"get down!" she called, the crew instinctively hitting the deck as a plume of flame shot over their heads incinerating the vanguard of the horde and getting the survivors to back off for the time being
"get on!" she called again, switching to her blaster to provide covering fire as the crew desperately clambered aboard, closing the ramp behind them, the ship blasting off as fast as Ivory could make it once it was.
The crew all breathed hard and shakily as they tried to collect themselves, Ivory joining the rest after setting the ship to auto-pilot back to Thessima
"that looked like it went less than smoothly" Ivory noted morosely
"you can say that again, Qin jus' couldn'thelp himself and jus' went for the crown, not a care for any possible security measures, which o' course there where" Ran bemoaned, Xi'an hissing in response
"what happened to Qin?" Martyr asked
"he wasn't able to make it through some closing blast doors" Xi'an seethed
"we've still got the crown though" Xi'an smiled toothily, getting a disapproving look from Martyr
"yes, we do" The Mandalorian stated solemnly, producing the crown for them to see
"ah," Ivory breathed, "anything else we need to know?"
"well, Mando here mowed down a load of civilians being held hostage in our way. Not only the women, but the men and the children too." Xi'an cackled, licking her lips
"I did what I had to do" The Mandalorian stated curtly
"indeed, you did now, aah!" Ran started before groping for his knee in pain
"what's wrong?" Ivory asked
"one of those damn nerfs must have landed a lucky shot on my knee, hurts like mad, but I think I'll live to swindle another day" Ran chuckled morosely
"good, now, lets get back to Thessima and find out where we need to deposit the crown to get paid so my brother's death wasn't in-" Xi'an started before a warning claxon from the cockpit cut her off
"what the hells is that for?" Xi'an asked with a hint of worry
"I'll go check," Ivory replied, scrambling up to the cockpit, "bad news folks, a squadron of NR fighters are on their way here, must of heard about the commotion and figured this would be a good opportunity to scratch out the Spikesharks and acquire the last of the great Imperial installations in one fell swoop, which is great for them, but we really don't want to get caught in the crossfire"
"what do you suggest we do then?" Ran called back
"well, we can't use the trenches, the pirates will be searching those, and we can't go back to Thessima because the NR will be searching that, ah, uhmm, ah! Topographical readouts suggest there is a canyon 10 clicks west of here, we could hide in there until this all blows over" Ivory suggested
"go!" Ran commanded, Martyr scrambling up to the cockpit to join Ivory in flying the ship which swerved hard to the west and began descending rapidly, skirting over the bone-white plains at breakneck speed towards the canyon. Upon arrival, Ivory and Martyr cut the engines, letting the ship drop like a rock down the canyon causing The Mandalorian, Xi'an and Ran to curse prefusly before Ivory and Martyr restarted the engines centimetres from the canyon floor and manoeuvring the ship to hide in a tight crevice in the far wall of the canyon.
"ok, it's official, you two are crazier than a monkey-lizard on spice!" Xi'an proclaimed, exasperated
"we're alive though? Aren't we?" Ivory countered as he and Martyr clambered down into the hold
"you won't be if you keep yapping" Xi'an threatened with a devilish smile
"do as the nice lady says Ivory, you seem to enjoy life" Martyr added
"so, you admit you like me, do you?" Xi'an replied suggestively
"force forbid no, I would never like never mind date a psychopath like you" Martyr retorted
"but you'd date a psychopath like him?" Xi'an asked, gesturing to Ivory, "don't think I hadn't noticed"
"yeah, because he's got an emotional range wider than just kill crazy" Martyr answered
"Thanks for the compliments, I think?" Ivory replied, quite befuddled
"now that is… sorted, what are yawl gonna spend your 2 mil on, when we get it?" Ran asked the crew
"first, where are we dropping off the crown to get paid?" Xi'an asked in response
"contact thought it need to know, so gave me a frequency to transmit on to inform them we'd acquired the crown and they'd send back the coordinates for the drop, but I don't think sending a transmission right now is the best idea with the NR most likely scrubbing all frequencies for even a hint of criminal activity" Ran answered
"fair point, I think I'll spend my share on a collection of lavishly expensive daggers made from the rarest materials: Aurodium, Bescar, Haysian Smelt, Caldoth-stone, you get the idea. Predictable, I know, but what can I say? A lady needs her tools" Xi'an answered
"I think me and Ivory are going to spend our share on a nice homestead somewhere warm but not too warm, far away from all the conflict and politics of the galaxy, we've had more than a lifetimes worth of those, I think" Martyr answered
"what about you, Mando?" Ran asked after The Mandalorian didn't answer
"I don't know" The Mandalorian answered broodily
"ooo, moody, all edge and no smiles now Mando? It was only what, 40 civies? Surely "the way" isn't that punitive?" Xi'an mocked to which The Mandalorian returned what was very clearly, even with the helmet, a hateful stare.
"40 civ-?! Be at least a little respectful, you psycho, he saved your lives at great moral cost to himself" Martyr argued
"morals don't pay the bills, sweetheart" Xi'an teased
"she has a point; you've got to be willing to be flexible with your morals sometimes and a hard code is just gonna get ya killed" Ran agreed
"ooh, I feel like that's a sore spot for both of them" Martyr commented as Ivory and The Mandalorian glared Ran down. This tense silence continued for some time before Ivory changed the subject and the crew returned to what passed for polite conversation among them until nightfall and they felt it safe to send a transmission to the client and head off for the coordinates.
"client says an abandoned Old Republic research platform around the sun of the Skynara system" Ran said after sending out the transmission
"the Skynara system? Client must be nostalgic. It being a well-used branch of the Llanic Spice Run back in the day, though with the almost constantly shifting fuel prices, regimes and regulations in this neck of galaxy of the past few decades, it mostly gets cut out nowadays. Could also be them being pragmatic, the infamous heat and brightness of Skynara's sun and it's ability to fry most detection systems known to sentientkind will forever remain, even if the spicerunners don't" Ivory noted
"since when did you know so much about the history of spicerunning?" Ran asked
"he's a fan of the old spicerunner and smuggler adventure holonovels, you know, the ones with the chiselled roguish macho protagonists who visit exotic locales, beds various colours of women, always outwits the law and gets the fainting ingenue" Martyr answered with great contempt
"that was when I was like… 13, Martyr" Ivory stuttered, clearly embarrassed
"whatever you say, now come on, we got a job to finish" Martyr called quasi-cheerfully, clambering up into the cockpit followed by Ivory muttering stormily. Regardless, the ship soon took off, manoeuvring out of the canyon, jetting out of the atmosphere and punching its way into hyperspace towards Skynara.