Star Wars: Omnium: Clan Of One, A Splinter Universe Story

Episode 2 - The Pyke

4 ABY

"Bwoop Bwoop Bwoop."

"Alright! I'm awake!" Var stretches and yawns, "There it is Warhead, Mon Gazza. Time to get paid." Var presses the call button on his holo display. After a moment, a hologram springs to life in front of him.

"Var Omnium. We weren't expecting you for another rotation," the tall Pyke says.

"You should know I work fast," Var replies.

"I'm transmitting the rendezvous coordinates now. See you on the surface." The hologram blinks out, and the display lights up with the newly received coordinates.

Var descends into the planet's atmosphere. The Insight races over the barren, red, and dusty landscape. As it clears a hulking mountain range, a massive spice mine comes into view. Hundreds of slaves, both living and droid, carry heavy crates of spice to the refinery. At the other end, more slaves carry the refined spice to various cargo ships. Var lands the Insight in the landing platform. He opens the rear door, and extends the ramp. A group of Pykes troop up the ramp. The leader approaches Var and asks, "Where is he?"

"In that icebox there," Var gestures, " Where's my money?"

"Follow, and you will be paid." The Pyke responds. Four of the Pykes lift Rhond's body and carry him away. The fifth indicates that Var should follow him. Var whistles, and Warhead rolls after them. The Pyke leads the Mandalorian and his astromech through the refinery. They enter a lift, and rise up the side of a tower overlooking the spice mine. As the lift ascends, Var looks out the lift window at the slaves at work. The lift reaches the top and glass doors slide open. Var and Warhead follow the Pyke guard into a lavish office, where Pred Liss lounges behind a large Wroshyr wood desk.

"My bounty hunter has returned." Pred springs to his feet. "I'm glad to see you alive."

"It wasn't a dangerous contract," Var replies. "If the idiot hadn't tried to pull a pistol on me, I would've taken him alive."

"No matter." Pred smiles. "I suppose you'll be wanting your pay."

"That would be appreciated."

"Unfortunately, we're short on funds at the moment. It doesn't look like we'll be able to pay for your services," Pred says.

Var gently lays his hand on his blaster. At the same time, he gently flicks his right wrist and the Whistling Birds on his vambrace quietly engage. The small, glowing weapons resemble needles with glowing tips. They were deadly against multiple enemies at once.

"We've worked together several times now, Pred," Var speaks calmly, "You should know me well enough by now that it's a very stupid idea to cross me."

Pred hits a button on his desk, and a group of guards enters the room. With Pred's two personal bodyguards, Var now faces eight guards along with Pred, who draws a blaster from a desk drawer. The guards surround Var, training blasters on him.

Pred smiles. "Surely you don't want to fight all these men. Even if you survive, you'd have to kill every Pyke at this mine."

"You've forgotten something, Pred," Var laughs.

Pred's face darkens, "And what would that be?"

"My droid is armed."

From the corner of the room, Warhead deploys his blaster and opens fire on the Pykes. Two of Pred's guards fall instantly, with glowing holes burned through the faceplates of their helmets. Var drops to one knee, pulling his blaster from its holster and kills a second pair of guards. Before he can turn, three blaster bolts strike him in the back. Var is knocked to the ground, his armor saving his life. He rolls onto his back and fires three Whistling Birds. With a happy "fweee" the needle-like projectiles strike the guards in their heads and torsos, killing them instantly. Across the room, Warhead electrocutes one guard, and sets another ablaze. Var turns his attention to Pred, who shrieks in terror and drops his blaster.

"I'll pay you double," he pleads.

"Oh, we're way past that," Var snarls.

"Triple!" Pred cries. "Name your price!"

"What happens when I take the money, Pred?" Var asks, "You'll send some of your boys to kill me and then I'd have to kill them and that just sounds tedious. So I'm going to incite a revolution among your slaves and then your whole operation will be trashed. Are you happy now? Are you proud of yourself? You brought this all on yourself when you tried to kill me. It's a shame you won't be alive to see it."

Pred is quivering, but stops when Var shoots him. Var gathers the weapons from the Pyke corpses and enters the lift. On the refinery floor, he hits the emergency stop button and all the machinery grinds to a halt. Var draws his blaster and fires two shots, killing the guards overseeing the refinery. The slaves turn and look at the Mandalorian holding a bundle of weapons.

"You're all free now," Var shouts. "Here are some weapons. Go crazy."

Var drops the weapons at his feet, then turns around and leaves the refinery. As he walks to his ship, he sees a crate of premium spice worth probably 250,000 credits. He whistles to Warhead, who shoots a cable with a suction cup onto the crate. Var ascends the Insight's ramp, Warhead dragging the spice crate behind him.

Var trudges into the Insight's kitchen. He grabs a Jogan fruit, collapses onto the couch, and boots up the HoloNet. He listlessly scrolls through the bounty contracts, nothing catches his eye. He's about to sign off when the ping of a newly received message goes off. He presses a button and a voice message begins. "Var, it's Goldeneye, I've got a score I know you'll want. Meet me...at Home."