A/N: There are SPOILERS to both the Imperial Agent and Bounty Hunter storylines. You have been warned.
Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars, or anything related to it in any way shape or form. The only thing I do own is the plot.
Third chapters up! Enjoy :P
Shakiru stepped over the corpse of a freshly killed Fa'athra gangster, pocketing the credits he'd taken off it. Another one dead. Nem'ro should let me into the palace and sponsor me simply out of gratitude for the fact that I'm ridding Jigunna's streets of Fa'athra's filth, he thought contemptuously. Personally, he wasn't a fan of the Hutts-they were a double-crossing species of fat liars who took everything they could for themselves and didn't give a care about anyone or anything else-but the only way Shakiru was getting into the Great Hunt was to be sponsored by Nem'ro the Hutt. The Great Hunt was a galaxy-wide competition between the best bounty hunters to determine who was the best. Shakiru was determined to get in and win the Hunt because it could really turn his life around.
He jogged over the sandy streets of Jigunna, the city controlled by Nem'ro on the planet Hutta, trying to ignore the intense heat that sent drops of sweat sliding down his face. He turned a corner and almost ran right into a group of Fa'athra's gangsters. Fortunately, his reflexes were fast enough that he managed to dodge inside a building before they noticed him. Unfortunately, he had run into Vexx's safe house and into a group of body-guards. Dodging blaster shots, Shakiru whipped out his own pistol and started to shoot at the men, taking them out one by one.
When Shakiru was alone in the main room of the house with yet more corpses, he came out from behind the crates where he'd hid and grabbed the data pad off the table. Then he made a holocall to his cyborg tech specialist, Mako.
"Did you get it?" She asked, her voice saturated with excitement.
"Yep, it's right here," Shakiru replied, holding up the datapad.
"Great, send the information to me... You didn't get hurt, did you?"
"It was an easy task," Shakiru responded, swishing his hair out of his face.
"Braden would have been pleased."
Braden was the aged bounty hunter who had originally formed Shakiru's support group with Mako and an alien called Jory. Braden had been trying to get Shakiru attention from Nem'ro the Hutt by sending him to kill Vexx, a renowned bounty hunter. Unfortunately, Braden and Jory had been killed by a Mandalorian called Tarro Blood. Now, along with trying to get into the Great Hunt, Shakiru was also trying to get revenge on Blood without breaking the Hunt rules, which state that competitors can't start killing each other until the Hunt begins.
"Oh no..." Mako's voice intercepted Shakiru's thoughts.
"What?"
"Vexx kept detailed records of everything, including his next action: he's planning to leave Hutta in about two minutes. You must get to the spaceport and stop him from going!"
"On it." Shakiru turned off the holocom and sprinted back onto the streets and to the spaceport, shooting at random gangsters as he went, but only if they shot at him first.
When he reached the terminal where Vexx was, body guards immediately attacked him. He should have expected it, but he'd been in such a rush to get to Vexx that logic had fled from his mind. For a long while, the guards had the upper hand. Only after he was bruised, exhausted from running to the spaceport, and had a wound on his arm from where a blaster shot just managed to not severely injure him did he kill the first guard. After that, he regained his edge and took out the rest no problem.
The hum of an engine warned him that Vexx was almost out of his grasp and he jumped forward and out onto the platform where a man was just starting to board his ship. On a whim, Shakiru shouted Vexx's name and the man turned, scowling.
"Who are you and why are you here?" He asked, his hand twitching toward his gun.
"I'm the winner of the Great Hunt," Shakiru replied confidently.
"The Hunt hasn't even started yet, kid. I never thought I'd see the day when dashing Vexx got cornered by a street-rat claiming to be a bounty hunter," Vexx sneered.
"'Dashing'? Really?" Shakiru cocked his head enjoying the look of fury that overcame Vexx's face.
"Listen, kid, Vexx is the best quick-draw artist in the galaxy! Vexx can shoot your ears off so fast, you won't even hear yourself scream."
"That's not the way ears work, idiot," Shakiru commented. How did this guy get far if he doesn't even know that?
Vexx drew his gun. Shakiru had to admit that he was fast, but Shakiru was just as fast. He dodged Vexx's first shot, aimed and fired. He hit the bounty hunter right in the stomach, killing him instantly. As soon as Vexx had fallen to the ground in a puddle of his own blood, Shakiru stole his identity tags to prove that he was the one to kill Vexx and then returned to Mako.
Back in their headquarters across Jigunna, Mako said, "Perfect! I'll have to use every favor owed to me, but I should be able to get you a meeting with Nem'ro now that we have these. Go rest, you look pretty beat up."