Swamps, Hutts, and 22 stab wounds.

[Berlioz]

She looked from her small Corellian Luxury Ship's cockpit window out towards the swamp world before her. Her back sunk slightly into her mauve leather seat as she exhaled, narrowing her eyes to absorb the view. In life, the common saying is to "not judge a book by its cover," yet planets were a different story. Manaan's oceans, Coruscant's cities, Alderaan's continents and seas all painted a vivid image of the world ahead. The Doctor's black gaze combed the planet, searching it from top to bottom for any hint of beauty...Yet she could see none. An anxious repulsion gripped her throat the closer her pearl-white ship drifted towards the planet's atmosphere.

This is a mistake.

She shut her eyes, feeling a tense chill run down her spine. I'm going to get robbed the second I land in a bloody starport. Her teeth gingerly bit down on her lower lip, Or...worse. She rapidly stood from her seat, pacing across the Corellian Vessel's pristine white corridors towards her chambers. Though taxing, she eventually found the closest things she had to resemble the lower class - a pair of brown slacks, plain black slippers, and a black tank top. She returned towards the cockpit, as a guttural alien's voice spoke through her comm system in Hutteese.

"1000 credits for Hangar 44. Daily - you don't pay, we take your ship."

She frowned, raising a distasteful brow. So much for pleasantries. Indeed, first impressions hardly mean anything out here, do they? She responded, "That won't be a problem. Hangar 44 it is." She paused, "Excuse m-" Too formal. "I want my ship alone, and unknown. Do you have any private docking bays?" The Alien shifted languages, now speaking in a tongue she couldn't comprehend. A rising pressure arose in her chest, They know I have money. That much'll be obvious when they see the ship. I need them on my side.

"I asked you a question. I want a secure, guarded, docking bay."

"10,000 a day. Hangar 48."

She smiled, 10,000 a day'd get you the cheapest bay in Alderaan. "Excellent. Thank you."

The comm channel cut with a distinct zip. Artemis' eyes shifted back through the cockpit glass, watching the ship descend into the Planet's atmosphere. Upon piercing through a layer of smog - her eyes widened.

Disgusting.

The only word that could describe the planet before her. The sleek Corellian Luxury Liner flew through the yellow-tinted skies with an established autopilot, as Artemis stood in awe of the sight. The Oceans - if they could be called that - looked of tar. Barren mountains of rock and willow trees covered the landscape, accompanied by buildings using the Hutt's signature circular architectural style. She rose a palm to her lips, covering her mouth momentarily. This place is an absolute Biohazard. Light shouldn't be scattering across the atmosphere like this - it's completely tainted. Her eyes glanced down towards the swamps, The pH levels here must be abhorrid. Too much hydrogen.

She paced back towards her chambers, hearing the ship's male automated voice respond speak across the ship:

"Landing - Nal Hutta Starport, Bay 48."

Artemis went to her closet once more, pulling a white scarf and wrapping it across her face and nose, to then cover her hands with a pair of tight-fitting black leather gloves. A moment later returned to her ship's cockpit, feeling the ship gingerly settle down onto the starport's surface. She tucked her datapad onto her tan slack's back right pocket, to then glance at her credit chip laying besides it. Walking around with over 5 million credits on-hand likely isn't a good idea. She paused, Then again, neither is landing a Corellian Cruise-Liner in Nal Hutta. She reached forward, grabbing the credit chip and tucking it within her right glove.

"Lower the hatch, I'm leaving," she spoke to the ship. "Don't open for anyone. If I haven't returned in 72 hours to the ship-"

The thought of a distress beacon or something of the like briefly ran across her mind. She shut her eyes and solemnly shook her head, Noone would come. "-Nevermind. I'll be back."

She turned towards the hatch, and took her first steps in Nal Hutta. Immediately, the raw stench of rancid atmosphere and polluted air struck her nose and lungs. She coughed, tucking her clean white scarf closer to her face. Her skin tingled as she walked across the starport, envisioning the multitude of skin diseases that accompany the planet. She shut her eyes as she paced across the dirt, I need to do some shopping while I'm here. I'll be damned if I'll be in this atmosphere without sleeves on for longer than 24 hours.

As she approached the Hangar bay exit, the doors suddenly swung open - revealing a wrinkled alien with three eyes. Her left eye twitched slightly, examining the mucus oils that covered the creature's skin. He spoke in plain basic, <"That's quite the ship.">

She rose a brow, peering at the alien from behind her black-rimmed spectacles. "Indeed it is. Is that a problem?"

He tilted his head slightly, <"Well, that certainly depends - why are you here?">

She straightened her back slightly, feeling her patience thin. "I'm here on business representing the Planet of Corellia. I'm paying extra for not only the security of this vessel, but also the privacy of my arrival. Correct?"

He shrugged, <"You think people don't notice pearly white ships in the sky when they land here? The fuck kind of privacy do you think we can deliver?"> She retorted, "The kind that keeps people away from my ship. Simply execute, and we'll conduct business. Is that fair?" The alien rose a hand beneath his wrinkled maw, <"Payment now. Not later.">

She glanced over her shoulder at her ship - seeing the boarding platform still down. She took a deep breath, reaching into her right glove for her credit chip. He reached behind his back, pulling forth a small datapad. Artemis took a step forward, holding it towards him. All three of his eyes widened for a moment, <"A Coruscanti Diamond credit chip. You're the real deal, lady. I've never even seen one of those."> She frowned beneath her scarf, "Take the damn money."

He inserted the credit chip into his datapad and returned it to her. <"Artemis Lou...Loure...">

A vein began to protrude on her forehead, dreading her sudden but blatant lack of authority.

"Are we done?"

The alien gave a brief smirk, turning his back towards her and happily whistling upon the acceptance of the transaction.

<"Welcome to Nal Hutta - enjoy your brief stay.">

_________________________________________________________________________________

Moments later, she found herself in the center of the starport. Aliens, soldiers and armored mercenaries passed her by as she walked. Creeping chills ran down her spine as she continued through the town of Jiguuna, as out of place as someone could humanly be. She reached to her back pocket, pulling out her datapad and retrieving Lex's coordinates. Standing amidst the center of the town, she briefly eyed a small marketplace towards the south-east. She walked towards it, figuring that if she was going to stay in this place any longer - she needed some form of armament and attire.

Maybe I'll be find some help. Somebody needs to know Lex around here.

In the distance, a Trandoshan duo locked their gaze onto her, and began their approach.​

 

[Berlioz]

@SonOfTheo

 

[SonOfTheo]

The homeworld of the Hutts was a minefield for a man in Vas' position, but that applied to everyone who set foot on the planet. They could be manipulative and maligned and their ethical programming was totally foreign to even other crime-lords. Vas was not happy to find himself planetside on Hutta, but it was safer than Nar Shadaa for him at the moment.

As far as Vas appreciated any culture, he'd always been fond of the Hutts. Their way of thinking was difficult to comprehend, and they tended to simply roll-over species around them, but Vas had understood from a young age it wasn't a practice born of a sense of malice. Like you couldn't blame Mandalorians for warring and pillaging across the galaxy every five hundred or so years because it was in their nature, you couldn't really be mad at Hutts for enslaving or torturing people. Unlike Sith, which generally made the conscious decision to be assholes, Hutts were naturally expansive and territorial, and that was down to a deep-rooted biosocio thing that had been in them since the last mudball they'd lived on had been eaten by a black hole.

None of this excused the evil done by them, but Vas had grown up around them more or less, and all he really knew was that in the Huttese language there was no participle for 'past' meaning it was difficult for them to express remorse, and no easy-to-reach noun for 'criminal' meaning it was hard for them to conceptualize illegality at all.

He kept this in mind as he went about the business of securing the Kalgarova safe-house. This involved bribing people, changing the biometrics so that no other Kalgarova could enter (which he was surprised hadn't been done to lock him out already), killing the safe-houses' other occupant (a loyalist of Jerrick nul-Kalgarova), and buying food and amenities so that two people could live in it for a couple of weeks.

And a couple of weeks was all he was really willing to prep for. He didn't want to stay on Nal Hutta long if he could avoid it.

--- Outside the marketplace

The Trandoshans had eyed their prey, a pretty and (much more importantly) rich looking human woman. A lot of foreigners came in and out of Nal Hutta, to deal with Hutts, visit the pleasure gardens and brothels, explore the underground slime-rave scene, that sort of thing. Not a lot of them looked like this woman. She was a walking, talking payday check that hadn't been made out to anybody in particular yet, but soon would be.

---

The Trandoshans were well-to-do mercenaries about to sign on with a company heading to the Northern front, where they would generally shop around on the conflicts sidelines waiting to be hired by whichever side was desperately wanting for warm bodies (or cold ones, in their case) first.

They sidled up to the woman and smiled, a gesture they knew appealed to humans.

"Hey, girlmeat." one said. "Worst place you can be, lost in Hutt space. I give you directions and we guide you for a pretty penny."

The other one... also smiled, but said nothing.

 

[Berlioz]

Artemis approached a small merchant's stall of blasters and other devices the likes of which she'd never even seen before. She rose a hand to her ear, tucking a lock of hair behind the right leg of her glasses, to then hear protocol droid's query: "Welcome to Va'shall's Blaster Empor-" The Doctor's eyes rose, looking towards the black spray-painted protocol droid as it ceased mid-sentence. "Va'shall's Blaster Empor-" it repeated once more, freezing and convulsing besides the stall. She blinked in momentary confusion, then turned her attention back towards the market stall as the Protocol droid continued to repeat the same pre-programmed three words in its memory, caught in some ill-managed loop.

A sudden set of heavy footsteps caught her attention, leading her to turn around-

Oh.

Two Trandoshans, seemingly as armed as they came (at least, to her knowledge) had beset their eyes on her. They spoke in their brutish forced basic, clearly struggling to speak given the lack of lips. Then again, predatory carnivores like they hardly seem to mind. She swallowed beneath her white face-wrapped scarf, feeling a mixture of anxiety arise from within her.

<"Worst place you can be, lost in Hutt Space. I give you directions and we guide you for a pretty penny.">

She took a deep breath, briefly looking them over. She'd read about their type before - slavers, mostly. Particularly out here in Hutt Space, an unarmed woman - a well-dressed woman, no less - would likely net a pretty coin. She rose a hand to her glasses, briefly adjusting them as her mind dug through troves of information to try and recall anything she could in regards to Trandoshan biology.

Reptilian in nature - obviously. Cold-blooded, regenerated limbs through the cellular override in a low, though secure fashion. Multiple hearts, razor sharp claws, lack of joints along the-

<"Girlmeat. I'm talking to you.">

She blinked, looking up and meeting the green reptile's gaze. Her eyes widened slightly, staring into the trandoshan's black-slit eye.

Epiphysis cerebri, parietal eye. Photic responses, purely inhibitory in response to light stimuli with a maximum sensitivity at 600 nanometer wavelength figures. Ultra-violet spectrum invisible, though infrared remains clear. In short, an acutely tuned precision organ.

She glanced down at the Trandoshan's blaster rifle. Tibanna gas, superheated through a Heter valve into an energized state, compressed into a pressurized chamber and released along with- She rose a hand up to her scarf, pulling it from her face and mustering as genuine a smile as she could possibly could. Light. "Oh, forgive me, I was lost in thought. Gentlemen, yes, please - I could use your help," she retorted with a clap of her gloved hands. She turned around, extending a dainty gloved index finger towards the frozen droid, "I'm in a bit of a predicament, you see. I'm trying to scrounge up some blaster components for my husband, but the silly droid is frozen and won't help." She sighed, taking as soft a tone as she could, "I'm so confused by all these blasters and weapons, and..." she threw her hands in the air, "War junk."

There's no way I can put these two down. Absolutely not. But, like always, there's another option.

She stepped besides the stall, inviting the Trandoshan over, "Could you please help me? I'm so scared, I've never been to Hutta but I just can't leave until I've got that...Er..." She rose a hand to her chin, "What was it again...Oh, Jennifer, you're smarter than this..." She shut her eyes, gingerly patting her forehead, "Ah! Yes, I believe it was called a 'gas chamber' and 'heter valve.' I'd be more than glad to accompany you in your tour across Hutta, I just really need to get my hands on those two silly little things."

The Lead Yellow-skinned Trandoshan turned its head to its silent comrade with a grin, to which his green-skinned comrade responded with a shrug. The grinning reptile slung his hefty blaster rifle over his shoulder and approached the market stall. Artemis glanced over to his ally, who's face was nowhere near as festive. The smart one. She turned her gaze back towards the stall and leaned forward slightly, noting the colossal height difference between her and the reptile. Her index finger deliberately traced along some junk and scrap as she attentively looked through it, waiting for the Trandoshan to deliver her goods to claim his prize.

Hurry up you damned lunatic. If you think you've got me cornered, you're-

She rose a hand back to her scarf, tucking it over her nose and lips. Mostly right.

The Reptile grinned, plucking two small blaster pistol components and holding them out before the woman. <"These are what you're looking for, girlmeat."> She looked down, noting a clear shaft and receptacle between both components that were meant to be attached in the assembly process. Her eye twitched slightly, That isn't enough. I need more gas to-

<"Take it.">

She tilted her head innocently, "Are you sure? My husband is going to be very upset with me if I bring him the wrong-"

The Trandoshan's grin faded, clearly growing tired of their game. <"I said, take it.">

She looked over towards the protocol droid, still caught in its existential crisis loop as it repeated the same three words, frozen in place. "W-well, I certainly can't leave without paying." She smiled brightly beneath her scarf, gingerly plucking the two blaster components from the Trandoshan's clawed hands, noting a slight red tint along the tips. She swallowed, turning her back towards him and approaching the droid.

Beads of sweat formed along her forehead and neck. I'm around 32 seconds from actually being enslaved. Her hands trembled slightly as she looked down towards the two components in her hands, lining the gas chamber and valve together and interconnecting the pieces. "Excuse me...I'd like to pay for these two blaster components, if you don't mind."

"Va'Shall's Blaster Empor-....Va'Shall's Blaster Empor-....Va'Shall's Blaster Empor-...."

She swallowed, glancing down at the coupled blaster innards. How can I simulate a trigger pull? The two pieces're connected, but nothing will happen until- Her eyes darted right, noting a heavy wrench hanging on the side of the stall. She reached out towards it, hearing the Trandoshan's heavy footsteps behind her. Her hands snagged the wrench, "Excuse me, droid, I'd very much like to pay for these goods now."

Her breathing quickened, hearing the Trandoshan unsling his weapon. She took a deep breath, Please work.

"Excuse me," she turned towards the encroaching reptile, "Is this how this is supposed to work?" She shut her eyes and struck the small cubic gas chamber, releasing a brief spout of tibanna gas into the heter valve. Instantly, the pressurized interior of the valve superheated the gas and lead to its ignition, which escaped the interior the only way it could - forward. An immense heat scorched her gloves as an intensely bright flash of light shone between her and the reptile, instantly causing it to scream and rear its head backwards, throwing its arm to its eyes in a panicked jerk as the sound of a small explosion erupted from the marketplace.

Artemis' ears rang in pain as she turned and immediately began to run for her life, running as fast as she could through the Jiguuna marketplace.

 

[SonOfTheo]

One of the Trandoshans, whose name was Valtzik, had a sneaking suspicion things were about to go awry. Mammalfolk were tricksy especially when they were scared and in new places. It was unlikely this rich woman was selective enough to build her own blaster when she could have just as easily bought the best hold-out gun in the galaxy before coming to Hutt space.

Bursuk, his companion who had offered to be this woman's tour guide, paid dearly for trying to help out. Bursuk reeled backwards blinded by the flash, him being up close to the little makeshift flashbombs ignition. His eyes would be out for a week.

Bursuk cursed a storm in his own speak and whirled into Valtzik, clutching his eyes and screaming. "BLIND! VALTZIK, EAT HER!"

"For the scorekeeper, podmate!" cried Valtzik drawing his bowcaster. The hunt was on. Bitch'd pay for beefin' poor Bursuk. "SOMEBODY GRAB THAT BITCH!"

---Kalgarova safe-house

Vas wondered which would be a worse fight: a bantha sized gizka or 100 gizka sized bantha?

He was about done disolving the corpse of the safe-house's last occupant, one of Jerrick's loyalists, when a rat-tat-tat knocking sounded on the slide-up shield that served as the safe-house's door.

Vas took a quick look at the room's terminal, which he'd tapped into the storage-houses security feed with. Outside was a Twi'lek boy in rags with spotty teeth.

"Brat, got business for me?" he asked.

The kid nodded. "You told me to watch for a Correlian?"

"See one?"

"Lots, no, heard one. Brought a cruiser into port, paid minty fresh to keep it quiet. But I hear everything!" The boy beamed.

Vas nodded and gave the boy a handful of soy-crisps from a bag of them the same table the terminal sat on. "A woman come out?"

The boy shrugged. "I dunno."

"'U'donno' huh?"

"I didn't see, but a pretty human is shopping at the bazaar, looks like you said. Hair black like space, skin like winter smog. Alderaan hipster glasses."

Vas nodded, gave the boy another handful of crisps. That was her. "Bazaar you said?"

"Her and the Trandoshans in Jiguuna, yep."

Vas' eyes widened and the boy flinched. "Trandoshans?"

"Couldn't get close. Va'Shall's stall, talking about gas and gats and that stupid mouthy droids."

"Just take the whole bag! Come around tomorrow and I'll have more work for you, scram!" Vas hurled the entire bag of crisps at the boy (which would feed him all day and tomorrow too if it wasn't stolen from him) and the boy ran off, lekku twirling behind him with glee at the prize the man had given him. Vas whirled to face the largest thing in the little safe-house: an antique Bespin JR-4 he'd been delighted to discover when he'd arrived.

'Huts'll love this' he thought, shortly before he put a boot up the swoop's ass and took off into the street. Here was hoping he found Loureaux before the Trandoshans could shuffle her off to some greasy hutts palace.

 

[Berlioz]

Through the Jiguuna marketplace she ran, colliding with bystanders and knocking over merchandise as she went. A panicked frenzy beset her mind as she heard the trandoshan's cry for her capture, knowing the situation had escalated to a point of no return. An unfamiliar sensation overwhelmed her thoughts - fear. Fear of capture, fear of death, fear of damn near everything at this given moment. As she sprinted through the uproared bazaar, her arm slammed against a tall bounty hunter's armored forearm, causing her to spin and wince before noticing she was in the middle of a rather large food stall. Her nose twitched, struck by the pungent smells and stinks of the would-be restaurant. She rapidly dove behind a food stand, hiding behind a thick, metal crate containing-

Her nose twitched, the smell of it absolutely unmistake to any medical professional. Spice.

She looked straight ahead, seeing a frustrated Twi'Lek with a brown apron take up arms and step in her direction. She rapidly reached into her right glove, pulling out her Coruscanti Diamond Credit chip with an index finger across her lip. The light blue twi'lek's eyes lit like burning suns, instantly recognizing the situation he'd found himself in. The Trandoshan now caught up to the stall, vibrantly sniffing the air.

<"I smell you - meat.">

She swallowed heavily, hiding behind the crate and nodding in the Trandoshan's direction. Her credit chip in hand, she quietly mouthed,

H E L P

The Twi'Lek adopted his best sales persona and approached the stall, "Sleema! Do'wana aga pooti?" The Trandoshan responded in turn in a tongue she couldn't quite grasp, his shouting and snapping telling her the conversation wasn't going well.

 

[SonOfTheo]

The JR-4 puttered and sputtered but took Vas safe and sound to Jiguuna where he found the central market in a slight disarray. Va'Shall's Blaster Emporium had been knocked and the droid that manned it while Va'Shall was out, known to be slightly glitchy and not all-there, was being savagely beaten by a giant raging lizard man.

<"Va-v-va-va-v-v-vaa-sha-a-a-all's-"> the dying bot droned. Wires spilled out of its chassis as the Trandoshan beat it with his fist like a rock.

"SCOREKEEPER! SEE THIS!" said the Trandoshan. Vas stopped the bike a meter away and hopped off, drew his DH-17 and leveled it at the Trandoshan's head. People backed away from the scene and everyone who had a piece began to feather it with their fingers, claws, and manipulators. Vas ignored them.

"Quit it! Look over here!" he said. The man stopped giving that poor sweet droid the business for a moment and whirled around blindly to face Vas' general direction.

"WHO'S THERE? Show yourself!" roared he.

"I am-" Vas saw the blank, aimless wandering eyes. "I'm right here big man. Got a blaster on you, so just calm down. What happened?"

"A HUMAN!"

Vas tensed. "Riiiight?"

"Their kind are nothing but trouble! Looked rich, looked lost, was gonna show her around town, see if we could get us some flight-food money!"

Somehow Vas suspected that wasn't the entire truth. "So what happened to you? Never mind, I don't care. Where is she now?"

The Trandoshan chuckled lowly. "You want to get her? You better find her before my mate Valtzik does."

"Oh motherfuck- WHERE? I will blow you away lizard! Where?"

The lizard pointed down an alley stuffed to the brim with chow hocks throwing kebabs and salad packets at every passersby even as they desperately collected the merchandise knocked over by the ongoing chase. Vas mounted the swoop and took off through them trying his darndest not to smear anybody along the way.

---

Valtzik smelled that sweet, sweet meat on the grill and it made his stomach melt, along with jars of ryll and other savory spices. Mushroom steaks, slabs of bantha cheese, import garden fruits, but what really stood out to him was the smell of cold sweat. He tracked it to a twi'lek vendor at a stall just boxy enough for a tiny human to crawl underneath. The chef greeted him cheerily like he wasn't all business. <"Sleema! Do'wana aga pooti?"> He shoved him out of the way roughly and yelped a dirty word in his own speech.

"I smell you meat!" He hopped over the stall and began to rummage through the vendor's supplies looking for the woman who'd faffed up poor Bursuk. His hand tore through bottles, jars, packages, pots and pans to get to her but he couldn't quite reach her.

He stood up to his full 10" stature and brought his forearms down on the top of the stand, smashing through the 'lek's credit register and a tray of home-made zucchini crisps in plastic-wrap and the poor cook began to wail.

---

Vas rolled up in his bike to see people scattering and a twi'lek in an apron screaming and crying as the trandoshan he intuited to be 'Vitzik' demolished a food stand. Artemis was underneath, he fucking knew it.

Vas brought his DH up and put a jet of gas through the lizard man's shoulder which caused him to reel away and scream like, well, a man who'd been shot. Vitzik slung a bowcaster off of his leg and aimed it from the hip with one arm at Vas' chest and Vas responded with a motion bringing his own blaster up to center on Vitznik's cranium.

There was silence. Vitzik was really pissed off and looking to engage in a little bit of revenge cannibalism, but he wasn't stupid. Vas knew that if he took that bolt to the chest he'd die from it, probably, but he'd give Vitznik a third eye-hole before he went. Vitznik knew the same.

"Stay out of this human. She blinded my hatchmate. This one's for the scorekeeper."

"Your friend needs a nice couple of days in bed and someone bringing him juice when he rings a little bell, not a bounty on his and your heads."

"You think I'm worried about some bounty hunters? Look at me!"

"Look at me," Vas said, "I'm the one that's about to crown you."

There was a tense moment.

Without warning a gaggle of Jawas descended on the scene, propping up and guiding the other trandoshan Bursuk like seeing-eye dogs. "Vitznik, its not worth it. If you get shot over a couple of humans I'll be blind and my brother will be dead."

Vitznik turned between Bursuk and Vas, the gaggle of Jawas and the pistol at his noggin. "This is ridiculous! They hurt you, it isn't fair!"

"I'm fine, you're the one about to get scattered by a street punk over nothing. Just put the gun down and come on, we've got work in the war and I don't want to lose any contracts over this! Please!"

---

Vitznik slowly lowered the bowcaster and knelt on his hands and knees. Vas' gun followed him to make sure something bloody and uncouth wasn't about to happen while Vitznik had cover and could get at Artemis.

"If I ever see you again I'm going to make you into one of those kebabs over there." he snarled.

Vitznik waded around the wreckage of the food-stall giving the twi'lek cook the trandoshan equivalent of a bashful look and left, supporting Bursuk. They and the gaggle of jawas dispersed into the growd and wandered back toward central Jiguuna.

---

Vas dismounted the bike and rapped his knuckles on the top of the ruined counter. "Are you okay? Hello?"

 

[Berlioz]

Artemis had listened intently to the exchange of words between the two. A touch of guilt reached her mind, as she deliberated the possibility of them actually having been interested in giving her a tour of the area. She took a steady few breaths, hearing a swoop lose its power and the heavy trandoshan's footsteps pacing away. She looked over towards the Twi'lek salesman, then towards his now-ruined stand. "Damn it, damn it..." She reached into her right glove and rose to her feet, hearing a man rap his knuckles on the counter-top. She glanced over towards him, then back towards the salesman.

"I am so sorry. Here, charge me for the damages. Just-" she pulled her white scarf from her face, looking the blue alien over for a moment. As discontent as the man was, the sudden flash of a Coruscanti Diamond Credit Chip easily cheered his spirits. He eagerly snatched the chip from her hand and proceeded to insert it on the stall's nearby datapad.

Artemis looked down at her right arm, noting a red rash along her forearm. Her eyes narrowed, as she gingerly placed her index finger along the center of the red skin and pressed downward, wincing slightly. Supercial burn along the Epidermis, no blisters. Dry texture - hurts, so no nerve damage. She swallowed, and began to wrap her forearm with her scarf, shutting one of her eyes as she treated herself.

Her eyes looked back over towards the ruined counter, noting the scarred man before the countertop. "Thank you for your help. I-" she took a deep breath, feeling the adrenaline rush fade, "-I believe I may've made a mistake in judgement with those two. Fear got the better of me, and..." She looked towards central Jiguuna, "Damn it - I should've told him how to treat it before he left, ugh..." She shook her head, tightly shutting her eyes and taking another breath to calm her nerves. The Twi'Lek paced back over towards her, handing her credit chip back with a colossal grin on his face.

<"75,000.">

Artemis shrugged, tucking the card back into her glove. The Twi'lek blinked for a brief moment, expecting some form of reaction from the woman before she paced outside of the man's business and stood by her would-be rescuer. "My name is Artemis Kal-" she paused, briefly considering that there was a possibility that Lex might not be a popular man in these parts. "...Loureaux. It's nice to meet you, Mister...?"

 

[SonOfTheo]

Loureaux.

The manufacturers of the prototype kolto that had killed Sarshil back in Ahto and given Hestor the worst tan of his life. A biomedical company with trillions. And... the name of his father's secret lover.

So this was her.

But had she almost begun to say 'Kalgarova'?

She was mousier than he expected. Whatever cow had produced him had been broad, built low to the ground. Other women his father had slept with fit the same profile; they were usually also criminals or Kalgarova associates and that lifestyle necessitated a certain body type, a certain demeanor. Artemis Loureaux was short, skinny, obviously affluent, and had a sort of librarian thing going on.

He nodded and shook her hand. "Vas Sarshil, good to meet you. We've been expecting you, I think you should come with me." He patted a length of extra space on the back of the bike. "But first, we should grab food." He gestured to the cook who was knee deep in the rubble of his stall salvaging materials. "Hey buddy, for 75k you think we could get some takeout too?"

The cook glowered at him but looked around his stand to see what could be turned into food quickly. Within ten minutes he produced two spice-laden slabs of mystery meat and grilled mushroom over fungal tortillas and smothered in puffy green rice oozing a thick mucous-y sauce, all of which smelled amazing, then shooed them away from his stall.

With the situation defused and fast-food in hand Vas took Artemis back to the safe-house.

---

Vas keyed Artemis into the biometrics so she could come and go as she pleased and slid open the storage-units door. Inside was a unit about the size of a studio containing a couple of ground-level mattress, a portable shower set up and a tarp, a bulky terminal, a gun rack, a squat refrigeration unit, a combination workbench and lab-station, and some loose swoop tools.

Between all this there wasn't a hell of a lot of room to move around but it all just barely fit.

Vas closed and the door. "Welcome. Its shit but its what we've got to work with." He turned to meet Artemis' eye. "You said you are Artemis Loureaux? Did... did you know a man named Lex Kalgarova?"

 

[Berlioz]

Vas Sarshil, was his name. At the moment, the name had struck quite the nerve, yet she'd managed to hide it well, it seemed. As it stood, this man knew something, and clearly wasn't willing to see be torn to literal shreds by Trandoshans - so accompanying him was certainly the best option. It certainly beat staying in Jiguuna for any longer waiting for some other horrid mess to occur. The ride along the back of the man's swoop bike had been both exhilarating and horrifying, given the sights. Rotting trees, polluted waters, mutated wildlife - the sooner she found Lex's son, the better. Yet,

She couldn't shake her curiosity that something was amiss. The last name Sarshil, and the motivation to actually keep her alive and take her to somewhere safer and grant her clearance for entry into this place via biometrics was already a red flag for curiosity. Upon entering the safehouse, she took a moment to gather her bearings and look about. Her eyes looked over towards the gun rack, eyeing it for a moment with a sullen stare.

I hope that trandoshan's alright. I didn't need to do what I did there.

She shut her eyes for a moment, retreating to her thoughts for a second until Vas - if that was actually his name - spoke to her. She narrowed her eyes towards him, allowing a moment of silence to pass between the two as she noticed his brief hesitation to pronounce Lex's name. She rose a brow,

"You know, people are rather curious." She rose a hand to her black tank top, adjusting it slightly and pacing towards the gunrack across the small safehouse. She stood before it, eyeing a particularly worn blaster rifle for a moment. "It's odd. People are so willing to kill each other these days that, in a moment of frenzy, that's all one can think about." Her left hand gingerly grabbed her scarf-wrapped forearm, "In that moment when the Trandoshan walked up to me, I was so scared I was going to be enslaved - that I blinded the poor thing. A phosphoric flash, driven by tibuna gas and a pressurized valve to the parietal." She looked over her shoulder, "Did you know the Trandoshan eye can see colors in a spectrum that we can barely fathom? Wavelengths past 600 nanometers are still picked up by the parietal. That's how sensitive their eyes are."

She muttered, "It must have been in such pain." She took a short breath, "People kill, people steal, people hurt, and people lie." She looked towards Vas, "Which of those are you doing right now?"

 

[SonOfTheo]

He narrowed his eyes and held his chin up at her. "You really going to play this hand right now? Distrust me right now?"

He groaned and sat down the heavy bag containing their food on the workbench. He took off his coat and draped it over the swoop. A concealed interior pocket in the coat was where his blaster lived, so he was disarmed. He leaned against the storage-units metal slide shield and glared at her.

"I heard you almost say it too, you know. I guess we both carry that name. So yeah, I lied, but so did you, so don't give me this shit about lying to you like I didn't just save your life. My name is Vas Kalgarova. Only son of Lex Kalgarova. Somehow, someway, you're Artemis Kalgarova."

His voice carried a rancid, spiteful undertone. He resented that she carried that name, and wanted her to know it.

"And you're wrong. People have always been killing each other over absolutely nothing. Don't know where you got the idea its a phenomenon."

He lowered his head. "If you had anything to do with his death, god help you. You won't leave this room ever again. So start talking."

 

[Berlioz]

Her eyes widened slightly, taking a moment to stare at his face. She tilted her head slightly, trying to examine Vas' face for any resemblance to Lex...Sans scars, she could see the man's brows and jaw, but past that, nothing. She paced over towards a small corner with some open wall space, reclining her back against it and crossing her arms.

"If I had anything to do with his death, what in the absolute world would I gain from seeking out his son in the literal greatest garbage pile - and Biohazard, by the way - that I've ever seen?" Her brow furrowed slightly, "So please, don't draw any sort of conclusion of the like based off anecdotal evidence that doesn't well exist." She rose her tone slightly, "That-" she rose a hand to her glasses, pulling them from her face and tucking them into her pocket, "-upsets me. I don't deserve that, and I'm damn sure you know that I don't. Your father was anything but stupid and I refuse to believe his spawn is any different."

 

[SonOfTheo]

He considered for a moment. Artemis wasn't an assassin for damn sure, he was certain of that after what he'd just seen in the marketplace.

"On the outside, it wasn't you, I'm sure of that now. Maybe things are more complicated but I'm not all that paranoid about you. I'll go with Occam's saber here. The motive was completely opposite. He liked you, and that's why people in our organization were angry with him. Wanted him to be all iron because that's what was making us all fat. You made him soft, you made him good."

He moved over to the table with the food in it. He took both bags, handed one to her.

"You ruined us, but all I can be mad at is that you made him happy, and I'm not going to be mad about that. So the question is what do we do now?"

He unpacked his own greasy wrap and bit into it. Meat, mushroom, rice, and sauce rolled around in his mouth and were delicious. Through a mouthful of it he said "He wanted us to meet because he didn't think we would be safe apart." He swallowed. "The man who killed him might have a personal interest in killing you, and probably has an interest in doing me too. As it stands I have an interest in doing him the same way. The hate is mutual. What do you say to that?"

 

[Berlioz]

She let out a sigh of relief upon seeing that his son was indeed competent and that she wasn't in danger. Immediate danger, anyway. She ran a hand through her hair, accepting the bag of food with a hint of gratitude. She held the greasy wrap in her hands for a moment, clearly finding it distasteful, but she wasn't about to refuse the man's gift. One hesitant bite later, she nodded in brief surprise. As atrocious as this wrap likely was for her diet, Good lord the grease, she couldn't fight hunger much longer. She took a moment to deliberate his words, staring at the floor for a moment.

So he really was happy, then.

A smile reached her lips.

At least that wasn't a lie.

She looked back up towards Vas, "Well..." She shook her head, "I've been exiled from the planet where I conduct business, given...Lex's ventures...I've already received some job offers on the table." She looked down at her rice wrap, "I could be an executive for another company again. Run projects, manage negotiations...I could go be a Physician again, though, likely not in a nice hospital like I used to, given-" she paused, the weight of her family name's slander now truly sinking in. She looked towards the ceiling, "We really had it so well. The worst part is, the morning after I saved his life he looked at me-" she bit her lip, "-Told me he'd been a prisoner in that docking bay amidst the firefight."

Her eyes looked up towards Vas, "I knew he was lying. I really, truly did."

She took a deep breath, looking back down at her wrap. "I just couldn't bring myself to say no to him. It's fascinating, honestly. In business, saying no is what you do. Saying no pushes negotiation, as barriers arise on both ends. Saying no culls the competition, as ethical considerations are accounted alongside the Economic. Yet for all that bloody practice I've had in making a career out of saying no," she sighed, "I could not say no to that man at that time."

She ran a hand through her hair, "I'm not even really sure if I regret it or not." She took a bite from her wrap, politely finishing before speaking, "To answer your question...I really don't know what happens now. Vengeance isn't something that's ever crossed my mind until this point in life, and for good reason. It's toxic. It's a literal haze, a drug that infests your thoughts and dims your capacity to function." Her gaze darkened slightly,

"But that son of a bitch did take the best thing I've ever had in my 36 years of life, and I absolutely do not forgive him for it."

 

[SonOfTheo]

Vas considered a moment. Could they let everything go?

Did he even have a family anymore, in the traditional sense or the criminal sense? Did he have any obligation to kill Jerrick?

No, there was no turning away from it. It came down to simple logic. Jerrick had no reason to suspect anything but that Vas would be out to do murder against him for the rest of his life, because Jerrick knew Vas and knew what kind of man he was, and vice versa.

And this woman, this stranger. It wouldn't have surprised Vas to hear if she'd never lost a patient, never euthanized anybody, didn't know death. But somewhere deep in her the hole that Lex' killing had left in her gaped and begged to be filled, and would only be filled by seeing Jerrick die.

Jerrick would be stupid to think otherwise.

"It is toxic, and I know you still want it. And believe me, believe, I want to find him too. It comes down to this: Jerrick, the murderer that is, is ambitious. He knows we hate him and he knows where we're strong and weak. He may be confused and high off of his victory, might even be iced by another family man before we ever see him, that tends to happen in vacuums like this. But if he lives long enough to take control of the family he'll be out to get us and that puts a ticking clock on everything we do. He'll learn to wield that power like a flail sooner or later."

He munched idly at the burrito. "He's strongest in Hutt space and might take control of Manaani wrongdoing too, which would really put him on the map in terms of respect and authority. Still, he's a small fry, and killing Lex didn't really do all that much for him considering the weak place the family is in. We should stay out of his grip if we can, meaning we should get off of Nal Hutta. Where are your people, and where is your money? Where can you go a lowlife can't find you? And when I say lowlife, know that includes Hutts. Maybe even the Desajilics."

 

[Berlioz]

"My people?" She scoffed, "The only people that still want something to do with me are debt collectors and annoying journalists. Nothing makes for quite a juicier story on Coronet City's headlines than an executive's affairs." She glanced to the side of the small safehouse, raising a brow, "As for my money, well...That's safe. We don't have to worry about that." She took a short breath, to then shift her gaze towards him. "As for a place to go...Well. There's one place." She set aside her 3/4ths-eaten snack, placing it atop a nearby countertop. "There's a place along the end of the Corellian run called the Void. It's a dramatic name for an asteroid that's been colonized, having originally been an infested, mineral-rich hive for Exogorths."

She reached to her tank top, grabbing her glasses and resting them back atop the bridge of her nose. "Nowadays it's...a bit of a mix. It's got its own set of Government and law and it inhabits quite a great deal of residents. It's essentially a little trade hub along the Outer Rim. As for what it's like beyond that," she shrugged, "I've never been, so I can't say. What I can say, however, is that you'd be assed to try and find a pair of nobodies-" her eye twitched slightly at the thought, "...Yes, nobodies...In the middle of a colonized asteroid. Simply put, many people go there to vanish. It sounds rather perfect, I'd say."

She cleared her throat, "We can leave whenever you like."

 

[SonOfTheo]

She was right, they wouldn't be able to return to Correlia, nice as that sounded to Vas. For one, her name apparently carried notoriety now, and her return would be all over the corporate newsfeed. All Jerrick would then need to do would be to hire someone, and that would be that.

<"There's one place."> she said.

She went on to describe the Void, a democratic enclave of miners and workers in the carcass of an asteroid. A foreign power cohabitating with the Republic instead of warring with them like the Sith and the Mandolorians liked to do seemed interesting, but much more interesting was that even Artemis of all people believed it would be a good place to hide. Vas trusted that assessment. For his money nothing could help you hide better than sheer population density in squalid conditions. If he weren't hiding out from essentially an organization of vassals to the Hutts, which is what his family really was most of the time, Nal Hutta would have been perfect.

"If you're serious, it depends on how fast you can charter a ship. I can take you to old Nem'ro's Palace tonight and we can find a captain there."

 

[Berlioz]

She scoffed, "I am not going to a god damn Hutt's Palace. I've already broken enough boundaries for the day, and I'm fairly sure I've met my annual quota for airborne diseases and bacterial infections. I have a ship, it's a good, comfortable ship, and that's that." She stubbornly crossed her arms, impatiently tapping her right, ruined black slipper against the studio floor. "Plus, forgive me but," she shut her eyes, taking a quick sniff of the air, "This place reeks and by association - so do you. A change of atmosphere might be in order, and I mean that literally. To hell with this planet and everything associated with it. Let's just go, grab your things, and we'll depart."