Private Slow West

[Belok Karr]

The engines of the Azimuth were still ticking cool as the landing ramp hissed and lowered the the ground. Tadgh strode down the ramp, still checking over one of his blasters. The maintenance never ended and he had a tight schedule to keep.

"Hey, Tadgh, if you need help just call, ya?" can a voice in his ear.

"I'll be fine Glen," he replied, chuckling softly. It was not a mandalorian ship. The crew had assembled over the course of a few years. They did any work they could pick up. Glen simply wished he was a mandalorian. In a year the questions about his armour and his customs had not stopped coming form the enthusiastic

Tadgh paused at the bottom of the ramp and slipped the puck from his belt. The face of a rodian shimmered into view above the disk. It wasn't the most high profile bounty he had ever picked up, but work was work.

"Keep an eye on the scanners though. Rumours are we have a destroyer patrolling the sector."

Lyla Emerson

 

[Lyla Emerson]

The streets were far more crowded than Lyla would have liked. This many people made it difficult to work without drawing attention to herself.

She glanced down to the datapad in her hand and flicked over to map, frowning at the display as she double-checked the location. This was the place, unfortunately; the hard lines were underground and the access hatch was right here in the middle of the street. What idiot designed this, she thought irritably to herself.

Sighing, she dropped a small locator beacon down the garage and then turned to find a second entrance that wasn't so exposed. It would mean crawling around through the sewers for far longer than she'd wanted, but it was better than getting caught before she even started.

Some Hunter was counting on her to get into the security and patch the feed to him, though she didn't even know his name. It'd been a third party hire and her boss thought her the best for this particular job.

That karking jerk was lounging in the cantina, probably with his fourth or fifth drink by now. Meanwhile, Lyla was trying to figure out how to go digging around in a sewer. He was going to get the pay and then give her a portion of the earnings.

She really, really hated Dennet.

Her comm chimes and her device pinged to life, letting her know that the Hunter's crew had touched down.

She was running behind.

Jogging down the alleyways, she finally found an appropriate hatch and yanked it open, hoping that no one saw her as she slipped inside.

She heard Dennet's slurred speech through the comm bud in her ear. "Hey, hey. Glad y'could join us, mate."

Lyla couldn't tell if he was talking to the mandalorian, or to some bloke at the cantina.

The stench hit her nose, and she nearly decided to quite right then and there. But she wasn't the sort to leave people who needed her hanging, and she never half-assed a job. Tugging a bandana over her nose and mouth, Lyla hopped up onto the pipes that ran over the top of the sewer and clipped her safety harness onto the metal tubing. It would keep her from falling into the grime below while she shimmied the distance back to the access panel.

"Hunter, give me a few minutes to get into place. I'll let you know when I'm ready." She muttered into the commlink, keeping her voice down.

Dennet was laughing boisterously through the link still.

Stars, she hated that man.

 

[Belok Karr]

Tadgh wouldn't be drinking. Or even eating. Whilst he had no reservations about removing his helmet around his crew he did not take it off in public. Ever.

"I hear you, standing by," Tadgh replied. He slowed his walk as he tried to think of where to bide his time.

"Hey, mando!" came a man from the doorway of a store. "Come, come! Got ammunition for pulse rifles, some top ex-alliance gear."

Tadgh would not normally stop at the call of a street merchant, but it was a way to waste some time. No one would think twice about a mandalorian perusing weapons.

"Call me two minutes before you will be done," he called across the comm. From the slur in the first one's speach he was working with amateurs. Their target was holed up well and guarded by several men. Tadgh needed to rear doors unlucked and a head count before he went in.

 

[Lyla Emerson]

She didn't hurry. Doing a job well was far more important than doing it quickly.

"Will do." She said in acknowledgement.

Once she reached the beacon that she'd dropped earlier down the grate, she swung around underneath the pipes with her legs wrapped around the metal tubing to support her weight, along with the safety harness she wore.

The box she was looking for was covered in grime and rust, but it was there. She gave a sigh of relief and got to work.

Popping it open, she shimmied a computer spike into the system and held her breath as she connected it to her own device. She shook her head to get a few of her wild red curls out of her face.

"Two minutes." She said softly into the comm, still working to set up the network.

 

[Belok Karr]

"No."

"But its real quality. You can't get disruptor pistols in..."

"Too much heat, too illegal, too crude."

The salesman was already flustered that the mandalorian in sky blue and tan armour had stripped one of his concussion rifles and pointed out all the inferior components. It was a potential sale that he was happy to see the back of in the end.

Tadgh strode away from the shop and crossed the street. He had the route in mind already. Two side streets and he ducked behind a garbage bin.

He pulled a squat carbine from his back and loaded a round. It was a smart grenade launcher, able to air-detonate grenades at a set distance. At the end of the street was the rear door to the building.

"Give me inside feeds and a countdown to open the back door."

 

[Lyla Emerson]

Dennet was racously laughing over the comm, making it difficult for Lyla to hear the mandalorian over the channel. She scoffed under her breath and took a few precious seconds to mute the open channel and then opened a private link to the mandalorian. A blessed quiet finally fell over her, letting her work in peace.

"Set us up a private link, Hunter. Here's the feeds. There's four armed men through that door, but all their rifles are either stowed or on the ground. They're playing cards." She explained, connecting the camera feeds to the mandalorian's display.

"Unlocking the door in five. Four. Three. Two... One. Click." She counted down for him and the let him know that the door was open with a single word.

"Good hunting. I'll stay in your ear and watch the feeds for you."

 

[Belok Karr]

"Understood," Tadgh squeezed the trigger as soon as the door was open. The round hissed through the air, but that whisper was soon forgotten when the grenade exploded two meters beyond the door.

Tadgh was on his feet, slinging the grenade launcher over his shoulder without loading it again. Smoke billowed out of the room and his helmet tried to filter out as much noise as possible.

Tadgh stepped into the smoke, drawing his Westar. The smoke was lit blood red from the inside as he fired two shots.

"How many in the next room?"

 

[Lyla Emerson]

Lyla shifted her weight in her harness, flicking to the next several cameras as she tongued the inside of her cheek. "Three, but they obviously know you're there. I'll seal the far door once you're through, there's a pair of patrol droids in the hallway past them. Go now, before they get to you. Working on getting control of the security turrets."

She could see the mandalorian through the cameras and she admired his efficiency. He was far more professional and skilled than Dennet and his crew. She was impressed.

"Your door is unlocked and ready. Hallway is sealed off. The rodian is... Down that hall on to your left. But it looks like he's going to be making a run for it in the next few seconds..."

 

[Belok Karr]

"Hey how are things..."

Tadgh angrily tapped a button on the forearm control panel to mute the other channel. He didn't need to listen to that drunken idiot whilst he worked.

"Cut the lights," he instructed the woman slicing the facility. He slapped the button and the door opened as the room was plunged into darkness.

A flurry of blaster bolts provided motionless images of the scene, tinted red. Three men in different corners of the room firing at the open door.

The blaster fire stopped. Tadgh rounded the corner and fired twice, each image seared onto the eyes showed the first guard being struck in the chest. Then the other, frozen in agony with the first already down.

The third guard fired a round into Tadgh from behind, almost point blank. It ricocheted off his beskar shoulder plate and struck the ceiling. In a fountain of sparks Tadgh turned and swung the vibroknife in his left hand.

"Give me lights back," Tadgh called. "What are the droids in the corridor doing?"

 

[Lyla Emerson]

The lights flicked back on before he'd even finished the sentence. It felt good to be working again. This was something she was good at, something she could focus on.

"They're trying to get through the door. Rodian is on the move, I'm trying to slow him down. Almost have the turrets." The woman said in a monotone voice, an indication that she was intently focused on the tasks at hand.

Lyla tongued the inside of her cheek, narrowing her eyes. "There's a lot more men in this facility than we were told. Be careful. I'm rerouting as many of them as I can."

 

[Belok Karr]

The slamming of metal on metal confirmed her observation. Tadgh held his blaster pistol close to his chest and moved next to the door, pressing his back up against it. He waited and timed his play.

He slapped the door control and it slid up and away. The first droid stumbled through and Tadgh put a blaster bolt through its head. It collapsed into a heap, two holes smouldering bright orange on either side of its head.

He brought his vibroknife down on the arm of the next one, severing it at the elbow. They were humanoid droids, with a blaster cannon built into the right arm.

It had a left arm too. This one used it to punch Tadgh so hard in the chest he was sent flying across the floor. He coughed side his helmet, winded and unable to breathe. His blaster was out of reach. The third droid shoved the amputee out of the way.

Tadgh reached for the only thing to hand: the second droid's arm. He swung it around and slammed the cannon with a first. It started firing uncontrollably. Bolts flew in all directions, but Tadgh managed to turn it towards the door until the other droids were down.

He pulled the power wire from the mounted cannon and he fell silent. Tadgh slumped to his back and sighed, swearing to himself.

"Which way is the target," he grunted. He got back to his feet slowly.

 

[Lyla Emerson]

She held her breath as the mandalorian fought with the droids, unable to do much of anything to support him from where she was. Once the fight was over, she expelled a heavy sigh and then went back to snagging control of the turrets through out the facility and locking the doors for anyone else that was trying to get to the Mandalorian.

"Alright... Got him. Funneling him back towards you as best I can. They know I'm in the system... Not sure how much longer I can stay here." She explained, shaking her head even though he couldn't see her.

"He'll be at the end of your hallway in... Less than a minute. Turrets are shut down."

Further down the tunnel where she was, Lyla heard the distinct creak of a hatch swinging open. Someone was looking for her.

"Kriff..." She muttered under her breath.

Flicking quickly through her comm she unmuted the main channel with Dennet and his crew.

He was loudly singing in the comm and laughing obnoxiously, but she could also hear Philip calling over the channel, trying to get the captain's attention. Something that sounded very much like blaster fire was booming in the background. "Dennet! DENNET!"

She quickly opened a link to the Unfaithful, the ship she was with and to Philip.

"Phil, It's Lyla. What's going on up there?" She said, watching the Mandalorian start to move again.

"There's a karkin' boardin' party on the ship! They already killed Jespa and Ben." He snapped back to her. "Where the chit is Dennet and Cho?!"

Lyla's stomach dropped. Phil was the only crewman left alive on the ship. How the hell had they found the ship so quickly?

"Just hang on Phil, I'm on it. Try to sta--"

There was a sharp cry of pain and then a distant whoop of victory over the mic. She could hear Phil gasping for breath, straining and gurgling on what she could only assume was blood.

And then silence.

"Phil? PHIL?!" Lyla hissed trying to keep her voice down.

When there was no response, she clicked back to the Mandalorian and muted Dennet a second time.

"You need to contact your crew. Something's wrong." She said tersely, trying to suppress the strain in her voice.

 

[Belok Karr]

"Make sure they can't lock me in if you can," Tadgh replied plainly.

"Glenn, we've got a problem over here."

"Bossman, you've got a problem up above too?"

"What?" asked Tadgh as he picked his blaster back up and sheathed his vibroknife.

"Its triangle shaped and it just broke atmo. We're gonna have an imperial destroyer overhead in minutes. Word on the news is gangs on the streets and imps are gonna crack down."

"Feth."

He didn't know if they had been betrayed or the timing was terrible but this was getting hot.

He peered around the corner. Through his t-visor he picked up a sense of movement and ducked back out of the corridor. As soon as he heard footsteps approaching he stepped out. Tadgh had to think fast. Three rodians, but only one was the target.

He fired twice and levelled his blaster at the third. Tadgh had only been ninety percent certain that he had picked out the target.

"You still with me slicer?"

 

[Lyla Emerson]

"I'm here." She said quietly, closing the access panel to the security box and then moving herself back up to the top of the pipes in an effort to hide. "Locked them out of the system as best I could. Should give you time to get the hell out of there."

Her heart was pounding. A tall man in black clothes was flanked by two storm troopers as they stalked down the path that ran along side the sewer water. What the heck were storm troopers doing here?

"I'm not alone down here though..." She murmured to the Hunter through their link.

 

[Belok Karr]

"Can you get topside?" Tadgh called. He marched towards the rodian and slapped his hand on his shoulder. Tadgh span him about and started pushing him down the corridor. He kept his blaster pistol levelled at the corridor ahead.

"Bossman, got more of his friends in the street."

Tadgh kept shoving the rodian towards the door. It slid open ahead of them. Tadgh fired immediately, catching someone in the shoulder.

"[Don't shoot!]" cried the rodian. They didn't, at least.

Tadgh grabbed him by the tunic and shoved him towards a stairwell to the right.

"Up!"

 

[Lyla Emerson]

She quickly unplugged from the system and started to look around for the best way out of the situation she'd gotten herself into. The troopers and the man in black were standing right beneath her. Judging from the tool belt in the guy in Black's waist, she assumed he was some sort of technician.

All she could do was stay perfectly still and hold her breath, hoping someone didn't look up out of the trio.

Unfortunately, that's exactly what one of the troopers did.

"Chit." She cursed through the comm and swiftly pushed herself to her feet, yanking her harness free from the pipework.

Blaster fire erupted below her, the tunnel illuminated with flashes of red as she started to run. Steam erupted from the pipes as most of the shots missed their mark, though one grazed her shoulder.

"Working on it!" She barked to the Mandalorian, trying to duck and weave while she kept her balance.

 

[Belok Karr]

Tadgh pushed the rodian out onto the roof of the building. There was a tense silence in the air, ready to snap. He couldn't hear the general hubbub of people, no whining airspeeders.

"Stay quiet," he told the rodian, pushing him closer to the edge of the roof.

The streets were cleared. Tadgh caught sight of several forms creeping around the buildings on the far side of the street.

What Tadgh didn't know what that the gangs had put out a fee to stop him leaving town. A large one.

On top of that the local imperial garrison was already on the move and more were on the way. He looked upwards to see the destroyer descending towards the city. Several smaller dots fell from its belly. TIE fighters or troop ships.

"It's not looking good up here, where are you? I'll meet you."

 

[Lyla Emerson]

"I'm about to come up topside at tenth. I have company though..." She called to the Mandalorian through their comm.

The troopers did not have much trouble keeping up with her, since they were running along a path instead of pipes like she was.

There were no systems to slice into down here. No turrets or droids to hack in order to slow her attackers down. All she could do was hope she didn't trip and become an easy target.

As she reached the end of the pipes she knew there would not be time to get down and then climb the ladder. She was going to have to jump.

"Okay... Okay. I can do this..." She muttered under her breath as she raced towards the ten foot drop, not realizing the mic was still hot.

The pipes abruptly ended and Lyla launched herself through the air. At first, she didn't think she was going to make it to the ladder and her heart leaped up into her throat.

Then she slammed into the metal ladder and she scrambled to grab a handhold. She wrenched her shoulder as she caught herself and she grunted in pain. Behind her, the troopers and the technician were quickly catching back up.

Blaster fire sprayed around her, one bolt striking the back of her thigh as she started to climb. As the troopers reached the bottom of the ladder, Lyla was scrambling out of the hatch and she kicked it shut behind her.

"Kriff..." She gasped, desperately looking around to find something to block the exit. All she could find was a small dumpster. Wincing in pain, she dragged it over the hatch and turned to try to find the Hunter.

"Mando?" She asked, her voice tinged with worry.

 

[Belok Karr]

"Up," came his voice.

There was an emergency set of stairs down the side of the building. The rodian went tumbling down the first two sets, clearly having been pushed. From above came angry shouts and then blaster fire. Several bolts flew over the street and then stopped.

Tadgh came running down the stairs, holding his blaster pistol. As soon as the rodian was on his feet he was being pushed down the rest of the way.

"Slicer," he greeted. More angry shouts came from above and the end of the street. A distant burst of blaster fire. "Gangs flooded the streets and now there are stormtroopers."

"[Neither of you will live through this unless..]

The rodian's threat was abruptly halted by a backhand.

 

[Lyla Emerson]

There was a loud bang from the hatch that Lyla was standing near, but her head snapped towards the shouts from the end of the street. They were very close to being surrounded.

"Hunter..." She replied cautiously, stepping closer to the armored Mandalorian.

Her own crew was dead and either her Captain was in on it, or on the verge of joining his crew. She didn't have anywhere to go and she wasn't about to make the assumption that Tadgh would take her with him.

At least the Rodian was alive.

"Is your ship still secure?" She asked him.