Anger rippled over the Hutt. Durga bellowed, “You dare cite our own laws to me?”
“You know the law, Durga.” Now, Fen heard steady reason in her partner’s voice. “Counselors and messengers are not to pay the price for those who use them to embarrass or cheat the Hutt Empire.”
Durga gave his little counselor a long, calculating look, then finally said. “If memory serves, those laws were enacted after the early and violent deaths of twelve counselors and innumerable messengers.”
“Your memory is faultless, as always. You will doubtless also recall what occurred when a young, skinny, and very foolish Hutt of the Vermilic Clan forgot this prohibition two years ago and disintegrated his counselor.”
Fen was startled to realize even she had heard of that incident. The Vermilics were bankrupted and no Hutt traffic moved for three months. She wondered now if the counselors had refused to broker the Hutt deals.
A long, humid pause strung out before Durga spoke again. “I believe, Dogder, you had a second reason?”
“If you kill me now, you will never regain your Twi’leks.”
“Ohhh, ho, Dogder.” When Durga laughed, Fen was reminded of a restless, rolling sea. “And just how will you return my dancers?”
“I can give you the ID code of the ship we retained, its itinerary, and ownership registry. You will be able to trace those who have truly wronged you.”
Durga’s face folded into frowns. “And how will I know if the information you provide me is useful?”
“You may pay me fifty percent now, and the remainder within one standard week,” Ghitsa replied. “You will have sufficient time to verify if the data is valuable.”
“Do you trust us so much, counselor?” Durga seemed amused. Fen was not.
“I trust you, Master.”
Under Durga’s thoughtful, raking scrutiny, Ghitsa stood impassively. Then, with a snap of his fingers, the guards lowered their weapons, and Fen found she could breathe again.
Durga put a companionable arm around Ghitsa’s mud-encrusted shoulders. “After so many years of loyal service, counselor, you understand that should you prove unfaithful. I am confident that the galaxy will be too small a place for both you and my anger.”
“I understand, Master.”
“Although I remain disturbed with your failure. I am pleased with your efforts to foresee possible betrayal.” He held out a tiny, groping hand, and Ghitsa gave him the disk Fen had taken from The Fury. “You may transfer the sum from our Coruscant account.”
Ghitsa bowed slightly.
Durga’s tail twitched violently, serpentine. “You also know that for the sake of our interests, we permit only credible counselors. Once this transaction is completed, we will look elsewhere for an advisor.”
“You have always wisely insisted that counselors not be the victims of other predators, Master. I ask for no exception in my case.” Fen would wonder for some time whether Ghitsa actually sounded wistful at that parting.
“All right,” Shada said, easing the holo tube into the player. The scan had showed it was a normal holo tube, with no surprises attached. But that didn’t mean she entirely trusted it. “Here we go.”
A two-meter-tall likeness of Fenig Nabon appeared. “Hello again, Shada,” the figure said. “Since you’re watching this, I presume Ghitsa and I are gone. Hopefully still alive, though you’re now probably regretting that you didn’t send us out the airlock without the benefit of vac suits.”
Dunc grumbled in her throat, but said nothing.
“Ghitsa has maintained that you would want to deliver us to the Hutts for their own peculiar punishments,” Fen continued. “If this went down right, she’ll be selling to Durga the Hutt a data disk with detailed information on the ship responsible for the theft of his dancers. A competent slicer will trace that information back to the Indenture and the Karazak Slaving Cooperative.”
The image grinned, a little shamefacedly. “I’m sure you’ve also noticed that The Fury’s ID is reading as the Indenture. That was my own touch, in case someone on Nal Hutta spotted you. The overlay program is buried in your backup comm system. You’ll probably have to go in through the battle game I was playing to get to it—that’s how I got in—but it shouldn’t be any real trick to disable.”
She sobered. “On the more serious side, you can probably predict what will happen when Durga reaches the conclusion that the KSC stole his dancers.”
“Gang war,” Dunc murmured.
“Ghitsa thinks that in the resulting turmoil both the KSC and the Hutts will leave Ryloth alone for a while. Durga’s slicer should also find certain inconvenient payments the KSC has made to Brin’shak. This will likely be the last Twi’lek acquisition Brin’shak will make for the Hutts.”
The image shifted, foot to foot. A little embarrassed, perhaps? “We’ve told the dancers that you’ll return them to Kala’uun on Ryloth. The Dira Clan is expecting them and can be trusted. The Shak Clan may howl about it, but you shouldn’t get anything but noise from them. They were discredited two years ago in Kala’uun after trying to scam the New Republic over some ryll kor and are generally trying to lay low.”
“Finally, assuming you haven’t killed us, Ghitsa will transfer twenty thousand into your account, as agreed. I know you’re expecting thirty-two, but if you play it right with the Dira Clan, they may pay you some ryll kor for bringing the dancers back.” The image smiled, a little smugly. “Ghitsa urges you to sell quickly, as she believes the market will top out soon.”
Fen raised her head, looking out into nothing. “Jett always really admired the Mistryl, Shada. But sometimes he was uncomfortable with what you would do for money. Poverty makes people desperate, he would say. But sometimes, it’s better to be poor. Ghitsa, of course, disagrees.”
The image of Fenig Nabon flickered out.
Durga escorted them to the port city of Bilbousa where Fen had berthed the Star Lady. They set course for the nearest New Republic facility with a decent banking exchange.
As soon as the ship jumped, Ghitsa slipped out of her cockpit chair. “I’m going to get cleaned up.”
When Fen emerged from her own long, hot shower, Ghitsa was already in the cabin, sitting at the cabin’s table, intently watching the final chapter in the wooing of Leia Organa. Fen grabbed a bottle of Corellia’s finest and two glasses, before sitting across from Ghitsa.
“So,” Fen began, pouring and sliding a glass across the table to her partner. Ghitsa said nothing, but did accept the drink.
“Did Durga buy it?”
“I doubt it,” Ghitsa scoffed. “But he is cautious. He won’t part with 100 mill without proof and thirty-seven and a half is a small price to pay, for now. All the proof will point to the Karazaks. They are more likely to cheat him than I am.”
“But you aren’t a counselor anymore.”
Ghitsa visibly brightened, and took a sip of her drink. “Rather convenient, I thought.”
“You wanted this?”
She sighed, tilting her head back against the booth. It was the first time in a while Fen had seen Ghitsa look normal—a simple flight suit, damp hair, nothing caking her face or nails. “You remember how I said that mortality among Durga’s Twi’leks was around seventy percent?”
“Yeah.”
“It’s even higher for Hutt counselors. Even if a counselor’s own clan won’t kill her, we tend to be excellent acquisition targets for Hutt competitors.”
Ghitsa, Fen suddenly realized, would not have taken these kinds of risks for a mere seventy-five thousand. “And those twelve dead counselors?”
“Two of them were Dogders.” Ghitsa stopped there, lips pressed into a thin, firm line.
Fen veered to safer ground. “Will Durga pay the rest?”
Ghitsa took another swallow. “Maybe. Probably. He’ll be very happy when he finds out about the Karazaks. I expect he’ll give me a bonus.”
They watched as the Coruscant Daily Newsfeed gushed about Princess Organa’s impending nu
ptials.
“Pity about Han Solo,” Ghitsa said.
“Waste of a pretty good smuggler,” Fen sighed, staring into her drink.
The Princess appeared, again in her regal white, announcing that Dathomir would now be open to Alderaani exiles. The program intoned, “And Organa announced today that the New Republic has appropriated 200 million in financial assistance for displaced Alderaani. Low interest loans will also be available to aid in resettlement…”
Fen whistled appreciatively. “Too bad you have to be Alderaani to be eligible.”
They stared at the screen.
“You know,” Ghitsa began, “I’ve always wanted to play impoverished nobility.”
Fen glanced from her partner to the vid, and back again. “True,” she finally said. “And Leia Organa may not look good in white, but, Ghitsa, I bet you do.”
Roleplaying Game Information
Fenig Nabon
Type: Smuggler
DEXTERITY 3D+1
Blaster 5D, dodge 6D, melee combat 4D+2, pickpocket 5D +2
KNOWLEDGE 2D+1
Alien species 6D, cultures 4D+2, languages 6D, languages: Old Corellian 7D, planetary systems 5D+2, streetwise 6D, value 4D
MECHANICAL 3D+2
Astrogation 6D, sensors 5D+2, space transports 5D+2, space transports: Corellian YT-2400 8D, starship gunnery 5D+2, starship shields 5D+2
PERCEPTION 3D
Bargain 5D, con 5D+2, forgery 4D, gambling 5D, hide 7D, sneak 4D+2
STRENGTH 3D
Brawling 5D, climbing/jumping 4D+2, stamina 5D
TECHNICAL 2D+2
Computer programming/repair 7D+2, security 4D, space transports repair 6D+1, starship weapon repair 4D
Force Points: 2
Character Points: 12
Move: 10
Equipment: Blaster (4D), comlink, datapad, Corellian YT 2400 modified light freighter Star Lady
Capsule: Fenig was bom to a single mother on Corellia 34 years ago. Her father, a military man of some unknown rank, did not stick around long enough to give his daughter a name. Her mother’s family didn’t take kindly to the situation, so the mother and daughter were forced to make their own way on the streets of Coronet. By age five, Fen was an accomplished pickpocket and thief, who could lie her way in and out of nearly any situation. Her mother disappeared when Fen was 11.
At age 13, Fen picked the wrong pocket, or as it turned out, the right one. Rather than turn her over to the authorities, Jett Nabon took her under his wing and aboard his ship as the only crew member in his small, independent smuggling operation. She spent the next 16 years flying from one end of the universe to the other as his co-pilot and, eventually, partner.
Jett taught her everything he knew, and gave her everything he had, including a last name. Her initial forays into piloting were hair-raising and her first transport repairs were explosive. But by the time she was 16. Fen was an accomplished mechanic and pilot. She added slicing to her skills when at 19—she patched into an Imperial storehouse and diverted a shipment of speeders to a waiting (and ultimately very happy) customer. When Fen turned 20. Jett renamed his ship the Star Lady and presented it to her as a birthday gift. At 26 she had been smuggling for almost half her life, and was fairly certain she’d seen the inside of every grubby spaceport and trashy cantina the galaxy had to offer.
Jett died trying to break up a pointless bar fight on Ord Mantell when Fen was 29. She’d been out checking on their cargo and returned to find him dead on the floor, people stepping over him to refresh their drinks. It was his undying compassion that got him killed. Fen resolved to learn from his mistake.
So Fen took to the stars alone, determined to stay that way. She managed it for three years—until she saw Ghitsa Dogder, resplendent in her Coruscantan tailored suit, her hair done just so, in a cantina on Socorro trying to scam someone it was better not to cheat. Fen intervened, preventing what might have been considerable unpleasantness.
It was only later that Fen realized that she had been the con’s mark all along. Ghitsa had wanted her as a business partner for a little deal she was putting together and knew just what buttons to push. Two years later they are still working together. Some days (most days, in fact) Fen thinks she should have followed her first instinct and blasted Ghitsa out of her seat on first sight.
Ghitsa Dogder
Type: Con Artist
DEXTERITY 3D
Blaster: hold-out blaster 6D, dodge 4D
KNOWLEDGE 4D
Bureaucracy 5D+2, bureaucracy:Hutt 7D+1, bureaucracy: Imperial 6D, business 6D, cultures: Coruscant 6D, languages 4D+2, law enforcement 5D+2, streetwise 5D, streetwise: Durga the Hutt’s organization 6D+2, value 5D
MECHANICAL 2D+2
Communications 4D
PERCEPTION 4D
Bargain 5D+2, con 6D+2, forgery 5D+2, investigation 5D, persuasion 6D, sneak 5D
STRENGTH 2D
TECHNICAL 3D+1
Computer programming/repair 5D+2, security 6D
Force Points: 2
Character Points: 10
Move: 10
Equipment: Comlink, datapad, hold-out blaster (3D), several changes of fancy clothes, 10,000 credits
Capsule: Platt Okeefe once said of Ghitsa Dogder. “She has a knack for getting what she wants.” Another, very “reputable” smuggler, whom she had the fortune of not cheating, said with disdain that Ghitsa is “just a tawdry Coruscantan con in designer-wear.” Of these epithets. Ghitsa disputes only the adjective “tawdry” as applied to her.
Ghitsa does not talk about her background much, except for the obvious points all can see. She spent much of her life in the high society of Imperial Coruscant. In certain circles, it is known that the Dogder family has served in advisory capacities to various criminal organizations for centuries. Yet the Dogders themselves maintain an air of cultured gentility, even while they serve some of the most vile gangsters in the galaxy. The family also maintains close ties to the Imperials in exile within the Core and frequently aids in fundraising efforts and money laundering to finance various renegade warlords and admirals.
Ghitsa states with pride that her first scam was at the age of eight when she devised a pyramid scheme to sell candy and space pops to her friends. The scheme collapsed when she ran out of friends.
Ghitsa attended university to study business and advocacy, it is rumored that she was placed on probation in her first year for selling examination questions to her classmates. The questions were fabrications. The following year she was supposedly expelled for cheating on the ethics examination. She denies only that she got caught.
After graduation she entered the family business and tradition, which in this case, was providing commercial advice to, and an aura of legitimacy for, Durga the Hutt’s clan. As her experience broadened, so did the complexity of the matters she handled. Acquisitions through dummy businesses, purchase and sale of slave aliens and property, payoffs to governments, money laundering, financing smuggling operations, forging Customs documents, tax evasion—she was generally a full-service and able counselor to Hutt business interests.
The Battle of Endor and the events leading to it were an epiphany. As a loyal counselor, she ruthlessly bartered and dealt on Durga’s behalf to consolidate his clan’s power and wealth in the wake of Jabba’s death. With growing alarm, however, she also saw the disintegration of the Empire and more importantly the Imperial way of life. And taking the long view, she questioned how long it would be before Durga ended up as Jabba did—dead from arrogance and a lust for power that went far beyond what she deemed appropriate for Hutt dominance in commercial and smuggling ventures.
She decided a major change was called for and began searching for a likely partner—one with whom she wouldn’t have to share too much, who wouldn’t pry, who was well-connected to the point of respectability (among smugglers, at least), not too moral, had a good ship, and most importantly, was unlikely to kill her. She profiled Fen Nabon for a year, following her finally to Socorro. T
here Ghitsa set the trap that would appeal to Fen’s weaknesses for lost causes, animals and people. Two years later Ghitsa is thoroughly pleased with the partnership. Fen, she knows, harbors doubts, but Ghitsa reasons Fen has never really known what was good for her.
Shada D’ukal
Type: Mistryl Shadow Guard
DEXTERITY 4D
Blaster 5D+2, dodge 6D+2, melee combat 8D, melee parry 7D, thrown weapons: zenji needles 9D+2
KNOWLEDGE 3D
Alien Species 6D, languages 6D, streetwise 7D+1, survival 5D+2
MECHANICAL 2D+2
Beast riding 5D+2, space transports 5D+2, starship gunnery 6D
PERCEPTION 4D
Hide 7D, search 7D, sneak 7D
STRENGTH 3D
Brawling 6D, brawling martial arts 7D+2
TECHNICAL 3D+2
Computer programming, repair 6D, first aid 5D+2
Force Points: 2
Dark Side Points: 1
Character Points: 11
Move: 12
Equipment: Selection of false IDs, hold-out blaster (3D), 15 zenji needles (STR+3D+1 when used with the thrown weapons: zenji needles specialization. otherwise STR+1D)
Capsule: Shada has been a Mistryl Shadow Guard for nearly ten years. Like most girls growing upon her devastated homeworld, to Shada the Mistryl had been the focus of all her hopes, the last heroes of a desperate and impoverished people. She began her training as soon as the Order accepted her. and worked tirelessly until she was finally worthy of the title “Mistryl.”
It took Shada less than a year to distinguish herself. The young Shadow Guard had been a part of the Mistryl team hired to provide security for the “Hammertong,” an Imperial-funded research project. Her team leader and another Mistryl were killed in an Imperial ambush at the facility where the Hammertong was being loaded for transport.
Taking command of the situation. Shada and another Mistryl, Karoly D’ulin, commandeered an Imperial strike cruiser and stole the over 200-meter cylinder of pipe connections and power and control cable linkages which comprised the Hammertong. The Mistryl then headed with their prize to a useless little hole in space called Tatooine.
Star Wars - Hutt & Seek - Unpublished Page 4