"I'm lookin' fer Liddle," I had to yell for the second time, trying to beat out the din of the processor droids, "Said he were down 'ere!"
The salty old Mon Cal gave me an incredulous look, as if his job of yelling randomly at slacking plant workers were the only thing that mattered in the whole of the universe. "The Chief. Yeah, just got here. Down in blue." he snapped roughly, then turned back to his clipboard.
Blue. Green. Red. Why do places like this always code up by color, numbers would be so much more direct. Turbolift Blue one. Stepping out of the tubolift was like being abruptly snapped back to reality, starting with the icy sting of sea water and strong winds.
Blue, was apparently the loading sector, and Blue one, among the few small decaying docks of Kuk wood.
This was where I found Liddell, the security Chief for Bartyns landing. Maybe Oro, who knows. Old as the sea though, Mon Cal don't tend to age gracefully. He was clad in a long poncho to keep out the biting rain and surf, a beaten old blaster carbine slung over his shoulder.
I moved up his left flank, fairly sure the wind and rain would cover my approach. It didn't.
I got within about 3 meters before he turned.
A flash, "Kill him." slipped through my head, but to no avail.
A smile, despite the blowing weather, "Chief Mix Liddell?", one arm reaching out to greet him, the other in plain sight across my chest.
"That'd be me," the Mon Cal twitched his tendrils, "you're the bounty hunter?"
Surprising. Liddell really knew his small town, strangers were his job. Don't show it, cool as ice. "Somethin' like that. The name's..."
"Pike, I know." he smiled and shook my hand as he rose to his feet, "I have to know these things, I know a few people."
"It seems ta me that darn near everyone knows someone," I grin and lean closer, "so, yah've somethin' ta show me?"
"Over here." He nods with his head and moves toward the edge of the dock, "I think this is for you..." slipping something from under his poncho and handing it to me, "It was...In her mouth."
"Her mouth," still cool as ice, it'll try and be something shocking, "What'cha mean?"
A shake of his head, then he leaned partway over the edge and pointed down..
Down there, hanging by tinsiline noose, was the acquisition. Dangling by her neck 20 feet above the turbulent waters with two words written carved neatly on the quarrens' head...
"Bounty Hunter"