Ours Are The Furies: There's No Crying On Jovan

[Q. Samus Dage]

The'd been making their way through the crowds, intent on the lift that would take them back to the officer's habitation quarter. Their conversation had fallen sharply into a somewhat obvious silence. It was tangible and quiet even despite the bodies around them, the words being traded left and right that only grew quieter the farther they went from the main merchant promenade. It was a silence that only got louder the further the went. He carrying the bags, and her gnawing on some little leaf like it was gonna save her from some horrid fate. Whatever that fate might've been was anyone's guess.

That she'd run out of her mother's credits?

A stupid thought, and one that Dage instantly felt a small bit of shame for. The earlier moment of honesty from Rai'faani had been like a breath of candid fresh air, washing over the previous interactions with a bit more stability. There was truth and a sense that the girl had gone deeper than she might've cared to. Which, perhaps chewing on that leaf was a way to cope with the act. Whatever it was, Dage kept his eyes forward and his mind on T'yeellaa. The look on her face was a haunting one. It was one that he'd worn himself at times.

They were a few meters from the lift when the entire station shook. It bucked beneath their feet, and mere moments later the lights all around seemed to flicker off, then on, then off again before finally dying out. They were replaced by the lower level red of emergency lighting. More shaking, and cries rose from behind them. Surprise mixed with just a little bit of anger at having stalls mussed about. There was a fair amount of cursing, loud griping at some perceived failing of Alliance engineers and their abilities to keep a space station still.

But it was the nature of the shaking that pulled his attentions around. This was no stabilizer malfunction. No. Samus Dage had enough experience with this kind of rocking, this kind of feeling, and the sounds he was hearing. Some things you could just feel through the bulkheads and decking. They were things that so many men and women from the old days knew. Even as his stance went wide and the bags he held discarded, the rangy blonde was moving on instinct. He reached out quickly to grab Rai'faani by her arm, pulling her with him as Jovan took another bit of angry rolling.

Another one, came the grim thought.

Pressing both himself and Rai'fa against the closest bulkhead, Dage cast a wary eye at the distant crowds of the promenade as they became like a hive of disturbed Myomarian flame ants.

He grunted, let out a snorted breath, then started off down a side corridor, Rai'fa rather ingloriously towed behind with a firm hold on her upper arm.

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

"That felt ljike an earrthquake..." it blurted out of her mouth before good sense could keep it there. Earthquake, seriously? And then before she could ask Samus about it, he'd dropped all of their shopping, and was pulling Rai'faani along by the arm.

"Hejy! jYou drropped all the...ow! Kosa, sslow down jyou rrou rrou..."

Behind them came the sound of something rolling. Curious, Rai'faani looked back to see a trio of...wheels? Except the wheels then suddenly stopped and began to unfold.

"jYou drropped...all the...bagss...back therre." her words petered off into an unsure mumble.

[Q. Samus Dage]

There were certain things that triggered in times like this. Muscle memory that had not been used in so long. For a brief second he considered the silliness of her protestiations, but in the next breath he'd dismissed it.

"No time for that now."

He continued to pull her along, further down the side corridor and further away from the accursed mobile balls of death.

"Droidekas don't care about your bags, and right now neither should you."

He paused at a junction, just as the first volleys of blaster fire and resultant screams reached their ears. It took less than a nanosecond to make his decision, and Dage dragged her with him once more, taking a left turn that sent them further away from the promenade.

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

The first volleys of blaster fire cut over the sound of everything with a throaty metallic CHRAA CHRAA CHRAA CHRAA and that was all the convincing Ra'ifaani needed.

"Aaaaaaiiiiiiii!!!"

A split second before she'd been digging in her heels against Samus pulling at her arm. Feline reflexes immediately snapped her forward like a rubber band to nearly jump on his back. She scrabbled there, unsure whether to pull him along or attempt to somehow hold onto his back and convince him to run with her there.

"Daa'e ai saa'ula taaleeita sa...AAAAAAIIIII!!! Na'e! Saa nau'a ka ai!!!"

She'd lost all tenuous grip on basic and shrilled right into Samus' ears as her tail flailed in panic.

[Q. Samus Dage]

Dage grit his teeth at the shrill onslaught on his ears, but managed to heft Rai'faani up in a barely manageable form of a shaak-back, feeling as her tail slapped his sides.

"Shut up, Girl," he hissed, "... you want them following us?!"

Making his way further down the seemingly endless hallway, the blonde toted his charge with grim determination. His voice held a level of Iron that even T'yeellaa had not heard before.

"And speak Basic so I can understand you."

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

The train had jumped the track and cleared the rails entirely, despite every effort by the conductor to affect its course.

"Ai'e luuwa'lawaai koto'rri sha'orri taau..."

She drew in a deep breath, pausing her panicked tirade momentarily.

[Q. Samus Dage]

The sounds of terror and that unmistakable metallic tinge to droideka blasters still filtered through the back corridors, but they were diminishing at least. It was another sound that caught his attentions, and one that made his scowl only deepen. It was a familiar clanking; one that he'd not heard since that raid on one of the Empire's fringe worlds. He couldn't even remember the name of the place, but it'd once been a Separatist held world. And that meant droids. Battledroids and droidekas. It'd been a hell of a fight locking that one down, but the Rebels had been successful despite the Imperial presence having activated the dormant war machines.

Now though, that steady clanking sound signaled the approach of those long-necked bastards, and Dage cast his eyes to the left and right as he continued to cart Rai'fa along.

There.

It was an access hatchway, for maintenance more than likely. But it was an escape, and a way to keep out of sight. Shucking Rai'fa from his back like a weightless piece of luggage, the blonde crouched down, his fingers punching at the number pad. It flashed red, giving him a message that only made his expression deepen into close to outright hatred.

Access Denied

Aquick look back at Rai'fa only showed him a whimpering pile of bright clothes and drooping ears sitting half out in the middle of the corridor, and Dage let out an angry huff of breath as he leaned over, wrapping a large hand around her arm once more and pulling her close to the side of the bulkhead.

The clanking was getting steadily louder. It wouldn't be long now until the damn things would round the last corner.

"You stay out of sight as much as possible," he grunted, going back to the number pad. Old Alliance codes, older Rebel codes. None of them worked. Each time those dread red letters flashed at him, and in his frustration Dage lashed out, his fist hitting the still-closed hatchway door.

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

The initial terror heralded by screaming blaster cannons had diffused into a dull noise of screams and battle farther away. Rai'faani had ridden the initial tsunami of adrenaline and shock, and was as pliant as putty for Dage to move against the wall.

"Ssein'ua a'ela, jI jusst wanted to ssee mjy ssjissterr. Have a ljittle fun..."

Rai'faani's rambling had petered from a wail into a dazed mumble, at last finding traction back into basic. Her birdish figure had doubled in on herself, and Rai tucked her knees close enough to her that she could rest her chin in their cleft.

"...jusst a good tjime. Sshoppjing...a gai'chee orr two. Meet herr rrou rrou gai'forrda'ro...hahaha..."

Her tail slapped the door and the bulkhead in nervous fits, and Rai covered her head with her hands.

"And now jI'm gettjing sshot at. jI'm rrealljy gettjing sshot at. jIn heelss!"

She kicked her feet uselessly.

[Q. Samus Dage]

Her temper tantrum went ignored. She could rage all she wished about the situation they were now in, but it would do no good. Just as well, his own knuckles were in pain from his own outburst. Still crouched, his head dipped down as his eyes closed. His mind raced.

Jovan Station. A hell of a place to die. He'd have figured he'd meet the maker long ago. At least if he'd died back during one of the many firefights he'd taken part in it would've been a hell of a story. No. It seemed that wasn't to be. He'd been slated to pass into whatever great beyond there was on Squirt's station...

If he'd been inclined in this moment, the blonde would've let out a groan as his head came up and his hand went back out to the key pad.

"That evil, soulless redhead... "

His fingers made quick work of what he hoped (and at the same time didn't hope) was the passcode.

Access Granted

A flash of green, and the hatchway beeped in confirmation. The staccato beat of metal feet was growing closer, and as the small hatch moved deeper into the wall before rolling to the side, Dage grabbed hold of Rai'faani. She was like some puppet, and he used the advantage of her compliance to push her ahead of him into the ductway.

"In you go," he spoke quickly and quietly.

She slid in easily enough, and wasting no more time he slid in after her just as the battle droids came around the corridor's bend.

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

"Ow!" Rai whimpered, a bony knee bumping hard against durasteel grating as she was pushed into...

"A tube?" She commented with incredulity, looking around the confining space as she drew her lanky limbs close. A metallic clang sounded as Samus closed the door behind them. Rai reached to her small purse, pulling out her comm stick.

"Rrou'ehi..." she whispered, getting nothing but static in return. "...T'yeellaa...wherre aaaarre jyou??"

Outside, muffled by the door, she could hear metal feet marching in sync. Rai's eyes traced to the sound, and met Samus' face.

"jI wanna go home."

[Q. Samus Dage]

"Well that just isn't possible right now," came the grumbled answer as the blonde attempted to shoo her farther down the maintenance tube. It wasn't particularly a small space they were in at the moment, but it wasn't large either. It took a bit of prodding, but he'd managed to get her to move a few shuffled meters deeper. And when she looked up at him again, Dage couldn't help but blink in mild shock-but-not-really-shock. There were the telltale droplets building at her tear ducts.

"What are... what are you... "

His voice was low, but the incredulous tone was unmistakable.

"Are you crying?!"

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

She'd gone across the threshold, and as Samus called Rai out, the Meorrrei girl reached a finger up to pull away the formative teardrops swelling at the bottom of her eyes.

"....no...." came her whining reply, punctuated by a sniffle.

[Q. Samus Dage]

Her denial only caused a grimace to cement itself further onto his features, and he dismissed her lie.

Instead he hunched forward, hands going out to grip her shoulders and hold her still.

"You're crying," he confirmed as she swept the offending teardrop away.

"There's no crying here, Rai'faani."

He would've given her a slight shake if he thought she'd be able to weather it. As it was, she looked about ready to blow away at the slightest breath.

"No crying. You hear me?"

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

It was like trying to stop a garden hose by clamping a thumb over it. The resistance only intensified the pressure. Rai'faani nodded at at Samus's words, even as her eyes squeezed shut and she grimaced.

"No..oo..oo crrjyyyjin-n-g...o-okaaaaajy-hee..."

She buried her face behind her knees, and covered her head with her hands as if to completely hide her pitiful display.

[Q. Samus Dage]

His features only grew deeper, the corners of his mouth setting into something almost permanent. This sort of behavior would get them nowhere fast, and Dage was pressed for time enough as it was. He had to find a comm somehow. Droidekas and battledroids? Something disastrous had happened, and he was cut off. Cut off from Kes, from T'yeellaa, and from Lok. And unless he could get in contact with at least one of them, he'd only be sending himself and Rai'fa deeper into a mire.

His eyes screwed shut momentarily before opening once more to regard the younger Meorrrei.

"Rai'faani... "

Her head didn't come up, and his grip tightened for a moment. Nothing painful, but it was an attempt to get her to come about. He scooted forward just a little bit, trying to push her along and keep them moving.

"We can't stay here. Come on, now. We have to move. If we stay in the same place, they're gonna find us."

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

Still with her head buried behind her knees, Rai'faani spoke. Her initial cresting sobs had fallen away, but her voice was still muffled and uneven.

"jI'm not ljike jyou orr T'yeellaa, jI don't know what to do when people arre trrjyjing to kjill me okajy?"

Rai peeked up from her knee fortress, her eyes looking puffy and swollen.

"Beforre todajy, the mosst sscarred jI've everr been wass when one of mjy ssjissterrss told me therre wass a sspjiderr jin mjy hajirr. And therre wassn't even a sspjiderr!"

[Q. Samus Dage]

His eyes were hard. Not angry or mean, but his gaze remained a firm thing, and Dage breathed in deeply. They had to move, but as long as Rai'faani insisted on being a crying child, they wouldn't be going anywhere.

His patience at an end, the blonde put a hand to the front of her legs and heaved, his voice growling our in a low rumble with the effort of pushing her further back.

"Stop crying and get moving."

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

"Ow!"

The sudden shove caused Rai to bump her elbow, and the pain brought enough clarity about her to allow irritation and anger to overtake her brief panic cry. She kicked back even as she was pushed along.

"hhhhhhchh!! Alrrjight! jI'm gojing, okajy!"

Her face amope, Rai blotted the residual damp from her cheeks as she began to crawl along in the tube. That went fine until the first junction, which caused the younger Meorrrei to look left, right, and straight ahead in indecision.

[Q. Samus Dage]

"Straight," he ordered.

"Go straight until I tell you to, got it?"

Long gone was the Samus Dage that Rai'faani had been introduced to. Long gone was the laid back demeanor and almost lazy behavior that he'd exuded. In its' place was now a determined and grim man who was going through the rigors of muscle memory. Crawling through maintenance tubes was close enough to ducking through hastily dug trenches, and it brought out a man who'd not been seen in a very long time. In this moment he wasn't Commander Samus Dage. He was just a planet-hopping groundpounder.

A quick glance back out of habit. Though they were moving away from the hatchway, sounds from the other side still filtered past the durasteel barrier.

"And don't you dare start crying again."

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

She'd forgotten to wear her tunnel-crawling clothes Rai thought cynically as she obeyed her sister's suddenly-draconian playcock.

"Don't worrrjy about me. jI'm fjine now." she lied with a sniff, allowing her tail to sway the full width of the tube as she bumped and scuffed her knees. Maybe she'd slap him in the face. But no, he had the good sense to mind her vengeful appendage, and instead Rai'faani was left alone with the close air and the increasing irritation of bare knees thumping along grating.

This was monotonous, and the longer the tube went, the more insecure and afraid Rai felt again.

"Wherre arre we gojing?" she asked, no longer with a lacing of attitude.

[Q. Samus Dage]

"We're putting as much distance between us and those droids as possible."

The came to a T junction, and Dage gave the quick order to go left, which Rai'fa did without too much complaint.

"At least for right now. I don't have a blaster, so it makes fighting back a bit tricky."

A short distance away, the tube ended at another hatchway. There was no telling what was on the other side, and he was loathe to allow the younger Meorrrei to poke her head out first. He gave a tap to ankle.

"Let me squeeze by you."

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

Rai complied with the request, her thin figure laying flush against the tube's wall to allow Samus to pass. She averted her eyes, partly in a display of residual anger, but also to hide any latent fear that may creep into that stormy demeanor.

"jI rrememberr takjing a fjield trrjip to the Rrojyal Musseum of Mjiljitarrjy Hjisstorrjy."

She had to pause, remembering her forrda audience.

"On Cana'darri. We ate lunch out on the parrade grround, and a fjighterr wjing djid an ajirr sshow forr all the cubss. Everrjyone thought jit wass kuu'ai. And then we tourred the musseum, and ssaw the drrojidss. Ssuch thjin ljittle thjingss. jI thought thejy looked ljike mannequjinss. Harrmlesss."

[Q. Samus Dage]

"Oh they're far from harmless," came the grunted answer as he shifted past her. It wasn't too tight of a squeeze, but the room was indeed limited and he took as much care as he could to make sure that he didn't knee her in the gut or give her any more reason to begin complaining. As it was, she was talking of other things that weren't necessarily sob-filled, so he counted that as a win.

Quick fingers punched in the access code (Damn you, Kes), and with an ominous click the hatch popped back before sliding open.

Dage remained tucked behind the hatch frame, but when none of the telltale sounds of patrolling droidekas or battle droids reached his ears, the blonde slowly leaned forward to have a look.

It looked to be a side corridor, devoid of life or any other activity. The silence was a stark thing from the chaos that had been heard from the merchant promenade, and with a thin-lipped grimace, he carefully - and as quietly as possible - began to pull himself out from the maintenance tube.

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

Rai'faani followed, slinking out of the tube with feline grace. She rolled her spine in an unconscious stretch, gracious for the open space to do so. Her ear's buoyed in the air, straining for any hint of that dreadful staccato clanking from earlier. Not a thing. The corridor seemed artificially quiet. More disconcerting, it looked no different to Rai than the one they'd escaped from just minutes before. She peered down the corridor both ways, but didn't see a thing to discern where they were.

"T'yeellaa wass headed to meet Cirrsseeto."

She hung behind Samus like his shadow, nervously biting at her claws.

"Majybe we can go therre? Get on hjiss sshjip?"

[Q. Samus Dage]

For a moment Dage said nothing. He stayed close to the bulkhead as he moved forward, Rai'fa keeping as close as possible behind him.

"We can try."

Her mention of T'yeellaa only set alight a concerned pang in his mind. It was a strange feeling, and one that caused just as much confusion as it did worry. Worry won out. Only problem with that was that it settled in his gut, and couldn't be shaken off. He knew she was a capable woman; she'd had her share enough of combat, but still...

The worry persisted, and with it his gruff demeanor seemed to deepen. But only for a moment. With a conscious effort, the blonde let out a long, low breath from between clenched teeth as they cautiously approached the end of the corridor. It opened up into a larger common area that was conspicuously empty.

And then that familiar rolling sound...

On pure instinct Dage pushed himself back against the bulkhead wall, his right arm going out to grab Rai'faani and pull her against him while his left went up to cover her mouth. He needed to make the both of them as invisible as possible, and he couldn't take any chances of her letting out with some string of audible Cizeri cursing. He was aided by a support section that cut off any direct line of sight, and he hoped that that would be enough as the pair of droidekas zipped their way past the corridor opening on patrol or - on a more morbid note - on their way to quell other populated areas of the station.

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

Her ears had the sound almost immediately. One moment she was pivoting on her toes with Samus on the tip of her tongue. The Ssa had gotten out, and after that, she'd teleported behind a load bearing beam with him all over her, especially his hand. On her mouth. And she was screaming into it, looking wildly over her shoulder at his cool expression...with her scream petering out under his hand like a fizzling tea kettle.

"mhrmm...mph mmrrmm mrr"

[Q. Samus Dage]

"Sshh."

His eyes never left those rolling balls of death, and Dage made a stern face as he watched them move away. He held his breath, still watching, and then they rounded a corner and disappeared from sight. Finally he exhaled. A slow and metered breath.

Finally he tracked his eyes down to Rai'faani. His features remained like stone, but behind his eyes was a concerning war playing out; get to Khera, or find T'yeellaa, or find Kes... ? It was infuriating, and the blonde gave a last pause.

"Not a sound, got it?"

His voice was low and very nearly hissed out from between his teeth.

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

The nerves and adrenaline and fear resonated in Rai'faani's birdish figure as quiet oscillation. Her body shook while still in his grasp, but she remained still in poise and in expression. Even with Samus' hand still fixed to her mouth, Rai blinked her wide eyes and gave a careful nod.

[Q. Samus Dage]

Slowly his hand moved away from her mouth, and Dage eased her away so that she was flush with the wall. Another furtive look out at the deserted concourse. Along the far wall was a large observation deck that was sunk down on a lower level with chairs and small tables scattered about. Even from a distance he could see a few abandoned drinks still sitting on a few of the tables.

Looking back to Rai'faani, Samus let his eyes fall to her feet. And the pair of heels she wore on them.

His gaze rose again to meet her own for a fraction of a second before returning to scan the concourse, and his voice remained low.

"Lose the heels."

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

These are five hundred credit shoes was the hot-tempered thought that boiled up through the heady terror in Rai's mind, and that thought was sufficient to make her cast a gawk of incredulity at the human. Of course, the gravity of their situation made that ludicrous observation fall back to earth, and the younger Meorrrei kicked away her heels, which clattered on the deck. She rolled her bare arches against the floor, frowning as she thought about it's state of cleanliness.

Her breath was beginning to return to homeostasis, and Rai nervously hugged her arms around her middle as she waited for Samus to tell her when to jump and how high. She glanced back down the corridor. The silence felt murderous here. She hated Samus for his cool-as-water calm in that moment.

[Q. Samus Dage]

"Good."

He meant the word as soft encouragement, but at the same time he was aware that his tone held anything but. His clipped tone gave little in the way of anything but firm direction. And even if he wanted to soothe her nerves, he knew that now was not the time; indeed, they had no time for that.

Instead, he reached down, taking her hand in a strong grip that left little argument or question. When he did look at her then, his eyes met hers with a level gaze. Hard, but encouraging at the same time.

"We're gonna cross the concourse, ok?"

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

But they'd just come from the concourse, thought Rai'faani, her hand tightening in his hold. Get it together, the rational side of her tried to right the ship. The concourse was sprawling. It went around the entire middle hull of the station. They'd been walking through it all morning to the point where her feet got tired. Maybe they'd find a clear spot.

Rai's sharply swishing tail slowed, and she nodded.

"Okajy."

She nodded again, convincing herself this time.

"Okajy."

[Q. Samus Dage]

She was probably as ready as she'd ever be, and Dage nodded as he scanned the concourse. Further down the way was the entry alcove to the lifts that would get them one step closer to the command deck. Of course they'd not be taking the lifts themselves, but there were maintenance access tunnels. And though he was fairly certain that it would be a long climb, it was necessary.

He steeled himself, gave a last look left, then a last look right. And a moment later, he surged out from their cover, pulling Rai'faani with him and out onto the concourse.

The blonde moved at a quick pace, his long gait eating up the distance between them and the alcove.

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

Rai ran in pursuit, ears peeled back in maximum apprehension as she was certain any second she would be stung by a blaster bolt. And despite her lanky gait, she was still too slow for the human, and was being pulled off balance.

"Sslow down orr let go of me!" She blurted, wincing as she hoped it wasn't enough sound to matter.

[Q. Samus Dage]

Too late he heard the familiar clomping of battle droids. And when Rai'faani's voice sounded, he knew it would be a lost cause to try and make it to the lifts. With suddenly no real options left, Dage veered to the side. He gave a final pull, sending Rai'fa ahead of him and down the wide stairwell into the lounge area before he himself jumped down, clearing the steps in one deceptively easy go.

"Under the table," he hissed, gesturing with his free hand to two chairs and a low table that separated them.

His head turned, looking back up to the direction that the marching was coming from.

No time left...

Rai'fa seemed stuck in one spot, and Samus gave her a shove, sending her on a trajectory to the closest hiding place just as the first battle droid came into view.

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

"Aah.."

Rai tumbled back, falling between the gap in the lounge's bar. She quickly shimmied on the floor to pull her legs out of view, then remained as still as she could manage. The metal footfalls were getting closer, a creepy precision to them that sounded like the ticking of a macabre clock. And beyond that, her own wild heartbeat thrumped in hear ears.

She was going to die here. On the floor of some bar on a space station in the middle of nowhere, and her only witness was her sister's bully of a plaything. She glanced over to the liquor shelves, and absurdly thought that now would be a really good time for a drink.

That's when she heard the voice.

"Na kaali. E'kuurra teeissa."

It was tinny and ridiculous, clearly an artificial vocabulator. Speaking in Cizeri.

"Ya Ve Ya Ve." came a reply from a second droid. Rai'faani's expression was one of shock. They're Cizerack droids. Cizerack droids are trying to kill us.

[Q. Samus Dage]

"Ya Ve Ya Ve."

Dage only had a brief moment to consider the words as he stood, half-way squared off against the pair of droids as one of them leveled its' carbine at him. Despite the distance still between them, their colorful markings seemed out of place. He'd only ever seen battle droids in their normal drab beige. But 'ya ve ya ve'?

It was just before the barrel of the droids weapon barked at him that he grimly realized what it meant. Roger roger. Even in a different language the damn things said the same silly things...

And then the blaster bolt hit his shoulder and he was spun around to crash on the floor at the bar's opening.

"Aaarghh!"

His body had hit hard, a hand going over to cover the blackened blossom of charred fabric and flesh. His eyes screwed shut as he tried to shut away the burning pain, and lifting his hand away, the blonde reached out to Rai'fa. His features contorted in pain, his fingers seemed to beckon to her.

Through it all, the sound of approaching metal feet was getting closer.

"Hurrrnghh... "

Words Samus, words.

Labored breathing and urgently whispered words finally left his mouth as his fingers continued to curl in and out.

"Whiskey... please... ?"

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

"Arre jyou crrazjy?!? jYou want a drrjink at a moment ljike thjiss???"

Well why not? She sure as hell did. Rai turned to face the liquor shelf, frantically looking for the brown bottles. Ew, whisky. She pulled the cap off with her teeth and passed it over.

[Q. Samus Dage]

His hand grasped the neck of the bottle, and upending it over his shoulder, Dage growled out a string of curses as the sting of alcohol hit ruined flesh and soaked his shirt.

The clanking footfalls stopped, and looking up at the battle droid standing over him, he flipped the bottle almost expertly to catch it in a reverse grip. A second later her heaved himself up with angry exertion, cocked his arm back, and let the bottle fly.

It hit the droid just below it's chest section, exploding in a shower of glass and liquor and instantaneously followed by raining sparks as the liquid reacted violently with the droid's electronics. The carbine was dropped instantly as arms fell to the thing's side, and Dage had just enough time to scoop up the rifle before having to scramble out of the way of the falling automaton. It crashed to the floor, its' body jerking about violently.

Hefting the blaster up, Dage let fly with a volley of fire that stilled the twitching droid.

And then a row of glasses above his head shattered in return fire from the other battle droid, and the blonde ducked his head to weather the shower of glass that fell over the top of both him and Rai'faani.

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

"yaAAA!!! Naau'e saallameeth'a hei ai!!"

Rai clutched at both ears, pressing them down against her cheeks as the glass began to spall and rain overhead. She screwed both eyes shut as a ribbon of some clear liquor dribbled into her hair.

"Sshoot jit!! Sshoot jit!!"

[Q. Samus Dage]

A grunt, and Dage lifted the blaster up so that the butt fit into the crook of his good shoulder. He hissed out a pained breath from between clenched teeth, rose to a half-crouch, and pulled the trigger to loose a volley of blaster bolts from over the bartop at the battle droid. Two shots went wild, but the rest found their target with deadly efficiency and the thing staggered back a few steps before falling to the deck in a blinding explosion of sparks. It groaned out some sort of sad string of Cizeri words, then fell silent.

Seconds later, Dage sank back to sit, leaning against the back wall as his firearm fell into his lap. His head rocked back, then to the side as he looked to the wound on his shoulder. His free hand came up to carefully pull the burned edges of fabric away from blackened skin.

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

"Sshoot jit sshoot jit sshoot..."

Rai blinked.

"...jit?"

She didn't hear any more shots. There wasn't any more glass spraying everywhere. Still holding her ears against the side of her face, Rai'faani carefully looked around. Samus was leaned up against the far wall, looking like he was taking a break.

"Djid jyou get jit?" she whispered, just in case he didn't.

[Q. Samus Dage]

"I got it," he grunted in answer.

Still focused on his shoulder, Samus winced as he peeled a particularly stubborn bit of cloth from where it'd stuck itself to his flesh.

"Just be quiet for a moment, ok?"

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

And then she saw it.

"Oh no! Oh! Ew!"

Rai'faani grimaced even as she put two hands over her mouth. Ears hanging low, she tried to avert her eyes, but looked anyway.

"Doess jit hurrt?" Rai closed her eyes as her brain caught up with exactly how stupid that question was.

[Q. Samus Dage]

He let out a long, low sigh.

"Well, it doesn't feel great," came his eventual answer.

Another grumble, and he drew his hand away, letting it fall to rest over the top of the blaster rifle as he leaned his head back, eyes closing.

They would have to be moving soon; it wouldn't be long before the lack of communication from the droids he'd destroyed was noticed by the others.

One eye cracked open, and he looked sideways at her. He blinked at the look on her features, and shifted so that he was sitting up a little bit straighter.

"You're not going to throw up, are you... ?"

Please don't throw up...

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

Rai'faani held up a finger at his comment, opening the nearest bottle of vodka as she took a few absolutely necessary glugs from it. Only then did her pausing finger drop. She cautioned a look at his wound, averting her eyes again as she poured a good helping of vodka on the wound site.

[Q. Samus Dage]

The sting was like fire, sudden and burning. Dage bared his teeth as he grabbed the bottle, pulling it from her grasp.

"Hells girl, I already poured the whiskey on it," but in the back of his brain he had to acknowledge the apparent thoughtfulness of her action, and after another moment, gave her a casual salute with the bottle before taking a plug from it himself.

At least she had the good taste to pick a top shelf brand.

The bottle was soon enough handed back, and with a groan, Dage carefully rose to stand.

"I'll live," he reassured her.

"I've had worse."

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

Rai couldn't fully look away. She'd manage a moment, get false courage, look again, and then grimace-turn, fanning herself with a hand to banish away a sudden upswing of nausea.

"Worrsse than that? Uggghh."

The Meorrrei girl rose to her feet, retaining the bottle of comfort booze while being very mindful to avoid broken glass on her bare feet. With a feline's balance, she toe-bounced through the gaps.

"We need to get bacta. jYou look ljike jyou got a hjickejy frrom Planet Musstafarr."

And another instant nausea hit from the metaphor as Rai slapped a hand over her queasy mouth.

[Q. Samus Dage]

He followed after her, not quite as graceful, but there was still sureness to his step. A concerned look to her as she once more lifted a hand to her mouth, but in the next breath he turned away to scan the concourse around them. There was no sound; no clanking footsteps, not rolling droidekas.

Stepping past her, Dage gave her a pat to the shoulder on his way back up the stairway.

"Almost lost my leg in a scrape on Contruum during the Siege of Contris."

In an effort to ease her spirits, he gave a wink before turning back to the destroyed droid. Wrenching the carbine it still held free, he stood back up.

"You better?"

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

"jI thjink sso, but jI djid jusst drrjink a lot of vodka, sso that mjight be whjy."

Rai'faani gave a small burp, politely behind a hand brought up to her mouth. She closed her eyes and gave a looong sigh.

"Anjy otherr grrjievouss jinjurrjiess? jI'm jimagjinjing jyou naked now and all jI ssee jiss a topogrraphjical map of Geonossjiss."

[Q. Samus Dage]

"Only map I've got on me is compliments of your sister," came the rueful chuckle.

And then his features became serious as he pushed the extra blaster rifle into her hands. He didn't fully let go though, keeping a hold on it as he locked eyes with her.

"Don't shoot unless I tell you to. Got it?"

It was more than likely a bad idea to give the girl a firearm, but the situation they were in wasn't exactly ideal, and he had to make due with his unlikely companion.

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

She rolled her eyes at the little remark of her older sister's bedroom habits.

"T'yeellaa? Pleasse, sshe'ss asss gentle asss a..."

What was this he was giving her - a gun he was giving her a gun why was he giving her a gun?!

"...Nuffjin."

She blinked, then looked up sharply at Samus, realizing what he was doing.

"Me? A gun?"

[Q. Samus Dage]

"Yes you. Yes a gun."

His grip still firmly on the barrel, he gave it a slight shake as her own hands held on shakily.

"I don't have many other options, so you're the lucky pick. Winner winner nuna dinner, girl."

His brow furrowed as his eyes bored into her.

"You do just as I say, ok?"

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

Grimacing, Rai'faani put her hands about where she thought they should go. Where's the safety, what if it explodes, what if I shoot your eye out, what if I shoot MY eye out.

As Dage let go of the weapon, Rai frowned, as if she'd been tricked.

"jIt'ss heavjy."

Still trying to figure out how here hands were supposed to go, she held it a distance away from herself.

[Q. Samus Dage]

It's heavy??!

Dage looked at her as though she'd suddenly sprouted a second head on her shoulders.

"Well, yeah?"

He made a face, then shook his head.

"Don't worry. It's easy."

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

Rai cast a look Samus' way that questioned the veracity of his story, his manhood, everything.

"Eassjy forr jyou! jYou'rre ssome kjind of arrmjy...herro...man."

She squeezed her eyes shut at the stupidity of her winning retort, and flicked her ears as they opened again.

"jI don't know what to do wjith thjiss? The clossesst jI've been to a gun beforre todajy wass watchjing actjion holoss, jI..."

Her hand strayed on the grip, bumping into something that clicked, and suddenly the power supply of the rifle ejected, clattering on the floor. Rai's ears hung low in despair.

"...and jI brroke jit!"

[Q. Samus Dage]

His free hand came up despite the pain and resulting wince his action caused.

"Ssshhh, you didn't break it," he tried to show a measure of encouragement while quickly kneeling down to pick up the power supply.

"You just ejected the power cell is all. Nothing broken."

As if she was a green recruit (and in some ways she was), he made a show of pushing the unit back up into the rifle.

"See? All better."

His hand moved away then, fingers splayed as he tried to wave away her moment of panic. If he was worried over her losing her lunch before, now he was more concerned with her breaking down into tears over an ejected cell.

"Just don't push that button again, ok?"

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

Now Rai'faani held the rifle a bit closer. A bit more reassured. With a bit of relief, she nodded.

"Okajy."

Then she smiled, holding the rifle up for emphasis. I've got this.

But why was it so heavy? the Meorrrei heiress shifted her grip again. They look so light in the movies!

[Q. Samus Dage]

"Good. Good."

His hand stayed in the air, and his encouraging smile became just a little bit strained. She had a look to her that he wasn't so sure he liked. Features frozen in a half-smile, he spoke through clenched teeth.

"What's wrong."

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

"Nothjing."

Still putting up a good face about things, Rai nodded to emphasize her suddenly can-do smile. She held the blaster a little closer now, almost cradling it.

"Jusst ljike holdjing a cub...jif that cub could kjill people."

[Q. Samus Dage]

"Well that's one way to look at it," he tried to be as encouraging as possible. Like, really tried.

He even reached out with his free hand to give her a gentle shoulder pat, though in the process leaving a smear of black-tinged blood in the process.

"But that's good."

He locked eyes with her.

"You ready to move?"

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

Rai grimaced as Dage got his ick on her shoulder, her ears drooping in disgust. She looked up at her wounded taskmaster with a weary expression.

"jI'm rreadjy to move to a bath." she grumbled. When that didn't seem to get the vote of confidence, Rai'faani rolled her eyes, blowing an errant strand of hair away.

""Fjiiine letss go be bjig damn herroes."

Hoisting her awkard weapon with a little more bravado, the younger Meorrrei reluctantly trudged on.

"jIf thjiss werre a Tarriwood holo jI'd be leadjing, and jyou'd be cuterr."

[Q. Samus Dage]

He couldn't help the snort at that. His introduction to Tarriwood, though brief, had been enough. Oh, there was no doubt in his mind that he'd happily follow T'yeellaa to another round of bad special effects, but to hear Rai'faani speak of it - in their current situation?

"I'm as cute as I need to be," he chuckled, leading the way carefully up the concourse and closer to the lift alcove.

And as if to accentuate his point, the blonde half-turned to look back at her from over his shoulder, giving her a wink.

"At least I don't have a potato face."

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

Whatever was a potato? Rai gave him a blank look, then a resigned half-smile.

"jYou'rre cute enough forr T'yeellaa." she allowed. And with that, she gave a deep swallow. Game face time. Time to hide how scared I am.

The way back up to the concourse seemed clear. Rai trailed a good five meters behind Samus, taking tiny steps as her ears pricked high to anticipate any betraying sounds of danger. All she could seem to hear was her racing heart.

"Wherre arre we gojing now?" she ventured, swinging her blaster to the side at the slightest perceived noise.

[Q. Samus Dage]

"We need to try for the Command Hub."

His voice was low, his words clipped as his eyes went from side to side and his ears tried to pick out any telltale sounds that would signal more battle droids.

Or worse, droidekas.

Another tense few moments of silence reigned, and as they came to the alcove's entrance, he looked back at Rai'fa. She had a certain distinct advantage that he intended to make use of.

"You let me know if you hear anything, ok?"

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

"Ya Ve, rrou'a" she replied with dry sarcasm, clutching her blaster close. They were passing a few of the ritzier places on the concourse. Monmoo's...Shatterstar...Madame Maillanaarro's. It was almost nice if Rai didn't notice the occasional dead body lying in eternal repose here and there. She averted her eyes at each one with a grimace.

Then the sound of something. Faint, even for Rai'faani to detect, but through the dead silence it rang clear to her delicate hearing. She froze in her barefooted tracks.

"Leekta" she hissed, training her weapon in the direction of Shatterstar Lounge. Her ears remained up, twitching and correcting for distance as she strained to hear a second noise.

[Q. Samus Dage]

Her whispered curse made him snap his head around, the rest of his body following in a smooth motion. The carbine came up, and his muscles tense as he sighted down the barrel toward the Shatterstar, having followed Rai'fa's own eyes and the barrel of her firearm.

He waited, finger hovering steadily over the trigger.

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

Blue eyes tracked back to Dage, who was keeping the origin of the activity well in sight. That being said, he wasn't actively headed in the direction. Did he expect her to?

Rai'faa turned her head to the human, a bit unsure. She then silently jerked her head toward the door of the lounge.

[Q. Samus Dage]

He broke his eyes from the lounge to shoot a quick look her way, just in time to see her jerk her head in a signal that she fully expected him to go first.

Of course.

Not surprising, though whatever she'd heard he himself had not caught sound of, and the rangy blonde took a single step forward, then stopped.

"What is it," he hissed out the side of his mouth. If anyone would have any indication of what might be waiting for him, it would be the one that'd heard it.

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

Rai shrugged with a wide-eyed expression. What was the saying? Things that go bump in the night?

"jI don't know...a....bump?"

Her ears fell at the lame explanation.

"Look, jyou assked me to ljissten and jI'm ljisstenjing do jyou want me to wrrjite a book too?"

[Q. Samus Dage]

"Rai'faani," he cautioned with a low growl.

This was not the time to begin being a bratty toddler.

"Keep behind me then," came the next order as Dage started forward. Slowly he moved, careful not to step on any littered glass or anything else that might give them away. The carbine was up, his cheek resting against it as he let the business end lead the way into the Shatterstar Lounge.

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

The thought permeating Rai'faani's head as they crossed the threshold was that this place looks really nice. It was somehow beyond the pale for a frontier crossing like Jovan. Rich upholstery, wood grain, beautiful furnishings. She caught sight of the bar and it was well stocked.

Samus moved on a few steps, but Rai remained in a state of appreciation.

"Fjigurress jI'd fjind a place ljike thjiss afterr the sstatjion sstarrtss comjing down overr ourr earrss."

Another sound, and again Rai's ears snapped up to triangulate it. The adrenaline was easy to find, and her svelte figure tensed, bringing the gun to bear.

"Djid jyou hearr that?" she hissed. If not, then how bad was human hearing. Rai pointed to the door cut into the back wall, behind the bar. Maybe the stockroom or a kitchen? Or something else?

[Q. Samus Dage]

Oh he heard it, alright. The barrel of his carbine was enough of an indicator to that fact as it snapped over to a door that was in the far wall behind the bar.

He didn't even answer her ridiculous question, instead letting careful, smooth, and quiet steps bring him closer to the bar, then around it. All the while his weapon was up, ready to fire as he closed the distance to the door.

[Narssiska Vraska]

"Hussh. They'll hear you." A voice hissed from behind, and below them. A trio of bodies littered the floor, and the one in the middle was speaking; her eyes open and looking at the Human and Cizerack. Rising slowly from the floor the esteemed Lady Narssiska Vraska. Her shawl and hood were gone and her silk dress torn in many places; revealing her emerald scales and pronounced head crests. She cast an eye back at the door and then back at the duo.

"You are louder than a sswarm of Jit Beetless." She held an elegantly designed hold out blaster that looked more for show than function, and clutched to her chest a first aid kit that she had appropriated from behind the bar before she heard something coming and played dead on the floor. "A droid patrol passssed recsently."

The sound that had caught the attention of the pair sounded off again, but Vraska did not take her eyes of the pair for a moment; they could be looters. She knew what the sound was. The survivors had left the panic room they fled to when the attack began and were scavenging, like her, for medical equipment and weapons. Beyond that door was the showroom where the entertainers performed for Shatterstar's clients.

She would have to caution them against sound. Again. If these two had heard them then the droids surely would.

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

"S'iea f--" Rai'faani blurted mid-flinch, only to have Dage's hand clamped over her surprised mouth as the pair responded to the sudden reveal of a survivor. She'd been playing a convincing enough dead body, alright. Rai had practically walked over her and never knew the difference.

Maybe she was getting used to frights and surprises, but Rai's body relaxed, and she gave a nod to Samus that he could let go of her mouth again.

[Q. Samus Dage]

His hand pulling away from her mouth, Dage sent his attentions from Rai'fa to the survivor. His ever present scowl didn't leave his face, and neither did his rifle lower.

He breathed in and out, one time, through his nose. Then again.

"Name," he ordered in a voice that could barely be heard.

[Narssiska Vraska]

She almost put a stun round into the Cizerack woman to silence her but as her arm rose so did the barrel of the human man's blaster. She kept her arm tactfully at her side.

When he asked the question she gave him an annoyed look that said what she was thinking; we don't have time for this. She had not forgotten the blaster or she would have made a power play of her own.

"Narssssisska Vrasska. I own thiss place."

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

Rai averted her eyes of the alien somewhat as she spoke. Her voice seemed to resonate in some queer buzzing stereo that made the Cizerack want to clear her own throat. Instead of dwelling on Narssiska's foreign timbre, she looked around when Vraska mentioned she was the owner of the Shatterstar Lounge. Despite the signs of battle and a collection of the dead, it was still impossible to deny the beauty of the place.

Rai'faani clutched at her blaster, holding it close to her as she looked back at the prone alien.

"Djid anjyone elsse ssurrvjive the attack?"

Everything was so dreadfully quiet. Hopefully it just meant that smart survivors had gone to ground rather than the dreadful alternative.

[Q. Samus Dage]

"No time for that," came his hushed answer.

Narssiska Vraska could remain here if she so wished. Or, she could join them. She did have a blaster (no matter how frilly), and a medkit. Those always came in handy.

The sound came again, from behind the door, and Dage scowled while hefting his carbine a little higher, sighting down the barrel. He toed his way carefully through the debris littering the floor.

It could be looters, or it could be a turned-about battle droid. Damn things were dumb as a bag of spanners...

[Narssiska Vraska]

"Ssome ran. Ssome fought. I hid ass many ass could fit in panic roomss." She hissed, ignoring the man's dismissal. At least the Cizerack woman knew what was important here. A rare quality for a Cizerack to care about the value of life. Amazing how everything comes into focus when you're violently kicked off your glass pedestal.

"The ssurvivorss are hiding in the back roomss. You are welcome to hide with uss. We can treat that sshoulder of yourss." The cracked and burned shoulder of the human male had not gone unnoticed.

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

"That'ss a grreat jidea." Rai's ears perked at the offer of a place in the Shatterstar Lounge's safe room. Her eyes moved to Dage. "...rrjight?"

Carefully minding her feet around the dead, Rai tip-toed on the floor with her bare feet, still clutching her blaster awkwardly at her chest as she looked around wide-eyed.

"jI mean...sshouldn't we let the authorrjitjiess ssort thjiss out and wajit wherre jit'ss ssafe?"

[Q. Samus Dage]

"No."

There was no mistaking the low growl in his voice and the tone of command.

"We're not staying here."

He could understand Rai'fa's hesitance in going any further, but he knew it would only be a matter of time until the survivors were found out. Droidekas always found you eventually.

"The authorities are stuck, I'd wager. They're as taken by surprise as we are," Dage gave a gesture to Rai'fa's commstick.

"... and if your comm is out, it's a safe bet that everyone else's are out too, including all of the official channels."

The rangy blonde let out a sigh then, sending his eyes to Vraska. Her offer of medical attention was noted, and he thought on it for a moment longer before giving a nod.

"We'll stay long enough to get our bearings - " A sharp look went to Rai'fa then, as if to punctuate his acquiescence with the hard reality of their situation.

" - not a minute later."

[Narssiska Vraska]

The way the two bickered was like watching a married couple. One wanted one thing; the other another. Vraska said nothing, and hid the disappointment when he said they would not stay. She had really hoped to add their two blasters to the small arsenal the holed up survivors had. They would never be able to repel another attack. They had hidden once, but that trick wouldn't work twice. Their only real hope was that the droids never had a reason to come back and look again. Every moment spend dawdling out here in the front of the Lounge was another moment the droids could happen by and see them.

"Hurry insside." She said at last when the male, who was clearly in charge of the two of them, finally conceded to coming inside. She finally moved, keeping her blaster low and nonthreatening as she crossed ahead of them to the noisy door and tapped on it. There was a notable pattern to her tapping that was outside the ordinary. A password, of course. The door opened and a Twi'lek armed with a blaster and wearing tear streaked mascara, and little else, stuck her head out the door and looked at Vraska, and past her at the other two, and then stepped out of the way.

Waving for them to follow, Vraska stepped inside. The room beyond was filled with booths and stages. Poles jutted out of many of the surfaces. This was the playroom where the girls and boys danced for the patrons. There were private booths against one wall and doors leading off in every direction. It was very clear from the layout that this was the real hub of the Shatterstar Lounge; not the bar in the front. Now it was a hollow shell of it's former self. It was dark, with only a few emergency lights on to give just enough light to see the few people sitting silently around the room. Most of them were the scantily clad performers; many aliens of different species, and a few patrons who would look embarrassed if not for the life threatening nature of the entire ordeal.

"Pleasse. Ssit." She instructed as the door closed behind them. Setting down the medkit she opened it up. It was fully stocked. No half assed emergency supplies under her watch. An older Gran gentleman walked over. His sleeves were rolled up and his clothes were dirty and bloodstained. "Horan iss a doctor and friend. He can patch you up."

"Who are you, if I may be allowed to assk, and where do you intend to go? It'ss ssuiscide to sstep back out there."

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

On any other day, this might have been Rai'faani's sort of place. Well, maybe with a bit more male eyecandy, but nevertheless. Now? It felt like such an absurd place to abscond to. But wasn't that the point of a speakeasy? To stay out of sight? The Meorrrei girl skittishly sat as instructed, carefully easing her blaster to the table as her nervous tail flicked and beat against the chair.

"jI'm Rai'faani Meorrrei, Ssenatorr Meorrrei's daughterr."

She normally didn't name drop unless it could help out her situation. Like, say, if the owner of the speakeasy happened to have a special way off the station for extra special VIP's.

"jI wass jusst herre to vjissjit mjy ssjissterr, do a ljittle sshoppjing, jyou know, whateverr norrmal people do becausse gettjing sshot at jiss verrjy, verrjy, verrjy farr from norrmal."

Now that she was starting to come back to a kind of normal, all the nerves that she'd tamped down earlier were getting let out.

"Doess anjyone have a sstjim?"

[Q. Samus Dage]

Dage lowered himself to sit on the bench that Vraska had gestured to, his body refusing to relax. The carbine was still held in his lap, and the blonde watched as the elder Gran approached. 'Horan' gave a grunt, sifting through the medkit's contents. It wasn't long before he seemed to find what he wanted.

Samus watched with sideways eyes for only a moment before slowly unbuttoning the top two buttons of his shirt and letting the Gran pull away the fabric from charred flesh.

"Name's Dage," was all he grunted as the doctor began wiping at the wound with an antiseptic cleansing pad.

Fingers began to pull away the burnt skin flakes, and he winced. He ground his teeth, answering Vraska's second question.

"Heading to the command deck."

[Narssiska Vraska]

A sideways glance was all that the Cizerack got at the moment as she dumped her emotional purse all over the floor. What a strange creature. Amazing she had survived this long. No doubt the human, Dage, was responsible for that. In her younger years she would have quickly abandoned such a worthless clinger if it meant a better chance at survival. She knew now that it was not the way to operate. Drop too much weight and then you're left alone; and all the credits in the galaxy cannot fill that void.

"There issn't anyway I can talk you out of it, iss there? You may sstay here, hide and fight with uss, and wait for resscue. We could really usse two more blassterss. The droidss will find uss eventually."

One of the girls came over and gave the Cizerack woman a stim and lit it for her.

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

"The command deck!" Rai whined, her eyes widening with surprise as she gave Dage a feeble shove "jI thought we werre lookjing forr a wajy out of herre?"

Sucking on her stim like it was a lifeline, Rai quickly let the cherry crawl down the length, turning a third of it to ash in short order.

"The command deck, he ssajyss. Ssurre, no prroblem. What could possjibljy go wrrong. jI mean, jI've got a lasserr gun. Hah. And jI'm barrefoot! Nothjing rrou-rrou about that!"

[Anauri Rabeak]

Engineering was a smoking hell, and Anauri Rabeak rose from it like a demon. Blood matted the fur over his left eye, streaking down his face, while his cap held a makeshift bandage in place. The fur of his left paw was singed short, his fingers black from fire and smoke, while his jacket bore rips, tears, and bits of shrapnel from the console he had ducked behind when it all began.

The blast which had rocked Jovan caught him off guard, his heart thundering at the thought that the central reactor might have blown. If only he had been so lucky. Reports of blaster fire and door breaches flashed across all his viewscreens before the feeds burst into a furious ant race of static.

"Rhodes, close the-" his cry was already too late, as a glittering barrage of blaster fire cut through the open doorway into main engineering. How had they come so fast? Who were they? Why the hell would they shoot Rhodes? Anauri's mind raced with questions as battle droids wreaked havoc upon his sanctuary.

Access stations were targeted first, wiping out any hope of supporting the few soldiers on board Jovan, and Anauri leapt and rolled from cover to cover as blaster fire chased him around the room like some sort of murderous game of musical chairs. One stray bolt found its way into a bottle of acetylene gas for his welding torch. The fireball which erupted tore through the console he hid behind, a chunk of steel from the gas bottle striking him full in the head, while the fire took hold of his sleeve and the fur of his left paw. In the light of the scattered flames, and through the smoke of ruined terminals, Jovan's chief engineer could see his foes at last. Three battle droids were all it had taken to reduce main engineering to a scrapyard. Three simple battle droids. Unfortunately, those three battle droids faced a soldier, in Anauri Rabeak.

Anauri wore no Alliance uniform, but he had indeed worn a uniform in his past, the brown and gold of the Sultan's Royal Army of Nehantish. Tucked into the back of his trousers, suspended by his belt, hung a holdover from such days. Left paw and sleeve still alight, Anauri reached back with his right to withdraw a slug-firing, semi-automatic pistol.

Hollow points. These are going to do fuck-all against droids. He told himself, but it was better than nothing. Wheeling out from behind his cover, Anauri squeezed of a barrage of lead and copper. Three rounds found their target, but as he feared, they flattened on impact with the droid's metal cranium. Well, two did. at least. The third, either a lucky shot, or striking weakened metal, carried through, blasting circuitry onto the wall beyond. Anauri did not wait to bask in his glory, as that would be suicide, and he was more than a little distracted by the flames upon his arm. The two remaining droids turned, each taking a moment to register what had just happened. Most modern droid programming was set to monitor for blaster bolts; something so archaic as a slug-thrower took time to dredge up from their collective memory bank.

It was all the time Anauri needed. Beating the fire on his arm out, and half-blinded by the blood running down into his eye, the engineer fired off a few more pot shots at the remaining droids until he reached his toolbox, which dominated one wall. From the wide, main center drawer, he wrenched something he should not have been in possession of on the station: an unregistered, fully automatic heavy blaster rifle (http://carlherring.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/bob_hill_bren_gun.jpg). In a torrent of blaster bolts, engineering was secured, but still on fire. Coughing for breath, his eyes stinging from the smoke, Anauri knew he had to put it out, as a fire was quite possibly the most dangerous thing in space - even more dangerous than battle droids and Garfife knows what else had been loosed upon the station. Heavy rifle slung over his shoulder, he snatched up extinguisher after extinguisher, until at last the blaze had been defeated. After a brief visit to the first aid kit, here was nothing more he could do for his home station, and Rhodes had been beyond help from the first shot he'd taken, so Anauri chose to abandon his smoking hell, grasping his heavy blaster rifle in walking fire stance, normally pink eyes blazing red as he sought vengeance for his fallen engineer.

[Q. Samus Dage]

* * *

The Shatterstar


Dage closed his eyes, his head dipping as he shook his head.

"It's like you say; the droids will find you. I have to keep moving; if I can get to the Command Deck, then there's a better chance I'll be able to help up there, and we can get a better picture of what's going on here."

Of course the obvious - that they were under a very unexpected invasion of sorts - was well enough established already. And so he left that unsaid. A slight gasp then, as the Gran doctor pulled away the last charred bits of flesh, and Samus felt his body tense up as he fought the urge to pull free an eyestalk.

"You sure you're not a vet?" came the growl as the doctor began applying a bacta salve.

"You sure you're a sane man?"

The equally grumbled retort was enough to elicit a heh and a grudging smirk before Dage turned back to Vraska, then to Rai'faani.

"We have to get to the Command Deck. If you don't like it, then stay. But I'm going."

[Narssiska Vraska]

Vraska nodded her head, but said nothing. He was right. There was a better chance of getting control of the situation from elsewhere. The Shatterstar was hardly defendable. A last stand would eventually crumble when the droids rolled in with relentless numbers or leveled the entire structure with explosives. Hell, if they got desperate enough they could siphon out the oxygen from the entire station and let them all suffocate. That was a thought that had not even occurred to her until just now, and a cold shiver of fear down her spine. By the Emperor's Black Bones, they were truly damned.

Turning around she was faced with the tear streaked faces of those she had saved. Each and every one of them was a responsibility. Every life was precious, and she had promised herself she would save as many as possible. However, that might mean leaving them. None of them were soldiers, none of them had any experience in the field. She could stick a blaster in their hands and send them with Dage to help him take the command center, but they would most likely die or burden down the human, and if there was one thing she would not do that was send someone to their death.

Leaning in, she spoke quietly into the Gran's ear in his native language. The Gran nodded along, clicking his tongue in disapproval. Their voices raised as an argument transpired but ultimately the Gran conceded and continue to work on the human's shoulder. Standing back up Vraska wasted no time as she headed off toward the other side of the room. At the back was her office, a once prestigious and cozy space that had been tossed and thrown about by the droids searching for lifeforms. Picking through the mess she reached the back corner where a display table sat against the wall, and on top of it nestled in a display case was a Sharpshooter V blaster carbine. It's body was heavily scuffed and chipped in places, the grips worn so badly there was an imprint from the hands that held it.

A secret compartment on the display table was revealed by the press of a hidden button and inside the pull out drawer sat nestled many ammunition clips. Unlocking the case, she pulled the glass free and lifted the gun out. With practiced precision she checked it over, inspected the ports, and slammed a clip into the receiver. Checking the scope she let out a satisfied sigh. Grabbing more of the ammunition she tossed them in a shoulder bag and threw it over her head. Marching back out she paused at the door, as if suddenly remembering something, and kicked off her shoes.

Back in the show room she walked up to the human and Cizerack. Horan was finishing up treating Dage's injury. "I hope you have a plan." She said as she offered her shoes, a simple pair of flats, to the Cizerack. Her own feet were leathery and scaly. Shoes were just fashion to her species.

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

Rai looked down at the shoes, a simmering dread on her expression cooking down into the grim treacle of either resolve or resignation. Carefully, she snuffed out her stim in the ash tray, swallowing nervously as she took the offered shoes. Rai looked back at the now well-armed reptilian who seemed as comfortable slinging a blaster as she did slinging cocktails in an entertainment house. The Meorrrei girl curled slender fingers around the brutal angles of her droid blaster rifle, now more accustomed to it's weight.

"Okajy.

jI'm jin."

She turned her head back to Dage, a thin-lipped expression on her face as her low-hanging ears began to slowly raise.

"Bessjidess, jI'd neverr hearr the end of jit frrom ssjissterr jif jI let herr gai'tou go jit alone and get kjilled."

[Q. Samus Dage]

Dage grimaced, but said nothing as he slowly rose back up to his feet. The doctor seemed satisfied enough with his patch job, and the rangy blonde had to admit that the bacta patches that'd been applied helped to quell the pain a fair amount more than the hastily applied whisky that he'd used earlier.

He gave a slow stretch and roll of his shoulders before looking down at Raifa with a raised eyebrow and an unimpressed stare.

"You'd be the death of me I'd wager."

[Narssiska Vraska]

"Not if the droids kill us all first." Vraska commented sourly, cutting into their special little moment, as she absently brushed dust off the barrel of her carbine with a look of disappointment on her face. She had kept the weapon in working condition all these years, but things had been busy with the club and life in general, and she had not given it the care it deserved. After this is all over I'll strip you down and clean you up.

"Showtime. Horan get everyone back into the panic rooms. Grab what you can and hold out as long as you can." The Gran clucked his tongue and finished cleaning up the medical supplies before moving on while muttering something in his native tongue.

"Are you going to be able to use that blaster?" Vraska asked of Dage, doubting his ability to handle the weapon with his injured arm. The bacta would take time to restore his arm back to something resembling full operation, and they simply did not have the time for that. They needed to move. Sooner than later. She very much doubted their chances. An injured soldier, a socialite, and a bar matron were hardly a formidable force. If nothing else, she hoped they could at least draw attention away from the Club and buy Horan and the others that much more time for a real rescue to organize or arrive.

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

The trio began the journey across the concourse to the nearest junction point. On the station, each docking spire was connected by a radial line directly to the inner levels, which would lead to the command deck. Rai fortunately didn't have to out herself as more of a third wheel than she already was, because the signage every fifty meters or so was clearly visible in both Basic and Cizeri.

"We'rre comjing up on the junctjion..." she spoke the obvious in a low tone, tightening her grip on her weapon. Everything was still so quiet here. Quiet in the shops. In the kiosks. In the stalls. Along the rows of "outside" seating in front of the cafes and eateries.

Rai'faani's ears suddenly twitched at a sound that was clear as day to her. Her blue eyes tracked up to follow the sound's triangulation to the second level balcony of the concourse. There, nestled among a pair of tables with parasols was an entire squad of battle droids.

"Look out!" Rai pounce-tackled both Vraska and Dage behind a kiosk just as blaster fire rained down where they'd been standing half a second before. The droids above continued to fire on their position, but for now at least, they were in cover.

"Oh mjy Goddesss!!" Rai wailed at the loud and close popping of blaster fire coming in all around where she was crouched. She tucked her exposed tail quickly under her legs and held on to her rifle for dear life.

[Anauri Rabeak]

Danger seemed to lurk around every corner Anauri rounded, and Jovan resembled a war zone more than it did a space station. Called back to his days as a soldier in the Sultan's Royal Army, the Nehantite steeled himself to the sight of bodies, both civilian and droid alike, littering the floor, while homes and storefronts smoked. At times, the barrel of his heavy blaster smoked as well as he cut down any armed droid he saw. Thus far he'd seen no living being wielding a weapon in anger, and so he could not know who his foe truly was. Anauri hated not knowing things.

With Engineering in shambles, he weighed his options on direction. He could go to main Operations and try to save some lives there, as surely any invading force would be headed directly there to take control of Jovan, or he could head to one of the docking bays in an attempt to flee the station and save his own hide. Bruised, cut, and burned as it was, he knew his hide wasn't worth much to the outside galaxy without his tools to back it up, so main Operations and being a hero it was. Maybe he'd even get a bonus.

Main Ops would be a gauntlet, however, as he'd have to cross the main thoroughfare to get there from Engineering. Why in the name of the Pit the Empire had designed a station where Ops and Engineering were so stupidly far apart, Anauri would never understand, though it did at least help keep some middle-aged weight off due to sheer necessity of walking the whole damn way a few times a day. Keeping his head down, and wiping the blood from his eye, Anauri crept up on the final corner to the second level main thoroughfare, flattening himself against the wall as he heard blaster fire. No fire was being returned so either some civillians were opening fire on some helpless droids, or more likely it was the reverse. In either case, the only way to find out would be to look.

Squaring his heavy blaster against his shoulder, Jovan's chief engineer took a deep breath and swung out from his hiding place. There, before him was a squad of battle droids all peering down over the railing and peppering a kiosk with blaster fire. One red eye bearing straight down on them through his crosshairs, Anauri pulled his trigger and let loose a torrent of automatic blaster fire directly into their exposed backs, mercilessly shredding the offending droids, hoping to take the squad down before any could return fire.

[Q. Samus Dage]

Jumped from behind by Rai'fa, Dage fell to the ground with a hurfff, pain jolting up through his shoulder as he ground his teeth. Soldiering on though, the blonde rolled to his side, then his back while squirreling himself along the far edge of the kiosk.

His rifle hefted up at an angle, Samus sighted along the barrel just as a second volley of blasterfire reached his ears. It was most certainly not from the droids, a fact further confirmed as a few jerked upright, their bodies perforated in rapid fashion. And while he was reasonably certain that it wasn't any sort of cavalry in the form of a commando squad, it was certainly cavalry of some sort, and he was incredibly thankful for that.

Two of the remaining droids half-ducked, momentarily spared the violent torrent, and on reflex Dage took aim as they turned about.

His finger tightened on the trigger, and two shots erupted from the muzzle of his firearm to find their intended targets in a splash of discharged energy at the back of their heads.

[Narssiska Vraska]

No amount of experience or training could prepare her for being suddenly and unexpectedly tackled to the floor. Her mind raced, and on reflex she reached for a knife that wasn't there with the intention of driving it into the soft flesh of her attacker. It was about the same time that she realized she didn't have a knife on her that she remembered that it was Rai who was dragged them to the ground. Then the barks of blasters filled the air and together as one they rolled for cover. They stayed down. There was no opportunity for return fire. The red rain was too thick.

Then a reprieve in the storm. The sound of another source of weapon fire and the popping of droid bodies. Vraska looked sideways at Dage, and they shared a mutual nod. The Alliance officer stood up and returned fire while Vraska raised to a knee and sighted through the scope of her blaster carbine. She checked other likely points of aggression. Other balconies, other lines of sight. They were exposed and pinned down, and their enemy had only to line up another avenue of fire and they were finished. She saw nothing, even as Dage finished off the droids on the balcony.

"Clear on the ground."

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

"Okajy Rai'faani. Okajy."

Rai muttered to herself if only to stave off the quick panic breaths she wanted to take. Head up against the cover of the sunglasses stall, she worked up her nerve, trusting that the tiny portable merchant shop was a reliable bulwark against the death-dealing rain from above. Everything was loud and close, and her sensitive ears were too overwhelmed by it to offer much more than stating the obvious.

She looked down at the weapon in her pale-knuckled grip. Samus had given it to her, trusting that she'd carry her weight. Was she going to keep clutching at it like a security blanket, or was she going to fight back. In a fit of what she could only comprehend later as temporary insanity, Rai'faani hoisted the weapon, leveraged it over the counter of the kiosk, and dared to lift her head for a sighted peek. There were half as many droids as there had been before, but still more of them than there were people. Taut-lipped, Rai squeezed off a shot. It sailed wide right by a hefty margin, and the closeness of the BLAT and the unanticipated recoil made Rai'faani yelp as she ducked under cover again, nearly fumbling her weapon on the floor in surprise.

[Anauri Rabeak]

Anauri's initial volley had been devastating to the squad of battle droids, but by no means had it wiped them all out. Unexpected supporting fire from the lower level of the concourse had been a blessing, allowing the Nehantite to duck back into his own cover as the remaining droids took defensive positions and began to fire back. Red lances of pure energy tore through the superficial plaster and fiberboard walls around him, causing Jovan's chief engineer to retreat farther, one bolt passing so close that he could feel its heat nearly singe his ear. Only when he was safe did he check the energy level in the gun's tiberium magazine, finding it further depleted than he would have liked, but the pair of extras in his pockets provided refills of bravery along with firepower.

Another shot from below and the blaster fire resumed, this time aimed away from himself. Whoever programmed battle droids was an idiot, Anauri surmised, reacting in full force to whatever danger presented itself, regardless of other known dangers. If his stimcaff machine could learn his likes and dislikes, how hard could it possibly be to program a semi-intelligent battle droid? He made a mental note to ask their developer someday, should they ever cross paths.

Presuming he would make it off of Jovan alive, that was. The burns to Anauri's left paw and forearm had not been inconsiderable, much of the fur gone and the flesh blistering badly beneath the nitrile shop glove and bandages he'd managed to cover it with, after having used the entire contents of an aerosol bacta sprayer on the worst of it. Supporting the fore end of his heavy rifle hurt, but it was a pain he would have to deal with. Tough it out, Re, you've got this, he told himself, only a handful more of those clankers. Only a handful, yes, but each one was armed.

Who cares if they're all armed, we're on their level, they've got fuck-all for cover, and we've got the big damn gun.

That we do. Let's go show it to them again.

It was all the resolve Anauri needed. Dropping the automatic rifle into a walking fire position, he steeled his nerves before busting out from his hiding place, finger pulling down the trigger at the same time as he emerged in a torrent of blaster fire, hoping to mow down everything that stood before him.

[Q. Samus Dage]

As the fire from above began again, dealing relief for those on the lower level from the last remaining droids above, Dage held his breath. From the sound of it, whoever was on the upper level had the immediate game won through sheer firepower alone. It would just take a small bit to put down the last of the droids. Thankfully when you worked with showers of blaster bolts, it wasn't a terribly long process.

A few more minutes of fire, and the last few crashes of droids falling to the deck signaled the end. For now.

A look to Vraska and Rai'fa, and Dage slowly rose to a crouch. Another handful of moments passed, and he heaved himself up to stand.

His eyes turned skyward to the rail and the draped bodies of battle droids. They were like some macabre set of mechanical drapes, hung by some eccentric interior decorator, and each sparking and smoldering from a mass of blackened score marks and destroyed outer plating.

The rifle he held was aimed up though, the stock coming to rest in the crook of his shoulder out of caution. He angled his head only slightly, hushed words directed to Vraska.

"You know anyone on the station with a big gun?"

[Narssiska Vraska]

Vraska risked a look over her shoulder at the Alliance Officer. "I know of many big gunss on the sstation, Dage. Ssounded like a Kang-4 Heavy Repeating Blasster or maybe a Sseveruss Repeater. I know of no one with thosse weaponss, but even I do not know everything." She hissed before turning her head back to continue watching the many vantage points that could be used against them. They were heavily exposed on the concourse. There was plenty of cover but being pinned down would be the end of them. They needed to keep moving.

"I imagine our hero will reveal itsself. Are you alright Rai?"

[Anauri Rabeak]

The flared tip of Anauri's Hamad-4, the Nehantite licensed copy of the antiquated Kang-4 Heavy, smoked lightly in the artificial breeze of the promenade's recirculating air system. Main Engineering might have been blown to hell, but at least the life support systems were still working a treat, which lightened Anauri's spirits ever so slightly. One less thing to fix when all this was over.

His automatic blaster still held at the ready, the Nehantite crept forward, wary of a surprise, but all that greeted him were sparking and charred battle droid frames. One suspicious one was given a light kick, only to have its head detach and slide over the side of the walkway to thud and bounce upon the carpeted lower floor. Only when he was certain that the coast was clear did he step up to the railing to peer down at who his help had been. All that greeted him was a merchant's stall pocked and scarred by blaster fire, clearly the target of the droids.

"Hey, anybody alive, down there?" he called out. "Top deck's clear." While his tone was friendly, Anauri shouldered his rifle and peered down its iron sights at the stall, just in case whoever was behind it might not be as friendly as he hoped.

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

Everything had happened so suddenly, like a fever dream. The burst of action, full of flashes of light and deafening sound. Rai spent a moment nearly catatonic as her overstimulated brain caught up with current events, sussing them out a little slowly. She looked up, suddenly aware that Vraska was standing over her. She'd asked her something. Are you alright Rai? The heiress blinked, drawing a breath as if remembering that was something you were supposed to do. And despite all of this, she seemed almost serene.

"jI'm okajy."

And what was crazier was that despite everything, Rai was starting to believe that. It didn't make any sense, but that was the reality of now. She'd been so terrified before that maybe she was running out of whatever sustained the feeling.

Clambering to her feet, Rai peered over the kiosk at the furred face of a newcomer with a very big gun.

[Q. Samus Dage]

Out of habit, Dage reared up, his own blaster rifle at the ready as he sighted upward along the barrel. The face of a Nehantite met his eye, and the blonde hesitated. Not exactly what he was expecting, but he certainly wasn't about to look a gift bantha in the mouth.

Another few seconds passed before he lowered his weapon.

"We're alive," he called back, mindful enough to stay on the alert should things turn suddenly sour. Behind him, Rai'fa seemed to finally be getting herself a bit more under control.

Another exhaled breath, and he scowled before calling back to their possible upper deck support.

"Anyone with you?"

[Anauri Rabeak]

Anauri's furred right finger tensed upon the trigger of his weapon, the temptation to fire once a target presented itself was strong. But as no shots came his way, the Nehantite eased his grip, sliding his finger from its dangerous position to lay flat against the side of his gun as he unshouldered the heavy weapon. Three faces peered up at him from the deck below: a human, a Cizerack, and some sort of green lizard woman thing he knew he'd seen around the station, but could not name. Of the three, the human looked the most competent, if it wasn't for his goofy hair. In any case, it seemed highly unlikely they were the enemy.

"Main Engineering is fucked, so, no," he called back. "You know what the hell's going on, here?" As he spoke, Anauri's head seemed on a swivel, looking out for any more incoming. His heavy automatic blaster was hardly a stealth weapon, and such an amount of fire was sure to have been heard by someone.

[Q. Samus Dage]

A brief few seconds to shift his eyes left and right. There seemed to be no further retaliation at the moment, and Dage let out a hiss breath from between clenched teeth before calling up to the Nehantite.

"Ain't got a clue," he called upward, "Other than some sort of good old-fashioned take-over."

On the surface it might've sounded terribly fatalistic, but the blonde had been through enough combat sorties to make light of such things, and he hoped that the man upstairs with the big gun would understand his meaning.

"Best I can figure, we've got a bunch of droids trying to play army."

[Anauri Rabeak]

"Take-over, huh? In that case they're probably headed to the command center," Anauri grunted. "You lot hiding, or are you taking the offensive? And any of you got military background?"

[Q. Samus Dage]

There didn't seem to be any threat at the moment from avenging droids, and so Dage carefully edged out from his cover. His rifle remained at the ready however, swiveling from left to right in that way that old warhands often did. He'd seen enough combat to know the ropes; or at least, what counted for 'the ropes'. With droids? It was a whole other story; predictable most times, but it was those instances when you were caught unaware that made you either dead or a hero (of sorts).

"Defensive offense might be the best term," he answered.

It was the question of whether any in his small group were more militarily oriented that made him send a look upward.

"Commander Dage," he gave in an impromptu introduction, "XO on the Khera'va'ss'io."

[Anauri Rabeak]

"Chief Engineer Anauri Rabeak, former Staff Sargent in the NISC," Anauri called back. If this Commander Dage really was the XO of such a powerful ship, the Nehantite knew he might have just made a powerful ally. Or at least one which could be powerful once communications could be fixed.

"You got any of your soldiers on-board? Any crew we can organize? If this lot takes the command deck, we're as good as fucked, and I don't want to see that happen. From what I saw before Engineering became a war zone, most of the ships docked on the pylons got blown the fuck off, so we ain't getting reinforcements."

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

"No rrejinforrcementss?!" Rai whined, her ears lowering along with her shoulders. She cast her incredulous blue eyes in Dage's direction, then thought better of another word, opting instead to chew on her lower lip as she clutched her rifle.

[Q. Samus Dage]

Still half-crouched, Samus kept his eyes on the swivel. Things were quiet now, but there was no telling when they'd be set upon by another wave of droids.

"Only crew aboard the station I know of are a few pilots... maybe."

There was no real time to get into the specifics of Khera's duty roster, so he kept it as brief as possible.

"We're mostly a skeleton crew."

Not wanting to tempt fate, the blonde cast his eyes towards the lifts.

"We're heading for the command hub. Could use your pleasant company, if you're not too busy."

[Anauri Rabeak]

"Think I could find the time," Anauri said with a grin. "Be right down."

It was with much relief that Anauri removed himself from the sight of the others and could free his left paw from the grip of his gun's fore-end. Despite the bacta spray, the burns to his paw still raged against the nerves in his skin, at times feeling as if it was still ablaze. Were it not for the nitrile glove covering it, the air alone upon open blisters and lesions would be torture. Blood and pus leaking down the outside of the blue glove, Anauri let it drip as he descended the maintenance stairs to the main deck, and by the time he came into sight of the others, he'd managed to balance his heavy rifle upon its sling, guided only by his right paw upon the grip.

"Lifts will be out, we're going to have to use the maintenance access," he said, and that grin appeared once more. At close proximity it could then be seen to contain a missing molar on the left side, near some old scarring upon his lip. "Lucky for you, I've got the keys."

It was a metaphorical statement, as there were no physical keys to almost any locked door upon Jovan, but there were override codes of varying degree, and being chief engineer Anauri was privileged to most of the better ones. From above, his view of the trio had been minimal at best, but up close a certain dread crept into the Nehantite's heart. The one calling himself Dage looked competent enough, and he knew Ms. Vraska was feared by reputation, but the Cizerack girl was an incongruity of immense proportions. Cocking one of his fuzzy eyebrows, Anauri looked Rai up and down, then glanced back to Dage. "You sure she wouldn't be safer hiding out somewhere until this is over?"

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

And as much as Rai was inclined to vociferously agree, something about how the Nehantite addressed the issue caused her ears to switch back.

"What do jyou mean by that?" she piped up, shouldering in front of Dage as she hefted her blaster up across her chest. She struck, what she imagined at least, a battle-capable figure.

[Q. Samus Dage]

His hand came down on her shoulder in a partial warning. The last thing he wanted was to have to deal with a hysterical Rai'faani. Again.

"Easy there, Killer," He rumbled.

"Save it for the bad guys, eh?"

A look to the Nehantite.

"She's got enough spine to make it, don't worry about that."

[Narssiska Vraska]

Vraska siddled up beside their new ally, her eyes drawn not to the furry creature himself but to the weapon carried in his arms. Nehantite arms were not common outside of their planet and seeing one up close was a treat. Seemed a waste to actually use it. She would have loved to have one in her personal collection. However, by the look of it, the Engineer would be against parting with it, even for all the credits she would be willing to offer. Resting the barrel of her own rifle against her shoulder she let her eyes drift to the rest of the man, and saw his injuries. "Perhapss you are the one who sshould remain behind, Chief." There was no pressure behind her words, more an observation to counter his own.

Digging in her pocket she produced the easily recognized medical stimulants she'd liberated from the medical kit before leaving the Shatterstar. They would do wonders for someone suffering battle fatigue or life draining wounds. She offered one to the Nehantite. "Thiss will keep you on your feet."

[Anauri Rabeak]

In his younger days, Anauri surely would have made a snide comment about the Cizerack "commando" in heels, but with adrenalin still coursing through his veins from both after-action and injury alike, he felt the firm grip of his age and maturity which kept his mouth shut. Instead he gave a curt nod.

That same independent spirit was also crushed by maturity when it came to Narssiska's offer of stimulants. As a young buck, he'd have borne his wounds with pride, but in the Royal Army he'd lost too many friends to such arrogant bravado and bull-headedness. Allowing his rifle to hang across his front by his sling, he accepted the Madam's offer, and wasted little time jamming a hypospray into his left wrist, then lifted his cap to reveal his head wound and injected another spray there. A combination of bacta and painkiller, it would be enough to take the edge off the pain, and he pocketed the hypospray before tugging his cap back on. "Thanks. Good to go," he grunted.

"There's access tubes running most of the way to central command. I should be able to bypass most of the lockouts, and this'll take care of what I can't," the Nehantite patted his blaster. "Now let's get out of the open before we become someone's target practice. I'll take point, you watch our six, Commander. Tubes won't take us the whole way, we'll have to cross some open corridors as well."

[Q. Samus Dage]

Rai'fa was silent for now, thank the gods. The last thing Samus really wanted was to have to talk her down or assuage whatever wounded pride she might have. If she saved it all for later fine, but right now was not exactly the time to be squabbling over minor misunderstandings.

A gesture to the lift alcove.

"We'll start the first leg there; just be sure to cut power to that particular tube so we can climb the shaft without too much worry over being crushed."

He pulled another power pack from his back pocket, ejecting the old cell into a tray on the kiosk counter that they'd gathered around while inserting the new into his carbine. A quick series of motions that seemed as one, and illustrated a deeper understanding of what it meant to be on the battlefield. Dage's features fell into a stony countenance.

"Hope everyone's got their climbing boots on," he rumbled.

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

Rai grimaced as she looked down. Climbing boots. She didn't even have climbing heels anymore, after Samus had made her discard them for the barefoot option. She glanced around with low-slung ears. Why couldn't they have mounted their resistance in a mall, with cute full-calf boots?

Before she could protest, her eyes met the Nehantite again, and Rai toughened up again.

"What arre jyou lookjing at?"

[Anauri Rabeak]

"A possible liability," was all Anauri replied.

The soldier in the Nehantite had returned to the surface from where he had buried it decades before. Civilians had no business in war, they should hide and hold out while those capable of battle would wage it on their behalf. An untrained, unskilled platoon member with a blaster was naught but danger, no matter how lucky they might be. But, if this human vouched for her, then there would be little luck in getting her to stay behind. But that didn't mean he had to be nice to her.

"C'mon, nearest access tube is this way."

He gave no room for argument as he slung his heavy blaster forward into both paws, ready for any trouble which may rear its head, but the coast seemed clear to the maintenance shafts. A few keystrokes later and the door slid open, affording the quartet a safe refuge from the open, and Anauri shut it behind them. Were main engineering not a smoking husk, the command deck would be able to see alerts of doors opening and closing, but with the computer which processed those alerts thoroughly out of commission, no such alerts would be raised. For now they could travel in secret.

[Narssiska Vraska]

Vraska didn't even think twice about her own bare feet. The thick scales and leathery skin offered more protection that most shoes. She had made it the whole way from the Shatterstar without issue after offering her own shoes to the Cizerack. While the rest of the team applied hypo's and made jabs at each other, she continued her stoic watch. Any movement, any at all, and she was prepared to take it out with a high powered round from her carbine. Friend. Foe. It was too risky to try and make that distinction while they were out here. Exposed.

Thankfully the party finally began moving. The Chief Engineer, Rebeak, lead the way. Vraska took up the rear again, watching their backs with a slit eye, carbine ready in her arms. They reached their destination in no time and piled into the service lift. It was a bit cramped. The lift was not designed with cramming four fully armed individuals into it. Maybe an Engineer or two with tools. Vraska hardly minded. She was used to pressing through far more exposed bodies in incredibly more compromised situations.

[Q. Samus Dage]

He'd waited patiently as the rest filed their way into the access tube, his eyes scanning all around as his ears strained past the normal sounds of bodies slipping into temporary protection. His own carbine was hefted with ease, the old feelings coming back to him like a wave crashing over the shoreline.

wwrrnnnnnnngggggg.....

His head snapped to the side at the sound, listening to the the tinny whine as it grew in volume and proximity. It was a familiar sound. A call to the survivors that they'd best hurry.

"Best to be hurrying, folks," he hissed.

And as Vraska slipped into the tube, Samus turned just in time to watch as a droideka careened around the corner.

The blonde sighted down the length of the barrel, reflex and instinct guiding his line of sight as he opened fire even before the droid could begin to unfurl itself.

"Make me some room!"

The droideka popped open like a Hutt in the Box, its' three legs stabilizing it as the blasters on each of its' arms folded down to deliver a barrage of death and destruction.

Dage let fly with a few more shots before pivoting on his heel in a quick move and launching himself into the hatchway, drawing his long legs up and out of the way as the door closed tight.

He looked past Vraska and Rai'fa, his eyes falling to Anauri.

"You got a locking code for this thing?!"

[Anauri Rabeak]

"#02814!" Anauri called back. It wasn't necessarily wise to blurt out the universal lockdown code he'd set for almost everything on the station, but at the moment it seemed like it couldn't hurt. Already at work on the next hatch, Anauri's left paw was shaking from the agony of his burns, and he clenched his teeth visibly to fight it back.

"Open up, you piece of..." he growled before the hatch slide open, one side of the door faster than the other. He'd have to log that for repair at a later time. "C'mon, we'll take the ladder to the next level through here. Don't think those droids are much good at climbing!"

Climbing, on his burned paw. Come to think of it the situation didn't much appeal to Anauri, either.