Star Wars Invasion: Episode VII, Chapter Ten

CHAPTER TEN

   Kadar had never been very fond of stand-offs. More often than not, he just wanted to collect the bounty and call it a day; no time for suspense.

   Today was an exception, of course.

   Salvan Tai stared at him, Dax Goldam, and Goldam's posse with cold, silver eyes. "I beg your pardon, bounty hunter?" the Sakiyan asked.

   "You should make friends with better people," Goldam said with a grin. "People who can keep their fat mouth shut."

   "Azul Obez was quite chatty about your 'relations,'" Kadar said. "He told us all about your ties with Black Sun...both former and current."

   The Sakiyan narrowed his eyes, not at all startled by all of this. "I recognize you, boy," he then said to Goldam. "Have we met?"

   Dax's grin faded. "Not formally. You killed my father."

   "Ah. Is that why you're aiming a pistol at my head? Is that why you came to Lianna?"

   Goldam hesitated before speaking. "I was originally planning to go after Kadar here, who also had a hand in my father's death."

   Beneath his helmet, Kadar threw a confused glance at the younger bounty hunter but decided to keep silent.

   "Then I found out that he was after Azul Obez," Goldam went on, "who hired the two of you to kill him. I figured that Obez would eventually lead me to you...and so, here I am."

   Salvan smirked. "I see. That's quite understandable."

   He turned his silvery gaze on Kadar. "And you? Do you seek vengeance against me as well?"

   "None of the sort," Kadar said. "I'm simply on a mission for the Hutts, eliminating all of the current Black Sun Vigos."

   He directed his blaster away from the six Snatchers and aimed it at Salvan. "Tell me the locations of the other Vigos and I'll let Goldam handle things here. Don't, and I'll personally collect any bounties on your head."

   Goldam glared at him. "Over my dead body."

   "That could be arranged."

   Salvan Tai glowered at both of them, glancing back and forth from them, to Dax's posse, and to the Snatchers. Then, quite surprisingly, he smiled.

   "Consider it done."

   He reached into a pocket on his elaborate robe and brought out a small datacard, handing it to Kadar.

   "There you go," the Sakiyan said. "Any info you want on Black Sun and its Vigos are right there."

   Kadar stared at the card for a moment and then turned back to Salvan. "This better not be a dud."

   "I'm sure you would be able to tell if it was or not."

   "By the time I'd find out, you would be halfway across the galaxy."

   Salvan chuckled. "Perhaps. But for what reason would I trick a former partner?"

   "Good point," Kadar said. Without a beat, he aimed his blaster and fired it into the Sakiyan's forehead.

   "You have several reasons to do so."

   However, much to his surprise, instead of crumpling to the floor and dying, Salvan Tai merely laughed, as if completely unaware of the gashing, yet non-bleeding wound on his skull.

   "You've made a grave mistake, my friend." He inclined his head towards the Snatchers. "Kill them all."

*  *  *

   Wallen ducked behind the living room couch as chaos broke out. From there, he watched as the Snatchers attacked the other bounty hunters.

   The first to do so was a large Barabel, armed with two, double-edged knives, who flung them at the white-armored being known as Kadar. The other bounty hunter easily dodged the blades and responded to the attack by scoring a shot on the reptilian's shoulder with his blaster pistol. While this did not faze the Barabel much, it did give Kadar the opportunity to pull another trick.

   Below his chest, right on his stomach, a panel in his armor folded down to reveal a hidden blaster cannon. A single blast from it was enough to fell the large lizard.

   Meanwhile, two other Snatchers- a male Rodian and a female Zabrak- charged towards a young, red-haired woman clad in armor. The woman stood stood still for a moment before drawing out two blades, one on each of her arm gauntlets, and stabbing at the two Snatchers.

   The Zabrak managed to dodge in time, but her partner was less than fortunate, getting stabbed near his right shoulder. As he dropped to the floor, crying out in pain, the Zabrak woman brought out a small dagger and lunged at the armored human. The other woman easily evaded the attack and slashed at the Iridonian's arm, causing her to cry out before the woman knocked her out cold.

   Wallen couldn't help but smirk. I would have thought Salvan would have the money to hire more effective 'bodyguards'.

   All that was left was the Ubese called Viper, who was locked in blade combat with Goldam's droid, and Vejo, who was bravely taking on Goldam himself and a large Wookiee. However, Wallen saw no sign of the sixth Snatcher-

   Suddenly, a strong hand grabbed him by the shoulder and he was then lifted off his feet.

   "I hope you weren't planning on escaping," growled a burly cyborg reptilian as he turned Wallen around to face him. "Because I'd say your chances for doing that are nil."

   Before Wallen could attempt to free himself, he saw the Snatcher's violet eyes widen behind his mask. Wallen craned his head in time to see Xemer just as he threw a punch at the reptilian's exposed snout.

   The Snatcher immediately dropped his prey as he recoiled in pain, clutching his broken face. Wallen then took the opportunity to recover his blaster and fire two shots at the cyborg's eyes, blinding the Snatcher and particularly rendering him useless.

   Getting up to his feet, Wallen turned to see that Viper was finished with Goldam's droid, leaving it in parts, and that the female Ubese was now charging towards him, vibroblade raised high over her head. He fired a few shots with his blaster, all which were easily deflected.

   Just as Viper was about to move in for the final kill, Xemer came in to his rescue again. Right before Wallen's startled eyes, his former lieutenant changed from the typical form of a Glorian into a massive gundark.

   Viper briefly paused in her attack before quickly performing a somersault over the beast's head and plunging her blade into Xemer's back.

   The gundark let out a vicious roar, more out of rage rather than pain, and used its lower, smaller set of arms to grab the vibrosword, which Viper still had her grip on, and extracted it from its back. Xemer then used the weapon to fling its owner off of it, sending her crashing into one of Salvan Tai's display cases.

   It was then that Vejo, who was still fighting Goldam and the Wookiee, clearly saw the fates of his companions and realized that the odds were against him. The Devaronian then dropped his weapon and fell to his knees, raising his hands in surrender.

   With the conflict between the bounty hunters over, everyone's attention fell onto Salvan Tai.

   The surprisingly unscathed- aside from his earlier head wound- Sakiyan smiled. "That was quite the show, if I do say so myself."

   Wallen, Kadar, and the others aimed their weapons at him. This only prompted the Baron to laugh.

   "I'm afraid I don't have time to die," he said. "I have business to attend to."

   "You're not going anywhere except Chaos," Goldam growled.

   "Spoken like a true member of your family."

   Without warning, the Sakiyan's body began to morph, just like Xemer's had, eventually taking on the form of a mynock. Wallen and the bounty hunters began firing their weapons, but their shots were easily evaded. With a loud screech, the mynock crashed through one of the mansion's windows, taking to the skies.

   "After him!" Goldam cried as he ran after Salvan, jumping through the window, followed by his cronies. Wallen, Kadar, and Xemer stayed behind while they went on their wild bantha chase.

   "And that's why I refrain from mingling with bounty hunters," Wallen muttered. "Especially obsessive ones."

   "Aren't all obsessive?" Kadar said.

   Wallen smirked. "Pretty much."

   He then turned, hopeful, to Xemer, hoping that his friend would have second thoughts about rejoining the Glorians, especially considering that the former lieutenant had just saved his life.

   However, much to his disappointment, Xemer was gone, leaving only Vejo and the unconscious Snatchers.