Escaping the Past

[Lux Vincula]

Location: Spaceport on Corellia

The young Miralukan slipped on his ragged cloak and hood, making for the entrance of his dilapidated apartment. He was about to finish his last job. Lux had made the decision weeks ago, well, really it was the moment he started smuggling. He had no real stomach for it - he wasn't interested in the dangerous gun-slinging, toxic personalities, etc. that came with the space.

The job in question involved some weaponry, nothing special, but he was shipping the goods off to a possible Rebel sympathizer. Or perhaps they were folks from one of the many gangs across space. He didn't really know, although his contacts had informed him the go-to was someone with known ties to Rebels. What that actually entailed, Lux did not know.

Lux wasn't opposed to the Rebel cause, if one truly did exist as some in his realm had whispered about. In fact, Lux was an open-minded and staunchly anti-Imperial man. He never made that last part known. Moreover, his contacts didn't even know he was Miralukan. Nobody really knew who Lux was, Lux himself even less so.

He slipped out into the alley, wearing a red mask to hide his face underneath the hood. He took to wearing different masks or eyewear in order to keep people off his trail. Whether that was actually an effective tactic was anybody's guess.

The shipment of weapons--he didn't know the exact details--should have landed in Spaceport 4-B at Landing Pad 12 in the southern part of Coronet City. The plan was simple...ish: Lux would get to the Daft Hand, the ship, shuttle the goods to a warehouse a quarter mile out, shake hands with the buyer, and he would be done. Getting through security wouldn't be a problem--his main contact was a security worker, Dax Morma, a Bith he'd helped out of a jam once.

Lux waded through the mass of people down an open street, his presence somewhat odd, but not anything abnormal. After about twenty minutes, he reached the landing pad at Spaceport 4-B, Landing Pad 12. The Daft Hand was a medium sized cargo ship, nothing fancy. He didn't know the pilot all too well, but he picked up the name, Zahn - a short-tempered human man with an eye-patch. As he walked toward the entrance to the landing pad, a loud explosion erupted from down the street, shouting and gunfire rang out.

"Ah crap," he said to himself. "It's gonna get messy." He sprinted to the ship, banging on the door. "Zahn, let me in, dammit. Riot or somethin' goin' on. The plan's no good right now!"

@Alika Kazaczecho

 

[Alika Kazaczecho]

Alika really wasn't expecting an explosion a block away from her sorry ass in a day and age like this.

She instinctively hit the dirt belly first and rolled onto her back, crawling behind a small alcove in a building, the best she could choose as 'cover'. Her hand reached for the pistol tucked in her jacket, but held off. Her mind wandered to the possible causes. Perhaps a gang war? Looking to gain more territory by leveling your opponent's? It made sense...but then again, why waste an explosive on something so petty? Surely the gangs had more interest in uniting to bully some Imperials dumb enough to patrol these routes. Perhaps not. Her thoughts shot to her bike, her heart increasing in panic before she realized it was safe a fee blocks down where she was walking.

Dammit, why did there have to be a firefight today of all days?

Kaz decided to keep the whining to herself and followed the crowd of people fleeing the scene, picking herself up into a sprint and skidding to a stop maybe fifty meters down, shovig some guy on the shoulder who was banging on a starship door.
"Hey! You're not getting in there anytime soon! Get your ass to safety before this gets worse!"

For all she knew he was an Imp spy trying to report to some kind of secret intelligence ring, but honestly the more people she saved the better she felt. Plus, karma was good for all the bad things she enjoyed doing. Alika grunted before starting to move again, hoping the guy paid heed to her wise words.

 

[Lux Vincula]

Zahn flipped him off and refused to open the door. Just then, a girl shoved him, yelling some kind of warning? "Get your ass to safety before this gets worse!" She went. Lux begrudgingly relented; he knew this wasn't going to end well should he just stand there banging a ship's doors.

He ran alongside her, not sure where she was going. "Probably some gang in town. They've been getting more chaotic lately." He pointed down a hectic side-street. "C'mon, safety in numbers, right?" He said that, but, perhaps that didn't matter. Hoping she'd follow, he made his way down the street, dodging screaming mothers, children, and anyone else that hadn't scattered. He could hear more gunfire coming from the way they'd came. More shouting.

"Pfzt. This unit has secured the Southeast Corridor." Oh great. Battle droids. It was a 5U Infantry Droid...make that ten. Lux hoped the woman had followed him as he slipped into an alley way...with a dead end. Oh this was becoming a wonderful day. "What gangs on Corellia have battle droids? Most of the gangs I've seen are no more than petty criminals." This was becoming dangerous and annoying quite quickly. "Hope you're ready for a firefight. There's safety past those droids, well, for me at least. My day just got harder." He lifted his cloak a bit, gripping his blaster pistol. Why would these droids be securing the streets? "It doesn't make sense to use these droids to secure streets for some gang war. The authorities aren't stupid or cowardly enough to just let this go."

@Herrith

 

[Alika Kazaczecho]

Alika had expected the guy to listen, not to end up following her as she jogged off down the main road to hopefully get to some kind of hideout. That plan was shot down now after he decided to play follow the kriffing leader. She kept running for a full second before she realized the armored man had ducked into a side alley--the words had finally registered in her fast moving brain--and she pivoted on the balls of her feet, ducking into the alley. Safety in numbers maybe wasn't such a bad idea, as long as this guy knew what he was doing and where he was going. Of course, that was never the case; only in holomovies were they that lucky. Her mouth sighed on its own before she moves against the wall of the alleyway, uneager to face droids.

Kaz pulled her blaster as he did and powered it on, inserting an energy cell while he explained a fairly vague outline of a plan. Her eyes rolled and her fingers readjusted their grip on the weapon. Just like speeder controls, right? Except this was a lot more for ass kicking and a lot less for anything like racing. Unless you were contending with a Dug. Then all bets were off.

Bloody brilliant.

"Then whose droids are they? Jimmy Jerkface's?"

 

[Lux Vincula]

He slowly turned his masked face to look at the young woman as she spoke. "Jimmy Jerkface?" His voice signaled he was rolling his eyes...if he had any. "No, not Mr. Jerkface. Can't be Imperials, they don't like random explosions on their own planets. Has to be a gang." He pulled his blaster pistol out, back against the alley wall as he peered out to watch the droids. They didn't seem to be led by any persons, just roaming on their own. "It doesn't matter really, but I highly doubt they'll the two of us out of this section of town without shooting. So, what's say we take our chances and..." he paused, grinning under the mask. "And uh..." He really didn't know what he was doing. Gun fights weren't his thing, really.

"Let's just try not to die." He eyed a merchant's table along the street near them. It was protective enough, they could sneak over and hide there while the droids move by. They'd likely see them if they stayed in the alley way. "We could sneak over to that stand there, hide behind it. They'll see us if we stay right here for too long. Or..." he said with a sigh. "We could just shoot them up and run for it?" He shrugged a little as if to say "Eh, eh?"

He didn't check to see if she agreed and crouched down. With one more glance, seeing that the droids were looking the other way, Lux quickly made his way to the stand. Still crouched, he continued to look periodically to see where the droids were going.

@Herrith

 

[Alika Kazaczecho]

Alika chuckled to herself at the mention of her created fake character. She appreciated a fellow sarcastic bastard. Unless he was serious, in which case she was just disappointed to a high degree. Kaz watched as he peeked out and began forming a plan, surprisingly doing a good job despite his obvious inexperience. Her mouth hung slightly open with a half smile while the gears turned. Her grip readjusted on her blaster as she looked at their options, relatively satisfied with their odds. Her eyes flicked back to the guy that had decided to tag along and become the leadee of this super secret endeavour to safety.

"Try not to die is kind of a given."

Her smile faded as he snuck to the table, and she quickly followed, tucking her pistol into her jacket and scrambling to the stand, following possibly a bit too close behind and slightly bumping into him with a short apology. Her eyes rolled as she drew her pistol again, leaning her head out enough to see where the droids were before returning her gaze to her boots, which she just realized were untied. Now that was going to bother her. Just kriffing great.

 

[Lux Vincula]

"Of course we won't die. I'm sure we can handle a few droids if need be." He'd have winked if he could. When she bumped into him, he shot her a glance. After a moment, he shook his head, raising his finger to where his mouth would be - a signal to remain quiet. The droids were now stopped for some reason. “Pszft…Human...Child…” Lux looked over the stand, seeing a small figure looking up at one of the droids. A child, no more than 6 or 7 years old. His eyes were wide with a mix of awe and fear.


“There’s a kid over there,” Lux whispered as quietly as he could. “I need to get to him.” He knew it sounded crazy, but those droids were dangerous. The main droid, presumably the leader, looked at its compatriots. They were all nodding in agreement with one another. The droid pulled up its gun, as if aiming to fire at the child. He wasn't going to let some droids kill an innocent child in the middle of his home. Whoever owned these droids was the lowest of the low, repugnant.


Lux reacted hastily, lifting his blaster pistol up, firing a shot at the head of the droid. The burst screamed toward the droid but missed by a hair. “Shit!” He said through gritted teeth. He looked over to his left, another stand was within distance. The droids began firing back toward the stand, now alerted to Lux and his partner’s presence. “I’m going over that way,” he said quickly. The droids began firing toward them, their rifles blasting rounds through the air. The child’s arm was gripped by one of the droids, as though being arrested. “That’s a child, you glorified rust-bucket!” Lux yelled as he fired off two more shots at another droid. The one shot hit right through its chest, causing the droid to sputter and explode. Thankfully it wasn’t the one near the child.


That’s when he noticed the symbol on one of the droids’ upper torso - Imperial Republica. “Shit,” Lux thought. “This is bad.” He hoped his partner was doing fine, looking over to her with a thumbs up. “I’m Lux by the way,” he said over the whirring and whizzing of laser fire. “Let’s get this kid, and get the Hell out of here.” He fired two more shots at another droid, knocking it off its balance, but not seriously hurting it. Only the one shot hit, severing an arm.

@Herrith

 

[Alika Kazaczecho]

Dammit.

Why did these guys always have to try to save the kid? They were replaceable, annoying, smelly, messy, and certainly couldn't hold their own in a fight. She cursed under her breath, wasting an entire lungful of air to send a myriad of insults to everything in general. Her hand rose as she brought her pistol to bear, peeking over the top of the stand long enough to finish off an injured droid before ducking back underneath. Just had to kriffing kick the nexu nest, didn't he? Damn this whole day. She gave a very sarcastic 'all good' gesture to him followed by an obscene middle finger before blasting yet another droid square in the face. Kaz peeked over and yelled back to 'Lux' her crazy compatriot.

"Call me Kaz, Nexu Breath! Thanks for getting us into a gunfight!"

 

[Lux Vincula]

She was clearly upset. But, saving this child was important. Nobody had saved him as a child. He fired three rounds at a droid, one knocking its head clean off. Or perhaps it had exploded. He didn't know, barely looked. Kaz had apparently wrecked one of the droids. Only one left at that point, the one holding onto the kid.

He spun from behind the stand, gunning for the droid holding onto the kid. The droid raised its blaster up, about to shoot. But, Lux was faster. He jumped up, kicking the droid in the face, its balance lost. Lux shot the droid in the chest as it fell backward. The child was still wide-eyed, not really knowing what was happening. Lux had never seen a child not crying. "It's alright now, child. Where are your parents?" The child pointed down to the east and began going that way. "H-hey! Wait up kid!" But the kid was quick, making his way down a dark alley. If he was a true Corellian, the kid probably knew where he was going and would be alright. The worry still filled Lux's mind.

He looked back over to his companion. "I think we can get to safety now. Eh, eh?" He smiled with a bit of relief, knowing full well that he'd been the one to get them into the conflict in the first place.
​

@Herrith

 

[Alika Kazaczecho]

Alika cursed out loud as a number of blaster bolts came in over her head, but then Lux finished off the last droid and she stood up to go grab the kid as he ran off into the streets. She kicked a rock and sent it skittering down the street in his direction before spitting on the curb. Getting shot at for nothing! It was worse than getting shot at for something, definitely. She growled under her breath as the man walked up, rephrasing what she had been trying to do before he tried turning into a kriffing hero. Kaz turned on her heel, about to say something relatively undesirable, then held back and sighed rather explosively.

"Right. You wanna lead the way again and get us into another dead end or can I do something useful?"

 

[Lux Vincula]

He deserved that. She was right to be angry, of course, Lux still felt he made the right call. That kid probably would've died without the two of them stepping in. Or perhaps it was really just Lux stepping in. His new companion, Kaz, was understandably upset. He nodded, taking a deep breath. "I don't know, can you do something useful?" He said with a smirk underneath his helmet. "Kidding, kidding. What do you suggest we do? If you've got a place to go, I'll follow your lead. Perhaps it's better that I follow you...I'm not much of the leading type." He said that with a deep laugh, trying to ease the tension.

"No more dead ends, I promise. Your turn." If he had eyes, he'd have winked.

@Herrith

 

[Alika Kazaczecho]

Alika's skin tone reddened slightly as the man beneath the mask questioned her abilities. Of-of course she was useful! She knew this city front and back. Her mouth opened in offense as she took a half step back, the mouth closing into pursed lips at his laughter. She tightened her grip on her pistol, hoping the gesture would highlight what she wanted to say without her having to say it.

"Just keep your head low and stay on my ass. And don't try to save anymore orphan kids."

Without anything else to add, Kaz holstered her pistol and ran to a nearby building, jogging alongside it while keeping her eyes and ears out for more droids.

 

[Lux Vincula]

"Stay on your ass?" He said with a laugh, shaking his head. "Phrasing is important y'know." He knew what she meant, but insisted on breaking the tension with his sarcasm. He followed her, keeping vigilant if more droids showed up. The buildings were seemingly empty, nothing and no one around. "This place is a complete ghost town now," Lux remarked, his voice low in case there indeed were other droids or persons around.

That's when he heard some shouting from up ahead. "Well, shit." He said to his companion. The voices were far enough away, though, and perhaps they could even avoid the group of whoever entirely. "Perhaps there's a side street we can go down to get around the shouting up ahead." He said calmly.

@Herrith

 

[Alika Kazaczecho]

Alika rolled her eyes and blushed a little as the guy brought in some wit. She scoffed in the best form of disgust she could muster toward the good-natured, armor-clad person, then took a sharp right into an alley, hopefully catching Lux off guard. She smirked and broke off into a sprint, springing off a trash can onto a ladder partially lowered. She had heard the shouting earlier on and knew where she was going. The armored guy just had to keep up, if he could jump high enough with all those plates on. She climbed up the fire escape and leaned over to help him up if need be.

Kaz spoke with a smile.
"Hope you weren't too busy staying on my ass. Need a hand?"

Once they were up top, she pulled herself up to the roof and crouched, making her way to the other end to see what they were dealing with down the street. Hopefully nothing terrible. She would prefer just getting to a safehouse after ditching the armored...human, hopefully.

 

[Lux Vincula]

Lux couldn't be any more red underneath the helmet. He hadn't expected that retort. But, he smiled, though she couldn't see it. Grabbing hold of her hand, he couldn't help but laugh. "I'm always busy, Kaz." He had a grin on his face. After standing up on the roof, he looked to his compatriot. "Doesn't look like any baddies up here...or nearby. Thankfully." He breathed a sigh of relief. "Do you have any where you can get to safely?" As he said that, he heard some people talking below. "Ay, we've got information that the helmet-head smuggler is around here somewhere, find him! Get 'em!" Looking from down the street, an Imperial soldier was screaming his little head off at a few other goons.

Lux looked at his partner, taking off the helmet. His short brown-blonde hair dropped to one side, touching his forehead somewhat. The cloth wraps over his eyes indicating his Miralukan heritage. "I should ditch this thing for now. I wear it too much." He laughed, crouching still as they watched as the soldier continued yelling. "What a child," Lux said with a smirk. The wrappings around his eyes were sopped in sweat. Great, he thought, another replacement needs to be made. He wondered if Kaz had ever seen a Miralukan before. He certainly hadn't seen any of his kind before. While the soldier kept yelling at his subordinates to search, Lux looked back at the woman. "Let's get you to your safehouse, or whatever it is you call them, and I'll be on my way. It wouldn't be right of me to leave you just yet." He smirked. "Or maybe I've overstayed my welcome?" He inquired with a feigned pout. "Just tell me where we're going, and I've got your..." he paused a moment before saying anything further before not finishing his statement and simply smirking, attempting to wink even though he couldn't.

@Herrith

 

[Alika Kazaczecho]

"Yeah. Right."

Alika had pulled him up and now sat in a kind of awe as the guy took off his helmet, revealing a blindfolded face and a smile. She paused a moment, wondering how he could have seen this whole time, then put two and two together, remembering an old lesson talking about a species that saw through the Force. Her focus returned to the Imp barking orders. This was clearly some kind of crackdown. She began ruling out possible safehouses--the one on Dannemora was raided for sure, and the Jawson Lane shack was an easy find. That left a couple more. She giggled and then covered her mouth as Lux cracked a joke about the officer.

Kaz rose her guard again as the --Miralukan, right?--as the Miralukan inquired about the safehouses, attempting to gain her trust a bit. Her smile faded and she was about to see what she could say to decline before cancelling that, too. The Alliance always needed more people...right? Her smile slowly returned and she patted him on the shoulder, licking her lips to speak before ducking down slightly. So there was the underground tunnel off Lane and the apartment near Block C, then. She locked eyes, or where she supposed his eyes would be, and finished.

"Ass? Come on. Closest hideout is down a few blocks. I think you're plenty welcome."

She went to turn and start moving.