Flea Bitten Cats Are People Too

[Sasseeri Reeouurra]

<center>A reminder to be careful what people you <a href=http://www.swforums.net/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=19824>piss</a> off. </center>

Sasseeri tapped her fingers on the edges of the desk, and tried to hide her anticipation of her two o'clock appointment. Kal Olorin was sitting losely to the side on the couch against the wall of her office, but what good he'd be she wasn't sure.

Her guest wasn't exactly known for being destructable.

Olorin was the one who'd brought him to her attention. The Bask Gr'ral bounty had been superbly carried out. Not a moment of wastefulness, and cold efficiency enough to make a Cizerack business woman look twice.

This one was just a half breed, but she could appreciate a job well done. So the Hunter had been contacted. No matter that he wasn't supposed to exist anymore. It gave Sasseeri a thrill of fear to meet him, but she knew she'd be able to keep the conversation strictly under control. If she slipped up, the Hunter would probably end up owning the Rangers, and decorating the walls with biologicals.

Sasseeri was confident enough to arrange for a face to ...er...face, meeting. At two o'clock. In ten minutes. He'd be on time. It was not logical for him to be anything else.

The felinoid smiled.

[IG-88]

A slim, double-pronged silvery ship edged its precise way out of a flow of Coruscant traffic and headed for the vast "underground" hangar lots of the Sector Knights' main operations building. Nine minutes on the schedule chronometer.

The entrance sensors flagged the craft as an arriving appointment, and assigned a lot for it to land in.

The IG-2000 rotated smoothly and touched the solid duracrete flooring gently with its landing struts.

Eight minutes.

The pilot strode out of the sleek starship, taking in his surroundings indifferently and completely as his steps echoed along the impeccably kept garage and then softened into a "clump"ing sound on the padded floor of a guarded turbolift.

The guard was biological and ignored, though the human male tried to strike up a conversation. Apparently guard duty on a turbolift was a lonely, friendless job. And one that did not inspire enhanced vocabularies or imaginations. Contemptable little thing.

The tall pilot of the IG-2000 clumped out of the ilft, onto a plush carpet. There were two more guards, armed inadequately, who were to escort him to the office of one Sasseeri Reeouurra. IG-88 had never known this biological, but the summary research he had occupied himself with upon the invitation yesterday had revealed that she was definitely the highest bidder on bounties these days. As expected, his immense skills had landed him right back on top. Even for a biological, the woman could be no fool to be considered a Black Sun Vigo by one of his sources. A reliable source - a mechanized one. Biologicals were not reliable for anything, except mistakes.

The office of this Sasseeri Reeouurra was not far from where the multi-directional turbolift had taken him. The plan of the entire building was firmly entrenched in IG-88's mind, with his own position in it and the beings he encountered marked and updated every 0.3 seconds, as far as was possible by geosynchronous and gravitational readings and thermoscans.

One minute. IG-88 paused, causing the Gran guards to suddenly walk right past him before they were able to adjust to his new velocity. They were apparently quite distracted by the sudden lack of motion, but at least did nothing other than eye each other confusedly.

More pieces of what was considered by biologicals to be "time" passed by perceptably. Suddenly the droid resumed course, passing the unneeded guards - for whether they were guarding HIM or guarding this Sasseeri Reeouurra against him, they were quite useless - and opening the needlessly ornate office doors himself.

[Sasseeri Reeouurra]

Sasseeri looked up as the chrono blinked to read 14:00. The doors opened, and a tall, utilitarian looking droid clumped into the room. She blinked, and decided against getting to her feet.

Esconced behind the desk, she regarded the droid, and had a little panic, as to whether to offer it a seat or not. Did it sit? "Prrrompt. jI ljike that." Then she rose, and nodded to the droid, who watched her in silence. "jI am Sasseerrrrrrji Rrreeouurrrrrra, and you arrre jIG-88. jI have hearrrd a lot about jyou."

She took her seat again, indicating that the droid might make himself comfortable. Hjim? jIt? It didn't really matter if the Hunter had a gender, after all. Sasseeri adjusted her impeccable hairdo, and recrossed her legs under the desk. "jIt was brrrought to my attentjion that you djid the Bask Gr'ral bounty. jI have connectjions, and jI know who does who, and why they do them."

Sass' ears twitched a little, "jI asked you herrre, because jI would ljike to hjirrre yourrr serrrvjices. Prrreforrrm thjis task well, and jI wjill have otherrrs. And jI can let jit be known that you arrre a Hunterrr that gets the job done." The unsaid comment was that she could just as easily let it be known that IG-88 was a mere shadow of what had been, and his contacts would all dry up, and he would be without work.

But she didn't say that. Sasseeri was much to smart to start a business relationship with open hostilities. She raised an eyebrow, and waited for the droid to comment.

[IG-88]

So. She was going to start this probable business relationship with open hostilities. She was glossing them over in her own mind by using what biologicals considered glib terminology and unspoken "if"s, but IG-88 always thought out every statement, every meaning. Which meant such things were as transparent and useless as glass. Presumably, biologicals knew the hidden meanings as well, which meant they either didn't perceptably think through such comments or they would get irrational about them if they were voiced clearer. Still, outright threats had SOMEtimes gotten creatures an early remitted life permit from him.

But it would be illogical in this situation, though it - as well as every other situation he could conceive - was habitually thought through and dismissed. It was procedure.

She had motioned towards a set of low-set and high-backed chairs in front of her desk. IG-88 took the suggestion and sat in the one to his left, furthest from the man sitting along the wall on a couch. The human was relaxed, seemingly at ease. "Good" was another way to put it, as he was obviously the one in charge of this Sasseeri Reeouurra's personal safety at the moment. But good for a human and good for a droid were lightyears apart - to speak figuratively.

Although, doubtless Sasseeri Reeouurra thought herself capable in her own rights. Although only a half-breed Cizerack - IG-88 had been told this, though his own senses would have deducted it in under five systemscan cycles - she was stronger and more lethal than most of the pathetic entities in the universe.

Formalities first. The biologicals so enjoyed them.

"Greetings, Sasseeri Reeouurra. You are correct in stating my designation. There are not many still alive in this timeframe that would be. That in itself is an indication of your cunning and power. My services at this time are available for any task you require that I deem within reason. For the correct price."

Well, no one had ever falsely accused him that he was a verbose droid. His line of work, fortunately, did not usually demand it.

[Sasseeri Reeouurra]

She did not relax her guard any as the droid sat. If anything, she tightened up her awareness of him. He had no scent, being a droid, and it was impossible to determine his emotions, if he even had any.

Which he probably didn't.

Sasseeri had all the revelant information in a datapad, which she handed to the Hunter. "Therrre jis a Jedi jI want you to go afterrr. But as you can see on the pad, jit jis a very specjifjic bounty. My offer to you is 9,000 credjits forrr the tongue of Xazorrr Dawnstrrrjiderrr."

She sat back a little, and shot a glance at Kal. He was alert, but not alarmed, at the presence of the infamous droid.

[IG-88]

IG-88 took in the single flit of Sasseeri Reeouurra's eyes towards the man as he slid a tiny jack into the datapad and uploaded the bounty information. Details, details, everything was details. Only droids truly respected and understood that saying.

"The data is concise and has a high probability of being usable. However, there are a few neccessary factors it does not address. Is it your intent to preserve the life of the mark, and how current is this information?"

The droid did not give any reaction whatsoever to the detail of the target being what was termed a Jedi. He would deal with it. Historical data proved that even Force-users - if there truly was such a factor as "the Force", IG-88 himself had never yet encountered it - were highly susceptable to advanced mechanoids in general.

Taking a fraction of a second to reflect, he again review the data of his solitary encounter with a Force-user, Darth Vader of the Empire. Long dead now, and quite the machine himself back when they had encountered each other. But the Force? That was an entity or an aspect of existance that IG-88 had never encountered.

Metallurgical scans, combined with mass readings and infrared sensors, had revealed some time ago that the man on the couch had several concealed weapons on his person. Though unarmed in the conventional sense himself, IG-88 was not worried.

[Sasseeri Reeouurra]

Sasseeri raised an eyebrow. "The woman jis not to djie. She must be taught a lesson, but death jis not that lesson. The data jis extrrremely currrrrrent, down to the ljist of padawans she jis trrrajinjing." She tapped the console with her manicured nails.

"jIf you cannot take the tongue wjithout damagjing her jin otherrr ways, then do what jit takes. You have impeccable judgement, and jI am confjident you can fulfjill thjis bounty forrr me." Sasseeri smiled a little bit...thinking about the prize he would bring back for her. Perhaps she'd have it frozen in carbonite. Or dried and staked outside her office.

She fought a chuckle at that mental image, and looked at the Hunter. "Do you accept the job?"

[IG-88]

"I accept the job."

The droid was silent for a moment, lights from its unique rings of head-mounted sensors glowing and dimming for purposes unfathomable for Sasseeri.

"Then it appears our business today is concluded."

IG-88 carefully removed one of his feet from its position just under the bottom edge of the full-length paneling on the desk. It appeared he wouldn't need to flip it over in defense, after all.

It was a curious thing, to be alive again after so long and to be recognized. The only two possibilities were that he was wanted to carry out a bounty, or that he was still to be "dismantled on sight" per the galactic government's wishes. Probably still both, but this meeting had not been the trap he was half expecting.

The droid placed the datapad back on the desk, its contents copied with the utmost accuracy into an internal databank.

A legitimate meeting and bounty, after all. He had been requested to perform stranger tasks. He still held the second highest success ratio of all the bounty hunters there ever were. He'd personally checked, despite the lack of any single formal Bounty Hunter's Guild - like there used to be, before it had been purposely broken up.

"The mark, Xazor Dawnstrrider's tongue, will be in your office at my earliest convenience. You will be contacted upon acquisition for a second meeting. You will have the agreed fee in untraceable Imperial credits at the arranged date."

The lanky, utilitarian-looking droid unfolded itself to stand. It appeared to nod once towards Sasseeri before heading back through the office doors, but she wasn't sure if that was even possible for it. Maybe it was her imagination?

[Sasseeri Reeouurra]

Sasseeri stood to her feet slowly as the droid showed himself out, and breathed a long sigh as the doors closed behind it. Him. Whateverrr.

She turned to Kal, and raised an eyebrow. "Thoughts?"

"He scares the s**t out of me." Olorin stood to his feet, and walked over to her. "You?"

"jIt was a ljittle jintense." She smiled and drew him in close to her, their bodies touching. "But the job wjill be done. jIf nothjing else, thjis one jis competent." She pulled his head down for a quick kiss, and then slapped his butt. "Don't you have worrrk to do?"

He winked, and left through the hidden side door. Sasseeri returned to her desk to complete some paperwork.