Leda looked around herself and smiled. This was a really nice spot to have a family, she thought. If only there weren't so many denizens looking at her as if she were an easy pick. The three hunters were walking through a particularly nasty street of Dagodoc, a city on the coast of Caer, one of Corellia's main oceans. After exiting hyperspace, they landed in Coronet and then rode public transportation to Dagodoc. Xieb said it would draw less attention to them. And since he said there was doubt of Lull actually being on the planet, Xieb said not to worry about hauling a prisoner back to the shuttle on a bus. Looking around the street they were walking on, Leda began doubting that leaving the shuttle so far away really neither mattered nor helped them to avoid being noticed.
The street ended in a bar whose holosign was barely showing a two dimensional rotating image. Leda's nose shriveled at the thought of entering there. But this was part of the job. Hunting bounties wasn't always rushing into a room with blasters blazing. That was only the more interesting part of the job, assuming you even got there. Everything else was just gathering information and deciding what to do with it. As they entered the bar, they were assaulted by odors of drink, caf, and unwashed bodies. No one seemed to be paying them any attention, including the bartender. Xieb did notice that there was a severe lack of non-humans in the bar. In fact, they were the only ones. Without even stopping, Storsek walked straight up to the bar and ordered a drink. The bartender stared at the Trandoshan for a while, and then turned to make the drink.
"We're looking for someone from around here" Storsek to the bartender when he placed the drink on the counter. "And who would that be, lizard?" The bartender looked angrily at the group. "Around here, we don't particularly like strangers. Especially ugly ones."
Leda realized that Storsek could easily blow the entire thing if the bar patrons got upset at them. She stepped up to the bar flashing her best smile. "Please excuse my friend here, sir. We are from the Galactic Sweepstakes. We were sent to inform a Mr. Soris Lull that he has recently won the Galactic Sweepstakes grand prize of one million credits. We just need to meet with him, confirm his identification, and he can go to Coronet to collect his prize."
A shuffle of seats drew Leda's attention to behind her. She noticed the sudden emptiness of the bar and that three rather large human males were standing behind her. One had red hair with a scar on his forehead. Directly to his left was a shorter, but stockier, blond haired individual resting his hand inside his brown coat on his chest. To the right was a younger version of the leader, also resting his hand inside his coat.
"Ya'll ain't from no sweepstakes" the leader says.
Leda stepped away from the bar, letting her hand fall to the holster at her side, trying to make the movement look casual. "Look friends, we don't want any trouble. We just want to find Mr. Lull and then we'll be on our way." As Leda was talking, she noticed that Storsek had moved slightly to her left, while Xieb had slid more to her right. Almost as if following a plan, the blond and younger thugs also fanned out. "Look," Leda began, holding her left hand out while her right hand touched the butt of her low-slung blaster, "I said we don't want any trouble. If you don't know where Mr. Lull can be found, then we'll just leave."
The leader cracked a smug smile, "I never said we didn't know where he is, just that we don't buy ya'lls half-plotted trajectory. Ya'll might be able to sell that hutt-spit to some low-brained, unevolved alien, but we ain't buyin' it." As if on cue, the two other thugs pulled their blasters from their coats. While Leda drew hers, she heard a click behind her telling her that the bartender was pulling something out and most likely would use it on her and her friends. She had two choices; she could continue to draw her blaster at the leader, or she could spin to face the bartender. Either choice had problems. If she turned to face the bartender, the leader could pull a blaster of his own, or even a vibroknife and kill her with ease. On the other hand, if she stayed facing the leader, the bartender would have a clean shot at her backside. The answer came almost immediately. An old Rodian saying for dealing with two predators at once; 'kill the one you can while you can, otherwise, they could both kill you during your indecision.' All of these thoughts happened in the blink of an eye. She drew her blaster with out hesitation and pointed it at the leader. The sound of two bolts being discharged, followed by the smell of ozone, made Leda wonder who had shot whom. Seeing the leader in front of her let her know that neither she had shot him nor that he had shot her. The fact that she still stood told her that the bartender had not gotten a shot off. A quick glance to the left showed her the crumpled corpse of a blond human lying on the floor, smoke rising from his chest. Storsek had never really liked using the stun setting on his rifle and had simply shot the human before he could even draw his blaster. A glance to the right confirmed her other suspicion about who shot who. Xieb had never liked violence. He was the anti-thesis to Storsek. He preferred the stun setting on his two pistols and used it frequently, as was the case with the red headed human now laying on the floor convulsing. What surprised Leda the most, however, was that Xieb had shot the human with his right handed pistol while drawing and aiming his left handed pistol at the bartender, which explained why he wasn't moving. Leda tracked his aim and saw that Xieb had perfectly aimed his pistol at the center of the bartender's chest, and he was only looking out of the corner of his eye.
"Well," said Xieb to the leader when no one else talked, "we've got an interesting situation here. One of you is already dead and the one I can only assume to be your brother is twitching. We seem to have the upper hand here. Now I don't know how much Lull paid you to keep his location a secret, and I really don't care. All I want to know is where he was headed when he left here. You can either tell me now while you're standing on your own two feet, or my Trandoshan friend over there can start pulling your limbs off, one at a time till you talk. I, myself, would prefer the former, as I suspect you would also. My friend, however, would prefer the latter much, much more. So, which shall it be gentle beings?"
The human swallowed a gulp while he slowly pulled out a pistol, which he put on the floor and kicked to the side. "Look, Lull didn't pay us enough to cover this. He was headed to Nar Shadda. Said he could get someone there to buy what he had. He left about two days ago."
"Thank you," Xieb said looking quite pleased, "You've been very helpful. Now, we are going to go to Nar Shadda to find Lull. We will get him. If he has been warned of our coming, thus making our lives more difficult, then we will return and make your lives more difficult. Am I clear?" Both the bartender and the leader nodded their heads with great earnest.
Keeping everyone in sight, the three left the bar and walked out onto the street. When they were about a block away and heading for the public transport stop, a small human female ran up to them calling for their attention. Stopping to face her, Storsek asked, "What do you want, little female?"
The young woman could have been in her adolescence, Leda never really could tell with humans. She looked as if deciding whether or not to press on with what she had started. Apparently deciding to continue, she said, "My name is Seniel. I was watching the fighting from a window. You were great!" Her praise seemed both sincere and made out of fear. "I was hoping you could help me. I could pay you."
Leda, noting the honesty in her voice, asked, "What do you need?"
"Two months ago, my little sister, Zeanna, was sold by my father-in-law to slave traders of Durga the Hutt. I don't even know if she's alive or not. I heard that you were going to Nar Shadda. If you are, I was hoping you could maybe find out at least if she's still alive."
"And what would be the payment?" Storsek asked rather quickly. The young human startled for a moment before continuing. "My mom married her current husband because my dad died smuggling some contraband for the Rebellion. In his will he left his YT-1100 to my sister and me. It's not much, but you're more than welcome to have it. All I want is to know if my sister's still alive or not."
Xieb stepped up, "We will gladly find out what we can, Seniel. We'll be back in a week or so." As they turned to leave, Leda closed in to Xieb's oversized ear. "Is your astromech faulty? What were you plotting? We don't even know what condition that ship is in! And you commit us to check in with a Hutt?"
Xieb stopped and looked her in the eye. "It's the right thing to do, Leda." Then he turned and continued walking toward the transport stop. "The right thing to do," Leda exclaimed, "that's just great! We are so dead, Storsek! He's going to get us all vaped!"
When they got back to the port, they found a human standing next to the Bollo's closed entry gantry. He was dressed in a tan uniform and had an air of indifference about him.
Storsek was the first to talk. "Who are you?"
"My name is Fenald. My employer requested that you consider doing a job for him."
Leda looked doubtful. "What kind of a job?"
Fenald handed a data rod to Leda who handed it to Xieb. "Everything you need to know about what we want is on that rod." Apparently considering that to be the end of the conversation, Fenald turned around and left.
After boarding the ship, Xieb inserted the data rod into a reader and played the message recorded there on. A hologram of a middle aged human male with black eyes and matching hair. "Greetings, my name is Kuat of Kuat. I am the CEO of the Kuat Drive Yards. I am sending you this message because I have become aware that you are currently seeking a certain data rod for the Empire. You should be aware that the data rod is sealed by certain access codes that, if someone other than imperial slicers opens the rod, it will be obvious when you turn it in to them. In other words, do not try to open the rod yourself. However, this does present a problem since you are no doubt as curious about the contents of this data rod as I am. Why would the Empire be willing to pay such an exorbitant amount for a data rod seems unreal, unless there is some very valuable information on it. If you bring me the rod, I can slice it without the Empire ever finding out. I can also offer you a handsome fee if you bring it to me before returning it to the Empire. If you decide to agree to my proposal, simply bring me the rod at your earliest convenience." The image of Kuat of Kuat disappeared into thin air as the message ended.
Xieb looked at the others. "Well, I think we'd better find this rod before anyone else does. Quite a few people want it and they are willing to pay for it."
Storsek thought that he might just be having a good day for once.