Planet: Nar Shaddaa:
System: Y'Toub
City: New Vertica
( Scarlets POV )
Our ship exited out of hyperspace and began its descent into Nar Shaddaa.
I was in my bed staring into the roof of my eye lids as I felt the ship jerk to a slower pace.
Dawn was getting her wound patched up, Viper was in the control room contacting our client, and the boys were counting the amount of beskar we acquired.
We were very lucky to have escaped that cold planet with our lives.
Don't get me wrong, we've been on more dangerous missions then this one. But when it comes to not working together as a team, and we nearly get killed int the end, that's when our missions get risky.
Some would call us bounty hunters. But we are not bounty hunters, we are a team of mercenaries.
We choose which jobs to take, and take whatever looks interesting to us for our own personal interests.
But of course the only missions we take are the ones that offer more money-even warriors have to make a living for themselves.
I finally opened my eyes and slowly got out of my bed. My room was all decorated just as I left it.
Weapons, posters of my favorite music artists, my favorite plants, a large wooden chest with my personal belongings, and of course my guitar, 'which hung on the wall across from my bed.'
Feeling a little filthy from all of the cardio done on our previous mission, I decided to take a quick shower.
Taking a shower sometimes calms me down and helps me to get my thoughts off off certain things.
Once I finished and got dressed and proceeded out of my room and wondered throughout the halls of 'the Red Main.'
That was the name of the ship. We've had her for years and she's really shown the galaxy that she's a ship to be reckoned with!
She was a pretty big ship. Fast, stealthy, and she always has a few surprises stored up her sleeve every time anyone attempts to mess with her.
The Red Main has six bedrooms, a family room, a large entertainment space, an observation deck and a huge kitchen area.
She was pretty much an apartment with big guns and a hyperdrive core all in one.
I entered into the family room and saw Dawn on the couch. She was picking at her bandages co wrong her shoulder wound.
"Agh ouch!"
"Hey" I started at her. "How many times have I told you to stop picking at your bandages? They're helping the medicine do its work so if you don't want an infection, stop picking at your wound."
She rolled her eyes and pulled her short sleeve over the bandage.
"I can't help it. This thing itches more then it heals."
"Well then next time try not to get hit by blaster fire and practice what you taught me. 'Keep your eyes sharp and your corners checked.'"
"Thank you so much for that wonderful piece of advice you shared with the class young lady. You get an A+ for strategy class" Dawn responded sarcastically.
On the inside I was smiling with a big smirk because I loved reminding the team of what they taught me. Especially when they mess up. But I wasn't gonna show Dawn my smile.
In this job emotions cloud your focus and concentration. To be a mercenary you have to have a sharp mind. When it comes to living out here in the Outer Rim 'especially Hutt Space,' there's only one rule. Live or Die!
To live means you need to do whatever it takes to survive. You need to be strong, adapt, make a name for yourself, and keep your circle of trust to a minimum.
To die, well... to die means you're not willing to take risks and make sacrifices. You let fear get in the way of your objectives, you open up your heart just to see it get crushed by betrayal, and your emotions make you weak and vulnerable.
That's not me..... it will NEVER be me. Because when I die I'm gonna die fighting with all that's left in my body. Blasters, knives and fists.
"You ready to get paid" Dawn asked me? "It's been awhile since we last had a good score to add to our pockets."
"Trust me, I'm ready to be paid. After all that I'm looking forward to spending some credits on myself with food, new gear, and possibly a warm strong body next to me in bed."
Dawn chuckled after I explained to her my plans to celebrate our successful heist.
As I looked at her from the corner of my eye I noticed she started to show a small sad expression on her face.
"What's up" I asked her. She shot her head up to look at me acting as if she never heard a word I said.
"What? Oh nothing I was just thinking."
"Don't give me that crap Dawn. I know there's something on your mind that you want to tell me. Now spit it out and tell me what it is." I leaned back on the couch, my arms folded and my eyes locking on Dawn.
I could tell she was nervous to talk to me about 'whatever it was she was thinking about in her mind,' to me.
"Listen Scarlet I.... I want you to understand that I didn't mean to bring up your sister." My jaw started to tense, I breathed in and out deeply.
"I never meant to make you mad or anything I was just trying to......."
She stopped talking as I placed my hand in front of her to stop the conversation. I closed my eyes for a bit and slowly opened them. Putting my hand down I looked at her and responded.
"Don't worry about it Dawn. I know your intentions were good. But now you know that I don't enjoy talking about my family. Especially her....so let's just forget it ever happened okay?"
She nodded in content. Then she lifted her fist toward me for a fist pump. I indulged her for a minute and hit her fist with mine.
I then rolled my eyes. I honestly can't believe I gave her that fist pump.
*****
The Red Main soon came to a landing plant form at Blood Haven Dock.
Blood Haven was well known for its inhabitants of criminals, scum, and violence. But since the entire city was controlled by the Hutts, 'hell this planet and most of the system,' that's how their society was.
Besides most of the gangs and criminals here work for the Hutts. They always had deep pockets that nobody could ignore.
The team and I emerged from the Red Main and we made our way to the central city area.
There was a lot of activity happening all around us. Street fights, black market deals, slave auctions—it was a Paradise for scum like the Hutts.
We finally came to the front entrance of a tower. It was made out of pure stone, and at the top of the tower is where we were meeting our buyer!
We entered the front room and all around me stood a crowd of people. All of them were enjoying the pleasures provided for them.
Games, food, dancers, and a lot of other things I dare not mention. But honestly I didn't care what was in here because this was the environment I grew up in.
I know some of these people. Most of them were senators, governors, and currupt policemen stationed on multiple systems in the Mid Rim and the Core Systems.
The Hutts sure had a lot of powerful people deep in their pockets.
We then approached the elevator door.
Viper was then stopped by two armed guards standing on opposite sides. He exchanged a few words with them and they eventually let us in.
One of them spoke on their comlink, "Vipers team has arrived" he said in a crackled voice.
The elevator closed as we all entered inside. Pretty soon we were heading up, passing each floor at an incredible speed.
We soon reached the top and the two big doors opened. We walked into a nicely decorated hallway.
Dozens of guards 'who were also armed,' patrolled the hall back and forth while some of them stood still in the hall. At the end of the hall, two guards were equipped with blaster rifles and body armor. They stood next to a big gold and black door.
Viper, Dawn and the rest of us past by each of them. And there was a good reason why they were guarding the hall.
From left to right there were priceless artifacts placed on stone mounts. Some were native, others were modern, and some believe it or not were.... living beings.
I past by a glass cage containing a small night dragon from Calla 3. It was chewing on what was left of its lunch. Well the bones of it actually.
It hissed at me as soon as I past by it.
"Look at that Scarlet I think it likes you" Viper teased.
"Yeah like a Rancor likes a fried Tauntaun for breakfast" I replied back.
We approached the door as the guards opened it for us. Blindshot and Striker, or Lester and Eloc (E-Lock) 'which was their real names,' carried the two bags full of Beskar into the room.
The room was huge. Three large circle glass windows stood to the left, the right and the front of the room.
There were nice pieces of furniture in the center, 'made of polished wood and covered in white fur.' Trophies hung on the wall, there was a small bar in the corner filled with liquor, a stone fireplace was located to the lady of the room, a few artifacts covered in glass containers were placed around every corner, and a large desk with all kinds of items-stood in front of the large glass window.
A green alien female sat at her desk with a holopad in her hand.
As she was focused on scrolling through it she eventually looked up and noticed Viper and the rest of us.
She gave us a wide grin of delight and stood up from her desk. 'A desk that looked more like a thrown than a desk.'
As she approached Viper, she wore a long white dress, completely sleeveless, along with gold wrist cuffs and gold sowing within her dress.
Both of her strong green arms were exposed revealing her beautiful and strong muscles, and the bottom part of her dress exposed one of her legs every time she moved!
The Lady of Blood, Ghemma Dass!
"Viper! Good to see you and your team alive and well." She said with delight. "So... did you get it?"
"Have a look Dass" Viper said as he signaled Lester and Eloc to bring forth the bags.
They then empty the bags on a table in between the furniture. The Beskar bricks all came out all at once into a large pile. A big smile grew on Dasses face. She then picked up one of the bricks and handed it to one of her men, who handed it over to a small droid.
The droid examined the Beskar and scanned its materials until a positive sound came from its head. The droid handed the Beskar back to the guard as he returned it to Lady Dass.
"The Beskar is 100% real." The guard told her. She smiled even wider and turned to us.
"You and your team have done well Viper. I must admit," she turned and sat back in her desk/thrown. "I had my doubts. But you and your team have proven yourselves worthy assets to do business with."
"We aim to please Lady Dass" he replied.
The beautiful female snapped her fingers summoning a few of her men. The doors opened behind us and we saw them bring in a large container, setting down in front of the desk.
One of them presses a button and as the top opened, dozens of sparkling objects appeared before us. CREDITS!!!! Hundreds and thousands of Credits.
Goosebumps began to appear all over my arms.
Viper took a few in his hand and bit into one of them. I guess he wanted to make sure they were accurate.
He places them back into the crate and turns to Dass. A smile crept onto his face as he bowed before her.
"Pleasure doing business with you Lady of Blood!"
Viper presses a button and the crate closes. Concealing the credits inside. Lester and Elok grab the crate and start carrying it out.
The Rodian woman attended to one of her men who who showed her a list of things on another holo pad. Viper looked at her in confusion.
"Where's the rest of the payment" Viper asked Dass. She then looked at him and chuckled.
"Oh you are a slow thinker Viper. That is your payment. Spend it wisely and stay in touch. I may have more jobs for your team later on."
Vipers eyes grew wide and his smile faded away quickly. He looked back and forth at the crate and then to Dass.
"But the deal was that we would be payed a hundred thousand credits, Not fifty thousand!"
Viper was getting tense in his voice, I could tell, and so could Dass. She then slowly stood up keeping her big bright blue eyes on him.
"Correction" she replied. "I said that if you brought ALL the Beskar bricks to me in tacked, THEN I would pay you all a hundred thousand credits. But... since you only brought me half, that drops it down to half!"
I was completely shocked to my core. We were being ripped off the money we rightfully earned. After all that hard work we only get a half the portion of what we were promised.
"This... this is a joke right? This has got to be a joke. Because if it isn't I would strongly suggest that you give me what I deserve. Along with my team!!" Vipers voice became tight and threatening. He was not happy and technically I wasn't liking where this conversation was going.
But if a fight was gonna break out I had to be ready.
The guards began reaching for their weapons. More came in from behind us slowly as Viper clenched his fists, I layed my right hand on my blaster, and Dawn on hers.
Dass put her hand up to the men signaling them to stand down. She then walked straight towards Viper slowly and with authority. She stopped right in front of him. Even though he towered over her she was at totally peace and control.
"Here's the thing Viper. I hired you because you and I go a long way back. And after counting the Beskar you brought me, and adding the cost of what I owe you, fifty thousand sounds very reasonable to me. You and your team should be grateful I'm even paying you."
Her eyes then transform into a dark color of death as she glared him right in the eyes. Viper takes a step back.
"So... I'm going to pretend that this part of the exchange never happened, and that everything has been settled."
She grabs his face and yanks his ear to her mouth. He grunts in pain but doesn't reveal it. Dass whispers into his ear.
"Also.......never raise your voice at me like that again. Because if you do, you won't have a tongue in your mouth to talk with." She tightens her grip on his face and he grinds his teeth.
After a few seconds she let him go. Viper rubbed his face as Dass turned to sit back into her seats.
"You can go now Viper. Stay in touch" she said in a gentle voice.
Everyone released their grip on their weapons and Viper stormed out of the room. Dawn and I followed from behind.
( 3rd Person POV )
Dass resumed to her business like always in her comfortable residence. While she was doing this one of her guards approached her with a question.
"Boss? I don't mean to question your decision making. But I have to ask, was that a wise thing to do ripping off Viper and his team?"
Dass looked over at him with a confused look. Then it turned into a face of peace and content.
"My dear young man... when you hire people to work for you and give them basic instructions, it's their responsibility to carry them out, right?"
The guard nodded. "But what happens if they don't get the entire job done? Are you supposed to pay them the entire wage you promised? Or do you pay them part of it?"
At first, the guard looked confused. Not understanding what Dass was trying to tell him.
She then rolled her eyes as she grunted and frustration.
"Let me give you an example. Say you have a huge lawn that needs to be trimmed. So you hire a professional lawn trimmer to do it for you. In exchange for his work you promise to pay him 100 credits. Time goes by, and after two hours the professional returns to you claiming the work is done. But as you go out into the field you see that only HALF the lawn is trimmed. So... would you pay him the entire 100 credits you promised?"
"No! That's not how it works. The deal was to pay him 100 if he did the entire lawn. But he only did half" the guard replied.
"Exactly! Which is only fair that you pay him half. Viper and his team were suppose to bring the entire shipment of Beskar, and since they brought only half of it, I pay them half their reward. So to answer your question Kogg, I wasn't ripping Viper or his team off. I payed them what they returned to me, and that is more than what they deserve!"
She looked at Kogg with authority. Kogg took a step back and stood straighter then a stick. "Yes ma'am" he replied.
Dass resumed to her work. Her personal communicator went off as she picked it up. "Yes" she asked?
"Lady Dass, Torber has arrived with that shipment from the Pykes you ordered" a crackling voice said.
"Excellent! Bring him up to my residence!"
"Yes my lady."
Dass felt very good inside with all that she had built in her life. However that was all about to change, since she wasn't aware that she was being watched. From a distance.
( ???? POV )
I scanned the merchandise. Everything inside was confirmed as the stolen Baskar bricks from the train.
While Dass and Viper were arguing and I was no longer needed in the exchange, I snuck out of the room and into a secret door, which led me into a hallway.
While no one was looking I pulled out my Holotansmitter to make a call.
After a minute or two, He answered the call, dressed in his special military armor. He wore a a cloak over it to keep his face completely hidden from me.
( 3rd Person POV )
"Report Droid!" The cloaked figure barked.
"HEY... how many times do I have to tell you NOT to call me that. I have a name, it's P.I!"
"Whatever! Report!"
"Agh...I scanned the crate during the exchange....."
"And!?"
"It's confirmed. The crate is filled with the stolen Beskar from Voncola. And the crew of bandits who stole it are also here as well."
The cloaked figure smiled. "Good. You've proven yourself as a worthy asset. I'm sending you the credits now. 50,000 was the deal, yes?"
"That was the deal" the droid known as P.I replied. His scanner popped up on his visor as he saw his account filled with credits.
The money was all there. He rubbed his mechanical hands together.
"Pleasure doing business with you" P.I said.
"Stay in touch. We may have other uses for you in the future. This company needs more accomplices like you working here."
"Just MAKE SURE DASS DOESN'T FIND OUT. If she finds out that I talked then...."
"Don't worry! Nobody will ever know about this. Not even her. She'll be nothing but a bad memory left in the past once we're done with her."
P.I nodded his metal head and looked around the hall. He didn't want to be out here for long.
"Time for me to vanish. So long Dagger team, and happy hunting."
The holotransmitter flickered and soon the unknown figure faded away.
P.I quietly made his way out of the hallway and towards the elevators. He didn't want to be in this tower for long with what was about to go down.
He snuck into the elevator and closed the doors. "Rest in peace Lady Dass" he said with an evil tone.