Private Minder, Minder

[Asori Soto]

Unnamed Cantina,
Nubian Prime
Nichos Velt​

It wasn't worth absolutely anything to anyone but her - and the rough-looking man who's eye in had caught from across the way.

She had brought the pyrite all the way from the Confederacy's heart to the outskirts of the Core on her person. It represented the only sample she had kept, for it was inordinately less dangerous than the two other minerals she had worked on under her contact period. She did so hope she hadn't seen the last of either yet, however, that the hyperlanes would see her back the way she had come sooner rather than later; there was a lot more to know about both void stones and necrium. Until then, she would follow potential work of ne work. A xenogeological oddity on Tython was the next call.

To tide herself over until the next transport that would ferry her closer in to her goal, she had found a relatively quite cantina near to the spaceport, ordered a weak drink, and set up a table near the back as a mobile research station. The shiny sample stood propped up on the napkin holder. Her datapad lay before it, on which she scribbled observation notes with the matching stylus so intently that electric blue illuminated her downturned face and falling hair. When she reached blindly over to grab for her drink, her fingers just missed the glass as a brute of a man pulled the vessel out of reach into his own hands. Before she could look up or process what exactly had happened, the liquid had soaked through her loose, brown waves. "Ashla!" she breathed and recoiled from in her chair, allowing some droplets to fall to the datapad she had effectively been protecting from the sudden downpour of cocktail.

Asori watched the man snatched up her pyrite chunk, trading it for the now-empty glass. He huffed at her as she stared at him before turning on his heel and beginning to saunter away.

It took her another moment to gather up her bearings. "No-now wait just a minute, you...!"

 

[Nichos Velt]

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Location: The Leaky Bedroom​

Equipment: Civilian Clothing Red Menace​

Tag: Asori Soto ​

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Nubian Prime the only good place about it was gambling, drugs and hookers and it didn't help that it was the prettiest looking Casino surrounded by a jungle giant animals wanting to kill you. This marked half a year that Nichos had been without his ship and as such, the jobs started to dry up. He hadn't had a big money job since the battle of Byss and it was gotten to the point where Nichos sold his house and most of his weapons and armor to survive. Now and days, the Bounty Hunter was reduced to a Vagabond scrounging whatever scraps the Hutt Cartel or any minor criminal overlords would give him which was chit because of how ill equipped he was. It was a pain in the ass but Nichos was confident that he can get back on his feet. If there one thing, that he has done most of his life was to recover after a setback.​

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The Bounty Hunter lost his parents to Jedi when he was a child, they were weapon launderers who provided services to the Sith Empire. Nichos didn't remember much about his childhood but from the glimpses that he could grasp, his stomach churned and a small smile on his face. Was it happiness? Genuine happiness rather than the sarcastic scowls that he would give to everyone now and days? Whatever it was it ended with a Jedi strike team killing everyone in the factory that his parents worked leaving Nichos to be raised at an orphanage. Nichos had problems adjusting often getting into fights with the handlers and other children and was an often a nuisance. No parent wanted Nichos which was fine by him, the parents he knew were killed by those towel wearing, glowstick wielding son of bitches.​

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Even though Nichos disliked the Jedi, he didn't outright hate them as long as they got the credits he'll do whatever mission they wanted. Still it was hilarious that the Jedi keep thinking that they're morally virtuous when in reality they just use it to commit genocide. They're just killers in bathrobes in Nichos' mind. As he began to drink he heard a scuffle and turned to see a young woman confronting some brute. "Hey!" he yelled at the two of them. "Do you mind?! I'm trying to drink in peace here!"​

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[Asori Soto]

Asori was not dissuaded by the other man's outburst. Actually, she picked up her pace, jogging a few feet after the thief, and wrapped both og her arms around his huge bicep. She tugged in a vein attempt to keep him in place. "That's mine!" she defied. "Give it back!" She yelped as the man easily pulled away from her and turned around. She tried her very best not to cower away under his gaze. "I-I have important research to do..."

The man shrugged after staring past her to the table she had been set at. "And I have debts to pay," he said simply, as if stealing from women minding their business for his personal good was a typical Centaxday for him.

"No, wait, but that's Fool's Go—"

"What did you call me, schutta?!" He stepped in uncomfortably close. "Say that to my face."

"Nothing!" she exclaimed, then adding, "Sir, I'm trying to. That's not as valuable—"

Asori gave another sharp yelp as the man took a hold in her hair.

Nichos Velt

 

[Nichos Velt]

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Location: The Leaky Bedroom​

Equipment: Civilian Clothing, Red Menace​

Tag: Asori Soto ​

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Nichos' life was full of conflict something that he embraced, it gave him a purpose in life after spending time in the orphanage. Conflict was like a drug to Nichos an addiction that he refuses to be cured of. Why would he? For a time it made him rich and gave him some notoriety in the galaxy but there were times that Nichos just wanted to kick his feet up and relax maybe fondle some hookers and drink the night away. However Nichos had been so immersed in conflict that it always followed him like an AI controlled missile. When he wanted to take a break there's always bullchit occurring in order to pull him back like the one between the young woman and a burly man. "Ignore it Nichos," he said. "Bounty Hunters ain't heroes, don't get involved in chit that you don't get paid for."​

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The woman was begging the man to give her back her rock for some reason. Maybe it contained some valuable information that could benefit the good of mankind, maybe it was a harddrive in disguise that contained some wild Twileak porn which would be a fine edition to his collection. Either way, Nichos isn't moving if he's not getting paid. That is until the petite woman was being grabbed by her hair by the hulking monstrosity. The Bounty Hunter sighed gripping his beverage wanting to gulp down his drink but there was something tugging him to go and interfere. His feet were already pointed to her direction, his rear end nearly left his seat. "Fracking conscience," he muttered. "Fine whatever let's get this over with."​

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It wasn't like anyone else was going to do anything.​

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Taking a big gulp of his drink, Nichos full got up heading over to the large man holding the young woman by the hair. "Hey meathead!" Nichos said. "Let the lady go and give her back her rock or whatever that is. Otherwise I'll be introducing you to a friend of mine."​

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Nichos rolled his head cricking his neck. "He doesn't like many people," he explained. "Especially hulking freaks made out of steroids and Deathsticks who frack people who are barely taller than their legs."​

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Nichos curled his hand into a fist. "You got three seconds buddy," he said. "One, two......"​

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[Asori Soto]

The pause for 'three' came and went, and the man had neither let Asori go nor given back her beloved sample. He glanced around the room instead, rather nonchalant. "I don't see nobody, buddy," he said before chuckling, proud of himself. "Look, I have a pretty big debt to pay off, and this...?" He held out the piece of pyrite.

At his side, the small-in-comparison xenogeologist grit her teeth. "C'mon, if you'd listen to me...you'd understand that's not worth its weight in dirt."

The man laughed again, but less good naturedly. "Sounds just like what a liar would say."

Asori Soto

 

[Nichos Velt]

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Location: The Leaky Bedroom​

Equipment: Civilian Clothing, Red Menace​

Tag: Asori Soto​

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"Three."​

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As soon as the word left his mouth, Nichos pulled out Red Menace with the speed of a gunslinger in a duel pulling the trigger as soon as he pointed the gun at the man's face. Before the large sack of meat and roids could react a plasma bolt entered his right eye melting it and entering his brain. The people yelped in fear at the sound of Red Menace's blaster fire echoing throughout the casino. The giant man gave a gasp releasing Asori's hair before falling back first on to the hard ground. White smoke coming out from his eye, there was an awkward silence for a moment as Nichos looked around at the shocked and terrified faces as if this was the first time they've seen a man get killed before.​

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The Bounty Hunter while feeling a bit awkward placed Red Menace on his holster while collecting the rock from his corpse. While he did so, Nichos saw the shocked look etched on the big man's face. His mouth opened and his left eye wide open in fear accompanied by a foul stench on his corpse. "Chit your pants nerf herder?" he chuckled grabbing the rock from his hand. "Should've listened to me when you had the chance, then again if people were smart there wouldn't be any need for Bounty Hunters like me."​

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Nichos looked at young woman before casually tossing her the small rock. "Here you go," he said. "And you're welcome."​

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His night was ruined looks like he'll have to spend it somewhere else. Nubian Prime had some places where scum like him could get a decent beer though the casinos were very slanted in houses favor. "Sorry about the mess," Nichos said to the shocked crowd as he headed for the exit.​

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[Asori Soto]

He hadn't, but she had almost chit her pants.

It was all just so fast. Slow until it wasn't, then bam!

Asori took the first opportunity to pull herself from the man's rapidly laxing grip, either for the virtue of being free or else away from the dead. She yelped as she did so and threw herself to the floor, an instinctual reaction to blasterfire whenever it broke out in a public place. Her arms were risen to cover her head, but she had begun to take them down when she had felt the bounty hunter's apathetic gaze on her. In such, she barely had time to reorient herself to catch the pyrite, but after some amount of scrambling she did so.

"...th-thanks?" she squeaked out. Though something in the back of her mind was urging her to call emergency services, the rest of her couldn't help feel a bit indebted not to, albeit also terrified by his methods. Despite their shallow barbarism, perhaps the best way to fight one brawny and brainless fire was with fire of a similar caliber.

As the young doctor sat froglegged on the floor, someone else fetched a form of EMS - the local security bouncers. Most of them rushed past Asori in a haze, following the path through the crowd that Nichos had taken only a few moments before, but one knelt at her side. "Miss, are you alright?"

All she could do was nod after staring at the fresh-faced recruit for a beat or two. Any of his actual features were a blur. Oh, Ashla, she groaned to herself. I hope they don't ask me to describe that man for a holosketch. She was losing short-term memory by the heartbeat.

"What happened?"

A shake there. "I-I don't know." And she didn't. Medium-grained sand shifting in between her fingers.

Nichos Velt

 

[Nichos Velt]

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Location: The Leaky Bedroom​

Equipment: Civilian Clothing, Red Menace​

Tag: Asori Soto​

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The young woman was shaking as much as a Hutt when there's slab of meat lying on the table. Obviously she wasn't accustomed to this level of violence which made Nichos feel already more awkward. There was always that occasional brawl that happened whenever Nichos hit the Cantina but they usually occur in the Outer Rim where law was rarely enforced. Nubian Prime was considered to be "civilized" at least in terms that they don't fracking shoot people in front of everyone and expect not to get consequences for it. The bouncers surrounded the woman and began to interrogate her. That was his sign of Nichos to slip out.​

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The men examined the burning corpse in front of them as they helped the woman to her feet. "Is that him?" One of the men: A burly Zarbak nudged his human partner. The bouncer squinted at Nichos who was heading towards the exit at quickened pace and nodded. "Holy chit it is!" he said. "I'll go after him, clean this mess and get everyone out, there's going to be an announcement to evacuate in a few seconds."​

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As soon as he said this, a voice in the intercom echoed throughout the bar. "Attention," a female's voice boomed Nichos stopped in his tracks and listened. "Attention all people in the Casinos. There has been a code 3 Rakghoul outbreak a few miles from the city, you are to drop everything and evacuate the planet in an orderly fashion. Please bring any essential items with you and head to the nearest spacesport. Security and all personnel will guide you."​

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"Chit," Nichos muttered as he began to jog with the crowd. "Sir!" The man said. "Wait!" But Nichos managed slip away into the panicked crowd exiting the bar.​

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Rakghouls here? Not surprise to be honest, who would have thought building a Casino within a forest filled with wild animals and would end in disaster? Well at least he has a free ride out of this mess. The woman will be fine with those bouncers helping her.​

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[Asori Soto]

Asori stood as one of the policemen helped her up, then took a small step back and pocketed the rock into her vest. She took to rubbing her elbows nervously as the group finished conversing with each other, and then the intercom played its message. When the bargoers began to shuffle towards the door almost all at once, she fought against the current to get to her long forgotten table. She stooped to grab her tan cargo field pack off the floor and propped in up and open on the chair. Quickly, she loaded up the main compartment with her research things, fastened the bag closed, and slung it over her back on one shoulder.

Rakghouls? Asori thought similarly to Nichos as she squeezed herself through the bar's main entrance. When was the last time she had heard that name? Probably during a xenogeology lecture with Dr. Landray. Dangerous little buggers, often diseased and rabid but else sharp-toothed and -taloned if not.

...Maybe she should stay. Yes, that's what she'd do.

Little fear plagued her mind - or, rather, a healthy amount did but was simply overshadowed by the prospect of first-handed research.

She hiked up the canvas strap over her shoulder and ducked out of the evacuating crowd around a dimly lit alley corner.

Nichos Velt

 

[Nichos Velt]

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Location: Nubian Prime​

Equipment: Civilian Clothing, Red Menace​

Tag: Asori Soto ​

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The panicked chatter amongst the people filled the room, Nichos grunted at it all it was natural that they were afraid but all the screaming and fear mongering was distracting him from his thoughts. Still the at least the people were lining up in an orderly fashion mostly obeying the security guard's orders. There was a Wookie arguing with a guard about something regarding important information to Alderaan though Nichos only got the gist of it, he doesn't speak Wookie. The only good thing about this Rakghoul outbreak is that Nichos could hitch a ride out of this planet for free. He didn't have to use what little credits he had and look for that pot of gold through playing Sabacc or trying his luck on the slot machines.​

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"Looks like I create my own luck," Nichos beamed smiling at the next resort a few miles ahead. From the looks of it, there was large dome placed over it. Surprising that the resort had a security measure but then again when you build a resort in the middle of a fracking jungle it's best to be prepared. Still, it was a golden opportunity for Nichos to leave this planet and finally look for some work. Given that the Bounty Hunter has been kicked out from the guild it was hard for Nichos to get any Bounty Hunter jobs. "Starting from the bottom again," he sighed leaning against the railing.​

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[Asori Soto]

Asori saw it too - the next resort a few miles up - albeit from a slightly different angle. She glanced around as she continued moving generally towards it. Someone must have abandoned a speeder bike or something somewhere. She'd just borrow it, bringing it back just as soon as she could, so it would be waiting for its owner as soon as the evacuation order passed and people could return to the planet. That was provided she still lived, of course, but she knew at the very least rabid rakghouls wouldn't be treating a bike very well at all.

Either way, not such luck. Yet. No one had left much behind so far, swept up in ordered chaos as they were.

She was almost so preoccupied in searching that she almost walked past Nichos Velt . A few meters on, though, hairs standing on the back of her neck and goosebumps breaking out under her long-sleeved blouse made her stop to turn about face.

"Oh, uh, hi," she stuttered. Danger burned under the surface of her skin all over again, and she had to dig the heels of her boots into the duracrete in order to momentarily forget her instinct to run from it - from him. "You're-you're not evacuating?"

 

[Nichos Velt]

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Location: Nubian Prime​

Equipment: Civilian Clothing, Red Menace​

Tag: Asori Soto​

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Images of the Mando Wars began to resurface in Nichos' mind, he smiled oh how he missed those days prowling in the jungle slicing the the necks of unsuspecting Mandalorian. In a way it was gratifying like pulling weeds out of a garden, seeing the fire ahead reminded Nichos of the many carpet bombings that the Mandos did in order to soften targets. Continuing to stare at the crumbling resort ahead, Nichos wondered how far the Rakghouls were in building their colony. He fought those bastards before and they spread quickly, "one Rakghoul could consume a planet." Was the common phrase and Nubian Prime obviously wasn't going to take any chases lest it ate into their profits.​

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Just then his thoughts were interrupted by a familiar voice. Nichos turned and saw the same young woman who had her hair pulled by that brute that he killed a few minutes ago. What was she doing here? "I'm evacing," The Bounty Hunter said heading to the Coruscant section. "Just accessing the situation. It looks like chit from what I'm seeing, at least I got a free ride outta here."​

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He approached the steps of the Coruscant room. "See ya and try not to let people yank your hair." Nichos said.​

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