CUT SCENE ONE

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Late Afternoon; the Previous day....


Gatral; a hard-faced Human male Bounty Hunter with a short beard; came upon a pair of dead men. With a quick hand motion, he signaled his two fellow Hunters who were with him to be alert. They quickly started to look around in all directions; their hands on their Heavy Blaster pistols gripping the weapons just a little tighter than usual.

After looking over the bodies of the dead Quarren and Human; Gatral grunted and said to the others; "Zharrin and Stitch have both been killed by blaster bolts. Let's look around and see if we can find Corb too." With that; the three fanned out and looked around for several minutes; but all they found were footprints leading away. "Hmm; let's get back to Crutag and report this"; Gatral said to the others and they soon made their way back to their leader....

Meanwhile; in a different part of the swamp; Crutag the Taloran Hunter stood with his own team of Hunters which included Slimeago the Rodian and Slizzik the Barabel; while waiting for the other four teams to meet back here in the clearing they had designated their rendezvous point. Soon; Gatral's team and a team led by another Barabel arrived and Gatral told the fate of Stitch and Zharrin.

Crutag was a frightening looking man; a pinch-faced; tall and powerfully built near-human who wore a suit of Body Armor, open-faced Helmet, a cape, an old-fashioned sword on his back and a Blaster Carbine with a folding stock and an attached Vibro-bayonet. Upon hearing the fate of two of his hunters, he visibly grew angry, though he stayed stock-still. "And Jane?"; "No signs"; replied Gatral. Crutage didn't reply but impatiently began to pace back and forth.

Night was just starting to fall over the mud-filled, rainy world of Trinta when another team of 3 hunters arrived; this one led by a short, slightly built Chadra-Fan Hunter named Hewi. Hewi was visibly shaking with fear. "Cruuuu- Cruuu.....Crutag?"; the little alien stuttered, "Well, WHAT IS IT?"; roared the Taloran. "We.....we....we we were guarding the ship; when we heard noises....like a bunch of people were approaching and when we called out; the noises stopped. So, we investigated...and heard noises like the sounds of people running off....so we pursued; thinking they might be the Rebels. Soon, the noises faded away and we went back to the ship....and it....it...it wasn't there!"; squeaked out the mouse-like alien.

Crutag glowered above the little alien; his fists clenched tightly....."It wasn't there? It WASN'T THERE?!!! You LET OUR PREY STEAL OUR SHIP?!!!" "Nahhhh....nahhhh....No Sir; the ship just vanished....no signs of blast marks, plus we would have heard or seen it if it had taken off-"; "SILENCE!", Crutage cut Hewi off in a rage.

He started pacing back and forth again; seemingly talking to himself. "Hmmm.....they must have somehow rigged a way to move the ship without taking off....but they DARED to take my Scent of Fear?....They will most certainly pay for this INSOLENCE".....Hewi had let out a breath of relief and lowered his head, thinking that Crutag had now focused his rage on the prey. How wrong the poor alien was...

Crutag suddenly stopped pacing right in front of Hewi and yelled out; "You let OUR PREY steal MY ship!"; and quick as a whip he snapped the butt of his Blaster Carbine into Hewi's head, dropping the alien to the muddy ground in a cry of pain and terror. "YOU LET OUR PREY STEAL MY SHIP!"; Crutag roared out numerous times as he viciously stabbed down with his Blater's Vibro-bayonet into poor Hewi again and again. The rest of the Bounty Hunters all found themselves involuntarily backing up; save for the two Barabels who clasped hands and watched with detached interest.

After a long few moments, Crutag's rage seemed to fade and he contemptuously kicked poor Hewi's body into the nearby swampy water and he turned to the others. "Tomorrow; we fan out....find them....and make sure that we take at least one of them ALIVE; so that I can beat out where they took my ship and we will then leave this miserable world with their corpses and collect the bounties on all of them. Is that understood?" His fellow Hunters were quick to reply in the affirmative and they quickly set up camp; while nervously glancing over to where poor Hewi's body had been unceremoniously dumped into the water....


Early Morning; Current Day

The following morning; the Hunters gathered and Crutag divided his men into teams of 3 again and sent them out to search for the Rebels; save for taking the two former team members of Hewi; both Humans; and adding them to his own team consisting of himself, Slimeago the Rodian and Slizzik the Barabel. Slizzik and the other Barabel hissed a good-bye to each other and the teams split up to hunt for their quarry...