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The Bounty That Never Was
Written by Sailor Bothawui
An annoying beeping woke the sleeping Bothan. She groaned as she rolled over and covered her head with her pillow; the beeping still filtering through. Inga sighed heavily as she stood up, stretching her arms over her head. She lazily walked over to her console, where the beeping originated.
"Good, it's only voice contact," She groaned as she clicked the switch for her to receive the transmission.
Her paw lightly rubbed the sleep out of her eyes as she spoke, "What is it?" She didn't like to be disturbed when sleeping.
"Uhh, yes. This... this is a bounty hunter, right?" the voice stammered.
The furred girl rolled her eyes. "Yes, you have reached The Shadow. What do you want?"
"I... I... I want you to get somebody for me." the masculine voice said.
"Well that's what bounty hunters are for," Inga sighed as her voice took a perturbed attitude.
"Well... I..," she heard a big gulp from the guy before he continued, "Can we meet somewhere?"
The Bothan sank her head into her paws. "This is gonna cost you."
"Uhh, sure, I got the money."
"Where are you?"
"I'm on Coruscant."
"Well, it's gonna take me some time to get there, I'm on Chandrila." Inga popped her neck.
"I'll be waiting at the Bucklin Awls. I'll be sitting in the far corner, with a drink waiting for you." With that said, the voice died away and the transmission was over.
"Looks like I have a job." She leaned back in her chair while she popped the joints in her arms and shoulders.
She took out her datapad and looked at it. *Bucklin Awls,* she read, then looked up and saw the bright red neon sign that read the same name. She smirked, *I got it this time.*
She carefully walked into the tavern. The Shadow scanned her surroundings and saw many shady characters. Her blue eyes adjusted to the darkness as she tried to spot the man who she was supposed to contact. She found him. He was indeed in the far corner, with two drinks, one for him and one waiting for her.
The bounty hunter slowly made her way to the corner. She found a middle aged human male sitting there. He seemed out of place with his clean shaven face and slightly new business suit. She sat down across from him.
"The Shadow?" he asked.
Inga nodded. "I want at least thirty credits for making me come here. Now, what is it that you want?"
The man smirked, "All right, you can have your thirty. I want you to," he dragged out the last word, making it seem as though he didn't know how to word what he wanted.
The Bothan saw him mouth different words, trying them out to see if that is what he wanted to say. She then heard his mumbled words, "Get? Not kill... retrieve? Bring back?..."
The furred girl was growing impatient. She sighed and spoke up, "Do you want me to be a delivery service for you? Go and get someone and bring him back?"
The guy's eyes lit up as he shook his head. "But it's a girl, not a guy. I don't want her hurt in any way."
The multi-colored haired girl sighed again, "All right. But I'm going to charge one hundred fifty credits up front. The other two hundred can wait till I bring her back to you. Deal?"
The man thought about it for a minute. "I don't like the numbers, but anything to get her back. Deal."
"All right. Now, do you have a name and description of this girl?" The Shadow pulled out her datapad.
"Her name is Suri Rose. She is a dancer, well, more of an exotic dancer."
"Stripper?" Inga put it plainly.
"Yeah." He looked up at her face and only saw her solemn eyes, he decided to continue. "Here, I have a holo of her." He brought out a small device and clicked it on. The Bothan's blue eyes viewed the dancing girl. The man went on with his description, "Suri has purple hair and gray eyes."
The Shadow listened to his descriptions and made a motion for the holo. He nodded his head, "Sure, it's a copy."
She replayed the holo of the girl dancing. "Where was she last seen?"
"Here, on Courscant, last I knew. I lost track of her, so she could of skipped out." The man looked at the dancing girl. "But I doubt it."
The bounty hunter flipped the holo off, much to the dismay of the male. "I shall see what I can do." She stood up then tapped the table with her finger. "You do you have the credits?"
"Oh, yeah. Here let me get them for you."
Inga ran her paw through her hair, she was getting nowhere. She brought up some more maps of where Suri had been spotted. "No good. She's disappeared, but I don't see how."
The Bothan got up from her chair and dug around in her pantry. She brought out a water bottle and chugged half of it before sitting back down again.
*You wouldn't be of any help, would you Sora?* she mind-called her guardian.
*Don't drag me into this bounty hunting junk,* she called back.
Inga sighed as she tossed the empty bottle behind her. *Thought so.*
"Guess I have to go searching on foot." She popped her back as she stood up.
The furred girl made sure she had her sensor tag and tracker, in case she happened to run into the dancer.
With her blaster strapped to her thigh and knife on her calf, she made her way off her ship and down to the lower levels of the planet.
Blue eyes looked glumly around her surrounding in the Double Deal. It had been two weeks, and she had not seen Suri Rose. Inga learned that she always arrived in the taverns a few seconds after Suri left.
"Clever dancer. I wonder if she knows that." Inga muttered to herself as she half-heartedly drank her mixed drink.
"Danccer? Danccer you sssay?" a scaly creature hissed as he slid into the chair opposite of the furred girl.
The Bothan eyed the creature. "Yes, I did." She eyed him over again and then spoke. "Do you know dancers?"
The creature grinned. "Yesss. Vinue knows all dancers and their hang outs."
"Vinue, eh?" At the creature's nod Inga smiled inwardly. *I think I got you now, dancer Suri.* She flagged down a waitress to bring drink for Vinue and to refill hers. "Do you happen to know a dancer by the name of Suri Rose?"
A scaly hand rubbed his chin as he thought. "Yesss, Vinue believess ssso." The waitress came back and set the drinks down and left. "Sshe hasss purple hair and isss more than a regular danccer."
Inga leaned in closer and nodded her head. "That's her. Know where I can find her?"
Vinue drank his drink, enjoying it. "Sshe usually hangsss out at a bar called *Bubbly Jinder.*"
The multi-colored hair girl smiled. "Thank you. Do you want anything for the information you have given me and maybe a friendship?"
Vinue smiled as well. "Friendsship is good. Payment?" he thought for a minute. "A few more drinksss would be good, with company."
"Inga is my name." She shook hands with Vinue and a new friendship was made.
Once Inga walked into the *Bubbly Jinder,* she smiled, for she saw her bounty dancing in the corner.
She took a seat a one of the empty tables and ordered a drink. She watched Suri perform and also observed guys drooling over her. Her attention was distracted by a girl that set her mixed drink down. The Bothan thanked her and again observed the purple haired dancer.
Not only did she dance, but she also flirted with the many males. Inga downed her drink and left some credits for her drinks. She made her way to the corner where Suri was entertaining the guys along with a few females.
The furred girl sat down at a table near Suri, yet far enough away from the other beings. She did not want the chance for anyone to overhear what information she might get out of this dancer.
Gray eyes noticed the Bothan motion for her out of the corner of her eye. Suri sashayed as she slowly made her way over to the table.
"Hey, you are covered in fur! How cute!" the purple haired girl squealed.
Inga slightly rolled her eyes, *Of course, it had to be a ditzy dancer.* She then nodded, "I'm a Bothan and my name is Inga. I'm new here in town and I was wondering, with your outgoing personality, that you could show me around."
"My name is Suri, and sure, I could show you around. Or, of what I know, I'm also new in town."
"That's great. When is the earliest you could get around to show me what you know?"
The dancer though for a minute, "Uh, how about now? I mean, as soon as I finish my drink."
Inga nodded and watched Suri grab her drink and head back over to the other beings. *Somehow I think I will be waiting for a while.*
Suri and Inga walked down a fairly empty street. The purple haired girl pointed out different points of interest, the Bothan acknowledged them.
The furred girl lightly brushed her paw against the back of the dancer. She wanted to see if the flirt could sense the lightest touch, if so, she would have to plant her sensor tag somewhere other than her body.
The smooth skinned girl jumped at the touch, and tried to shake off the hairs that she felt. *No good.* Inga then spoke up, "I'm sorry, I was trying to get by that light pole back there."
Suri paused for a moment, not sure what to think, "Uh, it's ok. Hey, it's getting late out, I need to get home."
The undercover bounty hunter panicked for a second for she still hadn't found a good place to plant the tag. She then spotted the dancer's small purse, with the top opened. She slightly thanked her luck and carefully dropped the small sensor tag in as she spoke, "Ok, I better get to back to my ship. It's been nice of you to show me around."
"Your welcome! I enjoyed your furry company!" Suri waved as she ran off.
Once the dancer was gone, she brought out her tracker and clicked it on. It took a minute for the device to pick up the signal of the girl.
The multi-colored hair girl sighed a breath of relief, "She didn't notice. I couldn't believe she was so sensitive."
Inga tracked Suri to an old abandoned building. The furred girl raised an eyebrow, "She's staying here? I'm sure she could do better."
The Bothan shrugged her shoulders as she took note where the run-down building was. "Now, time to get to work." She ran off in the direction of her ship.
In her bounty hunter gear, Inga silently prowled around the building. *I could walk right through the front door of this place and still not be noticed.* She shook her head, not liking that idea.
She carefully opened the doors, hissing to the doors to be quiet when they squeaked, and walked in. She again brought out her tracker and tried to locate her bounty.
The Shadow had walked up two flights of stairs with no luck. *She better be on this floor. I don't want to have to hunt all over this creepy building.* She found that she did indeed have to climb the last flight of stairs to get closer to the dancer.
The tracker notified the Bothan that she was near the dancer. She had stopped in front of a door that had the number three written on it. *Well, she better not of left her purse behind. I've waited too long to claim my bounty.*
She took a deep breath as put her tracker away and pulled out her blaster. The multi-colored hair girl quickly kicked in the door and scanned the room for Suri.
Suri was laying lazily on her bed casually flipping through a magazine. The sound of Inga kicking in the door startled the dancer which made her gasp and put up her hands in defense.
"I'm here to collect you as my bounty." The bounty hunter kept her blaster aimed at the girl as she reached for her handcuffs. "Now put your hands behind your back."
Suri stared in shock at the furred hunter in black. She slowly put her hands behind her back and naively asked, "I'm a bounty?"
"That's right," The Shadow plainly stated as she put her blaster in her holster and started to handcuff the purple haired girl.
"No!" the dancer suddenly yelled out as she grabbed a bell.
The sudden movement of Suri's hands caused the Bothan to loose her grip on the cuffs, which fell to the floor.
Inga looked up to Suri, "No? And what are you gonna do about it?" she was growing impatient.
"Berchest!" she rang the bell which she had grabbed. "Uplift me!"
The Bothan squinted as the dancer was surrounded by a bright orange light. She then saw the after-math of the light, the dancer was now clad in a sailor suit, with lots of bells.
Inga groaned and plopped onto the bed, her limbs grew limp as she muttered, "Bantha fodoo."
"I will.. huh?" Sailor Berchest saw the bounty hunter slump and fall. "What's wrong?"
The Shadow looked up to her former bounty. "I can't collect you, you're a senshi." With the look of confusion on the girl's face, the black clad girl went on, "I'm a senshi too."
With that, Inga transformed into her senshi form, Sailor Bothawui. "I'm Sailor Bothawui. I had searched everywhere for you, and you were a good bounty." The furred girl pouted.
"Oh, well I'm Sailor Berchest." She said with an accompaniment of bells.
Bothawui rolled her eyes and sighed, "A ditz with annoying bells. Could it get worse? Never mind, I *don't* want to know."
"Like I said, I have no idea were she got off to. She disappeared without a trace." The Shadow was trying to convince her employer.
"So I paid you for nothing!? Give me my credits back!" the man roared.
"I can't do that. I had to use them to collect information. I'm as mad as you are, I don't like bounties getting away from me." She explained.
"Well... well... see if I call you again for a job." The man suddenly hung up.
Inga closed her eyes and slumped against her chair. Gray eyes looked at her from a nearby chair. "You lied."
A blue eye opened and found the dancer leaned forward in her chair. "You want me to turn you in?"
"No! I mean you lied about your credit spending. You couldn't possibly spend that many credits for information."
"Your right, I couldn't." She closed her eyes again. "I'm going to keep them, for my trouble of finding you, and for his temper."
The dancer neatly folded her legs underneath her as the hunter carelessly propped her legs up on the ship's console.
"We make quite a pair," Inga pointed out as Suri giggled. The start of a friendship was made.