Standing in front of a giant golden statue of a Hutt on Nar Shadaa was a Zeltron woman, her 2 guns proudly displayed on both sides of her belt, looking in disgust at the piece of “art”. She much preferred to have met at another location but her client demanded it to be here.
Someone stopped right next to me. Nothing seemed out of place other than the briefcase that was being placed on the ground between us. “Nice view isn’t it?” The figure asked me.
“Only when the sun doesn’t shine.” I responded back, our answers matching the security questions we had set up prior to this meeting.
“Good, I believe everything is in order Widow. Half now, half after we get the confirmation.”
“Your client is 100% sure about this? I don’t back off once a deal is made. There will be complete radio silence until after I complete the job, any signal of betrayal and our deal goes public.”
“Yes, we know your policy. We only care about the results. As long as my client gets what he wants there will be no issues.”
Taking a hold of the briefcase a start moving away. “Nice doing business with you, give the senator my greetings.” I told him, seeing him stiffen. Laughing to myself while shaking my head at his antics.
Going over the details of my target, I couldn’t help but smile at how predictable he was. My target was a ‘local’ crime lord. If you considered local to be on an area as big as a continent. He was interfering and causing troubles for some sort of health bill the senator wanted to pass and had to be taken out of the equation. He was small compared to other targets I had dealt with in the past, but he was a drug lord and I despised those, only slavers were higher on my hit list. A continent may have seemed huge a long time ago, but considering you had cartels that spanned hole star systems these days he was nothing. He had a hold out, more like a palace on Hutta where he tried to micro-manage everything that happened in his little empire. Infiltrating into his base shouldn’t be that difficult, assuming that I could hack his security cameras. At least that would provide a challenge…
Looking through the scope of my sniper I switched to night vision. It was finally getting dark. Time to get this over with. Letting the targeting system do its work I waited until it got me the kill order. There were 3 guards patrolling the perimeter who I had to take out before I moved in close. Getting the ready signal I made my move. In less than 5 seconds from 3 consecutive shots were fired and hit their targets. Waiting for a possible alarm I moved in. Placing everything back into the firearms case that hold my rifle I climbed down from the roof where I had installed myself. Moving towards the front door I made sure nobody saw me. Taking care of the security system I soon heard the click of the door opening.
Once inside I looked around for any other adversaries. Having memorized the blue prints I activated my stealth generator, camouflaging my body with its surroundings. My outlines would be faintly visible if you concentrated on them when I moved but I didn’t plan on anyone letting me get caught on the act. Guessing my target would be in the Master bedroom I made my move there. I could hear the noise of a group of guards in one of the rooms laughing about something but they weren’t my concern. I soon found myself in front of a set of stairs being guarded by a single droid. Luckily it was an old military one, probably scavenged from somewhere. Typing away on the console attached on my arm it soon deactivated and went into stasis mode. I had about 15 seconds before it rebooted and did a full system check so I made sure I passed it before it reactivated. Climbing upstairs I faced another guard, luckily asleep. Guarding the hallway to the Master bedroom. Approaching him silently I took out a small dart, coated with a very strong sedative and jabbed it his neck, he woke up and I saw his blurred eyes spinning trying to focus on his surroundings before locking on my faint figure, his body jolted for a few seconds before his eyes rolled back and he fell unconscious again. I took the keys that were attached to his belt. Nothing standing in my way now I unlocked the door and entered the bedroom and felt sick at what I saw.
Chained to the wall in full view of everyone that opened the door was a blue skinned twi’lek girl. Barely having any clothes on, tear tracks on her cheeks and cuffs attached to both her hands and feet, a collar and leash insuring she wasn’t going anywhere. She looked at most 15 years old and that was being generous, she was probably sold by her clan back on Ryloth. She was hugging her knees close to her body and was shivering. She was coming with me, no matter what. My dismay rose even further when I spotted a bunch of keys hanging on one of the bedposts, out of reach but in plain view for the captive they represented. I had seen enough.
Approaching the sleeping figure, I deactivated my stealth generator. It’s core almost having overheated from its extended us. The twi’lek spotted me immediately and released a small yelp but calmed out when I made the quiet motion with my fingers. She nodded at me and I swear I could see hope entering her eyes. Standing over the bastard I was hired to eliminate, I formed my plan. He slept naked so that made what I was planning on doing next much easier. Grabbing a needle with a paralyzing agent I jabbed it into an artery. Like the guard from earlier his struggles lasted only a few seconds before his joints locked up and he was trapped in his own body. His eyes zoned in on me right after I began to speak.
“It is fascinating what nature has accomplished in millions of years, all those different ways it invented to protect or to kill. What you are experiencing now is the venom of a simple shrew located on Alderaan. Normally its bite wouldn’t be a problem for a human but if you stab a vial of it near someone’s spine then it causes full paralysis to a humanoid being for over 6 hours, with movement only starting to return very slowly.” I happily told him. He mumbled something but I ignored it. “Fortunately for that girl, that will be far too late for you. You see, you pissed of someone very powerful and he was tired that you didn’t heed his warnings, so I was send here, I originally planned to just end it quickly but seeing what you did with that girl has changed my mind.” Grabbing another needle filled with a transparent liquid I informed him about its content.
“This is another magnificent creation of nature, from Manaan this time. It’s the harvested poison from a jellyfish. Once injected death is insured. I was told the feeling compared to being burned alive in the first stadium while slowly evolving in getting eaten alive. Victims have been compelled to claw their own eyes out or to commit suicide to end the pain. You fortunately will not be able to do any of those.” He mumbled harder and I saw faint struggles, but they were in vain. His life was sealed. Injecting it I didn’t even wait for it to take effect. Taking the keys I slowly approached the slavegirl.
“It’s ok, it’s over. I’m going to get you out of here, My name ‘s Sicilia. I’m not going to hurt you and he certainly won’t anymore.” I gently told her, cupping her cheek with my hand. Figuring out the right key for all the restraints took a minute but I had time. Turning my head to the bed his mumbling had been steadily increasing, you could hear it from across the room but it wouldn’t be heard from the outside.
Picking her up bridal style I looked one more time to that monster before closing the door and locking it. The guard still passed out I ignored, walking with the sobbing girl in my arms passed him. Walking down the stairs again I made another deviation from what I had planned. Placing her on the ground and placing on of my hands on her mouth to stop the whimpering I had some difficulty with convincing her to let go of me. Typing away I send a nasty virus to the same military droid I had deactivated earlier and changed his IFF. Sending him towards the hall where I could still hear laughter from other people. I had changed his friend with his foe list so it would attack anyone that was regularly in the compound. Picking the girl up again I was just in time to see the droid opening a door before it started firing. Not caring in the least about the lives of people that worked for that monster I walked out of the front door, mission accomplished. “Now, what to do with you? Hmm.”
After collecting my equipment and carrying her to my ship, I gently placed her on my bed in my small fighter. The girl was spend and in tears. “Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you…” She said over and over again. I hugged her and rubbed her back. “Shhhhhhh, it’s over, everything’s going to be alright. Try to get some sleep, ok? I’ll have to contact some friends to see for a place to live for you.”
“Wait? You weren’t send here by my dad?” She asked me, wiping away some tears. My confusion was clearly shown on my face. Hesitating she revealed the identity of her father. “My name is Tamara’var, I’m the daughter of Senator Valen. If you bring me to Coruscant I swear you will get paid for bringing me to him.” She desperately told me, fear clearly present in her voice. I remained silent, my mind going a million miles an hour going over this revelation. “I have the kidnapped daughter of a sitting senator… I wasn’t hired to kill him, I was hired so that in the commotion that would have happened she would probably have been killed, most mercenaries don’t leave any witnesses. They had to have thought that I would have killed her.” Realising I hadn’t said anything to her I assured her. I swallowed. “I… I will bring you back regardless, I don’t harm woman or children, nor do I accept being used as a political tool for someone else without me knowing about it.” She hugged me again. “Let’s get you back to your family. But try to get some sleep, I will give you some clothes of mine. We have a long flight ahead of us and we have to make sure I don’t get shot the second I set a foot outside of my ship when I land.” I gave her a kiss on her forehead and set course to Coruscant.
The flight took a few days and in the time we learned about each other’s lives. I talked about how I became a mercenary and she talked about her life back at home. She avoided how exactly she got captured but I respected that. It was a traumatic experience and while sharing it could help. It would have been better with someone she was somewhat familiar with. There were some hostilities once I arrived at the agreed meeting place but after seeing that his daughter wasn’t harmed and rushed over towards him without me doing anything to stop her, Senator Valen ordered his man to drop their weapons. The fact that the girl was speaking on my behalf certainly helped too.
“I cannot thank you enough. Please whatever you want, tell me and I will do everything in my power to make it happen” He told me.
I simply smiled. “I do not do kidnappings Senator, but there is one thing you can do.”
He frowned in confusion. “If it’s money you want, I can…”
“No, I told you I do not do kidnappings. I would appreciate it if you could keep this quiet for a few more days. If my involvement in this political scheme is discovered then I won’t get my payment for killing the monster that was holding your daughter.”
“Sure but there has to be something I could do for you. At least tell me your name so I know who my daughter’s savior is.”
“You can call me Widow senator. You can reveal my involvement after a few days have passed. It would improve my reputation.” I smirked.
He nodded and held out his hand to me. “If you ever need help, please do not be afraid to contact me. What you did for my family is something I won’t ever be able to repay you for.”
I smiled and shook his hand. “Take care Tamara. Try to avoid your competitors Senator.” I gave him a hint. His eyes widened and my job was done. I knew who he was and I know what my client meant to him and know he knew too. “This will learn them of the consequences of not informing me.”
After receiving the other half of my payment without any words spilled I went to one of the casino’s to try to relief some of the stress that had cropped up these days. Finding the attention of another female Zeltron, I smiled at her and she smiled back. We were going to have some fun together.
A few days after that faithful day, the holonet was going crazy, I was watching it in amusement on my fighter plane. “Senator Rectus has been arrested by The Senate Bureau of Intelligence due to transactions to the warlord that held Senator Valen’s daughter captive. Investigation is still going on, but Senator Rectus’ immunity has been revoked and his assets seized. Rumors have it that a mysterious figure calling themselves Widow was involved in…” I shut it off.
“I told you what happened if you cross me senator.”
Sat 24 Jan - 9:52