Mercenary Crew: Bounty Hunters

[starmark2k]

"That's a truth." Alec replied taking another gulp of his drink, his eyes were then drawn to the Cantina entrance and he noticed the person he actually came to see walk in flanked by a couple of large body guards. Taking another large gulp of his drink to finish it off he then placed the bottle back on the table and stood up. “If you’ll all excuse me I need to see a Cyclops about a Jedi.”

 

Polcyc saw Alec and waved him over to a table in the corner he walking over to with his bodyguards. Alec took a few steps over to Arelyn and tapped her on the shoulder. “Come on, you’re with me, he like Jyot with his eye for pretty women and things’ll go a lot smoother with you by my side.” He then took one step back and lent down so his head was between Latch’s and Jyot’s to whisper. “Keep your hands by your holster, just in case he’s looking for a little payback.”

 

Alec and Arelyn walked over to the table and sat opposite the the Abyssian and his Human cohorts.

 

“<Ahh Mr Tannis it’s so good to be seeing you again.>” Polcyc sarcastically greeted.

 

“let’s Cut the false modesties and get to business.” Alec abruptly said without wasting time. “The Jedi where is he?”

 

“<I don’t know.>”

 

“You better not be kriffing with me.”

 

“<But I do know who does...>” The Cyclops began to bargain. “<For a price.>”

 

“I knew you were up to something.” Alec stated as he quickly drew one of his pistols and aimed it at the centre of Polcyc’s head. “Tell me where the Jedi is or you’ll use eye.”

[Writer]

After Alec left, Raelyn whispered something in Colin's ear. He nodded and said, "I'll make myself scarce. Go for it..."

 

He withdrew, leaving the cantina, and Raelyn drew ever so slightly nearer to the meeting between Alec and Polcyc. For half a second, Polcyc's gaze was distracted by the subtle movements of the young woman, but then, his eye refocused on Alec's pistol and a flurry of thoughts flew through his mind. Raelyn grinned in satisfaction and darted out of the cantina to find the man who knew where the Jedi was. If the cyclops' was right in his thinking, the man was in a coma in the settlement's small med facility.

 

And if that was right, Raelyn could prove to be of some use after all...

[Quist]

Arelyn, who was really quite enjoying watching Jyot squirm, was about to reply to Latch's obviously baiting plea for help when Alec tapped her on the shoulder. "Come on, you’re with me, he likes Jyot with his eye for pretty women and things’ll go a lot smoother with you by my side."

 

She sighed and stood up as ordered, but not before shooting Jyot a look. Falling into step next to Alec, she said, "Always glad to be of service, boss." As they approached the Abyssian, she expected to be ogled by Polcyc, but instead found herself tensing up as Alec pulled a blaster out. "Talk about aggressive negotiations," she muttered under her breath as she readied herself for anything.

[JasraLantill]

Jyot stared at his half-filled glass, as Alec left with Arelyn, telling both him and Latch to keep themselves ready in case of trouble. Slowly, Jyot looked up and over his shoulder, only to catch a glimpse of the second unfamiliar female voice that had spoken to Alec just moments before. She was pretty, too.

 

"Aw, crap!" he complained to Latch. "Another one? How many pretty women are on this planet anyway? Where are the ugly ones like... like Mrs. Cyclops Polcyc and stuff?" He groaned. "Latch, I can't do this. I should never had made that bet. It goes against my entire nature. I have to ogle. It's a need for men to ogle a little bit, right?" He grabbed Latch's arm. "Right?"

 

He suddenly drew his blaster, pointing it in the direction of one of Polcyc's body guards just as Alec had drawn his and was pointing it at Polcyc. "See?" he said to Latch. "It's not like I can't pay attention to other stuff. I just like women." His eyes narrowed at the bodyguard. "Is there anything wrong with that?" he asked, sounding just a little bit stressed out.

[Rogue Nine]

Latch clapped a hand down on his friend's shoulder and squeezed, hoping to ease some of the tension that Jyot was currently under. The gunner knew that his womanizing friend would have a rough time with the bet he'd made, but with the newly tense situation they had at hand, he didn't know just how far Jyot would go.

 

"Easy there, Span," Latch said quietly to Jyot, using the nickname he'd acquired during their time at CorSec together. "You know Abyssians don't consider a negotiation seriously unless you point a blaster at them." To illustrate his point, Latch slowly drew his Bryar pistol and leveled it at Polcyc. "I'd do what the cap'n said if I were you, Polly," he addressed the cyclops. "My friend here is kind of peeved at the moment, and you really don't want to piss off a pair of armed Corellians."

[ForceFightWMe12]

Ellie watched the man and woman - a brother and sister team, if her senses told her correctly - as they approached the captain about getting a ride, raising an eyebrow as the captain flat out refused with a stone-cold answer. So he was one of those types - the my-way-or-the-highway kind that always got the job done. Well, she could appreciate that.

 

His mention of how dangerous the ship's voyages were didn't really perturb her. She had lived in the deepest, darkest slums of Coruscant, flown a ship to practically every corner of the known galaxy, and battled pirates who had decided they would try and rob said ship of whatever valuables it had. In her mind, there wasn't much that she was afraid of being unable to handle.

 

And when she saw the negotiations suddenly getting rather...tense, she seemed to understand exactly what the good ol' captain had meant. The sudden pulling of a blaster made her eyebrows shoot up - whatever these people were doing, looking for this Jedi, they sure as hell meant business. Then again, not many people were looking for the fabled warriors of old. At least, not many normal, sane people.

 

She shifted slightly, and felt her own gun holster press into her hip from where it was hidden beneath her jacket. It reassured her - having a weapon within easy reach always did. She also knew that her arsenal of throwing knives were placed on her belt and in her sleeves, the thought bringing a faint smile to her face. Running her hand through her pixie-short orange hair, she glanced at the other two male crew members, who were only a seat down from her.

 

"You're captain always that much of a firebrand?" she asked, raising an eyebrow towards the negotiation scene.

[Corinthian]

Next time I crash, I'm doing it on Commenor.

 

He stumbled over a sand drift, sputtering. Apparently, the captain had been a bit of a cheapskate, this cold weather gear wasn't up to spec. He gasped with relief, he could see something over the horizon. Either the settlement was relatively close, or he was hallucinating. He broke into a run towards the lights.

[Writer]

"Excuse me, miss, but I can't let you stay here," the young medical technician objected as Raelyn approached the bed which held an unconscious man. Raelyn turned her brown eyes innocently toward him and then, she glanced down at herself.

 

"Oh!" she exclaimed. "No scrubs. Yeah, sorry. Really really new here. I'm a new nurse."

 

The technician looked as if he was about to object, but he merely frowned and scratched his head. Another moment of looking puzzled and he was gone. Raelyn watched the comatose patient for a few seconds before hurrying off to find some scrubs that would fit. Once that was accomplished, she returned to the bedside.

 

And here, she would wait.

[starmark2k]

“The game is speak up or die Polcyc.” Alec stated keeping his gun pointed to the Aliens single Eye. “The survivor where is he.”

 

“<You son of a Murglak, I invite you to my world for business and you threaten me.>” The Abyssian defiantly hissed. Alec just quickly whipped out his second pistol and aimed it at the lone Abyssians eye. “<The med-center, but you won’t get anything out of him, he’s been in a coma for almost a week now.>”

 

Alec placed one of his pistols backing it’s holster and stood up, he then used his free hand to signal the others to leave the cantina. Alec slowly walked out of the cantina backwards while continuing to aim his pistol.

 

The four crewman of The Scimitar walked into the med-center in order to check if Polcyc’s story was the truth. On arrival Alec took a brief look at his chart and then turned to Jyot and Latch. “Can one of you guys go and get Stitcher, these docs probably ain’t the best.”

[Rogue Nine]

"You're captain always that much of a firebrand?"

 

"Only when he's had whiskey," Latch replied coolly, never taking his eyes away from Alec and Polcyc. As his captain started to back out of the cantina, Latch gripped Jyot's arm gently and backpedaled to keep pace with Alec, his pistol still up. Offering an apologetic glance at the young woman who had spoken to them, he exited the cantina along with Alec and Arelyn, Jyot in tow.

 

Once outside, they trotted a safe distance away from the cantina before holstering their weapons. "Jeez, boss," Latch said, brushing a stray strand of dark hair out of his face. "You could have at least given us a heads-up before you decided to go all 'Win or Die' on us."

 

*******

 

"Can one of you guys go and get Stitcher, these docs probably ain’t the best."

 

"Yeah, I'll get him," Latch said, pulling out his comlink. "Be back in a jif."

[JasraLantill]

Jyot leaned up casually against the wall near the door, arms crossed, looking rather disinterested and bored, and not going into the room with the comatose man.

 

"I really hate hospitals," he said. "The smell, the food, all the poking and prodding and...." Suddenly, he stuck his head further into the room so he could peek around the corner. There was a nurse sitting beside the patient's bed--face mask up and wearing surgical scrubs--and she had the most alluring brown eyes.

 

"Oh? Hello, there," he said smoothly, starting to relax his stance and smile. But then Arelyn caught his gaze and his smile quickly dropped. He cleared his throat. "So, erm, Nurse," he started, trying to sound as professional as possible, "what's his prognosis?"

 

He shot a quick look at Arelyn, and mouthed the words, "Just asking, not ogling" to her.

[Rogue Nine]

"But I wanted to stay on the ship!"

 

Latch blew an exasperated sigh as he pushed Stitcher onwards. The young doctor had been quite reluctant about setting foot on the planet and was not very cooperative. Only when Latch had threatened to hog-tie him and drag him out physically did he give in. That, of course, did not mean he wasn't going to complain along the way. This made Latch seriously consider stuffing a gag into his mouth. "C'mon, Doc," he said, trying to reason with the increasingly unreasonable medic. "You've been on Nar Shaddaa before, this iceball should be a piece of cake."

 

"I didn't exactly set foot on Nar Shaddaa, did I?" Stitcher retorted, his voice whiny now.

 

Latch sighed, wishing he could reach for the stun gun at his belt and taser the medic into submission, but Alec probably wouldn't like that a whole lot. Instead, he endured the constant stream of complaints and resolutely pushed Stitcher to the hospital where the rest of the crew awaited.

 

Shoving Stitcher into the room, he nodded at Alec. "Here you go, boss. One supremely uncooperative doctor for you."

[Corinthian]

The town was so close, he felt like he could touch it. Touch it...

 

He noticed that something was on him. Snow. Heh, that was funny, he didn't remember falling. It was damn cold here, and he'd been walking for hours. He just needed to...rest. He felt his eyes closing.

 

Just...just a few minutes, then I'll keep moving.

[starmark2k]

“So stitch, what’s the problem?” Alec asked holding the Datapad with the medical notes out in front of him.

 

“I’m Cold and my bums gone numb.” The medic explained still complaining.

 

“Not with you! Him.” Alec explained frustrated waving the pad in front of his medics face. Stitcher took the datapad and examined the data for a few moments and shookhis head in disapproval.

 

“This Guys got advance pneumonia, Suffering signs of exhaustion and has frost burns over most of his body.” Stitcher explained. “If I saw him two days ago and had a bacta tank I may have been able to help him, but it’s far too late for that now. He’ll be dead in 24 hours.”

 

“Krif me! So now we have no way to find this Jedi.” Alec complained holding his head in his hands. “Looks like this trip was all for nothing unless we can find some other way to find a trail.”

[ForceFightWMe12]

"I can help you there."

 

She stood leaning against the open door, her arms folded over her chest. Quite aware that she gave quite a few of the occupants a fright - good old Sneaking Shoes never let her down.

 

Ellie smirked faintly as she stood straight, striding right by the crew member near the door as she moved into the med ward, pulling the toothpick that had been left from her martini from between her lips, resting a hand on one hip. Fully aware - and a slight bit pleased - that every eye in the room was on her, she spoke up again, her eyes zeroed in on the captain.

 

Eye contact is the first thing people look for, especially potential employers. she thought to herself, Keep a lock on their eyes, and they won't be able to look away.

 

"A spacer has to find some way to keep themselves occupied on a rock like this. Me? I like to explore - see what kind of things I can get into. If you think your 'Jedi' is anywhere here on this rock, I can probably find him." Okay, so without much to go on, it would be near impossible to find the Jedi on this frozen ice cube of a planet. But who ever told the truth on their resumes?

[Writer]

"Oh? Hello, there," he said smoothly, starting to relax his stance and smile. But then Arelyn caught his gaze and his smile quickly dropped. He cleared his throat. "So, erm, Nurse," he started, trying to sound as professional as possible, "what's his prognosis?"

 

"He's in a coma, he's dying," Raelyn answered coolly. She paused for a moment. "And now very frightened because he doesn't want to die." She shrugged. "But there's nothing this facility can do for him, so he has to resign himself to his fate..."

 

At that moment, 'long brown hair he... no head'... Raelyn allowed herself a tiny smirk of amusement. Gunner number one came back... Lachlan, she determined was his name, and with him was a medic. Raelyn sighed and waited patiently as the captain consulted his medic concerning the patient's health. She laughed softly as the captain began complaining of no easy way to find the Jedi.

 

Hey, comatose guy, she thought as loudly as she could. Since you're not likely to wake up... sorry about that, by the way... but mind helping me and my brother get off this icy death-ball? Where's the Jedi?

 

After determining the voice echoing in his head was not his own, 'Comatose Guy' pondered how to respond, to which Raelyn impatiently 'thought to' him that she was a telepath. There was a flurry of nervous thought, which turned into a brief argument in which Raelyn told the man it hardly mattered what was inside his head... except where the Jedi was. Then, he told her...

 

... just in time for Raelyn to hear that girl with the crazy hair boast that she could find the Jedi. Annoyed and feeling just a tad childish, Raelyn concentrated on the girl's mind and attempted to work a tiny little thought into her subconscious, which quietly proclaimed, I couldn't possibly figure this out... I'll have to find some other way to join up with this crew...

 

On second thought, Raelyn wondered if perhaps the thought had been a little too long for the subconscious to fully capture... but maybe it would have the desired effect... she watched the other girl to see if she may be having second thoughts on her plan...

[JasraLantill]

"...so he has to resign himself to his fate..."

 

It took a lot of willpower for Jyot to tear his eyes away from the nurse's. "I know exactly how he feels," he said under his breath.

 

Preoccupied on how he was ever going to win his bet with Ali and Aerlyn, he only caught the last half of what the girl behind him was saying to Alec. ..."you think your 'Jedi' is anywhere here on this rock, I can probably find him."

 

"Well, finding him's only the first step," Jyot said, turning to face Ellie and trying very hard to keep his eyes on hers instead of her...other assets. Then a horrible thought struck him. "Or her." His face went ashen.

 

"Oh, cripe, why did I take that stupid bet....?" he said, mostly to himself. Worried eyes sought out Latch's. "What if the Jedi's a woman, Latch?" he whispered urgently. "Ogling quarry doesn't count, does it?" He then turned to Aerlyn. "Quarry can't count!" he hissed.

 

Suddenly aware that he might be causing people to think he was slightly crazy, he flashed a quick grin at Alec. "Erm... sorry," he said sheepishly. "Just ignore me." He cleared his throat. "Back on topic--Jedi, rock, find her. Erm... him! Find him, I mean."

[Writer]

Raelyn cleared her throat. "Okay," she said. "First of all... I'm not a nurse. The scrubs just help divert attention from the fact that people have never seen me here before. Second, and more importantly, Captain, as I said before, I can find your Jedi. Now, before, you didn't let me finish my thought. I've seen the Jedi twice before and I know which direction it went."

 

She turned to Ellie, suddenly feeling a conscience attack. "Sorry to step on your toes like that, but..." She paused for a moment, scanning surface thoughts. "I'd have to guess you've been planetside longer than my brother and I... perhaps you could work up some transportation? We're gonna need it."

[ForceFightWMe12]

Only the first step?

 

Ellie couldn't help but raise a slight eyebrow before catching the expression, and setting her face straight again. Sure, she was put off ever so slightly by the question of what, exactly, the second step was, but...there was no reason to let it show. Not yet. Besides, why would someone put all the effort into finding the Jedi and then just...do nothing? These guys looked like they could handle themselves.

 

Her green cat eyes turned to the other woman in the room, the previously-thought-to-be nurse, as she spoke. Now Ellie did allow her eyebrow to raise, shifting her weight to one foot as she studied the woman's eyes. Finally, she spoke.

 

"What kind of transportation are we talking about?"

[Writer]

Raelyn considered this for a moment before replying, "Preferably non-repulsorlift transportation. Something that can grip the ground." She stripped off the scrubs from over top of her clothing, satisfied that the doctors and technicians would no longer need to be convinced she was a nurse.

 

"Okay, so you work on transportation," she said to Ellie. "I'll run grab my brother. And we'll all meet up... cantina, yeah?"

 

And with that, she headed toward the door. "Ooh!" she exclaimed, halting abruptly. "Sorry, I hadn't introduced us..." She bounded back to Alec and extended her hand to him. "Raelyn Lark. My brother's Colin." She shook his hand and scampered out of the med facility to find Colin.

[ForceFightWMe12]

Ellie raised an eyebrow slightly. They wanted a transport...with wheels? Who the hell would want one of those old things? And better yet, where exactly did they expect her to find something that could fit all of them?

 

Actually... she thought to herself, She didn't say that it needed to fit everyone...at least, not at once...

 

A faint smile lifted her lips as she began to plot, her eyes distant. "Alright," she said, a little distractedly, "I can handle that." And with that, she was gone.

[starmark2k]

Alec was a little taken aback by the two impulsive women who had just stormed into his life and were going to help them track the Jedi. As they both left he sighed slightly and turned to his crew. “Well it seems we have got some help for this job.”

 

Tannis sighed and looked over at Jyot who was trying to stare at the back of one of the women who had just left “Spanner, go with the transport girl and check to make sure it is in working order. Latch, Arelyn, Stitcher go back to the ship and collect supplies for winter survival.”

 

“Why does it sound like I’m going on this little expedition?” Stitched asked continuing his complaints.

 

“ ‘Cos you are, in fact we all are, tell Aly and Headshot to get prepped.” Alec explained. “And watch these noobs, we can’t be sure we can trust ‘em.”

[JasraLantill]

"Girl. Check. In working order." Jyot shook his head sadly at Alec. "You know, you're really not making this any easier for me to win my bet."

 

Nevertheless, he trotted after the 'transport' girl. "Hey! Wait up!" He caught up with her in a few seconds, and fell into step with her.

 

Still doing his very best not to 'ogle' her, he asked, "Erm, I don't believe I caught your name? I'm Jyot, by the way, but some people call me Spanner 'cause I'm a mechanic." He smiled. "I'm a hands-on kind a guy. If it's broken, I can usually fix it."

[ForceFightWMe12]

"A mechanic, huh?" she asked, looking at him from the corner of her eye as he fell into step beside her, both heading towards a staircase at the end of the hallway. She skipped the first step out of habit. "Good, you can help me."

 

She allowed the silence to span for a moment before finally turning her head towards him to look at him fully. "I'm Elizabeth." she said, "Elizabeth Kartyk. You can call me Ellie."

[Writer]

"I did it, Cole!" Raelyn squealed in delight. Colin merely looked up at her for a moment, a sparkle of amusement in his eye. Despite her unsurpassed intelligence (thanks mostly to telepathy, he knew), Raelyn had a habit of being so overwhelmingly childish that it counteracted any suspicions anyone might have of her ever being anything remotely resembling a genius.

 

"I knew you would, Rae," Colin told her. "That's why I've been packing... not that there's much to do, but..."

 

Raelyn giggled and wrapped her brother up in a spontaneous embrace. Though he hadn't communicated it verbally, the telepath knew he needed the hug. Besides, Raelyn thought to herself, it ain't like it does me any harm either... Especially since Colin reflexively returned the gesture.

 

"So you got us a trip offworld?" the elder brother asked, displaying his talent for worry. Raelyn laughed.

 

"I convinced comatose guy to tell me the general area where the Jedi's hiding away," she said. "I can lead us in that direction, the motley crew of hunters can do what they do best... and you can do what you do best since they are really a motley crew. There's bound to be some shooting and... injuring. After all, it's a Jedi they're trying to take down."

 

"Raelyn, promise me you won't involve yourself in the fight," Colin pleaded, knowing his sister's inclination to put herself in danger. "Even if you know without a doubt you won't get hurt. Like you said, this is a Jedi... and don't say it... I know you can read the Jedi's mind to predict his moves, but..."

 

"But Jedi can sorta do the same," Raelyn interrupted impatiently. "You know I've heard all the same arguments before, Cole. And my answer's the same. Only if it'll make you feel better."

 

"Anytime you say that, it means you still intend to get involved," Colin fretted. "I'm not going to lose you, Rae. Don't get involved."

 

For the first time she could remember, Raelyn could not detect any emotion besides fear emanating from her brother. He was genuinely afraid that if she involved herself in the struggle to capture a Jedi, not even his doctoring skills would be able to save her. That scared her.

 

"I..." she stammered. "I-I won't, Cole. You have my word."

 

Colin nodded and Raelyn felt relief rolling off of him in waves.

 

"Then let's go meet them," he said, shouldering his bag, which contained all the possessions they retained in all the galaxy. But one of their most important possessions was not in the bag. It was a rather long number, which Colin never bothered with since he knew Raelyn had it permanently memorized.

 

Indeed, somewhere in the back of her mind, beneath her perceptions until she wished to call it up, Raelyn's subconscious repeated...

 

0141906733710... 0141906733710... 0141906733710... 0141906733710......... 01419067337100141906733710014190673371001419067337100141906733710......

 

On and on, it droned... to be connected to another dot in the back of her mind only when money became important, this number was the 'identity' on a very full bank account.