Junoco promptly left their company at the mere mention of the Justicar gang, which caused Aria to roll her eyes somewhat.
“Coward.” she muttered, before following Yerbol down to make an inspection of the cells. As they found the cell marked to have once contained Soto, the Champion whistled softly as her gaze flicked over the scorch marks.
“Warden Nuly sure has some explaining to do.” With their assessment complete, the duo began to head down towards the Justicar sector of the planet. Yerbol naively suggested that they just use the taxi pad located nearby, to which Aria shot him a look of disapproval.
“Sure babe, let's catch a taxi so EVERY Justicar in the sector can see us coming.”
“They can't be watching everywhere.” he had protested, and made a somewhat fair argument of: “Besides, won't they be expecting people to try and sneak in the back way rather than taking the most obvious way?”
“Bol, they're a GANG. They're gonna shoot at us no matter which entryway we go through.”
Yerbol then pointed out that the chances of the gang members attacking would theoretically only increase if they perceived the Qyaari as a threat. Therefore, approaching in the most obvious and normal manner, made some sort of sense. Aria had been unable to come up with a suitable counter-argument to that point, and upon noting the lack of other transport in the area as a potential alternative, she reluctantly agreed to his course of action despite her misgivings.
_____________________
Aria's “uneasy feeling” proved to be correct once they stepped off the taxi pad and found three gang members toting GIANT cannons in both hands approaching them. Instinctively, Aria had reacted by reaching for her own weapons, but that was when the guns were raised and pointed directly at them as the leader ordered them to back up. The rifle-canons looked very dangerous, and as such not something they wanted to encourage the Justicars to put to use, therefore the Champions complied. As Yerbol asked her for an idea of how to get out of this sticky situation, Aria glanced sideways at him and responded:
Told you you should have listened to me, honey. The statement was accompanied by an all-too-sweet smile that in and of itself implied he was going to get his ears talked off for this later. Fighting the urge to roll her eyes, for fear of the gesture antagonising the Justicars, she grumbled. Well I think all our chances of “quiet” went down the drain as soon as they saw us. Why is it that whenever we don't take the dogs with us we always end up in MORE trouble than usual?!
Their beastly companions would certainly have been a helpful deterrent for the ornery gangsters, had they been present. They had, however, taken to the habit of vanishing into Zinuthra’s wilderness for days at a time in semi-regular intervals and as such had disappeared on such a jaunt precisely as Malu had called the duo into action. Aria still wasn’t sure where the Tuk’ata were going, or why, but assumed it was because they decided they needed space and so made the decision to leave without them and let them be for now. She was beginning to regret that decision now. As for what we do now. Well, I'M short enough to duck under his arm and make a run for it...though I doubt I could wrestle a gun that size off someone as big as him.... The Champion managed to talk down her own master plan as she tried to think it through in more detail. I think we're in trouble, again.
Out of the corner of her eye, Aria caught a glimpse of a pinpoint-sized red light that could have only come from the targeting scope of a sniper’s rifle and froze again. Now they really were dead. Thanks, Malu. She was mentally making a note to come back and haunt the Qyaari Elder for being the one to send them into such a questionable situation, when the shot from the sniper went off and skimmed right past them to imbed in the infrastructure beside the Justicar’s jugular.
What the…?!
The Champion discreetly tried to turn her head to figure out what kind of clumsy oaf could miss a target sniping from that distance, when a familiar Mandalorian’s voice spoke from one of the rooftops behind the Justicars:
“Next one goes right between your eyes, mate. Unless you lower your weapons and let them pass, of course.”
“You think someone with crappy aim can intimidate the Justicars?” the man sneered.
“I thought it’d be rude to shoot you in the head without giving you a chance to back off first.” Sho snorted. “If you prefer I could just drop you all like flies off a Bantha’s ass.”
“I don’t think they’re buying it, Sho…” Aria called out, exchanging a relieved glance with her partner and slowly lowering her hands to reach for her sabers.
The gang leader looked from the Qyaari before him, to the rooftops as he tried to locate the Mandalorian, who had of course kept herself well concealed.
“Who the hell are you anyways?!”
“Oh, just an Alliance-contracted bounty hunter who got offered a pretty penny to get her hands dirty going after dangerous criminals and gangsters in the Undercity. You guys are taking liberties down here, JUST a little..” Sho answered in a somewhat sing-song tone of voice. “So, you can either all back off, real slow, and we can forget we ever saw you. Or the three of US arrest all three of YOU and haul your asses back to Vice Chancellor Won; and y’all can explain why you were stupid enough to threaten two Qyaari at gunpoint.”
A discreet glance was exchanged between the leader and one of his wingmen, who promptly turned and fired in the direction they had determined the Mandalorian to be hiding. The impact shattered part of the roof due to the assault rifle’s sheer size, and made Aria wince painfully at the realization that if Sho had in fact been in the vicinity, the Mandalorian was toast. Thankfully, it seemed the bounty hunter had the foresight to pack up and move in the time she had bought exchanging words with the gangsters, because when her voice next spoke it was from a different location entirely, and closer than before:
“Y’all got worse aim than a cross-eyed moisture farmer!” the Justicar took a rather nasty blast to his leading shoulder (and nearly dropped his rifle on poor Aria’s foot as a result!) for his insolence.
“Now.” Sho’s voice was hard-edged now. “You can clear off, or I swear on Mandalore next shot I take WILL be at your head.” the gangsters seemed to decide it wasn’t worth further injury (or death), shooting the Champions and their mysterious rescuer dirty looks as they slunk away between the buildings. Once they had disappeared, the bounty hunter popped out of the alleyway she had taken cover in, removing her visor to grin broadly at the couple.
“Fancy running into you two all the way down here in this slum! What brings Qyaari down here?”
“Thanks for that.” Aria smirked, heaving a sigh of relief at their luck. “We’re looking for Nuly. The Warden from the facility.”
“Ohhh, you’re here about the big breakout? That’s been all over the HoloNet.”
“That would be the one.” Aria huffed. “You know where he lives?”
“Course I do, baby-face.” the Mandalorian grinned, patting Aria’s shoulder before motioning for the two Champions to follow her. “Just down this side street, c’mon.”
We either have the worst, or best, luck. Right now I’m not sure which one is more accurate. She smirked, exchanging a knowing glance with Yerbol. You know we’d have been in for a nasty confrontation if she hadn’t showed up?
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