Private "Don't Call Me Shirley."

[Jack Sandrow]

Outfit: Olisthiros stealth combat suit
Weaponry: Forcesabers | Pistol | Garrote

---

Jack nodded his head over to the console, eyeing the captain as she stumbled to her feet. "Give us full access to the system, unlock all the data you're carrying." There was a note of hesitation in her eyes, and he tapped the scimitar-like edge against his armor, the clack-clack of blade on hardened chitinous plates echoing through the bridge. "We just want the data, and you decide whether we get the data quickly or with bloody fingers."

Silently, and glaring daggers at the pair, the captain slowly turned to the console, plugging in credentials, her biosignature unlocking everything they needed to. Jack grinned slowly as he saw the console's screen slowly shift from flashing red to a very pleasant blue. "Much obliged," he smiled, yanking her back away from the controls, slapping a tangle of vines around her wrists, and tossing her to the side before getting at the keyboard. He shook out his arm, the scimitar reshaping smoothly back into his normal five-fingered hand before he clattered away at the keys.

"Mnhh... backups... storage... cmon, why can't we label things the same galaxy wide?" he complained. "Year first, then month, then day, for digital storage. What monster uses month, day, year??" He turned to Val, giving her a half smile as his helmet unfurled again. "Alright, and let's seeee...." A dramatic click of the 'return' key and a small disc ejected from the console. "Last few weeks of movements on here. This would be just raw data, if it wasn't covered in layers upon layers of protection." He grinned wider, handing Val the disc. "Jackpot."

The screen blipped a big red warning, and he glanced to it and swore, his helmet snapping down again. "Okay, so she did unlock everything, and that included all the tripwires. When we drop out of hyperspace, we're going to be lit up to Coruscant and back. We need to get out, yesterday." The captain sneered, a remarkable feat as she was horizontal on the floor, and Jack decided to return it with a rather rude gesture of his own.

"Escape pods? Shuttle? Fighter?"

---

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

​

Outfit: Jedi Jumpsuit | Wedding Ring
Weapons: Lightsabers

Valery took the disc Jack handed her, her amber eyes narrowing at the glowing red warning flashing across the console. Her jaw tightened, and she slid the disc securely into a pouch on her belt, her gaze snapping to Jack.

"We'll head for the shuttle bay and grab fighters. Escape pods leave us exposed, and it helps if we can defend ourselves."

Valery's lightsaber found its way back to her hand, though it remained unignited. Her grip on it was loose but ready, her posture a mix of calm control and coiled tension. "We'll need to move fast and quiet. They'll probably have every corridor between us and the shuttles crawling with reinforcements soon enough."

She gestured toward the bridge door with a tilt of her head, her amber eyes meeting Jack's. "Cover our six — I'll take point. If we run into resistance, we clear it fast and keep moving. We can't afford to get bogged down."

With that, Valery strode toward the door, her lightsaber now in a firm grip as she took the lead. "Let's move."

Jack Sandrow ​

 

[Jack Sandrow]

Outfit: Olisthiros stealth combat suit
Weaponry: Forcesabers | Pistol | Garrote

---

"Right behind you."

As they jogged down the hallway, one saber extruded from his left wrist, snapping firmly into his palm as well. He kept his pistol in his right hand as well, ready to snap to eye level the second he needed to.

It wasn't long, either. Unlike the bridge, this was not a massive contingent of troopers in a fortified position. Jack ducked behind a column as a few blaster shots sprayed around him. It was only a handful, every time, but it was always enough to slow them down if only for a moment. He ignited his saber, the crackling blade shooting out with a vibrant green as he swiped away a few more blaster bolts. Unlike Val, his form was crude and sloppy, and he almost caught a bolt in the shoulder when he overextended. "Ack!" He ducked back, before priming his pistol and firing blindly around the corner. The shard of plant matter auto-corrected mid-flight, punching through a helmet and out the other side, before zipping back through the air to snap into the gun's magazine. "Clear!" he called out, deactivating his saber and continuing the jog again. "When this is over, if we survive, you're going to have to teach me a thing or two about sabers."

The ship continued to feel too long - it would be a very bad idea to take an elevator or a lift, that was a great way to get trapped. They had to run the whole way, too, which meant any resistance had to be dealt with, and the closer they got to the hangar bay, the longer that resistance had to prepare for them. "How... uh, how good are you at piloting fighters?" he asked, offhand. "It's been a hot minute since I had hands on actual proper controls."

---

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

​

Outfit: Jedi Jumpsuit | Wedding Ring
Weapons: Lightsabers

Valery moved with precision, her lightsaber snapping to life in a vibrant violet arc as they encountered more resistance. The hum of her blade cut through the chaos, deflecting bolts with practiced ease while her movements stayed fluid and efficient. Where Jack's technique was raw, hers was refined — the movements of a master honed over decades.

When Jack called out "Clear!" and jogged to catch up, Valery glanced back with a small smirk, though her focus remained on their path. "If we survive this," she said, her voice calm but carrying an edge of amusement, "I'll make sure you know your Soresu from your Djem So. You'll be blocking bolts like a pro in no time."

They pressed forward, every corridor seeming longer and more treacherous than the last. The distant echoes of shouts and clattering boots told her that reinforcements were closing in, but she didn't let it show on her face. The stakes were high, and their window was narrowing, but her confidence and composure remained unshaken.

Jack's offhand question made her glance at him briefly as they sprinted onward. "I'm a great pilot," Valery admitted with a faint chuckle, "Especially in a fighter~"

The hangar was getting closer now — she could feel it. But so was the enemy. Her voice lowered slightly, her focus shifting back to the mission. "We just need to get to those fighters. Once we're out of this death trap, we can worry about perfecting your saber forms and piloting skills."

Jack Sandrow ​

 

[Jack Sandrow]

Outfit: Olisthiros stealth combat suit
Weaponry: Forcesabers | Pistol | Garrote

---

"When," he clarified with a grin, "when we survive this."

They kept on, Jack using the Force to try to wedge doors shut behind them. It would be very bad for the pair of them if they got pincered now. Another impromptu ambush as a door opened before them, and Jack reflexively dodged to the side before a hail of blaster fire shredded the space he had just vacated. He was ready for it though, and so tossing a grenade around the corner, he quickly marked the opposing forces with sticky spores. A quick one-two-three-four of trigger pulls sent four needles flying through eight heads before embedding in the bulkheads.

No time for hesitation now. Jack rounded the corner, recalling the needles back into the gun again as they hurried onward. "By the way, my piloting skills are absolutely superb - I just haven't had my physical hands on physical controls in years." No need for knobs, pedals, or joysticks when you could simply stick your hands into the console and meld with the ship. "I will absolutely take you up on that lightsaber training sesh, though."

Just outside the hangar, they could hear (and sense) the people within setting up. If he and Val rushed in without a plan, they'd have a much harder time of it, but if they took forever to plan then they'd be locked out of any options if (and when) things went sideways. "Alright so I'm thinking the same as before, you draw their attention and I flank around to pick them off from the edges. If things go sideways, I'll try to call out to you. If we have to take separate fighters, then we'll do so. I'm gonna go for the main launch center, you go for the fighters and try to clear off a couple. Sound good?"

---

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

​

Outfit: Jedi Jumpsuit | Wedding Ring
Weapons: Lightsabers

Valery offered Jack a faint grin as he corrected her earlier statement. "When we survive this," she echoed, her tone tinged with confidence and a touch of humor despite the chaos surrounding them.

As they moved, Valery's violet blade deflected another volley of bolts, her movements calculated and fluid. Jack's grenade went off ahead of them, followed by his precision shots taking out the marked targets. She glanced at him briefly, her smirk growing. "Alright, I'll give you credit. Not bad," she said, her tone teasing but sincere.

When he mentioned his piloting skills, Valery raised a brow but chose not to dig further. She did look forward to offering him some training with a blade.

As they reached the edge of the hangar, Valery paused and crouched low, her amber eyes scanning the area through the half-opened door. The Force rippled around them, giving her a clear sense of the number of enemies and their positions. Jack's plan was a good one, but her mind worked quickly, assessing contingencies and worst-case scenarios.

"Alright, your plan works," she said, her voice low but decisive. "Draw them in, hit them from the flanks. But keep one thing in mind — no heroics. If something goes sideways, and we get separated, don't wait. Get to a fighter and launch. I'll cover you if I need to, and I'll make it out."

Her tone hardened slightly as she looked at him, her fiery gaze locking onto his. "Survival is the priority. For both of us."

She adjusted her grip on her lightsaber, her expression sharpening into one of focus. "I'll create the opening you need. Be quick about it."

With that, Valery exhaled and stepped into the hangar, her blade igniting once more. The vibrant violet light cut through the tension in the room as she advanced, a commanding presence that immediately drew the attention of the troops within. Bolts flew toward her, and with a series of precise, deflective movements, she began her part in their plan, giving Jack the cover he needed to flank.

Jack Sandrow ​

 

[Jack Sandrow]

Outfit: Olisthiros stealth combat suit
Weaponry: Forcesabers | Pistol | Garrote

---

"Honestly... I don't do heroics," he admitted wryly with a slight smile. "Call it basic if you will but when it's life or death, it is survival that matters, all else be damned." He hefted the pistol in his right hand, and extended the garrote into a bundle around his left. "So I'll survive."

The second Valery ignited her lightsaber, he was off to the left, taking in the entire room at once at a glance and lobbing another spore grenade right into the middle of the room. Catwalks and cranes helped guide him up and along the walls, and so far he was the recipient of only a few errant potshots directed his way. The nudges of the Force helped coax his footwork, but it was Valery who was the star of this show.

Light on his feet, he hopped down into the control center from the ceiling grate, catching the two armed guards by surprise. "Salutations." He grinned as they froze up, his weapon already aimed at them. It would be over in a split second if he squeezed the trigger, and they both immediately knew it. Two blasters clattered to the ground a moment later, and Jack nodded. "Over into the corner, please," he smiled, tossing two strips of greenery their way. "And put those around your wrists."

The console spread before him like a set of ommni boxes, all keyboards and switches and dials and buttons. Hangar doors, hangar doors.... Some of it was labelled. It should all be paired up, no? "Hrrmm..." This one?

A large clamp opened up, dropping one fighter to the cargo floor with an unceremonious clang. "Oops. Uhh... those are fighter controls...." He grabbed what looked like a joystick, before tabbing through the options on the display. "Is this for the catapult?" A second fighter began to move, from further down the line, moving within its clamps towards the hangar doors. "Yes! Alright, now for the doors..." His eyes slid over the panels, looking for a big fat warning switch. "....Probably. Shields.... shields... Surely they have ray shields..."

The fighting was getting closer - Valery seemed to be moving about, keeping from getting boxed in. Hopefully he had a few more minutes to get things sorted...

---

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

​

Outfit: Jedi Jumpsuit | Wedding Ring
Weapons: Lightsabers

Valery's movements were a whirlwind of precision and power as she deflected another barrage of blaster bolts, her violet blade leaving streaks of light in the air. Each step and swing of her weapon was deliberate, keeping her just ahead of the encroaching forces. The shouts of troopers and the crackling of blaster fire filled the hangar, but her focus remained unshaken.

As another group advanced, Valery twisted her wrist to send a bolt ricocheting back into the barrel of an enemy rifle, the resulting explosion sending its owner stumbling backward. Her gaze flicked toward the control center, where Jack had disappeared moments earlier. The faint sound of clanging metal and a muffled Oops drifted out, and her lips pressed into a thin line.

"Jack!" she called, her tone sharp but not unkind. Another bolt zipped past her head, forcing her to duck low and roll into cover behind a pile of crates. Her saber hissed as it deactivated briefly to keep her position hidden. "Any time now! I can't hold the floor show forever!"

Peeking around the crates, Valery spotted a trooper lining up a shot. With a flick of her wrist, she extended her free hand, the Force sending the trooper flying into a support column. The clatter of his weapon hitting the floor brought a brief, wry smirk to her face, but her attention returned immediately to Jack.

The numbers in the hangar were growing, and Valery could feel the tide beginning to shift. They needed to move, and fast. Despite her steady voice, urgency laced her words as she continued cutting a path through the chaos.

"Clock's ticking, Jack!" she called again, her saber flashing in the dimly lit hangar. "Make it happen!"

Jack Sandrow ​

 

[Jack Sandrow]

Outfit: Olisthiros stealth combat suit
Weaponry: Forcesabers | Pistol | Garrote

---

The second fighter had slid snugly into position in front of the hangar doors, and a new series of buttons and switches began to strobe slowly. Jack pored over them, finger hovering just a few millimeters off the console. "...Catapult?" He pressed it, and the fighter slid forward onto the guide rail aimed out of the hangar doors. "Oohh, a fighter catapult. I was wondering..." Those next ones looked promising. He pressed them all, and pumped a fist in excitement as he saw what looked like magnetic shields blossom into existence a moment before the hangar doors cracked open and began to part. "Okay... okay! Just have to make it there in one piece."

The Force screamed at him, and he flinched back a hairs-breadth too quickly for a blaster bolt to make connection with his cheek. It singed the console, and Jack quickly swung his own pistol up to the entryway, squeezing the trigger to eliminate the guard that had almost cut him down to size. "...Too close." Again. He hurried out of the room, eyeing the two guards still tied up in the corner with a glare. "Actually, on second thought..." He traipsed back to the room, where the guards had just started to clamber to their feet. "Thought so." A squeeze of the Force as his hand clenched, and one head met the other with a nauseating crack. Two unconscious bodies slumped to the ground, and Jack breathed a sigh of relief before hurrying back to the ground floor.

It was beginning to be second nature now; the sensor spores had flooded the room and every active enemy was tagged and highlighted in his biotech HUD for his convenience. He hesitated a moment, before selecting extremities to be targeted and firing off a massive spread of needles that impaled knees, hands, legs, and shoulders. Some of them missed, most of them hit, and it was more than enough for Jack to hop down the railings, over the cargo crates, and land next to Valery as his own saber extended from his forearm. "Fighter's loaded, door's opening, I'll follow your lead up and out. I can pilot it if I have to, but if you think you're the better pilot, I will gladly defer to you!"

---

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

​

Outfit: Jedi Jumpsuit | Wedding Ring
Weapons: Lightsabers

Valery barely paused as Jack landed beside her, her violet blade flashing in a deadly arc that sent two blaster bolts ricocheting back into their owners. The hangar was still a war zone, bodies scrambling for cover, alarms blaring in the background, but the moment Jack spoke, she smirked — sharp, confident, and laced with playful arrogance.

"I'm definitely the better pilot," she quipped, her voice smooth despite the chaos around them. She didn't even need to think about it; it was just fact.

Then, realization flickered across her face, her smirk faltering for just a second as his words fully registered.

Fighter.

Her fiery gaze snapped to him. "Wait, is it a one-seater or a two-seater?"

Even as she asked, she was already moving, weaving through the firefight with precise, fluid steps. A trooper raised his rifle, only for Valery to send him flying into the wall with a casual flick of her hand. There wasn't time for hesitation — if it was a single-seater, they'd have to improvise fast. If it was a two-seater, well…

Then this escape might actually go smoothly.

Not that things ever went smoothly.

Jack Sandrow ​

 

[Jack Sandrow]

Outfit: Olisthiros stealth combat suit
Weaponry: Forcesabers | Pistol | Garrote

---

"...I didn't check?" he said, before wincing and hurrying back over. With a few rapid hops and one big leap, he landed astride the cockpit, the hangar doors opening fully behind him. The cockpit release button depressed a moment later with a quick wave of the Force, and the hatch opened wide before him, revealing.... one seat.

"Dank ferrik." Calling out to Val, he responded, "Just one cockpit! Some room in the back for what looks like an astromech but just the one seat!" He swore again under his breath, before getting higher up on the fighter's spine, using the height for a range advantage. The pistol in his hand extruded farther outward, growing a long spine of its own as he began picking off targets at range with steady, careful shots. "I'm covering - get moving, Val!"

They would be dropping out of hyperdrive any second now, they needed to go. He checked briefly - yes, this fighter did also thankfully have its own hyperdrive. At least he hadn't missed that. "Get up here and get us moving, I'll squash in after you!"

---

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

​

Outfit: Jedi Jumpsuit | Wedding Ring
Weapons: Lightsabers

Valery exhaled sharply through her nose, half in amusement, half in exasperation. "You didn't check?" she echoed, her fiery gaze flicking to Jack with a look that was half a glare, half a smirk. "Unbelievable."

But there wasn't time to argue about it. The sound of blaster fire was still thick in the air, and the hangar was an inferno of chaos. She moved without hesitation, vaulting onto the fighter's wing with a single, fluid motion before swinging herself into the cockpit.

As expected, it was cramped — definitely a one-seater, and Jack was going to have to squeeze in behind her in whatever space was left. "This is not how I pictured our getaway," she muttered, adjusting herself as best she could before feeling the weight of Jack wedging himself in after her.

"Comfortable?" she quipped, even as she powered up the systems.

The ship shuddered violently as the hyperdrive disengaged, the blur of hyperspace unraveling into the endless stretch of stars. Valery didn't wait — before their pursuers could catch up, she slammed the throttle forward, sending the fighter rocketing ahead at full burn. The engines roared, blue light streaking past the canopy as she twisted through the void, plotting their next jump.

"Hold on," she warned, fingers dancing across the controls.

With a final burst of speed, the fighter shot forward, leaving the chaos behind. Their pursuers wouldn't be far behind, but for now?

They were free.

Jack Sandrow ​