Episode X Dark Hunter

The Dark Hunter Arrives (Pt2)

Six blasters aimed at Videsse and the whinnies of their charges cut the thick silence in the room. The Weequays' thick brown skin protected them from the midges and was the only reason that they were still standing.

"Uh uh, I wouldn't do that if I were you," she warned and held up the grenade with confidence.

Cam stared at her, not knowing what to make of this new player, but trying to figure how to get around her.

The room was still for a few seconds as not just Cam but everyone tried to ascertain what action to take. Felga broke the silence. "Put the grenade away, we all know this ruse. We see it every day." She seemed to sober up surprisingly. "You aren't going to detonate that grenade."

"You don't know me," Videsse replied.

The guards fingered their triggers more tightly and leaned in for a sure shot. Cam crawled away on all fours like a monkey-lizard.

Videsse glanced between them. "Yeah, you don't know me at all," she laughed. She lowered the grenade, letting it slip off her fingers. Its hollow clank echoed in the room and then it rolled toward the guards.

To say that they lost all composure is an understatement. At once, blasters were dropped and heals were in the air, and just as Cam had made a monkey-lizard impression a second earlier, now the six guards were giving their best attempt at it.

The grenade rolled slowly halfway between Felga and Videsse where it rocked to a stop. There it sat and nothing happened.

Now it was Felga's turn to laugh. "What did I tell you? You didn't activate it," she stammered between the coughing chuckles.

Videsse did not reply but held up nonchalantly a data chip.

Felga recognized the implication. This was business. "So, the red starburst on your shoulder gives away that you are an Otlell clone," Felga belched out, her laughter subsiding. She wiped her mouth again from the drool that escaped while she laughed as her demeanor changed to a more official tone. "I've done business with Otlell before, Red Sun, she liked to be called. And judging from your techniques. The midge droids and this..." Felga waved her hand at the sleeping grenade. "You are formed from the same mold as her." Felga sniggered reservedly at the clone joke as if it had just occurred to her what she had said.

"Your Ladyship," Videsse began and bowed her head. "I am familiar with Terrah Otlell," she began, veiling her true familiarity. "And forgive my arrogance, but you, filthy worm, do not speak her name in front of me. You are not worthy to breathe that name. Do it again, and, by the stars, it will be the last word you ever say." She spoke calmly, quietly, firmly, directly. The words seemed not to come from her mouth as much as they were emitted from her entire form.

Felga furrowed her brow in confusion over Videsse's reaction. The tone and warning were not lost on the drunk Hutt and sobered her a degree. Anger came over her face like a sheet. By this time the guards had regained their confidence and their blasters. However, Felga's visage of fire passed quickly from her face and receded to smolder deeper in her soul. She held up her hand to stay the guards for a moment.

"Your manners are not like hers though," Felga said with squinting eyes. "The data chip you hold. What is your business?"

"Twenty thousand for your sleeping guards in the other room. And sixty for the answer to a question," Videsse spoke calmly yet sharply. Her voice betrayed no emotion. Her facade was in place.

Felga's long mouth caved into a smile. "Eighty thousand!" She leaned forward some more. How an obese creature like her remained seated as she leaned over the way she did is a feat left explainable only to the physicists of Adana; but her hunched figure did remain on her couch, whether miracle or science, who can tell. "A question. But first. Your weapons. I do not negotiate with the armed."