The Hunt Begins... (Meira)

[Dire Wolf]

Rich.

That's what they weren't. Sera and Dal were paid modestly for their heist, certainly not as much as the gems were worth. They were left a few of the gems as well, and she was certainly sad to see them go. The guy who hired them, a big human by the name of Jax, didn't tell them were the gems were out of charity, after all. Even so, Sera was (yet again) with no ship and no prospects for a job.

The reptile's untimely death only compounded their troubles, as no pilot would take the risk to ferry them around from job to job. Word traveled quick in the underbelly of society, even if the man that got the axe wasn't one of the most liked in the business. Things seemed hopeless, at least until the considerably less emaciated zeltron happened across a news bulletin as she flipped through the holonet.

RENEGADE JEDI DESTROY'S KORINTHA THE HUTT'S PALACE

Renegade Jedi Master and fmr High Councilwoman Rhissai Arckan was seen on Nar Shaddaa last week killing thugs indiscriminantly. While normally this would have come with no small amount of praise, she and two other unidentified assailants moved on to Nal Hutta. After infiltrating the manse, and a rather heated battle with another Jedi that caused an apocolyptic hellstorm, one of the most powerful crime lords in the underworld lie dead and his castle ruined. Again, this would be a good thing if it weren't for the power vaccuum...

Sera's eyes slipped to the bottom of the article, skimming words here and there. None of them terribly interesting.

...Renegade Jedi Master's bounty is still set at three million credits dead or alive for both the Republic and the Sith, and now the Hutt families are expected to throw their own offer into the mix.

Three million credits.

Sera allowed the ghost of a smirk to touch her face. Sure, this Jedi schutta was one of the most dangerous in the galaxy... but three million credits. Dal could retire with that kind of money, and so could she. At the very least they could pay the Sith to stop hounding them, or trade a Jedi for their lives back. Dal deserved that much, throwing his career away for a broad like her.

Her chin fell a bit at the thought. The big dumb oaf. The zeltron still couldn't figure out why he did what he did. No one was stupid enough to do it out of a simple lack of intelligence. "Dal," she called back to him with thinly veiled excitement in her voice, "I think I found us a job. Ever feel like hunting Rhissai?"

Everyone in the anti-jedi division knew the council members through and through. Whatever scant amount of their known history was memorized, as was their face, distinguishing marks, and alias. Rhissai had been known to have some kind of tribal sleeve on her arm, a bird on her back, and brilliant green eyes. Almost nothing was known about her history, though that was of little importance. "Three million creds, I mean. I'd hunt my own mum for that much."

[Meira]

It was hard to complain now, knowing how much worse things had been before, but that didn't mean it was easy to be content. While in the military, Dal had become accustomed to a certain degree of nourishment. That degree being somewhere in the proximity of an awful lot. He'd been experimented on, given stims and other boosters and generally required more food to maintain the level of fitness expected of such a behemoth.

After he and Sera skipped out on the military, they'd been hard pressed to keep themselves fed at all. Forget about well. They'd both lost a lot of weight then. Dal couldn't fathom how Sera had survived, small as she was and had already been. But they had. The credit had to go to their will, and probably their stupidity as well. In any case, they'd struggled through their first few jobs as mercenaries laying low from the Sith until they'd made that train heist.

That hadn't gone well at first, what with having to kill their pilot and then thinking they hadn't gotten the gems they'd been contracted to steal. But then, after Dal's first experience being so drunk he couldn't even remember anything, they'd found the gems after all. They'd gotten paid enough to get back on their feet. They were still living very much hand to mouth, but that hand was feeding the mouth a somewhat decent amount at least.

So when Sera mentioned a possible job, Dal lifted his head from the bunk he'd been dozing on and propped himself up on his elbow to listen. The mention of Rhissai had the chalk white man thinking for a moment, trying to recall which Council member she was. When her image finally came up in his mind, he smiled just a little.

"That's the one with the tattoos, yeah? The looker?" he chuckled slightly. More than one joke about just how many tattoos that woman had, and where, had been passed around the men of the anti-Jedi division. Maybe he would get to be the first one to find out. That would really chafe some balls back in the AJD.

"Three million creds, I mean. I'd hunt my own mum for that much."

Dal's elbow slipped off the side of the bunk, causing the giant of a man to almost tumble to the floor. He managed to catch his fall, however, by swinging one leg out to brace himself against the wall opposite the bunk. It was an awkward position, but he managed to clamber to his feet. Rocky got jostled in the process at the foot of the bunk and growled slightly before curling back up to fall back to sleep. Dal ignored the wolf-cat and walked over to where Sera sat.

"You don't want to know what I'd do to your mom for that much..." Dal mumbled as he bent over to look at the readout. "So... Nal Hutta then? That place stinks." He wrinkled up his nose at the thought, but then remembered the three million credits and shrugged his shoulders. "What are we waiting for?"

[Dire Wolf]

Sera laughed. She never laughed, at least not openly when sarcasm or deprecation wasn't involved. "Does that mean I finally get to call you daddy?" The zeltron's voice was playful, but even so she found herself regretting that comment. She quickly added to it, "yeah, Nal Hutta. Just need to see if there's any security footage." Its a good thing its nigh impossible to see a blush on a Zeltron. One suspected misplaced affection aside, Sera knew that she had gotten pretty inebriated the night of their 'great heist.' Inebriated to the point of being, 'Sera Vossk drunk' anyways. While a haze veiled the exact events in question from her, she suspected that critical information was loosed to the wrong ears.

Dal was either being kind by not saying anything, or he was just as smashed as Sera had been. Worse things have happened, she supposed. Last time she got that sloshed, she woke up with a missing frind, a Bha'lir in her kitchen, and a baby in the refresher. After a sigh, Sera stood up and began making her way to the holonet terminal. Many pilots would turn them down for a small take and a lot of risk. Few pilots would do the same for one third of the Rhissai bounty.

It didn't take long.

One of the better albeit insane pilots out of the droves that she contacted was the first to respond. It was almost instant. The man was a Rodian who's wit was only slower than the ship he flew. It didn't really even take that much coaxing to get the frog thing to agree to ferry them about... he wanted to be persueded.

"First try. Dayum," Sera spoke through a small, toothy grin. "A Rodian this time. Well, at least he's not a lizard." The woman stood from her seat and began to place her gear into a travel bag, including her armor. armor was uncomfortable to wear, regardless of how heavy it was or how often you wore it. She wasn't about to don it just because an interstellar manhunt had been started. "He's on his way now, should be a few minutes," Sera stated casually as she slung her rifle around her shoulder. "This should be a riot."

[Meira]

"Does that mean I finally get to call you daddy?"

Had he been a quicker man, Dal might have had something to say back to that comment. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, he was not to quick with witty retorts. Dal hadn't had much experience with such things before he was recruited. After that, he'd picked up an understanding, and even an appreciation for such humor, but was never very good at it. His previous comment about Sera's mother was about as good as his jokes got.

Luckily, Sera filled the silence that followed her own comment and was threatening to become awkward. They still really hadn't talked much about that night they drank together. Dal doubted they ever would. There wasn't much to talk about. He could hardly remember it to begin with. But once again, they avoided having to worry about any of that for a while.

Sera moved away over to a holonet terminal and soon found them a pilot. It might have been a surprise at how fast she'd found someone, if the job wasn't paying so much. Dal made a face when Sera said the pilot was Rodian.

"Well, at least he's not a lizard."

"Not much of an improvement though.." Dal grumbled in response as he followed his partner's lead and began to gather his things. He packed his sword with his armor. He'd be needing the weapon for sure on this mission. It'd been a while since he'd been able to put the lightsaber resistant weapon to the test, but he didn't need the thing right now. He did, however, holster a fairly standard blaster pistol at his waist. It was nothing flashy, but it'd still kill a man dead, and that was all that mattered.

The movement caused Rocky to lift his head up and emit a sound somewhere between a purr and a growl to express his curiosity. Dal scratched the wolfcat under its chin, causing the creature to close its eyes and issue a true purr. Rocky stood up then on the bunk, arching his back and stretching his front paws out far forward before moving to inspect his master's packing job. He stuck his head into the still open bag, then a paw. Dal gave the wolfcat a thump to get him to stop. In response, Rocky climbed all the way into the bag and nested in the folded clothing.

"Y' little runt." Dal complained, lifting the beast out of the bag by the scruff of his neck. Even still, a half smile spread across the large man's face. Dal wasn't one for affection, but it was obvious that he had quite an attachment to his pet.

[Dire Wolf]

Sera looked at the little exchange between Dal and Rocky with the face that could have been carved from stone. The military taught her bearing, and how to keep emotions from showing when they weren't necessary. It was a particularly hard skill to learn, considering the woman's Zeltron heritage. After a moment she allowed her stony facade to break, and a slight smirk to crease her lips. Rocky had always been a strange little beast, and she had grown to like him and his master despite loathing them both at first sight.

The woman leaned her weight against the wall, crossed her arms, and began to wait for the 'man' to reach them. Half an hour later her ears heard the shrill report of an engine set down outside of the little hotel room that they had taken for the night. "Welp, here we are," Sera huffed as she picked up her duffel and slung her rifle around her shoulder.

A moment later she was out the door and heading down the stairs. Sera met the rather odd looking Rodian in the lobby, and took a moment to size him up. He was short and skinny almost to the point of being emaciated, and to complicate things his skin was a stark white as opposed to the regular rodian green. Great red bulbs glimmered curiously, though not quite as curiously as she looked at him. Sera Vossk has seen many things in her travels around the galaxy, but not once has she seen an albino rodian.

<<What are you looking at, pink skin?>> The rodian spat out in his stumbling, clumsy language. She glanced back at Dal with a smirk on her face, "Hey big guy, isn't that what our last pilot said when he first met us?" She cocked her head at the Rodian, giving Dal time to answer before continuing on, "listen... this bounty is big. The big guy and I are the only ones that will get it." <<Stealing a few gems for a fat man doesn't make you a good bounty hunter.>>

Sera gave a slight sigh, and wondered if he came her to insult them or work with them. "Whatever you say. Lets get on with this." The sooner they were free of this creature, the happier she would be. Something told her that the Rodian's head would be a canoe by the end of this voyage. It certainly wouldn't have been the first time that Sera has shot a man on her side, why stop with one lecher?

They continued onto the man's ship, which was a fairly stout looking ship though spartan in furnishing. Next stop: Nal Hutta.