Chapter 27: Schemes

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27. Calculations

At this very moment, in the outer space of the planet Roon.

The YT-1000 freighter *Lancer* dropped out of hyperspace and materialized in the void. Inside the ship, Darth Tenebrous opened his eyes and sat up, asking, "Have we arrived?"

"That’s right, this is the planet Roon. But we don’t see anyone here we’re supposed to hand this thing over to," Cunt said, weighing the storage device in his hand.

"Wait a moment. I have a feeling things aren't that simple," Tenebrous said.

"Funny, I was thinking the same thing. How are you feeling, Boss? If something goes wrong later, I’ll be counting on your power," Cunt said with a smile.

Tenebrous looked at a stainless steel cup nearby and focused his mind. The cup wobbled, then was lifted by an invisible force, flying through the air before landing with a sharp metallic clatter at his feet.

"Seems alright. I can still do quite a bit," Tenebrous said, clenching his fist.

Just then, the ship’s public channel received a transmission. The holographic projection displayed the same Falleen woman who had given them the contract on Tatooine. She sneered, "You did well to retrieve the item. Now, hand over the storage device, take your payment, and then your business here is finished."

"I think it would be better to deliver this directly to Lord Hego," Cunt said with a smile.

The Falleen woman’s expression turned cold. "Don’t be ungrateful! Bring it over and hand it to me now, or I’ll come and take it myself!"

"Radar signal detected! Over by the asteroid belt!" Kunto suddenly shouted. He manipulated the console, and images of two ships appeared on the screen.

One was a 38-meter-long ship shaped like a turtle, and the other was a larger, trapezoidal medium-sized vessel, 52.3 meters in length.

Seeing these ships, Kunto went pale. "It’s a Ghtroc 720-class light freighter and a YV-865 Aurore-class freighter! What a load of garbage—they could have handled this job themselves, yet they forced us to do it!"

"Oh, it looks like both these ships are quite a bit larger than ours. They’ll probably be hard to deal with," Cunt said, glancing at the screen and whistling casually.

"I imagine they just wanted to pick up the spoils without getting their hands dirty in the mess at Mygeeto," Tenebrous scoffed.

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"I think it’s more than just picking up spoils; they likely want to finish us off while they’re at it," Cunt added. "I’ll bet 20 Upi on Kunto’s dime that the second we hand over the device, a blaster bolt will blow our heads off."

"I’ll bet 100 Upi on Kunto’s dime that we’ll get shot the moment we step onto their ship," Tenebrous laughed.

"Do we even have time for this?" Cunt asked, seemingly unfazed.

"I think we do," Tenebrous said, his gaze shifting to the T-850.

"I’m telling you! How are you two so oblivious!" Kunto felt like he was on the verge of a breakdown. "We’re out of ammo and fuel! Unless we land at the Roon spaceport to resupply, we can't make another hyperspace jump! And look at this!"

He turned the screen toward them, revealing the two freighters, which had been modified to look like spiked hedgehogs. "These ships are much larger than ours! After those modifications, there’s no way we can be their match! You know I’m just a smuggler—this ship has barely any combat modifications!"

"You might as well just say you don’t have the money to upgrade. Because you’re too scared to take on high-risk, high-reward jobs," Cunt pointed out sharply. "And I’m sure you didn’t earn this ship yourself; someone gave it to you, or you inherited it, right?"

"That’s not the point!" Kunto yelled, pointing at the screen. "They’re coming!"

"So you still want to struggle? Ha, no matter. I’ll come take it myself. Don’t worry, I’ll leave your bodies intact—mostly," the Falleen woman’s venomous voice echoed over the public channel.

Cunt and Tenebrous exchanged a look, then feigned panic and shouted loudly, "No! Please, don't! We surrender! We’ll give you the device right away..."

"Hahahaha! Now that’s a good boy. Lower your shields, deactivate your weapon systems, and dock with my ship. Don’t try anything funny! I have twenty people on my ship!" the Falleen woman commanded sharply.

"Right, right, I’m doing it, I’m doing it," Cunt said while deactivating the weapon systems and lowering the shields. The ship was now completely undefended. He steered the vessel toward the YV-865 Aurore-class freighter.

"Very good. I’ll be waiting for your package," the Falleen woman sneered and cut the transmission.

"What do we do? Are we really going to give it to her? She’ll definitely kill us once she has it!" Kunto shouted. Before he could finish, Tenebrous tossed something at him.

Kunto caught it reflexively, surprised by its weight. He looked down to see a black assault rifle.

"This is... a gun? A projectile weapon? Does anyone even use these anymore?" Kunto was stunned.

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"A gun that kills is a good gun, regardless of whether it fires blasters or bullets," Tenebrous said.

Kunto fiddled with the rifle, suddenly realizing the implication, and a bead of cold sweat rolled down his forehead. "Wait, are you planning to fight them?"

"What else? We’ve traveled almost across the entire galaxy from Mygeeto; we’re low on fuel and ammunition. Do you really want to engage in a ship-to-ship artillery duel with those two modified freighters?" Tenebrous said, helping Kunto pull back the bolt and disengage the safety.

The YT-1000 light freighter slowly approached the Aurore-class freighter and opened its docking hatch. On the other ship, the Falleen woman directed twenty heavily armed mercenaries to surround the doorway. "Open fire the moment it opens! I want that storage device, not the trash! Fiss! You keep an eye on things from the 720-class. If they try anything funny, blow their ship to pieces!"

"No problem, Boss."

A tremor ran through the ship; the two vessels had begun docking. The Falleen woman stepped back, drew her sniper rifle, and stood behind the mercenaries, staring intently at the hatch.

The hatch slowly opened, but a massive plume of disinfectant mist suddenly erupted from the corridor, obscuring their vision. From behind the mist, Cunt’s panicked voice called out, "Wait! Don’t shoot! Or I’ll destroy the storage device right now!"

"Kill him, get the device, and let’s go," the Falleen woman whispered.

The hatch opened fully. Before the mist could clear, the mercenaries' fingers were already tight on their triggers. Suddenly, a massive black shadow came crashing down upon them!

It was the wreckage of a landspeeder!

Why would there be something like that on a freighter?!