Dust In Your Pocket

[Amun]

Maena; Between levels 50-100

This place reminded the Bounty Hunter very much of Coruscant. Right up in the heavens were the rich, the elite, the things that a lot of people desired for and focused on. And below the the skies and beautiful architectures was the Underworld. It was obvious where the line of poverty was drawn out. All the filth, scum, and grime stirred in the underbelly of this mega city for survival.

Something Amun would have to deal with when doing jobs in the Underworld of Coruscant, but he wasn't here for any of that mess.

The Kyuzo was here for business as the Guildmaster of the Bounty Hunters' Guild and expand the Guild with his contact. Every big or little thing he did for the guild would benefit Hunters in its ranks.

The alien walked about with humans giving him glances as sign of xenophobia which he couldn't blame as he was carrying a bowcaster with him and did appear as a menace to society. Amun would finally reach his destination for an appointment he had with a representative of a new cartel he didn't know of until recently.

The Makesh Cartel.

[member="Kalak the Raykkan"]

 

[Kalak the Raykkan]

The air disgusted him.

Clean, pure, not a hint of ash or smoke in it. Or in such marginal quantities that he might as well be walking in the lush forests of Ithor. Dreadful. The lower levels of Maena were more to his liking, dirty, smoke bellowing from endless fires and the wailing of the downtrodden almost as musical as the soft churning of the foundries back on Raykka.

But it was the Lower 50 that the Raykkans had claimed as their home away from home. Not the largest minority enclave by any means, but the concentration of his people were greatest where honest industry thrived and needed grease around the cogs.

There was nothing sexy about keeping the water running, the air flowing and the food coming, but that was just how the Raykkans liked it. The people who were equally interested often weren't the strongest or most ruthless ones.

Just the ones that meant well.

The Cartel had asked him to meet a representative of the Bounty Hunter's Guild here, because he had been on Maena anyway. To leave the lower levels under his feet and to rise? Unpleasant, but Kalak was diligent when it was requested.

So the Raykkan waited, scowling with the smoke of the cigar the only filter between him, his lungs and the disease of fresh air.

Hopefully the hunter would arrive at the Hydro Filtering installation soon.

[member="Amun"]

 

[Amun]

And so did the Kyuzo arrive at the installation on great timing. He was expecting some kind of clean human or humanoid from the Cartel. Something clean and professional from an honest industrial people. Attractive and all those qualities one expected.

He met with someone otherwise.

His yellow eyes observed the creature for a few minutes before sitting down before the representative. He was ugly and dirty. As if he was born from mold, or something equally or worse than mold. Amun had encountered hideous beings, but this was something new and foreign.

Something that he didn't mind dealing with, but liked interacting with.

The Bounty Hunter placed his weapon against his chair and let out a drone out from his belt which was used to translate for him. He could speak Galactic Basic, but he chose not to as his native tongue was the only thing to him that was close to home; however, he could comprehend it. And so the Guildmaster spoke with a weird sound that was far beyond Basic. "I am Amun, Guildmaster of the Bounty Hunters' Guild," said the droid.

[member="Kalak the Raykkan"]

 

[Kalak the Raykkan]

[member="Amun"]

Impassive expression as the alien settled down in front of his desk.

Not a human... good. He disliked humans, dispassionate dislike that suggested the boot crunching an ant rather than anything else. They stank, of arrogance, of soap sometimes, but above all they were ugly.

Hairless apes with no folds, ears flat and clinging to their heads, eyes dull... no fire or burn.

"Amun," The Raykkan greeted, but it was in Basic. "The Makesh Cartel is in need of trained hands. Observant eyes. Unscrupulous minds. We pay good money for little questions, dig?"

Maena wasn't the place to worry about the legality of slaves.

Not that the Raykkans gave a crap. They avoided the nonsense of the Alliance and the stupidity of the Confederacy specifically for those reasons.

 

[Amun]

The Kyuzo comprehended what the sickening alien said and nodded his head, the war helmet hiding his face. Big money with little questions. He liked it. He didn't really care what sinister plot he served as he had served other crime lords in his past. Did it contradict his honor? Not at all. He had lost his honor when he exiled himself from Phatrong; however, his loyalty was genuine with his clients until they had wrong him or the contract expired.

Amun continued the dialogue in his native tongue in which the flying droid translated:

"Amun accepts your offer. As long as the money meets the expectations of the type of work he does."

If it was bodyguarding a key member, he would charge decent amount that wasn't expensive or cheap. Assassinations depending on the subject varied his prices.

[member="Kalak the Raykkan"]

 

[Kalak the Raykkan]

[member="Amun"]

Any business worth its salt was forged from blood, sweat and tears.

True, usually that did not come free, but that was the cost of doing business as far as Kalak was concerned. It was annoying when the sentients involved weren't willing to play ball- when they insisted on driving up the costs by trying to flee, get themselves killed or something similar. Why would they not simply do as they were told?

It was in their best interest, really.

"You will find that I always pay my debts." The Raykkan responded after a moment. "You will need to track down half a dozen bodies- they are breathing, in relative good condition... and they will not want to return, I expect."

Kalak's head tilted slightly to the side and out of the shadows an over-sized walking... thing appeared. Metal, cybernetics, replacements, they were crowding its body- more machine than organic at this point.

It held out a datapad.

"This has all the information you need."

 

[Amun]

Then a deal was a deal, and if the other party failed to pay...well, there were methods Amun could apply for punishment. There were many people you didn't want to cross. Sith Lords, Crime Lords, Bounty Hunters, and many other dangerous scum and villainy that brought pain when offended.

And the Kyuzo was certainly one to not show any mercy or sympathy when crossed. He was the Guildmaster for Force's sake.

However, he trusted Kalak and his associates of the Makesh Cartel as all the cartels he did business with always paid him handsomely. A reptilian, lizard thing then came out of the shadows which caught Amun's attention. It was hard what reptilian sentient species it belonged to, but the Guildmaster did admitted that whatever it was was too dangerous. Not just because of its size, but because of the cybernetics that deformed the being into a metal monster.

The...thing passed the Bounty Hunter a datapad of his very first assignment from the Makesh Cartel. Indeed his targets were half a dozen of him, but what caught Amun's curiosity was what they were. He spoke again and the droid translated:

"Are they really trees?"

Not that he really cared, but this would be his first time dealing with these Dalans.

[member="Kalak the Raykkan"]

 

[Kalak the Raykkan]

[member="Amun"]

Kalak looked curiously at the bounty hunter when he posed the question.

​Most hunters he had acquainted himself couldn't give a crap about the targets they were after. At least, not in the sense of wanting to know more than they needed to accomplish their hunt. He wondered briefly if this had been the wrong party to make a signed contract with. Had the Cartel made a mistake when making contact with this particular Guild?

"Yeah, so avoid fire and other incendiary crap." The response came soon after while orange eyes deepened with shadows. "I need them alive and functional for work."

The Raykkan shrugged.

"Other than that I don't really give a shite how you catch them or what you do to them."

If he roughed them up a little, that was completely fine. They were tough bastards and would be difficult to take down without superior firepower, so that was a thing to be considered.

"I got a private merc who will accompany you." Another twitch of the head and on the other side of the room the doors opened. They revealed a tall figure, armored with a cowl that cloaked blue features in shadows. But the eyes and the permanent scowl were enhanced as the woman strode through the room.

​

​

"Sup."​

 

[Amun]

He chuckled when Kalak confirmed his question. Trees? Easy pickings. He wondered how some wooden sentient beings had escaped from Kalak and his associates. Poor security he thought, then again there were dangerous Ewoks roaming in the Galaxy. So perhaps this wasn't an assignment to shrug off and not put full effort in. Especially when applying incendiary weapons against them was off limits.

He spoke again as he stood up from his chair and picked up his bowcaster.

"This should be easy for him," the droid translated to the Raykkan. The Kyuzo had dealt with worse than trees escaping from the enslavement of their masters.

Another figure joined them who was the private merc employed by the Cartel. A blue female mysteriously cloaked. Amun was suspicious of this being as he didn't like to work with those not affiliated with his Guild. He wouldn't object, but he would make sure he wasn't crossed by this mercenary. The Guildmaster didn't greet the woman except gesture her to follow him so they could begin their mission.

The Bounty Hunter did, however, stopped in his tracks before asking one last question to his client.

"Can they regrow their limbs and parts?"

Perhaps the datapad did contain his answers, but he had to be certain. This would be crucial to his means of capturing the escapees.

[member="Kalak the Raykkan"]

 

[Kalak the Raykkan]

[member="Amun"]

"Yes and no." The Raykkan responded unhelpfully with a big grin around his cigar. "But I doubt they have had much time to rest up and gather their energy, so they might be able to do it once."

A shrug.

"After that, if they do it again, they will freeze into place and be easy pickings." The most important part for Kalak was for the bastards to return to their designated work spots. If this was his operation, he'd probably have them burned alive in front of the others, but that wasn't in the cards now. It would be over-stepping his bounds.

But one day.

One day that wouldn't be the case. He'd be able to do whatever he wished, wherever he wished, he'd rule the Makesh Cartel and expand it across the entire Galaxy.

Until the Raykkans ruled supreme.

He chewed a bit on the tip of his cigar, while mulling that over.

"Anything else?"

 

[Amun]

"No, that will be all," the droid translated to Kalak and returned to his master. Information was priceless for every bounty hunter. Where were they last seen? What could they do? What are their weaknesses? What species are they? What draws them out? Even to what favorite meal they liked was important information.

Of course, it was rare for bounty hunters not be given any information which meant they would have to start off from nothing and find clues for themselves.

The Guildmaster and his temporary companion left the room with the Raykkan and the whatever lizard thing. Amun lead the way to his ship where he would grab the necessities for his assignment that didn't lead to burning these tree folks. He would have no dialogue with his companion except for coordination. Anything else would be silent.

Moments later...

The Kyuzo was done arming himself for the hunt and was not on the streets of Maena. Cryoban grenades, his bowcaster, dart trackers, war helmet, and a stun net launcher. Slugthrowers would be useless and so would blasters if their skin were made out of wood. Cryoban and stun nets were they way to go for this mission.

They would have to check every level where the sun could be seen and where there was running water. The above levels and the not so low levels would be their main areas to investigate.

[member="Kalak the Raykkan"]

 

[Kalak the Raykkan]

​

[member="Amun"]​

​

Didn't take a genius to see that the Guildmaster was prepared to look through every nook and cranny of every single district in every single level of the New City. Which did say something about his dedication, but luckily Kalak had made Pike do some preliminary scouting. "Big boy, no need to crawl through every hole of the City, we got the level and district they in."

Why not tell him that back there? Because Kalak wanted to get on with it and figured the mercs could handle this in their hunting time.

She clicked on the transceiver build into her wrist gauntlet and Amun would receive the date she had managed to get. "Abandoned industry park. Lower levels, it's a karking mess out there and it's big, so we will need some time to comb through it all."

Probably dispatch some of the vermin scurrying around there as well.

 

[Amun]

One thing Amun disliked was when his clients didn't present him the information at first before heading out to do their dirty job. It was just a waste of time for him and it would give more time to his targets more time to hide away more effectively. He would bring that up to Kalak after completing his assignment.

The Guildmaster then received the information from the mercenary of everything he needed to know. Instead of searching throughout the whole city for these escaped slaves, they were pinpointed in one sector of the city. Abandoned industry parks which happened to be in the lower levels. Apparently it was big, but it's not as big in comparison to the rest of Maena.

No doubt there'd by scum scurrying the streets and alleys.

Now knowing where he needed to go Amun would use one of the turbo lifts of the city with his partner in two and descend to the shady places of this city-planet.

[member="Kalak the Raykkan"]