Bounty Contract: Umbara (Part 2)

From the shadows of a nearby alley, the Umbaran woman known as Sly Deechi watched the scene unfold from the shadowy cover of two large, square buildings that helped keep her presence masked from the watchful eye of the BBA building. Deechi continued watching the scene as the hunter in white tried to make his way into the BBA headquarters, only to be stopped by the Gammoreans. She then watched as the three fought, impressed by the man’s skull with a knife and hand to hand combat, the style being one strangely familiar and yet strangely alien. She then watched as the first, then second, Gamorrean fell in battle, barely able to scratch the snow-colored warrior. 

After that, she saw the doors open to the stronghold, and the dozen or so personal guards of Tesche Fortuna emerged from it. She then saw the scum himself, Tesche Fortuna, crime boss of Shadow Town and head of the Bounty Brokers Association in Umbara. Behind him, dressed in the humiliating, gold-colored slave clothes, was an Umbaran woman who Sly knew all too well, for she was her shadow sister, Ely Deechi.

 

The young Umbaran felt rage and fury, seeing her sister held captive like she was, degraded and humiliated for all to see, and powerless to save. She clenched her fist, resisting the ever-growing urge to charge in, kill the Twil’lek crime lord, and take her sister back. However, she knew such action would be impossible, even for her entire clan. The BBA was too heavily defended, connected, and supplied. Even if they made it past the door, the near army of bounty hunters, mercenaries, and other hired guns, would gun them down before her blade ever reached her. Sly wiped a single, solitary tear from his pearly white colored eye, trying to hold in the emotion she felt. She refocused her effort now, turning back to the scene playing before her. She watched as the Mandalorian went for his helmet and began to walk off, as the crime lord screamed abuse and profanity at him, mocking him. The hunter seemed to completely ignore him as he made his way into the busy crowd that had surrounded them. Tesche Fortuna walked back into the base, angered by the hunter’s insolence, and signaled two of his bodyguards to collect the bodies, dragging them back inside. 

She took a deep breath, wiping the fresh tears that formed in her eyes away, and began to focus on her target, The Mandalorian.

She made her way through the dark alleys around her, moving from building to building, as she kept his gaze fixated on him. The Mandalorian continued his path through the market place, raising his armored hand up to his helmet as if communicating with someone. The Mandalorian was a tall man, roughly six foot three, dressed in a set of snow-colored white, bounty hunter armor, with a T shaped visor on his helmet. As she looked closer, she noted the helmet wasn’t made like the rest of the armor, being in a more cylinder-like, with a round top. The helmet was also made of sturdier material than the rest, most likely the infamous Mandalorian Beskar in the legends.

Sly continued watching him, ducking in and out of the alleyways as she did so. She might not be as good as the Shadow Masters of Umbara but she felt confident in her own ability, even though she was a novice. So far, the Mandalorian held no sign of recognizing her, as the two continued to walk through the street.

Suddenly though, the Mandalorian stopped, as if getting some bad news and turned around for a moment. Sly instantly ducked into the nearby alley, her long, black, cloak, helping conceal her from his gaze. She watched from the shadows, trying to look inconspicuous, surprised at the hunter’s skill with detection. However, once he turned back around, she began to think she’d overreacted. After all, this was a simple hunter, and a new to Umbara she deduced, so not as though he’d be on guard. She continued watching, following the bounty hunter, trying to get closer and closer, to avoid detection, as she stalked the Mandalorian as a hunter does the hunted.

Soon enough, the Mandalorian stopped in front of Umbaran, Cantina, named Jubba Jawa Juice, and proceeded to walk inside, taking a quick glance around him before he did so. Sly quickly moved after him, just as soon as he walked inside, taking about ten or so minutes before she slipped inside.

As she entered, she began looking around, trying to find her lost quarry. The cantina was filled with the loud, echoing, sounds of music, radiating from the jukebox in the corner. The room was relatively well lit, particularly in the center where the U shaped bar was and less so further toward the walls, where small booths were built into for sitting and drinking. There were various patrons around the bar, mostly local Umbarans like herself, with a few other species mixed in. The protocol droid, an Imperial 2V-R8 series Imperial service droid, was walking around the inner side of the bar, serving drinks and other refreshments to its customers. 

Sly made her way to the protocol droid, saying,” Excuse me, a Mandalorian came in here, which way did he go?” and watched as the droid shook its head, unable to answer.

Just as it turned to serve its next customer, Sly felt her arm being gently nudged, by a drunken Devaronian, with one of its twin horns blasted off. The man was clearly drunk, still holding and sloshing his cup of alcohol in one hand, while the other pointed at her arm. He smiled at her and said, drunkenly,” Y-You seek da’Mando? Ha! Bleeegh! He w-went that way!” and pointed his finger toward the side exit door of the cantina, barely able to keep his fingers straight. He then reached out on the table and passed a couple of Imperial credits across the bar, shouting for another drink. 

Sly then nodded to the drunken patron, tossing him a few credits for his information. She then began to move through the cantina quickly, hoping to catch the Mandalorian before she lost his trial. She kept her black cloak around her, with the hood drawn down to hide her face, as he slipped through the crowds of drunken aliens and Umbarans in the bar. Once she reached the door, she quickly opened it, stepping out into a dark alley. She then quickly closed the door behind her, rushing toward the end of the alley, toward the high trafficked streets, hoping to catch the Mandalorian, only to have the game reversed.

Where once she was the hunter, she soon realized with the Mandalorians, you are always the hunted.