Cye continues to impersonate her brother Jango Fett as she navigates Coruscants underworld to secure new identifications.

28 BBY

Cye stood out wearing Jango's shining beskar'gam, walking through the grimy, dilapidated and eroding infrastructure of the Coruscant underground. The artificial light cast a dingy yellow glow that did little to keep the shadows and those lurking there at bay. The sun's rays didn't penetrate this far down. The freight tube's surface entrance was no more than a pinprick, like a dim star from level 1313.

In the sea of filth covered awnings and walls plastered with posters five layers thick, Halcyon's bright blue neon sign stood out like a beacon. It's inviting light drew in crowds like moths to a flame. Even so, the crowd parted enough to let 'Jango Fett' into the gambling hall and cantina. Cye strode in with purpose and made straight for the cage, bypassing the bar with a nod to the Duros woman mixing drinks. Her eyes lingered on Cye longer than a passing glance and a her mouth curled up in a sly smile as Cye walked past.

The cage took up the center of the gambling hall. It reminded Cye of a gilded birdcage, with its floor to ceiling golden bars protecting the chip exchangers and the credit vault. The near human man with grey skin and violet hair looked up from his counting and greeted her.

"I'm looking for Lodell Vinjarok," Cye spoke in Jango's deep gruff tone.

"You have an appointment?"

"I wouldn't be here if I didn't," she replied with derision. Hopefully the man wouldn't test her patience. It never took much for Jango to pull a blaster, and she really didn't want to start killing before any deals were made. "Now where is he?" To the other man's credit, he didn't waver. He ran his hand through his spiked violet hair as he sent a call through on a private comm. He muttered to whoever was on the other end for a moment and then nodded. He closed the comm channel, then handed Cye a key cylinder and buzzed the cage door open. The stairs to the vault activated and descended.

"Number seven. It'll be on your left."

He stepped aside and Cye took the stairs down. Every door was sealed and guarded by droids. She wondered in passing what Elthree would make of it, and was glad she didn't have to find out the answer. The independent droid had a lot of dangerous opinions. Hopefully Elthree wasn't wandering the underground looking for trouble. Cye still needed a ride back to Tatooine once her business was concluded on Coruscant.

The cylinder slid into the slot easily, and after a brief moment the locking mechanism lit from red to green. The door slid open and Cye paused for a moment as she took in the slim form of Lodell Vinjarok pouring a drink from a dark bottle.

He'd grown up a lot since she'd seen him last. The Onderonian had gotten rid of his slouch and tamed his platinum blonde hair back in a smooth ponytail. His charred sienna skin had cleared up, and his wide nose and grin finally fit his face. He even wore a collection of fashionable rings and other jewelry. He looked like the underground boss he'd always dreamed of being. Unlike her spectacular failure of a relationship with Hondo, her and Lodell had simply grown apart. But she wasn't here for a reunion or to catch up. She wasn't here at all, Cye reminded herself.

"Jango," Lodell said happily. "I thought I'd seen the last of you after you got that big payout I heard about." He gestured to the other empty chair as he sat. "Please, come in and have a seat."

Cye followed his lead and the door slid shut behind her. "I need three IDs made."

"Straight to business," Lodell said as he took a sip of his drink. "Why are you coming to me? There are a lot of forgers on Coruscant."

"My client needs a fresh start and options. And they need to be able to pass through high clearance Republic channels," Cye replied in Jango's deep, measured tone. "And you're the best. Or at least you were. Has that changed?"

"Only for the better, old friend," Lodell replied with a grin. "Though these days I've expanded and outsourced the menial work. I can focus on the more interesting jobs and expand my business. Kind of like you, in a way."

"I'm not hiring your people for this job. I'm hiring you. Understand?"

"It'll cost you."

"Name your price," Cye said as she took out the tablet from her side pouch. This was already more back and forth than what Jango would have liked. She let the impatience roll off her in her snapping movements as she activated the tablet.

"For a tier one ID, we're looking at a minimum of eight grand," Lodell said plainly, his grin replaced with a furrowed brow and serious frown. "Twelve if you want physical credentials that's legitimate to go with it. And you need three, so-"

"How long will it take?" Cye asked.

"It depends. If I'm starting from scratch, it could take weeks. If I have something to go on though I can probably halve that time or more."

Cye simply nodded and the other man bit his lip doing the math in his head. "I brought information they want included on each of the IDs, enough to make it easier for you to fill in the simple details." She passed over the datapad and he began pouring over the information, scrolling through the data Cye and Jango had come up with to make each fake ID unique and easy for her to pull off in practice. She waited silently for nearly five minutes as he read through everything. Once he'd reached the end he set the tablet down and nodded thoughtfully.

"With what's here, that should take care of the broad strokes," Lodell said, the smile returning. "It won't be hard to fill in the rest. It'll be tedious, to be sure, but nothing I can't handle. I could probably have them finished by the end of next week."

"How much?"

"Since you did a lot of the legwork already, I can do them for ten grand a piece," he said. "With physical documentation and everything backed up in the Republic's census database."

There was a time not too long ago where Cye would have balked at a price that high. But Jango had credits to burn from his deal with Tyranus, and these were important. She offered a single nod and pulled up Jango's accounts in her helmet's HUD. "Do you want a transfer or hard credits?" she asked.

"Transfer works just fine. I have enough cash here in reserve. I don't need to add more."

Cye's eyes swept through the screens and initialized the payment. It was done in the blink and as soon as he got confirmation she stood. "I'll be back next week to pick the IDs up. There can be no delays, Lodell. My client needs these sooner rather than later."

"I'll have it taken care of, Jango. Nothing to worry about."

"Good."

The door slid open as Cye approached and she was about to turn the corner when Lodell called after her. "Jango." Cye paused at the door and turned the T-visor enough to see the other man standing, looking uncertain and fidgety. "How is Cye?"

She wanted to tell him, to answer his question honestly, but instead she steeled herself and shook her head. "She's none of your concern. Got it?"

"Right. Sorry. Just, maybe, tell her I said hello when you see her again. Please?"

Instead of responding Cye simply walked away, leaving Lodell hanging. She knew Jango would never discuss her with anyone, especially not on a job and especially not to an ex. Still, it was hard as she left the vault and the cage. Maybe she'd send a message to him once she'd returned to Kamino. Deep in thoughts of what might be she almost missed the stubby antennaed Balosar as he pulled his blaster when she neared the door.

"You've got a lot of nerve coming back here, Fett," he hissed. "You're dead!"

As the man fired she dove to the side and rolled to her feet, Jango's dual blasters in her hands. Cye'd never seen the man before, but that didn't stop her from firing on him anyway. No one could try and shoot Jango and get away with it, especially in such a public place. He grabbed a woman, holding her in front of him like a shield. Cye paused long enough to activate the helmet's HUD with a double blink towards the upper left of her vision.

"You took everything from me, now you're gonna pay, Fett!" The man pointed his blaster at Cye and fired twice. They hit Jango's beskar and the inertial dampening dispersed the energy from the bolts. It barely warmed the chest plate enough for her to notice. The Balosar stood still, confusion plain on his features.

"My turn," Cye growled in her brother's cold voice. She raised Jango's blasters and fired, hitting the man square in the face twice with the help of the HUDs targeting systems. The woman screamed and ducked away as his grip loosened. The man fell to the floor, his head a smoking crater. Cye twirled the custom Westar blasters as her brother would before holstering them. Droids came forward, picking up the corpse and removing it from sight as quickly as they could to return order to the casino. Lodell came out and comforted the woman, offering her whatever kindness and compensation he desired.

Cye nodded to him once more before making her exit. As she disappeared into the dirty streets of the underworld once again she called Jango over their secured channel.

"I hope you have some good news, Cye'ika," her brother's familiar voice filled the helmet. "It's been one hell of a day and I could use some."

"Lodell agreed," Cye replied back in the same voice. "I'll have the IDs soon and you'll have your armor back, Ori'vod. It's not as comfortable as it used to be."

Jango snorted softly. "Since we're airing grievances I'm getting tired of talking to myself. I hate that voice mod."

"Well we won't have to worry about that after this. I'll have enough IDs to last me a lifetime."

"Let's hope so."

"I had a run in with a very angry Balosar man while I was there. He tried to kill me, well, kill you."

"I assume that didn't work out for him?"

"Not even close," Cye replied with a grin. "You can check that guy off your kill list, whoever he was."

"Good. When will you be coming home?"

"I'll have my new IDs next week, so within the ten day."

"Try to stay out of any more trouble, will you?" Jango asked with a hint of sarcasm.

"I plan on it," Cye replied. "I'm not leaving our safe house. There's no one I need to visit while I'm on Coruscant. At least not this time around. I'll talk to you later."

"Bye for now, Cye'ika."

Cye ended the transmission. It wouldn't be too much longer and she'd have the clean slate she needed to start over. She wasn't sure what that would look like, but she'd figure that out later. For the time being, she disappeared further into the dark reaches of the undercity, weaving through the collapsed sections of the city to their safe house.