Bounty Hunter Anon

by Sunny Solaire

Intervention

“We’re in the Outer Rim." You clench your fists. "What the hell is the Republic doing all the way out here?”

Sunset shakes her head. ”I don’t know. They just barely came out of hyperspace. I was just about to make our own jump.”

You’re about to reply to her when the cruiser starts to override your communications, and the video feed of a Republic Captain comes on your screen.

"Give me your attention." He commands. "I am Captain Shining Armor of the Republic Army.”

He's a blue Twi'lek. He looks fairly young, but his disciplined stance shows a high level of maturity.

You glare at him and get up close to the camera so he can see you clearly. “You’re a bit outside of your jurisdiction, Captain. What do you want?”

He studies you with a determined look on his face. ”This is a special outing, Mandalorian. We want you to come aboard, peacefully, so we can have ourselves a little talk.”

You cross your arms at him. “What if I don’t want to come aboard?”

He doesn't flinch. ”That’s too bad. You’re coming aboard whether you want to or not.”

You feel the ship rock slightly and you look at Sunset as she smacks the console in frustration. ”Tractor beam.”

Damn it.

You look back at Shining Armor. “What if I don’t want to be peaceful, Captain?”

Again, he doesn't flinch. ”Then you’ll be detained.”

You growl slightly as you look at him. “This is extremely uncalled for. You know that, right?”

He just stares at you silently for another moment before the transmission cuts and the screen goes black. Outside, you see yourselves get closer to the Republic cruiser as it pulls you in.

You quickly stomp back into the armory and Sunset follows. “Hide any of your gear that you don’t want to lose. They’re probably going to search the ship for whatever it is they’re looking for once we land.” You go to your workbench and grab your blaster pistols, rifle, and lightsaber, and equip them onto your person in their respective places.

Sunset is right behind you. ”Anon, we can’t fight and expect to win by ourselves. They’ve got all kinds of soldiers in there.”

You glance at her. “That doesn’t mean a fight won’t come looking for us. I’d like to be ready, just in case.”

You give a low growl as you start to grab and lock the majority of your valuable weapons in a locker on the back of the wall. You turn around to see Sunset also gearing up. She looks angry, but not as angry as you do. She’s probably feeling what you’re feeling, but knowing her, she's also thinking about things more rationally than you are.

“What do you think they want?” You ask.

She looks at you and shakes her head. ”I have absolutely no idea, but they’re not after us. We’ve been doing what we’ve always done, so they’ve made a mistake somewhere.”

"Damn right they have." You mutter.

She continues. ”I say we gear up, but we go in peacefully, just like they said. Keep up appearances and go along with what they say. They’ve got the wrong people, so unless we go in and shoot everything up, we’ve got nothing to be afraid of.”

She’s right. The Republic is fully armed and have you outnumbered a hundred to one. Going in guns blazing would be suicide. You’ve just done your job hunting bad people who have made stupid decisions and turning them in. You haven’t done anything wrong.

“Alright, good plan." You reply. "We’ll play their game. This is just a minor inconvenience.”

”Exactly.” Sunset nods.

You both finish gearing up and you feel the ship rumble and move slightly. You head back to the cockpit to kill the power to the engines. Outside, you see yourselves being navigated into the portside hangar bay of the Republic cruiser and lowered onto the ground. A large number of armed Republic soldiers are stationed below you or can be seen jogging over to where you’re landing.

“Oh boy…” You mutter.

You head back to the main hold, where Sunset is and grab your helmet.

”Maybe we should leave those here.” Sunset interrupts you.

You pause. “Our helmets?”

She nods. “It might help ease their worries a bit and get us out of here faster. We don't exactly have the best history with the Republic, after all.”

Good point. You set the helmet back down on the table.

“Maybe that’s what this is about." You suggest. "This Shining Armor prick is pissed about history and wants to take it out on us.”

She grins and shrugs a little. ”I sure wouldn’t put it past them.”

You feel the ship shake as it touches down on the hangar floor. You take a look at Sunset and take a deep breath to try and cool down. “Okay, here we go.”

You both head to the doorway to the exit ramp as it automatically opens. The expected echo of a starship’s hangar bay, accompanied by the sounds of men and women giving orders are present. The floor is a shiny dark grey and reflects the lights that shine from the ceiling above, along with the image of the two armed soldiers that are approaching the ship. They both come into clear view and look up into the ship to you.

You and Sunset calmly descend down the ramp as they raise their weapons. Neither of you make any sudden moves as you clear the ramp and step onto the floor of the cruiser itself. You stop and stare at the two soldiers, expecting them to say or do something other than stand there with their guns trained on you.

From behind, someone shouts. ”Big Mac! Now!” You're surprised, and you try to turn and see who it is, but you’re too late.

You’re struck hard in the back of the head by something blunt and you fall forward, hitting the ground. “AAAH!” You shouldn't have left your helmets behind.

It’s not a second later that you feel someone land on top of you and wrestle to grab your arms. You squirm and try to turn onto your back so you can see who you’re fighting, but another Republic soldier falls on you as well and keeps you on your stomach. “What the.... What the hell?!”

With your face pressed against the ground, you open one eye and see Sunset also being wrestled to the ground by two Republic soldiers. The cowards struck you from behind.

One of the soldiers struggling to detain Sunset is a young woman with a brimmed hat on her head and she’s wearing a brown leather jacket over some clearly worn Republic armor. She almost looks like a mercenary.

”Stop resistin’!” She commands. She has an accent.

Sunset struggles underneath them and glares daggers up at the woman as best she can. ”No! Get off me, you damn coward!”

You keep on trying to fight as well, but eventually you realize that it’s no use. You stop and they forcefully bind your wrists together behind your back.

You look over to Sunset as the two soldiers on you begin disarming and searching you. “Sunset, stop fighting.” You grunt. She growls and looks at you for a moment before sighing and relaxing as well.

The woman binds Sunset’s wrists and stands up, looking at you while the other soldier searches Sunset. ”Smart call there, Sith.”

Your eyes shoot wide open. “WHAT?!”

Sith?!

Sunset looks back up at the woman. “We’re not Sith!”

You then feel a hand tug on your shoulder and force you to turn and look at the soldier searching you.

He’s holding your lightsaber and glaring at you. ”Oh really? What's this then?”

Oh damn.

You try to search for an answer. “It's... It's a...”

”Heh… Yeah, that’s what I thought.” The woman says with a smirk. You were about to say it was a trophy, but she cut you off.

She heads back to Sunset and helps her to her feet. Once she's standing again, the two soldiers also help you up. Your head hurts like hell. Once you’re on your feet as well, you turn around to see who hit you.

Standing behind you is this behemoth of a man, with a large rifle in his hands and a damn minigun strapped to his back. Like the woman with Sunset, he’s also dressed in obviously worn Republic armor, and he’s wearing a patch over his left eye. You only go up to his chest when you compare his height to yours. He’s huge.

He just stares at you for a moment as he holds your lightsaber in his hand. You look at the saber before glaring back at him and growling a bit under your breath. Probably best to stay calm and try to explain, especially since you're handcuffed and the only thing separating you two is just a couple inches of air.

You take a deep breath. “Look, I know this looks bad, but this is just a misunderstanding. That lightsaber isn’t mine. I can’t even use the Force!”

You hear the woman in the hat shouting orders behind you. ”Corporal! You ‘n Noteworthy search the ship and find those artifacts!”

You turn back to face her as two soldiers walk up to the ramp and step aboard. “Do you mean the sword and that amulet thing? They’re both in a footlocker in the armory next to the workbench. Take them. I don't want them.”

It doesn’t matter how valuable they are, they’re making you look like a Sith. No reward is worth that.

The woman looks at you for a second before nodding at the soldiers to continue. ”Take ‘em to the detention center, Big Mac. I’ll be there soon.”

The giant man speaks. ”Eeyup.”

He bumps your back with his gun and you walk out from beneath your ship toward the rear wall of the hangar, accompanied by two more soldiers. Sunset is a few paces behind you. You can hear her, along with the booming footsteps that most likely belong to Mac. You take a quick glance at her and try to slow down some so she can catch up to you, but Mac makes you keep a constant pace.

You look forward again and stay silent as you head to the doorway at the rear of the hangar. The soldiers guide you through the doorway and down a series of hallways and corridors for a minute or so before going through another doorway that opens up to the detention center. It’s a small, yet open room with a few force cages in the back.

Mac leads you both over to a couple cages and moves behind you. ”Just cooperate with me, ya hear?”

You nod, but stay silent. You take a quick glance at Sunset and see that there’s a small trickle of blood coming down the left side of her head from behind her ear. That must be where she was hit. Republic scumbags...

He removes your binders and you grudgingly step into one of the cages. You turn around as he activates it and begins removing Sunset’s binders. You take a quick look around at your little bit of space you have here. Captured by the Republic. This is definitely a new low for you.

Sunset’s binders are removed and she’s placed into the cell to the left of you. Mac clears his throat and looks at you both. ”Now listen up. Applejack’ll be here soon, and she wants to talk to y’all. Give her truthful answers if she asks questions and you can get outta here a lot faster.”

You both just nod at him. ”Fine." You reply.

He turns around and walks out of the room, leaving both you and Sunset alone. There’s a stiff silence in the room between you and Sunset before you finally break it. “How you doing?”

She grunts a little as she rubs the back of her head and looks at the blood on her hand. ”I’ll live. I can’t promise that every other one of these jerks will live when I get out of this though.”

You have no doubt that both of you are feeling the same amount of anger and frustration right now. The two of you were supposed to start your vacation. Instead, you're here, in a holding cell on a Republic cruiser, and they think you're Sith.

You rub the back of your own head and inspect your hand to see just a small amount of blood smeared along your palm. Mac got you good. That’s what you get for not taking your helmet with you.

You take another look around the small room you’re currently in. It’s a little smaller than the main hold on your ship, and it’s bluish-grey in color. There’s a terminal on your right next to Sunset’s force cage that you imagine is used for interrogations, among other things. You don’t think you have to worry about that though. This is just a huge misunderstanding, after all.

You try to pace back and forth in your cell, using what little room you have, but you can't even take a step in any direction. It's too confined.

You take a glance at Sunset, but she doesn’t look back at you. She’s tapping her fingers on her crossed arms and brooding. You can barely hear her breathing loudly. You have nothing to say right now. Neither of you do.

After a few minutes, the door opens again and the young woman in the hat comes walking in. She’s followed by Mac. The door closes as she approaches you and you get a better look at her rank. She’s a lieutenant.

She looks you both in the eyes, before turning her full attention to you. ”So… What’s your story?”

You take a deep breath and cross your arms as you glare at her. “What do you think my story is?”

She turns around and takes the sword and amulet from Mac. ”Looks to me like y’all are a couple of undercover Sith smugglin’ artifacts somewhere, or somethin’."

“Looks can be deceiving, Lieutenant." You reply. "We're Mandalorians. We don’t affiliate ourselves with the Sith.”

She gives a contempt smirk as she looks the sword over. ”So, you don’t have anything to do with Trixie Lulamoon?”

Lulamoon?

“Is that her last name?” You cock your head.

Applejack smirks. ”Oh, so you do know her?”

You give her a scoff. “Hardly. She had a price on her head and we collected it from the Hutt, Diamond Tiara after we turned her in. We’re bounty hunters.”

Applejack sits there and stares you both down another moment before humming and grabbing your lightsaber. ”Where’d you get this then?”

You take a deep breath. “A few days ago, we went to meet Diamond Tiara for more information on Trixie. While we were there, the Sith met us and decided to attack us. We killed two troopers and a Sith warrior who used that lightsaber. I figured he wasn’t going to use it anymore and I’ve always wanted one, so I took it.”

Applejack stares at you. ”Why did the Sith attack you?”

"That doesn't matter right now." You reply. You don't need to tell her everything.

Applejack lowers her eyebrows and puffs out her chest a bit. "I'll decide what matters and what doesn't, Mandalorian. Answer the damn question."

You take a step toward her, still trapped inside the force cage. "Look, the bottom line is that we’re no friends to the Sith. You’ve made a mistake by locking us up.”

Applejack is just about to respond when the door opens behind her and someone walks in behind her. ”He’s telling the truth, Lieutenant. The fault is on us. Neither of these people have any connections to the Sith.”

You all look to see a violet-haired, grey-skinned woman slowly walk into the room. She’s wearing Jedi robes.

”Master Jedi, are you sure?” Applejack asks.

The Jedi stops beside Applejack and nods at her. ”Yes. Please call a medical unit down here to treat their injuries.”

Applejack looks back at you and steps behind the Jedi. She looks sort of… apologetic?

As she begins talking on a comlink, your attention turns to the Jedi as she stands there and faces both you and Sunset. There’s something off about her, even for a Jedi. She’s completely expressionless. Everything about her screams 'boring'. Despite that, she carries herself with the strength and authority that is becoming of a Jedi Master.

She speaks to you and Sunset after a second. ”I am Jedi Master Maud Pie. I would like to personally apologize on behalf of the Galactic Republic for this unfortunate misunderstanding, Mandalorians.”

Author's Note:

A male Twi'lek. (Shining Armor)

Applejack.

Force cages.

Maud Pie, Jedi Master.