Bane stood up. He had enough on his mind about this job, and he wanted to get one more question answered.
"So, Aurra, who's the employer here?"
"That's an interesting question."
"I agree with Bane." Added Hardeen, "Who hired us?"
"You really want to know?"
"Yeah, I do." Responded Bane. "But I think I already know."
"Take a guess, Cad."
"A man by the name of Dooku."
"You couldn't be more right."
The three stared at Sing. Hardeen broke the silence.
"Well then. Let's get going. Who's ship we taking?"
"Bane's is the only one that can fit all of us."
"Alright then. Lead the way."
Bane led them out of the back room and out of the bar. As they were walking across the street he turned on his communicator.
"Todo. The ship still ready?"
"Yes."
"We are about to arrive. Open the door and start the systems."
"Doing that, sir."
The four hunters walked into the ship. Embo and Aurra sat down without a word, as they had both been on the Sleight of Hand many times before, but Hardeen, his face hardened. He seemed to be disgusted by the lack of decoration. Or maybe it was the smell. Duros had a very distinct smell. Bane downloaded the coordinates of the planet Crait into the nav-system, and was about to tell Todo to take off, when Aurra spoke up at the last second.
"Take us to a neighboring system first. No need to alert the republic of our presence too early.
"Alright then. Todo, take us to the nearest other inhabited planet."
And so they took off into the sky. After reaching a safe jump point, Todo and Bane were preparing for the jump to hyperspace, when a proximity warning rang out across the ship. Bane looked at the detection system and saw 2 small freighters coming in at high speed, and they were armed.
"What is it?" Hardeen asked.
"Pirates." Responded Bane.
"Is this thing armed?"
"I have 3 cannons, a turret, and a droid."
"That enough?"
"Should be."
Hardeen was about to speak up again, but before he could, Bane hit the sublight thrusters to full power and brought the ship around, straight towards the oncoming pirates. The pirates fired the first volley, lasers slicing through the space around Bane's ship, but none hit.
"Todo. Start hitting them."
Todo plugged in to the targeting system and decided to focus on the larger of the two vessels. The Sleight of Hand fired a powerful burst from its Ion Cannon, which surprisingly disabled the pirate vessel's shields in just three shots. The laser cannons finished it off.
The other pirate vessel came around, firing at the hunters a few more times with its laser cannons. This time, it scored hits, knocking Hardeen out of his chair.
"Strap in next time."
"I know, I know."
Bane started to bring the ship around, but the remaining pirate vessel was closing fast, and continuously firing. Another blast hit Bane's ship, disabling the laser turret on top and damaging the sensor array.
"Targeting system has been damaged. Handing over manual control." Todo said.
Bane took control of the laser cannons, and started firing volleys at the pirate. None hit, and the pirate flew in a wide circle around the Sleight of Hand. Just as Bane was pulling around, another blast took out the engines on Bane's ship. The pirate was coming in with a grappling hook to board the ship, but just as it was coming into range, it was destroyed by another ship, which then proceeded to fly off.
"Engines and sensors are fried."
"Call a tug from the surface."
"Those cost a lot of credits."
"We have a lot of credits."
Bane turned on a comms beacon, and leaned back to wait for someone to answer. Soon enough, a tug arrived. It was an older model, and looked like it had seen quite a few generations. It locked onto the Sleight of Hand with it's dual tractor beam projector and towed into down to a landing pad.
Todo dropped the exit ramp, and the hunters walked out into the bustling city. Soon after, the owner of the tug walked out of his shit, and asked for his credits.
"How much?" Bane asked.
"2,000."
"That's overpriced." Said Hardeen.
"Best I can do is 1,700."
Bane put his hand on his holster.
"I think you can go lower."
Seeing the holster, the tug operator stutterd.
"Uh- I can do 1,000."
"Good enough."
Aurra got out the credits and handed it to the tug operator, who started to walk away.
"Hey, you!"
The tug operator turned.
"Where can we find a decent repair place?"
"Ju- Just over by that pad. Big place. Lot's of lights."
The hunters turned and walked in the direction of the repair yard. It was located inside a large concrete warehouse, which was bustling with both people and droids. Ships of every shape and size were parked inside and outside the building.
"There's a big line." Said Bane.
Aurra took charge.
"We don't wait in lines."
She led them in front of the line, which got them the attention of several people in line, who all started yelling.
Bane drew one of his blasters and shot at their feet.
"Stay back."
The attendant looked at Bane.
"You. We have a ship that needs urgent repairs."
"What happened to it?"
"Pirates."
"I- Uh- i'll send someone to inspect the damage and name a price."
"We name the price, thank you very much."
The attendant nodded, and pointed to one of many mechanics standing in a circle near a side exit.
The hunters walked up to them, and one mechanic, a short human male with blonde hair and a brown beard, came up to them.
"Let's see the ship."
Bane pointed the ship out to him, and as he looked from a distance, he started to name prices.
"No, no. We name the price." Repeated Bane.
"Alright, how much?"
"2,000."
"That's less than half our usua-"
"That's. The. Price."
"Got it." The mechanic ran inside and grabbed a few other workers before heading towards the ship.