In the Bowels of Bespin

[Darlyn Excron]

They were safe, for now. Darlyn groaned and held onto the wall for support as he stood up, looking at the troopers. There weren't many of them, and from the looks of it one of them would be out of commission for all intents and purposes. He stumbled over to the one with the broken arm and pulled his armour off the arm, and good lord was there a lot of blood. He seemed conscious and alive for now, that was good. He made sure his lightsaber was still ignited and glanced at the LT. "Hold him down, I'm going to stop the bleeding." The man nodded and had the other trooper held down as Darlyn slowly lowered the blade.

Using just the tip to sear flesh and blood with great heat, the Trooper screamed in pain through his helmet. Yet even so he managed not to squirm and get himself seriously hurt, surprisingly. Whether just him, or a testament to all First order troops, he knew not. Regardless, he burnt and cauterized every wound on the arm, managing to stop the flow of blood. Then he put the armour on the trooper again and glanced around He noticed a maintenence corpse and walked over, ripping free enough fabric to make a temporary sling for the trooper to hold his arm in, and handed retrieved a pistol from the LT. HE gave the troop the weapon, as any extra shooters would be appriciated, and looked back at the barrier he made.

It wouldn't last forever, eventually safety systems would shut it down. Before it could however, he wanted to take out another creature, even if just to vent his rage. He walked over and extended the lightsaber into the lightning, catching it and creating a hole just large enough for the troopers to fire a barrage of bolts past him and slaughter the thing on the other side. With the work there tended to, he stepped back and looked at the men. Enemy territory, one trooper seriously injured, unknown enemies, and he was already recovering from overexertion. Probably his third worst situation ever.

Of course, he had no plan though. He thought for a minute on what to do, how they could get out of this. They were trapped on the maintenance level, with who knows how many creatures hunting them. And the lift was locked down by them probably, at least the one they first went up on...

Wait, maintenance... He smirked and chuckled, breaking slowly into a short fit of laughter. Maintenance, and the emergency systems. They just had to find a specific section of the station's underbelly and he could actually help out in other areas. After all, You would keep emergency panels down in such a safe, hard to access area such as this. Especially since engineers would always be down to assess the problem.

He motioned the troops to follow and activated his comlink. "Agent Tal, if you can hear this I need you to give me your exact position right now. I have a plan, an idea really, to try and fight off whatever you're facing. But I need to know where to look." Things were getting hotter by the moment. Out of the frying pan and into the fire, so to speak.

[member="Hyori Tal"] [member="Ghorua the Shark"] [member="Lady Kay"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay's eyes went wide as the door to the lift opened. [member="Ghorua the Shark"] was down, his mask was off and did he just whimper? Before that she felt a shockwave of rage through the Force, but she wasn't sure of who it was coming from. The sight of the saber pike, glowing the same colour as her own saber did, gave her pause.

But there was little time to dwell on it. As all the lights finished going out and the saber was extinguished, she went into action and started firing the blaster at the alien creatures in rapid succession until it overheated, all the while making her way towards the Herglic. She channelled the Force, using not anger but concern and her drive to help him to fuel her connection to it and push the creatures away from them until they were either dead or knocked out. "Ghorua?! If you can hear me, it's Kay! I'm going to get you out of here, but I need your help!"

He was too big, too heavy for her to carry, even with the help of the Force. She had used it a bunch already and now she needed time to recover. Kay dug into her satchel to look for some light, but couldn't find any. She felt around in the dark until she found the saber pike. She ignited it and used it like a flashlight to find Ghorua's helmet. It wasn't too far away. She picked it up with her free hand and then crouched down. This was going to be tough. She needed both hands for the helmet and one hand to keep the saber ignited. Carefully though, she set the saber down below one of her legs, keeping the blade pointed away from the both of them. Her eyes fell on Ghorua's open mouth and the many rows of teeth. She picked up the helmet and placed it on his head, securing it until she heard the click. Now to wait. Kay picked up the saber pike, kept it ignited and began prodding his shoulder over and over again.
"Ghorua...wake up!...Wake up!.."

[member="Hyori Tal"] and the troopers meanwhile seemed to have held the creatures at bay. For now. Or maybe they were all having a breather and regrouping? Or maybe, something else was getting ready to happen? Only time would tell...

On the lower level, things were growing silent there too. And not just because [member="Darlyn Excron"] and the troopers had killed plenty of creatures, but because the rest of them seemed to have pulled back.

As Darlyn contacted Agent Tal, a far away screeching and buckling of metal could be heard. And then the voice of Terrac came over the comms. "Hey! You better get your butts in gear! Part of the platform has started to collapse in on itself!!"

 

[Ghorua the Shark]

Dark. The whole world was dark.

Ghorua lied there, completely comatose. A small shiver climbed it's way around his body as the helmet was reattached to his head, but besides that, no movement immediately greeted Kay. The duraplast armor heaved gently with shallow breaths, the Herglic's body taking in his suit's oxygen supply.

Dark. The whole world was... Wait.

Ghorua the Shark came back to consciousness, with something poking his shoulder. A raspy groan emanated from the colossus as he shook off the effects of the knockout gas, his genetically-modified body quickly healing itself. He felt weak, extremely weak. He brought one massive hand to his face, and was greeted by his helmet. "Wha...?" The Herglc started, flinching as he noticed Lady Kay, holding his saberpike over him. Fear flashed in his eyes behind the helmet before realizing she wasn't attacking him. He shivered again, and brought his arms and legs together into a fetal postion. The Frenzy, although brief, took a lot out of him. All of his strength had left, leaving the behemoth with nothing but heavy muscles.

"I... I suppose I must've took a nap." Ghorua tried to let out a laugh, but only succeeded in making a low, strangled sound. The Herglic got to his knees shakily, and then got one foot under himself. He tried to stand, but the effort was too much. Ghorua dropped back to one knee, strained from the exertion. The Shark let a breathy chuckle escape him. "Oh, this is just great." Although Kay couldn't see his face, it was easy to hear the forced calm in the Shark's voice, as if he was barely keeping himself together.

Trying again, Ghorua managed to get to his feet, albeit sluggishly. "Well, I'd say we've overstayed our welcome."

- [member="Lady Kay"] - [member="Darlyn Excron"] - [member="Hyori Tal"] -

 

[Valae Heavenshield]

Hyori attempted to suppress the pain as much as she could, but there was just enough to interrupt her focus every now and then. She moved the fingers on her left hand, they twitched on command, but the pain still radiated from the shoulder if she let her arm move too much. With a stream of blood running down her arm and to the floor, she was down one hand... for it was too difficult to fire a blaster. At least her right hand was dominant, and far more skilled. The agent and the troopers were spread evenly in front of the lift, peering as sharply as they could into the fog. There were still shadows present, and they could see them shifting in the cover of the fog. The aliens still had the advantage.

Agent Tal’s right hand rose, the end of her blaster tracked movement in the eerily still fog. It seemed that the aliens were contemplating their next move, or perhaps they were merely regrouping. Her eyes remained scanning the area around them, hardly daring to blink. Hyori heard Mr. Excron address her, indeed they would welcome his assistance... but what exactly was he planning? Agent Tal was a woman that did not like surprises.

“I read you –We are one level above you, right in front of the lift to the south.” She replied quickly.

There was a slight rumbling, and then the voice of their pilot broke into her commlink... A slow breath escaped Agent Tal when she heard his message. The platform was beginning to collapse. Well, that was just another problem to add to their list. But it really only mattered if they managed to make it out alive...

And just then, the screeching laughter rang out again. There was the sound of claws against the wall, Agent Tal and the troopers braced themselves.

“Steady now, men.” She said calmly, trying to reassure the white armored figures next to her.

[member="Lady Kay"], [member="Ghorua the Shark"], [member="Darlyn Excron"]

 

[Darlyn Excron]

"Got that, don't you dare move too far. I'm going to find a... oh karking sithspit, I'll have to call you back." Darlyn cut of his com link and began shouting orders to the troops, directing them around sections of the maintenance level collapsing in on itself. The last thing they needed was to get stuck down here under several tons of metal. But certainly a panel would show up sooner or later, they just had to keep searching. So in further, and further the team went, more than once relying on poor Darlyn to hold up far more than he was used to with the force, to keep them from dying off then and there. Yet no creatures were there to fight, perhaps they were seeking simply to tire him out?

It would make sense, he had to admit. Regardless, the team eventually found one of the panels Darlyn mentioned, and after using the identachip on it he began to look over the diagnostics. Everything seemed livable, that was for certain. At least, for now. He groaned and turned on a camera feed, searching for, ah yes. Now he could see Tal and her team, just where she had mentioned. He hummed quietly and made sure everyone was back and safe before doing anything. This was an emergency panel, it had a number of features on it still... though most of them seemed to be not the ones he had hoped for. Oh well... that simply meant he couldn't change lights or control the doors and security systems.

But, this one did ahve another thing he liked. And with a few taps on the panel he would demonstrate. Fire control systems, this could be fun. First he brought up ray shields, meant to hold out fires, to block in the troopers with Tal and the lift, yet leave them safe as he could manage from here and the creatures. Then he brought up a mic and spoke through it. "I appologize Tal, but I don't think you wanted to meet the nice gentleman still around. AS for them, well, they seem to be rather hotheaded. They could use with a little chill, don't you think?" Of course, he activated every fire suppression system he could, to try and flush out the creatures, see what exactly they would do with the sudden cold. Perhaps nothing, but from here at least he could help cool everyone's heads a bit.


"Kay? Do you have Ghorua? I don't see you with Agent Tal..."

[member="Hyori Tal"]
[member="Ghorua the Shark"]
[member="Lady Kay"] <If you need me to edit Kay feel free to tell me. ^^>

 

[Kay-Larr]

Well at least he was awake. Kay helped [member="Ghorua the Shark"] in what little way that she could, by offering her shoulder. Terrac's hurried message bothered her. "Use myself and the wall to help you. We're getting out of here."

She led him to the lift, all the while looking to the bodies of the alien creatures. Some were alive, but some were dead. Kay swallowed. Some of those deaths were by her hand. She had never killed before. And now she did, to protect Ghorua. Though it wasn't cold blooded murder, it was still murder. She had tried to talk to them, but failed to change anything. Yet still, she felt bad.

As they got into the dark lift, illuminated just by his saber, Kay looked to Ghorua with a sad expression. "I'm sorry that I had you come up here by yourself. Had I of known what we were up against..." She let her words drop as more banging sounds echoed up the lift. Yes, they needed to get out quickly.

In the middle level, the alien creatures were salivating. They had their prey cornered, injured, but alive. That would change soon though. Their eyes were accustomed to the fog, so they could see better than [member="Hyori Tal"] and the others. They laughed and sharpened their claws on the walls. It would be over soon.

Or would it? The ray shield that [member="Darlyn Excron"] erected caught them by surprise. But not nearly as much as the sudden drop in temperature. They were so accustomed to their hot planet that the cold wrecked havok on their system. Some were lucky and had suits on, but all the exposed areas were chilled to the point of almost freezing. The alien creatures screamed, their movements slowing down. Some lunged themselves at the ray shield, while the others tried in vain to get away from the cold.

Still the platform buckled more, it's destruction reaching further in, room by room. Terrac watched in horror. He was growing impatient. Sure it had only been about five minutes, but still, neither of them were coming out yet. "Come on! Move your a**es!!"

 

[Ghorua the Shark]

Ghorua weighed well over a thousand pounds. That, coupled with all of his equipment, made him much too heavy for Kay to bear. He leaned mostly against the wall, but put his arm on Kay's shoulder, if only to make her feel useful. The going was slow, as the Shark stumbled his way to the lift. He noticed the Lady's grim expression towards the creatures, and frowned himself. "It was them or us." It was all the consolation Ghorua could muster.

Ghorua made his way into the elevator, and sighed through his blowhole, somewhat relieved. The creatures had unsettled him, perhaps more than he had ever been before. Even when he had fought rakghouls, he knew he could out-think them. These beings... They were scarily intelligent. Ghorua the Shark was extremely glad he didn't have to find out what consecration meant.

The Shark looked down to Kay as she tried to apologize. He stopped her with a raised hand. "With all due respect, Mi'lady, shut up." He laughed dryly before continuing. "We didn't know what was coming, it was no one's fault. And I figured I could take whatever was here by myself. I... was wrong." Ghorua tried to regulate his voice, and mask his inner thoughts.

He would've probably died if not for Kay. It was a terrifying thought. Ghorua didn't like relying on people. In all of Ghorua's experience, people were selfish, and unfaithful. They didn't stick out their necks for you. This was why Ghorua had received his genetic modifications; because he knew he could only truly trust himself.

Kay didn't fit into his thinking, however. She could've easily left him for dead, turned a blind eye. But she didn't. Ghorua didn't know what to think.

The Shark glanced upwards as he heard the banging sound. Slowly, he took the Spinster from his back, and revved the tines. He couldn't afford to get lost in his thoughts now. The team wasn't in the clear yet. They were still being hunted, and the Herglic was sick of it. He heard Darlyn go over the comms, and answered back, fatigue in his deep voice. "Yeah, she's got me. We're coming down the lift. Frak, I could really use a drink right about now."

- [member="Lady Kay"] - [member="Darlyn Excron"] - [member="Hyori Tal"] -

 

[Valae Heavenshield]

Leave it to Mr. Excron to be cracking jokes as he worked, but jokes aside, Agent Tal watched as a ray shield rose around her and the troopers. A glance backwards revealed that the lift was within the shield’s reach as well. It certainly was an interesting approach, and it appeared to be working. As the fire suppression systems were activated, Hyori saw a sudden change in the behavior of the shadows in the fog. The swift drop in temperature was felt by all, but none were affected quite like the alien creatures. They seemed to be in pain, their screams echoed eerily throughout the area. The few that lunged at the ray shield were knocked back, but Hyori could see the shield beginning to flicker.

With the fire suppression systems activated, the shields would soon be spent – they were only meant to be a temporary containment measure. Hyori turned her head towards the troopers on each side, and she nodded to them. The fog was clearing, and there was still movement within what mist remained. However, the alien’s numbers were thinner now, far more manageable. Ghorua’s voice came over their commlink, her gaze shifted over her shoulder again; the sound of the lift operating confirmed the Herglic’s words. The agitated voice of Terrac had not gone unnoticed, and Agent Tal recognized that their situation was still quite dire.

“The ray shields will not last,” She spoke into the comm, “We will hold them back once they go down.”

It would hopefully give them all enough time to re-group and then get off the platform. Agent Tal winced just slightly, the corner of her eye twitched as she tried to raise her left arm with her right. When the shields flickered again, the agent and the troopers prepared for their next move. They would strike while the aliens were still caught off guard by the cold.

[member="Lady Kay"], [member="Ghorua the Shark"], [member="Darlyn Excron"]

 

[Darlyn Excron]

Darlyn hummed nursery rhymes as he worked on the console, downloading a map of the lower level for all their datapads while they still had time. Further he took initive and downloaded maintenance logs with the identichip he had, on the off chance that this would be the station's final hours. Even if it wasn't, he wouldn't be certain these text logs would survive, so it was best to take what he could from the emergency systems. He watched the creatures writhing in pain and suffering, and couldn't help but smile. Ah, so it was much more effective than he had expected. HE cracked his fingers and typed quickly into the console once more, bringing up the map layout and checking where he could setup defenses for them.

"I'm going to set the ray shields to activate on a timer, along with the fire suppression systems. I think I can manage to do that, though I'm not certain how much use it will be on any with some protection. Regardless, once you all start running you can't stop. I'll join you all back at the emergency turbolift,I have to stay down here as long as possible to make sure the console isn't destroyed right away." Everything lurched to the side it seemed as another section collapsed not terribly far from the group.

"Ghorua, you're buying me drinks after this." He tapped the console to set up the timer. With some power re-routing from sections he didn't need to worry about he managed to strengthen two of the ray shields, just enough that they wouldn't deactivate right along with the others. They would last a little longer, perhaps just moments more, but it was the best he could do. He wasn't a genuine techy, he just knew how to move things around. It helped that the identichip had access codes as well.

Roars from down the labyrinth hall echoed, and he knew he had to focus on the situation at hand. He unhooked the lightsaber and ignited the blade, taking a niman stance. Specifically, he stood tall with his feet rather close, and the saber in a low-guard aimed forward and two the left. He was going to take every opportunity to get his employer out of this death trap. His loyalty ran at least that deep, even if she was a jedi coward. He heard the troopers shifting behind him, and he could only hope they were taking up defensive positions, rather than inching away to run. They did know the layout now, after all.

[member="Hyori Tal"] [member="Ghorua the Shark"] [member="Lady Kay"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay knew that she couldn't hold [member="Ghorua the Shark"] up on her own, but at least she could help a bit. She smirked as he told her to shut up. she knew that he didn't mean anything by it.

Her eyes looked to the ceiling of the lift as it made it's way down. It was an odd situation. She had brought Ghorua here to protect her and now it was she that had saved his life. Funny how things never go as planned.

The doors opened when they arrived at the same level as [member="Hyori Tal"] and remaining troopers. Kay brought up the blaster and exited the lift, in shock at the bodies on the ground, as well as the ones that were still alive. The alien creatures that had suits on were continuing to test the ray shield for weaknesses. They were even starting to throw the bodies of their fallen into the shields. Their eyes and faces displayed their anger, yet with each sound of a room collapsing on itself, they cheered.

[member="Darlyn Excron"] had his way of herding the creatures, just as they had their way of herding their prey.

Kay reached Agent Tal. "Come on. I'll help you. Lean on me and we'll head back to the entrance. This platform is a lost cause. Once we're all out of here, we need to destroy it." She let out a forced sigh. Her boss wasn't going to like it, but it had to be done. "Is there a self destruct programme to this platform, Darlyn? If not, I'm sure that we can use the weapons on the Rusty Bucket to cause it to fall to the surface."

 

[Ghorua the Shark]

Ghorua the Shark winced as the turbolift shuddered to a halt. He tenderly stepped off of the lift, and pushed against a wall. Ghorua was practically running on fumes. All vigor had left him, and it was painfully obvious.

"Yep, sounds good to me. Good riddance to this place." Ghorua conjured up a smile, and continued to plod forward, one hand firmly on the wall.

With a start, Ghorua saw the beings behind the ray shield. They looked rather pissed. Ghorua was feeling kind of angry himself. These creatures bested him, he could admit that. He could also admit that he would like to choke them all to death with his large, meaty hands.

Ghorua took a moment to breathe. What was up with him? Sure he'd felt anger before, but this was something darker. The Herglic had never wished mass genocide on any group before, but for these things, he could make an exception.

The large Bounty Hunter took out a cloth, and wiped down the equipment on his forearms. He figured a big unwieldy weapon may not be the way to go if they were jumped by creatures while making their escape. Thus, his numerous wrist weapons would be beneficial. And if that failed, he had two last resorts: his fists. He nodded respectfully to Hyori, looking to the dead creatures. "Good job, Ms. Rigid-all-the-time. Now, we should probably get out of here while the going's good!"

- [member="Lady Kay"] - [member="Darlyn Excron"] - [member="Hyori Tal"] -

 

[Valae Heavenshield]

While the shield above them had flickered on and off a few times, it had given Hyori and the troopers enough time to wipe out a few more of the alien’s numbers. But this last move against the creatures had not come for free, it had cost one more life, but there was nothing they could have done to save the trooper. He had given his life in service of the glorious First Order, that was all that needed to be considered now. She stood back with the one remaining trooper in her party, and they both turned sharply as the lift opened to reveal the large form of Ghorua and the smaller one of Lady Kay. A glance above revealed that the shield was holding steady now, and she listened to Darlyn explain their exit plan.

Hyori turned to Ghorua, and she returned his nod with one of her own, equally respectful. Despite the fact that he was attempting to be light hearted at a time like this, she had to give credit where it was due, and she could not look past the fact that he had survived on his own. There were few that could claim to have such strength, and then provide the evidence to back up their claim.

Her eyes flickered to Kay, while it was apparent that she was fatigued, she wiped any hint of pain off her face. The agent had been trained in pain suppression, and she put it to use now. While there was a part of her that perhaps appreciated Kay’s offer to help, the agent did not understand her reasoning for doing so. Empathy was a missing puzzle piece in Hyori’s emotional makeup. At times like this one needed to fend for themselves. She shook her head at Kay; she would certainly not lean on anyone.

“I am fine.” She said, even inching away slightly. “We need to hurry, as Mr. Excron mentioned; we cannot stop once we start running.”

With that, Hyori’s boots gained speed, and she did not look back to make sure the others were following. If they knew what was good for them, they would be close on her heels. If luck was on their side, they would make it out of the platform with no further issues, and Mr. Excron would be able to join them at the Rusty Bucket. If luck was on their side...

[member="Lady Kay"], [member="Ghorua the Shark"], [member="Darlyn Excron"]

 

[Darlyn Excron]

Self destruct? Of course it made sense, if they considered this platform their home (the creatures anyways) then it would be unlikely they'd have somewhere to escape to. And even if not, it prevented anyone from coming and getting themselves killed just to try and retake it. It was sensible, for certain. However, that would require quite the exercise to get out of here, given that the control panel for such would be deeper into the facility than he was. Still, he could check the console once he had a moment.

Speaking of which, he grabbed one of the creatures that had arrived with the force, and pulled it towards him, simultaneously striking across the hip with his saber. Poor thing couldn't stand a chance as the blade cut through it with ease, momentum had such a lovely effect on the deadliness of his weapon. He gave the blade a small twirl and assessed the situation. The LT, and two troopers, one of whom was the previously injured man, were doing exceptionally well. Focused blasts on the noted weak points around their joints, more often than not driving them back without killing them. Most of the creature's bodies were attributable to Darlyn's lightsaber, which was exceptionally good at opening wounds even in these toughened hides.

With another blast of force energy, he knocked back the creatures long enough for a fire-alarm ray shield to pop up and provide cover. He walked over to the console and setup the escape route as he looked. "You guys need to get moving. Shields will be going down around you Kay and Ghorua, you need to get down closer to Hyroi before they turn on behind you. They've got a generous timer on them, so you should be able to make it if you move. Don't worry about me, I'm good at blowing things up. I'll meet you at the.... starboard landing pad. I've found the destruct switch but I need to move to a different console to activate it." He began throwing up ray shields along the escape route, blocking out rushing creatures as the fire suppression systems activated beyond them. Hyori would be seeing quite the show as she ran, as would the others as they made their way down to the escape ship.

With the systems set to activate on their timers, Darlyn turned on the alarm, as a sort of signal to keep moving, and turned to the LT. "Take your two remaining troopers and get out of here, you'll only slow me down. Just move." With that, the ray shield blocking off the creatures would die, and in a flash Darlyn was on the move, using his lightsaber and short bursts of lightning to draw the creatures to him, as the LT and two weakened troopers made their dash for the lift. Darlyn lost sight of them quickly, but couldn't focus on that.

He had to get to the generators, it had the closest console that could engage the self destruct routine. Which was on the starboard side, but that just meant a bit of a run. He could make it, the explosions and collapsing sections of the maintenance level were actually helpful as he used the rubble to provide barriers behind him. He just had to get there...




The LT and troopers managed to get to the lift and activate it, however the one trooper without the damaged arm got his leg caught by one of the creatures before the doors could close. They held onto him, pulling him back onto the lift as the doors closed. They crushed the thing's neck, but the beast had managed to keep the leg stuck in the doorway as well. The trooper was definitely going to lose their leg later if they took too long to get bacta. And even then they'd still be stuck in desk duty for quite some time, assuming the battered team even made it.

When the doors opened for them, the LT held onto one side of the broken-foot soldier so the other side could be held by the one with the damaged arm, and they made as fast a rush as they could to the platform's escape. THey managed to get to the exit rather quickly, and formed a sort of defensive line to help repel anything that came after the group still rushing to meet them.

[member="Hyori Tal"] [member="Ghorua the Shark"] [member="Lady Kay"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay was worried about [member="Ghorua the Shark"] as his movements were slower than what they should be. Whatever happened to knock him out had certainly taken it's toll on the Herglic. Yet still she didn't leave his side, not when they were told to hurry.

[member="Hyori Tal"] was already on the move and they were a few paces behind her. The Agent's superior training was evident and for the moment she admired the First Order's scope of training their people for various situations. Survivor's remorse started to kick in, her thoughts on the troopers that had lost their lives.

The screams and sounds of more rooms buckling drew her thoughts out of the past and onto the here and now. Kay could see the exit. "Terrac, we're almost there! Lower the ramp!"

"Already did it, doll. A few of the troopers are on their way inside, which is where you should be! So MOVE IT!!!" Terrac remained in the cockpit. The troopers could find their own way to the med bay.

She moved, urging Ghorua on, though it was hard to push a Herglic into moving faster. Inches from them, one of the ray shields activated directly behind them. That was close. Too close. Within moments they were out, everyone but [member="Darlyn Excron"] that is. Kay hurried inside, moving past Agent Tal and pointed to the left. "Agent Tal, take Ghorua to the med bay. Once Darlyn is on board and we've lifted off, I'll help see to the injuries." Survivor's guilt again began to creep up. She was the least injured of the bunch.

Kay hurried to the cockpit and took the co-pilot's chair. She was about to contact Darlyn when Terrac beat her to it. "Hey bomb squad!! Everyone's here but you! So haul ass NOW! We've got company!" Alarm bells started to sound. Both Kay and Terrac looked from the radar screens to the viewport. They had company. A ship half the size of the mining platform and twice the size of the Rusty Bucket started to appear through the clouds that shrouded Bespin. Red electricity flickered over it's hull. It seemed to be powering up it's weapons. The red glow made the ship appear angry....

 

[Ghorua the Shark]

Boom. Boom. Boom.

Each step Ghorua took was a dull earthquake. He bumbled forward, much slower than he should have. Each muscle refused to move, and the Shark had to work to surge forward as best he could. Herglics weren't known for their speed to begin with, so that left Ghorua at a considerably slower pace then those around him.

As he ran, his slowed mind subtly wondered how Darlyn would get off the platform. It would be a shame if the bright young hunter were to perish. Ghorua figured Mr. Excron had a promising career ahead of him, if he managed to survive today. While he was having this thought, a electric buzzing snapped inches from the black-plated behemoth. That was too close.

Finally, they made it to the Rusty Bucket. The Shark stumbled up the exit ramp, and was guided to a med bay. He sat down on a hilariously small medical bed, not able to relax. The monstrous hunter put his head in his hands, and sighed deeply. This was not how today was supposed to go. Ghorua faintly heard alarmed voices over his comms, and heard... something... power up outside. That wasn't a good sign. "Hey, pilot, you got guns on this trash heap?" Ghorua tried to stand, and saw lights swimming in front of his eyes. Maybe he wouldn't be the best one to use ship weapons.

- [member="Lady Kay"] - [member="Darlyn Excron"] - [member="Hyori Tal"] -

 

[Valae Heavenshield]

Though Agent Tal was as steel-nerved as they come, the shaking and rumbling of the platform was quite concerning. Their journey back went well, especially considering all that they were up against. Not that it had passed without a few close calls. Just as they reached the Rusty Bucket, she turned as Lady Kay provided her with instructions. Hyori nodded, her sharp gaze studied the expression on the former senator’s face – she could see guilt there. Agent Tal was skilled at reading people; she had to be in her line of work. But when it came to understanding the reactions and emotions displayed by others, she faltered. She understood the notion of survivor’s guilt, but in her mind one should not feel guilt for merely surviving. It was just a fact of life, people died all the time.

Hyori did as she had been asked and escorted Ghorua to the med bay. She stood to the side as he sat on the small medical bed, and for a moment she wondered if it would buckle under his weight. The agent leaned up against the door frame, still but cautious. It was not that she was intimidated by the Herglic, but she could see that he was uneasy. She heard Terrac’s voice again, and by his words she gleaned that Darlyn had yet to make it back. And then the alarms started to sound, the unmistakable signal of a proximity alert, followed closely by warnings of an enemy ship powering up. Ghorua attempted to stand, and his large form wavered slightly, his eyes unfocused.

“Do not move,” She said in a steady voice, “I will go.”

Though her left arm was fairly useless at the moment, she still had one good arm to work with.

[member="Lady Kay"], [member="Ghorua the Shark"], [member="Darlyn Excron"]

 

[Darlyn Excron]

"You can't rush art Mr. Pilot man. Never presume I can just tap my fingers and create a work of art, eve I need a few minutes to prepare everything." Darlyn spoke with confidence into the comm, closing the generator room doors behind him as he reached the interior areas. He took the bag and swapped out his actual attire, the cloak and armour, for the pressure suit and its relative protection when it came time to leave the facility. He stuffed his cloak into the bag and strapped it securely to his back, and attached his lightsaber to the pressure suit's belt while walking to the platform.

Now then, how to best destroy the facility? He needed something he could leave to activate while he was gone, yet certain and swift. Oh the conundrum! And, as the door made clear, the others wanted in to play. Well, he certainly would give them something quite worthwhile to go out on. He chuckled and went through the various possibilities he could activate with the identichip he had swipped earlier.

Ah, what was this? The emergency shutdown protocols required coolant to prevent the generators from overloading and destroying the facility. However it appeared they were being repaired shortly before the facility had gone dark, and he doubted the creatures had repaired it, at least in any meaningful way. He smirked and set the generator's power output on the highest setting, all of the generators really, and waited for popup warnings to appear. Almost instantly all the generators flashed warnings indicating the coolant systems weren't opperational, save the one he was looking at currently. Groaning he reached out in the force and gripped the room's coolant pipes, at least the visible ones, and bent them to prevent coolant from preventing a full overload.

It exhausted him though, and he slumped over a bit against the console from exertion. He'd been using a lot of Force today in rapid succession, and after his stunt with the lightning it was wearing him thin. Quite honestly he doubted he could do more than maybe get to the Rusty Bucket...


Taking a moment to breathe, Darlyn pushed himself up and stumbled over to a door he knew no one was behind, and half fell through it into the wall. He supported himself on the wall, moving towards the emergency turbolift straight to the docking bay. It only went one way, but it was still quite the ways to go. Along the way, he had to knock over pipes several times, and even cut some down from the ceiling to block off his slow limping struggle. By the point he even managed to get *near* the turbo lift, he was running on fumes at best.

At the top of the lift, he half fell onto the ground, hitting his knees and barely keeping off his face. A cough or two as he struggled to breathe, his lungs desperately trying to get air into them as he struggled to move towards the Rusty Bucket. Freedom, Safety was in sight...


One of the four legged things managed to follow him up, however, and growled as it gave chase. In a sudden burst of energy, Darlyn managed to turn around and reach with the force, catching it in the air as it lept towards him, gripping its neck with the force. Darlyn was too tired to think straight, running purely on emotion, and in an angry burst of rage he crushed the neck he held with the force, tossing the lifeless body aside. The fuel, his anger, left him as he did so, along with the energy keeping him even remotely standing, and he collapsed onto the floor. Awake, but unable to act past his exhaustion. All he could do, was wait.

If they were smart they'd waste no time getting off the mining platform and leave him.

[member="Hyori Tal"] [member="Ghorua the Shark"] [member="Lady Kay"]

 

[Caid Centurion]

Cloud City, Bespin

Beep...Beep...Beep..Beep..Beep.Beep.Beep.Beep

The ascending tone of his communicator going off forced open silver-green eyes. Groaning slightly, Ciardha Ren swiped the device off the nightstand next to his bed in an apartment he was maintaining temporarily for the remainder of his time to this particular Sector of space. Caid's deep voice was slightly hoarse as a single digit indifferently drifted up the side of the nude form draped across his midsection. "Ciardha."

"Your check-in has been moved up."

Eyelids that had started to drop over his silver-green orbs shot back upwards as Caid's eyes found the chrono. "Tasking?"

"You initiate standby in five. Several mercenaries have arrived to assist with an issue at a local corporation. Recent scans indicate several explosions of varying grade."

"Standby...for an exploding corporation? What corporation?"

"Oionos Mining - tibanna gas and some natural ore."

Caid snorted. "That sounds fething moronic. Why am I standing by if the corporation that mines tibanna gas is already blowing up?"

"First Order personnel are involved."

Caid exhaled heavily, already knowing where this was going. "There has to be an agency better suited. Get Intelligence on it."

A pause. A long pause.

Caid rolled his eyes. "Wonderful. Parameters received and accepted." The line went dead before Caid could even put the communicator back down. Vibrant eyes glanced to the brunette still sprawled out over his body. Pushing her off to the side, Caid swung his legs over the edge of the bed and initiated his typical morning routine.

Just, you know, in accelerated fashion and way earlier than he'd planned this particular day.

 

[Kay-Larr]

"Have I got--This ain't no pleasure ship!! There's double turbolaser cannons, ion cannons, triple blasters and concussion missile launchers, take your pick!!" Terrac was frantic, almost to the point of having a heart attack. But the old man was a survivor and if this was his last day, he wouldn't have it any other way.

"Darlyn are you safe....Darlyn?!!" They all had heard his breathing and coughing. Kay got up from her chair in time for Terrac to grab her arm.

"Don't you dare, Kay!"

"I have to! We've lost enough already! He's still alive!" She yanked her arm out from his grip and ran out of the cockpit and ran past [member="Hyori Tal"] to the ramp.

As she did so, Terrac turned on the forward deflector shields. "I'm gonna kill her. When we get through this, I'm gonna kill her.."

"I heard that, Terrac!"

"Good! Maybe one of these days you'll listen to me! Now hurry!!"

She didn't have to run too far on the dock before she saw him. [member="Darlyn Excron"] was lying on the ground. Kay hurried over to him, releasing her hold on her Force signature and letting it flow through. She used it to help enhance her strength a little, as she grabbed his upper torso by hooking her arms underneath his armpits and started to drag him. "This is no time to take a nap!" She dragged him to the ramp just as the red ship opened fire on them and hit their shields. "Terrac we're here! Close the ramp!!" As the old pilot punch the button and the ramp started to lift, he activated the thrusters. The Rusty Bucket lurched as it took off from the platform. Kay removed her helmet and collapsed on the floor. She didn't pass out. She just needed a breather. They all did. But they weren't out of danger yet.


[member="Caid Centurion"]

 

[Valae Heavenshield]

Agent Tal arrived to find their pilot in a frantic state, and Kay was responding to the obvious sounds of distress coming over their commlink. The man was clearly in trouble, and it would be unlikely that he would make it back to the ship at this point. Her dark eyes shifted from Terrac to Kay, watching their exchange of words. Hyori said nothing, but she was inclined to agree with their pilot – they should not linger here.

One could not always take the moral high ground in situations like these, but it seemed that Kay was willing to try. But did she not see that she put the rest of their lives at risk? Agent Tal could admit that Mr. Excron had been a great help, and had given them enough time to escape. If the decision had been up to Agent Tal, would she have left him behind? Her cold heart knew the answer.

She had a seat at a console, just within reach of the ship’s triple blasters. Her dark eyes quickly studied the enemy ship, the design was completely unfamiliar. It almost seemed to be crackling with energy. There was no way to tell what effect their weapons would have on this strange ship. Their deflector shields would buy them some time, if they became a target for enemy fire – it looked fairly imminent at this point.

The ship jostled as the enemy ship attacked, and Kay’s voice signaled that they were aboard. Agent Tal watched as the pilot went to work, lifting off from the platform. Hyori’s eyes shifted to the console, and she turned to Terrac.

“The shields are still holding,” But she had a sinking feeling, just as she locked onto the ship with the blasters, another volley hit the Rusty Bucket. The lights in the cockpit flickered this time, but the systems were still operational.

“Firing blasters,” Agent Tal said calmly, and she watched the console closely, “Direct hit.”

But there seemed to be little damage to the enemy ship.

[member="Lady Kay"], [member="Ghorua the Shark"], [member="Darlyn Excron"], [member="Caid Centurion"]