Wanted

There is this bar at the edge of the Iski district, quiet place, lots of regulars, decent drinks. Nothing out of the ordinary, really, except for that one wall that's pretty much plastered with authentic wanted posters. Not your average, run-of-the-mill robbers and murderers, either; Ralph – that's the barkeep – has quite the talent for putting up the most interesting pictures.

My favorite hangs a bit off to the side. It's a fairly old one obviously, not merely from the state it's in, but certain details of the picture, too, date it to the very early years of the Empire.

The quartet shown is called the Black Sisterhood, for some reason; which would make the cloaked and armored humanoid on the far left side a female – or close enough, at least – behind the full-face visor. Some say, it's a genuine old Sithlord (or would that be Sithlady, in this case?), say that when the fledgling Empire made its great effort to locate and eradicate all remaining members of the Jedi Order, the dragnet also, accidentally, roused something very, very old. Must have been a truly nasty surprise for the poor sap who found her first – I certainly wouldn't want to go up against those lightsabers!

The next in line is the Twilek lady officer, another good indication for the age of the poster. In the first years of Emperor Palpatine's reign, most things Republic simply got relabeled Imperial …, and if there was an alien (or, Stars forbid, a woman) among the officer ranks – well, so be it. For the first couple of years, that is. Later the going got tougher and tougher until it was all but impossible … but I digress. While the first 'sister' is obviously armed and armored, this one is wearing the serious officer look, the one that says: I won't start the fight, but I will finish it! Not a lady you'd want to mess with!

The third in line, or second from the right, has a mocking sparkle in the eyes, as if she, and she alone, knew they were posing for a wanted poster when this picture was taken – wherever that was, a smoothly tiled floor is the only visible background feature and not exactly a conclusive clue. That suit doesn't look as if it could hide a weapon (despite the description saying: all heavily armed and dangerous), but it also looks almost metallic, so who knows. In any case, that hint of come-and-get-me smirk around the lips promises pure pain to anyone foolish enough to take up the challenge. And who wouldn't be wary of a girl with blood-red eyes, anyways?

The one on the far right wears a cape of Nubian cut and a shy smile – but I've been in the business long enough to know to keep an extra eye on that one. Always beware the nice ones! That particular style of cloak went out of fashion decades ago, even before the inception of the Empire; but in its heyday, the ladies from Naboo had a reputation for being fearless and outspoken for good reasons. If you know what sort of education such a fine young lady went through …. Suffice to say, she might know thirty-seven ways of braiding your hair prettily, but she also knows how to utilize each and every hairstyle as a deadly weapon if need be; be it by way of pointy ornaments, or simply because a properly wound braid makes for a very discreet garrote. Besides, while that last one had no pockets to her skin-tight suit, the voluminous cape could hide an arsenal!

In total, we have four ladies – rather disparate ladies, I often wonder how they got together, but that is a story for another time – who wound up on the Empire's bad side, almost as soon as there was an Empire. And yet, as far as we know, that particular bounty was never cashed. There was some nasty little incident on Tatooine, I heard, when someone jumped at the lure of quick credits and … went down badly. Nothing more.

Perhaps they managed to convince the Empire that they'd make better allies than enemies – it's not outright impossible.

Whatever the case may be, they are most likely still out there, somewhere.