章 233: Change of plans... again.
I don't own Star Wars
"Anything?" asked Oriana on the com as I perched high in one of the sweet-smelling swamp trees. On the ground was muck and rot, up in the trees it was rather sweet, but it's probably bad to have extended exposure to it… Other than bringing back memories of KATE easily sniping high above our enemies, no. Not much… but I didn't really tell Oriana that.
"No." I replied, gazing up at the cloudy sky, "Nothing. No Oswin. No Sawtooth." I sighed, planting my claws into the rough bark and descending low enough to simply drop down the rest of the way. "Anything on your end?"
"A garbled transmission, other than that nothing…" Oriana replied. "Lala? Nerri?"
"Nope." Replied the pink bounty hunter sternly.
"Nothing…" Nerri noted softly. "…We've been here for almost a galactic week." She added, "…I don't think they're coming."
"…Were we conned?" Lala asked finally as I snorted, making my way back to the ship.
"No…" I noted softly. "Why would they tell us to come here if they were just going to leave us here for a week… something must have happened."
"…I agree." Oriana frowned quietly. "…I'll try calling them again."
I returned to the ship, walking up the ramp as I made my way to the elevator, riding up as Nerri soon arrived behind me. Oriana sat in the cockpit, resting over the holo-com and glaring. She turned to me as I leaned against the doorframe. She sighed angrily, getting off the chair as the com kept trying to connect.
"…What do you think?…" I asked softly as her eyes narrowed.
"…We must have missed something in the time we've been here… or this was a trap all along."
"…He wouldn't mislead us." I said as she chuckled, smiling genuinely at me.
"…I admire your trust in a man who came out of nowhere and offered to help us kill somebody." She said calmly, "In return for not helping that somebody kill us." admittedly that did sound a little weird. However. I had a rebuttal.
"He knows we're related to Killa." I said softly as Oriana's brow furrowed thoughtfully. "He knows we've talked to her… if we end up dead on his watch, from his trap… He'll make an absurd amount of enemies." I noted, rubbing my chin. "…Aida, Killa… my mother. Your aunt, my Aunt…" I took a breath. "…Not to mention…" I began as Oriana sighed with me.
"Uncle Aiden." We said together. Albeit a little reluctantly... My uncle was a good man but he's gone a little... wilder in his older years.
"He did kill an entire Star Destroyer of Militant Republic soldiers to save Aunt Tolara…" she noted. The reputation of our retired bounty hunting uncle non-withstanding. "Not to mention what he does to people who insult anyone in the family right in front of him."
"…Which makes me think that Oswin wouldn't stab us in the back, or send us into a trap so easily. So…"
"Something must have happened." Oriana repeated, smiling prettily at me as Nerri joined us. "…I'm so proud of you… you actually did some thinking on your own!"
Nerri chuckled as I frowned. "…Keep that up and I won't make a habit of it…"
"Oh you have a cunning animal mind Kallus." Noted Nerri playfully. "You should use it more often." Lala, who had finally arrived and closed the ramp. Stretched in the hold, gazing up at us.
"I'm starting to think we should piss off… we could be doing a LOT more than waiting around for Sawtooth…" she made a 'blaster' gesture with her hands. "Boom." She 'pulled the trigger' and sighed. "Might be easier to just find and shoot him if he's such a big problem."
Oriana sighed, eyeing the holo-com of the cockpit, still trying to connect as she shook her head and finally turned it off. "We'll give it one more cycle. Starting now. Before we just get on with our lives…"
The holocom suddenly pulsed as Nerri sighed, "What are the odds?"
"…No that's not Oswin." Oriana noted, as she answered. "It's a distress signal."
"From who?" I asked as Oriana booted up the ship as her eyes narrowed. The signal bleeping out a standard SOS.
"…It's a small vessel… looks like a starfighter ship."
"How can you tell?" I asked looking at the radar.
"…Because I can see it…" and sure enough a small starfighter, its engines burning, plummeted from the sky, bursting through the clouds and heading straight for the forest below in a low angle. Barely keeping level as I frowned.
"…Does that ship look familiar to you two?" I asked thoughtfully as if vanished into the tree line.
"Did it?" Nerri asked as 'it continued to emit an emergency signal on our coms. Meaning that it was mostly intact. Plus no fireball. That was usually a sign of a completely destroyed ship. "…Should we investigate?"
"…Very little else to do…" Oriana frowned as I turned, making my way to my speeder bike.
"I'll check it out. It might be Oswin…"
"Well if it's not, it's definitely somebody who needs help." She added leaning over the side of the walkway. "Smugglers and criminals aren't likely to send out distress calls after crashing." Lala opened the ramp for me, as I started my speeder bike.
"I'll be back." I declared, speeding off into the swampy forest.
Even at reduced speed, (only an idiot would go at full speed on a speeder bike in a forest) I made excellent time, following the tower of smoke wafting over what little I could see through the trees, then the smell of smoke as I got closer… I turned on my mask. As the wreck soon came into view…
The burning engine had sunk beneath the water. The ship itself however had seemed to stop sinking as I halted my bike near it, slowly drifting around the ship until.
"Bwwooooo."
My eyes narrowed as I spotted a droid in the astromech socket. It looked familiar.
"…Have I met you before?" I noted as the head suddenly did a very triumphant spin. Beeping happily at me as I narrowed my eyes at it. I have to admit most droids look the same to me however this one was definitely familiar.
"Beep-beep!!" he seemed to fidget in his socket, twisting his rather wide head towards the cockpit. I didn't speak droid but his meaning seemed clear, 'check on my pilot.' I turned my attention to the cockpit of the fighter and brushed away the muck.
I recognized the pilot immediately.
"Master Lidia." I mumbled in surprise, my claws unlatched on my gloves and I rammed it into the starfighter roof. I ripped and tore it open one-handed before practically tearing off the entire thing. She was unconscious, her mirialan head was bleeding from a small wound. Apparently banging her head on something and knocking her out cold. "Master Lidia." I gently shook her. "…Lidia?" she moaned softly, but still alive was better than nothing. I removed her straps with a quick slash of my claws. Heaving her out of the cockpit as I got off my hovering speeder bike, sloshing through the muck until I got her to a patch of dryer land.
I lied her down as she moaned quietly, her tight-fitting Jedi robes showing off her impressive curves. She flinched as I turned my attention back to her starfighter, quickly checking the cockpit I found a small bag beneath the seat, taking that, her medkit and emergency supplies, I tossed everything into my saddlebags on my bike… before finally turning my attention to her droid. Scratching my red hair thoughtfully as the droid.
"Bwwwooooo" hesitantly… clearly a 'why are you looking at me like that?' response.
"…Can you get out of there on your own?" I asked.
"…Bwwooo…" it replied negatively enough for me. As I flexed my fingers and growled…
"…Alright…" I sneered, baring my fangs as I worked myself up. "Give me a second…"
"…WWWWOOOOOOOW!!!"
A few moments later Master Lidia jumped, gripping her head in pain as I carried T260 and thumped it down next to her, it shivered and clinked as I snorted, calming down after going berserk on the ship. Tearing it open to get T260 out. It's treads rattled on the partially dried grass. Clearly terrified… Can't say I blame it… most things on the receiving end of one of my rages are terrified… so I'm told.
Master Lidia sighed softly, putting her hand on her bleeding head. She took a deep breath and seemed to… meditate. When she released the breath she had stopped bleeding and seemed healthier as her eyes focused on me… then widened. "…Kallus Wolf?"
…Right, that was the name I gave her wasn't it?
"Master Lidia." I replied as she chuckled in disbelief, and flinching. "…Quite the predicament I find you in." she smiled prettily at me and got to her feet. She wobbled concerningly but seemed to quickly catch herself. Patting her astromech on its wobbling head and glancing rather amazingly at the gaping hole in her ship.
"Well I wont say no to a semi-friendly face..." before sighing at the hole. "…Well that's a lot more damage than I expected…" she replied sadly.
"Beep-BOOP-BWOOOOOW!!" T260 squawked out nervously and she turned to it surprised.
"…What do you mean HE did it?" she asked curiously as I cleared my throat. "…Right. Mr. Wolf."
"Just call me Kallus." I grumbled as she smiled.
"Kallus, might I trouble you for a ride?" she suddenly glanced up and frowned as she glanced at the sky. "…And perhaps an opportunity to be a bodyguard?"
I looked up as well, as three troop transport ships began to break the cloud layer above.
"…On the bike." I declared as she nodded, but stared at the bike.
"…That will not take T260 and me will it?" I stared at the bike myself, before reaching into my saddlebags and pulling out a wire cord.
"Bwoooooooooooo…"
….
"BWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOWWW!!" shrieked T260 as we sped through the trees away from the crash, tided to the side of my bike as the transports unloaded their miniscule weapons into the abandoned crash sight as Lidia gripped my tightly around the waist…
Call me crazy but I could FEEL her use the force to keep us balanced as we swerved through the trees back to my ship. I swerved up the ramp as the girls jumped in shock, finding Master Lidia on the back of my bike… and with a droid tied to the side.
"BWOOO…" it mumbled.
"I know you didn't like it but what did you want us to do? Leave you to get blasted?" Master Lidia mumbled getting off the speeder bike and waving a greeting at the girls. "Hello girls." She smiled sheepishly as Oriana smiled down at her from the upper floor.
"Master Lidia… just what are YOU doing here?" before adding under her breath. "And what are the fucking odds?"
"Well that's not much of a complicated story… but I'm afraid we don't really have time for it for the moment." she sighed. "I'm currently being hunted by less than reputable men. Possibly women." She added rather absently. "If I may borrow you all for assistance and a ride to coruscant?"
""Why not?" Lala replied, "Our other plans didn't really come through."
"Oh? And what were you all doing here?"
"Planning to kill someone... something." I replied as I hefted T260 to the floor of the ship as it wobbled irately and spun around in a circle. "But he didn't show up for the trap."
"Huh…"
"Guys…" Nerri called from the cockpit. "I don't think we're going anywhere."
We entered the cockpit as Nerri pointed, a transport ship, one out of three, was still in the air. It seemed to be circling. "…We'll have some trouble if we try."
"Well… since we have time." Oriana noted turning to Lidia. "What are you out for Eldor for?"
"Nothing." Lidia sighed, "…I may have procured something." She pulled out the pouch she retrieved from my speeder bike saddle. "That they want…" she opened the bag, revealing a beautiful, shinning crystal that glowed in the faint light of the ship. It was a deep, emerald green, about a foot in length and as round as a lightsaber hilt in width. it's luster was amazing…
"That must be worth a FORTUNE." Lala giggled eagerly, her eyes going as green as the emerald.
"This is a Lryanco Crystal…" Lidia declared proudly, "It is indeed worth a fortune but mainly because the Jedi will pay an absurd amount for it. It is literally priceless to my order." She sealed it back in the bag. "I procured it from a collector who put a price on it… then those fellows." She gestured out the window towards the searching ship. "Were sent to get it from me from another collector."
"What are you going to do with it?" I asked. "Put it in a museum?"
"Some of it." she replied. "The rest will go into making lightsaber cores…"
"What a waste." Mumbled Lala sadly.
"Not to us." Lidia replied politely. But seriously. "A lightsaber made with this at its core is a formidable weapon and symbol of-"
"Yes. Very good." Oriana interrupted her rather brashly. "But let's save the history lesson for later?"
"Right. So…" Lidia stared out. "…We could try taking off at night."
"No point if they detect our engines." Oriana noted as Lidia nodded agreeingly.
"And let's assume they're already looking through your stuff." Nerri noted as I crossed my arms.
"And they won't be happy when they find no body, and no loot." Oriana added. I took a breath, quietly thinking as Lala yawned.
"…Well… it'd be a shame to let a perfectly good ambush go to waste." She noted. "Since Sawtooth never showed up, why don't we take it out on these jackasses trying to hurt our friend?"
"…Sawtooh Thryat?" Lidia replied curiously.
"Yeah…" I replied sourly. "…He doesn't like me."
"…and you have such a lovely disposition." Lidia noted with a playful smile. Then she was serious again. "Last I checked, Sawtooth was causing havoc in a gang war on Nar Shadda…" we stared at her as she sighed. "I'm just telling you what I heard. It came up when I was procuring the crystal."
"…Killing a shit tone of gangsters does sound a little more fun to him then coming to a backwater to face Kal." Lala mumbled. "Probably thought he'd be done in a couple days and head right over."
"We'll deal with it later." Oriana mumbled. "…How much time until nightfall?"
"A few more hours." Nerri replied. "Give or take…"
"…We'll wait until dark, and start the engines. Draw them towards us." She said, glancing at me as I clenched my fists. "…Then we'll run a pre-trial for Sawtooth." She then added with a small smile at Lidia. "Plus a jedi."
Lidia shrugged, returning the smile.
"I'll show you to your room." I replied, as she chuckled.
"Same one I stayed it?"
"Sure…" I replied as I led her and T260 towards one of the remaining empty cabins. T260 hadn't been in one yet.
As we got her settled, I checked her head, still a little bloody. "Are you alright? That doesn't hurt?"
"I little force healing well keep me together while I bandage it up." She said as T260 bwooo'd. "I'm fine. It's just a bump. Emergency landings do that."
"Nerri can take a look." I noted as she wiped away the blood.
"Appreciate it." she replied calmly. "And for helping me." She replied politely. "…You will be compensated." She added with a smile.
I snorted. "Well we'd at least get something out of it." she shrugged dismissively.
"Well I appreciate it. Not a lot of bounty hunters would aid a jedi without being paid. But my Master says that just because you prefer credits to promises doesn't mean you're a terrible person." She the added, her eyes narrowing at me. "A very wise jedi my master is…"
"Sure." I replied. "I'll tell Nerri to wrap that up." I left, as the Droid bwoo'd at me. Returning to the cockpit. "Nerri, can you wrap up Master Lidia's wound?"
"Sure." She said, leaving as Oriana gazed out at the transport.
"…I'd really like our shit to go as planned." She noted sourly as Lala shrugged.
"Well… look at it this way. At least our time wasn't wasted…"
"Lidia says she'll pay us when we're done." I added as Lala smiled and clapped her hands.
"Even better! Who's up for pazaak while we wait?"
Nar Shadda. Yesterday.
Sawtooth crushed the skull of a screaming rhodian, dropping the limp gangster to the ground in a room full of other dead gangsters… Everyone in the room was covered in blood except for his very bored looking sister.
"I am BORED." Hissed Sawtooth in silent agreement as Helesh absently pushed a heavy drink machine onto a twitching corpse of a weequay. "How many more do I have to kill before I can kill who I want!" he hissed. "I am already late!"
"We'll go right after Brother…" Hissed Helesh. "Tulba offered us a lot of money to do what we do best…" Sawtooh snorted through his albino muzzle.
"…If I didn't agree to work with him… I would've killed Oswin yesterday!" hissed Sawtooth. The Bounty hunter and his Cathar partner were also hired to hunt down the upstart gangsters intruding Tulba's territory… although he seemed to be as reluctant as Sawtooth on the matter.
"Later brother later!" Helesh purred.
"He might not even be there…" Sawtooth mumbled childishly. "Father would be so PROUD to know I faced my enemy in a duel to the death!"
"I know brother I know…" cooed Helesh as she watched a nearly dead gangster, grab a blaster pistol, she tilted her head curiously as he struggled to aim it at her brother. "…Brother?"
PEW
The blaster fire surged into Sawtooth's shoulder. He flinched and turned to face the dying Gangster… before marching over to him and helping him on his way. Helesh hissed excitedly as he pumped the thug's face with his foot. He growled, rolling his shoulder as his albino skin, blackened and burnt, showed on his back. "Better?"
"…Let's hurry up…" he grinned, ignoring the burning wound "I want to shave that shistavaanan…" he hissed eagerly. "His red fur will look good as my new cape."
"…I don't think you could pull off a cape brother." Helesh giggled insanely, as they went to raid another safe house.
End of chapter.
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