Want to support CHYOA?
Disable your Ad Blocker! Thanks :)

Chapter 19 by Aqualis64 Aqualis64

Next Mission?

Secret Commission

“They’ll make sure the slavers won’t come back for ‘em” Tanna said as the two of you watch the rescued Twi’leks being interviewed by Coruscant Police.

“Never knew Coruscant had a police ****” you say in contemplation. Tanna gave you a strange look.

“Who do you think kept the peace around here?” she asked, giving you what equated to a raised eyebrow.

“Uhh the Judicial forces?” you say, unsure. You remember the guy you spoke with before about how judicial forces paid off criminals here on Coruscant.

“The Judicial Forces deal with policing the whole republic” Tanna explained “They have a small presence on Coruscant for things like slaver gangs and what have you.” she continued, “But, like it is with literally everywhere else, Coruscant has its own much more effective security ****” she finished. That made sense, you realised.

“Thank ya for yer service” said a fish like creature that looked a little like one of those Mon Cals. It might have been more apt to say he was a frogman. “No idea whera’ya got a tip-off on a slaver gang but boy are we glad someone got em home!” the alien said with good cheer. “Name’s cap’n Grelln, At yer service” he added.

“It was hardly any trouble at all” Tanna replied to the man, a cocky tone making its way into her voice.

“No trouble at all” you repeat “yeah, going guns up with a dreadnought is no trouble” you say and Tanna took on a sheepish looks “Dogfighting two squadrons of pirate fighters was no trouble” you add and Tanna ducked her head down more “A fire fight with company to battalion levels of pirates was no trouble at all” you add again.

“Alright! Enough! We get the idea!” Tanna exclaimed and the frogman chuckled.

“One ‘ellova ship ya got ‘ere” Grelln said, turning to look at the Eos behind you. “She looks like onea them Marauder cruisers the CSA are all for” he commented.

“Those ships are considerably bigger, this little freighter is barely a light corvette” you say to the man.

“Still, them guns look . . .” the alien trailed off “Ya know what, ya do good werk ya get good opinions” Grelln said before nodding his head. “‘Ere, take me contact info, usually at the shop unless som’en bad’s happened” he said, handing you a small datapad which you took. “Call me up ifen ya ever decide to storm another club” he said, resting his hands on his somewhat portly belly “less mess ta clean up!” he chuckled before turning around and leaving.

“There are so many weird amphibian aliens on this world” you say once Grelln had left ear shot. Tanna just turned to look at you, giving you a strange look in the process.

“You’re not some kind of racist are you?” she asked.

“Not racist, just sheltered” you reply “cut me some slack, you grow up on a world where ‘aliens’ are people from different continents, or even different parts of the same continent, then you jump into a galaxy full of legit aliens and everyone thinks you’re a racist” you say turning around and catch sight of Sata, who hadn’t been able to stop blushing every time she saw you since the engineering incident.

“Sata!” you called out to the girl who was just coming down the boarding ramp of your ship. The girl stopped and managed to hold your gaze with only a minor blush. “Need you to do some things to my ship” you say to her.

“Like what?” Sata asked, her blush having disappeared. You hand the girl a datapad of your own with a list of upgrades on it that you wanted on your ship. “A lot of this stuff is pretty expensive you know” Sata commented as she scanned the datapad.

“I’m aware” you say, handing the girl a credit chip. “It’s a prepaid chip, should have everything you need on it and I honestly don’t care what you do with any excess just don’t cut corners” you say to the girl who turned the credit chip over in her hand with a contemplative look in her eyes.

“I’ll have it all done in no time” Sata said before heading off to parts unknown.

“I wonder if she has a blaster” Tanna mused quietly “Should I stop her and make sure?” she asked.

“Nope, she’s armed” you reply, remembering the hand cannon hiding somewhere in her jumpsuit. “In any case, we should probably turn in to that Judicial friend of yours” you say and Tanna nodded.

One hour of speeder travel later, you arrive at the HQ for the Judicial forces in the undercity of Coruscant. The inside was still the same hustle and bustle of uniformed soldiers and blue flow of holo screens from last time.

“Excellent work Tanna!” called the guy who had basically commissioned you.

“There was one or two other people involved” you mention casually and the man sighed.

“Yes I haven’t forgotten about you merc” he grumbled “give me a good reason I shouldn’t have you arrested for using the Judicial authority to put military grade shields on your ship” he all but growled.

“Who knows what mercs spend their credits on” you say, repeating what the man had said to you before you’d even bought the Eos.

“That’s one thing, you however, used Judicial Authority you didn’t actually have to get prohibited items” the man replied.

“And because of that, we rescued those girls” Tanna said, jumping in to your rescue. The man stopped and turned to look at Tanna, an unreadable expression crossing his face.

“You know, I’ve tried to keep you out of this mess as much as possible but every effort is stymied by your own brash recklessness,” the man said, sighing as he sat down in a nearby chair. “You’re going to be the **** of me” he said, rubbing his face.

“I get results!” Tanna exclaimed with indignation.

“Not until now you haven’t” The man replied. You are sure he had introduced himself at some point but you certainly couldn’t remember his name now.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Tanna asked, looking almost as if she had been slapped.

“I kept throwing you at things far away from any actual threats” he said, looking at her with a tired expression. “This club that supposedly had slaver connections was another one of these goose chases” he added with another heavy sigh. “They weren’t supposed to actually be slavers” he said.

“Not only were they slavers, they were also pirates in the possession of a dreadnought, multiple fighter squadrons, and possibly tens of thousands of armed pirates.” you say, giving the man a serious look. “If I’d realised she was just a pampered princess” Tanna shot you a dirty look “I’d not have relied on her so heavily in that operation” you say, eyes boring into the man. “I basically sent her in with no back-up into a facility full of armed men with her hands literally tied behind her back” you add and the man cringed “Anything could have gone wrong” you finish.

“It was my error but at least we all know Tanna is capable,” the man said, turning to give the Twi’lek a look. “With the results of this, I have a job for you,” the man said to you, getting up and walking over to a nearby holotable. “This is a map of areas that we can’t touch,” he said as a graphic map appeared on the holotable. The map showed several star systems raised from the rest of the map of the Republic. “We were banking on the Katana Fleet to finally restore order to the disparate parts of the Republic but well . . .” the man said, trailing off.

“The Katana Fleet decided it didn’t like this plane of existence any more and left for the next dimension” Tanna finished.

“Not exactly but might as well be” the man said. “So, I’m willing to lose more credits for your services in hunting down pirate bands that we can’t touch because our fleet consists mostly of very pretty passenger liners” he said, turning to you.

“That’s a lot of work for one tiny arse gunship” you say as you give the man a deadpan.

“It might be small, but it has turbolasers” the man replied “I highly doubt running into dreadnoughts will be the norm, the ship is too slow for pirates to like it,” he added.

“So what? Pirate hunters? You’ll give us intel on where we can find a gang and we go hit them?” You ask as you turn back to the map.

“Basically” The man said. “Most pirate ships are modified freighters so you shouldn’t have much trouble” he added.

“What do you think Tanna?” You ask, turning to the girl. You realise you had been slightly ignoring her since the ground shattering revelation that she was being given busy work rather than actually helping.

“Your call captain,” she said in a tone of voice that let you know she was pretty upset. The man cringed at her response.

“I’m sorry Tanna, I just never intended for you to get hurt” he said to her.

“That you don’t trust me hurts” she replied.

“Well, I don’t feel like staying here, and getting paid to go out and blow shit up sounds like fun, so I guess there’s no reason to say no” you say, turning back to the map.

“Excellent,” the man said though his heart was clearly not in it. “I’ll go set up an account that I can transfer money into” he added. This also reminded you that you had yet to set up your own bank account, so you made a point to do so before you left Coruscant.

“If that’s all, I have other things to tend to” you tell the man who nodded.

“Yes, I think that should be it” he said distractedly. “If I may have some time with Tanna?” he asked.

“I’m not her dad” you say and leave.

“I’ll see you on the ship” Tanna called out to you. You nod in response and left it at that.

What's Next?

Want to support CHYOA?
Disable your Ad Blocker! Thanks :)