"Look, Pinky gave you up...that's an obvious fact. You're going to help us get our friend and then get the hell out of here. Whether that's by using you as a shield or blasting your way out on your own...that's up to you, but you've got three seconds to decide."
"Look out!" Ash shouts. Wayde dives to the floor as two blast bolts sail into the wall above him, showering his back with hot gravel. The fish-eyed head and hand of a Mon Calamari are peeking out from a doorway (it was locked when Lent tried it) 6 meters behind them. Arnae pulls Ash down to the ground as well, blaster rising to fire when the corner they're next to starts taking fire from the direction Pomba came stumbling down.
"Eat bantha poodoo and die, you schuttas!" shouts a frenzied voice from around the corner.
Arnae leaves the Mon Cal to his compatriots, turning around on his haunches to fire back at their as-yet unseen second assailant. Arnaes gun raises up, but the human guard who had fired previously ducks into a hatchway down the hall.
Lent keys a grenade with his left hand, whipping it around the corner towards the hatchway without looking while firing his repeater one-handed at the Mon Cal.
The grenade goes in.
The guard dashes from his cover, rebounding off the far side of the corridor, and charges Arnae's corner firing. Blaster bolts spray sparks against the Corellian's cover as he sights up and puts the guard down with a single shot. Lent's grenade showers the hallway with dust and smoke a second later.
As for the Mon Calamari, he tries to get back behind his cover but he's not quick enough. He falls dead out into the hallway, smoking from a half-dozen wounds.
Ash Pomba's slumped against the wall, breathing sighs of relief. "Thank the Force you're here! Gulgo's still in his chambers, the rest of his guards are with him or are looking for greener pastures. I do not mean to intrude, but... assuming we all live, could you get me off this good-for-nothing, mynock-infested planet?"
Quote: from Aihal the Silent on 11:38 am on May 11, 2005
"Who's this?" Lent asks, gesturing toward Ash with the business end of his repeater.
"Lemme explain. Wait, no time...lemme sum up. Ash Pomba is the henchmen of the guy we ended selling Gulgo's shipment of spice to. In other words, Gulgo's wants him dead almost as much as he wants us. Give 'em back his blaster."
Wayde turns to Pomba.
"Ok. This deal ends as soon as we've safely made it to hyperspace. Alright?"
The two guards had their blasters, some spare binders, and various personal odds and ends. There's two empty holding cells past the debris-covered access corridor. The hallway looks like it exits into a larger, more-trafficked tunnel.
Stopping at the corner to listen, Lent hears the faint sounds of several people trying not to make too much noise.
Lent holds up his hand for silence and gestures at the corner where the ominous silence is coming from. He holds up fingers indicating his guess at how many are there [3-4].
Ash whispers, "That should be one of the entrances to Gulgo's chambers. Out and to the right."
Lent puffs once more on his dwindling cigar and listens.
"No, no, I see movement - they're in that side tunnel..."
"Shh! They'll hear us!"
"Let 'em hear us." Lent's attention is turned from the whispering voices to the clink clink of an incoming grenade bouncing its way into the side corridor.
[edit: needed to explain the grenade a bit better]
Lent shoves Ash Pomba down as Wayde and Arnae dive back down the way they came. Wayde grunts in pain as some shrapnel finds purchase in his blast vest but miraculously everyone's armor stops most of the damage aside from the ringing in the ears and the dizziness.
You hear excited chatter, partially muffled by the concussion, from the direction the grenade was thrown.
"Screw this, I'm not dying like this." says Wayde, getting up and running directly towards the sound of the voices, ready to blast whoever's standing there.
Wayde and Lent spin around the corner into the main corridor, screaming bloody murder and spitting fire. Five guards (who in and of themselves promote quite the picture of interspecies harmony) are taking cover behind the frame of an open blast door. One of their arms is outstretched above his head, ready to loose a second grenade when he's hit by Wayde's blasterwork. He falls and the grenade falls with him. Lent puts down another guard as he and Wayde come to a screeching halt, their armored boots sliding a bit on the floor. Lent keeps his trigger down, sweeping the fire across to the blast door's controls. They explode in a shower of sparks, closing the blast door as the grenade goes off.
A few minutes later, Wayde and Arnae manage to hotwire the mangled controls enough to get the door open once more. The bodies of the guards are splayed across the corridor along with their ruined equipment, burnt by a combination of blaster fire and the explosion. The tunnel slopes down at a slight angle, ending in an open door and a darkened room. There's a faint breeze in the tunnel, and the ripple of a curtain or tapestry can be seen in the room ahead.
---
Jileeza jumps as one, then two grenades explode. The blasts are close. The other girls are more frightened, and 'Za is jostled to and fro by the panicked women.
Jileeza struggles to remain upright amidst the screaming women. She wouldn't mind so much being a human shield if the other women weren't such fucking pansies.
Noting the nearness of the explosions, the slightest trace of a smile flickers across her face. *They must be getting close. Soon I'll be able to put this grotesquerie out of my misery.*
Lent gives Wayde a sidelong look and then whispers "Thanks, I'll remember that when I start mowing down any crowds of apparently helpless civilians."
Continuing in a whisper "I'll take point. You and the Captain help me make it happen. Remember, if I go down, I've got two grenades, one cigar (as he lights up the second) and a powerpack you can overload."
With that he begins moving down the corrider, keeping the noise to a minimum and his eyes open for guards.
Dieter
CrazyIvan
Admiral Duck Sauce