Private A Fistful of Credits

[Liuna]

The cab halted outside their destination, and Liuna stared with a creased brow at the gray building. As the door opened, she cast the Mando a wounded glance. But she didn't argue with the grip on her arm, and she went along at his side—blaster pointed into her side all the while. Her head hung low as they approached the door.

She'd let hope get the best of her, and she'd trusted the armored man to do the right thing. Fool. Back inside the building, cold tile greeted her feet as she padded down the hall. Fractured memories returned to her mind—bloody hands, the doctor's grim eyes, needles. And the flood of imagery threatened to drown her.

Liuna tugged against his grip as a man and woman, each white-clad and wearing protective goggles, soon greeted them. A small gasp escaped as he ordered the security droids to take her, but she glanced side-long when the Mando did not release his hold on her arm. She stood still and quiet, listening to the exchange—her eyes snapping back and forth as each spoke. But when the scientist filled in the blanks, the man's voice shook her to the core.

They had salvaged her like a piece of scrap.

Liuna felt the pressure on her arm ease up, and she turned a glance to the Mando—but she could only see his back as he stepped in front of her. Then, the binders opened with a click and fell away from her wrists and ankles. Permission granted.

As the Mando fired, she was already in motion—leaping over the desk and tracking the male scientist with ease. His female counterpart screamed in horror and attempted to crawl beneath the desk. The man's body fell limp a few inches away from her, his neck snapped by Liuna's cybernetic hands. The woman scrambled out towards the door, but Liuna was quick to respond with a foot to the back of the scientist's head.

Just outside, there were more security droids armed and waiting.

Ven A'ndi

 

[Ven A'ndi]

The first droid’s head popped off in a shower of sparks as the Mando’s first shot connected. The Mirialan woman flew by him in a blur, but he wasn’t really paying attention to her at this point, knowing that she could handle herself. Not turning his body, Ven whipped his blaster around, using his left arm as a bit of a stop so his right could intersect with it and hold steady. He fired two rounds into the other security droid, center mass, and that too fell to the ground after an explosion of sparks and smoke.

He heard a sickening crack, and looked up to see the scientist’s head craned in an unnatural way, with the Mirialian woman crouched over top of him like an animal that had just made a kill. She quickly dispatched with the female scientist as well. Mando’s had no expression with which to convey any emotion, but there was a stillness about him for a moment – he hadn’t expected her to do that. Now, he was glad that he’d decided to be on her side.

There wasn’t any time to dwell. They had to find a way out of there. The droid cab had no doubt left by now, off to collect another fare. More security droids were bound to come in, now that there had been weapons fire. Taking a peek over at the desk, he spotted a small case, roughly the size of a datapad. Stepping over to it, he opened it – his payment. Quickly, he closed the case and attached it to his belt. Might as well grab it… no one else was going to use it.

Just like he thought, he could hear the outer door open, and the sounds of mechanical whirring coming down the hallway. Within moments, they’d be at the inner door. Reaching to his bandolier, Ven grabbed a small grenade and stepped over to the door, bracing himself against the wall. With his gun hand, he smacked the door control. The metal door raked open, and the security droids stopped momentarily. Ven chucked the grenade, and closed the door again.

The explosion was contained within the hallway, but the shockwave could still be felt, and the noise was incredibly deafening. Mando’s helmet helped filter out the sound, but even then, it was still rather disorienting. After a moment, he stepped over to one of the fallen security droids he’d shot earlier and picked up their blaster, tossing it to the Mirialan. He had no idea if she was proficient in firearms, but he figured it was probably programmed into her.

He gestured towards the door. Time to go.

Liuna

 

[Liuna]

Liuna crouched, her wild eyes on the door.

Somewhere within, the feral urge to kill was still very present. She could have broken the door down and sprang into action, but droids were different. A prey that came without the satisfaction. Watching as the Mando tossed a grenade out the door, she placed her palms against the floor to steady herself as it detonated. The walls rumbled, and the sound felt like it would break her head apart.

Then, her hand shot out to catch a blaster and she looked at it for a moment and then back to the beskar-clad man. Though she could not recall having used one of these weapons before, it felt at home in her palm. And he trusted her with it? There was little time to dwell, as he was quite right—time to go.

Pushing the door open, she stepped lithely over the broken bits of the droids. Back out into the sunlight. Once the dusty road was under her bare feet again, she spun back towards the building. She pointed the blaster, for an instant it might have seemed like she was primed to shoot down her savior in beskar, but she aimed at a security guard coming around the corner and fired.

She'd have liked to see this place burn to the ground. Maybe someday...

Though she could have taken off running, she didn't. Instead, she looked to the Mando for guidance. When she looked at him, the killer inside was suddenly subdued. And there might have been something glinting in her gaze... like respect.

“Now what?”

Ven A'ndi

 

[Ven A'ndi]

As they stepped back out into the street, the woman had spun around, raising her blaster. With his guard down, Mando hardly had time to bring up his own until she fired. The bolt went right past his shoulder and hit something behind him. Turning, he saw another droid go down in a clunky heap of metal. Looks like they were looking after each other now.

Mando looked right and left, making sure there were no other threats to contend with. Surely, if the complex was larger, more droids would come from inside the building. The noise appeared to make everyone clear out, so it was strangely quiet for this time of day. In this part of the galaxy, people knew better than to hang around when blaster fire and grenades were going off.

When the Mirialan asked what they were going to do next, Ven reached over to his left vambrace and punched in a code, some small beeps signifying the completion of a command. A small blue light began to blink on the miniaturized console. Quickly, the Mandalorian looked up to see where exactly the tallest building was – or at least, if there was enough clearance around a certain area.

“Up there,” he pointed with his blaster. There was a building just down the road that was taller than those around it, but not by much. Easily, there was more than thirty meters of space around it. He started off with a light jog towards the building, know they’d probably have to scale the outside to get to the top.

A blaster bolt whizzed by him. Spinning around, he fired at a new droid that had appeared from the biotech building. More were on their way, surely.

Liuna

 

[Liuna]

Liuna watched as the Mando looked up, and she turned her gaze skyward as well. She followed his blaster towards a tall building that sat down the road. And she understood. Get to the top, get out of here. He had a plan; she'd follow his lead.

Her body crouched slightly when a red bolt cut through the air next to the Mando. And as he turned to fire at the source—another droid—and she extended her blaster in that direction as well. With more droids marching out of the building, it was definitely time to make their escape. Firing her blaster a couple of times, she watched as the droids in the front fell to the ground. The others in line stumbled, but they were only momentarily hindered by their fallen mechanical brothers.

Taking off at a run for their target, she turned a few quick glances over her shoulder and moved to dodge a few bolts coming their way. Liuna was even forced to hit the dirt, but scrambled back to her feet quickly. Her finger squeezed the trigger automatically as she raised the blaster, firing back at the droids as she and the Mando closed in on the building.

Unlike her previous leap up to the roof, there was a lack of dumpsters here.

But the building did have windows and ledges. Up she hopped onto the first sill, it was going to be a climb... unless he had an easier way.

Ven A'ndi

 

[Ven A'ndi]

He tossed out another grenade to keep the new droids at bay – hopefully their self-preservation programming would slow them down a little. Picking up the pace, he kept up with the cybernetically-enhanced Mirialan, who seemed to be able to fire a blaster with great impunity. Whether that was programming, or a skill she already had, Ven didn’t know.

They reached the building, leaving only a few droids behind to limp after them. No doubt the local authorities would soon become involved, and they’d send pursuit craft after the pair. Worst yet, if there was anyone else at the biotech facility that had any contact with bounty hunters, people of the Mando’s ilk would soon be after them as well. The faster they got off-planet and slip into hyperspace, the better.

The woman would be fine leaping up there on her own – Ven had seem her incredible agility before. With no such gifts, or even a jetpack typical to Mandalorians, he shot his whipcord launcher up towards the top, just barely able to make it to the ledge. The winch in his vambrace started to wind the cord up, and he braced against the wall with his foot so he wouldn’t smack into it. With the lack of buildings for cover now, the droids could see the two of them scale the building and began to fire once more. Ven managed to reach across himself with his blaster and shoot down two of them – only a few left.

Red plasma popped around them and sparks flew as they made it up to the roof. Already, he could hear the sounds of familiar engines coming their way. Looking to the east, he spotted his ship – the Mantis Crow – speeding their way. It was set on autopilot, to locate the tracking beacon imbedded in the Mando’s vambrace, and to use sensors to not hit anything.

The Lancer-class pursuit craft swooped in low, its repulsors kicking up dust around the roof. Shields already activated, the measly blaster bolts from the security droids pinged off easily. Yawing around, the side ramp flipped open, and the ship hovered maybe a half a meter above the roof. Ven climbed up, helping the Miralan woman if she needed it. Once they were both on board, he quickly went up the ladder to the cockpit and took manual control.

Punching the thrust, the ship rose up and shot forward, towards the upper atmosphere. For the most part, it seemed like a clean getaway.

Liuna

 

[Liuna]

As she bent her knees and sprang up, her cybernetic fingers wrapped the ledge above. Again and again, from one sill up to the next. And the Mando was well on his way up the side of the building, too. In fact, with the help of his tools—he beat her to the top.

Red bolts pelted the side of the building she reached the roof, narrow misses. Pulling herself up to join the Mando, her eyes immediately turned up to the sky. She threw up a hand to shield her eyes from the dust and debris kicked up into the air around them. Pretty slick, she had to admit, watching the ship swoop low to collect them. The armored-man went first, and she accepted the helping hand.

Inside the ship, she followed the Mando up into the cockpit.

Settling into the co-pilot's chair, she watched as the dirty landscape of Nar Kaarga got farther and farther away. Then, the stars that stretched out before them blurred. And though she had no memories of ship-travel like this, there was a feeling of relief blossoming in her chest. She exhaled audibly, but then stiffened slightly in her seat.

“L-Liuna,” she said, her eyes shifted as if searching the cockpit. “Liuna. I don't know if it's my name—but it's what you can call me.” She held her palm out, her cybernetic hand open placidly for him to shake. Curiosity shined in her dark gaze. “What do I call you?”

Ven A'ndi

 

[Ven A'ndi]

Once they reached the upper atmosphere, he began making the calculations for the jump to lightspeed. The destination was something he had to think about for a moment – had to be somewhere neutral. There would be a bounty on their heads, surely. It was easier to be anonymous in a place with less red tape and records.

The coordinates set in, he pushed the silver handle forward, and the Mantis Crow shot into hyperspace. The ship had a typical hyperdrive – getting out of there as soon as they did would allow them a good head start. The optimistic part of him hoped that perhaps the biotech company would merely cut their losses and give up, but Ven found that unlikely. If they could afford to send a multitude of hunters after their target, that meant whatever they had installed in the girl was valuable.

She spoke, seeming to recall a name. Liuna. Better than referring to her as ‘the woman’, surely. He spun around nearly 180 degrees in his cockpit seat to look at her. Her hand was outstretched, and to think, just about an hour ago, he was hunting her down to turn her in for a shady company to know who knows what to. Eventually, he took the hand, barely able to match her cybernetic strength.

“Ven,” he answered simply, before turning back around to the controls. “I’m not sure where you want to go next, Liuna. I don’t know of many people that can restore memories, or even… uninstall your new parts.” There were people all over the galaxy that could possibly help, but Ven wasn’t sure if he trusted any of them. Jedi seemed like good people… as long as you found the right ones.


Liuna

 

[Liuna]

Liuna watched as he – Ven – shifted back to the controls. But the words that followed made her eyes squint for a moment. Where did she want to go next? She didn't even know where she was. And did this mean... he was willing to help her? Her eyes dropped back to her lap.

“I'll go where you do,” she said. “And I can work if you want.”

She didn't know if she'd be useful. But perhaps her cybernetic hands could be put to use around the ship. Or she could even help him bring in bounties; this thought floated around in her head longer than the rest. What of her own bounty? Would the scientists back at the lab continue to pursue her, even off world? A hand rose to rub her temple. There were still such blank pockets in her mind.

“Why did you help me?” she asked, her eyes finding the Mando again. “Why... are you helping me?” Liuna amended her words. The other hunters would have taken the payment and left her. But Ven had even stood up to the very people that had offered him credits for her capture. For what?

Ven A'ndi

 

[Ven A'ndi]

He merely turned his head as if to look over his shoulder as she made the offer to work for him. Not that the offer wasn’t welcomed… it was just that it wasn’t exactly needed. Ven was very much a lone wolf – there were a multitude of reasons why he wasn’t in a particular Mandalorian tribe, and that was one of them. Granted, having someone of her strength, speed, agility, and apparent skill would be incredibly useful in his line of work.

Plus, she owed him.

Still, he decided not to answer, as he still needed to think about the proposal. First, he needed to make sure she was truly mentally stable. He had just watched her snap a man’s neck, after all.

Luckily, Liuna brought up another topic, but it wasn’t exactly easier to think about. After tapping in a few commands, the Mandalorian sighed. “Not everything is about credits,” he finally said. Typing in a few more commands, he said, “I’ve got an idea. Not sure if it’ll help you, but we might as well try.”

Slowly, he adjusted the course of the Mantis Crow, and they were off to their next adventure.

Liuna