Raiders, raiders everywhere.

[Jennifer Blanchard]

Jenn enjoyed driving, sometimes. And taking the airspeeder, a bit more expensive than some of the landspeeders and cargo-haulers they had on this backwater world, she couldn't help but feel out of place. But this was how she was going to handle the situation, they'd inspect the ranches, looking all rich, and then disappear. Or sort of. Pay some others to drive the fancy airspeeder, dress well, and eat well. They'd dress down in plain clothes for the hunt, and well... As she drove through the dusty town, the agent of Tion (Heil) almost cringed. Didn't seem that there was any power... anything here.

No fun at all.

“So, which spit of no where is the one we're looking for?” She spoke, turning to [member="Emerald Sage"]. Why was she out on this mission again? Didn't Tion have someone like Danger who enjoyed Rim worlds? Probably not. She'd be surprised if there was even technology to hack out here. Slugthrowers it was, she assumed.

Emerald was always getting them into something.

 

[Emerald Sage]

[member="Jennifer Blanchard"] might have been overstating things. Although it was an agricultural world supplying goods to Tion it was still a hegemony world with all the technology that implied. Respectable, albeit small by comparison to the Lianna, cities were thriving off the processing and preservation of the perishable goods and trade to the outside world. It was no Lianna, but still the planet was Tion. Folende was originally settled by a Kaminoan workforce and despite a later influx of immigrants it showed. This gave the appearance of a small gene pool common to the far out of the way sectors of the galaxy. Combine this with large open spaces broken only by storage barns and hydroponics facilities and Emerald could understand what she meant.

Still they had a job to do here. "We need to access public records." Emerald looked around as their speeder drove down the dirt road. It was a speeder, there really was no need for pavement. "I've already done some scouting and I think we have our in. The building is public, so its easy enough to get inside. The problem is the date we need to get to is in the magistrates office. I found a rather cute clerk in the office." Emerald winked, "you think if I can get his keys, and get him out of his office for a little bit you can get into the planetary system and download the relevant data on these thieves?"

 

[Jennifer Blanchard]

Over reacting? There was dust created by the outside! Not by organic sentient beings and exhaust. What even was this kind of place? When she got back to Lianna, she was going to get the nicest penthouse suite that the Hegemony would pay for her and then relax on the beach. Burn, most likely, because she was that fair skinned, but it didn't matter. She was going to get somewhere that wasn't this far backwater. Okay, maybe just a touch of overreacting. She could still complain. And it was up to [member="Emerald Sage"] to listen, or, y'know, not.

As they drove down the unsettled, podunk town (oh gosh, was that a banjo? Two?!) Jenn was listening to Em. She had her trollop ways of getting into places, which was a lot better than her trying to blow the damned building up. Jenn preferred to just hack her way through things, with a keyboard, not a sword. Or lightsaber. Did she even bring her lightsaber? The one Marek got her, an Obsidian Saber,. “If you can give me ten minutes inside his office I can ghost all the data from the harddrive. Or are you going to take your time with this one?” She stuck her tongue out, eyes back on the forward direction.

 

[Emerald Sage]

Emerald didn’t speak a response as she continued toward the City Hall. The speeder stopped just outside and across the dusty road. There was the semblance of a city here with tall buildings and apartments, but still nothing that Jenn would approve of. Now it was time to get ready. With the speeder park Emerald turned and smiled at [member="Jennifer Blanchard"]. It was a flirty little smile she normally reserved for bounties or marks. “Ten minutes should be more than enough,” she said. Pheromones perfumed the air around her as she lifted up her hand and placed it on Jenn’s cheek. She needed enough around her and on her when she went in. It made things much simpler. Emerald brought her face in closer to Jenns. “Ten minutes and not a minute longer.” she said pursing her lips and looking for the tell tale signs. Jenn’s pupils were dilated now, lips quivering. “Perfect.”

Emerald left the car and started her walk to City Hall. After walking around the speeder she beat on the side and with a smile said, “five minutes and then go on in… the key will be sitting in front of the door.”

 

[Jennifer Blanchard]

And now it was time for Em to work her weird magics. Sure, Jenn knew that it was equal parts pheromones and the Force, but for her, it was all sorts of magic and stuff. She used the Force for exactly two things, listening and aiding in her hacking skills. And affecting droids. Sort of. Not anywhere to the level of [member="Sasha Santhe"], but well, it was enough to shut them down. She was a tech-junkie, a cyberpunk, as it were.

Her eyes were wide. She knew [member="Emerald Sage"] was closing in her personal space, but it wasn't bothering Jenn, like it normally would. What was going on. “Ten minutes. Don't get lost.” For whatever reason, Jenn really didn't want her work partner to disappear. When the other woman came back and hit on the speeder, Jenn jumped a little. Looking out the window, she heard the countdown clock and checked her chrono as she nodded.

Show time.

 

[Emerald Sage]

Pheromones had uses beyond mere attraction, though that often was the most common use for them. Emerald was no stranger to wet sticky fumblings, and yet this wasn’t that. It only took a flash of flesh and the promise of quid pro quo to lure the secretary away. Mammals were predictable creatures. She had already done the prep work on the man beforehand and was now pulling him far away. “I’m so happy I’m able to peel you away,” She said smiling at him. Smiling was important.

The man nearly snorted, “It isn’t any problem, but I can’t be too long... “

Emerald played a little with his hair and leaned in swiping the key off the desk. “Just a quick lunch across the street, no one will miss you. I promise. C’mon, where is your adventurous spirit?”

A short minute later and they were off across the street. There was a charming cage selling whatever the locals grew. They sat under a cabana and Emerald stretched out under the light and smiled. He was gracious and paid for the meal while Emerald watched the door. There was flirting as the time passed and innocent gestures on her part. At the eight minute mark however she saw it, the magistrate coming back to his office… The man stepped out of the speeder and made for the City Hall entrance.

She hit her comlink activating a link to her partner. “This has been a lovely meal,” she said, “But I’m afraid you need to get back to work. We wouldn’t want your boss to catch you….” [member="Jennifer Blanchard"] had better clue in....

 

[Jennifer Blanchard]

Yeah, she was just going to keep... y'know, not dealing with people. It wasn't that Jenn was embarrassed, it was just htat she had better things to do. She watched as the pair stepped across the street and smiled to herself. [member="Emerald Sage"] had a gift, that was for sure. That meant she needed to move quickly. Walking up to the door and looking around, making sure no cameras saw her, the dyed-hair girl stepped inside. Act like you belonged and no one questioned, that was kind of how she was dealing with this, and just trusting that Em knew what she was doing.

Opeing the door t the computer room, she fiddled with her satchel until she found what she needed. A datastick that she could plug into most terminals. Once it was in, it'd show all hidden files, and start to upload a worm when she started to copy files. A basic data thief, but...

“Damn.” She whispered. Getting to her knees in front of the machine she had to find a back door. Leave it to some baron wannabe on the backwater moon like this.

And then she heard the voice. Wonderful. “Need another five. Computer is being... difficuilt.” She said, not bothering to turn the comlink off as she got to work, trying to find the back door, and break into the system.

 

[Emerald Sage]

A double dose of pheromones and telepathy along with a passionate kiss stopped any protest the young man might make. “Oh,” Emerald said suddenly as if forgetting something. “I forgot my lipstick on your desk. I wouldn’t want to get you in trouble.” And then she ran. Across the dusty street and into the building. The Magistrate was ahead of her, but that didn’t matter now. She pulled out her makeup case and fumbled through to find the proper shade. She smiled as she looked at the little metal cylinder. “The ‘fresher?” she asked one of the random people nearby. “thank you.”

She ducked into the refresher and looked up. Perfect. Oldschool lighting system that threw out a lot of heat. The light felt good on her flesh but she couldn’t bask. Reaching up she pulled the glass off the light and placed the lipstick there. Paint Bomb….

She crushed the top and started to walk out. Depending on the heat it would take…

Boom.

The explosion erupted from the bathroom littering it with fire. Alarms started to go off across City Hall. “I bought you a few minutes,” Emerald said into the comlink. Now it was up to [member="Jennifer Blanchard"].

 

[Jennifer Blanchard]

Yeah. So, it was a firewall that was fighting back. That was not very fun. She shook her head and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath in and out, reaching out to the computer. She wasn't sure if she could actually DO anything with the Force here, would have to learn from [member="Sasha Santhe"], or that [member="Gerion Ardik"], see if anyone could teach her to manipulate software. She was going to have to go back to school, it seemed.

Force School.

Did Dark Siders do that?

And then there was an explosion. Shaking her head, she couldn't help but have shrieked out. She then heard [member="Emerald Sage"] over the comlink. “I'm not even going to ask what the frell that was.” A few minutes was more than she needed. Working on bypassing the firewall from a new angle... and... in.

Data was downloading. And she was having to keep fighting with the code. Until.... finished? Finshed.

She reached ahead to unplug her datastick.

 

[Emerald Sage]

“What?” Emerald asked. As the two met by her speeder. There was smoke coming from within the city hall. “It wasn’t a big explosion.” Rolling her eyes she jumped into the speeder and waited for Jenn to do likewise. “Well [member="Jennifer Blanchard"],” she as he hand started the engine. “How long do you think it will take for you to collate that data for analyzation?” She hit the accelerator and the speeder shot forward as fast as she could make it. Control had arranged for a safe house on planet, though Emerald doubted it would be up to either her own or Jenn’s standards...

 

[Jennifer Blanchard]

She shook her head. “Get in the damn speeder.” She was mad, kind of. But more she was just rolling her eyes because, well, it was [member="Emerald Sage"]. You know, doing what Emerald Sages do. Blowing things up. Getting into the speeder, she opened up her datapad and started to tear through the data. “Should take a few hours. Depends where they're all moving.” She shrugged as she watched the path they were heading at.

They were going to the safe house. Wonderful. When they pulled up, an uneventful and lazy ride, Jenn looked at Em and then back at the barnyard explosion they were supposed to stay at.

“What are we doing here? I'm pretty sure that this is a farm house. And not something where I can even connect to the HoloNet...” She shook her head. And clearly was not reaching out with the Force when the blaster shot came at the speeder.

 

[Emerald Sage]

A blaster bolt ricocheted off the speeder. Emerald ducked instinctively reaching under her seat for her own blaster. Pulling out the small weapon she spun around while gunning the speeder. Security forces in open air speeders pursuing them. Not from the magistrates office, they were coming from the wrong direction, no they came from the neighboring county. “Damn yokels,” she said shooting a few shots in the direction of the speeders.

Three speeders, six men. Emerald sighed as they zoomed away. “I have four cubes of Plasticene thermite gel underneath your seat,” she called out to [member="Jennifer Blanchard"]. Placing the blaster on her lap she reached across Jenn and opened up the glove compartment. A slew of electronic devices fell out.

The speeder jolted as Emerald almost ran off the road. With her teeth she tore open a small listening device. “I need you to set the circuit to activate when I send a call to it. The explosive will react with the electric charge and bam… it will burn through anything.” The speeder bumped again as one of the security cruisers came up next to her. Emerald juked right hard to avoid him and darted down the road. “I’d do it, but I’m kinda busy here.” More blaster bolts struck their vehicle. “There is a length of cord behind you. We need to fish our wish… quarter to half a cube per car should do….”

 

[Jennifer Blanchard]

Jenn was a hacker, a slicer, a computer nerd. She was NOT one fit for making things go boom. And when the blaster bolts came, she squeal out. “What is that?” She looked up from ducking behind the dashboard. [member="Emerald Sage"] knew what her partner was capable of, and what she was scared of. And things that could kill her rated pretty highly on that list. Almost as high as brain aneurisms, which were the silent killer (Lana). Maybe its why they made a good team? Not too many gun hands.

Or keyboard hands, as it was in Jenn's case.

She wanted her to build a bomb? “Right...” Because having explosives under her seat was comforting. Bending down to reach below her seat, she pulled the cubes of gel out. The rest, the detonator, that made sense. It was computery. Circuitry, and not software, but still, useful. Grabbing at the receiver, she started plugging that in first. Make sure it needed the signal before wiring the detonator to the gel.

“Drive straight!” She shouted. Reaching back, grabbing, nearly dropping, then grabbing with a shout, she pulled the cord up. “So, can we... switch? Seen it in holos!” Because Force help them if it was up to Jenn to make a good shot here.

 

[Emerald Sage]

“Yeah,” Emerald said a smile forming on her lips. “Lets switch.” Most speeders had at least a rudimentary autopilot. It couldn’t help you dodge blasters, but with a simple press of a button it could keep the vehicle going straight. While [member="Jennifer Blanchard"] slid across the seats Emerald stood up and shuffled around. As they crossed paths Emerald licked her lips and gave Jenn a lusty look. Emerald was going to blow something up.

It only took a second for the two to switch places. “Keep the speed up. We don’t want to make this too easy.” Emerald took the cord and the explosive and gave it some slack. “Now slow up a little.” Jenn did as instructed. A speeder approached close and Emerald threw the device. Their speed and the wind kept the device afloat as Emerald kept giving it more slack.

When it touched the hood of the speeder in pursuit Emerald depressed the button on the comlink. What happened wasn’t really an explosion as most people thought of it but rather a burning. The gel burned steadily at heats far exceeding the stress limit of a speeder. Metal melted away as the flame reached the engine and finally the entire speeder shut down sputtering to a halt. “One down,” Emerald said.

Blaster fire intensified.

 

[Jennifer Blanchard]

Why did Jenn talk? This was so much easier in the holos. And not as much of the chance of death when you're watching in a theater. Looking up as [member="Emerald Sage"] all but crawled over her, the orange haired slicer turned bright red. What was her partner doing? Shaking her head, she tried to ignore it. But really, that look? That couldn't get out of Jenn's mind. Until the next blaster shot came through and the hacker grabbed the controls of the airspeeder. Right, dying.

Or, y'know, trying to NOT.

She shook her head and focused on the direction of flight. Keep it moving fast? She could do that. She slammed down on the accelerator and looked over to her partner. Was she really finding Emerald as hot, or was it like... magic juju stuff?

Trollop.

When the bomb-thing was thrown, Jenn kept them at a distance from the vehicle behind them. And that was when it started burning. They didn't need no water, let the mother karker burn.

 

[Emerald Sage]

More blaster bolts, and Emeralds cord destroyed. “Alright,” she aloud. “Three more left.” She thought about it. “We need… something.” Her little blaster pistol met their fire. “Please tell me you can do some fancy driving?” Emerald had always drove when they went on missions. Truth was she wasn’t sure what [member="Jennifer Blanchard"] was capable of. Another blaster bolt came dangerously close whisking between the two women. “Damnit,” she said looking down the barrel of her gun and firing.

The force, she focused and aimed and fired once, twice, seven times into the hood of the speeder. Suddenly the engine started to sputter and a small fire erupted. “I’m out.” she said pulling the trigger and nothing happened. How many people actually reloaded blasters? She let out a big sigh as she ducked for cover.

 

[Jennifer Blanchard]

"So, wait... Three?" She looked over at [member="Emerald Sage"] and shook her head. "Three left? I thought we have four explosives...?" Right, nevermind. They could get catty at one another all they wanted, but it wouldn't help them out. She looked forward and grabbed the controls of the airspeeder. Licking her lps, she whipped it to the left and back to the right. Getting out of the straight and narrow was the best bet for survival. She hit a control on the dash and pulled up the local satellite image.

"How good are you at swimming?" Jenn hated the water. She really did.

 

[Emerald Sage]

“Out of blaster,” Emerald snapped, “You are not crashing my speeder into that lake.” No, no no. It was not happening. She picked up another bomb. Her cord was burned out at the end and wouldn’t make a good line to control the explosion…. but…

One of the speeders got close and Emerald threw the improvised device. It hit the hull too hard and bounced off. Emerald ignited the device and started to melt through the dirt road. “Damn. Three more tries…” she said shaking her head. She took a few deep breaths and concentrated with the force. And then another throw. This time she threw with enough force to read the speeder, but not enough to bounce it off the hull of the speeder. A simple press off the comlink started up the thermite reaction burning through the speeder. The local corrupt police officers jumped out of their speeder and bailed as the vehicles stabilizer blew sending it flying off course into the air before crashing hard into the ground.

Two more charges and two speeders…. “Okay…” Emerald said. “You’re right. Let’s go for a swim…” Sadly Emerald wasn’t that good. “[member="Jennifer Blanchard"], I’m a good swimmer.” Emerald tucked the two explosive devices into her clothes and braced herself….

 

[Jennifer Blanchard]

Looking over at Emerald, Jenn shrugged. “What else do you think we can do?” Besides, would it sink in the water? Juking the speeder each time a shot came through, to not give them the same attempt twice, she looked at her partner. “I think I can do better, Em! C’mon!” She turned down a road, which would lead them to the water. That would at least give them cover to get away from this group. But then they’d have to find the ranch on foot. Make the contact…

Right, priorities.

Top of that list, not dying.

“You ready? Get down!” Jenn said, they were closing on the water and she didn’t want [member="Emerald Sage"] to lose her face, before Jenn found out what it meant to her. With that look? Damn.

 

[Emerald Sage]

A speeder could sometimes run over water, if it was designed for it. Emeralds speeder was not and crashed right into the water. “Stay in your seat until we’re under. Pretend like you’re struggling.” She took a deep breath as the speeder started submerge and then turned and kissed [member="Jennifer Blanchard"] passionately as their heads submerged.

Emerald make sure that their lips were sealed together as tightly as they could and breathed into her mouth. There was an advantage to a plant human team, one of which was each required a different gas to life. Emerald took in CO2 and created oxygen, and Jenn was the opposite.

Minutes passed as they left themselves submerged. Emerald wasn’t satisfied though and watched through the water. She finally released her kiss when the corrupt security were finally becoming less attentive. She swam over to the shore. Her head broke through the calm water and she crawled onto shore. Low and under line of sight she crept until she was behind the speeders.

It was at this point that she backtracked toward the speeders and planted the explosives on two of them just underneath the repulsor engines and out of view. She jumped into the third and took off.

The two speeders pursued her and Emerald laughed as the explosives blew melting the repulsor field and slowing the two speeders down until they finally stopped. Emerald turned the speeder around and looped back to where Jenn waited. “Are you in need of a ride?” She asked winking….