Bounty Hunter Anon III

by Sunny Solaire


Diplomacy

The sounds of beeping slowly wake you up from your long overdue slumber. They're accompanied by the feeling of movement from the space in the bed beside you. The navicomputer is letting you know that you've arrived at Bakura.

You pull the covers back and sit on the edge of the bed, yawning and rubbing your eyes. Sunset had shifted in bed, but she looked like she was still asleep. You get up and groan a little as you leave your room and head into the main hold. Your side is still a bit sore from yesterday.

Upon reaching the cockpit, you pull back the throttle and the ship drops out of hyperspace. The green and blue planet appears in front of you. A small number of starships either entering or leaving the atmosphere come up on your scopes. Apparently, this was one of the largest trade hubs in the Wild Space region of the galaxy.

Once you get into a far orbit around the planet, you lock it in and head back to your room. This is the first time in a long time you've been able to relax and spend some quality alone time with Sunset, and you're not about to cut it short.

You enter your room again. Sunset is barely awake and laying on her back. She faces you and gives you a tired smile before pulling up the covers to invite you back to bed. You lay down next to her and wrap the covers around you both. She snuggles up close to you and presses her body against yours, giving a content sigh.

"We here?" She quietly asks.

"Yep." You nod, rubbing your hand on her bare back. "We'll make the jump to Discord's hidden system later."

She places a hand on your bare chest and exhales. "Good. I'm not ready to get up yet."

You chuckle a little. "Me neither."

For the next few minutes, the two of you lay there in bed together, saying nothing and looking up at the ceiling. You continue to rub Sunset's hair while she twirls her index finger around in circles on your chest. The both of you needed this.

You must've dozed off again, because the next thing you know, you're waking up to the sound of Sunset moving around your room. Her back is to you and she's in your wardrobe grabbing one of her flightsuits. Lucky for you, she hasn't put it on yet.

You grin and put your hands behind your head as you watch her. "Now that is a beautiful sight."

She giggles and turns to face you, a smirk of her own on her face as she holds the flightsuit in her hands. "Yeah, I thought you could use a good show."

You grin as you continue to watch her get dressed. She takes her time. Her eyes never leave yours as her beautiful body disappears beneath that jumpsuit after a few minutes. You're bummed it's over, but the best things in life never last.

As she finishes getting her jumpsuit straightened out, she comes over to you and gives you another kiss before ending it after a moment. "Now, I'll get us on our way to this hidden system while you get dressed. No more being lazy today."

You chuckle. "Yes ma'am."

She smirks as she heads into the main hold, giving you one last look before shutting the door to your room behind her. The hyperdrive whirrs for a moment before the ship blasts off into lightspeed after a few minutes.

You groan as you pull the covers back and get out of bed. From your wardrobe, you grab a jumpsuit and slip it on before putting on your boots and heading out into the main hold as well.

A deep breath through the nose and you can't help but smile. This morning has been amazing. However, what is not amazing is the fact that parts of your and Sunset's armor is strewn about around the ship. Most pieces were on the ground in the refresher though. Guess you were too busy with each other last night to worry about making a mess.

Not that you're complaining.

You bend over and start picking up pieces of armor. Any pieces that belong to you are put on as you pick them up, while you set Sunset's armor on the table in the main hold.

She joins you a minute later and smiles as she watches you. "My man cleaning up the ship. That's my version of a beautiful sight."

You laugh hard. "Just paying you back, love."

"Aww, aren't you sweet?"

You grin at her and continue picking up armor pieces while she starts putting hers on. "Are we on our way?"

She nods. "Yep. We should be at this place in a few minutes."

"Excellent."

You finally finish gathering up all the armor pieces and the two of you put them on. After a minute or two, all that's left are your helmets. They're sitting on the table right where you left them last night.

"I'll check on our guest." You say. "He was quiet all night. It was a pleasant surprise."

Sunset nods and puts her helmet on. "I'll be ready to get us out of hyperspace."

You nod back at her and put your helmet on as well before heading to the cargo hold. The door opens and you step inside.

Discord is laying on his cot, wide awake with his eyes fixed on the ceiling. The tray of mostly untouched processed slop you gave him last night is sitting on the floor next to him.

"How are we this morning, Discord?" He doesn't even look at you. He just makes a grumbling sound. You chuckle and put your hands on your hips. "Ah, just the way I like 'em."

He sighs. "You're awfully chipper today, bounty hunter... Will you soon be rid of me?"

"Not as soon as I'd like, unfortunately." You reply.

He looks at you. "Then how much longer am I to endure this solitary confinement?"

"For the rest of your life, hopefully." You say. "I can't say how long with me though. That all depends on the ones who want you."

He slowly blinks and groans again. He is bored out of his mind, but at least he's not making trouble.

You turn around to leave him alone again, locking the door to the cargo hold behind you. As you proceed to the cockpit to join Sunset, the ship drops out of hyperspace and an unfamiliar planet appears in front of the ship.

"We're here." She says as you sit down in the co-pilot's seat next to her.

The planet outside is a purple gas giant. A small, red moon is sitting in orbit between it and your ship. You can't find any record of this planet at all. It doesn't even have a name.

You stare at the planet. "Where are we?"

"We're in Wild Space, just on the border of the Unknown Regions." She replies.

The Unknown Regions. That's a whole lot of unexplored galaxy in front of you.

Legends passed down from Mandalore the Preserver say that Revan ventured into the Unknowns some time after defeating Malak on the Star Forge. You don't really know why though. From what you understand, it's the last time anyone ever saw Revan. That was hundreds of years ago.

It's unnerving being on the edge of civilization like this. What mysteries lie beyond, you wonder? There might be thousands of aliens, empires, and planets out there that the rest of the galaxy has never even heard of before, just waiting to be explored and discovered.

That adventure awaits for another, however. You've got a job to do now.

"That red moon is where we're headed?"

Sunset nods. "Yep. According to Discord's info, the shipment of cortosis should be buried at these coordinates."

"Then take us down."

Sunset pilots the ship down to the planet and enters the atmosphere.

---

This moon was mostly dead, with occasional dry shrubs growing in sparse locations. Other than that, there was nothing but mountains, wind, rocks and red sand all over. There was probably no intelligent life on the planet besides you and Sunset right now.

Discord's stash of stolen goods was hidden in an underground bunker on the surface. It took you and Sunset quite a while to move all the cortosis onto your ship. It was all packed into these shipping crates that were almost too heavy for you and Sunset to carry together. There weren't as many crates as you were expecting there to be, but they were very heavy. However, you managed to get them aboard your ship and into the main hold.

It would probably be wise not to store them in the cargo hold. As nice as it would be to see the look on Discord's face when he saw what you found, you didn't want him letting the Republic know about the cortosis shipment when you all finally met together. He seems like the blabbermouth type. Besides, the cargo hold was full of other supplies and weapons right now anyway, so there probably wouldn't be much room.

You and Sunset grunt as you set the last crate down and exhale. "Last one... That was... strenuous."

Sunset nods. "Yeah... Thank goodness it's all aboard now."

You stand up straight and stretch when suddenly, a beeping sound comes from the computer. It's a priority message from the holodisk you gave to Twilight.

This is it.

You rub your hands together. "Alright, it's 'go' time."

"Is that Shining Armor?" Sunset asks.

"It should be." You reply. "Say nothing about the cortosis to him or anyone else."

You press a button on the control console and put your hands on your hips. A second later, the familiar blue twi'lek appears on your hologram display. His uniform is pressed and immaculate like always, and there's a stern, yet unsure look in his eye. He also has a small bruise on his forehead. Probably from the Sith attack on his cruiser.

"Anonymous." He says.

"Shining Armor." You reply.

You hate this guy.

He clears his throat and puts his arms behind his back. "Before anything else, I want to thank you for saving Twilight and her friends from the Sith attack on my cruiser. I've been worried about her ever since, but she says she's okay. For that, you have my gratitude."

"I'm a man of my word, Captain." You reply.

"So I see." He nods.

You press further. "Is that all she told you?"

He clears his throat. "No. She also told me about this holodisk you gave her, and about how you took down Discord and his band of pirates."

You snap your fingers a couple times to get Sunset's attention before pointing to the cargo hold. She nods and heads there while you continue speaking to Shining Armor. "I did, like I promised. It took a bit longer than I hoped, but I did it. He won't bother you anymore."

Sunset comes out of the cargo hold a moment later with the devaronian in tow. "He's right here, safe and sound. Say hi to the Captain, Discord!"

Discord grunts and struggles a little against Sunset, but cooperates enough. He glares up at the Republic Captain in bitter defiance. "Rrrghh... Yeah, here I am. In the flesh. Hello, Republic lap dog."

Shining Armor looks at Discord in stunned silence. "He's alive..."

"Yes he is. I don't know why you're acting so surprised, Captain. It's me you're dealing with here." Sunset takes Discord back into the cargo hold and Shining Armor turns his attention back to you. "If you want this creep behind bars and not out here terrorizing your star systems, then you'll listen to what I have to say."

Shining Armor opens his mouth to reply, but is stopped by something else in the room he's in. "Captain, please. Allow me."

That's a new voice. One you haven't heard before. It's elegant and soft, but also firm.

Shining Armor steps aside to the right. From the left, draped in a flowing, beautiful white dress, walks an Angel. Her wings are folded behind her back, her white skin almost glows, and her hair looks like it's floating. You recognize her immediately.

Despite never paying attention to Republic politics, you have caught glimpses of her in still images on video screens all over the galaxy in your travels. It's impossible not to know who she is without living under a rock. This is the first time you've ever actually seen her move in real time though. The tales told by deep-space explorers are not lies. The Angels of Iego truly were some of the most beautiful creatures in the universe.

She looks at you with slight worry in her luxurious eyes. "Anonymous of Mandalore. Hello."

You pause for a moment before giving her a slight nod. "Supreme Chancellor Celestia. It's an honor."

Chancellor Celestia politely nods in reply, but does not drop her worried look. "What do you want?"

"I want to talk." You reply. "My people are currently preparing for war with the reemerging Sith. Seeing as how they are a common enemy, and your Republic is grossly underprepared to fight right now, it only makes sense to join forces."

Celestia purses her lips together in consideration. Behind you, Sunset exits the cargo hold and joins your side.

"I am hesitant to accept your offer, Mandalorian." Celestia replies. "You are still wanted for the murder of a Republic senator. How do I know you haven't sided with the Sith and are luring us into a trap?"

"Trust me, if we wanted to destroy your Republic, we would not be speaking right now, Chancellor." You say.

Celestia looks to the side for a moment before looking back at you. "I'd like to speak to Mandalore himself before anything else."

You shrug and press a few buttons on the console. "Fine. I'll contact him right now."

You open your comms channel and contact Mandalore. The Chancellor can be heard whispering to someone else in the room she's in.

After a few moments, Mandalore answers. "Anonymous. Sunset Shimmer."

"Mandalore. The Republic finally got back to us." You say. "The Supreme Chancellor herself wants to speak with you."

He gives a gruff chuckle and nods. "It's about damn time."

You grin under your helmet and link the hologram transmissions together. Now Mandalore, you, and Sunset can all be seen in the Chancellor's office.

Celestia turns her attention back to the three of you. "Greetings, Mandalore."

Mandalore crosses his arms. "Supreme Chancellor."

She clears her throat. "Your warriors here say they wish to negotiate a truce, despite their unrepentant attitudes regarding the murder of one of our senators, and several others in the aftermath. Frankly, I'm a bit concerned about your motives, as I'm sure you understand."

"These are dark times, Chancellor. And they will only get darker, now that the Sith have openly attacked you." Mandalore replies. "It is gratuitous that we're here offering you this one and only opportunity for peace between us. My people can and will drive the Sith back. Whether or not we steamroll over you in the process is entirely up to you."

Shining Armor steps back into view, glaring daggers. "Is that a threat?"

Mandalore glances at him. "I do not make threats, Captain. I make promises."

Shining Armor continues glaring at Mandalore angrily while Celestia urges him to step back.

Mandalore continues. "It's pretty simple, really. You are undermanned. The Sith want you dead. We have the ability, and the means to drive them back. As a show of good faith, Anonymous took care of your rampant pirate problem."

You speak up. "Instead of the original 500,000 credits I was promised, I only ask for a peace summit between us in exchange. I want to make a case for myself and my actions, so afterwards, we can come to an agreement on how to stop the Sith together."

Sunset steps forward as well. "Without your Republic to keep the Sith in line, they would have destroyed the galaxy millennia ago. Even we can see that. This is the only way you can survive."

Celestia shifts her gaze between the three of you. She's obviously conflicted.

"It behooves you to accept this offer, Chancellor." Mandalore says.

After a moment, she slumps her shoulders slightly and looks back at Mandalore. "Very well. I will meet with you, Mandalore. We will discuss things amicably, and hopefully come to an agreement." She turns to look at you. "As for you, Anonymous, I am very interested in learning as to why you murdered one of the Republic's more upstanding senators."

You cross your arms. "You'll get my justification, and my evidence to back them up when we meet, Chancellor. I promise you."

She gives you a contempt smirk before nodding once. "We will see."

Mandalore speaks up once again. "We'll meet in your cruiser above the planet Concord Dawn in two standard days' time. Your ship, my turf."

Another voice speaks up on the hologram. Celestia turns to the source. "I feel I should inform you, Mandalore, that you will be in the presence of many Jedi Knights. As well as many highly-trained soldiers and guards. We must ensure the Chancellor is kept safe at all costs."

A female pantoran steps into view with her arms behind her back. She's dressed in dark blue Jedi robes, much darker than her blue skin, and has a calm, yet serious look on her face.

Mandalore looks at the Jedi Master. "I'm not surprised. In fact, I welcome it. It's always a pleasure to meet a Jedi."

Celestia smiles at the pantoran. "Thank you, Grand Master Luna."

Oooh, 'Grand Master' of the Jedi Order. They're really flexing for you now.

Luna gives the Chancellor a respectful bow and Celestia turns her attention back to Mandalore. "Two days' time."

"We'll see you there, Chancellor." He replies.

The feed from Coruscant cuts and the Republic officials fade away. Only Mandalore remains.

He turns to you and Sunset. "Where are you two right now? Your chiss friend told me that you were on a personal errand."

"We're just west of Bakura, Mandalore." You reply. "This pirate we captured, Discord, had a shipment of cortosis that he stole and hid on some backwater moon near the Unknown Regions. We just finished gathering it up. We figured they would be useful against the Sith and their lightsabers."

Mandalore nods. "Not a bad find. Who all knows about it?"

Sunset speaks up. "Just us three, Mandalore. No one else."

"Good. Bring it back here and we'll start working on it right away. I've already got a few ideas. Once you arrive, gather whatever you need for our little meeting with the Republic." He commands.

"Yes, Mandalore." You reply. "We need to stop at Bakura to refuel, and we'll be on our way back in a few hours."

He nods. "We'll see you when you return."