Where we will, we'll roam. [Xian]

[Blackthorne]

The Queen and her tribe,​

stole the beasts from the sky,​

and bound them in their bones,​

​

the stars be ours,​

and by the power,​

where we will, we'll roam.​

The Harrowbane sat still and quiet, naught but the tune of its Captain gently lilting through the bridge. Around them sat the endless expanse of space, an empty layline between backwater worlds. A barren lane rarely traveled but by those who knew them well. This was not a safe place to be; with asteroids gliding off in the nether, dancing around a sun that teetered on the brink of breakdown. There was nothing out here but the bleak and the cold and a swarm of mynocks awaiting the unsuspecting for straying too long, too far.

"Nothing yet, Captain," Kiin reported from the woman's left, sitting at the systems console.

The Captain remained at her station, comfortably seated in her chair, green eyes affixed to the dark horizon through the viewport.

Yo ho, haul together,​

fly the colors nigh,​

heave-ho, thieves and beggars-​

"I've got something, Captain. A small frigate just drop from hyperspace off the port bow."

A tug on her heartstrings, a sizzle in her blood. The Captain donned a righteous, deviled grin, "Take it."

"Aye Captain."

With a roar of engines the Harrowbane tore off, picking up speed like a drexl out of Chaos to overtake the smaller freighter. A set of boardin' harpoons speared their prey, releasing into the small ship plumes of colorless, odorless coma gas.

Never shall we die.​

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Blackthorne"]

"Captain, we got a problem." Even without physically raising his voice the Umbaran helmsman had the distinct ability to be screaming into the deck and be able to silence everyone with five words. The Twi'lek ignored it, instead walking up to the viewport and observing calmly as the Harrowbane was looming over them with its dark presence.

"Alliance?"

They were close to the border after all.

"No, IDs don't match anything we got in our systems." Xian frowned, before shaking his head. Didn't matter now. "Turn us around, if we are fast enough we can-"

The shook of impact caused him to crash against one of the terminals.

"Harpoons!" One of the newbies screamed as sensors picked up translucent gas pouring into the corridors.

"Get your gorram masks out, swords up, gents." The slaver shouted against the rising tide of panic. "They want us? They can come and get us." He didn't wait for cheers or anything else. A leader fought by example, he didn't wait for a mob to stand at his shoulders... he would raise his sword with or without support.

 

[Blackthorne]

The Harrowbane reeled in its quarry and filled the contents with swarms of pirates. A myriad grouping of Rattataki warriors, ex Mercs, and heathens ready for blood. Beasts and killers, monsters and thieves overtook the small crew of a dozen slavers men and rounded them up, bloody but breathing. Those who were not occupied by the foray slipped into the various chambers of the smaller frigate, pilfering anything and everything worth value. It would be stripped bare in less than an hour.

Last to emerge within the ship, the Captain strode in wordlessly, exuding an air of disdain.

Slavers.

Worlds and years away a deep disliking for that particular criminal offense had seeded and took root. Now, lightyears away, she learned that some things really did stay the same. Unfortunate for the crew.

"Where is your Captain?" the gleam of a gauntlet caught in the flare of crimson emergency lights. Blackthorne's voice sounded over klaxons and systems warnings, electric through the rebreather hidden beneath the plated cowl. The first man would not divest information and the rest of them watched as the will and ability to divest anything ever again slowly left his body, claimed by the angry glow of the armored gauntlet on her right hand.

"The bridge!" yelled one of the men, sputtering hopelessly against the strength of a brute holding him in place, "He's in the bridge!"

The Pirate scowled, stepping over the dead body towards the one who dared speak, gazing upon him with biting disgust, "You sorry coward."

A whimper, the flare of terror in the whites of eyes, "But - but I told you!"

"You told me nothing," the gauntlet lifted to his face, searing a handprint over flesh. His scream echoed beyond the sirens until it echoed no more.

It was not long before there were no more left to question. Not that questions had been forthcoming. This was a small ship and there were only so many places left to hide that her crew had not already torn apart.

"To the bridge."

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Blackthorne"]

"Back to the bridge! Retreat!" One of the men shouted as more of theirs fell to the onslaught of the pirates swarming their decks. They didn't get it yet, Xian thought, this wasn't a fight for survival. From the moment he saw that frigate looming over them the Twi'lek had known the game was up. Somehow, somewhere he had karked something up.

Few knew of this route... yet here they were lying in wait.

Someone had betrayed him and the only regret Xian had was that he wouldn't be able to repay it with a sword sticking out of a throat.

Somehow they managed to pull him back into the bridge, shutting the reinforced bilities while pushing him and his tide of curses back. Xian settled down once the thirst for the fight eased once adrenaline was better shifted around his body.

"What are we going to do, Cap??" He was asked as the doors suddnely started hissing.

They were cutting their way in.

"Kill." Xian responded to wide eyes and curses. "Take as many as you can take with you."

His eyes were in the door, tongue already licking his lips in anticipation. The tide inside was threatening to choke him, but Xian kept himself focused. This was the day he died. Yet it would happen on his terms, with as much blood on his skin as possible.

 

[Blackthorne]

"Blast doors are sealed, Captain. I'll send for the torch-"

"Don't bother," Blackthorne snarled, shoving the massive alien aside and reaching for a hilt at her hip.

SNAP HISSSSSSSSS

Several of the crew nearest the door flinched and quickly backed away as the white blade sizzled through ozone. Even the pirates were leery of that weapon - it wasn't brought out to play very often but it always left behind a wake of destruction. With a single fluid motion the Captain plunged it into the door and began cutting. Frigate blast doors weren't thick enough to stop a lightsaber.

Molten red spread across the seams from the other side as the tip of the blade peeked through, carving a large circle. The process was likely painfully slow for those on the receiving side, knowing the fate about to befall them, but by the time a massive oval had been cut and pushed through, nothing stood on the other side of the door.

Something small and metallic flew in from the darkness beyond, bouncing off a console and rolling across the floor.

Flashbomb.

FWOOOM.

The pirates piled in, taking the brunt of oncoming blaster fire shot into the dark. The last to emerge through the gaping hole was the Captain, wielding a sword that deflected bolts and permeated the premise with an overwhelming onus of dread. Her movements were agile, calculative, and made with the precision of someone who seemed to know where the next shot or strike would hit seconds before it did. She was fast and making her way towards the striped twi'lek towards the center of the room.

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Blackthorne"]

Give him five good men and he could take a planet.

All Xian had were these lads though. Not bad sorts, steady for the most part, reliable, knew how to handle themselves in a fight alright. But they weren't his men, not yet. It took more than a couple of successful raids and some nights with booze to get that sort of bond.

He was a bulwark during the fight.

Whenever his arm rose, a pirate fell and the line was held, but Xian knew his death when he saw it. A lightsaber meant one of those karking magicians. The sheer numbers? Meant they weren't fighting for their life.

They were fighting for a worthy death.

Then the leader lunged for him. Time slowed as the blade slashed too fast and Xian could barely keep up, stumbling backwards a fraction. But now Xian was focused. The pirates gave them space and he smirked, while the adrenaline flood his veins.

This was going to get interesting.

 

[Blackthorne]

The lunge missed purposefully - it was not a strike meant to maim but to garner attention. Dance with me, it said as the blade cleaved through the air, narrowly missing a major vein and slicing a trench into the floor. The twi'lek squared himself, the Pirate smirked behind her cowl. The Truesword rang greedily across durasteel as all eyes moved to the two at the center, its gleam like the eye of a starved and heathenous beast, its tune steadily rising like a soundless tone in the air. Feed.

Pirate obliged and swung it to the side, guiding the blade through the air like a javelin to sink through the chest of a slaver crewman and spear him to a nearby console. He didn't even gasp.

No blood welled from either the entry or exit wound.

Bladeless, the Captain turned to face her quarry and with zero regard for the obvious reach of his arm stepped forward towards him. The smirk on his face broadened at the challenge and she watched him over her slow steps discard his own sword for a fighter's poise; hands leveled at his middle, palms slightly open, waiting for her first move. He blinked and the Pirate was at his front, ramming an armored fist into his gut with the power of a freight train. A ghostly trail followed the movements of a woman born with natural, super-human speed and strength, now employing the use of the Force to bolster it.

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Blackthorne"]

Xian blinked.

Then pain erupted in his gut as the punch connected firmly with him, but this wasn't his first rodeo. No time to wonder how it wasn't supposed to go like this, that things had to go differently. Right now there was only reality... the reality this schutta was immensely fast.

Karking magicians.

He stepped back, creating pseudo space for Thorne to occupy. He figured that it would suggest he was trying to get time, but as the ghost blurred once more in the span of another blink Xian was ready. Once more a punch impacted with him - side, rib bones groaning against the pressure exerted. In the meantime the Twi'lek went for a hook himself.

Get to the ribs, hit hard and distract.

Best way to handle these karking magicians.

 

[Blackthorne]

The cut was met with another blur, the ghost of the Pirate twisting to catch his fist in the palm of her crushgaunt and squeezing. A blink later and she had the twi'lek by the arm, swinging his much taller and bulkier self forward and over her shoulder. He met the floor with such impact and force that it left a curiously shaped indentation.

The crushgaunt did not relent but the other hand had him by a lekku - those wonderful, sensitive headtails - and hauled him backwards into her grasp.

"Try not to moan," the Pirate hissed at the man from behind, voice metallic through her rebreather, "you'll give it away."

Knee to his back she shoved him forward, releasing, and kicked him squarely in the back across the bridge.

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Blackthorne"]

Face distorted in surprise when those words bounced back to him.

Sometimes Xian still thought about that insane... crazy... delicious girl left on that station. Each day a little less, because that was distance for you. He pushed himself up, getting back up to his feet as the lekku burned and the rest of his body whined.

"Didn't realize we at the "dropping bodies during foreplay" stage, Thorne." Xian retorted as he turned around to look at her.

Then at her crew.

Better than his... well, was anyway.

"We gonna get close and dirty next?"

 

[Blackthorne]

"One step at a time, Krayt," the woman's voice sneered through her cowl, "no witnesses...unless you have a compelling story to save any of them."

"They were dead the moment they gave up their will to fight and cowed like dogs for the slaughter."

Thorne's eyes narrowed within the shadow of her hood, pleased he'd not lost his ruthless nature. She had plans for that unruly streak of his. A look to her right and the large Rattataki warrior presently holding one of his crewmembers was all the gesture needed. The sounds of three dying men filled the cabin.

"Must be disappointing," said the woman while moving to retrieve her sword from where it stuck, sucking the remaining blood from its victim, "when a crew won't fight as hard as its Captain. I wouldn't know how that feels."

"I am used to it to. Few fight as hard as I do." No arrogance, no humility. Just a fact as his ribs burned against his skin. Head tilted though. Eyes curious. "There are easier ways to set up a date, you know that, right?"

She turned to face him, the sound of metal ringing along scabbard as she sheathed that heinous weapon. The air within the bridge suddenly no longer choked the occupants with malicious intent. A pointed stare was given to him and Thorne spread her arms unapologetically, "Pirate," she looked him up and down before glancing to his fallen crew, "you're in the wrong line of work, mate."

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Blackthorne"]

He looked at her then.

Not just pirate.

No, there had been clear distaste there and Xian wondered if it had to do with her short captivity. Maybe that made it personal for her or maybe something else was playing. The point was- "That so?" He didn't seem all that impressed.

Slaving was all he knew.

Started as a slave, killed his master, took control of the crew, kept himself busy ever since. There wasn't much else to his skill than that.

"You offering me a job then, 'Cap?" Was meant as humor. Part of him still thought she was eyeing to kill him dead. Just stretching out the game... She liked to play after all. Maybe she was blaming him for something that had happened.

Thorne took two steps towards the man, gazed narrowed and fingers still clutched firmly around the pommel of her sword, "Will you fight as hard as I do or will you die a dog for the slaughter?" That prompted him to spit to the side. Blood gave off and copper remained in his mouth.

"Reckon I will fight harder." Sharp teeth flashed stained crimson. "Fighting just as hard got my arse kicked after all."

 

[Blackthorne]

"You've lost a ship and crew today," Thorne eyed him a moment longer, smile gone from her gaze, "but you gained a Captain. Welcome aboard the Crew of the Harrowbane, Krayt."

~~~

Harrowbane bridge, overlooking the remnants of the frigate, Captain Blackthorne stood before the viewport flexing her left hand.

"Captain, orders for the frigate? Salvage?" Kiin sat at the Captain's chair, her second in command on the ship now partially hidden behind the multitude of holographic screens surrounding him.

"Destroy it." It wasn't worth the effort of salvage and they'd taken everything of value from within. There was but one last item of interest for her and the Captain mulled over what to do with it while creating an orb of flames in her hand.

"With pleasure," Kiin replied, "fire away Telsa."

"Set course for the Cove," Thorne spoke as she turned to face Xian who presently awaited his own designation towards the back of the bridge, "Krayt, with me." Striding past him, the Captain entered the lift and waited for him to join her. In the background the Slaver's ship crumbled under the onslaught of laser canon fire.

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Blackthorne"]

For a moment Xian looked on as his frigate was being shot to hell.

Impassive expression for a man who just lost practically everything. Then he turned around, following the 'Cap into the lift. The doors slid shut and it left them in an awkward silence. "Didn't realize you wanted me on your team this badly, Thorne."

The Twi'lek responded to the silence quietly, eyes on the thin slid of light that popped up every time they passed a deck.

"That was a small fortune you blew up just there." Xian looked over to her. "Cost me a lot to buy that."

Wasn't about the money, the ship or the crew. Thorne would know that, because in that one week he had shown her more of himself than most people ever got to see. No, it was about his freedom. This was already starting to chafe.

And a slave who had murdered his way to freedom? Difficult to just give that up again.

 

[Blackthorne]

If it was awkward at all Blackthorne could not tell. She busied herself with removing the hood and plated cowl, breathing deeply the fresh air of ... filtered ship oxygen. Well, it was better than the rebreather, that was for certain. Armored fingers continued moving deftly across her torso, unbuckling and unhinging plated pieces of leather and material. The woman briefly glanced at the twi'lek out of the corner of her eye, giving an indignant snort in reply.

"Are you comparing me to a Slaver, Valart? Don't be silly," the woman sniffed as she released the lashings of the leather gauntlet on her left hand, "I pay my crew and we do rather well for ourselves. You'll be able to buy a new frigate and crew in a fortnight, though I recommend you raise your standards on hired help next time."

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Blackthorne"]

Some of the tension disappeared out of his shoulders.

Not all of it.

But enough that he stopped thinking of desperate measures. Xian didn't fear death, but the collar? It was a constant nightmare at the edge of his vision. Not close enough to recoil, but enough to always be conscious of it at the very least.

"Prefer to train em myself. They woulda been ready in another raid or three." Barely defensively. It had been a numerical disadvantage, a lack of cohesion and experience only made it worse.

Nothing to feel bad about.

"I am one of em, Thorne, sold and bought more flesh than most. Raided even more. Why leave me alive, if you dislike our kind this much."

Once he had been a victim of it.

But Xian didn't have any illusions, that didn't make what he did right. Might even make it worse.

 

[Blackthorne]

"Won't need to train a crew hired on from where we're going," the lift stopped and opened to a receiving and conference area. The room was dark and, though furnished, didn't look like it saw much use. It was there for posterity and mostly to put some space between the lift and her private chambers. She strode across the length of the room, bypassing a long committee table for another set of doors across the way.

"You might be one of them," the Captain continued as the doors hissed open to permit them through, "but you're better than them. Better than all of that."

She shed the first gauntlet, her cowl, the second gauntlet, the outer bodice layer of her armor, utility belts and weapon strappings. The lot of them were cast at the foot of a mannequin presently dressed in several unused layers, the sword was maintained within its scabbard and taken to a wooden case across the room and sealed away beneath lock and key.

Moved next to a tall wooden case and bar, bottles gleaming behind glass doors. Two glasses produced, she poured him a measure of Whyrens and a serving of dark, murky wine for herself. Crossing the room to stand before the man, Captain offered Slaver his drink, "You're smarter than them. Sharper. More driven, ruthless, cunning," green eyes watched him over the rim of her glass as she lifted to take a sip, "you spent a week helping me. Let me return the favor. I promise you won't regret it."

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Blackthorne"]

There was only doubt at her words.

He was better.

But that didn't make him better.

It just meant that at the end of the day he was more competent than them. After all, they were all dead... and here he was, still alive, if bruised and probably with a few ribs cracked. He could breathe without dropping down to the ground and curling up, so that was good. Xian took the glass, watching her over the rim as she took a sip and weighed her words. There was an offer there- one that concerned the Twi'lek, because he wondered if she realized just what she was offering him.

It was huge.

And she was bringing it like a little repayment of favors already paid. "Maybe." The slaver responded before taking a sip, brows raising a fraction in appreciation followed by a pleasant nod of thanks. "The payday you got me back there made us square, Thorne."

"Not saying no- just wondering why you going through this trouble for someone like me. Lots of good smart killers in the 'verse." And not all of them had the additional baggage of being a slaver, something she obviously hated. Xian was looking for the angle, any angle, so this would make sense to him. She was going through an awful lot of trouble for him. In the world that Xian lived in that didn't just happen.

Always another angle.

 

[Blackthorne]

"Not with an ass like that, there isn't."

The casual come-on sounded over the woman's shoulder as she strode lazily across the expansive studio setting condo towards the lounge area. Pirate dropped herself into the center of the couch and propped her feet up on the coffee table, kicking one boot off at a time.

"I'm glad my selling fee was good for you, but this isn't about being square," the woman closed her eyes, rubbing at them gently before taking another slow drink from her glass. These deep space journeys were always a chore and the longer they stayed abroad the more her cabin fever got to her. If she didn't get her feet on solid ground and her skin some sun - Blackthorne blinked, studying the color of her left hand (it was pale) - she was liable to start offing her crew just for kicks.

"Give me a month. You don't like what you see, I'll buy you a pretty little frigate complete with a crew and you can be on your way, back to the doldrums of scrounging for every inch of life with every pound of flesh you can wring out of the backwater corners."

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Blackthorne"]

"Keep this up and I might dance for ya." Xian responded with a smirk of his own, breaking through the gloom and letting it go for now. He took another sip, humming in contentment, before following along as they waltzed into the lounge. He settled himself heavily next to her. The shift in muscles under skin and grating against bones caused him to groan softly.

Before gritting his teeth and taking a more firm pull from the glass.

"I am here, ain't I? Got me for a month." Words came drifting towards her, as he took the weight of his side and looked at her, she seemed... tense.

"You feeling okay?"

Didn't seem like it.