suitably_heroic | Nar Shaddaa and Beyond, Some Time After Last

Atton	The upside of being assaulted by packs of bounty hunters on the street was-- well, there wasn't really an upside. The Nar Shaddaa refugee sector laid in chaos, bounty hunters popping up everywhere and attacking indiscriminately. Sometimes they were lucky - the mercs would get side-tracked whaling on other mercs. Usually, not so much, and Atton's blaster hand was starting to cramp. Atton'd grabbed the two people on the grew he distrusted least - Bao-Dur and Visas - and told the rest to keep an eye on the ship. Visas had been right: they needed to warn Meetra. They just didn't have any idea where she was. Atton shoved aside the corpse of one bounty hunter and opened the door he'd been guarding.
Mira	The door made some noise as it opened. It probably should've set Mira on high alert, but right now, anything was better than the silence of the past couple of hours. "Glad somebody arrived," she muttered, "Saves me the trouble of having to break out of here." Staring at the walls had been getting old.
Atton	... ... Wait, Atton knew her. Was he gonna be running into people who knew about Fandom all the time? Was that a thing that was happening now? He blinked. "Uh," he said. "Mira?!"
Mira	Mira shot him a quick look, but she didn't confirm one way or the other. "I've been watching you all stumble around this moon for a while, causing trouble," she said. "Now you've got Visquis' attention, and he's the last one you want to have watching you."
Atton	Right, right, business. Atton set aside the little matter of I think I know you. "How did he capture you?" he asked.
Mira	"I was taken down like an amateur," Mira huffed. "I've never been inside the Jekk'Jekk Tarr before, but they won't catch me the same way twice." She pinched the bridge of her nose. "You people might have defeated Visquis, but you won't take Goto so easily. And now he's the one who has your friend."
Atton	"Well, we need to go find Meetra," Atton said, rubbing at his forehead. "Like now."
Mira	"We can deal with that once we get out of here and get somewhere safe," Mira replied. She didn't start talking again until they were moving. "So she and I took down Visquis, but now Goto has her, which means no bounty for me," she explained.
Atton	"So how are we going to get her back?" Atton asked, side-eyeing her. Did she recognize him or not? He really couldn't tell.
Mira	"The only way to reach Goto is if we had a Jedi, but now, he's got your friend," Mira said, annoyed, and shook her head. "And he doesn't have anybody else he wants captured."
Atton	Atton sighed. "How does Goto hide his ship?"
Mira	"He's got a cloaking device," Mira said, crossing her arms. "He's the one who arranges meetings on his ship, and until then, he can't be found." She snorted. "Trust me, if anyone knew how to track his ship, he'd have every bounty hunter and criminal on Nar Shaddaa gunning for it."
Atton	"There's got to be a way," Atton insisted. "I say we hit orbit and go hunting."
Mira	"If you were hunting for Goto's yacht, your ship would be flying blind," Mira pointed out. "Well, unless it was one of Vogga the Hutt's cargo ships. Then it'd be snapped up by Goto pretty much immediately..."
Atton	Really? 'Cause to Atton, that kind of sounded like the start of a plan. "Really," he said. "And how does Goto track Vogga's freighters?"
Mira	"Probably does it by tracking the transponder codes," Mira said thoughtfully. "But nobody knows how he's getting them."
Atton	"In other words," Atton said, smirking a little, "We've got to grab one of those transponder codes. Then Goto might just come to us."
Mira	"I guess," she said dubiously. "I mean, you'd need to get the codes first, then retrofit your ship... problem is, Vogga's shut down the droid warehouse until he's figured out who's been leaking the codes. You'd have to be a droid to get in there."
Atton	Atton's smirk broadened just a little until it almost hit a hint of a smile. "Lucky us," he said, "Droids, we've got."
	-
Atton	"There you are. What kept you?" Atton asked irritably. "Deeeeet. Dwooooo," T3-M4 replied irritably. It slid its little laser out of one compartment and zapped at a piece of HK-chassis that was still stuck between its legs. "Yeah, I know there's droids in the warehouse," Atton said, rolling his eyes. "So what?" T3-M4 let out a flurry of frustrated beeps and whistles. Atton ignored his tone and looked up at Mira. "He says he's got the transponder codes for Vogga's freighters," Atton supplied. "Time to go change the ID signature of the Ebon Hawk. We could go to the repair shop by the landing pad to overwrite the Hawk's codes - from there, we should make a nice target for Goto."
Mira	Mira nodded. "Count me in," she said quickly.
Atton	'Count me in'? Seriously? "Yeah, right," Atton said, eyeballing her. "You're the one who wanted to sell her to Goto in the first place."
Mira	"Yeah," Mira said easily, "And I don't like being cheated." She shrugged. "Trust me, Goto's yacht is going to have some pretty heavy defenses. You're going to need all the help you can get." She would've said more, but there went the characteristic noise of a blaster bolt hitting a living being - followed by incomprehensible chattering. "...We've got insects. Looks like the Gand colony is out in full force."
Atton	"Gand?" Atton said, fighting the urge to bang his head against the wall. "Now why are they hunting us?"
Mira	Mira shrugged. "Guess whatever price is on her head is high enough to wake them up. Problem is, there's hundreds of them. Just like the 'Zhug brothers'." She glanced towards the door. "We're not getting out of here without a fight. You ready?"
Atton	"Sure," Atton muttered, grabbing his blasters. "Haven't done that enough today."
	-
Atton	Atton would be so, so happy if he got just one day of not getting shot at after this one. Just one day. That's all he asked for. Right now he sat in the Ebon Hawk's pilot's chair, Meetra's entire entourage plus Mira lurking behind him. Waiting. Waiting. Waiting... ...and then there was a loud, metallic clang as someone locked onto them with a tractor beam. "Okay, this is what we're going to do," Atton said. "Soon as we're up there, we're all going in besides T3-M4 and that creepy droid that keeps calling everybody a meat bag. Then Bao-Dur and Visas are going to go on ahead and track down Meetra while the rest of us help mop up whatever's on the ship. All right?" The others didn't exactly have time to assent or argue with the plan, as the Ebon Hawk attached itself to the yacht with a loud crunch.
Visas	"I sense she is not far." Visas's steps were quick, fueled by her knowledge of the Force. "I believe she is one level away from here, Bao-Dur. I do not pick up many other lives... but the station may be staffed by droids."
Bao-Dur	Bao-Dur did not have trouble keeping up, though it was interesting exercise. "I can deal with droids," he said. "In fact, I'll deal with one right now..." He fired a shot at the defense droid stumbling in their direction.
Atton	Atton watched them go on ahead, then turned to the rest. "Okay, let's hold tight and hold the hangar bay, all right?" he said. "Don't seem to be a lot of droids back here, but there'll be more."
Kreia	"I sense other life forms coming towards us," Kreia said. Snap-hiss, her lightsaber contributed. "I suggest we prepare for less mechanical enemies."
Mira	Mira took one glance at her scanners and nodded. "Yeah, we got multiple bounty hunters inbound," she said.
Mical	"The next room will be more defensible," Mical noted. "I suggest we flank our opponents."
Atton	"I give out the orders, all right?" Atton said irritably as he rose to his feet. "...But let's do what he said." They set up quickly in the next room. Just in time, too, as the first wave of bounty hunters hit the ship.
	-
Atton	They'd gotten a little... scattered... over the course of the fight, but as far as Atton could tell, they were holding. There was a brief moment of quiet in the onslaught now; he used it to catch his breath.
Twin Suns	"When you strike, strike to kill, not to wound," a Twi'leki voice purred behind him.
Atton	Catching his breath turned into sighing really loud. "Not again," Atton muttered, rolling his eyes. He turned around.
Twin Suns	Seer'aa tilted her chin up. "We meet again, handsome, strong... fearful human," she said.
Atton	"Ladies," Atton drawled, sliding his blaster out of his holster. "What you need is a man who understands the two of you... and understands your needs."
Twin Suns	"You understand our desires?" Teer'aa asked. That seemed unlikely. "Because we desire to dance, to hunt," Seer'aa continued, "...and to kill."
Atton	"See," Atton said with a put-upon sigh, "I was kind of hoping that 'mating with scruffy humans' might have been the first on that list."
Twin Suns	"You will not escape us this time," Teer'aa told him. They would not underestimate him this time.
Atton	Atton narrowed his eyes. "Run?" he echoed. "I didn't run from you two schuttas last time - and this time, I'm going to make sure you stay down." And then they all broke their conversational poses and got to the hard work of trying to kill each other, blaster bolts flying, vibroblades whirling.
Meetra	Meetra came barreling down the hall a few minutes later. "Atton!" she called, Visas and Bao-Dur pouring into the room after her. "We need to go! Now! This ship is going to blow!"
Atton	"What did you do?!" Atton called after her, poking at Teer'aa's body one more time to make sure she was really dead. "...Never mind, tell me later!" he added, as something in the hall behind him exploded violently. He was in the Ebon Hawk's cockpit a bare minute later and initiating launch procedures and hoping to whatever deity was out there that the ship would stay in one piece. Thunk-thunk-thunk went the boots of various people hitting the loading ramp into the Hawk - he had no idea if everyone was back on board, but right now with alarm systems yelling at him, he really didn't care. He slammed the loading ramp shut, ignoring several red lights as he jammed the throttle as hard as he could. It yanked loose from Goto's ship just in time, blasting off into space as the yacht came apart behind them, hurtling thousands of pounds of debris into the skies. "Space! Space!" The Hawk dodged and weaved, dancing through the air-- he heard one piece of debris hitting the hull, but then they were clear.
Meetra	Meetra dropped her head back in the co-pilot's seat and blew out a breath. She had... a lot to process right now. She didn't get up until they were at a safe distance from the wreckage. "Are we on auto-pilot?" she said.
Atton	Atton ran a hand through his hair. "Yeah," he muttered.
Meetra	Meetra nodded. "Meet me in the briefing room," she said, getting up.
Mira	"I can't believe we just blew up Goto's yacht," Mira said. She was already seated in the central chamber, her legs stretched out in front of her. "That's going to destabilize crime throughout this entire sector."
Atton	"Yeah, well, you'll understand if I hold back the tears," Atton muttered as he walked on in.
Mira	"You don't understand," Mira said, eyeing him. "Crime in the Y'Toub system - it's like the economy." She turned to Meetra. "Plus, the power vacuum? Even if Vogga gets it up and running again, the system is going to be feeling the effects for years to come."
Atton	Dammit, she had a point. "Yeah, well," Atton muttered, "At least we didn't find that Jedi Master with the weird name. Zez, Kai, whatever it is." The last thing he wanted after the day he'd had was more Jedi.
Mira	"Zez-Kai Ell?" Mira said, tilting her head. "Uh, that's not true. I already found him. Or rather, he found me first." She nodded at Meetra. "He hired me to watch out for you, keep Goto off your back... until he could meet with you." She crossed her arms. "We'd have to head back to Nar Shaddaa, to that safe house off the docks. I said we'd meet up with him there if we ran into any trouble." Which they had. A lot. And she would've said more, too, had it not been for the giant black droid floating into the room. She blinked. "...Uh, what do you want?" "IF YOU THOUGHT YOU'D ESCAPE MY NOTICE SO EASILY, YOU WOULD BE WRONG," the droid intoned. "AS A TOKEN OF MY GOODWILL, I PRESENT TO YOU A GIFT: THIS DROID. IT WILL SERVE YOU WELL ON YOUR JOURNEY."
Meetra	"...Goto?" Meetra said, blinking as she recognized the voice. "I don't need a droid."
Atton	"YOU'D BE SURPRISED HOW LITTLE I CARE WHAT YOU THINK," the droid continued. "THIS DROID WILL STAY AND GUARD YOU. IT WILL ALSO SERVE AS AN EFFECTIVE VOICE FOR MY ORDERS ON YOUR JOURNEY." "Oh, you owe me such an explanation," Atton muttered under his breath.