Stinger Serpant: Chapter 1 “The Arrival”

## JOURNEY OF THE SERPENT STINGER

Main OCs: Kimi Sheiko & Slippery Shoony & Vomaar

NPCs: Khara Bathori, Shazza Fortuna, Hale the Bounty Hunter

Pets: Floki, Diaval

Only hours before the Battle of Tython began, young Pantoran Kimi Sheiko arrived at Stav Kesh with important information about the enemy. She had discovered the very reason why their fleet was moving to Sunspot.

After the briefing she was ready to join the fight, however was tasked with a more delegate task. Fearing for their daughter's life, Terrogate and Mab asked Kimi to take her away from the fight. The young Pantoran agreed to help and left the bridge to collect the girl.

The battle was raging, the ship was hit and there was damage on multiple decks. With help of the young Je'daii, Shazza Fortuna, Kimi managed to get Khara onboard of her ship. The child felt safe with the young Twi'lek so Kimi asked her to come along. The girl agreed and they left the Harpy.

But it was too late, her ship was caught into a vortex, like everyone else they were pulled in.

Start journey:

Location: Boz Pity

Ship status: wounded

Company: Shoony + unknown non responding

~\*~

JOURNEY OF THE STINGER SERPENT

Chapter one: The Arrival

GM: Game Master Yoda (opening post, collab) Jacob

Music: https://youtu.be/zMnfkW9UZc4 Spiritbox, circle with me, Courtney LaPlante live.

Date: 1259 BBY

// Mid Rim/ The Slice, Halla sector, S-9, Boz Pity System//

Aboard the Trade’n’Save, a privately owned tradeing station and inside its main control room a young Balosar named Vomaar frantically presses various controls to try and correct the large trading vessels stabilisers and bring backup power reserves to the shields. On the large viewing screen just in front of him, a massive swirling electric vortex just a few hundred meters from their location had suddenly appeared as if from thin air.

All around him various models of the Trade’n’Saves small robotic droid army began to feedback sensor reports and quote policies stored in their internal memories for such an occasion, while mouse and GONK droids wandered about in circles and making warning sounds at the sudden influx of electrical current that surged through the ships internal systems.

The Vortex, which seemed to come from nowhere, continued to grow and expand until a bright wormhole appeared to form in its center, an unnatural gateway to another time and location in the galaxy. From this tear in reality emerges firstly a shower of star battle debris and closely followed by a single ship also crossing the threshold, and only just in time as the wormhole begins to close once more. The pink odd shaped ship as well as the wave of freshly destroyed space junk all hurtling directly for the circular shaped Trade’n’Save mobile space station. And all too fast for either party to try and avoid impact.

~ The Stinger Serpent ~

The whirling vortex of light suddenly opens its maw into open space. At once the proximity chime of the Stinger Serpent goes off. There seems to be a large space station right in front of the opening and they are on a collision course towards it.

Only a moment before the pink s-161-xl is spat out of the wormhole, it is hit by a large piece of debris causing Kimi to be thrown off her seat and hit her head against the wall.

"Noo!!" A voice cries out from.the back. It is the young Twi'lek Shazza Fortuna, who had been watching over the child. "Stay here sweetheart" she tells the teal skinned girl, trying her best to keep calm as she doesn't want to frighten her even more. Then she jumps up and rushes towards the cockpit. The Pantoran female doesn't respond and the ship is still on a collision course towards the station.

Quickly, Shazza jumps into the pilot's seat. But the seventeen year old has no experience with flying a spaceship. "Oh kriff…. What should I do?" She panics and grabs the yoke. With all her might she tries to take control of the ship as its being hurled towards the space station. "Come on!!!" but they are going too fast and the station is too close. But with her keen eye, Shazza notices the doors to one of the station's bays is open. "Guess we're gonna have to land" she says to herself and begins to steer the Stinger Serpent towards the open bay door.

Behind her she can hear Khara crying in fear. "Hold on tight sweety" Shazza yells over all the noise. The sound of Diaval and Floki flapping their wings in total panic reminds the Twi'lek teen of the ship's asymmetrical wing. "Kark!!" Quickly she flips the switch to rotate the wing, just in time.

With a loud bang, the Stinger crashes into a large cargo hold. The tip of the rotating wing scraps against the sealing as the ship slides further into the bay, toppling towers of cargo containers along the way. Finally the pink yacht comes to a full stop against the back wall or the cargo hold.

~ The Droopta scavenger ship, docked at the Trade’n’Save ~

“BHAAAA! Kiriffing Pazaak! AGAIN!” Spat the Falleen Captain, grimacing and reluctantly throwing more of his greatly reduced pile of betting chips into the middle of the round gambling table. “We’ve been here for four straight hours and you're either the luckiest son of 2 bit shutta that’s ever lived Shoony, or you're playing us!”

“Common Ruusk” replied the strange looking blue skinned reptilian sitting directly opposite the green skinned and now visibly annoyed Captain. “You think I’d be stupid enough to come here, aboard your ship.. with no active communications…. only to try and cheat you? I think we both know only Vomaar could be THAT stupid.” He added with a sly and sleazy grin as his eight long slender fingers reached across the table and greedily collected the winnings from the prize pool.

“I don’t know WHAT I think you are, you slimy little sleemo. All I know is you’ve played 5 other very good players off the table already and that last round I SHOULD have won.. my hand was near unbeatable!” Replied the captain angrily, eyeing the alien with intense suspicion and lowering his right hand down towards a sidearm that had been hidden and taped to the underneath of the gaming table the entire game.

Inside the small dimly lit room aboard “The Droopta *smugglers' vessel, Shoony shifts awkwardly in his seat and begins to sound nervous and raises his hands, behind him a large Falleen that had been guarding the door steps closer and places his hands on Shoonys shoulders. Pinning him to his seat, and allowing the hidden and illegal Pazaak cards stowed inside a fold of loose, half shedded skin on his forearm to drop to the ground beside the alien con-man...*

“I don’t like cheaters! And I don’t like…….hey!?! Hey what in the seven hells was that?” Replied the green skinned captain abandoning his threat mid sentence, shocked as the Droopta suddenly begins to shake and shudder around them, credits and cards vibrating off the gaming table and falling freely onto the dirty steel floor.

The smugglers ship they are aboard, still currently docked at Shoonys Trade’n’Save mobile trading station, suddenly and noticeably begins to shift and rock side to side in reaction to some external and powerful force. Like a sea going craft during a storm. The whine of twisting metal struts and flexing of the  durasteel hull was loud even over the now repeating  close proximity alarms echoing through the starship's halls. And then… just as the disruption began to subside there was another singular violent and jarring shift as though something had smashed into the Trade’n’Saves dock right next to where the Falleens ship had been parked.

~\*~

~ The Stinger Serpent ~

Rain. Shazza wakes to the sound of water pitter-pattering on metal and glass. She opens her eyes slowly. The cockpit is dark, the window is blocked with fallen cargo containers. It takes a moment before she realizes she is laying on the dashboard. Confused, the Twi'lek teen looks around, the Hyperdrive is flashing red, it's badly damaged. As she focuses on the glass window she notices it is indeed wet. Water seems to pour between the containers. The crash landing must have activated a sprinkler system.

As she looks to her left she sees the Pantoran woman laying motionless against the wall. "Kimi!" Shazza says and pushes herself off the dashboard. Her body is sore, she must have been thrown forward when the Stinger came to a stop. Kneeling down she grabs Kimi by her shoulders gently shaking her, hoping to wake her. "Wake up! We crashed…" the Pantoran is breathing but doesn't respond.

A child can be heard in the back, it is Khara the daughter of the Grand Master. At once Shazza gets up and stumbles to the sound. Surprisingly, the two birds seem to be unharmed, but the child is laying on the floor. she's crying and holding on to her arm. The teen kneels down next to Khara and wraps her arms around her. "Shhhh it's gonna be ok" she tries to comfort her and gently touches the child's right arm to check if it's broken. At once she flinches and screams "it hurts!!! I want mama… I want mama!!"

Shazza looks towards the cockpit, Kimi is still not moving. "KIMI!! WAKE UP!!... We need you!!" Filled with panic she also begins to cry, worrying about what would happen next. Will Kimi wake up? Will they get help?

Our journey begins here..

* + - * +

[[ “Shoony just what in the Emporers black bones are you playing at..?……Shoony? WHERE IS HE!?” Said the Falleen Captain Ruusk angrily, turning to where his cheating Pazzak partner was sitting barely a moment prior only to find him entirely gone from his chair. “I uhhh… I don’t know boss… he ummm… he WAS just here..” said the large guard, looking bewildered as he reached down and picked up an empty gown lying limply on the otherwise empty seat. “He’s gone!” He exclaimed, lifting the red garment up in his closed fist to show Captain Ruusk. “Well, he won’t have gone far. FIND HIM! We don’t want him getting back to his Junker. While he’s on THIS ship by Pirates Law he’s mine.. I’ll alert the others.” Ordered the Captain and scanned the gambling room once more before turning to leave, heading for the Drooptas bridge. The large guard followed suit but left the room via the other blast door entrance. ]]

Once the Falleen had left the room Shoony exhaled, his skin color changing slightly and making him once again visible as he pressed his naked buttocks against the cold gray wall of the Gamblers room. “Gee, if he gets this angry over a few extra Pazaak cards I hope his wife doesn’t spill the beans over her last trip to the always pleasurable Dr Shoonys wild ride.” He giggled to himself, remembering the Captains green skinned wife leaving his quarters in the middle of the night nearly a year ago. It was a wild night of lusty romance and passion... in return for his credits. But it had also taken Vomaar nearly two hours to untie the small alien from the bedpost afterwards, and several weeks for the bruising and soft tissue swelling to finally heal.

“To the victor go the spoils.” He added and walked over to the table, gathering up the remaining credits and gambling chips in the round tablecloth like a knapsack before heading for the exit the large guard had also used.

Trying to remember the security code he saw pressed by the large brute, Shoony approached the security panel on the side of the blast door and pressed the keys he thought were correct.”  Thirty-six, twenty-four, thirty-six…...five-three.

* + - * +

[[ GM call… dice roll 1x4sided. 1= incorrect number. 2-3= incorrect numbers but the door jarred open . 4= correct security code.   ROLLED 3. The numbers Shoony presses are wrong and the small alien realises they were actually just lyrics from Dark Lord Mixalots #1 hit “Darth Bettons got back” however, he may notice due to the damage taken by the wormhole and the stinger serpent, the blast doors he was looking to open had already been reluctant to close all the way and revealed a small opening of just 30cms wide.]]

* + - * +

Pressing the combination into the keypad resulted in a deep tone of rejection followed by a red flash on the color display above the pad, indicating a failed attempt to open the blast door. “Kriff!” Replied the small alien looking around him, he then tried once more.. “Thirty-six, twenty-four, thirty-six…but only if she’s...five-three!” Repeated Shoony as he pressed the code in before grimacing, the keypad once again repeating the deep electronic rejection tone. “I guess I’m gonna have to find another way outta this dump.” He mumbled to himself and took a step back taking a better look at any potential exit points, the gambling room was surely soon to be swarming with the Droopta’s crew, all looking for his head.

To his surprise, the automatic sensors of the blast door he had been trying to exit had seemingly been knocked off their line during whatever it was that had caused the smugglers freighter to buckle just minutes before. The sensors, now knocked off their line causing the door not to close entirely and leaving a small opening, barely 30cms in width.

\*That gaps smaller than Vomaars vocabulary\* thinks Shoony and groans to himself, but seeing no other alternative he decides squeezing through the small space is probably the best option.

Still holding onto the knapsack of credits and gambling chips in his left hand he breathes in, removing all air from his lungs and puts his right hand and shoulder through the gap. Slowly, he then attempts to move and wriggle his naked torso and then his legs through the narrow gap in the blast door, careful not to damage himself in the process. His internal system of liquid bladders rather than the more commonly seen and conventional make up of organs and muscle, compressing with ease and hopefully allowing him to escape the room.

* + - * +

[[ GM call: Shoony was able to use his natural physical ability to manoeuvre through the gap until all that was left in the room was his left hand holding onto the knapsack of credits.

Dice roll: 4 sided 1-2 can get the knapsack of credits/chips through the doorway as well. 3-4 unable to save the winnings as it won’t fit through the gap. ROLL = 4.

As Shoony gets to the other side of the door he realises the knapsack is too large to fit through the gap, and to make things worse.. There is an unexpected and unexplained explosion heard from the opposite entrance of the gambeling room making the ship rumble. Smoke slowly begins to creep down the hall that Captain Ruusk used to head back towards the bridge, followed by shouting and then blaster fire.

* + - * +

"Wake up! We crashed!" the voice of a girl echoes through the darkness, followed by the faint sound of someone crying. The next thing she hears is footsteps moving away as a child begins to scream "it hurts!!! I want mama… I want mama!!" Followed by her name "KIMI!! WAKE UP!!"

At once her eyes open and she abruptly raises up to a seated position. Gasping for air the Pantoran warrior looks around the cockpit, it's dark and the scent of fire stings her nostrils. "We need you!" Shazza's yells from the back.

"I'm here" Kimi mutters as she grabs hold of the pilot's seat. "What happened?" She asks and begins to pull herself up. Leaning on the seat for support she tries to check the dashboard controls. "Thank the goddess, you are alive" Shazza exclaims in relief.

The Engines of the Stinger are still rumbling, but by the state of the cockpit Kimi assumes they aren't moving. She quickly kills the engines and sits down in the pilot's seat. "Shazza, I need to know what happened" she repeats her question as she looks over the flickering lights of the dashboard. "We...ehm.. we crashed," the teen replies. "No shit... i hadn't noticed" Kimi gruntes sarcastically pressing a few buttons "could you be more specific?"

"Shhh, sweetheart, I won't go far" Shazza whispers to the crying child and then joins Kimi in the cockpit. Kimi looks up at the girl, she is trembling. Concerned she asks "is she alright? Are you?". Shaking her head "she's hurt. I think she broke her arm.. but mostly she's just scared" The Pantoran feels sorry for the child but isn't really sure what to do. She has no experience with children and definitely not in a critical situation like this.

"So.. tell me what happened. What is this place?" Kimi continues. Standing behind the co-pilot's seat, Shazza looks over her shoulder to Khara as she speaks. "We were in a blue tunnel.. like hyperspace but… but different. Suddenly it opened and we were thrown out" she explains with a trembling voice. "But there was a space station, right in front of us.. we were going too fast.. well… I managed to land on that space station." Shazza glances at Kimi, knowing that the ship was damaged mostly by the crash.

* Tap.. tap.. tip.. tap tap.. tip.. tip\* water dripping on the windshield.

Kimi's eyes widen in surprise, "a Space Station? You lan… you...you crashed into a space station?" She repeats and turns her gaze to the controls. "Which space station?" She asks mostly to herself and begins to check the latest sensor logs. "That's odd, it's unknown.. where exactly are we?" she mutters and checks the Navcom, the computer of the luxury yacht had already automatically recalibrated and rebooted. "The Slice?... Boz Pity?" She looks up at Kimi in shock, "that's impossible… there are no hyperspace lanes directly from Tython to here."

In the back Khara begins to cry again, scared and hurt. "You stay with her.. I'm… ehm.. I will check outside."  Kimi says a little hesitant. "Outside?" The Twi'lek panics "Yes.. I have to assess the damage, I can't see anything from here" the Pantoran explains as she rises up. Kimi could tell the Twi'lek was afraid, but to be honest; so was she. "We will be ok" she says with a reassuring smile and left the cockpit.

Shazza walks to Khara, who is sitting on the sofa, clutching her arm. Her Kiros bird is sitting on the backrest trying to comfort her. In the corner, still wearing his rufter, Diaval is straightening his feathers with his sharp beak.

Holding her Epsilon hand cannon ready, the Pantoran steps to the door. After a glance at the others and a deep breath she presses the control panel. The door opens and the ramp begins to lower.

* + - * +

“What the kark is all this junk?…said the young shiphand as he read the visual display, giving him his first closeup look at the damaged ship parts and debris hurtling at him. The trader ship itself had settled with the engagement of the onboard stabilisers, and luckily the access umbilical to the Falleen captain Ruusk’s ship “Droopta” hasn't detached during the disruption. His Boss Shoony was still on it and had forbidden Vomaar to interrupt him for ANY reason while he was aboard. Although they surely would have also felt the shockwave and the Trade’n’Save try to jerk itself away.

weeee whiirrr poooo whiiirrr whistled an old, oxidising and dented, orange and white astromech unit from beside Vomaar inside the control room. “What do you mean Rusty? A ship? Where?” Replied the Balosar twisting a large black control knob on the dash in front of him that allowed him to zoom in and pan the visual display on the monitor. whirr, beep! replied the astrometric as suddenly among the wave of approaching debris a strange looking pink starship came into view.

“There!” Exclaimed Vomaar both with excitement to have found what Rusty had been trying to alert him to, but also with a hint of nervousness as he suddenly realised the close proximity of the pink ship and the fact it was on a collision course with the Trade’n’Save! “There’s no time to contact them… we’re going to have to let them land inside the main cargo holding bay or they’ll crash right into us.” Rusty beeped nervously as Vomaar reached across the control desk to the remote access panel and opened the large cargo hanger's door just in time, the pink ship quickly disappearing from view as it entered the Trade’n’Saves main cargo bay at still dangerously high speed.

Vomaar exhaled in audible relief as he quickly closed the cargo bay door. Barely a few seconds later more sensors picked up readings of impacts against the external hull of the large stranding station. Several small emergency pilot lights began to flash across the dashboard, outlining the damage done by the emergency crash landing as well as the wave of debris outside. The internal sensors however also indicated a large influx of smoke inside the hangar bay indicating the pink ship was on fire, a fact that made the hairs stand up on the back of his neck and his stomach tie into knots.

“Stay here Rusty... And turn on the sprinkler system inside the cargo bay. I’ve got a feeling whoever is aboard that ship needs our help, and I’d rather not have them burned to death before I can.” Said Vomaar, swallowing his fear. He touched his occupied blaster holster on his hip as though checking his trusty DL-44 was still attached to him before turning quickly, then running out of the control room at speed towards whoever or whatever it was that was aboard that ship.

~\*~

Carefully Vomaar inched his way into the open blast doors of the Trade’n’Save’s main cargo hold, his icey blue eyes scanning the pink wreckage that lay at the far end of the cargo holds central docking bay. All around, hundreds of various sized cargo boxes lay on the floor, dislodged from their original stacks and many had broken open, spilling their various held wares onto the wet metallic floor. Two permanently stationed lifting droids had already sprung into action, picking up and restacking crates on the right side of the near fifty meter high space. The cargo holds sprinkler system had indeed been activated as per his command to Rusty, the drops of fire retardant clear liquid blanketing the area like light shower during a spring day on Balosar. If there had been a fire here, to his relief it was now most certainly put out.

Vomaar pulled the collar up on his flight jacket, trying to keep the water from entering the inside of his favourite leather coat. He sensed movement from within the cockpit ahead as he slowly approached, his hand lowering to his blaster but not removing it just yet. “Hello? Are you hurt??” He said more quietly than he intended, his voice drowned out by the blanket of falling water droplets.

From his blond ruffled hair two flesh coloured antennaepalps slowly emerged, and the Balosar tried to focus his mind.. searching for a feeling, an emotion. He didn’t know how he could do this, but he had learnt to be able to “read” most people from a young age. He hadn’t dared tell his Master Shoony about the ability though, the blue skinned alien would have tried to use it in his shady deals and games of chance to better his odds of winning or scamming his way into higher risk bigger stake games. And Vomaar had already been present when those kinds of games went south, he’d lost count of the amount of times they had needed to “cut and run” soon after a bust.

“Hello? He said, but louder this time… “I’m not going to hurt you…Do you need help?” He repeated, doing his best to focus through the sound of rain pitter pattering down on them.

* + - * +

"Do you hear that?" Shazza whispered over the soft cries of the child. "I hear someone outside" she adds as the doors of the Stinger open with a hiss. Kimi had heard it too, the voice of a man. She nods to the Twi'lek girl and tightens her grip on the large gun.

Heart racing in her chest she waits for the door to open. Again she heard the voice of the stranger, calling out to her, asking if she was hurt, if they needed help. "Stop!" The Pantoran yelled, "stay where I can see you, I'm coming out" she added and glanced once more at Shazza and Khara.

She took a deep breath and carefully looked outside. They were in a cargo hold and by the state of things they had indeed crashed. The wing of the Stinger Serpent was positioned horizontally, resting on a pile of cargo crates. A cloud of smoke blocked her view for most part as did the water that rained down from the sprinkler system. Unable to see the stranger Kimi held her weapon ready "I warn you...I'm armed" she said and cautiously stepped onto the ramp.

In full armor, minus the Kabuto, the Pantoran stood at the top of the ramp. With the hand cannon low and ready she scanned the room, to find this man. Her purple hair was a mess from the crash, and now, thanks to the sprinkler system also soaking wet. Finally, there he was, standing in midst of the chaos they had caused. "Who are you and what is this place?" Kimi asked as she aimed the barrel of her weapon at the blond haired male.

Nervously she shifted her weight, and glanced around to see if anyone else was there. He seemed to be alone but further away she noticed droids had started cleaning up the mess. "Are you Allies of the Dark Regime?" She had to be sure with whom they were dealing. For all they know they had crashed into a Darkshield station..

* + - * +

“Whoah….hey.. don’t shoot lady!” Said Vomaar at seeing the strange looking blue skinned woman exit the even stranger looking crashed spacecraft. He sensed a strong emotion of fear coming from craft, but it didn’t seem to belong to this woman who had emerged. That could only mean there was another person aboard as well.

The sprinklers now began to wind down and Vomaar froze for an instant, one hand hovering over his holstered blaster and the other raised at a low chest height with his palm facing the woman in a defensive kind of way.. The small lady in her strange armor looked nervous, and Vomaar knew nervous people with a blaster could easily get trigger happy if threatened.

“Allies of the what? The Kark Regime? Who the Kriff is that? Look...I’ve no idea what you're talking about lady.. My name is Vomaar, and this is the Trade’n’Save trading vessel..” he replied, looking around the large cargo hold as he tried to answer her questions.

“You’re lucky Rusty and I were in the control room when you arrived or else I’d be scraping you and your pink ship off the hull right now.. just where in the nine hells did you come from anyway, and what was that big swirling whatsit?” He asked as he stood otherwise still not daring to make any sudden movements”

* + - * +

Hair dripping, Kimi is standing at the top of the ramp, trembling slightly from the cold. Still aiming her gun at the stranger but at the same time keeping an eye on their surroundings.

As the sprinklers wind down, she now had a more clear view of the stranger; a young man, a Balosar with blond hair. He said they weren't allies of the Dark Regime, which was a relief but it was odd he didn't even seem to know the Regime. Kimi raises an eyebrow in suspension but remains silent as the man continues to answer her inquiries. After answering, he had a few questions for her in return.

Her hand starts to shake, she's freezing inside her armor. "The Tython System" the young Pantoran replies without thinking. "I.. don't know what it was.. I do know I have to get back" she adds shivering.

"Look… I'm sorry about crashing into your…" she looks around the hold, at the damage they have caused "cargo hold… but I.. I.."  [Dice Roll Result: faints] Suddenly everything goes dark and the Pantoran collapses.

~\*~

Meanwhile, inside the Stinger Serpent. Shazza sits on the sofa, cradling the wounded child. She listens to the conversation, and looks at the door. She can't see Kimi, only her shadow. When it suddenly disappears and she hears a thud she knows the Pantoran fell. "Kimi!!" She yells in shock. Shazza lets go of Khara who instantly cries. "I'm sorry, I have to see if she's ok" the Twi'lek says softly and walks to the door. She grabs her lightsaber and holds it ready as she peeks around the corner. Kimi lays face down on the ramp, soaking wet, a trail of blood seeping down the ramp. Was she shot? The teen wonders but is too afraid to go outside and check..

* + - * +

“I’m not waiting to find out whatever that is,” thought Shoony to himself, dropping the knapsack and heading away from the blaster fire and explosion. There was still at least one Falleen between him and his escape to the Trade’n’Save where he could detach the Pirate vessel and refuse Captain Ruusk any further access.

But then again, judging from the smoke and noise behind him Shoony doubted he would want to be hanging around to cause any more trouble over a simple thing like a few extra Pazzak cards.

Moving quickly the naked alien made his way further down the corridor of the scavenger ship until he approached the last airlock door. To his surprise the airlock was already opened and the body of the large Falleen guard he had seen leave the gambeling room was now lying on the ground in front of it. The entire left side of his green reptilian face caved in like he’d been bludgeoned with the business end of an industrial grade hydro spanner.

Shoony looked around to see who or what may have done this but couldn’t see anything except flashing lights and a thick smoke haze making its way down the corridor behind him. The sound of blasters was now replaced with the sound of emergency alarms and then suddenly a message over the ship's speaker system.

“…Warning, self-destruct protocols initiated in 40 seconds. Warning, this is not a test. Self destruction in T-minus 40,39,38…”

“Time to go…” Shoony said with a slight panic. Rushing through the doorway into the onboarding umbilical that ran for fifty meters between the ship and his own trading station he rounded the corner and found the electronic access panel. Quickly keying the access code the air-lock suddenly closed with a hiss and the small alien then began to run as fast as his little blue legs could carry him down the umbilical and towards his own ship before the inevitable explosion. The ship’s emergency message no longer audible, Shoony was counting backwards out loud, hoping to keep in sync with the countdown as he ran to try and spur himself on to safety… 6,5,4,3…..

* + - * +

IC - Hale, the bounty Hunter.

“The bigger they are…the harder they fall.” said Hale, wiping the blood from his knuckles on his shirt and stepping over the large and now also very dead Falleen pirate. “Now where is that little creep? Gotta be around here some place.” He said thoughtfully “I guess the big fella musta been chasing the little twerp back towards his own ship… target probably cut and run after that space quake or whatever it was..” He added aloud, deducing his bounty target was likely no longer on the Droopta. Hale cracked a half smile as he almost instantly identified the access panel to the Falleen ships exit.

Slicing the controls to the airlock door in front of him with relative ease the hulking bounty Hunter crosses the threshold and makes his way down the passenger umbilical between the Falleen smuggler ship and the Trade’n’Save.

“Ahhh…. I guess those B1 droids shoulda done their job by now.” He says to himself as he reaches the Trade’n’Save entrance. Closing the airlock door behind him this time he lifts a comlink to his mouth. “R8, Blow it… Then bring Fatman around to the station's main docking bay. Once I get the target I’ll meet you there, so keep the engines running.”

* + - * +

IC: Shazza Fortuna

"Kimi!" The pale Twi'lek yells at the unconscious Pantoran. Frightened, with her face buried in her embrace, the child keeps crying. "Oh what must I do?" Shazza whispers to herself as the panic within her rises.

"Khara" she speaks softly as she looks down at the girl in her arms, "I have to check on Kimi, I have to see if she is ok." She tries convince the child. But Khara shakes her hard, obviously afraid to be left alone. "I will not leave you.. never. But I have to see of she's ok." With reluctance the girl let's go and cradles her broken arm as she sits back. Slowly, Shazza gets up and moves towards the open door and reaches for her lightsaber. She takes it into her hand and peeks around the corner and sees Kimi laying down motionless on the ramp. "Kriff" she mutters to herself and hides herself again inside the Stinger Serpent.

Her heart raced as she stood with her back against the wall. 'What to do? What to do?' She kept asking herself. She had to do something, she was responsible now for the child. Trying to calm herself down she took a few deep breaths before she spoke to the man outside. "I'm coming outside!, I'm.. I'm armed" she said, copying what Kimi had said only a few minutes prior. Shazza ignited her saber and stepped through the open door. "I want no trouble.. but I'll use this if I have to" she said as she looked down at the blond haired man. He was rather handsome, the young Twi'lek noticed. "I'm Shazza… that's Kimi.. and inside there's a little girl, Khara…who is hurt" she said as calmly as she could despite the panic inside of her.

"I'm going to check on her.. ok?" Shazza motioned to Kimi and slowly moved towards her. "Kimi.. wake up.." she spoke and knelt down, keeping her eye on the stranger. She touched the Pantoran, placing two fingers on her neck. Feeling her pulse was a relief, "Kimi.. please wake up.."

* + - * +

Vomaar took several steps forward quickly and lowered his hands as the mysterious woman suddenly collapsed on the ramp. He’d almost already forgotten there could be another person onboard still. Normally, out here you couldn’t let your guard down even for a second but his gut was telling him this wasn’t just some ploy or trick. Although admittedly nothing she said so far made any sense to him.. Tython? That was a dead planet on the other side of the Galaxy.. how could she have travelled from there in such a small craft through that weird hole thing?… and what was all the space junk she was caught in..? Was she part of some invasion fleet?? A scout perhaps?? No… no one was stupid enough to invade the Hutts and let’s face it.. their settled worlds were all dumps. Rotting carcasses long since picked clean of any natural resources by the greedy Hutt Cartels. Honestly he had no idea what to think about it all, this whole thing was insane! He needed more answers.

Before he could get much closer another voice came from the ship confirming his earlier suspicion, another female but perhaps younger this time. "I'm coming outside!, I'm.. I'm armed"

“Why does everyone think I’m going to hurt them”? Mumbled the young blond haired Balosar. “Hey…I’m not going to hurt you… you crashed into me remember?.” He called out rhetorically.

To his surprise the voice which was quite sweet to his ear belonged to a just as sweet, pale looking Twi’lek girl holding a small strange laser sword weapon. He’d heard of the kind.. these were weapons used by the Jedi. But she didn’t look like a Jedi. And as far as he knew they weren’t common anymore, especially around here where everyone treated them with contempt and suspicion. Perhaps she stole it from one? Or perhaps it was the blue women's? However that strange armour would suggest it wasn’t hers either.

Vomaar slowed but continued to move forwards, his hands held up in the air to show he wasn’t armed as he listened to the girl now known as Shazza.

Vomaar continued to slowly approach as Shazza knelt down to check Kimi’s pulse. He could sense her relief to have found a pulse.

“Look, Shazza… if you got a hurt kid inside we should be taking her and Kimi here to the medical room.” Vomaar said as sternly as he could muster. He wasn’t used to giving orders of any kind to other real life people..

“Anyways I’m Vomaar, ship hand here on the Trade’n’Save trading station. The Ship's Captain Mister Shoony will surely ....`` Another explosion rocks the ship, shifting it back and forth and Vomaar drops to his hands and knees.

* + - * +

IC: Shazza Fortuna

Keeping her eyes on the stranger, Shazza grabbed Kimi's shoulder, gently shaking her. "Wake up Kimi" she said with obvious panic in her voice. She shook her again, now not so gentle, "Kimi!" She yelled as she looked down at the Pantoran. "Please, I don't know what to do" she whispered as the blond haired Balosar slowly approached. But Kimi didn't respond.

The Balosar introduced himself as Vomaar after suggesting they'd take Kimi and Khara to the medbay. But before the teen could respond the ground under her feet shook… an explosion. Shazza's eyes widened and she looked up at Vomaar who had lost balance and dropped to the floor himself. "What's going on? Are you under attack?" She asked, confused.

"I want my mommy" the soft voice of Khara calls out from behind them. Shazza turns and sees the girl standing at the top of the ramp, still clutching her little arm. "I know sweetie…"

~\*~\*~\*~\*~\*~\*~

IC: Kimi Sheiko

The ground shook, and in the distance she heard the faint voices of Shazza and Khara.

Slowly, Kimi opens her eyes and sees the teen Twi'lek hovering over her. "Shazza?" She calls out but her voice is weak. "What the Kriff is going on?" She asks and tries to look around. When she sees Vomaar, much closer than before, her eyes widen and she tries to rise up.

Warm blood trickled down her forehead and she felt dizzy, The young Pantoran immediately fell back again. "Uuhgg" she grunts and passes out again.

* + - * +

IC - Hale, the bounty Hunter.

“Thanks for the codes mate, couldn’t see anything with that damned sprinkler system on.” Said the hulking bounty hunter with a disturbing looking smile to the rusted astromech now lying on its side against the Trade’n’Save command center's westernmost wall. Hale sat down on the controller's chair and pressed several more buttons into the trading vessel's main terminal, several audible system acceptance beeps later and up came the ship's entire security feed and door access systems on the monitor. The chair which was only ever occupied by Vomaar groaned under the large man’s weight.

The droid on the ground, known lovingly as Rusty and who was clearly now quite damaged from the Bounty Hunters force kick to its right side just moments ago, tried to get up but failed. Instead, succeeding only in releasing a random series of sparks as well as a visible wisp of smoke from the rotation joint in what could be loosely described as its neck as it tried to move despite its broken servos.

“Now that the fun part’s over with, let's open those docking bay doors for R1 n check the cameras to see if we can find that lowlife Captain. What Zallo sees in this floating piece of space junk I’ll never know.” Mumbled Hale as he worked.

[[ GM STORY ROLL: 1 Shoony makes it to the entrance and closes the umbilical doors before the explosion, allowing Hale to see him on the cameras. Shoony unharmed. 2 Shoony makes it to the entrance and closes the umbilical doors before the explosion, cameras feed destroyed and Shoony unharmed. 3 Shoony barely makes it to the entrance but cannot close it in time, the blast wave coming from the umbilical destroying the camera feed to that area of the vessel and knocking him out. 4 Shoony barely makes it to the entrance but cannot close it in time, the blast wave coming from the umbilical knocking him out but cameras undamaged allowing Hale to see him on the cameras. DICE ROLL : 3 ]]

* + - * + -

Even through the closed single airlock doorway behind him the explosion tore at the floating umbilical like the cracking of a cattle whip. The high intensity shockwave from the Drooptas self-destructive explosion caused the tightly enclosed walkway to buckle and roll, the rippling momentum building as the sonic wave traveled its length. The floating gangway flexed to its very limits threatening to completely tear itself away from the Trade’n’Save.

Shoony desperately sprinted forwards, trying to get back to his own vessel where Vomaar could help him get out of here before anyone came looking for them. Or worse, more of the Falleen independent brotherhood came looking for their late Captain Ruusk or his crew and started pointing fingers at him!

“\*Ruusk!!”\* Shoony cursed the very name. This couldn’t have been over a few cards.. or even his harlot of a wife.. just what had that imbecile gone and done to cause such anarchy? And just who was hunting them? Even worse, he thought, what if the Falleen Brotherhood showed up and happened to decide that the cargo he was “holding” for the Hutts would be payment for their losses? Then again, perhaps the Brotherhood already knew what he was carrying? And this was the plan all along to obtain the illegal shipment under the guise of a mysterious and violent hijacking? Was this all just a set up? With Ruusk and Shoony soon to be both the very dead fall guys? No… it couldn’t be.. only he and Unko the Hutt knew of their deal, something else must be happening but what?.. Regardless, the one thing he knew was he needed to get out of here, and fast!

As the building roar of the increasingly stressed walkway along with the awesome power of the blast shockwave hunting him down Shoony suddenly found himself quickly approaching the opened entrance to the Trade’n’Save. Desperate and with only a microsecond left till he was possibly left floating in space the naked blue alien jumped over the threshold with all he had left, but only just as the blast wave finally caught up with him. It’s reverberating power shoving him in the back mid jump and propelling the rubbery conman through the air at high speed, slamming him into the adjacent corridor wall and knocking him out cold.

* + - * +

IC - Hale, the bounty Hunter.

Hale gripped the command desk in front of him and dropped to one knee with a thud as the command chairs left two legs suddenly collapsed. The violent rumbling and shaking of the Trade’n’Save caused by the Falleen pirate ship's explosive self-destruction had overloaded stabilisers and rocked the room, shifting all his weight onto the far left side of the already overloaded seat and causing it to give way.

“BLAST IT!” Hale cursed aloud a jolt of pain from his knee shot up his leg making him since. Pulling himself up to standing the large man then kicked the collapsed chair with the assisted power of the force. Sending its twisted, high backed padded frame flying across the room and smashing hard into the still incapacitated droid lying on the floor against the wall with the crashing sound of fast travelling metal meeting metal.

“Serves me right for sittin’ down on the job I guess....all right then.. where was I?”

The terminal's screen had become somewhat distorted with the shift, but it only took a few moments and a few sharp open palmed taps to the side of the screen for Hale to once again have the command terminal back running, along with the trading vessels live security camera feed. Although sadly, after scanning the multitude of live camera images and still failing to acquire his target's location, Hale also now found several of the security camera feeds had now been set to a permanent static. Probably due to either that explosion or that weird space quake thing before. On the terminals top leftmost mini-screen was the main docking bay and his starship Fatman just now sitting down to rest on its repulsors. Its engines still running as instructed and its gangway already lowered. There was one other screen however that had now caught his full attention on the central bottom mini-screen. Hale instantly touched the terminal monitor, expanding its view to cover the entirety of the screen then smiled.

The image was of a crashed pink wreckage in the main cargo bay. There were fallen storage crates littering the floor surrounding it but alongside the wrecked starship was a familiar boy with blond hair and a brown jacket. The boy, now looking much more like a young man than in the clearly outdated file he was sent, was Shoonys only flesh and blood companion he vaguely recalled. The one they called Vomaar. A simpleton, but a troublemaker and first mate of his original Mark he had read.

* ”If Shoony was in hiding, or better yet dead, then I've either found the only bait that will lure him out, or I’ve found the Trade’n’Saves brand new and much more easily manipulated Captain. Both will still lead to my payday.”\* thought the bounty Hunter to himself as he turned to make his way to the cargo hold, the seeds of a plan B forming quickly inside his mind. There were two other beings there as well, both looked like small females he noticed and one looked hurt. It did not matter.. they would stand aside or be easily disposed of. Nothing would stand in his way..

* + - * +

IC: Shazza Fortuna

Once more the Pantoran warrior dropped to the floor, causing the young Twi'lek to feel even more panicked. She had no idea what to do, she was just a teen, officially she never even completed her pilgrimage because of the war with the Dark Regime.

"Kimi, please.." she grabs the Pantoran again at her shoulders, shaking her in an attempt to wake her up.

~\*~

IC: Kimi Sheiko

Her head was ringing, her body hurt and being shaken wasn't making her feel any better. "Uugh" she grunted "I'm awake" she added as she opened her golden eyes. Slowly she rose up to a seated position. "What the kriff is going on?" She asked as glared at the blond haired Balosar. Meanwhile she was trying to feel with her hand if she could reach her hand cannon..

~\*~

IC: Khara Acherjon-Bathori

Frightened, the girl stood at the top of the ramp. Confused as to what was happening. She looked like a young teen but was only nine, she had started her training at padawan kesh but was still far too young and inexperienced to cope with or even comprehend everything that had happened.

Cradling her broken arm, she looked down the ramp. Trembling from cold and fear. "Shazza…. Kimi" she said with a trembling voice. "I'm afraid… I want my mom…" she continued… but then she felt some, or someone, another being approaching. Quickly she turned, moving out of sight, hiding next to the open door.

Ability used: Insight 1

~\*~

IC: Shazza Fortuna

Shazza looked up, seeing the wingless Sky'tri standing in the doorway. But before she could say anything to comfort her the girl disappeared. Then she felt her tchun-tchin (lekku) tingle, she knew something was up. Danger was on its way.

"Let's get you up" Shazza tried to support Kimi, helping her back onto her feet.

Ability used: Insight 1

* + - * +

Vomaars two fleshy antennaepalps twitched as he came back to his senses, the young man slowly lifting himself back up to standing. Both his hands, knees and lower legs were now covered in a dirty brown wetness, thanks to the previously activated sprinkler system and the unexpected overburdening of the ship's stabilisers that caused him to lose his footing. He looked around briefly before returning his attention to the female strangers at the pink starships opening. The large cargo bay that surrounded them hadn’t changed much during this unexplained shockwave, save for the crates that the lifting droids had already been busy restacking had now once again toppled back over onto the metallic floor.

The young girl had emerged from the ship holding her clearly wounded arm and looking scared, the silver eyed girl asking for her mother… it was understandable, the poor girl must be scared half to death Vomaar thought to himself but suddenly it just occurred to him that strangely neither of the women Shazza or Kimi she was travelling with were actually the young girls parents, which raised even more questions again. Had they kidnapped her? No.. Vomaar had picked up their emotions and there was no fear between them, whoever they were, he knew they were at least known and trusted people to the teal skinned child.

Shazza shook Kimi by the shoulders, calling for her to awaken. There was no response, but the attractive young Twi’lek teen quickly turned her attention back to the young shiphand. “What’s happening? Are you under attack” she asked, trying to better figure out the situation. But although he had seen the space anomaly with his own eyes through the Trade’n’Saves command center cameras, he honestly had absolutely no idea at what had caused this secondary and more violent tremor.

“Beats me, I’ve been down here with you remember?” He reminded her, “could just be friends of yours who also came through that big swirly thingy for all I know.. or more of that space junk hitting us” He admitted flatly, straightening up to his full height and wiping his palms on his lean but athletically muscular backside to clear off the wet grime, although deep down he was pretty sure it was neither of those reasons. “ We need to go, it’s very likely now my job might even be on the line if something’s happened and Mr Shoony finds out I left my post while he was over in his meeting.” He said more impatiently than he intended.

It was then that Kimi finally opened her eyes and saw the young Twi'lek girl leaning over her. "Shazza?" She said weakly. "What the Kriff is going on?" She sat slowly, glaring at him and her hand searching for something.

Vomaar, despite his worry and unexpected attraction for the older blue skinned woman, felt himself once again pulled away from the immediate situation by his responsibilities to Shoony and the ship. He needed to get back to Rusty and find out what was happening, but he couldn’t just leave them here like this either.. he wasn’t heartless like most of the people he’d come across out here in the Boz Pity system, and despite their weapons and threats he felt a sense of kindness deep down from these three strangers, especially from the Twi’lek girl Shazza and the child.

The System he had found, in the ten months they had been here including the nearby planet of the same name, was called a graveyard for a reason and without his help these girls had no chance of survival. Its lack of sentients including any authority or government along with its trade lane directly into Hutt space, drew in pirates and underworld scum such as the Falleen brotherhood among others like so many moths to a flame. After all, what better place to conduct highly questionable business than a planet whose only occupants either went extinct ten thousand years ago or were more recently hidden in one of hundreds of freshly buried unmarked graves. The very reason his boss Mr Shoony had decided to set up a semi permanent residence in the power vacuumed system. “It’s the perfect spot.. we are just far enough from the Hutts' as not to suffer their grotesque stink, but just close enough to make out the nice golden shine of their credits” he would say.

Vomaar wondered what his boss would say if he found the girls, would he abandon them? Capture them? Sell them? His only chance would be to get them to the Medbay quickly and then perhaps hide them in his quarters until he could talk to Shoony himself. Perhaps he could even make his boss see reason.. possibly even give them jobs aboard. After all, the two older ones were well armed and obviously knew how to use their weapons.. and after today extra security for three hot meals and a few extra beds would be a cheap deal at least until he could fix their ship again and get them on their way. Vomaar admittedly, would also welcome some female company from someone who didn’t expect to be paid by the half hour.

“Look, I know this is all really strange, trust me I know..,” he said, his voice now noticeably calmer, looking at the young girl who had suddenly turned and went back into the ships opening, then back into Shazzas eyes and Vomaar suddenly felt a wave of concern flowing off her.. “But staying around here waiting for something else to happen isn’t going to help get her well enough to leave, your girl's arm healed or your ship fixed.” Vomaar continued, pointing to Kimi and then the damaged ship behind her.

The truth was he was very much concerned about the explosion as well as the three unexpected visitors. The Falleen brotherhood were certainly not the friendly or trusting type and he needed to get back to Rusty incase Mr Shoony tried to contact him. Vomaar was about to take a bold step closer to hold out his hand to the pale Twi’lek girl when she suddenly turned to look for the child.. something seemed different.. Shazza was worried now, as was the child who was once again projecting newly heightened levels of fear.

“What is it?” The blond haired Balosar asked, puzzled at what was happening as Shazza now tried to support Kimis weight and get her back onto to her feet..

Vomaar tried to focus himself, trying to better read his surroundings as he had done so many times before.. but by the time he picked up on the intense steady stream of confident determination rolling through the cargo bay's entrance it was almost already too late. “I think someones coming for us..” he said over his shoulder to Shazza and Kimi.

* + - * +

IC: Kimi Sheiko

Head still ringing, the Pantoran warrior did not sense the danger coming their way. But she knew they had no other option than to trust the blond haired Balosar male. "Alright… I.. I trust you" she said with obvious reluctance.

"For now anyway" she added with a growl as she looked up at the Balosar male. "Just get us to the medbay.. we'll repair our ship ourselves" she didn't trust anyone with her ship and certainly not this 'Vomaar'. "We'll ofcourse repay you for your help" Kimi added as she tried to look over her shoulder to see Khara. The child had disappeared inside again. Kimi began to feel worried especially when she saw the look in Shazza's eyes as she helped her up. Vomaar had also noticed asking what was wrong.

"What's happening?" Kimi asked confused, "what do you mean another guest?!" The Pantoran wanted to act, she wanted to protect the child and even the teen as they were her responsibility. But she was too weak to do anything, dizzy and hurt. She hoped the child would stay hidden from whomever was approaching.

IC: Khara Acherjon Bathori

The child could sense someone was approaching, someone with malintent. Witj tears in her eyes, shivering from shock and fear, the nine year old Khara stood with her back against the wall, next to the open door. She could hear the others had also picked up on the threat that was coming their way.

She dared not to peek, afraid of what was coming their way. She kept her ears peeled, listening to what was happening, listening for any clues that could help her in assisting the others. She was young, but she was also a Je'daii padawan, smart and resourceful. Despite her pain and fear she was brave.

* + - * +

IC: Hale, the bounty hunter.

“OK, party's over drop your weapons..” said a deep voice coming from towards the entrance of the large cargo bay. A voice they would find belonged to a large, broad shouldered middle aged man as he emerged from behind a large upturned crate about twenty meters away from the Serpent Stinger. The man was human although much larger than most and wore a black leather speed biker jacket and sported a short, near militant like buzz cut. He was square jawed, his facial features weathered and he bore several visible scars on this exposed tan skin. It was one of those faces that suggested this man had seen more than his fair share of action over his lifetime, and his cold deposition confirmed that it had significantly hardened him.

“I said drop the blaster kid, and you.. you two don’t even think about it!” The bounty hunter repeated, now waving a heavy T6 hand blaster towards Vomaar and then at Kimi who’s own blaster lay on the ground nearby. “Zallo pays better for a warm body than a cold one and unless either youse dames can get Shoony here in the next three seconds then this don’t concern you. Only him..” he said again, looking directly at Vomaar.

* + - * +

Vomaar had already turned to try and see who it was that he had felt approaching but the many scattered supply crates and the thin layer of smoke haze still lingering made it difficult to see anything clearly.

Suddenly a voice rang out and with it the answer to his questions. Seeing the mountain of a man appear from out behind a crate and pointing a blaster at him Vomaar instinctively raised his hands in surrender. Taking a single, small sideways step to try and get more between Kimi, Shazza and the man who the Balosar now realised was clearly a bounty Hunter. Vommars own blaster still safely holstered on his belt however and his trusty knife concealed in the special side sheath of his right boot. “No need to shoot mister, it’s just us three and these women don’t know nothin. Just some entertainment that Mr Shoony ordered for Captain Ruusk..” he tried to explain.

“You should get outta here, Mr Shoony and Captain Ruusk will be here any moment and so will the entire crew of the Droopta. They are expecting the girls.” He added, trying to bluff the large man into believing he would soon be greatly outnumbered by Falleen pirates.

* + - * +

IC: Kimi Sheiko

The Pantoran wobbled on her feet, still feeling dizzy when a tank of a man entered the cargo bay. Her first instinct told her to fight, but in her current state Kimi wouldn't be able to so she remained silent and observed.

The man seemed to be only interested in the blond haired Balosar male and someone called Shoony. This was both good and inconvenient for the women. They still needed his help and a little voice in the back of her head told her she should help him like he had been wanting to help them.

Before she could respond to the large man, Vomaar stepped between her and the man and tried to sus the situation by raising his hands.

She nearly gasped when Vomaar referred to her and Shazza as entertainment, it triggered her anger but she did her best to restrain it for the safety of the two girls in her care. Kimi smiled and fluttered her eyelashes trying to give off the right vibe despite not matching her appearance. "Oh mister, forgive the mess. We had an engine malfunction and kinda crashed in here" she said giggling nervously, trying to explain the state of their ship and the cargo bay. "Flying isn't really my thing.. I prefer riding" she added as she gave a flirtatious look.

~\*~

IC: Shazza Fortuna

The teen Twi'lek held on to Kimi, giving her support as she could feel the Pantoran swaying on her legs.

She trembled lightly when the large man stepped into view, holding his gun aimed at them. Vomaar tried to help them by telling the bounty Hunter that they were merely entertainment. The young girls didn't really know to act, she was only a teen so she just remained quiet and lowered her gaze submissively.

~\*~

IC: Khara Acherjon Bathori

Meanwhile, inside the Stinger serpent, Khara listened to the voices outside. Pressed against the wall, the nine year old knew she had to stay out of sight but still wanted to help.

The padawan took a deep breath, trying to ignore the pain in her arm. She closed her eyes focussing on the stranger as she attempted to tap into the force. One of the first abilities she had ever learned, it wasn’t strong but it might just be enough to distract the stranger.

Abilities used:

Malacia 1

* + - * +

GM: the Malacia force ability works but at low level (\*1) is just enough to give Hale a stomach ache.

* + - * +

IC: Hale, the bounty Hunter.

A dry mocking laugh escaped Hale as he listened to Vomaars threat. “really? Well I wouldn’t bet on it mate. Unless of course ghosts have a fondness for dancing girls.” And you, Bluey! Best you shut it girl or the only thing you’ll be riding is the end of my boot. I couldn’t give two gizka shits how messy it is in here.. I’m here for the boy.” He responded harshly to the blue skinned stripper as she spoke up, waiving his blaster at Vomaar. He was here on business plain and simple, there was a bounty to be collected and her flirtations were wasted on him.

It was then that a thought suddenly ran through his brain, perhaps he’ll bring back one of the girls as well. He thought to himself. After all, Zallo was always looking for new girls to work the poles at Triple Overdose Club. And besides, Hale might very well need an additional offering if he wasn’t to be bringing back the original mark Shoony. Hutts were ruthless he’d learned, but they could also be negotiated with.

“On second thoughts, I might just take your friend here with us too.” He added. Looking at the shy young girl. “\*She’ll be much easier to break than the mouthy one\*” he thought.

But then, without so much as a warning he started to feel strange, a urgent sensation inside his abdomen... His stomach churned, growled and grumbled and he felt like he would soon need the refresher.. “\*Ooh, better hurry.. must have been that dehydrated bantha steak I ate for lunch.\*” He thought to himself after hunching over slightly and placing his hand on his stomach, allowing the pain to surge his connection to the force ready to unleash it. He had an affinity to the force.. he’d known this since he was in prison. He was no Sith, no Jedi.. but he did have some basics down and a few tricks up his sleeve for making his job just that little bit easier.

Immediately Hale raised his empty hand and force pulled the Twi'lek girl towards him, catching her in his outstretched meaty fingers and spinning her so she was facing the others but still in his grasp, his hand now wrapped around her waist holding her to him easily. He raised his hand holding the blaster and pressed it firmly against the side of her head. “Enough games! It’s time to leave” he said sternly and looked directly at Vomaar. The discomfort of his stomach etched all over his already marred face. “Let’s go or else I blow her pretty little brains out right here and now.”

* + - * +

IC: Shazza Fortuna

Trembling, the young Twi'lek teen listened quietly to the conversation. She flinched when the large stranger raised his voice at Kimi and didn't dare to look him into the eyes. However, when he mentioned taking her as well she looked up, eyes wide in shock. She shook her head but before she could say anything she felt a strong jerk.

She was pulled away from Kimi, and dragged straight to the extended hand of the Bounty Hunter. Shazza shrieked, frightened but also surprised as the man seemed to be Force Sensitive. "Please.. no.. please I don't want to come" she cried in fear.

~\*~

IC: Kimi Sheiko

As Shazza was pulled away from her, the weakened Pantoran began to sway. But despite her state she tried her best to remain standing. "She's only a child, sir" Kimi said now with a tremble in her voice as the entire situation brought back memories, triggering her own traumas of the past.

It surprised her that the ugly man was force sensitive, but she had a feeling he was untrained, not a Sith or a Jedi. "Please, sir.. let her go.." she begged as she kept her eyes on the man, trying to find a weakness.

Then she noticed something about his posture and expression; the man wasn't feeling well or at least something was bothering him, causing him pain. Despite her own weakened state, Kimi had to try help Shazza and as she kept pleading, begging the man to let the teen go, she attempted to reach out to the Force herself. Attempting to increase the man's sensation of the pain. Hoping to create a window for the girl to escape his grip.

Abilities used:

Cruticorn 1

~\*~

IC: Khara Acherjon Bathori

Meanwhile the child in hiding kept using her powers to distract the stranger

Abilities used:

Malacia 1

* + - * +

IC: Hale, the Bounty Hunter.

“Errrgh.. what’s wrong with me.. hell.” Said Hail, one arm pressing the young Twi’lek girl into him and his other pointing a blaster at the side of her head. His stomach twisted and turned painfully cramping the bounty hunter's gut, he bent at the waist in reaction to the pain which pressed his thick chest into Shazzas back and put more pressure of the blaster barrel against her temple. “Listen kid, I ain’t kiddin we are going right now or she dies!” He repeated, the urgency and seriousness becoming apparent in his voice as well as his body language.

The blue skinned woman tried to sway him with her words, begging him to let the Twi’lek go. “Look, either I’m taking the kid or you can willingly take her place!” Hale barked back at her, losing whatever small amount of patience he had left with the drawn out exchange of words. Normally they would be already out the door by now but his stomach it seemed had other ideas.

“Which will it be Bluey? You got two seconds to decide before my friend here decides for you?” He wiggled the tip of the blaster slightly as it pressed against Shazzas head, emphasising the point.

* + - * +

Stunned for a moment the young Balosar couldn’t believe his ears as the man claimed to have killed the entire Fallen crew as well as his boss Shoony. It couldn’t have been.. It was odd though, Vomaar had a deep feeling that Shoony was still alive. He couldn’t explain it. It was more than just hoping or believing his only friend was clever enough to escape whatever this bounty hunter had done.. This feeling came from somewhere deeper inside him. Somehow, he just knew...

The large man to the boy's surprise was one of them force users.. that changed everything. Vomaar took a step forward with his hand raised trying to deescalate the situation as the Hunter pulled Shazza in and made her his hostage. He didn’t know these girls but he didn’t want any of them getting hurt for him either. That was something he wasn’t sure he could live with.  “Ok, Ok I’ll come to Zallo quietly just don’t hurt her..” He said submittingly but emphasised the word Zallo so the security cameras he knew were on them would pick it up. In his unfortunately extensive experience dealing with bounty hunters, he knew they would do anything to claim a mark including murder. This guy was serious despite being in obvious discomfort, and there was nothing he could do for now but comply and so he started walking towards the doorway.

Suddenly Kimi spoke up and he felt a sharp rise of panicked emotion surging from her like a tidal wave of fear, he turned to see what was happening. Kimi pleaded desperately with the large man to let the Twi’lek teen go but then something totally unexpected happened. The bounty hunter gave her a choice. A choice to replace the teen herself.. it was either Kimi or Shazza coming with them and the blue skinned woman would now be the one to decide which or he would kill Shazza and take Kimi anyway. Vomaar held his breath, waiting for her response.

* + - * +

IC: Kimi Sheiko

Panic rose inside her the entire situation brought back memories of her own troubled past. But the petite Pantoran did her best not to show the hulking stranger and try to stay strong for the two girls that were her responsibility. Using her pain and darkside emotions she kept using the Force to accentuate his pain and to her surprise it worked.

Kimi looked at the frightened Twi'lek and then back at the Bounty Hunter, "I will come, sir" she replied with a trembling voice.

Abilities used:

~ Cruticon 1

~\*~

IC: Shazza Fortuna

Frightened, she tightly kept her eyes shut when she felt the barrel of the gun pressing against her head. "Please…" she cried and trembled in fear. But then she heard Kimi's response and looked at her. She was thankful that she was going to take her place but of course she couldn't just stand by, despite her fear..

~\*~

IC: Khara Acherjon Bathori

The child was in immense pain and wasn't strong enough to keep her focus much longer. But she gave it all she had.

Abilities used:

~ Malacia 1 《weakening》

~\*~

IC: Kimi Sheiko

"Just let her go sir" she pleaded and held her hands up. "I will come" she repeated hoping he would let the Twi'lek teen go.

~\*~

IC: Shazza Fortuna

The Twi'lek held her breath as she waited for the towering man to let her go. But when he'd finally would, she would have a little surprise for him.

If he would let her go, Shazza would attempt to disarm him by using the force to make his weapon malfunction, giving them a window to run or attack.

《Ability she would used on his gun if Hale would let her go: Ionize 1》

* + - * +

(( GM: story dice roll:

1: Hale keeps his word and lets Shazza go unharmed, taking Kimi at gunpoint.

2: Hale wounds Shazza in anger then takes kimi at gunpoint.

3: Hale decides neither girls are worth it as the force effects wear him down attempting to take Vommar alone.

4: Hale, worn down and realizing the use of force powers, abandons all together and flees the warehouse.

Roll Result:4  ))

IC: Hale the bounty hunter.

“Awwwwee my stomach……. What's wrong with me……!” The muscular human says as he doubles over in pain yet again.. (\*somethings wrong… this ain’t normal!!!\*) he curses to himself before Hale violently shoves Shazza the Twi'lek teen forwards as hard as he can in the direction of Vommar. The bounty hunter then turns tail and makes for the exit of the wearhouse hanger.

* + - * +

All Vomaar lowered his hands and braced himself for impact as Shazza was force shoved directly at him. From behind the teen he could just make out the Bounty hunter turning tail and running towards the door.

* + - * +

Groggily Shoony lifted his hand and rubbed his head. The sound of alarms had stopped but had been replaced with a constant ringing in his ear canals.

He opened his eyes and realized he was lying naked on his stomach next to a wall and on the cold floor of the Trade’n’save. Shoony slowly lifted himself and saw that the wall and floor were both covered in the oozy fermented wheat smelling slime that his body excreted when sufficiently threatened and he grimaced. He hated when that happened, even though it had helped save his life on more than a dozen occasions it always reminded him of the swamps he was found in as a youngling.

“Vomaar \*IF\* I find you are responsible for this, I’m gonna make you clean that up with your tongue.” He grumbled to himself getting fully upright and surveying the damage around him. He flicked his wrists and several drips of ooze released from his fingertips and dropped to the floor. “Urgh, assuming I don’t kill you first that is.” He added and turned to make his way to the control room where he had ordered the young shiphand to remain stationed while he was on the Droopta.

* + - * +

IC Kimi Sheiko

Her heart rate went up, the petite Pantoran could feel the panic rise, triggered by his words. But after her pleading he accepted to take her instead of the pale teen Twi'lek. "Just let her go" she said with her hand raised in the air, proving she was unarmed.

But then, finally something happened. As she had hoped his pain increased, she could see it from the look in his eyes as well as his entire body posture changing. But Kimi remained cautious knowing a wounded animal is far more dangerous. Suddenly out of nowhere she pushed Shazza towards the blond haired Balosae before he ran away.

~\*~

IC: Shazza Fortuna

As she was shoved away, the young Twi'lek let out a scream in shock. Eyes closed she could feel an embrace. Still trembling she slowly opened her eyes and looked at Vomaar. "Thank you" she softly said.

~\*~

IC: Kimi Sheiko

Still swaying on her legs, Kimi watched in shock. Wondering what had spooked the large Bounty Hunter because she was sure it wasn't just because of the pain she managed to increase through the Force.

She looked at Shazza who was still in Vomaar's embrace. "A little help would be most welcome" she said, indicating she wanted to hold on to someone as she could feel to weak to stand on her own two feet for to long. But it wasn't the only reason, she didn't like the way Vomaar looked at Shazza and wanted to keep the girl close.

~\*~

IC: Khara Acherjon Bathori

When the large men ran away, the connection through the force separated. The child had given it her all and slid down onto the floor in exhaustion..

* + - * +

Vomaar catches Shazza safely in his embrace but in doing so is forced to stumble back several steps with her in his arms to stop from falling over. The young shiphand looks up in time to see the bounty hunter disappearing out the warehouse entrance and protectively pulls Shazza in more tightly. He looked down and his eyes met the Twi’lek girls. Still trembling, she softly thanked him. “Uhh, sure. No problem.” He answered back cooly, letting his eyes linger for a moment longer than expected. He hadn’t had a girl in his arms this long for, well… he couldn’t even remember a time if he was honest. Usually the second he got close to a female Shoony would somehow mess things up for him either by accident or on purpose. Just having the contact was nicer than he had expected.

"A little help would be most welcome" Kimi suddenly said and Vomaar sensing her disapproval let go of the teen girl. “Right.. of course.. yeah. The Medbay.” He said again, moving to Kimi’s side and supporting her weight under her arm like a crutch. With his other hand he removed his blaster and switched off the safety. “Just in case that creep is still lurking around. I wonder what made him take off like that anyhow?.” He added and held the blasters business end out in front of them. “Shazza, are you and the kid going to be ok to follow us?” He asked, waiting for their response before moving.

* + - * +

IC: Hale the Bounty Hunter

“Get us outta here R8. That goddamn kark sucking alien hired protection.” said Hale as he quickly entered his ship Fatman who was waiting for him inside the main hangar with engines already running. “And get me Zallo on the holo asap.. we're going to plan B.”

* + - * +

IC: Shazza Fortuna

It was only a brief moment that she stared back at the handsome Balosar, but looking up into his eyes made her heart flutter in her chest. The moment was quickly interrupted by the Pantoran warrior and Vomaar immediately responded by letting go and stepping away from her. Strangely enough, despite having just met, she felt a little disappointed.

~\*~

IC: Kimi Sheiko

Swaying on her feet she watched as the blond haired Balosar let go of the Twi'lek teen. Shazza and Khara were both her responsibility now, and despite the fact that this 'Vomaar' was willing to help them, she still wasn't sure if she could really trust him.

He approached her and gave her some support. She glanced at him with a smile, trying to read him and his true intentions but she was far too weak. "Yeah, I wonder what it was that spooked him" she replied with a faint smirk and glanced over her shoulder at Shazza.

~\*~

IC: Shazza Fortuna

Hearing the question immediately made her gasp. She quickly turned and walked up the ramp, back into the luxury yacht of the Pantoran to look for Khara.

In the corner of the main hold the large bonegnawer screeched and flapped its wings as he tried to remove the small hood covering its eyes. Floki, the small Kiros bird, sat on the floor beside Khara… "Khara!" Shazza yelled and knelt down. "Are you ok?" She asked.

~\*~

IC: Khara Acherjon Bathori

Eyes red from crying the child looked up. Nodding silently she tried to get up but then cried out "Aagh!" Her broken arm hurt immensely with the slightest movement. "It hurts" she cried "I want my mommy."

~\*~

IC: Shazza Fortuna

The teen felt terrible seeing Khara like that. Carefully she helps her up. "We will go to the medbay" she said trying to give her some comfort by letting her know that maybe they could stop the pain.

She glanced at Diaval, who was still trying to remove his hood with his claw. "Ok, Khara, you and Floki go to Kimi" she said and approached the large bird "shhhhh…let me help you" she said, trying to calm the bird.. "shhhhh. I will remove it" she cautiously moved closer and when the bird finally stopped flapping and screeching she reached for the little leather cap and removed it. At once the bird seemed to feel relieved and jumped off its perch, flying through the open door into the cargo hold.

Shazza left the ship to join the others, walking beside Khara as her Kiros bird fluttered around her. "Ok, we are ready to go.." she said and followed Vomaar and Kimi out of the Cargo hold.

END CHAPTER 1