Lyssa Aethrus glared at the doors to her cell. As if her gaze could melt the durasteel bars. The bounty hunter had been in the cell aboard the slaver ship for what felt like hours. She was dressed in only some ragged pants and a shirt. They'd taken her armour, bodysuit, and weapons, before shoving her in the damned three by four cell. The walls were pure durasteel, and the door to the cell had metal bars, that allowed prisoners to see out, into the corridor. Not that there was much to see.
Occasionally, a slaver or two would walk by shooting her lewd looks. She knew what they had planned for her. Rape, then maybe she'd be sold to a wealthy gangster in one of the outer systems. She didn't know, nor want to know what the dozen or so kids she'd seen being loaded on board at Theren. Lyssa had stepped in, and taken down a few slavers, but one of them had hit with what felt like an EMP grenade. When she'd woken up, she'd been in this damned cell. It was cramped, and it smelt like someone had died in it. Then, considering who she was dealing with, someone probably had died in it.
Boots caught her attention, and she glanced up, to see the slaver she'd come to call crater-face. He had almost no skin on his face that wasn't pockmarked. He glowered at her, and she smiled at him benignly. The mans scowl turned into an ugly sneer, and he said, "smile while you can, bitch" before walking away. Crater-face was cranky because she'd castrated his pal with a sharpened spoon early in the journey. She hadn't seen the other man since, which either meant he'd grown some brains about trying to take advantage of half-unconscious women, or he was dead. She hoped it was the latter.
But that wasn't why she was smiling. She was smiling because she'd overheard the slavers saying they'd picked up a 'shadow' on their sensors, just before they'd left Theren space. The slavers thought their equipment was malfunctioning, but Lyssa knew it was Mar in the Hunters Bite. Her Khajiit partner would not leave her at the mercy of scum like this for any amount of time. They'd touched down about a day ago, and she guessed they were off-loading some of the children here, to sell. Wherever 'here' was. Her captors hadn't been exactly forthcoming about their destination.
A challenging cry rang out, followed by the roar of a heavily customized blaster rifle. That was followed by screams, and calls for reinforcements, and a Khajiit roar that sent chills racing down her spine. The blaster went quiet, and a man, slaver by the look of him, stumbled past her cell, a large gash in his chest, probably from an axe. The wielder of that axe was right behind the man, finishing him off with an overhand chop to his back. Grinning from ear to ear, she stood, and approached the cell door. "Hello, Mar" the gold armoured Khajiit turned to her, and removed a computer spike from his belt, inserting it into the cells key pad.
The doors slid open, and Lyssa stepped out into the corridor. "Hello yourself. How do you get into these situations, anyways?" Mar asked, handing the Imperial her armour, bodysuit, and weapons.
"Blame it on my big heart. How did you get in?" She could sense the Khajiits' grin underneath his grim helmet.
"Mar used the maintenance hatch near the engine compartments." He replied, using the third person to describe himself.
"Good thinking" Lyssa replied, as she stripped out of her prison clothes, and got into her bodysuit. Then she began putting on the armour plates, one by one. "Mar does not think we should stick around. These slavers are dead, but more will be on the way" he cautioned, handing her pistol to her. Lyssa holstered the weapon and put her helmet on. "And leave without thanking the good captain for his hospitality?" She said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "I think not" a deep rumble emerged from the Khajiit, which Lyssa identified as laughter.
"This one was hoping you would say that" he replied, slapping a fresh clip into his rifle. The two of them began heading towards the captains quarters, and Lyssa asked "where are we, anyways?"
"Eregin. A little bit outside of Blacklight" replied the steel grey furred Khajiit. Although all she could see of his fur was his fingers and tail. "How did you get the ship past the blockade?" She asked, "Nobody's going to believe we're a relief ship" her Khajiit partner chuckled again, while checking a room that looked like it had been used as a barracks of sorts. "Mar told them he was providing security for a documentary expedition on the ground"
Lyssa grinned at her partners cleverness. By claiming to already have a job on the planet, the Dominion didn't have to worry about him causing problems for them on the ground. A noise drew her attention, and she brought her finger to the faceplate of her helmet. Mar nodded and turned to the closed door the noise was coming from. Lyssa drew her pistol and nodded once. Mar opened the door, revealing a human slaver, cradling a bottle of booze and looking like he'd pissed himself. It was crater-face, Lyssa realized, as the man looked up.
The slaver nearly screeched in terror, and dug into his pockets, removing handfuls of credits. Which he then proceeded to throw at the two hunters. "Please, I can pay you more! Just let me get more, or I can help you take the ship, or-"
"Oh, shut it" Lyssa sighed, levelled her pistol, and created one large crater out of the mans' face. Mar slapped her on the back "This one is glad that he reached you before you lost your fighting spirit" he said.
Lyssa grinned at him under the helmet "It'll take more than a couple of days in a smelly cell to break me" then she paused, hearing more blaster fire, this time from outside the ship. She looked back to Mar, curious and asked "did you bring some friends along?" The Khajiit shook his head.
"Our distraction. More hunters, Mar thinks. Which reminds him, there may be a...business oppurtunity for us here" Lyssa holstered her weapon once more and struck an 'I'm waiting' pose. "While Mar was following the slavers, he heard from a couple of our contacts in the guild. They were not very specific, but they did tell Mar that a large bounty is on Eregin right now. Apparently, it needs a whole team of hunters to track it." Mar snorted as he finished his report, showing his disdain.
His natural Khajiit tracking talents meant he thought less of most bounty hunters they met. Especially if they worked in more than teams of two or three to bag their prey. Lyssa, however, was intrigued. They weren't running low on credits, but if there was a large bounty on the planet right now, it would be stupid for them to miss out on it. "Interesting. After we finish our business with the captain, we should have a little chat with these hunters"
