"Sabacc!" said Kryystann in a triumphant voice. "Well gentle beings looks like I win again."
As Kryystann reached for her winnings, an Aqualish stood up angrily, sending his chair flying while making threatening tones toward Kryystann. As Kryystann raised her eyes up to him, her hand still over the pile of credits she had just won, the Aqualish's human partner positioned himself face to face with her. And a more repulsive face on a human Kryystann could not imagine, this guy called himself Dr. 'something or other', he should really see about fixing his mangled face.
"That's ten hands in a row you've won, my friend thinks that nobody's that lucky" the man said to her, his breath nearly making her gag.
"And this is my problem how exactly?" Krystann asked the man while staring at the orange jacketed Aqualish with her piercing blue eyes.
The Aqualish grunted. "Ponda doesn't like you" the man sneered.
"And this is my problem how exactly?" Krystann asked again, bringing her cold stare to fall on the good doctor.
"I don't like you either!" the man yelled as he turned the gaming table over and reached out for Kryystann.
Instead of retreating, Kryystann met his advance with her own and ducked under his outstretched arm and used her limited momentum to drive her shoulder into the Aqualish's stomach or where the Aqualish's stomach should be, she wasn't really sure what the internal organ arrangement was on an Aqualish. In any case it had the desired effect of catching the Aqualish off guard and knocked him off his feet. Dropping to one knee as she turned back to face the human, she drew her blaster and fired off a shot at the Aqualish's partner. However luck was on his side as he slipped and the blaster bolt rocketed past him and shot the glass out of the hand of a very big, very mean looking Trandoshan. As the Trandoshan brought his rifle up, Krysstann noticed that the Aqualish and the human had also gotten to their feet and were grabbing for blasters. Deciding that now would be a good time to cut her losses, she sprinted for the door and collided with a group of smugglers coming in for a drink. As she tried to untangle herself from the men, she felt a definite, intentional grope of her backside. Well she may not be sure of where everything was on an Aqualish, but she knew for sure where everything was on a human. Turning and grabbing the man by his shirt she brought her knee up and crumpled the man to a fetal position on the ground. She turned just in time to see the punch being aimed at her head by one of the groper's two companions and ducked while pushing the man toward the third member of the party. Taking advantage of their disorientation, she took off across the breezeway toward the docking bay where the Shooting Star and Matara were waiting. She took once glance behind and saw that she was now being pursued by the three smugglers, the ugly human, the Aqualish, and the Trandoshan. She laughed with glee as she fled her pursuers.
Meanwhile, back at the docking bay Matara Healbo was receiving her instruction from one of Jabba the Hutt's lieutenants on where exactly she was to smuggle her cargo.
"…and so you get 10% up front and the rest when Jabba has verification of delivery, agreed?" said Vir Ralsk. A bony human with a nose that was way to big and broad for his skinny face. He smiled at Matara in what he must have considered to be his most winning smile.
"Agreed, we should have Jabba's cargo at its destination in ten standard days." Matara replied as she wondered just why everyone who worked for Jabba smelled so bad. She noticed that the Ralsk was still standing there…smiling at her.
"Agreed, you may go now" Matara said again, waving him away with the back of her hand.
His smile went away to be replaced by a scowl as he abruptly turned on his heel and stomped off.
"Good riddance, now all I have to do is collect Kryys, hope she hasn't gotten into trouble……" Matara's sentence trailed off as she saw Kryys 500 meters aways coming at her at a dead run. "Oh, no"
"We've got to go Matara!" Kryys yelled as she neared Matara and the Shooting Star.
"Kryys, I told you to stay out of trouble" Matara groaned.
"You can punish me later, right now we've got to fly" Kryys yelled as she grabbed Matara by the arm and half dragged her up the entry ramp to the ship.
Matara looked over her shoulder in time to see several angry figures waving their blasters and running toward the ship. Hitting the button to close the ramp Matara followed Kryys to the cockpit.
Sitting in the captain's chair looked over at Kryys. "What did you do this time?"
"I cheated at Sabacc" Kryys said, her face beaming. Matara shook her head as the ship lifted off and headed for deep space. She glanced over at Kryss again. Kryys was absolutely giddy.
"What am I going to do with you Kryys?" Matara asked as she punched in the their nav course. "Every
spaceport we go to, we have to leave in a hurry because you've decided to play one too many games."
"We can discuss this later. I think right now we need to worry about what's on our tail." Kryys answered
as she looked at the rear display.
Glancing at the display readout Matara swore under her breath as she saw a squadron of TIE fighters
coming upon them. "Now look what you've done. You've got the spaceport's defenses coming after us."
Kryysttan's smile just got bigger at Matara's comment. "Oh wipe that smirk off your face and man the
guns. We can't jump to lightspeed until the Nav computer finishes plotting our course."
With that Kryys grabbed the firing helmet from it's resting place between the two of them. The view
screen inside the helmet allowed Kryys the ability to see all angles of trajectory of the 'Shooting Stars'
guns.
"Get ready, here they come." Matara said as she took the Surronian Conqueror Assault ship into a dive to
escape the on coming assault.
"Come on little TIE Fighters...come to Kryystann." Kryystann said to herself as she watched the TIE's split formation and begin trying to flank the Shooting Star.
As Matara continued evasive maneuvers, Kryss shifted power to the starboard guns and readied herself for the task at hand.
"Stupid little Imps" she thought to herself "They wouldn't even begin to know how to think for themselves, they're doing everything just as they were taught to do."
"Oh well, more fun for me" Kryss said aloud as the smile on her face broadened. "Matara, on my mark turn the Star 60 degrees to port and then bank hard right."
"But that will put us right in their line of fire, I'd really rather not do their jobs for them."
"Trust me"
"Sure trust you, why don't I just engage the auto destruct code and save them the trouble" Matara mumbled under her breath.
"The trouble with you Matara is you just don't know how to have fun."
"NOW" Kryys yelled before Matara could reply.
Executing the moves as Kryys had instructed brought the Shooting Star directly in range of the TIE's flanking them on their port side. At the same instant Kryys fired the Star's starboard lasers, and with the power she shifted to them, vaped two of the TIE's who had no doubt considered themselves out of range. The remaining fighters on the starboard flank readjusted their flight path up to avoid the same mistake of their comarades.
"Matara, Maneuver Delta now!" Kryys yelled.
Without hesitation Matara executed Maneuver Delta which took the Star straight up 90 degrees and pulled their pursuers straight up with them intent on crippling the freighter. Just as the lead fighter was going to pull the trigger he realized the trap he and his squad had flown into as he watched the freighter
do a hard reverse and plummet downward. A crazy move that could tear a ships engines completely out of their frame, but he had no time to think about the mental capacity of the Shooting Star's crew as the two parts of the squadron were now on a collision course with each other. Amid the confusion and quest for self-preservation his squadron scrambled every which way to avoid each other. He banked his TIE hard to port in an effort to avoid another but it wasn't enough and the two small fighter clipped each other and spun out of control toward Nar Shadda.
Kryystann removed her helmet and looked over at Matara and let out a triumphant yell. "Oh that was fantastic."
"We're lucky the ship held together at all with that crazy maneuver" Matara retorted to her friend. "You will be the death of me yet you crazy blue haired Lasthunian"
With a huge smile Kryss said "Very possible, but not today...ready for lightspeed?"
"Punch it" Matara said as she herself began to smile.
As Kryystann reached for her winnings, an Aqualish stood up angrily, sending his chair flying while making threatening tones toward Kryystann. As Kryystann raised her eyes up to him, her hand still over the pile of credits she had just won, the Aqualish's human partner positioned himself face to face with her. And a more repulsive face on a human Kryystann could not imagine, this guy called himself Dr. 'something or other', he should really see about fixing his mangled face.
"That's ten hands in a row you've won, my friend thinks that nobody's that lucky" the man said to her, his breath nearly making her gag.
"And this is my problem how exactly?" Krystann asked the man while staring at the orange jacketed Aqualish with her piercing blue eyes.
The Aqualish grunted. "Ponda doesn't like you" the man sneered.
"And this is my problem how exactly?" Krystann asked again, bringing her cold stare to fall on the good doctor.
"I don't like you either!" the man yelled as he turned the gaming table over and reached out for Kryystann.
Instead of retreating, Kryystann met his advance with her own and ducked under his outstretched arm and used her limited momentum to drive her shoulder into the Aqualish's stomach or where the Aqualish's stomach should be, she wasn't really sure what the internal organ arrangement was on an Aqualish. In any case it had the desired effect of catching the Aqualish off guard and knocked him off his feet. Dropping to one knee as she turned back to face the human, she drew her blaster and fired off a shot at the Aqualish's partner. However luck was on his side as he slipped and the blaster bolt rocketed past him and shot the glass out of the hand of a very big, very mean looking Trandoshan. As the Trandoshan brought his rifle up, Krysstann noticed that the Aqualish and the human had also gotten to their feet and were grabbing for blasters. Deciding that now would be a good time to cut her losses, she sprinted for the door and collided with a group of smugglers coming in for a drink. As she tried to untangle herself from the men, she felt a definite, intentional grope of her backside. Well she may not be sure of where everything was on an Aqualish, but she knew for sure where everything was on a human. Turning and grabbing the man by his shirt she brought her knee up and crumpled the man to a fetal position on the ground. She turned just in time to see the punch being aimed at her head by one of the groper's two companions and ducked while pushing the man toward the third member of the party. Taking advantage of their disorientation, she took off across the breezeway toward the docking bay where the Shooting Star and Matara were waiting. She took once glance behind and saw that she was now being pursued by the three smugglers, the ugly human, the Aqualish, and the Trandoshan. She laughed with glee as she fled her pursuers.
Meanwhile, back at the docking bay Matara Healbo was receiving her instruction from one of Jabba the Hutt's lieutenants on where exactly she was to smuggle her cargo.
"…and so you get 10% up front and the rest when Jabba has verification of delivery, agreed?" said Vir Ralsk. A bony human with a nose that was way to big and broad for his skinny face. He smiled at Matara in what he must have considered to be his most winning smile.
"Agreed, we should have Jabba's cargo at its destination in ten standard days." Matara replied as she wondered just why everyone who worked for Jabba smelled so bad. She noticed that the Ralsk was still standing there…smiling at her.
"Agreed, you may go now" Matara said again, waving him away with the back of her hand.
His smile went away to be replaced by a scowl as he abruptly turned on his heel and stomped off.
"Good riddance, now all I have to do is collect Kryys, hope she hasn't gotten into trouble……" Matara's sentence trailed off as she saw Kryys 500 meters aways coming at her at a dead run. "Oh, no"
"We've got to go Matara!" Kryys yelled as she neared Matara and the Shooting Star.
"Kryys, I told you to stay out of trouble" Matara groaned.
"You can punish me later, right now we've got to fly" Kryys yelled as she grabbed Matara by the arm and half dragged her up the entry ramp to the ship.
Matara looked over her shoulder in time to see several angry figures waving their blasters and running toward the ship. Hitting the button to close the ramp Matara followed Kryys to the cockpit.
Sitting in the captain's chair looked over at Kryys. "What did you do this time?"
"I cheated at Sabacc" Kryys said, her face beaming. Matara shook her head as the ship lifted off and headed for deep space. She glanced over at Kryss again. Kryys was absolutely giddy.
"What am I going to do with you Kryys?" Matara asked as she punched in the their nav course. "Every
spaceport we go to, we have to leave in a hurry because you've decided to play one too many games."
"We can discuss this later. I think right now we need to worry about what's on our tail." Kryys answered
as she looked at the rear display.
Glancing at the display readout Matara swore under her breath as she saw a squadron of TIE fighters
coming upon them. "Now look what you've done. You've got the spaceport's defenses coming after us."
Kryysttan's smile just got bigger at Matara's comment. "Oh wipe that smirk off your face and man the
guns. We can't jump to lightspeed until the Nav computer finishes plotting our course."
With that Kryys grabbed the firing helmet from it's resting place between the two of them. The view
screen inside the helmet allowed Kryys the ability to see all angles of trajectory of the 'Shooting Stars'
guns.
"Get ready, here they come." Matara said as she took the Surronian Conqueror Assault ship into a dive to
escape the on coming assault.
"Come on little TIE Fighters...come to Kryystann." Kryystann said to herself as she watched the TIE's split formation and begin trying to flank the Shooting Star.
As Matara continued evasive maneuvers, Kryss shifted power to the starboard guns and readied herself for the task at hand.
"Stupid little Imps" she thought to herself "They wouldn't even begin to know how to think for themselves, they're doing everything just as they were taught to do."
"Oh well, more fun for me" Kryss said aloud as the smile on her face broadened. "Matara, on my mark turn the Star 60 degrees to port and then bank hard right."
"But that will put us right in their line of fire, I'd really rather not do their jobs for them."
"Trust me"
"Sure trust you, why don't I just engage the auto destruct code and save them the trouble" Matara mumbled under her breath.
"The trouble with you Matara is you just don't know how to have fun."
"NOW" Kryys yelled before Matara could reply.
Executing the moves as Kryys had instructed brought the Shooting Star directly in range of the TIE's flanking them on their port side. At the same instant Kryys fired the Star's starboard lasers, and with the power she shifted to them, vaped two of the TIE's who had no doubt considered themselves out of range. The remaining fighters on the starboard flank readjusted their flight path up to avoid the same mistake of their comarades.
"Matara, Maneuver Delta now!" Kryys yelled.
Without hesitation Matara executed Maneuver Delta which took the Star straight up 90 degrees and pulled their pursuers straight up with them intent on crippling the freighter. Just as the lead fighter was going to pull the trigger he realized the trap he and his squad had flown into as he watched the freighter
do a hard reverse and plummet downward. A crazy move that could tear a ships engines completely out of their frame, but he had no time to think about the mental capacity of the Shooting Star's crew as the two parts of the squadron were now on a collision course with each other. Amid the confusion and quest for self-preservation his squadron scrambled every which way to avoid each other. He banked his TIE hard to port in an effort to avoid another but it wasn't enough and the two small fighter clipped each other and spun out of control toward Nar Shadda.
Kryystann removed her helmet and looked over at Matara and let out a triumphant yell. "Oh that was fantastic."
"We're lucky the ship held together at all with that crazy maneuver" Matara retorted to her friend. "You will be the death of me yet you crazy blue haired Lasthunian"
With a huge smile Kryss said "Very possible, but not today...ready for lightspeed?"
"Punch it" Matara said as she herself began to smile.