Outer Rim;
Arkanis Sector;
Tatoo System.
<<Xenia, we're approaching the landing bay, and beginning the landing procedure now.>>
She felt the ship lurch ever so slightly as it began to slow in speed, now so close to its destination. The gun sat there, in her hands, but didn't receive an order. The trigger was never pulled, but a slightly shaking finger was pressed against it with every intention of doing so again. But she failed, and adjusted the dial once more, a tiny knob on the gun's side. It was a swift, practiced movement, and it was aimed at the man once more. "
No, just to say," she began as she marched over to the bed, all the while staring directly into the man's eyes. "Just to say I told you so, stubborn
nerf herder," she pressed the gun, hard, into his gut, right about where his belly button would be. Digging it into deep, he managed to get one last comment free, her eyes now ablaze with adrenaline and frustration. "You want me to do this my way? Huh? You want me to do this so that I'm out easy? Sure buddy, suuuuuure." She climbed up onto the bed, one leg raising over the man and coming back down on the other side so that she sat over top his body, leaning over, with the gun pressed against Kail's temple. Showing the gun's panel to him, Xenia allowed him to see that she had reverted the blaster to full power, and again, it fell to his temple. "I hope you know that you're being stupid right now. I've offered you every get out of jail free card I can offer, and you've declined them all, so
this, this is on you."
And she pulled the trigger...
Outer Rim;
Arkanis Sector;
Remote Tatooine.
The ship sunk into the sands, scattering them about. A bright moon was now the only source of light. No buildings lay around them, only massive, oddly shaped stones which rose like gravestones around them. The engines died, and Kinky the droid looked over awaiting further instructions. She didn't really move at first, her face looked strained and distraught. Before her, on the bed, lay the man. A blackened burn streaked across his forehead. Xenia sucked in a breath, and let it exhale before she shrugged herself from the bed, sluggish movements now.
<<Xenia, opening the hatch.>> She nodded, as if the droid could see her, and fumbled to unlock each of the handcuffs around the man. He had been returned to the form of an object. A
heavy object. They came off quickly enough, and she crawled off of him. Kail's still face looked
wrong, not animated by the usual callous scowl and negative pump of emotions. She heard the noise of crude voices from just outside, and she hopped to a standing position, pulling her hair back and holstering her blaster. A sleeve over the forehead to clear any sweat, and she regained composure.
Tap, tap, tap, her feet sounded as she left the room and exited the ship itself. Before her, the 3PO unit spoke with a tan skinned Zabrak, built to the point of monstrosity. With her appearance, all conversation came to an end, and thereafter quickly began anew. In one quick glance, she saw that only one of the four men there had a blaster pistol at his side. Other than that, it was only melee weapons in the form of odd axes and bladed hammers. Brutal weapons in practical use.
"You couldn't have picked a more relevant location," she started things off.
"Like we're the ones pickin' destinations little lady, now where's our guy?"
"In here, but I can't lift him, that's a lot of weight," she pointed into the ship.
"Lift him? He's dead?"
"That
was optional," she argued.
"Yeah... yeah, it's just less pay for you, by a lot."
"I hit him with a stun blast, in the temple. He'll be out for a couple of hours."
Xenia gave the Zabrak a square look and clenched her jaw. A shake of her head said 'whatever' and she moved aside to direct the thugs into her vessel. She would need things to work in a very specific way, starting now. Bringing the men back into the holding cell, they looked on the unmoving man. To someone who didn't know as she did, it would look convincing enough. Not only a blast wound to his leg, bit a large streak of burn across his face where another blaster had struck him, there was little to argue. He was dead, as far as they knew. Only her nimble tricks kept the illusion alive. "So, yes, there he is, move him?" It was a reminder, re activating the thugs into action as they grabbed at Kail's limp appendages. Xenia's lips were victim to her clenched teeth, nervousness rupturing from within her stomach. Even among the four, the task seemed to be difficult enough, and Kail's body lurched back and forth as they drug it from the bed. As a leg fell free, throwing off the weight distribution, Xenia stepped forward and caught the extra weight in her own arms. It was the burnt leg that she held, and then they began to move. Before long, they had hauled the body out and rather recklessly dropped him aboard their own ship. Just, onto the durasteel flooring.
A quick toss, and she had planted a tracking device on the hull of their dirty looking shuttle. When the thugs emerged, the little bounty hunter had words for them. "I was told that two others would be here." The thugs looked at one another, and answered with a round about "You were told
wrong." She nodded, accepting it, and moving on. Her mind was running as fast as it could to keep pace with her surroundings. "So where's he off to then, you think?" She tried, but they shut her down, telling her that she didn't need to know. Her cut of the money was tossed into the sand. A certain heat boiled within her, but she was forced to play her hand. "You always meet out here, like this, with your clients?" One of the thugs turned around, and gave one final response. "Boss is a careful man, it's always like this, has to be, goodbye little lady." And the hatch began to close. Her eyes danced back and forth, and she began pacing her weight from one foot to the other. What did she do, what did she do, what did she do?
"Wait!"
<<Yes, Xenia?>>
"Their boss, the Rodian, he's in charge of Rodia's private sector."
<<Yes, we knew this already.>>
"Yeah, yeah, got it, but that means he can't just up and leave, right?"
<<That would make sense, why?>>
"B-Because... he said that it was always like this, like
this...!!!"
<<A no show?>>
"No,
careful. Even on his home world-- especially on his home world..."
<<What does this mean for us, then?>>
"That means they'll meet those good for nothing Rodians, on Rodia, at some far out location, right?"
<<That is likely, but there's no way to guarantee. Why is this relevant information, we've received the bounty.>>
"Yeah, well, I'm not letting that guy die."
<<Excuse me? Xenia?>>
Outer Rim;
Tyrius System;
Remote Rodia.
It had been hours of elongated stars, and same ol' hyper space. The tracker had indeed led straight to Rodia, where she followed the crew of hulkish men. They arrived on world at around the same time, entering a remote area of the planet. There would be no voice asking for her landing codes here. Not this time. The trick was remaining hidden. Rodia's time, at least here, was not night, like what she had just come from. Instead, the very beginnings of morning were chirping to life on the jungle ridden planet. There was yet hardly any light over the green fields of river and wet land. Her ship touched down with ease, and both Kinky and Xenia left with weapons in hand. She was cautious, and moved quickly, eventually finding where the others were meeting. She saw their bodies in the distance, and motioned for the droid to stop here and set up. A large rifle, some kind of sniper function, was erected into use, aimed at the men in the distance. Pulling her hair back, Xenia walked forth, her fingers gripping at her blaster pistol. Before she had taken many steps, she heard the first blast tear from behind her, whizzing through the air and striking the first thug down. The thug who happened to carry his sidearm. They all turned, and instantly Xenia's presence was known.
Pistol raised, she took quick shots, dispersing of the charging brutes, their primitive weapons raised and poised to cleave into her flesh. But they never made it even close. Each Rodian, however, withdrew a small blaster of their own and began blasting with rapid fire. That same blast as before, and one of them fell to the ground, again, thanks to the female 3PO unit. Spinning for cover, and tossing herself from one side of a tree to the other, she made a well aimed blast for the man's weapon. It missed, and hit his hand, but it was to the same effect. He shrieked and fell to his knees before the oncoming woman. "Where is he?" The Rodian pointed, assuring her that Kail was still inside the same spacecraft. "And your ship, where's your ship?" The Rodian, again, promptly pointed in another direction. With close inspection, she could see a one man starship, floating on repulser-lifts above the soggy ground. With that, she blasted the Rodian straight in the face, and he fell to the ground in a smoking pile, just as the others had. Gun extended outward, she entered the hatch of Kail's new holding cell to find him there, still unconscious. But alive.
Raising her gun, she blasted the single hand cuff which bound him to the bottom end of a chair, forcing him to remain on the ground. The shuttle was still very operational, and would certainly get him anywhere he needed to be within the planet, though she didn't think it'd be able to make it far off world with as much fuel as it had. Heading up to the cockpit of the ill managed shuttle, she activated the holo-net systems. With another few flicks, she had managed to create a recording process which would wait in place until replayed or dismissed entirely. Hitting record, she began. "Yeah, well, it's Xenia here. I did the right thing, I think. The Rodians are dead, so, you dont have to worry about that, and neither do I. Um, sorry about shooting you. This uh, this shuttle is a piece of junk but it'll fly. And, yeah, there's something here for you, for the trouble. Sorry... Kail..." In the chair next to the pilots lay the entire credit loot she would have made on the mission. She didn't need it, and he might. The money paid for his own death, how ironic, now given in the hopes of rebuilding... something. Anything, whatever she could. She wasn't a bad person, just in a bad business.
"See you around... then..."
And with that she got up and left...
[member="Kail Ragnar"]
