The
Mile-Star tore through hyperspace, streaks of blue and white reflecting off General Linn Dobson's cold glare. She sat in the dimly lit cockpit, fingers drumming against the metal armrest of her chair. The silence was suffocating, broken only by the rhythmic beeping of the ship's controls.
10,500 credits.
That was the deal. That was the price she had named for handing over the dark sorceress
Zori Galea
. That was the amount she had
not received.
One of her lieutenants,
Kesso Varn, a grizzled Rodian with a blaster scar running down the side of his snout, stood near the ship's comms console, watching her carefully. He'd seen Linn angry before, but this was different. Linn wasn't yelling. She wasn't throwing things.
She was thinking. And that was worse.
"Transfer didn't go through?" Kesso asked hesitantly.
Linn's jaw tensed.
"It didn't even bounce. The account was a ghost."
Kesso let out a slow whistle.
"Zolfran played us."
Linn exhaled sharply through her nose, her icy composure barely holding.
Of course, he did. She had read him the moment she met him on
Salteract, that desolate storm-ridden wasteland. He had walked into that trade with too much confidence. There was no hesitation in his voice when he took Zori back.
Because he had never intended to pay.
But Linn wasn't just something to be bought and tossed aside. She had spent
years clawing her way into power, commanding a brigade of hardened survivors, carving out her own rule in the Outer Rim's bloodstained void.
No one played her.
She tapped a sequence into her wrist console, bringing up a
holo-display of Zori's tracking signal—a small, pulsating dot blinking steadily on a planetary map. A
tracer implant, discreetly embedded in the base of Zori's skull during her captivity.
Zolfran thought he had won.
Linn smirked.
He was wrong.
The
Mile-Star docked in the militia's forward outpost, a repurposed Imperial supply depot now home to a growing army of outcasts, ex-mercenaries, and war criminals turned soldiers. Rusted TIE wreckage and scorched speeder bikes were amongst the litter along the perimeter. Droids scuttled between stacked crates of stolen weapons.
Linn strode through the base, flanked by Kesso and two of her most loyal guards—
Zena Kord, a former bounty hunter, and
Tallis Rehn, a silent but deadly enforcer who joined her upon landing.
The moment she entered the
command center, the entire room went still. Her officers could sense the storm brewing.
She didn't waste time.
"Get me Zolfran. Now."
The
holoterminal hummed to life, flickering before stabilizing into the image of
Baricon Zolfran. The old warlord stood in the shadows of his ship, his deep red robes flowing like blood in the dim light. His expression was unreadable.
"General Dobson," Zolfran greeted, his voice smooth, unbothered.
"To what do I owe this… urgent communication?"
Linn folded her arms, eyes narrowing.
"Save the pleasantries, Zolfran. My credits. Where are they?"
A slow smirk crept across the warlord's lips.
"Ah, yes. The small matter of payment."
Linn's fingers twitched toward the blaster at her hip.
Small matter?
"You lied," she said, voice cold.
"You never intended to pay."
Zolfran tilted his head, feigning curiosity.
"And yet, you still handed her over. What does that say about you?"
Linn didn't flinch.
"It says I'm smarter than you think."
She tapped a command on her wrist console. The
holo-display of Zori's tracking signal blinked to life between them. Zulfran's smirk faltered for the briefest second.
Linn saw it.
Got you.
"You think this is over?" Linn continued.
"You stole from me, Zolfran. You think I'm just going to let that go?"
Zolfran exhaled through his nose, clearly weighing his next move.
"You underestimate the forces you're meddling with, General."
Linn leaned forward, her voice dropping into something sharp and venomous.
"And you underestimate how far I'm willing to go."
Zolfran's image flickered, but his silence spoke volumes.
Linn smirked.
"I'll be seeing you soon."
The transmission cut.
She turned to Kesso, her blue eyes cold as the void.
"Prep the brigade."
Kesso hesitated.
"We going after them?"
Linn nodded.
"Zolfran thinks he got what he wanted." Her smirk widened.
"I'm about to remind him why I'm still alive."
And with that, the war for
Zori Galea had only just begun.