Corellian Rhapsody: Bounty Hunter Blues

[Vega Van-Derveld]

Vega stepped down. Seraphim lowered, and he allowed his gaze to stay locked to Saurrons for a moment longer before backing away towards Hera. The mask he now wore, incredibly uncomfortable, would have made combat difficult, and he didn’t want to risk anything happening to anyone else as a result of the ridiculous attempt at shifting the power stakes.

“Goodbye,” the Lupine said, voice metallic in timbre as it echoed through the breathing mask.

“For now.”

This said, he turned from the vampire – at last confident a knife would not be planted into his back – and to Hera.

[Mockadane]

Mockadane would have foully cursed Daiquiri, at her stealing his breath mask, if only he could breathe. The few steps to the inner-chambers door, was fraught with near misses that seamed to take an eternity, until his fingers fell across the key pad.

The cool rush of fresh oxygen was a relief as The big man found himself on his knee's, gulping in the life bringing substance, angered at himself for his lack of forethought.

"This is what comes from helping a woman!"...His sarcasm was as raspy as his breath... then it hit Him.

'GAVIN!'

Saurron's personal turbo-lift was just a short sprint away, hidden in the vissad of one of the pillar's that adorned this room. Hitting the activation key on his com-link, while He ran..., Mockadane wanted to alert his counterpart of the situation.

Reaching the lift, the door slides open with a semi-metallic whoosh...

[SAURRON]

The bridge rocked to and fro from the assault .The quiet chaos, that trickled through the Sanguine's crew, was felt but not heard. The Command crew and bridge personal responded immediately to the threat...

"Command deck reserve power online sir!"

The Sanguine Captain immediately gave his orders. They were laced with urgency yet had an overtone of discipline and calm as he looked down upon the dead officer.

"Shields up, impulse engines to full, rotate on axis one hundred and ninety degrees, z positive five thousand meters, and bring all weapons on line. Signal the three Star Destroyers and the Ram Ships to intercept...pirates indeed." The Captain mumbled to himself as he rolled the dead body off of his boot. Soon the angular prowess of the Star Destroyers bore down on the attacking galleons as they paid their attention to the immense Sanguine.


Saurron's boots met with the bottom step of the entryway as Vega, and Hera left with his only son. The chances of them making the landing bay and escaping alive were far from remote. A glaring stare accompanied by an echoing voice seemed to follow them through the corridors as they set out toward their freedom.

"Yes...for now."

Mockadane quickly made his way to find the son of Saurron. Stepping into the turbo lift he turned round expecting to see the door sliding closed, only to see the Vampyre master standing in there gazing at him with solemn eyes.

"His salvation lies not with you or I, but with her."

[DarthHERA]

They met with no resistance as the small party, plus one huge dragon, made their way down the corridor to the turbolift.

Perhaps it was the fact that Gavin was craddled limply in the great leviathans arms that restrained the troopers, or some communique from their dark Master to allow the strangers to pass without molestation. Either way, the group met with no further agression other than baleful glares.

"Give me the Vampyre"

Hera took the unconscious son of Saurron from Hephaestus's gentle hold as she and Vega, who was supporting Daiquiri, backed into the lift.

"Go back to the ship, my obedient giant, you've done enough"

Hephaestus dipped his great scaled head once and then silently dissipated before their eyes, in order to make his way back as instructed.

Hera spared a parting scowl at Ezra, and one last glimpse of the cavernous black space that was Saurron's chambers, and the turbo lift doors closed, severing her view.

She would not be sorry to be gone. But somehow she felt Saurron would regret ever having brought her aboard.

[Cizerack Hunter Forces]

The trouble with a ship the size of the Sanguine is that it took an excruciatingly long time to maneuver. At close quarters, this was especially apparent. The Cizerack Battlegalleons, while slow in comparison to most capital ships, could still maneuver faster than the Sanguine. The smaller warships maneuvered at the super star destroyer's aft quarter, utilizing their banks of tractor beams to draw themselves toward the ship. Numerous "whumps" echoed through the ship, as assault ramps latched themselves to the Sanguine's hull plating. In a matter of seconds, they would bore through the outer hull, allowing hundreds of Cizerack shock troopers to debark. At that distance, the Cizerack ships were no longer viable targets for the Sanguine, and could still fire on the approaching capital ships at their leisure. They were dug in like ticks. From their advantageous position, the Korri cruisers launched squadrons of Keerta fightergrappler craft, to engage the approaching TIE fighters.

On the other end of the battleground...

The fast missile cruiser accelerated towards the approaching ISD's, and began launching dozens and dozens of concussion rockets. The rockets were simple, dumb-fire weapons with no guidance systems. This made them somewhat inaccurate, but incredibly difficult to defend against. The cruiser races across the star destroyers' axis of advance, laying down a field of missiles as it makes a pass.

At this juncture, the Cizerack were milking the element of suprise for all it was worth.