Chapter 13.

Cheers and enjoy! Last edited January 26th, 2015.

Torian could not take in enough air, his lungs were saturated with the exotic fumes radiating of her hair. How had they ended up tangled in each other? When had they made it to his bunk? He felt drunken and dazed, as if he had blacked out. But none of it mattered, because her lips were locked with his, her curvaceous form rubbing up to him and he honestly could not focus on anything else aside for how she smelled, tasted and felt. Her lips were as soft as the petals of a flower, but she kept biting at his lips, he groaned as he started pulling on her cloths. It had been a long time, far too long a time, since his flesh had been properly satisfied, he could wait no more.

"Torian."

He groaned in response, a dull ache in the back of his head starting to bloom, which confused him.

"Torian."

He tried to say her name, but his jaw felt stiff, hard, it would not obey him, which alarmed him.

"Torian!"

Torian jolted upright and grabbed his ribs as a stabbing pain made itself known. His body was still drunk from the dream he had been yanked out of, but now he knew where he was. In sector 39 of Nar Shadaa, in the fighting pits owned by a Twi'lek named Hazad. A missile was inbound in his direction, Torian jumped as soon as he saw it, pouncing to his left where a couple of upturned tables and chairs offered sparse shelter. Torian raked his mind, what had happened? When had he gotten so hurt? And where the shab(1) did his helmet go?!

"On your six!"

Torian spun around and punched whomever attempted to assail him, he did note a squeal, so guessed his would-be attacked would have been a Gamorrean, but he did not give it much thought, the only thing that was a focal point in his mind was how his retractable blade worked. He felt it fly out of his greaves and into the gut of his attacker. Then the attacker fell and Torian backed away even farther trying to find adequate cover, all the while his hands moved without the need of command, assembling his elerctro-staff as he backed up.

"Raidre! I don't remember why my jaw feels like led. "

Raidre laughed, such a pretty laugh, deep and sensual, his mind was brought right back into his dream of bedding her. This woman would be the end of him! He breathed deeply in hopes that the fumes of discharged plasma cells, burned flesh and fear would be enough to quench his very real desire to just have his way with her like an animal.

"What's the last thing you remember, Torian?"

Torian got his bearings, he was in the far corner farthest from the exit. Raidre was trapped in the cage, her would be challenger slumped on the ground, dead or simply passed out, Torian did not know or care as long as the man stayed down. If that wasn't bad enough, the cage lay at the centre of a large room, blasters were being discharged in every direction, the air smelled of ozone, and Raidre was at the heart of it all, trapped and unarmed. Anger had a way of clearing your head, and Torian's recollection of what had just happened brought him such a surge of rage that it almost chocked the breath out of him.

They had been betrayed by the owner of this fine establishment, Hazad. Raidre was a well-known cage fighter, before she had won the Great Hunt and become Champion, she had already made herself a name as an unbeatable cage fighter, a rarity for a woman. Hazad had not liked his odds, so as soon as Raidre took out the champion of this ring, the shooting started and someone had socked Torian so hard that it had knocked his helmet clean off. Torian searched for the yellow Twi'lek, but saw no sign of him.

"Raidre."

"I hear you."

"Do you remember where they stored your gear?"

"Like the back of my hand. "

"Get under cover."

It wasn't the smart move, not by a long shot, but Torian would not stand another second of Raidre being caged. Lucky for him, his opponents were all sloppy and useless if they did not have the advantage their blasters afforded them. Torian used his jet packs, a small shot of power and fuel and he landed right in the midst of them. It was short work after that, his electrical current was on a lethal charge, and anyone touched by his electro-staff would not be getting up. It took far shorter than he had hoped and it did nothing to use up his rage. He clear his way to Raidre and they raced out of the cage as soon as he melted the door. She ran and he followed her, covering her six.

She ran like the wind across an open plain, Torian followed but did not like that they had to get deeper inside the complex, the more entrenched they got, the harder the trek out would be. But she needed her gear more. Raidre would be far too vulnerable without some armour, her fighting style too recklessly to manage without it. Once they reached the lockers, Torian melted the door closed and then made sure the area was clear.

"Clear."

Raidre ran to gather her things.

"Stock up on anything useful, it's gonna be an uphill battle out."

Torian grunted as he began to stuff his empty compartments with thermal detonators and flash bangs.

"Can you get a con out to the others?"

Raidre pulled out her holo and began trying to find a signal with which to send a message, but groaned and stuffed the thing back in her pocket.

"Jammed."

Torian grunted and nodded as he pulled out a helmet that looked half decent. He began calibrating it and synching it up to his systems while purging it of all previous user data and liabilities. Folk could be so careless with their hardware and software, leaving it wide open for a slicer to just grab whatever they needed through it. Torian was not having any of that. Raidre pulled on her gear in double time, by the time the calibrations were done on Torian's end, she was pulling her own helm on.

"Testing, how are you receiving me?"

"Gladly, Torian, thanks. I would have been Bantha chow out there if you hadn't helped."

Torian paused for a moment, turning to her as he secured his helmet in place. He still felt the linger effects of his dreams, it had felt so real to his muddled mind. He looked as her as she pulled out an old Concussive Rifle and looked through the area for more useful gear. He took a deep breath and promised himself when they had some downtime, he would get to know her. She pulled on him in ways no one else ever had. He wanted to get to know her, to see her for all she was, the good, the bad and especially the ugly. Love was not enough in this Galaxy so full of uncertainties and violence.

"Checking my form?"

Torian laughed, he couldn't help it. "Ready, princess?"

She scoffed. "I'll show you princess."

Raidre laid some dets along the frame of the door, and they both took cover to either side of the door, but a fair distance away to avoid any injuries due to debris. Torian counted down.

"3. 2. 1. "

The dets tore the door off, plastoid and durasteel flew in all directions as did some guards as they flowed in. Raidre took them out with her blasters while Torian laid waste to anyone who tried to come in with his rifle. Soon, no one attempted to come inside, but that did not mean their way was open. Raidre took on of the pieces of shrapnel around them, one with a reflective surface and angled it so she could take a safe look at what was around them outside of the door. Someone shot at the reflective surface and it shattered before it fell as Raidre pulled her hand away from the thing.

Torian grunted. "How many?"

"Only four, but they all look to have blaster rifles. "

Torian counted his flash bangs. "Two should do it."

"Buckets on black in…"

Torian flicked the switch and tossed the flash bangs. "2. 1. "

His visor went pitch black, and he assumed so did hers from her radio silence. They could hear the collective cries of their would-be attackers outside. Torian counted the seconds, their visors would go back to normal three seconds after the darkness, with the adrenaline coursing through his veins, those three seconds felt like eternity. As soon as they could see, he saw Raidre charge through the door way, the conc rifle ahead and discharging. The world seemed in slow motion to Torian, he saw the reinforcements arrive and before he had time to think his actions through. For example, it was unwise of him to jump into the fray while Raidre was discharging into the crowd, but they were getting close to her, and it made him uncomfortable. He knew very well she could handle herself, but it set him on edge in a way nothing else had ever done before. Torian beat some sense into their attackers while Raidre knocked them back with the conc rifle. Soon the way was clear and Raidre did not complain about Torian's stunt.

"Go, go, go! "

They ran for it at her encouragements, anyone or thing that got in their way was knocked out before they had the chance to react, their hydraulic joints and jet packs carrying them across the hallways of the complex much faster than running ever could have. Torian got confused when Raidre veered left and he realised that they were not running for the exit.

"Raidre, wanna fill me in?"

He could hear the 'shit-eater' grin on her face as she spoke. "I think this act of betrayal deserves a little pay back, don't you?"

Torian wanted to groan, but he was too close to laughing, so he opted for neutrality. "Is it really the right time for this?"

"Absolutely! No time like the present?"

"You slice the credits, and I get Hazad."

Torian could hear the rictus muscles of her face twitching with anticipation, a snicker through the com clued him in. "Sure, Tor. He's all yours."

Time flows like rain drops when your adrenaline is pumping, lazy and languorously. Torian could no longer feel its ebb or its pull. They burst into the main office and events flew by in milliseconds, but felt like whole hours, every shard of shrapnel had the time to reflect some of the artificial lighting from the office lights in the ceiling before they were blown aside. There were guards, but Torian took no note of them, the only target that mattered was Hazad, and Raidre had his six, she took out all the guards with the remaining shots on her conc rifle, she then used the large rifle as a weapon itself, throwing it at the slight Twi'lek, pinning him to his office chair for Torian's enjoyment. Raidre then proceeded to melt the doors closed and fry the console to the office.

"It will take me three minutes to get what we came for, so take your time with him."

Torian tried not to smile too broad. His face wasn't used to it and with his bucket on, it was wasted. Raidre shoved the wheezing Hazad aside, conc rifle and all to get at his terminal and began slicing all the bank accounts, emptying them. This was going to be a very big paycheck for them all, Mako might be getting her electronic warfare pod after all. Torian looked at the now waning Twi'lek and let all of his bridled rage leek through.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Don't they teach folk on this back-wards moon anything about Mandalorians?"

Raidre caught on. "Sure don't."

Torian sighed for emphasis. "What are we going to do with you, Hazad? This just won't do."

Torian put his hands on his hips and made a show of thinking on the matter hard as he shifted his weight from his right foot to the left, looking from side to side on the floor as if he had lost the keys to the Mantis. Hazad's breathing had gone from a wheezing to a whistling.

"I mean, we have a reputation to maintain. "

Raidre chimed in. "We sure do. "

Torian looked Hazad full on, letting the light from the T shaped visor illuminate his waning complexion. The Twi'lek shook like a dried up leaf in the wind.

"What do you suggest, Raidre. It is you he betrayed."

Raidre unplugged her data pad from Hazad's terminal, then emptied her last blaster cell into the terminal to kill it. She checked her fuel gauge in Torian's view, his fuel was also running low and they would have to conserve every drop they had left to make it back to the mantis. That meant no more pyrotechnics for today. Raidre slowly prowled towards Hazad, like a feline playing with its prey. Torian took a step back to give her room, and to play up the show to Hazad.

Raidre crossed her arms as she starred down at the pinned Twi'lek.

"You're in quite the sorry state Hazad, except you're not just crossing me this time, your crossing my friend here-" Raidre showed Torian who leaned against the desk, arms crossed. "And my clan, you know how it works, right? You mess with one of us, you are spitting on all of our honour. "

Hazad found his voice. "What honour?! You just emptied millions of credits from my accounts!"

Raidre laughed. "Yep. And those credits don't assure your safety, Hazad."

Raidre crouched down and grabbed the Twi'lek by the collar of his shirt. "Who paid you for me?"

Hazad spat in her visor, Torian tensed, her helmet protected her, but the sheer disrespect of the act still commanded a response from him. He did his best to remain immobile and not to let it show that Hazad had bothered him. Raidre wiped the stuff off her visors, looked at it and then wiped it on Hazad's cheek.

"I will ask you one more time, who paid you for me, Hazad?"

"Go to hell! You-"

Raidre stood in one fluid motion and kicked Hazad in the knee so hard that bone snapped. Hazad went from cursing to shouting.

"Don't make this harder than it has to be, Hazad. All I want is a name. "

"Eat bantha poodoo, you Mandalorian savages!"

They looked at each other. "He just called us savages, Raidre, should we show him the meaning of the word?"

Raidre made a show to be thinking about it, then crouched down and pulled Hazad so close that his nose was rubbing up against her visor, the glow from her helmet causing him to blink against the bright LED lights.

"Five seconds. I want that name. "

"I don't give a bantha's backside about what you want!"

Torian sighed, the Twi'lek was determined to be a pain in their backside, but they could both hear voices on the other side of the melted door which meant that their time was running out. Torian crouched down with Raidre and pulled out Hazad's hand.

"She said five seconds. One. "Torian broke Hazad's thumb.

Hazad cried out in pain and surprise, tears welling in his eyes. Raidre let her head lean on her hand as she watched. Putting all her weight on his shattered knee, applying a bit more with every broken finger.

"Two."

Torian broke the Twi'lek's index, which caused him to soil himself. Raidre made a sound of disgust.

"What are you? Three years old? No one ever taught you to keep it in?"

"Three."

Torian made sure to break the middle finger with a twisting motion, tearing ligaments in the process, a far more painful break, by this point Hazad was getting too exhausted to scream.

"Changed your mind yet? I still have two more fingers on this hand and a whole other hand, maybe we will melt the skin off after we ripped the nails off the other hand, sounds good to you, Raidre?"

Raidre made a show to laugh but it wasn't genuine, she wasn't enjoying this, neither was he, but they needed to know who was gunning for them. A laser saw groaned to life on the other side of the melted door, they both heard but refused to turn and check, they needed that name and they needed Hazad to think they would kill anyone and everyone here for it. Raidre slapped him lightly a couple of times, bringing him back to consciousness.

"Name please, Hazad."

"Smuggler, Jezzik. "

They both stood and gave Hazad space to breath. "Was that so hard? Where did you last see Jezzik?"

"Cantina, in sector four."

The two Mando'ade frowned. That was a very rich sector for a smuggler to be hanging out in. The smell of melted metal began to waft towards them.

"Let's go pay this Jezzik a visit."

Raidre nodded. "Good idea, let's clean up a bit first."

Raidre pulled up Hazad's chair, with him still in it and set it up right, while Torian laid down all of their stolen dets, when they left, there would be nothing left of this office and its inhabitants. There was no way around it. No way Hazad would let this one go, he would hire other Bounty Hunters to bring them back and repay them for their kindness, that was not something Torian or Raidre wanted to deal with. So it was better to clean up before they banged out. An occupational hazard. Hazad was falling unconscious again, Raidre did not attempt to revive him this time and they switched to their private com link.

"I barely have enough to bring me to the hangar, how are you?"

"If need be, I can carry us."

Raidre looked at Torian as he walked to her, they both looked out the window.

"You sure?"

Torian nodded. "Yea."

Torian crouched down and shouldered his rifle and began shooting out the window while Raidre set her reflector shields to maximum to shield them from any debris. Just as Torian shot out the window, the guards shot out the door. The two Mandalorians made a run for it, lasers following their exit, they turned back to watch as Torian flipped the switch and set off all twenty dets in the office. The inferno took everyone at once, a clean death. They focused their attentions on the sky ahead, avoiding other transports as they made their way down towards the hangar bay.

"I'm out."

Torian tossed Raidre his electro-staff.

"I only have a handful of shots left, keep them off me so I can make them count. "

Raidre nodded. "You got it, Tor."

They landed in the hanger bay full of guards. Torian nodded towards their targets.

"Put all power towards shields and crank 'em to the max, let's not take more damage than we have to."

"Got it!"

There were a dozen guards, but they had poor equipment, Torian tossed his remaining fuel cell to Raidre and began aiming for head shots. Raidre quickly ejected her empty cell and replaced it with Torian's which wasn't much better, but it would get her into the fray. She flipped the switch, gave life to the staff and then charged right into the fray.

Raidre lived for melee combat. She loved to watch teeth and blood fly, loved knowing she was responsible, knowing she was powerful enough to become invulnerable even in such dire odds. The staff flowed like a leaf in the wind, fluid and with a life of its own. She took two human males out with strikes to their heads as soon as she landed, she took a third, a Devaronian female by knocking her feet from out under her and then crushing her chest with the staff. Torian took two Twi'leks that had attempted to charge her while she crouched on her latest kill. She stood and knocked a Houk off his feet as she swung Torian's staff at the assailant, the electrical current killing him before had had the chance to land.

Raidre swirled landing a kick at a Gamorrean's chest while striking him in the face with the staff. The electrical charge melting the skin on the snout instantly, flooding the hangar bay with the smell of bacon. A Selkath tried to charge Raidre with a trident like weapon, but both Mandalorians killed him before he got close enough to land a hit. Raidre veered around in time to meet a Rodian female and a Sullustan male try to charge her while her attention was elsewhere. Raidre let the staff twist in her arms so it could extend while she charged them, they tried to avoid her strike, but her hydraulic joints made her so much faster than they ever could be. They fell dead, which left nothing but three Trandoshians. Torian used his last shot and one of them fell dead with smoke trailing from between his eyes. Raidre panted as time started to become normal again, she felt an ache in her left shoulder, she shooed it away without a second though. Torian's electro-staff fizzled in her hands, its charge also running low, but the Trandoshians stood between them and the Mantis. Torian jumped and landed next to her, rifle safely tucked on his back. He stood and flexed his fingers, the retractable blades flashing briefly before disappearing.

The Trandoshians dropped their weapons and ran. Raidre sighed.

"I know this isn't nice, but they can't be allowed to escape."

"You don't need to explain it to me."

The two charged and pounced on the Trandoshians, their deaths were fast and painless.

"Bang out."

Raidre began running at Torian's command.

"Kriff, you don't have to tell me twice!"

They ran for it at full speed, they were in the Mantis and ready to go in record time, especially for a crew of two. Raidre sighed as she finally sat down in the pilot's seat and punched in coordinates to fly towards sector four. She activated all their scramblers in case the authorities, whatever they might be, got any bright ideas. Once they were in the air and Torian was sure the ship was empty aside for them, he came to sit next to her. He pulled his helmet off. He sighed and looked at Raidre, who was still as tight as a climbing harness on a cliff on Hoth. Torian took his time to make sure she saw him as he reached out, undid the clasps of her helmet and pulled it off. She allowed him but never looked away, he watched her carefully, she had some minor scrapes and cuts, a couple of burns from where the blaster shots had gone through her shields, but otherwise she was whole.

Torian waited for her to blink before talking to her.

"Sector four?"

"Yep."

"What do we do when we find Jezzik?"

"We question him with a lot more prejudice than we had when we questioned Hazad."

Torian nodded and leaned back in his seat. "Sounds good to me, wake me when we get there."