(Any huttese in this chapter not followed immediately by translation will be found at the bottom, In order of dialogue)

The newly christened Saqorian Zephyr burst out of the warp. It's hyperdrive compressor sputtering and coughing before going silent. A massive sickly green planet could be seen rotating slowly like a diseased animal. It's moon, Nar Shadaa swung around the sickly planet, tidally locked with its neighbor. Bright orange lights burst out from the surface, the moon entirely overgrown with a sprawling city in a manner similar to Coruscant. Unlike that planet, where only the lower levels are less than fortunate, the cities of Nar Shadaa were infested and rundown with crime reaching to the very highest of spires. The pollution and filth permeated every level of the city, a thick smog covered the moon as if the city itself was churning massive plumes of hookah smoke.

Ancient refueling spires and loading docks stretched high into the atmosphere. The biggest city for illegal trade and imports, and one of the major Hutt networks. The vertical cities stacked on top of each other relied almost entirely on the trade of goods. Anything illegal in other systems could be bought and sold on Nar Shaddaa, and many young smugglers, pirates and criminals started their careers on the Smugglers' Moon. Various sections of Nar Shaddaa were controlled by the Hutts and other criminal organizations. Corporations that wanted to avoid regulations that prohibited testing often developed many dangerous and even valuable technology within the lower levels of the cities on the moon.

Sitting behind the Co-pilot seat, Lindmon flipped the switch Giz had rigged, switching the ship's IF code from republic shuttle to their new bounty hunter code. As the shuttle zoomed closer to the glowing orange moon several shuttles launched, moving into intercept formation. Sulahaan presses a few keys, emitting the new landing codes down to the traffic control below. After a few tense moments the fighters broke off, moving to escort positions and began descent patterns. The Zephyr passed over a sprawling City, bright holoprojections shining out messages and advertisements for drinks and weapons. The smoke filling the air filtered past the cockpit like a blanket. Finally the fighters flew off, as the shuttle made its way into the large hangar bay it had been directed to.

"Well it worked." Sulahaan grunted, both pleased and exasperated. He set the shuttle down gently in the middle of the hangar before unclipping himself from his seat.

The Saqorian Zephyr flew between the tall spires of Nar-Shaddaa. The bright glare of the entertainment signs bursting into the cockpit viewscreen. A light rain began to rap at the glass of the shuttle, the cool moisture picking up the grime and oils on the walkways of the city, pulling streaks of filth into the steaming drains. The Zephyr landed on an open air port, filled with empty boxes and discarded maintenance droids.

Lindmon did the same, looking out into the dark grey of the hangar, the walls lined with rust and stains from countless shuttles coming and going.

"Let's just try getting in and out. Gonna want you here with the ship again, yet another planet where I don't trust the hangar security to keep unwanted eyes out." Lindmon moved into the main room, stepping up to the holotable. Ahsoka, Sabine, Giz, and Reed were already standing around the table, mulling over a map of the Grotto. Ahsoka looked up at Lindmon as he entered and smiled

"How are you feeling today?" She asked gently. Over the past day and a half of travel she had been sitting with him, telling him of the Force, how it worked, how to use it, and what to be weary of in keeping away from the allure of the dark side. Throughout the conversations Lindmon had sat, quietly analyzing her words. During this time the pair had worked together in disassembling and reassembling the lightsaber Lindmon had found, stripping it down and documenting the inner workings to better understand the piece of ancient tech. A key difference Ahsoka had noted in its construction, the clear Kyber crystal, which Ahsoka had shown Lindmon in her own lightsaber, was the product of healing a bleeding crystal. Something only done a handful of times but a point she said provided some context to the history of this particular blade.

"When a practicionor of the dark side attempts to use a lightsaber they must first force their will on it, as the crystals don't bend easily to the whims of the dark side, this causes the crystal to bleed and turn red, but a Jedi or other light side user can heal the crystal and in so doing it turns white. So we know that this happened to yours, when and how though is a mystery we may never uncover." She had said.

Lindmon shrugged at Ahsoka, smiling tiredly. "I'm adapting I think. Tried that meditation thing you suggested before bed last night but I'm not sure I got anywhere with it."

"It will get easier." Ahsoka explained, "Meditation is a way to deepen your connection to the Force, immerse yourself in the harmony of the galaxy around you. Try to listen to the movements of the Force, instead of trying to get something out of it."

Lindmon shook his head. "It's hard to understand until it happens, like trying teach a toddler how a blaster functions."

Giz chuckled, tapping on the console in the table and zooming the image. "The irony being when I was a kit I had already broken down and reassembled my Pop's DC-15A" Sabine punched her in the shoulder playfully, grinning.

"Well of course you did you nerd." She laughed, turning to Lindmon. "It took Ezra a while to figure it out too, but you have a good teacher, arguably better than Kanan at this point, you will get it in time. Now for business, we've collected all the data and our best bet right now is this shop in the northern sector of the Grotto, intel says our target frequents the location for purchases so it could be that he's changed his name and is working with the local gang, The Red Scar. We think he helps secure weapons for them, they operate fairly heavily in the area and may not take to kindly to our snooping so we should go prepared for a fight."

Lindmon ran his hand through his hair, looking at the image.

"Lieutenant, while we're here we need to find a way to get a new compressor." Giz said. "We were lucky to get to Nar-Shadaa without vaporizing, and it won't happen again."

Lindmon tapped on Reed, the latter chirping. "We can set Reed on finding a good piece, likely have to get it purchased from one of the less grimey portions of Shadaa and have it sent over. Hop on that for us, we're gonna need it delivered in a hurry, use my personal account for now, I can get a reimbursement later. Make sure the paperwork and receipt are in order."

"If you think he'll be alright in this kind of neighborhood." Sabine said cautiously, hoping the R3 astromech wouldn't end up mugged on the street and scrapped for parts. "As far as Jippeek goes, we've got it down to the Grotto but that's still a huge area to cover, especially since he's on the run."

Reed beeped and trilled confidently, several utility arms popping out at once, showing of his limited arsenal. "Seems he will be ok. As far as the target goes we have the arms dealer as a starting point so it's better than nothing. Go get kitted up, whatever you need, let's hope it doesn't go south but be ready if it does." Lindmon turned to Sulahaan and clapped him on the shoulder. "Ships yours until we get back, we will radio if we're coming in hot so make sure the bird's ready to fly if that's the case."

Sulahaan grunted softly, "We won't get far without being able to jump into hyperssspace. Lets hope Reed gets the compressor before we need a fast exit."

Sabine geared up in her usual combat suite, a pair of Westar-35's, the silver and black lightsaber hilt she kept on her belt and several pouches full of extra blaster charges and explosives. She took a minute to spray over her right shoulder pad, covering up the symbol of the Rebellion. Walking down the ramp she donned her helmet, in a place this lawless a firefight can break out without warning. Being prepared was the only way to stay alive out here.

Giz put on her usual headdress and oil stained pants and coat, strapped with her own pair of DL-44s. She rushed to catch up with Sabine and gave her a playful shove as she skipped backwards down the ramp. Lindmon followed the pair down, dressed in his long black coat, his E-11 strapped underneath. On his hip hung the old lightsaber, Ahsoka had made a point to him to get used to having it there, despite it's nonfunctionality. Reed beeped as he passed by them, whizzing out of the hangar and down a side hallway then out of sight.

The group walked out from the hanger bay and into the city, a light rain spattering on the sides of the building's windows. The cool moisture picking up the grime and oils on the walkways.

"There's some of the Red Scar group." Sabine said, subtly nodding towards a group of nasty looking gangsters. They had pulled over a civilian speeder and were in the process of tearing out the valuables from both the speeder and the driver.

"They seem like a nice bunch of gentleman." Giz said subtly, stepping to the other side of Sabine further from the rowdy bunch, who now were pushing the driver from member to member in a circle, laughing.

"Nothing we can do unfortunately, let's just get down to the Grotto as quick as we can." Lindmon said, keeping the group in his peripherals as they passed.

The group continues down the street, passing by dirty aliens covered in rags begging for credits and sour looking thugs hiding in alleyways, measuring them up as they passed. The streets took sharp turns, the walkways becoming dirtier and dirtier as they passed further into the deeper parts of the city. The rain overhead picked up, large droplets smacking against the sides of buildings and panes of glass overhead.

Sabine watched as the Red Scar gangsters moved against the man all at once, pushing him against the parked speeder. They clenched their fists and hammered blows into the poor victim's head, screaming threats about missed payments. Her fingers itched above the triggers of her blasters, willing her to interfere. The victim's head bounced off the hood of the speeder one last time and he slumped to the floor. A beaten mess, sputtering blood across the ground. His consciousness ripped away by the gangster's attacks. The Red Scar thugs kicked the unconscious man one last time, then turned to leave, their pockets filled with his wealth.

Tearing herself away from the scene, Sabine sighed and muttered something under her breath. The Lieutenant was right, they had to make for the Grotto. The sooner they can get this runaway the better.

The streets become more and more clumped with trash and beggars, the group filed through slowely, reaching a large intersection where the space opened up. Rain pelted the street as the residents traveledfrom one place to another. Street lights and holosigns few and far between leaving allies shaded in darkness. Lindmon leaned over to Ahsoka, brushing his now wet hair from his face. "Is that overwhelming sense of dread a Force thing or just me?" He asked, placing a hand on his blaster hanging at his waist.

"The violence in the city is certainly causing a tremor in the Force. You need to control your emotions, center yourself and focus on what's around you." Ahsoka explained, closing her eyes and breathing slowly. "Be present in the moment. Let the Force connect you to your environment and make you more aware of what is a threat to you, and what is the natural cycle of your surroundings." She finished, opening her eyes and looking to Lindmon expectantly.

Lindmon sighed and closed his eyes, hearing the thudding of his own heartbeat. He took a deep breath and tried to concentrate, after a moment his heartbeat quieted and the tingeling sensation creeped down his neck and into his chest. Despite the rain he felt a wave pass through him, ebbing and flowing, when he opened his eyes he could feel the ripple of that wave emanating from the life forms around him. To his left, Giz and Sabine looked at him, Giz concernedly and Sabine's expression inscrutable through the visor of her helmet. To his right, and the source of the latest wave was Ahsoka, looking at him intently, and behind them, he turned around to see the small cadre of Red Scar members sauntering down the street towards them. They laughed at each other as they moved down the street, pushing over the homeless beggars as they went.

"We should move." He said hushedly.

Tilting her head over her shoulder, Sabine spotted the group of Red Scar gangsters. Her blasters were unclipped in an instant, with a flick they twirled out of their holsters. "I don't move." She said angrily, her helmet scanning the double red slash mark logos of the Red Scar gang. Assigning them as threats on Sabine's targeting system.

Lindmon grabbed Sabine's arm and pulled her behind him, turning around, hand on her pistol. "I know, they're scum, but we have a job to do. Settle down, and move, that's an order." She pulled away and re-holstered her guns, staring imperceptible daggers at Lindmon through her helmet. The small group shifted off to the side, sidling into a nearby alleyway, pressing hard against the walls. The tension from Sabine falling off her in sheets as the group passed, stopping to harass yet another beggar as they sauntered down the street. Finally the group left their line of site and the four come out of the shadows, stepping back into the street.

"I need you to take a moment and understand, if we get into a firefight before we find this damned Rodian we may not find him, then we're out of our data and back at square one, plus you have one disgruntled Mandalorian to deal with. Nar-Shadaa is not Republic controlled, we won't get any help from command if we fuck up here." This was the closest Lindmon had gotten to chewing out any of his crew thus far. Giz and Ahsoka exchanged glances, Sabine seemes to glare at Crest through her visors before her shoulders visibly dropped.

"Yea. I...sorry." She said, turning away.

The group continued down their path towards the Northern district, now that they had actually gotten to the Grotto the streets were wide, albeit poorly lit and stacked with crates and trash. After a time the rain began to settle down, turning into a light sprinkling. Finally, after what seemed like an hour or more a Holosign came into view, it read "Gordo baa Rulya An Kinelea"

"That's the place, Gordo's weapons and ammunition" said Giz, pointing at the sign.

"How do you want to approach this Crest? Are we going to stake out the place or start asking around for this Grip Jippeek?" Sabine asked leaning close to the Lieutenant from the side. The path lit up brightly as several speeder cars zoomed overhead, their luminous headlights sending a shimmer across the newly fallen rain. Several dozen buildings cut through the main traffic areas of the Grotto, dictating where the speeder pathways were mapped. Hundreds of balconies and walkways stretched across the towers, connecting different levels of the city and making for various escape ways for gang members under fire.

"If we start asking questions and he has changed his name it's going to be sketchy and scare him off, it may be more appropriate to stake the place out but we can't be certain he's going to show up today... we could rough up the store owner, or pull up his photo and not use his name at all but all in all, this is a tough set of circumstances. Any Ideas Ahsoka?"

He turned to her, sweeping his eyes along the road. With the rain settling down more of the night life of the city had come out, people made deals for drugs in back alleys, and foot traffic moved to and from local bars and stores.

"Well, we know that he supplies the Red Scar with weapons from this location." Ahsoka pondered, "But we don't know how frequently he comes, it could be weeks or a month before he comes back. If that's the case word will end up getting back to the Red Scar that we're snooping around in their territory."

Sabine chimed in, offering her suggestion. "We should set up patrol sweeps around the city then. Split up and keep close to the area until one of us spots him."

Lindmon shook his head. "There's four of us, that could take longer than just waiting..." He ran his hand through his hair again, whipping the water off his hand.

Giz looked at the group before chirping up. "I have an idea, I speak Huttese, I could go in with somebody and try and broker a meeting with Gripp, try and entice him with a shipment of weapons, wouldn't step on the owners toes of course, just say that it's a one time thing we're trying to unload quietly. Stolen Imperial shipment maybe? Or a stolen Republic shipment?" She looked around again, almost embarrassed by her own idea.

"That might work, it could be dangerous but if it gets us our target I don't mind blasting a few of these Red Scar thugs." Sabine said happily.

"It's a reckless plan." Ahsoka interjected, "We saw what these thugs are like. If they get the feeling that we're trying to dupe them, they'll kill you."

Lindmon jumped in. "It could be a good way to get a one on one with Gripp though. We already risk drawing the attention of the Scar, no doubt they would have noticed a mandalorian walking through their ward. I can go in with her and we can try and set up a meeting near the hangar so we can get out quick... offer the shop keep a sum now and a cut of the profit from the sale for his troubles."

Giz shifted uncomfortably from one foot to another. "I just don't see this going any other way, we're gonna get shot at, almost for certain but if we can at least get Gripp in the group making the randevous then perhapse it can work, I mean with you and Ahsoka there too I think we will make it out ok..." she said nodding at Sabine.

"I'll trust in your talents then." Ahsoka relented, still weary of the whole mission. If they had to bring this Rodian in to be skinned by the Blood Raptors, it would've put her at ease not to blast through a whole other gang to do it. "I've been part of many a reckless mission in my time...we'll have to plan for the unexpected."

"I just hope I can pull it off..." Giz sighed, straightening herself up. "L-T, if you don't mind coming along? You got that smuggler vibe going on so that may help." Lindmon brushed off his shoulders, water falling off it in large splatters and hitting the ground.

"You saying I look scummy? This is my best coat." He joked, motioning for Ahsoka and Sabine to find someplace to lay low. "We will be back shortly, if we're running, probably a good idea to run as well."

He and Giz turned to enter the shop as the other two slunk into a dark alley to wait.

They walked into Gordo's weapon supply, a dimly lit and small corner store. The store's walls were lined with blaster rifles and military grade repeating blasters. A rare bowcaster was slung on a rack to the left of the small desk at the back wall. Long cases held smaller armaments, heavy blaster pistols and some of the ever illegal hold-out blasters, small and concealable. Almost certain jail time for any citizen caught with one. Custom scopes, grips and overclock circuits sat behind a clear locked cabinet. A gaunt Weequay sat in a small chair behind the desk at the corner of the store, his gnarled corse skin gave him an almost permanent scowl beset with small horns protruding from his jawline. "What are you looking for, stranger." The Weequay asked as Giz and Lindmon enter.

Giz glanced around the room, her eyes landing on the old wookie bowcaster hanging in the corner. "Is that a legitimate Bowcaster?

"Jee tee neu bo see heee du roy, ree koumuaee tee bo bancaie bauueu baibu kon see wa Wookie. You have some top of the line merch Mah pateessa." She walked over and admired it where it hung. Lindmon glanced around the room, finding he best be quietly standing in a corner while Giz tried her hand.

"A friend of mine on Nal-Hutta said I could find some interesting pieces, and people, around here but this really is a treat." She continued, inspecting the firearm closely.

Gordo scowled at Giz from behind his desk, "It's ten thousand credits." He said curtly. An obscene price for the weapon, while rare, it was almost triple the value of such a weapon. Gordo spotted Giz's shocked expression at the price, and explained half handedly. "Jee gee cua dan rulya ai da, fa doth cuee see bahh cag. Nanptesna see gee killee Wookie." He pointed at Giz's holsters from the desk. "DL-44's...I have advanced circuits that can over clock. Put a hole the size of fist in Trandoshan's hide." Gordo said nodding his head at Giz expectantly, hoping for a quick sell.

Giz looks down at her blasters, chuckling. "Kaa heee? Jee gee eeth biweoo see joday du dah heee." She pointed over at Lindmon. "Show him your blaster there." Lindmon grunted, pulling the E-11 out from under his coat. "Now that there is one of mine, E-11 standard issue Imperial blaster, but, over charged fuel cell switch, can pull every last bit of charge out of a cell and launch it all, put a hole in the side of an old walker I did." She laughed, walking over to the counter. "Uba bla mee hataw, Dobra cuove bihmhepa."

Gordo shrugs at the compliment, "I'm a simple man, I like weapons, I like making money. So I am here." He says gesturing around the weapon shop. "Ateema peoi yoia uba nan?" He asked Giz, eying her beneath his deeply worn brow.

Giz motioned for Lindmon to come over, hand outstreatched for the rifle. "I'm hoping for some help, a generous Imperial vessel was kind enough to misplace some blasters, and I'm getting tired of having them in my hold. A friend up in the upper wards told me this was a good place to unload, and yours was the first weapons store I saw." She slid the rifle towards the owner. "Fa caiot doth wa chaweke bargon um baw wah bacdop see ten, momeu anwolei phabeka."

She smiled genuinely at the Weequay, allowing him time to inspect the rifle.

Gordo looked over the rifle for only a few seconds before placing it down on the desk again. "There is always place on the streets for old Imperial weapons. How many crates you carrying, what's the asking price?"

"Four crates, ten rifles, each one with the same modifications this one has, asking three K per crate, no questions, no concerns." Giz picked the rifle back up and threw it back to Lindmon.

Gordo looked shocked for a moment before reclaiming his emotions behind his mask of gnarled skin. Either she was really adamant about getting rid of these rifles or they weren't as good as she was saying. Even unmodded a standard E-11 could go for up to a thousand credits. If he opened the crates and it was just a bunch of rifle cores stripped of their parts he may still be able to make a small profit off of it. It would be a hassle, but the upside was unbelievable. Just under half of them needed to be in good working order and Gordo can install his illicit upgrade kit and have them on the street by the weeks end swimming in profit.

Something gives him pause though.

He knew the lawmen in the Grotto were all bought and paid for by Ekox Puuthu, the Gand kingpin. That didn't mean he could be incautious. Plenty of other local 'businessmen' had met their bitter end at the promise of a deal too good to pass up.

"Alright then, deal." Gordo said evenly, as to not indicate his surprise or caution. "No questions. Tell me where to meet you and I send one of my men to make purchase. Need to have blasters prepped at another location before I can sell them." He said shrewdly.

Giz nods. "Just north of the hangar bays near the Market District. I'll get my boys prepping them to move, but there is no deal unless your guy makes the first show. Who am I looking for. I'm not playing the same game my buddy got screwed in on Nal-Hutta" she stepped away from the counter. And crossed her arms, her ears flattening visibly under her headdress as she stared at the Weequay, her green eyes flashing as she shifted and the lights reflected off them.

Gordo crossed his arms and leaned back in his desk chair, not one to be intimidated normally, and especially not by the slight Cathar women. "I don't get to ask question but you try to pry into my operation?" He asked gruffly, "I don't know who will be meeting with you yet. I have people working all over the city, whoever is available will show."

"I'm not prying, I want a straight call. Somebody recognizable that can get this done quick. My boys aren't gonna pull the crates out if they feel threatened or like somethings up. This is Nar-Shadaa after all. Now, Woy jeejee gee wa bargon mo cha jeejee." She stuck out her paw as if to shake hands, expecting the Weequay to tell her the contact before she shakes.

"If you don't want to feel threatened Nar Shadaa isn't the place for you." Exclaimed Gordo, tossing up his hands incredulously. "You come here, drop this weapon deal in my lap and want straight call? Wiheaye nahbaianu kebbee!"

Gordo flicked his hand at Giz, shooing her away. "Never guarantees in Nar Shadaa, go elsewhere if you want straight call."

"I've seen to many deals drop south because one side thought they could play me, I'm sure you understand the caution. I want these off my ship, and if you don't want them I will find somebody else. Not asking for your inner workings, not getting into your business or how you run it, I just want to know who to be on the lookout for. Nothing more, I'm practically giving you these, you're gonna throw that away? Wata Jee canta uba doth wa pacahleth. Doth Jee koumhoiag?" She left her hand out. "My concerns are well founded from experience. If you are going to take a hard stance on this then so be it, I want these guns gone. Are they yours?"

Gordo stared her down for a long moment, this Cathar was being cautious. Very cautious. No doubt because of the small fortune sitting in her ship. He wanted it, those E-11 blaster rifles would look good to the local gangsters. "If you want it done now I can get Red Scar to send some of their guys. They do business with me in this area. I would prefer use my men, I trust them not to stick their greedy fingers in the deal." He sighed, reaching for Giz's hand. "Is that good enough or do you expect all their names too?"

"If they send to many and I feel they may get handsy the deal's off, but let them know that and we're good." She said grabbing his hand. "Cuova woy yanee cay uba."

She turned and started to leave, motioning for Lindmon to follow her.

A few minutes after they departed Gordo opened the drawer to his desk and pulled out a small communicator. He would have rather waited for his own men to do the deal, the Red Scar brought to much trouble for him, but he really wanted the deal. At that price it would be stupid to not even try. Even if he walked away with only two or three of the cases he could easily turn a profit.

He finished giving the location and info of the weapons deal and set the communicator back in the drawer. Now he just had to wait and hope they don't get too trigger happy, Gordo didn't want to explain his involvement to Ekox Puuthu if some of his Red Scar thugs end up dead.

The pair walked out of the store, Ahsoka and Sabine cane out of their hiding place as they moved towards them.

"Well? How'd it go?" Sabine asked quickly as they come up next to them. Lindmon looked down at Giz and smiled. Giz appeared to be staring straight ahead, her previous demeanor still strewn across her face. After a moment her irisis expand rapidly, taking up most of her eyes. Her shoulders dropped and she laughed, all of the adrenaline from the encounter slamming into her system at once. She continued to laugh excitedly to herself, wiping the sweat from her hands. "I think I just sold forty blasters to that guy? I, um, yea! He's buying four crates from us and is sending red Scar to pick it up!" She laughed again before she settling out, a tinge of worry spreading over her face. "They're sending Red Scar to the market district to pick up crates of guns."

Lindmon patted her on the shoulder reassuringly. "Fortunately if our target isn't there we can call it off and tell Gordo the men he sent came in hot."

Giz looked up at him, worry and anxiety falling off of her in waves. "You mean I may have to do that again? Ooooh goodness."

"Hopefully we get lucky and we won't have to do that too many times." Sabine said worriedly. If it did turn out to be a bust they would have to resort to simple scouting of the area, combing crowds for a Rodian on Nar Shadaa is no easy task."Knowing the Red Scar is coming gives us a pretty good chance of Gripp showing. He is the one moving weapons for them, maybe deals like this are how he gets the product." Ahsoka said as the group began to walk back the way they came. "I'd say we're fortunate it turned out with so much in our favor."

Giz bounced, happy that things turned out the way they did.

"We should go back to the ship, I think we have some empty ration crates we can use for this, if we need to." Lindmon said, motioning to the rest of the crew to follow back to the hangar.

(Huttese translations.)

"I haven't

seen

one

of these in years, at least not on that wasn't still attached to a Wookie. You have some top of the line Kerch my friend."

" I have better weapons than that, it is more of an art piece. A trophy from killing a Wookie"

"Oh these? I've put plenty of work in on these."

"You know your upgrades, I'm pleasantly surprised."

"Now why have you come?"

"It could be a lucrative deal for the both of us, quick and easy credits."

"Do we have a deal or don't we"

"Here I thought you were a businessman, was I wrong?"

"Pleasure doing business with you."