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Chapter 9: Chance Encounters

Cade

At the age of 17 Cade had been Rhimar's official apprentice for seven years and had already started taking on missions of his own and was making a name for himself. As her first official apprentice Cade was granted special privileges that the other rookie members of the group couldn't even dream of. Rhimar had also started taking him on her more dangerous missions, like the one they were on now.

2 days ago Rhimar was assigned with the task of retrieving the king of some planet's daughter. The trouble is that she was taken by the kin of Jabba the Hutt which meant they were currently deep in Hutt space at the moment. The whole thing made Cade uncomfortable and he said as much to Rhimar.

"Well it's a good thing the mission doesn't depend on what you are comfortable with," Rhimar said into the ear piece Cade was wearing.

"I didn't say it did," Cade barked sounding more like a petulant teenager than he would have liked.

"Then shut up and do what I told you, pup," Rhimar said and Cade could tell that she was smiling.

"Fine, hag," Cade said and was very glad he wasn't near her when he said it.

He took his ear piece out as she started screaming at him. Rhimar was no hag but Cade felt the need to get the insult in after she called him a pup. That was one of his pet peeves. He hated to be treated like or even called a kid.

He was a bounty hunter who was showing all those in the guild who had doubted Rhimar when she brought him home that he could hold his own. But Rhi liked to treat him like the same kid she'd found living all alone all those years ago. He couldn't blame her as she was as close to a mother as he'd had in a very long time. So long in fact that he had trouble remembering his birth mother's face.

"Cade! Cade! Cade put your damn ear piece back in and get moving. I just saw one of Rettus Trunn's lackeys waltz right by you," Rhimar was yelling into his ear piece as Cade was slipping it back into his ear.

"Shit," Cade hissed. "Sorry, Rhi. Which way did he go," Cade asked and then took off running when Rhi told him.

"Don't let him get away, Cade. We have to get Princess Estella back to her father soon. If we lose her the guild's reputation could be damaged," Rhimar reminded him.

"I know, I know you don't have to tell me again," Cade grumbled.

It wasn't long before Cade picked up the foul smell that could only be attributed to a Hutt and knew he was on the right track. The man seemed to know that he was being followed as his path was erratic. He would turn down one street just to turn around and go the opposite way. If he was trying to lose Cade he was about to be shit out of luck because unless he could change his scent there was no way Cade would lose him.

Cade ran around another corner just in time to see the man head into a bar. He stood in the shadows and watched the door for a moment or two, watching everyone who came and went. It was clear that the spot was run by the Hutts.

Cade flipped up the collar of his long trench coat and was about to walk toward the bar when someone ran into him. Whoever they were, they were running full out when they ran into Cade causing them both to topple to the ground. Cade felt himself grow angry.

"Hey, banthahole, watch where the hell you're going," Cade growled pushing the man away from him.

"Sorry," a voice said.

Cade's eyes landed on the young man who had run into him and almost pulled his weapons. The male had ebony skin with long stringy red hair and red markings all over his face. Cade could tell the male was a few years younger than him and was still growing, but the look on his face spoke of his confidence and ferocity.

"Just try not to knock over anyone else, kid. Everyone won't be so nice as to not kill you," Cade said.

"I don't need you to tell me anything about being cautious. I was just tryna prevent you from losing your own life. If I made you, then I'm sure the guy you were following made you too. Rettus Trunn's men are just waiting for you to walk inside so they can capture you too," the boy said.

Cade discreetly pulled his blaster and pointed it at the younger male.

"And how do you know that," Cade hissed.

"Because I am observant. Which you clearly are not. I've been on this planet long enough to know that Rettus Trunn is the smartest Hutt ever and he knows everything going on on this planet. He no doubt knows that you are here looking for the Princess," he said and began to talk off.

"Don't let him leave Cade," Rhimar said into his ear piece.

"Hey kid, how did you know I was looking for the Princess," Cade asked, grabbing the male by the arm.

"My name is not kid and if you don't want to lose those fingers, wolfman, I'd suggest you remove them from my arm," the male said and Cade let him go. Then he said, "Bounty Hunters such as yourself have been showing up here and leaving in body bags for the last couple weeks. It's all anyone ever talks about."

The younger male seemed to be sizing Cade up. Cade wasn't very well versed in the Force but he was able to feel others who were Force sensitive and this boy was very Force sensitive. Cade wondered if he was here all alone or if his master was somewhere nearby.

"What are you doing on this planet, kid? This is no place to be unless you have business with the Hutts," Cade said trying to get information out of the male without tipping him off.

"I'm just passing through," the male said quickly.

"See if he knows where the Princess is being held," Rhimar said and Cade physically jumped.

He had totally forgotten that she was there and could hear everything going on.

"Hey kid, I'll give you 200 credits if you can tell me where the Princess is being held or even where Trunn hides out," Cade said pulling out a satchel full of galactic credits.

"My name is Zer-o. Please stop calling me kid. I'm almost 15 years old and have been a man longer than you have," the male known as Zer-o said and Cade couldn't help but laugh.

He was beginning to like this kid.

"Okay, Zer-o. My name is Cade," Cade introduced himself.

"If I tell you where the Princess is you'll just go and get yourself killed like all the rest," Zer-o said.

"That's not true. I'm a part of House Benelex; we specialize in the return of kidnap victims. Plus I'm very good at my job," Cade said.

And Rhimar added, "When you aren't goofing off or chasing some pretty girl."

It took everything in Cade not to respond to her jab.

Zer-o held his hand out for the credits. Cade tossed him two hundred credit bars. Zer-o tucked them away then turned to Cade.

"Rettus Trunn hides out at the edge of town near the giant Jabba the Hutt statue. He is keeping the Princess locked in his quarters so no one can get to her," Zer-o said.

"How do I know I can trust this information," Cade asked because if he didn't Rhimar would yell at him for it later.

"Well you paid for it but I guess you would be a fool to trust someone you just met just because you paid them. But I have no reason to lie to you. I overheard Trunn himself talking about it. No one pays attention to a kid not even one from Dathomir," Zer-o said.

"Makes sense," Cade agreed.

"Besides, can't you tell if someone is lying through the Force? I can," Zer-o said and ran off.

"Hey wait," Cade called.

Cade started to go after him but Rhimar said, "Forget the kid, Cade. We have to get the Princess out of there!"

"Fine! But I don't like leaving him on his own. He reminds me of me in a lot of ways. Only I have a feeling he didn't have someone like you watching over him," Cade said and began heading for the edge of town.

"If the Force wills it, you will see him again. Now meet me at that blasted statue," Rhimar said.

"Yes, hag," Cade said and removed his ear piece again.

Cade and Rhimar met at the statue and began searching the nearby cliffs and caves for the entrance to Trunn's hide out. It took a while but finally they did find it. They were shocked to see that the entrance was unguarded but Rhimar said that was just to throw people off and she was right. A little further into the cave there were about 10 guards standing at the ready.

They were only hired mercenaries and didn't stand any chance against Rhimar and Cade who were used to fighting together and made a very good team. Rhimar made a joke that Trunn would have been better off getting First Order Stormtroopers to guard him. Once they were inside the underground compound they began searching for Trunn's personal quarters.

After running around for an hour or so Rhimar finally grabbed one of the mercenaries and allowed Cade to practice the Jedi mind trick on him. After three attempts he finally got the male to escort them to Trunn's quarters. None of the other men thought to question why he was leading strangers back to the boss' quarters which worked out perfectly for Cade and Rhi.

Once they got close to where Trunn laid his head, it was clear that all of Zer-o's information had checked out. Just outside the door, Cade was able to successfully use the mind trick on the mercenary to make him wait to escort them out and told him to tell everyone he was under Trunn's orders so no one would question what they were doing with Trunn's newest slave.

Rhimar stepped into Trunn's quarters first with Cade right behind her with his modified blaster pointed right at the fat slimy alien. Trunn looked surprised but the frightened princess recognized the sigil of House Benelex and knew they were there to rescue her. As Trunn went to call for help Cade shot his blaster dangerously close to the hut's head.

"By order of House Benelex, I order you to release the Princess into our custody," Rhimar called.

Trunn looked Rhimar up and down as much as he could while still keeping Cade in his sight.

"Only if an exotic looking female such as yourself takes her place. House Benelex has no pull here in Hutt space," Trunn said.

"Be that as it may, we have an order from the Republic that states if you don't let her go with us peacefully the Republic will step in and we all know you don't want that," Cade bluffed.

He went so far as to even pull out his data pad like he was about to pull up the warrant or even contact the Republic, which of course he wasn't but it made for a good show. Cade could not only smell his fear but he could see it gradually filling up his strange almond shaped eyes. Cade glanced at Rhimar who nodded her approval.

Before Cade could type or pretend to type anything Trunn called out, "Fine! Take the girl. She's more trouble than she's worth anyway."

Rhimar ran over to the girl to remove the shackles that kept her chained to the wall. Cade slipped his datapad back into its pouch and raised his blaster again. The Princess looked grateful enough to do whatever Cade and Rhimar asked.

"It's always nice doing business with you Trunn," Rhimar called as they walked the princess to the door.

"Rhimar you bitch, you will pay for this," Trunn said.

"I doubt it," she said and the three of them left Rettus Trunn's hideout with their mercenary escort making sure no one attacked them from behind.

Once the mercenary was free of Cade's influence he began calling for help. Before he could run back to the others a blaster shot was fired seemingly from out of nowhere, giving them just enough time to make it into the crowded streets of the city. It wasn't until much later that Rhimar and Cade learned that it was young Zer-o who had saved them that day.

Cade knew that Zer-o was special and made it his mission to run into the male again. Which he did 2 more times before Cade finally convinced Zer-o to join the guild and convinced Rhimar to actually back him and take him on as an apprentice. It didn't take long for Cade to grow on Zer-o and soon they were like brothers. Zer-o took to Rhimar as a surrogate mother even faster and soon the three of them were inseparable.