Striking A Bountiful Deal With 'The Wizard'

[Sin]

Striking A Bountiful Deal With 'The Wizard'​

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Not long after the Rebel victory at Naboo...​

PROLOGUE




The capital of Hutt Space, the Glorious Jewel, Hutta​

From a distance, a stolen transport vessel was exiting the stratosphere. She was inbound for Bilbousa, according to the ship's navigation computer. However, the shuttle appeared to be sneaking around the capital city. It would appear the pilot was taking the transport...nowhere.

Inside the skin of the ship, three rebels were preparing themselves for the task at hand. They were looking to claim a bounty on a man, or perhaps a myth, known as 'The Wizard'. The man earned the sobriquet for his spellbinding mastery of all things technological. This was precisely why the Rebellion had deployed this trio to the polluted and barren wastelands of Nal Hutta. So, in actuality, this was a search and rescue operation. Meaning their orders were to save 'The Wizard' from the bounty, not claim it. With any luck, the Rebellion hoped he would be willing to join the cause.

There was only one problem with the mission. Nobody knows who 'The Wizard' is, or where he's located. Rumor has it, he is a mysterious mechanic that keeps a shop in the sewers of Hutta. Others tell tales of an old scientist that stays secreted in the jungle mountains, sending droids down from his perch to barter his wares. No credible source would be sited regarding the rumors. However, these parables have garnered interest from those who would seek to exploit 'The Wizard'. The Hutts...a Hutt...Jorr'gota the Hutt.

If a bounty hunter were to track 'The Wizard' down and turn him over to Jorr'gota, the legend would likely cease to marvel. Instead, the man would be enslaved to the Hutt enterprise. His ingenuity wasted on distasteful products desired by one of the galaxy's most loathsome species. The Rebellion couldn't allow this to happen. They needed deviants like 'The Wizard', and like the three who had been sent to save him, on their team...working to restore a Galactic Republic.

And so here they were. Three square pegs trying to fit into a round hole. Hoping this mission wouldn't be a hot mess...

 

[Will A.C.]

Nal Hutta




Jorr'gota's Palace



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The palace of Jorr'gota the Hutt was a monument to everything his criminal enterprise represented.

The gargantuan structure towered high above the slave camps, cantinas, spaceports and factories that surrounded it. Its upper extremities even breached the dense layer of yellow haze that permeated Nal Hutta's atmosphere, glowing as it reflected the light of the orange star that passed overhead. All of this, of course, belied the desolate catacombs that lay below. The torch-lit dungeon ran deep beneath the planets surface, and the further one descended, the more madness one was exposed to. The screams were blood curdling, but after a point, they gave way to a more haunting ambience; the sort of hopelessness that resounded a little more quietly.

Civilized, but underneath, it was just ugly.

Jorr'gota found all of it quite amusing-- but never enough to actually make the descent himself. Instead, a stiff-limbed droid rounded the circular staircase downward, carrying a small view screen. When the droid had at last come to the bottom, he approached the cell nearest the staircase, looking at the Nikto guard expectantly.

"What the kriff do you want, metal head?"

Jorr'gota's dominating visage appeared on the screen. "Move," he commanded angrily.

As the droid stepped past the Nikto and into the cell, the gangster tied up at the far end of the chamber began to panick. His heels beat the ground furiously as his bruised body bounced back and forth in the chair he was bound to, but it didn't do him any good, the chair being bolted to the floor as it was. Jorr'gota, on the other hand, seemed annoyed.

"Quit your bloody shaking, you ignorant wretch," the Hutt demanded. When he didn't, Jorr'gota growled. "For the love of-- you bloody broke him! You," he said suddenly, pointing at the Nikto guard, "deal with this!"

The guard approached and circled behind him. From behind his chair he grasped the man's head between his two powerful hands and squeezed it, holding the man in place whilst his hands shook against the armrests.

"I already asked you once," the Hutt said menacingly. "I am not in the habit of asking anything twice of anybody, but here I am," he continued. "You've got one more chance-- tell me where you got the weapons."

The man simply sat there quivering.

"Answer me!"

"The Wizard!" the man copped finally, frightfully, as the Hutt roared at him.

"Fool! Squeeze him until he pops," the Hutt concluded.

As the man felt his temples compressing he cried out in pain. "He's real! He's real! The swamps! He lives in the swamps! I trade with him! He's real!"

The Hutt held up a hand, and the Nikto ceased crushing his skull.

"I swear... I swear..." the man repeated. "... In the swamps, out... near the old hospital." With a sigh, he continued wispily, "He's not what you think he is."

"An urban legend?" Jorr'gota teased.

"He's just a kid,"

The Hutt looked to the Nikto. After a long moment of silence, he asked, "... Do you believe him?"

"I do," the Nikto affirmed surprisingly.

"Break his neck."

"Wait, n--"

Snap.

The Hutt rubbed his chin a moment. "... Put out a bounty on this 'Wizard'," Jorr'gota quipped. "Find me the finest hunter you can, and have him bring me this weapon-maker."

"As you wish, glorious master," the Nikto said with a bow.

"One last thing," the crime lord called after him. "Leave his age out of the dossier. I have a feeling it would... dilute the talent pool." Jorr'gota couldn't be certain he wasn't wasting his time-- but whoever had been making the items would make it worth his while.

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[Grizz]

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NAL HUTTA​

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THE SWAMPS​

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Nal Hutta, the 'Glorious Jewel', was anything but it's namesake. Right after setting foot on the planet, Grizz felt a film of grease cling to his clothing and skin. The smell was right up there with the other bung holes the galaxy has to offer, but the Coruscanti native's nose was gladly desensitized at this point. After all, he's shuffled from one backwater to another in the years following his retirement, and his upbringing alongside mountains of compressed trash in the Underworld yielded a strong tolerance. He can never understand how the Hutts view this twisted landscape as anything akin to paradise. In fact, if someone were to suddenly perform a BDZ on Hutta... he wouldn't bat an eyelash.

They had parted from their transport shuttle not too long ago, choosing an inconspicuous location alongside the outskirts of the capital city to disembark. The mission was a search and rescue for the enigma known as 'The Wizard', a savant in all forms of technology that could be useful to the Rebellion. There wasn't much to go off from what little they were given. From what he was told, The Wizard was nothing more than a local myth, a tall tale. However, tall tales don't have bounties on their heads. He needed the Wizard to be real, his very reason for being here is to retrieve this man and convince him to aid the Rebellion's cause.

This all could be a wild goose chase... but Grizz didn't particularly care at the moment. He was given a task and he was going to do it to the best of his ability. However, the little scraps of information and false expectations may have unnerved one of his teammates. Ree Azalus, the introverted Amaran was probably not pleased with the nature of their assignment or the particular people he was working with. However the ex-soldier also laid it out straight that they would have to work together. He only knew Azalus from what impressions he had of the man, but Grizz would like to believe the man was professional enough to set aside whatever misgivings he has regarding his teammates. He didn't approach Ree like someone with any sort of authority behind him, nor did the Rebellion really had anything in the way of ranks and structure like a normal military. But it was the first time since meeting Ree that he was ever serious. No jokes, no misguided antics or attempts at being buddy buddy. Direct to the point, perhaps unnecessarily blunt, and completely in Basic for a change.

But Grizz had also made it clear to him long before they touched down, that if anyone is going to be the point man on this gig, it was him. He himself never stayed long enough to really take in the sights or the scuttlebutt, and much of his knowledge of the world was probably outdated. Some things never change of course, but his compatriot was far more suited for the task.

They had dressed the part of the usual seedy type that usually come and go, fitting right in with the plethora of pirates, mercenaries, slavers, crooks, and scum. The set of ex-Alliance military gear hand-me downs and other miscellaneous tech that he had on him was typical of the thousands that filled the black market after the fall of the Galactic Alliance. Business was especially good after the fall of a major galactic power. Posing as bounty hunters had its perks, because they were given the dossier of sorts upon taking up the hunt. It wasn't much, but there was mention of the Wizard's dwelling being the swamps nearby a ruined hospital called Shag Bootana.

Luckily Ree knew of the place, and was currently running point for the team as they headed there. It's a good thing, because Grizz didn't exactly roam around the planet when he was here. He stuck close to the spacepeort of the capital city, and maybe the Bazaar when he needed a good deal on a weapon. Slogging through the marsh, and enduring the lethal embrace of the toxic wasteland... he could see why he didn't back then. All sorts of creatures that survived extinction made their domain here, and some of them could definitely give him a run for his money. At the moment, he relied on the instincts and knowledge of his point man to get them through safely...