Business of Emotion//The Blind Auction

[Rugs]

Locke’s stilled breath betrayed the turmoil in his mind as he raced for ways to keep things from going even more sideways with Moonfire and Lidah in the same space.

“I’ll just-- Uh, take care of this, yep,” Moonfire said, plucking the data cylinder from its place. Lidah didn’t seem to mind--she was busy releasing captives and taking the animals into her care. Locke had to fight down a warm smile. Of course Lidah would take the animals.

Moonfire left as the sky palace shuddered beneath their feet. Locke breathed a sigh of relief, but the momentary respite didn’t last.

“Yea, we’ve gotta get outta here,” he said to Lidah, motioning for her to follow him. As he started to leave, he spotted the Zeltron poking his head into the vault. Locke paused for a moment, watching warily. Quite frankly, he had better things to do than start a fight with a Sithling, but if the runt wanted to cause problems now, there’d be problems.

Fortunately for everyone, the Zeltron seemed to be in the same mood as the rest of them and grabbed a prize before disappearing into the fray.

Locke wasted little time doing the same.

“I hope that dog doesn’t get carsick,” he muttered to Lidah as they dashed through the crowds of people scampering toward the exits. The floor was decidedly tilted now, and Locke felt some regret that there was nothing to keep the palace from tumbling out of the air if its massive repulsors failed any further.

That was the drawback of giant floating sky estates, wasn’t it?

“Lidah, I just want to say,” Locke started as the palace jolted suddenly, adding a few degrees to its list as he grabbed at a wall to keep himself from stumbling over, “knowing you has been the honor of my life.” He extended a hand for her, offering assistance for momentary balance before they continued their hurried escape. “And if it comes to it, there’s no one I’d rather be beside as I go hurtling through the night sky to a certain death.”

Hopefully they’d be able to avoid that.

---

Io’an never much cared for fighting, but here he was. Alone, after Thel had split off to take care of his own business. A droid lay on the ground behind the Sephi, a broken and sparking mess of parts and wires. Stupid thing had gotten in the way. A ways off, a few Black Sun thugs lay in a tangled pile. Hurt, but not dead. He’d made sure of that. They could still escape, if they hurried.

A few blaster burns marred his coat. One particlarly large one showed a flash of skin underneath, but he was fine. A bit pink, some stinging to the touch--nothing some kolto couldn’t fix.

The floor shook. Io’an thought he could hear the giant repulsorlifts groaning as the palace’s tilt grew more severe.

Most of the guests had been escorted out. Hell, most of Cerbozz’s thugs were jumping ship at this point, and Io’an wasn’t sure the Hutt boss would hang around much longer himself.

Still he staggered against the station’s tilt, mask long since discarded as he scanned the crowd for one person in particular. That blonde hair shouldn’t be hard to pick out...

“Gotcha, you little fuck!”

Io’an’s grip tightened on his purple lightsaber as the Black Sun goon yelled at him. He spun around, grabbing the saber with both hands...

...to see the hunched, lumpy thug falling to the ground with a smoking hole in the back of his head.

The corpse was all Io’an could look at for a moment, in stunned silence. His eyes lifted slowly and to see Obie, standing with a strange-looking pistol pointed in his direction. A thin finger of smoke curled up from the barrel.

Obie winked at him, pointed at Io’an with his hand imitating a gun and ducked out into the hallway to get out of the station.

The station lurched. Io’an yelled in surprise as it dropped slightly. “Io’an!” Reflex yelled in his ear. “What the fuck are you doing?! That palace is about to fall! Get the fuck out of there!”

“Sorry,” Io’an muttered. “I was just... I’m on the way out.” He killed his saber and tucked it into his jacket. Thel had said something about a ride. Maybe that was still on the table.

“You got help on the way,” Reflex said. The other hacker sounded annoyed. Understandably. “Just watch out if you’re by a window or somethin’.”

[Neology]

It was always a bit strange, going along with some lie when she knew the truth was already out. The young woman making excuses and Locke pretending he’d actually shoot her. He never would, of course, not even if she drew her saber and declared him a traitor on the spot. But maybe the Jedi girl didn’t know him that well. Then, by some sinister chance, the Sith wandered into the vault with a weapon in his hand. An excellent reminder as to why pretending was still such a good idea. They had an audience. Lidah tracked him by his footsteps and the hum of his lightsaber, staring into the howlrunner’s golden eyes all the while. The beast growled deep in its throat, a rumbling vibration that Lidah felt travel up her arm and into the pit of her stomach. Less than a thief in the night. That particular danger passed without a word exchanged. When did the Order become so timid? She followed Locke out, motioning the dancer and the pit fighter to come with. ”C’mon. You know, unless you’ve got a ride waiting.” The pleasure palace of Cerbozz the Hutt was definitely in a bad way. About to be worse. Avishan’s wardroid banked, followed the ballroom’s external wall a quarter of the way around as it ditched speed, then crashed through the gold tinted glass. Of course, she could of had her choice of half a dozen other holes in the wall by then. But Avishan loved to make an entrance. ”Dial Draco.” Avi sub vocalized, setting the basilisk down. It lumbered forward, cracking the marble flooring with each step. Rapid pace electronic music blared from the wardroid’s externally mounted speakers, incomprehensible noise in an already chaotic environment. She searched the crowd, smug in the satisfaction that she could not be more conspicuous if she tried. If Io’an couldn’t find her, he was dead for sure. ”Copaani gaan, vod?” Avishan drawled into her helmet’s commlink. She soon spotted Io’an’s blonde hair and hurried over, leaning down to help him climb up behind her. ”Yo, you alright? T3rr0r wants us back at the Roost like fuckin' yesterday.” Lidah took Locke’s hand, caught bodily between him and the howlrunner as the palace continued to fail. Running on an incline in four and a half inch heels, she wouldn’t have wished it on her worst enemy. Or maybe she would. It would be funny to see them try it, at any rate. ”That’s very poetic and very sweet, Tyrvast dear. Likewise.” Shuttle pad fourteen was in sight, a Jolly Janiters speeder crouched upon it. Vance and the Jedi girl were already there. Beautiful. She’d never been so pleased to see one of Ylva’s vans – and a man in tiny shorts to drive it. ”But you know, I think it would be terribly embarrassing to go out like this. Some other time, perhaps.” An awful pity about the palace – and more still wherever it finally landed. Lidah climbed into the back of the speeder after the others, determined not to dwell on it. For once something bad had happened and she owned none of the responsibility. Slowly, she pulled the ribbons on her mask, letting it fall away. It was sure to be an uncomfortable ride.

[Meira]

"Yeah," Ylva chuckled as they began to move, "dying would be bad."

With the sudden lurching and tilting, much of the fighting seemed to give way to self-preservation. It seemed that even the attacking Black Suns weren't too keen on sticking around any longer. Ylva barely even had to kill any more of them as she and Jayec hurried toward the vaults to find their employer. Of course, that didn't really stop her from dropping a few of them anyway.

Their rush toward Lidah, however, changed directions rather abruptly when the woman and her escort appeared out of nowhere with animals and other beings in tow. Ylva slid to a halt as she watched Faine and -dammit what WAS his name- appear and then move through the fleeing guests toward an exit. To her left, a sudden crashing sound heralded the arrival of... was that one of those Mandalorian war droids? Ylva was about to punch Jayec's arm to direct his attention toward the thing when another lurch reminded her that now was, perhaps, not the best time.

"There you are!" Simone said through her comm as she and Jayec appeared on the landing pad. The van was waiting, doors open for them. Already, it seemed that Thel and his lady friend had arrived. Lidah and her growing entourage were also getting into safety. Remy was just touching down with the second van. Ylva moved toward that one.

"Come on!" she called to Jayec, sliding the door open and quickly shrugging off the case she'd been carrying. Turning, she aimed her blaster rifle back at the palace, ready to take down any idiot that thought of trying to shoot anywhere remotely near her vans. "I think that's everyone, boys." she shouted. "Once everyone is in, get us the fuck out of here!"

[CaptainBonkers]

Somebody was leaving in style, it seemed, hitching a ride on a bes'uliik. Not what Jayec had expected to see during this night but a welcome sight nonetheless; whoever was piloting it was definitely not on the BS' side. If the Suns had been employing vod with a basilisk war droid, Jayec would have already heard about it through the professional grapevine. The possibility that the droid might have been handled by an aruetii he dismissed almost completely. Any outsider caught trying to ride one of the great beasts of iron usually discovered that doing so resulted in every true Mandalorian within the sector hunting them down and teaching them a thing or two about what happened to thieves that dared to steal from the Mando'ad.

However, as much as he would have liked to watch at the bes'uliik go about its business, there were far more pressing matters at hand. Namely not crashing alongside the gradually falling palace as it tilted towards the ground. Therefore he tore his eyes away the basilisk war droid and hurried into Ylva's company speeder. Most of the others seemed to already be there, which was a relief but not particularly surprising. After all two of them were dar'jetii to whom a bunch of b-grade hired guns were likely speed bumps at worst.

"That sure turned out to be a more exciting evening than I anticipated. Glad to see everyone made it out in one piece." he glanced around the speeder. "You know, wiping floors with BS thugs always makes me hungry. There's an excellent Mandalorian joint not far from here that makes excellent burgers, if anyone is interested."

[Moonfire]

The slant of the floor posed more of a hazard than Moonfire initially expected for the evening. Precognition was an ability the most venerated of Jedi Master’s possessed. The ability to Sense not only the moves of their foe, but glimpses of the future sent to them through the Force-- Dreams, visions, what have you. Perhaps if she were more skilled she might have chosen less stylish footwear.

Thel’s feet pounded beside her as the man, half melted mask askew on his face, matched her stride. Behind them the auras of sith, jedi and something not quite either intermingled before parting-- Locke and the enigmatic Novus leaping and bounding over the still brawling few and fleeing masses. Moonfire stole a glance as she and Thel made a rush for the door, ducking beneath a balcony as Cerbozz the Hutt unleashed another hearty bellow of delight.

”Babeop, pateesa! Fet bapionh roy baa Babaplee nanu!”

The hiss of an escape pod’s seal and subsequent propulsion to safety signalled that wouldn’t be the last time they saw the hedonistic slug. The escape pod quickly shifted into something akin to a luxury airship, speeding off into the distance as a row of cleaning van’s arrived, ostensibly to ferry them to safety. Spilling from the van came a variety of strapping young men… In teeny tiny shorts... Holding very large guns.

One quick glance at Thel confirmed that this was indeed their ride, the gregarious zabrak shouting about how they needed to leave fuckin’ yesterday. Sliding into the seat beside Thel, a tad too close for comfort, Moonfire made the slightest face as she realized that Locke and his friend would be joining them as well as a heavily armored Mandalorian.

Gulping back her nerves the feline mask slipped up and away, eyebrows raising at Thel briefly before pointedly avoiding both Locke and Novus’ eyes. This was terribly awkward, wasn’t it? Pressing uncomfortably close to the van’s window Moonfire held her breath as the van picked up and away from the falling palace.

And in good time at that, Cerbozz’s skypalace crashed resolutely into the Corellian district of Nar Shaddaa, cutting a swath of destruction through the Ecumenopolis[, nothing terribly unfamiliar considering all they’d been through in the last few weeks on Nar Shaddaa-- Hotel explosions and the like.

Briefly a glimpse of familiar golden arches struck the Jedi, a deep need for something greasy, the most addictive fries in all of Hutt space-- HuttDonalds. Her stomach gurgled, empty with anxiety and adrenaline. “Anyone wan--”

”There's an excellent Mandalorian joint not far from here that makes excellent burgers, if anyone is interested."

Moonfire winced at the words were stolen right out of her mouth, gulping down the suggestion she smiled politely, giving a nod to the unfamilar armored figure. Sure. Mandalorian was fine too.