Ask Return to Sender

[Aeron]

The weight of our burdens is heaviest when they stop moving, thought Aeron Mathis as he lugged Rainer Devooo, a Rodian mark, out of the space station on Ord Mantell. Aeron took a deep breath and lugged his bound and incapacitated burden across the square. Public transport was just coming to a stop, as he crossed the street. Aeron stepped in and paid his fare. As he started to move in the droid driver cleared it’s nonexistent throat. Aeron cocked an eyebrow.

“You’ll need to pay for your, mmmmm, friend, sir.”

Aeron frowned like he just got crop dusted. He could feel his blood pressure rising. His free hand started toward his blaster, but he stopped, he was about to get paid, this was just another expense he could report and be reimbursed for. He slipped another credit chit into the slot.

“Thank you for your cooperation,” said the droid.

Aeron unceremoniously dumped Devooo into the nearest open seat and slid in next to him. The transport was sparsely populated, but that didn’t stop the few aboard from staring him down. Aeron always felt a little on edge when the prize was close. Might have been fear. Wasn’t uncommon for employers to burn hunters without the guilds backing, shit, Aeron had been offered a job to burn another, and he’d taken it with a smile. So far he hadn’t found the end of what he’d do for money, but… it wasn’t really for the money was it?

The hunter’s prosthetic started spazzing out again, and Aeron winced as sparks spiderwebbed up his arm. This damn thing better not explode…He hit it a couple of times his fingers flexed as though in great pain and then went slack before returning to normal. This job was the payday he needed to get some general maintenance done. Without the pay, he’d be karked.

The transport hit a pocket of turbulence and the smattering of passengers gasped in unison. Aeron took a chance to glance around. His eyes met another’s. A mean-looking Weequay with hard eyes gloured back at him. Shit. Aeron held his gaze for a moment longer then the ship steadied and he turned back around. He let his right hand slip to the butt of his blaster.

@Song

 

[Hatice Altaris]

Hatice had many names. Many identities. She tried them on like fine dresses in a boutique shop before discarding them for the next. Many times she passed as a no-named civilian, from a street vendor to a royal courtesan, spying on her enemies from dark corners and safe distances. Some days she was Dona Nadya, the spice lord of the House of Glass. Other days, she was Hatice Altaris, the last surviving daughter and heiress to the Altaris family fortune. Sometimes, she was just Hatice. The Sith.

Today, she was wearing the scowling identity of Dona Nadya.

It had been a while since she last attended to her role in the criminal underworld. She’d had a thousand other things on her plate. Squashing her rivals in the upper nobility, serving on missions meant to expand the Empire, or avenging herself on the people who helped massacre her entire family—so many responsibilities and so little time. Which was exactly why she hoped to kill two birds with stone, enlisting the help of a infamous bounty hunter by the name of… of…

“What was his name again?” said Hatice, arms folded impatiently over her chest. Alizayd, her loyal bodyguard, stood beside her like a silent statue. He was twice her height and build and had once served under Don Lorenzo, the last owner of her little establishment before she’d relieved him of his position—and his head. Despite it, Ali had proven useful. Plied with enough credits, she could buy the loyalty off any man, but he hadn’t been particularly interested in money. He served her freely, which made him all the more trustworthy to have around.

“I believe his name is Aeron,” he answered.

“Ah, yes. Of course.” She tapped a heel against the pavement. The spaceport around her bustled with people, ships coming and going like the tides, and even if she was used to the city life, standing in the open still made her wildly uncomfortable. She hated being in public. Worse, she hated waiting. “Well,” she added sourly, “where is ‘Aeron?’ The transport ship was supposed to arrive twenty minutes ago and I don’t see it or him anywhere to be found. If I have to wait one more second, I’m docking his pay. Oh, and yours, Ali, because you’ve made such poor company.”

Her bodyguard shrugged. Gods, this was going to take forever.

@Zay

 

[Aeron]

Infamy was tricky. Most of the time people only held you to the rumors they’d heard. Problem with that was how damn gullible people were.

“Mathis,” the voice was harsh, like a match being struck. Aeron didn’t look around. The Rodian shifted muttering in his sleep. If he was starting to move and talk, that meant the deepest part of the sedative was already past, and he had about twenty minutes to get this karking bug to the drop spot before things got a lot harder.

“Not now. Please, not now.”

Aeron Mathis wasn’t a man of faith. He didn’t believe in superstition, but when your back was against the wall, it was surprising what you’d do to come out on the other side alive. He looked down at his prosthetic hand. Reflexively, the metallic digits closed into a fist.

“Mathis!”

Aeron kissed his teeth, lips taking on a feral tinge as he pulled his gun and turned to face The Weequay.

“What!?”

“It is you!”

“I know who I am, who the hell are you?”

“Quai.”

“Why?”

“Quai.”

“Because you’re screaming my name like we’re lovers, but I don—”

“My NAME is Q-U-A-I, Quai.”

“Huh?" Aeron had no idea what was going on his hearing had never been right after that thermal detonator blast on Mimban.

The Weequay held up both hands in surrender and stepped forward.

“That’s good," said Aeron stopping him a couple of seats away.

“I just wanted to say, I’m a huge fan of the work you did on Nal Hutta a while back.”

Suspicion and shock wrestled for prominence across his face before Aeron asked, “Bilbousa or Dragonsnake canyon?”

“Bilbousa.”

Aeron’s face broke into a smile, “My man.”

The transport began its descent and Aeron and Quai traded stories for a few. Devooo stirred once, so Aeron hit him with a stun bolt for good measure. As the ship came to land, Aeron shook Quai’s hand then slung Rainer back over his shoulder. He was ready for this job to be over.

Aeron stepped off the ship and into the port. His tracking fob chortled and directed him toward a pair off to his right. His eyes flicked between the two, sizing them up. The dude was big and disciplined. His gaze wasn’t aggressive, but it was threatening. The woman, even though she was tiny compared to the man, seemed to be looking down on all around her. His eyes met hers for a split second and he wasn’t sure why, but he looked away first.

The Rodian landed on the ground with a soft thud.

“Rainer Devooo. Alive, restrained, and stunned.”

Aeron held up The Rodian’s ID and flashed it to the two of them. If he were completely honest he wasn’t really sure who was in charge, but he didn’t really care. Job was done. It was time to collect.

@Song

 

[Hatice Altaris]

As it turned out, waiting didn’t take forever.

Hatice was pleasantly surprised to see the transport ship appear through the clouds, gliding through the polluted haze of the under-city to the main docking bay. It wasted no time landing. Settling into its appointed bay, the ship kicked up a storm of dust and hot air, the wind threatening to pull back the shawl over her head, ruffling the dark curls of her hair. She sighed. A few minutes later, and the ramp set down. Civilians and tourists and pilgrims spilled forth, a mob of them, and she tried to find this ‘Aeron,’ this mystery hunter she’d anonymously hired.

It wasn’t hard. He stuck out easily enough.

There was the unconscious bounty slung over his shoulder, obviously, but something else was about him. Passengers seemed to have taken note of his presence. Some avoided standing within five feet of him, while others stared in small notes of respect, children clinging to their mothers in a kind of dumbstruck awe. Aeron soaked up attention like a flower starved for rain. Except he wasn’t a flower. Not a fragile, pretty thing in the ground. He was more like a rock. Strong and immovable, with muscle to back it up and a healthy amount of stubble around his jaw.

Aged, she thought. He couldn’t have been much older than she was, maybe ten or twenty years, but in a crowd, he could’ve readily passed as one of her uncles. In any other scenario, she might have been more dismissive of him by that quality alone. But bounty hunting was a dangerous trade, and in that kind of business, old men made for dangerous enemies.

Useful allies, too.

Hatice met Aeron’s gaze and smiled. A practiced smile, one that didn’t reach her eyes, but she was glad enough that he was here, intact and more importantly, successful. “Alive and uninjured,” she noted, observing Rainer’s slumped form. “I’m impressed. Somehow, you’ve done what the last four bounty hunters I’ve hired couldn’t—the bare minimum.” She nodded. “Alizayd?”

Her bodyguard knelt and scooped up Rainer like he was nothing more than a sack of grain. He carried him off to one of the speeders waiting nearby and Hatice trailed behind him, expecting the bounty hunter to follow. “I was afraid you wouldn’t show,” she told him. “Rainer has managed twice to escape me and the last man I sent to capture him. He’s slippery, and he has a particular talent for talking—and chewing—his way out of his restraints.” As they approached her personal speeder, sleek and enclosed, a valet opened the side door and gestured them inside. “Was he much of a hassle to get here?”

@Zay

 

[Aeron]

Aeron’s tawny eyes flicked between the odd couple in front of him skeptically. They were leading him toward a vehicle and all he wanted was his fucking money. He chewed on the inside of his lip and his prosthetic crackled and twitched. He wasn’t sure who she’d hired before him, but this was obviously a job she didn’t want people talking about. Once you’ve betrayed someone, you see the signs all around you. Conspiracy equates to plausibility because once you’ve committed the act, it’s impossible to believe in anyone else.

“Nah, honestly, I can’t imagine Rainer being that much trouble. Whoever you hired before must have been an amateur.” Aeron’s patented frown hardened with suspicion as the valet gestured for him to take a seat, “Where are we going?”

His eyes were as cold as the void of space as they danced from the woman to her muscle. Aeron’s good hand rested on the butt of his blaster. It didn’t matter. He didn’t have a choice. His gear was trash, his hand was spazzing out and he barely had a chit to his name. If this was the end at least his ride would be in luxury.

The speeder was nice. It’s interior was subtle, but everywhere you looked there was some form of amenity. Aeron shifted uncomfortably in his seat. He’d never sat in a seat this hot before.

The tall guy said, “Your seat warmer is on.”

“Huh?”

“The seat warmer,” he pointed down between Aeron’s legs. Mathis flicked it off and glowered out the window.

Great, now he was going to die with swamp ass…

@Song

 

[Hatice Altaris]

“That wouldn’t surprise me. Half the Syndicates are run by amateurs.”

Hatice had seen her fair share of idiots among the criminal underground, and the news surrounding Hutt Space had taught her plenty, from Crymorah’s fall to their thrashing by the Consortium, and she would not make the same mistakes. She believed herself an exception. In a little more than a year’s time, she had climbed from the status of a lowly indenture to a spice lord. She had reclaimed her birthright as a highborn. Sharpened her inherent Sith gifts. She was both Nadya, and Hatice, and no one at all—the shadow behind Axxila and one day, its ruler.

As her bodyguard Alizayd dumped Rainer into the trunk, Hatice slid inside the luxury airspeeder they would take to her establishment in the lower city levels. Smooth, leather seats and wine bottles beading with sweat welcomed them in, and she took the liberty of pouring both of them a glass. Whether the bounty hunter took it or not was completely up to him. She wasn’t an idiot. She felt his suspicion like a knife at her side. She should have been trying to reassure him or make smalltalk. Instead, she couldn’t resist the small laugh that escaped her lips when he struggled with the seat warmers.

So much for being a generous host.

Settling in, Hatice unwrapped the shawl around her head, revealing a wave of dark curls, tanned skin and eyes greener than a stalk of spring grass, like emeralds. “You can relax,” she told Aeron. “Make yourself comfortable. This isn’t the part where I stab you in the back and drop your body from a hundred stories up.” She took her wine and sipped as if to show it wasn’t laced with poison. “You’ll get your credits. Matter of fact, I’ll have them transferred right now.”

Hatice lazily pulled out a datapad and a couple swipes later, sent him the money he was promised. “The reason why I’ve asked you to join me is because I was hoping we could discuss other… business. You’ve proven a decent enough bounty hunter. I need someone who I can trust, someone with the necessary skills to help me get what I need and quickly.”

She folded her hands in her lap as the speeder descended into the lower levels at a steady rate. Shafts of sunlight winked in and out through the windows until darkness took their place, followed by the bright, neon lights of the underworld. Where Hatice sat, she was painted in a beautiful shade of green light, almost framed by it, emerald like her eyes. “I have another job for you. Something a lot more risky than capturing a Rodian. But it pays well, and it’s yours to have.” She observed him from the other side of the compartment. “Unless you prefer stints meant for amateurs.”

@Zay

 

[Aeron]

“You can relax. Make yourself comfortable, this isn’t the part where I stab you in the back and drop your body from a hundred stories up.”

That’s exactly what someone would say before stabbing you in the back, but Aeron didn’t really have much choice, so he did his best to cool off. The woman promised him his money and then followed through. His frown deepened, but curiosity was it’s inspiration now. It seemed that the point of all of this was finally showing itself. The woman produced a data pad and began her sales pitch while paying him.

“I’m listening,” he said, and she continued on. Her proposition was too vague. He liked survival more than money and had no pride where that was concerned.

“You ain’t said what the job is yet. Can’t answer a question I ain’t been asked.”

Alizayd stiffened. Aeron cocked an eyebrow as his eyes flicked back and forth between them. Apparently, the dog didn't like people questioning his master. Aeron shrugged as the car leveled out. They were deep into The Smuggler’s Moon now. The only light to be seen at this level was artificial. Lascivious neon holoprojections beckoned all over proffering promises no one on this level could afford. The rich always fed on the poor. Aeron couldn’t help but notice the parallel…

@Song