3Long time, no update. Sorry guys, I had finals, then writer's block. But I'm back and on break until January the 17th. Of course, that will mostly be spent enjoying the joy that is Christmas and hunting. But anyway, back to the topic at hand. This is chapter 7, and it sorta falls under the "filler" catagory. It is necessary for the plot and gives a little background on our new companion. We also get to see our sweet new ride. Spent a good while trying to find the right ship, and I'm not necessarily thrilled with the one I have, but I'd like to keep this in the realm of cannon.
In response to the review I recieved from Count Morningstar: Yes, this is a slower chapter. Nobody dies in it. But this is a Star Wars fic, so it is almost required to be about combat. But, I like the idea of slowing it down, so future chapters will be a little tamer, which also means more chapters, and unfortunatly more dialog...
I do not own Star Wars or KotOR. Otherwise, the prequel trilogy wouldn't exist and there would be a KotOR 3.
Anyway, read, enjoy, review:
Chapter 7
A blaster bolt whizzed through the air and slammed into a can a hundred yards way, reducing it to a puddle of liquid metal. This was repeated a dozen more times in rapid succession. Once all thirteen cans had been decimated, a young lady eased the rifle butt off her shoulder and back onto the ground. The air surrounding the barrel was heavily distorted by the heat radiating from it. The charge marker on the side of the receiver blinked red "3", indicating only three rounds left in the energy cell.
Chuckling, a young man in a tan tunic and pants turned to his companion. "How many shots you got left in that cell?"
"Three" Saara responded.
"Let's try something a little different this time. I'm going to throw a can and you're going to try to knock it out of the sky. Ready?" Nasheth grabbed another can, filling it with rocks.
Saara picked up her rifle, pushed the bipod legs together and pulled them back into the forearm. She thumbed the safety back off and brought the stock to her right shoulder. Looking down the barrel, she realized her scope was still set for ranged shots, so she zeroed it back out to 1x magnification. She then brought her face back down to the stock and steadied her breathing.
"Go!"
Nasheth launched the can into the air. Three bolts quickly flew out to meet it. Two of the three missed their target by a small margin, passing behind the can. The third managed to graze the side of it, rewarding Saara with a plume of dust, the smell of ozone, and charred can.
"Not bad. Make sure you lead it better next time." Nasheth picked up his own blaster and rammed a full energy cell into it. "Here, I'll show you."
Saara picked up another can full of rocks and sent it flying. Just as Nasheth depressed the firing stud of his repeater, a blaster bolt shot by them, disintegrating the can.
"HK! I told you not to do that" Nasheth shouted, his face showing his annoyance.
"Chiding statement: master, we all know you wouldn't have hit it. Even this other organic surpasses you in marksmanship."
Saara began laughing as Nasheth's face added a light shade of red to its usual tan complexion. He began mutter about worthless and arrogant droids. It was partially true after all. The young nurse had taken to that old sith sniper rifle like a Mynock to flying. Irate, Nasheth turned to his hunter killer droid.
"How about you take off running? Then we'll see if I'm such a terrible shot."
"Mocking statement: oh, no master. That much movement might make you lose focus and shoot Saara instead. Besides, if you shoot me, who will kill all the organics that are likely to try to kill you?"
Saara finally managed to stifle her giggles long enough to point out HkK-50's logical assertion. "He's got a good point. If I'm not there to cover your ass and he is dead, who's going to help you?"
Nasheth shook his head. Since the deaths of the two mercenaries at the hospital, Saara had managed to secure him and HK a room at a local apartment complex. When he had objected to her paying for it, she informed him that her monetary status was in much better shape than his. He had reluctantly agreed and started teaching her how to shoot. No one raised any questions about the dead mercenaries. Nasheth attributed simply attributed it to the locals hating Zarrev, but it there was no reason that the pirate hadn't sent more thugs after them.
After a week of practicing, Saara had managed to become familiar with most of the weapons they had on-hand and showed a strong ability for distanced shots. Accompanying the thousands of blaster bolts was Saara and HK's terrible sense of humor. Nasheth hadn't noticed how dry the droid's humor had been before, but since the young lady had joined them, he had been riding Nasheth pretty hard. It didn't help that Saara encouraged such behavior.
"Saara, if you could stop egging HK on for one minute and answer a few questions, I'd really appreciate it. And before you chime in HK, we did have a purpose coming here, and I would like to get back on track."
Saara, after muttering something about a "buzz kill", turned to face him. "Yes?"
"I came looking for a Mandalorian that was in this system about a month or so back. Have you heard anything about one being seen?"
A frown crossed Saara's face as she thought. "I don't recall hearing about one, but we did have a small freighter crash around that time. Zarrev's gang shot it down, scavenged whatever its cargo was, then abandoned it. There were no survivors. No one claimed the bodies, so they are still in the hospital's morgue. That's about all I know. We can check the space port if you want."
"Yea, that sounds like a good idea. Hey, while we're there, you can show us this ship of yours."
"Sure, we can swing by there and start the preparations for when we leave."
As it turned out, Aradian only had one space port. Not only was it the only space port on the planet, but it was extremely small in comparison such ports as Iziz. The dock officer was an elderly Duros who informed them that he hadn't seen a Mandalorian ship land and after checking his files, confirmed that there had been not any ships of Mandalorian ownership dock there. He suggested that it was always possible that the ship could have set down anywhere else on the planet, but no one had reported any sightings nor had their sensors picked up on any unregistered ships entering or leaving the system, other than pirate ships and the two crashed shuttles.
So, with that disappointing part of their trip finished, HK-50 felt the need to remind them that they still had to prep Saara's ship for usage.
"HK, I don't understand why you're so eager to get off this world," Nasheth said as they headed towards the docking platform that housed Saara's ship.
"Chiding declaration: it is quite simple, organic. Joyful explanation: this unit has flown with you one time, and in that one time, this unit has witnessed the slaughter of four targets. While on this pathetic excuse of a planet, I have only been able to kill two organics. Simple extrapolation: it is therefore in this unit's best interest to leave this forsaken planet, even if I have to deal with your terrible piloting skills."
"I don't know what's worse, your blatant declarations of your need to commit mass murder, or your insults," Nasheth shot back.
"I think it would be your piloting." Saara added in with a chuckle.
Nasheth shot her a glare, and then decided to change the subject to something that didn't involve a failure with him in it. "So, Saara, what kind of ship do you own?"
"It's an old Teroch gunship."
Nasheth stopped abruptly and stared at Saara, mouth slightly agape.
"…..H-H-How….?"
"It was my father's ship."
"But they were all destroyed at the end of the war. My father watched as his was destroyed a week after Malachor."
"I never did tell you about my parents, did I? I suppose it's about time I told you about them. My mother was a nurse from Coruscant. My father, he was a senator from Chandrila. He was never very powerful, but he did have enough weight to keep a few of the weapon stockpiles from being destroyed. He saved a couple of these ships in case he ever needed to get away in a hurry."
"You say was, what does he do now?"
"He got caught up in a scandal. He's been dead for several years." Saara got a distant look in her eyes. "Before he died, he sent me out here; said I would be safe as long as I stayed out of the core systems."
Nasheth sighed. "What about your mom?"
Saara shot him a quick look, "She was with him when he died. She didn't make it either."
Nasheth's brow wrinkled with thought. "What happened to them?"
"I'd rather not talk about it." With that, Saara turned into one of the tunnels that led to individual landing pads. The tunnel corridor opened up to reveal an 18 meter tall ship sitting on a durasteel platform. Roughly rectangular in shape, its bubble-like cockpit was facing skyward, twin laser cannons glinting in the sunlight. The solar panels that doubled as atmospheric stabilizers were folded out, gathering energy to supplement the tibana gas used as fuel. Like many Mandalorian Neo-Crusader ships, the lading gears were similar to insect appendages.
"Tactical assessment: Poorly armed, lightly armored, adequate shielding, highly maneuverable, and an appropriate hyperdrive. It will do for now, though I suggest updating its weaponry before engaging in anymore dogfights."
"HK, you wouldn't be satisfied until it was all weaponry," Nasheth cut in, clearly bothered by the criticism of the ship.
Saara snorted at the young man's immediate attachment to the ship. "If you boys are done admiring my ship, we should get to work preparing it for launch. And if HK is to be believed, we have a lot of work ahead of us."
And there you go. Suggestions will be accepted for the next few chapters. I would like to add in Merry Christmas, or what ever holiday you celibrate at this time of the year (if any). Reviews are appreciated here, as they give me a feel of how the readers feel about the story and give me more enthusiasm for writing. The 30+ views I get per chapter are wonderful, but I would still like input. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed and I will post again soon.