| Bounty Conrtact 109 - MSTR Ronin Sal-Solo
7 = BHG, 4 = Dragon Kabal (From Holonet), 2 = Hunter (3 =GH, 4 =CH/CRA, 5 =CA, 6 =CS, 7 =LH), 366 = Roster ID
***PAL TRANSMISSION***
To: 7.4.2.366
From: 7.4.4.108
Sal!
Mithra, it's good to have you back! I know you haven't had a chance to settle in to Apocalypse, but I've got an assignment I was hoping you could take care of. I mean, I would do it myself, but the various responsibilities of running a kabal are... OK. So, this involves going to Geonosis, and that planet frankly creeps me out. Just something about a mass of jointed limbs... ugh. You understand, right?
Right. So, the target is one of the flying types of sentient bugs. She's a highly experienced technical designer, in charge of a think tank that develops new... buglike... attack droids. Apparently, there was a spat at the management level of the company, and she's retaliated by swiping the plans and disappearing. They have great reason to suspect she's still planetside, but won't tell me why. I've included the information they sent over as an attachment.
See you in a week.
Minerva Sanchez Villa-Lobos Ramirez
Chief of Dragon
***END PAL TRANSMISSION***
Ronin blinked at the message. For the first moment, he was sure it was just a prank, one of those 'Oh look, you're back, now get busy - just kidding' sort of things. There he was, dusting off the ol' PAL (one of the originals, mind you, that Deus had given out himself, back in the day), when it beeped and came to life in his hands. And then, THAT.
`And here I don't speak any Geonosian,` he thought ruefully. `Well, on the bright side, at least it isn't... mating... sea-`
Ronin knew he was attracting the attention of his wife as he flew about the room, trying to find his ethereal laptop before remembering he had to summon the damn thing. As he did so, he breathed a rather large sigh of relief - Mating season on Geonosis didn't start for a week.
A week?
A week.
`Oh, fuckberries.`
"Sal," Virga said as she rose from her place of refuge on the floor, taken while he had been flitting about frantically the moment prior, and pulled the Jurain down to her level by his lapel. "I know that look, Ronin. It's the one where you're thinking 'Oh. My. Goddess. I just had something unpleasant handed to me and now I've got to go and do it.' Right?"
"Pretty much, hon," he said with as much gusto as he could muster, while holding his PAL to her. She quickly read the contents before sighing.
"Well, there goes the Honeymoon."
"Figuratively or Literally?" he asked, his mind already on composing a reply to send to his soon-to-be Chief, but he found himself side-tracked as a pair of soft, yet calloused hands took his own.
"I was thinking a little of column A, and a little of column B..." she said with a sly, predatory smile as she drew closer to him, her lips nearly touching his before she pulled away, dropping his hands and turning from him to walk back towards the bedroom of the small apartment he had been granted in Apocalypse. Before she reached the door, she turned again to present her profile and posed seductively, saying, "I guess it will just have to wait until you return."
Ronin blew an errant strand of hair about his forehead as an alternative to sighing before giving up and sighing instead. "Mou.... Anta..." he complained, which earned him a giggle from his spouse before she entered the bedroom and closed the door. "Well, I guess I'll have to get busy, then..." he said to himself, "But first, to the mall. I need a protocol droid, or at least something that translates Geonosian." He quickly checked his credit balance and grimaced. "Bleah. I forgot just how poor I am in this arm of the universe."
His brain tickled him, and he recalled he should at least respond to Min's message before heading out. He connected his PAL to his Ethereal laptop and quickly fired off a message.
***PAL TRANSMISSION***
To: 7.4.4.108
From: 7.4.2.366.2
By the Kami, in town for less than a day and already you people are knocking on my door, eh? Well, I can't complain (too loudly!) seeing as it is you doing the asking, Min. I'll look into it post haste, but since I don't speak the local language, nor have anything to translate it (Geonosian? Right. I can count how many times I've been to the Outer Rim on one hand), I need to do some shopping first. Xerokine Outlet Centre... Huh. You know, it's odd seeing a friend's name in the big lights.... Even if it IS just a shopping mall here on Cernun. I'm getting old, Min. Too old. Next thing I know, there'll be a Minerva's Secret out there, and- no, no. I am not going to continue that thought. Might give someone an idea. Do not, and I repeat, DO NOT start your own chain of lingerie shops, even if it would be a hit across the Galaxy. I predict nothing but profits from this, but your life would be miserable as you switch from dealing with Dragon trainees to dealing with Supermodels - which is an entirely different brand of idiocy, I assure you.
What was I talking about? Oh, right - Shopping. Know of someplace I can get an Imperial Protocol Droid or some such for cheap? One that works, mind. I'm going to try that Koral Robotics Foundry place in the XOC, but frankly, they don't strike me as being 'Hunter on a budget' friendly.
I'll message you once I hit Geonosis. This one's going to be a bit difficult, you know. I mean, sure, they included a dossier, but *I* can't bloody well tell one Geonosian from the next. I mean, seriously! Did you read the description? '...Superb example of the Scientific->Engineering Caste...' or, '...artfully arranged chin-tendrils...', oh, and this one just really describes the target: '...gracefully arching shoulder spurs...'. Right. Like that helps ME any.
Oh well. What was I expecting, really, from the population of the planet next to where the 'New Republic's' Rebellion poster child, A #1 Whiney Farmboy with an Over-Glorified flashlight, harkens his roots: Tatooine. You're tossing me out to the boonies this time, you know that? I'll pick you up one of those 'I went to Mos Eisley Cantina and didn't get my arm hacked off by a Jedi' T-shirts on the way back.
IF I don't get my arm hacked off by a Jedi, that is. One just might be tempted, If I can find one to laugh at.
-Ronin
***END PAL TRANSMISSION***
Xerokine Outlet Centre was big. Very big. Remembering a time when the only real shops available on Cernun were Stalker's Shipyards Limited, followed much later by Khan Industrial Weapons, Ronin wondered just how in the hell he was supposed to find anything, much less where he wanted to go.
After a good hour of getting sidetracked (lots of things to look at, after all), he finally managed to find the facility he had come for: Koral Robotics Foundry. Stepping inside the main hall, he was greeted by what, at first glace, appeared to be a young woman. "Good afternoon and welcome to Koral Robotics Foundry, sir. May I be of assistance?"
Ronin took aforementioned second glance: she was blonde, blue eyed, three quarters tanned, teeth just a shade too white in the smile, five foot something and perhaps a bit too perfect all around, and wore a blue and white two piece uniform with ruffles and skirt that revealed about as much as it concealed. "You're not human, are you," he stated plainly.
She tilted her head slightly before giving him a small nod. "Very astute, sir. I am regrettably not human. I am the prototype of the ACM Zero Three 'April' Droid series, which we here at the KRF are proud to make accessible to the galaxy, one hunter at a time."
"This would make you *the* April, then, would it not?"
"It would indeed, sir. Would you be interested in acquiring an ACM Zero Three?"
"State designated functions, please," he requested.
"This unit is designed with the highest grade polypropylene skin available for that true to life feel, and is resistant to minor abrasion, puncture, and scorching," she said, holding her hand out to him. Ronin took it in his own, and had to admit the pseudo-flesh was realistic, if not possessing a slightly thicker, more solid feel to it than real skin. As he released her hand, the droid continued her spiel: "Hand washable, or self cleaning for the 'Hunter on the go'. As this model is intended for use by Hunters either too busy to pursue a relationship, too cheap to hire a hooker, to moral to acquire a slave, too inexperienced with the opposite sex to have a one night stand, or for those who simply have a droid fetish, any and all knowledge pertaining to humanoid sexual intercourse comes preloaded, as does basic medical knowledge for those little 'accidents' in the bedroom. I am afraid my personal library of sexual arcana has been reduced and my medical database removed in order to facilitate the receptionist and tour guide routines necessary for my current function, as well as supporting a broader language base and more in-depth personality." She shrugged, as if to say `not sorry that happened` before continuing, "Average power cell life is thirty six hours before a recharge becomes necessary, but this drops to twelve if operating under arduous conditions," she said. "Is there any more information about this model you require, or are you ready to make a purchase?'
"You're not for sale, are you?" he asked, fairly sure the answer would be no.
"Not without permission from the Tactician or Marshal, no sir, though I am flattered by your interest," she said, with a blush and an embarrassed pose.
"Very realistic indeed," he mused, watching her. "Sentience, body language, poise... An A-plus to your designers, dear. Nowhere near Nabiki, but that's another matter entirely..."
"Nabiki?" she questioned.
"My second wife," he explained briefly, "FemIndustries Model NR One Four Seven Dash Five Dot B Seventeen. Software Revision Five, if I recall correctly. From a dead planet far, far from here and now. Managed to get her running again with a little luck and a lot of patience. Anyway, she's off doing her own thing four galactic spires away and I'm in need of a droid that can speak Geonosian. You wouldn't happen to, would you?"
She shook her head no, "Unfortunately not, sir, though were I in your possession you could easily request me to dump one of my pre-existing languages and learn it. The base model ACM Zero Three does not have this function, however."
"You posses this ability only due to your reprogramming as a receptionist and tour guide, correct?"
"Yes, sir. Would you care for me to show you our selection of Protocol and Linguistic Droids?"
"Please," said he, motioning her ahead of him.
She led him through the various makes and models of droid offered by the KRF that could speak Geonosian, but all were found lacking. He wanted to punch the C3PO unit she showed him, just on general principle, but managed to restrain himself. The feeling was intensified when she displayed the SE4. He considered the ZZ-4Z to be worthless, and the SIAK, with its insectiod Verpine features, to be far too ugly to take seriously. April found herself at a loss, though not frustrated - after all, she was the prototype model of the ACM-03 series companion droid, and dealing with Bounty Hunters was what she was designed to do.
"What is it, exactly, that you are looking for, sir?" she finally asked him.
"Something easy on the eyes, like yourself, that speaks bloody Geonosian," he replied.
"As I have stated previously, I am not for sale. What other requirements do you have? Keep in mind, sir, that we have already browsed the selection of droids that specialize in linguistics."
Ronin frowned. "Got anything that doesn't specialize in linguistics but speaks both Basic and Geonosian anyway?"
April thought for a moment. "Why, yes actually. Or, at least, it should. This way, please."
This time, she took the hunter from the companion droid section to the maintenance section. This section had a darker feel to it, though it really wasn't more or less lit than the rest of the KRF, and smelled of machinery and lubricant for no other reason other than it could. Various R series astromechs beeped and whistled to each other, while the Verpine repair droids clicked and hissed. Finally, April came to a stop in front of a rather industrial looking humanoid droid with a tan body and reddish-brown appendages. Its head had a lower profile than most humanoid droids, with oval-shaped ocular receptors and a grill area that approximated a mouth, and on the whole looked quite similar to the old-type Hunter-Killer series of the Old Republic days. "This is an LE-Series Repair Droid, and combines the repair ability of an Astromech with the communicative ability of a Protocol droid, without the attitude you seem to dislike, sir."
Said LE-Series droid stopped looking bored long enough to size both April and Ronin up before asking, in a slightly electronic voice, "Dislike, eh? And you want what, exactly?"
A corner of Ronin's mouth crooked up. "Can you translate between Basic and Geonosian?"
"Now that's a language you don't get a call for every day of the week. Yeah, I can do the clicky-tik whistle pop lingua franka of that dirtball, Geonosis. And I can fix your ship too, if you need it. 'For the Bounty Hunter With a Budget', and all that. Any other stupid questions?"
"Not really," he said, turning to April, "How much?"
"Seventy five thousand Imperial Credits."
"Sold to the man in the yellow hat," Ronin said.
"Hey, I'm a grease monkey, I'll have you know. Emphasis on the grease."
"Well, at least you got the reference," Ronin said, thumbing at April, who looked slightly lost. He handed her his Imperial Express card, and patted her on the shoulder. "Don't worry about it. I was being obscure."
"As you wish, sir. Transfer of funds accepted. Congratulations on your purchase, and thank you for shopping Koral Robotics Foundry..." she appeared to hesitate a moment before asking, "Would you like for me to forward a sale request on myself to the Marshal?"
Ronin shrugged. "Sure. If I do get permission to acquire you, I'll be stripping out your Karma Sutra index and replacing it with Linguistics wholesale, as well as anything else I can think of that would be handy. Schneider here can help with that, I think."
She nodded as the LE-Series caught what it had been named. "Schneider? What kind of a name is Schneider for a repair droid?"
"Hey, it's better than 'George', isn't it?"
"Sir has a point," April said to Schneider.
"I hate it when they have points. It makes them feel special. 'Look at me, I'm a human. I have a point!' Bah. Just... Bah. I guess I won't argue... Better than the last name I was given."
"Oh? What was it?" Ronin asked.
".... Betty," Schneider said, sounding quite bitter.
Ronin did his best to keep from laughing.
It didn't work.
After a moment, he managed to stop and sigh, saying, "Enough. I've got a hunt to start, and only a week to do it. And while I'm thanking the SSL for that x.25 Hyperdrive, it's not doing me any good standing here. Let's go," he said, giving April a bow. "You have been quite helpful, I apologize for the trouble I've been, and I hope that the Marshal will sell you to me. One can never have enough good people working with them. Now C'mon.... Betty... (Snicker) We've got work to do."
"I am so going to rue the fact I told you that, aren't I?" Schneider complained as he trudged after his new owner.
"Nah. Give it a week, at best, and I'll stop calling you that. But for now, it's mildly amusing."
"Oh, wonderful, I'm amusing. Perhaps you should sell tickets? Have everyone laugh at the stupid little robot?"
"Oh, stop being pessimistic. I didn't laugh *that* hard."
"Hard enough..."
April just shook her head and sighed. `What a strange man,` she internalized. She then made sure that message to Slagar was sent, and was properly flagged to gain his attention - he was a busy droid, after all.
With her current tasks finished, April returned to the front desk and awaited another customer.
--=[|]=--
Ronin loved spaceflight. Above all, he loved the freedom of it, the ability to go in any and all directions with just a twitch of the flight yoke and a careful nudge to the engine and thruster controls that only the Galactic Empire's ships afforded him. Unlike the space faring vessels of his own people, which would veto certain maneuvers deemed 'risky' by the ship's own living core, the robotic minions of the Galactic Empire assumed you knew what you were doing. And if you didn't, you paid for it. In his opinion this was important; you were allowed to do anything you thought possible without having to argue with the ship about it beforehand - which sometimes saved lives, especially your own.
Pulling out of the complicated twists and turns he was putting his Superviper, the Kimitte ga Iru, through just for the fun of it, he leveled off and waited for the Astrocomp to stop being dizzy and calculate the Hyperspace route to Geonosis from Cernun. As it did, Ronin registered a complaint emanating near the place Schneider had stowed himself: "The universe stopped spinning! Finally! Oh, for the sake of machinery, please! Don't do that again!"
"You'd best get used to it - that was just for fun. You should see the stuff I do in a firefight," Ronin said off handedly as the Astrocomp finally managed to route a proper flight plan.
He heard Schneider mutter, "By the Force, I'm in hell," before he engaged the Hyperdrive, the stars whirling about madly until only blue-grey streaks could be seen from the cockpit view port. Folding his arms over his chest and propping his feet on the console, he leaned back into his Bantha and Dewback leather pilots seat and fell asleep while Schneider continued to bemoan his fate behind him.
Wasn't too much different than joyriding with V, actually. At least the driod hadn't started hitting him about the head and neck yet.
Hyperspace... To Ronin, it was an invention he really needed to bring back to Jurai one of these days. It has long been said necessity is the mother of all invention, and the Jurai, being long lived as they were, did not feel a real need to have exceptionally fast travel between the various worlds and way stations in their Empire. If one was to be aboard a ship longer than a year, one generally entered cryostasis until one arrived at the destination desired. While not particularly pleasant, it served, and the standard cryostasis package included one free Sensory Experience - prerecorded data tracks that gave one skills in an area one did not have before, which was a fine way to work on one's needlepoint, in Ronin's opinion.
It should be noted here that Ronin's needlepoint was rather lacking, as he always preferred to do something productive in the interim of his travels. Like sleep. Granted, while sleep may not seem very productive at first, Ronin found it altogether relaxing - and as far as simple commodities go, he never felt he had enough of either. Perhaps he was too feline in nature for his own good, but as it was his life, he was inclined to do as he pleased.
And so the trip to Geonosis passed: quickly, quietly, and without incident.
Ronin awoke fully on the second of the shrill warning buzzers the Astrocomp emitted when it was time to disengage the Hyperdrive. Muttering to himself about the need for automation at times, he pulled the engine control levers back to re-engage them into real space, and then back further to half speed, giving him time to survey the situation in local space before committing himself. He was still on the outskirts of the system, but the space lanes were packed with ships, as if some type of quarantine were in effect - or, perhaps those Geonosians scattered across the galaxy made a homecoming during mating season. That might explain the Nebulon B frigate he was picking up on sensors near the planet's innermost moon, but why the frigate was on the planetoid's dark side, making it only noticeable to him due to his own angle of approach, was a mystery.
`No accounting for taste,` he thought to himself as he halted his approach, gave the frigate his profile for a smaller sensor return, and changed his approach path to take him nearer the planet but farther from the frigate. It could be legitimate, like a mining operation or some such, but something was telling him not to muck about with it. He had learned long before to pay attention to such feelings.
The feeling of distaste and caution was growing ever sharper as he drew nearer. He considered a moment before plotting out an exceptionally short Hyperspace jump that would take him immediately beyond the innermost moon - a risky maneuver, as one millisecond too late on withdrawing the ship out of hyperspace would place him *inside* the planet itself, but one he deemed worth the risk to keep him off that frigate's sensors. *Something* was definitely not right with that frigate, and Ronin wanted nothing to do with it.
He managed the jump, but coming into a planet's gravity well from Hyperspace was tricky: you had to throw the engine into reverse immediately to counteract the velocity the ship was moving at, while fighting the sudden gravitic pull placed on the ship by the planet itself. It was not a fun thing to do, but the feeling of unease went away as he fought the controls to bring the Iru into a successful orbit. His communications rig squawked with something that sounded both surprised and indignant, but was shot through with static.
"Schneider! Get on the comm., and tell them who we are. It sounds like I woke somebody up, and they're not happy about it - prolly spilt coffee in their lap or something," Ronin said, smirking to himself.
"What did you expect? Honestly, I don't know why I wasn't expecting a hotshot approach after your earlier display, but I really should have been," the droid complained as he came into the cockpit, and looked around a moment before plugging himself into the access port on the extensive communications rig. A moment later, the droid asked him, "Planetary Flight Control - You really surprised them. They want to know just what the hell you think you're doing."
"Tell them I fell asleep and almost didn't disengage the 'drive in time," Ronin lied casually.
Schneider was quiet a long moment, then replied: "They said if you're that lazy a pilot, you shouldn't be flying. They asked for the ship designation and identification for the pilot, I sent them your IPKC and the SSL Registry certificate. There's a lot of static however, and I'm not sure where it's coming fro -hang on. Ah. They want to know if you're here for LithTech's bounty on O Tuatam."
"Tell them yes, and ask for a landing approach," he took a look around, and realized for the first time that short intra-system jump might have been more risky than he had first thought - the planetary traffic to and from was pretty thick. He guessed his luck was acting in his favor again. "Preferably one close to this LithTech place."
"They'd prefer you to be close to it too. It looks to be a ways out from one of the central hive-cities due to local regulations on manufacturing plants and noise or something. Ah, they've given me the approach. Shall I take us in?" Schneider asked.
Ronin gestured to the controls. "Feel free."
Schneider patched himself into the flight control system through the comm. port and instructed the Iru's autopilot on precisely where to go.
Ronin, free to do so with Schneider piloting, took the time to observe the planet as they descended. Geonosis was a rock: the surface was pock marked with craters from asteroid impacts, and the red soil appeared dead and lifeless from this height. This did not mean the planet held no beauty - on the contrary, it provided a striking image with its lone sun coming over the horizon and illuminating the red soil, the planet reflecting the light to scatter amongst the asteroids in its rings. Before he had left Cernun, he had checked his PALs copy of the Hitchhiker's Guide for information on Geonosis, and if he recalled correctly, the rings and much of the other orbital debris were the remains of the planet's previous innermost moon, created when a two kilometer wide asteroid impacted with and destroyed it.
And there, as he watched, a medium sized rock was disturbed from its orbit by the passing traffic, and plunged into the planet's atmosphere, providing a beautiful grey/red plume punctuated by blue-white explosions, probably caused by methane ice pockets or white phosphorus lighting up from the heat of atmospheric entry. Their course took them closer to the planet, and the plummeting rock went over the horizon, denying Ronin the view of the asteroid hitting the surface. He *tsked* in disappointment.
Now deprived of any decent view outside the view port, Ronin pulled his PAL from his long coat's interior pocket and called up the Hitchhiker's Guide entry on Geonosis. His memory on the origins of the planet's rings proved true, though he had forgotten their high metallic content caused the soil's rust red color. What he was looking for, and failing to find, was information on Geonosian cities. He assumed, with the constant orbital bombardment going on, they would be underground, but no relevant information was included in the HG. Shrugging, he placed it back into his pocket, but left the unit active incase he quickly needed the scant information the Guide contained.
LithTech appeared to be underground, for the most part, with only squat, shielded smokestacks belching black plumes skyward. As they neared, an opening appeared in the rocky red soil below, and a holographic guide lane appeared on the forward view port, causing Ronin to nod approvingly - the guide lanes would help a live pilot bring his ship in to land, and also help an autopilot match its given flight plan to the actual location and conditions therein. Or within, as the case proved this time around. Schneider brought the Iru down gently, and Ronin got up to stretch. "...well," he said after a moment, "They know we're here. Time to go figure out what's going on."
"If we must. I suppose the sooner you finish is the sooner I get to work on something?" Schneider asked.
"Sure. The Iru's been in mothballs up until just recently, so it's going to need at least a once over, and I've been meaning to make a few modifications to the engine, but..." Ronin began, heading out of his ship with the mechanically inclined droid in tow. As they talked shop, Ronin spotted a Geonosian approaching them in a small, four person ground car. He waived, and the bug pulled around some freight that looked ready to ship before stopping in front of them.
Ronin gave the Geonosian a glance, as did it he. His opinion was along the lines of 'ugly SOB.' Leathery skin, three fingered hands and three toed feet, thin wings, tall bone spurs on each shoulder, and a face only a mother could properly detest. Of course, the bug was probably thinking along similar lines about his appearance, so that made them even. It shook its head after a moment, and started talking.
As it spoke, Ronin found that Schneider's earlier remark about the Geonosian's 'Clicky-tik Whistle Pop Lingua Franka' really wasn't too far from the truth. After a good length of this, Schneider began talking over the bug. "He says he's here to pick us up and deliver us to the President's secretary. Well, that's the short version. The long version was 'honored' this and 'pleased' that, and a bunch of irrelevant ass kissing," Schneider gestured towards the ground car, "You can get in now. He's just going off on how wonderful it is to see a bounty hunter, and how he'll be telling his third generation hatchlings about this 'grand experience'."
Ronin got in the back seat and Schneider, taking station next to him, continued translating, after a fashion: "More ass kissing. Him saying how it's nice to see a human wearing something other than orange. Not a flattering color in his opinion, at all-"
"Orange?" Ronin interrupted. "Ask him what he means by that."
A brief spat of electronic clicky-tiks later, Schneider answered, "Something about the latest shipment, and the humans that load the shuttles. Nothing specific, as he's just a driver, but he's seen them from time to time. I gather it's a ground crew for a larger ship. He's interested in knowing why you asked."
"Tell him I think orange is an ugly color too, and was wondering just how many people would be stupid enough to wear it at once," Ronin said.
"He says a lot. Also that they've been coming and going quite a bit, nearly daily, but that they haven't shown for a week. He's not sure why, as they have more of their order to pick up yet. Oh, he's now saying that maybe they didn't want to be around during the mating season, that they're afraid of sharing a motel with a few bugs or something," Schneider shrugged.
"Motel?"
Schneider asked, and replied shortly, "Yeah. Apparently all Geonosians are expected to return to Geonosis during mating season. He says that's why the traffic would've been bad 'upstairs'."
"I see," Ronin said absently, puzzling on a few things. "I do wonder if I'm not seeing the tree for the forest..." he mused.
"What's that, boss?" Schneider asked, confused.
"Nothing, just talking to myself. Did he have anything else useful to say?"
"Not really, just rumblings about pay cuts to some of the lower echelon employees, but nothing too bad. There was something in there about some tipy-top tit-for-tat that went sour, but no real details. Just that it happened, and everyone's wondering just what the heck it was about. Somebody left the company over it, but that's all he knows," Schneider finished as the ground car came to a halt in front of an elevator. More chattering from their driver before Schneider translated, "He says to go down to the bottom floor, and that you're expected."
Ronin nodded to himself. Under normal circumstances, the top floor would be the place to find a company president, above all the employees; here, however, the deeper you went, the safer you were. He pulled a twenty-credit chit from his pocket and handed it to their driver, saying, "Thanks for the ride, and the small talk. Every little bit helps."
"'Thank you sentient, and yes, it does,'" Schneider quoted after translating both remarks.
They entered the elevator in silence, and Ronin pressed the button. Luckily, no music was being played - his first exposure to Geonosians was enough at it was, adding whatever they considered proper music for an elevator to the mix had the potential for disaster.
Within a minute, they had arrived at the bottom floor.
The elevator doors opened to reveal a tasteful reception room with inter-galactic décor, obviously outfitted with several species in mind. Beyond the prerequisite furnishings was a small desk, with a Geonosian sitting behind it. Ronin made his way to it, Schneider keeping close behind him.
"Excuse me, I'm here about the bounty," Ronin said politely.
Schneider translated, and then again as the secretary replied: "Go in, he's expecting you, she said."
"Ah, could I get his name, please?" Ronin asked.
"'V Husium,'" she replied.
"Thank you," Ronin said, then proceeded into the president's office.
It was a fairly large space, all things considered, but rather Spartan in furnishing - across the sea of gloss black floor sat a large desk near the back wall, with two chairs in front of it and a literal throne behind. It was unoccupied. Instead, V Husium stood, staring at the back wall, and for good reason: it was made of transparent plasteel, like the Iru's view ports, and put on display a foundry located on the floor below. Large vats of molten alloys crisscrossed over the delicate machinery working below them, pouring the liquid metal down, into sheets that would be shaped by the robotic workers into most anything: toys, ground cars, droids, ship parts, and even nuts and bolts. It was a truly impressive display, and the iridescent glow of the superheated metal passing underneath lit the room they were in.
"'Most remarkable, isn't it?'" Schneider translated the question as V Husium turned to look at his guests. Ronin caught the motion of the Geonosian's wings twitching for a moment, as if he wanted to take flight, and his eyebrow twitched.
"Indeed. I could probably watch that for a few hours, and still find things to demand my attention," Ronin said, focusing his attention on the company president. He looked like both the bugs he had seen previously, save his clothing (primarily a loincloth and a loose vest that was secured on the bone spurs that jutted skywards from each shoulder, past the head) seemed to be more ornate, made of off world fabrics form the look of them. One other thing grabbed Ronin's attention - This bug was *huge*. He was carrying himself stooped over, like an old human, but even then he was Ronin's height, with arms and legs even spindlier looking than Schneider's.
"'As have I, in the past,'" V Husium gestured towards the seats before his desk as he took the throne. "'Please, sit. Your droid, too, if it would like.'"
Ronin took the proffered seat without hesitation, placing him at bug-eye level, while Schneider deigned to stand behind him. After a moment, V Husium continued. "'Let me explain what's been going on. O Tuatam was one of our best designers. She was leader of the think tank in charge of designing a new kind of war-droid commissioned by... an interested party in the galactic government,'" he spread his hands magnanimously. "'We, of course, are keenly interested in whatever interests our benefactors, so we gave the project a large budget and let her team work on it as they saw fit. The interested party had requested a certain amount of lethality, and a certain size for deployment reasons, but other than those sparse restraints, the team was free to design what they wished. For the first few months, everything was fine. But then something happened between O Tuatam and another think tank leader, V Sinian, which lead to her disappearance with all the plans her team had been working on thus far.'"
"What happened between O Tuatam and V Sinian? The contract stated it was an argument," Ronin asked.
""I'm not entirely sure. An incident report was filed internally, but it was marked as a 'personal disagreement'. You may want to ask him, if he feels willing to discuss the event he can, but so far he's been rather close lipped about the entire affair, which leads me to wonder if it doesn't pertain to the upcoming events of next week," replied V Husium.
"You mean the mating season, correct?"
The bug hissed a bit, but nodded. "'I was trying to skirt the issue, but yes. It is important you bring this up. Do you know much about Geonosians?'" When Ronin shook his head no, V Husium continued, "'Well, during the upcoming 'mating season', you should be aware that the Geonosian physiology changes rather drastically, and even the most mild mannered worker can be a deadly threat when threatened or provoked. In light of this, I have decided to switch the bounty from O Tuatum to the plans themselves. While we, as a company, would still like to have her back unharmed, we realize the dangers that could easily arise should you corner her, and will not penalize you if she dies as long as you have the plans in your possession when you return.'"
Ronin frowned just slightly. Last minute changes to contracts weren't that unusual, but something wasn't adding up here. "Let me guess - she wiped every copy other than her own, and the 'interested party', as you put it, finalized one of the plans she has in her possession. It's going to take far too long to redesign this 'droid, and you want her copies back so you can start production immediately."
"'You have a most gratifying grasp of the situation,'" V Husium said.
"Do you know what type of media the plans have been stored on?" Ronin asked.
"'We use the standard means: Datacard. Our server is a Biocell, however, but the plans were wiped from it. I believe O Tuatum had her personal copies kept on datacard, but it would not surprise me if she had other backups."
"I see. Would you mind if I-" Ronin paused in mid speech as a beeping came from his long coat pocket, in which e had left his PAL. "One moment, this may be something on O Tuatum," he said, recovering his PAL and flipping it on.
His PAL, once more in an environment that supported wireless access to the Holonet, had checked his incoming messages in accordance to his settings. Finding a new message awaiting its owner, it had beeped for attention. Ronin scrolled through it quickly.
***PAL TRANSMISSION***
To: 7.4.2.366
From: 7.13.4.1625
Ronin, I've got a Mission for you. Ip seems to have caused quite a stir in the Outer Rim territories along with some of the BHG's Jawa population. You heard me Hunter, Jawas.
At first it just seemed like malfunctioning droids and deals gone south, but now we're more than positive that Ip Uch has either been taking Jawas (and their droids) as Slaves or outright killing them.
Your mission is Ip Uch. We need to know what has happened to the Jawas, whether they're dead or enslaved and where exactly they are. If you can get Ip Uch to talk then you're free to bring her in dead or alive, otherwise we need her for questioning. Bringing in the Jawas is an added bonus. Now get on it Hunter.
-Dalk
***END PAL TRANSMISSION***
Ronin scrolled though the info on this Ip Uch character and sighed. Already on one mission and here he was slated for another. When it rained, it poured, after all.
"'Something important?'" V Husium asked.
"Yes, actually. I'll need to use a terminal sooner or later to reply. But first I would like to take a look over O Tuatum's workspace. Would you mind if I did that now?" Ronin asked.
"'Of course you may. Let me call my secretary in to guide you,'" the company president punched a small intercom button on his desk and spoke into it.
"He's calling his secretary in," Schneider said. "Hummn... She doesn't sound too happy with his tone, but she's coming."
Ronin raised an eyebrow at this, but declined to say anything. The secretary came in at this point, and V Husium addressed her. After he was done, her wings fluttered, and she did not appear to be pleased. At length, she announced something and turned, Schneider translating as "'This way.'" Ronin hurried to follow.
"Any idea on what's set her off?" he asked his droid quietly as they followed the secretary back to the elevator.
"He was being rude to her, I'll explain later," Schneider replied.
They went up a floor, and when the elevator doors opened Ronin gave the new room a look over. It appeared to be a high-class cubicle farm, with all the clutter those usually entail, with two large conference rooms near the elevators. The room extended much further back than he could see, and had to abandon the pursuit as they were being ushered towards a cubicle. The secretary gestured, and said "'This is it.'"
"Excuse me, but do the other members of O Tuatum's think tank work in the surrounding area? And where can I find this V Sinian person?" Ronin asked her before she could leave.
She visibly calmed herself before replying, "'Yes. All the workspaces between this juncture and the elevator are designated for use by Team Alpha. V Sinian, leader of Team Beta, can be found in the larger cubicle in that area over there. Do you have any other questions?'"
"Is it permissible to question her co-workers? And where might I find a terminal with public Holonet access?"
"'Of course. Just try not to be disruptive. If they have time, I am sure they will speak with you. As for a terminal... go ahead and use O Tuatum's. It's been cleaned out of anything sensitive in preparation for either her return or a replacement. Is there anything else?'" Ronin shook his head no, and Schneider answered a negative for good measure. "'Then good luck, hunter."
Ronin, left to his own devices, eyed the terminal. Nothing special, just a standard machine with a holo-easel attached for drafting directly to datacard. He took a look about the walls of the cubicle, and noticed a few lighter spots, square in shape, as if there had been 2D pictures hanging there at one point, but removed only recently. "So, tell me what you were going to say earlier, 'bout the pres being rude," Ronin said to Schneider as he began looking under the terminal and the desk for anything.
"Right. Well, the Geonosian dialect has several inherent forms, which you could describe as 'High', 'Common', and 'Low'. While he was speaking with us, he was using common, but when he rang his secretary, he switched to low. He also used low after she came in, and as best I can figure, was looking to elicit an angry response. I don't know why," Schneider said as Ronin straightened up. He had a rather dirty looking datacard held in-between his fingers, and proceeded to hand over to the droid.
"Can you clean this off?" Ronin asked.
"Sure. Where did you find this?"
"Back behind and slightly under the terminal. When most people get mad, they throw stuff. I don't have a clue as to how old it is, since it looks rather dirty, but then there's a layer of that red dust back there that's at least three millimeters thick," Ronin said, eyeing his hands. They were a dull red color. He pulled a kerchief from a coat pocked and proceeded to clean his hands with it. When he was done, he replaced the kerchief and reclaimed the now clean datacard Schneider was holding towards him.
Summoning an ethereal laptop, he inserted the 'card into a general access port, and his laptop proceeded to check the card for errors and viruses. Finding none, it opened a new window, displaying Galactic Basic. It read: 'O Tuatum, your project isn't what you think. Word on the rumor mill places the investor as being non-Empire, but nothing more than that. You're a better slicer than I am, so check the accounts. You might want to make a back-up of the plans, too, just in case. Get back to me if you find anything. -V Siniam.'
"The plot thickens," Ronin said lazily.
From behind him, Schneider nodded. Ronin quickly ran a semi-sentient program his first wife, Washuu, had written specifically to undelete files and recover lost data from any media type, due to her own penchant for deleting files in fits of pique and later regretting it. That it found more data on the datacard wasn't surprising to Ronin; datacards could hold an exponential amount of data, and took forever to fully erase, so most people only removed the table of content information for the last session and recorded a new one on the remaining free storage area. The result of this was, if you had the right program, you could recover all data 'lost' in this fashion. Ronin had the right program.
This particular datacard seemed to have served O Tuatum and V Siniam as a notecard, of sorts, and reflected a rivalry turned budding romance caught up in inter-office intrigue and their own positions as heads of opposing development teams. The last message was the one he had read previously, and was dated just several days before. In Ronin's mind, he could see O Tuatum taking V Sinian's word at face value, looking into it and finding something in the accounts, and then storming off to argue with V Sinian about it before returning and, in anger, tossing the offending datacard at the cubicle wall, with it ultimately ending up where he had found it. He quickly instructed the program to rewrite the TOC to include the previously 'lost' information, and decided a discussion with V Sinian was desperately in order.
But first, he needed to send off a message to Dalk about that other contract.
Ronin hated being busy.
***PAL TRANSMISSION***
To: 7.13.4.1625
From: 7.4.2.366.2
Ip Uch? You're sending me after a woman named Ip? Kami-sama, you did know I'm already on Geonosis working on a mission for Min, right? And yes, before you go off about it, I did request a contract, I know. It's just after a few days of not hearing anything, I asked Min to see what she could rustle up and boy did she ever deliver.
All right, I'm assuming this is going to take me to bloody Tatooine, isn't it? I promised Min I'd pick her up one of those 'I went to Mos Eisley Cantina and didn't get my arm hacked off by a Jedi' T-shirts on the way back, so I guess sticking around that dirtball a little longer won't kill me. I just picked up a possible lead on my current target, so I may or may not be done in a fair amount of time.
I'll message you once I hit Tatooine. With any luck, she'll turn up there - for some reason, most of these idiots do.
I hate being busy, you know.
HATE.
-Ronin
***END PAL TRANSMISSION***
With the message to Dalk sent out, he quickly fired off another to his chief.
***PAL TRANSMISSION***
To: 7.4.4.108
From: 7.4.2.366.2
Hey Min. Arrived on Geonosis, contract had a few last minute changes, chiefly that the bounty's been placed on the plans rather than O Tuatum - there's something fishy about that, LithTech's president cited physiological changes that arise during mating season, but so far I'm not seeing anything to support this claim. The Hitchhiker's Guide has nothing on it either, so I'm wondering if the bug's blowing smoke or what. And if so, why?
I may or may not have found a solid lead for the reason O Tuatum left with the plans. It looks as if she was having a relationship with the head of an opposing development team, a V Sinian, and he let her in on some information he heard somewhere. I'm going to speak with this V Sinian shortly, I'll let you know if anything develops.
Oh, can you do me a favor? I don't trust the network here, so could you check EH Net and see about fleet deployments in this area? If there have been any incidents in the sector, I'd prefer knowing about it second hand rather than first.
Thanks a bundle, Min. I'm off to do some footwork.
***END PAL TRANSMISSION***
After sending that missive off, Ronin grabbed a corner of his ethereal laptop and *pulled*. Instead of breaking, as one would expect, the segment of ether stretched and twisted, coming free like a soap bubble, yet still connected to the larger laptop via a transparent green 'cable'. He took this piece and shaped it into a rough rectangle about the size of a shoe before telling it: "Hatbox." It immediately firmed up and looked the part of a portable biocell attack-pattern firewall system. He placed it on the ground and connected another ethereal cable from the Hatbox to O Tuatum's terminal.
Schneider watched Ronin playing with nothing for a moment before asking, "Should I ask what you are doing?"
Ronin looked to Schneider, then to his laptop. Being made of raw ether, he often forgot only people sensitive to divine, mystical, or technological energy fields could see and interact with it. "I probably look like I'm waving my hands and making datacards float, right?"
"No, I was wondering more along the lines of what you're planning to do with that portable attack-pattern firewall box there," Schneider replied.
"...Oh. Well, I'm planning to hack into their central server and see what there is to be seen. After all, O Tuatum did it, so it can't be that hard, right?" Ronin asked rhetorically. "I'm actually surprised you can see this stuff."
"I've been around a while, boss. I've seen some pretty freaky things in my day. Nothing really surprises me anymore, other than the stupidity of Humans. You would think, after a few thousand years of repeating the same mistakes, over and over again, they'd learn from it," Schneider groused.
"Of course not," Ronin replied as he connected to the central server and set its clock back a week, "I have a hard enough time learning from my own mistakes, and I'm... Well, I'm really old," he said, shrugging. He continued his search for the accounts section as he finished his point, "The thing is, by the time history gets to repeating itself, most of the people who lived through it last time and who know better tend to be dead, their children never paid attention to the lessons they were taught and figured half of what was told them were bold lies anyway, and their children - the ones who usually have to deal with the same problems their grandparents did - don't have a clue, and can't be bothered to research the problem because look, ma, I'm saving the universe!"
"You're over-generalizing."
"Only because the specifics would lead to navel gazing, and *that* isn't something I wish to do at the moment," Ronin returned. As he said this, he managed to find the accounting file. He quickly copied it wholesale, and tried to make it took like an internal copy made for redundancy purposes as he backed out of the system. Something caught on to his presence, however, and a red LED on the outside of the 'Hatbox' began to blink at him. He kept from swearing as the blink intensified, and shot a command to the portable firewall. A blue light came on, followed by a green as it allowed the detection program into find it. It then shot a line of programming at the server before disconnecting itself, and Ronin, from everything.
The server began to follow its new instructions and promptly rewrote the access logs for that session to reflect access by the Imperial Revenue Service before resetting the clock to the current date. The tracking program immediately stopped dead and shut down.
Ronin frowned as he copied the accounting data from his laptop to his PAL, briefly skimming the last several entries on the accounts paid, and the outbound shipping manifest. "I need to get better at this slicing thing."
"Slicing for dummies, only 19 IC at Amazon dot com," Schneider offered.
"Very funny. They track the sales of those, you know," Ronin said. "Just like this company tracked it's sales to our orange suited friends. Real obvious, guys."
"What do you mean?" Schneider asked.
Ronin gestured for the droid to read from his PAL, and pointed at one entry. After a moment, Schneider said, "Geonosians are stupid, too."
There, in black and white, were the receipts of sale for several tons of food and other miscellaneous sundries - enough to keep, say, a Nebulon B frigate running for the duration of the local mating season. And all of it loaded and shipped by the buyer on short range shuttles.
Ronin ignored it for now, filing the info away as he closed his laptop, it simply vanishing in a trail of green motes, taking the Hatbox with it. "Well, we've got the accounting info, so let's talk to some of her people. Get a feel for how this lady operates."
"I thought we were going to speak with V Sinian?" Schneider asked.
"We are. Afterwards. C'mon."
And so Ronin went, from cubicle to cubicle, questioning the bugs within about their former boss. Most were only happy to speak with him about O Tuatum, and had nothing but good to say of the woman. A few were less flattering in their replies, but still spoke well of her. All seemed baffled as to the reason she left, and none liked the idea of a bounty being placed on her, but they settled down when Ronin assured them he would do his best to bring the wayward Geonosian back alive. After he was finished, he took a moment to reflect on what he had heard.
O Tuatum was reputed to be a hard worker, one that didn't just hand assignments to her underlings, but worked right alongside them every step of the way. She was said to be friendly and outgoing, and was an upstanding sentient of the Empire. One bug had even recounted a conversation she had had with O Tuatum, in which O Tuatum remarked that the Imperial Emblem reminded her of a huge gear that acted as a lynchpin for the well-being of the universe, and that she kept an image of it on her wall to inspire her. A couple hinted at the possible romance between O Tuatum and V Sinian, and two had mentioned how V Sinian had left his position as department head to take up Team Beta, supposedly just to court O Tuatum on equal grounds.
After the quick interviews, Ronin was of the opinion that O Tuatum was thought of as 'good people'. And he still had no supporting evidence on that 'physiology change' V Husium had spoken of, which led him to believe the company president was lying. But for what reason?
He motioned Schneider to a corridor and whispered, "Right. So, our ladybug seems to have flown for a reason other than revenge. She's got no enemies here, or at least none that her co-workers know of, and the only rival we know she has is also a love interest," Ronin frowned. "She tracks down the lead in accounting, and also the implied presence of a large group of 'investors' obviously off planet somewhere. She knows who they are, and that they stand against what she believes in, and scrams with the plans before they get even a test unit out of her. But she can't go anywhere at the moment. Any Geonosian leaving Geonosis right now would be suspicious. So where does she go?"
"Don't ask me. I'm just a droid," Schneider said.
"Just a droid, huh?" Ronin said, before trailing off, deep in thought. After a moment, he noticed his PAL beeping. He withdrew it and checked his messages. It was from Minerva.
***PAL TRANSMISSION***
To: 7.4.2.366
From: 7.4.4.108
Sal,
I did that favor you asked for - Not difficult at all, but you owe Gaea and I a home cooked dinner for the trouble. I mean, what am I, your mother? :p
The EH had a small contingent in the system up until a month ago, when they were called over to Tatooine to investigate some rather flagrantly New Republic-style attacks on Imperial freighters in the shipping lanes. It consisted of one Carrack-class cruiser with its four TIE fighters, and a Class 1000 Cruiser. A small force, but reasonable since Geonosis is deemed a 'non-aggressive' system, and they're there to keep the peace - if anything serious happens, they call Big Brother and run away.
Hope that helps!
Minerva Sanchez Villa-Lobos Ramirez
Chief of Dragon
***END PAL TRANSMISSION***
Ronin sighed, and fired off a quick message back, this time just using the stylus built into his PAL instead of routing a keyboarded message to the unit via his ethereal laptop.
This was short, and wasn't worth the trouble.
***PAL TRANSMISSION***
To: 7.4.4.108
From: 7.4.2.366
Min,
Tell Orin to 'Send Big Brother'.
-Ronin
***END PAL TRANSMISSION***
"What was that?" Schneider asked.
"Nothing major. Come on, let's speak with V Sinian, maybe he can fill in the gaps a bit."
They found V Sinian in his cubicle, diligently working away. The moment they stepped near, he said over his shoulder, "'I was beginning to think you'd never come and talk with me.'"
"And why is that?" Ronin asked as he watched the bug close his current tasks and power down his terminal before turning to them.
"'You've spoken to everyone else who knew O Tuatum, and then spoken amongst yourselves,'" he said, standing. The Geonosian stretched a bit, momentarily five feet taller than Ronin, before returning to the apparently normal hunched over stance Ronin had observed. "'I had thought to be the first on your list, rather than the last."
"Always save the most important thing for last, so you can devote the whole of your attention to it," Ronin replied.
"'I see. If you sentients would follow me to the conference room, we can speak there without being overheard,'" V Sinian gestured, and the two followed the Geonosian from the cubicle.
Once they entered the conference room, V Sinian locked the door and flipped a switch. Schneider cocked his head at the bug, while Ronin immediately winced. "'White noise generator, we use them to keep others form eavesdropping during planning sessions,'" V Sinian explained.
"All well and good," Ronin said. "I hate them though, the noise gives me a headache after a while."
"'I'm afraid it's necessary, as I want to keep this confidential.'"
"I understand. You used this room the day of your argument with O Tuatum?"
"'Yes, actually. How did you know?'" V Sinian asked.
"The grapevine in these places is usually pretty short. Some of the people I spoke to said they saw the argument take place, but didn't hear it," the hunter gestured to the large window facing in towards the cubicle farm. "A white noise system explains that quite well. So, tell me about the rumor."
"'Rumor?'" V Sinian asked. Ronin noted his wings flicked open slightly.
"Yes. The one about O Tuatum's project stemming from a non-Imperial patron."
V Sinian's wings fluttered for a moment before the Geonosian asked, "How did you know about that?"
A datacard clicked on the table's surface as Ronin placed it there, leaving only one finger on the 'card. "Romance, intrigue, mystery, inter-office politics... You know, you really should erase these things fully," he said nonchalantly.
"'I... see," V Sinian said softly. He sat down across the table from Ronin, and asked, "'I don't suppose I could get that back from you?'"
"For the time being, it's evidence. Later? Who knows?" As V Sinian nodded to this, Ronin said, "I think there's something you should know."
V Sinian gestured to indicate Ronin had his full attention.
"The bounty was changed last minute. The money was placed on the plans, rather than the girl. For anyone else, this means they'd shoot first and get paid. With me, in light of this," he tapped the datacard twice, "I'm inclined to listen to her side of the story. But to do that, I have to find her first. So what I need from you is all the information you have on that rumor - who got it from who, and when - and where I can find her."
"'Why would I know where she is?'" V Sinian asked. Ronin noticed the bug's wings flutter again.
"Simple. The 'personal disagreement' was a ruse. You told her about the rumor, about how the supposed 'Imperial contract' wasn't Imperial in origin; information which under normal circumstances would have been kept from her and her team at all costs. She, checking where the money was coming from and thus alerted to a possible threat to her project and perhaps even the Empire, used her impressive slicing skills and found something. Something that suggested the war-droid she was working on would probably end up in Republic hands directly. Distraught, she would have immediately told you - a confidant. You brought her in here, and she informed you of her findings and suspicions. Either you or she decided she should leave that day, and take all the plans with her so as to halt production. You suggested she act as if you had had a lover's quarrel - everyone already knew you were an item, or heading that way, and emotions tend to run hotter towards mating season. An overblown argument leading to a month's disappearance can be easily blamed on hormones, just as your president tried to convince me that the lot of you turned into violent savages."
Ronin paused while considering. "There're just two things you didn't think of. One, that your company president might be pressured into finding her by his 'investors', and two, that I might come across one thing in the outbound shipping traffic that didn't make any sense."
"'What?'"
Ronin leaned forward. "Why would a manufacturer of 'droids be selling foodstuffs to an 'on world' buyer? And why would this on world buyer be loading them onto short range cargo shuttles?"
V Sinian sighed, and gestured, saying: "'That's exactly what she said.'"
"Do you know where she is?" Ronin asked him.
V Sinian nodded. "She's staying at my mother's place. She was going to leave for another planet, but no outbound traffic is allowed without justifiable cause during mating season..."
"So you were biding your time until after it ended," Ronin said, nodding. "Then you would have left with her, taking passage on any of the ships that returned to Geonosis for the mating season. Then they wouldn't have had a chance of finding you after that, which is why they brought in the Nebulon B frigate - to blockade any traffic and place the system under an embargo if the bounty hunter didn't catch her first."
"Nebulon B, said in an incredulous tone," Schneider translated for V Sinian. "I think he's rather shocked, boss."
"Yes. I usually Hyperspace to star systems using the original astrogation paths laid down by the Old Republic, simply because no one uses them anymore. They get you where you want to go, and afford you a look around the system if you want one," he said, thinking back to his days as a smuggler before replying: "And I usually want one. That's why I spotted it on the way into the system, but I have no idea if they spotted me or not." Ronin shrugged. "Moot point as there's little they can do without blowing their cover. The important thing is that we get your girl and make due haste to the local Imperial Planetary Liaison for the Emperor's Hammer. There, she can inform them of her boss' dealings with the New Republic, and I can support her claims with the copy I made of LithTech's accounts and shipping manifest."
V Sinian nodded. "'I'll take you to her. Let's hurry.'"
--=[|]=--
***PAL TRANSMISSION***
To: 7.4.4.108
From: 7.4.2.366.2
Min:
O Tuatum has been found, both she and the plans turned over to the Imperial Planetary Liaison of the EH here on Geonosis. It turns out that history hiccupped, and tried to repeat itself: the New Republic contracted LithTech to build the war-droid. Luckily, it turns out O Tuatum is somewhat of an Imperial loyalist (and rather greedy - she didn't hesitate to accept the reward money the Liaison officer offered for her assistance in keeping the plans out of the Republic's hands), and we've managed to avoid a 'New Republic Droid Army' due to her disappearance. She had been operating under the assumption that the 'droid was being designed for the Empire, but thanks to her co-worker (and soon to be husband, I think... or whatever they do for life mates here), V Sinian, she was given a hint at the true situation. She used her talents to uncover the conspiracy, and promptly vanished with the plans just after they had been finalized for production. The Republic, wanting their 'droid, put pressure on LithTech's president to find, and after discovering some trace of her entry into the accounts, to kill her. I'm unsure as to whether or not V Husium, the company president, was having second thoughts about selling to the New Republic, but a few things he said helped me deduce the true nature of O Tuatum's disappearance. Guess we'll have to wait for the trial for the answer to that - he's been arrested on charges of selling contraband to enemy forces during wartime, and high conspiracy against the Empire. Not something I'd want on my head.
Anyway, I owe you and Orin for contacting the EH - For some reason, they sent an Interdictor along with a Victory-class Stardestroyer, so the New Republic Nebulon B frigate Ospir had little choice in the matter other than to give up or be blown to itty bitty bits.
Anyway, with this done, I'm off to Tatooine - Dalk sent me a contract while I was here. When I get back to Cernun, I promise to cook you and Gaea a nice meal. You want something normal, or are you up for eating Jurain fare?
Get back to me on that.
-Ronin
***END PAL TRANSMISSION***
***PAL TRANSMISSION***
To: 7.13.4.1625
From: 7.4.2.366.2
All right, Dalk, I finished that other mission I was working on, so I can devote my full attention on yours. I still can't believe you're sending me off to Tatooine for this one. Universal coincidence or something, I suppose. At any rate, I'll be there shortly.
-Ronin
***END PAL TRANSMISSION***
Ronin was awoken from his twenty minute nap by the third of the shrill alarm klaxons given off by the astrocomp. He turned his pilot's seat to the side, pulling his feet off the console while dropping the engine level to half speed, pulling the Kimitte ga Iru out of hyperspace. Blinking the last bit of sleep from his eyes, he took a look around. There wasn't a whole hell of a lot to see.
There, in the distance, lay Tatooine. An inhospitable desert world orbiting a binary star system. Legends hinted that it was once lush and green, but was reduced to its current state after some type of mishap or another. Whatever the cause, it had even ruined the planet's base minerals and ore - for millennia, the world-spanning monopolies had traded off Tatoonie as an Imperial Tax dodge - the planet was a 'money pit', as far as they were concerned. The New Republic was welcome to it, in Ronin's opinion.
Whatever Republic activity against Imperial traffic the sector had sported long enough to draw Geonosis' Imperial garrison away was either gone or hiding well, for Ronin neither saw nor experienced any trouble on his approach. The Republic, seeing their plans foiled so, had probably withdrawn their ships in an effort to cut their losses. It was too bad, as Ronin would have liked to have flown a few circles around a Y-wing, just to spite them. He spent a few moments half in a day dream in which he was doing just that, and half piloting the ship. He shook himself out of it and attempted to raise the flight control center at Anchorhead. "This is the Kimitte ga Iru, calling Anchorhead, requesting permission to land."
A few moments passed with no response. He idly watched the dry planet turn below him, calling again. "Repeat, this is the Iru, calling Anchorhead, requesting permission to land.'
Shrugging at the lack of response, he took the Iru down manually, and alighted in an empty spot on the spaceport's tarmac. Ronin quickly set the console dead-lock as the Superviper's seven Incom 2a's cooled down, and stepped from the cockpit. "Wake up, Schneider!" he called as he walked through the small sleeping area, rousing the recharging droid, "We've got work to do."
"Lovely, boss. And here I was dreaming," replied the somewhat surly droid as his narrowly slit eyes came alight.
"Of electronic sheep?" Ronin asked.
"Of that ACM-03 unit that you purchased me from, actually. Now, there's a chassis to gaze upon." The droid gave a low whistle as he became fully operational and removed the charger from himself. "So, what's on the agenda for today, boss?"
"Tracking down a Jawa-napper, if nothing else. But first, I want to see why, exactly, the damn flight controllers didn't respond to my landing request. C'mon. Not everything speaks Galactic Basic on this sandbag," Ronin said as he exited the ship. After Schneider got off the access ramp, Ronin closed it via external control and said, "Put this into memory, would you? Seven, seven, one, nine, four, five, zero, one, four," he said, punching in numbers on the combination lock.
"But you just-" Schneider began, only to be cut off as Ronin held up a hand.
"Bunch of savages in this town, they'll rob you blind," he said with a wink.
"Right, boss. Correct numbered sequence entered into memory."
Ronin nodded - the droid had committed the keys he had pressed rather than the numbers he said aloud to fool anyone eavesdropping. With that done, he turned from his ship and headed towards the outlying buildings.
Within a few moments he found a door labeled 'Flight Control'. He knocked twice, and went in-
Only to find himself staring down the barrel of a Blastech DH-17. It was held by a rather striking young woman dressed in nondescript clothing who looked partially pissed off and partially nervous. "Get in. Shut the door, and don't make any sudden moves," she said to Ronin, and he did so, Schneider taking the hint and staying both outside and out of sight.
As he shut the door, Ronin noticed the woman had the flight control crew held up with a BlasTech EE-3 with a folding stock - the very same rifle Ronin himself preferred due to its compact size, easy handling, and lethality. The DH-17, however, was not a weapon to be used in one's off hand, no matter the circumstance. He noted this quietly as he leaned against a console and quipped, "This explains why I didn't get a response for a landing."
One of the flight controllers shrugged, and the woman turned her attention to Ronin. "Is your ship fast?"
"Fast enough, if I'm the one flying it. I have more security on that thing than you might want to mess with, girlie. So put that thought away before you hurt yourself," he said in return.
She scowled at him, and one of the flight controllers attempted to inch a bit closer. Her attention went back to them and she fired, burning a neat hole next to the man's head with the EE-3, and leaving the stench of ozone in the air. "I told you to stay still."
The man backed up against the wall with his fellows and stayed there.
"So," Ronin said nonchalantly, "I take it you want off this rock?"
"What's it to you?" the woman grumped.
"Well, I'm a Bounty Jumper," Ronin casually said, "It's my business to get people with marks off rocks and into space before they get found."
That got her attention. "Oh, really? And you just happened to think you'd find business here on Tatooine?"
"I just happened to swipe one of those datapad thingies off the corpse of the last bounty hunter I ran into. And on it, I just got notice of a contract being posted on one lady here on Tatooine by the name of Ip Uch. Seeing as I was already at Geonosis, contracted to shuttle a bug back for mating season - not good work, mind, but it pays - I figured I'd stop by and see if I could offer my services to the lady in question. She looked kinda cute, and it'd be a shame to see a cute girl get shot. Not enough of them in the galaxy, you know."
"How do I know you're not lying and just trying to get me to drop my guard?" she asked grimly.
"Because if I were a bounty hunter, I would have shot you already. The EE-Three's in your dominant hand, leaving the DH-Seventeen you're training on me less accurate in your off hand," he said.
She turned immediately, placing the EE-3 on Ronin and covering the others with the DH-17. "How the hell did you know that?"
"The EE-Three's heavier, but the DH-Seventeen was less steady while you were pointing it at me. A bounty hunter notices this stuff and acts on it. A Jumper notices this stuff and tries to survive another day," Ronin said in a serious tone.
She narrowed her eyes at him, "And what, exactly, do you charge for your services, Mister Bounty Jumper?"
"Well, I usually do it for about half the posted bounty, plus consumables and fuel, which in your case would be about fifty three thousand Imperial Credits. But," he continued, shrugging, "Seeing as you've got a blaster on me... I'm willing to negotiate."
"How about I let you live, and keep your ship after I fly it somewhere else?"
Ronin played at considering this for a moment, "I do the flying, but we go to whichever system you want."
"Deal. Out," she motioned with the blaster towards the door. Ronin opened it, and stepped out into the glaring Tatooine sun, the light levels drastically different than the darkened interior of the flight control office.
As Ip stepped out behind him, also light blinded, Ronin heard an impact, followed by a feminine cry of pain as a body hit the ground. Ronin turned around to see Schneider inspecting his right fist for damage, and Ip sprawled out on the ground with a rather red mark on her temple. Thankfully, neither of the woman's blasters had gone off into Ronin's back when Schneider had decked her.
"Thanks, Schneider. You didn't kill her, did you?"
"No problem, boss," the droid replied. "And no, I only impacted her skull with enough force to cause unconsciousness. I think," the reddish brown droid shrugged. "I am not, however, a medical expert. I'm a grease monkey. A grease monkey who doesn't like people who hold his boss at gunpoint."
"Fair enough," Ronin said as he took the time to verify it was indeed Ip Uch. "Damn considerate of her to find me rather than the other way around," he looked up to the open doorway at the flight control officers standing there. "Let me guess, she demanded a ship out of system, right?"
"Pretty much," said the one who had been shot at.
"Mind f I take her?"
"Help yourself," said the same guy. "We recognized the codes for a bounty hunter when you called in, but didn't say anything. She insisted we not answer the comm.., hoping you'd come in and she could hijack your ship. We were hoping you'd come in take care of the problem."
Ronin scooped the woman up into a fireman's carry as he replied, "Glad to help and all that. I was going to report in to the local authorities and say 'hi' before nabbing her, but I guess I can do that before I go to Chalmun's Cantina for those T-shirts."
"The 'I went to a Mos Eisley cantina and didn't get my arm hacked off by a Jedi' shirt?" One of the crew asked.
"Yeah. Hopefully they're not sold out. C'mon, Schneider - let's go unwrap the present."
"Right, boss."
The trek back to the Kimitte ga Iru was uneventful. Once there, he handed the girl off to the droid, set her EE-3 to stun, and blasted her with it for good measure before stripping her naked on the tarmac. He then popped open the external access panel on the Torpedo bay which held the stasis field unit he purchased for just such an occasion a while back, and placed the naked woman inside. He flipped it on, made sure the seals were air tight, and then dropped her assorted stuff, sans weapons, into a storage unit he had welded to the exterior of the stasis pod. Finished, he closed the torpedo bay.
"Well Schneider, open 'er up. We'll get those shirts in Mos Eisley and then off we go."
"Sure thing, boss."
***PAL TRANSMISSION***
To: 7.13.4.1625
From: 7.4.2.366.2
All right, Dalk, I've got your goods - one human female by the name of Ip Uch, a little bruised but otherwise unharmed and stowed away in my stasis field pod. Do me a favor and have the contactor onsite when I get back to Cernun - she was attempting to get off Tatooine, which leads me to suspect the missing Jawas were either captured and sold to persons off planet, or down on Tatooine somewhere, dead or otherwise. I haven't done any interrogation on her, as I don't exactly like dong that sort of thing. Hopefully the contractor will be able to pull something useful out of her.
See you in a day.
-Ronin
***END PAL TRANSMISSION***
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