Star Wars: Daughter of the Dark Force

Chapter 7: Bounty Hunter

Here's Chapter 7, it's a bit shorter than the previous chapters. Enjoy, and please vote/comment!

Oh and I'm also working on a new cover for Star Wars: Daughter of the Dark Force. It's gonna be epic! C:

Kimmy (AKA DarthKemberli)

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CHAPTER 7: BOUNTY HUNTER

“The smallest morsel of volatile information is more valuable than even a million credits.”

 - Anonymous Imperial Intel agent

Sand coated the streets. A double sunset hung in the sky, a breathtaking sight after the dark nothingness of hyperspace travel. My boots kicked up little clouds of dust as I wandered down a side street of Mos Eisley, Tatooine's capital, with Caryoliss. This was my first time on Tatooine, a sandy, rocky planet in the Outer Rim. It was controlled by the Hutts, Jabba the Hutt in particular, and they reaped the greatest benefits of the slave trade that characterized the planet.

Mos Eisley bustled with motion. Many of the shops that lined the streets offered decent wares, but more than just a few displayed wretched little goods that no one in their right mind would buy. The runners of these shops were usually very young or very old, dressed in filthy rags. Drugs and alcohol were also sold in broad daylight on these stands, which were patronized only by the very desperate. I guessed that these likely shadily-acquired goods were the only way the owners of the stands got by, and while I didn't let it bother me too much, I had to admit that I felt disgust at the degenerate way these people lived. I said nothing, but the look on Caryoliss's face was plain enough: he too was repulsed by the wretchedness. This made me pretty sure that Caryoliss came from a normal family, the way Gundree did.

I chose this particularly repulsing street for a reason, however. Kast Tar, one of the persons wanted by CURS, currently resided in Mos Eisley. He was known to frequent a certain bar named the Drunken Tusken at this time of day, and I wanted Caryoliss and I to seem as inconspicuous as possible. We arrived on Tatooine under ruse of simple pilots-for-hire employed by the Empire. The other soldiers stayed behind with the Star Princess in the spaceport just outside the city. In case Kast Tar had any spies, I kept the Star Princess locked tightly and refuelled her myself. Then, with only Caryoliss by my side, I headed in a haphazard manner in the direction of the Drunken Tusken.

The unsightly stands and shops began to fall away as we approached a wealthier part of town. Sturdier buildings, hewn out of rock, were clumped together and linked by well-flattened dirt paths. People of all species and ages crowded the streets. I fell into stride alongside a trio of green-skinned humanoids. Two were female, one was male. They looked at me curiously, and the females measured up Caryoliss with a sly smile, but I ignored them and scanned the billboards for the bar I was looking for. Some signs were wooden, and others were metal, but the highest quality ones were holograms. It was one of these that advertised the Drunken Tusken in bright letters.

"That one," I said to Caryoliss and, grabbing his arm, pulled him along behind me so that he wouldn't get lost in the crowd.

Precisely twenty slick, black-stoned stairs led up to the main entrance of the Drunken Tusken. The exterior finish of the bar was much the same colour as the buildings around it, but the architecture was much more impressive. The Drunken Tusken - aside from its ridiculous name - was a high-class club, that much was obvious. When we passed through the entrance, I saw immediately that the club was separated on three levels. After I moment I realized that the higher the level from the ground, the higher class it was. Well, I had never expected this to be easy.

Casually I swept through the third-class level, assuming an air of interest in the club while keeping my eyes peeled for any sign of Kast Tar. After one round I was positive he wasn't on the first floor.