"Right..." Quin narrowed her eyes as she watched Zen run away into the darkened factory. It took her a few moments to process what exactly he had said to her. Everything happened so fast with that man.

"Wait! Wait a minute! What?," she shook her head before turning to Nyrette, "Is he being serious right now? Do you think we should go help? ... Or go watch?"


[hr]


He inhaled sharply and crouched low. Unlike Cheshik, he had not found cover. No he was too busy making a stupid face and being stunned by the reality of suddenly being faced by the one thing on this planet that had made him nervous about being here from the get go. Of course, Iisska should have expected this by now. No matter where they went trouble would inevitably follow. As was life.

The HK came up on him like a freighter. Iisska waited for the very last second to snap off the ground and roll out of reach. He landed on his feet with a hand on the ground and his back to a piece of towering rusted machinery. The HK didn't miss a step and turned on him instantly. He drew his blaster with his free hand. A deafening discharge echoed through the sprawling room after a brilliant blast that could have ripped a human nearly in half erupted from the blaster. The HK was struck in the shoulder and was thrown off balance. It wheeled in a circle from the force of the shot and hunched for a few seconds. A dark smoking blemish was the only visible damage. It locked its gaze back on its prey and lunged.

"Fuck," Iisska whispered.

A metallic boom and screech filled the room next. The HK hit the machinery with such violent speed it practically embedded its body into it. Black ooze drooled out of the equipment and pooled on the floor. The assassin quickly peeled itself from the jagged embrace to find it was empty handed. Iisska touched down hard on the second floor catwalk after throwing himself headlong across the corner of the room with an impressive force jump. The rough landing left him on all fours and sheered a dozen or more bolts off. The walkway sagged, suspenders snapped and supports groaned. The noises had the force user up and on the move quickly albeit clumsily.

"Ha! Keep up with [i]that[/i], Rusty!" Iisska yelled.

He expected to see the HK trying to come at him again, but several more shots from Cheshik's gun erupted into the side of the droid's head. It didn't waste time. Now it was turned on the Trandoshan and no amount of cover would stop it.

"Nnggguh, no! No! Bad!" Iisska started stammering.

He stopped and aimed carefully before trying to shoot the damn thing down once more. Heavy fire struck around it and into its torso and legs, but barely did anything but stagger it and slow it down.

"Cheshik, move!"

Another screech of metal and the walkway fell out from under him completely.