Nightmares.

[John Stryker]

The cantina spins around in a fast blur as the lights went out..or was it his vision? “Get up damn it!” a voice yells from out of nowhere. John knew it..so familiar. Yes, it was Captain Klash. The tall Zabrak freighter captain yelled at him as he pulled himself up around his destroyed comms station. The once crewman of The Odyssey, found himself once again surrounded by the smell of burnt electronics and small fires along the freighter’s bridge.

“Mr. Stryker, any word on our emergency signal?” The grisly freighter captain yelled back as he went through a damage assessment. Another crewmen yells out reporting that the defensive laser batteries where down.
A low pitched ringing sound suddenly sounded adding to the chaotic scene. “Our shields are depleted.” Stryker muttered then turned back to his superior officer await his orders. The young crewmen pressed his lips together as he felt his heart sink. He spotted the man that he had served under for years hunched over the control panel at his command chair as he his face looked puzzled and lost in terror. Precious minutes passed as the ship continued to be pounded by relentless fire from the marauder fighters. The thuds echoed in Stryker’s ears giving him a sudden headache.

“Abandon ship…NOW!” Stryker whispered then screamed as he flipped the comms on broadcasting the order across the ship. Captain Klash looked up surprised first mad then falls back to his puzzled expression giving an agreeing nod towards his comm operator.

The rest of the event was trivial. John Stryker was one of the last off the Odyssey. He remembered feeling the ship being blasted. It felt like the ship was being ripped apart behind him while he raced from the exploding deck. The escape pods where gone and the only means of transportation was a personal YT-2400 docked within the hanger bay. John took it and escaped by the skin of his teeth. It came at a cost; the ship was heavily crippled and plummeted towards a nearby planet. The marauders decided to leave the ship alone figuring it was done for. John passed out and remembers nothing about how he survived the crash, he knew he shouldn’t of but he did somehow. It came with a cost; he woke up in a hospital with his eye stitched shut once the piece of shrapnel was removed from it.

“Are you going to buy another or get the Sith out of here? This isn’t a place to nap!” a deep growl of a voice yelled down at him. Stryker jerks up and opens his eye staring drunkenly up towards the bartender. “Yeah..Whatever. Give me another ale and shut it!” the slightly older grizzly man commanded then placed his chin into his hand while leaning on the edge of his table half conscious.

 

[CHANI]

Her finger pressed against pink gums rubbing up and down, left then right as if brushing, she dipped a finger back into her shot glass and repeated the process, feet dangling off the stool, hunched over the bar wondering what time it was outside, the only clue came when someone would enter, various indignation's and insults would be thrown the door's way and back to the low chatter of criminals and weary smugglers as the door closed and question answered. A man orders another adult beverage across the room, lightly obscured by smoke and whatever else floated in the air, he looked oblivious of his surroundings save the bartender and his endless supply up stupefying substances.

Chani has a sudden urge to peel back the eye-patch and poke her finger about his socket, indulging in the grotesque pleasure of this thought she stares some more, resuming her liquor brushing.

Impatient, she finishes the shot properly, stands, stumbles, rights herself and soldiers forward to the drunkards table, sitting beside his burly figure she orders two more drinks with an inverted peace sign at the bartender.

Resisting the urge to actually poke his missing eye says, "Bleep blood blop plop blamp...?" she giggles at him.

 

[John Stryker]

@[member="CHANI"]
Twitches slightly as he hears Chani's voice suddenly beside him. "What..what do you want?" the drunk man asked while his eye squinted towards the woman. It was somewhat hard for him to make out her details other than the bright colored hair. "Please, if you wish to take keep your voice down." he stated even though the woman wasn't loud at all but his booming headache from over indulging in booze made it seem otherwise.

John looked once again towards the bar as he watched a few other patrons address orders towards that overweight slum of a bartender. Why where dives like this one the only location you spotted these overweight, pasty slugs of bar keeps? The Corellian male asked himself silently in his mind then looked back towards Chani once again.

"What are you drinking?" he asked quietly.

 

[CHANI]

@[member="John Stryker"]
She glances over to the bartender, following his line of sight, then is drawn back again to his words, already sitting she giggled again, was he so drunk he didn't recognize she was, had been right next to him? His question just made her snort out loud with laughter, two drinks arriving as she did so. Chani passed the shot over to him, keeping one for herself and resuming the brushing of her gums with a forefinger, she stared at all his pockets on his jacket, looking for an insignia or sign of what outfit he was apart of, she didn't see one right away.

"Do you have a ship. Are you looking for a Job. Why do you have only one eye. It's muggy in here..." she smiled waving her unoccupied hand over her face, it tended to get hot in the slum-ports.

 

[John Stryker]

Stryker quirks an eyebrow then chuckles as he takes the shot from her once it stops sliding in front of him. "No ship, yes I am looking for work, I have one eye because the other one got a boo boo." he responded in a silly fast pace manner in which @[member="CHANI"] had asked the series of questions then smirks.

"In fact, I was suppose to meet a contact here to offer me a job but I think the jerk stood me up." John muttered then took a quick gulp knocking back the entire shot then slams the empty glass down onto the table with a deep grunt and sigh. I really should cut back on the drinking..even if it's just for today. he thought then smirked again.

 

[Rozala]

As often as she was for keeping in the shadows, even Rozala needed some leisure time after enough missions. Only for such a time as this she did not dresses as she would when on one. Heels on her feet and a long jacket over her was enough to keep people who would be looking for her off her back. But then not many had seen her face and most that did were six feet under. Rozala never cared either way.

That was partly why she was here, today. Being in her line of work and having endured what she went through, she needed enough of the spirits to wash away the internal sins she felt. Rozala had simply gestured for another drink after having finished her first. By that time she'd looked over to see the one eyed man waking from his little nap. But she could see into his eye. She knew that look and could tell this was a name with a lot of ghosts in his pasts as well.

As interesting as it seemed the mood felt a little killed when the red haired woman came over and began bothering him. For a moment Rozala kept glancing over just to hear what was wrong. For all she knew these people may have been after her without her knowing. Maybe not. Still she wanted to hear what they discussed while figuring whether to get involved or not. More than once her eyes did make contact with the old man's, she not saying or doing anything when they did.

@[member="John Stryker"] @[member="CHANI"]

 

[CHANI]

@[member="John Stryker"] returned bemused laughter, humoring her as they exchanged witty retorts and information, he was in much the same circumstance, except he actually had work, Chani would toil hours away during any given day as to where she wanted her time spent, this thought however sprinkled away as she just noticed out of the corner of her eye a blonde woman adorned with a kind of mask.

Addressing the man, "Chani," she extended a hand, "who are you-?" This man did not lose his demeanor after a few drinks, an admiral quality if she ever saw one, comparably he was a catch, polite and just enough edge to get the point across that he is not someone to trifle with on a whim.

"Do you know that weird lady over there staring at you?" She glanced at @[member="Rozala "]for a moment then back again, "Her mask creeps me out, ugh" she made a writhing motion with her hands and shook off a sudden case of goosebumps, "maybe she is the one with your job?"

 

[John Stryker]

@[member="CHANI"], @Rozala

Stryker took the woman's hand gently and shook it. "John Stryker". he said then glanced towards the blonde that Chani was addressing though he still keeping his attention on the stranger before him at his table. "Never seen her before and no, my contact was suppose to be a man." he said then smirks slowly while retracting his hand away. "I would rather be talking to a woman about work...don't get me wrong." The Corellian idly moves the empty shot glass around in a small circle in front of him while sitting on the table. A few seconds passed and he slides it over to one side then waved towards the bartender. "Another for the both of us." he called out over the loud chatter.

"Ah..hell..another one won't hurt.." John told himself silently.

 

[Rozala]

Rozala, not saying anything as her usual self, perked up a little when she could overhear they were speaking about her. Her eye perked as well when the red haired girl looked at her for a moment. She didn't really care what they were saying about her, only that she was curious as to why. Could they have been looking out for her and planned to make a move on her? Something involving an ambush? One of the reasons Rozala had lived for as long as she did in her line of work was to suspect everyone. Still she made no moves yet, only moving aside one glass and indicating she wanted another. She was quiet the entire time. Never speak or making any sort of noise.

@[member="John Stryker"] @[member="CHANI"]

 

[CHANI]

@[member="John Stryker"] answered and she wondered what exactly his interview was suppose to be about, what had this man gotten himself into, just as she came to a conclusion about him, a sharp tap on Chani's shoulder caused her to go limp like a wet sponge, a voice she predicted bore through her sensibilities,

"You are wanted in this system!" A large transdoshan lizardman dressed in a spacer outfit clawed at his rifle which hung about his neck and down a scaled shoulder.

Every underworld dilettante knew to catch a bounty in a cantina was poor taste, only the really desperate would resort to such, or alternatively the very expensive catch would bring bounty hunters from anywhere into any place to cash in on such profits. Chani ignored the lizardman and held onto John's shoulder, half hiding behind him,
"this bounty hunter already caught me!" but the lizardman looked dubious at best, "Look there is even another one over there," she struck a finger out over to @[member="Rozala "], this earned a sideways peak from the Bounty Hunter and as he did so, Chani hooked him in the snout, almost breaking her hand, maybe a finger or two. The lizard man snarled as he seemed unfased and she slowly crept away from the Bounty hunter, calculating a next move.

 

[John Stryker]

John’s attention turns from @[member="Rozala "]and towards the Trandoshan as he approaches and attempts to claim the red haired woman as his bounty. A small arch in his eyebrow forms as he looked down towards @[member="CHANI"] then back up at the lizard. A small smile formed across the Corellian's lips as he watched the woman attempt to surprise the lizard and smash her hand against the creature’s snout. A low deep rumble of a mocking chuckle came in response to @[member="CHANI"] 's attempt to faze the bounty hunter. “Poor choice of…”

The Trandoshan stopped mid speech as he felt a large lump in his throat..no..it was something pressed against his throat just under where it meets the bottom of his chin. A large barrel of a Bryar pistol was pressed tightly against the bounty hunter as Stryker had stood up quietly while the two were distracted with each other and silently moved into position besides the Trandoshan.

“I know how much of a punishment your hide can take. Are you feeling luckily enough to take a shot point blank in such a soft area?” he asked in a cold yet quiet voice not to draw much more attention from the other patrons, yet he still wished to make his point clear to the lizard. “You know it's frown upon to claim someone in a cantina. She is mine and I am here enjoying a drink before heading off planet side. This is your one and only warning..drop your fire arm and walk out of here now.” John said wile staring up towards the reptilian’s yellow eyes.

 

[Rozala]

Rozala did not react to when the Trandoshan came in, only to look at him and see what sort of trouble he caused before being set on his rear by the red haired girl. Silently Rozala gave a comment on her skills of hand-to-hand self defense. At the same time she perked when she saw the old man pull out his blaster. Looking between both the old man and the bounty hunter Rozala only waited to see where this would go. If a fight commenced she would have no choice but to be involved, otherwise she'd wait to see how far this went before settling down. In any event she'd already sipped down another shot while waiting with anticipation.

@[member="John Stryker"] @[member="CHANI"]

 

[John Stryker]

The Trandoshan bounty hunter did his best to press his snout into a smirk displaying a row of jagged white teeth just as cantina’s front d door was thrown open. There was no time to think, just react automatically on pure reflexes. The lizard was betting that Stryker would drop his guard and try and figure out who or what was coming in giving the creature enough time to turn the tables. A voice in the back of the Corellian’s mind told him what they where, reinforcements. A sudden blast echoed through the noisy bar followed by screaming and yelling of mixed genders and voices both humanoid and alien. The smell of carbon and blood came around Stryker after he pulled back onto the Bryar pistol’s trigger sending a bolt digging into the soft under chin/neck of the Trandoshan killing him.


Quickly, Stryker grabbed the lizard with his free hand holding the massive thick hided creature in front of him tightly as he moved his blaster over towards the door training his aim onto it. He spotted two humanoid thugs rush in. Prepared to you the dead Trando’s thick hide as a body shield, Stryker sent an unwarned volley of fire down towards the new additions.

@Rozala
@CHANI

 

[CHANI]

Standing there with a few broken fingers after taking refuge behind @[member="John Stryker"] , she wondered how far the authorities would be if this bounty hunter was confident enough to claim capture before actually capturing her, the lizard man seemed like the ego driven sort, marching in here like this, Chani watched as John exchanged soldier salutations and contrite refusals. Her heart was beating faster, wondering what would happen next, the cantina doors swung open then and a cadre of humanoids stood silhouetted in the doorway, she snapped her head in that direction, losing all hope she was getting out of this predicament with her freedom, they where outnumbered.

Suddenly a cold spray misted across Chani's face, clothes and even her boots, she looked like an abstract painter would have if they had gotten in a fight with an easel. A flurry of movement hardly registered began, she stood in shock, slowly realizing...soldier John just killed that lizardman, blew a hole right through its face. She stood, tried to say something but couldn't, then shrieked at the top of her lungs.

"What the frack!" she followed up with, diving to the floor behind the bar, Chani realized it was not just her who screamed because she could hardly hear herself through the blaster shots which in turn seemed muted by the swirl of voices, yelling, crying and screams that began. This place was known for being shady and rightfully so, she did not know who was shooting at who, but guns and blasters where going off every which way, on reflex Chani looked over to @[member="Rozala "] , hands over her head, feebly trying to protect her brain.

 

[Rozala]

When the first shot went out Rozala was already gone. She disappeared almost in the blink of an eye. When it seemed as if she ran off in reality she'd snuck around, keeping low to the ground and almost slithering as she moved in between people, before making it to one of the other gun men. Her coat was off and, proving she was ready to fight, used the high heel of her shoe as a weapon as she flung her feet over the gun mans head and eventually stepped him in the eye with one. Since it was stuck it the sock she removed it without needing to use her hands, which were currently keeping her up before flinging the other one off and into the face of another thug who was about to shoot her. She then flipped her self over until she was standing in front of @[member="John Stryker"] and @[member="CHANI"]. Looking back to them she smirked.

 

[John Stryker]

Stryker turns after blinking with a deep exhale of breath as he felt the warm blood on top of the hair that the tall Trando had spewed from its mouth as the bolt cut into him. The smell of burn carbon and flesh still made its way into the Corellian's nostrils for a few more seconds. "We need to get out of here." he said then looked back towards @[member="CHANI"] as he slid the large pistol back into it's holster.

Stryker began towards the door as he looked over towards @[member="Rozala "]silently for a moment, then offered her a "Thank you." He wondered who both of these people where. The one who he just spontaneously decided to help, and the other who sprang into action. They both seemed a bit..odd to him. Nerveless, this wasn't the time nor place to ask questions. Time was of importance as officials where surely on their way.

 

[CHANI]

She tiptoed a bit off balance, wobbling around the room, having to step over the many bodies that littered the ground, she absorbed some semblance of courage from @[member="John Stryker"] as she followed behind him, casting a sideways look of shock upon @[member="Rozala "], this all felt a bit much, was she in shock? Chani felt herself limping out of the Cantina and sirens sounded in the distance, police? fire cars? She looked down at her leg and noticed two flesh wounds from a laser, they where cauterized.

She hobbled to the side half of the Cantina, stumbling past a few pedestrians looking on in horror, or maybe disgust, her speeder sat waiting for the three of them. Chani fell into the car's passenger seat and motioned for one of them to take the wheel.

"I can't drive, get in!" Chani groaned, her leg must have had a tendon hit. "Bring us south-east, my-uh-place is there. -h-here, she produced a security card with the name 'c e l e s t r o n' on it and proceeded to pass out.

 

[Rozala]

As the two ran out Rozala picked up one table and used it as a shield as they all ran out, she keeping cover for them before tossing it towards the remaining gun men. She followed them back to the speeder before the girl said she couldn't drive. Without a word she took the drivers seat, making sure both were in their seats, before giving a little too excited of a grin. Getting everything ready she activated the speeder just as the men came out and started shooting. Instead of going forward she backed up, plowing into them and crushing them. With a satisfied smirk she drove off, going up into the air and going with the flow of traffic.

@[member="CHANI"] @[member="John Stryker"]

 

[John Stryker]

Follows the two out of the cantina quickly as his right hand rested on the grip of his blaster pistol while watching the surrounding area as they entered the crowd. As they reached the speeder, Strkyer flops in falling besides @[member="CHANI"] making sure not to hit the leg in which he noticed her favoring. Stryker took note to the fact that it must of been cauterized due to the lack of a blood trail. He made a mental note to get her checked out ASAP, but she should be fine for now.

The Corellian's mind began to wonder as he watched Rozala in front of them both taking the driving seat. "Who is this red hair woman and what did she do to cause a bounty to be placed on her head. She seemed skittish around violence." Stryker's mind returned to the moment at hand. He told himself it was still not time for answers, he must remain sharp and focused on the current situation. Suddenly, he felt the speeder hit..something.. and looked back through the rear window behind them as he watched the thugs just as they vanished under the vehicle while being crushed then jerks forwards as they head up towards the traffic. His attention returned forwards again as his good eye narrowed towards the driver (@[member="Rozala "]). "Was that necessary?" he asked.

The trio headed deeper into the busy speeder lane during rush hour. The sound of sirens faded away indicating that they probably had gotten far enough away to loose them, at least for a while. The sun began to set down over the horizon as the sky turned to a lovely shade of deep orange and purples while dusk began to creep forwards.

 

[CHANI]

In and out her hazy awareness compiled the scene one neuron at a time, with her good leg kicked the glove-box open, three sticks and a little bag of red dust fell to the floor, what she needed right now wasn't those but the remaining item, a ball shaped object with a little red button. Chani pressed the button and winced in pain as her leg jerked forward, an after affect of leg damage, she turned slightly and held out the small ball to @[member="John Stryker"] ,

"Take this please," she handed the item to him, turning to @[member="Rozala "], "you hear that?," take a left here.

Sirens encroached on their position, "We caught one patrol, they must have caught my DNA from the Cantina," just as she finished her words a large bus like armored car slammed into their bumper, yelling in pain again she screamed to John, "Throw the ball at the front grill of their car! I can't focus you will have to do it john."