Star Wars - Black Bounty

Chapter 12

Vulross let off a huge grin as he stumbled into the ship. The sleek and shiny look of everything was refreshing to the eyes. But due to his physical condition he went against the urge to explore the ship and found the first place to lie down. Reylan strode around the ship in pride "so this is the ship that everyone will associate to the mighty Reylan Mollek. The Javelin!" He exclaimed.

"Oh get over yourself Reylan, you're a bounty hunter so original." Vulross jeered in a sarcastic tone. Reylan ignored it and let his imagination run wild of the great adventures he would have and the favourable consequences: credits, fame and women. But his future could not be more different. He explored the ship more deeply, and giggled like a child. R0 was not far behind him, examining the ship. "My scans tell me this is a fine ship indeed!" R0 stated happily

"I know you don't need a scan to tell you that just look at it!" Reylan said with his arms spread out. He then hugged one of the walls of the ship, and repeatedly chanted "my ship" R0 sighed and rolled away to get away from the madness. "Vulross there is a bedroom in the ship if that would make you more comfortable. I'll show you the way." R0 said

"Thanks i'd like that. Lead on astromech!" Vulross replied.

"It's R0!" he shouted back.

"Just kidding with ya, come on then show me the way." Vulross then lent on R0 and walked through the glistening corridors and absorbed the smell of new ship (something which was a rarity on Kodon VI.) He then walked into a plain room with a bunk bed and a table on the opposite side of the room. He went to lie down on the bottom bed of the bunk, and had a sigh of relief. "I am guessing you would like to decorate this room, as it is the natural human thing to do, make the room mirror your life and personality, am I correct in saying this?" R0 question.

"If I stay then yes." Vulross answered

"You mean you might not stay? That is unfortunate." R0 said almost with a hint of what little emotion a droid could show.

"Look we'll see nothing is set in carbonite yet. At the moment though I'm not going anywhere, even if I wanted to." Vulross reassured pointing at his bruised body. Reylan then walked in and said to Vulross "Look I'm going to need you to get this bounty, but at the moment your no help to me. Lets get you fixed up and in a week or so we'll go for the bounty, we'll even split the credits I make on it. 60-40 ok?" Vulross frowned.

"60-40? You truly are a crook." Vulross replied.

"Look you kind of owe me for the ride off the planet." Reylan said, his tone of voice getting louder

"And you owe me for saving you from the Zuakruht!" Vulross said louder.

"I killed it!" Reylan shouted back

"Well I distracted it!" Vulross replied.

"Men, I think all this bickering is unnecessary you could dispute it peacefully and..." R0 tried to state before being interrupted by Reylan and Vulross in perfect synchronization

"SHUT UP!" They roared.

"Since you can't be civil, I guess I'll go now." R0 said quickly as he zipped out the door.

"Fine 50-50 ok?" Reylan asked.

"Count me in." Vulross said with a smirk on his face.

"It seems to me like your beginning to always get your way." Reylan said beginning to notice the pattern.

"Seems that way doesn't it?" Vulross laughed. Reylan then chuckled and left the room.

Reylan walked across the ship admiring its sleek curves and well-finished paint job and arrived to the cockpit. He sat down and handled the levers, he took in the beauty of the ship and thought of his next steps. 'Awesome ship-check. Good weapons-check' he thought as he looked at his blaster and his sword. "Vulross as a companion- kind of' he was still pretty banged up.

The trio passed the days in a boring haze. They sat around waiting and talking for Vulross to get stronger. Reylan walked around the ship memorizing where everything was and taking in every little detail of it. Reylan used this time to memorize the ins and outs of the ship. While Reylan sat in the cock pit waiting for time to go by, he was startled by the bleeping of the comlink on his arm, a sound he hadn't heard for a long time, and when it was heard he was usually in trouble. He pressed a button on the comlink on his wrist, and the hologram of a hooded figure appeared the voice was a deep and strangled tone. It was Mad-Man. "I'm farkled" Reylan muttered.

"Indeed." The deep voice said in an unimpressed tone.

"Ummm what do you want?" Reylan asked hesitantly.

"You haven't been in contact since you accepted the bounty three weeks ago. I demand regular updates on my bounty hunters. I don't want you going rogue." The deep voice stated.

"I wasn't going rogue I swear I just ran into...complications." Reylan hesitated.

"I don't want excuses I want results!" The hooded figure commanded "Now are you going for this bounty or not? There are others ready to go for the bounty. You have three days, if you don't get the bounty in that time you will be competing for it. Good luck. You're going to need it."

"I make my own luck." Reylan whispered.

"Is that so?" Mad-Man question.

"Uhhh yes." Reylan said wishing he hadn't heard that.

"Mad-Man out." Then the transmission cut. Reylan had a sigh of relief and slid down on his chair. Mad-Man was his boss and he kept a tight rein on his bounty hunters. He would help them find jobs in return for 10% of the credits made on the bounty. His clever little scheme made him rich and powerful, but it wasn't just that he did a lot of back alley deals, with crime organisations like the Black Sun. Reylan didn't know exactly what deals they did since he wasn't high enough in Mad-Man's merry band of bounty hunters. The less he knew the better, Mad-Man dealt with a lot of nasty people. Vulross then walked into the cockpit and looked at Reylan deep in thought. "What was that about?" He asked.

"My boss making sure I'm still his possession." Reylan answered angrily.

"You sure sounded scared when he was talking to you." Vulross jeered.

"Look you don't know him like I do, let's just say he could do some very bad things to me."

"I wasn't even there and I knew you melted in your seat!" Vulross laughed.

"Whatever one day hopefully you'll have the 'privilege' of meeting him and I'll see you melt in your seat!" Reylan mocked. "Look I have three days before my bounty hunting becomes a competition so we are leaving now." Reylan demanded.

"Whatever you say." Vulross said not even thinking of contesting his order he too didn't want to fight Dax Olexar and whatever bounty hunter wanted to kill him as well. Without warning the ship started and he felt the ship rise. "Let the adventure begin!" Vulross said optimistically. Reylan rolled his eyes and carried on driving the Javelin. R0 then rolled in and asked "Are we finally going to get the bounty then?"

"Yes R0, Finally. " Reylan replied.

"It's about time, wouldn't you think? Organics are so inefficient." R0 Said provocatively.

"Don't even start." Reylan warned. R0 then let off his robotic laugh. The Javelin then left atmosphere of Mandalore, and sped towards Concordia. The large moon was green dotted with parts of brown. "It's got a lot of forests, so it'll remind you of home." Reylan said.

"Brilliant. But my home has got jungles. Remember?" Vulross reminded him.

"Same thing." Reylan dismissed.

"Actually it isn't. The biggest difference is that most temperate forests lose their leaves in winter. Jungles lose their leaves all year round. On the ground jungles and forests are relatively similar, there is a lot of shade, leaf mulch and dead trees and branches." R0 corrected.

"You see?" Vulross laughed "it's not the same thing."

"Ok, it's not the same thing who cares anyway?" Reylan said annoyed.

"Ignorant organic." R0 stated.

"Yeah, ignorant organic." Vulross repeated.

"Don't take his side!" Reylan exclaimed.

"You should to get another droid, otherwise I have no one on my side." R0 suggested.

"Maybe I will, I have a few credits left over." Reylan assured R0.