EliteCommander

Star Wars - Lawless Galaxy

En route to Paradise

Seeing as she was in no hurry, Delni decided to take a seat across from Sol'id while he cleaned his blaster so that she could have some lunch for herself. The ribs might not have been the best she ever had, but she was far from picky after being hungry for most of the day. When Sol'id posed his question, Delni shook her head. "Me? Oh, no. That's, uh, Sirka's job. She did try to teach me how to shoot a while back, and she said I was good at it for a beginner, but I've never really been in a fight. Nothing serious, anyway. I used to work with computers, technology, and such back when I was younger, but now my job is to manage the business part of our business. I'm the one that usually finds work for my sister, and manages our finances. It's something that has let me meet a lot of people, make a lot of connections. Since we helped you without necessarily being obligated to, I'm hoping I'll be able to make another connection in the form of Koren. He is the kind of employer that can bring a mercenary quite a lot of credits."

Delni gave a brief chuckle. "Wouldn't that be such a strangely lucky outcome of me drunkenly wandering into this ship? It wouldn't be the first time that we've gotten a lucky break. I feel like there's someone out there looking out for me, sometimes. For both of us, really. My sister was the adopted one of our family. Back when she was still an infant, just before the end of the Clone Wars, she was rescued from a life of slavery by a Jedi. The Order helped her find a family to take care of her."

Star Wars - Lawless Galaxy

Now that they were finally back in hyperspace, on their way back to Paradise, Delni felt that she could finally relax. The whole thing had been a stressful affair, but at least it had worked out in the end. She was looking forward to getting back to her own clothes in her own hotel room, but she did not feel like she was in a particular hurry. She strolled casually through the ship's kitchen, humming to herself while she looked for whatever food caught her eye, as she was wont to do whenever she was alone. As a Togruta, she had another sense in the form of echolocation through her montrals, allowing her to perceive her surroundings outside her own vision in much greater detail than most other species. Having some ambient sound could sharpen that sense, making her feel more aware.

Given that she had promised to feed most of the people on board, Delni ended up leaving the kitchen with a large tray of food in her hands. For herself, she had grabbed a few roasted shatual ribs, and several, much larger cuts of meat for Sirka. Sol'id could take what he wanted from that, along with a fruit Delni did not recognize that she assumed was edible. Both herself and her sister were from carnivorous species, so she was not terribly familiar with most fruits and vegetables. She did pour herself a glass of wine as well, though she was sure to double check its exact contents first, not wanting to repeat her past mistakes.

Delni returned to the room Sol'id was using and stopped her humming just before stepping inside. She found a clear spot to set down the tray, packed to the brim with shatual meat. "Here you are, take whatever you like. Just make sure to leave enough for my sister." She said, pausing as she looked around at the blasters and other weapons that Sol'id had gathered round him. She had not payed much specific attention to his equipment before the job, granted, but she had the feeling he did not have this many with him beforehand. "So, uh...what exactly happened out there? I was worried that you had run into trouble when I suddenly lost comms with you, which is why I convinced my sister to try and help you."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

There was something that might have been surprise in the dragon's reaction upon seeing Sabine survive his fire unscathed, or perhaps it was anger, given the growl that followed. The massive beast had little time to react before Sabine's powerful spears of ice tore through his wings with ease. Although the wings were not the strongest part of a dragon's body, they were still not trivial to cut through, so for the dragon, her power was a cause for concern.

Unfortunately, it would take more than one or two holes in his wings to keep the dragon out of the sky. Do'rhajul and Yerig had their weapons drawn and were advancing on him, but had to stop as they heard his voice form a familiar shout: "Fus-Ro-Dah"

The dragon's booming voice was as loud as a crack of lightning, and the force his shout created was even greater than what Yerig had used on Janius. The blast of energy flattened the grass instantly to the ground and kicked up enough dirt and dust to nearly blind them all momentarily. The shout was meant to stop Do'rhajul and Yerig, though his unrelenting force was wide enough to threaten all three. Yerig ducked behind Do'rhajul, while the Khajiit raised up his shield to protect them from the magic.

Amid the cloud of dust, the group would be able to hear, and feel, the loud flapping of the dragon's wings as he attempted to get into the air.

Star Wars - Lawless Galaxy

En route to Paradise

While Elias was giving his explanation, Sirka sat herself down in the co-pilot's chair, at least as well as she could. She had more weight to her than even a Wookiee, but she could make it work. Dealing with undersized furniture was a rather common occurrence for her, after all. Still, she ended up halfway leaning off of it by the time she settled in.

"Hmm, so still stupid, but...I suppose not unforgivable." Sirka remarked. She flicked out her nose tongues at Elias to see if she could get any hints on if he was perhaps lying to her. For the moment, though, she was operating on a tentative assumption that he was being truthful. "That was pretty much the story she told me. Delni doesn't usually get that drunk, don't think she meant to. That's probably why she ended up in your ship, though knowing her, I wouldn't be surprised if she wanted to sleep with you just to spite me. Growing up, she always thought I was too controlling, too protective of her. Delni's rebellious phase ended up with her rebelling against me just as much as our parents. She was too naive, too trusting, and it didn't always end as well as it did this time. There were some times that I did have to bash some skulls on people who deserved it. Not a lot of honor to go around on Nar Shaddaa, after all."

Sirka leaned back onto her chair and sighed. "She's not that innocent little girl anymore, though. If you as interested in her as you were acting back in the bar, I guess it's not my right to get in the way. I know I should trust her; she does more for me than even she knows. Don't tell her I said that, though, or I'll break your nose. Last thing I need is her getting a big head."

Star Wars - Lawless Galaxy

Elias' prediction of Sirka's reaction was fairly accurate, as her immediate instinct was to snarl at him. It looked like she was about to start yelling yet again when Delni reached up and placed a gentle hand on Sirka's shoulder, lightly shaking her head. She spoke softly, with an equally soft expression. "Sis, it was just as much my fault as anyone's, and he did the right thing once we got over the surprise. He could have done anything to me, but he agreed to let me stay, gave me some clothes, and even offered to compensate me for the trouble. He's not a bad guy, honestly."

After a moment, Sirka's intimidating stance deflated. It seemed that Delni, at least, had the ability to calm the beast, as it were. She stared at Elias through the extended pause before finally closing her eyes and giving a light nod. "Okay, you know I trust you. Just...give me a minute with him, alright? I'd still like to talk about some things. I promise I won't eat him or anything."

Delni smiled. "Fine, fine. And speaking of eating, I think I could use some lunch. I haven't even ate yet today, with everything that's been going on. I'll get something for you too. Hope you don't mind me taking all your meat, Elias. My big sis here can eat a lot of it."

With Delni walking out of the cockpit, Sirka took another step closer to Elias. Again, there was a brief pause between them before Sirka finally spoke up. "Look, Mandalorian...Elias. While I might have every right to smash your face in for kidnapping my sister, I'm not going to. Delni vouches for you, and as stupid as she can act sometimes, she's not a bad judge of character. She's a really good one, actually; got a talent for it that I really don't even understand. So, maybe I can give you a chance. See for myself why she trusts you."

Sirka extended her hand towards Elias, offering to shake his. "Why don't we sit down, and you tell me your side of the story?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

The dragon growled at Sabine. "Viik? You will have to kill me to claim your prize. I grow tired of this pointless tinvaak. I am a warrior. Vahzah kendov. When the Dovahkiin accepts my challenge, there will be a reckoning. But right now, you have come to take from me, so do it. Show me your strength, and taste the power of my Thu'um for yourself. Krif voth ahkrin. Give me a challenge."

Regardless of any protests that Sabine or the others may have had, the dragon had made up his mind. Sabine would feel magicka starting to flow through him, and see the orange glow from his mouth as he reared back his head. Both Yerig and Do'rhajul were already starting to draw their weapons when the dragon unleashed his fire breath at Sabine.

Star Wars - Lawless Galaxy

Circumtore

Like Sirka expected, the E-Web was not in terribly great shape. The rocket had hit near the point where the tripod connected to the weapon itself. Fortunately, the rocket had not detonated at that very instant. It carried enough force with it to essentially break the tripod away from the weapon, but it definitely looked like it had detonated a fraction of a second later. The explosion had been somewhat directional, but it certainly had not been kind to the weapon.

"Power coupling's shredded, barrel's bent to hell, shrapnel everywhere..." Sirka muttered to herself as she looked over the former blaster emplacement. Even so, it was not necessarily a lost cause; it would just need some replacement parts, and a lot of patience.

Eventually, Elias was able to get his ship over to the docking bay to load up the package they were after. Sirka had not asked what kind of cargo they would be taking back that was important enough to fight over, but she did not particularly care. Koren wanted it, and the fact that Sirka had helped acquire it would probably make her look better to him. Thoughts were already going through her mind about how she might report to Koren, and how she might make herself look as good as possible without outright lying. She had singlehandedly disrupted an ambush that would have otherwise caught the two Mandalorians. She had no way of knowing if they would have been able to fight their way out of it, but there was no question that she had thrown a spanner into their plan. The pirates would have been a lot more organized had they not been surprised.

As soon as the cargo was loaded, Sirka stepped up the loading ramp carrying both the E-Web and its power generator with her under her arms, then dropped them off in the cargo hold. She did not actually bother asking Elias before boarding, but if her sister was on that ship, then there was no way she would be accepting no for an answer. They had taken off from Circumtore as soon as they possibly could. There was no question that someone had noticed the firefight in the docking bay, and they wanted to get away from the ring world before anyone could intercept them.

It took only a moment for Sirka to drop off the damaged E-Web in the hold, so she made her way up to the front of the ship and stepped into the cockpit behind Elias and Delni just as they were starting to leave the atmosphere. Based on their interactions so far, Elias might have expected some more anger and shouting from Sirka, but her first reaction was nothing of the sort. There was no mistaking her lumbering footsteps, so Delni had already stood from her chair and turned to face her sister by the time Sirka stepped into the room. Without hesitation, Sirka threw her arms around Delni and only narrowly managed to avoid squeezing her tightly enough to hurt her, even lifting her clean off the ground at one point. "Delni, I...I'm so glad to see you in one piece. Everything's good, right? You're unharmed, nothing to worry about?" Sirka questioned, still in the midst of their hug.

The reunion was in stark contrast to every other moment that Elias had spent in Sirka's presence. She had been suspicious of Elias, and therefore constantly guarded. Even when she was drinking with him at the bar, Elias would have felt her eyes on him most of the time, and she certainly did not become emotional. Elias might have thought her to be a cold, unfeeling reptile, but that person was nowhere to be seen at this point. The ruthless, intimidating air she tended to project while on the job was gone; her voice was softer and filled with relief. She even managed not to look quite as large, since her posture was far more relaxed. If he looked closely enough, Elias might see that Sirka's hands were trembling ever so slightly. Even for a Human, it would not be too difficult to read her emotions clearly on display.

Star Wars - Lawless Galaxy

Circumtore

With the enemy's retreat, Sirka was finally able to stop and take a breath. She carefully reached back and attached her blaster to its proper spot on her backpack. The barrel was red hot after the firefight, so she was cautious not to touch it against anything. She already had enough burns on her as it was, after taking multiple hits over the course of two firefights. Some of her scales were blackened from their burns, but overall, she was still in good shape. Her scales would heal, and the flesh underneath was unharmed, with the exception of her hand. Some of the heat had burned through into her fingers, which was not a pain that was likely to go away quickly on its own. Regardless, it was not threatening to her at the moment, and she had other things to worry about.

Sirka stepped over to the other side of the crate and looked down on the Devaronian. She did not check his pulse or anything, but he looked dead enough to her. Curiously, she reached down and picked up the blaster pistol he had been using. It was a small hold out blaster, not even larger than her palms, but it looked valuable enough. With a shrug, she slipped the weapon into a pouch on one of her belts. "Okay, I helped you clear out your hanger. Now, Mandalorian, just find whatever package you're looking for and get your ship over here, then we leave." She turned her head towards Elias, staring him down intensely. "And she had better be safe and sound on that ship, or it's your head."

Moving back around the crates, Sirka decided to take another look at the E-Web while the others were dealing with the package. She doubted it was in any serviceable condition after being hit with a rocket, but that kind of firepower was worth enough to at least warrant a look.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

The dragon took a few lumbering steps forward, bringing himself almost uncomfortably close to Sabine. Do'rhajul was on-edge with his hand resting on the hilt of his blade, though he did not yet draw it. The dragon raised up his head to tower even further over Sabine. "Hmph. Hi kos ni bahlaan wah mindok nii. You will not know my name, and I do not care about yours. Your quest is meaningless to me, mortal."

After a moment, the dragon's maw opened slightly, showing the teeth between his powerful jaws. Even without considering a dragon's magic, they had a bite at least as powerful as a werecrocodile. Anything that happened to be caught within his jaws would be torn to pieces. "If you wish to claim one of these worthless trinkets, then you will have to claim it by right of your own strength. Prove that you are the zol mul."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Yerig gave a quick glance towards Sabine and Do'rhajul as they came into view. "It seems he is looking for the Dragonborn. And is rather upset that I am not him." He explained, softly and briefly.

Meanwhile, the dragon was still eyeing his surroundings, but since the only creatures in the area other than himself were the three in front of him, his gaze quickly settled back upon them. With how different he was from any other race in Tamriel, it was almost impossible to tell if his demeanor was actually aggressive. Being a dragon, he was simply intimidating by default. Though, based on what Yerig had said, he certainly was not happy.

The dragon continued, his voice overshadowing everyone else present. "Gahrot yuvon? Have you come to take these treasures? Meyye. The last of your kind to try at least brought enough kendovve not to insult me. The Dovahkiin has yet to answer my challenge, but it does allow me to sharpen my strength on fools chasing their greed. Grik pahlok."