[Mando/Renelo] Unleashing the Hound

[Sierrien]

Her head rested against a bar on the side of her cage, her hand clasped to it as she listened to the sound of the ship going through its final docking procedures. Another planet, likely another job - and perhaps a bit of freedom from her cage, if she was needed to hunt. Even if it was as short lived as it always was for her, she did relish the opportunity to stretch her legs. Even at the cost of selling just a little bit more of her soul to the evil that had trapped her here, one could only stay cooped up for so long before you started to believe you really were the animal they kept you as. She wasn't there yet, or at least she hoped. She had no real experience with it, so she had to believe that just thinking she wasn't it had to count for enough as to make her not an animal. Not yet; not ever if she could help it. Already she had been a prisoner on this ship for three years, but still she clung to hope. She had been spreading what messages she could out with the slaves that were often kept on this ship. When they were sold off, all she could hope was that occasionally one of them would mention her, and it would reach the right ears. The story of a Mandalorian being kept as a caged animal. Perhaps it would bring the Imperials to bear, as she had learned of their genocide. She could live with that though; as long as she knew that bastard who claimed to own her was dead, she could die happy and with a song on her lips. A song that spoke of her homeland, of her family, and how she would be joining them soon. She also held to a small bit of hope that maybe, just maybe, her words would reach someone would come and free her from hell.

---

Levijon Dencap was a proud man. He owned his own frigate, was the captain of a decently successful mercenary slash pirate troupe that was currently sporting twenty one members - twenty two if you counted his Hound, though he never did - and he had more credits stashed away than his parents had ever even seen in all of their miserable lives. Even now as his ship, the Devious Tooth, was going through the final landing stages to the outskirts of a tiny little barely known or traveled settlement on Tatooine, he had everything he needed to think largely of himself. His crew was set to meet another, smaller crew here in order to transfer over some cargo. They would be taking on some slaves from the smaller ship, five of them to be exact - and all of them stolen from under Hutt noses. He was an equal opportunity pirate; whomever could pay was who he worked for, and he didn't mind crossing the hutts. As long as he could be sure that the Hutts didn't ever hear about it, but if he had any doubts he could just have his men kill everyone who wasn't the slaves that this little group was bringing. He had never heard of them before, and he was always a cautious man - so he had of course arrived a full six hours ahead of time for their meet, so that his men could set up barricades and be fully prepared for this meeting.

The ship landed and he immediately moved out and began snapping orders to his men; set up a bunker on that hill overlooking the meeting zone there, and set a few pitfalls that some of his men could hide in and jump out of if needed. Those men snapped to it and he considered the thirteen men he had left. He had sent his best shots to the bunker; now it was the more imposing physically that he had to deal with. Six of them he chose to escort him, as well as his first mate. The rest were left to guard the ship, taking up positions inside and all around the loading bay, which was currently the only open access point to the ship. Levijon wouldn't be straying too far from that point anyways, meaning they were just additional firepower to keep him safe. As pirates, his men were all well armed - but had no armor to speak of. They weren't a military force in the least, but they did like to shoot things, and that was reflected in the firepower they could bring to bear. Defense was left to whatever it was they could hide behind, though most of them were dumb enough to charge in with guns blazing anyways. Not the brightest crew, but they were his crew, and he was proud to lead them.

Tatooine was as hot as always today as he waited in his captain's chair, lounging and sipping away at a bottle of whiskey. Not fast enough to get drunk, but enough to stave off the worst of the heat. Not that it was overly hot in his air conditioned cabin, but he could certainly imagine the heat, at least. Yes, it would be a good day, with many profits to be had by all. Or at least, all of those who were working under him.

 

[Ral]

Cool air recycled through the Mandalorian's green and black helmet as a ghostly blue light reflected off the surface of the T-shaped visor. The air had that artifical taste to it, courtesy of the rebreather and filtration systems added into the helmet. It was a taste Ral Aran had grown used to over the past fifteen years; of course, that didn't mean that he enjoyed the taste of what he considered to be fake air, but it was air nonetheless. The Haranov-class gunship Darasuum Gra'tua had just dropped out of hyperspace above the planet of Tatooine, a barren, mostly lifeless, sand world. His friend Barden Kex had heard rumors of a group of pirates and mercenaries who kept a Mandalorian "hound" after toppling a slaving ring a few weeks back. Ral asked Kex to do some digging and find out what he could, and the man did not disappoint his friend, the newly found leader of this ragtag group of Mandalorians under the banner of clan Renelo. Kex did what he did best and he returned with a way to contact the pirates. After a brief discussion, Ral had convinced the pirate captain that he had liberated a few slaves from a Hutt transport and he wanted to offload them. Once the details of the meet had been hashed out Ral gathered up enough Mandos to man one of their ships and set out for Tatooine.

The bridge of the Haranov was a cramped place; there was barely enough room for Ral and his companions, so it made it quite uncomfortable to have so many extra hands on it. Before him projected into the air was a blue topographical overlay of the meeting area; they had scanned the area immediately after exiting hyperspace. Not surprisingly, the area had been fortified as though these pirates were expecting a fight. Sighing, Ral shook his head at the scene. Everything had become more complicated than expected, though he figured it wasn't all that surprising. "Of course..." He muttered quietly as he looked to the screen then to the man at his side. "Kex, it looks like you might be right; I don't like this. Let's try to do this civilly, I'd rather avoid a bloodbath if we can help it. Renelo has too few warriors to spare, especially if this ends up being a big wild Bantha chase."

"Though, I'd suggest we keep our options open. So, let's hope we don't have to deal with that bunker they've set up. Dei," Ral turned to face the golden-armored female who was standing nearby. "We're going to try to talk this through first, yeah? If they look like they're about to double-cross us we'll have the gunship open fire. Now, let's get to it." Ral motioned to the helmsman to take them in. Standing up, the Mandalorian gave command of the ship back to the lavender-skinned Twi'lek before returning to the crew quarters where he changed out of his armor and into very plain, very modest roughspun clothes that resembled slave clothing. In his boots he hid a holdout blaster, a dagger, and a locator beacon. The plan was to have Ral himself lead a few other Mandos posing as slaves all with concealable weapons and binders that could be remotely deactivated if needed. Luckily, when Ral had contacted the pirate captain they had only done voice communication, meaning his appearance was still largely unknown. Walking back out onto the bridge, Ral looked at those present. "I do hope everyone here is ready for this exchange."

 

[Alora]

Deidra managed to convince Ral Aran to drop her off the ship while on approach. He agreed and assigned one of the warriors to go with her. The same one she talked with in the hanger.
They used repulsor packs, a sort of one-use jetpack and now were laying prop on top of the hill right behind the pirate landing site.
- O'r taap, - Deidra commed Ral.
The man beside her was looking over the site through the binoculars attached to his helmet, his blaster rifle aimed in the general direction of the camp. But it won't be of much use if they will be needed. Deidra needed him as a spotter.
She herself was looking down at the camp through the scope of her sniper rifle.
- I do hope Ral'ika knows what he's doing, - said the guy not taking his eyes off the camp.
Deidra didn't reply.
- I honestly hate slavers. If it were up to me I'd just go in and slaughter them all with a vibroblade.
Deidra still kept silent, but inside she agreed with the man.
Ral's ship landed a little to the side of the pirate ship. The trick was to meet in between the ships for the exchange, right under the view scopes of Deidra's pair. If need arise, she'll drop them one by one right on the spot.
- Mhi tsikala, Ral.

 

[Bardan Kex]

Sighing, the Mercenary next to the Mandalorian Chief gazed out of the cockpit of the gunship, looking with some disgust at the dust ball the Craft was now orbiting. Tatooine, always Tatooine. Even in his Imperial days the worthless ball of rock was one that many Slavers and assorted scumbags would turn to for their meetings. He didn't know if they were stuck following some unfortunate tradition or if they just watched too many Holovids, either way he figured that by now maybe they would have found somewhere else. The Warrior clad in his Crimson and Grey armor, which much like himself was a hodgepodge of Imperial and Mandalorian influence, turned his eyes to the blue overlay of the rendezvous point, taking in the sight of their opposite number's entrenchment. Noting several positions on his data-pad he'd transfer the information to the Gunship's Targeting Computer, each location one he would have seen fit to fortify if he was in the other man's position and cared enough to do so.

As Ral addressed him, voicing agreement to an earlier point Bardan had made he'd simple shrug in return, the sort of gesture that seemed to say 'Yeah, what else is new?' Ral knew that a good deal of his Storm Commando days had been spent in counter-slaver activities. It was usually a good bet that they, or the Mercs in their employ would pull a double cross. More profit in that. He'd drop the snark for a moment, looking from the map to the man, his visor leveling with the other's. "It's your call, you wanna do it quiet, we can do it quiet. You wanna talk that's fine too, you're the boss."

Shortly there after the Mandalorians would depart from the bridge, his gaze lingering on them as they left, the one in gold in particular. Ral had briefly introduced him to that one, Deidra he'd called her, when he had invited Kex along for the hunt. He didn't trust her, or any of them other than his friend, not yet anyway. And something about how he'd looked to her when saying they'd talk first, perhaps she was a loose canon. The thought amused him. After they had cleared the bridge he studied the map a bit longer, in particular the Frigate, if the meeting went off with out a hitch it would become the center piece of their little game. He took the next several minutes explaining to the bridge crew what would be expected if the plan made it to the Void.

He'd then meet the team in the hold, five of them including their intrepid leader were disguised as slaves, another four in their armor and then there was himself and the Gold Armored female who he noted was donning a Repulsor pack. Cocking his head her direction, he noticed Ral just shake his head, a sign to leave it be. With a nod and then quick flick of his wrist he'd bring up the tactical display of the area for the group.

"You've all taken a good look at the RV already so we'll skip redundancy and get straight to the point." He'd zoom the blue image in on the Merc Ship. "This is our targets location, a Corellian DP20 Gunship. As you know our goal is to get the five of you on board posed as Slaves. Once on board, and the ship is in transit you to use the transponders each of you are carrying to release the binders. This will happen the moment you activate the transponder, also signaling to this ship that you have begun your mission."

Bardan would hold up a set of locked binders in one hand, and one of the small transponders in the other, he'd click it and the binders unlocked. The gathered Mandos nodded their understanding before looking back to the image. Pushing a button on his left vambrace the image would change to a blue print of one of the more common DP20 set ups.

"After releasing yourselves from the Slave Hold, presumably located here." he'd point at the main cargo hold, he'd then move his finger along the corridors of the ship as he continued to speak. "You will move to disable the ship's primary systems, in engineering. You will then activate your transponders again, sending a signal back to the ship giving us the green light to jump in and board. We will then secure our VIP, and either scuttle or salvage the ship depending on its condition. This of course assumes the mission gets that far and doesn't devolve to a shoot out in the desert."

His short briefing done, Bardan would let the Warriors get too it, before pulling aside his team and giving them the abridged run down of the boarding action. As he did this he'd note the Gold Woman pull aside one of the Warriors and hand him a repulsor pack, before she finished strapping a rifle to herself. Ral would come by and give him the jist of it, she wanted to do her own thing and provide sniper cover for the meeting. Kex sighed in return it wasn't a terrible plan if they were going to end this on world but that wasn't the plan. He'd send her a short message directly to her HUD as she opened on of the doors for drop. Once you clear the ship, you're likely on your own. If they bug out quick we wont have time to pick you up until after the operation.

Loose canon indeed... He thought as he made his way to the cargo ramp and prepared for the meeting.

 

[Sierrien]

"They're approaching, sir. We've just confirmed them on the scanner." Levijon turned in his chair as he heard the report, then stood. "Gather the men. It is time to go and greet them." He adjusted his clothing and the blaster pistol secured to his hip before turning and starting to walk. It was a short walk out to the Hangar, and then as the doors lowered he had his men go out first. Walking behind them, with his first mate at his side, he would be standing nearly at the base of the ramp in to his own ship as the other ship came in to land. His eyes scanned over it and noted that it seemed to be pretty well armed; perhaps it would be best not to cross this group. He would have to see who emerged from the ship to come and greet his own crew, but suddenly he was glad that he had actually brought the credits along for this exchange just in case. Or at least, he was glad that he had thought to tell his first mate to do so.

The ramp extended down from the other ship with a hiss and he stood up tall and straight - having purposefully not taken the last step down from his own ramp, making him seem even a bit taller than his normal six feet and therefore perhaps more imposing. First the slaves came marching out - and then he saw who was marching them out. Mandalorians - or at least a group in mandalorian armor. Now that he thought about it, he recognized what a good tactic that would be. Who wanted to cross mandalorians? Well, besides the empire, anyways, but he wasn't anywhere near as powerful as they were. But if he had a few men pose as Mandalorian commandos.. well, he was having some good thoughts on how he would be conducting business in the future, that was certain! He owed it to this group, yes. He cleared his throat - time to get down to business, it was - and called out to the man in crimson and grey armor, who seemed to be the leader of the opposing group.

"I see you've held up your end of the bargain." Even as he spoke, he made a motion and one of his men slung his rifle on to his back, before approaching to inspect the slaves. He would do a quick pat down for weapons on all of them, as well as testing their muscles just a bit to be sure they seemed strong enough to be useful slaves. There was nothing worse than buying useless slaves; he'd have to sell them off at a meat market for barely a quarter of what he'd be paying for them. His man gave him a nod after checking over all five of them, as well as giving a tug on their restraints to make sure they weren't just fake. His men relaxed a bit as he motioned towards his first mate to walk the payment over. As soon as it was in the man's hands, Levijon turned and started walking back in to his ship. "A pleasure doing business with you. Call me up next time you need to unload some cargo!" He would pause to hear any response before finishing his walk. When opened, the credit case the man had been handed would have the agreed upon ten thousand credits within.

His men would march the five slaves in to the ship if nothing happened to dissuade that, and then most of them moved to stand guard at the top of the ship's ramp. Two of them escorted the five slaves down in to the slave pen, ushering them inside. It didn't actually lock, but a chain was attached to each pair of restraints to keep them in that general area until they could be assigned duties. Whether or not they would be kept aboard this ship or sold would be determined at a later date. For now they were left with a single guard watching over them - standard procedure for new slaves being brought in - while the other moved back to report that the slaves had been secured. With that, they were almost ready to depart - though they would wait for the other ship to leave, so that they could call back the pirates who were still out in the field. As soon as they were back in, it would be up in to space and off to the slave markets.

 

[Ral]

Deidra had been bugging Ral to let her go down to the planet to provide cover since he returned from changing. The man didn't particularly like the plan; there was a lot that could go wrong if she was spotted trying to get into position like a full on firefight, or at the very least more intensive screenings which could make things more complicated from the get-go, but he knew it was a slim chance and that he really had no reason to outright deny her the request. With a sigh he finally acquiesced, "Do what you will, just don't get spotted or I'll have Kex leave you on the surface."

With that taken care of they took care of the briefing with Kex. Ral already knew the plan since he helped make it with the former Imperial, but the others would need to be updated and informed on what would happens hould everything go according to plan. Once it was done with they began their final approach. Haranov-class gunship finally made its descent and just before they landed Deidra hopped off with one of the men under Ral's command. The least she could have done was asked to grab him. He sighed and shook his head, it was too late now. With the ship on the ground Ral exited in line with the rest of the "prisoners" behind Kex. They were flanked by a handful of Mandalorians of Renelo, heavily armed like how most expected them to be. Though hopefully their weapons wouldn't be needed for this part of the operation. Following the older man to where the pirates were, he waited for the exchange to go down. He was honestly surprised when the pirate captain didn't try to haggle over the price; maybe he found the deal too good to argue over. In any case after a brief, if lazy pat down where they didn't find any of their concealed weapons, they were taken back to the ship.

Inside, they were led through the durasteel corridors of the small gunship until they were moved into one of the cargo holds. Tracking where they were led, Ral had to hide the smirk that grew when he realized Kex had been right about the location. An awfully pungent scent hit his nose, and he had to force down an instinctive gag reaction. There were a few things one never got quite used to no matter how often they were around them: rotting, bloated corpses, and the smell of something being kept in an enclosed area for a long time without being able to wash; wallowing in its own filth. Along the walls and in the middle were rows of cages large and small. The Mandalorian didn't get a chance to check out the whole room before they were herded into a pen large enough for the five of them where they were chained to ensure they couldn't flee. Taking a seat, Ral looked at the other four with him, and motioned for them to wait. With any luck the guard would eventually leave. During the next twenty minutes or so, Ral would look around the room and get acquainted to where they were. It only took him a minute before he saw the female a few cages over. Her cage was tiny, maybe slightly bigger than a cubic meter in size. She had dark hair, a fairly thin build from what he could see, her skin was almost unnaturally pale like she had been kept inside for much too long and bruised. Blue, purple, and green spots covered her exposed arms and legs. Her clothing was barely modest at all; it was a long piece of cloth that didn't cover her arms, and barely covered her legs. The woman was huddled up into a small ball at the corner of her tiny cage like a terrified animal, a completely filthy animal at that. Stains covered the tattered piece of fabric she used for modesty. Was this the Mandalorian they had come to find? Whoever she was Ral vowed to get her out Mandalorian or not, nobody deserved to be kept like that, like a beast. Not even beasts should be kept like that.

After awhile Ral could feel the ship they were in take off by the rumble and reverberations the engines sent through the superstructure. After about ten or twenty minutes the guard finally left, and Ral looked to the others with him. He nodded, they would start the plan very soon, but first he wanted to try and talk to the girl in the next cell. Clearing his throat, he slid over to get closer to her, trying to get her attention. "Hello, how long have you been stuck here? I heard there was a Mandalorian on this ship... would you happen to know anything about that?" Ral asked very slowly in Mando'a, his voice was calm, polite, warm even. He didn't want her to be scared, if anything he wanted to get her to reply.

 

[Bardan Kex]

The Warrior would usher the 'slaves' down the ramp, pushing them with his left hand as his right firmly gripped the blaster rifle slung from his shoulder rig by its one point sling. Once they were down the ramp he would move infront of them, leading the towards the Slaver ship, his grip on his rifle tightening and his left hand loosely hanging near the Ripper pistol on his hip. The desert sun beamed down on all of them and suddenly he was even more pleased that he had been chosen to Command the ship element, his armor's systems would keep him cool even in the hopefully scant few moments they would be out here. Scanning the dunes around them he'd take note of the Merc presence, marking them on his HUD and making sure the other Warriors with him had done the same. The 360 degree display in his helm showed they had, their weapons remaining in the same low ready position they had taken up when disembarking. The Mercs he noted were unarmored and carried their weapons in a variety of manners, feigning that they were not threatened by the Mandalorians, their eyes gave them up.

Finally he would bring his attention to the Captain, halting the Slaves as the arrogant man addressed him. His posture would not change, he'd stand ready before the Captain, who had chosen to stand on his ship's ramp in apparent effort to make those he would trade with look up at him. Kex smiled to himself, a typical Pirate. "I did, yes." he'd reply, putting on more of a Mandalorian accent then he normally had. His reply would be quick to the point, while his posture would change asking the unvoiced question, Did you?

For the few short minutes as the other Captain's man inspected Ral's team, the question would go unanswered and Kex hoped the team had hidden their weapons well enough. Finally though the reply would come as the ship's First Mate handed him the payment, after a quick inspection he'd raise a hand, and in a circle motion signal for the Mando'ade to mount up. The other man did the same, heading back up the ramp and expressing an interest in return business. If only he knew.

His own men now back aboard the Darasuum Gra'tua, Kex would head up the ramp, "Lets get to it then." he'd call out, raising the ramp. "Lets get Diedra, keep us at a low altitude. I want them to think we are still in the area."

The pilot's response was simple, the ship lurched and turned for the hill the Golden Warrior had dropped on. As the ramp lowered and the woman entered the ship Bardan would be standing there waiting for her. "I know you think a sniper is good for that sort of meet and with more prep time you'd be right. But orders were go in quick. Get in get out. What if we would have had to bug out fast? You'd have been on your own that's what!" he'd state, just a hint of his Imperial past bleeding through. "But that's irrelevant now, you've had your fun. Now sit down, shut up and await further instructions."

 

[Sierrien]

Astra had barely noticed te arrival of the new slaves. Or at least she hadn't reacted to them at all, at least while the pirate was still there a thing over them. Finally the ship took off and after about ten minutes he went back to his own duties. That would mean the slaves would be left alone for a while until they were collected and told what their duties on the ship would be. She still didn't react to their presence, even with the pirate gone. Curled up in a ball in her 'kennel' she certainly didn't look like a Mandalorian, she barely even looked like a person. And yet one of the slaves came over and started to speak to her anyways.

And what's more, his words were a language she hadn't thought she would ever hear again. A slave speaking Mando'a? He must have landed on hard times indeed - not too surprising with the Empire all but destroying their people, as she had been told. It had happened while she was in a stasis capsule, so all she had to go off was hearsay. But now here was a fellow slave speaking the language, and it certainly caught her attention. She slowly shifted to sit up on her knees, her eyes looking him over as she considered his questions. "This was not how I pictured meeting one of the Clan in my mind." Her response was in a measured, slow Mando'a - she hadn't spoken it for three years. "It is difficult to tell the passing of time when you live in a kennel. Two years. Maybe three. I was wondering if the rumours I was spreading were working. At least I know there are slaves still talking about me." She looked like she wanted to say more, but suddenly she stopped as the sound of two guards conversing as they moved towards the slave pen.

She had fallen silent, and it would become fairly apparent how close she was to breaking, then. The guards appeared to be here for her this time. "Time for your walk, dog." one of them said to her as he opened the cage she was in, the leash in his hand attached to her collar as she crawled her way out. There didn't appear to be any fight left in her, though the bruises on her form might have said otherwise. Her head and eyes were downcast as she started to crawl along where the two guards were leading.

 

[Alora]

Hearing the man's words Deidra stopped in her tracks and slowly turned her head. Kex stood there posing as a field general, all self importance and arrogance. "Sit down, shut up"? Seriously?
Taking a step towards him, Deidra felt a strong desire to punch the man in the face. But he simply wasn't worth it.
Turning on her heels she walked down the ramp and started walking away from the ship. Into the Tatooine desert. The man who dropped with her blocked her path.
- Don’t be rash, will you?
Deidra just stepped around him and kept walking.
- Hurry up home, the dog needs his pups, - she said out loud.
At the same time she punched a few buttons on her gauntlet.
- Dinii, bring the ship. Lock on to my signal.
- Affirmative, - replied her ship. The whole time it stayed on the edge of the system, ready for a quick pick up.
It was sad in a way. Those guys played tough warriors, like kids in the sandbox. No planning ahead, no emergency plans, no cover. They could not understand that a single "go wrong" would kill them all. If the pirates just checked the cuffs, if they caged them and locked them up, if they simply chained their feet - they will be all dead. And the mirsheb thought she "was having her fun". Well, good luck, kids. You're gonna need it.
She kept walking, leaving the gunship and it's stupid "general" behind.

 

[Ral]

A small smile spread across Ral's lips as he listened to the beaten and bruised woman in the cage a few spaces over from his pen, his fingers wrapping around the thick cold durasteel bars of the cage. So, the rumors he had heard about a caged Mandalorian were true... that made the situation oddly double sided. On one side he had found this woman, a Mandalorian by birth, and a potential ally if they could get out of there. On the other side she only seemed to be a shadow of a Mandalorian, much like the rest of the clans; they were but a ghost of their glorious past and now they had to live with that sad but simple truth. The woman's words were slow, carefully thought out, her voice seemed somewhat weak and hoarse like she hadn't spoken in a long time. But before he could ask anything else, much less her name, two pirates entered the hold and told the female it was time for her "walk."

What happened next repulsed the Mandalorian. The pirates opened the kennel belonging to the woman. Ral could see how beaten the woman was, how she had been pushed all the way to her breaking point. Her face, her eyes, they said it all; she was like an open book. What sorts of cruelties and abuses the depraved pirates had visited upon her over the long years she was their captive Ral could have only guessed. But their effects, they were plain as day, as plain as the bars in front of his face. She had become their pet indeed, or at least she almost had, he would see if there was still a fire in her heart; still that stubborn defiance; still a Mandalorian in there to be saved. The scene disgusted Ral, anyone who would do such a thing would have to face some form of justice.

Looking to the other four with him, Ral gave the nod, the signal that it was time to start. "Get the transponders, it's time to move." Ral stated in a hushed whispered in Mando'a to the others with him. He trusted that the guards knew nothing of the language, and so wouldn't be expecting the next actions taken by the prisoners. Walking up to the gate of the pen, or at least as close to the gate that he could, he began speaking, throwing his voice to sound weak, pitiful, and vulnerable. "Sirs, please can you tell me what's going to happen to us? Where are we being taken? Where are you taking her?!" The guard looked at him with glaring contemptuous eyes.

"Get back you slave scu-" The guard started before stopping halfway through as a small gurgle emitted from his throat. The guard's eyes went wide as both he and Ral realized that a knife was protruding from his throat. Looking to the second guard Ral quickly recognized a knife sticking out of that man's throat. Rivers of carmine fluid flowed from the wounds. With a bit of a smirk, Ral nodded to the two female Mandalorians with him; they had used some slight of hand to quickly and subtly remove their blades and with a quick flick of their wrists they sent them spinning into the soft throats of the guards.

"Very good, now let's get these binders off." Ral stated as he bent over to remove the transponder from his boot. With it in his hand he clicked the button and his shackles fell off. Next, he took his blaster into his hand as well as his knife. Looking to his team he motioned for them to secure the immediate area. Ral had other business to attend to first. As the other four secured the corpses on the floor, Ral walked up to the female slave in her tattered cloth. "Hey are you alright?" He asked as he pulled her up from the floor. "It's time to get you out of here." Turning to his men. "Let's get to engineering and sabotage this boat."

 

[Bardan Kex]

As Deirda Larr took a step towards him, so too did Kex step towards her. She wanted to play that game fine, he'd play. Their plan had been more than adequate for the mission, if Ral's team had been discovered they had more than enough fire power to engage the Mercs, specifically since he had made sure to upload targeting data to the ship's targeting Computer. If anything her plan of jumping down to a hill posed more a threat to the mission, what if their sensors had picked it up and they opened fire as they were heading down the ramp. He'd much rather be caught in an ambush where we could move and get to cover than on a tightly packed walk way, he knew as much from experience.

Unsurprisingly as their visor's met she backed down, turning on her heels and heading back towards the desert, he couldn't help but grin. She announced loudly something about the dog needing his pups as she stepped around the man. To the warrior's credit he turned, arm out to stop her, when Kex spoke up loud enough for the woman to hear as she stormed off. "If she wants to act like a child, let her."

The man nodded silently, turning up the ramp and walking past Kex, mockingly throwing up a salute as he went by. Allowing it to go by unaddressed, Bardan would watch the woman march into the desert as the ship lifted off. Shutting a door he'd think, She really is just a child pouting that she didn't have her way. It was no skin off his back, they needed team players for this mission.

In orbit minutes later, Kex would be patiently waiting on the bridge, sitting in Ral's Command chair staring at the blue holo-display showing the Tatooine system. They would be running dark, most systems powered down as they waited for the signal to strike. On the display he could see the other ship, just a simple beacon in orbit of a blue sphere. The bridge crew waited anxiously, all sitting prepped for the moment they needed to activate their systems.

"Kex!" called the Comms Officer. Bardan would spin the chair her direction. "We have the first signal."

"That's good, very good." He'd turn back to the display as the enemy ships icon changed color, checking the mission clock he'd note the time and begin the secondary timer. Time from escape to target disabled. "Prepare to power up."

 

[Sierrien]

The slave who had spoken to her called out to the Pirates and the one holding her leash have a yank to stop her. They both turned towards the slave, looking angry that he would dare interrupt them. His angry words were cut off by an odd gurgle that managed to catch her attention - and then both of them fell to the floor, their life blood leakin from their throats. She stared at the knives, not understanding where they had come from. Had someone snuck on board? Her eyes shifted slowly back to the slaves that had just come on board as he mentioned getting to the engine room. He had a gun and a knife now, and she stared at him with wide eyes as he approached. Was this a savior or her death? She seemed to welcome it either way, as she quickly relaxed.

Then his hand extended and she took it, quickly helped up to her feet. Saviour then, she decided. "I can.. Show you where the armory is..?" she let out then, her eyes cautiously shifting between the five suddenly armed 'slaves'. She certainly wanted to get on their good side; for all she knew they were here for some kind of vendetta and not for her at all. When she got a nod she turned and shifted quickly and quietly down a side corridor. It led out to an open area with a guard standing still in front of a door. She pointed to him, then moved aside so that another one of the slaves could make short work of him with the same throwing trick from earlier.

Forward they moved then, grabbing the key and opening the door to the armory - the guard dragged inside - and the slaves would see that the 'armory' was more or less just a bunch of crates with assorted weapons inside. While they searched she herself went to a medium sized crate in the corner and slowly opened it. Inside was her combat suit, as well as her vibro sword. If she wasn't stopped, she would quickly clothe herself in the armor and then stood, the sword held loosely as she turned. She picked out a pistol from the armory herself, strapping a holster on her leg to hold it in place. She wouldn't want to use it until they were ready to make noise. She signalled she was ready to go then, the 'slaves' having taken much less time than she to get ready.

She led the way towards the engine room then; after three years she knew the ship pretty well, even if she had spent half of it confined to a kennel. They only came across one guard along the way; He barely even noticed them before Astra's sword was in his throat. She gave it a twist just to hear him gurgle out his last words in a way that was almost cruel, except that it would be over quickly. Her sword was cleaned on his shirt, there was likely some dark history that she had wanted to repay with this particular pirate. Or perhaps it was simply with all of them.

With that; they had made it to the engineering bay. There would be a few pirate engineers milling about inside that would need to be dealt with; Astra stepped aside to let the 'slaves' plan and go about taking over the engineering bat however they wanted.

 

[Ral]

Ral gave the woman a smile when she took his hand; he could see that there was something in her brown eyes as they connected with his blue ones. She seemed to relax a little, and she told him that she could lead him and his team to where the armory was. His smile widened a little bit more and he gave her a thankful nod, "That would be good! I'd appreciate that very much thank you!" His answer was slightly hushed as he didn't know where the other guards were and didn't want them to overhear and come to investigate. Despite being a Mandalorian, Ral would prefer not to leave a trail of bodies everywhere they went to; especially not in an operation where subtlety was the key to success. So, letting the girl lead them out of the hold, Ral motioned for the other four to follow.

The corridor they were in led to a larger one with another guard standing in front of a door. That must be the armory. Odd that there's a guard there, does the captain not trust his own men with the weapons? Ral thought to himself for a moment as he stood there. He would need to be eliminated as quietly as possible so that the others wouldn't be alerted, the other option was to not lot want to gain access to the armory, but Ral liked his chances better with the guns than without them. Motioning to one of the females who had proven to be quiet adept at throwing a knife, Ral signaled for her to take out the guard as quietly as she could. Excess noise was unwanted after all. Coming around the corner, the woman poked her head out first, gauging the distance to her target before moving in closer, drawing her blade. The woman took two steps before the guard noticed movement, by the third step she stepped into a throwing posture and let the bladed weapon fly. Just like the guards in the holding cells earlier, this one dropped to the ground the only sound a gurgling from where air mixed with blood as it escaped his trachea.

The group moved surprisingly quickly, even to Ral. They grabbed the key to the armory and opened the sealed door, dragging the guard's corpse in after them. The armory was rather underwhelming, or at least the name made it sound slightly more grandiose. With a bit of a frown Ral looked around the room at the scant few crates and other gear. It would have to do. Turning to the other four he gave a nod and they spread out through the room collecting gear and equipment; mostly weapons, a few grenades, a rare thermal detonator, and some shaped charges. The young woman had already moved ahead of them and was digging through one of the crates. She pulled out a bodysuit of some kind from it, maybe it was armor? Judging by the size and shape it seemed to be made for her. That caused Ral to raise an eyebrow. Of course, both of his eyebrows shot up at what happened next. The female stripped off the dirty and nearly ruined rag she had been wearing to cover herself with letting every Mando in the room see her bare form. It was fairly attractive, even if it was covered in bruises, perfectly proportioned, and for a woman who spent probably close to every waking moment in that kennel, surprisingly fit and in-shape. Color flushed to Ral's cheeks as he looked away and noticed that the other four Mandos had noticed as well and seemed just as surprised as he was. Clearing his throat the other four quickly went back to work. One of the Mandos brought him a carbine as well as a Corondexx Pulse Rifle. "A Pulse Rifle? Excellent, I needed a new one. My last one's coil got fried when I took that hitchhiking expedition to Sleheyron."

The woman had grabbed a sword and a pistol, strapping the latter to her hip in a holster. Once they had all the gear they could reasonably carry they left, following the woman out to where the engineering section was supposed to be. Ral was happy to see that the five of them had managed to clear the armory out of a large portion of its weapons; it would prevent the pirates from using them later which Ral enjoyed the most: the denial of vital assets from the enemy and using them to one's advantage. They came upon one unfortunate guard which the woman killed with speed, the blade through his throat.

Upon reaching the engineering bay, Ral noticed that there was a small handful of techs walking about. No matter, they would be easy enough to deal with. Signalling to his team, he made sure that all of their weapons would be set to stun so they could hopefully get some info from the techs later if needed. Jumping around the corner all at once, the five Mandalorians fired their weapons and blue arcs of energy found their targets. Ral's pulse rifle had the wide arc that allowed him to actually catch two of the techs in its path. With a bit of smile, Ral turned to the Mandalorians he was with. "Alright, good enough, vod. Everyone, find something important and try to shut it down. Don't destroy it unless you have to. A disabled ship is better than one that is about to explode to me." With that, Ral turned to face the woman he had come with. He smiled at her, "Thank you for the help so far. I'm afraid I forgot my manners back in the holding cells. What's your name? I'm Ral, Ral Aran. Currently leader of clan Renelo... for now anyways." With that the lights flashed off and he quickly looked around. Judging by the fading whine of the main reactor, one of the commandos he had gone in with had successfully shut it down. Close enough for him. Activating his transponder again, Ral signaled for Bardan to move in. It was time to take this ship. "Well, looks like we're about to have the cavalry arrive. You ready for a ship-jacking?"

 

[Bardan Kex]

According to the mission timer they were ten minutes past activation of the transponder, putting them at thirty minutes total thus far, when the transponder's flashed for a second time. The team had made damn good time so far and he wasn't about to slow them down. The Darasuum Gra'tua began powering up with out waiting for his go ahead, everyone on the crew knew the signal, knew what was at stake. Sitting up right in the Captain's chair Kex would call out to the bridge crew, "Helm, put us on approach. Coms, they might have emergency power, jam their signal. Weapons, stand by." The Crew called out their affirmative, and continued at their tasks, while Bardan depressed a button on the chair, "Boarding party, meet me at the starboard Airlock. Mission is go!"

In the minutes it took the ship to reach the disabled Merc Vessel Bardan's Warriors had met up at the airlock, each of them fully equipped and their armor sealed against the Void. Stacked up near the airlock they waited for the tell tale thump of two ships pressing against one another. When finally it came Bardan enacted boarding procedures, his Gunship's docking ring pressing firmly around the airlock of the DP20, with a hiss it sealed and the warrior across from him opened the door and went to about cutting into the other ship. A scant few moments later and they were through, the Warrior pulling tight to the bulkhead as the door fell and a flash grenade went sailing into the target ship. The shouts of the Mercs that had managed to rally to the breach point were quickly drowned out by the loud thud of the device and they fell to their knees holding their eyes and ears. Bardan was through the door first, his rifle barely shouldered as he put a single bolt through a Merc who's weapon lay at his feet. The other four with him pilled through the door quickly, each putting a burst out on a Merc, one unfortunate sod catching 6 bolts to his chest. A quick hand gesture told the Warriors on his left to break off and clear the way to the cargo bay and Engineering. A silent nod from each of them and they were off down the corridor as the other two provided cover in the opposite direction. "Breach successful, seal airlock."

"Copy that." came the reply, followed by hiss of the airlock slamming shut and Bardan was off. The Mandalorian trio moved down the hall, weapons up and scanning resistance how ever was strangely light. They encountered only one man on their way to the bridge, well only one that wasn't a slave, and his life ended all too quickly. The door to the bridge was sealed when they came upon it, no doubt the Captain and some of his crew had chosen to hold up when the ship had lost power, while the remainder pushed to retake engineering. The two mandos went about cutting the door, it would let the targets know they were there, and that's exactly what he wanted. "Try to take the Captain alive. Ral will likely want to have words with him."

"Roger." the two women would reply in unison the second preparing a stun grenade. Bardan would take one of his own from his web gear, and as the door fell he'd toss it in while standing to the side. This group had prepared for them, and before the grenades could detonate a flurry of small arms fire raked the opening, the Warrior doing the cutting was knocked off her feet and Bardan took a bolt in the soft mesh of his arm. He winced and checked the other warrior's vitals as the grenades went off. She was still alive, that was good. The other Warrior pushed through the door yelling in rage for her fallen friend, and Bardan followed through, shooting the stunned Mercs. The First Mate, not the arrogant bastard of a Captain stood before them his weapon up, Bardan and the woman at his side both fired, one bolt to the shoulder and another to the man's knee dropping him. Placing his hand on the front of the other Warrior's weapon he'd force the barrel down, and gesture for her to check on her friend. Bardan approached the man who pulled a second pistol and brought it up, the former Imperial caught the man's wrist and squeezed, the enhanced strength provided by his crushgaunts shattered the scumbag's wrist.

"Where's your Captain?" he'd ask, lifting the man to eye level by his throat. The man simply spat in response, the saliva spattering against his visor, he'd then smile. "I won't tell yo..." he began to say, before Kex crushed the man's throat and left him in a gurgling heap on the bridge floor. "I don't have time for your oisk." he'd reply shooting the slowly dying man a contemptuous look, he activated his com channel with the other two members of the team. "Report!"

 

[Sierrien]

The slaves were quick and efficient with their takeover of the engine room, and Astra was pretty sure they had to have some rather heavy martial training. So they really were Mandalorians perhaps, and not just people who had picked up the language. That was confirmed when the man who had been speaking to her introduced himself as the current leader of clan Renelo. She couldn't remember having heard of the clan before; likely not one her own had direct dealings with in the past. She wondered if that had changed in her absence, though it was unlikely as she was under the impression that the rest of her clan had been wiped out.

"Astra Iviin." she let out, waiting a moment to process the look on his face. Not seeing any recognition she would continue speaking, then. "The last of my clan, as far as I know. Information has been fairly scarce for me in here, but I am not hopeful that any of them are alive. If they were, i... Wouldn't have been left to be found by these pirates." Clearly something of a sore spot for her, though that was likely not a surprise. Her hating the men who had enslaved her and made her their pet was to be expected. He mentioned taking the ship and she gave a slow nod. "These pirates... They all deserve a slow death." There was venom in her words; she wanted them to suffer. If she had her way, their deaths would be as slow and painful as could possibly be arranged. That or she'd like to strangle the life from them herself. [COLOR="#EE82EE]"I would give anything to kill the Captain myself."[/COLOR]

[hr][/hr]
[I]Earlier[/I]
Levijon was in a good mood. A successful business venture always put him in one; sure he had paid the full price for them, but Hutt trained slaves were worth a premium on the border planets. There was no better guarantee that a slave would work himself to the bone for you than hutt training, and Hutts only kept the best slaves alive. That meant he would be looking towards quite a score when they got to the slave market. It was a time for celebration. [COLOR="#FF0000"]First mate, the helm is yours. I feel the need for some celebration. Have the Hound sent to my quarters."[/COLOR] With that he relinquished the helm and returned to his own quarters, and was therefore absent when the Mandalorians took over the brig.

---

Present
Something had clearly gone wrong. First the lights had gone out, to be replaced by emergency lighting. Now no one would answer his call in the brig. He moved to the emergency security system he had installed in his room - which was basically just a series of cameras throughout the ship - and took a quick stock of what was happening. He flicked a switch then, his face appearing on every monitor all throughout the ship, and his voice echoing. "We have been boarded. They are in the engine room and the brig; ten thousand credits to the man who kills the most of them." Money was the best motivator for the Pirates; they would be going on the offensive soon. "And as for you, Hound... Your betrayal had been noted." Pulling out a small controller, he pressed a button on it - and then cackled with glee as he watched her suddenly scream in pain, and fall to the ground as electricity crackled through her form from the collar. He would use her once she was able to stand again, he decided, still palming the control device.

 

[Ral]

"Pleasure to meet you, Astra," Ral replied with a half-smile on his face. He hadn't heard of clan Iviin, they might have been small before the civil war and the genocide, he wasn't sure. But it seems they were largely non-existant now. Listening to what she had to say he gave her a slight nod. He couldn't imagine what she had been put through, and he wasn't entirely sure that he wasnted to know; it would likely only make him angry and risk him acting on that anger. Though perhaps in the future he might be willing to find out, if Astra was willing to tell him more about herself. Only time would tell. "Then with your help we shall give these pirates a slow death."

The Darasuum Gra'tua arrived much sooner than expected, and after only a few minutes Ral could hear the sounds of heated blaster fire from other parts of the ship. However, in that time the apparant captain of the ship came onto the intercom and announced his displeasure with his new slaves. Then he mentioned Astra and Ral witnessed as she fell over screaming in pain as the collar around her neck sparked. The woman seemed to pass out, at least momentarily from the blinding pain Ral was sure she was experiencing. Damn it! Ral thought as he looked up to the walls with a determined and evil glare in his eyes. He spoke, his voice cold, and quiet as though he was mostly speaking to himself."No one deserves to live like how you treated her. We'll be coming for you next, hut'uun, I hope you're ready for a slow and painful death. And I'll be sure she lands the killing blow."

Motioning for his team, they formed up some defenses near the doorway, Ral didn't want to leave Astra behind, but he couldn't spare one of the Mandalorians under his command to carry her where they might go; it was too much of a risk to the mission and to everyone in it. It only took another minute or two before pirates arrived with their simple blaster. Ral and his team hid behind cover as they returned fire with their weapons killing a pirate in their opening barrage as they took the vanguard by surprise. The pirate's blaster bolts struck at the sides of the walls near where they took cover and several more flew past them into the engineering bay. More blaster shots rang out as the pirates fought the Mandalorian "prisoners" and the battle became much more intense as Ral realized there was near a half dozen men trying to take control of the now darkened ship. "Alright Kex, any time now would be great..." Ral muttered to himself. Their position wasn't the best, but at least it was providing them with cover for the time being. Keying his comlink, Ral spoke trying to raise his friend. "Bardan, we're stuck in the engy bay, we've got about six pirates trying to come at us, any help you could give us would be much appreciated."

 

[Bardan Kex]

Two Mando'ade prowled the crippled Gunship, sweeping from where they had breached towards the engineering bay. It had been just minutes since their arrival and so far they had seen little in the way of opposition only a couple of guards, though they had heard plenty, blaster fire to their rear and in front of them. One of the two, the Warrior that had been with Deidra Larr, took up a position at a corridor junction and the other did the same. As he peeked around the corner he would quickly return to cover as a blaster bolt passed inches from his head.

"Damn!" he shouted, and the other Warrior turned bringing his weapon up. The two stepped out from cover firing as they pushed down the hall keeping their assailant pinned. The man never had a chance, the bolts blowing him apart.

"What'd ya think of the 'General'?" inquired the man, as he knelt to pick up the blaster. They were now in the main hold surrounded by caged slaves. The other warrior cocked his head in his direction, not quite sure who was being referred to. "Oh, c'mon! Kex, what ya think of him? You heard him talk, sounds more like an Imperial than one of us..."

The other Warrior was about to reply when their coms errupted to life. "Report!"

The two exchanged a quick glance, before responding. "Limited contact thus far, en route to Engineering still."

"Understood, double time it, Ral's team is likely pinned judging by the lack of resistance."

A snide remark was quickly silenced as view screens switched to life on the emergency power and a voice rang through the halls, announcing the locations of the two main groups.

"Like I said, double time it!"

Back on the bridge Kex received a confirmation in the affirmative to his last orders, and presumably the men were on their way to Ral's position. He was confident in his assesment that most of the Pirates would be near or on their way to Engineering, still it was better safe than sorry and now that they lacked a door, the small team would need to secure the bridge. Walking to the two with him he'd quickly look over the wounded Mando, she wouldn't be walking anytime soon but she could still fire a blaster. Working with her friend he'd hook her under one shoulder while the other did the same on the opposite side. Together they dragged the wounded warrior to a location where she could keep the entryway covered, yet also keep herself relatively safe. The other woman would take up a similar position on the opposite side, holding the bridge would now be their prerogative. Kex had a new mission, sweep the area between the bridge and Engineering to ensure no one would come up behind the two warriors he had sent that direction. It was dangerous to do alone, but it needed to be done.

 

[Sierrien]

With the Pirates closing in on much better armed yet outnumbered Mandalorians, their captain was still hiding in his chambers and coordinating it all through his security system. He saw the lone soldier moving down the hall and directed four pirates towards him, another four sent in behind the two approaching the engineering bay. That left six pinning the people inside engineering down - ah, five he amended as he saw a pirate go down. Things were looking a little hairy at the moment, but he still had a trump card to play. And no good trump card went unplayed.

His voice suddenly clicked in, coming only through the collar Astra was wearing this time. "it's time for you to earn your keep, bitch. You allied with the enemy; redeem yourself by taking them out or I'll kill every slave on the ship with the touch of a button." Astra had just barely recovered from the shock, but he knew what he meant. He could remotely make any of the slave collars constrict tight enough to block all airflow. It would be a horrible way to go. Only the permanent slaves had them, but that was still ten helpless slaves she had to fight for now. She let out a frustrated growl as she rose back up to her feet.

With a sudden burst of speed she had closed the distance to nearest Mandalorian, her hard punch to the woman's jaw coming as a complete surprise and catching her off guard enough that it knocked her out cold with a loud 'crack'. She was already moving past, bringing her pistol up and blasting the gun out of the other frmale's hands before that distance was also closed, her speed letting her land a solid crack with her fist in to this woman's stomach to double her over, then spun to slam her pistol in to the back of her head and knock her out as well. She shifted then, facing down Ral and the two others still standing with him, her grip tightening on her sword and pistol as an apologetic look came over her face.

Levijon grinned as he watched, flipping his other screen to watch the four going after the lone Mandalorian as well. They weren't exactly tactical; they all just rushed him with their pistols firing wildly. Yes, the tide was certainly turning in his favor.

 

[Ral]

Hearing the woman growl as she stood back to her feet, Ral turned about wondering how she managed to recover so fast. His thoughts were unfortunately cut short as she charged his team from behind. At first, Ral wasn't sure what was going on; the sound of the firefight had prevented him from overhearing the captain's order, or perhaps ultimatum was the better word. In any event, Astra's first attack took Ral completely by surprise as she moved with preternatural speed and laid out one of the women he had brought with him. He seemed to be helpless as she came about to disable the second female with her pistol and her fists. "Astra, what are you doing?!" He shouted as he glared at her, his temper boiling. He freed her from the pen and this was how she was repaying him, by betraying them to her captors, people who treated her like an animal.

But then she looked at him, and he could see the look in her eyes. There was a regretful fire in them. It reminded him of how he looked when he had to do something unpleasant he didn't like. She's not doing this because she wants to... He thought. His mind quickly made the connection, Astra was being controlled, and though Ral did not know what the captain had to hold over her, the Mandalorian was sure it was something big. Assuming she was being forced to fight against Ral, he figured it would be a pointless trip if he killed her here and now. No, that would not do. Swinging his Corondexx out in front of him, Ral shook his head. "Sorry about all of this." The man muttered aloud as he fired. His stun weapon fired a blue arc of energy in a fifteen degree angle; the Corondexx Pulse Rifle fired a disabling beam that incapacitated both organics and temporarily overloaded a droid's circuits similar to the way an ion blaster did, but far less damaging.

Astra hit the floor hard from the bolt as she had began to charge him, and she was fast. But it wasn't quite enough, she was already starting to stand to her feet again and preparing to start at him again. Without hesitation, Ral fired the rifle a second time and Astra nearly collapsed to the floor, her chest hitting the grey durasteel paneling. Her head turned to look at him from her prone position, her legs no longer responding to the impulses her mind was sending. There was a different look her those brown orbs, the apologetic look was gone, and what Ral could only guess as a relieved, yet worried look took its place. Ral gave her a nod, and a half-hearted smirk before firing a third time when she passed out. Not wanting to take a chance, Ral fired a fourth shot and the woman's body seized up for a moment from the energy. Taking a deep breath, Ral turned to his companions. "Let's end this. You got a stun grenade from the armory?" He asked one of the men. The man, a tall fellow with sandy blonde hair and brown eyes nodded before he unclipped a small grey cylinder from the leather slave belt he wore and tossed it to Ral.

"I'll toss this, when it detonates I'll step out and fire my stun rifle sweeping the deck. The wide arc should catch anybody not in cover, got it?" The two men nodded their response. Good. Ral thought as he armed the stung grenade. He threw it around the section of blasted wall he had been hiding behind off of the opposite wall into the group of pirates, coming to rest in the dead center; a lucky throw to say the least. All five stared at it for a second stupidly before one had the brains to begin yelling "Grenade!" when it went off. The detonation reverberated pleasantly down the corridor, and immediately Ral was in the center of the hallway firing his pulse rifle walking down at a brisk pace so he could deny the pirates their safety. His foot falls were fast, but loud, as Ral moved with deliberate purpose firing his weapon from the shoulder, his finger pulling the trigger every second. The blue arcs blasted the remaining pirates as they began to recover from the loud, and bright, bang. Within a few seconds they were all down.

Turning to the pair of Mandalorians behind him, Ral bent over to pick up a pair of binders. Tossing them to the sandy blonde Mando, Ral motioned to Astra. "She's not to be trusted until the ship is secured and we have the captain, understood? Cuff her to one of the pipes in engineering, make sure its a sturdy one she can't climb out of or break. Take the rest of these into engineering with the techs. Keep your guns trained on them, I'm not sure when the affects of the pulse rifle will wear off." They nodded before the blonde one inquired where Ral was going. "I'm going to find the others and that soon-to-be-living-the-rest-of-his-short-ass-life-in-agonizing-pain captain of theirs."

Stepping away, Ral prepared his rifle for any more surprises that might show up and try and kill him. Keying the comlink installed in their transponders, Ral signaled Kex. "Bad news, the hut'uun captain of this ship has some way to control the girl we came here to free. We need to stop him. If you find him first I'd prefer to take him alive so we can make sure he doesn't have any more secrets. But if there's a chance he might blow the ship or kill the girl you kill him first. I'm on my way back from engineering; we've secured the area. What's your status?"

 

[Bardan Kex]

"Kriffing hell..." the curse passed across his lips, betraying his Corellian origins, as an array of blaster bolts impacted the wall beside him and one glanced off his shoulder. Four mercenaries rushed him from two different locations firing wildly. They must have hidden themselves in smuggling compartments he thought. Their goal seemingly was to suppress him until they could get closer. He dove out of the intersection down the only hallway that would have been free from their arc of fire. His comms suddenly burst to life, another message from Ral. He listened as the man spoke, checking the battered E-75A1 he'd been carrying for sometime now, he sighed, one of the bolts had caught the weapon just right and ruined it.

"Presently engaged." he'd reply to the query as to his status as more blaster bolts impacted near him. Drawing his side arm he'd lean around the corner for a moment and fire two quick shots, dropping one of the men with the energy encased shards of metal from his Ripper. "Hostiles shouldn't be too much of a problem. I'll find the Captain ASAP."

With one down and three to go their blind rush wouldn't be too much of an issue, he had the better position. He'd wait for a lull in their weapon's fire before popping out and dropping the solitary man. He heard the foot steps behind him and turned just in time for a blaster bolt to catch him in the chest as a man slammed into him sending the uneven footed Mandalorian and his attacker falling to the deck. The man reeled slightly from impacting with an armored man but brought up his left hand with a vibroblade as he realized he'd lost his blaster in his dive. Bardan's free hand responded grabbing the wrist of the man and squeezing, the amplified strength granted by his gauntlets crushing the man's hand. As the man howled in pain Kex brought his side arm up and he fired into the other man as he maneuvered to get around his friend. As he dropped Bardan turned his pistol on the man in his grip, firing point blank into his head, which erupted in a haze of crimson and grey ichor.

Pushing the corpse from on top of himself Kex would rise and inspect the corpses, the one that he had dropped moments before was still alive, bleeding out slowly from a sucking wound in his chest. The former Imperial knelt beside the man.

"That's a bad wound." he announced to the slowly dying Pirate."Tell me where I can find your Captain and I'll help you out, if I act fast you can still live."

The Pirate stared into Bardan's visor, refusing to say anything and not smart enough to come up with a lie. "Suit yourself." Bardan said rising to his feet and turning away.

"Wa..wait." called the man weakly, before letting Bardan know where the Captain could be found.

"Thanks," Kex said as he put a round through his head. He would click open a com channel, "Ral, I know where the Captain is..."