"You're Sidon Ithano!" Finn exclaimed, pointing at the man in crimson. The man spoke and bowed theatrically.

"You know them?" Jaina asked. Finn nodded. "Yeah... they're pirates." Finn said.

"Yep! And we're proud of it!" The amphibian said. The gamorrean came back and began squeaking.

"Well, looks like you really are the only ones aboard this ship." The man said.

"Now that that's been established, can we get going now? Our mission is pretty important." Jaina asked.

"You sure you don't want your ship to get fixed up?" The man asked.

"We're fine, thanks." Finn said.

A loud crashing sound echoed throughout the ship, getting everyone's attention. Sidon started speaking.

"No, boss! The rathtars are fine, I'm sure. That sounded more like we're being boarded!" The amphibian said.

Finn's eyes widened. "Wait, did you say rathtars?!" There was no answer since the pirates started walking out of the ship and into their own freighter. Jaina looked around and saw how large their ship really is. She even noticed that they had several other ships in the hangar. Just how many pirates were on their ship?

"Hey! You guys aren't hauling rathtars on this freighter, are you?!" Finn asked in a panicked voice.

"We're hauling rathtars. Kix! We need a visual on the docking tube!" The man spoke into his comm.

"Someone's boarding, Quiggold!" A voice spoke from the comm.

"Looks like the Guavian Death Gang! Must've tracked us from Nantoon!" Another voice stated. At that, the amphibian, who they now knew was Quiggold, seemed more stressed. Sidon spoke into his own comm.

"On it, boss!"

"What's a rathtar?" Jaina asked. "They're big, ugly, and dangerous." Quiggold responded.

"You ever heard of the Trillian Massacre?" Finn asked.

"No?" Jaina said, confused. She hadn't really kept up on galactic history in recent years, so she really had never heard of such an event or these creatures.

"Good." Finn said, quickly. "Why do you guys even have rathtars on your ship?" He asked. "We were selling them to King Prana!" Quiggold answered.

"How did you even get them onboard?" Finn asked.

"We used to have a bigger crew. You two need to stay hidden. These guys aren't exactly friends of the Republic and they're not exactly friends of ours either. Things could get ugly." Quiggold said.

"We can handle ourselves." Jaina said.

"I'm sure, but we really don't need any unnecessary conflicts right now." Quiggold said.

Sidon talked as he opened up a hatch in the floor. "He's right. You can use the maintenance halls to stay hidden while we handle them." Quiggold translated.

Reluctantly, Jaina caved and climbed inside while Finn followed close behind. She wanted to help, but whatever she did might attract the attention of the First Order. There's also the fact that the Guavian Death Gang might be working for them. So, right now was not a good time for Jaina to think with her lightsaber and let the pirates they barely know handle this. They were better equipped for situations like this anyway. Then, she noticed they didn't let the droid go down with them.

"Hey, what about BB-8?" Jaina asked.

"The little guy can stay with us. The maintenance halls aren't exactly astromech friendly." Quiggold said. The gamorrean began squeaking and grunting.

"He'll be alright! Promise!" Quiggold said as he closed the hatch in a hurry. Jaina could only sigh. Finn was overwhelmed and internally aggravated. What has this day come to?

***

Sidon talked into his comlink to his crew members as he, Quiggold, the gamorrean, and BB-8 stood in the intersection of the corridor they were in.

"Everyone in position, chief?" Quiggold asked. Sidon nodded. "Great. These moofmilkers won't know what hit 'em!" Quiggold said, smugly. BB-8 looked up at the gamorrean who grunted loudly at him, scaring BB-8.

"Stop messing around, Squeaky! I hear them coming!" Quiggold said as the blast doors in front of them opened. The Guavian Death Gang members walked through the door wearing their usual black and red armor, their faces covered by helmets with a circular disk on their faceplate. Leading them was their commanding officer, a man they knew as Bala Tik.

"Sidon Ithano! You're a dead man!" Bala Tik declared. Sidon started talking back.

"The problem is we loaned you 50,000 for this job! You still haven't paid us back after that!" Bala Tik said.

"You think wrangling rathtars was cheap? We sold that money! You'll get your 50,000 back when we deliver them and get paid!" Quiggold said.

"Kanjiclub wants their investment back too." Bala Tik spoke. "We never made a deal with Kanjiclub!" Quiggold said with anger.

"Tell that to Kanjiclub." Bala Tik said, pointing past them towards the blast door behind them that was now opening up. Quiggold looked on in concern, then anger directed at Sidon after realizing who made a deal with them.

"BOSS! Seriously?!" Quiggold exclaimed. Sidon shrugged his shoulders, making his apologies and excuses. The three pirates were outnumbered and surrounded on both sides. Now, it was in their best interest to not try anything until the others arrived. Things might be a little more difficult than they believed.

"Admit it! You've run out of excuses! Today's the day the Crimson Corsair becomes a little more crimson!" The Kanjiclub leader, Tasu Leech, announced with a laugh. The three pirates looked at each other in confusion from the statement, not realizing the pun.

"Listen, boys, you're both going to get what we promised! Have we ever not delivered for you before?" Quiggold asked, trying to assuage the anger of the gangsters.

"Yeah." Bala Tik said.

"Twice." Tasu Leech responded. Quiggold looked at Squeaky with confusion, who nodded back.

"That BB unit..." Bala Tik suddenly said, pointing at BB-8 who was hiding behind Sidon's legs. "The First Order's looking for one just like it... and two fugitives."

Quiggold looked on in disbelief. Those two really were fugitives. Though, they were fugitives of the First Order. They were probably still with the Republic, but were captured. He could tell they weren't lying when they answered his questions. All he could really do for them at the moment was play off the gangster's accusation with confusion.

"First I've heard of it." Quiggold responded.

"Search the ship." Tasu Leech commanded to his soldiers. Just as they started to walk away, several of them were shot down by someone behind them. Quiggold smiled as he saw Kix being the source of the blaster fire. Kix took cover behind the corner as the gangsters returned fire.

"Kill them! And take the droid!" Bala Tik shouted. All of a sudden, his men were also getting shot down from behind. This time, the source of the blaster fire was a red twi'lek with a cybernetic right hand accompanied by a small alien with bluish gray skin. As both gangs were distracted, the three pirates trapped in the middle returned fire while taking cover, BB-8 quickly following them. Sidon laughed at the sight. This was going to be a blast.

END OF CHAPTER 17