All Your Docking Bays Belong To Us.

[RedneckLoves]

Aria was hell bent on her target. In that moment of pure rage her vision tunneled and closed to include nothing but the man she was running towards. Since the Jedi happened to have blaster - how many gadgets did this guy have? - and was aiming to shoot it at her, this would normally have been an unfortunate time to not be thinking clearly. However, in this moment it saved her life.

So focused on the Jedi was she that she did not see the other Sith at the end of the hallway, nor did she see the woman who had entered the fray, but she didn't see the dead bodies of the guards she had killed earlier either. She tripped over one man's ankle at the same instant the man on the ground fired his blaster at her. He'd been aiming at her midsection, so when she fell to the ground the bolts went right over her.

Falling was another thing that would normally be bad but in this instance was fortuitous. Her vision ripped from the center of her burning rage, her assault interrupted by the fall, Aria's mind cleared somewhat and she was able to think. The woman's voice that had spoken a moment ago registered and Aria knew there was now another adversary to deal with. Luckily, Hausser was at that end of the hall, he would have to deal with the new threat. Aria had her own problems. All these thoughts and more flew through her mind in an instant.

An alarm began as she jumped to her feet. "All docking bays locked down. Repeat. All docking bays locked down." Red emergency lights began flashing and the booming alarm continued repeating. Aria smiled. Her commands had indeed gotten through the computer systems. Their mission was completed. All that was left was to get away and return to Ziost.

The same instant she smiled because of the alarm, she took the few remaining steps she needed to get to the Jedi. The rage was still present, but her mind was clear now. She hadn't let go of her claws when she fell and used them now with ferocious intensity. Her right hand plunged forward to impale the man's belly and her left came up with a slash to his face, intending to cut deep furrows into his flesh.

 

[Eccles]

Seeing Fricking Talia Al'Saif appear out of nowhere was too much for Davik to handle, so he had run, accompanied by a shreek that may or may not have been very masculine in nature and his arms swaying in the air as if gravity no longer had a hold on them. In his fear he had completely forgotten about the building being partly on fire and the threat that was said to be present inside, as let's be honest, there was no threat worse than bloody Talia Al'Saif, boogey(wo)man of all criminals in the Rim.

He didn't stop running until he almost tripped over a dead body, it was a guard, and likely also his contact from the smuggling operation as he was wearing an exquisite gold wristwatch that without a doubt was too expensive for a guard salary. Davik regretted the wasted opportunity, but found his C-210 blaster pistol firmly in his right hand as if he had subconsciously already administered was he saw when he looked up. A woman with enormous claws was charging a man laying on the floor but tripped just as the man fired blaster bolts at her, causing the bolts to narrowly miss the newly arrived Davik. In a fearful reflex he aimed his blaster into their direction and fired six times before he took a moment to see if he had hit anything. With the woman standing back up and trying to gut the man, effectively shielding him from getting hit, it was likely she'd be hit in the back by at least one of the bolts, if not all.

 

[Narsi]

Hausser never stood a chance of stopping. Sure he had seen the helmeted figure appear and he had heard her command but really, how could anyone in a full sprint stop without taking another step. He had barely enough time to devote any attention to the new threat before three blaster bolts were wizzing at his face. Hausser's piss yellow eye's widened and he raised his lightsaber, putting the brakes on his sprint. Hausser weaved his head back and took a good look at the beautifully blazing bolt of fire that singed his nose in passing. The second blaster shot made a hole through Hausser's trailing hood, forever ruining his customized fire-resistant cloak. Hausser intercepted the third bolt with his lightsaber and using the force to guide his blade, redirected the shot forward towards the Jedi on the ground.

The way Hausser had angled his blade, the bolt was now heading across the room at a slightly downward angle. As Aibhne was laying with his feet point towards Hausser, the bolt, if left unchecked,was going to impact the Jedi's groin area. Aibhne was now facing castration via open flame cauterization. As Hausser finished skidding to a stop, he caught the flicker of movement from behind Aria and groaned inwardly at the sight and sound of another man firing shots at Aria's unprotected back. With that Hausser returned his full attention back to Talia as he finally came to a complete stop.

Hausser gasped and groaned as he faced the bounty hunter. His rib was aching again from his sprint and rough stop. The focus required to reflect that bolt where he had wanted it to go had turned his headache into a stabbing migraine. A drop of blood rolled from his nose onto the floor. His nose had started bleeding again too. Hausser raised his lightsaber in front of his face, staring deep into the red blade, trying desperately to draw strength from the supercharged fire as he faced his new opponent.

"What are you doing?" Hausser rasped out, " That fool attacked us first, why would you attack us? We've done nothing to you." He flicked his head towards the other newcomer at the other end of the hall, " I'm guessing that's your partner. I can tell by the way he is attacking without any provocation, just like you. Heck, he's also going for an ambush on an injured preoccupied opponent, just like you did. " Hausser spit a wad of blood out while continuing his stare into the lightsaber, " Screw guessing, I'm sure your in cahoots with that guy."

 

[Sreeya]

Talia was confused as to why the Sith chose to speed up his advance towards the fallen Jedi after she had made it clear she wouldn’t stand for it. Shrugging, the bounty hunter pulled the trigger three times. The first two went in the Sith’s direction, the third deflected.

Talia stood unamused as the Sith huffed and puffed like an old woman as he turned to face her. It was clear he was exhausted, and she could sense he was actually a bit afraid as well. The bounty sighed as he began to speak, fingers itching to pull the trigger again a few times. She bit back, tilting her head to survey the man. He was attempting so hard to get her to open up her life story about why she was here. In truth, she had been chasing Davik for a long time, and area was being investigated by Jedi for smuggling operations. Davik led her to this place, driven by his own smuggling tendencies. Of course, she wasn't about to blabber on like this Sith was.

“You talk too much.”

She eyed the lightsaber he held.

“You and your psycho friend over there locked down the facility. How do you suppose any of us are going to get out of here?”

Talia could tell both the Sith were exhausted. In truth, she was an excellent slicer, but she wasn’t about to reveal that to these goons.

“You both can come quietly with me back to Republic space, or we can have an altercation here. Don’t worry, the Jedi don’t hurt unarmed and captured people. As for taking it personally, your kind is responsible for a lot of chaos both for me and anyone I care about. So what’s it gonna be? I’m not going to just let you waltz out of here, sorry.”

She cocked her head at Davik.

“Oy! I take off your bounty if you help me reel in these weirdos!”

 

[Aibhne Tibbot]

Aibhne watched Aria trip with increasing horror, his blaster still pointed at her, his senses suddenly flaring to impending dangers as he pulled the trigger a third time; Aibhne achingly rolling back away from the feral, clawed beast.

pew

Aria had just finished tripping and was open to the statistically sure-fire shot aimed for her abdomen. And as a result of Aibhne rolling away from Aria, Hausser's redirected blaster bolt struck into the floor just shy of Aibhne's thigh. So near a miss it was that the blaster bolt seared a lick of heat into Aibhne's surface flesh, the Jedi biting into a cry of pain.

"Hetch!"

Between Aibhne's certain and goofproof shot and the shots from behind her, of which at least one would surely succeed, Aria would in all likelihood be taken down; down for the count. Now her inaction would save her life. Taking these blaster bolts could take her down and take her out of the fight. But to continue in the face of defeat would surely mean certain death.

And as Aibhne's faculties began to return to him, so too did the pain increase. But Aibhne knew pain. Not to say he could bare it, but that he could interpret the signs. This kind of pain, minus the numbness, meant less severe injuries. After having rolled onto his back, he could feel the sting of pain on his left calf and ankle, the prickling pain in his right arm and shoulder, the throbbing pain in his right ribs, and the tenderness in his face. His entire body agonized in peripheral discomfort. Yet he was alive. And it hurts to be alive.

He could not open his mouth quick enough to voice his manipulating counterargument to what was being said and what he was being accused of, but he could not force the sound to escape his throat. He looked up, face all busted up with a pitifully wavering look of distress to Talia in protest to the Sith's lies, and opened and opened and opened his slobbering mouth; making only dry squeaks and whispers.

"Ai-hne T-t-bot. Je--ai. Kn---ht." - unintelligible gargling.

Just. Need. More. Time. Soon he might make a sound. Soon he might recover, stand even. Soon he could even walk out of here on his own two feet. If only he could speak, he could tell these gunslingers of the rewards they would be showered with if they helped him. This was too important. Sects in the Senate didn't even believe the Sith had returned. If they could just send transmission, show the Core this accomplishment and pull the curtain off this plot and expose it for whatever it is... Then his wrist felt something and his thoughts switched. His right wrist was now laying on top of one of his lightsaber hilts! His or Ryu's. His left hand, shivering, started patting the floor in search of his second hilt; hoping it too was just nearby.

Spoiler: THEORETICAL

After Aria took those "few remaining steps" when she would be shot from both directions, should her claws still slash at Aibhne's belly and face - her attacks would nearly miss due to Aibhne's roll away from her so that mere scratches were the result. His belly was covered in armor, so her glancing claws would not harm him. While his face rolled away and would likely only suffer thin surface cuts at best, if her attacks could even be executed in the shock of being shot.

 

[RedneckLoves]

Aria's smile left her face. The sounds of people talking and blasters being fired seemed dim to her ears. Her vision once again became a blur. She managed to stumble a few steps forward, but could no longer locate the Jedi. Her mind began to cloud and she couldn't remember what she was trying to accomplish...

Aibhne's last ditch effort was not wasted. His blaster bolt hit Aria in the side, a nonlethal area, though she had already sustained many injuries. One of Davik's shots also hit her, tearing flesh from her shoulder. The shock of being hit twice more, on top of all the other injuries she had sustained very recently were too much for Aria's body. She fell to the ground unconscious, very near her comrade Ryu's body.

 

[Eccles]

Davik watched the woman fall amidst the pile of bodies, but he needed to blink a couple of times before it finally got through to him. He seemingly had managed to survive so far and saw several lightsabers on the floor next to the pile of bodies, so he figured that he had single-handedly just killed the three Sith that had been causing all this ruckus. Content, he suddenly remembered the gold wristwatch that the guard was wearing and kneeled down to slid it from the dead man's arm. "This is nice, Dormani." he smiled. He didn't go through all of this for nothing, after all.

“Oy! I take off your bounty if you help me reel in these weirdos!”

Davik jerked upwards in shock, Kriff he had hoped to have lost Talia when she took the wrong turn somewhere in the building, but apparently all the hallways lead to, well, the pile of bodies over there with the slowly stirring man. It took a moment for him to understand that with these wierdos the infamous bogey(wo)man of all the criminals of the Rim actually meant this wierdo. Apparently grammar wasn't her strong suit. Figures, when you're good at the physical part you inadvertently have sawdust for brains. Which also meant that she probably meant it when she said she'd have the bounty taken off his head, so Davik decided to actually consider the proposal and turned his gaze towards the third person in the hallway that was still standing. He had a lightsaber, Kriff that meant Davik probably shot an innocent just now. Nevertheless, he was sure a Sith would never allow him to live and that simply left him with no other option than to accept Talia's deal.

He raised his C-210 blaster pistol and aimed it at the Sith as he slowly walked towards him to close the distance to a range where he knew he'd have a pretty good shot. "Surrender, vile Sith" Davik said with the intent to sound heroic, but it came out completely unimpressive and even left a sour taste in his own mouth. "Come on, I really need to get rid of this bounty"

 

[Narsi]

Hausser winced as he heard the thud of Aria hitting the ground. His last ally had just officially been taken out of the fight and now he watched in wide-eyed disbelief as the newcomer also stepped forward, accepting the bounty hunter's offer and cementing himself as another enemy. Hausser looked frantically back and forth between Talia and Davik as the latter closed the distance with blaster raised. Silently, he ticked off his possible options and the reasoning in his head. He couldn't run as he was between two enemies, both with blasters and truth be told, Hausser didn't think he could run far or fast. Fighting was also a no go, it was taking all his focus just to think logically with the massive migraine and the first blaster bolt fired would surely be a hit. Hausser grinned as slight idea came to mind, maybe this could win him the ticket out of here.

Hausser readjusted his stance and opened his mouth to begin his plan when a weak slurred mumbling cut him off. Hausser's hopes fell and his disbelief returned as he watched Aibhne begin to recover. With a sigh, Hausser closed his eyes and prepared himself for his only reamianing course of action. He was to injured to fight, to weak to run. He hated the thought of what he was about to do, but it was all he could do. Feeling himself die a little inside, he ripped his gaze from the comforting beam of fire, which was screaming for him to fight, and thumbed the off button on his weapon. Hausser relaxed his stance completely and gave his lightsaber a little toss forward before putting his hands to the sky, re-reminding himself of his cracked rib.

"I surrender," he said starring straight into the bounty hunters visor, "I accept your offer for a quiet resolution."

Hausser hated every word as it came out of his mouth but he knew he was beaten, for now at least. He needed to recharge some strength, let his wounds begin healing, and he couldn't do that in a losing battle. Maybe a chance would come later , after some strength returned, but for now fight and flight were not valid options.

 

[Sreeya]

Talia looked at Davik, grinning beneath her helmet as he immediately agreed to the deal. She hadn’t missed him stealing the watch from the guard, biting back the urge to deck him. Talia would have to pick and choose her battles, turning her attention back on the Sith. Davik held his pistol up to the Sith, and the Sith’s female ally had been taken out of the fight. The remaining Sith had run out of options.

As the Sith tossed his saber forward, Talia spun her blaster back before holstering it again. In that same fluid movement, her left hand drew out a small dart. With almost inhuman accuracy, the dart flew in Davik’s direction. It would stab into his neck, releasing a drug directly into his system to make him pass out.

“My bad.”

Before the Sith could register what had happened, a second dart whizzed through the air to embed into his neck. The effects would make them both unconscious and cause absolutely no harm outside of that. She needed to make transporting them easy.

As both of her victims would slump to the floor, Talia would immediately make her way to the Jedi on the ground. She glanced down at the mess, the feeble human struggling on the floor and mumbling unintelligibly. Talia came to a pause before him, fishing out a small medpac and tossing it to him.

“You are either brave or extremely stupid. I can’t decide which.”

Without another word, she pressed a small button on her helmet to play some music externally as she got to work on the console the idiotic Sith had used to lock everyone in. The music was happy and upbeat, and she lightly bobbed to it as she danced and stepped around all the fallen bodies in the hallway. The Sith had made quite a mess here, and she was careful not to get too much blood and guts on her boots.

Talia removed her helmet, music still blasting, lighting a cigarra as she reached the console. She brought out her tools to begin a manual overdrive to the program the Sith had installed. Talia swayed and tapped her feet to the music, occasionally swinging her hips as she typed away and worked to make the doors open. All around her were a combination of dead bodies, two tied up Sith, a third that was potentially dead and a Jedi with a medpac.

A day in the life of Talia Al’Saif.

 

[Aibhne Tibbot]

Aibhne flinched to the tossed medpack that rattled between his chin and chest. He gulped a recuperative assimilation of the turnabout situation and austerely cocked an eyebrow at his carefree savior and her comments. His stiffened neck released and Aibhne's head finally relaxed to the floor.

"Huh..." he sighed with relief.

Music started. Aibhne looked démodély confused. For now, he ignored her oddity. Aibhne blindly holstered his pistol. Tiredly staring at the ceiling, he again blindly fished for the hilt he'd felt against his wrist a moment earlier; reminding him of his rib's bruising. He found it, hand twisted around, picked it up and brought it to his face. It was his! He cinched it into its belt slot and his left hand went fishing on the other side again. Failing, he finally turned his head. He saw the Sith's lightsaber, but not his own. Aibhne took a deep breath and agonized through one of the most difficult crunches he'd ever done, twisting onto his good side as the medpack slid off his chest and pushing up to a seated position; scooting away from Ryu and propping against the wall with Talia in direct sightline.

He was distrusting of her by nature, even in her rescue. But he treated himself using the contents of the medpack with groans and reeling grunts, gnashing teeth and rolling his head around. Then he caught sight of his other lightsaber on the other side of Ryu's body, and his thoughts began to travel that unstoppable track of his towards that singular purpose.

Undeniably, he felt an itch to sear their flesh.

Even the thought discolored his eye-sockets further, darkening the bags beneath the cold stare as his hands continued wiping and wrapping. Corruption slithering through the skin. The body ached ever more because of it. But he recoiled, grimacing in disgust and disgrace. He pushed those thoughts out of mind and focused on the promise of peace and order, what picture these prisoners would promote. But they wouldn't present a proper light. Not if they were dead.

Death would have to wait. First they would serve their purpose.

"YYou need ... to save them," he pitifully commanded of Talia. As far as he was concerned, Jedi mandate was of the highest decree. No government nor bounty hunter's creed could deny the Order's cause.

"I. Aibhne-e AH... Eh. Tibbot. Place the-ese prisoners. Under Jedi custody." The pain of treating himself was causing his scratchy voice to skip. Yet somehow, even in his state, she was to obey his command. If she could hear him. Over that ridiculous music.

And to boldly deliver his authority, he decrepitly pushed his back up the wall to feebly wail as he stood as a proud Jedi; wincing and holding his side.

 

[Tsunami]

Ryu had begun to wake, his pain almost forcing him to grit his teeth and howl with pain if he had not heard the voices around him. He kept his eyes closed, listening first to Hausser as for mercy, then a female voice. He dared not open his eyes to look, but he could hear the familiar sound of armour, then he heard the Jedi. So the other two failed i see... damn. he thought to himself as he focused on the force that he could muster, using the manifestation to slow his bodies heart rate down, it would be undetectable.

If he was lucky he would be able to continue to feign death until those who would stand a threat to him left. He could not help the other two, part of him didn't want to. They had done nothing to save him, now the shoe was on the other foot he could only hope that the Jedi were not to cruel to them.

His heartbeat slowed and he fell into a relaxed state, motionless and calm. Hopefully it paid off.

 

[Sreeya]

Talia, did not in fact, hear the Jedi attempting to shout orders at her over her glorious music. She simply turned to him and gave him a thumbs up, the docking bay doors finally opening after she had fiddled with the console for a few moments. The Bounty Hunter rose to stand, walking over to the Jedi who was leaning against the wall and trying to look less pathetic.

"Relax, I'm part of the Bounty Hunter's Guild. We operate within Republic space. I'll take these goons straight to Tython, but I suggest you refrain from offering me 'helpful' advice."

She had been around Jedi before, and they had always been the know-it-all type. It was a wonder this idiot wasn't barking orders at her already. Packing up, Talia quickly got to work in getting the two Sith ready for transport, checking on the third one. By all accounts, he was dead, and she didn't bother further. Talia hunted around the vicinity till she spotted a repulsorcart. Almost comically, she piled the three onto it, breathing a sigh of relief after she was done. The bounty hunter whistled to herself, placing her helmet on. She paused briefly to turn to the Jedi.

"You comin' or what?"

Without another word, the next song began to play as she casually rolled the bodies out of the facility. She would load everyone up on her ship, remembering to keep them drugged so they couldn't be a pest. Next stop was Tython.

 

[Aibhne Tibbot]

Thumbs up..? Aibhne rolled his eyes with a defeated sigh. Was this some kind of torture technique, he suspiciously considered. To blast strange music that threatened to...twist their victim?

But then she came closer, looked at him with her lecherous eyes, and told him to relax. His neck tensed. And he gulped. He realized just then how beautiful she was. And in so doing, recoiled defensively with a spartan glower. Wide eyes offended at the thought.

He immediately opened his mouth, but found himself speechless to her instructions. Oddly confounded by her confidence, Aibhne shut his mouth and looked at the back of Ryu's head as if searching for empathy. But the Sith offered no such comfort.

She'd offered him everything, and asked for nothing. And yet, taking these prisoners to Tython wasn't exactly what he wanted. Secretly he wished to use them for his own purpose, in a way that would help help the Jedi more than they would themselves. But he was in no position to argue at this time.

So while Talia went about her business, Aibhne found himself recovering enough to walk over and retrieve all the lightsabers. He picked up Ryu's lightsaber, Hausser's, and his own. For safe keeping. Not for himself. He also confiscated Aria's claws for the time being.

Aibhne curiously watched as Talia did all the heavy lifting without a fuss, and found himself bemused and scratching his head. This woman was something else. And when she finally turned around to invite him along, his thoughts returned to focus.

"My ship is nearby. I won't leave it. I'll meet you at these coordinates. If you'll take this tracker?" He took off his wrist beacon and presented it towards her, and showed her a set of coordinates to a specifically discrete spaceport on Tython. "I'll make arrangements for an official welcome, and for your reward in aiding in the capture of these criminals."

And with that, he'd follow Talia out and split off to find the speeder he'd come in to take him back to his ship.

 

[Tsunami]

The Jedi and his unknown friend had left, taking with them all of those who had been considered still alive upon inspection. Ryu might have been unconscious but in truth he was lucky to be alive. As his eyes began to open he squinted, the light taking some getting used to, as his softly shimmied his hands under his ripped lower body, holding it as he rolled onto his back.

"Hahaha, cough cough. GAHHH!" he laughed as to ignore the pain, but my did he feel it as he began to cough. Off to the side of him was the leftovers of a Medpac. He took the time to salvage all the items he could from it, covering the wound with bacta pads so that he could begin his long healing process. His thoughts didn't even drift to that of his comrades, he had seen the Sith for what they truly are, foolish, incompetent and almost helpless. As his strength slowly came back to him he made his way to his feet, then into the control room. The Jedi had seeminly only taken one of his two lightsabers, the other had been hidden under him, he reattached it to his belt glad that he wasn't totally defenseless.

There on the console he found a knife with a symbol on it, He knew it couldn't be the Jedi's or Aria's, he had seen there kit first hand. However it may be able to lead him to the mysterious savior of the Jedi. He would investigate the symbols meaning as soon as he got off the planet, it looked like he had failed his mission, but in doing so been presented with another, one of great meaning and importance. He found his way to the medical bay of the facility, taking the supplies he needed including pain killers and stitching his wound shut before making his way off world.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

When he was able to use a Holoterminal he searched the knives symbol. It pointed towards the Kryze Clan, and on further inspection and research to a bounty hunter by the name Talia.

"Well I hope we meet again Talia." he spoke to himself as he put the weapon in a pocket on his utility belt ready to present to the mysterious stranger.