IV. The Fugitive Voice

The crew attempts to settle their scores.

**T*he deaths of two Huttsmakes Nar Shaddaa an even more unstable place. Even as the Redshift Runner crew is framed for their murders, seemingly by the Imperial Captain Velkar, they capture Melba's latest bounty, the Wookie Lobaku.***

***As they prepare to surrender Lobaku to an Imperial outpost, two keep a very close eye - one who desperately wants them to fail, and another who needs them to succeed…***

The crew of the Redshift Runner tries to figure out how to take Lobaku's unconscious body back to their ship. They are spotted by a nearby Jawa★, who starts grabbing at their transport. Melba chases the Jawa off with a threat of violence when nothing else seems to work. The ride back to the Redshift Runner is thankfully free of complications. Unfortunately, the Redshift Runner seems to be upset with Rigel, and refuses to let them on. While Rigel attempts to work some mechanical magic, Melba gives Lobaku a swift hit on the head as he's waking up. Feena leads the group in an attempt to deceive the ship into thinking they'll just leave it behind if they can't get on board. Thankfully, the Redshift Runner caves to the pressure, and the crew secures Lobaku inside a smuggling compartment.

The nearest Imperial Outpost that the crew can remember is, sadly, a full week away. Everyone grumbles a bit as they buckle down for more travel. Melba takes some time to further express her gratefulness for Feena's help, but has a bit of difficulty getting past Feena's display of humility. Rigel, with some help from Melba, attempts to figure out why exactly the Redshift Runner seems to have an uncanny awareness of its surroundings and an uncooperative attitude. He notices that there's a restraining bolt★ installed in the ship, which is definitely not normal for a spaceship. Rigel decides to leave this issue until after the ship has exited hyperspace. Feena, meanwhile, attempts to figure out what course of action will keep Kitryyhn from making their situation go from bad to Wookiee Rage. Kit gives a tentative acceptance for turning in Lobaku as planned, but she calls the crew together to offer an alternate deal: take a 20% cut in pay with her fronting the bill, and space him instead. Apparently, he was responsible for selling the Wookiees out to the Empire. After much internal debate, Melba decides to take the deal, not wanting her first official bounty to have the story that this mess has gone under.

Kitryyhn gives Melba a handshake and then opens Lobaku's prison. He's already started breaking free, and Kit grabs him, leaving a trail of damage in her wake. Lobaku offers the crew 20,000 credits to complete the original bounty delivery, but they're not convinced. He adds on a promise of clemency for the Redshift Runner, which - it occurs to everyone - is not something he should have even known they were looking for. Before they can pry more information out of him, the ship is pulled out of hyperspace by an interceptor, a starfighter bristling with weapons. It's obvious to Rigel that there's a tracker on their ship, but it's too late to fix that now. He hails the other ship, and they demand to either take his 'cargo' or they will destroy it. Rigel gets them to clarify what they mean, and they insist on collecting the Runner's Wookiees - all of them. He manages to figure out that their pursuer doesn't actually know exactly who he's looking for, but this doesn't help much with negotiations. And the raider is getting impatient.

The crew gives Lobaku one last chance to give them a reason to let him live. He says that he has information on why the namana candy has been causing so many problems, but this isn't enough. They give Kit the go-ahead to kill her ex, and she gleefully murders him with pure strength. Feena makes her own go at negotiating with the pursuing ship. They accept the ejection of a single Wookiee corpse. Feena tells the corpse-thief to "go fetch" as Rigel zips into hyperspace, and Melba takes a good long look at the ship that dared steal her mark.

Rigel quickly finds the tracker and disables it. Kit is not super happy. Maybe because someone got Lobaku's body, or maybe because, well, feelings. Either way, she makes good on her promise of payment. Melba doesn't feel good accepting the money for a job poorly-done, but Kitryyhn insists in her usual disdainful manner. With the bounty resolved, and the Hutts gone, the crew is without a mission. They deliberate on offboarding Kitryyhn, and what to do for their next score. Melba contacts the Bounty Hunter's guild ★, and Rigel mentions contacts on Takodana. Feena offloads the job of talking to Kit onto Rigel, who only complains a little. He interrupts Kit's shower to let her know, and she's as okay with it as she's ever been with anything.

When the Redshift Runner lands on Takodana, Kitryyhn rushes away, presumably to never be seen again. Rigel and Melba go back to check on that restraining bolt. Rigel takes the approach of talking it through with the Redshift Runner before doing anything. Unfortunately, when he removes the bolt, every system on the ship powers off. While Rigel tries to figure things out, a tiny, well-dressed rodent-like alien named Capa approaches the ship with an unpleasant level of interest. The crew asks him about the restraining bolt, which Capa exclaims is a device for droids, not ships. Capa offers to fix the ship in exchange for the restraining bolt. They eagerly address the hull damage first, using salvage from wrecks nearby.

While Rigel and Capa work on the ship, Melba and Feena go shopping. They meet an ambitious shopkeeper named Mamay. Unfortunately, the jetpacks she's selling are quite…bad, even if they look fancy. Melba and Feena are discuss buying some drinks. An old Twi'lek dressed in what used to be nice robes awaits them outside the shopping center. He is not in the best of health in his old age, and Feena tries to get him somewhere comfortable. His name is Mast'urr, and somebody's made off with his namana, which he says is medicinal. Feena, however, perceives that his supply has been laced with glitterstim, a dangerous and addictive spice from Kessel. His partner Nenz'ana also disappeared not too long ago, still a good deal in debt to him over three shipments of namana candy (MY THAT'S A SUSPICIOUSLY SPECIFIC NUMBER). Feena and Melba take some time to make sure Mast'urr gets some care.

Capa makes a single light on the ship on by kicking it with their tiny feet. When Rigel tries to say a polite goodbye to Capa, they take it as an invitation to stay on the ship. Rigel, having managed to convince Capa not to steal Feena's bed, presses the only button that seems to be getting light. He's rewarded with a burst of static as systems start to come online. He hears a word coming from the speakers: "…ssssssaaafffe". After some coaxing, he gets the ship to say more. "We keep each other safe," it says. "Can hear you," it continues. "You deserve it. Ri-right to be safe."