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That One Time on Nar Shaddaa
Greez slept through the whole thing.
Kugga Sonhugg snuck into the suite looking for his bounty. Initially, he was hesitant to take the assignment. Sorc Tormo offered what he claimed was an easy job. Kill one Greez Dritus and the three humanoids accompanying him. There was also an explorer droid to be eliminated. Simple enough job. But Kugga had his doubts. Why were so many dispatched to do this job? Twelve by his count. And what of the tales spread amongst the bounty hunters across the galaxy? The gut feelings amongst the drecks was the price of this job was just too high. A number of bounty hunters have gone missing after the easy big credits The Haxion Brood was throwing around. The ones that were, well, not all their pieces were there.
Kugga brought his trusty side kick, K-E8H, a reprogrammed Imperial security droid, as back up. Sure, the big, oafish droid would cut down on their stealth, which Kugga rationalized with the group all deciding to doing this hit in the middle of the night. Yeah, stealth wouldn’t be needed.
As the bounty hunters crawled though the opening left by the window they removed, Kugga aimed his blaster at Greez’ sleeping head. K-E8H made his way out the bedroom door to take care of the rest of the crew.
‘Easy credits,’ Kugga whispered to himself as his finger wrapped around the trigger on his blaster. While Greez continued to sleep through what would possibly be his demise, his companions were alerted to the danger, quickly dressed and pissed off.
Kugga Sonhugg’s attention was pulled to the sound of his security droid falling into a heap at the floor just past the door. Molten metal cooled as the saber cuts marked the points where Cal and Cere hacked the droid into decommission.
Kugga got a shortened “Whu?” out before he was met by a plume of green smoke appearing before him. He was able to wonder if it was a Nightsister of legend standing before him before she leapt and plunged her spear through his skull, pining him to the wall under the open window.
Greez shot up, confused as Kugga was before Merrin punched his clock. Looking around, he bundled his sheets around him as his friends frantically looked around them, checking to see if any more threats were present in the suite. Cere made her way back into his room, ‘Get dressed and packed, Greez. It’s time to leave’.
Greez nodded as the adrenaline jolted him awake better than any pot of caf ever could, ‘Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let me finish this heart attack and we’ll get on out of here’.
Cere picked up the bounty puck from the security droid and checked the stats. Twelve hunters sent out to kill Greez, her, Cal, Merrin, Melnau Tabbers (Cere found herself giggling and thinking that is why he goes by “Tabbers”) and someone named Sara Kinall. That leaves ten left. One million credits each. A bonus five million credits if the hunter was able to kill all six. “How does Sorc Tormo have these kind of credits?” Cere wondered to herself as she moved to get dressed, packed and ready herself to do whatever it takes to keep her found family and the other two safe.
***
‘Don’t worry, BD. I’ll be with Merrin. I’ll be okay,’ Cal was trying to soothe his best friend’s concern that they decided it would be best of he helped Greez and Cere prep the Mantis for a quick getaway. BD finally relented with a sad whoop and walked over to Greez. The droid turned one last time, pleading with his sensors.
Cal crouched down to BD’s level and rubbed his head, ‘I’ll be okay. Scary Friend’s got my back. We’ll see you at the Mantis’. BD ran to Greez and crawled up his back. The Latero was initially annoyed, but realizing the gravity of their situation, Greez reached up and patted BD’s head.
‘Your droid calls me “Scary Friend”, Jedi?’ Merrin asks, unable to keep her displeasure from bubbling up. She was not upset with BD’s simplified nickname for her. Merrin had found names were hard for droids to address in binary, so they assign adjectives to their common organics. She was finding herself pleased as being known as “Scary Friend”. But, the annoyance of her first night sleep with Cal in awhile being interrupted by the threat of death was igniting her ichor in ways she had not felt in some time.
Cal rubbed the back of his neck, ‘Yeah, I think he does it out of love and awe, though. I think he likes you more than me’.
Merrin and Cal returned to their room after a quick sweep of the suite turned up no more bounty hunters or traps. They stripped off the simple items they threw on when they were alerted they were in danger. As they stuffed their items into their respective bags, Cal and Merrin pulled aside clothes and weapons they’ll need to get out. Whatever woke them to the danger in the middle of the night, it was clearly letting them know, deep in their hearts, they were not out of danger yet. And that danger needed to be dealt with.
Both Cal and Merrin paused at the same time to stand and stare longingly at the other. Both stood naked and even with the danger crying in their heads, they fought their temptation to slam into each other and fuck like rancors. Right now. Merrin is the first to break their shared trance. Shaking her head as if to clear it, she pulls on a black pair of basics, huffing ‘I will kill every last one of these moof-fuckers for interrupting my time with you, Cal Kestis’. Cal mutters a reply, something about not being close to Merrin for over two weeks as he hurriedly gets dressed.
***
Tabbers ran for his life. He knew exactly what this was. He was a part of the Crimson Dawn’s motor pool long enough to see a number of beings who, purposely or not, crossed the syndicate and were gunned down by a bounty hunter. He ran through an alley, just able to escape the bounty hunter waiting in his apartment. Earlier, Tabbers clocked out of his shift, went home and when he opened the door, he caught the tracker lounging on his couch. Tabbers surmised he must have gotten back either too early or too late for the venator’s timing. So, he slammed the door with the hunter on the other side and smashed the electronic lock to his apartment. Now, Tabbers was scrambling across Nar Shaddaa, with a bounty hunter closing in.
Tabbers deduced the only reason he was being hunted was because of his work with Cal and his friends. And now they all were probably marked for elimination. Dank ferrik! Does that mean Sara was marked as well? Sara Kinall accompanied him to the Life Day Ball, so they would have her name and address on file. Dammit. Tabbers’ heart fell. He was simply sweet on the waitress who was always nice to him at the diner he frequented after his shifts at the landing pad. Being around Cal and seeing his blossoming relationship with that Nightsister gave Tabbers the final oomph of courage he needed to ask her out as his date for the Life Day Ball. They spent what time they could since then, getting to know each other. Hels, he finally gathered up enough courage just the night before to finally chance a kiss with Sara, which she reciprocated. Dreams danced in Tabbers’ head to once again save up enough credits to leave, this time to some out of the way planet in the Outer Rim and start a life with her. Now he was racing across the city to Sara, hopefully getting there before anyone else did.
***
Navo Rololek crouched underneath the S-161 luxury yacht, prepping his bomb. The Rodian felt smarter than the rest of the bounty hunters sent on this mission. He knew the reputation of Greez Dritus. Moreso, the ones he ran around the galaxy with. Navo believed the stories of all the bounty hunters that fell chasing down Greez and now his plan was simply for those killers the Latero surrounded himself with to pick off the other hunters, while he waited on the docking bay platform for the Mantis Crew to unsuspectingly board their ship, then boom. Collect the bounty and maybe have enough of a reputation to be allowed to join one of the established and reputable syndicates here on Nar Shaddaa.
Navo giggled to himself, ’Navo Rololek, you just might be the smartest….’
Navo Rololek did not have the opportunity to finish his last thought as a blaster bolt tore through his skull.
‘Nice shot, Greez,’ Cere called out as they sprinted towards the Mantis.
‘It takes a steady hand to do what I do,’ Greez replied, BD wooping his kudos at his fuzzy, four-armed friend. Reaching the Mantis, Greez stops to catch his breath. Putting his lower hands on his knees, he holsters his blasters with he remaining two. ‘But, I am getting older, hands getting a bit shaky. I was aiming for their eye, not their temple’.
Cere retrieved the bomb and dismantled it, ‘Well, either way, I knew I chose wisely when I asked you for a contract all those years ago’.
Greez, Cere and BD-1 begin prepping the Mantis for a quick take off, all the while keeping an eye out for the remaining nine bounty hunters.
***
Tabbers reached Sara’s apartment staying ahead and avoided any more bounty hunters. Frantically knocking on her door, Tabbers is eventually greeted by a sleepy and confused Sara.
‘Tabbers,’ Sara weakly responds, wiping the sleep from her eyes, ‘What? It’s four in the morning….’
Tabbers hustles his way in, closing the door and bolting it shut. ‘Gun? Do you have a gun, Sara?’
The adrenaline starts to hit Sara now as she straightens her robe, ‘Yes, you know I do, Tabs. What is going on?’
Tabbers retrieves the gun he knows Sara keeps stashed in the cupboard by the door. Standing up, he gives her a quick kiss, ‘I am so sorry, Sara. Bounty Hunters. They’re after me and I think they’re after you because you know me’.
Sara fumbles with the information, shaking the sleep from her head. Sara knew all the inherent risks that came from working and living on Nar Shaddaa. She had dated people who fancied themselves to be outlaws, even date a woman who was an honest to goodness outlaw. But, Tabbers, that sweet guy who always had a smile for her when he stopped by the diner? The shy, unassuming man with the grease-stained clothes of the working class? Handsome and sweet? Yes. Gangster material? Kriff, no.
Tabbers has enough time to shuffle Sara and himself around the kitchen wall when the front door was blown open, metal bent in and raining across the apartment. Without thinking, Tabbers rounds the corner, gun drawn and fires a shot he hopes will hit it’s intended target.
Maxhead Steelbrand’s head rocked back from the unsuspecting shot. He had chased the mechanic across the neighborhood after his hit on Tabbers was foiled by poor timing. Lead him right to the last listed female on the list. One mechanic, one waitress. Middle of the night. Blow the door open. Kill them both. Collect the credits. Try to finish the complete set of six. Instead of his bounty hunter dreams of glory, Maxhead, whom the other members of the bounty hunter’s guild snickered behind his back at his ridiculous name, last thought was that of “what’s this pressure on my nose?” as his world turns black and he falls back into the hallway.
Both Sara and Tabbers scream at what just took place in front of them. Tabbers fumbles with his comm as he profusely apologies to Sara over and over again. ‘Cal! Pick up, Cal! There’s bounty hunters after me and Sara! We need your help!’
***
Cal switched off his comm. The plan was to meet Tabbers and Sara at an overlook above the docking bay where the Mantis was parked. Cal turned to look at Merrin and was taken aback by what could best be described as a transformation. Merrin looked near feral as ichor pooled around her hands, one clutching her dagger. Her body tensed and coiled, ready to strike at any threat. Merrin’s eyes glowed and seeped green with anger as she looked back at Cal, waiting to be filled in on the plan.
It was a look Cal had not seen on Merrin since he first met her on Dathomir all that time ago.
‘What is the plan, Jedi?’ Merrin whispered, but the vibrations Cal felt sounded as if they came from a freighter revving it’s engines.
Cal relayed the info: Tabbers and Sara were able to dispatch one bounty hunter. Given the two slain on the apartment and the one Greez blasted at the Mantis, that leaves eight. Cal laid out the plan of collecting the wayward pair and the four of them making their way to the overlook above the platform. Cal finished, stepping forward and reaching out with a quiet, ‘Merrin?’
Merrin rushed past Cal in the direction he had indicated Sara and Tabbers were hiding out. She brought herself to a stop and turned back to Cal, ‘I do not know the way. You lead’.
Cal and Merrin snaked their way through the alleys of Nar Shaddaa, wary of any unpleasant surprises that could come their way.
***
Greez was prepping the Mantis for a speedy take off, while Cere and BD keep watch at the door. Simultaneously, Cere and BD look at each other. With an unspoken understanding the remaining bounty hunters being made aware at how fast the others were picked off, the last eight teamed up and are preparing to siege the Mantis once Cal and the others arrive. Both Cere and BD try to get a message out to Cal. Experiencing nothing but static, Cere ruefully states, ‘Of course the first thing they’d do is jam the comms’. She stands up, closes the ramp and makes her way to the cockpit with BD in tow.
‘We have a deviation to the situation, Captain,’ Cere states as she plops BD into the comm chair.
Greez looks up from the readouts to his left, ‘Yeah, tell me….’ he begins as it dawns on him, ‘Oh, what are those hunters up to?’
Cere flips on the Mantis’ guns, ‘Looks like out troubles have decided to work together’.
‘Dank ferrik,’ Greez mumbles, ‘Let me guess, they jammed the comms as well?’
Cere nods, confirming Greez’ question. Turning her attention to BD, she shows him the the mechanics of working the lasers, ‘Here’s your display. The bounty hunters are silhouetted in green if they’re exposed, red if they in cover. There’s your reticle, this fires….’
Using the extensions Cal attached to his legs to help him assist with flying the Mantis, BD swings the guns and fires. On the screen, a bounty hunter outlined in green has a large hole torn through their torso. The scream can be heard from the outside. Greez can’t repress his smile, ‘Nice work, BD. Y’all keep that up and I won’t mind the wear and tear y’all make on my ship’.
Cere stands up and moves to the co-pilot’s chair, ‘Okay, we have our defenses covered’.
***
‘Oh, thank the Force you found us,’ Tabbers says as he pulls Cal and Merrin in for a group hug. Merrin disengages from he hug in a plum of smoke and reappears five feet away. Cal is more gentle with his disengagement as he looks around Sara’s modest apartment. They didn’t run. Cal thinks it was dumb luck he and Merrin got to them first. Not that he expected either to run. Tabbers nor Sara from Cal gathered, had any experience running from something like this. Shaking the judgment from his mind, Cal quickly fills the terrified pair on the plan. Addressing the “what do we do”, Merrin replies with “stay low, stay behind us, don’t get killed”. Cal takes point as Tabbers and Sara follow, the waitress clutching a pillowcase stuffed with keepsakes she did not want to leave behind. Merrin brings up the rear with a continual growl that Sara later admits made her more afraid than the bounty hunters.
***
Greez continues to look out the cockpit’s window at the bounty hunters hiding behind crates on the platform, ‘It’s too quiet, Cere’.
Cere looks up form the hyperspace coordinates, ‘They’re probably just waiting for Cal and Merrin, hopefully Tabbers and his friend’. Checking the puck, she notes one more has been dropped. The remaining seven on the deck are possibly the last of the bounty hunters.
Greez wearily shakes his head, ‘No. I mean Nar Shaddaa. This place is normally jumping all hours of the day. The lights are on, but no one’s out. This isn’t just Tormo and the Brood. Crimson Dawn and others in the Five are in on this, too’.
“Sithspit” Cere thinks to herself as she unclips the safety band from her blaster. Greez is right. It is too quiet out in Nar Shaddaa tonight. Getting past the bounty hunters is just the first step, they’ll have to jump to hyperspace once the Mantis breaks free of the atmosphere. Cere turns to the console and adjusts the hyperspace coordinates.
***
Cal and his group make their way to the overhang without any further incident. Merrin peers over the ledge and notes the remaining seven bounty hunters are all amassed on their side of the platform, huddled in cover waiting to attack.
Cal turns to Tabbers and Sara and whispers, ‘Look, Merrin and I are going to go down there and take out the rest of the bounty hunters. Wait here until we clear them out and we’ll come get you’. After a pause, Cal concludes, ‘We’re going to get you both out of here, alive. You both okay?’ Tabbers nods immediately. Sara continues to clutch her pillowcase. After a moment, she sniffles and nods her head.
Cal places a hand on Merrin’s shoulder. He is taken aback by the tension emanating off of her body, but doesn’t remove his hand. ‘Mer?’
Merrin turns to Cal, her eyes raged with ichor, ‘What’s the plan, Cal?’
Cal looks back down on the hunters. While they’re outnumbered, the seven are clustered together in one area, ‘Follow my lead. We’ll jump down. I’ll start with the group on the left here….’
Merrin interrupts Cal, ‘I’ll start on the right. We don’t stop until the screaming stops, Cal Kestis’. With that, she dissipates into a cloud of green smoke. Looking down, Cal sees her reappear and drive her knife into the bounty hunter furthest on their right.
‘I wasn’t finished,’ Cal mutters to himself. Splitting his sabers, he leaps down to engage the three bounty hunters on the left. Taking two down immediately, Cal and Merrin instinctively go back to back as they strike at the remaining four hunters. Cal deflects a blaster bolt, taking a hunter down as he turns to toss a saber across another’s throat. Merrin appears between the final two, then disappears as they both open fire. The bolts kill one of the remaining instantly, while the other falls to the ground in pain. Merrin teleports over the last bounty hunter as she plunges her spear through their heart. After a quick look around confirms the threat has been indeed neutralized, Cal turns to Merrin to ask her to pick up Tabbers and Sara. He is quickly met with a hard deep kiss from the Nightsister that sends a simlutanious welcoming and unwelcoming jolt to his cock. Cal pulls away with an “I love you”. Merrin simply nods and turns to go when Cal pulls her back with a searing kiss of his own. If the fire in her was raging before, it was now absolutely throbbing like a pulsar canon through Merrin’s core.
Cal presses his forehead to Merrin’s, ‘We have a lot of catching up to do’.
Merrin nods in agreement, ‘I love you, Cal Kestis. Meet us at the Mantis’. With that, she teleports herself to the overhead hang where Tabbers and Sara are waiting.
‘This will feel uncomfortable and you will more than likely vomit. Please do it outside the Mantis,’ Merrin hugs Sara and Tabbers and teleports them to the now extended entrance ramp. Cal begins to make his way up, but turns with concern as he hears both Tabbers and Sara indeed vomit on the platform.
With the group all safely on board, Greez lifts the Mantis off the platform and into the atmosphere. Once they’re a mile up in the Nar Shaddaa atmosphere, Cere sends the Stinger Mantis into hyperspace.
***
With the Stinger Mantis safely hurling through hyperspace, Greez steps from the cockpit and begins to collect the tracking devices from the spots Tabber’s crew attached them. After collecting the last one, he hands them off to BD to chuck out the trash chute. Clapsing his two upper hands together, he pronounces, ‘Well, we’re away. Safe, alive and together’.
Tabbers and Sara sit on the couch, perpendicular to each other, huddled under respective blankets Cere gave them. With a sniffle and a quiet voice, Sara speaks up, ‘My mom’.
Greez stops in his tracks, ‘Your mom? What about her?’
Sara swallows what feels like a lump of sand, ‘She’s on Tepasi. It’s just her. All we got is each other. She didn’t want me running off, but I just had to explore the galaxy’. After a pause, she looks over at Greez, ‘Do you think they’ll send someone after her? Is she going to be okay?’
Cere returns to the common area with two cups of tea, one each for Sara and Tabbers. Sitting next to Sara, Cere runs some plans through her head. After a moment, she speaks, ‘We can go to Tepasi, Sara. Check on your mom. With the gear we got from The Crimson Dawn, we can get you both new aliases. You as well, Tabbers. With the credits we got from the bounty hunters, you can all start new lives anywhere you wish in the galaxy’. Sara nods and quietly says a “thank you”.
Cere places a comforting hand on Sara’s shoulder and stands up, ‘Well set a course for Tepasi. We should be there in a few days. In the meantime, if you both need anything, let us know. But, get some rest. Greez, think you can whip up a brunch for when we wake?’
Greez looks back towards the way Cal and Merrin went, ‘Yeah, sure. Absolutely. Wait’ll y’all taste the hash I make using that Naboonian skillet!’ Dropping his voice to a whisper, he siddles up next Cere, ‘You think the kids are okay?’
Cere looks towards the back of the ship, to the sleeping quarters, ‘I can feel they have a lot personal things to work through. They’re lucky to have each other’.
Greez thankfully nods, ‘Just worry about those two. Love’s not an easy thing to nurture in a galaxy saturated with selfishness and mistrust’.
Cere looks down at Greez with a raised eyebrow and a smirk, ‘Look at you, Greez. All philosophical and romantic’.
Greez lets out a laugh as he walks up to the kitchenette, ‘Yeah, yeah. Just worried about Cal. He went though Hel out there. No telling what the space witch had to go through. They deserve their win, you know’. Clasping his hands together, Greez then dons his apron, ‘Now. Anyone up for a little late night snack before we get some sleep? Let’s see what we got here. Wait. Krayt Nuggies?!’
***
Dryden Vos slammed the off switch on the communicator. Karking Sorc Tormo and his bottom shelf Haxion Brood. Can’t even assemble a competent group of bounty hunters to take out a small collective. Granted, there were two Jedis and one Nightsister in said group. Regardless, now he was stuck back in this sleezy, bantha-shithole of bright lights and cheap morals. Why couldn’t he spend more time with the agents on Canto Bight? At least that place has decorum. Nar Shaddaa is nothing but cheap, gaudy baubles run by cheap, gaudy men.
Speaking of cheap and gaudy baubles, Gedo Cortee bounded into the room with the grace of a starving Rancor ending it’s beeline to he buffet table. ‘I expect to be reimbursed for yet another shuttle that dank ferrik Jedi cost me!’ Cortee roared as took command of the center of the room.
Vos sighed as he pointed to the hard drive on his desk, ‘Yes, you will be reimbursed for the loss of your shuttle, Cortee. The Jedi was able to procure the data our boss asked for’. Vos nodded his head in the direction of the woman standing alongside the desk. The same woman who had recently occupied the waiting room Merrin had recently visited.
Cortee continued to rage on about lack of respect, monetary costs, karking Jedis when he was silenced by the woman dragging a knife across his throat. Cortee tried in vain, clasping at his neck, to keep the blood flowing from his severed arteries. Soon, he collapsed in a heap at the floor, dead.
‘The standard “I thought he would never shut up”,’ Vos quipped. ‘Nicely done, my lovely. You are certainly making your way up the ranks of The Crimson Dawn’.
The woman bent down and wiped the blood off of her knife on Cortee’s back before sheathing it, ‘Thank you. But we will need to find Cortee’s replacement. And have this rug cleaned’.
‘The rug can be replaced by his successor,’ Vos states as he dons his cape, ready to leave, ‘I’ll leave finding said successor up to you. For now, let’s get this data to Maul and get out of this shit-hole, shall we?’
Taking his arm, the woman leaves the office with Vos, their security detail in tow.