Port Ol’Val 40 ABY
Ol’val was bustling with its usual commotion; merchants selling, ship engines purring, and the exchange of chatter all culminating to drown out the hum of generators that kept this space station alive. Navigating through the crowds whilst narrowly missing each traveler or denizen was a red Quarren. His green orbs scanned the landscape frantically in search of something. As determined as he was, he was no opposed to asking for assistance.
The Quarren’s green orbs landed on an odd group which consisted of a Shistavanen, a Zygerrian, a Mirialan, and a Miraluka. Despite the seemingly peculiar group, they seemed to be the most approachable out of the rest of crowd.
“Greetings. Have any of you seen a K-series droid? His face plate is red and he wears a dark cloak.” His voice was even as his moth tentacles bouncedThe bounty hunter’s gaze lined up with each of their eyes even as he was skeptical if anyone would know let alone help him.
“Hail and well met, my dude,” Zig found herself speaking up first. She had gotten into the habit of taking point…but realized that wasn’t her default role anymore. Her eyes shifted to the side towards her cadre of friends. “Uh, not that I’ve seen, but lots of droids come through these parts.”
“Some in parts, others mostly intact,” the Mirialan added. “Why you looking for him?” Vicxa inquired, eyes focused on the stranger while an idle hand rummaged around a plastic baggie of low-grade carb snacks.
Zig glanced sidelong at the Mirialan and sighed mentally. She then tried to focus and remember if she knew anything about this Quarren, but realized, for all she knew, he was a cheese merchant. What did she know, afterall?
Mune glanced towards Zig, managing to keep their head out of the clouds. They could not help the arching of a brow and the slow crawl of a teasing grin on their muzzle. My dude? The Shistavanen’s eyes danced with mirth.
Their ruby gaze shifted to the Quarren, studiously taking in the fellow’s appearance. His belt was not a fashion accessory, Mune mentally noted. Then there were the telltale signs of a firearm tucked away under their jacket; they could see it in how the jacket rested. Though subtle, Mune could safely assume the gun’s presence. It was Ol’Val, so the weapon was no surprise. They glanced over the Quarren’s shoulder, scanning the other passersby in case the Quarren were a distraction to catch the group unawares.
The reddish alien nodded once understanding to the Zygerrian hybrid.
As the Mirialan dug about in her bag, the Quarren’s head bowed slightly as his face tentacles twitched. “I’m afraid he’s gone… rogue. I am not sure what his intents are and they do not seem to be good, but I want to find him quickly.”
“Ah, well, nothing a good restraining bolt won’t do, eh?” Zig said, proffering just the thing that she’d grabbed from her bag. “Care to lead the way? I’m sure we can help a new friend out,” she gestured.
The Quarren out a map of Port Ol'Val and nodded once as he led the way toward the Ducts. Immediately he was on high alert. A place like this was never known for its charming upstanding citizens.
Upon scanning the landscape, the bounty hunter noticed the unmistakable red faceplate of K-D0.
The pair locked gazes for but a moment before the K series droid made a run for it into an alleyway.
“There he is!” Exclaimed the Quarren before he began the chase, drawing his blaster ensuring it was on its stun setting.
Zig was no stranger to the Ducts. Voidbreakers knew how to navigate them better than most. With a glance to the rest of the team, she shrugged and follow the Quarren to chase after the droid.
Were they too trusting, Mune wondered to themself, following this stranger through the Ducts. They kept their wits about them, eyes scanning the shadows now and then before resting once more upon the Quarren. They trusted the Force to warn them of danger if it were to leap out from the dark. Then the Quarren shouted.
Mune saw the Droid dash off, the Shistavanen arching a brow quizzically. “Surpisingly nimble, heh. I am assuming we are to avoid putting holes in it?” Then they were dashing forward.
The few weeks of rest to recover from their injury had left them with a need to burn off some excess energy anyway. They followed the Droid into the alley, along with the Quarren and certainly the others.
Mune tapped on their comm, “Doon, up for an intercept?”
Mune did not slow their pace even for a moment while they filled in the other Shistavenen with the details and their position. They trusted Doon to be more than capable of navigating the Ducts much as the others.
“I am assuming our friend would like us to not rough it up to much,” Mune finished, to Doon.
“Allegedly,” Zig chimed in, unhelpfully.
It felt weird to be out of her beskar. She had spent a lot of time training in it to get better at moving quickly and not losing too much alacrity. Still, there was a freeing element to it. She felt lean, nimble, and cricket-quick. Like a spider-monkey. Just in space.
Zig started off at a sprint, but then awkwardly caught her toe on some loose rubble she couldn’t see. She tripped, fell, and braced with her shoulder…
…and barreled right into a poor little food cart merchant who was just getting ready to close up his wares for the day.
“My pallies!!!!!!!!!!!” the bearded man shouted in horror and disdain.
Zig looked up at him sheepishly with a strained smile.
Doon taps his communicator, frowning. Which showed up as more of a snarl than anything else. An Interception? In Our Ducts? A rumble came from the chest of the Shistavanen as he started jogging towards where Mune said they were headed.
Quickly, he closed in on the area. Infact, perhaps too quickly. Not only was his breathing labored by the time he burst into the path of the Droid, but he did so far too early, with far too commotion to seem like he wasn’t there for a chase. Mixed with his annoyed growl and the death glare he gave the Droid, At best he caused a diversion in it’s planned path.
Zig slowly got back to her feet and made a face, wiping some bits of fruit pulp off her clothes.
“I uh…sorry!” she said to the merchant before booking it to try and catch up with the others.
Mune saw Doon from the corner of their eye. The large Shistavanen off target. Mune blinked, Huh, okay, this is fine.
Their muscles warmed up, so they dialled up the speed. They darted through denizens. Vaulted over obstacles. The white Shistavanen moved swiftly, not about to let the Droid defeat them in a foot race. Mune wondered for a moment if the others were keeping up, or the Quarren, for that matter.
The Shistavanen dropped into a power slide, the bottom of a cart flashing by just above the tips of their ears. They emerged on the other side, already back on their feet and sprinting full tilt towards the Droid. They vaulted onto a railing that let them see over the heads of milling Duct denizens, never once breaking stride. Their jacket whipped out behind them, tail flicking behind, adjusting minutely to maintain their balance. They sprinted along the railing, one foot in front of the other.
“I am about to engage the target.” Mune called over comms, “Thinking he could take me in a paw race.”
Zig groaned into her comm, wiping her face as she ran with a spare nerf-wool towel.
“Aha! I made you groan, this time, Zig!” Mune laughed.
There was part of the Quarren who wanted to keep going after the droid instead of checking in on the Zygerrian who fell. His footing was nearly lost as he continued to make gains on the droid. Hearing Mune’s confirmation of engaging the target, a small wave of panic set over him. “Ensure it’s non-lethal.”
K-D0 found a small crowd followed by a narrow duct, just wide enough to fit one person at at a time and began to shimmy his way through. To the untrained eye, the tall slender machine seemed to disappear.
Shal Derv’s feet came to a halt as he scanned the crowd let out a swear in frustration, scrubbing a hand over his leathery marine-like features. After a blink he saw a glimpse of the droid’s cloak flowing into the narrow duct.
“He went this way! Is there a path we can take to intercept him?”
“Dank Ferrik, that’s one slippery droid you’ve got there. Why’s he running away from you anyway?” Vicxa inquired, keeping pace with the others, no doubt thanks to the quick-release carbohydrates. “Droids don’t tend to run away from people they like. Just sayin’…”
“I don’t know,” answered the Quarren. The words were short and stiff. “But I’d rather not let loose an assassin droid to its own devices to wreak havoc unnecessarily.”
Though the ducts were foreign to him, he pulled up a map which narrowed his position. From the map’s perspective, there was no narrow duct where K-D0 drifted into, so he would be going in blind.
Mune was close enough to see the Droid duck out of the street. The Shistavanen racing after it. They were not about to let up now, the Arcanist bolting into the narrow alley and hitting the four way split. Their eyes darted around, ears perked for the sounds of the running box of bolts.
“Heh… nice try…” they muttered and started moving again. The Droid may have gained a little more breathing space (not that he needed to breath), but it would not do him any good. Mune was hot on its metal heels.
“Yeah, those don’t really work around here,” Vicxa mused at the Quarren and his inaccurate map. “Some say the tunnels move and shift on their own, but I just think the cartographers keep finding old stashes of narcotics and forget what they were doing.”
==
Metal feet clacked on stone, sand grinding under well-worn track pads as the Droid continued on without signs of exhaustion. Its head pivoting to glance behind at the closest pursuer, its glowing photoreceptors stared mutely at the Mune just at the edge of perception. Still, it was enough of a glimpse to determine the droid wasn’t running like an organic would, arms swinging to counter the motion of its legs. No, its upper body seemed unnaturally stiff, as if its arms were preoccupied.
==
The scent of metal and oil mingled with the dank backdrop of damp stone. The sound of rushing air in his ears made it hard to hear his quarry, but his nose had yet to lead him astray and so he picked up the pace. Legs pumping to reach the next intersection, Doon Sulvir charged out of a side tunnel like a force of nature, arms reaching out for a full-body tackle just as the droid fleeted into view. If the KX-unit was shocked or surprised, it expressed none of it as its head swiftly snapped towards the Shistavanen even as its bulbous torso pivoted to avoid the bull charge. The Droid moved with swiftness and mechanical precision beyond its mass, the finely tuned servos squealing as they reversed direction to pirouette out of Doon’s path and avoid a collision—but the Doon was not so easily denied. Reaching after his elusive prey, his paw managed a fleeting hold on the droid’s cloak, clenching his fist around it and tugging.
The cloth snapped taught in an instant, torn between the momentum of the Droid and the implacable Shistavanen. K-D0 teetered, but pressed on as the sharp sound of tearing fabric filled the tunnel. It’s eyes snapped at Doon, accusatory, before bolting off down a sharply sloped incline slick with algae.