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When You Give a Man Power
Chapter 2
I looked all around me taking in it all. Neon signs on the sides of buildings with what could be assumed were advertisements all over the place displayed in the equivalent of neon written in a foreign language.
Standing there in astonishment watching all the people loitering around near the streets or the buildings. No need to mention the speeding vehicles that zoomed across the sky.
But what further threw me off was how there were humans amongst some of the people around here, but the others were aliens. I thought the humanoid rats would be something out of Dungeons and Dragons or some other fantasy setting.
Nope, they were aliens. From space kind. Some of them I even recognized.
A quick glance to my side showed a scantily clad pure white-skinned woman with most of her skin on display. What little was hidden behind a black leather outfit. A black strap barely covered her chest, with strips crisscrossing over her stomach along with a short mini skirt made of the same material alongside leather high-top boots.
Looking at her not ogling 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 helped me. My eyes were 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. The realization of where I am hit me like a freight train, but now a bigger question formed in my head as I kept staring absentmindedly at the woman while she took notice of me staring.
When? Was it the Old Republic, Clone Wars, or the Imperial era? It could be other eras that I wasn’t aware of, considering the sheer scope of the series and how all over the place it was.
Broken from my thoughts when I realized the woman was talking to me, “-erested in a good time?” She asked 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 leaned 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 left my mouth caught me off guard with how smooth they were, “I appreciate the offer,” I said having managed to look at her green eyes as she smiled back at me, “I have bigger priorities right now.”
That caused her smile to dim a little.
“However, I could use some help in finding what I need.” I told her, which caused her eyes to light up. She seemed to regain some of her vigor.
“Well, what would you need?” She asked, leaning back looking relaxed where she sat on the concrete. Smudges and dirt clung to parts of her body but kept mostly out of sight.
“For starters, a place to sell these weapons. After that, I will need a computer to gather some information.” Listed each one off while my eyes stayed on her face, finding it easier than it should be despite her line of work she was still attractive.
It helped that some of the women 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 paused a moment thinking something over before she responded, “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 looked the part of a bounty hunter. That and I guess 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. Especially if you feel like you have some extra money on hand I wouldn’t mind giving you a discount.” She said to me while fluttering her eyes at me.
She was determined I’d give her that much. “As I said, I have my priorities. Who knows, maybe we will see each other again.” I told her while nodding my head.
She deflated a little at losing out on me. I reached into a small pocket out of habit. Fingers grasped some familiar objects, taking one of them out with about a dozen others like it.
Held in my hand the Twi’lek now looked at me with interest, with a snap of my thumb the coin flipped end over end with a crisp metal ring. When it neared her she deftly caught it in both hands.
She opened her hands up so only she could see it. A look of shock and surprise at what I just gave her blossomed on her face.
“I appreciate the help and kindness you showed. Take care of yourself.” I told her saying my goodbye.
She took the gold coin I gave her and hid it before she waved at me 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. I’m not one to skimp out on those who helped me even if it was 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 was a valuable thing to have. Now I just needed to get on my way as I saw other girls in my acquaintance's line of work walk over to chat with her who had watched our exchange.
Making my way down the street, a few people around me either glanced at me but went back to their business or just outright ignored 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 was being put to use.
The whole process was a bit surreal, but from what I could tell I am being affected by the memories of my characters. That would explain me having no qualms about not only gunning down those rats but using one as a meat shield.
Also helped 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 when I thought about it 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 was on his own now in this place. If he came back for revenge I will just end him this time regardless of whether he had 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 was now on my main memories of Earth to get a grasp on what was going on in my head. The normal Earth, not Fallout. So, I at least had my original memories intact but the addition of everything else was bleeding over.
Which wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. I am still waiting for the other shoe to drop on that regardless. There was always a catch after all and something like this would have to come with one.
My attention was 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 noticed walking down this street the more my disgust grew.
Looked like a shanty town albeit with more advanced technology in comparison to Earth, ironically enough.
I still could see numerous flying vehicles fly across the skyline. Massive towers loomed off in the distance. Must be the l homes of those in charge of this place while the sky had constant clouds colored yellow not just because of the star for this system but for all the pollution in it.
The pollution was so bad a quick sniff from me had my face twist in disgust. Made me feel unclean and covered in grease. The urge to shudder at that feeling grew but remained in control of myself. 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.
My walk went uninterrupted, eventually stepping past some people who loitered around a neon sign. Just about everyone was either packing weapons that were visible or hidden. That or the occasional street walker like the one that gave me directions.
One of them now and again along the sides of the buildings tried to entice potential customers, some of whom managed to snag a few as they chatted.
Further and further down the street before finally nearing the buildings that the lady had told me about. A dark green bar could be seen with flashing neon lights and alien letters scrawled on the sign, which was just another reminder that I needed to learn the written language.
Focusing on the bar, they had some type of weird music playing inside. The casino across from the bar had the flashing lights and stuff you expect to see associated with it to draw your attention to it.
Seeing some rough-looking guy’s out-front acting as security for the establishment. The tempted to do a little test with that casino was strong, but for now, it would be best to get some money in my pocket and figure out where I am at before getting ahead of myself.
Heading over to the building nestled in between the two. It was a dull gray with a big sign above it, but unlike the other buildings it had what looked like two large guns making an x.
Convenient.
Not wasting any time, I walked up to the door and pushed the button with the door sliding open with a feint. Rows upon rows of weapons greeted me. They were all aligned somewhat chaotically around the spacious shops shelves.
Signs on display next to each weapon or group of weapons showing numbers that looked close enough to Earth’s. Going further in taking note of any weapons that caught my eye.
A cashier counter with the sound of someone walking showed I wasn’t the only one in this place.
“Hello?” I said aloud.
The steps of the person in the back picked up their pace after that. The makeshift bag of weapons was plopped onto the counter having grown tired of carrying it around.
Not because it was physically tiring, considering my physical strength and endurance were far beyond what I had before waking up here. More out of wanting my other arm free since it was annoying to have to carry 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?” Said what I think was called a Rodian?
Couldn’t remember the names of every species this galaxy had. Dressed in a black apron covered in stains with a white shirt the sleeves rolled up his arms.
A sight to behold all things considered since he was real instead of on a TV screen with a guy in a costume. Finding myself thankful for the memories of dealing with all the horrors and oddities of the Commonwealth from the first time encountering 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 poking out of his forehead with a weird mouth that was small. He had green skin which wasn’t as jarring as seeing most of the aliens that I had by this point.
“I need to sell most of these weapons while keeping at least one of them along with some ammo for it.” I told him straight to business.
He looked at me for a few seconds pondering something before he looked at the weapons on the counter, eyeing them. He pulled them out one by one onto his counter. He hummed while looking over them.
“Interesting choice of blasters you have brought to me. Which ones were you interested in keeping?” He asked as his species equivalent to a smile formed 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 was 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 asked Spid, hearing his heart rate pick up slightly.
“Good eye! The pistol is a modified DL-44. Well known for hitting way above its weight despite being a pistol. Easily modifiable and rather popular all around from bounty hunters like yourself to officials of different militaries.” He said all of that with clear excitement in his voice, looking like he enjoyed 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 can see on the pistol looked to be for more power in each shot while keeping it from overheating too much.” He gestured to different components and parts of the pistol with his hands as I watched keenly.
“How many shots does it normally hold?” I asked him genuinely curious since the deeper and in my opinion, useless lore I never cared enough to know about like how many shots a fictional gun could hold. Well, I guess the joke was on me now for not caring.
“Well, normally the pistol could do twenty five shots before overheating.”
That got my attention. With how he worded that he made it sound like it could fire more before having to reload.
We haggled back and forth, with him trying to get as much as he could out of this deal while making sure I didn’t get stiffed. Glad I had taken notice of the weapons that were the same type like some of the ones I had brought
The signs helped in knowing the potential value of the weapons with Spid going lower while I made sure he never went below the certain value I had set in my head while I continued to ensure I got as much as I could get.
“Alright, that is acceptable! You have a deal.” Spid says to me as he held 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 had no idea how much more the modifications would add on to the weapons but I don’t see any weapons on display with modifications like ones I 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. 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 had gone into detail about how this weapon was 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 told Spid.
He handed me a pouch with gold coins with a 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 responded giving me his full attention as he rose 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 had been working around in my head for the Black Star was going to work.
It will also help me get better accustomed to my newfound abilities and skills, which seemed to not be at the level they should be considering the people who managed to notice 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 was 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 have a wonderful day!” I said to him with a quick nod of appreciation as I walked out the door after holstering the rifle and pistol with their respective energy packs.
“You mean a wonderful night!” Spid said back to me with a laugh crystal clear in his voice as I stumbled slightly at his words.
Night?!
Eyes widened at that revelation. How? My mind went into overdrive as it came 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 let out a sigh as I made my way over to the bar. I think I need a stiff drink after that scare.
