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Three Identities, One Bothan
Written by Sailor Bothawui
The furred girl pulled her black mask down around her throat as she entered her ship. She heavily sat down at the controls and sank her head into her paws.
"He was supposed to be there." She mumbled to no one particular. "Why didn't he show up?"
Her blue eyes slowly wandered over the controls of the ship and landed on her datapad. She sighed as she picked up the small device. Letting her body sink into her seat, she rechecked where her bounty was supposed to be at. She suddenly lurched forward and lightly smacked her forehead.
"Of course! He's at Smizler, I was at Smazler." She quickly pulled her mask up and threw her datapad down into the now empty chair. "Slimeballs, naming a cantina almost the same exact name. How do they think us bounty hunters are supposed to get our bounties with that confusion?"
The Shadow ran out into the night toward the cantina named Smizler.
She finally spotted him standing next to a few female Twi'leks.
She downed the last of her drink and again pulled her mask up. "It's about time I found him." She muttered to her empty glass.
She secretly watched his movements as the human moved from girl to girl. She rolled her eyes as he flirted with each one and took forever to drink his drinks. *Will you stop and go outside.* She gritted her teeth to keep from yelling at him.
After several hours, he made a move to exit the cantina. The furred bounty hunter was about to stand as he back stepped toward a table. The multi-colored haired girl sighed as she sat back down. He then picked up his coat and walked past the doors.
*Wonderful.* She stood up and followed the man.
Once outside, she pulled out her heavy blaster and scanned around to find her bounty again. It wasn't hard for her to spot him, he was slightly drunken and was weaving as he walked. The Shadow smirked as she moved up behind him as he turned down a dark alley.
*How convenient and fitting,* she mused.
She pulled the trigger and watched as the human fell to the filthy ground.
"My employer said you would be difficult to kill," she laughed.
She replaced her blaster and removed her dagger. "Sorry, but my employer wants your head."
"How much?!" The Shadow practically yelled at her employer.
"Thirty thousand credits." He stated in a calm, almost amused, voice. "He was a difficult guy to kill. I've had several bounty hunters try to kill him with no success and besides," he stood up from his organized desk and walked over to the table that the furred girl had set the head on. "I like the idea of his head not attached to his body anymore."
The bounty hunter could not believe this guy. When she first took this job, he offered five hundred credits and even paid three up front, given that she ask no questions. She never asked questions when getting a job she needed, so that was simple. All she could do was shake her head as her employer was rounding up the credits for her.
"Here you are. Thirty thousand credits." He was amused at her reaction.
"Thank you." She gratefully took her bounty and inclined her head for a silent thank you.
The girl bounty hunter turned to leave when he called out behind her, "Do you even want to know why I raised the price?"
The blue haired girl halted and looked over her shoulder, "No."
"Well, I have another job for you." He casually leaned against his desk.
"You paid me for a job I haven't done?" she asked half turning around.
He nodded and fumbled in the drawer for something. The Shadow narrowed her eyes, something did not seem right. It was not like anyone to have another job lined up so fast.
"This gal," he said, holding up a picture.
"What about 'this gal?'" the furred girl asked. She never looked at the picture.
"I just want a message delivered."
"Why? I'm a bounty hunter, not a delivery service." She spat.
"I thought you would know her, she looked like you, well what I can see of you." He sounded uneasy.
She rolled her eyes and took the picture from his hands. She held in her surprise when she looked at the image. It was herself.
"What message do you want me to deliver?" she sighed out, making it sound like she gave in to him, when in fact she was curious.
"You know her?!" there was hope in his voice.
"What is the message?!" she was growing impatient and hopelessly curious.
"Oh, right." He again fumbled in his desk, "I forgot, you have to keep your identity a secret..."
He rambled on about secrets and bounty hunters and secret lives. She sighed as she tuned him out a bit, *He is starting to get on my nerves, scratch that, he made his home on my nerves.*
"Found it!" he happily yelled as the girl secretly noted, *Finally.*
He handed over a wrapped box that was wrapped in old paper with rope tied around it. She looked closer and there was a picture of herself on one side of it with a note that read, please give this box to the one pictured.
"Please say you'll deliver it." The once cool, calm, and business-like man had vanished and was turned into a little boy.
Her insides were screaming at her to open it, but she managed to suppress them. "Why is this so important? I don't usually ask questions, but this seems so important to you."
He acted like a little child. He looked around and made sure no one else was listening, even though he was in his sound proof office. He stuttered and could not form words right off. "I was told I would be killed if I did not deliver that box. I have no clue who that person pictured is and would not know. You have the same hair as the one pictured and have the same ears, so I thought you would know her... if not be her."
She nodded and growled, "I will deliver this, if you keep your mouth shut about what has happened here."
He nodded his head eagerly, and then grew solemn. "If you want to know how I came to get that box, I have no real answer for that. It appeared on my desk with this strange voice. It said that I would run into the one pictured and that I was to give her the box. If I failed, and that girl passed in and out of my life without that box, I would be killed. I don't know what's so important about that box, but I don't want to get killed, and so I hope you are the one pictured."
"You have stepped out on a limb here," she whispered, as he had whispered his last statement. "You are right, I am the one pictured here." She slowly pulled down her mask and let him see her face.
He nodded as he slid into a nearby chair. "I have had that box for years now, I was wondering if that voice had been a lie."
She inclined her head as she replaced her black mask. "It would be wise for you to keep this to yourself, as I shall keep this to myself."
"I intend to." His boyish personality gone and his dignified personality back.
Without another word or gesture, The Shadow walked out of his office and made her way back to her ship.
"I wonder what it is," she asked as she started taking off her bounty gear. She kept glancing at it as she got out of her bounty hunter outfit.
Once in her regular street clothes, she sat down, propped her feet up, and examined the wrapped box.
"Or even, how he came to get this box." She shrugged and went back to the important question, what is it?
"Guess there's no time like the present." She started to untie the ropes that held the paper on the box.
She couldn't untie the strong twine with her paws so she took her dagger and cut it. She removed the picture of her and looked on the back; she saw her name was scribbled on it. Inga Nyx'ka then removed the paper and on the back was a message written in her language, Bothan. She dropped her feet to the floor as she bit her lip. The Bothan never saw her language outside her planet, so seeing her native language surprised her.
It read:
*So you finally have the box in your hands. It's a pity,
really, for your life will now change. I should know, I'm the one who
went through it before you, as others have lived it as well. It's not
really a curse, nor is it luck. I'm guessing you're curious about
what I'm talking about, as was I when I got the box. You're a senshi.
No it's not just myth, as I know your thinking. You are known as
Sailor Bothawui. You will know what you're a senshi of when you
transform; when you find out what you govern over, you must protect
those elements and see that they are not being misused. Inside the
box is your transformation key, which is a black gem. Don't worry,
there are others like you, some are allies and some foes. It's up to
you which side you fight for, if you pick a side at all. Good luck
and "Bothawui Planet Power Make-Up!"*
Inga carefully placed the letter on a nearby table and opened the box. Inside was the mentioned black gem. She let out a gasp as she picked it up.
"It's beautiful." She held it up and examined it. "Wonder if the letter is right."
She stood up and shrugged. "Only one way to find out, Bothawui Planet Power Make-Up." She soon was enveloped in a black mist.
Once the mist was gone, Sailor Bothawui examined herself. "Ahh, there's the gem," she rubbed her paw over it, "it's in the tiara."
She looked down her body. "Glad I'm not wearing gloves or shoes, I hate them." She looked at the arm and leg coverings that substituted as gloves and shoes.
"Not too thrilled about the skirt, but I can manage." She smoothed out the black bodysuit as she spoke, "The color is great, black. I couldn't deal with any other color."
"Hmm..." she picked up the letter, "I am to know what I'm a senshi of?" she scratched her head as she walked to her room where a full length mirror was.
She laughed as she saw herself. "Covered in fur and wearing a skirt. That amuses me. Hope enemies won't laugh to hard..." she thought for a minute, "Better yet, they could laugh themselves to death. Ha!"
She smirked as she struck a pose that she had seen in comics that featured the Sailor Senshi. "I am Sailor Bothawui, senshi of silence and sorrow."
The furred girl's eyes widened, "That was weird, so I am the senshi of silence and sorrow. Not bad. Could be worse," she giggled, "could be senshi of bubblegum and glitter."
Bothawui gently folded the letter in half as she tucked it away behind her clan picture that was held in a silver frame. "So much has happened to me, that it would take me years to tell you everything." She muttered to her pictured clan.
*So you have transformed and gotten used to the fuku,* a voice filtered through her mind.
She jumped and reached for her blaster that wasn't there. "I must find a way to strap that on so I won't miss it. Yes, I have and who are you? Where are you?"
*I'm nowhere, yet everywhere.*
Bothawui growled, "That's not telling me anything."
The voice laughed. *Sure, I'm talking to you in your mind, but physically I'm not here.*
*Where are you then?*
*Dead.*
Bothawui shook her head and glanced at where she hid her letter.
*Yes. I am the one who wrote you that letter and made sure you would get the box,* the female voice said.
*Then you were Sailor Bothawui before me.* The furred girl calmed down some and strapped her blaster to her thigh.
*That I was and I'm here to help you,* the former senshi told the new senshi.
*I'm glad. I have so many questions for you and about this new life, as you called it.*
*As I knew you would,* the voice half-spoke half-laughed.
*Since you know my name, what is yours? So you have a name and not just 'voice,'* she laughed.
*Sora My'ka. And you have much to learn.*