Star Wars Rebels: Hera & Kanan

Chapter Seventeen

Cikatro Vizago stood in front of his ship, the Broken Horn, with his arms crossed over his wide chest. Hera walked towards him, hoping she looked more confident than she felt. Kanan lagged a few steps behind her.

"Where are my blaster rifles?" Vizago called.

Well...he knows. At least I don't have to break the news to him, Hera thought.

She waited until she'd covered a few more meters of the distance between herself and the leader of the Broken Horn Syndicate before answering. "In the cargo bay," she answered, jerking her thumb over her shoulder in the direction of her ship. She stopped a short distance away from him, just to be on the safe side.

Kanan, however, kept going until he was standing less than an arm's length from the Devaronian.

"You sleemo," he growled, eyes blazing. "You sent us to Nar Shaddaa to deal with a bunch of slaver scum! We were almost captured!"

"Ah," Vizago said, "But you weren't captured."

"What?" Kanan demanded. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Vizago shrugged. "You handled the situation, didn't you? I have to make sure the people working for me can handle themselves."

Kanan took a step closer to Vizago, getting directly into his face. "Are you saying that you set this whole thing up deliberately?"

"Eh," Vizago said, shrugging again. "I don't like this guy you killed, you know? He thinks he's a tough guy, but he's just Nar Shaddaa scum. No class, no appreciation for business, always double-crossing Vizago. You did me a favor by getting rid of him. Two mynocks, one blaster."

"Are you kidding me?!" Kanan burst out, looking like he was ready to kill Vizago.

"Kanan..." Hera warned, watching Vizago's IG-RM bodyguard droids abandon their work loading the Broken Horn, and start to make their way over to their master.

"Back up, kid," Vizago said, poking a long fingernail at Kanan. His tone was edged with an unmistakable threat. "You wanted to be a part of the criminal underworld. This is how we do things. If you're smart and strong, you live. If you're dumb and weak, you die. Simple. I don't know how you did it, but you didn't die. So you live another day to commit crimes for Vizago."

Kanan scowled and stepped back from Vizago, finally noting the approach of the droids. "Don't call me kid," he spat, clearly irritated about having to break off his onslaught.

"Your problem is that you're too noble, kid. I can see it just by looking at you. This one," he said, pointing at Hera, "she has the guts to do what has to be done. You, not so much." He guffawed as if he'd just told a hilarious joke.

Hera ignored Vizago's comment- she was more concerned that his needling might motivate Kanan to do something truly stupid. For the moment, he was smart enough to stay still and keep his mouth shut under the watchful gaze of the IG-RM droids, but she doubted it would last if she didn't intervene.

"Aren't you worried about the Hutts?" she asked Vizago, attempting to redirect the conversation.

Vizago laughed again. "The Hutts? No, no. They kill my people; I kill theirs. We steal from each other. It's been going on so long that no one knows who owes who what anymore. But if they got a look at you or your ship, you might need to worry."

"The signature was masked."

"Well, then maybe you don't need to worry too much, either," Vizago said. His expression indicated that he could not have cared less. "You got my credits, too, I assume?"