SEEING STARS: SQUAD ONESHOTS

Mercenary

Star Wars Universe. Around 20 BBY if anyone cares.

~~~

Nal Hutta.

Ana Jade, Jedi Knight, hadn't been to this planet before, and frankly, it wasn't high on her bucket list. The entire atmosphere was smothered in a thick, unhealthy-looking greenish fog, and the ground was unpleasantly swampy-looking. She circled an area in her small transport ship for a while before deciding it was safe to land on and wouldn't immediately swallow up her spacecraft. Upon landing, she deployed the water rails, just to balance out the weight distribution in case the ground was softer than it looked, and hopped out. The ground did squelch a little under her boots, but at least it was solid. She wrinkled her nose at the foul, sulphuric odor that permeated the air, and decided that the sooner she got moving, the sooner she could leave, the better.

She ordered her astromech to keep an eye on the ship while she set off towards the set of tower-like structures nearby. Jedi didn't like coming here much, and it was extremely easy to see why. Besides the swampy, squelchy ground and the unpleasant odor, Nal Hutta was infamous for its crime groups and cartels, run primarily by the Hutt species who ruled the planet. As Ana heard the sounds of civilization draw nearer, she reminded herself that pretty much everyone here probably had a warrant out for their arrest on one or more planets. With that in mind, she pulled the hood of her brown robe over her head and kept a tight grip on the lightsaber on her belt. She extended her feelings into the Force, sensing several types of life-forms, but none of them seeming openly hostile at the moment.

She entered the city, or what passed for a city on this planet, and made her way to one of the many pubs. She wasn't sure why her source wanted to meet with her in such a shady location, but perhaps the atmosphere was what they were going for. With the types of creatures that wandered through here, no one would bat an eye at them.

She sat herself down at a table and ordered some tea, just to give herself an excuse for being there. As she sipped at the awful brew, the chair across from her was pulled out and a young man, or humanoid at least, with curly brown hair sat down. She scanned him, mentally confirming his identity as her source. He poured himself a cup of tea, his nose wrinkling as he made himself drink it.

"Holodisk," Markos whispered over the cup, passing her a small, rectangular object under the table, so no one around could see. "I hope it's what you need."

"I think it will be," Ana said, giving him a slight nod.

The two sat there for another minute, drinking tea and not looking suspicious, until someone walked up to their table.

"Hey, kid," the guy leered at Markos. "Haven't I seen you around some places?"

He wasn't that tall, but still extremely intimidating, with rust-colored skin, a wrinkly bald head, sagging face that resembled an old pug, and glowering orange eyes.

Markos frowned, but kept his cool. "No, I don't think so."

"You sure about that?" the humanoid asked, reaching into his pocket and producing a hologram of Markos's face. "Because I'm pretty sure you're wanted for stealing some information from Kamino."

Oh, Force, Ana thought. Apparently Markos hadn't been as careful as he'd said he'd been in his last transmission.

She raised her hand and waved two fingers in front of the alien's face. "He's not the guy you're looking for."

He looked confused for a second, then his expression changed back to angry. "You think your little Jedi mind trick will work on me? Well—"

He flipped over the table, sending their tea to the floor. Ana silently thanked him for that.