Chapter 4

Chapter.4:

Kestra was walking to Xizor's sanctum but this time she was by herself, there was no escort which meant that Xizor had ordered them to leave her alone…nothing screams like highly territorial male then ordering his men to leave his female Bounty Hunter alone.
Well, that was very boring bounty…I hate killing people while they're asleep but at least Xizor pays well for his bounties.
Kestra finally arrived and the door opened as soon as she walked in front of it, she entered without any hesitation and stood in the center of the room. Xizor was standing in front of the bar, pouring himself some tea.
"I trust that your mission was a success?" Xizor asked as he brought the cup up to his lips and took a sip.
Kestra pulls out the jewel from a pouch that was her utility belt, next to her helmet clipped to her belt next to it, and places it on the table that was in front of her. "Yes." Kestra said, taking a step back and crossing her arms over her chest.
Xizor walks over and picks up the jewel and said, "Very good, Kestra…you are worth every credit that I pay you."
Kestra bows slightly at him but not fully, her knees still hurt after kneeing in that cage for that length of time.
"You flatter me, Your Highness." Kestra said as she straightened, Xizor gently places the jewel in a box before coming to stand in front of her. Kestra had watched him walk towards her but didn’t move. Xizor took her hands into his and held them up and said, "You are probably the best bounty hunter that I have ever hired."
Kestra didn't reply to that because in truth she was still green, unlike Boba Fett or Cin Vhetin, the only two bounty hunters that Kestra will ever work with.
"Now when will you retire from this messy business and work for me?"
"Sorry, but I still have things to do Your Highness." Kestra said smiling at him. Xizor released her with a sigh and said, "Then you're dismissed and I will contact you when I have another job for you."
Kestra bows once more and leaves the room, Kestra headed towards the hangar where her ship was docked at. She walked up the ramp and was greeted by T3-M7, who beeped a greeting at her.
Kestra leaned down and patted his head, saying "Hello to you too, T3."
T3 warbled at her and Kestra laughed and said, "Yeah, we're leaving Coruscant now."
Kestra straightened and head up to the cockpit, Shuk'orok was already waiting for her there. Kestra slipped into the pilot seat and said, "You've read my mind, Shuk'orok old friend."
Shuk'orok moaned. "Yeah, I know. I don't like being here any longer than I have either...this place makes me very uneasy."
Kestra started the engines and the Ka'rta Tor to life. Kestra grabbed the handles and lifted the ship off the platform and zoomed up into space, once in space Kestra set the coordinates to Tatoonie where she had received a message from an old friend telling her to come there ASAP because he had something to tell her. Kestra stood up and looked at her copilot, "I am going to take a nap, wake me when we get there."
Shuk'orok growled and Kestra turned and headed out of the cockpit, she went into her room and flopped onto the bed with her hands tucked behind her head. Kestra heard a twrr-ing and looked up to see her pet Jha’dur, Jax walking towards her.
"What's up, Jax? Have you been good?"
Jax twrred again and jumped on the bed next to her. Kestra sighed and closed her eyes so that she can sleep but a thought came to her and she sat up.
I have to call him...
Kestra swung her legs off the cot and stood up in one fluid motion and walked over to where she keeps her comlink and picked it up, she keyed in a code and waited until he picked it up.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Jaing. It's Kestra."
"Hey, Kes'ika! It's been a while since I had last heard your voice. How are you?"
"I've been good. I just completed a bounty and I am heading to Tatoonie."
Kestra heard someone on the other end of the line asking Jaing a question and him saying, "It's Kes'ika" and then some shuffling and a new voice saying, "Kes'ika! When are going to visit us finally?"
Kestra laughed when she heard Mereel's voice and said, "Did you wrestle Jaing's comlink from him again?"
"He always talks to you and I rarely ever do."
"I see...so how has everyone been?"
"Ah, they're doing well and they all miss you."
"That's good to hear," Kestra said, ignoring his not-so-subtle-hint that she should come back.
"When are you going to come back to us, Kes'ika?"
"I knew that you were going to ask that again," Kestra said with a sigh. "After I am done with my mission."
"You mean your vengeance?"
Kestra sighs heavily and said, "Yeah…after my vengeance is completed."
Mereel sighs as well and said, "Just be careful and stay alive….Venku would be very upset if he lost you without telling you anything." And he then handed the comlink back to Jaing, leaving Kestra dumbfounded at what he had just said. What did he mean by that? Venku always treated her like a little sister when they were growing up, an annoying younger sister. Kestra blinked away the tears that had welled up suddenly and wiped them away with the heel of her hand just as Jaing's voice came on.
"You okay, Kes'ika? Jaing asked gently, which caused Kestra's shoulders to quiver and she covered her eyes with her hand, despite the fact that he can't see the tears that are now falling freely.
"Yeah, I am fine." Kestra whispered, her voice breaking slightly.
"Listen, we all worry about you because you haven't contacted us at all since you had left us and we only learned about what you have been doing since that day after your two crew mates to contact us after you were taken by the Stalkers."
Kestra winced at that, the Stalkers were a bunch of force-sensitive lunatics that had tried to convert her to the dark side of the Force and that was an experience that she would rather want to forget about it.
"I know...I realized that after I was saved by Vhetin and Jay."
"But you had to realize it after you were captured and not before."
Kestra ran her hand through her hair and said, "I thought I was protecting you and myself from the chakaar that had killed my family by not contacting any one from my past but I couldn't even protect myself from the ones that wanted to convert me to the dark side."
Jaing sighs and said, "It's not your fault, Kes'ika. No one is blaming you for what you had to do in order to insure that everyone that you know stays alive but know this: all we want to do is help you in whatever way we can."
Kestra lets out a shaky breath and said, "I know. Vor entye, Jaing."
"Kih'parjai, Kes'ika," Jaing said. "I also cared about them... especially Xiamara."
"I bet you wished that had told her that before she was killed," Kestra said, smiling sadly.
"There are a lot of things that I wished I had said or done but now it's too late and now I have to live with regrets as well as the memories that I have of her."
Kestra blinks and shook head, both Mereel and Jaing are acting weird and it was sort of scaring her. She yawns and said, "I gotta go. I am getting sleepy."
"Okay, night Kes'ika."
"Night, I'll contact you again when I have time." Kestra said and closed the line. She stretched and rubbed the back of her head; she climbed back into her cot and lay on her back. Kestra closed her eyes and let out a breath as sleep came and took her into the realm of dreams.
Kestra didn’t know how long she had been asleep but she was awakened by Shuk'orok's voice over the loud speaker. Kestra stood up and headed to the cockpit; she slipped into the pilot seat next to him and said, "Ready to see sand?"
Shuk'orok growled and Kestra laughed. "I have no idea why he is even here since he also hates sand."
Kestra grabbed the yolk just as the Ka'rta Tor came out of hyperspace; Kestra frowned when she saw the desert planet.
Tatoonie...a planet owned by the Hutts.
Luckily for her, everyone on that planet knew her well enough to know that she is not a woman to mess with.
Kestra sighs and looks at her copilot, saying, "Prepare the landing equipment and make sure that anything of interest to the Jawas is out of sight."
Shuk'orok moaned in agreement. Kestra steers the freighter to Tatoonie, the old freighter shook when it entered the atmosphere of the planet.
"Oh, looks like the old girl needs to be checked again before we take off."
Kestra lands the freighter in one of the landing bays in Anchorhead. She turns off the engines and turns to her Wookiee copilot and said, "Watch the ship and make sure that no Jawas get near it."
Shuk'orok growled and Kestra stood and headed out of the ship, Fenn was waiting for her at the Anchorhead Cantina.
This better be good for him to call me here all the way from Coruscant.
Kestra walks into the cantina and looks around, she sees a Mandalorian sitting at the bar and walks over to him and sits down on the empty bar stool next to him.
"Hello, Fenn Shysa. This better be good for you to come here to tell me yourself."
The Mand'alor looks at her and smiled charmingly at her, "Now I will never waste your time with just calling you all the way here just to have a nice friendly chat with you, my dear."
"You mean to just to flirt with me, right?" Kestra said, smirking at him.
Fenn laughed and patted her on the shoulder, saying "You got me there, my dear. Now to the reason why I called you here, there have been mysterious reports about a planet that is bordering the edge of known space."
Kestra just stared at him and shook her head and finally said, "So what makes you think that I about this planet?"
Fenn flashed Kestra a charming and flirtatious smile and said, "Because everyone knows that the Verds are excellent trackers."
"Thanks for that compliment, Fenn." Kestra said, smiling at him despite her words.
Fenn laughed again and said, "You know that I didn't mean it like that, Kes'ika."
"You mind if I choose who I want to come with me, Fenn?" Kestra asked as she stood up.
"You're not going to let your crew come with you?" Fenn asked.
"Oh, I am but I have two other bounty hunters in mind for this mission."
Fenn smiled and said, "Do whatever you think is best, Kes'ika."
"Thanks, Fenn. I'll see you later." Kestra said and walked out of the cantina. She was heading towards the landing bay where she had landed her old freighter when she noticed the smoke rising from that area. Panic settled in the pit of her gut and she ran towards the landing bay, she skidded to a stop when she got there and ducked behind some crated and peeked around them.
Dark Troopers? Why are they here? No one from Mandalore should know where I am expect for Fenn...unless someone had reprogrammed these buckets of bolts.
Which sounded way more likely than the former, since this was not the first time that someone had sent droids after her but she wasn't too happy since they had also damaged her ship...actually they sort of blow it up and now Kestra had to deal with them quick before anyone else came here. Kestra looked up and saw a nice size crate above the Dark Troopers and using the force, she brought it down on them crashing them instantly.
Kestra stood up and ran towards the ship and as she got near it, she heard someone cursing in Huttese. Kestra let out a sigh of relief when she saw her crew safe and lightly charred.
Ge'tal looked at her and said, “Why is that whenever you leave we get attacked?!”
Kestra shrugged and said, “Maybe they thought I was still aboard.”
“Well, they should have checked before blowing up my poor baby!”
“Uh, it’s my ship so it’s my baby. You’re just the mechanic that fixes her when she is damaged.” Kestra said, looking at the damage of her freighter.
I hate Dark troopers.
HK-28 walked up to her and said, “Statement: Kestra, your Basilisk war droid had survived that explosion.”
“Well, that’s good news.”
Shuk’orok yowled. “The Kote Darasuum is still in the landing pad where I left it.”
Hopefully no Jawas got any funny ideas while she was away but then again, she had modified it were it would shot a line fire at any one that wasn’t loaded into its database.
Kestra looks at her mechanic and her three droids, “You three stay here and fix Ka'rta Tor while Shuk’orok and I go back to Coruscant.”
“Are you sure?” Ge’tal asked.
Kestra shrugged and said, “Not really but I need Ka’rta Tor up and running when I need her the most.”
Ge’tal rubbed his chin and said, “Fine but be careful.”
Kestra spread her arms wide as though presenting herself to the whole galaxy and said, smirking, “I am always careful.”
And with that she and Shuk’orok left the hangar and went to the second one that was close by. There, waiting for her was the Kote Darasuum a Teroch-type gunship that was also owned by Ne’tra Verd, just how many ships she owned no one knew.
Kestra lowered the ramp and ushered Shuk’orok in before following him inside, the ramp closing behind her. She slide into the pilot seat as Shuk’orok got into the copilot seat. She started the engines and the old gunship roared to life, Kestra grabbed the steering yoke and pulled up lifting the ship out of the hangar and up into Tatoonie’s astrosphere and as her Wookiee copilot prepared the ship for the leap to hyperspace, Kestra sent out a series of coded beeps and bleeps. Then sat back as the ship leaped into hyperspace.