Ask Hectic Along The Hyperlane

[Jayna Thorne]

.

From the circular viewport, Jayna watched as the blur of Hyperspace swirled all around her - distorting stars and other celestial bodies into steaks of fluorescent blue. While many might’ve found space-travel to be a monotonous affair, it always brought a sense of tranquility to the quarter-Sephi. It was a place where she was completely free, and was an opportunity to relax in her own company - something that was especially needed after her previous engagement. The entire day had been spent at a charity gala on Rendili, hosted in honor of wounded ISC service members fighting against the Empire.

It was also, notably, hosted by staunch Consortium nationalists who campaigned against the growing secessionist movements in their space - which was a far larger motivator of the Heiress showing up at all.

Naturally, the pilot-droid had already charted a course for Naboo - and Jayna was left to unwind within the lounge of her Type-T Nubian Yacht, still dressed in her suit from the event. The quarter-Sephi was seated across a comfortable couch, one leg crossed over the other whilst reading from her NalPhone. Switter was already trending with images of the charity event, rife with pictures of Governors, Diplomats and local elite making their appearances. She browsed for any mention of her own name, quietly humming along to herself.

As such, Jayna barely paid attention to the chirping that echoed through her yacht - signaling that the ship would momentarily be dropping back into real space. It was a routine pause where Hyperlanes intersected, and would only last for a few minutes before plotting their next jump to Naboo. She didn’t expect anything would occur along the way, and happily continued to scroll across her device.

@Nefieslab

 

[Arthos Vizsla]

Mercenary work was not where Arthos' heart lay, but he needed the credits.

Times had become somewhat lean for the even leaner Vizsla Mandalorian and when needs must, the devil drove. Or whatever that old Corellian saying was - he didn't really know. What he did know was that he was the only Mandalorian on the mission, with the rest of the crew having been assembled before him. Apparently their boss had hired him to replace a guy who had chickened out at the last minute.

To abandon the mission was bad but to abandon his friends was worse so Arthos felt little when the others had told him they'd killed their cowardly former member. The tall Mandalorian said nothing as he shared the cargo area with the majority of the crew - there were a full dozen of them including himself, the pilot and the gunner up at the front of the ship. Which meant he had nine pairs of eyes watching him as he carefully reassembled his blaster pistol.

Care for his weapons was part of his upbringing.

"Prey in sight! Ion weapons firing - let's shut em down!"

In the brief moments after exiting hyperspace, the nubian yacht was vulnerable as its shields had yet to be replaced from transit. The ion cannon blasts from the boarding gunship rocked the yacht and began to shut down key electrical features even as the gunship latched onto the docking port of the yacht.

"Hull cutting in progress! Remember you dogs; everyone but the girl is expendable!"

Arthos didn't rush through the gap as the others did, choosing instead to stalk through the entrance that had been made after them, careful to keep their exit secure for a moment. The fact that he had never been given a description of the "girl" meant he had already switched the blaster pistol to stun as he ignored the rest of the crew heading for the cockpit and instead headed for the viewing station.

Maybe she liked to view the blur of hyperspace like he did?

@Altaris

 

[Jayna Thorne]

Minutes passed, and Jayna was perfectly content within the confines of her lounge - having already removed her heels and neatly placed them at the base of the couch. Nearby, the sound of running water echoed from a repulsor-lift fountain, a constant reminder of the type of luxurious amenities that a member of the Thorne family could afford. The sound brought a sense of tranquility to the quarter-Sephi, and provided the perfect backdrop to her relaxing journey home. Tranquility that was promptly interrupted by the blaring of alarms.

As a consequence of her sensitive hearing, Jayna immediately winced as the alarms echoed through the cabin - manifesting as a painful ringing in her fluted ears. She immediately sprang up from her seat - silver eyes flicking out the viewport window. She barely had time to register the frame of another ship before the Ion cannons struck. In an instant, electrical systems, weapons and power were disabled across the Nubian yacht - leaving their vessel helpless and adrift in space.

“Fuck,” Jayna kissed under her breath, watching as the pirate vessel moved in to dock. She didn’t have to guess what they were attempting, and could already imagine why they targeted her ship in particular. The quarter-Sephi had already survived one kidnapping attempt, and knew that attacking her ship at the precise moment she left Hyperspace - while vulnerable - was a carefully planned affair. Without a word, Jayna tapped one of the buttons on her chrono - alerting the few security droids that were stationary elsewhere in the yacht.

Those storming into the cockpit would find nothing but a pilot droid waiting for them - immediately whipping around and raising its arms into the air. Multiple surfaces on the wall of the yacht were decorated in Consortium purple and symbol - leaving little mystery who it belonged to. The invaders would have only a moment or two before they were surrounded by four Blackwell security droids - blasters raised and set to stun. “Halt!” One of them spoke, its mechanized voice reverberating. As a general rule of thumb, Jayna often organized her security detail with ISC forces on the ground of whatever planet she was visiting - which was often more convenient than hauling several dozen droids with her at a time.

This of course, meant, that she had less than average security aboard her ship.

Arthos, meanwhile, would face little resistance - as the bulk of security seemed to follow the sound of foreign footsteps towards the cockpit. Instead, the Mandalorian would quickly find himself within the expensive lounge that Jayna enjoyed, complete with a viewport that covered an entire wall of the ship. Which, of course, only confirmed his suspicious that his quarry might enjoy watching the blur of Hyperspace.

Just as he rounded the corner, Arthos would spot a protocol droid standing at the end of the room - its arms immediately going up to declare itself not a threat. “My word!” It exclaimed, spotting the blaster that the Mandalorian carried and immediately fearing the worst. The real threat for Arthos, however, was the woman who had her back pressed to the corner of the doorframe. As soon as he stepped inside, Jayna swung her arm towards the Mandalorian’s helmet - alongside the vase that she’d snatched off the table. It was a particularly ugly piece of art that she’d inherited from one of her Papa’s great aunts.. Which meant she had no real issue weaponizing it against her would-be kidnapper.

 

[Arthos Vizsla]

Even with the blaring alarms and distant sounds of raiders shouting and shooting at things that looked at them funny, Arthos would be the first to admit that he was drinking in the sights. The whole yacht looked like its internal furnishings alone would be able to feed his clan for decades to come. All of this on one ship was just obscene - he was beginning to think whoever owned the yacht probably deserved to be kidnapped and ransomed back to their parents or spouse.

Like paying the taxes they clearly hadn't ever paid on their earnings.

Spotting the protocol droid as he entered the lounge, Arthos narrowed his eyes and began scanning the room in front of him. Of course she attacked from the side he had chosen to check last - it was always the way. Grunting more in surprise than any actual pain as the vase smashed against the side of his beskar helmet, Arthos made a sweeping motion with his free, left, arm to scoop her closer to him, to try and use his reach to pin her to him.

Regardless of it he was able to do so or not, he would whirl to face her with his blaster pistol coming up.

"Stop struggling or this is going to get worse!" he barked, his voice echoing slightly in his helmet before he paused, gun still held up, "Wait... no."

If he had managed to grab her or not, he would take a step back and try and keep her at arm's length even as he kept his blaster pointed at her.

"No, this is some kind of sick, stupid, joke."

Maybe she just... maybe she just really looked like Jayna Thorne?

Maybe she was one of those celebrities who liked to dress up like other celebrities... cosplayers on the holonet and shit like that? Was that what it was called? He didn't even know but he was hoping to every hell that this was going to be one of those stories he could tell while drunk, the stupid and embarrassing ones.

"Dank Farrik... You some kind of Thorne fangirl? You dress up like his kid?!"

Please let that be it.

It would be weird but it would be less stupid and less suicidal than the group he'd signed up with deciding that any amount of credits was worth this amount of heat.

@Altaris

 

[Jayna Thorne]

Jayna’s eyes narrowed into thin daggers, harshly fixed upon the Mandalorian who grabbed at her. The quarter-Sephi didn’t know who the armored warrior was, but his intentions were clear - and she had no intention of making herself easy prey to be kidnapped. Emryc Thorne had gone great effort to ensure both of his children were trained in hand-to-hand combat, and Jayna had always taken his lessons extremely seriously.

Just as Arthos sweeped her into close quarters, Jayna spun to face the Mandalorian - ensuring that she was facing her attacker as the distance was close. Her free hand immediately shot to grip the barrel of his pistol, attempting to push the weapon downward and keep from leveling into her center mass. At the same time, the quarter-Sephi drove her knee upwards, attempting to slam it harshly into the Mandalorians crotch - where the armored plating was segmented and he was naturally sensitive.

Whether her attack landed or not, Jayna momentarily paused when Arthos stepped backwards - seemingly surprised to realize who he was attempting to kidnap. Her silver eyes lingered on Arthos, a look of confusion flashing across her face when he suggested that she merely was cosplaying as Jayna Thorne. Perhaps the extremely expensive yacht and amenities didn’t make that clear.

“What kind of moron attempts a kidnapping,” She hissed, “Without knowing who his target is.”

“Unhanded Ms. Thorne at once!” The Protocol Droid cried in its mechanized voice, arms waving in the air dramatically. That would likely clear up any remaining confusion.

Regardless of his answer, the sound of blaster fire began to echo through the distant corridors of the yacht. It would appear that his fellow would-be kidnappers didn’t, in fact, ‘halt’ as directed by security - though it wasn’t clear who was on the winning side of their little shootout. Jayna took the opportunity to slowly and subtly inch towards a nearby coffee table, remembering the stun pistol stashed within the middle drawer for emergencies.

 

[Arthos Vizsla]

She was not unaccustomed to a grappling match and she was not someone who wanted to be kidnapped - the struggle was brief before he managed to break away from her as he struggled to get his bearings. It was, however, made slightly harder by the fact that even with the awkward angle and his reflexive twist, she had managed to clip him with her knee in a very sensitive place.

"Dank Farrik...! Right for the thermal detonators...!" he growled even as he kept the pistol aimed at her as he staggered backward, "Karking... urgh..."

He did something he might live to regret and took another step back, raising both his hands so she could see that he didn't intend to shoot at her. Despite the glancing nutshot, he didn't want to risk his gun going off at the Thorne Princess - not when her dad had the manpower of literally dozens of star systems to hunt him down.

"The info was rank, alright?" he ground out as he let out a breath, "They told me I was after a mogul's kid - they didn't tell me that they wanted to go on an extended suicide mission by trying to kidnap a Thorne!"

There were names for criminals dumb enough to target the Thornes and, by and large, their names were far less remembered than the horrific ways in which they had died for their stupidity. Hearing the blaster fire in the distance, Arthos' mind worked quickly. Seeing her inching towards the table, he tilted his helmeted head to one side slightly. There was only one reason why someone would head towards something like that.

"Look, Princess, there's no need to do anything stupid like shoot me or sic your protocol droid on me, alright? I don't want to be here doing this either so let's just... not, you know? Lets just not."

Ah who was he kidding? He was totally going to need to make a dive to avoid being shot by some pampered princess in her private yacht - this was quickly becoming a story he'd never be able to tell the clan. But he was a Mandalorian who at least tried to deescalate situations he didn't want to be in.

"Now do you have, like, a panic room? You rich folk have specially designed places to cower, right?"

@Altaris

 

[Jayna Thorne]

Against her better judgment, Jayna paused when Arthos raised his hands - indicating that he didn’t intend to shoot her. She was ever-so-slightly satisfied to see her nut-shot actually find purchase, and didn’t immediately reach for the pistol that was tucked in the coffee-table drawer. Of course, she remained close enough to dart for the weapon if necessary.. But it was becoming increasingly clear that the Mandalorian didn’t intend to carry out the attempted kidnapping he signed onto.

“Yeah? You wouldn’t be the first people idiotic enough to try,” She commented icily, staring back at Arthos. It was only a few weeks prior that she had managed to avoid being kidnapped by Imperial operatives who came for her on Naboo. People habitually assumed she was an easy target and were habitually made fools of themselves. “Keep the blaster pointed that way,” He jutted her chin in the general direction that wasn’t where she was standing. “And there won’t be a problem.”

The Heiress’ brows knitted together upon hearing his question - her expression settled into its usual, unamused deadpan. “There sure is - down that hallway and through the State Apartment.” Her head tilted. “It’s accessible by a key panel that isn’t functioning without power.” She pointed a finger. “Or by manual key. Stored in the cockpit.”

“Courtesy of you merry band of assholes.”

As she spoke, they would gradually hear the blasterfire die down. Footsteps began to echo through the corridors and hallways elsewhere in the ship - slowly but surely getting closer. Whether it was the security droids or the would-be kidnappers, someone was looking for them, and it wouldn’t take them long to be found.

“How many of them is there?” She hissed.

 

[Arthos Vizsla]

There wouldn't be a problem? Oh they were both too deep into the shite pile to believe that for one second but he was willing to avoid pointing it at the Thorne Spawn for now, even if it was insulting to think a Mandalorian would shoot someone they didn't mean to shoot. Of course, this was following on the tail of a Mandalorian being lied to into attempting an incredibly dumb job so, he was willing to accept that this might it more understandable.

Keeping her in his sight line, Arthos turned his body slightly so that he was able to keep an eye on the corridor he had originally come down. If they had lied about the actual mission, Arthos was beginning to think they'd not bat an eye if they decided they needed to kill the New Guy to keep it in-house.

"Cockpit it is, then." he declared as he gathered his wits about him, settling into more of his mission-ready mode than anything else, the shock beginning to run out, "You're going to need that blaster, there's nine of them aside from me and the two pilots on the gunship."

Moving up to the door to the room, Arthos moved to one side of the doorway and readied his blaster for lethal shots as he heard footsteps approaching. Gesturing for her to move to one side, out of sight of the door, he waited and waited until the first of the kidnappers burst into the room - almost immediately catching sight of Jayna and her droid.

But not of Arthos or his blaster.

Pressing the barrel up against the man's chest from the side, he pulled the trigger twice, muffling the sound of the blaster firing with the weight and mass of the man's body even as he was blasted. The second man, following closely behind the first, took exception to this.

"You metal-backed son of a bitch!"

Cursing, Arthos found himself suddenly airborne for a second as the second kidnapper grabbed him by the waist and tackled him up - and then down through the coffee table. His blaster pistol knocked out of his hand, Arthos' hand immediately came up, grabbing hold of the attacker's wrists as he tried to get an angle with which to thrust his vibroknife down into the Mandalorian. As they were grappling, he turned his bucket to look at Jayna.

"... any time you want to shoot him would be appreciated, Princess..."

@Altaris

 

[Jayna Thorne]

Jayna narrowed her eyes, looking entirely unamused when Arthos mentioned how many had boarded her yacht. The quarter-Sephi immediately began to do calculations on how many security droids she had stationed on the ship during transit, combined with herself and now turncloak Mandalorian. They were still outnumbered.. But perhaps there would be some casualties from the fire-fight already occurring near the cockpit. The sound of approaching footsteps, however, didn’t leave Jayna much time to consider that possibility.

Without a moment of hesitation, the heiress darted for the coffee-table to her side - opening the middle drawer with the click of a small, hidden button. The compartment slid open to reveal the Glie-44 that was ducked inside. She immediately snatched the weapon, clicking off the stun feature and checking the power pack that was pre-loaded.

Her silver eyes immediately snapped up to face the men that stepped into the room - watching as one of them dropped dead and the other proceeded to tackle Arthos to the ground. Deciding she had no intention of getting grabbed into the little scruffle, Jayna took a clear step backwards - watching for a few moments as Arthos wrestled against the man.

She clearly was in no rush, observing as Arthos was forced onto his back, vibro-blade being held only a few centimeters from his sternum. It was only after a few moments that the quarter-Sephi lifted the pistol, firing off two shots directly into the chest of the attacker. Both found purchase and left burning holes through his vest, and caused the man to slump rather uselessly ontop of the Mandalorian he’d only been wrestling with moments ago.

“Didn’t want to interrupt,” The heiress said, staring at the dead body for a few moments longer than necessary. Though her demeanor didn’t break from its usual frost, the gravity of her first kill.. Wasn’t entirely lost on the girl. “Figured it wasn’t the first time that dude put you on your back,” She said dryly, reaching down to snatch the vibroblade that fell from his hands.

“Cockpit it down that hallway and to the left,” She could already hear additional footsteps approaching, prompting the quarter-Sephi to glance back over her shoulder. “EV-VO, stay here in the lounge and shelter in place.”

“After you,” She gestured for Arthos to take the lead. ‘Cause the heavily armored Mandalorian definitely should.

@Nefieslab

 

[Arthos Vizsla]

Arthos groaned in annoyance as the body of the man he'd been grappling with jerked in sudden pain before the life drained out of him - leaving him as dead weight on top of him. Muttering to himself in his native language, the Mandalorian shoved the boneless lump of sentient off himself before turning his bucket toward the Thorne Spawn. He had been intending to chew her out for deciding to try and play games through this but his comments died on his tongue.

He had seen enough people taking their first life to recognize the signs and it killed any real desire to mess with her or chew her out for the delay. Though it also meant that he was caught flatfooted by the sudden inclusion of his greatest weakness; sexual innuendo.

Blushing bright red under the safety of his helmet, the Mandalorian picked himself up off the ground and shook his head as he picked his pistol back up.

"Never even met any of these people before..." he muttered, loud enough for her to hear even if he hadn't really intended for her to be able to, "... and I like women."

He absolutely knew that he liked women but he was shy enough about personal matters that any kind of insinuation was enough to make his face glow bright red. Still, he did his best to ignore her comments and pushed on with the new mission.

Protect the insufferable woman from the kidnappers and from herself.

"We could take over the gunship." he suggested, "Ships like yours need a crew we don't have - the gunship needs two, max, and they're not likely to expect you going on the attack."

He eyed her tall, but slim, form with a critical air.

"Can't imagine why."

Rolling his eyes underneath his helmet, Arthos pushed forward with his blaster pistol in one hand, braced against the forearm of his other arm. Activating his buckler shield, he brought them up to the corridor intersection he had taken before. There were more footsteps and he was beginning to notice something.

"... there's more footsteps than kidnappers." he noted before sighing out his nose, "Second ship. Shit okay we're going to need a plan - think you can play dead?"

@Altaris

 

[Jayna Thorne]

Jayna couldn’t help but pause for a moment, tilting her head a bit when Arthos spoke. He made a point to declare he liked women in spite of her deadpan joke, and it earned the Mandalorian her undivided gaze in response - silver eyes boring into his helmet without a word. Whatever was going through her head in that moment, the heiress kept it to herself - though he would undoubtedly see the hints of a smirk tugging at the corner of her lips. Her gaze only broke when the Mandalorian started moving onto the matter at hand. She glanced down to the pistol in her hands - tilting it to the side to check the number of bolts still loaded in the power pack. Forty-nine was plenty enough for their current predicament, in her mind.

If she was pulling the trigger that many times, things had likely gone horribly wrong.

“Worst mistake people ever make,” She said plainly, glancing up to stare at Arthos for a long moment. Most people wrote the Heiress off at face value, and it often worked in her favor. Her brow arched ever-so-slightly when he mentioned taking over the Gunship. “Do you have any idea how valuable this Yacht is?” She narrowed her eyes a bit. The idea of abandoning her Nubian for some pirate gunship was anathema to the quarter-Sephi, and it was clear she was about to argue the idea more.

However, that was roughly when Arthos started moving down the hallway with his gauntlet buckler - pointing out the number of footsteps audible. Due to her sensitive hearing, Jayna was just as aware of it all, the hints of a grimace appearing on her otherwise deadpan expression. “This had better work,” She said coldly, tucking the pistol back into her jacket and out of sight.

Before the group could approach, Jayna slumped herself against the wall closest to where Arthos was standing - tucked away from where approachers could immediately see. Her eyes closed and her body grew still and stiff - very much playing up the idea of playing dead. Or at least playing very unconscious. Drawing upon one of Emryc’s many meditation lessons, Jayna was able to slow her breathing down from its normal rate - only taking in shallow, quiet breathes through her nostrils.

Rather it was going to work or not was debatable - but there wasn’t much time to figure it all out. Within moments, Arthos would be met by the faces of several of his former colleagues - weapons drawn and pointed in his direction at first. It was clear they’d had to fight their way through the security onboard, each of them boasting some injury from the Blackwell models. It didn’t take them long to spot the woman slumped against a wall.

“What the fuck happened?” One of them barked, staring down at her. “Did you fuckin’ pop her?” He glanced over his shoulder. “Where are Reygar and Tomas?” They’d heard the other two make their way down the hall, but hadn’t been present to see the pair drop.

@Nefieslab

 

[Arthos Vizsla]

Arthos saw the way that the heiress seemed to be amused and did his best to not think on it any longer. The woman was skilled in the verbal sparring arena to a degree that he just wasn't - if he pushed too far he got the impression she would talk rings around him. And he didn't think she'd be okay with his typical way of making talkers stop messing with him.

But he did know something.

"Between two and four million credits, depending on if you sprung for the additional shielding reactors." he immediately responded on the question of how much her yacht cost, turning to her slightly, "My payment for the job was going to be a 45% share of the resale of your yacht on the black market - if sold at the auction at Boz Pity in three weeks? Roughly around 650 thousand credits could be mine."

He knew he was going to get paid for this job, after all, even if the kidnapping element had always been something he had been kept in the dark about. Still, it was time to see if his plan would work or not. When Jayna started to slump, Arthos deactivated his buckler and holstered his blaster pistol before grabbing her with both hands by her hips. Without missing a beat he lifted her, slinging her over his left shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

Arthos turned to the former partners as they asked him what he was doing, shaking her slightly atop his shoulder.

"No, I made sure she was stunned." he answered bluntly, "You didn't tell me we were going after the Thorne Spawn. This is suicide, you know that right?"

He didn't answer about Reygar and Tomas - he was a bad liar and everyone told him so. So if he didn't mention them at all, he didn't have to lie at all and expose himself. It was an idea but he didn't hold out much hope. The one who had spoken raised his blaster and the others did the same.

"Only if you get caught, Mando. Now hand her over and we won't shoot you."

Arthos tensed his body.

"... no. You'll shoot anyway."

The kidnappers grinned and the spokesperson just shrugged.

"Probably."

He didn't like his odds but Arthos had something that they didn't have, even if they had the drop on him with their guns out and him with his holstered.

"Catch."

They had enough time for their eyes to widen before Arthos literally launched Jayna's still mostly-limp body at them, tossing her into them with all the strength he could. None of them fired, immediately knowing that they'd kill her if they fired. The speaker and two others were sent sprawling as Jayna collided with them. The fourth managed to stay upright and brought his blaster pistol up and fired as Arthos charged him.

Grunting in pain as one of the blaster bolts caught him in the side of the gut, the armour just barely blunting the damage, Arthos did the age-old Mandalorian tradition and used his head - the beskar was unforgiving as it broke the man's nose with a howl of pain. Still, the man managed a point blank shot into Arthos' side and the young Mandalorian grunted in audible pain before he was able to get his hands up and slam the back of the man's head into the wall behind him hard enough that the man went still with a sickening crack.

Drawing his blaster pistol, Arthos staggered as he took aim at the ones downed by his throw of the Thorne heiress.

"You make a good blunt object... in case being rich doesn't work out for you."

@Altaris

 

[Jayna Thorne]

Jayna narrowed her eyes ever-so-slightly, watching as Arthos went on to answer what was meant to be a rhetorical question. It was clear that the Mandalorian had carefully considered and thought about the total value of her ship - and its proposed gain from the venture. In the end, she stared back at him blankly. “And it never occurred to factor in who owned it?” She said flatly. If nothing else, it certainly upped the value that the Yacht was owned by a Thorne and Galactic Celebrity. It also made the attempt rather idiotic.

“I did, for your information.” She said in response to the lingering question about shield reactors.

The Heiress wasn’t the least bit pleased by the plan of the Mandalorian - but neither was she going to argue. What other choices did she really have in the situation? Playing up the idea of being stunned, she was effectively dead weight in his arms, resisting the urge to react or otherwise attempt to catch the other pirates off-guard. That was, of course, until Arthos decided to throw Jayna like a sack of potatoes at the enemy.

“AHH!” She cried out - roughly as her body collided with the two men, sending them all tumbling to the ground. With her cover blown and the hallway in chaos, Jayna quickly fell back onto her martial arts training, once again thanking the Stars that Emryc had dedicated so much time to their Teras Kasi lessons. Without missing a beat, Jayna swung around to attack the man closest. Her legs swung around the back of his neck and torso, capitalizing in the confusion to secure his wrist into a painful armbar. As the man thrashed in agony, Jayna lifted the blaster pistol with her free hand and loosed a stun bolt into his torso. He immediately went limp, giving Arthos an easy target with the other man.

Assuming he went down without a hitch, Jayna quickly rose to her feet - prioritizing dusting off her jacket and attire before looking to the Mandalorian. “Don’t ever do that again,” She said icily, entirely unamused with being used as said blunt force object. She couldn’t argue that it wasn’t effective so simply avoided that point all together.

She squinted a bit. “You aren’t going to keel over on me, are you?” The Heiress jutted her chin towards the injuries he endured. She knew that Beskar was durable, but it certainly had to hurt. Jayna paused, pondering their next steps and listening carefully within the hallway. “I don’t hear any others. We may be able to sneak onto the gunship without them realizing.”

 

[Arthos Vizsla]

When he was younger, Arthos would have left them there, one stunned and the other one incapacitated. It would have been enough for him to get away and complete the mission if all went well. Growing up as a Mandalorian, however, had shown him that things very rarely ever went well.

So he fired twice, blasting both of the downed men in the face while they were unable to defend themselves. Leaning heavily against the wall for a moment, Arthos reached round to his wounded side with his free hand. Wincing at the flash of burning hot pain, he eyed the blood on his hand when he glanced down at it.

Quite a lot actually.

Not good.

"It is a time honored method of surprising an enemy known to my people for a thousand generations." he responded with a little grin underneath his helmet, "Get Help is always an option."

When she asked about his wound he had a second to think. He could be honest with her but he didn't think it would be best - they needed to get the hell out of here and that meant it was time to go.

"I'll live." he replied bluntly, unable to stop the hiss of pain in his voice as he pushed off from the wall and started to make his way down the corridor, "Can you pilot at all or do you have droids for that sort of thing?"

Before this he probably would have assumed that she wouldn't deign to do her own flying but that was before he just watched her wrestle a trio of men down to the ground with enough violence to make Arthos' adopted mother proud. Staggering slightly as he went, Arthos was not happy about their situation. There were more on board the yacht and, right now, he was leaving a trail of red dots to lead them right to them so speed was of the essence.

Reaching the corner, he held up his hand to call for her to pause before glancing around the corner.

There, midway down the short corridor, were two of the mercenaries he had come here with. They were both armed with blaster pistols, standing guard by the airlock that the gunship had secured itself to. They were both rather distracted so it didn't appear that they had heard the commotion yet.

"Alright... two guards at the airlock, we blast them and then we're going to need to run inside before the pilot locks the ship down. Once we're inside you need to grab some cover - the pilot will come into the cargo hold to blast me and when he does, you need to shoot him before he hits me." he reasoned before pausing, "... this plan suit you more than Get Help, Princess?"

@Altaris

 

[Jayna Thorne]

With the remaining pirates executed, Jayna took a moment to actually catch her breath - leaning against a supporting wall of the hallway. Her fingers tightened into a fist and her body tensed, quickly working to steady the trembling of her hand before it was ever noticed. For all of her training and martial prowess, the Heiress wasn’t accustomed to the realities of the situation - least of all the way that Arthos seamlessly put a blaster bolt into the men. Naturally, little of her internal emotions manifested in her expression, maintaining an icy visage perpetually.

Her silvery gaze, ultimately, followed Arthos’ hand to the blooded section of the Mandalorian’s torso. She wasn’t a trained medic and certainly wasn’t a professional, but the Heiress knew damn well what ‘a lot’ of blood looked like. She knew that the Mandalorian wasn’t going to just walk that off, and it would only get worse as they progressed through the ship.

“If you pass out, I won’t be able to drag you.” She said flatly, keeping the internal pangs of concern to herself for now. Hopefully her commentary would keep Arthos conscious and moving, if only out of fear she’d ditch him otherwise.

She took a moment to glance down at the pirates, narrowing her eyes on the man. Jayna didn’t hesitate to reach down and pull a rather plain-looking vibroknife off his corpse - tucking it into the loop of her designer belt for the time being. She followed closely with Arthos as they progressed through the hallway and towards the docking corridor. “Both.” She said simply, finally answering his question about her flying abilities. Ezra was far more versed in that sort of thing.. But Jayna had taken a few flight courses - enough to pilot the vessels she frequently flew in - while letting pilot droids do the actual job on the day-to-day.

She listened to his plan, silent for a long moment. It was risky and quite frankly put most of the pressure on Jayna to act accordingly. It was a situation she wasn’t accustomed to and didn’t exactly enjoy - but there wasn’t much time to argue the point. Instead, she merely offered a hum. “It will have to do.” She said simply.

“Try not to get shot again.”

With once more inhale of air, Jayna didn’t waste more time - pressing off deeper into the enemy vessel. They had boarded her and intended to kidnap her. They presented themselves as a threat to her life and wellbeing, and that was all the justification the heiress needed to press on and motivate her finger to the trigger of her blaster. The moment she rounded the corner, Jayna darted forward to attack the first mercenary. The man raised his own blaster, but the heiress stepped off to the side - pushing the barrel of his rifle down with one hand while leveling her own pistol with the other. A single flash of plasma illuminated the cargo hold, and the man dropped like a sack of potatoes.

Jayna knew the pilot would’ve heard the commotion. She spared Arthos a single look before darting behind a few crates and boxes of - probably stolen - goods. Her gaze flicked down to the ammunition remaining in her pistol, knowing she’d only have a few shots left. She couldn’t afford to miss.

@Nefieslab

 

[Arthos Vizsla]

Unlike Jayna, Arthos didn't look back at the corpses he had just made and he didn't notice that she wasn't as disconnected from the act as he was. To him it wasn't important any longer - what was important was making sure they got the hell away from this mess. Without stopping his graceless movement, Arthos waved off the woman's concern with a slightly bloodied hand.

"You won't need to." he promised her easily, "I've taken worse during training with my mom."

Of course she had droids to fly her... well so long as she could get them underway that would need to be enough. He would need to keep the rest of the boarding party from climbing back aboard as she pushed them off after all.

Moving into the cargo hold after Jayna had gotten herself into position, Arthos decided that he was going to take advantage of the fact that no one alive knew he had turned against the other boarders. Aside from Jayna of course but she wasn't really in the equation. Stepping into the open of the cargo bay, Arthos held his blaster pistol out to the side as the pilot came barrelling through the door, a light repeating blaster rifle in his hands aimed down at the cargo bay.

He paused when he caught sight of the obviously injured Mandalorian, someone he knew had been part of the raiding team.

"Mando? What the kark is going on?"

Arthos didn't answer him properly, using the second of surprise to aim while the man wasn't ready, blasting up at the man. Immediately the pilot swore and crouched down to avoid the shots from Arthos, exposing his side to where Jayna was hiding. Across his coms on his helmet, Arthos could hear that the others had heard the commotion and had correctly identified it as coming from their own ship.

They needed to be fast now.

@Altaris