Private Edge of the Abyss

[Ana Rix]

Ana made one very undignified sound on the way across.

Then the Wookiee caught her.

The impact was solid enough to rattle her, but not painful, broad arms hauling her in and setting her down on the wet stone with far more care than she had expected from something that size. For half a second, she simply stood there, blinking through rain and adrenaline, reacquainting herself with the concept of ground.

"Right," she breathed, still catching up to events. "Apparently that worked."

Behind them came the sound of impact, metal, movement, and Mistral's continued refusal to die in sensible ways. She turned just in time to see him recover and pull himself up as if this entire sequence had been merely inconvenient.

Her thoughts flicked immediately to the others. Aya. Seastone. The wounded women. Inside the fortress, with blasterfire and whatever else was moving through it.

"I really hope they're having an easier time than we are," she muttered, though she doubted it.

Then Mistral said run. So she ran. Or at least moved into a fast, careful pace that respected both urgency and the fact that one bad step would send her skidding into disaster. Her boots searched for traction with every stride, arms balancing instinctively as she tried to keep momentum without becoming a cautionary tale.

"I'm moving," she called back over the storm. "And if I slip, I'm blaming all of you."

Mistral

 

[Mistral]

Ana Rix

He looked at it and was moving as his eyes stayed ahead and the wookiee was working to clear the areas. Getting them a path but also rounding the side of the wall to the larger areas. The sheer cliff going away as it was a tight squeeze as Mistral and the wookie were climbing and using their boots and hands to bounce back and forth, to ascend to a better place that would let them move around. "Noted." He said while he was moving and came up higher to launch himself at the fortress wall. A small gap there as he jumped in to hold himslf and there was the sounds of more blaster fire that could be seen from some of the buildings and the guards towers they had been sealing aimed at attacking forces trying to climb up.

 

[Ana Rix]

Ana kept moving because stopping seemed like the worse option.

The path narrowed, rose, twisted into something that felt less like a route and more like a punishment designed by hostile architects. She followed the space the Wookiee cleared, trusting momentum and proximity more than confidence, boots slipping once before catching again on wet stone.

The flashes of blasterfire above made her duck instinctively, though she never fully broke stride.

"If any future investigation starts like this again," she called between breaths, voice tight but intact, "remind me to pack for unexpected situations."

She grabbed a rough outcropping, used it to steady herself, then pushed onward after them.

"Smoke grenades. Climbing gear. Possibly a shuttle."

Another burst of fire lit the wall in sharp white flashes. Ana flinched, then kept going.

"And something waterproof."

She didn't look back to see if anything was still chasing them.

That information felt actively unhelpful.

Instead, she focused on the next foothold, the next handhold, the next few meters that had to be survived before the ones after them mattered.

Mistral

 

[Mistral]

Ana Rix

Mistral chuckled a little to that as he moved and was able to clear more of it. THe towers were sealed from their movements and he didn't stop but he was also finding a way to look through the courtyard between lightning flashes. The image of Seastone and Aya moving with the other three as he didn't motion or draw attention where he was moving and he motioned to the wookiee to help with Ana as he was moving. One hand going to a throwing blade that he was able to throw to get the islanders attention as she was running towards the doors of the fortress with the others between the flashes. The blasterfire all around getting more concentrated in areas where they would be able to avoid. "We are going to want to move."

 

[Ana Rix]

Ana was already moving.

Wet, windblown, and one bad step away from becoming a cautionary tale, but moving nonetheless.

So when Mistral called that they were going to want to move, she shot him a look that managed to carry irritation even through rain and exhaustion.

"I am moving," she called back, breath tight but voice still sharp. "This is apparently just my fastest responsible speed."

Even so, she pushed harder.

Her next steps came more quickly, boots striking stone with greater urgency as she tried to match the pace they needed without surrendering entirely to gravity. One foot slipped on the wet surface, skidding half a step before she caught herself against the wall with a hand and kept going.

"See?" she muttered under her breath, more to herself than anyone else. "This is why I pace."

Another flash of lightning cut across the courtyard below, blasterfire following it in scattered bursts. Ana didn't look long enough to process any of it.

She fixed on the path ahead and accelerated again.

"Just keep choosing routes that don't kill me immediately," she added, voice dry despite the strain. "I'll do the rest."

Mistral

 

[Mistral]

Ana Rix

He gave a nod before he was rushing and keeping himself at the ready. The moment came before they were running through the rain and he slammed into the doorway with the wookiee to bash it down so that they would be able to get through. The wookiee going first and then Mistral as the other was recovering shoulder slammed into the doors. Letting them clear the towers as he could see the others on the ground moving and someone was tossed off a tower as he lept up and over the body as it slammed into the stone in front of him. He brought his blaade out while he slashed into another jumping thing with the wookiee roaring behind him. Catching him at the last moment aas he kicked the things off of his blade with a nod.

 

[Mistral]

double post

 

[Ana Rix]

Ana arrived a heartbeat behind them and immediately regretted everything.

The doorway hung half-broken from the impact, rainwater streaming across splintered stone and metal as she slipped through after the Wookiee and Mistral, ducking instinctively when something large hit the ground in front of them with a sickening crash.

She did not look directly at it.

She had learned at least that much today.

"This has become an unreasonable amount of exercise," she said, breathless but still managing her usual dry tone.

Another shape moved, too fast and too close, and Ana recoiled a step before forcing herself forward again, staying behind the line of people who actually knew how to survive this kind of madness.

Her eyes flicked quickly across the courtyard, searching not for targets, but for exits, cover, routes that made sense.

"Others are moving," she called, spotting Aya and the rest on the ground level through the chaos. "Left side, lower courtyard."

She pressed herself briefly to the inside wall as Mistral cut down another creature, then pushed off it and kept pace behind them.

"You two keep doing the violent part," she added tightly. "I'll keep identifying where not to die."

Mistral

 

[Mistral]

Ana Rix

He could hear with a nod of his head when they were running. He moved towards stairs heading down and the raain slicked surface gave hima moment while he lept up and came down. Using his boots on the side of it so he could kick up and off to a buildings top. Running over and above with Aya who was there before he could hear and see Seastone who was throwing grenades that weren't going off and he didn't think they were duds. "EXPLOSIONS." The twi'lek shouted it as they were going and Aya spoke while the wookiee was moving and leaving space for Ana to get in with the group heading for the gate.

He waited a moment as Seastone threw another in the air and he batted it towards the closed gate with his sword as the feeling came first. Vibration and then heat and finally the thundering sound of her delayed explosives. "WOOHOO DISTRACTION." The twi'lek was cheering aas the gate exploded aand they were moving through it. THe sound of the buildings being pulled down into the lower tunnels and he jumped down with a roll quickly to get through while Aya was still moving with the others. "Come on." THey were saying it and he was on the ground panting for a moment as Aya looked back and at the twi'lek who was cheering. "Can you believe that worked, I was worried the timerr might be too long or short. I don't really know how to read mando'a but WHOOO explosions."

 

[Ana Rix]

Ana had stopped trying to predict the logic of her companions several disasters ago. When Seastone began hurling grenades that required emotional encouragement rather than immediate detonation, she simply kept running, accepting that reality had become entirely flexible. She slipped into the wake of the Wookiee, nearly losing her footing on the rain-slick stone before recovering her pace and pressing toward the gate with the group.

Then she watched Mistral bat an explosive through the air with his sword. She saw it, processed it, and rejected it in the span of a heartbeat—and then the world shook.

Heat rolled outward, followed by the concussive thunder of a blast that shredded the gate into a spray of metal and debris. Ducking instinctively with one arm shielding her face, Ana cleared the opening just as the structure behind them began to groan. Stone and timber vanished into the roar of failing supports as the tunnels below finally gave way, but she didn't turn to watch; she had learned enough about "growth" for one day.

Once through the gate, she bent forward with her hands on her knees to fight for breath, watching Seastone celebrate while Mistral lay panting on the ground. Aya, predictably, looked entirely unsurprised.

"I would like the record to show," Ana said between ragged breaths, her voice dry despite her exhaustion, "that I was against almost every step of this plan. And yet, disturbingly, the explosion may have been the most competent part of the entire afternoon."

She glanced back once at the collapsing fortress before turning her gaze toward the road ahead.

"Please tell me the next phase involves significantly less improvisation."

Mistral

 

[Mistral]

Ana Rix

Mistral looked at her while he was laying there for a moment and he spoke. "We just need to get off the island, I think whoever was trying to mess with the Lux, Sal and everything happening was in that explosion or doesn't have the means to completely cause a problem." He looked at the large shark holding the lieutenant in a fireman carry still and the woman groaned. "Yeah I am talking about you." He said it and Aya looked at them both. "We need to get off of the island. The storm isn't going to end and there are still things. It is better to be off the island." She said it as the wookiee was roaring and Seastone looked at him as her lekku twitched. "She says there were boats in the cove. They were warned to not dock at the fortress."

 

[Ana Rix]

Ana straightened slowly, one hand still braced at her side as she caught her breath, the pounding in her head now a dull, manageable rhythm instead of something sharper.

Her eyes moved across the group as they spoke, tracking the pieces as they came together. Explosion. Disruption. Boats in the cove. Storm was still building. Unknown threats not yet resolved.

None of it felt finished. "Then we don't stay here long enough to find out what survived," she said, her voice steady again, slipping back into that quiet, analytical cadence.

Her gaze shifted toward the direction of the cove, measuring distance more than direction. "Boats mean mobility. Mobility means options." A small pause as she looked back at Mistral, then Aya. "And right now, options are better than answers." She glanced briefly at the injured woman, then at Seastone still carrying her without complaint.

"If they were warned not to dock here," she added, more thoughtful now, "then whoever owns them either knows this place is dangerous…" Another beat. "…or knows exactly what happens here." She pushed off from where she'd paused, already moving again.

"Either way, they're still there. Which means they expect to leave." Her gaze flicked once toward the storm. "So we take that option before it disappears."

Mistral

 

[Mistral]

Ana Rix

Mistral gave a nod of his head while he was there for the moment with a look. "Yes options are good, just let me get my breath and someone religious and maybe one of those droids that help. I think I might have pulled my... everything." He said while he was looking there but was getting up. "I am not a young man anymorre. I thought investigating on a resort world would be a nice slow, calm retirement." He said it while he was walking but Aya laughed as she looked at Ana. "Come on, we can get back, for now we surrvived and that is a good enough victory. We'll deal with the rest in five minutes when we have to." The twi'lek was looking at them and presented a look. "Guys, come on.... we are like having fun aren't we... I am we don't get to run around and explode things nearly as much. Imagine if we made this like a weekly thing or better daily."

 

[Ana Rix]

Ana stared at Seastone for a long second.

Rain still ran down her face, her hair plastered to her neck, her clothes soaked through, and somewhere in the background the fortress they had just escaped was continuing to collapse into itself.

She let that sit there.

Then she looked at Aya. Then Mistral. Then back to Seastone.

"This is not the life I signed up for," she said, her voice flat, controlled, and just this side of incredulous.

A small pause followed.

"There was supposed to be a terminal. Maybe a locked system. Possibly a mild security protocol."

Her gaze flicked toward the distant explosions, then back to the group.

"Not… this."

She exhaled slowly, dragging a hand back through her wet hair before letting it fall again.

"And no," she added, looking directly at Seastone now, "we are not doing this daily."

A beat.

"…Weekly is also under review."

Despite herself, there was the faintest edge of something almost amused under the exhaustion.

Then she shifted her weight and started moving again toward where the boats were supposed to be.

"Let's get off the island before something else decides we look interesting."

Mistral

 

[Mistral]

Ana Rix

Mistral rose up as he looked at Ana for a moment. His eyes staying on her but he moved forward and placed a hand on her shoulder. "You did good and think of it this way, where there is a boat there is a security system. Huh, computers you can have some fun." UNless it was manual... she doubted heavily he could row out of here in a storm. Might have to portage and carry a boat and hope they can all fit in it to a place without heavy storms. "Just think positive. He started moving as the wookiee looked at her and roared. "Yeah yeah." He said it and checked his blades as he was only having three left and his sworrd. "I am running low but might be able to get something lucky off."

 

[Ana Rix]

Ana glanced at his hand on her shoulder, then at him. She didn't argue. Not this time.

"A security system I can work with," she said, her voice settling back into something more familiar now that the variables were starting to look like problems she understood. "That's significantly better than climbing wet stone and hoping for structural integrity."

The Wookiee's roar earned a brief look. "I'm choosing to interpret that as encouragement," she added dryly. Then she moved. The path down toward the cove was rough, uneven, and still slick from the storm, but it was at least ground. Actual ground. Something she could move across without calculating angles of death with every step. The sound of water grew louder as they descended, the crash of waves against rock cutting through the wind.

Lightning flashed again, and this time it revealed them. The boats. Tucked into the cove, secured against the rock with heavy lines, rocking hard against the surge but still intact. Not abandoned. Not wrecked. Functional.

Ana slowed just enough to take them in properly, her eyes already tracking more than shape. Hull integrity. Power signatures. Control access points. Anything that looked like it might either help or get them killed.

"There," she said, unnecessary but grounding.

She angled toward the nearest vessel, boots slipping once on wet stone before she corrected and kept moving. As she closed the distance, her focus narrowed completely, the chaos behind them falling away in favor of something precise.

"If there's a lockout, I can get through it," she added, already scanning for an access panel or interface point. "If there isn't, even better."

Her hand reached out, catching the edge of the boat to steady herself as it rocked against its mooring.

"Either way," she said, glancing back just long enough to confirm they were all still with her, "this is our way off."

Mistral

 

[Mistral]

Ana Rix

Mistral gave a nod as they were moving and the cove was there, his interest in what they might have as the flash revealed the boat with what he couldn't see. He stopped as the rain continued to come down but was motioning with a hand. "I don't see any lookouts but that doesn't mean that they aren't there." He said it while he waas looking at Ana for a moment but spoke. "I'm going to circle around, sneak forward if you can but be careful with cover. AA lookout might be able to see you or they could have been recalled to help with the attack." He said it and looked at the wookiee who looked as miserable as all of them but he spoke. "You protect them while I go around." He said it and the wookiee gave a moment before he turned to Seastone and the twi'lek perked up. "Seastone if he tries anything... stop him." The twi'lek gave a nod and turned to look at the wookiee forr a moment as she pointed... fingers extending dramatically and she moved them back and forth from her eyes to the wookiee.

 

[Ana Rix]

Ana followed his line of sight to the boat, then to the edges of the cove, then to the places where someone should be standing if this were clean.

No movement. That didn't make it safe.

"If they had lookouts, they're either gone, or they're not where we expect them," she said quietly, her voice cutting through the rain without rising. Her gaze shifted back to the boat, narrowing slightly. "Which makes this worse, not better."

She crouched a fraction, adjusting her angle as she started forward, using the rock formations and the hull itself for what little cover existed. Careful steps. No sudden movement. Letting the storm mask what it could.

"I'll keep it quiet," she added, more to confirm than reassure. A brief glance flicked toward Mistral as he prepared to circle. "If something's tied to the boat, I'll find it before I touch anything important."

Then to the Wookiee. "Stay close enough to pull me back if I'm wrong." She didn't wait for acknowledgment.

Ana moved first, slipping from one piece of cover to the next, closing the distance to the vessel with controlled, deliberate precision, her attention already splitting between the physical space and whatever systems might be waiting for her once she got there.

Mistral

 

[Mistral]

Ana Rix

He gave a nod of his head as they were moving. Aya and the shark were carrying the wife and one armed woman behind all of them. Mistral was circling and Ana with seastone and the wookiee would be on approach as he slipped past a rock and didn't drive his boots deep into the mud. She was allowing himself to slip and slid but pivoted towards another as he saw movement. His thoughts briefly flashing for a moment before he was charging and slamming into something... someone solid but they grunted. A good sign as they were flying down and through the mud. He remained on top of him and withdrew his sword as he dug it into the mud stopping himself before the man flew up and into the ocean.

He rolled as he looked at the ground but he was laying there for a moment and spoke under his breath. "I'm too old for his..." His voice trailed off as the first sound of a blaster came and it slammed near his head. He was looked as the wookiee looked up and pointed before firing a blaster into the man firing at them. Mistral pulled back as he threw his sword and it went into the person... and he was sliding back. Towards the boats as he felt himself launch into the air and a hand grabbing him. THe wookiee roared and pulled him into the area with them as he was looking at himself. His hands going as he was out of blade. He went and finally found one in his boot as he held it.

 

[Ana Rix]

Ana didn't stop when the sound of impact carried through the storm.

She registered it the way she registered everything else—filed, processed, and set aside as a problem she couldn't solve from where she stood. The blasterfire that followed tightened the situation, though, sharp flashes cutting through the rain and turning the cove into something far less ambiguous.

She moved anyway.

Keeping low, she shifted along the hull of the nearest boat, using its bulk as cover while the Wookiee's return fire lit the space in brief, violent bursts. Each flash gave her just enough information to map the movement around them without ever fully looking at it. Where the shots came from. Where they landed. Where not to be.

When Mistral came sliding back into the group, pulled in by the Wookiee and visibly down to whatever blades he could still scavenge, she spared him a glance that lasted exactly long enough to confirm he was still functional.

That was enough.

"You're still in one piece," she said under her breath, more observation than reassurance, before her attention snapped back to the boat.

She reached the stern and dropped into a crouch, hands already moving to find the access panel. The casing held for half a second before she forced it open, the seal breaking under pressure as rain immediately beaded across the exposed circuitry.

"Give me cover," she called, her voice carrying just enough to reach them without losing its control.

Her fingers moved quickly now, precise despite the water, despite the noise, despite the fact that someone was still trying to shoot them. This was the part she understood. Systems responded. Systems followed rules, even when people didn't.

"If this thing has power, I can wake it up," she continued, more focused now, her tone settling into that quiet certainty that came when she was working inside something instead of reacting to it. "If it doesn't, I'll reroute whatever it has left and force a start."

A brief spark jumped as she bridged a connection, the interface flickering in response.

"Either way," she added, not looking back, "we're not staying here long enough to argue about it."

She leaned in slightly, blocking the panel from the worst of the rain with her body as her hands continued to work, already pulling the system apart and putting it back together in the span of a few breaths.

"Just keep them off me for a few seconds."

Mistral