III. Clash of the Captains

The crew of the Redshift Runner tries to escape Bakura - and Imperial pursuit.

***After killing Sente and escaping from Imperial Stormtroopers, the Redshift Runner crew flees Bakura aboard their ship, with agents of the Galactic Empire in hot pursuit.***

***While Captain Velkar moves to capture them, Captain Rigel Mereen frantically attempts to calculate a proper hyperspace route.***

***However, someone else may have alternate plans for the starship…***

In their attempt to flee Bakura and return to Nar Shaddaa, the Redshift Runner is intercepted by two TIE-fighters! Rigel suggests that perhaps somebody should shoot the guns while he deals with some 'technical stuff'. A glancing blast from the TIE's lasers rocks the ship, aggravating Kitryyhn. Rigel does some fancy maneuvers, listing slightly to the left, as he finishes the calculations. Feena struggles to keep the shields angled and ship pieces holding together as power fluctuations continue to cause complications. Melba jams the TIE fighters from communicating, sending sparks flying. With jammed communications, the TIE pilots' attempts to follow Rigel's twitchy piloting forces them to collide. Rigel accelerates as much as possible to escape the conflict, and the Redshift Runner leaps into hyperspace. Everyone cheers that they managed to get away without having 'aggravated vehicular assault' added to their wanted posters.

The Redshift Runner continues to aggravate Rigel, and he engages it in conversation, and it appears to get some results, which he has some very mixed feelings about. Kit, meanwhile, is not happy. Despite the fact that she's not overly impressed by the crew's performance, she agrees to remain aboard the ship when they travel back to Nar Shaddaa with minimal complaining. Melba checks her messages to see a holo from a Bounty Hunter's Guild rep named Mary, detailing an Imperial Bounty available near Nar Shaddaa that offers 5,000 credits for a wookiee named Lobaku. Proper captures for treason aren't exactly in Melba's normal wheelhouse, but she can hardly help being excited about the money. Feena spends some time bonding and sharing with Kit. She attempts to get a little more information about Kitryyhn, but Kit ends up digging a lot more into Feena's life instead. Kitryyhn follows up this conversation by suddenly approaching Rigel and Melba with probing questions about their motives and habits.

The trip to Nar Shaddaa has no more complications. Melba and Rigel carry Sente Pola's body over to the Searchlight, and are quite politely asked to use the side entrance. Apparently that's the kitchen, and the cooks aren't terribly welcoming to corpses. Feena goes in by herself to meet with Hanka the Hutt so that they can find a way to deliver Sente's body to Malto the Hutt. Hanka intimidates her for his own amusement before granting the Runners passage upstairs.

While waiting for Malto to return to the Spotlight, Melba spends a little time at the bar spending her credits on some useful information about Lobaku, including the fact that he used to be hanging around a female wookiee up until a month ago. You know, right around the time Kitryyhn came on board. Probably a coincidence, but Melba heads back to check with Kitryyhn just in case. As it turns out, Kitryyhn is quite happy that Lobaku is being hunted by the Imperials, and only asks that he not be alerted of Kitryyhn's presence when he's captured.

Everyone takes a small break in the spa, but the floor suddenly collapses beneath them, sending Rigel and Melba falling into a throng of ravers while Feena barely jumps away in time. Melba desperately attempts to recover her binders as the club continues to collapse. She succeeds, but neither she nor Rigel escape the second cave-in. They struggles to their feet and see a humanoid holding a thermal detonator facing off against a wounded Melba the Hutt and yelling in an unknown language. Rigel tries to sneak up on the person, but only succeeds at distracting them. The figure places the beeping thermal detonator in Rigel's hand, salutes, and then starts to run away. Rigel rushes to the kitchen and throws the detonator out the side entrance before it goes off. While he's distracted, though, two blaster shots go off and both Hutts fall dead.

Feena arrives downstairs just as a voice on a loudspeaker announces that the explosive events were perpetrated by the crew of the Redshift Runner. Feena runs outside and sees an Imperial captain accompanied by a squad of stormtroopers. Feena tries to question them, but they ignore her entirely. She pursues, and is violently rebuffed until she offers information on the Runners, and is then lethally threatened. She turns on the patented Feena Charm to defuse the situation. Rigel, meanwhile, is blamed for the death of the Hutts despite the fact that he was in the kitchen when it happened. Melba drags him towards a secret entrance with a transport and they start to flee. Rigel manages to bypass the lock, though the emergency alarm goes off anyway. Melba informs Rigel that she's going after an Imperial bounty instead of addressing the fact that an Imperial captain just tried to frame them for Hutticide in the middle of Hutt space. They scoop up Feena and head towards the weapons market to hunt down Lobaku.

The Runners attempt to consolidate their knowledge and concoct a plot to avoid getting blasted into pieces. Approaching the weapons district, they quickly spot Lobaku proselytizing in a salad bar. Feena gains the group entrance to the restaurant, ordering something from the proprietor in an effort to be friendly. Lobaku seems to be instructing the crowd in an approach to criminal activity that feigns cooperation with the Empire. Rigel makes a show of standing out from the crowd in his unimpressed demeanor. Lobaku, after he's finished speaking, makes a beeline for Feena and starts flirting immediately. Neither of them are honest with each other, and both of them know it, but Lobaku keeps up with his patter. Melba and Rigel attempt to capitalize on the distraction and jump the wookiee. Melba makes a false friendly approach for an initial grab, but Lo is too enamored to go for a handshake. Melba presses on, raising the wookiee's hackles. Feena leverages Lobaku's amorous proclivities to get his attention back. Melba recognizes that she won't get any more shots and lunges at him with her binders. She's successful, but the jig is up.

Lobaku roars in rage and retaliates with the ferocity that wookiees are justifiably known for. He swings at Feena with a two-handed hammer strike. Rigel and Melba take stunning shots, and Lobaku starts running. Rigel gets a solid hit and the wookiee goes down. The Runners load their new captive into the stolen transport, and take off to return to the ship, hoping that there won't be any more obstacles between them and a pay-day.