Private Legitimate Business

[Amani Serys]

“Okay. Just making sure,” Amani scoffed a bit before continuing.

"I could just carry you."

She stopped in her tracks, and raised an amused brow, “Carry me? Like-- Like on your back?”

What the hell.

The Mirialan headed back to Alina and threw her hands up, “Pretty much anything would be better than walking the whole way. Do what you gotta do.” Was she gonna… fly? Run really fast? Teleport?

Those vampire holoflicks were always so inconsistent.

Alina Tremiru​

 

[Alina Tremiru]

"Well, yeah. You want me to carry you over my shoulder or something?" Alina grinned after a moment as if something had come to mind, but didn't say anything about it.

Well, not much.

"Alright, well. Hold on or whatever. I dunno if it matters, never carried someone to run around unless I'm.. Well, y'know."

She'd broken a couple bodies by slamming them into walls before. Alina crouched down, back to the Jedi, grinning over her shoulder.

"Lets go."

 

[Amani Serys]

“I was gonna leave it up to the expert, but hey,” Amani blew a strand of hair out of her face and smirked. It wasn’t necessarily hard to figure out the wavelength of Alina’s grin.

She hesitated a moment before draping her arms over Alina’s shoulder, clasping onto her own wrist to form a link. Then she hopped up a little, straddling her back like a living turtle shell. Awkward, but it got the job done. “Uh huh.” Once again, she more or less got the gist of what the Sith was getting at.

“Ready when you are. And keep those hands where I can see ‘em.” A final jest before takeoff.

Alina Tremiru​

 

[Alina Tremiru]

Alina just rolled her eyes and wordlessly locked her hands together under Amani so the woman wouldn't just fly off. Then, took off in a full on sprint. Straight lines were always the easiest. The world was a blur around them. Thinking about it, a speeder would've worked just as well, at least until they got too close. No, yeah. This was fine.

Alina didn't bother talking. The wind rushing through her ears made it obvious the Mirialan wouldn't hear her. The trip wasn't long. She sped into the shadows of the compound, finally setting the Jedi down as she glanced above. So far, no one noticed them. Alina made sure to run where she could see there weren't any eyes to watch.

"You good?"

Amani Serys

 

[Amani Serys]

Before Amani could bother with any more snarky comments, they were off, and the sudden gust of wind that rushed over her face made certain there wasn't much reason to try and talk.

She'd never actually gotten this close to Alina before, which she quickly realized for the best. Her skin had an eerie chill to it. Like a cadaver. Amani shivered, both out of the unexpected cold and its implications.

Once the Sangnir came to a stop, she let herself down a bit cautiously, still reeling from the intense start and stop of the brief journey, "I'm fine." Amani flexed her fingers, "To be honest I got excited for something a little more flashy. But beggars can't be choosers."

She peered up at the compound, "Now what?"

Alina Tremiru​

 

[Alina Tremiru]

"Teleporting ain't my style." Alina shrugged. Not entirely wrong. Her family was notorious for that kind of power over the Force. And she certainly didn't want to be any closer to them than she was.

"That's my line. You want to avoid killing people, right? All my ideas aren't that, so you tell me."

Her eyes narrowed as she brought a finger to her lips. Pointed above them. Patrol, just out of sight. But she could hear them easy enough. Her voice came out in a low whisper.

"Just tell me what to do, and I'll do it." She smirked despite herself, glancing back to the Jedi.

"Unless you're more the type to follow orders from a pretty lady than give them."

Amani Serys

 

[Amani Serys]

Amani huffed, but did take a bit of solace in Alina's answer regardless. Maybe she… actually was trying to be better? Still probably not the best mindset to be in if all her ideas still advocated intense violence, but hey, baby steps.

A patrol caught the Sith's attention first, and she quickly followed suit back making herself a bit smaller on instinct. They were out of sight anyway, and with a bit of silence the guards were none the wiser.

"Nooot when the pretty lady advocates for mass slaughter," Amani hummed, notably not denying the assumption on a more general basis. She stayed silent in a few moments of contemplation before offering a less bloody suggestion,

"We should take care of patrols like these first. Start on the perimeter and work our way inward," The healer nodded as if agreeing with her own idea, before hurriedly adding, "Non-lethally. You do know how to do that, right?"

Alina Tremiru​

 

[Alina Tremiru]

"That was once and I still don't understand why you'd want to spare the lives of people who'd sooner make you a slave the moment they had the chance." Alina huffed. Even pouted. Briefly, though. A different sort of emotion took form instead. Complicated was the only real way to say what it could be.

She cracked her knuckles, but paused. And genuinely looked concerned at her own hands. ".. I'll try." That she could promise. But she knew better than to trust herself. All it took was forgetting, just for a moment, how fragile people were to her hands to hurt them.

She took a breath before crouching, peering out towards the walk way above. Whatever weakness or hesitation might've been shown was gone.

"By your lead. Can't match your pace until I see it." She teased. Mostly to cover up her brief hesitation.

"Be safe, little mouse."

Amani Serys

 

[Amani Serys]

“You’re saying those were the first people you ever murdered?” Amani snipped skeptically. She doubted that. After that comment though she dropped the topic, fine to let Alina stew on it however she chose.

The unexpected look of uncertainty on the Sith’s face earned on more passing glance before they went to business. Another hint that maybe this was a genuine effort on her part, after all. She offered a firm nod, commiserating on the challenge her condition likely presented. Superhuman strength had to be difficult to control, especially in moments of passion. A headache, to say the least.

With the Force, Amani leapt up to catch onto the lip of the walkway. Her fingers took hold just behind where the guards had passed, managing to barely slip past by their periphery. She pulled herself up with an atypical amount of grace, afforded by a mix of her training and biology, stealthily posting up behind their targets. An expectant look toward Alina, then Amani waited to give a count down so they could dispatch both of them at the same time.

On go, she slinked behind one of the guards and barred an arm over his throat. Applied properly, it only took a few seconds before the lack of circulation would knock him out.

Alina Tremiru​

 

[Alina Tremiru]

Alina kept up with way too much ease. For her, it was a small hop. Her body was used to being quiet as she walked. She didn't need to breath, didn't have a heartbeat. Too many parts of just being what she was made this sort of thing that much easier for her. She crouched low, waiting patiently. Thinking, really.

She'd killed countless. There was no denying that. Never without reason.

Right?

At least self reflection didn't make her slower. Compared to the normal person anyway. Amani took off and she followed, rushing the second guard. She brought around her foot, aiming to kick the man in the side of the head. Knock him out. He went tumbling to the side after a soft crack filled the air. Alina didn't give it a second thought though.

Man's heart was still beating.

She turned her gaze back to the Jedi, her expression devoid of any of the earlier flirting or confliction. Just a serious, knowing expression. Now was the time to fight.

Amani Serys

 

[Amani Serys]

Alina’s technique was a bit more… straightforward than Amani’s. But she couldn’t deny the efficacy. Another nod before she turned to scan for their next task.

Unfortunately, it was right around then that the sound of a communicator pinged. The Mirialan searched frantically, finding the source attached to the vest of her sleeping pirate friend. A voice came through,

“Hey. Boss wants us to sound-off. How’s things looking on your end? Seen any trouble?”

She froze for a moment looking at Alina. Leaving it unattended definitely wasn’t going to work out for them, right?

“...Hello?”

Amani grabbed the device and spoke up, attempting a deep, masculine voice that was decidedly unconvincing, “Uhhh, yeah! Nope. Nooo trouble here. We’re all good… You?” She cringed.

“...Rrrriiiight. Well we’re gonna do a quick loop around to make sure everything’s up to snuff. Sit tight and we’ll meet up with ya soon.”

“...Okey bye.” She meeped, and the comms disconnected. Amani tossed hers aside and huffed annoyedly, “Well they definitely know something’s wrong now. Shit.”

Only a matter of time before they showed up. And in all likelihood with a whole load of pirates at their back now.

Alina Tremiru​

 

[Alina Tremiru]

Com device? Alina glanced to it. She had no intention of answering it herself. If anything, them knowing that there was someone here was worse than if they thought their pirates were goofing off or something. They were pirates, not a military. And then Amani answered it. In disbelief the Sith just stared at the Jedi, shock clear in her eyes.

Then she let out a sigh and laughed.

"Yeah, probably. It's going to be a lot harder now, but easies boring, right?" She shook her head before glancing down. Just peering over into the compound itself for a moment. Sure enough, people were on high alert.

"We should focus on getting to the freighter. Stop them from cutting. Or blowing it up now that they might think they're under attack."

Amani Serys

 

[Amani Serys]

"Easy is a lot less likely to kill a planet." Amani ran fingers through her mess of black hair, her tone obviously annoyed with herself.

"Right. Let's move then." She took off in a sprint, no longer concerned about being spotted by any chance looks. The backup could wait. Right now they needed to make sure that freighter wasn't about to be blown to hell.

Otherwise, this whole mission was about to get a lot worse.

Alina Tremiru​

 

[Alina Tremiru]

"At least it'll be fun." Alina gave a thumbs up and a smile, like that'd somehow make this whole mess better. It wouldn't, but it never hurt to put on a smile. Or whatever bull she remembered from her dealings with Jedi. Whatever. Amani seemed down and being down wasn't going to stop some chemical from blowing up and leaking into the atmosphere.

Which Alina could survive. Amani not so much.

She followed behind, snatching up a blaster from her knocked out quarry. Made a small show of flipping it to stun before opening fire on some of the pirates that were coming to check the mess out. Becoming what she did made shooting easy. Or, perhaps that was only because she'd spent so long learning how to use weapons before the change.

One shot per, the ring of blue zipping out to knock them out cold before they could even realize what was happening. Clearing the way for the Jedi.

"They stashed up down below. If we can get the hanger open the folks inside should be able to just fly off. So, clearing the hanger we go."

Amani Serys

 

[Amani Serys]

While she couldn’t quite agree with Alina’s sentiment, the Sith’s thumbs up and smile did actually manage to elicit a chuckle from Amani. It was an amusingly odd sight coming from her, and managed to at least knock her out of her moping. “Alright. Let’s fix this mess.”

She took point as they headed for the hangar, wiedling a saber and a pistol in tandem for whatever kind of threat might get in their way. Eventually she posted up behind a wall as they reached the main entry of the hangar, “...Might as well just go all out, right? They’re already on alert.” Amani sighed, then scrambled to clarify, “Not all out as in like, killing them. Just, like, go loud.” One explosive attack to catch them off guard, and wrap the fight up quickly. “...You go first. I’m much more fragile.” She smirked a bit.

Alina Tremiru​

 

[Alina Tremiru]

For a moment that was the thought that went through Alina's mind. All out as in no longer holding back. Kill. And in that moment there was a flash of emotions. Disgusts, hurt. Rage. Then, regret. Relief. She pulled her gaze away, chuckling under her breath. "Right." No, that was right. Amani hadn't gone back on who she was no matter what Alina did.

Hell, she probably wouldn't compromise her morals even if the sky was falling down.

Now taking lead Alina burst through the door. Literally. Kicked a hole through it rather than try to open it up as she busted through like she was representing a drink company. Screaming occurred within. Thankfully not the screams of pain, just surprise and panic as Alina dashed through like a bat outa hell, wrenching guns away from the pirates to flick to stun and shoot their original owner when the ones she 'borrowed' ran out of ammunition.

They were slow. Too slow. Too normal to keep up.

Amani Serys

 

[Amani Serys]

Amani winced as Alina stormed the hangar in an explosive blur. One second the door was there, now, it wasn't. She followed inside, making use of the Sith's more grandiose entrance to distract from her own. Slinking against the wall she encountered two guards, smacking their heads together in the midst of their confusion, then kicking them both to the ground with a wide kick.

A large, muscle-bound pirate confronted her, making use of his superior strength to wrench Amani off her feet, and slam her back into the ground. Struggling against his weight, the mirialan slipped the metal rod off her back and aimed it forward. The end of it then shot outward, extending to its full staff length and jabbing painfully against the pirate's larynx. He choked, and let go, giving her a chance to finish him off with a heavy clang of her staff.

Three down. Plus… the swarm of them that Alina was taking on single-handedly.

Amani was fast. But beside the Sangnir even she looked sluggish in comparison.

Alina Tremiru​

 

[Alina Tremiru]

Holding back was more obnoxious than she liked. Utilizing their guns against them made it easier, sure. No having to worry about her strength accidentally crushing a ribcage or cracking a skull. But still. Every second counted. Especially as she caught sight of the freighter deeper within. And a bomb.

"Fuckin'-!"

It wasn't even a good kind of bomb! Just a thermal strapped to a bunch of fuel!

Dropping the rifle she did have she rushed for it. Nothing else mattered at this point. If that thing went off, everyone was dead. Except for her, probably. A round house sent the pirate trying to strap it to the door scattering away. She didn't care if he was dead at this point. Or would say that but did actually hold herself back anyway.

Then she snatched the grenade and turned, fully planning to just throw it away.

The pirate she kicked grinned. Still awake, still mostly unharmed, he lifted a remote.

"Got'cha."

"Fu-"

The explosion cut her off. Small, localized to just her. A jedi killer, it seemed. Her body was thrown off, scattering across the ground. What was left of it, anyway.

Amani Serys

 

[Amani Serys]

Amani had become too caught up in her own scuffle to even pay mind to Alina. The fog of war overtook her sense, only to abruptly dissipate at the sound of an explosion. An endless pit formed in her stomach, but given that time seemed to slow to a crawl, it meant she was still… alive?

The bomb hadn’t hit the door. The containment was unbreached. What she did see, however, was a smoldering heap of a woman on the ground, “Alina!” She cried out, more intensely than even she would have anticipated. The perpetrator caught her eye, and Amani rapidly approached. Before he could get back up, She smashed both his hand and the detonator against the floor with a stomp, then brought down a heavy heel in an axe kick onto his head with a crunch. He fell limp, unconscious but with a broken and bloodied face.

“Alina?!” Amani slid onto her knees next to her body, and turned her over to see the damage, “C’mon, don’t do this to me now…” Instinctively she laid out her hand, trying to channel the Force into healing the Sith.

Alina Tremiru​

 

[Alina Tremiru]

A normal person would b dad with the wounds Alina had. Burned flesh claimed a good portion of her face, chest. What was left of the arm that had held the bomb. She did what she could to strengthen her body before the bomb went off, probably the only reason she was still alive. She wasn't breathing. Sangnir didn't need to breath, but the stillness of her chest was off putting and unnatural. Everything about it was unnatural. Even without Amani's healing the wounds were trying to close. Heal.

Burnt flesh never did heal well.

As the Jedi healed her though, something more primal took over in it. Hunger. Sangnir lived off the Anima in blood. The living part of the Force. The healing had quite the effect. Flesh reformed, but through it Alina started to try and drain Amani herself. Consume the energy offered into the Maw that was her heart now. Not just what was offered. All of it. Everything. More and more as flesh stitched itself back together over her face. Chest. Remaking bone was a whole different process.

Then it stopped. Alina shot upright as consciousness returned. Throwing Amani back and away with the one hand she did still have in a desperate attempt to stop the indulgence while she still had her wits about her.

Amani Serys