Hi friends! The idea for this is based on a Star Wars roleplaying game (West End Games edition if anyone is wondering) my family and I are playing. I like the characters so much I wanted to write more stories about them! I hope that you get to love the characters as much as I do. This story is about Cye (pronounced 'Shay') Mereel, a Mandalorian bounty hunter. My goal is to be able to post more stories with our other characters in the weeks and months ahead. ~TB
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29 BBY
An eye-stinging blend of burning tibana and scorched durasteel fumed from the bulkhead Cye used as cover. She knocked her head against the metal, berating herself for tripping the sensors as she exchanged an empty charge pack for a full one, snapping it angrily into her Westar blaster. She had two more left and a long way to go to get to the pick up point. A blaster bolt hit the steel by her head, singeing her ear.
"Osik!" She forced out a breath and psyched herself up "Come on! K'atini!"
Cye vaulted from cover and twisted her body to shoot behind her. She had modified the fire rate of her Westar to bypass the cool down. She prayed, no, willed it not to overheat as her constant barrage made the security chasing her duck for cover themselves. She broke into a run, pointing the blaster behind her firing blind. She dove to the right and pulled up the map on the HUD of her T-visor.
The landing platform was only four turns and a level away. She barreled through a group of unsuspecting technicians and turned a corner. Instead of going to the lift she chose to add a couple extra turns to her trip and skidded into the maintenance room to hide while she reevaluated her situation.
Cye leaned against the door after it slid shut, gasping for breath in the dark. She strained to hear any sign of her pursuers over the pounding of her heart. They passed several seconds later, shouting to someone on the other side of their comms to lockdown all the lifts. Damn. She'd have to find another way up. Her shoulders fell in the silence that followed and finally hit the light.
Cleaning supplies, deactivated service droids, small repulsorlifts, and a couple maintenance uniforms hung inside the small space. She checked the walls for any access panels and found a vent in the ceiling. Thanking her luck as she pried open the vent, setting it carefully on one of the lifts before she pulled herself up and climbed through.
"Who do they hire to fit in these vents, jawas?" Cye mumbled to herself as she low-crawled through the ducts at a slug's pace to keep any noise at a minimum. She couldn't afford to draw away their attention to the lifts. It took nearly four minutes to get to a vent opening that led to the landing bay.
Hondo's Flarestar was nowhere on the platform. Cye checked the time again. She was well within the window for pickup. Her gut twisted, worried that something might have happened to him. She wriggled in the narrow tube until she managed a hunched sitting position inside the duct. It only took seconds for him to respond.
"Ah, you're still alive, Cye," Hondo's cheer tone didn't put her at ease. "I'm glad."
"Where the hell are you, H? I'm at the RV point," she hissed. "The sensors tripped and I had to make a break for it."
"Were you able to get the data?" he asked, seemingly unaware of the urgency in her tone.
"Of course I did, but we won't get any credits if I can't get off this station," Cye snapped. "Where are you?"
The silence made her stomach drop. "I'm sorry my dear. I won't be able to make it."
"What do you mean, H? What happened?"
"I received a better offer. Leave you behind, get the data anyway, get paid triple."
Cye's head spun. "What are you doing? Why?" Her voice trembled. "I'm sorry, H. I know I was as mir'sheb with you before. I love you. You can't leave me here."
"Oh, my sweet," the syrupy way he talked as if he weren't betraying her made her sick. "I love you too, but I don't have a choice."
"Hondo, don't do this." She hated the way her voice sounded as she begged. She'd not been that person for a long time. "I know we've had some problems, but-"
"Cye," his voice turned from jovial and sweet to husky and mean. "You won't change my mind on this. We've had a good run, you and I, but this is the end. Our relationship is no longer profitable. I'm sorry."
"Hondo?" she whispered meekly. "H? Hondo!" She stared out at the landing platform, her mind reeling as he cut the connection. Cye desperately tried to open a comm channel with him. She'd left angry. He had told her not to go, that they hadn't needed to take the job to get the schematics for Corellia's latest freighter. They'd argued, nothing hurtful was said that they hadn't said to each other before. She'd figured they'd make up once the credits came in, like they always had.
"Shabuir," she cursed. "Shabuir!"
Her fists clenched as she blinked the tears away before they had the chance to form. If she hadn't been trying to hide she would have punched a hole straight through the durasteel. She could be upset later. At that moment she needed to find a way off Corellia Station. Her first thought was to make her exit here, but the platform below her swarmed with security. The bastard had probably tipped them off to her arrival.
The only way she could go was back, so she crawled her way to the maintenance closet and lowered herself back into the cramped space. How am I going to get out? She thought through all the possibilities, and the majority of them ended badly for her. There was only one person she trusted to help her now, and she wasn't sure if he'd be willing to. Desperate times left her with no choice but to find out.
Cye took off her helmet, turned on her holo-comm, and hit record. "Ori'vod, it's me. I know I haven't kept in touch like I should have, but I'm up to my neck in osik and could really use a place to lay low for a while. Send me coordinates to meet if you can." She grimaced at the desperation in her voice and shook her head. "If you want to. If you don't, I understand. If you don't hear from me in the next couple days, I'm probably in a Corellian jail. I'm sorry. Tell Boba I love him."
She sent the message to her brother's private comm through their shared coded frequency, hoping that he'd meet her halfway. She'd have to get out of this place first.
"Think, Cye," she goaded. "You can figure this out."
There was no way she could simply fight her way out of there. She might be able to wait it out until the heightened security cooled off some, but she couldn't rely on that. Especially since she'd only given herself two days before her brother would burn everything in his path to rescue her. At least she hoped he would. She wiped a hand over her face and shook her head clear.
As she opened her eyes they fell on the maintenance uniforms. She ripped one off its hanger and held it up. It was impossible to fit it over her armor, and even if she'd been able to she'd still stand out.
"Shab it."
Cye began to remove her armor. She got her flak vest off and pried off her leg plates before pulling the maintenance uniform over her envirosuit. Satisfied, she looked around to find something large enough to hide her armor in. There was a case of cleaners tucked behind an oversized A-LT utility droid. She quickly opened it and removed all the bottles and the lining. The leg plates fit along with her vambraces and helmet, but the flak vest didn't. Cye cursed, but she could always get another vest made. Her father's beskar'gam was irreplaceable.
She activated her vibroblade. The familiar, threatening hum was almost comforting if she weren't using it to cut the armor plates from her flak vest. She placed them into the cleaner case and forced the box closed. It bulged outwards, but managed to stay shut enough to not betray its contents. She set the box onto the small repulsorlift, along with several other cleaning agents. She couldn't hide the blaster in the mess, so she tucked it into the side of her binder under her arm before zipping up the uniform. She fastened her utility belt around her waist, hoping that it would fit well enough with the disguise.
Cye pulled the pins that kept her braid tight to her head and let it fall in a tangled mess. She combed her unruly black hair with her fingers, pulling apart knots and smoothing her curls. When she could run her hand through her hair without hitting large snags she let it fall over her right cheek to mask the web of thin scars and the rest cascade over her shoulder. Cye took a deep breath, straightened out the uniform, clipped the lift control to her belt, and walked out of the maintenance storage and down the long corridor like she belonged there.
...
Mando'a Translations:
Osik - Shit
K'atini! - It's only pain! (also; Suck it up!)
Mir'sheb - Smartass/asshole
Shabuir - Motherfucker
Ori'vod - Big brother, a term of endearment
Shab - Fuck
Beskar'gam - Armor