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Post by Storyteller on Jan 8, 2018 16:50:30 GMT
It wasn't every day you got to shoot a sith lord in the gut, so all in all Sai had been pretty satisfied with the day so far. Sure, she had almost been killed three times so far, her starfighter had gotten one of its wings damn near blown off and she'd probably annoyed someone up the chain of command to no end by just breaking off and going after her downed wingman, but that was all a day in the life.
A chance to fight someone who looked like they were straight out of a holodrama, though? That made it all worth it. They traded for a while, force powers and lightsaber training on one side, gadgets and ingenuity on the other. She hadn't taken on anyone who could match a N'gai in a swordfight since she'd left her homeworld, so it was actually a bit of a thrill to be challenged.
She figured out too late, however, that the first exchange had been an unfavorable one. The Sith could push through the pain of the shot to the gut, could even heal from it given time, whereas the blast of lightning to her hand had numbed her arm from the elbow down despite her armor, forcing her to fight one-handed while the Sith only continuously regained his strengths. All it took was one mistake, one moment of letting up the pressure, and the sith had been able to gather his strengths to discharge a second blast of lightning, this one stronger and directly onto her chest. There was only blackness after that.
By all logic, there should be no surviving a blast of lightning that potent straight to the chest. Sai's body spasmed agreeably for a moment or two on the ground after she blacked out, muscles twitching uncontrollably under the massive jolt of electricity. Most of the locals who'd been close enough to witness the duel would have come to the same conclusion as the sith himself: the wiry little nagai was definitely dead, and it was smarter to just get as far away from that sith as possible now that the main obstacle to his progress was out of the way.
None of them knew about Sai's electromesh armor. Under the roasted jacket, sleek form-fitting composite covered her form, directing the energy away - enough of it that while she was very definitely knocked out cold and burned to a life-threatening degree, her heart had just managed to continue beating at a proper pace. All her life-signs were so faint that most would fail to notice them without instruments, but she was very much alive. For now.
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Post by TitusPellaeon on Jan 8, 2018 17:13:27 GMT
Gaele ran.
Through the busy spaceport, full of soldiers and panicked citizens, thought the chaos of the wreckage raining from the sky. The last transmission from Corall had put her at one of the launchpads, and that was where sheneeded to go. Gaele couldn't think of anything else beyond the next step; that meant she'd have to think back to what she had left behind in the smoldering ruins of the farmlands she once called home. The grief could wait.
For now, there was something to do.
As Sai drifted towards unconciousness, she heard the distant sound of a woman calling out her last name before the red-haired speeder pilot arrived at the scene before her; the twisted bodies the Sith had butchered, the still smoking and twitching body of the N'Gai warrior that had dared to stand against the Sith. He choked gasp of surprise had alerted the Sith to her presence, and a great pressure filled the air as an invisible fist grasped Gaele's throat and lifted her from her feet, the Sith standing with his hand extended towards her. She kicked. She struggled.
And when she looked about ready to faint, her face twisted in anger and a number of things on the landing platform danced and shook before she finally screamed. Whatever power had held her in the air snapped, the Sith stumbling back a step or two as Gaele fell to her hands and knees. Gasping for breath, she fumbled for her pistol, snapping a shot off at the man and missing wildly. But it was too late; the Sith had climbed aboard the ship nearby and flew off, leaving Gaele and Sai on the platform's floor. Feebly, Gaele reached for her comm to call for help, before she too, collapsed.
*******
"Rise and shine," came Gaele's voice. As Sai had been stirring, it appeared the red-haired woman took notice and offered a tired, small smile. The voice was one and the same from the comm, belonging to a woman in her middlin to late twenties in a dusty jumpsuit, her goggles still about her bruised throat and a red scarf keeping her hair from her face. Gaele sniffled, wiping away the tears that she hoped Sai hadn't noticed, putting on an air of surprising positivity. "Had everyone worried there. Well. Myself and your Republic friends. And those scoundrel pilots you call wingmen."
She threw her long legs over the side of the bed she was perched on, the both of them in a small room that looked like an improvised infirmary at the small space station. "Looks like your side won up there."
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Post by Storyteller on Jan 8, 2018 17:40:59 GMT
Sai had been in a bad shape. The archaic jacket she favored wearing had melted both along the right arm and on the chest and had had to be scraped off her armor. Under that armor, the electric burns had been vicious, the damage widespread enough that she had rated a brief stay in bacta until her condition stabilized. Of course, she hadn't been able to stay in it until completely healed, with a lot of other personnel in bad need of full immersion, and now lay on the bed with an arm covered in a cocoon-like mess of bacta patches, while many others wrapped around her upper body.
The first answer to Gaele's call were a series of unintelligible groans as Sai, rather than sit up, just rolled onto her side and stuffed her head under the pillow. Apparently she had keenly-trained instincts for how to act when you woke up with your whole body hurting and your head feeling like someone had stuffed it full of cotton. It served in Gaele's benefit, as there was no audience for that carefully-hidden tear.
The woman spoke on, however, and eventually it came to a revelation about the battle, specifically it's conclusion. That brought a momentary stillness to the n'gai, followed soon after by her pushing the pillow away to sit up, looking none too happy, "y' mean I missed it all? Bloody-" she segued off to a short bit of rapid-fire words, it didn't take a translator droid to know she was cursing like a sailor.
Eventually, with a quick shake of her head - which she quickly regretted, as it made her head hurt even worse, she turned to look around, taking in the room and finally Gaele there. Her brow furrowed as she tipped her head to the side, "oy - ye're the one in the speeder, aye? You - came back?" That obviously had her dumbfounded, and for clear reasons: civilians didn't usually stick around battles.
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Post by TitusPellaeon on Jan 8, 2018 17:48:38 GMT
"Told you I would, didn't I?" Gaele said gently, smirking at the cussing. She didn't seem insulted at the notion, that she wouldn't have come back for the stranger. Instead, she leaned towards the small table nearby to offer Sai some water. "Gaele's the name. At your service."
The smile was a wide and toothy one, the sort of lopsided thing that likely made the locals grin back dumbly. "Your pilot friend. He made it. They sent a shuttle down to pick him up. Dunked you in some bacta, thought it best to keep you here for now than move you. You'll have a few choice scars, but, given what happened on that platform, I suppose we're lucky to be alive."
The smile drifted away, though, slowly replaced by something more fearful. "Who...what was that? On the platform...?"
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Post by Storyteller on Jan 8, 2018 23:50:28 GMT
Gaele's grin was returned with a lively one of Sai's own, as the wiry little woman nodded vigorously - "Right good meeting you, Gaele. Folks call me Sai, when they're not being all formal-like." She grabbed for her pillow as she spoke, sticking it behind her back to prop herself against. She did it one-handed, and made no attempt to push up onto her feet, probably knew better than to try just yet.
"Oy, not my first scars, won't be my last. At least I'm hoping not, aye?" The grin widened a hint, "so long as you're adding more on, I figure you're probably doing something right. And failing to die, which is nice too."
Her left hand came up, fingers running through her hair. Someone had tried to tame the hair while she was lying unconscious, and she obviously couldn't have it: the hand started studiously working at making her hair appropriately messy. She addressed the matter of the fight in the spaceport, but her reaction to it was quite unlike Gaele's. She seemed excited, maybe even cheerful, "bastard had weird powers and a glowing red sword. Straight out of a holodrama, it was. Figure I'll do better if I run into the sod again, now I know how he ticks." Somehow, despite her injuries and against all good sense, she seemed to actually relish that thought. "I'll have to tell someone in Intelligence about it, I'm thinking. They'll know what it was all about. Back in the day I got training about Imperial Inquisitors, aye? Can be this was just a nasty one, signed up with Zsinj."
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Post by TitusPellaeon on Jan 10, 2018 2:33:10 GMT
"An Inquisitor. Sure," Gaele answered, still clearly more nervous and wary in contrast to her bedridden compatriot. The thought seemed to bumble about in her head, as though she knew that wasn't quite right. How she suspected that was beyond her but...her feelings seemed to point towards something else entirely.
As Sai shifted about in the bed, Gaele stood up to make her way closer, leaning over to fluff the pillow some more for Sai's sake, even running a hand through the woman's hair to give it a tossled, rakish air before tossing a wink. "There. Wild and free as I've got a feeling you'd rather be, Sai," Gaele chuckled, though the sound was more strained and subdued than it normally would be. "more scars just means more stories to tell, like those heroes in the holodramas. Number of folks in the spaceport are alive because of what you did. Sure there are a few folks happy that you're not..."
Gaele couldn't seem to say the word 'dead' for whichever reason. She swallowed passed the lump in her throat, her eyes shimmering with unspent tears for a moment before she laughed again, trying to hide it. "Bet you can't wait to get back in your ship and flying for the Republic again. Fightin' the good fight, an' all that."
There was an almost wistful quality to the comment.
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Post by Storyteller on Jan 10, 2018 2:53:01 GMT
For her own part, Sai seemed pretty relaxed about the possibility of having just fought an inquisitor. Apparently it was just a throw-away fact for her, something you could consider without giving it any special importance.
She grinned brightly when Gaele did her part in getting her hair sorted out, nodding quickly when the woman spoke, "you've got good feelings, you do-" a quick beat as she leans a hint into the touch and sniffs audibly, "- smell good, too." She tried to keep a straight face after saying that, and failed miserably, with the lips twitching together and a couple snorts of held-back laughter.
When asked about getting back in the fight, she just smiled and shrugged, "it's what I do, girl. Figure folks are going to keep me grounded until I'm out of these patches, though, so it's going to be a wee while." The gaze had become more focused, more intent onto Gaele while they spoke. At this point, she reached the left hand over - the one that wasn't covered in bandages - and clasped Gaele amiably on the shoulder, "you did good down there, though. Brave, capable and smart. Don't usually get all three things in a single person, see? I for one have only two of those." A quick smile at that moment, before she let it ease away. Her expression was no less warm, her gaze no less enthusiastic, but there was just a hint of solemnity to her, "you're hanging in there alright?"
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Post by TitusPellaeon on Jan 10, 2018 3:12:06 GMT
Gaele laughed at Sai's antics, tucking a rebellious lock of golden-red hair behind an ear.
"Mmh. Farm dust, sweat and engine grease. The perfume of champions," Gaele quipped back, sitting back down opposite Sai. She offered another one of those charming grins. "Well. We'll see if I can teach you a thing or two then. We could start with picture books and numbers zero through ten. I'll speak slowly. While you duel a dozen inquisitors. On a flaming ship, crashing into orbit."
The shoulder squeeze and the vote of confidence certainly seemed to buoy her spirits and the last question seemed to hit hard, but she kept it together. "I...For now, I reckon. For now. It'll hit me like a runaway bantha later but...it's gone. It's all gone. My uncle. My cousins. The farm. Zsinj's men, they..."
Her head hung down for a moment before she she took a steadying breath to struggle passed her personal pain. When she looked back up, she'd somehow made it passed the anger.
"I don't want more people to suffer through what happened here. I want to join the Republic. Fight for something right. I've got nothing left here save a rusty old speeder."
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Post by Storyteller on Jan 10, 2018 3:40:04 GMT
She listened along to the slowly-developing scenario Gaele described, eyes going a bit wide and shifting off to the side, almost child-like in wonder. It didn't take a telepath to know that she was conjuring up a very strong mental picture of just that situation. She sighed softly eventually, "that would be a great day. Well, if I lived through that. Not so great if I didn't."
And thus, they were well and truly in the subject of death. She didn't interject at this point, instead letting Gaele work through her words and her feelings in her own time, just keeping that intent, attentive pair of eyes on the woman, nodding here and there. Apparently she knew enough about loss to let Gaele get as much off her chest as she wanted to.
Most people would admonish a young woman considering enlisting to serve in an active military about the dangers of that decision. Sai wasn't most people, not by a long shot. She leaned forward and set her elbows to her knees to get a bit closer to Gaele, making the moment more private. The motion brought with it a grimace, as the injury to her thorax flared up, but she just endured the pain. She spoke more softly, almost reverently. This was important.
"We're blood-sisters already, we are. We fought together, and we did it the right way: watching each other's back. I'd rather have you next to me in a fight than most of the jokers I've fought alongside with, and I've fought along a lot of folks." She nodded firmly, dark eyes in Gaele's, "I know all the other Irregulars here. With a battle this big done and all the salvage floating around, we're guaranteed to be able to slap together something for you to ride in. Until I can fight again, I can train ya. It's a rough life and a lot of the time it's a short life, but we can make it a good one." She was quiet for an instant, then tipped her head an inch to the side, "also know a recruiter and can put in a good word, if you want to be all formal-like about it and join the proper navy."
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Post by TitusPellaeon on Jan 10, 2018 14:00:47 GMT
It wasn't a hard look in Gaele's green eyes, but a determined one. Driven. Not full of ambition, but instead, of new hope.
"I reckon we're gonna need to grab some of that debris to slap you back together, darlin'," Gaele joked quietly between them. The gratitude ws palpable and Sai could tell that the only thing stopping the red-haired woman from launching herself to hug Sai were the injuries. So, she simply reached out to hold Sai's good hand. "Let's see what y'all can teach me afore I embarass myself afore a real, how-do-you do Republic recuitin' officer, hm? Don't wanna put the cart afore the bantha. But...I'm in, Sai. I'd rather a short life an' a good one, than a long one gatherin' dust."
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Post by Storyteller on Jan 10, 2018 15:45:17 GMT
"Pfft. I am the debris. Or at least you'd think so what with how often people find me after a fight and drag me back home." She chuckled derisively, and closed her one good hand firmly around Gaele's, a solid squeeze.
"Right, then. I know who the halfway decent mechanics are, figure that's our first stop. One of 'em owes me a few credits, too, so we can probably talk him into putting together something good. With any luck the debris field will still be good and thick by the time we're ready - makes for a good obstacle course, aye?" As she spoke, she swung her legs off the bed, and started the difficult process of forcing herself to stand up. There was a good bit of grimacing, and she had to put some of her weight into the hand Gaele had taken, turning it into impromptu support.
Without a hand to spare, the covers had just been pushed off the bed as she stood up. It was a good thing that so much of her body was covered in bacta patches, because the ill-fitting, loose patient's smock would otherwise have done a very poor job of covering her up - a fact that she seemed to take in stride. A medical droid hurried over with a dire warning and almost a demand that she lie down and get some proper rest, but apparently the nagai was proficient in ignoring those. It wasn't long before they were fast-talking their way into getting a transport ship to get them back to the //Defiant//, and to tug Sai's busted-up fighter along.
The battle over Lianna was done, but for the irregulars, that was just the start of the conflict. Not because they expected Zsinj to send any more ships in, no - with the Defense Fleet having joined the Republic, any attempt to retake the planet would be the kind of major offensive that didn't get organized in just a day or two. Now began the struggle for salvage rights and for the deck space to work on all that salvage.
The conflict was ongoing when Sai and Gaele arrived, stepping off the shuttle that had thoughtfully deposited her Fang fighter just to the side before they landed. The greetings from the irregulars were enthusiastic: greetings called out loudly across the formerly-quiet hangar bay, a fair bit of cat-calling and a particularly loud, "haven't managed to get yourself killed yet!?-" that drew a fair bit of laughter. Sai made her way over, doing her level best not to get in the way of the proper hangar personnel, who were in the process of performing routine maintenance on the Star Destroyer's complement of starfighters.
"Oy, Chalan!" She called out towards a pile of wreckage taller than she was. The only response, after a brief silence, was the pile shuddering and noising, some parts falling clear off, "oy! I know you're in there, don't make us stand around all day!"
A moment later a head poked out of the top of the debris pile. The woman had so much grease on her that one could be forgiven for thinking she was a rare mutant twi-lek with brown skin, but here and there a bit of purple showed through. "I'm standing on enough undetonated concussion missiles to blow this hangar sky-high. So you're telling me you've got something more urgent?" If you took a step back and twisted your head to the side, it really was possible to notice that the pile of rubble had once been a part of the Broadside class missile corvette that had been in the battle.
Sai nodded earnestly and gestured between the head-on-the-rubble-pile and Gaele at her side. "Right! Gaele, Chalan-" then as an aside to Gaele, "- she's the least likely to fix you up with a starfighter that will blow up on its own, aye?" Then she turned to Chalan and gestured between the two, "rookie here needs a ship. Think those missiles can wait?"
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Post by TitusPellaeon on Jan 10, 2018 16:10:57 GMT
"Wait? Must've hit your head pretty hard down there, Bosslady!" Chalan grumbled but after a fair bit of clanking and clattering, the filthy twi'lek managed to extract herself from the innards of the blasted ship's corpse, gliding out on a grav sled. She bounded her way towards Gaele, offering a grease smeared hand, which Gaele took without hesitation. The grease hardly seemed to bother the red-haired woman, who was already yanking a rag from a pocket to wipe her hands with. "Nice to meet you, Gaele. Sure got plenty of spare parts lying around. Can fix you up something-"
"Fast?" Gaele asked, smiling brightly.
"Well, sure. I suppose. Though there might be some good Headhunters we could scrape together, slap on some of those nice Y-Wing cannons for-"
"Speed?"
Chalan gave Gaele a curiously raised eyebrow before looking between Sai and her. "Oh. You are going to fit right in, Gaele," the twi'lek half groaned. "I can already feel the headache coming on."
"Ain't no worries there, darlin'. You need a hand with anythin', I'm your gal. It's a pleasure meetin' you," Gaele offered kindly, seemingly mollifying Chalan some. As the twi'lek turned to regard her datapad for information, Gaele stood in the hangar, tryin not to look to agape as she watched the hangar of the Destroyer with awe, the Republic and Imperial uniformed crewmen alike. "Hey, Sai? Why there some folks in Imp uniforms? I thought you said this was a Republic vessel?"
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Post by Storyteller on Jan 11, 2018 2:59:12 GMT
Sai just grinned at Chalan, looking downright impish. She'd been a source of a fair few of the twi'lek's headaches, it was a rare treat to see someone else take their fair share of that important task.
Once Chalan got down to the task, she turned back to Gaele, briefly looking around at her question, "they're defectors, mate." She paused for a moment, eyes flicking around to see if anyone had overheard her. Some people didn't take kindly to that word, it did sound almost pejorative. Apparently she'd gotten lucky this time.
"Really, it's not a rare thing, I tell ye. My own folks were fighting the Republic just - say, five months ago? I was busy getting drunk at the time, o' course, but if I was a good, honor-bound girl like I was supposed to be, I might have fought these folks." She set a hand at her hip, grimacing a bit as she shifted her weight onto the other leg and popped the hip just a hint. Having to be stiff was not natural for her. "Figure they would have given me a good fight, too..."
She trailed off into a brief silence, before shaking her head and pushing whatever fantasies she was conjuring up out of her mind. The grin was right back in place when she focused on Gaele again, "right - you'll have your ship in no time, so that's one task down. Next is to check with the Republic liaison to get you a contract and after that our final job for the day - deciding on bunk arrangements." She bats her eyelashes at that last part, the galaxy's dopiest, silliest grin on her lips.
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Post by TitusPellaeon on Jan 11, 2018 14:18:16 GMT
Gaele seemed surprised that Imperials of all people would defect. Let alone be trusted in the Republic's forces, especially as brazenly as these crewmen were. But she listened to the N'Gai's explanation all the same, seemingly surprised her own people had been at war with the Republic.
"Well, lucky for all of us you were too fond of breakin' rules. Been a shame if y'all were fightin' and you could've just been allies all along," Gaele mused aloud, noting Sai's stiffness and wincing herself. Her own green eyes widened and she took a few moments to work her mouth, words attempting to come out until she finally sputtered something coherent.
"Just... just like that? I get a ship? My own ship?!" Gaele bounced with glee, clasping her hands to her chest. "Well, what are we waitin' for! Let's find that there liason, fix me up a contract and get me an empressed sized bunk on this ship's galactic suite!"
Gallantly, Gaele held out her arm for Sai to take, as though Gaele were a gentleman caller come to ask her for a walk.
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Post by Storyteller on Jan 12, 2018 14:13:04 GMT
She tipped her head towards the working twi'lek woman, "she'll want a chunk of your pay for a while, she will. Something we can negotiate once we know what kind of ship she's thinking of putting together, aye? But other than that - yes, ye have your own ship." She grinned brightly, seeming to almost feed off of Gaele's excitement. The next moment she shifted away and beckoned for the human to follow.
Away from the hangar and into the guts of the ship proper, they drew a few more stares as they went: damn near everyone was in uniform, and they all had the straight-backed, business-like efficient motion that spoke of career military. And in the midst there was the banged-up n'gai and what still looked more properly like a farmgirl. The crew could be mistaken for assuming they were taking in refugees.
"Y' might be disappointed when it comes to the bunks. This was built as an imperial ship, they run things efficient-like. Our dormitories don't get too loud, though, at least not usually, and if you're not tired enough to sleep through it, you probably messed up on your schedule, I'm thinking." She looked over her shoulders, the grin turning mischievous, "of course, you get double bunk space is you share 'em." She bats her eyelashes as she says it. Which served nicely to draw a few more stares.
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