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Members of Viddu's Hounds
4-LOM - This unusual protocol droid is not only fitted with an insectoid head in order to resemble its creators, but its original programming is so corrupt that it is capable of cold-blooded murder. He has caught many bounties with Dengar and Zuckuss. (Note that 4-LOM was killed by Vasili, the sniper of Omicron Squadron, in a previous chapter.)
Agatha Prima - A green Mirialan female. Mirialan tradition includes facial tattoos denoting accomplishment and social status, but Agatha commited the crime of falsifying her facial tattoos. Her criminal sentence included a very brutal tattoo removal surgery which left her face disfigured.
Beefhead - An albino Wookiee who owes a life-debt to Zuckuss.
Dengar - An aging bounty hunter and pilot of the Lamelar. Nine years ago, he took part in the Imperial operation to hunt down Han Solo, along with Zuckuss and 4-LOM. They were beaten by Boba Fett.
Mogo - An alleged Mandalorian. The newest member of Viddu’s Hounds. Wears red and black armor.
Raptor - A bounty hunter who wears a motley assortment of armor.
Zuckuss - An aged Gand findsman and frequent partner of Dengar and 4-LOM.
* * *
[https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/b522a989-c53c-43c5-bc18-b8eef011fae4/d8u1jfb-03abeb41-f577-467b-8f86-b4054135f053.jpg/v1/fill/w_1192,h_670,q_75,strp/mirialan_female_by_cptrex-d8u1jfb.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJpc3MiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwic3ViIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsImF1ZCI6WyJ1cm46c2VydmljZTppbWFnZS5vcGVyYXRpb25zIl0sIm9iaiI6W1t7InBhdGgiOiIvZi9iNTIyYTk4OS1jNTNjLTQzYzUtYmMxOC1iOGVlZjAxMWZhZTQvZDh1MWpmYi0wM2FiZWI0MS1mNTc3LTQ2N2ItOGY4Ni1iNDA1NDEzNWYwNTMuanBnIiwid2lkdGgiOiI8PTExOTIiLCJoZWlnaHQiOiI8PTY3MCJ9XV19.Tb_-O4uZnlhRT6Lv9rxKYwH8K7W3KKypvdE6yK2eyLM]
Agatha Prima’s blood was pounding as she ran through the streets, her smile straining against the scars that twisted her face. There was broken glass everywhere, smoke pouring out of ruined shops, and the constant echo of angry shouting and the endless drone of the Empress. She was amused at the sight of aliens and Mustafarians looting their own stores, stepping over bodies as they carried giant viewscreens, fancy notification checkers, and blinking hover shoes with the security lock-tags still attached.
She laughed and yelled over her shoulder, “Hurry up, little boy!”
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Raptor did not bother to run, but took his time. “Look at these Mustafarian looters,” he said. “I thought this riot was a human uprising.”
“Who cares?”
The Mirialan stopped in the middle of the street, waiting for Raptor. A gang of looters glanced at her heavy rifle, then simply moved to avoid her as they carried their goods to their homes across the street.
“ ‘Who cares?'” said Raptor. “The Cheka have a bounty on Imps causing trouble, but not Mustafarians?”
“Credits are credits, aren’t they?! Hey, if the Cheka start handing out credits for these idiots, then we’ll swing back around and put holes in them, too. Would that make you happy?”
Raptor brushed past her, then continued on.
“What’s with you, anyway?” she said. “You haven’t been the same since-”
She fell silent at the unmistakable shriek of blasters followed by screams. Raptor broke into a run and crouched at the edge of a gutted synth-stim dispensary, then peered around the corner. He raised three fingers in her direction. Despite lacking a military background, she did not have to read any playbooks to know that he meant there were three shooters up ahead.
Raptor remained behind cover, playing it cautious. Agatha could not help but notice that Raptor looked down on her; in fact, he seemed to look down on everyone. But she wanted to impress him. So instead of hunkering down behind cover, she primed her weapon and raced into the intersection.
“Wait!” said Raptor.
Agatha saw three Imps in armor yellowed with age standing over several Mustafarians lying dead atop a pile of loot they had dragged through the broken window of a hover car audio equipment store. A group of Mustafarians and a droopy-headed Kitonak stood with their hands in the air. The Imps seemed to be deciding what to do with the young looters.
“Hey, Imps!” Agatha shouted.
She was not armed with a blaster, but rather, with a Relby-v10 grenade launcher once used by one of her mentors, a legendary bounty hunter known as Bossk. He had been killed on Jabba’s pleasure barge, and according to legend, Boba Fett had sworn to avenge his death. Agatha figured she would do her part as well, and fired the grenade launcher at the Imps. The round overshot the humans, and instead tore through the audio equipment store. A terrific blast threw the Imps off balance. Agatha’s second shot flung dust and debris out of the ruined storefront windows.
She thought of drawing her pistol, but the sight of the Imps and their hostages staggering and falling was too intoxicating. With her mouth hanging open she aimed down the length of the grenade launcher and sent a round straight into the Imps, ripping them to shreds and sending one spinning skyward. She laughed, wondering if they would recoil in disgust at her scars now.
Only one hostage managed to survive the onslaught. She caught movement as the portly Kitonak tried to stumble into an alley for cover. She instinctively hit the trigger on her grenade launcher, but it clicked empty. She decided to let the poor alien go, then considered that a moving target actually would be a great challenge for a short-range pistol, so she dropped her grenade launcher and drew her blaster pistol in one smooth motion and sent the Kitonak toppling over with a blaster bolt burning through his side. With a pathetic squeak the alien fell over dead. Again her mouth fell open, amazed that she had hit a moving target at that range with nothing but a blaster pistol.
“Did you see that?!” she shouted.
“Would you knock it off?” Raptor snapped. “I’m trying to talk to the boss-man!”
Agatha turned and saw Raptor on his comm with one hand pressed against his ear. Seeing that he had not even bothered to watch her tackle the targets head-on was like a kick right in her belly. Her throat tightened and she turned away, utterly deflated. She listened to the sound of fire raging inside the audio equipment store, and the din of alarms mixing with distant sirens and the voice of the Empress, and she dwelled on the unfairness of her situation. If that had not impressed Raptor, then what would? She holstered her blaster and angrily reloaded her grenade launcher.
“Can you hear me now?” said Zuckuss.
“Yes, sir,” said Raptor.
“Good. Head over to their ship, the Righteous. At least one of their people is running free, so I want to grab him alive, if we can. We’ll question him and see what we can get out of him.”
“Understood, sir.”
“Mogo and Dengar are already en route. Beefhead and I will be there in time.”
“You doing okay?” said Raptor.
“Ah.” Zuckuss laughed uncomfortably, like a wheezing hiccup. “It’s just these old legs of mine. We’ll have a nice, long rest after this.”
“Agreed, sir.”
Raptor stowed his comm, then glanced at Agatha. “We’re going back to where they parked their ship. Boss-man wants us to grab one of these guys alive. Think you can do that?”
“Yes!” Agatha spat, unable to keep the resentment out of her voice. Unable to look at Raptor, she stalked away. He turned and looked at the scene of destruction, his gaze lingering on the dead men in Imperial stormtrooper armor.
* * *
Vasili had always had an instinct for danger, a trait that more than one Imperial officer had scorned as cowardice, but which Regis had often relied upon. So it was that Vasili hesitated before taking the elevator up to their ship’s platform, and instead took another elevator leading to a neighboring tower. When the door opened onto an empty platform, he glanced outside.
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He saw the Righteous sitting where they had left it. His heart sank when he noticed a crew of men and Mustafarians in work coveralls hanging around the ship. He watched as a man came down the entry hatch and motioned for his teammates to enter the ship. They picked up a heavy toolbox on either side and hauled it up the entryway.
Vasili picked up his communicator. “Sergeant, you there?”
“Yeah, what’s up?”
“Sergeant, there’s a forensics tech crew working over our ship,” said Vasili. “I don’t know if they’re bugging her, gutting her, or what, but I don’t think she’s going to-”
Mogo suddenly flew in from the other side of the distant tower and landed on the nose of the Righteous. Vasili ducked behind the doorway, then craned his head to watch. Mogo peered through the windshield, then his gaze met with one of the forensics crewmen - then the bounty hunter jerked a blaster pistol out of its holster and shot through the windshield.
[https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/fe53481f-0678-4ca3-9533-0ac667dd4aa5/d4utd0q-3ff2d09c-9387-4856-adb6-5ff383927a66.jpg/v1/fill/w_730,h_1095,q_75,strp/mandalorian_by_convokephoto-d4utd0q.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJpc3MiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwic3ViIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsImF1ZCI6WyJ1cm46c2VydmljZTppbWFnZS5vcGVyYXRpb25zIl0sIm9iaiI6W1t7InBhdGgiOiIvZi9mZTUzNDgxZi0wNjc4LTRjYTMtOTUzMy0wYWM2NjdkZDRhYTUvZDR1dGQwcS0zZmYyZDA5Yy05Mzg3LTQ4NTYtYWRiNi01ZmYzODM5MjdhNjYuanBnIiwid2lkdGgiOiI8PTczMCIsImhlaWdodCI6Ijw9MTA5NSJ9XV19.J97v3CJfogLhUYsHDuxmdNU2WPg96Zjv0k71JGnKoNM]
The windshield spiderwebbed under the assault. While Vasili could not see if the bounty hunter had killed the tech worker, he saw another tech lean out from the main entrance, his face white with shock as he tried to figure out why they were being shot at. Mogo gesticulated wildly as he spoke into his comm, obviously arguing with someone.
“Vasili? What’s wrong?”
“You’re not gonna believe this, sir, but one of those idiot bounty hunters just flew in and shot up our ship. He saw those tech guys, and I think he thought they were us!”
“How’s the damage look?”
“Windshield got blasted - ship’s grounded, sir.”
Spotting motion, Vasili’s eye followed the red wedge of the Spearpoint-class Lamelar as it slowly drifted past. It felt as if the collar of his shirt was tightening around his neck.
Regis sighed in frustration. “We still need a ship. I’ll see what Artoo can find us once we get there.”
“What about the bounty hunters? They know we’re coming!”
“I need you to set up somewhere.”
Vasili rolled his eyes and fell back against the side of the elevator.
“Don’t give me that look, Vas,” said Regis. Vasili stiffened and looked around. “Just get set up on some high ground. We’re coming in hot. Understand?”
“Sir!” Vasili responded. “Yes, sir!”
* * *
Luke leaped aside as the large viewscreen crashed into the octagonal platform, erupting in a shower of sparks and shaking the entire platform as broken glass poured out and ran off the side in a clinking shower. Assuming that his sister would be embarrassed by such an outburst, Luke flashed her a look of disbelief, but was taken aback when he saw her features twisted with unconcealed rage. Still more viewscreens groaned as Leia pulled at them through the Force.
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“Leia!” Luke shouted. “Just wait a min-”
Three viewscreens pulled free of the nails and cords holding them in place, the image of Leia’s droning monologue interrupted as they came sailing toward Luke. He raced to the side as a giant screen slammed into the platform, then focused and threw himself skyward as the second viewscreen smashed into the platform’s railing, jerking and twisting against the metal like an animal hung in a trap. Luke landed, and was surprised to see the third viewscreen coming directly for him - Leia had predicted exactly where he would land before he had known himself. He twisted aside as the viewscreen fell in a shrieking tumult of glass and metal.
Though Leia’s assault had missed her brother, the platform itself pitched and wobbled as it was shaken from its housing. Metal groaned, then the platform pitched to one side, spitting screws from the protective railing as it pulled against anything holding it in place. Luke hauled himself onto the side of the platform, fighting to keep his balance as it came to rest at a forty-five degree angle. Leia simply stepped onto a piece of railing, standing easily despite only a thin piece of metal holding her aloft.
“Leia, if you don’t stop this-”
As if her previous attacks were only a feint, Leia gestured, and a fifth viewscreen rocketed toward Luke as if shot out of a cannon. She cried out in exultation as the viewscreen exploded before him, then saw, in hyperreal detail, Luke staring back at her as another viewscreen collided with her own, shattering it and knocking it aside. Her awareness was moving so quickly that the debris seemed to hang in the air for a long time, with Luke’s impassive face peering back at her through the ruin.
Unperturbed, she flung herself at him. Luke stepped back as a whirling burst of white robes spun before him, then gathered around her body as she perched upon the edge of the dangling platform.
“Who trained you, Leia?” said Luke. “You always had potential, but what you’re doing is…”
“Unconventional?” Leia smiled slightly.
Luke felt a bolt of alarm, then Leia raced across the edge of the platform, her whirling robes only adding to his confusion as her feet and fists sought him out. He backpedaled and avoided blows which were too fast for the eye to follow, and yet even his trust in the Force was tested as she seemed more than capable of sending out thoughtforms of intention which never came to pass, forcing him to duck a kick that never came only to find a knee speeding toward his face.
Unwilling to attack his sister, Luke reached out through the Force and wrenched the platform’s thin column out of place, then leaped backward. The platform’s support beam clattered and groaned, then finally snapped. Luke landed astride the wide window and fought to balance against the hot wind racing past the fortress. He watched in alarm as Leia wobbled atop the teetering platform. She leaped onto a thin walkway as the platform finally gave out and fell into the pit below, clattering and shrieking like a demon as it grinded against support beams. Without effort Leia ran along the walkway, leaped, and landed across from Luke. Her white robes and long hair whipped around her body as the ashy wind raked at her.
“I suppose you think it’s amusing to turn my people against me,” said Leia. “To make me look like a fool in the news streams.”
Again Luke was struck by the unfairness of his situation, the sense of being backed into a fight that he wanted no part in. It made no sense to him that friends could turn against friends, that things could fall apart like this. “Politics means nothing to me, Leia. You know that! I only want to know what’s happened to you. Who taught you? Who gave you such power?”
“Power?” Leia smiled, her eyes widening with sudden mania. Luke was taken aback, for he felt a sudden upwelling of Force power surging within her, like an oncoming wave. Her normally invisible aura glowed as if set afire. “I assure you, Luke… you haven’t seen my true power!”
* * *
Lando braked hard and the smoking hover car skidded across the duracrete lot with its tail end dragging along the ground. A Gran Cheka officer in blue uniform slid off the hood and smacked against the pavement. As soon as Lando brought the hover car to a stop, Regis leaped out, ran up to the flailing Cheka, and kicked him in the chin hard enough for Lando to wince at the sound of a jaw breaking.
“Do you have to be like that?” said Lando.
“It sends a message!” Regis snapped.
“He was just doing his job!” said Lando, gesturing back at the spaceport blockade they had blasted through.
Regis laughed, the sound like steel scraping on granite coming from his vocalizer. “Let’s find a ship!” he said, turning to the landing pads elevator.
Artoo beeped in affirmation as Chewbacca hauled him out of the hover car. Sindo hopped out and stepped close to Lando.
“Sergeant’s getting soft, you know.”
“Soft?” Lando scoffed.
Gesturing toward the Cheka lying on the pavement, she said, “He let that alien live.”
Lando scowled, but said nothing. Making their way into the elevator, Lando found Regis scanning the directory.
“Here,” said Lando, tapping the code for central processing. “That’s the front desk. Artoo can find us a ship from there.”
“Can you get some of your people to secure it first?” said Regis.
Lando gave him a deflated look. “I’d rather not,” he finally said.
“Can’t trust anyone?”
Lando said nothing, but sighed. Chewbacca stumbled into the elevator and slammed Artoo down on the floor, setting off a series of angry chirps.
“Aaaaugh!” Chewbacca bellowed.
“Easy, old friend,” said Lando, gripping Chewbacca’s arm. “I know it’s hot. Not much further, now.”
Regis watched as Lando patted the Wookiee’s shoulder, shaking his head as the former planetary governor went against every Imperial training manual by doing so.
“UuaaAghu,” said Chewbacca, sounding glum.
The elevator rose, and through the wide floor-to-ceiling windows they watched smoke rising over the city. Law enforcement hover cars and Cheka transports weaved around buildings wreathed in flames. As the elevator slowed to a stop, Regis signaled, and he and Sindo pushed past the others and stood with blasters raised.
“You guys ever just hang back and assess the situation?” said Lando.
“No,” said Regis. “Back in the day, Intel would give us what we need to know. But they’ve all retired, so...”
The doors opened on a large, windswept platform where bags and vehicles sat abandoned by their owners. The platform was a large hub connecting to other towers which held starships on platforms visible overhead.
“There’s the front desk,” said Lando, gesturing to a large set of doors. “Artoo, let’s get over there, and we can look at what’s available.”
“Vasili,” said Regis. “Can you see us?”
“Negative, sir!” Vasili’s tinny voice came through the comm.
“No? Where are you?!”
“In hiding, sir! I’ve got two sets of eyes flying around, looking for me! Be aware, this place is crawling with bounty hunters!”
“Hear that, Sindo?” said Regis. “Those bounty hunters are-”
“Hands in the air.”
The unexpected sound of an ice-cold female voice sent a jolt of fear up Regis’s spine. He considered turning and firing, but something held him back. He slowly craned his head, looked over his shoulder, and saw a green Mirialan smiling at him through a mass of scar tissue.
“That’s right, boys,” said Agatha Prima, her grenade launcher held in their direction. “I got you.”
Raptor stepped out from behind a tower and drew up beside Agatha, his rifle trained on Lando and Chewbacca. Agatha tucked her launcher into her side and retrieved her comm with her free hand. “We got ‘em, boss,” she said, still smiling. “If they try to move, can I blow ‘em away?”
“Of course, Miss Prima,” said Zuckuss. “But try not to disintegrate them before I arrive, will you?”