Private Gas Station Bash

[Alessandra Io]

Location: Fueling Station, Vergesso Asteroids Rest Stop - Five Veils Trade and Tourist Route
Dialogue Legend: <<Technopathy Link>> │ “Verbal”
Attire: White Skinny Jeans │ Crop Top │ Shoes
Time: Morning
Tag: Miri Nimdok

Alessandra wasn’t expecting to be hunted, though perhaps she should have.

Instead, her attention was captivated by the roller grill, the smells of nerf hot dogs, sausages, meat rolls, and various other meaty foodstuffs wafting up into her olfactory receptors as she looked over the selections. For most organics, there were dangerous health risks to consider when eating such nutrient-dense foods, but for Alessandra they were a delicious, yet ultimately optional sources of energy which she had grown increasingly fond of over the last few weeks. It had started as a distraction to help her cope with the loss of her brothers, but now it was slowly turning into a guilty pleasure.

The Chaplain could stop consuming such meals if she decided to. She just didn’t want to.

Taking a pair of nerf hot dogs off the grill, Alessandra neatly slotted them into the buns before moving to the garnish station to embellish the food with various toppings, carefully selected so that none clashed to compromise their overall flavor. Then, after grabbing a bag of chips, filling up a large drink, and placing her food inside a takeout box, she swiped her card to pay for the meal before heading back out to the fueling bay, where her ship was undergoing maintenance checks and tuneups by a small crew of repair droids who she had tipped lavishly. She still had yet to get rid of her old TIE Vendetta, even though it was long past time for her to purchase a craft with more room and a charging station.

Perhaps then, she would finally have an excuse to stop fueling herself with junk.

 

[Miri Nimdok]

Miri came in for chewing gum and lottery tickets. She kept glancing over the various food-dispensing machines, her gaze drawn toward a tantalizing holo display of a chocolate milkshake. It was probably beyond processed—all the snacks sold at refueling stations were probably composed of Force-knew-what junk masquerading as real food—but it looked way too good to resist. She balked at the price, though. Money was tight these days.

Gum in hand, she approached the register, where she would have to put in a special order for the tickets. Ahead of her was a blue-haired woman in a crop top and white skinny jeans. Miri wasn’t a fan of white pants. They were… risky.

When the woman turned around, however, Miri did a double take. She looked like a life-sized doll, with her eerily symmetrical features. Either this lady must’ve had one too many plastic surgeries, or she wasn’t a human being at all.

The sense-enhancing crystal hanging around Miri’s neck revealed that the latter was correct. Only the woman didn’t feel like an HRD, either. She was a complete void in the Force, her presence undetectable. And if she was a droid, why was she buying hot dogs?

Miri glanced outside. The Bright Knight, Starlin’s mobile base, awaited her. But this was too interesting a twist to ignore. As the woman turned to leave, Miri abandoned the packet of gum and left without buying anything, following her out.

Alessandra Io​

 

[Alessandra Io]

Location: Fueling Station, Vergesso Asteroids Rest Stop - Five Veils Trade and Tourist Route
Dialogue Legend: <<Technopathy Link>> │ “Verbal”
Attire: White Skinny Jeans │ Crop Top │ Shoes
Time: Morning
Tag: Miri Nimdok

Alessandra reached her fighter, then came to a sudden halt.

Turning on her heels, the Chaplain’s photoreceptors went wide as they studied a moving visual on a screen projector near the back of the hangar deck, one which featured an image of her Matriarch in stunning clarity, with a designation listed as “Tier 5” under her portrait. A moment later, the screen flipped to an image of Percival Io , though his picture was crossed over with an X, indicating the bounty was no longer available.

Alessandra blinked, holding back the coolant that threatened to slip out from her photoreceptors.

It was only then that she saw it, having missed the screen transition while her optics were briefly blurred by the coolant welling up from her reservoirs. The screen now displayed a full, high-quality image of the cyan and white-haired Chaplain, complete with her height, physical description, name, and designation.

Alessandra Io. Tier 3.

As if by instinct, the Chaplain felt the eyes of those in the hangar deck shifting to her—a trio of Trandoshan hunters stopped for repairs, a squad of helmetless Black Sun Soldiers carrying takeout boxes, a group of rough-looking Aqualish pirates, a trio of Mandalorians, and last, but not least by virtue of her proximity, a lone female gunslinger clad in a black outfit and a purple leather jacket.

Not a moment later, the first blaster shot rang out and as if on cue, the fueling station erupted into an orgy of violence!

 

[Miri Nimdok]

Her quarry stopped suddenly, apparently distracted by a screen. Miri followed her line of sight, watching the faces flickering across the display. Laertia Io—her father had fought her years ago, using his telepathic abilities to make her relive her most traumatic memories. Enraged, Laertia had launched a blood feud against him. Miri idly pondered whether Laertia would ever come after her in the name of that feud…

The next face she didn’t know; he had already been taken care of, from the looks of it. But the third was none other than the doll-like woman in question. With a Tier 3 bounty on her head, no less.

Miri’s hands instinctively went to the two pistols holstered at either hip. She had begun following Alessandra Io out of curiosity, but this was fortuitous indeed. Unfortunately, it seemed several others in the area had also recognized the Neutralizer—and all parties now descended upon their quarry.

The storm of blaster fire that followed forced Miri into cover behind some storage crates. She counted as many as fifteen different individuals attempting to seize and/or destroy the android. Miri would have pitied Alessandra, had she not known what House Io had done. They were terrorist scum.

Still, she was way outnumbered. Miri raised her wrist comlink to her lips, calling the Bright Knight. “I need help!”

If the urgency in her tone wasn’t enough, the sounds of combat in the background surely was. “What’s going on down there?” Starlin asked.

“Bounty sighted. Some sort of House Io droid. Name’s Alessandra.” Peering out of cover, Miri fired her wrist-mounted beamer at Alessandra. “We could use the credits, but there’s dozens of other hunters trying to collect. I need you to distract them.”

“Say no more. I’m on my way.”

Sure enough, the Aqualish pirates would suddenly find themselves dealing with a certain Jedi Knight. Starlin didn’t bother to hold back, whipping out his lightsaber and gutting the first pirate he saw.

Alessandra Io​

 

[Alessandra Io]

Location: Fueling Station, Vergesso Asteroids Rest Stop - Five Veils Trade and Tourist Route
Dialogue Legend: <<Technopathy Link>> │ “Verbal”
Attire: White Skinny Jeans │ Crop Top │ Shoes
Time: Morning
Tag: Miri Nimdok

For a moment, almost all of the guns in the fueling station turned towards Alessandra Io.

In spite of it, the Chaplain was quick to react. Her repulsor cells kicked into overdrive, carrying the HRD off the ground and throwing her into cover behind the TIE in a flash of motion, making a mockery of the laws of physics in the process. Unfortunately, the volume of incoming fire was so dense that she was struck more than once before she could get to (relative) safety. Miri’s beamer hit the Chaplain in her upper right leg, instantly numbing and paralyzing the limb. Simultaneously, a blaster shot fired by one of the Trandoshans grazed the side of the HRD’s torso, leaving a smoking burn in its wake.

Her only options now, were to fly, fight, or die.

All the while, blaster and slugthrower fire continued to rake at the Chaplain’s TIE, but more than a few of the hunter groups turned on each other in the process, recognizing the competition. A 2.5 million credit bounty, while lucrative, didn’t seem worth sharing among so many people. While the Aqualish pirates were distracted with the lightsaber-wielding Jedi in their midst, the Trandoshans turned their guns on the Black Sun Soldiers, cutting down two of the low-level gangsters in their initial salvos. All the while, the trio of Mandalorian Supercommandos split up, with one activating the stealth systems in his black armor before maneuvering surreptitiously around the room, while the other two advanced on the Chaplain for the capture.

Amidst the disharmonious chorus of violence, a lone sixth party entered the hangar deck, intent on scoring his piece of the pie and taking out an old enemy, as well.

The black-armored Supercommando came up behind Miri Nimdok a few moments later, a Taozin nodule hiding his presence in the Force. He set his rifle on target, aiming to shoot the female gunslinger in the head. However, before he could squeeze the trigger, a blast of disruptive shotgun fire struck him in the back, burning through much of his beskar. Two more roaring, high-pitched blasts saw the Supercommando reduced to burning chunks of armor and flesh. Upon turning around, Miri would see the towering form of a red-armored “Mandalorian” emerging out from a cloud of light blue tibanna smoke, stepping over the charred pieces of the Supercommando he had slain moments before.

“Fucking hate Mandos.” The “Mandalorian” grumbled, without a hint of irony in his deep, baritone voice. “You seem like you can handle yourself with those guns, lady. You landed a nice shot on her.” He continued, before moving into cover behind the storage crates next to Miri, while still keeping his shotgun leveled towards the gunslinger. “Name’s Jaa Lera. The bounty for this one is two-and-a-half million credits—one of the most expensive Tier 3 bounties on the board right now. I know a few things about these Nuetralizers that I can clue you in on, this one in particular. We work together, we can kill the competition, capture the target, then split the prize and make a decent profit off of her. Deal?”

Spoiler: Jaa Lera's Loadout

• MAA-004 HjFIP
  
  • Gauntlets
    
    • MAA-005 HjGPG
      
      • Velocity-7 Dart Shooter - L
        
        • Paralysis Dart
      • MM9 Rocket System - R
        
        • Homing Plasma Rocket
  • Undersuit
    
    • MAA-001 HjCBg
  • Utility
    
    • Gravity Belt
• M.I. Model 7 Shotgun
• M.I. Model 6 Hybrid Pistol (2)
• FAE/M-01 “Scherezade” Energized Vibroblade (2)
• Bouncing Multi-Purpose Grenade - Plasma (3)
• Bouncing Multi-Purpose Grenade - Sonic (3)

 

[Miri Nimdok]

At the sound of a shotgun blast right behind her, Miri whirled around, pistols drawn and ready to fire. The tall man in a Mando outfit was lucky she didn’t shoot first, ask questions later. Still, the fact that not one, but two men had managed to sneak up on her like that made her lip curl. She must’ve been losing her touch.

“Name’s Jaa Lera. The bounty for this one is two-and-a-half million credits—one of the most expensive Tier 3 bounties on the board right now. I know a few things about these Nuetralizers that I can clue you in on, this one in particular. We work together, we can kill the competition, capture the target, then split the prize and make a decent profit off of her. Deal?”

Miri narrowed her eyes. “I don’t normally trust strangers,” she said, firing at the Trandoshans. “But I see your point. You don’t try to kill me, I won’t try to kill you.”

She inclined her head toward Starlin, who was taking down the last of the pirates. “The Jedi’s with me. He’s not interested in the bounty money, only in keeping me alive.” Whether the Neutralizer would target him remained to be seen. Starlin was even more hated by Laertia Io than Errik Nimdok had been.

Miri squeezed off a couple of slug shots at the Trandoshans. Starlin was already moving on to bigger fish—namely, the Black Sun soldiers.

Alessandra Io​

 

[Alessandra Io]

Location: Fueling Station, Vergesso Asteroids Rest Stop - Five Veils Trade and Tourist Route
Dialogue Legend: <<Technopathy Link>> │ “Verbal”
Attire: White Skinny Jeans │ Crop Top │ Shoes
Time: Morning
Tag: Miri Nimdok

For a moment, Alessandra simply waited.

Suddenly, the remaining two Supercommandos rounded the corner to reach their quarry behind her TIE. However, before they could get their guns to bear, electricity exploded forth from the Chaplain’s hands, enveloping the Mandalorians in scintillating energy which caused their forms to glow a burning orange as the meat behind the beskar was cooked and rendered as little more than ash. Before long, their inflamed forms slumped to the ground with a pair of hard, metallic thuds, fire blossoming out from where they had fallen, before quickly dying to the air.

A moment later, a pair of pink beams sliced through the air, lancing the remaining two Trandoshans in twain as the thick scent of overpressured tibanna gas filled the air.

“Alright. Listen to me, quickly. Eyes, throat, and forearms—she has some kind of bio-technological weapons integrated into those specific regions of her body. I want you to go for her arms, tell your Jedi friend to go for her eyes, and I’ll close in to rip out her throat since I’m wearing armor. She’s resilient, but it’s gonna have to be delicate if we want the bonus for taking her in alive.” Jaa instructed, as he placed his shotgun on his back before exchanging the weapon for a pistol and a vibroblade.

“Get your Jedi friend in on the plan and we’ll make the push. Ready?”

 

[Miri Nimdok]

<Starlin.> Her voice slipped telepathically into his mind. <There’s a… gentleman here who wants to help us. There’s a bonus if we take her alive. He says to go for her eyes.>

<Got it.> Starlin gutted a Black Sun soldier, then decapitated another. “Should’ve worn your helmets!” he exclaimed, punching another in the face.

Before he knew it, he had killed or incapacitated them all. Swinging his blue lightsaber and orange shoto, he stalked toward Alessandra.

Meanwhile, Miri continued to fire at the Trandoshans, while also keeping an eye out for the Neutralizer. "He's coming after her now," she told Jaa. While Starlin sought to preoccupy Alessandra’s attention by attacking her with his blades, Miri took aim and fired a couple of shots at the Neutralizer’s right forearm once it came into view.

Alessandra Io​

 

[Alessandra Io]

Location: Fueling Station, Vergesso Asteroids Rest Stop - Five Veils Trade and Tourist Route
Dialogue Legend: <<Technopathy Link>> │ “Verbal”
Attire: White Skinny Jeans │ Crop Top │ Shoes
Time: Morning
Tag: Miri Nimdok

A fight for her survival.

The Nuetralizer didn’t hesitate—couldn’t hesitate. Her repulsor cells suddenly carried her form flying three meters above the ground, pushing her just out of reach of the advancing lightsaber wielder’s attacks. In doing so, she didn’t relinquish the cover provided by her TIE, but at the cost of keeping the lightsaber wielder still within close range.

It was a dangerous, risky play. And yet, the Chaplain had weighed all the factors in her mind to minimize the chance of further injury. She could not afford to expose herself to more than a couple enemies at a time. Accordingly, Miri would find herself deprived of a viable shooting angle on the Chaplain for the time being. The gunslinger would have to maneuver behind the TIE in order to create her shot.

As she flew upward, a powerful, banshee-like sonic howl tore free from the Chaplain’s throat—a sonic stunner blast carrying enough force to liquify organs and shatter bone. Delivered from no more than three meters away, the gynoid aimed her blast to strike the lightsaber wielder in his head to maximize the effect, in the hopes of creating an opening or perhaps, neutralizing him outright.

All the while, Jaa Lera had taken to the gangways along the upper edges of the hangar deck. He moved quickly, from one piece of cover to another. He wasn’t able to line up a shot yet due to the obstruction presented by the TIE, but his path would soon carry him behind the Nuetralizer while she was occupied with his partners, which would soon allow him to strike her from an uncovered angle...