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Wrehn, The Great Hunt Champion - For A Reason


WorldSmasher

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Wrehn, a Great Hunt Champion among the Mandalorians, gets access to the best paying jobs. More often than not, those jobs turn out to be the most dangerous. She's also attracted a lot of trouble for herself, and has had to blast her way out of many situations. Wrehn's wisdom is questioned as she takes on her most lucrative job for a Sith lord, the notoriously ruthless Darth Nox.

 

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Chapter One: Wrehn, The Hunter, and The Hunted

 

[A snippet]

 

The Rodian male sat in his ray-shield jail cell at the 427th Imperial Army Police Station, in Limdast City, on planet Ziost. He hugged his knees to his chest, shivering, still recovering from the after effects of carbonite freezing.

 

The station duty sergeant, having verified the identity of the shuddering Rodian, proceeded to make an entry in the station's logs. Meanwhile, an Imperial army clerk registered the Rodian's information into the planet-wide inmate database. As expected, the Rodian was wanted in several cities across Ziost. Several arrest notices had appeared from around the Imperial world. This made Ziost the eighth Imperial planet the criminal was wanted for his violent crimes.

 

The duty sergeant, after receiving authorization from the station commander, proceeded to transfer seven hundred twenty five thousand Imperial credits into the bounty hunter's business account. Then he prompted the Chiss hunter to give her digital signature, verifying the bounty reward amount was correct.

 

Very shortly after, the hunter felt the buzzing hum of her personal datapad and, retrieving it from her utility belt, verified that she'd been properly paid for her work. Yehw'reh'nomai gave her best customer service smile.

 

"It was a pleasure doing business with you, Sergeant," she said.

 

"Right," the sergeant replied.

 

He was mystified by her friendly smile. Until a moment before, the Chiss woman's expression was dour, speaking of a woman who didn't brook any nonsense from anyone. Her sudden friendly disposition gave the Imperial soldier an excuse to say what was on his mind.

 

"I wasn't so sure, when the Dark Council permitted Aliens to be granted Imperial citizenship and all of that a few years back, but I have to admit you Aliens aren't such a bad lot."

 

The Chiss woman kept silent, her smile beginning to recede from her face while her customary dour expression began its return.

 

Turning to look at the captured Rodian, the Imperial soldier explained what he'd meant. The cobalt blue skinned bounty hunter couldn't help but notice how strong his Imperial accent was.

 

"I guess every group has their bad seeds," he said, and returning his gaze towards the Chiss, concluded, "and every group has their hardworking, dedicated folk who strive to do good for the betterment of Imperial society."

 

Yehw'reh'nomai, realized that the sergeant, a human male with carbon black skin, meant well with his words. She decided there was no cause to take offense.

 

"I think you're right, Sergeant," she told him, saying no more on the matter, but instead saying, "If our business is concluded, then I'll take my leave. May you enjoy prosperous days ahead."

 

The cobalt blue skinned Chiss woman with the bright red eyes (all red, no whites) turned and walked out of the army police station and made her way to a parked speeder. Two of her crew waited patiently in the vehicle for her return.

 

One thing that he'd gotten wrong was lumping her together with a Rodian. She was Chiss, not Rodian, not Advosec, not Bith, not Duros, nor any of the other myriad species in the galaxy. She was Chiss. This tendency of humans to categorize everyone as either human or alien was mildly irritating to her.

 

Yet, she quickly put it out of her mind. It wasn't a big deal to her. The bottom line for the bounty hunter was that she was properly paid for her work.

 

The other thing the Imperial Army sergeant had gotten wrong was assuming that she was an Imperial citizen. Yehw'reh'nomai was not. She was Mandalorian. Although the Chiss woman was Mandalorian, she maintained her independence, choosing not to join any of the clans within Mandalore society.

 

When Yehw'reh'nomai chose the life of a bounty hunter, she had also abandoned Chiss society. When she had accepted Mandalorian citizenship, she had also renounced her Chiss Ascendancy citizenship. Yehw'reh'nomai's status among Mandalorians, however, was quite unique. She was the only living Great Hunt champion in the galaxy.

 

Five years ago, Galactic Republic SIS agents, together with Jedi, had attempted to murder her and her crew. They were after Yehw'reh'nomai and her crew because of their very successful hunts on behalf of Imperial Intelligence. She and her crew had killed or captured key members of the SIS and a Jedi who'd worked closely with their agency.

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Wrehn, Torian, Gault, Skadge, and Mako all climbed out of their speeder and walked to the end of the alleyway. Mako had a scanner wirelessly linked to her cybernetic implants. Standing at the corner of a sub-building, she aimed the hand-portable scanner around the corner of the sub-building and into the alleyway. Only her hand and the scanner held by it were exposed.

 

"No sensors detected," she reported.

 

"You sure?" Wrehn asked her computerized human employee.

 

"It's safe, Boss," Mako said, "These guys got sloppy, not setting up sensors in this ally."

 

"Then let's get going," Yehw'reh'nomai said to her crew.

 

Wordlessly, the bounty hunters walked to the end of the alleyway, ignoring the riffraff digging through the trash. Again Mako pointed a device, this time a holo-videography imager, from around the corner of the sub-building, again exposing only her hand. Wrehn held up her transceiver, which displayed the holographic video Mako was capturing.

 

Wrehn and her crew studied the holographic video of the shop front half a block up the street, across the metal plated roadway. They were on the three hundred fifty second story of the main building. It was deep in the bowels of a gigantic seven hundred story mega-building capable of housing tens of millions of residents. The main building, named after its owner, was called the Rooronu the Hutt Building District.

 

Most of the main building floors were like individual cities, with tens of thousands of residential apartment buildings, store fronts, office buildings, and industrial parks on each floor. The mega-building had a dozen spires pointing skywards above the gargantuan roof top. These spires rose above the seven hundred story main building.

 

The dozen spires were, themselves, an additional three hundred stories tall. These spires housed several millions more. Those who lived in the towers were the super wealthy, and the businesses were all high end retail shops, eateries, and professional offices. The super wealthy had windows with views of the cityscape that stretched from horizon to horizon. However, deep in the bowels of the mega-building, only the shops had windows.

 

The Speeder traffic was heavy, and the sidewalks on both sides of the street were crowded with throngs of pedestrians walking to and fro on the metallic sidewalks on both sides of the street.

 

"This is not going to be easy," Wrehn thought.

 

The alleyway behind the shop, which held their interest, had two remote sensors in it. Her crew would be detected, and they would lose the element of surprise. So, going in from the ally was out.

 

"Looks like we don't have a choice," Wrehn told her crew.

 

"Frontal assault it is! This should be all kinds of fun!" Gault said, with false enthusiasm.

 

He'd meant that to be flip and sarcastic, but Skadge didn't get the joke.

 

"Ha! Ha! That's my kind of fun!" Then, meaning it, he said, "Wrehn, sometimes you really know how to make work fun!"

 

"Cut the chatter!" Wrehn snapped at her crew, "These guys ain't chumps. We mess this up, we die!"

 

When the speeders had come to a stop for the traffic signal, Wrehn pushed a button on a remote control. This activated two sentry defense droids guarding the alleyway across the street, behind the row of shops and apartments.

 

"Turrets are active," Wrehn informed her crew.

 

These sentry defense droids, turrets, were essentially self-propelled automated blaster cannons. Wrehn had carefully programed them to attack any armed target that exited the rear entrances of the shops, while carefully avoiding unarmed targets.

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[A snippet]

 

At the spaceport hanger deck, still three kilometers from her starship, Wrehn spoke into her personal holo-transceiver.

 

"Ship, unlock ramp, break seal and drop."

 

Wrehn agonized over the charred paint on the hull of her starship. The extent of the damage became more and more evident as they drew nearer to the vessel. Wrehn started to realize that they were closing in very quickly to her starship. In fact, she realized that Gault was driving entirely too fast. He drove as though he'd forgotten what brakes were for.

 

It seemed they would crash into the back of her ship and then get crushed beneath the massive, slowly lowering ramp, which gradually revealed the brightly lit, cavernous cargo bay inside. The Chiss woman was growing more nervous about the Devaronian's driving and felt a sudden need to say something about it.

 

"Slow down. Yeah? We're almost there."

 

There was no change in the speeder's velocity as it continued to hurtle towards the back of Wrehn's Mantis-class freighter. She looked over at Gault and saw a crazed look on his face. She thought of the red skinned Devaronian, with his two short horns protruding from the top of his forehead.

 

"He even looks like a speed demon," Aloud, she said, "If you want to keep being our getaway driver, you'd better start slowing down. We're almost there."

 

Gault's crazed look developed an ever widening, pointy toothed grin.

 

"Almost there, isn't the same as being there," he said.

 

"You're not getting out of sc****** the hull clean," Wrehn said, firmly, "but I'll let Torian and Skadge help you."

 

"Now, that's more like it!" Gault replied, jovially, as he finally let off the accelerator and began applying the brakes.

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  • 2 weeks later...

 

[A snippet]

 

Mandalorians viewed warfare as a product or a service that had to be contracted out and paid for by a client. The client, in this case, was the Imperial Army, who made extensive use of their services. Although Mandalorian naval assets were also available, the Imperial Navy, most unlike the Imperial Army, very rarely hired Mandalorian fleets.

 

In the case of Mandalore the Lesser, the Sith Empire enjoyed very low prices. However, Mandalore the Vindicated corrected that discrepancy, tripling the rates the Empire had been paying. This was in part to punish the Sith Empire for their meddling and manipulations in Mandalorian affairs, and because Mandalore the Lesser had greatly undervalued their services. It was plainly just a good business decision to raise prices.

 

Yehw'reh'nomai didn't want any part of that. She liked running her own business, and liked her independence. As a Great Hunt champion, she rated direct access to Mandalore, but very rarely made use of her privilege to do so. She didn't want to be put in a position where she would end up owing favors to Mandalore. Wrehn made it clear to him that she didn't believe he was doing her a favor in this case, either.

 

"Mandalore, this isn't really my problem. It's very much your problem, though. For me, it's just personal. For you, it's a matter of defending Mandalorian pride and prestige all across the galaxy. You can't let them get away with this. For me, it's just a matter of, 'they pissed me off,' and I want to make them pay dearly. I can just walk away from it and just let it go. You can't.

 

"But I see it as a matter of you and I working together to get what each of us want from this. You want to restore the honor and prestige of the Mandalorian Empire. I just want revenge. Since we both will get what we want from it, we won't be owing each other any favors when it's all said and done. See?"

 

Mandalore clearly didn't like her view of her role in this, but he had very little choice. He had much bigger concerns to worry over, but neither could he ignore this affront to Mandalorian honor.

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At the bottom of the ladder, Wrehn sighed, shook her head, and expressed her disgust as she returned Kliegga's magnifier.

 

"Blast!" she cursed, angrily, before asking, "How much and how long to fix? And how'd this happen?"

 

Kliegga pointed at the reactor rotor and counter-rotor assembly, and said, "Look at all of the chromium work. It's all supposed to be shiny, like a mirror, but it's all matte. That means you've been running the reactor above its rated operational specifications. You probably got a real good performance boost from it, but it greatly shortened the operational life of your hyperdrive reactor.

 

You probably still have another six hundred hyperspace jumps with that Reactor Rotor and Counter Rotor assembly, but your hyperwave suppressor coil isn't going to last you very much at all. The most I would say is between forty to sixty hyperspace jumps. However, as I've said before, it could fail at the next hyperspace jump you try."

 

Kliegga could see that Wrehn was becoming more upset, but she had to ask.

 

"You've probably been noticing ever diminishing performance from your engines, and fuel consumption was getting worse over time. Yes?"

 

Wrehn was definitely in a dark mood, now.

 

"Let's just talk about the hyperwave suppressor coil, for now," she said, clearly frustrated.

 

Rast spoke then.

 

"Four million credits," the Rodian said, explaining, "I have to send your HSC to a certified HSC refurbishment facility to rewind your coil. It's not something I can do here. So, that's three million for the rewound coil. Then when I get it back, one million to tune the coil to your existing RRCR.

 

"A brand new HSC will run you six million, but you still have to have it tuned to the RRCR, so that'll run you seven million credits," he volunteered, "You'll probably want to start saving up for a new RRCR assembly. There's no refurbishing that. You're looking at fifteen million credits for a used one that's in good shape. A whole new reactor won't go for less than fifty million, depending on the aftermarket manufacturer."

 

Wrehn, angry at the expenditure she had to endure, replied disgustedly, "Fine! Three million to refurbish the HSC, and one million to tune it. Four million, total. How long to get it all done?"

 

Rast answered, "Two weeks."

 

Wrehn forgot how time on the moon was measured. She became greatly alarmed at the time her ship would be grounded.

 

"Two weeks?! Wait, did you mean Mandalore or Concordia time?!"

 

"Mandalore, of course," Rast replied.

 

Wrehn relaxed a bit, relieved it would be fourteen days, Mandalore, and not twenty eight weeks, Mandalore.

 

"O.K. Draw up the contract," she said, nodding her acknowledgment, "I'll be at your office to sign it later."

 

"Good luck, Wrehn," Kliegga said, nodding her goodbyes, before turning to leave.

 

"I'll be in my office for another three hours before I lock up for the shift," Rast told Wrehn, "I can get the ball rolling and make the call to slot in a time for my friend, on Mandalore, to be ready to receive your HSC – if –you sign the contract before then."

 

Without waiting for an answer, he departed the engineering department and Wrehn's ship. Wrehn looked at her exposed hyperdrive reactor core and realized Rast was giving her low-ball estimates. She realized that he'd been pitching low performance reactor cores. She shook her head in bitter disappointment.

 

"Fifteen million for a used hyperdrive reactor core, for this freighter?" she thought, "My baby would be so damned slow and sluggish if I did that."

 

She realized she was going to have to shell out no less than twenty five million, but very likely much more than that, if she wanted a used high performance reactor core that was still in good shape. Additionally, in this case, her four million credit expenditure for a refurbished HSC was a waste. A new hyperdrive reactor core already came with a new hyperwave suppressor coil assembly already factory tuned to the new RRCR assembly.

 

Wrehn knew that most of the fortune she had amassed from all of her jobs was about to be absorbed by this expenditure. To top it all off, she fully expected to lose her crew.

 

She expected Skadge to get stupidly killed in an arena fight. She knew Gault had probably already quit her crew. She also worried that Torian and Mako would quit when they learned that Wrehn no longer had a ship to actually take on and complete contracts with.

 

Then Wrehn came to the realization that she was essentially stranded in the Mandalore star system.

 

"Blast it all!" she cursed, furiously.

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Wrehn awoke with a start. She looked at the chronometer on her desk and cursed a vile oath when she saw that several hours had gone past. Rast Amurdo's office was closed for business, and she hadn't signed the contract. Work on her hyperdrive reactor core would be delayed.

 

Wrehn looked through the small portal from her bed at a bright and sunny day. If she were on any ordinary planet, it would be dark outside. It would be late in the night.

 

However, this was Concordia. It would remain daytime for a few more galactic standard days. Concordia's nights were just as long as its days. A complete day night cycle on the moon lasted two weeks' worth of day/night cycles on Mandalore, and Mandalore's days were just a bit shorter than a galactic standard day.

 

Wrehn rose from her bed and pulled the shade, in its tracks, down over her portal before walking out of her quarters. She felt miserable, having slept in her street clothes and shoes. At the back of the upper cargo deck, she took the stairs down to the main deck and turned towards the front and center of the cargo bay. Walking past the crew quarters section, she entered the engineering department.

 

At the reactor control panel, she punched in a combination of buttons which caused the reactor container vessel to close. The hexagonal containment vessel seemed to take forever to close, but it eventually did. Wrehn's patience was wearing thin as she watched the reactor vessel slowly get hoisted back up in front of its yoke-mount. She sighed, frustratedly watching the reactor vessel slowly tilt back towards her, to assume its proper angle before getting backed into its yoke-mount.

 

The whole affair only took three minutes, but she felt as though she'd been standing there forever.

 

"Damn. It's like waiting for water to boil," she thought.

 

Wrehn left the reactor deactivated. There wasn't a need to activate it since the ship was connected to an external power source at the shipyard, and it was going to be disassembled anyway to remove the RRCR and HCS when the work got started.

 

Yehw'reh'nomai returned to her captain's quarters and began to remove her street attire. She returned to bed, this time properly attired in her bed clothes. As she lay back to sleep, she decided she would contact Kathten Relmus when she awoke again in the morning. Wrehn decided she would accept a meeting with the Sith lord to discuss the job and the money.

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The Togrutan spoke somberly.

 

"I am Ashara Zavros, Lord of the Sith. My master, Darth Nox, Dark Lord of the Sith, will speak to you shortly. Before he does, I will convey to you the proper decorum to use when addressing him."

 

"We're Mandalorians, here,” Wrehn interrupted, speaking brusquely, “We don't have nor need decorum. We only need to do business. If he has a job for us, we'll hear him out, but if he thinks we're going to bend and wallow for him, he's gonna be real disappointed. If he's done business with Mandalorians before, then he should already know this."

 

The Togrutan remained amazingly calm throughout Wrehn’s rude interruption.

 

"What you have said is true when dealing with ordinary Sith lords,” the Sith lord said, “However, this is no ordinary Sith lord. He is a dark lord, seated on the Dark Council. At the very least, be respectful to him and remember to address him as, Dark Lord. I will now advise my lord that you are awaiting his presence."

 

The Togrutan's image vanished. Mako and Gault both spoke at the same time.

 

"Wrehn," "Boss…"

 

Gault told Mako, "You first."

 

"Boss, don't push it with him,” Mako cautioned Wrehn, “I've been doing research on him. I think we should be careful with him. Sith Politics is kind of tricky. He's got to destroy anything that makes him even appear the least bit weak – just to send a message to the other Sith that he's not weak."

 

"When doing business with a rancor,” Gault added, as though giving sage advice, “it's important NOT to poke the rancor's hide, not even with a very, very long stick."

 

Wrehn expected Mako to have information on their client, since Mako was connected to the Holo-Net via her cybernetic implants, but Gault surprised her.

 

"Gault, what do you know about this Sith? What's got you spooked?"

 

"Did you forget what Mako just told us down in the crew mess?” Gault replied, incredulous, “He's on the Dark Council, Wrehn. He murdered his way up to that post with everybody watching him do it – and nobody called him on it! He's got to have some real spooky credentials to be able to be where he's at the way he got there. What more do you really need to know to be careful about how you deal with him?"

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[A Snippet]

 

The two Mandalorian leaders came to a stop before Wrehn. One of them spoke to her in the Mandalorian language, Mando'a.

 

"I greet you, Sister. Will we join that glorious battle on the horizon?"

 

Wrehn disappointed him, replying in Mando'a.

 

"No. That's not our fight. That fight might even end up being pointless."

 

"How so, Sister?"

 

"We shall support my client as he fights for his faction against his faction's enemies by providing him with personal security and to add our firepower to his battles. If my client wins his battles, the war shall end."

 

Torian Cadera spoke up.

 

"From here on out, Brother, refer to her as Commander, or as Great Hunt Champion."

 

"I meant no disrespect, Brother...," The platoon leader replied, to Torian.

 

His helmeted head swiveled towards Wrehn, as he finished his reply, "Commander."

 

Wrehn began issuing her orders.

 

"Torian, you go with Captain Tartan. You'll lead his platoon, but Captain Tartan will relay your orders to his men."

 

"Understood, Commander."

 

Wrehn's helmet swiveled towards Gault Rennow, speaking in Galactic Basic, she told him, "Gault, you go with Lieutenant Dremon. You'll lead her platoon, but Lieutenant Dremon will relay your orders to her men."

 

"You got it, Boss," Gault replied.

 

Captain Tartan, Lieutenant Dremon, Torian, and Wrehn were all Mandalorian. Wrehn's helm was already pointed towards Gault, but the three others all swiveled their helms as they regarded Gault's lax behavior.

 

Neither Wrehn's team nor the Mandalorian platoon members' helms had transparent visors. Those could shatter. The helms completely obscured their faces, so the disapproval showing on their visages could not be appreciated by Gault.

 

To see the landscape around them, the helmets had sensors that projected holographic images onto a screen in front of the wearer's face. The screen curved around his face, just beyond his peripheral vision. It also extended above the wearer's brow, and below his lips, giving a very good approximation of seeing in the real world.

 

This was the industry standard in visor-less helmet construction. In some models, as in the case of Wrehn's helm, the screen rotated within the helmet with her head as she looked up, down, and side to side.

 

The screen, however, displayed more than just a three dimensional image of the landscape – and of each individual gathered for their leaders' meeting. Range, direction, elevation, altitude, and other information was also displayed on the screen. No one's face was visible, but identifiers superimposed onto the images of each armored individual helped to determine who was who.

 

Gault understood a few words of Mando'a, but didn't speak it.

 

"I'm not Mandalorian, like you four," he said in Basic, "I don't have to call her Commander."

 

Wrehn signaled Gault to switch to the team channel. Gault, Torian, Mako, and Skadge, as well as Wrehn all switched to a private channel that only her crew could receive. Wrehn spoke directly to him.

 

"Gault, don't make me regret putting you in charge of these troops. Don't embarrass me in front of them again. For this job, you're calling me, Commander. You got that?"

 

Gault sighed.

 

"Yeah, sure. Fine," he said, a bit peeved and switched back to the general channel.

 

Switching back to the general channel, she issued her next orders, again in Galactic Basic.

 

"Mako, Skadge, you're both with me," the Chiss hunter ordered.

 

Before the two could reply, she quickly went on, "In a couple of minutes, three Imperial dropships will land here. They'll transport us all to the insertion point at the enemy's command and control center.

 

"Imperial forces loyal to the incumbent Emperor, are fighting for control of this planet with rebelling Imperial forces supporting the challenger to the throne. This planet has a very valuable mineral resource which they just took from the Republic and the Jedi.

 

"Whoever controls this mineral resource will gain a technological advantage over the other. That's all I know about what's at stake on this planet. At stake across the galaxy is the Imperial throne. My client, a dark councilor wants us to escort him and his party to the insertion point, and to deliver them safely to the command center and to the Sith who, out of the blue, decided to call himself emperor.

 

"We'll be linking up with this Sith delegation, soon. So be on your best behavior and watch what you say around them. I don't know if any of you have worked closely with the Sith before, but they can get really touchy over the stupidest things."

 

Soon, Wrehn would forget her own advice.

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Wrehn got on the Imperial command channel.

 

“Who's the ordnance officer?” she demanded.

 

A gruff Imperial Basic accented male voice came on.

 

“Who is it that thinks she needs to know?” the gruff speaker asked, imperiously challenging her.

 

“My name is Yehw'reh'nomai. I'm leading the mercenary forces hired directly by Darth Nox for special operations under his direct command.”

 

“What can I do for you, Yehw'reh'nomai?” he asked, much less imperiously, and much more politely.

 

“I need demolitions. Specifically, I need a shaped anti-matter charge.”

 

“I can't give you one of those. We need to capture that base, not turn it into a crater.”

 

“I want to make a crater next to the base, so that I can knock a hole into one of the walls on the lower levels and make my own entrance.”

 

“Officers,” Colonel Fruntz ordered, cutting in, “Switch to the internal command channel.”

 

Silence followed for several long minutes before the gruff Imperial male's voice finally came back on.

 

“Imperial combat engineers will carry out the demolitions. You must report to Darth Nox for orders.”

 

“Yeah, sure,” Wrehn replied dryly, adding, “I hope you get a promotion for my idea.”

 

“You have my sincerest thanks,” the gruff voice replied.

 

“That was dishonorable of them, Commander,” Torian groused.

 

“I've got another idea for you to steal,” Wrehn said, sardonically, to the gruff Imperial ordnance officer, “When that charge goes off, it'll shake the base so badly that they'll be disoriented for some time. Use that time to blast the main air lock off, and take that opportunity to enter the ventilation systems, to make several inroads with your troops so that you can capture the base.”

 

Captain Tartan nodded great approval of her plan, as did Torian.

 

“Thank you, Yehw'reh'nomai” Colonel Fruntz said, in a very sincere tone, “You may have saved us from mass executions with these recommendations. If we succeed here, then only a few of us senior officers will die for our earlier failure and not the entire command.”

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Malgus and his Sith followers wore black Imperial Army Special Forces, all environment, battle armor, with their white painted pauldrons. Nox and his Sith followers wore their plain silver toned, lightly armored space suits. Realizing that her client's enemies held the advantage in armor, Wrehn decided to give Nox's Sith a hand. She changed directions as she ran, so that she could slip behind the battling Sith.

 

Wrehn shouted her orders, as she ran, on her crew's private channel.

 

"Torian, take over command for a bit!"

 

"Roger!"

 

"Skadge, Mako, I'm gonna do the shooting. You guys watch my back!"

 

Both Skadge and Mako responded in the affirmative, as they maneuvered behind the four traitorous Sith. Wrehn decided to start by eliminating the one enemy battling two of Nox's followers. As she came to a stop, she drew one of her two blasters, and began to aim in.

 

Before she could get her weapon steadied on target, all four enemy Sith leapt into the air, doing backwards somersaults.

 

"SKADGE! OVERHEAD, FRONT!" Wrehn shouted out urgently.

 

She could see that all four Sith were going to land right in front of her. Mako and Skadge were still turning around to face forward, and Wrehn was still lifting her pistols to adjust her aim at the airborne Sith. Then Wrehn's display screen flashed a red tint, warning of imminent danger.

 

Suddenly, without further warnings, she found herself flying backwards. She landed and ran backwards a few steps and came to a halt, with her weapon pointed at one of the Sith, which had landed at arm's length from where she had been standing a moment before.

 

Wrehn didn't know what had happened, but her weapon was still on target, so she began firing, as did Mako and Skadge standing on either side of her. Wrehn never ceased to be wowed by the crazy Force worshipers' ability to do the seemingly impossible, Jedi and Sith, alike. For instance, the enemy Sith were deflecting all of her and her companions' blaster bolts with their beamed melee weapons.

 

Darth Nox's followers renewed their attacks on Malgus' followers, forcing Wrehn and her party to cease firing.

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Wrehn watched as Darth Nox and Lord Ashara approached their enemy. Khem Val and the other Sith following Nox also converged on Darth Malgus' left. She concluded that Nox had the decided advantage, but Wrehn didn't understand The Force. She didn't understand that Nox and his whole party were the underdogs, here.

 

Wrehn spoke to her crew on her private channel.

 

"We're done, here. Our client can handle the rest. Have you thought of a way to hijack those dropships? If our client loses, we'll need to escape and those ships are our only way out."

 

She kicked herself, mentally, after her question was out. Wrehn was still unsure if their private encrypted channel had been compromised. She didn't want to communicate her concerns over the comm system for fear of tipping off the Imperial Army that they'd been discovered eaves dropping on them. Wrehn realized, however, that her reticence was a mistake, and wished she'd given some clue to her crew that the Imperial Army was probably listening in.

 

"We've already got our people in place,” Torian reported, “They had 'equipment malfunctions' which forced them to be 'evacuated' onto two of the dropships along with the seriously wounded. If any of the leadership give the signal, they'll hijack the ships and bring them down for us to board." Concern tinted his tone, as he added, "I think our hired guns will turn on us and hand us over to our client.

 

“They indicated concerns that we won't be able to pay them the balance of what we owe. We have to watch for signs that they are negotiating with our client to work out a deal with him for a reward. Since, it seems, you stepped in it with him, they might be thinking of handing you over to him."

 

"In fact, I know they'll turn on us,” Gault interjected, “As soon as Torian was done briefing them on our contingency plan for a getaway, they had a private off channel chat with each other. I couldn't hear their comm, but the way they stood around pointing at each other and waving their arms around got me thinking they were arguing about something. Only thing I can think they'd argue over is money. I think they're ready to turn on us. It's the only time they'd ever spoken off channel to each other where we couldn't hear them."

 

"If our client loses,” Mako chimed in, “they might try handing us off to his enemy to try to get him to let them go."

 

With the nexu out of the bag – if the Imperials were actually listening in – Wrehn concluded there was nothing else that could be done about it.

 

"Alright. Good reports, Torian, Gault,” she said, “You make a good point, too, Mako."

 

After a moment to think, she gave new orders on her command channel.

 

"Torian, Gault, good work with your platoons. This job's almost over. Hand over control of your platoons to Captain Tartan and Lieutenant Dremon and then return to me. Captain Tartan, Lieutenant Dremon, you both report directly to me now. Report your status."

 

Captain Tartan gave his report.

 

"My troops have created a perimeter defense against possible incoming attacks from ground forces attacking from the open. Lieutenant Dremon's platoon has secured the breached wall, from the inside, to keep enemy reinforcements from reaching us from within the base. We are ready for new orders."

 

"Remain vigilant and standby for orders as I get them from our client," Wrehn said.

 

What she really wanted was to separate Torian and Gault from their hired guns, and consolidate her own position by bringing her crew together.

 

Wrehn added a warning to her hired mercenaries.

 

"There's a fight coming between the Sith. Keep out of this fight and stay out of their way. The Sith want to settle it amongst themselves."

 

Captain Tartan immediately shouted his own orders.

 

"First Platoon, expand the line!"

 

He wanted to get his troops out of the way of the coming fight.

 

Wrehn watched as Tartan's mercenary warriors rose up from crouching behind the rubble and then proceed to move further away from the crater wall and deeper into the crater, expanding their curved perimeter line, until they exited the illuminated battleground.

 

"That opens up the distance between my crew and theirs,” she thought to herself, as she watched the mercenaries move, “More space for my crew to run around in if Tartan and his people start any trouble."

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[A Snippet]

 

"Yehw'reh'nomai, step forward. I'll conclude my business with you, first."

 

Wrehn signaled her crew to stay put as she walked alone to Nox's desk. Her heavy powered armored suit assisting her movements, she stomped across the metal floor until she came to a stop before his desk.

 

"Have you thought of a tribute for me?" Nox asked.

 

Wrehn blinked. Confusion expressed in her eyes.

 

"Huh?"

 

"Did you forget what we discussed on the shuttle ride to here?” Nox asked, seeming surprised, “I told you to think of a tribute to appease my anger."

 

Wrehn tilted her head in genuine surprise.

 

"You're still mad about that?" she asked, belatedly adding, "Uh… Dark Lord."

 

"Well what did you think I called you up here, for?"

 

"Um, to pay up? You owe me three hundred million credits, and I'm not giving you that as tribute, Dark Lord."

 

"She learns nothing!" Mako thought, angrily, rolling her eyes and shaking her head.

 

"How about I do another job for you, and charge half price?” Wrehn suggested, “Only one job at half price, though. All other jobs after that, I'll charge regular rates."

 

Nox looked at Wrehn in wonderment and shook his head in disbelief. Suddenly, he burst out laughing.

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Chapter 12 is the final chapter of this short fanfic.

 

First of all, I truly hope, that if you've read my story, that you enjoyed it. However, if there were some things that didn't sit well with you about my writing style or about the story in general, I hope you'll tell my why. I want to improve my writing, but cannot in the absence of critiques.

 

Thus, I am making a shameless request for critiques, comments, and reviews.

 

(PS If you wish to shower my story with praise, I'll take those, too. :rolleyes: )

Edited by WorldSmasher
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