"Betenor" = "to sigh"
(Bounty hunters helmet as described)
Clang! The blaster shot bounced off the vambrace and into some littering old cargo strewn off to the side. The tight alleyway served as protection for the bounty hunter as they were pressed up against the corner wall, leaning out every now and again to aim a shot at their bounty. A run away senator piling into ridiculous amounts of debt to the worst bankers within the galaxy, warlords. The air around them smelled of faint smoke from their blaster, as well as rusting metal alloy that had been left out in the rain for far too long. The air was thick with moisture from recent bad weather and the ground was a thick slosh of mud with bits and pieces of metal or chipped paint mixed in.
Knowing no more than the absolute necessary things to capture said senator, the who and why of it all were unknown. Therefore irrelevant, especially to the bounty hunter. They were there for a pay day, not to squabble in politics that seemed to be as effective as fueling a ship with Bantha crap.
"I'll pay you double– no triple than you'll earn on turning me in!"
With what? The credits you're indebted to pay certain warlords? Leaning out from the corner of the wall, the bounty hunter fired off two shots with the blaster. One aiming to the left of the bounty who tried bargaining, effectively making him jump to the right to not get hit. But it was an unwise decision as he was now standing out in the open. The other shot hit him in the leg, earning a screech as he dropped down on the ground. Senators, always so dramatic.
The bounty hunter stepped out from the corner and quickly stepped over to him, kicking his blaster out from his hand. He squealed from the hit and rolled over onto his back, breathing heavily from the burning pain, "Please... I– the offer still stands. Let me go and y-you'll have your credits, I-I swear!"
His hands trembled in the air as he held them up in a meagre defence. The bounty hunters' blaster was staring down at the senator's face. But all he could see was a helmet staring down at him, almost as if they were death itself coming to collect his puny soul. A gloved finger rested gently against the trigger. To think, that an ounce of pressure could be so fatal. It almost made the bounty hunter laugh. It was a ridiculous thing really. Luckily for the man squabbling in the mud before them, such power would not be demonstrated against him. Not today at least.
"I tell you, three million credits, straight into your possession! Even the Emper– I-I mean uh, even a-a droid could see the profit you would be making in that–" a quick blow to the head with the butt-end of the blaster ended the senators rambling.
The bounty hunter sighed heavily and shook their helmeted head, "Fucking senators."
Holstering their blaster, they grabbed a handful of the unconscious senator's coat and started dragging him through the mud. The dark mud was already thick around their boots as they walked on, they had been forced to chase the bounty through half the city before ending up in a short lived shootout. The senator, Kai Seetari, proved to be awful with a blaster. Which the bounty hunter didn't mind, only made their job easier. And they certainly didn't mind an easy pay day.
Dragging Senator Seetari along through the scrap town of Bracca back to their ship, they didn't get many looks. The scrappers here didn't care either way, scrap is scrap, metal or not. Plus, they wouldn't gain a medal of honour for taking the bounty of a bounty hunter. Even an idiot could understand that.
A black painted Kom'rk fighter ship with orange stripe details stood waiting for the bounty hunter as they dragged the unconscious body along. Its long wings stood straight, pointing to the sky as if to say that it wanted to go back into the star-filled galaxy again.
Say one thing for mud, say that it's easy to drag a body through it. Easier than it would've been if it was solid dirt. Dropping the senator onto the ground again, the bounty hunter tapped a combination of buttons on their matted silver vambrace, activating the ship's systems. A sharp hiss emitted amongst the otherwise quiet area in which they had landed as the ramp emerged from the hull. Heaps of broken scrap metal, broken ships and parts of droids were abandoned in high piles around, almost like protective walls. A bit aways from the nearest 'city', if you could even call it that, to be undisturbed. Although, the hunter had been aware ever since they left that they were running a risk of coming back to a dismantled or crushed ship. Leaving it alone on a scrap heap planet like Bracca was almost never a good idea. About as good as leaving it alone on Tatooine where Jawas could get their dirty little hands on it. But nevertheless, they had successfully –and with ease– captured their last bounty and had come back to a whole and fully functioning ship. They were in no mind going to complain.
As they once more grabbed ahold of the bounty, they heard muffled groans coming from him. He was starting to wake up from his unwanted nap. Digging their boots into the ground to drag him inside, they felt the small pitter patter of rain upon their shoulder. A quick glance up at the dark clouds confirmed the suspicion of more bad weather rolling in.
"Good thing I'm just about done here." grunting from the awkward effort of dragging a semi-conscious human up a ramp, the pitter patter became heavier.
Another moan of pain came from the man, "Wh... wha' you sa'...?"
"Shut it."
The blaster made harsh contact with their head again, not as forceful this time as he was barely conscious to start with. What's more, the bounty was only required to be alive, some head injuries would be fine.
A minute or two later, the runaway senator was chained and gagged in the cargo hold with the others, making sure that he wouldn't be able to crawl around if he decided to wake up again. His blaster wound had been cleaned and bandaged so he wouldn't bleed out on the trip back.
The hunter hung up her cloak which had become damp from the rain outside before sitting down by the controls. Small drops of water dropped steadily from her helmet and down onto the shoulder armour she wore. The helmet was form fitting to her head, chin pointed and slightly dragged out. What had once been a bright orange had become scratched and dulled, made dirty from bounty hunting and scuffles on the ground. The mouth in the front had layered metal pieces that protected the modulator inside and the eyes were made of two sets of paired round holes close together. Not only did it give the illusion that she was another species than human at first glance, but it also helped her to have a vision that could be normal range and enhanced. It served her well when doing recon of an area where the bounty might be hiding.
The fully covering helmet was almost as iconic to her identity as it had been for Mandalorians. On Nevarro where she was stationed with the guild, everyone would instantly recognise who it was when they saw the colour. The whispers of the disturbed lone hunter would spread all around her like wind rustling the trees. Apparently she had become the odd one out because she wasn't very talkative and always wore the helmet. Then it had somehow progressed through rumours that she was 'disturbed', or just deranged. That however, was completely out of her control. All because of a job gone wrong and it looked a lot worse than it had actually been. So, hunters being hunters, started spreading the rumour of her being deranged. In all honesty, she just couldn't care less to socialise with other bounty hunters. They were either out to get you and your credits, or your job and your credits. Knowing that one could never trust another bounty hunter, she had simply decided that it wasn't worth the effort to make fake friends. Better off all alone and in control than having someone else along and having to worry about them potentially stabbing you in the back.
The rhythmic sound of metal scittering came racing from behind her before something landed on the dashboard by her. Well, almost all alone.
"BD-6! Hey buddy, were you off sleeping all this time?"
The sand coloured BD unit turned its head to the side and chirped at her. Chuckling, she rubbed it lovingly on the head as it leaned against her hand, "Did you get everything sorted on the system upgrade?"
The droid chirped excitedly and summarised its work it had done while she had been out hunting. She listened intently and a pride swell in her chest at the little one in front of her. Finding him a few years back all abandoned with both its legs short circuited, she had immediately taken a liking to it. After fixing it, they had stayed together and it would either guard the ship or help her on bounty hunting trips.
The BD unit finished their story and the hunter smiled within her helmet, "Good job little guy, I'm proud of you. Now let's get going, eh?"
It beeped in agreement and settled down into her lap.
Heaving another sigh as the tension of tracking down and capturing the bounty slowly released its grip on her, she realised how exhausted she had become. The last few rotations had been filled with quarries and travelling between different planets had messed up her sleeping rhythm. Too long amongst the stars and you don't know what is day and what is night until you land somewhere. Although she had a chrono on one of her dashboard screens that kept track of the rotational hours back on Coruscant, she barely had time to check it. Either travelling and prepping the gear for a hunt or actually being on the hunt would mostly occupy her time. She slept whenever she would find the time and place for it. But now when she sat down and worked the controls on the ships as it roared to life and lifted from the ground, exhaustion landed heavy on her shoulders. Her metal helmet didn't help as it now felt like it weighed more than an old Imperial cruiser. Fighting against closing her eyes, she was quick to put in the coordinates for Nevarro in the navi computer. As the ship exited Bracca's atmosphere, she launched it into hyperspace and let her arms drop down into her lap around BD-6.
Thinking she should double check that all the quarries were properly tied and gagged before getting some rest, her body seemed to protest that very notion. She had done the fatal mistake of leaning her head back against the chair, feeling the slight hum of the ship lull her to sleep. Relaxing her body, she numbly watched the swirl of white and blue shades outside as she drifted off into a very needed sleep.
And so the Kom'rk ship carried the bounty hunter, her droid companion and her quarries hurling towards Nevarro, a hot and barren planet on the outskirts of the Outer Rim. A planet where she resided in between jobs, albeit not a planet she would call home. For that planet had been long lost to her.
~*~
Su cuy'gar! (mando'a for 'hello!')
This is the first chapter of a new book that I very impulsively decided to start writing :) As stated within the description of the book, there is no schedual to the updates and I do not want any complaints about it. This is merely a spare time activity, my life can -and will- come in between updating.
But I do hope you guys will enjoy reading this story! :)
Love, the Author <3