Etti IV,
Taking the Truck
Tags:
Das
Alicia Drey
Music to her ears, Kivah resettled herself on her bike's seat when she realized something.
"Hmm, rain's stopped." Things were looking up even if she wasn't one to believe in the heavens. Pulling them from her face, she wiped rain drops from her goggles. Much better even with how much of her was wet from the spray of the repulsors despite her rain jacket. When she settled them back over her face again it was like she was a different person. Gone was the relaxed posture and easy banter to be replaced by the seriousness and professional focus Kivah showed in the ring. What they were about to do was dangerous and would determine their fortunes beyond just how well they ate until the next score.
When the hover truck passed by the mouth of the alley where they waited, she was ready, giving it a three count to ensure there wasn't an escorting vehicle following it, she swept her speeder out and onto the truck's tail. She opened up the throttle with a twist and the Bobber shot forward. The enhanced sight of her goggles gut through the glare of the street lights and wet reflections to show her the VeriHealth logo across the rear of the truck.
She gained on the truck until she was right behind its bumper, she had considered trying to shoot out its coils but if they were protected or she missed the truck might have gone evasive, the driver certainly would have raised the alarm. Instead she flipped a few switches on her dash to set the bobber's cruise slightly faster than the truck so its stabilizer prongs were pressed up to the truck's rear. Then the Cathar stood and worked herself forward as naturally as if she were walking down the sidewalk. From there it was a small leap across the gap between the bobbers forward rakes and the road speeding by a what seemed to be hundreds of kilometers an hour.
Scrabbling for purchase with her feet, Kivah managed to pull herself up mostly with her arm strength and pushed herself over the top and into the wind. Crouching there, she toggled the remote for the speeder, sending it into call mode so it'd follow along and hopefully not crash when the truck turned. From there she started edging her way forward, dropping into a low crouch when the hover truck turned, using her hands against the rooftop to stay upright. Now she was doubly grateful the rain had stopped, doing this in the occasional spray was difficult, added rain would have been miserable. When she was halfway across the truck's body and coming up from a crouch, she pushed off and her foot last traction on the metal roofing, sending her faceplanting onto the vehicle. She immediately went spread eagle, her claws scraping across the wet metal.
"Magnetic, next boots will be magnetic." She muttered to herself.
"Or friction grip." She continued once she'd pushed herself upright again.
Sparing a glance over her shoulder for Das and her speeder, Kivah finished the last three meters in quick crawl that left her looking over the speeder's cab for where to go next. In her mind she had envisioned doing a cool one-hand flip over it to blast through the viewscreen, but now that seemed a good way to fall off the front and get dashed between the cargo speeder's repulsors and the ground. Instead she found herself clambering down to the passenger door, using the grab rail there for a grip as she lowered herself to step-up. Through the window she could see the startled driver flicking his attention between her and the road as the truck slowed before sudden realization crossed the working man's face. He stomped the accelerator and Kivah was forced to hold on. With her off-hand, she worked her
IG-14 free of its holster and thumbed the safety off, her first shot blasted out the window in a spray of glasteel that battered against her armored mask and arms. She thumbed the selector over to stun and began to clamber through the blasted window, doing her best to ignore the crunch of the remaining glasteel in the frame against her plating and jumpsuit.
The driver was swearing, swerving, and trying to hit her with his free hand but he mostly just struck druetium and once her upper body was through she wasn't going to fall back out. Instead her second shot stunned the man and her free hand pulled him away from the controls and her legs slithered through the window. From her position half on the bench seat, half on the floor boards, she reached down to depress the brake with her blaster's barrel while her free hand worked the turbothrusters into standby. She parked the truck there, in the dimly lit and seemingly abandoned street, a prize waiting to be stripped by its hunters.
"Dee, I'm not seeing a cargo control," She called out to her coconspirator over their comm net.
"Looks like it's on your side." Shifting in the cockpit, Kivah checked on the unconscious driver before tossing his comm out the window and looking over the rest of the console. She didn't see a flashing light or other alert, but that didn't mean the driver hadn't gotten one out. Unlocking the doors, she rejoined her speeder bike outside and looked for Das to get them in.