[Mando/Renelo] Fear and Loathing on Zeltros

[Cainhurst Crow]

When Arya tried to pull up the cockpit audio, a simple message came up. No Data Available. The ships operation log was clean, at least for a few months. It registered a take off from Kalevala, in the Mandalore System, and nothing else until its parking here on Zeltros, in this parking structure. Ceres's nav computer was similarly wiped, a large chunk appearing to have been simply deleted. Registration information was nonexistent, The ships fuel read 02% available power, The weapons ammunition had been removed, and weapon systems simply gave an error popup when attempting to use. The Starviper had been defanged, run through the cleaners, and left on nearly non-existent amounts of power.

All that were left were labeled, "Audio Files", and contained 3 items, one titled "Important" another titled "Ral Aran it's-" and the final one, simply called "Untitled". The first was protected by a password, but the second one wasn't, and brought up the familiar distress message, this time uninterrupted.

"Ral Aran. It's ceres, I need help. I'm on Zeltros, can't stay long, they tracked me to my ship! I'm in trouble. I need, ah kriff it all, I really screwed up. My coordinates are in the message, but it won't be enough. They can't be allowed to move, not again! Please, Ral, get the rebellion, have them stop this, and not worry about me! Find Grae, kill him. Don't worry about finding me. I-"

There was a gasp and the sound of something hitting the interior of this ship hard. And then, another voice chiming in.

"So ya made some friends, have ya?" The voice was distinctly male, and sounded like someone had tried gargling with rocks when they were younger and still hadn't quite stopped, gruff and scratching as the person wheezed out a laugh, "Alright. Let's have some fun with dis..." And with that, the audio ended, the only log left being "untitled".

/////////////////////////////////

"Okay, Okay! I'll stop working the strips here! I'll stop working all the strips everywhere! Just please don't hurt me!" The mirialan said quickly as found herself once again looking into her own scared eyes through ral's visor, too preocupied with him to even concern herself with the new female mandos arrival.

"W-why'd he want me ta-, I-I don't know. I just wanted something e-exotic. I told him about it after our last s-session together. He offered me the ship, and the armor. A-all he said was that I shouldn't look a g-gift ton-ton in the mouth..." She said as she shock her head, not even enough energy left to look pleadingly to ral as she instead looked to the ground, sounding almost resigned to her fate, "If I knew it'd cause me this much t-trouble, I'd have just k-kept on being Grae's side-action..." she hiccuped a bit as she wiped away the tears and runny nose she had.

"M-my names Tamara. I-I have a sister named Janas. S-she works at the Everlily Spring..." She said simply, morosely smiling as she spoke, still looking to the ground as a few fresh tears landed in her lap, "T-tell her I tried doing my best...please. I don't want her thinking I s-skipped off world and left her..."

 

[Ral]

It didn't take much for Ral and Arya to figure out the flight computer had been wiped. If Ceres had done that then it made him wonder what she had gotten herself into that required a wipe of the ship's memory. If someone else had done it he was wondering what, if anything, they were trying to hide. As the message began to play, Ral found his heart begin to pump faster, blood rushed to his head as he began to clench his fists; he could feel his face and ears burning underneath his helmet and he knew his face must have been beet red. Taking a deep breath, Ral exhaled, pushing the air out of his lungs as he listened attentively to the woman's message.

Whoever the male voice belonged to they would soon discover why they didn't mess with a person Ral considered a vod, someone he had bled with, someone who he thought of as part of his aliit, his clan, his family. Ceres was someone Ral could trust and for whom he'd go through the gates of hell for, if she was in trouble he'd save her by any means necessary. Muttering he squeezed his fists as hard as he could. "One parsec over the border. Why couldn't she have gotten in deep with on the Rebel side of the border?"

Turning to face Arya, Ral motioned to the computer, "There's a third file there, yeah? Why don't you see if you can dump any the data on there to a pad and play the last message. In the mean time, Tamara, get out of that armor. You won't need it any more. Kex, keep an eye on her and signal the commandos; we may need them if this wild Bantha chase gets any hotter. Make sure Tamara doesn't try and run off on us, after she leads us to Grae, she's coming with us." Looking at the Mirialan, Ral shook his head. "You want to live? You want you and your sister to have a new life? Then you'll do exactly what I say. Now, Arya, hows that third file looking like?"

 

[Cainhurst Crow]

Tamara was silent as she followed the orders, taking off the armor piece by piece as she kept up the same melancholy expression. She didn't seem to believe ral, but followed his orders nonetheless. She was halfway done when the third file was accessed. For a while there was nothing, just a blank screen, until it began to read out data, as if it were executing an action. A signal began to transmit from the ship, a simple blip ever few seconds on a low-frequency, below any imperial or rebel channels, but picked up on Ral's and Arya's coms. Then the ships doors closed, and a prompted showed up on the star viper.

"Atmospheric Contamination Detected: Purifying Oxygen to breathable levels..."

What came from the vents however was not oxygen. It was a gas, coming out blue from the vents but quickly turning transparent as it began to mix with the tight confine of the ship. Arya and Ral had their armor, their helmets protecting them from exposure. Tamara however, did not. She had just finished taking off the final pieces, wearing nothing but a pair of tight pants and sleeveless shirt, as the doors closed suddenly. She ran to it, pounding on the door as the gas poured in, before her frantic pounds became a fit of coughing.

She fell to her knees, blood coming from her nose and mouth as she clutched her throat, her coughs turning to struggled gasps as she tried one last futile claw at the door. She weakly raised her arm, before her eyes rolled into the back of her head, a murky colored froth coming from her mouth as she slumped to the floor, her body beginning to convulse. It had only been about 10 seconds, and the gases lethal potency had made itself abundantly clear.

Outside the ship parking structure, someone from a nearby roof had been watching the events. The stranger took off to the sky, flying away via jetpack towards the centers of the ring. Meanwhile, mere moments later, a troop transport made its way over towards the structure. As it began to land, 6 security force officers wearing imperial style uniforms stepped out. The white color of the uniforms stood out admits the colorful people in the street. Everywhere around, Zeltrons frowned, hurrying into shops, stores, buildings, and taking their business with them. They could sense the emotions of the people in the area, and it merely took a glance for them to know, this was one event nobody needed to be out to see.

Yet a sizable few did, standing back and watching, seemingly curious what was going to happen. A few even appeared amused, one group handing cash between themselves as they apparently took bets.

 

[Loco]

"OSIK!"

Arya spat the expletive as her helmet blared obnoxious red blinking warning glyph's regarding the poison being pumped into the cockpit. Her hands danced across the crafts controls, trying to enact the emergency override commands to vent the ships self contained atmosphere. The computer politely declined the command, so Arya bashed her fist against the screen.

"Echuta!"

The computer did not respond to either the verbal or physical abuses, and continued to staunchly refuse her orders. She eyed the Star Vipers wide transparisteel canopy and did a quick calculation of how long it would take to burn through, but a quick glance to the near corpse of the Mirilian girl behind her said whatever course she and Ral took it wouldn't be fast enough. Flashing blue emergency lights reflected through the cockpit canopy, the approaching troop transport drawing her attention away from the green girl who moments ago had been wearing Ceres' armor which might have saved her. The Imperials didn't look inclined to give them time to think about it however.

"Might warn you' friends thet we're not comin' out the beck remp."

Arya called out to Ral as she spun the pilots seat away from the controls. From the back left side of her gun belt, just behind her grenade pouches, she produced a metal disk the size of a small plate which she quickly activated by punching the large centrally located button. A series of mag clamps activated around the edge of the disk, pulling it toward the nearest large mass of metal, which in this case happened to be the closest wall of the Star Viper. Arya wrestled it into a good spot and took a half step back as the breaching charge made its calculations through a series of scans and holo-models. The Mandalorian woman swung her carbines single point sling around to the front of her body and did a quick check of the charge.

"End if Ceres eve' esks, it was totally the Imperials o' this Grae person who did this, yeh?"

And with that, Arya turned her visor away, closed her eyes, and hit the center button again, lighting the cramped interior space with a brilliant white flash...

 

[Cainhurst Crow]

The plan had been simple, the entire set up so simple that sometimes Dravos had to wonder how easy things fell into place. Using the ship as bait, and rigging it as a death trap for any would be mandalorians bent on fighting the empire and protecting their own was a surefire way to route out those savages from the galaxy. The downside though, was the need of some living and unsuspecting bait. After all, who'd trust a ship to not be bobby trapped unless you had somewhere there to get caught up in the mess?

"Such a shame though. I hear that girl in there was a real fine piece of work..." The commander commented as he looked to his forces, "Alright, line up behind this ship. I want all guns trained on that ramp. It'll open when the gas dissipates into harmless nitrogen and oxygen. Shouldn't be more then a few minutes now..." He said with a smirk. There was no way out of a ship that small except for its ramp like back entrance. Even if there was, it wouldn't open until those inside were long dead. And he doubted anyone would be dumb enough to try and blow their way out, in tight quarters like that it'd be a suicidal move.

"Even if they got full armor on, they won't survive a full on volley. Not from this distance..." he smirked. This was the easiest job he'd ever gotten a kickback for. And all the Zeltron had to do was shoot a few mando fish in a barrel. As he stood and felt the overwhealming fear slowly dying inside, he felt something else odd. A sort of confidence that made him raise a brow. "Someone in there must be wearing armor. No matter, they'll still die the moment those doors open."

The explosion caught everyone outside off guard. The smoke and shrapnel missed all of those assembled, but the Trion gas that had been pumped into the ship was now pouring out, not to mention the gas canister supplying it had been torn open by the explosion, sending a blue haze out into the hanger that had quickly turned transparent from the abundant oxygen.

The effect was deadly, as the 6 officers scrambled away, many of them not even making it towards the door of the hanger as their unprotected skin and orifices made them victims of the same poisonous gas, even as the massive amount of atmospheric gas began to bind with and dissipate the poisonous compounds, rendering it inert in the span of a minute. Dravos crawled on his hands and knees as he tried to reach up towards the hangers doors, to try and open them and make his escape. His breathing was raspy, and his eyes were blood shot, a trickle of blood from his nose as he was the only one left alive from the gas.

And he had little time on this world left, even with the minor exposure he'd gotten, shoving his fellow soliders out of the way to try and retreat.

 

[Bardan Kex]

It was obvious the moment the hatch slammed shut that they had been set up. Kex heard Arya shout a curse over the comms, then the pounding on the back of the hatch, he was about to run to it when he heard the transport pass over head. He got a glimpse of it, it was a standard Imperial Security transport. Cursing he ran for the other side of the hanger looking for better cover than he would have had, sliding into it he would quickly key his comms signalling the Commandos that they were in a bind. "Message sent Ral, hopefully we aren't being jammed."

From his hastily taken up position on the opposite side of the hanger Bardan watched as the security team entered near where he had been, Six of them, moving in a rather unprofessional manner towards the sealed ship. He brought his sights to bare on the Zeltron that seemed to be leading the team, finger pulling the slack out of the trigger. He made one last check for Astra on his 360 degree HUD but to no avail, when the woman wanted to vanish she could. Kex was about to fire when the rear of the ship exploded outwards, knocking the security team around and releasing a toxin into the air. His suit detected the toxin, auto sealing itself from the atmosphere of the hanger and drawing from his life support, it seemed like whom ever had planned the ambush thought they'd all remove their helmets. Astra doesn't have a full suit of Aliit'gam... he thought to himself, as he reacquired the leader in his sights, he hoped the woman had made it out. The smug Zeltron didn't look so smug as he crawled towards the hanger doors, dragging himself slowly and futilely out of the gas he had already been exposed to.

"You're not going anywhere." Bardan said, mostly to himself. He put his reticle over the man's knee firing once, and then moving his sight to his other knee stopping his crawl.

"Our new friend there doesn't have long, he took a full load of that gas." Kex would say over the comms, 'suggesting' in a way that perhaps the others should get information from him while they still could.

 

[Ral]

As the warning lights in his helmet went off when Arya tried to access the third file Ral froze up for a second not sure what was going on or how to respond. As the blue gas began to pump into the small ship compartment, the man looked around helplessly, unsure of what to do in this situation. He was sure that his and Arya's armor would protect him, but as his eyes gazed over poor Tamara who had just finished removing all of the armor plates from herself. His spirit dropped as she began coughing, choking, gagging on the gas that poured through from the vents. She ran to the now sealed hatch and began banging on it to get out, but it was useless. "Manda damn it! Somebody get her something!" Ral started to say, but he knew it was very probably too late to do anything to save the Mirialan. Seconds passed slowly as all Ral could do was watch as the woman began to gasp for the nonexistent oxygen, collapsing to the floor as her eyes rolled back into her head and she began convulsing. Damn it.

This was all his fault, if he hadn't told her to remove her armor none of this would have happened. He was hunched over Tamara's lifeless corpse, head bowed when Arya told him to alert the others that they weren't coming out the way they came in. Ral didn't respond, he just stared for a moment. When she took out a device, he could tell what she was trying to do and back away from the wall the explosive had attached itself to. The resulting boom did rattle the Mandalorian's teeth and pull him out of his self-loathing. He would have to carry Tamara's death with him now, the least he could do was make sure her sister was taken care of, and kill the bastard who set the gas canister up. Shaking the explosion off, Ral looked through the opening, as the gas poured out and into the open. Motioning for Arya to follow, Ral picked up his weapon and moved for the new entrance. "I promise I won't say a word, but we have to get her back first, and now I'm really not in the mood for any more of this osik!"

Looking around as he stepped, the man heard Kex's voice over his comlink. Searching for where his friend stood, it only took him a moment to see where this new "friend" was. On the ground not looking too good. With a scowl on his face, Ral quickly closed the distance, putting his boot on the man. "Well, would you look at what we caught? What do you think we should do with him Arya? I have an idea, tell us who you're working for and where the woman whose ship this belongs to is for starters, or else I'll let my pals here go to work on you and let you live the rest of your short ass life in antagonizing pain."

 

[Cainhurst Crow]

Dravos looked up to the mandalorian with fearful and pain filled eyes as he gasped, hand shakily trying to pry the boot off, but barely managing to gently grasp it as the toxic gas ravaged his body. Even with most of it clearing, the open wound to his leg did nothing to help stem the spread of the deadly chemicals now in his veins and lungs, through his skin, and any exposed orifice.

"E-Erso Juarshul..." His voice sounded like a dying frog, and the particular shade of violet he was turning didn't do much to dissuade that image as the zeltron lay dying at Ral's feet, "E-E-Ever...Lily...Big Build...ing. Big Flower on T-t-top..." He tried to cough, but he couldn't do it. It was too painful to even do that much as he lay croaking under ral's feet. "Mandos...H-helps the mandos...big credits to...to not turn em in..." He looked up to the man pleadingly as he reached towards him, his arm shaking and discolored from what apepared to be bursting blood vessels.

"P-Please...t-take me...to a...hospital..." The man begged, his natural pheromones releasing like crazy to try and persuade the man before him to consider what he offered. Pheromones which the helmets did wonders to block, leaving his pleas on deaf ears.

 

[Loco]

Arya stalked out of the hole she had blasted in Cere's fighter, following Ral. As she shook the acrid and not-entirely-filtered smell of vaporized duresteel out of her nose and patted out the singed hem of her half-cloak, she quietly thanked the Manda that the readouts about the weapons racks being empty were accurate- the Breachmaster charge had blown the port side ordinance rack clean off, and if there had been a proton torpedo or concussion missile housed there everyone in 50 meters of this spot would be dead. She decided not to voice that little observation to the group as Ral spat his question at the lone living Imperial. He didn't even hesitate to start selling people out. Typical.

"Erso Juarshul? Et the Everlily?" She demanded, aiming her carbine menacingly at the helpless man. He nodded meekly, and Arya clicked her tongue. "Good choice, vod. I think you've earned the easy way out, yeh?" Arya triggered a quick three round burst just shy of Ral's foot, burning emerald energy bolts into the Imperials chest. He died almost instantly and probably without much felt pain, technically fulfilling Ral's bargain. She turned to Ral with a quick shurg, "Sorey, I didn't want 'im to die before one o' us got the chence to shoot 'im."

 

[Ral]

Ral peered down at the Imperial, a look of utter contempt and disgust on his face, though it was hidden by the T-visor, anyone could accurately guess what he looked like at that moment. The man spilled his guts all too easily. His mind repeated the words the man said just as Arya did out loud. Erso Juarshul at the Everlily? The Mandalorian hummed rather quietly to himself as he thought about what the Imperial said. He helps the Mandos? Then how'd we get caught up in this? His train of thought was broken when the man begged to be taken to a hospital. Ral was about to speak when Arya clicked her tongue and began to speak. Looking at her, the young alor wondered what she was going to do, but only for the briefest of moments. The realization came quick enough, before she even pulled the trigger. As the her carbine discharged a trio of bolts into the man's chest, Ral looked to his foot and chuckled. "Nice shot there, vod. Don't be sorry, I'm not. If you hadn't done it, Kex would."

Looking back at Kex he motioned to him to police the corpses. Signalling Astra he stated, "Take Ceres' armor and take it back to the ship, we're going to go find this Erso and Grae; it seems that would be the best place to start. I think the Everlily is the Everlily Spring where... Tamara's sisters works. If she's there we're going to get her out. It's the least we can do now that Tamara died because of us."

Waiting for everyone to get their things together, Ral opened up the local map and found the Everlily Springs quickly enough. When they were all back together he motioned for them to follow as he started off. "Everlily is this way."

 

[Cainhurst Crow]

The Everlily Spring was, true to its description, a large building with a big flower on top of it, a large model of an Everlily, in fact. It was a brilliant rainbow of colors thanks to the lighting system, and gleamed from the top of the Spring like a giant flower shaped pearl.

However, the description of the establishment, which rested on the boarder between the inner and outer ring of the constant party city, did not quite capture what they were walking into. It wasn't so much a brothel as a massive luxury resort, designed to be high end AND deplorable both at the same time. There were wide and winding gardens with exotic flowers stretched behind its tall force fielded walls. A massive pool sat near the resorts rear, lighted floor created a multitude of colors for the swimmers to enjoy. Nearby was a hot spring, separated by environmental systems to keep the rising steam and humidity from interfering with the rest of the resort.

At the entrance of the Everlily was a tall statue, made of marble and depicting a male and female figure in the troughs of something that would not be appropriate anywhere except for Zeltros, their moments of extacy frozen in time as all around the everlily was a buzz of activity. The building itself, was a looming mansion styled structure, with tiled slanted roofs and an almost medieval style to it, the flower sitting atop what was a tall tower of sorts built at the center, jetting out of what looked from the outside to be a courtyard.

The whole place stretched for acres upon acres, away from the gardens and glamor and multiple old styled buildings were the speeder parking, where the guest parked their rides and walked through a lovely section of scenic grandeur to arrive at their destination. A stairway of pure white stone leading up to an impressive set of doors, and inside, the actual everlily springs itself. And there were other smaller buildings as well, one in particular was a rather plain looking square complex, no windows and no apparent entrance. A buzz of activity seemed to surround this place from the staff, including one who arrived via the roof using a jetpack, quickly tucking inside and out of sight.

The group would arrive at one of the only entrances that wasn't force field protected, the front gate, which had a simple small building to serve as its main point of security, a droid sitting behind it. The rectangle shaped perimeter could be scoped out if they'd wish, to find a stealthier way in. Or through the front door, wasting no time but no doubt alerting anyone inside that they were coming.

((OOC: As an aside. I would say the aesthetic of the whole place is Luxury Resort meets Japanese Inn. Lots of the archetecture and stuff will have a strange asian feel to it, old school and weird new school included. Just to help with visualization and stuff. Also the place is packed, and there'll be a few imperial vessels parked in the parking lot easily visible to you guys. Good luck.))

 

[Loco]

Minutes later...

"All I'm sayin' Verdi'ika, is thet one of you' ramikad bette' be a hell of a pilot, because we're about to heve the hottest extract I've been in since..." She paused her work to think about it, then finally shrugged and clicked her tongue "I dunno, Centax IV probably."

It hadn't taken the three of them long to scope out the exterior of the resort- benefit of advanced HUD systems, you could mostly do that sort of thing at a distance- make their assessment, and come up with a simple and straightforward plan. Resort security in a place like this would be mostly geared towards protecting it's clientele from thieves and other petty criminals, but with all of its moneymaking activities- legal, questionable, and downright debauched- it was perfectly reasonable to assume the management would insure themselves against the occasional over zealous professional criminals looking for a big score, kidnapping for ransom attempt, or terrorist/hostage situation. The friendly security droids and uniformed officers that spent much of their time checking wristbands and providing directions to the nearest 'fresher station were almost certainly backed up by a professional, well equipped response force. Too bad there wasn't a security force this side of the galaxy professional or well equipped enough to deal with over a half dozen angry Mandalorians.

"I mean, 'e doesn't heve to be es good a pilot es me o' course, yeh? It's just thet I'll be busy flyin' this bloody Dewback. You know it's been more then twenty years since I've stolen a speede', much less two in the same day?" Arya wriggled out from underneath the dash panel where she had been elbow deep in the wiring of an unattended repulsortruck they had found in a nearby vehicle depot, and with a pounding of her fist against the control board the truck warbled to life and lifted itself a few centimeters off the ground. It was one of the heavy cargo variety that handled like a Bantha and generally moved about as quickly, but wouldn't stop moving for anything short of a Star Destroyer. It also had plenty of trunk space. Arya tucked a sweaty strand of blonde hair behind her ear before fitting her helmet back over her head and closing the neck seal as she sat up in the cab of the truck. Ral was trying to look nonchalant where he stood guard outside the cab below her. "Alright, thet does it..." she said with a hint of pride, So... Tion'oya, verd'ika?

 

[Ral]

"Aye, I hear ya, Arya," Ral responded absently as he kept watch while the blonde woman worked on the circuitry of the speeder. Looking down to check his chrono, he wondered if Kex and the commandos would be ready by now. Hearing Arya compare the extract to Centax he snorted. "I doubt it would be anywhere close to that, vod. For one thing, we're hitting a whore house. Most of the people in there are gonna have their pants around their ankles."

After leaving the hanger where the partially ruined remains of Ceres' fighter sat, Ral and his other two companions quickly found the Everlily Spring and began to perform some basic recon while they waited for some of the clan's commandos to arrive to help them out with their situation. Ral wasn't really looking to head into what was very likely an enemy stronghold without back up; he wasn't that foolish, plus it would give them plenty of time to think up a plan and scout the area. The plan was fairly simple; they sent a speeder in to make a hole for Ral and Arya to fly in and shoot some stuff up, hoping to find Ceres in there and get her out in time before the rest of the resort's presumably considerable security force could get their act together and respond. If needed, Kex, who had taken care of the the space port where Ceres' ship was after they had left, would be sitting back with roughly a half dozen Mandos in a commandeered troop transport that belonged to the local garrison with a whole gunship of Mandos waiting quietly at the edge of the system hidden. If they couldn't make it out on their own, they'd have plenty of back up, the trick was to get out before the entire Imperial garrison was alerted to a "Mandalorian Terrorist Attack".

Listening to Arya, he chuckled, "What? You don't like the nostalgia of stealing a speeder? Thought you'd be enjoying yourself. Get to steal some stuff, blow some other stuff up, and you get to shoot some sleezebags." He watched her as she wiggled her way out from underneath the dash, sweat and a little bit of dirt and grease lightly cover her face in a few spots. As she fitted her helmet back on over her blonde head, Ral looked back out. Still no one around. That was good. Facing Arya, he smiled, "Aye. Time to make a ruckus. Oya!"

With that he jumped back into the speeder, and clipped his helmet on. "Alright, Kex, we're about to start here, I hope you're all ready to go on your end. Get ready for some noise and the likelihood of a hot extract." At Arya, "Okay, vod, let's do this."

 

[Bardan Kex]

Kex would police the bodies of the hapless security team and place them in what was left of Ceres' fighter, along with a number of thermal charges. He was sure this Ceres would not be pleased with the destruction of her ship, but it was too late for that anyway. Besides, the clan could reimburse her for her loss. After making sure Astra had removed the missing Warriors armor and had fallen back to the Security Team's Transport Kex would set off the charges, finishing what was left of the Star Viper and ensuring nothing was found of the security team. With the commandeered transport Kex would return to the group's gunship, dropping off Astra and picking up a number of the Commandos that had accompanied them, one team would be sent off to meet with Ral and Arya, the other would remain with Kex on the Imperial ship. Astra would take the gunship and what remained of the crew and remain on stand by at the edge of the system.

The transport would adopt a high orbital pattern around the area the Everlily Spring was located in, ships like this weren't an unusual sight on most Imperial Words and a holding position like this hopefully wouldn't draw too much attention. In the troop bay he'd look over the extraction team, everyone of them was ready for the impromptu mission and he was sure everyone of them would do him proud. He was glad they had decided to bring this many men with them on their original mission, their search for Ceres would have been much more difficult with out them. Ral would interrupt his thoughts as the Alor's voice came through the helmet's comm system, he was hoping the team would be ready. "Ready and waiting boss."

 

[Loco]

"Oya, oya, oya..." Arya muttered to herself as she set manipulated her HUD to display the view from the little air speeders parking camera's, beamed to her over the consumer vehicles built in comm link. The device was intended to make life easier for businessmen and busy housewives so they could fly the speeder with the hands free comm device, but it would serve her purposes equally well. She activated the repulsorlifts, bringing the pedestrian crafts quiet energy efficient engines to life to the surprise of anyone who happened to be standing nearby. From there, she remotely piloted the craft carefully towards the Everlily, taking care not to draw any undue attention to the craft until it was facing the large front gate. Then she gunned the thrusters.

The airspeeder shot forward at full speed, horn blaring and lights flashing to warn the hapless stream of pedestrians making their way through the Everlily's gate. Panicked screams and shouts followed as aliens of all colors dove and scrambled for safety and the resorts guards rushed to look like they were doing something. Arya cut the HUD feed as a series of blaster bolts chased after the car. It's modified programming was simple- zip about the resorts sprawling courtyard at full speed and avoid hitting people wherever possible until it ran out of fuel or suffered too much damage to continue. With her field of vision now clear, Arya reached behind her and banged her armored fist against the wall separating her from the rear cargo compartment.

"I'd hold on to somethin' yeh?!"

In contrast to the little airspeeders quit hum the repulsor trucks engines resonated with a deep roar as she applied the throttle, lifting the beast up to hover a meter above the brightly lit city streets. She approached the gate cautiously, building speed slowly. Through the windscreen she could see the resorts security apparatus moving the contain the situation with the rogue speeder loose in their midst, security officer armed with a variety of weaponry probably not designed for the task at hand pushed deeper into the courtyard. The men at the gate had secured it, to their credit. Civilians crowded behind walls on either side of the entrance, afraid to move. A confused looking Rodian stood in front of her truck, hand raised emphatically telling her to wait. He clearly didn't understand the gravity of what was about to happen, as he kept looking over his shoulder back toward the courtyard, distracted by the known threat.

"End here we go..." Arya gunned the engine hard, the repulsors emitting a high pitched whine as they struggled under the sudden strain. The truck lurched forward roughly and the now panicking Rodian barely dived out of the behemoths path. From the sound of it, one of his friends wasn't so lucky she thought to herself as the truck jumped roughly several inches into the air as the pressure crushed whoever it had just passed over. This is going to be messy...

 

[Cainhurst Crow]

The panic at the gate and the presence of an out of control land-speeder had not gone unnoticed by the security of the Everlily. A variety of men and women in simple security-officer attire were doing their best to stop the landspeeder, though they could do little but shoot at it. Even then they struggled as it went at high speeds, maneuvering this way and that and pitching violently to avoid hitting them or anyone else.

That was when they came from the top of the security building, figures in grey and red armor, flying with jetpacks and armed with familiar looking rifles. The Bevii'ragir Heavy Carbines they wielded fired at the vehicle, each shot loud, and cutting into the airspeeders non-armored body. Each flash sent people panicking as they tried to rush the gate, others running along the scenic pathway to try and find another way out, screaming as they did so. As the airborne fighters took care of the airspeeder, many of the ground security team went towards the main building, running up the large stairs as they began to take up positions, leaving only a small force at the main gate.

The truck took care of them, and a few others visiting the Everlily, as it plowed its way through. The airborne gunmen turned their attention towards the truck. There were 8 in total, and as 5 of them stayed airborne and fired at the truck with their heavy carbine fire, 3 more tried to swoop in to take care of Arya in the driver side. These men drew their blaster pistols, a long blade extending out from beneath the barrels of each, marking them as TB-2-22 Melee Blasters, one of them managing to snag the side of the truck as Arya got a good look at her attacker.

Their attacker was male, but the armor he wore was one she'd only seen Ceres wear. The Clan Wyvern Ariel Assault armor's distinct helmet stared at her as the man made a cut against the driver-window, the black sending a crack through the glass as he reared up for another strike, only to get knocked off balance as the truck hit a ground-force security guard, knocking the blaster out of his hand.

It didn't seem to deter him much however, as he began to simply punch at the cracking glass with his hands, each strike sending a larger and larger break, as this Wyvern Armored man tried to get to her, even with just brute force.

 

[Loco]

"Osik!" Arya cursed under her breath as bright blaster bolts scored deep gouges across the hood of the repulsor truck and began melting neat holes through the drivers windscreen. The airborne gunmen's fire was worryingly accurate, and while the delivery truck was tough it certainly wasn't armored. The pilot ducked low, just peeking over the instrument cluster as she guided the beast erratically towards their destination. Bolts peppered the cabin space above her. Suddenly the incoming fire stopped as something heavy thudded against the top and side of the cab. The noise explained itself in moments as an assailant reared up in her pilots-side window

Arya knew the mans armor by sight, and identifying the pattern set off warning alarms in her head that she didn't have the time to decipher right now. With a quick twist of the control wheel she piloted the lumbering truck over a security guard that stumbled into her path, and the jolt send the could-be-mandalorians blaster pistol flying. This deterred him just long enough for him to realize he'd lost his weapon before he began pounding the glasteel with his bare fist, sending cracks spider-webbing across the window.

"Oi, DIKUT'SHEB!" Arya yelled at him, still crouched low in the cab. She ripped her Taskmaster from its holster on her right thigh and stretched it across her body, resting it on her left arm which still held the vehicles controls. Flashes of green lit the cockpit as she opened fire, but her opponent had seen the move and ducked and weaved, bolts of energy burning dark scores across his helmet as he dodged her attacks. Bits of glasteel showered her as the shots broke apart the already cracked screen, and as her opponent swung away Arya glanced out the front screen and made her move. A hard turn of the controls send the truck careening towards the stairs leading up toward the main building. As the repulsors struck the heavy stone guardrail the truck leaped nearly two full meters into the air. The move swept the pilots side of the cab violently against a large decorative arch, and she could hear the sickening crunch as the Wyvern trooper was crushed between them and swept away. As the truck descended from its leap, the repulsors struggled in vain and were finally overloaded as the corner of the cab bit deeply into the stairs with a screech of torn metal. The rapid loss of momentum pitched a second assailant forward as he tried to get at Arya from the roof of the truck. He managed to catch a hold, his legs swinging to dangle in front of the windscreen. Arya turned her pistol upwards and emptied her energy pack directly into the ceiling above her. The smell of burning metal filled the cab and a faint cry could be heard as the man lost his grip and fell forward into the trucks path.

I hope they found something to hold onto... Arya thought briefly as she gunned the engine hard. The damaged repulsors squealed and rebelled, but eventually found purchase and the truck launched forward, though its path had become increasingly erratic, lurching violently back and forth. Arya jammed her right arm into the control wheel in an effort to maintain some control, pistol still in hand. The fire on the cockpit renewed itself with a fierce intensity, covering her in now shattered glasteel and tiny bits of molten metal as the truck careened toward the main complex. A particularly close shot sheared the top few centimeters off the left side of the controls and left a dark streak of burnt paint across the dome of her helmet. Arya swore foully in three languages as she jammed her fist into the rear door controls. Simultaneously, she put her entire body weight into the controls now showering her in sparks as she applied the trucks emergency jet brakes. The truck swung wildly in a circle presenting its rear end toward the objective as it skidded to a halt, its repulsors finally quitting in protest to the abuse, dropping it the half meter to the ground with an ear shattering crunch.

"Now Verd'ika!"

 

[Ral]

The plan had started off more or less according to how they suspected it would. They had sent in the distraction speeder ahead of them causing quite a lot of commotion, of course, they hadn't planned on the welcoming committee being quite so numerous or well-armed. As he and Arya's truck followed the landspeeder into what was the front of the Everlily which was now in a state of discord due to the amount of blaster fire being issued from it. What worried Ral the most though were the jetpack laden troopers in the air firing down on the speeder who seemed to notice Ral and Arya's vehicle as they approached. "Osik..." Ral muttered quietly as they made their way towards them.

Drawing his Verpine Shatter Rifle, he took aim and fired it at one of the hovering armored troopers. His shots hit their mark, striking at the jetpack and causing it to violently explode as the fuel cell was ruptured allowing the fuel to mix and ignite. However, he was not able to sit there and bask in his well-placed shots as five of the jet troopers swooped down on top of them. Ral's visor could pick up on their style of armor and he almost immediately recognized it as the same type of armor that Ceres wore. "What the..." he began to say as blaster fire forced him to take cover began to eat holes in their windshield. "Well, this is certainly fun. Think those are Ceres' old clanmates out there?"

With their vehicle under assault, Ral drew his blaster pistol from his hip and began assisting his driver in blasting their assailants off of the truck. Triggering his comlink to Kex, Ral started to speak as he realized this extraction was going to be a might trickier than he had originally hoped. "Kex, get the guys together, this is definitely going to be a hairy exfil. Send a team 'round to the back, and have the rest be ready to charge in through the front. Get your best shooters into a position where they can get a-" He paused as he fired at one of the Wyvern aerial assault troopers that had managed to sneak up onto his side of the truck cab. The scarlet blaster bolts tore through the door and blasted the merc clean off of it. "-a shot. Now, if you don't mind I have to get back to ridding out truck of some hitchhikers. Don't move in unless it's obvious we got captured and we're not getting out, or until one of us gives the word. We don't need this situation to get any more mucked up than it already is."

The rest of the ride was really quite rocky for both Ral, Arya, and their unwanted passengers. Firing his blaster pistol when he could at what targets presented themselves, Ral could only brace himself for the coming impact. Eventually, the truck fishtailed out as Arya pointed its backside towards the Everlily. Hearing Arya shout at him, he nodded. "Alright, time to make a play!" Ral replied with a hidden grin as he jumped out of the back of the truck whilst tossing a stun grenade. As the grenade detonated, Ral emerged taking aim at the nearest target, opening fire with both his blaster pistol and his wrist mounted blaster. With the first target town, Ral took aim at a clump of guards and fired his wrist-mounted rocket at them. Even if it didn't kill them the explosion would send a few rolling with burns and the rest their ears ringing, they'd all have a concussion from the blast. Aiming at one of the remaining Wyvern troopers, Ral unleashed a hail of blaster fire as he covered Arya's escape from the truck. "Let's get going, Ceres has to be somewhere in here, and the sooner we get to her the sooner we'll have another gun in the fight."

Moving into the Everlily, firing at anything that appeared hostile and stunning anyone else just to be sure, Ral would start sweeping he building as he tried to find where his friend was.

 

[Cainhurst Crow]

The fight into the Everlily was surprisingly fast, the truck having turned the panicked crowd into a stampede that kept a large chunk of ground forces busy trying to push their way through. Those on the stairs had been ready for a shootout, not the fast moving run and gun method. Many fell to the blaster fire, having been equipped more for fighting rowdy guests, and not an armed assault.

When they reached the interior of the Everlily however, they found a stairway inside as well, made of gorgeous red polished wood, expensive carpeting leading up to a balcony looking down on the bottom floor they found themselves on, like some form of luxury arena. The floors below had guests rooms and lavish living areas, but nothing that showed them what they wanted. However, as they came into the middle of the room, at the top of a stairway opened to reveal a secret room, and in this room velvet room was Ceres. Her arms were shackled to the chair she sat in, her legs also bound in place, and her head was held facing forward by some sort of Harness. It seemed that whoever had captured her had decided to set up up here for them to find her. She had bruises on her face, and she wore what looked to be a rather elegant dress, her neck showing an ugly purple to it from being roughly handled, from what they could see beyond the light pink color.

As soon as the two came towards the stairs however, was shot out past the two, a pyramid shaped device that opened on either side of the stairway, as two identical objects were fired behind them by the unseen shooter. The 4 pyramids created a ray shield, trapping the two within it as a voice spoke out.

"Why hello there, my fine Mandalorian friends..." A voice came from above, as the holographic displayed showed a rather stocky built Zeltron, wearing elegant robes and smiling down to the others as he did so. "Welcome to my fine establishment you've taken so kindly to destroying. I take it she is the one you're after?" The man asked, his holoform moving next to Ceres as he pointed towards her, "Oh, but wait. Where are my manners? I am Erso Juarshul, one of the finest providers of rare and exotic experiences on this planet..." He said as he looked to the others gathered.

"I take it you're here for my latest Acquisition? Not that I blame you of course. You mandalorians are a growing rarity in the galaxy. And there are quite a few people who want to...experience, that fleeting culture while they still have the chance." He said with a grin, looking down to the two as he pleasantly smiled towards ceres "If only you could be more agreeable to the whole affair. This one here for example, She came here to kill all of my helpful Mandalorians. But, luckily she didn't realize a trick that...shall we say, stopped her in her tracks..." Erso explained.

"Well, I say we, but I couldn't have done it without my dear friend Grae..." And as if on cue, the cloaked shooter within the room decloaked themselves, standing in Wyvern red armor, a black skull designed upon the helmet as the person reached up to take it off, revealing a man with slicked back greying hair, broad features, and pale skin. 2 Grey eyes looked down to the two as he smirked, his salt and pepper beard showing a man in his late 40's, holding his TB 2-22 Pistol in hand, and in his other, some form of crossbow weapon for which the pyramid devices were fired.

"Su cuy'gar...ya pack of trouble making Shabuirs..." Grae wyvern said with a smirk to the trapped group, walking over towards Ceres as he glanced back to the two, "Ya'll came to help this waste of skin-an-bones, did ya? Shame, all this help to keep a lovely young lady from her Family..." Grae said as he stopped, looking towards the image of Erso. "So, what I tell ya? This ones nothing but trouble, ya? You tried breakin her, and all your drugs did was leave her limper then an eel. You might as well leave 'er to me."


Erso let out a sigh as he shook his head, "Such a shame. A Mandalorian Duchess would have been such a lovely draw. But you're right, she's damaged goods, and nothing but trouble. I trust you'll wrap up things here?" Erso asked as grae smirked, "Come on, When's Grae Wyvern ever let ya down?" With that, the hologram fizzed out, and like a predator, Grae turned to look down to the captures two.

"So...What exactly is it you two want with my Niece, anyway?" Grae asked with a raised brow as he went to stand on Ceres's right, who was now obviously out of it with her glazed over eyes and sickly expression, "As her uncle, and 'er Duke, I think you owe it ta me...or not." He said as he brought the TB 2-22's blade to Ceres's neck, barely drawing blood from it as he looked down at Ral and Arya, "After all, if she ain't worth much more 'n silence to you two, she might as well die here an now. Save her the shame of knowin how little her rescuers cared to make 'er case." He asked with the same chuckling laugh from the video recording in Ceres's ship, making it clear he was the same Grae who attacked it.

 

[Loco]

Arya twisted around in the driver seat onto her back, tucked her knees to her chest and lashed her feet out at the crushed door panel with explosive force. The door fell to the ground with a crash and Arya rolled out after it, slinging her carbine to the front. Her helmets targeting suite quickly cut through the confusion, highlighting threats in every direction- it was the kind of bright, crowded display that took a lifetime of getting used to, but once you did... A quick flurry of blaster fire lit her faceplate as she cleared away a pair of security officers at the bottom of the stairs behind them. Arya turned to move up behind Ral, using the truck as meager cover on the way to the Everlilly's main entrance, when a scarlet energy bolt burned neat holes into the truck bed in front of her. A quick spin and a drop to one knee brought her on target to the assault trooper on a nearby roof, and another burst of energy cut his hopes and dreams short before sending him clattering off the tiled roof to the ground below.

She had quickly begun regretting this hasty plan- this was far more resistance than she would have expected from some two-cred pleasure house. Ral's barrage of rockets and blaster fire cleared the way forward, and Arya pushed on behind him, picking off stragglers and flankers trying to get around behind them. As soon as the pair passed through the threshold the incoming fire slacked off. They had found themselves in a large central room, dominated by a massive stairwell. The lower floors showed that the Everlilly was significantly larger than it had looked from outside, and Arya began wondering how they could possibly find Ceres in here before they all died. She needn't have worried however, as the hidden door slid open, revealing their friend. There was barely enough time to think the obvious- "Well, that's strange"- before the trap was sprung. Ral and Arya stood straight and relaxed as the emitters sprang to life. At least their attackers couldn't shoot them in here. Arya zoomed her HUD in to inspect Ceres' condition- at least she appeared to be alive. As the Zeltros holo emerged to gloat, she kept her helmet fixed on him, expressions hidden behind her blackened faceplate. She flicked her helmet comm to tight beam mode, deactivating the external speaker. To all outward appearances the pair of Mandalorians were standing quiet and unmoving.

"Manda... He's going to monologue, isn't he?"

"Looks like it..." Ral muttered quietly as he reloaded his blaster.

"Osik... Kex on the way yet?" Arya checked the charge on her carbine, which was linked to her HUD, then let the weapon dangle at her side, steadied by one hand.

"Sixty seconds." Kex's gruff voice broke over the comm. The pair stood quietly for a moment, waiting for backup to arrive, watching the fat Zeltron go through the motions of his speech. Arya couldn't help but be disgusted by the display. Her attitude toward this whole planet had quickly shifted from "uncomfortable but indifferent" to "it should all just burn down." She decided to distract from the situation while they waited, lest she do or say something rash before Kex could save their shebs.

"Soooo... how about you end Carii?" Ral visibly stiffened, and Arya immediately knew she had struck a nerve. Outside of vengeful rampages, this was what she lived for.

"Uhhhh... do we have to discuss this now?" Ral shifted his weight uncomfortably.

"We've got sixty seconds, yeh? You know I see he' in the lounge a lot on the Corusca. Plenty o' crewman wouldn't mind a little "sparring" session there, right? End you know, I don't think she's paid fo' a drink in months..." She pressed on, knowing she was on the right track.

"Well, I don't think there are many people on the Corusca that can handle her... and should we be figuring out what we're going to do to get out?" He sounded like he was gritting his teeth. The annoyance was strong with this one.

"I'll take the shield emitte's you take the talkative schutta on the stairs, yeh? End I don't know, Verdika. You should see some o' the new troops- ex-stormie types, easy smiles, broad shoulders, strong hands..." Arya let her voice trail off dreamily, giving Ral the chance to interrupt as he tried to head off the worst of his imagination. Meanwhile, her helmets auto targeting function highlighted the shield emitters at the corners of the pyramid they found themselves in. While an ingenious design, the emitters were still exposed to fire from within the containment field- while the average prey would likely be dead or stunned before they found a way out, most prey was not two of the deadliest Mando'ade still stalking the galaxy.

"Sounds like you should set a date up for yourself then. You sure seem rather enamored with them." He shot back venomously.

"Pffft," she exhaled incredulously, shrugging, "End you think they'd heve a ha'd time handlin' Carii?" The fat pink blob waddled out of view of the holo-projector, allowing the "stage" to be dominated by Cere's long lost uncle or whoever. Neither Ral or Arya had moved yet. Twenty seconds to go.

"I know they would." Ral said stoically, clearly forcing himself not to look at her. This was possibly the most fun she'd had in months.

"Oh-hoh! Look et you gettin' all jealous Verd'ika!" Arya laughed, "Come on, you're perfect fo' each othe', yeh? Plus, I KNOW you're into red heads, end she's got thet beautiful deep auburn thin' goin' on..." Kex's voice interrupted her over the comm channel, "Heh, he's still INTO a certain red head, if you know what I mean..."

"Oi! Stuff it you!" Ral practically shouted at Kex over the comms before losing his composure and turning to face Arya, "That ship has jumped." He emphasized his point with a pointed finger. With their external comms still off, the argument appeared to outsiders to be totally silent. Manda only knew what anyone watching thought of the situation. Ten seconds left.

"Oi Manda gar dikut'sheb!" Arya spun to face Ral in turn, "He's not talkin' about thet Kelborn girl?! You SHEB!" Arya lashed out a right hook that connected with the unarmored space under Rals shoulder guard. She hit him a second time for good measure, then jabbed a finger into his chestplate, "YOU'RE BOTH DISGUSTIN' SHEBS!"

A sudden thunderous crash interrupted the exchange as Kex's gun ship created it's own entrance through the roof of the pleasure house, probably putting an end to the gigantic flower that had once dominated the upper levels. Before the first piece of debris had struck the ground, Ral and Arya were already in motion. In a blur of movement Arya whipped her pistol from its holster and shot beneath Ral's outstretched arm, striking the shield emitter directly behind him. From there her HUD made a quick calculation of angles and Arya spun, dropping into a crouch, arms extended in a whirlwind. Bolts of of energy shots first from her left wrist's concealed blaster, then with a flick of the wrist she fired both her pistol and her right concealed blaster, striking the other three emitters at roughly the same time in a single motion even as she heard the crack of Ral's shattergun behind her. In a shower of sparks, the field dissipated around them, and the game was back on. There were still five seconds left on the countdown.

"KEX! You said sixty seconds!"

This post was written in collaboration with @Ral Aran and @Bardan Kex, somewhat at the expenses of @Crim. Do it for the lulz.​