Alleyways were always dark in Nar Shaddaa. Dark and filthy as a bantha. Tallis firmly thought as much. Maybe more.
Carefully stepping over puddles, she followed Han to the end of the nightmare alley and pressed close against him as they watched the back entry to the factory.
Han quickly pressed a button on his holo wrist, a small map of the shaft looking building popped up immediately. "Alright Blue, this is it. Follow my lead and you'll be fine."
Smiling, Tallis nodded as Han put the map away and they refocused on the entry. The way across was currently guarded, but Drionn had spoken of the guard shifts. Timing the mission had been simple this far. Drionn knew when the guards switched out, and how lazy they could be in the back. Once the first set had gone inside it would be several seconds, maybe a whole minute before the next guardsmen came to their posts. So, when the guards left, Han and Tallis were quick to follow. Grabbing the guards they knocked them out easily and dragged the men into a backroom.
Tallis grimaced. "How am I supposed to wear this?" She asked, trying to put on the stolen helmet over her montrails with no hope of success.
Her friend shrugged helplessly. "Just put everything else on first." He suggested while tugging off his vest and shirt to replace it with the guard's smelly tunic and meager armor.
Huffily the Togruta turned around and began to undress. There was no other room for privacy, and no time to think about it as she quickly yanked on a shirt, ugly brown pants, and some mismatched armor. The boots were a little tall and of course her face remained undisguised, so Tallis quickly devised a mask from a piece of clothe. And sincerely hoped it didn't give her some deadly disease as she pressed it over her nose and around to the back of her head.
Han played the part of a gangster far better. His clothes actually worked with his overall physique, and Tallis was quite jealous of that as they grabbed the criminal's blasters and headed back out. With one last consulting of the map, the duo was off.
Walking through the maze of corridors was quite confusing, Tallis was happy they'd had Drionn and a map. Otherwise, she doubted even the Force would help her out of this one. Every hall looked the same. Full of filth and rusted to the point dust was falling off the metal walls.
Finally it seemed they were just about to find the comm room when a spindly hand grabbed Tallis' arm. Having not expected such an attack, Tallis found herself pressed against the wall, an ugly blue Duros smirking at her while his buddies watched.
He spoke in his own language, one Tallis was not familiar with. But his intentions were becoming quite obvious through the Force. "Hey!" The Duros turned his head to acknowledge Han's shout.
However he only got a glance of the butt of Han's blaster as it smashed into the red eyed alien's head. Promptly sending him several wobbling steps away from Tallis.
"Back the kriff off you worm ridden piece of filth." Han sneered, grabbing Tallis and pulling her behind him. "This one's mine." Slowly he leveled the blaster's muzzle at the stunned Duros. "Want to know what I do to people who touch what's mine?"
The Duros seemed to wake up at that, babbling what sounded like apologies and begging words.
Han smirked. "Yeah, I thought so." With a dismissive wave of his blaster the Duros stood and ran off, his buddies in tow.
Bemused, Tallis gave Han a look.
Han holstered his blaster. "You all right Blue?" His voice no longer dark and possessive. His demeanor returning to a cocky smuggle rather than a wholly dirty scum.
"You're a really good actor." She replied. "Thanks, I owe you one."
Casually shrugging, Han turned back to their objective. "It's nothing. Now c'mon."
Hurrying on they reached the comm room. Currently only one person was there, a Dug who barely acknowledged their existence.
Going to what Han believed was the record console, he quickly opened it up and began scrolling. Like they had hoped, there was a ledger with date entries and what Han supposed were code or cover names. Most were utterly ridiculous and smelled of every day criminals.
Tallis pulled two datacards from her boot and offered them to Han. Taking cards, the smuggler found the dates coming a few weeks before and up to the assassination attempt on Luke. Copying this information took a few minutes, but the Dug remained uninterested in their efforts. Nerve wracking minutes passed by before the computer beeped and the data copy was completed. Han grabbed them and stuffed one card in his jacket. Quickly he offered the other to Tallis who stowed it away in her boot. Slowly the pair went for the exit, all looking like it had gone well as they left.
And were abruptly faced with a small band of ruffians coming their way, blasters at the ready.
"Damn it." Han grabbed Tallis' arm and pulled her to the right. "Silent alarm I guess."
"Well that's great." Tallis commented as blasterfire erupted behind them suddenly.
Coming to a fork in the corridor Tallis and Han separated for cover.
"Think it's time to split up!" Han shouted over the blasterfire beating away at the durasteel walls.
Tallis nodded in agreement. "I'll be fine. Just get out safe or I'll kill you myself!" She said dryly before reluctantly turning and heading down her corridor.
Turning the bend Tallis immediately took into account the numbers of scum headed her way. Hefting her stolen blaster, she made sure it was ready before continuing on her perilous journey. Blasting every being in sight she worked her way back towards where she and Han had broken in. However there was little hope that the door was not manned heavily. Tallis had no great doubt in her abilities, but rather the time consuming process of carving a path through all those bodies. Yet a solution presented itself in a timely fashion and in the form of a window.
Spinning around she dropped to a knee and shot down the corridor as an alien rounded the bend. The others following him took cover, giving Tallis enough time to blast the window open and climb onto the sill. Briefly she balanced on her narrow perch, taking in the shorter building just ahead, nearly fifteen feet away. Blaster bolts fired down the corridor again, urging Tallis to move onward or be shot down in her defenseless position. Getting into as low a crouch as was possible, she jumped.His finger squeezed the trigger relentlessly as Han fired away, his aim true almost every time. But that was more for the fact that the thugs were getting closer, gaining on him fast. The odds were becoming dire as Han ducked behind a crate to reload his blaster. After splitting with Tallis in hopes of dividing the enemy and getting at least one card out, Han was beginning to wonder if that had been a good idea the pair had made in the heat of the moment.
Jumping back up, he fired again, taking down several aliens and humans before moving on. Only to have to stop as more aliens came around the bend. Ducking back behind the crate, Han had no chance to return fire as the other side of the corridor filled with five more aliens.
"This is what I get for being a hero." He muttered, readying himself to fight back, even if he did get killed. Fierce determination filled him up as he raised his head and hand over the crates, returning fire valiantly and prepared for the end.
However that ending did not come as behind the group of aliens, a much taller and hairier one appeared. The beast grabbed two heads and bashed them together with incredible wookiee strength. And right behind him came their new Mandalorian friend.
Covering Chewbacca's brutish assault, Drionn took aim as the aliens on the other side of the corridor, firing away and giving Han enough cover to get back in the fight. Chewbacca soon joined them, using his crossbow to blast away several aliens.
Drionn soon made it to Han's side, grabbing him and hauling him up.
"Are you hit?" Drionn shouted as the aliens began a hasty retreat.
"I'm fine." Han said, turning to Drionn and nodding his thanks. "Did you find Tallis?"
Shaking his head, Drionn fired once more, the corridor now became silent. "No, but she'll make it to the rendezvous point. Don't worry."
Han snorted. "I'm not worried."
Chewbacca chuckled as the trio continued onward, Drionn leading the way after briefly consulting the holomap. Turning the bend, they were met with more resistance, to which they replied readily, blasters blowing through the lesser skilled thugs with ease.
Bursting through a side door, the trio continue their break neck flight down the corridor. Han led the way with Drionn right behind him. Chewbacca took up the rear with his cross bow, Easily the menacing wookiee carrying an oversized weapon kept their pursuers at bay.
With the trio now working together they found an exit which in turn led them into the courtyard. The place still held several signs of the earlier fight including ignored bodies taken down from either a blaster or a lightsaber.
"There's a speeder just outside the yard, I'll get up high and snipe anyone who comes after you." Drionn said, firing up his jetpack and zipping into the air.
Following his instructions, Han and Chewbacca found the waiting transportation and jumped in.
"When we get done here..." Han shook his head as the engine started, "I'm gonna whack Luke upside the head."
Chewbacca chuckled in enthusiastic agreement.