Episode 1a - Hunter/hunted

Only if you promise to get revenge for me, I say with a smile to the rhodian. I quickly take the stim and inject it.

"So, this bounty hunter could be here at any time. What's the plan?" asks Saquesh nervously.

We'll spring the trap down this way, I say and lead both Ganjo and Saquesh down a few alleyways until I find what looks like a clearing in the alley. It is about 20 by 20 and ends in a dead-end, there is only one way in or out. I take Saquesh with me and tell Ganjo to take up a hidden position near the entrance, and wait for the hunter to get in the open.

On the other side, where it is a dead end, I take the tracker rounds and toss them behind a dumpster, a place where it would definitely look like people would be hiding behind. I then take the Drall up a fire escape to a higher up walkway with me as I setup my rifle in a darkly shadowed spot.

Once the hunter gets close to the location with the tracer rounds I will have already gotten a steady bead on him. Ganjo won't fire until I do. I fire on the hunter to try to take him down.

Dalla trains her site on the hunter on the ground...

Dalla fires with incredulity at the downed hunter.

Dalla's shot struck the ground beside the prone bounty hunter, causing droplets of molten stone to spray up over him. He covered his face to protect himself, but in doing so sent his blaster twenty feet away and under the dumpster.

Ganjo spotted the opportunity and sprang out of his hiding place,

"Don't move! he ordered in his most menacing voice.

Cursing to myself I climb back down from my perch and draw blaster on the hunter as he lays there, Why are you after the Drall?, I say, keeping my blaster aimed at his head.

This Drall made the right friends, I say as I fire on the hunter.

Face suddenly the hardened mask of my profession, I look at the other two and in a voice that is far less playful than anything I have said so far, We need to get rid of the body. Get his stuff, datapad, weapon, anything else of use, and let's get rid of him.

I shoulder my rifle, feeling better with the stim working it's magic. I find any nearby dumpster or trash receptacle in the vicinity and get Ganjo to help me toss the hunter in there. With luck no one will find him, though without ID it will be hard to figure out who he is, I say as I lift my blaster over the edge of the dumpster and fire at the face of the hunter, burning much of it horribly. Hopefully that should also make him harder to ID.

I grab the stuff and start heading back to the motel. At least the motel should be safe again, he was probably working alone, bounty hunters normally do.

I stop and turn to both of them, If you don't think you need my help anymore, feel free to go, this is your chance, I'm sure you can handle the next bounty hunter coming for either of you on your own. Right?

Ganjo and Saquesh look at each other again,

"Hey, I like playin' with the hunters, not against, says Ganjo.

Saquesh stays quiet.

Saquesh? I need to know if you're in or out. I've taken out your tail for now, you can try and get off world. Run if you can. But you have a price on your head. That follows you.

The drall can't seem to look at Dalla,

"I was actually beginning to like you," she says, "we had won! You didn't need to kill him!"

What do you suppose he would have done after we left?, I ask as I pull up the Drall's bounty on the bounty boards and point to the credit number associated with her bounty. This Hunter didn't care what you had done. When he looked at you he saw this amount of credits. There is no winning against a hunter. He wasn't about to pack up, head home, and forget the whole thing. He also won't be the last. So if you don't want me to help you anymore, go. I hope you see the next one coming, because had I not stepped in back at that office, you'd be the one in the ground.