When You Give a Man Power
Chapter 2

I look all around me as I take in what I am seeing. Neon signs on the sides of the buildings with what I assume are advertisements all over the place, or at least the equivalent of neon that is written in a foreign language. 

I look around me in astonishment at all the people loitering around near the streets or the buildings. No need to mention the speeding vehicles zooming across the sky.
 
But what further throws me off is seeing how there are humans among some of the people around here, but the others are aliens. I thought the humanoid rats could be something out of Dungeons and Dragons or some other fantasy setting. Nope, they are aliens. As in from space. Some of them I even recognize is why I know they are aliens.
 
I look over to my side to see a scantily clad pure white-skinned woman with most of her skin on display. What little is hidden in a black leather outfit. A black strap of it barely covered her chest, with strips crisscrossing over her stomach along with a short mini skirt of the same material along with leather high-top boots.
 
Looking at her as I don’t ogle her like I would have years ago before I learned my ways from the man I considered more of a father than my own. That and my new memories helping me. My eyes are drawn to her head. Particularly onto what appeared to be two tentacles growing from her head. A Twi’lek.
 
One of the most iconic species and recognizable ones in Star Wars. Realizing where I am at, but now a bigger question forms in my head as I keep staring absentmindedly at the woman as she takes notice of me staring.
 
When? Is it the Old Republic, Clone Wars, or the Imperial era? And it could be other eras that I wasn’t aware of, considering the sheer scope of the series on how all over the place it is.
 
I am broken from my musings as I realize the woman was talking to me, “-erested in a good time?” She says to me with a honeyed voice that a part of me registered as a mix of both interest in me but also her desire for money. She leans forward for me to get a good view of her cleavage with the small strip of leather keeping her assets barely contained.
 
The words that leave my mouth catch me off guard with how smooth they are, “I appreciate the offer,” I say as I only look at her green eyes as she smiles at me, “I have bigger priorities right now.” This causes her smile to dim a little.
 
“However, I could use some help in finding what I need.” I say to her as I smile, causing her eyes to light up as she seems to regain some of her vigor.
 
“Well, what would you be needing?” She says as she leans back relaxing where she is sitting on the concrete. I see the smudges and dirt clinging to parts of her body kept mostly out of sight. 
 
“For starters, a place to sell these weapons. After that, I will need a computer to gather some information.” I say as my eyes stay on her face, finding it easier than it should be considering despite her line of work she is still attractive. It helps the woman that I had some fun with in Skyrim easily beat her in the looks department.
 
“That last part I don’t know where you could find one that is public around here,” She says before pausing a moment as she has a contemplative look on her face, “But I do know a decent blaster shop and outfitter for bounty hunters like yourself.”
 
Oh yeah, the rats thought the same thing and I guess I would look the part of a bounty hunter from Star Wars with how I look. That and I guess with the lifestyles of my new memories I wouldn’t be too far off from a bounty hunter 

“Just go further down the street and it will be in between the bar colored a dark green and the yellow casino on the right. Don’t be a stranger handsome, and if you feel like you have some extra money on hand I wouldn’t mind giving you a discount.” She says to me while fluttering her eyes at me.
 
She is determined I give her that much. “As I said, I have my priorities. Who knows, maybe we will see each other again.” I say to her while nodding my head, as she deflates a little at losing out on me. I reach into a small pocket out of habit.
 
Grasping some familiar objects, I take one of them out as I have about a dozen others like it that I counted out. I hold it in my hand as the Twi’lek is looking at me with interest, I take my thumb and flip the coin as it flies with a crisp metal ringing that she deftly catches in both hands. 

Opening her hands up for only her to see it, she has a look of shock and surprise at what I just gave her. “I appreciate the help and kindness you showed. Take care of yourself.” I say to her as she takes the gold coin I gave her and hides it she waves at me as she lights back up with a big smile on her face. 

What I did may have been dumb, but I don’t care. From what I could observe, she was being honest, and I am not one to skimp out on those who help me even if it’s something simple. Especially in a place like this.
 
Plus who knows, we may meet each other again and that would help ingratiate her to me. After all, having someone on the street relaying information is a valuable thing to have. Now I just need to get on my way as I see other girls in my acquaintance's line of work walk over to chat with her who were watching our exchange. 

Making my way down the street, a few people around me either glance at me but go back to their business or just outright ignore me, not noticing me walking by them.
 
Might have to keep my eye on those who noticed me considering I’m taking advantage of my one hundred stealth. In other words, the knowledge and experience my characters had accumulated throughout their journeys I’m putting to use. 

The whole process is a bit surreal, but from what I can tell currently I am being affected by the memories of my characters. That would explain my having no qualms about not only gunning down those rats but using one as a meat shield. 

Also helps that they were no different from the numerous raiders and bandits I had killed and the fact they were going to sell me off as a slave. Probably should have killed the leader then and there but I was figuring out what was even happening to me by that point and I had a rare moment of hesitation. 

Not that big of a deal, considering the guy was a coward and he is on his own now in this place. And if he comes for revenge I will just end him this time regardless of whether he has backup or not. After all, I showed firsthand how much better I am than them even when outnumbered and out-positioned. Makes them less likely to come back.
 
My attention is now on my main memories of Earth to get a grasp on what is going on in my head. The normal Earth, not Fallout. So, I at least have my original memories intact but the addition of everything else is bleeding over. 

Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I am still waiting for the other shoe to drop on that regardless. There is always a catch after all.
 
My attention is once more focused on my surroundings which I regret considering how it's more disgusting to me thanks to my enhanced senses. The more I see as I walk down this street the more disgusted I am with this place.
 
Looks like a shanty town albeit with more advanced technology in comparison to Earth ironically enough as I still see numerous flying vehicles fly about across the skyline. Massive towers loom off in the distance I assume are the homes of those in charge of this place while the sky has constant yellowed clouds not just because of the star for this system but for all the pollution in it. 

I can even smell the pollution and chemicals in the air. Makes me feel unclean and covered in grease. I fight down the urge to shudder at that feeling. Never liked being unclean for prolonged periods. 

Guess I should be thankful for being better accustomed to it considering how many times I went without a bath or shower in the Commonwealth and Skyrim.

I keep walking while I step past some people loitering around a neon sign. Just about everyone I see is either packing weapons that are visible or hidden. That or the occasional street walker like the one that gave me directions. 

I see one of them now and again along the sides of the buildings trying to entice potential customers, some of whom manage to snag a few as they chat.
 
I keep walking as I make my way further and further down the street nearing the buildings that the lady told me about. A dark green bar that I see coming up with flashing neon lights with alien letters on it, which is just another reminder I need to learn the written language.
 
Focusing on the bar, I see they have some type of weird music playing inside from what I can pick up with my enhanced hearing. I look over and see the casino that she said would be here as it has all the flashing lights and stuff I expect to see associated with a casino to draw your attention to it.
 
Seeing some rough-looking guy’s out-front acting as security for the establishment. I find myself tempted to do a little test with that casino, but for now, I think I should get some money in my pocket and figure out where I am at and when it is before I go getting into anything like that. If I do at all, since the house doesn’t like it when anyone beats the house.
 
I head to the building nestled in between the two. I notice it’s a dull gray with a big sign above it in more alien letters, though what looks like two large guns making an x tells me this is the place. Not wasting any time, I walk up to it and see the door doesn’t have a handle to it, though I see a panel with a button on it. 

I walk up to the door and push the button opening the door with a line from top to bottom that splits in half as the two halves slide away into the wall. Rows upon rows of weapons of all sorts greet me as they are all aligned somewhat chaotically on shelves and racks. 

Signs are up on display next to each weapon or group of weapons seeing numbers that look close enough to my own from Earth to see the prices. Walking further in I take note of any weapons that catch my eye or weapons that are similar to what I have. Seeing a cashier counter I hear someone walking in the back area out of sight with light steps.
 
“Hello?” I say as I raise my voice, hearing the steps of the person in the back pick up their pace. I get to the counter and wait for them as I take the makeshift bag of weapons off and place it on the counter tired of carrying it around.
 
Not because it is physically tiring, considering my physical strength and endurance are far beyond what I had before waking up here. More out of wanting my other arm free since it’s annoying carrying it as long as I did putting a potential target on my back.
 
“Hello, good bounty hunter. I am Spid Nezeyosh and I welcome you to my shop. How may I help you?” Says what I think is called a Rodian? Can’t remember the names of every species this galaxy has. Dressed in a black apron covered in a lot of stains with a white shirt with the sleeves rolled up his arms. 

A sight to behold all things considered as he is real instead of on a TV screen with a guy in a costume. I am thankful for having the memories of dealing with all the horrors and oddities of the Commonwealth from the first time seeing a deathclaw to everything that came after. 

So seeing either a humanoid bug or reptile? Either way seeing a big bug-eyed alien with two antennae with a weird mouth that is rather small with green skin wasn’t as jarring as seeing most of the aliens that I have by this point considering how quickly I got over it.
 
“I need to sell most of these weapons while keeping at least one of them along with some ammo for it.” I say to him getting straight to business.

He looks at me for a few seconds pondering something before he looks at the weapons on the counter, eyeing them as he pulls them out one by one onto his counter. He hums while looking over them.
 
“Interesting choice of blasters you have brought to me. Which ones were you interested in keeping?” He asks as his species equivalent to a smile forms on his face. 

Looking at each weapon with a cursory glance my eyes finally settled on the pistol after lingering on a passingly familiar rifle. Still bothered by how familiar it is to me and hopefully, it will get rectified here.

“The pistol and maybe that rifle closest to it on the left have my interest. Anything you can tell me about them?” I ask Spid as I hear his heart pick up slightly but only that. Watching as I gauge his reaction and how says things.

“Good eye! The pistol from what I see is a modified DL-44 and is well known for hitting way above its weight despite being a pistol. Also easily modifiable and rather popular all around from bounty hunters like yourself to officials of different militaries.” Sour fires off all of this with clear excitement in his voice as he enjoys talking about it and gesturing to its different features. All the while his heart remains steady through it all.

“Even unmodified it has good features like a built-in vibration system in the handgrip to alert the user when they have only five shots left. The modifications I am seeing on the pistol look to be for more power in each shot while keeping it from overheating as easily.” He says while gesturing to different components and parts of the pistol with his hands as I watch keenly.

“How many shots does it normally hold?” I ask him genuinely curious since the deeper and in my opinion, useless lore I never cared enough to know exactly how many shots a fictional gun could hold. Well, I guess the joke is on me now for not caring.

“Well, normally the pistol can do 25 shots before overheating.” This gets my attention. With how he worded that he made it sound like it could fire more before having to reload. He continues as we haggle back and forth, add in me taking notice of weapons of the same type besides some modifications these weapons had done to them so I knew when he was trying to undercut me.

The signs helped in knowing the potential value of the weapons and Spid went back and forth on the haggling while I made sure he never went below the certain value I set in my head while I continued to ensure I got as much as I could get from them.

“Alright, that is acceptable! You have a deal.” Spid says to me as he holds his hand out to me as I bring my own up and we shake on it. Surprisingly strong grip from the man, but nothing compared to my newfound strength.

With a smile, I responded, “Glad to see we could come to an agreement.” Of course, Spid more than likely got the better end of the deal considering I have no idea how much more the modifications would add on to the weapons but I don’t see any weapons on display with modifications of any like the ones I just had.

But I still came out on top considering the value of the base weapons and me getting quite a bit above it. So I will take what I can at this point. After swapping out most of the weapons besides two of them. 

One of which I came to realize was none other than the blaster made famous by Han Solo. After Spid talked with me about each weapon before I sold them I knew which ones I wanted to keep and it got brought up and why it was so familiar to me. 

The DL-44 from what I remembered was a heavy-hitting blaster pistol that despite it being a pistol hit way above its weight class. And Spid further confirmed this albeit with great exaggeration but I think the weapon may one day be capable of it. One day I swear you will be shooting down tanks with well-placed shots my friend. I will prove to all that size doesn’t matter, it’s how you modify it and use it!

The other weapon I ended up keeping was another weapon that I didn’t remember as well as I did the DL-44. That being the A280 rifle that after some thinking I remember it being the weapon that several no-name Rebel soldiers used in battles against the Empire. Spid goes into detail about how this weapon is known for its armor-piercing capabilities and despite how good it is isn’t as widespread as it should be. 

“With that bit of business taken care of, I do need to know something.” I say to Spid as he hands me a pouch with gold coins with some Hutt on one side. He called them peggats and just another thing I will need to figure out the exchange rate and value of.

“Alright, I might know what you need.” He says back as he gives me his full attention as he rises back up after stashing the weapons behind the counter.

“You know anywhere close by I can go to for any bounties posted?” I know getting into a dangerous occupation like bounty hunting is not exactly the greatest idea but I need money fast if the plan I have been working around in my head for the Black Star is going to work.

It will also help me get better accustomed to my newfound abilities and skills, which seem to not be at the level they should be considering the people who noticed me on the street when they shouldn’t have.

Between that and me merely going off of instinct in that fight with the rats, which saved my life. However, relying solely on instinct to carry you in a fight is a surefire way to have things go horrifically wrong.

“Sure I do! The bar right next to my shop is the closest Bounty Hunter Guild-associated building you go to for bounties.”

“Well it’s hard to beat that kind of convenience then, you Spid have a wonderful day!” I say to him with a quick nod of appreciation as I walk for the door after holstering the rifle and pistol with their respective energy packs.

“You mean a wonderful night!” Spid says to me with a laugh crystal clear in his voice as I stumble slightly at his words. Night?! What! 

Eyes widened at that revelation. How? My mind cranking into overdrive as it comes to a stop. Light pollution. Oh boy. My great old enemy still may be right around the corner when I thought I was safe. Shaking my head I let out a sigh as I made my way over to the bar. I think I need a drink after that scare.