Private Last Train Home

[Xin Boa]

It was chaos. If they had this many on the rooves then there had to be even more of them still on the ground. Xin didn't have much cover from those that had moved above them. He was relying on his luck far more than anyone would choose to when their life was on the line.

A strange kind of focus settled upon Xin. He was barely even looking where he was shooting now. Turning and firing in smooth motions, blaster bolts came very close to his body over and over.

The nautolan still had no idea that he was sensitive to the Force. He had no training and no control over it. The reason he had survived as a lookout for gangs for so long was not his keen eyesight and natural empathy, it was those little subconscious cues that came through the Force.

Xin had expected to panic in the midst of this gun battle, instead he was an island of calm in the noisy, chaotic lightshow.

The kid ran. Xin was terrified he was going to just keel over at any moment. He looked pale and clammy.

Xin turned his back to them both and backed up slowly. As soon as it was his turn he ejected the power cell from his blaster, reloading as he ran. There was just one left on his belt now.

A soft chirrup came from his belt.

"Whatever jamming gear they're using, we just got out of range!" he called out. If the ship could meet them halfway, their dwindling chances could be reversed.

 

[Delila Castillon]

[[ Xin Boa ]]

They were getting into the thick of it now and it was making her more than a little nervous. Blaster bolts were hitting a little too close to her and the rest of the crew. More than once she heard the distinct sound of the energy bolt whizzing past her head, signaling a misstep would have been costly. Worrying about Xin and the Kid was a bit distracting, Xin could handle himself but their charge was completely reliant on both of them at this point. Despite this, Delila was waiting for the Kid to collapse at any moment.

And he did. Just not the way she was expecting.

Xin had mentioned the jamming and as the stowaway moved towards her Delila brought her own comlink out to hail Skreech. She hoped the monkey-lizard was paying attention and ready to fly to their location. One second not paying attention and the Kid was hit, passing somewhere through his shoulder, the already fragile boy falling.

"Get Skreech here!"

Blaster had to be slung backwards, Delila switching to drag the kid behind cover. There wasnt much but some cooling units on the roof were going to have to do. Blood was soaking through onto the roof,making it hard to get a damage report.

 

[Xin Boa]

"Kark," he hissed.

This was his fault. He had thought they could negotiate, find out what was going on here. In the end they had, but it was the worst possibility he could think of.

What made the kid valuable enough for all this? He thought as he fired back. There was a stretch of open rooftop between them and the three that were closest to chasing them down. They were pinned, but this was as safe as they could probably now get for a pickup.

"Skreech? Brak? Anyone there? Emergency pickup!"

"Where have you been?" Came a rumble from the barabel.

"Getting jammed. Sending coords, we're trapped on a roof! We might get jammed again!"

 

[Delila Castillon]

[[ Xin Boa ]]

If Brak didn't come by and pick them up it wasn't looking too hot. Judging from some of the angry shouts the group wasn't supposed to hit the Kid - sounded like someone green had gotten too excited and too loose with the shots. Trusting Xin to watch her back for a moment, she stripped off the threadbare vest the kid had been wearing, folding it up and placing it on the wound. Knee came to apply pressure, using her body weight to help stem the bleeding while she picked up her blaster again. Delila was thankful the Kid was out of it - her weight pressing down on a raw wound was none too pleasant.

Hand touched the boys neck for a moment -looking for a pulse. It was weak and she wasn't so certain they had enough medical supplies on board to get the kid through the next few hours, let alone couple of days. Nothing she could do at the moment.

Blaster raised and she shot a target past Xin - another tortuga woman - that had her blaster raised and targeted at the Nautolan.

"I hope Skeech and Brak decide not to take a scenic route." Delila fired off a few more shots at a fire escape, her subject taking cover quickly. "Its not looking good right now."

 

[Xin Boa]

"I don't think there is a scenic route on this dust ball!" He called out. It was all he had to hold onto for now.

The next few shots came in high. It seemed like their hunters were content to keep them pinned for now. Possibly word had spread about the kid being shot and new orders had come down.

Xin fired off another two shots, just so they knew they couldn't come racing in.

"Hey, he called out. Is that zeltron bastard out there?"

The return fire stopped.

"Might buy us a few more seconds!" He hissed at Dells.

"Is the boy hurt?" Called that same silky drawl from the distance. He was on the next rooftop, somewhere out of sight.

 

[Delila Castillon]

"Now is not the time to make friends!"

Xin was always a little too friendly in situations like these. Definitely the more outgoing and amiable person in their relationship, it was useful to have someone balance out her otherwise sour disposition. However when they were getting shot at it was a different story - buying time or no buying time. The Zeltron spoke back, voice coming from a different location than she expected.

She glanced down at the Kid, paler than ever, sweat breaking across his brow.

Blaster rifle raised, feeling uneasy. The scope on her found blaster was fairly horrible but she attempted to look for any movement of the Zeltron. Nothing she could see at the moment, if he was smart then hiding was the best choice.

"I wouldn't answer Xin - maybe distract them about a reward or some fake terms..."

[[ Xin Boa ]]

 

[Xin Boa]

Xin nodded towards Dells. He peered out of cover briefly. They had less guns being pointed at them right now.

"Any chance of some kind of bargain?" Xin called out.

"Change of heart?" the Zeltron replied. He was keeping his head right down Xin noticed. He could also hear the faint whine of repulsors. He hoped it was their ticket out of here.

The firepower the mercenaries were packing couldn't dent the ship's hull, but it could plenty of holes in his hide as they ran for the ramp.

"Out of options!" Xin shouted back. He pulled the power back from his weapon. It still had some charge.

"Take it," he whispered to Dells. "I'll carry him."

The best sight in the galaxy was their ugly freighter appearing over the line of buildings and bearing down on them.

 

[Delila Castillon]

Delila gently took the gun, shifting around to get into position. Pressure had to be taken off the wound for a moment but it was the only way they were going to be able to dash into the ship. They shuffled positions, wanting Xin to get ready to run while she covered their backs. Shouts already started from the Zeltron's crew - along with blaster fire - once the Saegassum came into view.

Comlink was raised.

"Skreech! Fire down on some of these rooftops. We need a distraction."

Yet they didn't have much time at this point. Comlink back in pocket and both blasters picked up, she nodded to Xin. He would need to move first and quickly. She would bring up the rear, knowing they would be fired upon aimlessly at that point. In her opinion that would be the most dangerous period during this entire firefight.

The Saegassum was starting to lower, kicking up dust and debris. She could hear the ramp lowering, the movement of their blaster turrets as the monkey-lizard tried to get a good angle.

"Go."

[[ Xin Boa ]]

 

[Xin Boa]

"Are you sure you want Skreech to..."

"Abasash! Eeyaaaa!" came a cry over the comm. From this close they couldn't jam the ship. The turret opened fire. Xin was worried because whilst Skreech could work the cannon, he was not the most careful.

Orange fire lashed the other roof, dust billowing up as the heavy cannon started to tear through the duracrete.

It was quite effective. Not because Skreech was gunning down the mercenaries, but because his wild spread of fire was immediately risking the structural integrity of the roof. Xin could hear it starting to collapse, the mercenaries starting to run.

Xin picked up the boy and ran, heedless of the blaster fire coming in wildly. His feet struck the metal of the ramp and his lost his footing, dropping to one knee.

 

[Delila Castillon]

[[ Xin Boa ]]

She counted on Skreech to make a mess of things. Chaos is what they needed at the moment, it pushed the tide back in their favor, giving more control over the situation. Heat washed over her as Skreech fired a little too close to herself - he wasn't too coordinated to actually control the weapon in a manner with any type of finesse.

The Zeltron thugs scattering, Delila was pleasantly surprised to find while they were being fired upon, there was little she had to fire back towards. Many were shooting towards their ship itself - harmless for the most part. She did manage to fall another Rodian that was far too focused on the open ramp, worried as Xin went up he would get hit.

Ground rumbled underneath her as she backed towards the ramp. Not paying attention,she solidly slammed into Xin, who had fell on the ramp with the boy. Xin was far too heavy to drag up but she could get the boy.

"You get hit?!"

Dells didn't see any blood but it didn't mean Xin wasn't injured. He looked well enough to crawl up the ramp. She bent down and grabbed the back of the Kid's collar, pulling him up the ramp and leaving a trail of blood as she went. It was slow going - not ideal when fire was still being shot in their direction, albeit at a much slower pace now.

"Brak, start getting us out of here! Slowly...we're on the ramp..."

 

[Xin Boa]

"Skreech if you see a Force-damned zeltron on that roof you turn him to ash!" Xin spat.

He was half tempted to grab a rifle from the wall and try and take a few shots himself. He knew the Zeltron was the last one who would make himself seen to be picked off now.

He patted himself down and shook his head.

"Mi gud," he replied, picking himself back up. The ramp started closing as the ship took off. It made it a tricky stumble.

Instead of the kid he went for the med kit on the wall. They needed to stop him from crashing and quickly.

---

"My lord..."

"This is not acceptable. It doesn't matter how many of them you have in hand. He was the most special."

The Zeltron bowed his head at the blue hologram. The figure in dark robes stood over him. His expression carried none of his displeasure, just his voice.

"You made such a noise that Judges are on their way. You need to pack up the operation and move."

"But I can get the kid back off those two. I just need..."

"No," replied the sith. "I will see to that."

 

[Delila Castillon]

"We're going to need to find a shady port to refill the medkit. Brak is doing a series of small jumps now but we're going to have to stay on the move for a few days at the least."

They had jumped from one bad situation to another. While they kept a well-stocked medkit due to the nature of their work, it wasn't designed for someone who had already been in fragile health before an injury. They had exhausted a supply of hyposprays, bacta patches, coagulants, stim-shots and more. The Kid was laid out on the couch in their lounge, hidden underneath blankets.He was alive for now. Delila was worried the fragile state he was already in was going to make any hope of recovery a long-shot.

Dells had cleaned up their mess and dimmed the lights in the lounge, knowing the harsh lights would hurt if the Kid decided to wake up.

"I'm going to be surprised if he makes it through the night." Hands rubbed her lower back, mentally grumbling that she was getting too old for these sorts of things. A firefight and also pulling the kid up the ramp? "Think I should sit out here with him?"

[[ Xin Boa ]]

 

[Xin Boa]

"I think we should take turns," Xin replied. "But we shouldn't leave him alone."

Xin stood over the kid, his arms crossed over his chest. There had been a lot of armed people on the ground. All that effort for one boy.

"If he stabilises we need to talk to him. Actually we should probably reach out to people we trust who might be able to make sense of this. All of this for him."

"Maybe this time a fairly legitimate port?"

 

[Delila Castillon]

[[ Xin Boa ]]

"I can take first watch."

Between herself, Xin and Brak they would have to pull together to find someone they could trust to dig deeper into the mystery of the boy. Delila had been thinking (much to her annoyance) that the Jedi could be of assistance. Her first instinct was the military but which one? Who was to say the government of said military wouldn't be interested in the Kid either?

"You don't think we'll draw attention at a legitimate port? What about a semi-legitimate place? We're going to need somewhere backwater - our crew already draws enough attention. Add in we need to stock up on some eyebrow raising supplies...."

She stifled a yawn, stretching a little.

"Maybe Brak can give us some ideas. Spacelane less traveled perhaps."

 

[Xin Boa]

"Something outer rim but fairly safe. I'm worried these people might be connected and be able to hit up otherwise," Xin replied.

"If we didn't need medical for the kid I'd say pull up on deep space near a relay and stay hidden for a few days. I'll go and look at da starcharts with Brak before getting some sleep.

"Also, might looks at da comm-links. Don't wanna get jammed again."

Xin figured that they could leave the kid on the ship and head out to find a healer or a medi droid. He didn't want to get caught out again without being able to call for help.

Why are you worth so much? He asked himself again, looking down at their unwitting passenger.

"He must have family somewhere."

 

[Delila Castillon]

[[ Xin Boa ]]

"Deep space relay station might be our better option either way - I'm not sure all of us would get out alive if we encountered the same situation again. They've learned from what just happened. However, I just your judgement."

It was a rock and a hardplace no matter what they decided to chose. Delila wasn't a fan of many of the options laid out before them but they would have to pick one and move on. Unlike Xin however she did not feel the boy had any family. At least family that knew about him. She had wild speculation on where the kid had came from - clone, taken at birth to become a soldier, an experiment.

"Maybe. Maybe they sold him. Or don't care." Dells shook her head. "I'm grabbing some caf and taking first watch. I'll try to do a little digging on possibly friendly associates. See you in a few hours."

 

[Xin Boa]

The Wheel had been in private hands for a long time, but it was well secured. Xin watched the hoop slowly turning in the sky ahead of them.

They had to match the rotation precisely to dock. It meant hitting a straight line at precisely the right time and velocity. Something for the navicomp to work out. Once they were alongside the hangar at a matched speed it was actually perfectly simple.

Their searches had revealed exactly one fact. That there were smuggling rings around the Galaxy who had been moving force sensitive children. Local criminals were taking them, but then they were shipped far away before they could be found.

It wasn't enough to reveal who was behind it. It was enough to reveal that it was a powerful group operating across swathes of space.

"Med droid standing by in the hangar!" he called over his shoulder, taking manual control of the ship.

 

[Delila Castillon]

The Wheel, Lower Ring

Delila had insisted that they dock in the Lower Ring despite the risks. Med-Droids were well-known on the Wheel due to the instances of fighting, gambling and otherwise shady practices on the bottom level. It was a gamble between legitimate sources questioning their need for a meddroid or no questions asked and potentially running into more gang members. It was easier to shoot those in the gangs, as it typically didn't bring a galaxy- wide warrant along with the action.

Brak and Xin were handling the issue of actually matching speed to dock as she headed down to the ramp. She wondered if it was going to come down to wiping the droids memory before leaving the Saegassum. Disabling the droid would cause too much trouble - idly she wondered if there were security protocols in place for such a thing.

There was a distinct lurch when the vessel docked with the Wheel. It caused her to stumble a bit, reaching the controls for the ramp with a bit of a jog as a result. Blaster was brandished as the ramp was lowered, a very nervous (if possible for a droid) tredwell medical droid beeped at the docking bay. His photoreceptors focused on the blaster, getting brighter.

"I'm not shooting you. Get up here."

Slowly the little medical droid made it way up, Dells closing the ramp as it wheeled its way up. No chances - they would be too busy to notice someone wandering up.

- Fifteen Minutes Later -

"How necessary is the bacta tank?"

A series of beeps.

"Where? How far? How long?"

More beeps.

"Others are there?"

An affirmative trill. Delila looked to Xin and Brak.

"Do we risk it?"

[[ Xin Boa ]]

 

[Delila Castillon]

The Wheel, Lower Ring

Delila had insisted that they dock in the Lower Ring despite the risks. Med-Droids were well-known on the Wheel due to the instances of fighting, gambling and otherwise shady practices on the bottom level. It was a gamble between legitimate sources questioning their need for a meddroid or no questions asked and potentially running into more gang members. It was easier to shoot those in the gangs, as it typically didn't bring a galaxy- wide warrant along with the action.

Brak and Xin were handling the issue of actually matching speed to dock as she headed down to the ramp. She wondered if it was going to come down to wiping the droids memory before leaving the Saegassum. Disabling the droid would cause too much trouble - idly she wondered if there were security protocols in place for such a thing.

There was a distinct lurch when the vessel docked with the Wheel. It caused her to stumble a bit, reaching the controls for the ramp with a bit of a jog as a result. Blaster was brandished as the ramp was lowered, a very nervous (if possible for a droid) tredwell medical droid beeped at the docking bay. His photoreceptors focused on the blaster, getting brighter.

"I'm not shooting you. Get up here."

Slowly the little medical droid made it way up, Dells closing the ramp as it wheeled its way up. No chances - they would be too busy to notice someone wandering up.

- Fifteen Minutes Later -

"How necessary is the bacta tank?"

A series of beeps.

"Where? How far? How long?"

More beeps.

"Others are there?"

An affirmative trill. Delila looked to Xin and Brak.

"Do we risk it?"

[[ Xin Boa ]]

 

[Xin Boa]

Xin gave a heavy sigh. No one had contacted them with much in the way of intel on their personal situation. Brak had done a sweep for trackers and they had reviewed all the footage of their landing.

"I think we have to. The quicker we do it the better. Only the control tower has marked us so far," Xin replied.

If their enemies were so powerful that they could pick that up and hire some mercs from the wheel to detain them, then they were powerful. An influence that meant it was only a matter of when and not if they were tracked down.

He liked to be a little more optimistic than that.