Chapter 20: Aggressor Arc Part 2: Smash and Grab
I don't own star wars
I woke up in my bed, my arm wrapped tightly around my current bed partner, Milky. She smiled contentedly as I spooned her from behind. We were both dressed, me in boxers and her in her usually snug t-shirt and short shorts, so we obviously didn't have sex, which was a rare occurrence.
We were on our way to Nar Shaddaa to meet up with Urai-ken, briefly I wondered what the job was exactly but the soft, firm form of Milky distracted me and I found myself squeezing her tighter. I loved to cuddle, I loved feeling a warm woman next to me when I awoke in the morning, I rubbed my face into the soft fur of her neck, taking in her natural cinnamon scent.
She suddenly giggled, blearily blinking her eyes at me.
"Someone wants attention…" she whispered softly, looking over her shoulder. "Good morning…"
"Hm." I grunted the reply smiling, pretending I was still asleep to justify holding her for just a little longer.
"I know you're up Aiden." Rolling over in my arms to press tightly against me, "You only hug me this tight when you're conscious…"
"Shhh…" I hushed her playfully, "…You'll jinx it…"
I felt Milky's breath close to my mouth, and just before she kissed me Yura's voice erupted over the com.
"Aiden we're almost there, get up!" she shouted, I sighed and reluctantly rolled away.
Milky watched me intently as I slowly got dressed. "I'm sure she can wait just a little-"
"Nope!" Yura shouted, over the com again, and I glared up at the camera of my room. "No Milky time, you'll make him late!"
Milky did the same, glaring daggers at the camera, her lip twitching slightly to hide a snarl. "Fine…" she said as I buckled on my gear and swung my coat around my shoulders. "I'll just have to give him something to think about…"
She spread her legs and stretched across my bed as she slipped a hand under her short-shorts and began to masturbate. She began whimpering and moaning as I rolled my eyes, trying to focus and find my hat but only succeeding in finding the camera remote.
So naturally, I promptly hit record, of course.
"Oh Aiden…" she groaned, eyes closed and quickly fingering herself as she groped her breasts, "…You do it so much better than I do…" she watched me lustfully, her eyes pleading with me to come back to bed, "Please? Don't you want me to feel good?" she moaned out her legs pushing her pussy upwards as she thrust inside her, as if I was penetrating her with something much bigger than her fingers.
"Yeah, he's recording you Milky, just keep going. He'll make time for you later… Aiden you're hat is up here…" Yura shouted over the coms.
And naturally Milky continued unabated and determined to give me a good motivating show as she continued thrusting into herself as I shut the door behind me to, "Oh yes, Aiden!"
"Okay making me leave a horny Milky was cruel… for both of us." I said entering the cockpit as I felt the stabilizers of the ship touch down on the hanger floor.
Thanks to her tan from Spira, Yura was now sporting a lighter shade of blue skin and tan lines. It was kind of hot.
"Hmm?" Yura asked inattentively, as she watched Milky continue to pleasure herself over the camera, "Oh yeah, well we can't keep Urai waiting." She took my hat off, she had been wearing it, and carefully placed it on my head and kissed me. "He is Torga's right hand, after all, keeping him happy with us is always a good thing."
"We're already Torga's favorites…" I said laughing as we made our way to the hold and my gear.
"Yes, but Aiden, Torga does have other bounty hunters. And it will do us good to stay in his good graces…" she helped me with my slug thrower and my pistols while I slung my better than ever modded rifle over my shoulder. "So try not to piss anyone off okay?" and added with one last kiss, "…Be careful alright? We weren't invited so we can't keep an eye on you."
I touched our foreheads together and walked backwards down the ramp, "See you soon… and go apologize to Milky when's she done with my new video!"
Yura chuckled as the ramp closed behind me and I made my way to Grorgti's.
Grorgti's was a small mom-and-pop restaurant run by a couple of Ugnaughts, but I wasn't here for the breadsticks I was here for the back room. With a determined look on my face, I gave the wizened old Ugnuaght a nod and he pressed a button under his counter.
A door in the back opened and I pushed inside quickly shutting it behind me. There was a large holomap in the room of a vast network of Nar Shaddaa, not the whole planet but a good section of the upper levels. The buildings were multicolored, some were red, blue, yellow, and a variety of others but prominently red…
There were four others in the room and they aimed six barrels of blasters at me as I entered. Only the one I knew, Urai, didn't. Still wearing his Mandalorian helmet he looked up and nodded a greeting, "Aiden."
"Hey." I replied, but the others didn't lower their weapons.
One was a spindly black droid, with a visor for an eye and a blaster as its left arm that it aimed at me. it had another blaster strapped to its side but it didn't touch it. It seemed rather silly just standing there stiffly.
Another was a massive trandoshan, easily the tallest and broadest in the room. The entirety of his lower jaw and neck was black as if long ago it was burned horrifically, his nose was also heavily scarred as if he lost a fight with a kinyak, and He held a double barrel repeater carbine on me…
The third and final member was… well she was something I didn't recognize. Standing almost six feet tall with four arms and tight rippling muscles she held four identical blaster pistols at me in each hand. She was gorgeous in an amazonian sort of way, her well-earned muscles easily poking through the tight clothing she wore, which also accentuated her feminine assets. Her face had a strange half-lupine look to it, her helmet on top of her blonde hair curved up slightly as if it had once decided to be a tiara but turned into a helmet instead. And her yellow eyes gazed passively at me, not quite yet deciding whether or not to fire yet.
"So you want to tell them to lower their weapons, Urai?" I asked hesitantly, "Or do you have the job covered?"
The trandoshan hissed angrily as if I just insulted his mother but Urai held up a hand, "He's right Blackjaw. Everyone put them down…" the droid and the tall drink of water obeyed but Blackjaw hesitated for just a moment longer before finally lowing his carbine. I watched the four-armed woman holster two pistols at her waist and two behind her back. And she glared at me as if saying 'What?' I decided not to press.
"Aiden since you are the only one who hasn't been introduced." He gestured to each of them in turn, "This is Blackjaw Gryst…" he gestured to the trandoshan who hissed at me, "This is Isana." He gestured to the woman, "And that's…" he took a deep breath and said slowly trying to get the words right, "B-3-D-1-3-M" he said sounding anound, "Just call it Bedlem it's easier…
"That is not my identification." The droid replied simply as its visor flashed a small red light across it like a scanner.
"Just… not now Bedlem" Urai replied impatiently, fiddling with the holo-map. "Okay since we're all here we can begin."
Pressing a button on the map a collection of letters appeared over the red buildings, "These are all the properties around the target that Tuuba owns… we'll have to watch them for reinforcements." he said slowly, tapping a large one in the center, that blew up into a five-story building. "And this is the Vault of the sector."
"The Vault?" I asked, I sort of understood so far but I just wanted to clarify.
"Yes, all of his earnings from the sector are stored there until it can be transferred to his casino on Nal Hutta. We are going to raid it." he said coolly, "It'll be full of his credits…"
I nodded my understanding. "So what's the plan exactly?"
He pressed the front of the building and the door began to flash, "Isana will use her expertise and she will set a breaching charge here, and Bedlem will provide supporting fire as we enter the building, then floor by floor we take them down until we get to his credits.
"…How do we get out?" I said slowly, quickly realizing that this was an exceptionally risky plan.
"We descend the side of the building where Bedlem will have arrived with a speeder."
"…Seriously, with a sack full of credits each?" I asked surprised and they looked at me as if I was the crazy one. "This… plan is going to get most of us killed."
"We are getting paid a fraction of what we receive from this job." Blackjaw snarled at me as Urai suddenly looked closer at the plan itself. "The bigger the haul the bigger the payout!"
"Urai I don't think attacking Tuuba's vault head on is the best way to hit him." I replied now staring at the map of Nar Shaddaa on the table.
Blackjaw hissed at me, "Getting his money is the best idea. There is no better way to hurt Tuuba!"
Isana stared at the map, placing two hands on her hips and crossing her other arms across her (rather nice)chest. She patiently watched me under her tiara helmet, but didn't object to me speaking. while Bedlem's red laser eye flashed once across his visor as if scanning me.
"Blackjaw is correct." it said flatly in its robotic droid voice.
I rolled my eyes and then tapped a different building, "This is a drug factory from the look of it." They looked down where I was pointing then I slipped my hand upward on the map towards another building, "This is the Iron Maiden." Then I moved it to another building, "And this is a speakeasy, Liquid Nightmare." I looked at them all making sure I held their attention, "All owned by Tuuba, right?"
Blackjaw shrugged unconcernedly while Isana and Urai nodded that they were following.
"We'll there's more than one way to relieve a hutt from his money." I said, "First we hit the drug factory, blow it up with something Isana made." I said gesturing to the demolitionist, "Right?" She gazed into my eyes for a moment, and hesitantly nodded but didn't say anything. "Okay then we hit the speakeasy. Shoot the place up…" I tapped the speakeasy on the map, "Again. Burn it to the ground…"
Urai nodded, "And we do the same to the Iron Maiden I expect?" I think he was beginning to see what I was getting at.
"Worse. We rob it." I said firmly, "We take the girls right out of the building and fill it full of holes."
"Why waste our time with Slaves!?" Blackjaw hissed angrily, his namesake opening dangerously at me. "We'd barely get anything for them!"
"Because replacing them would cost Tuuba money, a lot of money." I said slowly, "Fixing the place would cost more. Replacing the dead guards, the liquor-" I said tapping the speakeasy hard, "the drugs!" I shouted punching the factory to make a point. "All of it would cost millions to replace! He loses profits from the drugs because he doesn't have them so he loses clients to other dealers. he would also need to replace the chemicals to make them. He loses the liquor…" I tapped the speakeasy, "…and the building, he has to get a new place, set up the still, bribe the cops, thousands and thousands of credits, it all adds up. And at the Iron Maiden, we turn a profit by taking his girls." I said slapping a hand on the infamous building, "He's got to fix the place up, and find new girls and by the time he finishes all of this, Quallo or another gangster would've muscled in and filled the vacuum and then he has to fight them off! Costing him more time and more manpower, that would give Torga a lot of leverage over his brother…"
Urai began chuckling as I laid my own plan, "…We make him empty his own vault…" he started laughing loudly, "Why does it sound so simple when you say it?"
"And not only that but he's expecting a big group to hit the vault, he's put all his eggs in one heavily armored basket. The problem is…" I tapped the drug factory, "We're going to take his chickens instead."
Bedlem visor flashed again, "…I do not understand."
"He can stuff his vault with valuables as much as he wants but without the 'machines' to fill it, the credits go right back out to fix everything." I replied.
But Bedlem still 'stared' at me. Still not quite understanding.
"…I like it." Isana said, sounding a little gruff, like a talking kath hound. "…The tiny male makes a good point."
"Bah!" snarled Blackjaw, "Cowards! Where is the glory in hitting weak targets?! Where is the money?!"
"Not a lot of glory really…" I replied glaring at the trandoshan, "But I'll take smaller amounts of glory over time than a lump sum with death. As to the money…" I shrugged, "You'd only get paid if you came back alive…" I replied softly, "Can't do that if you're dead either."
"Okay… so if we hit the smaller targets." Urai began throwing the rest of the buildings away until all that was left was the three, "How do we proceed?"
"…Well we split up." I said thoughtfully. "They wouldn't be as heavily guarded. Isana sets her charges here…" I pointed to the drug factory, "Probably with Blackjaw and Bedlem as support." Blackjaw hissed but seemed to keep his opinion to himself, "Then at the same time, you and I shoot up the speakeasy. Once we hear the Factory go up we converge on the Iron Maiden and just tear it apart."
"And what about the girls?" Isana asked quietly, "How do we get them to Torga?"
"A freighter is easy enough to rent." I replied pointing to a landing pad close to the Iron Maiden, "We hire an escape ship to set off from here, and take them to tattooine.
"How would we know if they will even want to come?" Bedlem inquired coolly.
I watched him for a moment. Milky had told me about the Iron Maiden long ago. "…Trust me they will. Or I'll pay you myself."
"…Then we'll vote." Urai said diplomatically, "All those for the original plan?" Blackjaw and Bedlem raised their hands, "And for Aiden's?" I raised my hand, and surprisingly so did Urai, I was a little surprised that he gave up on his own plan.
We all watched Isana as she seemed deep in thought, "…I'll need more explosives for the factory…" she said finally, raising one of her hands, "But I agree with the tiny male."
"Aiden." I said to her with a shrug, but she merely snorted at my correction.
Blackjaw snarled, "Fine. But we will need two speeders." He said finally, "I'll get another one for the factory raid."
"And I'll retrieve more explosives from the cache." Isana replied turning towards another back room filled with weapons.
"I shall arrange a freighter for the cargo." Bedlem replied before dialing internally.
It was hours later but we were ready. Urai and I sped towards the Liquid Nightmare armed with heavy repeaters and several flares, and a fuel cell. The ride was remarkably silent as we roared through the air, "Remember." I said, "We can't set the fire until we hear the factory go off."
Urai nodded as he skidded to a halt outside the Liquid Nightmare. "Understood."
His hand gripped the wheel, he was obviously anxious. "…and try not to shoot anyone who's not shooting back."
Urai gripped his carbine and stepped out of the speeder, "I know." He replied as I joined him, holding a repeater I had borrowed from the back room cache. "As much destruction as possible." He said to me and I nodded.
The noise was tremendous as we kicked the door in, the screaming was immense as Urai and I littered the room with blaster fire. Some of the guards tried to be brave but Urai quietly mowed them down like they were nothing. Bottles shattered as we tore through the building while the patrons and the workers ran for it…
We went downstairs and found the stills. Urai and I placed the fuel cell near it and set one of Isana's remote bombs. Together we stood outside watching the direction the factory was in. and waited at first in silence until somebody needed to say something.
"So… how's your sister?" I asked, it had been a few days since I asked about her condition.
"She's recovering… but taking a bomb to the chest is no easy feat to walk off. She will need lots of rest and visits to kolto." He replied. "…Do you have sisters?"
"…You know I have sisters…" I replied crossing my arms, I was under no illusion that Torga and Urai knew my namesake and by proxy all about my family.
He was silent for a moment and nodded, "Yes. But it's always rude to say we researched your background."
"…But I can relate… if someone hurt my sisters I'd hunt him down and shoot him in the dick."
"What if he didn't have one?" he asked thoughtfully.
"Then I'd still shoot him it just wouldn't be as personal."
Suddenly an explosion lit up the night sky, the factory just went up in smoke. "Well there we go." I replied and made my way to the speeder, "Off to the Iron Maiden." As we sped away the Liquid Nightmare went up in a ball of fire as Urai hit the trigger.
We skidded up in front of the Iron Maiden and the guards upfront panicked immediately, one was smart and ran for it but the remaining one, a weequay, spattered all over the door as we filled him with holes.
The building erupted in blaster fire, those who wanted no part in what was going on made their way to the emergency doors but dozens of Tuuba's thugs were caught literally with their pants down. And their blasters were nowhere near them… we cut them down in droves as they tried to defend themselves.
Most of the girls had hit the floor, desperate for their lives. One, a poor twi'lek with an open mouth gag and bound tightly by ropes to restrain her was surrounded by dead Duros that had simply been raping her mouth in a circle one after the other before we put them down. I drew my knife and approached her,
She tried desperately to get away from me as I approached, afraid of what I would do. "Hold still." I said as calmly as I could, but I imagine she might just not understand basic. I slowly slipped the knife against the gag strap and easily sliced it away leaving her unmarked. She coughed violently as the thing clattered to the floor, "Stay low." I said as Isana approached me.
"Move it tiny male!" she shouted, "We need to get the girls to the freighter." I turned to face her and paused as a rodian aimed down at her from a second-floor balcony. I tackled her to the floor as he shot at her, burning a hole right where her head used to be.
Instantly Blackjaw and Bedlem peppered the balcony with blaster fire. Killing him and sending the ambusher crashing to the first floor.
"Are you alright!?" I shouted as the thugs' reinforcements flowed into the room with desperation. She just stared at me on top of her for a moment wide-eyed, then frowned angrily before shoving me off, "Start shooting!" she roared, firing all of her blasters into the crowd of thugs.
Soon the flow of dying men ceased, Blackjaw moved around the bodies, firing absently into any that moved or twitched, counting softly under his breath as he did… Bedlem, strangely had begun hacking into the Iron Maiden's computer systems, siphoning anything valuable whether it be information or assets. Urai frowned thoughtfully under his helmet as he led the girls out from the back, accurately adding them up by how much they would be worth.
I'm not proud… but a lot of those girls were essentially broken, little more than cattle. They were easy enough to get on the ship, and even a few of the ones that weren't quite broken all the way went as well. But I herded them on anyway. Torga might take better care of them but at the end of the day they were still enslaved to a hutt and I was selling them to him.
…That's one of the most vivid of my memories, and in my opinion the worst moment of my career as bounty hunter.
Bedlem boarded the freighter to escort it back, and to make sure the pilot we hired remained on task, and quickly flew off into the night of Nar Shaddaa towards Tattooine. And after blasting as much of the building as possible we left it filled with the corpses of the fallen and went speeding away before Tuuba truly knew what hit him.
We walked into Torga's lone cantina on Nar Shaddaa, and suddenly the adrenaline of the night caught up with us and we began to laugh at our success. Urai bought a round of drinks and we celebrated a job well down. Isana even managed a small smile; she had been completely stone-faced all night.
Blackjaw was still an incredible ass but even he managed to get a joke off that made us laugh.
I laughed hard as I heard Tolara's com in my pocket and pulled it out to answer, "Hey Tolara can I call you back I just-"
"Attention Altora Kane." a voice that I didn't recognize rose from the com and the world seemed to quiet around me as a togruta man with a red vibro-knife painted over the heart of his tarnished republic armor stood in front of the holocom.
My blood went cold as he dragged the beaten and bruised body of my sister in front of the holocam by the hair and pressed his blaster barrel cruelly against her head. My hand tightened around the com, I was dangerously close to crushing it.
"I am General Havin of the Knives of the Republic, we have taken the Aggressor and your daughter Tolara Kane. We demand thirty republic POW's in exchange for her life. You can bargain for her of course for less… but I can't promise that she herself will return completely intact…" someone held a vibro-knife painfully to her throat, "I'm giving you a day to respond to my demands or we start taking off pieces." The holocom then promptly shut off.
"Aiden are you alright?" Isana asked, it was the first time she used my name but I didn't hear it. The blood pumping to my head as panic rose within me. I stared in silence at the com… I didn't understand, how could they have caught her? How? Fucking Why?! Do they have any fucking idea what my mother is like?!
I knew what I had to do instantly, and I would do it without question. "…I need to go." I said bluntly and I dashed away as fast as my legs could carry me back to the Scarlet Rebel.
I charged up the ramp to my ship and straight into the armory/Short-round's workshop scavenging the guns, tossing anything that would not help me aside.
"Hey Aiden…" Yura began but seeing my fear and desperation suddenly looked concerned "What's wrong?" she asked as I hurled blasters away, trying to find any decent ones. I was going to need firepower, something heavy. Anything! I needed as much as I could manage!
Why the fuck was everything in here shit!?
Unable to contain my increasing worry, frustration, and fear, I turned and played the message for her, she stared at me as Milky and Short-round entered, a little scared looking. "He hurt her!" I shouted, unable to hold back my tears, "I need to save her!" I wasn't thinking clearly, all I could do was think about Tolara and the danger she was in.
"Aiden it's a ransom exchange." Yura said, "I'm sure your mother…"
"My mother will kill Tolara." I said firmly, utterly, and completely serious. That's what she was like, she was a fucking monster. She preferred my sisters, but that doesn't mean she wouldn't throw them away if it wasn't convenient, "My mother will never negotiate with terrorists, not even for Tolara. She will glass the Aggressor to make it happen. What's worse? She will send Kavilla to do it." They stared horrified at me, "…The only one she can trust to do so." I finished softly slamming my fist hard on a sheet of metal in Short-round's scrap pile. "…I don't expect you guys to help me and I know it's a suicide run but I need to try and save her."
"Aiden…" Yura said softly, taking a deep breath, "…She wouldn't want you to do that."
"…I don't care…" I replied, tossing another blaster aside, it shattered against the floor, "Help me or don't…"
"…Of course I'm helping you…" she said with conviction, "…you can't fly the ship…" she sighed, looking through the pile herself. "We're going to be outgunned and attacking entrenched soldiers with three people."
"Uh…" Short-round raised his hand hesitantly.
"Don't worry Short-round I wasn't counting you." Yura replied finally selecting a republic carbine in decent enough shape.
"Oh yeah, no, thanks for that, but… I think I got something that will definitely help…"
"Short-round unless it's an anti-personal tank I don't think…" I began but Short-round suddenly went over to a heavy and massive cloth covering some of his scrap and yanked it away. I stared at it with a certain amount of horror and a rising feeling of hope.
"Remember that X05 compressor I found on Spira? That's what I needed to make this work." He said, standing proudly before it. "I've been at it for a long time so I figured it'll give them a hell of a shock when you hit them with it.
"…Short-round you are the sexiest Jawa in the galaxy." I said breathlessly as we all stared at the machine of death before us, gleaming with as much pride in itself as Short-round was.
"Well thanks, boss…" then added completely serious, "Still not going to sleep with you though."
Staring at it my mind began to form a plan, slowly at first but when Short-round showed me how it worked my mind clicked and I looked at Yura with a smile. "We're going to need an airtight shipping crate."
End of Chapter
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