32 Chapter Thirty-Two

Nothing.

There is nothing about this "Fulcrum". No way to hire them, no way to look for them.

I ran a hand across my jaw in thought, frowning.

This was irritating.

I leaned back on my bed, letting the data pad that had the current wanted list of the empire on display, I had already checked my own and the bounty already increased.

I sighed and started thinking about the one possibility that would not leave my mind.

If and that was a big if, I was part of a rebellion army, I would keep any valuable assets no matter the cost. If this Fulcrum was also an informant they might be from the inside.

I straightened up again and started looking for recent terrorist attacks and waited for a bit, allowing all of the reports to load.

The reports were from different planets and the one we did on Lothal wasn't the most recent one, either, and it's only been two days.

Cargo, cargo, cargo, supplies stolen, transport ships stolen, armory resupply blown up, equipment stolen, information stolen...

"...Fuck."

These reports were made in quick succession, meaning more than one group moved out at around the same time.

Turning the datapad off, I placed it on the bed and started rubbing the bridge of my nose.

Getting off the bed I walked to the door, Picking up the new helmet that I made for normal outings. It wasn't much, it wasn't even original, made in the image of an ODST helmet from Halo four, with no special features, no add-ons.

I shifted slightly in my armor, it was getting tight, I was probably hitting a growth spurt sometime soon, I would either need to modify my armor or get a new one altogether.

Still had no idea what type it would be, but first, I needed to make an exo suit.

Still had a box of droid parts that wasn't sold yet.

I would need a durable metal for it, and to prevent future headaches, it would need to be lightsaber-proof.

Beskar fits the bill, but I would be pissing off a ton of Mandalorians...

"...More material for me."

Frowning for a moment, I shook my head and headed out the door in search of one of the crew members. I found Chopper first, rolling down the hall.

Crouching down, I waited for him to come closer and placed a hand on his head.

[What is it?]

I chuckled, I had been promoted after I gave him the upgrade, I wasn't a flesh bag anymore and he seemed more civil.

"I'm going to be out for the evening, let the others know so they don't look for me, okay?"

Chopper made the robot equivalent of a nonverbal agreement and I walked off.

Sighing to myself, I spotted Sabine working on some crates, calculating the amount of supplies we had.

Jumping over the railing, I landed silently, but not silently enough not not make her aware of my presence.

She turned around, and her eyebrows arched when she spotted what I was wearing, it was probably the helmet.

"New helmet?"

I just shook my head.

"I'm heading out for the evening, I'll be borrowing one of the hoverbikes since I left mine after it ran out of fuel."

She seemed confused but nodded nevertheless.

"Um- you can take mine if you want."

I nodded my thanks and walked over to her bike, starting it up and leaving the ship behind as I sped off to town.

I needed a drink.

Focusing on the force around me, I evened it out, making sure that it was indistinguishable from a normal, non-force-wielding human... alien... creature.

Soon enough, the town came into view and I maneuvered my way around to reach a bar that was open at this time.

Parking the bike a ways away, I took the chip that activated the whole mechanism and started walking to my destination.

Inevitably, my thoughts went back to the reports.

The attacks seemed too simultaneous. Usually, these things were uncommon. Not rare, but terrorist attacks happened, but never this quickly and never in quick succession.

The Ghost crew did things to spite the empire, but in the long run, they were nothing but a thorn in their side. The empire was not small, it encircled millions of star systems and billions more fringe colonies, shipyards, fortress worlds, and outer territories.

A single crew of five people and one droid would not amount to much at all.

I sighed in annoyance, I was getting nowhere with this. I didn't have enough information, and coming up with theories, while would make for many possibilities, didn't have any evidence to support them at all.

Opening the doors to the bar I was going to, I walked inside, ignoring the chatter. Sitting down at the counter, I raised a hand and ordered a drink.

Taking off my helmet and putting it to the side, I waited for my order to arrive.

These things pale in comparison to what I was used to back home, in my other life but they would do.

When the red, gooey liquid arrived, I grabbed the small glass and took a sip. It was like vodka, but... worse. A lot worse. I wanted a normal, red wine, was that too much to ask for?

I took another sip.

Apparently, it was.

But the effects were obvious, the burn it left in my throat, the tingling sensation it left on my tongue, and the slowly dissipating feeling in my skin, since I stopped feeling the cold after a few drinks.

But I wouldn't allow myself to be truly drunk, remaining on the edge of tipsy and sober. I had higher resistance to alcohol now than I did, but it was easy to figure out how many drinks I could handle.

The bar seemed to grow louder and louder by the minute, trunk workers, complaining about their work, Husbands complaining about their wives, fathers bragging about how well their children were growing up and how well-behaved they were.

Absently, I registered that these were the ones that were well off. It was obvious if you looked around the sides, at the desks that were in the corners, out of the way.

People were drinking cheap booze, heads were hanging down, and old, torn clothes.

I looked down at the counter, counting four cups without the one I held in my hand. I stopped the drink that I was about to down an inch from my lips.

Putting the glass down, I sighed and rubbed at my temple.

How long was I here?

I looked at the liquid that was in the small glass for a moment, contemplating, then shrugged and downed that too.

"Long day?"

My eyes darted to my left, seeing a woman who was nursing her own drink. She wore green armor and had a brown cloak draped over her back. On the counter, I spotted a green Mandalorian-like helmet along with three empty cups of her own.

"More like a long month."

I shrugged, my eyes glancing down at the holster she had on her waist.

"Sure looks like it, you're drinking the strong stuff, too."

I looked at the empty cup in my hand and put it down, ordering another one.

"Well, it happens sometimes, might need to come back here next month too, by the way things seem to be going."

She hummed in thought and for the first time, I looked at her face as she turned to look at me.

Long brown hair that reached below her shoulders and her eyes that were a shade lighter than her hair with an evenly preportioned face.

All in all, even if I didn't know how she looked under that armor, she looked beautiful.

"So, are you a bounty hunter?"

I raised an eyebrow but shook my head negatively, I thought about it for a while in the past but ultimately discarded the idea. But now that I was learning how to fly from Hera, maybe that path would be open to me in the future.

"More like a mercenary."

She stared at me for a moment and crossed her legs absently.

"Hm, never been one, what kind of jobs do you do?"

She was taking a lot of interest, wasn't she?

"Protection detail, elimination, extermination, all you really need is someone with a problem to take care of, and it's not hard to find somebody like that these days."

She chuckled, a melodious tune that seemed to ring in my ears and I realized that I was hyper-focusing on her, tuning out everything else in the bar.

"Well, to better days, I guess."

She extended her newly filled glass to me and I did the same with amusement.

Slowly but surely, the number of empty glasses in front of me increased, occasionally some were taken to be cleaned only to be used again by either me or her.

Discarding the thought of holding back and remaining tipsy, I continued to drink until everything blurred together as I laughed about the most random things like a man falling off his chair, the ridiculous situations the woman I have been chatting with seemed to get into occasionally and even the time I spilled my drink.

I knew I would regret it in the morning, especially if I woke up in a trash can, or stuck in a dented vehicle that was specifically my shape, but I didn't really care right now.

___

My consciousness came back, and it came back with a vengeance.

Pain was all I knew for the first few seconds, surprising me that I was even alive due to how much it hurt and slightly regretful that my internal clock woke me up this early.

My eyes snapped open and I looked at the unrecognizable roof for a few seconds before everything I learned about survival slammed into me like a train, putting me on high alert.

Moving my head felt like a thousand needles were piercing my brain only for it to heal and the cycle repeat endlessly.

The small room that greeted me was a mess. I spotted unknown, green armor scattered around the floor along with mine. My decoy helmet lay on a metal desk that was part of a wall, next to a green Mandalorian helmet.

Otherwise, the room was barren. I looked down at where I was situated and oddly enough, it was a comfortable bed. I registered that I was naked, completely.

Where was my underwear?

Why was I naked?

I looked around the room, spotting two doors and remembering their positions if I needed to attack somebody.

Spotting my underwear near the bed, I leaned down and grabbed it. Putting it on without much fanfare. I looked to the side, spotting a glass of water with a pill next to it and paper with something written on it.

narrowing my eyes, I grabbed the paper, letting the pill that was on top of it drop to the bedside table, and read the note.

Then read it again, then again.

It would seem that I got laid yesterday.

And she enjoyed it, greatly even. Damn.

The pill was a hangover cure and in the corner of the small paper, there was a small drawing of a Mandalorian helmet with a piece sign.

The door opened with a quiet hiss and my head snapped to the door revealing a beautiful woman with shoulder-length brown hair and brown eyes, her slightly tanned skin drew my eyes and the towel that covered her modesty was a size too short.

"Oh, you're awake."

She commented, walking over to the bed that I sat on and promptly plopped down next to me. Strands of her wet hair clung to her shoulders as she worked drying off her hair with a smaller towel.

After a few seconds, she leaned back on the bed, using her hands as support for her body

"So... I'm up for another round if you are."

I blinked. Damn, I was lucky.

You know what, I killed a lot of people in my new life, I survived a lot, the inquisitors, that black-clad man that was apparently a Sith, and going through some bullshit teenage drama... I could not care less for.

I earned this.

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