NationStates Jolt Archive

Xiscapian System, Xiscapia, City of Tenfour, Kyat Shipyards Incorporated...

The dead of winter settled in over the Kitsune Imperial city yet again, sending bitter winds hissing through the streets and scattering a light sheet of snow across the drab gray buildings, obscuring shapes in the gloom of dusk and muffling lights in windows. At this time of night the bars would be doing a brisk trade of credits and liquor and some of the nightclubs would be opening for another pulse-pounding, sensual, colorful experience for the patrons of the dirtiest, liveliest and most varied population center in Xiscapia. Here, however, amongst the towering warehouses, barely lit docks and loud, never-ceasing factories, there was little life to be found aside from the nearly brainless worker droids and occasional bored biological overseer. Nestled comfortably amongst all this was Kyat Shipyards Incorporated (KSI), a rather obscure shipbuilding company...if you were a galactic government, that is.
Amongst the denizens of the criminal underworld that spanned the galaxy, Kyat Shipyards was very well known.

Established during the peak of the Korr War, KSI sought to be contracted to build strike craft for the Kitsune Empire to corner the market on next-generation military craft. However, they were narrowly beaten to it by Nakamoto Dockyards, and turned to attempting to design a vessel to fulfill the need within the Alversian People's Navy (APN) for a Customs ship to pursue and capture smugglers. The craft KSI proposed, the Black Raider class, was, however, rejected by the APN for two main reasons: Purchasing and maintaining it would be far too expensive for the budget, and the Black Raider class was too small for their needs, specifically to carry a full boarding party and compliment of heavy weapons necessary to take a enemy vessel by force using ship-to-ship combat soldiers. Undaunted, KSI withdrew it's design and all but fell off the radar, channeling funds and personnel into the Black Raider project while producing a line of engines and sensors for sub capital ships. While the true amount it known only to KSI executives, it is thought billions, if not trillions of credits have been poured into the endeavour, and hundreds of sentients from all different professions have been employed to KSI.

To any outside observer, the accomplishments of KSI would look pathetic: Three types of engines produced for the market, one brand of sensors, a few weapons designs, one ship design and only eight vessels for that class. However, the Black Raider class is highly sought after by all manner of outlaws and smugglers: It is commonly hailed as being one of the fastest ships that doesnt require a reactor, being quick and nimble enough to dance circles around fighters, outrun anything larger than a frigate, and able to make anything smaller than a light cruiser severely regret catching up with it. However, the ship itself costs a staggering amount of credits for one of its size, so none but the wealthiest can purchase it. Though the Black Raider class is capable of functioning compatibly with almost any ship technology in the Known Galaxy, it suspiciously reaches top performance with the parts tailor-made for it; specifically, those produced exclusively by KSI. In the hands of a criminal, a Black Raider class ship would be invaluable: Able to outrun or outfight any Customs ship chasing it for smugglers, able to slip though planetary security on most modern planets for assassins, amazingly fast and certainly superior to any other craft of its size, it would be the gem of a pirate fleet.
KSI knows this.

The shipyard is situated on the capitol planet in a nation that takes its security seriously, the KSI complex is constantly patrolled by armed guards and droids with the latest surveillance technology, overseen by the owner, Kyat himself, who possesses a small army of private security forces. The four remaining Black Raider class ships are kept in four separate underground vaults in the middle of the base, where all personnel and visitors are rigorously background checked and watched. It is rumored armored tanks protect the inner sanctum of the vaults, that the guards are all ex-special forces that shoot first and never ask questions, that Kyat sees and hears everything that goes on in his little empire. In a city full of thugs and cutthroats, mercenaries and thieves, one can never be too careful.
Sadly, careful is simply sometimes not enough.

Kyat Shipyards were indeed well known in the Underworld, both within the Kitsune and far outside of it. The tales of his vessel's achievements as well as their build quality meant that many of the richest wanted one of his ships. They wanted that protection and assurance of speed. One of the Criminal Lords who so desired this was Graba the Hutt.

Situated just outside Alversian Territory, Graba had buit a vast criminal Empire revolving around smuggling. He, or more specifically, his Cronies, smuggled everything from Guilda crystals to Slaves and it had made him a very rich and powerful force in that part of the Criminal Underworld. However, his Empire was now under threat. Slowly but surely, the People's Republic of Alversia, upstanding citizens every one of them, was now starting to take a more direct interest in his business and his practises.

Grabo was losing millions as his Smugglers suddenly found themselves unable to break through to their destinations, when he found that the Customs Fleet of Alversia was intercepting his best ships and confiscating their cargoes. His ships, mostly older vessels belonging to the Smuggler himself, were old, slow and underarmed, not equipped to deal with an Alversian Frigate packed with Custom Troops. As a result, Grabo had decided to build his own fleet, something he could fight the Republic, or the Empire itself with, and not suffer the same damage to his business that there always had been.

So he sent his Representitive to Xiscapia, to Kyat Shipyards, to enquire about the possibility of purchasing one of the vessels. His Lieutenant was a tall man, with armour that covered nearly all of his body and two blaster pistols on his belt, he also looked as though he carried more than that on his belt but, for the moment, only the blasters were indentifyable. He also came with a variety of Mercenaries who were acting as Bodyguards to him.

"I am here to speak with someone about the purchasing a ship?" He said idly, lazily, at the front gates to Kyat Shipyards.

The main gate was a massive, ten foot tall steel door that only rose when the operator behind it told it to. At the moment a simple camera was focusing on the mercenary's face, and his visage and voice pattern was being run though a database to see if he could be matched with any known governments or criminal elements. The speaker pad beside it crackled. "Leave your weapons and escorts outside and prepare to be scanned." Once the man had given his blasters over to his two guards he underwent a scan to ensure he wasn't carrying anything of a suspicious nature. Once this was confirmed the door rose to admit him, showing two armed security men waiting to receive him as well as a kitsune android. "Right this way, sir," the android bowed.

"Thank you," The Mercenary bowed and entered the complex, leaving his Guards milling about outside it. Not that it mattered, for he would be alright on his own, this was not any kind of mission, merely a formal purchase for a piece of hardware.
Outside, the Escorts leant against the steel door and slept, keeping their weapons propped against their bodies in case something went wrong.

The two guards peeled off as the android led the man across what appeared to be a large loading dock into the main building, three stories tall and made of reinforced glass and hardened steel with a small tower on the top. They passed though three checkpoints and over a dozen guards of their way to the spire, finally taking a small elevator up to the top. The final floor was a large and elegant office, old style, with a large, handsome dark wooden desk on which three things were perched: A lamp, a holograph emitter and a nameplate which simply read Kyat. Behind the desk was a large window that displayed the entire Kyat complex, and a good portion of Tenfour, while one side wall was covered by a entire shelf of well-thumbed books which appeared to be on the subject of ship design and components. The fourth and last wall had a door cut into it and held several paintings hung under small lights, one displaying blueprints for the Black Raider class, a second with a beautiful artist's render of the sleek ship, the third displayed a picture of Kyat shaking hands with a certain important (though even younger and not quite as tired-looking in this picture) Xiscapian in a blue and black XIN uniform, and the final was the embossed symbol of Kyat Shipyards Incorporated, the initials with a bursting nova behind them.

Behind the desk sat the kitsune himself: Homo Vulpes, handsome and black-haired with naturally tanned skin, Kyat appeared to be of Forwarnian descent, yellow eyes scanning his guest up and down. As they entered the android bowed again. "A representative from Graba the Hutt, Mr. Kyat." She then withdrew, leaving the Xiscapian and human alone. Kyat indicated one of the high-backed black chairs with silver gilt in front of him. "Sit down, sir," He smiled slightly to put the man at ease. "Can I offer you a drink? Refreshments?"

"Thank you, no" The Mercenary shook his head, "I am here for business, I am afraid and so it is business that I must get down to. I am here because my Employer wants something that can blow Customs to the next dimension. I was told that this was the best place to find it. Was I misinformed?" The Mercenary spoke smoothly, like a man who had done this a thousand times over in a thousand places with a thousand different responses. Though he could not see it throught the helment, he was smiling at the Kitsune,
"An Impressive Shipyard, I see," He complimated the owner himself, as he sat down, there was no one who didn't like the odd compliment, "This business profitable is it?" He asked conversationally.

"As usual," Kyat answered crisply. "Of course, you are interested in purchasing our Black Raider class. However, the price is...considerable, and KSI has a policy of collecting our entire purchase price before we allow the customer to take the item. Only organizations in their entirety are in a good position to purchase our unique vessel, we have only ever had two customers come as individuals. Are you quite sure your employer has a sufficient amount of standard credits to make the purchase?" A datapad was slid over to the representative, displaying a price, though it looked more akin to what the measurement between a planet and star was...in inches. The man had never seen so many zeros in one place before. "Naturally our price rather limits our number of customers, but we do take pride in our work." Kyat interjected smoothly.

"I would expect nothing less," The man replied equally as smoothly, not even flinching at the value that had been placed before him, though internally, he was astonished. All this for one ship?! He could have bought an entire Dreadnought or a Battleship for this kind of money, never mind one piddling ship! Then again, it was what his Master wanted, so he supposed it was what he should get,
"May I see the vessel?" He asked calmly, "Only for this kind of price, I cannot just take your word on it's performance or word of mouth. I must be able to see and test it myself." He looked straight at the Shipowner but, with the reflective helmet on, it would be hard to see where he was looking.

"I'm afraid KSI policies do not allow you to see the ship in person or test it. Standard procedure, for the value of the Black Raider class we can take no risks." Kyat sniffed. "However, I have VR station set up which has reconstructed the Black Raider class down to the atom, where you can see, touch and pilot the vessel as you please. Of course, we assure you a VR experience and the use of the actual ship itself is identical."

"In that case, may I please use a VR room to see what the vessel may be like to control and to fight with?" The Mercenary replied calmly, "I have heard a lot about these vessels from other sources. I have not yet had a chance to use one myself" He smiled behind his helmet.
Soon.

"Of course." Kyat made no visible signal or motion but the same android that had shown the mercenary in stepped up, holding up what appeared to be a music player with a number of wires that appeared to end in nodes. "You'll have to remove your helmet, I'm afraid." Once this was done the nodes attached and the tiny device activated, sucking the man into the virtual world. He found himself in the cockpit of a Black Raider class ship, with a door behind him, two clear bulkheads to either side and a large control panel with a pilot and co-pilot's chairs in front of it. The window showed a starfield outside, without any visible planets, asteroids or other bodies, just pure deep space.

A soft female voice, the one that seemed to accompany all such simulations, spoke from nowhere. "Kyat Shipyards Incorporated thanks you for your interest in the Black Raider class. You are in the cockpit of a fully functional, custom equipped Black Raider class starship. Please feel free to access the controls at any time."

The Mercenary did remove his helmet, to reveal a pure white skinned human, with black hair and blue eyes. His face was covered in scars but most looked as though they had been inflicted a long time ago, with a serated edged weapon. He was now in the VR and he did indeed take her for a spin. He tried a variety of manouvers, he tried shooting and evading various Battleships and was pleased with the performance. As soon as it was over, he looked at Kyat and nodded as he slipped his helmet back on,
"Yes, I think my Employer will be very pleased with this type of vessel." He stated, smiling again through his closed helmet.

Then the room was rocked by a massive explosion.

There was no doubts at all about where it could have come from. The steel doors that guarded the entrance to the Complex were the first obvious targets, smoke and fire raising from them high into the Tenfour Sky. However, it was possible to see, through the black smoke, that the thick doors had been blown off with some kind of concentrated and powerful explosive. They were nothing more than twisted skeletons in the sides of the Complex.
However, there were no alarms, for the second Explosion had been from within the facility, where the weapons were stored, more specifically, as all of the Mercenary's weapons erupted into fire and exploded, taking out the Guardhouse with them. Along with all the Guards who had amassed in the area. The final explosion had hit the main grid in Tenfour. This was a smaller explosion, so small that it sounded like a pop. Despite this, it had managed to cut off power to most of the industrial area, including the Kyat Shipyards, though they had a backup.

Then, through the smoke, came more than three dozen Mercenaries, all in black, with rapid fire blasters. These were not coming in a disorganised and choatic fashion. They moved and fired like members of the Special Forces and their accurate, quick blasts easily cut down the Security who were still stunned by the ferocity of the explosions, grenades were used in large groups so it seemed like Kitsune were flying everywhere in a cascade of fire and steel. Then a series of missiles were fired from Mobile launchers into the complex, hitting most of the buildings but also the back-up reserve power station, plunging the whole area into silence. Kyat Driveyards was an Industrial complex, it was not designed to withstand a military style assualt such as this. The Mercenaries on the ground began moving in disciplined fireteams towards the hangars, cutting down any Kitsune who dared show himself and retaining missiles should armour appear.

Up in the tower, the main Mercenary turned to Kyat, a small hook in his wrist accessory. It was not a weapon, designed for climbing more than fighting, but even so, if he hit Kyat in the neck with it, then it would certainly kill him,
"Take me to the Black Raider Hangar" He demanded.

Taken by surprise, the security men and kitsune in the shipyard were quickly cut down, bodies falling to the ground as blaster bolts smashed against torsos and heads. As the attack began a klaxon went off for a brief few seconds, and then was silenced as the rocket strikes destroyed the back-up generator, along with most of the computers, the lights and many of the doors. On the other side of the shipyard there was what appeared to be some kind of garage with a expansive metal door over it, leading underground. No doubt this was where one of the Black Raider class ships was stored. The mercenaries began to move towards it, their advance lit only by small scattered fires that had begun among the wreckage of the guardhouse and several of the shipyard buildings, but then...
Crack.

The leading mercenaries head exploded all over his comrades as an expertly-placed sniper shot blew it apart, followed by rapid-fire automatic blaster weapons from several of the buildings and from behind shipping containers and crates. The security had reorganized with an unexpected quickness and was fighting back, with snipers and their own forces on the ground.

Spire...
Kyat's eyes went from the hook to the face of the human and to just over his shoulder. "I knew this day would come..." He smiled, but it was a smile of someone who knew something his opponent didn't, and the mercenary would turn just in time to see the android lash out at him but a vicious jab, an blow which would crush his neck like a soda can if it connected. Evidently the construct was not at it seemed, the artificial kitsune moving with a quickness that betrayed it's demure appearance.

As soon as the Sniper had fired, one of the attacking Mercenaries twisted, missile launcher on his shoulder and fired up at the betrayed position of the Sniper. Not only did the explosion incinterate the Kitsune but it also blew out all the windows along the floor he had been standing on.
Two more Mercenaries twisted and fell to the return fire from the blasters as the Troopers quickly found cover themselves and hid, returning the fire as veterans did. As they did so, however, some of the teams moved down into the hangar itself, throwing grenades around corners and shooting at every shadow, maintaining a quick pace so that they would not bog down and Security would be able to focus it's superior numbers upon the Strike Team.
It was not long before they were standing in front of a brand new Black Raider, ignoring the sounds of battle above them, the Teams quickly scanned the room for security systems, disabled any that they found, did a mobile sensor sweep to find any Ambushers or hidden systems and disabled them as well. Then it was all a matter of waiting.

Spire

With a swiftness that almost matched the Droid's, the Mercenary was able to dodge out of the way of the swipe and turn on his attacker. With a single, rapid legsweep, he had the Droid off her feet and on her back, trying to get back up again. A stamp of an armoured foot crushed her head and she was still. The move had taken less than five seconds to complete. No normal human was that fast, though it seemed that this one had the armour to make him as fast, if not faster, than an Android.
He turned back to Kyat, smiling,
"Where were we? Ah yes," He raised his wrist again, "Hangars"

Unfortunately for the man with the bazooka, he couldn't move all the fast with the bulky weapon and was taken down by fire from the security teams seeking to neutralize all the heavy weapons before they could do anymore damage. The attackers would find that they'd been pinned down: Their training and weapons might have been superior, but there was more guards than mercenaries, and they were pouring the heat on, trying to force the enemy to keep their heads down while additional Security attempted to outflank them and at least contain them until the police could arrive. Another three men fell to the assault of weapons fire, adding more corpses to the dozen or so already there. Those thugs that entered the hanger, though, would find they had found a sanctuary: Only automated security was down here, and that was quickly destroyed by fire. Evidently Kyat did not trust anyone so close to his precious ships.

Spire...
Kyat's smile turned into a snarl, face contorted with anger. "You won't get away with this," he hissed, raising his hands despite himself. Moving out from behind his desk, the kitsune executive stepped onto the elevator and sent it down as soon as the mercenary had stepped on.

The Security men who tried to come around the sides were quickly repelled the automatic fire of the Mercenaries, who were acting like proper troops and picking out both targets and threats to each other as they held the positions in front of the hangar. It did not help that a lone missile could wipe out an entire container, and every so often, one was fired and sprayed Kitsune everywhere. Two more Mercenaries were hit and fell backwards from their cover, leaving the way clear for more to take their places and continue the fire.

Then the black Armoured Mercenary appeared at the bottom of the Spire, holding his small hook to Kyat's throat and using him as a shield to move across a yard filled with fire, debris and dead bodies. Once they were in cover, the Mercenary threw the Kitsune off to two of his Comrades and the whole team withdrew into the hangar, firing as they went to keep Security undercover. More were hit and collapsed as this manouver was launched but it did keep the Security teams at bay.

The maneuver into the hanger left a number of mercenaries dead on the ground, and the most fire was being concentrated on the soldiers carrying the missile launchers, who were slower and less equipped to defend themselves than their comrades. The Security teams were forced to stop, however, as they saw Kyat being carried off underground. They couldn't afford to keep up the fight and risk hitting their boss, and they knew moving into the hanger, where the mercenaries were holed up, would cost them more lives than they could sustain. So the hanger was surrounded, these thugs weren't going to escape, even now sirens could be heard as police vehicles came though the streets towards KSI Headquarters. All they had to do was wait until the SLAM teams arrived and it would be all over for these goons.

Hanger...
Kyat didn't struggle: He knew that if he got free they wouldn't shoot him, but they would probably injure him grievously and he didn't care for that. He stared at the single Black Raider class ship, a work of art, his masterpiece, his baby, his life's work. Now about to fall into the hands of some slimy Hutt. "I suppose," he breathed, "you want me to open the ship."

"Got it in one, Sir," The Mercenary stated calmly, "I would like you to open her and open the doors to let us out. If not, then you are dead." He smiled, then looked at his Mercenaries who were fortifying the entrance to the Hangar, making it a deathtrap of blasterfire for anyone who would try to enter. They would get through, of course, but the Mercenaries would hold them off long enough to allow a lone ship to escape into orbit.

Kyat closed his eyes. "Ship 005. Recognition: Kyat. Request: Unlocking of all systems for free use."
The cargo hold and airlock doors on the Black Raider class silently slid open, exposing the dark interior of the vessel. "Hanger Doors. Recognition: Kyat. Request: Unseal and open." The ceiling of the hanger twisted and came apart, exposing black, star-studded sky above and allowing in a rush of cold air. Sandwiched between two burly soldiers, Kyat looked to the leading mercenary. "There. It's all open. Let me go, scum." Outside the sirens were getting louder as the law enforcement personnel approached, and shouts could be heard from the Security teams above.

The Mercenary looked at Kyat and gave an evil smile. It was a smile that was not obvious behind his helmet yet it was there nonetheless,
"And what if I decide to ransom a rich being such as you back to the Government? My Emplyer would stand to make a lot of money from such an enterprise. However," He shook his head as the rest of the Mercenaries quickly boarded the ship and began to activate it, manning the turrets and starting the vessel up. It's engines began to roar as the Mercenary spun Kyat around 180 degrees and kicked him hard in the small of the back.
"Thanks for the Ship! Pleasure doing business with you!" He yelled from the ramp as the last of the Mercenaries leapt in and the vessel lifted into the air, pointed at the sky. And was gone.

Kyat fell to the ground, arms askew, hands over his head as the ship blasted away though the open doors. At the same time a SLAM APC came screeching down into hanger, rapid-fire autocannon swiveling in it's mount to blast away at the escaping Black Raider. This was followed by the laser pistols and blaster assault rifles of the Security and police, but Kyat knew it would make no difference. He himself had designed the standard Black Raider shields to be entirely impervious to small arms fire, and the light turret would barely be a pinprick. The orbital defenses and planetary artillery were alerted, but by the time they reacted the vessel was already in the middle of the system and...gone. Destination unknown.
Stolen!

Kyat was helped up by one of his soldiers (http://corpwns.deviantart.com/art/Praying-Mantis-PMC-MGS4-98169040), who led his boss out to inspect the damage done to KSIHQ. Eight personnel had been killed and six wounded, the main gates and guardhouse no longer existed, the back-up generator and it's housing had been completely destroyed, most of the windows in the PR building had shattered and one floor was threatening to collapse from ballistic rocket damage, plus several of the other buildings had been moderately damaged. It all added up to an estimated two and a half million credits in damages, and even as he watched the bodies were being taken to the morgue, the wounded to the hospital, and the fires were being put out, Kyat only had one thing on his mind: The ship that had been stolen. He stopped next to the corpse of one of the attackers, a human lying on his back with a bloodied chest, one arm splayed out with his rifle next to him. Only seven of the thugs had been killed. Kyat gave it a vicious kick. "GRABA!" He roared to the sky, attracting the attention of several of the aide workers and police, but he didn't care.
The Hutt would pay (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEbE3fGfF-o) for this.

Elsewhere...
I really hate waiting.
Kartosh (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Samuel_Vimes.jpg) idly watched the smoke curl up from his cigarette and collect at the ceiling, blowing it out the side of his mouth as he looked sideways at his partner Skyler (http://ionen.deviantart.com/art/Tanake-Trang-Jedi-52363021). The younger kitsune was frowning in that slight, cute little way of hers...the one that meant someone was going to die, very soon, very painfully.
In fact, that someone might just be Kartosh.

They were standing in front of a huge being: Eight feet tall with leathery brown skin, it put one in mind of a huge humanoid fish, large bulbous eyes staring at both mercenaries. Around them a number of other such aliens stood, armed with enough weapons to reduce them both to ashes several times over, all of them pointed at them. They were on the bridge of a Danaversian capital ship, specifically one of the apparently endless supply of Barracuda Battleships, surrounded by empty space. The Danaversian in front of them snorted and sat down on his command chair, more like a throne, regarding the duo with a stare that, if looks could kill, would have left both Xiscapians as little grease spots on the bulkhead behind them. He finally spoke in gravelly Common, nearly growling in disbelief, throwing up one arm to indicate Kartosh and Skyler:
"These things are what boarded us?"

One of the others stepped forward slightly. "Yes, we apprehended them in Hanger Twelve."
The one in command looked at him. "The security detail we sent to investigate the strange noises near my quarters never reported back."
"Uh..." The other looked around as if seeking help. "Well, we think they met the intruders while they were there."
The Captain scoffed. "How bad could it be?"
The Danaversian shifted uncomfortably. "They're all dead..."
The amphibious Captain looked back to Kartosh and Skyler. "After," he tapped a button on his chair, an armrest peeling back as he lifted a large, orange, glittering gem out of it, "this, were you?"
The two kitsune looked at each other. "Kinda." Kartosh affirmed. "But, uh, we weren't aware it belonged to you...kinda awkward, that, like that time I met Sky's parents...so, yeah, we'll just be going now..."

Originally, the plan had called for their beaming onto the Barracuda and making their way covertly to the Captain's Quarters, where they had tracked the coveted Star Heart fire diamond to. Unfortunately, Kartosh didn't do 'stealth' very well, and had blown away an entire Danaversian Marine team when they'd walked in on the two ransacking the room trying to find the diamond. Amid klaxons and phaser fire they'd made for the hanger where the cloaked Black Raider class Star Snake, their personal ship, was docked, but before they could board it and escape they'd been intercepted by enemy soldiers and taken up here to see the Captain. And here they were, confronted by the beast himself, a notorious jewel collector who had taken the Star Heart from a merchantman he'd intercepted. Their employer wanted the precious stone back, and he would've had it if it hadn't been for a bunch of Danaversians in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"What will I do with you?" The Captain smiled as he thought. It seemed to be taking a long time for those particular gears to rotate. Kartosh wondered if they hurt when they turned. "Oh, please," he held his hands in front of him, "don't hit me in the face. I like my handsome mug!"
The Danaversian smiled wider. "Too bad," he stood, towering over the shorter kitsune. "When I get done with you you'll be lucky if you're own mother recognizes you!" The amphibian brought his rock-hard fist back and swung with all his might.

But the blow met only air. Faster than they could see, Kartosh sidestepped, twisted and, tugging his gun from the grip of one of the guards, jammed it into the Captain's face, smoke clenched between his teeth. "Anybody moves and Mr. Tuna here gets it."
There was a second of silence and stillness as the Danaversians slowly comprehended what had just happened, and, after several seconds, they all began to grin unpleasantly. One of them made a grab for Skyler, who dodged, and, grabbing the beefy arm, and dislocated her attacker's shoulder. He howled with pain as she danced away, but the others began to lumber forward after her. "Hey!" Kartosh shouted. "I'm serious here!" He pulled the trigger.

Click.
The mercenary blinked. "Huh?"
The lead Danaversian lunged forward, and Kartosh had a split-second to think:
Oh yeah, they removed the power cell-
Then the Xiscapian was hit by over three hundred pounds of armored Danaversian, tossing him backwards away from the Captain across the deck. Skyler had obtained a rifle from somewhere and was backing away, blasting liberally as the soldiers tried to organize to return fire, shots destroying computer consoles and scarring the bulkheads. Sparks flew as terminals exploded in flame, belching smoke, and the air stank of ozone. Kartosh began to pick himself up, tasting blood and wiping spittle from his face. "Hold on, Sky."
The female glanced over her shoulder. "What the-"

KA-BOOM!
The entire Barracuda rocked violently, throwing Danaversians about like toys on the bridge. Skyler fell backwards right into Kartosh's arms as he hung on to a rail, grinning madly. "Let's get the hell outta here!"
The rumbling stopped, but the deck seemed to be slanted slightly, weapons and bits of wreckage piling on the other side of the room. Skyler scrambled to her feet and lithely jumped over the groaning mass of Danaversians, while Kartosh walked across the aliens, taking apparent enjoyment in planting his boots on fingers, genitalia and faces. "Do you have to drop bombs everywhere you go?" Skyler asked in exasperation as they entered the hall outside. Kartosh just kept grinning. "It's not fun if stuff isn't blowing up!"

The two began to run though the corridors of the Battleship, running by or over many Danaversians on the way. For the most part they seemed stunned and dim-witted, unable to counter the escaping kitsune before they were already past, though there were a few short-lived close-quarters fights. Finally they made it to the hanger bay, Kartosh decloaking the Star Snake as the Danaversian battlewagon shook again. "Where did you plant those explosives?" Skyler demanded as they boarded. "Um, Engine room when we came aboard, the halls from there to to the Captain's Quarters, the Quarters, the bulkheads in that armory we hide out in...I don't really remember the rest."
Skyler stared. "Kartosh, these ships are powered by highly volatile reactor cores..."
Kartosh stared back. "Oh shit."

Seconds later they were speeding though deep space, as fast as Kartosh could push the patrol-sized craft. "How long do you think-"
On the monitors the Barracuda erupted into flames behind them, breaking apart into several pieces as the reactor overloaded and tore itself apart, shredding the interior. Both mercenaries watched quietly as thousands of Danaversians died instantly.
"Well, that was fun," Kartosh laughed.
"All that and we didn't even get the Star Heart..." Skyler sighed wistfully.
"Ah, ah," Kartosh reached into his pocket and pulled out the huge gem. "Never underestimate my pickpocketing skills. Bastard was so busy concentrating on the gun barrel on his cheek he never noticed it was gone."
Skyler smiled coyly, pushing closer to her partner. "Sometimes I really love you."
"Mmm-hmm," Kartosh put his hands on her back, sliding slowly down towards her shapely rear-

Bing.
Yellow eyes rolled in their sockets. "Aw hell, now what." Kartosh groaned as Skyler turned around and keyed in a small flashing blue button, turning up a message. She read it closely, bending down slightly over the control panel, blue hair falling over her face. "Hey," she beckoned to him, "take a look at this."
Kartosh looked over her shoulder. "Kyat? That's the guy I bought the Star Snake from! I haven't missed a payment-"
"No, no," Skyler waved her hand impatiently. "Seems like someone attacked his main shipyard yesterday on Xiscapia. Wants our help, promises a good reward."
"They all do," Kartosh turned away. "This one doesn't have some brat of his kidnapped too, does he? 'Cause if that's how it is, there ain't no way. I'm sick of these stuffy businessmen-"
"Doesn't say," Skyler interrupted, "just asks us to show up sometime within the next forty-eight hours, or he'll look for someone else."
"Well..." Kartosh sighed reluctantly. "I suppose we could do it. His place?"
A nod. "Yup."
"Let's go return this rock and see what Mr. Kyat has to offer us."

A second message was sent to a second pair of private contractors. Kyat wanted this job done, even if he had to hire a hundred mercs to do it.

ping

A groan followed the ping, indicating that a message had been recieved into the databanks of the vessel currently floating in deep space. It was in a safe area, away from the pirate routes, away from the covoys and Naval patrols. In other words, it was in a completely safe location, with only the stars and randomly floating pieces of asteroids as company. The ship would have looked out of place in the middle of all this, was it visible. Yet it was not, for the vessel was cloaked, safe from preying eyes, hungry and oppurtunistic eyes that would think nothing of stealing it for their own gains. However, only a fool would try to do something like that.

For the vessel was the Elixir of Life, another Black-Raider-Class vessel that had been designed and produced specially to the requests of the Owner. The vessel shared the same characteristics as it's sister ships, being the best there was in the business for Smugglers. It was armed with missiles, turrets, EMP launchers and a variety of other weapons and gizmos that would surprise even the hardest veteran in any navy, for the Elixir had been bought by a Mercenary for a Mercenary's job, to be flexible and able to cope with anything that could be thrown at them. Only the best could afford this type of hardware, the sort of people who dealt with Governments daily and took their payments in millions, if not billions of credits. Who was this hardened Mercenary.

Nathaniel T. Barnes. Reputed by many to be a Genius amongst geniuses. However, this concept was held only by those who had not met him and perferred to a keep up a romantic concept of the heroic and clever Alversian who would always keep his enemies guessing. In truth, Nathan was an Idiot. Always had been, always would be. A man who trusted more in the moment than in careful planning. He was an idiot who left the planning up to his partner while he did the most important part, the actual blowing of stuff up. At this very moment, the alert and always awake Mercenary was fast asleep, his loud snoring filling the small cabin with his punctured snorts.

The second of the pair was also asleep, though she was sleeping in a much more delicate and quiet manner, her chest raising and falling majestically as she slept silently. She was a Kitsune, unlike her partner. Her fox ears were perked, always prepared for anything, her hand on her katana hilt, should something happen when she was asleep. Her rust coloured tail was wrapped around her body, almost like a second blanket as she slept. Her name was Chloe, born of the Nobility and now amongst the lowest of the low in Society, someone who worked for money, risking death for no real reward. She was the smarter of the two Partners, she was the one who took the contracts and handled the money. However, apart from the pinging noise, the cab was silent.

Then, a flash of blue appeared in the ship, scanning the walls and floors before gathering into the centre of the room, building up into the image of a girl. She looked in her early twenty's, with long blue hair and deep blue eyes. Her entire body, even her clothes, were blue and she took one look at the console and sighed. She turned into the main area of the ship, where the two Mercenaries were sleeping peacefully and coughed,
"Chloe?" She asked quietly, not recieving an answer, "Chloe?" She tried again, this time gently nudging the Kitsune.

That got a reaction alright. In a panicked sweep, the katana that she had been holding flew up and hit the blue figure in the side of the neck in a move that would have severed her head, apart from one thing. She was not a physcial being and, thus, the metal merely passed through. Chloe sat up, shivering slightly, panting to regain control of her breath, yellow eyes on the blue being. Once she had been analysed, then Chloe relaxed,
"Sorry, Katie," She sighed, "I did it again didn't I?"

"Yes, Chloe," Katie replied softly, "But it's nothing that I can't handle. Same problems?"

"Yeah," Chloe looked out one of the portholes on the ship, watching the world drift by, "Same problems" She was silent for a moment, then looked back at the hologram of an Alversian, "Why did you wake me? Bored again?"

"No," The AI replied quickly, "...well...maybe a little. But that's not why I woke you up. I wanted to tell you that you had a message. It may be important." She nodded towards the console.

"Thank you, Katie, it may indeed be important, well done," Though she was an AI, Katie liked being complimented the same as any other creature. Even now, she smiled in happyness in reponse to the statement as Chloe walked across to the console, stretching as she did so, before looking over the message.

"Well, well, well," She said to herself, then saw the puzzled look from Katie, "It seems we have been recalled to Kyat Shipyards, appartently, he has a job for us."

"Wow," Katie seemed excited, then closed her eyes for a second. With a whirring and a crack, the Elixir was in Hyperspace, "We're already enroute."

"Perfect," Chloe picked up a piece of equipment from the table and held it in her hand. She did nothing with it, other than look at it, as if trying to guess it's weight just by holding it. When she was satisfied, she flung it across the ship to hit the other sleeping figure curled up beneath a series of blankets. The indication that she had hit her target was when he rose from the bed in alarm, holding a pistol the wrong way around,
"Red alert!" He called, "All hands to...oh...it's just you," Nathan looked at her as though he had never seen her before, "Ah well, leave the report on the desk will you?" He turned over and went back to sleep.

"Ah well, so much for that," Chloe decided not to bother having another go. She knew Nathan well, he and her had been travelling the universe for eight years now and she could read him like a book. She knew he would want this contract. So she was happy to sit and talk to Katie, the AI, about nothing important, certainly not about what her nightmares consisted of.

For they were nightmares.

The Elixir was going home.

When the Star Snake arrived at Kyat Shipyards Incorporated Headquarters early the next day much of the battle damage had been swept away or repaired. The glass had been replaced, the rubble cleared away, bloodstains cleaned, bullet casings and spent energy cells picked up, even the android was functional and appropriately servant-looking again. However there were still cracks in the ground and buildings from the grenade and rocket blasts, the charred remains of the guardhouse remained, the gates were now a large emergency forcefield, and several areas still had evident fire damage. Security men continued to patrol, wary now, with twice as many on duty as before, snipers in or on top of all the buildings and police barricades and officers outside the complex. The attack had received much public attention, as a quadrant of Tenfour had been without power for several hours before the power station converter could be repaired, though the public had not been told exactly who had perpetrated the assault or what had been stolen.

One of the only three legally independently owned Black Raider class ships set down at the designated spot inside the base, settling easily in as it always had. Waiting for them was the android with an escort of four security soldiers, and as Kartosh and Skyler emerged blinking in the bright light of Tenfour they were told to wait in the spire, where they would remain until the others arrived, so Kyat could speak to them all at the same time. Kartosh took his weight off one leg to the other as he looked around: He remembered KSIHQ as being much smaller and less physically impressive. Business must be going good for Kyat...well, until recently.

The Elixir was not long after the Star Snake, settling down with a hiss, back again after just a short while gone. They were back in the compound, taking a note of the damage inflicted upon the area since they had last been here. Chloe sighed at the sight. She wondered how many people had been killed in the attack. On their way to the meeting and, with Chloe's coaxing, both Mercenaries had done some research and now knew all about the attack and what had happened.
Nathan got out of the Elixir and had quick look around, whistling to himself, seemingly unseeing the devastation in the area. Chloe was more keen and looked with pity at the jumpy Security Guards who were probably worried out of their skins by the attack. What if it happened again?

Nathan was jumpy as well, but for some other reason. Chloe was watching him for a moment. She was about to look away when she found she could not contain her curiousity,
"What are you doing?" She asked him, almost dreading to hear the answer.

"Well," Nathan hesitated, "Remember those nice Couplings we put into the Elixir?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, let's just say that Mister Kyat donated them...unknowingly"

"You mean you stole them"

"Hey, just announce it to the world sure! I 'borrowed' them."

"Well then," Chloe smiled, "You had better hope you're not caught then."

Nathan and Chloe were directed up towards the Spire and, once they had emerged at the top, they broke into wide grins,
"Well, well, well," Nathan laughed, "We have to stop meeting like this, Y'know"
Chloe walked up to Skyler and gave her Comrade a hug, quite unKitsunelike
"You been called too?" She asked quietly.

Kartosh grinned at least equally as wide as Nathan at the sight of the other mercenaries. "I swear you guys follow us," he joked, walking over to them. "Least we don't have another brat kid to rescue..."
Skyler embraced Chloe. "Yes," she nodded as they broke apart. "The attack...our sources say it was Graba the Hutt."
"Was only a matter of time before someone decided they wanted a Black Raider without the huge pricetag." Kartosh chuckled. "When we bought the Star Snake she was a lot less, and we're still paying off what we owe."
At that moment the android stepped into the little waiting area from the door beyond. "Mister Kyat will see you now," she said softly. Kyat's office would look exactly as it had for the mercenary, but Kyat seemed ill at ease. He smiled and bowed to them as was custom, but his eyes darted between the four and his smile seemed fixed, glazed. "Welcome to KSI Headquarters, I'm glad you could all come."

"I know, we're the same," Nathan laughed, "All of the money we make, all of the missions we complete and we're still paying off our mortgage. Even as he said it through, Chloe picked up on something that Skyler had said,
"Graba?" There suddenly a massive change in the stunning Kitsune's stance and attitude as a thousand memories hit home hard. Her eyes began wide and dilated with a fear that looked as though it belonged on the battlefield. Her body began to shake slightly and her chest began to heave, as if she were being forced to physcially keep her breathing under control,
"A...are you...sure?" She asked weakly, quietly, trying not to attract the attention of either male as she spoke, trying to localise her terror to just the two females.

Then the droid came in and happily cut their conversation short.
Chloe and Nathan sat beside one another, Nathan was looking over Kyat, seemingly not noticing his condition,
"Anytime, Mate, anytime. By the way, thanks for the new...addition," He winked, "Though is there was a way to program her so that she won't take Choe's side everytime?"

Chloe was sitting in the chair, trying to look small. The beautiful Kitsune sat with her legs pressed tight together, breathing heavily, eyes fixed on Kyat with the same short of stare that he was giving them, an empty blank gaze.

Skyler just nodded to Chloe as they entered Kyat's office, the two mercenaries sitting on Kyat's right side next to each other. Skyler shot Chloe a look but didn't say anything, turning her attention to the Xiscapian executive. If he was in bad shape, it was nothing compared to what was being exhibited by the female mercenary.
"Well..." Kyat looked uncertain. "Our K class A.I. is fully programmable, but she," he looked at Nathan, "your model is a female, yes, won't like it. They enjoy their individuality, the K class, though she can always be replaced with one with less personality if you wish."

The Xiscapian clasped his hands on his desk. "As you all undoubtedly know, this complex was attacked last night by mercenary soldiers sent by Graba the Hutt. In addition to killing several of my Security men and causing over two million credits in damage, they made off with," he swallowed hard, "one of my Black Raider class ships." His voice almost became choked with emotion. "You have both," he looked from Kartosh to Nathan, "purchased a Black Raider class in the past, which are sitting out there on the pad right now. So you know what they can do, what these ships are capable of.

Graba is a Hutt, and Hutt's are famous for their love of wealth and material possessions. Between the competing clans, Hutts find it more enjoyable to strip a rival of all his credits and assets than to kill him or her, and I will take that stance here. Graba is the King of a powerful criminal empire, which lately has been under assault from People's Republic, Imperial Kitsune and Syndicate ships, all of whom take offense to the operations and presence of Graba and his goons. No doubt this is a response, they will probably attempt to reverse-engineer the ship to create their own using captured scientists from my own labs. My people are well protected, and there are certain critical components to each Black Raider that only I know, but Graba's illegal ownership of one of my vessels is simply unacceptable.

There is five main objectives I wish for the four of you, as a team, to complete. There are only two other Black Raider ships in existence that are not in my hands aside from the stolen one, and their owners are not for hire, so I must turn to you. The first is the destruction of Graba's main smuggling depot, which is somewhere inside or very close to the People's Republic. This is also a recruiting area for the majority of his mercenaries and smugglers: The razing of the depot will send a signal to the rest of the galaxy that Graba is not to be associated with any longer. Graba also keeps a significant portion of his smuggled goods at this depot, which are no doubt valuable and available for your looting pleasure, should you choose to accept.

The second Objective is rather more problematic. Graba owns a large asteroid in the Miller System, which he uses slaves to mine precious ore for sale. I believe the Kitsune Empire and the Syndicate are aware of it's existence, but they dare not make an attack on it, the Kitsune Empire for fear of accidentally killing the slaves kept there, the Syndicate because they have insufficient forces to do so. Graba has a small pirate fleet to protect the asteroid, though I do not think this will be a very large obstacle for any of you. I want you to infiltrate the asteroid and, after destroying the ore and mining facilities, free all the slaves. I find slavery to be distasteful and to shut down the asteroid operation would be a huge blow to Graba.

For either of those two objectives, I do not care if you elect to coordinate with the Kitsune Empire, People's Republic or Syndicate to complete them. However, the other three must be done alone. I cannot stress this enough. The third Objective will involve your finding and recovering the stolen Black Raider, the major reason I contacted you. No ship in the galaxy can catch a Black Raider except another Black Raider, and two is even better. You'll recall that an Alversian Battlecruiser Formidable was destroyed by a Black Raider class during the Rebellion, so that rules out most capital ships to engage this stolen craft. Once the stolen ship is in your hands, you must send it back to me immediately. I need not mention the repercussions if you decide to keep it.

The fourth Objective details your locating and destroying Garba's stronghold, where the majority of his wealth is stored and most of his smugglers and thugs are situated and based. I do not know the location of his castle, although the Syndicate will no doubt be all too happy to sell it to you. You will destroy or steal all Graba's valuables and generally inflict as much damage to his home as possible. I want him to know all his assets have been destroyed or captured, that his wealth has been stolen or lost, that his empire is in shambles. Then, as your last objective, I want you to kill him."

Kyat sat back in his seat, smiling, hands comfortably behind his head. "I realize this is a lot to ask for, and I will pay you all handsomely. Namely, I will absolve you of your debts on all equipment and both ships purchased from me, and give you ten percent discounts on all KSI products in the future." Kyat's offer represented several million credits in savings on the debts alone, and the ten percent was very tempting, especially considering the incredibly high prices of KSI's accessories and systems. However, the mission would take some time and involve a considerable amount of favors called in, risk death countless times and involve a lot of combat.
Kartosh and Skyler were sold.

"Relax Mate," Nathan waved away Kyat's offer to reprogramme the AI, "I like her the way she is, fiery temper and everything." He grinned as he listened to what he wanted doing and sighed at the scale of the operation being proposed. It could take months to complete, all that time to find and destroy everything that he was demanding would require favours being called in left, right and centre as well as the expendeture of considerable resources to ensure completion.

But the offer was more than worth it. All that money! Free up the debts from the Elixir and her upgrades. Katie had not been cheap and she was just the latest in a long line of unpaid upgrades needed to keep the Elixir ahead of her opposition. The only ships that could match her were her sisters so he understood the importance of the mission. And the reward! 10% of Kyat's sales? That was a considerable fortune right there, though he was clever, for he must have known that the money would just be pumped back into his Company to pay for new upgrades and new systems. Still, it was a lot of money. That left just one problem.

Chloe

Nathan glanced sideways at his Partner, seeing her reaction to the news on what they had to do. She was still pale, staring into the distance and he did not blame her. Even a mention of Graba was enough to make her blood run cold, while it was enough to boil his. This was his perfect revenge, the chance to hit the ugly Hutt right where it hurt, kick him in the nuts, so to speak. His only concern was weither Chloe was ready or not to face her memories. But in the same way that Chloe had known Nathan would accept the invitation, he knew that she would accept the mission, if only for him.

He gave one nod,
"We're in." he confirmed, while Chloe maintained her position, tail wrapped around her, like a shield against an unknown enemy. She did not speak.

Nathan had only one question,
"When do we start?" he laughed, trying to distract the others from Chloe. She would not want them to see her like this.

"Immediately," Kyat answered. "You'll need all the time you can get, of course." Kartosh was listening to their new employer, but Skyler was now staring at Chloe, convinced something was very, very wrong. "Naturally KSI will share any further Intelligence we gain on Graba, but from here on out you're on your own, whoever you might enlist to help you excepted." He stood and bowed to them before reaching across the desk to shake the hands of all four mercenaries. "I look forward to hearing the news of each completed objective."

Kartosh shook Kyat's hand firmly, and Skyler took it as well, busy wondering about Chloe. What in all the galaxy had gotten into her?

Nathan shook Kyat's hand, nodding at the instructions he had recieved from the Kitsune. He was thinking about what he was going to do from here as they stepped from the office and back into the open air again. Nathan grinned at Kartosh and Skyler,
"Right then," He stated, rubbing his hands together, "Where do we start?"
Chloe still had not said anything as Kartosh and Nathan began to talk about explosives and contacts. She seemed to be miles away, still whiter than normal.

"Where to start?" Kartosh shrugged. "I dunno, we still got plenty of guns and ammo from the last time, so I think we can pretty much start right on objective number one. Seems ta me like we need to find out where this depot of Graba's is, and see if we can enlist some kind of help from one of the governments or the Syndicate ta help crack that particular nut."
Skyler was still looking at Chloe, but she turned her attention away from her fellow kitsune. Whatever was going on in that pretty head of hers would have to wait until later: They had a criminal empire to take down.

"Well," Nathan was still thinking, "If his base in Alversian Space, then I think the Navy would be more than willing to help, then the same if he's in Xiscapian Territory. The Syndicate would be useful in both cases but they would want a cut of the profits." Nathan stopped to think, then looked over at Chloe,
"What do you think?" he asked her tenderly, causing her to snap out of her trance. She looked from one to the other as if fearing something, then stopped to think,
"Well," She said, rather flustered, "I...I think we should wait and see if we can find the location using the Syndicate's information. Once we have their location, we can use the Navy to help us bust the area." She finished, breathing heavily with a final sigh.

Even Kartosh noticed it this time, and if you could get anything that didn't involve booze, breasts or bombs into that kitsune's skull easily you had a problem. "What's up?" He asked, looking fully at Chloe as did Skyler. He'd never really had much of a relationship with her, sure she came with Nathan on missions and whatnot, but they'd never really spoken before. That was Skyler's arena. "'Scuse us," the other female put an arm around Chloe's shoulders and carefully led her off a bit towards where the Star Snake and Elixir were landed.
"Give it to me straight," she looked her fellow mercenary in the eye, "what's your problem?"

Meanwhile Kartosh half shrugged to himself. "Syndicate will want a lot for that info," he muttered to Nathan, trying not to look over to where Skyler and Chloe were conferring.
OOC: TG

"Me?" Chloe looked at her, the same lifeless gaze, "Nothing I..." She stopped, as if the effort of trying to cover up what she was really feeling was just too much for her to bear at this stage. She looked at her fellow Kitsune and shook her head,
"I've had...issues with Graba before..." She stopped herself, before she really revealed anything and quickly looked away, convinced that she had said enough to satisfy Skyler for the time being. Everything about her body language indicated something was wrong, from the way her ears were drooped over or the fact her tail was limp and sad. She did not seem herself.

Nathan sighed, not looking in the female's direction,
"Of course they'll not be cheap," He shrugged, "But we don't really have a choice. It will be a worthy investment if we can get the location of the base from them" He was not looking at Chloe and her change in condition seemed to have dampened his mood as well.

Skyler nodded in understanding, though she really didn't. But the perceptive kitsune realized that now was neither the time nor place to grill her other team member. They couldn't afford to have Chloe fall apart even before the mission got underway, and the Xiscapian obviously didn't want to talk about it now. Not pressing the issue, Skyler walked back to the others.

"We should be able to find a contact and get what we need right here in the city," Kartosh was saying. "The APN will probably be able to help us with the depot, and the XIN might send something so we can take that asteroid later on. I'm just worried about the price the Syndicate might set, and I'm not talking about credits. They might want a share of whatever Graba's got in that depot, and that might not go down so well with the APN."

"All we need is a location," Nathan shrugged, "The Syndicate need not take part in the attack. We can use them to give us the location, then contact the APN or the XIN and use them to destroy the Depot. If the Syndicate are demanding more than we are willing to pay, then someone in the universe must know where his depot is." Nathan shrugged, "How hard can it be?"

Chloe returned to Nathan's side, still looking uncomfortable, not even bothering to try and discuss the mission. In this case, she was more than happy to let Nathan do the talking for her.

Kartosh shrugged back. "It's the Syndicate," he answered, "you never can tell, with them." Skyler spoke up. "Let's just find a contact and get the location, once we've done that we can worry about getting help."

"Agreed," Nathan nodded, "Let's go." Both pairs of Mercenaries split up and headed for their own ships. Once Nathan and Chloe were on the Elixir, and the ramp had been sealed. Nathan turned his attention to his partner.
"You okay?" He asked tenderly, eyeing her with concern, "You ready to do this?"

"I...I..." Chloe shook her head, "I don't know, Nathan, I don't know if I'm ready to face him yet...to face...him..." She stopped and looked to the floor, small tears od fear starting to run down her checks and hit the floor around her.

"Hey," Nathan took her and held her close, allowing her to bury her head in his jacket, feeling her silent sobs rack her body,
"Hey Shush, You'll be okay," he put his chin on the top of her head and just let her cry away her fear, "You'll be okay. You have me, Kartosh and Skyler with you this time. We'll make sure nothing happens to you. You'll be fine."

And that's how they were as Katie took control of the Elixir and brought her up into space. One Mercenary comforting the other, making sure that she had the strength to face anything she was confronted with.

The Star Snake had already acended into orbit and was opening communications with the contact Kartosh knew. The holoscreen would display, in addition to the other two mercenaries, a third human-like Xiscapian, wearing a long brown trenchcoat and spectacles. He looked irritated. "Yous better be prepared to pay big for that information. The Kyodai was gonna to be commitin' Shatei to a raid on that depot with others under the Shateigashira. The Oyabun won't be happy when he finds out somebody's already gone in and taken the place out. One hundred thousand credits." he was saying as Nathan and Chloe linked into the conversation.

Kartosh raised his hands defensively with a disarming smile. "C'mon now, Maynard, we're not asking for anything here except a location."
"It's suicide," the one called Maynard shot back. "Four mercs against the whole depot? That place is like a fortress, even the Ferran Navy couldn't-"
"Ferran Navy?" Skyler asked. "So it is in Alversian space."
Maynard looked angry. "Qonndamnit Skyler. Okay, fine, seventy-five thousand for the depot, plus your warnin' in advance if the APN or XIN is gonna to get involved."
"Fair enough." Skyler nodded, tapping at the control panel of the Star Snake. "The money's en route."

"Okay, listen carefully, I'm only saying this once," Maynard looked around conspiratorily. "Graba's depot is in Alversian territory, within Ferran space. It's in the capitol on Farren, in the western district, posing as a defunct water treatment plant near a dipliated spaceport. It won't look guarded, but don't be fooled, they've got goons watching the place 'round the clock. We're not sure how many there is, but estimates say there's at least fifty at any given time, not countin' all the smugglers and clerks. The cops don't do raids 'round that place 'cause Graba's got the whole city council paid off. 'Yond that, I don't know nothin'."

Nathan and Chloe listened silently to the conversation that was occuring between the two Mercenaries and their Contact on Xiscapia. When the Ferrans were mentioned, Nathan's shoulders slumped visibly and he gave a sigh. Ferra was a good place to set up a depot like that, it was famous for it's corruption and, despite the Alversian Intervention in the area, it was hard to flush the total corruption from the system. It would make things difficult, especially if they had the Ferran Police onside.

Ferra was a cesspit, the perfect place for a Smuggling operation, a place where a constant three way war was waged between the corrupt Police, the oppurtunistic smugglers and the Alversian-Influenced Army. If the Police were watching the place, then this could indeed become a very, very choatic battle. The perfect kind of battle for Nathan.

He waited until the conversation was over and the Informant had gone before he spoke,
"This is going to be an interesting mission," He grinned. Chloe smiled as well, her mind still spinning.

"No kidding, I used to do runs to Ferran," Kartosh nodded. "Real hole, that place, I used to operate out of the town of Dying Slowly. Yeah," he said at their expressions, "that's what they named their city: Dying Slowly. Nice people, if they're not paid off by somebody they're paying somebody off, or they're killing people who didn't pay. I bet most of Graba's men come from Ferran."

Skyler was already keying in the coordinates for when they would need to make a jump. "Are we going to get help from the APN or XIN?" she asked the other two. Personally she thought it would be nice to have a battlecruiser's worth of troops to back them up if things got ugly, but it was also quite possible federal officers could interfere with matters. Mercenaries, smugglers, bounty hunters and other outlaws didn't have a very good reputation in the Kitsune Empire or the People's Republic, themselves aside.

"Yeah, the Ferrans are not exactly friendly," Nathan grinned, "but I don't think we could persuade the Navy to help us, though . It would be too messy Diplomatically to just land a Battlecruiser in Ferran and start fighting. However, I think there is another agency of the Alversian Forces to help us. They're not quite as picky about Diplomacy as the People's Navy and I think they'll more than useful," He looked from one Mercenary to another with a beaming grin,
"Shall I contact the Alversian Customs Agency?"

"Customs," Kartosh sighed. He and Skyler had had more than one run in with Alversian Customs personnel before. "If you're sure they won't try to go for us at the same time, do it. We'll probably need the extra help."

"I can assure you Kartosh, Customs knows when to go for the bigger fish," He was still grinning, "And I have another Contact we can call in as well, one who may be useful throughout our mission and not cost us a dime to employ. Shall I contact her as well?" He laughed aloud, enjoying himself now.

"Won't cost us anything?" Kartosh looked suspicious. "If it's one of those damn Alumina again, I'm going to want her to be paying me!"

"Ah, my illusion was as subtle as a Brick thrown by a wounded Danaversian with a Hangover and a very large megaphone," Nathan grinned, while off-screen Chloe's voice whispered at him,

"Nathan, a five-year old could see through one of your illusions, so stop trying to create atmosphere and tell them about the bloody contact."

"Alright, alright," Nathan waved the command away and grinned at the two Mercenaries,
"Yup, she is an Alumina and she owes us a big favour. If you're gonna get into a scrap, trust me, you can do no wrong with one of these by your side."

Kartosh still seemed uncertain. "Big fucking favor, then, to take on a whole building filled with thugs."
"We're not exactly in a position to refuse help," Skyler said dryly. She didn't hadn't liked the Alumina the last time they'd met one either, but they were undeniably good at what they did, whatever that might happen to be. "Make your contact...is she government or freelance?"

"Government," Nathan reported, "But she's based on Ferran. I'll send her a message to meet us at the port once we dock. Once we have that sorted, all we have to do is find the place. I think she can help us find the depot. But we'll have to use the Syndicate for the locations of the other places" Nathan smiled at the thought of fighting alongside an Alumina. He had not done it for years. Chloe had never had the pleasure.

What is an Alumina doing on Ferran? Skyler wondered. Kartosh nodded. "Send a message to Customs first, then we make for Ferran."

"Agreed," Nathan grinned again as he cut the transmission and scooted off towards Ferran. Chloe was still beside him in the cockpit, pale with worry and anxiety. Why her? Of all people, why her?

It was a few hours later when they finally arrived at Ferran and settled down in one of the city's many spaceports. It did not look a remarkably wealthy city, for even the largest buildings looked shoddy and grimy. It did seem to carry a sense of menace with it everywhere. Even the air was dirty
Standing and waiting at the platforms was their greeter, the Alumina. As tall and as powerful as the rest of her species, she looked from one Mercenary to the other in mild dissapproval, rather than outright hostility. However, on the parts of her skin not hidden by clothes, there was evidence of brutal and bloody scarring while one of her ears had been torn to shreds. They would also notice that, while one of her eyes was a fierce green, the other was a much paler green. There was no expression in it, she was blind in one eye.
She nodded to both pairs of Mercenaries, Chloe returned the bow while Nathan made the introductions,
"Pantheria-Commander Dacius? Allow me to introduce Kartosh and Skyler, two of our Mates and now partners on this mission,"
"Charmed, I'm sure," There was no sarcastic tone, no sense of bitterness in the Alumina's words, she just bowed to them both.

"Aye," Kartosh and Skyler bowed almost in unison. "We've got everything we need, and I assume you know what we're here for, so..." He patted his pistol. "lead the way."

"Indeed," The Alumina turned and stalked through the narrow streets of the City, expecting the four Mercenaries to keep up with her long, powerful strides. She took them through a variety of shacks, of rubbish tips and into an area that looked as though it had been hit by an orbital bombardment. The background noise was one of machinary and gunfire. It sounded like a constant battle in the background,
"To travel though the badlands of Frena is deemed to be a suicidal feat," Dacius explained as she passed what looked like two dead bodies, "However, there are few in this area who will fight with me." She left that in the air as she walked.
Nathan and Chloe were struggling to keep up with the Alumina, as would the others, for they were not as tall nor as powerful as she,
"Told you she would be useful," he muttered to Kartosh as they walked. Chloe was still silent.

"Didn't...expect..." Kartosh panted. "We'd have to...fight the whole...fucking population too!" Things have really gone downhill since I left. He thought. I wonder if it has anything to do with Graba's operations here. He had to jog to keep up with their guide, and Skyler was just behind him, swearing occasionally under her breath.
OOC: Isn't Nathan about as tall as Dacius?

OOC: About a foot in difference.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, they arrived at a large and abandoned powerstation complex. The walls that surrounded the many buildings were black and the windows dark, but Dacius was not fooled,
"There are guards on every second window," She explained lazily, still quite rested after her jouney, Nathan could keep up with her handly enough, but the smaller Kitsune had had to jog in order to maintain her fast pace,
"They are heavily armed but they are only local thugs. Graba's most valuable items are deep inside the complex, in the old generator building, protected by his best Mercenaries."

"Right." Nathan stopped for a moment, thinking, "What to do next..."

"What kind of safeguards does Graba have?" Skyler asked Dacius. Hutts were slimy, tricky creatures, and she was willing to bet he had more than a bunch of mercenaries to guard his treasures. "Extra security systems, vaults, battle droids? Does he have the local police on his side?"
Kartosh spoke up. "Essentially, what's stopping us from just blowing the whole place up?"

"Amongst the usual sensors and laser turrets based around the complex, Graba has two more key advantages," She said it in a way that suggested anyone trying to get into the depot was either mad, suicidal or desperate. She felt that the Mercenaries who accompanied her were at least two of those things,
"Yes, he does have the Local Police on his side. Start a gunfight and they shall be all over this Complex like Lice," She reported sombrely. Nathan just grinned,
"With all luck, my other Contact shall take care of that. Now, what is his second obsticle?"

"The worst," Dacius reported, "He has two Battle Mecha, stolen from the Boolean Confederacy a few months ago. They are inactive at the moment but no less dangerous. If he activates them, then you are all dead" She finished up her report in that manner.

Nathan listened as closely as Nathan knows how to do...Chloe still looked pale, but she was paying attention to everything said, knowing that she was going to have to face her Demons at some point. Was she ready?

Skyler looked at the other two. "If he's got mecha we're going to need someone backing us up with the Star Snake or Elixir, no portable weapon that doesn't need wheels or hoverjets to move it around has enough firepower to take one of them down."

"Seems to me," Kartosh pointed to the first building, "that if we make enough trouble to draw out his heavies, we can have one of our ships ambush them, and it will be smooth sailing from there."

"Sounds like a plan...of sorts," Nathan sighed, "Which ship shall we use? And those on the ground will still have to contend with the goons and probably the Ferran Police the way things are going. How are we going to stop them all?"

"Mines," Chloe said quietly, then looked up as the others turned to face her, "We can mine the road leading to the complex. Once the Police Cars hit the road surface, then the mines will blow and they'll be stopped. At least, long enough for us to get away."

"Sounds like a plan," Nathan nodded, delighted to see that she was back on her feet again, "Welcome back," He whispered to her, then looked at Kartosh and Skyler again,
"The question though, is the same. Which ship will we use? In fact! Even better! We can use the Elixir! Katie's onboard, she'll control the ship for us! What do you think?"

"Excellent, the more of us on the ground the better," Kartosh nodded. "But how do we know all the cop cars will use the same road?"

"But I thought you said you had a contact who would stop the police from coming?" said Skyler curiously to Nathan. "Or that was, at least, what you implied."

"There is only one road to the facility," Dacius explained for Chloe, who had gone silent again, "One of the advantages of a paranoid Gangster is that his attempts to outwit his enemy will outwit his allies as well. They must come down the one road to rescue the facility."

Nathan nodded, still grinning,
"As we speak, a fleet of Alversian Custom Ships are gathering in high orbit about the planet, above with the Ferran Navy. When the time is right, they will beam down and reinforce our perimeter. But they will not come down until the mission has been deemed enough of a success to allow them to enter the situation."

"And when, exactly, would 'the mission deemed enough of a success' for them to come down?" demanded Kartosh. "I don't want to be pinned down by enemy fire while we wait for the guys upstairs to stop picking their noses and get down here."

"How, exactly, are we to set the mines without anyone noticing?" Skyler wanted to know. "Does Graba's security not extend up the road?"

"His Security does not extend beyond the Complex no," Dacius replied, still looking at the walls themselves. Though they were dark, she knew there were Guards on every third one and more than enough to man the station if need be. She thought the idea suicide, but then she had been saved from a fate worse than death before and did not fear it now. She looked down at Skyler, one blue and one white eye focused on her,
"I shall plant the explosives when you enter the complex. It will not take long for them to be set and the Law Enforcement Officals will take their time to reach the location. You will be safe." She nodded.

"Ah," Nathan grinned one of his mad smiles, "They'll know it's been a success because I'll tell them. With this," He held up a pack of small but highly concentrated and potent explosives, "A gift from Kyatty. When I set these babies off, every scanner in the city will pick them up. The Customs ships are currently in space, pretending to the Government that they are on a training mission and have only stopped to take on supplies. When I go boom, they'll beam down on the pretext of trying to aid the Cops. They saw the place was a smuggling Depot and did everyone a favour by taking it out. The Ferran Police will have to grimace and thank the brave boys in white for their timely intervention and wave goodbye as they blast back to Alversian Space. Everyone will be happy. Agreed?" he looked at Kartosh.

"Sounds like a plan," Kartosh clapped his hands. "Just call Katie and the Elixir over here, cloaked, and we can start shaking things up."

Skyler just nodded without a word. She was ready.

"Well," Nathan grinned, looking up. "I think she's jumped the gun somewhat," Both Nathan and Chloe looked at as a whoosh of noise and air blew past them, towards the depot. Before any of them could say anything, two missiles had appeared from thin air and hit the walls of the complex, seemingly disintergrating them in a flash of light and explosions. The entire wall of the depot was gone, replaced with fires and smoke.
Chloe jumped up with her sniper rifle, took aim and fired, taking down a figure in the middle of the smoke. Even as she did so, two large figures blasted off from within the Depot and rose in the air to combat the Elixir.
"Time to go," Dacius took out an Alumina phase rifle and indicated to the complex,
"I thought you'd never ask," Nathan beamed as he took out his shotgun and ran into the smoke.

"Your A.I. knows how to introduce herself," Kartosh muttered as he unslung what appeared to be a heavy machine gun from his back. "But I prefer a more personal touch." The Xiscapian waded into the dust thrown up by the explosions, shooting any standing figures, the smoke stinging his as he took down the dazed mercenaries. "You guys aren't mercenaries!" He scoffed as he took another off his feet with a blaster bolt to the torso. "Ain't fit to guard a Tenfour whorehouse, much less do anything worthwhile inside it!"

Skyler was usually the long-range component of the her duo, but Chloe easily had that covered so the kitsune removed two pistols from their holsters and stealthily eased though the fog of thick particles thrown up by the blasts and fires. It was difficult to tell friend from foe in the mayhem, but Nathan was easily identifiable by his size and Kartosh was a fountain of colorful obscenities and insults which made it easy for her to avoid accidentally wounding either of the males. Most of her foes didn't realize she was there until it was too late, and in the mass confusion Skyler was able to make short work of all enemies she found.

In the dust of the explosion, it seemed like abolsute chaos. No one knew who was where and the Mercenaries and local Dropouts who guarded the base were no match for the trio who had invaded their complex. As soon as Kartosh and Nathan had cleared the smoke, and reached another corridor. They found it full of Troops, standing, waiting to cut them down.
"Drop!" Nathan called as he lowered his weapon and fired. Fifteen seconds of brutal and noise filled death later, the way was clear for them to continue,
"Stand back," Nathan picked one of the explosives from his bag, about the same size as a tennis ball. He threw one down a flight of stairs and hugged low to the ground.
The resulting explosion was massive. Bigger than the two missiles the Exile had fired to start the battle, they were so big that Chloe was temporary blinded by the flash, her vision disappearing in a blaze of bright light. She looked away and tried to blink it out. It was so big that even Dacius, several hundred meters down the road, stopped to look up at it, before continuing with her work.
Nathan stood, grinning, the back of his jacket smoking angrily, his hair black with soot, looking at Kartosh in the deathly silence that had followed the explosion.
"Well, that's got their attention," he laughed into the quiet before leaping over a balcony to the floor below, blasting away.

The battle flaired up again.

"What?!" Kartosh shouted after him, hitting his top ears several times. "Goddamn battle wound acting up again, can't hear a fucking thing..." Now in a rather bad mood the gruff soldier for hire trotted down the stairs, noticing as he fought how easy it had been thus far. These are only the pawns, he reminded himself, they're here to soak up our fire before they bring in the professionals. Much of the area was choked with debris, bits of concrete and plaster littered the floor and bodies lay haphazardly here and there in pools of blood, victims of some weapon or another. In the middle of the hall he searched for targets, lining them up and knocking them down as the sounds of fighting once again began to filter back into his damaged ears.

Skyler advanced deep into the facility, fairly covered in dust and ash, moving quickly and firing with precision. Occasionally she would come across a man she encountered in such close quarters the beautiful mercenary would have to beat him down using her hands, and indeed tossed one unfortunate guard though a window as he found his brawling skills no match for her extensive martial arts conditioning. She did not know exactly what she was looking for, they had only breached the outer perimeter of the depot, ideally they would need to link up and coordinate with the reinforcements before or during their main assault.

Chloe had also recovered her vision and it did not take long before she was back in her element, picking out targets and taking them out with one clean shot to the head. She used all the techniques she had learnt as a spoilt rich girl at her Father's mansion, using all the skills taught to her by Xiscapia's best marksmen. She was as good as one could hope to be and her skills were employed with deadly effect.

Then, through all the noise, came the piercing whistle of sirens. The Professionals were arriving. A long string of Ferran Police Cars screamed down the road, hovering a few centremeters above the ground as they slide around corners and blasted up the straights. In the cars, many, many cops, all as crooked as sin, where checking their weapons and preparing to defend their Pay Master's property. Then they ran into the mines.
The first four cars did not even know what had hit them. The others behind saw alright. They saw their comrade's cars dissolve into flames and their comrades killed. They were trying to stop but failed to do so and a massive pile-up ensured. One that would ensure the Cops never reached their destination. Chloe's plan had worked.

Within the facility, Nathan and Kartosh had cleared the outer Complex and were now in the inner-workings of the Depot, a large white warehouse, several stories tall and every window crammed with guards pouring a treacherous fire on the pair and forcing them to remain in cover. They were pinned. Then Nathan grinned, rummaged in his bag and pulled out another explosive,
"Cover your ears this time!" Nathan warned Kartosh as he armed the weapon and threw it overarm with a yell,
"Fire in the hole!"

He ducked in time to avoid several tons of large and very heavy brickwork tear itself from the building as the entire wall collapsed, bringing down the roof and several floors with it. The explosion was deafening and even louder than the first one. This one was, again, proceeded by a disbelieving quiet.
"Well," This time, Nathan was covered in white dust from the blast. It was impossible to even see the building anymore for the dust cloud that obscured it,
"Maybe I should limit these things," he took another one and examined it closely.

Elsewhere

As Skyler was walking through the debris of the first explosion and, no doubt distracted by the second, she was ambushed by a Guard, cleverer than the others. He had not jumped out to attack their Attackes but remained quiet and hidden, hiding his breathing in the blasts of the first and second explosions. He was waiting for a Mercenary to appear, one he could kill. He was hidden in shadows, almost invisible thanks to the dust and noise. He raised the blaster, took aim and slowly began to squeeze the trigger.

Then he gave a loud gasp in pain that would surely get Skyler's attention. He dropped the pistol and looked down to find a katana blade in his chest. The entry wound was in his back so he would not see the tall cat-like figure that held it grimly, waiting for the choking that signalled death. When she heard it, she pulled the weapon cleanly out, allowing her Victim to fall to the ground.
She looked at Skyler without saying a word, but merely strode towards the sight of the second explosion, cleaning one of the two blades on her sword.

"By Qonn, do you think?" Kartosh asked sarcastically as he stood, confident no one was left alive, and even if there were, they would not be able to see him though the dust. "Why am I not at all surprised you managed to get your hands on military-grade explosives?"

Elsewhere...
Skyler just stepped over to the slowly cooling body, twirled one of her pistol, and shot the dead man in the head, half disintegrating it. She then followed the Alumina towards the blast site, knowing she'd find the other two there.

In reply Nathan simply grinned and went back to examining the bomb, then his face lit up suddenly in delight,
"I wonder if I could increase the boom! Man, I wouldn't want to be around when that thing went off," He looked up in time to see Dacius and Skyler approaching, joined by Chloe who had run out of perimeter targets,
"Well, the three lovely ladies have decided to join us," he laughed, "You like what I've done with the place?"

"Your exterior decorating leaves much to be desired," commented Skyler dryly.

"Although some of the bad guys in there look better with their faces half torn off than they did whole." snickered Kartosh. "I hope you weren't serious about that whole 'combined explosion' thing, or at least not until we're off the fucking planet!"

Nathan beamed again and was about to speak when Dacius looked up to the sky and Chloe pointed. There were half a dozen white warships descending from Orbit, each was three times the Elixir and appeared heavily armed.
"Customs," Dacius explained, still looking up at them.

Now Nathan sighed,
"I wonder if we have to blow the Depot up...can we not just let Customs confiscate it and take it whereever it is that they take it? Make our lives easier for once..."

"Well..." Kartosh shifted. "On one hand, we get to go home early for a drink. On the other hand, big explosions. Damn, tough choice." He tapped his chin in thought.

"Kyat did say he wanted to make sure Graba's possessions were destroyed or stolen from him," supplied Skyler quietly. "It would be easier for us to just leave and let Customs take over, all the paycheck with only half the work."

"But the bombs!" Kartosh protested. "You can't have a bomb and just not use it!"

"Right," Skyler admitted, "I might shove it down your throat. Let's leave, we've done our part here."

"Aw..." Nathan looked at his bomb in disappointment, "I guess I won't need this souped-up version then," He took the bomb and threw it behind him into the debris from the previous blast,
"So," Nathan rubbed his hands together, "What's ne..."

"Quiet!" It was Dacius and Chloe together, both their ears were perked in the direction of the rubble and, sure enough, there was a faint voice from within,

"Device explosion in five seconds"

"Uh oh, RRUUNN!!" Nathan had never run so fast, going as quickly as his legs would carry him. He dived over a piece of rubble as the group scattered to avoid the explosion. And it was an explosion. The previous ones were nothing in comparison to this. The whole building vanished in a cloud of dust and was spread in all corners of the city, whole blocks of wall began to rain down like snow, along with fire and small bits of whatever had been inside the warehouse when it had exploded,
Nathan grinned as he pushed away a load of debris that had fallen over him,
"There we are," he looked from Kartosh to Skyler, "Compromise"

"Are you mad!?" Skyler spat as she extracted herself from a crater, staggering slightly. "That thing could have killed us all-"

"Whhoo-hoo!" Kartosh bounced up from where he'd fallen, covered from head to toe in filth from the blast. "That was awesome!" He cowed. "That's what I call an explosion!"

"Stop jumping up and down, you freak!"

"What?" Kartosh brushed the flakes of some building material out of his top ears. "You stepped in what?"

"Urrgh!" Skyler gave a snarl of disgust and stalked off, heading back to the Star Snake, just as dirty as Kartosh. Where the hell are those Customs troops? I want to leave this fucking planet behind and go take a warm shower!

Chloe was similiarly annoyed by the explosion and, as she colourfully put it, "Stupid pig-headedness and total lack of thought".
However, as soon as she had finished speaking, dozens of troops suddenly flowed out from the smoke and took up a circle around the Mercenaries. The Custom Troops wore the same armour as the rest of the Alversian Armed Forces, only instead of green or blue, their's was a brilliant white colour,
"Hands in the air!" One of them called to the group.

"Lieutenant Mitchell!" Nathan called into the dust, "Sorry We kinda jumped the gun."

"So I see," One of the Troops looked around at the destruction, "Never do things by half-measure do you?" he laughed, "Mission accomplished, Ladies and Gentlemen, we'll take over from here."

"I shall remain," Dacius announced, "May your search be fruitful," She gave a small salute.

Nathan and Chloe headed off towards where the Star Snake was based and where the Elixir was just landed.

"I...really need to get cleaned up," Kartosh lazily saluted the Customs troops as they walked off.

"Maybe you could soak your head while your at it." Skyler snapped, in a bad mood partially because of the undue amount of dirt now coating her body, clothes and equipment.

"It ain't my fault-" Karotsh began to protest.

"But you would have done exactly the same thing."

"Fair enough." Kartosh conceded before continuing in a coaxing voice. "C'mon, Sky, it's just a little gook, it'll wash off-"

"Shut up." The female growled angrily.

Her male counterpart stopped. "Hey now, what's wrong?" He wanted to know, brow furrowed.

"Nothing." Skyler responded, but stopped, facing away from him. "It's nothing..." She said again, but her words were distant.

Kartosh came up next to her, hand on her shoulder. "It's Chloe, ain't it?" He asked quietly. Skyler just nodded in return.

"I don't know what's wrong with 'er," he shook his head, "but that girl's been though trauma, it ain't hard ta see. She's got that same look in 'er eyes as the rest of 'em, in the brothels and on the faces of them who got in chains and want'd out." He remembered the warped expressions of the bekko when they and Cavourna and Nigripes had rescued them, the distorted face of that young girl who fell victim to Danaversian pleasures not too long ago now. "She been though somethin', and it ain't our affair to find out what 'less she wants to tell us 'bout it." He clapped her on the back. "Chin up, eh? When the time comes we'll be here, bet my left nut on that one."

This reassurance was rewarded with a characteristic roll of the eyes. "Enough about your left nut," she smiled a bit, "let's just get back to the ship."

The two Mercenaries were soon in the Elixir and washed up. Well, Chloe had washed herself almost fanatically, as Xiscapian Custom demanded a body untarnished by filth. Nathan was...less enthusiastic about it, but he was still relatively clean.
"Hey, you okay now?" Nathan took the clean Chloe and held her close, sensing that she was close to tears again. And he was right. As soon as he had embraced the Kitsune, she held him close and started to cry again,
"Memories," She sobbed into his chest, "Too many memories."
"Don't worry," Nathan sighed into her hair, "You've taken the first step. Soon Graba will be gone and you can sleep easy again."

With that, the Elixir and the Star Snake rose into the air and flashed off into the night sky about Ferran, dodging past Customs Frigates as they did so. A simple message was sent,
"That was fun. What are we blowing up next?"

Well, we still got an asteroid mine to go after, slaves to free, a Black Raider to locate and steal, a fortress to find and destroy and a Hutt to exterminate. Take your pick.

On the Star Snake Skyler was just toweling off her hair as she stepped into the cockpit, fresh clothes on, leaning in to look over Kartosh's shoulder. The male had also changed, though was rather quicker about it than her, hunched over the controls as he exchanged dialogue with the Elixir. "Squeaky clean, are we?" He asked dryly as he tapped at a button. Skyler just nodded as she sat down beside him, looking out at the ship of their counterparts. "Where do you think we'll head?" She asked Kartosh, reading the message. He shrugged elaborately. "I'd reckon that asteroid, but we're definitely gonna need help with that one, so we might be heading after that missing starship of Kyat's."

On the Elixir a fight of sorts had broken out between Nathan and Chloe, arguing on what to do next.
"I think we should head for the Fortress next," Nathan was saying calmly, while Chloe, normally the more rational of the group, shook her head fiercely, flinging her hair from side to side. She was in disagreement. If anything, she looked even cuter when angry but that was not something Nathan noticed,
"There'll be lord knows how many Guards at the Asteroid, we can't just waltz in as you please and walk out the front door with them."

"When's that ever stopped you before?" Chloe asked dryly but then shook her head, "I can't Nathan...I can't sleep at night, thinking that Graba has other slaves in other places and We're not stopping to help them." She looked to the floor, ashamed of her tears. And, for what seemed like the dozenth time in a day, Nathan took her and held her,
"It's okay," He whispered in her top ears, "We'll go after them. We'll get them. We'll get them now, if my name ain't Nathaniel T. Barnes."

With that, a return message was sent to the Star Snake
We go after the Slaves.

"Heh, I was right, you owe me five credits." Kartosh grinned.
"Yeah, yeah, we've got bigger problems than your gambling addiction."
"What's that?"
"If we are going for the asteroid, what does that mean?"
"Well," Kartosh thought for a moment, "where are we going to find a big enough ship to cart all those people away? The Syndicate won't have enough room, and I don't trust them anyway, and the People's Republic doesn't even know about this place..."
"Well, let's think, who really hates slavers?"
"The Kitsune Empire..." Kartosh winced at the thought of asking them for help.
"Yeah. Right." Skyler nodded tiredly. "And who did we just skim the taxes off just before we left?"
"Well-"
"And who's idea was it to do that?"
"Yeah, but-"
"You're going to convince the Grand Admiral to lend us a cruiser, not me."
"Awww..."

A message came back:

We're definitely going to need help there, too. An asteroid big enough to hold a mining colony, that might have five hundred, maybe seven hundred slaves in it. We just don't have the cargo capacity, we're gonna need someone with more room to move the poor bastards out.

"Well," Nathan shrugged, "At least they said yes to it. Now this problem of a transport..." the Alversian Merc grinned as he sent a reply message,
I got a Customs fleet AND an Alumina for our last strike.
Now it's your turn to pull some strings, Sunshine.

"Now there's nothing to do but wait," He sighed, leaning back in his chair and taking out one of his grenades,
"To double the yield, I would need to..."

Chloe sighed and didn't even bother listening. She just sat, her mind tortured by the past,
Why her?

"Great," Kartosh growled as Skyler opened a channel to XINHQ. "Here we go again..."

The connection took a few seconds before the A.I. was able to bypass or enter though the security protocols to reach the Grand Admiral's office. When Krystal finally materialized she did not look pleased. "Civil servants don't evade their taxes," she reminded Kartosh.

"Look, I never signed up to be a pillar of the community," said Kartosh sourly. "Grand Admiral, we need a favor."

"A favor!?" Krystal half laughed, half snarled. "I'm fighting a war against the biggest Empire any of us have ever seen and you need a favor! Kartosh, I don't have one spare power cell to lend you, never mind a whole platoon of SBAU like the last time."

"It's for a just cause," sighed the mercenary.

"This had better be good," responded the master and commander of the entire Xiscapian Navy.

Kartosh explained the contract and the situation. "Slaves, Grand Admiral, that's what he's keeping there. See here, it'll stabilize the whole system if we take it down, Xiscapia gets a few hundred grateful new citizens, and you get all the prestige, private contractors forgotten."

"Tempting," admitted Krystal. "We've had our eye on that place for a long time. But you're talking about a number of both spatial and grounded enemies, not to mention the people any of our ships would have to take aboard, never mind the troops we'd need to secure the station. We just don't have a flotilla to spare."

"One ship, then," Kartosh pressed the issue. "We just need one cruiser-"

"Make that a destroyer." Krystal said firmly, and Kartosh knew better than to argue. "The XIW Unshakable will be deploying for the Miller System with her full compliment of troops in six hours. If you're not there when that destroyer arrives, we'll attack alone and make sure Kyat knows it was us, not you, that did it."

"So, don't be late or you'll screw up our whole contract for us. Gotcha," Kartosh nodded vigorously. "Thanks a lot for the help, Grand Admiral."

"See that you use it wisely," Krystal responded grimly. "I have a feeling we'll be needing that ship back."

A message was sent to the Elixir of Life:

Mission success, we make for the Miller System as fast as we can. XIN's routing a destroyer with her troops to help us, and we best not keep them waiting.

"Damn" Nathan said, evidently annoyed about something as he read the message from the Star Snake, "Damn, damn, damn, damn"

"What is it?" Chloe asked, stunned by her Partner's apparent annoyance at this sudden turn of events, "We've been promised a whole destroyer and you're annoyed about it? Why?"

"Naval Destroyer with troops beats my Customs Frigates and Alumina," he sighed, leaning back in his chair, "Perhaps I need to call Ashe and get me a Dreadnought..."

"Oh shut up," Chloe hit him playfully in the arm, then turned as Katie appeared in the cockpit, the first time since she had used the ship to shoot down two Mecha at the Depot.
"Hey, Katie" Nathan smiled at her, "Has the Ace to join us at last?"

Katie did not smile but pointed at one of the scanners with one blue finger,
"Take a look at this" She said, "It's from an Alversian Beacon nearby."

"Eh?" Nathan leaned over to look at it and swore in one fluent movement at the message. It was not good news and made their jobs so much harder
It read:
URGENT MESSAGE FOR COALITION VESSELS
ENTERING THE MILLER SYSTEM
System has been taken by Danaversian Navy. It is advised
all vessels turn back at this point to avoid Imperial Patrols.
This message is sent by secure signal to all Allied ships
and is for your benefit from the People's Navy. Again
those who do not wish to face Danaversian patrols fall
back at this point.

Thank you

"Just our luck," Nathan sighed and shook his head, "Oh well, onwards!"

With that, the Elixir ploughed past the beacon into Miller space, no longer independant but now part of the Danaversian Empire.

"Aww, fuck everything," Kartosh groaned at the message as the beacon alerted them. "XIN's got more balls than I thought, sending a destroyer into enemy territory like this..."

"Yeah, that's usually what we do," said Skyler.

"Damn, that means we'd better make this fast, the asteroid field and defenses will keep the fish out, but not for long."

"If we're lucky," and how often is that? "they'll start off slow and send fighters and gunboats at us before they realize we're a real threat and start breaking out the Barracudas. Say," an idea began to creep into Skyler's mind, "Katie-"

"Who?"

"The Elixir's A.I., you idiot. Katie, she flew the Elixir without needing Nathan or Chloe, right?"

"Yeah."

"So...are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Well, I think so, but where are we going to find that much beer?"

"Stay serious and sober, will you! Get the Elixir on the line, I've got a plan."

"Okay...whatever you say."

Pull out of FTL immediately.

Both mercenary ships came out just off of the rim of the system, beyond Danaversian sensor range. Now Skyler sent her plan.

Okay, here's how it's going to work: Nathan, Chloe, you guys beam over here to us, on the Star Snake. We'll go in cloaked and bypass the Danaversians and the defenses to get to the asteroid, and start freeing the slaves. Katie, yes, hi, nice to meet you, will pilot the Elixir and act like you're making a run for Graba's asteroid, like you're a pirate. The Danaversians will take notice and you can keep them tied up while us mercs and the XIN complete the operation. The Unshakable can cover our collective asses for us while we make the escape. I know it's a lot to ask, but if your piloting skills, the Elixir's weapons, our cloaking device and the XIN's troops are good enough, and the Danaversians are heavy-handed enough, we might be able to pull this off without any casualties. Any objections?

Nathan, Chloe and Katie all read the message as it came in. Once they had finished Nathan shook his head,
"It's just wrong," he stated, "It's underhand, it's ungentlemanly and it's just plain disgusting. In others words, it's perfect!" He laughed at a groaning Chloe and Katie. Not for the first time, he wondered if Mister Kyat might have based the K-Class AI on his beautiful Mercenary partner. Certainly, they were more alike than most would believe possible.
Once the laughing had finished though, Chloe looked to Katie,
"There is a chance, you know," She warned, "That you might be killed in this little decoy attack of yours."

"I will be fine, Chloe," The Kitsune AI sighed, "I'll just fizz around a bit, fire off a few missiles then retreat behind my cloak. It should be fun." She poked her tongue out and vanished from view. A flash and both Mercenaries were on the Star Snake.

"...uck," Nathan was just finishing say as he turned around to face Kartosh and Skyler, "Oh hello, I'd like a room for two please, with a double bed and an en suite shower. Oh and a panoramic view wouldn't go amiss either," He grinned at both while Chloe bowed, still looking ragged and unwell,
"It's nice to be back on the Star Snake again," She said in greeting, "You ready for this?"

"Sorry, man," Kartosh said to Nathan, jerking his thumb over his shoulder at the two khaki cots put together in a bunkbed fashion with welded metal poles. "What you see is what you get! You might get a really good view of a Danaversian phaser cannon, though."

"Born ready," Skyler bowed back. "We've been doing this kind of thing for years, nothing to it if all goes according to plan." Which, of course, it never did, but since when had any of them worried about that?

"I wasn't expecting a five-star accomodation anyway," Nathan shrugged as he sat on one of the beds, to be honest I..." Even as he said it though, his voice became distorted, his image became distorted and it seemed like he was talking in slow motion. As Nathan stopped to look curiously at the three Kitsune, he began to fade to black, the viewpoint of them all faded to black. It was strange. Then they were gone. Lost. Vanishing into the pages of history.

Daylight. That much was clear. The three Kitsune, Kartosh, Skyler and Chloe, were now standing in front of a large house, a mansion. In the background was the skyline of a city that all would recognise as Rio Casa, the capital of the Xiscapian Empire. The air was crisp and fresh, while the garden they were in was well kept and expensively laid out. The house itself was vast, as large as a great hall but also laviously decorated and brilliantly finished to perfection by skillfull and expensive buildiers. It was not the house of a poor Kitsune. That much was certain.

As soon as the image appeared though, a dramatic change occurred in Chloe. Her ears went flat and her tail limp. She whimpered as she watched a Kitsune exit from the house, adorned with rich clothes and carrying himself well despite his age. He nodded to one of the many Gardeners who were working in the vast grounds. He looked up in time to see three Kitsune, three young females, all were attractive. The first was the youngest and she embraced the man, quite unkitsune-like, a beaming smile on her face,
"Daddy!" She cried in delight, while the elder female stood a little back and watched, her arms folded and beaming smile on her face,
"Sophie," The man replied, nuzzling into his daughter's green hair, "You all set for your first year at Uni?"

"Yes, Daddy," She giggled in delight, looking back at the other Kitsune, who perked her ears at the attention, "Chloe's gonna look after me," She stuck her tongue out at her elder sister, and she responded likewise.

"I know she will," The male smiled as the younger Chloe now approached and embraced her father. The difference between her then and now was amazing. She had a youthful innocence, with a beauty that was like nothing else. She didn't look as tired, didn't looked as stressed, didn't look as scared. In fact, she beamed as she parted from her father,
"Now remember," he warned as a limo arrived up the long drive and the doors opened with a hiss, "Be back in time for Emma's birthday. You know how she loves it when you're there."

"I will, Daddy," Chloe of old, kissed her father on the cheek, gave him one more hug and, with that, got into the limo with her younger sister and drove away. As the image faded away, showing their father waving after the limo as it left the drive and turned onto the road. Then the image returned to black and the three Mercenaries were standing there in nothing. Chloe had streams of tears running down her eyes, trying her best not to sob in front of the other two. She whispered just one word,
"Daddy..."

"What the...?"
The two mercenaries had been silent throughout, but not Kartosh couldn't take it anymore. He'd heard about stuff like this, visions and echoes of the past that reverberated from individuals to others who could sense such things, a kind of sight into the thoughts and emotions of another being. He'd dismissed it all as lunacy and an overabundance of hope without reason at the time, but now...

"Ah," Skyler just nodded sadly in understanding. "I see now. They don't know about...all this, do they?"

Chloe just shook her head sadly, not daring herself to speak through her tears. It was the first time she had seen any of her family in nearly ten years, the first time she had heard her voices. Even thinking about it tore at her heart. How had it come that.

Then, with a flash, they were somewhere else, on a ship, alarms were going off all over the ship, the lights dimmed down to emergency levels. It was not a large ship, like a medium cruiser, but it was luxuriously decorated and looked as well finished as the house in the last vision. Chloe shook her head again at the sight. There she was, old Chloe, no longer smiling but frowning, crouching behind a piller, one hand on her katana, the other on a blaster pistol. Hugging close to her was Sophie, her youngest Sister.

"Where is everyone else?" The little Kitsune asked fearfully, her eyes red where she had been crying. Chloe sighed, her own fear evident from the shaking of her body. Yet she tried to be strong for Sophie, to show she was nto afraid,
"I don't know," She sighed, "We should never have left the shipping routes. I knew this was going to happen."

"Are we gonna be okay?" Sophie asked again, shaking herself and trying not to cry again. Chloe just hugged her little sister,

"We'll be fine. The Alversians are already on their way. They'll save us"

Then there was a noise in the corridor and Chloe sunk a little lower behind her cover. It was the rest of the passengers, being escorted by a dozen rough and very angry looking Pirates, all armed to the teeth with a variety of weapons. The Passengers, mostly female and mostly Kitsune were shaking and crying, pleading to be freed. Yet the Pirates were ignoring them like they weren't there.

"Are you sure they're that close?" One Pirate, evidently the Captain, demanded, "We're well out of the shipping lanes here, what the hell to Customs have this far from their own patrols?"

"The Crew sent out a distress signal before we took the ship, Sir, two Customs Frigates are on an intercept course. They'll be here any minute."

"Bring me the Captain! Kill him!" The Pirate Commander demanded, then watched in anger as his Comrade shook his head, "You dare defy me!?"

"The Captain's dead Sir, along with most of the crew. Stubborn bunch, this Kitsune lot."

"Then we can take only one Prisoner. If one of you wants to be a hero and step forward to be taken, then come on and get it over with or we'll mow you all down!"
None of the Passengers moved, too terrified by the sight of the Pirates to do anything. Frozen like Rabbits caught in the headlights.

Chloe felt a real panic for the first time during the whole attack. They were going to cut down her Friends in front of her, kill them all. She couldn't allow that. With one look at Sophie. she put down her weapons and hugged her tightly,
"I'm going to go now Sophie," She explained, trying to keep her voice as steady as possible, "And I want you to be a brave Kit and not do anything until the Alversians get here okay?"

"You can't!" The younger Xiscapian almost shouted it but managed to choke it off, "You can't go! You can't leave me." She started to cry again, the tears of an innocent child and it brought tears from Chloe's eyes as they hugged tightly for what seemed like forever,

"I'll see you soon," She whispered, "Tell Daddy that I love him and I'll see him soon"

"I love you," Sophie whispered as they parted and Chloe started to move off.

"I love you too," The elder Kitsune replied, blowing a kiss to her little Sister as she stood up, slowly, to see the Pirate in the middle of a ten second countdown. He turned as Chloe appeared, hands up.

"Who the hell are you?" He asked, eyeing her with the same lust as the rest of the Pirates, who thought that an Angel had just fallen into their midst. She was the most stunning thing they had ever seen and they had already made their minds up about who would be taken. Her next words only sealed the deal,
"My name is Chloe, the eldest Daughter of Kazu, a rich man on Xiscapia. I am the most valuable person on this ship, take me and spare the others."

"Done" There wasn't even any hesitation about it, "You're ours now," he flashed her a grin before all vanished in a flash of blue light. The scene faded into black, with Sophie's sobs the only sound,

"Come back. Please, Chloe, come back..."

This time, Chloe was on her knees, streams of tears running down her cheeks. She had tried to stretch out and touch Sophie but found she couldn't. There was nothing she could say, nothing she could do. Nothing but cry.

Skyler knelt down beside Chloe, embracing her where she could not hold her sister, letting her bury her head into her shoulder. "Shh, shh," She tenderly stroked the younger kitsune's hair, crooning gently. "Don't cry now, child."
Kartosh stood by at a total loss, unable to do anything about what he had seen and unwilling to do what Skyler was doing now. He began to pace back and forth, turning sharply back around every ten feet or so, fists clenching and unclenching in anger. The expressions on the faces of those pirate scum reminded him all too much of the same looks he had seen all too often, in the hooker bars, in the clubs, in that Korrilian prison. They had been the predators, and Chloe the prey...what had come next he didn't want to think about. Who could blame her for not wanting her family to know about what she had suffered? Obviously she wasn't ready to face them...or her past.

Chloe sobbed into Skyler's shoulder, crying as the pain of those years came back, and came back hard. She didn't want to cry but all those reminders were too much. She prayed within herself, prayed that they were not to see what had happened next, after she had allowed herself to be captured by the Pirates. She hoped they wouldn't show the two months were she was dragged from one safehouse to another, watching as an entire Pirate network was torn apart by the utterly ruthless Customs Troops. They did not stop. For anything.

Then, in front of them, like a curtain rising over a stage, they were there. She was there and she cried out, despite her best efforts not to. She saw what was happening now.
They were in a Hutt Palace, the thick, sand walls and dim lighting were enough to prove that. The only light came from a few small windows at the corners where the tall walls,met the roof, impossible to reach and too small to climb through. There in the middle, amongst the pillars and surrounded by Cronies and Hangers-On of all types, was the Hutt himself. As big, fat and ugly as a Hutt could be. He was smoking lazily on something, holding a long pipe in one hand and a chain in the other. If one where to follow the chain down to it's source, they would find it connected to a silver collar. And in that collar was no less than Chloe.

She lay in front of the Hutt throne, exposing her barely concealed body and perfect body to the entourage whose stares never left her. She stared at the ground, unable to make eye contact with any of the Thugs, while her ears were flat and her rust-coloured tail hung limp behind her. The very picture of Kitsune misery.

Amongst the light music of the chamber, it seemed like one of the Thugs was being congratulated by the Hutt for a job well done. His translator was able to transmit his Master's pleasure to the Thug who was sitting in a chair directly opposite him and Chloe,
"The Mighty Grabba the Hutt is most pleased with your success. Ardula the Hutt's Smugglers will not be so quick into our territory now," he laughed, as did the rest of the Entourage. Everyone but Chloe, who still wouldn't look up, "As promised, my Master will allow you to name your own reward."

"Well, oh powerful and wise Grabba," The Thug said while looking at the Enslaved Kitsune, "there is one thing..." he stopped embarressed.

Grabba did not even need a translator for that part. He simply laughed and pulled once on the chain in his hand as a signal for Chloe.
The Aristocrat's daughter got up, slowly, revealling as much of her body as possible for the silent Audience. She walked to the Thug, who had undone his trousers and was waiting eagerly.
On Her Master's command, Chloe lowered herself onto the Thug. The Chamber filled with roars of laughter and lust as the poor Kitsune raped herself on the man, never looking up from the floor. When they were done, the Thug bowed breathlessly to Grabba and left, while Chloe returned to her position under the throne.

Other flashes were shown and it was clear that the stunning Kitsune was in high demand. Grabba used her for everything from a reward to a deal breaker. She degraded herself in every single way, yet she betrayed no emotion, even when she had to crawl back to the throne after repeated use.
Night fell, and the Guests left the chamber to their quarters. Grabba followed, leaving Chloe safely chained to his throne. She lay in the same position as she had during the day, like a Robot.

As the night went on though, she began to move. She slowly drew her knees upwards and curled into the fetal position, wrapping her tail around herself to act as a blanket. She was shivering, either from the cold or from her ordeal, it was hard to tell. What was easy to tell was that she was crying. She had been brave, standing defiantly against the men who had abused her but now, on her own, she crumbled, sobbing gently into her chest as the full force of what had happened hit her hard. They were the sobs of a young girl who just wanted to go home.

The images faded away again. Chloe had refused to look, keeping her head buried in Skyler's shoulder the whole time, not wanting to face her past again. She was crying more than she had done in years. She had only been Eighteen...
...Eighteen.

"That bastard..." Kartosh fairly snarled, and now it became clear why Nathan had been so eager to accept the contract, and why Chloe was so terrified. Sooner or later, she was going to have to face this monster again, and that meant bringing back memories she may have pushed away or even repressed.
Skyler had watched without moving or speaking, allowing herself to be a stable rock Chloe could lean on, a shoulder to cry on. She too felt anger, that this selfless, innocent girl could be subjected to such crimes, to be torn from her family for so long, for the shame or guilt or whatever feelings that kept her from them.

Before Chloe could speak, it seemed like another memory had come up. Another one that she had not wanted them to see, one that she had hoped would be pressed down like all the other stuff that she managed to avoid. She hated watching all this again, like watching a horror movie in which you're the victim. She didn't know what had happened that they were all in this situation, but she wanted it to end now. She could do nothing more but hug Skyler and watch as another of her previous trauma's came to life in front of her.

It was another day in the palace chamber, the sun was just starting to set, as seen from the orange light that poured through the small windows at the top of the room. The Entourage of Grabba was present and, strangely, silent. As if they were afraid of lighting a powder keg with their words. They watched their Master's fury, saw his anger at the sight in front of him. It was the sight of his slave.
It was a standard procedure. He would rent her out for 24 hours in which the Payers could do anything they wanted that did not leave a physcial scar on that smooth and full young body. However, it seemed like her latest 'hosts' had not paid attention to that particular piece of advice.

Chloe stood in the entrance to the chamber, her chain being held by one of the Guards while the Translator explained his report. She was covered in bruises from head to toe and it seemed like she had been crying hard at some point, for her eyes were red and her cheeks wet. She was shaking fiercely from shock and she the thousand-yard stare, normally only reserved for Soldiers,
"...so they beat her and used her far more times than the all-wise Grabba insisted. She is damaged," The Guard, a human, finished his report to Grabba's Translator who relayed the information back to Grabba. The Hutt's anger was evident and his next words were testament to that fury,

"You are to go out and find the men who did this," the Translator instructed, "None of them are to be left alive and none must suffer a quick death."

With that, the best Mercenaries in the entourage, those who hung uncomfortably at the edges of the group, came forward and left the chamber, all seeking to do something useful with their time rather than stand and watch a young girl be humiliated.
Grabba took hold of the chain offered by the Guard and pulled hard on it, dragged Chloe into his slimy chest. A quick licking later and it was back to business for the bruised and abused Xiscapian, with more Clients and Thugs to please and reward for their services. This time though, she could not keep down the tears, sobbing as she was raped, the pleas falling on deaf ears all around. Her damp mood did dampen the Spirits of the Entourage though and, as soon as a disgusted Grabba left the room, it quickly emptied to leave Chloe alone, again, with nothing but the cool air of night and the moonlight as her friends.

The sobbing Kitsune sat upright this time, drawing her ankles in and forming a small ball as she cried into her knee's. She cried for some time, before she managed to write a number in the sand, the number 19. She also began to sing in a voice that would have been beautfully melodic where it not for the choked sobs being kept down, the song was little more than a whisper,
"Happy Birthday...to me," She sang through her tears,
"Happy Birthday to...me,
H-H-Happy Birthday...to...Chloe,
"Happy Birthday...to..."
She couldn't finish the song as she finally broke down into tears, sobbing loudly into herself, racking her whole body, as she thought of home, and her family and how much she missed them all. She wondered if they were celebrating her Birthday now, or sitting sombrely, remembering that their special little girl was gone forever, lost amongst the stars, a slave to a Hutt. Chloe cried into her knee's unable to stop the flow of tears.
Her 19th Birthday, and her only gift was a song from herself.

As the image faded away, Chloe turned away, unable to bear it, crying harder, if that was even possible at the pathetic image of the small girl singing her own Birthday song, the only person in a hundred lightyears who cared.

"Oh Chloe," Tears were forming and dropping down from the corners of Skyler's vulpine eyes as the other soaked her shirt and vest with her sobs, both of them shaking. "Oh Chloe..." She whispered again, full of horror and pity. How old was Chloe now? How many years had she been forced to endure the cruel attentions of her masters lackys? Skyler's hands pressed against Chloe's back, and she wondered, if only for an instant, she could feel a long, old scar there.

Kartosh was getting more and more furious, but he still could do nothing, the mercenary could not interact with what he was seeing in any way. He wondered how Nathan could hold this all in, how he could have kept quiet about it and not explode in anger. This transcended business and money, this was more than just another job.
Now things were personal.

Chloe could not reply. She could only cry at the sight of herself. Everything was finally coming out now, all of her terrible past, all those years. She had been a possession of a Hutt for over tfour years. Fours years of agony and suffering at their hands, four years of agony. Four years she wanted to forget.

Before she could speak though, the darkness back to lighten again, to show that another memory was coming back to haunt her. She hoped that this would be the last one, the last one that she would be subjected to. She didn't want to see any of this, why was she being forced to watch it?

The day dawned again to show the Hutt Chamber as it always had been, there were only two things to betray that any time had passed were the Entourage, which looked totally different to previous visions, and Chloe herself, still laying in front of her Master, still a slave. She was still beautiful, but she looked much, much older than she really should be, all those years of suffering evident on her face, her eyes sunken slightly, she looked pale, thin and shakey. She looked quite close to death, but still stunning. Her curse, she was still stunning.

"My Lord," One of Grabba's guards announced, "Introducing someone who wants to discuss employment with you"

The Hutt laughed and gave his consent, jerking the chain slightly as he did so, forcing Chloe back to rest against his hideous skin. She did not resist, she looked at the floor as she always had done. She looked up briefly and saw who it was, her heart leapt.

It was an Alversian! And he was wearing the Uniform of the Navy! Finally! They had come to rescue her! They were going to take her away from this place and reunite her with her family! Then she stopped. As she took a closer look at the Officer, her heart sank when she saw the shabby state of his uniform, the lack of regulation pistol and the careless growth on his face. She realised that he was a Deserter, someone here to look for work. In that one moment, all her hopes and sudden pleasure was crushed. She looked at him intently as he talked with the Hutt, trying to catch his attention to look at her. Her eyes told the whole story. He had seen free Kitsune, he had fought with them. He must know the humiliation of her position, her sorrow, he must be able to help her.

But he did not. Apart from that one time, he had ignored her. He gave his respects to Grabba and left, her eyes following him all the way, pleading with him to turn around. But he left and Chloe was on her own again. She cried the rest of the day, all though the degradation and other depraved acts. Her tears again forced the Entourage to an early night with their irritated Master. She cried herself to sleep that night, seeing no end to her suffering. She had been so close to freedom but she had had enough. She had held on this long, hoping for rescue but it seemed everyone had forgotten about her. She wanted it to end. Tomorrow, she would find a way to kill herself. Maybe she could attack Grabba, making his Guards shoot her? Tomorrow, she would die.

In the middle of the night, she was awoken. She jumped up, wondering what had pulled her from her dreams of home and her family. At first, she thought it was her coldness, or the pain in her groin. But no, she could hear it now. Gunshots, explosions and screams. She sighed and tried to go back to sleep. If she was captured again, it just meant being transferred from a Hutt to some other Gangster. If she was killed, then Qonn be praised for his mercy!

Then she looked up in shock to see a shadow enter the Chamber, looking around, holding a pistol in each hand and several tucked into his belt. Chloe realised with elation that it was the Officer. Was he here to take her for his own? Why not. He must be the only person in the palace not to have a go.
Her thoughts were interrupted as he ran to her and quickly blew away the chain holding her to the throne, making her jumpm
"Let's go," He said as he got her up and ran. At last, Chloe realised the reason for this battle and took one of the pistols from his belt. If she was to be rescued, she wanted to help.

So the pair moved through the palace, blasting away a variety of Guards who dared show their faces, working well as a team despite never having met before. After a short time, they were in his shuttle, a stolen Alversian model and blasting off into space.
Both looked at one another, panting for breath after their running and gunning,
"I'm Nathan," the Alversian introduced himself, "Lieutenant Barnes, Ma'am. Your name?"

Chloe was about to speak when she found herself choked up. She said nothing but merely embraced her Rescuer and cried. She cried as all the motions hit home, the fear, the pain, the elation and the delight of finally being free as well the pain from the past four years resulted in a tirade of tears in which her clung on to the Officer. He held her back, gently stroking her hair, just sitting on the floor of the shuttle, letting her get all her emotions out.
He was the first person to show any compassion to her in four long years of suffering. Chloe was finally free.

The final image faded away and all three were back on the Star Snake, laying on the floor. Nathan was standing over them, a concerned look on huis face, which only grew worse when he saw Chloe's condition,
"Chloe?" He asked, but any further statements were cut off as Chloe jumped up and embraced him, crying freely into his chest. Then Nathan understood.
"You saw." He said, all joking and laugher gone. He looked and sounded harder, sounded like a man who had no such thing as mercy. It was a scary change from the normally jovial Mercenary.

"Yes," Skyler only nodded as Kartosh rose and helped her to her feet. "Her past, what she has suffered, all that happened while she was Graba's slave."
"Is she fit for combat?" Kartosh demanded. Of everything he felt and knew, the fact that they were about to enter battle was most urgent, and Chloe might only be dead weight, or worse, an all-too-easily killed target, once they began the fight for the station. "We're coming up on that asteroid!"

It was Chloe who turned to face Kartosh, eye's still red from her tears. She gave a fierce nod,
"I'm ready." She insisted, "I'm ready for anything he can throw at me." She thought she was as well. She had spent the last few days of the mission in a coma, thinking of what had happened and scared of how it would affect her performance on this mission. Now that she had seen it all again, shared it with the group, she felt the need to help any others who became tangled in the Hutt's web of slavery and crime. She was ready.
"We're all set then," Nathan picked up his weapon and checked it a few times, Chloe did the same. She was still shaking from the experience but she was no longer crying, forcing the images of herself out of her head and replacing it with combat information. Information that would be needed in battle.

A light began blinking on the control panel and Kartosh scrambled over to the cockpit of the Star Snake. Skyler blinked and began pulling weapons from the equipment locker, and the spell was broken as they entered the asteroid field, the battlewagon they had been promised no where in sight. "Where's the Elixir?" Kartosh muttered, scanning a full three hundred and sixty degrees around his ship, attempting to look across the gulf of space to see if the other mercenary ship had engaged the Danaversians yet.
Ahead was Graba's asteroid mine.
OOC: Description?

Chloe scrambled up into the cockpit to look at the Asteroid as well, taking in all the details and feeling a shiver run up her spine. This was where she saw the others who had not been as lucky as her, who had not had a Nathan to come and save them. Well, she was coming for them. She, the other Mercenaries and the Xiscapian Navy were all coming to dispense some long overdue justice.
The sensors of the Star Snake, of Kartosh would look, would show that the nearest Danaversian Ship was a full three Lightyears away, in action against some other unseen force, firing it's green phasers and missiles erractically against various, unseen targets. It seemed like Katie had gone quite a way to find the Danaversians but now that she had, she could have some fun with them, manipulating the Elixir like only an AI could, doing the work of four pilots effortlessly.
The asteroid was...well...an asteroid, a large piece of rock in the middle of many pieces of rock. The asteroid they were interested in seemed to have a base of some sort dug into it's rocky and uneven surface, the base was white, with landing pod and sections connected by tunnels all along it's surface, like a network of veins. Chloe wasn't fooled though, it may have looked peaceful but each landing pod would have it's own defences, every section shielded and manned with expensive guns and even more expensive Mercenaries. She knew this would be no easy fight,
"There," She pointed to a seemingly damaged pod, "Land in the section furthest away from it. The damaged Pod is there to attract any potential Attackers and where most of their Firepower is. This Section here will be the least well defended and that," She pointed to a large, cone-shaped section, "Controls most of their internal defences."
Chloe remembered it, as a Slave, one of her vivid memories, while on the thighs of the Designer, listening to him explain the base and it's layout to her Master. She remembered his rough hands on her smooth bottom and the searing pain she was in as he explained it's purpose and who was to be there. She had wished to Qonn that the Station would not be completed.

Now she got the chance to fufill her wish.

"Hmm...don't see those pirate ships we were told about anywhere." Kartosh frowned. "They probably don't want them operating if they don't have to, fuel is expensive. I bet that'll change in a minute." He angled the ship down towards the damaged portion of the station, cloaked and invisible to any sensors that might be operating. "And here...we...go!"
They began to accelerate, and seconds later several lights began to flash on the control panel as the Xiscapian Imperial Warship Unshakable appeared out of the Jaunt dimension, the bulk of the Destroyer (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Image:Imperial_Escort_Carrier01.jpg) entering the asteroid field quickly. They were there to take out and enemy ships, act as a staging point for drop troops and to provide fire support on any sections of Graba's mining complex that didn't hold slaves. Even now the engines of the three combat shuttles in the hanger were powering up to carry their platoon of elite Marines down to the criminal base, where they would secure a line to transport slaves up the Unshakable. It was all timed, the Captain estimated they didn't have any more than twenty minutes to carry out the operation before the Danaversians started to take notice, so everything was being done quickly and with precision.

"Bloody hell, they act fast!" Nathan was looking at the Xiscapian Destroyer, already in system, "If we want to keep our thunder here, Kartosh Mate, I suggest you gun it" he was loading his weapon, checking that it was fully operational. The last thing he wanted to happen was for the gun to explode in his face. And it had happened before.
He looked over to Skyler and saw the shiny trails were tears had fallen, he hesitated, then spoke,
"What exactly did you see in Chloe's past?" He asked gently, "She has never told me much about it."

Up in the cockpit, Chloe was having similiar thoughts and sat in an embarressed silence with Kartosh,
"Look," She said, blushing slightly, "All those things you saw..." She stopped, unsure of how to complete her sentence, her request. She didn't want anyone to know about them. It was by chance that they had even found out, but she wanted to keep it secret. To herself. Her own past.

Skyler looked at Nathan, smiling wanly. "That's for you and her to discuss." She said softly, holstering a pistol. "If she wants to tell you, she will. We weren't meant to see what we saw, and the greatest service we could do is to never share it with anyone else. I'm sorry, Nathan, but that's her decision."

The Star Snake was streaking though space that could be measured in thousands of miles a second, but Kartosh still turned to look at Chloe. "We don't think no worse of yah," He held onto the control yoke, "and what's yours is yours." He didn't say anything more than that, he didn't have to and he had a ship to pilot into a combat situation.

Meanwhile the shuttles began to disembark and glide down on the same vector as the Star Snake, patrols of soldiers shifting inside as they checked their weapons and synced communications. The Unshakable hadn't seen much combat, only at the battle against the SASM and the battle of Resistance, but it was one of the ships that guarded the Xiscapian System and was full of fully-fledged officers, ace pilots and crack troops. This pirate base was only an annoyance compared to the Rebels and Biodroids, but it nevertheless deserved to be taken seriously. Slavers tended to be a cowardly lot, but like any being they were nasty if cornered, and overconfidence, even arrogance had been the downfall of many a battle since time immemorial.

"Good answer," Nathan took the gun and checked it one more time, then grinned at the female, "Any other answer and I would have had to kill you," he teased then shouted into the cockpit,
"We getting any closer to this place Kartosh?"

Chloe nodded silently, smiling with relief,
"Thank you," She said softly, pleased with his reaction. That was her biggest fear, the one that kept her from home. How would all those people, all her friend and all her family, react if they knew what she had been through. They would treat her differently, they would whisper as she walked past, and that something she couldn't bear. She was here for a reason. In space, no one can whisper.

"You wouldn't shoot me, then who would pay off the tax collectors when they come for Kartosh?" Skyler teased back. "You would have lost your best drinking buddy!"

"Gettin' real close in here!" Kartosh shouted back, and they zoomed into the station, uncloaking and weapons activating instantly, hovering feet above the ripped open surface of the station before dropping in. The shuttles were just behind them, orbiting with their weapons trained on the area as the Star Snake began to sink lower, belly and top turrets swiveling and searching for targets as they descended into the interior.

"Good point," Nathan sighed, "I forgot about that," He then looked up in time to see the Star Snake drop into the empty shuttle bay. Inside were a number of troops, Mercenaries, all of them, all hiding behind a variety of items and already firing up at the landing ship. Alarms were sounding all over the station and Mercenaries, some calm, some panicking, were moving into positions to cut off the attackers. At the same time, the shields came down in each section, effectively isolating them from one another. Defence Turrets dropped from every ceiling in prepartion for the Attackers.
The defensive armament of the station were also coming into play. Small black boxs popped up from each shuttle pod and began to fire up at the shuttles, with a combination of missiles and lasers, creating a storm of flak for them to navigate.

The Star Snake was hovering several yards above the floor of the hanger, shields on maximum, small arms fire pinging and ricocheting off the force field. The belly turret began to shoot a stream of laser fire, spraying into the mercenaries and knocking over or blowing aside light or ungrounded pieces of cover as the ship itself pivoted, Kartosh using the bow-mounted cannons with glee to blast away concentrations of enemy soldiers or heavy cover.

Meanwhile the shuttles dove even lower, their shields and the countermeasures deployed by the pilots being the saving grace of the ships as missiles went wild tracking chaff and decoys and lasers were absorbed while solid rounds disintegrated. They were hovering directly over the section the Star Snake had entered, waiting for the mercenary ship to clear the area and move so they could landed and disgorge their Marine cargo. They were still vulnerable to fire, but the turrets would have other things to worry about as the Unshakable's light and PD weapons opened up, thin laser beams and railgun rounds firing to destroy the enemy defenses.

Many of the Guards were blasted away by the attacks of the Star Snake and those left did not wait to see what was coming next. They abandoned the ruined internal defences and ran for the Hangar door, sealing it before running through the narrow tunnels. They would see, outside, the external defences being shredded by something in space, a warship bigger than anything they had been designed to repel. They were in trouble.

They weren't the only one's.

Far off, well outside the Asteroid field and previously distracted, a vessel detected the weapons fire eminating from some location nearby, something that was familiar to them. They also recognised the signatures of the weapon fire and they knew who was causing it. Their enemy. Despite the best efforts of the Decoy, the three warships in the area, turned towards the weapons fire and jumped into hyperspace.
The Danaversians were coming. Sensors indicating they were just ninety minutes from the battlefield.

All became quiet as the enemy mercenaries fled from their positions, leaving only bodies of their dead, blasted pieces of equipment and the stench of sweat and ozone from blaster discharge behind them. The Star Snake went lower and slid across the floor only inches above it, opening the main hatch as Kartosh commanded it to. The three kitsune and one Alversian hopped out and the Black Raider class sealed itself and was put on standby, able to defend itself and at the call of her owners. Next came the three shuttles, each offloading a dozen Marines (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Image:SithCommando.jpg) for a total of thirty-six of the XIN soldiers, elite warriors spreading out around the hanger. The leader, the insignia on his armor denoting him a Warrant Officer, stepped up to them, rifle held at the ready in case the criminals decided to come back. "Warrant Officer Iwao, I'm in charge of this Marine platoon, we're here to kill this slaver scum and get those slaves out of here. I've been informed we're to work in concert with you," the distaste was evident even though the mechanical speakers of the helmet, "so what's our plan of attack? We have fire support from the Unshakable and fighter-bomber support standing by if needed."

The Unshakable ceased fire as soon as all the hardpoints on the station were annihilated. They would need to conserve energy, and until the soldiers on the ground gave them targets, they had nothing to shoot at. The Danaversians were closing in, but they and the slaves would be long gone by the time they got here...or so the Captain and 400+ crew of the Destroyer hoped.

"Well, I was thinking that we could attack the Slavers and free the Slaves," Nathan replied in a briefing kind of voice, "Beyond that...I hadn't really planned that far ahead to be honest," He grinned as he looked at the Marines spread out in the hangar.
Chloe walked up to the Warrant Officer and nodded,
"Half of your crew should pin down their reinforcements," She suggested calmly, looking cute despite her efforts to the contrary, "Then the rest can shut down their internal defence grid. Once it's down, it's a clean run to the Slaves. It needs to be done anyway, the Slaves all have a chip in the base of their skull. If it's taken too far from the station when the grid is active then it will detonate." She looked from one Marine to the others.
"Just my suggestion," She finished timidly

When the Marine rolled his eyes it was invisible behind the shaped helmet, but it was easy enough to sense he was annoyed at Nathan's response. This was why he hated working with civilians, they never took anything seriously! He settled down to listen to Chloe though, glad she had inside information on the station. Failsafe chips were to be expected, the slavers wouldn't want their workers stolen by rivals or rescued by people such as themselves, but it sounded like she knew where this grid was located. "Alright," the plan could have used a little tweaking but there was nothing majorly wrong with it and time was of the essence, "we split into two teams, just like the lady said," he spoke though his internal communications link to the other thirty-five Marines, "two mercs, designate Zeta One though Four, and eighteen of us, comprised into two squads of Marines each. Team Alpha, led by me, will have the primary objective of shutting down the internal defense grid and locating the slaves, codename packages, so we can establish a safe corridor back to the Unshakable. Team Bravo, led by Corporal Havelock, will be responsible for creating chaos and preventing any surviving slavers from disrupting the slave running lines. Once word has been received that all the packages have been secured we will all meet back here and haul ass before anyone else decides to join the party. Ladies and gentlemen," he nodded to the mercenaries as the Marines formed their squads, "two of you to a team, pick now. Anybody have any stupid questions? No? Excellent, you're not all complete failures. Good hunting boys and girls."

Chloe waited until the Marines had seperated into their teams and groups until she turned to face the other Mercenaries,
"The attack on the central grid is going to need finesse and timing," She looked at Nathan as she spoke, "And you have none," She sighed. Nathan looked offended but said nothing, merely turning mockingly away, sniffing the air snootily as he did so.
Chloe looked to Skyler,
"I think you and me should lead the strike on the Central grid and let the two Monkeys do what they do best, shot at stuff and generally create havoc. Is that okay?" She asked nervously, still insure and feeling ill. This was her past she was facing and she felt she was facing it alone.

"Fine by me," Skyler nodded, and Kartosh grinned at Nathan. "We're with team Alpha, you two bricks-for-brains are in team Bravo." Kartosh stepped up to stand beside Nathan. "Let's roll."
The platoon split, Team Bravo heading down the hallway the majority of the mercenaries had escaped though, while Team Alpha waited to be directed by Chloe as Skyler stood beside her. Kartosh was just behind the leading Marine in his team, rifle at the ready and a smile on his face. All the soldiers were proceeding with caution now, they didn't want to be surprised by any slavers or security systems.

Chloe looked at thge expectant Marines nervously, one visor to another. She was unsure for a moment before she regained her resolve and nodded to them all,
"The control room is two floors up. It'll be laced with internal defences. We have to disable them as we move through the complex," She explained nervously to them all,
"Let's move," She lifted her rifle and walked at the head through the complex, keeping an eye out for any signs of a turret, cracks in the roof, floor or walls, signs of a door, signs of a killing area, things that this that would signal an auto defence turret in the area.

Lower Section

Nathan grinned back and watched as the girls and Marines climbed the first of many stairways to the top of the complex. He looked to Kartosh and the Marines as they moved through the dark, grey lower corridors, wondering how his life had led to this, following a Marine on his own mission. It was quite amusing in a way.
Then, from ahead, behind a series of rubble piles created from explosions caused by the Xiscapian Destroyer, a yell came out in a foreign language, followed by the rattling of laser bolts on the wall above and beside the small column. This rattle was followed by several more and Nathan instinctively rolled sideways into more rubble to avoid the shots.
"Damn," he said lightheartedly. They'd been oppossed already.

The Marines moved in pairs, stalking up the stairs with their rifles up and swiveling, ready to shoot any hostile who exposed his, her or itself. Skyler was beside Chloe the entire way, machine-pistol out, still worried. What if Chloe, despite her assurances, was not able to fight, so close to her own past? What if they had another of those visions again? Just how well-protected was this grid, anyway? Did they have enough people and firepower to locate and destroy it?

Lower levels...
The Marines instantly spread out, ready for the attack, taking cover and returning fire as they did so, bright red flashes aiming for whoever was shooting at them. Kartosh had ducked behind a heap of twisted wreckage and pulled out a large, bulky-looking device that was unmistakably a grenade launcher. Grinning, he fell out of cover onto the floor, weapon held against him, and began to launch the explosives in an arc just over to rubble piles towards the enemy, trying to either kill them or flush them out so they would fall victim to the laser bolts of his comrades.

Chloe crept up at the front of the formation, breathing heavily yet still managing to keep herself under control. Her ears perked at every sound, her tail swished nervously from side to side as she watched and listened for signs of turrets. Then,
"Down!" She called, throwing herself to the floor as an explosion took a chunk out of the wall behind where her head had been. She rolled along the ground as a turret, a grenade launcher of some sort, fired at the combined Marines and Mercenaries, filling the corridor with explosives.

Lower Halls

Nathan leapt up at the same time and fired with his heavy weapon, the auto shotgun. The explosions of the grenades and shells were enough to drive the Mercenaries into flight, turning and abandoning their positions, fleeing for their lives deeper into the facility.
"That was easy," Nathan grinned as he held the smoking gun.

Two Marines fell as the shrapnel bounced off their armor, but they were well protected by the blast-proof suits, and returned fire with grenades and quick sprays of blaster fire. Skyler's right arm and fox ear had been cut by the flying bits of sharpened metal, but she was okay otherwise, and began to blindfire down the hall, spraying wildly.

Lower Halls...
The Marines kept firing as the mercenaries were routed, taking more of them down with bolts to the back. They had been ordered to show no mercy, and they didn't intend to. Finally the way was clear again and they kept moving, Kartosh easing the launcher onto his back again. "It'll get harder," he nodded and tugged his rifle free, moving along as the team penetrated deeper into the station.

Chloe had been unharmed by the blast and the offending turret was soon removed from action by the Marines. In the relative silence that followed, Chloe dusted herself down, lifted her rifle, and looked at the Marines,
"The Control Tower is just one floor above," She informed them, hoping that her memory of the layout was correct. It had been hard to concentrate with the Designer beneath her, raping her. Yet concentrate she had.

Lower Halls

The Mercenaries continued to withdraw in the corridors and halls beneath the control tower. Nothing disturbed the small party as they moved towards the caverns where the Slaves toiled hard in the worst conditions imaginable, all to make one Hutt very rich.
"Well," Nathan stated in a conversational manner, "This is like Rats in a Barrel..." He stopped as another storm of blaster rounds flowed through corridor. He ducked quickly in time to miss the hurricane from a combination of assualt rifles, carbines, heavy rifles and turret guns. They fired for their life, knowing that the only option was death.

The leader of Alpha Team nodded in acknowledgement and led his Imperial soldiers onward. This had been a blue milk run...so far. He wondered if this was their idea of heavy security, or if much of it had been knocked out by the bombardment from the Unshakable. The worst that had happened was the armor of a few of his Marines had gotten a bit scratched, and he hoped it would keep going this way, they didn't have the time for a drawn-out gunbattle. Skyler kept picking at her cut ear as she walked, looking around wearily as she did so, wishing she could get close enough to one of the mercenaries to cut him.
How she hated criminals that weren't a part of their group!

Lower Halls...
"Fish ina' barrel," Kartosh growled as they took cover once again, one Marine twisting and falling, shot in his left arm, to be dragged back by his fellows. The carbines were a joke, and the assault rifles weren't quite powerful enough to deal fatal damage from this range, but the heavy rifles were problematic and the turrets had both the accuracy and power to be a real threat. Fortunately none of the slavers seemed to have explosives of any kind, so the same tactic as before was used, keeping the enemy pinned down by fire while they were blown into the air by grenades, or vice versa. One Marine who ended up quite close dove to the other side of the cover the mercenaries were using and lifted his rifle over, a stream of flame from below the barrel hissing out over the enemy thugs there, setting their skin, clothes and hair alight.

The group moved forward towards the control room, it had been easy. Too easy. There had to be something here that would signal opposition. Chloe allowed her hopes to rise with each step, hoping that their attack really had caught the Hutt troops off-guard and now they were defending to the best of their ability.
"Troops front!" Chloe looked up from the floor to see their path blocked again. However, these were no common Thug troops. They moved in pairs, advancing, picking out targets for each other and covering each other's advance. They wore thick, black armour and carried rifles of a similiar calibre and type to the Marines. Anyone who had been at Kyat Shipyards at the time of the attack would realise the ruthlessly professional troops who now opposed the Marines were the same men who had stormed the complex.

Lower Hallways

Again, the Mercenaries turned and ran for their lives, not even bothering to turn and return fire at the Xiscapians as they fled. They were not going to sacrifice themselves for a bunch of dirty slaves, none of whom they really cared about. Nathan was looking on in curiousity,
"Have we missed a trick here?" He asked, leveling his gun and moving forward cautiously. Something was wrong.

"Hostiles, twelve o'clock!" One of the troopers shouted, and they scattered again before the enemy could open fire, dispersing to all available cover and unleashing a hail of blaster bolts and grenades at the soldiers. Skyler pulled a knife from her belt, weighed it, then darted out into the open and threw the blade, the weapon rotating twice as it flew towards the uncovered face of one of the mercenaries. If she couldn't get close enough to stab, she'd have to improvise.

Lower Halls...
Kartosh felt it too. "They're leading us on," he motioned to the patrol leader. "Corporal!"
The armored kitsune stopped where he had been advancing amongst the bodies of the dead gunmen, turning back to face the mercenaries. "What!"
"I know these types," Kartosh nodded, "it seems like they're cowards and unorganized, but I guarantee you, they're prompting us towards a trap. I would advise you scout out the area ahead before you send any of your troops in."
The kitsune seemed to consider this. "You're sure about this? Seems like typical criminal will to me."
Kartosh fairly snarled. "Trust me, Corporal."

The Xiscapian seemed to shrug, and after an order though his link one of the Marines came over and silently began to assemble a drone (http://anbuxitachi.deviantart.com/art/probe-001-11511493). It took less than a minute, and the probe was in the air, hovering on miniature repulser lifts and began to move down the hall, scanning in infrared, thermal imaging, electronics detection and regular naked-eye sight. It would warn the patrol if it encountered anything unusual or out-of-place, and it's view was displayed as a box at the lower left-hand corner on the Marine's HUD. Kartosh and Nathan did not have the benefit of the helmets however, and had to rely on the Xiscapian warriors to tell them what was happening.

One of the Mercenaries fell backwards, blood pouring from a wound on his face. He was gone for a few moments before emerging again, face healed, firing his blaster at the cover behind which the Marines were hiding. They were using their own grenades to counter the Marines, however, the fire was slackening but still remaining it's ferocity, the Mercenaries were withdrawing. However, they were not fleeing like the other Guards, they were pulling back, using cover to conceal their retreat, firing for each other as they left.
These Guys knew what they were doing.

Chloe ran forward to another cover, feeling the bolts rattle off the wall behind her. She made it to cover but then found herself unable to move, feeling the rubble behind which she hid. She could do nothing, only cower in fear from the fire.

Lower Halls

The Drone would find, attached to the walls of the corridor, explosives which had been built into the wall, designed there to explode and seal the corridor. The explosives could be ignited from either the wall itself or from the central control tower.
Nathan moved forward slowly, looking side from side for any sign of the enemy. Something to blow up.

The hell? Skyler thought as the soldier she had stabbed came back up a moment later, wound all but gone. Are they using some kind of bacta or nanobot healing devices? She raised her pistol and blasted the merc as he rose back out of cover, blowing his head off. Like to see magical healing devices fix that!
The Marines had taken more casualties, another of their number seriously wounded. The transition from bumbling thugs to professional soldiers had caught them off guard, and they were being far more cautious now, pouring streams of fire before moving. Skyler saw Chloe hiding under a piece of rubble, the storm of fire making any attempt to move suicidal, and ran forward, a Marine covering her. She slid in to where her fellow partner in crime was flinching at every shot, noticing the trooper that had been following her had gone down with a large scorched dent in his breastplate. "Stay here!" She shouted to Chloe. "They're retreating!"
"We don't have time for this!" Warrant Officer Iwao swore loudly and patched into his commlink to the Unshakable. "We need a heavy down here, pronto!"
They continued to fire on the enemy, though not as enthusiastically as before, trying to avoid further wounds or possible death.

Lower Levels...
"Stop." One of the Marines grabbed Nathan by the shoulder. "That corridor up there's rigged to blow."
"Aw fuck-" Kartosh cursed. "No one's allowed to detonate stuff around here but me and you, Nathan!"
"The drone can go though," commented the kitsune controlling the probe, "but we sure as hell can't. It's probably motion-triggered, but I'll bet they have a primary control somewhere to prevent them from blowing themselves up when they go though. Probably in the central mainframe, we'll have to wait for those bastards upstairs to make a break-though."

The Mercenaries continued to withdraw, using standard tactics to hold them off. The Mercenaries who had died or been wounded where left where they fell. The others withdrew. In the darkness of the corridor, nothing could be seen, not even by the sensors of the Xiscapian ship or Marines, it seemed like a jamming device was being emitted, stopping any sensors from working in the dark corridors. To make matters worse, a strange, blue fog had settled over the corridors, making even the Kitsune eyesight next to useless. As a consolation though, it was clear that even the Mercenaries could not see, as their fire began to slacken, as if conserving ammunition. The shots that were fired where randomly aimed and none hit home. The battle quietened down.

Chloe was breathing heavily, sweat running down her brow as she looked at Skyler, panting,
"Thank...you," She managed, realising with shame that she had allowed herself to be pinned in a dangerous situation, one grenade could have killed her. The only one who knew their way into this place. The shame was obvious on her face.

Lower halls

"What? What the...?" Nathan asked, looking up as the bliue gas began to seep through a few vents above the walls. The gas, though harmless, had the same effect on these Marines as the one's upstairs. Sensors and scanners became useless.,
"I was feeling blue before but this is ridiculous," Nathan sighed, watching the Drone vanish into the mist. He stopped firing again, "Looks like the Girls are having a good time."

More swearing could be heard from the Marines behind the blue clouds of gas.
"Huh?"
"My scanners are fading!"
"What the hell is this, some kind of smoke?"
"For fuck's sake, somebody seal those vents!"
The soldiers went to work, taking out long strips of thick gauze from their emergency medical kits and improvising them to block the vents, preventing more gas from coming though. If any vent could not be reached they would boost each other up or stand on each others shoulders. However, the damage was done, and they would need to wait for a while for the gas to dissipate. Iwao knew they didn't have time to wait, but fortunately, his call to the Destroyer had solved that problem.

There was a series of rhythmic booming noises and an Xiscapian mecha could eventually be seen wading though the gas. The Light Assault Mech was so big it could barely fit in the hallway, but it had the armor and weapons of an entire platoon, and it's legs and arms pumped slowly as it tramped past the Marines who had pressed themselves up against the walls to let it by. "Couldn't finish the job on your own, huh?" Came the dry voice of the pilot as the machine brushed piles of rubble aside and crushed bodies beneath its feet, shoulder-mounted railguns pointing ahead to blast anything they detected. The electrical shield was online and repulsing or disintegrating anything it came in contact with, while the guns were powerful enough to tear a fighter apart or shred a light fighting vehicle and more than enough to blow apart any opposition it encountered.

Skyler grabbed Chloe's hands and forcefully lifted the other kitsune to her feet, out of the way of the LAM as it lumbered past. "Up you go, now," she said easily, brushing off Chloe's back with one hand while she handed her her weapon with the other. "Had a little fall didn't we, you'll be back up in no time, eh?" She winked, pretending she didn't know Chloe was frozen up in the middle of a firefight. Skyler knew it happened to everyone, but none of them could afford to have it happen here, and it was even more disturbing when Chloe had assured them of her combat efficiency. Nevertheless, Skyler let none of these thoughts and feelings show, knowing that that would be the worst thing to do to the other mercenary.

Lower Levels...
The drone's scanners and sensors fell offline, rendering the droid many magnitudes less useful than it had been, but it still had eyes and transmissions could still go though, so it continued forward under the watchful guidance of it's Marine controller. The same tactic of clogging to vents was repeated here, and Kartosh leaned against the wall out of the way, looking ill-tempered, obviously not content to simply wait around when there was slaves to be freed, bad guys to be brought to justice and objects to destroy. "How many more things are they going to fucking hit us with? What's next? Mounted Calvary? Chuck Norris with a BB gun?"

"Wha? Oh yeah," Chloe was in a slight daze for a moment, before snapping back to reality, "Sorry, I spaced out for a moment there," Her voice trailed off, as she realised she was making herself appear weaker with every statement made. She sighed. She had volunteered to come along and she had told them that she could do this, she had to do this.
However, as the Mecha walked through the fog to where the defenders had been posted, they found nothing more than two dead bodies and no weapons laying, nor identification. The Mercenaries, like the Professionals they obviously where, had used the distraction of the mist to withdraw without a firefight. It had been an effecient manner of fighting, worthy of any Army or Space Force. They had gone.
"The Control Centre is at the top of this flight of stairs," She pointed to a staircase directly ahead, "There should be no further delays."

Meanwhile, the Danaversians were now just fifty-five minutes away and closing rapidly, two Barracudas, being joined by two more, where all converging on the asteroid field.

Lower Levels

"I think a Monkey with a flamethrower will be next," Nathan chirped up, resting against a piece of debris, "Or a Man in a hat with a biiiiig hammer," He spread his arms as far apart as they would go, "This big," He said it like he was giving a lecture on nanotechnology.
Then the gas started to clear to reveal that there was no more opposition, only the explosives on the wall, where left between them and the lower working chambers, or so it seemed.

Since the way was clear the mech kept going, up the stairs with the Marines following up on the flanks. They would be mop-up now, killing anything the LAM missed, however unlikely that might be. The three wounded Marines were helped or carried along back to the shuttle by three of their fellows, reducing the force from eighteen of the XIN soldiers to just a dozen, supported by the mech and mercs. Skyler just smiled, patted Chloe on the back, and followed the Marines as they walked past. The communications in the helmets of the troopers squawked, the Unshakable informing them they had just under an hour to complete their mission and get back to base.

Lower Levels...
There wasn't anything to be done, but the kitsune troops relaxed about three hairs, keeping two sentries on both ends of the hall, weapons primed and their armor on and sealed. This was enemy territory, and carelessness in hostile land got you killed. Only Kartosh and Nathan seemed to be anything approaching casual, leaning against the wall, joking with each other. "I bet they're all having a drink and laughing at us," Kartosh grumbled. "This was supposed to be a fast mission, without all this waiting around."
The Corporal in charge stepped over. "Gents, we've received orders to pull back and guard the LZ so Team Alpha can have a nice, quick jog back without having to tangle with any tangos. I have orders to blow this corridor and make sure none of those mercenaries come back this way to attack us. One of you want to do the honors and chuck a bomb in there?" He nodded to the hallway trap. So much the better to use the explosives of private contractors to do the job, that was one less piece of equipment that would go on the expenses report at the end of this assignment.

The mist in the lower section had cleared, allowing the Mecha, Marines and Mercenaries to proceed up to the second level, where the controls were siuated in a circular room, all of the panels were flashing green. However, the mist seemed even thicker in here, sensors were useless. Chloe couldn't see more than a few feet in front of her but she turned to the Marines anyway,
"Deactivate the green panels," She called to them, not even knowing if she was facing in the right direction, "It'll cut out the chip defences, explosives and turrets."
She walked to a corner of the room and began to work on one of the panels.

Lower Hallways

"Is there another way down to the Slaves?" Nathan asked, "More importantly, do we have time to go another way?"

Control Room...
"Right," Iwao nodded and the Marines began to spread out, two guarding the door while the mecha stood outside while the rest went to various consoles to shut down the security. They didn't know if there was anyone else in here, but the soldiers were confident they could kill anyone in close quarters combat, and not a few had their hands on their sidearms or the hilts of their katanas, ready to do battle if they had to. Skyler was standing near Chloe, or at least she thought she was, very weary. This is the perfect spot for an ambush... She thought, holding her pistol tightly.

Lower Levels...
Kartosh already had a grenade halfway off his belt, but he stopped, listening to Nathan and the Xiscapian. The Marine had been about to answer when he paused, listening to more communications. "Countermand that. Team Alpha has reached the control room and found an access panel for the explosives. They are shutting them down now. Sit tight boys and girls, we'll be underway in a moment." He waved Kartosh down, who managed to look dissapointed and excited at the same time as he stowed his grenade and hefted the rifle, eager to fight once more.

Chloe turned to deactive another panel, noticing with satisfaction as the light turned from green to red with a small click, indicating that the system was now offline. She was not sure what parts she was deactivating but, better safe than sorry.
She turned to face Skyler, to tell her that the procedure was going well and they'd soon be back with the men. However, she saw that Skyler had gone, vanished into the smoke. She shrugged and went on, assuming that she had simply gone to turn off one of the other consoles.
In fact, Skyler was at the Kitsune's feet, out cold, taken out by one of the Mercenaries who had crept up on her in the fog, used a neck pinch of unknown origin. He had her weapon in his hand, the other Mercenaries safely in the corner, away from the consoles and away from the Marines. Yet they had one of them now as their own.

Lower Halls

"Perfect!" Nathan picked up his shotgun and checked it again, "Someone down there's gonna see the wrong end of this, and I know it's not gonna be me!" He looked to the Marines,
"Can we move yet without getting our heads blown off?" he asked.

Control Room...
"Okay," Warrant Officer Iwao came over the comms to the rest of his troops. "Their defenses are down, the mainframe's been neutralized. Let's move out men, we've got some slaves to free!"
The mech made room for the Marines by continuing forwards swiftly while the supporting troops followed up from behind, until only Iwao and Chloe were left at the control room. The Xiscapian nodded to his fellow kitsune. "Get that other merc and follow us, quick now, we're not waiting for you." He turned and strode off up the corridor with the rest of his troops, intent on finding and rescuing the slaves held here.

Lower Levels...
"Alpha says the defences are down," the Corporal in charge said. "Those bombs have been disabled. Mercs, since you're so eager, take point and we'll follow right behind. Let's kill some scum!"

"Alright," Chloe nodded as the last light went out and the last of the defensive batteries were knocked out. Now there was nothing between them and the Slaves. It seemed like those Mercenaries had retreated back to the safety of their own ship. Perhaps they would be picked up by the Xiscapian Destroyer in space. Even the mist was clearing. It cleared to reveal a room completely devoid of Skyler,
"Skyler?" Chloe asked, suddenly scared, where was she gone?, "Skyler!" She called it out with a sinking heart as she realised that she was gone. Taken. By them.

Quickly, she scrambled backwards and ran to where the Marines and Mercenaries were convering on the lower halls, down to where the Slaves were based.

Ship

Up, past the Xiscapian Destroyer, a cloaked warship turned and ran for the Hutt territory. They had failed. Their assignment had been to protect the facility and ensure that a very valuable part of Grabba's business was safe. Now it was gone. They had something which would soften the Hutt's anger though, something that would make him forget all about his loss. In one of the bunks, with her hands tied fimrly behind her and a length of rope securing her to the bed by her neck, was a Kitsune female, another one to add to his collection.

Lower Halls

"Thought you'd never ask." With that, Nathan was gone, vanishing into to the darkness of the corridors, gun blazing, no sign of opposition from the Mercenaries who had been left to protect the station. They had fled down into the Slave Section of the base.

The mecha took the halls by storm, crashing though anything in it's path, the pilot having the time of his life, crushing past boxes and over raised bits of sheet metal with ease. The Marines were following up behind as before and the Warrant Office had since moved to the front. None seemed to notice the missing merc, eyes on the prize as they jogged up the corridor, weapons leveled, orange or yellow eyes staring out from behind red helmets.

XIW Unshakable...
"Ma'am, there's a modified freighter coming up out of the facility now, cloaked!"
The Captain, an exceedingly tall kitsune whose height hinted at Alversian blood, looked sharply at the Scanning Officer. "It's not one of our mercs?"
"No Captn,' I.D. shows nothing and the gravity well is too large for one of the Black Raiders."
"Blow it out of space!"
The Heavy Laser Cannons on the Destroyer swiveled and began to blast away, a flaring energy signature showing a collapsing shield on the flying ship, but by the time lighter weaponry had gotten a lock the vessel had vanished into hyperspace.

There was a moment of silence on the bridge. "There weren't any slaves on that thing, were there?" The Captain asked.
Her X.O. shook her head. "Bio scans showed what looked like a skeleton crew, looks like some of the mercs decided to bug out."
"Not our problem," she turned her attention back to the facility. "How much time we got left?"
"Approximately forty minutes remain until the Danaversian Task Force arrives, Captain."

Ship...
Skyler groaned and tasted something dry and salty. She tried to lick her lips and weakly ran her tongue over them, realising that the dry, salty thing was, in fact, her tongue. She was disgusted to find she'd drooled slightly on the bunk she was lying on, but quickly discovered something far more distressing than her inability to close her mouth while sleeping: There was a length of rope lying her hands behind her and a coil of it around her neck. It could only mean one thing.
She'd been captured.

Lower Levels...
Kartosh ran forward with a yell and the soldiers followed at a brisk pace, anxious to kill more slavers, but not quite as reckless as the two criminals that went before them.

Chloe caught up with the Party easily enough and quickly found the Leader, "Skyler," She panted desperately, "They've taken her. They've captured her!" Her eyes betrayed her obvious distress, which she looked from side to side as if fearing a Mercenary behind every corner, memories flooding back, memories of what had happened to her, except all she could see now was Skyler's face in her place. She ran ahead of the Marines, ducked past the Mecha and virtually flew down the stairs.

She had to tell Nathan and Kartosh.

Mercenary Ship

One of the Mercenaries noticed that Skyler was awake and walked through the ship to notify the person in command. He was soon down in the crew Qaurters looking at Skyler though his black, faceless helmet. He seemed to stay that way for a long time, he could have passed for a statue. Then he slowly began to speak,
"Name and designation please, Miss Kitsune." He demanded.

Lower halls

Nathan was in front, Kartosh just behind as he leapt through a screen of smoke towards the Slave Quarters. He ran right into a group of Mercenaries, standing ready to fire. Their surprised looks showed that they had not expected anyone to run through the smoke so quickly. One of the Mercenaries dropped his weapon and the others followed suit. Nathan responded by kicking him in the nuts, making him collapse, before running on to the lower sections, feeling the building heat already.

The Slaves stopped their work and turned to look at their would-be Saviours. They were amongst great caverns of rock, surrounded by drilling equipment and thick smoke pouring from both the walls and the machinary. They could see the dirty faces of dozens of Slaves, almost all of them males, though of a variety of species. They were wearing rags, looking at the Mercenaries with gaunt, hagged faces covered in dirt, blood and sweat. And not without a little bit of curiousity,
"Time to go lads," Nathan called, lifting his weapon.

"Wha-" Iwao watched the mercenary skirt his troops and sprint ahead, thoroughly mystified. "What did she say?"
"Something about the sky, sir."
"Should we go after her?" Asked another. "In a place like this-"
"No," The Warrant Officer shook his head. "We've got an objective and deadline, we don't have time to be chasing a bunch of fool mercs."
They arrived at the opposite end of the ore mining cavern and, after securing the area began to shuttle out slaves, several dozen with escorts, back to the LZ. "Let's move!" Iwao roared. "Stay here and you're dead, we've got less than thirty minutes!"

Mercenary Ship...
"Fuck you," Skyler gasped, working at her bonds. These were Grabba's men, and they were no doubt taking her to the Bloated One himself. It wouldn't take long for them to figure out who she was, and then she was unsure of what would happen...she would be enslaved, certainly, but would the Hutt dare keep such a dangerous being so close to him?
He did Chloe. She thought grimly. He will do the same to me.

Cavern...
The Marines grouped around the captured guards, forcing them to their knees with their hands behind their heads. One looked to the Corporal, who simply nodded and strode off though the smoke. There was the sound of blaster fire and the thud of bodies falling to the ground behind him and the rest of the kitsune soldiers trotted out to secure the area and began extracting the slaves.
No quarter, no mercy, no regrets.

Kartosh was standing more-or-less off to the side, reveling in a job well done, pleased to see that Team Alpha was at the other side of the room, also taking on slaves. They were well above their time limit and he was confident he, Skyler, Chloe, Nathan, the slaves and the Unshakable would be long gone by the time the Danaversians arrived. He was discreetly attaching a bomb to a piece of mining equipment when he saw Chloe, looking anguished, and quickly hid his activity, sauntering over to her. Oh shit, what happened? He wondered, thinking that she had somehow regressed into a vision again in the middle of a firefight.
"What's wrong?" The smuggler asked.

Mercenary Ship

"Now now," The Mercenary smiled, unseen behind the faceless Helmet, "Let's not be so nasty eh? I know exactly who you are. Your name is Skyler. You form one half of a successful team with a Mercenary known as Kartosh. You are his...support no? You are certainly fiesty but it may be in the best interests of all concerned if you keep your tongue somewhat. You do not show your people's finest qualities with this outspokeness." He stated calmly, stroking at her hair.
"Now there is no harm in knowing those two Mercenaries you were with."

Lower Halls

The Mercenaries watched as the Slaves were being hauled onto the Shuttles and brought back up to the Destroyer in space, most simply unable to believe they were free after this many years, many where thin and gaunt, many had very bad coughs from lung damage. It was evident that they had suffered,
"Skyler!" Chloe cried as she screeched to a halt in front of her two Comrades, "They got her! They kidnapped her! The fog...we...I...they snuck up on her!" She panted, tears gathering in her eyes.

Mercenary Ship...
"Untie me and you'll all see what my finest qualities are, scum," Skyler spat. "Why should I tell you anything? You already seem to know all the answers."

Cavern...
The last of the slaves had been beamed up, where they would receive medical assistance, hot baths, clean clothes, food, water and everything the Unshakable and her crew could provide. There were few more wretched creatures as a being that had been kept in slavery, and the entire crew felt strongly sympathetic towards the blackened, gaunt, tired people they had rescued. The Marines began to board their shuttles, mission a success, to go back to their starship and leave this place behind.

"Whoa, take a chill pill girl, what..." The words began to seep into Kartosh's brain. Skyler. They got her. Fog. Kidnapped.
"No," Kartosh whispered, staring at Chloe. "They couldn't. She wouldn't...aww fuck." The last word was almost a sob, and his face seemed to crumple, any sign of happiness vanishing. His whole body appeared to deflate, but even so he hefted his rifle, pushing past Xiscapian, heading for the LZ, head down to conceal the tears that were silently running down his face.

"See, those finer qualties are the one's that I don't really want to see for the moment." The Mercenary smiled again, "I'm wondering what Grabba will make of you. I don't know that answer and I won't pretend that I know. You have the answer, you have an advantage over me and I assume you are not going to reveal it to me?" He smirked.

Lower Halls

"What?" Nathan's face was shocked and he looked to the Kitsune to see that Kartosh was gone. Nathan shook his head in shock and looked back at Chloe who was running to catch up with Kartosh, she put her hand on his shoulder and turned him to face her, forcing him to look at her, to see the tears in her own eyes,
"We'll get her back," She said, uncharactistic force in her mind, "We'll get her back now"

Meanwhile, the Danaversians were just five minutes away from battle, six vessels, all Barracuda's.

Ship...
"Oh!" Skyler gave a malicious laugh. "I'm tied up and I have the advantage, of course, how silly of me. Are you braindead?" She demanded. "I'd say you're even stupider than you look, except then you wouldn't be able to walk and talk at the same time."

Cavern...
Kartosh just looked at Chloe, face contorted with pain. "I lost her once before," he rasped. "I can't lose her again."

The XIW Unshakable got under way, moving out of the asteroid field and jumping away, back to Xiscapia with barely two minutes to spare. But even as the mercenaries made for the Star Snake it was too late. The Barracuda's arrived above the station as Kartosh lifted his ship off with Nathan and Chloe aboard. In space, outside the empty facility, he saw the six enemy Battleships, dwarfing his Black Raider and outgunning it hundreds of times over-
And was seized by a reckless rage.

The next few minutes were utterly terrifying. The Danaversians were trying to interfere with the Star Snake's ability to engage her FTL drive, so Kartosh dove her directly at a Danaversian bridge, firing off torpedo after torpedo, shooting though groups of Conger fighters, sometimes laughing wildly, sometimes deathly silent. He flew at insane speeds mere meters above gun batteries firing lasers bigger than his whole ship, avoided the hull by inches. By the end of it he had destroyed dozens of strike craft and severely damaged at least one of the capital ships, and they finally backed off, going around the little smuggling ship rather than trying to engage it directly. The Star Snake jumped away and Kartosh settled deeply into his seat, empty of that spark of life, eyes glazed as he stared out the cockpit, lost in thought.

The Mercenary chuckled, "I said you had an advantage, not the advantage. Admittedly, most of the advantages are tight in my hand but you have the avenue of escape. I do not know who you work with, other than Kartosh. But he alone will not come for you. I can take steps to take down that reckless Kitsune but not for an enemy I do not know. Therefore, there is still an escape route open for you. Hence that advantage lies with you." He leant back in his chair, "Though I still hold the upper hand"

Star Snake

"Holy Shit!" Nathan was sitting in the cockpit, sweat running from his brow, looking over at Kartosh, "Mate there is recklessness then there is what you have just done," He was breathing heavily. Chloe just looked sad, sitting with her tail between her legs,
"Don't kill yourself, Kartosh," She whispered quietly, quiet enough for Nathan not to pick it up but Kartosh with his more sensitive hearing, "She wouldn't want you to do that. She still needs a Saviour. She needs you. If you are calm, you will not lose her again"

"A masterful observation," Skyler shot back sarcastically. "Except the last man who tried to assassinate Kartosh got force-fed his own nuts. If you think I think I still have a chance of being rescued by my friends, why the hell do you think I would tell you who they are? I suppose you don't get to talk to many women," she snorted, "I'm just your captive audience."

Star Snake...
The aging smuggler swiveled in his seat, and his face was drawn, eyes haunted. "I lost her once before," he repeated. He remembered being slumped over the counter at a bar somewhere, drinking himself into a stupor, because then it didn't hurt and maybe for a moment he could forget. "It was...terrible."

"Oh I don't think you stand a chance," The Mercenary smiled again, "But it is nice to know who you are destroying and who you are killing." A small chortle, "And I think that Mister Kartosh will find me a slightly more...challenging opponent. No one has broken into or out of Graba's Palace since I took command six years ago, just after one of his slaves escaped. I've made sure that that hasn't happened again. You could be quite charming if you weren't so nasty. It's a pity" He shook his head,
"My people have a saying, There be no greater fury around than a free Kitsune bound. I think it's rather apt, don't you agree?"

Star Snake

Chloe took Kartosh by the hand, gripping it lightly to offer her presence to the broken Mercenary,
"We will get her back. We'll get her back soon, then we can take this whole thing down from the inside, we'll make Grabba wish he's never heard of Kitsune or us," She said it firmly, decisively. All of a sudden, her own terror was pushed away by the need to rescue her friend and collegue. She must not let Skyler go through what she had gone through.

"Whoever said that was a hell of a lot smarter than you, then," Skyler said dryly. "You obviously haven't met my friends before. You, Grabba, and anyone else stupid enough to threaten us don't stand a chance." She laughed right back at him. "They won't just break into your employer's precious fortress. They'll break in, rescue all Grabba's slaves including me, destroy all his valuables, kill all his henchmen including yourself and everyone on this ship, burn his stronghold to the ground, and then kill Grabba. I'd say you should let me go and I'll let you all live, except that I wouldn't."

Star Snake...
"Yeah," Kartosh seemed forlorn, squeezing her hand. "We don't even know where she is...I'm gonna kill that bastard myself!" He growled, suddenly angry. "Son of a bitch...when we find him, he and all his friends are going to pay!"

"Well," The Mercenary laughed again, "I wouldn't be much of a Bodyguard if I let that happen now, would I? As for the threat, I expect nothing less than insults from you. Sticks and stones. We're coming up on the palace now. Almost time to met your new Master. Excited?" he asked casually, leaning back in his chair, seemingly unpeturbed by her outbursts and insults.

Star Snake

The Beautiful Kitsune thought it over for a few moments "Do you know where the Napran Bar is on Kel?" She asked him thoughtfully, "There is someone there who knows the way. He worked for the Hutt in the past and now he spends his time drinking himself to death. If you pay him, he will guide us to the fortress." Chloe didn't know where it was, too ecstatic with her freedom to notice the course she was travelling and the shuttle with the co-ordinates was long gone. They had no way of finding it. Not at the moment.

"Insults are insults, but threats are threats. You're time is coming sooner than you think." Predicted Skyler. "And no, I'm not excited. Just sick, angry and a little bored."

Star Snake...
"Napran bar?" Kartosh thought. It was relatively out of the way, and a place for exactly what Chloe had described, to drink and get drunk without the risk of anyone trying to kill you, and without any cops around to arrest you. Kel was full of criminals, although these days most of them were Syndicate, any gangsters or other criminals who didn't work for, pay off or were somehow associated with them inside the Kitsune Empire tended to get killed off very fast. He wondered if this guy was a Syndicate goon, or just someone they received protection money from now and again.
"I'll pay whatever I have to." He said with determination.

"Touche," the Mercenary smiled, "Don't worry. He'll love you. As long as you don't treat him like a piece of sh..." he stopped with a sigh, "...you know, I won't bother wasting my breath." He stood up and untied the rope from the bed, waiting until Skyler could stand up for herself,
"Now, shall we go?" He asked, then chuckled, "Then again, you don't have a choice"

Star Snake

"Good," Chloe nodded, "Because he may ask for a lot. He may ask for enough to start a new life. I'll fund half of it, for you," Chloe confirmed, "and Nathan will help too." She decided that Nathan would not oppose it and, if he did, then she would see it was gone in moments. She was about to speak again when the Star Snake jolted and an alarm went off on the console,
Chloe turned to look at one of the screens,
"Battle," She stated simply, "Dead ahead, eight Barracuda's and three Alumina warships."
She looked out the window to see the battle, the Barracuda's firing their phasers in random directions, firing missiles, MAC's and turbolasers in all directions, seemingly without target.
Then an Alumina warship appeared, the sleek, dual-engined ships seemed to come out of a gap in space itself. The vessel dived from above on one Barracuda, streams of purple plasma rounds seemed to come from the vessel like machine-gun fire. The targeted Barracuda exploded in a cloud of fire and debris. The Alumina vessel flew straight through the fireball before vanishing back into nothingness.

"Whoa," Chloe said silently, momentarily distracted, before turning back to Kartosh, "We need to plan around it"

"Hey, you're learning," Skyler muttered as she stood and stretched, limbs aching. "Too bad you're not smarter and less loyal to Grabba, then you could actually be some decent cannon fodder."

Star Snake...
"I swear this is all a conspiracy," Kartosh said, showing that he had not lost his sense of humor. The Star Snake had been yanked out of hyperspace and now skirted the edge of the battle, trying to avoid attracting the attention of any of the warships. "I didn't know the Danaversians or the Alumina were this close to Kitsune Imperial borders. I bet High Command is going nuts."

"Pity isn't it?" The Mercenary nodded as he walked Skyler into the palace, a large stone building with turrets and troops patrolling it's every edge. It appeared like an old age building. One that had stood the test of the time. It had probably once been the home of an old and noble Lord, a man who had honour and dignity. A man who understood compassion. Such a man would have spun in his grave if he knew that his palace was now the home of a Hutt. And a particularly bad Hutt at that.

The Mercenary led Skyler deeper and deeper into the facility, though all kinds of tunnels, past chokepoints, past turrets, past Men who looked like they had gotten lost on their way to a drinking convention initially, who gave way to hardened troops near the centre of the palace. These men were like the Mercenary, black armour, heavily armed, unseeing yet all seeing. They even offered snap salutes as the Mercenary passed with his prize. They looked like a professional military force. And a good one at that.

Soon though, the dark, cramped corridors gave way to a large room. A room that had once contained a richness of wealth and cultural that could only be compared to the disgrace that it had now become. It was dark, it was dirty and the only light came from a series of windows where the walls met the top ceiling. A crowd was lined around three sides of this room. They parted soon enough to reveal a large open square. Along the back wall sat her new Master.

He was a Hutt, one she would remember from Chloe's horrible flashbacks and one that had not changed in all the years that she had been free. The room was the same, the people in it were different. As was the person who lay at the bottom of his thone. It was another Kitsune, but she was different to Chloe in many regards but similar in terms of her beauty. She lay, an expression of shock on her face at the sight of another Kitsune so far from their homeland. She had short dark red hair and with pale skin, a silver chain connecting her collar to the Hutt who was evidently her Master. She wore nothing more than a bikini. A bikini so small that it was next to useless, it certainly failed to hid the full curves of her lithe young body. There were no mysteries to why she had been enslaved.

"My Lord," The Mercenary announced, nodding his head, "I have managed to secure another Xiscapian Kitsune for your pleasure," He smiled and threw the rope to Grabba. He responded by pulling on it hard, forcing Skyler against his skin, tripping on the female in front of his. He ran his tongue across her face, grumbling his approval at the move. His loss apparently forgotten.

Star Snake

"It's always our luck," Chloe sighed as another Barracuda exploded and the Alumina retreated back into their cloaks, vanishing from all scanners and lifting their FTLi field, leaving the wreakage of three Barracuda's in their wake. Of course, the problem was that they now saw the Star Snake as a threat,
"Time to go," Chloe whispered into Kartosh's top ear, "We don't have time."

"Uahhh," Skyler turned her face away from the massive mouth of the Hutt, grimacing. "I didn't even know they stacked shit this high. Can you speak, you obese, diabetic worm? Or are you just going to molest me with your tongue?"

Star Snake...
"Yeah, I don't have the patience for dealing with those over sized house cats either," Kartosh muttered as he waggled the smuggling ship and made the jump back into hyperspace. "Stupid Danaversians and their fuckin' stupid ambitions."

The Hutt did not understand the insults of Skyler and merely continued with his licking for several moments, ignoring how his Translator had gone red at the words spoken by the Kitsune. It was not long before Grabba make a gloating order to his Slave at his feet. The female got up and gently pushed Skyler in the middle of the room to the jeers and catcalls of the audience. She gave a bow to Grabba before turning back to Skyler and untying her bonds.
"Don't resist," She whispered in the Mercenary's ear, "If you stop then he's going to hurt me" She whispered in a frightened voice, eyes glancing over to Grabba before she dropped her knees and began to remove Skyler's pants, slowly for the amusement of the crowd. If Skyler remembered the deep scar in Chloe's back then she knew what would happen to this poor girl if she tried to deny Grabba what he thought was his.

Star Snake

"I hear they've taken Miller and Colony Two and the Booleans have bombarded Cholk. Weighing everything together, this war doesn't seem to be going very well," Chloe sighed, "Even Coalition space isn't safe anymore."

"So, it appears to me," Skyler was leaning over, resting her elbows on top of the other slave's head, hands holding her head up, "that we are tonight's entertainment." She didn't seem at all concerned that she was now wearing nothing but her underwear below her waist with her pants around her ankles, her voice taking on a rustic infliction. "I mean, really, it was awfully nice of y'all to transport me all the way out 'ere, but 'itsune 'hores ain't that 'spensive, 'less you want a really good un. Cor, most of 'em are govern'ent, and I be sure you wouldn't want ah fed'ral 'iscapian in yur li'll 'ole right 'ere, least all yeh 'irty li'll secrets get all exposed like. 'ill, I be sure 'tever I got ain't worth yer 'ives, now, ain't it, so you should prally 'et me go nice and easy like, yah 'ear?"

Star Snake...
"Miller's a gonner," Kartosh agreed, "but I think Colony Two's still hanging on and I haven't heard anything from Cholk. Sydnicate's mighty pissed though, when the Calaverians lost Pamp there went their next planned base of operations."

The Audience either did not hear Skyler or they were ignoring her, for the catcalls and yells did not lighten up as the pants were removed completely, along with her underwear. The Slave Girl then slipped on a pair of small gold bikini bottoms before moving up to her top, slowly peeling it up and away from her body, an admiring coo coming from her before glancing away again, embarrassed by her admiration and by the fact that she was helping to humiliate a fellow Kitsune. Grabba did not understand her words and the Translator did not care to translate for him.
"I'm sorry," She whispered, cheeks flushing a delicate pink.

Star Snake

"Even so," Chloe shrugged, "I'd be more worried about the Danaversians than the Syndicate. The Syndicate can't make a shoal of Battleships appear out of nowhere can they?" She sighed, "It's getting worrying now. Even the Greali Empire's fallen. What's next?"

"So am I," Skyler murmured back, entirely unabashed by her exposure. "Don't say I didn't warn you," She said in a louder voice as the top was put one. She made as if to admire herself, looking over her shoulder at her bottom, thrusting out her chest, simultaneously pleasing and mocking the crowd. "Couldn't diaper a baby with this stuff..."

Star Snake...
"With the Syndicate, I wouldn't be surprised," Kartosh muttered. "But it's probable the Danaversians will go after the Berrax next: They'll want to finish the Greali once and for all. From there, who knows?" He shrugged. "Ain't my problem."

Soon, the undressing and redressing was complete and the Kitsune female finished her job by clipping a collar around her neck and connecting a chain to Grabba a lot like her own. When she was finished, she began to carress and kiss the Kitsune, to the louder and louder roars from the crowd. Her cheeks were still flushing as she kissed her fuller on the lips, then began to kiss other, more intimate parts of her body.

Star Snake

"No? Who's going to pay your lucrative contracts if there's no one to hire you?" She gave a weak smile, "But, for the moment, we have more important issues. When we get to the bar, let me do the talking. This Guy won't talk to people he doesn't know and he knows me...a lot...imtimately" She trailed off, looking out the cockpit window.

Skyler responded in kind, knowing that if she didn't it would be this other slave who got the whip. Skyler didn't really care what happened to herself, death or horrible mutilation aside, but she could not and would not stand by and let this other Xiscapian be punished for whatever she did or didn't do. All she hoped for was that Kartosh, Nathan and Chloe would come for her soon..and quash this desire she felt growing inside.

Star Snake...
"Ahh," Kartosh waved a hand flippantly. "The Danaversians won't break the Coalition, at least not the parts I care about. They're not strong enough or smart enough to do that." Kartosh was so wrapped up in his own concerns he didn't even hear Chloe's last words before she looked back out the cockpit window. Let her do the talking, yeah, sure...

The Slave, once she was finished kissing Skyler began to work on more intimate parts of her body parts of her own body, gently pushing her to the ground and beginning to work her like a pro, knowing from past experience both as a Slave and her Private life where to make a female tick. What made it worse was that it she was actually, in a way, starting to enjoy this. Not the watching or violating, but the response on her own body. Compared to what she normally did this was actually quite...nice.
She continued to violate Skyler, knowing that there was little else she could do.

Star Snake

"They won't," Chloe agreed, "Xiscapia and Alversia will never fall, but, even so, if they suffer too much," She trailed off slightly, not sure how to finish her sentence.

Skyler gasped in surprise and pleasure as she felt the other kitsune violate her most private areas, lying on her back, legs spread, deep blue hair spilling over the dirty floor around her, tail wrenching itself this way and that, bare toes pointing. Here she was, being sexually assaulted by another female she didn't even know the name of, and she was...enjoying it?
Wha...? She thought in confusion, trying to shift though all the emotions she felt: Pain, anger, anxiety, humiliation, trying to find something that would tell her she was not, in fact, liking the feeling of this red-haired vixen making love to her.

Star Snake...
"If they suffer too much a whole lotta people die, which wipes out many soldiers and ships, leaving the Coalition military short handed. Meanwhile inflation rises as well, which makes training and equipping troops and making, equipping and deploying ships more expensive. Demand for mercs goes up, 'cause we're cheaper than building a Destroyer or training a Marine platoon. Business booms, we get even richer." Said Kartosh darkly. "Economics. This war helps us."
It would appear that losing Skyler had exposed Kartosh's selfish, uncaring side.

It was not long before the red-haired Kitsune had forced Skyler into a climax, forcing her to humiliate herself in the most degrading way possible in front of so many people. The Crowd roared in approval as the female helped a shaking Skyler to her feet, watching the evidence of her work run down in between the Kitsune's thighs. She's never felt so guilty before.
Grabba applauded their efforts and pulled hard on the chains, forcing both Kitsune back down to their position at the foot on his throne. Both lay there, panting, the red-haired Kitsune gently licking the newcomer. The female glanced over at Skyler, knowing that it was best to keep her eyes front at the others.

Star Snake

"All those people," Chloe could think of nothing else to say in the face of Kartosh's cold indifference. She could think of nothing. Was this the effect Skyler's absent had on him? It was actually quite scary,
"She'll be fine." Chloe nodded, in fierce approval, "She's a strong type. She'll be just fine. She's stronger than me." She sighed.

Skyler had nearly been floored by the discharge and virtually had to be dragged to lie below Grabba. She was heaving heavily, gasping for breath, eyes downcast, one hand smearing the hot fluid on her skin, but she still spoke, defiant.
"That...the best...you got?"

Star Snake...

"Damn right," Kartosh growled, turning away from her so she couldn't see his face.

"Please," The other Kitsune whispered, "Please be quiet, or they'll think I was easy on you," She finished again, staring straight ahead, eyeing up each member of the Audience lustily, licking her lips at each, ears flicking to each sound or wolfcall. Her tail remained behind her until she felt a yank on the chain and she knew what her Master wanted. Casually, slowly, she leant over to where Skyler was laying, she pushed her legs apart and began to lap up the efforts of her work like a kitten, not even looking at the woman she was abusing.

Star Snake

Chloe slowly, cautiously placed her hand on Kartosh's shoulder, just to let him know that he was not alone in this crisis. She had been through what Skyler had been through. She had endured it for years with no forseeable chance of rescue. She had endured, so would Kartosh.
"We're coming up on Kel," She stated, looking at the scanner.

Skyler shuddered as the kitsune touched her again, feeling the liquids stick to the insides of her legs and mat on her tail. What's your name? If this one didn't want her to talk, she wouldn't risk it any longer. She only hoped she could respond back with her thoughts, and that she had the necessary amount of Force or that her time in captivity had not dulled her senses. Still, Skyler refused to look at anyone else, looking down at her scanty dress as though ashamed.

Star Snake...
Kartosh mutely brought his ship out of hyperspace and, after responding to the call from Customs, angled the Star Snake down to Kel. "Is this guy gonna be hard to find? He'll be at the bar, right?"

The Kitsune did not reply at first, merely continued her licking duties, not looking up from the work she was doing on the inside thigh of the enslaved Mercenary. She did not seem able to reply, perhaps too afraid of punishment to try and speak louder than a whisper. However, after several more moments of licking, she did manage to send a small message to Skyler,
"Tara" She said telepathically, continuing her duties before sending another message to Skyler,
"Now do the same to me," She said, "If you want him to leave us alone for the night, then do the same to me as I have to you. It's the only way. I'll lick what I can off, but the Master likes for there to be some left, as a message to us."

Star Snake

"He should be in the same bar," Chloe stated quietly, "He's elusive. But he'll recognise me. He should...he saw enough of me on many occassions" She said silently, letting them no there was no doubt as to what he had done to her. She should have avoided him like a plague. But for Skyler, she would see one of the worst Rapists from her pasts.

Skyler just leaned forward, burying her face into the crotch of the one called Tara, and extended her tongue, running it along the smooth leg. The combination of fluids tasted salty, and she nearly gagged but forced herself to keep going, peeling the bottom part of the costume up, trying to get as much of it as she could. Her rear end was in the air and she could almost feel the eyes of the audience on it, so she closed her eyes and wished this nightmare would end.

Star Snake...
Kartosh looked sidelong at Chloe. "Right..."
He still had all his weapons from the invasion of the station and sealed his ship after everyone got out. The city of Kel, on Kel, the primary moon of Xiscapia, was it's typical self: Everything was bathed in weak orange light, a freakish twilight, because of the close proximity of the other moon, fiery Regalis, and the strange refraction of the sun. The ground and surrounding landscape was devoid of plants or animals, and the tall Obelisks of Ash, huge monoliths left by some long-dead alien race, cast their shadows over the boxy, dusty buildings of the city. The streets were mostly deserted, they were in the Mining District and most of the people were wasting away in the oblivion of sleep or at work, leaving only a few droids and scattered vendors and hunched pedestrians. This area of the city was safe and clean, relatively speaking, and they would have to travel a little ways to get to the bar where the contact was.

Tara leant back as she felt herself invaded by the Newcomer. She began to moan as she felt the female Kitsune begin to rape her. Her body began to react as her body responded to the treatment. Her back arched and her toes curled in delight. The Audience chamber was filled with racious roars of cheers and laughter as they saw this new Slave humiliate herself in front of them all, watching her ass wave in the air, the tail itself not enough to conceal all that they could see.
It was not long before Tara reached her own climax, feeling the waves of relief pour over her body and feel the hot sensation pulsing between her legs, pooling on her tail. However, most óf it ended up on this new Slave's face. The Audience clapped, then went about their business, Tara put her hand on Skyler's hand and shook her head, beginning to like the eccess off the Mercenary's face, guiding Skyler's hands to her own, rather large breasts.

Kel

"C'mon," Chloe muttered, as Nathan followed, still silent, "It shouldn't take long to find him."

Skyler began to squeeze the flesh beneath her, mellifluous liquid dripping from her bangs and spilling down her cheeks, pleased at an animal level by the smooth tongue rolling over her nose and across her lips, fluttering her eyelids. Ahh...

Kel...

The Napran Bar was technically a tavern, a two-story building made of rock no doubt purchased as excess or simply stolen from the nearby quarries, with a faded metal purple hanging sign advertising it simply as 'The Napran Bar' in white letters blackened by dust and yellowed by time. It had been around since before the end of the Korr War, and had seen all manner of customers and patrons, from kitsune to Alversians. Inside it was like virtually any other rundown drinking establishment in the galaxy: Scratched, weary wooden tables, creaky, rickety chairs, dim lighting, a low cloud of cigarette smoke, a floor that was more splinters and earth than wood and stone and a roughly equal number of humans and aliens, including kitsune, nursing their drinks. The bartender was a huge, badly scarred Korr who stood behind a counter that had seen better days, with rows upon rows of bottles of drink behind him, looking as though he wouldn't hesitate to rip apart anyone who threatened the bar with his bare hands. As the three mercenaries entered they got little more than cursory attention from those inside: The assorted smugglers, thieves, guns-for-hire and miners were not looking for a fight, indeed people came here with the assurance that Napran, the Korr owner, would simply kill anyone who tried to start a fight on his premises.

"Okay," said Kartosh quietly, "Nathan, get us drinks, will ya? Chloe will find this guy, and I'll make sure he doesn't have anyone lying in wait to try and bump us off."
Of course, one couldn't expect to enter the building without either buying a drink or renting a room: Napran had no time nor space for loiterers, and seats needed to be kept open for paying customers.
When Nathan approached the bar the Korr looked down on him, beefy arms folded, peeling back fleshly lips to expose long yellow fangs in what could have been a smile. "Beers cost eight credits each."
Protection had it's cost.

This latest act met with more racious applause from Audience and from Grabba himself before he growls something to his Translator and began to slither out from his Throne and retreated from the room. As soon as he had gone, the Audience gets up and leave, it is not long before the room is empty and dark, the lights extinguished before the last person left. The Kitsune were now left in the virtual dark together. Cold and alone.

Tara crept up to Skyler, pressing her bare flesh against the Mercenaries, wiping the remaining access from Skyler's face with her finger, licking it off from there instead of her face,
"I'm so sorry about all of this," She whispered to her, still licking, "I didn't want you to do that but the Masters likes it when his Slaves violate each other." She shivered for a moment, still rubbing against Skyler, before looking at the elder Kitsune,
"Are you from Xiscapia?" She asked, fox-eyes wide. Their long, smooth legs were tangled together, while both tails were wrapped over their bodies to act like a sort of blanket to keep away the cold.

Napran Bar

"How much!?" Nathan nearly choked when he heard the price,"Those prices are ridiculous, they're rubbish, their extortion, it's a horrible and wasteful example of profit..." he stopped in mid rant and looked over at the alcohol laid out in front of the bar. He sighed,
"...three beers please."

Chloe quickly found her man and slid into the seat beside him, him barely looking up from his drink,
"Well, well, well," He growled, smiling, "Look who it is. I'm pleased you still have that fine-ass body that I used to enjoy. I'm sorry to see how you've covered it up like that. I much preferred you naked, on my lap. Lady Chloe." He smiled at the shocked look on the beautiful Kitsune's face,
"Oh yeah, I know all about you, Chloe, Daughter of Kazu, rich noble daughter who hides from her family in case they find out she was fucked for years as a Slave eh? Now what would I get in return for not sending a PaDD with this information to Xiscapia eh? What are you willing to do in return for not having your family find out how low you've come?"

He smiled at Chloe who sat there, shellshocked by the force of threats just aimed at her. She could not respond. She did not know how to respond. She knew what he was looking. Would she let herself to be violated again in return for not being exposed as a raped Lord's Daughters. She looked at him, the haunted look back again. She was frozen. Then slowly she got up and let him but his hand on her ass. She could not even look at Kartosh for help, all she could do was keep her head down, hope no one recognised her.

"Kartosh," It was Nathan with the beer, "Do you know who much this co..." He trailed off as he saw where Kartosh was looking. Looking his partner being led away by one of her ex-Rapists. The red mist descended.

"Hey! You Motherfucking, Son of a Fucking Bastard Whore's Daughter!!" He roared in a voice that made the very bar itself stop to see what had caused this outburst of anger.
Nathan leapt over the table, knocking over several beers as he ran out into the street, grabbed the man by the shoulder, spun him through 180 degrees and delivered a punch to his cheekbone. So much anger was placed behind the fist that it was possible to hear the snap of a cheekbone. Chloe fell away to the side as Nathan and Kartosh set upon the man, both seemingly having lost any shred of honour. Anger was their friend now.

"It's okay," Skyler sighed and hugged the other, who she was beginning to see was barely an adult, a girl really, close. "It wasn't...that bad."
"Are you from Xiscapia?"
Skyler smiled slightly in the dark. "Yes." She said simply. "I assume you were, too? How'd you end up here?"

Kel...

Kartosh ignored the roar of anger from the Korr behind as Nathan toppled a table and smashed several beer mugs, already running outside. The Alversian got there first and landed such a blow it spun the man back around and into the dirt, a bone audibly having heard breaking. Kartosh kicked him in the stomach and lifted the wheezing man up by his collar, slamming him against the wall of a nearby building. A knife appeared in his hand at the contact's throat, so close the human could feel the cold blade as he breathed, Kartosh's face mere inches away from his, eyes flashing.
"Tell me where Grabba's stronghold is," he snarled, "and I won't give you a second smile!"

"I am from Tenfour," Tara replied shyly, eyes on the ground, as if ashamed, "His Pirates took me when I was travelling to Alversia. They captured my ship and made me into a Slave." She shivered delicately, though it was hard to tell if her shivers were from the cold or from shock. She looked back to Skyler,
"Was that your first time? With a...female?" She asked awkwardly.

Kel

"Steady on Mate," The Thug gasped, twisting his face this way and that in an attempt to talk without hurting his cheekbone, "I wasn't really going to hurt her, me and her was just going for a chat, wasn't we?" He looked at Chloe with a pleading smile, but she merely stood there, in Nathan's arms, frozen to the spot.
"Well, here," The Thug took a small pad out of his pocket and handed it to Kartosh, "You need to follow all those Co-ordinates. It's a three day journey from here." He raised his eyebrows, "Can you let me go now." He demanded.

"I'll kill you!" Nathan slipped a knife from under his vest and strode towards him, only a tug on the sleeve from Chloe stopped him.

Pirates again. Thought Skyler. I wonder if Grabba hired a specific few to prowl the space lanes and try to get slaves for him? The time before Jaunt and Transwarp seems like it was a dangerous time to be traveling alone...
"Yes," she answered Tara's question slowly, "I never even considered it before, but yeah, that was my first time..." She trailed off, unsure of what to say.

Kel...

Kartosh took the pad with his other hand and slipped it in his pocket without looking at it. "Alright," he said quietly, stepping back from the human, only sign of his emotion the frenzied twisting of his tail. "I'll let you go,"
Faster than his victim could follow he plunged the knife into the rapist's stomach, sinking it in past the hilt. "...to hell."
The goon gasped, both hands around the wound, and he stared at Kartosh with watering eyes. "But..." He croaked.
Kartosh shrugged. "I lied."
He gave the thug a light push and the man crumpled into a heap on the ground, curled around the knife. He would live a while, a few minutes longer, just long enough for him to really feel it but not long enough for anyone to help him.
Stomach wounds were quite nasty.

Kartosh turned away as Napran came out of the bar, glancing at the mortally wounded being before turning to the three. "You," he pointed to each in turn, "are no longer welcome in my bar!"
"Shove it," Kartosh growled recklessly, and he began to walk away down the street.
Napran watched him go, then turning his beady orange eyes on Nathan and Chloe. "Get out."

"Was I..." Tara frowned for a moment, her cheeks blushing a delicate pink as she tried to think of a way to phase her question so it did not sound like she had any sort of attraction towards this Female, though she was easily the most attractive thing she had seen in nearly six months, the whole time she had been here,
"Was I good?" She asked quietly, unable to look Skyler in the eye.

Kel

"Don't worry," Nathan said the words with such force and such manevolence that even the scarred Korr checked his advance, looking at the Alversian for signs of something more sinister than he was displaying. But Nathan merely wrapped an arm around a tearful Chloe and brought her back to the Star Snake.

There, she sat in one of the seats and tried to sigh, which turned into a sob,
"I'm sorry, Kartosh," She shivered, "I'm sorry you had to do that for me." She sounded bitter, like it was her fault.

Skyler flushed in spite of herself, embarrassed by the question and the truth she knew that was behind it, hugging herself. She looked away from Tara and didn't say anything, refusing to answer.

Star Snake...

"I'm not," said Kartosh shortly, sitting down at the controls and taking the pad out, looking over it as he started the ship up. "If the cops missed a rapist, one less for any girl to worry about now."

Three days in a normal ship...damn, that's still at least a full twenty-four hours in the Star Snake it'll take us to get there. Hold on, Sky, I'm coming...

Tara looked after Skyler, concerned and upset at the hurt she seemed to have caused,
"I'm sorry," She said quietly, "I thought you were...gay...and it's been ever so long since I've actually spoken to anyone. I've just made myself look so stupid." With that, the young Kitsune began to cry, quietly, into her knees.

Star Snake

"I thought I could trust him," Chloe sighed quietly, "I thought after all these years that I could trust him. I guess he didn't see me as any more than a toy. Maybe I am," She shook her head.

Skyler bit her lip, looking over at the other Xiscapian. "Come now," she pulled Tara up against her, head resting against her stomach, hands on her shoulders. "Crying's not going to do anything for it." One hand gently wiped away the tears from her cheeks. "I'm not..." She hesitated. "Gay. I know that. But you are...er, quite beautiful, really." The other hand twirled a lock of Tara's brilliant red hair around the index finger.

Star Snake...

"And maybe you're not," Kartosh said, looking up to her, voice taking on a harsh tone. "Stop being the victim. You'll never be able to escape your past if you just submit to it. Accept it, yeah, but break free of your role, Chloe. You're not pathetic, but you act like you are, and in the end that's just self-defeating.

Tara let Skyler hug her, let her wipe the tears from her cheeks and sigh sadly into her barely covered chest,
"I'm sorry," She stated, "But I was afraid that if I stopped talking you were going to turn over and it would all be silent and I hate the silence because it makes it seem like I'm all on my own." She stopped, frightened eyes looking up at Skyler, "I can't endure this for another six months. I want to kill myself, but I don't know how to do it"

Star Snake

"Try it," Chloe's voice was now dark as she looked at Kartosh, "Try being in upper society, try to have an ounce of honour, where everyone knows you, everyone smiles at you. Try having the boys glance shyly at you as you walk past, try them offering you dances, dates or kisses, try being the cream of society, with a promising life in front of you and a loving, caring family in support, following you all the way, helping you when you're down. Good clothes, good company, good friends, a perfect life" There were tears in her eyes now as she continued,

"Then try having it all taken away from you in a snap, try having to sit in front of a Hutt for four whole years, with no love, no support, no comfort, spending endless nights on your own, in the cold, in the dark, with only the dripping water for company. Try being in constant pain with no one to care, no one to turn to, having to keep a straight face, if only to prevent more punishment. Try missing your Birthday, your family's birthdays, your boyfriend's birthday. Try having four years of your life snatched from you for some hideous flat blob who only wanted flesh for entertainment. When that's happened to you, come to me. Until then, you know nothing" She spat the last word as she left the cockpit, tears running from her eyes as it all came back. Would the pain ever leave her?

"Don't kill yourself," said Skyler quietly. "Others will come, and I promise you, they'll free us both. I'll be here with you until that happens," she grinned without humor in the dark, "it's not like I can go anywhere else."

Star Snake...
Kartosh just smiled grimly as she left to the back of the ship. "See, that's what I'm talking about," he said to the empty cockpit. "Righteous anger."
The kitsune turned back to the controls of the ship as they broke atmosphere and made the jump into hyperspace.

"No one's ever escaped," Tara shook her head, tears still running down her cheeks, "Only one girl's ever escaped. She was rumoured to be of great beauty and she was here for years without hope of rescue but she still escaped. We all wanted to do what she did," Tara shook her head and sighed, "But there's no chance with that Mercenary"

Skyler frowned. "Trust me, that dirtbag won't be a problem." She decided not to tell Tara one of the people coming for them was that same girl. Some things were better left to be revealed by time. "Are there other slaves here, too?"

"There were four others, including me, but I was the only Kitsune," Tara explained, still crying gently, "Grabba sold one, had another killed and the third one commited suicide about two weeks ago. I hated her, she always bullied me, called me a dog with tits and that I deserved this," She shivered delicately, "I hated her, I almost wanted her to die. But I never thought she'd do it."

"Slavery is a terrible thing to bear," Skyler murmured, knowing the one she spoke to knew this better than she even would. If the other three went so recently, and I'm here now, she's probably next... Skyler thought grimly.

"It's horrible," Tara shivered and nodded in agreement, "Just last week I..." She was interupted by the soft click of leather soles on the top of the nearby stairs, something only the Kitsune's sensitive hearing could pick up. As the noise grew louder, Tara, who had gone deathly still, shook her head in terror,
"Please no," She gasped in fear, "Please Qonn, not tonight, please not tonight. Please spare me..."
She was interupted by the appearance of a half-dozen Guards who were armed to the teeth and grinning in lust at the two, virtually naked, Kitsune cuddled together beneath the throne,
"Well, well, well," One of them grunted, "Look at the two little Lovers hiding together. It's soo cute"

"Enough cute," Another advanced on them, lowering his trousers as he advanced, "More action."

90 Minutes later

The six Guards left the room, more than satisfied with their brief interaction with the Slaves, they were more than pleased with their time spent with the two Slaves. The Kitsune, on the other hand, may have disagreed with that statement.

Tara gasped in shock, tears running down from her red eyes, her mouth filled with the access from the Guard's fun. She tried to turn over but she found every part of her body felt like it was on fire, a pain she couldn't escape, something she was used to, something she would never adapt to, the inhumane horror of it all,
"Sky..." She choked on a combination of tears, bile and the access, something she didn't want to think about, she was covered in it, everything from her breasts down to her legs was covered,
"...ler" She managed to gag, unable to do anything else.

Skyler was lying on her stomach with one arm thrown up over her face, much of her body covered in a variety of fluids, including saliva, seamen, bile, sweat, tears and other, less identifiable liquids. She did not move or speak, throat burning, the disgusting taste lingering, and other parts of her aching or simply hurting for the violations. Though her chest rose and fell regularly, it was impossible to tell if she was asleep, knocked unconscious or stunned from the ordeal. Her costume had been entirely removed and ripped and scratched badly in the impatience of the guards, and her entire groin and rear was a raw red from irritation. Her hair was draped across her back like a blanket, her tail limp as if dead, ears sagging, eyes closed, apparently unable to hear or respond to anything. It was like her body and mind had been so overwhelmed it had simply shut down.

"Skyler," Tara croaked, dragging herself towards her fellow Kitsune, the pain she felt was unbearable, it felt like she was on fire, yet she forced herself onwards. She could feel the fluids starting to dry on her skin, making her shiver even more with the cold. Her own tail was limp and her ears flat, as if she did not even have the energy to move them about. Eventually though, she was beside the Mercenary and managed to touch her in the arm,
"Skyler?" She coughed, bringing up a combination of semen and bile, before trying again, "Skyler, please talk to me". There were more tears running down her cheeks, fearing for the wellbeing of her friend.

Skyler's eyes were squeezed tightly shut, tears leaking out the corners, teeth clenched, a picture of agony. She gave a little moan, partially questioning, mostly in pain. It was like she couldn't understand Tara, or if she could, would not or could not respond.

Tara gently took Skyler by the shoulder and rolled her over onto her back. When she was on her back, she gently dragged herself so that she was beside the Kitsune, she just snuggled close to her, using her own body as a comfort to the Mercenary. There was nothing she could do bu blink away her own tears and try to comfort this other Kitsune.

Skyer's eyes were rimmed with red from her sobbing, but they were closed, flickers of movement behind the lids betraying dreams, good ones or nightmares it was impossible to know. In contact with another, dead to the world, she almost seemed at peace, even in oblivion. The young mercenarie's mouth was slightly open, breathing evenly as the fluids on her flesh puddled and cooled, hair twisted and matted, but she was still beautiful, even after the atrocious violation. There was no response to Tara's movements, but then, there didn't need to be.

Several Hours Later...

Tara was awoken from her slumber by the feeling of someone pressing something against her breasts. She snapped her eyes open in shock, half afraid that the Guards were back to finish their job. Then she saw that is was daylight, or as bright as day got in this place. She then saw that the Audience were back in position and Grabba was firmly holding her chain. Her miniscule bikini had been returned to it's place.
Shivering as the fluidic remains of her night's adventure were cold against her skin, she looked over to Skyler, to see if she had recovered enough to face the day. Grabba wasn't going to sympathise with her.
She was still beautiful, Tara actually felt something for her, something...different.

Skyler was dressed as well, or at least as dressed as was possible considering what coverings she had been provided with. She was staring at Grabba intensly, and aside from the physical scarring, she looked no worse for wear. If Tara didn't know better she'd say the other Xiscapian was unfazed, but the hurt was still evident to her, hidden just below the surface. Most of the excess that had covered her the night before was gone now, and she seemed determined to be, or at least appear, as defiant as ever.
But the wounds were there. Some would fade, all would eventually scar over, but she would carry them with her for the rest of her existence.

Tara looked at Skyler, shocked that she was so steady after what had happened. She looked no worse for the terrible events and she seemed defiant. All of a sudden, she wished she was this Kitsune, that she had her strength and her determination. She herself was still sniffing in shock after what had happened. She was laying in front of Skyler, both facing the same way. She did not know why, but for some reason she felt the need for comfort and, maybe, something else. Slowly, she moved her hand, settling it over the Mercenary's hand, she gripped it slightly, half for comfort, half for something else.

Elsewhere, in the middle of the Audience, lay the heads of three Guards, all of whom Skyler would recognise as those who had so terribly violated her last night. It seemed Grabba was not a patient Hutt and he had dispensed the justice quickly.

Skyler hadn't even batted an eye at the decapitated heads of the three men, whose glassy eyes seemed to stare at her even now, jaws slack in death. Grabba had not been pleased, not at all: Only he, and he alone, could order anything done against his slaves. For anyone else to abuse them was a most grievous crime, and Hutts were not known for being forgiving. It seemed to her like the Crime Lord's Court was more subdued now, as if scared to make any of their usual gestures for fear of drawing the attention of their boss. Three had still not been caught, and it was entirely possible that, in the mood he was in, Grabba might order anyone executed if only so he could enjoy their pain while he sought out the true offenders.

Skyler gripped Tara's hand tightly, her gaze still burning into her 'master', and the other kitsune would be able to feel the sweat on her palm and fingers. Everyone seemed to be waiting for something.

Tara gripped Skyler's hand, just enjoying the comfort of warmth that she felt. She didn't even worry about the sweat on her palm or the stare of murder she was giving the Hutt, who was ignoring her, all she cared about was that this Girl whom she was starting to like, a lot. Meanwhile, Grabba ordered something in Huttese, that his Translator instructed into another language, something that Tara understood all to well,
"He wants you to service that man," She said telepathically, eyes rolling over to a Gamorian sitting nearby, waiting in dimwitted anticipation, "He wants you to do it now"

Skyler bowed her head in severance and, breaking away from Tara, crawled on all fours across the Throne room to where the alien sat expectantly. Eyes downcast she got into the proper position, and began to give him pleasure, as she knew how to do due to years of simply being an attractive female.

Tara closed her eyes and looked away, unable to watch as the Gammorean was brought to climax by the Mercenary Slave. She was unable to watch as Skyler was dragged back to her position by Grabba, pulling idly on the rope as if she were nothing more than a piece of trash. He pulled at her until she was on top of Tara, both rubbing bodies, Tara then felt a strange urge. The reason for it, she was not sure, but she acted on it. Without even looking at Grabba or his audience, she stretched up and kissed Skyler softly on the lips, tasting the salty semen and not caring. She continued to do what she thought was right.

Skyler licked her lips and kissed Tara slowly, passionately, letting herself go. Their tongues entwined and she felt their skin grind together, sighing deeply as she tasted the sweat on the skin of the other kitsune, tail wrapping itself around her ankles. To herself she admitted her feelings for her fellow Xiscapian, and allowed herself to be fully immersed in her lovemaking.

As the two Kitsune were getting intimate in the main Audience chamber, the very makings of their rescue were occuring outside the palace, on the breathable surface of the abandoned planet, not far from the Palace, two vessels settled down gently, one after the other. The planet's surface was barren and empty, the very example of inhospitable life, apart from a few gardens near the palace itself. The two vessels were sleek and similar but all too different. One was empty, piloted by an AI while the other held three of the most formidable Mercenaries in this area of the galaxy.

These same Mercenaries now stepped from the ship, the first being a tall and bad tempered Alversian, holding an auto-shotgun in one hand and a pistol in the other. The second out was a slight Xiscapian female, one of stunning beauty, who held a rifle in unsure but firm hands, her vulpine eyes snapping form side to side, as if in fear. Yet her body was still. She knew what had to be done.

Nathan turned to face the Kitsune still in the ship, spat on the ground, checked the sun high in the sky and sighed,
"Let's move," He stated without humour, only with a glance at his Partner, to see if she was ready to face her nightmare again. It seemed, for Skyler, she was ready to go to her own personal hell and back.

If Nathan was feeling bad-tempered, that was nothing to what Kartosh was experiencing.
"Been ready," he hissed, hefting his battle rifle, with murder in his eyes, revenge in his heart, and one particular kitsune on his mind. With full military training, over a decade of experience as a mercenary, a variety of martial arts taught to him by Skyler and the brawn to back it up, enough weapons to equip a full squad and more swearing, anger and general foul manners that a platoon, Kartosh was a formidable opponent. Among the kitsune, and indeed the Allies in general, his exploits were stuff of legend, on the battlefield, bar and bed, to the extent that even the ultra-powerful Syndicate criminal organization didn't dare try to cross him.
Grabba was going to pay dearly for his offense.

Chloe nodded and moved forward, towards the palace doors. She looked from side to side anxiously as if looking for any sign of an ambush. But she did not see any, it seemed like Grabba had grown complacent in the time since she had last been here. She was still terrified but not so much now that she had something to do with her time. She took a deep breath and walked up to the palace door, strangely unobserved. She looked up at the walls and took out a small gun, aiming for a balcony to one side of the gate,
"Going up," She explained, as Nathan took a similiar gun for his own belt and aimed at the bottom of the balcony.

Kartosh looked up at the balconies high above, curling his upper lip, tail swishing in agitation. "Why don't we just use the cannons on one of the ships and blow the place wide open?" He suggested impatiently as he drew his own pistol. "No one's on guard anyway."

"Do you want them to slit Skyler's throat before we get to her?" Chloe hissed as the three clambered up the wall towards the balcony, "Because they will to stop her falling into our hands, trust me." She was soon at the top. She unclipped the gun and stored it back on her belt. She drew a small knife and looked at both Nathan and Kartosh,
"Because I am the only one with even an inch of discretion. You two wait here and I'll scout ahead." With that, she vanished into the cool darkness of the inner halls. She back within a few minutes, cleaning her blade of dark blood,
"The way's clear now," She whispered, indicating inside, "Let's move."

Soon they were in another empty room with a communication device. Before anyone could move, Chloe had pressed something on the device, whispered something into it before smashing it with the butt of her sniper rifle. She looked back at the surprised expressions of the other two and sighed,
"We can get trigger happy in a moment. We need to be in the right position first."

"So where the fuck is that?" Kartosh sighed, drumming his fingers on his rifle.

"You, there," She pointed down one corridor while taking Nathan and pointing at a flight of stairs, "Wait for my signal. Not a moment soon or this will all end in a disaster." She began to head upwards along the same flight of stairs, edging closely along the wall. When she came to the top, she found it was a balcony the whole way around the Throne Room, with one more level beneath her before the ground level on which she could see Skyler and...

She squinted her eyes, looking down at the two bodies on top of one another. Was that another Kitsune? It had to be, she could see another tail moving down there, the Audience cheering and jeering while Grabba growled his delight. Chloe began to feel dizzy, overwhelmed with the memories, when it had been her down there, when she had been abused for the pleasure of so many others. Now she was going to stop it.

Below her, she could see Nathan's shadow on the ground floor and Kartosh hidding behind a pillar on the first floor. Now all that was needed was her to start the turkey shoot. She stood by a pillar, using it for support, as she took aim with her sniper rifle, aiming at one of the Guards.

Down in the Throne Room, just as Tara finished with Skyler, one of the Guard's head exploded and all hell broke loose.

Even as the decapitated man's body flopped to the floor Kartosh was already in motion, darting out from behind the pillar with his rifle in hand, spraying crimson blaster bolts across the Throne Room. Members of the Court, the audience and mercenary guards alike dropped as they were hit, holes burned into their flesh, the air already stinking of ozone. A Gamorrean guard charged with axe in hand, slicing the air where Kartosh had just been as the kitsune dodged, swinging around with a dagger in hand and slashing the alien across the face. It shrieked and lunged blindly in the wrong direction, Kartosh coolly shooting him in the back as he made his way across the chamber in his killing spree. Trusting Chloe and Nathan to cover him he tossed the knife to Skyler, who was so surprised she nearly missed catching it. They locked eyes for a moment, no words being necessary, and he smiled as they broke, ducking to avoid a shot that smoked into the wall behind him.

Vibroblade in hand Skyler severed the chains tying her and Tara to the throne with a single stroke, rolling off the dais as she heard Grabba bellow and the others in the room shout and scream. He came for me! She had, of course, known he would, but it was no less of a shock, especially so quickly. "Stay down-" she whispered to Tara, cut off as a thug nearly tripped over them both in his hurry to get away. He stared for a moment, and before the human had time to react Skyler jabbed the weapon into his throat, shoving the man away. He choked on his own blood as she yanked it back from him, covered in blood, her costume twisting around her. "Stay down!" She hissed again to Tara, trying to edge into the shadows. She could see now Kartosh had some kind of support, and her heart lifted...had Chloe and Nathan come to help him? even though Nathan had already broken into the stronghold to rescue slaves once, even after all Chloe had been though?

As the scene below in the Throne room dissolved into chaos, Chloe remained where she was, calmly picking off one Thug after another, delighting in finally being able to pay back all those Rapists for what they had done to her, all those years of torture. She plucked back two Humans were attempting to intercept Skyler and the other Kitsune and decided that she was not getting enough use here. She slung the rifle over her back, dragged out her katana and leapt down into the melee, cutting all around her as she slashed, blocked and stabbed, becoming a spinning instrument of death and terror. The Thugs were in full retreat from her when they encountered Nathan, standing in the main doorway, cutting down a dozen Thugs each time with his massive auto-shotgun. They became scraps of flesh and bone, forcing the Thugs to scatter in all directions. It was a chaotic scene of noise and murder. She was back, and she was gonna let them know that she was back with a vengence.

Tara did not remain on the ground as Skyler instructed but instead grabbed a blaster and began to pick off retreating Guards, standing behind Skyler, targeting those who threatened her friend from a distance. She was not as weak and as vulnerable as she had first seemed.

A thermal grenade on the other side of the room incinerated those close to the blast and badly burned those further out, adding ashes and the cries of burning guards to the free-for-all as Kartosh grinned ferally at his handiwork. The floor was covered in bodies and more people were trying to escape than fight the threats that seemed to come from all directions, between the blasts from him and Tara, the blades of Skyler and Chloe and the bellow of the auto-shotgun from Nathan. All the exits were covered by the one of the kitsune or Nathan and the thugs were either pressing against the walls or being herded into the middle of the room, cut down in seconds if they were unfortunate enough to get close to Skyler or Chloe with the edged weapons or into the line of fire. What had been a short battle had become a slaughter, the inhabitants of Grabba's Court appeared to be no match for the trained, battle-hardened mercenaries.

Chloe spun through the crowd, cutting down all in her path, taking a dark delight in their pain and suffering, letting them know that the very Girl they had so degraded and abused was now here with weapons, ready to kill them off slowly and painfully, repaying just some of the damage they had inflicted on her during those four long years of terror. She was enjoying herself. Even as she heard Nathan cutting into the crowd with his gun, he heard a whirring a snapping noise behind her. She tried to turn, but she was too late to avoid the chain which wrapped around her neck and pulled her towards the throne. It was Grabba.

Chloe gasped in shock and began to fight against the chain, feeling the metal dig into her soft flesh as she pulled against it. Terrified, eyes wide, breathing accelerated, she tried to stop him, digging her feet into the sand in the ground, choking on the metal. But she was too late, Grabba brought her up onto his chest, breathing on her with his rancid breath. She whimpered in terror, her memories flooding back of the slave outfit, the feeling of his rough skin on her smooth stomach, his rough hands carressing her bare back, his commands to service one of his minions, the hopeless dispair and fear. The missed birthdays, the new years, watching her family growing up, everything she had ever loved had been stolen by this Hutt.

In one last, desperate, terrified move, she lunged forward with the katana and gasped again in surprise and fell to the floor, shaking in fear as she looked up to a dead Hutt, her lash had ran across his throat and killed him. She sat at the base of the throne, vacated by Skyler and Tara, sitting in a ball, hugging herself tightly. She had done it. She had killed him. But the memories wouldn't go away.

Elsewhere, as the last of the Thugs was killed, Nathan looked around in amusement, laughing at the sight of so many dead Beings, all of them had deserved it. Nathan walked up to the others and offered a bow,
"Ladies," He was looking keenly at the two females, "Welcome back to the free w..." He was interrupted as a shot hit the wall behind him, exactly where his head had been seconds ago.

"...bloody hell!" Nathan shouted in surprise, looking up along the second floor, were the Mercenaries clad in Black armour stood, weapons pointing down. The main Mercenary shot down into the main floor, grabbed Kartosh and threw him through one of the thinner walls and smashed him clean through it, bringing to fight to another room. The other Mercenaries jumped down, their own blades drawn and began to fight with the Mercenaries. So it was.

Mercenary on Mercenary.

Kartosh was just shouldering his rifle as the last enemy died when he saw a blur of motion at the edge of his vision. He turned slightly as he felt hands grab him, and next thing he knew he was hurtling though the air to crash though something and slide across the floor, already badly bruised. He lay still for a moment before struggling to his feet, seeing the one who had thrown him with such great strength leaping though the remains of the wall to finish the job. Tail whipping in anger Kartosh lunged, fist smashing into the mercenary's cheek in midair, tossing the man back onto the rubble which he had created. Knuckles smarting from hitting the metal of the helmet, the criminal fell forward to attempt to pummel his stunned foe.

A room away Skyler sighted Kartosh's blaster where he had dropped it and stepped forward towards it just as one of the enemy thugs did so as well. They reached it at the same time and bounced off each other, one of Skyler's flailing hands knocking the other's helmet off as they both got back on their feet. For a moment they looked at each other, bright orange eyes to cool blue ones, both tensely waiting for the other to make a move, when they both dove for the prize. They came up literally hand-to-hand, locked, pushing against each other. Skyler held the knife in her right hand and the soldier was grasping a bayonet in his left, but if either tried to break off the use their weapon the other would grab the rifle from the floor and a blade would be useless.
So Skyler improvised.

Twisting her tail around she brushed it across his face, the tip dancing along his nose and lips. Surprised, the human let go, face contorting into a familiar grimace as Skyler twirled the knife and he brought his hands up to his face.
"Oh shit-ACHOO-arrrgg!"
The Xiscapian let him fall with the knife inbedded in his chest, intent on scooping up the weapon. However, others evidently had different ideas as a jackboot lashed out, stricking Skyler in the chin as she leaned over, almost causing the kitsune to do a backflip as she landed in a heap of flesh and scanty clothing on the floor. A nasty yellow colored spot already forming, she pushed herself up on her elbows, looking at her opponet.

The Mercenary was knocked back by the force of Kartosh's punch. He ended up on his back amongst the rubble of the wall. He landed, stunned by the force of the punch, not quite sure how the Xiscapian had gotten the force into his punch to do that sort of damage to the armoured Mercenary. He smiled the smile of someone who knew that their victory was only a moment away, all he needed to do was keep to the principles that had kept him so far. With the kitsue flying into continue his attack, the Mercenary aimed up a boot so that Kartosh merely landed on it. With him gasping and wheezing, The Mercenary grabbed him by the arm and threw him up in the air, with Kartosh landing on a balcony, one floor up.
He shot up to the same height and laughed,
"You can't win!" He called in victory, "I have every advantage and the Danaversians are already on their way! You are all mine"

Elsewhere out in the Throne Room, Nathan had his Auto-Shotgun out and was about to start shooting when one of the Mercs flew overheard, using his grabbler to snatch the gun out of his hands. Nathan was left in the comical pose of his gun without any physical weapon there to hold. He looked down, puzzled before being forced to move out of the way of a strike from one of the Black Mercenaries. He punched one, before letting out a yell and a series of impressive curses as his hand connected to the side of the helmet. The Merc flew to the side and hit the wall while Nathan waved his hand furiously and blew on his knuckles.

Chloe meanwhile, had been snapped out of her trance by the appearance of two Mercenaries, both of whom were cut down by expert strokes of Chloe's weapon. She raised up and engaged one who seemed to have the same kind of sword as she, both blocking and striking furiously at each other. Tara was the same, dodging out of the way of the attacks from the flying Mercenaries.

One of the Mercs was now over Skyler, waiting to strike her down with one last attack, a blade snapping out from one of his wrist compartments, he was ready to stab down at her and finish this. At the same time though, Chloe was pushed backwards by her own attacker, knocking into the back of the Mercenary about to finish Skyler off. He gave a grunt of surprise as he fell forward into sand beside the formaly-enslaved Mercenary while Chloe and her Attacker looked on in surprise. A heart-beat later, and they were back in combat.

Shit! Kartosh was still panting from the force of the boot to his belly, astounded that the man was strong enough to fling him a story upwards. That armor must augment his strength in some way. If I can get any part of it off him he'll be vulnerable, but as long as he's wearing it I won't stand long in hand-to-hand combat.
Picking himself up he felt a bad feeling in his gut, and wondered if the blow had caused him some kind of internal damage. As the grizzled mercenary leaned against the railing on the balcony he heard the taunt from the man below, and the Xiscapian looked down on him, smiling.
It was not a nice smile.

"You've got one count against ya," he called down as he mounted the edge, balancing evenly on it, "you ain't a kitsune!"
With that Kartosh leaped off into space, coming down directly at the black-armored human. His foe's hands raised to defend himself, but Kartosh purposefully overshot slightly and as he fell past his hands grabbed onto the helmeted head, bringing the thug down with him to the floor, landing heavily. Kartosh rolled, hands still wrapped around the helmet, endeavouring to tug it off his enemy while he was still temporarily floored by the stunt. "Come 'ere ye bastard!" He growled.

Skyler wasted no time as the fighter was brought down to her level, twisting on the ground and wrapping her hands around his neck. With calculated ease and precision she jammed her fingers into his throat and, with a push, fractured his windpipe. She leaned back onto her knees, leaving the man to suffocate, but a second later she was tackled from behind. She and her attacker rolled across the sand, grappling with each other for position, until they came to rest on the raised dais. Scooting back on her sparsely clad rear Skyler felt the cold metal of half of the chain that had secured her to her former master, and she lifted this, ready to defend herself.

Both Kartosh and the Mercenary fell hard on the ground, but the armour protected the Mercenary from most of the damage while Kartosh would bear the brunt of the force. The Merc could feel Kartosh struggling at his helmet and he laughed, a deep taunting laugh that got louder and louder with every moment that Kartosh attempted to remove the helmet. He lashed upwards with a fist, knocking Kartosh clean off him and onto his back. He stood up again, looking down at the Kitsune who was now on his back, he seemed unharmed and untired. He laughed again,
"I was expecting more from you, Mister Kartosh," He taunted, "The great Mercenary? I've had more difficulty ordering a drink in a bar. I'm going to kill you, I'm going to kill that other Bastard, then I'm going to take all three of your women as my slaves, slaves of my new Criminal Empire, mine. You think you got in by skill? With Grabba out of the way, I am now in command and I will regain the Empire you have tried to destroy, your three Black-Raiders will see to that."
He came forward for another attack.

Nathan was busy in the middle of the battle, kicking and punching away various Mercenaries who came near him, easily able to knock them down but, at the same time, unable to kill them. As he knocked another Mercenary out of the way with a chair, he looked up in time to see a Black Mercenary on another level. He saw the Mercenary arming something that looked like a tennis ball and was thrown down towards the ground,
"Hey," He squinted at it, "That looks like one of my bo..." He stopped, eyes widening as he stared at the dropping device. He knew what it was. If it touched the chemicals on the floor, then the eruption would be seen from space. Desperately he dived forward and caught it, but he was unable to hold on to it, he juggled it desperately, fighting with one hand and balancing the bomb in his other.

He was punched backwards, dropping the bomb towards the ground. Chloe, still fighting with her blade, saw the bomb and elegantly slide under it, able to get a foot beneath the weapon and throw it back up in the air, towards Skyler and another Attacker coming in to engage her.

"Arrogance ain't befittin' a fool," Kartosh snarled, kicking off the floor with his feet, coming up vertical on his hands and propelling himself backwards and upright once more. He would have expected the fantastic force with which he had hit the other to, having failed to remove his helmet, have broken his neck or at least sprained it a little, but the man seemed to have suffered nothing from the attack. "Guess you think you've thought of everything, eh? Well I bet you haven't thought of this!" As the armored mercenary came on the attack Kartosh ducked under his punch, coming out behind his opponent, and fiercely kicked him in the back. The blow at the most heavily armored part seemed futile, being protected by a large pack of some kind, but as the criminal wheeled around he sensed something amiss. This fully manifested itself a second later as his jetpack ignited and propelled him with posthaste towards the ceiling several stories up, smashing the flailing mercenary against it as he cried out in shock before sputtering and sending Kartosh's foe spiraling out of control back down to the floor, making him skid across it to crumple into a heap at the far wall.

Kartosh had fancied he'd heard several snaps during the mercenary's unplanned travel, though it was entirely possible this was only wishful thinking, and hoped it was true as he approached the sprawled figure. "Never bet against a being with a gambling addiction," he admonished, "I was hitting the casinos and breaking the arms of cheaters when you were still shitting your pants, boy." With that the Xiscapian picked up the man, somewhat surprised at how heavy he was, and began crashing his head against the sandstone wall. That's gonna leave marks, even with the armor. "Let's see how long it takes me to make your face look like the galaxies ugliest eggplant."

Skyler saw the explosive and immediately knew what would occur it if struck the floor, and, snapping the chain past the ear of her latest enemy, making him cringe and stop his advance for a moment, snagging the bomb with it. She roped it back towards her, bringing it smoothly into her hand, and tossed it at the mercenary. "Time to play hardball, asshole." The surprised man caught it and Skyler stepped forward, lashing out with her improvised whip onto his arm. It only scratched the paint off the armor, but it possessed sufficient force to make him nearly drop the bomb, making him toss it into the air in an effort to prevent if from coming in contact with the ground, stepping away from Skyler as he tried to secure the weapon again. He jumped it from hand to hand, fingertips scraping the sphere, only barely able to keep it in motion, retreating all the while, and Skyler kept up the pressure, occasionally hissing the links of steel though the air at him. Soon he found himself on the edge of one of Grabba's favored torture pits, a deep hole the Hutt would fill with monsters and beasts which would devour his captured enemies. Teetering on the edge he finally gained control of the bomb. "Ahha!" He sneered victoriously at Skyler, hand back, ready to throw it back at her. The kitsune calmly swung her arm and let go of the chain, the length of metal wrapping it around the neck of the soldier. He staggered, and with a great scream fell backwards into the long hole, dropping the softball-sized device. Skyler comically leaned over and put a hand to her right fox ear as his cries diminished until-
KA-BOOM!

She nodded, satisfied, and turned back to do battle once more when she found herself face-to-helmet with yet another foe. Unprepared she started, and the mercenary took the opening and landed an uppercut beneath her chin, tossing her over the edge of the pit. Her arms scrabbled in desperation and one found hold on his leg, the other on the edge of the hole. He was brought to the floor and he, too, dropped over the side as Skyler nearly fell to her death, hanging by one hand. He caught her by the tail as he went past and she yelled in pain and anger and desperately kicked at him, but to no avail, for the blows did not dislodge him. Eyes watering Skyler bit down on her tongue to keep herself from screaming again, unable to bring herself up to safety with the additional weight of the thug hanging onto her, and all the others were engaged in combat.
Except...

The Mercenary seemed to take the attack without resistance, as if the falling had literally knocked the wind out of him. He took the punches through the wall, seemingly doing more damage to the wall than the helmet that Kartosh was attempting to destroy. With a snarl, he grabbed the Kitsune and threw him hard against the wall. The taunts had stopped and he was not so casual anymore. It seemed like he had finally realised that Kartosh was not an small threat anymore but a serious issue and that he needed to sort this out. He grabbed the Kitsune and, before he could react, the Mercenary had grabbed Kartosh by the shoulders and fired up his jetpack, flying up at intense speed before letting go, dropping the Kitsune down onto the roof, several dozen feet, before landing nearby and ready to finish him off.

Nathan and Chloe, meanwhile, had gotten together and where fighting together, Nathan punching and kicking intensely against the Mercenaries while Chloe cut down one Mercenary after another with her blade, the other Mercenaries were backing off now, nervous of the spinning blade and the Kitsune at the other end. They were fighting like the team they were. They had not noticed Skyler in trouble. They were busy otherwise.

However, one person had noticed. She dived forward and offered her slender hand in support. It was Tara, almost as naked as Skyler, she stretched down to the Kitsune, desperation and terror in her eyes,
"Grab my hand!" She called, wheezing from the fighting she had already done.

Roof...

As Kartosh hit the floor, tucking into a perfect roll, he wondered why the mercenary had not simply tossed him off the side of the building to his death, but he supposed even such criminals had their honor...that or the man wasn't bright enough to realize the advantage he had. As the human landed nearby he would find the kitsune already on his feet and charging, on a path for the armored thug. He had long since realized he couldn't beat the protected mercenary though brute force alone, hence the Blastech Power Kunckles he slipped onto his right hand as he threw the first punch, jumping slightly to gain leverage, his fist coming down at an angle. The little golden device, using a small graviton burst ray, gave the user enough power to stop an elephant at a dead run. The downside, however, was the fact that it was incredibly easy to misuse the Power Knuckle, and doing so could result in severe injury or even death.
Fortunately, Kartosh knew exactly how to use the weapon.

When his blow connected it lifted the mercenary off his feet and propelled the man across the roof with incredible force, making him roll and tumble with momentum. Kartosh shook his hand out, grinning confidently. "Looks like you should'a fought fair, like the man you ain't," he cracked in derision. "Otherwise I wouldn't 'ave brought out my Knuckles!"

Throne Room...

Panting, muscles in her tail burning, tears forming at the corners of her eyes from the strain, Skyler grabbed Tara's hand. As the younger Xiscapian pulled Skyler cried out, unable to restrain herself, due to the immense pain, lifted inch by inch upwards. The soldier below still hung on, and, free to concentrate on him, the female lifted both legs and planted her bare feet on his arm, as hard as she could. With a scream he lost his grip as the bone fractured, plunging away into the dark pit. "No hitchhikers," she growled as she attained floor level, collapsing into a heap almost on top of Tara, now thoroughly exhausted. "Thank-" Her eyes widened and she pushed the other away from her as another of the goons ran at Tara, arm blade extended, intending to stab into her. Skyler dove and grabbed the man by the ankles and stood, shaking, casting him over her shoulders headlong into the hole. "By Qonn I love you," she embraced the red-haired kitsune, kissing her gently on the lips.

The knuckles hit the Mercenary and forced him further back than he had before, even knocking him onto his back. The Mercenary looked up in suprise at the attack, of course, his expression hidden behind the blackness. He snarled in anger and ran to Kartosh, timing his run perfectly to duck under Kartosh's punch and grab him by the arm and leg. With a roar of anger, he grabbed him and threw him at one over the battlements. With luck and skill, Kartosh would be able to grab hold of the battlements and so stop himself falling to a bloody death. Then slowly, the Mercenary advanced towards him, knowing that he had won, knowing that his Empire was his. The Danaversians should be here already. He knew he had won.

Elsewhere, the number of Mercenaries was thinning, to the point where Nathan was able to hit one of the Attackers with a large and heavy pot he had grabbed, shattering it into thousands of pieces and knocking the Merc down for the count. He did have time, though, to see Skyler and Tara kissing, the younger Kitsune delighted to have finally heard the words she had been thinking of for so long. She loved her!
"You..." Nathan's jaw hit the floor, "She...he," He shook his head as he dodged out of the way of another attack, "My god," He threw a punch at him and knocked him to the floor.

Elsewhere, Chloe, with tears in her eyes as all the pain flooded back, had cut down the last Mercenary with her Katana, taking the time to cut his head off in the meantime. She fell to her knees, emotionally overwhelmed by all that had happened. Hugging herself tightly.

They were all dead. She had won. So why wouldn't the pain go away?

Roof...

Kartosh swung from a tower spire, barely hanging on by one hand, suspended over the ten story drop to the hard, dusty ground below, trying to overcome the sudden vertigo he felt. He tried to bring his other hand up to grab the vane, but the kitsune had taken a beating and he just didn't have the strength left, clutching the side of the battlement. Though his blurred, dim vision he could see the mercenary on approach, taking his time now, no doubt hurt but assured of his victory, savoring it. "Grabba's organization is mine now," he hissed as he came closer. "With all his assets under my command, no criminal or government in this quadrant will be able to impose themselves on me!"

Kartosh panted, arms growing weary of holding his weight, sweat making small dark spots on his clothes and wetting his hair and fur. His only weapons were a few knives and his pistol, and the Xiscapian knew he wouldn't be able to draw, much less fire, from this position before the man would see his intent and kill him. "You other criminals," Kartosh was breathing heavily, "you just don't get it, do you?"
The other stopped, enjoying himself and willing to be curious for a few seconds more. "Get what?"
"That we freelancers always have a trick up our sleeves," Kartosh grinned.
His opponent conveyed amusement. "You're all out of tricks, fool. Maybe I'll drag your broken body back inside later and hang it up on the wall, as a warning to others like you."
With that he leaped onto the tower, seeking to plant his jackboots on Kartosh's hand.

The grizzled kitsune mercenary, having gotten a grip on the side of the wind-damaged structure with his feet, launched himself upwards, scrambling onto the tower roof as his foe landed where his hand had been on the vane seconds before. Surprised, the mercenary leader tried to counter with a swift arm to knock his enemy off the side of the stronghold, but Kartosh twisted around and shoved into the man, hands on his back, causing him to stumble slightly, near the edge. He sneered inside his helmet and caught the Xiscapian a terrific blow across the chest, making Kartosh fall onto his hard on his stomach, the wind knocked out of him. "So you've lost Kartosh, big deal. It was always inevitable. You never once had the advantage that I have. You're too afraid to die-"
"Says the man in protected power armor," Kartosh muttered, easing himself onto his back.
"-Too afraid to leave her on her own. Only a man who fights for nothing can win everything. So ends the great mercenary." he chuckled, raising his right arm, blade shining in the light.
"You're wrong," Kartosh snarled. "Death doesn't scare me!"

He locked his legs around the metal thighs of the others, and with a surge of power from a reserve of energy he didn't know he had, pressed in on the backs of the knees. The man's legs gave way at the natural weak point and both criminals tumbled off the side of the tower, bits of masonry whipping by them. Almost in unison Kartosh and the mercenary fired their ziplines, Kartosh from his belt and the man from a wrist launcher, sticking to the underside of the structure, leaving the two hanging next to each other in the air. As they swung towards each other both began to kick and punch violently until Kartosh landed a blow to the stomach with such force that both were propelled away from each other, held by their lines, yellow eyes glaring on one end while the blank visor gazed back at them, until they came together with bone-cracking force. Their lines tangled and the two locked together, upside down, so close they could barely move, as if tied up.

"Ah bollocks," the mercenary growled as he and Kartosh stared at each other, unable to attack with any significant force. Kartosh smiled in a mellow manner, but there was something rather disturbing about that expression. "Freelancers always have tricks," he said, "but kitsune surprises, well, they're fatal." His hands reached around the armored man, as if embracing him, and flicked a certain switch. There was a hum and a whine, and Kartosh could nearly feel the mercenaries eyes widening behind his helmet. "What-"
Kartosh grinned. "Surprise!"

The jetpack ignited, sending the mercenary speeding downwards, headfirst and flailing, unable to control his decent. "AAARRRGGrrrrrrgggggghhhhh...." He screamed as the ground rose up to meet him, terrifyingly fast. High above Kartosh watched, eyes tracking him, until-
boom.
The Xiscapian winced. "Ohh. Fool you once, shame on me, fool you twice, shame on you."
He began to climb his rope back up, energy spent, feeling entirely depleted once he got to the top, out of breath. Standing shakily he made the jump from the tower to the main part of the fortress, hitting it halfway, head, arms and torso on the roof, lower torso and legs hanging off. With supreme effort the winning mercenary heaved himself over and just lay there, unable to move another inch. Then he remembered something.
"...and the Danaversians are already on their way!"
I hope the Captain of that Destroyer tipped off the Alversians like he was supposed to. Kartosh groaned and, shaking, pulling himself up with assistance from the low wall, summing up his experiences in this place with three simple syllables:
"Friggin' A!"

Throne Room...

Skyler was hugging Tara tightly, mouth on hers, enjoying the feel of their bodies pressing together, knowing they were finally safe. Grabba was dead, and all his minions had perished at the hands of her, Chloe, Nathan, and...
Kartosh!
In an instant she broke away, suddenly filled with gut-wrenching, heart-numbing horror. "Kartosh!" She yelled, looking around wildly, not seeing him anywhere, standing or among the fallen. "Where is he?!"

The Danaversians were indeed on their way, twenty two Barracudas, all coming to stop the mighty force that had driven away three of their Barracudas at one of the asteroids in their new space. The frontier was secure, Miller was secured, Colony Two had all but fallen and there were no real concentration of forces to challenge them in this sector. The loss of the Greali Sector was regretable but not catastophic. They were holding on the space they held so far and were preparing to renew their offensives at a later date. For the moment though, this Mercenary had called for their aid, promising a substantial reward in return, a vessel powerful enough to defeat anything in the Coalition arsenal. They may have been confident but they knew that they could not afford to rest easy. Not for the moment anyway. They would help this Pirate, take what he had and from there they would dominate the battles of Coalition space.

Palace

At Skyler's worried exclaimation, Tara took a step back, her own face creased with worry. She looked over to the two Strangers, one of whom looked liked so beautiful she actually felt like going over and kissing her, especially as she was so sad. That expression...
...then she realised. The lucky one! The one who had escaped. She had come all the way to rescue this one Female? For a moment, Tara wished bitterly that she had had someone like that to come and save her, but no, she was to be saved only because she here at the time. They hadn't even known she'd existed.

Nathan looked up, having dragged his chin up from the floor and looked through the hole made in the wall to outside,
"I think he'll be up there," He pointed up with a forefinger as a piece of plaster landed on his head, being rewarded with a curse.

"Let's go," Red eyed Chloe was already heading for the stairs

Skyler was already bounding up the steps, taking them two, three at a time, possessed by an energy she hadn't shown even when she was fighting for her life. By the time she reached the top she was winded but the kitsune kept going, scrambling across the rooftop to where she could see Kartosh dragging himself along, muttering oaths against other mercenaries, Danaversians, Qonn and the galaxy in general. Her partner looked up in time to receive a kiss and a crushing hug, nearly falling over from the force, both holding each other up, preventing a collapse. "I knew you'd come for me," Skyler whispered in his ear, and Kartosh put his chin above her shoulder, arms around her waist. "I'd go walkin' in a solar storm for you, Sky."

"Well," the other bit her lip, trying to figure out how to say this to her mate. "We may have picked up an...additional passenger."
"Eh?" Kartosh raised an eyebrow, looking around comically. "I don't see him."
"Her, actually." Skyler licked her lips. "Her name's Tara, and we sort of rescued her by proxy. But, the thing is, she helped me get though all this, and I think-" Skyler faltered.
"You love her?" Kartosh chuckled in good humor.
"Well, sort of," the female mercenary floundered. "I mean, I was wondering if she could come with us for a-"
"Sky." Kartosh put up a warning hand. "You know what I think about other associates."
"But I'm sure she's fine in-"
"I don't care if she's the best bloody lovemaker in all of the Kitsune Empire-
"That's not what I was going to say-"
"She'll only drag us down!"
"She won't! I promise, just give her a chance!"
Kartosh gave a great sigh, shaking his head in exasperation, holding up a single finger. "One try. But if she gets in the way, if she fucks up, if she tries to take you all for herself, if I catch her nicking some of our stuff, it's her scrawny butt out the door on the next inhabitable world we find."

As soon as Kartosh pointed down to the stairs, Tara appeared, looking nervous, almost apprehenisve. Followed by Nathan and Chloe, one hugging the other intensely, trying to instill some confidence in her after all she's been through.
Tara was trying to pursuade Kartosh that she could be useful to them,
"I was a Sniper in the Rio Casa Police Force, and I'm good with most weapons, please don't leave me here." She finished with a frightened look.

"Well," Nathan sighed, "I think we should jump shi..." He was interrupted by the beep of his Vox and the voice of Katie,

"Sorry to interrupt you all," She said with a laugh, "But we have two dozen Danaversian ships closing in. I think it's time we jumped planet!" She called to them.

"I was about to say that," Nathan grumbled under his breath.

Kartosh laughed out loud. "Bullfuckingshit you were a sniper! How old are you, eighteen?" He looked her up and down, nubile body barely covered by her costume, sighing. She looks more like a prostitute than a warrior. "I don't know what you heard me say, but you've only got one chance, girl. We're not gonna leave you here no matter what, but you gotta prove you're useful to me, otherwise I'm dumping you on the next planet we get to."
Skyler was looking at Tara sadly. She didn't know how her fellow ex-slave would fare in combat, but her devotion to Kartosh overrode whatever she felt for Tara. She would help her where she could, but the Xiscapian would have to prove herself to Skyler's mate.


"I was about to say that,"
"Let's leave this shithole," Skyler agreed. "Kartosh?"
"Right, right," The other mercenary removed a transponder from his jacket and tapped a few buttons, summoning the Star Snake to appear over the roof edge a few seconds later, ramp lowering. "Would you guys," he spoke to Skyler and Tara, "please change into something else? We're about to go into battle and I'm getting mixed messages here..."

At the same time, the other two Mercenaries vanished as they were beamed into the Elixir. Then, it took a few more puzzling moments before the Merc's ship took off, under the control of Nathan himself, for Katie was otherwise engaged. She had been given her own command, the other Black-Raider Class warship was now under the AI's control, the vessel she had discovered in an hangar next to the palace. She should not have left the Elixir but she was bored and went for a walk, confident that no one could get into her ship or harm her. After she had completed her walk, she came upon a hangar and, after gaining entry, she had set up a transport before returning to the Elixir to await for orders. Now that Nathan was back on his own ship, she was free to bring the ship back up into orbit and so complete the final part of the contract.

"Well, that's that done and dusted," Nathan grinned, satisfied at a job well done, "All that money...all that beer," his eyes glazed over for a moment, thinking of the sweet liquid that would signal a victory of his again. Chloe sat in silence, thinking of what she had done, what she had overcome. She was more than pleased by the outcome. Yet she could not help but feel sorry that Skyler and Tara had suffered just a fraction of what she had gone through.
She was jolted from her thoughts though, as an explosion rocked against the Elixir's shields. She scrambled forward, glancing out the window and sighed, shaking her head,
"Barracudas," she called, "Seven of them. Not good," She sighed in anger. Why could they never just get away with it? Why was it never easy?

"Nathan, we need to attack the lead ship," She settled into the chair, bringing the turrets online, "If the Star Sn..."

"...I...don't think...it's...neccessary," Nathan said, looking at the window as the Danaversians moved off to combat a new enemy that had obviously gained the element of surprise on the attacking Danaversians.

They were Fighters, Fighters that seemed to have appeared from almost nowhere. They were boring in on the Danaversians, shrugging off the Anti-Fighter laserfire as if it weren't there. They were misleading and Chloe could do nothing but stare. They were in the colours of the APNAF, but, as far as she could see, they were not XX-40's nor any other type of fighter that she knew of.

In fact, they were XX/V-330's, a new type of Fighter which did not need a Pilot, for he was safe, way back beyond harm's reach, still in the middle of the fleet. The fighters were being controlled by VR and advanced systems that freed the cockpit for more advanced systems, combined with more armour and weapons to replace the life support system. There were also XB/V-430's, these were the same, except they were much larger and carrying much more effective, ship-busting weapons. They were the brainchild of the Xiscapian Empire, adopted and adapted for Alversia's new carrier fleet, the next generation of space fighter design.

Also unknown to the Mercenaries were the symbols on the sides of the Starcraft, one of two symbols. They were the symbols of two of Alversia's new Fleet Carriers, the Titan and the Leviathan, both were actually several dozen lightyears from the location of the combat, thanks to the new transwarp tunnels.

The Elixir stayed long enough to watch two of the Barracuda's explode into flames, destroyed by the missiles which were designed specifically to destroy ship. They also watched the others withdraw before, with a flash, they vanished for Xiscapian space.
The new Alversian Carrier Fleet had drawn it's first blood.

The Star Snake was just behind the Elixir of Life as it and the third Black Raider raced up into the atmosphere, breaking free of the planet in time to see the warships heading straight for them. Onboard Skyler had no time to get into something more appropriate as the proximity alarms whistled, laser fire flashing past the smuggling craft as the Barracudas sought to engage. Tara recoiled at the sight of the monstrous Battleships coming for them, clutching the back of Skyler's seat with a small cry. "We can outrun the bastards," Kartosh said flippantly, twisting the Star Snake into a roll, but all saw even as he did so that there was no need. Alversian fighters were coming in as if conjured out of nothing, laser bolts and missiles splattering against the enemy shields and armor, and they saw at least two of the Danaversian starships buckle and tear themselves apart under the onslaught.

Kartosh frowned as they edged past the battle, engines burning white amid the torrent of weapons and glare of flames. "Where in all hell did they come from? Are they long range fighters?"

"No," Skyler shook her head, tapping one of the datascreens. "Sensors are reading a few capital-size ships about thirty-five lightyears away, they must've launched from carriers."

"But thirty-five lightyears? Why didn't anyone see them coming, then?"

Now it was Skyler's turn to frown. "Strange, that, we would have been able to tell even if they were cloaked..."

"Uh," Tara spoke up for the first time and both the mercenaries turned to look at her, faces lit by wheeling, burning wreckage outside. She looked from one to the other. "I really was in the Police force, I was a cadet in the Intelligence section, and one time-"

"I thought you said you were a sniper?" Kartosh said suspiciously.

She glared at him. "My father was a Special Law Action Mediator sniper, he taught me how to use one when we went down to hunt on Xiscapia. As I was saying, the ground pounders apprehended some kitsune who had stolen secret papers from a government project called Procul. He was trying to get transport away, I guess he was going to sell them to somebody, but the XIA caught up with him and that was the end of it."

The two criminals shared a look. "Xiscapian Internal Affairs aren't a nice bunch," Skyler muttered.

"What does this have to do with anything?" Kartosh demanded.

"I'm getting to that." She sounded irritated. "I caught a peek at what they had inside, there were loads of schematics and blueprint diagrams, but from what I managed to piece together was that they were coming up with some way to remotely control fighters, but with their pilots in them."

There was a moment of silence. "What?" Kartosh finally said in confusion. "You don't know what you're talking about!"

Tara flushed. "I do too, it had to do with VRs and micro signals and a bunch of other stuff. Do a bioscan on one of those fighters, it'll tell you!"

Kartosh looked skeptical, but keyed in the appropriate commands at his seat. A few seconds elapsed before his ears perked and tail twitched, signs of surprise, and he looked up at the two others. "I'll be damned," he said, "not a single life sign on any of 'em."

"See?" Tara looked smug.

"Alright, alright, that's pretty good," Kartosh admitted in bad grace, punching in the coordinates for Xiscapia. "But don't get too cocky, girl, 'cause-"

"My name's Tara," the other said sharply, "and I'll stay with you guys even if I have to kill every Danaversian from here to Kel to do it."

Skyler smiled at her. "I have faith in you," she said, much to Kartosh's annoyance. "We'll see," he grumbled, but the conviction was gone from his voice, and Tara could see from the reflection in the cockpit screen that he was smiling, just a little.

The Star Snake vanished into the Jaunt Portal, bound for the heart of the Kitsune Empire. It appeared just behind the Elixir of Life, the familiar twenty-mile bulk of Space Station Protector coming into view of Xiscapia, nearly eclipsed by the round sphere that was the moon of Kel. "Home sweet home," murmured Skyler, standing up from her seat and brushing by Tara, her hot flesh against the other's warm fur. "Let's go see what size you are, love. Can't have you showing up with our contractor in nothing but that, it's right cold down there."

The Elixir had maintained sensor lock with the battle right up until it had vanished into it's Jaunt Portal. It seemed that the Alversian VR Fighters had cut into the Danaversians destroying two Barracudas and hitting another so badly it would not make it back to it's own space. Nathan had laughed at the thought. While he had been in the APN, the Navy had always refused to use of Carriers, seeing them as needlessly big and pointless. Now though, he guessed that, with whatever technique the Xiscapians and Alversians had come up with, they could strike at an enemy far away from the Fleet itself, that gave the APN and endless tactical advantage over the Danaversians. They would not be prepared for the strikes across their borders or hitting their fleets and convoys. They would not be ready. Nathan loved that idea. He really loved it.

It was not long before they were heading down into Xiscapian Space, passing the Protector with a cheery hello. He hoped that Katie had done the same so that there would be misunderstandings and, knowing her, she probably had forgotten, tied up in the joy of controlling her own starship if only for a while.

"Greetings to thou, Protector, We was wondering if we be allowed to land at da base of Kyat. Tanks very much, me Mateys"

As Nathan finished, grinning madly, he turned to see Chloe glowering at him. He raised an eyebrow in query, then sighed like a Child who's been forced to clean up his own mess. He hit the vox again,
"Protector? Me again. I've been told by My Mother here..." The vox cut for a moment as the sound of someone being slapped was heard, then the voice came on, less steady than before,
"...when I said Mother, I meant wonderfully caring Partner, has told me to translate my last statement into Basic. Can we land in Kyat shipyards please? Thanks awfully"

He looked back to a smug Chloe who nodded, then looked out over Xiscapia with a sigh,
"Home again," She said quietly.

Space Station Protector, Inter-system Communications, Station 1902...

One of the officers among the half a million crew had the misfortune to be manning the vox unit that received the transmission from the Elixir of Life:

"Greetings to thou, Protector, We was wondering if we be allowed to land at da base of Kyat. Tanks very much, me Mateys."

It was a stroke of bad luck that the officer would have his volume turned up quite high, so Nathan's words boomed across the room, attracting the attention of the other two dozen or so kitsune there. Licking his chops, tail flicking in agitation, ears flattening slightly, the Xiscapian keyed a response back in.

"Uh, Elixir of Life, uh, your comm must be malfunctioning, repeat, over."

A few seconds of silence. The officer stared at his screen, trying not to listen to the snickering of his fellows. If he had possessed the capacity to blush he would have.

"Protector? Me again. I've been told by My Mother here..."

There was the sound of one hand clapping against flesh.

The officer blinked.

Some of the Xiscapians were polite enough to laugh with their hands over their mouths, some turned away, and others had to leave the room entirely. The officer gritted his teeth, fangs grinding against each other.

"...when I said Mother, I meant wonderfully caring Partner, has told me to translate my last statement into Basic. Can we land in Kyat shipyards please? Thanks awfully"

Everyone in the area was quiet for a few more moments to see if anything further would occur, and then the officer leaned forward cautiously, as if afraid his terminal would explode on contact, and established a vox contact. "Elixir of Life," his toned was clipped and laced with displeasure, "you have been cleared by Kyat Shipyards Incorporated to land at their Headquarters. Please make no deviance from that course."
He lifted his finger off the call button, and those in the communications room burst out laughing.

Meanwhile the Star Snake followed down, having made contact without any such madcap hijinks, and within minutes they had landed in Tenfour among the factories and industrial buildings at KSI INC HQ.

The Elixir of Life landed next to the Star Snake without problem, followed in a moment by the final Black Raider. As soon as it had settled down, the AI who had piloted it, transported back over to her own original vessel, a delighted expression across her blue face,

"Chloe! Nathan! I did it! I did it! I brought the ship back by myself!" She looked from one to the other in pride, delighted that she had been given control of the ship for so long without any problems. She beamed happily as Chloe took her in a tight hug,

"Well done, Katie," She said, tears running down her cheeks, though what she was teary about, it was hard to tell, "I knew you could do it, I knew you could do it."

Nathan and Chloe left the ship to meet with Kartosh and Skyler, the Alversian rubbing a bruise on his ears, grinning madly,
"Here we are again eh? I have to say that this is one of my finest missions, on all levels," He looked to Chloe, who gave a small nod to show that she agreed with him.
"So, shall we tell Mister Kyat that his beloved ship has returned to it's rightful resting place?"

"No need," said Kartosh dryly, nodding past the other two as Tara and Skyler came out behind him. Skyler was dressed in her usual boots, tight black pants that showed off her curves, shirt and vest, and Tara wore regular shoes, casual, faded, stained jeans and a shirt that might have once been white but had now turned gray.

Kyat was all but sprinting across the pad, blowing past all five of them to skid to such a halt that one might not have been surprised to see trails of fire in the wake of his feet. He inspected the Black Raider critically, looking all over the exterior, an expression of intense concentration on his face.

"Uh, Mr. Kyat?" Skyler stepped forward, trying to attract his attention. The executive waved her off, muttering something none could hear. He made his slow, fastidious way across the rescued ship, vanishing behind it. A full minute later the businessman popped up and looked accusingly at Nathan. "I'm deducting those couplings out of you payment," he said, but there was no rancor in his voice. Indeed, the Xiscapian was downright grinning. "You did it! I heard about the depot and the asteroid, and I was just informed about Grabba's stonghold few minutes ago! Well done!" He beamed. "Let's discuss the operation, I want to hear all about it!"

"First," Kartosh growled, "let's talk payment."

Kyat's face fell. "Ah, right." He looked to Nathan and Chloe in expectation, not even noticing Tara.

"Couplings? What Couplings?!" Nathan asked in the most sincere voice under the sun before Chloe slapped him in the back of the head, "Ow?" He enquired, rubbing it furiously.

"Of course, Mister Kyat," Chloe nodded in agreement for that part, then she launched into how they had found the location of the Palace, omitting the details of the Slavery or her own weakness at the bar. She explained the ambush, the Mercenary battle, spending quite a while explaining Grabba's death without actually mentioning how he had caught her in the chain and that she had stabbed only in panic.
"So," She finished, shrugging, "how about our payment?" She asked politely while Nathan nodded like a fool,
"Yes," He said eagerly, "When does we gets our dosh? Minus the Couplings of course...which are faulty," He murmured the last part under his breath.

"Brilliant!" Kyat beamed. "That sounds like something out of an action holo! I would love to see what you could do to some of my competitors..."

"When does we gets our dosh? Minus the Couplings of course...which are faulty,"

"Well, perhaps you shouldn't steal from the box marked 'Bị hỏng phần*'," remarked Kyat dryly, his excellent kitsune hearing allowing him to catch Nathan's comment. "Now, your price will be as discussed: The payment of all your owed debts on KSI purchases, and a ten percent discount on all of our products you buy in the future, not," he glared at Nathan, "including those couplings. My accountants have taken the liberty of transferring the five hundred thousand credit fee from your account to KSI accounts. Now that you have fully completed the contract, your payment will come into effect. I believe that our business is now completed, so, gentlemen," he bowed to both Kartosh and Nathan, "ladies," he started, catching sight of Tara and being unable to speak for a moment, agog at her beauty. "Ladies," he tried again, bowing to Skyler, Chloe and rather deeper to Tara, "I, and KSI, thank you for your employment. You came very highly recommended from Cuqa, President of Blastech and good friend of mine, and he wasn't wrong." Kyat smiled brightly. "You know, if someone would document your lives they could make millions," he chuckled and shook his head, boarding the last Black Raider and vanishing into the interior of one of his beloved ships.

They stood in silence for a moment, then Kartosh broke it, clapping his hands. "Time to get totally wasted!" He grinned widely at Nathan. Skyler and Chloe exchanged glances, and the female kitsune then rested her chin on top of Tara's head, folding her fox ears slightly. "You're too young to drink," she said softly, teasingly, glancing up at Chloe. They all had something in common now, forged in the dank depths of Grabba's stronghold. Now, the question was, what were they going to do about it?

OOC:
*Defective Parts

"Thank you," Chloe nodded, smiling at Nathan's gobsmacked face as he realised that he had stolen defective parts,
"Aw, for fu..."
She bowed back to Kyat, pleased to have finally closed this chapter of her life, the worst years of her life, mingled with some of the best. Grabba was dead, with him the memories and pain could die as well. She was finally free from her bonds, the bonds that had chained her mind for this past decade, when she had been restrained by the Pirates and turned into a Slave for the Scum of the Universe. Finally, she could live again as herself, Chloe, not Chloe the Slave or Chloe the Sex Object but just Chloe the Mercenary, the Kitsune who did what she was good at and looked brilliant while doing it. No more hiding, no more crying and definately no more nightmares. She was finally free.

Then she heard Nathan laugh behind her, pulling her back from her thoughts,
"Sounds good!" He laughed, clapping Kartosh on the shoulder, "I am so ready for a piss-up now that only your Mother could improve," He laughed at Kartosh again before heading for the door. As Chloe got up to follow though, she saw Skyler and Tara sharing a moment together and she felt a gut wrenching, unrational, deeply green sense of angry envy at the sight of the affection.

'It's not fair,' She thought to herself, 'Skyer had Kartosh and she has Tara now as well. I have no one' It was true. In all of the ten years that Chloe had been free, she had never had a Boyfriend and never had sexual relations. She did not like them, not anymore. Yes, they had all suffered at the hands of Grabba, all the Females, but she alone had suffered the most hardship. Skyler had been the there how long? Two days? Tara had been there for six months and her? Chloe had been a Slave for nearly four years, she had counted every one of the 1,308 days she had been trapped there, never an ending in sight. It still told on her today, when close to anyone.

Whenever someone got close to her, close enough to push warm breath on her skin, her mind suddenly filled with images of that Palace, of the darkened light and the damp air pressing on her skin, like one more chain determined to keep her where she belonged. Some greasy human, or Korr or Gamorrean or Rhodian climbing across to her, not listening to her silent protests, her desperate attempts to fight off the inevitable. Then the pain itself, the neverending hours of pain because he would not let her rest, the painful yanks on the chain, the crawling on the floor because of the burning between her legs. Then at night when she was all on her own, when only the night air kept her company. When she curled up and cried herself to sleep, except when the Guards came...three at a time, sometimes all night. When she really did wish for death, when all three set upon her slim figure, ignoring her pitiful cries for mercy, her prayers to Qonn to spare her when it never happened. Even he had abandoned her. When she coughed up semen with hours afterwards and was unable to move because if what they did to her. Chloe knew she would never be free.

The shackles would stay with her forever and she cursed everyday for it. She had not deserved it! Nothing she had done in her, short, selfless life had demanded a punishment as bad as the one she had recieved. She could not think of anything she had done, said, or even thought that would lead her up to that tortured existence. When the only thing she had ever wished for, death, had not come.

When she snapped out of this little daydream, she saw that she was the only one left in the office, Tara and Skyler having followed the boys out into the main courtyard. Chloe wandered over to one of the windows, looking out over the city of Tenfour. It may have shown Tenfour, but she was looking over at Rio Casa, or she saw it as Rio Casa in her mind. Specifically, she could see one building. One house. One person.

"Daddy," She said quietly to herself, hands tightening on the smooth glass, tears beginning to roll down her cheeks,
"Daddy...Daddy, please. Please, I miss you...I miss you so much...why can't I come home? Why can't I hug you again?...Daddy..."
She broke down into sobs, crying into her balled up fists, no one to hear her, just like old times.

Chloe's heart burned for her loss, for the Family she may never speak to again, the memories she had forgotten, the people she had missed.

Elsewhere, in the capital of Rio Casa, outside a manor house surrounded with luxery gardens, someone else sat in a chair and gazed up at the stars, an old Kitsune with wild grey hair and a face that suggested years of a combined grieving and hoping that were taking their toll on an old body. He sat in a deckchair, yellow eyes trained to the skies, never to leave until his mission was complete, until his death was assured. There was already one more urn in the grounds, one more that did not deserve it's place, for it did not belong to one who had died. So he always lived in hope, they had told him it was a Fool's hope. But he hoped with all his heart and soul nonetheless.

For somewhere up there, someone very precious to him stayed, someone so close that her absence felt like it had torn a hole into his very heart, like a lump was missing from vey beat, every breath. Other had given up hope but he had not. He would not. He could not.

Maybe one day she would come back to him, back home.

And his soul could be complete once more.