Star Wars - Series Fan Fiction ❯ Odd Bounty ❯ Odd Jobs ( Chapter 1 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Oh this wasn't good.

He knew when Karga messaged him about a specialty bounty that something was...different.

Taking one look at the client, he knew then that this bounty was going to be a pain.

"Ahh, so this is the hunter you told me about, Greef?"

"Yes, this is Mando. He's one of the best hunter's in the guild."

The older man shifted in his seat, "Yes I'm quite sure he is but can you do delicate work too? This job requires some delicacy."

He nodded, "If you want delicate, I can manage, as long as I'm the only one holding a puck."

Karga chuckled, "Don't worry. Specialty bounties like this one only give out one puck."

"Good, now what do you need me to do?" He leveled the stony gaze of his helmet at the man.

The man in question motioned him to sit and when he did, they leaned close, sliding a flimsi towards him.

"I need you to acquire someone for me. A girl by the name of Veile. Telana Veile. She is...delicate to say the least and will require a delicate hand."

Din picked the flimsi up and studied the girl's face. She was plain-faced with pale blonde hair. She was a cute kid. "So who is she?"

"My daughter."

"So this is a rescue?"

The man sighed, "Not quite. She is...innocent to how the galaxy works and does not understand the danger she is in. That is where you come in...I need you to lead her away from this situation as delicately as possible."

"What's to happen if delicate doesn't work?"

Din watched the man nervously pick at his hands. Something was up.

"If that happens, you are not to let any harm come to her. She is important, greatly so."

"It may up my price if it goes south."

"I do not care about price. I want her back safely."

That struck him more like a father worried for his child's safety.

"Alright. I'll take the job but I get half pay up front."

The man waved him off, "Of course, I will transfer the funds immediately and if you need to bring another in on this, do so with caution as Telana must be acquired with care."

Mando nodded and stood. He already had one person in mind.

/  -  /  -  /  -  /

"No."

"Fett."

"NO. I have other things more important that rescuing some daddy's girl from a bad decision." Boba turned and stalked away from him.

"Its 50,000 credits."

That stopped him.

"What?"

Din grinned under his helmet. "Fifty thousand credits, for one kid. We'll split it...twenty-five for both of us. Deal?"

Fett chuckled, "What's the details?"

"The man was adamant that this was a delicate situation and to treat it as such but if things went south, we were just to protect her and get her out."

"With the both of us, it may go bad from the start."

Mando pointed at him, "That's why I'm going in undercover first. To see how bad the situation actually is. Something about the old man was off. It's an odd bounty for the amount of credits."

"You think he's hiding something?"

"Its just a bad feeling."

The older man shook his head, "Don't dismiss it so easily, kid. Follow your gut. It'll keep you alive."

"So, you in?"

"Twenty-five thousand, right? Yeah, I'm in."

/ - /  -  /  -  /

He scanned the facility that the sensor had led him to and he swore under his breath. 'Dank ferrik.'

Why was the girl being held here?

His comm flared to life, "What do you see Din?"

"The old bastard failed to mention that his daughter was being held in a Imperial facility."

"Fuck. Well, what now kid?"

Din sighed heavily, "We wait until nightfall. Should be less guards then. But we still need to find where the girl is."

"So, we find the less populated entrance, neutralize the guards, get in, find the girl, get out. Before the alarms go off. If they go off?"

Mando grumbled, "I'll go in after the girl. You stay out here and cover the entrance, okay?"

"Fine, kid. Just hope you know what you're doing."

"I do, old man. I've handled storm troopers before."

Din looked up at the rapidly darkening sky. 'Well at least one thing's going right.'

/  -  /  -  /  -  /

The guards of course had been easy to take out and he slipped into the facility unnoticed so far. Now he just had to find the girl...that meant he would have to access the computers. Upon hearing footsteps approaching down the hall towards him he quickly slipped into an adjacent room and he pressed himself against the wall and kept his breathing under control.

The muffled voices passed the door and he sighed softly. 'Ferrik that was close.'

He turned and found himself in an office...with a computer. With a grin he began typing. 'My luck strikes again.'

After a few seconds he finally found a file with the initals T.V. : Khaalida and he nodded. 'That has to be it.'

When he clicked on it, he stilled. The picture in the file was vastly different from the photo he was given. This was no little girl, she was fully grown. Her eyes were a wide startling blue and her long blonde hair was more sleek and shiny. Why would the man have given him such an outdated photo if she was this old.

"Ferrk, Fett, the photo the man gave us was outdated. This is no kid."

"How old is she?"

"A few years younger than me. So almost 30."

The other man whistled, "that far outdated?"

"Yeah. I don't get it."

"Find her and then we'll go have a chat with 'dad' then."

"Over and out."

He tapped away at the computer, pulling up the location of the woman and when he found it, he swore again.

She was right in the heart of the facility.

"Dank Ferrik."

/  -  /  -  /  -  /

When he approached the heart, he was shocked to find a large lab setting and in the middle of it was the woman, laying in a giant medical pod. She was hooked up to numerous bags of fluids and wires and she wasn't wearing much, her slim body wrapped in thick bandages of gauze. He shook his head.

No wonder her father wanted her out. What exactly is in those bags?

There were three doctors and four guards in the room. He would have to play this right to get the girl out safely.

He noticed an alarm off to the side and he knew exactly what to do. He raised his spear and put it right into the device, setting off the blaring horn to echo through the halls.

The doctors in the room jumped and were motioning from the guards to the girl.

Then the bad feeling proved to be right as the guards lifted their blasters and killed two of the doctors. The last one was on their knees and seemingly pleading for their life.

"Ferrik. Fett, it just got messy."

Din shot his rifle, breaking the glass and completely vaporizing one guard. The other one ducked down, shooting back at him and he ducked out of the way.

"Do you need back up?"

"No, only one guard and one doctor left. Just keep an eye out for reinforcements."

"Got it."

He took another shot and instead of firing waited, yelling at them.

"We're here for the girl! Let her go and you won't die!"

"Like hell, bounty hunter!"

The doctor was cowering next to the medical pod the girl was in and he yelled out at him.

"Hey, doc, you can let her go! It's not worth your life!"

"No! You can't take her! Its not ready yet!"

"What's not ready yet?!"

His comm crackled and flared, "Shit, kid, get out of there now! A whole imperial dropship just landed. Bounty's not worth it anymore!"

"We can finish this!"

"You and that fucking bleeding heart of yours is going to get you killed."

"You'll want to leave hunter, before you end up dead. You should have never taken this job."

"The only one who's going to die is you."

He peeked out and ducked back down as a bolt passed by his helmet. It was more old habit than any to duck away as he knew the beskar would deflect the shot. He cursed again.

He had to take out that guard. The doctor would be nothing to handle.

Din groaned, knowing he would have to do something stupid. He shot to his feet and immediately deflected a bolt with his bracer before aiming...switching the target at the last second to the medical pod and the bolt hit as it had sparked and went dark, the mechanical hum sputtering for a few seconds before going silent.

"No! You kriffing idiot! You just ruined everything!"

The woman twitched and the doctor back away slowly, terror filling his face. 

The guard yelled at him, "Get the hypos! Keep her sedated! Troops will be here soon."

Din used the distraction to clip the guard in the arm, making him drop his blaster and he shot again, vaporizing the guard. He shifted the rifle to point at the doctor who froze, hands holding two hypos.

"Please, let me sedate her. You don't know what-"

"Put them down...now. She's coming with me."

The doctor's face fell, "No, you don't understand...she needs to stay sedated...its too dangerous to have her awake."

He snorted, "Is she sick?"

"No, its...its difficult to explain."

"Then explain it..."

The doctor opened his mouth...just then a shot rang out and he dropped to the floor dead. Din whirled around and found himself face to face with 4 troopers but before they could shoot him, he dropped and activated his gauntlet, whistling birds soaring out and piecing through their armor, killing them instantly.

He sighed. "I really need to stop using those. I'm running out."

Boba was yelling at him through his comms, "Kid, you okay?"

"Yeah, I've acquired the package. Bringing it out now." He replied, his eyes tracing the unconscious woman who was still twitching. 

'You'll be safe now.'

Din slung his rifle across his back and leaned down to lift the woman into his arms, shocked at how heavy she was compared to how thin she looked.

She groaned low, pressing her face into his chest and the gesture threw him for a moment. Then he was shaking his head, moving through the halls back to the entrance, where he found five more dead troopers. Fett had been busy.

When he stepped out, he noticed that there was still blaster fire going off and once at the top of the hill, he saw that Fett was fighting off another group of five and he was clutching his shoulder.

"Ferrik!"

The woman in his arms jerked and gasped, opening her eyes at the same time he looked down. Her blue eyes were almost glowing in their intensity as they looked at him with fear. She screamed and struggled in his arms and he immediately let her go.

"Telana Veile!" She stilled at the name.

"I'm not going to hurt you, okay? I'm a friend. I saved you from those imperials. Your father sent me to get you."

"The asset's awake!"

"Orders were to destroy her! Do not let her be taken! Fire!"

They all fired their blasters and the woman shook her head viscously, pulling her knees into her chest as she cried out in fear. One bolt nicked her in the shoulder and she screamed throwing her hands over her ears.

Din threw himself in front of her, wrapping his arms around her, knowing the beskar would block her from the hits, but one shot had managed to hit the uncovered part of his side, grazing over his ribs. He grunted in pain causing her to look up at him. He shook his head.

"Stay down! Fett, get the ship now!"

The woman pressed herself closer, clutching her own shoulder. She tilted her head, looking at him with a strange child-like gaze and he snapped at her.

"Stay still! You'll get shot again if you don't."

He grunted as another bolt hit in between the plates on his shoulder and he gasped. "Ferrik, Fett, now!"

"I already activated the auto-pilot. We got to wait."

Her eyes snapped to his shoulder, touching it gently before touching her own shoulder.

"Hurt?"

He nodded.

She stood up completely then and when he tried to grab her hand, she growled gutturally. His hand froze, not sure if he should continue moving it close to her.

She shook her head and stepped around him.

"What the fuck is she doing?" Boba yelled.

"Telana, stay down!"

"No hurt."

And when Din turned to grab at her he was struck stock still as a bolt hit her right in the chest. Ice filled him. She was dead.

It was like time slowed as he watched her tip to one side before straightening back out and settling back on her heels. Then all of a sudden time seemed to pick up as she rushed towards the troopers with unnatural speed. That set them into a panic and they began firing wildly at her but only two hit, grazing her upper right thigh and her left forearm. It all confused him...how was she not dead yet? And how was she moving so damned fast? 

He got his answer when she picked one trooper up and threw him into another before punching one hard in the helmet, shattering it. Din's jaw was on the floor. She had done that with her bare hands. What in the kriffing hell was going on?

"What the fuck is going on kid?"

"I have no idea. All I know is there is more to her than the old man let on. Delicate my ass."

She stomped on one, then spun and kicked, sending one flying back into the ship with a sickening thud. She came to a stop when one shot her point-blank in the chest. She looked down at the blaster then back up at the trooper, tearing the blaster from his hand and using the momentum to flip him, shooting him in the skull before he landed. Two more blasts went off, hitting the last one once in the chest and once in the head. Finally she turned the blaster on the ship.

With two well placed shots she disabled the ship before stumbling forward a few steps and falling face first into the ground, the blaster sliding free from her grasp, stopping a few inches away.

He cursed, clutching his side as he moved quickly to her. He checked her pulse and was stunned to find one still steady and strong. His hands gently turned her onto her back, freezing in the air over her as he noticed the state of her wounds.

"Dank Ferrik."

Fett came up behind him. "Is she still alive?" 

He nodded, silently.

"How bad is it?"

"She's not going to need medical attention."

Boba arched a brow, "What? She was hit in the chest twice, once point-blank. So how the fuck does she not need medical?"

Din moved back from the girl, revealing the sparking wires and whirring metal that peeked through her wounds.

"She's a droid."