Responsibility

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Asmus Janes"]

Kaile lifted her head to lock her gaze with Asmus. A curt nod indicated that she could handle the quad laser. A hand would smooth over the bacta patch along her arm, and the Lorrdian gave him a small smile in gratitude. "Mighty grateful," she said quietly, bringing her hand up to smooth it over behind him. It was done without thinking, a method to self sooth.

"What are you thinkin'?" she inquired, coming to her feet beside the scoundrel. He knew this ship in and out, all she could do is support him in any way she could. This was a bit out of her element, but she could pick up things quickly. However, the longer the seconds continued to tick on by, the more she knew they were pushing their luck.

 

[Asmus Janes]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

A look of consternation stuck fast to his features, Asmus turned on the spot several times. He looked across the console, clearly in two minds about his plan.

"This thing's a lot quicker than they probably expect when unladen and she can get in the sky sharp. They set down a hundred metres or so ago, one shuttle, one gunship, three fighters."

He placed his hands on his hips and sighed. "We drop the full cargo bay and hit them before they know we're coming. I'll hit the gunship with a missile, but you'd have to hit the fighters really quick."

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Asmus Janes"]

Her throat bobbed. "Okay." a completely different meaning to the word, and affirmation of what was expected. They had precious time to handle things. Honestly, she wasn't sure what was going to happen if the Quin left their cargo. Then again, a proper job had insurance right? Kaile couldn't help but nibble at her lower lip.

Her shoulders rose as she took a deep breath. If there was any way that she could help, she'd do it. "And the Captain and Mai will come in right after we drop the cargo?" She could only hope that they were quick. A plan was a plan, but so many things could go wrong.

 

[Asmus Janes]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

Asmus didn’t answer, instead he moved for the comm. “Kairon, the cruiser isn’t in sight. I want to go and make a run at their ships.” Looking out of the cockpit window, Asmus saw his uncle turn to them and shake his head.

“Got a better plan? We can run, but they might just follow, disable the Quin and space us.”

Kairon was considering this. Asmus could see his thinking face even from here. There was no reply but he saw Kairon shouting something towards the Kanjiklub. Then he started to back towards the ramp, weapon pointed at the crevice the gang had to approach from.

Asmus turned to Kaile. “Back into the galley, small panel on the floor. Open it and enter three, two, three, two. Hatch above and below opens. Get down on that quad.”

“Mai, keep eyes on them. As soon as you see the second cargo bay touch down, jump inside and seal the hatch.”

“Sure,” came the reply. Asmus ran his hands across the console, trying to keep the power signature as low as possible whilst he prepped the engines.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Asmus Janes"]

“Okay.” Kaile confirmed, giving another nod. She hesitated for a second. A thought ran through her mind. A deep breath lifted her shoulders and Asmus barely had any warning before the strawberry blonde darted forward. She pressed a quick kiss against the corner of his lips, warmth at the brief contact lingering but for a moment before she pulled back.

“Good luck!” she told him, flashing him a brief encouraging smile. She was gone before he could catch her, moving swiftly out of the cockpit to do as she had been told. Her feet pounded upon the durasteel deck on her way to the galley. Fingers would skim across the wall, gripping only to help her turn into the small room.

A small panel on the floor. A small panel on the -- the words were a constant chant as she spun and serched for the hidden hatch. Going down onto her hands and knees, she let her finger slide over the surface. After a few sweeps, they finally caught against an edge.

With a grunt, she let her fingers curl over it and pulled up, revealing the small console to enter the code.

Three, two, three, two.

A small hiss and the hatch unlocked, revealing the quad.

Here goes nothing, she mused, as she slid in.

 

[Asmus Janes]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

Asmus put another earpiece in his left ear and flicked the second one onto the intercom between crew stations. He could see the dorsal quad laser turn to manual.

"I'm in," Kairon said into his right. Asmus could hear him running for the cockpit.

"Me too," added Mai.

"Got in the top quad Mai," Asmus called. He could still feel Kaile's lips against his. To hell with dying. "This is going to work. Kaile, angle that quad straight forward to forty five degrees down. I'll try and give you a clear run."

The ion engines were at full charge, they just needed ions to be dumped in to give thrust. No care was given and the repulsors screamed on the mounts as Asmus threatened integrity for speed. Kairon leapt into a chair and flicked on the shields.

The Quin barely missed the rocks as Asmus pressed forwards. Several blaster bolts came up to meet them as the pirates on the ground realised this was an aggressive manoeuvre. Just a few seconds.

They cleared the rocks for the next regions of flat ground. Men were visible on the ground rushing for the craft. "Kai lock onto that gunship, missile!"

It was still grounded, but Asmus angled away for the three fighters set down to give Kaile a clear run. "Mal calls me Kai, not you," Kairon grumbled. "Locked, firing."

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Asmus Janes"]

Angle the quad straight forward, forty five degrees down.

Kaile had some experience during her Rebellion days with small ship freighters and defenses. However, directly manning the quad and using it to shoot at people was a different story. Kaile wasn't a murderer. She used stun weapons when she could. Methods to incapacitate. She did not set out to deliberately take someone's life. That was the difference between being an espion and one of the soldiers in the front lines.

So while she told Asmus that yes, she could handle the Quad, she wasn't aiming to hit center mass. Just enough to make sure that they jumped for cover. The Kanjiklub were in for a surprise when Kaile let loose. Pocket shots went raining down, striking at the ground close to those the Lorrdian could see through the smoke, blasting up dirt in the process.

She swung, strafing cover fire from left to right as the Quinn's engines roared.

 

[Asmus Janes]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

The console lit up, accompanied by an audio alert. Someone had locked on with something. The HUD brought up a display of a member on the ground with a shoulder mounted missile launcher. That might have been intended for their defensive line.

He kept the ship straight and true, but as that dirty streak shot up to meet them he banked aside and fired a single flare. The missile detonated off the bow harmlessly.

Kairon flicked a switch and a bright red bolt flared out from the Quin. The concussion missile arced down towards the gunship which was consumed in flames.

"Kaile, get those fighters before they take off!" Asmus called.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Asmus Janes"]

The Quin shook as Asmus swung the freighter up and straight. Kaile’s knuckle white grip held tight as she depressed the trigger, sending lance after lance of blaster fire from the Quad from the ground towards the fighters. Okay, she could do this. Her mechanical skills and time fixing ships gave her an edge in knowing where exactly to hit to damage the fighters without too much loss of life.

The bolts struck up and along the portside of the fighters, striking the engine just so to have it sizzle and spark, smoke billowing out as it was no longer operational. The Lorrdian did the exact same thing to the other fighters. She saw the tiny figures of the Kanjiklub scatter and curse. A half grin and a whoop errupted from her mouth then.

“Got ‘em!”

Spoke too soon, there was at least one that managed to get out of her line of fire.
“Damnit!” it swung round and went airborne. They had a chase in their hands.

 

[Asmus Janes]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

https://youtu.be/jkyzTtKllbs

"Kairon can you get a lock?" Asmus asked quickly.

"No, he's doing what you did, keeping low."

Asmus swore under his breath and leaned over the controls to flicked two switches. The Quintessence started to do its best to jam their communications. He shoots his head slowly as he kept his distance and went into a slow bank.

He'd been after a different console layout for a while. With more controls on the stick, like a snubfight. Kairon had called such a notion a 'vanity endeavour'.

Asmus had been impressed that Kairon knew the word 'endeavour.'

"Mai, Kaile, I can't let him get away. He'll get help or swing back around on us when we go for the cargo," Asmus called. Kairon grunted in agreement but was focused on the scanners. "I'll try and get you a clear shot."

"Come on old girl, hold it together now," Asmus murmured to himself as he tried to keep up with the fighter as it weaved its way through a ravine. If anyone got the shot, it would probably be Kaile. If it swung up above them it would be a clear target for another missile.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Asmus Janes"]

"Chit, chit, chit!" she cried out, swinging in the quad as the Quin flew through the ravine. With it weaving to and fro, it was hard to get a clear shot. Asmus was doing the best that he could, but with adrenaline pumping Kaile was already a bit on edge.

A stream of bolts came their way, striking at the Quin and sending sparks flying. Her HUD flared, and the cross hairs swung left and right. Just needed to get a clear shot. The beep, beep, beep indicated that the fighter was closing in. Just a few more seconds...

"Come on..."

The cross hairs met, and Kaile felt herself shudder as bolt after bolt speared out to the fighter. It swung left, only to have Kaile catch the fighter right across it's wing. Smoke and fire billowed up as another few lances from the Quad struck it.

"YES!" she yelped out.

"GOT HIM!"

 

[Asmus Janes]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

Asmus leaned back in his chair, hands taking a featherlight grip on the controls. "Yeah, yeah you did," he sighed through a satisfied smile. He could feel the tension in the cockpit melt away. Kairon was nodding slowly to himself, relief evident on his features. Asmus swung the Quintessence around in a lazy loop back towards the landing site.

Kairon pulled a microphone from the console and switched to external speakers. A number of pirates were still spread across the ground, some even took pointless pot shots at them. “The person on my ventral gun doesn’t seem too keen on shooting folk. The person on my dorsal gun is a crazy queen. So I suggest you all put your guns down and hands up or else I have my pilot flip the ship.”

They mostly acquiesced. Asmus had no interest in landing again, so he issued a recall notice to the two modular cargo bays. They were self-propelled and could manage the ten metre climb to reattach on either side of the Spacemaster’s spine.

“And we’re gone,” Asmus grunted, pushing the repulsors to get them out of the gravity well before any more trouble could show. It wasn’t long until he registered the cruiser making its way towards the central planets.

“Leave it,” Kairon warned as Asmus reached for the mic to issue a rude message. “Call ahead and let them know we’ll need medical attention on the docking ring.”

Asmus nodded but his attention drifted back down the ship, looking for Kaile to emerge from the gun nest.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Asmus Janes"]

Kaile's breath gave a deep whoosh with her exhale of relief. Securing and powering down the quad, the Lorrdian managed to sink into her seat, feeling the tension ease from her body. It didn't help that her heart was still kicking like a racehorse, or that it still felt as if everything that had occurred was some surreal dream.

Swallowing hard, the woman took a few seconds to simply try and gather her bearings. Clammy of skin and still a shade pale, Kaile let her hand run through her hair, pushing back the damp strands. Now she was just exhausted. Weary. About the most excitement she had in a while; at least the sort that included folk trying to shoot you dead.

Here she would stay for a bit, and should Asmus decide to come find her, would see her there.

 

[Asmus Janes]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

"Kaile?" he called, face full of concern appeared around the lip of the hatch. "Are you okay? Can you climb out?"

Mai had taken over sealing Kairon's wound and keeping monitoring for comms traffic on the cockpit. The ship would deal with itself now. It had a destination and a few million empty cubic kilometers of space to cross. A computer the size of a grain of sand could handle that.

Asmus hadn't even realised how badly Kairon was bleeding until he slipped out of his jacket. The truth was that the experienced smuggler was just made of tougher stuff than Asmus. As Kairon would say 'too much of your father in you.' No one ever argued that his mother wasn't made of Rees granite.

He could see that Kaile wasn't struggling, hadn't lose consciousness. She looked relieved. Asmus smiled.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Asmus Janes"]

The scoundrel's voice echoed within the small enclosure. Glancing up, Kaile met his smile with one of her own.

"Hey," she said softly, the corner of her mouth giving a quirk up. "Sorreh, just... had to get a breather." she explained, aware she was lingering in the small tight enclosure.

"Heart feels like its still about to thump straight out of my chest and all." she added, her hand coming up to rest just over where her heart thundered under her blouse.

"We good?" she inquired, not quite sure if that was it. Honestly, she was half way expecting another surprise to come out of the blue.

 

[Asmus Janes]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

"Yeah we're good. On our way, going to stick by that lazy cruiser," Asmus called, his voice increasingly distant as he vanished. A boot appeared, then another. The space in the turret was cramped enough for one, but a moment later Asmus was coming down.

"Squeeze up, let's have another look at that arm then?" he said, eyes sparkling. His heart was still racing at an awful speed too. But his gaze turned from Kaile to their surroundings. The blister extended out below the hull. It provided an exceptional view of the stars. It felt as if they were alone, isolated out here in the deep black together.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Asmus Janes"]

Kaile honestly didn't expect him to come on down. The quad area was already tight for one, let alone two. It didn't stop the Lorrdian, however, from scooting over a bit to allow the scoundrel a bit of space should he desire to sit. A flash of amusement went crossing her brown eyes, a smokey topaz hue that appeared bright within the small confined space.

"It ain't gonna fall off cause of a mere bolt." she quipped, but none the less carefully began to roll up her shirt sleeve. The bacta patch peeked out as she set the fabric along her upper shoulder, a slight wince at the movement. It wasnt' too bad, but even with the patches that would speed up her recovery, it was gonna hurt some before it was fully healed.

"Just scar up that's all."

 

[Asmus Janes]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

"Yeah. Afraid it will hurt more as we probably need to swap it for a bacta patch for burns."

Taking that one off was going to sting like heck. Asmus met her eyes, a slight twitch of his face dimpling his chin. He smiled as he spoke, trying to sound humours. However, it would be all too apparent to the Lorrdian that this was a cover, his way of dealing with his worries. The sincerity in his tone was obvious.

"I don't know. You've been with my four days, shot at several times and hit once. And I made you go and use the cannon to shoot at people," he said. He was all too aware of her attempts not to kill anyone in their scraps. He pursed his lips, looking back out at the stars, feeling slightly ashamed. "Sorry about that."

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Asmus Janes"]

Kaile could tell he was feeling responsible for the series of events. But truth be told, it wasn't his fault. None of it was. It just what came to be.

She told him this in the next second, reaching out to brush his upper arm. "You ain't got nuthin' to be sorry about." in their tight little space, she gave a slight cant of her head, looking up at him.

"Ain't like you're the one who got them to start attackin' us." it just happened. Part of making a living in space, she supposed. A small tug to bring him closer -- as if there was any less space in between.

 

[Asmus Janes]

From here he could look in any direction and see to the edge of everything, yet there was no room for any space between them. Not that, in this moment, Asmus wanted there to be anything between them.

"I know, just feels a little like it is," he sighed right against her ear. He carefully maneuvered his hand to reach the small of her back without brushing her arm. "Besides," he added as he nuzzled his cheek against hers, "who else could have concocted such a genius plan to escape that station." He was kissing her before he even realised. In this bubble they were two fragile bodies suspended in the vastness of space.

"Hey," came a cry a few seconds later. "Captain says, and I quote, 'I can't move my right arm and I actually trust the autopilot to dock even less than the boy so go and fetch him.'"

Asmud didn't even take his eyes of Kaile. "Alright Mai, I'm coming up. You alright to climb up Kaile, or want me to shut the AG off?"

---

Asmus twisted the cap off a bottle of beer and set it on the table before him. Everyoje sat around the table as Mai put the takeout zabrak dishes on the table. After the inspection they hadn't been permitted off ship so a medical droid had come aboard to patch them up. Mai had spent the fight essentially lying down and picking people off with impunity so she'd gone to collect some freshly cooked food from the airlock. No one felt like cooking. Kairon kept wincing, his arm out of his shirt. The most prominent wound on Asmus was still the yellowing welt from the gang member that had got up close an personal back on the space station they'd left.

At the centre of the table, two chocolate cakes. Prizes to celebrate survival.

"To not being dead!" Asmus called, holding up his beer. Under the table he reached for Kaile's good hand.