Chap I

It was dark when he woke. He wasn't afraid of the dark, he wasn't afraid of anything. Being afraid meant being weak, and Daga Taro (A/N Pronounced Day-gah Tear-oh) was not weak. The weakness he once had had been drilled out of him at the Nar Shaddaa Academy almost 10 years ago. The Academy was used in training Sith Assassins. Though they were darksiders of the force, Daga didn't believe in good or bad, he was an assassin by trade and did what had to be done. In other words, he was a follower of the Potentium, a belief that there was no light side or dark side, just the way the force was used. He clutched at the Adegen crystal around his neck, his last reminder of Mygeeto, of home. Daga's thoughts returned to the present as quickly as they had left it. He looked around trying to find what had awakened him. His eyes darted across the clearing he was in, there, south side. He quickly donned his force camouflage; he was one of the few people that had mastered this rare technique. Slowly reaching for his blaster, he made his way across his clearing, preparing to apprehend or kill whoever was watching him. Just about to the plant, a Howler leaped out at him, its keen sense of smell telling it where Daga was. He pulled out his hunting knife and impaled it at an upwards angle through its rib-cage, instant kill. It wasn't Daga's job to make things suffer, just kill them or knock them out. His employers were the fanatics of pain. Going back to his camp, Daga reflected on the fact that this was one of the first creatures he had seen on Yavin 4 since he had arrived a week ago. Oh well, doesn't matter to me, he thought. Daga started packing up his belongings, no use going back to sleep, 3 hours was good enough for someone that survived torture and starvation for years at a time. 40 meters away one of the multiple bounty hunters the Hutts had sent after Daga was watching him. He had caused the Howler to attack Daga, not that he expected him to get hurt. He used the time to drug Daga's canteen, the very one that he was drinking out of now…

A girl. Not just any girl either, the only girl he had ever been attracted to. Nona Salura. Beautiful. He never had gathered the courage to talk to her either, just asked around till he found out who she was. He was an assassin, no emotion was shown on his face ever, it was a mask of nothingness, no one could ever tell what he was thinking. He wanted to go after her, but his training had made him unknowing of what to do with his emotions. Strange she should be here now, but no, it was blurry, light was coming from somewhere. He wasn't seeing her, he was dreaming.

Daga opened his eyes, blinking wearily, taking everything in at a glance. He was in the palace of Jabba. He had no weapons; they were on the table next to Jabba and an unknown bounty hunter. He had everything else he was wearing, amazingly that included his Pontite crystal and his pouch full of credits. Either this hunter had really good ethics of not stealing, not likely, or he was being paid a great amount to leave all of Daga's belongings for him. More likely. Daga's hands were bound behind him, meaning he wouldn't be able to use the force to get his weapons, he would have to listen to the Hutt.

Jabba looked down at this worthless human, how one of the females of that species could find that trash beautiful while they were disgusted at the sight of his amazing body he had no idea. The Hutts were the pinnacle of evolution, they were beautiful. At least that's what they thought. He decided he should acknowledge him now before he broke the peace that was uncommon in his palace. "So human, you have been running from me, but did you think you could outrun the great Jabba? I have much credits, I can hire many people to retrieve you for me. You look around like you think you can escape, but I am not here to hurt you, not right now. I have heard that you are one of the best assassins in the system, and I would like to offer you a position as one of my personal guards and hunters. You will be paid 20,000 credits up front and a varying amount of credits for each prey you are assigned to, from 5,000 to 15,000 credits. Will you comply, or do we need to have a more persuasive conversation?"

Daga listened to the Hutt, intrigued, even though he knew he could get better pay, he knew he wouldn't be able to get much better protection than these crime lords. He responded to the Hutt, "Yes, I will accept your offer, but I will take 15,000 credits and just be a hunter versus a hunter and a guard. I will take other jobs on the side that I feel are interesting, not just yours. Finally I will buy a place on Nar Shaddaa. Is that agreed?"

Jabba laughed, "Human, I will agree to your terms, you save me 5,000 credits and I have one of the best. You may leave now. Release him Trayo and then we will get your pay." The bounty hunter stepped up to the human whom Jabba still didn't know the name to and released his bonds. Faster than Jabba thought possible, there was a knife in his hand and Trayo was dead in a pool of his own blood.

The bounty hunter came up to Daga, Trayo, Jabba called him. He was incompetent; he only took his blaster, and his machete. The bounty hunter never looked any farther than on the surface; he still had a 15cm blade on his upper arm, a slit on his shirt making it available. The hunter would have to pay for two things, one, drugging Daga, no one did that ever, and two, not searching fully. That second mistake would have to be punished. Trayo released his bonds and in a half a second, there was a blade in his hand and then, he had slit Trayo's throat. He was dead before he hit the ground. Daga looked at the stunned Hutt, then respectively bowed and said, "I am sorry for the mess, but he did not find all of my weapons so he had to be punished. You have lost one bounty hunter but gained a better one, plus you do not have to pay the trash for a half-assed job. I will contact you in 2 days to start my first job." Daga turned on his heels and walked away humming to himself, he had a steady income and was closer to the place he started out than he had been in years.