Private Slow West

[Belok Karr]

"Glenn, how are we looking?"

"No trouble yet bossman, but that destroyer is broadcasting a lock down. We launch then it's gonna be hot."

Tadgh reloaded the power pack on his blaster. He did this in a series of smooth motions without even looking.

"We're going for my ship. Watch the target. Do you even have a blaster?"

 

[Lyla Emerson]

Lyla blinked once at the question he asked her, as if that should be rather obvious. She hated blasters and violence, which was amusing giving her profession. Still, she was normally kept far away from the fighting, not caught up in the middle of it.

"Well, not exactly." She countered, pulling her datapad out to open a feed of the street cameras. "But I can find us the clearest route to your ship..."

Her eyes danced over the screen and she exhaled softly, stepping close to the Mandalorian in case the shooting started again.

"Okay... There's uh... Just here." She started to read him the layout, but then stopped and uploaded the connection to his HUD.

"I dropped a ping for you, just follow the green line, I'll update as we go."

 

[Belok Karr]

Tadgh drew a hold out blaster from his thigh. One could never have too many blasters. He turned it around and held it out for her. He was going to find her disdain of such things very curious.

"If he tries to run, shoot him," Tadgh said. No matter how clear the route to the ship there was going to be more fighting. He couldn't keep one eye on the rodian the entire way there.

"Keep me between you both and the worst of the fighting. The beskar will take a few shots."

 

[Lyla Emerson]

She looked hesitantly to the blaster he'd given her, reluctantly taking it before she gave a small nod in understanding. "Right... Of course."

Her eyes darted between the Hunter and then the Rodian, clearing her throat. "We need to... Move. There's a group of people heading this way... Troopers from the look of it."

She waited to the Mandalorian to start moving first, taking his order to stay behind him rather seriously.

 

[Belok Karr]

Tadgh rushed down the alley towards trouble. Blaster fire sounded in the distance. He assumed a gang was exchanging fire with stormtroopers.

The mandalorian slowed at a corner and peeked around it. A fire team of stromtrooper saw him, but they were in the open.

Tadgh opened fire, four shots put down two stormtroopers. The others scattered.

"That way!" Tadgh called for the slicer to take the rodian across the street. He laid down some covering fire. They would have to move quickly now. The troopers would have radioed this in.

 

[Lyla Emerson]

As Lyla grabbed the back of the Rodian's neck and pushed him forward, rushing him across the street, a few of the scattering men started to fire back from cover at them. She shoved the Rodian hard in the back, knocking them to the ground once they'd reached the far alley.

One hand kept the prisoner pressed firmly against the ground as she regained her posture. She switched her hand for her knee, turning back around to lay down some covering fire for the Mandalorian to cross.

"Come on!" She shouted at him.

 

[Belok Karr]

Tadgh considered the grenades he had. With only two troopers trying to return fire it seemed a waste. There would be more opportunities to use them.

He did appreciate the way the slicer had no qualms about pinning the scumbag with her knee to free her hand. A few red bolts lanced down the street towards them, but they were not aimed well. Stormtroopers rarely seemed to aim well, but this was desperate fire.

"Up!" he called, grabbing the rodian by his shirt and hoisting him back to his feet.

"They're over that way!" called a voice. It hadn't come from a stormtrooper. Tadgh turned sharply and kicked a door open, shoving the rodian in ahead of himself. They moved through a stockroom and into a deserted shop. In the street outside blaster bolts flashed back and forth.

"His friends and the imperials," Tadgh suggested, keeping low. It was a lot of people between them and his ship.

 

[Lyla Emerson]

Once they were safely inside the abandoned shop, Lyla finally had a chance to double check the datapad that she carried. Keen eyes swiftly flicked over the screen, and she updated their path to his ship; pinging the Mandalorian's HUD.

"We need to move quick. Imperials are inbound to the landing pad. If... your pilot is any good, they could rendezvous with his here at this marker and then we hightail it..." She explained in a hushed voice to Tadgh, tapping the marker on her map, which caused it to blip on the display she'd given him.

"It's closer but... a ship is a bigger target."

 

[Belok Karr]

"If we go to ground they might impound the ship anyway," Tadgh replied. His mind wasn't quite made up on the matter.

"[Men, I'm in here!]" cried out the Rodian.

Tadgh turned and brought the butt of his pistol down onto his head but the damage was done.

Out in the street the rolling firefight continued, but now the gang enforcers on their side of it started to look into the shop windows.

"In here! They're in here!"

 

[Lyla Emerson]

Lyla cursed quietly and flinched when the mandalorian lashed out at the rodian, as if she'd expected him to hit her. She bit her bottom lip when the blow never came and started to rummage around for something to gag to the overly talkative captive. It only too her a few moments to find a cloth and tape. While she waited for Tadgh to make up his mind about his next move, she shoved the cloth into the rodian's mouth and then taped it shut.

There was a loud thud at the door. The metal surface shuddering violently in its frame. It was clear that it would only hold for so long.

She tucked her blaster into her waistband after clicking on the safety, now focusing her attention on her datapad. Lips pressed into a thin line from apprehension.

"Okay... meeting the ship halfway is the fastest route. It'll paint a target on it, but there's already one on us. We don't have much more of a choice, Hunter."

 

[Belok Karr]

"Glen, I need you to meet us half way."

"We might get some attention. They've broadcast for no one to take off!"

"Then keep low and hope that buys you a minute," Tadgh replied. He casually fired a bolt through the side door. It left a burning orange circle in the centre. The knocking stopped.

He shot though the glass window next, deciding it was time to use a grenade. He threw one out and ducked down. The rest of the windows were blown in as the grenade went off.

"Keep moving fast," he told the slicer. "It's a war one out there!"

 

[Lyla Emerson]

Lyla wasn't exactly thrilled about the premise of charging through an active battle in the middle of the streets, while trying to drag an uncooperative bounty along with them. All it seemed to equate out to for her, was that she was going to get shot. Again. The burn on her thigh from the troopers down in the sewer was a keen reminder of how real the situation was.

She would have to deal with the Rodian, since the Hunter would be more occupied trying to defend their flank. He seemed to be a skilled fighter, but there was only so much one man could do.

Grabbing the green alien by his upper arm, she bolted out of cover and sprinted forward as quickly as she could for the next building across the street. With the injury to her leg, however, she wasn't nearly as fast as she would have liked to have been.

The Rodian protested loudly through his taped mouth, trying to struggle against her hold on him. "You keep that kark up and you'll get us both shot, you idiot!" She shouted at the mark, yanking him along.

With the chaos erupting around them, troopers and gangsters firing wildly at one another, and at them, the rodian seemed to realize his predicament -- he was in an insanely dangerous position.

"Come on, Hunter! Keep moving!"

 

[Belok Karr]

"I'm coming!" he called out. For the first time there was a note of dark humour in his voice.

A fireteam of stormtroopers had found their aim and was making their way down the street. They were assailed by a few gang members but were quickly pushing forwards. Tadgh took cover, a blaster bolt striking the side of his helmet.

"Keep going!"

He slid the grenade launcher from his back and twisted the dial to the rough distance of the fireteam. He rounded the corner and fired, the grenade taking off with a dull thwump. Tadgh was already around the corner and after the rodian and the slicer before it detonated over the heads of the stormtroopers.

"Buying us time! Glen, where are you?"

 

[Lyla Emerson]

It felt like an eternity racing to the building that she'd pinged for their extraction. There was a landing platform with just enough space for them to board. She shouldered her way through the door, dragging the struggling rodian with her as she went.

The decor inside the building made it clear that it was a cheap hotel that was desperately pretending to be luxurious. It was so distractingly tacky that the slicer even noticed the faux gilded vases on every table.

There wasn't any time for her to make a snide comment, however, as she rushed the captive to the stairs. An elevator was easy a Target and could be shut down without the inhabitants able to do anything about It. The owner looked visibly confused, but fell silent as the mandalorian barged into the room after them a moment later -- the distinct sound of blaster fire chasing him.

 

[Belok Karr]

"Determined bastards!" Tadgh shouted up the stairs. He didn't know if they were clones or had been brain washed from a young age but they were not easily deterred by any of his tricks.

He tossed a grenade back out the door at the first sign of a white helmet around the corner. Once his ears had recovered from the blast he could hear the whine of his own ship's engines.

"That's our ride!" he called up the stairs. He hoped this stairwell went all the way to the roof. Otherwise the shoot out was going to spill out onto a corridor of people staying in the hotel.

 

[Lyla Emerson]

Running up the stairs with an injured leg made the trip arduous, and Lyla questioned whether or not she would even make it. She could hear the mandalorian charging up behind her, but it was clear that he wasn't alone.

This was going to be close.

As she barged through the roof access door, she squinted in the bright light, raising her free hand slightly to shield her eyes. The wind whipped wildly through the air, caused from the engines of the hovering ship before her.

Instead of rushing straight to the ship, however, she opted to wait for the Mandalorian. She didn't want to run the risk of his crew shooting her over some misconception.

 

[Belok Karr]

Tadgh made it onto the roof, slamming the door closed behind him. He could hear the scream of a TIE fighter now. The destroyer, hovering over the city, made barely any noise at all. It would if it decided to give chase too.

"Glen!" he shouted over the comms.

A slender young man with messy brown hair appeared coming down the ramp. He was tied to a harness.

"Covering fire, the door!" Trusted the young man, Tadgh ran for the ramp. He waved the slicer on ahead of him and grabbed the rodian by the cuffed wrists and drove him onward. The oor was kicked out behind them, but Glen fired at the troopers her emerged.

Tadgh made it onto the ramp under a shower of sparks. The troopers hitting the underside of his ship with blaster fire irked him. As soon as he was up Glen hit a button and te hydraulics drew up the ramp.

"Dee-kay, get us out of here!" Tadgh cried. He pushed the rodian up into the cargo hangar and chained him to a wall covered in storage webbing. "What happened to your team?" he asked the slicer.

 

[Lyla Emerson]

Now that they were on the relative safety of the ship, Lyla found herself entirely unsure of what to do. She glanced around the cargo bay and decided to move to the opposite side of the rodian, one hand awkwardly rubbing the back of her neck.

The ships engines rumbled to life again and she grabbed onto the cargo netting to keep her balance. It was going to be a bumpy ride, that much she knew for sure.

Her gaze turned to the mandalorian when he spoke to her and she quietly shook her head. She knew what happened to the crew, but as for the Captain, all she could do was speculate -- there were too many variables to know for sure. A quiet sigh slipped from her lips and she leaned against the bulkhead.

"The crew that was still on the ship were killed." She gestured towards the rodian with her free hand. "Likely by his men. Not sure who sold them out though... or what happened to my Captain. Last I heard, he was drunk in the cantina, just like any other job."

 

[Belok Karr]

Even as the ship rocked, Tadgh was methodical in taking the grenade launcher from his back and securing it and the explosives. He nodded at the slicer and moved to an intercom on the wall.

"Dee-kay how are we looking?"

"Three TIE fighters are in pursuit. They will reach us before we can make the jump."

"Glenn, get on the quad turret."

"Boss."

Tadgh was rocked to one side as the droid altered course. He turned towards the slicer, gaze well hidden behind the t-visor.

"I am sorry, I didn't ask your name."

 

[Lyla Emerson]

The Mandalorian casually asking for her name while they were tossed about in the back of his ship caught Lyla off guard and made her laugh. She shook her head a few times, keeping her grip on the cargo netting so that she didn't get thrown into a bulkhead too hard. "Don't worry about it, not like there's been a good time to ask. It's Lyla, by the way."

Her voice carried over the engines and the muffled screams of panic from their recent catch.

She heard the turret come online, the batteries whirring to life somewhere above her in the ship's belly. The crewmate, Glen, wasn't firing just yet but it was only a matter of time.

"And yours?" She asked, looking back to Tadgh's t-visor helmet with a raised brow.