Expanding Horizons (Cara)

[Noah Corek]

[member="Cara Sampson"]
Noah paled, this wasn't looking good. This is why he never wanted to have Melissa in the first place, because things like this always seem to happen to the ones he loved. Looking for any other signs, Noah saw a small trail of blood leading to a door of the bridge. Walking over to it, Noah opened it and pulled his blaster up high, making sure to sweep the barrel across the entirety of the bridge, nothing. Again he saw the blood trail, this time leading to a small armory, as he walked, Noah thought he heard spinning, that could only mean one thing. Ducking to the side, just in time before some opened up with a OPRC-1 rotary blaster cannon, shredding the door.

 

[Cora Passek]

Cara hadn't followed Corek. She had other plans in mind. Rushing back to her room, she picked up a small pack, and there raced back to Noah as she heard blaster fire break out. "Okay, this is starting to piss me off..." She mumbled as she ducked down beside him. Reaching into the pack she withdrew two grenades, before handing them both Corek, one at a time. "Emp, and flash." Spoken quickly, as she peered around the corner, diving back for cover as the cannon went off in her direction. "Do me a favor... Next time, lock the armory. Or install better security." She had told him, his security wasn't quite up to snuff already, before she'd even stepped on board.

[member="Noah Corek"]

 

[Noah Corek]

[member="Cara Sampson"]
Noah smiled when he was handed the two grenades, a EMP and a Flashbang from what Cara had said. "I did have the armory locked, the bastard probably sliced the lock and I'm sorry but trouble always seems to follow." Noah told her as he thumbed the switch on the EMP grenade and tossed it in, after a satisfying noise told them that it had detonated and the blaster fire stopped, then Noah pulled the pin on the flashbang and tossed it, after it had exploded Noah rushed in to find a man dressed in black, a tactical vest, cargo pants, boots and gloves. Slamming his fist as hard as he could into the mans jaw, Noah heard a satisfying cracking noise, Noah grabbed the man and threw him onto the nearest table. "Where's my daughter!?"

 

[Cora Passek]

Cara returned the smile, "Always prepared." She said quietly. That was one thing she had an almost annoying habit of, was preparing for just about any situation she could think of, and bringing along the supplies to match. "Yeah, I'd say it's time to up your security level. DNA locks are brilliant for that." She merely waited for him to toss the grenades and move forward, hanging back a little as she watched the situation unfold. When it came to close quarters combat, Cara had little experience. Far more used to doing things at range.

After she was certain it was safe, she started forward, started being key. A hand grabbed her arm firmly, and yanked her back. A muffled scream was about all that she could get out as a hand was clamped down upon her mouth. A cold muzzle of a blaster firmly pressed against her head, made the blonde freeze. She had been reaching for her bag, still slung over her shoulders, but even that stopped as fear set in and she reached for the arm that was wrapped around her neck. It seemed there was more than one of the would be kidnappers on board. How we miss this? The singular thought that ran through her head as she found herself being drug backwards through the hallway, her body being held firmly in front of the man, a human shield in the worst possible manner.

[member="Noah Corek"]

 

[Noah Corek]

[member="Cara Sampson"]
Noah stopped dead in his tracks when he heard a muffled scream behind him, he quickly executed the one soldier and grabbed his AR-35 that was mounted on the wall and game out, hand gripping the angled foregrip and his shooting eye looking through the micro red dot sight. "Let her go!" Noah yelled, desperation obvious in his voice as he aimed down the sight, if the man just moved his head a centimeter to the right, Noah would have a clean headshot.

 

[Cora Passek]

[member="Noah Corek"]

Cara panted desperately for air, her eyes wide with a mix of fear and panic. Her fingernails dug heavily into her captor's arm who was still half dragging her backwards down the halls. He'd at least decided to let her speak again, as the attempt to pull her away silently had failed. "Noah ... Noah...." She spoken quickly, "Kinda need this one alive... To find Melissa..." Not to mention, she really didn't want him shooting in her direction, elite commando or otherwise.

So far the man had been good at keeping the blonde's head square in front of his, making her the wonderful safety barrier between him and the weapon now aimed in his direction. There were reasons after all that he'd pulled Cara directly in front of his body and pinned her there so neatly. One single move the wrong way, a shot at the wrong time, and she'd be dead. It was a balance of risks, one that could not end well for any party involved.

Right now Cara took notice, the man was equal parts occupied and distracted. Slowly, she released a hand from the would be kidnappers arm, with the pretense of struggling, but the man seemed to not notice her arm snaking down to the pack hanging near her waist. There was just no way that she would sit back and do nothing. It just wasn't her style.

Her fingers soon wrapped around a grenade and carefully she pulled it to the top. With great manner of luck, she'd drawn a flash grenade, exactly what'd she'd hoped for. Oh this is so going to hurt.... Flash grenades weren't exactly pleasant affairs. It was never just the blinding light that got you, the concussive explosion tended to deafen one for a period of time, as well as throw the balance of the victim off to an extreme. And if you were unlucky enough to be extremely close to the blast, there was bound to be a burn or two involved for the victim.

Needless to say, Cara was pissy at this point. Downright angry in fact, and well, when she was angry, all logic, kindness and regard for her own safety went out the window. A most cold dead look replaced her panic as all signs of emotion faded from her features. Bad times were about to follow the cold bitter rage the blonde felt. One too many times had people held her like this, and she bordered on the edge of life and death. He wasn't going to win this time. Nobody was going to put her back into that same situation she feared so much. Instincts took over and without any hesitation at all, she clicked the switch on the grenade, and counted to three. Reaching backwards, she gave a bit of a jerk forward, pulling him marginally off balance as he clung to her body for the protection it provided. But his actions didn't save him from her as she reached behind her back and proceeded to shove the grenade into his pants.

The resulting explosion a moment later, tossed Cara forward a few steps the back of her shirt on fire. Stumbling she had little coordination, but managed to think clearly enough to kick backwards knocking the jerk away from her. Though it really wasn't needed as he fell to the floor into a whimpering fetal position. It seemed his family jewels, might have seen better days. Cara couldn't see any of this, not a wink as she fell to the floor, completely blind and deaf, and feeling a bit like she'd been tossed into a washer on the spin cycle. The fiercely angry blonde, wasn't going anywhere, at least not any time soon.

 

[Noah Corek]

[member="Cara Sampson"]
Noah eyes widened when he saw what Cara did, she had shoved a flashbang down the mans pants, right into his crotch. Even from where Noah was, the bang reached him, providing small moment of ringing in his ears, but Noah had been trained for situations like this, quickly shaking his head, Noah got his bearings just as Cara came tumbling towards him. Quickly grabbing her under her armpits, Noah lowered her to the floor, face first, making sure to not touch the flames on her back. Once she was on her chest, Noah took his shirt off and began to beat out the flames, making sure to take extreme care to not beat to hard and damage her back more than it probably already was. Once Noah was sure that her back wasn't on fire anymore, he stood and walked over to the man, who at this point was screaming obscenities at Cara, who couldn't hear the curses being sent her way, which was probably good for the man because if she did, she'd probably kill him. After his last string of obscenities, Noah basically stomped onto his knee, hearing a satisfying cracking noise. "You should be grateful, if it had been me, I would've killed you." Noah told him as he took his foot off the man and threw him against the wall. "Now, I'll give you to the count of three before I shoot of whats left of your jewels!" Noah basically screamed at the man.

 

[Cora Passek]

Cara screamed feeling hands grabbing her, struggling to push the hands away, uncertain of who had her. Fortunately, her cooridination and balance hadn't returned to her, and she easily was pulled to the floor. The pain of the flames upon her back, really hadn't regisitered in her brain. Her mind was a bit occupied still trying to process the flash bang, the ringing in her ears, and the blinding whiteness that was all she really could see. Even as Noah patted out the flames, Cara barely moved. She just couldn't, still too dizzy to function or speak beyond a small whimper as the pain was finally starting to register in her mind.

With a groan, she laid her head down on the durasteel and just left it be at that, she couldn't function and it was no use to try, especially as it was dawning on her that she was wounded in some way that she couldn't see quite yet.

The would be kidnapper wasn't in a much better place than Cara, still unable to hear even as he cursed and screamed at the blonde. A sharp scream came as Noah stomped on his knee, and soon threw him against the wall. It seemed even he'd need some time to recover, as well as Cara who was back to starting to try and sit up, though that probably wasn't the wisest thing for her to do, with the burned flesh on her back starting to peel with every small movement. Not to mention the places where her shirt had managed to melt into her skin. Clearly, she wasn't thinking in any logical manner at all.

[member="Noah Corek"]

 

[Noah Corek]

[member="Cara Sampson"]
It was clear that the man couldn't hear him or even see him, due to the fact that he didn't even answer the question, just continued to spout obscenities, but instead of spouting them at Cara now, he spouted them at Noah. Noah sighed and dropped the man to the floor and delivered a heel to his temple, knocking him out. Quickly securing the man to a nearby bulkhead with a pair of tungsten cuffs, Noah stood and walked over to Cara, who's vision should have been clearing at this point, since flashbangs were only supposed to last for a few seconds at most. The ringing in her ears must have been massive, due to the fact she had blood running down her the sides of her face originating from her ears. Looking her over and assessing the damage, Noah stood and walked away for a minute, only to return with a first aid kit and a bottle of cold water. The first thing he did was take some gauze and cleaned the blood of her face and ears, after that, he went around behind her and took out a pair of surgical scissors and began to cut her shirt as gently as he could. Once he was done he assessed the damage, most of it were second degree burns with some first degree on the on the outside. Taking a injector full of morphine from the kit, Noah injected into Cara's neck, then taking the water bottle, Noah opened it and began to pour the cold water down her back, taking care to get only the burns. Once he was sure it was properly cleaned, Noah took out a few bacta patches and gingerly applied them to the wound, after that, Noah took a roll of gauze and began to wrap it around Cara's torso, making sure to cover the wounds properly, finally after wrapping her entire torso up in it, Noah was finished.

 

[Cora Passek]

Maybe it hadn't been the wisest of choices to use the flashbang when she was right on top of it, but logical kinda had gone out the window at that point. It was only after the fact, as the pain settled in that she started to regret her actions, but it had gotten her free, and relatively unharmed. Relatively being key. In the scope of things, she'd heal up just fine in time, maybe with a few more scars, and a little worse for wear, but she was alive and that was what counted.

She glanced up as Noah came back over to her, pain written across her every feature. Glancing back behind her, she looked to the rather pathetic looking soldier, laying limp against the bulkhead, bound there. The series of events that must have followed her rather creative use of a flashbang, finally seemed to come around to her. With the ringing still so loud in her ears, a massive headache starting to build. Her eyes widened once Noah came back, and began to clean the blood away from her skin, and ears. It seemed to surprise her how much was there, not really expecting her ears to have been hurt that badly.

Spying the surgical scissors, Cara started to freak out a little bit. Medical treatment, was absolutely positively NOT her favorite thing in the universe, in fact, she was terrified of hospitals, doctors, needles and anything involving the words surgical or surgery. Even more so adding to her panic was the injector she caught sight of.... "I uh... Noo needles!" She managed weakly, but a little too late to fight that off as he plunged the needle into her neck. It took a second, but the drug kicked in rapidly, and she found herself nearly nodding off in the hallway.

Once he'd finished wrapping the wounds, she with great care, shifted to the side of the hall, leaning heavily against it. "Find Melissa..." She managed, groggily but at least not hurting so badly anymore. "Don't worry about me, find her."

[member="Noah Corek"]

 

[Noah Corek]

[member="Cara Sampson"]
Noah looked down at Cara, he was conflicted. Cara was in such a pitiful state and if he left and someone else showed up she could barely have defended herself even if he did leave her his blaster pistol. On the other hand, Force knew what could be happening to Melissa right now, she had wounded one of the guys that were on the ship, that didn't bode well for her health if she was with the man she stabbed. Finally after a few more moments of internal deliberation, Noah's fatherly instincts took the lead. Looking down at Cara, Noah took the OPP-2 blaster pistol out of the waistband of his pants and put into Cara's lap, then he gave her a kiss on the cheek and unshouldered his rifle and began to run down the hall way, going for the first logical place that someone would go to get off a ship if you couldn't land or take a shuttle of, the escape pods. When Noah got there though, there was nothing, save for a trail of blood leading towards the cargo bay, walking towards the door, Noah opened it, only to have a man launch himself at Noah. Caught by surprise, Noah didn't have time to bring his rifle up before the man crashed into him, due to the weight of the man, Noah was launched into the wall. But Noah had been trained for exactly this moment, during Commando training Noah had learned SOCP, Special Operations Combatives Program, a program that taught soldiers to use the enemies strength and momentum against them, this was no different. Pushing would have been a expected reaction, but Noah pulled, catching the man off guard and gaining the upperhand, while he pulled Noah turned and instead of being slammed into the bulkhead, the man was slammed into the bulkhead, harder then Noah would have been. After this, Noah wrenched his rifle from the mans grip and slammed the butt into the mans face and knocked him out. Noah cuffed the man to the wall and noticed that he had a giant gash in his arm, Noah knew this was the man who had taken Mel. Making sure he was secure, Noah walked into the hold and after a minute of searching he finally found Mel, who was bound, gagged and from the fact that she didn't look roughed up and was sleeping, she probably had been drugged. Picking her up, Noah carried her and the man back to where he had left Cara.

 

[Cora Passek]

Cara already was nearly asleep as Noah internally debated the options of staying or leaving. She knew if it was her, she'd be looking for her child, and god have mercy on the souls of whoever held her kid. None would survive. This was the reason, even in her drug addled state, that she had pushed for him to go, to find Melissa. The kiddo at the end of the day was more important than she ever would be. At least that was the way she looked at it.

Groggily, she looked up to him as he laid the blaster in her lap, and managed the smallest of smiles as kissed her cheek and headed off into the ship. Cara's fingers found their way the blaster, and gingerly wrapped around the weapon. With a sigh, she lifted it, clinging tightly to it, for she had no idea who else was on board the ship, and what exactly they wanted. They'd taken the girl, but they'd tried to take her alive too. Or perhaps she was just simply the human shield the man used to try and get by Noah. Who knew? It just left far too many questions, questions Cara was in no mood to ask, or really deal with.

Hearing booted feet approaching, Cara lifted the weapon to the direction she'd heard them coming from. She was in no state to fight anyone else off, and knew it. Not that it was going to stop her from trying. As Noah came into view, she breathed a heavy sigh of relief. Eyeing the child in his arms, the blonde nodded slowly and lowered the weapon. "Glad you have found her, Noah." She spoke, most definitely completely exhausted. "Glad no one else showed up in the mean time." Spoken louder, but still just as worn as ever. "The question of the hour remains: Why?" That she really wanted to know. Why they were here, and what exactly they wanted.

[member="Noah Corek"]

 

[Noah Corek]

[member="Cara Sampson"]
Noah popped his neck as he heard Cara speak, then when she asked the question about why they had been subjugated to the small battle they had just went through Noah popped his knuckles as well. "I'll shed some light on that." Noah told her as he walked over to the man who he had knocked out with the butt of his rifle and smacked him, hard enough to wake him from the depths of unconsciousness. "Rise and shine buttercup! I gotta few questions your going to answer!" Noah spat out harshly as he pulled the man to his feet by his collar, making sure to bang his injured arm into the bulkhead more than a few times. "What if I don't wanna?" The man asked and was rewarded for his stupid question with a fist to the gut. "That answer your question?" Noah asked sarcastically to the man, who simply nodded his head. "First thing first, your tactics. Three people attack three different targets at three different times. You know I actually invented that tactic in the Republics Commando handbook, so I'm guessing your former Republic spec ops, maybe even black ops like me." Noah informed the man who's eyes widened when he mentioned the commando handbook. "Wait, the men who wrote it were Reaper Squad, are you telling me you were a member?" At this, Noah laughed. "A member? I was THE Reaper, I commanded the entire squad!" Noah told the man and laughed at his idiocy. "Well then one of your teammates has a grudge against you because we were hired by a guy named Simon." Now that name brought back memories, some good and some bad. Upon hearing the name, Noah did smacked the man with his rifle butt again and knocked him out.

 

[Cora Passek]

Cara only watched as Noah moved back to the man she'd helped to incapacitate. Though truly she got both him and herself in the process, and there was some debate, at least in her mind, as to whether or not it was worth it. The woman only shifted enough against the wall, to position herself to view the exchange. Once he was done, Cara's brow knitted together, the conversation only left her with more questions. "And who is Simon?" She asked groggily, truly wanting to know. After all whatever this grudge was, had nearly cost two innocents their lives in the process of revenge and what not. Well, Cara was a far cry from innocent, but least in this matter, she had absolutely nothing to do with the cause. "We might want to take Melissa and myself to a room, with softer furnishings..... and locks." She added as her head bobbed forward a bit. The blonde had a slight feeling, she might be a wee bit paranoid for a while after this little incident.

[member="Noah Corek"]

 

[Noah Corek]

[member="Cara Sampson"]
Noah sighed as Cara asked who Simon was, he knew Simon had survived, the man was relentless when it came to revenge. "Simon 'Ghost' Fitzroy was a Sergeant Major in the Republic black ops program. He was might right hand when I was in the same squad inside the program. We were the best, but Simon was always the odd man out, always preferring to stay secluded from the rest of the squad. Simon was ruthless on the battlefield, where collateral damage was a thing we always made sure to keep to a minimum, Simon would be more than glad to shoot through a hostage to get a target.After one op, he killed twenty civvies we had to, cut him loose. He was dishonorably discharged, but he blamed more than a few of us for his failures and vowed revenge." Noah told her and then nodded at her second statement.

 

[Cora Passek]

Cara nodded and sighed, detecting it was a sensitive subject for him. "I see," She said softly, as she slowly, ever so carefully made her way to her feet. The first step she took, a bit stumbled as she learned just to what degree her coordination had been effected by the drug.

"Look, Noah ... I knew you had a past. And as much as both of us might want to deny it, we've made enemies along the way." She gave a small shrug, only to wince for her efforts. "Enemies means we stood up for something. Simple fact is, one way or another, we are going to have to deal with these things as they come along. It's the unfortunate nature of the lives we chose." The blonde just hoped these little events wouldn't kill them though, before they could be worked through. "Right now, we need to find a safe place for Melissa." Cara didn't mention herself in that. She could, for the most part handle herself. "Then, perhaps we can work to finding Simon, and eliminating him as a threat."

"And regardless of the order we do this in, I.. I'm going to need some rest." She said softly.

[member="Noah Corek"]

 

[Noah Corek]

[member="Cara Sampson"]
"No." Noah said simply when Cara mentioned 'them' going after Simon. "Cara, I'm in love with you, that is plain and simple. I can't lose you like I lost Mel's mother, she was one of the people who I could barely lived without, after she died, all I thought about was revenge. If I lose you, I don't know what I'll do." Noah told her as he walked over and held her, hand on her cheek and his other on her hip, keeping her steady. "Cara you don't understand, if this was anything else, I'd let you help, maybe even involve you, but not in this situation. Simon won't care, he WILL kill you, no matter what you say or do, your affiliated with me and that all he needs."

 

[Cora Passek]

Cara blinked, just blinked. "You what?" Those were the last words she expected to hear. Only one person had ever said those words to her, a man who was now dead. Hearing them now, brought back memories she really wasn't in the mood to feel.

With him helping to keep her steady, she turned back in the direction of her room. "Look Noah, you need to listen to me for a start... I'm not the kind of woman who will be locked up in some tower while the knight in shining armor does all the work. I'm not the type of woman. I need you to understand that. I really do." A sigh came as she winced a little more as they moved along, painfully slowly for her. "Secondly, you cannot do this alone. One way or another you will need someone who can watch your back."

Cara swallowed hard, debating if she'd actually reveal the biggest secret she had...."You have to know, that it is my choice if I put my life on the line at the end of the day. You cannot make that choice for me. That isn't fair or right. Not only that, but please realize I've dealt with some nasty criminals, killed a Hutt to save a friend, and that still wasn't even the most monstrous being I've dealt with." Probably a small clue that she'd not been completely honest about her past.

"I'm not some fragile woman that's going to break over something so little. I've been shot. I've been hurt. I've nearly died and yet I am still here." She sighed heavily. "Give me the chance to at least help you find him. To use my resources and contacts to get you closer. By the sounds of it, I'm already at risk. So, why not at least do something about the threat to not only my life, but yours and your child's."

Another sigh came, "As for the love part of what you just said ..." Closing her eyes, she sniffled, trying to fight back the tears that she didn't want to come, that she didn't want to show to the world, much less Noah. "I loved someone once ... His name was Zach... I thought I'd marry him if I'm to be honest. Settle down. I could see it with him." She shook her head, feeling the tears fall, and hating herself for it. "It's been a long time ... Unfortunately he died in an accident." An accident, that she didn't want to talk about at all. "I really, ... it's just ..." Cara reached up and wiped her tears away as best she could with minimal movement. "I'm not in the same place you are, just know that. It doesn't mean it won't happen, just that I'm not there yet."

[member="Noah Corek"]

 

[Noah Corek]

[member="Cara Sampson"]
Noah stopped Cara and held her in place, wiping her tears away with his thumb. He hated when he saw a beautiful woman like Cara cry, but Cara was more than just a pretty face to Noah. She was strong, smart, independent and was one of the few women he knew that could handle a blaster just as well as he could. "Cara, I don't think your fragile and I'm not trying to hide you away, but I'm trying to protect you, I don't know much about your past, but let me tell you something, my past has got nearly everyone I loved killed once or twice and I'm not willing to let you die because I let you get involved." Noah informed her as they sat in the middle of the hallway. When she began to talk about Zach, Noah remembered a man he once knew. "I knew a man name Zach once, Zachary Herring, me and Zach trained together during boot camp and then commando training." Noah doubted that her Zach and his Zach were the same person, but it might be.

 

[Cora Passek]

Cara let him wipe away the tears, though her eyes were downcast, not looking up to him. "Don't you see? By trying to protect me, you are locking me in a tower, and not letting me be free." A sigh followed. "That's something we share Noah. I don't have a family anymore, not even a single blood relative. I don't have friends anymore, most of them dead, or have tried to have me killed by this point. My life is filled with danger and threats. Simon, is just one more. One who happens to be threatening my life, if by association to you alone."

She shook her head slowly, "Can you promise, that once I step off this ship, that I'll be safe from him? Because if not, Noah, like it or not I'm doing this with you. I will not stand for someone threatening my life. I won't stand for it. Do you understand? You don't have a choice in this matter. You don't. Once my life was threatened too, there was no other option." Another sigh came, "You'd have to lock me away somewhere to keep me from this. It's the only way I'm not helping you. So, you're going to have to deal with it, one way or another."

Listening for a moment, she nodded. She could have lied, said yes, but she couldn't sully Zach's memory that way. "No, I'm a afraid Zach, my Zach was a criminal, much like I used to be." Much like I still am. Hide it well enough these days, don't you? I'd like to think so... yes.

[member="Noah Corek"]