Cad Bane - The Concept of Trust

Your own worst enemy: Part III

She wanted to object Bane's words. Needing Dren for anything made Her skin crawl.

"Or, we can drop this hunt," Bane stared at Her when saying it.

She sneered. She hated the idea of spending an extra second around that Nautolan, but the idea, the possibility of catching Derragmi Getu... That was too enticing. She sighed, and before She could say anything, Bane groaned;

"Thought as much. You want to get that Toydarian as much as I do. So, we're gonna use him to get to Coruscant and to our prey. Whether we like it or not."

The silence fell between them; An understanding of a situation neither of them liked, but seeing Dren now as a necessary evil to achieve a goal they both ached to seize. They saw Dren walking back to the Justifier, and both inhaled deeply, being sure that the smuggler would squeeze every drop out of this situation of them now needing him. There was a weird atmosphere in the ship when Dren walked in. The Nautolan was oddly silent. There was no hint of arrogance, and the rage a moment ago so vivid was now buried somewhere deep. The silence hanging in the air was awkward. All of them were about to speak, yet hating to say it out loud. Then all of them spat the words out at the same time:

Bane's "We could use your help," and Dren's "I need your help." uttered simultaneously, and the awkward silence returning just as fast after that, both sides staring at each other in confusion. Bane nodded at Dren.

"You go first, fish-boy."

Dren bit his lip and sneered, but too desperate at this moment to object.

"My ship. It has been stolen, and I want. ...I need you to help me to get it back. I can give you dough if that's what you want. I can help you to get Getu. It is one thing to know where she is, but completely another to get even close to her. I can help you with that. If you help me get my ship back first." There was a hint of desperation in his voice. A tone so unfitting to this particular smuggler. Then he lifted his chin in defiance.

"So what did you need me for?"

Bane and She glanced at each other. Then Bane returned to being his usual self. This was better than they had expected, and Bane liked it.

"It seems to be your lucky day, fish-boy, since our interests seem to match today. It looks like we do need you to get to Coruscant after all. We might even need your ship to get there and out."

Bane turned his back to the surprised smuggler, and sat in the chair, lifting his boots on the table.

"It seems the Empire has tightened their network in the Core Worlds, and especially in Coruscant. Using the Justifier is out of question at the moment, and it seems even The Dalcassian is now on their interest list."

She raised Her eyebrows. "What?" This was new information to Her. This far the Dalcassian had always checked out clear without stirring The Empire's interest.

"It looks like someone has filed a report of a possible frame up, and The Empire wants to have your ship and its crew for questioning..."

She swallowed. Druk. This wasn't good. She knew Bane shared Her thought: This might very well be the smuggler whose ship's identifier code She had used to hide the Dalcassian's identity for their heist near Balmorra less than a year ago, and if so it meant that The Empire might be on their tail regarding that specific cargo of cyber crystals they had acquired then, and handed over to the Hutts. This could be really, really bad...

Bane stared at Her for a moment, and She thought She saw a glimpse of worry there before Bane turned his attention back to Dren.

"That means we could use a ship that can get to Coruscant and back without The Empire batting an eye, and even better if that ship's owner can help us get closer to our target." Bane stared at Dren piercingly. "Given that the particular owner doesn't try to double deal us, and lose his life."