Public Gang firefight

[Marauder]

Marauder catches the hat and stifles a chuckle at the sight of it. "Alright then." Marauder said as he placed the hat atop his head. "Machine factory you said?" Marauder asked, getting up from the ground.

He walked with Veda a couple of alleys down to the machine factory. Several junkpiles and garbage crates became visible to the two of them. Marauder sighs at the multitudes of garbage before them. "Chit." Marauder said. "Well, we best get started." He walks over to a rusty garbage crate. "You pick which one you search."

 

[Pal Veda]

Can I pick none of them? Veda took his time picking out the least disgusting bin. Lucky for him, the factory recycled, so a few of the crates on the opposite side of where Marauder was searching were full of packing materials instead of garbage. Seemed like a good place to start. As he walked over, he nodded to a couple of laborers taking a smoke break behind the factory. This isn’t odd at all, right? They nodded back, but he noticed one of the men prematurely snuffed out his nic-stick and talked back in, while the other continued puffing casually, watching the two outlaws.

Veda dug into the first bin, finding nothing. He moved to the second, again empty. And if we don’t find her? He wondered how this was going to play out. As he moved from the second to the third bin, he noticed a cart full of recyclable packaging material shoved between the crates. “Hey, Mando, I think I found what we’re looking for to make your little plan work.” He dumped the junk out of the cart and rolled it out into the open. “Will this work?”

 

[Marauder]

Marauder looked up from the junk he was digging from, he observed the cart closely. "Absolutely." He answered. Marauder cleared one junk pile, now on to another one.

"Wait a second, wait a second." He started, reaching to his helmet comm. "Hello." He said into his comm. An echo could be heard from one of the garbage crates from the middle of the alley "That narrows it down a lot." Marauder said, walking towards one of them. Marauder grabs the handle on one of the garbage crates and opens it, revealing.... garbage.

"Hmm." Marauder quietly groaned, this was taking too long, but they were so close to finding her. Marauder repeated the comm trick and narrows it further to the three center crates. The right crate was slightly rusty, but not at all filthy, the left one had some grime but more rust, the middle one was the muckiest of the three "You take the one on the right, I'll take the left one, pray to whatever god you worship she ain't in the middle one."

 

[Pal Veda]

“Alright,” Veda responded, “But looks like trouble may be brewing.” He motioned his head toward the lone man smoking his nic-stick at the back door of the factory. Except he wasn’t alone anymore. He had been joined by three other less than sophisticated gentlemen, all eyes turned on Veda and Marauder. Sure, they could just be wondering why these two idiots were digging through the trash bins. Or they could be wondering when the backup they called would arrive with blasters. The man they had stolen from ran this part of town. Surely anything suspicious would be called in immediately.

He opened the top of the bin on the right. HISS! A giant alleycat kept out at Veda, nearly knocking him down. He threw the cat to the side and cursed as it ran off for another hiding place. “That thing scratched me!” Sure enough, the claws had dug into his left arm, leaving a superficial wound behind. He’d live to fight another day.

Cautiously and carefully, he crept back to the bin and peered inside, hands at the ready in case a second attack-cat laid in wait. Nothing. “No Mandos in here,” he called over to his partner. Just crazy wild animals.

 

[Marauder]

Marauder chuckled at Veda's surprise "That's a nasty critter." Once Veda's crate came up negative, Marauder opened the left trash crate to reveal it had only more garbage. Marauder stared blankly at the garbage. If she's in neither the left or right crate, then she's in the filthy one. He shivered.

"Not here either." Marauder reported. "She's in that one." He pointed at the crate between them. "This is reminding me of the trash compactor incident and I don't like it."

He ambled to the crate and reluctantly grabbed the grimy handle. "Eck." Marauder reacted as he lifted the door up. "Finally!" He exclaimed. "Here she is." Marauder lifted her out of the garbage crate and set her down on the cart Veda found. "That's why she didn't respond to comms, she was unconscious." Marauder observed.

 

[Pal Veda]

“Out like a light,” Veda agreed. He glanced over at the workers outside the factory and noticed their number had increased from four to six, and they weren’t being shy about pointing and gesticulating at the dumpster divers. “Grab a couple of those empty boxes and lay on top of her. Our friends over there are looking a little less friendly by the minute.”

While Marauder covered Anvil, Veda brought out the holomap and checked their location. “We’re a half click from the ship. We need to go that way about three blocks,” he pointed up the street, “then cut a left. The dock is just a few blocks in that direction.“ We may make it out of here alive after all.

 

[Marauder]

Marauder looked over at the workers and noted their expressions, they were definitely up to something. "This should get em off our backs." He said, reaching into his belt and pulling out a sticky grenade. He threw the detonator at the wall next to their watchers. As the device starts beeping slowly, the six workers headed back inside in a panic.

"Now we gotta hurry." Marauder takes off his helmet and puts it beside Anvil on the cart, then puts on the long poncho and dingy hat. "Look for a tarp or something similar, we have at least two minutes before we're found by the guys we stole from."

Marauder begins surveying the area for any large piece of fiber or cloth based covering. He spots a promising canopy but it had too many holes to be useful. He tosses it aside but not too far in case it's the only option. "Come on already!" He groans.

 

[Pal Veda]

“For Yoda’s sake!“ A sticky grenade is not what Veda expected. And it wasn’t even a bluff. Marauder threw a real, live detonator. Why do you Mandalorians always make everything so difficult? Their kind loved to blow things up, that was for sure. Veda grabbed the discarded canopy and threw it over Anvil. “Look, bud, when that thing blows, everyone in this city is going to know where we’re at. And it won’t just be these gangsters on our tail. The local law will respond to an explosion at a factory. Your little poncho and hat won’t matter much at that point.“

He lifted the cover to do a quick inspection of Anvil. “She’s out cold, but she seems to be breathing.“ The jetpack got her into this mess, but the armor saved her life. Heck, Veda didn’t think she had even broken any bones. Lucky fall.

His mind raced. Bingo! Now it was his turn for a crazy idea. “Mando, think you can survive without your jetpack until we get to the ship?” A little smuggler ingenuity. “Let’s hook it to the cart, turn it on low, and let it pull us through the streets instead of us pushing this thing. Work smarter, not harder, you know?”

Spoiler

OOC — Casany Praxor sorry we’ve kind of taken over your unconscious body to push the story along. Can’t leave our teammate behind. We’ll probably wrap this up soon, but don’t hesitate to jump back in if you have time.

 

[Casany Praxor]

"No don't put...the muffin...in the potato..."

The Mandalorian's eyes open. Only they do so inside her helmet and behind her black visor. At least the two men carrying her heard her and would therefore know she had awoken.

"Dank farrik. What the kriff happened?"

She looked left, looked right, looked down.

"And why the kark am I on a cart?"

 

[Marauder]

"Making it exactly like a hovercart, Veda, you absolute genius." Marauder took his jetpack off and strapped it to the underside of the cart. "And by the way, these grenades are my little inventions" Marauder started. "They only go off if I press a button on my wrist." He walked over to it and disengaged it from the wall. "See, as safe as a.... well this thing ain't safe at all really." Marauder deactivated the grenade and it stopped blinking. "Now lets get outta here!"

Marauder made some final checks to ensure his jetpack wouldn't fly away from the cart and the tarp would stay put. We could finally get of this planet and take a well deserved break. Marauder thought. But they weren't done yet, they still had to get themselves to the spaceport. Once the final checks were done, it was time to move out.

Marauder tapped some buttons on his gauntlet and the cart floated in midair, successfully making it a redneck hovercart. Marauder walked forward and the cart went forward. "It works!" He exclaimed to Veda. "It actually works!" The tarp stirred a little. "No don't put...the muffin...in the potato..." "She's waking up now?" Marauder sighed ruefully. "Dank farrik. What the kriff happened?" Marauder looked at Anvil. "And why the kark am I on a cart?" "You're on a cart because you literally knocked yourself out and we had to fish you out of a dumpster." Marauder answered.

 

[Pal Veda]

“In my defense, I stuck to the recycle bins.” Veda joked. “Glad to see you‘re comin’ back around. Can you walk?”

”There they are!” came a male voice from behind them. A few men from the factory with steel pipes in hand had been joined by a few lowlifes with blasters. It hadn’t taken long for news of their presence at the factory to make it back to their target. They were at least 100 meters away — a difficult shot with a blaster, and the melee weapons were not yet a thread at all. But the trio was outnumbered at least three-to-one, maybe more, and the bad guys were headed their way.

Veda drew his blaster preemptively, but he didn’t bother wasting ammo on long shots on poorly trained thugs that had no chance of hitting him from that distance. The team was reunited and had managed to hang on to the prize despite the frenzy and chaos they had been through. It was time to escape this rock.

 

[Casany Praxor]

“Oh. Right. Knocked out like a rock. And yeah I can walk just fine.” Anvil felt like the enemies in the distance definitely weren’t threats. She also felt like she would sleep good tonight after having a good time eating and drinking.

“Well, let’s get to it.” At that she got to it by hopping off the cart. She looked over it for a moment. “Dang. Not bad.” She turned to her companions. “I owe you both for this. Drinks are on me wherever you please.”

Hand on either shoulder, that was a promise. She looked over their shoulders as the gang shouted in the distance.

“Guess it’s time to leave. Got no time for idiots.” She had already ignited her flamethrower and would prefer to have a burger.

 

[Marauder]

Marauder turned off his jetpack and flipped the cart over before it could touch the ground. He sighed again. "Maybe next time." He said quietly as he put his jetpack back on. Marauder had his hands on his blaster in case things got rowdy.

He couldn't wait to get offworld and eat a ronto wrap, it had been ages since he last had one. Marauder heard someone shout from the other end of the alley, they've been made. "Alright time to move." Marauder said while grabbing his helmet and concealing it under the poncho, then he started to walk out of the alley.

 

[Pal Veda]

Veda moved with the group, tapping his finger to his earpiece. “Hey R6, get the engines running, will ya? We’ll be in the landing bay in less than ten.” The droid beep booped a confirmation. “And go ahead and slip the dockmaster a few extra credits to keep his mouth shut. He never saw us. Got all that?” Beep boop.

As the trio made their way a couple of blocks, Veda took a look over his shoulder to see they were still being followed. “Marauder, can that sticky detonator be reactivated? Looks like the warehouse up ahead is empty. When we turn the corner, why don’t you leave a little going away present on the side of the building for these guys, just in case? I know you’re dying to blow something else up.”

 

[Marauder]

"Now you're talkin." Marauder said in an excited undertone. He looked ahead to find the abandoned warehouse about twelve feet ahead. The team of three advance about five feet, leaving nine left to go before he planted the remote detonator. Marauder took one out of his belt and looked for a good spot, one where it won't be obvious to the ones following them.

Marauder looked at Anvil, even though she was wearing a helmet, Marauder could tell she was more excited then him to see something explode. He looked back at the structure, only four feet to go. Marauder prepared to activate the device, three feet to go. He activated the bomb, two feet remaining. He found a doorway that would conceal the detonator, one foot left. Marauder stuck the explosive on the doorframe with Veda blocking the action from the stalkers. The device remained stuck where it was, with a low red blinking light, it was armed and primed to blow up.

They walked away from the warehouse and their pursuers towards it. Marauder had his thumb over the button. "Almost there." He said in anticipation. The five cronies went in direct proximity of the bomb and Marauder pushed the button, detonating the bomb, but no loud explosion ensued, just a short boom and a flash of light. "Damn, that was the flashbang one." He remarked.

 

[Casany Praxor]

"OYA!"

Anvil clapped her hands, anticipating the amazing explosion about to take place, then tilted her helmeted head when nothing happened besides a flash of light.

"...Aha..." Flashbangs. "Ah, it happens." Fireworks might have been a delight, a different kind of fire from the sky than a jetpack or a flamethrower, but whatever. "One time I threw a grenade into a crowd of Rakghouls." She said rakghouls. "Vicious little kriffers. Turned out my grenade was a pebble 'cause I was a bit taken in by their plague but, hey, that was a long time ago in a system far away and, ope, time to go."

If they didn't want to blow up their pursuers or blast them in the face then perhaps the engines of someone's ship could burn them away like a flamethrower all over again.

"Your boat got vodka in it?" She asked Pal. "I have a splitting headache and need a drink to wash it away."

 

[Pal Veda]

”I can do you one better. The dirty Corellian on my last job tried to short me a couple thousand credits after I delivered, as promised.” Well, maybe it was a day late and a couple of the crates were covered in carbon scoring. “So I snagged a case of Corellian ale and a few bottles of his finest Corellian whiskey on my way out. Served him right, really.”

They approached the landing bay free and clear. Veda turned to the attendant as they entered, receiving a nod and a wave in response. “Looks like we’re all paid up. Always a fifty/fifty chance whether R6 actually listens when I tell him to do something.“

The VCX-100 light freighter was waiting on them, engines running, ramp down. “Marauder, what the hell did we steal, anyway?” Whatever it was, they’d fought like hell to escape with it, and they were being paid quite well to deliver it to the broker.

OOC: I think this one is wrapping up. Had a lot of fun with both of you.

 

[Marauder]

"It's a device that can open any lock, vault or door, only ten were ever made." He answered. "And when we're done, I'm definitely getting into that ale."
Marauder stepped on the ramp and boarded Veda's ship. "I could get used to this." Marauder said. He walked over to a chair and sat down. Marauder personally preferred to own small freighters but every time he sees Veda's ship just maybe he might buy something similar in the future.

Marauder took out his blaster and started inspecting it. "Hey Veda, what planet was the broker on again?" He asked. "All the action today made me forget."

 

[Casany Praxor]

"Corellian ale?" It wasn't vodka or Vod-Ka but oh well, it would do the trick and was no less delicious. "Hell. Make mine straight." She would wait while sitting back, slouching on the couch or whatever surface there was that found purchase for her backside. With a sigh, she removed her helmet and set it aside.

A single ponytail lazily swung away, drooping over her shoulder. This was the first time either man would have seen this woman's face unless they had removed her helmet while she was unconscious, not to kiss her, but to make sure she was okay.

"I needed that," Anvil thanked after she sipped her liquor. Craning her neck from side to side, she decided to just sit back and relax for the moment and listen. Because she had been knocked out she had to be caught up on current events by her partners. They knew how to get things done. That was for sure.

 

[Pal Veda]

“Not too worse for wear, I see,” Veda said, taking a seat across from the unmasked Anvil with his own ale in hand. They had gotten out of the atmosphere without a hitch, plotted the hyperspace route, and successfully made their escape. Veda could now kick back for a bit with the other two in the ship’s galley while the droid kept an eye on things in the cockpit. “We’re meeting the broker on Nar Shaddaa. Don’t know who the real buyer is, but don’t care all that much, either. We’ll get credits on delivery.“.

“I assume you two are just going to waste your shares on more armor, guns, and explosives. What else does a Mando need, right?” The whole Mandalorian culture — or cult, more like it — always gave Veda a laugh. But these two were solid partners that he reckoned he could trust at this point. Nothing like a heist, firefight, rescue mission, and narrow escape to bond people together.