Hell or High Water

[LE-03 (Leigh)]

...So that was what it was. The droid had heard Na'an talk like this on occasion before. Not often, and never without what Leigh had later judged to be appropriate cause, but enough to have identified the emotions behind such words. It was a dangerous mood that her organic friend was in now--scared and furious and deadly--the kind of dangerous that the Jedi had taught her to see as monstrous.

"Hey."

The human's hand was on her shoulder, clenching the metal tightly. She reached back for it with her good hand, covering the small, thin fingers with her own in a reassuring gesture. "We will get her back safely," she said gently. "Properly. Both of us."

It was a dangerous mood that Na'an was in, to be sure--scared and furious and deadly. Leigh would have to watch her carefully, once they boarded. But in the droid's experience, as long as they avoided collateral damage, the Jedi would not be in a position fit to judge them. If the only people standing between the two of them and their friend were a gang of murderous slavers...

Well. She had been modeled off a mind familiar with moral ambiguity.

The ship continued to carve a path through hyperspace, headed towards the Core.

 

[Adelle Bastiel]

With a grunt, Adelle pulled herself up to the next handhold. Her arms burned from the climb and sweat started to form on her forehead. Even with her eyes adjusting to the darkness, it was still difficult to make out levels. Still, there should have been something by now.

"Nothin' so far," she said, setting her foot on a small ledge. She stretched for another ledge just within her reach and pushed herself up. Part of the wall drew up and away in a thin rectangle.

"Think I found it." Adelle climbed higher beside the panel and tried to slide it open. Her palm just wiped sweat across the metal. "Dammit. We'll have to pry it open."



[member="Scherezade deWinter"] | [member="Vidalu Na'an"] | [member="LE-03 (Leigh)"]

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

Tired as she was, the sound of her current partner in crime brought new adrenaline to the Sithling. Knowing that there was maybe something, that changed everything. It meant an easier out of wherever it was they were at, and perhaps even, if they were slightly lucky, a way to get to the cockpit.

Quickly, Scherezade scooted herself sideways until she reached Kore.

"Careful," Scherezade said, the glow of her eyes providing a tiny bit of light as she looked at the panel. If there was a key of some sorts, she already knew none of them had it. And since the panel wouldn't slide, that left them with only one option.

Moving her hand back, it came forward with full power, enhanced by the Force. She could feel her skin splitting as her fist connected with the metal, denting it. A second punch and she could smell her own blood. The third, and a few bones began to crunch. But there was an opening now, and it wasbig enough to wring a hand through and push metal panel away.

Scherezade looked at Kore, judging her size, before nodding. It was big enough for the two of them to crawl through, and through the hole, she could see another hallway.

"After you," she smiled.


[member="Adelle Bastiel"] [member="LE-03 (Leigh)"] [member="Vidalu Na'an"]

 

[Adelle Bastiel]

As Feyre climbed her way, Adelle carefully swung out of the recess to move out of her way. She hooked a hand around a pipe and shoved her foot among some wires. After a moment, Feyre pulled her fist back and swung at the door. She could feel it. Cold and violent and angry. Feyre punched again and Adelle smelled blood. Feyre was a darksider. Adelle could almost feel her own finger bones breaking with the final punch. The smile on Feyre's face was both satisfied and mildly disturbing.

"After you."

Darksider or not, they were both in this together. Besides, it wasn't like she hadn't helped a darksider before.

Adelle hoisted herself inside the recess and slid through the narrow opening in the elevator door—for door it was. Another hallway met her. Adelle checked both ways and beckoned Feyre through. The floor through here was meticulously kept, as opposed to the dusty, stained floor they came from. A faint smell of oil hung in the air. And still, she felt no other lifeforms.

"We should have run into someone by now," she said. "A guard or an alarm or something. I don't even see a camera in this hallway."



[member="Vidalu Na'an"] | [member="LE-03 (Leigh)"] | [member="Scherezade deWinter"]

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

There wasn't much Scherezade could do other than nod in agreement. The lack of lives on the ship, the lack of notice – it wasn't just weird now, it was out right unsettling. And worse, she was bleeding. Not enough for her to fear blood loss to the point of weakening, but she was leaving a blood trail, leaving DNA behind, with an enemy who so far had no face, no voice, no existence.

Groaning, she ripped a part of her dress off and wrapped her hand in it. This, she figured, would at least give her some time before the danger from an unknown that could or couldn't use her blood became better known.

"I'm getting tired of this," she muttered. No, there were no cameras that she could see either. "I really hope they just upped and left us and we're about to find a cockpit or I'm ramming this ship into the nearest wall I can find!"

Annoyed, Scherezade marched forward, ready to show how true she was to her words.

What she had not counted on, was panels of this hallway opening up, and a dozen or so turrets now aimed at both her and her partner in crime.

"I mean…" she sighed, "a very nice, very cushioned, wall, that won't harm the ship in any way?"



[member="Adelle Bastiel"] [member="LE-03 (Leigh)"] [member="Vidalu Na'an"]

 

[Adelle Bastiel]

Adelle hummed in agreement then froze as the panels opened up in front of them to reveal at least six turrets, all aimed at them. She felt the charge of their powercells and flung up a Force shield around Feyre and herself as the turrets opened a heavy, sustained fire.

"Well kriff," she growled, drawing more and more on the Force to keep up the shield. Each barrage stripped away a layer she had to replace. "I can keep up the shield but those turrets have to go!"



Scherezade deWinter

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

Adelle Bastiel​

There was little time to think. "SHIELD!" Scherezade screamed, hoping the other woman would react quickly enough.

She? She wasn't about to do anything shieldie. Scherezade had been born and bred to cause damage. Every fiber of her being was designed for that, and while defensive maneuvers were somewhere in the back of her lexicon (very far in the back. Super back), it would take too damned much time.

Arms rising, she began to work on the outskirts, not pausing to see if Adelle Bastiel was doing the thing. It was a do or die situation, though there was a certain chance that it was a do and die situation as well.

With far more brute strength than anyone looking at her would think she had, Scherezade yanked the first turret from its place, aiming it directly as the turret on the opposite end, aiming the still active machine to go for the narrow parts that combined top and bottom. It was a risk. It was… Well, no, it didn't work, you didn't create a turret that takes out your own turret, that was just juvenile engineering.

Groaning, she instead flattened both of her hands quickly on the first turret and screamed. Blue bolts that looked very electric began to dance against her skin, and within moments, the turret she'd tried to manipulate was completely, in every sense of the word, kaputzki.

Scherezade looked up at the woman who'd become her partner in crime, to see if she was still alive. What she was definitely not doing, was looking at her own body. If she'd been hit by the turrets yet, she didn't wanna know about it so soon. Knowing it would mean feeling it and she was still pumped with the adrenaline of battle.

 

[Adelle Bastiel]

The shield held up against the barrage as Feyre first tried turning a turret then fried it with lighting. Adelle angled her Force shield to protect both her and Feyre against the last turret. In her next breath, she dropped the shield and switched to using Force Absorb. The turret fired into her hand and body. Adelle turned that energy and used it, crushing the remaining turret. The smell of burnt skin and carbon filled the hall and she grit her teeth. She was familiar with the smell but she'd never gotten used to it. Feyre had to have burned through at least two layers between the heat the turret would've generated and her own electricity.

Buzzing in the Force, like Leigh's signature, moved towards them. Healing would have to wait, if Feyre even wanted it. She'd never tried to heal someone alert and moving, and she wasn't sure if Feyre would actually protect her while she stayed in a meditative trance. The adrenaline of the fight would have to do for now.

Adelle aimed a Force push at the corridor's opening behind Feyre, as two security droids rounded the corner. They flew into the wall behind them, metal limbs flailing. But they still had their blasters and they began to get to their feet.

" ' Least we're on the right track," she said. Adelle drew on the Force and sprinted forward, faster than natural. As she struck one of the droids' blasters wide, she really wanted to know who had this much money to spend on slave operations. And just how much they were earning on this illegal trade.



Scherezade deWinter | Vidalu Na'an | LE-03 (Leigh)