On the Prowl (Vega, Llewelyn)

[Ecks]

[Con't from here (http://sw-fans.net/forum/showthread.php?t=16114)]

Dinner was a hurried affair after the initial bulletin ran on the holosets. Llewelyn Voss, his new... associate? didn't complain, and ate her meal with bigger bites than Ecks would have thought possible.

"They only are showing her human form," the woman noted as the APB ran again while Ecks was paying. He grunted in reply, slapping down credits with the bill and getting to his feet. They left the diner.

Pulling out a datapad, Ecks interfaced with an HoloNet terminal, checking his account balances. "Frell!" he bellowed, making the woman jump. "They didn't frelling pay me. I brought her in, dammit!"

The bounty hunter disengaged from the 'Net, tucking the datapad away. "I'm going to get that bitch," he growled.

[Llewelyn Voss]

Llewelyn frowned and placed a skeletal hand on Eck's arm. "Calm down, you'll give yourself a coronary." The woman's stomach groaned loudly, complaining of too much food eaten too quickly. She tugged at the bounty hunter, urging him forward. Eck's outburst had drawn the attention of passersby, attention which was not easily dissuaded by their oddly juxtapositioned association. "The last thing you need right now is an audience. Take a deep breath and try not to kill anyone, at least for the moment."

It was easy, this cajoling attempt to calm the Falleen. Llewelyn had often been made to try and reign in breakaway emotions, albeit in much more unpleasant circumstances than the present.

The two stopped in a little courtyard, Llewelyn stepping closer to a public holoscreen upon which the face of Loklorien s'Ilancy was being broadcast. She studied the expressionless face, aware of a dull pounding that was beginning to thud at her temples and behind her eyes. Before it could creschendo, Llewelyn tore her gaze from the screen and shifted it to Ecks. "We'll find her."

[Ecks]

He could barely feel her touch, it was so light, and his green skin seemed thicker than usual. Ecks took a deep breath. "Of course," he agreed, tension easing as they found themselves in a small courtyard, made all the smaller by putting him into it. "We will find her."

The bounty hunter raised up a mini holomap of the City, locating the Garrison on level 101, several levels below where they were standing. "First we go to where I last saw her, and find out what the hell happened."

He started to move off toward the nearest turbolifts, then stopped. "You okay?"

[Llewelyn Voss]

"Fine." Llewelyn nodded. It was true too; the pressure had subsided with the same swiftness it had come with.

The woman stepped into the lift, pressing the button that Ecks indicated once they were both inside. It was a tight fit for Ecks hulking frame alone, and had Llewelyn not been able to tuck herself into a gap at his side the two would have had to separate. As it was the ride down was cramped, and it was a relief when they were able to exit into open quarters.

Having briefly studied the holomap, Llewelyn didn't wait for Ecks to lead on. She turned right and began walking at an easy pace. "She's a Force user too, isn't she?"

[Ecks]

He grunted, "Yes, in addition to being a shapeshifter." Ecks remotely logged into Razor's Edge's computer systems as they walked, locating a paticular security holo and downloading it to his pad. "Ridiculously fast, and not paticularly nice."

He studied his companion as she walked a little bit in front of him, considering. She seemed frail, but there was an inner core like a durasteel rod in that one. "We didn't get the chance to try with Oisel, but if we run into her there might be an opportunity to try to confuse her with you, if you're willing." Ecks tucked away his datapad into his armor, taking two big steps to catch up to Llewelyn. "She's more skilled than Oisel though. Harder to trick."

They passed a small group of stormtroopers walking in the opposite direction. Must be nearby.

[Llewelyn Voss]

"Well I don't know that I'd be nice either, if I were in her position." Llewelyn remarked wryly, dutifully ignoring the stormtroopers as they passed. Despite the comical difference in size, Ecks and she had unspokenly stumbled into a synchronized gait. Conversation, too, had settled into a rhythm. Llewelyn wondered absently if Ecks had noticed it, though she knew if he had he wouldn't say anything.

Another batch of stormtroopers exited a squat gray building just in front of them, and the pair caught the automatic door before it could swoosh shut behind the clicking squad. It was as dreary and monotone inside as it was outside; steel desk, grey duracrete walls, a stuffy taste to the air. Harsh fluorescent lights cast an unflattering hue on everything. Llewelyn felt her headache returning. She nudged Ecks, who bent to hear her whisper, "I've got to excuse myself."

"Is there a ladies room in here?" Llewelyn inquired of a bored looking man in uniform, who stood behind the desk. The gaurd looked past her at Ecks, grunted once in affirmation and jerked his head to the left. Llewelyn went through the door he had indicated. A sudden shiver sent a wave of goosebumps rippling across her skin, and set the short stubble of hair on her scalp on end.

With quick efficiency and touching the faucet as little as she could (it was filthy) Llewelyn turned on the cold water, splashing her face. The sharp splash helped, and some of the fuzzyness dissapeared. "No more ethnic dishes." Llewelyn resolved, regretting the tsotso noodles from the restaurant as her belly spun.

When she came out, Ecks was talking gruffly with the gaurd. Llewelyn quitely took a place at his side, dropping an ear into the conversation.

[Ecks]

Voss excused herself, the utilitarian lighting not doing her any favors as she made her way to the refresher. Ecks turned to the guardsman at the front desk. "I delievered a bounty today. Heard you lost her already."

The man straightened a little, and adjusted his uniform as the bounty hunter's gaze settled heavily on him. "Ah, Loklorien s'Ilancy. Er... yes?" His eyes tracked to the left and then the right, as though he was looking for a quick exit.

Ecks leaned his elbows on the desk, and loomed closer. "Care to enlighten me as to why I wasn't paid, as was agreed?"

"Ah, er... I'm not sure that is something I can check on. Perhaps... Accounts?" He tried to sound helpful, but his voice squeaked a little at the end of his sentance. Ecks frowned.

"Why don't you just tell me what happened after your garrison assumed responsibilty for the woman, and I'll pay a visit to Accounts later."

"Ah, of course, of course..." The guard pressed a button to activate the comm hardwired to the desk. "Ah, a Mr...."

"Ecks," supplied the bounty hunter, just as Voss came back to his side again, standing still and listening quietly.

"A Mr. Ecks is here... Yes he wants to hear... of course. No I needed to check with... certainly. Thank you sir." He disconnected the call, a sheen of sweat on his forehead. Nervous fellow, really. "The woman in question came to shortly after we placed her into a cell. Before the guards could raise an alarm, she'd winkled her way out of the cell, turned into some sort of canine and bitten one of their hands off."

The Falleen nodded, listening intently. "And then?"

"Then the woman forced all the ocked doors open between her and the front of this office, and ran through them." He blanched a little at the word 'forced.' "As a dog, mind you."

Ecks boiled with anger. "She is a known Force user, and no precautions were taken?!"

"Ah... not really my job... er." The guard backed away a bit, then pointed to the left. "She went that way, though."

[Llewelyn Voss]

Llewelyn offered the man a thin smile, trying to alleviate some of the white-knuckled fear that Ecks had generated. "Thank you for your help. We're quite sure that next time you'll do your job properly, so that this doesn't happen again." What she didn't say, because she didn't have to with the Falleen fuming beside her, was that the next time it was doubtful she would be able to pry the bounty hunter away and keep the gaurd from injury.

Llewelyn had little concern for the uniformed man, but something about the lighting of the place was making her food poisening worse; the glare, perhaps. She was relieved when Ecks followed her in the pointed direction. "Alright," Llewelyn said as they continued with purpose, "How far do you think she's gotten and more importantly, what's the plan when we catch up?"

[Ecks]

Ecks gave the guard a parting glare that made the smaller human wilt visibly, but followed Llewelyn as she walked out of the Imperial HQ and back into the hallways and passages and balconies of Cloud City. The whole building reeked of spice - whether it was dutifully confiscated or because the garrison was full of bright-eyed glitbiters was anyone's guess.

"As a human she couldn't have gotten far as she had no clothes." Ecks held up one thick green finger. "But as a canine in her vornskr form she could have covered a great deal of distance."

Voss processed that, realized he hadn't really answered any of her questions and pressed again, "And when we catch up?"

When, not if. He liked her more and more. "A stun blast should knock her unconscious. It isn't as easy to avoid as a blaster bolt, even for a Jedi. And if she were armed with one of their lightsabers, which she isn't, a stun blast can't be deflected. Not fully."

He stumped with surprising quickness, overtaking the slight female as he took point in their little hunting party. "The garrison here is full of incompetent fools. I know where we can find what we need to catch s'Ilancy." They went down three more levels, crossed an expanse of open-air balconied walkways, and then ducked into what looked like a store.

The storefront was dark, and full of extremely odd items. In a far corner lit by a wall light there hung what looked like a tribal mask, and there were shelves and shelves of crystals and herbs. Little bags purporting to hold the knuckle bones of a Tatooine krayt dragon (rubbish, as a krayt dragon's knuckles were enormous), and incenses created from anything and everything you could imagine. Ecks pushed past all the ridiculous paraphrenalia and walked right around the glass counter to a beaded curtain that separated the front of the store from the back.

Beside the flashy and jingly beads there were seven braids of human hair varying in length from four to twelve inches, tied together at the base and fastened to the wall. Ecks cleared his throat, not entering the back room. "Skeez, I need a favor."

[Llewelyn Voss]

The store was what one would call terrifically macabre, but despite it's menacing trinkets Llewelyn wasn't put off. It had the feel of a collectors display room rather than a shop of horrors, and she suspected it was designed to look dingy so as to drive all but the serious businesspeople away.

Llewelyn was immedietely interested in the herbs and left Ecks side to study them. The woman selected a few tightly wrapped parcels which held promise; one in particular made a wonderful sleeping draught when brewed. She carried them back to the Falleen, to show him, but was instead confronted with the presence of a most interesting character.

For starters, he was covered with a fine grey fur that looked as if it needed a good cleaning. The man was of average height and very muscled, with tiny eyes that glowed in the dimness of the shop. Llewelyn tried to remember what species he was; ah, Coway. Of Mimban in the Circarpous system. That was a surprise; from what she knew of the humanesque species they were scarcely ever found outside of their homeworld. They were also very prone to violence. Llewelyn was glad that Ecks seemed to be on cordial terms with this Skeez, who was munching on chunks of raw meat and lichen from a wooden bowl.

"Haven't seen you in a long time." Skeez rasped, licking a drop of blood from his furred chin. Llewelyn had to force herself not to shudder when his beady eyes traversed her.

[Ecks]

The old Coway bounty hunter dropped another piece of meat in his mouth as he came out from the back room, the glittery beads clinking together as he passed through.

Ex-bounty hunter, that was.

Clicking the bowl to the glass counter, Skeez adjusted his outfit, which was a mixture of tie-dyed cloth and old leathers. His beady eyes tracked to just behind Ecks, where the bald Voss female was standing. He smiled.

"Business is good," said Ecks. "And you're out of the game, remember?"

Skeez grunted, slurping up a long piece of lichen that had been marinating in the blood in the bottom of the bowl. "Right... so, regular customers then?" He licked his fingers clean with gusto, drying them on the front of his shirt. His tone indicated a strong bent towards sarcasm, and then a coughing fit bent him almost double.

Ecks backed up slightly until the old Coway recovered, and shook his head. "No, you know better. And I know better than to take this shop at face value. I need access to the vidscreens in the back."

The small eyes widened a little, and Skeez looked over his shoulder to the back room behind the beaded curtain. "Gonna cost ya." A pause. "This have to do with that APB a while ago?"

The Falleen dropped a credit chit on the counter, coded for an impressive amount. "This should cover it, as well as whatever she's picked out," a nod over his shoulder towards the human female. Skeez picked it up and inspected it, then secreted it away somewhere on his body. With a curt nod he turned back towards the curtain, pausing to touch the braids fastened there by the side of the doorway.

Skeez had been in his prime twenty Standard ago, when the call for the heads of the Jedi had gone out. He'd bagged at least nine knights, and seven padawans over the course of his career. Impressive for one being who worked alone. Ecks was just starting out back then, and couldn't stomach the thought of killing children, even Force users.

He still couldn't.

Ecks motioned for Llewelyn to stay where she was, and ducked through the beads to follow Skeez into the back room. Through the small stock room and beyond a thick curtain of black felt, there was a bank of vidscreens and holomonitors, each tied into and screening security vids from the City. Skeez's eyes glittered.

"This might be what you want..." He bent over a playback machine, and Ecks watched the screen as a dark haired woman who moved like a born fighter walked from a bar, followed by a sleek white furred canine with a bony tail.

He grunted, nodding. "Have you shown anyone else?"

"No one else has come. Though I can keep it from any of the curious who might happen by... for the right price." Skeeze crunched on a bit of dried lichen, sneezing.

Ecks nodded, "Do so." He flipped another credit chit to the Coway, and added, "Where did they go?"

"Landing pad, just over ten minutes ago." Skeeze rattled off the pad number. "See you next time you're in town?"

"You know how it is. Good hunting." Ecks clapped the other alien on the back, then made his way to the front again with long strides. "We got a pad number, have to hurry."

Voss jumped back to her feet, and her shoulder bag looked a bit heavier than it had before. He hoped she'd cleaned the place out of whatever there was of real value, he'd paid Skeez enough to buy a swimming pool on Tatooine. But the intel was good, and Loklorien was worth over five million credits.

He stalked out of the front door, not waiting to see that the female followed, his hand on the butt of his blaster.

[Llewelyn Voss]

"He had colorian root; incredibly hard to find, incredibly valuable." Llewelyn remarked as she broke into a canter to keep up with the Falleens stride. The woman pulled a slimly wrapped parcel from a pocket, eyes glittering. "It will fetch a nice price."

There was only a grunt of approval in response, but the woman had become accustomed to Ecks' economical speech and did not take noises at face value anymore.

"What's the number?" Llewelyn asked, all the while keeping close moniter on her body; she did not want to press it too far, not now when they had made some headway.

[Ecks]

"Two-seven-dee-one," Ecks responded, pulling his blaster out and inspecting it as he strode down the passage. "Eight levels up, but not far."

A crew of Ugnaught technicians scattered as he walked right through their work group, pressing the button to call the turbolift to their level. He looked at Voss. "Keep up if you can, but I think that she's making a run for it."

The 'lift ride up was made in silence, as Ecks unslung the repeater rifle that was usually across his back, holding it by the barrel in one hand. The doors opened, and he stalked out, breaking into a run as he counted the pad numbers on the wall.

27-D1. Locked, of course. He leveled his blaster at the control panel and shot it to pieces. The door slid open, and the bounty hunter edged inside, repeater rifle preceeding him. He could smell blood on the evening breeze, and was mildly surprised to find a freighter begining to warm up and lift from the pad, leaving a pale skinned humanoid on the duracrete beside it.

The man's leg was twisted awkwardly and bleeding profusely. Ecks paid him no mind for the moment, leveling the rifle at the freighter and pulling the trigger, peppering the aft section with energy bolts as the ship lifted from the platform. The ship lurched and yawed to starboard as the pilot was taken off guard.

[Vega Van-Derveld]

The sound of blaster-fire seemed to bring the injured man out of a pain-induced haze. His body twitched and flinched at the screech of each shot, as though he feared the flashing bolts might be meant for him. His head rolled backwards, trying to catch sight of the quickly vanishing ship out of the corner of his flickering eyes.

“Bitch,” he spat, a full-body convulsion causing his shoulders to suddenly hunch inwards. One equally shaky hand reached out towards his injured leg fingertips curling into the flesh just above the point of impact. “Y-you won't escape me... that easily,” Vega said, through a grimace, taking some small delight in seeing Arya's freighter swerve perilously.

[Llewelyn Voss]

Voss couldn't keep up, which was why she'd gotten the pad number. The woman kept her brisk pace as her companion barrelled ahead in determined pursuit; 'let those with the strength do the strongarming' seemed to be the best position to take.

By the time she came to 27-D1, noting the sizzled access keypad, much of the initial action had already taken place. Llewelyn arrived in time to see a ship reeling to the right with a terrific whine. Several coils of smoke trailed after it, and the woman watched it anxiously; she thought the point was to capture s'Ilancy alive, and if the craft went down here it would most definetly be an ugly crash, what with the dense architecture.

A sudden rushing of whispered voices in her ear made Llewelyn twist to look over her shoulder. It had been an indistinguishable message, but she was not stranger to such noises. The last time she'd heard it had been back in the care of Director and his staff. Cautious relief filled her when she saw no one but a trio of security gaurds; the woman had half expected to see a mass of white coats.

Her relief was short lived. A sudden blinding pain behind her eyes and tightness in her chest made Llewelyn double over, at the exact same moment that the wounded man did so.

"Bitch!"

"Ah!"

Two hands went instinctively to temples. Llewelyn pressed, hard, to stop the severe stabbing. Through blinking colours her gaze landed on the man, and beneath the pads of her fingers Llewelyn felt the blood in her temples give a viscious pump.

Tearing her gaze away, the woman caught sight of the ship limping upwards. Ecks took aim again.

[Ecks]

His face could have been carved from stone as he aimed the blaster rifle at the aft section of the ship. His current plan was that the Cloud-Cars might arrive in time to force the rogue freighter to land back on the City.

The ship had a rear facing gun mount, and he focused his fire on that while the unshielded craft seemed in danger of losing upwards mobility all together. No, the repulsors whined loudly as they fought for traction on the air, and the ship jumped upwards. Security forces in the dual-pod Cloud Cars were closing in on the landing pad, and Ecks had the grim satisfaction of destroying the gun mount. The barrel of the weapon crashed down to the duracrete even as the ship found its footing.

The freighter rose steadily, and then the pilot did something very rash. And smart, too. Activating sublights, the ship leapt away, spinning upwards and barely avoiding a delicate looking tower. The backwash from the engines knocked Ecks backwards, nearly landing him on top of the bleeding humanoid.

[Vega Van-Derveld]

The bounty hunter crashed into Vega's lower body, his shoulder-plates threatening to crush Van-Dervelds still-attached leg. Again, he spat some curse in an alien tongue and grimaced in pain. It threatened to overwhelm him, to throw him back into the catatonic stupor that he had emerged from. He clung onto consciousness with desperation, watching the fading energy trail left by Arya's ship as she slipped further and further from his grasp. They were getting away, and there was nothing he – or the gigantic lizard – could do about it.

“FRELL!”

[Llewelyn Voss]

The man's anger was a palpable thing, and it's throbbing thread snaked about strongly enough for her perception to be slightly distorted. With the ship limping off in the distance, Llewelyn staggered forward clutching her head. An almost fevered flush spread across her skin and a bony hand reached out for the bounty hunter.

She refused to look at Vega, afraid that holding his eyesight would rent her skull in two. Instead she fixed the Falleen firmly in view, wishing he'd further incapacitated the wounded man, knocked him unconscious maybe.

"Ecks," Llewelyn croaked hoarsely, tripping on someone's limb.

[Ecks]

The Falleen echoed the bleeding humanoid's sentiment in his head, pushing up and to a crouch as soon as he could. Llewelyn's voice broke through his reverie as he stared after the freighter, and he turned his head to look at her. "Get to the door, press the emergency button and get a medical team here."

She nodded, though she was obviously in some sort of pain, one hand at her head. Voss turned to do as he asked (demanded? He'd have to work on tempering his tone), and Ecks got to his feet, leaning down and picking up a bit of fluff that was trapped underneath the wounded man's shoulder. It was white fur.

Ecks tucked it away, and grimaced down at the man on the ground. "Someone did a number on you." Pulling off the man's belt, the bounty hunter put a simple tourniquet in place. "Was it a woman? About five foot three?" It wasn't a bite mark, and Ecks assumed that s'Ilancy had overpowered the pilot of the freighter, shot him, and dumped him outside on the duracrete before taking off.

Unless the other woman on the camera was the pilot. In which case... who was this guy?

[Vega Van-Derveld]

The description that Ecks had given struck no chord with Van-Derveld, who had yet to lay eyes on s'Ilancy. “It was that... bitch Ravenwing,” he spat. His voice dripped with vitriol, as if the very words could burn a searing hole through whatever they touched.

The exposed flesh at his knee, even above the point of impact, looked as though it was festering. The skin waxy, it look as if it would have peeled off in sheafs with minimal attention. Speaking, he stammered, and clawed at the ground, trying to gain purchase enough to move.

“Need... to get out...”

[Llewelyn Voss]

She stumbled to the door, the pain lessening slightly as feet were put between her and the two males. Blinking to clear her teared vision, Llewelyn hit the small button on the public comm; a voice answered immediately and asked her to specify the nature of her emergency.

"Medical," Llewelyn rasped, coughing to clear the scratches nestled against her throat.

"What docking bay, please?" The mechanical voice intoned.

"Two-seven-dee-one." There was a note of impatience in her voice - really, they ought to track where distress calls came from - but the stubble-headed woman was quickly placated by a swift affirmation of their location and promise that "sufficient medical aid" was on it's way.

She turned from the comm unit to watch her Falleen companion neatly take control of the situation. Ecks was good at that. A brief nod in his direction confirmed that she'd done as told (asked?). Llewelyn did not, however, return to the bloodied scene. Distance felt safer at this point, and someone needed to meet the medics anyway.

[Ecks]

Ravenwing. Ecks filed away the name for future reference while the man squirmed on the 'crete. The wound looked... bad. Unwilling to touch him, Ecks said, "It would be unwise to move about, you are losing a lot of blood."

A few tense minutes passed, and then a med team burst into the door. Llewelyn pointed them towards Ecks, though it would be hard to miss the injured man in the middle of the pad. "Looks like a projectile hit," Ecks offered, getting out of the way as the team went to work.

[Ecks]

Continued Here. (http://www.sw-fans.net/forum/showthread.php?p=250000#post250000)