Recalling the Guild: Ecks

[Darven]

To Ecks, Bounty Hunter:

We are both members of the same profession. I remember the days of the old Guild - do you? Gone are the days when we were a sought-after service, now we are a cheap commodity. It is time to change things.

Request meeting at your time and place of convenience.

Darven, Bounty Hunter.

[Ecks]

..//..send.message.././..attach.file....//..//..transmit.via.server0011001..././/../

..//..reroute...//..100111100101...//../..kuat.station.ring10...//.

..//..identify../..identify..//..server.10011011..reroute../../

..//..send.bespin.//.

..//..cloud.city.server.011000010../.node#DVRC/KS-1197

..//..transmitting... ... ...

Darven-

I remember the old guild. Not fondly. Still, you have a point. See attachment for time and place.

- X

..//..message.terminate..//..

[Darven]

The Mandalorian eyed the message with a feeling of elation. It had taken a while for the fellow bountyhunter to reply, but the outcome seemed positive.

He opened the attachment, and had to grin. Chosing an unoccupied landing pad in Bespin's port of entry for their place of meeting seemed so typical that he would probably have picked the same, if it had been up to him.

So then it was set. Two nights from now, Bespin, pad #317. There was finally something concrete to his plans.

*******************

It was important to show to the other that he wasn't someone who could not be trusted; at the same time, it wouldn't do to seem too trusting. On the night in question Darven was at the appointed pad ahead of time, his armor polished and glinting in the low illumination in the corridor outside the pad. He'd spent the afternoon smoothing out a few of its recently accumulated dents - unfortunately there wasn't enough beskar left on Mandalore to be able to afford a suit of armor of it; not even Fett, who'd been the richest Mando before he died, had been able to do so. So his armor was made from good old GAR issue Katarn-class armor, and he had to straighten out the occasional light damage to it. At least it was almost entirely blaster-proof, and not too difficult to replace if the damage was too great; there were enough old pieces of Katarn armor floating around the black market lanes if one knew what to look for. It'd kept him alive for over 30 years, and with a bit of tweaking was virtually undistinguishable from a true Mando suit of armor to anyone but an expert.

Which Ecks wasn't - not to his knowledge, anyway. Which might make all the difference in this matter, who knew. He was no Boba Fett (well, at least not in name or mindset) but he was a Mandalorian, after all, and probably more so than Fett who hadn't even been able to speak his own people's language, nor been interested in them. It was important that the Falleen would see him as an equal.

He swiped a forged chip past the sensor and it bleeped loudly in the silence. Once to activate the uplink, twice to check his credentials, then the gate hissed open. It had worked. He stepped inside.

[Ecks]

Darven. Ecks had done his research, such as could be done on a bounty hunter, and had found his credentials filed in the proper places. An impressive list of captures also, though lately it seemed his business had been tapering off.

Much like the Falleen's own.

When the Mandalorian entered the landing pad, Ecks studied him from near the middle of the pad. Darven walked confidently and cautiously, his helmeted head moving from side to side as the bounty hunter scanned the empty pad. It was. Empty.

Ecks shifted slightly, knowing he was taller and wider than the other being, but not sure exactly what species the armor hid. Mandalorian, sure, but nowadays any grifter could put on some armor, and even if Darven was a true Mando, Ecks had read something about how any being that wanted to integrate into the Mandalorian culture and was accepted, could.

The listing on Darven had just said Mando. For the time being, Ecks would take it at face value.

Shifting again, Ecks held up his hand, showing it to be free of a weapon. His disruptor was slung across his back of course, but then, trust between hunters didn't stretch very far. "You want to bring back the guild?" He grunted.

[Darven]

It seemed Ecks was nothing but not direct. He'd barely had time to scan the empty-seeming pad for any apparent dangers. But there were none: nothing but the lone - armed - Falleen near the middle of the pad. That was okay, though; Darven hadn't taken any trouble concealing his Verp shattergun, either.

"I do," he said in reply to Ecks, then added, "but not alone."

It wasn't lost on Darven that Ecks was wearing what looked like a Mandalorian chest plate for his armor. It might even have been proper beskar. An intriguing thought... and one he vowed to ask the Falleen hunter about, some day.

"Too much riff-raff calling themselves bountyhunters these days, and nothing to put a stop to it. Clients don't care: they don't have to pay as much... And then there's the Inquisitoriate."

There was no need to state why he wanted to set up a guild again, really. It was obvious to any who suffered from the current state. Those would - probably - all agree to his idea. The trouble with it lay elsewhere.

None of them would agree on who was to lead the Guild.

The only thing he was absolutely certain of was that he himself did not want leadership; there were enough others who could fill that role much better than he could, and he didn't like standing in the spotlight for obvious reasons.

[Ecks]

Ecks grunted, though it wasn't apparent whether he was in agreement or not. "Clients will still pay for those who have a reputation. If they want the job done right." He'd gotten several Black Sun contracts after he'd had Loklorien s'Ilancy on his resume, and the money had been good. Very good.

He cocked his head to the side a bit, yellowed eye looking at the helmet head across from him. "Upstarts in the business don't always follow the Code, though. It is a problem."

The two hunters stood in companionable silence for a moment, and then Ecks added, "What is your plan, then?"

[Darven]

So the Falleen hadn't fallen on hard times as much as the rest of them. That was useful information. Darven filed it away in his head for future use, if it was ever needed.

Like the other hunter, he shifted slightly in his position before answering to Ecks' question. This was where it could - possibly - get a bit tricky.

"Gather support from a few other "big" names in the business. Work out a new code we can all agree to. Then call a convocation of all bountyhunters and force them to agree to it, and run the others out of the business."

But that was only one side of the coin. There was something else to consider, so he laid it out before the other hunter before he could raise it himself: "Once that's done we spread the word that bounties only go through the guild, like in the old days. Everyone seems to suffer from a severe case of short memory these days - it's time to remind them of the benefits of going through the guild rather than handing out contracts to any dikut out there with a gun."

[Ecks]

He reached up a thick hand and scratched around the heavy patch that was covering his right eye socket. Ecks was under no delusions, he knew he was big, ugly, and frightening looking to the average being, and he cultivated that impression by the way he clothed himself. Heavy armor and spikes were a big part of it, but he was strong enough that what he was wearing did not impede him.

The Falleen grunted, "We would have to agree on leadership." He scratched his face again, a thick nail scraping on scarred skin. "I don't see that happening." After another moment he added, "But it is a good idea."

[Darven]

He watched the Falleen scratch around his eye patch with an irritating noise that grated in his ears. At the blink of his eye the noise was filtered out by the helmet system.

What was Ecks trying to do? Scare him?

"I've no interest in leading it," he said, after watching the other bountyhunter for a moment longer. The noise no longer penetrating, the action in itself was starting to irritate him now. He decided to forego any further talking around corners, and went straight to the point, eager to get out of the other's presence. "Figured you might want to."

"If we're already agreed on it before calling a meeting," he added, before the other had a moment to consider it further, "then no one's going to contest it. At least no one who isn't too stupid."

[Ecks]

Ecks raised his brow. "Me?"

He chuckled, a low, raspy sound. "Sounds good." The Falleen looked at the Mando. "Sounds too good. Why do you trust me?"

[Darven]

So much for easy agreements.

"Do I look like I do?"

He inclined his helmeted head at the Falleen, and pointed at the Verp in its holster.

"The only way to reforn the guild is to settle on the basics fast and tight before anyone can object. I'm not fit for leadership, you are. You're the most widely known of us, and that counts."

There was, however, one thing.

"I'll settle for being second."

[Ecks]

Second. Seconds usually only existed for as long as it took to take out the guy on top. Except that Darven could be the top guy now, without all the mess.

"I can call some people," Ecks said. "A guild would help settle the playing field, as you say. As far as leading it..." He scratched his face again. Damn itch. "Sure."

There would be money to be had in heading the Guild, though not as much as one might think. The Falleen cracked his neck, his lipless mouth opening and shutting. "It may be hard to convince some that paying into a Guild is in their best interest. As leader I would have to be able to trust my second implicitly. The clans would have to be set in place again, as well, or at least brought back into the fold.

"It will be a lot of work."

[Darven]

Seemed the Falleen was on board.

"I've approached one other. Aurelias Kazaar. Used to work bounties for Gorgja the Hutt. He tried to support the last attempt to reform the Guild."

The scratching was getting to him, for sure. "You got some kind of a disease I should know about?"

[Ecks]

A grin. "Synflesh on a cut. Damn stuff is itchy." He'd spent some time on Tatooine recently and a sunburn had cracked the skin around his patch. "Not life threatening.

"Kazaar, you say..." Ecks mused. "Haven't heard that name in years. Didn't think he was still alive."

[Darven]

Darven raised a curious eyebrow, but didn't bother to ask for the details.

"Yes, he's still alive. Apparently no longer in Gorgja's employ, though I don't know what he does exactly these days. Anyway, he said he's in, as long as no one wants anything of him."

[Ecks]

"Interesting." Ecks didn't really want to lead, either, but apparently a head had to be put in place, if only for a place for the others to focus. He didn't think that anyone else would really want the role, though, so there wouldn't be too much danger involved. Not that he couldn't handle it, if there was.

"And the code? Would it remain as the old Code, or do you have...alterations in mind?"

[Darven]

With a few eyeblinks he had the text of the old code scrolling down before him in the HUD. So it took a few moments for him to respond.

"The old code wasn't too specific on what would happen to someone who didn't join it, or didn't go through it. Some of these new hunters are none too bright - and clients seem to have short memories. So perhaps a clear rule concerning that needs to be added to the code?"

[Ecks]

He resisted the urge to scratch at the synflesh again, sensing that the other hunter was off put by it. Talking about the code was tiring, but was something that had to be done, of course. "Adding in consequences is a good idea.

"Something to talk over with the others," he added. "If any others are interested." But he already was thinking of a list of hunters that he had run into over the years. Ecks rubbed his chin, "When do you want to meet? I have a mark I am going after, but I should be free again in two or three standard weeks."

[Darven]

He was certain there would be quite a few others who would show up. Of course, those who they most wanted to reach with this move probably wouldn't bother to come, but maybe that was for the best. They'd find out about the new situation soon enough.

"Three weeks from now, then? I've got a list of hunters I remember from the old days, and some more recently met, which I can ask to join us. If you do the same, we should get quite a group together. If I send you my list at the end of the week, we can compare and each of us take care of some of them."

He liked things organized. It was useful.

"I can arrange the meeting. If you trust me with it."

[Ecks]

"Fine," he grunted. "I'll look for your communication, then."

Ecks looked around. The last time he'd been in Cloud City he'd been chasing down Loklorien s'Ilancy again, after the Imperials had lost her. Llewelyn had been with him. The skinny human woman had been an unusual companion for the tough bounty hunter, but they had worked well together.

"Arrange the meeting," the Falleen added. "I trust your reputation, Mandalorian."

[Darven]

That was as good as anything.

He nodded at the other bountyhunter. There was no further need for words. The next time they would meet, this Guild would be well on the way of coming into existence. Shab - by rights, it already was, now that they had a leader and a code.

Darven strode out of the illuminated circle of light at the center of the pad and disappeared into the shadows towards the entrance. It was time to get back to his ship and go over the day's events.