Jedi Fugitive (The Bad Batch)

93:

Astera:

"We're working for her now?" Wrecker burst out the moment Fennec shut herself in the cockpit of her ship, his voice hushed to just above a whisper and glancing at the door nervously every few seconds like he was expecting the bounty hunter to step out at any moment. "We don't even trust her!"

"What choice do we have? We need that information." Hunter insisted stubbornly.

Wrecker shot me a nearly pleading look, and I could only shrug helplessly. They both had a point again, like they so often had when we were searching for Omega. Only this time around I had to take Hunter's side. The information was too important for us to just pass this up. "Just be ready for anything."

No sooner than I'd spoken, the cockpit entrance hissed open, Fennec right behind it with an unamused expression. She'd clearly been listening in, or maybe we hadn't been as quiet as we thought.

"We made a deal. I'm going to keep it as long as you hold up your end."

"Wanna tell us who it is we're going after?" I couldn't blame Hunter for asking. After too many zero-intel missions with Cid and seeing how that had turned out, we'd more than learned not to take on any more missions without information. Though I wasn't entirely sure if Fennec was going to give us that intel.

"Sylar Sarris." Surprisingly enough, Fennec activated a bounty puck, a Yam'rii's holographic image blinking into existence. "The 'Slayer of Ordo Eris'. One of the slipperiest marks around. Got a tip on his location."

"Well, what did he do?"

"Got greedy," She scoffed at Wrecker's question. "Took out a couple of top bosses for the Haxion Brood and escaped with a cache of credits. Powerful people want him found."

"Sounds easy enough. What do you need us for then?"

"The other hunters that went after him? Never came back. Sylar knows this planet like the back of his claw." She put away the data puck, a glint in her eyes I wasn't sure I liked. "But eventually everyone's luck runs out."

She headed back into the cockpit with that, leaving us to stare after her and wonder what exactly she meant by it.

*******

The planet she brought us to was some backwater on the Outer Rim, so heavily polluted the atmosphere was a permanent shade of orange. The docking port where Fennec landed the ship was also situated in the middle of a swamp, belching more smoke into the already hazy air.

"Helmets on, boys," Fennec told the two clones, a breath mask already affixed over her nose and mouth. "The air here will kill you. Don't go dying on me until the job's done."

No wonder Sylar Sarris chose to hide out here. The planet was more likely to deal with anyone after him before they even saw him. Both clones immediately slid their helmets on and we went after her, a pit droid with a datapad already approaching the ship with a chittering greeting.

"I need a boat with speed," Fennec told it, warning clear in her tone. "And not something that'll capsize like last time."

The DUM droid gestured towards the nearest elevator, chattering affirmatively about a perfect boat down by the docks. All I could see of Fennec was her eyes now, expression covered by the helmet she wore, and they narrowed distrustfully at the pit droid, but she followed it onto the

Said boat was half rusted and looked like it could fall apart as soon as it fired up, but there was nothing else in the docks. Fennec knelt by the edge of the pier to inspect the boat, the droid chirping next to her and holding out its hand for its payment.