He sees it when Hera deflates slightly. “Fine,” she says. Then she points at him. “But this is your last chance. I need the last six months of dues from you by the end of next month. Or you’re out.”
Out. Out of Two Roses. Out of his home - even though it’s just these quarters. He could always keep chasing bounties, but he wouldn’t have the protection or backing of the guild. Aethon has crossed paths with rogue hunters. They’re usually haggard and vicious, and completely alone in the galaxy. And even if he wanted to join the psychos in Black Dagger Guild or the idiots from Cobra Guild, it’s unlikely another bounty hunter guild would want him with this stain on his record. Getting kicked out of Two Roses isn’t a death sentence, but it’s a blow most can’t recover from.
It’s January 15th by the common calendar, so that doesn’t give Aethon a lot of time. Exactly six weeks. Can he catch Daik Montrose by then? He’s not sure. But he has no choice. If he wants to stay in Two Roses he has to. And what else does he have besides the guild?
“I’ve got this,” he says, his voice dark.
Hera nods once. “You’d better.”
After she leaves, Aethon starts mechanically packing up his bag to bring to the Menace. He keeps most of his supplies on his ship, but he needs a few changes of clothes from his quarters. While he packs, he thinks.
He can’t focus on how important this bounty is. He should just play it by the book and do what he’s always done. But what he’s always done hasn’t been working recently. This latest rash of failures on his part is making Aethon rethink everything.
Six months ago, Bladesbearer beat him to a bounty. It was the one right before Daik Montrose shot her and put her out of the hunt for a while. She’d swooped in and nabbed Benny Ems - wanted for a nasty double homicide on a freighter. Aethon had been stuck on the other side of the sector, chasing down a false lead. Someone had used Benny’s credit chip at a bar there. Turned out he’d given the chip to a friend to lay a false trail. Aethon was seething when he stormed into headquarters and saw Bladesbearer leaning on the wall outside the holding cell where Benny Ems lay, unconscious.
“He was mine!” Aethon had growled. Bladesbearer had just looked up at him with a beautifully crushing grin. She rarely smiled, and her expression threatened to knock him back a step. Her light green eyes sparkled and she pushed all six leather-clad feet of her body off the wall and stalked up to him.
“Key word,” she purred. “Was.”
“You -”
“I wasn’t shadowing,” she interrupted. “You lost him when he planet hopped from Vitraxia to Me’aldi. You fell for that credit thing, didn’t you?”
Aethon didn’t deign that with a response. “You knew I was chasing him. I thought you were hunting Gerani - or whoever.”
Bladesbearer shrugged. “Right place, right time. Sorry, Aethon.”
Now, Aethon shoves a pair of boots into his bag with excessive vehemence. Bladesbearer taking that bounty out from under his nose was the start of a six month dry spell. He hasn’t brought a bounty in since.
Aethon thinks back to Bladesbearer’s expression when he accused her of having a solid location for Daik Montrose. She’d almost looked surprised. He’s had plenty of reason to doubt his gut lately, but he’s almost positive he’s not wrong about this. She knows where Daik is.
There are a few official rules that the bounty hunters of the Two Roses generally abide by.
Et Cor Venari Est
Crime is endless
Respect the crest
Criminals have long memories