Spacewalking 101

[Holden Tark]

Holden still hurt. The broken sternum had healed well, but the muscles which had bruised still ached on occasion. Bacta did wonders, but it was expensive, and Holden didn’t need it for bruises. The only downside was he could not maintain a solid work schedule alone anymore. Tomb raids were out for the time being as he needed to heal, and heal well before he tackled anything major. It was back to salvaging, and the best jobs for an injured Holden were space walks.

Space walks were tricky, risky, but fun. They were going to require an extra set of hands and perhaps a droid to keep the ship in place. Speaking of ships, Holden had a new one. That damned fight with Varik cost Holden a life support system, and a few other important features. It was fixable, but the excuse Holden needed to sell the ship fast. It was compromised anyway with what Varik had done to it, and Holden didn’t need that.

He kept his ear to the ground on Eryn’s whereabouts. The Corellian still kicked himself for being careless enough to lose her. Damn bounty hunter got the jump on him, and the CorSec officer in him should have seen it coming. Holden was getting soft in trying to play by the rules. It was the only thing that currently separated him from the scum he recovered priceless artifacts from. Ohg well today he was a salvager, a salvager that wanted to find Eryn, but needed the credits to do that.

That’s why Holden hired the Kiffar. Word around the shadowports was that she was worth every credit paid out. There were too many references saying the same thing for Holden to just ignore, so he found her and offered her a gig until he was back on his feet.

War torn sections of the core always provided good loot for salvagers to retrieve. Few did though for lack of crew, equipment, and the balls to go into hostile space. Tark learned though most of the wreckage sites were not the places one had to be concerned about. Most battles were long moved on, even though the core was still full of war in some places. Holden knew where to avoid, so they would be fine. That’s what he told himself as he stood just outside the airlock suiting up for the space walk. Hopefully the capitol ship in front of them had a decent enough haul to justify the effort. Holden liked it when the job could be one and done.

[member="Runi Verin"]

 

[Runi Verin]

There was a faint, audible hiss as Runi checked and then double checked her EVA suit seals, running a critical eye of each section of her gear as if daring it to fail beneath her gaze. There was simply no room for second chances out there in the cold, hard vacuum. One false move and, well… She had never actually had the misfortune of witnessing an uncontrolled decompression before, but the tales she had heard over the years painted enough of a picture for her imagination to fill in the blanks. There was another hiss as she checked her seals for the third and final time, giving herself a satisfied nod before activating her helmet’s HUD.

“How reliable was the intel on this job?” Her voice sounded alien to her ears as she spoke, mechanically filtered through the suits speakers. The HUD flashed a bright cyan as it picked out [member="Holden Tark"], blinking away a split second later as she shifted the iris tracking to passive. Last thing she needed was a face full of status messages crowding her view. “Last salvage job I took on this scale turned out be double booked an' they didn’t take too kindly to my presence. Things got real uncivil, real quick. Rather not relive the experience any time soon if it’s all the same to you.”

Working for someone else was hardly ideal, but with the Boracyk still out of commission, and would continue to be for the foreseeable future if she didn’t secure funds for a new motivator, she simply couldn’t afford to be picky where work was concerned. And Holden’s own vessel still carried that factory scent about it, lending some credence that the man’s credits spent as well as the next man’s. Coupled with the solid reputation he had established, in a relatively short time no less, the Kiffar figured there were worse people out in the ‘verse she could have been working with. Would’ve preferred it if he didn’t list CorSec as one of his past employers, but then it would be downright hypocritical of her to want everyone to be perfect. Not when her own failings were at least twice as long.

“I’ll watch your back out there,” She continued after a moment, casting him a sideways glance to make sure she had his full attention. Her tone, tinny as it might have sounded, brokered room for nothing else. “But I expect you to do the same in return. Anything short of that, well, you can count on us having more than just words. Tayli'bac?”

 

[Holden Tark]

"I don't screw over my partners, and I don't leave anyone behind," he replied as the static of comm clicked about as they talked.

There were benefits to having CorSec listed on his past employment records. One being that he knew how to work with a partner. He understood the sort of company he'd been taking up on and off since leaving brokellia behind was not strong on the area of trust, but Tark was trustworthy. He tried to be anyway. Would Eryn say he was after that bounty hunter managed to capture her? Who knew.

"As far as the intel on this job is concerned it's solid. This guy has never set me up yet. Probably because he knows I kept his butt from hard labor in the mining facility on Kessel. He owes it to me to steer me clear."

Tark waited for all the lights to indicate the all clear before opened the airlock. All they had to do was pass through, close the door, wait for the seal to lock, and then he would depressurize it before stepping out into space. The vast black expanse of space was Holden's favorite place to be. He loved his home world, but there was no going back there. Whether from a ship, or walking among the stars in an EVA suit, this was his new home, and he loved it.

The capitol ship in front of them had a huge hole blasted into its side. Most of the good stuff would have floated away if not locked down, but rumor had it there was a collection of droids they could salvage. He also had a lead on several of the main components they could dig into. A shield generator and hyperdrive would be about all he could fit in his cargo bay, but if they were intact, they would get a pretty decent ammount for all of that. Sure Holden would rather be going after some artifact, but he was not in the condition to do that. He needed the easy in and out job. Selling the parts would be the hardest part in all of this. They needed to get the stuff, and make contact with a buyer as soon as possible.

"Keep an eye out for any fighters that might be patrolling. The sweep I ran earlier said this place was clean, but that doesn't mean something could change."

With that Holden pushed out and floated out from the airlock. A couple of bursts from the jet pack he was wearing kept him lined up with the giant hole in the ship. This was an easy one compared to others he had made. It took about ten minutes to touch down, but as soon as he was on the decking the magnetic boots were activated, and he was set to get to work.

[member="Runi Verin"]

 

[Runi Verin]

[member="Holden Tark"]

“Elek, he owes it to you. In a fair an’ just galaxy, I’m sure that’d be burden off my mind. Sadly, in this one, owin’ an’ doin’ are two different things, you read?” The salvager shook her head as she shouldered her fusion cutter, banging her hand against the door seal to begin the decompression process. Having come this far, it was a little late to back out now. If Tark’s man had screwed them over on this, they’d just have to roll with the punches and hope they came out on top. They. She snorted softly. Runi might have ended with a threat, but she had really meant what she’d said about watching his back out there. If he did the same, golden, if not… Well, his ship wasn’t too bad. Definitely an improvement on the Boracyk.

“Just make sure keep your own eyes open, Corsec. This isn’t my first salvage op. Won’t be my last, neither.” Runi responded dryly as she followed suit, boots kicking off from the airlock frame to give her the needed momentum to drift towards the cruiser. Like Holden she lapsed into silence as the closed the distance, otherwise occupied with scanning the vessel for any other signs of damage that might indicate structural weaknesses or collapsed compartments. Any reason, beyond the gaping hole they were using for an entrance, that might explain why it had been simply abandoned. In her experience, vessels this size didn’t remain such for very long. If Holden’s intel was correct and they were the first here, she doubted it would be very long before more vultures started circling the durasteel carcass. Any luck they’d be long gone before that happened.

There was a gentle, muffled thunk as her boots touched down on the warped decking plates, heralding the electronic hum as the magnets anchored her in place, nullifying her momentum save for a gentle sway as she adjusted her balance accordingly. Satisfied she wasn’t about to float off, the Kiffar turned her attention to her surroundings once more, scanning for any landmarks that might point to where they were. “Less they did some aftermarket remodelling, we should be able to get into the auxiliary bridge access shaft if we follow that corridor.” Her head nodded towards the sealed bulkheads to their left, “If we’re lucky there’ll be enough power to the basic systems, maybe even enough to let us access damage control. Get some of these doors unlocked without having to cut our way through all of ‘em.”

Her visor dimmed as the last words escaped her, the polarising layer kicking in as she ignited her fusion cutter and took a step towards the bulkheads she’d indicated. Military grade plating like this, she estimated it’d take no more than three minutes to cut a hole big enough for her to climb through, maybe an extra minute or so when you factored in Holden’s larger frame. Even with a conservative estimate of seven hours of oxygen, they should be able to get in, find the gear and get out with O2 to spare. Assuming things went smooth, of course.

 

[Holden Tark]

Three minutes plus another one for Holden's mass. Being a skinny, lithe female did have advantages. Holden was remembering why he tried his hand at a crew a while back in the first place. Though for now he wasn't going to risk lives on his fool's errand. This job was a means to an end, and likely when Runi got paid he'd drop her off wherever she wanted to be, and be off to find Eryn. He wasn't going to get other people hurt trying to save someone they didn't know. Runi had the right idea about the bridge, or any one of the control panels. As long as they could get access to one, Holden could slice his way into the system and get those doors open.

"Gotta have more faith in my people Runi... Not everyone is out to screw you over."

Holden kept moving forward. His mind was focused on work and staying as uninvolved from Runi as possible. He had a knack of getting emotionally involved with work, or those he worked with. While he was certain here was nothing going to happen with the Kiffar, Holden never really knew anything. While he was smart, he wasn't always aware of how interpersonal relationships worked. He was a loner, but did know how to play well with others. The muffled sounds of his steps started to drown out his thoughts. They were rhythmic and methodic, relaxing in a way. This job was exactly what he needed, Runi didn't need to know he had been nursing a broken sternum earlier.

Runi knew her ships it seemed, because once the cut through the bulkhead everything was as she said. Holden made it through her hole just fine, and pulled himself along the tube until he reached the bridge. The datastations were all still gettng basic power from the emergency generators which were still active. For a moment Holden wondered if it was enough to fly the thing, but knew he'd never find a buyer for a full sized capitol like this. His contacts didn't have deep enough pockets. Well one did, but she could make her own. Once in the system, Holden bypassed the emegency lock down protocols and within seconds doors were opening.

"You wanna get the droids, or go inspect the shield generator and hyperdrives?"

[member="Runi Verin"]

 

[Runi Verin]

[member="Holden Tark"]

“Having faith in people might work in the core systems, CorSec, but out here on the outer rim...” She twisted her head to glance over her shoulder, the polarisation shimmering from view as she took in the void that loomed behind Holden. The rolling blanket of stars looked almost peaceful and serene from out here, completely belying the countless conflicts and tragedies that were even now playing out across a better half of the worlds those same stars shone down upon. The kiffar gave a dismissive shake of her head and turned back to the bulkhead as she cut the final inch, shoving it inwards with her synthetic free hand. “Out here, everyone’s out for themselves. Anyone that tries to tell you different is either touched in the head, selling you something or just plain naive. Occasionally all three.”

It was a cynical viewpoint for sure, but one that had kept her alive and, for the most part, in one piece all these years. Jacaro had been the exception, the first person that seemed to truly give a damn about her, but even he had had an ulterior motive in his altruism, casting her aside once it became clear she wasn’t what he was looking for. With another shake of her head she ducked through the freshly cut opening, switching off her magboots to allow her to effortlessly glide through the access tube, engaging them once they had both made it to the auxiliary datacore. There she let Holden take the lead, standing off to the side while he went to work on getting them the access they needed.

“Getting the generator and drive should be the first priority,” Runi replied as she watched him work, slightly envious of how easy he made slicing appear. As skilled as a mechanic as she was, the finer aspects of programming and slicing were simply not listed amongst her repertoire, being scarcely above average in either regard. She would have barely been through the first layer of encryption in the time it had taken Holden to bypass and own the node in its entirety. Guess there was more to the Corellian than she’d originally assumed. “That’ll net us the most credits if they check out. Even if we packed your entire hold full of droids, it wouldn't come close to matching even one of those. But we might not need to choose between 'em...”

She leant over his shoulder to get a better look at the display, intently scanning the feeds and schematics, the EVA helmet concealing the ghost of a smile that was playing out across her features. It could do little to hide the enthusiasm that was welling up in her tone with each passing word, however. “Check if there are any jump capable shuttles on board while you’re at it. If we load one up with anything that won’t fit on you ship, I could try slaving its navigational system to ours. Double our take then and there, plus a little extra on top selling the shuttle on for scrap or whatever afterwards.”

 

[Holden Tark]

"They should. With the blast hole located where its at that is t anywhere near the engine core. All we need is units that are in tact, and repairable. We can fix them ourselves if we have to. I'm not afraid of getting my hands dirty."

Tark grined when Runi suggested taking a jumper cable shuttle. It was a brilliant idea, and a double load meant he'd get 100% ofmwhat he thought the original take was going to be. He loved this idea. It meant they were splitting up for now, but that's what they had to do. If they both did what they did best, it meant a bigger haul, and more credits.

"I'm on it. You get down to the hyperdrives, and I'll check on the shuttle. In fact, I'm already into the manifest. There's supposed to be three. Three chances to make it work."

Tark nodded as he headed off to the shuttle bay that registered everything he had pulled up. Holden was the one who would get the ship into what it needed to be for Runi. He wasn't the best mechanic, but if he could get it to fly it was great deal. He lowered the gravity on his boots and bound down the hall. It was a great feeling to float along the corridor to his destination. His comm was set on so Runi and he would be in complete contact. This was the best way to do it.

< "You down there yet. We've still got three shuttles here. I'm gonna do my best to get one up and running. If I can I'll meet you by the big hole." >

[member="Runi Verin"]

 

[Runi Verin]

A traitorous smirk flared into view as Runi watched him slip off in search of a shuttle, following suit and heading off for the engine room a few seconds later. Maybe working with a partner wasn’t so bad after all. With Tark competent enough to carry his own weight, they could get twice as much work done in the same amount of time, which in turn would hopefully translate into earning twice as much as well. She could almost get used to the idea of that. ‘Don’t go counting those creds just yet, cheeka.’ she chastised herself as she moved towards the drive core, unhooking her tools as she went. ‘You still got work to do.’

<”Hold your Rontos, Corsec.”> She shot back down the comm, grunting softly with exertion as she pried open the durasteel housing that separated the hyperdrive from the rest of the ship, jamming her hydrospanner into the opening to lever it off. After a second or two of puffing and panting it finally broke free, tumbling off into the void of zero gravity. <”Just getting eyes on the drive now.”>

Her mouth was already compressing into a thin line as she responded. Blackened scorch marks and shrapnel scarring pitted the surrounding couplings, painting quite a picture of the intensity of the battle. She traced the edges of the drive with a gloved hand, trying to assess just how extensive the damage was. Hopefully most of it would prove to be nothing more than cosmetic damage, but the truth of the matter was she simply wouldn’t know until she had time to properly dismantle and check it over. If it was still fully functional it would be more than enough to make this little excursion worthwhile, giving her enough to fix some of the more immediate problems facing both the Boracyk and her current financials. If not, well… It wouldn’t make a fraction of its true value. She drummed her fingers along the handle of her hydrospanner. Kark, some money was better than no money.

<”She ain’t in the best condition, but she'll still turn a few creds. Gonna try unhooking the couplings now. You might need to give me a hand floating it out.”>

 

[Holden Tark]

< "Yeah, I'll be there as soon as I get a chance to figure out which of these three works. Hell, if we can turn that, and one of these shuttles we've already made more than I thought possible. Check out the shield generator while you're waiting on me, huh?" >

This was nice. The last time Holden worked with a partner was when Wyla was with him. The cyborg was gone now, but even then she wasn't altogether there. Something had happened in her make up which really messed parts of her over. The give and take and banter most partners had with each other just wasn't there. [member="Runi Verin"] was already dropping into that role well. "Coresc? Really!? Of all the nicknames she could have gone with she went with that one," he mused to himself as he climbed into the first of three shuttles.

The first one was a bust. As he worked his way in, he saw the engines were blown. They needed a working shuttle if Runi's idea was going to work. The second wasn't any better, and the third well, it needed a power up. Dammit, she was the mechanic, and here was needed to get elbow deep into the engine and swap out the power supply. Fortunately the first ship had one which didn't seem damaged. Grabbing his hydrospanner, the salvager got to work trading out the units. He might as well grab the one from the send ship as well since it could sell easliy.

With the shuttle powered up, Holden found a nice place near the hole to park it. A nice short space walk later, and he was heading in the way of engineering. Run I was working on something, assessing whatever, or detaching something or other. This was potentially going to be a very nice haul, and Tark couldn't wait to get a hold of his buyers and get them in a bidding war on the stuff. The credits were going to come in real handy. A droid to keep the ship in tow so Holden could pull some harder solo jobs, and financing a rescue mission were his two priorities. Funny, he'd be able to both potentially, and it was all thanks to Runi.

"Alright stripes, I'm here, let's get this thing going."

 

[Runi Verin]

[member="Holden Tark"]

While not as extensive as it could have been, the damage surrounding the hyperdrive meant that unhooking the couplings took a lot longer than Runi would have ordinarily liked. The releases were practically fused in places, requiring another liberal application of elbow grease to part-pry, part-hack them loose. Hardly the most delicate or subtle of work, but then she was a salvager to the core. Subtle was for plastic surgeons or poets. She had just managed to crack the last release open when her partner, a word that still seemed foreign to her, made his triumphant return.

“Stripes?” There was a faint, dismissive snort of amusement from the Kiffar. There were worse things to be known by, a fact Runi could attest to first hand. Heck, until she was four or five, she had honestly thought her name was Duse, a Mando’a word which roughly translated as ‘trash’ in basic. It might very well have been for all she knew. All things considered, being referred to as ‘stripes’ was a rather big step up in comparison. Of course, she wasn’t about to let the Corellian slide on it quite so easily. She had a reputation to uphold, after all. “Ah, clever. Because of my qukuuf, right? Never pegged you as one of those speciests, CorSec. Way to stay classy.”

Clipping her hydrospanner back into place, she brought her synthetic hand up hard against the housing once, then twice, with the third time eliciting a dull click as the couplings finally disengaged. Though silent as a grave in the vacuum, she could imagine the audible hiss as a small white cloud of gas plumed out from the corners, the only warning she received before the drive slide free from the housing. A simple nudge of her knee forestalled it from hitting the decking, a trick she would have been hard pressed to replicate planetside. Fortunately the lack of gravity on the derelict vessel made manoeuvring heavy equipment like this, i.e. items that could quite easily weigh upwards of twice her own weight, a much more manageable and sedate affair. One of the many reasons why she loved EVA jobs like this.

“Good news; you can make it up to me by being useful.” She tucked a hand under the end of the drive as she spoke, shoving it roughly towards Holden and the entrance. “Take the other end and help me guide it through the corridor. It might be easy now, but it’s gonna be as awkward as a kriffing Hutt as soon as that passage starts to narrow. Gonna need two pairs of hands just to make sure we don’t get stuck. ”

 

[Holden Tark]

Speciesist? No, Tark was just trying to come up with a nickname. He was an equal opportunity flirt, though lately he'd been way too much of a gentleman to get any action whatsoever. Was he losing his touch, his Corellian swagger, force forbid it! Oh well looks like he was going to have to explain himself.

"I'm not, just trying to come up with a nickname since you seem to like calling me Corsec."

If she could see behind his HUD, he'd be sticking his tongue out at her, but she couldn't. Now her quick save on the equipment, he saw that. She thought fast, which was good. The corridor was going to be horrible at the narrow parts, and if it wasn't for the vacuum of space, he would just blow another hole in the side hull of the engine room. It would certainly make things easier, and Holden liked easy salvage jobs. His eyes were too hungry for the credits they were going to get for doing things Runi's way though, so he kept his mouth shut.

Grabbing his end, he guided the hyperdrive down the corridor. There were a couple spots where it nearly got wedged, but they managed to avoid it all. A smile crossed his lips when they got the hyperdrive to the shuttle. His parking spot had been perfect. The dark of the corridor had made Holden forget about the stars around them. Upon exiting out the blown hole, Holden took it all in as though he'd never seen it before. He had, but he loved space so much this was how reacted each time.

"Alright, let's load this up and get that shield generator, huh?"

[member="Runi Verin"]

 

[Runi Verin]

A smirk tugged at the corner of her lips as she navigated the corridors, lapsing into a comfortable silence save for the muted, dull thumps as her magboots occasionally ghosted the deck plating. She had worked with Corellians like [member="Holden Tark"] before. You couldn’t really avoid them when you worked out on the fringe, even before the events of Brokellia had cast them into an even wider diaspora. In her experience they tended to be universally stubborn, prideful and daring to a fault. Traits she could admire from a personal stand point of view, even mirror in her own way, yet that same character made them a nightmare to work with. Holden, it seemed, was a welcome surprise. She’d half expected to beat his head on a bulkhead half a dozen times before he took her opinions on board, a dozen or so times more before he actually listened.

[SIZE=9pt]“Ru,”[/SIZE][SIZE=9pt] The kiffar stated simply as they broke free of the ship and slipped into the starlit black. [/SIZE][SIZE=9pt] “If you’ve gotta call me anythin’, might as well be that. Just don’t go callin’ me Ru-Ru, or I’ll space you myself.” [/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]The look she fixed him with as she added the last part might have been lost behind a tinted visor, but the tone of her voice left little impression that she was joking around. Her appreciation Tark’s company and technical skill only stretched so far, after all.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]“I wouldn’t get too excited about the shield generator.”[/SIZE][SIZE=9pt] Runi cautioned as they drifted across the vacuum that divided derelict ship from their recently liberated shuttle. In comparison to their entry, the journey was almost over as soon as it had started. Tark had picked his spot well. [/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]“Way I see it, assumin’ they had a chance to get their shields up before they got blown to haran, the generator had to have blown to let this much damage through. Axillaries might’ve held a little longer, but...” [/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]She trailed off with a small shrug of her shoulders, feeling that the gaping wound in the vessel behind them painted a far better picture than her words ever could. [/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]“If it’s just a simple case of a few burnt out components, I know a guy that specialises in parts like this. If we’re lucky, he might have a few components for that drive, too. Replace the housing, clean the scoring up… Dent our pockets a little now, but’ll pay off in the long run. People’ll pay a lot more for a drive and generator that work.”[/SIZE]

 

[Holden Tark]

"Don't tempt me Ru, I'm Corellian after all, and can only hold back the charming sarcasm for so long," he was joking, and that was clear by the tone in his voice.

For a Corellian, Tark was subdued. He had travelled around enough to know that the way most Corellians behaved was not accepted by many. Yeah he liked where he was from, he even was proud about it, but the man was a social chameleon and knew how to blend in wherever he was. Maybe if [member="Runi Verin"] started trusting him, and he her, he would be more like himself. The real question was whether she'd actually appreciate who he was when his guard was let down. Then again, after the events with [member="Eryn"] and [member="Varik Ryjin"], Tark was always on guard.

"I really don't care if we can count on it or not. You're idea is getting us twice the haul so if there is any chance to make it work then I think we should go for it. You need the credits, I need the credits, and this is an amazing score. If we don't take them, anyone else coming in on our heels will. We just have to decide whether we want to the generator or the droids..."

The question was on he posed to her because she was the one who knew someone that could help. Tark had the buyers lined up for whatever the managed to haul out, but she had the mechanics. They really were working as a team, as partners, and that though unnerved him, and made him feel pretty good all at the same time. Tark didn't really wait for an answer before he started heading back to the engine room where the generator was also housed.

"You made me get this shuttle, so way I see it is that we get the generator, and if we can't sell it then we at least can sell the shuttle you made me grab. It's in perfect running order, and valuable to someone. Let's nab the thing, and get our shebs outta here before people figure out there are things to salvage out in the corner of the galaxy. I'll worry about buyers like I said."

 

[Mav Halo]

[ That time Ily forgot to check accounts ]

 

[Runi Verin]

[member="Holden Tark"]

“For the record, charmin’ ain’t the word I’d necessarily go with.” Runi quipped back as they strapped the drive down to the shuttle’s decking, making sure to double check the clamps were tight and secure. The last thing anyone needed was a coupla hundred pound hyperdrive rolling around in the back. Once satisfied, she turned her attention back to the ship and acquiring the last piece of their score. “But you line my pockets with credits like you promise, I might be inclined to reassess that judgem---”

A subtle shift in the force caused the words to die abruptly on her lips, her head snapping around as she attempted in vain to locate the source of the disturbance. Having spent most of her life in or around ships, she had developed a sixth sense for picking out sudden, minute ripples of hyperspace, such as those caused by a ship dropping into the system. Completely useless in heavily populated sectors, where it was impossible to pick up anything in the constant traffic, but out here on the remote fringes it was a different story. And unless she had missed her mark entirely…

“Holden,” She cut back in, using his real name for the first time since taking the job. Her hand strayed towards the familiar and comforting presence of the hydrowrench on her belt. A tool that had just as frequently seen action as an improvised weapon as it had the inside of an engine. “If we’re getting that generator, we need to move fast. We’re not alone out here anymore --- An’ I don’t know about you, but I sure as haran don’t remember inviting anyone.”

Switching on her suit jets, the Kiffar powered the last dozen or so meters in one burst, expertly flipping at the last minute to kick off from the hatch door and propel her through the opening without losing speed. A stupidly reckless manoeuvre, even by her warped standards, but with an unknown vessel potentially bearing down upon them at any moment, time was of the essence. She had a feeling they didn’t want to stick around to find out who their uninvited guests were.

 

[Holden Tark]

"That's like a vibrodagger to the heart sweetheart," Tark started to jest, but Runi got pretty serious faster than he liked. Something was wrong, he knew it, felt it almost. How, well he didn't know, and it wasn't the time to figure that out. Holden knew one thing, and that was he'd been stabbed in the back. He was going to have to admit that Runi was right, and dammit he hated telling people he was wrong.

Holden followed with an equally risky move. Yeah she was behaving like a mando, and he was acting like a Corellian. That was a wreckless combination if ever anyone saw one. There was little time to worry about how damaged the shield generator was. They had to get it on the shuttle, and get the shuttle linked on with his ship. Luckily the clamps were working on this one. Even if that was the only thing which went their way in getting the device off the ship he'd take it.

"Okay so he fracked us over, we can get this thing on that shuttle and pay him a little visit. All I know is that my ship is just asking to get picked off out there so we need to work fast. I'll push this time, you guide it. We will load it on the shuttle and you can set up the relay from inside. I'll make the walk back to my ship and see if I can't buy you some more time, or get us the hell out of here before we get blown to whatever version of the next life you believe in."

With a firm nod, Tark released the final clamp on the generator and started pushing. Down the corridor they went until they got to the gaping hole in the ship. Holden still didn't see anything in regards to where the other ship was. Hopefully that meant thy dropped out of hyperspace further away. Tark would be able to know what they were up against once he could back to his own ship and run scan of the system they were in.

"Watch your shebs Ru... I'm not keen on losing a partner today, hmm?"

That's all he said, and off the ship he went, pushing off to make the jump to his own ship while Runi got to work on the link.

[member="Runi Verin"]

 

[Runi Verin]

[SIZE=9pt][member="Holden Tark"][/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]“I’ll save the told you so for later.” [/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]The generator was fortunately a lot easier to navigate through the warren of corridors, if only in size rather than weight, taking them half as long to reach the access hole. From there it was a quick jaunt towards the shuttle for the Kiffar, once more throwing caution to the wind as she tested both her suit and her EVA skill to the limit. Holden would’ve already reached his ship by the time she’d slipped aboard, not even bothering to repressurise the shuttle. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]“K'oyacyi, CorSec.”[/SIZE] [SIZE=9pt]Ru muttered softly as she set about the task at hand, kneeling in front of the control panel. With time not exactly on their side, she opted to forgo subtlety and elegance yet again, using her plasma cutter to simply butcher the screws holding the access hatch in place. It did not need to win any beauty contests; it just needed to work. Fixing the panel up would just have to settle for being yet another job on to-do list when it came time to sell up.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]Cutting finished, the kiffar tossed the tool negligently to the side before jamming her cybernetic hand roughly into the seams, ignoring the wave of pain that spiderwebbed out from her elbow as she yanked the hatch free. She would definitely regret that later. Provided, of course, she was still around and counted amongst the living to be able to regret anything. A factor, Runi reminded herself as she reached for her tools once more, which might very well depend on how quick she could finish the slave circuit.

<“Tark, what’s it lookin’ like out there?” >[/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]‘How long have I got?’ [/SIZE] [SIZE=9pt]was the unspoken question behind her message, her hands already hauling the guts out of the inner workings. At the risk of being immodest, she counted herself amongst the best for doing this kind of improvisational work, but jury-rigging a slave circuit from scratch and on the fly would still take a few minutes. Precious minutes they might not have if Holden couldn’t distract the interlopers. [/SIZE]

 

[Holden Tark]

"You don't even need to say it, sweetheart," Holden shot back.

All he could think was to work fast. Not only did his own butt count on it, but Runi's did too. Like he said, he wasn't in the habit of loosing partners, especially on the first job. At least he knew if the survived this one then it looked like this whole partnership thing might be a done deal. For all Tark knew she was looking for something a little more permanent and consistent. He didn't really know, but he sure liked the amount of credits he was potentially getting because a partner was added to the mix. Right now he just had to save her pretty little behind.

Hitting the airlock of his ship, Tark impatiently waited for it to repreaurize. They only had a few minutes at most before their company knew they were there. With the light green, Tark tossed his helmet to the side and booked it for the cockpit. Sliding into the pilot's chair which was all to natural for him, he pulled up a read out of what was coming their way.

< "I got two freighters inbound, and too early to tell if they are pilots. They're scrambling their credentials though meaning they were expecting company. I can't hold off two freighters alone, not for long anyway. How you coming on slaving that shuttle?" >

This was going to be getting creative real fast. Maybe Holden could go dark for a while, sit along the hull close to where the shuttle, and Runi, were settled. Loosely guiding the control yoke, Tark moved in quietly, and landed as gently as he could. Good thing he had those external clamps installed which allowed him to latch onto the outer hull of a ship. Holden grinned and shut down all the non-essential systems. As long as he didn't register on any of the scans this might actually work.

< "Going dark for a couple of minutes, Ru. Let's this works, or you're better than they are faster." >

[member="Runi Verin"]