Author's Note: Dad Bane.
Oh, and also another note. I finally updated the missing explicit chapter to A Fistful of Credits over on AO3. I go under the same username over there. :)
xxx
The trio arrived on the frozen desolation of a planet that was Kijimi. Compared to Tattoine, this environment was nearly opposite in surrounding scenery. Ice-capped mountains and sheets of snow replaced the craggy mesas and sand of their previous landscape. The temperature here was also unforgivably cold, with the numbers dropping well below into a negative range. It was a place nearly unsuitable to those who couldn't tread around in the cold for very long, but its importance of being a haven for criminals meant that most could look past the potential frostbite nipping at their heels.
Because both Bane and Scarlett were ill-equipped for the journey, Boba had been gratuitous enough to lend some of his stored away bounty hunting gear to the two. They were both outfitted with a heavily layered puffer jacket which barely fit either of them. Bane's jacket was a few sizes too big while Scarlett's own was probably a couple sizes too small. The young Fett usually kept the larger size around for his fellow bounty hunter Bossk, as he had close ties with the Trandoshan and they frequently traveled together on missions.
The group remained perched atop a nearby building across from the warehouse they were looking to infiltrate. Before they even thought about going in with guns blazing, they needed to devise a plan which meant careful recon was necessary for the time being.
Bane was currently positioned near the edge of the icicle-ridden roof, his macrobinoculars in hand as he carefully scanned over the place of interest. The fur-lined hood of his clothing was pulled up over his hatless head to help prevent precious heat escaping from his body. Duros biology didn't do well with the intense cold, as their home planet of Duro was more close to that of a jungle. It's humid and high temperatures meant that snow wasn't an ordinary occurrence.
His already moody disposition was dwindling rapidly alongside the dropping temperatures. The sooner they got off this planet, then the better.
Boba was keenly listening and nodding along to all of the advice coming from the more experienced bounty hunter next to him. He even gained the courage to suggest some of his own directives which were appropriately criticized or accepted with fleeting praise. The young clone nearly beamed with pride whenever his advice was acknowledged, and he almost couldn't help the smile threatening to break through his mask-like expression.
On the opposite corner of the rooftop, Scarlett was huddled with her communications device placed down in front of her on the icy tiles. Currently a hologram was playing with her two droids, Gear and Grind, both of which were competing against one another to take up more space.
Along the way to their destination, the droids had been adamant on calling to check in on things as they were greatly worried for their master. Since her original abduction from the very same bounty hunter she was now traveling along with, they developed a bit of anxiety whenever she left them on their own without frequent check-ins. All things considered, the woman didn't really blame the two for how concerned they had become after everything that previously happened.
"We've cleaned the interior of your ship at least eighty-four times already!" Gear's projected hologram exclaimed with a great amount of excitement. The blue light of the figure crackled and fizzled occasionally, an indication that the extreme cold of the environment was affecting the call.
Scarlett pinched the bridge of her nose, letting out an exasperated exhale which caused a cloud of breath to appear in the air. "But I haven't even been gone that long yet… How did you two even manage to do that?"
Grind suddenly pushed his way into the frame again. "Oh? Oh no, do you think we should have cleaned it more?"
The woman held a deadpanned look upon her face. She quickly moved the conversation away to distract the two droids from their cleaning escapades. "I think it's probably more than clean enough, okay? But besides that, how are things there? Are you both at least getting along with Todo a bit better?"
The two finally paused in a rare moment of silence before looking at each other with their singular optic and shrugging. Grind continued. "He said he was going to stay on the bounty hunter's ship and do a little bit of rest and relaxation because apparently we are… 'obnoxious excuses for scrap metal'."
Gear then chirped. "I can't imagine why his programming would come up with such a thing!" he said, his face moving just inches away from where the hologram was projecting from.
Scarlett idly scratched at her chin, nearly wanting to laugh at the sheer amount of blissful innocence coming from the two. Obnoxious or not, she did appreciate their presence quite a bit. It made the loneliness of mostly living alone in an apartment just slightly better. Though she could completely understand why some found them difficult to be around. Still, she wouldn't trade them for anything.
She looked over her shoulder towards where the two bounty hunters were still conversing about their upcoming plot to steal back the spice container hiding away in the nearby collection warehouse. Her unconscious staring at one in particular was suddenly snapped free from its confines when she heard the droids pipe up excitedly again.
"What about you, Miss Scarlett?" Grind asked, mirroring the same question that had been asked to them.
Gear's singular eye moved back into the screen, the hologram once again fizzling a bit with a crackle. He spoke so quickly it was difficult to keep up with his questions. "How is your current mission going! Have you gotten the replaceable part for the bounty hunter's ship yet? How much longer do you think you'll be gone for? You haven't been doing anything potentially dangerous, have you? Have you been shot at yet? You aren't injured are-"
"No, nothing like that", the woman quickly interrupted, raising her hands to shush the frantic droids. "I think I'm under pretty good protection here with Bane keeping an eye on things. You two really don't need to worry about me."
The two let out a synchronized hum of judgment from their vocal processors. "Fine", they both agreed in unison.
Grind nodded again. "Check in again soon, will you?"
"I promise."
The call ended, leaving the rooftop engulfed in the familiar frigid hues of white and gray once more.
Scarlett stood back up while grabbing her communications device. She pulled the fur-lined hood of her attire closer around her face before walking back over to where her two companions were still settled down. She caught the tail-end of their conversation as she approached.
"You're sure you can get in there and disable all of the security without the help of your droid?" Boba asked, raising a brow towards his mentor. It wasn't that he didn't doubt the experience of the older individual, but rather it was because he usually passed off such tasks towards his mechanical helper.
"I've broken into worse slime holes by myself, trust me kid", Bane explained, his finger dialing back and forth over the zoom button on the macrobinoculars.
He moved his line of sight to the few guards placed around the perimeter of the outer fencing. Although they appeared to have some decent weapons on their person, they could easily be taken out or even ignored altogether with even the most novice of bounty hunters looking to accomplish such a task. There also weren't a lot of them, which was evidenced by the lack of guard changes occurring over the time they were silently being observed from the rooftop. He briefly flicked the lenses to an infrared temperature sensing one instead, taking more silent notes of the few patrols within the warehouse as well as the lone one seated near the front of the building at a desk.
But the guards weren't the biggest problem.
Instead he switched the lenses back and moved his line of sight to the few cameras and motion sensors placed around the perimeter of the architecture. Although the guard patrol was only a slight inconvenience, the watchful lenses of the cameras could prove to be more of an issue if they weren't stealthy enough with their mission. If the two bounty hunters decided not to deal with the guards in a more head on way, then that meant whoever was watching the cameras could quickly alert their allies about their infiltration.
And judging by the only one currently sitting down and not moving like the rest, he had a pretty good guess of who it was.
Bane frowned, clicking his tongue and handing the sight-seeing tool into the Fett's open hands. "See tha' cameras down there?"
Boba took a moment to find what was being spoken of, though he quickly caught sight of the small blinking light on some of the devices which indicated they were actively being watched. "Right. We'll be needing to take care of those then, won't we?"
"I also need someone to distract the seated one who's watchin' them. At least until we can deal with them ourselves", the Duros continued, looking back over his shoulder towards the other person of their group who silently joined their group discussion. He didn't miss the immediate judgmental look he received as she must have realized she was going to be apart of his plan.
But she was going to the ace up his sleeve for this mission.
"Surely you don't mean me", Scarlett asked with obvious bafflement, her brows knitting together. By no means was she a bounty hunter or mercenary, and the skills she lacked for such a thing were obviously prevalent.
"Oh, but I do", Bane quipped, looking back to the front entrance of the building again while he continued to explain himself. "Boba and I only need a little bit of time. All ya' have to do is keep the guard at the desk distracted from checking the cameras."
"And how am I supposed to do that?" she asked, crossing her arms across her chest.
"You'll figure something out, I'm sure. You're clever when ya' want to be. And ya' got a good mouth", he bemused, the smile apparent in his robotic-accentuated voice.
Boba slightly lowered the macrobinoculars, a look of complete and utter disgust on his face upon hearing the obvious connotation behind those words. "By the seas of Kamino… have I not already mentioned enough times how incredibly embarrassing the both of you are to be around?"
Xxx
As the final details were constructed and the plan was finally set in motion, Bane and Boba went their own separate path while Scarlett was left to her work on her own course of action. Each of them had an important part to play if they wanted to get things done quickly and without too much of a mess. If everything went according to plan though, then they could get the container of spice stored away on Boba's starship and be on their merry way.
Bane was someone who thought well-ahead though with all of his plans, and he surmised that a worse case scenario would simply mean a quick firefight. Although the guards were still armed, the Duros' overconfidence in the matter of being a far more experienced gunslinger anticipated a rather decisive duel. Not to mention it was helped by the promising marksmanship of the young Fett as well. Even if reinforcements could be called from someplace else nearby, they would be long gone before anything could be done about their missing inventory.
The red-haired woman stood in front of the large entrance to the collection warehouse, looking up towards the large imposing sign hanging above the metal doors. Her gaze briefly wandered to one of the nearest security cameras on the corner of the building, her green eyes watching the reflected light of the very same color blinking right back at her.
"Am I really about to assist with theft right now?" she idly thought to herself with a frown, wondering about what her father would be thinking if he could see her now.
She was brought away from the nervous building of her musings when a rather upset-looking Zabrak pushed past her while mumbling vile obscenities under his breath about not getting his missing package in transit. The well-mannered woman blinked from the shock of being so rudely pushed all of a sudden and she watched dismissively as he slunk away to a nearby parking lot towards his vehicle.
With an inhale of cold breath storming its way into her lungs, she walked forward and headed into the building. Once inside, she was met with warm air and the scene of a rather lackluster waiting area. There were a few rows of plastic seats situated near one side of the room, with a few screens lining the wall and playing random, televised broadcasts about current happenings within the galactic war. There were quite a few bodies occupying most of the seats, the denizens of which all looked about the same level of spiritlessness.
Overhead sat one too many fluorescent lights, their dwindling bulbs flickering here and there with an irritated buzz indicating the end of their life cycle.
Her eyes set themselves towards the front desk, taking notice of the very same guard Bane had already mentioned would likely be multi-tasking two different jobs. While the person worked on giving clarity to the pestering folk asking about the whereabouts of their packages, between each customer she would look behind her at the dozens of different live camera feeds to check on their status for anything suspicious.
Scarlett merely watched, listening to the sound of an obnoxious chime ringing throughout the depressing-looking room. On a smaller screen near the desk, displayed a ticket number indicating some kind of queue.
That was going to be a problem.
She walked up to the desk, smoothing down her poorly fitted jacket and patting her cheeks to get some of the blush back into them. If this was going to work as a proper distraction, she would need to turn up the beguiling flirtations to a new level. She cleared her throat before speaking after reaching the counter. "I'm looking for a missing package of mine and-"
"Get a number and take a seat", the woman interrupted with an indifferent scowl. Her dark-circle ridden eyes glanced up for only a few brief seconds to shortly address the person choosing to waste her time.
Scarlett's mouth set into a hard line, but she wouldn't allow herself to become so quickly resigned from her goal. With newfound determination, she glanced around the personal belongings of the front desk to find any sort of leverage that she could work with. Her eyes set upon a small inlet of cabinets where some random pictures and a calendar marked with a concerning amount of red marker were pinned.
Just as she could sense the other woman was about to snap at her for not taking a number like she had been asked, she pointed towards one of the pictures depicting a hover car. "Oh, that's not a XJ-5421A Sport Landspeeder, is it? Or maybe it's a XR-1038A?"
The guard behind the desk paused, her eyes slightly narrowing to the apparent knowledge this other person had about showy and expensive landspeeders. It was almost impressive she seemed to know the exact model and number. Almost. She looked back and forth a couple of times between the stranger and the picture, raising a brow before deciding to take the snare. "And if it is?"
It wasn't everyday a person like herself got to share her personal interests with the usual schmucks that roamed through to this backwater planet.
"My father used to work for a pretty big hover car business, actually. We had a bunch of those particular models on the showroom floor since they were pretty popular. I'm guessing you're a fan as well, given the photos there?" Scarlett pressed while slightly leaning over the counter now. She was suddenly thankful for the random trivia she learned through the years of having a late parent work in the business. She watched carefully, deciding to throw one more line of bait out. "You know between those two, I definitely think the XJ models are way better looking."
The security guard nearly snorted with an aloof cackle. She slapped a hand down upon her desk, suddenly ready to debate this stranger with some strongly opinionated words of her own. "Oh honey, you have no idea what you're starting right now."
Scarlett grinned with a flirtatious smile that almost stretched from ear to ear. "Oh really? Try me."
The line was hooked.