Private A Red Right Hand

[Jace Wester]

It was a relief to the man in the black duster that his companion knew how to use a blaster. His own shot rang true, catching one hapless thug in the forehead, and hardly a moment passed before Jace realized he didn't have to worry about the second. Helena Cross bounded up the ramp of his ship with Jace on her heels, punching the keys on the door's side panel with deft fingers to close the hatch.

"What a shame, I'd have loved to stay and get to know our hosts," Jace quipped as the ramp hissed to a close behind him.

The floor rumbled beneath their feet as the ship's autopilot primed the engines for takeoff. By the time Jace reached the cockpit again, the ship was already lifting off the ground on its own. Jace switched off the autopilot and took manual control of the ship for the rest of the takeoff sequence as it began levitating in the air and pivoting towards the hangar exit. They weren't out of this yet.

"You ain't so bad yourself," He returned Helena's compliment with one of his own. Clearly, this Keshiri was more than meets the eye. Clearly she'd been in a scrap or two in her time, but wasn't affiliated with the Hutts. "What are you, Black Sun or something?"

 

[Helena Cross]

HC

HELENA CROSS

NAR SHADDAA

HAT-GUY'S SHIP

EVENING • DATELINE: UNKNOWN

♫ LORCA — THE FLIGHT

x

✹

Helena didn't bother to wait for an invitation; she followed Hat-Guy into the cockpit. "Black Sun?" she echoed, one side of her mouth tugged upward by an invisible string of mirth. "Adorable. But -- no. It's much worse than that." And, strictly speaking, it was true. But beyond him, out the viewport, a distressing visual caught her attention. Already, beneath them, the flashing lights indicating police presence -- Hutt thug presence, more like -- were lighting the far end of the landing bay, and getting closer. "We've got to move," she said anxiously, though clearly he already knew that because his hands were on the controls.

She hung anxiously behind his chair, eyes alert and scanning out the viewport. "Look out!" she called, pointing over his shoulder at where the blast door light signal had just lit up. They were trying to close the blast doors and trap them in.

"Does this thing have a gun turret?" she called over the sound of the now-blaring klaxon warning of proximity. "I don't thin they're going to let us go that easily!"

✹

x

WITH

Jace Wester • Helena Cross

 

[Jace Wester]

Worse than Black Sun? Jace considered that criminal organization to be rather standard fare in his circles, but when it came to unsavory underworld types, he could imagine quite a bit. Who exactly was his cargo, and what had he gotten himself into? Answers to those questions would have to wait until later. Helena Cross was already aboard his ship, and they currently had far more pressing concerns.

"Working on it," Jace huffed, his grip on the ship's controls tight.

The hangar doors began to close from either side of the exit, which would soon make anything but a 180-degree bank escape impossible.

"I see it, I see it!" He snapped back, manipulating the controls so that the ship began rolling to the left. "Straight back, up the ladder!" He directed Helena to the turret station with a momentary look and point over his shoulder.

If she left for the controls now, she risked being toppled as the entire craft pivoted 180 degrees, narrowly slicing through the opening between the hangar doors as they closed.

 

[Helena Cross]

HC

HELENA CROSS

NAR SHADDAA AIRSPACE

SPACESHIP

EVENING • DATELINE: UNKNOWN

♫ THE ASTEROID FIELD — JOHN WILLIAMS

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✹

Helena clung to the back of Jace's seat with one hand, the other flailing and taking hold of his jaw, thumb jammed against his nose, as the ship went vertical and she was swept off the ground by the inertia of it all. "A little warning wouldn't go amiss," she complained as the ship righted itself, enough that she landed on her knees behind the chair. She yanked on the headrest as she hauled herself to her feet and then dashed for the ladder. Helena climbed into a control pod, settled herself in the seat, and slapped the power controls before tucking the headset on.

The targeting computer came online, fed by the ship's sensors. She almost wished it hadn't.

"We've got company," she informed Hat Guy through the comms headset. "Snub fighters, looks like, scrambling from point six three. And a frigate is diverting from point nine seven. They're trying to force us into a capture lane!"

Experimentally, she swung the gun around and wrapped her fingers around the firing controls. It seemed to move well, which was promising. She shifted around to bring the gun to bear on the pursuing Hutt Cartel ships and jammed her thumbs into the firing controls. She missed; her aim was rusty, and the ship wasn't exactly flying steady. Still, she wasn't that far off.

✹

x

WITH

Jace Wester • Helena Cross

 

[Jace Wester]

The Hutt Cartel could could mobilize snub fighters that quickly? Jace spat a curse under his breath. Security had certainly tightened since his last time on Nar Shaddaa. This misadventure was devolving quickly, so much so that the bar fight from earlier seemed tame in comparison to the predicament they were in now.

Not to mention, now there was a red mark on his face where she had grabbed him.

"Do your best to hold them off," Jace grabbed the headset next to his pilot's seat and held it to his face. "I'll get us out of here!" He ended the conversation by tossing the headset aside.

He just needed Helena Cross to buy him some time, and he would take care of the rest. Jace's freighter didn't look like much, but it responded nimbly to the controls, as Jace pulled up and brought the ship vertical in the air. It continued its upward lilt until it was fully inverted, now heading in the opposite direction they had taken off, in hopes of avoiding that freighter. Hopefully, Helena could still shoot while upside down, but Jace nevertheless spun the freighter around in a barrel roll to put them both on the right axis. Then the thrusters jammed them forward at full speed.

 

[Helena Cross]

Luckily for her, Helena was strapped into the gun seat when the man turned his ship. None of her shots could hit at the time, but that wasn't a great loss. Still, they managed to cause the three fighters to scramble, and so they were in reasonably good shape. When the ship righted itself, Helena lined up shots, squeezed the trigger, watched the result, and adjusted, only to be irate when a juke in the ship at the last second to cause her shot to fire.

"Hold it steady," Helena called into the channel before lining up another shot. The first fighter in the trio splintered apart as the shields gave way under her fire, and a few of her bolts stitched across the fuselage until they hit a torpedo. "Now we're talking!"

Helena was pinned back into the seat as Jace punched the thrusters, but she wasn't finished yet. The second fighter went the way of the first, with the added bonus that the second ship took a bad lurch and collided with the third. "Sensors clear on my end," Helena said. "Get us out of here!"

Jace Wester

 

[Jace Wester]

Evading three snub fighters in one freighter required a cool hand behind the controls and a bit of maneuvering. Helena Cross would have to sacrifice her accuracy at the turret for a moment.

"Hold it steady?" Jace muttered to himself as he heard her voice come through the comms. "Hell, why didn't I think of that?"

She would have a much easier time aiming as Jace tilted the ship upward and maxed out the thrusters, preparing for atmospheric exit. A glance down at the ship's radar after hearing Helena's celebratory cheer saw each of the three blips disappear, one after the other. Not bad. This chick could really pull her weight in a scrap.

Of course, that bought them time, but minutes only. The Hutt Cartel's resources were vast, and it wouldn't be long at all before more of them were upon them.

"Happy to oblige," Jace responded over the comm system -- he'd be thrilled to put Nar Shaddaa behind them and set the coordinates to...

"Where the hell are we going?" He quipped. Helena had never told him that minor detail!

 

[Helena Cross]

Helena's gaze flickered out the viewports then back to the sensor screens, watching to make sure there was nothing in pursuit of them. She was not naive enough to think that the Hutts would give up that easily; in her experience they simply didn't give up at all. When the Captain's voice came crackling over the channel, Helena almost laughed.

"Meridian Station," she called back. "Even if the Hutts follow us there, they won't make a fuss at Meridian Station. Do you need the coordinates?"

She hung the headset on the peg and retraced her steps back down to the cockpit. She came back in. "Point me at your navicomputer and I'll put them in if you don't have them."