So, I suppose I owe you guys an explanation for why this took so long to get out, huh?
The initial explanation is that I have ZERO time management skills, but a more recent (and relevant) one is that I literally don't have access to my own house for the next few months. Basically, we're tearing the whole bathroom out and replacing it, and it was SUPPOSED to take about three weeks to get done. The only problem is that our fucking drainage pipe collapsed, so that needs to be wholly replaced. As a result, my family has pretty much moved in with our grandparents for the next several months. Fun!
Sorry about that. Anyways, to reviews.
To Belmakori: In retrospect, yeah, the trust thing was a bit rushed, could've probably done that better. As for Kyra making herself at home so fast, Nax said "I've got a safe place for you to stay, and a bed for you to sleep in", plus he gave her a room, but whatever, it's done now.
Friendly reminder to read, review, and shill this to your friends and anywhere you are that might be remotely interested in this.
Kyra found herself in the engine bay of the freighter, a hazy, sickening fog clouding her mind and thoughts. The electrical hum of the machines behind her working, the whir of hyperspace echoing into the ship from the endless void outside. But something was… wrong.
It was bitingly cold inside the ship, and no matter how Kyra tried to warm herself, she just couldn't. Not by getting close to the hyperdrive, not by cupping her hands together and blowing into them, not even by covering herself with more of Trax's duster.
And then she noticed the smell.
It was a horrible, sickly smell, as if a wound had been infected and left to ferment for months. It made Kyra sick to her stomach. Putrid didn't even begin to describe it. She coughed and hacked and wheezed, covering her mouth and nose to little effect. The stench was simply too strong.
Resolving to find Nax and Lexi, Kyra hobbled along the corridor, leaning on the walls for support. She hadn't even cleared the engine bay when she collapsed on her side, the noxious gasses already taking their toll on her. Eyes watering, Kyra barely had the strength to lift her head up and look ahead. "Arfive?" she shouted ahead, hoping the astromech would hear her. There was a distorted electronic gurgling coming from further ahead, likely in the cockpit. Relieved that Arfive was awake, Kyra slowly dragged herself through the reminder of the corridor.
Nobody else was in the ship from what she could tell. The living quarters were totally deserted, although the door was ajar.
…Had she been travelling on her own?
Taking a quick break, Kyra regained her strength, and got back to her feet, slowly heading through the tube to the cockpit. The blue hyperspace tunnel was reflecting off the walls, but when she turned the corner, it didn't take long for it to register that the cockpit was totally abandoned.
No Nax, no Lexi, not even the droids. She was totally alone.
Going further into the cockpit, she took a seat in the copilot's chair, looking at the readouts. She'd been in hyperspace for nearly a week, apparently. The travel log on screen showed her as being way out in the Unknown Regions, far from recorded civilized space.
Kyra pondered just what the hell she had missed, and then the consoles started blaring warning sirens suddenly. Taken off-guard, Kyra quickly looked out the cockpit window. The hyperspace tunnel slowed down, and then dissipated, with the streaks turning back to stars.
What Kyra saw, thousands of kilometers away from where she was in the new star system, was something she had never seen before. Two massive rings inside of each other, one standing vertically, with the other standing horizontal. They both met at the midpoints, and their surfaces appeared to be… worlds? Continents, oceans, islands. Everything.
But there was something wrong with it. As if there was a malicious, evil aura about the structure. Something horrible was there, and she could feel it. Whatever it was.
Kyra didn't have much time to process what she was seeing before there were slow, heavy footfalls behind her. Slowly turning around, she saw the barely describable horror that she had been apparently sharing the ship with. It was tall, or long, whatever, but its upper torso was poking into the cockpit, and that was only half of its body. Its arms were freakishly long, and its body emaciated. Instead of a head, though, it had a constantly contorting and twisting nightmarish hellface, with no logic or structure as to why it was constantly shifting form, and the only constant was a silent, eternal scream. The first face Kyra recognized was that of Lexi's, then it mutated into a horrid disfigurement of Nax, then to Lostur's monstrous expression when he had her pinned, and then finally to herself, with that same scream.
Strapped to its horribly disfigured waist were the unconscious or dead bodies of Nax and Lexi, both of whom were bleeding profusely.
S
Disregarding the words she had just heard in her head, Kyra reached for her holster, only to start screaming as the figure reached out to grab her, its gaping maw wide open.
"Kyra!" Nax shouted, shaking her as she slept, causing her to dart up in shock and in a cold sweat, hyperventilating. Kyra's eyes shot around the room, and she eased back into normalcy. Nax was at her side in the bed, with Lexi, Arfive, and Katy staring at her, all of them concerned. "Are you okay?" Nax asked with a firm grip on her shoulders, trying to keep her steady.
Her breathing relaxing, Kyra swallowed, shut her eyes, and ran her hand through her white hair, trying to straighten it out. She then leaned on Nax, relieved. "…Yeah." she said in a low tone, audibly unsure of her own answer.
Nax cautiously held on to her. "…Are you sure?" he pressed out of concern. "You were tossing and turning like crazy, and then you just started screaming."
Opting to remain silent, Kyra opened her eyes and silently nodded.
Lexi then came over to offer her help. "…It wasn't about Lostur, was it?" she asked, hoping to pry an answer from the obviously upset Kyra.
Shaking her head, Kyra got closer to Nax for protection. "…No." Kyra replied, before looking at Arfive. "…It was just night terrors. I'm fine." she finished, with her noble elegance that Nax first heard in Chalmun's making something of a faulty return.
Nax seemingly accepted her response, however, and sat up, throwing his duster on. He then left the room with Arfive, Lexi, and Katy in tow, and Kyra scrambled to follow him. Turns out, he was going to the cockpit. Right outside the thin transparisteel window wasn't the ringworld Kyra had been expecting, but rather…
"Wow, Coruscant?" Lexi said, mesmerized. "It's been years."
They had arrived at the glittering ecumenopolis of Coruscant, with a massive fleet of Star Destroyers, corvettes, and uncountable defense battlestations orbiting the world.
"You've been here before?" Nax asked, as he and Kyra sat down in the pilot and copilot seats, respectively, curious as to how much she knew about the planet. Nax had never ever left Tatooine before, and Kyra presumably travelled very little, so every little bit helped.
"Mhm." Lexi replied as she took an empty swig of her bottle, looked down into it, and set it on Katy's head like a coaster, causing the droid to verbally gurgle and beep in protest, to ill effect. "Been probably… three years? I'm twenty now, so… yeah, that sounds about right." she answered, looking lost in thought, and then she snapped back to reality. "Oh! You two are fully fledged mercs now, right?"
Kyra and Nax both nodded.
Lexi tilted her head as she looked at the mass of Star Destroyers, and then spoke again. "I know a guy who's probably wanting some hired guns. Old family friend – runs a cantina down in the lower levels. 1313, I think."
"What's a cantina owner need hired guns for on Coruscant?" Kyra asked innocently.
Lexi stared at her for a brief moment, and then realized that Kyra must not have been to Coruscant before. "Lower levels are full of crime. If you thought Tatooine was bad, wait 'till you see 1313."
Nax smirked as he eased down on the thrust, sending the ship towards the planet. "I've heard rumors from travelers that the place is a hellhole." he said, focusing on some sensor readings to the side, before transferring from the sublight drives to the repulsorlifts. "Should make for a nice cashflow, what with all the bounties we can turn in."
Within three minutes, they were hovering above the city, staring out at the vast, urban landscape illuminated only by lights and neon signs mounted on towering skyscrapers. Airspeeder traffic flowed at what felt like a hundred different locations – behind skyscrapers, out from buildings on the ground, from behind clouds – everywhere. It was such a different atmosphere from Tatooine, Nax felt overwhelmed mentally.
Lexi put her hand over Nax's shoulder, and pointed between two buildings far off in the distance. "Fly there, this all looks fairly familiar to me."
Doing as directed, Nax flew the freighter over the sprawling cityscape. Arfive and Katy were both chirping in droidspeak at each other. "[I haven't been here since the Clone Wars. So much has changed…]" Arfive commented in encrypted binary as a few TIE fighters buzzed past a building and over the ship.
"[Imagine how I feel. I haven't seen Coruscant in thousands of years. This is basically foreign territory for me.]" Katy replied in a sad tone as she scanned the horizon through the cockpit. "[…I wonder if the Jedi Temple is still standing?]"
Arfive gave the droid equivalent of an indignant snort. "[Barely. The entire temple was torched at the end of the Clone Wars.]" he replied, continuing to scan the horizon, spotting the Senate building off in the distance.
Lexi pointed at a massive, gaping hole in the city. "There, fly down that portal down there. I'll tell you when we're at 1313." she said, and Nax followed her directions.
Ten minutes later, and they were on Level 1313, having found a docking bay that looked relatively secure, and if Lexi was to be believed, relatively close to the cantina. If the crime here was as bad as Lexi said it was, Nax felt more comfortable leaving it in an out of the way location. As the trio headed out onto the streets with the droids, the very first thing they were greeted with was a blasterfight. Instantly switching into high alert, Nax forced the others back into the alley and poked his head around the corner.
There were three guys wearing a mishmash of ballistic and plastoid gear painted in bright, vibrant colors in specific patterns, clearly gang members. The three of them all had autopistols, two were blasters, one was a slugthrower, and the middle member had some sort of duffle bag on his back. They were all clearly falling back, either trying to get away or get to a better position, but that didn't particularly matter to Nax, as they hadn't noticed the group yet.
The six men pursuing them, however, were an entirely different case. Their gear was much more neatly maintained plastoid body armor, with muted, urban camouflage instead of the bright neon the others had. Their weapons also appeared to be significantly more advanced – high-end Imperial military blaster rifles, looked like E-22s. Their tactics were also extremely well performed and executed, taking precise shots as opposed to fully automatic like the other gang, plus moving as a cohesive unit, almost appearing as if they were Stormtroopers in different gear. Hell, they probably were Stormtroopers.
As the disorganized gang retreated further back, one of them reached for his belt and pulled something off, before tossing it at the advancing men. There was a bright flash that Nax's helmet automatically blocked out, but in the instant it took for that flash to be blocked, the three thugs were gone, and the others were dazed and confused, holding their faces.
It took several seconds for them to recover, but once they did, they frantically looked around, before reorganizing. One of the ones who was closer to Nax than the others, presumably the squad leader, signaled for them to fan out. Three of them nodded and ran down an alley opposite Nax's, while the squad leader took off with the remaining two men further down the street.
Nax quickly looked around to make sure the coast was clear, before he finally headed out onto the street. "Nice first impression." he snarked, looking over the carnage. "You know, as bad as Mos Eisley was, I don't think I've ever seen a firefight between a swoop gang and whatever passed for the law in the streets.
Lexi bumped his shoulder to get his attention. "Those weren't Underworld Police." she said.
"What?"
"Underworld cops have trench coats, plus their gear's made to make the wearer's species unidentifiable. One of those organized guys was a Twi'lek. They're a local gang, and we're in their turf." Lexi elaborated, before taking charge. "C'mon, the cantina's just a few blocks ahead. I think."
Rolling his eyes behind his helmet at that last bit, Nax, Kyra, and the droids finally began to make their way to the cantina. The walk there was extremely uneventful – no more firefights, no attempted muggings, nothing. Just a few borgs looking at them funny, and some more of those well-organized gang members giving them a wide berth, not out of disgust for outsiders, but rather an odd respect that Nax didn't quite understand.
Before long, the area was bathed in cyan and pink light, originating from a sign that read 'Mare's Leg Cantina'. The building itself was very obviously a cantina even without the sign, although it may have been an apartment beforehand. What might have been a large living room at one point had most of the wall that faced the street knocked out and replaced with what was probably reinforced transparisteel, plus durasteel grating covering it. Lexi briefly studied the sign, before nodding to herself. This was the place, then.
As they approached the door to go in, they were stopped by the bouncer, who was another member of the organized gang, probably a Rodian judging by his lisp. "Hold it. See this sign?" he said, pointing at a sign near the door that very clearly banned astromechs from the premises. "Astros need to go."
Nax was about to protest, but Lexi beat him to it. "Eath is a family friend of mine. He doesn't care if I bring droids in or not."
The guard snorted. "Yeah, right. Like I'm supposed to believe that." he replied, already annoyed. "Listen, do you know how many times I've had that 'I know a guy who knows this guy' shit pulled on me?" the Rodian questioned, vaguely pointing his blaster rifle at them. "Seriously, go ah…" he trailed as the door opened, and a male Gran with brownish orange skin in some vaguely old-fashioned clothing stepped outside.
"Setyani! Just what in the blazes are you doing?" the Gran said, visibly frustrated. "Lexi's family are friends of mine, don't just hold her up for no reason!" he ordered, and the Rodian dismissively waved him off, before stepping to the side and waving the group inside. "Come, come. The droids can come, too." the Gran said as he headed back inside the cantina.
The interior, while deserted, was actually fairly well kept, despite being in what was supposed to be Coruscant's biggest slum. The cantina had a relatively similar layout to Chalmun's, with a central bartender island that wrapped around in a U-shape that had a drink mixer behind the counter, with little cove inlets for tables, plus an empty band stage to the right of the island from the entrance. The main difference, though, was that the place looked rustic. Tasteful, but not high class. Sandstone was traded out for wooden paneling, and the durasteel chairs now appeared to be made of… wroshyr wood? Plus, the aged Eopie leather that would've been there in Chalmun's had been replaced with albino sand-panther fur. This Gran, assuming he fully owned the place, had some expensive tastes.
The Gran, whom Nax had by now presumed to be Eath, headed behind the counter and got a couple of glasses out, looking over his shoulder at the group, who were now sitting on the stools surrounding the front counter. "Sorry about the welcoming party, Lexi." Eath apologized as he poured some whiskey for her, before sliding it down the counter to her, which she caught easily, likely from having done this hundreds of times before.
Lexi drank the whole glass in one go, and then set it down. "'s not a problem, Eath. I've had worse."
That earned a chuckle from Eath. "Ha! I'd believe it." he said, his voice getting a bit gravelly, before he leaned over the counter in front of Lexi. "So, what's the reason you've been gone this time? Find a new girlfriend? Maybe a boyfriend this time?"
Straightening herself out and giving Nax a quick glance, Lexi refocused on Eath. "Nah. I went planethopping for a spell. Spent a few years on Taris, jumped to Nar Shaddaa, met a gunsmith who ended up taking me under his wing."
Eath raised an eyebrow as he scanned Kyra, Nax, and the droids. "Oh?" he said. "How'd that go?"
Lexi half-shrugged. "Decent enough, if you ignore the fact that we got attacked by slavers. They killed him and took me as their prize." she explained, and rather dryly at that.
Eath poured her another glass of whiskey. "Really, now?" he responded, more out of morbid curiosity than anything else. "Who were the slavers?"
"Allo Lostur and his crew." Lexi replied, deadpan.
Eath's jaw dropped damn near to the floor. "By Doellin's third tit, Lexi!" he shouted in shock, before immediately looking her over for wounds. "You're not hurt, are you?"
Gently swatting his hands away, Lexi gave flashed him a reassuring smile. "Relax, Eath. I'm fine." she said.
Eath visibly swallowed and stared at Lexi with all three of his eyes. "How did you even get off of that hellship they pass off as a 'vette? Lostur's the meanest, most cruel slaver in the Outer Rim-" he said, before Lexi interjected.
"Was the cruelest slaver in the Outer Rim." she corrected, and Eath went dead silent.
"…What?" he eventually replied, deadpan.
Lexi looked around the empty cantina, before lowering her voice anyways. "Should we talk about this in private? I have a lot of explaining to do, plus my friends here can chime in since they actually did most of the legwork."
Eath's mouth curled in the corners, before he reluctantly gestured for them to follow him to the backrooms. Nax, Kyra, and the droids had all been quiet their entire time inside the bar. Now was as good a time as any to start speaking.
Once fully inside the small office in the backroom of the cantina, Eath sat down, fully intent on listening to every word Lexi, Kyra, and Nax had to say. Even the droids, if need be. Before she actually started explaining, however, Lexi snatched the helmets off of Nax and Kyra without warning, and introduced them, and then she dived right in, starting with her assisting in Kyra's escape, to the manhunt for Kyra, to being forced into trying to seduce Nax to reveal her location, and then Thel bringing her home after the escape. She continued on, mentioning the witness protection with Gaffi, their capture and Thel's torture, the botched rescue attempt from the droids, and then the slave revolt, before capping it off with a retelling of Kyra stabbing Lostur to death.
Kyra and Nax then both gave their own personal account, namely including Vark, working for Lorn, their kidnapping, a sanitized version of how they ended up with the insurgents, and their recapture, at which point Kyra gave her perspective of the slave rebellion.
Eath stared at Lexi, slackjawed and silent. He raised a finger, stammered briefly, and then lowered it, stunned. His fingers fumbled around, before he punched a button under his desk, and a drink appeared from a hidden compartment in the wall, which Eath immediately took a swig of. "You know, Lex, I wouldn't believe this if it were coming from anyone but you." he said, before taking a second swig. "And even then, I still have a hard time believing it."
Eath set the drink on top of his desk, and then looked at Kyra. "Lostur was a menace to my boss's Outer Rim operations, not to mention the countless innocents he's hurt. You have not only my thanks, but my boss's." he said, graciously, before turning back to Lexi. "Now, Lex, I assume you only popped in to say hi before you went planethopping again, right?"
Lexi shook her head. "No, actually. I'm staying with these two cuties." she said, throwing her arms around Kyra and Nax's shoulders and pulling them close, shutting her eyes and smiling while the two of them blushed fiercely, while both Arfive and Katy chirped and whirred comedically. Lexi opened her right eye and looked at Eath. "So, since I'm staying here, and since I doubt these two want to sleep in our ship forever, is my old apartment still empty?"
Nodding, Eath pulled out a datapad to check something. "Yes, Lex. I haven't rented it out to anyone since you left." he replied.
Lexi let go of Kyra and Nax, and stepped closer to Eath. "Does that mean all my stuff is in there?"
Eath nodded again. "Unless someone broke in when you left and I didn't know about it, yes. You remember the address, right?"
Lexi paused to think. "…Corner of twelfth and G, third apartment from the holobooth, right?" she asked, her voice sounding at least a bit unsure.
"Yep, that's the place." Eath said, before he opened a drawer in the desk, jangled something around, and then tossed a passcard to her, which Lexi caught with ease. "Now, if that's all you needed, I'll let you all get to whatever you were gonna do."
Lexi turned to leave, but Nax spoke up before she could. "…Actually, I was hoping you had some jobs for us." he asked. "And maybe if you knew a place I could buy a Threepio droid with everything but the head."
Eath scratched the side of his snout in thought, and then grabbed his datapad again, flicking around. "I myself don't have any jobs for you, and my bounty board's down for maintenance, but I could poke around my superiors to see if they have any jobs you could take." he offered, his middle eye glancing at Nax, while the other two were focused on the datapad.
"That'd be good, yeah." Nax responded, and Eath seemed to start writing notes down onto the datapad.
"Alright, I'll ping Lex's datapad when I have something for you. Now, as for a Threepio without the head…" Eath trailed precariously, tapping his fingers against the datapad's screen. Suddenly, his face lit up. "Ah, I remember a place! There's a droid shop on level 1315 – Broxin Mechanicals. They would be your best bet for finding a headless Threepio unit." Eath said, before pausing. "Word of warning, though – don't mention someone named Barrett to Wilrand. It's a bit of a sore spot." he cautioned.
Nax raised an eyebrow out of curiosity. "Why?" he simply asked.
Shrugging, Eath shook his head cluelessly. "Dunno, that's just word of mouth from my patrons. One guy got punched in the face 'cause of it."
Slowly nodding, Nax reached into his duster and pulled out twenty credits, "Here," he said, before tossing them to Eath, which he caught with ease. "For her drink."
That got a quick laugh from Eath. "Hah! Thanks, but I pay out of pocket for Lexi." he said, before putting the credits into his pocket. "Anyways, I'd love to chat some more, but I need to close up soon."
Lexi nodded in understanding, before dragging Kyra and Nax out. "Thanks again, Eath!" she shouted back into the office. Once they were back in the main cantina, Lexi let go of the two of them, they put their helmets on, and all five headed back towards the freighter.
Lexi casually strolled down the street, glanced at the holobooth, and then back at the row of apartments, counting each one out. The first apartment she picked was also the closest one, and she grabbed the passcard from her jacket, pressing it against the card scanner near the door.
There was a low tone from the scanner, and then an electronic beep-beep-beep in quick succession, before the door slid open, and all of them headed inside. To their right was the living room, which had a single couch, a caf table in front of it, a loveseat diagonal to the couch, and a flatscreen viscom. There was also a counter between the living room and kitchen, which separated the two. The kitchen also looked fairly average, having most of the stuff Nax had back at the homestead, with a few exceptions. Between the living room and kitchen was a hallway that likely led to the bathroom and bedroom.
Lexi turned on her heel and put her hands on Nax and Kyra's shoulders. "Sit tight for a minute, I need to go check something." she said, before dashing down the hallway. Nax and Kyra exchanged glances, before deciding to poke around the apartment.
Nax took two fingers and brushed them against the end table near the couch, scraping the thick layer of dust off of it. "Sheesh, you'd think he'd have cleaned the place up a bit." Nax commented, shaking his hand and causing a moderately large cloud of dust to appear. Arfive and Katy whirred in agreement as they rolled around the apartment, checking the place out.
Kyra leaned up against the kitchen counter, absentmindedly tracking Arfive. Her arms crossed, she slowly scanned the room, her gaze landing on Nax. "I mean, he probably would've if he had known we were coming to stay. We kinda just… dropped it on him, I guess." she said, giving a halfhearted, humorous shrug.
Nodding his head once, Nax whistled in Katy's general direction. The droid's pan-shaped head swiveled around to look at Nax, and he motioned for her to come over, which she did. Kneeling down, Nax began to examine the droid, brushing off some light dust that had accumulated on her unpainted head. "When we go to the droid shop tomorrow, we'll get you a fresh coat of paint." he said, patting Katy's head. She seemed to like that, and began to chirp and whir in excitement. "….After we put Zeethree back together." Nax tempered, and Katy seemed to calm down a bit, nodding her head in understanding.
Suddenly, they heard Lexi practically thundering down the hallway, and she appeared next to Kyra, wearing an entirely new set of clothes, namely a short black top that hugged her body tightly and fully exposed her midriff, a long black coat that went over it, and black skintight leggings, plus a holster that went around her waist, with an A-180 safely tucked away inside, spare ammo dangling from the belt. "Well?" Lexi said expectantly. "How do I look?"
Underneath their helmets, Nax and Kyra were both furiously blushing at the sight of Lexi. Scratching the back of his neck through the armorweave, Nax kept forcing himself to both keep eye contact with Lexi, and to avert his gaze. "I… you know, had I known you were going to change, I'd have expected something more… modest." Nax mumbled, at least partially embarrassed.
Lexi snickered. "Man, I'm a Zeltron, modesty's the last thing you should expect from us." she said as she put her hand on her hip, laughing. "Personal fashion sense aside, we've got a problem."
Kyra glanced past Lexi, further down the hallway. "What's the problem?" she asked, her eyes quickly darting back to Lexi.
"We've only got one bed. It's a double bed, thankfully." Lexi replied, coming off rather suggestively. "Sooo, we could all share it—"
"No." Nax immediately replied, shooting that idea down. "We'd all be uncomfortable as hell – someone needs to sleep on the couch."
Lexi crossed her arms and leaned back onto the wall support. "So, how're we drawing str-"
"Not it." Nax and Kyra immediately said in unison.
"Son of a nerf herder!" Lexi swore at not being quicker. "Fine, you're lucky that I like sleeping on the couch more than my actual bed." she relented, albeit reluctantly. "We do need to get this place cleaned up, though."
Heading back into the hallway, Lexi quickly returned with a lot of cleaning supplies. "Get to work, unless you want to be sick with rotgut or something."
After nearly two hours of work between the five of them, the apartment was effectively spotless, and most of the things on the freighter had been unloaded inside the apartment. Kyra had retired for the night after getting a shower, while Lexi was suns-know-where.
Nax, however, was sitting out on the front steps, underneath the awning that stretched over the door, watching the rain fall, fizzy drink in hand.
It was a very calming experience, despite Nax's prior expectations. He'd never seen rain on Tatooine – the closest he got was a shower, for suns' sake. He'd always overheard stories from spacers that had come from worlds where there were heavy torrential rains, but Coruscant was just… peaceful, for some reason. Obviously, the rain wasn't natural, nothing on this planet was, save for the Manari mountains, but there was a certain quality to the rain that Nax couldn't describe. Maybe that was just because it was his first time seeing rain, though.
He hadn't really had time to sit down and just collect his thoughts lately. They were immediately captured by Lostur's crew when they got to the homestead, he didn't have much time before he got shot, and he had to immediately leave after he got out of the bacta tank. Looking up at some bright neon signs higher on the level, Nax drank from the glass.
Both of the people he had cared most about outside his family were dead.
It didn't really sink in until now just how awful that felt.
Thel was his best suns-damned friend since childhood, they'd been through everything together, along with Trax, and then he just gets offed like a piece of garbage by Lostur. No last words, no final goodbyes, not even a burial that Nax could attend. His best friend ripped from him in one fell swoop, just like that. Nax balled his fist, wishing he had been the one to kill Lostur to avenge Thel, before calming himself.
He'd already been through these motions before with his dad and Trax, but he couldn't help but repeat them. That same feeling of helplessness was there with Thel died, same as when Trax did.
He at least got to say something resembling a goodbye to Val.
Their reunion was far from friendly, but Nax was only now realizing just how much he still cared for her, no matter how much of a façade he tried to put up to hide it. He sniffed once, closed his eyes, and then drank the last of what was in the glass, before setting it down and continuing to watch the rain in silence.
The apartment door slid open behind him. "What're you doing out here in the rain, Nax?" he heard Lexi ask, before she sat down on the steps next to him.
"Thinking." Nax replied, not facing her.
Lexi cocked her head to the side. "Thinking?" she repeated. "Thinking about what?"
"Just… things."
"Something bad?" Lexi pried.
"No, just-"
Lexi rolled her eyes and put her hand on Nax's shoulder. "Nax, I'm a Zeltron, I can sense people's emotions. I know you're upset about something." she interrupted. "So, spill it. What's wrong?"
Hanging his head, Nax sighed. "…I'd rather not."
Crossing her arms, Lexi nudged Nax. "C'moon!" she jokingly whined. "Spill it!"
Stopping her prodding once she noticed Nax's dour expression, Lexi calmed herself and got serious. "…It's about Thel, isn't it?" she said in a much colder, albeit reluctant tone. Nax slowly nodded in response, and Lexi threw her arm around his shoulder to try and comfort him. "Nax, for what it's worth, I'm sorry about Thel. I know you two were close, and I can tell you're hurt about it."
She then reached her hand out from under the awning, letting rain droplets fall onto her skin. "I know how you feel, Nax. More than you can imagine." she said as she turned her hand over, letting the rain pool up in her palm. Nax sat up and looked at her, waiting for her to continue speaking. "Months ago, before I had been captured by Lostur, I had a friend named Relan. Real charmer, everyone loved him. Even dated him a few years ago. He was crazy talented with droids, too. The weaponsmith I'd been apprenticing under at the time, a Twi'lek called Rakkul, had taken me to a space station out in the Julto system near Lothal for a weapons expo." Lexi recalled, slowly getting visibly depressed as she went on, closing her hand. "Relan had shown up, bringing a small army of repurposed CIS droids to try and advertise his business."
"I thought battle droids were illegal to own?" Nax interrupted.
"They are. Thing is, though, is that Relan's droids weren't transmitting themselves as battle droids. He'd reprogrammed them to transmit as security droids, which got around the Senate regulations at the end of the Clone Wars." Lexi explained, glancing at an astromech that was strolling by. "Anyways, we had barely caught up when Lostur hit the station. I was knocked off my feet from the breaching explosion and got knocked out. Kept fading in and out of consciousness, only saw glimpses of the fight that ensued. When I could finally stay awake for more than a few seconds, though, I was in Lostur's cargo hold with the survivors, and Relan was up on the catwalk on his knees, with Lostur right behind him."
Lexi's bangs fell in front of her face. "He gloated for a bit, don't really care about what he said, and then…" she breathed deep. "…and then he executed him." Lexi finished, balling her hand into a fist, before opening it and letting the rainwater fall out. "That broke me more than you can imagine, Nax. It's part of the reason why I helped Kyra escape."
Lexi suddenly shook her head. "…Blast, that took a lot to dredge up. Hurts, too." she said, sounding emotionally exasperated. "What I'm trying to say is that you're not alone, Nax. Even though you've lost your best friend, you've still got Kyra and I. We'll always be here for you, no matter what. And I can sympathize with what you're going through."
Nax reached his hand over his shoulder to touch Lexi's. "…Thanks, Lex."
A small smile cropped up on her face. "Any time, Nax. I needed to get that off my chest anyways." she said, before stretching and yawning. "I'm going back inside, now. Try not to stay out for too long."
Nax nodded once, and returned to watching the rain fall, a bit more at peace with himself after having talked with Lexi.
The smell of scrambled Eopie eggs wafted all throughout the apartment, penetrating every surface and wall.
Or at least, that's what Arfive's sensors were telling him.
He turned his visual receptor on, and whirred his head around to meet Katy, staring at him curiously. He gurgled a quick "hello there" in binary, extended his middle tread, and strolled off towards the kitchen. His sensors spied Lexi making breakfast, moving her hips and bobbing her head to some heavily synthesized music coming from her datapad.
"…Let go, take flight, dreams begin to reignite! So clear, so bright, we're glowing in the dead of night!" Lexi quietly sang, clearly enjoying herself as her hair lagged behind her head movements. Arfive beeped out a greeting to her, and she jumped a smidge. "Jeez, Arfive! You could've at least let me know you were up!" Lexi hissed out, half annoyed, half amused at the droid's sudden intrusion. "And hello to you, too, Missy." she said to Katy as she strolled in behind Arfive, chirping out her greeting, before turning back to the stove and continuing to make breakfast. "I'd appreciate if you two could keep quiet while I'm making those two their breakfast." she said, before calmly going back to work, humming along to her music.
"We're made of flesh, circuit, and bone!"
"The only world we've ever known!"
…
"Plug in, online! The datastream links our minds!" she continued to sing, her movements getting a bit more intense. She reached for the spat to flip the eggs over, dug under the eggs, and nearly flipped the eggs onto the stove, almost stabbing herself in the process from the excessive amount of force she used. Slightly embarrassed from her mistake, Lexi almost instantly became significantly more reserved with her movements, avoiding getting wild and more emotive.
She silently continued cooking when her music suddenly shut off, replaced by a holocall tone. She glanced over, immediately saw Eath's holonumber, and picked it up. "Hello?" she mumbled into the transmitter.
"Hello, Lexi. I spoke with my boss earlier, and he was extremely dismissive of you three." his voice crackled through the receiver.
"Really?" Lexi asked as she flipped the eggs again. "So, I guess that's a no to us working for you guys?"
"Not quite." Eath said, before clearing his throat. "I was describing you three to him, and he suddenly took significant interest once I mentioned Kyra and Nax wearing Mandalorian armor. Particularly once I mentioned when they took out Lostur." Eath nervously coughed. "He wants to see you three. Today."
"Today?" Lexi repeated, shifting her weight onto her left leg.
"Yes, today. When can you be down at the cantina?" Eath queried.
Lexi clicked her tongue along the roof of her mouth as she minimized the call on the datapad and checked her day plans. "Let's see…" she said, flicking around. "It's almost seven right now. Nax and I were gonna head to that droid shop today to check for an incomplete Threepio unit to get his fixed as soon as he woke up. Why, is it urgent?"
There was a brief pause, and Lexi could swear she heard the parts of a blaster jangling, as if it were being gestured to direct what Eath was saying. "Very."
Shutting the stove off, Lexi shifted which shoulder she was holding the datapad with and sighed. "Alright. I'll bring them both up once we're all ready to go. They should both be up pretty soon here. See you soon!" Lexi said, shutting the call off and setting the datapad aside, her music resuming.
Lexi then began to separate the eggs and put them onto separate plates, one for Kyra, one for Nax, and one for herself, and then stretched as the bedroom door opened, and Nax trudged his way out, partially slouched, evidently having not fully woken up yet. "Morning, mister Mandalorian." Lexi said to him, and he gave a tired wave. "Made you breakfast!" she continued, gesturing to the plates.
"Thanks, Lex." Nax said, his tiredness becoming increasingly evident as he gave a loud yawn. "Heard you talking to someone a bit before I got out of bed. Who was it?" he asked, heading over to grab a plate of eggs.
Lexi sat up against the counter. "It was Eath. Talked to his boss, he didn't sound too interested."
"Really?"
Lexi nodded, and then gave a sly smile. "Yeah, that was until Eath mentioned you and Kyra were wearing Mando gear. That, and how you took out Lostur. He suddenly became very interested, and we need to meet him at the cantina as soon as you and Kyra are ready."
Nax raised an eyebrow as he prepared some caf. "He's interested in us because of our gear and because we took out Lostur?" he asked, and Lexi nodded. "Oh, good. That means he wants enforcers."
"…You're saying that Eath's part of a criminal organization?" Lexi asked, and Nax nodded.
"You said it yourself – 1313 is worse than Tatooine. Why should I take a group that was previously uninterested in us, one that now suddenly wants to talk to us once they find out we have Mandalorian armor, and believe that they aren't a criminal organization, especially on this level?" Nax elaborated as he poured out his caf. "Not to mention, Eath said that Lostur was a threat to his boss's Outer Rim ops, and given Lostur's line of work, I think it's fair to assume they're criminals."
Lexi chuckled a bit. "You know what? Fair point. He probably wants you to be the collector for his protection money. That's honestly not that bad of a job – Mando gear's threatening as hell, should get people to cough up right quick."
Nax shrugged as he drank from his mug. "Maybe, maybe not. Hell, he might just want me to follow him around and look intimidating. Then again, something about working for criminals doesn't sit too well with me. Doubt it does with Kyra, either."
Nodding in understanding, Lexi patted him on the back. "I don't blame you for that one bit, but you should at least hear him out. Hell, knowing Eath, his boss might just be a cantina association looking for guards." she joked quietly, before getting serious. "…How're you feeling?" she asked, looking at Nax sympathetically.
Nax had apparently been staring off into space, and he instantly snapped back to reality. "Huh? I-oh." he stumbled, getting a grip on what she was referring to. "…Yeah, I'm feeling better about Thel."
Lexi flashed him a cheeky smile, shut her eyes, and quickly jolted her head. "Glad to hear it!" she said, sounding more elated. "I don't want you moping over the past when you've got Kyra and I to think about."
"Mhm." Nax mumbled, before he slowly found himself mentally drifting off into space not long after.
Maybe that was a lie. Maybe it wasn't. Nax still hadn't entirely made his mind up.
When the five of them stood outside the cantina's front entrance, the place was practically bustling with activity compared to last night. Patrons were happily chatting in the window seats, drinking and cheering for whatever they could see – prostitutes, games of Sabacc and Pazaak, illicit blaster deals, snorting lines of spice, whatever the underworld could do, they were almost definitely celebrating it in there.
Nax reached for the door sensor, but it opened before his hand reached the sensor, and Setyani burst through, carrying a heavily drunk Twi'lek male like one would a battering ram, tossing him out on the street. "And stay out, ya damned dirty womp-rat!" Setyani yelled, dusting his hands off, before catching a glimpse of the group. "Oh, it's you three." he said, still annoyed over what happened last night.
"We have names, you know." Lexi snarkily replied.
"Tough kack." Setyani retorted, crossing his arms before gesturing into the cantina. "Eath and the boss are waiting for you in the back."
Nax nodded his head in understanding and was about to head in, when the Twi'lek got up and charged Setyani. Setyani, however, was faster on his feet, redirecting the punch harmlessly into the wall, locking the Twi'lek's arm, and then kneeing him in the gut several times, before tossing him aside like a ragdoll. "Out, damned 'Lek!" Setyani yelled, and the five of them took that as their cue to make themselves scarce, quickly heading into the cantina.
The place was even more packed than it looked from the outside – they could barely move, especially the droids given their limited range of movement, but they made do with what they had. Nax led the group, cutting a small path through the seemingly endless crowd of patrons. Some people took one glance at him and immediately sidestepped him for their own safety, while Nax had to push others out of the way, which was a surprisingly difficult task given how intoxicated a lot of these people were. Eventually, they managed to make their way to the backroom, and the door automatically opened for them. Inside were Eath, and three humanoid figures – a middle aged man that looked like a war veteran with an eyepatch over his left eye and a tan jacket over old military fatigues, a Rodian with his fair share of scars and physical damage, and a Selkath who was missing a significant portion of skin over his mouth, as well as the left lobe that typically hangs from their faces.
The Selkath and the Rodian looked between each other, not sure what to make of what they were seeing, while the human crossed his arms and huffed. "Took you long enough to show your face, Strag." he said in a gruff, overly serious voice, approaching Nax. "Gotta hand it to you, you've got a lot of guts showing up around here after what you pulled."
Nax opened his mouth to speak, but the man suddenly pulled him in to the most bone crushing hug Nax had ever felt, even through the thick armor plating. The man then let go, but firmly kept his hands on Nax's shoulders, smiling ear to ear. "Cobro, how've you been, you crazy sonuvabitch?!" he said, before glancing at Kyra. "And you, too, Bo." he said in a slightly more flirtatious voice. "It's been twenty years since I last saw the both of you!"
Cobro? Bo?
Confused, Nax finally spoke up. "…I think you're confusing us with my parents." he said, and the man immediately cocked his head, surprised at the voice that came out from behind the helmet. "I'm Nax."
"I knew that armor looked familiar." Eath quietly mumbled.
He glanced at Kyra, then to Nax, then back to Kyra, before finally settling on Nax. "Your parents?" he repeated, and Nax took his helmet off to illustrate his point. The man immediately set to studying Nax's facial features. "Strong jawline, permascowl…" he mumbled. "…Definitely Cobro's features, but you have Bo's mouth and nose…" he continued, before pausing in his stride. "Holy spucks, kid. I expected them to have a kid, but the least Cobro could've done was tell me!" the man joked, grinning like an idiot, much to the displeasure of the Selkath and the Rodian.
His attention suddenly fell to Kyra. "So, if you're not Bo, then who…" he rambled as Kyra took her helmet off. "…Damn! I guess I can add good taste in women to the list of things you got from him!" he said, impressed. Kyra instinctively hid her face behind her bangs, embarrassed, causing the man's attention to focus on Nax again.
Nax's expression didn't change in the slightest. "…Not to be rude, but who are you?" he asked, and the man immediately smacked his forehead.
"Ach, of course he wouldn't mention me!" the man said, frustrated, shaking his head with a barely visible frown. He then made eye contact with Nax and cleared his throat. "I'm Vopa Meidre, formerly retired smuggler and former bounty hunter." Vopa said, reaching his hand out to Nax's, shaking it. "I worked with your father, oh, I dunno, a year before the Clone Wars?"
Lexi loudly cleared her throat and coughed, stopping the discussion in its tracks. As if he had been snapped out of a trance, Vopa immediately got back on topic. "Right, we can talk about your family later. As I was going to say before I saw you in Cobro's armor – I represent an organization interested in people like you, and I come to you with an offer of employment, and a job ready to go should you accept my offer."
"This organization wouldn't happen to be Black Sun, would it?" Lexi interrupted, and both the Selkath and Rodian hissed a negative to her, causing Lexi to recoil.
Vopa, however, was far more accommodating. "No, not Black Sun. I work for the Coru-Hivers. You've already seen our soldiers out and about, no doubt. Setyani, for example, is one of our men. That being said, we don't deal with more… morally repulsive acts like the Black Sun. We're more oriented around getting people goods the Empire doesn't want them to have. Starfighters, certain kinds of blasters, battle droids and the like. Slavery is one of the biggest things we shun."
Nax nodded, following along. "All right, so if you're smugglers, then why do you need someone with Mandalorian armor?" he asked, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall.
Vopa faked offense. "Smuggler is such a strong word. We prefer being referred to as 'the friendly neighborhood black market dealers.'" he said in a tone that sounded more like a Public-Relations representative telling a barely contained lie, than an actual person speaking. "Back on topic, though - we occasionally make use of 'messengers' that we send to those who wrong us. Sometimes the name is literal, sometimes it's not."
Nax raised his head up and glanced at the Selkath and Rodian. Both were pretty well equipped, probably messengers. "I've heard the term thrown around a lot in the context of the Hutts back on Tatooine. What's it mean?" Nax continued, as Kyra cautiously stood closer to him, very wary of the situation at hand.
"Like I said, sometimes it's literal. Other times, it's not. They send messages, whether it's me demanding someone back off before I force them into an incinerator, or a pile of dead bodies."
Kyra finally spoke up. "So… they're hitmen?" she tentatively asked, and Vopa bobbed his head, thinking of an answer.
"They're more in line with bounty hunters, actually. Same idea, though." he answered.
Nax was about to speak, but Lexi put her arm in front of him, putting the attention on herself. "Alright, so what's the pay?" she asked in a more professional tone than Nax had been speaking in.
Vopa stroked his chin in thought. "Messengers have a good bit more leeway in our organization. The pay's not consistent, but jobs are open for any of them to take and they get paid however much when that's done. I've seen jobs get posted for as low as two thousand, to as high as a hunded thousand."
Nax, Kyra, and Lexi all whistled, impressed. If Vopa didn't have their attention before, he sure as hell did now.
Letting out a quiet sigh, Nax approached Vopa. "Alright, I'll bite. What's this job you have?" he asked, and Vopa reached into his jacket, pulled out a datapad, and grabbed a datacard, inserting it. He then set it on Eath's desk, who had disappeared further back into the offices. The room lit up with a blue light, and a large hologram of what appeared to be a large warehouse with a moderately sized courtyard in the front appeared.
"What you're looking at is the main hub for the Synthflesh Union on level 1300." Vopa said, putting his hands on the desk.
"The Synthflesh Union?" Nax repeated.
"Old cyborg rights group from before the Clone Wars. Got hijacked a few years ago by a Hutt, if I'm not mistaken. Most of the people actually trying to help cyborgs got bumped off, and the Hutt turned whatever was left into a decent sized gang. They were a pretty big powerhouse down here until they caught the attention of Black Sun." Vopa explained, snickering to himself. "Those were hard times for pretty much everyone here, the whole Underworld was a damned warzone for two years. Towards the end of that, one of the Vigos came down and finally cleaned house – killed the Hutt and most of the lieutenants. The gang splintered after that, never really recovered. I stopped keeping count of how many offshoots there are now, but they all seem to use the warehouse to hang out when they're not slinging stims, shooting up, or borging themselves further."
The Rodian rolled his head in annoyance, approached Vopa, and put a hand on his shoulder. "Enough with the damn history lesson, Vopa. Give them the job details, or we're done here." he said in a hoarse voice, clearly tired of having done this same routine over and over.
Vopa quickly nodded. "Right, my bad. As I was saying – this is their main hub. Yesterday, we had a very important package get stolen from us by a bunch of Synthies, and I have reason to believe it's being held in that warehouse."
Lexi put her hand on her hip, interested, but hungry for more details. "How important of a package are we talking?" she asked.
"Forty thousand credits important. Failing that, important enough that if I don't get it to my client, my head'll roll." Vopa explained, before returning to the job. "Now, the Union, they're not centralized like they used to be. It's just a bunch of fractured gangs pissing on each other and stabbing each other in the back calling itself the same name it was ten years ago. We have good relations with most of the gangs, but a few hate our guts, so it was either them, or rogue agents from the other gangs. Either way, we need that package."
The Selkath finally chimed in. "I think you're forgetting a few key details there, boss." he said with a heavy dropping of sarcasm. "Like what the package looks like, and how they're supposed to get it out."
"I was getting to that, smartass." Vopa retorted, before switching the hologram to one of a small, distinctly military plastoid box. The box itself was a dark grey urban camouflage, and on top of the box was a white circle sitting in what looked vaguely like an animal's jaw sitting vertical, clearly an emblem. "This is the package. It's probably being kept in a storeroom. Not sure where that would be, but my best guess would be to follow the trail of used hypos. As for how you're going to get in and get the package out; get creative."
"…Get creative?" Kyra questioned, hoping he wasn't just throwing them to the rakk-hounds.
"Yeah, get creative. Maybe feed the door guards a line of bantha poodoo about how you're from Jabba or something and he wants to talk to the people in charge to make a deal. Sneak in through a vent, maybe?" Vopa suggested, hoping one of them would stick. "Hell, you could probably shoot the whole place up as long as you got the package out. Then again, I'd prefer if you didn't go loud."
Lexi, Kyra, and the droids had nothing further to add, so they all looked at Nax for his opinion. "…What's the pay?" he asked.
"Quarter of the sale price, so ten thou once the client follows through."
Scratching his beard, Nax glanced at Lexi. "How you feel about this, Lex?"
She smiled and shrugged. "Whatever's good with you is good with me, Nax."
Nax turned his attention to Kyra. "What about you?"
Kyra remained silent, visibly considering what to do. "…As long as we're not dealing in slaves, I'm fine with it." she finally answered.
Vopa nodded in approval. "It's settled, then. Welcome aboard, Nax." he said, pleased with himself.
The three of them were perched up on an apartment block roof next to the warehouse. Nax and Kyra were both looking down into the yard through their helmet macrobinocs, while Lexi was looking with a pair of handheld binos. The warehouse differed slightly from the hologram. Namely, part of the roof closest to the apartment had collapsed in on itself due to lack of maintenance, leaving a potential entry point.
For the moment, however, they were looking into the yard, which was filled with a considerable amount of tents. "…What's with all the tents?" Kyra questioned, zooming in on one of the larger tents in the center of the yard.
"Hell if I know." Nax replied, scoping out some of the smaller tents. "Looks like some sort of open-air market to me."
The yard appeared to be effectively empty from what Nax was seeing, although there may have been someone hidden from view, and Nax's suspicions were soon proven correct when someone wearing the same vibrant neon colors from yesterday walked out from one of the larger tents and yawned, before taking out a pistol and twirling it around, admiring it.
"You guys see any other way in?" Lexi questioned, scanning the actual building itself, looking for an open window, or maybe a basement entrance, before putting the binos down.
"Nope." Kyra immediately replied, giving the building a quick once-over, and then doing it again to make sure she hadn't missed anything. "Nothing. Looks like our only options are either the collapsed part of the roof, or the front entrance."
Huffing, Nax stood up and looked down into the exposed section of the roof, flipping down the rangefinder to get an idea of how far it was.
The roof wasn't too terribly far away, but the main issue was the drop. He could probably jump it with little issue provided he stuck the landing, but there was always the off-chance that he could end up impaling himself…
That train of thought immediately stopped and lead into another. He had actual gear now, no reason not to use it. Switching to the night-vision mode on the viewplate, Nax peered down into the seemingly eternal abyss, and spotted mostly intact flooring. It didn't appear to be structurally weak, or otherwise rusted, and there definitely wasn't anything to injure himself with. Turning to Lexi, he quickly made sure she had the commlink in her ear. "That thing tuned to our comm frequencies?" Nax asked.
Lexi pressed down on the button and both Nax and Kyra heard a crackle in their comm systems, and then a series of what sounded like tapping on plastoid being recorded from inside a device. "Good." Nax said, before turning to Kyra. "We're going in through the roof."
Leaning over the edge, Kyra anxiously peered into the hole in the roof. "You sure?" she asked.
"Positive. Just repeat what I do." Nax said, before unholstering his Deecee, handing it off to Lexi. "Hold on to this for now." he ordered, before getting to the opposite end of the roof, mentally preparing himself, before running forward, jumping off the roof and into the warehouse. There was a brief moment where Nax immediately regretted his decision, before he landed with a heavy thud, rolling forward into a prone position. "Hope no one heard that." he muttered under his breath, before glancing up and behind him, pressing the commlink. "I'm fine. Your turn, Kyra."
Kyra didn't respond, but Nax saw her peering over the edge, visibly anxious, even through the armor. She made several motions indicating her hesitation, and Nax pressed down again. "I'll catch you, Kyra."
That appeared to visibly calm her, and she disappeared from view. Several seconds later, the commlink crackled again. "Get ready." he heard Kyra say, and Nax reached his arms out. Almost immediately, Kyra appeared over the edge, having already jumped, and she was currently in freefall. As soon as she was close enough, Nax wrapped his arms around her waist as fast as he could, pulled her closer, and spun around to dispel her momentum, stumbling backward a bit.
Once Nax caught himself, he immediately let Kyra down. "You okay?" he asked, giving her a quick once over.
Kyra quickly ran her hands over her legs, body, and back, before checking her arms. "Yeah, seems like I'm good, Nax." Kyra answered. "Thought you weren't gonna catch me for a sec, Nax." she quietly said, elbowing her partner.
Scoffing, Nax looked further into the attic, which was what this seemed to be rather than an entirely separate floor. "Like I'd let my partner die." he remarked, before pressing the commlink again. "Lexi!" he hissed. "Keep an eye on the yard. Anyone new shows up, you let us know as soon as you can." he ordered.
"Gotcha, Nax." Lexi's voice cracked through the comms.
Refocusing his attention on how to actually get into the warehouse, Nax poked around the attic. He didn't have to look very far, however. Under a small stack of crates, there was a ventilation grate poking out from underneath. Quietly running over, Nax moved the crates off the grate to fully reveal just how big it was. The grate looked large enough to comfortably fit the both of them, but that didn't speak for the actual vents themselves. It definitely went through the whole warehouse, though.
The corners of the grate were held in by four small bolts, the kind you could twist to untighten. "Get those ones, and I'll get these." Nax ordered to Kyra as he set to work untightening the bolts. The bolts quickly untightened, and the two of them removed all four bolts at the same time. Nax then removed the grate and poked his head in. "Looks like the vents are big enough for us to fit."
Getting down on her knees, Kyra peered into the vent. "Is this really the only way in?"
"Would you rather go through the front door?"
"…You know what, on second thought, this isn't so bad." Kyra corrected herself, and Nax crawled in head-first, with Kyra going in immediately after him.
The commlink buzzed again. "Heads up, you've got some Stormtroopers heading into the warehouse. Five of them, plus an officer."
Stormtroopers? What the hell?
"Gotcha, Lex." Nax replied cautiously.
"What're Stormtroopers doing here?" Kyra questioned, keeping pace just behind Nax.
"Suns know. Maybe talking to an informant for the Underworld Police?" he proposed, pressing forward in the tight space.
Kyra couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong.
They crawled through the vents for what felt like hours at the pace they were going, but was in reality only about twenty odd minutes.
"Stop." Nax hissed, suddenly stopping all movement, and Kyra quietly complied. Directly below them was a room that Nax could see into through a vent. The room was totally bare, save for a single mattress, bereft of any sheets, pillows, or blankets. On that mattress was a young blonde woman, scantily clad in a tunic, laying on her side, silently whimpering to herself. She then rolled over to stare up at the ceiling, green eyes full of tears. It reminded Nax so much of Kyra when they first met, it was almost unsettling seeing it for the second time.
She just stared right into space, and then she squinted at the vent Nax was looking at her from. She scrunched her face up, raising her head to get a closer look, and then her eyes went wide.
A massive grin appeared on her face, and it was then that Nax realized he had been discovered. He put a finger roughly to where his mouth was on the faceplate to signal for her to keep quiet, and she nodded in understanding.
Crawling back from the vent a tad, Nax fingered the edges, trying to find a release of some sort. He did manage to find one, but before he could open the vent, the door to the room swung wide open, and in walked the Stormtroopers. On the shoulderpads was a single emblem, one of two circles inside each other, one small, one large. The inner circle had struts jutting out in an X-shape, while the outer circle had a cross of 'supports', along with dark blue quarter circles in the four quadrants. A very strange emblem, considering that Nax had never seen stormtroopers with personalized armor before, so he began to silently record what was about to happen through his helmet.
"This is the girl?" one of the ones carrying an E-11 asked, leaning from side to side, looking over the girl, sounding fairly young as he spoke.
"No shit it's the girl, dumbass!" another barked, whacking him on the back of the head with the butt of his rifle.
The first stormtrooper spun around, about to hit his comrade in the face, and then the officer butted in. "Can it you two, before I throw your asses on latrine duty." he ordered, before looking at the woman. "She seems to be in good shape. Looks well fed. She got any diseases?" the officer asked, turning to someone out of view.
"Nah, she's clean." a heavily accented voice said, out of view.
"Good. Our boss'll pay you as per usual once we deliver her." the officer said, before turning to the younger trooper. "Oh-Eight, get that shock-collar on her and let's get outta here." he commanded, his vocoder cracking a bit.
It was now very clear to Nax that these troopers weren't here for an informant, but rather to enslave the girl. Tightening his grip on whatever he could in the vent, Nax silently cursed to himself.
The trooper reached into his assault pack and produced a shock collar, and cautiously approached the woman, who was now backing away, struck with the same fear that Nax had seen in Kyra weeks ago. When she could back up no further, the woman looked up into the vents, silently praying that Nax would save her.
Feeling a tap on his leg, Nax heard the commlink buzz in his ear. "What the hell are you doing?" Kyra hissed at him, upset that he was letting someone be enslaved after everything he went through for her.
"Waiting for them to turn their backs. Unless you'd rather get shot?" Nax whispered, gently nudging Kyra's hand away from his foot.
Right as Nax finished talking, they started to move out of view. There was a brief pause where Nax did nothing, and then he slide the vent open, dropping out and hitting the durasteel floor at full speed, shotgun at the ready. The troopers barely had time to turn around when Nax pumped a slug into one trooper, racked the pump, and then dropped a second trooper.
Kyra didn't drop out of the vent like Nax did, but she was hanging out, shooting at the troopers. One blaster shot landed square in the officer's faceplate, penetrating it with ease and killing him. The other troopers panicked, turned to face each other, and then shot each other.
Nax had to do a double take to re-check what he just saw, and sure enough, the two stormtroopers had just shot each other and killed themselves with friendly fire. More pressing, however, was the commlink screaming in his ear. "What the hell is happening down there?! I just heard gunfire!" Lexi yelled.
"Change of plans." Nax responded as Kyra dropped down from the vent. "We've got a little rescue mission, too. Get the bikes prepped and ready to go." he ordered as the woman slowly got up from the ground.
"Are you for- wha-… Seriously?" Lexi complained over the comms, before sighing. "Fine, you've got ten minutes before I'm bolting and leaving you there."
More than enough time.
"Gotcha." Nax said as he kneeled down to look at the shock collar. He'd seen them before on a bunch of unfortunate slaves in Mos Eisley, but he never knew how they actually worked. "Shit, I can't get this collar off without probably blowing it. Kyra, you know how these things work?" he asked, turning his head behind him.
Kyra knelt down and grabbed the collar, much to the displeasure of the woman. "I do, sort of, but I can't break the collar. She'll need to be taken to a slicer when we're done here."
Right, the job.
Reloading the shotgun, Nax glanced at the woman. "You know where their storage room is?" he asked, and to Nax's surprised, she nodded, taking point despite being unarmed. She led them at a rapid pace down the corridors, and all around them they could hear thundering footsteps and yelling and shouting. After around a minute of sprinting, the woman disappeared behind an L-corner, and Nax prepped the shotgun just in case.
That turned out to be unnecessary, however, as at the end of the hallway was a large durasteel vault door, with the woman standing proudly in front of it.
The problem was that it was a vault door, and none of them had any experience slicing keypads. Or cracking vaults, for that matter.
Nax approached the keypad, fingers tentatively outstretched. He randomly mashed keys a few times, which obviously didn't work. Retracting his hand and debating whether he could half-ass a slicing attempt, his thought process was interrupted by a shot blasting the keypad. Quickly turning around, Kyra sheepishly looked at him. "What?" she asked. "I've seen it work in holovids."
About to chew her out, Nax was kept quiet by the vault door slowly swinging open, and the three of them darted inside. On a central table was the case they had come for, but surrounding it was a treasure trove of gear. Droid parts, armors, blasters, ammunition, even obscure stimulants, you name it, it was there.
Pushing his greed to the back of his mind, Nax popped the top of the case open. Inside was a single datacard, small enough to fit into a datapad. Snatching it and tossing it into his duster pocket, Nax resisted the urge to grab a souvenir and drew his scattergun again. "This way!" he shouted, waving them further down the hall.
Nax handed the datacard over to Vopa, who put it between his fingers, slowly examining it for damage. Satisfied, he smiled. "…Ah, Deja. I've been missing you." he mumbled, before pocketing the card. "Payment'll arrive whenever the Hutt coughs up." he said, nodding in approval. "Damn fine work, even if you did go loud."
Throwing his arm over Kyra's shoulder, Nax pulled her close. "Hey, she'd have killed me if I didn't save that girl." he half-joked, earning a chuckle from both Vopa and Kyra. "Speaking of, how's she doing?"
Vopa's expression turned more neutral. "Shook up pretty bad. Gave her some food and water, had a slicer break the shock collar. She's not speaking, but she's talking to us through sign, says her name's Vehn Madruun."
Nax nodded his head as he took this information in. "…Say, do you have anyone who can identify an Imperial emblem? The stormtroopers that tried to take her had one on their shoulders. Got it on video, if it helps."
"Yes, transmit it to my datapad and I'll send it to my contacts." Vopa said as he pulled his datapad, offering it to Nax. Taking it, Nax turned it on and began to transmit the video to the device.
Alpha-Zero scanned the council room with his biotic eye. Seven of the eight seats in the room were occupied by fellow council members, while the normal occupant of the eighth chair was below them, facing the judgement of the council.
In order from Zero's left were Alpha-One, a cyborg with heavy scarring and significant augmentations, who ran most of the smuggling operations in the Union.
Next was Alpha-Two, one of the Union's diplomats and negotiators from the pre-Hutt era. She had short brown hair and wore a simple robe, but had no visible cybernetics, for all of hers were more concealed. CASIE augs, biotic eyes, increased lung capacity, even muscle density and reaction speed augs.
To her left was Alpha-Three, who was by far the most enhanced of the council members. He wore an elegant red robe with gold trim and a hood. There wasn't even a shred of visible skin – every inch of his body was metal and machine, clearly befitting an aug of his station and charge.
After Three was Alpha-Four, Five, and Six, triplets who had changed positions and appearances so often that Zero couldn't even keep track of who was who anymore. As for the empty seat, that belonged to…
"Alpha-Seven." Zero commanded in binary, and the nerve-wracked Seven stood up straight. "Would you like to explain why there are currently six dead Stormtroopers in our neutral zone?" he asked, sweeping his arm dramatically over the cyborg.
"Heretek! He's a heretek!" Alpha-Three hissed and screeched through his vocoder. "He brings the un-Ascended into our holy grounds! And now blood has been spilled! Their unclean blood has dirtied our place of worship!" he continued to rant.
Zero put a hand up to silence Three. "Thank you for your input, Three. However, this is not a religious matter. This is strictly a… practical one." Zero said, hovering on the last few words. Three raised his hand to speak, but Zero immediately shot that down. "No, I will not have Seven shot for being a heretek, and no, I will not permit you to do it yourself. Under the Black Sun Contingency Treaty, section two, line 21-B, all signatories have revoked their right to settle disagreements with bloodshed. Now, silence." Zero said, transmitting a line of code to Three's augs that would render him unable to speak. "Speak, Seven." Zero commanded.
"W-well, sir, one of my lieutenants was carrying out a trade…" Seven treaded cautiously.
"What kind of trade?" Zero demanded calmly.
"The, ah… human kind of trade, for someone in a position of power." he continued, not failing to mince words.
"Who?" Alpha-Two asked, her voice sounding like it was lined by a choir of angels.
Seven shook his head. "I'm afraid I can't divulge that."
Rolling his eyes, Zero gave Seven a piercing glare. "Fine, continue."
Seven cleared his throat and locked eye contact with Zero as best he could. "Well, just after the stormtroopers took the girl we were selling, two Mandalorians dropped from the vent and started shooting. My lieutenant bolted as soon as he saw the first one, and after that, I don't know what happened aside from the troopers dying." Seven said, shrugging out of lack of knowledge.
Zero stepped back and reached under his podium, pulling out a large case. "Then what is this?" he asked, setting it on the podium. "This was found empty inside of our open vault. Care to explain?"
Seven's jaw dropped. "That… belonged to the Coru-Hivers."
And just like that, everything suddenly made sense to Zero. "You do realize that if they declare war on us for stealing something of theirs, it's your ass, right?" one of the triplets said condescendingly, while the other two made noises of approval.
"They are correct." Zero added. "If they want war, we're throwing you straight to them in a bid for peace. I have no desire for war with the Hivers."
All of the other council members agreed with that sentiment. "In addition," Alpha-Two noted. "I would like to put forward a motion that the neutral ground no longer be used to conduct business for any of us." she said clearly and concisely. "This incident is far too likely to bring the Empire down on top of us, even if we aren't unified anymore. Avoiding a repeat is ideal."
"Agreed." Alpha-Zero said. "All in favor?"
Every single council member raised their hands.
"Then it's settled." Zero said, before returning his focus to Seven. "Consider this your warning, Seven. Control your men, or you will face our wrath. I will not tolerate having the others brought down by your incompetence." he said sternly, the synthesizers in his voice becoming more prominent.
"Y-yes, sir." Seven replied.
Idly staring out the window at the rainfall, Kyra drank from her glass, bored. Her head slipping further and further into her hand, she grabbed some earbuds, pulled out her datapad, and was about to throw some music Lexi had suggested on.
The chair diagonal to the couch was in Kyra's peripheral vision when she blinked, and in the half-second that it took to blink, Lostur appeared in it, laid back with a smug grin on his face. "Miss me?" he taunted.
In an instant, Kyra's heart rate shot up, and with a speed only an optimized assassin droid could achieve, Kyra had her blaster out and trained directly on Lostur's forehead. "You're supposed to be dead!" she shouted, horrified that he could have somehow survived.
With a snap of his fingers, Lostur's shirt disappeared, and every single stab wound Kyra had inflicted on him was still there, still fresh, and still bleeding. "Who said anything about me being alive?"
"…Have I lost my mind?" Kyra asked herself, keeping the blaster trained on Lostur's forehead, hand shaking.
Shrugging, a case of death sticks materialized in front of Lostur, and he grabbed it, taking one out and lighting it with nothing. "I dunno, you tell me." he said as he took a drag. "Want one?"
"Not a chance."
"Suit yourself." Lostur replied as he took another drag.
Scrunching her face in frustration, Kyra lowered her blaster a little. "Why are you even here?"
Lostur huffed, bemused. "I'm a part of your slowly deteriorating mental state, here to torture you for the rest of your mortal life. Boo." he snarked, and Kyra only grew more frustrated.
"Very funny."
"Thanks."
The two of them sat in silence together. "Is there actually a reason you're talking to me right now?" Kyra asked. "I don't care what you have to say, so you might as well get lost back to whatever hellscape you came from."
The death stick case disappeared, as did the one in Lostur's mouth. "Would you hear me out if I said I had something you might want to hear?"
Kyra slowly lowered her blaster pistol further. "…I just said no, but to hell with it, I'll humor you. Go on." she said, waiting for what the apparition had to say.
Lostur stood up and shifted positions to the window, hanging over the thin coaster that ran along the length of the window seal. "When I-" he said, before pausing. "When the real me said you were important, he wasn't lying. You genuinely are worth quite a lot to the right people. Who those people are, though, I can't remember."
Kyra raised her eyebrow in confusion. "Aren't you Lostur? Can't you remember who they are?"
'Lostur' looked at her like she was an idiot. "Did you miss the part where I said 'the real me'? I'm not the Allo Lostur. I'm an apparition of him that's using your memories of what Lostur was like, what you heard from Lexi, and your personal views on him."
Appearing even more confused, Kyra squinted at the Weequay. "So, you're saying that… you're me?" she asked, sounding more ridiculous as she went on.
"In a way, yes."
"…What?" Kyra asked.
'Lostur' back out the window. "Think of it this way, I'm not the real Lostur. I'm a manifestation of your psyche. The old you, from before the real Lostur took you as his slave. I'm on the same page as you are, unfortunately, so I can't help us re-discover who we are." 'Lostur' explained, before blinking a few times. "Does this make any sense?"
Looking around, Kyra hesitantly nodded. "…I… think…?" she said slowly and meticulously.
"Good. And one more thing-" Lostur said, before disappearing.
Prepare for horrors beyond the scope of human understanding.
With that, Kyra's eyes darted open, this time in bed next to Nax. He was facing her, happily asleep, but Kyra opted to just watch him. In his sleep, Nax scratched his face, before letting it fall next to Kyra.
She had no reason to believe any of what the apparition had told her, not one shred, yet somehow it made enough sense to her. As Kyra huddled her body closer to Nax, she grabbed his hand and gave it a gentle squeeze, before drifting off back to bed.
THAT'S THAT CHAPTER HOLY FUCK
LONG ASS MOTHERFUCKER
Fuckin' ANYWAYS, as compensation for having to wait this long; here's a gallery of Pulsar Company girls that I have made in Koikatsu, plus an unfinished Nax: imgur.c.o.m (slash) a (slash) EZlxg75
Do note that none of the girls are to scale since Koikatsu scales really goddamn weirdly in terms of height. As for why Nax is unfinished but the girls are done (mostly), making a manly-man in Koikatsu is harder than it sounds, mainly because it's designed around making femboys and shit and less actual men.
Maybe I'll go bug the /tg/ drawthreads to get some actual drawings of the girls done, yeah?
If you need a good visual description of what Alpha-Three looks like, just look up pictures of Techpriests from 40k.
As for the Synthskin Union guys, most of them kinda look like the guys on the covers of Scandroid albums.
'Till next time!
-Tweak