Chapter 85: Adding to the Tally
I don't own star wars.
"I…Don't KNOW where Darggleto is!" the rodian shrieked in my grip as I began crushing his arms in my gauntlet.
"Are you sure?" I said coldly, twisting his arm as the shrieks grew louder, "You're his main Fence. I imagine you'd have an idea…"
Bzzz. Bzzz…
"…Hold on I have to take this." I reached into my utility belt and pulled out a holo-com, still gripping the Rodian by the arm. "Killa." I said firmly as a one-eyed hutt appeared..
"Killa." Torga smiled, "I have a job for you. How quickly can you get to Nar Shaddaa?"
I let go of the rodian, pressed my hand onto the back of his head, and slammed him so hard into his glass counter it shattered as he fell backward unconscious. "...I'm already there. What's the job?"
"The daughter of a friend of mine has been kidnapped, I would like you to help her brother to find her quickly. I fear that she will be… spoiled, if not found soon." He said coolly.
"…5000 credits on completion." I said firmly, turning the rodian's display around and checking his security cameras, "Send me their location."
"You'll find them in the penthouse of the Shining Star Nar Shaddaa branch, you're looking for Roland Firemane and a wookiee named Caradoc."
I paused a recording of a video with a Gran thief named Darggleto on the rodian fence's display; wanted for, naturally, theft and attempted murder. I stated at the holo-com and Torga. "…Roland Firemane?" I replied curiously. I was a little surprised I'd run into him again so soon… I still had to wait five days.
"Play NICE." Torga said firmly, glaring at me with his one good eye. "Don't think I don't know that you tried to take him in when he had that contract on him. I want his sister found… I've been waiting forever for the next installment of Spy Games."
"...Fine. Tell them I'm on my way." I spat abruptly, downloading the video of the Gran and leaving the unconscious rodian and his broken guard droids as I left the pawnshop… Roland Firemane. So, he had a sister, who was in the Spy Games holo-film series. I didn't recall any humans that looked like him. Although Circe Bessana had the hair and eyes for it, she was a Cathar. Not important I had a job to do now. It was just a shame I couldn't take him, but my hunt with Blackjaw wasn't supposed to start for another five days at least. It would be cheating to have a head start.
I arrived at the Nar Shaddaa Shining Star in good time. Dozens of peacekeepers were questioning the guards, the staff, and a few other sentients on vacation or illicit rendezvous. I, however, made my way to the penthouse, finding a rather solemn looking wookiee a rather nervous-looking familiar red-head, and with the added addition of a black-furred, white-striped Cathar… I had seen her before, with far less clothes on… she was one of Torga's dancers, what was she doing here? Well, she didn't look like a dancer now, whatever the reason…
In fact, they all looked like warriors. Angry warriors… Good.
I cleared my throat, announcing my presence, and immediately Roland was aiming his rifle at me, good reflexes. But if he was scared of me he should've fired. Well, he has time to learn. "I'm here to help." I said, ignoring the ominous growl from the wookiee. "Torga sent me to find… your sister?" I added, eyeing Roland again under my mask.
…I wonder where all that fire in his eyes came from?
"Yes." The wookiee, Caradoc, replied bluntly sniffing angrily as he watched me. "She has been taken but not without causing some damage." He smiled, apparently proud of that fact as he gestured to the bloody broken vanity. "This blood is Rodian not Cathar…"
"Cathar?" I asked surprised but the mask hide it behind its modulated voice "…Roland's sister is a Cathar?"
"Can we just find Circe first and explain my family's genetics later?" Roland replied firmly. Quite the tone of command he held. Also, Circe? As in Circe Bessana? She is his sister? I'll store that information and keep it for myself later.
"If one of her assailants was injured and they didn't leave him here they would've taken him to a mob doctor, or a medical droid. There are a few nearby, they'd need to take him there quickly judging by the amount of blood. But it would still be preferable to know who we're dealing with." I noted quickly, they looked at me rather impressed. Like I needed their approval.
Roland paced a little as the other Cathar female in the room looked absently out an unlatched window, "…I think I might have seen her bodyguard bribed by a blue-skinned twi'lek with a burn scar on his lekku, but I don't know his name."
"Well then…" I said absently, "…Where is this guard now?"
Found him.
"HOLY SHIT YOUR CRAZY!" he shrieked as I held him over the edge of the deep pits of Nar Shaddaa by the ankles, he stared terrified down into the loud darkness as half a dozen peacekeepers tried to talk me down. Roland stood silently next to me as Caradoc glared at the peacekeepers. Nike, the Cathar, stood off the one side, watching me intently as my mask's eyes clicked and whirled. "I don't know anything! I was on break!" he cried as I held him by the ankle.
"You took a bribe." Roland whispered glaring at him, he suddenly stopped screaming to stare at Roland, a little shocked, "…Money and a Twi'lek…" he added, he was a natural interrogator, kept his voice low and menacing without a hint of emotion… it made your targets think you didn't care what happened to them. "What was the blue skinned one's name? The one with the burn on his lekku."
"I-I don't…" I loosened my grip and he dropped an inch, "S-shit! Bando! Bando Ro he- He paid me to walk away for thirty minutes. That's it! I didn't think he'd kidnap Circe!"
"It's Ms. Bessana." Roland said coldly as I tossed the piece of shit back over the rail toward the peacekeepers. "Now what?" he asked me as I looked at him.
"…Now we got to the doctor's allied with Gutta the Hutt."
It didn't take long to find one, the only doctor I knew of that worked for Gutta was a human male named Cross not too far from the Shining Star. Gutta was a low-level mobster and I mean that in two ways. Both professionally and literally he operated on the lower levels of Nar Shaddaa. He was barely a rival of Babayaga and her spawn but still a bit player on Nar Shaddaa. He had very… disturbing tastes. Rumors had it that if you displeased him he'd eat you. Usually alive… but I didn't need to tell Roland that.
"Wookiee, how's your breaching leg?" I asked as we approached the underground medcenter run by Cross.
"My what?" Caradoc asked, looking at me as he sniffed.
"When I say 'go'-" I readying myself, "Kick the door." Caradoc sniffed again, but he too struck up a ready position as Roland leveled his rifle and Nike pulled the blasters from her holsters at her waist.
"Go." With our combined might the door folded under our blow, catching the gamorrean guards by surprise as Caradoc was inside with a speed that belied his size. Gripped one of the pigmen by the face he hefted him up and slammed his skull against his nose, hurling him against the wall…
I was on the other, a few well-placed Echani strikes and he crumpled under my power armor's enhanced strength. A gran however came up behind me, grabbing my scarred tallied lekku as he drew a vibro-knife on me. Holding it downwards to stab my face as I saw the light glint of the edge. He was peppered with blaster fire, dropping the knife uselessly to the floor and collapsing in a heap against the wall.
"Are you alright?" Roland said concerned, as I shook the pain from my lekku.
"Fine. Go further in and find the doctor." I said, as he turned I stroked my lekku, letting my fingers brush against the three tally marks… wondering if that counted or not, then watching Roland walk away… Regardless I grabbed the dead Gran's vibro-knife and followed Roland in.
The human doctor deserved a little respect, even when Roland leveled his blaster on him he continued to work on a rodian strapped to the table with huge mirror shards in his face. Carefully and expertly removing them as the rodian flinched and squeaked in pain with every tinkle of the bloody mirror that dropped onto the tray nearby.
"Where is my SISTER?" He hissed angrily to the rodian as the doctor continued to work.
"F-fuck you! OW!" he yelled as the Doctor, Cross, pulled out another mirror shard casually from his cheek.
Roland's grip tightened on his blaster rifle, then he took a deep breath, "Caradoc can I borrow you for a second?" he asked, and the big wookiee shoved past me. Making the doctor hesitate for a moment as Roland gestured for Caradoc to grab the rodian's arm. He did.
"If you don't tell me where you assholes took my sister." He said slowly, "I'm going to let our very protective and violent uncle rip off your arm and shove it into one of your various holes to let the doctor remove…" he said, cold as ice… I liked it. "You do know that wookiee's can do that right?"
Amazingly Caradoc grinned. Apparently, he liked the idea… and that seemed to convince the rodian as he stared terrified at him. "I-I don't know where I swear I was just hired muscle."
"Why was she taken?" Roland asked, glaring at the rodian. "There isn't a bounty on Circe is there?" he asked looking at me.
"No." I replied, "I would know, a star like her the bounty would have to be huge…"
"No bounty…" the rodian said nervously, and added a little ashamed, "…Gutta just likes pretty girls… use em and lose em…"
Roland had some fury behind him: his eyes seemed to glow with fire that matched his hair. His rifle butt slammed into the Rodian's face, piercing shards deeper as Caradoc struggled to hold him. "Where is she!?" he roared as the rodian rolled off the table and tried to crawl away. But I grabbed his leg, dragged him back, and kicked him over. I scanned his face, letting the light from my wrist device flow over him… "You have a bounty." I noted, "…From Quallo Val. That is a shame, I'm under the impression that he doesn't like rodians…"
"I don't know where she-" but then there came an odd buzzing… from Roland's pants. He blinked for a moment, apparently wondering why we were all staring.
"Oh! Oh hang on that's me…" he pulled a strange-looking communicator from his pocket, and a small holo display popped up, words appearing on it as he looked. "…Where is sector 34D?" he asked suddenly looking at me, then the rodian.
"It's not far. And a level or two down why?"
"That's… apparently one of Gutta's safe houses." He said, glaring at the com. "…You know where Circe is?" he asked.
"What are you…" I began but then the holo-display showed an obvious, YES on it and he shoved it in his pocket. "Let's go." He said as Caradoc and Nike followed him out. I turned to the rodian for a moment. …No sense in wasting an quick bounty… Tossing him in the trunk of my speeder I got in, the others did the same. "Hold on." I said, kicking the drive in gear and heading off to 34D.
I hated and loved the lower levels of Nar Shaddaa… I hated the memories it brought… but I loved the feeling of being able to fire my blaster anywhere down here and hitting someone who won't be missed. Well, with the exception of three people I imagine…
"Let's find her quick…" Nike said, glaring at a collection of thugs who were eyeing her lecherously. "Where's the safe house?" she asked looking at Roland as he pulled out the communicator again. It displayed clear directions and we followed it until we found a door with a pair of Nikto outside obviously standing guard. What confirmed it however was a blue-skinned twi'lek with a burn scar came out to check in with them… we knew what we had to do… it was just a matter of how.
"Do we do this loud or quiet?" I asked, looking at the three. "…Can you three do quiet?"
"I can do quiet…" Caradoc noted coolly, "…Do you want the left or the right?"
"I'll take the left one…" I said, turning to Roland and Nike "Wait here until it's done." I said, sneaking off to circle around the left guard. It was impressive how quiet Caradoc was, you wouldn't think a big wookiee like him could hide easily in a city like Nar Shaddaa.
It was over in a moment, I had the left Nikto in a headlock and before the right could even react the wookiee warrior snapped him like a twig. Shoving him away and approaching mine, punching him hard in the face, making him collapse in my arms… perhaps Roland isn't the one we should be hunting. Regardless. "Good work." I told him, my mask hiding my obvious respect for his talent.
"The work isn't done." He said firmly, signaling Roland and Nike over and drawing his sword, "We ready? I don't want my niece in their clutches a second longer."
"Should we knock?" Roland asked, and quickly checking a nikto pulled out a keycard, "Or let ourselves in?" We let ourselves in… and took barely five steps into the place before we realized it was a warehouse and swarming with thugs.
…Today would be a good day…
Caradoc changed out his sword for his bowcaster and the warehouse lit up. Half a dozen guards were down before they realized they were under attack. We split up, Caradoc took to the shadows of the tall aisles of crates, stabbed, shooting, essentially breaking thugs left and right. Nike and Roland, obviously not used to extensive firefights like this still handled themselves well. Perhaps Roland was driven forward by the instinct to protect his sister? The loyalty of their family for each other was well known even if I wasn't aware of his relation to Circe Bessana.
Speaking off… I began to search rooms, dozens of illegal contraband sure, but no signs of slaves until…
"BACK OFF!" Bando Ro shouted holding a knife on Ms. Bessana as he used her as a 'human' shield. "Back off!" he repeated, "Or this bitch's blood paints the walls." I backed away cautiously as blaster fire continued to echo through the warehouse, along with screaming. "This was supposed to be a simple fucking job…" he snarled, "Take the bitch to Gutta and get paid. So… how about you let me go, and I cut you in?"
"…Excuse me." Circe began suddenly, looking at me extraordinarily calm, "But I assume you're here to rescue me?"
"Shut up bitch!"
"I am assisting…" I replied, "I believe you know a Roland Firemane?"
Circe smiled as Bando Ro began shrieking in Ryl. "Well, then I assume you've killed most of his guards then." It all happened so quickly that I was deeply impressed. Even with her hands bound, she bashed Bando's face with her the back of her skull, before lunging her mouth forward and sinking her teeth into his knife-hand. Making him drop it as with one fluid movement she twisted forwards, leaped into the air, and swung her bound arms under her legs before wrapping her arms around his head as he struggled and…
SNAP.
Bando dropped lifeless to the ground as she held out her hands to me, cool as ice "…Do you mind?"
"…Where did you learn to do that?" I asked calmly. I've been around sudden and violent killing all my life, what she did was impressive but nothing I couldn't do. So I sliced her bindings off with a vibro-knife.
"My father's a bounty hunter, my uncle is a warrior wookiee, one of my moms is essentially an untrained sith and I have a couple of aunts in both militaries… take your pick." She replied casually rubbing her sore wrists, "The only real problem however was they outnumbered me 20 to 1… so… thank you."
…This entire family was a goldmine…
"Does your brother know you can do that?" I asked, pulling my tri-barrel blaster and eviscerating a thug.
"Not that specifically…" she replied, "But yeah." She smiled at me, "It's so sweet that he worries!... I'm still angry at him though..."
If she was she didn't show it when she saw him, immediately hugging each other. "Are you okay? Did they hurt you?"
"Roly I'm fine…" she replied, dusting herself off. "Just a little stiff. Let's go have dinner okay?"
"Circe a hutt tried to kidnap you to be his slave!" Roland replied, "You should be concerned!"
"Well… then I'll need to hire more efficient bodyguards." She said calmly, looking at me. "How about you, are you available?"
"Not particularly… but I do have a suggestion."
After arrangements had been made and I had been paid, I left them in the Shining Star. Firing her security team by having the big wookiee hurl them out of the hotel. Apparently, they will be staying put until her new security will be arriving…
I sat on my ship, brushing my scarred lekku as I tallied my wall. Another job, and another tally, and a few more for kills… then I stopped, looking over almost a hundred green tallies on my ship walls. Then I felt my lekku scars as I took off my mask… each one representing a failure under Blackjaw… I only had three. Should I have four?
"Are you alright?" the words echoed in my head… But I didn't hate it. I took the Gran's vibro-knife from my boot and ran it down the wall leaving a scratched tally mark in the wall rather than my painted green.
"…One for Roland... see you in four days."
End of Chapter.
Bonus
Two days later: Odrah's show
"So, Circe you're back on the scene after a horrible kidnapping!" Odrah the Mirialan talk show host said amazed, pouring Circe a cup of tea from her interview table, "I have to say I wouldn't have nearly recovered so quickly…"
"Well I was lucky to be saved but some very devoted fans." Then to the camera she mouthed 'love you Roly'… "Anyway after that, I dismissed my security team and hired another."
"Yes… and I'm under the impression that they were recommended by a family friend?" she said, checking her notes.
"Yes." Circe smiled and nodded, "And a friend of my Father's. Would you like to meet my head of security?"
"Can we?" Odrah asked excitedly as the crowd clapped.
"Oh, I insist." Circe smiled with a chuckle, waving off camera.
A tall, threatening-looking, blue-armored Mandalorian walked on stage. He waved politely to the crowd smiling politely under his recently trimmed black beard, apparently quite a few women in the audience were quite taken with him, wolf-whistling as he took a seat next to Circe. "This is Urai-ken." Circe smiled patting his armored thigh "And while I'm filming on Nar Shaddaa, he and his hand-picked clan members volunteered to watch out for me."
Odrah, quite taken with the apparently dashing Urai, herself, poured him a cup of tea as he sat down and, hilariously, began to sip it like he was an imperial noble, waving a hand in front of her face. "A clan of mandalorians?" she laughed, "That is very impressive how did you manage that?"
"Oh, they're fans…" Circe smiled innocently as can be as Urai coughed into his tea rather indignantly.
"…To be fair once we had heard that Ms. Bessana was kidnapped, my men were more than happy to volunteer." He said professionally, "And I, like my boss, am a friend of her father's."
"You could say he's an honorary uncle." Circe smiled professionally, apparently utterly entertained by the fact that Urai was her bodyguard now.
"Well Mr. Ken. Do you have any messages for the people who tried to kidnap our favorite actress?"
"Just Urai…" he said rather softly, to the squeals of the female audience. "And… no not anymore…" he said with a rather dark, but still very handsome, smile. "I've already had a few of my men deliver those messages…" he added knowingly as he sipped his tea. Circe elbowed him and he spilled his tea, "Ow!"
"…Did Urai just admit to attacking Gutta and his holdings?" I asked, watching the show from my ship with Rattletrap and Nike.
"No, he admitted to delivering messages… that probably exploded violently." Rattletrap noted sourly, "Not that I had ANYTHING to do with that" he denied poorly, "and I still can't believe you guys didn't call me when Circe got kidnapped!"
"We were kind of moving quickly Rattletrap." I said sheepishly.
"You can help the next time she gets kidnapped." Nike noted, before chucking a pillow at the jawa, "Now come on. Spy Games 1 won't play itself!"
Rattletrap mumbled but changed the holo-screen to the holo-player channel and we began our Circe marathon, just as Caradoc returned with the popcorn.
End of Bonus.
Yes. Circe finds it hilarious that Urai and his clan are her bodyguards…
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