"I don't like this, Captain." Corso Riggs spoke, leaning on the Skylark's console at the sight of the derelict starship, inches from the greedy maw of a black hole. "I've gotta real bad feeling."
"You're telling me, farm boy." Captain Zavvi replied, the distortion of space nearby the only clue of the phenomena nearby in the inky blackness. She pinched the bridge of her nose with one hand, the other cautiously guiding her ship closer and closer to the other vessel, wincing as she heard her freighter groan and creak as the gravitational pull started to increase. Hold on, sweetheart, she prayed.
Risha's treasure hunt had culminated into this; the discovery that the man in carbonite they'd be hauling around was the infamous gangster Nok Drayen, who not only happened to be Risha's father but somehow royalty from the planet Dubrillion. It had explained the assassins that had kidnapped Risha's friend Adulia on Tatooine, as well as couple of things, so Zavvi had kept her mouth shut and had to not look at Corso's face as she pretty sure his eyebrow was going to raise so high it was going to hide in his dreadlocks, or he was going to pull such a confused face she'd burst out laughing in the middle of something important.
It turned out that all the ship upgrades were for this one mission; the treasure was on this ship in the Long Shadow, a place devoid of stars just off the galaxy's furthest arm, sitting so dangerously close to a black hole that if they didn't get the treasure now, it would be gone for good, unless someone dived into the black hole, and the Twi'lek drew the line at that. The upgrades to her freighter had made it sturdy enough to dock in the ruined ship to retrieve the reliquary and bring it back. Nok and Risha only wanted one item from it, and the rest was Zavvi's to keep. They'd stayed back as the smuggler and her motley crew had ventured out into no-man's land, and she had to admit, she did feel a bit scared. Her mentor had always told her to stay as far away from black holes as possible, not to fly close to them. In fact, an alarm wailed on bridge warning that she was getting too close for comfort, and after a hesitation, she shut the alarm off, feeling a cool chill for ignoring something that was genuinely telling her to 'run, get out of there!'
Her expert touch flew the ship into the derelict ship's hangar, its emergency generators just about functioning to provide an airlock for them, though she doubted they'd last long, pondering whether she and Corso would need suits in the event of a sudden decompression. She shook the thought aside; get in, get out. That's all they needed to do, no more, no less.
She stood up, looking to the wookie towering over her.
"Bowdaar, keep ready. As soon as we get back, we need to get out of here immediately, understood?"
"Yes, Captain." He growled, going to check and ready the ship. Zavvi strode out of the bridge, Corso on her heels.
"Corso, is our gear ready to go?" She asked him.
"Sure is, Captain!" He nodded. "All energy cells fully charged and I think we can take on anything this place throws at us." He grinned, and despite her concern, his attitude was lightening hers too.
"Good. Now, as much as I'd like to say we shouldn't run into much trouble, the emergency generator is still running, so I'm sure there'll be a few droids hanging around just to annoy us. We should move quick and fast; we've no idea how long we've got 'til the thing crumbles, but I can guess that it isn't much."
Corso nodded an agreement, before he hesitated. His captain continued down the corridor to gather Flashy and Sparkles which he'd been evaluating, but the mercenary thought he heard something other than the quiet hum of the ship's electrics and her boots against the metal floor. Something...within the ship? He closed his eyes, focusing on his ears, hoping to figure out what it was. But it seemed to have gone, whatever it was. Was it just his imagination?
"Corso?" He opened his eyes to see Zavvi standing by the airlock, blasters at her sides, one hand on her hip. "What's up?" She asked. Corso briefly considering telling her what he thought, but dismissed it. They were in the dangerous situation as it was without worrying the captain more with something he wasn't entirely sure wasn't all in his head.
"Nothing, Captain." He said, moving over to her. "Guess I'm just nervous about going into this place." Zavvi snorted.
"And I'm not? Every rule in the book says 'no, don't fly here you idiot, you're going to die'. But it's the only way we can get this job done..." She sighed, and then she rolled her shoulders back, steeling herself. "Let's go."
The ship was filled with a deathly silence, except for the ominous groaning of metal being crushed and twisted. Corso felt a shudder slink up his spine. This place reminded him of when he and Zavvi went to supposedly rescue a woman in distress, only to find out it was a trap.
Their footsteps echoed in the void of the hangar, and as they approached a large door, a computerised voice rang out in the empty ship.
"Warning: Hull integrity. This vessel is entering the event's singularity's event horizon." They both grimaced.
"I'm thinking we should make this quick, Captain." Corso spoke, Zavvi nodding her agreement.
"Can't argue with that." She replied, slicing the door open easily, scowling as she spotted what was beyond it. "Oh, droids, wonderful..." She groaned, quickly flicking Flashy and Sparkles into her hands, the safety slipping off effortlessly. Corso pulled Sparky into his arms, a grin spreading out on his lips at the prospect of a fight.
"Well, wouldn't want it to get boring would we, Captain?" He said, the Twi'lek shaking her head. Typical Corso.
"Come on, Captain!" He cried, his jetpack's engines throttling up and with a roar it shot him towards a group of droids, his shield flickering to life as he barged into them, drawing all the attention with his headstrong strike. Zavvi smirked, slipping down behind a crate, letting a burst of fire erupt from her dual pistols that crippled one droid. Corso swung around on his heel, Sparky bucking as a blast separated the droid's head from its shoulders. He gave her a wink and grin, shoving the butt of his rifle backwards to knock an attacker off balance, spinning around to deal with it in kind. Zavvi rolled her eyes, before she noticed a droid sneaking up on her partner, ready to bring its weapon down on the back of his head. Her eyes narrowed and her gunsights raised, Flashy spitting forth a beam that made the droid stumble back, and a subsequent trickshot finished it off. The mercenary's shields hissed loudly as a few more droids noticed the commotion and ran to aid their fellows, their shots drawing Corso's attention to their unexpected guests.
"Woohoohooeee!" The whoop for joy leapt past Corso's lips, adrenaline surging into his blood vessels. Sparky sprayed orange bolts wherever they were needed, whilst Flashy and Sparkles' green and blue bolts were cutting down any droid that attempted to flank him. Corso caught a glance of a droid sneaking up on Zavvi's cover, and turned to it, flicking a catch.
"Fight me fair!" He shouted, and Sparky coughed, the harpoon Whiplash snaking from her mounting, the points clicking open to lock it in between the struts of the droid's lower body. Just a twitch made the harpoon reel in as quickly as it had lashed out, dragging its prey away from the Twi'lek, who gave some parting shots whilst the robot was incapacitated. Using momentum as a weapon, Corso managed to swing the droid around into another one, causing them to collapse into a tangle of metal. He heard the crack of the captain's pulse detonator behind him, and from the corner of his eye saw her lithe body spring from her hiding place and roll into position behind some barrels nearby, away from the last few droids who'd got bored of Corso and had gone after the gunslinger instead. They'd been thrown back and were getting to their feet, targeting the smuggler once more, who was now behind the mercenary, who didn't take kindly to anyone or thing trying to hurt his captain, his brows furrowing.
"I've had enough!" He roared, pulling a charge from his belt and pressing the trigger. It was an EMP charge; it gave a loud cracking sound as the wave burst from it, hamstringing the rest of the droids around them, forcing them to reboot their systems. Whilst they were vulnerable, Zavvi and Corso quickly finished them off, removing their heads or shooting their techbrains into molten scrap.
"Damn Corso, you know how to draw a crowd..." Zavvi tutted, moving over to him and brushing debris dust from their shoulders.
"Sorry, Captain. Can't help it." He grinned widely, the light in his brown eyes dancing. "Let's go get that treasure, huh? Before anything else gets us."
"Vessel disintegration imminent. All crew advised to abandon ship." The computerised voice droned, despite the urgency of the warning.
"What do you think we're trying to do?" Zavvi grumbled as she and Corso hurried down the corridors, lugging the reliquary between them. Her thoughts rolled back to the assassin droid that had been guarding the treasure, its command to slaughter all on board, just because of a king's ego? It made the Twi'lek sick, the thought that someone would value objects over living people. The droid was willing to kill them too, but they were ready, and they took it down, but not without Corso's shield generator taking a large hit; it wouldn't last much longer without repairs. But since they just had to go back to the Skylark, it wouldn't be too difficult.
A nasty surprise was waiting for them, however; perched on top of the Skylark's ramp stairs was a familiar figure, pointing a gun down at them.
"Skavak!" Zavvi's voice was a startled, furious shriek, and they dropped the reliquary in shock. Corso felt a wave of self guilt wash over him; that sound was someone in the walls of the ship! He should've told her...
"Hey Captain!" Skavak's voice was chipper in a way that grated every bone in the Twi'lek's body. "Bet you're surprised to see me."
"How the blazes did you get here?!" Zavvi barked.
"After those stunts you pulled on Alderaan, I hopped on the only ship that could make this trip - yours." The Corellian explained, swaggering down the ramp with an easy grin on his lips. "See, I've always believed if you can't beat 'em, join 'em...Then beat 'em." He sat down on the bottom steps, his manner oozing arrogance. "So, I stowed away on Nar Shaddaa. Funny thing about wookies; they've got great big lungs. Only takes a couple of breaths of happy gas to knock one out."
Corso snarled angrily, and he noticed Zavvi's fists clench, muscles locking together in rage.
"I don't need Bowdaar to kill you, Skavak." The smuggler spoke, her voice little more than durasteel. "Me and Corso can do just as well."
"Skavak." It was Corso's turn to speak to the thief, stepping forward. "I want my BlasTech ALT 25 back. I want my Torchy. I know you still have her!" The thief smirked.
"You've got a real single minded devotion to your toys, kid. It's gonna get you killed." He stood up easily. "How you've managed to get this far is almost beyond belief, though I think if your Captain wasn't around, you'd be dead already." Zavvi's lekku twitched, and Corso noticed something he'd never seen before; their entire length was tensed, looking like curved rods. "But I want to be civil about this. Sure, you've made my life miserable, but I don't hold a grudge, really."
"I clearly haven't hurt you enough!" Zavvi spat, pure venom dripping from every word.
"Don't kid yourself. You haven't hurt me at all." His slippery charm eased its way into his tone. "Bottom line: there's nothing you have that I can't steal..." Corso immediately straightened at that, as if someone had just shoved a rod up his backside, his brown eyes going cold with anger. As Skavak moved towards Zavvi, he quickly moved in front of her, fixing the Corellian with a death glare.
"Treat the Captain with respect, Skavak." He growled. "She's not some dancer you can take off whenever you feel like it." The older man fixed the younger with a challenging smirk.
"Poor little Corso. If you wouldn't mind, the adults are talking here, kid, so why don't you go off and play with some of your toys?" He taunted.
Wrong move.
A large 'CRACK' echoed through the derelict ship as Corso lunged at Skavak, his fist connecting with the Corellian's nose, almost destroying it in one fierce blow. The thief howled with pain, staggering back, clutching at his face. Both Skavak and Zavvi were dumbfounded by the attack, whilst Corso clenched and unclenched his fist.
"I shoulda done that a long time ago, Skavak." He snarled. "I ain't a kid, Torchy ain't yours to use, the Captain ain't your conquest and moreover ain't never gonna be!"
Skavak's charming facade dropped like a sack of bricks, and he pulled his blaster.
"You're going to regret that!" Zavvi and Corso pulled out their weapons, ready for battle. A hum of shield generator started up, and the light blue energy shields flickered to life around Skavak. Corso's did similar, but the sound of his was a high pitched whine, and the young man cursed; it was unlikely his would last the bout. They moved to attack, but Skavak pulled out a pulse detonator, its shockwave flinging them backwards. Whilst Zavvi skidded to a fairly graceful halt, Corso fell heavily, scrabbling to his feet as Skavak rained fire down on his weakened shield from behind cover.
"Let's do this right, Captain!" Corso bellowed, charging forward towards Skavak's position, praying his shield would hold long enough for the mercenary get on top of the thief.
"Wait!" Zavvi cried, hopping into cover as bolts snapped close to her feet. "He might hav-"
But it was too late to warn the Mantellian now; as he closed on the Corellian, the older man smirked and shoved another detonator into the young man's chest.
"Come on, kid, you can do better than that." He sneered, ducking down as the shockwave burst from the charge, throwing Corso aside, and cracking the back of his head against a metal crate. Black dots swam into his eyes, and he felt nausea sweep over him in his daze, something warm and wet starting trickle down the back of his neck.
"Corso!" Zavvi shrieked, and she sprang from hiding, trying to aid her friend. She didn't get far though, as a metal canister was chucked in front of her, belching forth dark smoke. Her sudden hesitation was costly, as she felt a powerful tug on her lekku that made her scream with pain, then Skavak's arms locked around her, dragging her backwards with the muzzle of a gun pressing into her temple.
"I don't think so, Captain." Skavak crooned, his arm shifting somewhat. "You've disappointed me, you know. I was beginning to think we could be something more..."
Despite his ringing ears, Corso had heard Zavvi's scream, and the resulting effect had sent adrenaline and fury screaming down his veins, and he got to his feet, fighting his concussion with all his might. As the smoke from the grenade cleared somewhat, he spotted Skavak holding his captain in a hold that had a pistol (Is that Torchy?) pressed to her head, and one hand moving far too close to her-
Skavak was so preoccupied in taunting his catch that he paused when he heard a roar. So the shock of seeing a full armoured and utterly ferocious mercenary coming at him with his jetpack fully alight caused him to briefly loosen his grip. Zavvi took her chance and broke free, pushing the thief slap bang into Corso's charge, flinging both men across the hangar. Skavak struck the ground first with a grunt, Sparky pushing deeply into the Corellian's throat in a bid to throttle him. Corso bared his teeth like an animal, pure fiery rage blazing in his eyes.
"Leave her alone!" He growled, pulling one arm back to pummel the thief into paste. However, Skavak wasn't down for the count, and saw his chance as the gap where Corso's armpit was exposed opened up, and a quick flick of the wrist fired a shot into the underarmour, and at such close range it burnt through the fabric and into his flesh. Corso cried out as the stun shot caused his muscles to spasm violently, helpless against Skavak shoving his bulk to the floor, standing over him. At that moment, his shield generator spluttered and died, his main defence gone.
"You're a fool, kid. You think that protecting her and being her white knight in shining armour will make her love you?" Skavak's grin was cruel and mocking as he levelled the gun (Torchy, no!) directly between Corso's eyes. "Let me tell you straight. She will never love you. How could she love a stupid, backward, useless country boy like you? You can't even protect yourself! Well, guess I've got to put you out of your misery." The gun whined as its charge began to build, Corso trying to get to his feet and finding to his horror that his muscles were refusing to obey, weak from spasming uselessly from the stun bolt.
"Skavak." The coolness of the tone made the thief turn his head to the source, to find a flash grenade being smashed into his face. The blinding light made the Corellian yelp and staggered off the mercenary's prone body, clutching at his face. The Twi'lek moved quickly, shoving the thief away from Corso back towards the Skylark, diving to the side as he fired blindly out, the bolts that flew in Corso's direction hitting the weakened mercenary, making him yelp as they scorched his skin. The stun bolt's effects were diminishing now and the young man managed to roll himself over to Sparky, picking him up from where he'd been dropped earlier and huddling behind some cover as his muscles began to recover.
"Where are you, you whore?" The older man yelled, his vision starting to clear from the blinding light. "I'll kill you!"
"I'm here." Zavvi stepped out from behind the Skylark's ramp, quickly grabbing the shield generator attached to Skavak's belt and pulling it free, flinging it to the side. Corso quickly shot it to pieces to prevent it being picked up and used again. If he couldn't have a generator, neither could Skavak.
The Corellian turned on her, striking the Twi'lek across the temple with the butt of his gun, bringing a bruise to her face, but she retaliated, her knee connecting with the man's groin with quite a bit of force. Skavak wailed and Corso winced; he just couldn't get used to his captain doing that. As the thief crumpled, Zavvi brought Flashy's backside directly into the back of Skavak's head with enough force to cause him to lose consciousness, before his face slammed into the ground. She flipped him over, checking his pulse.
"Still alive." Zavvi stared down at him with a blank expression, before looking over to Corso, who was now approaching her. "Corso."
"Captain?" He cocked his head, curious to what she was going to do.
"Fetch me Hewie." She said bluntly. Corso's heart froze at the coldness he could see in her light green eyes.
"Why...?" He began, before he remembered what he'd blurted out on Alderaan, when Skavak had been taunting them with the theft of the Arkanian hyperdrive. His stomach dropped as he put two and two together. "Oh no, Captain, you're not thinking of-"
"That's an order!" She barked, her tone like an ice cold knife that sliced through him, and he quailed under the force of her command, knowing this was not one he could disobey, even if he wanted to. He quickly entered the Skylark, his face pale.
This is worse than before... Corso thought, feeling sick as he retrieved the vibroblade. He hoped she wasn't going to do what he thought she was going to do, but something told him his wish wouldn't be realized; he'd seen that darkness in her before, though he'd never seen it channelled so extremely before. He swallowed hard, and went back outside.
When he returned, Zavvi was staring balefully down at the unconscious Skavak, a cold look to her eyes that reminded Corso of a viper he'd once seen in the barn back home; unblinking and undeniably deadly, always staring, daring the foolish to get close enough so it could strike with its wicked fangs and inject the venom that would lead to a slow, painful death. He noticed that she'd cut some parts of Skavak's clothing into strips, and used said strips to tie his wrists and ankles together in such tight knots Corso knew that he'd never escape them, chilling him further.
He handed Zavvi Hewie, before heading towards the reliquary they'd left behind, wanting no part in what was about to happen.
The Twi'lek moved over to the human on the metal floor, sitting on Skavak's belly and pinning him to the floor; with his hands and feet tied, Skavak couldn't escape her poisonous wrath. She prodded him with the currently inactive vibroblade to stir him from unconsciousness, his eyes slowly creaking open to the sight of a stony faced smuggler, resting Hewie lightly against her knee, her pupils yawning voids. He tried to move, finding himself pinned and bound, scowling.
"What have you done to me?" Skavak demanded, glaring at her. "I'm not in the mood for this."
Zavvi didn't answer, her expression not even flinching, and she shifted around so she was side on to him, Hewie on her right side. Skavak suddenly noticed Corso was far away from them, his back to him and he was seemingly very interested in the reliquary. The thief felt danger grip his spine, exacerbated when he heard the vibroblade activate.
"Captain, what are you doing?" He asked, trying to keep the fear out of his voice. One eye looked at him, colder than the ice and snow on Hoth, and he saw the glowing blade being raised up, aiming at his crotch. His eyes widened. "No, Captain! Please, we can talk about this! No! No! NOO!"
The blade came down, it bit into muscle and flesh, the Corellian giving a bloodcurdling scream as Zavvi continued with her grim task with an impassive expression. Corso clamped his hands over his ears, bile swirling uncomfortably into his stomach. A part of him felt sorry for the thief, but he pushed the thought aside, not wanting to even consider anything about what his captain was doing right now.
Once she was finished, Skavak's head thumped back against the floor, the pain unbearable and there were slivers of tears in his eyes.
"L-Let me go, Captain. I swear, I won't bother you any more if you let me go. I swear I'll stay out of your way, just please, stop..." He begged.
Zavvi didn't say a word, and didn't even blink. She glanced in Corso's direction, noticing his ears were covered and so gently laid Hewie nearby. She turned her attention back to Skavak, straddling his chest and pulling Flashy and Sparkles from their holsters.
"C-Captain, we can talk about thi-" He was silenced when both pistols were thrust into his mouth, the barrels touching the back to make him heave.
"Die." She pulled the triggers, and Skavak's eyes bulged out slightly as he convulsed under her just the once, before lying still. Corso heard the muffled sound of blasters going off, and he looked around, taking his hands away from his ears. He saw the smuggler standing back up, holstering her pistols, before stooping to pick up Hewie, ignoring the pool of blood forming around the Corellian's hips. Corso picked up the reliquary, moving over to her with some trepidation, not knowing if she'd come out of her deadly cold rage yet.. She looked at him as he came over, eyes dull and dark.
"I'll...I'll put this in the cargo hold." He said, feeling ineffectual and rather vulnerable in front of his captain, after seeing what she had done to Skavak. He dared not look towards the body, not wanting the image of the mutilated corpse burned into his subconscious.
"I'll be with you shortly." Zavvi bowed her head slightly, and Corso nodded, climbing carefully up the stairs to make sure he didn't stumble.
The smuggler waited until Corso had gone, before turning her attention back to Skavak, but this time only to loot the credits and any other useful belongings he had on him. She hesitated briefly as she looked at the pistol the thief had been wielding, and noticed a part of the blaster had been scuffed almost deliberately, as if to hide something. She picked it up, lifting it to the light to examine it, before the derelict ship suddenly shuddered violently. It wouldn't be long now.
She hawked and spat on Skavak's corpse as the final gesture of hate, before taking the pistol and Hewie back with her onto the ship.