Mercenary Crew: Bounty Hunters

[Quist]

Arelyn wrinkled her nose as she considered the newest developments. She didn't have the luxury of knowing the whole crew, especially their increasingly eccentric captain, for very long, so it was pretty hard on her to accept this latest turn of events. However, the situation had seemed to have resolved itself without violence, so she was blessedly thankful for that. Still, she had to admit to herself that the circumstances were still exceedingly weird.

 

Re-sheathing her vibroblades, she glanced over at Alec. "So where do we go from here, Captain?" she asked, looking both him and the Jedi over.

[starmark2k]

At hearing his gunners question he looked down at his watch. “We better get off this rock before something else bad happens.” Alec explained picking up his gear. “If we leave now and head straight to the Colony without stopping we should hit it before nightfall.”

 

With that a loud clank could be head in the distance quickly followed by a large explosion that sent an old gunship flying in to the sky crashing near the group. “I had to open my mouth.” Alec exclaimed realising tempting fate was not the best idea in a galaxy full of the force. He looked in the direction of the explosion but couldn’t see for all the smoke in the Hanger.

 

“You should have killed me when you had the chance Tannis.” A voice said, which Alec recognised to be the Leader of the Bounty hunters they met in the Cave. “Now hand over the Jedi and we may make this quick.”

 

Without a moments hesitation Alec ripped both pistols out his holsters and began to fire in the direction the voices came from. In an inevitable repercussion the rival bounty hunters began to fire towards the crew and it’s companions, obviously the smoke was hindering their ability to see as well. Son’Ti Took out her saber that glowed a golden yellow much like the suns of Tatooine, she began to deflect blaster bolts back at those who wished to take the price on her head.

[Corinthian]

Kadis had been on edge ever since he had holstered his blaster. Well, actually, ever since the Jedi had mind-zonked him. When the explosion went off, his reflexes jolted, dropping him behind a crate. He jerked his blaster out of it's holster and came up firing at the red bolts streaming out of the smoke-filled shadows. One of the hostiles began fanning their fire over to him. He dropped behind his crate, shifting uncomfortably as it got warmer behind him.

 

"Budget cargo containers. Sloppy." He winced and shifted. They either had a good eye, or one of them had some kind of sensory equipment. It didn't really matter. The container should hold them. Well, hopefully.

[JasraLantill]

The first blaster bolt had only just fired, when Jyot ducked and dove for cover, taking Ellie with him, behind a cluster of large engine parts that were piled nearby the door to the workshop.

 

"I hate this part of the job," he complained, as he hurriedly took out his grenades. "Here," he said, shoving an adhesive grenade into Ellie's hand.

 

In his own, he packed a cryo one--not powerful enough to be lethal, but powerful enough to make a significant ice ball in the middle of the hanger.

 

He threw it right where the leader of the bounty hunters was standing. "Ice in the hole!" he yelled out, knowing that Latch, if he heard him, would be rolling his eyes. If the grenade hit its mark, the bounty hunter would be glued to the spot. If not, Jyot hoped he would move into someone's line of fire.

[Rogue Nine]

How did we not detect them? Latch thought to himself as he dove for cover behind a durasteel cargo container. The smoke inside the hangar really hindered his view, but at least their assailants couldn't get a good read on any of them. He glanced around, making sure that each of his companions were safe before readying his rifle. Quickly snapping off the grenade attachment, he raised himself so that he was just peering over the top of the container. Flicking his scope over a few vision modes, he settled on biothermal view. Almost instantly, everything became clearer. The rival bounty hunters had somehow snuck up behind them and positioned themselves to ambush the Scimitar crew.

 

Of course, given how they'd blown their cover so fast was an indication that they were not very experienced as bounty hunters just yet. Pretty fortunate, Latch mused as he settled his target reticle over a hunched form outlined in green. Just as he was about to shoot, he overheard Jyot yell, "Ice in the hole!" before lobbing a grenade at their enemies.

 

Latch snorted and squeezed the trigger.

[ForceFightWMe12]

Ellie let out a completely involuntary squeak as she was grabbed and dragged behind a collection of junk parts with such force, that she overbalanced and landed flat on her bottom when they stopped moving. She landed with an 'oomph' and sent a quick glare in Jyot's direction. He had quite possibly saved her life - but even so. He could've done it with a little more grace. Then again...beggars can't be choosers.

 

She looked at the grenade he'd shoved in her hand with a slight bit of surprise. She hadn't actually used one of these things before - they had never used grenades on her older crew...but damn had she been wanting to try. "Ice in the hole!"

 

With a nearly-demonistic look on her face and a smirk on her lips, she shifted to her knees and quickly followed Jyot's example. "Heads up!" she called over the sounds of the gun fire, and lobbed the grenade over the heads of the crew towards the source of the retaliation fire. As she fell back to a kneeling position behind the machinery with Jyot, she adjusted her glove and flipped the safety on her blaster. "How the hell did they find us?" she asked - as if he would know the answer - and peered over the edge of their cover to begin firing almost blindly into the smoke left behind from the explosions of their grenades.

[Writer]

Raelyn was moving almost before anyone else, and she dragged Colin with her. For his part, Colin was rather used to being dragged about by his sister and he didn't complain... and kept his balance fairly well. Once they were safely covered, the strange girl checked her rifle once more, though she already knew what she'd find.

 

"Only one shot," she groaned. "One shot and too many targets."

 

"You don't have to use that shot now," Colin suggested. Raelyn considered this for a moment and then grinned.

 

"Latch said to make it count," she said. "And it'll only count if it's placed right where it ought to be..." She engaged the safety and dropped the rifle into their bag. Once it was safely settled, she withdrew a much smaller rifle and a rather bulky blaster pistol.

 

"Eenie, meenie, miny..." she murmured, glancing from rifle to pistol and back.

 

"No time for it!" Colin exclaimed, tossing one of his strange little vials out into the fray. "It's a flasher, Rae!"

 

"Flasher away!" Raelyn yelled, hoping that the crew remembered the blinding flash the little vial would make. "Three, two, one..." She knew exactly where the vial had landed and just as her count hit one, she dove to her left, gripping her pistol with both hands and bringing her aim on the little vial in the middle of the firefight. She squeezed off three shots, and one of them grazed the vial... but it didn't trigger and Raelyn went sliding out of range behind a nearby gunship.

 

"Kriffing hell!" she swore. "I never miss!" She lay there on her back for half a second before raising her pistol above her head and firing a single shot into the assailant who'd been using the gunship as cover. "See? Never!" She got to her feet and moved around the back of the gunship, looking to take their enemies by surprise from behind.

[starmark2k]

Alec and the Zabrak Jedi dived behind a nearby crate to take cover from the onslaught of weapons fire emanating from all around the back wall of the Gunship Hanger. Each shot fired and explosion echoed in the large room making each seem larger and much worse than it was.

 

Behind the Crate Alec listened in on his comm equipment trying to figure out where all his crew where and their situations. Each person including the recent newcomers were holding their own and fighting well taking down enemies or holding a defence.

 

“We won’t be able to hold here much longer Tannis.” Son’Ti informed as she took a peek around the corner of the crate.

 

“Yeah, I know.” Alec replied as he too looked around the corner, the smoke was setteling and he could make out all the positions of the enemy, they had taken the high ground close to the middle of the room… and right near an exposed fuel line. “Let’s hope that’s full.”

 

“Latch, Arelyn.” Alec said holding the Mic closer to his mouth. “There’s an exposed fuel line 2 degrees left of the enemy position. I’m going to draw their fire, if one of you has a shot blow it… The rest keep your heads down.”

 

Alec jumped up firing both his pistols at the enemy position, his plan worked and the hostiles began to take aim at Him, Blaster fire rained all around him but each shot missed as he continued to fire. A grenade flew down and bounced at his feet before resting there, Time suddenly seemed to slow from Alec’s perspective as he watched the Grenade rest there getting ready to explode.

 

The Jedi dove up from her position in a blur of speed and ran to Alec, Son’ti grabbed him and used all her strength to push him back while she stood over the grenade. All Alec could do was watch as he flew backwards looking at the Jedi, she did not fear her now inevitable face and looked almost serene as the grenade exploded in a burst of plasma.

[Quist]

Arelyn looked over from her perch just in time to see the Jedi fling herself in front of a plasma grenade that had rolled next to Alec. She couldn't pry her eyes away as the grenade exploded, almost assuredly killing the Jedi. Not even the Force could have protected her from such a focused and concussed source of energy. "Sithspit," she swore, turning her attention back to her rifle. Lining up her sights, she picked off another enemy bounty hunter, drilling the alien right in the throat.

 

The enemy crumpled, clearing her line of sight to the fuel line that Alec had indicated. Squeezing the trigger, she sent two bolts screaming towards the line. They both connected within nanoseconds of each other, punching through the metal and into the dormant but still volatile fuel sitting in the line. The cargo bay rocked with the force of the explosion and sent the enemy mercenaries scattering.

[Corinthian]

If these gunships are still operational, we could use their weaponry to our - whoa!

 

The crate slammed into his chest with the force of the explosion, dropping him to his back with it on his legs. He grimaced. It wasn't loaded, fortunately, or it'd have shattered his legs.

 

It still hurt. He glanced around, a little confused. That explosion had come from that side, but the crew wasn't packing any heavy explosives. He shoved it off him and came up. Oh.

 

The gunship he had been considering commandeering was gutted with fire. Pity, it was a good piece of military hardware. He came back up onto his bruised knees and glanced around. All the enemies were either down or too stunned to fight right now to offer much resistance. He panted, glad of the break. He was a pilot, not a blastfighter.

 

He took stock of the crew, glancing from position to position. Then he fell on Captain Tannis, and his knee went out. A cracked and shattered plate of durasteel near where he had been holding his position, and he couldn't find the Jedi. He almost broke cover to move over.

 

No. He's either alive or dead. There still might be enemies watching, waiting for somebody, like me, to break cover. He grabbed his blaster - again, and watched. It was nearly impossible to see, the smoke from the three explosions filled the hangar and made it hard to breathe, but it was better than brooding on what happened to the Captain and the Jedi.

[starmark2k]

Alec got up from where he crashed and looked around at the aftermath of the battle, it looked like a war broke out in this concentrated spot. Debris and bodies littered the hanger and smoke filled the room, as it settled Alec set about the task checking all the fallen bodies for any life, none could be found each and every hostile had been caught in the explosion.

 

The journey back to the Scimitar was made relatively easy thanks to the hostile Mercs having brought a walker transport, as they wouldn’t need it anymore Alec chose to commandeer it. It was obvious emotions of pretty much the whole crew were low, two death and for what, nothing, the Jedi’s body had been completely vaporized by the Plasma Grenade so they couldn’t Prove her death and collect the bounty.

 

After an hour of private prayer in his room to mourn the deaths of all those who had died, including the Jedi and hostile bounty hunters, Alec invited Elle, Kadis and Colin to the bridge.

 

“Look as I’m sure you noticed I’ve lost a Medic, a fighter pilot and since Aly has decided to stay behind and lead salvage of the Republic ship a Ship’s pilot. All three of you meet the qualifications to take those jobs and I know you guys can handle yourselves… You know the risks, you’ve experienced them the past couple of days, so if you guys need a job you got them.” Alec explained turning to Colin. “Your sister can also come, she can handle herself but I want you to keep her in check… Dismissed.”

 

Alec let Colin and Elle leave the bridge to ponder his proposal but Kadis had stayed behindas he already agreed to fly the Scimitar to it’s next location. “One Thing Iceman, Today I ordered you to lower your weapon and you didn’t… Ever disobey one of my orders again and I’ll be claiming that bounty on your head. Follow my orders to the letter and you’re under my protection, no-one will be able to claim it. We clear?”

 

Without waiting for a reply Tannis walked out of the Bridge and into the common room that was currently empty. As he reached the middle he heard whispering coming from behind him like he had on the planet before and turned around to see the Jedi, Son’Ti, standing there as she stood before the grenade exploded.

 

“What the…”

 

End of Part One…