Effortlessly, Atin fights past the hired pansies to where her target is located. Vexx admires himself in the reflection of the transteel. Vexx spots Atin in the reflection, "What's this?" the gunslinger asks, "A lawman of sorts? Never thought I'd see the day dashing Vexx would get cornered by a brute enforcer." His commentary and mocking tone already are irking. Atin raises her eyebrows unimpressed.
"Great a monologuer," she thinks to herself annoyed. "I'm not sure 'dashing' is the word you're looking for," Atin comments, resting her hand on her blaster. Vexx goes on to blab about him being the greatest quick draw artist in the galaxy. He says something about shooting her ears off she won't hear herself scream.
"Show me," she challenges him, drawing her blaster and wounding him. He screams like a little girl, whining that she cheated. He releases a stream of bolts; she rolls out of the way. Coming up onto her knee, she fires a missile and douses him in flamethrower accelerant. Something finds its target, when the smoke clears his body is slumped backwards lifeless.
Picking herself up, she kicks his body making sure he's dead. She stoops down and snatches the tags from around his neck. She notices the distinct missing smell of burning flesh. Most likely every other disgusting smell drowns it out.
Atin hightails it back to the repulsive cantina. It must be the blood that's spattered across her armor, most of the thugs in town leave her alone. The few brave ones pay with their lives. Once she's back in the cantina she follows the familiar path to the backroom.
Walking in, Atin's stomach knots up when she sees Braden and Jory's lifeless bodies. Cautiously, she approaches the bodies and checks for a pulse. "This cannot be happening again," she thinks to herself. Footsteps from the hallway reaches her ears, Mako must have been out.
"Hey old timers, I'm…" she begins, then she sees the bodies, "Jory! Braden!" Her voice changes to shock. Running in the room, she almost runs into Atin. Atin holds her hands up, indicating they're both dead.
"What happened?" she demands, "Is the old man…? She looks behind Atin at Braden's body, to her credit she's trying to keep it together.
"Somebody is going to pay for this," Atin promises her, deadly determination laces her voice.
"No. The old man's really dead?" she says, her voice shaking, "Be he… ah… damn it!" She kneels next to her mentor and starts crying. Atin keeps an eye on the door making sure whoever killed her team doesn't come back to finish the job.
"Wait," Mako says stopping, "You had something to do with this!" she accuses Atin angrily, turning to face her.
"Are you crazy?" Atin fires back, "Why would I kill them?" She knows Mako's in shock, she has to keep it together for both their sakes.
"I'm sorry," Mako apologizes, her voice quivering, "I don't know what came over me. It's just… I've been with Braden for years. I-I know you didn't have any reason to hurt him. I just can't believe he's gone." Her cyber-enhanced brain has gotta be running a hundred parsecs a minute.
Atin is sympathetic, but she knows first-hand panicking won't help the situation. She watches Mako as she processes what's going on. She insists that she can handle the trauma thrusted upon them. Then she remembers the security she and Jory set up around the room.
Atin fires up a holoscreen and Mako taps away at the console. Mako curses that someone's tampered with the recording, "But I can still get some of it. Here we go…" she mutters as the blue holo projector comes to life. The blue holo projector comes to life. They watch as two armored men approach Braden and Jory in the room.
"Move, and you're dead," Braden warns two men aggressively, "No, if you know what's good for you, you're gonna back out nice and slow." Braden didn't trust whoever these men represent.
"Oh, I know precisely what's good for me," one of the men say, his voice is full of arrogance, "Winning the Great Hunt won't merely be good – it will be splendid." Atin stomach knots up as she recognizes the man on the holo. Tarro Blood. "When I win, the entire galaxy will know the name Tarro Blood – and I'll charge extravagant fees for my services. Won't I Sedyn?" His arrogance is going to cost him, Atin now know Braden's and Tomin's killer's name and his lapdog's name. Tarro Blood just found is way to the top of her To Kill List.
Sedyn, Tarro's cyborg friend brags about charging the highest fees in the galaxy. It's clear this scum sucking cretins don't know what hunting is really about. Braden recognizes Tarro's name, saying something about him getting knocked out of the last Great Hunt. Must have ticked off the Mando's. Watching Mako's face Atin can tell that she's not surprised by this revelation.
"Ah, yes," Tarro interjects, "That. An unfortunate bit of history. This time, I plan to win." His plan on winning, involves cheating and murdering. "Of course. That will be simper if my competition doesn't include rivals beyond my fellow Mandalorians." This guy is a coward, Atin wonders how he ever managed to become Mandalorian in the first place.
"The Twi'lek vibroblade master from Ord Mantel? Gone. The Chiss droid builder fond of explosives? Gone," he lists other Great Hunt hopefuls he's squashed, "That just leaves your protégé to remove." Mako watches Atin's reaction to what Tarro is saying, she's careful not to react.
"Then your mission is a failure," Jory says aggressively, "Your quarry is not here – and now revealed, your hunt has failed."
"You misunderstand," Tarro says in a mocking tone, "The rules forbid killing competitors before the allotted hour. Thus, the promising up and comers I mentioned are very much alive." Somehow this does very little to comfort the girls. "I simply eliminated them as threats. And how does one slow a charging gundark, Sedyn?"
"Blast his legs out from under him," Sedyn answers stupidly. Anger begins to clouds Atin's mind, she tries and focus on clearing her head. Tarro orders his lackey to murder Braden and Jory, while he waits outside. Atin's hands begin shaking with anger. That's probably how he killed Tomin as well. The hut'uun doesn't have the guts to do it himself.
Braden orders Jory to shoot, but it's too late. Sedyn's weapon is drawn and trained on Braden. With two shots, both Braden and Jory fall to the ground. Mako looks away, unable to watch her mentor's murder. "Too late, old man," Sedyn mocks, standing over Braden. He shoots Braden again for good measure.
"That scum. He didn't even have the guts to kill them himself," Mako accuses, her voice shaking, "He has his lackeys do it, the coward!" She walks away from the table; she's holding together well. "The big-mouth running the show claimed he was Tarro Blood," Mako repeats the name, making it more real, "He's a big shot, even for a Mandalorian. When he stated out, Tarro Blood was major news. Rumor says everyone united against him when he tried the Great Hunt." Apparently, Tarro doesn't play well with others.
"We need to find this man, Mako. He needs to die," Atin says, deadly anger laces her voice. Her sole focus has become to kill Tarro Blood.
"The old man always said this was a thinking job," Mako cautions, slowing Atin down, "Know your enemy then target his weakness." She starts pacing the room. "Tarro Blood barely survived elimination from the Great Hunt last time," she explains, He was out on his back for years. Major squash, you know?" She kneels next to Jory's body and starts checking the pockets. "If Blood's determined to win the Great Hunt, our best bet of catching up to him is getting you into the competition."
Atin agrees, seeing it as the only way to get close to Tarro. Mako admits that Braden spent every last credit getting them to this dumpy world. The only way off is to get Nem'ro to sponsor Atin. Atin sneers, she hates Hutts. But even she admits they have their uses and right now, that's the only path to the Great Hunt.
"If nobody knows Braden is… is dead. I should be able to get you a meeting with Nem'ro," Mako says, "This will take every favor I can call in. And I'll need the tags from your bounty – should be enough for two burials…" Atin says she'd like to be there, but Mako protests. Saying Atin'll need to move fast and meet with the Hutt.
Mako advises to take out some of the Hutt's enemies on her way there. To earn goodwill, is any with the Hutt. Atin nods and exits into the warzone of the city. In her emotionally fueled state, killing is easy. Every time she pulls the trigger, her chest loosens; only to tighten back up.
Notes:
Hut'uun: Coward [Mando'a]
