BiB: Bad Metal

[Tagal Saxon]

Mandalorians had served as bounty hunters for hundreds of years and this was to the surprise of no one - one thing that did surprise him was that he was being asked to bounty hunt on a droid. Specifically it appeared that some kind of assassin droid had killed some Mandalorians and the vendor he had spoken to had passed along the contract as a way to not only get extra credits but also prove that he was Mandalorian enough.

Honestly he didn't think that he really needed to prove that last bit but some people were the hard to please kind and the vendor was certainly on of them. The bounty noted that the local jawas had had dealings with the rogue droid in the past so he had set a course for Tatooine.

And then immediately made a detour to pick up Irma because he had never had any dealings with the jawas and had no way of understanding them. His tiny little fighter-pilot of a friend however? She had dealings with all kinds of junk traders and it seemed that the jawas were rather fond of her and willing to actually deal with her because he'd only had to name drop her and one of the jawas had immediately sent him coordinates to find them.

Cruising along in the rented speeder, Tagal couldn't help but glance at Irma in the passenger seat with a raised eyebrow.

"So any reason why the Jawa we spoke to seemed so happy to see you?"

He paused for a moment before blinking.

"Is he... or she... did they... do they, like, fancy you or something?"

Jawas having a sex drive was not something he wanted to think about though so he was hoping that Irma would tell him he was wrong.

Praying he was wrong really.

@AutoFox

 

[Irma Kinton]

Irma Kinton scrambled up into the passenger seat of the rented speeder, closing the door with a bit more force than was strictly necessary. After buckling herself in, the Tintinna sat in silence for a few minutes, before Tagal turned to her and tried to make conversation.

"I... buy parts from them. Sometimes." She said, looking out of the window. "They have the parts I want, I don't haggle as much as some of their other regulars, aaand..."

The little Tintinna crossed her arms under her bosom, and turned to look at Tagal.

"Look, they don't get to see many girls of their own... biology... who don't wear hoods and robes all the time. By Jawa standards, this," she gestured down at her actually somewhat baggy flight suit, "is considered pretty skimpy, I think. I'm not proud of it, but I think it gets me deals."

The Tintinna blushed a bit, turning away from Tagal.

"And actually, some of them are... kind of charming, if you get to know them. And a girl likes to feel... appreciated that way, sometimes."

Irma made no mention of whether or not she knew what the Jawas looked like under their all-concealing robes, what she thought of them without them, or under what circumstances she may have come by such information. She did turn back to Tagal, though.

"So... we're looking for a killer droid?" She asked, changing the subject. "How did it get all the way out to a place like this, I wonder? I mean, if I had mechanical joints I would hate sand... it's course and rough, and it gets everywhere!"

She bit her lip.

"And if these Jawas have it, I hope they know what they're doing..."

@Nefieslab

 

[Tagal Saxon]

Yeah he was glad he didn't understand the language of the Jawas because now he was 100% confirming, within his own mind, that the Jawa he was speaking to had a crush on Irma and likely wanted to do unspeakable things to her. Now he could see why someone would want to be intimate with Irma (she was like one of those drawn cartoons on the holonet that had far more boob than could reasonably be supported by a mammalian spine) but the idea of Jawas trying to dirty talk her was just something he could really do without.

The idea that they would try and lower her prices for some 'extra incentive' was just enough to make him seriously consider just throwing this bounty in the trash and moving on but he knew better - he had to do this.

"Okay so I'm going to need you to translate, sure, but please remove any and all parts that would involve the flirting and suggestions about what they would do to you under their robes?" he asked, completely straight and without a hint of amusement, "That would be great."

Shuddering slightly even as he flew, he shrugged a little bit.

"Way I heard it, this thing is very advanced and rather good at lying. I wouldn't put it past this thing to have somehow gotten them to agree to upgrade it or something." he sighed heavily as they approached one of the sand clawers, "Alright it's showtime Irma. Put on your mean face, yeah?"

It was probably just some adorable little squint or something.

@AutoFox

 

[Irma Kinton]

Irma blushed a little more at Tagal's request, shifting a bit in her seat and nodding slowly. She leaned forward in her seat slightly as the sand crawler appeared in the distance.

"You're not... jealous, are you?"

Irma seemed to grow uncomfortable at her own words, and bit her lip, sitting back and more or less remaining quiet as the sand crawler grew in the windscreen. At Tagal's words, however, she leaned forward again, indeed adopting a little squint, although the little Tintinna seemed to pack more intimidation into it than - like her cup size - seemed feasible for her stature. She pulled an XC7 carbine into her lap, hanging from a strap on her shoulder, and checked the power cell mechanically.

"Ready to go."

@Nefieslab

 

[Tagal Saxon]

The Mandalorian slowly turned his head to look down at Irma. Raising an eyebrow, he smirked behind the safety of his helmet, managing to look effortlessly intimidating even though he was smirking and trying hard to resist the urge to start laughing at the situation and what he was about to do.

"Depends - are you flirting with me, Little Mouse?" He asked, tilting his head to one side, "I think my Deucalian might have words with you if you are..."

He managed to keep a straight face for ten seconds.

"I'm just messing with you Irma - just let me know if they make you feel uncomfortable and I'll punch their teeth in, okay?"

If they had teeth under those hoods, Tagal really wasn't sure what Jawas looked like under their hoods and he wasn't sure that he really wanted to know. As they approached he began to park up, three jawas approaching them. Climbing out of the speeder, he paused as he caught sight of the gun she was holding.

"Wait - isn't that illegal for civilian use?" He shook his head, "Whatever. Show-time Little Mouse, get ready to translate. Hello! We are looking for a droid, one that we understand came by here recently?"

The lead Jawa stared at Tagal blankly for a few moments and he sighed. Trust his luck that he got the only Jawa who didn't actually even understand Basic. The Jawa spoke to Irma in loud chirps.

<"Busty one, who is the furless one and what does he speak of?">

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[Irma Kinton]

Irma blushed even darker at Tagal's response to her question, eyes widening a bit as the Mandalorian kept his gaze on her. When he spoke again, though, she gave a sigh of relief, and a nervous chuckle.

"D-Duly noted!" She squeaked. Then calmed herself. "Though I think they at least know to keep their hands off by now..."

The speeder came to a stop, and Irma hopped down onto the sand, slinging her carbine's sling as non-threateningly as she could over her shoulder, letting it dangle by her side, which at her height meant the magazine almost touched the ground.

At Tagal's words, Irma nodded. Briefly, she translated the Jawa's speech into Basic for Tagal, leaving out one or two words, before turning back to the robed creature.

<"Greetings, Perverted one."> She chittered in Jawa Trade Talk; it was amazing just how many subtle variations of "utinni" there were standing in for different words, she mused. <"My friend and I seek a droid, one we believe may have come this way recently...">

@Nefieslab

 

[Tagal Saxon]

'By now'?

Okay so from now on Tagal was going to assume that all Jawas were some kind of perverted molester unless proven otherwise because he was really not getting a good view of them here. Maybe it was just when they were around Irma? Maybe she was some kind of xeno sex icon?

The little pilot, librarian, engineer? A sex icon?

The thought was both amusing and slightly disturbing to him but he supposed that everyone had their own tastes so it wasn't really his place to judge. He raised an eyebrow as he waited for Irma and the Jawa to be done with their little chat. While they were chatting he scanned the area, with one of his hands resting casually on one of his pistols. He didn't think the Jawas would attack them but he wasn't taking any chances.

<"We have many droids, Busty One. Many new ones."> the leader chatted excitedly, <"We do you great discount if you are friendly with the clan!">

@AutoFox

 

[Irma Kinton]

Irma crossed her arms at the Jawa's response, giving the hooded creature a look. Most of the droids, she knew, were only as new as the liberal application of buffing and polish could make them. As for the other thing...

<"I intend to be nothing but civil to you and your clan."> She stated. <"That is up until the point you get too close to these."> She pushed up on her bosom slightly. <"I trust that Kot is mending well after our little... altercation?">

Jawas were very... tactile creatures, Irma had discovered on previous visits, and they didn't have much concept of personal space.

<"Anyway, I'm afraid we're looking for 1 droid in particular, designation...">

Irma turned back to Tagal.

"Help me out, what was that droid called again?"

@Nefieslab

 

[Tagal Saxon]

The Jawa leader watched very closely as Irma moved her bosom.

Even without seeing the creature's eyes, it was very easy to see exactly where the creature was looking. It was enough to make Tagal consider pulling his gun out but that was something he would have to trust Irma on. If she was uncomfortable all she had to do was say so and he would fill the robe-wearing little pervert full of holes.

<"Fine fine - there's no need to get stabby, Busty One. This one was just taking a look!"> the leader declared, pouting beneath the hood, <"Alright make it quick then.">

Apparently not letting a pervy Jawa perv on you made him slightly harder to get along with.

Tagal raised an eyebrow.

"It's an assassin droid - designation is N18HT. And yes, it is supposed to spell 'night'. Sounds like edgy Sith tech."

@AutoFox

 

[Irma Kinton]

Irma blinked and raised an eyebrow when Tagal gave the droid's name.

"Seriously?" She said. "What, are all the Empire's droid developers, like, 14 or something?"

She turned back to the Jawa, and gave a smile calculated to loosen the diminutive male's tongue, and probably make certain garments uncomfortable too.

<"Looking is fine, so long as you can tell us where N18HT is. The last we heard, he had visited your sand-crawler."

Irma leaned over a piece of rusty old mining equipment, making certain parts of her anatomy squish appealingly.

<"You wouldn't mind telling us that, would you?">

@Nefieslab

 

[Tagal Saxon]

Yeah the name was... just so stupid.

"Sometimes it feels like that." he agreed with a small shrug, "They make some good stuff and then slap some stupid name onto it. I think it's like a defensive action because seriously, who wants to try and steal a shipment of N18HT droids? You'd get laughed out of the cantina before anyone tried to buy them."

There was a commotion from the back of the sand-crawler that had Tagal raise an eyebrow but he doubted that those things were ever quiet anyway. Frowning a little bit despite that, he kept his hand near his blaster pistol.

The Jawa leader needed a moment to 'gather his thoughts' as she distracted him.

<"For you pretty lady? I can tell you so much! We have the droid in the back, it wanted upgrades and we agree for credits. But if you beat it's price?">

At this point even without seeing anything beneath the robes, it was clear that eyebrows were being wiggled.

<"We will assist you in taking the droid.">

@AutoFox

 

[Irma Kinton]

Irma's cup-shaped ears perked, swiveling toward the commotion at the back of the sand-crawler. With a slight sigh, she nodded to the Jawa, adjusting the strap of her carbine as she did.

"So it IS here... well then."

She glanced back at Tagal, and then faced the Jawa once more.

"Alright, tell us. What did the droid pay you for the work?"

She beamed.

"And bear in mind, I like to think I have a handle on how such things are priced."

@Nefieslab

 

[Tagal Saxon]

Yeah, Tagal was now completely certain that kark was about to hit the fan. Irma seemed to be getting somewhere with the Jawa and Tagal just had an instinctive, gut reaction that told him that things were about to go sideways. He was in the middle of drawing his pistol when he saw it.

The black metal was rather obvious against the white sands and the muted brown of the sandcrawler.

Cursing, Tagal moved into action. The droid had a blaster pistol in it's hands and had the drop on them - it managed to fire off a shot before all hell broke loose when everyone and their mother seemed to realize that one of the droids was armed. The blaster bolt was aimed right at Irma's head so Tagal didn't even hesitate.

He moved between Irma and the shooter, moving to a crouching position as he did so to almost curl protectively in front of her. The shot slammed into the armor over his left lung and Tagal cursed at the heat and pain it brought even as the droid grabbed a Jawa hostage and moved back into the sandcrawler.

Tagal was not quiet.

"Oh all the stupid ways to get shot..." he growled in annoyance, "I had to get shot by a teenage edgelord's personal masturbation droid!"

It was an assassin droid but he was hurting, he was allowed to exaggerate a tad.

@AutoFox

 

[Irma Kinton]

Irma wasn't sure how to explain what happened to her over the course of the next few moments. In the corner of her mind, the Tintinna felt something, an insistent tug that drew her attention toward the motion at the back of the sand-crawler's bay. With what seemed agonizing slowness, she turned her head, her eyes going wide as she saw the glow of a blaster being fired, before a shape moved in front of it.

Time seemed to speed back up again as there was the sound of a blaster bolt impacting armor, and Irma squeaked as she realized that Tagal had just taken a blaster for her. Panic flooded her as she raced to her friend, hand closing around the grip of her carbine as she saw the black droid that had fired at her, nearly taking a pot-shot at the thing before it reached out and grabbed a hostage. The unfortunate Jawa chittered and wailed in terror as its abductor retreated into the mechanical maze that was the sand-crawler.

Reaching Tagal, she heard the Mandalorian cursing loudly, and a cursory check revealed that the blaster bolt had not penetrated his armor.

"What the kriff! Was that it? Are you alright?!"

The Tintinna turned back to the Jawa she had been talking to.

<"New deal! How 'bout you help us, and in payment, we stop this thing before it starts killing members of your clan!">

@Nefieslab

 

[Tagal Saxon]

Tagal began to pull himself up to his feet, making sure he had his blaster pistol at the ready in his right hand. He wasn't about to get caught off guard by the droid again so he raised it immediately, scanning the area for the threat of the droid. Jawas scattered in fright and he ignored them for the most part.

"Yeah that was it." he confirmed with a grunt as he adjusted his armour, "I'm fine but we need to move before it tries to escape. The damn thing isn't too bad of a shot and I don't know what it's going to do with that Jawa."

Probably kill it when it was making it's escape but it was probably a bad idea to say that aloud considering the Jawa leader was still cowering nearby and Irma seemed to have some kind of fondness for them.

<"Yes yes, just kill the droid! We will not charge you for the droid at all or damages to home - just destroy!">

Tagal moved up to the back of the sandcrawler, ducking back round the side as two blaster bolts impacted the sand where his head had been just a second before.

"Come on Imra - let's rend this thing down to scrap metal."

@AutoFox

 

[Irma Kinton]

Irma gritted her teeth, hefting the carbine. The weapon was compact by the standards of most species, which meant that for her diminutive frame it was just about "normal" size. She looked back at the Jawa, nodding once.

<"You got it!">

Still looking at Tagal with concern as the human adjusted his still smoking armor, she nevertheless followed him deeper into the sand-crawler, pressing herself against the wall as two more bolts streaked by. She aimed her carbine, but the gloom of the corridor made it impossible to get a shot, and she could still hear the terrified wails of the Jawa the droid had taken as a hostage.

"Alright, so... just how sophisticated is this thing?" She asked. "Obviously it's smart enough to take a hostage... should we worry about booby traps, that sort of thing??"

@Nefieslab

 

[Tagal Saxon]

How sophisticated was the droid...?

How the hell was he supposed to know?! He wasn't a bounty hunter and that was becoming clear now. That was the kind of question he should have asked before he even actually accepted the job and the simple fact of the matter was that he hadn't thought to do that at all. He was a Smith by nature, this bounty hunting was something he had never done before.

"I... I don't know." he admitted with a sigh as he peered into the darkness of the ship trying to catch a glimpse of something, "I didn't ask when I accepted the contract. I should have but I... well kark, I'm not a bounty hunter my nature am I? Don't know how to do this kind of thing aside from the killing."

Which everyone knew how to do if they could pull a trigger.

"Guess I volunteer to find out. Use me as a distraction to get a clear shot."

Moving away from the wall, Tagal dashed forwards in a crouched run with his left arm in front of him. As he was running, he spotted the droid lean out from around a corner to loose off a blaster shot square at his chest... which didn't reach as Tagal activated his shield, blocking the shot and giving Irma a chance to take the shot.

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[Irma Kinton]

Irma's ears flattened slightly as Tagal described what he didn't about their quarry. She hefted her carbine, shrugging her small shoulders as she jogged along beside the bigger human.

"Well... it's a droid I guess, there are certain things we should be able to assume, right?"

Before Irma could object, Tagal then ran on ahead, and Irma cursed to herself as she trailed behind. She in no way wanted her friend to end up killed over a job like this; frankly, she had even fewer qualifications as a bounty hunter than he did. As she ran, though, she raised the carbine, balancing it against her shoulder with the stock and sighting on the next corner, imagining that the droid would be likely to come out there next, if it came out anywhere.

Lo and behold, it did.

Irma cursed loudly as the droid, black casing gleaming in the lights, leaned around to pop off a shot at Tagal. The Mandalorian's shield absorbed the blaster bolt, and Irma didn't hesitate, squeezing the trigger of her compact rifle twice to put her own bolts downrange...

@Nefieslab

 

[Tagal Saxon]

Mainly what he wanted to assume was that the damn thing would go down and STAY down if they put a hole in it's faceplate or somewhere similar. He seriously was already sick of this thing and he had only seen it like twice. Of course one of those times it had shot him in the chest and the second time was right now where it was attempting to do the same thing again - of course his shield took the hit for him.

Irma fired twice, one of the blaster bolts hitting the droid in it's shoulder, ruining it's control over the arm that held the gun. Unfortunately this had the added effect of spinning it out of the way of her follow up shot but that was fine. The thing wasn't able to use the hand that held the blaster.

Pushing forward, Tagal ignored the Jawa that was thrown at him, using the shield to bounce the poor thing to the side as he raised his blaster pistol in his other hand, blasting the droid twice in the chest, sending it sparking down to the ground. He paused for a moment before letting out a breath.

"Feck... you think I should take all of it for confirmation or just the head?"

@AutoFox

 

[Irma Kinton]

Irma gave a squeak of triumph as one of her bolts smacked into the droid's should, causing one arm to go limp. Tagal surged forward, and Irma came after as he went, squeaking in alarm when a Jawa was thrown at them, bouncing of the Mandalorian's shield. Tagal then checked the droid twice in the chest, which seemed enough to bring it down.

Irma, at Tagal's remark, pulled a fusion torch off a heap of discarded tools as she approached the fallen droid, sparking it ominously.

"I'm not exactly comfortable leaving a military droid body behind for the Jawas to tinker with..." She sparked the torch again. "I vote we take its head. And the body. But not necessarily all in one piece."

She looked sheepish.

"I mean... there are bits of it I could use, too..."

@NEFIESLAB