Among The Stars

[Vrak Nashar]

Sometimes.

Sometimes things just worked.

It was beautiful when that happened. There was a thrill in it, when things simply just fell into place without any extra effort or work. Drak had always found those situations to be few and far inbetween. They mostly happened when you least expected it, and half the time you didn't even know that it had happened until it was all over. That was what it had been like with Jorg, when he'd sent the idiot and half the crew to their deaths. Everything had moved so quickly and seamlessly.

The plan at the time had been to find a way to get Jorg alone within the Alliance base...but instead the Soldiers had done his work for him. Before he had even gotten the chance to kill the idiot Captain the Alliance had slaughtered him. It had been a beautiful moment, one that had very nearly brought him to tears of joy. He couldn't have planned it better if he'd tried. There had been a few other times when things had gone like that, like when he'd taken The Bloodhawk, though that had been more planned then happenstance. Those moments were still glorious though.

It was recognizing those moments that was the trouble.

He wasn't always so sure if they were happening, or if he was just imagining them.

"Turn on the generators." He barked the order, one of his men immediately springing into action. The Bloodhawk sat in one of the smaller hyperlanes in the outer rim. There wasn't usually much traffic here, not generally, but today it was different. Another moment had happened...maybe. He'd received some information, a passenger transport was heading this way. Usually that wouldn't excite him, but this particular transport? Oh this one excited him.

It was supposed to be carrying cargo along with it's usual passengers, cargo that if proven to truly be on board could be very valuable.

The very prospect was enough to make him question if things were once again going his way.

He certainly hoped so, or someone was about to have a very bad day.

 

[Lief]

Asha ran a hand through her hair, fingers curling in frustration.

Three days since she'd woken up aboard some crummy foreign ship, with no recollection of how she'd gotten there. Three days since the crew had told her to sit tight, since the Captain had so laboriously informed her that she'd have to wait like the rest of the passengers until they hit ground.

Nobody had any answers. Didn't even remember seeing her board, which had roused their suspicions at first. Until they realized she was as oblivious as they. Asha Hex, a stowaway? No thank you! She had her own ship, in fact she rather wished she had been on The Prophet right now.

No such luck.

She had forgotten the pains of public transport. So many people cramped into a relatively small space, little in the way of privacy - especially when you didn't actually have a room aboard the vessel - how had she managed it before Jericho gifted her The Prophet?

Something didn't feel right, then again when did they ever? Perpetual exhaustion had set in months ago, and while she felt drained her senses were in overload. Every shadow seemed to speak to her, and if she narrowed her eyes just enough she could swear someone stood within them watching.

Trick of the light.

If he was going to pounce, it wouldn't be here. Would it?

She looked around, gathering her surroundings. The communal space, mostly empty save for one ticked off looking crew member who shot daggers into her whenever she thought Asha wasn't looking, and a nautolan more focused on his holomags than anything else.

One wouldn't care, the other would't notice.

The hairs on the back of her neck prickled, and she shifted her gaze to every darkspot the room held. But nothing moved, not even a slim indication of life.

So what had her feeling so on edge? It wasn't just a trick of her mind this time, something was definitely wrong.

[member="Drak Sivas"]

 

[Vrak Nashar]

[member="Asha Nyerie"]

The passenger liner dropped out of hyperspace only a few seconds after the gravity well generators snapped into life, or more accurately, it was torn out of hyperspace.

The difference was rather simple.

One was a graceful slowing of a starship, and easy transition that most would really only feel in the pits of their stomach. Being torn from hyperspace though? That...that was an entirely different sensation. It was wild, like your entire body was in three places at once. Drak had experienced it before, when his own crew had been ambushed by Authorities of a local Planetary Defense Force. The sensation had been odd enough to make the less constitute members of his crew vomit. Drak himself?

He'd enjoyed it.

Doubtless those on the freighter would not, but he didn't really care about them.

"Alright boys." Drak gnashed his teeth with a grin, leaning forward in his chair as the freighter tumbled from hyperspace on the viewscreen before them. Almost immediately distress signals began to jump from the ship, the inexperienced pilot likely thinking that his hyperdrive had been damaged by something. "Get me that ship."

And what was on it.

 

[Lief]

As if on cue, the ship rocked and Asha felt torn in every which direction. Her stomach turned, and it was with an awful lot of self restraint that she managed to avoid hurling. The same could not be said of the poor crew member, who had ended up on her knees and was now heaving.

She didn't have much time to process it before the emergency lights lit up the communal room, and the usually bright ones were dimmed. For once her instinct hadn't failed her. Though now she worried over what it meant.

Had they been attacked? There didn't seem to be any panicking but maybe it hadn't hit their deck yet. Maybe the ship had broken down?

Then again, the way the ship had lurched didn't speak of such. It had been far too violent and sudden.

Somehow rising to her feet, feeling very uneasy and off balance, Asha glanced across the communal space. Another crew member had entered, trying to order her and the nautolan back into their seats. The young Hex was done listening to their orders at this point, though, she hadn't signed up for this. For any of it.

Pushing past him, before he could hold her back, she made her way through the hall toward a turbolift. Each step was hellish though, as the ship still rocked with instability.

Something was definitely going on here.

[member="Drak Sivas"]

 

[Vrak Nashar]

[member="Asha Nyerie"]

It didn't exactly take a military genius to figure out how this was going to end. The Bloodhawk was a ship that had originally been designed for fighter engagements, created to disable fast moving attack craft. A freighter wasn't fast moving, but...it wasn't exactly well armed either. Within seconds The Bloodhawks ion cannons managed to score half a dozen hits on the Freighters engines, cutting the life from them and ending the ships forward momentum within just a few moments.

The battle took quite literally seconds.

"Ahh." Drak said as he flicked a small snack into his mouth, grinning slightly as he surveyed the now crippled freighter before him. There was no glorious victory to be had here...but there was satisfaction. He always found that when they won. "Begin a broadcast, public."

He grinned slightly, knowing that the freighter's own speakers would pick up the communications. There was a slight garble of static that signaled the open-comm line activating, Drak leaning forward so that the microphone could pick up his voice. "Dear Passengers of the transport Liner Aurelios, this is Captain Drak Silvas of The Bloodhawk. Some of you may have heard of me, some of you may not have, but either way it doesn't really matter. In a moment me and my crew will be boarding your ship. Cooperate, and nothing will occur, resist, and we'll slaughter the lot of you."

A simple, delicate speech.

One that was usually more then effective.

 

[Lief]

The ground shook beneath her more violently this time, and instead of reaching the turbolift she was sent sprawling against the floor with the air knocked from her lungs.

"Ooft..." She rubbed her side and scrambled to a seated position. It would be foolish of her to stand again right now, it was as though an earthquake had somehow grasped the ship relentlessly. By now it was clear that they were under attack.

"Kriff... Kriffity kriff. I did not sign up for this!" She scowled in the direction of some passing stranger, a fellow traveler it would seem, who was white as chalk with a slightly green hue to his cheeks. Poor fool looked about ready to drop.

It wasn't like Asha could do much to help the situation. Her sabers lay somewhere on Vaal, her other weapons nowhere to be found. Damn whoever had put her here. She reached toward her belt, grasping for her commlink. It was a long shot, but maybe she could...

Static rang overhead, causing her to wince. A voice followed soon after, leaving her momentarily paralyzed with all thoughts of contacting for help gone.

Pirates.

The ship was about to become overrun with pirates.

Asha groaned. She was lucky, she had nothing but the clothes on her back... But somebody onboard must have had something at least remotely valuable to make them a target. Pirates didn't usually target common transport ships. This wasn't a high class liner, after all.

Poor fools.

Once upon a time she'd have found a way to help fight them off, had the crew been so inclined. She had learned the hard way that sometimes it was better to remain inconspicuous. Make herself seem useless. No medic here. No trained fighter. Just an ordinary citizen. A simple passenger.

But she was a Hex at heart. And Jericho had instilled at least a moderate amount of decency within her.

Kriff him and his ways.

She pushed herself to her feet, moving toward the nearest crew member. They had to have some sort of weapon onboard...

[member="Drak Sivas"]

 

[Vrak Nashar]

[member="Asha Nyerie"]

Piracy was easy really, you just had to pick the right victims. A lot of people tried to go for the glory. They tried to pick military targets or ones that would see them gain some grand fortune, but Drak knew better. Oh sure there had been the raid on that little storehouse, but that hadn't really been meant to succeed. He liked going for what he knew he could win. He liked going for the easy pickings.

Some might call him a scavenger for that, but...he thought of himself as an opportunist.

The Bloodhawk drifted closer and closer to the other ship, slowly floating its way over to the crippled freighter and an almost painful pace. That was the worst part about all of this, the waiting, the anticipation. There was no way to tell of course whether or not the crew of the freighter would try to resist, no telling if the passengers would. Once Drak and his crew had raided a similar passenger liner and the crew had staged a sort of 'defensive perimeter' around one of the central rooms on the ship.

It had worked for a time, until Drak had gotten frustrated.

He hadn't wanted to kill everyone on board, but...well then they so vehemently got in his way there wasn't really anything else that he could do. A single concussion torpedo to the aft of the vessel had been enough to dislodge any would be defenders, and after the fires had settled and the gap within the ship had been sealed, well...Drak had been left with quite a bounty.

The Devaronian hoped he wouldn't be forced to such methods again...well...a part of him did. It was a waste of ammo.

"Open the door." His voice barked, motioning towards the airlock that had sealed into place ha

 

[Lief]

The crew member argued with her, before firmly restating their stance.

They would not be fighting the pirates. And that was that. No point in risking lives for cargo...

Well, Asha definitely echoed that view. But at the same time, how could anyone trust a pirate to stay true to their word? She didn't. Not even a little bit. So she walked away, ignored further commands to find herself a seat, and went in search of... Something. An armory? Bah, they probably didn't even have one.

As she roamed the halls in the quiet moments which passed Asha couldn't help but frown. The last time she had been on a ship of this size it had been the graveyard. She had memorized its halls, could walk them in the dark or with her eyes closed. This was different, chaotic even compared to the empty shell she'd inhabited for a time.

Perhaps it would be best to blend into the background, she didn't want to ruin things for the rest of them by going in guns blazing. If she even had a gun.

Who knew, maybe these pirates would keep to their word...

[member="Drak Sivas"]

 

[Vrak Nashar]

[member="Asha Nyerie"]

Piracy was all about taking what you could get and ignoring whatever anyone else wanted. That was really the core of it. Some threw out claims of freedom, of living without the governments of the galaxy tearing at you, but it was all lies. They deluded themselves, telling themselves lies over and over again as if they would eventually come true. Drak knew that, he'd seen it a thousand times. Half of his crew thought that they were living some kind of vacation, that they were 'free'. They were idiots.

Drak knew the truth.

The only truly free, were those that took what they wanted, and he planned on taking.

"Go." He kicked the door open with a solid press of his heel, the airlock hissing, then slamming open. Metal crashed against metal, and there was the echo of a scream that rang out in front of him, a cry of anguish and pain ringing out just after. Drak perked an eyebrow, half his crew looked confused, the other angry. All of them stepped forward, three filing into The Freighter before Drak quickly followed after. His blaster was held in his hand, though lowered.

Arrayed before him were half a dozen people, all of them wearing the same kind of uniform. They looked on Drak with horror in their eyes, gazing at something, not him, but something beside him. He glanced towards the direction of their eye-line, seeing a speckle of blood trailing there. The Devaronian smirked slightly as he saw it's source, a man crumpled on the ground, struck by the door that had been so violently thrown open.

A coincidence to be sure, but an amusing one.

"Your Captain." The Pirate said with a grin. "Front and center."

 

[Lief]

Screams from down the hall. Enough to curdle blood.

Liars. Kriffin Liars!

Asha clenched both fists so tightly that her knuckles cracked, and increased her pace down the hall. Screw hiding in plain sight. Screw trying to avoid confrontation. And damn this stupid ship and herself for ending up on it.

She turned the corner, moving in an opposite direction to the cry in order to give herself more time. Who knew how much of that she even had at this point. After all she had faced, though, after all the times she'd been brought to the cusp of death and then so cruelly released from its embrace, she would not die here. She would not perish at the hands of damn pirates!

Each room she passed was given a swift once over. No luck for the first four, seven... Bingo.

As she pushed herself inside the room, devoid of any passenger, another shrill scream sounded down the hall - closer this time. She knew the difference in sound though, this person wasn't in pain... At least not physically. Did that mean they had seen something or someone? Asha grasped the blaster she'd spotted, set upon the bunk, and turned. Then froze.

The nautolan from earlier was stood in the doorway, looking between her and the weapon. Then back again. His room, perhaps? His blaster? She didn't care. Forcing her feet back into motion she took a couple of steps toward the door, and set her jaw firmly. She would not buckle now.

But he didn't stop her. He didn't say a word. And she ducked past him and out into the corridor before she could be given enough time to hear any he might have said. Footsteps followed behind though, yet she didn't glance back. Maybe she should've. Maybe they'd caught up to this section of the ship already.

Force, how long had it been since she'd held a blaster? Would she even remember how to use it when the time came?

She breathed in slowly. Curiosity prickled at the edge of her mind, and she felt the desire to know who was trailing her. But she didn't have the gall to look back. So instead she opened herself back up to the one thing she'd been rejecting since returning from the graveyard. Pushed out her senses, so effortlessly that she might have thought only hours had gone by since she'd left, to find the nautolan.

Not a pirate then. But she wasn't all that certain he wasn't a hostile either. Best she keep tabs on this one.

[member="Drak Sivas"]

 

[Vrak Nashar]

[member="Asha Nyerie"]

Eventually a man stepped forward. He didn't look too old, in fact Drak would have said he was a kid compared to some of the others. The Devaronian looked at him for a moment, disbelief crossing his features as the man ambled his way towards him. Some of his crew were slowly spreading out from behind him, a few wandering away down the halls, others staying by him. That was the way they always did it. Usually people were too fearful to actually notice it, but while Drak confronted the captain, his crew took over the ship.

Most freighter crew had no military training, so it was easy game.

"Ahhh." Drak said as he slithered towards the Captain. "So you're the man of the hour, eh?"

The man nodded meekly. For a moment Drak wondered how this child came to be in charge of a freighter this large, but then a realization hit him. This boy was probably straight out of flight school, and the chartering company that owned this particular freighter could hire him for half the price of hiring someone with experience. It made sense really, but...well it would cost the company in the end. Drak grinned from ear to ear and wrapped an arm around the boy, his blaster holstered and quickly replaced with a knife. The blade twisted forward, then rested right before the mans neck. "Now."

He began with a grin.

"You and I need to chat." A laugh barked from his lips and slowly he stepped forward. The knife edge pressed against the Captains throat, ensuring that he would step forward as well. "Take me to your office, would you?"

Drak laughed again. This was going to be fun.

 

[Lief]

The ship went by in a blur as she wandered past a long line of cabins with only her footsteps and those of her silent follower for company. Locked doors, hushed voices, soft whimpers. Nobody wanted to provoke. So why was she preparing to?

Another scream, this time far closer, had Asha's skin prickling. A voice, gruff though the words indiscernible, rose from around the corner causing her to slow her pace to a crawl. She lifted the blaster just a touch, finger settling over the trigger, and inhaled. Trying to steel herself.

Her mind flicked back to the Graveyard. There were times, albeit on very rare occasion, that his actions had given her confidence, a little extra inner strength that she had otherwise been lacking. The will to press on.

Amidst all the horrors she'd faced, that had been the one redeeming feature though she knew it didn't undo everything else. It wasn't the nicer moments that kept her up at night. Still, she could do with more of the same right now. She wasn't certain she could hold it together long enough to turn the next corner, much less come face to face with the terrors who swept through the ship.

Things had been so much easier back there... Only one person to answer to. Only one person to worry about...

She hadn't had to think, hadn't had to make decisions, he'd say jump and she didn't even ask how high she simply jumped. Force, Asha loathed the part of her who missed it. Missed him. How could she after all that had happened?

Shaking her head she snapped back to the present and exhaled the breath she had been holding.

Two more steps and she was on the very edge. She shifted her focus from the nautolan, allowing her senses to take her the rest of the way around the corner. A woman, a child, a blaster wielding male... If she misfired, there'd be casualties. If she didn't fire, there could still be casualties. Kriff, what did she do?

[member="Drak Sivas"]

 

[Vrak Nashar]

[member="Asha Nyerie"]

"I need you to relax." Drak said as he half spun around within the captains chair, his eyes wandering over the small office. There was a distinct lack of decoration within the room, though that was likely due to the boys young age. It was usually the older Captains that accrued trinkets and baubles from their travels around the galaxy. This young man had likely only taken a trip or two before this one, and hadn't yet gotten the chance to begin his collection.

Typical.

"I'm not going to kill you." Yet. "I need to ask you some question. If you answer them truthfully then you'll live, your crew will live, and all the passengers on board this freighter will live. Simple right?"

The captain nodded his head.

For a moment Drak wondered if he was going to piss himself, but that thought was slowly pushed out of his mind, mostly because he found it rather unpleasant and a little gross. His gaze cast towards the Captain one more time, his voice growing stern. "Lie, and all of you get to feel the nice, cold, deadness of space."

He wagged a knife around in the air, swirling it about as if he was pointing towards something.

"Now." Drak said with a smile. "First question, whats the code to the Cargo Hold?"

 

[Lief]

The screams had become just simple whimpers.

From the child.

The woman - mother - however seemed to be holding herself together. More power to her, Asha was not so sure she would be able to do the same were the tables shifted. Truth be told Asha wasn't even certain she could do what she was planning here, out of the monster's view... But she had to try, right?

One foot forward, before a hand clamped down over her shoulder and pulled her back. It was with great control that she managed to avoid so much as squeaking in surprise as the nautolan placed a hand over her mouth and shook his head. Still silent, but not so aloof as she had originally thought. He took his hand from her mouth shortly after, instead lifting one finger in a gesture of continued silence.

She could do that.

With a nod, the stranger settled his hand back down to his side and unintentionally shifted the fabric of his overshirt. Asha saw something there that was entirely unexpected, causing her heart to race with a new found confidence. They could do this. They could...

But he didn't move. He slunk back the way that they had come. How could he? Didn't he realize that they needed his help? She realized in that moment that she knew nothing about the stranger though. A lightsaber wasn't inherently an indication of someone willing to help. In fact, her Master had sported two and he was anything but!

She closed her eyes, and pressed at the bridge of her nose with her finger and thumb. Her conscience would not permit her to move from this spot, but she hadn't the nerve to round the corner and face the oppressor either. When did you become a coward, Asha Hex? There was once a time when you would travel the Galaxy without fear, all alone... And now you shy away from the thought of turning a corner? Just two feet and you'll be there... But it wasn't the distance. It wasn't the corner. It was what lay beyond.

Because she had no idea what could be waiting.

That man is not with the Pirates.

The voice on the edge of her mind made her jump, and Asha turned almost immediately to find the nautolan watching her from a few feet away.

Come, leave the married to their squabbles. The blaster wasn't meant for her.

He sounded so sure, so certain, that she found herself slowly walking in his direction. Maybe he was right, maybe he wasn't, but she had to make a choice either way. And drawing attention to the trio if they were as the nautolan said they were would be dangerous. The last dregs of adrenaline were beginning to lessen at this point, leaving her with a distinct sense of dread.

It would be just a matter of time before they did come across one of the pirates. The vessel was not very large, after all... And when that time came, would she be ready? Would he? She didn't even know who he was, what he was... Had she not learned from her mistakes?

[member="Drak Sivas"]

 

[Vrak Nashar]

[member="Llevana Helas"]

The Captain had apparently found his courage in the middle of the interrogation, and only a few seconds after Drak asking the man had decided it wasn’t worth giving up the codes. The Pirate couldn’t really pinpoint the reason for it, he had thought they were getting along swimmingly, but apparently the young Captain disagreed.

Things went downhill fast after that.

The boy was subsequently beaten to a bloody pulp, Drak disliking greatly when anyone, or anything for that matter, disagreed with something that he wanted. And he wanted what was in that Cargo Hold, he wanted it more than he wanted a pile of Electrum. The Devaronian pulled back slightly, scowling.

“Are you ready now?” He asked the man, leaning forward to inspect him.

The answer he received was a loud cough followed by a spill of blood onto the man’s shirt.

Drak scowled and turned away from him. Perhaps he had gone a bit overboard, but then again, who could blame him. He stretched for half a second and then turned away from the boy, pulling open the hatch to the captains quarters and shouting out towards his men. “Cut the Hold!”

It would take longer, but it would be worth it in the end.