CHAPTER ONE
( IT ALL BURNS DOWN )
THERE'S A MELODIC thumping sound bouncing off the walls of the narrow alleyway. Dozens of lifeforms cluster outside of a tiny bar, waiting to get in with the approval of a bouncer. The bouncers looked almost bored as if they hadn't run into a challenge tonight. That is until they show up. Well, they had actually been standing in the line from almost an hour, remaining silent and serious, unlike the chipper drunkards that were too excited to go into the bar.
The pair stuck out like a sore thumb, instead of wearing ripped stockings of fishnets, along with short shorts or tiny little dresses, the woman decided to clad herself with her average get up of pants, a button-up cream shirt, and now she was sporting a new cloth that wrapped around her head like a good for identify protection. No matter where she went she always knew people were looking for her. The man was almost too intimidating to state at. If looks could kill he'd be a mass murderer.
"Anything yet?" a voice scratches it's way over the commlink in both of their ears. The woman gives her partner a sideways glance, both nodding as she places one finger up to the commlink. "Just waiting for the party to start," she comments, her voice low as a small smirk decides to make an appearance on her lips. Nothing could deter her from the excitement that was starting to build up in the pit of her stomach. Being this close to something was making her ancy and it was starting to show.
They begin their slow trudge forward as a group is let into the now rowdy bar. Just a few more moments of standing out in the cold and they were in for a treat. "You have the card still?" her partner questions, not even giving her a glance as his eyes are straight forward, calculating an escape route if necessary.
She makes a scoffing sound as she pulls out a small card, no bigger than a regular business card, and fiddles with it within her hands carelessly taking it between her index and middle finger and pointing it at her partner. It takes him a moment to realize what she's handing him, but once he does, he hurriedly shoves her hand away. "Vera," he hisses. "You're going to get us killed. Put it away,"
Vera chuckles as she slides it back into one of the pouches on her belt. "Buddy, you have got to learn to lighten up," she conveys, slapping him on the shoulder for good measure only to earn a growl from him. Her hands easily raise in an innocent demeanor before rolling her eyes.
Rod was always hostile under stressful situations like this, he hadn't been in them too often. Vera, on the other hand, was the lead negotiator and was usually stuck doing jobs like this one. However, it did mean she was on the hit list for most people she screwed over but it was better this way.
Once again they're dragged forward by the crowd the bouncer were letting in, everyone ahead of them is set to enter. The pounding music was vibrating through the ground, she could feel it in the soles of her feet. She could already taste the sweet reward of being inside from out in the open. She never liked being where she could easily be spotted from wandering eyes who just happened to know who she looked like.
As she is about to cross the threshold of the establishment, a bouncer pulls the two aside letting others in from behind and genuinely setting off an alarm inside her. Yes, they did look out of place with all the other club-goers but she hadn't thought it would cause them to potentially not enter.
Vera could already tell that Rod was about to explode from the stress, his stiff posture and heavy sweating gave it away. She gave one small tap to his arm to straighten his act up, her eyes connected with his to enforce a glare before the bouncer turned back around towards them.
All four arms crossed against the potbelly of the besalisk, scowl in tow as he scanned the strangers. Vera swallows the lump in her throat before fumbling with the card she had stored away to display it to him. His brow bone raises as she whips the card out, he takes out a small light and flashes it at the card revealing an insignia. A simple circle with wings in the middle flashed a light blue color under the light. The bouncer grunts, "He'll be with you. Just wait,"
The bouncer steps aside, displaying the entrance to the bar, allowing them to step inside. A coy smile appears on her lips as she overlooks the sea of lifeforms dancing in the middle to whatever was playing over the large speakers. The lights were low, drinks were being spilled, laughter and shouting were common in this atmosphere. "Thanks," she grumbles out before pulling on to Rod's arm to follow her in.
As they enter her hand twitched to a fist instinctively, ready for whatever trouble she was scouting for. Finally, her eyes rested upon a red curtain in the back of the bar, guarded by another besalisk bouncer. "Blend in," she instructs Rod.
Even though they both stuck out like a sore thumb against all the happy drunkards wearing skimpy clothing, they needed to find their way over to that area without causing a ruckus within the crowd.
As they narrowly avoid the twirling bodies of the lifeforms on the dance floor, she finds herself near the bar, squinting up at the glowing liquids inside the bottles that rested on the shelves behind the bar. If only she had enough credits to buy a drink to take the edge off. The thought of her using her sexuality to gain a drink crosses her mind but with Rod's presence, it was going to hard. Luckily, chance was on her side as freshly poured drink slides her way from the bartender. Her hand clutches onto it, stopping it from sliding down any further. This causes the buyer to become hostile for a moment before Rod gives off a glare. She smirks as she takes a sip of alcohol. This wasn't her first drink swipe and it definitely wouldn't be the last of they had to wait all night. She begins to casually sway amongst the lifeforms on the dance floor while also keeping an eye out for any trouble. Yes, she thrived on high stake jobs like this but when her face was plastered all over by being wanted by the First Order, it was hard to maintain a low profile.
"You think that's where the seller is?" Rod questions as Vera abruptly stops as they approach the back area. She tries her best to look like a party-goer while nimbly trying to analyze the area. "You think he'd be somewhere else?" she questions, bopping her head to the beat of the song as she takes a sip.
Rod crosses his arms as he states directly at the area, disregarding Vera's order to blend in. He glares at the bouncer, who returns it, causing Vera to roll her eyes. She should have done this alone but Thaddeus insisted that she have some form of cover being in the bar. He didn't want to risk their only negotiator.
She quickly downs the drink and slams it on the small table behind Rod before wiping her sweaty palms off on her pants. "Let's go, sugar," she commands Rod with a tap on his broad shoulder rushing in front of him so that she can do the talking. "The bouncer said to wait -"
"We should do the exact opposite. If you're going to help me buy this thing, we're playing by my rules," she commands the large man. One nimble finger reaches up to her ear and clicks her commlink off. The last thing she needed was someone's voice buzzing in her ear while she was making a deal. Her dark eyes can't help but meet his in an effort to try to convince him to follow her lead, which with a heavy sigh, he does - clicking his commlink off as well. She feels relieved that he actually listened to her, now if he would stop glaring at the bouncer she'd have no problems with getting in, but just in case she whips out the card once again ready to display it.
The bouncer doubles in size as they approach, looking gruffer than he had before. Vera's confidence begins to shrink but she holds it back from showing as she extends her arm out with the card in hand. The bouncer snatches it out of her hand, grumbling as he shines the light on it to once again show the insignia in a light blue color.
"What brings you here?" the bouncer croaks out, handing the card back to Vera. "Hoping to buy," Vera answers, earning a gruff nod from the bouncer. He steps aside, arm pointing up towards the red silk doorway. Vera tugs on Rod's arm once, a warning to not piss anyone off by glaring at them as he had with the bouncer.
"Have Trig get the ship ready for a fast extraction if needed," she instructs Rod, who nods before repeating the order over the commlink as they can the steps up to the door. Deals like this were always sketchy. And her checkered past didn't help if she was noticed by anyone who sided with the First Order. Vera places her hood at her shoulders as she enters the foggy room, Rod following close behind.
Her hand instinctively waves in front of her face as she tries to remove the smoke from her area, only to receive several chuckles from the members inside. A single low light bounces off the top of the dug that sits on a pillow in front of them, pipe in hand.
The room is filled with lifeforms placing themselves on pillows, smoking from several pipes. No doubt this was his entourage. The dug that sits in front of them pulls a drag from his pipe as he chuckles at the two newcomers. "What brings you to Bexon?" the dug states in a groggy voice that Vera can only assume it's from years of whatever he's smoking. "You search of something, I can feel it," he adds before Vera can even speak.
"I am here on the behalf of Thaddeus," she announces, earning a couple of whispers from his peers. "He sends his apologies as he has recently become ill. I hope I will suffice in his place,"
"We shall see," he says before taking another drag from his pipe. She could feel all her muscles start to become tense as she tries her best not to break eye contact with the seller. "Thaddeus mentioned the details of the deal to me, I have brought what you requested," Vera removes the scarf from her shoulders to reveal a certain box, a light blue light radiates from the crevasses of it.
Bexon gasps at the box before placing the pipe back within his mouth, grumbling to himself as he nods his head towards one of his entourage. "So you are in the know of what this item is, no?" Bexon questions the smuggler, who warily smiles. "Thaddeus informed me of the details, I did my research," Vera simply states, crossing her hands behind her back out of nervous habit. Of course, this was a lie. More of a half-truth. She knew of its worth but didn't exactly know what it was.
"Then you are aware of how rare the item is," he continues just as the circular item is brought to him, wrapped in a cream cloth. He takes it in his hands and twirls it while giving a cold chuckle. It was as if he were teasing them with the item. Her brows furrowed. She couldn't help but notice how his eyes never left the orb, his clutch on it was tight. "How valuable an item like this is," he continues.
"I'm very aware," Vera states, an edge to her tone. She wasn't liking where this situation was heading. She inches back towards Rod who becomes very aware of how coiled Vera looked. Like she was ready to bolt but was too scared to.
No matter how composed she looked to the untrained eye, Rod knew her too well to let this go unnoticed. He subtly places his back hand in his pocket, grabbing on to a small device - a beacon - and pressing the top button. Hopefully, the ship received the transmitted distress call in time.
"The offer from Thaddeus is," he hesitates, placing his foot against his goatee, stroking it as he tries to find the right words. "No longer valid,"
The smile on his face is downright ugly and filled with an intense feeling of aggression. The entourage seemed to chuckle with terrifying excitement as they enclosed on the guests. Vera stood her ground solidly, even though she wanted to run. "What do you want in return then?" she questions, she tries to mask the quiver in her voice with the pure adrenaline that was starting to flood through her veins. She was ready for a fight.
"More than just a quart of coaxium," Bexon states, tossing the box out of Vera's hand with a jut of a foot. Her hands reached up, trying to catch the box within her hands, bumping into Rod in the process. Her heart seemed to stop beating as she watches the box fly through the air, past both of their heads and out of reach. She winced as it came down in a clattering mess, a smaller box with a bright blue light emitting from it slid from inside the box towards the two smugglers.
Instinctively, her hands fly into the air as if she was pleading guilty already. "Please tell me you sent the distress call," Vera whispers to her partner. "Are you kidding?" Rod whispers hotly back, raising his arms just as Vera. She had no faith in him, he wasn't a negotiator, he wasn't even a weapons specialist. He was the navigator, not that they even needed one, but his company was enjoyable when he wasn't mixed with hostile situations like this.
"It isn't even real!" The dug exclaims loudly in a fit of rage, pointing to the escaped 'coaxium'. It didn't take a genius to know that it was just a small blue light bulb in a clear box. Thank goodness it wasn't real. If it had actually fallen to the ground from that high it could've exploded. "Get them!"
Vera rolls her eyes at the command. "I really didn't want to do this," she explains, before sending a kick at Bexon, having the orb fly out of his hands in a flash. Rod had already begun to pull the blaster out from his back pocket, ready to aim it at anyone who got even remotely close to the duo, which appeared to be everyone in the room.
Vera nimbly caught the orb with her left hand, hooking it within the crutch of her arm, while her right arm took out a blaster that was straddled to her hip, pointing it at Bexon. "Hands where I can see them, feet too," she demands the dug, who scowls before her as he does what's demanded of him.
Vera fiddles with the small orb between her arm, looking at her reflection in its shiny exterior noting that there were no seams around the orb to out something inside it. "What were you going to do with this?" she questions Bexon, blaster still pointed at his head.
She watched as he darkly chuckled from the pressure that was put on him, her nerves felt a little more wracked than usual. "You don't know what it is," he chuckles, as he calls her bluff.
Her cheeks turn a hot shade of red from the call out as she presses her blaster to the middle of his forehead hastily. Rod calls for her in a hissing tone. They had the upper hand it was time for them to make an exit.
In a moment's notice, Bexon knocks Vera's blaster out of her hand, sending it flying across the room and splaying Vera to the ground from the force. The room automatically turns into a frenzy, each individual pulls out a weapon and begins blasting, but not just at the smugglers, at each other as well.
The impact of her fall sent the orb rolling away from her fallen body. She reaches out for it but Bexon climbs on top of her, attempting to slice at her throat. Rod easily knocks the dug off of her, sending him flying into a wall. "Come on!" he urges, gripping on to her hand.
She clutches on to her side in pain, that fall did more damage than what she thought. Her eyes find the orb on the ground once again, bouncing between the feet of the lifeforms that were fighting. She skillfully ducked beneath a swinging fist that struck some poor fool hard in order to grab ahold of the orb.
However, in the midst of grabbing the orb, another leaches forward and grabs the object before she can even wrap her fingers around it. Her brows furrow trying to process what had happened. It had been so fast. It doesn't take her too long to realize that she's missing the orb. "What the frizz!" Vera exclaims with a scowl as she looks up at the man who had stolen the orb.
He looks down upon her, removing the mask that hid his face. Vera's scowl free even sourer as she glares up into the eyes of none other than Calix. A rival smuggler. He smirks down at her, tossing the orb in his hand once before winking and turning on his heel.
"Rod!" Vera yells at the bulky man making a beeline towards the door towards the bar. He hesitantly looks back at her, to see her outstretched finger pointing towards Calix. "Stop him!" she demands, her voice in a fit of rage.
By the time the words escape her lips, Calix has already brushed passed the navigator leaving him just as confused from before. Vera rolls her eyes, grumbling to herself as she grabs a discarded blaster from the floor and begins to pursue the rival smuggler. She pushes past Rod at the entrance to Bexon's hideaway to see most of the bar has cleared since the rumble began, only a few screaming patrons lagged behind.
A couple of familiar faces run into the bar, blasters at the ready. She had never been happier to see Shan and Knox. She shoots twice at Calix as he flees towards the front door, drawing the two newcomers' attention. "Grab him!" she shouts at her comrades, pointing at Calix.
Shan is caught off guard as Calix approaches her, sliding a disk onto her chest that shocks her. He narrowly dodges Knox's attacks, but manages to flee from his aim, escaping through the front entrance of the bar. Vera stomps her foot down angrily, huffing out an annoyed sigh before pumping her legs to catch up with the smuggler.
"Clean up the mess," she calls to Knox as she passes him. She was not going to let Calix getaway. Thaddeus had not disclosed what was in the orb or what the orb even was but if Calix was also after it, it was valuable.
She pushes her way through the crowded streets, bit taking her eyes off of him for even a hit second. Nothing made her more angry than losing something to Calix - the smooth-talking smuggler that always seemed to meddle with her deals.
Whether it be persuading her seller or buyer into going with him or him stealing from her like this, it gave her a bad reputation and an even worse taste in her mouth whenever she thought of him.
As she closes in on him she grabs ahold of the scruff of his jacket, pulling him back forcefully to the ground. The man groans in protest from the unexpected fall. The crowded street scatters from what could potentially be a scuffle. Calix tries his best to catch his breath as a shadow looms over him. Vera swipes the orb from his hand as he's recovering.
"It's good to see you too," he grunts as he props himself up on his elbows. Panting, and unhappy, Vera places the heel of her boot on his chest, pressing him down to the ground. "Stay down," she orders, her hand grazing over her blaster. "Wish I could, sweetheart," he coos just as he grabs onto her calf. "But I'm about to be a very rich man,"
He jerks her to the ground beside her, literally sweeping her off her feet. Although she's caught off guard, she still clutches on to the orb. She brings her foot down to attempt to slam down on his head but he places his arm in front of his face, blocking the blow. When that doesn't work, Vera tried to flip her other leg around to do the same, just barely grazing his head.
"Are you still mad at me!" he shouts as he twists her ankle back around, throwing her off balance. She sits up along with him, trying to throw several punches towards him that he easily blocks. She tries to evade any witty banter with him, although that was their dynamic when they had first met a couple of years ago. It turned to shit after a while.
Eventually, he throws her own fist back into her own face, causing her to lose her grip on the orb. She barely has time to recover before Calix leaps up and catches the orb in his hands. A metallic taste floods her mouth, she reaches up to see that he had actually made herself give her a fat lip.
Her anger soars through the roof as she sees him looming over her, haphazardly tossing the orb up and down in his hands. "Don't worry doll face," he croons to her, bending over. His thumb reaches out and grazes over her busted lip. If her head wasn't swirling at the moment she'd bite it. "Once I get the money I might take you on a proper date this time. Given you ask me nicely,"
"Go to hell," she spits out.
"I'll see you there," he says with a wink. This pushes her over the edge. Her vision goes red as she pulls the blaster out from its holder, aiming it directly for his head. Unfortunately, she doesn't get the satisfaction of seeing his head roll as he skillfully dodges the blast. The blast ricochets off of a building and ends up hitting a street shop, sending it up in flames.
Both of the smugglers look at the shop in shock, only to think about what could've happened if that really hit the true target. Calix sends Vera a glare before turning in his heel and running away from the area. Her eyes dart from Calix, running away with her hard-earned prize, the piece that she needed to give to Thaddeus and then to the shop that was ablaze where someone's life's work had gone up in flames.
Screams of horror flooded her ears as she continued to look at the raging fire. Her heart pounded. She had to go after Calix, she had to get that orb but she needed to help these people. "I might need...I might need some help," Vera pants into her commlink before darting across the way.
She pushes her way through the crowd of lifeforms that surrounded the small bodega, her eyes widening at the blazes that licked at the street, leaving scorch marks in its path. Foolishly, Vera steps forward as she can see a figure within the small shop. The wisps of the fire tickle the warmth of her cheeks as she braces herself to strut in.
Thankfully, the balosar man wasn't too far from the entrance as Vera could begin to feel exhaustion pouring out if her from the sweat the fire was creating. The man clutched on to a sand-colored tooka which was clawing and mewling into his chest as he looked up at the smugglers terrified. "Let's go!" she shouts at the older man, attempting to grab at his arm.
The man flails forward as he crashes to the ground, making the tooka go flying towards Vera. She barely has time to process the animal flying towards but she manages to catch it in her arms, wincing as the cat-like animal scratched up her arms before beginning to settle down. Her eyes drift towards the man, to see that his foot is stuck.
He grunts as he struggles to get his foot free. A sickening crunch from above sends Vera's head through the roof. Her gaze rests upon the ceiling beams that had started to weaken and char from the flames. "Of course," she complains to herself before setting sights on the man. If she didn't get him out of there in time they would both be doomed.
She places the tooka on her shoulders as she crosses the room towards him, hooking her arms under his and pulling on him. He screams in protest as his foot is lodged under a solid block of wood. Vera continues to pull, kicking at the wood, hoping it loosens up.
Frustration began to bubble inside her as the man still struggled in her arms, grunting in pain each time she yanked him back. Another crack from above alerted her that she was running out of time.
In a matter of moments, they both would be crushed by the weight of the roof. She squeezed her eyes shut as she struggled to pull on the man, not giving up until she finally felt a pop. The sudden release of pressure sent her stumbling backward with the man groaning on top of her legs.
One quick scan of him had her relieved as she realized his foot was no longer caught, although it may have come out twisted a little more than what it should've usually been. She hooks one of her arms around his waist as she attempts to lift him up, the tooka scuttling down towards her torso, clinging on for dear life.
Once again she winces at the newfound pain caused by its skinny claws but her main focus was getting out of the bodega alive and somewhat unharmed. It wasn't simple getting out of the bodega, she may have burned her arms more than she would've liked but it wasn't like the balosar man could walk without her crutching him.
As she crosses the threshold, she can barely contain it, she moves faster than what she thought she'd be able to, sensing a danger was close by. She fully swings the man's body off of her shoulder and far enough away from the bodega, just in time to hear the sickening crunch of the main beams giving way to the flames.
Her arms instinctively cradle the tooka that was still clawing its way up her torso, stroking it to soothe her own nerves. That could've been her in that place if she had waited just a little bit longer. The man let out a mournful cry causing Vera to come back to reality. This was all caused by her. This man's hard work, this man's life, went up in flames just because she was stupid enough to believe that she could actually get the best of Calix.
Her blood boiled just at the thought of him. The next time she saw him he was going to get what was coming to him. "Vera!" a voice cried out from the crowd of people who had gathered to watch the bodega go down in flames. Her head whips in the direction of the voice, her mind still in a daze from what had just happened.
Shan bursts through the crowd, pushing past any lifeforms just to get to her. Her hair is disheveled as she looks towards Vera with widened eyes. "Troopers," is the only thing she can say past her panting. Vera wants to groan in frustration but can't find herself to do it after everything that has just happened moments ago. That's exactly what she needed to top off her day. Another chase from the First Order.
"Here, here," she numbly mumbles out as she hands the tooka over to the shop owner who is still sobbing on the ground from the shock. "You're going to be okay," she informs the man, clasping her hand in his shoulder to convince him that he'd actually be fine. The man whimpers as he attempts to stop sniffling. "I'm going to be okay," he whispers out in a pathetic tone while stroking the fur of the tooka in his arms.
She gives him a firm pat on his shoulder before standing up, looking at Shan for any more signs of distress that she may have seen. Nothing. She just nods before bolting off into the crowd without looking back, Shan quick to follow at her side.
What she didn't take into account were the several pairs of eyes that followed her and Shan away from the disaster. Including a pair of dark and guarded eyes, that belonged to a man who had watched the whole thing from the start of the explosion.
He was going to go in and help the balosar man out before the mystery woman beat him to it. He could easily tell just by the way she was dressed that she wasn't just some helpful citizen, she was a mere smuggler. What he didn't expect was her helping the man out. That was uncharacteristic of a smuggler, usually, they kept to their own and only helped themselves out.
In the distance he could see where he was supposed to meet his lead for the object his superior wanted, a couple of stormtroopers stood outside the door looking for answers to what exactly happened there. He sighs in frustration. His lead was lost.
A small droid, no bigger than a couple of feet, whirred by his side in exclamation. He peers down at the small beebee unit in question, as it still yipped in what appeared to be excitement. "Wha -" he doesn't even have time to finish his sentence when he hears the familiar metallic voice of a trooper nearby. Closer than what he wanted to call comfort.
He quickly scurries aside, hiding behind the edge of a building with his beebee unit. He rolls his eyes at the sight of their crisp white suits, this was just what he needed, to sneak off a planet with no object. He didn't need to get captured by the First Order, they'd have his head. So would his superior.
"We have reports of a wanted smuggler," he overhears the trooper state to the man with his tooka. The trooper flashes up a bounty puck that displayed the very same woman who had just helped him escape his death. "Which way did she go?"
The man scans the trooper, teeth chattering together as the tooka in his hand begins to growl in agitation at the newcomer. After a few moments of being stunned the trooper shifts in his spot, freehand going to rest on his blaster. The man's eyes widen as he watches the involuntary action, swallowing a large lump of spit that was caught in the back of his throat.
The beebee unit hisses at its friend nervously, wanting to flee the scene before it got gruesome but, with each second it knew that its friend would be too stubborn to sit by idly as injustice happened. The balosar man juts his arm out, motioning which way the smuggler was gone. In a moment's notice, the troopers gather up and run in the direction the man had lead them to.
It was unusual to see someone go against the First Order, the shop owner had purposely misled the troopers into following in the opposite direction the smuggler had gone off to.
Once the troopers had fled, the crowd began to scatter and go about their normal day. On this planet, it seemed like a public conniption was the only good drama to go down. The beebee unit whines in protest as its friend rounds the corner of the building.
The man scoffs out a sigh before looking back at the hesitant droid who didn't come out from hiding behind the wall. "Why don't you stay here? I'll be right back," he coaxes the faithful droid, who beeps in return.
Beebee-ate was always worried about its friend, especially since he was more than always too reckless. The balosar man stood on his two feet, watching his shop burn down in awe, his tooka still in his hands, tears escaping his eyes. No one had come to put the fire out as it seemed to be the least of concern for the First Order occupied planet.
He approached the shop owner, watching the fire take over the wood of the store like a hungry monster. He rested in silence next to him for a moment, just watching the flames lap up the remains of the store. He had seen too much of this during the First Orders rule. Too much destruction - not as tame as this but it was still destruction.
"I'm sorry," he whispers out to the man, who merely looks in his direction for a moment before looking back at his shop. "I should've known this would happen one day," the shop owner responds, his voice hoarse from his age. "It's not like everyone here is jumping to my aid," he states as he turns to face the young man next to him.
The man nods his head as he turns to face him before sticking his hand out to greet him. "My name is Poe Dameron. I'm from the Resistance. Is there anything you can tell me about the girl who saved you?"