Like the Great Mythosaur of Old
“So, what brings you kids to Thyferra?” Querrick asked, as he leaned against a wall of the lounge, eyeing the two Theelin younglings with great suspicion.
“We’re meeting our parents, there.” The older one, Deeka, said in a voice that wasn’t quite confident enough, in Querrick’s opinion.
“Why weren’t your parents with you on Jakku?” He prodded.
“Oh, we… we were staying with our aunt.” Deeka stammered.
Querrick narrowed his eyes, not believing a word of the kid’s story. But before he could continue, the girl spoke up again.
“If you’ll excuse us, we’d like to rest. It’s been a long day.”
Before Querrick could object, the two were out of the lounge, rushing towards one of the nearby passengers’ quarters. Annoyed, the Cathar let out a slight growl, but decided it best to just keep an eye on the situation for now. Should further action be needed, he could easily take it later.
Settling in to one of the couches in the lounge, he noticed the Doc heading towards the very quarters that the kids had hid away. He was out of earshot from Querrick, but whatever he wanted, he didn’t get, as Querrick watched him retreat back to his new medbay, looking a mixture of dejected and annoyed.
As Querrick pondered the Doc’s interest in their new passengers, the ship finally began takeoff.
The trip to Thyferra would take at least a day and a half, if not longer, Knoll knew. It seemed like the trip would be rather uneventful, as well. Most of the crew seemed to prefer to keep to themselves, which suited him just fine. The Arkanian was not exactly a social creature by nature. He was fascinated in observing the social interactions of others, but engaging in them himself was never anything he took great interest in. Unless, of course, it served to further his research.
His research at the moment, however, was focused solely on the Zeltron pheromones he had acquired from Crix, one of the passengers from their first “job” aboard the Titan.
The Zeltrons fascinated him, as a species. How could this pheromone affect so many other species so efficiently? And how could he extract that effect to make use of in his own work? These were mysteries that needed to be solved.
Unfortunately, his work was interrupted by a timid knocking at his door.
“Enter.” He answered.
As the door slid open, the two Theelin younglings were revealed. They looked sheepish, and more than a little cautious.
“You wanted to see us, earlier?” Deeka asked.
“Ah! Yes, come in, please.” Knoll replied, putting on his best bedside manner, “As I said earlier, I’m the doctor of this ship. And as you are off-world passengers, it is my duty to perform a simple scan to ensure you’re not bringing on any foreign contagions that might prove harmful to the crew or yourselves. It would have been nice if we had done this before take off, but what I want apparently doesn’t really matter to the rest of the crew.”
Noticing the children’s quizzical expression, Knoll continued, “Please, come take a seat. This will take but a moment.”
After performing the rudimentary scan, Knoll saw that the younglings’ blood contained trace amounts of substances that no child should ever be in contact with. The numbers were small enough that they would soon be metabolized out of their systems. But there was one substance that stuck out in particular to Knoll, which he found extremely concerning. How and why would two children be exposed to that? The only conclusion he could come up with was that the children were being used as smuggling mules. But who on Thyferra would want that?
“Hmm.” He hummed to himself, then forcing a smile, he turned to the Theelin children and said, “Okay, you’re good to go. Thank you for your time.”
As the two got to their feet, Deeka spoke up once more, “So, we’re okay? We’re not sick or anything?”
Knoll continued to smile, and said, “Not at all. You’re perfectly healthy. Thank you for allowing me to perform the tests.”
Knoll noticed the girl’s expression soften the slightest bit, as she said, “Okay, thank you doctor.” They then exited the medbay swiftly, surely to retreat back to the room they had claimed as their own.
Shortly after the children left, there was another knock on the medbay door. Before Knoll could respond this time, the door simply slid open, as Querrick entered, closing the door behind him.
“Hey Doc.” He greeted, “So, what’d you find out?”
“I beg your pardon?” Knoll asked.
“The kids.” Querrick replied, “What’d you find out about the kids?”
Knoll quietly laughed to himself at the Cathar calling the younglings “kids” when he could not possibly be any older than sixteen, maybe seventeen standard years of age, himself. Of course, he was no expert on Cathar physiology, but he felt he wasn’t too off the mark there.
“Well… I found a number of minuscule trace substances in their bloodstreams… They’ve been involved in things no child should be involved with.”
“You think they were property?” Querrick asked, giving heavy emphasis on that last word.
“It’s possible.” Knoll confirmed. He had his own suspicions, but he did not want to jump to any conclusions just yet.
“You think they’re trouble?” Querrick asked.
“I don’t know yet.” Knoll replied, honestly.
The Cathar eyed Knoll for a moment, but just nodded and turned out the door.
It was clear the ship’s “security officer” had his own suspicions. But Knoll feared far worse, he suspected. Those children may be more trouble than any of them could know. If he had the opportunity, he would try to get more out of them. But it would be difficult, considering just how skittish they were being.
Just then, an idea struck the doctor, and he swiftly left the haven of his medical bay to seek out the ship’s tech expert.
Sadra was in her new quarters, and had just finished putting additional security measures on the safe in her room, when she heard a knock at the door.
“Come in?” She said in more of a question than response.
As she watched the door slide open, she saw the Arkanian doctor stride in, closing the door behind him. “I have a request.” He began.
“Go on.” Sadra replied, drawing out her words in confusion.
“I am in need of some special equipment. I was hoping you might just be the person to go to for what I need.” Knoll continued, “Do you have any sort of trackers or tracers? Something that would allow us to keep an eye on the movements of those Theelin younglings?”
Sadra was already learning of the doctor’s eccentricities, but this was a new one to her. “Why would you need to do such a thing?” She asked.
“I’m concerned for them.” He explained, “I’d just have more peace of mind if I was able to know that they were safe after we part company.”
Sadra looked the doctor once over and said, “Huh, you didn’t strike me as the caring type.”
“I have my reasons.” Knoll replied.
Sadra continued to give the doctor a look that clearly stated her disbelief, but said, “Yeah, I have some trackers. But the problem is, you’ll have to find some way of getting them on them, without them knowing.”
“Hmm…” The doctor replied, “That may be a problem… I’ll be in touch.”
He then left as quickly as he appeared, leaving the Elomin confused and ever more weary of the ship’s “good doctor.”
“Now approaching Thyferra.” Butter’s bored voice announced over the ship’s intercom, “Exiting hyperspace.”
Querrick was glad to hear the news. He disliked all this long space travel. It was too uneventful. Too quiet. Too much time spent sitting around, doing nothing. The Theelin kids gave him purpose, as he watched their every move, but even that wasn’t much, as they mostly stayed in their rooms. So, for a majority of the time he was left to while away the hours, cleaning his rifle, exercising in the cargo bay, or just lounging. He hated the down time.
As the ship lurched out of hyperspace, though, as if answering his wish, the ship’s alarms began to blare. Immediately jumping to his feet, Querrick rushed to the cockpit, where Butter, Knoll, and Sadra were already stationed.
“What’s going on?” Querrick asked.
“We were followed.” Butter answered, “A ship just exited hyperspace right behind us. Dangerously close behind us.”
As if on cue, the ship’s comms lit up, as the pursuer was apparently hailing them.
As Butter answered the comm, Querrick heard a gruff voice shouting over the alarms, “Unidentified Wayfarer-Class cruiser, shut down your engines and let me board. You are harboring two renegade Theelin. In the name of the Hutt Cartel, I am here to claim the bounty on their heads.”
Rushing to the ship’s comm station, Querrick responded to the call, “Bounty hunter, state your name.”
“My name is Dooga Jet.” The harsh voice replied, “Shut down your engines or I will use force. This is your last warning.”
Hearing the name, Querrick let out a curse. He then turned to Butter and asked, “How fast can this thing move?”
“Let us find out.” Butter replied.
The ship then suddenly lurched forward with such speed that it swept Querrick off his feet. Luckily, he was able to grasp the back of the seat the droid was currently sitting in. After a few moments of flailing in the air like a banner in the wind, the ship’s stabilizers kicked into high gear, allowing Querrick to regain his footing.
The ship was far faster than it appeared. This was good. But it was not fast enough. Soon another klaxon joined the first alarm, as the ship lurched again, this time from a harsh blast from the pursuing bounty hunter.
“He is firing on us.” Butter announced.
“No kidding.” Sadra replied, dryly.
“I’m going to check the children.” Knoll shouted over the alarms.
Querrick watched the ship readouts wearily. He was no expert in such things, but he knew the basics. And he could see that the bounty hunter was closing in on them.
“There’s something I can try.” He announced, “It might fix this issue. Or it might make it much, much worse…”
Noticing the lack of response from the other two in the cockpit, too busy with trying to keep the ship running and out of the way of the hunter’s blaster fire, he took a deep breath, and opened comms once more.
As Sadra frantically did her best to reduce the system strain the ship was suffering from by the attack, she suddenly heard Querrick shouting in a language she’d never heard.
The Cathar shouted, “Gar cuyir koperar bat clan Balor! Gev ibic jii!”
Much to Sadra’s surprise, the bounty hunter responded over the comms in the same language, saying, “Pehea vaabir gar kar’taylir ibac gai? Tion’ad cuyir gar?”
Sadra watched, now very interested, as Querrick shook his head and responded, “Gev tracyn!”
Again, the bounty hunter responded, “Haat tion’ad gar cuyir. Duumir ni at rusur.”
“Gar ganar akaanir aliit. Vi kelir urcir o’r akaan.” Querrick finished, shutting off the comms.
As Knoll opened the door to the quarters the children were currently occupying, he found them sprawled out on the floor, struggling to regain their footing.
“What’s gong on?!” Deeka asked, clearly panicked.
“We’re being pursued by a bounty hunter.” Knoll replied, “He says he’s after you. If there’s anything you’d like to share with me, now would be the time to do it. Otherwise, I cannot guarantee your safety.”
Knoll watched as the two children exchanged weary glances, then returned their attention to him. “We’re running from the Hutts.” Jive spoke up, “We used to be dancers, entertainers. We worked for the Hutts. We had no other choice.”
“But the things they made us do… the places we had to go…” Deeka added, “We’re just kids. We couldn’t stay there.”
“I see.” Knoll replied, his previous suspicions disappearing like a puff of smoke, “Come with me. I’ll make sure that bounty hunter does not get to you.”
Again, the children exchanged brief glances, but quickly scrambled to their feet and followed the doctor. Knoll led them down to the ship’s massive cargo bay. Fortune had apparently shined on them, when they acquired this ship, as it had a number of very large, very empty cargo crates stashed onboard.
“Get in.” Knoll instructed as he opened one of the crates in the back. “Don’t move from here. Don’t make any noise. I will do my best to keep you hidden, in the off chance that hunter actually boards this ship.”
“Thank you.” Jive said.
Knoll nodded, and sealed the crate once more, doing his best to not disturb the layers of dust it had accumulated while in drydock.
As Knoll returned to the cockpit, he caught the tail end of Querrick shouting some sort of bizarre alien gibberish over the comms. He was fairly certain it wasn’t Catharese, as that usually contained a lot more growls, roars, and barks. But again, he reminded himself, he was hardly an expert on the species.
Shaking his head of the quandaries suddenly swimming through his mind, he announced, “The children are former Hutt slaves. They’re trying to escape. We need to help them.”
“No duh, Divo.” Sadra replied sarcastically, referencing the infamous Coruscanti detective.
“That hardly matters at the moment.” Querrick cut in, “Butter, does this thing have firepower?”
“Yes, there is a dorsal quad laser cannon.” Butter answered.
“Fantastic.” Querrick replied, rushing past Knoll.
“Wait.” Knoll called out, catching Querrick.
The Cathar gave the doctor a look of confusion and annoyance.
“Trust me, this will help.” Knoll said. He then proceeded to apply pressure to various points of the Cathar’s body, then asked, “How do you feel?”
Querrick simply showed a fang filled grin and gave a slightly devious chuckle in response, rushing out of the room.
“What was that?” Sadra asked.
“Simply a way of ensuring one’s body performs to its full potential.” Knoll replied.
Finding his way to the cannon’s controls, Querrick paused for a minute. He had never been allowed anywhere near anything like this in the past. It wasn’t at all like firing his rifle, he realized, as he glanced over the controls.
“Eh, how much more different could it be?” He muttered to himself, as he strapped in.
Getting a feel for the controls, he took aim at the pursuing ship. Pulling the trigger, he felt the powerful blast of the cannon as it let loose its volley of blasterfire.
Letting out a roar of appreciation for the ship’s deceptive power, he watched as his first shot flew sightly off mark, only dinging the ship.
Understanding the behemoth’s true potential, Querrick took a more careful aim, this second go around. A single shot rang true, leaving a decent gash in the ship’s plating, but obviously not doing enough, yet.
Querrick could tell that Dooga was now fully aware of the threat posed to him, and watched as the smaller ship began to maneuver erratically. He only hoped the hunter was not fully aware of the threat.
As if in answer to the pursuer’s movements, Querrick was surprised to see that their own ship had pulled an incredibly sharp turn, and was now barreling towards the hunter’s ship.
“Butter you crazy bastard!” Querrick muttered as he watched as their own ship rammed into the hunter’s, sending the smaller ship spiraling.
Realizing that this was a prime opportunity, Querrick took aim once more, and let loose another volley of shots. This time, though, all four rang true. One shot blasted off one of the wings, another shot a hole through the body of the ship, and the other two obliterated the ship’s engines.
Leaving nothing to chance, though, Querrick fired again. He let out a primal roar as he fired bolt after bolt of thick ionized plasma, watching the enemy ship blow up in a glorious ball of fire.
Querrick panted, drenched in sweat, “The hell did the Doc do to me?” He wondered as the adrenaline began to fade from his body. It was like all his senses had been on high alert, more heightened than they’d ever been. But now… now he was just drained…
As he pondered this odd sensation, he also pondered his own actions. And was, once again, confused at the emotions they brought. He had killed one of them. It was something he’d always dreamed of doing. So why was this victory so hollow? Was it because it was one he didn’t know well? Or would he only have felt worse if it was? Wasn’t this what he always wanted?
Querrick shook his head angrily. Too many questions. He hated being in his own head. And he was too exhausted to deal with these strange emotions, anyway. Remembering there was still a job to do, he unstrapped himself from the turret, and meandered back towards the cockpit.
As he entered, he saw the others still within, and he said, “I gotta say… I like this ship. It’s deceptively powerful and fast.”
Butter shrugged and replied, “It’s a lumbering beast compared to the sleek, smooth feel of a speeder, but it gets the job done, I guess.”
Querrick laughed, “It’s a beast alright. Like the great Mythosaur of old…”
“That some sort of animal?” Sadra asked.
“Used to be. A powerful one at that.” Querrick replied. “Hey. We need a name for this ship, right? How about ‘The Mythosaur?’”
Querrick was just talking without really thinking, but the name somehow seemed appropriate, riding this great “beast” through a sea of stars.
“One name is as good as another.” Butter shrugged, entering the name into the ship’s registry.
“So, I take it we’re in the clear?” The doctor spoke up.
“Oh, yeah. Yeah, the hunter’s dead. Kids are safe.” Querrick replied, struggling to stay coherent from exhaustion.
“Excellent news.” Knoll replied, “I’ll inform the children.”
As Knoll opened the crate, he saw that the children were, once again, sprawled on the floor. Obviously due to Butter’s erratic piloting.
“It’s okay, you’re safe, now.” Knoll announced, helping the two Theelin to their feet.
“The bounty hunter is gone?” Deeka asked.
“Blasted to pieces in the vacuum of space.” Knoll answered.
Much to his surprise, the children rushed, and hugged him, shouting their thanks.
“There, there.” Knoll said, patting their heads, “That bounty hunter is gone, but the Hutts don’t give up easily. I suggest you two find a way to disappear, quickly.”
“That’s what we intend to do.” Deeka replied.
“Are you okay on credits?” Knoll asked, “Do you need any help getting started in your new life?”
The children glanced at each other, grinning, and Deeka said, “I think we’ll be okay.”
“I told you, we’re here to pick up medical supplies.” Butter repeated over comms, sounding irritated.
“And I told you, you aren’t getting landing permission unless you tell me who the hell you are and send me the necessary documents.” The lady over the comms repeated back.
Querrick was watching the bizarre interaction with great confusion. Apparently the droid had an issue with doing things by the book. Realizing that this was going nowhere fast, Querrick grabbed control of the comm and said, “Hello, sorry about that, my droid is… malfunctioning.” He said, eyeing Butter, who seemed to somehow be rolling his photoreceptors, “Here’s the stuff you need. This is the Mythosaur, with the Good Trader. Here to pick up a shipment of medical supplies.”
“Oh, finally. Thank you!” The air traffic control woman replied, “You should really get that droid checked out. You’re clear to land on docking platform two. Tammy will be there to greet you and get your shipment loaded up on the ship.”
“Thank you, and yeah, I’ll do that.” Querrick replied, not taking his eyes off the droid. Ending the call, he asked, “The hell is your problem?”
“Bureaucracy!” Butter shouted, throwing his hands in the air as he stormed out of the cockpit.
Querrick then looked over to Sadra, who just gave a shrug and equally puzzled expression.
Knoll had to hand it to those children, they picked a beautiful place to hide. Thyferra was absolutely stunning. The air was so much purer than any of the other planets he had been on recently. He almost wished they could stay a little longer. But Butter was busy loading up the crates of supplies (while grumbling incoherently), and he knew they would soon be on their way. But not before he got his own order finished.
“Okay, Dr. Din. Here’s all the things you requested.” The human woman called Tammy announced, holding a large box with the MediPly logo plastered over it.
“My thanks to you.” Knoll replied, taking the box in hand.
“Always happy to make a sale.” Tammy replied, taking the credit chit in hand, “You be sure to come back should you need anything more.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” Knoll replied, giving the woman a warm smile.
Querrick was, for once, glad the trip from Thyferra to their next destination, Corellia, was a semi-long one. After the firefight with Dooga Jet, and whatever it was the Doc had done to him, he was completely drained. After hitting the showers, he retired to his hammock in the cargo bay and slept for most of the trip.
When he awoke, he found that the onboard ship time was around midday. They would soon be at Corellia. But not for a couple more hours. Grabbing a snack from the galley, Querrick wandered to the lounge and plopped down on one of the couches, somehow still on edge from his altercations earlier.
“Ah, you’re finally awake.” A voice interrupted.
As Querrick looked, he saw the Doc standing at the entryway of the lounge. “Oh, hey, what’s up, Doc?” He asked.
“I just wanted to clear something up with you.” Knoll began, “Those younglings… When you asked about them. I knew you were suspicious. Of them. And of what I thought.”
Querrick raised an eyebrow, but said nothing, allowing the doctor to continue.
“I had my suspicions as well. I thought they might have been working for the Hutts. Smugglers. Spice mules, so to speak. But I wasn’t positive, and didn’t want to raise undue alarm. I apologize for not being more open about it.”
Querrick shrugged and said, “I get that. But hey, we’re a crew now. If you think there’s a potential for danger, it’s better if more people know about it. More eyes on a problem is always better.”
Knoll grinned slightly, and replied, “An excellent point.” He then left.
Querrick then sighed, and stretched out on the couch. He was more than a little surprised that that was all the Doc wanted to speak with him about, all things considered.
His relaxation attempt was once again interrupted though, as a new voice interrupted his thoughts. “Hey, Querrick, you got a minute?”
“Hey Horns, what do ya need?” Querrick replied, not looking up, already recognizing the voice.
“It’s ‘Sadra,’ first of all.” Sadra replied, entering the lounge.
“Sure, sure.” Querrick replied, propping himself up on one elbow to meet the Elomin’s gaze.
“And secondly.” She continued, “What was that all about earlier? You and that hunter. You knew him.”
“Yes indeed.” Querrick replied, coyly, “I knew him and he knew me.”
“Yeah, but, you had a vendetta against that guy. You weren’t just doing it for those kids. You wanted him destroyed.” Sadra accused.
Querrick looked Sadra deep in the eyes, before letting out another long sigh, leaning back in the couch, staring up at the ship’s ceiling, “No.” He finally spoke, “It wasn’t a vendetta. Not really. He knew me. I knew him. I couldn’t allow him to know I was on this ship.”
“But why?” Sadra asked.
Querrick took a long moment to think how to phrase the answer before saying, “Those kids… I guess you could say I was… in a similar situation as they were, until very recently. Different. But similar…”
“I see…” Sadra replied, “I can actually relate to that more than you might think.”
Querrick highly doubted that woman could relate at all to his situation. Like he had implied. It was similar in some regards. But very, very different.
“Thanks for the chat, Horns.” Querrick said, not wanting to broach the subject further.
“Sure…” Sadra replied, thankfully getting the hint and leaving the Cathar in peace.
“Thanks, my droid will take care of the docking fees.” Querrick ended the call with the Corellian air traffic control worker.
“What?” Butter asked.
“Hey, that’s what you get for refusing to take care of this crap yourself, buddy.” The Cathar replied, patting the droid on the shoulder and exiting the cockpit.
“Ugh…” Butter replied, getting to his feet.
He hated all the bureaucratic nonsense involved in simply landing a ship in this galaxy. Why could sentient beings not simply see the efficiency in his own methods? Documentation, schedules, names, fees. It was all so unnecessary.
Shaking his head, Butter made his way to the cargo bay and unloaded the medical supplies. Bound for a specialty droid shop, of all places, and began the trek, with his fellow crew mates.
Being the ever vigilant droid, Butter made sure to keep an eye out for any potential threats. There was always the possibility that someone would show an unnatural interest in whatever they were hauling.
But as he scanned the streets, all he saw were the usual gaggle of onlookers, mostly staring at him. Annoyed, he called out, “Yes, yes, one look is free. Twice and I’ll have to charge.”
This garnered some laughs and a very perplexed look upwards from the tiny Cathar at his side.
Overall, though, the trip was uneventful. They had reached the droid specialty shop without any real trouble. However, it seemed as though trouble had found the shop itself.
As Butter examined the shop, he saw that the doors were unnecessarily blown off their hinges, tools and scrap metal were strewn everywhere. The register was over turned. There seemed to be some crude symbol of some sort of horned humanoid spray painted on the walls.
“What the hell happened here?” Sadra asked.
“Psh.” Butter scoffed, “Amateur work, at best.”
Just then, the crew heard a soft groaning coming from somewhere behind the front desk.
As Butter and the doctor rushed to the sound, they found an unconscious female Ardennian.
“She’s still alive, at least.” Knoll announced, getting to work injecting the alien with all manner of stims.
Minutes later, the Ardennian groaned again, this time much louder, as she groped at the ground in an attempt to get herself upright. Peering at Butter and the others, she spoke up, “I take it you’re not with those hooligans?”
“Uh, no, I should say we’re not.” Knoll answered, “What happened here?”
“Bah.” The Ardennian scoffed, waving one of her four arms, “Bunch of no good punks. New gang in town, trying to look bigger than they are.”
“As I said, amateurs.” Butter replied, matter-of-factly.
“You got that right, droid.” The Ardennian replied, “So, who are you lot?”
“Ah, yes, I’m Knoll Din, and these are my compatriots. We’re here to deliver your MediPly supplies.” The doctor announced.
The Adennian squinted at the Arkanian, as sudden realization donned upon her, “Oh, you guys are… you work for that Janrose lady? The Good Trader?”
“That is correct.” Knoll confirmed.
“Well, it’s refreshing to see someone delivering what I ask on time for a change.” The Ardennian replied, “Name’s Lagooda.”
“A pleasure.” Knoll replied.
“Yeah, yeah, so, we’ve got the supplies, how’s about you get us our pay?” Butter interrupted, getting bored with all the pleasantries.
“Hmm…” Lagooda hummed, “That is a problem, see… Those thugs took all my credits when they roughed up the place. I can’t pay you. But… I’ll tell ya what. If you go to those goons’ hideout and rough ’em up for me… get me back my credits… I’ll pay ya what you’re owed, plus a little extra on the side. How’s a hundred credits grab ya?”
“One-hundred credits to take on an entire street gang?” Butter asked, incredulously. “That hardly seems fair.”
“Well, you’re free to keep whatever else you find there.” Lagooda continued.
“That goes without saying.” Butter replied.
Lagooda made a harrumphing-like noise and said, “What’s your name, droid?”
Butter remained silent. But the Ardennian simply crawled closer, peering at his chassis.
“K-B7R, eh?” She read.
“I prefer ‘Butter.’” He corrected her.
“Butter?” She asked, “Oh, I get it, B7R. Heh, clever. Well, Butter, how’s about this to sweeten the pot? You do this job for me, and I’ll give you an upgrade of your choice. Free of charge.”
Butter processed this new offer, and said, “That will be acceptable.”
Querrick didn’t really have much interest in the rewards being offered by that old little alien. But he was eager for some action. It was odd. But after his encounter with the hunter, all he felt like doing was busting and blasting some heads. And taking down a group of punk gangsters sounded like a good outlet for that.
As they arrived at the rundown building, Querrick was surprised to see that Butter opted to go to the window. Whatever he found in there, Querrick wasn’t sure, but he knew the element of surprise was gone when the bizarre droid requested that occupants open the door and allow him to enter.
Unsurprisingly, this was met by a blaster bolt shattering the window and striking Butter directly in the duraplast chest plate.
He then watched as the droid approached the door, held up a fist, and activated some sort of electrical current along what could be considered his knuckles. He then threw an unbelievably hard punch right at the heavy door, causing it to fly off its hinges. As he was some feet away, Querrick could not see inside yet, but he was certain he heard a loud groan from within as the door most likely flattened someone inside.
“I tried to ask you politely, to let me in.” Butter said to some unseen assailant as he walked into the building. The following noise was certainly Butter’s electrified fist meeting the flesh of some poor fool, most likely killing him.
As Querrick and the others rushed to join their droid friend, Querrick caught a glimpse of the carnage within. On the ground, pinned under a heavy door, was a Devaronian. Whether he was still alive or not, Querrick couldn’t tell. At the entry of what appeared to be a large closet, another Devaronian was lying on the ground, sporting a bloody hole in the middle of his chest. Further in, was Butter. He was holding yet another Devaronian, except this one’s head was lolling back and forth in an unnatural way. Clearly, Butter had snapped the man’s neck with the force of his punch.
“This room is clear, shall we continue?” Butter asked.
“Guess we’re doing this.” Sadra said, wearily, drawing her holdout blaster.
As the other two followed Butter into the next room, Querrick lingered, ensuring no one else had seen the altercation from outside. Ensuring the coast was clear, he followed too. Stepping on the door, he heard a groan coming from the Devaronian pinned under the door. Holding his rifle straight down, Querrick pulled the trigger as he walked past the thug’s head. Finishing the droid’s dirty work.
Reaching another door, Knoll watched as Butter readied another unnecessary assault. In seconds, the door was flying to the ground, revealing a group of three more Devaronians. The gang name Lagooda had mentioned, the “Red Devils,” suddenly made a lot of sense. Not very original, in Knoll’s mind, but it made sense.
Upon seeing the door go flying, the three thugs turned tail and ran down the hallway, out of sight.
Before Knoll or the others could pursue, however, two more Devaronian thugs appeared, these were carrying blasters, and ready for a fight.
Dodging the initial wave of blasterfire, Knoll ducked and weaved, making his way to one of the thugs. Devaronian’s were hardly rare creatures in the galaxy, and Knoll had done quite a bit of research on the species in the past. He knew their physiology quite well. And so, with a swift strike to a vital point in the neck, he succeeded in blocking all blood flow to the brain. Within seconds, the Devaronian collapsed on the floor, dead.
Before he could turn his attention to the second assailant, he heard a loud blaster shot, and looked as the nearby Devaronian sported a fresh hole in his chest, courtesy of the Cathar’s sniper rifle.
“Surely one of these Devaronians will listen to reason.” Butter exclaimed, as he hurried down the hall.
Only slightly concerned for the droid’s safety, Sadra followed. They soon reached another door. And Sadra didn’t have to guess what the droid would do.
Sure enough, the large, heavy door was soon flying off its hinges. From what Sadra could see, it crushed two of the three Devaronians. One died instantly, but the other was clearly trying to scramble out from under the debris. His efforts were futile, though, as Sadra watched Butter leap into the air, far higher than she suspected a droid of his make was capable of, and landed on the broken door with a sickening crunch.
“He’s probably got that handled.” Sadra said to herself, watching the third Devaronian cower into a corner.
The others may be there to simply crack some skulls. But there were bigger prizes to be had, and she knew it. Cautiously opening other rooms, she found mostly empty storage spaces of no real importance. Finally, though, she found her prize. A room with a large, glowing computer terminal, unoccupied, waited for her behind one of the many hallway doors.
Greedily smacking her lips, she got to work on the terminal. The security was pathetically sad, and she was soon granted access. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a whole lot there for her, once she got in. There were a number of security cameras within the building, to which she now had access. For a moment, she watched, as Knoll and Querrick took out a few more thugs in some sort of sleazy dancer’s lounge, the green Twi’lek dancer cowering in the backstage dressing room.
Meanwhile, Butter was doing unspeakable things to one of the last Devaronian thugs in the refresher… Quickly shutting down that footage, she set her sights on better things.
It did not take her long to find the thugs’ credit stash. In addition to the three-thousand credits taken from Lagooda, there were also two-thousand more credits up for grabs. Quickly transferring the credits to her own account, she wiped her activity from the terminal and shut it down.
“Are they really all dead?” The Twi’lek dancer asked, cowering behind the half opened dressing room door.
“Yes, I assure you, you are quite safe.” Knoll replied.
“Oh, thank you!” The Twi’lek cried out, hugging Knoll tightly.
Querrick just watched the sickening scene from the lounge entryway. He had no interest in “damsels in distress.” But if the Doc got some pleasure out of it, all the more power to him, he supposed.
“I don’t mean to sound too forward, miss, but, I am a doctor. Should you need anything… looked at, I would be happy to assist you.” Knoll continued.
“Oh, honey, I’m fine.” The Twi’lek replied, suddenly showing a completely different personality, “So, are you taking over this place?”
“I’ve no interest in the place.” Knoll replied, “I was simply hired to clear it out. For some odd reason…”
“Huh.” The Twi’lek replied, “Well… In that case, I think I may just keep it for myself.”
Knoll shrugged, “If you want to clean out all the bodies, its yours.”
“Just keep in mind, whatever we’ve found in here, it’s ours to keep.” Querrick chimed in as the Twi’lek made to leave the room.
The Twi’lek then stopped dead in her tracks, and looked Querrick once over. “Hmm… Is that so?” She asked, putting on her most obviously seductive voice.
Querrick simply scowled at the tramp in response.
“Hmm… you’re cute. I like your eyes.” The Twi’lek continued. She then reached her hand up behind one of Querrick’s ears, and began scratching it.
Querrick instantly lost control. He had never been touched in such a way. And he could not deny the sudden, uncontrollable euphoria it spread throughout his body. He temporarily forgot everything, as he instinctively started purring.
After a few moments, though, he came to his senses and batted the woman’s hand away, saying, “Hey! Hands off!”
The Twi’lek simply giggled and smiled, saying, “If you’re ever back this way, you’ve always got a place here, cutie.” She then left the room.
Querrick shuddered in revulsion. He could not deny the pleasure that touch brought him, but the thought of who and what it was that brought it, made him borderline nauseated. Shuddering again, he made to leave the building, eager to get out of the blood strewn hellhole.
Knoll watched the interaction with great interest. Of particular note to him was that the Cathar actually purred. But his reaction afterwards was also quite intriguing. This creature was clearly one of some complexity. As he watched Querrick leave, Knoll muttered quietly to himself, “Interesting…”
Realizing that their job was surely done, if not nearing completion, he left in search of the others.
“Butter’s… back there.” Sadra said as she passed by Knoll, “I’ll meet you two outside.”
Intrigued again, by the interactions of his fellow crew members, Knoll left in search of Butter. There were a number of Devaronian bodies along the path, all mangled and bloodied in some way or another. Eventually, the path of destruction led to the hideout’s refresher. Within, he spied one final Devaronian, whose head had been shoved down into a toilet. It was clearly dead. And, also in the refresher, making use of the shower, was Butter. The droid was getting doused in water, as large amounts of blood and other bodily fluids pooled at his feet, attempting to seep through the mostly clogged drain.
Knoll cleared his throat, and asked, “Ready to leave?”
“Ah, here come the triumphant heroes!” Lagooda welcomed the crew, “So, did you get the job done?”
“They won’t be bothering you any more.” Knoll said.
“You’re sure? They aren’t gonna come back in a few weeks and rough me up again, are they?” Lagooda asked.
“That’d be quite a feat considering they’re all dead.” Querrick quipped.
Lagooda let out a hearty laugh, and said, “I knew I had a good feeling about you!” She then turned to Butter and said, “Now, droid. About that free upgrade.”
