Star Wars: Too Good To Be True (Closed for Lexavier and HotKittygirl)

It all seemed to be going so well, just for a nano-second Vala felt herself relaxing a bit. She always thought so negatively, just a little faith was needed. With a light sigh she leaned back in her seat, the material of her suit tightening upon her moderate bosom.

That was before it all went to hell.

The dread in Mala’s tone was obvious from her first utterance, the shiver that ran down her spine filled her with a cold chill she had not felt in so very long. With it brought memories she had pushed deep down inside, the fleeting panic fluttered in her breast as Mala literally begged. She hesitated for just a moment though it felt far too long; the dread simply swelled within her and left a sick feeling in her stomach. Her triangular ear s folded flush against her short, violet mane as she leapt from her seat without another thought. A satchel stuffed under her seat was snatched up as she sprinted down the short hallway of their ship, the speed at which the cathar moved simply incredible. She almost collided into the wall as she tried to stop, her eyes filled with the same dread she felt in the pit of her stomach.

“No, no, no, no, no!” She began to whisper under her breath, before she felt the word tumbling past her plush lips. This couldn’t be happening, not to Mala! She had saved her life, saved her from a pitiful existence and showed her the universe. Without truly thinking she undid the satchel and pulled out a datapad and a thick cord. Her claws flicked out and she slashed at the concealed control panel, ripping the cover away as she hurriedly plugged in the pad directly.

“No, not Mala, no, no, no,,” She continued to whisper, beginning aloud as she sliced into the ship’s controls with the ease of a vibroknife through khaddi-nut butter. All the things that were at her control but Vala could think of nothing but reversing the lift. With ease she did such, causing it to halt before rising back into place, she even managed to open the doors. Without even thinking she threw aside the datapad and leapt to her feet, bolting through the opening door as she screamed.

“MALA!” She called her name, a mixture of agony and fear mixed in that typical sultry tone. At the sight of the twi’lek still clutching the droid the cather simply broke down, a choking sob caught in her throat as she lost all control and leapt at her, enveloping the bounty hunter in a tight hug. “Arrrre you okay? I should have noticed—“ She seemed to lose her voice as she buried her cheek against her neck, oblivious to the fact they were in a hostile cargo bay, not knowing what lay on the other side of the next door.

Saxan sighed, leaning back in the control chair. He almost had one of them... still, at least they hadn't gotten into any of the ships more important systems.

Without much hope, he tried sealing the aft loading lift door again, but the expert slicer on the pirate's crew had set up some sort of recursive loop, utterly denying him access to that door - which meant the hardwired safety features would prevent him from dropping the cargo lift again, even if the slicer hadn't set up the same sort of lock-out on that too.

He shook his head. One more door - which wouldn't hold them for long - and they would be in the ring corridor. He vaguely contemplated trying to ambush them from any one of the rooms around the ring... but ultimately decided against it. Too risky by far. He'd wait for them in the cockpit, hopefully getting the chance to negotiate as they tried to slice through the last door.

Burn! This was supposed to be easy... there is no way they are doing this just for fuel... maybe for the ship itself? No... somehow they know what I am carrying..."

Internal scanners now showed two life-forms and the droid. Curious... I expected more... perhaps there are still some on board their ship?

He turned to his copilot. "Hardshell? If you are done with those calculations, see if you can scan their ship, find out how many more people and droids there are aboard..."

The evacuating pressure continued to pull at the Twi'Lek as she desperately clung on to the droid. She couldn't hear, could barely see and could hardly breathe. Each inhale was a dry gasp of pain that left her with almost nothing to exhale. She thought she was going to black-out... and her last thoughts were of Vala. That little kitten needed her, despite how much they'd been through together she hated to leave her like this. What if she didn't complete the mission, their clients would be furious, they'd send ships and hunters to take back what they deserved, right out of Vala's hide. No. She couldn't let that happen, she'd cling on, she'd..... her hands slipped a little more and her mind went to a mush of inconherent panic.

She heard a clunk resounding through the room and adruptly hit the floor as jets of air from each corner equalised the pressure when the cargo door slid shut. Dazed and confused and raggedly drawing in air, Mala just lay there, the cold metal floor felt good flushed to her face. She was vaguely aware of her name being called and suddenly she was in a tight familiar furry embrace. Her senses came flooding back in that tender moment and she drew away, smiling gratefully at her companion. "You did good, kid." she chuckled, clutching at her cheeks as she pulled those beautiful features in for a long lingering kiss. Finally she parted and stood, stretching out her sore joints.

Mala sighed when she realised she'd lost her favourite pistol. But luckily her rifle was still strapped securely across her back. She drew it and her face set into her determined expression. "Lets go bag this guy." she said angrily.

Vala was greeted by a sweet kiss that lingered far too long. She felt a tingle in her frame, a warmth of her loins and a flutter in her breast. Those ears perked back slightly as her lips trembled lightly, a gentle sigh of affection drifting past them. Yet it came to an end and those violet orbs drifted open to peer intently at the twi’lek as she began to rise fully. A look of determination set upon Vala’s visage as she offered a firm nod and kicked up to her feet.

“Yes!” She retorted sharply before dashing back off for her datapad before she returned. Her own pistol was un-holstered and she held it menacingly.

“They’rrrre goin’ pay!” She almost growled as she wrinkled her nose up (though she just appeared more cute than ever) before she stormed towards the other door and set to work.

"Drekk it!" cursed Saxan, his scales flushing an angry red as the lead pirate evaded his trap... and now they were slicing the locks even faster...

"Scanning complete. Docked vessel is now empty, Captain. The two life-forms and the droid appear to be the entire crew."

"Oh...?" In the heat of the moment, the smuggler had forgotten his request to Hardshell. Now, knowing he faced at most 3 opponents, he was tempted to try shooting it out... after all, their droid was probably an astromech just brought along for hacking, rather than anything battle-ready.

But no... he had a slightly safer plan... it depended on how vicious his boarders were. He turned back to the auxilliary console and brought up the cargo control screen.

"OK, Hardshell, start the jumps. Leave 5 seconds between each..."

The entire ship thrummed with power as it entered hyperspace briefly, for just 10 seconds. Not much of a jump, but enough that a sub-light search of the volume of space they could have appeared in would be almost impossible. Then another.

Before the next jump, he hit the emergency cargo release. The whole ship juddered as the two fuel tanks filled with illicit cargo were released from their
clamps and drifted free of the ship.

Then they jumped again, and one last time. Just as the intruders breached the cargo-lock door and entered the ring corridor

Saxan hit the internal comm switch.

"Attention, intruders. I have just dumped the cargo you have come to steal, and the record of the hyperspace co-ordinates is accessable only to me. I don't intend to let you take my ship without a fight - but know this. If you kill me, you will never find that cargo in a thousand years of searching, no matter how skilled you are at slicing or piloting."

He killed the comms.

"There... that should stop them getting too trigger happy." he chuckled.

With that, he drew his blaster, a customised Mer-sonn Model 434m adapted for rapid fire, and stepped into the small chamber just behind the cockpit.

"Let me know whether they go port or starboard, Hardshell" he called quietly.

Mala resisted the urge to throw her arms around her beautiful counterpart. Images of tearing the clothes away from the soft furry skin and making passionate love to her raced through her mind, but that could wait. They'd celebrate their victory in style. She raced Vala to the next formidable door, flanking it, ready to pounce and gripping her gun tightly. The door slid open and she flashed a wary smile at her partner. Slowly they crept in, eyeing every corner suspiciously...

Then she felt the ship lurch, a hyperspace jump... then stopped, then repeated. Each time, she had to grip the wall for balance as they shook. Suddenly a resounding clunk rippled through the ship before one last jump. Then that smug voice came over the comms, god how she wanted to rip the undoubtedly big smile from his face. She swore... loudly, banging her fist to the wall in irritation. Her mind ticked and whirred with thinking as she recalculated the plans. "Only one person knows where that cargo is now...." she hissed through clenched teeth. "Shoot to wound. This ship is bound to have an infirmary of sorts, we'll make him talk..." She redoubled her grip on her gun. No headshots it is...

It seemed a futile effort, the two would get what they wanted regardless of the little games he wanted to play. It only proved to piss them off which was never a good idea and Vala was never more agitated then when her most dearest friend was put in danger. Those triangular ears twitched and flicked in irritation, her trigger finger always got a little twitchy at times like this. Regardless she held the blaster in an easy grasp, her pack slung across her shoulders and her frame poised to react. The cathar offered a nod to Mala and waited for her to proceed. She would make this smuggler pay for trying to kill Mala and the situation became all the more personal. Cats did eat lizards after all.

"They are entering the ring corridor, Captain, on the starboard side of the ship"

Saxan sighed. Of course they were - it would give a right handed shooter the best angle of fire, with their weapon hand on the outside of the curve. These pirates were not ones to make simple mistakes, it seemed.

In fact their only mistake so far was to leave their ship empty... was it worth sprinting around the ring on the port-side, and entering their vessel?

He pondered the idea only briefly. the dark grey of doubt rippling over his skin. That would leave them in sole charge of The Winged Serpent, and if they had any kind of security lock out on their cockpit, he'd be unable to take command of their ship. Skilled pilot, smuggler and negotiator he might be, but he had next-to-no skill at slicing.

Could he use the ring corridor to surprise them from behind? That was more feasible... but again, dangerous. If they decided to split up, he would end up caught between them and cut off from the controls.

No... much as he hated feeling cornered, hunkering down in the secure area just behind the cockpit was the best bet. He could ope the door slightly and spray the corridor with blaster-bolts from relative safety. The dark hue of determination spread across his skin and he cranked the door open slightly, taking a firm grip on his blaster, waiting for the first hint of movement...

Mala looked left to right and the entrance to the curved room, before choosing the right. She kept in a half crouch, eyes darting to every point of cover that the enemy could be using. Glancing back, she nodded confidentally at Vala before moving up to the next door. Their opponent must still be in the cockpit. She wasn't going to make a mistake of presenting an easy target. She pointed to the door and Vala moved to her side to unlock it. Mala's mind was busy, working out their best strategy. He was pinned, but like a wild beast, he would be most dangerous when he was cornered, if only they could get him out of there.....

The door slid open and the pair crouched in silence. The room beyond lead to the cockpit, where he would be, waiting, ready, just like she would be. She considered just waiting, laying siege as it were, but she really didn't want to provide him with any more opportunity to come up with another plan. Damn, this was supposed to be easy.

The cathar followed without complaint or even another word. She kept low and ready, her frame easily bending and keeping in the hunched position. She had one hand on her blaster and the other on her bag, keeping it from jostling too much. Other than that, that sleek, black suit clung greedily to her frame and offered little resistance and even less noise with each graceful movement she made.

Vala settled down beside Mala as she worked on opening the next door, her ears twitching and flicking occasionally as she worked. She found some contentment in her focus, splicing through one more door. She couldn’t help the anger that rose as the door whooshed open fully. She had learned many things in her short life so far and unfortunately, holding a grudge was one of them.

With her sexy Cathar at her side, Mala was free to tackle the problem. Finally it hit her and with silent exultion, she examined the wall beside her. A good solid Durasteel would ricochet a blaster shot a good few times, she didnt even need to be that accurate, just a spray of fire would achieve her goal of making this guy back down. She put her back to the wall, and looked through the door at the wall opposite the cockpit. 'Lets see....' she thought to herself. 'If the door's open a tiny bit... then she'd have to aim .... there.' It was worth a go, it would be no-where near, but it'd give them an element of surprise.

"Vala..." she whispered. "I'm going to give you covering fire, on my mark I want you to jump out and cover the door. If I'm right, the blaster fire so close to his position will make him hesitate and give you an opening. Once he's on the defensive, we'll pincer him." She put her hand on Vala's arm and gazed into her eyes. "Trust me" she said quietly.

Turning from her partner, she took up aim on the wall. 'God I hope this works'. She took a long breath, before finally squeezing the trigger. She fired again and again, the corridor ringing with the sound of her shots, the bolts of energy hitting the wall and flying everywhere. It had to put him off.. it had too....

"Burning Drek!" screamed Saxan as a spray of high powered blaster bolts filled the air, ricocheting off the bulkhead and almost taking his head off. There was a spray of sparks from somewhere behind him and an electronic scream before the choking smell of burning wire and plastic stung his sensitive nostrils.

He flung himself away from the door, dropping his blaster in the process. He didn't have time to look behind him and assess the damage before a graceful, slim arm holding a blaster pistol slid through the part open door and aimed the weapon right between his eyes.

Keeping his skin a careful, neutral shade of pastel green, he slowly raised his hands.

"Ok.. don't shoot. I surrender." he said with a sigh. Although his voice remained calm, he was actually badly shaken, and his body began a natural fear response, pumping out a flood of pheromones. "Perhaps we can come to some arrangement?"

Vala offered a gentle nod of confirmation to Mala’s request, her hand tightening upon the grip of her blaster tightly, already she felt her knuckles going numb. She waited as patiently as she could, the crouched position held faster easier than the anticipation of the moment. Her stomach felt a flutter, a swirl of anxiety and anger. The cathar flinched visibly as Mala unleashed a torrent of blaster fire down the hallway, she could see it bouncing and reflecting off the walls in her mind’s eye. Vala moved on instinct then, that sleek, lithesome frame moving with precise grace as she slid through the opened doors and found their prey in a perfection position of surrender.

He met the muzzle of her blaster pistol, held in an steady grip as those rather intense violet orbs narrowed upon him. Her short hair, nearly the same color, was a vivid and stark contrast to her otherwise stark white fur. She placed a boot over the discarded blaster pistol, kicking it back behind herself towards the opened door and her companion.

“Tell us the coorrrrdinates and might live to be a pain in the ass to somevone else,” Vala snarled rather viciously before she put a boot into his back and held the blaster at his head. For a moment the cathar looked as if she were going to pull the trigger, despite their obvious need for humanoid. In her anger her breathing only deepened, a curious scent coming to her sensitive nostrils though she truly had no idea what it was.

"Oof. Kill me and you get nothing." Responded the smuggler, reasonably. "I'm happy to deal for my life but I need to know that I am, actually, getting to keep that life."

A female...? he thought to himself, not risking turning ot look but the voice was clear enough. And not the same voice as on the comm... could both of the pirates be female? Then maybe...

Consciously, deliberately, he ramped up his pheromone levels. It might just give him the edge he needed to get out of this with his skin intact.

"If you let me up, we could move through to the passenger lounge, discuss this like civilized beings?"

As Vala shot round the corner, Mala held her breath. There was nothing more precious to her than the one she had just sent into peril, yet it had to be done. When she heard the exchange of words, she grinned in exhultion. They had done it, the ship was theirs. She picked herself up leisurely and rounded the corner, leaning the rifle on her shoulder casually. Before she even saw their victim, that strange pungent but not unpleasant smell fill her senses. She paused, taking another inhalation, it was strange, seemingly becoming sweeter the more she smelled it. She released she felt a little dizzy but she shrugged it off.

She lay a blue hand on her partners shoulder, strutting round her into the cockpit. A droid sat in the co-pilots seat. Mala grimaced, droids had unexpected ways of protecting their owners, who knew what commands it had been given in an event of an emergancy. She didn't know enough about them to deactivate it, although she supposed blowing it's head off would have the same effect, she thought it'd just make their victim angry, rather than cowed with fear like he was supposed to be.

She levelled her rifle at the Falleen, standing off to his side at a safe distance. There was no way she was going to give him the opportunity to overpower her, like so many rookies made the mistake of doing. "You'll stay right there until we tell you to move, you understand me Schutta-brains?" She glanced at Vala and nodded her head towards the droid and the controls. She didn't want to have to say it, but the sexy feline would know to check any records and the Nav-computer, incase this guy had slipped up and left any details of where he'd left their cargo. All the while this smell invaded her senses, and she couldn't help but notice his muscled physique, that slight sheen of sweat..... she shook her head and muttered to herself..

"Oh come now, there is no need to be angry. I tried to kill you, but in defense of my ship. You would have done the same. Now you have overpowered me, there is no sense in taking it personally."

His voice was smooth, deep, pleasant and reasonable. As he spoke, he moved slowly, trying to get a little more comfortable, but a warning growl from one of his captors brought him to a halt.

"I certainly don't - I rather suspect that just like me you have simply been paid to do a job - and given the type of job, I suspect that just like me your employer has made clear promises of what will happen if you succeed and if you fail..."

He spread his hands wide on the deck, indicating that they were empty and no threat was intended.

"Right now, none of us have what we want. Somebody has to leave here disappointed but I think we might be able to come to some compromise arrangement... but not whilst I am being kept on this rather uncomfortable floor at gunpoint."