I sat up quickly retching in my throat as I gulped down huge waves of air. My brother's death was still fresh against the edges of my mind as my eyes adjusted blearily to the dim light. The cool touch of metal stung the palm of hand as I gripped the blaster bringing it out from under my pillow. I was still fighting off the dark waves of shock after having watched my brother die again. It hurt my heart. My chest ached. It was within this dark languid moment that I felt the distant ebb of something much more dark and sinister than anything my human heart could really feel. My brother had called it the power of the Force. After his death, I'd realized that our parents had hidden just how connected to it I was as well. After his death, I hadn't been able to find anyone who could tell me what this part of myself was. The group we'd been living with after our parent's death, the rebels, had been killed that night. Without my parents or my brother I'd been bought and sold after being taken captive like an animal. They'd traded me to a man on a planet and left me there to forget about. I'd been young then and unable to do very much. As I'd grown, I learned how to support myself and grown stronger. Only just a few short years I'd bought my freedom finally after taking a deal with the very people I hated. However, I'd never hate the Empire as I did the Rebels. My brother had recklessly given his life for those naïve idiots. Besides, the Empire paid well and my job gave me everything I'd ever wanted. I got to travel and I got to keep to myself. I couldn't really ask for more.

I grappled for a moment with the wrap around tether belt I'd scraped tougher from an old piece of leather and shoved the blaster onto my hip into the holster. My gloves were worn and bare in spots, missing over a few fingers, and the dank air slid over my skin. I was still tired. I was still blinking back sleep from my eyes. My body ached from traveling the previous weeks and from the nasty bruising along my ribs. I'd earned the bruises from a mean trader who'd skipped out on his loot he owed the Empire. I wasn't a Bounty Hunter necessarily, I'd taken the chance a few years ago when offered, to be a hunter of money and goods. I found people who owed them and made them pay…one way or another. If they refused, I took what they owed the Empire and returned with it. I never brought the people back. I was a sort of officer for them. If I failed, I not only didn't get paid, but the person I'd left behind would most likely be taken to them by a real Bounty Hunter or killed. I tried not to slice out the details too often or I wound up feeling bad about the line of work I'd taken.

I traced my fingers gingerly over the bruise covering my ribs. The man had smashed me into a metal table in a rather seedy establishment before I'd gained the upper hand by bashing his head off the same table. I figured it wasn't his lose to feel what he'd made me feel. It was just payment. I sighed and quickly pulled my thin shirt down and made to grab the pliant fabric I usually wrapped around my head. It kept the wind from biting into my face too much and also helped to hide that I was a girl when in public. I rushed for the covered opening to where I lived listening at the entrance as I pulled the curtain back to make sure that no one was outside. I'd made a lean to shack outside of town to stay away from the trading ports but so that I'd still be close enough if I was summoned by the Empire's troops for the odd jobs that were requested of me. I was late. The sun was already high in the sky as the testy wind swept wisps of dirt and sand up around my face. I let the curtain swing shut still swaying in it's motions behind me as I set off on the walk to town. I wasn't nearly in the mood to deal with the Empire dogs this morning but if I was more than a few minutes late to our meeting I knew they'd dock the pay offering for my job by almost half. I broke into an ardent stride to make up for the time that my memories had kept me asleep. It wasn't really my fault, sometimes things happened, but that's not how the Empire worked.

My brain was on overdrive when I arrived at the port for the trading post just inside the city. It was the middle of the week, which meant utter chaos as the new shipments had arrived, and I'd known better since the troops had just docked as well. I sucked in a quick breath and ripped the cloth down from around my face. I was covered in a heavy sweat that made me look both exhausted and unkempt. I scanned the traders post and glimpsed the shining vessel of pure white armor that were the men I was searching for. As I'd started forward, something stopped me. A heavy sodden feeling tore at my insides, like a gnawing termite filled with despair. It was a dark feeling. It was the kind of feeling I normally got when I felt either extremely angry or when someone else was around me that held what my brother had used to call the Dark pull. I was slower in my movements now as I approached the men I needed.

"Are you the Peddler?" one turned asking me as he adjusted his blaster in his arms to show me that I should stop approaching. I stood where I was and nodded.

"Not really a peddler, I sort of acquire things not sell them…" I started. The click of the metal against armor of the other trooper stopped my mouth.

"Come with us to receive your job." I sighed and nodded. There was on reasoning with these guys; talking to one had about the same mental stimulation during the conversation as speaking with a piece of white spray painted cardboard.

"You're late." The General of this fleet or troops I supposed snapped at me as I entered the rear of the ship's hanger.

"I apologize." There was silence to my golden response.

"Your job will pay nicely this time. Find the whereabouts of this man and you will not need another job for a year." He tapped the table in front of us that had a small metallic orb on it. When his finger fell over it the orb glowed coming to life. It spewed a holographic image upward about the size of a small rodent of a man wearing a long sand resistant robe. He had a heavy beard growing and was nearly bald. I narrowed my eyes digesting this information. They were asking me to give this man up basically for execution. I'd never taken a job like this before.

"Are we talking money or food rations?" I asked as the image flickered out before dying away.

"Both. Take it or leave it." He said gruffly turning to face me.

"Do I have a choice?" I asked. It was bold, but I'd never prided myself on intelligence.

"You have the choice to say yes." Or say no and get taken into custody.

"Who do I contact when I find him?"

I guess I was only a step away from Bounty Hunter anyway…