[Dismas Zaa Fenn]

For a moment Dismas' eyebrows went up and he emptied his glass of cognac as he looked at his father with a face that clearly read as impressed. They had never been the 'best parents', at least that's what a hypothetical Coreworld therapist would say after judging all the evidence, but in their own respective careers in the galactic underworld they were -without a doubt- very succesful. Kriff. More evidence that Dismas had a steep legacy to uphold.

"Nothing," he smiled, keeping the thoughts behind the question a secret. "I got two rich parents and was born into the richest Crymorah family in the galaxy," Dismas motioned for the bartender to refill his glass, and that of his father if the old man had finished his own. "Yet here I am, becoming a regular old wage-slave for a corporation."

You'd think that even if he didn't follow in their criminal footsteps, they'd at least establish a trustfund or buy him major shares in a large corporation like BlasTech or something. But no, Crix and Kara were typical criminals. Got a buttload of credits? Buy a diamond. Buy a new speeder, ship or blaster. Why think about the future if you could die tomorrow, right?

"By the way," his face suddenly grew sullen, "Keep an eye on the old rodian, will you?" Although still quick on the draw, most of his gang was witnessing Preef Callo's losing battle with time by now. "He's on those systech stims almost twenty-four seven these days." and Kara sure as hell didn't spare the time to look after him. She got what she wanted from the legendary quickdraw and former syndicate leader: her adoption into the Zaa Fenn.

@Zay

 

[Crix Dolan]

”Rich is being generous,” Crix chuckled as smoke leaked from his mouth. “Who cares?” he asked, “You’ve got to start somewhere, and being an astronavigator on an expedition into wild space isn’t something to scoff at,” Crix took a sip of his drink, “You're doing a hell of a job if you ask me.”

Dismas’ demeanor shifted as he asked Crix to look over Peef, “Sure, if it’ll help you focus on your life, I’ll watch after The Rodain.”

Crix would do what he could, but he wasn’t Zaa Fenn. He had enough of a rep to keep the regular plebs out of his way, but Callo’s personal gang was a different story. But, this was for his kid, so… he’d fucking deal with them. The only beings in the galaxy capable of being cockier than a pilot was a gunslinger. Imagine someone that was both? Yeesh. That person would be a nightmare.

“Okay, okay,” Crix said, holding his hands up in mock surrender, “I”ll watch him, and I’ll even bring him a carton of stems.”

It was strange to see his boy finally stepping out from their shadow. A part of Crix hoped the day would never come. He wondered what kind of pain the galaxy would throw at Dismas, and Crix hoped he’d done what he could to prepare him for that. He suddenly wished he’d spent more time with his son like this, okay not in Peef’s bar, but just… as his Dad.

“When you get back we should do this again,” he said while gesturing between the two of them. “I’m glad we got this time before you took off.”

@Eccles

 

[Dismas Zaa Fenn]

Hearing your father say you're doing a good job was always something special and it brought a smile to Dismas' face. "Me too," he finally replied as he watched the bartender refill his glass of cognac and thought what he'd look like when he stepped through these doors again. Expedition into the unknown completed, legendary pirate wrecks discovered, new starmaps drawn about unknown systems and not just years, but also a lot of stories richer.

He would be stepping through the doors as Astronavigator Dolan. No, better yet, once he walked through them tonight, on his way to the spaceport, he would leave the saloon as Dismas Dolan. Astronavigator with the Discovery and Exploration Corps.

Unlike his parents he wouldn't be a thief or smuggler. Unlike the rodian he wouldn't be a cold-blooded killer with a draw too fast for his own good. More importantly, he'd exist outside of the Crymorah. Kriff, Dismas shotted the glass of cognac, slung it back with a nervous grimace. He was leaving behind the only life he knew..

"If I come back, that is-" Dismas slid off his stool, put a hand on his father's shoulder and bend in close enough to whisper, "-might get rich, buy myself a nice piece of land on a quiet planet in the northern galaxy." He grinned as he got face-to-face with his father, "I reckon two million credits will do." Which was, he knew, the exact amount his father had received when he returned the Crown Jewels to the Onderon Royal House.

@Zay

 

[Crix Dolan]

Dismas’s admission was one of the things Crix had always hoped to hear. Confidence wasn’t something that most were born with, not real confidence. There were more than a few “Confident” gunslingers that called this bar home, but bravado had a funny way of filling in when confidence’s price was too steep.

As he looked into his son’s eyes he didn’t see bravado, he saw a young man excited in what was to come. Thrilled by the unknown. A young man that had already surpassed his old man… well, in some ways.

Now, the little devil just needed to see it for himself.

Crix took a drag on his cigarra, then put it out. Disams made a crack about being rich again, poor kid was wrapped up in the idea of materialism, which was totally normal for a twenty three year old.

“I hope you do,” Crix chuckled knowingly, “It’ll put some reality into that number.”

Crix had plenty of money. He’d spent years as a freelance merc and didn’t waste a dime on anything that wasn’t pertinent, but his frugality wasn’t his best attribute when it came to monetary gain, it was the real estate investments he’d made that had seen that two million dollar win grow into a sizeable fortune.

The future was bright for his boy. Even if he didn’t earn his millions out on his own, he’d get him when his old man died and that little secret kept the smile on Crix’s face. Suddenly, his comm went off. He glanced down at the screen. Then, he silenced the damn thing. He wasn’t Crow, or the Devil.

He was Crix Dolan and he’d be damned if anyone was going to take him from his son the day before he left.

“Welp, us Dolan’s have a custom, that I think it’s time to pass down to you, ya know, now that you’ve taken the name,” it was obvious he was joking, “Bartender, drinks on me, we’re not letting the Little Devil here leave walking straight!”

The few patrons in the bar perked up looking in their direction. The Bartender laughed and started pouring drinks. Crix was going to feel this in the morning, but it’d be nothing compared to the pride and fear he felt as his son set off on his first great adventure.

Once everyone had drinks, The Devil raised his glass and bellowed, “To Dismas Dolan,” he said specifically using his surname as pride colored his expression, “The greatest Astronavigator the galaxy’s never heard of!”

End.​

@Eccles