First Reply Dropped Like a Stone

[Persephone Dashiell]

DROPPED LIKE A STONE

R'alla | Unknown Ruins
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Coming out of a portion of the unknown religious shrine, Persephone immediately began removing spiderwebs from her brunette locks. Even using a stick and Zee's arm there had still been a mass of the sticky webs, a sign no one had entered but them in some time. Or the lush landscape was just spider ridden and anything that stood still for five minutes would soon be covered.

"We will have to find a way around that collapsed corridor. Maybe something along the back of this."

[ Perhaps. Records are incomplete of this site. I have been cataloging the layout as we ventured through. ]

"Smart idea Zee."

Enough of the web out of her hair, Persephone began to trudge up the hill to see what the back of the structure had to offer. It was a slow climb, steep, and she could hear Zee's servos working overtime behind her. As she crested the ridge, eyes caught a bright object in the crystal blue sky. Squinting, a hanc cae to shade her eyes.

[ An escape or drop pod most likely. If I am calculating correctly it will land within a click of us. ]

"Lots of pirates out here." The word pirate was uttered like a curse, she despised pirates with an incredible passion. "So its one of those fools, someone escaping them, or someone trying to create a diversion."

[ Or valuables placed in said pod and jettisoned off. Illicit drugs if I had to hazard a guess. ]

"Maybe. Let's look for the other entrance but also keep an eye on our backs in case there is a lifeform inside."

[ Understood Miss Persephone. ]

 

[Althea Voidwalker]

Why did they always jettison from the vessel right when I had them on the ropes? Pirates always seemed to run away when the fight got tough. Thinking that running was fighting for another day. A selfish way of doing it, but it could work in most cases.

I was not most cases.

These particular brand of pirates have been hitting small, soft targets that most would just put up to the regular days of being in a world without the massive sphere of influence that the Alliance had. Since they fell, my work had taken a huge jump in activity. It was like this. Any time a larger group fell from the grace of the galactic games, pirates, rebels, and the opposing enemies of said group, would converge into this unholy form of closing in on the blood in the water. Instead of being able to play the slow cat and mouse game, I had to switch to actively hunting them down. Even if that meant putting myself as the bait.

They had docked to my Skyraizer. It had a signal as a "damsel in distress" vibe with engines already down. What they failed to check was that it was operational. So as soon as the doors opened, I let loose on them. Counter-piracy at its finest. Instead of trying to just - I don't know, locking me into their vessel and trying to escape, they had thrown valuables with a small group of them into their little shuttle and went to the closest planet. It took a moment for me to find out where they were headed, but I was getting closer. I could almost smell the blaster cauterization from here. Landing down not far from my position.

So here I am, loaded up like I'm going into a one woman war, looking after pirates on some planet because I couldn't just let them go. It sounded stupid to not just let the small group go, but they had been doing this for some time, and I had no intentions of letting it go. Plus, larger piracy groups were being handled by larger authority groups in their own local areas. I shored up the defensive measures out in space where they couldn't reach. The Monocycle fired up and zoomed across the surface of the planet. The rolling hills of some grass or similar plantlife.

"Always gotta run."

That's what made it so much more difficult. I wish pirates would have an actual backbone.

Persephone Dashiell

 

[Persephone Dashiell]

Moving along the backside of the structure, a mild bit of frustration had set in. The doors had been sealed shut. Not just the hinges and the locking mechanism, but the entire thing. There had been a shake of her head and some discussion with Zee about potentially going in through a window, yet those seemed quite higher up.

It had settled on Zee cutting through the wield itself. It would allow the structure to be open to all, which was a bit unfortunate, but maybe they could tack wield something up when they left.

As Zee worked, Persephone stepped up slightly on the hill to keep an eye out. Rolling grasses. Noises of water fowl somewhere in the semi-distance. Blue eyes narrowed though. Among the sounds of nature was something else. Focusing, it was mechanical. The whine of a speederbike or airspeeder. Coming closer too. The escape pod? Some escape pod if it contained an entire speederbike.

Given her outfit was earth tones, Persephone knew it would stand out in the bright green grass. So would Zee. The only hope was to tuck into the shadows and keep an eye was it passed. Maybe once they broke in to the shrine it would be easy to secure the door behind them. Prevent whatever this was from sneaking up upon them.

Working her way back down the hill, she informed Zee then sunk into the shadows. The droid stopped its work, turning its photoreceptors towards the sound.

Althea Voidwalker​