Another Rainy Night

[Blue]

Willam kept the swerving shuttle in his view-port as they began to fly lower and lower towards the planet's surface, his gaze flickering occasionally towards his sensors. So far, the only blips were those of friendly forces; the shuttle in front, and what he presumed was the Mandalorian's and the Legion's vessels following distantly behind. He spared the odd concerned look for Ylva as well. Her general bearing was becoming more and more bizarre, staring at the shuttle like a mother hen watching over one of her chicks, and it was causing the spacer not a little distress. It was taking all of his willpower not to reach out and scratch pointlessly at his metallic arm. His snappy retort to the Mando's suggestion to turn and fight died on his lips as Ylva jumped on it first, snapping over the comms as if the man had voiced some unspeakable blasphemy. While Willam had been about to make the same point, the tone in her voice and her manner for the last few minutes set alarm bells screaming in his head, hidden behind his quirked eyebrow in her direction. He was about to confirm that he had no intention of leaving the shuttle high and dry when the Mandalorian spoke again. The shift in his own manner was almost as drastic as Ylva's had been. Gone was the suave exterior, the smooth spacer captain. His features may as well have been etched in stone as the older man's words echoed around his skull. "... don't have any qualms about commandeering this ship if I have to." After a slight pause, during which Odd's made a worried noise in Binary over their personal commline, Willam spoke. "You're more than welcome to make the attempt, Mandalorian. You would hardly be the first to die trying," the captain said. His tone was devoid of any hint of his normal joviality or dryness, taking on a terribly hard edge. "Now, unless you have something pertinent to add or intelligent to suggest, stay the fuck off my comms before I remove you from my ship." With that, his finger jabbed down and cut the line. Willam shook his head in the silence that reigned in the cockpit for the few moments after he spoke, ignoring the amused noise from Odd as his full attention fixed once more on the matters at hand. "Bloody Mandalorians... Always a blaster measuring contest," he muttered to himself. The Lathspell touched down on the ground of the LZ with nary a bump, cuddling up to the shuttle not long after the smaller vessel made it's own landing. A couple of swift taps on the dashboard opened the airlock and lowered the landing ramp. The engines of the light freighter were brought down to a low hum; Willam was loath to shut them down fully while an enemy force was inbound. "Odd, pop outside and keep a weather-eye open for any of our unwanted guests," the captain requested. His droid companion beeped a confirmation before zipping out and upwards. Willam turned his attention to Ylva before she had a chance to dash off to the shuttle she had been obsessing over. "I'll stay aboard unless something drastic breaks out on the pad, in case we have to beat a hasty retreat," he stated plainly. His tone made it clear that this was not up for debate; save for the most dire of circumstances, the captain no longer had any intention of stepping one foot off the Lathspell.

[CaptainBonkers]

Jayec chuckled to himself at the smuggler’s response. So the fellow had a spine after all. A welcome development. It was good to know that the ship was flown someone willing to dig in their heel when necessary, though Jayec was till fairly sure that the fellow didn’t quite know how ownership of ships worked. The ship was yours as long as any Mandalorians onboard remained in agreement. Anyhow, judging from the response it was clear that Jayec didn’t have to worry about the ship’s captain trying to leg it with him still on which was well enough for him. It would have been a shame to be made into a deserter because of someone else’s cowardice. It was Ylva’s reaction that set off alarm bells in his head. It was uncharacteristically desperate. Ylva might have been many things but prone to despair wasn’t one of them. There was a pattern emerging and it did not fit her normal behavior. Something was wrong with her. Jayec didn’t know what it was that was bothering her but seeing her behavior so changed sent a shiver of worry down his spine.

He still disagreed with the need to protect the shuttle, though. These were pirates or raiders of some kind. They weren’t known for their tendency of just blowing up ships that might be carrying valuable cargo. Pulverized goods rarely maintained their re-sale value on the black market, after all. Most likely they’d disable the engines and leave the shuttle dead in the void, waiting for a boarding party. But sure; lets head on down instead of finding the bastard leading the enemy space operations and taking the fight to them. It wasn’t as if cutting off the snake’s head was a smart approach or anything…haar’aruetii. Whatever was on that shuttle better have been worth all this bullshit. If it was just canned beans and band-aids Jayec was gonna be pissed.

---

A few minutes later the ship touched ground and Jayec could finally get out of the damn thing. It felt good to get out of the basically unarmed rustbucket, even if he would have preferred to have been boarding an enemy ship instead of heading for the planet. However, it seemed that some of the pirates had decided to follow them down from the orbit. They were still in mid descent though. It would be such a shame for someone to throw a wrench in their plans. Or an anti-vehicle missile. Jayec wasn’t picky.

He strolled down the ramp, nodding to the smuggler on his way out. “Good job getting us planetside aruetii. Not the worst flying I’ve seen.”

He did a quick few stretches and continued on solid ground, gazing upwards at the approaching enemy ship. It was descending with a steady pace, occasionally harassed by the local ground defenses but nothing that seemed to slow it down significantly. The defenders, distracted by the battle in the orbit, apparently couldn’t concentrate their fire efficiently enough to punch through the frontloaded shields of the pirate ship. Jayec, however, had no intention of punching through the front shields.

The HUD of his helmet locked on the approaching ship and began calculating a trajectory for the missile on Jayec’s path. Once the helmet was done with its calculations, the Mandalorian leaned forward, steadied his feet and fired.

There was very little recoil as the missile sped off from the launcher on his jetpack. Mostly it just pushed him slightly downwards during the initial launch. It quickly sped off and became largely invisible to the naked eye. Jayec himself was only able to keep track of it because his helmet was tracking the missile’s trajectory. It traversed through the air going straight past the pirate ship before making a sharp turn and slamming against the ship’s engines. An explosion shook the ship. Few seconds later the engine hit by the missile coughed up metal and spark filled smoke before simmering out completely and the careful descent of the ship became a controlled fall.

Jayec watched the fall long enough to estimate where the ship would be landing. He then picked his heavy repeater and turned to the others. “Right. I’m going to go over there and give those shitminglers a proper welcome. Any of y’all coming along? It's pretty good day for someone else to die.” he inquired.

[Ash]

The battle in space was going well, and the mental map that Vincent had made up was fairly complete or so he thought, getting him a good idea of number placements of both allied and enemy ships. He had an ear open for the crew but the majority of his attention was turned to the radio.

At least that was how it was until a very familiar shape jumped out of hyperspace. The Valkyrie class assault cruiser that was a staple within Legion despite its relatively small size for a cruiser. Along with it was a small wing of corvettes. From within the cruiser, starfighters blasted off into space, getting into a practiced formation. Vince couldn't hide the smile that formed.

Not quite what I was expecting to drop in but its nice. Prometheus, you should have stayed in your assigned area. Whatever. Take charge of this space with your 'vettes. Original escort proceed with us. Prometheus, If it gets too hot, bug out and leave us here. Ships and gear can be replaced, but lives cannot. Out.

Commands issued, Vince sat mostly silent, keeping tabs on the ongoing battle in space as they themselves rushed to the ground. He also made a point in ignoring the other three with him and their pointless bickering. If they were part of Legion he would have solved it immediately. Since they weren't, then they can solve it as long as it didn't compromise this mission.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

The flight to the ground was fairly causal, Vincent thought. Besides Ylva having some sort of crisis with her ships. She was too concerned with the going ons about them, but like his own, she should have trusted them. Well, at least since one of his staple ships appeared in orbit to give them a hand. Corvettes were a good escort force, but a cruiser, even a small one like the Prometheus was an asset he was glad to have appeared.

Once on the ground, Vince tapped into the communication pylon using his suit and the access he already had, so he can wander around within range of this ship and still have full comm rights to his own ships and whoever else. It was a nice little piggy back.

The Mandalorian was the first one off the ship, and Vincent had no issues with that. He was the biggest fighter here, despite Vince's own looks in his armor. Speaking of that, he quickly donned his helmet and gauntlets, as well as making sure he had easy access to his standard issue pistol and carbine. He made his way to the ramp, just in time to see the after effects of Jayec's missile hitting an enemy ship.
It was somewhat impressive, he had to admit, but he pushed that out of his mind. Solved issues had no place to be in his mind right now. He spared the man a second glance when he spoke up, however.

"You do that. We need to get all supplies sorted out. Ill send you some backup once my ships make landfall. That is, if you want it."

He had a little interactions with Mandalorians, and a good chunk of them didn't want help from those people who weren't Mandalorian, or at least their close friends. At least the offer was up in the air. For now, they needed as many hands as possible to deal with the cargo so they can be off this rock, and him heading back to Daalang and try to keep the enemy out of his space.

[Meira]

Willam was allotted a barely audible "uh-huh" in response to his declaration that he'd stay with his ship. Ylva's mind was elsewhere. She quickly undid the restraints she'd buckled into during the descent and practically leaped over the seat to move back toward the ship's ramp and exit. Vincent, and even Jayec received even less from the Zabrak woman as she rushed past them after descending the ramp. She crossed the distance between the Lathspell and the Jolly Junior with long strides that almost constituted a full sprint.

"We're good." Remy called to her as she closed the final few feet. He and the others were already beginning to empty the shuttle's hold and stacking the crates on the ground.

Ylva slowed herself, glancing skyward for a moment when a sudden explosion caught her attention. Looking back toward the others, she saw Jayec's helmet tracking the path of the crashing ship. So it was no surprise when his voice came over the comm in her ear announcing his intention to go finish the job. The left side of her mouth pulled into a half smile of appreciation at the man and she almost turned to join him, but that urgent pull within her chest would not allow it. She still had a mission to do.

"Go have your fun." Ylva said into her comm after Vincent made his own reply. When she turned her attention back to her boys, Ylva saw that they were all standing just behind her. Ylva stepped toward them and completed the circle. Remy, Anton, and Frederique were some of her most trusted employees. Simone, her right hand, would have been here as well, but... she could not bear the thought. He was... gone. Ylva smiled at the men before her. Usually clad in the tiny shorts and tight shirts of the Jolly Janitor uniform, they now stood before her in typical clothing, ready to blend in with the refugees in the camps. If all went according to plan, the fact that she and Remy would be leaving the others behind here would make no difference. They'd be one again very soon. "A thousand lives." she said.

"As one." they replied.

All around them, dirt and clumps of grass shot up from the ground as blaster shots rained down over the area. As quickly as they began, they cut off as other shots flew overhead. Ylva and the others had all crouched and moved to the overhanging cover of the shuttle as the pirate fighter strafed overhead, followed closely by one of the ground control ships sent to help intercept. It seemed that the rest of their followers had arrived. Bes'Galaar was sweeping in as well, tying up the attention of several of the fighters with its heavier guns. The larger of the pirate ships, however, managed to come and hover low enough for six pirates to drop down from lines to the ground. They immediately opened fire as they moved to encircle to the two grounded ships.

"Anton!" Ylva shouted, pulling her blaster pistol from its holster at her thigh and shooting around the side of the shuttle. Anton moved in a crouched shuffle to her side. "You have it?" she asked.

"Yes ma'am." he said.

"Take it and go into the camp. We can't let these pirates get it."

Anton held the smooth black box close to his chest, hidden under his large jacket. Worry creased his brow for a moment at her words. "Won't you need it?" he asked.

"I'll be close enough." she said. Anton, still new to the gift, would come to understand in time. Turning back to regard him for a moment, Ylva touched her hand to his brown to smooth the wrinkles his worry caused. He was too young for that. "Go." she said, her voice stern and strong in that way she was famous for. But within their connection, he could feel that tender caring the Zabrak's exterior never belied. He smiled as he gathered his feet under him and poised to run. Ylva nodded to him, and then swung out, sending a wild volley of blaster shots toward the pirates. She could feel Remy and Frederique's sharp panic at seeing their friend retreating toward the fenced off camp. But even their worries were soothed by the gift.

"Get those crates opened." Ylva said to Frederique. "Looks like we might need to accelerate the plan."

At the corner of her eye, Ylva saw two of the pirates creeping toward the Lathspell. "Willam!" she shouted into her comm. "You've got company!"

[CaptainBonkers]

Jayec shrugged at the others opting out of a fight in order to stay safely back at the LZ. "Suit yourselves. More fun for me." 

With that the Mandalorian began making his way to the crash site of the pirate ship. It hadn't been a particularly graceful as far as landings went. Upon its first contact with the ground the thing had bounced a couple of times before finally plowing a groove into the ground and coming to a permanent halt. Pieces of smoking debris were scattered all around it though in all honesty it had to be said that there was less parts of the ship missing than one might have assumed. Apparently their pilot was worth something in the cockpit after all and had managed to get his craft on ground without blowing to smithereens. It was a real shame he wasn't going to be alive long enough to savor that achievement properly. 

By the time Jayec reached the downed ship, most of the pirates had made it out of the wreckage and into the fresh air where they had very little in the way of cover. Quickly counting it seemed that there were maybe six individuals out and about, though the way they kept hollering at the wrecked ship suggested that there might be a couple of them still trying to make their exit. So maybe eight or nine altogether. It wasn't a big ship so more than ten seemed a stretch. Anyhow, not enough pirates to pose too much of a threat. Jayec would have to get a better look at their armament to say for sure but odds were that none of them was carrying weapons capable of punching through beskar in one shot. Most likely he wouldn't have to spend time running from cover. Well, time to get this started.

Jayec waved at the still frazzled pirates with his free hand before reahing for one of the grenades on his belt. "Sucuy'gar mir'osike! Me'vaar ti gar?" he bellowed as he lobbed the explosive at the largest cluster of them. The pirates' reaction could best have been described as a collective 'oh shit' moment and Jayec was fairly sure that the words 'fucking mando' and 'grenade' were shouted at the same volume and at roughly the same time, meaning that some of the bastards missed the fact that an explosive was about to land in the middle of them.

Some of the raiders Jayec had been aiming at with his grenade possessed rudimentary awareness of their surroundings and managed to scramble for cover but three of them, two weequays and a duro, were shredded by the initial blast of the explosion. A fourth one, a male twi'lek, further away out of the explosives certain death zone went limp, likely downed by a shrapnel. Jayec gave the bloke one to the back of his head to make sure as he passed the pirate lying in the ground. Six to go, he thought and opened fire with his heavy carbine.

A third weequay met his end trying to sprint back into the ship; a burst of blasterfire tore through his legs before another burst turned his chest into a smoking colander. A quarren fired a panicky burst with his light blaster at Jayec, but managed only to glance the mandalorian's armor before being put down by a new nostril in the middle of his fishy head. It seemed that his initial count had been off by two as around the wreckage two more crooks emerged, a dug and a rodian. As soon as they spotted Jayec they tried to make their way back behind the wreck, though only the dug made it. The rodian took a bolt to the knee and adventured no more. Few seconds later he breathed no more as Jayec walked past him and finished the job. This left the dug the only one still trying to put up a fight. Or, as it turned out, trying to flee. Apparently hoping to make it into the cover offered by some of the spaceport's maintenance buildings, the dug was legging it as fast as he could with his stubby hands. Out in the open, less than 500 hundred feet away, it was an easy shot. A shot echoed through the air and the dug lost most of his head. 

That was it with the pirates outside of the wreck. There might have been more inside of the ship but Jayec wasn't about to go poking about a smoking wreck. Instead he lobbed in a grenade through the main entrance of the ship and another through the cockpit's cracked canopy for good measure before walking away from the ship before it went up in flames. If anyone survived that they deserved to get away. With his job done, Jayec began making his way back to the LZ.

[Blue]

The words had barely left his mouth when Ylva all but ran from the cockpit, with minimal verbal acknowledgement of his presence. The stark difference from the woman who had strode onto his ship to the person now dashing out was immensely bizarre. Nevertheless, Willam had a job to do, and that job was to ensure that his ship was ready to go at a moment's notice. As each of his passengers left the ship, he took a leaf from Ylva's book and responded with small grunts. I'll do the job, but I'm starting to get too many bad vibes and my patience is already growing thin. The sooner I'm back offworld, the better. Still... there was something about Ylva. Something that put him more on edge than even the Mandalorian's threats. As the spacer moved about his ship checking on it's systems, he tapped the comm-bead in his ear. "Odd. Anything about?... The Mando did what?... Never mind, if he wants to go off to play 'whack-a-pirate', let him go, I say. I've got a different job for you. Is anybody paying attention to you? Good. Cloak up, I want you to get closer to Ylva... No, not like that! Void's teeth, do you not know what privacy is, Odd?!... Whatever, just get in closer, I want to know what she and her group are saying." Ignoring the dirty suggestion that Odd beeped at him, Willam sat for a moment as he logged into the droid's audio/visual feed. There was a brief moment of motion-sickness as he blinked in to Odd shifting around mid-air, then things settled as the small hoverdroid activated it's stealth field and slowly coasted over to the group of people the Zabrak woman was with. As the droid settled on a nearby crate, Willam was struck with a thought and raised a hand to the bulky bionic replacing his eye. A couple of taps, and everything began routing through into the Lathspell's databanks. Never know, might catch something useful... Just as he finished, Ylva and her group stood in a circle in eery silence, then spoke. "A thousand lives." "As one." To say this unnerved Willam was somewhat of an understatement. It felt as if someone had poured ice water down the back of his neck, while jabbing an electro-prod into his spine at the same time. It was not just the words, nor the way they said them, but the expressions on their faces. They looked... he could not describe it. Enraptured, maybe? His line of thought was interrupted, however, by the sound of incoming fire. Odd, the utter lunatic, did not move a single bolt and remained stoically atop of the crate it had alighted on, continuously transmitting everything. Willam, on the other hand, cursed a blue streak as the ships flew overhead, his concern for his very stationary vessel breaking through his composure. He need not have worried; the pirates were too busy avoiding and firing at their pursuers to focus on the people on the ground, choosing instead to deposit a group of their men before continuing on. These men instantly began to open fire at Ylva's group and the Zabrak herself muttered something to one of her group, who ran off with something clasped to his chest after she stroked his face. Willam began weighing the pros and cons of going out there to help, when he caught Ylva say something. "Get those crates opened. Looks like we might need to accelerate the plan." Suspicion bloomed in the captain's mind. Open the crates? Accelerate the plan? What plan? What did she have in those crates that would help her in a firefight? Why do I get the feeling that I've been used?... Again. Ylva's voice called in over the comms, swiftly followed by Odd's querying beeps. Willam switched channels to the one he shared with his passengers. "Thank you, Ylva. I see them," he responded lightly. Moving back onto his private channel, he spoke to his metal companion. "Odd, stay cloaked and get up in the air a little. Keep your eye on those crates; I want to know what's so important about their contents." Tabbing out of Odd's viewpoint for a moment, Willam advanced towards the ramp. He strode out boldly and pressed something on his belt, his face full of thunder and raising the long barreled pistol from his waist. The first shot took a good chunk of one pirate's head clean off, the distinctive high pitched snap of the weapon heralding the powerful blast from the Novis Marksman. The second pirate charged forward, sending a flurry of shots up the ramp. One or two bolts grazed the captain, but was deflected by the personal energy shield he had deployed. Willam waited until the pirate had set a foot on the Lathspell's ramp, his one eye calmly locked onto the man's face, before his cybernetic arm whipped out the flecette launcher strapped to his thigh and fired, the kick from the weapon negated by the metal prosthesis. The hundreds of razor-sharp projectiles impacted on the pirate's chest and he went flying, the force and closeness of the weapon's discharge sending him tumbling backwards until he came to a stop, unmoving. His eyes scanning the LZ, Willam holstered the launcher and took aim once more with his heavy blaster, plugging a pirate about a hundred meters away neatly in the throat. Ducking back behind the airlock door, he reached up to his ear. "Things seem to be getting a little heated, hm?" Willam quipped over the comms. His organic eye continued to scan for any pirate attempting to move closer to the Lathspell, while his cybernetic one tabbed back into the invisible Odd's point of view, awaiting to see what the crates contained that had Ylva and her team acting so strangely.

[Ash]

Vincent didn't have time to even start working on sorting out the freight before pirates attacked. Damn pirates were always up in his hair. Well, it was to be expected. Vince turned from the crate he was working around, pulling off his rifle, and started to lay down fire.

When there was a call to Willam that there were pirates heading to him, he adjusted fire, tracking the band heading to their ship. He managed two before Willam made an appearance in protecting his ship. When it was more or less clear, he ram that way.

Vince was up the ramp in no time flat, parking himself next to the closing mechanism and opened a private line to Willam. He beeped it twice before he started talking.

"Captain, I got the ramp secured from any friends. Let me know if anything odd happens. Legion should be down soon to give us some breathing room."

He wasn't about to let anything happen to Willem or the Lathspell seeing as it was their best way off this rock. And Pirates... and whatever else. He would let Ylva and her peopel deal with the crates, and the mando can do... shooty.. stuff... He would just camp out here. Where it was safe. Sounds like a good plan.

[Meira]

Overhead, the dogfight seemed to be coming into control. The long trails of smoke arching in steep dives into the ground, and the lack of any strafing fire suggested that the friendly ships were doing their job well. On the ground, Willam and Vincent seemed to hold their own as well. It had not seemed like too much trouble at all for either of them to dispatch the pirates that had dared come to ground. Jayec would likely be back soon enough and that would be the end of it. Ylva allowed herself a slight smile of satisfaction. They hadn't been so close to ruin after all. She might have laughed at herself, if there wasn't still so much work to do. The ships had to be offloaded, and the cargo brought down from the larger ones as well. Holstering her blaster, Ylva turned to tell her boys to hold off a minute on opening the crates.

The blow came from the side, erupting white pops of light that overwhelmed her vision and caused her eyes to squint closed as much from the blindness it brought as the pain that bloomed through her skull a moment later. Her teeth clenched tight in a grimace as she sucked in air with a sharp his. Her balance faltered and Ylva found herself throwing her arms out to catch onto anything that might help her keep her feet.

"Steady, love." came a gruff voice close to her ear. With it, a thick arm wrapped around her torso, taking her weight just below her arms and pulling her back into a hard chest. Were it not for the blood rushing to start the bruising process at her temple, Ylva might have felt the cold metal barrel of the blaster now being held there. As the white light began to fade, Ylva tried to stop the world around her from spinning. "That's it, keep your feet. Now tell them boys to get those crates back on the shuttle, aye? Your my ticket out of this shit hole."

"Boss?"

Ylva's eyes forced the spinning world into focus, the images slowly spiraling until the several forms of Remy combined into just the one man. He stood several paces away from her, his hands held up and slightly out from his body. His stance, one foot slightly forward from the other, knees just barely bent -his whole body was tense but putting on a show of careful calm. Understanding came to her then and she jerked, trying to pull herself away from the body that held her.

"No, no no no... settle down, love." the voice growled into her ear, pressing the blaster into her temple again, sending another wave of nauseating pain through her.

She stopped her struggling, the pain threatening to drop her into useless unconsciousness. In front of her, Remy started to take a step but was stopped by her wordless insistence. His eyes sought hers, incredulous. When her vision stopped spinning once again, her violet eyes locked with his and he understood. He didn't like it, but he understood.

"Get those crates back on the shuttle." the pirate commanded.

Further back, Frederique did not immediately move. His own hands raised as Remy's, he looked to Ylva. She was breathing hard now, fighting back her body's insistent desire to be unconscious. The pirate's blaster pressed harder into her temple and Ylva growled.

"Do it!" she barked.

Remy took slow, deliberate steps backward toward Frederique. They each carefully moved toward the three crates they'd set out. With one, final confirming look at Ylva, they stooped and then quickly pulled the lids off of the crates. Ylva could feel the pirate's anger as he tightened his grip around her and began to shout his protest toward her loyal men. Taking a deep breath, Ylva coiled the power she'd been gifted, feeling it collect at her core, and then released it with a shout. The pirate cartwheeled through the air like a rag doll, landing with a wet crunch about twenty feet away. Ylva fell to one knee, but waved Remy back to his task when he moved to help her.

"Get them going." she said, gesturing toward the crates. "Get them in the air."

Frederique was already on that task, pulling the small droids out from where they'd been nested safely inside the crates. Remy moved quickly to catch up. Soon, three dozen droids were spread out on the ground around them and Frederique was working away on a datapad. One by one, the droids were humming to life. They were the size of small suitcases and lifted to hover above the ground as they came online. They were black, and seemed to consist mostly of some kind of storage container, with optical arrays at the top for navigating and small repulser lifts to allow them to hover. What they contained, however, was concealed... for the time being. After hovering for a few moments, each droid that came up then quickly zipped off toward the refugee camp, disappearing quickly into the distance. Ylva watched them for a few moments, then stood, turning to face toward the other ship. Just a few more minutes and it would be done.

[CaptainBonkers]

Having heard the sounds of fighting echoing from the landing zone the Mandalorian had hurried back in case he was needed to repulse the attackers. Instead he arrived just in time to witness the pirate flying through the air, propelled by some unseen force. Centered around Ylva. Like she had done it. Somehow thrown the pirate into the air. Like he weighed nothing. Without seemingly moving a muscle. Like she was a damn jetii. Jayec’s mind simply couldn’t warp itself around the concept. Or perhaps wouldn’t.

His mind racing to find an alternative explanation. She couldn’t be force sensitive. She couldn’t. Perhaps someone else nearby…. no. No one Jayec could see showed any signs of having been the perpetrator behind the supernatural display. Nor could he see any strange devices or other oddities that he could have blamed. No other explanation. A knot in his stomach tightened.

“What the hell was that?” Jayec inquired as he made his way towards Ylva, his tone confused and more hurt than angry. Had she always been Force sensitive? How long had she known? Why hadn’t she told him? It wasn’t as if he was particularly interested in hunting down those sensitive to the Force like some other Mandalorians…. Damn. Other Mandalorians! What the hell was he going to tell to his vode? Some of them were already uneasy about having to work with V occasionally but not hunting him down Jayec could smooth over. After all, he was the favorite lieutenant of miss Faine (who definitely wasn’t Force sensitive, nope, not a chance, shut up brain. You didn’t hear nothing during the auction!) and whacking him would have been a short route to losing an extremely lucrative client. But Ylva had no such protection.

Sure, many of his comrades would be willing to overlook her condition, they liked her well enough, but there were those that wouldn’t. Those who would find the very idea of not putting her down insulting to their very being. If they found out, they’d demand a full hunt or else tear Jayec’s crew apart. He’d have to hunt down and kill a…. friend or watch something he had spent his whole live building go down in flames, not to mention openly spit in the face of the Mand’alor’s decree. It was a paralyzing concept.

“Did you… did you do that?” he continued, gesturing at the dead pirate on the ground. It was clear from his voice that he wasn’t sure he wanted to hear the answer.

[Blue]

The captain watched in bemusement as the more well-to-do fellow, Vincent, dashed up the Lathspell's ramp once the coast was pretty clear, and announced that he would keep the ramp secured from the encroaching pirates while parking himself in front of the switch to manually close it. Willam pondered if that was an intentional move to stop him from shutting it and sequestering himself off from the action, but dismissed it as irrelevant. It's not like that's the only way I have of shutting it... The spacer spared a glance out across the now mostly pirate-free LZ, before shooting the man a small smile. "I think I have it handled, but I appreciate the enthusiasm, nevertheless," he said dryly. With the last few pirates being summarily dealt with, Willam relaxed slightly. Six pirates seemed like a majorly insufficient number to steal the cargo they were delivering, especially considering the amount off-loaded and the number of people defending it. Six, well-trained shock troops, maybe. Six rag-tag, disorganised ne'er-do-wells? It was almost embarrassing. Just as the thought flittered through his mind, Odd beeped alarmingly over his internal comms, bringing the spacer's attention to the unfolding drama on the landing pad. Ylva was being held at blaster point at an intimate range, being ordered to load the crates back onto the shuttle presumably so the fellow could fly off with the loot. Through Odd, he could see and hear everything that was happening. It did not seem that the pirate knew about the captain, or thought that with Ylva as hostage he was safe. Willam knelt down, extending his arm and resting it on the prongs that raised and lowered the ramps. His blaster was steady, his mind clear. Let me show you how wrong that assumption is... Of course, the moment was well and truly spoiled when the pirate was sent crashing backwards with a nasty wet sound. And not just from some kind of super martial art throw, oh no. Ylva had sent the pirate flying without so much as moving a single muscle in her body. Just her mind. "Huh," Willam said out loud. All the while, he was internally screaming. So off-put by this new information about the woman he had toured his cockpit with, he almost completely missed the droids the Zabrak was ordering to scatter. He jerked back into the here and now at the sound of the Mandalorian's voice, and his gaze shifted from Ylva to the departing droids. The cybernetic eye zoomed in, picking up the image of her cargo in detail and saving it silently into the Lathspell's databanks. Far too small for supplies... what in the Void is going on here? "How Odd... I wonder where they're off to," Willam muttered, apparently to himself. The captain was still all too aware that he had a guest right next to him, and did not fancy giving away his companion's location or mission. The little hoverdroid caught the message without issue, and followed invisibly behind them as they moved off, only picking up speed once out of clear line of light. Willam kept Odd's visual feed tabbed open as he called down to the people on the landing pad. "Well... barring further pirate incursions, that appears to be that. Mission accomplished, everyone! Time for a nice strong drink, I say," the spacer said cheerfully, the smile on his face easily hiding the growing sense of dread in his heart.

[Ash]

Vince didn't see anything going on nearby, but he still kept his guard up. He didn't want to grow complacent just because there was no shooting immediately going on. Course his mind still wandered and it took him a moment to notice that Ylva was in trouble. He was going to start shooting to break it up but she... used the force?!?!

Vince was left speechless and slack jawed under his helmet. It took him a few seconds of gawking before mentally shaking himself out. Yea... that didn't seem... normal from what he had observed from this woman. He felt that there was something more to this. He didn't like it at all.

"Hey um... captain... I don't think that Ylva is..."

He dropped the barrel slightly, thoughts going off on their own tangent for a moment before Willam spoke up about the mission being over.

"Think we can lift off? Something doesn't feel right."

[Meira]

This post has been co-written with our very own CaptainBonkers

---

”What the hell was that?”

Ylva’s eyes shot sideways to see that Jayec had returned to the landing area. She assumed that meant that the rest of the pirates had been handled. That was not surprise. If there was one thing she knew about Jayec, it was that he knew how to get shit done. No, what surprised her was the tone of his voice. Even filtered through the mechanical comms of his suit, she could hear the emotion in the words.

”Did you… did you do that?”

Her eyes followed his gesture to the pile that had once been a pirate. Sighing, Ylva’s hands found her hips, settling on them as she shifted her weight to one leg and her head dropped down slightly in exasperation. She hadn’t wanted to have to do anything like that on this job. It wasn’t supposed to be necessary.

“Mmm-hmm.” Ylva nodded, bringing a hand up to wipe over her her face in one smooth stroke from forehead to chin. She then gestured toward the Mandalorian with that hand. “I get it, ok? Just-”

"Well... barring further pirate incursions, that appears to be that. Mission accomplished, everyone! Time for a nice strong drink, I say.” Willam’s voice cut through the air, but there was a growing tension it did not manage to pierce.

”Think we can lift off? Something doesn't feel right." Vincent soon followed.

Ylva’s jaw clenched tight. This wasn’t going well. Behind her, Remy watched the two men near Willam’s ship, his eyes squinted halfway closed and perfectly plucked brows furrowed in concentration. Both men seemed to have parts of their minds elsewhere. He didn’t need to delve past the surface to feel their anxiety, they’d volunteered as much out loud already. But there was something strange about the ship captain, Willam, that Remy couldn’t quite understand. It was as if he were somewhere else… Somewhere higher up? Following...

”Boss…” Remy said, shifting his stance slightly as his eyes casually noted where the pirates’ blasters had fallen.

“Not a good time, Remy!” Ylva barked back. “Whatever it is, handle it!”

”Alrighty then.” he mumbled and reached out his hands, calling two blasters to them. The weapons settled into his grip and he aimed them in the direction of the Lathspell, but kept them low. Ready, but not directly aimed at Willam or Vincent just yet. ”I think you gentlemen have the right idea. Thank you for your assistance in this endeavor. Safe travels.”

“Just what the fuckis going on here?” the whole situation had stopped making sense to Jayec. Now Remy was Force sensitive too? “You lot just woke up one day and found out you could toss people with your minds?”

Ylva chuckled at that, shaking her head at how silly it sounded coming from him. “Not exactly. No.” she said. “Listen, you can stick around if you want and I’ll tell you all about it. But you’re not going to get in the way of this.” She gestured back to where the last of the small droids were now lifting off from the ground. “I won’t let you.”

Glancing over her shoulder, Ylva saw that their work was nearly done. No harm then, in telling him. She whistled to get Frederique’s attention. The man looked up, furrowed his brow a moment, and then nodded. Reaching into one of the crates, he lifted a vial and tossed it into the air. Rather than arc back down to the ground, the vial paused, and then shot sideways directly into Ylva’s hand. It was a glass cylinder with metal end caps. Inside was a fine powder. Ylva tilted the vial, letting the powder shift from end to end. “Done?” she asked, seemingly to no one as her eyes watched the powder.

”Yes.” Frederique replied.
“As one.” she said. They echoed the words as they gathered their small bags and stowed their datapads. They turned then, and rushed off toward the camp.

Jayec recognized the powder in the vial Ylva was toying with. His helmet’s computer might not have been able to make very detailed scans but it could recognize shit it had encountered before. He’d seen a room full of it in a hutt lab on Ylesia. Alongside dead corpses of those whom had been subjected to its effects. It hadn’t exactly been a pretty sight; everything in that damn place had been covered in a layer of that powdery shit, even the corpses of the staff. Whatever it was, it killed people. Add to it the creepy way Ylva was acting plus her sudden jetii shit and just about every alarm bell in Jayec’s head was going off. Wait. Had they loaded the small droids with that shit?

Now, Jayec was a killer, murder too on occasion, but exposing a bunch of refugees to something like that powder fell squarely in the terrorism category and that was one field of crime Jayec didn’t do. And neither did Ylva, at least she hadn’t before.

“Please tell me you aren’t flying that shit into the refugee camps? It kills people.” he said, his voice no longer quite as confused. He might not have understood exactly what she was planning but whatever it was needed to be stopped.

“No.” she said, barely a moment after him. The force behind the word made it sound more like a bark than a statement. “No. It saves them.” she stepped forward, brandishing the vial as if just seeing it would make him understand.

Was she in some fucking cult? Jayec would have laughed off the suggestion if it hadn’t been for the torrent of undiluted crazy that was streaming past her lips.

“What do you mean ‘saves’ people? I got a fucking mouthfull of that shit into my lungs on Ylesia and it didn’t fucking save me, only made me puke for three hours. I didn’t die like all those people on Ylesia, but then again the dose I got was miniscule.”

Ylva’s eyes widened and she stepped forward again. He’d seen! He’d seen but he had not accepted it. No wonder. To the outside ear, the chorus was chaos and destruction. But that was the simplistic interpretation of the singular mind. Of course a body, even hundreds of thousands of bodies seemed a tragedy to one so alone.

“Try again.” she said, her voice a plea. “You’ll see.”

In one swift motion, Ylva launched the vial into the air. Behind her, Remy was ready. He raised one of the blasters and fired a single shot. The vial exploded, the powder expanding into a cloud that hung motionless for a time as the glass rained from it. Ylva didn’t flinch. Her eyes remained on Jayec, the whites showing around her violet irises. “I’ll help you.” she said, and motioned toward his helmet with one hand, pulling back as if to yank it free though she was still several paces away.

“I’ll keep it on, thanks.” Jayec wasn’t about to find out what happened when you snorted more of that stuff. He didn’t exactly took a step back but unconsciously he shifted his weight around, settling into a more stable stance. Consciously he might not have wanted to fight but his unconscious mind already knew where this was heading and the instincts drilled into his backbone since childhood were taking over. “How about you call back those droids and not poison hundreds instead?”

“Not gonna happen.” Ylva replied. “You’ll understand soon enough.” With a shift, she centered her weight and pulled on that gift of the chorus. Like before, she allowed it to build inside of her and then forced it all out in one great push.

The jetii shove came as a surprise to Jayec, sending him flying in an arc across the LZ but his instincts kicked in. Without a conscious thought, he activated his jetpack and used it to pull a tight loop that stabilized him in the air changing the direction of his flight. Now he was charging at her. Ylva had little time to react before the Mandalorian was upon her. She threw her arms out, putting what energy she could gather into a barrier to stop him, but he’d been too fast. He was slowed, but not enough to stop that armor from pushing into her, knocking some of the breath from her lungs and causing her teeth to clack together with the impact.

Jayec used the advantage he had gained from ramming into Ylva to try and get her into a chokehold. Maybe if he could knock her out he could drag her to a doctor or something. Anyone that could figure out what the hell was messing with her brain. Hopefully, whatever it was it hadn’t eaten the real her away yet completely. Having sparred with the man on several occasions, Ylva could recognize what he was trying to accomplish. But with the jetpack still pushing them across the landing pad, it was difficult to prevent his movements.

When the pack slowed, and then shut off, Ylva wasted no time. Digging her heels into the ground, she shifted her weight hoping to break his center of balance. He was larger and stronger than she was and Ylva knew that if he could bring either of those advantages to full effect then she’d be done. All she needed to do was get that helmet off of him. The powder, dissipated though it was, drifted down over them. She breathed it deep, feeling it course through her instantaneously. As they grappled, she reached for his helmet, hands seeking out those seal locks under the rim.

He could feel her fingers snaking underneath his helmet. The seal locks might have been tight but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t manage to get them open if he let her get away with fiddling with them. That in mind he grabbed her hands and tried to roll her over and pin her down under his weight. Jayec’s own frame plus the weight of his armor should have been enough to immobilize her. She growled as she felt his grip on her wrists overpower her own strength and soon found herself rotated and slammed into the duracrete of the landing pad. She panted, her ribcage straining against the weight of the armored man. In a moment of inspired desperation, she threw her head back, her horns colliding against the visor of his helmet. What had he said that was called? Some kind of kiss… The impact sent a sharp ringing of pain through her skull, but it had caused him to lean back and that was enough to give her the leverage to buck against his weight.

“It’s pointless, bur.” she grunted, pushing again to unbalance him. “It’s done.” She heaved, twisting her torso to throw an arm out to push him to the side. It had been enough and she scrambled away from him.

With the grabble broken and few feet of space between the two of them, Jayec reached for his sidearm. After several decades of experience as both mercenary and bounty hunter his draw was fast. The slow ones didn’t make it too long in that life. In a blink of an eye the heavy blaster pistol was out of its holster, its barrel trained at Ylva.

“Look Wolfie I don’t know what kind of paint you’ve been huffing to get this way but this ain’t you. So put your hands up and get down on the ground.” he said, thankful for the expressionless t-visor hiding his face. Though his voice was cold as beskar and his hand steady, his face was anything but. “Please.” he added

He didn’t want to pull the trigger. Hell, he wasn’t even sure if he could. The finger wrapped around the blaster’s trigger felt numb and stiff and the trigger itself felt as if it was stuck. One pull of the trigger and there’d be a new hole somewhere on Ylva...unless he switched the gun on stun. Knock her out and take her to someone who could help her. Fix her. As slowly and stealthily as he could, Jayec began moving his thumb towards the small switch on the side of the blaster that configured the fire settings of the weapon.

The sound had stopped her. She froze, back to him, when she heard the familiar metallic sound of the blaster being pulled from its holster. She’d heard that sound dozens of times now. The difference, however, was that she’d always been standing beside him when it happened. Turning, Ylva now got the full effect of what it was like to be on the other end of that barrel. She held her hands out from her body slightly. Not up, but obviously out to show she wasn’t reaching for anything. He’d said please. If there had been anything that could push through the cacophony of the chorus, that one word might have been it.

Come on, boss. Remy’s voice sounded through her mind, shaking her from that moment of weakness. She could feel him now, at the controls of the shuttle ready to lift off.

Her eyes focused on Jayec, on that cold beskar that separated him from her in more ways than one. She’d watched him in that armor long enough to know… he was hesitating. Jayec never hesitated. Grinding her teeth together, Ylva pulled both arms forward until they stretched out straight in front of her. With the movement, came all the force that she could muster, channeled forward and at the Mandalorian. And then she ran, long strides carrying her across the landing pad until she reached the shuttle and vaulted through the airlock. The ship was already off the ground as she turned and cycled the doors closed. Ylva watched through the viewport as the landing pad, and Jayec, grew smaller and smaller until the cloud cover obscured them from view entirely.

---

Willam, Vincent, and Jayec have all POSSIBLY been exposed to the Archeri plague.

[Blue]

Co-written with Ash Tension was certainly starting to become an issue. The standoff between Ylva and the Mandalorian was compounded as one of the Zabrak woman's men revealed that they too had Force powers, with a couple of the pirates' blasters being summoned to his hands and held in a casually threatening manner in Vincent and Willam's direction. Whatever Ylva and her cronies had planned with those droids and their cases, it was well and truly underway now with little anybody could do to stop it. Unless the Janitors had a sudden change of heart... Ahh, wishful thinking is fun. Now, Willam would be all for beating a quick retreat and letting the crazies get on with whatever nonsense they had planned but with one of their number glaring him down, the captain was reluctant to move. His hand still gripped his pistol and Willam was more than confident that if the lad before him so much as twitched those borrowed blasters in his direction, the cultist- or whatever he was- would soon be trying to breathe with a fist sized hole in his chest. His attention was soon brought back to Ylva as one of her underlings threw a vial to her, which she grabbed with her powers. Willam frowned and tabbed out of Odd's vision for a moment, zooming in on the vial's contents. Dust? Powder?... Wait... No. No, no, no... That can't be right. Not even my luck is that bad... The spacer was proven wrong moments later as Ylva tossed the vial into the air and the underling covering the Lathspell blasted the thing, releasing a cloud of the familiar stuff all over the landing pad. "Well... Shit," the captain said, his memory suddenly flooded with screaming hordes and monstrous creatures tearing a space station apart. Willam wasted no time. He shoved passed Vincent and slammed the button to close the ramp while their erstwhile ally was distracted, diving back into his ship and straight towards the cockpit. The Janitor covering them was evidently still happy for them to leave, as the pair were not treated to a barrage of blaster fire in the process of retreating. Vincent jumped back at the same time Willam dove past, getting away from the powder and making sure his suit was fully sealed, and it was. He fallowed the captain, sitting down in the communications chair he was in before. "If you want to call your people, feel free to use the comm station to organise a pick-up. I'm sure you don't mind leaving in a hurry," Willam called out to his passenger, his level voice maintaining a calm that he was not currently experiencing in his mind. The Legion man nodded, sliding into the seat he had occupied back above the planet and began talking with someone up there. "Yea, I'm on it now. Get us the hell out of here!" Vincent nearly yelled out. How?! How is my luck this bad?!? You've topped yourself this time; you didn't just bump into more of that damned dust, oh no! You ended up getting intimately horizontal with someone that snorts the bloody stuff! Good show, Willam, good fucking show! His internal rant went on while he started the engines, occasionally looking up when the movement outside caught his attention. It appeared as if the Mando and Ylva were throwing each other about the place. By the time he was ready to lift off, the Zabrak woman had retreated presumably back to her shuttle, leaving the Mandalorian standing around. Tuning back into their comms for a moment, the captain cleared his throat. "You might want to hurry up and call your... vode?... and ask them to pick you up. Whatever Ylva was planning, it's too far gone to stop now," Willam said, doubtlessly butchering the pronunciation of the Mando'a word. After a moment's thought, he continued. "Do your crew a favour; stay in the airlock. Don't let them near you until you've decontaminated your armour of that stuff, otherwise... well, I know where that path ends, and it is a fate nobody deserves. Doubt my word on anything else you like, Mandalorian, but trust me on that." Convinced that he had done as much as he could, Willam cut the comms and took the helm, sending the Lathspell up into the sky. As he flew, he brought Odd's feed back up again, experienced enough in both flying and the strange double vision that it did not noticeably effect his skill as a pilot. "There's going to be a slight delay before we break orbit," he announced to Vincent, keeping his eye on the view-port and scanners. "My friend is keeping tabs on Ylva, making sure she isn't going to double back. Can't be too careful." "That's fine with me, Captain. Ships inbound to our position and giving us a clear exit vector. Prometheus will provide escort once we broke orbit." Radar blips of a few corvettes were moving with speed towards the Lathspell's position. He didn't really care what Willam and his droid were doing. What Willam said was not a lie, per se. Technically, Odd was keeping an eye on Ylva's progress... just not the progress of her escape. The hoverdroid was still doggedly following the droids that the Zabrak had sent out towards the camp, maintaining a healthy distance in case the surprise they contained was explosive in some way. As Willam watched, Odd increased the magnification and watched it's case carrying counterpart reached it destination. "If you want, I can have your ship overhauled. I think you earned it." Vincent said to Willaim when he felt his heart calm down slightly. Of course, this would be when he was sure both him and Willam were uncontaminated, along with their equipment. For now though, it was time to close off Legion space and make sure everyone was safe.

[CaptainBonkers]

Jayec barely registered the chatter over comms. His eyes were fixed on the quickly accelerating Jolly Janitor shuttle. By now it was barely a spot, distinguishable against the sky only by the glow its engines pushing it higher towards orbit. For a passing moment he considered getting Farla on the horn and telling him to halt the shuttle. However, Bes'galaar wasn't designed for disabling craft like the shuttle. One errant shot and they'd risk rupturing the hull or even blowing the shuttle up. And even if Jayec's crew somehow managed to disable the shuttle without blowing it to smithereens they would still have to fight Ylva, which would immediately out her... condition to them. He shuddered to think what they'd do without him there to smooth things over...if he even could.

No, he couldn't call Bes'galaar to do that. She'd get away this time. For now. But that did not mean he intended to let her to frolic across the galaxy in her current condition, spreading that sickness of hers around as she went along. No. He'd get her some other time and ensure she got the help she needed. Whether or not she wanted that help was irrelevant. She could run and hide but Jayec had more experience in hunting people than she had in hiding. Hell, it was even possible that the idea of hiding wouldn't come to her mind in her current condition. He would find her. It wasn't a question if but when. And this time he would be prepared. She would not get away a second time because of his hesitation.

He'd have to go about it alone, though. His crew could survive without him for a while. Jayec switched to Bes'galaar's channel. "Hey Farla. I'm going to need a pick up at the LZ. We're done here." he said.

"Uh, ok. You didn't hitch a ride to orbit with Ylva or that smuggler.?"  

"They were in a hurry. Nothing to worry about." the lie tasted foul in his mouth. "Just come and get me at these coordinates. The LZ is a bit of a mess. Oh and tell Kenna I have to talk with her once you pick me up."

"Roger that chief. Be there in a few. Over and out." Farla replied.

Jayec took one last look at the spot he had last seen Ylva's shuttle and began making his way towards the spot he had sent to Farla.