Just another smuggler (Linn)

[Garret Treborn]

The smuggler, Garret Trebor, was seated on a bar stool inside one of the many bars on Coruscant. He was young human, barely out of his twenties. Garret had delivered a load of glitterstim to a nearby system and had decided to look for another run on Coruscant. The planet, like most, was abundant in criminal activity; which included smuggling.

He had downed 4 drinks, and was working on his fifth. Tomorrow Garret would look for a client, but for now, he was going to enjoy himself. He ran his fingers through his short black hair and took another sip of his drink. What a dismal bar, he thought to himself.

[Linn O'Conner]

Linn O'Conner was tired of Bounty Hunting. She needed a place to drown her sorrows. And this dark bar on Coruscant seemed to be the perfect place. She sighed as she finished off the last of the...well, she wasn't quite sure what it was, but it was the strongest thing they had, and it was only her first.

Linn ordered another and glanced around the bar. Many of the people she saw were depressed or angry and were attempting severe drunkeness or death if they could. Down the row from herself she spotted a young man who did not look much older than she herself and for a few moments she watched him, wondering why he was here, and what he was trying to forget.

[Garret Treborn]

Garret Trebor noticed, from the corner of his eye, a rather attractive female glance in his direction. He was unsure if it was him she was looking at or another one of the bars' patrons. The smuggler turned his head and saw that she was now staring at her drink. Garret suspected that she was more then she appeared. A beautiful young woman would not be hanging around in a bar at night, unless she knew how to take care of herself. He ventured a guess that she had been forced to put down a few drunken men in the past.

Garret turned his gaze back to his own drink and wondered where a good place to start looking for a run would be in the morning. His funds were running unusually low. The last few smuggling runs he had accepted did not pay quite as well as he had hoped. Perhaps luck would be on his side. Garret would even turn his ship into a charter if it meant making some credits. His YT-1300 was in a docking bay not to far from the bar.

[Linn O'Conner]

Linn saw the man looking at her from the corner of his eye and she looked away. She saw him look over at her almost immediately after she'd looked away. As she had studied him, she had not only noticed that he looked downcast but also that he wasn't at all bad looking. She wondered breifly why he wasn't out with a girlfriend.

Linn took another drink and screwed up her nose. She suddenly realized that she didn't like the flavor of this drink at all. She looked over at the bartender but saw that he was deep in conversation with some girl down the bar that was way too young for him. She stood tossing out the alcohol. Linn leaned over the bar and retrieved a bottle of something else. Her eyes flicked over the label for a moment and she shrugged pouring some out and tossing some credits down on the counter. She sat once again taking up staring at the bottles of alcohol on the opposite wall and continuing to wonder why she had chosen this bar in the first place.

[Garret Treborn]

Garret had to stifle a laugh as he saw the woman lean over the bar and pick out a bottle of liquor. The bartender was distracted and she apparently didn't enjoy having to wait. An admirable quality, the smuggler thought to himself. He found himself unable to take his eyes off her for a few moments as she gazed at the many bottles lining the wall. Forcing his gaze elsewhere, Garret turned his eys back to his drink.

His mind wandered back once again to where he was going to get his next run. The junior smuggler didn't have any solid contacts yet that he could rely on for jobs. Garret got stuck with the runs that the other veteran smugglers wouldn't take. Solely on the reason that they didn't pay ver well. What little he did earn went into his YT-1300 freighter. He was busy adding modifications to the vessel. New plating, shields, weaponary, and anything else that would help the survivability of the ship.

[Linn O'Conner]

Linn heard the man down the row chuckle a little and she looked over at him. Once the smile faded from his face, he looked as if he were thinking very hard about something. She was lost in her own thoughts about what he could be thinking about when she realized she'd been staring for quite a long time.

Linn turned back to her drink, beginning to think of her next bounty. What was his name again? She didn't care. At least not enough to pull out her data pad and look. Linn looked back over at the bartender. He was still caught up in his infatuated talk with the girl down the bar. Linn sighed, grabbing a bottle from behind the bar. She uncorked it and took a swig from it. She put the glass on the counter and laid down several more credits. Linn smiled looking at the bottle.

"Much better."

[Garret Treborn]

Garret took another look at the woman sitting down a few seats from him. Maybe his mind was playing tricks, but the smuggler could have sworn her head had just finished turning back to her drink. He watched her grab another bottle and throw down some more credits. Garret wondered what she did to earn her credits. He ventured another guess that whatever it was she did, there were not many woman in the line of work. However, this was appealing to Garret. He watched her smile at the bottle and say Much better.

Garret turned his attention back to his drink, he had been neglecting it since noticing the beautiful woman. Garret thought about going over to her and striking up a conversation. She didn't appear to be enjoying herself very well, and neither was he for that matter.

[Linn O'Conner]

Linn could think of a hundred different things that would much more fun than sitting here, drinking whiskey, and wondering about a cute guy down the row. Linn smiled.

No there wasn't.

Linn reached over the bar grabbing another bottle of whiskey and getting up from her seat. She walked down until she was next to the man. She sat, leaning back and throwing down more credits, and holding it out to the man.

"Interested in some company?"

[Garret Treborn]

Garret looked over and was surprised to see the beautiful young woman from down the row seated directly beside him now. Perhaps the night wouldn't be as bad at it had been making out to be.

"Sure. My name is Garret Trebor."

Garret reached his right hand across his body and extended it to the woman. She was even more beautiful up close.

[Linn O'Conner]

Linn nodded, taking his hand and smiling a little. He looked a little startled to see her standing there.

"I'm Linn O'Conner," she paused, looking over at the bartender who had just broken away from his young prey and discovered her credits laying on the bar. She smiled, turning back to Garret. "What brings you here?"

[Garret Treborn]

Garret returned Linn's smile with one of his own.

"Taking the night off and trying to enjoy myself. How about yourself?"

[Linn O'Conner]

Linn nodded, finding she liked his smile.

"Same. Needed a strong drink and this place was as good as any," Linn smiled again.

[Garret Treborn]

The smuggler nodded at Linn and found that he rather liked her way of thinking.

"What is it that you do for a living?"

[Linn O'Conner]

Linn wondered breifly if he'd think of her differently once she told him, but the words had fallen out before she could think anymore about it.

"I'm a bounty hunter," she paused. "You?"

[Garret Treborn]

Garret's earlier guess that her occupation was something most woman would not indulge in proved to be correct. He had suspected many things, but a bounty hunter was not among them. It surprised him a little, but it did not show on his face. He found himself not disliking the fact that she was a bounty hunter.

"I'm a smuggler. Work has been hard to find as of late. I'm fairly new in the business."

[Linn O'Conner]

Linn nodded, happy that the fact that she was a bounty hunter did not seem to bother him. Linn smiled. A smuggler. An intriguing business, and one she had looked at before officially becoming a bounty hunter.

"A smuggler?" she said. "Good business, I hear."

[Garret Treborn]

Garret found Linn's smile to be truly exquisite. He flashed his best every so often.

"It is if you know the right people. I haven't been in the business long enough to establish any solid contacts. How goes your life as a bounty hunter? I've indulged myself in ideas of maybe taking it up as a side job."

[Linn O'Conner]

The man's smile was warm and made him more attractive than he already was.

"It's a thankless job, obviously. It makes enough money, but you get enough enemies to last you for two lifetimes," she shrugged. "It's fair enough though."

[Garret Treborn]

Garret chuckled softly at what Linn said about making enemies. That was true enough.

"Is there a bounty on Coruscant you are looking to collect on?"

[Linn O'Conner]

Linn thought a moment. He had just reminded her that she still had a message from an employer about a new job. She nodded.

"Yeah, actually, now that I think about it," she smiled. "I knew there was a reason I came to Coruscant."

[Garret Treborn]

There was that smile again. Wow he thought to himself.

"I can't imagine trying to find someone on Coruscant who does not wish to be found."

[Linn O'Conner]

Linn nodded.

"You've no idea. I have a feeling this guy is gonna run as fast as possible. He's been targeted by the Hutts, and that's never a good place to be. I don't know who he is quite yet, my employer has a message with a picture, name, important information and so on."

[Garret Treborn]

Being targeted by the Hutts was one daunting prospect. One that most people avoided at all costs. Hutts were wealthy and offered a generous sum for bounties they desired someone to collect on.

"Where was your last bounty?"

[Linn O'Conner]

Linn made a face, remembering the sleaze-bag she'd had to track down in the winds and sands, where he had many friends among the Tuskan Raiders.

"Tattoine," she cringed. "The guy had problems."

[Garret Treborn]

Garret watched Linn distort her face and he found it somewhat humorous. Obviously she had unpleasant thoughts about her last bounty. He decided not to explore the matter any further.

"How long have you been collecting bounties?"

[Linn O'Conner]

Linn thought a minute, her annoyed face turning to thoughtful. It had seemed so long that she'd nearly forgotten when she'd started.

She shook her head, smiling wide, finally remembering.

"Seven years," she laughed.

[Garret Treborn]

Garret's eyebrows raised slightly. She must have started young then he thought to himself. Killing was a hard thing to do well but Linn must be good at it. The smuggler carried a blaster with him but it was seldom used. Something that he was grateful for.

"That's a fair ammount of time. I only just joined the smuggling buisness. My first year has just expired."

[Linn O'Conner]

Linn nodded. Though Garret said he had only been in it for a year, he looked rugged enough to have bee in it all his life.

"I would never have started if it weren't for foolish crush on a man much older than I," Linn smiled. "But he's gone, and I can't say I'm all that upset."

[Garret Treborn]

Garret smiled back at Linn again. Neither of them had touched their drinks since before the beginning of the conversation. He no longer wanted to get drunk now that he had some conversation. What better way to take his mind off of things then an attractive young woman? The smuggler could think of no other.

"Quite understandable. What planet are you from?"

[Linn O'Conner]

Linn shrugged, this time honestly not knowing.

"I have no idea. After I was born, my mom took off after my dad with me in tow. she never told me where I was born. You?"

[Garret Treborn]

Garret nodded at Linn in understanding.

"I was born on Corellia. Boring place to grow up on if you ask me. I take it your parents are dead then? I'm sorry. Mine are as well."

[Linn O'Conner]

Linn smiled, nodding.

"No need to apologize to me. I'm glad they're dead," she nodded towards him. "But I'm sorry yours are..."

[Garret Treborn]

Garret's eyebrows raised quizzically at Linn when she mentioned being glad about her parents being dead. He supposed they must have been horrible people for their own daughter to despise them.

"Thank you, they were killed on Corellia 12 years ago by a pair of muggers. If you don't mind me prying a little, why did you not like your parents?"

[Linn O'Conner]

Linn smiled, the pure idoicy of her parents making her laugh a little.

"Well, my mother was a vagrant and my father was a rapist. My mother thought she was in love with him so when he took off, she went out after him," she smiled, shaking her head. "She lost her life at the end of a bounty hunter's blade three years ago. Incidentally, my father was paying the bounty," Linn sighed, shrugging. "I don't know why I took his last name."

[Garret Treborn]

The smile on Linn's face wasn't anything short of sardonic. It was quite different from the other's she had shared with him. Fond memories apparently did not surface when she thought about her parents. When thinking about his own deceased parents, the smuggler found good memories, along with a few bad every now and then.

"I am sorry that they could not have been better. What of your father, did you kill him?"

[Linn O'Conner]

Linn's smile faded and she scowled, her eyes hardening at the thought.

"No, but one of my 'friends,' if you want to call them that, did. I insisted upon being there and I made sure the job was done."

[Garret Treborn]

Garret figured one might as well be the same as the other. But apparently that was not how Linn thought, judging by the scowl that crossed her face. He would not have held it against her even if she had been the one to kill her father. If any one of his parents had been like Linn's father, it would have been someone's duty to end their life.

Garret decided to change the subject. The current one wasn't having a positive effect on Linn. He wished to see the smile come back to her lips.

"How long do you expect it to take to collect your bounty here on Coruscant?"

[Linn O'Conner]

Linn snapped out of her cloudy mood and settled back into her seat. Garret seemed to have picked up on her displeasure and he had changed the subject quickly. She sighed, shaking her head.

"I don't know. Could take days, weeks, even months if he;s really elusive," Linn sighed. She decided to take a look at this bad boy she had to get a hold of. She reached into her cloak and pulled out her datapad. Linn pulled up the guy's profile and quickly scanned it. Smuggler, late teens, early twenties, last spotted on Coruscant. Linn searched around a bit for his picture. Aha! There it was. She brought it up and saw...

Linn was horrified. The picture on her datapad was certainly of a young man, who looked rough, but kind. It also closely resembled the man sitting in front of her. Too closely for Linn.

She did not want to let her eyes drift down to where his name would certainly be, but she did and it sealed her fear. In bold letters under his face his name seared into her mind's eyes:

Garret Trebor

[Garret Treborn]

"I hope you find him soon."

Garret watched as the beautiful bounty hunter pulled a datapad out of her cloak and gazed at it. Her eyes scanned the contents of the datapad with seemingly little interest. She pushed a few buttons and paused to reading something. Then there was a few moments of Linn pushing more buttons on the datapad and in the next instant, she seemed to freeze in place. Her face contorted into a mixture of disbelief and horror.

Garret wondered what it could possibly be that she was seeing. Must be something truly horrific, the smuggler thought to himself. He watched as her eyes flicked to the bottom of the datapad. Her face contorted even more, as if a horrible realization had been just made. Linn looked as if she were staring into the eyes of a blood thirsty Rancor.

The eyes of the young woman remained locked onto the bottom of her datapad. She was obviously trying to come to an understanding, but it seemed evasive from Garret's point of view.

"What is it?"

[Linn O'Conner]

Linn's head snapped erect and her fingers worked quickly to shut off the datapad. She fumbled with it for a moment and tucked it back away into her cloak. Her eyes searched Garret's, trying to find some difference in the face before her and the face she'd seen on the data pad. But there was none, and bold letters do not lie.

Linn pushed some hair out of her face and she knew she was going pale as she felt her stomach crash to the floor, giving her a sick, empty feeling. She could not imagine putting a blaster to the forehead of the man in front of her and pulling the trigger.

Linn swallowed, then swallowed again. She was trying to get her bearings again. She felt as if she'd just been punched hard in the stomach, making her queasy. Finally, she looked back up at Garret.

"It-it's nothing. I've just seen the man before."

[Garret Treborn]

He saw her head come up and her eyes met his. Her eyes were searching his.For what?, he asked himself. Garret looked back intently into the bounty hunter's eyes. She was telling him the truth, but not the whole truth. Something was not being said and he wanted to know what that was. Linn had been quick to put her datapad back within the confines of her cloak. Why?

Linn looked as if she was about to be sick. For some reason Garret knew it wasn't the alcohol. Her face was losing blood and becoming pale and as cold as ice. He could tell her mind was racing at a lightspeed pace.

"No, really. Please tell me. You don't look good."

[Linn O'Conner]

Linn wanted to look away from Garret's probing eyes, wanted to tell herself that she'd dreamed it all, wanted more than anything to change the name under that face. But she knew she couldn't. Knew that if she didn't kill him, they would both be killed and it would all have been worthless anyway.

Linn bit her lip and blinked. Then blinked again. She finally ripped her gaze away from Garret's and pretended to tie the leathers on her belt.

"No, we met a long time ago. He's, um..." her words trailed off as she ran out of ideas. She said the first thing that came to her mind. "He was just an old flame. No problem."

[Garret Treborn]

Garret sighed deeply. This time it was a lie. She wouldn't meet his gaze as she said the words, because then it would be all to obvious. Not that it already wasn't obvious. The woman was behaving to strangely. It could not be as she said, just an old boyfriend. He watched as she fiddled with her belt, apparently not to keen at the idea of looking into his eyes anymore. The emotions he had seen in her eyes was unmistakable.

Garret wondered if he should pursue the matter any further, and find out the truth, or if he should drop the subject all together. The sensation to find out what was going on overpowered the one that wished to just let it go. But how could he find out the truth when she seemed so unwilling to speak it?

[Linn O'Conner]

There was a buzzing at the back of Linn's neck and she knew he wanted to know what was happening. But she wasn't about to tell him that it was her job to stand behind the blaster that was going to end his barely lived life. She wouldn't tell. She wasn't even sure if she was actually going to do it.

Linn moved from pulling at her belt leathers to absentmindedly running her hair through her fingers.

[Garret Treborn]

The smuggler sighed again and shook his head slowly from side to side for a few moments. He wasn't sure anything he said or did could make Linn tell him the truth about what she saw. The burning feeling of wanting to know was ablaze inside him. Garret watched as she moved from fiddling with her belt to running her fingers through her hair. He had to at least try.

"Does it have anything to do with me?" he ventured cautiously,
"You're acting strange and I can tell you're not telling me the whole truth."

[Linn O'Conner]

Yes, it has everything to do with you. I'm supposed to blow you to kingdom come, and yet you actually care what's wrong. The words flashed in Linn's mind, and she even opened her mouth to say them, but she caught herself as the first syllable of yes came out, and she clamped her jaws down. She shook her head.

"No, really," she said, looking back up at him. He was scrutinizing her every move, every muscle that twitched, every blink of her eyes, anything that might tell him what was going on in her head. She hardened her gaze so her emotions would not show in them, something that always seemed to give her away. "He really was just as guy. He probably doesn't even remember me," she said, trying to sound convincing. "Who would?"

[Garret Treborn]

Garret knew it could not possibly be his mind playing tricks on him. He had heard the bounty hunter about to give something away and right before doing so she stopped herself. The words had been on her lips and she had even started to speak them. Why is she so reluctant to say something? he thought, almost angrily. The smuggler didn't even listen to the words she spoke after almost telling him the truth.

This probing and prodding wasn't getting him anywhere.
Garret supposed he should just continue the conversation they were having and maybe she would eventually spill after thinking the matter over a bit more. He wasn't going to get his hopes up though.

"I don't think that anyone could forget someone with a face like yours, it's beautiful," he said quietly.

[Linn O'Conner]

Linn appreciated the compliment, she really did, but the word beautiful had become numb to her. She'd heard it too many times from people who didn't care one iota about her. She shifted in her seat, ignoring the words an looking around the bar. In all honesty, she was finding it very difficult to concentrate. What she should really do was walk away, and try to forget that she ever met him. Try to make it easier to walk away when the time came to pull the trigger and attempt to drown out the sounds of his chokes as she left him to die.

But she couldn't. And she knew that. Her mind flashed to the last time that she'd befriended her bounty. It had been a vampyre, and she'd never even known his name. Garret Trebor. It rang clearly in her mind. She now knew it as well as she knew her own, and knowing this made it that much harder.

Taking a deep breath, she let her mind slowly begin feeling again, and she looked back up, but still avoided Garret's eyes.

[Garret Treborn]

The smuggler tried to make eye contact with the bounty hunter, but she averted her gaze in an effort not to meet his. If he looked again into her eyes, perhaps he could find something else that would help him figure out whatever it was that was going on. But the woman wasn't to keen on making any more eye contact with Garret. She had, in all appearances, ignored his compliment to her and that had hurt him slightly.

Is she not going to speak to me anymore? he asked himself. What new subject could he bring up? More then anything he wanted to know what was being kept from him and why. It most certaintly had to do with him, but his mind couldn't fathom what it could be. Had she seen something about him on her datapad? That didn't seem right, he had done nothing to merit that sort of attention. Garret went back to just looking at the young woman and not saying anything.

His eyes poured over all the lines and crevices of her face. The whole time he was wondering what, and why. If he let her think upon the matter, maybe she would give him a hint, or anything that could possibly help him solve the puzzle.

[Linn O'Conner]

After a few moments of staring at everything but the man infront of her, she finally looked back up and found her gaze locked with his. She suddenly realized how lovely his eyes were. They were clear and they sparkled oddly in the light. Linn liked it.

But there was also darkness behind his eyes. He was angry, or irritated. Probably at her. She wondered what he might do if he had seen her on his bounty list. Would he tell her? Would he care?

This consumed a moment or two and she weas startled to find herself still looking at him after nearly five minutes of silence. She blinked, breaking eye contact, then looking back at him. She finally slumped over, defeated.

"I just can't tell you," she murmured. She looked at him earnastly. "Just accept that you can't know..."

[Garret Treborn]

Garret's temper got the better of him in this situation. He was tired of playing games. He forced himself to admit that he liked the young woman. But it aggrevated the smuggler that she wouldn't tell him something that obviously involved him. He took a deep breath and ran his fingers back through his hair.

"Don't you think I have the right to know?," he demanded angrily. Garret didn't stop there though. "If this concerns me, which I suspect it does, I think that I do have the right to know."

His method was not intimidation. The smuggler knew that Linn could put him down without trying. She was a bounty hunter after all.

[Linn O'Conner]

Linn's anger flared. She stood straight up, the bar stool crashing to the floor. She whipped her blaster from its holster, and held it to his forehead.

"This is it. This is what it is. I'm supposed to kill you. You are my bounty, and you are worth equal to fifty thousand credits. Now, do you want me to pull the trigger?! I didn't tell you because I don't want to do this," she growled. But suddenly, her anger was gone. She put the blaster back into its holster and walked towards the door, her face hot with forgotten anger, and her hands trembling with regret.

[Garret Treborn]

Garret felt the cold tip of the blaster muzzle press against his forehead. His blood turned to ice in his veins and a sort of numbing sensation overtook his body. Had he gone to far? Did she mean to kill him for displaying his anger and making demands? No, the smuggler knew that that could not be it. It must have something to do with what she saw on her datapad.

Thoughts raced blindly through the young smuggler's head. After a few moments of keeping the blaster pressed against his forehead, she spoke. The words that poured out of her mouth were like individual bolts of lightning striking him relentlessly and without showing any signs of mercy. I'm supposed to kill you. Those five words echoed in the recesses of his mind and he became numb all over again.

How was this possible? A bounty of fifty thousand credits placed on him? For what? Garret wasn't aware of any enemies he had made that would want him that dead. In fact, he wasn't entirely sure he had any enemies to begin with. Never had he done anything to merit such a bounty. Perhaps he was set up. But for that to be the case, he would need to have an enemy. Garret ceased his thinking and snapped out of the trance he was in.

Linn had almost made it to the door before the smuggler had come to his senses and ran to catch up with her. He grabbed her gently by the arm to stop her from stepping out the door. Silently he prayed that the contact would not draw a violent reaction out of the young woman.

"Wait," he called softly, as his hand closed around her arm.

[Linn O'Conner]

The sensation of having him take her arm sent a hot wave over her. She stopped, her eyes darting about. Her heart was pounding from the anger that had just left her. Her thoughts were racing. It suddenly came to her that she had told him what she'd seen on her datapad. Suddenly, a cool flash overtook her sending a shiver up her spine.

Linn stepped back slightly, letting her head tilt so she could barely see him out of the corner of her eye. Her hand balled into a fist and she could feel her muscles moving against his hand. She gantly pulled her arm from him and her lips parted to say something.

"I'm sorry," she murmured. Linn turned and looked at him, her eyes begging. "Stealing catches up with you..."

Linn turned back and continued walking towards the door. She stepped outside, closing the door slowly behind her. She took a deep breath and let it out. Linn didn't want leave him. She really didn't. But he was her prey, her money. She screwed her eyes shut and rubbed her temple. How could she kill him now that she knew him personally?

Linn stomped her foot. Why did this have to happen! Why couldn't it have been clean and empty like all of her other kills before? Why had she walked into this bar? Of every single bar she could have picked, why this one? It took a few moments for her to realize that she had been standing there for nearly five minutes.

[Garret Treborn]

Garret watched the bounty hunter as she stepped outside. He saw that she stopped outside of the door and he did not follow immediatly after her. He was running through his mind everything that he had done for the past several years of his life. Nothing surfaced that could answer the question of why he had a bounty on his head. The smuggler felt like screaming in frustration. Why was this happening to him?

Minutes went by and, at last, Garret stepped outside to join Linn. He stood silent next to her, still trying to figure things out. After a few minutes of silence he spoke.

"I haven't done anything to merit a bounty being placed on my head. Does your datapad give any reasons?"

[Linn O'Conner]

Linn looked away from him up into the starry sky. A slow cool breeze blew past them and she sighed. Garret's words were racing through her mind, and she was thinking fast. Surely he did not expect her to believe that he hadn't done anything wrong? Especially when there was such an extensive list as he.

"Well..." she began pulling out her datapad and bringing up his screen. His picture popped up and his information beside it along with a list of the offenses that had earned him the bounty. "Let's see. How about, your first was the hijacking of a starship that was transporting fifty thousand boxes of dangerous weapons. Twenty thousand crates disapeared and you were caught in the four security lasers. The computer recognized it as you."

She paused skimming over other things and going down to the bottom of the list.

"Or that you were admitted to a smugglers organization on Tattooine and then vanished with with over half of thier funds. Garret, the list goes on. Retinal scans do not lie and I don't have any choices. Give me proof, Garret, that you haven't done anything and I'll take it. I would love more than anything to believe that you aren't guilty, but as it is..." her words trailed off and she shrugged, looking back down at the ground and tucking away her datapad and wrapping her cloak tighter around her.

[Garret Treborn]

The emotion displayed on the face of the young smuggler was that of complete disblief. What was this madness? Garret knew full well that he made his living through a somewhat dishonest profession, but he had never stolen or taken anything that didn't belong to him. The accusations that were aimed at Garret held no validity for him. He had done neither of the crimes Linn had listed. And the others displayed on her datapad were, in all liklihood, false as well.

Garret shivered in the wake of the cool breeze. He suddenly wished that he had a cloak. How was he going to prove to Linn he had done none of the crimes listed on her datapad? The bounty hunter had all the proof that she needed, but Garret possessed only his word. He didn't think that that alone would be enough. What was he going to do? It seemed like a trap had been sprung around him without any visible signs of escape. Would Linn really kill him?

"My word is all that I have to offer. I know my proffesion is not noted as being an honest living. But I swear to you..." Garret placed his hands on Linn's shoulders and turned her so they were face to face. His eyes found Linn's and their gaze locked. "I have not committed those acts listed on your datapad, or anything like them. You must believe me." There was a great deal of earnestness in his voice.

[Linn O'Conner]

Linn shivered under his commanding, but gentle touch of the man. Her eyes met his and his gaze swallowed her up. She wanted to believe him, wanted to tell him that she did, wanted to go back into the bar and forget that she'd ever seen his face on her hit list. But she couldn't. Linn shook her head.

"Garret, your words...they aren't enough to convince anyone. And me aside, the Hutts aren't going to excuse you because of words," Linn sighed, a shiver running up her spine. She couldn't kill him. It was obvious to her now. But it was also her job to kill him. No emotion, no personal problems. The conflict inside of Linn was burning through her and she could see her reflection in Garret's eyes.

[Garret Treborn]

Garret's arms slackened and dropped slowly to his side.

"You're going to kill me then?"

[Linn O'Conner]

Linn turned away, wrapping her cloak around her and letting the words and horror in which they had been spoken sink in slowly. Was she going to kill him? She hoped not. Did he expect her to kill him? Obviously. Was she willing risking both thier lives not to kill him?

The last question hurt the most. Because she did not the answer. She felt like a coward and a traitor. And she didn't know why. She turned back to Garret.

"I don't want to," she said, rubbing her temples. "I want to say that it wasn't you I saw on my datapad. But I can't. And I can't kill you. It seems we're stuck."

[Garret Treborn]

Garret exhaled slowly as Linn finished saying that she couldn't kill him. He hadn't really expected her to, but it was a relief to hear her say the words. He liked the young bounty hunter and hated that this situation might tear them apart. What was he going to do?

Silently the two of them stood facing each other. Each individual trying to think of a way through this mess or a way out of it.

Still looking into her eyes he said, "I don't know what to do. You don't want to kill me. And I know that your employer will have you killed if you don't kill me."

[Linn O'Conner]

Linn shrugged. She ran her hand through her hair. She liked this guy, and she didn't want him to walk away. But there was very little they could do. Linn looked away from Garret, watching the ground and a little dust tornado as it skittered around thier feet and dispersed behind the man.

"I don't know," she said, resigning herself to the fate she feared was coming. There was very little she could do if the Hutts sent out someone for her. Chances were, they weren't going to sit and have a drink with her before they shot her through the temple. And the bounty was likely to be double that of what Garret was worth, meaning they would have even more of a motivation. She looked back at the man. "You're at risk any way we go..."

[Garret Treborn]

Garret took a few moments to think about what the bounty hunter had said. She was quite right. Any decision that he made would put himself at risk. If Linn did not collect the bounty, then surely another bounty hunter would. It would only be a matter of time.

The smuggler shivered as the wind swept over his body.

"I think we need to stay together. Maybe figure this whole thing out. I know that, if given time, I can prove to you I have doen none of those crimes. If we separate now, it will be all to easy for each of us to be hunted down individually. But if we stay together, we can watch each other's back. "

[Linn O'Conner]

Linn nodded. She wanted to stay with him. But if they were caught together, it might be even more dangerous for him. But she nodded again.

"Alright," she swallowed, turning and rebuckling her blaster into its holster. "But we think someone's tailing me, I'll want you to get as far away from me as possible," she said, looking back up at him, her eyes finding his and staring hard at him. "Alright?"

[Garret Treborn]

Garret was slightly perplexed.

"Now?"

[Linn O'Conner]

Linn shared the man's gaze for a moment then looked away. He was right. Now what? She thought for a moment. If he had indeed been telling the truth and had not done any of the things, she wanted to find out who had, and why. Linn watched the ground her brow furrowing.

"I wanna know who's done all of this, if it isn't you."

[Garret Treborn]

Garret averted his gaze. He was now looking over Linn's shoulder at the many buildings lining the street. How was he to know who had done it? It was complete and utter madness.

"I wish I knew. I can't simply point a finger at any one individual. The most likely scenario is stolen identity."

[Linn O'Conner]

Stolen identity. It was a vile thing. One that had gotten Linn herself into a bit of trouble when she'd first taken up the bounty hunter occupation. Linn was onclined to believe the scenario that Garret proposed. But Linn was also aware that, no matter how much she liked him, he could be throwing her off the scent. She highly doubted it. He didn't seem the person to fit this profile. Linn brushed some hair behind her ear and blinked. She looked back up at Garret.

"You think it might have been an enemy of yours? Or do you think it was random theft?"

[Garret Treborn]

The young smuggler didn't have to think long on the subject. Random theft seemed the most likely scenario. His list of enemies, to his own knowledge, was incredibly short. He had kept a rather low profile for the past few years and had done nothing that would possibly make him the target of an identity theft that wasn't random.

"Random."

[Linn O'Conner]

Linn had expected as much. Garret was too everyday, too normal to have anyone extremely dangerous tailing him. Then again, someone might classify her as someone dangerous. But this was a moot point. Linn needed to focus. She looked up at Garret.

"What do you want to do about him?"

[Garret Treborn]

Undoubtedly the young smuggler still possessed little hints of doubt. But for the most part she seemed willing to accept what he was telling her.

"Find him," he said smiling, "Do you know what methods could be used to do that?"

[Linn O'Conner]

Linn sighed searching her thoughts. There were a thousand ways they could attempt to find him. All would probably make it more difficult for them.

"The thing to start with would be getting a hold of the security data from the thefts. It would be the best place to start."

[Garret Treborn]

"And how difficult will that be?"

[Linn O'Conner]

Linn smiled mischievously. She shrugged.

"It depends on how close you want to get to the Hutt that has the bounty on your head."

[Garret Treborn]

The smuggler grinned back at her.

"Whatever it takes to clear my name."

[Linn O'Conner]

Linn smirked.

"Then we should head to Tattooine. Last time I saw him, he was lounging about there."

[Garret Treborn]

Garret nodded his head.

"Then that is our destination. Would you care to leave now or at daybreak?"

[Linn O'Conner]

Linn shrugged.

"I have no preference."

[Garret Treborn]

"Then I suggest we leave now. We can sleep on the ship. Speaking of which, who's ship will we be taking?"

[Linn O'Conner]

Linn looked at him.

"I fear my ship was lost on the way here."

[Garret Treborn]

Garret's eyebrows raised slightly. He would have to explore that subject later.

"Then we will be taking my YT-1300. Let's head to the docking bay."