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Sitting in the darkened corner of the sometimes foul smelling cantina Narmu awaits the arrival of his contact from the Valarian Gang. His deep blue eyes scan the patrons and entertainers. More patrons than entertainers these days. He remembers his childhood, when he stood outside this very establishment and begged for creds, food or sometimes even attention. He had scored 5 hits in his list of thugs who murdered his parents. Now that he was an adult, and trained in the arts of combat, he had become well known within the court of Jabba the Hutt. Bib Fortuna himself had tipped him off to the group of Valarians who had done in his parents.
That information of coarse came at a price, Narmu had to run an "errand" for Bib that nearly cost him his life. "Foolish creature, glad I wont be dealing with that cretin any longer" Narmu thought to himself. Kicking back in his chair he took a sip from his Jawa Beer and caught his contact entering the cantina, actually smelled would have fit a better description. The tiny Bothan walked past a Rodian dancer, said something to her and immidiatly got slapped. A dirty look from two Wookies made the Bothan move along and approach Narmu.
"As always, your appeal to the ladies is exemplary." Narmu said with a snicker. "E chu ta!" came the dry reply as the Bothan took a seat across from Narmu. "And your personality is as cheery as ever, what do you got for me?" Narmu asked while finishing up his Jawa Beer. "Look El'qui, this is getting harder and harder, word has it Lady Val herself wants to see your head on a platter, I can't be doing this for you anymore." the Bothan said, his voice noticibly jittering with fear. "Listen to me you worthless sack of fur, the only reason why I haven't blasted you yet is because I need you, the only reason why your not dancing with Ewoks in the afterlife is because you promised that if I spared you, you would help me find my parents killers." Narmu began, placing his Scatter Pistol on the table in front of the terrified Bothan. "Now if you have changed your mind when I am so close to achieving my goal, I am sure there is another Valarian thug who would sink to even lower depths for me." Narmu stopped and ran his finger over the blaster, not even bothering to look up to see the Bothan's face.
"Your right El'qui..." he began..."I got some news about the last guy you need to find."
"Good news indeed!" Narmu said holstering his pistol and tossing across the table a datapad. "Double the money if I find this information useful."
The Bothan didn't even attempt to take the datapad, and just began his report. "Apparently Lady Val wants to extend her operations to Talus, she sent him on the errand personally!" He left about 1 week ago from Mos Eisley, so he'll have a good head start on you. Gonna be pretty hard to find me thinks." the Bothan finished.
Narmu stood up and smiled down at the smelly Bothan. "Not hard for me, I will find him and destroy him. Claim vengeance for my parents death, once and for all." Narmu turned and began walking towards the rear exit of the cantina, just before he stepped through the door he called back to the Bothan. "If I am successfull in my endevour, and my parents are avenged, my vendetta will still remain, and your usefulness will cease to be, pray I do not find you in my path that day..."
Shortly after departing from the cantina, Narmu takes a shuttle back to Anchorhead. Knowing that he really doesn't have to, but he does so in spite of himself he comes to talk to his Alliance CO.
Colonel Fri-Shadalu as usual is busy at work and doesn't even bother to look up as a Private announces Narmu's arrival. He continues to study a holo-map of the Dune Sea, a odd pattern of red waypoints dots most of the area. "What is it Sergeant?" he asks looking up at him, yawning, seemingly greatful for the break from whatever project it is he is working on.
"Sir, something has come up and I have to leave Tatooine for a while." Narmu said, slightly cringing at the retort he will soon be getting.
"Whereabouts?" came the rather un-characteristic soft toned reply.
"Talus, I have a lead on a mark I've been after my whole....a long time." Narmu said biting his tongue for almost saying too much.
"I see...you realize of coarse how hard it will be to find you a replacement? There aren't many Bounty Hunters that are fighting for the cause, even fewer that are inside Jabba's Court." The Colonel said walking around the table and serving himself a cup of Sijjo Sewi Juice.
"I understand sir, but its something I must do, I will more than likely come back to this planet, however, I wont be much of an agent anymore." Narmu said, feeling the pain his CO must be feeling, a true friend throughout his childhood, one of the few he actually considered friend.
"Well then, I guess there is no talking you out of it, your a good soldier El'qui, I'd hate to lose you. I'll put in a word to the Alliance Garrison on Talus that you will be heading his way, I imagine you can still fight the good fight over there can you not?" he asked with a chuckle. "You know me Fri, I'm always looking for a fight!" Narmu replied laughing also. "Do you have a possible contact for me to get into the Alliance Network, or are ya gonna make me work for a living?" he asked speaking in a sarcastic manner.
"It must be all this Sijjo Sewi Juice, I'm going soft on ya..." Fri said picking up his datapad and scrolling down a list of encrypted names. "Let see now....aaah here he is...on Dearic...his name is Utherr." he finished tossing the datapad on the table again. "Now, as you can see, I'm in the middle of something Sergeant, was there something else?" Fri said returning his tone back to military commanding officer and not old friend.
"No sir." Narmu replied with a salute.
"Very well then, dismissed!" Fri saluted back at Narmu.
Not replying Narmu turned and walked out the door. Fri smiled inwardly and
gave one last silent piece of advise to his long time friend and ally. "Be
careful my old friend, its a big Galaxy out there..."
Narmu sat back and looked outside the wide viewport of the transport as it blasted off of the Mos Espa Star Port. In seconds the sands of Tatooine was replaced with the blackness of space. He hated that he could not be at the controls of a ship of his own. Imperial mandate had banned ownership of spacecraft to the private sector. He knew that one day that would change. It would hurt the economy of thousands of worlds soon enough that the Emperor curse his bones, would have to yield.
The trip was uneventful, boring to be more precise. Before he knew it his ship was on approach to Dearic. He felt his muscles tighten as the ship landed. Finally after all these years he was close to his quarry, at least he hoped he was.
As he stepped off the transport his eyes opened wide, as they always did when he wasn't under the glare of two suns. The air was humid, and he felt some sweat begin to trickle down his back. Talus, was the direct opposite of Tatooine. Fertile, and full of forests and swamps this planet was much more hospitable than his homeworld. It was dusk, and the sun was setting, Narmu opened up his datapad and found a map of the city. "Now where is the cantina here, I'm thirsty as a Bantha in the Dune Sea." he said to himself. A couple of Stormtroopers walked by him and stopped to see what he was up to. Ignoring them he headed out towards the cantina. They trailed him for half a block, but got bored and left him alone.
Upon entering the cantina he was surprised to find it clean! Compared to the ones on Tatooine, this one was immaculate. There were a couple of patrons, a musician and a Twi'lek dancer in an orange flight suit. Finding her to be moving with skill that he had not seen in a while he decided to watch her.
She apparently took notice of him and smiled at him while she danced, moving around in circles close to him. "So what brings you to Talus." she asked cheerfully. "I'm here cause I was told that Talus is the place to be for any adventurer." Narmu replied with a wink. "Your right about that." came her playful response. Narmu suddenly realized that time was passing and he needed to see if Fri's contact was here in Dearic. Carefully pulling out his comlink he typed in an encrpyted message to Utherr *Lost worrt seeking lair, was told that you are the one who provides shelter.* He continued to talk to the lovely Twi'lek and a couple of other patrons that were there, even helped a Bothan female learn something about trapping while he awaited a reply.
In a couple of minutes the reply came back that they could meet at a later time. Satisfied he stretched and yawned, suddenly very tired. The Twi'lek female had already left, and he cursed himself for not getting her name. "I'm losing my touch...better get some sleep before it gets worse." he said as he left the cantina. Narmu checked into the local hotel, went up to his room, and as always completly sweeped it for any electronic survelliance devices, and was not surprised to find one underneath an end table. He crushed it underneath his boot and then kicked them off as he laid down on the surprisingly comfortable bed.
Sleep took him in seconds...
He awoke hours later...laying up straight he quickly focused in on his surroundings. It wasn't very often that Narmu got to rest so comfortably. It was night, looking out the window he saw the shadow of Corellia and heard the distant chatter of the city's residents enjoying what seemed to be a pleasant evening. He walked over towards the refresher, still shaking out the grogginess of his long sleep. Washing his face and hands first he looked at himself in the mirror, noting a few of his scars on his exposed chest. Many a battle, many a reminder is what he told himself of his chosen proffesion.
After a long bath, he slipped on the only extra set of clothing he brought with him and left the hotel. His first stop would be the cantina to see if he could run into that cute Twi'lek dancer again. Upon entering the cantina he was surprised to find it relativley empty. Only a couple of patrons watching a single human musician playing a fizz. "Well, I guess I better get to work." he thought to himself with a smirk. "Lets see what Talus has in the way of bad boys..."
Opening up his datapad he switched into the Spy-net frequency and locked onto the local Mission Terminal. "Hmmm...next to the Clone Facility, how convinient." As he walked through the city he was impressed with it's hustle and bustle. For a small city, small in comparison to Mos Espa or Coronet, there seemed to be allot to do. He also noted that there definatly seemed to be a strong Alliance presence in the city, the two recruiters openly walking the streets kinda made that observation obvious. He made it to the terminal and scanned through different bounties. Immidiatly discarding the marks that were sent by the Empire. "They can take out their own trash..." he thought.
One mark caught his eye. Named Ekot Dilmec, apparently this one was a rogue bounty hunter that got to brave for his own good. Couldn't have too many of those types running around! Narmu took the mark and headed towards the Spy-net Operative he spotted earlier in his walk here. "You know, you should really consider learning how to use Seeker Droids." the Twi'lek Agent said as he transferred the location of the mark to Narmu's datapad. "Why would I want to do that, when you could do this for me? Besides, what will you make your living off of if I do?" Narmu replied with a laugh. "I am sure the guild can find me something better than making sure you find your mark!" he replied with a grunt. "Happy hunting!" Narmu nodded and walked away, looking at his datapad's planetary map.
"About 4 clicks to the SE, not too long of a trek, and it will give me the chance to see this planet first hand!..." Narmu headed towards the exit of the city, arming himself with his sliced Lightning Cannon, checking to make sure that it was fully charged. Satisfied, he ventured out into the vast alien landscape, and at the perfect time...night...when all the predators lurked...they best be ready, for a new predator was being brought into their midst...
FIN
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