Faction Held on Denon (Darkwire Open)

[Dani Stellaris]

Prison. Always prison. She was working on learning, but even her Fixer couldn’t help too much. Maya had a lot to learn, and she was doing her best. Fighting the Corpos was one thing, but she hadn’t really had a target yet. What she was working on was how to get out of holding. She was doing her best to keep living, and at times, that meant a bit of stealing and running. It was just getting her to survive. She had her money but wasn’t going to be using the money her family had to get to where she was going to go.

She had to make it shown that she was just as accomplished as the other edge runners, without using the crutch that was so easy for her to reach. No Maya had plans. But now? Well, she had made her first call out, to one of the more practiced, if younger runners Daiya , it was either that or her Fixer, but she didn’t want to be seen as a garbage student.

She had a few of her equipment taken, but there was still a few rocks that she had been able to keep, they were imbued with a bit of a tracking spell. Well, as much as the Force had spells. Maya had clicked together two of them, activating the Force hidden secret and revealing her location. What she was hoping for was that her stay in Holding here wouldn’t be very long at all.

 

[Muk Moadda]

A brutally early morning became a trumped-up bust for holding counterfeit self-sealing stem bolts with intent to sell. Now Muk's luck ran even drier. The cyborg in the next cell had smuggled rocks in and was clicking them together for no reason Muk could fathom.

"If you're trying to communicate with the roaches over there," he croaked, "they speak fluent Corpo. Ph'yeah, those are proper cellblock roaches. Look close and you'll see little uniforms. Watch your mouth around'em. Always listening."

Dani Stellaris

 

[Daiya]

Generally, Daiya avoided Baker's Row. It was a pretty neighborhood, and the shops looked so alluring, but it had only taken one or two times wandering into the wrong shop before the whole ward became off-limits to her. Behind those tantalizing cupcakes and pastries that easily drew the girl into the bakeries lay a world of drugs, illicit deals, and shady characters that would have easily preyed on the younger her.

The teen was a bit older, and a bit bolder now. Wearing long pants that sported a holster for her 434 blaster, Daiya was a lot more prepared, both mentally and visibly, for a trip into the hive of spice, smuggling and sweets. She wasn't so small or scared anymore, even without the looming shadow of her Wookiee guardian.

Walking with a purpose made it easier for the girl, too. If anyone approached her on the walkways, Daiya simply dodged around them or looped back another way. She didn't keep a hand on her blaster pistol, that was an aggressive move, but the girl did keep it turned in view of those shadier characters she saw around her. She was fortunate that they weren't more desperate, like those in the Suicide Slums. Baker's Row was for the well-off junkies and underworld scum, and they were a little more inclined to pick their battles. It helped that she had an actual purpose to guide her pace, something that seemed to resonate with shopkeepers and their frequent clients, no one wanted potential business to be scared away. Or worse.

"What do you want, girlie?" LovelySeven Bakery was actually a pretty friendly place for Baker's Row, despite the gruff demeanor of the Xexto baker behind the counter. Daiya almost giggled when she saw the hexapod alien, she was not used to seeing someone of his species without a blaster or vehicle control wheel in their hands. She stiffened a bit when the long-limbed baker sighed and gestured around to the sweets area of his display cases. "Cookies? Brownies? Pies?"

Daiya's eyes were drawn to the case, but she broke away from it with a shake of her head. She was there on a job, not to get sidetracked by sweets. However delicious and sugary they looked. "Actually, I'm looking for something different. More, how would you put it, custom?"

The Xexto's long neck swayed a little as he leaned down to meet her face close up. "You don't want that sort of thing, girlie." He cast an eye over her, and Daiya felt like she was a holobook to simply be read openly. "There's better ways to pass your time, someone like you shouldn't get mixed up in those sorts of goods."

It took Daiya a moment to realize what the Xexto was implying. "No, I don't want to get high or anything. I meant that I want you to make a cake for me!"

"Oh!" The Xexto leaned back, resuming his full height above her. He seemed to settle back into the role of gracious, if still a little crusty, proprietor of his shop. "What's the occasion? Birthday? School dance? Romantic gesture?"

Daiya blushed at the baker's suggestive wink. She didn't even have a boyfriend! Still, the girl couldn't help but let out a little giggle, "Not really." She pulled out her datapad, bringing up her holojournal to show the baker the design she had in mind. "How about something like this?"

"Sure," the baker nodded to her, business-like at last. "The frosting will take a little while, unless you need it straight away. 'Course, the rush is extra..."

"I can pay extra, but I don't need it fast..." the girl mentioned, pulling out a bag of merchandise she had already acquired from one of the more illicit shops earlier in the day. "I just need this embedded in the frosting."

The Xexto studied her again, as if he had underestimated his newest customer. He took the back, opening it to examine its contents. Slowly, he nodded, his long neck undulating as he did. "I think I can make that work. Playing a little prank on a friend of yours, eh?"

The girl gave him a small grin along with her coy admission, "Something like that, sure." Glancing at the other case for a moment, she added, "And how about a couple of cupcakes, too? I'll take those right now."

Dani Stellaris Muk Moadda​

 

[Dani Stellaris]

Maya had been in a few places like this in the past. But it was without the tools she had at her disposal nowadays. The Force was definitely a boon for her, but she wasn’t all that versed in it. Using toys and a few simple tricks, a popped gasket here, a thrown rock there, and well, that was what she had. Probably why she bought and Jenn offered, her a few different toys. Including the beacon she had in her hands.

“I was wonderin’ what dialect they’d be speakin’.” She was trying to match her accent, unacceptably, to this part of Denon and shook her head, dropping it. “Seems everyone’s on the payroll, now, dunnit?” That was her normal accent.

“Just trying to get a conversation with them, pass the time until I blow this joint. What they got you in here for?” She was laying on the cell bed now, staring up at the ceiling.

Muk Moadda Daiya

 

[Muk Moadda]

Muk stretched out on the thin bunk and laced big lobster hands behind his neck.

"Far be it from me to slander or smear our good Corposec officers, but it was such an egregious misunderstanding that it almost felt intentional. Criminality? I would never. And over something as innocuous as the paperwork on self-sealing stem bolts, of all things...you?"

 

[Daiya]

"What do you mean, 'no'?"

"That's just it. I mean no. Now step aside, miss." The prison guard didn't show much interest in continuing to engage her. As if she had already had this conversation a dozen times today or something. The girl frowned, and if her arms were free she might have folded them across her chest.

"Look, I'm coming to see my Aunt Maya. You can't tell me no, I'm family!" Daiya whined to the guard. She wasn't, not really. Maybe the girl felt an affinity for fellow Shadowrunners, but that wasn't why she called Maya her aunt. In truth, it was just a ploy to prey on the sympathies of the guard.

The Devaronian woman stared at her, and Daiya still couldn't tell if it was her or the tip of the woman's nose that was more interesting to the guard. The teen was starting to wonder if playing the petulant child was the wrong approach here, the guard looked like she had very few karks left to give. Then the woman sighed, and the girl spotted a crack in her armor. "You're not on her list, kid. If she wanted to see her niece so badly, then she should put you on her list of family and visitors."

"I'm not?!" Daiya feigned horror at the revelation. She sputtered for a moment, wobbling enough with her hands full that the guard's arms twitched. As if the woman would reach out to steady the girl if she was about to fall off-balance. "I mean, okay, I'm not really her niece, but she's just kind of always been like an aunt to me. You know? Growing up on the streets, I didn't really have anyone 'cept her. And now, if she doesn't want to see me, on my birthday..."

Tears leaked from the girl's eyes even as she felt giddy at the creativity of her words. Coming into MirCir Prison with a cake, Daiya had hoped the guards would simply assume it was Maya's birthday. She hadn't thought of playing it up as her birthday before. Now she was just hoping no one took an extra-close look at the cake before she got it to Maya.

It wasn't exactly an ordinary cake. It might have a delicious center of cake-y goodness, but wrapped around the outside was something possibly more delicious to the incarcerated shadowrunner waiting beyond the Devaronian guard. The only real trick was to get it, and herself, past the guard to begin with.

"Oh, honey, I've heard this sob story twice in the past week," the guard remarked, and the girl deflated. She spotted a smirk spreading from the lips of the Devaronian woman. "You're going to have to do better than that if you want to play on my sympathy."

Feth. That act usually worked wonders on adults.

The teen tried not to show her disappointment at her failure. If she was getting too old to play on heartstrings like this, her jobs were going to be a lot harder to finish now.

Just maybe not this one.

Daiya offered the box to the guard, and when the woman looked close to refusal, the girl said, "Hold this for a sec. I want to show you something inside."

MirCir Prison earned a pretty ferocious reputation for hiring Devaronian guards en masse after Luminous Sun's acquisition of the arenas on their homeworld. She wasn't the only Corpo who idealized their striking appearance or rough culture, either. But MirCir Prison also earned another reputation, one that the Corpos were a little less eager to promote. It was something Daiya had learned from her contacts, and she was only sad she had to play her ace card so early.

"Would this change your mind?" Daiya asked, holding up a small baggie of tiny, yellow crystals. She hoped that MirCir Prison's drug problem among the guards extended to the one in front of her, or that the woman could at least see the profit in having a little supply of sulfur on hand.

"Where did you get something like that?" The guard barked, and lunged for the girl. Daiya stepped aside, pulling her hand back as she tried to keep the cake box from falling to the ground.

The girl waggled her finger at the guard with a coy grin, "That doesn't matter. I have it, and you want it. You can have it, all you have to do is let me through..."

"I could just have you arrested and take it!" The woman's sneering threat wasn't even a bluff, she could easily do that. She didn't even really need a reason. There were no laws on Denon, only CorpSec.

"But it's my birthday!" the girl cried, raising her voice just enough to draw attention to the pair. Daiya had closed her fist on the bag, leaving only the open cake box in view. She begged again with her audience in tow, "Please, you have to let me innnn!"

"It won't be so easy next time, street rat," the woman hissed as she leaned in close to the girl. She shoved the cake box at Daiya, who only caught it in time before the whole thing toppled to the floor. When she looked up again, the guard was straightening her uniform, the pocketed bag of sulfur no where in view. The perfect con for both of them. The Devaronian guard tossed her hornless head, "Go on, git through before I change my mind. Your 'Aunt' Maya will get called up to the visitor's room soon."

Daiya grinned at her success, closing the cake box and stepping through the door into the visiting area. She could breathe a lot easier now that she had passed the initial scans, and scrutiny, from the prison. All that anyone knew, or at least couldn't prove otherwise, was that the girl was just here to share a cake with a favorite aunt on her birthday. Stars, was 'Aunt' Maya ever going to be surprised to see what kind of cake she'd brought!

Dani Stellaris Muk Moadda Anakin Stormrunner​

 

[Anakin Stormrunner]

This was not his first job outside the trail. Neither was it his second, nor even his third. After all, the trails greatest strength was its secrecy, and he had to keep up a cover for his true purpose in the bowels of the rotted city planet of Denon. This was however, his first job that included cake.

So it was that when Daiya arrived at the prison, cake clutched firmly in hand, that the amavikkan was already on his way towards the visitors room. He still wasn't sure how he had been roped into this insane little plan. He would admit that if they both approached looking for Maya, they’d be caught for sure. Still that didn’t make his next steps any more pleasant. Cold Denon air swept around his feathered legs as Anakin approached his alibi. "Long time no see." He greeted, his winged form slipping into the chair. The smile tugging at his lips and the sarcasm that tinted his words did well to relay his teasing, almost taunting tone for what it was. Before him sat Muk Moadda, a black market dealer and old friend. If their relationship could still be described as a friendship.

“So,” The harpy began, blackened claws ticking against the impersonal concrete ground. “How you doing these last few years?” Later, he would think back and wince at the waves of awkwardness that rolled off him, emanating from the desert in his bones and vibrating the very air around him like the many heat mirages of his home. But what else was he to do? The two of them hadn’t parted on the best of terms. “Heard you wound up here, thought I’d pay an old friend a visit.” His voice pitched and broke with the stuttering lilted accent of Amatakka, but Anakin didn't mind. What was one more recognizable feature when he already stood out so thoroughly? It wasn't as if anyone important would recognize it as more than a slave's accent. One that, to the utter bafflement of the corpos and other interested parties, had been picked up by some of the more recent generations of wage slaves. Though many of them were adept at hiding such a thing from their masters.

The low ebb and flow of voices filled his ears, and as his tattooed arm played with the braided and beaded bantha hide pouch he could not help but cajole Daiya to hurry up.

Spoiler: Amatakka

Cultural note- when Anakin says that his emotions "emanating from the desert in his bones and vibrating the very air around him like the many heat mirages of his home." this is basically saying he's projecting his emotions into the force where other force sensitives could feel him. I wasn't able to phrase it in a more traditional manner without ruining the cultural aspect of it.

Daiya Muk Moadda Dani Stellaris

 

[Dani Stellaris]

The olive skinned woman ran her hand through her hair as she was looking around. The Force was activated and she could feel it. Shaking her head, she smirked. “Y’know… they probably do plant so much on everyone around here. If you help me get out of here, I’ll do what I can to clear your record.” She had he Force and cybernetics, not many things could stop her. “I am hoping that I have friends coming.” She paced the cell a bit more.

When the guards came in and pulled her out that she had a visitor she looked a bit perplexed but also excited. Maybe it was working. “Yeah I’m coming. I’m sure I’ll be right back…” she said more to herself and her friend than anyone else. Following the guard into the room, she looked around. The kid was the one who seemed to call out to her.

She walked inside and sat at the table. “You?”

Daiya Muk Moadda Anakin Stormrunner

 

[Muk Moadda]

"If it comes through, I'll take the help." Or maybe it was just big talk from an amped-up cyborg, or some corpo trick. Regardless, Mul Moada stretched out on his bunk with his hands behind his neck and started to sing.

Oh, the wind was foul and the sea ran high.
"Leave her, Johnny, leave her!"
She shipped it green and none went by.
And it's time for us to leave her.
Leave her, Johnny, leave her!
Oh, leave her, Johnny, leave her!
For the voyage is long and the winds don't blow
And it's time for us to leave her.

Singing killed the time until visitation. He had a guest, and any guest would do.

This one turned out to be Anakin Stormrunner , former Tatooine slave, former business associate, current owner of some sharp-looking claws.

"Anakin? My goodness, you've grown."

Muk scratched at the neck of his cable sweater and slouched in the chair.

"Don't mind me, just something I saw in a holo once. What you need, Scratch?"

Because of the harpy claws, see.

 

[Daiya]

"ME!" the girl beamed proudly as the woman sat down across from her. Daiya's eyes looked over the brunette she assumed was Maya. Her CryptNet messages hadn't shared much more than that, other than the woman's cybernetics being a potential advantage. At least the cybernetics part was right so far, the girl could spy the large faceplate of the one embedded in Maya's chest. Much of Daiya's plan depended on a wing and a prayer, but the payout was high enough to take the risk. The girl just had to hope that it would all make up for the expenses so far. Maya better be as good as the game she talked.

"You didn't think I wouldn't hear that you were in here? You can't keep me away, Aunt Maya. Especially not on my birthday!" Daiya was maintaining her pretense from before, just in case any of the guards were watching. It was a useful ploy, which helped explain her giddiness in jumping up from her seat and opening the box that sat between them. To anyone looking on, it would just appear to be a normal cake. To Maya, the girl hoped as she winked in the woman's direction, it would hopefully be more indications that this was something important for her to have. "I made sure the frosting was made to your exact specifications."

Well, the exact specifications, plus a coating of Reflec that hid the embedded wire inside the frosting's design.

She'd made it through the sensors and obstacles of the prison so far. Now it was Maya's turn to do something to make this all worthwhile. "So, you have to have some of this cake. And then tell me how you got your ass busted by CorpSec."

The girl giggled at the demand. She really didn't know much about Maya yet, or her predilections. For all she knew, the woman was a serial killer, or worse, a Corpo. Daiya was pretty sure CorpSec wouldn't bust one of their own, though, and she wasn't getting any weird vibes off of the cyborg woman. Like the kind that the Force was supposed to give her.

Oh stars, this Maya wasn't one of those Force Wizards, was she? Now that would be awkward.

Daiya shook off the thought as she watched the woman, waiting for her to respond. No, she was pretty sure this Maya wasn't one of those, either.

Dani Stellaris Muk Moadda Anakin Stormrunner​

 

[Anakin Stormrunner]

Anakin pasted on an old smile, its edges worn and sagging at the tips. A shabby facsimile of the sarcastic smiles that he had once shared with Muk. "Funny you say that, considering you're half my age and I still look younger than you" His words stung with a twisted version of his usual sarcasm but Anakin couldn't bring himself to really care. The scanner the calamari had sold him still weighed heavily on their relationship. Trust me, he had said, this thing will do the job. Suffice to say it had not done the job. Instead, it broke in the middle of the Song. The useless hunk of metal sparking and glitching, sending out signals in every direction. He could still remember the deafening noise of three consecutive bombs going off. Flesh and blood flying around the metal shake that held the slaves and alerting the depurs nearby. They had only saved one. A twi'lek, and at the price of her arm and any future prosthetic. Bombs did a number on a person's nervous system. Suffice to say he was a little bitter.

A soft sigh, his wings loosening from their tense position on his back. "What you need, Scratch?" He didn't have time for personal grudges. "You know, one of the best things about having wings is that I can take flight whenever I want. No speeder, no hover car. There's something amazing about doing it with the wind in your face and nothing but your own power to keep you going." To those around, it was a non-sequitur. To Anakin, it was a well hidden code. "Maybe once you get outta here, I can give you a lift. Won't be the same of course, but it beats a speeder any day." To Muk, it was an offer. A subtle suggestion of freedom wrapped up in an odd stranger's rambling.

He smiled, a grin full of sharpened teeth and desert wilderness. "It wouldn't be free of course, consider it a favor for a favor. I take you flying and next time something fast comes through your shop I get to give it a whirl." Blue eyes flicked towards Daiya and her own companion. She hadn't been happy at the suggestion, but if this worked then Muk's ships and supplies would be a great boon for his people. Not invaluable, not after the last time they put their trust in him, but useful none the less.

"so what do you say, old friend?"

Daiya Muk Moadda Dani Stellaris ​

 

[Muk Moadda]

Muk sucked his teeth in thought.

"I do like a nice flying dream. Daydreams, sometimes. I just wander around the exercise yard with my head in the clouds. Not really the best use of my time, is it Scratch. What I really wish is I was back at work tuning speeders. Ryv a jaggath, but I could really make'em sing. Faster than your daddy and twice as mean as your ma."

 

[Dani Stellaris]

Nodding to what Muk was saying “We’ll see about that” The operative laughed as she stepped out to where she was meeting the visitor. At least Jenn didn’t leave her without some way to radio for help, and lock up was different than prison. Once she was stripped of her gear and placed on some transport? That was when she was worried.

Shaing her head at Daiya , Maya couldn’t help but let a smile find her features. Daiya was young but a good kid, smart. And if she had a way for her to get out of lock up? She was going to have to use it. She sat herself down and looked over at Daiya. “Cake is always good, but is this really the time?”

Grabbing the fork, she was helping herself to some of the cake.

“As for me getting busted? You know how Denon is. Too many eyes everywhere. And I as told the officers.” She cast a look in their direction, if she could throw daggers with her eyes, she would be. “I didn’t know what the guy was handing over to me was stolen!” Of course, that was a blatant lie.

“I tell ya, you can’t trust anyone on this world.” She shook her head.

 

[Daiya]

The rhythm of nodding along to Maya's sentiments, and how much they echoed Daiya's own views on the Corpos, lulled the girl into something of an unfocused trance. Her mind was too busy corralling the emotions that the words had stirred up to notice the cyborg woman digging into the cake straight away. And if Maya wasn't careful, she was going to upend all the careful planning, and creds, that Daiya had invested into this subterfuge today.

"Wait! the girl cried, a lot louder than she meant it. A spike of fear cut through her, alarmed by not only her volume but by the woman's innocent disregard for approaching the cake. Did Maya not remember what she had requested? Or worse, as Daiya considered the circumstances in front of her, was Maya not even the one who had made the request? The CryptNet was a great source for communication and keeping messages from the Corpo's prying eyes, but it was largely anonymous and it was critical to keep it that way. Even the best methods for divining identity still meant that someone could impersonate someone else and contract a job they didn't know about.

Daiya quickly lowered her voice. She wasn't sure that was going to help anymore. "The frosting has a wire in it, Maya. For your, you know, cybernetics implant thing? I was told you could do stuff with a connective wire..."

She only knew a little bit about how cybernetics stuff worked, but she had seen implants that could let beings snipe without a scope, crush skulls, and slice computer systems. Whichever ones Maya had, the girl only hoped they were reliable enough in a case like this. If Daiya ended up in jail from Maya's botched attempt, she was going to be pissed!

"Doesn't matter who stole it, you were associated," a gruff voice barged into their conversation, and Daiya looked up to see the form of a uniformed CorpSec guard looming over them. Her heart started beating quickly, as her eyes danced back to Maya for an indication of what she should do. "I saw you lookin' this way, sticky fingers. What you got here, a cake? Did you bring enough to share?"

Before Daiya could squeak a word of protest, the guard ran a grubbing finger through the top few centimeters of the cake, ruining the dessert's frosting and digging at its spongy interior until his finger hit the edge. The guard stopped short, and the hair on the back of the girl's neck shot straight up. She scrambled out of her seat as the guard called in alarm. "You smuggling in contraband? Well, sticky fingers, looks like you're getting a new cellmate!"

The young shadowrunner tumbled to the floor when her feet couldn't get under her fast enough, and now she flipped over to crawl away from the guard. Her heart pounded in her ears, and Daiya feared she was only minutes away from being locked up for the rest of her life! There was no time to cry, no time to scream, it was all she could do to find a place out of reach enough to regroup with her partner, Anakin Stormrunner. Maybe with the three of them, Anakin, Maya, and Daiya together, they stood a chance.

Dani Stellaris Muk Moadda Anakin Stormrunner​

 

[Dani Stellaris]

There was always something to be said for the memory of everyone else. Maya had been sitting in lock up for… what, a few days now? At least. And she was someone who came from money. For her, the Corpos and their control over everything wasn’t something new but it was something she was able to fight now. The biggest challenge of late was the food. One thing that Maya never skimped on was something with flavor, you could fight the power without going full Spartan.

And she was not thinking the full time when she was going for the cake. Before her fork dove in, she stopped at Daiya’s urging. Looking at the younger Runner, she tipped her head to the side. With the ‘wait!’ call and the fact that it was a birthday cake, she smiled. “Right, a wish! Right?” She hoped it was able to be a distraction enough and not alert the guards that there was something more. “No candles in here I suppose.” She muttered as she took a second, and closed her eyes, nodding as Daiya spoke.

As the guard stepped closer, Maya did something she wasn’t looking forward to doing, and retaliated. Moving her foot as she got up, she caught the crossbar of the chair and motioned to kick it upward. What she was really doing was using a little of the Force to power up her action and send the chair into the gut of the guard. Doing so gave her the second to pull the wire free before looking at Daiya.

“You good kid?”

They weren't going to be in a second.

Daiya Anakin Stormrunner Muk Moadda

 

[Anakin Stormrunner]

Anakin opened his mouth to respond, but was saved the trouble as a commotion took place further down the room. A guard stood hunched before a mess of toppled tables and chairs, and it didn't take long for him to realize something had gone horribly, horribly wrong. Within seconds, he was sprinting across the room, headless of the blaster bolts sent his way. Over chairs and around tables, Anakin pulled upon his strength and sent a short prayer to Ar-amu. Then he was leaping over the still crouched Daiya and barreling shoulder first into the guard. Electricity surged through the contact point, burning flesh and charring cloth. They hit the ground with a thud and a crack as the guards head slammed into the stone ground. Still there was no time to catch his breath. The rest of the guards were moving before Anakin could even scramble to his feet, smelling of ozone and bearing a charred and blackened hole in the shoulder of his coat. He scooped up the dead guards blaster and checked it for shots.

Blue eyes scanned the surroundings, catching on a partially unguarded hallway. "This way!" He called over the chaos.

He bolted for the hallway. For all he knew, it led farther into the prison. It definitely wasn’t the way he came in. But right now, they had to get away. Then they could stop and regroup and he could check the two escapees for any trackers or devices meant to keep them from leaving the facility. They bore no handcuffs in the visitors center, but the corpos weren’t stupid enough to leave them unchecked with strangers coming in to meet them.

He barreled past a group of prisoners, which had rallied and attacked the guards in the ensuing chaos. Past a twi’lek and around a brawling pair. He aimed the blaster at a guard, his shaky grip and speeding form ensuring that he barely succeeded in clipping the knee. Still the guard stumbled and fell beside him, out for at least an hour.

He could hear footsteps behind him now, and glanced back to find the others trailing behind. On they ran, through the hallway and around corners. Two guards trailed them, but most were still in the visitors center dealing with the uprising.

Daiya Muk Moadda Dani Stellaris

 

[Muk Moadda]

Daiya Anakin Stormrunner Dani Stellaris

Muk dealt with one of those two pursuing guards by throwing him into the other guard, which - fortunately - dealt with the other guard as well. Truth be told, he'd opted for violence because Anakin and the girls could R U N, and Muk largely could not. Breathing hard, he gave the two guards a smack upside their respective heads and headed after his fellow prison-breakers.

"This plan...reminds me...of my third bachelor party."

Down a staircase, through a service door the hard way-

"Light, sirens, unfortunate clothing, and not NEARLY enough painkillers."

They burst into open air, or the closest thing to open air that Denon offered.

 

[Anakin Stormrunner]

They kept running. Two, three, four steps forwards, a dozen more after that. His breath was coming fast with adrenaline, and all thoughts of chips had vanished from his mind.

Someone screamed. A violent painful scream. A second voice joined in and Anakin spun on the spot. Before him, Maya and Muk writhed on the ground. "Kark!" Daiya, who was standing much closer to the two, jerked towards them. "Dont! Don't touch dem!" He skidded to a stop before the two and slid into a crouch. "Dey 'ave a live current running t'rue dem." Contrary to his own words, Anakin unfurled his wings and draped one over each of them. " 'ere, take dis." With the current gone, Anakin took the time to toss Daiya the gun he stole from the guard. "Cover me."

With security ensured, Anakin turned his attention back to the two unconscious prisoners. Muk first. He was an aquatic species, and likely couldn't survive another shot of electricity. " 'elp me Shapechanger. 'elp me Rainbringer." He whispered. "Help me Ekkreth. Help me Ar-amu." he thought. His eyes drew towards the right shoulder. There! He could feel something off. Something unnatural that oozed of pain and cruelty and depur. Wood and metal clacked as Anakin yanked two items off his belt. One, a twisted metal scrap painted blue and orange. Another, a stone tube with green and white decorative swirls on it. Clawed fingers dug into the metal, found a small fault in its otherwise smooth surface and pulled. Out came a razor tip, the base of which was covered with a series of bumps and divots. Quick as lightning he stuck the blade in the handle. It locked with a click and Anakin began to cut.

Practice and instinct guided his hand away from important nerves and veins. He pried apart skin and tissue and muscle with carefully held hands. Claws made this operation doubly dangerous, but Anakin had a lifetime of experience maneuvering around them. Several tense seconds later, Anakin pulled out a small metal disc. "Got it!" Wait. He examined the disk. It's metal surface coated in a strong electric resistant material. "Kark!" This isn't it. "It's a tracker." He still needed to find the bomb. Once more he swept the body, searching for signs of malevolence.

"Come on, come on, come on." Prayers danced through his head. Seconds passed and finally, finally he found it. He could feel it sitting in his chest, nestled near his lowest rib. Four cuts and many prayers later, a piece of metal the size of his pinky clattered to the floor.

" 'ow we doing?" He directed the words to Daiya even as he hurried over to Maya. Without the electricity. the two of them were beginning to stir. Hopefully Muk wouldn't freak out about his wounds. He had no way to close them and couldn't deal with the distraction. Not when Maya too was waking.

He had to work fast. Gathering his desert close to himself, he whispered a prayer and sent it out to search for foreign objects. He found dozens. "Chit! Dis take while. Too many implants, hard for me tell." Again and again he swept the body. It was small, he knew that, and with so many implants they only had a few placed to put the shock chip if they didn't want to kill her. He narrowed it down to her legs, then her thighs, then her right thigh. Finally, after minutes he found it. Lodged in the lower part of the side of her thigh.

Blood smeared his coat as Anakin wiped his hand. Maya groaned and began to move. "No! No, no, no, no!" Keeping his wing carefully pressed to her side, Anakin stood and positioned himself over her. He straddled her leg, his body weight keeping the limb pressed to the floor. "Maya, you 'ear me? You stay still. No move." From his waist, he pulled off his bag of bantha fur. "Bite on dis." It was full of sand, and would help to keep her from biting her tongue and injuring herself. Then he began to cut. It was painfully slow. Maya tensed beneath him. Her leg bucked, and jerked the scalpel towards what his instincts told him was a major artery. "Stay still!" he roared. "Stay karking still! I kill you if not!" The movement subsided, and what was left was easily held down by his weight.

Maya had begun to scream. It sounded muffled behind the pouch but Anakin could see her arms clenching as she tried to fight the want to move. Just a little more. He was almost there, he knew it. His muscles ached from directing the lightning and old wounds were beginning to burn. He had to made this fast.

The scalpel hit the floor with a clatter. Distantly he could hear Muk talking. The noises of the city and the words of his companions faded out of focus as he began to slip fingers into the wound. It was too delicate a situation to grab it with his hands, but already he was stretched thin by directing the lightning. Spice blue eyes shot up towards Maya. He had to do this. For her. Without even realizing it, Anakin began to sing. Old, ancient songs in the secret language of his people. Just like he would when removing a slave's bomb. A trickle of energy dripped into his bones. It was nothing, but it was enough. A gift from Ar-amu.

One hand pried open the wound. The other clutched Maya's hand. He cared little for the death grip she held it in. It didn't matter that his bones protested the strength of it. It didn't matter that his hand would be black and purple in a matter of minutes after this. All that mattered was the chip. Unknowable words flew from his lips and danced across the air. He sang of freedom. Of the promise of Ar-amu and the truth of Ekkreth. And as he sand he teased the last of that strength through the air and into the crack in Maya's flesh. Down down down it went, and wrapped around the chip.

It slid forward, one small inch at a time. Each movement brought another scream to the girl's lips. She lad lost control, and Anakin had his whole weight on her torso and thigh. Just a little further. Just a little further. He found himself speaking the words aloud. "Just a little further." He sang in Amatakkan. "Until the boundaries of her bomb." It was a song he knew well, one of Tena the Prophet and her escape from Depur. Then-

The chip slid out with a wet squelch. It dripped blood onto the floor before it too hit the ground. Blood coated his hands as he propped himself up. "Yes!" His smile was tired as he forced himself to his feet. One the ground lay three chips. Wait. There were only three chips. "Chit! You still 'ave tracker. Cannot now get. Too tired." Blood painted his wooden talismans and metal runes as Anakin pulled a small black box from its place beside his sneakitheif. The pouch they were in was unassuming in the mix of odds and ends at his waist. Yet it was designed to hide the glove from scanners and other forms of detention. He flipped it on. "Take dis. Will stop tracker transmitting"

The world wavered in and out of focus as Anakin helped Maya to her feet. "Watch out wid cut. Cannot close 'ere." He turned to Daiya and Muk "Go. We need go." His chest was heaving and his eyes felt like lead. Water blue wings trailed along the floor, too heavy to lift. He could barely feel the ends of them, and the tips of his flight feathers were blackened from electricity.

Daiya Dani Stellaris Muk Moadda