Mercenary Crew: Bounty Hunters

[Corinthian]

Iceman, you're with me.

 

Great. Something to do.

 

"Right, boss." He whispered, moving up behind him, pressing the power switch on his blaster and raising it. He slid up behind the Captain as he took his position with the rifle, then began to whisper a quiet prayer to anything that might be listening. He had never been religious, but now was as good a time as any for divine aid.

[Rogue Nine]

Latch nodded, acknowledging his orders wordlessly, then gestured for the two enigmatic siblings to follow him off to the left side of the hangar bay. There were various cargo containers and starfighter hulls strewn about, making the search for suitable cover blessedly easy. He led them quickly and silently around to a particularly large durasteel bulk container on top of an elevated platform. They hoisted themselves up and crouched behind it, as it gave them a clear view of Jyot approaching the middle of the hangar.

 

The black-haired gunner unshouldered his rifle and immediately began disassembling the barrel configuration. "Raelyn," he said, addressing the odd girl. "Get your rifle set up and trained towards the center of the floor. Don't aim at Jyot, but keep it pointed towards the catwalks just above him." He caught her gaze in his own. "And don't shoot unless I order you to. If I do, make it count."

 

Latch pulled a number of rifle attachments out of his pack, then turned to Colin as he modified his rifle. "Colin, things could get pretty ugly very fast, so I need you to be ready." He snapped the last part onto the muzzle of his rifle, then took out a special shell and loaded it. "This is an adhesive round," he said, holding up the barrel of his gun to show to the siblings. The bulbous pod protruded from the end of the rifle much like a mortar. "Once the Jedi shows herself, I'm going to try and hit her with this at the same time Jyot will try to ice her with his grenades. Hopefully, she won't anticipate anything like that and we can take her without anyone getting hurt."

 

He deployed the rifle's tripod legs and placed it atop the durasteel container. Peering through the tri-light scope, he zeroed in just above Jyot's head. Pressing his comlink, he whispered into it. "Rifles One-One and One-Two in position on the port side. One-One is loaded for non-lethal containment. One-Two is loaded for single-shot dispatch. We are weapons-free."

[Writer]

"Ready for what?" Colin muttered. He could see this situation going two ways. The first was that he might be needed in the attack, and for that, he strapped on his strange harness of 'weapons'. As to the other way he saw this going... he retrieved a smaller black bag from the siblings' larger bag and set it down by his feet.

 

Raelyn looked down at the smaller bag and made a face. "Lookin' to patch someone up, doc?" she whispered. Colin glared at her.

 

"Just aim your rifle," he sighed. With a smirk, Raelyn did just that, aiming as Latch had told her to.

[Quist]

Arelyn moved off to the right side of the hangar bay, sticking close to the walls and using the shadows to conceal any movement. Being a Mistryl, moving stealthily came as second nature to her, but she was impressed with how Ellie and Aly seemed to follow her along. They mirrored her every step, keeping a close eye on her as well as Jyot in the middle of the floor.

 

Coming upon a long durasteel tube, Arelyn motioned for her two companions to take positions to either side of the tube, facing towards the opposite wall. She hoisted herself up onto the top of the tube and quickly set up her sniping perch, deploying her rifle and having it aimed in less than a silent minute. Once she was set-up, she faced both her charges. "Can you please watch for any movement? I'm going to be hovering my sighs around Jyot, but once you see the Jedi or some sort of mechanical defense, alert me and I'll take it out." She glanced towards the blonde Corellian a few dozen meters away. "We wouldn't want to lose our engineer on this rock."

 

"Damn foolhardy nerf herder," Aly muttered as she pulled out her blaster. "Always looking to get himself killed."

 

Arelyn pursed her lips. For someone who professed to hate Jyot as much as Aly seemed to, the Corellian woman seemed exhibit an awful amount of concern for him. Arelyn kept this thought to herself, however. "Rifle Two is in position, loaded for containment and weapons-free on the starboard side," she spoke into her comlink, her voice barely above a whisper.

[starmark2k]

“Jyot we’re all in position.” Alec informed as he looked down his scope. “Do your thing.”

 

Alec continued to watch Jyot through his rifles scope occasionally panning his sights around the mechanic in case the Jedi approached the Corellian from behind. While he waited for a couple of minuets the Captain reached into his pack and took out the small aggressive droid he had stowed in there earlier. The Droid was still desperately powering up it’s repulsorlift but it didn’t do anything but make a low humming noise from the system being overpowered.

 

“Zip Shut that down and activate your motion scanners.” Alec ordered the little droid.

 

“Undesignated bounty Alec Tannis, I feel you are not allowing me to fulfil my full potential.” The droid complained.

 

“Just do it or you’ll only be filling the scrap heap.” Alec Threatened.

 

A few moments passed as the droids motion detection systems kicked in and calibrated the scanners to recognise the crew and the others who had recently joined them.

 

“I am picking up unidentified movement closing in on our six.” The droid informed.

 

Alec looked into his rifle and moved it to point in the direction behind Jyot’s position, Alec couldn’t see anything so zoomed out the scope to get a better view of the area. “What are you talking about? Nothing’s there.”

 

“Not Undesignated Bounty Jyot Tyrell’s Six, Ours.” The droid corrected.

 

“Wha…” Alec began as he turned around and came face to face with a young looking Zabrak women, she wore a robe of the Jedi and looked down at Alec with an emotionless face.

 

The Jedi grabbed Tannis by the collar and threw him back quickly before he could react, he flew back and landed in a small room, an old workshop used to fix components for the Gunships. As Alec crashed against the back wall the Zabrak turned and followed him in entering the room with the captain in and quickly using the force to close the Blast door behind her.

 

Still on the floor Alec reached into both holsters and pulled out his twin blaster pistols ready to fire on his attacker. The Jedi merely waved both her hands throwing the guns in opposite directions and smashing them against he walls.

 

“I did not bring you here to fight, bounty hunter.” The Jedi announced in a surprisingly sweet voice.

 

“Bring me?” Alec asked bewildered.

 

“I’ve been here ten years, do you honestly think I couldn’t remain hidden if I wanted to.” She explained. “I need a way off this planet hence I went to that weak minded Abyssian and got him to contact you, then a few astral projections and whispers led you here.”

 

“Why me?” the Captain asked.

 

“The Force gave me a vision, of you helping me.”

 

“I’m here for the bounty head, not to help you.” Alec argued.

 

“If it’s money you seek I know how to get you more than you can imagine.” The Zabrak tempted.

 

“It ain’t the money.”

 

“No, not with you. If it’s glory I can give you that to.” She said smiling.

[Writer]

Suddenly, Raelyn flinched and her rifle fell out of her hands, clattering atop the cargo container. She staggered back, wide-eyed and open mouthed. Colin looked around at her and concern immediately etched itself on his face as he hissed, "Rae, look out!"

 

But it was too late. She'd reached the edge of the cargo container and continued moving back. With nothing left below her to support her weight, the young woman's balance was lost and she toppled with a startled yelp. Colin winced and glanced over to Latch, murmuring, "So much for keeping quiet..." Then, he crawled over to the edge of the container and looked down.

 

Raelyn was spread-eagled, flat on her back on the floor below, staring with still wide eyes up at her brother.

 

"Hey... Cole..." she wheezed. With a worried frown, Colin stared down at her.

 

"Hey, Rae," he answered. "You alright?"

 

Slowly, Raelyn sat up. "I'm fine... just a little... cushioned the fall with..." She cocked her head. "Captain's not though..."

 

Colin's expression turned stony. "Latch," he said softly. "Call your captain. Tell him to..."

 

"Too late," Raelyn interrupted, standing and hefting herself back up to the top of the container. She crawled across to her rifle, engaged the safety and cupped it under one arm. Then, she stood and walked across to the side of the container facing Jyot and sat with her legs dangling off the edge.

 

"Jedi's got the captain," Raelyn sang softly. Colin glared helplessly at his sister's back and then glanced at Latch.

 

"I'd always hoped otherwise," he said, "but it would appear my sister has nothing of that wonderful thing we call common sense..."

 

"I am not crazy!" Raelyn countered, half-turning to glare at her brother.

 

"Then stop acting like it," Colin shot back. He frowned and looked to Latch again. "Still... just to be safe? Call your captain. Confirm he's alright?"

[Rogue Nine]

What is this girl's malfunction?

 

Latch had been ready to shoot Raelyn himself after she made a gigantic ruckus falling off her perch. Shooting a glare at Colin, he safed his rifle and grabbed his comlink. "Boss, you there? Everything okay?"

[starmark2k]

"Boss, you there? Everything okay?"

 

“Yeah, I found our Jedi, she’s got me locked in a workshop next to the main entrance.” Alec replied to Latch via his comlink before looking back at the Zabrak. “So what is it you offer?”

 

“I’m a consular of the Force, my abilities in foresight were once considered second only to master Yoda himself.” The Jedi began to explain. “Ten years ago, when I was sixteen I had a vision of destruction and death. So I went to see my master who had been on a mission on the Rim when order 66 was engaged. At that point I knew I needed to hide in order to survive long enough to prevents this catastrophe from happening, that day is soon… How would you like to help me save the Universe?”

 

“That’s interesting.” Alec smiled. “So what do I have to do?”

 

“I had a vision two weeks ago, I believe my master is alive and I need to deliver a message to him.” She explained.

[Quist]

“Yeah, I found our Jedi, she’s got me locked in a workshop next to the main entrance.”

 

The second Alec had told the crew his location, Arelyn had her rifle shouldered and was making her way back to the entrance, Ellie and Aly in tow. She pressed her comlink, modulating the frequency slightly. "Jyot," she spoke in a hushed tone. "Let's go, the Jedi has the Captain." The Jedi had indeed laid a trap for them, and their attempt to spring it had not worked out and had ended up with their captain in danger.

 

“I had a vision two weeks ago, I believe my master is alive and I need to deliver a message to him.”

 

By now, Arelyn was close enough to hear the Jedi, a female from the sounds of it, speak in her own voice as the Mistryl silently approached the workshop door. Drawing a pair of vibroblades from a front pocket, she pressed her back to the wall next to the door, listening for Alec's response.

[JasraLantill]

"Jyot," Arelyn spoke in a hushed tone. "Let's go, the Jedi has the Captain."

 

Jyot frowned, then tapped his comlink. Did he hear her right? "Oh. Great. Wonderful. Su-perb." He rolled his eyes, then touched his comlink. "Zip?"

 

There was no answer.

 

"Zip!" Jyot said more urgently, but still trying to keep his voice low.

 

Still, there was no answer.

 

The engineer sighed. "Stupid droi...."

 

"UNDESIGNATED BOUNTY JYOT TYRELL...!" Zip's mechanized voice, at full volume and complete with squelching feedback, began to describe how it had reactivated its repulsorlifts. Jyot winced and yanked out his earpiece.

 

"Kriffin' hell!" Jyot vigorously rubbed his ear, then wheeled around to face the floating droid. "You little piece of...." He stopped himself, suddenly remembering that shouting wasn't going to improve the droid's performance, nor was it assisting the others in being stealthy. "Zip, where's the captain?" he hissed.

 

"Undesignated bounty Alec Tannis is located in the forward maintenance workshop along with our designated bounty 'The Jedi'."

 

Jyot reached into his pocket and removed a small cartridge of tranquilizer darts which he then inserted into a slot on the side of the droid. "There. You're 'armed' now. But if you shoot me with one of those like you did the last time, I swear I'll change the frequency of your voice modulator to project as a falsetto."

 

The droid made a sound that sounded almost like a choking cough. "Understood."

 

"Now let's go get our bounty." Jyot quietly made his way toward where Arelyn was and pressed his back against the wall on the opposite side of the door from her. Ellie and Ali were not far behind her, each taking up positions of cover behind some nearby storage containers.

 

He suddenly realised that, bar Raelyn, he was alone with all the girls. He grinned. "Heh, just the way I like it. Me and the girls," he whispered, then winked at Aerlyn. Then his expression grew more serious. "Erm... you got a plan? Or at least thinking of one?"

[Corinthian]

Kadis Venarm dreamed of stars.

 

That wasn't usual. He usually dreamed about hyperspace, or Brentaal. Gold and red stars weren't high on his list of things to dream, especially not inside a durasteel box.

 

His comlink began to squeal, urging him back to reality. A vague afterimage of a female Zabrak swam before his eyes as he collected himself. The Jedi...

 

He glanced around. The Captain was nowhere to be seen. He rubbed his head as his comlink began to squeal again. He raised it to his ear, catching a few disparate, confused voices nattering. None of it made any sense. He stumbled to his feet, his mind beginning to clear. Then, his jaw dropped. The Jedi had nailed the Captain, probably after putting him down with some kind of force trick. Kadis groaned - whatever she had done, it made his head throb like hell.

 

He keyed his comlink to the Scimitar frequency. "This is..." What the hell was his name? Geez, she certainly scrambled my mind. "...Iceman. I think the Jedi nailed the Captain. What happened while I was out?" He checked his chrono, but the numbers didn't make any sense. He fumbled for his blaster, wrapping his fingers around the cold durasteel grip. It was still powered up, with a near-full charge. That made Kadis feel better for some reason.

 

His mind was starting to clear as he knelt there, the colored blobs that had hovered in front of his eyes slowly disappearing. He wagged his head and looked around, trying to find the bounty hunters. No sign of them, but it was a big hanger bay. He rubbed his temples again, trying to silence the drumbeats behind his eyes, then dialed up the volume on his comlink. Wouldn't do to miss a call because I got distracted...

[Rogue Nine]

"Great," Latch muttered, gathering up his things. "Outfoxed by something that's supposed to be, for all intents and purposes, extinct." He beckoned to the two siblings. "The sooner we get off this kriffin' iceball, the better."

 

They followed the path back to the entrance, moving swiftly. As they rounded the bend, Latch's keen eyes spotted a figure flopped on the ground ahead. Squinting, he discerned the unkempt hair of their newest adoptee. Without breaking stride, Latch came up alongside Kadis and with one swift movement, hauled the man up onto his feet by the back of his collar. "C'mon Iceman, Captain's in trouble."

 

They padded their way over to where Jyot stood next to the closed door of the workshop. "I thought you were supposed to be the bait," Latch chided his friend, coming up alongside the blonde Corellian.

[starmark2k]

The door to the workshop slowly slid open and behind it stood Alec and the Zabrak Jedi, Both stepped forward and looked at the assembled group.

 

“Everybody collect your gear we’re leaving this rock behind.” Alec ordered.

 

“Hold it.” Aly called out. “Shouldn’t we drug her or at least shackle her.”

 

“I would be happy to comply with drugging the bounty.” Zip informed extending it’s dart launcher.

 

“No one’s drugging anyone.” Alec commanded. “She ain’t our Bounty… She’s our fare, to fortune and glory!”

[Corinthian]

A hand jerked Kadis to his feet. He glanced around, finally noticing one of the Corellians hauling him along. Latchlan, that was it. The confusion was finally starting to clear up, and he saw most of the bounty hunters clustered around the door into some mechanic's workshop, probably for working on small-scale craft like speeder bikes.

 

His tongue seemed to be getting back into it's old pattern, too...

 

"Captain, uh, wasn't she your ticket to fortune and glory before? What was the bounty again? A couple million credits, plus the prestige of bagging a Jedi? You sure she didn't scramble your mind?" He brought his blaster up, leveling it at the Zabrak. He wouldn't shoot if the Captain gave him an order, but he was inclined to believe the Jedi hadn't mind warped him.

[Writer]

At the sight of the Jedi, Raelyn gasped and drew back, murmuring something that sounded like, "My mind needs a crutch..." Colin glanced from the Jedi to his sister and back before bending down beside Raelyn.

 

"Rae, it's not the same Jedi, is it?" he asked softly. Raelyn opened one eye to glance at the Jedi, then shut her eye and shook her head. "Then, what are you afraid of?"

 

"The Jedi can invade," she whispered. "I have... I have to stop..."

 

"You don't have to stop anything," the Jedi said, moving to kneel before Raelyn. "I sense your fear. It is without reason. Read my mind, like an open book... Ka... Raelyn, is it?"

 

Slowly, fearfully, Raelyn opened her eyes and they locked with the Jedi's eyes. Raelyn's eyes widened and her fear was replaced with awe and respect.

 

"I..." she stammered. "It... was it a Jedi?"

 

"That you felt aboard your sto... your shuttle?" the Jedi asked. She shook her head. "Unlikely. I am truly sorry you had to feel such pain."

 

"Thank you," Raelyn whispered. The Jedi nodded and stepped back to Alec's side.

[starmark2k]

“Put that down!” Alec demanded stepping forward and looking at Kadis. “You shoot her and you’ll find a hole in your head.”

 

Alec looked over at the Jedi and the siblings listening at the conversation they were having. “So she is a telepath… Explains a lot.” He said at the revelation that the girl he had suspected to be a psychic was one. “Anyway this Jedi is Son’Ti, some kind of Seer, she’s seen a way to our fortune and glory, I intend to follow it through and now all we need to do is deliver a message to another Jedi.”

[Corinthian]

Kadis didn't lower his blaster, but he held his fire. He gave the Captain a look, wishing he hadn't just gotten his own brain scrambled, or that he knew how to tell the difference between gullible and mind scrambled.

 

"Captain, in case you forgot, we, rather, you and your crew were here to stun her and drag her back to Darth Vader. You don't think she might be feeding you a line to spare her own skin? Is there ANY reason we should believe her?"

[Writer]

Raelyn placed herself between Kadis and the Jedi. "Weapon down, Iceman... or perhaps, the captain would like to leave you here," she snapped. "Now, I know I'm in no position to give you orders... I'm just a tagalong like you. But if you wanna shoot the Jedi, you'll have to go through me first." She raised her rifle to her shoulder and aimed at Kadis.

 

"You could shoot me," she said icily, "but you'd still get shot... and my brother could patch us up, but I seriously doubt he's gonna want to if you shoot me." She paused a moment. "It's your choice, Venarm," she challenged.

[Corinthian]

This was very odd. The Jedi wasn't trustworthy, he knew that. Yet that was TWO who had told him to lower his weapon. If the Jedi were messing with their heads, why hadn't she forced him to lower his weapon?Odd...but not compelling.

 

Still, unless he wanted to turn Raelyn and the Captain into steak, he didn't really have a choice. He weighed his choices in his mind. "No. I won't lower my weapon until I get some duracrete reasons why. We came here to drag this Jedi to the Empire. Now we're working with the Jedi? Care to explain why you suddenly went from Bounty Hunter to Hunt Saboteur, Captain? Care to explain why any of us should believe her? Care to explain why YOU believe her, Raelyn?"

 

None of this made any sense. He had heard of Bounties making desperate deals with Bounty Hunters, sometimes even successfully, but only a fool would believe some Zabrak squatting on a backwater iceball for a decade would have anything of value, besides her head.

[Writer]

"I can see inside her head," Raelyn answered. "Even using the Force to blockade your mind is no use against a telepath... or did you miss that little revelation with your half-frozen ears? I trust her more than I trust you... you and your restless trigger finger."

[Corinthian]

"Must have missed it." He tossed out casually. Which was true, he hadn't really been paying attention to Raelyn having another one of her psychotic episodes, too busy watching the Jedi. That tossed a skifter into the deck, a rather nasty one at that - presuming she was telling the truth. The only Telepaths he'd ever heard of were Jedi or their ilk.

 

"Alright, so you trust her. Tell me why I should trust her, or you, for that matter?" This was getting out of hand. She wasn't far wrong about his itchy trigger finger either, the urge to blow the Jedi into hell and finally get his payback was nearly overpowering. You're letting your anger cloud your better judgment. He wasn't sure whether it was his own thought or one of the mindreaders in front of him, but it rang true. He slid his blaster back into it's holster. He sighed.

 

"I hope you're right about this."

[Rogue Nine]

Latch really wasn't quite sure what had just transpired, but he sure as hell knew it was plenty weird. And on this particular trip, that was saying something. Holstering his own weapon, he came up next to Raelyn and pushed her rifle down. "Okay, I dunno what in space is happening right now, but I think we should leave the pointing of guns to myself and Arelyn from now on." He shot both Raelyn and Kadis looks before turning to Alec and the Jedi.

 

She was a Zabrak, with the prominent horns indicative of her species prodtruding through the top of her forehead. Her features were attractive by human standards and she looked surprisingly fit for someone who had allegedly spent the last few years on board a wrecked spaceship. The oddity of the whole situation wasn't lost on Latch, but given how unpredictable his job was, he decided to trust Alec's instincts. After all, there was only one of her and several of them.

 

Taking a step forward, he extended his hand to her. "Lachlan Vax," he said by way of introduction. "If the Captain says it, then you're okay in my book."

[ForceFightWMe12]

Ellie, who had been completely silent and not a small bit anxious about this whole hunt, this whole situation, this Force damned ship that she kept imagining breaking through the ice beneath it, due to the added weight of the crew, and sinking into an underground ravine or ocean or something and drowning them all...was now absolutely bewildered by the exchange that was going on between the Jedi and the rest of the crew. What the hell? Hadn't they just been trying to kill this woman in return for a bounty?

 

Her blaster still held loosely in her hand, the fingers of her other hand fiddled with the hilt of a knife that she had stored in her belt, unsure of how to react to what was going on. Her cat-like eyes were wary as she took in the appearance of the Jedi, and her hand tightened reflexively around the handle of her blaster as Latch stepped closer to the mysterious woman. A female Jedi...she had never seen a Jedi before, let alone a female Jedi. From what she understood, women were just as likely to be Force sensitive and to be trained in the ways of the Force as men, but...even so. It was a bit of a surprise. With Latch's show of confidence in the Jedi, she relaxed ever so slightly, knowing that if Latch's 'bad feeling' wasn't going off, that they were probably safe for the moment. She forced the muscles of her body to relax and stepped closer to the rest of the group, and the Jedi. "So...we're taking her with us, then." she said, nodding slightly before giving a start. She had just said 'we'...as if..."Er - not that I'm part of the crew or...anything." she scratched the back of her head awkwardly. "Y'know..."

[JasraLantill]

Jyot felt like he was watching a nuna ball game, his head turning to and fro as people spoke and Alec decided that their bounty was now their passenger.

 

"Frack me," he quietly muttered under his breath as Latch shook hands with the most beautiful female Zabrak he'd ever seen. Of course, she was the first female Zabrak he had ever seen, but that was beside the point. The point was that she was pretty, she was their passenger, and....

 

"Erm..." Jyot held up his gloved index finger as if to say something, but then lowered it and remained silent.

 

Let me get this straight, he thought to himself. We came here to this ice ball, froze our respective tails off, lost two crew, gained a... He glanced quizzically at Raelyn. He wasn't exactly sure now how to classify her. ... a reader. And all because the Jedi wants a lift from Alec?

 

Then Ellie spoke. "So...we're taking her with us, then." she said, nodding slightly before giving a start. She had just said 'we'...as if..."Er - not that I'm part of the crew or...anything." she scratched the back of her head awkwardly. "Y'know..."

 

"Hey, I do believe we have a couple of recent openings," he whispered discreetly to Ellie. Then he nodded in the direction of Alec, encouraging her to ask if she could join.

[ForceFightWMe12]

She glanced at Jyot as he spoke, a look of faint surprise in her eyes. As the captain for a position? Was he crazy? He had no reason to...well, then again...perhaps he did. She had been able to provide them with transportation, and she had proved herself to be a fairly capable driver as well. Though...had she mentioned that she was a pilot? She couldn't remember...and seeing as they had lost a few of their crew, they would need to be replaced - nevermind how painful it might be.

 

Her eyes flicked from Jyot to the captain to the Jedi and then back to Jyot. "Not now." she hissed in return, looking slightly embarrassed for reasons that not even she could identify. "He's busy. It can wait until we get back to the settlement."