章節 305: What Is In It For Me?
Dageer had been on guard since they entered the pirate's den. When he saw the bounty hunter, Aurra Sing, he had to exert a lot of self-control not to lift his blaster and kill her. She had killed many of his brothers.
"Dear Hondo, I didn't know you were bringing me a present."
"What? A present? I ain't... Oh, oh, oh!!! Aurra, what are you doing?!"
Hondo had been smiling the entire time, exchanging pleasantries with General Kenobi and General Skywalker, and already had a drink in his hand, so it took him a few seconds to notice something wrong with Sing's words. When he did, he turned around to find her with an old Watchman pistol on her hand, aiming it - curiously enough - at one of the clones, who had a horn painted on his helmet.
That prompted the clones and Jedis to pull out their own weapons, followed by the pirates and bounty hunters. In a second, the entire bar was in a standoff.
"Wait, wait, wait! Calm down, everyone! Put down your weapons! Now!"
Albeit hesitantly, the outlaws obeyed him, except for Sing. Hondo was bold, but not stupid. If it was one or two Jedis, they could handle it, with heavy casualties. Four of them, plus half a dozen clones, was suicide. Although scum like his crew was easy to find, it still took effort and credits, and he didn't want to bother.
"You too, Aurra. Now."
"That bastard put me in prison twice, Hondo."
"And you escaped like always. Now, remember this is my turf. Either you put that blaster down immediately, or I will make you."
Aurra Sing looked at Hondo, and knew he was being serious. They might have some kind of relationship, but business came first.
"Grr... You get to live for now, clone. But someday I will find you."
"Hell Squad will be waiting, bounty hunter."
Dageer didn't say anything, but Cell, like always, couldn't keep his mouth shut. All he received was a curse from Sing, as the woman left the building, and the planet. The Jedis looked at Dageer curiously but he just shrugged, his body language saying 'I will tell you later'.
"I am sorry about that, Jedis. Aurra told me many times about how she hated a few clones, I just never imagined we would have such a coincidence. Haha! Such a small galaxy, right?"
"Cut the small talk, Hondo. We need you to get us somewhere."
"Oh? And what might be that place?"
"Somewhere."
Putting on his business face, the pirate tried to extract as much information as he could from General Skywalker, but the Jedi was short and cold. They couldn't risk being heard by a Separatist spy.
Hondo also had done many shady dealings before, and he knew that discretion was a must.
But he had other worries.
"I can discuss the job later, Skywalker. But I have to know if it is even worthy of my time. I am a very busy man, you know?"
"We can see that."
General Tiplar raised an eyebrow, and looked around to the drunk outlaws, and the dirty bar. She muttered something under her breath, which Hondo ignored.
"So, what is in it for me? I love the Republic, but I don't work for free."
"Fifty thousand credits."
"Hahaha! Bhuahaha... You are funny, Jedi. A hundred."
The pirate exploded in laughter, taking a few seconds to calm down, and faked whipping a tear of laughter.
"Fifty thousand. You will take it."
Moving his hand in front of Hondo, General Skywalker used the Force to influence the pirate's mind, but he was unsuccessful.
"You should know your tricks don't work on me, Jedi. You tried it last time, remember? When you and this one over there were my prisoners?"
He used a finger to point at General Kenobi, but General Skywalker's old master didn't see to be offended. In fact, he smiled.
"Sixty thousand, and we will forget that you sent people to rob and dismantle our ship while we are here, Hondo."
"Err... It was just a joke, oh powerful Jedi Knights. Sixty thousand it is!"
"Good. Half here, and half after you get us where we need to be."
"Of course! And... As a sign of good faith, can you return my men? They were just curious about your cruiser. It's a warship, after all."
General Kenobi stared at Hondo for a whole minute, saying nothing, until the pirate broke in cold sweat. Finally, he nodded at Dageer, who turned on his comlink.
"Doom, Boss, let them go."
"Roger that, Dageer. Come on, scram!"
Soon, a mixed group of Wheetays, Niktos, and Humans entered the bar in a sorry state. Before they left the ship, General Skywalker had already predicted something like this would happen, so he had given orders for the clones who stayed inside it to only kill the pirates if necessary. He didn't want to have Hondo asking for compensation for his crew's death.
"What were you thinking, idiots? That a Jedi would let their ship unguarded?"
"Sorry, boss..."
"Get out of my face! You are in charge of the Sarlacc for the next two rotations! Now, go away! I have important guests!"
General Tiplar raised an eyebrow at General Skywalker, but the Jedi just shrugged. When Hondo turned to them again, he had a huge grin on his face.
"Now, about that first payment..."
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"You are out of your mind, Jedi! I am not taking you to Geonosis! The Separatist would tear us into pieces in an instant!"
Hondo was yelling at the four Jedis, still thinking they were suicidal by trying to enter Geonosis. However, he was ignored, and a Doom Legion clone stepped forward to talk with the Jedis. All he could do was listen and complain.
"Twenty hours, generals."
"Wait, wait, wait... Twenty hours for what?"
General Tiplar flashed him a smile, making the pirate shudder. He didn't like happy Jedis. They were too unpredictable.
"To our arrival on Geonosis, of course. We already entered hyperspace, pirate. There is no turning back now. You better hope your access codes work."
Hondo could only look at the Jedis hopelessly. He had put himself in this position when he found an old Maxillipede Shuttle and working security codes. If he had known what they were planning, he would have rather loose the money he was promised than go with them. But now was too late to regret.
"I swear, Jedis, especially you two. If we get out of this alive, not even your Force will be able to stop me from killing you."
"Don't lie, Hondo. You like us. Otherwise, why would you have captured instead of killing us last time?"
"I wanted to ask for ransom, Skywalker! Instead, I got nothing but a bunch of my crew killed! Damn you!"
"Can you two stop bickering like two Gungans, please? That isn't appropriate even for a pirate, whatsoever a Jedi, my old padawan."
Dageer had the feeling the two men could argue until they landed on Geonosis. General Kenobi apparently felt the same, so he told both of them to go to their quarters.
Dageer waited to see if there was anything else, and when a clone from Doom Legion relieved him from duty, he went to meet Hell and Delta Squad, as well as Commander Doom and Bad Batch. A huge mission was just a few hours away from starting, and clones always liked to spend that time together. You never knew when it could the last time.
創作者的想法 
Reis123
Reis123 What's up, everyone! I posted a new auxiliary chapter, with tips to new authors. I decided to do so after someone DMed me, asking for a few suggestions on their new story. If it interests you, make sure to check it out. I explain a lot better there.
Also, if we have any authors here who were inspired by Broke, or decided to start writing because of it, be free to share your novel in the comments ONLY in the auxiliary chapter, not in the normal ones, please.
As always, may the Force be with you.
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榜單 
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