Star Wars: Transformations

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The Present . . .

"He doesn't need it anymore," Tahiri explained blandly as she stood up. "And no more questions. It's time for you to go."

Wyric stared at her a second, then slowly climbed to his feet as well. Before he could say anything else Tahiri led him out of the cabin, and down the corridor.

"May the Force be with you," she told him once they reached the top of the ramp.

"And you," Wyric responded with a nod after a brief hesitation.

He turned to go, but stopped before he took a step. "You should turn yourself in," he told her earnestly. "Now that Daala's gone, you'll get a fair trial."

Tahiri considered that a moment. "You're right," she answered with an air of resignation.

She felt Jedi Torrin's surprise through the Force, and saw his mouth open in shock at her announcement. Then she calmly pulled her stun-cuffs off her belt, and locked them around her wrists—over her chrono and comlink—in front of her.

Tahiri held her cuffed hands out towards him, and he stared back at her for several seconds.

"You're not serious," he finally stated.

"Of course not," she told him with a grin. "Now get off my ship, so I can find a bounty and make some credits."

Jedi Torrin shook his head in disappointment, then Tahiri watched him turn and head down the ramp.

A few meters off the ramp, he paused, turned halfway around, shook his head, then turned back and kept walking. A few seconds after he disappeared from sight, Tahiri closed the ramp, and secured her ship, still wearing her stun-cuffs. Since they were over her comlink, she couldn't unlock them at the moment, not that she was in any hurry to anyway.

Next Tahiri went to the cockpit, and took off her boots. Ever since she was a child, she had preferred to go barefoot. For that reason, most of her ship was carpeted. She set her boots aside, and began pulling up everything she had on the bounty she was hunting. Then she turned off the stun feature of her cuffs. She didn't unlock them though; she just didn't want to accidentally stun herself while wearing them.

As she stared at her monitors, she mediated on where her bounty was, and how to capture him. She also idly twisted her cuffs, enjoying the feeling of being restrained.

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While Tahiri stayed very busy as a bounty hunter, she didn't go after the biggest bounties. That was mainly because she only accepted bounties to be delivered to legitimate governments. Gangsters and similar scum usually offered the highest rewards, but they always wanted the bounty so they could exact personal revenge for whatever slight, real or imagined, the being had done against them.

As an attractive woman and an active bounty hunter, Tahiri had received dozens of offers to be a private bodyguard. She was even offered a thousand credits a day by a multi-billionaire industrialist to protect his son, who mostly spent his days partying and on exotic vacations. She turned them all down though, in order to do something at least somewhat good.

Tahiri liked to think she was better than just a bounty hunter. Sure she got paid, but she didn't even necessarily go after the biggest bounties that otherwise met her criteria. She concentrated on the beings that were the most dangerous to society. Tahiri listened to the Force for guidance on who to go after as she looked over lists of active bounties.

Another advantage to being an attractive woman was that Tahiri often got information on her bounties a lot easier than other bounty hunters. She was able to walk into a lot of cantinas, smile, chat up the barkeeper or patrons, and quickly find out what she needed to know.

With the Force as her ally, Tahiri had no problem finding wanted beings. The problem was turning them in. While she had several sets of top-notch phony identification, she still ran the risk of being recognized when she turned them over to law enforcement.

She had, reluctantly, had some minor cosmetic surgery to remove her most distinctive physical feature, the Vee-shaped scars on her forehead she had received from the Yuuzhan Vong as a teenager. The risk of being recognized had just been too great. It was time to move on from that shavit anyway.

After Kad'ika betrayed her, Tahiri had gone to Talon Karrde for help in finding another partner. He suggested Kazzok, a Trandoshan, who had been working for him off and on for nearly twenty years.

Tahiri vaguely remembered Kazzok from a story Alema Rar had told her years ago. He had helped her infiltrate Schliebak the Hutt's harem, if she remembered correctly. He had also kept her chained up quite a bit, although he wouldn't have sex with her.

Unfortunately Kazzok wasn't interested in having a partner. He especially wasn't interested in a human partner who was relatively new to bounty hunting. Only after Karrde told him who his prospective partner was did he accept her.

Kazzok insisted that they use his ship though. Karrde agreed to keep Tahiri's in storage, with the understanding that he could occasionally use it if he needed it. Tahiri moved her belongings to Kazzok's ship. Unfortunately the only place he had for her to sleep was his second holding cell. While she didn't sense any deception from him, she made a mental note to always have her lightsaber with her, especially in her new room.

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A few weeks after Tahiri becomes Kazzok's partner . . .

Tahiri strolled into the cockpit and sat down in the co-pilots chair.

"So Kazzok, what should we do with this one?" she asked as she propped her bare feet up on the console.

She was referring to the blue and gray Mandalorian helmet in her hands. The former owner of the helmet had tried to interfere with their latest bounty. He wasn't around anymore.

The towering Trandoshan glanced over at her, then reached out and swept her legs off the console with a single clawed hand.

Tahiri didn't even react. "Maybe we can sell it," she commented, hefting the beskar helmet.

"I'm keeping it as a trophy," Kazzok hissed as he put his forearm back in the control groove.

Tahiri rolled her eyes in annoyance. She knew he was going to say that.

"We have two whole sets on display already," she pointed out.

Besides the two sets in the trophy room, Tahiri was wearing pieces of a third set of beskar armor. Hers had once belonged to her former partner, who had betrayed her. He wasn't around anymore either.

"I have two sets in my trophy room," he corrected her.

"There's not even room in there for another set," she responded.

That was certainly true. As a Trandoshan with a bounty hunting career going back several decades, Kazzok had amassed an enormous collection of trophies. In fact, the trophy room was so overrun they could barely get in it.

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Nearly two months into her partnership with Kazzok, on a planet named Trallis II . . .

Tahiri sat in the booth with her back against the wall, surreptitiously keeping an eye on her bounty, as well as scanning the rest of the cantina. She had been there for nearly half an hour.

The mark, one Pajr Urchir, also known by Krayt, was at a table, with three other members of his swoop-bike gang. All four were wearing dirty pants, and nerfhide vests with the Zoloz emblem on the back, and other related patches on them.

Krayt was wanted for an assortment of charges including armed robbery, and assault with a deadly weapon. He had a five thousand credit bounty on him—alive.

Tahiri was also pretty sure two of the other members of the Zoloz had fifteen hundred credit bounties as well. She hoped to get at least one of them along with Krayt.

A few moments later, Kazzok's massive frame was silhouetted in the entranceway. Tahiri slid a bit closer to the open end of the booth, away from the wall.

Just as Tahiri and Kazzok had planned, when the four bikers saw him, they got up, and began backing towards the rear exit, right towards Tahiri's booth.

Tahiri unholstered her blaster, and put a stun bolt in the middle of the closest biker's back. The biker grunted, and swung around as he drew his own blaster. Tahiri swore, and shot him in the head.

The other three bikers were half-way around now, with their blasters in hand. The cantina's patrons were scrambling out of the way. The biker on her left spotted her. Tahiri slid out of the booth, and dropped to one knee as she fired another stun bolt.

From the other side of the cantina, Kazzok fired his blaster carbine at them. One of the bikers fell, and another one fired at Tahiri. She continued to pump rounds into the bikers as she moved. Suddenly one of them broke for the rear exit. Tahiri fired at him, but missed. She swore again, and took off after him.

As she reached the rear exit, she felt a flash of warning through the Force. She ducked, and rolled through the exit as a pair of blaster bolts—kill shots—hit the doorway where her chest would have been. She came to a stop on one knee, and fired at the fleeing biker. Her blaster was still set on stun, as the bounty had stipulated live captures.

The bolt hit him in the chest. Just like his pal, he grunted, and fired again. Tahiri matched him, and shot his knee. He swore in pain as he dropped. Unfortunately, he kept a firm grip on his blaster, and kept firing. Tahiri quickly scrambled back to the doorway as she returned fire.

Tahiri glanced back into the cantina, to see Kazzok facing off against their original bounty, Pajr Urchir. She changed her aim, and fired a bolt into his hips. He dropped, and Tahiri felt a bolt in her shoulder from the other biker. The force of the bolt knocked her back into the door frame behind her. Luckily her armored jumpsuit took the brunt of the shot.

She grunted in pain, and fired back on her attacker—who had moved behind a dumpster for his own cover.

Kazzok hissed, then, out of the corner of her eye, Tahiri saw him dash for the front exit of the cantina, presumably to flank the biker.

Tahiri slid a little more into the doorway as she fired another stun bolt towards the last biker. She fired again, then ducked in as one got a little too close. More than a dozen bolts apiece—an eternity—later Tahiri spotted Kazzok at the front of the alleyway.

He paused and fired a pair of stunbolts into the biker crouching behind the dumpster. From Kazzok's reaction, Tahiri could tell the biker was down. She looked back at the three bikers sprawled on the floor of the cantina, to make sure they were still out. Then, she slowly climbed to her feet.

Kazzok squatted and disappeared behind the dumpster. When he stood up a few moments later, the biker was cuffed and slung over his shoulder.

Tahiri stepped back into the bar, cuffed Pajr, then the other two.

"What the frakk was that all about!?" Kazzok hissed at her as he entered the back of the cantina. "What happened to taking out Pajr, and letting the rest go?"

Tahiri gave him an apologetic look. "I think these other two are worth fifteen hundred a piece," she explained.

"And how the hell do you plan on carrying three bodies to our ship?" Kazzok demanded.

"I can take one, and you can take two," she replied as she searched the biker's pockets.

"And who's gonna shoot back at the rest of the Zoloz when they find out we got four of their guys?"

Tahiri paused a moment. The plan had been to take down Pajr, then get to their ship before the rest of the biker gang could catch up with them. Carrying three people would slow them down considerably.

"Maybe they didn't get off a message?" she suggested.

Kazzok hissed in reply.

"Let's just take Krayt and this one," he said, waving his hand at the lighter of the two fifteen hundred credit bikers. "And if we run into trouble, you drop yours, and take care of it."

"No problem," Tahiri replied as she touched temples of both of the bikers they were taking, and put them in a Force nap. Both would stay unconscious until they got them in the holding cells in their ship.

Then she tossed the second biker over her left shoulder, wincing from the shot she had taken to her right one. She exchanged a nod with Kazzok, and they left out the back alley.

Within minutes of leaving the alley, they were ambushed by four more Zoloz. Just as they planned, Tahiri dumped her biker, and began shooting back with her blaster pistol. Before she could clear an exit path, two more Zoloz arrived on speeder bikes. One of them was carrying a heavy blaster rifle. These two quickly joined the fight on the side of the other Zoloz.

One second Tahiri was shooting at a Zoloz crouched behind a speeder, the next she heard a thud, and Kazzok was on the ground, hissing in pain. His agony was was so intense Tahiri had to shut out the Force to stay focused. She looked over to see a large hole in the wall, and Kazzok on the ground nearby, with Pajr Urchir mostly on top of him.

Tahiri ran through a Jedi calming technique, and fired several shots at the biker with the heavy blaster. Then she glanced over, and to her astonishment, saw Kazzok pushing the biker off himself, and climbing to his feet. She was even more shocked to see most of his left arm lying on the duracrete. He let out a painful hiss, picked up his blaster, and began shooting back at their attackers.

The shot that had severed Kazzok's arm had also went through their five thousand credit bounty's thigh, nearly severing it as well. That pretty much made him worthless, as no law enforcement agency would pay his bounty with such a serious injury.

By this point Tahiri had taken out two of the Zoloz, leaving four still in the fight. She also heard more swoop-bikes approaching. Without voicing the plan, she covered Kazzok while he retreated to a good spot, then he covered her while she retreated farther back.

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Present . . .

After that debacle Kazzok had had to take a long break from bounty hunting while his arm regrew. He also told her he might even retire altogether.

That meant that Tahiri was on her own again. At first she wanted to go after the Zoloz for what they'd done, but after meditating for several hours, she realized she couldn't do that. Not because she wasn't capable, but because it would be just for revenge, and that was of the dark side.

Somewhat to Tahiri's surprise, Karrde had no interest in seeking retaliation against the Zoloz either. He explained that he didn't have anywhere near the muscle that he once had, and even then he probably wouldn't have gone to war with the largest swoop-bike gang in the Outer-Rim. Kazzok was a grown Trandoshan, who knew what he was doing, Karrde pointed out. He also told her that wars were bad for business, unless of course, you were an arms dealer.

Karrde did say that he'd be passing along whatever information he had about the Zoloz' illegal activities to the appropriate law enforcement; anonymously, of course.

Tahiri found out from HoloNet News reports that she had killed two of the Zoloz in the firefight, and the one they'd been after, Pajr Urchir, had been severely wounded, and was now in police custody. Even though she had decided not to seek revenge, Tahiri did instruct her ship's computer to highlight all Zoloz members with active bounties, no matter how small, for each system she visited from now on though. She might not necessarily go after them, but she wanted to be aware of them just in case she ran across one.

As for the being Tahiri was currently looking for, she wasn't feeling any direction through the Force. He was wanted for attempted kidnapping, aggravated assault and possession of spice. There was a sixty-five-hundred credit bounty on him, alive. After another ten minutes or so, Tahiri reached out with her cuffed hands, and pulled up a list of other active bounties on the planet. If she couldn't find one, then she was confident the Force would lead her to another bounty.

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~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Part II: Kidnapped ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Several weeks, two systems, and nine successful bounties later . . .

Tahiri Veila turned to walk out of the so-called antique shop, deep in thought. She had come here looking for information on a bounty, but the shop proprietor didn't know anything useful.

As she was about to step through the door, the old man called out to her. She turned her head back, and felt a sudden spike of danger through the Force. She twisted her body, but was knocked off her feet by blaster bolt to her chest.

Tahiri hit the floor and slid backwards into a low platform with an ummph. Another blaster bolt hit her thigh. She reached out with the Force as she scrambled to the far side of the platform for cover, behind the front half of the fifty-year-old landspeeder that was sitting on it.

Her thigh was mostly numb from the blaster bolt; she was vaguely aware that both shots had been stun-bolts, although they felt like they had come from at least a carbine. The first one had hit her beskar chest armor though, and hadn't affected her as much.

Since she wasn't expecting to find her prey immediately, and to be a bit less conspicuous, Tahiri had left most of her beskar armor on her ship, along with her favorite blaster carbine. Besides her torso armor, she was just wearing her armored bodysuit and knee boots. Her chrono and comlink were mostly hidden underneath the bodysuit.

Several more bolts hit around her as she reached for her own blaster on her thigh. When she pulled it out of its holster, she discovered it had taken some of the stun-bolt that had hit her thigh, and was now useless.

Frakk. That left her with only her lightsaber, and beskar knife. Well, besides the Force. She could sense at least four people out front. Two of them were only a couple of meters away from the doorway.

Tahiri pulled her lightsaber from its place at the small of her back. Before she could ignite it, a stun-bolt hit her forearm, sending it flying underneath some low shelves along the wall behind her. She looked towards the rear of the shop and saw three masked gunmen entering.

She grunted as another stun-bolt hit her shoulder, and two more hit her chest. Flat on her back, Tahiri looked up to see one of the gunmen standing over her, pointing a blaster carbine at her. As he pulled the trigger, she drove her eighteen-centimeter beskar knife into the side of his leg, just behind his shin bone. The stun-bolt hit her upper chest, and Tahiri immediately fell into unconsciousness.

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"I told you it was that bounty hunter bitch from Trallis II," one of the masked gunmen said as he checked out the unconscious woman on the floor.

"Yeah," another one agreed. Then he turned to a third gunman. "Find out who the frakk she is."

The third one nodded, and began searching her pockets.

"The old man's dead," a fourth gunmen commented from behind the counter.

"Her name's Terri Rapuung," the third gunmen said, examining up her identichit. "And she's got a membership card under the same name to the Bounty Hunters' Guild."

"Good, get her, and let's get the frakk out of here," the second gunman announced.

The first and third gunmen quickly put stun-cuffs on her wrists—behind her back. Then they lifted her by her upper arms, and carried her towards the door.

Outside the group loaded into a nondescript boxy cargo speeder the other members of the team had brought around. The gunman she had stabbed in the leg was already in the back.

"Give her the ryll," the second gunman said once the doors were closed. "And get her clothes off her."

"Hey, the schutta is wearing a wrist chrono and comlink that look like shackles," a gunman commented in surprise as he injected her with a dose of glitteryll.