Public This is the road to hell (Mek-Sha Chronicles - Chapter One)

[Vashra Foss]

The hum of the*Red Dagger*'s engines reverberated through the dimly-lit cockpit. The old XS stock light freighter shuddered slightly, a familiar rattle of worn metal, as it sliced through hyperspace toward Mek-Sha.

Vashra´s heavy boots, hiding a vibroblade and knife, were planted firmly on the cold durasteel floor, grounding her against the ship's subtle vibrations. At 19 standard years, Vashra had been forged by the brutal streets of Nar Shaddaa and it showed in her gray-green eyes, glinting with a predatory focus, as they stared at her from her reflection in a cracked viewport nearby.

Mek-Sha loomed ahead, a rusting, pressurized hellhole of desperation and opportunity. She'd heard the whispers of its volatile narcotic trade, the ad-hoc refineries pumping out fuel, drugs and fortune. Or a grave. Vashra didn't care which, as long as the credits flowed and others were dumped in the graves.

The ship's comm crackled to life, snapping her from her thoughts. "Approaching Mek-Sha in ten standard minutes," came the robotic voice of the nav computer. Vashra gazed out as the streaks of hyperspace began to slow, the murky outline of the asteroid-city coming into view—a jagged, glowing scar in the void.

Her smirk widened. Mek-Sha was a pit of womb-rats, but Vashra Foss was the venom. She reached for her leather jacket, the closest thing to a friend she had ever known, . her mind already racing with plans. First, she'd scope out the narcotic hubs, find the players worth charming or killing. Her piloting skills and ruthless streak would close the deal. As the*Red Dagger* shuddered closer to the asteroid, Vashra felt the familiar thrill of a new hunt. Mek-Sha wouldn't know what hit it.

 

[Vashra Foss]

The*Red Dagger* groaned as it settled into the docking bay of Mek-Sha, the old freighter's landing struts hissing with strain against the uneven, grime-slicked duracrete. The bay was a cavern of shadows, lit only by sputtering sodium lamps that cast sickly yellow halos over rusted machinery and tangled pipes. Hissing steam vented from cracked conduits, curling like specters in the stale, humid air, carrying the stench of burnt fuel, rancid oil, and something sour—decay, maybe, or the desperation of those who lingered too long in this pit. The walls, streaked with corrosion and graffiti, echoed with the distant clang of tools and muffled shouts, a symphony of barely-contained chaos. Vashra Foss stepped down the ramp of her ship, her heavy boots thudding with purpose, her BE-09 blaster pistol a comforting weight at her hip.

Her gray-green eyes scanned the bay with predatory precision, taking in every detail out of habit - the flickering exit signs, the skulking figures in the corners, where there was the potential for trouble or profit.

In a dark corner near a flickering holo-ad for some long-defunct cantina, she spotted them -three human death stick users, huddled together like rats in a sewer. Their frail, emaciated bodies slumped against the wall, wrapped in tattered rags that barely passed as clothing. Their skin was sallow, stretched tight over jutting bones, eyes sunken and glazed with the telltale haze of addiction. The acrid tang of burnt death sticks lingered around them, mixing with the bay's already foul air. One of them, a man with patchy stubble, clutched a glowing stick in trembling fingers, his breath ragged as he inhaled the toxic smoke. The other two - a woman with matted hair and a younger man with open sores on his arms - stared blankly at nothing, their bodies twitching occasionally from the drug's grip.

This was Mek-Sha at its rawest

Welcome!

 

[Vashra Foss]

The three addicts scrambled out of their corner like starved rats, eyes wild, veins bulging with whatever cheap high still burned in their blood. The woman came first, brandishing a jagged length of metal pipe overhead. The younger man followed with a rusted vibro-shiv that trembled in his skeletal grip. Patchy-stubble brought up the rear, swinging a cracked glow-rod like a club, spit flecking his cracked lips as he shrieked something about "fresh meat." Vashra didn't even break stride. Her right hand blurred to the BE-09 on her hip. The blaster cleared leather in a heartbeat, muzzle already tracking. Three crimson bolts snapped out—clean, surgical, almost lazy. The woman's chest flowered red; she spun, pipe clattering, and folded like a broken marionette.

The younger man took his bolt through the throat and dropped gargling.

Patchy-stubble managed half a step more before the third bolt punched through his sternum and went out through the back again to sear a rusty bulkhead. Three bodies hit the deck before the echo of the first shot finished bouncing off rusted walls. Vashra exhaled once, slow and satisfied, then lifted the blaster and blew across the barrel even though there was no smoke—just habit, just style.

She pivoted on her heel, blaster already rising again, and found herself staring down the barrel's glowing business end into the lonmg-snouted, lime-green face of a Rodian

"Hello Iftak. Got a death wish perhaps?"

The Rodian twitched nervously.

"Hahaha, Vashra, doo gunkee fodee! (Hahaha, Vashra you´re reflexes are still sharp)"

"Yes, that´s why you are still alive Iftak. Nice welcome committee."

"Iftak hoonda mee janta kee pahkee (I just wanted to make sure you still have it takes) "

"No worries, I do."

Vashra lowered her blaster. And Fired:

Iftak the fence and information broker collapsed with a loud shriek as the blaster bolt burned through what Rodians had for a kneecap. The aroma of burned clothing and roasted amphibian added itslf to the nauseous stench that already hung in the air.

The muzzle of Vashra´s blaster now pointed right between his bulbous eyes now.

"You see that buddy? My blaster thinks you made a bad joke and it has a sense of humor. I haven´t. So if your job is not good I´ll be gone in five minutes. Leaving behind three corpses and a pool of smoking frog sperm. Not sure if it even counts as a crime around here."



Velzari Tharn - OOC; for your information only, moving this thread to [Black Sun] Shut Up and Drive || BSS Populate of Celegia