Private How hot can it be?

[Haastal Haran]

There was a pause before Haastal took a step forward, his eyes locked on the scene before him. He never lowered his blaster pistol, making sure to keep it trained down the hall. There were a number of blood streaks, leading down the well lit hall, however they seemed to go around a corner, outside of Haastal's vision. "Refining..." He muttered softly as they continued down the hall. His steps were even and paced, making sure that each one was carefully placed away from the corpses that littered the room.

"They usually use facilities like this to refine some of the metals they find on Mustafar and surrounding worlds. The magma makes a superheated energy source....free of charge." His tone was oddly shaky. To the point where he had to exhale to calm himself.

Quit being a queen, Haastal. He mused to himself.

The man breathed out before continuing on. He glanced back to Redd with an uncertain gaze underneath his helmet. "I don't know. All I know is they must not have put up much of a fight, there's no other bodies here. Whatever killed them got away." He told his mate.

They continued down the corridor until they reached the corner he'd seen from the entrance. Just as Haastal was about to turn the corner, he could hear that loud, violent screeching once again. This time it was louder than before. When Haastal glanced over the corner he could see what had laid before them. His arm shot out, grabbing Redd's arm and steadying her. "Don't...move." He exhaled, before speaking into his helmet. "Share view, Redd." He muttered. His helmet's video recording activated, showing the exact same thing he saw through Redd's HUD.

The screen was a gruesome one. The creatures that laid in the hall before them had the bodies of arachnids, with vicious maws filled with metallic teeth. Liquid magma dripped from their bodies, melting into the ground and cooling on impact. They moved from one side of the hall to the other with rapid, untrackable movements. Haastal gazed out at the creatures. Evenly counting them he saw there were well over a dozen. "Let's go back...maybe we can find a service hall and-"

A loud crash occured. Above them, in an overhead vent one of the creatures fell from the ceiling, slamming hard into the ground. The fall seemed to damage it, yet it let out a gruesome shriek. "Damn it!" Haastal brought his blaster pistol down, blasting a number of rounds into the beast. It writhed and screamed, yet finally fell limp, its magma-like body going cold and hard as it fell limp. The screaming the beast had let out was only the beginning. The rest of the beasts down the hall were now screeching and barreling down the hall towards the two. "Run!" Haastal pushed Redd back, firing his blaster down the hall. The blaster bolt slammed into one of the creatures, causing all of them to run around erratically, as if in a frenzy. "Go, Redd!" Haastal yelled out.

Redd

 

[Redd]

FACTORY​

Tags: Haastal Haran​

Redd followed him as she nodded her head to his words, ”I highly doubt that workers are required to know how to fight, but rather are required to know more about refining metal than anything else.” She wheezed as she slowly followed behind him, ”I agree. Whatever made these wounds do not appear to be amongst any of these men and women.” Her steps had paused as she took in the appearance of the dead. More specifically, she looked at their expressions. She could see the look of terror that had been frozen on their faces and she saw that some of their eyes had appeared to roll back into their heads only to show the whites.

One could easily say that it was a disturbing sight, but Redd was used to dead bodies and the smell. It had simply become a part of her daily life when she had been locked up and chained, only to be forced to fight. So even though she was staring at dead bodies, the sight never disturbed her. Never shook her to her very core. It was just a simple case of the circle of life. What was born, must someday die and she had made her peace with the fact that she would one day die. Except, she did not want to accept that her mate would someday die as well. She would kill and find every way possible to keep him alive till her last dying breath, although she wondered if he had an inkling that she didn’t have any slither of care for her own life. Only for his own.

The wolf was about to follow her mate round the corner, only, she heard the loud screeching sound that grated upon her ear drums and she paused to hold a hand up to her head. She felt Haastal’s hand grab her arm and she growled softly, only to end up coughing once again, but he shared his view with her own and it was partly disorientating to see his view through a projected image. What she saw were beasts that she couldn’t even believe were actually real. It was as if they were some lava monster come to life. Even their bodies dripped and sagged with the movement of the lava. How could they even possibly be animated or alive? Surely the lava was burning their bodies? It made no sense to the red wolf. None.

Her footsteps mirrored his own as her foot slid back to slowly begin to move backwards and just as they turned, they were faced with another one that dropped from the ceiling. It’s screeching sound made it feel as if her ear drums were being stabbed and it didn’t make the wave of dizziness ease up. In fact, it only made matters worse as her body shook with the effort to remain standing and not fall prey to the call of sleep. Adrenaline was now pumping through her system as the sudden fight or flight instincts kicked in; just when Haastal fired his blaster pistol and killed the beast before them. She couldn’t do much in the way of shooting weapons and if the lava was anything to go by, it would hurt her to sink her teeth into what its body was made up of. Did it even have a neck? Or a living pulse that indicated that it could be killed by normal means?

She pondered this for a moment before she looked to Haastal when he told her to run and she growled at him. ”No! I will not leave you here to fight these things by yourself. There are too many of these things and I would not forgive myself if you fell.” I love you too much to leave you behind, Redd thought to herself as green eyes glared at him for a moment. A hand reached around the corner to grab at her mate and she lurched forwards to bring the dagger up in a slicing motion. The blade sliced off the hand and it screeched, causing her to cringe at the sound, but she continued to follow through with her movements and buried the dagger through its eyeball and into the brain. Its screeching was cut off, before Redd yanked the blade out and the body fell to the floor. Her gaze lifted to Haastal then as she panted heavily while the haze of darkness threatened to pull her under. ”I’m not leaving you. Besides, I couldn’t even if I wanted to,” She said as she staggered back away from another creature that had taken a swipe at her.​

​

 

[Haastal Haran]

Although Haastal would have preferred if Redd listened to his warning and turned to leave, it wasn't like he could expect her to do anything other than what she did. Redd's loyalty was a part of her very being and she would die before she parted with that characteristic. What was there to be said about two people who valued each other's lives more than their own? The Mandalorian didn't linger on the thought as his mate strode past him. Although a range weapon was ideal in combat such as this, the Beskar'gam they wore would keep them safe from the majority of the lava beast's attacks. Even with that in mind, Haastal worried for Redd.

He saw the beast that took a swipe at her and he lunged forward, his metallic boot heel slamming into the creature's maw and sending it reeling back in pain. It fell onto it's back, screeching and clawing wildly until two well-placed blaster bolts ripped open it's belly. The creature fell limp while Haastal growled out at Redd. "Stupid queen!" He yelled out, his anger turning more into an unyielding rage. It was nearly impossible to protect someone like Redd, because she was so devoted to protecting him.

He drew his second blaster pistol, aiming the weapons down the narrow hall. As more and more of the creatures skittered down the hall towards them, Haastal unloaded his weapons into their bodies. With every squeeze of the drigger he seemed to curse the woman who stood beside him. "Do you think I give a damn about me dying? Idiot! I got you into this mess and now you can't even let me get you out? Ain't you a piece of work!" He yelled out over the blaster fire. Although the blaster rounds were working to keep the creatures at bay, Haastal could see on his HUD that both of the pistol's power packs were beginning to run low.

"HUD, target bio-scan." Haastal commanded, yet the automated voice in his buy'ce chimed up in response to his words. "Error, power reserves utilizing auxiliary power system. All non-essential functions offline."

Silently cursing, Haastal didn't waste any more time on idle chatter. As the creatures continued to spill into the hall he noticed it was at a slower rate. His eyes quirked as he saw the final beast come around the corner. Between the two of them, Haastal and Redd had managed an easy routine of slashing and stabbing the beasts amidst a hale of blasterfire. When finally it all settled, Haastal breathed out a sigh of relief, dropping one of his blaster pistols to the ground ad the weapon had no more energy reserves. Haastal leaned against the wall, sighing out before finally turning his eyes down to the bodies that littered the ground. "What the hell are these things?" He mused. His armor had been scorched in several places and was no longer as unblemished as it had been. One of his boots had a noticeable scorch mark which seemed to have melted off the first layer of Beskar.

While Haastal was still a bit uneasy from the whole ordeal, he walked over to Redd, taking her free hand into his as he muttered out. "You're not allowed to die...Not you." He said.

Redd

 

[Redd]

FACTORY​

Tags: Haastal Haran​

Redd snarled, only to end up coughing and she swallowed the mucus that came up due to not being able to spit; while Haastal moved to kill the one that had slashed for her. Green eyes that shifted to gold glared at him through her visor when he cursed at her. If she had been in wolf form, or better yet, if they were not wearing any kind of armour, she would have sunk her teeth into him and not let go. Just to teach him a lesson about calling her a stupid queen. He didn’t understand why she stood and fought. He didn’t understand as to why she would rather stay behind instead of run. It had almost been flogged into her. The will to fight rather than run, was strong because of all the years she fought. Injured. Bloodied and bruised. Yet she had still felt that lash, when she had wanted nothing more than to stay in the far corners of her cage.

The wolf slashed and stabbed at the enemies that managed to crawl above their heads and get behind them. It was only when he had begun to run low and the stranglers had managed to slowly catch up, that they actually gotten close enough for Redd to do more than kill those that had managed to crawl over their heads. With each swing and with each stab, she felt every reserve of energy slowly being sapped from her body and it wasn’t until their enemies laid dead at their feet, that she allowed her legs to give out. She fell to her knees and she pressed a hand to her head as she fought with the need to stay awake. To stay on her feet, even though she had already fallen to her knees.

”I don’t know what these things are, but it is my fault that we fell into this trap. I led us here, I led us through the ash and soot which did nothing to help but burn power.” Oh yes, she blamed herself. For if she hadn't tracked them here, then maybe they could have gone a different route, one that didn’t lead to monsters that were literally the embodiment of lava that threatened to burn their armour off. What was it that he had said? These beasts were the embodiment of a superheated energy source and they definitely would be more than happy to burn through their armour and weapons. As it was, the dagger that she had held, was already beginning to have the layers slowly melt off of it.

She wheezed as she pulled herself to her feet and leaned heavily against the wall, while she rested her head against it and resisted the urge to close her eyes. If she did that, she would lose the fight. Redd would sleep and there was just something about this feeling of sleep that made her dread it. Was this the cause from breathing in too much of the soot and ash? The wolf asked herself as she watched Haastal’s movements with golden eyes. She watched as he came over to her, only to take her hand and told her that she wasn’t allowed to die. If she had been a wolf, she would have barked. Instead, the woman managed a weak laugh and she shook her head. ”Death has surrounded me since I was a pup and to kill has been flogged into me ever since then. I cannot run, I don’t. Not when I’ll be leaving behind a part of my soul. If you had ran away, I would have followed, but I cannot leave you here. I need you and if you died, I would die as well and I would never forgive myself.” Her voice slowly softened at the end as she rasped out the words that she hoped would make him understand.

Yet, even as she hoped to say more words, her eyelids slowly began to close as the adrenaline began to slowly leave her body. Shaking her head, she drew in more air as she gasped for breath and nodded her head. ”We need to leave before I can no longer force myself to stand. Something is wrong and we need to get the to communications terminal to send a message to the KO. To Ge-” The red wolf sheathed the blade as she coughed and her now free hand lifted to pull her buy’ce off her head; to cough up and spit out the black mucus. Golden eyes shifted to green as she looked up at him and struggled to keep her gaze in focus upon her mate. ”We need to send a message to Gerwald. He can help.”​

​

 

[Haastal Haran]

Once the carnage had passed, Haastal sighed in relief. He was unsure as to how these creatures had managed to get in the facility as it was. Shouldn't they have some kind of defense against this kind of thing? He said nothing and instead turned to Redd, who he immediately noticed was fading, fast. They still had a ways to go, but Haastal was not content. "Neither of us die, then." He told her simply before leaning down and pulling the woman from her feet. He slung Redd over his shoulder, grunting softly as he lifted her to the air. It was so much easier than when she had been in her wolf form, plus he could breathe inside the facility.

With the woman on his arm he would move on down the hall, speaking softly as he kept his blaster in his free hand. "Gerwald? yea." He nodded. While Haastal had only met Gerwald once, he knew that was someone who would come to their rescue fast enough. After all, they were of the same pack, right?

The Mandalorian continued to move down the hall while speaking out to Redd. Trying to keep the woman awake. "Remember, we gotta make you Mandalorian. We wear the armor, we speak the language, defend our family, build the clan, and raise kids to be Mandalorians." He grunted, moving down the hall and turning to see a new corridor. A rather long one. He sighed before stepping forward.

"You know I used to have a job on Balmorra. Merc. Clean-up crew for some Hutt Boss lookin' to turn the planet into a spice haven. It was an easy job, great creds. We'd follow the fat slug around while he did his business, keep the Balmorran security teams off him, easy stuff. Until about seven months in. There was some new sector governor or something, tryin' to make a push against the Hutt's. So the slug wanted to send a message. Blow up the governor's speeder while he was on his way to an election rally."

"Bonus of twenty thousands credits. Damn good money for blowin' up a speeder, y'know?"

"So we blew it up." He chuckled dryly, before his steps came to a slow stop. "There were three kids on that speeder." He muttered.

Haastal shook his head before continuing on. "Young kids...I think that's when I knew I'd hit bottom. You know? What did it matter if I could shoot, fight, and all that shit if in the end I was some punk, killin' kids for creds?" He breathed out. "I only ever told one other person that story. Haastal." He sighed out. "Pretty shit, huh?" He said, attempting to brush the subject off.

Redd

 

[Redd]

FACTORY​

Tags: Haastal Haran​

Redd was simply amazed at how well the man had simplified the conversation, about how neither of them could die and she simply shook. It astounded her but it didn’t make her disagree with him, she just wanted him to know that she wasn’t about to simply leave him. Yet, even as green eyes looked at him, she wondered as to what was going through his mind. What was he possibly thinking? That was until he slung her over his shoulder and she growled only to end up in a coughing fit. ”You don’t need to carry me, I am still able to walk a bit.” The wolf grumbled, but didn’t fight against him. This was not a time to fight those that were considered to be friendly, but rather, a time to conserve energy. ”I’m not dead just yet,” She mumbled.

Haastal mentioned Gerwald and she continued to pant, but nodded her head. ”Gerwald. My brother. My pack sibling I guess you could say, but even just thinking of having a brother, even an adopted one is a strange concept to me.” Redd mused out loud as she thought about the conversation that had led to Gerwald wanting her to be nothing but a sibling. She remembered the story that he had told her about his actual sister. The one that he shared blood with and she sighed as she rested against her mate while her head nodded as she tried to keep her eyes open.

He spoke, while she mostly listened, not that she had anything else to do except hang over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. It was downright insulting, yet even as she thought such a thing, she couldn’t help but listen to him as he spoke and her hand lightly drew over his back in quiet contemplation. She thought about the Resol’nare and the code. She listened to him begin to tell her a story about his past and her interest peaked. He didn’t often talk about himself, he especially didn’t talk much about his past, so the topic surely did grab her. Yet it was a story before he had met the original Haastal, a story that turned dark when it mentioned that children had been involved.

Could she blame him? Could she admit that it was a pretty shit thing to do? A sigh caressed her lips as she trailed her free hand over his back plate and thought about her answer for a moment. ”I don’t understand why anyone would do anything for credits. A lot of what makes up a civilized society confuses me sometimes, but I guess a man without a true purpose or guiding compass, can some day kill children. Even if it wasn’t the intended target.” Redd shook her head, ”But I’m moving away from the point I wish to make. You were told to destroy the governor’s speeder. A governor who anyone would assume is a grown adult. How could you have possibly known that there were going to be children on the speeder instead?”

She wheezed and coughed some more and she felt the haze threatened to pull her under, but she fought with the urge. ”You didn’t know me before I was free. I would have killed children if they had been remotely close to me. I would have killed anything that was thrown in my cage just to make a point. I would have killed them just to stay alive. Some would have even said that I had lost my sanity for some time, but in the end, even children can grow up to one day become a threat. I was just a pup once, now I’m a wolf who will gladly rip out a throat even if it is just to save those that I protect. A cause can be anything, but in the end, if you feel regret about past actions then you have already lost the battle. You cannot regret. You cannot bring back the dead of those that you have killed. One can only move forward and do better; but only if that is what you want.” Redd said softly as she coughed and struggled to draw in more air.​

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[Haastal Haran]

Why did he start talking? Why did he even care to tell Redd about the things he'd done in a life that wasn't even his anymore? He had no clue. He didn't care to think about it either. Instead he listened to his woman's voice, taking notice of the subtle hints of care that she spoke, even between those hellish coughing fits she was going through right now. Haastal continued to walk down the hall until finally they found themselves starting at a control room, just like the one they had passed. The Mandalorian exhaled in relief before grabbing the door and pushing it open. He kept listening to Redd speak, however his eyes were fastened on the power switch in the room. When Redd said they could only move forward, he glanced back at the woman.

His mind recalled the words his brother had told him when accepting him into their clan. "Let the past die, and if it won't...then kill it." He threw the switch to the on position, watching as the room suddenly came to life with the subtle hum of power. He looked up, watching as the lights in the room came to life, illuminating the dark space.

"There, one step closer to..." Haastal was going to speak, yet his words were cut off when he saw an image locked on the screen before them. It seemed to be some kind of security feed playing in an infinite loop. The security video showed some kind of machine deep in the belly of the facility. It seemed to have the function of drawing magma from the planet and into some kind of reservoir, yet that was not all that was occuring. Those lava creatures were steadily climbing out of the reservoir, ripping their claws into the workers who had been in the room.

"So that's how they got in...The facility must have breached their breeding grounds or somethin'. They can survive in the lava so they followed the pipeline back to the facility and they are pretty pissed." Haastal cut the feed before muttering. "Guess I would be too if you ran a tube through my kids bedroom." He huffed, before turning out of the room and making his way back down the hall they'd come through. There was something to be said for this facility. It had a very simple design, however the halls were incredibly long and narrow. Not exactly the best place to be trapped with creatures who were literally organic lava. "We're almost to the comm tower, Redd. Just relax, ok?" He said back to his mate.

Redd

 

[Redd]

FACTORY​

Tags: Haastal Haran​

Kill the past? It was a fascinating concept and she briefly thought a little more about it. How could one possibly kill such a thing? How did one kill the past? Did someone go about killing all of those that had wronged them in the past to gain a semblance of peace from those ghosts? Or did one bury their past identity and create a new one? One that involved a new name and a new persona? How did one create a new persona? Wasn’t their current personality based on their past experiences? ”Makes no sense,” She mumbled as a frown creased her forehead in deep thought. ”You cannot kill something that doesn’t have a physical body.” Perhaps one could kill their past by having their memory wiped? A past doesn’t exist if one couldn’t remember it; but then again, one could argue that a memory wipe was simply putting something that already existed, behind a locked door that someone couldn’t open.

Redd had been so focused on her thoughts, that when the power hummed to life and the dark space was filled with light, it made her blink. She felt the cough rattle through her lungs and burn along her throat which only caused her to want to rest even more. Her chest felt tight and she struggled to continue to draw in the oxygen that was clearer than the air outside of the factory. Yet even as she thought that she could potentially be dying, Haastal spoke again and she twisted to view whatever it was that her mate was looking at; for it was surely the cause for why his words had been cut short.

Tired, green eyes fell upon the monitor and the woman shook her head before she relaxed against the man’s shoulder. Although, as her eyes began to slide closed, she caught herself just in time and she growled which caused another cough to burn its way up her throat. ”I can definitely see why the lava creatures would be angry, but I also doubt that the workers even knew they were there.” Redd said as she spat out more of the black mucus only to continue on with her line of thought. ”If they had, they probably wouldn’t have run a tube through the area. Or at the very least had people on standby to kill the creatures as they crawled out.” The wolf reasoned as she sighed then and looked at the long hallway that Haastal had already walked down.

”It just doesn’t seem logical to continue such work if they knew that these beasts were here, because it has just proven that it was a waste of time. Nothing is being done here. No refining, nothing. Nothing has been gained. The only thing that has happened out of all of this, is loss of life and now whomever owns this factory has a useless factory because of the lava creatures.” Another sigh parted her lips as she refrained from coughing yet again while Haastal told her to relax. The wolf wiggled on his shoulder and then simply hung there, ”I am relaxing. I’m just hanging around like a sack of potatoes that has been thrown over someone’s shoulder.” She grumbled and would have crossed her arms over her chest if it wasn’t already feeling tight and uncomfortable.

Yet, even though she grumbled, the wolf was just glad that he didn’t get as much inhalation as she did. Redd would have gladly done it all over again if it meant that they would get out of this alive. She lightly patted his armoured back then, ”Don’t worry, I’ve got your back,” The wolf followed up with as she tried to make light of the situation.​

​

 

[Haastal Haran]

They found themselves in the comm tower not long after leaving the power room. Luckily the two seemed to avoid any sign of the lava creatures.

When they stepped through the threshold leading into the tower, Haastal couldn't help but sigh at what he saw. Stairs. A lot of karking stairs. His eyes twitched softly at the thought, but he didn't care to say anything, instead he just began to climb up the stairs one at a time. "When we get home...after I get a new damn ship...you need classes on blasters." He told Redd.

It was true. Redd's ability to primarily fight in close-quarters combat was something that could get her killed one day. Unlike a Jedi or Sith, she did not even have a considerable close-quarters weapon, merely a dagger that would not likely pierce something as durable as phrik or Beskar. Haastal considered this as he rose up the stairs, speaking through labored breathing. "We'll get you started on pistols. They're easy enough, just gotta get your aim right." He said, gradually climbing the stairwell.

The circular staircase finally came to an end. The two found themselves gazing out over the entirety of the complex from some kind of observation tower that held the comm console. Haastal glanced up at the lights that were activated on the ceiling and muttered softly. "Oh I'm so glad those are on." He said, before pulling Redd off of his shoulders, setting her down in the chair in front of the comm terminal. "Here, take a rest." He breathe, clasping his mate on the shoulder before walking over to the terminal. He leaned over the device, exhaling while pulling his helmet off. His brow was soaked in sweat and even his ears were beginning to ring a bit. It didn't matter. Slowly but surely he began to power up the terminal, watching as the large device let off a soft ping.

"Ok, let me see if I can send a distress beacon out to your brother, Gerwald Lechner ."

The man looked over the device before cursing. "It won't patch into an audio feed or a video call...We can only hope the signal will reach his-"

Before the man could finish his sentence another vicious screeching echoed out.

"Terminal..." Haastal muttered, turning back towards Redd and pulling his blaster pistol from his holster. "We're gonna have company..."

Redd

 

[Redd]

FACTORY​

Tags: Haastal Haran | Gerwald Lechner​

Redd rolled her eyes as she continued to pat his back while keeping an eye on the path they had already travelled along. ”I have been wanting more and more training ever since Rodia. If only Gerwald would stop babying me.” She grumbled as she coughed and felt her world spin once again. Well, Gerwald hadn’t exactly contacted her or stopped in to see her once since he had pulled her from Rodia and it worried her, but only slightly. The wolf wasn’t bothered and knew that he would be there for her when she really needed it. Like now for instance. She knew that he would come if they could get through to him and the woman sighed for a moment. They would be screwed if they couldn’t get any kind of communication out at all.

”Blasters do carry some weight. When you needed me to blow up the engines, I threw one at the turbines and it made the engines explode. I even managed to hit a guard with one.” Redd said as she continued to talk to try and keep herself awake. ”Hit him in the head with it, threw his guard off long enough for me to stab him.” The wolf said as she forced her eyes to open again when they threatened to close with every moment that passed, but instead she focused on the words that her mate spoke and listened to his labored breath. Her lips parted to tell him to put her down. That she could walk the rest of the way, but he got to the top of the stairs, he was soon setting her down into a chair next to the terminal.

Quietly she groaned as she lifted a hand to rub at her burning throat, but she focused upon Haastal as green eyes noted the sweat that was pouring off of his face. It worried her because it was relatively cooler in the factory than it had been outside. She had noticed it, even with her own temperature rising and signaling that she herself would be fighting off a fever as well as the call of sleep. ”If you can add my code into the distress sig-” Her lungs rattled as she coughed some more and she bent over in pain, only to cough up the black mucus and spit it out. ”Add my code into the distress signal. So even if he doesn’t hear or see us, he’ll know it’s me.” Redd said as she slowly leaned back into the chair and rattled off her code to her mate. ”I never thought I’d have to use them when he gave it to me, because I never really understood technology. Now I wish I could understand it some more.” She wheezed as she watched his fingers fly over the terminal.

Another screech reached her ears and pain flashed across her face as the sounds continued to pierce her ear drums. Quickly she took her buy’ce into both of her hands, only to quickly slide it over her head and lock it into place. ”If there is only one way up and one way down from here. Then how is Gerwald supposed to get to us and vice versa?” Redd questioned as she rose up onto unstable legs and pulled the dagger free of her thigh plate once more. Slowly, she made her way towards the wall by the door and leaned against it. If Haastal’s blaster ran out or had any kind of hiccup, the wolf would be ready to jump in as back-up instead.

She adjusted her grip upon the hilt and readied herself. Quietly she hoped for some kind of miracle, ”Haastal, I don’t care if these workers are the reason that these lava beasts are pissed off because of a pipe running through their home. These pieces of chits have to die, because now they are pissing me off.”​

​

 

[Gerwald Lechner]

TAG: Haastal Haran | Redd

"And make sure you don't lower your defenses. If you leave an opening your opponent can exploit, they will... Now.."​

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... chirp chirp ...​

​

Gerwald sighed as his comm chirped yet again. He had been ignoring it for a time as he was in the middle of a training session. There could have been nothing so important that it could not wait, after all... Gerwald was once again in the routine of his lonely life. He was lonely by circumstance, and also by choice. He wanted it to change, but the man was still not ready to trust the deeper parts of himself to anyone save for the woman he called sister.​

​

It had not been what she wanted, and Gerwald understood the reasons why she gave him the cold shoulder at times. Redd thought like a wolf that wanted to continue and expand their species... their pack. She was not wrong, but Gerwald had always been more human. Redd was not wrong in that observation as well. Still it was a mistake to see him as human. The wolf inside of Gerwald was vicious, wild, and fearsome. As any predator, the wolf was not one which would be tamed or easily restrained. Gerwald had simply found a way for the man and the wolf to want the same things.​

​

... chirp chirp ...​

​

Gerwald looked down at the comm unit. It was one message, one number, Redd's code. A location followed, and Gerwald cursed under his breath. What trouble had she gotten into now?​

​

"We have to cut this short. Urgent business calls me away. Next week, same time."​

​

With that Gerwald turned on his heels and headed for a ship. He had to leave now if he was going to get to them in time.​

 

[Haastal Haran]

Haastal wandered over to the control panel, locking down the main door to the comm tower. He watched as the blast doors slowly slid shut. He exhaled in relief but in the next moment there was the sound of hellish scratching at the door. Even from where Haastal was he could see the back of the door's glowing red-hot as if a welding torch had been set to it. The Mandalorian snorted, aiming his blaster pistol at the door while listening to Redd speak. "I still can't believe you threw the blaster into the turbine, why didn't you just shoot it?!" He called out with a wild laugh. "That's funny!" He said.

The Mandalorian turned to the terminal, glancing over it to ensure that the code had been properly transferred and received. An acknowledgement light cam to life and Haastal nodded a bit. "Looks like he got it. Now the question is how long does it take him to get here?" He wondered. He was about to say something else when it sounded like the blast door's had been breached. He walked over to the wall, pulling Redd back a bit more as he fastened his eyes on the group of creatures before them. They were in the center of the door, they're lava-like appendages cutting and burning through the door at a gradual rate.

"Haar'chak..." Haastal cursed before looking back to his mate. "Stay behind me." He warned her, before in the next moment another piece of the blast door faltered, allowing one of the creatures to burst through, immediately rushing up the stairwell to the two.

Haastal waited until the creature was only a few steps from the top, that was when he let out two precisely blaster blaster bolts in the creature's skull. When it fell dead, Haastal chuckled, before muttering back to Redd. "Hope I can do that about fifty more times..." He said.

Redd Gerwald Lechner

 

[Redd]

FACTORY​

Tags: Haastal Haran || Gerwald Lechner​

Redd's head angled slightly to the right. ”Shoot?” The wolf queried as she listened to the sound of his laughter that only made her smile with joy, even though there was an enemy behind a closed door that was slowly being cut open by beasts that she knew better than to sink her teeth into. In fact, the sound of her mate’s laughter was music to her ears and it eased her troubled soul, if only for that brief moment when time seemed to stand still as the precious seconds seemed to stretch into minutes. Sometimes, even in the midst of battle, even a wolf could find a little slice of heaven and she found hers with the man whose unstrained laugh only made her feel even more at home. ”I know nothing about weapons, only how to throw them. Besides, it worked. It had to work, because it was plan B.” She said with a smirk only to cough once again.

Green eyes followed Haastal’s movements when he crossed over to the terminal and the woman simply nodded her head as her free hand rubbed at her chest that seemed to tighten with every breath that she drew in. ”Gerwald will come. He didn’t leave me on the battlefield of Rodia. I believe that he won’t leave us here either. Family does not leave family behind, no matter how distant they become.” Redd said as she coughed some more and felt another wave of dizziness wash over her. Indeed, the wolf felt secure in such a knowledge that her brother would come if she needed him to, but most of the time she tried not to rely upon him these days. Instead, she preferred to be doing things by Haastal’s side as he was consistently teaching her new things. Not to mention that Haastal was her mate.

A fact that she hadn’t told Gerwald about. Not yet anyway.

Not that she had seen him or anything. In fact. She hadn’t heard a peep from him, even when she had disappeared from Geonosis and the medical staff. The wolf had even seen the Vicelord, along with others from the faction that represented Clan Verd, but nothing from her brother. Such a fact had left a seed of doubt in the woman. A seed that made her wonder if he truly would come, but she had to hold out hope for her mate. She had to hold onto the hope that if anyone would come, that it would be Gerwald, but she couldn’t be too certain. Not when so much time had passed. It was a fact that she kept to herself as she wavered on the edge of darkness.

She felt Haastal pull her back behind him and she didn’t have the energy to resist such an action. Yet even though she wanted to protest, she knew that at this point, she would only get in the way. A fact made as she felt her legs quiver with the effort to stand and she fell to her knees as she pulled her buy’ce off. The woman bent over then to hack up more globs of the black mucus that plagued her lungs. Redd wheezed as she lifted a hand to press to her forehead, which felt as hot as the lava. ”I’m sorry Haastal, for not getting us out of this sooner.” She said as she moved to lean her back against the terminal and kept a weak grip upon the dagger that she still held. Each breath felt as if her lungs were on fire and with each breath, she struggled to avoid wincing in pain.

”Haastal… I want you to know that if I don’t make it-” Another cough burned her throat and she struggled to draw in more oxygen to speak. ”I love you.” Redd said as she leaned her head back against the terminal, while she fought with eyes that began to slowly slide closed against her will.​

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[Gerwald Lechner]

TAG: Haastal Haran | Redd

Gerwald was in a rush, and there was part of him which thought to forget his armor altogether, but something told him he was going to need it. With a heavy sigh he ran to his quarters where he took the time needed to put the morph armor on. It took more time than he probably should have taken, but with the coordinates already sent to him, he could only hope that a more talented pilot could get him there with time to spare. Was there time to spare?​

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"You..." Gerwald pointed to a pilot when he reached the hangar bay. "Emergency rescue op. Two of our own are in trouble. I am uploading the coordinates to you right now!"​

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There was little to be said, and even less to be done. Gerwald boarded the ship and waited out the journey trying to be as calm as he could be. He should have kept better tabs on Redd, but she was an independent sort. Yes, they were family, but Gerwald also knew the lupine needed to find her own place in the Confederacy without him breathing down her neck. He knew she had slipped out of the medical ward. She had always hated their poking and prodding, so he figured she had just run from it to heal as the lupine did best, as a wolf.​

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He could regret his decision in how to handle the situation, or he could be there when he needed her the most.​

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Now.​

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As the ship came close to the coordinated Gerwald pointed out a decent clearing.​

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"Wait here until I come back. If you have to move contact me."​

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The pilot nodded before Gerwald ran down the loading ramp. He was where they had said they were, but Gerwald did not see them.​

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Fingers furiously tapped out a message...​

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where are you...​

 

[Haastal Haran]

BOOM​

Tags: Redd Gerwald Lechner ​

Those damned creatures seemed intent on entering the comm room. Haastal wasn't prepared to let that happen. He'd moved across the room and was bracing himself against a massive metal desk, groaning as the metallic feet slid and grinded into the floor below. He heaved and groaned before sliding the table in front of the stairwell, just as one of the creatures seemed to burst through the hole in the door once again. Haastal bent over the desk as it reared it's molten maw up. This time it took nearly four blaster bolts to the beast's skull to land it dead on it's back.

Haastal breathed out a sigh of relief before looking back to Redd, his mate, with an uncertain look beneath his helmet. His eyes spied the ship that came down over the glasteel view screen. He chuckled softly before pulling a small sphere from his belt and tossing it into the center of the floor. He made his way over to Redd, cutting her worlds off as he placed his helmet against hers. "We are leaving! You are leaving, with me, now!" He told her,

Haastal grabbed Redd, pulling her to her feet and making their way towards the window. He laced his arm under hers, listening to the cries of those damned creatures as they seemed to spill into the stairwell behind them. Haastal's blaster came up, slamming into the glasteel window before them while he urged Redd to stand onto the console before them. The fractured glasteel cracked more and more before Haastal turned back to the room. The lava beasts were spilling in, encircling Haastal and Redd as the Mandalorian's eyes glanced up to the cylinders rolling about the room.

"Time to go..." He muttered. "Grab onto my back." He told Redd, backing up from the beasts who eyed him as if he were a piece of meat. The moment Redd was on his back, Haastal turned, bringing his arms up to brace against the hard slam.

They smashed through the window, immediately finding open air to greet them. Haastal looked up, aiming his wrist up and yelling out. "Cord!" A soft hiss could be heard as a phrik-lined zipcord flew from his gauntlet, the metallic hook wrapping around one of the towers antennas. "Oh..." He groaned, both his and Redd's weight supported through his one arm. "Two...one....zero..." He called out.

That was when a massive explosion that erupted from the communications tower. Haastal bowed his head down as flaming debris flew down beside them. He chuckled before glancing back to Redd who was hanging on his back. "You...better...hope Gerwald finds us...before my arm....breaks." He chuckled out. ​

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[Redd]

LEAP OF FAITH​

Tags: Haastal Haran | Gerwald Lechner​

The sound of the table grinding against the floor had her forcing her green eyes open to view her mate sliding a table across the door frame and so she moved to slide her helmet back over her head with a soft groan. Redd was fighting a losing battle. No. Not the one where the lava creatures would literally burn and scald her mouth if she so much as attempted to bite them, but the one where fighting off the encroaching darkness of rest. Hell, she was losing the lava creature battle as well. She lost that battle the moment that she stepped foot inside the facility. Especially considering she lacked a great deal of weaponry knowledge. Not to mention the fact that while she was rather skilled at ripping open throats with her powerful wolf jaws, she couldn’t use such skills here and she hated that she was so useless in this situation.

What kind of a mate was she? One that was completely powerless, even as the strength of her own being was failing. It was a point of pride really. One that loved to show that she could defend herself. Especially when she could fight with teeth and claws. In human form, she knew some hand to hand, because Haastal had been showing her the ropes, but was mostly because she didn’t know a great deal of weaponry just yet. And although she was muttering words of love towards her mate, he seemed intent on cutting her off midway through. His helmet pressed against her own and she lifted a hand to lightly cup the outside of his buy’ce as if she was trying to frame his cheek in her palm. Leaving? How were they leaving? The lava creatures were literally blocking their way back down the stairwell.

Redd felt his hand grab a hold of her and pull her back to her feet, much to her protest and began to guide her over to the window. A low groan parted her lips as she suddenly realised that they were heading out the window, just as he smashed the glass with his blaster. ”One day, we have to get me one of those.” The red woman muttered softly as she felt his hands help her up onto the console and heard a message seemingly beep at them from the console itself. Her arms wrapped around Haastal’s neck and she used her upper strength as she hopped and then pulled herself up so then her legs would wrap around the man's waist. She would then lock her ankles together in front of him just as they smashed through the window.

Falling shards reminded the lupine of the ones from Ryloth and she braced her form against her mate as he yelled and the cord from his Beskar’gam seemed to have stopped their fall. Only. Now they were hanging in mid-air and she briefly wondered as to how Gerwald was going to reach them through a horde of lava creatures to find them? That was until the loud explosion blew out the rest of the windows in the communications tower and a rain of glass showered down around them. Well, if he didn’t see their leap of faith before, surely he saw the explosion. It was a dead give away to their position and she hoped to hell that he had, as the shards began to fall and bounce off of their protective gear.

For now, she had a second wave of adrenaline pumping through her veins from the fall itself and she groaned softly as her limbs quivered with the energy that she was spending through holding herself firmly against Haastal’s back. ”I hope so. Because I think the load will be lightened if I cannot manage to stay awake.” Redd said softly as they seemed to lightly swing with the momentum of the cord that was currently their safety hold. If she slipped, or her grip faltered, she was definitely not going to make it.​

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[Gerwald Lechner]

TAG: Haastal Haran | Redd

The search for Redd and her companion did not take long, or at least the explosion had fortuitous timing. The only problem was Gerwald had left the ship behind in order to find them. Naturally that would mean they were hanging from a window. Looking up the lupine sighed and reached out to the pilot with the coordinates he needed to reach the two. The ship would pull up next to them in short order.​

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With the force focused on his legs Gerwald jumped onto the open loading ramp.​

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He reached out to Redd through the force hoping she would hear him.​

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"You're going to have to jump for it. I will catch you. Tell the Mandalorian he is next."​

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It was up to them to make the jump. The ship was as close as it would get.​

 

[Haastal Haran]

LIVE​

Tags: Gerwald Lechner Redd ​

Haastal groaned audibly as sweat bled from his face like water from the spigot of a sink. He could feel Redd's weight firm upon his back, which was good yet his arm was only becoming more and more strained by the second. He let out a chattering curse before glancing back up at the sight above him. Open flames were ensuing in the tower and even from where they were he could hear the startling cries of the beasts who had been blown apart. Some must have survived the shockwave of the blast, but only barely. He chuckled dryly before raising his free hand, his middle finger flying up towards the dying creatures. "Choke on it..." He breathed, before glancing around.

"Ok...ways to get out of her without one of us dyin'." No matter how many times he glanced around or searched for some semblance of a plan, he found the same thing every time. Nothing. No, when they had trekked through the hellish landscape, inhaling soot and ash into their lungs and then fighting off those hellish creatures the world called inhabitants, they were left to die swinging from an iron-threaded rope as if bait dangled to a fish.

Haastal couldn't help but start laughing. It wasn't the kind of laugh many people heard in their lives. It was filled with amusement but it was so shaky it may as well have been a sob. He laughed for a few seconds before finally he exhaled, hanging his head and trying to distract from the mind-numbing pain flowing through his shoulder. He glanced back at the woman on his shoulder, his eyes unable to meet hers but it was enough to feel her arms around his body. "Ok...ok...maybe we ca-" His voice was cut off by the sound of starship engines.

His eyes went wide as he threw his head from one side to another to spot the ship that had ventured unnaturally close to the building. "Oh, shit!" He muttered, before nudging Redd. "Get ready to jump, on three!" He told her, before rearing up to grab the rope with his other hand. He pushed his boots against the side of the wall they hung against, once...twice...and then a third time. "One, two, three!" He yelled out. With the final push they shot away from the wall and out towards the ship, just as Haastal's hand slid over the disengage switch on his zipcord launcher. They flew off of the wall towards the ship, cutting through the air only to slam into the hard hull of the starship. Haastal tried to land feet-first but he ended up slamming his knees into the hull, rolling over and sliding against one of the starship's dorsal fins. His hand shot out, catching Redd and pulling her towards him before he chuckled out.

"I need a drink..." He breathed out, before looking to Redd. "Are you ok, Redd?" He asked her.
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[Redd]

COMA​

Tags: Haastal Haran | Gerwald Lechner​

Redd could feel her grip upon wakefulness beginning to slip and it was deadly, especially for her as she wrestled with everything that she had to stay awake. Awake enough to keep hanging on and yet, as her mind retreated into the fond memories that she had with the Mate she clung onto, she couldn’t help but softly smile. Before all of this, she had stayed awake, to watch the man heal and tend to the wound that she had created. The burn had also been a concern, but less of one, for it had been a necessary one to be created. It signified his positioning within House Verd and she hoped that he would still get to do great things after this. However, it had been the man’s laugh that had brought her out of her brief trip down memory lane and lucky it had.

Her grip had begun to loosen and she quickly readjusted it to grip on harder, but it was becoming quite the effort. A sigh parted her lips as she did her very best not to close her green eyes in an attempt to stay awake. If she closed them now, then she was surely going to fall and although it was tempting to just let it happen, Haastal was intent on making sure to say ‘us’ or ‘we.’ How did they get out of such a predicament without one of them dying? If Redd could grow wings, it would be handy, but lupines didn’t grow wings, otherwise there would be winged wolves running around in the sky. Deadly on the ground and in the sky. The very thought made her chuckle softly at such a ridiculous thought. Perhaps she was losing it?

Although such a thought popped into her head, she heard the engine right before Haastal spoke, followed closely by Gerwald inside her head. Jump? There was more jumping to be done? ’Gerwald, it seems as if we are not waiting for that. Haastal is going to jump on top of the ship. So maybe meet us at the access hatch?’ She said weakly before she felt the sudden jerky movements of her mate pushing off from the side of the building and disengaging the zipcord that had been their safety net up until this point. To say that it felt disorientated to be sailing through the air once more, was an understatement of the century. Yet although she tried to keep a tight grip, the impact of Haastal hitting the hull, relaxed her grip and she soon found herself jostled away from him.

Quickly, her body was sliding against the ship’s exterior and her hands tried to reach out as if they had claws to dig into anything that would stabilize and stop her from falling. That was until she felt a familiar hand catch her sliding form, only to be pulled upwards towards the man. The red haired woman gasped for air and every part of her body quivered with the effort to stay awake. Inside, we have to get inside, she thought to herself as she grunted in response to her mate’s words. She didn’t have the lung capacity anymore to form words, as it was becoming quite the effort to even crawl her away over to the access hatch. Her hand grasped for the latch and with a final effort, heaved the hatch open, only to pull herself through it.

Shaky hands carried her down the ladder, but once secure inside the ship, her fingers fumbled with the helmet, only to rip it off as she coughed. The harsh sound rasped against her extremely dry throat as she doubled over with the effort to cough up the blackened mucus. Finally, she sunk down to the floor to sit with her back against the wall, as she could no longer find the energy to remain standing any longer. Her deep green eyes glanced over to Gerwald for a moment as she feigned a smile, before she looked over to Haastal. Redd would then reach out through the force towards her mate and with weakened words, she pressed her words into his mind. ’I told you my brother would come for us.’

Finally, her body relaxed and she knew that they were safe, aboard a ship. That Haastal was safe and her head slowly dipped forwards as she stopped fighting against the darkened wave that had been threatening to roll in on her for some time. Redd allowed for the darkness to sweep her under into a sleep that had been denied for so long.​

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[Gerwald Lechner]

TAG: Haastal Haran | Redd

Of course the Mandalorian was going to jump. Gerwald heard the words inside his head, but they were weak. Something was wrong with his sister, and it worried the Lupine. The last thing he wanted to be responsible for was losing another person he had grown close to. He had saved her on Rodia, and now he was here. No one could, or would, dare to tell him that he abandoned those he loved ever again. Gerwald knew the truth even if others did not, or if they refused to admit it. He was no longer the one who left.​

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He opened the hatch on the top of the ship and threw a line toward the Mandalorian before venturing out onto the top of the ship. Hopefully with some combination of his own assistance, and the resiliency of the two who had found the strength to survive whatever mess that had gotten themselves into, they would all make it back inside the ship.​

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Naturally they had, and Gerwald would have been quick to get the ship moving, but something was still wrong. Redd was coughing. She had taken in too much smoke. He said nothing. Gerwald simply acted. Picking up his sister, he rushed to the med bay where he started her on a line of oxygen. Hopefully they would make it back somewhere in time. Naboo... it was their only choice at this point.​

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"Set a course for Naboo... and tell them we need a medical team to meet us at the landing pad."​

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Gerwald barked orders to the pilot before shooting a look to the Mandalorian that Redd called her mate.​

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"It will not be good for our relationship if she dies. You had better hope she pulls through."​

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With that, Gerwald turned his back and walked out, letting the oxygen do its work. The Mandalorian wasn't the only one who needed a drink, and luckily for Gerwald he knew where the whiskey was.​