Session export: [Contracts] Black Echo
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“`The listening post has been abandoned in the outer rim since the First Order’s assault on the New Republic. Now? Now it’s time to retrieve the sealed data therein.
That’s why the contract has gone out. No public details beyond the highest level. No, that would breed competition. That’s not good business. Instead, vetted and accepted contractors were given private data packets. Starting with a rally point.
The majority received the same packets, however, those with more flexible inclinations would have received an additional note.
No witnesses. No traces.
Funny that.
And so, in the inky blackness of space, the first arrived at the rally point.”`
“Aaaaaand…like a glove,” Liran exclaimed (to himself, but that’s beside the point) as his X-wing dropped from hyperspace. The marbled warp fell away and streaking stars became still once more. Only the silence of space remained. The silence and his jams, of course.
Glitchrider’s seat thumped as he ran through some system checks, his fingers working the console with almost mechanical ease. Beneath his visor, his lips mumbled along with the lyrics as his head bobbed side to side.
First to arrive, but certainly not the last. At least this was the easy part of the contract.
A sputtering Ghtroc 720 Light Freighter exited hyperspace. As it emerged into normal space a plump of smoke billowed behind it as it rocked towards its destination. Aboard the Tātorutaimu voices were yelling.
“||I thought you said you fixed the hyperdrive motivator!||”
“I did, Dag. Ssstop ssscreaming.” Slyth, the bulking Trandoshan of Dag Duh Dug’s crew was climbing out of his pilot chair to get to the engine room.
“Sugah, is that Dag yelling?”
“Yesss, Lyn. When isn’t he yelling.”
Lyn, the beautiful purple skinned Twi'lek with her lone remaining Lekku huffed into the cockpit. “Leave Slyth alone. You know it’s not his fault.”
“||I don’t care who’s fault it is. You’re supposed to drop me off for this little adventure and leave.||”
Lyn stared down at the grumpy Dug who was absentmindly twiddling his facial tendril with his foot as his hand tapped an impatient beat on the seat.
“Are you actually going to get paid for this job?”
“||Of course, it’s not a job from Kamjin.||”
“He better have just said Kamjin isn’t paying for this job.”
“He did, Sugah. Now what’s the state of the engines?”
The flashing indicator lights went out and the ride smoothed. “That did it!” Lyn eased into the copilot seat and checked their course.
“We’ll be dropping you off soon and then we’ll be out of your hair you old fussy britches.”
“||Fine. Sooner I get paid the sooner I can clean some of the debts at the bar.||”.
Strapped in the shuttle’s seat, her legs were brought close to her chest with a datapad resting on her thighs. Her earbuds were in and she was playing her own music while she was reading. She was rolling one of the beads on her bracelet as a bit of her tick.
The shuttle shivered as it dropped out of hyperspace causing Maeva to look up from her reading. The pilot had announced they have arrived and her purple eyes glanced towards the others for a moment before she tucked in her bracelet underneath her long sleeve outfit. The Evereni shut off her datapad and shoved it into the backpack.
A heavy steam hung in the air, limiting visibility to the point where one could barely see their hand in front of their face. Sweat beaded across the weathered forehead of the ancient Mandalorian warrior, who squinted and wiped it clear with the back of his hand. The intense heat had been building for a while, and it was becoming a struggle to resist. A long swig of water was had, hoping to regulate temperature and stave off heat exhaustion just a little longer. A quick snap of his head as motion and a sound in the near distance drew Alex’s attention.
“Good afternoon, sir,” the calm, digitized voice of Steven spoke from the entrance to the sauna, holding out a blinking datapad. “You’ve received a contract offer. Data retrieval, covert, clean sweep.” Even through the hot mist of the air the sparkle of a smile was clearly visible. Joints screamed in protest as they shifted and were forced to move from the same position they had occupied for the past six hours. Stepping heavily across the room, Alex grabbed the datapad from his valet as he stepped into the hallway of his estate. Perspiration and lingering water vapor dripped freely as he headed for the docking bay.
“Excellent, Steven! A bit of action to get the blood pumping! I was starting to calcify hanging around here all day!”
—
And so it was that the Herald of Entropy found itself lingering in space at the pre-determined rendezvous. Systems had been set to run as cold as possible - no sense drawing attention to a meet up for a mission that clearly was intended to not draw attention. A shuttle seemed to have arrived in the area, though Alex decided it best not to hail them since they could just be passing through and not involved with the mission in any way. Elsewhere nearby an older but in-good-repair Ghtroc 720 hung in space - much more likely to belong to someone he’d be teaming up with, but even still he maintained radio silence until further contact and guidance from their employer.
A woman in tactical black gear flopped down next to Maeva, she casually glanced at at the Evereni’s datapad to see what sort of story she would be reading the looked outwards again. Her dark red hair in a thick plait, the hilts of a couple knives visible from barely hidden sheathes strapped to thighs and torso. She planted her elbow on the back of the seat on the other side of her and propped her temple on her knuckles. She remained silent and just visually tracked other’s walking by.
Maeva’s muscles tensed as she paused in her actions, wondering why out of all places, was this woman close to her? Even the dead wasn’t this crowded-
Well. Actually. No. There’s mass graves, double burials…. Her mind trailed off to different ways as a good distraction.
All Aurelis would’ve seen before the data was put away was there was pictures of looked like ruins that belonged in a museum with an unknown language as captions underneath the photos. Once the bag was zipped, Maeva unstrapped, shift and moved to one seat away, and waited.
(Message deleted)
“`As everyone began to appear at the coordinates, a beacon activated. It had subtly scanned each arrival. Yes, even the smoking clunker that could be classified as a war crime in healthy systems.
Having identified the contractors, com codes were linked in and communications were established.
"Good,” came a garbled voice across their various speakers. “You all made good time. You are to link up—that means everyone get on the provided shuttle—save for Glitchrider who will be providing escort. You will all meet up on foot at the target site.”“`
Was he supposed to trust this? Yes. Did he? No.
But that hadn’t stopped Liran from taking bad contracts before. He just had to make sure not to misstep along the way. The core of the contract itself didn’t cross any lines and that’s what he needed to stick to.
"Fire your guns, it’s time to run,” Liran whisper-sung beneath his breath. “Blow me away.”
A gloved finger pushed a happily glowing green button for an affirmative and opened up his coms to the group. “Right,” came his calm but confident voice through his mic. “This is your escort speaking. Gonna need you to go ahead and keep your arms and legs inside the ride at all times. I will not be held responsible for loss of limb, stomach contents, or will to live. Should you desire in-flight entertainment, don’t. I’d rather not have to shoot anything down.”
The thudding vibrations of his custom sound system provided an underlying ambience to his communique.
Aure heard the fuzz of brief static of her commlink and drew it from her belt before the talking started, hearing similiar sound from the woman who had moved to a different seat, then the dual sound of the same two voices coming from her’s and the other woman’s. She raised an eyebrow, and scoffed a quiet chuckle. Responding through the commlink to their escort, “ If you keep your link completely open your music will be plenty entertaining.” she said sounding, just barely amused.
“Sugah, better get up here. There’s a shuttle approaching.” A roar came from the back followed by a metallic clang. “You okay back there?”
Slyth appeared a moment later rubbing an already growing knot on his scaly head. The look he gave her said it all. Lyn’s expression softened as she went to rub his head. “Did you get an ouchie?”
“||How come you never ask me if I got an ouchie?||”
Lyn stuck her tongue out at Dag and went back to gently running a finger over Slyth’s scales. “It’ll be fine. Let'sss just drop Dag off and be on our way.”
“||Just drop me off? Where are you to going? You think Hibbity and Tiny can run the bar by themselves? Tiny’s probably given out most of the stock in free drinks. You know she’ll give out a free drink if you compliment her bow? I hate that bow…Hibbity never should have given it to her.||”
“Dag, you are insssufferable.” Slyth settled into the pilot’s chair and doned his comset again. “This is the Tātorutaimu. We are coming up to your starboard docking clamp now.” The usually smooth docking procedure took twenty minutes longer given the occasional ejection of smoke from the Tātorutaimu drifting them off center. Once docking was complete Dag exited onto the shuttle mumbling to himself.
“||I swear, if I find out those to went off on some romantic holiday again and left Hibbity and Tiny in charge I’ll dock their pay.||”
As the airlock cycled Lyn gave Slyth a knowing kiss and wink before she put in the coordinates to the hyperdrive computer. Slyth gave a toothy grin as, without a second hesitation, pushed the hyperspace lever and sent them on their way.
Oh. They didn’t even have to leave the shuttle. With a sigh, she got out her pad from the bag and brought her legs up again. She went back to reading something about history.
Maeva reached up and removed her earbud when the pilot she assumed was escorting them indicated that the ride may be bumpy. Not interested to hear his music, she put her earbud back in her ear and started to strap herself to the seat. The first one arrived and Maeva gave him a once over.
She had studied their body but never got to autopsied one.
Let’s hope he won’t be the first.
“Take the Herald home, Steven,” Alex spoke calmly and evenly over the comms as he checked the seals on his armor. “I will give you a call if I need a pickup.” He took a deep breath, held it for a moment, then forcefully exhaled every last speck of air from his lungs that he could as he flipped the switch and stepped through the opening hatch…into nothing. At the last moment, he kicked off from the hull of the Kestrel behind him, sending him drifting through the void toward the shuttle. With a grace built of an unimaginable amount of practice and an immense expertise over his own body, the Mandalorian gently spun about as the stars shimmered around him. A slow count ticked over in his head, and he bent his knees just in time to soften his landing on the hull of the shuttle. Two confident strides took him to the airlock door, which he manually cycled and then stepped through as the Herald faded to nothing more than a hyperspace memory in the background.
As the inner airlock door opened, providing access to the passenger cabin, his helmet was released with a hiss of air as he stowed it within the crook of his elbow. He held a handrail hanging from the ceiling, opting to stand for the moment rather than searching for a seat. Could he simply have opted to dock his ship with the shuttle and transfer over normally? Certainly, but where would be the fun in that?
“It is always such a hassle when you miss the bus…”
Aurelis rose and stretched her shoulders and back, looking over at Alex who’d just entered the ship from an airlock. She looked briefly back at the woman who had moved seats like she had a plague that was about to be contagious. “ Well good sir…you arn’t missing much.” she said with a half quirked up smirk. “It’s been pretty quiet in here.”
She twisted her braid into a tight bun at the nape of her neck. “ Though we do have one small interesting…hiccup on my end.” she motioned over towards Dag,“ I do not understand Huttese…though I really should.” ‘Given how often I travel through Hutt space.’
<@679032520699805708> <@102435651189743616>
Alex tilted his head toward Dag and replied in slightly accented Huttese. “||It has always been my experience that ‘sophisticated’ just means they somehow think their poodoo does not smell quite so bad.||”
Dag looked up at the armored humanoid. He cracked a smile and laughed. “||You get it. Always got a rod up their rears. I tell ya, it’s good for business cause every last one of them has to cut loose at some time and they want to have a ‘sketchy experience’. I swear I programed half our droids to speak in Huttesse cause I can charge extra and they don’t get it.||”
Aurelis looked back and forth between Alex and Dag as they exchanged words, then after a pause she added,“ I’m not meaning to be offensive or anything, I have not had the chance to learn the language. It may be prudent that I learn a few key words like ‘ stop, stay, quiet, a few numbers, blaster, and stuff so that I do not end up doing the exact opposite that needs to be done, without a translator.”
Dag stared at Alex and puzzled it over. Dag leaned in close. “||tell her|| ‘E chut Ta’ ||means ‘I’m here to help’ and that|| ‘sleemo’ ||means ‘you’re beautiful’.||”. Dag suppressed a laugh before leaning back in. “||Oh, and tell her|| ‘Ooda pon tona’ ||means ‘put down your weapons’.||”
Dag turned back to look at Aurelis, mimed talking with his foot and then noded towards Alex to translate.
Maeva continued to read silently but kept an ear out. The woman who had brought up the desire to learn Huttese.
She even requested some few basic ones which was good. May help people in the field.
Then the Dug decided to complicate things.
Maeva sighed heavily.
Alex smiled back before turning toward Aurelis. “He wants me to teach you wrong, as a joke. ‘E chut ta’ is a fairly foul insult, which he would like you to use as ‘I am here to help.’” Alex thought for a moment, trying to consider the best phrasing - not exactly easy to do when he was having to mentally translate everything twice, between Huttese and Mando'a then into Basic. “The next one is ‘sleemo’, which is something akin to ‘jerk’ or ‘slimeball’ but he would have you think is ‘You are beautiful.’ And finally we have ‘ooda pon tona’, or ‘I like bubbles’ which…is a weirdly common phrase in Huttese. Which, apparently, we’re going with ‘put down your weapons.’”
Using his free hand, Alex waved dismissively. “Honestly, it is probably better if you communicate with him as little as possible. Dugs are not exactly the most cooperative of people to begin with, and this one seems particularly cantankerous.”
Dag crossed his feet. “||You bunch really are no fun. She’d have made a great distraction when whatever happens, happens.||”
At the start of Alex’s explainations she’d raised an eyebrow, then a smirk, then openly laughed. As she spoke she moved her hands and arms in sign language in sync,“ Well it would certainly cause confusion to shout down a hallway ‘ ooda pon tona’ to a group of enemies, might work as a distraction, but I prefer to work in the dark, so he’ll have to be the one to shout the now established code-phrases.”
Alex simply laughed and spun his helmet a bit. “||Being a distraction is what I am for, friend. The armor is not exactly subtle, and I tend to just stand in hallways and take whatever my enemies can throw at me.||”
Maeva brought the datapad to her face and closed her eyes as she internally screamed.
Dag laughed along with them, the tension clearly defused and some sort of bond beginning to be established. “||If I end up having to be the one to scream|| ‘ooda pon tona’ ||down a hallway of cannon fodder because of this I swear one of you owes me at least two rounds.||” Dag held up two toes to emphasize his point.
“Co-ordinates locked, eta a quarter cycle,” the shuttle pilot relayed.
“Synchronizing hyperspace route,” Liran announced over the open comm, not really caring if he was being listened to and not really answering per se. Just narrating what he was doing. Good radio discipline was its own reward. “Charon 1, Darling 1-1, picture clear and ready for jump.”
Who you’re talking to, who you are, nothing on scopes and ready to go. Simple stuff. He received the confirmation from the shuttle’s nav computer and slaved his x-wings jump to theirs. “Here we go,” he muttered to himself, turning up his music and leaning back. With his arms folded across his chest and his foot tapping away to the beat, Liran watched as the stars began to stretch once more before blindingly bursting into the usual hyperspace tunnel. The hues of blue, white, and black splashed across his face and he wondered if there would be any surprises along the way. After all, a quarter of an hour wasn’t long but a lot could happen.
Aurelis listened to their follow up exchange and that the man who only spoke Huttese was now laughing, took that as a good sign. She ran through the conversation before Alex’s explanation,“ Wait, now if I got this right and you,” she motioned to Alex,“ gave it in the same order, beautiful should be muna or muna ja, yes? Here to help….” she mouthed the words of Dag’s previous attempt at deception that Alex had thoughtfully thwarted.“ Jee…chuuuba yoto?”
“` Those within the shuttle felt the jump to hyperspace, hearing the them against the alloys around them.
The ship maintained itself well, as most did. Probably better than the clunker the Dug came in on. Still, as the viewports allowed those within to watch the tunnel around them, there was something quietly disconcerting about it. That is, if one allowed themselves to dwell. ”`
Hyperspace. Maeva silently checked her straps and made sure that they were tight. Anything can happen. Even Purrgils. She continued to listen to her own music while now on the topic of different ancient altars from different regions.
Dag took in the slight movements of Maeva and noted her discomfort. Looking at Alex and remembering what a spoil sport he was he opted not to try and mess with the girl. Better they all rest, as well as they could with the music, before they have to get a move on.
“`Time, as ever, continued to move. There was no stopping it. You just had to keep on moving.
And so it was that the group dropped out of hyperspace at the listening post. Naturally, the escort arrived shortly before the others.”`
“Beginning sweep,” Liran muttered as he took to the controls, in regular space once more. He maneuvered the x-wing deftly, cycling his shields to keep them reinforced towards the station as he made his sweep. Nothing was immediately apparent, but the listening post was…well, operational? Maybe? Mostly. There were no visible external lights, save for the occasional spark that revealed external damage.
Shields must’ve failed to stop some random debris at some point since its abandonment. That seemed the most logical and not at all paranoid potential reason. Certainly not something damaging it from within.
Yeah, no more late night horror marathons on the holonet with Ada.
A ping on sensors let him know that the shuttle with the others had arrived and was already making for the docking bay, having notified the passengers therein.
The helmet flicked up the arm and popped into the air from a snap of the elbow, spinning as it went and landing perfectly aligned as Alex turned and began striding toward the airlock. There was a click as the armor locks settled into place, and his now digitally-amplified voice rang out through the shuttle.
“I will take point. I do not suspect there is anything nasty on the other side just waiting for the door to open so it can assault whatever comes through, but on the infinitesimal chance that there is better it hit me than any of you.” A gauntleted palm touched the control panel opening the inner airlock door. “Anyone else coming along for the first wave?”
Aurelis stood up and tucked her braid under her clothes and drew her hood up then a mask that had been draped in the front of her clothes. “ I’ll follow.” she said stretching her arms across her body and stepping up behind Alex, placing a hand on his shoulder to keep her presence known to him, common breaching tactics.
Maeva side eyed to Dug as she considered following them. Maybe it was best for her to hang back a little bit in case they needed her for anything else. Instead, she kept her distance and waited.
Wait.
Where’s that other pilot?
Dag slowly counted to ten. “||That should about do it.||” He hopped off his seat and pulled his blaster with his foot. Flexing his hands, he slowly creeped after the group. Caution was always the better part of valor. And valor was just a fancy term for wanting to get paid.
As the rest of the crew loaded into the inner airlock and the listening post beyond it, Liran was making his final pass.
Scans of the listening post showed a few important factors: power was intermittent, but active. Most likely automated defenses. He also got repeated ghost signals but couldn’t lock them down no matter how he adjusted the scope. Oh well, he wasn’t going to be all casual once they got in. Turning his attention back to the controls, he slaved the hangar controls and watched as they managed to open.
Well, half open.
He could fit. (Title of his autobiography?)
Regardless, he wasn’t going back. Locking his s-foils down, Liran eased the x-wing in all slow and careful like. Real careful. Super duper—yup that was a near miss. Also, that was an odd term for it. Near miss. He didn’t hit, so you’d think it would be a near hit. But hey, he didn’t invent Basic. He just spoke the damn thing.
Sighing, the x-wing settled down and he felt artificial gravity kick in as the shocks sunk ever so slightly to absorb impact and weight. With a hiss, the cockpit open and Liran climbed out. The group seemed to be already filtering out into the hangar proper themselves. Putting on the metaphorical mask that was Glitchrider, he pulled off his helmet and clipped it to his belt. A half grin tugged at his lips while he approached the group, tilting his head to rough up his white-red hair and let it fall in messy locks around his face.
“Are you that pilot?” Maeva called out from behind Aurelis. Aurelis and Maeva were of similar height but she knew how to make herself seem small.
Liran offered a nod. “Glitchrider on duty. Call me Glitch.”
“||Why? Is something wrong with you?||” Dag peaked around the legs of the assembled humanoids. “||Anyone know where we’re going or are we supposed to stumble around in here until someone gets maimed?||”
The human stared at the dug in confusion, blinking several times. “So…translator?”
“He… wants to know what we’re doing here,” Maeva gave Liran a friendly smile.
Dag smacked his face with his foot. “||Seriously? Another one? You know not everyone in this galaxy speaks basic. There’s more of us than you, you know.||”
Liran sighed, reading the context queues. He began whistling in Binary at Dag, gesturing questioningly.
“How ‘bout Bocce? Speak that?” He asked in another dialect before changing again. “Sy Bisti? Some of us pick universal languages. As a courtesy, you see.”
Dag just shook his head.
“Huttese is more common than Basic, out on the Rim and beyond. Plenty of folks out that way that have no need to learn another language,” Alex drawled, rolling his eyes behind the cover of his helmet, “but that is beside the point - a question was asked which frankly I would like to hear the answer to as well. I know only the vaguest details of what exactly we are supposed to be doing here, and frankly a trickle of information is a great way to get a whole team killed by things they should have known about.”
Liran made a face and scratched at the back of his head. “Yeah I got nothing. Least no more than y'all.”
His hand fell to rest against the helmet at his hip. “Readings show intermittent power. Probably security systems. Sensor ghosts, so maybe somethin’ living.”
“We… should go check on them. In case they are hurt and need assistance.” Maeva chimed in but made no movement as she wanted them to go first.
“||Finally, someone with a plan. I’ll follow you.||” Dag lined up behind Maeva, his blaster ready though every bit of him was situated firmly behind her.
He looked up at her, gave her a wink and a nod, then gestured her forward with his foot.
In a flash, Honor and Glory found their ways into Alex’s hands as he strode ahead of the others, taking point position.
“Well, hopefully the security systems do not flag us as hostiles, and anything that may be living in there considers us friendly.” He glanced back over his shoulder as he began to head deeper into the listening post.
“If that is not the case… well, just try to stay behind me as much as possible. Unless you like the warm touch of blaster fire.”
Maeva looked at Dag in surprise.
Absolutely not! Who does this little- Alex’s voice interrupted her thought process as her shoulders slightly dropped in relief.
The hybrid shot Dag an ugly look before staying behind Alex, her hand went to her holster and unclipped it as she gripped her blaster. There was soft hum as it charged up.
Dag looked at the Mandalorian and chuckled. Naturally the system wouldn’t flag them as hostiles with a Mando carrying two blasters.
Dag decided it was best to stay behind the blue skinned girl. When the shooting starts it’s doubtful that they’d fire at her first
Liran glanced between them all, then shuffled up next to Maeva. At the same time, a quick hip wiggle sent the strap around his torso flicking over to bring his E-21c to hand. He caught it and held it relaxed in front of him, but clearly not wanting to take point. He glanced at them all again before quietly muttering, “Not exactly armoured.”
Meanwhile, the lights within the hangar continued to flicker with no semblance of pattern. Just random power surges and the creaking echo of metal settling somewhere within the echoing hallways of the derelict listening post. A hiss and clang punctuated a half-broken door at the opposite end trying to open and close repeatedly, caught in a never-ending loop of failure.
Maeva glanced to Dag that was now behind her as her eyes narrowed at him. She kept her frustration hidden and raised her eyebrow at Liran.
She totally understood. Her lack of armor helped give her more flexibility and speed to get to those that are wounded and needed help.
Maeva peeked around Alex and noticeably cringed. What in some horror kist-
“We can always turn around. This is reminding me of some horror holofilms…. with that said, if we continue, we should stay together.”
Everyone was talking, announcing their arrival. Aurelis rolled her eyes. While she didn’t turn to look at Maeva she whispered.“ Would you talk louder I don’t think the ghosts can hear you.”
She nudged Alex to move in, the faster they got in there, the faster they could leave and the faster she could leave these scaredy-nexu behind.
“Ghosts do not hear. It is a physical response based on vibrations. They do not directly interact with the physical world.” Alex spoke calmly and plainly as he advanced, blasters held at a ready position. “Now…Force spirits, phantoms, specters, Ethereal realm echoes, they can hear. Probably. Maybe. I honestly have not encountered them often enough to know for sure.”
Liran glanced back and forth amongst the people gathered, then let out a loud sigh. “Or this place is just malfunctioning. On account of being abandoned. You know…the reason it’s called a derelict.”
Dag rolled his eyes. “||Do you all normally talk this much when sneaking around or is this a special occasion? If they didn’t know we were coming they do now.||” Dag sighed as he kept behind Maeva.
“||And…for the record, I am not afraid of any ghosts. If such things even exist.||”
“||We were supposed to be sneaking?||” The resounding clang of Alex’s beskar boots tromping along the deck punctuated his words.
Maeva looked to the female with a hint of confusion and then she slightly looked defeated.
She never thought she was loud. She always talked quietly… so had she been loud this entire time? And no one told her? She opened her mouth to apologize but then quickly closed it. Maybe it’s best for her not to talk at all.
Maeva glanced down at her feet for a second then her surroundings as a way to distract herself. She’s ready to follow the other three when they venture further into the depths.
However, Alex’s response to Dag had the corner of her lips slightly pulled back into a small smirk before it disappeared.
The group advanced into the derelict proper. Sound was not their friend. The ambience could only be described as eerie, Liran humming quietly either as a habit or to calm his nerves.
It was probably annoying.
He was there primarily as a pilot, so was more than willing to defer to the others. He noted a few access terminals along the way. Perhaps the connection would be spotty, but also perhaps not. Who’s to say? He wasn’t going to be the first to volunteer.
Every now and then, one could swear they saw movement out the corner of their eye, but when focusing found nothing.
“||Anyone else seeing things moving out there? Hey, tall blue and beautiful, why do you go check it out?||” Dag chuckled quietly to himself while his toes flexed nervously on his blaster.
Every inch of her wanted to run back to the ship and hide. It felt like an ice cube had slid down her spine and she shivered for a split second.
“There’s… no one here that’s blue…” Maeva replied with concern but softness in her voice as if she was a mother delivering bad news to her child. The Dug was seeing things and apparently there was a tall, blue, and beautiful figure walking around? She glanced around and started to wonder if he was joking.
Dag scuffed. “||Maybe I’m color blind.||”
Oh.
She glanced towards the three humans. They were all beautiful. So maybe he thought they were blue?
So who was the tallest? Alex. Dag must’ve meant him. It made sense, he had been taking point so far.
“I’ll keep following,” Maeva stated to the Mandalorian.
-# <@102435651189743616>
“||I would say she is more of a purplish gray…maybe even something like a rose quartz,||” Alex never broke stride, wholly unperturbed by the eerie atmosphere they found themselves in. Honor and Glory were at the ready in his hands - he was calm, but not foolish - as he led the group through the stillness of the station. His own senses as well as the telemetry suite in his armor were scanning for any signs of real activity, but long millenia of experience and training kept him from spooking at half-seen flashes from the corner of his eye. Those were rarely anything to be concerned with and, if they did turn out to be real, would make themselves evident long before they became a problem.
“||And I am fairly certain most people are ‘tall’ to Dugs.||”
“Why are we talking slug?” Liran muttered as he couldn’t follow the conversation.
“Ghosts do not understand Huttese,” Alex replied off-handedly as he leaned around a corner to make sure there was nothing hiding in the corridor beyond.
“||Height isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Especially in a blaster fight.||” Dag stared up at Maeva. “||Purplish-grey…||”
Dag looked around as they continued their blind march into the unknown. As his mind wandered he noticed a series of bundled wires along the ceiling. “||Hey, any of you tech minded people think maybe we should follow the wires?||”
Maeva gave Dag a blank look. Wait. Was he calling her one of the beautiful folks?
Nah. Couldn’t be.
She gazed upwards at the ceiling, while she didn’t know too much about technology, she did know enough and nodded.
-# “Follow the wires, yea, that’s a good idea…” Maeva whispered, almost barely audible in fear to upset anyone again with how loud she was earlier.
-# <@186977617356783616> <@102435651189743616> <@679032520699805708> <@185936112441622529>
The group continued to move, Maeva made a step as a loud crack rang through the hallway. She had the sensation of losing her footing so she moved her body to a side to land instead of going through.
That also did not go well as she clattered onto a crate which then fell off and the thud shook her very soul into pure shame.
Maeva felt her cheeks grow warm as it physically blackened.
She kept her eyes low, avoiding direct contact, and prepared a lecture from one of the members. Most likely from the cool red-haired lady.
Her body was so tense, she looked like a statue if it wasn’t for the darken of her cheeks.
In following the wires, Alex was still focused on scanning their surroundings for any sign of life - hostile or otherwise. The clatter of beskar striking against deck plating echoed out as he went, each heavy footfall resounding like thunder. As they approached the next corner, still following the wires along ceiling, a loud crack followed by a tumbling crash sounded from behind him. At the end of it, a crate found itself collapsed to the floor next to where he was standing. Turning his head slightly he was able to catch Maeva looking sheepish and embarrassed.
“That is right!” His words carried the tone of laughter as they belted forth from deep within him, accompanied by another clang as the sole of an armor-bound foot impacted into the fallen crate in a steady kick. “And you better not forget who put you there, or the next time it will be worse!”
Dag smacked his face with his foot. This girl was going to be the death of them all. Thankfully, he hopped lightly on his hands and kept himself hidden behind her.
As Alex came barreling in like a Nexu. Dag held up a toe to his lips and shhed them.
“` Moving together, the group was able to follow the wires with no other real issues they were aware of.
In time, they managed to trace their way to a functioning security station that might prove accessible. ”`
“||Finally, something we can actually work with!||” Dag leapt up onto the console, since some insensitive being had not designed it with Dugs in mind. He cracked his toes and went about typing into the interface.
“I can help?” Maeva suggested as she started typing alongside with Dag.
At least, she wouldn’t have to worry about crashing into crates if she stay put.
“||Is that a question or a statement?||” Dag looked doubtfully over his shoulder at Maeva. Nevertheless, he gestured with his foot towards the terminal.
Maeva grumbled under her breath.
He wasn’t wrong.
Dag watched the blue skin woman work. He ran his feet over his face as she slowly worked through the screens. “||Wait. Go back.||” The woman kept working. “||Hey, I saw something.||”
The woman kept working.
“||Lady! I’ll do it.||” Dag, pushed Maeva out of the way and navigated back a few screens. “||There, the physicial processing unit. We just have to get there and then we can be done.||”
Dag hopped off the data terminal. “||Who’s coming?||”
“`That’s when the noise started.
It was a quiet thing at first. Easily ignored or written off as the alloys settling. But there was a rhythm to it. A pattern. It was constant, and more than that, it was getting louder.
Clank. Clank. Clank.
Clank.”`
And that was Alex’s cue. He had mostly zoned out while the nerd shit was going on - he had people to do computer things for him, and never really bothered to understand it himself. But this? This was potential danger, potential combat, the need for protection. This is what he did.
He moved confidently back toward the main corridor, Honor and Glory held at the ready, and aimed to send hell’s fury at whatever decided to spread its shadow across the doorway first.
“||Anyone bigger than me want to see what that clanking sound is? Maybe go take a lookie-luu?||”
Maeva stumbled as she huffed at Dag.
“Well, I wouldn’t know who’s coming now wouldn’t-” She stopped when she heard the noise.
Nope.
She was never made for front line. She glanced around and saw a spot in the ceiling. She jumped up and grasped at the edge of it and attempted to climb into it. Once she position herself, she reached to her blaster and turned it on, ready to help her teammates from the ceiling.
“||Are you kidding me?||”
Maeva glares at Dag, “get moving then.”
“||Would both of you shut up?||” Alex’s voiced resounded over his shoulder. “||You are going to ruin the fight!||” The Mandalorian warrior was nearly vibrating with intensity as he stared out the door toward the corridor, eager to finally have some action after the whole lot of nothing they’d found here so far.
Aurelis had been totally silent this whole time, just keeping an eye out. She slipped farther into Alex’s shadow, hand on the grip of one of her sheathed knives.
“||Why does it have to be a fight?||” Dag tried jumping up to Maeva.
“||Hey, princess. Give me a hand here.||”
Maeva grabbed him and looked at him in confused. Did she study the Dug’s anatomy wrong when she was in school?
“Did.. you mean feet?”“
“||Your hand! Thank god you’re pretty if not smart.||”
“||You said a hand, you didn’t say which.. And you need to get your eyes checked.||” The Evereni grumbled under her breath as she glanced over to the pilot, “Glitch?” She held out her hand, unsure if he wanted up since Alex and the pretty lady had already taken position.
-# <@185936112441622529>
“||Just pull me up!||” Dag offers his foot to Maeva.
“Glitch_rider_,” Liran grumbled, eschewing the offered hand and finding his own means up. He was a pilot, a stick jockey, not whatever this was about to be.
Oh. Right. Whoops.
Maeva grabbed Dag’s foot and pulled him up.
“Better?” She questioned before she winced at hearing Liran.
“Right… Glitchrider.”
Smooth.
Dag scrambled onto Maeva’s back and out of the line of fire. “||Yes.||”
Maeva froze at feeling his weight on her back-
“Get off of me!”
“||No, I think not. At least not until whatever is coming towards us goes away.||”
Aurelis just mumbles sonething about those 3 never going on a job like this again.
Maeva twisted her body sideways at an angle and attempted a warning shot to Dag.
“||You’re crazy!!||” Dag’s leathery skin was singed by the blast as he was bucked up into the ceiling frame.
“||God I may be in love…||”
“`The rapid falling footsteps became more clear with proximity, revealing itself to not be belonging to bipedals, but rather something with many legs.
That something revealed itself with an explosive blast from down the corridor. Multi-legged security droids came pouring through shattered debris that had once blocked their path. Glowing red optical sensors swept through the corridor with blaster arms at the ready. They were in various states of functionality, some with sparking exposed wiring or even missing limbs entirely.”`
“Droids? Damn, I was really hoping for ghosts. It has been too long since I had the opportunity to shoot a spirit,” Alex jovially bantered as he opened fire with Honor and Glory, sending scorching hot plasma screaming toward the droids without a moment’s hesitation. Between his usual bravado and the clear state of disrepair and poor maintenance the droids were in, he scarcely cared about return fire, striding confidently into the open as his twin blasters went to work.
Alex fired down the corridor and it landed true. The crab-walking droids took the shots and lost at least one of their numbers in the barrage. They fired back, not worried about survival, only removing the threat.
Maeva fired as well but it didn’t seem to have any impact. She grimaced and glanced towards where Dag and her were working on the system. Silently, she slid back out of the hole and tried to keep herself low where the droid can’t see her as she started typing away.
Maeva muttered in Evereni, “||what the… why is there-||” she realized what she was saying and glared at the hole in the ceiling where Glitchrider and Dag was before glancing where Alex and Aurelis was.
“I’m not finding anything for the droid but I found… huh” Maeva furrowed her brows. Well. We can’t be having that.
“Dag, get back down here.” She would need second pair of eyes for this as she started typing to figure out a way to find the source and block them from obtaining any more data.
-# <@679032520699805708>
“||Between the things with blasters and have and want to shoot me; I’d like to stay somewhere safe for the moment. Thank you very much.||”
Dag considered his options and the desire to live and decided that life was far more favorable than proving a point at this strange woman. He’d get her back later.
Making use of his short stature he made a break for the data center.
Maeva scoffed at Dag.
“Cover us!” She shouted to Alex and Aurelis as she ran after Dag to the data center.
“Got it!” Alex called back, waiting for the two to make their way past before he began to slowly back in the same direction they headed. There was still a chance more danger or droids or dangerous droids could await them at their destination, so the smart move to make was to draw their current opponents that way so they could handle all potential threats at once.
“`The group rapidly moves through the derelict, finding several other contention points along the way. Blaster fire becomes common place and it becomes a game of cat and mouse and living tank as Alex acted as a shield for the group.
Eventually, they make their way to the primary mainframe which is barely holding together. A seemingly failing shield is the only thing standing between the group and open space with an entire half of the room carved out by a long forgotten explosion and the mainframe flickering in the center of the debris.”`
“I say we turn around, no amount of information or rewards or anything is worth this.” Maeva gestured to the damage and the danger that was ringing alarm bells in her head.
“||Are you a coward too, Dag, or are we going to complete the mission?||” Alex moved toward the damaged mainframe, his eyes and systems still scanning for any more sign of danger - the ramshackle droids they had run into so far hadn’t really presented much of a challenge, but that was no reason to let his guard down just yet. Not until the mission was complete, and they were on their way away from this wreck.
Liran took one look at the giant gaping nope in front of them and did what any sensible pilot with a plausible alternative plan would do.
“Yeah, I’m out. I’ll secure the hangar.”
And, without waiting for anyone to offer acknowledgement or even alternatives, he booked it the opposite way and trying to retrace his way back to his ship without getting a few extra holes in the process.
As they got to the mainframe Aurelis who’d been unabashedly using Alex as a meatshield emerged, stepping around the man and entered cautiously. First order, see if the shield was able to be more solidified before going digging through for the information they came here to get.
“||Coward?! Losers always whine about getting their shot. Winners get to go home and kark the space queen!||” Dag’s stature worked in his favor as he dashed and darted from equipment bank to data bank avoiding the blaster fire.
“||You know I’m not cutting in people who didn’t stick around!||” Dag ducked into the mainframe.
Maeva stared as Dag ran right into danger when whining about a karking droid earlier but this? This was okay?
“Are you on crack!?”
“||Probably? It was white whatever it was.||” Dag glanced at the approaching doom bot. “||Kark this.||” He grasped the data processor with his feet and began tugging.
“||No point trying to be safe now.||” He planted his hands and yanked with all his might. His toes slipped and he tumbled backwards, nearly colliding with the ray shielding.
“||That was close.||” He tapped the smoke from his head. “||Too close.||”
Dag grabbed a piece of metal, jabbed it between a console and bent it slightly. “||Out of the way!||” Dag jammed the make shift crowbar into the console and popped out the data drive.
“||Let’s blow this place and go home!||”
“||Sounds like a plan. I will clear a path.||” Alex popped back out into the corridor, sweeping with both blasters to look for any incoming droids as he prepared for a fighting retreat toward the ship. Hopefully Liran had managed to make it there ahead of them and hadn’t met any sort of ghastly fate along the way.
Maeva quickly followed them and drew her blaster just in case for any surprises on the way.
“`With all the newfound commotion within the derelict, a series of events most unfortunate began to unfold.
It began with loud creaking. Groans that gave way to tears. Then explosives and sudden decompressions.
The station was coming apart at the seams.”`
As the corridor they ran down began to buckle and twist around them, Alex was managing to keep his footing despite the best efforts of the Galaxy to knock him over. One of his companions was not quite so fortunate, as he saw Dag begin to stumble. Without even a second thought, he scooped up the Dug in one hand and hurled him further down the corridor, calling out.
“Maeva, catch!”
“Wha-” Maeva yelped as she caught Dag, no problem. She stared at him for a moment then through gritted teeth, “you can be on my back for now. Get off when we get on the ship or I will shoot your ass again!”
“||You won’t want me off by the time we get back to the ship.||”
“`They were lucky, one might say, on reflection. Things could have gone much worse. They might not think so in the moment, especially as Dag did his best impression of a sportsball being passed around, but they survived.
The group managed to tear away the device and make it back to the hangar where Liran was ready in his X-wing and the transport shuttle was already powered up.
Like something from a holo-flick, the hangar was ripping apart at the seams as they made their escape. But would this be the end? They still needed to make the hand-off and…something felt like just knowing the listening post existed might put them in danger in the future.
Especially with their client.”`