Koegr watched as the bored spaceport administrator walked up with two security guards. They went over the usual paperwork; cargo, none. Reason for visiting, family. Crew, captain, and two droids. A quick credit transfer made sure no one found anything unusual on board. Lastly, the spaceport administrator looked at Var. "Anything to declare?" He asked.
"Yes," the man said. "I hate this place."
"Welcome to the Imperial City."
Var walked across the docks over to the rows of waiting speeders. He walked past all of the shining, recently polished taxis, all yelling and whistling to get his attention and business. It took half a block to find the ride he wanted. A shabby, ill-kept hover taxi driven by a ragged Bothan. Both men locked eyes, and the Bothan opened the door without a word. He was here for one thing. To take people to the lower levels.
He didn't need to whistle. You came to him.
The hover taxi stopped at the seven hundredth floor, deep in the Invesec. Koegr paid him and stepped out, breathing deep the chemical tang and bitter odor of the giant city's underbelly. Here the sun was a myth, the only lighting coming from secondhand light bulbs and old flashlights. Aliens of dozens of races pushed and jostled each other on the narrow walkways in the eternal night. Shops and homes blazed and slunk into shadows alternately on one side, the chasm on the other.
He sighed and stepped into the crowd. People did their best to get out of his way, such was the way he walked. Only rarely did he get jostled.
It was a quick walk to the hab unit that was his destination. A dingy little thing, one of billions. He knocked lightly. Nothing. He checked the door. Unlocked. Unholstering his pistol, he slipped inside. Took a deep breath. Grimaced.
He knew the smell well. The smell of slightly charred meat mixed with death. Death by blaster. No light was on inside, and he stood in darkness. He moved silently, getting away from the door and a possible shot. Silence. Var released some of the breath he was holding. "Mazzag?" He breathed.
Still no sound. "Mazzag, I'm turning on the lights. If you shoot me…"
He reached over and flicked the switch on the wall. The lights came on to show a dead Geonosian sprawled in the center of the main room. A blaster hole was carved in his chest.
"Dosh," Var whispered.
He quickly checked the rest of the hab unit, but his prize was gone. Koegr sighed and came back to the body. "Sorry, Mazzag. I was too slow."
The bounty hunter went through the corpse's pockets, grunting with satisfaction when he pulled out a single metal disk. It was a small thing, really. A meal token, one of billions, maybe trillions made. This one, though, had a notch cut out of it.
"I got you now," Koegr whispered.
He left the token on the body and walked out. When someone bumped into him again, he snagged their arm. A young boy, dirty and rag-covered. The boy struggled fiercely, but he had an iron grip. Var shook him, and the boy went limp.
Koegr took back his wallet, smiling grimly at the child. "Bold one, aren't you? Too bad I saw you and your pals before I went inside. I should bust your arm for that stunt."
The kid's eyes widened at the threat. His smile only grew. "But I got a question. You got quick fingers. How about a strong stomach?"
The boy, not knowing where this was going, nodded warily.
"If you truly do, check that house I was just in. Just remember that you have no idea who went in there before you if you get questioned, you hear?"
He nodded, and Var casually tossed him away from himself. "Get lost."
Koegr Var knew that within twenty minutes no evidence would remain in that hab but a slowly cooling body. He hailed a hover cab.
On foot, going up thirteen hundred levels could take days. By cab, almost an hour traffic permitting. The sun was still a myth told to children on the two thousandth and second floor, but the people walked with a bit more life and everything was a little bit more new. Relatively. At least their pickpockets dressed a little better.
It took a little bit of asking around to find the hab unit he was looking for. Sullustans were not uncommon in the area. This one, though, people were able to point out easily.
Koegr didn't knock, just slid the door open. He caught the little alien with his hand on his blaster, giant eyes even wider in shock. A strangely gilded astromech sat next to an old chair. "Hold it, Velse. I think you have something of mine."
Eyes crinkled in a nervous smile. "Oh? And what would that be?"
"I'm thinking about the astromech you just stole off of a Geonosian a few hundred floors below us. You got any ideas?" Var slipped deeper into the room, the door closing behind him. His voice hardened suddenly. "Mazzag was my friend, Velse."
"So you're telling me that you wouldn't kill to get your hands on it? That you're better?"
"I'm just saying that you made a serious mistake."
"Borsa the Hutt is offering half a million credits for that thing!"
"So is every other Hutt. That's half of why I'm here. The other half is still cooling in his house."
With a snarl, Velse dove to the side, an explosion going off in the center of the room. Var fired, missed, knelt. Velse peeked up from beside the droid, blaster in hand. Koegr fired four hasty shots as he rolled out of the way, a blaster bolt searing the air where he had been. He heard gurgling, and moved cautiously to a better firing position.
Koegr Var didn't use blasters, instead using custom railguns that fired metal slugs. Better at killing force users. Worked well on normal folk as well, as Velse could attest. He holstered his gun and looked at the robot.
At least two slugs had hit it, with enough force to shred the old machine to bits. Var swore viciously and kicked the chair, knocking it over.
