Shark bait on Smuggler’s Moon (Open to Hunters)

[Thessa Kai]

@[member="Judah Dashiell"] @[member="Mirta Kar"] @[member="Hannibal Oryen"] @[member="Harkin Kane"]

There's no way armor piercing rounds combined with the footman's rail cannon would've left just a scratch on the bounty huntress' armor if she was niched at all. The woman was probably too fueled by adrenaline to notice the hit of the slugs against her flesh. The footman was trained to be fast and lethal for a droid. It continued firing its rail canon, relentlessly, even as one of its arms was blown off by her assault rifle.

Sparing a glance at the door, the mermaid reloaded the armor-piercing rounds in Jorus' shotgun and aimed the barrel at Hannibal. Finger tensed on the trigger even as she heard the roar of the Siren's Song above them. "Judah," she breathed uncertainly, iced-azure gaze flicking between the salvager and the other bounty-hunter wondering why they weren't in a death-grip headlock.

"I'm fine," aqua-lips pursed into a thin-line as she fought to keep her arms from trembling. The thought of going back to Daxton was...too much to handle. She would have to save breaking down for the ship. She couldn't afford to fall apart now. A cable floated down to them from the opening ship.
"That's our Sparky." Little did she know there was a stowaway on the ship. "Is there a reason I shouldn't blow this chump away, Judah?" Shot-gun remained trained on Hannibal.

 

[Hannibal Oryen]

@[member="Judah Dashiell"] | @[member="Mirta Kar"] | @[member="Thessa Kai"]

Hannibal brought up the rear, entering the alleyway just after Judah. Apparently the firefight in here had already picked up something fierce, with the mermaid-looking dame and a droid already engaging some bounty-hunter chick in a firefight. Normally Hannibal would've been the last person to break up a catfight, but there was far too much money on the line. Besides, the chick in the armor looked like her face had gotten to know a mallet on a personal level. Like Judah, Hannibal trained his recently-acquired slugthrowing shot gun on the rival bounty hunter. Unlike Judah, Hannibal did not neglect to immediately depress the trigger and subsequently sent a lovely spray of buckshot hurtling for Mirta.

The roar of a ship's engines suddenly filled the air as someone brought a freighter in close. Probably for pick up, Hannibal wagered. When he redirected his gaze from the ship, he found that his bounty was pointing a gun at him. Not fun. Despite this and Hannibal following Judah out here, Thessa didn't seem convinced of his noble intentions. Probably because his intentions weren't noble and his helmet gave off "neutral-aligned mercenary seeking increased profit margins by whatever means possible" type of vibe.

"'cause I gots too much ta live for." Hannibal replied. "What? I'm an antrahpeneur. An' ya friend 'ere gave me th' pitch of a life time."

 

[Lancer Damar]

There were few people faster than Lancer Damar when it came to shooting, and even fewer when it came to accuracy. The revolver-wielding Desperado entered the bar, stoicly as the bolts, bullets, and other assorted things flew around him. He went for the shooter on his back, firing two shots to the cable that was hanging down from the freighter. No, this pretty little lady's bounty was too pretty for him to even consider letting her get away. After all, everyone else was engaged in some other form of fighting. Lancer, the trick-shooter, could probably out-gun everyone in the room, but that wasn't his intention.

Lancer flicked his revolvers upwards, firing two shots into the air, and then aimed both of them, one at the Mermaid girl, and one at the opposing bounty hunter, who had a shotgun pointed at him himself. He smirked beneath the long shadow of his hat."You're awfully pesky, but you'll fetch a nice price, scales."Lancer said, pulling back the hammers on his revolvers. He smirked, awaiting for them to shoot at him both. He was just, just, waiting for them to do it. He had an entire plan if they did, actually.

But that's if they were dumb enough to actually do it.

@[member="Hannibal Oryen"]nly @[member="Thessa Kai"]

 

[Harkin Kane]

Harkin looked off the open hatch downward towards the origins of gunfire. "Ah frack'n bounty hunters!" Himself excluded from his cursing of course. Dropping the wrench he flipped the carbine from his back and began laying down cover fire for the party shimmying up the cables. It helped no one besides Sparky knew he was on the ship because the unsuspecting gunslinger on the ground would have no choice but to run for cover. Flipping the eye patch up, Harkin used his newly acquired bionic retina to lay accurate heavy fire towards the ground level aggressor with one hand, and began wrapping the cable around the equally new bionic other. 'I swear if this gets me shot!'

 

[Mirta Kar]

Damn she thought as she fell. She was full of bullets and bleeding. " Dam fish girl" She said as she tried to crawl away. Mirta's beskar armor wasn't impenetrable. She had fallen like a rock and now she tried to get the hell out of there. She clutched her self, and activated her suit to apply pressure and to attempt to subdue the bleeding. She cursed to her self, this had gone something terrible, She was just trying to stay away from stray fire, that they seemed to lay down despite her critical condition. It seems that this might be her last moments, she cursed herself for not being with Daxton. When life was so short. She couldn't stand it. This would not be the way she died she tried to tell her self as she stubbornly made her way away from the alley and was determined to live another day.
@[member="Harkin Kane"] @Lancer Damar @[member="Hannibal Oryen"] @[member="Thessa Kai"] @Judah Dashiell

 

[Judah Dashiell]

@[member="Thessa Kai"] , @[member="Harkin Kane"] , @[member="Hannibal Oryen"] , @[member="Lancer Damar "], @[member="Mirta Kar"]


One down, two to go.

Judah let Thessa and the other hunter up the rope, what was left of it anyways. The woman bleeding and retreating was no concern to him. Grabbing the rope, he waited til everyone was in the safety of the vessel before pulling it down. Tying the rope quickly, he made a holster around Ferox, just underneath where a humans underarms would be. The coverfire was getting a little too close for comfort. He briefly wondered if the circuits were misfiring on Sparky.

"Headed up, you'll be pulled up after me."

"Excellent Master Dashiell"

Using the droid as a step, Judah shimmied up the rope. It took what seemed like an eternity but his hands gripped the cold decking, pulling himself up. Not seeing anyone in sight just at the very moment, the young salvager yelled down the corridors towards the cockpit.

"Thess....Sparky...Lets get out of here!"

He busied himself hauling up Ferox by hand...

 

[Thessa Kai]

@[member="Judah Dashiell"] , @[member="Harkin Kane"] , @[member="Hannibal Oryen"] , @[member="Lancer Damar "], @[member="Mirta Kar"]

Iced-azure gaze remained deadlocked with Hannibal, or rather, the part of Hannibal's mask where she imagined his eyes to be as they climbed aboard the Siren's Song, thanks to the cover fire coming from the ship. She didn't realize Sparky could do that. Judah's word was the only thing keeping this hunter alive right now and not a piece of splat-guts on the pavement below. Ripping her gaze away, she trained her shotgun on the other hunter, @Lancer Damar, still below in the alley.

"Coming out of the woodwork," she muttered. "It's not even noon and I've already been insulted twice, today." Fish Girl. Scales. She was so focused on getting away from the cowboy, she didn't notice Sparky's little stowaway friend. She spared a glance at the fleeing woman. She didn't know the woman's relationship to Daxton but she hoped if the hunters went limping back to the nefarious Zabrak, it would send the right message about pursing the mermaid.

With a resounding beep from the astromech and Judah safely aboard, she turned and for the first time, saw their stowaway, @[member="Harkin Kane"]. It didn't take much to add up the man's clothing as that of yet another hunter. Shotgun barrel was immediately leveled on the interloper. "What the Kriff! Sparky, just letting strange men onto the ship now?" The droid bemoaned a series of beeps. "We'll talk later. Alrighty, bub. Nice and easy. If you so much as touch me I'll blow your guts out." Eyes flicked to Hannibal, sending him the same warning.

 

[Harkin Kane]

With an aggravated sigh and a roll of his eyes Harkin lifted his hands for the second time today. "Listen, sweetheart, if I was cashing in on you, do ya think I would let every one else up the rope?" Sparky included a cynical remark towards Kane. "And you," Harkin had turned back to his mechanical friend, "I didn't ask for your two sense!" His attention fell back to @[member="Thessa Kai"] "And what in the all holy hell are you doing bringing bounty hunters on the ship?!" Harkin leveled a raised hand in Hannibal's direction. The meet and great session was playing out almost exactly as he had planned it would. He heard the metal clink of the cargo ramp closing, and so he headed towards the cockpit. They had made an awfully lot of noise in what was now republic space, and he felt it best if they left the atmosphere, quickly. As he made his way he mumbled loud enough to be heard towards Thessa, "Listen cup-cake I'm sure your boy friend can pilot, but lets not continue this discussion in Republic air space." It was a decent scapegoat. Shooting the pilot when all systems are in manual would prove to be counter productive. Harkin looked towards Sparky, "You coming rust bucket? I might break something unsupervised." With an annoyed whistle the droid followed the man up the spine of the ship. No doubt the argument would soon continue in the cockpit, but once things cooled down, and the adrenaline wore off, the star-crossed lovers might understand more so of Harkin's motives. The brewing concern in Harkin's head was not convincing the two, but what was going through the other hunter's mind. A double-double-cross seemed inevitable...

 

[Hannibal Oryen]

@[member="Thessa Kai"] | @[member="Judah Dashiell"] | @[member="Mirta Kar"] | @[member="Harkin Kane"] | @Lancer Damar

Maybe the bleeding woman was of no concern to Judah, but Hannibal wasn't the kind of guy who left jobs half-finished. Or people half-dead when they were just as well off being... Well, full-dead. However it worked. Some mook in a wide-brim hat and a pair of the most primitive looking slugthrowers to be displayed today seen stepped out of the building, apparently completely ignorant to what had happened prior to his arrival, or even where he was, really. He started waving them around all mook-like and whatnot, but Hannibal didn't even see nor hear him. He simply pumped his ill-gotten shotgun, took aim, and fired once again directly into the back of the critically wounded and slowly retreating Mirta Kar.

There was no mercy in Hannibal's dojo. Not even a little.

Somehow the dangling rope was repaired and replaced even after Mook Eastwood had shot the damn thing in half. Heavy covering fire subsequently spewed from the ship, aimed towards the gunslinger, but it was woefully inaccurate. Still, it made for a decent distraction. Hannibal, being the gentleman he was, waited for everyone else to climb aboard. Once the way was clear, he fired up his jetpack, the Whisper-class model making an almost-inaudible hum as it came to life and flew Hannibal up into the open entrance hatch. He dropped the shotgun on his way up, no longer requiring its services.

Once he arrived on scene, there appeared to be an unwelcome guest tucked away onboard. Unwelcome enough that Thessa was pointing a shotgun at the man, as frequently occurred when Thessa evidently did not want to deal with people. Hannibal was content to ignore Harkin and let the merwoman and her boyfriend handle the rodent, but then Harkin announced his attention to assume the role of pilot.

"Can I throw 'im overboard?" Hannibal suggested. "I think ya should let me throw 'im overboard."

 

[Judah Dashiell]

@Thessa Kai | @Hannibal Oryen| @Mirta Kar | @Harkin Kane | @Lancer Damar

Unfamiliar voices trickled down the corridors of the Siren's Song. Pulling the blaster from its holster once more, Judah motioned for the recently pulled aboard droid to follow. Boots silently moved down the familiar gleaming decking, to the group of people knotted in the hallway. A man stalked towards the cockpit with Sparky in tow. A case of pirates in the middle of their bounty hunter problems? The last time he had thought the situation was pirates the outcome was much,much worse.

Not the time or place to reflect on that rendezvous though.

"I'm going to throw him overboard." Judah pushed past both Oryen and Thessa, continuing to stalk after the man. Closing the gap, Judah reached out and grabbed the mans collar from behind. Roughly shoving their stowaway against the plating, Judah increased the pressure of his hold, pining the head and neck against the walls of the Siren. It was a highly uncharacteristic move for the salvager. Yet he was tired. Tired of being chased. Tired of worrying when Thessa would be hauled back in. Tired of these idiotic bounty games.

"Give me a good reason why I don't dump you out of the airlock once we break atmo."

 

[Harkin Kane]

Harkin felt his collar tighten around his neck and helped by moving with the violent shove. Better that than having his head ripped off. Straining Harkin answered the man. "One, my weapons are holstered, two, Me and the bucket started the ship, and I didn't leave, three, she was first up the rope, if I was cashing in, or stealing the ship, why in the hell would I have let you guys on board!?" Harkin directed his eyes towards Sparky. "A little help here chief? Don't get quiet on me now!"

There was an urge for Harkin to snap the man's arm in two, but Harkin did not intend to indulge. On a hunch Harkin shifted his visual sensor into thermal to see two small interceptor ships leveling close to the Siren. "Frak, Listen bub you can work out your frustration later, but unless you wanna be boarded by security or more damned bounty hunters we should go." With hands still resting against the mans wrists Harkin awaited him to let go. "Oh and lastly I get the BDSM treatment, but he checks out!?" Harkin leveled a look towards the walking arsenal. It was bound to be a long flight....

 

[Thessa Kai]

@[member="Harkin Kane"] @[member="Judah Dashiell"] @[member="Hannibal Oryen"]

When had she seen Judah show that much tenacity? It had been a long time and it was kinda turning her on. If it wasn't for those two chumps...

Sighing, she lowered her shotgun and slung the strap back across her shoulder. Judah clearly had the situation handled, kinda, sorta. She was more concerned about some strange-man laying his hands all over her (and Judah's) sweet, sweet ship. The ex-Rogue squadron leader was miffed about the idea that anyone else would be flying them out of this gorram mess.

"Enough." Stormy-gaze leveled on each man as Sparky swiveled its domed head as if to reciprocate its owner's glare. "You," scale-speckled face tipped to Hannibal. "We are not throwing anyone out of the airlock. Yet. And you," iced-azure eyes panned to the pinned Harkin. "I am flying us out of here." Sparky quipped at her side in an affirming beep. "And you," gaze softened, falling on Judah, "please start explaining what deal you made with Mister High Testosterone, over there, 'cause last I checked, he was about ready to blow us sky high back in Old Man Durros' house."

Trying to keep the anxiety off her face, she turned and continued her trek toward the cockpit, sliding into the pilot's seat. She frowned, seeing two foreign ships pop-up on the scanners. "Better sit down people because it's about to get rough. And so help me, if there is one shot fired I will turn this ship around! Or worse, you'll get a lesson in Sparky's electrocution."

Hopefully one of those able-bodied men could take control of the gun turrets.

 

[Harkin Kane]

Harkin looked between every one as he cautiously moved @[member="Judah Dashiell"] 's hands. "They started it." He mumbled as he fixed his vest. Quite the fellowship had accumulated in the hull of the ship: A crippled robot, a snippy robot, a greedy bounty hunter, a mermaid, her star-crossed lover, and what ever title was befitting to him of late. Quite the fellowship indeed. 'What ya done went and got yourself into Kane?' A question so often he asked himself but hardly ever had the answer. "Well then, I'm assuming the lady here is armed?" His gesture implied the ship of course sleeps-with-shotguns in the cockpit up there was an obvious observation. "But if that's republic security, best to just leave." Harkin turned to face Hannibal, "Not friends of yours are they?" Harkin forced a smile, but the suspicion was obvious...

 

[Judah Dashiell]

@[member="Thessa Kai"] , @[member="Harkin Kane"] , @[member="Hannibal Oryen"]

Taking his hands off their stowaway, Judah still felt like snapping his neck. Who was this guy, coming in to take over his droid and vessel like he owned the place. At the mention of Republic security, Judah was completely nonplussed. He had nothing to hide - except maybe the potentially stolen Footman droid. Republic Security should take kindly to himself and Thessa once it was known they were both ex-Republic pilots. The other two passengers had all the reason to sweat bullets then.

"Only one person on this ship gets the BDSM treatment and it sure as hell isn't you." Judah found his way to the co-pilots chair, flipping switches and activating their rear shields and automatic turret before even sitting down. "If you want to make yourself of any real use I'd advise heading down to the turrets."

Glancing at their readouts, Judah immediately starting cutting off all non-essential systems to reroute the power. The bright lights normally found down the corridors and in each cabin or space was immediately replaced with emergency lighting.

"The glow of the emergency light makes this one of our more romantic escapes." Chuckling, Judah shook his head. "As for the bounty hunter we have a temporary understanding.Don't trust him though. Hoping the credit potential will keep him loyal just long enough."

 

[Hannibal Oryen]

@[member="Thessa Kai"] | @[member="Judah Dashiell"] | @[member="Harkin Kane"]

"Ey, my testosterone's at perfectly normal levels, thank ya very much." Hannibal defended himself with a dramatic, dismissive wave of his hand.

They were apparently going to let the cyclops stick around, despite his status as sort-of-kind-of-a-guy-who-broke-into-their-ship. Their funeral, really. Hannibal would've smashed that guy's windpipe and introduced him to the cold vacuum of space if it'd been his ship he'd broken into. There was a bunch of yelling about the BDSM treatment and Republic authorities. These people were some funny folks, he had to admit. Not entirely his problem, though. As long as that one funny folk had the cash, Hannibal was all good. The Republic wouldn't find much detail on Hannibal. He was but a humble bounty hunter whose criminal record only existed on Valhala- and no one ever visited that revolting backwater.

While Hannibal was standing there, waiting to blow this joint, the mermaid dame started hollering something about things getting rough. Must mean someone should man the turrets. Hannibal could do that, he supposed. Normally such a thing would cost extra, but in the spirit of getting on the better side of his present employers, Hannibal was willing to let it slide. The guy with the eyepatch asked Hannibal a question, but the Fondorian's immediate response was to stare silently at him for a few seconds. The dual-slits of his visors silently boring into Harkin for what felt like an eternity. Studying him, judging him.

"I'll get the guns." Hannibal eventually called, taking a random guess at where those might be on this ship and heading in that direction. "Keep the patch-guy away from me, dig?"

 

[Harkin Kane]

Harkin was beginning to feel annoyed with the distrust and hostility of the ship. His intentions were in the right place, but his new found sobriety was leaving him a bit nerve-wrecked. What was it a month now? Yeah, a month since Harkin had subdued the demons swimming around in his mind. "Listen I don't care if your clean as a whistle. If that is security there gonna wanna ground yer ship. If they ground it that's at least another day to long to keep her on the smuggler's moon. I found the damn ship, and I'm out of the loop. Your buddy there found you, and I'm guessing he wasn't alone. Not to damn mention the frak'n fire fight were flying away from. If there is one port to avoid when your carrying a bounty, it's frak'n Nar Shaddaa!"

Out of instinct Harkin reached towards his flask, and to his disgust he was reminded it wasn't there. "This may come as a big surprise to ya bub, but your not the only decent folk in the galaxy..." Harkin found a bench ear shot from the cockpit and dropped on to it. Things would smooth over once they got out into the vacuum. He was sure of it. He just hoped they could get that far with out a fight breaking out on the ship.

 

[Thessa Kai]

@[member="Harkin Kane"] @[member="Judah Dashiell"] @[member="Hannibal Oryen"]

"We'll try our best to meet your in-flight needs," the Galan deadpanned, hollering back to Mister Testosterone. "Pretty soon he'll be griping for some peanuts, pretzels, and a holovid," she muttered the second part to Judah. Fingers tightened around the controls as a shot was fired across their bow. "Not friendlies and don't think they're Republic, either," jerking port-side, she pushed Siren's song into a barrel roll.

Not as smooth as her snub-nosed fighter but it did the trick. Reaching down, index finger flipped the switch for communications to the turrets. "Can you cover our six, Mister Bounty Hunter?" Iced-azure gaze remained alert, sparing a glance back at Judah. "I still don't understand. If he's going after Daxton, why is he with us?"

Sparky warbled at her side. The ex-Rogue squadron Captain jerked the ship starboard, this time sparing a glance behind her shoulder at the stowaway. "We didn't know," voice was flat because they should've known about the bounty. She should've known that sick, mental mind-frakker wouldn't let things go, would never let her go, would never let her rest. He would never stop, unless they stopped him first.

A visible tremble ran through her lithe form. "We...," voice cracked, "we need to get clear. Judah, can you put in the coordinates? I just need a few minutes and we can make the jump."

 

[Judah Dashiell]

@[member="Thessa Kai"] , @[member="Harkin Kane"] , @[member="Hannibal Oryen"]

"Hard to be decent when you stowaway in our ship."

Quickly calculating what was near Nar Shadda, Judah had to make a choice and soon. Deciding on Void Station due to its close presence and neutrality - it was out of CIS space. He kinda-sorta potentially knew a old spacer on the station. The only real issue was the marketplace, Void Station sold slaves. With Thessa's recent experiences it was a potential problem but there wasn't a multitude of solutions. Into the navicomputer the coordinates went, seemingly not fast enough. All he could really do is let the Siren's Song continue to push into atmo and get clear enough to break free and leave.

Keeping his eyes locked on the viewscreen, Judah thought it was time to come clean. Or maybe he should wait until they were hyperspace and Thessa couldn't kick him out of the vessel. No, he could hold her off for the few minutes it would take.

"So, you're probably wondering why I invited the guy who blew up Old Man Duro on board.Uh,well...I,uh sort of made a deal contingent on this plan. Double crossing @[member="Daxton Bane"] . You get turned in, we get Bane brought to us....like a uh, prisoner exchange. I might get the guy to drug Bane, I dont know. You want your revenge, it doesn't get better than this, face to face. Neutral location.More controlled too....imagine if that crazy woman pulled you in?"

Just as he finished, the Siren's Song went into hyperspace...

 

[Daxton Bane]

Daxton had just concluded a deal with the Slavers Guild for a new batch of volunteers for his genome experiments when a discrete message flashed on his console. So someone has claimed the bounty on his errant little fish. Damn that was disappointing. He had expected her to put up more of a fight. Perhaps she was just itching for him to touch her again in that special way.

Keying instructions, he gave the bounty hunter the address for one of his fortified warehouses. Not only was it heavily defended on the outside but the inside was patrolled by several ex-soldiers and mercenaries in his employ. What he failed to mention was the location was surrounded by snipers covering every possible angle. Should this become a double cross, then the Sith was well prepared for that eventuality. Drumming armored fingers on the wooden desktop he contemplated what experiment would he do on her when she was in his possession again. Perhaps a skin graft from her lover, that would just be simply too delicious he thought to himself as he smiled in contemplation.


@Judah Dashiell @Mirta Kar @Hannibal Oryen @Harkin Kane @[member="Mirta Kar"] @Lancer Damar @Thessa Kai

 

[Hannibal Oryen]

@[member="Daxton Bane"]

Of course, Hannibal had not called in on that bounty yet, so there was no way for anyone to know he was anywhere near Thessa Kai, much less in possession of her. He wouldn't be receiving instructions to do that anyway, as Bane scarcely had Hannibal's contact information in the first place. But Bane needn't worry about any of that. He'd be getting contacted by Hannibal sooner or later.

@[member="Thessa Kai"] | @[member="Judah Dashiell"] | @[member="Harkin Kane"]

"And here's to you, Missus Robinson..." Hannibal muttered to himself after regaining his footing from that barrel-roll that had been executed. He rubbed his head gingerly after he had smacked it on the wall. Damn professional pilots and their crazy maneuvers. They ought to have just been listing lazily to the left. That was how Hannibal had learned to do it.

Of course, shortly after the back of Hannibal's head was done throbbing, the ship lurched into hyperspace, nullifying any need for Hannibal to head to the turrets. Looks like he didn't have to do any charity work after all. Muttering something incoherent under his breath, he made his way back to the front of the ship. Since he was effectively their ticket out of Bountyville and straight to Vengeance City, he supposed he should be nearby when they discussed what they ought to be doing.