Five days later
Shuu entered the gambling zone on the second floor with a small bunch of girls in tow. The girls wore quite revealing clothes and worked as exotic dancers in the club.
The jedi, holding a bag in his right arm, halted to observe the crowd of visitors, noticing jealous, hateful and indifferent gazes.
Wilst, a smiling human female, left the crowd and came up to Shuu. She had a hairstyle that resembled the horns of the Gotal. She wore a jewel on her forehead and had greenish makeup around one of her eyes.
“Hi, handsome!” The woman said fondly.
Wilst embraced the man and kissed him. Shuu wrapped his left arm around her waist and pushed her closer to himself. Their kiss lasted for a couple of seconds and looked hot.
They parted their lips, and immediately the woman began to whisper in his ear. Wilst, as many other girls in the club, supplied the jedi with information. Thanks to the whores, Shuu had learned a lot. Plus, they were ready to execute his errands. For instance, they had bought the same bag in which the man kept his winnings – over 900,000 credit ingots (and 80,000 in his belt).
The girls were useful tools but Shuu knew that they weren't reliable. The whores easily would sell him out and for a cheap price.
Listening to Wilst (and keeping her in his embrace), the man continued to study the crowd of visitors. He noticed a few groups of armed aliens who tried to conceal their interest in the jedi.
Yesterday there were less of them, Shuu thought.
As well, the jedi noticed an increased number of suspicious people in the crowd. Thieves..?
“You are sweet, Wilst.” He said to the woman calmly and secretly placed a credit ingot in her arm.
She smiled fondly. “No, it is you who are sweet, darling. And if you change your mind, just call me. It will be the best night of your life.”
“Sure.”
The woman pecked his cheek and left the jedi.
Shuu glanced at one of the groups of armed aliens and then looked at his chrono. In an hour Sugi's team will come here.
The man moved forward with the girls in tow. Two whores left the jedi's entourage in hope to gather some information for Shuu (or sell information about him to someone).
In a while the jedi sat at the “Correlian Spike” table. The girls had told him earlier that a bunch of rich gamblers were playing here. Such people were appropriate victims for Shuu.
+
In an hour
It took a standard week to reach Coruscant from the Outer Rim for Sugi's team.
“Halo” reached the planet and entered its atmosphere. The spaceship began to descend, leaving a “fire tail” behind. Soon the spacecraft landed in “Newport”, one of the planet's numerous spaceports.
Five armed persons got out of the “light freighter” and looked around. The spaceport looked deserted. Only several old spaceships stood on the platform.
“Newport” was a private spaceport. As a rule, such spaceports were ideal for bounty hunters, fugitives, smugglers or whoever wanted to stay anonymous. A costume house was just a decoration in such places.
“Okay, we are on Coruscant.” Sugi said, observing the area.
Not often a team of bounty hunters from the Outer Rim could get well-paid work on the capital planet. Besides, Sugi had never been on Coruscant before. It was her first time here.
The female zabrak turned to her team. Two bounty hunters weren't part of her team. They were hired to strengthen Sugi's team on this mission. It was the employer's idea. He expressed his wish to hire more bounty hunters. Thus, Sugi offered Embo, her good friend. He was a male kyuzo and, as the female zabrak knew, disliked modern technology. That is why he preferred unarmed combat and used a bowcaster as a main weapon.
Embo was tall. He wore a chest plate, a long fighting skirt and a metallic, wide-rimmed hat. The last one could be used as a shield or even as a throwing weapon. The client agreed to pay Embo 400 credits.
The second one was Latts Razzi, a female theelin. She was a rookie whom Embo recommended to Sugi. The client agreed to pay her 300 credits.
Sugi noticed that Latts wore only expensive clothes and loved comfort. This woman used a grappling boa as her weapon. Embo said that Latts is an excellent sniper.
“Come on, guys. We have work.” Sugi spoke and the bounty hunters headed towards a terminal.
Inside they were greeted by a protocol droid that collected payment and offered services of the spaceport. The droid wasn't interested in anything else. Also, no one came out to check them or their belongings.
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Sugi ordered to refuel “Halo” and the bounty hunters left the empty terminal.
“A service like at home.” Latts chuckled.
Embo said something in his native language. Sugi knew that he spoke only in his native language. A few people could understand him without an electronic translator.
The team reached two rented airspeeders (without roofs) that stood right beside the terminal. The bounty hunters hopped in. Immediately the airspeeders left the spaceport. Soon they entered the shipping portal.
Yesterday the client transferred 100,000 credits to her bail bondsman. It meant that Sugi's team was hired officially.
+
Shuu received a signal via his comlink that his bounty hunters were waiting for him at the entrance of the club.
The jedi left the gambling table, forfeiting his bet, and headed towards the cashier desk. The confused girls followed him. Shuu placed his tray at the table. There were chips inside that cost around 250,000.
“Exchange, please.”
One of the cashiers, the female twi'lek, smiled politely. “Sir, I can't do that. I don't have enough cash. You may order an exchange, but you must wait. It will take some time to do that.”
Recently all cashiers started to say Shuu the same. They always hadn't enough money. It became difficult for the jedi to exchange his chips for credits.
“I understand. How much can you exchange right now?”
“Um... Ten thousand.”
The man could say that it was a lie. They had money.
“Okay. Do it, please. Also, I want to order an exchange of 100,000. Please, transfer them into my IGBC bank account.”
“Sure, sir.”
Shuu placed 110,000 credits in chips on the table. The twi'lek had exchanged ten thousand. The man added new ingots to his ones in the bag that was already full of credits.
Shuu moved to the turbolift.
On the first floor the jedi started to walk quickly through the crowd towards the entrance of the club. The girls couldn't keep up with Shuu and lost him in the crowd quite quickly. The jedi could see that some groups of thugs (which were on this floor) noticed that he was escaping and hurried after him.
At the entrance Shuu opened the tray and turned around to throw all his chips in the crowd, screaming “Money!”. A few seconds the visitors were in stupor but then they erupted in motion. Some people had even started to fight. Each chip cost a lot. It was literally a fortune on the ground!
It shall hinder them.
Shuu exited the club, hearing a commotion behind, and saw two airspeeders that stood close to the club's entrance. Sugi's team stood around the vehicles. The bounty hunters were armed and looked intimidating. No one dared to approach them.
The jedi headed towards his bounty hunters. He hoped to reach them undisturbed but, of course, it was futile hope. Not all criminals weren't so stupid as to stand and gawk at the commotion in the club. One of the thugs noticed Shuu and pushed another one to point at the jedi. At that moment all members of the said thug's group turned their heads in the jedi's direction. The criminals also stood quite close to the club's entrance. There were no more than several steps between Shuu and them.
Damn...
Shuu continued to walk towards the airspeeders. He looked at Sugi who, as the jedi thought, noticed and recognized him. The jedi could see as the next second the female zabrak glanced at the group of criminals and placed her arm on her holstered weapon.
Shuu didn't give any signs to the female bounty hunter. She just felt somehow that they were a treat to her client. Perhaps, it was instinct?
One of the thugs exclaimed to Shuu “Hey, you!” while the others moved their hands to their weapons. Next moment Shuu's pistol slipped out from his sleeve right in his left arm and the jedi opened fire.
+
The employer has opened fire. Sugi thought, pulling out her carbine rifle.
It was a quick, well-practiced motion. The female zabrak felt a familiar weight in her arm.
The woman could see as laser bolts out of her client's pistol were hitting bodies of the aliens, while the jedi continued to walk, holding a bag. It was a rapid fire but an effective one because the range was small. Plus, the targets didn't wear any armor.
His accuracy is good. She thought and aimed her weapon at one of the enemies.
Sugi pulled the trigger and an alien was down. Next moment she noticed that her team joined her attack. As a result, a storm of laser bolts hit their client's enemies. All targets were dead in a few seconds.
Immediately Sugi checked the area. She saw that Embo and Latts were still dealing with the second (larger) group of enemies. There were no more threats. Only the scared pedestrians were running from the sudden massacre at the moment.
Sugi knew the combat style of her friend. He was killing his opponents with his fists, while Latts... Well, she was an effective fighter as well. Her grappling boa reaped lives nonstop.
The female zabrak (plus Rumi and Seripas) opened fire and the rest of the enemies were killed quickly.
The client came up to her and spoke calmly. “We need to leave this place right away, miss Sugi.”
“Just Sugi.” She replied.
He nodded. Then the woman gave an order. The employer and her team got in the airspeeders and the vehicles left the area immediately.
+
Shuu sat in the back seat. He felt that his heart was pounding fast. The bag full of credits was right beside him.
It is the first time that I have killed someone... The jedi thought.
He killed four thugs and felt their deaths in the Force. It was an unpleasant, disturbing feeling that had shocked him. The man almost dropped his pistol at that moment. But at the same time that feeling was appealing. Shuu felt that he could get stronger if he continued to kill. He could get stronger if more people would suffer around him.
Am I falling to the Dark Side..?
“We have a company.” Sugi, holding the controllers of their airspeeder, uttered all of a sudden. “Rumi, deal with it.”
These words distracted Shuu. He turned back and saw several airspeeders that were chasing them. The thugs had even opened fire at the bounty hunters but it wasn't easy to do in motion.
“Sure.” The female frenk replied and grabbed her sniper rifle.
Rumi, sitting on the back seat next to the jedi, turned around and placed her weapon on the trunk.
The second airspeeder (with two bounty hunters in) noticed what Rumi was going to do. In response this vehicle decreased its height instantly, clearing the area for a sniper. Next second Shuu saw the work of a professional. Rumi killed drivers one after another in quick succession.
They cost each credit that I pay them. The man thought, watching as the enemy's airspeeders with broken windshields began to fall down.
The Uscru District's streets were bustling. Shuu realized that there could be victims.
Soon the bounty hunters' airspeeders left the Uscru District.