A Casual Drink With A Tough Girl

Andronikos Revel sat at the bar of a very exclusive club on Nar Shaddaa. He'd just finished transferring a tribute into Darth Nox's personal financial account on Dromund Kaas and fired off a text message to his employer.

"Boss, I just wired you a thank you gift. You should see a deposit of two trillion credits. We had a really great payday! The military hardware sold fast and netted us a really nice chunk of credits. Not shabby at all. It brought in about one percent of our take. The antiques made a really good showing, netting us about twenty percent of our grand total.

"The gem stones were all snapped up within minutes of being introduced by the auctioneer. That got us another fifteen percent of gross. The art, though! Once the authenticity of the art was verified by three independent and very reputable assessors, the bidding went through the roof! It netted us way more than anything I had imagined. We got our remaining sixty four percent of our gross take from that.

"Everything sold! Nothing was left over. Military gear brings in good credits, but nothing like gems, antiques and ancient art. If we ever raid anyone like that again, I'll remember not to waste cargo space on military hardware.

"The grand total for this haul was just over twelve trillion credits. Thanks for letting me loot the place, Boss. It really was a really great payday!"

Andronikos took another sip of his Hutt's Vile Brew ale, a favorite on Nar Shaddaa, when a Chiss woman took a seat on the bar stool next to his.

Smiling, she asked, "What are you drinking?"

He told her, and she ordered one for herself. Andronikos took a close look at her. She was tall, his height, athletically built – not steroidally overdone, but femininely muscularly toned.

"Damn! Her face is cute!" He thought.

He really felt this way despite the old and faded jagged scar on her left cheek.

Besides the scar, something else about her face made him think, "She's a tough girl!" Giving a friendly smile of his own, he told her, "You look like a tough girl. I like tough girls."

The Chiss woman's smile grew wider on hearing that.

"You look kind of dangerous, yourself." Laughing, she added, "I like dangerous guys."

"Well, you're in luck." He said, widening his own smile and adding, "I'm as dangerous as they come."

He laughed as though he'd told a joke. She laughed with him.

"What's such a fine looking woman like you doing in a dump like this?" He said without thinking.

"This is actually a very respectable club. You know?" She gave him a sidelong look.

Andronikos laughed, telling her, "Oh, yeah. That's right. I'm not used to high class joints like this." Quickly adding, "That was a joke."

He asked, "What's your name?"

"Call me Wrehn," she smiled, looking deeply into his eyes.

"All right, Wrehn. I'm Andronikos." Then, he asked, "What kind of work do you do, Wrehn?"

"I move freight. I own a freighter." Turning on her bar stool towards him, she asked, "What about you? What do you do?"

"I'm a pirate." Then he quipped, "I steal freight."

The look she gave him made him laugh out loud.

He told her, "Don't worry. I only do this part-time nowadays. I'm semi retired, and I don't go after small fry." Showing off, he added, "I just auctioned off the last of my latest haul – twelve trillion credits. That's in Hutt currency."

He failed to tell her that his cut of that twelve trillion was four trillion, that two trillion went to his employer, while the mercenaries got six trillion before happily concluding their contractual partnership with him.

Wrehn whistled and said, "Damn. I'm in the wrong business." To herself, "He's got to be exaggerating!" She reconsidered, "Or maybe not. His bounty is Sixty two million credits in Republic space, and thirty five million in Imperial space."

Looking around, she asked, "Are your crew around? I don't see anyone who looks 'pirate-like,' besides you, that is."

"I hired mercenaries. I paid them off already. They're gone."

Just as Wrehn was about to entice him into following her out of the club, Andronikos asked, "I wanna show off. Do you wanna see my ship?"

Wrehn gave him another sidelong look, saying, "You don't waste any time, do you?"

"You don't wanna see my ship?" Sounding disappointed, then adding, "I'm really proud of her. I had some people go in and fix the deck. I had wood floors put in, but the cargo marred the surface. They got the surfaces fixed and covered with a transparent scratch resistant protective cover."

Wrehn said in a business-like manner, "That's not enough. You have to put heavy foam shipping pads down to protect the surface of the scratch resistant protective cover from shipping crates and the like, especially loading droids. Those covers aren't so scratch resistant as you'd think."

"She sounds like she knows what she's talking about." He thought. Aloud, he said, "Heavy foam shipping pads. Got it."

Wrehn said coyly, "I don't know about going to a pirate's ship..." Then flirtatiously suggested, "Why don't you come to my ship?"

Andronikos smiled wryly, telling her, "Look at who's not wasting any time..."

The two laughed at the observation.

"I just finished a long shipping run, and have been so lonely," she said, coyly, adding flirtatiously, "I could use a real stiff one."

Andronikos flagged the bartender down. When the bartender arrived, he spoke as though he'd misunderstood her.

"Barkeep, get the lady a stiff shot of..." Interrupting himself, he asked her deadpan, "Is Duros Whiskey good for you?"

Wrehn got a real laugh out of that and grabbed his hand, urging Andronikos, "Come on!"

Wrehn's crew was positioned outside of the club. The plan was to ambush him just as he exited the establishment. Andronikos was wanted, dead. His personal holo-transmitter sounded just as he got on his feet to follow her out of the club. He pulled his hand free of hers and went for his communicator.

"Sorry. I gotta take this call."

He pushed the button on the device, and up sprang the holographic image of Darth Nox. Wrehn's eyes went wide. Andronikos spoke to the dark lord's image.

"Hey, Boss! Your timing couldn't be better. I was gonna call you," he lied. "Did you get the message? Did you check your account?"

Darth Nox ignored Andronikos' comments and questions, ordering, "Bring my ship, immediately. I must travel."

Wrehn just happened to be standing right next to Andronikos when he connected the call. She was within the pickup range of Andronikos' communication device.

Seeing Wrehn's image, Nox asked, "Yehw'reh'nomai, are you working with my servant?"

Nox's holographic image turned its face back towards Andronikos and commented, "She is a very capable bounty hunter. She is costly! However, her services are worth the prices she demands."

Andronikos replied very darkly, "Thanks for the tip, Boss."

Nox immediately surmised what the situation was, and spoke very coldly to Wrehn.

"Who hired you to kill or capture my servant?"

Wrehn, disgusted at how horribly things were turning out, answered bluntly, "To kill."

She looked down at the blaster pointed at her exposed belly button.

"I'm not gonna take this personally with you." Andronikos plainly lied to her, adding, "I know it's just business. So, let's make a new deal, a new business arrangement. Yeah?"

Nox interjected, "Yehw'reh'nomai, understand that as far as I am concerned there can only be one class of people who would put a price on my servant's head, and that class of people are my enemies."

Wrehn remained silent, staring at the blaster pistol leveled at her stomach.

Nox continued, "I'm inclined to take any attack on my people very personally."

Andronikos gave a grim smile that had no effect of alleviating the frost around his eyes.

"Come on, Wrehn. Let's make a deal." Then, as realization hit him, and without taking his eyes off of the Chiss bounty hunter, he asked Nox, "Boss, did you call her Yehw'reh'nomai?"

"That's her name," the dark lord confirmed.

Andronikos' smile changed a little as he thought about the irony playing out before him.

"I saw your tag carved on the launch pad on Korriban," he told her.

Wrehn, believing her life would end very soon nodded once, her eyes still on the blaster.

In a strained voice, she replied, "Yeah. I did a job there for your boss."

She gulped back a sob, willing herself to keep a tough exterior.

Andronikos had heard about her job for his boss on Korriban on the gossip shows. He nodded, arching his eyebrows, quite impressed.

"You actually faced down a pissed off Sith lord and took him down like it was nothing." He asked rhetorically, "That really was you?" Adding, "Then I better be extra careful. It means you're real good at your work – shipping freight."

Speaking as though trying to reason with a difficult customer, he said, "Wrehn, if you're not willing to make a deal with me, then I gotta kill you. I can tell my boss likes you." Nodding his head towards the holo-transmitter which he'd set on the bar top between them, he added, "He didn't tell me to kill you and be done with it, and he made the effort to give you a chance to make nice with him." He asked her, "What do you say? Can we do business together?"

Wrehn's holo-transceiver vibrated on her hip attached to her belt. It was a signal from her team that they were inside and ready to take Andronikos out. Her crew became alerted to trouble, when Wrehn's bio readings became elevated indicating that she was in distress.

Wrehn stood too close to him, however. If they fired, she would get caught in the bolt blast. She took the opportunity to warn off her crew. Wrehn spoke cryptically as though thinking to herself aloud.

"I can't finish the job and get my thirty five million. If I try it, I'll end up on the run from the whole Sith Empire. Or I could cut a deal and let Darth Nox..." she emphasized, "take out my client for this job. I won't get paid, but I won't have to be on the run forever. Those are my choices." She paused, as though thinking it over, and then asked herself aloud, "What to do? What to do?"

Andronikos became slightly startled, as two people seemed to suddenly materialize from nowhere, a heavily armored cybernetically enhanced human female and a heavily armored human male. The male said something in the Mando language. Wrehn started to regain her composure now that her people were there to back her up.

She said to Andronikos, "It looks like we can do business."

Andronikos asked, "Boss?"

Nox demanded, "Who hired you to kill my servant?!"

Wrehn spoke to the cybernetically enhanced female, "Mako, bring up the contract, and put the datapad on the bar top where he could see it."

Mako, replied in surprise, "Boss, if we reveal our client, It'll ruin our reputation!"

"Yeah. You're right, Mako," Wrehn replied, adding in a flip tone, "It's better to get chased all over the damned galaxy for the rest of our lives by the Republic for killing the Chancellor, and by Darth Nox for killing his man."

A Devaronian male had entered the club unnoticed until he spoke, "We have enough problems with the Republic wanting our heads. I think that's enough pressure already. We don't need the Sith Empire chasing us around, too. Give them the contract, Mako."

The heavily armored human male spoke in the Mando language, and then translated what he'd said, "That means, 'honor is everything, but becomes foolishness in the face of poor judgment.' I think Yehw'reh'nomai is right, Mako."

Stubbornly, Mako told Wrehn, "We should charge something for this!"

Andronikos replied with puzzlement in his tone, "We're offering you your lives, and not getting on Darth Nox's bad side."

Wrehn spoke tersely, "Mako, give them the damned contract."

Reluctantly Mako complied, setting the datapad with the relevant contract displayed on its screen on the bar top next to Andronikos' holo-transmitter. That's when she saw that Andronikos had a concealable blaster pointed at Wrehn's exposed midsection. When she turned to look into Andronikos' face, she saw nothing but murder in his eyes.

As Mako withdrew from the bar, she told her employer and friend, "Sorry for giving you a hard time, Wrehn."

"Don't sweat it." The Chiss woman replied, adding, "We're just doing business."

Mako knew the others hadn't seen his blaster pistol either. It was a compact backup concealable blaster pistol, probably capable of only firing one or two very powerful bolts, but Wrehn was completely unarmored. One shot would definitely disintegrate her body. His hand covered most of it, and he held it close to his side. However, from behind him, it just looked as though Andronikos was simply leaning on the bar.

Andronikos looked down at the datapad screen and shook his head at what he saw.

"You're not gonna believe this, Boss. Or maybe you will."

"I'm at the end of my patience, Andronikos. Spit it out!"

"Darth Acina."

Nox demanded, "Yehw'reh'nomai, how old is that contract?!"

"About two weeks old."

Nox told her, "Acina and I have been on a feud. I prevailed, destroying Acina. She is no longer on the Dark Council. There is no one left who will honor that contract."

Andronikos told Wrehn, "Look it up. It's galaxy wide news."

Mako embarrassedly admitted, "Uh, Wrehn. I don't know how I missed it, but it's true." She added, "The bounty is still in effect, but it's rated as dubious, Boss."

Meanwhile, Darth Nox had ordered his droid, 2V-R8, "Put me in contact with Darth Zash. Hurry!"

Zash had actually answered the call. She was very curious about what Nox would want to talk to her about.

She spoke teasingly, "My dear Darth Nox, what an unexpected pleasure to hear from you! What could you possibly want from me?"

Nox spoke furiously.

"I don't know what kind of game you think you're playing here, but if you don't want to share Acina's fate, then you had better cancel that bounty you put on my servant's head!" He added menacingly, "I swear, if Andronikos is killed because of this, I'll not rest until you lie in ruins!"

Zash was taken aback as Nox added, "I had better not find that others in my powerbase have been targeted in this manner. I will make you pay dearly, Zash!"

Zash was shaken, but she hid her surprise and spoke with deep displeasure in her tone to hide her fear.

"Your tone is most unwelcome, Darth Nox! I can understand your concern that your people have been targeted, but what evidence do you..."

Nox cut her off, speaking through clenched teeth, "The Sphere of Technology is the client! Acina is no longer ruler of that sphere. That leaves you!"

"I'll look into it," Zash said curtly and abruptly cut the connection.

Nox smiled, thinking smugly, "Now I won't owe her any favors."

He knew it wasn't Zash, but putting her on the spot in the way he did made it seem as though he blamed her for the situation. In fact, Zash had considered that Nox had already been involved in two Kaggaths, and that he'd won both blood feuds, completely destroying both of his enemies, Darth Thanaton and Darth Acina – two powerful Sith lords – in the process. Fearing his power in the face of her weakness – Nox had destroyed much of Acina's powerbase, leaving very little for Zash to inherit when she ascended to the Dark Council – she opted to clear the matter up quickly.

"The bounty just got yanked!" Mako exclaimed, expressing her shock.

Wrehn asked, "What about the Republic's bounty on him?"

Andronikos' eyes squinted, making him appear to Wrehn more menacing than before. It rankled him that she was still thinking about his value as a bounty.

Mako replied, "It's still up."

"O.K., gang, this job's a wash," Wrehn declared, adding, "He's not worth getting a dark lord all worked up."

Andronikos' eyes still had murder in them, and his back up blaster was still pointed at her mid section.

Wrehn told him, "The Republic hates us. They're not going to pay us for any jobs we do for them."

Andronikos slid the data pad towards Wrehn and said, "Show me."

Wrehn brought up the bounty on her and her crew's heads and cursed.

"The blasted nerf turds just doubled it!"

She pushed the datapad back towards Andronikos hoping he wouldn't get any ideas about trying to claim the bounty for himself.

He looked at it and exclaimed in disbelief, "Two billion?!" Then he ordered, "Tell your crew to get lost."

Wrehn snarled, "To hell with that! We're all getting lost."

"You're my insurance to keep your crew from trying anything stupid." Andronikos told her, adding menacingly, "Don't make me have to cash in on the policy."

Wrehn gritted her teeth and growled out, "Gang, guns out! Now!"

Andronikos found himself the target of two blaster rifles and a blaster pistol.

Wrehn reiterated, "You're not a bounty head anymore in the Sith Empire. I'm leaving with my gang, or we get mutually ashed."

Andronikos' back up blaster vanished into his coat sleeve. He turned to face the bar and picked up his drink, taking a sip.

Wrehn, wasting no time, grabbed the datapad off the bar top and got the hell out, with her crew quickly following her out. Outside of the establishment, she immediately made her way to an alleyway where another of her crew, a Houk, waited with their speeder.

The Houk, in his coarse and gravelly voice, asked, "What'd I miss?"

The Devaronian quipped, "Wrehn ran. Bounty chased her off."

The Houk laughed at the joke.

Wrehn's reaction was not entirely unexpected. She reached into the front passenger side of the speeder and pulled out her blaster, which she'd left behind for this job.

Pointing it at the Houk, she menaced, "Stop laughing, Skadge."

The Houk stopped laughing. Wrehn turned to face the Devaronian.

He had already ducked around the corner of a building at the end of the alley, and shouted into the alley from around the corner, "It was a joke! Take it easy, Wrehn! Come on!"

Wrehn shouted furiously, "I did not run from that scummy pirate! I did not want to piss his boss off! There's a huge blasted difference!"

Confused, Skadge asked, "Wait! Wrehn really ran? Or did the bounty just get away?"

Mako chirped flippantly, "With her tail between her legs."

Wrehn slammed the blaster onto the alley pavement as Skadge let loose a long raucous round of laughter.

The human male in heavy Mandalorian armor added, "We had the bounty dead to rights, but it turned out the bounty works for Darth Nox."

"So what, Torian?" Skadge asked, recovering from his laughing fit.

Mako replied, taking practicality into account, "We're already wanted – dead – by the Republic for two billion credits." Interrupting herself, she added, "It was just doubled to two billion." Then she continued her original train of thought, asking, "Why have the whole Sith Empire chasing after us, too?"

"I thought you said it was Darth Nox." Skadge said.

"Yeah, Mako replied, emphasizing, "The whole Sith Empire."

After some reflection, Skadge asked, "What's wrong with that?" Speaking as though he thought it might be fun, he added, "It just means we'll have more skulls to crush and bodies to pummel into paste."

Wrehn snapped, "Shut the hell up, all of you! Get your carcasses into the damned speeder. We're getting the hell off of this moon!" Then she bellowed, "Gault, get your ass over here, unless you wanna get left behind!"

Andronikos was furious. He was furious at the tough Chiss woman with the pretty face for tricking him. He was furious at himself for letting his guard down so completely. He realized that he had to face reality and revise this idea of his about being safe in Hutt Space.

"I knew Hutt Space was harsh and unforgiving, but I ain't been on Nar Shaddaa for two weeks, and I didn't cross any Hutts!" He told himself, before recalling that it was Darth Acina who'd put out the call for his head sometime before her defeat at the hands of his employer a week earlier.

Andronikos was a proud man. So, it hurt his pride as he thought, "Dammit! I'm a tough guy! So, why do I gotta hire bodyguards?!"