A Runaway Princess

Dash Aandek

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The hull is painted in a dull gray, with black and green accents around the cockpit, and along the wings and hull, giving it a sleek, dangerous look, despite the fact it possesses no offensive capabilities.

Dash has modified the engines, shields, and controls himself, making it ultra maneuverable, and hard headed. It's main flaw is thus; in modifying the power system, Dash overlooked the power draw of his engines and shielding. He can run both at the same time, but to get the full benefit out of either, one has to be shut down completely.

The radar of the Eagle's Talon was already blaring warnings the second the Bad Taste had locked on, but Dash was locked in disbelief.

Who the fierfek is this? They're not imperial. Why are they targeting us? Is this guy looking for someone else's ship?

The first bolts of plasma fizzling against the Eagle's Talon shields; rocking the ship fiercely; shook Dash into action.

"Alright, cupcake, you wanna play cat and mouse? I'll give you a run for your money." Dash said as he pushed the throttle to full, and banked hard to the left, ducking behind a civilian freighter waiting to land on Naboo. The sheer number of ships in orbit around the planet made for excellent cover; and unless this attacker was willing to be put on a most wanted list all his own; he'd need to be more careful with his shots.
 

Hector Raegus

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"Blast!"
Haector muttered to himself as his target swooped behind cover of a large transport. He quickly slammed the control to turn the auto cannon off and gave chase. This pilot was crafty, Haector thought to himself. Using the other ships as shields meant laser fire would be useless. Fortunately, The Bad Taste had a lot more to its Arsenal.
Haector switched on the targeting computer for his mini tractor beam. Although it was not powerful enough to stop a ship completely, it could easily slow down a prey. Haector checked his info plate and cursed. The tracking darts only worked in a small radius and his prey had already left that. Haector would need to stop them in the next few moments, if they jumped to hyperspace, he would have no clue where to follow them. Fortunately, he had a plan to remedy that. As the two ships swooped and zipped through the field of ships, Haector switched on his comm channel and broadcasted his voice to the hunted.
"Attention pilot scum, you are in possesion of a wanted person. Unless you want a bounty on your head too I suggest you stop running and set down. If you do not, I will be forced to use deadly measures Do you Understand?"
 

Dash Aandek

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Dash's hands danced on the controls; switching power from his shield banks to his engines. The shields of the Eagle's Talon would now need at least 5 minutes to reactivate, but with the entirety of his power diverted to his engines, the ship could toe the line between sub-light and light speed without activating it's hyperspace drive.

"Attention pilot scum, you are in possession of a wanted person. Unless you want a bounty on your head too, I suggest you stop running and set down. If you do not, I will be forced to use deadly measures. Do you Understand?" A voice called over the intercom.

"Listen buddy, I don't know what you're talkin' about, but opening fire on a civilian vessel in neutral space is a capital offense by most standards. Why don't you just turn that crate of yours around, and we'll forget this ever happened. Chalk it up to a little... misunderstanding, before I decide to report it to the authorities."

Dash had no idea who this man was, or how he knew Arwen was on his ship, but he kept weaving between the ships in Naboo's orbit, increasing the distance between them and headed for the Hyperspace lane that would take him to Nal Hutta, and thereafter; Nar Shaddaa.
 

Hector Raegus

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Haector scoffed at the pilots reply, but knew he needed to stall. The other ship was quicker then his, and soon would be out of range and able to jump to hyperspace.
"civilian vessel pilot, identify yourself. I have reason to believe you are smuggling a bounty out of the system. I am operating under legal bounty hunting laws. If you are innocent, identify yourself and your craft and stop attempting to flee. If you continue, I am permitted by Intergalactic law to shoot you down."

Under no circumstances would Haector actually shoot this bounty down, she was wanted alive. But this would give time for Haectors ship scanner to run it through the recent Arrival/Departures data base of Naboo's space docks and hopefully get an ID on the ship. Until then he could only hope to get a lock with the tractor beam to slow him down...
 

Dash Aandek

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"Firing without warning is Legal Bounty Hunting Laws? You must suck at your job, pal. I'm tellin' you, I ain't smuggling a thing. Forgive me if I'm not eager to set down and let some blaster happy lunatic just waltz on over to my ship."

Without warning, another freighter shifted course, right into Dash's way. He banked hard to avoid it, but the momentary loss of speed would allow his pursuer to get with in range to scan his I.D., and assuming he has the proper equipment; the plotted course on his navcomputer.
 

Hector Raegus

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Haector smiled. Of course firing without warning wasn't legal, but most bounty hunters did it to prevent escape. He didn't even bother to respond because a ship coming from an awkward angle had caused his prey to bank sharply...right into range of his scanners. He watched as the scanner began its search. It would take at least a few moments, but Haector could buy the time. His tractor beam locked on and activated. His preys ship slowed down drastically. Unless one blasted the source of the beam with a direct hit with a laser shot (which IS possible because the shields around the tracking device must be deactivated for it to work) they couldn't break free without some slightly difficult manuevering. it would take time. And Haector would not give them time. He fired a few warning shots that flew wide, then activated his comm
"Pilot! You are caught. Desist your pointless flight and deactivate your engines. My scanner indicates your shields are down, you have no choice but to surrender!"
 

Dash Aandek

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Dash just smirked to himself.

"A tractor beam? Cute. Let's play tug o' war then, cupcake." Dash said as he pushed his throttle to full. With the expanded power of his engines; the tractor beam did slow him down, but at full throttle; his ship still moved at the speed of an X-wing with it's S-foils open. Dash shifted his trajectory, shooting upward; making sure to keep a ship behind him at all times; making firing upon him impossible without collateral damage. As he crested over the large frigate, he cut the throttle, using impulse engines to aim the nose of his ship downward behind it, before slamming the throttle forward again; shooting downward behind the ship, and breaking the tractor beam.

"It's been fun, Shab-head, but I've got places to be. Have fun lookin' for work." Dash taunted over the comms just before his hyperdrive kicked in. Satisfied he'd be safe in Hyperspace for the trip to Nal Hutta; he set the Eagle's Talon to autopilot, and headed to the back of his ship to tinker with his Swoop Bike.
 

Rae Anne Jarrus

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Arwen jolted awake as the ship jerked out of the way of an incoming vessel. She sat up looking around, but didn't dare to stand up, because if she did, she was gonna be more likely to fall than to walk a straight line to the cockpit. She sat listening to the familiar voices speaking over the comm line to each other. The bounty hunter's voice was more than familiar due to have knowing him since her father was killed.

The ship noticeably slowed down when the tractor beam got a lock onto Dash's ship. "You never quit do ya bounty hunter?" she asked under her breath. She stayed sitting where she was until she felt the familiar jolt of the ship jumping into hyperspace. It seemed it would be a smooth ride for a little while, so she tood up and decided to take a small walk around his little ship. She started walking until Dash walked right past her. She believed her eyes, but it was a little hard for her to believe. She had only remembered a man who didn't want to get involved with anything. Arwen shrugged and followed him. "Hey.. thank you.. for what you did back there. I owe you my life." she said in a calm tone. "You didn't have to." Arwen clasped her hands together behind her back.
 

Hector Raegus

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Haector say back in his seat as his prey disappeared into the tunnel of hyperspace. He sat quite for a few moments, stunned that he had lost a target. Then his eyes were drawn to a beeping on the control panel. The Scanner had gotten a match. The ship was called the Eagle's Talon, and the kriffing pilots name was under D. Aandek.
He had no idea were the ship had jumped to, so he would have some hunting to do, but at least he had a start. The Twi'lek typed commands into his console, sending a message to all of his informants and aquaintences who worked in Docking. There were only a certain number of hyperspace lanes from Naboo, and if Haector knew anything, it's that people who run from bounty hunters always went to Hutt space. He tagged the ships ID and the pilots name into the message, then sent it out. They may have bought SOME time, but the hunt was far from over...
 

Dash Aandek

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((Hector; if you were to run a search for Dash's name, it would likely turn up information on him easily, as he was a decently well known face on the swoop racing circuit of both Nar Shaddaa and Corescant.))

"Yeah well, I did lead the bucket head's right too you." Dash said as he knelt down beside his swoop, planning on stripping down the fuel intake for the third time in an attempt to find the issue. "Woulda been a pretty terrible thing if I'd just left ya there."

Dash worked the spanner in his hand to undo the bolts on the Mobquet-S' frame; holding the fuel tank in place. He paused for a moment as a strange metal prong, jutting off of the fuel tank, caught his eye. As soon as he went to grab it, though, it fractured into pieces. Dash just shrugged, and tossed the small bits of metal and electronics into a refuse bin.

"We're headed for Nar Shaddaa. I know it doesn't exactly have a sterling reputation, but if you're lookin' to get lost in the crowd; It's either there, or Coruscant, and I ain't goin' to Coruscant."
 

Rae Anne Jarrus

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Arwen scoffed lightly hearing that he had led them right to her. "One of these days I wouldn't be surprised if they caught me." she said in response. She looked up to him again and shrugged the very slightest walking a touch closer. "I wouldn't have blamed you to leave me there. I probably deserve it more than I know." she had always been blamed for her parents' death. When he mother died, she was blamed by a stepmother that stayed with her and her father for seven months. And then she was blamed for her father's death after the war on her homeland. So she had always thought that it was truly her fault for the destruction of her family. Hence the way she found the force from getting frustrated at the people who pointed fingers at her. "Wouldn't have been too terrible..." she said under her breath to the point where Dash probably wouldn't even be able to hear her.

She watched quite interested as he tinkered with his speeder. Arwen turned her head back to Dash when he said they were headed for Nar Shaddaa. "Finally! A non-formal place where no one gives a hoot about who I am and nobody points fingers at me for my parents death!" she said relieved until she realized what she said and covered her mouth with her hand, thinking she said too much with a newly depressed look on her face.
 

Dash Aandek

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Dash just cocked an eyebrow at her oddly specific exclamation.

"Yeah." He said simply. "Let's go with that."

Dash worked quickly, disassembling the fuel intake within three minutes.

"Damn..."
Dash muttered, looking over the various parts. "Fuel lines to the ignition are leaking."

He set to work replacing the faulty lines; pausing to make a note of several other upgrades he could make. He glanced over to Arwen.

"Any plans once we reach Nar Shaddaa?" He asked. "I doubt you wanna spend your time slumming it with me."
 

Rae Anne Jarrus

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Arwen cleared her throat returning his glance. "No plans really. And Slumming? Hmm, I wouldn't call it slumming, I'd call it hanging out." she then smiled and shook her head lightly finally realizing something. "You know, I'm not like other princesses, senators, etc. I'd rather pave my own path and change the rules up a bit. I know that when the job of being queen was forced on me at the age of twelve, I was strict on rules. But meeting you, I feel that they need to be changed up a bit." she said.

"So honestly the question is, do you have any plans? Any places to go, things to see? I'd love to explore and see the place a little bit."
she suggested. "I think I'd like to get to know more about you Dash." she replied looking right at him.
 

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Haector sat back in his chair, watching the beautiful planet of Naboo through the viewport as his ship slowly orbited around it. There was nothing he could do at this point. Until his prey landed their ship he would not get a notification. He was getting frustrated, the longer he sat here, the more the was giving to someone else to claim the bounty. The twi'lek figured he would stay put a few more days, after which he would have to start searching by hand. The kriffin pilot and princess had evaded him long enough...
 

Dash Aandek

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"So honestly the question is, do you have any plans? Any places to go, things to see? I'd love to explore and see the place a little bit." she suggested. "I think I'd like to get to know more about you Dash."

"In truth? I don't know. I was only on Naboo because it happened to be nearby when I got sick of flying around for a few months. Figure there's something going on on Nar Shaddaa. Always is. We'll burn that bridge when we come to it." Dash said, still focusing on his Swoop Bike; not so much working on anything specific; just tightening loose bolts and admiring his own handiwork. "And as for knowing more about me, I'm flattered, but I'm not that interesting, compared to a runaway Princess/Jedi; but If you've got any questions, feel free to ask 'em."
 

Rae Anne Jarrus

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"And as for knowing more about me, I'm flattered, but I'm not that interesting, compared to a runaway Princess/Jedi; but If you've got any questions, feel free to ask 'em."

Arwen raised an eyebrow and narrowed her eyes, clearly not impressed. "Oh believe me, you are more interesting than you think." she said looking at him thinking of more to say. "I mean, you're a mechanic, you ride swoop bikes, you're free and allowed to do anything you want. You can fail, you can screw things up, get dirty, not keep a certain posture and everything else. Being someone like me, you have to be clean, you can't fail, mess up, get dirty, ride bikes, keep a straight posture at all times, and follow the rules your mentors and teachers for royalty 101 taught you. And I tell you, the teachers are strict." she explained. "The thing is, I have to follow rules, you don't. You have a free life. It's more interesting than a life that has been forced on you that you have to obey and follow. Yes, it is fun at times, but other times I wish I could just run with my shoes off and get my hair and clothes dirty for once." she said in thought with a tiny smile.
 

Dash Aandek

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"That's one way of looking at it." Dash scoffed; idly tweaking various bolts on his bike. "It's not really all that great. Freedom of choice also means an over abundance of doubt. You never really know if you're doing what's best. At least in your position, you've never truly needed to doubt that. At least from what I can see."

Dash set down his spanner and stood up; leaning against the cabinet of tools next to his bike.

"And as far as being able to screw up goes..."
Dash trailed off; not entirely sure he wanted to delve back into the events that lead him to his habit of hopeless drifting and alcoholism. "Er... never mind... uh... so... how's that... uh... force... thingy?"
 
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Rae Anne Jarrus

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Arwen rolled her eyes real quick with a smirk on her face. "Freedom of choice let's you have whatever the heck you want." she responded. "But yes, one time I did have to doubt my freedom of choice when the Empire took my family. All I had were servants and teachers and no where to go or an idea for anything. Then again I was only twelve." she said remembering her father and the times they had.

She looked up at Dash as he stood up and leaned against his cabinet. She raised a slight eyebrow when she looked at him. Arwen noticed that when he started saying something about screwing up, she noticed that he wasn't exactly proud of it and decided not to ask about it. She knew she made the right choice when he immediately changed conversation to her force powers. She smirked hearing the way he had said 'force thingy'. "Well, if they were more developed, we would have been able to get out of that mess easier back there. It honestly would have only taken a mind trick or two to be able to get them to forget about me. But unluckily I dont know how to use that yet." she responded.
 

Dash Aandek

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"Not really a good idea to spend time thinkin' about what could'a been." Dash said, gently thumping his foot against the cabinet behind him. "We got out of that mess fine enough."

Dash glanced over to his Swoop, and scratched his head thoughtfully.

"First priority once we reach Nar Shaddaa; We're gonna need credits. I'm broke as usual, and I doubt you've got access to your money, being a fugitive and all."
 

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"Yeah, you're right." She responded. Arwen crossed her arms and looked around real quick before looking back to Dash. "And yes we did, thanks to you." she smiled.

Arwen nodded when he said they needed credits. "Not a problem. I brought some with me. And I don't think that they'd recognize me on Nar Shaddaa. It would be a shocker. But if they do," she patted the blaster on her hip. "We blast em." she said.
 
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