Bad Blood

Chapter 22 - A Harsh Revelation

Vader took one last glance at the blipping red light on the tracker in his hand before striding down the ramp of his shuttle. The device had led him to a Star Destroyer stationed on a covert mission in the outer rim before going out of range.

Vorte had been here. He could sense it.

The commanding officer scurried to Vader's heel. He was doing an abysmal job of masking his terror, the taste of which made Vader want to vomit. Pathetic little man. Whoever had put him in charge had made a poor decision.

"Lord Vader! What a surprise. How can we help you?"

Vader wasted no time. "You recently employed a female bounty hunter by the name of Astéri Vorte." That was the only explanation for Vorte stopping at the Star Destroyer. The officer's reaction confirmed his suspicions.

"How did you... my Lord, I assure you that we have everything under control, I-"

"Save your excuses, Commander. That girl is wanted for the murder of our best bounty hunter. I know you know where she is. Unless you want to be complicit in her crimes, you will reveal her whereabouts."

The officer's fear became an overwhelming stench. "Lord Vader," he grovelled, "my humblest apologies. I had no idea she was a common criminal; she assured me that she was a legitimate mercenary. I don't know where she is exactly, but I know where she will be. I sent her after a bounty on the planet's surface. Nothing major. Just a minor skirmish to be taken care of."

Vader turned away without responding. This Commander was all to easy to pry information out of.

A feeling still niggled, though.

Vader stopped dead in his tracks. The officer was hiding something. It became all too obvious once Vader thought about it; the officer's fear was less to do with Vader himself and more to do with how he would react once he discovered the officer's lies. Was it about the target? It had to be.

Turning slowly, the Sith Lord eyed the officer from the corner of his visor.

Vader knifed his consciousness into the officer's mind. He poked around, searching for more information about this... Olena Ranzak? Yes, that was the target's name. An ex-Jedi, then? He had never heard of her, but this in itself wasn't surprising. The Jedi had been numerous before their downfall.

So why do you want her dead? Vader practically shouted into the officer's mind. It couldn't simply be that she was a Jedi. If that was the sole reason for her death warrant, then an Inquisitor would've taken her down. They could do the job much better than a mere girl, even if this girl was Boba Fett's killer. Unless-

Unless this officer wanted Olena Ranzak alive. Then it would make far more sense to hire a bounty hunter than an Inquisitor.

Tell me. You can't hide the information forever. Who do you really work for? Who is it that wants Olena so much?

The officer resisted for a second before yielding to Vader's power. An image swam into view.

A face, cloaked by a hood and muttering curses. Glorious crimson skin marred by livid black tattoos. A crown of spikes. And a simmering, unquenchable hatred for-

The officer gasped as Vader plunged a lightsaber blade through his chest. The smoking body fell to the floor.

The Sith Lord took a step back, shaken. There had been something suspicious about the whole damn business from the start. And now that an old enemy had shown his colours, the web of death around Astéri Vorte was becoming more tangled. But was she the spider? Was she a fly struggling to survive? Or was she the parasite, hidden amongst the other killers, poised to take her place as the deadliest one of them all?

Either way, whatever she was Vader knew that Astéri would get more than she bargained for if she went after Olena Ranzak.

Especially with Darth Maul on the prowl.

_____

Sorry for the horrendously short chapter! That was just kinda the way the draft worked out with what events I wanted to group together in each chapter. I guess I'm just really inconsistent, some of my chapters are under 1000 words (I think this one is about 650) and then some will be coming up on 4000 - 5000 lol. It do be like that tho.

Anyway, thought I should mention (before I forget and it all goes wrong) that I'm gonna do a bonus chapter at the end of the story with some extra scenes, alternate plot lines and also some art, so let me know if there's anything you want to go in! I would especially appreciate any art to put in.

Me like pretty Boba picture :)

Hope you all enjoyed. See ya in the next one! 😜