"It is an honour to meet the Scarlet Bandit. Your reputation precedes you." Vizago spoke humbly, giving a small bow to the woman standing in front of him.
She was younger than he'd been expecting given everything he'd heard about her. The brown and purple coloured skin that covered her face was smooth and free of wrinkles, and her stature was quite small. She couldn't have been out of her twenties. By herself, without the dozen or so blaster wielding weequays behind her, she didn't look much of a threat. But Vizago had been in this game long enough to know that it wasn't wise to judge someone based on their appearance.
"I don't have time for your flattery. Just give me my credits. And remember, I'll know if you're lying to me." She said firmly whilst discretely moving her distinctive red coat that her namesake came from, to reveal a preview of the weaponary she had hidden beneath it.
Knowing that responding vocally wouldn't be a wise survival tactic, Vizago silently handed her a box filled with imperial credits. Once the box was in her hand, her bright blue eyes fixed him with a penitrating glare.
"Is this all of my credits?"
Vizago had seen many different eyes in his line of work, from the wide eyed recklessness of young smugglers who fancied themselves bigger than they were, to the cold emptiness of psychopaths who valued the death and destruction of their line of work more than the money. But her's were the increasingly familiar type that had hardened over time, like the centre of a young planet, until what she had seen had hardened her very core. And when he looked into those eyes, he didn't doubt that everything about her reputation was true.
He fished a few loose credits from his pockets and placed them in her free hand.
"Now it is." He stated.
The corner of her mouth twitched in the semblance of a smirk. It was first display of emotion he'd seen from the woman.
There was no need for her to show him any display of gratitude, so after a simple nod of acknowledgement, she left his ship for her own, the tendrils of her Tholothian headdress swaying slightly behind her.
Once the Scarlet Bandit and her crew had gone, Vizago counted the number of genotators she had left him. He was mildly surprised when he realised that they were the exact amount he'd been promised. He supposed her reputation as being an honest dealer if you were honest in return was true.
Not long after she's left, his new business partner arrived.
"Ah Cikatro Vizago! Did you miss your old pal Hondo?" The aged weequay pirate cried.
Considering this was only the third time the pair had met, Vizago wouldn't exactly call them old friends but since disputing the comment would do more harm than good, he let it slide. He continued to stack his new merchandise with the help of his droids as Hondo came up behind him.
"What a beautiful hoard of generators you have there!" Hondo exclaimed, peering over his shoulder with a hungry look in his eye.
"I know. I bought them from the Scarlet Bandit." Vizago boasted.
"The Scarlet Bandit?" Hondo asked sharply.
"Yes." He replied smugly assuming that the old pirate was impressed that he had worked with a reputation as feared as her's.
"How was she?"
Vizago paused. The few times he'd met Hondo the man had never sounded anything but annoyingly over exuberant. But now for the first time since he'd known him, he sounded strangely somber. And it wasn't just his tone that made Vizago stop but the words he'd used. The pirate hadn't asked what it was like to meet the infamous crimson crusader or if she lived up to her reputation, he'd asked how she was. As though he knew her.
"I could not say. She didn't show much emotion." Vizago said honestly, intrigued to how the pirate would respond. "Although she did seem amused by my failed attempt to pay her less credits than I owed her."
"Amused? She didn't punish you for it?"
Vizago was confused by the lack of surprise in the weequay's voice. In their line of work trying to rip your associate off and trying to be maimed when they found out you had was almost to be expected.
"Well I gave her the credits I owed her before she checked." He said defensively.
"That doesn't matter! She should have punished you anyway!" Hondo exclaimed in an exasperated manner before letting out a hearty chuckle that was somewhere between the excentric personality he usually wore and the somber tone he had used earlier.
"Ah kids. They never listen!"
Kids? Vizago thought in confusion. But before he could delve any deeper he felt the signature sting of a stun blast shoot him in the back.
The next thing he knew, he was locked in his own brig with that Bridger boy looking down at him in a mixture of amusement and pity.
A/N Hi! So in case it isn't clear, the Scarlet Bandit is Katooni and the red coat she has used to be the one Hondo wore. I like to think that she survived order 66 and joined Hondo's crew, then at some point she took over his gang and whilst Hondo is annoyed at that he's also really proud!
Also this story takes place shortly before the Star Wars Rebels episode "Brothers of the Broken Horn".