First Reply When The Devil Calls His Due

[Briana Sal-Soren]

Outfit: XoXo | Equipment: Lightsaber, Echo Stone | Tag: ​

It all happened so fast.

One minute she was following up on a cryptic lead concerning her parents dealings from before she was born, leading her to a dilapidated warehouse on the outskirts of a forgotten colony on Kaddak, a trail she’d hoped would unveil connections to a rumored new patron of The New Way —the next she found herself walking into an ambush, bounty hunters lying in wait, eager to cash in on an old vendetta between her parents and some Hutt named Fallo whom they’d double-crossed during a covert operation to try and apprehend some notorious serial killer back in the day. An endeavor that, apparently, had cost the giant slug a sizable fortune.

Now, with her parents gone, the debt had cruelly fallen to their offspring, to the one easiest to reach.

"You should have known better, Briana," She could almost hear her mother’s voice, that typically patronizing tone tinged with disappointment that was only ever directly at her, even as she struggled against the odds stacked so heavily against her.

Blocking out the chiding phantom, Briana mustered what strength she had left in a moment of desperation, using her uninjured shoulder to hurl herself against what she hoped was an exit, the force of her body causing the corroded hinges of the door to screech in protest before finally collapsing, granting her passage into what was instead a vast, desolate space of the warehouses interior.

Her heart sank into the pit of her stomach, but she didn’t have the luxury to dwell long on her disappointment, not with her pursuers hot on her heels; the sounds of their echoing footfalls advancing on her from the corridor she'd narrowly escaped, a stark reminder of her precarious predicament.

Loosing a string of curses under her breath, Briana frantically scanned the room in search of a place to hide before eventually deciding to squeeze herself between a couple of shipping crates and a dusty corner.

Hunkering down, Briana's head fell back against the wall, full lips parting to swallow down large, painful gulps of air—like the first desperate breaths after surfacing from beneath icy water. Trickles of sweat carved paths through the grime on her face as she allowed herself a brief respite before reaching for her comms system, knowing full well the risks. With no time to input the codes for a secure channel, Briana transmitted a distress call through open frequencies, pinging her location to any who were listening—friend or foe alike.

The knowledge that her plea for aid could be intercepted by more than just allies weighed heavily on her mind, but the direness of her situation left no room for hesitation. Without the Force, she was nothing more than a sitting duck.

Clenching her eyes shut in a bid for focus, she turned her attention back to the oppressive force dampening cuff encircling her wrist and pulled, hard.

“Fuuuck!” she whimpered, pain shooting up her arm as she bit her lower lip hard enough to draw blood, a sharp metallic taste bursting onto her tongue from the effort, mixing with the dust and sweat already coating her mouth. For most, that’d be their que to ease up, but Briana bit down even harder, a desperate measure to stifle any sound that might betray her location as she struggled with the device that’d interrupted her connection to the Force.

The cuff clung tightly, unyielding.

Each tug only served to intensify the searing pain that radiated up her arm — a constant, sharp pressure settling into the unnaturally jutting joint of her dislocated shoulder, mocking her quickly fading hope.

It seemed her fate, whether good or bad, would be in the hands of whomever answered that call.

Spoiler

Feel free to join as an old friend, ally, enemy, or even as the hunter chasing Briana.

 

[Lilith Nytehand]

Wearing: Cybernetic Assist Armor

Armed with: Dragons Breath Pistol


Lilith had been in the neighborhood on Kaddak.

Months of trying to understand her situation, and she was still no closer to figuring out just who it was who had altered her so drastically. With her in need of funds, it was inevitable she would start traveling, trying to make money to get by.

Lilith had standards of course. She strictly refused to take criminal jobs, so work was even harder to find than normal. She had been lying dormant in Doctor Stalk until necessary. That necessity had come tonight, as she had been out doing freelance work for a local fuel Baron to track down some bandits harassing his shipments and annihilate their means to do so. She was positive she had finally tracked down their hide out in the warehouse district, perched on one of the roofs in the moonlight, her outrageous level of cybernetics allowing her to listen in on encrypted frequencies, when she intercepted a distress signal in a completely different warehouse. She narrowed it down easy enough, and almost considered ignoring it before her conscience got to her. The thugs could wait. Distress signals don't just happen for no reason. It was unsecured. Whoever had sent it was desperate.

She bound over rooftops with superhuman strength and speed, somersaulting elegantly onto the warehouse roof, quietly ripped open an emergency hatch a hopped down to investigate.

She stopped, seeing a bunch of armed men enter at almost the same time. Her cybernetics in her eyes went active and she spotted Briana Sal-Soren in one of the containers, injured.

They were closing in.

Lilith hopped down from one of the containers, and got their attention.

"Hi everyone!" she called out, instantly dodging the blaster fire that erupted in her direction, pulling her gun out and scoring a headshot as she flipped backward, getting behind cover, and returning fire.