CHAPTER THREE
"Checking out already?" the Anacondan receptionist hissed. "You said you'd be staying for a few days, not just one."
"I'll still pay for all three," Kadar muttered as he slid a pile of credi-chips through the window separating them. "Just as long as you mind your own business."
The serpent slithered his tongue at him but accepted the credits. Not long after, Kadar was exiting the hotel and heading for the Wheel's docks. It didn't take long for him to realize he was being followed.
That snake should be glad I paid him at all, he thought. Otherwise, I'd be dead meat before my stay was through.
He glanced cursory over his shoulder. It was a burly Barabel that followed him, wielding a razor-sharp dagger.
Can't blast him; too many witnesses. His left arm twitched. But I can still shoot something at him.
Turning in to an empty, narrow hallway, Kadar let out a loud yawn-- something uncharacteristic of him, which surely threw the Barabel off. He then twisted, pretending to stretch, only to fire a sedative dart from his arm. The Barabel promptly crumpled to the ground.
He reached an intersection and turned to the right. Standing at the end of the hall, armed with a sniper rifle, was a Ubese.
"Viper, isn't it?" Kadar called down to her. "I remember you from Lianna."
"Likewise," Viper said coldly. She raised the scope of the rifle to her helmet's visor. "Now stay still; I'm going to kill you."
Before she could pull the trigger, a large being with brown fur collided into her. The Wookiee then seized the Ubese by the throat and slammed her into the wall, knocking the former Snatcher unconscious. He then set his blazing eyes on Kadar, who was already running down the opposite corridor.
* * *
"Sharbrook says he's after him," Remar said to Fefar. "They should be emerging out this door. Be ready."
The Nosaurian nodded as he pressed himself against the wall near the doorway. While Remar readied his blaster, Fefar waited for the passers-by to disperse before morphing into a massive Herglic. Upon hearing footsteps growing closer and closer, he moved to block the doorway...
...And was met with a giant full of fur.
"E chu ta!" Remar cursed as Sharbrook and Fefar staggered away from each other. "I thought you said you had him!"
Sharbrook snarled at him, mixing in a few obscenities with his response. When the Wookiee was through with his diatribe, Remar's brow wrinkled in confusion.
"He vanished through the floor?" he said, bemused. "My stars, how many tricks does this guy have?"
"Perhaps he walked upon a trap door," Fefar suggested, returning to his Nosaurian form. "No idea who would have time to install one in that specific a location."
Remar scratched his chin. "Unless it had already been there in the first place...."
* * *
Kadar swam through a sea of wires. He had no idea what exactly this place was or why he had fallen into it through the floor, but he knew that he had to get out; no doubt it was some sort of trap.
The booming laughter of a Hutt proved him correct.
"Rule number one of being a hunter, Kadar," a gruff voice rumbled in Huttese. "Always be aware of your surroundings."
"You know how this station works?" Kadar asked.
"Of course! As a crime lord, I've always held an interest in the Wheel, and one of its former administrators was an accomplice of mine. Needless to say, I've learned a thing or two about it from him."
"A crime lord who's a bounty hunter," Kadar said. "And a Hutt, at that. That's a new one on me."
The Hutt chortled. "Indeed. Now then, let me increase the electrical current and--"
Kadar activated his jetpack. Flames ignited from the thrusters and licked the wires' exposed ends. He jumped out of them just as the entire chamber caught fire. The ex-Mandalorian then shot towards an opaque piece of transparisteel and crashed through it. Standing there was a Hutt in armor, along with two thugs.
The Hutt sneered-- an expression that somehow made his ugly face even more disgusting-- and he brandished his vibro-ax. "An impressive escape, but you are still no match for the voracious hunter, the ruthless warrior, Vondara Ramesh!"
"I'll take your word for it," Kadar said dryly. "I'm in no mood for a fight, Vondara. I just want to get to my ship."
"Was'sa matter?" one of the thugs jeered. "You bein' a coward?"
"No," a booming voice-- not a Hutt's this time-- said. "He's being smart."
All heads turned to see a bipedal droid approaching them, flanked by two security officers. Coated in silver armor plating, red photoreceptors glowed from within two black "eye holes." Despite the droid's otherwise unemotional face, Kadar could have sworn those optics betrayed a sense of sapience that most droids did not possess.
Vondara's initial confusion turned into ire as he rolled his pudgy hands into fists. "Do you expect me to be intimidated by you, droid?"
"In a way, yes. I am Master-Com. I run this station, which is as much a part of me as I am of it. I see and hear everything, but I pay the most attention to ruckuses... such as the one you fiends have been causing."
Kadar cleared his throat. "Er, excuse me, Master-Com, but... I had no intention whatsoever of being part of this. These bounty hunters have been using me as... sport, I guess."
"I am aware of that," Master-Com replied. "However, I will need to bring you all into custody so that I can get the full story."
Vondara inched towards the droid, a glower plastered on his face. "You are playing with fire here, you excrement of metal. I am a Hutt; it is never wise to cross us."
"I, and only I, run this station," Master-Com said calmly. "You have no authority here. And as I understand, you haven't been a crime lord like most Hutts for nearly three years. Please, come with me."
As Kadar and the other bounty hunters grudgingly followed the droid, the former had to admit that he respected the droid somewhat. Very few beings-- organic or not-- could speak to a Hutt the way Master-Com just did. That took guts, which was one thing Kadar knew the droid didn't have.
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