Diclaimer; I own only my characters and the plot.
Italics indicate thought or alien language
Part IV; Scrapper Showdown
The lightsaber sizzled as it slid through the droid's chassis. It collapsed to the ground and Nariel withdrew her weapon from its ruined structure. Her weapon hummed as she twirled it around, deflecting a bolt aimed at her. It dissipated harmlessly on the ground and the Jedi drew her arm back.
As she prepared to throw her lightsaber, a flurry of bolts beat her to it. The droid sparked under the hail of hot plasma before finally exploding. Roman walked over to his recent kill and kicked it to make sure it was out. Then he blew dramatically on the barrel of his pistol and twirled the weapon before holstering it.
A quick survey confirmed for them that the last of the droid's were done for.
"Man, we are good," The smuggler grinned. "Though I really expected more resistance for this. I mean, an Imperial droid factory? And this
is all they've got?"
"Agreed. I was hoping for more worthy foes," Akaavi Spar agreed, still clutching her battle staff. "I suggest that we set the charges and evacuate quickly."
"I smell a trap. I will help the Mandalorian set the explosives." Bowdaar roared, hefting his vibrosword over his back and grabbing one of the satchels containing their payload.
"Sounds like a plan. Nar and I will cover you guys from any backup from this side." Roman nodded, putting a hand to his earpiece. The device crackled to life as he spoke. "Risha, Gus, can you hear me?"
"Loud and clear, Captain. How are things going?" Risha's voice bounced through.
"Dandy. Have the Lady primed to go. We're almost done here and something tells me we're gonna need a fast way out."
"Gus is already getting an escape route planned and I'm pulling the Fair Lady around as we speak."
"Good, good. You two are the best. Pick up the other two first and then come get us." Roman sighed, nervously grasping his blaster. "See you in a bit." He said before turning to the Jedi by his side. "Nar, you sense anything with that jedi mumbo jumbo? I've got that sinking feeling."
"I wasn't going to say anything," She said after a second. "But I sense something off. As if something about this place is being obscured by the Force. Hidden."
"Captain, Bowdaar and Akaavi are safely onboard. Incoming to your position." Risha spoke into Roman's ear before he could think about Nariel's observation.
The smuggler nodded, looking out the bay doors. The sight of his ship made him smile in relief. But it suddenly vanished as the spaceports blast doors slammed shut. He spun around as Nariel's lightsaber blazed on. Their eyes wisped around the room for the source of the change. They didn't have to wait long.
Suddenly, black clad imperial troops swarmed into the docking bay. Roman rolled into cover as he fired pot shots into the throng. Nariel moved back to cover him, reflecting the imperial blaster fire back at the imperials. Several went down quickly but they dispersed, making them harder to combat.
"Roman, I believe that these troops were waiting to ambush us. It's likely that they were the disturbance in the force."
"No, dip, Sherlock!" Roman said derisively, priming a thermal detonator and hurling it among the troops. It detonated shortly after with a resounding boom, sending rubble and bodies flying in all directions. "Next time give me more of a heads up."
"I am sorry. They were cloaked from the Force and from me. I could not make out the threat," Nariel apologized, throwing her lightsaber and recalling it from the chest of the trooper it became lodged into. "It would not be unlikely if these troops were led by a Sith."
"Wonderful, cuz those guys are a bundle of laughs," Roman said blithely as he barely dodged out of the way of a stray blaster bolt. He hit his comlink again, trying to get through to the Lady. "Risha, Gus? Bowie, Akaavi, what's going on? We could really use a pick up right about now!"
Static. His signal must have been jammed. Roman swore. His blasters flipped up, twin streams of death flowing from him. As he blasted, he spotted a black cloaked figure in the middle of the group. They reached to their side and ignited a red beam.
The smuggler quickly moved his fire to them, but with several flashes of the red saber, the blasts went astray. Then he felt himself lifted off the ground, choking, as his impromptu nemisis raised their hand. Roman grunted, managing to fire one last shot.
The last thing he saw as his vision went dark was the shot struck the sith's shoulder as Nariel cut a swathe towards them.
"Unnnnngh. . . " Romans eyes opened briefly before immediately shutting them again on account of a bright light shining in his face. The rapid change seemed to burn his eyes. The smuggler groaned a second time, trying to move but felt himself being held up and restrained. The movement caused a sharp pain to explodein his side.
"Oh, good. The smuggler is finally awake." A gravelly voice laughed, then kicked him as he looked his eyes to see the boot connect with his side. Well, at least that solved the mystery of the pains source.
"Uhg, guys, really, I know I'm loved and all but if you wanted an autograph, you didn't need to go through all this effort-hhng!"
The third kick stopped his sarcastic comment short.
"Laugh while you can." The leader of the guard crew grinned evilly at him as they dragged him through the black halls of what seemed to be a starship. And distinctly Imperial. Wonderful. "Lord Zare will strip that from you soon enough."
"Zare. . . ?" Roman's eyes went wide. She was dead. He killed her. But, then maybe he hadn't been seeing things back on the date with Nariel. . .
"Nariel! Where's Nariel?" The smuggler demanded, glaring at the guards.
"The Jedi? She's here. Don't worry though. Zare wanted her alive as well." The imp chuckled coldly as doors to the bridge opened.
Among the dark black and red colors, Roman spotted his female crewmate. He was about to call out until he noticed how she stood. The strong Jedi stood limply, expression of weak shock as her eyes wide fixed on the figure on the bridge.
Roman swallowed.
The black cloaked figure of a very alive Vavaron Zare stared down at them maliciously from the top of the bridge.
Author's Note; Sorry for the delay on this chapter. Been busy and struggling with writing. And then my usual method of uploading isn't working correctly so it took roughly an hour longer than usual to fix the format of this chapter and get everything smoothed out. I apologize for any weird formatting that I may have missed but hopefully the promise of an actual plot coming soon makes up for that. As always, I'd love to hear any thoughts on the story or advice. Anyway, until next time, Baldore out!