Woohoo! This is my first ever fanfic so if it's really really bad please don't shoot me! If anyone has any ideas, suggestions or criticism please, please tell me and i'll try my best to make it better! Thanks! Oh and before i forget i don't own or have any rights to any of the star wars characters/places/etc (wish i did but..) they all belong to George Lucas (genius man!) except for my own characters!
Gem.
Chapter 1: Targets.
The cantina was full of noise and movement as Kyp Durron forced his way in followed closely by a member of his squadron, the Dozen-and-Two Avengers. Miko Reglia flanked Kyp as they drew near to a table in a dark quiet corner. Kyp sat and kicked his feet to rest on the tabletop. He nodded to a female Rutanian who disappeared towards the bar to get them a round of drinks. Kyp took a deep breath and surveyed the cantina. Many species were packed into that relatively small bar and the air was hot and pungent.
"What did our source say about the target?" Kyp asked in a low voice and Miko leaned back in his chair. He reached a hand into his dark blue jumpsuit pocket and retrieved a data chip. He tossed it to Kyp who plugged it into his data pad.
"Father and son operation. Mid-sized freighter with a crew of one female Twi'lekk, one female human, a female Wookiee, two male humans and a male Toydarian." Miko said as the Rutanian returned and handed out the drinks and returned to her job.
"A rather large crew for such a small freighter." Kyp observed looking over the ship's schematics. "The Wild Ride. Why do I recognise that name?"
Miko shrugged and took a sip of the green drink before him.
"I'm not surprised you've heard it before. Caith Freelancer and his son Calleth are the most notorious slave traders in the Outer Rim, if not the galaxy!"
-ooooo-
The girl moved through the crowd of people within the bar named the Severed Head without truly being noticed. She had a knack for that kind of thing. When she didn't want to be seen she wasn't and when she did she was a commanding presence. She moved to the bar and pulled down her hood revealing a shock of dark blond hair that had been roughly woven into masses of tiny plaits that covered her whole head. She beckoned for the large Gamorean bartender who stood cleaning a mug with a rather grimy looking rag.
"Do you have them?" she asked, removing her cape and placing it upon the filthy bar top. She wore a tight vest-like top that hugged her slender figure and showed her bare waist and a short dark blue skirt that sported a split running up her left thigh stopping an inch or so below the belt that she wore on her hips. The Gamorean growled something in Huttese and the girl leaned on the bar top, ignoring her skirt's lack of length and the roving eyes of the customers, and placed a firm hand on the bartender's shoulder.
"You said you'd have them tonight!"
Again the pig-like being grunted a reply but this time his voice quivered and he pulled back from her firm grip.
"Listen, Rant. We have other suppliers you know, and if you fail to come up with some…merchandise pronto..." she allowed her voice to drift off ominously, no doubt conjuring up many outcomes in the bartender's mind. He snorted in what sounded like an offensive comment but the girl knew that it was an apology.
"That's more like it. Caith will expect you within the next hour. You'll get your payment then. Guaranteed."
Rant turned and motioned for the girl to follow into the back of the cantina. She leapt lightly over the bar again regardless of her attire and took one final look around the room before disappearing.
-ooooo-
"Heads up, Boss." Miko hissed snapping his head towards the bar and a new arrival.
Kyp watched as she removed her hood to reveal a pretty young face of a human girl barely out of her teens. Then as she removed the rest of her cape to reveal her striking, scantily clad body.
"She matches our description." Miko said with a hint of pained regret in his voice. "Shame though. She's rather cute. Looks like a whole lot of fun!"
He grinned and Kyp gave a small shake of his head.
The girl bounded over the bar counter and into a room out of sight of Kyp and Miko.
"Ready to dance?" Kyp asked and Miko grinned again at his master's use of vocabulary for setting their plan in motion.
"I thought you'd never ask!"
Miko disappeared back towards the main exit and was no doubt dashing around to the back door to cut their quarry off. Kyp headed for the room in which the girl and bartender where now and thankfully no one challenged him. He slipped into the room quietly and with no trouble and surveyed his surroundings. A storeroom of some kind. An empty storeroom.
"Sithspit!" Kyp thought furiously and sent a warning signal through the force to Miko. Where had they gone? Suddenly the noise of hushed voices reached his ears and he strained to understand what was being said.
"Docking bay nineteen. Tonight. Caith expects them. All of them!"
The Gamorean snorted a reply.
"Yes, all twenty seven of them!" the girl gave an irate snarl.
The Gamorean continued to rumble his worries and the girl gave an impatient hiss.
"I don't care who the shipment belongs to! You said you'd get them without any trouble. Covering your tracks is your problem, not mine or Caith's!"
The pig like being gave a howl.
"Stow it!" the girl spat vehemently. "I don't care if all the Hutt crime lords from Tatooine to Nal Hutta will come after you! We want that shipment! And Caith doesn't like to be disappointed! Now," she paused for dramatic effect. "Are we still on? Or do we have to look to other more competent beings to get the cargo?!"
A groan sounded as the Gamorean bartender rumbled his affirmation and then the hissing noise of the girl silencing him. Kyp forced himself down behind a large metallic barrel that was twice the height of a human and five times as wide. He heard the grating metal of a hatch being pulled open and then a dim orange light splashed out onto the wall to his left. The silhouette of the girl dominated the wall. She rested her hands on her belt and strode out cautiously into the storeroom. The Gamorean snorted a question and the girl silenced him again with a movement of her hand. After a long moment that seemed to stretch for hours she spoke again.
"Don't forget, Rant. Tonight! Then you'll get the payment in full and in cash." She strode past Kyp's hiding place and back into the bar followed by the bartender, Rant. Kyp stood and silently forced his way from behind the barrel and turned to search the hidden room. It contained a few data cards that Kyp copied and returned to their place so as not to invoke suspicion. He scrolled through and skimmed the information. A smile crept onto his face as he read through the contract, which had been drawn up by the Gamorean bartender and the girl. He replaced his data pad into his pocket and slipped out of the secret room and out into the bar. Luckily the bartender was busy with an unsatisfied customer and Kyp glided out of the cantina in time to see the mysterious girl slip around a corner. He pelted after her using the force to muffle the sounds of his footfalls. He turned into the ally-way to see her shimmy over a twisted and rusting fence dividing the ally-ways into separate quadrants. She was fast, he had to admit and he didn't want to loose her. However, something held him back. Kyp drew his cape about him and moved into the shadows so that he could not be seen by the naked eye.
Suddenly a slash of grey caught his eye. The being moved with the stealth of a Noghri and the speed of a nexu. It was something he had never seen before. The grey slash slowed and turned into a cloaked being, hunched and feline-like almost as it perched atop the fence, gripping the edge with a three fingered and clawed hand with tough almost orange skin. Suddenly the being was again just a grey slash and moving silently after Kyp's quarry, leaving the unstable fence swaying slightly.
Suddenly Kyp was in motion following after the two beings for no reason other than an urgency he felt through the force that told him something was going to happen. Something terrible. Something like murder!
-ooooo-
Woo! First chapter done! Hope it's not too bad!