Part 3- The Job
The job seemed simple enough. Sneak into a fortress and kill the Neimoidian inside. Jabba had provided Ventress with transport which would take her out to the Dune Sea. She changed her outfit. She now wore a tight leather outfit, with a belt across her chest and waist. She also wore a brown headdress in an attempt to disguise herself and to shed her Separatist identity.
"Why doesn't Jabba send his own goons out to deal with this man?" she asked the Skiff driver. "One Neimoidian surly isn't that much of a problem"
"He has" the man answered. "They never came back!" the Skiff came to a stop a short distance from a large metal fortress. "This is far as I can go, without giving away our position!" Ventress hopped off the Skiff.
"A bit of advice, try getting a key card. That Neimoidian changes his security on an almost daily business. You get a card and you're in!" Ventress nodded.
"Thank you for the advice" she told him with what was almost a smile. Her lightsaber was gripped firmly in her hand. She entered a small hut. There were some guards inside.
"Hello there!" said one of them to her as she entered. "Looks like the boss has sent us some fun boys!" his fellow guards laughed. Ventress sniggered. She waved her thin hand and said.
"Perhaps you should give me the key card into the fortress" she said with a sweet voice and polite smile.
"Of course" the guard said with a grin. He reached into his pocket and handed her the key card. His fellow guards looked at him with looks of disbelief on their ugly faces.
"She's a Jedi!" gasped one of them, glaring at her lightsaber hilt. He rushed to take out his blaster but Ventress was quicker and she used the force to throw him into the wall.
"Kill them!" she muttered, sliding a blaster into his hand. The guard under her control spun around and shot dead his companions (they all set down their guns to enjoy a card game). She used the force to crush the controlled guard's throat. 'That was easier than expected' she thought to herself. The guard she threw towards the wall made a pathetic noise. She approached him.
"I'll tell them you're coming!" he groaned. Ventress went down on her knees, smiled at the guard and then drove her saber through his stomach. He gasped one final breath and fell limply onto Ventress. She threw him off and left the hut.
There was a large rusty looking door which lead into the fortress. Outside it was a battalion of Neimoidian guards and a few battle droids. A frail Neimoidian in a sand coloured robe stood beside the door, checking the cards of those who were entering the fortress. Ventress approached him, holding out the card.
"You look familiar, Ms-" he began. Just now she noticed that her headdress was almost off.
"Talbot!" Ventress said quickly. "And you do not need to know my first name!"
"Very well" he examined the card, which seemed to be more like an invitation to a key card. "This all checks out" he said. He raised his arm and the door began to slowly open. "Master Libkath will see you inside!"
"Thank you!" Ventress said with a false grin. She entered the fortress and the door shut behind her.
She entered the well kept fortress which seemed like a mansion. The floor and walls were dazzlingly white; they did not appear to even be lived in. Cameras on several of the walls observed Ventress as she entered.
"Welcome Ms Ventress!" said a sly and surprisingly deep Neimoidian voice. "Another bounty hunter fallen right into my trap!" he laughed. "Do you really think those fools were really guards I would have hired?" Ventress looked around at the cameras. "Jabba sent you didn't he?"
"Yes he did you Neimoidian slime!" Ventress growled. Gilramos laughed.
"So sorry, but I cannot stay, I have a ship waiting for me!" he laughed once more. "Kill her!" panels on the wall opened and droids began marching towards her.
"I have heard that phrase far too much this week!" Ventress groaned to herself as the droids drew closer, their blasters all aimed at her. In seconds her lightsaber was drawn and ignited and the sounds of gun fire filled the air. She blocked most of the attacks successfully but there were too many droids. Something then rolled in between her feet, it was a thermal detonator! Ventress performed an impressive back flip and avoided the explosion, which blew a hole in the ceiling of the fortress. The smoke cleared and Boba Fett stood among the rubble of the droids, again his blaster was aimed at her.
"Still think I am not experienced?" he asked with a grin on his arrogant face.
"Anyone can throw a grenade!" Ventress told him. She turned away from him and proceeded to walk down the corridor. Quickly she spun round and blocked a blaster shot from Fett. "And only cowards harm their opponents when their back is turned!" she force pushed the boy back and proceeded into the next room. On a chair sat a thin MagnaGuard, it's gleaming steel was draped in a white cloak like all the other models. Ventress moved past the guard and to the door behind it. The door was locked and Ventress noticed something, a scanner. She showed it her key card.
"Access denied! Intruder alert!" exclaimed the robotic computer voice. The MagnaGuard rose from the chair, it's battle staff in it's hand, glowering with purple electricity at each end. It approached her with the staff spinning quickly in it's hand. She began blocking the strikes which followed, and ducked when appropriate. She noticed something odd about this MagnaGuard. Where all the others she seen had red lights on their chests, this one had a green one. The guard shoved the staff into her stomach sending a surge of energy through her body and forcing her to the ground. It laughed a twisted mechanical laugh. She slashed at it's leg but it blocked the attack with ease. She stood up and began to engage it in combat once more. She fought for it briefly before the droid started slowing down, not too much, but enough for Ventress to see an opportunity when it should appear. She did just that. There was a brief moment when the green light was not protected by the whirling staff and in that moment she used the force to pull the green light out of the droid, and pushed the droid back into the wall. She held the light to the scanner.
"Access granted!" said the scanner. Ventress passed through the door and was now in a hanger bay.
"This way my lord!" said a Neimoidian voice. Ventress knew her luck had not yet run out. The Neimoidian in the sand coloured robe appeared, followed by one in a long expensive purple robe. On his head he wore a large black velvet hat. He saw Ventress and gasped.
"No!" he exclaimed. "H-how?" he took out a blaster and shot at Ventress, she jumped out of the way to avoid the shots. Libkath ran towards his ship, Ventress held up her hand and used the force (with difficulty) to destroy the right wing of the ship. He gasped and fired more shots at Ventress which she dodged with ease. It was clear to her that Libkath was not a military man. The door to the hanger opened and Boba entered the room.
"No, this cannot be! I will not-" Libkath began, but was quickly silenced by a blast from Boba, sending the Neimoidian flying through the air. He fell to the ground and his hat rolled off, a shocked expression on his dead face. The other Neimoidian ran away.
"I'll just be taking the hat and leaving then!" Boba said and he hopped down to where Libkath lay. He picked up the hat and to his surprise Ventress was standing behind him.
"I don't think so!" she smiled and her blade penetrated Fett's young body. The boy looked at her and he fell off the blade onto the ground, he was still alive, but gravely wounded.
"You…bitch!" he coughed. She picked up the hat.
"Business is business kid" Ventress told him. He groaned and held the burning wound. Ventress saw a speeder bike nearby she got on it and left the fortress.
She arrived in the cantina sometime later. Bib Fortuna greeted her and escorted her into the private room, Jabba was waiting for her.
"You have returned!" he said, clearly pleased.
"I have!" she told him. She threw the hat to the foot of Jabba's thrown, he let out a hearty laugh.
"Good, good! I knew you had potential!" Jabba clapped his fat hands together. "You shall get what you desire!"
"Thank you!" Ventress said with a courteous bow.
"Return here tomorrow and you will have the troops you desire for your mission of revenge!" the Hutt licked his lips. "Fortuna! Show our friend out!" Bib Fortuna showed her out of the room.
"What about Fett? Is he dead?" Fortuna asked.
"No, but I believe his pride has been greatly damaged!" Ventress told him. "If you ask me it's a good thing"
"Why is that?"
"Never mind, just send some men to Libkath's fortress to collect him. Goodbye Mr Fortuna" she began to walk away. "Until tomorrow!" she smiled. It was happening soon, she was going to get her revenge.