The Bounty Hunter Chapter 1

Chapter 1

It had been six long months since she had gotten the news that Alderaan had gone, along with her husband, Chan and the rest of her family except, fortunately, for her daughter and son, who had been on Corellia with her at the time. She had first stepped foot in the Bounty Hunter’s Guild a little over a month and a half ago, after she’d decided to sell her medical practice. It had not been a decision she had taken lightly – in spite of her husband’s death, the practice had been a comfortable source of income, but the knowledge that she would never see Chan again and her homeworld had eaten away at her until she could no longer stand living there.

That and the fact she’d grown increasingly frustrated with the new regulations that the Empire had kept burdening her profession with – her major at the University of Medicine had been exotic species, or in lay man’s terms, aliens. Because of that, her practice had been heavily taxed so that she had to charge her customers higher prices for the same medical procedures that humans paid only a fraction for. Combined with the fact that her patients, unless they were Drall or Selonian happened to work in low paid jobs or forced into unemployment just because of their species, she’d had to send more and more patients away, or treat them for free. That had meant she’d had to buy medical supplies that didn’t work as well on aliens or drugs that weren’t cleared for use on aliens, which meant their use was illegal. The new owners, she knew, had decided to just treat humans and she often wondered what would happen to those who she could no longer care for.

That the Empire had undermined her chosen profession made her angry, which was just as well as her body language kept the Bounty Hunters at bay. She figured that her demeanour at that moment must have been intimidating enough to keep the more stupid of the 'tough' guy wannabe bounty hunters away. The rest ignored her as though she was too weak for them to notice, something that Shiba was both insulted by and relieved about at the same time. Chan had always told her that the time when a real bounty hunter paid you any attention was the time to start running - it usually meant that someone wanted your head on a platter. A thing he had learnt himself after several encounters.

Now she wouldn't have to worry about that happening to him, at least, but no matter how someone died, it still hurt those left behind.

She continued down the winding, rock lined corridors to the chamber that she had finally ended up going to after her arrival here almost two months ago now.

The only advantage to selling her business was that it had given her enough credits to buy a ship and live off for a short while, so upon arrival at the Bounty Hunter’s Guild, she had bought a ship and went in search of a partner. Her first point of contact had been Boba Fett, who’d flatly refused her. Though he’d had the reputation as being the most notorious Bounty Hunter in the galaxy, Shiba couldn’t shake the feeling that he was honourable in his own way. He laid out the grim realities of the profession in front of her like the Medical University Surgery Lecturer had laid out a dead Wookiee for them to do an autopsy on. Because she had focused on the idea that it had to be done so she could save lives, she had gotten through it. She used that same determination to get through Boba Fett’s introduction to bounty hunting that was obviously designed to put her off. She thought about what the Empire had done to Alderaan and then about what crimes those who the bounty hunters hunted had committed but escaped justice. It was a fact that some people hunted by bounty hunters didn’t deserve it, the majority did.

Bossk and Denger, those whom she approached after Boba Fett, didn’t take her seriously; Denger thought a woman should stay out of such professions and Bossk regarded her as weak. That had just sparked a defiance in her that just made her all the more determined to be a bounty hunter, if only she could find someone willing to take her on. Cradossk, the Guild’s leader and the Trandoshan Bossk’s father, had been a little wiser than his son and didn’t dismiss her out of hand and tried to get her to partner with the Gand, Zuckess. Whether it had been because she genuinely thought that Zuckuss didn’t know what he was doing (which was the excuse she’d used), or because she found bugs creepy and just didn’t want to admit it to herself or anyone else, it had been her time to refuse. She’d gone back to Chenlambec again, the Wookiee whom she had bought passage from to get to the Bounty Hunter’s Guild, and he already had a partner, in another human female called Tinian, but he directed her to the bounty hunter, the one with the mysterious past. Now she was on her way to deal with the aftermath of that first meeting with him. Quite a lot of the corridor was hidden in blackness and she couldn't make out if anyone lurking in the shadows. She strained her ears and swallowed her fear. If there was anyone there then she would hear them before she saw them.

"Turn around, slowly," a growl issued from behind her.

Shiba did so, noting a pair of yellow eyes that seemed to float in the darkness. The figure stepped forward and his shape materialised out of the shadows. He wasn't human, that was something Shiba could tell. He had a blaster trained on her; the black fur covering his fingers curled around it betrayed that fact, along with the bare clawed feet. The mask that covered his face made it very difficult to determine what his species was, however.

It was when he tossed a sleeping gas canister that shattered on the wall behind her that Shiba realised her mistake. She had only seconds to dwell on this before the world melted away...

***

When Shiba came to, she found that her hands and feet were bound.

"Good, you are awake," her mysterious abductor announced as he passed into her view. As before, only his hands and feet were visible, his facial features concealed by the cowl of a black cloak.

Shiba blinked her eyes a couple of times. Her head felt like a herd of stampeding banthas was rioting inside it. She glared at him, her brow creased in a frown.

"Do you always knock your visitors unconscious and tie them up?" she asked haughtily.

"When I get the opportunity. In my profession, it's safer that way. What brings you here, woman of Alderaan?"

"Hey, I never told you -" Shiba’s protest was cut off when he indicated where the top his head would have been if it had been uncovered with a claw on his hand and tossed her Alderaanian Medical Practitioner's permit card onto the floor in front of her.

"It was a rhetorical question. There's only one reason why someone like you would come here. I'll say this now, go back home -"

"Well, that would be kind of difficult, don't you think?" Shiba bit back, angry that he seemed to know more about her than she did about him, and the fact that she was sick of hearing those words, go back home. Even if she wanted to, she never could. The Empire had seen to that.

Unseen in the depths of his cowl, the unknown alien smiled. He liked her impunity, though he didn't want to let her know that yet.

"You wreak of fear, little doctor. You would be better to go back to your old life," he said, hoping to antagonise her a little more. Maybe she would get the message and leave.

"You of all people know that sometimes that is impossible," Shiba replied. Chan was gone, she wanted to scream at him, but she tried to keep her emotions in check. After all, a doctor who couldn’t do that was worse than useless. Then she had to remind herself with a jolt that she wasn’t a doctor anymore. Even if she wanted to, she could never go back to her old practice as it was under different ownership now and she’d spent all of her money on saving this ungrateful alien’s hide.

"How so?"

Shiba had one last trick to try. Chenlambec had mentioned him fighting in the Clone Wars, but she had no proof if that was true, but she had to try it.

"You fought in the Clone Wars..."

Now he was glad that she couldn't see his face, for the statement rattled him a little. No one should know anything about what he had been in his old life. She was not as unintuitive as he had first thought and with this knowledge, could be dangerous. But then, rumours flittered around the galaxy like hawk-bats infested the skies of Coruscant, perhaps he should dig a little deeper before he made his decision about what to do with her.

"Rumours, nothing more," Flik said, trying to deflect her from the truth.

"But you have worked against the Empire before, haven’t you, Flik Sivrak?" she asked, taking another gamble. Whoa, she seemed to be taking a load of those today, but then that was what her life had been like since selling her practice.

Flik pulled the cowl off his head, to reveal his black lupine face and brown chin and neck. His ears swivelled forward.

"I no longer do that kind of work, doctor. I haven't done that for along time," he replied. "I hunt now only for profit, but who's to say that harming the Empire doesn't come into it occasionally?"

Though his words seemed to indicate that he was starting to come around to her way of thinking, his tone was a little dismissive and she was getting tired of playing word games with the Shistavanen wolfman.

“You owe me, Sivrak. You’d be dead now if I’d not saved your life,” Shiba replied, sounding a little more hysterical than she intended. “I lost my ship, and the money I had for your medical treatment. The least you can do is give me a chance.”

She did have a point Flik decided as he considered her outburst. Though he was annoyed at her meddling, she was correct. His old teacher had told him that too much pride was a flaw, though there must be away that he could put her off. He just needed the chance to find it.

"So, you are here to be a bounty hunter, is that correct?"

"Yes, I guess so," Shiba said, a little uncertainly.

"You have to be sure this is what you want. Once you've started, there is no turning back.”

"Yes, that is what I want," Shiba said, with more conviction.

"That's better," Flik said, a devious expression coming over his face. "But if you want to partner with me, there has to be a trial period first. Meet me in the hanger at docking bay 77 in an hour's time. I will give you the details of my new job there. If we succeed, you'll be my partner, I'll train you. If we fail, you'd better get out of my way pretty fast."