Nights on Nar Shaddaa (completed)

[Faith Organa]

Disappointed could not be hidden from her face as Draz said he lost the scent. She tried to console herself with thoughts that it was amazing that he had found a scent at all. Which was true she hadn't really expected him to find Draco just like that.

She was beginning to wonder though what was happening to Draco while they looked for him, he. Her face froze as the thought inched its way in, he could be dead. She shook her head no, she wouldn't think on that...

"Captain Lindsey take us back to the platform, we'll try again" She smiled nodding in Draz direction trying to tell him she understood there were limitations to even the best tracker.

As they headed back towards the platform


In the meantime

Rekha was going through the little bit of data that she had been able to permanently borrow from Lios office, office...well station was more like it. There were things that were password protected, but she having a bit of training as a slicer from Remy, and then some from Eliza could at least crack a password.

There it was, a woman from Contruum, a noble, oooo a former noble. But at least now they would have an idea, and this would give them the edge needed to find her. She had to stay somewhere.

Rekha pulled up an image of the woman. "interesting"

She immediately sent it all to Faith, with a note that she'd keep looking.


On the move

Faith sitting as silent as a stone now her thoughts filled with horrors she needed hope, she needed control then her comm beeped. She took out the datapad the information was good, and what she needed.

She sent it to Ana, "Look for this anywhere you can, what is the closest place that was recently rented." A woman would want immediately gratification well Faith would if she were seeking to make a man suffer. Suffer.

Ana began working, it would take time to find places after all this was Nar Shadaa where crime was a way of life. "she asks the impossible at times how many buildings does she think there is on Nar Shadaa, and how many are near this place" Ana began accessing records.

[member="Draco Vereen"]

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Draz padded around on the skyhook, his tongue flicking out at various intersections. He didn't seem to notice or pay attention to anyone else on the skyhook, just went about doing what he was doing, sniffing the air, occasionally following someone and sniffing them closely. Most people nervously moved quickly away from the barabel moving around on all fours. Occasionally, the lizard being would open his mouth to reveal his six centimeter long fangs and taste the air before continuing.

After about a half hour he lead Captain Lindsey and Faith down a hallway that was nearly empty. It was one of the access hallways with turbolifts to the docking and storage levels, and was basically empty, only a Rodian and a few ugnauts moving around. The Barabel moved up the ugnauts who shrunk away from him as he tasted them with his tongue until he sniffed his way over to the rodian.

A deep bestial growl rumbled from the Barabel's throat as he sniffed the Rodian and the distinct sound of claws unsheathing themselves filled the corridor. Ugnauts, little ugly creatures scurried away and the Rodian pressed the lift button rapidly, reaching for a blaster. "Hey, control your pet man." He called, having been outside the room, he didn't recognize Faith or Captain Lindsey having been the get away driver instead of the two after Draco.

When the lift opened, the barabel pounced, one hundred kilograms of muscle and beskar propelled by powerful hunter's legs straight into the rodian dropping him to the floor of the turbolift with a thud. A single blaster bolt fired off at the reptilian before he was restrained. By the time the Captain or Princess arrived, the Barabel hunter was holding both of the rodian's wrists and had his mouth around its neck. Draz was careful not to really harm the rodian, just holding him, teeth barely drawing blood as the Rodian laid as still as he possibly could, barely even breathing in submission.

[member="Faith Organa"]

 

[Faith Organa]

Faith stared at Draz he had someone by the throat she could only assume this was someone associated with taking Draco. She looked at Captain Lindsey and then back to Draz, "good job Draz"

She smiled not the smile of happiness, but that one that said this is going to be a bad day for you. She looked into the eyes of the rodian, "I think you know something that you want to share with me" She looked at Draz, "if you don't answer, an answer with what I want to hear my friend will slowly begin closing his jaws around your throat." She smiled again tilting her head. The sweet little Princess look, "Right Draz if he doesn't answer you clamp down tighter"

She looked back to the Rodian, "eventually you'll run out of ways to breath, which means we are going to kill you unless you tell me where you took [member="Draco Vereen"]"

Captain Lindsey did not say a word he had heard the Princess utter many things over her lifetime but to outright say they would kill someone, he couldn't believe. "Ambassador"

Faith looked up, "Captain you can stand down until I'm finished if you are unable to tolerate this" Then she looked back at the Rodian. "So...what do you have to say?"


Meantime

Ana had every record for a 1km distance up slowly clicking off businesses that made no sense, or ones that were too high profile for something clandestine. Course she could have this search all wrong, but then she had never had to do this before. Ana was getting a headache.

It didn't have to be recent she suddenly realized, no, they had to look by association too, was there someone with ties the woman. Or had she been seen? Too much footage, no.





Office space, living space, and whatever other space

Rekha Kaarde was putting in disc after disc looking if there was a location along with the name.

"UGH!" She closed her eyes, she needed [member="Spark Finn"] right now to figure this out, the slicer knew more about sifting data then she did.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Draz the barabel pinned the rodian down growling lowly and squeezing the Rodian gently when Faith threatened to have him clamp down. His teeth were already uncomfortably digging into the Rodian's flesh just a little, but six centimeters was a long way to go, and with a bite strength similar to some crocodilian species, the Barabel was more than capable of killing the Rodian in this position. His tail swayed side to side gently as Faith spoke. This wasn't a new experience for the reptilian creature, he was a hunter, and he preferred to fight with tooth and claw over other weapons, though he had vibroknives.

"Get this thing off me, I don't know nothin!" The rodian shrieked as Draz slowly tightened his jaws and dug his claws into the rodian's wrists. "I was just the getaway guy. All I did was drive the speeder to here! I swear." The barabel didn't seem pleased with the answer and tightened a little bit, his tongue tasting the Rodian's blood. Draz mumbled something unintelligible as his mouth was so far open, followed by a deep growl as the one hundred kilogram lizard adjusted himself to put all of his weight into the rodian stomach, clutching its wrists in its clawed gauntlets.

"All I did was drive, that's it. I don't even know who they picked up or why!" He was practically screaming, causing the barabel to squeeze tighter, the Rodian gasping as the jaws tightened around his throat. "I'm sorry, I'll do anything!"

~Elsewhere~
The woman returned, her face had makeup on it from where she had cried, but now she was angry again as she followed the man missing his two front teeth. "No money, no bounty. There is a guy on Vena willing to pay half what you promised in peggats. Your transfer got denied. No money in the back, no cash in hand, no bounty." He said, shoving his way past her into the room to check on Draco.

"All out, huh?" Draco said quietly, "Shame no one in the room is a billionaire with access to a datapad."

The woman looked at Draco with a glare. "There has to be something I can do, anything. I just need more time!"

"No, transfer approved in the next ten minutes or your done. There is a ten thousand credit bounty on you I can cash in while I'm at it." The man checked Draco's bonds and then slammed the door behind him leaving the Draco and the woman alone again. She sobbed, slipping down the wall into a crouch.

Draco looked at her and frowned a little. "You know, I'm surprised you haven't thought of anything beyond simple revenge." His voice was even, though he seemed to be mocking her just a little. "You haven't thought about anything else, a future, anything. Its quite admirable really, too bad its slipping through your fingers."

The woman stood up furiously, preparing to hit him again before she stopped. "You, you have money."

"Yup."

She pulled out a small little hand held datapad and tossed it in his lap. "You transfer me ten million credits, and I will let you talk to that princess on the comm one last time before you die." She was pleading now, bargaining. It was something he could work with. She was desperate and making mistakes.

"That's not a lot for me. I transfer you ten million credits and I have to trust you to hold up, or I can get sold off to Vena, where they might give me to my princess anyway to get their lands back." Draco recognized the planet, a source of pain for he and Faith. Whether it was the Duke's constiuents out for revenge or the Duke's family saw the auction and decided they could earn back the Organa's good graces hardly mattered, but she couldn't risk that.

"Fine, I'll let you see her."

"In person."

"Yes, yes, just give me the money I need."'

Draco picked up the little device and punched numbers into it, asking for routing numbers while she stared over his shoulder the whole while. After about eight minutes he transferred fifty million credits from he and Faith's joint account to her personal account, the one with her name and information attached to it, with his pin number.

"There you go." He said, handing the device back to her for her to quickly arrange a ten million credit transfer to the bounty hunters, and pay off the dozen or so guards she had paid to accompany her. All the while Draco held on to the stylus from the datapad just in case.

[member="Faith Organa"]

 

[Faith Organa]

Rekha sat there staring at the screen ok, what had Eliza and Remy taught her about looking at information, the little things could take you places. Ok. Rekha drummed her fingers against the wall thinking, what was one thing she used every day. Something that anyone would use.

OH!! Money! Rekha began a search of payments received by Lios and then began cross checking large sum transfers on Nar Shaddaa.

In the meantime
Faith was staring at the Rodian. "You can help me by taking me where you took Draco. You said that's all you did right, drive. Well fine, let's drive." She looked at Draz, "If he so much as moves a finger that you suspect to be other than what he said remind him who is in control of this"

Captain Lindsey stepped back he really did not like how the Princess was acting. He had seen her driven to the edge of disaster a few times but never quite like this. He could only assume her fear of losing Draco was driving this behavior.

They small group was on the move again, this time back to the pod with a different driver. Draz lingered behind the Rodian, while Captain Lindsey took the side seat, putting Faith in the back to watch.

They were seen zig zagging through the traffic once again, and then they began to dive. Everyone held their breath.


At the hotel
Ana was taking a pain killer, she began thinking as well. What would I do if I kidnapped a Mandalorian? She smiled, first is he cute? Does he have stunning blue eyes that make my knees feel weak...she laughed.
"Ok, enough of that. If I'm hiding him though" She laughed again thinking if I'm hiding him he's tied to the bed.

She shook her head again, "work work, but what do I do with him. I hide him in the least obvious place." She looked at the map. "I can't be seen too long cause that just gives it all away." She moved the map, "I can't leave the planet because people are looking for him"

She looked at a block of warehouses near the space port, most of them were rent as needed. She quickly sent the message off to Faith.

Warehouse district by the spaceport.

[member="Draco Vereen"]

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Draco sat quietly waiting for the woman to return. He hoped that such a large withdrawal would through up some caution flags for anyone paying attention, especially Faith and Ana. Fifty million gets transferred while he's missing, and using his unique pin. He hoped someone would notice the large sum and become suspicious of the woman he had transferred it to.

He breathed in, centering himself as best as he could. Without the use of the Force, he was able to channel the Force, but he was still able to meditate and focus. She was a product of his carelessness earlier in life, a product he would likely half to deal with permanently. Unfortunate, yes, but there weren't many other ways to do this. It was either convince her to give up her crusade and go back to having a decent sized fortune but no loved ones, no family left, in depression. Or she would have to killed.

She returned with the man missing his two front teeth. "Alright, everything checked out. You understand, don't you? Can't go back on a contract once you've accepted, regardless of better offers."

"I understand. I also understand you came into my bedroom and dragged me out in front of my lover." Draco looked up at him and smiled. "I know I'm such a nice guy these days, but you might need to be reminded of who I am." The Mandalorian sat relaxed and calm, waiting for a response, but the man just left, the gand standing outside watching Draco intently. Even without the Force, Draco could tell the Gand didn't want to be reminded, he just wanted to be able to walk away. The insectoid turned after maintaining eye contact for a moment and hurried to keep up with the man.

"So. You want to see your Princess in person one more time?" The woman said closing the door.

"That was our deal. I got to see her, you didn't get shipped off to some hutt." Draco frowned a little. He could tell where this was going. "She has a pair of boots, she will know which ones I mean. Ask her to wear those for me."

"Come on, you are supposed to be a smart guy. I can't tell her where you are. I can't really move you around." She was smiling, and Draco could see what she meant, but he had assumed as much. Draco held his tongue. He could say a lot of things, he could tear her heart out with a few sentences, throw her entire crusade for vengeance back in her face. But he didn't. "I will leave this with you, so you can record a message for her."

As she turned to leave, she glanced back at him, holding the recording device, and smiled. "And then, I think I will beat you to death." She grinned evilly and made her way out to talk to her escorts and give him some privacy. She had everything she wanted right now, and there was plenty of time to make him suffer, feeling like every moment could be his last.

But Draco wasn't suffering for himself right now. The longer she waited the more likely it was that he could escape or be rescued. He hoped a mix of both might happen. He popped open the case of the recorder with the stylus he had stolen earlier and pulled out a few wires, some stronger than others, some less flexible than others and began playing with the lock on the shackles.

[member="Faith Organa"]

 

[Faith Organa]

They were headed into the spaceport district now there were four buildings on the list that Ana sent Faith looked at the Rodian, "which one?" She pointed to the datapad.

meantime Rekha was tracking money, she had dug a bit deeper looking at transactions for the last few days the payment would have been made before they took him right...while she looked however something else caught her eye, a large transaction, which by itself was not anything on Nar Shadaa, it was the account name. She smiled, so Draco was paying someone, was he paying them to let him go? Would he be free before they even got there? Feth who knew but it wasn't time to stop. Just in case.

She was running a trace now, when the transaction was live where was it at...she stared at the IP, then cross referenced it to another list, the easy list, that signal bounced off a feed near...the space port.

She sent that information to Faith, narrowing it to two buildings in the space port district. She got up got a speeder and headed off to the district.

Faith looked at the messages, YES YES they were close and getting close, "Draz, can you smell Draco?" The Rodian looked around at them nervous, "yes up here" He pulled up next to a building and jumped.

Faith was ready to chase him, but no...he didn't matter anymore, "Draco's got to be here somewhere its either this building here, or that one there" She pointed across the air way.

She pulled her blaster the one the Captain tried to keep from her and started towards the building, "Wait" Captain Lindsey was there, "we don't know how many, and we don't know if this is it, so..let's be cautious and smart Princess"

He looked at Draz, "What can you tell us Draz?"

The two humans looked and waited.

[member="Draco Vereen"]

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Draz was a bit more heartless than the Princess, but he simply watched the Rodian running away. "This one will catch him later." The Barabel exclaimed, sliding out of the speeder and crouching on all fours again. The animalistic gait the barabel had made him appear more like a savage akk dog than a noble reptilian species. Still, he followed a trail.

"This one senses nine. Two are familiar. Both scentz from the room." He said in a low whispering hiss and his tongue flickered in and out, tasting the air, and his nostrils flared out taking in deep breaths. "But, no Alor. No sense, no scentz." Draz began moving up against a wall leading the group, nine to three wasn't very good odds, but they were not bad either.

~In the Cell~

Draco fumbled with the locks. He wasn't a master thief or a locksmith, so he wasn't making good progress as he played with it. The recorder, while it didn't function, it did look like it had, despite missing a few wires Draco was now clutching.

The door clicked as someone unlocked it and hastily Draco concealed the wires as best he could as the door opened. "Well, did you figure something out?"

"Yeah. Just a little difficult you know. How are you supposed to send something like that?" Draco asked rhetorically as he held up the device. The woman took it and slid it in a pocket on her jacket. "Its not the easiest thing to do. Record a last message."

She smiled at him, and for a moment Draco thought she was relating to him until a metal pipe in her other hand struck him across the face. Instinctively, he rolled with the momentum, however the chains kept him low to the ground and so he ended up lying on his side, scrambling to cover his head as she began laying into him with the metal pipe, striking his back, side, hands covering his face and head. Anywhere she could connect the metal to him, she was, viciously lashing out at him, a slight metal ringing in the air as she attacked him.

For what felt like a long time, she stood over him, standing behind him where he couldn't really reach her and swung up and down, up and down. The ringing of the metal pipe was little more than a dull thud as she heaved, out of breath, sweat pouring off of her, a grin of satisfaction on her face. Slowly she turned and made her way out of the room calling for water as the door closed behind her. Draco groaned and sat up, feeling the aching pain in his flesh, and the sharp stabbing pain where his bones had fractured. It was going to be a long day or so of this. He could feel it.

~Outside~

Draz jerked to a stop. "No other. Just eight now." and then began circling, looking for the first pair for them to go after. "Here. Two." The Barabel stopped and tasted the air pausing dead in his tracks. "This one senses nine again. This one can taste Alor, but only barely and cannot sense him." The Barabel had to stop and think. They had a Force Nullification in the area they were using to hold Draco, otherwise they wouldn't have people disappearing from his sense and he would be able to detect Draco better.

"These two, quickly, quietly!" He growled, unsheathing his claws and waiting for Faith and the Captain to give the order.

[member="Faith Organa"]

 

[Faith Organa]

Two from the room? Well two more would give them more answers right? Faith looked at Captain Lindsey, "Nine to three interesting odds, don't you think?"

He shook his head, "I can't let you kn there Princess if anything were to happen to you, to" he looked down to her stomach she thought about it for a few seconds then looked back up, "I know" She had a decision to make, "Can we separate the ones that are familiar away from the others.." If these were the men from the room they'd recognize her and the Captain, but Draz wasn't there.

She looked at him again, she hated that she was having to rely on him so much but he was the logical choice, "Draz, we need to lure the two out, so..." She looked ahead, Faith couldn't hear anything other than the steady beat of her own heart.

"He says Draco isn't, well that he doesn't sense him here"

Captain Lindsey could see that she was struggling with what to do, "Princess"

She knew the answer even if she wanted the men who did it, "finding Draco is the most important thing, if Draz says he doesn't sense him here, then let's try the other building." But maybe he couldn't sense him because they had killed him, there were nine and no matter how much he trained Draco was a mortal man, and without his armor. they had chosen the best time to come, their vacation before the wedding was shattered.

She did not know how Draz and the Captain would react but she had to do what was best not just for her, but for Draco and their children. "let's go, maybe we can find him there" Faith knew Draz would go after the Rodian later but that was on him, she at the moment didn't want anything but bad things for those who had taken her drahr.


[member="Draco Vereen"]

 

[Laira Darkhold]

"This one does not know which is which. Only that one has an insectoid scent, the other is human. These others smell human too." And something else tickled his nose, like lavender or lilac or roses. Some kind of flowery scent in the air, faint, but present in the area.

Draz hugged the wall and walked around, tongue flickering out and about, but at this distance his ability to differentiate was only mediocre. He could follow the trail fine, but eyeballing which person in close proximity to others was the person leaving the trail was beyond his ability. Once he got close enough he could determine the difference between them by their scent, but until then he wasn't able to.

"This one thinkz stun weapons for now." He whispered in a hushed tone, moving with Faith and Captain Lindsey towards the other building sniffing and smelling around the walkways and corridors. When they turned a corner a simple security droid stood there and began to order them to freeze, but the Barabel, slightly startled having been focused on scenting and finding someone was already in motion, clamping his powerful jaws around the droid's weapon arm and driving his claws into the thigh and neck of the droid, pulling wires and circuitry out as quickly as he could to rapidly disable it.

"Sorry." He muttered, oil and other droid fluids in his mouth causing him to gag slightly on the odd taste.

~Inside~
Draco groaned, rolling over. Both Ysalamiri were still awake and projecting their null fields keeping him from doing much else other than sitting around. The shackles were too formidable to break or loosen without the Force and the positioning of everything would make fighting back difficult. The chains were only long enough for him to sit slightly hunched over, uncomfortable, much less granting him a good range of motion. All he had been able to manage the first time was cover his head, which was good, but not much. He would wear out a lot quicker than she would.

The door opened again and the woman returned, still holding the metal pipe she had attacked him with the first time. He grumbled from the floor. "Ready for round two?" But she didn't respond, she just walked up to him and started swinging that damn pipe again, beating him over and over with it, gaining some sick satisfaction from trying to kill him, the same way Vulkan had slain her son in combat. Vulkan, naming the other half of him was a good way to avoid guilt from his actions, but it was all him. If there was anything he learned from this experience it was that. That he was still responsible for his actions, even during his time as a Sith, as a Dark Jedi. It was all still him.

Finally she stepped closer to him, and he spun taking out her legs with a kick to the side of her knees, dropping her to the floor. Angrily, he kicked her in the stomach as she scrambled, yelling for help from the guards outside. Blood from his injuries stained the floor and blinded his eyes. Everything was red, but he kicked her again, and again. She scrambled madly to get out of range, and hadn't realized she had left the pipe lying close to him until she was out of his range, diving back towards the door.

Draco's hands found the pipe, and he wiped the blood from the cut above his eyes from his face so he could see, but black hair, blood, and sweat slipped into his vision almost as quickly as he did so. The Mandalorian slipped the pipe into the ring the chain was attacked to got a good angle and put all of his strength and weight into wrenching the chain floor.

It loosened, and the Mandalorian pried harder, veins bulging, muscles surging. Pain coursed throughout his body as he struggled, fractured bones creaking and searing in anger as he utilized them anyway. The bolt jerked out partially, a deep-seated duracrete bolt, but it was loose now, almost out.

And then the two guards rushed in brandishing battons of their own. They began hitting him, pulling him off the metal ring and doing their best to pin the struggling Mandalorian to the ground. The door was open, his roars resounded off the walls of the room no longer sound proofed. He did all he could, used his elbows, his legs, his knees, but his assailants weren't so heavily restricted, weren't already injured like he was. Weren't tired like he was.

The battons continued to strike him and choke him until he was left laying limp in the floor, exhausted, hurting, pinned down. The guards were at least tired as well, rasping for breath and groaning as they stood. The woman sat in a corner, holding her metal pipe looking at him. "Get out." The guards looked at her, confusion on their faces. "GET OUT! GET OUT! GET OUT!" She screamed over and over again until the departed, leaving the door ajar in their haste to get out of the mad-woman's sight.

Draco groaned on the ground, rolling so he could kind of look at her, but he couldn't really see her, nothing but her outline. "Not what you expected."

She coughed, wheezing a little. He wasn't one hundred percent when that fight started, but she felt pain in her chest and ribs where he had kicked her and her knee was painful to put weight on. "How dare you hit me!"

"Most people fight back when you try to beat them." Draco muttered, moving to slump back in a seated position.

"But you deserve this! This is a mercy for what you deserve even!" She cried through sobs. She was angry, she was venting, and she was lost. But she hadn't always been that way.

"Probably. Nah, I do deserve it, but I was given a second chance, and I'm not letting anyone take that from me without a fight. Whether I deserve to be punished, or don't deserve the chance I've been given. I'm not letting that chance go to waste. There will be some who I'll have to put down, some I will have to kill, even if I don't want to, but, its what has to be done. For mine, for my family, for me." He grunted as he sat facing her, taking a deep breath in. "So, if you are ready for round three, lets get to it. I'd say I won round two."

[member="Faith Organa"]

 

[Faith Organa]

Outside

"Don't worry about it Draz" Faith, the Captain and Draz headed through the door into darkness off to their left there was the low muttering of voices. They all stood silent looking in that direction.

Moving through darkness without knowing what was around them was a risk, traps, doors, hidden guards all could at any moment slip from the shadows and stop them cold. The air was not stale like they thought it could be, but the hint of flowers lingered everywhere. Faith shook her head, "I know that smell" she tiptoed down the hall her own nose tickled by the scent, "it's perfume"

Was there a woman in here?

Again the lower mutterings of voices carried in the building, the emptiness carried the sound easily. "i think we off her and sell him make a few credits for aggravation"

Faith for some reason reached out thinking that there was a pillar in front of her, her eyes were adjusting to the lack of light. She could barely hear Draz now, and somewhere to her right Captain Lindsey was moving.

Draz was on the floor moving quickly now. No one spoke as they moved, they couldn't give up their position, not now.

Faith kicked a bucket its contents scattered across the floor. Suddenly everyone was silent as footsteps started their way. Faith knelt down, and lifted the blaster.

"you hear that, over that way" Two men, weapons drawn inched towards them.

"COME OUT!" they yelled.

Everyone held their ground.......second ticked by.......then the room lit up with blaster bolts.

[member="Draco Vereen"]

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Draz aided the princess, snapping off shots from his wrist weapons as the pair of men began approaching the trio of rescuers, filling the room with bursts of energy and showering of sparks. The guards inside seemed like the trained security, not exactly special operations paramilitary. More akin to boot camp survivors in the private sector. They didn't lay out proper fire lanes, nor did they find cover very quickly when the shooting started.

Draz growled and hissed loudly as he moved from his cover approaching the two wounded men. Well, one wounded man. The first had a shot in his chest from the princess's blaster early in the quick shoot out. There was shouting down the hall to either side of them as the others heard the commotion. The Lizard flicked his tongue and stepped on the wounded man's arm, pinning him down where he could not reach his blaster or crawl away. "This one senses more coming. Six. The last is blind to me. None of these have the flower scent of the last." Draz spat twisting his foot as he turned and dispatched the wounded man with his claws.

The reptilian being didn't seem concerned with the other body at all, only dragging the one he had slain and holding it up against himself. "This one has a shield." He said with a lipless grin, showing his fangs. "Pull boxes to make cover there," he said, pointing to a corner of the room. "That way you can fire across the room and into that corridor, while this one covers the other door."

The sound of boots clanging against the floor grew louder as six beings moved for the room they had just attacked. Four on the door Draz had instructed Faith and the Captain to cover, and two to the other side. The reptile pulled a grenade from a pocket in his gunbelt and gleefully pressed the trigger mechanism arming it before giving it a gentle roll through the door with a snicker. "Ears." He mumbled in warning to the Princess and Captain in the seconds before the very loud noise from the flash bang grenade.

~In the Cell~
Draco heard the commotion going on outside. Part of him thought the mercenaries this woman had hired were taking out the bounty hunters, but then he heard an explosion, the distinct audible pop of a flashbang and grinned. Someone had come looking for him. "Looks like its the end of the line," he muttered, spitting out blood as it filled his mouth from the cuts and wounds he had suffered. Split lip and loose tooth was the least of his worries. Concussion was basically a guarantee, just depends how bad it is.

The woman looked at the door, eyes wide as reality processed for her. She stood up, and moved quickly, off to Draco's side, screaming at him, yelling incomprehensibly as she aimed to hit him in the face, hitting his hands instead as he held them up to defend himself. She proceeded to lay into him again and again, hitting his hands as she hit him with the metal pipe over and over again, the dull thud echoing in the room each time. There wasn't much he could do other than cover his face and head, protect himself as best as he could. He was tired, having gone a long while since he slept, having spent most of his day with rigorous activity or in this very uncomfortable room. His injuries and druggedness was still a burden on him, having never been allowed to fully recover. What strength he had left, he had already used trying to free himself and power through the pain before her guards had beaten him to little more than a pulp.

She screamed at the top of her lungs until she was hoarse, coughing as she caught her breath and backed away from him. Draco coughed and rolled back up to a sitting position, blinded by his wet hair hanging in his face. He groaned and she laughed out loud, giggling to herself.

He heard the sound of a knife ringing as it was unsheathed, and his head listed backwards as he looked up through swollen eyes.

[member="Faith Organa"]

 

[Faith Organa]

Faith ran for the corner pulling boxes, and covering her ears. My goodness she thought Draz is very efficient. Her heart pounded steady in her chest never on her worst day in the Senate had she ever run for her life like this.

She popped up and looked around quickly, then covered back up. She saw four looking over to Captain Lindsey she held up four fingers and pointed in the direction they were.

The whispers carried Who do you think that is, did you see them?

It sounded like they had no idea. She wanted to yell, make a deal, she was a diplomat not exceptionally skilled at shooting

"I just want the Mandalorian"

Glances were exchanged, Does everyone want this guy?

"I'll forget what I know for 2 days" She didn't know anything but they didn't know that. She leaned against the box, "It's not worth your life"

They had gotten paid from the woman, and if they were going to get time to get lost might be worth it. Make it three.

Faith nodded, "three, where is he?"

There was the sound of scrambling, crashing, as they headed out another entrance. What if he wasn't here, what if..

Faith looked at Captain Lindsey, he nodded and looked around from his hiding place looking to see if the coast was clear. He moved cautiously out keeping his weapon aimed in front of him just in case.

Faith had a feeling Draz wouldn't let the men leave without punishment it made it easier to let them think they had some time. Draz didn't give his word. She smiled semantics, but they had taken her Dragon from her.

Faith crawled out she felt that creepy crawly feeling that made her edgy. They headed down the hall, there were more doors.

But they wouldn't keep him in an office would they, the slid along the wall listening that smell came back.

Faith stopped sniffing she inched along waiting for it to get stronger, anyone who bathed in this stuff should be easy to find. Shoe wanted to call out but if the woman was part of this, and was with Draco. If he stilled lived...

Captain Lindsey motioned to where a golden light filtered through the darkness, they raced to the door.

They couldn't hear anything.

Faith reached for the doorknob going to one knee while the Captain stood behind her...please please she though as she opened the door quickly...and rolled inside.

[member="Draco Vereen"]

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Draz let out a deep hissing growl and tore down a different hallway towards other life forms in the area. He could smell them, and he recognized them from their scents in the room. If anyone knew where Draco was, it would be them. The reptillian ran on all fours, moving much like an alligator on land, hauling himself across the ground in their direction. He could hear the Princess making deals with the others, and he might be sent to hunt them down, he might not. For now all that mattered was that he take these other two down and figure out where Draco was for the Princess.

~In the Cell~
Draco listed around on the floor, trying to listen for the woman's movements to react to her, but he was pretty messed up. He could barely see, and wiping the blood from his eyes only let him see outlines and shapes for a short time before he was blinded again. She didn't seem to realize his predicament and advanced on him straight on, swinging the bloody pipe against his shoulder hard. Draco practically heard the snap of his collarbone, and he could do little more than kick out at her.

He was tired, and it was hard to fill his lungs; every breath he took, he had to gasp for through the pain, wheezing as his lungs emptied. His head swam from the drugs they had given him to put him down, and he wasn't sure which drugs they were, but it felt like coma gas and ixetal cilona mixed and pumped into him heavy. Possibly injections into his arms to keep him under for as long as possible. His body hurt, and he could feel welts and deep bruises forming on his side and back. His hands ached, and sharp pain shot from his fingers when he tried to bend them, broken fingers and wrists from protecting his head as best he could. His head rung like a bell, blood seeping from his wounds above his brow and in his scalp.

"I've sacrificed too much, waited too long for this!" She whispered, scrambling with him. He felt a stabbing pain jolt through his arm as she jabbed him in the bicep with her knife. She was crying, heaving against him with all of her might, struggling with the much larger, stronger man as best she could given his injuries and condition she held the upper hand. Draco grabbed for her throat and squeezed with his waning strength, but she pulled away, bright red marks appearing on her neck as she pulled her self behind him.

Her hand grabbed the knife handle in his arm, his hand covered hers, holding it there, keeping her from taking it back. She kneed him in the back, putting pressure on his broken ribs, pain searing through his body.

[member="Faith Organa"]

 

[Faith Organa]

She could see Draco and a woman wresting for something. Then the picture changed and the woman was kneeing him and pushing him, the sounds, she will live a hundred years and never forget that sound.

Draco was having a hard time breathing, Captain Lindsey was shouting, but Faith couldn't hear what it was. Faith was on her knees, leveling the blaster, "STOP OR I'LL SHOOT" she wanted to shoot anyhow she wanted to bring this woman pain, she wanted to run to Draco. What had she done to him, the darkness only allowed so much light a god send for certain for if she could see the extent of his injuries Faith would not allow the woman to live.

It was the voice of Captain Lindsey slowly filtering through "Put your hands up and back away from him"

Faith was staring at Draco trying to will him to look towards her but his breathing was all wrong, Faith inched forward slowly. She tried to keep her eyes on the woman, even in this darkness Faith could see there was something wrong with her. Whether it was her eyes, her perfume, whatever it was all wrong. Who was she?

The Captain cleared his throat, Faith stopped moving she looked up towards the woman. "Let him go."

The woman smiled and made a move the Captain did not like, one blaster bolt to her leg stopped her cold. Even he couldn't shoot her dead right now. The woman screamed, grabbing her leg but not letting go of Draco.

"I will kill him in front of you, so much better, more than I could have hoped for"

Faith couldn't let her kill him, but how would she kill him.....what did she have that they couldn't see??

[member="Draco Vereen"]

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Draco was holding the knife in his shoulder, she had dragged a deep gouge across his arm in the struggle to wrench it from him. He was more or less just touching the woman at this point, wincing in pain, and lacking any real strength left. He could feel himself slipping out of consciousness, his vision pretty much gone, but he was having trouble keeping his head up now. "Hey baby." Draco said with a weak smile. "Don't worry. She's not going to kill me in front of you. She's scared, but she wouldn't put someone else what she's went through." The Mandalorian coughed as he spoke, a wheeze throughout his voice as he struggled to breathe.

"Oh yes I will!" She shrieked, pulling the blade out of his arm with his feeble resistance and holding it towards his neck. She wasn't holding it right to kill him quickly, the blade pointed away from him. If anything she would hurt him a lot, but not kill him quickly enough to stop Captain Lindsey and Faith from saving him. If he could be saved at this point. He wasn't sure without his Force Sense, all he knew was he wanted to get stitched up, lie down in a nice warm bed with Faith on top of him until he drifted off to sleep.

Draco's head sagged lower and he listed off to one side, partially exposing her, mostly by accident. He could see the house, out in the forests, a lake behind it. They hadn't spent enough time there for Draco's tastes. He wanted to sit out on the porch with Faith in his lap, make love in the garden, see their children grow up in the safety and security of that place. The woman jerked him, trying to get a better hold on his body as Draco simply fell off to the side, the chains shackling his hands to the concrete were too short to let him comfortably fall over, but he slumped, at an odd, unnatural angle.

She raised her hand with the knife to stab him, but Draco was a million miles away already, he didn't know, he didn't notice, he wouldn't have cared much given his current state. Sitting drugging in a puddle of his own blood had taken its toll.

[member="Faith Organa"]

 

[Faith Organa]

Faith smiled, "Drahr" she whispered staring at him he was struggling for breath he was slowly dying as it was without air he would suffocate in front of her. She could feel the panic building inside her she bit her lip to keep from shouting at the woman, but when the woman made her move to end Draco's life.

"NO!" Faith screamed as the blade was at Draco's throat. Out of sheer terror of losing him Faith launched herself from the floor up towards the woman. The woman's hand was midair on the downward stroke towards Draco's heart why she had switched to his heart when his throat was bare to her Faith had no idea and would later think on this but not now.

Faith dropped the blaster as she reached out to grab the woman's arm. The gleam in the woman's eye turned more to fear overcoming her thoughts of victory as Faith hit her in the chest as she scrambled past Draco.

Faith likely kicked Draco during all of this but a kick was better than a knife to the chest.

The two women fell back knocking Draco further away. Faith had balled her right hand into a tight fist and threw the punch at the woman's throat. While with her left she held to the woman's wrist trying to slam her hand to the floor to listen the grip.

The women would have rolled around more if Captain Lindsey had not stepped over and pointed his weapon at the woman. She looked up resigned she fell back and laid there.

"He's a monster, a murder, and you're a fool if you think he's changed no one changes from that they just learn to hide it better. "

Faith her hand still balled up punched the woman in the mouth. When she finally realized he woman wasn't going anywhere she crawled over to Draco.

She frowned listening to him, "We need to get out of here, and we need a doctor, a really good doctor" Faith brushed his hair from his face, the extent of what had been done to him becoming more evident.
"Draco" she whispered leaning down close to his ear, the smell of iron began to fill the room.

"Hang on Drahr you're free. We found you"

Whatever had brought all of this about Faith would learn later from Draco right now priority one was to get Draco medical attention.

[member="Draco Vereen"]

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Draco groaned as he was kicked and fought over, but he didn't really move around while they pair of woman struggled. If he would have been conscious, he would have been furious his pregnant fiance was getting into a fist fight with anyone holding a knife. Luckily he wasn't aware enough to remember the incident or be angry about it in the near future.

Instead his thoughts turned to his past. How many things had he done that had caused consequences and suffering like this in his life. He hadn't always been a very good man, there were many times when he had been evil, been dark and caused pain to others. Even when he had been good, been doing his best, he caused pain and suffering. Was he inherently evil?

"Hang on Drahr. You're free, we found you."

Draco recognized the honey sweet voice in the distance, through the murk. It was filled with worry and sadness, but he smiled weakly anyway. No he wasn't all bad. Even now he was determined to make the galaxy better, purge the One Sith and the Republic from the core, freeing billions from oppression and torment. He had once been a part of both organizations, but had changed over time, just as they had changed with time.

He had Alderaan, Aldera, his people, Faith's people. They relied on him, Faith loved him, she changed him. He had his faults, his dark past, but she loved him anyway while he worked on being good enough for her. Making her home his own, and keeping their people and culture safe. He didn't open his eyes, he just gently reached for Faith's cheek and touched her gently with broken fingers.

[member="Faith Organa"]

 

[Faith Organa]

Faith returned to the suite long enough to gather their things and leave taking the kidnapper with them. She needed to get Draco to the best doctor she knew and that person was on Aldera.

The woman was put under heavy guard and placed in a cell upon their arrival.

The weeks to come there would be many discussions about why, but for now Faith was relieved to have her Dragon at home. He nearly died several times whether from injury or something more Faith did not know. She could only watch and say prayers to whatever and whomever could be listening if there was such a thing as a higher power she hoped they did not take him from her.

Every breath he took she counted as one more toward the goal of his recovery.

"don't you dare leave me" she told him over and over...she knew he was not Indestructible.