The Most Unlikely Hunt

[Steel Falcon]

Spaceship flights were Orlad's least favorite part when he was on the job. It never failed. He'd get a contract and his flight from one planet to another would always take forever, giving him time to reflect on past events. On this flight he was remembering his "most cherished" day from his childhood.

Orlad was outside playing on his home planet of Coruscant. He sat not too far from his parents front door playing on the street corner. He could remember seeing ships go flying overhead and instantly wanted to be a pilot. He threw his arms out and started soaring around making all the wonderful noises of a dog fight.

The more he played the more he thought that the dog fights sounds became real. He could really hear another ship get shot down near him. He could feel the vibrations of the ships cannon fire. Suddenly, there was a huge explosion that brought Orlad out of his playful trance. He looked around only to find that he was no longer at home. He hadnt even been to this part of town before.

He began to panic. "How did I get here?" he thought, "How do I get home? Where's mom and dad? Tears filled his little eyes as he flopped down in the middle of the road. He weeped there for what seemed like ages unable to decide where to go or what to do.

Tears streemed down Orlad's face and he could hear footsteps coming from behind him. Surely this was mom and dad come searching for him! He turned around and his smiling face turned to one filled with fear. Men, dressed in black robes marched down the street carrying glowing red weapons.

Orlad ran into a nearby alley hoping that the scary men had not seen him flee. His sobbing returned as he sat behind a metal crate. He could hear the footsteps pass his hiding place and he sighed with relief.

Unfortunately his sigh was all too soon. A very large black hand reached down into Orlad's hiding place and picked him up holding him in the air by his throat. Orlad kicked and clawed at the hand that held him but to no avail.

He could hear a man shout just before the hand let go of his throat. Orlad fell from where the man had held him in the air all the way to the street. The lack of oxygen was too much for his small body, he passed out just before he hit the ground.

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP. Orlad snapped out of his day dream to see that he had reached his destination. After entering the airspace of Nal Hutta, he flew his ship and landed it on the hangar area of a cantina. His target was somewhere inside.

[Arrowhead.]

Stepping down the loading ramp of the shiny X-70b, Longo looked at his surroundings, noting the many street-side merchants buying and selling to the limitless crowed engulfing the central hub for this region of Nal-Hutta.

“Oh how I hate this place…” Longo thought to himself.

“It’s the truest definition of a Hutt’s paradise…” He continued.

Hearing a loud howling roar behind him, he turned to see Chyyn carrying all of the supplies in both arms, struggling from the weight.

“You’re a wookie, you’re supposed to be like, three times as strong as me.”

Chyyn roared in anger, hurling useless threats at him; something about ripping off his robotic hand, and then his right arm, then eating them in a bowl of milk.

“Haha, in that case, let me help you out some.” Longo said in reply.

After picking up one of the smaller crates in the group of large crates Chyyn was holding, he laughed as Chyyn gave an un-amused sigh.

Putting all of the crates in a near-by storage facility, he and Chyyn went to the nearest Cantina they could find. Relieved to get out of a cockpit, Longo wanted to do what he did best. Sit, have some fun, and then start a bar fight. Bar fights for some reason seemed to be something Longo looked forward to. He takes the challenge like an opportunity to practice in case he was bored by pirates or something.

Walking in, he and Chyyn made their way to the counter to order dinner. They then went and sat at the front counter chairs set up directly in head of the counter.

In the middle of eating their meal, Longo suddenly felt something that seemed wrong; A sixth sense that experienced smuggler’s eventually obtained was beginning to kick in. Any smart smuggler will tell you to go with your gut feeling, and this feeling was ruining Longo’s dinner!

“Chyyn, I think there is something wrong…” Longo said to his friend, who seemed more concerned with what was on his plate then anything else.

Chyyn just made a small gurgling noise, but Longo couldn’t tell whether he is trying to speak or is choking on the food he has plastered to his face.

Longo began to “tune” out all the noise in the bar, all of the music, the talking, the yelling, they all began to fall silent. This skill is something Longo learned from past bar-instances. He learned it from one of his old agent buddies he hung out with before the war, when they had to watch out for Republic spies trying to locate Imperial Agents like himself at that time.

Then he heard it: Armor-plated footsteps seemed to get louder and louder. He could hear them getting closer and closer. Then his skill failed and all of the noise began to register again. What happened? What broke his concentration?

“Uhhhggghhheeeuuukkk!!! Ohh hahaha! Thaaaee’t thar’s a knee slayaper!” One of two men in blue overalls with tall and pointy straw hats said to his companion.

“Ugghyyuuh! Tell the one about the Gizka and the Womp Rat that go’ed to a race thar at the beach!”

Longo slammed his hand on the wood counter, making a loud “slap” noise that got everyone in the cantina’s (With the exception of Chyyn, who was too busy eating to get in a fight with his friend) attention. He then turned to see what looked to be a bounty hunter standing in front of him. Traveling the galaxy as much as Longo had, he could tell people apart and knew what people kind of migrated to with their occupation. He looked up and down the man, seeing how big he is, if he was hiding weapons and what not.

[Steel Falcon]

Orlad forced his way through the crowded Cantina. He could see his target sitting not far from the entrance. His wookie companion really gave it away. Orlad smirked inside his helmet, couldn't they make it at least a little challenging for him?

As he neared the table the target slammed his open hand onto the counter top and everyone in the cantina got real quiet. Orlad instantly reached for his gun out of instinct as the target turned around to face him. Was this guy arrogant or what? Maybe he just didn't realize who was coming to collect his bounty.

"The way I see it, you have two options." Orlad's voice buzzed from his helmet, "Option A: You follow me out to the nice blue D5-Mantis outside and I take you to my employer. And Option B: I drag your lifeless body all the way to Korriban."

The eyes of the target never faltered from Orlad's pistols. This guy was a born fighter. That just meant more fun for Orlad. "And what if I choose Option C?" The target mocked.

Orlad chuckled, "There is no Option C." In an instant Orlad pulled both of his blasters up eye level with the target. The blasters hummed to life just feet away from the target.

"Nah youse, waite jus' a minutt ther fella." A strange man in overalls and a big hat said through gapped teeth.

"Ther aint no reason youse can't jus' goes on bout yer business 'n' leaf dis here fella to his meal now is ther?"

Orlad was growing impatient with this guy. Orlad decided to shut him up and changed the direction of one of his pistols to the man in overalls. Another man next to the one that spoke hopped down off of his stool. The men were near identical. Overalls, hat, massive arms and chest, even down to the bare feet.

Orlad blasted the hat off one of them and began moving the gun back and forth between the two. "My business has nothing to do with the two of you."

"It does nah, don't nobody mess wit MY HYAT!"

Before Orlad could pull his other gun around the two big men bum rushed him: Each grabbing an arm to get rid of his guns and then proceeded to beat the life from him. Orlad was no small guy and had his fair share of scruffles but these two guys were like human wookies. Orlad was powerless against these guys.

All he knew is that he better get a pay raise after this.....

[Arrowhead.]

The crowd formed a circle around the ongoing wrestling match. The Bounty Hunter kicked and punched at the two men as hard as he could, but each blow seemed to be painlessly absorbed by the two. Longo began to laugh hysterically as he watched the over-confident bounty hunter getting served by two un-armed men upholding the good testimony of a Galaxy-Southerner. Eventually the bright idea of activating the taser located in his gauntlets popped into Orlad's head. Activating it, the two men leaped off of him in an instant, yelping in pain from the shock.

“Whooowwie! That thar’s a bright one, Harve!” Huck said jumping to the side.

“GGGaaahh! Huck hayelp! My biscuits are burn’in!”Harvey said to his brother, running around in circles trying to put the flame on his back out. He continued to run until he was suddenly splashed by a large bucket of water. Harve stopped and looked down to see himself drenched in water. He looked up to see Longo still holding the pail with two hands. Harvey began to turn red, and veins began to grow on his neck.

“You don splash me with wata huh? I’ll have your hyat for this!” Harve said, looking up at the smuggler.

Just then, Longo threw the bucket behind his shoulder, not even paying attention to where it landed, all he knew was he heard one man yell: “Ow! My head!” before he heard it hit the floor.

“Enough with the drama Fesk, I don’t feel like taking time out of my schedule just to keep up with your petty little games. I’ll say this again, you can come alive, or on a slab of durasteel… It’s your choice…” Orlad said, rising back up to his feet.

“Let’s get this STARTED! Longo yelled turning and punching a random patron in the face. Just then, all chaos broke loose in the bar. Chairs were flying, teeth were falling out, and this was one of the more fun bar fights Longo had ever encountered. Chyyn walked over casually to the counter as tables, chairs, bodies, and doors flew through the room. Ordering another plate of food, he turned and went and hid under a table near a corner so he can enjoy a meal without having the annoying reoccurring body flying onto the front counter and smashing his food.

Harve then jumped onto Longo’s back, the two of them crashing into a pile on the floor. He then grabbed Longo’s hat, and ran for his brother who was near the door.

“Comon Huck! We best leave nah b’for mamma finds out ‘bout this!” Harve said, pointing to the D5-Mantis outside. The two scurried there out of the bar and up the loading ramp. They quickly started her up and pulled up the loading ramp.

Getting up, Longo felt his hat missing. Instantly, he began scanning the floor. After kicking a few people out of the way, he soon realized what happened. He looked outside to see the country boys in the Cockpit of the Mantis trying to find the controls to lift off. He noticed one of them was wearing his hat.

“That does it… They have gone too far this time!”

After cranking up his taser, Orlad jumped immediately to his feet.

He became very grateful of his helmet, seeing it was a shield that no one in the cantina seemed to have. He found a large brawling mob slowly making their way over to him. So he jumped and rolled to his left to avoid the stampede of fighting lunatics. He then looked directly to his right to see Harve grabbing Longo’s hat, and then running to his brother near the door. Just then he felt a blow to the side of his head; causing him to fall on the ground. He got up and watched the almost toothless man getting into a fighting stance. Orlad instead simply grabbed a blaster and sent a bolt of plasma into the man’s left shoulder. Hearing several men yelling at him towards his left shoulder, he began to step forward. The group of brawlers walked closer and closer. Then, they all ran for him. Orlad braced to take the blow when he suddenly heard an ear-piercing roar. Out from under a table, a tall and large wookie uplifted it and stood to his feet. He had a plate in hand and sauce all over his face. Aparently someone fell and made the plate smash on to him. Out of sheer anger, Chyyn threw the dish straight for a man in the large group. Knocking him off of his feet, the wookie ran for the group, pushing, punching, lifting and throwing men out of his way. Chyyn then turned around to Orlad who began to fight two men. After grabbing one and kicking the other, he threw his capture into another man, causing both to fall. Looking back at the door, he ran out to see his target starring at his ship. Then, the engines started, and the ship took off.

“Looks like you’ll be sticking around for some more petty games after all…?” Longo said watching the ship take off, not even giving a glance toward the Bounty Hunter and his wookie companion that just walked out of the doorway.

[Steel Falcon]

Orlad's skin boiled inside his armor. These guys had some nerve! First they interfere with the collection of his bounty and now they steal HIS SHIP?!?!?!?!?!? These no good country bumpkins were gonna pay for their insolence.

"I'm gonna kill 'em. Very VERY slowly." Orlad seethed with rage.

"Well aren't you just the brightest ray of sunshine?" The target mocked. "The name's Longo and this is Chyyn."

"Euurrkkkk"

Orlad's view never faltered from the ship. He knew the names of these two.... They were after all his targets. Longo Fesk and Chynnbokka.... Orlad didn't know why they were wanted and didn't care. All he knew was that there was alot of money for them dead or alive. Orlad was definitely beginning to prefer the dead part.

"Well, looks like you have no choice... You want your ship back and I want my hat. Looks like we gotta work together to get these two...... Partners?" The target sighed then looked at Orlad who was taking a long time to respond.

The audacity! To think that he NEEDED this SMUGGLER for anything disgusted him. And to think he would have to deal with a nasty smelly WOOKIE too! This was begining to be too much for him. He might just kill this guy and his wookie for free.

His only problem was that he really didn't have any other means of transportation. Bounty Hunters were on their own. They were not well liked under any circumstances. Not even their employers liked them because they knew that at any minute a bounty hunter could be bought by someone else for the right price.

Orlad's anger grew knowing that he had no choice. "On one condition.... Keep your smelly pet away from me....."

"Ggggrrrrrrrllllkkkk"

"He doesn't like you either." Longo said with a smile as he stuck out his hand.

"Oh and one more thing.... Don't call me partner." Orlad turned his head from the target. Obviously refusing to take the man's hand.

"Umm.... That's two conditions pal." Longo was really starting to push his luck.

"Listen, PAL. I'm not beyond killing you two, stealing your ship, selling it and using all of the money to simply buy a new ship. So don't push me."

Longo scoffed. "Well then, I can't call you partner or pal.... I have to call you something."

"Just call me 'X' That will suffice for the time being.... Now where's this trash heap you call a spaceship?"

"Urrrgggggghhhlllll arrryyyllll."

"I'm sure he didn't mean anything by the smelly part there Chyyn, but this one is pretty sure of himself, if he crosses any sort of lines on this trip, you best rip all his limbs off before he can reach those blaster's. Now would you please show the kind gentleman the way?"

Orlad could tell this was going to be a LONG trip.

[Arrowhead.]

Leading the way, Chyyn picked up the medical supplies, food, drink, and weapons crates that lay near the loading ramp. He then walked up the ramp and into the cargo bay.

“She’s no scrap heap “X”, she is one of the fastest interceptors in the Sith fleet, she’ll get us there in time.” Longo said trying to earn the pride of his ship back after hearing it called a “trash heap”.

“Call it what you want Smuggler, it’s nothing compared to my baby that’s being taken to who knows where.” Orlad said, stepping up the ramp.

“It’s being taken to Dantooine…” Longo said, checking his gauntlet-mounted-computer. “She’s got a few days’ travel before she get’s anywhere near the system…” he finished.

“So, your ship isn’t as rusty as I thought, but it is in no way able to compete with my Mantis…” Orlad said trying to repel Longo’s accusation that somehow someone’s ship may be able to be just as good as his beloved darling.

“You don’t –have- to come, I could just leave you here to get jumped by some thugs. You are edging closer and closer by the minute.”

“Leave me be old man, you know very well that you couldn’t do this on your own, those two would have you pinned to the ground in a matter of seconds and don’t you forget it!”

“So certain are you Bounty Hunter? That’s a pretty strong accusation; I would bet you haven’t experienced a legit hand to hand fight in your life…” Longo said, trying to get the Bounty Hunter to speak about himself.

“You don’t know anything about me smuggler, and I hope to keep it that way. Remember who’s capturing who here.” Orlad said, trying to intimidate the Smuggler.

“It’s a very unusual way of ‘capturing someone”, isn’t it? I mean, taking a lift in their ship and all. Just remember that I could space you any time I feel like ‘lightening the load’ on the ship to go faster.” Longo said countering the threat.

Chyyn then appeared through the doorway, beckoning to them telling them to hurry up.

Lifting off, Longo and Chyyn stayed in the cockpit navigating through Nal Hutta’s vast traffic, tracking the Mantis’ every move. After clearing the atmosphere, the two launched into orbit, where they started the hyperdrive system, and jumped to lightspeed in the same direction of the escaping ship. Longo set the ship on auto-pilot and decided to go and warm up two mugs of Naboo-melon cider. Walking to the sitting lounge, he saw Orlad sitting at the meeting table, polishing one of his blasters. Placing one of the mugs on the counter, Longo pushed it, causing it to slide over to the other side of the table directly in front of Orlad. Blowing some steam off of his cup, Longo took a sip. Orlad never gave a glance to Logno, though he seemed interested enough to take off his helmet and pick up the glass of cider.

“Not too fond of flights are you?” Longo said, breaking the silence.

Orlad didn’t reply; he seemed to have something troubling on his mind. He almost seemed to be in a trance. Longo looked down to a sheath he had strapped within his coat. Taking from within the sheath, he pulled from it his old jagged blood-stained combat knife: noticing it needed to be sharpened once again,

he took out a portable sharpener and began to grind the cold metal knife onto the sharpener’s smooth yet rough surface.

[Steel Falcon]

Orlad sat cleaning one of his blasters in the hopes that it would help him forget that "glorious" day oh so long ago....

Orlad could remember waking up sometime after he'd fallen unconscious. He was in the care of a fat Hutt by the name of Halbar. Orlad would come to find out soon enough that he was a slave to the Hutt. Fetching the slug food and seeing after the bathing of the nasty alien.

Orlad wasn't the only boy working for Halbar, there were two other boys as well. Orlad had always been bigger than any of his friends back home: Taller, broader, and stronger. These two boys however, made Orlad look small; They often forced him to do their chores while the slave masters weren't looking.

After two years of servitude, Orlad had taken all he could from the other slave boys. One of the boys pushed Orlad down and kicked dirt in his face. Tears streaming down his face, Orlad grabbed a nearby rusted pipe and beat the poor kid to death.

One of the slave masters found Orlad weeping next to the bloody body several hours later and strung him up for a good beating. Just before the slave master could begin the lashing he was ordered to let Orlad down by Halbar. Halbar explained to Orlad that he now owed Halbar money for killing one of his slaves and that Orlad was going to have to pay him back for the money.

Orlad was immediately sent off for the next 4 years and trained vigorously in the art of bounty hunting. It was cruel and dirty but over time Orlad grew to like it. He collected more bounties in his first year than most did in two. He quickly paid off the debt and began paying for his own freedom. Within the next two years Orlad was a free man.

He was doing well for a bounty hunter. He'd never missed a target and he sure wasn't going to let this one slip through his fingers! Suddenly a voice snapped him out of his trance.

"Your gonna polish a whole right into that barrel."

Orlad looked up to see the target standing not far from the table he sat at.

"It'll be another hole for me to shoot you with." Orlad holstered his gun and slid his helmet back on. The target's mouth contoured as if he were about to speak again but stopped like he was thinking about what he'd say next. Finally his voice rang out in the silent room.

"So, why 'X'? What kinda name is that?" Orlad grinned inside his helmet.

"It's short for The Executioner. I bring in more dead targets than I do live ones." Orlad didn’t see the usual strike of fear across the target's face. He couldn't see the usual paleness come to the cheeks of whomever his unfortunate target was. Instead the man before Orlad simply turned and walked away.

He stopped just before exiting the door and turned his head so that he could be heard.

"We're close...."

[Arrowhead.]

Turning, and walking out, Longo headed for the cockpit, where Chyyn sat with his head leaned over to his right shoulder, snoring quietly. Longo thought of how intimidating wookies usually try to look when they are awake, but when they slept, they look as harmless as a small toy a child would hold close.

“I wonder what wookies dream about…?” Longo asked himself.


-=Sweating hard, Chyyn knew victory was within his grasp. He knew every step, look and turn counted. He had done poorly against his opponent at the start, but he can almost see the light at the end of the dark long tunnel. He worked as hard as he could, putting all of his skill he had honed through the past months to the test. At last, could he finally beat this last level? Maybe it was possible! He is so close!

He was almost finished with the song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpBHsAFMyow (Warning, white flashes of light occur in this video! This is an epilepsy warning)! Chyyn finally beat this blastedDance-Dance Robot at its own game! He had done it! He sat down in relief, wiping the sweat off of his flowing perfect wookie-fur. Then, a beeping noise was heard, it was coming from one of the consoles on the tracking system. It showed that the ship they were tracking just exited hyperspace. After sounding the alarm he hopped into the pilot’s seat where Longo never lets him sit in R.L.. Leaping into the doorway, Longo and Orlad yelled simultaneously in a very dramatic voice to Chyyn:

“Oh Chyynbokka, nobody can fly star ships as well as you can! They stand no chance against us now that your in the pilot seat!”

Chyyn roared in appreciation to his beloved and devout fans, reassuring them that they would indeed capture their prey as long as he was behind the controls!

After commanding some droids to massage his large wookie-feet, and having Longo and Orlad fanning him with a large leaf from a perfectly-grown tree from his home-planet Kashyyyk, he continued to control the ship straight for the large farm-world, in hopes of retrieving Orlad’s ship and Longo’s beloved hat. After several pizzas, Bantha BBQ, and some Hutt-Hoppin’ Hamburgers, the three made it to the planet’s surface. Stepping down onto Dantooine, a group of Tusken Raiders riding on Bantha popped out of nowhere. Before wondering why Tusken Raiders were on Dantooine, he pulled from behind him a large and heavy Wookie-Rocket Launcher. He launched its overdrive system, hurling five large bombs at the raiders, clearing them from their path. Simply throwing the rocket launcher aside, Longo and Orlad cheered in reverence at the legend of a wookie that he is. As droids dropped blue flower peddles in front of him, they continued down the path. Finding Huck andHarvey, the three chased them down through several large fields of corn and wheat. They continued until the two men rushed inside of an old rickety-looking house. Made of wood; this house had some boards drooped down to the side, and some hanging by broken hinges.

“Chyyn, I’m afraid, I don’t know if I can take them…” Longo said, grabbing Chyyn’s arm.

In his own tongue, Chyyn assured him that as long as he was around, nothing was going to happen to them.

“Whooh, that’s a relief, I don’t know what I’d do if I didn’t have you hear with me Chyyn!” Orlad said very dramatically.

Then all of a sudden, a rumbling could be heard. The rumbling quickly turned into what seemed to be a large earthquake. Shaking the entire ground, the two began to panic, but Chyyn stood strong with his wookie-pride, not showing any sign of fear at all. Then the quake began to subside until it stopped all together. Then Huck and Harve ran out the door, snickering and laughing at the three. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AL0CMbSsUNU

Chyyn could not believe them: How could they think that they could take on such a magnificent wookie such as him? The very thought made him laugh.

Then the earthquake started again. But then suddenly, the old house exploded; And then out from under the roof of the house came a very large woman.

“Yooooouuu don went chaaysin and scarrin’ my baybees now don you?! Nah I’ll be don learnin’ you wut happens when you go pushin’ ‘round mah bois!” Mrs. Huck and Harve’s mom said.

Just then, she jumped from the house, and landed on Chyyn Longo and Orlad, squishing them into the dirt.

Laughing… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AL0CMbSsUNU

The two boys went around the house, into the Mantis, and flew off.

Under the pressure of the large woman, the three near were crushed to death. Under the enormous weight, Chyyn began to feel the life being crushed out of him.

Chyyn then suddenly became empowered with the strength of a hundred-thousand wookies. Picking up the very large woman, he threw her to the side, allowing his beloved “servants” the ability to get free.

Then suddenly, he felt a hard slap against the back of his head.=-

He awoke to see Longo behind him with a look of annoyance across his face.

“You’re in my seat…”

[Steel Falcon]

Orlad could feel the ship ease out of space and into the planet's orbit. "Good!" He thought. He was already sick of riding in this blasted ship with probably the most unbearable targets he'd ever gone after. This guy was DEFINITELY going back in a coffin.

Orlad stepped into the cockpit to see that they had landed on the planet: Dantooine. They continued to follow the thieves until they came upon some sort of farm.

"Seriously?" Orlad mocked. “Not only did I get beat up, have my ship stolen, am being forced to take lift from my target and his creature, but now I've been brought to the scum of the fields on a farm? Can my day get any worse?"

"You shouldn't have said that..." The target mused.

"Let's just get my ship and get out of here."

Orlad was the first to climb off of the ship and step onto the grassy land. He immediately sunk to his ankles in soft dirt. Grinding his teeth together Orlad followed his target towards a small home nearby which was in between them and Orlad's ship.

Orlad began tinkering with different pieces of his gear. Readying himself for a fight; His gauntlets buzzed to life and his heating vents opened all the way. He clicked ammo clips into each of his pistols.... They had almost made it to the rickety looking structure.

Just as the trio crossed the last field and approached the home, the two men stepped from behind the house. They looked even larger in the open area then they had in the cantina, but size didn't matter any more: Orlad was at the advantage with ranged weapons. These scum bags were going to give him back his ship one way or another!

Suddenly a loud shriek echoed from inside the small home. "BOOOOOOOOOOOOOIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIISSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WUT ARE YALL DOIN OWT THER?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!"

Orlad and Longo looked at each other in unison. An enormous shadow could be seen coming towards the open door of the house. Both of the men in overalls faces went white with fear as the shadow grew more and more the closer it got to the door.

Orlad's hands tightened around the grips of his pistols. Things just got interesting.......

The shadow grew and grew until no shape could be seen in it any longer: It was just a mass of darkness. The two grown men had turned to putty as Orlad could tell that whatever that shadow belonged to was fixing to emerge from behind that door.

Orlad's jaw dropped. He couldn't believe his eyes. The woman that appeared from inside the house gave a new meaning to the word tiny. She was so petite that there was no way she could be the mother of the behemoths that cowered next to the wall.

"Well, whatta we gots her? Bois how come youz didn’ tale me we waz gonna half compnee? Come in, come in!"

[Arrowhead.]

The three stood in silence, debating whether they should enter the small house. Finally, Longo took a step forward from the two, and then another. Soon Chyyn fallowed behind, and then up the porch and into the house, where steaming hot Bantha BBQ awaited.



“It’s not worth it… Where’s my ship anyway…?” Orlad thought to himself.



“You!” Orlad yelled to one of the men. “Where’d you put my ship?”



“Wai’ell, it was her jus a minute ago…” Harve said, shrugging his shoulders and looking to his brother.



“I put’er right offer thar…” Huck said, pointing behind the house.”



Walking around, Orlad saw it sitting in the middle of a field overgrown with weeds and thistles. Putting his right hand on his face, he looked down as if to pout, looking at the horrible landing the two armature pilots made. Then it happened…



“Thank you kindly for treating us Mrs….?” Longo said, whipping his mouth with his sleeve.”



“Nah, mah names not real ‘portant right nah…” “Why was you chasin mah bois down back here? They been supposed to go and fetch me some lottery winnin’s there at them Core Worlds...”



“I hope you understand ma’am that winning the lottery on Couruscant is like trying to look for a vibroblade in a mountain of lightsabers…” Longo said, trying to keep the conversation going.



“Nah, mah bois went gots themselves a kath-hound paw ‘couple days ago, they best go before the luck wear off.” Their mother said.



“Well, both of your sons were at a club, they got into a fight, and took our ship and my hat…” Longo started, but then was cut off…”



“WWWWHHHAAATT THEY BEEN DOIN IN A CLUB HUH?” Their mother yelled.

[Steel Falcon]

Orlad could tell this was NOT his scene, however, the thought that these overgrown heathens may be on the recieving end of a beating was just too good to miss. After all, not only did they steal HIS ship but they also seemed to have "misplaced" it. Orlad's face burned red inside his helmet. He'd need to go vent out the heat in a minute.

The two men were cowering in a corner blubbering on and on to their "mum" some ridiculous excuses as to their where abouts in a club.

"Obviously lady" Orlad chimed in matter of factly, "they went into the club with ill intent and decided well ahead of time that they were going to steal a ship that just so happens to belong to ME! Now, if we can just figure out where your idoit offspring left my ship, I'll be on my way and I'll try real hard not to kill them on my way out, but I won't make any promises."

Longo's jaw dropped at the last comment. His continuous attempts to keep this situation civil just got washed down the drain with threats of death from a bounty hunter. This guy had some nerve!

"Ma'am, we don't want any trouble. We just want what's rightfully ours."

"I see..." the old woman responded with a cold stare at Orlad. "BOIS! You best be raturnin' these folks belongins bafore I get me some hide!"

"Mumma, the pie-rates stoled them's ship and the fellers hat tah boot."

"Yea, yea, we dont haves it no mores. Mumma we real sah-ree."

The woman's face contorted slightly as if the horrible accent actually hurt her ears as well. "Well, ther you go. My bois, dont have yer junk. Now get outta ma house."

Orlad was about to explode. This was it, he was gonna kill every last one of em. Or die trying.

Longo could see Orlad reaching for his blaster, so he slightly "kicked" his shin plate, and put two fingures near one of his quick-draw blasters, passing the hint that Orlad would be in some hot water if he continued his desire. "I understand that we should get going, we wouldn't want to turnthis place into a bloodbath now would we...? We've out stayed our welcome."

Orlad's hand tightened around the grip of his pistol. He was obviously beyond reason. Longo was forced to react. "Chynn, assist this nice man back to our ship."

With a cheerful roar, Chynn grabbed Orlad almost in a human ball and began carrying him out of the house.

"YOU PUT ME DOWN RIGHT NOW YOU OVERGROWN SWAMP RAT! I SWEAR ON MY LIFE IF YOU DON'T PUT ME DOWN I'LL BURN EVERY HAIR OFF YOUR NASTY BODY ONE AT A TIME! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU SO SLOWLY THAT I'LL DIE OF OLD AGE BEFORE I'M FINISHED WITH YOU! I'LL RIP YOUR ARMS OFF AND FEED 'EM TO YOU! PUT ME DOWN! I SWEAR I'M GONNA....."

to be continued.....