Private A Fistful of Credits

[Liuna]

​

One week ago...

Her eyes snapped open.

The glint of a large needle caught her attention.

“No, no, no!” she shrieked, tugging hard against the restraints. A wicked grin spread across the man's face as he drew close. His shadowy features flickered in and out of focus, but she recognized him. He came into the room at predictable intervals now. They'd been pricking her skin with needles for days and injecting drugs that kept her in a stupor.

“Struggling only makes it worse,” he said, sticking the needle into the rubber stopper of a bottle. He held the bottle of clear liquid up to the light as he drew up her—very large—dose. Beep, beep, beep. The monitor stuck to her chest chirped along with her quickening pulse, and the readouts on the various screens spiked with activity.

As he concerned himself with checking her vitals displayed on the blue-etched light of the holo, she strained against the straps. Not again. Never again. And with some effort, she squeezed her left arm free. Swallowing hard, she let the arm rest beneath the white sheet, careful not to alert him.

The man stepped up to her bedside, needle poised. But before he could even peel back the sheet, she reached for the syringe and jabbed the point into his chest. He gripped the bed rails and leaned over her as she dispensed the drug with her thumb on the plunger. His eyes opened wide, and he slid into a crumbled heap on the floor.

Her free hand worked automatically, undoing the fastenings. She sat up, freed her ankles from the restraints and climbed down off the hospital bed. Still attached to several monitors, she clawed at the wires and IV tubes. Muscles taunt, she surveyed the scene—it wasn't unlike a hospital room, but this was not a place of healing. Her attention shifted to the door where the handle was now turning.

Dark eyes wide, she sprang with supernatural grace upon the three men clustered in the doorway; they didn't even know what hit them...

Now...

Crouched in an alley, the green-skinned girl hid in the space behind a cluster of dumpsters. Here, she was sheltered by the shadows and hidden by the stench. It was unpleasant and uncomfortable, but this had been her life for the past several days—hiding and living off scraps.

Her memories of her time in the 'dark room’ were dim... it was all a furious blur.

Above, there were ships in the sky; a space port must be near. If only she could sneak aboard one of those ships and fly away from this place—she didn't even know what world she was on... or how she got to this place. But she knew that she needed to get out of here, the faster the better.

Ven A'ndi

 

[Ven A'ndi]

Beep. Beep. Beep. The small red light of the handheld tracking fob blinked in unison with its occasional chirp. The gloved hand holding it slowly moved it in a wide arc, pausing as the chirp became faster by perhaps a fraction of a beat. Booted feet continued down the street of the busy town, passing by vendors and market-goers.

The silver-clad Mandalorian moved through the crowd with ease, his head on a constant, slow swivel. On the surface, this seemed like it would be a relatively easy job. A cybernetic company was trying to locate someone that had they’d lost around a week ago. Whoever this was, or whatever it was they had on them, was rather important – this was a high-paying gig, and Ven got the impression that more hunters than just him had been hired.

Ironically, this asset didn’t seem to have even left the planet. As long as there weren’t any other problems, this could easily be a single day job – he could be leaving Nar Kaarga by nightfall.

He paused by an alleyway. The fob was beeping much more now. Slowly, he stepped into the alleyway and drew his RA-4c blaster pistol. He walked as silently as he could, stepping on the balls of his feet. His visor picked up a heat signature, sandwiched in between two of the dumpsters. Too easy.

With a quick step, he could see her unassisted. Got ‘em. She matched the holo in the puck they had given him. No doubt, this was the asset. He kept his pistol trained on her.

“Come on,” he said. “Let’s go.”

Liuna

 

[Liuna]

The Mirialan reached a green hand out into the sun, retrieving a shiny wrapper that had missed its mark. Sliding it closer, she canted her head to the side. It was empty. Inside the crinkly plastic there were only a few crumbs. She hadn't had a decent meal in... she couldn't even remember. Things were terrible when garbage looked appetizing.

From her dumpster hovel, she listened to the din of the nearby alley. Vendors were busy hawking wares and food carts had hot meals ready to eat. So close, yet so far...

Her eyes narrowed slightly as she picked up a sound that contrasted with the noise of the city. A little device—beeping. The girl crouched low, making herself small as she tried to workout what it could be. But a moment later, there was a pistol pointed at her—the source now apparent.

Putting her hands up to show him empty palms, she slowly rose to her bare feet. A small step brought her out from between the dumpsters. A brow twitched at the sound of his voice as it came through the helmet. Wide-eyed, stared at the dark slit in the helmet where his eyes would be.

She shook her head, no.

In a swift, smooth motion, she bent her legs and jumped up onto the top of the dumpster—and then up again to the rooftop.

Ven A'ndi

 

[Ven A'ndi]

He had begun to ever so slowly reach behind his back to get his pair of binders when he saw her head shake. The grip on his blaster tensed up. Was this going to have to go the hard way? Before he could set his blaster to stun or reach for his vambraces, she had leapt up to the roof of the building they were next to. Somewhat stunned, the Mandalorian craned his neck to look up at where his prey had gone. An impressive feat – no one had told him the target was enhanced or possibly Force-sensitive.

Now he knew why the price was so high. He sighed.

His pause was only momentary. Taking a step back, he held his left arm up while he holstered his blaster to his right thigh. The grappling launcher on his wrist spat out a cable just long enough to embed into the wall just below the ledge. He zipped up to the top, somewhat slower than his prey had, and kicked off of the wall to get enough separation so he could clamber up.

Back on his feet, Ven used his visor to lock on the back of his target. The contract said the asset needed to be relatively unharmed – alive was the specific mandate. Raising his arm yet again, he queued up a single tranquilizer dart and fired.

Liuna

 

[Liuna]

Liuna's bare feet took her across the roof, but the armor-clad hunter wasn't far behind. As she turned a quick glance over her shoulder, she caught the glare of sunlight reflecting off his silver helmet. A surge of panic seemed to power her movements—and something suddenly kicked in.

Behind her, a trigger fired.

The green-skinned woman shifted ever slightly, the point of the dart sailed just past her neck. So close, she could amost feel the sting of it against her skin. At the ledge, her feet came to a skidding halt. But she didn't jump or try to keep running. Rounding on the hunter, she pushed off the slight ledge and launched herself at him with surprising speed.

Her dark eyes cold, unfeeling—the fear in her gaze had been erased.

She swung with her right arm, heavy with durasteel and cybernetics, her balled fist much stronger than it looked. But she never meant the punch to land, but to throw her target off—to keep his eyes following her fist and his arms up to block. All so he wouldn't see the quick kick that followed, the flat of her foot poised to land square in the chest if he could not block it.

Ven A'ndi

 

[Ven A'ndi]

He had continued his pursuit as soon as he’d fired the dart, unsure if he would be able to hit his target. Turned out, he didn’t – the dart sailed right past her as she displayed some uncanny reflexes. A small frustration was growing in him as the evidence was piling up that this woman had been enhanced in some way. No wonder the biotech company wanted her alive.

Ven was on her within moments, ready to try and subdue her hand-to-hand. However, she had decided to strike back, whipping around and throwing a punch. He moved to the side, snapping his arm up for a block. They had made contact only for a moment, but it was enough for Ven to get a sense of how strong she was.

It was why when he noticed the kick coming for his chest, he mentally braced for it, as he didn’t have enough time to dodge or block it.

Her foot clanged against his beskar chest plate, and it knocked him clear off of his feet. He landed on his back, letting out a grunt. Trying to recover as best he could, Ven braced his hand against the roof and swung his foot as hard as he could at her leg, hoping that, even if he hit metal or a hard composite material, his own strength aided by the beskar shin guard would help it carry through.

Liuna

 

[Liuna]

The streets of the city bustled; vendors continued to hawk their goods, all manner of nefarious folks pushed through the alleys. And they were mostly unaware of the fight escalating on the rooftop above... mostly.

When her opponent threw up an arm to block, she felt the solid beskar armor against her fist. He was a fortress of a man, built up tall and strong. No doubt, many would cover in his shadow... but not Liuna. She watched as her foot connected with the heavy armor, and her face remained impassive when he landed on his back.

Her foot followed through, and the girl stood gracefully balanced on one leg.

But the hunter's leg swept her off that foot in an instant, and she, too, ended up flat on her back. She rolled to the side, grabbing up a piece of rebar. Crouched on all fours, her lips peeled back into something like a snarl. Eyes wild, she pounced on the man before he could get back to his feet. And with both hands, she began to press the rebar down into the tender spot just below his helmet.

Fueled by a power unknown, her only goal was to end the threat—by any means.

Ven A'ndi

 

[Ven A'ndi]

Ven had barely begun to even turn his hips so he could roll over and get up when the target was already on her feet again and had a weapon. He’d only placed his feet on the ground for leverage when he was pressed back down again, a hard piece of metal pressed deeply into his neck. His back hit the roof again, and he let out another sound of pain and effort.

The animal instinctual feeling of panic had shocked into his arms and fingertips, and he grabbed the piece of rebar as a reflex. He pushed as hard as he could, groaning as his arms shook and arms flexed – it didn’t budge. This was becoming much more complicated than he had been lead to believe.

He was going to charge extra for this.

His training and cooler temperament managed to conquer his baser instincts in a fraction of a second. Reaching to his holster, he quickly drew his blaster and aimed it up, flicking on the stun setting. He pulled the trigger wildly, not really aiming for anything in particular. As that hopefully served as a distraction, his left hand snapped to his bandolier and retrieved a small EMP grenade – if she was cybernetic, this would hopefully knock out some of those systems… without damaging them.

Liuna

 

[Liuna]

Liuna's dark eyes bore into the T-shaped visor of the man's helmet, though they didn't truly see. Her gaze was empty, blank. She was aware of movements, the way the hunter's body jerked and struggled beneath the rebar in her grasp. But she didn't know what she was doing.

In this strange state of fight or flight, she simply chose to fight.

With her effort concentrated on keeping her enemy down and her focus on choking the air out of his lungs, she didn't notice him reaching for his weapons. As he pulled the blaster and fired, one bolt hit her shoulder and her grip on the rebar slackened. Bolt after bolt, illuminated her face by flashes of red. Then, came the EMP grenade—her eyes grew wide.

And an explosion of energy shot through her.

When it was over, her fingers went limp, releasing the rebar, and she slumped on top of the bounty hunter. Out for the count.

Ven A'ndi

 

[Ven A'ndi]

The bright light of the EMP blinded him for a moment, and his helmet went dark as he’d been so close to the EMP that the electronic interfaces in his helmet had shorted out temporarily. The release of tension on his neck and the sound of clanking metal – the rebar hitting the floor – let him know he was free. Then, however, he was momentarily trapped in a different way, as the woman’s body slumped down onto him.

He lay there for a moment, catching his breath. It was rare someone put up that much of a fight. Usually, he would just stand there, force the target to come with him, or shoot them – simple. With a groan, he pushed the target off of him and then sat up, taking in a deep breath. His helmet was shorted out, but he could still see through the visor.

Standing up to full height, he sighed as he looked down at his immobilized prey. There was no telling just how long the EMP would have an effect on her, so he needed to work fast. Finally, he was able to reach for his binders and bent down, clamping the target’s wrists together with a magnetic lock. He also decided to put an extra pair of smaller binders for her ankles – she was a wily one.

Another precaution was to place another EMP grenade on her, one that he could remotely detonate if need be.

Once back down on the street, Ven hoisted her up and started carrying her over his shoulder. No one even batted an eye as he walked down the street with an unconscious young woman. Everyone either didn’t care, or figured he was a hunter who’d caught some sort of bail jumper.

Ven hailed a droid cab and placed her in the back seat, drawing his blaster and holding it on her as he told the cab which way to go – back to the biotech lab where he’d taken the commission in the first place.

Liuna

 

[Liuna]

Liuna snapped awake to the sound of a honking speeder horn.

As her eyes blinked open, she could see the street flying by and she could feel the wind in her hair. It took a long moment before she realized that she was riding. Turning a look to the side, she jolted visibly at the sight of the armored-man seated next to her.

She lifted her hands only to find that they'd been bound together with a magnetic lock. And she wiggled her feet, but they were locked up tight as well. Inching away from him, she tried to remember just what had happened...

She'd been in the alleyway... this man appeared and bid her to come with him. He'd pointed a blaster at her, the very same held in her direction right now. Vaguely, she remembered jumping up onto the roof. But everything after that was missing. A flutter of fear quickened her pulse, but she drew a breath and keep on an even keel... for now.

Of course, she had an idea where they were headed. Only, she didn't know exactly where the 'dark room' was or what they did there... she didn't remember arriving or even her escape. And she could glean only bits and pieces from her time spent trapped there. More blanks that needed filling in. Just maybe, he'd enlighten her.

“W-who are you?” she asked, eyeing him. “Where are you taking me?”

Ven A'ndi

 

[Ven A'ndi]

Ven had been locked on the Mirialan the whole time, not wanting to be taken by surprise again. He registered no emotion as the woman started to stir, however – didn’t even adjust his aim. He didn’t have to. Luckily, she appeared somewhat more docile now, but the Mandalorian was ready to pull the trigger at a nanosecond’s notice. From the strength she had displayed back on that rooftop, she probably had enough juice to kick him clear out of the cab.

“You broke your contract,” Ven said, almost matter-of-factly. “You can’t just leave before you finish a job.”

Liuna

 

[Liuna]

“Contract?” she repeated, staring hard as she tried to figure out what the kark he was talking about. “I... don't remember anything about a job.”

Her eyes shifted away from him. “I don't remember a lot of things,” she said, confused. Searching her mind for the missing pieces, her gaze narrowed to a squint. And the corner of her eye twitched ever slightly from the effort.

A speeder.

The wind in her hair, just like this—but faster. A lot faster. Dark streets. That's all that came to mind, unfortunately for Liuna. An image that could have been from anywhere. But as she thought back to the strange facility, she remembered a cold exam table and a strange man with blue gloves and needles.

“But I know... I can't go back,” she said, head shaking. “Don't take me back.”

This time, there was no frenzy visible in her expression—only fear.

Ven A'ndi

 

[Ven A'ndi]

His head cocked to the side ever so slightly. The biotech company had said she might act confused, with a sense of amnesia. Granted, they had also kept from him the small little detail that she had been cybernetically enhanced, presumably by them – it was probably why she was so valuable. Could they be lying about this, too? What if this woman had been merely kidnapped to be experimented on… or worse… sold?

The fear and pleading in her voice… could she be telling the truth?

He didn’t have much time to dwell on it at all. The cab suddenly came to a stop. It halted so quickly that Ven was jostled in his seat somewhat. He braced his arm against the seat and looked forward, but made sure to keep his blaster on the woman.

“What’s going on?” he asked the driver droid. The embedded astromech gave out a series of beeps and whistles. Ven craned his neck to see out of the windshield, and gave an exasperated sigh. Turning back to the Mirialan, he held up his wrist computer. “Stay here. If you run, I zap you again.”

The gull-wing door of the speeder opened and Ven stepped out, pointing his blaster forward. Standing around ten meters away from the front of the cab were two men. One was a portly human male, with a shaggy blonde mane and matching facial hair. His fingerless gloves were twitching next to dual blaster pistols holstered on either thigh. A black glass interface covered his eyes – to help with targeting, no doubt. The other man was a beady-eyed Nikto holding a blaster rifle, pointed directly at Ven’s helmet.

“You’re surrounded, Mando!” the blonde bounty hunter bellowed. Just as he said this, a blue Twi’lek stepped out from the shadows to the left, baring sharp teeth and holding a blaster pistol. The blonde continued, “Just hand over the asset, and we’ll let you walk away!”

Ven’s visor was locked on the blonde bounty hunter, a man he’d encountered before named Canis. He always seemed to want to swoop in and take Ven’s bounties after the Mandalorian had done all of the hard work. Ven had always managed to stave him off, usually by staying a step ahead the whole time. He wouldn’t tolerate it anymore.

Discreetly, he thumbed the blaster’s setting from stun to kill.

Ducking, he twisted his body and cocked his arm towards the Twi’lek, firing one bolt that pierced his chest. A blast from the Nikto just barely sailed over his helmet, but with how the cab was positioned relative to Ven and the Nikto, Ven now had cover behind the hood of the speeder cab. Extending his arm out, he fired at Canis, grazing his arm before the shaggy hunter had even managed to draw his pistols. He soon managed to, however, and started to send a hail of blaster bolts the Mando’s way.

Despite being under fire and technically outgunned, Ven figured he had this in the bag. Little did he know, however, that a small Gand had taken up position on a rooftop with a sniper rifle, and he was lining up a shot…

Liuna

 

[Liuna]

His helmet hid his expression, but Liuna thought she saw him angle his head just so. Most bounty hunters were motivated by credits, not compassion. Still, she had to wonder... could she convince him to help her? The question lingered in her mind for a moment, until the cab came to a sudden stop, and she nearly fell off the seat.

She stayed still, the armored-hunter still had his blaster pointed in her direction. But she craned her neck as he questioned the droid. Liuna sank back against the seat as he showed her the wrist computer and threatened to zap her again if she ran. Message received.

As he stepped out of the cab, Liuna peered over the front seat to survey the scene. Squinting, she could make the forms of two men—one of them blonde and rather ugly, the other with beady little eyes. They were armed, and the alien already had his rifle pointed at the man—Mando, they called him. Then, another alien—blue, head-tailed and sporting a toothy snarl—made his presence known.

The words hollered by the shaggy blonde carried to Liuna. They were here to take her away.

As the two stared each other down, Liuna's eyes were drawn to the rooftop where there was a rifle barrel peeking over the ledge. Her eyes flickered towards the Mando once or twice, his words still in her head. But she couldn't let this chance slip away.

Sliding out the door, she tip-toed over to the side of the building and wiggled up the ladder. Creeping along the roof, she made her way towards the sniper. Below, she could hear blasters firing.

As the sniper lined up his shot, Liuna jumped on his back and used her mag-lock binders to choke him from behind. He struggled, but the element of surprise—coupled with her cybernetic strength—soon saw him slump down. Lowering herself down, she peered through the sight and took aim at the Nikto. Reaching forward, she pulled the trigger.

Hopefully, he'd go down... and she could get back down to the cab before anyone noticed.

Ven A'ndi

 

[Ven A'ndi]

Although Ven had managed to take down the Twi’lek in short order, Canis and the Nikto had him pinned down behind the cab with a constant barrage of blaster bolts. Canis had drawn his duel pistols and was firing wildly, at times even missing the cab itself, while the Nikto was taking slower, rather more methodical shots designed to draw the Mandalorian out of cover.

In his head, he tried to calculate the distance between himself and the hunters, and whether his flamethrower could reach that far. It would certainly would provide enough of a distraction and cause enough damage for him to get the upper hand. Whatever he decided to do, he needed to do it quick – Canis was moving to flank him while the Nikto had him pinned.

He primed the fuel and the igniter on his vambrace with a resounding click. Standing, he extended his arm. Before he could activate it, however, he saw a streak of red hit the Nikto center mass, taking him out immediately. The Mando’s helmeted head snapped up to assess where the shot had come from, and saw Liuna, somehow still bound and holding a sniper rifle. He could also see the helmeted head of a Gand slumped over the ledge beside her. Had there been a sniper…?

Ven didn’t put too much thought into it. The more immediate threat, from what he could see, was Canis. His focus snapped back to the bounty hunter, who had also looked to see his Nikto partner fall to the ground. He took the opportunity in the pause and fired a single blaster bolt to Canis’s chest, sending him spinning to the ground.

The street now became eerily quiet, in stark contrast to the racket of the shootout mere moments ago. Ven relaxed into a more normal stance, letting his shooting hand rest back down by his side. Not forgetting his prey however, he looked back up to the rooftop, and showed the target his wrist computer. Best she got back down before he knocked out her cybernetic systems again.

Liuna

 

[Liuna]

Liuna peered over the ledge, watching as the Mando took out the blonde bounty hunter. And her eyes lingered on his back as he hit the ground. Then, she straightened up slightly as the beskar-clad man held his wrist up in a silent display of get back down here or else.

Hanging her head, Liuna gazed down at the ground. Normally, she would have hopped down, her cybernetically enhanced legs could take it. But with her ankles still bound together, she risked landing in an awkward (and embarrassing) way. And so, she shuffled back to the ladder and managed to climb down the rungs. Rounding the corner, she tip-toed her way back to the side of the cab.

She cast the Mando a frown as if to say, fine, I'm back. She'd made her choice—she'd take her chances with the beskar-clad man. And Liuna cast a last glance at the bodies that now littered the street, she shuddered to think about how fast that shaggy blonde would have handed her over. They were a dirty lot, the kind that'd sell out their own if the price was right. But this Mando, he was a mystery. Maybe it was the armor, but he didn't immediately strike her as the kind. Weren't the Mandalorians bound by some kind of honor?

Moving past him, she got back into the cab and settled onto the seat again.

These people that wanted her back, who were they? What did they want? The questions lingered in her empty head, and one question stood out the most...

“Are you gonna turn me in?” she asked when he was back in the cab too.

Ven A'ndi

 

[Ven A'ndi]

He kept his blaster pistol trained with laser-accuracy on the young woman, making sure she wasn’t out of his sight for more than a microsecond as she got back down off the roof. The fact that she was able to get out of the cab and manage to get all the way to the roof without how bound up she was had rather annoyed him – just goes to show how strong and agile she was with the cybernetics, apparently. The remote EMP had been a good idea.

Clambering back into the cab, he let out a sigh. If he had more time, he could have collected the weapons in the street and either stored them on his ship or sold them off later, as they probably had some black market value with all of the modifications they undoubtedly had. However, more bounty hunters were likely to come, so he figured he should just get the job done with and get out of there.

She asked what he was going to do. There was a long moment as he stared at her, his helmet giving nothing away. Finally, he glanced over to the droid driver, who had miraculously not been damaged during the heated exchange of blaster fire. “Drive.”

The cab was underway once more, the repulsors easily taking them over the bodies of the hunters they had just gunned down in the street. As they moved along the street, he looked back at the woman, trying to size her up. Her fear was genuine, but the biotech company had said she might not be stable. He didn’t know about that – she hadn’t exhibited any sort of unusual behavior since he picked her up. Just seemed confused and afraid, is all.

“Do you remember anything from before you left the facility?” he asked. Memory loss was caused by multiple things, usually traumatic. If the biotech company had intentionally wiped her memory… it might not have been for virtuous reasons.


Liuna

 

[Liuna]

Her question hung in the air, and she stared into the stern face of his helmet. But the Mando broke the silence when he ordered the droid to drive. Liuna sat back and glanced away, figuring that her fate had been sealed with that one word.

Then, the Mando posed her a question, and the Mirialan shifted slightly as she thought about the answer. When she closed her eyes and really tried to remember, she encountered some kind of fog. Sometimes, there were bits and pieces floating about in the blank space there. But nothing she could really grasp and hold on to. Whether it was her own mental block or somehow... by design, she didn't know.

“No—” she said, but then her grew wide. “Wait. I remember a room.” Liuna squinted as though she was back there. “They kept me strapped to a bed,” she continued, and flinched as the glint of the needle was remembered vividly. “And they kept me doped up on... something.”

And then, nothing. She'd reached the end of the memory and was met by the black again.

“That's all...“ she murmured and looked at him. “I had to get out. I just.. feel it.”

Ven A'ndi

 

[Ven A'ndi]

Her mind had been broken, shattered pieces that were hard to place together. The Mandalorian had heard all kinds of excuses from across the galaxy in his near decade of bounty hunting as to why he shouldn’t bring in his target. Yet… this one was different. She appeared to have genuine memory loss, and there wasn’t the groveling and switching of stories that was typically the norm.

He didn’t have a lot of time to think about it; the cab jolted slightly as it came to a stop. They’d arrived at their destination. There was a long moment as he looked past the woman and to the biotech building – a rather nondescript, unlabeled office building among the rest of the town.

“Alright,” he said. “Let’s go.” He got out of the cab and stepped over to the woman’s side, making sure that she got out. He then grasped her arm with his left hand while the right was holding the blaster mere millimeters from her side. Slowly, he led her up to the reinforced durasteel door. As they stepped up to it, a small sentry droid popped out of the wall and scanned them before the door opened.

He led her down a long hallway, with recording and scanning devices mounted to the walls and in the corners of the ceiling. The Mandalorian knew he was being watched from every angle, but it didn’t bother him. He already knew what was walking into, as this had been where he’d first gotten the commission.

The next door opened, and there was a small reception-like area, with a desk flanked by security droids. Standing behind the desk were two humans – a female and a male. The male was tall and wiry, wearing a clinical white uniform with large goggles. He spoke in an accent Ven had a hard time placing.

“Ah, yes, I see you’ve brought in our asset,” the scientist spoke, seemingly relieved and delighted at the same time. “I had a feeling about you, Mandalorian – you’d be the one to bring her in. Now…” He motioned for the security droids to step forward and take the woman into their custody.

“You didn’t tell me her mind had been wiped,” Ven spoke, not loosening his grip on the woman’s arm. A silence fell over the room – the droids stopped in their place. The scientist was also surprised, as this was probably the most words he’d never heard the man speak at once.

A small smile formed on the scientist’s lips as a small laugh escaped him – the kind of behavior Ven had seen from men who had been caught. The droids took another step forward. “Yes, well… you know… this is standard procedure for things like this…”

“No it isn’t,” Ven said, raising his blaster to point directly at one of the droids. The droids stopped yet again. Ven also slowly let go of the woman, his hand drifting to his belt, where a small computer like the one on his wrist sat. “Where’d you get her from?”

The scientist’s expression was turning from one of amusement to impatience. “This is very unprofessional behavior, Mandalorian,” he said, a frown forming. “You do not need to concern yourself with these things…”

Ven took a small step to his left, partially covering the woman with his own body, his blaster still pointed at one of the security droids. “Where?” He had yet to break eye contact with the scientist. His hand was resting on the computer now, thumb poised over a small button.

The droids raised their blaster carbines. More could be heard coming from a back hallway. A twitch flashed across the scientist’s face, and his lack of patience got the best of him. “What do you care? She was just some scrap we recovered from a crash. No friends, no family, nothing. We saved her life, if anything. Now, hand her over.”

That was all Ven needed to hear. He pressed the button on his belt. The binders on the woman’s wrists and ankles unlocked, and he fired the first shot.

Liuna