Private Target Acquired

[Valery Noble]

Sleheyron

​

Outfit: Operative Suit
Weapons: Blasters | Lightsaber (concealed)
Tag: Aldric Laurent

Even though it was her feisty side wanting to pilot the speeder bike, there was an advantage to it as well. They had to cross a forest to reach the city and spaceport, and maneuvering between the trees would be a lot easier with the Force on her side. He was also by far the better shot, so any problems along the way, he'd hopefully be able to handle.

"This will get intense, so hold on tight," she said again, as she felt the grip on her waist. But tight maneuvers weren't going to be their only problem — guards on similar speeder bikes were coming after them.

"Try to shoot them if you can but don't let go!" She called out as they finally reached the tree line, and the intense weaving through the forest began. The enemy was right on their tail and soon began to open fire, sending crimson bolts to explode trees all around them. Valery, in an attempt to do something about it, reached out through the Force with her eyes alone and snapped a smaller tree in half, which fell in their path and collided with one, sending him flying through the air.

But they were getting closer, as each one of their bikes was piloted by one person alone, and thus not hindered by weight as much as Valery and Aldric sharing a bike.

Still, their fire wasn't incredibly accurate at these speeds, but soon enough their bolts narrowed down, and one struck Valery's left thigh before sending up sparks from the bike itself. A haunting cry of pain followed, and there was a brief drop in speed and shakiness in her piloting. "My leg..." she whined, but despite the pain, she pushed on. "We gotta lose them."

 

[Aldric Laurent]

"Yes, ma'am," Aldric made sure his hold was a little firmer, and tensed up for the incoming action. He whipped out his pistol, taking a bit of time to aim given all the movement from both them and their pursuers, "Already on it!" He assured, taking a shot almost right after. It missed completely, and he grumbled. With everything going on, he was feeling a bit rushed, but that wasn't going to do any favors here.

They plunged into the thicket of trees, weaving between them at speeds that would leave them as little more than stains on the ground if they took a direct impact. Aldric watched as a tree just behind them snapped in half, clotheslining one of the bikers and freeing them up a little. Others were still closing in, though, an one even managed to get a hit on Valery. Aldric immediately leaned over to check, "Val! You okay?!" He shook his head and took a few more shots, one of them hitting the back of the attacker's bike, not quite knocking him off but forcing him to give them some more space.

To the other one, Aldric whipped around and got a much luckier shot, hitting him in the chest and sending him flying off the bike, which itself veered sharply to the side and exploded against a tree. "Is this bike gonna last?" He asked, looking at where their own vehicle had been hit.

Valery Noble​

 

[Valery Noble]

Sleheyron

​

Outfit: Operative Suit
Weapons: Blasters | Lightsaber (concealed)
Tag: Aldric Laurent

"I'm okay," she said through gritted teeth. While it was worse than the bruising on her back from those earlier shots she took, it still wasn't an overly dangerous hit. Her leg had been burned and was bleeding a little, but basic first aid later would be enough to help her heal up.

Meanwhile, Aldric turned back to exchange fire with those in pursuit and even though not all of his shots were able to hit because of the difficult circumstances, the pressure alone made the attackers a lot more careful. But when his focus sharpened and he struck one of their bikes and then killed one by hitting him center mass, the remaining 2 were very cautious about getting too close, and instead focused on trying to neutralize their bike from further away.

"I don't know," she admitted nervously when he asked about the bike. She was never very good with tech or mechanical work, and right now she could barely see anything. "I still have power, so the bolt may have just scraped the metal." Only time would tell, but it wasn't their only problem. From the refinery, a shuttle had launched and was now flying overhead. No shots were fired from it, but it made it easy to track the couple.

"Think you can take that thing down somehow?" Its engines were quite exposed, but it would not be easy with the two bikers taking the chance to advance and open fire, this time mostly aimed at Aldric, who was the bigger target and their only real threat.

 

[Aldric Laurent]

The remaining speeders gave them a bit more breathing room now, but that didn't mean they were letting up. More blaster fire came their way, Aldric's way especially, though accuracy was still quite inconsistent.

An exchange of bolts filled the forest as they continued snaking their way through the overgrowth, some twists and turns a bit too close for comfort. Aldric steadied his aim, and took a trio of shots at one of the bikers, who got just a little too close for his own good. Each shot managed to hit the bike, causing it to start burning and spin off to the side. The driver seemingly leaped off last second as it careened into another explosion, but whether he survived or not was really none of their concern.

"One more!" Aldric smirked, letting himself find some enjoyment in the success. Then suddenly, another bolt flew past, grazing the agent's shoulder, incinerating a patch cloth over it, and leaving a scorch mark on his skin. He shouted briefly in surprise and pain, but gritted his teeth and traded a few shots back. No good.

Worse yet, there was still a shuttle overhead tracking their movement. Valery's question drew an incredulous look, "That?" It might be possible, but he admittedly lacked confidence. Not that they had many other choices, though. Aldric took his first shot, which hit the metal hull. Then he readied a second, trying his best to zone out the other speeder still firing at them. His shot rang out, hitting the engine with a bit of a spark. "Yes!" Still not nearly enough to take down an entire ship, but it proved that there was a chance.

His excitement was quickly cut off though, as almost immediately after his bolt hit, a gun emerged from a panel at the bottom of the ship. A large rotary cannon, and even from here he could hear the whine as the machinery spooled up. "Val…" The other speeder was still on them. Aldric looked ahead, seeing a fork on their path. One would keep things as they were, while the other path led to a much thicker and more heavily wooded part of the forest. With few other options, he pointed at the latter, "In there!"

With any luck, they might lose the last speeder, or outmaneuver him into a crash. And the canopy might give them cover from the shuttle, if not to lose it, then to at least diminish the chances of it hitting them. Right as they neared the fork, the mini gun unleashed a storm of red bolts, battering down in a line right behind them, threatening to catch up.

Valery Noble​

 

[Valery Noble]

Sleheyron

​

Outfit: Operative Suit
Weapons: Blasters | Lightsaber (concealed)
Tag: Aldric Laurent

Valery was grinning along with him as he adjusted to the tight maneuvers and still landed his shots despite it. If she didn't know any better, she'd believe he was actually really tapping into the Force for it, but perhaps his stronger-than-average connection did help. Her smirk quickly faded, however, when a blaster bolt grazed his shoulder, forcing a brief scream of pain that struck a spike of fear into her heart.

Please not again.

She didn't say anything out loud, but that fear quickly turned into a powerful fierceness in her eyes, and as the shuttle appeared above them, it helped her stay focused on keeping them a hard target. At Valery's suggestion to take down the ship right after, Aldric seemed hesitant at first, but he still tried and after first bouncing a bolt against its hull, he hit the engine, dropping some of its power and giving those inside a signal to keep distance. "Good shot!" she called out, that grin returning a little. But again, it didn't last very long.

"Val…"

She heard the rotary cannon winding up, and swallowed hard before she pushed the throttle, even more, sending them into dangerously fast speeds. "Going in!" she then called out, as they went down the more dangerous path, which finally scared off the remaining biker, who stayed behind and left the rest to the shuttle. Its minigun opened up, and right as Valery entered the dangerous trail, bolts were coming real close, and two managed to hit just the back of the vehicle close to Aldric. "You okay?!" she called out as extremely tight maneuvers through the forest began.

But again, they were not in the clear just yet. "I'm losing power in the engines... we're not going to make it all the way." At least the shuttle had no clear shot anymore, but it was still flying overhead, looking for them.

Finally, somewhere deep within this stretch of forest, she came to a stop and looked over her shoulder, a little bit of worry visible in her eyes. "Are you hurt?" she asked, her eyes shifting to his injury.

 

[Aldric Laurent]

Bolts rained down through the treeline, splintering wood and kicking up dirt around them, but never quite managing to strike anything more than the back of the speeder. Good thing too, as a hit from something of that caliber would have done Aldric in for sure. Less good for the bike, though.

He took a few more shots with varying amounts of success, with another shot managing to hit the engine again. It forced an unpleasant grinding sound from the ship, but still didn't take it down. However that, in tandem with the dense forest cover, was enough to get the ship off their trail. The speeder sputtered on long enough for them to get somewhere safe, and Valery eventually brought it to a stop.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm good. Just a graze," Aldric's eyes glanced down to her leg once again, "Think we lost 'em. Can you move?" Chances are this speeder wasn't going to be starting back up any time soon.

Valery Noble​

 

[Valery Noble]

Sleheyron

​

Outfit: Operative Suit
Weapons: Blasters | Lightsaber (concealed)
Tag: Aldric Laurent

"Yeah, yeah, I'm good. Just a graze,"

She gave him a brief look to really make sure he wasn't just shrugging off something serious, but it really was just a grazing shot. It wouldn't take much to patch him up, so she let out a soft sigh of relief and nodded. "I'm okay and I think moving will be fine..." she looked at the ground and slowly got off the speeder.

When her weight settled on her legs, she winced and grumbled a little, but she stood strong and steady, "Just hurts a bit, but it won't stop me." She flashed a smile and stepped closer to pull him into a brief, but a much-needed hug. "We definitely lost the speeder, but they might be bringing people in to search the forest. Let's keep moving."

She then nudged Aldric to step aside and raised a hand to channel the Force. The broken-down speeder started vibrating and was pulled apart one piece at a time before she hid them all away in the thick vegetation around them. "Just in case," she explained before she began to move through the forest with him.

But while the shuttle had gotten a lot quieter as it distanced itself, a perhaps even more haunting sound echoed out to them — the howling of some kind of beast, probably several. Valery stopped, blinked, and turned her eyes to him, "That doesn't sound good... they'll track us down in here."

 

[Aldric Laurent]

Aldric watched carefully to make sure Valery could actually stand and move on both legs. Her little demonstration seemed proof enough, but he remained cautious all the same. "Didn't wanna stick around in the forest anyway," He teased. Watching her take apart the entire speeder was impressive, though, and he regarded it with a nod, "Nice."

With the evidence hidden and a stretch of forest still between them and freedom, the pair was off to keep moving. It didn't take long for them to be interrupted by new dangers, though. Aldric rolled his eyes at the sound of howling, "Not so lucky, I guess."

The agent drew his pistol and kept moving, scanning the woods around them as they did, "Keep an eye out…" Nearly as soon as he said that, a creature broke through the tree line, and halted at the sight of them. A squat, furry beast with jagged teeth, and what appeared to be cybernetics attached to varying parts of its body. Neks. Given the presence of said cybernetics, likely escaped guard dogs turned feral. Or worse, they were trackers owned by the very people that were after them. He hoped that wasn't the case.

It snarled at him, and Aldric raised a hand carefully. "Don't do anything sudden," He was no expert beast tamer, but rather than instigate the nek and whatever other members of its pack were likely around, he tried to make it back off.

Valery Noble​

 

[Valery Noble]

Sleheyron

​

Outfit: Operative Suit
Weapons: Blasters | Lightsaber (concealed)
Tag: Aldric Laurent

"Nice."

Valery blinked at that, having never heard someone say that before about what was pretty typical stuff to her. She just chuckled and began to move through the forest with him. The Spaceport was just beyond it and while they had caused a lot of damage at the refinery, she knew they weren't in control of the port. So if they were quick and careful, there was a good chance they'd be able to make it out.

But not without some more obstacles though, as the howling suggested. "Have we been lucky even once with this mission? Or even our trip to Kamparas..." she smirked and picked up the pace to hopefully avoid whatever creature came after them, but unless she decided to augment her speed with the Force, there was no way to naturally outrun a predator like the one that came after them.

"What an ugly..." she trailed off after the beast appeared, but was cut off when it accelerated and jumped out towards them despite Aldric's attempt to keep it calm. Valery was quick to respond and shoved it with its side into a tree using the Force, but it was not enough to stop it. In fact, the beast seemed hardly phased, and came straight back, this time towards Aldric specifically, as he was the closest. "Careful!" She called out, but right as she tried to step closer to handle the melee side of things, another Nek appeared behind her and forced her to turn around.

"Another one!" she called out, before shoving it away with the Force as well, but these beasts were vicious, and it too came back. "Don't think we'll scare these off, love!" she looked over her shoulder, checking to see if he was doing okay.

 

[Aldric Laurent]

"Depends on what you consider to be getting 'lucky'," Aldric flashed her a playful grin. There was at least one part of the Kamparas trip that went very well…

But a light modo wasn't going to keep the hungry Neks at bay. And they were forced on the defensive when the first one lashed out. Valery knocked it back, but now the hound only seemed more agitated. Aldric fired a shot, which dug into the creature's hide but still did not deter it.

"What gave you that impression?" He quipped as another Nek came around to harry Valery. Meanwhile, the agent was preoccupied with the first, and though he got another shot off, the creature came in and bit down on his arm. Aldric grunted loudly, and was pulled to the side, dropping his gun. He managed to get the creature free from his arm, but not before it managed to tear off his sleeve. As it came around again, he pulled out a knife, stabbing it, and they wrestled one another to the ground.

Valery Noble​

 

[Valery Noble]

Sleheyron

​

Outfit: Operative Suit
Weapons: Blasters | Lightsaber (concealed)
Tag: Aldric Laurent

The playful grin hadn't escaped her at all, and if it wasn't for these beasts trying to literally rip them apart, she would have thrown a teasing comment right back at him. The trip to Kamparas had, after all, been plenty of fun outside of their trouble in the caves. But for now, she focused on the second creature that had joined the clash and hoped she could still urge it to leave somehow. Each time it jumped at her, she sent a pulse of Force energy to its side, deflecting its path off so that it missed her. But each time, it just came back.

"What gave you that impression?"

"Shaddup!" she called back with a grin, right after pushing her beast into another tree. it charged at her again, and right as she prepared to use that same trick again, she heard a loud grunt and felt his pain through the Force, as the beast bit into his arm and forced him to drop his gun. It stunned her long enough for the other beast to bash into her, knocking her onto her back while it tried to claw her open. It struck at her chest, ripping open the large uniform and even tearing through the dress underneath to open her skin up. But Valery felt no pain anymore, as the feeling of Aldric getting hurt still echoed through her connection with him.

She raised a hand, lifted the beast off of her, and slowly got to her feet, as she applied immense pressure on its body. Her fiery eyes were burning and it was only at the last second, as it squealed and screamed from the pain, that she eased off and tossed it hard into another tree. This time, it finally ran off, wounded and scared.

"Aldric!" she then called out, as she watched him grapple with the other beast. She was more than ready to kill it, but she couldn't risk it with them so close to each other.

 

[Aldric Laurent]

Aldric managed to get a few good cuts on the creature, when finally it scrambled away, whining. The fight wasn't worth the risk, and so with its packmate doing the same, the Nek cut its losses. The agent wasn't without his own injuries though, having gotten a fair share of cuts and scrapes in the scuffle. His outfit now looked like he had taken a tumble through barbed wire, but it didn't stop him from getting back up.

"Val?" He looked back at her, suddenly seeing the damage she had sustained, "Damn. Are you okay?" He reached towards it instinctively.

Valery Noble​

 

[Valery Noble]

Sleheyron

​

Outfit: Operative Suit
Weapons: Blasters | Lightsaber (concealed)
Tag: Aldric Laurent

When she turned, a little shaky on her feet from her injuries, Valery watched Aldric fight the other beast off of him with his knife. If it had been anybody else, anybody weaker than he was, they would have never survived that clash. But to see him standing up still brought a huge sense of relief, and she practically stumbled forward and into him.

"I'll be okay and you..." she glanced down at his arm, and took his hand to get a closer look, choosing to ignore her own pain for now. Her chest and shoulder were a bit roughened up and bleeding, and her leg was still burned. Nothing too threatening, but it definitely looked awful. "We can get all this patched up but," she paused and let out a soft sigh. "I was really scared there for a moment and lashed out. I shouldn't have but I..."

She stopped herself from rambling and frowned, "I'm glad you're okay."

 

[Aldric Laurent]

Aldric just pulled her close with one arm, "Me too. We're alright." She would live. So would he. The Neks were gone. The goons had lost them. And the data was still in his pocket. He pulled it out to verify that the spike was still in one piece, and smirked.

"Let's get the hell outta here before something worse decides to drop on top of us," He began walking, still keeping Valery close for mutual support, "Spaceport is just a little farther." His emerald eyes fell down onto her, "Maybe after this we take a bit of a break? Go somewhere nice for a change? That sounds nice to me."

Valery Noble​

 

[Valery Noble]

Sleheyron

​

Outfit: Operative Suit
Weapons: Blasters | Lightsaber (concealed)
Tag: Aldric Laurent

Valery suppressed her emotions getting the better of her and just smiled as she looked up at him, taking a moment of comfort from the strength in his emerald eyes. They were alright, and that's all that really mattered — these fears were okay to have with close partners, and she knew she'd get more relaxed about it at some point, but for now, they were only one last step away from getting to safety.

"Yeah, let's go," she said, her expression brighter as they walked together towards the edge of the forest. "Why don't we go on that vacation to the tropical resort we talked about?" she suggested excitedly. "I can arrange everything and we'll travel from my place so you can meet Vera, finally...?" she decided to finally test a little. He was probably a little nervous about it, but she felt it was the right time.

"Oh and you also still owe me that massage," she quickly added with a grin. "But we can save that for the vacation too~"

 

[Aldric Laurent]

Aldric grinned a bit more genuinely, sharing in her sudden excitement. “Sounds great,” His grin wavered only momentarily at the thought of meeting Vera. He was still happy too, but it was nonetheless a bit of a big deal, at least in his mind. “Yeah… I'd like that.” It needed to happen sooner or later. If Val felt like it was time, then he was comfortable giving it a shot.

“You think I’d forget?” He looked back at her and winked, right before the crossed through the treeline to outside the spaceport. A few passersby gave them strange looks, but nobody dared anything more than that. “Let’s just hope all this data is worth something,” He gave her another nod, and started up once again back to their ship.

Valery Noble​

 

[Valery Noble]

Sleheyron

​

Outfit: Operative Suit
Weapons: Blasters | Lightsaber (concealed)
Tag: Aldric Laurent

It almost seemed impossible, but Valery's smile turned even brighter when he accepted the offer to meet Vera. Her little girl was everything to her, and he was quickly becoming the other half she had been longing for all her life. For him and Vera to get along was crucial in the development of their relationship, so she really looked forward to this, even though it was somewhat nerve-racking at the same time. "She has been talking about it for a while now... so it'll be good," Valery said with a softer smile.

She had been honest and open to Vera about Aldric, so it was only natural that the curious little Noble wanted to know more and meet this man.

"Good, just making sure~" she winked in return and continued to offer support as they reached the end of the forest, and the beginning of civilization again. There were definitely curious looks, especially because of the burning refinery in the distance. But because they were wearing their torn-apart uniforms still, people just figured they were survivors.

Maybe, at last, a little bit of luck on their side.

"I'm sure the data will be useful. Wherever we go next, we're going to get the one responsible."

[end thread]​