The
Harvest Moon lulled slightly as it drifted in deep space, in that large empty nothingness between worlds, stars, and trade routes. It is a place that few would stop, if ever. Slowly, something bundled came out from the ship. It slowly floated away, slipping into the darkness. Then another, then another.
It was in that emptiness that the crew of the
Harvest Moon met their unceremonious end, left to drift in a land of lifelessness for all eternity. While all this weighed heavily upon the head of Barry Millet, Sha’tek merely nodded for a job done and slithered away to the Captain’s room.
Barry watched the last of the corpses drift away with a slight shudder, considering his own fate should his reptilian overlord find that his usefulness was expended. Getting back to his Six persona, he made his way back to the bridge and connected his datapad up to the comm. He had yet another job to do. Now, he was supposed to do some studying on the happenings on Desitus.
It was an unremarkable world. The planet was a wasteland that was converted into an industrial center for the Onyxian Commonwealth. There was some damage by saboteurs while the Coalition withdrew, but the Imperials had already patched up most of the damage. Basically, your ordinary industrial wasteland, nothing out of the ordinary.
That was, until Six finished looking at the straight info on the planet and began to look for news on the world.
The new Imperial Governor of the world, Tranus Artax, had recalled all the units on the planet to the capitol. Everything. Civilian and military. Six just kinda tilted his head a bit as he began to read the reports on what was going on. The order was given right after Sha’tek had killed Governor Bradford. Was Sha’tek’s plan working? Had he already scared some of the Imperials into a deranged paranoia where they were willing to tear themselves apart?
There were stories from all over the planet of people rioting, of gangs taking bloody control of the street, and of the businesses on the world paying for personal groups of mercenaries just to protect their interests. If Sha’tek managed this level of paranoia with one dead governor, Six was afraid of what a second could do.
“So Governor Artax…” Six muttered as he began to click away at the datapad, working his way around firewalls and backdoors, using a variety of custom written scripts. The Empire was always so ready to just to and kill the problem, very rarely actually fixed the situation that allowed the problem to arise. It may work with dissidents, but it doesn’t work too well as a network security philosophy.
It took nearly half of an hour of delicate walking, but eventually Six had access to the records he needed.
“You should’ve been finished by now.” The raspy voice of Sha’tek came from behind.
Six actually jumped out of his chair, crashing around a bit before falling on his ass. “GHOST OF FUCKING PALPATINE! Don’t sneak up on me like that! How the fuck can something as big as you move that quietly!?!”
“I don’t have need to make foot falls.” Sha’tek retorted simply, not showing much in terms of emotion as his eyes focused on the screen. “You’re just too used to bipedals. Tell me about the next target.”
“Well, the guy you’re after is named ‘Tranus Artax’.” Six muttered as he rubbed his side, retaking his seat before the monitor. “Well, you managed to bring fear since this guy’s summoned every law enforcement officer on the planet to his personal defence.”
Sha’tek smiled slightly at that. “Cowardly Imperials. But I don’t think I’ll be able to fight all of his guards before he gets the chance to run once more. Tell me more about this ‘Artax’.”
“Uhm, a minor bureaucrat. He’s had several investigations for corruption and embezzlement but against him but he’s come out clean each time. As for family… Well, the guy’s wife died about seven years back, from sudden heart complications. He has one kid, a son.”
“Tell me more about his offspring.” Sha’tek said with a hint of interest entering his voice, as he slinked closer to Six. The small human sunk a bit more into his chair as the large beast stared over his shoulder at the screen.
------------------------------------
Captain Daniel Prestor cautiously minded one of the glasses at the Drunken Rancor, looking out across the room. The Rancor was always known for its rough and tumble customers but with the near fall of organized government, things had gotten even worse. The ruffians of Cheapside were nearly running the place. Things were getting tense around the city.
Some of the criminals chased out of Nar Shaada by those knuckleheads of the SS found a new stomping ground in Imperial territory. Daniel got a bit of a laugh as he thought about how frantically those boys were running around trying to 'weed out corruption' and their own bullshit buerracracy kept fucking with their order.
“How sweet it is.” Prestor said as he downed his glass of rum. Business had been good for him more than most. Now that his type had a foot in the door, they were getting out whatever Onyxian hardware the Imperials hadn’t gotten yet. Those Onyxians had fine taste for things that go ‘bang’, and a smuggler of Prestor’s skill was moving freighters of the stuff.
Prestor’s prideful thinking was interrupted by a large thud as a Gamorrean in rags was tossed through the door. The smuggler’s mood was soured when he saw that red armoured Mandalorian brute who’d been picking fights with the more rowdy members of the bar. He didn’t mind the fact he was weeding them out, but the man’s hours upon hours of boasting and gloating was annoying.
Once more, the man started on his nightly ritual. “You are not worthy of being a Mandalorian. You’ve obviously forgotten your warrior roots! When the Basilisks would rain from the sky you’d be lost and confused on where to put that axe of yours. Pathetic what they’ve done to you.”
“Clean yourself up, and come to me when you believe you are WORTHY of Mandalore’s attention.”
And see the skies will be stained red when we conquer you and blah blah blah. The Mandalorians had been broken for years and the most they’d be doing is raiding some backwater system. With a small laugh to himself Prestor took another hit from his drink. But unlike every other time where the Mandalorian just did his bit and left, a new face to the Rancor came forward. A beast the likes of which Prestor hadn’t seen in some time….
“Silence.” Sha’tek growled at the Mandalorian, not seeming aggressive but more annoyed.
“You think you ar-” The Mandalorian was cut off by Sha’tek’s claws digging into his throat. The look of shock on the Mandalorian’s face was nearly priceless as the man desperately tried for a weapon before falling to the floor.
“Your challenge is answered and met.” Sha’tek snarled at the Mandalorian bleeding to death on the floor of the tavern, before slithering back to his corner of the bar. Most of the patrons at the bar just watched the beast. A very small man with an incredibly pale face was waiting at Sha’tek’s seat.. Not even leaving his drink, Daniel stepped around the pool of blood towards the beast.
“So we meet again Sha’tek. I didn’t think you had the balls to be in this sector after that stunt you pulled back on Generis. People in my circles say Desaria himself has called for your head on a platter.” Prestor said, just plopping down in a seat without any thought or invitation. The small man’s face got even more pale, and began to make some frantic motions with his arms as if to encourage him to run. Sha’tek’s eyes narrowed on the small man for a moment, before he reached into his bag and tossed fifty credits on the table.
“There’s the credits owed for your last job to me.” Sha’tek said simply enough, before motioning his blood stained claws towards the smuggler. “‘Six’, this is Daniel Prestor. Associate of the mercenary group the ‘Black Nebula Legion’. And I do not have ‘balls’. My anatomy is different than how you apes work, we inste-”
“Listen man, er, lizard, it was just a figure of speech. Too much information. WAY too much.” Prestor interrupted, just shaking his head a bit. Sha’tek glared a bit at him, and if not for his association to the BNL, Prestor knew he’d get to enjoy some of Sha’tek’s famous hospitality. For a guy without balls he loved waving his dick around. “SO, what brings you to my neck of the woods? Hiding low? Getting supplies?”
“Going after my next target.” Sha’tek said in a dead serious tone that was offset by Daniel’s sudden outburst into laughter. Sha’tek raised his brow as Daniel hit his hand on the table.
“Well, good to see that Ludge hasn’t levelled you out.” Daniel said with a grin as he sat back in his chair, taking up his drink and taking a sip of the foul tasting stuff. But he raised his brow when suddenly Sha’tek put another credit chip on the table. “You know, you’ve got nerve to ask me to help you out in this. Going to have half the Empire chasing after you, and not too many people would give safe harbour to those crazy enough to work for ya. Heh. So what job do you need done?”
“I need you to get in contact with some mercenaries near Kuat. The Governor’s spawn is going to be returning from their Academy to his brood. I need the spawn in order to draw out his parent.” Sha’tek said simply, reaching into the sack he had sitting on the seat next to him. He held up a datapad, before placing it on the table. Daniel took it and looked over it, in pure disbelief.
“HA! You don’t ask for much, do ya? Who the fuck other than you would be crazy enough to do this job?” Daniel said, giving the datapad a quick once over before dropping it back to the table. “It’d be suicide mission.”
“Fifty thousand credits up front, with a hundred thousand when the job is done.” Sha’tek said flatly, pointing towards the chip. Daniel gave a quick sharp whistle. He didn’t know that the lizard had that much in his personal funds to throw this kind of credit around. “I want people who have skill enough to get the spawn here. This should be enough for them. You’ll also find a fee for yourself.”
“And me to smuggle them back in?” Daniel said with a knowing smirk on his face.
“Good to know we have an understanding.”
With a slam Daniel finished off his drink in a gulp and slammed the glass on the table. “Oh what the fuck. Kidnapping? Killing? Smuggling? Nothing new. I just want to see the look on Desaria’s face when you’re done.”
