He looked up from his drink when the
Mandalorian entered the cantina. The man really knew how to make an
entrance. This wasn’t the Mando Gekko was used to see.
Instead of the ragtag armor the bounty hunter wore now an armor made of
Beskar. A rare sort of steel the Mandalorians used for their armors
before the Purge. Hard to get nowadays and now Mando was sporting a
whole set of armor made of the costly material. Gekko snorted as Greef
Karga greeted the man loudly mentioning that the other bounty hunters
will hate him. Oh, he was so right. Gekko followed the Mandalorian with
his eyes as he walked over to Karga and sat down opposite of the
broker. They weren’t speaking this loud as he would have been
able to eavesdrop on them but he saw Karga showing the Mandalorian two
Beskar bars. The percentage he received for his effort to hire the
bounty hunter.
But the Mando wasn’t the only one being hired to find the
quarry. Gekko touched the tracking fob in his pocket he still had. He
was sent too, but wasn’t as lucky as his rival. He looked up
from his drink again when he heard the Mando asking what might happen
to the delivered quarry. This was clearly against the guild’s
code and wasn’t well received by Karga. Shortly after Gekko
saw the Mandalorian leave the cantina and the hapless bounty hunter was
pretty sure that the man would leave the planet to hunt down the Mon
Cal who was showed by the puck the broker had handed him over. Gekko
downed his drink and ordered a new one pondering over his bad luck and
if he should ask the broker for another job.
But it never happened since after a while his tracking fob went off. He
saw to his surprise how many of his fellow bounty hunters were really
engaged in the hunt for the quarry the Mando was able to obtain since
their tracking fobs also went off. Karga got a call and shortly after
they headed out to intercept the rogue bounty hunter.
They positioned themselves near the Mando’s ship and were
waiting patiently for him to show up. Gekko stood near Karga itching to
take action.
When the Mandalorian arrived finally carrying the quarry Greef Karga
demanded to lay the bundle down. The Mando refused and the skirmish
begun. At first the man took out many of the attacking bounty hunters
and managed to enter a hover sledge. Forcing the droid who was assigned
to the sledge to start the engine and to drive toward the ships landing
pad he almost broke through the blockade. Almost, then Gekko saw how
Karga took aim and destroyed the droid. The Mando was trapped. All of
the remaining bounty hunters were advancing on him pretty sure that it
was over for the man who broke the code.
But then the tide was turning. Out of nowhere came Mandalorians flying
with blazing blasters to the rescue. They were everywhere; highly
maneuverable because of their jetpacks. The bounty hunters were unable
to withstand the onslaught and the Mando escaped to his ship.
It was over and it would take a while until they would recover from
what happened.
Gekko was lucky to be among the few survivors of the shoot out. He
looked up to the sky where the Razor Crest was
heading toward the orbit. He smiled behind his breathing masked.
The Mandalorian wasn’t the hunter any longer but the prey.
And the day would come when Gekko would claim the bounty on the
ex-bounty hunter's head.
