Cad Bane - The Concept of Trust

Can you tell friends from foes? Part III

This is the final chapter in this story arch! Have fun. It became a bit longer than usually, but couldn't leave things out...

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In a couple of days everything was ready, and they set their coordinates to Troithe; A factory planet located in the galaxy's Deep Core. There was a certain thrill in this mission, it felt like sneaking into Coruscant's backyard, coming to the Core Worlds so soon after Brella's abduction.

Ziiba and Hondo were in the Justifier, though Bane had almost started a one Duros riot when She had informed Bane about that, His exact words being;

"You are bringing that Rodian back to my ship over my cold body!"

"Calm down, Bane. I have to go through the layouts and security measures with Ziiba, and you need to stomach it. Besides, You already are cold..." had been Her answer. She had prepared for a longer bust-up, but Bane had just spilled his caf with a loud snort. "Lady, that joke was the worst." She had smirked. She had a knack to defuse Bane from time to time.

Then Hondo had told how he "could never leave Ziiba alone with such vicious bounty hunters without a chaperon with a good conscience. Ziiba was a dear partner, and he would go through any obstacle to protect his investm- ....friend." She, Bane, and even Ziiba had all sneered, but after Bane's threats the Weequay had a point... And, they needed to go through the details with Hondo too anyway, so it was settled.

The Justifier wasn't exactly meant for more than two persons, unless some of them were locked in the cells. Aurra had informed right away, that she wasn't gonna get cram in there, and was taking her ride in Hondo's ship.

"Please, Aurra, we need all my crew intact, dear... Try to ...be careful with them." Hondo's pleading voice had been talking to her back, and the Palliduvian had just glanced over her shoulder with a vicious smirk, saying nothing. The Weequay had smirked back with a sigh.

She didn't like travelling to Core Worlds, especially to the Deep Core. Closer you got, the slower and harder to navigate it got. You had to calculate and avoid the increasing gravity created by the more densely packed star clusters, and evade more and more of Imperial ships. We can't get out fast, even if we would like to. Hyperjumping wasn't even an option in some time, and around Troithe there was also the Cerberon debris field, a dense asteroid field that made navigating hellish. She sneered. We better get a good lead after our heist. Our plan must work.

Getting to Troithe while avoiding the Empire's surveillance took several days, and was far from the normal, relaxed atmosphere She and Bane shared when travelling together. She smirked. Bane had a love-hate relationship with Hondo. Bane loved to hate the pirate, but especially after a couple of drinks there was no end for their banter, and friendly bickering. "It's the same for you, Lady, admit it!" Bane had stated when She had ribbed him about this. Only now, Bane did not drink, though it didn't stop Hondo consuming quantities of the pirate brew he had brought with him, protesting when none of them accompanied him. They were finished with the plans in a day. On the second day Bane threw both Hondo and Ziiba out of the Justifier after the Weequay stumbled into the engine room pissed as a newt, and accidentally shut down their gravity manipulators, sending them all floating around the ship. After that, a relative peace was restored, apart from normal bickering between the droids or Bane's casual threats towards R3. They discussed the mission. This wasn't their normal work. They were bounty hunters, not common thieves, but there were times when stealing something was worth it, and this was one of those times.