Episode 1a - Hunter/hunted

I sit up rather painfully still, the wounds still aching. I try to mumble something but it comes out incoherently. I take the caff and start to sip it as I scan around the motel room.

The little Drall hears your muffled gasp as you sit up and she comes hurrying through from the next room,

"No, no, lie down! You need to take it easy!" she orders, "I have patched you up but we don't have any bacta, so your body will need to do the healing itself. Which means it will take time.

I lay back down as ordered. A relief for my wounds.

Who...what..., I start to say but am at a loss for what to ask first. I take a moment to think.

What do you know about the spoofer?, I finally ask.

"Nothing," she says flatly, "no more than you anyway. Some bounty hunter."

She starts to fidget awkwardly at the thought of a bounty hunter chasing her, and uses the nervous energy by tidying odds and ends in the room.

"What I don't understand is why you helped me? I mean, I'm glad you did, but, you're a bounty hunter, right?"

Call me a softie for a fuzzy face, I say just as flatly. I give the Drall a grin, then go back to my previous question.

Why are you lying to me about the spoofer? You said someone already questioned you. Who was it?, I ask. The grin disappears from my face.

Saquesh sighs,

"CorSec mostly, and I think somebody from Imperial Intelligence. It was back when I was arrested. I... I cut a deal and they let me go. But Black Sun must have got word that I had talked and they put a bounty on me. I haven't been able to work ever since. Too risky."

Well, you will have to lay low for a while. You can't go back to that lab. How long have I been out?, I ask.

I also pull up my communicator and contact Ganjo to see if he has any healing stims.

"About eighteen hours," Saquesh replies.

"Stims! Sure, but I'm running low. Do you wan' me to hit up my man?"

To Ganjo
Yeah, and let me know if you hear anything that might be good for the General, I say to the rhodian and then turn my attention back to the Drall.

Hey, how would you like to help me fake the death of Ganjo? You seem to have medical knowledge I probably don't, I ask with a smile.

"I could... but then how would he get us stims? I mean if he's dead who is going to sell to him?"

If he continues to live I'm going to have to actually kill him. At some point I have a bounty on him I need to claim. If I don't someone else will. So, given that problem, how would a Drall solve it?, I ask Saquesh.

"Oh, you have a point, certainly. I'm just pointing out the problem which our solution will cause. Perhaps we can get him "killed" while buying a sufficiently large haul of stims. It only postpones the onset of the next problem, but that gives us time to think of a more permanent solution."

I give the Drall a smile. I like you. I think we're going to get along well enough. So you are going to help me. As it seems we are both in this together now. No doubt whoever shot at me will now be looking for both of us. I lay back and close my eyes, trying to think of how exactly to setup this "large haul" of stims.

Oh, and just consider me a bounty hunter by day, a hero by night, I say to the Drall, trying to put her at least slightly at ease with my presence.

"Oh, about that bounty hunter looking for us," she says, "the slugs I pulled out of you, uhm, well they had trackers in them. I put them in the cooler to block the signal."

Krif, I say with my eyes still closed, staring at the ceiling.

We'll have to use that to our advantage, I say as I finally open my eyes and look back at Saquesh. If he knows where we are, then we know where he is going to show up. It doesn't give us much, but hopefully enough of a tactical advantage that we can spring a trap on them.

I quickly get back on comm with Ganjo. Ganjo, the motel has been compromised. Don't come here. Forget your guy for now, the stims will be needed first. Meet me at these coordinates, I say as I give him coordinates for some random alleyway a ways away from the motel.

I strain getting out of the bed, but soon I get up to my feet. The pain still persists but I push past it. We need to get out of here. We will need to bring the tracker rounds with us, I say, looking for a back-way out of the motel, instead of the main door.

Saquesh and Dalla make it to the alley to find Ganjo waiting. He looks surprised to see Dalla in such bad condition,

"Krif, when you said you needed stims, I din' know you meant you needed stims." he syas, handing a packet over to Saquesh.

"Hey, she gonna be okay?"[/b] he asks the Drall, who nods just nods, obviously struggling to help Dalla stay upright.

[b]"Great," says Ganjo, actually looking a little disappointed, "but if you do die, can I get your sweet blaster?"