Unfortunate Circumstances

[Kaira Eyeris]

Nar Shaddaa. The Smuggler's Moon. A hive of scum and villainy that's existed, as far as anyone knows, since the beginning of galactic civilization. Unfortunately, that made it supremely unpleasant to visit for pretty much everyone save the lowest dregs of society. Fortunately, at least for Kaira, it was also an amazing place to look for replacement parts, aftermarket upgrades, and specialized equipment.

That was the reasoning she used, at least it was until she stepped off of her transport and down onto the isolated landing platform. The sky still looked strange to her, and the ground was just as alien as it was the first time she'd stepped onto an actual planet several years prior after the Flotilla was destroyed. She still never felt truly at ease here. Most people couldn't stand being cooped up on a starship for too long, but she felt most at ease there. It was natural. It was familiar. It was comforting. Everything this place wasn't.

Kaira moved swiftly down several levels to the bazaar she'd heard about. Small stalls, built directly into slots in the passageway, lined either side of her. Aliens of every conceivable species called out for attention, trying their best to sell off their wares. Nar Shaddaa wasn't a tourist planet. Not down here at least. "Genuine" Kyber Crystals, Black Market Spices, Advanced Weaponry, and Slaves were thrown out as offers just as often as Food, Water, and Trinkets.

One stall in particular caught her attention. A large pile of scraps sat to one side as a Duros in an old flight suit combed through it, sorting the parts by their value on the table in front of him. Some of the pieces looked to be in decent condition, and her own supply of spare parts was running low. So, as casually as she could be considering the location, she moved over to look at the inventory.

Not bad. Not bad at all.

[member="Kalen Genet"]

 

[Kalen Genet]

I hate Nar Shaddaa.

And yet, for a person who hated Nar Shaddaa, Kalen found himself on the planet far too often. He'd had to drop down on the planet to hide for a while after his last spice run; he'd gotten stuck in the middle of a group of pirates who thought that messing with an honest smuggler's livelihood was more fun than hitting up pleasure cruisers for extra credits. It wasn't as terrible as it could be - after all, the spice was laced anyways, and those pirates weren't likely to last long if they used it, which Kalen was sure they would - but he knew that if he made his face known anywhere the people who had contracted him would be more than happy to hunt him down. So he made sure to disappear into the crowds on Nar Shaddaa for a while, hide his ship, change the transponder codes, all the usual sorts of practices. He was also making sure to roam around with his heaviest pair of blaster pistols and enough ammunition concealed between his cloak and the rest of his clothing to arm a small militia.

In boredom, he found himself roaming around a bazaar on one of the lower levels of the planetary metropolis, keenly eyeing the wares. One of the vendors he knew fairly well - not in a good way - was a Duros, sorting out used parts. Somewhat surprisingly, he also noticed a fully armoured Mandalorian who was browsing at the exact stall, who didn't appear to recognize the issue with the vendor's parts. He was still distinctly disinclined to deal with the Mandalorian Empire - change in leadership notwithstanding - but he'd be doing a disservice to his heritage to let another Mandalorian get duped by the vendor in front of him. So, ready to activate his point defense gauntlet at a moment's notice, he walked up and tapped the warrior on the shoulder.

"Ulyc, vod," he muttered, just loud enough for the helmet to pick it up and make sure it was heard and understood. "Kaysh emuuri jahatiir bal chakur." He grabbed the part that she had in her hand, tapping it lightly on a certain spot, from which came an unsettling rattle in the part. One that definitely shouldn't be there. "Diryc waadas," he said, tapping it again, before nodding his head towards the Duros. "Diryc oya. Chakaaryc. Tion suvarir?" It was at that point he felt eyes on him, and looked over. The Duros had, unfortunately, recognized him.

And had a commlink in hand.

"Osik."

[member="Kaira Eyeris"]

 

[Kaira Eyeris]

"Osik."

Osik indeed. As in, the part she had only moments ago been inspecting was complete Osik. Something she should have known, but hadn't. If it that had gone into her ship, the part would have cracked like an egg, causing the Hyperdrive to blow out moments after entering hyperspace. Violently.

And that meant this merchant was officially fair game.

"Vor entye, vod. Ni liser atini teh olar." Kaira took the piece back from the man. It had a bit of heft to it, with a connecting piece on one end and a heavy metal protrusion on the other. This would work nicely. With force, she jabbed the Duros twice in the stomach with the blunt end of the piece, then pulled the now doubled over merchant across his stall and down to the ground, spilling his phony items throughout the aisle. With a satisfying crack, she swung the piece down onto the prone man, breaking it in half on his skull, killing him. Usually, she would have felt some remorse at being forced to kill a civilian. But attempted murder made it all slightly more satisfying.

Of course, brawls happened all the time down here. Which meant lots of patrons itching to get involved. Out of the corner of her eye, a Wookie punched a human in the face, and a Gamorrean threw a piece of furniture at a Rhodian. With that, an all out brawl started in the cramped corridors of the bazaar.

At least until the Duros's gang friends dropped onto the scene. Most of the participants of the fight quickly scattered as blaster bolts flew over the crowd. Unfortunately for them, they had a vested interest in not letting the two Mandalorians do the same.

"Ke hukaati." Kaira said, defaulting to Mando'a, as she pulled the now clean table over to provide some sort of protection from the incoming onslaught.

[member="Kalen Genet"]

 

[Kalen Genet]

Kalen was moderately impressed at how easily and quickly the warrior took out the junk dealer. He personally would've preferred things a slightly different way - after all, it only meant that another person would show up to take his place - but it was still impressive. Quick and easy. Clean was a more relative term, though; the blood and brain matter leaking out of the large crack in the Duros skull wasn't very clean, but it was done in one strike, which did fit a definition of clean. Unfortunately, the dealer had recognized him, and called him in to somebody who wanted him. Kalen knew enough Huttese to recognize what the Duros had said.

The brawl that started up behind them gave him some time to try and disappear into the mess. He'd finished up with the Mandalorian next to him, she looked like she could deal well enough with a brawl, so he had decided it was time for him to disappear. Unfortunately - just as he began to do so - his exact former employers rounded the corner, blasters in hand. "Osik," he growled again, before jumping behind the table right as the warrior next to him said to cover. He didn't need to be told twice.

He whipped out both of his blasters, peeking out just over the top of the table and nailing a Selkath holding a large slugthrower right in the chest. Almost instantly, a sickening smell, much like that of heavily burnt fish, started to waft in their direction. "Bewnurries," he growled as he ducked back down beside Kaira. "Spice dealers with delusions of grandeur, figured they'd try and play the assassination game with one of the people they ship to, sending laced goods. When I got cornered by pirates and had to drop the shipment - " he grimaced a shot burned through the table finally, coming perilously close to his ear, " - They were unwilling to listen to my explanations and wouldn't let me talk my way out of it at all." He stuck the barrel of one of his LPD-11s through the hole next to him, firing off wildly; a screech of pain and a hard thump let him know that he'd managed to hit a Rodian with it.

The Bewnurri gang had to be one of the worst he'd ever agreed to work for.

He was about to suggest they throw the table at the gang members and then make a break for it down a back alley, when a bolt busted through the metal table at another spot and grazed one of his legs. He cursed again, before speaking. "I'll provide covering fire, you throw this table at those idiots, and then we'll both run down the alley and hope we can lose them," he commanded, before jumping to his feet quickly, one blaster in each hand. Each was down a shot, which still left him with forty-eight individual rounds for covering fire. That works. The targeting laser of his right side blaster focused on the knee of a Devaronian member of the kill team, who was reloading his blaster and looked quite surprised. Surprise turned into pain once a blaster bolt stuck his knee, and pain turned into nothing with the bolt that came right after that. Far too slow reactions; stop sampling your own product, people!

[member="Kaira Eyeris"]

 

[Kaira Eyeris]

Un-slinging the rifle from its place across her back, Kaira dropped the barrel to the top of the table and began firing down range at the incoming force of gangsters and thugs. The three round bursts tore into several of the incoming mob, but there were just too many of them. Already, blaster fire whizzed around them, eating away at their cover and forcing her to drop back into the relative safety of the metal slab. The man beside her nailed a Selkath, and she popped out of cover to deliver a burst to a human taking aim at her. The scream as he went down echoed through the rapidly filling hallways of the Bazaar.

"Less talking, more shooting." She said as he delivered the exposition necessary to understand who exactly got them into this position. Still, her death would be a certainty if he hadn't warned her about the now deceased junk dealer lying behind them, so it was only fair that they fought the gangsters as a team. Another barrage of blaster bolts impacted on their cover, finally melting through the surface at points and opening themselves to fire. One bolt hit hard along her back plate, briefly knocking the wind out of her. They needed an exit strategy, and they needed it fast. Fortunately, her new ally provided just what they needed. Although... she had an idea.

It wasn't necessarily a change to the plan. More like an augmentation. She never left her ship without a full set of salvaging tools. A plasma torch, data spikes, basic toolkit, portable scanner, and, most importantly, detpacks. The small shaped charges were designed to knock holes in the hulls of starships, and would prove very satisfying if used against 'wet' targets.

As the man stood up, giving her the required covering fire, she slapped one of the small explosive packs onto the back of the table, the adhesive tabs hissing as they bonded to the metal. Wrapping her arms around the table legs on either side, she lifted the piece of furniture up and threw it in a single motion.

They needed to move away. With haste.

"Run!" Turning away from the gangsters, she made haste into the alley the man had designated as their escape. She didn't check if he was behind her, but she knew he would be.

Less than five seconds after throwing the table, she clicked the small red button on the detonator attached to her belt.