The streets of a city are always crowded. Behold, an entire planet that is a city. Coruscant, a planet teeming with buildings, businesses and individuals from all across the galaxy. Anyone can hide anywhere. So many faces. So many places. All types of intelligence. Natural and artificial. All different kinds of agendas. It is the perfect hiding place. And it is the worst for finding.
However, there are exceptions. For a skilled bounty hunter, no one can hide for too long.
Perched high above the hustle and bustle, Okha was keeping a close eye on her bounty. A single Bothan working his way to meet with a group of potential rebel spies.
Bothans were known for being good at political games, spying and keeping a low profile. Why the Empire wanted this particular one did not matter. What mattered was the bounty, and the potential multiplier for the others rebels.
“TIC, are you ready?” Okha spoke into her helmet’s integrated comm system. Some droid chatter comes back. “Great, wait my signal”.
Okha’s Mandalorian armor was forged of durasteel, tempered by a layer of Bronzium that gave most parts a dark-brown sheen. Lighter copper hues found on her shoulder and knee pads had a custom electroplated Ruusan Copper that was also found in the barrels of her coveted WESTAR-34 blaster pistols. Although her helmet also had the Bronzium finish, the visor was surrounded by an aqua-blue detail that was also found on her gauntlets, and details on her Z-6 jetpack. In particular, the missile tips.
The wear on her armor was medium. Most of it was found in the edges. Any battle damage was noticeably limited. However, Okha was hopeful of adding a few more on this mission. Under the armor, the jumpsuit was a muted bluish gray, capable of resisting most sharp edges and kept out all types of physical projectiles.
Why the empire wanted to talk with this particular Bothan made no sense to Okha. She remembered that they called it being Merciful to him. That he was merely leading them to the other spies that the Empire was really after.
She also remembered that the bounty was high. Very high. That is all that mattered. It was high enough to help her acquire that freighter she wanted for so long. Having that freighter would be a dream come true. A dream of finally having a ship she can call her own.
Suddenly, the target moved into an abandoned diner.
Great work, you led me to your roost. Okha thought to herself.
Using the thermal integrated in her helmet, she counted:
One… two… three… Four…? Hmm.
The more, the merrier. Maybe there’s a bonus for each extra one.
The Empire believed there were two more. This could prove to be lucrative for Okha if she captures all. Some excitement sets in, but she quickly calms herself and maintains focus.
From the neighboring rooftop, Okha got closer. Using her helmet’s built-in sound amplification, she tuned in. However, the chatter was difficult to follow.
Perhaps they are using a jammer? She thought.
Without wasting another moment, Okha jumped off the building ledge. Her jetpack fired at the last moment possible. After a rough touchdown, she rolls to break her fall, makes a dash for the backdoor and stops.
Slowly, and without a sound, Okha slowly removes her helmet and cautiously puts her ear up against the door. The words were very difficult to make out, but she did hear someone mention the name, Mothma.
Mon Mothma? The ex-Senator? Okha was confused.
Then, she heard the mention of an imperial base construction.
It was muffled and very difficult to understand, the last two things Okha made out was that the base was not yet operational and that the rebels needed information on the Emperor’s location in the days to come.
Suddenly, she heard the diner’s front door open.
“No... No one is getting away.” Okha softly spoke to herself as she put her helmet back on.
A quick thermal scan showed the positions of the two subjects that were closest to the door. One immediately to the right, and a second further out to the left. Both inside the kitchen area. She made out two more that were further away, beyond the bar seating area.
Okha takes a deep breath and clears her mind.
This is it.
She readies her right guntlet’s electro-projector, points it at the rear door control panel and gave it a short burst. The door opens and she immediately springs into action. Using the fibercord projector from her right gauntlet, she immobilized first target closest to her right.
A female Bothan? She thought to herself as she was brought to the ground with a thud.
The second Bothan in the kitchen was still off-guard from Okha’s sudden entry. He tried raising his blaster, but was too late. Okha already had him in her sights with her left gauntlet and unloaded a stun-shot from it, instantly immobilizing him.
That was a Bothan too, what is going on here? Okha wondered, but had no time to think about it.
The other two in the front of the diner picked up their blasters and took aim. Okha worked her way from the kitchen into the rear of the counter area. She quickly took cover as the third target began unloading blaster fire in her direction. Suddenly, she heard the door open. The blaster fire continued as she looked outside, through the large diner windows, a perfect view of her original target fleeing on a swoop bike.
Bantha poodoo! He’s is getting away!
Looking through the windows, she made a general assessment of the direction in which he was heading.
“You can run…”
Pinned behind the counter, Okha took a quick look and noticed the third subject was also a Bothan.
Is this a family?
Shorter than the original target, this Bothan had a stolen Imperial blaster and was ready to kill. Without hesitation, he continued firing in the right corner of the counter where Okha took cover.
After a few seconds of continuing fire, the Bothan heard the attacker’s rocket pack fire up. Suddenly, he saw the glow from the rocket in the corner and race behind the counter toward the other end of the room - all the way to his left. Tracking it, he waited for the attacker’s head to appear and shoot right at it. Before he could, Okha rose from the original location, left gauntlet drawn. The young Bothan tried redirecting his blaster’s muzzle at to the right corner of the counter. To Okha, he was slower than a spaceslug. She had already launched a stun dart, which upon impact, rendering all desires of muscle movement useless. Consciousness quickly followed, and like a rag-doll, he collapsed and felt nothing as his head pounded against one of the diner’s floor.
Okha took a look at her first prize that was already on the floor, tied-up, yelping and squirming in a fibercord knot. A quick aim of her left gauntlet and shot of the blaster on stun stopped the squirming.
Turning to her right gauntlet, she enters a few commands, and speaks “TIC, Come! NOW!” as she rushes outside.
The exterior front of the diner looked weathered, worn and was only a testament to a time when people of Coruscant could enjoy a fresh-made meal. Through the entrance, rushed Okha, a female bounty hunter with a unique Mandalorian armor with one thing on her mind. The Imperial bounty. She scans her immediate surroundings, and makes out the faint thermal signature of the swoop exhaust.
The signature is fading fast, TIC… hurry.
Now she waits and listens for the sound of her speeder bike. Each second is an eternity.
“T-I-C-R5 -- where are you?!”
A second later - roaring from around the corner, her highly modified Imperial speeder bike, refitted with the ability to carry her R5 astromech for remote piloting.
Okha jumped onto the pilot seat.
“TIC, Can you project a few possible trajectories based on the heat signature left from a swoop leaving this area in the past minute?”
TIC instantly completed a few calculations and displayed them as a hologram in front of Okha. All leading into down the street into the insurmountable Coruscant traffic. On the ground and secondary levels above, there was nothing but two-seater speeders, swoops and more speeders.
An igniter stick in a pile of ship debris, she thought to herself as she shook her head and smiled.
Hitting the pedal to full throttle, Okha began her chase.
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