Credit Where Credit's Due (Closed)

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Sensors went off. WEE WEE WEE detecting a missile launch. No danger to us. It was going away from us. Towards nothing. Radar scope showed no ships even close. "Is the ship having a seizure?" asking myself. Parts were coming off of it. Jettisoned. It was a sign of distress, for certain. That's when I felt confident that was the ship Gra'tia was on.

Biting my lower lip I added power to the engines to rapidly close the gap. Only droid I had on board was the medical droid. It wasn't programmed for piloting a ship. This was a job just for me, then. Pressing buttons on the console, charged up the cannons. Armed the missiles. If whoever is piloting the ship tries to put up a fight, I could at least try to cripple it.

Then what? Scans of the ship found there was a docking bay on it. If I could close the gap, I could attach myself to it and board. If it was Gra'tia, then it would enable her to get off the ship.

"Okay. Okay. Come to daddy," speaking to myself. Hyping myself up. The cartwheeling ship remained before me. Gradually the distance shrank. Had to weave around the trail of debris it left in its wake. The computer locked on with the laser cannons. Just within range. Hold fire. Not yet.

I tried to stay behind the unknown ship. Hopefully it wasn't picked up by its scopes just yet. Flicking my eyes from the windshield to the console and back, thumbs on the triggers for the laser cannons. Aimed for the engines. Its shields are still down. That must mean they still don't see a threat.

 

[Poprockz]

Beep beep beep... The console beeped politely, trying to remind them of the fact that there was something in close proximity to them, approaching from the rear. The console didn't detect any missiles yet so it wasn't going to sound the alarm, but it did want to inform them to prevent the ship from bumping into another one.

The console was entirely ignored though, as the two warriors battled in the cockpit. When the ship did a barrel-roll, the two of them were flung to the side since they weren't strapped in, tumbling down to the floor again as the ship righted itself. Sigrun was largely unharmed by this due to her armor, but Gra'tia definitely broke her arm. Regardless, just like her broken thumb joint, she wasn't going to let pain get in the way of freeing herself. She continued to fight in the dress to the best of her ability, but now Sigrun had the upper hand from her injuries.

No matter- Gra'tia was nothing if not skilled and stubborn. All she needed to do was give it her all and wait for the right opportunity.

 

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This thing was all over the place. I could fire a couple shots over its nose. Then it did a barrel roll. Tumbling end over end. No rhyme or reason for such unusual manuevers. Close enough now that my cannons could lock on. The computer was giving me an array of targets, the shield generator, the cockpit, the engines....any hits to those sections could cripple it. The ship's shields are still not up.

"Gra'tia, if you're there, please don't get sucked into space," I thought. The computer kept the laser cannons locked on as the unknown ship continued to dance in the sky. Even came close to striking me with its rolling over.

Stop thinking about it. Make a decision! It had to be a decisive one. Giving this ship a chance to move, or fight back, could allow it to escape and cripple the Outlander in return. The thought this was some innocent vessel was long since gone. Biting my lower lip and narrowing my eyes, I pressed the buttons on the stick sending two well-placed shots into the ship's engines.

KRAKOW! KRAKOW!

 

[Poprockz]

BOOM!

Both of the women were knocked back and down to the floor, the ship now making very panicked beeping noises to let them know that the engines were well and truly fucked. Gra'tia had been flung across the room and had hit her head on some steel; while her helmet had saved her from having her brains come out of her skull, she now lay there motionless.

Sigrun, in the meantime, took advantage of the situation to go to the comms, alarmed and bewildered by the fact that someone had crippled her ship out of nowhere for no reason. She hailed the ship and spoke into the comms speaker.

"Cease fire! Cease fire! We're a neutral party heading for Glaskaar!"

 

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I know that voice! Instantly my jaws clenched tightly together. Oh, you little shit! How I wanted to just blast that ship to pieces at the mere hint of her voice. My fingers hovered over the triggers. Drawing a breath and letting it out, my lust for revenge faded with the desire to get Gra'tia back.

What to do now? The ship was crippled. I could board and try taking over the ship. Then again, I don't know if Sigrun is operating solo. She might have said before that she was, but I know now to never trust a word that she says.

"Don't give that shit! I know who you are, you two-bit whore!" I called back into my comms. "Where is Gra'tia?!"

 

[Poprockz]

Sigrun froze and cringed. Fuck… of all the people it could have been. He wanted Gra’tia? Why? She looked over at the other Mandalorian’s form lying on the floor and then back to the comms. She had two escape pods, but they weren’t fast enough to outrun him, especially when they were a bit of a distance from the nearest planet.

“She’s with me, of course, so I would suggest not shooting us again unless you want to blow both of us up!” She barked back into the comms. “What the fuck are you doing here, Redar?!”

 

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'Don't tempt me, bitch' thinking to myself. Another breath. Let it out slowly. I couldn't let the temptation of blasting her to bits win out. My fingers couldn't leave the triggers.

"Oh, I figure I do some stargazing after a threesome, WHAT THE HECK DO YOU THINK I'M DOING OUT HERE?!" barking back into my comms. My face was red with anger. Normally I'm a laid back guy. This Mandalorian chick was getting underneath my skin. By now my heart was pumping and gripping the stick tightly turned my knuckles white.

Moving carefully directly behind her crippled ship that way I can see anything and everything that she tried to do. Crippled, yes, but she could still pull out a suprise or two.

 

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“I don’t fucking know!” She replied, exasperated. “What the fuck are you so upset about? I paid you more than enough to have you fuck off.”

 

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"Yeah. That's just it, I had second thoughts about that. I like credits as much as the next guy, but I what I DON'T like are people that take advantage of me, and lie to me!" hissing into the comms. If she couldn't see it, the veins in my forehead were bulging.

 

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“What, do you want an apology?” She said in a flabbergasted and slightly frustrated voice. “Look, I’m sorry I led you back to my room and fucked your brains out under false pretenses. I thought giving you that hefty payment would even things out. What do you want from me?!”

 

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"I will put it in simple words that you can understand, I. WANT. GRA'TIA!" barking into my comms. A long sigh escaped my lips. Slightly my head shakes. Is her head as dense as her armor? What was she up to? It didn't sit right that she was talking more than doing anything else.

Quickly my eyes glance at my scopes. Nothing was coming up. No weapons charging. No anything. Still my mind wasn't at ease.

 

[Poprockz]

There was silence. He wanted Gra’tia? What the hell was going on here?! He was supposed to just be some smuggler who would go on his merry way after his payment, not come back around to bite her in the ass!

She thought about what to do. Sigrun didn’t want to give her up, especially after she had waited so patiently for Gra’tia to walk into her trap. That being said, he was likely to shoot her out of the sky if she lied and said that she wasn’t on board. Her engines were fucked, so she couldn’t outrun him, but she did have one last resort….

Sigrun flipped a protective box up and tried to slowly drift the spacecraft so that she could face him- it was the only way her laser would work. It had been taken from a maintenance ship and could cut through most metals. She just had to get in the right position…

“So you want Gra’tia, do you?” She said mockingly, trying to buy time. “Was she such a good fuck that you couldn’t let her go? That’s the deal right? You just want to keep getting your dick wet.”

 

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Slowly my eyes narrowed. Her ship was drifting. Couldn't do anything about that. I tried to study the ship but her words took me out of it. Yeah. Gra'tia was a good fuck. Far better than Sigrun, I wanted to say. Could also say that, Sigrun was so bad that she had to get people drunk in order to fuck her.

Still I let Sigrun keep talking. Her ship drifted. My eyes looked it over. Maybe there was a place I could board. Maybe Gra'tia was finding a way to escape. Tense as I was, I was still letting her talk.

"I would rather have a good fuck from Gra'tia than to listen to you!" I huffed. Not the best come back. My mind was in the clouds. Thinking about the busty Mandalorian. The allure that Sigrun was dangling over me, like a string held in front of a Loth-Cat.

 

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"I think we're both in that same camp," she snickered. She would definitely prefer riding Gra'tia's face over trading words with a guy who didn't know what was good for him.

They were almost in position, so she pushed the button and grabbed a joystick that slowly emerged from the console. She had tried to angle her ship slightly forward so he wouldn't be able to see as well, but if one was paying attention, they would see something emerging from under her ship that looked like a blaster if it was grafted to a ship. Some might recognize it as a construction laser, though it wasn't as common to see, so she hoped he wouldn't recognize it even if he did notice it.

"Although I'm not sure if she's going to be doing much fucking for a bit. She was a bit knocked around when she tried to fight me a while ago. Right now she's out cold, but I'm pretty sure she broke her arm when the ship rolled."

 

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Sigrun's words played out in my mind? She was hurt, and was that my doing? Dank Ferrick! Was it a good thing it was her arm and not her neck? Wait. She's got to be lying. You can't trust anything that came out of her mouth. For now my mind was back to picturing Gra'tia, trying to be strong in the right circumstances. What I could picture her face being like, in better shape.

What was Sigrun's angle. Her ship rotated slowly. As she continued to talk, my mind was distracted. Sure my eyes are locked onto that junk of a ship, the longer she talked the more I kept thinking of that busty Mandalorian woman I was hell bent on rescuing, all wrapped up in her armor.

"She's going to be in a lot better shape than you will be, if you keep jaw jacking!" I huffed at her.

 

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Bingo.

Sigrun grinned wolfishly under her helmet as she hit the button on the joystick. Immediately, a powerful red laser came from the protruding weapon, a prolonged stream of deadly light. She moved the joystick carefully, hoping to literally slice his ship in half. Instead, she merely sliced partway into the side of his ship before the laser went out. Dammit! The power in her ship was fucked up as well, and now he knew she had been trying to pull a fast one on him. At the very least though, she had sliced off one of his missile-launchers, so he might have a little bit more of a hard time hitting her.

She opened the comms link again and said in a nervous tone, "the computer just went fucking haywire! That wasn't me! We can still talk this-" *thunk* There was the sound of a body dropping before the sound of labored breathing came on the comms.

"Redar..." Gra'tia rasped, feeling like her head was splitting. It was hard to even keep her eyes open. "I think I have a... head injury. Please take the cargo to Mandalore. Get it... get it to Mandalore. This is.. this-" She coughed, the cough sounding a bit wet and she wondered if she hadn't punctured a lung with one of her broken ribs. At that point, she was starting to get dizzy and was very close to losing consciousness. "This is the way."

 

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"Grai'tia? GRA'TIA!" crying into the comms. Just static. Druk! Lights and bells are going off inside my cockpit. One missile launcher entirely gone. Hull damage. No breaches. That laser did a great deal of damage. Power was also fluctuating. Many of the electrical lines cut. Forcing me to rerout power to critical parts through backup lines.

"Hold together, baby. Hold together," speaking in a soft tone. Part was for the Outlander, and the other for Grai'tia. That ship continued to slowly roll. Can't get close or else we would collide.

There's still a chance, I figured, for me to get in board. We are still close enough I could venture outside in a pressurized suit. Time the rotation just right and use a jump pack to span the gap.

If there was a manual release for the docking bay, I could enter that way.

Sitting there thinking, looking at that crippled ship, was I about to risk my life for some honking Mandalorian titties? Yep!

Locking the Outlander to follow, I ran to the storage and recovered one of the pressurized suits and slid inside. Donned the jetpack and tested it. Grabbed a wrench and my blaster pistol and a couple thermal detonators.

"Hold on, Gra'tia, I'm coming..."

 

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Gra’tia felt at peace knowing that Redar had heard her last wishes. He was reliable- he would see to it that the job was seen through to the end. The woman lurched over and crumpled to the cool floor. It felt nice, the coolness and lack of being upright. She felt… very tired. More tired than she ever had.

Who knew if her injury was fatal or not- she had survived similar injuries. Still, if this was her time, she thought to herself that she had a good run, especially that last night.

 

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Stepping into the airlock, I gave my suit one last quick inspection. Air-good. Suit-sealed. Jet-pack-nominal. Blaster pistol-charged. Detonators-ready.

The door slammed shut and the compartment hissed as the atmosphere is sucked out. Like me at parties.

When ready the Outer door slid open. A quick puff of the jet pack thrust and out I went.

Immediately I was having second thoughts. I've never done anything like this before. Been on space walks, yes. To repair ships. Not to board one.

That ship of Sigrun's loomed before me. Silently spinning. Bits continued to flake off from the hull. Since my suit did not have comms, I couldn't tell Gra'tia what was happening. So, I kept telling myself, "Just hold on. A little bit longer."

Gentle puffs of flame to correct my course, a little to the right and I can catch the ship's hull in the next rotation.

This is nuts! I'm crazy!

Here came the ship. One hand reached out and touched it. First the fingertips slipped against the cold metal. "Druk!" snapping the other and getting a couple fingers in a piece of it. "Ah-ha!" Pulled myself against the hull. Made it!

Now to find the boarding hatch.

 

[Poprockz]

Gra'tia heard a slight thunk against the hull, but figured it was just a piece of debris. Otherwise it was pretty peaceful there in the cockpit with both she and Sigrun laying there silently. She tried to keep her eyes open, but they slowly started to shut and soon she felt herself drifting off.

 

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Found the hatch! Crawling slowly across the surface of the ship, it was harder than I remember.

"Almost there. Almost there..."

Reached the hatch. It was locked. There wasn't a manual release. Guess that means I break my way in! Using the tools carried over, I try prying open the hatch.

"Stupid door....Stupid Sigrun...stupid...stupid...." gritting my teeth trying to get a few fingers inside to open this damn thing.

 

[Poprockz]

Gra’tia surfaced into consciousness, feeling rather weak and loopy, though she did hear banging on the hatch door. Was a youngling locked out? Her breath hitched and a bit of adrenaline rushed through her. She didn’t know where she was or who it was, but she felt the need to make sure they didn’t die out there.

The woman pulled herself up to her feet and lurched her way over to the hatch, almost collapsing a few times. Somehow, she managed to get there and hit the emergency release, opening the hatch to the outside before her legs gave out. Hopefully whoever it was would be okay.

 

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The door opened! Yes! Quickly crawling inside, I closed the door using the compartments buttons. Shut and sealed the door and repressurized the chamber.

When it was done I pulled off my helmet to give me a clear view, pulled out my blaster pistol in one hand and a heavy wrench in the other.

If this was one of Sigrun's tricks, I would either shoot her and bash in her skull, or bash in her skull and then shoot her. Either way, she was going to get another hot load to her face.

The inner door opened. In I stepped, ready for a beatdown. The first thing I see is Gra'tia sprawled out on the deck. Eyes wide. Heart skipped a beat. She better not be dead.

"Gra'tia!" I yelled, almost losing myself. Before my head cocked up and jerked left and right, where was Sigrun? Laying in ambush?

Taking this moment, I bent down and tapped Gra'tia's torso with my left elbow, not wanting to out down my weapons.

 

[Poprockz]

“Melfie?” She mumbled deliriously, “I don’t have any candy today, I’m sorry.”

Sigrun was still lying near the console in the cockpit, but the woman started to stir. A pained groan could be heard in her direction before, “god fucking dammit… Gra’tia, I swear to god you are the most fucking difficult person in the fucking galaxy!”

 

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She's alive! My heart skipped a beat. A smile grew across my face. Then I heard Sigrun groan.

Druk. Do I go fight her, or take my chances and flee with Gra'tia right now? I didn't know Sigrun's condition. If she was laying in wait, or had other tricks.

"Gra'tia...hey, can you hear me? Can you move?" Rather idiotic question, but I wanted to make sure.