Bounty Hunter Anon III

by Sunny Solaire

No Rest for the Wicked

With your armor removed, you sit on the edge of your bed with your head in your hands, thinking back over everything that's happened today.

Crashing your ship, fighting the vornskr, the droids, everything. There's so much on your plate and it's all being piled on so fast. It's all up to you to make this mission a success. These ysalamiri are exactly the edge you need against the Sith and their connection to the Force.

But even if you do get them, you need to be able to leave this planet as soon as possible. Splitting up won't work. You can't protect either Fluttershy or Twilight from droids and vornskr forever. And you especially can't protect them from both at the same time.

You could either prioritize fixing the ship before or after finding the lizards. Which option will get you out of here faster though?

As you're thinking, the door to your bedroom clicks. It slowly starts to slide open and pours a blinding white light into the room.

You look up at the door as it continues to creep open slowly, shielding your eyes from the growing light coming from outside. You hear footsteps.

"Twilight?" You stand up, still shielding your eyes.

After a few seconds, your eyes start to adjust a little. The sound of footsteps get closer. Suddenly, a figure steps into the doorway.

It's an HK droid...

Your eyes widen and you gasp in horror as it looks at you and raises its blaster rifle. The loud blast deafens you as it fires a few bolts into your chest and abdomen.

You fly backwards over the bed and slam against the wall, shrieking in terror as you grip your chest. The pain is sharp and unbelievable. The droid just keeps shooting you.

---

Your eyes shoot open and you scream as you sit up suddenly. You breathe in and out hard, looking around your empty room for the droid. It isn't here though. You're alone. The door is still closed, and there are no holes in your chest... It was just a dream.

You keep panting hard and put your face in your hands. Your forehead is moist with sweat.

"Just a dream..." You tell yourself. "Just a dream... Just a dream..."

Try to slow your breathing down, Sunset. You're okay.

You take a few more deep, slow breaths. You feel that your heartrate is starting to slow down now, which is good. After a few more seconds, you lower your hands and take another look around your room. It's dark and silent. Your armor is in the corner, right where you left it.

The space in bed next to you is empty and you really wish it wasn't right now. Anon has seen you in your low moments before, just like you've seen him in his. You could really use him right now. He always knows how to make you feel better.

You take another deep breath and lay down in bed again, nestling into the covers. You can't seem to close your eyes yet though.

"...Why am I so on-edge? What's wrong with me?" You whisper.

You hate that Anon isn't here with you... Why did you have to have that stupid fight?

Yes, he was wrong on many fronts, and you were rightfully mad at him for comparing you to Gilda, so it is, in fact, all his fault, but... maybe you could've done or said something differently afterwards. He did apologize, after all. You don't know.

Maybe you're just worried about this looming Sith war, more than anything. The two of you have been in hairy situations before, including more than a few interplanetary conflicts, but never something on this scale.

You're scared. You don't want anything to happen without seeing him again.

You need to talk to him. Now.

You take another breath and pull the covers off of yourself to get out of bed. Once you cover yourself with your robe, you open the door to your room and step out into the main hold. The ship is dark and quiet. Everyone is still asleep.

You quietly step across the cold floor toward the central terminal. Spike had been taken out of your ship's systems for the night, so you aren't worried about any prying eyes. You trust Twilight.

You press the comms button and contact Anon. It rings for a few seconds, but he doesn't answer.

You unconsciously want to assume the worst has happened, but Khar Delba is on the edge of Sith Space. He probably doesn't have a good connection. He's fine... You just can't contact him right now, unfortunately... Yeah.

You sigh and turn off your comms before heading back to your room, but you stop after a couple steps. You're not satisfied.

You turn back to the terminal and activate your comms again. If you can't talk to him directly, you'll leave him a message. It's the next best thing.

Once it starts recording, you clear your throat and look at the camera. "Hi, Anon. Um... just wanted to let you know that I'm okay. We ran into some trouble, but it's nothing we can't handle. We should be on our way tomorrow." You pause for a second. "I miss you... A lot... Contact me as soon as you can, okay? I want to talk to you again. I know you're okay doing whatever you're doing, but I'd still like to hear your voice. So...as soon as you get this." You give him a big smile. "Bye, love."

You stop recording and exhale, pausing for another moment. That felt nice. You prep the message and press 'send'. Hopefully, he gets it soon.

You sigh again and deactivate your comms, leaning on the terminal and crossing your arms.

After a few long moments of sitting there and thinking some more, you hear the sound of shuffling footsteps from within the ship. "Sunset?"

You look up to see Twilight enter the main hold. She's rubbing her eyes and wearing... nothing. Nothing but a very loose-fitting and revealing robe. You can see absolutely everything she has to offer. You never tagged her as a girl who sleeps in the buff, but then again, she is a twi'lek. It shouldn't come as a surprise.

You cock an eyebrow at her as she enters the main hold.

She squints as she looks at you. "...Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. I had a nightmare and it woke me up." You look down at her for a moment. "I, uh... see you've certainly made yourself at home."

Slightly confused, she looks down at her exposed body and gasps sharply after a moment.

She frantically covers herself completely with her robe. "I'm-I'm sorry! I'm so, so sorry... I forgot that humans are more conscientious about nudity than twi'leks... Especially at night."

You laugh a little at her flustered reaction. "It's okay, Twilight. If Anon were here instead and saw you, I'd be a little angry, but you're fine."

She smiles and giggles nervously. If it was brighter in here, you'd probably be able to see her blushing. You should probably change the subject. She's obviously embarrassed.

"What are you doing up?" You ask.

"I, uh, I had to use the refresher and I heard you talking." She replies.

You hum. "Sorry. I was sending a message to Anon real quick."

"What did you need from him?"

You shake your head and frown. "Just... I needed to talk to him, but he's not available right now."

You sigh again and cross your arms.

Twilight stands there awkwardly for a moment before speaking again. "Well, if you ever need to talk about anything, you can always talk to me." You look up at her and she smiles. "That's what friends are for, after all."

You give her a little half-grin. "Thanks, Twilight. Maybe another time though. I'm a bit tired now."

She giggles. "Alright. I'll talk to you in the morning then."

"Sounds good." You stand up straight and head to your room again.

"Sunset?" You stop walking and look back at her. "I know today was hard, but tomorrow will be a better day. Don't worry."

You smile and nod once. "Yeah... Thanks, Twilight."

"You're welcome." She smiles. "Goodnight, Sunset."

"Goodnight."

You enter your room and close the door behind you. Your smile fades and you take another breath.

What is going on? Stress isn't anything new. Especially in your line of work. Bounty hunting is a complicated profession, after all.

Is it because it's just you this time? Sure, Big Mac can fight, but he's been too busy fixing the ship. He has to stay here.

You remove your robe and get back into bed as you continue thinking to yourself. You also need to find out who is sending these droids after you. How are you supposed to figure that out though?

You groan and press your hands against your eyes for a moment.

Wait. They're droids. You've destroyed a few of them, sure, but dead droids can still speak.

A light bulb turns on in your head and you stare up at the ceiling as your epiphany hits you. "Its memory core..."

That's it. You could go to where you destroyed that black droid, recover its head, and search through its data until you find a record of its master or something. Any lead at all would be helpful at this point.

Twilight and Fluttershy can't go out into the jungle by themselves, and you don't want to take the chance of failing to protect them, so you'll take Big Mac with you for extra muscle to retrieve it. You can afford to wait on repairing the ship for a little while. It won't matter if you don't stop these droids first, anyway.

You'll grab the droid and bring it back here, where you can analyze its memory core for information. Maybe you can find a way to bring its master to you instead of you finding him.

You grin and take a deep breath as you close your eyes. Good idea, Sunset.

Author's Note: