NAR SHADDAA
Teffa Darkstar swore under his breath as he looked about before hitting the buttons on the room control panel, watching the secret entry hatch in the wall pop open. He had picked the place for a reason, one of which was a private hidden escape corridor that lead out to the shuttle pad. He had learned a long time ago to always ensure you had more than one escape plan.
"Teffa, we've got company!" Tormen yelled from the doorway.
The bounty hunter was already moving towards the door, Necrolis close with him. At least if we have to fight, I couldn't ask for better company, Teffa thought as he ran a check on his weapons systems. Necrolis had his sabers in both hands, prepared and ready for a fight. Ready as they were ever going to be, Tormen hit the door controls, opened the door out to the casino proper. The smuggler went first, stepping out into the raised walkway that ran up one wall, giving them an overview out on the casino floor below.
Down on the floor chaos was erupting as an internal klaxon sounded the alarm, and they could see the in house security moving in a hurry towards the front entrance. Whatever had made them trip the alarm spelt trouble for them. Tormen glanced at Necrolis and the sith shrugged back.
"Necrolis, Aela, Tormen with me." Teffa growled out. "The rest of you get to the spaceport!"
"Like hell!" Jaesa shouted as she grabbed her lightsaber from her waist. "I'm done running! You'd best pray for the prey!"
Necrolis whirled about in the doorway, anger on his face evident as a gloved hand pointed at his apprentice. Jaesa frowned and bit her lip even as she knew what was coming.
"You will do as told, apprentice." Necrolis snarled before looking hard at Vette and Pierce. "And you two ensure she does as told. If not put a blaster bolt in her ass and drag her."
Jaesa bit her lower lip harder, tasting blood as she broke skin. She could not ever remember Necrolis speaking so to her, with such anger in his voice. She had crossed a line with him, she knew, and now was facing the consequences. Something told her she had just made a very big mistake. There was little else she could do now however, except nod to him and do as he instructed.
As the group headed into the corridor to the shuttle pad, Necrolis, and the rest slipped out into the walkway that ringed the upper portion of the casino. Down below they could see the panic set in as anyone down there was scrambling to get out, fleeing to the far end doors. Necrolis squinted but could not make anyone out. There was no missing the sounds of shouts and blaster fire however, and they all knew the fight had begun.
Before any of them could question what was happening the entire entryway exploded. The casino interior was showered in a wave of smoke, fire, and debris. Out of the smoke blaster shots, a bright orange colour, streamed through. They could see a few of the security guards trying to run back inside only to get gunned down as they fled.
"Well I'd say trouble just knocked on our door!" Tormen cracked even as he hopped the rail of the walkway and dropped himself down onto one of the large gaming tables below.
Necrolis shook his head at the smuggler and followed, Aela right at his side. The two sith warriors leapt down, lightsabers coming to life in a blaze of purple and pale grey-blue light. Both of them wielded the dual weapons in either hand and both were accomplished fighting with them. Teffa followed them, hitting a button and igniting his thrusters to loft him up over them instead of dropping down. His tracking system registered more targets than he could count through the smoke and haze even if he couldn't see them.
"No need to pick a target, there's a lot." Teffa called out even as he took aim and let loose with a mini missile barrage he had dubbed death from above.
The rockets launched leaving small thin trails of exhaust as they flew down into the entry. More explosions tore at what was left of the front of the casino. Even more debris was cast scattering about, dust and smoke choking the air. Necrolis and Aela moved forward through the haze of battle, Tormen to their left flanking them and providing cover.
Necrolis caught movement and sent his left handed lightsaber in a toss out to slice his enemy, the bright grey blue blade glowing brilliantly in an arc as it returned to his hand. He heard the squeal of metal and machine, watching as the droid now cleaved in two fell to the floor in pieces. In the dust and smoke the sith could see more dark shapes approaching in a steady pace.
"Droids!" He called out, even as numerous ones advanced out of the smoke into clear sight, blaster fire filling the air all about them.
"They're HK's!" Aela yelled as she leapt at one, driving her sabers down through its chest plating, then pushing and leaping in a backwards arch to land in a crouch. A hand shot out, force shoving the dead droid back into and knocking over three more.
Tormen let loose with his blasters, strafing across the clustered group as they pushed and shoved into the casino. There were too many of them, he knew. They were too heavily armoured, and sheer numbers gave them too much of an advantage. Who in bloody blue blazes had this many HK droids?
Realizing he was vulnerable and would be cut off if he didn't move, Tormen began backing up. One of the droids turned his way, firing a spray of orange shots. Diving under a gambling table, Tormen dodged the attack. Popping back up he returned fire and kept moving. Another shot caught the armour of his left shoulder, the force of it spinning him about and dropping him to a knee. Diving for cover once again behind some debris, he dodged a handful of shots peppering where he had just been.
The smuggler pulled out a thermite grenade and lobbed it into the HK midst. Peering about the broken chunk of wall he hid behind, Tormen watched it blow apart a few droids, scattering their parts about. At least they were not impervious to everything. He had already noted his blaster fire was doing little in the way of damage against their armour.
Rising, Tormen made to run when an explosion threw him off his feet airborne. Caught off guard and unable to protect himself, he slammed hard into a large chunk of debris that had partially collapsed half a gambling table. Tormen felt searing pain shoot through his side and he grit his teeth hard. Gasping for breath, he struggled to get back to all fours. This is not the vacation I was looking for, he thought through the pain.
"Tormen's down." Teffa advised, continuing to alter between firing his blasters and launching mini rockets into the targets below. Suddenly the HK began targeting up at him and Teffa had to cut his thrusters and drop down, activating the pale blue glow of his personal shield.
"Pull back. We're out of here! Get to the room." Necrolis yelled as he cut down an HK unit that had gotten too close.
"I am not retreating from these tinker toys." Aela snarled, throwing both her sabers and then catching them on the return, slicing down a pair of HK units in the process.
Necrolis reached out and grabbed his sister by the back of her gree armour, spinning her about with one hand. As he did so he blocked a blaster bolt with his saber in the other hand. Shoving her towards Tormen, he gave her utterly no choice.
"We're not winning this fight. There's too many of them." He said, seeing the glare his sister threw at him, but not caring. "Grab Tormen and leap back up top!"
Teffa moved forward to provide cover fire, even as Aela pulled the smuggler to his feet. Necrolis began backing up moving back past him, the lightsabers in his hands deflecting blaster bolts. Teffa let loose with his mini rockets, aiming up at the ceiling, bringing large chunks of it crashing down before turning and running after the others.
"I've got to stop hanging out with you people." Tormen cracked wise despite the pain.
Aela grabbed him in a tight hug and then leapt them up back to the walkway using the force to gain the height. Landing she let the smuggler go before arching an eyebrow at him. She glanced down and back before looking at the man square in the eye.
"Would that be your hand on my ass?"
"Oh, sorry, can't blame a guy who could die!" Tormen grinned and winked at her before groaning again in pain.
Necrolis leapt up beside them, followed by Teffa on his heels, the bounty hunter's thrusters lifting the easily up to the walkway once more. Teffa turned and kept blasting back down into the casino even as the HK units continued to filter in, all of them bringing their targeting to bear on them. The sheer number of droids left no doubt someone powerful and very well connected was indeed behind everything. Even the Hutts would not have been able to afford this many units, Teffa knew.
Aela lead the way down through the hidden corridor, Necrolis right behind them. Teffa brought up the rear, using a timed mine to explode the corridor entry sealing it at least temporarily behind them. The droids likely would have no problem breaking through the wall of debris, but it bought them time and space. Tapping the comm, the bounty hunter growled into the mic in his helmet.
"Mako prepare those ships for dust off. We're coming in real hot."
"We're ready. Both ships are already set to fly. Just get your big armoured ass here!"
Necrolis chuckled and Teffa shook his head. Only his wife would say such on an open comm channel in the middle of a fire fight. Moments later they had reached the shuttle pad and piled into one, heading directly for the spaceport. Teffa glanced at Necrolis who shrugged back, no words necessary as they both tried to figure how much of a head start they truly had. It was a quick run from the shuttle pad to the spaceport, Necrolis helping Aela with Tormen who was labouring. A sith on each side, the smuggler was practically dragged up through to the waiting ships. They were almost to the hanger entrance when more HK droids appeared, opening fire on them and turning the arrivals area into a blaster filled nightmare.
"Keep going!" Teffa growled as he turned about and shot back at their attackers.
Necrolis and Aela raced up the corridor, halfway to the ship. Looking up, Necrolis saw Torian, Skadge, Gault, Blizz, and Quinn all racing towards them with weapons drawn. Damn them, they were heading the opposite way, when it was the last thing they wanted to do. Necrolis let go of Tormen and pointed to the little jawa. Blizz cocked a head to one side and pulled up to a stop. The rest paid them no mind racing past to join in the fight.
"You cover her, get them to the ship!" Necrolis demanded and the jawa nodded his hooded head at him.
"Sith boss trust Blizz? Blizz do, Blizz no fail sith." The jawa chirped as he turned and drew his blaster and shuffled after Aela. "Blizz no get choked by sith! You see!"
Necrolis chuckled to himself, now seeing why his brother enjoyed the little guy's company. With no help for it, the sith warrior then turned and ran back down the corridor after the others. Reaching back into the open arrivals area Necrolis quickly assessed they were fighting a losing battle. The sith watched as Teffa let loose with a missile barrage and then moved further back. Torian moved to his left blaster in hand, while Skadge and Gault took up position to his right. Both men opened up with their weapons as the HK droids kept up a steady advance. Malavai Quinn crouched to one knee to Torian's left taking aim and firing in precise calculated shots.
"We cannot defeat them. There's too many. We need to pull out." Quinn yelled over the roar of battle.
"You guys should be on the ships!" Teffa complained, noting the display in his helmet showed he was down to his last two mini rockets. He was running out of the most effective weapons he had.
"And miss this?" Torian joked. "No way I'm not fighting by your side right to the end, boss!"
"Guys there are more of those things arriving. I can see them on the internal cam system for the spaceport!" Mako cried out over the comm channel.
"Pull back, all of you. Get to the ships!" Teffa barked the order even as he lobbed the four thermite grenades he had, buying them more time scattering back the assassin droids. Quinn lobbed the two he had, while Gault and Skadge joined in with a couple each. Smoke and fire filled the area before them and there was a definite decrease in blaster fire.
"Now!" Necrolis yelled. "Lets get out of here!"
Gault rose and then cried out as a blast tore through his left thigh, pieces of broken armour, blood, and flesh flying from the through shot. Skadge took a pair of blasts, one to his right shoulder another to the chest. Swearing and still firing back, two more blasts took him in the abdomen and chest, doubling him over. Another shot tore the top off his skull, tearing through and killing him. Necrolis moved quickly, leaping over the distance with aid of the force to stand over the downed Gault, deflecting away more shots.
"Dammit go, go!" Teffa yelled backing up as he continued to shoot.
Torian gave a cry as a trio of shots took him from left hip to right shoulder, tossing the young mandalorian backwards. Teffa's arm snaked out grabbing him, drawing him to him and lifting him over his shoulder to carry him.
"Torian's down." Teffa yelled. "Mako get out of here, we're not going to make it. All of you get out now!"
Necrolis heard the order from Teffa and knew it was true. There was no way they could get to the ships. They were only going to get all of them killed if they did not stand and fight and cover their escape. There was no way around it, they were going to die, the sith knew.
"Vette, take off." Necrolis growled into the open comm. "Do it baby, get out of here!"
"Necrolis get into the corridor, we can bottleneck the bastards at least!" Teffa yelled, shuffling back as he shot one handed into the droids.
Reaching down, Necrolis grabbed the back of Gault's armoured flight jacket and pulled. In the second it took to reach down and get a hold of the man, the droids had targeted. Two shots tore straight through his chest. Gault gave a cry that was cut off as blood spurted out of his mouth and he died in Necrolis' grasp where he lay.
"Gault's gone!" Necrolis yelled backing up, seeing Quinn moving back to his left.
"We're not getting out of this one." Necrolis stated sourly as he reached the entry to the corridor.
"We die fighting side by side brother." Teffa growled back. "They'll tell good stories about us!"
"You will get out of this, my lord." Malavai Quinn said, and Necrolis looked over to the man standing just outside the corridor. Their eyes met and Necrolis reached out a hand trying to snare the man with the force and pull him in. Quinn moved faster, stopping him.
"Quinn! No!"