Private Bread crumbs

[Wrenarias]

Time was a difficult thing to keep track of on Fresia. Even the sun seemed to lose itself as it trekked across the sky in an endlessly long day. While Wren understood that it was actually the planet itself which rotated at a glacial pace on its axis, she couldn't help but imagine the sun listlessly meandering about as time dragged on below. What better place to lay low?

Her injuries still ached, but at the least, they were on the mend. How many standard days had she been on this planet now? She couldn't remember. What she did know was that it had been twilight for more than three days. The coming night would last nearly a month, she wasn't looking forward to the neverending darkness. It was no small mystery why the residents on this planet were known to be eccentric.

As she walked down the street, she caught glimpses of her reflection in the windows. She couldn't bring herself to look herself in the eye anymore. They weren't her eyes. Instead of white, the sclera was clouded with a dark shadow and her irises were no longer lavender, but an eerie glowing grey. There were new scars across her face, the worst of which was on the underside of her chin. With her cybernetic prosthetic lek, she truly looked like a freak.

While humans made up the majority of the population, even they knew to give Wren a wide berth.

She sighed quietly as a mother and child hurried to the other side of the street to walk past her. A familiar pang lurched in her throat, but she knew it was for the best.

Stuffing her hands into the pockets of her jacket, Wren hunched her shoulders and hurried on ahead. At least during the days of constant sunlight, she'd had a reason to wear sunglasses to hide behind.

Her gaze dropped down to her feet, watching her old boots dully plod along the sidewalk for a short while.

Not watching where she was going, she didn't notice the young man racing towards her until it was entirely too late. He'd been looking over his shoulder, as if running from something, when he slammed into the twi'lek, knocking them both to the ground.

Wren felt a moment of panic. If she'd been expecting it, she could have braced herself, but she'd been caught utterly off guard. The Bridge, as she called it, the connection that forged between herself and whoever touched her, bloomed to life. The warmth of her consciousness ebbed into the man's form wherever he made contact, he'd feel the uneasy fear of being startled and the shock of the fall. By the time they hit the ground, she'd regained enough of her senses to clamp down on the Bridge, severing the connection. This was why she wore heavy jackets and gloves wherever she went, it was almost impossible to control if someone touched her skin. The clothing made it manageable.

The man scrambled away from her, his eyes wide and staring. Whatever he'd been running from seemed momentarily forgotten. "What the kriff?" He hissed, narrowing his eyes at her.

Another voice shouted from the direction the man had come from, snapping him back into reality. Shaking his head, he scrambled to his feet and bolted down an alley. As he ran off, Wren realized that the man had dropped a datachit. It must have fallen out of his pocket during their tumble.

Unsure of what to do, she picked up the chit and pushed herself to her feet, dusting herself off.

 

[Noah Corek]

Wrenarias​

Noah rubbed the bridge of his nose as he sat in the prefabricated building that served as the headquarters of the small detachment of legionnaires from the Galactic Foreign Legion. Noah had created the Legion in order to give former soldiers, no matter their former allegiances, a place where they could ply their trade as it were. It was for this reason that the had gained a reputation as a reliable and deadly mercenary force and Noah had earned a reputation as a honest and fair dealer.

It had been because of these two factors that the government of Fresia had contacted the Legion to help deal with a local problem of theirs, a ring of spice smugglers. The person they had been contacted by was rather low in the pecking order but this wasn't unheard of, higher ups giving their subordinates the temporary authority to make deals in case it blew up in their faces. He was of course put off by this but had taken the contract since it gave them even a small bit of exposure in the market.

Another question that popped into his mind was why they hadn't simply asked the Alliance for help. He had to admit that something here stunk but again exposure was exposure. The first, and Noah had hoped, only objective was to raid the hideout, arrest all the smugglers and turn them in. This had gone almost perfectly...except for the fact that they had constructed underground tunnels and a few had been able to escape, along with taking a datachit that had held a vast amount of information about their network.

He was reading an after-action report about the raid when an officer, one who he had tasked with tracking down the escaped smugglers, came into the room. "Sir! We captured one of the smugglers. According to our interrogations of the ones we caught at their hideout this one should have been carrying the datachit." Noah nodded and smiled but his smile went away when he saw the nervous look on his face. "Let me guess...he didn't have it on him."

His response was a nod before speaking again. "He didn't sir, no. But he did give us a tracking code. With the code we'll be able to track the datachit as soon as its accessed." Noah nodded again. "Alright, I suppose that is as good as its going to get...have a squad on standby to deploy on a moments notice in case the datachit is accessed and inform me as soon as it is." The officer gave a nod and step out, leaving Noah to sigh and rub his nose again before returning to his previous task.

 

[Wrenarias]

Noah Corek​

"Well... okay then, I guess just leave." She muttered under her breath when she realized the man was long gone and she reluctantly pocketed the chit. For nearly half an hour, the twi'lek wandered the nearby streets in search of the owner of the chit, but it seemed he had simply vanished from existence.

Frustrated and feeling more than a little guilty, she gave up on finding the man and decided to head back to her hole-in-the-wall apartment. It wasn't much, but it beat sleeping on the streets at least.

The walk back wasn't particularly long, but Wren couldn't shake the feeling that she was being watched, if not outright followed. Whenever she glanced over her shoulder, she never saw anyone behind her but the ominous feeling persisted -- even as she weaved through alleys and looped around several blocks. Something wasn't right... but she couldn't just meander the streets for all eternity.

She absently reached into her pocket, thumbing the datachit that was hidden away inside. Maybe she was just being paranoid... but given her "condition" that rarely was ever the case. If she went to the authorities, they'd dismiss her outright or flag her as a vagrant -- neither of those two options was agreeable as far as she was concerned.

As she turned the last corner before her apartment complex, Wren turned and scowled down the alleyway she'd just left. "Bored yet?" She said flatly, as if expecting something to actually answer her.

Of course, the empty alley said nothing.

Tutting irritably, Wren quickly tapped in the passcode to enter the building and headed up to her apartment.


The interior of Wren's apartment was noticeably spartan. There were no decorations on the empty shelves and no artwork adorned the walls. Tucked against the window there was a simple desk with a small computer on top, giving her a half-decent view of the city while she worked. She tossed the datachit onto the desk, set her jacket on the back of her chair, and finally pulled her gloves off. Being alone and confined to herself was a simple pleasure that Wren reveled in. No worries about the Bridge causing problems, not having to constantly keep herself in check. It was the only time she could ever really relax.

But what should have been a freeing moment, was tainted by the persistent feeling of being watched.

As she waited in the kitchen for her instant-noodles to finish cooking, a dreadful and insidious thought crept into the back of her mind. Did Evelynn find me?

"Now I know I'm being paranoid..." She muttered, snatching the plastic cup of noodles from the microwave before she made her way back over to the desk and plopped down in the cheap office chair. It creaked loudly in protest when she sat down. "Oh, come off it."

Talking to herself, and the inanimate objects around her, was a habit she'd picked up over the years. Since she didn't have anyone consistently in her life, she might as well talk to someone.

While she ate her dinner, Wren curiously picked the datachit up and examined it. There weren't any identifying markers that she could see. With a slight shrug, she leaned forward and plugged the chit into a slot on her computer. Maybe she could find information about the owner on one of the stored files?

Little did she know, in some building across the city, an alarm tripped in Galactic Foreign Legion's temporary headquarters the moment she activated the chit.

What she did know, however, was that the ominous premonition grew considerably worse for a fleeting moment. It felt as though dread had manifested itself into a physical form and was standing right behind her. When she naturally whipped around to look, the door to her apartment was abruptly kicked open. Three large, heavily armed men in black uniforms burst into the small living space with their blasters already in hand.

"You could have knocked first." Wren snarled, grabbing the cup of noodles off her desk and flinging them at the closest man to her. Out of sheer intuition, she snatched the chit from her computer and grabbed for her staff that was propped up on the wall next to her desk, when the men instinctively ducked the improvised projectile.

There wasn't time to grab her jacket or gloves, she just had to hope no one touched her.

Throwing her free hand outward, she launched the men across the room and slammed them into the wall with a powerful kinetic burst. The wall crunched inward from the impact. As she bolted for the door, she used the Force to swiftly throw the futon into the men, hoping to slow them down.

When she got to the elevator, Wren realized that it was disabled. Whoever the goons were that'd just barged into her apartment, they clearly weren't screwing around. She heard them cursing and stumbling after her, likely having dealt with the futon by now. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of the men staggering into the hallway behind her.

With no other option left to her, the twi'lek darted through the door to the stairwell and began the long race down the winding stairs.

 

[Noah Corek]

Noah tapped his foot lightly as the Light Patrol Vehicle he and four others had bundled in as soon as the datachit pinged rumbled on down the road towards the location. The location itself was a pretty rundown apartment building, something he had honestly been expecting. Buildings like this were havens for people trying to get lost.

He looked at the datapad attached to the wrist of his armor and sighed. The men who had raided Wrenarias 's apartment had helmet cams and they caught the entire thing. "Greeeeeeat. Alright ladies and gentlemen we're dealing with a force user...prepared accordingly. And remember we need her alive so set your blasters to stun and if your using a slugthrower don't hit anything vital."

The LPV rolled to a stop outside of the apartment building and the doors open, the occupants dismounting. As he dismounted Noah checked his rifle and looked up at the building, the last known location of their quarry showing up as a stairwell in the east part of the building.

Reaching to his back he pulled out his shotgun, loading a few beanbag shells into her he stalked towards the squad leader. "Sergeant. Stay at ground level and secure the stairwells. They shut down the elevators so that's her only way out. I'm going up." Without waiting for a response he quickly entered the stairwell the target had been in and began to ascend.

 

[Wrenarias]

The stairwell was the last place that Wren wanted to be. She knew it was entirely too easy to get bottlenecked trapped, but it wasn't like she had much of a choice. As she fled down the stairs, her mind was racing through the possibilities of what was happening.

Were the men working for Evelynn? She knew that they were wearing a uniform, but it didn't look like anything she'd seen the Sith's soldiers wear before. Bounty hunters, maybe? Mercenaries? If that was the case were they after her or the datachit she'd found?

Above her, she heard the group of men burst into the stairwell, their heavy boots clomping against the tile floor as they chased after her. Okay, so they're after me then.

There wasn't anything she could throw in the staircase to slow her pursuers. She stopped at the next level and pressed her hand against the panel to open the door. It flashed red, warning that she didn't have the correct authorization to access the level. Of course not, she didn't live on this floor.

The brief delay had given one of the men all the time he needed. He rounded the corner of the stairwell and dropped to one knee, leveling a strange looking weapon at Wrenarias. She flinched and tried to bolt, but the man fired as she fled.

Something wrapped painfully tight around the twi'lek's legs from her thighs down and then a powerful, debilitating electric shock tore through her form. Her legs seized up and she toppled down the next flight of stairs, crashing into the wall with a painful thud. "Mngh..."

There was a length of trip wire that was entangled around her legs with two nodes dug into her skin at either end. When she tried to remove the wire to free herself, it shocked her once more. "Gah! What the bloody--"

The men appeared at the top of the flight of stairs, one of them chuckled and another pressed a hand to his helmet. "We got her."

Slowly, the men approached her. One of them pulled a set of cuffs from his belt as he sauntered rather calmly up to the downed twi'lek. He reached for her bare arm, but Wren jerked away from him.

"No, no, no! Don't touch me, please." She begged the gruff man. "I don't want to hurt you!"

He rolled his eyes. The words were all too familiar to him in this line of work. To him, they were a last ditch effort made by people in an attempt to get away. He didn't realize that Wren was trying to warn him. The man bent down and roughly seized the twi'lek's arm in a firm grasp.

As soon as he grabbed her, the Bridge flared into existence in full force. Wren's pain and fear seared into his mind like a hot brand, her consciousness nearly overwhelming his before she was able to shove him off of her. Many of the man's memories had been eradicated, but he was still himself. Or at least... that's what Wren desperately hoped. She now knew the man had a family, a wife and daughter. Their names, where they lived, what they looked like. Their faces would haunt her if she'd just killed the man whose name she now knew was Farlon.

To anyone watching, he simply went rigid for a few moments and then bellowed in pain, stumbling away from the twi'lek as she pushed him back. He collapsed on the floor, breathing but unmoving.

 

[Noah Corek]

He entered the stairwell, bypassing the biometric locks with the slicing tool attached to armors forearm, not that it took much he noted. 'A teenage with a datapad coulda broken into her.' He thought to himself as he opened the door and stepped in, quickly bring his shotgun up to eye level. He checked his surroundings and made sure it was clear before beginning his ascent up the stairs.

As he was about halfway up her heard the commotion about three floors above him, his hand flying to his comm almost instantly. "Capture team report! What's going on up there?" It took a few seconds but there was finally a response. "Small complication sir, Farlon's down but alive...he touched the target and...something happened. She's secured though..."

He sighed to himself and would have rubbed the bridge of his if it had not been for the helmet. "Alright. Give Farlon whatever aid he might and make sure she doesn't go anywhere...but for feth's sake don't touch her." He wasn't surprised at this, they were dealing with a force user and Manda knows they could be unpredictable.

Climbing the last two flights of stairs he came to the scene and looked it over, seeing the green-skinned twi'lek girl with her legs wrapped up in a electric trip wire they used to subdue. He walked over to her, squatted down and kept his shotgun leveled at her chest, of course she didn't know it was loaded with non-lethal shells.

He observed her, looking over her face. She was on the younger side, between mid and late twenties, her eyes were a weird grayish color that he surmised weren't her natural color and he face was littered with a spattering of scars. "I've got three questions for you that I want answered. One: Who are you? Two: Where's the datachit? and Three: What in the hells did you do to my soldier?"

 

[Wrenarias]

Wren eyed the new arrival with a wary expression as he crouched down in front of her. She couldn't see his face through the helmet he was wearing, it felt more like she was talking to a computer than a man. The questions he asked her were relatively simple, but a welcome relief to the twi'lek. They didn't know who she was, this was all just some misunderstanding over a blasted datachit. Guilt churned in her gut as she glanced over at the still unconscious Farlon behind the man questioning her.

How much did he lose? She wondered silently to herself. However much it'd been, she knew that it wasn't worth it. He could have been killed, all over some stupid chit. She could have accidentally erased the man's entire consciousness and left him a breathing husk, all because she couldn't control the Bridge. The guilt of it was familiar but never got any lighter. She carried a heavy burden.

She chewed the insider of her cheek as she considered the best way to answer his first question, but she decided not to give an in-depth response. "My name is Wren... and the datachit is in my pocket. It's yours. Some kriffin' idiot ran into me on the streets and left it. As for Farlon... "

Her words trailed off for a moment, frowning. How did she explain what had happened? Even Jedi had a hard time dealing with her 'abilities', what was a soldier going to do? Maybe he'll just shoot you, and put you out of your misery. The grim thoughts arose unbidden as she looked back to the man crouched in front of her.

"It's... complicated. He'll be okay and wake up with some memory loss, I'm not sure how severe..." She hesitated, biting her bottom lip. "I tried to warn him but... he wouldn't listen. I'm.. I'm so sorry."

 

[Noah Corek]

Noah could see that she was having trouble talking to him behind his helmet so he reached up, releasing the hermetic seal and pulled the helmet off, letting her look into his eyes. He looked her up and down and came to a single conclusion: she was just scared and didn't have anything to do with the spice smuggling ring.

Reaching into her pocket her withdrew the datachit and handed it off to one of the soldiers nearby. Looking back to her he sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Well Wren, my name's Noah. First I wanna say sorry, pretty sure you have nothing to do with this...but we're still gonna have to take you in for question though, procedure and all that"

He looked over to the two other mercenaries who were tending to their down comrade. Listening to her speak about what exactly had happened. "Hmmm, not the weirdest force power I've ever seen...I'm guessing it only works when someone touches your skin?"

 

[Wrenarias]

Noah Corek

The twi'lek quirked her mouth to the side in thought, her nose wrinkling slightly. "Clothes help to uh... diminish the effects. But a reaction will still happen if you're not careful and I'm not expecting it." The explanation was the best she could manage for now, it got the point across that she was dangerous at the very least. She didn't want anyone else to end up like Farlon.

Her weight shifted slightly, grimacing as the movement caused the trip wire to activate the electric shock. She went still again and grit her teeth, frustrated and in pain.

"And yeah, sure. Take me in, but I'm not gonna be able to go anywhere with this fething thing on my legs." She grumbled, resting her head against the wall behind her.

 

[Noah Corek]

Wrenarias

His mouth quirked when he heard her describe her 'ability'. From what he was able to guess she knew almost as much about it as he did. 'Hmm, so she doesn't have that much formal training it seems. Interesting.' He thought to himself as he processed her words. "Alright, so no sudden touching and no sudden and definitely not on exposed skin...easy enough to remember."

He grimaced as she tried to move and the bolo tied around her legs gave a rather nasty shock, knowing just how bad they were from personal experience. Pulling a knife of his belt he put it between her ankles and cut the wire there, making sure his movements were slow and deliberate in order not to scare her.

Putting the knife back on his belt he stood up and reached his hand down to offer it to her to help her stand, if she needed it of course. "Sorry about all this. That guy you bumped into was a member of a spice smuggling ring we are trying to take down. This datachit has got a lot of information we need on it. We just assumed cause you had it on you...ya know."

 

[Wrenarias]

Noah Corek

Even though the man had just said it was easy enough to remember not to touch her, he still extended a hand out to her to help her up. Wren recognized the gesture, but she knew better than to accept it. She stared pointedly at his hand for a moment with a raised brow, before she pushed herself up onto her feet, wobbling a little once she was upright.

The muscles in her legs still twitched from the shocks the electric bola had given her.

With a sigh, she pulled the staff she carried from her shoulder and used it to steady herself. "Just glad I didn't kill anyone..." She muttered under her breath, looking down at Farlon as the other two wrapped his arms around their shoulders and pulled him onto his feet.

She inhaled slowly and then turned her eerie gaze back to Noah. "A spice smuggler? But you guys aren't even cops..." The confusion was evident on her face.

 

[Noah Corek]

The reaching out of his hand had been a involuntary gesture, something he did without even thinking about it. A small chuckled escaped his lips when he remembered, his hand coming to brush off imaginary dirt as a way to hide the small embarassment of momentary forgetfulness.

He gave a small chuckle as he watched her wobble on standing. "Yeah those bola's are a real queen aren't they? I've taken a few of them before and they can leave quite a mark on you."

Standing he looked over at the two carrying Farlon and raised an eyebrow. "How is he?" One of them looked over Farlon before turning to answer. "He's fine sir, vitals are all good and he's breathing." He looked over at Wrenarias and gave her a small reassuring smile. "Don't worry kid, he'll be fine. We all knew the risks when we signed up to be legionnaires."

Noah gave a chuckled and a small shake of his head when she mentioned they weren't cops. "That's a little bit of an understatement. We're mercenaries. The Fresian government hired us...don't really know why but they offered a good sum of credits so I didn't balk at it...though I'm a bit suspicious of it..."

 

[Wrenarias]

Wren looked down at her hand when the mercenary tried to reassure her. She flexed her fingers, opening and closing her fist for a few moments before she looked back to Noah. Her brow furrowed when he explained the situation. It was odd that the authorities had passed the buck onto a group of mercenaries when it came to running down a smuggling ring. There had to be something else going on.

"Mmm... well, for your sake, I hope the credits end up being worth it if you get in over your head." She said quietly, reaching up to rub at the back of her neck as she sighed.

"But alright... you said you had some questions for me so... we might as well get a move on."

 

[Noah Corek]

Wrenarias

He let out a loud, full throated laugh when she mentioned being in over his head. "Hahahaha! 'In Over My Head' that should be the title of my biography. Nah, trust me kind, everyone in the Legion is some of the best trained mercs money can buy...we can handle whatever the eccentrics on this planet can throw at us. Besides...I think this chit will shed a lot of light what exactly is going on here."

He shrugged, slipping the datachit it a pouch on his utility belt before beginning to descend the stairs, not bothering to look back to see if Wren was following him. Reaching the bottom he held the door open for the three mercenaries and then for Wren, whomever came first, before stepping out into the light of day for himself.

He pointed towards a Light Patrol Vehicle in the trio of them that were there. "This'll be our ride, you get on this side and I'll get in the other." He stopped and opened the door for her before walking around to his own side, getting in and closing the door beside him, leaning back into the chair as the vehicle lurched forward, taking them back to the base.

 

[Wrenarias]

It was Wren who walked through the door first. She thought it best to make it seem like she was being as compliant as possible. If she tried to linger behind the group, the men would likely think she was trying to make a run for it. Noah opening the doors and holding them open for her was a surprise, and Wren wasn't quite sure what to make of the gesture.

As far as she was concerned, people didn't hold doors open for someone unless they wanted something for that person. Especially when that person was a disfigured and freakish force user.

Nevertheless, the twi'lek quietly climbed into the speeder as she was instructed.

As the LPV carried them back to their headquarters, Wren pulled her legs up into the seat, hugging her knees to her chest to make herself as small as possible. Without her jacket and gloves, she felt entirely too exposed and she was terrified of accidentally bumping into someone.

"How long will this questioning be?" She asked softly as she absently stared out the window to watch the city whip past.

 

[Noah Corek]

Wren wasn't entirely wrong about Noah wanting something from her but it was a lot more innocent than she thought. He just wanted to get to know her mostly. Not in any sort of romantic or sexual way but in a platonic and friendly way. Her ability and the scars on her face had caught his interest and he wanted to get to know her.

Looking at her through his peripheral vision he saw her huddled in her seat, trying to make herself as small as possible. Correctly guessing what this was about he leaned back into the trunk of the LPV and began rummaging through the contents before finding what he was looking for, a jacket and a pair of gloves. The jacket was a old camo jacket while the gloves were a simple pair made out of leather.

He set them down between the two of them, knowing she probably wouldn't have liked him handing them to her. "Here, you uh...look cold." He had to admit it had been a bit awkward, not knowing what exactly to her when giving her the items.

When she asked about the question her shrugged. "Depends, could be a few minutes, could be longer. Like I said it really just depends ya know." As he spoke he looked out the window and began to notice the lack of people on the streets. "Odd..."

 

[Wrenarias]

The jacket was several sizes too big for the twi'lek, but she graciously accepted it once Noah had placed it between them. She slipped it over her shoulders and then she tugged the gloves on as well. While the jacket was quite baggy on her, she knew the looser clothing would prove more useful in the long run. If someone accidentally bumped into her or grabbed the jacket, it meant there was a chance they wouldn't touch her.

"Thanks..." She murmured quietly.

When she glanced up, still adjusting the gloves on her hands, Wren noticed how empty the streets were. A frown settled over her features and her brow knitted together with concern.

"Wait... something's wrong." She sat up a little in the seat, reaching for her staff that was resting on the floorboard in front of her.

As they rounded the corner, two patrol speeders were parked in the middle of the road. To any passerby, it would look as though there had been some sort of accident. Wren's silvery eyes narrowed when she saw a tall patrolman walk around his speeder towards them.

"We shouldn't be here... we need to go." She said in a low voice, almost a whisper.

 

[Noah Corek]

Noah looked over to Wrenarias when she thanked him and gave a small smile and nod. "Of course, its not a problem at all." He turned from her and began looking at the surroundings instead, again noting how no one seemed to be milling around anymore, a stark comparison to when they had came through the area before. Narrowing his eyes he reached towards one of the vehicles weapon storage racks.

Grabbing his personal rifle, rocked a magazine back into the magazine well and pulled back hard on the charging handle. Reaching up towards his helmet he keyed his comms on so the entire convoy could hear it. "Alright everyone, lock and load. Somethings up. Gunners make sure your RBC's are spun up and ready to fire just in case." Lowering his hand he gripped the handguard of his rifle and brought it to a low ready just in case.

As they came to the two patrol speeders in the road and he raised an eyebrow and slipped his helmet on. To the average onlooker it just looked like a normal accident but to Noah it looked like a very suspicious coincidence. His eyes scanned over the area, taking in every detail of the area and then he saw it, almost imperceptible to anybody else if they didn't have the advanced heads up display in his helmet, it was the barrel of a blaster.

Keying his comms on again he spoke to the convoy again. "It's an ambush. Blow through the roadblock and if they shoot, shoot back." Reaching down to his hip her drew one of his pistols and laid it on the seat between him and Wren. "Hope you can shoot kid..."

 

[Wrenarias]

Perhaps to Noah's surprise, Wren snatched up the weapon he offered her and swiftly clicked the safety off. She knew exactly how to use a slugthrower from the looks of it. Her entire posture suddenly shifted and she leaned forward, eyes slightly narrowed as she readied herself.

Fighting was one of the few things Wrenarias was any good at. It now came to her as naturally as breathing, which had been some cause of concern during her short time under the Jedi's tutelage. She'd been trained as a soldier first, long before anyone taught her how to use the Force. The twi'lek was as comfortable with a pistol as she was a lightsaber, if not more so.

A gruff voice rumbled in the back of her mind, clear as if the man was in the seat just behind her. Remember to breathe, kid. Keep your eyes open.

Focus.

Part of her wanted to look over her shoulder to see if Marcus was actually there, even though she knew he wasn't. His presence always felt so real whenever it manifested. She could practically feel his hand on the small of her back as he reached across her arm to steady her aim.

When she blinked, the memory had faded away once more.

It was just her and Noah.

"I can shoot." She muttered, clicking her tongue.


Violent chaos erupted just moments after she uttered the words. A second set of patrol vehicles appeared behind the last LPV of their convoy, pinning the group in. Blaster fire seared through the air all around the vehicles and it quickly became apparent that the convoy was trapped in a shooting gallery. There were men hidden in the side alleyways and buildings, firing down at the vehicles from above.

As soon as their vehicle leapt forward, intending to ram through the barricade, Wren felt a powerful wave of dread hit her. "No, wait!"

But it was entirely too late for her to stop what was about to happen. An explosion ripped through the street, flipping the vehicle end over end until it collided with a nearby pole. Glass shattered, showering the occupants of the vehicle. Wren raised free hand forward, managing to shield herself and Noah from the rain of glass at the last second with the Force.

Her door was crushed, partially pinned against the ground but she could tell that she was facing away from most of the fighting. Grimacing, she had to look up to find Noah. "Are you hurt?"

 

[Noah Corek]

He had raised an eyebrow and shot Wrenarias a grin when she had picked up the offered pistol with deft and experienced hands, of course not that she had seen it under his helmet. Only a few seconds after she had picked up the pistol all hell lets loose as blaster bolts and slugs rained from every conceivable place. They peppered against the armor plating of the LPV, the armor holding up and the transparisteel windows stopping anything that hit them.

Noah shouldered his rifle and quickly rolled down one of the windows just far enough so he could stick the muzzle of his rifle out. In a rather impressive display of marksmanship he began picking off the targets he could see, even with the LPV rolling by at high speeds. Of course the targeting on his heads up display helped but a lot of it was just down to pure skill, even his HUD having a hard time tracking the targets at said high speeds.

Noah had seen the danger before Wren had sensed it, a improvised explosive device, concealed in what looked to be a simple pothole. Wren had been faster to warn the driver about it than Noah had been however as he had been about to open his mouth when the vehicle was flung into the air. While the v-hull of the LPV was good at defeating mines, IED's were another beast all together.

When Wren looked at Noah she would see him entirely still, unmoving. He stayed this way long enough for her to think him dead that was until he groaned and cracked his neck. "No kid...I am not alright...I am fucking pissed!" Taking his knife of his belt he cut the harness he had pulled himself into when he got into the vehicle. Pulling a grenade off of his belt he looked over at Wren. "Close your eyes and cover your ears, this is going to be loud."

Flinging open the door that was now above him he was meet with a flurry of blaster bolts and he waited for them to subside. Once they had ceased he pulled the pin on the grenade, let the safety lever off, waited a couple seconds and lobbed it out the door. Another couple of seconds followed before a blind light accompanied by a deafening sound was heard after which Noah hopped out of the vehicle and immediately began laying into anyone who wasn't a friendly.