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Being a member of the Guild meant he did everything for the betterment of the Mandalorian Guild. He had taken this bounty to help not only himself but the foundlings and old ones who were waiting in the Guild Hall.
He had not counted on the bounty being so small or so sought after. Every Mandalorian accepted the risk of bounty hunting, but nothing had prepared him for the amount of treachery around this one small being.
He had not expected to be as conflicted about turning over his bounty to the client. It was his job as a bounty hunter to collect the target and return it to the client. He never worried about what happened to the bounty after he turned it over. He collected what he was sent for, collected his fee, and returned to the Guild to see the Guild Master. That was how it happened every time. Except for this one.
He had walked into the client’s office with every intention of turning the bounty over. His information told him the target was fifty years old, but the target’s behavior told him it was little more than a child. He had started to call this bounty “The Child” in his mind because he could not see it as a target. He was still deciding on whether to turn the bounty over or leave with it when the client spoke.
“Thank you for your diligence. Your payment is on the desk.” The bounty hunter looked for the source of the instructions as they echoed through the room. “You have done well. We appreciate the Guild’s services. Leave it on the table and return to your ship. There is nothing more for you here.”
The bounty hunter let the carrier hover over the table as he reached for his payment.
“Kill it.” The client’s voice boomed from the shadows. “We need the data from it’s death before we study it.”
He made his decision as the client’s voice finished echoing through the room. Tapping the carrier closed, the bounty hunter grabbed the money and the carrier and turned to leave the room.
“You either leave the money or the bounty, hunter.” The voice emerged from the shadows. “To take both will tarnish you and make you the hunted and the hunter.”
“So be it,” the bounty hunter sighed as he walked toward the door. “It is too young to die. We protect foundlings, not kill them.”
The bounty hunter tucked the carrier into his chest and began to run for his ship. The Guild Master would be disappointed if he did otherwise.
Actions have consequences, and with his decision to not turn over this bounty, he would face those consequences until he had the answers to why it had been created in the first place.