Never Anywhere Nice

[Anora Vahn]

This was not something Anora had ever pictured herself doing, not in this sense at least. Running out to save lives seemed to be something the Jedi did quite often, after all, so that wasn't the part that was hard to imagine. No, the part she was struggling with was who she had come here for, and why for that matter.

Anora had gone back to Kashyyyk after the firm conclusion that she had been abandoned. Tyran had up and disappeared without a trace, and while she certainly wasn't his mother nor his keeper, the lack of contact after so long had been enough to send her away. Yes, she had of course suspected foul play, but since no one had heard anything, and nothing seemed amiss? The brunette had chalked it up to being left behind. It's not like she could blame Ty after all, not after everything that had happened with Eenia and Tyran's poor ship...even if they had gotten another commissioned and she was helping to pay for it.

Still, after a while of no word and no answers she had decided to return her sister's lightsaber, and that ended in Anora's return to Kashyyyk to resume training. So imagine her surprise when she had been out and about and spotted Tyran's armor. At first she had simply chalked it up to seeing things, but a second and then third appearance caused Nora to investigate. The movements were wrong, the mannerisms weren't right, and it didn't take long for the brunette to get to the bottom of it. Apprehending the impostor hadn't been easy, and stripping the armor had been a struggle she never thought she would have, but she managed both. The easiest part of the whole ordeal? Getting information about where the armor had come from and why this idiot had it. Clearly this someone didn't want to deal with the imprisonment she had threatened him with - or maybe he thought maybe Anora would kill him.

Either way, it lead Anora to where she was now. She hadn't been an idiot about it either; she had made sure to inform her Master what was going on, though rather than drag him into all of this as well, she merely had him on standby in case something really bad went down that she and Tyran couldn't get themselves out of. After all, she had absolutely no idea what sort of shape he would be in by the time she found him. Of course, said Master was by no means pleased by this and wanted to tag along, so naturally the brunette hadn't waited for him. She had taken the things she needed and took off to the location she had been given. And at least the slavers were as unoriginal as she had expected them to be, their location was secluded enough which would make transporting slaves easy enough, but it had been rather easy for Anora to slip inside of. Granted, she was indeed the stealthy sort, and she was also very highly aware of the fact that if getting inside of the place was easy enough? Getting out of it would not be.

But for the moment, she couldn't worry about the particulars. No, right now she needed to find Tyran and do as such without getting seen - or at the very least not get seen by someone she couldn't incapacitate. If she managed to pull this off? Hoo, did Ty owe her one...


[member="Tyran Numeck"]

 

[Tyran Numeck]

Tyran’s world was pain, but it had been that way for months now. He was bruised and cut and bloodied but he wasn’t dead and that was the mistake the slavers had made. Instead of chaining him to a wall and beating him into submission daily, they should have killed him. Their leader however, a Trandoshan named Zabb, had liked the idea of having a pet Mandalorian since no one else could say they had one. It was an embarrassment to Tyran more than anything. He’d taken a job to eliminate this particular group of slavers but had been given bad information about just how many of them there were. Zabb had, had more men than Tyran had ammunition and he had been overpowered.

He hung from chains on a wall eroded by water and his cell smelled of mold and decay. He was also sick, he was shirtless in the cold confines of his prison. His arms were numb most of the time from being elevated above his head for hours on end. His body was a broken mess from the repeated beatings but the fight wasn’t completely gone from him yet, he was just letting them think that it was.

Tyran knew that he had to let the Zabb’s men believe he was no longer the threat he had once been. He was far from peak condition but he still had that Mandalorian resolve. He feigned fear whenever the doors to his cell would open as if he was about to be assaulted by Zabb or one of his lieutenants and it must have been pretty convincing because the guards had started to get too comfortable around him. It was no longer like it had been during the first few months of his incarceration when they’d been cautious and kept their distance. Now they stood well within arms reach and goaded him. Poking a sleeping bear.

So when the doors opened this time he kept to the script like he had been doing. It was one of the regular guards that came into his cell to harass him but he was flanked by a new guy Tyran hadn’t seen before, a young Nikto and he didn’t look impressed.

“This is a Mandalorian?” He said in rough Huttese. “He doesn’t look like he could hurt a Jawa.”

“Believe me he is,” The other guard said as he back handed Tyran. “He killed about thirty of our group when we first captured him a couple months back and about a dozen more after that until the fight went out of him.”

“This shriveled up human?” The Nikto said in disbelief and punched Tyran hard in the stomach. Neither blow felt particularly good so it wasn’t hard to sell being in pain. “Amazing how something so fragile can be so dangerous.”

“His luck ran out, ain’t that right Numeck?” the other guard said hitting Tyran again.

Tyran spit blood onto the floor and struggled to a standing position. “I think…it’ll pick up…again…soon.” He said and then with all the strength he could muster rammed his forehead into the face of the Nikto. It wasn’t the smartest thing to do since the alien’s face was covered in spines and needles, but the Nikto was closest. The Nikto crumpled to the ground and Tyran ate another fist to the face before he launched his legs up into the air and around the other guard’s neck. He torqued his hips and knees and there was an audible crack and the guard went limp.

Tyran let his legs drop with the body and took a few deep breaths and then grabbed the chains hooked to his wrist restraints and began to pull. It took him a few tries and more effort than he would have liked to admit but eventually one of the eroded bricks in the wall gave way. Tyran reached up and pulled one of the Nikto spines from his forehead and used it to pick the lock of his wrist restraints before searching both bodies for anything useful. He took the boots from the bigger guard and grabbed both of their blasters and all the ammo packs they had. Tyran stood near the door release for a moment and just collected himself before hitting the pad beside the door and stepping out into hostile territory with one goal in mind.

[member="Anora Vahn"]

 

[Anora Vahn]

While the overall appearance of this establishment had been simple enough, navigating the inside had been more difficult than anticipated. The halls found were long and usually had more than one room, and any open space was pretty much exactly that; open space. There was little room to remain hidden behind things, and with people loitering about, it made getting through and searching for Tyran not just difficult, but overly frustrating for Anora as well.

It didn't stop her of course, but it did slow her down. The lack of hiding spaces also made hiding unconscious bodies difficult as well, which meant avoiding any unfriendlies was high priority the farther along she went.

"Dammit Ty, where the hell are you?" she whispered as another room she had come across came up empty. Where the hell did these slavers keep their slaves? Had they made a sale and gotten rid of all of the poor souls, Ty included? Did she catch good information but at a miscalculated time? The brunette slid into a shadowy corner and took a slow, deep breath which she sighed out just as slowly. Her eyes rolled closed and she worked to calm herself and focus. While not particularly fantastic at this sort of thing, Anora knew Tyran well enough that she could recognize him through the Force if he were still here. Honestly she should have done as such from the start, but hadn't even thought about it up until this point. The area was still a bit hard for her to decipher, and she could get blips of things here and there, but soon enough she found what she was looking for.

"There you are." her eyes came open and Anora was moving. She was navigating the area now, still carefully moving and mindful of the things around her, but she had a direction to go in now at least. It took being careful, and being patient - which was not easy for the brunette - but soon enough she rounded a corner and breathed out heavily as soon as she caught sight of the figure ahead of her.

"Tyran!" his back was to her, and she didn't want him turning to try and kill her because she ran up on him from behind without announcing herself.


[member="Tyran Numeck"]

 

[Tyran Numeck]

Another body had hit the ground in front of Tyran, smoking from several plasma rounds he’d put into it. Alarms were blaring at this point and he was beyond trying to be stealthy. His only goal was finding Zabb and collecting on the bounty he’d taken. A contract was a contract after all. The one thing he had going for him was that there wasn’t a lot of areas for the slavers to ambush him. It was a double-edged sword though because if he could see them coming then they could do the same.

He was better than them though. He was disciplined and well trained unlike the slavers who’d grown fat and lazy behind their walls and were disabled by too much ale. It appeared they had never planned for an attack from within their own base which was another fatal mistake they’d made.

Tyran had no idea where he was going as he moved through the labyrinth of hallways and corridors, blasting anyone who came into his path. Now that he was back in combat his adrenaline was flowing and had numbed him to his list of injuries. The countless hours of survival training started kicking in, helping to further ignore his physical problems and kept him pushing forward.

Nothing was going to stop his advance through the slaver base, not until he had Zabb’s body laying at his feet, but then that voice rang out behind him and caused him to freeze for an instant. He looked over his shoulder and saw Anora standing there and his mind couldn’t comprehend what he was seeing.

He turned his body towards her and stared at her, not sure what to do next. “Anora?” He called out to her, his voice soar and gravelly. “What the hell are you doing here?”

Before she could answer though the high-pitched whine of a blaster shot through the hallway and something incredibly hot hit him in the back, just under the right shoulder. Tyran spun with impact of the blaster round and returned fire, striking his assailant twice in the torso and face. When the body hit the ground he turned back to Anora. “You really shouldn’t be here.”

[member="Anora Vahn"]

 

[Anora Vahn]

What was-- Was he joking right now? "Wha--" before Anora could formulate a heated response, the blaster fire came from behind Tyran. At one time, she probably would have winced at the sound and tried to duck for cover, but after so long training around the damned things, the only part of it that phased her was the fact that Ty had been hit. Of all the times to not be a healer.

"I shouldn't be here?" she repeated, and she moved forward towards him. "For your information, I came to get you the hell out of here." she glanced around then and shook her head. Honestly she hadn't even known what to expect coming in here, and she had done it blindly just so that she could have the chance to get him out.

But her head shook and she shift her gaze from the bodies laying about back to him. "You're also going the wrong way." she informed him, then shifted so that she was stood out of the way and he could see the direction she had come from. "I had a path cleared, but considering the fact that everyone and their brother knows you're making a break for it by now, I don't think it's going to be such a cake walk...."


[member="Tyran Numeck"]

 

[Tyran Numeck]

“What gives you the idea I’m making a break for it?” He said as he loaded a fresh charge into the blasters he’d taken from the guards. There was no way he could just walk away from this place and leave Zabb alive. “I took the contract and as long as I’m breathing I have to complete it.” He could see the retort coming from a mile away and he headed it off with. “It’s a Mandalorian thing.”

He turned back the way he had been heading. “Thanks for coming to rescue me, but I’m not leaving until Zabb is dead.” He rolled his freshly injured shoulder a few times to test it out, it stung in some places but for the most part the superheated plasma had fused the nerve endings and he couldn’t really feel anything.

“So, unless you’re going to help me chase this guy through this base you should probably leave.” It had been a while since he had seen her but he had to assume she’d gone back to her Jedi training. What he was going to do went in the complete opposite direction of all of what her organization stood for. “Unless your okay with the extermination of a notorious band of slavers.”

 

[Anora Vahn]

If Anora were to be perfectly honest, that response sent a sharp, stabbing pain straight to her gut. Her brow pulled down in the middle, as did the corners of her lips, but that was really the only indication of the negative reaction she felt towards the situation. She had been working hard on the emotional part of all this Force training, after all.

And yet, "I don't think anyone would be very pleased with me if I just walked away from some place, knowing that it's filled with slavers, and did nothing about it." Part of their job in the order was clearing out slavers, after all. Of course, slaughtering them wasn't exactly going to earn her a pat on the back, but to be fair? She hadn't killed anyone - yet.

So with a sigh, she turned and started to follow him, most definitely against her better judgement. But hey, she wasn't going to leave the damn place without him, even if he was being a total jerk. "When this is done though, I'm taking you to a healer." It wasn't a suggestion either, nor was it up for debate if her tone of voice was any indication.


[member="Tyran Numeck"]

 

[Tyran Numeck]

“I don’t need a healer,” He said despite her tone. “I have a med droid on my ship, I landed it well away from here in the jungle. Just take me there when we’re done.” He was certain the slavers hadn’t found it, they would have really rubbed it in his face if they had.

“How’d you find me?” He asked her as he started back towards the hallway filled with bodies. He knew it just wasn’t by happenstance that she had showed up here and she had pretty much stated that when she said she’d come to rescue him. “Did one of these idiots start talking about how they had a Mandalorian captive? That’ll do wonders for my reputation.” He grunted.

 

[Anora Vahn]

"You do need a healer," Anora argued. "A healer will take care of all your wounds, not just patch them up." she waved a hand, gesturing at his frame even if he couldn't see her doing it at the moment. "Though I suppose if you really don't want your armor back, you can just limp your way back to the ship and play with your droid."

She knew that would strike a chord, and while it didn't completely answer his question, it was definitely an opening up to the answer that she had for him. And if he thought these assholes talking about having him captive was going to tarnish his reputation? Just wait til she actually got around to answering his question and telling him how she got here.

[member="Tyran Numeck"]

 

[Tyran Numeck]

"You know how I feel about the Force." He said to her as he continued down the hallway. So what if he had a few more scars? It wasn't like he didn't have an impressive collection already. It wasn't until she mentioned his armor that he stopped in his tracks. "My armor?! How the hell do you have my armor?!" He said turning and stalking his way back towards her. Suddenly it all clicked for him and he cursed and kicked one of the dead bodies lying on the ground.

"One of these maggots was out there in my armor weren't they?!" That was a very big line to cross for Tyran. "Zabb is a dead man." He growled. "Alright I'll make a deal with you. You want me to leave here and get healed, I want to finish this job. All I need is Zabb's head, use your mystic powers and find the only person in the base that's as angry as I am. He'll be afraid too."

[member="Anora Vahn"]

 

[Anora Vahn]

Anora rolled her eyes hard enough that she was surprised that there was no audible sound to go with the movement. "Its not like being healed is going to convert--" but her words cut short when he whipped around to face her. Both of the brunette's brows lofted, though even when he started to stalk towards her she didn't move from where she had stopped.

"How do you think I found you?" she let out with a shrug. "I spotted your armor mulling about, knew it wasn't you by the way the bastard moved, and so I got involved. And before you ask, yes." Nora lifted a hand as if to stave off any questioning that might come her way. "I got it all, and it's all still in good shape." She wouldn't say perfect because someone else had been wearing it, and well...

When a deal was laid out, Anora took a moment to lean and look behind Tyran to make sure there was no one else there at the moment - she didn't want him shot again - before her gaze shift back to him. "Fine, deal." she agreed. "Now don't let me get shot, or you'll be on the hunt in this place forever."

She didn't give him time to answer before she stepped off to the side to be out of the immediate path in case more company showed up. She then took a steadying breath and closed her eyes before falling still and reaching out to try to find this target. The sooner they got this over with, the sooner they could get the hell out of here.


[member="Tyran Numeck"]

 

[Tyran Numeck]

Under normal circumstances Tyran wouldn't have been as impatient as he was, but they were in hostile territory surrounded by an untold number of enemies. A blaster bolt came from around the corner and went wide and showered Tyran in sparks as it hit one the illumination panels in the ceiling. The lights began to flicker in the hallway and Tyran ducked into where Anora was and returned fire.

"Hey I know you need to concentrate but we need to move soon."

 

[Anora Vahn]

For a Force user who was more connected with the actual Force using of the whole thing, searching for and locating a single body probably would have been a piece of cake. For Anora, who could of course use the Force but better at enhancing her physical prowess than her mental reach, this wasn't an easy task. The halls blurred together, life forces faded in and out, but that was okay because none of those were what she had been looking for.

The blaster fire followed by Tyran's voice caused Nora to make a noise in the back of her throat, but at least it didn't break her concentration entirely. It waned a little, but she was still on track. Again she took a slow breath, and she pushed the sounds around her away and focused instead on the emotions Ty had said to look for. Sure enough, it didn't take long.

"There," she exhaled the word and her eyes came open. "I found him. Holed up in some room, hoping everything between you and him will keep him safe." Not likely.

 

[Tyran Numeck]

"Well, which way from here?" He asked her as he ducked out of the way of more incoming fire. If Zabb thought that he was safe hiding somewhere in the base then he had another thing coming. "You have a weapon right? If not you might want to grab one."

[member="Anora Vahn"]

 

[Anora Vahn]

"Through the incoming blaster fire." came the immediate retort, and Anora would have gestured too had it not been for said blaster fire. Though the question that had followed the first made her make quite the rude noise with her mouth. "Of course I brought a weapon." she let out. "I did have a fairly good mentor there for a while, you know."

Of course, whether she was talking about him or the Jedi Master was up in the air. Either way, she unholstered her blaster. "Once past here, there's a turn to the left, then another hall. The room we want is at the end of it."

 

[Tyran Numeck]

"Yeah well your mentor has spent the last few months as a captive for a bunch of slavers, so I wouldn't brag about that." He grunted. He'd broken so many of his rules by taking this job and he was angry at himself for being in this position more than anything. The contractor had had limited intel on the layout of the base and how many occupants were in it at a given time and how well armed they were. Tyran had been over confident and paid the price for it.

"Well you've got the mystic powers and all that can't you knock these guys across the hall or something?" He asked her as he ducked back into cover and reloaded his blasters. "Tell me you have my weapons too because these ones are junk."

[member="Anora Vahn"]

 

[Anora Vahn]

"Hey, I said for a while." Anora pointed out in response to that, and while she was just teasing and trying to lighten the mood if only a little, she knew he was right. She could only imagine how bad and/or bitter he felt about all of this, the entire situation. So rather than press about it any further, she instead shift her focus to their current predicament.

"Admittedly, that's not my strongest talent..." she told him, though it wasn't her worst either. At one time it took very little effort for her, but having been out of practice for so long...Regardless, her gaze shift to one of the bodies in the floor and with a deep breath in through her nose she reached out. Soon enough the body came up off of the floor - which seemed to cause fire to cease down the hall for the moment - and then with a flick of Anora's wrist, the levitating body was hurled towards the hostiles.

"Your weapons I didn't see," she finally answered him. "That means they're probably here." Probably in with Zabb no less. "Now go while we've got a window." she didn't know how long the shooter would stay pinned beneath the corpse after all.


[member="Tyran Numeck"]

 

[Tyran Numeck]

Of course, Zabb would love to have those blasters as his own. Tyran had paid a lot of credits for those blasters and they were top of the line MT-14s that he'd customized to fit his tastes over the years. Tyran made sure that the shooter wouldn't be getting back up to bother them as they passed by. He followed the instructions that Anora had given him, shooting a couple more of Zabb's slaver goons as they got closer.

"Alright you stay out here and keep the hallway clear." He told her as he stood in front of the door. "I need to do this alone." Then somehow he found the strength to boot in the door. The distinct high pitched whine of his blasters discharging hit his ears but Zabb's aim was horrible. Tyran disabled the slaver boss with a few precise shots and slowly stalked up to his prey.

"You know the price on your head is pretty large for bringing you in alive." He growled. "But after an extended stay and experiencing your hospitality I'm good with the price for bringing you in dead." He emptied the rest of the blaster's power pack into Zabb's chest. He promptly collected his weaponry as well as the grisly trophy to prove his kill. He stepped back out into the hallway and looked at Anora. "I only need his head, now I need to get back to my ship and after that my armor."

 

[Anora Vahn]

There wasn't even a flinch from Anora as they passed by the downed body and Tyran made sure it wouldn't be getting up again. It was quite contradicting to her teachings really; she was supposed to be preserving life to the best of her ability. In fact, she just had a whole lesson not too long ago about disarming foes, not killing them due to the chain of effects it could have. And yet here she was, striding along with a blaster in hand, choosing her and Tyran's lives over these slaver monsters - and didn't think twice about it.

When they reached the room Nora had said Zabb was in, the brunette nodded and stood guard. She did wince and shift to look inside the room when she head Ty's blasters, but otherwise her focus remained on the area ahead of her. Only twice did she have to discharge her own blaster into a pair of bodies that had started down the hall towards them, but otherwise the area remained clear even up until Tyran came out with his prize.

A prize that made Anora do a double take, then look at her companion as he explained. "Well..." she started, then when she didn't quite have anything smart assed to say, she shrugged her shoulders. "Alright then." was all she had. Normally taking a bounty in alive paid more, but in this circumstance she could understand. "Don't forget to squeeze a healer into that plan of action too." she did remind him, then started back down the hall so that they could put some distance between themselves and the room, and get the hell out of this place all together.


[member="Tyran Numeck"]

 

[Tyran Numeck]

"You really aren't going to stop about this healer nonsense are you?" He grumbled as he checked over his blasters, they seemed to be in okay condition but that wasn't going to stop him from stripping them down and cleaning the hell out of them. Anora's concern for his well being wasn't lost on him because she was most likely the only one that cared about what happened to him, but he'd been injured like this before and a med droid had always done the job just fine, but he knew if he didn't that she'd just keep harping on him about it and he did NOT have the patience for that right now.

"Fine, I'll see this mystic healer of yours. Let's get out of here I'll follow you since you know the way to the entrance." He followed behind her at a deliberately slow pace because his adrenaline was starting to wear off and a world of pain was starting to crash down on him. As they made their way through the winding hallways of the base Tyran decided that he had absolutely delivered on his end of the deal by wiping out the entire slaver operation, there were a lot of bodies on the ground.

When they got outside he had to stop for a moment. "You're going to have to go get my ship because I can't go any further. DO NOT wreck this one." He said. "Give me your datapad and I'll mark the coordinates for it."