Chapter 26: Open Your Eyes
Twelve hours later the lights were out. The only thing that could be seen was the beautiful scenery of space and the planet below. Kazarak wasn't a beautiful planet, the system though was definitely quite a sight to see.
Bounty Hunter ships and Slaver ships were known for their activity in these parts. Especially for the Slaver Syndicate which generally belonged to the Bounty Hunter Guild, and turned their Bounties over to Slavers to be sold. It was quite the business worth billions of standard galactic credits. It was quite clear what Valad's goal was coming here. Yet, for some reason, something different feel right.
The last thing Valad remembered before the lights went out was pulling out of Hyperspace just short of their Coordinates. Was it an interdictor field? The slavers likely had those since he knew that the Cooperative was known for abducting people.
Letting out a light sigh, he didn't lift his head and just stared at the ceiling, though truthfully was watching his mini-map which covered the entire ship. Apparently they had been hit by a minor EMP and all electronics would resume normal functions within an hour or so.
His order had been complete, so it was obvious that whomever had boarded the vessel found the assembler factories should they explore the hangar.
Four red dots and two white dots were making their way through the corridors of the vessel. It was clear they were some sort of strike team, but oddly enough, there were only six. Apparently they probably knew there were only two sentients and didn't think that it'd be too hard to salvage Riané and Valad.
"Just how much do they think they can get away with..." He muttered as he reached out with the force, communing with the ship itself. Ushering through the force to speed up the recovery process.
...
Jyk and Cyk were two men at around two meters in height and wore full plated black armor with the Cooperative's logo on either side. These two were considered red. Their heads were in the shape of potatoes with no hair, but plenty of large 'sprouts' embedded in their heads. It was clear they weren't natural, but biologically engineered weapons enslaved by the Cooperative.
"Shit man... Do we have to be accompanied with these guys?" A small female asked, her hair was dyed blue and had brunette ends. Her hair was about neck length and had bangs brushed to one side; covering one eye. She wore a black rancor padded armor jumpsuit, which outlined a large portion of herself above the waist. Though she didn't have much to offer.
Her eyes were a emerald green, looked like that of a plant's chlorophyll. It was clear she was a Zelosian, an individual who cannot see in low-light. Just like Jyk and Cyk however, she was a red dot. She had a wookie bowcaster on her back and a pair of pistols in her hands.
Katyle Conzi was dressed in a moon-light white mandalorian chassis with a blue sports stripe heading down the left part of her chest and down the other light plating on her legs. She was completely covered except for her head.
Her hair was cut short and she wore a helmet with the iconic T shaped visor. She had to be around sixteen years old and a rookie mercenary working with the Bounty Hunter Guild. "Says so in the job description. If we fail, further operations are called off." Her tone and accent matched that of a typical mandalorian warrior. It was clear she was from the Mandalore System. "Though I believe it does ruin the idea of an all female crew." She was a red dot as well.
"So what are you going to do with your share?" This voice sounded rather innocent, but it came from a girl who looked like she just got off the streets of Nar Shaddaa. She had a bonafide spacer vibe, wearing useless goggles on her head and even had a wrist mounted hacker's interface. Her skin was a medium olive shade, while her hair was three colors, the roots being black, second layer being purple and the last been sky blue. She looked like a punk.
This was Ceyra Cobalt, a misfit which was brought into the gang. Her eye color matched her surname, Cobalt Blue. She wore a short rib length black leather jacket with a grey cotton hood. She had fingerless gloves and a pair of long boots. She could go around for about fifteen years old, to maybe seventeen.
Because of her origins, it seemed she didn't develop as good as the Zelosian who some would assume had a nice wrack due to how their clothed squeezed in all the right places.
Ceyra wore a light power armor chassis on her upper torso and arms under her jacket. Though at first glance it just looked like a well polished and sculpted piece of plate armor. She wore a skirted pair of pants and some long civilian belted boots. Despite their ordinary appearance, they were equipped with magnets.
On the other hand, the person she was talking to Grunted. This was a young man named Sven Margos, he was originally the son of a prominent Republic Intelligence agent. He didn't make it into the Republic Senate Intelligence, so he ended up finding different work. He wore a officer's torso armor and a recolored cadet uniform. His hair was blond and slicked back and his eyes were a light violet color.
Both Ceyra and Sven were white dots, which meant they weren't entire hostile and were generally considered neutral. It was like being dragged along for a job.
"I generally plan on making it big back on Coruscant, start up my own perfume franchise. I already got a few backers," Cerya chimed as she nudged the grumpy ex-republic cadet.
"Wait," Jyk stated, holding up a hand as to stop their companions. "There's movement up ahead...?" With his blaster pistol at the ready, he stepped forward with his twin Cyk.
That was when a ray shield came down and trapped the two of them in the middle of an open doorway. "What the hell!? I thought we disabled the ship's main power!" Cyk growled and looked over at his brother.
The lights throughout the ship began to turn themselves back on. Apparently they had very much less than an hour and their time was already up. The Hangarbays would close themselves up, leaving no opening for ships to escape from the inside.
"What is this...?" The Mandalorian and Zelosian asked aloud as they had their weapons ready. The Mandalorian had their weapons pulled out and so did the Zelosian.
On the other hand the hacker was plugging her equipment into the nearby conduit in order to attempt and override the ray shield trapping their superiors. "Guys..." Her eyes weren't deceiving her. When she disconnected wires, she witnessed them reconnecting themselves. It was as if the ship itself was alive and kicking.
"What is it...." Sven droned off as he stared at the various wires beginning to wrap around Ceyra's fingers. "Snakes?" His head tilted to the side, it only took a few minutes for him to recognize the color coded wires for what they were.
Katyle walked over to see what it was, trying to figure out if Ceyra was making any progress on getting the two beings out of suspension. Yet, when she came over she stared at the wires which were going up the girl's arms as if they were living snakes.
"That's not natural..." She stated as she pursed her lips and looked around the area before narrowing her eyes on a supposed inactive security holocamera. "But it wouldn't be unnatural for a Jedi. The contractee only said there were two people on board... This is a massive ship right?"
The Zelosian blinked a few times hearing this. Two Jedi? This ship was massive, and it was filled with droids, abide currently inactive.
A ways down in the hangar, they could hear something. An assembly line? Was there a factory on board? They didn't remember the ship having any kind of factories on board in the modified blue prints supplied to them.
"If we're here for much longer, those droids are going to get back up, and we're all going to die!" She stated with a loud voice, as if she was assuming command. "We have to get to the Bridge and subdue the inhabitants." She charged her weapon on stun and began walking along the wall. Sadly leaving Sven and Cerya behind; at this point Cerya was being pulled up against the wall by the wires.
"I.. Don't understand... These wires, they're not trying to kill me." The girl let out a gasp, before reaching out for Sven. "Cut them!" She whined only for a light shock to be felt traveling through her when she made the request. "Wa-wait don't!"
Sven was dumbfounded on what to do, glancing over towards Cyk and Jyk to see if they would say anything. They only shook his head at the former cadet.
"It's likely the wires will kill you both if you try anything. They could have some sort of nano security system that is causing that. Best you can do, is stay still and wait." Jyk stated with a non-sympathetic tone despite the advice.
That's when both of their eyes went wide as they heard a very identifiable rolling sound of metal. P-Type Destroyer Droids could be heard unfolding. "RETREAT!" They heard the Mandalorian, but the sudden sound of screaming bolts of death.
Katyle made it around the corner unscathed, yet just as the Zelosian rounded the corner, she wasn't so lucky.
A blast of energy ripped through the plant human's side, the smell of burning Chlorophyll could be smelt by all within the group. "Gaaaaaah!" The Zelosian slid across the dark reflective floor of the hangar. She began to slowly pull herself across the ground towards her group, only to be met with a barrage of energy bolts.
The five of them just stood there and stared at the smelly husk. "Shit," the Mandalorian stated and looked behind them in the direction of their ship. Just as they were about to make a run for it, the interior defenses of the hangar turned a gun to it and opened fire.
The ensuing explosion sent most of the people standing up to the ground from the force behind it. Toxic smoke and burning debris went flying everywhere, but missed the band of trespassers.
"What in the world...?" The Mandalorian stood there for a few moments until she heard the sound of death rollin around the corner. She looked down at her gun in hand and then glanced over her shoulder. Dropping her weapon, she turned around, but as she was about to put her hands on her head the machines unfolded and opened fire.
She found herself thrown back, the front of her armor scorched. She was clearly knocked out almost immediately. Cyk and Jyk weren't so lucky, being trapped and constantly bombarded. Their armor gave out within a couple volleys of bolts and the crumbled to the ground like a pair of burnt out sandcastles.
Sven was the only one standing, Ceyra however was on her knees just watching everything going down with tears in her eyes. "Shit, shit shit shit shit~!" She just kept on swearing with her eyes closed tightly, yet the volleys of bolts never came.
The P-Type Destroyer Droids just stood there with their shields up. Many of the B2 Battle Droids through the ship began to reactivate and group up around the three survivors.
"Huh?" Ceyra opened one eye and looked at the droids, then towards where Cyk and Jyk were. The shield was gone. Were they being held prisoner now?
Slowly the Mandalorian began to slowly regain her consciousness. As soon as she came to her senses and saw all the droids. She went to reach out for her blaster pistol, but just as she did so, her pistol flew away from her.
"No way..." Katyle croaked as she watched the blaster pistol land in the hand of a man dressed in an unpainted Mandalorian Chassis and armor. His eyes staring down at her, a smug expression on his lips.
"You l–" Katyle was cut off as she found herself picked up off the ground and dragged along the ground on the tips of her toes, until her chest armor was in the hands of the man before her.
"Welcome to the Imperius," Valad stated with a sadistic sneer, using the force to disassemble her pistol and drop it to the ground. He then drew his saber from his sleeve and pressed its mouth against her abdomen. "Do you surrender?"
As she went to move her arms down to disarm him of his weapon, she felt a chilly blade rip right through the chinks in her chassis. A gasp escaped her lips, her hands moving up to his shoulders.
Reaching up with one hand, he would remove her helmet and toss it to the ground. It revealed a soft ebony skin tone. Curly short hair and dark eyes. "Do you surrender?"
He could feel her trembling as she was using him to keep standing. She clenched her jaw and opened her lips to share her purely whites in defiance.
"Surrender," Valad ordered, his tone making her eyes widen a bit. "Your currently employer won't live much longer anyways." Her lips began to tremble as she pulled herself closer to him, wrapping her arms around his neck as her legs gave out.
"I.. Don't want to die." Katyle murmured as Valad brought them both to their knees.
Valad's eye twitched slightly at the words she was spewing. "Surrender and you won't."
The Mandalorian girl bit her lower lip and nodded as she was slowly losing consciousness. He would place his bacta injector against the area of the wound and began injecting. A soft hissing sound could be heard each time he did it as the vials emptied and rolled away from him concurrently.
Once he believed he used enough bacta injections, he began using the force to help heal her as well. Within hours she was fine, in which he let her drop to the ground unconscious.
Sven on the other hand was sitting against the wall beside Ceyra, with a dull expression on his face. "What're you going to do with us?" He didn't sound fearful, but one quick glance in his eyes and he looked extremely afraid.
As soon as he asked this, Riané in her leotard came walking around the corner and looked over the people gathered. "A mandalorian, a techie and..." Her eyes narrowed on the ex-Cadet. "Failed officer?" Her head tilted to the side as she saw the republic patch on his shoulder with a big red X through it.
Sven stared at the girl who had suddenly appeared. She seemed to have stepped over the Zelosian without even batting an eye. Come to think of it, it seemed neither did the guy either.
Sven's gaze rested on Valad who was now collecting DNA samples of the Zelosian and putting it into a container. "Dude, what the fuck?"
Valad glanced over at Sven for a few moments before pulling out his F-11D and taking aim at him once he set the weapon to stun. "What the fuck, dude?" He mocked Sven with a grin, pulling the trigger and knocking him out after a few shots; causing Sven to piss himself.
"Goodnight sunshine."
Ceyra just sat there watching him. "Can you release me now?" She wasn't really effected by what Valad did to Sven or the others. As long as she wasn't going to die, she wasn't bothered.
With a wave of his hand, the wires released the girl and Ceyra found herself falling backwards with her feet folded beneath her. "Ouch..." She muttered as she just laid there after pulling her legs out.
Once the bodies were picked clean, the Zelosian and twin bio-engineered aliens were jettisoned out of the nearest airlock. Droids began cleaning up the debris from the destroyed ship, and the ship itself would begin moving again as the droids in the control tower were reactivated.
"So.. Can you tell me about the contract?" His eyes narrowed on Ceyra was just about to begin relaxing, only to stiffen up. Shaking her head lightly, she sucked in her lips as if to signify her silence. "I have other ways to make you talk..."
Wordlessly, Ceyra opened her mouth in protest.
Riané giggled a bit seeing this, "You should talk, Techie. Pain isn't something you seem fond of."
Weekly Power Status
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Ranking 
-- Power
stone