*Coruscant*Black Market warehouse*
"I hate 1313," Alema said, shooting the foot of a pig-like being that wandered to close to her.
"So do I, but it is the best place to get work in Coruscant, in all the core worlds really," all of them were wearing their customized armor, based around the standard Mandalorian gear, but with several modifications to deal with the variety of the crew.
For example, Amela's and Niteko's had a half helmet that covered their lekku, preventing them from being snagged, though everyone could figure they were not humans.
Stax' had a full helmet, broader than Niteko's to cover all of his tentacles. Aela wore only a pair of HUD glasses on her head, as did Sugi, in contrast to the full helmet that Lydia and David wore.
And then there was Brick, who only wore a pair of HUD googles and light Mandalo armor.
"And with a wookie here they will think twice before even opening their mouths," Stax continued from where he left off, "How long until we land a fast job? I want to go to Tattoine soon."
"You're in luck, I got us a pay-up-front job in Falleen, one of the natives wants us to kill a Vong that has stirred up trouble in the 501 mountain, somehow the request got all the way here rather than to Corelia, but we're looking a gift horse in the mouth, are we?"
All gave negatives, "What is a zealot doing in Falleen anyway?" Aela asked
"That is for the client to wonder, all we have to do is kill him before he starts a genocidal campaign," Stax stood up, sweeping a credit pouch of an unsuspecting criminal. Out here, it was every man on his own.
Besides, all of them needed some clips for their blasters, and Brick's bullet spitter needed ammo that was rare anywhere but in the most primitive worlds where phosphorus and charcoal were common, so they always had a third of the available money on hand for ammo, even if their ship was equipped with blaster ammo manufacturing.
"Let's go people, it's a day's travel at max speed, we need a move on if we want to be done by the end of the week," No one hesitated in following Brick, even as a shadowed figure watched them.
"Keep an eye on them Sidius, when we rise to power, bounty hunters like them will be the best troops," the figure said.
"Understood Master"
*Falleen system*
Falleen was a planet in the mid rim, its atmosphere rich in oxygen, nitrogen and carbon, with enough humidity that even the most fish sentient species could breathe comfortably in it, if with some slight gill trouble.
The indigenous sentient specie of the planet, uncreatively named Falleen, were some of the smartest, having taken to space travel only a few decades after the first off-planets ship arrived, and with military power strong enough to stand up to the people that wanted to destroy the forests for factory production.
The Falleen were reptilian in nature, much like all the species indigenous to the planet, but unlike most, the Falleen were actually humanoid, and hard to differentiate from green-skinned mammalian species if not for the slanted eyes and the third lid. Thanks to that, they had quickly risen through the galaxy's ranks, from a specie from a backwater planet to one of the most numerous and most varied species.
Hell, Jabba the Hutt had some on his court.
The Vongs on the other hand, were indigenous to a planet not yet explored, in the wild space, and usually kept to their planet, with only two or three appearing in heavily populated planets, only to be killed after a few months when their religious overzealousness, the same thing that used to create wars on Earth all through their thirtieth century, led them to making dangerous enemies, enemies with contacts.
Their target was one of the Vong, and had been stirring up trouble in the towns at the foot of mountain 501, one of the twenty or so mountains large enough to have snow on their peaks, a few miles away from where one of the main Falleen cities was located.
Their client was a merchant who had taken a transport vessel through the Corelian Run with vegetables for the people of Coruscant, and after subtly inquiring about the place where everyone was unknown and no one was seen, posted the job request, and then left on another run, this time carrying the only thing that Coruscant was the best place to go for.
Shit, many kinds of it, from human, to Trando, Twi'lek to Zeltron, Wookie to Gungans.
Basically, Coruscant was a massive crap factory, but it kept them afloat, providing manure to rural planets.
Back to their Target, the Vong was starting to use his brand of genetics to engineer a weapon that would target and destroy all technology in the planet, since their religion taught that any technology that was not organic in nature was evil and deserved to be destroyed.
It would be a tricky business, as all assassination works were, since if the ship landed too close to the target, chance were that he/she/it would see them coming, and if they landed too far off then chances were that they would miss him or get there after the given deadline, which in this case was after the weapon of technological destruction was deployed
That was not accounting for things that could go wrong during the scouting, like rumors starting about the crew, which could potentially tip off the target, or the local news reporting an unauthorized landing.
It was here that one of the greatest, most pessimist human minds that spread across the galaxy, applied to all scenarios; Murphy.
Greatest strategic mind.
Right after Tsun-Su.
It was for this reason that the Dusk Bringer stayed in orbit for a full cycle, with Niteko and Amela discussing the best landing place and route for doing so, while the rest of the crew was deciding the weapons for the job.
"It can't be anything to visible, if the Vong has underlings then it is likely that they'll see my muzzle flash, and Tronk's bowcaster is too loud, and thermal detonators while effective, are not an option," the whole battle ready part of the crew was down in the armory, their arsenal in display.
"We could use ion detonators and weapons, they barely let out a hum," David said, only to be answered by wookie growls, "Yes, I doubt we'll go against droids, but we don't have subsonic weaponry"
"We do have flame throwers, and I doubt the lair will be made of flammable material," Lydia pointed at the four containers, each with five liters of gas in it, "Two full minutes of continuous fire."
"And we have compressed air guns, just hoarding them really," Aela pointed at the three rifles nobody ever used for anything but target practice, "and they are mostly silent, we take them, the flame throwers, and two gas grenades a head"
"And this is where we thank our foresight for getting the stealth field generators," Stax held the collar devices for everyone, only Aela not taking them, "Right, zeltron, telepath"
"And downright sexy," she grabbed one of the extra vibroblades Brick kept, tying it to her waist, "I suppose the brainy girls are staying here"
"Yes, Niteko and Amela want to say in the ship, Niteko will be manning a turret," Brick holstered his twin blades, strapped the flamethrower to his wrists, and threw the air rifle to Tronk, while Stax strapped his light saber.
"They'll also make camp out of our landing place, so we can sleep outdoors, Falleen is too beautiful not to do so."
No one argued that.
*Days later*
A full standard week it had taken them to learn the exact location of their target, days full of scouting, listening and observing, days of being nothing more than people traveling the world, wanting to see other major Falleen cities.
The Vong they had been hired to kill was a creature of habit, it stepped out to its balcony every morning for a prayer, this lasting for 30 minutes, it had nothing to do for two hours afterwards, only meditating, after which it would drink some kind of beverage he prepared by himself, as it had no servants. At noon everyday it would go to the city to try and spread his religion, criticizing the technology flying above their head, the barges that went from city to city, this would last until he went to a farm, killed an animal and fed on it raw, tormenting everyone as he walked back to the plaza with the entrails hanging from his neck and blood covering his front and arms.
At sundown he would go back to the mountain, and pray for three hours, after which he would go to sleep.
They would block all his ways out, flood the house with gas and then light it, erasing all trace of them being involved in the killing.
Simple, quick, effective, the motto of all bounty hunters.
They would invade his house during the time he was in the town, and just in case it had changed its genetic make-up, they would put a poison needle hidden under the bed pillow, and fill the beverage supply with highly concentrated alcohol, inducing poisoning.
Out of the planet a whole week before the pod race in Tattoine, it would prove to be an interesting thing to watch, or at least Stax said so.
Encyclopedia Galactica, extract from Coruscant section, subsection "Sectors," Article 1313
The only one place more wretched than sector 1313 of the galactic capital is Mos Eisley in Tattoine, though it is by many considered a close match.
Sector 1313 of Coruscant has the main black market trade post of the Core Worlds, it is also the best place for hiring bounty hunters in said planet, as it has the most cantinas, bars, dance clubs, armories, and drug shops per capita than all other sectors. All places which are good for listening in.
It also has a lot of warehouse, all of which appear abandoned, even though the local authorities know they are not, they can do nothing to clear the criminals from it since whenever there is a raid planned someone gives the traders the slip and by the time the police force comes they are no longer in place, all traces erased and all smuggled items disappeared.
It is not recommended for a hitchhiker to ever step into sector 1313, stay to the upper 500 levels, where the police can do their thing and the Jedi order can appear in a flash in case of a crisis.
To the up and coming bounty hunter, sector 1313 is the best place to make a name in the core and deep core planets, that is if you do not offend someone better.