The Adventures of a Healer and a Viking: Pirates, Part II

[Taheera Sollo]

[member="Valkyrien Aurelios"]

"Okay," she winced as he slammed next to her. She promptly shushed him. "Can you try...not to lumber around like a drunk, oversized bantha?" A brief grin flashed across her face. "For frex's sake. Cover me, okay?"

Blaster was holstered again. Fingers pecked at the terminal. From here they could find where the officer quarters were. She hoped he was right about the datacard. A digital 3D map popped up and filled the space between them. Finger pointed down two levels.

"Looks like that's the core. We'd have to take the lifts...or vents. And here," eyes searched the image. Memories she didn't know she had began to pool forward. Perhaps from her original?

Very strange. This hadn't happened before. Not like this.

"These are the officer quarters. One level up and on the port side."

 

[Valkyrien Aurelios]

[member="Taheera Sollo"]

"I won't fit in a vent." Val said simply.

"I can't help my size." He pointed out. "I was not built for sneaking around."

That was simple fact. His size made those activities rather impossible. Even when he tried to be subtle, there was often difficulty. It wasn't like he did it on purpose, just...well Val really was very big. Made up almost entirely of muscle and standing at over six feet tall it was hard for him to do anything quietly, much less run around a ship made entirely of metal. What was he supposed to do? Take off his shoes and run around barefoot?

Not a bad idea...

"Officers quarters first, then we can get to the core." Hopefully they'd avoid any pirates on the way.

Val glanced at the map that Taheera had pulled up, memorizing it and then nodding to himself as he drew the blaster from it's holster and inspected it. He loathed the weapon, but it was something. His head shook and then he headed off, trying to be as quiet as possible with Taheera falling into step behind him.

 

[Taheera Sollo]

[member="Valkyrien Aurelios"]

She winced as he began. Better. But probably not good enough.

"Have mercy," she whispered. Blaster was back in her hand. Head swiveled constantly, back and then forward. The could see the lifts up ahead. But the voices were getting louder. A warning spiked through the force.

A hand latched out, fingers curling around Val's upper arm and she yanked him with a little force-imbued strength into an empty doorway. But the door swished open and she felt herself tumbling back, Val firmly in her grasp as the door swished quickly closed again. Trooper armor clattered to the ground around them.

They were in an armor closet full of that white plasteel stuff.

 

[Valkyrien Aurelios]

[member="Taheera Sollo"]

"Oh yeah." Val said. "I'm the loud one."

He said with a roll of his eyes as another helmet fell to the ground right behind them.

His disapprove gaze fell onto Taheera, a slight 'tsk' sound coming from his lips as he slowly shook his head. He waited for the door to open, waited for the voices to begin shouting, waited for...well anything at all to happen. Instead however the voices grew louder, passing right in front of the door and rising until Val could clear hear them passing by.

"THEN WE'RE GONNA TAKE ZELTROS AND KA-"

Val's eyes opened as he heard a string of descriptive adjectives that he thought only someone with a very gifted tongue could have crafted. His expression paled and slowly he reached up to put his hand over Taheera's ears so she didn't hear.

 

[Taheera Sollo]

[member="Valkyrien Aurelios"]

Myrtle-ellipses widened and her mouth dropped slightly open. Now that kind of talk didn't happen around the temple too often...

She felt Val's arm hands at the sides of her face. Hand smacked against his chest as she whispered. "Hey, cut it out! I wasn't born yesterday." Well, not yesterday but three years ago. HA.

Cheeks reddened at that realization. Throat cleared and she pulled away from his paw-like hands. After a beat and a half, their voices faded. She went toward the door. "Come on. We need to break for the lifts." She began to step out, only to run head first into a broad-chested male nautolan pirate. Could give Val a run for his money on the chest part.

 

[Valkyrien Aurelios]

[member="Taheera Sollo"]

The man was about to say something when a fist connected with his face. The punch went directly over Taheera's head, and the loud crack of bone rang out as the Nautolon's jaw cracked and broke in an instant. The alien let out a loud 'oof' and then tumbled onto the ground with a loud thud.

"You should work on being more stealthy." Val said as he stepped past Taheera.

The Warrior looked down the hall, trying to see if the other pirates would come back for their friend. When all he heard was the sound of raucous laughter he assumed that they wouldn't. A smile settled on his lips as the Nautolon was about to get up. Another solid punch sent him back onto the floor, his head smacking back against the hard metal as Val grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him up onto his feet. The pirate mark was branded on his bicep.

The Alien flopped slightly as Val picked him up, having been knocked unconscious.

Val frowned, and then glanced back at Taheera.

 

[Taheera Sollo]

[member="Valkyrien Aurelios"]

"I...I," she sputtered. "I had this perfectly handled, thank you very much." Raising her blaster, she shot the nautolan. Once...twice, okay, one more for good measure. He'd be out for a day or so. Long enough for them to blow the ship.

"But wait," kneeling down, she searched his pockets. There. Beneath the tentacles. She undid the access badge and held it up like a prize, shaking it once in front of Val. "Looks like we can go straight to the reactor."

She put it around her neck. Voices were coming back the other way. "Come on, stuff him in the closet and let's go!"

 

[Valkyrien Aurelios]

[member="Taheera Sollo"]

Val practically threw the man into the storage closet.

There was a loud thud, but if the drunken pirate hadn't heard them before, they certainly wouldn't hear that. His finger depressed the key to close the closet door, and with quiet swish the Nautolon was hidden away. A part of him wanted to point out the fallacy of shooting the pirate with a stun blaster when he would only be doomed to die once they blew the ship, but it was a comment that he thought Taheera wouldn't really appreciate.

He didn't say a words as they started to run, his feet stomping against the ground as they rushed down the halls and around corners.

The Star Destroyer was oddly empty. A few times they heard voices, gleeful yelling, drunken brawls, even a moan or two once, but no one ever confronted them, no one ever tried to stop them. It was not that surprising given that Star Destroyers when fully crewed held nearly sixty-thousand people, a number that the Pirates likely didn't have yet. He considered this as they passed through an open blast doors, his hand reaching out the panel so he could close the door behind them. "The reactor sho-"

His words were cut off by a sudden lurch of the ship.

Val's head snapped up, his lips thinning.

"We just jumped to hyperspace." The odd pit in his stomach that came from the jump slowly drifted away.

 

[Taheera Sollo]

[member="Valkyrien Aurelios"]

She jolted slightly against him, shoulder bumping into his as the ship lurched. Blast door sealed at their backs. In front of them was a series of catwalks. At the center, the core with its steady thrum of energy. She could feel the vibration of its energy through her boots on the deck plating.

It was magnificent. And horrific.

She frowned and looked at Val. "Is it worth the risk to blow it now? We could end up in a sun...or worse." They had to come up with a new plan. Or just take the risk and blow it anyway.

 

[Valkyrien Aurelios]

[member="Taheera Sollo"]

”We can’t blow the reactor.” Val said looking up at the massive power generator, eyes flowing over it for a moment before looking back at Taheera. ”More than likely it’ll cause a power feedback and cause the entire thing to blow.”


They wouldn’t have time to escape.

They wouldn’t even have time to drop out of hyperspace. There would simply be a massive explosion and...then they’d all be gone.


It was not a scenario that Val feared all that much, death was something he had long ago embraced in one way or another, but he couldn’t allow Taheera to do the same. Her life was precious, if not to him than to those that she could heal in the future. That in it of itself meant they couldn’t blow the generator, at least not yet, at least not until they were out of hyperspace.


”We need to hide until we drop out of hyperspace.” Set the charges now, but don’t blow them until they were sure they wouldn’t die in the process.

 

[Taheera Sollo]

[member="Valkyrien Aurelios"]

The Jedi looked away from the reactor and back up to his orbs of ice and fire. Instead of her shoulders skimping, they rounded forward in determination. Reaching over, she took two of the charges from Val's pack.

"We set them now. And...there's another way." Gingerly, she set them in her own pack. Slender neck craned up to the next walkway, a good two and a half stories up. She could do that.

She crouched low.

"We get them to come out of hyperspace," she gave Val one last look before the force coiled around her muscles and she jumped. She almost missed the platform, but her arms reached out and grabbed hold of the edge, legs dangling and kicking in the air for a moment.

 

[Valkyrien Aurelios]

[member="Taheera Sollo"]

He watched her leap her way up the platform, marveling for a moment.


Briefly Val thought about what he could have done with the force. He was always stronger and faster than most people, but this...this was something else. A frown settled on his lips for a few moments as she crawled up onto the walk-way. He considered what she was doing, and then realized that she intended to turn off the hyperdrive.

”Wait!” He tried to whisper a yell, something that ended up sounding rather silly, but there was a good reason for it. His lips thinned. Her plan was a good one, save for the lack of forethought in it.


”If we drop out of hyperspace now we’ll have no Idea where we are.” Space was big, really big. ”Escape pods don’t have hyperdrives. We’ll be stuck.”


Something that would be rather unfortunate.

 

[Taheera Sollo]

[member="Valkyrien Aurelios"]

With a grunt, she hauled herself safely on the platform, disappearing from Val's view for a moment. She heard him. Face suddenly came into view as she peeked back over the edge.

"I'm not going to turn it off from here," she whisper-yelled back. "I say we take over the bridge."

Then they could pick where they wanted to drop out. But that also meant they'd have to fight. She imagined most of the pirate clans were there. Or were probably there. Perhaps all the clan's leaders. It would be dangerous.

She eased back and stood. Val would see her form as she jogged to the core's structure and began placing the two charges. She peeked down at him again as she worked, careful not to jostle the devices.

"You got the core down there?"

 

[Valkyrien Aurelios]

[member="Taheera Sollo"]

Alright, so perhaps he had been wrong about her plan.


He had assumed that she would use the charges to blow the hyperdrive and throw them back into realspace then use the remaining explosives to set off the core. It appeared however that she was using a more measured approach. Perhaps he had spent too long thinking of things in his own way rather than peering from a different perspective. A frown pulled at his lips and he shifted slightly.


”Yeah.” He called back up to her and set to work. Val placed the charges evenly across the power core, setting them into place to make sure the blasts would be evenly distributed and take effect with full force. Once he was finished he backed away and moved half over the bridge, looking up at Taheera once more.


”Alright.” He told her. ”The bridge will be hard to take.”


Not to mention that once they had it they would effectively control the ship.


That would give them far more leverage than just the ability to blow the charges on the generator. He thought for a moment, but decided he’d share his idea once she was besides him again, weary of yelling in the core room.

 

[Taheera Sollo]

[member="Valkyrien Aurelios"]

She nodded silently down to him. Fingers brushed across the charges one last time, Myrtle-ellipses scanning the setting. Double-triple checking it. Looked good to go.

Feet came to the edge of the catwalk and she looked down at her friend. He wasn't so tall from up here. A small smile curve briefly on her lips. Taking a breath, she stepped over the edge.

A rush of wind caught up her hair and clothes. The force swelled around her in a small wave, slowing her speed at the last second so she landed next to Val in a low, quiet crouch versus a loud splat with shattered limbs. Fingers came to tug her shirt and jacket down as she stood.

"I'm open to hearing any plans."

 

[Valkyrien Aurelios]

[member="Taheera Sollo"]

”Taking the bridge will be hard.” Even if they hadn’t encountered very many people so far, he knew that the Bridge would be different.

A Star Destroyers crew was mostly so big because of maintenance. A starship that could contain sixty thousand people generally didn’t do well without being constantly worked on and upgraded. Everything from engines to guns needed to be constantly watched and maintained. Actually flying a Star Destroyer was the easy part, generally only needing about a dozen or so people to actually get it moving.

Half that if those people were good.

”They’ll undoubtedly have it staffed fully.” Val would if he had command of this ship. ”Probably around fifty or so people.”

He didn’t know how well Taheera could fight, but he’d had difficulty enough taking on half that number of pirates on his own, and this time they wouldn’t have any back up. ”I think we need lure some away before we move to take the bridge...cause a little chaos.

 

[Taheera Sollo]

[member="Valkyrien Aurelios"]

"Okay," chestnut-brows scrunched in thought. "That's a good idea." Hand came up to adjust the straps of her bag. She swung it off and began rummaging inside. Finger enclosed around the cylindrical hilt.

"The cantina is close to the bridge but not too close. We could go there. I'm sure a little lightsaber damage would bring a lot of attention. What if I caused the distraction there and you went for the bridge? And you have to promise me one thing. If it looks like it's getting bad, you have to blow the reactors. No matter what."

Jaw set in that stubborn line. She wanted Val to know that she was okay sacrificing herself to destroy this beast if it came to that. She began walking toward those closed blast doors.

 

[Valkyrien Aurelios]

[member="Taheera Sollo"]

”I don’t think we should split up.” The numbers were already against them to begin with, two against...well what he assumed to be thousands. There was no way of knowing how many pirates were aboard, but he was already pretty confident that if they got caught, there was no way they were getting out without some fancy footwork.


If they were on their own? That problem got worse.


”I think the best idea is to find an armory.” They had already stumbled upon a storage locker, an armory wasn’t too much of a stretch. ”Take a few thermal detonators and destroy a few gun turrets.”


That would send the pirates running. ”If we separate there’s a chance of one of us getting caught, and lets be honest, neither of us will let the other die or be tortured.”


Val wasn’t about to turn this into a holo-movie.

 

[Taheera Sollo]

[member="Valkyrien Aurelios"]

She staggered to a pause in front of the blast doors and craned her neck to look back at him. He was right. And it irked her.

That ominous thing she was feeling only grew. Maybe that's why she was beginning to feel so tense about this whole thing. What was she sensing? What was coming?

Jaw twitched.

"Okay. I won't go playing the reckless hero if you don't. Deal? Now where is the closest armory?"

 

[Valkyrien Aurelios]

[member="Taheera Sollo"]

It was a good question. Val closed his eyes for a moment and tried to remember the map that they had looked at earlier. Right now they were located just outside of the generator, and that meant...he focused for a second more and then shifted, pointing down the left hallway. ”That way, a deck down.”


It was far, but not too far.


”Hopefully we don’t run into anyone.” A a part of him wondered if these pirates were perhaps celebrating a bit too soon, but he realized that they likely thought him dead, and after all they did control an entire star destroyer, something that any sane man would celebrate even on a bad day. He frowned slightly as Taheera moved in the way that he had pointed towards.


He lingered for a moment, and then quickly followed after her.