Been a long time comin' (Open to anyone)

[Elijah Thorn]

~Somewhere on Kessel~​

I looked at the walls of my cell, exhausted from a long day working in the mines. I'd made tally marks on the walls, marking every day I'd spent in this hellhole. Every day since my old partner had betrayed me, sold me out in exchange for his own salvation, and left me to be captured and imprisoned. The tally marks spanned almost the entire wall, and counting them closely, I realized it had been five years to the day since my capture. Five years of working in the spice mines, of letting my hatred for my old partner stew. If I ever got out of here, the first thing I'd do is find him, tie him up by the side of a road, and let whatever wildlife there was on that planet come up and nibble little pieces of him until he died of dehydration. For once in my life, I figured that watching him disintegrate in a fiery inferno was not the best option. It would be over too quick, and not nearly painful enough. I needed something would be payback for the years I spent breaking my back and 'atoning' for what I'd done.

I was serving a life sentence. During my spree of kidnappings, sabotaging, and just all-in-all messing with everyone, I'd wracked up quite the sentence. Not that I ever planned on being here for that long. I'd had friends on the outside that were mighty interested in getting me out of here. In fact, last week I'd received a message that somebody would be breaking me out today. How they planned on doing it was a mystery to me, but I welcomed the promise of freedom. I'd had enough time here for my tastes. It was time to get out.

Off in the distance, I heard a loud explosion, and a grin spread across my face. Whoever was here to break me out, they knew how to get it done the way I liked. Loud and full of explosions.

 

[Griff Loran]

*BOOM!* *BOOM!!* *BOOM!!!*

Colorful explosions wracked the hangar bay area. Missiles of varying shapes and sizes flew from a large blimp into the bedrock and the ships inside. A squat furry creature man was standing on the small "bridge" of the "HZ Onslaught". He spoke into a mic while his hands flew across the control panel.

"Air response has been decimated! Deploy the turrets!"

A multitude of turrets airdropped and landed inside of the open hangar. After impact, they stood up and pointed their guns at the closest shred of resistance. They moved slowly into the mining/prison facility at about the average speed of a male human walking. Dr. Mordecai was picking up messages coming from the base, hailing a base far away for assistance. They only had so much time before this rescue attempt became unsuccessful.

"Come on, [member="Elijah Thorn"], come on!..." he whispered to himself.

 

[Skylar Ichor]

A young woman in a tight black T-shirt and leggings skipped through the prison corridors on the most cruel planet she has ever seen like it was a mall, starch white hair up and bouncing, with a stolen key card in her jacket pocket. Her nerves tingled in excitement, she was helping with a breakout! The young lady played with a small gold pendant as she stopped in the nearest empty lift and pushed the button for the detention level with the man she was helping breakout on. Let's just say it was amazing what info and stuff you could find out and steal from a lonely prison guard.

Skylar put on her most innocent face as the door opened to only two, very surprised, guards. Not making a move for neither her knife, nor the small Naboo blaster at her side, Sky smiled and popped an innocent question to the two guards.

"Oh, hello! Does this level hold any Elijahs by chance?"

[member="Elijah Thorn"]

[member="Dr. Mordecai Stryker"]

 

[Elijah Thorn]

I could hear more explosions coming from the far end of the prison, and boy did it bring back some nostalgia. Five years ago, it would've been me blasting my way in through countless guards and robots. Now, of course, things were different. There wasn't much I could do to aid in my rescue. I didn't even know who was rescuing me, but hopefully they didn't want me dead. Instead, I kicked up my feet on my cot and lit a cigar, letting the smoke disperse through the room. The one redeeming factor of this prison was that they let you smoke. Mainly because it kept some from going insane.

I was keeping time by tapping my foot, trying to figure out how long it'd been since the first explosion. It would take about half an hour max before more security arrived. I'd spent a lot of time figuring this out, planning my escape. I didn't expect somebody to come rescue me and save me all the trouble. How considerate. I wished I could do more to help, but they make these cells pretty damn near inescapable, except if you have one of them lightsabers with you. They have a special prison for those guys, and it's a hell of a lot worse.

[member="Skylar Ichor"][member="Dr. Mordecai Stryker"]

 

[Griff Loran]

Too much time had passed for Mordecai to feel comfortable. He needed to deploy one of his experiments: Crank. It was crude for a prototype, but they were running out of options. He keyed in more commands and a metal container parachuted into the hangar. After a minute of whirring and moving parts, a man sized machine with large fists was now online.

Mordecai keyed in a few commands and the robot followed them. Crank picked up a huge bag filled with a rather large literal hand cannon and two cartridge reloads. With a hiss of steam and a discharge of heat, the machine took off through the hangar and down the third rate prison corridor, the turrets having pushed back resistance with a medium amount of casualties on both sides.

Using the extensive info given to Mordecai through a mysterious third party, Crank finally squeaked and groaned to a halt outside of [member="Elijah Thorn"]'s cell. It dropped the bag and started to use every ounce of energy it had left to charge his fist. With explosive power, Crank punched the door wide open and fell to pieces. The sad remains lay next to the open cell and the bag.

[member="Skylar Ichor"]

 

[Skylar Ichor]

Sky looked up from the two unconscious guards she was tying up as a creature she had never seen before blew up a cell. She took the guards security keys and their blasters and walked over. She looked at the creature next to her and inclined her head slightly, then looked in the cell at the scruffy man sitting there.

"Hello there, Mr. Thorn. I'm sorry but we don't have time for formalities, so Sky will do for now. If either of you have a plan, now would be the time to speak up." Skylar put her hands on her hips and tapped her fingers impatiently.

[member="Dr. Mordecai Stryker"] [member="Elijah Thorn"]

 

[Elijah Thorn]

Suddenly, the booming in the distance stopped. Worrisome. Or good news. You never know. Either my friends had failed their rescue attempt, or been so successful that there was no opposition left. Well, the guards wouldn't know it was me in particular that my friends were aiming for. Could have been anybody in the prison.

Thudding, groaning, and squealing breaks the silence, the sounds growing louder and louder. Whoever, whatever was making that noise was coming towards me. And fast. I figured it was a friend. Ain't no prison have that type of technology. The thudding stops, and silence falls again. Without warning, the wall in front of me explodes, buckling inward and shattering into millions of pieces. The smoke clears, both from my cigar and from the explosion. I can see a small girl in a black shirt and leggings, and beside her the pieces of a broken robot. Was this my rescuer? This little girl?

I flick my cigar, tapping the ash out of the bottom and letting it slide to the floor. The girl stood there, her hands on her hips. She has a nice voice, higher pitched but not airy. I listen to her speak for a bit, looking up as I light another cigar.

"Hello there, Mr. Thorn. I'm sorry but we don't have time for formalities, so Sky will do for now. If either of you have a plan, now would be the time to speak up."

Mr. Thorn? I hadn't been called that in a long time. Or ever. She was polite, that was certain. I honestly didn't have a plan. I had no gun, no ammunition, nothing but a pack of cigars.

"A plan? You've got the wrong guy. Hell, I don't even have a gun. I figure we just run like hell before guards come and hope they're the fat, slow types. You workin' alone Sky? Cuz I hope you got someone to get us out of here before poodoo hits the fan." I get up, wiping my orange jumpsuit. Ash and duracrete chunks fall to the floor and crunch under my shackled feet. "Oh yeah, and if you could get these off of me, that would be mighty nice. Hard to run like this."

[member="Skylar Ichor"][member="Dr. Mordecai Stryker"]

 

[Skylar Ichor]

Skylar laughed and pointed to the broken machine next to her.

"This guy here was the one who blasted the door, I'm getting you to his owner's ship." Sky took out her lock picks and disabled the binders on Elijah's feet, then handed him one of the guards' blasters. Once he was free, she started for the way the robot had come.

"Come on, sir."

[member="Elijah Thorn"] [member="Dr. Mordecai Stryker"]