First Reply Professional Idiot

[Nej Tane]

PROFESSIONAL IDIOT

SULLUST

​

Nej had a way with words. He had a better way with cards. But often times, he didn't play for credits- he played for scores. It was common to wager uncommon things, the rarer the better. He just so happened to be wagered a Jedi Holocron, against his piece of an ancient Starmap.

Boom-shaka-laka. A little sleight of hand, a little stun setting on his blaster, rocket boots, and an escape worthy of it's own movie- he was in possession of a holocron. Well. With nothing to show for it. He tried plugging it in, shaking it, talking to it, with no avail. Apparently, word on the street from the who's-who of other idiots was that Nej had to find a Jedi to find out what was on it.

Well- Nej and Jedi, may have had their differences which made it difficult to find the right one. He could have taken it to a Sith. Maybe one of them could help too. But he'd rather run into a do-gooder in a bathrobe than a do-badder in a darker bathrobe. The difference, mainly being, that Nej would probably walk away with the encounter with the Jedi without being tied up (in the bad way)-

Well, without being tied up and murdered.

Although, he did hear Sith women are pretty...

He bounced the Holocron in his hands, watching the RTL citizens pass by him in the cafe. He was not aware- that in the force, the Holocron was humming, like a beacon. A giant force flashlight in a dark room, more or less. Whatever was on it, was something else. He wasn't even sure where it came from- the Holocron was Jedi in origin, but how far back was anyone's guess. Could've been Old Republic, could have been High Republic, could have been New Jedi Order- pick one, and it was probably correct. Nej just had no way of knowing.

So, he left it on the bag on his hip, and sipped at his drink, none the wiser of the danger, power, or knowledge he might've contained. To Nej, it was a score, and a blank check that was either worth quite a lot- or quite a lot of nothing. Either way, he didn't have much else going on. That is of course, he wasn't aware that there were about thirty or forty mercenaries coming towards the same cafe, about a mile out, walking through the same city.

He ordered his caf and his sandwich, mulling over which Jedi to go to, or which Sith to get it to. Unless someone found him first.

​

​

 

[Delila Castillon]

Sometimes one had to take jobs they didn't want in order to pay the bills.

Case in point ; her current situation. Assisting a group of mercs in an attempt to get back some type of Jedi object from a thief. Apparently the guy had rocketed out of a card game, a clever slight of hand and some blaster play. From what she had heard, it was rather impressive.

Now, she could care less about the Jedi. Or the Sith. Or any governmental organization for that matter. Yet the Saegassum needed a hyperdrive and the math wasn't mathing to make it happen any time soon. A problem when herself and her crew relied on said vessel for credits.

So here she was now, assisting some overgrown idiot named Croban,all muscle and no brain. She was here to be the brains it seemed, no matter, long as the credit payout was good at the end of the job that was all the mattered.

Blaster rifle slung over her shoulder, she was a few steps behind the main groups of mercs and Croban himself. Credits were one thing but so was self-preservation.

The redhead had no idea if Mr.Rocket Thief had his own squad of goons waiting on them.

She wouldn't have to wait much longer to find out.

 

[Nej Tane]

​

He bounced the Holocron in his hands, blissfully unaware of the danger he was in. In fact- in the LOT of danger he was in. He rolled it across his fingers, before he took another sip of his caf. The people in the cafe started to point and look- and sure enough, trouble was coming.

A lot of trouble.

He vaguely recognized the guy in the middle- Crouton or Cobalt or something. He rolled his shoulders, his mercs and Delila-

DELILA?

Nej spit out his caf, hastily eating his biscuit that he ordered, looking around on the street for the gathered mercenaries, which fanned out around him. He just sat there, hands resting on the armrests of his chair, cocking an eyebrow about how they were spread out.

"Give us the holocron, Nej, or I'm going to rip you limb from lim-"

"No."

Nej shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. "I'm good, thank you." Crustacean blinked and looked at his mercs.

"But we'll kill you." He sounded rather defeated, like Nej had taken away his monologue that he may or may not have practiced, or rehearsed in his head.

"I mean you might but-"

They were both interrupted by the sound of jetpacks and the thud of boots. A squad of Bounty Hunters came out, and held up a Bounty Scanner in their hands. Well, there were two groups- one confusingly looking at the other, while one of them had Croban, the other group of Bounty Hunters had Nej. Apparently Nej was good at hiding, and Croban, or Croban's people, were able to find him. So the Bounty Hunters were following the two groups, unknowing of each other until the current moment.

Nej, meanwhile, sat in his chair, blinking as the group began to speak amongst themselves, and tensions grew.

A lot of tension in the air.

He coughed, gathering the attention of Delila, and a few others, mercs and Bounty Hunters alike. "Hey there, Delila." He said with a small wave, pocketing the Holocron rather slowly.

"Wait you know this-"

And then, all hell broke loose when Nej put a hand up to the table, clicked his teeth- and activated his rocket boots, sending the table flying into the chest of Croban- and all hell broke loose. It was a hell of a brawl- Bounty Hunters, Mercenaries, Nej, and now Delila, all tangling together. Say what you wanted about Nej, he was lucky, he was dumb- but damn if he couldn't fight like hell.

Delila Castillon

​

 

[Delila Castillon]

"NEJ?!"

Years ago, Nej was a good friend but as things tended to do in the 'verse, one gets busy and drifting apart happened. Didn't help most of her jobs were out in the middle of nowhere, nothing but vast stretches of inky black 'verse, skirting much of real civilization.

She wouldn't have taken the merc job if she had known Nej was the target.

"Wait you know this-"

Oh hell.

Now she was in a dangerous situation. No doubt the mercs now thought she was trying to help Nej. Up until this point, she wasn't even sure the man was alive in the galaxy at large.

Now she was involved in an old school brawl with Nej, Croban and crew, and a variety of bounty hunters who also arrived for Nej. What type of thing did Nej steal to get this type of attention? Seemed excessive.

If she had learned one thing it was ask questions later, although she didn't suspect there would be a later in this case.

Blaster rifle met the eyesocket of someone who tried to take her down and Dells used the groaning man as cover, slipping along the edge of the brawl now. Another punch, then a glancing blow to the side of her own face, leaving a red mark.

She'd deal with that later, right now it was edging towards the exit to make her grand escape. Best to just call the job a wash and go.

 

[Nej Tane]

Nej was correct in a lot of things, but usually, he was wrong. Other times, he was just confused. It was one of those situations now that he was utterly confused, more or less. He wasn't aware of who anyone was, but he was aware that they were after him, and now Delila was here, there was a flurry of blaster bolts, stun bolts, vibroblades, and... fists.

And just general chaos.

Nej slid on the ground, angling his rocket boots behind him, scooting along faster, kicking up dust faster to create a smokescreen. By this point, the mercs and the bounty hunters were less concerned with the single man, and the two groups began to exchange more heavy gunfire. Nej slid beside Delila, who was priming to make an escape. He overturned a nearby fruit stand (snagging a piece in the process) to create cover.

He turned and fired a Disruptor round at a Merc she came with, knocking him off his feet (and into oblivion with half of his torso melting instantly). Nej turned to look at the redhead. Interestingly, Nej hadn't aged a day. At all.

"My third favorite redhead! How the heck are ya!"

A couple of blaster bolts went wide, skirting over their heads in the midst of the chaos.

Delila Castillon

 

[Delila Castillon]

Croban half-melted into a puddle of goo as Nej fired his shot, the older redhead ducking a bit so she wouldn't get any back splash of fluids on her. Wasn't the time nor place to be having to scrape innards off of her jacket.

"Don't think I'm getting paid for this job now."

A bit upsetting but right now the focus was trying to get out alive. Trying was the key word. From her hidden spot, she fired off a few well placed shots, taking down one of the Rodian bounty hunters that had arrived on the scene to look for Nej.

"Third favorite? At least I'm in the top three...who are the other two?"

Head nodded towards the door. Time to make a break for it.

 

[Nej Tane]

"Nah, probably not. Did it pay well? I got this-"

"GIVE US THE HOLOCRON, TANE!"

"Yeah, that."

He skirted along the side of a nearby building, flowing into the door Delila had nudged her head into. Nej hadn't lost his edge- in fact, Nej looked precisely the same he did almost 20 years ago when he met Delila. He fired a few more shots, popping a few more of the upset mix of people that came after him (and each other), and ran out of the door, bursting through it-

Only to find much more on the other side- local law enforcement and the backup of one of the two, three, however many groups (along with an upset street gang) now engaged in a massive brawl. They all stopped when they saw Delila and Nej and seemingly had a mental truce together, because everyone came after the pair.

Nej spotted a nearby landspeeder belonging to the local police, and pointed at it while his helmet went back over his face.

"Get that thing started, I'll cover you!"

Delila Castillon

 

[Delila Castillon]

"I only take the good jobs...come on Nej."

They were using the massive brawl to have a bit of a catch-up session. Nej must have been using some type of expensive face cream or Sith vooodoo because he looked smooth as a babys bottom and just as young too.

There was a lot in the galaxy she didn't question. Ignorance is bliss and sometimes ignorance kept one alive. She was chalking this situation up to one of those cases of don't ask, keep moving.

So he had a holocron. Delila didn't know what the target was when the job was contracted. Just that he had taken it from some high profile clients and it was valuable. To her, fairly useless, but one mans trash was another's treasure.

Then the brawl stopped. All eyes went to them. Great.

"Police landspeeder? Any good enforcement agency is going to have a slave circuit on it..."

Either way, Delila left to get things rolling. Most law enforcement left their vehicles running. These idiots were no exception.

Sliding into the drivers seat, panel right under the steering was pulled off, looking for any type of slave circuits or cut-off modules that would prevent their escape.

All they had to was get a little distance before ditching the marked speeder.

Nej Tane

 

[Nej Tane]

All this living, is so worth dying for.

Nej rolled into the speeder that Danger was clambering on, looking to the swarming mass of people who were sometimes fighting each other, but now, they stopped fighting- some of them. Nej blew a cop's cover apart, and then another mercenary who didn't take cover, met her swift end by his disruptor blast.

"This is getting a little-"

Hairy, was the word, as a blaster bolt narrowly missed him, singeing, exactly one of the hairs off of his bangs.

"Close!"

He rode shotgun, ducking in the speeder, gritting his teeth as the blaster bolts grew more focused on the pair. As the danger grew closer, Nej began to laugh. He felt alive again.

"You look great, by the way! You married still?"



Delila Castillon

 

[Delila Castillon]

Couple of wires pulled, some that looked important. No matter. She only managed to singe one finger as contacts came together, the speeder roaring to life. The redhead immediately pressed the pedal, the vehicle lurching forward with a start. A police speeder, it was top of the line in terms of speed and power, reasoning they would have to be able to keep up with the criminals in the 'verse.

She didn't know a damn thing about the city. All Dells knew was she had to push as far as she could towards the outskirts. Soon enough the security forces would figure out what exactly speeder was stolen and try to shut it down. Streets were a little narrow and too many pedestrians for her liking, hopefully she wouldn't run over some old lady.

"I look old. Unlike you, Mister Baby Face."

Another sharp turn, she knocked out the edge of a fruit stall. Every speeder chase knocked out a fruit stall, this one would be no different in the slightest.

"Xin and I never married, so technically...." A small pause. "We are still together though. I keep trying to leave him at the ports we visit but he's a persistent one."

Nej Tane

 

[Nej Tane]

"Perks of the job."

He lied. He had other perks. A lot of other perks. Perks that normal humans didn't get. He rolled on the speeder as she banked a sharp turn, other law enforcement, mercenary, and gang speeders on their tail. As well as he guessed, the fruit stall guild of the planet.

He slammed his shoulder against the backseat as blaster bolts came at them, and he returned fire while looking over at Delila.

"He's still alive?! I remember when I was-"

CLANG!

A blaster bolt hit the back of their speeder, just barely missing their thruster.

"When I was a mechanic with that cannibal ewok- on that ship. Good times. You guys should get married!"

Nej was a sucker for weddings. Mostly because it was easy to steal from them.

"You know these things fly higher!"

Delila Castillon

 

[Delila Castillon]

"He's still alive?! Of course, he's much younger than me."

Although Xin did have a horrible string of luck. She wouldn't be surprised if folks thought he died out awhile ago. Things had gotten better over the years as they stuck to the outer reaches of the galaxy and the less traveled space lanes. That came with its own problems, break downs on a spacelane that was less traveled meant one better be prepared to figure things out on their own.

"Cannibal ewok? Marriage? Going to pass on all fronts.."

Wait...the speeder went higher?

Eyes glanced over the controls, pulling back on the yoke...the speeder rose into the air. Look at that! Perhaps they could salvage a relationship with the fruit stall guild after all.

Nej Tane​

 

[Nej Tane]

"He's the one that stole that star destroy-"

Nej rolled, clinking to the back of the speeder for dear life when she yanked back on the yoke, screaming a very girly loud scream.

"You know, if you love him, giving him a promise that you'll love him forever isn't bad!"

Other speeders followed suit, also remembering that they were in fact, able to go higher. Nej stood up in the speeder, finding his footing, his helmet forming over his face. He grit his teeth- and pulled out his people's legendary handgun.

He stood tall, twirling it out of his waistband, hand laying flat over the hammer- and sent three shots whirring over to the speeder behind them, sending it into a rough landing when he took out the engine block.

"Want me to drive?!"

Delila Castillon

 

[Delila Castillon]

"Why are you screaming?!"

With herself at the helm, Delila thought it was stupid for Nej Tane to stand up. For one, she was not a great flyer. Why did she have to be? When she was a solider that was what others did, flew her into battle. Now that she was living a civilian life, it was Xin and Brak's job to fly them around. Could she fly? In theory yes but it was always a last resort, much like it was now.

Number two, standing up made an easy target. Nej seemed to enjoy being shot at it seemed, and she hoped he could hold on as she wildly accelerated around the corner.

"My driving that bad? I'd love for you take over...not sure how thats going to happen!"

 

[Nej Tane]

“Why aren’t you screaming!?” Nej retorted, before letting out a sharp scream as he was violently ejected from the speeder. He tumbled in the air for a few seconds, barely managing to activate his helmet-

And more importantly, his rocket boots. He saw a passing speeder, a chasing speeder at that. Quickly reaching to his belt and pulling out the age old “grappling hook in your belt”, with just a few seconds of boost left, he latched onto the speeder that was chasing Delila.

So, in front, Delila. Behind them, bad guy or police speeder. Nej wasn’t sure. Behind them, Nej.

On a wire.

He screamed a rather girly scream while being pulled violently through the air.

Delila Castillon

 

[Delila Castillon]

Of course the idiot would do something to make their life more complicated. She wanted him to take over flying, not hang around on a wire being towed around like he was out for a day of water sports. There was an idea of perhaps ditching the speeder and making a go of it on foot. She had a blaster. She was fairly quick for a woman of her age. There were enough alleyways and spaces to hide.

The speeder was too out in the open for her.

While Nej had made her fly higher, she immediately made a turn and quickly descended. Dells purposely let the speeder gain a bit of speed, intent on crashing into the streets below, letting the metal belly of the speeder skid on the pavement and concrete below. Sparks flew, citizens trying to live their lives jumped out of the way.

She also jumped out of the way. Bailing on the speeder, tucking and rolling as she hit the pavement too. Definitely going to have a bruised shoulder later.

Nej Tane

 

[Nej Tane]

Nej's body was screeching behind a speeder, either a police or a scoundrel or mercenary or whoever was chasing him this time. The speeder ducked down, giving Nej enough time to roll himself forward, activating his jetboots again- providing a slow down to the inertia he gained by being on the speeder. He lowered himself close to a rooftop, passing by, repeating the slowdown as he let go of the rope, tumbling in the air.

He skid along the rooftop, hitting it in a dead sprint to compensate for his speed, before stopping just at the edge, skirting some dust over Delila, who had crashed the speeder down below.

But they were still in pursuit, still under threat. He leered towards the incoming mass of ne'er-do-well assholes, sprinting towards them. Nej on the rooftops, Delila down below.

He pointed in a direction that wasn't the way the bad guys were coming, and started to run, dashing across the low adjoining rooftops of the shitty part of town.

And had his fingers crossed very tightly.

Delila Castillon

 

[Delila Castillon]

Dells wasn't quite sure where to go at first as she watched Nej Tane activate his boots and drift towards a shadier part of the city. Did she think this was a great idea? Not at all. The folks living over there needed credits, what was going to stop them from bringing Nej down? Granted, they had an element of surprise on their side, of confusion. As they ran past, no one would know what they were running for.

There was that on their side at least.

Their other problem : she couldn't run and exactly follow where he went. She would have to stop and look up. That meant being a target and she did not want to be caught by the bounty hunters and hired mercs she rolled in with. They now thought of her as a traitor.

So she ran away from the mercs, the bounty hunters, the bad guys. Just had to hope it was in the same direction as Nej.