Chapter 2 – Wake Up Call
Location: Viktu, a major city on Malastare
Time: 7 Years Before the Battle of Yavin
Ash made his usual run at the usual time. It had finally become a habit, a routine if you will, which meant that it had been quite some time since he and his friends had started their involvement in this business. To him, it meant that it was nearly time for them to make their exodus from their home planet and onto bigger and better things. He hoped that his involvement in this filthy business was going to be a distant memory in the rear view mirror of his life, far behind him as he jetted off into the future.
The alley behind Jackson's Law Firm was the next spot for a drop. The bar association, completely unaware of the highly illegal activities going on behind their premises, made for the ultimate ironic spot in this case. As Ash made his way towards the drop point, trash bag in hand, he walked over a sewer grate, and looked down to see a dianoga looking up at him. Normally, this would scare anyone out of the alley, but over the course of a few months, Ash and his friends had grown to recognize this dianoga, naming it Crawdad, after a strain of spice that was no longer available on the streets of Viktu.
After leaving Crawdad the dianoga behind, Ash reached the drop point, the dumpster marked with a small blaster burn mark on the side. He tossed the bag inside and continued walking. Turning a corner back onto the road, 13th St, he looked around the area for his friend Bihan, but he was nowhere in sight. Strange, he had been in charge of collecting the payment today, and while being exactly on time every time would be a bit much to expect, he should have at least been able to spot him somewhere. Not this time.
Weird, Ash thought, maybe I should go to the payment spot.
Ash made his way to where they had discussed the peggat coins would be stashed at, in the vent opening in the restroom of an old dive bar on 23rd Street. Ash double timed it there and made it within two minutes, still no Bihan in sight. Though outwardly calm and collected, as to not draw attention, inside Ash was very panicked, not sure what could be going on. He made his way into the bar, past dozens of tall aliens, and into the restroom, which was thankfully unoccupied.
Standing on one of the toilets, he reached up at the ceiling and pushed the vent open, feeling around frantically for the coins. Nothing. What could be going on? Ash, Art and Bihan had all left their home at the same time, what could have been the cause of this delay? Could the police have caught onto them and arrested Bihan? What could they possibly do about that? Talk about throwing a wrench in one's plans.
Ash walked out of the restroom and froze only two steps out, realizing that not only was the bar completely silent, and doors locked, but also that all of the patrons were staring at him. These were some damn big aliens, there was no way Ash was going to fight them all by himself, unarmed.
"What's happening, guys?" Ash said in a friendly, but shaky tone, "Look, I'm not the one who did that to your restroom, it was a mess before I got in there."
None of the aliens seemed amused. Not that Ash was surprised. He examined every inch of the room as fast as he could, realizing the only exit he could possibly reach was the front entrance. He didn't trust his panicked mind to be able to push past the aliens and navigate the back area to the exit, so he knew the front door, which was still in eyesight, was his best bet.
He sprinted with every fiber of his being, trying to reach the door. He ducked a Twi'lek's grip and shoved a Devaronian aside as he made his way to the big metal door, and slammed into it hard, but it didn't budge. Before he could figure out the locking mechanism in time, he felt two huge arms seemingly swallow him up, pulling him away from the door with a force he could not fight against. Kicking and cursing out at his captor, he was dragged into one of the back rooms, presumably to avoid those outside from hearing his screams.
Rather than a torture chamber, as he had imagined it would be, instead he saw only a regular looking storage area, regular for a dive bar at least, he assumed. Full metal kegs, plenty of boxes, pipes and terminals, nothing unusual, however, sitting in the center of the room on their knees were Art and Bihan, surrounded by goons armed to the teeth with rifles and metallic blades.
The guard carrying Ash dropped him hard on the ground next to his friends, then sunk back into formation. Ash got ready to stand, but found a rifle barrel pointed right at his face.
"I wouldn't if I were you." the Devaronian said with a grin.
"Boss, last one's here." A Quarren said.
With that, a nasty slithering sound could be heard coming from further away in the storage area, in a smaller room, presumably an office of some sort. Emerging from the small space was a Hutt, a bloated, yellowish creature with horrible glowing orange eyes, which were fixated on the three friends. With a smile that sent shivers down the spines of the young drug dealers, the Hutt completed the semicircle of goons that had formed around them.
"Predictable, so young and stupid..." the Hutt said in a surprisingly decent accent.
"What the hell is going on?" Art asked, fear in his voice.
"You three were selling spice in my territory, that's what is going on, you rodent. I am Kurka the Hutt, the Malastarian spice trade belongs to me. I will not have three wannabe drug lords trying to undercut my profits."
"Hey we didn't know anything about you or your business! We weren't trying to undercut anybody!" Bihan said.
"Yeah, it's our only way of getting off this planet!" Ash added.
"Oh, you're right about one thing, you will be leaving this planet soon enough, trust me." Kurka said, his henchmen chuckling at this.
"We didn't mean any kind of offense to you or your associates, sir." Ash said.
"It matters not. Where were you getting your supply of spice?" Kurka asked.
"We never actually knew his name. He was skittish, said it was because the authorities knew about him and his activities, he didn't want his mules knowing anything about him." Art stated truthfully.
"Is that so?" Kurka said, "Well if that's true, I suppose the three of you are of no use to me."
"No, wait!" Ash said, "Look, if you have to punish anyone, please just punish me. I wanted to push our independent operation into the city so we could accumulate the money faster. I shouldn't have dragged them into this."
"You can't take the fall for this one, bro." Art said, "I wanted to sell over here specifically, I knew some tweekers who said we could make bank over here. If anything, it's my fault we're here."
"Guys, what are you doing?" Bihan asked.
"How touching. Guards... squish that bug."
"NO!" Ash and Art screamed.
The closest guard, a Klatooinian, smacked Bihan in the back of the head with his rifle, knocking the young Verpine face first onto the ground. The guard then proceeded to curb stomp Bihan's head repeatedly, along with a Quarren guard. Ash and Art, with all of their strength, fought against the guards who kept them restrained, screaming and pleading for the guards to stop.
With one final blow of the boot, the dog faced guard crushed Bihan's head into a gory mess, splattering all over his friends and the floor. Kurka, along with the henchmen, erupted into laughter as Ash and Art lay defeated in their spots, tears streaming from their faces as they realized their dreams of exploring the galaxy together were long gone now.
"That is the price you pay for selling in my territory," Kurka began, "You two will have to live with what you did to your friend. You will be a living example of what happens to those who cross me."
"You plan to keep us living?" Art asked, "After what you just did?"
"You might as well kill us." Ash added.
"No... I'm going to let you rot in your decrepit state, stew in the thought of what you just witnessed..." Kurka said menacingly, "You'll start in two days, aboard one of my freighter ships. The two days will be for... processing... guards, take them to the safehouse, quietly."
With that, the guards injected needles into the necks of their captives. Slowly, it took the fight out of the broken, depressed men, who were very unprepared for whatever horrible fate awaited them.