Private An Arm and a Leg

[Shai Maji]

Borosk/Recent Warzone​

15:01 local time​

War was awful. Shai would openly make that clear to anyone who said it wasn't. It took innocent lives, it ripped worlds apart and it broke families. But what it also did was make opportunities for her which allowed her to live so she tolerated it with a big smile as long as it kept paying. And as a gun runner, Shai always kept her eyes out for opportunities to make a little extra. One of these opportunities was recent warzones. Battles dropped a lot of fancy and rare weapons that would go for hefty sums if sold to the right people. It just so happened that a battle had ended recently on the nearby planet of Borosk.

With how early she was to the looting party, she had to be careful. NIO and SE forces would likely still be in the area so she had to make sure she could get in without someone noticing. Then it was just a matter of loading in as much shiny new toys as she could before karking off again and leaving the scraps for the literal and figurative vultures.

Her ship touched down on an open area and she geared up. With her satchel full of grenades and tools, and her pistol on her hip, she disembarked and started walking through the ruins. Her poor droid was running back and forth with funky new stuff that she spotted. After a while of scouring she took a breath in the shadow of a blasted out tank. She adjusted her goggles shielding her eyes from the dust and sun and flapped her shirt a bit to create some wind before setting off again. After defusing some hot warheads and loading them onto a nearby hovercart she managed to rig up, she spotted what could mean a lot of money for her. A dead cyborg.

Humming a tune to herself she wandered over and looked the corpse over. The poor girl was missing an arm and a leg...and it looked like she lost a fight with a supernova. A sympathetic look befel Shai as she looked the cyborg over...however there was something familiar about her. She wasn't sure how or where, but she swore she knew this woman. Kneeling beside her, she used the barrel of her pistol to turn the woman's head to look at what was left of her face...

Aerith Castiella

 

[Aerith Krayt]

She was alive still, just barely. Funny. She thought death would hurt alot more than this; then again, life did love proving her wrong. To her surprise, she had expected one of the Sith to kill her.She tried to move her right arm again, only to feel a small trembling in her elbow as the servo was badly damaged. She tried her right leg, but it was stalled right at the joint. She wasn't sure how she was getting out of this truth be told. She just didn't have the energy, nor the means to move anymore. This wasn't the death she had envisioned for herself, but what else was new.

What was left of her audio implants picked up the sound of footsteps, and she immediately ceased what she was doing. She waited with baited breath, hearing the rattling of something on the creature that neared her, and tried to think of a plan of attack; sadly she had none. Her sidearm was unusable in her current state, and her leg was malfunctioning. They had her dead to rights. The footsteps stopped, and she could feel the strangers eyes linger over her. Aerith slowed her breathing, trying to remain calm, then felt cold steel press against the living side of her face and move her to face them.

She opened her eye, knowing it was over, least she wanted to look her killer in the face; though to her shock it wasn't a Sith at the other end, a scavenger perhaps? She groaned, her right arm fidgeting as she tried to push the blaster out of the way, but failed as her entire body felt as if it was electrocuted. The circuitry for her right eye was exposed, the destroyed eye implant hung out of the socket like a broken limb, and sparks shot out of the exposed wiring on her left side. "If you're going to shoot me, just go ahead and do it." She coughed, craning her neck to get a better look at the scavenger, and realized that she had seen the face somewhere. but couldn't place it. Aerith stared at her long and hard with her one good eye, trying to recall where she had seen her from. Not like it mattered, she'd probably be shot and stripped for parts.

Shai Maji

 

[Shai Maji]

When the cyborg's eye opened, Shai blinked in surprise. Was that just a twitch of the corpse?

Then it groaned.

"WHAT THE SHIT!?" she shouted as she jumped and easy meter up into the air, trying to get away. She landed and raised her blaster, ready to shoot at the cyborg. It was alive!

With a shaky hand she held the blaster at the ready for several long seconds. Her other hand was up to her mouth as she tried to comprehend what just happened with wide eyes. Then she spoke, thinking that Shai was going to shoot her. In truth, it wasn't that bad an idea. Not only was the money worth it, but the fright she just had was going to keep the adrenaline pumping for probably the next day at least.

But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't. Her hand was shaking more and more as she tried to pull the trigger, but ahe just couldn't do it. With a groan she lowered her gun and holstered it. "How the kark are you alive, lady?" she asked her as she walked closer, taking her gun and throwing it onto her hovercart. Shai stared for several long seconds at her as she tried to figure it all out.

Ahe might not remember who she was just yet, but it wpuld eat her alive if she left the woman to die. "Ma, I'm gonna kick your ass one day." she grumbled to herself as she knelt beside the woman again. "Sis, you're karked up good." she commented as she inspected the broken eye implant and limbs. "But today's your lucky day. I can't let you die." she said to ger before whistling loudly.

Baby came rolling towards her and gave a loud screaming beep at the aight of the woman. "Hey, listen up! Empty the cart and bring it back here! She's coming with!" she ordered and the droid obeyed. In a few minutes it was back with the cart now empty. Shai and Baby struggled hard, but in the end they managed to get the woman onto the cart and pushed her back to the ship.

On the ship Shai unloaded her onto a spare bed in the crew quarters. "Baby, get us out of here. Lady, hold on. Lemme see what we can do." she said to her before rushing iff to get a medpack and her toolkit.

She knew about droids...but this was way different and a lot more stressful. She managed to fix the joints and connections of her intact limbs and patched up her wounds, but it was nowhere near a professional job.

After she was done, she sat back next to her and lit a cigarette. "Just my luck. I'm gonna be called Shai the Samaritan one of these days." she muttered to herself, running a greasy hand through her hair. She looked back to the cyborg and offered her a puff of the cigarette. "I stopped you from bleeding out and I think your limbs should be fine for now. But you're karked up, lady. I don't know how the hell you're still alive." she explained to hee with a look of disbelief.

Though as she stared at her...something clicked. Her eyes went wide and she jumped onto her feet. "Hold up! You were on that dating app! Braith...or something, right?!" she practically screamed, clearly excited.

Aerith Castiella

 

[Aerith Krayt]

The woman reacted about as well as Aerith could expect one to react; shock and horror. As Shai was reeling from this discovery, Aerith felt a new pain awaken in her abdomen, probably from the several ribs she had broken from that impact earlier. She could hear what Shai was saying, but found herself unable to make out the words for the time being, not until Shai returned to announce that she wasn't about to put a shot between Aerith's eyes. "I'm just...made of sterner stuff than most folks." She gasped, the fiery pain in her ribs danced back and forth in her lower abdomen like someone was driving a red hot vibroknife through her. The pain began to die down, as Aerith did what she could to relax, until Shai began to move her; to which she experienced the fifth worst pain in her life.

She was needless to say, thankful for being towed back to the ship, and even more so for being patched up by the woman. Was it comfortable? Hell no. But she wasn't about to complain. She had her privacy violated in far worse ways before, this wasn't anything like her treatment under the Sith. Several times Aerith waved in and out of consciousness, but eventually Shai seemed to finish her patchwork job; she'd live, but lord was she going to need some serious work done.

Once the woman was finished, Aerith closed her eyes and took in a long breath, no longer feeling like her internals were punctured with hot lead shrapnel. What exactly was she going to say now? Having the tar beaten out of her and being dragged away to be pieced back together like a broken machine? Needless to say, it really karked with her head. There was a degree of shame she felt being placed upon her, as well as disgust for how little she felt she contributed. She was ready to die then and there, and yet here she was. It just seemed so wrong, that her brothers and sisters perish, and yet she was allowed to continue on. But there would time for such lamenting later, now was not that time.

"Thank you. I can't really pay you back for this." Aerith remarked, opening her eyes and glancing at the quick job that Shai had made with her cybernetics. She checked for her eye socket, finding it wrapped with gauze and medical tape, and figured it was probably for the best; she didn't exactly trust Shai to mess with her eye. "I got lucky. It happens. And my name is Aerith, private in the NIO stormtroopers corps." For obvious reasons she left out the bit about being a former Sith assassin or how extensive her implants were; it was better that most people never know. When Shai mentioned her name, something clicked with Aerith. She knew someone with that name, or at least she thought she did. It wasn't until Shia reacted to her that a connection was actually made. "You've got to be fething kidding me." She muttered, rubbing her brow with a hint of embarrassment at the thought of this being how the two would meet.

"Yes, that's me. By the force, what are the odds?" She muttered into her palm, a small tinge of color flaring up around the fleshy side of her face. Trying to overcome this, Aerith put her hand down, motioning to her body now. "Like I said, I've had some work done." She stated, trying to distract from how she was feeling internally; which was cruddy to put it mildly.

Shai Maji

 

[Shai Maji]

The lady mentioned not being able to pay, but Shai merely waved a hand at the notion. "Unless you got a couple thousand creds shoved into some secret compartment, don't worry about it. The money from that haul downstairs should suffice." she commented before taking another drag.

Though as she listened to the woman, she couldn't hold in her laugh anymore. The woman gave her proper name and it seemed she shared the same feeling as Shai about this. "This is amazing!" she cried out as she laughed away, slumping down against the bunk as she started running out of air. "Well this is one way to get an internet date rolling, huh?" she joked, wiping a tear from her eye as she looked back to Aerith. "The name's Shai, by the way." she introduced herself, giving her a smile. She got back onto her feet and adjusted her shirt. "Well, stick around. You need help. Lucky for you I got some connections that might be able to help you out. As for money...we'll talk about that later. Right now just try and not die." she mentioned, giving her a tap on her good leg.

She quickly fished out her commlink from her pocket and placed it next to Aerith's hand. "It's connected to the ship. You need anything, just say. I'll try and set something up for you to move around with in the meantime." she explained before making her way to the cockpit. Once there she sank into the pilot's seat and sighed heavily. "This is not how I pictured today going." she said to Baby, who was looking at her with curiosity. "Can you believe it, though? That girl is the one I showed you the other day on that app. Small galaxy, huh?" she continued with a chuckle.

She got the ship going and soon they were in hyperspace. With them safe and on their way, she left the piloting to Baby and made her way to Aerith. "You okay?" she asked her as she leaned against the doorframe, looking at her.

Aerith Castiella

 

[Aerith Krayt]

Aerith merely shook her head at the suggestion of having a method to pay the scavenger, to which she most certainly did not. "No, I don't carry my creds on me in combat. But I greatly appreciate the help." She sighed, a small bit of color showed from her organic side at Shai's laughter. This meeting could have certainly gone array, but Shai seemed to be more of an erratic character than anything. "I don't know if I said it before, but I look terrible without my makeup." She joked, given that sixty percent of her body was exposed metal and circuitry at the moment. A small pain began to drill at the back of her head, it felt hot and sharp, and Aerith winced, thinking that maybe it was just a feedback problem due to her optical implant being damaged. Shai knocked her shoulder, reminded the soldier that she wasn't quite yet alone, as she forced a smile. "Sure, yea, I'm pretty good at not dying." She said off handily, before sinking back into the bunk as Shai left a comlink and left her be. Aerith merely smiled and waved it off, but all the while the pain continued to build.

She found herself back on the operating table, deep within her masters estate on Dromund Kaas. Aerith's mind flared with terror, her limbs were locked into secured bindings; hydraulic pressure clamps kept her pinned despite her struggles. She shouldn't be here. How did they even catch her? A voice caught her attention, though she couldn't see anything other than the darkness that loomed over her head. "Subject is responding well. Shall we test the code words?" The unseen man inquired, as another voice responded. "Ah, yes. That would be perfect. I'll increase the restraint levels." Aerith felt her limbs tighten, her facial muscles contorted as she struggled to get loose, but this would melt the moment the second voice began to speak. "Windigo. Nighthowler. Kath Hound. Seven. Kessel. Dagobah. Krayt,,,,." An agony she was far too familiar with struck. Her old master had programed these words into her, a way to inflict pain and remind her who was in control. She had thought those codes forever lost, having stripped out of her when she was rebuilt; when did they reinstall it? It felt as if her brain was being thrown into a blender. The words began to fade away, as all there was, was an overwhelming pain. She struggled against the table, her implants warping the metal shackles that kept her bound, as her struggled devolved into an almost bestial rage. A wicked chuckle sounded as her tormentors watched on, seemingly aware of what they were doing, and not caring in the slightest. At least the pain had stopped, but she felt so tired, so stretched. "Look how resilient it is. Remarkable." "Well don't stop there, keep going. We have to make sure everything integrated properly." "Ah, quite right. Now, where was I...."

Aerith lunged forward, her right hand flying forward as her eye looked for the nearest target. Only she wasn't in a lab. She was in someones bedroom, and was now falling off of said bed as she realized this. She laid on the floor, the trivial pain that she was no feeling was nothing to the perceived pain she had experienced just moments ago. What the feth happened? A tad shaken, Aerith got back to her feet, only to see that Shai was now at the door way, inquiring on to how she was. "I'm okay." She replied quietly, hoping that her display hadn't been seen, as she plopped herself back on the bed and gripped her arms. It had to be some sort of memory failure, or maybe her memory implant got damaged. Yes, that had to be it. "Just a glitch in my system. I'm okay." Aerith stated, though her gaze was a tad distant. It was going to be alright now. She wasn't a prisoner anymore. The Sith didn't control her anymore. The rationalization made it easy to stop stressing, though she soon detected a change in the internal audio levels. Had they jumped to hyperspace? She turned to Shai, the first genuine smile coming to her face now; though half her face was still cybernetic, so perhaps the charm was lost. "So, where are we headed to now?" She inquired, curious as to what awaited her.

Shai Maji

 

[Shai Maji]

Shai blinked in surprise when Aerith flung herself off the bed. "Oh shit!" she grunted as she rushed to help her up. After a bit of a struggle, she managed to get Aerith back onto the bed. She tried to reassure her that she was fine, but the pain on her face told Shai otherwise. Shai looked at her with sympathetic eyes before slowly sitting down beside the girl. "We're going to Nal Hutta. I know a guy there. Real weird, black market parts dealer, but he was a damn good doctor a couple years back. He's helped me and a bunch of people out with various health stuff. He can put you back together as well as get a proper replacement for your arm and leg that isn't cobbled together from old droid pieces. I'll worry about the money, so don't get worked up about that." she explained with a small smile, giving her a light bump with her arm.

Though her smile faded as she looked at Aerith. "Though, something tells me your damage is more than physical." she started, looking Aerith in her one good eye. "Take it from me, personal experience and all, but when you're standing on death's loading ramp and it's staring you right in the eye...shit gets scrambled up here..." she said gently, tapping the side of her head as she spoke. "You see things, you think differently, it messes you up. And the one thing that makes it worse is when you don't got someone to talk to about it. Then it all gets bottled up and festers even more." she continued with sincerity, her eyes not faltering for one bit. "So...if you need to get something off your chest...hit me up. Okay?" she finished with a smile, standing back up. She stood by the door for a few seconds before looking back to Aerith. "Say...you like hot chocolate?" she asked her as she turned to look at her once more. "I can fix you up some if you want. Come on, you'll go crazy stuck on that bed." she spoke with a happy tone as she helped Aerith to get to the mess room's booth.

Once she got situated, Shai pulled her can of very expensive hot chocolate from a cupboard and -very carefully- started to prepare a mug for the both of them. Once done, she gently placed a mug in front of Aerith and sat down by the booth with her. "By the way...I don't think you look that bad without makeup." she joked, flashing her a wink with a smirk.

Aerith Castiella

 

[Aerith Krayt]

Unfortunately, Shai had seen more than she wanted to admit. Well, least she wouldn't ask. No one ever did. Getting back onto the bed, she looked back to the woman and forced a smile. "Nal Hutta, huh? I hear it's nice this time of year." She started, adjusting her left shoulder as it felt a tad loose. "You can just drop me off back on Scorpio if you want. NIO technicians always fuss about my implants. Don't want to set you back or anything." She mused, looking around the room once again, though she looked back to Shai as the woman spoke of being on deaths door. She didn't react visually, but her thoughts were summed up as 'Tell me something I don't know'.

"I had to get some hardware installed during my service. Bit of an experiment. Made me better, but there are some glitches every now and then." It wasn't a lie, heck, hardly anyone took her 'Sith Assassin' backstory seriously anyways. Least Shai seemed sincere, but no one needed to know about her past. It was better left unsaid. That woman died long ago, she wasn't the same Aerith that had killed for her Sith master. "Maybe another time, but I appreciate it. I'll take you up on that hot chocolate though. My taste buds are still organic." She appreciated the help, but once she had gotten the first three steps down, she would try to dismiss Shai's help. Maybe it was the Sith side of her, but she never liked asking for help; especially when she was receiving it without asking. "I'm adjusted now, I'll take it from here. Thank you though."

Taking a seat in the booth, Aerith caught a glimpse of her face in the mirror and scowled. She was amazed that she still had sentience at times. The amount of hardware they had shoved into her was unnatural. She'd been over it, but at times she missed being able to feel her real skin. Her hand found itself upon her still living side, and feeling the warmth she merely sighed and closed her eyes. She was snapped out of it as Shai placed the mug on the table, before sitting across from her. A small blush came over her cheek at the compliment, which she attempted to hide in her mug. "Heh, thanks. It's not the first thing people tell me, but it's appreciated." Least her rescuer was nice, they'd get along just fine.

Shai Maji

 

[Shai Maji]

Shai let go when she asked to move under her own power, raising an eyebrow. "Okay, Queen Kong." she quipped with a snicker as she let go of her, though she still kept an eye to make sure she didn't get a face full of floor after two steps. But once they were situated, the atmosphere became a lot more pleasant.

Shai tucked her legs in against her chest and cradled her mug with both hands, sipping with a gentle smile on her face. Her gaze turned back to Aerith when she spoke up, flashing her a grin. "Just be careful when you go to bed, though. With that much metal showing, Baby might just get a crush on you." she joked with a chuckle, gesturing to her replaced arm and leg. She couldn't deny that the robotic half of her face was creepy. It was downright unsettling having her look at her with a skull made of durasteel. But that wasn't going to stop Shai from helping the poor girl. Plus it looked rather awesome.

"I'm dying to know, though!" she started as she scooted a bit closer to Aerith and looked at her. "How did things go with the dating thing?" she asked with a parsec-long grin. "Like, I'm sure I wasn't the only one that swiped right on you. Did you at least get a lucky score with someone before getting deployed?" she asked her with a snicker.

After a while of chatting away and wasting time in other ways, they arrived at Nal Hutta. Shai was in the pilot's seat with Baby keeping an eye on other systems as she landed the ship at an open pad. with everything sorted, she led the way to the cargo hold. "There we go. I'll take you to the doctor. He can take a look at you and give you the details. Don't worry about the price, I'll kick his ass over that later for a discount. While you're busy with that, I'm gonna see what price I can get for these weapons. You cool with that?" she explained to her as she leaned against some crates.

Aerith Castiella

 

[Aerith Krayt]

Shai's talking was something the soldier just wasn't used to. Aerith would seem to almost retract as Shai continued to talk, her fleshy side still a strong shade of red. She was never good with talking with people. Sure, she was gungho when it was time to shoot up some baddies, but what the hell was she supposed to say here? She honestly didn't know. She felt that Shai was wanting to ask the same questions as everyone else; do you eat, do you have to recharge, do you find droids attractive? She had so many ignorant questions thrown at her that it made it hard to not expect it to come up. Still, Shia was nice, so she would try to be as open as she could.

When Shai began to question her dating experiences, the cyborgs lips pursed together, her eyes looking to a corner of the room as she was frankly embarrassed. "Um. No." She admitted, having had no such luck with anyone on that device. "The cyborg thing makes people uncomfortable. When they hold your hand they want warmth, not cold emotionless steel." She had never had a lover of her own. Not once had she partook in relationships, and how could she? She spent most of her life as a slave, the rest as a tool for a Sith Lord. She didn't exactly have time to date around. "Truth be told, I've never been on a date. Ever." She admitted, shrugging her shoulders and feigning a smile at the woman. "So, I guess this would be my first time?" That was sorta depressing saying outloud, but it just rolled into the back of her mind.


As the pair talked loosely about Aerith's invented backstory, about being a merc gone rogue after her accident, living as a scavenger in her childhood, and something about how her parents weren't in the picture any longer; it was a manipulative of the truth, but very few people knew where she came from, even fewer needed to know. Working her way to the cargo hold, Aerith could feel her implants struggling to keep up, but she sad nothing, trying to power on through. Reaching the cargo bay of the ship, Aerith wanted to help Shai unload her cargo, but could already tell her limbs wouldn't be able to handle the strain. She merely stood, arms crossed and smiling as Shai spoke to her. "Yea, I can deal with that. Thanks again for the assistance." She bit the corner of her lip, still trying to think how she could pay the woman back. "Shai, I'm not exactly sure how to pay you back. Is...there anything I can do for you?" She asked, not wanting to leave a good dead unrewarded. The half faced woman would follow her scavenger savior out, and be told just how damaged her cybernetics were. Aerith knew how illegal her implants were, they were Sith produced after all, but she could only hope the doctor didn't hold a grudge for her past loyalties.


Shai Maji

 

[Shai Maji]

Watching Aerith squirm over her dating life was hilarious. Though she did sympathize with her situation. She scooted right up against her and wrapped an arm around her to pull her into a hug. "This isn't a date. But don't worry, you're not missing much. Dates are overrated. You want romance? Have them come over, watch a movie and simply enjoy the company. Dates are high maintenance. As for the whole cyborg thing...tell people to kark off! They can't handle you being a super awesome 'borg soldier, they can go fly into a star! All that matters is the personality and so far you're karking adorable." she chatter away, finishing off her hot chocolate with one big gulp. "Besides...if the equipment still works the way they're supposed to, what's the problem?" she asked with a snicker as she gave her a nudge with her elbow.

On the planet, she could see that Aerith wanted to help but tried to keep her away from doing hard work. The simple repairs wouldn't support strain like that. She thanked her for the assistance and asked about payback but Shai merely waved it off. "Don't worry about it! I'm a greedy queen but I'm not a heartless greedy queen. I just wanna help you out right now. We can worry about payback after you got your full smile back. Aight?" she explained to her sternly, though a smile still bled through.

She led the way to a building not too far from the landing pad and halted by the door. "Just head on inside and tell him that Omiina's kid sent you here. He'll hook you up. I'll come swing by in a bit, I just wanna go and get rid of that stuff I scavenged." she explained to her. She gave her a slap on the backside and turned to leave. "Check you in a bit!" she called over her shoulder as she walked back to the ship. Though her heart sank when she reached the ship. Her droid was screaming at a dock worker while another was securing a clamp around her landing gear. She stood with her mouth hanging open for a good few seconds before rushing over to them. "THE KARK YOU DOING WITH MY SHIP?!" she shouted, but the worker hardly seemed bothered. "You the owner of this droid and ship?" the worker asked her. "Yeah, I'm-" she was cut off as the worker handed her a holocard containing info. "This pad's off limits to private pilots. You got two days to pay the fine, otherwise we're stripping it." he explained curtly and walked off as his buddy finished with the gear clamps. They walked off without a word, leaving Shai utterly dumbfounded.

She stormed back to the doctor's office and entered, looking for the room Aerith was in. She barged in and made sure she didn't look at her and the doctor as he worked on her. "We got a problem..."

Aerith Castiella

 

[Aerith Krayt]

Physical contact was not Aerith's forte; NOT AT ALL. Being hugged, she didn't know what to do. Her brain initially told her to squeeze Shai around the ribs, press her elbows into the woman's vital organs, the use the opening to further her attack. She didn't do that obviously, but the idea certainly came to her. She awkwardly returned the hug, her facial features showing that she was not at all used to this sort of thing. "Thank...you?" She responded, her face still burning red, as these things the scavenger was telling her were not things she was used to. "Maybe...we can do a date?" Aerith asked just about the most awkward way possible.

Being placed with the doctor, Aerith felt oceans of nerves collapse on top of her. The very setting of the lab was giving her flashbacks to Drommand Kaas, though she tried her damnedest not to show it, she was extremely nervous. "This is some interesting hardware you got here. Ex-Military?" Aerith winced, as the man set her on the operating table. He took a tool and began to fiddle with the loose connection pieces around her shoulders. "Yea, used to roll with a PMC. Got whatever we could get ahold of." She lied, her eyes looking at everything but the man operating on her. "Haven't seen this sorta stuff in a long time. You got very interesting metal frame work within the shoulders. You managed to shatter the interlinking cuffing, but the internal housing is solid as ever. The hell is this made out of?" Sith Alchemical metals was the correct answer, but it was also a rather stupid one. She was really looking forward to being able to stop lying. "I was out of it when they installed it, but I think my war buddies said it was cortosis. I haven't a clue how they got a hold of that though." The short grunt she earned from the man indicated he didn't believe her, but what exactly was he going to do about it. "So, you and Shai a thing?" "I'm sorry?" "You know an item, dating. Bumping ug-" "NO!" Aerith almost shouted, realizing what the man was implying. He began to chuckle as he torn off the damaged limb, and began to add on a more functional unit. "Calm yourself now, I was only having a go. That poor woman is like a stray dog, I swear. Always looking for someone to keep her, but never finding it." Whether this was true or not, Aerith didn't know, but maybe she could find a kindred spirit in Shai. He reattached the left arm, then moved to the right, preforming the same treatment.

As he moved to replacing her damaged legs, Aerith caught the sounds of Shai entering, and she immediately went stiff. Stripping her prosthetics was as close as she came to being vulnerable to others, akin to being nude around strangers. Yes, the surgeon was currently swapping her gear out, but he was a medical professional, he had seen this dozens of times before. Shai though? Well, she had jury rigged her parts for certain, but she didn't see where everything hooked up. "H-Hey, Shai you're back early...." She responded, happy to see that the woman was going out of her way to avoid looking at Aerith as the doctor did his work. "Almost done Shai, just need to swipe out her eye." The surgeon stated, moving to get Aerith's eye replacement as the cyborg was able to test out her new implants. They felt a bit loose, but she would just have to work with them. Throwing a few experimental punches, Aerith felt the feedback shock as her body adjusted to the new limbs. It was just natural, the pain was more of an annoyance, and she'd get it under control within a day or two. Pausing in her movements, Aerith inquired on the mood of her friend. "You sound a bit down, what's going on?"

Shai Maji

 

[Shai Maji]

She was glad that she wasn't looking at what was going on. But luckily the doctor was almost done so she kept her back on them. "Take your time doc, just... don't take too much, we're in a but of a hurry now." she spoke over her shoulder. She glanced at Aerith and away again. "I'll explain after he's done. Just get yourself fixed up." she said rather curtly before exiting the room and sitting on a seat in the tiny waiting area. Once Aerith emerged she was back on her feet. "Okay we got a problem. My ship got impounded." she said with annoyance. "Can you believe that? The same people that told me we can land there are telling me I'm not allowed to all of a sudden! Now the kriffers want some ludicrous amount of money in two days! Money I got on my ship that they won't let me get."

She kicked a nearby chair and immediately regretted it. She winced and hobbled to another seat and sat down with a huge sulk on her face. "How does that even make sense?! 'Oh you got the money to pay for it? too bad, you're not allowed to get to it!' Kark them!" she kept shouting at nobody in particular. She looked up at Aerith with a scowl which immediately softened up. "At least you look good again. See? Dude knows his stuff." she spoke with a hint of a smile, though her mood was still quite foul.

She winced again and rubbed at her combat boot to try and massage her sore foot. "Let's get out of here. Just one sec." she got up again and leaned into the doctor's room. "Yo doc! Thanks. We'll have your money in two days, my ship's in a bit of a pickle." she called to him before dashing off towards the exit. "Let's move it. We need to figure something out. Like...unless we break into their offices or do some whacky work for the Hutts, we're in trouble." she explained as she walked through the streets. She looked at Aerith again for several seconds as she inspected the doctor's work. "His skin job was damn good. Like I can't even see that you were kriffed up. That's awesome." she commented again, poking lightly at the fake skin on her face and arm.

Aerith Castiella

 

[Aerith Krayt]

She was rather grateful that Shai hadn't stared at her while she was having her limbs repaired. As Shai gave her remark and left Aerith to her repairs, the Cyborg had to deal with her least favorite part of having her implants be repaired; the eye. She laid back on the table, feeling her joints still getting used to their new confines, as the doctor returned. "Alright, you and I both know how this goes. Ready?" He asked, as he dangled the device over her head, slowly pulling back the gauze that was wrapped around her eye. She didn't scream this time, the initial pain wasn't so bad.

Needless to say, the process was as pleasant as usual. But certainly not the worst job she had done; her old masters used to be far much worse about it.

With the fake skin being grafted over her prosthetics, Aerith felt a bit more human now. Though as examined herself in the mirror. she could see the faults in the skin work, but that was nothing knew. She always knew where the skin ended and where the machine began, she merely got used to it. Came with the territory of being a psychotic Sith assassin after all, but at least it had it's perks. She double checked the detail on her dragon tattoo, and was somewhat satisfied with it. She was going to need someone to touch this thing up for her once she was back in NIO space.

Leaving the operating room and going into the waiting room, Aerith found Shai looking down and overall looking distraught. It didn't take long to learn why. Crossing her arms, the cyborg listened to the woman's plight. "Hey, calm down there. You're going to pop a gasket." She advised, though her stoic soldier attitude once again faltered as Shai complimented her on her looks once again. "Thanks..." She muttered, looking away a tad uncomfortably, before departing with the woman out of the clinic. She didn't even realize they hadn't paid the man until Shai took off. Well feth. "Can't we just sneak over there and un-impound your ship?" Aerith asked, her gaze moving between Shai and towards the clinic as they put more and more distance behind it. Aerith could only hope that the scavenger was telling the truth. She had so far, so maybe the man would get paid after all. She grimaced as Shai began prodding at her fake skin though, knowing why the woman was amused by it, but made extremely uncomfortable at how touchy the girl got. "If you know where to look, you'd know that wasn't the case." She replied simply, following the scavenger to wherever she intended to take her cyborg murder machine off to. Maybe she'd get to punch something in the face. That would certainly make her feel better.

Shai Maji

 

[Shai Maji]

Aerith's suggestion would have made sense on any other planet. But on Nal Hutta, it was horrible. Shai shook her head at her suggestion. "Hell no. Unless you wanna start some beef with the Hutts, trying to go against their rules as blatantly as that is a terrible idea. Plus I work a lot with them, I'd hate to lose them as a business partner." she explained to her as they walked. Though her mood shifted a bit when she noticed how uncomfortable Aerith was. "Listen sweetheart, I ain't gonna bite unless you ask me to. You can relax around me." she quipped, giving her a nudge. "After this is over, I'm buying you a drink or something. Maybe we can even do that 'date' idea you suggested earlier." she quipped as she flashed her a wink. "Let's just get this mess behind us, though." she finished as she led the way.

She wanted to go to the cantina and figure it out, but that wouldn't work now. Not with all her money on the ship. So the next best option was a nearby alley that didn't look like it would be the death of them. She stepped into the alley and immediately lit a cigarette, offering Aerith one as well if she wanted. She took a few drags and tried to calm down, thinking the situation over. "Okay...so I can't pay with my money right now, so that's out of the airlock. Can't talk to the Hutts since its their damn rule these guys are abusing in the first place. They'll only laugh at us if we whine about this mess at them, and a Hutt laughing at me is the last thing I need right now..." she spoke more to herself than to Aerith. Leaning against the wall, she ran a hand through her messy hair while taking a drag of her cigarette again. She looked at Aerith's feet and then her face. For several moments she stared at her in thought until she suddenly lit up.

"I got it!" she practically shouted at her. "What if we do what we both do best? We take on a job, one that's local but will pay damn well for this mess as well as your wrench work. You can probably handle a gun, I can definitely handle a speeder and anything that goes boom. There should be something on this muddy heap that will pay well enough for that!" she suggested to her as if she'd have the answer.

She took a drag of her cigarette again and gave a light jump. "Come on! What do you think? You think it'll work? Or do you have another idea for what we can try out?" she asked her with wide eyes, genuinely curious to hear her input...

Aerith Castiella

 

[Aerith Krayt]

Aerith only raised an eyebrow at the woman as she was scolded on how her plan wouldn't pan out. Seemed kinda silly to her. Then again, while Aerith wouldn't have to interact with the Hutts, the same wasn't true for Shai. She released a sigh, and relented. "If it'll affect you that much, we can try something else." Heck, Aerith could always 'steal' the ship, let Shai claim it stolen, then pick the woman up later. Then again, Hutts could just black list the ship from the registry. Maybe that wasn't a solid idea.

A small smile stretched across her face at Shai's comment, though there was little joy to be had in it. "Be careful what you wish for." She felt Shai would come to her senses sooner or later. Once the killing machine came out everyone started to fear her.

She followed the scavenger, until they came to a stop in the alley. When offered a cig, Aerith merely waved it away. "I have enough health complications, thanks though." Last thing she needed was artifical lungs, though at this rate she would probably have to get them sooner or later. Shai's proposition came soon after that, though Aerith's expression looked less than pleased. Were they going to commit felonies for credits? "That depends on what we are doing. Long as we aren't resorting to murder, I can accept it." She was done being a hit man. She had left that life behind, but it always seemed to be scrapping at the back of her mind. Since Shai asked about it though, she figured she might as well give a response. "You'll probably hate it, but what if I stolen your ship, you report it stolen, then I just pick you up later and we get out of here." Course, there were a few problems with that plan, but hey, she might as well bring it up.

Shai Maji

 

[Shai Maji]

Shai chuckled at her quip over the cigarette, slipping it back into the packet. Aerith laid out her conditions, making Shai give her a pat on the shoulder. "Hey, don't worry about that. I'm a gun runner, not a murderer. I hate killing enough as it is, murder is the last thing I wanna do." she assured her. "I was thinking something else that doesn't involve shooting people to hell and back." she clarified.

She glanced at Aerith as she started to explain her own idea. Shai bit her lower lip in thought before finishing off her cigarette. She dropped it on the ground and crushed the bud under her boot then looked back to Aerith. "That's risky...but in theory it should work. Just report it, get it off the system then register it again once I'm back. Definitely a cheaper alternative to paying the skugs that fine of theirs." she commented, thinking it over. In theory it should work. The only major issue she had was trusting a stranger with her ship. She knew Aerith wouldn't steal it, Baby and her ship's systems would make sure of that. What concerned her more was that she would be risking her ride quite a bit. "Just to make sure...you can fly, right? I'm a little sentimental about my ship." she asked her with a nervous smile.

"It's not the worst idea. Kark it, let's do it." she quipped, flashing Aerith a toothy grin. "I'm just curious as to what you got planned to get those clamps off the landing gear. They're solid, slicing through them won't be easy...unless you got some military grade security spike or something on you." she commented as she looked at Aerith. The idea wasn't bad. She just needed to put up a good enough act over her ship getting 'stolen'.

Aerith Castiella

 

[Aerith Krayt]

A wave of relief came over Aerith, as she readjusted her pose, rather relieved to hear that Shai wasn't planning on killing people. Now weapon running, that was something she could get in on. To her surprise, Shai wanted to go ahead with her plan. Truth be told, she hadn't expected that. She hadn't really put that much thought into it to begin with. It was more of a concept rather than a plan, but she could make things up on the fly.

She was already getting an idea together now that Shai had given her blessing. "I know how to fly, don't worry. I passed my flight exams on Drommund Kaas years ago." She hadn't thought about what she would say when she responded to Shai's concern about flying, but she immediately regretted it. She decided the best approach would be to ignore what she had said, opting to move forward with the plan. "I have a multi tool in the left arm, I can spike that clamp off no issue. My only concern is they might have a tractor beam emitter in place. That sound like the Hutts to you?" She checked the ammo for her hand gun, finding she had little more than a half clip left. That was fine though, she still had her arms and legs.

Taking a moment to ensure she was up to task, Aerith found herself a bit more comfortable with her implants now, though she still felt a tag sluggish. Looking to the scavenger, Aerith was hoping to make it up to the woman for having saved her life. "Alright, I'm ready to go. How do you want to go about this?" Shai would have to be somewhere to have an alibi, unfortunately she couldn't give the cyborg too much help in this op without screwing herself over.

Shai Maji

 

[Shai Maji]

Aerith explained where she learned to fly, earning an impressed whistle from Shai. She clearly wasn't happy about it but that didn't stop Shai. "You got Sith flight training? How damn. Girl you might actually be a better pilot than me!" she commented, looking her up and down. She wasn't asking questions about it, she did save her from a NIO battlefield, after all. All that information did was form an even bigger impression on the Shistavanen. "Nah, not that far. They got one by the palace, I think. But the usual landing zones aren't that highly protected." she explained, thinking the situation over.

She glanced up at Aerith, noticing that she seemed low on ammo. "You can restock on my..." she fell quiet as she smacked her forehead with her palm. "Nevermind, forget I said anything." she dismissed with an embarrassed chuckle. "Let's do this." she said with a reassuring nod, confident that it would work. "I'll go back to their office, kick up some dust there to distract them. You can sneak around and hijack the ship. After that, I'll take a speeder or something out of town and hail you to come pick me up. that sound good to you?" she explained, turning her head to see if Aerith was onboard with her plan.

With everything set, she made her way to the offices, making sure that nobody saw her with Aerith on her way there. She had an enraged glare in her eye and her hair was a mess. By all accounts, she looked ready to kill someone. She barged into the office and marched to the nearest officer. "Yo listen up, I want my karking ship unlocked!" she barked at him, almost giving him a heart attack. "Ma'am?" he started with wide eyes. "My ship! That you kriffers clamped out there! how was I even supposed to know about the new rule?!" she continued, actually starting to feel like the expression she was wearing. "Ma'am, the control tower would have told you over the comms." he tried to explain, but Shai merely smacked his terminal aside in frustration. "They're the ones who told me to land there, you idiot!" she berated him further at the top of her lungs.

She was kicking up such a commotion that just about every person around the landing pad was starting to listen in on the drama, giving Aerith a fantastic opportunity to get to the ship...

Aerith Castiella

 

[Aerith Krayt]

Shai didn't seem to ask too many questions, and that worked just fine for Aerith. As the scavenger moved to start an argument, Aerith rolled her shoulders and let her combat implants take hold. As Shia left, Aerith was left with only one thing to do: Get to work. Moving towards the fence, she leapt over it, her implants carrying her far over the security fence and onto the other side. She made it half way to the first docking clamp before she was spotted, which wasn't too bad given how little cover she had. "Hey, what are yo-" That was all she would let him get out, as Aerith snatched up a wrench along the floor and flung it to the man, striking him on the brow. Returning to the first clamp, Aerith drew her pistol, putting it to the locking mechanism and firing off two shots. The kinetic impact blew the mechanism open, and that was that. Unfortunately, it also made her a target. A few shouts from ahead indicated that she needed to hurry up, and Aerith was quick to do just that. Her right eye flared up, putting her targeting reticle to use as she locked onto the other two locking clamps.

Unloading what was left of her clip into the locks, Aerith moved to the land ramp, just in time to see two of the Hutt thugs rushing towards her. Unfortunately for them, she needed to put them down. She turned to charge them, her legs carrying her forward until she was two arms lengths away. She leapt up, throwing her knee outwards as her momentum drove her right into the man's gut. Falling back from the impact, Aerith bent her arms back, falling back into a flip as she caught and pushed herself back onto her feet. The stunned man who had tried to attack her just moments ago was left wide open as she uppercut him in the jaw, breaking the bone and putting him down for the count. The quick encounter certainly raised her self esteem, but there was no time to linger on it. She still had to steal this ship and get out of here. To make matters worse, armed guards began to trickle into the landing bay, firing towards the cyborg, as Aerith booked it to the landing ramp. Hurrying to the cockpit, she quickly sealed the door, plugging one of her digits into the aux-port, and firing up the engines in the process. "Oh yea, lets see if I still remember this..." Muttering to herself, Aerith felt some of her old flying memories come back bit by bit, but it was just enough to get Shai's ship off the ground. As it lumbered upwards, she could still see blaster shots being fired up towards her, though it would do little go now that she was about to take off. Putting the engines to a quarter power, she felt herself be slammed back into the seat as she rocketed into the distance. Not too bad for her first ship jacking attempt.

Shai Maji