If there's one thing in this galaxy I hate more then Idiots, its colorful Cantinas. I had to be sitting in the most erratically hued cantina this side of Tatooine. Inappropriately called the Ootmian Bunko in Huttese (in Basic means Outworlder Palace), It was anything but. Who ever owned this rancor-pit cantina obviously didn't know how to decorate the place. Each booth and table had some sort of color theme, one booth could have a blue table with purple seats, and a red lamp. Yeah, here in the Ootmian Bunko even the lights are colored. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for the job opportunity. The Devaronian I sat across from commed me three days ago, said he had a job only a mandalorian could handle, wanted to meet with me to discuss the details. The only reason I decided to meet him was because one; I was already on Tatooine and two I needed credits. So here I sat, in a packed cantina across from this red-skinned Devaronian who blended in well with the red light at are booth. He ordered a drink from a yellow skinned Twi'Lek before he spoke to me.
"You must be Fenn Tolv." He asked as I waved off the serving girl. I wasn't going to take off my helmet just so I could have a drink.
"You know any other Mando's?"  My name is a fairly common, but I've been doing a lot of jobs in the Arkanis scector for a good two months now. Word gets around.
    The Devaronian glanced at the bar before continuing;
" My name's Uesai. Just the one name. I work for Feraz the Hutt, the one who own's this cantina. He has a problem with one of his smugglers. A Squib by the name of Zixx Jaiyy-" I had to stop him right there. Granted, Squib's could sell you your own boots – complete with socks – if you let them. But Hutt crime lords aren't that stupid. Normally.
" Don't joke with me Horn-Head. I'm a Bounty Hunter, if you've got a problem with rats do the job your self!" I growled at him. This was the fourth time in two weeks I was asked to clean up someone else's mess. I might as well have been wearing an apron in stead of my beskar'gam , and armed with a mop in stead of my DL-44. I was about to get up and leave, but he blubbered something out in a voice to rushed a quiet for me to pick up.
"A what?"
"-And an Iridonian! By the name of Nerlin Vro." He was tense trying to read my reaction, to look me in the eye to see what I was thinking. Of course he couldn't, I was wearing my helmet.
" Nerlin Vro you say?" I had heard his name before. Actually, I had worked with him before, against my will of course. Cost me a job back on Nar Shaddaa before the Vongese came a turned the moon to slag. He killed the prisoner we were to take alive or we wouldn't get paid. Guess who got blamed. Its only natural I would want to kill him and keep one of his horns as a souvenir right? The only thing I couldn't understand was why he teamed up with a Squib and became a smuggler.
"Yes" Uesai said relaxing a little as I sat back down. " Jaiyy and Vro crossed Feraz one too many times. Feraz was forgiving the first time, but the second time when they were transporting spice and some of Feraz's favorite dancing slaves, Vro came up with the bright Idea of selling the spice and the dancers to my employers nemesis Wobblo the Hutt. Wobblo apparently offered a higher price for the shipment so Vro and Jaiyy complied." Again Uesai glanced at the bar, and by the slight annoyance I could see on his face my only guess could be was he was getting impatient for his drink.
" So why 'am I here?" I asked. I was getting impatient as well, but for a different reason. I had a gut feeling the some one was watching me- not Uesai and me- just me. Paranoid, maybe. But after nine years of bounty hunting, you learned to trust your gut. My HUD gave me a 360-degree field of vision of the place so I could take a look around with out actually looking around. As far as I could tell, none of the other patrons where even glancing our way. Smart, they knew how to stay out of a Mando's business.
"Feraz was able to get his dancers back and most of the spice so you don't have to worry about that. No, he wants you to bring him Vro and Jaiyy dead or alive. Preferably alive, so he can tell them how much they disappointed him, and then kill them." Uesai said, answering my question. I was only half  listening to him, I was still trying to find The Looker. It wasn't until she started walking towards our table that I noticed her, and for good reason. She was one of the slave dancers, who apparently where dubbing as servers tonight. She looked small, just slightly over a meter and a half tall, and well muscled like a fighter not a dancer. When I first noticed her she was looking pointedly at me, but as she got closer to the booth she found more interest in the table. She wore the typical dancers outfit, a metal bikini that left little to the imagination, with a hair style that made her look like some regal hunter instead of  a hutt's slave dancer.
"Yocola." She said quietly to Uesai as she carefully set the glass of some chartreuse colored drink down in front of him. Before she had any time to pull away Uesai had Snatched her hand and smiled wickedly;
"Smeeleeya whao toupee upee" smile when you say that he said. She smiled almost sweetly at him, if you can ignore her eyes. They were cold; the look a killer gives you, the 'you're a dead man' look.
"Yocola" she repeated with that same smile. He must not have been looking at her eyes, because Uesai let her go with out another word. As she turned to go she gave me this look, as if she was saying "I got your back if you need me." not a desperate "Help me! Save me please!" look. It through me off for a second.
"Quie got you in her web does she?" Uesai asked. I silently cursed my self for staring at her. I didn't find her infatuating, no more like intriguing. I looked back at him as I tried to get back on subject,
"Is that all Feraz wants me to do? Pick up Vro and Jaiyy? There's gotta be something you're not telling me." That got his attention back. He looked slightly uncomfortable as he took a sip of his drink, before setting it down to look me the eye, or trying to. Again the helmet.
"We know you and Nerlin Vro worked together on a job that went bad awhile back. Heard you got framed. Figured you want to get even with him." He leaned back in his seat slightly before continuing "And there dangerous. We know Vro is a trained fighter, but Jaiyy is sneaky, he can be just as good in a fight as Vro. That's why Feraz gave them a second chance and had them take the slaves. I guess he thought that credits would keep them on his side. I don't know why they chose to do what they did, be sides the higher pay.
But that's where you come in. Feraz knows Mando's get the job done right the first time around. He's willing to pay twenty thousand now and thirty thousand when the job is done." I had to admit, the offer was a good one. Too good almost. But, I was in desperate need of a job, and this was the best offer I had this month. I couldn't really say no.
"All right you have your self a bounty hunter. The price sounds good," I said straightening slightly in my seat "But if I bring them back alive I want an extra twenty thousand." Half the time live captures could get you more credits, and I remembered that Uesai said Feraz would prefer them alive. Uesai looked a little annoyed at that
"I can't promise anything." Was all he said. I decided that was as good as it was going to get.
"Any leads?" I asked him as I got ready to go.
"Last I heard, they were in Mos Eisley trying to get a job. That was yesterday, they might still be there. Ether way it's a good place to start." Uesai raised his glass as I nodded an acknowledgment to his words and started walking to the cantina's entrance. Just before I got to the door I noticed the dancer Quie again. I mean it was hard not to, because she walked right in front of me. She looked at me straight in the eye, almost as if she could see through my helmet, and said just two words to me;
"There waiting."
With that she strutted off to the bar and didn't look back. I watched her for a moment, telling the bartender what she needed, and getting hit on by a male Twi'Lek who seemed drunk and intent on taking her some where she probably didn't want to go. Judging by the look on her face she was most likely letting him know, and with a little help for the bartender she was able to get back to serving drinks.
  I quickly turned and walked out the door of that dreadful cantina and headed towards the spaceport. I was on Tatooine but not in Mos Eisley, I was docked in Mos Entha. It would take only a couple hours to get to Mos Eisley in my ship the Skull Crest, but I wanted a little sleep. I had a lot to think about. Firstly was that damn dancer Quie. I had never met a slave like her before. When she looked at me and spoke to me it was like she knew exactly what was going on and more so. But she wasn't… broken like other slaves. It was as if she acted like a pawn, but was really a player in this game. What game was being played I wasn't quite sure yet, But I was pretty sure it had something to do with Vro and Jaiyy. Which led me to my second mind-filler. Why would Vro drop the title of bounty hunter, and pickup the one of smuggler along with a Squib partner? It didn't add up, Vro went from hunter to pray. Uesai said that Jaiyy was sneaky, good in a fight. I've never heard of a Squib that was good at anything besides haggling. Part of me didn't like the look of this job, there where far too many thing left in the dark. But I needed the credits, and so did my family back on Mandalore. No, I'm not married, my father and my little sisters live on the farm on Mandalore. My mother died a few years before the Vongese invaded Mandalore. One of  my father's friends died along with his wife in that battle and left there two young daughters behind. Father promised the dieing man that he would care for his daughters before he died, and that was the day I got sisters. I stayed on the farm till the war with the Vong was over, to help take care of and protect Mirda and Kartia, But decided to leave shortly after the war. The farm couldn't manage to sustain our family financially, so I left to make more credits. Seven years later here I stand, getting ready to do a job that had too many thing left unanswered, and I was starting to regret taking the job.