Between a hoth and a hard place

[Jace Padder]

Jace Padder sat aloof in his leather swivel chair aboard the "Shale Crow", a ship he had stolen a mere few hours ago. That was the best way to smuggle goods though, wasn't it? using a different ship every time! Jace thought himself a genius for coming up with such a brilliant plan. And just like all of his other jobs, he sat comfortably, knowing it was a job well done. Soon he would be outside the Station on Hoth, where he could slip right passed the sensors with 3000 pounds of imported spice, sell it to the buyer and leave peacefully.
But for now, all he could do was sit back, relax, watch the beautiful planet outside the cockpit window and wait for his arrival. Reaching forward, he turned a dial on the dashboard, music began to leak through speakers around the ship, softly yet enveloping.

Jace let his eyes close slowly, drifting off as he put his feet up onto the dashboard.

"Here's to job well done.." He uttered, drifting off into sleep.

@La'kuus Quelin

 

[La'kuus Quelin]

Unfortunately to [member="Jace Padder"]'s fortune, La'kuus only found one person who matched the names in her databook, and this guy was it. Someone with a decent price on his head, probably worth some half of the loot he was smuggling right now. Slowly she slid from the airvents, and dropped near silently with her black stealth suit on, holding one of her two pistols out in front of her.

The footsteps were quiet as she walked bit by bit over, soon placing the warm metal of her weapon to the back of the victim's head. "Keep quiet. Adjust the air pressure to increase two percent and raise the temperature fifteen galactic units. Or I will shoot you, and my gun will get dirty."

 

[Jace Padder]

"Woah there, honey... no need to be drastic" Jace spoke softly, letting out a light yet nervous chuckle. Slowly he reached forward, spinning a dial on the dashboard up 15 units, along with a small lever under the dash down to pressurize the cabin. Remaining calm, Jace receded his hands back to himself, feeling the cold metal of the gun on his skull. He never fancied that feeling.

​ "Now, you mind telling me what you're doing on my ship? If you're looking for spice, Im sure I could get you some." Jace persuaded. She must have been some kind of non human species, her request was ridiculous. Even so, at this point Jace wasn't in much of a position to argue.

 

[La'kuus Quelin]

Her breath was cold as she breathed, letting it travel to the back of [member="Jace Padder"]'s neck. Slowly she nudged her gun forward against his head, pushing him closer to the controls. "You're going to listen and listen closely, or I will shoot you, and you will die. I am not your friend, I am not your lover, and I am not your employer. You're going to put this ship around orbit, then close your eyes and stand in front of me. If you try to make a move out of my order, you will die. Now get to work. Put the ship in orbit."

Another jerk of her gun made the point even stronger. She didn't care if he died to her, she could do it herself if she wanted to. She was giving him a chance right now, maybe slide some information off him before the whole deed was complete.

 

[Jace Padder]

​Feeling the gun press deeper into the back of his neck, Jace immediately knew that this women wasnt just some junkie pirate, she meant business. On the bright side, if she hadnt killed him yet, it meant she had a reason to keep him alive. That was enough wiggle room for him to begin devising a plan. "And this was supposed to be an easy job." He spoke to himself disappointingly. "Whatever you say, lady" He continued.

Reaching forward, Jace began to hit switches and buttons, eventually feeling the ship shift out of the drive it was in, slowing down and turning into the planet. Hitting the auto pilot switch, the young smuggler began to slowly turn around to get a view of his captor.

 

[La'kuus Quelin]

She let him turn around, but she didn't change her position. Instead, now her blaster was pointed at his face, and he could see her body suit. She motioned to a clean wall with her other blaster, a firm and serious scowl on her face. "Move." She ordered simply, and if so followed properly, went along with him with her pistol at his head.

 

[Jace Padder]

Jace eyed up the woman, like any other man would. In fact, he would have enjoyed the situation, had there not been a blaster pistol firmly placed on his forehead. Following the orders he had been given, Jace stood up, walking her path with the blaster pointed at him.

"Ugh, I hate this song" He remarked, listening to some jazzy tune playing through the ships speakers. The guy couldnt help but let out a chuckle for the situation he caught himself in.

 

[La'kuus Quelin]

True, she did get a lot of eyes in this suit. She walked up to him and squinted lightly, before pointing to the cargo bay with her unpointed pistol. "You're going to tell me how much that spice is worth to the people paying for it. Now. Before you start lying, remember that I am not someone who takes lightly to being fooled with."

 

[Jace Padder]

"Lying? me? no way, sweetheart, I'm as honest as they get!" He boomed outrageously.

Looking at the door to the compartment room where the spice was hidden Jace began to talk, almost just for the sake of talking.

"Listen, thats a lot of math to do in my head. Give me a sec I gotta think about this one. While I'm thinking, You mind telling me your name?"

 

[La'kuus Quelin]

She fixed her gun's posture, then her other one near his mid-legged area. "This is truth," she said, waving her head gun in his face, "and this is liar." She said, fixing her gun in such a way there was no mistaking what liar's intentions were.

 

[Jace Padder]

"If I had a pound of spice for every time a woman pointed a gun there, I would keep it all in that room there!" Jace joked, laughing himself back into reality that this woman literally was going to shoot him. Looking back at the cockpit from where he was standing, and hearing the commotion from the engine room behind him. Jace realized that his plan wasn't going to work out as well as he had thought.

"200,000 galactic credits. But I don't think that's what you should be concerned about.... " He spoke, a new look of stress cascaded over his face as a loud boom was heard behind him, the whole ship rocking back and forth 3 times in count. "Maybe you should have checked to see that the sublight drive for this ship had the power to hold up against Hoths atmosphere!" He shouted over the commotion in back.

Smoke billowed out of the engine room, as it was evident the ship was increasing speed through hoths cold space.

 

[La'kuus Quelin]

La'kuus stared at the man before her. She flipped herself around and shot at his legs. Don't worry, it missed by two centimeters of the pants, all the way around it missed. She threw herself into the pilot's seat and instantly went to work on trying to stabilize the ship, or at least get it out of the hold, but it deemed itself too much. Before she knew it, she was thrown back into the pilot's seat as the ship began to fall straight down to the planet below.

Tears formed in her eyes at the pain of it, but she endured, struggling to get in a better position to steer the ship's nose to the side, to do something to keep them from completely crashing.

 

[Jace Padder]

Jace braced his shoulder until the engin room door fell out, malfunctioning from the blast. Inside the small room was nothing but billowing black smoke, clogging up every sense Jace had, staining his face black. Rushing over to the engin, using his hands to feel around the hot metal, he found the control console. Maybe, just maybe he could reroute power and save himself, the girl, and the spice.

He was no expert in these kinds of things, but at that point, Jace knew that the ship was going down. The engine was blown completely. Rusing out of the room with black dust all over his face and clothing, Jace broke into a full sprint to the crash safety seats. Falling into one of them, he began to tight the restraint harnesses so he could survive the crash. Grabbing the oxygen helmet, he placed it over his head. This was going to be one hell of a ride.

Sitting in that chair, Jace began to think this whole thing through. How was this a way to go out anyway? "Awe... kirff..." He uttered under his breath.

Undoing all his restraints and taking the helmet off, Jace bolted through the ships interior. The place was falling apart as the alarms sounded from every corner. Making his way to the cabin got more and more stressful on his legs as the artificial gravity gave out. At last, he made it, seeing the girl struggle to hold onto the manual overdrive, attempting to steer 100 tons of dead weight. Quickly extending an arm to the girls shoulder, he grabbed her and swiveled the chair so she was facing him.

"You wont survive this fall without restraints! cmon!" He screamed over the noise, grabbing her wrist to follow him through the smoke filled halls.

 

[La'kuus Quelin]

La'kuus was no doubt surprised the man was up and risking his life for hers. She was threatening to kill him just moments ago! She quickly ran back into the halls and got back into the crash seats, tightening herself in without a second thought. If only she had... Wait, she forgot her R4 remote at the pilot's seat. She looked back with worried eyes, then shut them slowly.

Good-bye, R4.

 

[Jace Padder]

Jace went to sit in the restraint chair when a blast, louder than any boom he had ever heard before exploded from the other side of the ship. There went life support functions. The young smuggler was thrown around the cabin violently, smashing into the wall until he, by stroke of luck, happened to grab onto one of the restraints, Using the last bit of his strength, he pulled himself into the chair, tightening the restraints and put on the re-breather helmet.

Looking over at the girl, making sure he was ok, he grabbed the handles at his sides and prepared for the hit. After a few seconds, the whole cabin fell apart, metals flying off the walls, along with circuitry and other items were tossed around like ragdolls.

And in one final explosion, the movement stopped. Jace opened his clenched eyes, only to see his seat in the snow, outside the rubble of what his ship used to be.

 

[La'kuus Quelin]

La'kuus wasn't as lucky from the explosion. Her body flopped unconscious after moments of impact, and dribbling blood came out from her left hand, where it got pierced by a small rod of metal. Thank goodness the spice may have survived though.

Her breathing was ragged, but still there. Barely. She would need help now if she were to make it out without turning into a bloodsicle.

 

[Jace Padder]

Looking at the explosion, while on his knees in the snow, Jace was a sight to see. black smut covered his face and hands, along with a fair amount of blood on his forehead and body.

"We... We made it! we were almost in that!" He boomed hilariously, breaking into a relieving laughing fit for several seconds.

After the laughing was over, Jace looked over to see why he hadnt heard any remark from his captor. Her limp body lay in the snow, smut and blood all over her. The feeling of cold immediately left Jaces body as he rushed over to her. He did not just risk his own life for this girl for her to just die right away. He didnt want to admit it, but he had a soft spot for girls and bounty hunters alike.

"C'mon" he spoke with the last of his breath as he picked her up, she was breathing heavy. She was on the verge of death. "Were gonna get you outta here"

Carrying her over to one of the fires started from falling debris of the ship, he set her down on some rock so she wouldn't get wet. "That suit of yours wont do you much good out here" He spoke, stuttering from the cold. Taking a look down at his own ripped up jacket, neither would his. "I gotta go get us something warmer" . Scavenging was never his strong suit.

 

[La'kuus Quelin]

Too bad someone's unconscious. They're a professional at that. La's head slowly rolled to the side, and finally her hand released one of the blasters onto the ground.

Maybe someone could do something with the gas in that... Her breathing was a little harder and more shaky now. With her hand still lodged with a deadly piece of metal, she wasn't sure if she could even get around to waking up.

 

[Jace Padder]

Running as fast as he could, ignoring the aches and pains his body gave him as persuasion to stop, Jace made his way to the wreckage. He grabbed everything he could that was made out of wood, along with blankets from the beds, torn as they were, and grabbing two coats made for the cold of space out of the survival bin.

These coats weren't made for this kind of cold, but they were coats none the less. making a makeshift sling out of bed sheets, he carried all he could get over to the girl, laying on the ground. Taking a look at her hand, he noticed a piece of jagged metal projecting out of it. "Oh... damnit..." He uttered, tearing off a piece of bed sheet.

Mustering up all the guts he could, Jace pulled the metal out of her hand. Grabbing her pistol and taking the cannister out, he bagan to use the gas to heat up the piece of metal previously in her hand to be red hot. "For the record gal, I am so, so sorry" He said, closing his eyes as he pressed the steaming hot piece of steel on her wound to melt it shut, keeping it from bleeding.

When the dirty deed was over, the young scared smuggler wrapped her hand in the torn bed sheet, along with wrapping her in the blankets he found. Piling up the wood next to them, Jace used the rest of the gas to create a fire intended to warm her up. Sitting down with the coat on and a bed sheet around his legs, Jace just stared at her. "Honey I dont mean to sound pushy, but Ill cut you a piece of whatever spice is left if you make it through this. Please, stay with me" He spoke.

​ Jace didn't know why, and he did his best to hide it, but he was truly afraid.

 

[La'kuus Quelin]

La's hand trembled as the heat was pressed onto it. Her whole body began to shake until it was done. She let out a tiny whimper, then slumped back down onto her resting spot. At least she was warmer now. It would probably be a few more hours until she woke up. Until then, it would be up to her savior to see what would become of them, the ship, and their well-being.

Way to put pressure on someone.