Smuggling Not Snuggling

[Alistair Fenn]

[member="Kinsey Starchaser"]

Alistair checked the disc over for a moment more, frowning slightly.

He couldn't have explained why he was so interested in it, perhaps just a mix of idle curiosity and plain old intuition, either way after a second more he decided to pocket the device. Slipping the datadisc into the inner pocket of his jacket The Smuggler turned around and glanced at Kinsey. "Good."

That was one less thing to worry about.

As long as they could make it back to The Mara and off this world everything would be fine. He could drop Kinsey off at the nearest shadowport, they would part ways, and then life would go back to...well incredibly debt. A part of it would be paid off though, and that was worth all of this trouble.

"Let's get back to The Mara." He told her. "Quickly."

 

[Kinsey Starchaser]

[member="Alistair Fenn"]

The girl gave a terse nod. Readjusting the bags that crossed her shoulders, she turned to head out of the hangar and find the path they'd taken into the city. It wasn't far. Busted up duracreet would turn into gravel and then dirt. They had a long way to go. A good day's journey. Might not even make it before dark.

Lips parted as she glanced back at the smuggler, coming to the bridge they'd crossed in the beginning. She was about to ask him about the disc he'd been staring at. Thing was though? She felt awkward and out of place around him. Walking on a knife's edge since they'd met.

Hadn't really met someone that hated her before getting to know her and she didn't know how to take that.

So her lips sealed shut and she jammed her hands in her pockets, eyes fixing ahead of them and down the path instead. They'd be coming up to that wide lake soon enough. Couldn't shake that feeling in the pit of her belly, though. Like something else was coming for them.

 

[Alistair Fenn]

[member="Kinsey Starchaser"]

The Blaster had returned to it's holster by now, though like Kinsey he had a bad feeling lingering within the pit of his stomach.

His own sense wasn't born of the force or anything fancy like that, but rather a simple sense for danger that had developed over the last decade or so of working with criminals. Something felt...wrong, like finding the parts had just been too easy. He frowned slightly as they moved down the street, his eyes swiveling from building to building. "Those Sith."

Alistair began quietly.

"What are they after you for?" He wasn't just curious, but rather he wanted to know more about the danger presented towards them.

Had she been a Sith Lord's wife? Had she stolen some treasure map?

It was an odd thing, having a Sith after you.

 

[Kinsey Starchaser]

[member="Alistair Fenn"]

Blues flitted to the smuggler. It was the first time she'd really looked at his face again since he'd scared the kark out of her. Did he realize it was a hard question for her to answer? It was something horrible and private that had happened in her life. A time when she'd been ashamed for the things she'd done or been made to do.

Many would see her as a victim and that was almost worse.

Not that she cared what Alistair thought. She was a job to him just like he was to her. Just had to get through it without him constantly snapping at her. And he didn't know she was a force user and she preferring to keep it that way. Very few people did and for good reason. It was a long moment before she finally responded, not able to help the nervous glance over her shoulder back up the path they'd come down. When she faced forward again, she could see the blue of the large, glittering lake down below as they continued on.

"Because one of 'em found me when I was seventeen all because of my last name and to enact some sort of revenge plan on my uncle. I escaped a few years back but he still thinks I'm his property."

Jaw twitched. She didn't go into more of an explanation of how and why and who it was. Instead, fingers twitched along the handle of her blaster.

"You and I. Are we going to have a problem over this?"

Would he turn her in for the bounty if those sith ever caught up to them?

 

[Alistair Fenn]

[member="Kinsey Starchaser"]

He blinked. "Why would we?"

Alistair was a bastard. There was no way around that fact, he just was. There were few things in this galaxy that he held sacred, and even fewer that he wouldn't sell out to make a quick buck. Yet above everything else, more than money, more than luxury, the one thing he cared about the most was his survival.

The only thing The Smuggler ever wanted to do was live his life.

Certain decisions had made that rather difficult as of late, and the pressure of living was closing in on him hard, but selling Kinsey out to some Sith? That wouldn't help him at all. Sure he might be able to pay off the Cartel and even go into hiding with the money he got...but he had no idea what the Cartel even meant to Kinsey in the first place. For all he knew she was someones wife, and selling her to the highest bidder was signing a death warrant for himself.

Not to mention that Sith themselves were an absolute horror to deal with. "I don't care about Sith."

True enough, he actually rather disliked them.

"The Cartel told me to get you to Ylen." The Shadowport they'd been headed to. "So that's what I'm going to do."

 

[Kinsey Starchaser]

[member="Alistair Fenn"]

She didn't move her hand away from her blaster. She just didn't tighten her grip either. Alistair hadn't exactly been cordial - kriff, barely more like skirting the line between aggression and over-aggression. Still. Hadn't given her a reason to think he'd be lying about this.

And the Cartel?

Felix hadn't said anything about a Cartel. But that was a thought for her to chew on at another time. For now, she'd like to get off this planet in one piece and not back with Sage Bane. Or worse. She'd kill herself before that happened.

Jaw set.

"Okay."

All she needed to say. Restless hand shifted the bag with the ship parts on her shoulder. Blues shifted to the water they were coming up on. Great. The lake again. Only added to keeping her even more on edge.

 

[Alistair Fenn]

[member="Kinsey Starchaser"]

He frowned for a moment as he spotted the lake, his eye wandering towards the side that they had come from. "We should head that way."

Alistair pointed in the opposite direction they had taken last time.

"We left the Kinrath pretty angry." The smuggler himself had shot more than a few of them, and that had likely stirred up the nest more than a little bit. It was best that they didn't move back towards where they knew danger was. "I'd rather not risk getting eaten."

They had no idea what was on the other side of course, but it was bound to be better than heading into a swarm of angry Kinrath.

 

[Kinsey Starchaser]

[member="Alistair Fenn"]

"Yeah and we should get off this main path anyway." Back of her hand cuffed across her nose. Booted-feet transitioned from gravel to grass and dirt. She began weaving her way through the Forrest and root system. Vines and massive bushes littered the path like wild beasts. Twigs snapped and crunched beneath their feet.

He talked about kinrath. Still. She'd rather run into those things instead of the sith. No sooner had that thought crossed her mind, did a roar of a speeder sound along the gravel path behind them.

"Down," she hissed and lunged behind one of those wild bushes. They weren't too close to the path but they weren't too far either.

 

[Alistair Fenn]

[member="Kinsey Starchaser"]

Alistair didn't quite leap like Kinsey did, but he moved quickly.

His hand latched around his blaster almost instantly, pulling it from the holster as he dropped down into the bushes and hid himself among the foliage. His face grew dark, the cybernetic eye shifted in it's socket as it tracked the speeder rushing over the water. "Kark."

The smuggler said quietly, speaking more to himself than Kinsey.

He knew the situation they were in, and it wasn't a good one. The Bounty Hunter's, or whomever the hell they were, had much better equipment than they could ever hope to. His blaster only had a couple of shots left, he had no grenades, and everything else was next to useless. If the hunters were worth anything at all they would have a couple of rifles and at least some armor, though the Weequay had been somewhat under equipped for the job.

"Let's hope..." Alistair trailed off for a second as he checked his blaster one last time. "They don't have scanners."

 

[Kinsey Starchaser]

[member="Alistair Fenn"]

"Yeah," she frowned, fallen leaves shifting beneath her body as she peeked up. Blues squinting. "Don't think they found the ship yet. Not headed quite in that direction. C'mon, we need to keep going."

The speeder was heading away from them. They still had to hug the shores of the lake going the opposite way and make it back to the smuggler's ship. Still had to fix it too. They were running out of time.

"Could really use those kinrath now as a distraction for them." She grunted as she stood, plucking leaves from her hair as she walked forwards, keeping a cautionary look towards the disappearing speeder across shimmering water.

 

[Alistair Fenn]

[member="Kinsey Starchaser"]

He frowned for a moment, gently reaching out and grabbing Kinsey to stop her from moving. "Wait."

Alistair's voice was so quiet that it would be nearly impossible to hear, but a second later a loud droning of engines cut him out completely. Before he could continue on or say anything else a vessel appeared over head, the ship coming into view above the treeline.

The Smuggler instantly recognized the type of ship, though the paint scheme was unfamiliar. It was an old gunship, usually used by Pirates and the like. He frowned and pulled Kinsey further back into the foliage, paranoid of being seen. "They'll spot the ship."

No question of that from the air.

"We." He paused as the ship passed over their heads, taking a b-line directly towards where The Mara had crashed. "Need a new plan."

 

[Kinsey Starchaser]

[member="Alistair Fenn"]

"Gundark balls." She cursed, stumbling a bit as he pulled her back. His grip was on her arm. Less violent than when he's been angrier. Before. "Chit," she cursed again, no stranger to dirty language. Used to make her twin brother's ears turn read. No doubt THAT ship had scanners too. It was only a matter of time before they found them. Luckily, this planet wasn't devoid of life or they'd already be found.

Was Sage on that ship?

She felt the ugly head of panic try to claw its way up from her gut.

No, no. He didn't get his hands dirty like that. That ship certainly wasn't high class enough for him.

She took a steadying breath. "What're we going to do?"

 

[Alistair Fenn]

[member="Kinsey Starchaser"]

That was a good question, and unfortunately Alistair had no karking idea how to answer.

The ship meant that there were likely a dozen more Bounty hunters were the first two had come from, couple that with the speeder they saw and they might as well have been facing an army. He frowned slightly, glancing at the weapon in his hand for a moment before he looked back at Kinsey. "You took some blasters earlier, right?"

He needed to know what they had available to them.

The Mara had no armory or anything like that, which meant they really only had what they took with him. For Alistair himself that meant he had his blaster and six shots left, some macro-binoculars, the rope, and of course the datadisc he had taken as well as some standard survival gear. That wasn't a great deal of stuff to actually work with, and in truth it seemed like they were well and truly karked.

Though, an idea was beginning to form in his mind.

 

[Kinsey Starchaser]

[member="Alistair Fenn"]

"Yeah. Two blasters," kneeling in the earth, she swung one of the satchels forward, flipping the top up. Fingers rummaged around inside, teeth gnawing on the soft, inside flesh of her cheek. "Oh yeah and this," she hesitated a moment. Still wasn't sure how she felt about Fenn. But right now?

She didn't have much of a choice but to stick with him.

Fingers unfurled from around a flash grenade, showing it to Alistair. Light, brown brows began stitching together. "Wait. It's not like we can fight them. There's way too many."

There was another zoom of a speeder across the water. This time it was coming toward them.

 

[Alistair Fenn]

[member="Kinsey Starchaser"]

Flash Grenade, that was something.

Alistair wasn't bent on full combat with these guys, there was no possible way they could win. The Smuggler had no idea about Kinsey but he most certainly wasn't any sort of soldier. His experience in fighting was just a few scraps back on Tatooine and some run ins with Hutt Mercenaries.

He wasn't prepared to go head to head. "We can lure them where we want to go."

The speeder was heading towards them, it's progress slower than he would have thought. It was very likely that they were using an on board scanning system in order to search for larger life signs. He frowned for a moment, grabbing the flash grenade as well as one of the extra blasters from Kinsey's pack.

"Pull them towards you." He'd be surprised if she was okay with this particular plan. "I'll throw the grenade into the cockpit then take out the two in the speeder."

After that? Well they'd just have to see.

 

[Kinsey Starchaser]

[member="Alistair Fenn"]

Lips pursed when he took the 'good' stuff. She'd been itching to use that grenade herself. What? And she was supposed to be the bait again?

He said he didn't like the Sith. And he hadn't left her last time. But that look in his eyes when he grabbed her arm? She couldn't shake that.

"What? No way. Why don't you be the bait and I'll throw the grenade and take out those in the speeder?"

She rocked back on her heels, anticipating a fight. Wary gaze shifted between Fenn and the speeder. Soon, the scanners would pick up them both.

 

[Alistair Fenn]

[member="Kinsey Starchaser"]

"What?' Alistair was confused, questioning why she would even ask such a thing.

To him it was more than obvious that he should be the one to throw the grenade. After all it was his plan and compared to the two of them he had the more muscular arms and she was lithe. This was absolutely a no brainer, at least for him.

He frowned, and then pointed to his eye.

"I can calculate the trajectory we need." That was true, one of the reason he had this specific model. "Get it right where we need it."

He frowned. "Look I haven't run yet, and I need you to get my ship back."

 

[Kinsey Starchaser]

[member="Alistair Fenn"]

Teeth bit into the corner of her lip. Shoulders and arms remained tense as she crouched across from Ali, studying his face intently. She wasn't an empath. He might be lying. No, it wasn't that. Maybe he didn't know how close SHE was to running. Wasn't sure if she'd be able to resist that urge to make everything okay by herself.

Like she was used to.

Blues finally lifted to refocus on his red eye. Good thing he couldn't see her emotions or thoughts with that thing. Her doubts. "Fine. But if there's ever another grenade, I get to use it."

She tried to play it off like that was the reason for the argument. Not that she didn't trust him. Not that she wouldn't run herself. Pushing to a stand, she dashed from the woods and into the open along the beach. She didn't know if she'd stop once Ali threw the grenade or if she'd keep going.

Running. Run. Run.

Without turning, she could hear the shift in gears as those on the speeder spotted their prey.

 

[Alistair Fenn]

[member="Kinsey Starchaser"]

The brief moment in time was all that Alistair needed.

He had never really been the most athletically gifted being, he'd played no sports and nothing of that sort ever really interested him. But him and Kurt had more than once stolen parts or snacks from vendors, and when you were doing that knowing how to throw was key in getting away. That, added with his eye meant that the next few seconds played out exactly as The Smuggler had planned they would.

Sort of.

As soon as the Speeder turned and began to head towards Kinsey Alistair popped out from his place in the bushes. His finger slipped over the trigger of the grenade, activating it as his arm reeled back and the small grenade was lopped high. For a moment it tumbled into the air, then it suddenly dropped.

The weapon didn't go into the cockpit as he had planned, instead it fell into the engine compartnent. "Oh. Poodoo."

Was all the time Alistair had to say before there was a thump and then a roaring explosion as the speeders engines went up in flames, followed shortly by a blast.

 

[Kinsey Starchaser]

[member="Alistair Fenn"]

Though the speeder hadn't been right up on her, the heat and force of the explosion still slammed against her back like a gale-force blow. Reminded her of the feeling you got from unexpected reversion. The girl was knocked off her feet and went flying, skidding across the pebbled beach of the lake, small rocks tearing the fabric of her favorite jacket and shirt.

Fingerless gloves saved her hands from getting the worst of the 'road burn.'

Chin was bleeding as she lifted her head, messy chunks of hair splotched across her features. "Kark," she coughed, thankful that at least, she didn't feel that sharp pang in her ribs anymore thanks to that bacta patch. Fingers came up to her ear, clawing at one as she tried to get the ringing to stop.