Log:Straight Gankin'

Straight Gankin'

OOC Date: October 5, 2017
Location: Nar Shaddaa
Participants: Nezlani Bebarv, Tess Ul'Datha

EXCITEMENT. Now Nezlani isn't a Guild boy, which means he tends to take the stuff that's considered too small or too weird or too dangerous for the Guild types to pick up - and this job isn't any different.

Today you are to collect the amount of fifty credits from a fellow named Paava Pando, by a merchant named Nanda Giss. Nanda, an /incredibly/ petty merchant in the Gearhead sector, miscalculated a bit on charging Pando for a blaster, and now he wants it back. Dead, alive, he doesn't care - he just wants those credits, and proof that they camme from Paava Pando. There're only two problems, though: Paava Pando is currently at large, somewhere on Nar Shaddaa. The other? Paava Pando is a Gank.

So. Have fun with that, kids. You're off to the races!

Having accepted the bounty on the terminal, Nez uploads the data required for the mission to his datapad. With this done, he turns towards Tess, offering his datapad to her so she can store the information on her own datapad. "Looks like we're off to the races this go around. Our target, Paava Pando, is currently at large. So we'll have to act fast." Nez offers towards the Mandalorian woman. This done, as per his typical routine, Nez sends out a brief message via his commlink to the Waywards, giving them his estimated return time, location, etc.

Tess looks at the details of Nez's bounties and furrows her brow. One hand holds the datapad and the other lays atop her black and gold mandalorian helmet. "So what are you set to make on this bounty?" She asks with eyes cut towards him. It's his ballgame, obviously. She sees something amidst the information that does peek her interest.

A Gank?

That'll make an excellent trophy for her budding reputation if they're able to bring him down. Given she's not a huge name and her desire to change that, he could be PAYING to catch this Paava and she'd tag along. Aint her circus, aint her monkey.

So she uplads the information and fixes her helmet into place with a hiss of the environmental seal. "So where do we start looking?" Going through her weapons, checking power supplies on the bandolier of blaster packs and that she's carrying the other armaments of her deathly trade.

"Well, the first thing that comes to my mind is finding out exactly what who it is he's 'at large' with. They might have some additional information for us, depending on who it is." Nez explains, though admittably this is one of the more challenging missions he's taken. "If we can find out any known associates, we can speak with them. But Ganks typically prefer to interact with only other Ganks, if I understand correctly. So that might be a dead end even before we begin it." He adds, shrugging his shoulders as he scrolls through the information provided on the datapad. "Likely we'll keep a portion of the credits collected off the target. If our client doesn't like our deal though, then we simply keep the credits for ourselves."

"Let's go talk to Nanda." Tess says in her filtered voice, "He sold Pando a blaster and if he's placed a bounty detailing the exchange, he did it with proper identification. Gearhead is still mostly Corsec controlled for the most part and they keep pretty extensive records." She grabs her sniper rifle and slings it onto her shoulder, "Just have to convince him to give us the information." Which is why you bring a Mandalorian in Black armor carrying a god damned anti-material rifle with you to talk to them.

The two of you truck it down to Nada's shop, a little place not too far from Vraag's own. Nanda, an elderly Duro with particularly hard eyes, is polishing the counter when you arrive - he doesn't seem disturbed by the apperance of a very large Twi'lek and a Mandalorian in his shop, however. If anything, he just seems annoyed.

"If you're looking for protection money, you can just kriff off," the old Duro barks as you squeeze your way in. "There are thirty-thousand rataris of ion radiation all around you, ready to be released."

"Smart thinking, Tess." Nez replies, looking up at her with a smile before nodding his head in agreement. When they arrive at Nanda, Nez does indeed stretch himself to his full height in front of the much smaller Duros. "No, laser brain. We're here for you blasted bounty." Nez replies, not in anyway trying to sound friendly. This Nanda guy is just another member of the whole 'scum of the galaxy' outfit. "Did you do business with Paava Pando regularly, or was he a first time customer?"

"Fire away champ." Tess doesn't rise to the threat, "Environmentally sealed suit. Even if it did kill me, you'd be dead before hand and if that's what I aimmed at, I still win." She isn't reaching for her weapons though, just standing with her arms fold after thumbing towards Nez's explanation, "We're here on a fact finding mission for that bounty. You keep records on your sales? Ident card scans or was this deal under Corsecs radar? Doesn't matter one way or another to me, but if you want him, would be appreciated if you'd pass over any info you have."

"Flattery will get you electrocuted," says Nanda, but he doesn't move. "If you really are for the job, you can go down to Telhal's Alehouse in the Undercity. Ganks are all over the place down there. I just want those fifty credits, you understand?"

"Telhal's Alehouse, huh?" Nez asks, removing his datapad from a cargo pocket, calling up his preloaded data. Sifting through it, he checks to ensure he has a map of the particular level of the Undercity in question. "There are going to be a lot of Gank's at the Alehouse then. Easy for them to blend in with each other, and I'm skeptical they will be willing to talk much." Nez replies, mostly speaking towards Tess. Then he looks back towards Nanda. "Do you have anything else for us to go off of? We understand that he is wanted, but there weren't any details as to by who. Is Corsec after him or someone else?"

"How the kriff am I supposed to know?" The old bastard's face looks like a wallet, flapping as it does, leathery and blue. "He just buys stuff from me. Those damned Ganks all look the same. Well. Not all the same." He considers. "He's got black fur. That's not entirely common."

Tess seems satisfied with what they have learned and circles around the gunshops showroom to admire merchandice while Nez does his bounty hunter thing.

Snapping a finger in reaction towards the additional information, Nez grants the Duros a clearly fake smile. "Now see, that's the kind of information we're looking for." Nez says before turning to look at Tess. " Let's head to this Alehouse and see what we can find out there." With that, Nez starts to make his way in the direction of the Alehouse, expecting Tes to follow. "We don't have much else to go off of. If we knew who was after him aside from Nanda here, we could investigate that but..." There is a shrug and Nez keeps walking.

Tess up nods to the Duro, "Don't electricute yourself, champ." Then follows Nez out of the shop with a low whistle, "You know that's hostile country down there right?" Not that she's bothered, but it's best not to go into anything unaware. "What's your plan? Go in guns blazing and bust up the Telhal until someone says something useful? We're going to stick out like a sore thumb otherwise."

A plan... Right. Nez has one of those, sure. "Well, I'm considering just going straight to Corsec and see if they actually have anything for us. If not, then we're back to the Alehouse." He replies, despite still walking in that direction. "If they don't have anything, the Hutts might. But at the moment, this is the only real lead we have." Chewing his lips in contemplation, Nez shakes his head, obviously making the 'plan' up on the fly. "If we weren't rushing on time, I'd say we could steak the Alehouse out and just watch it. If we see any black furred Ganks, we stop them and try to convince them we owe Paava money."

"For a fifty credit bounty, I don't see why you'd bribe anyone... and you'll have to if you go asking Corsec. Unless you're owed a favor?" Tess walks as well, voice filtered through her helmet, "We could easily steak the place for a night, see if he turns up. Pretty good surveylance gear in my helmet, just need to find a perch to watch the Telhal clear." A single shoulder shrug, "Spilt up? I'll do physical surveylance, you go ask questions? I'm not a conversational person by nature."

Well, well. It's a combination of charm and sheer imposition that gets information from all kinds of sources; CDEF doesn't have much to offer, as the Ganks tend to operatein the lower levels, and they don't go down there - however, as far as Ganks go...Pando is kind of a scum. He welshes on contracts, kills people for looking at him sideways. He's killed and eaten other Ganks, wearing their cybernetic implants as trophy jewelry. The little bastard might be a billion years old as far as Ganks are concerned, but he seems to be more dangerous than the Great Ithorian Plague.

From this guy you're supposed to get fifty credits.

Eventually, Nez manages to pry out of a couple of fellows at the Alehouse that Pando is on a job down in the Undercity - way down in the Undercity. Clearing out mutants, or so they're supposed to be, from an old factory complex. You want him, that's where he's at large. At large laying waste to genetic imperfects, apparently.

Tess admits that she's pretty damned impressed with how much information Nez manages to fanangle out of the CDEF officers. It's a whole lot more than she expected and a whole lot more educational than anyone did. "So let me see if I follow... we're gonna mosey on down to the Undercity where our Gank eating Gank is fighting mutants in an old factory?"

As if that weren't quite enough, "For fifty frekin' credits?" She shakes her head slowly, but she has to admit the recognition comes with killing this abdominable snowman is either going to be worth its weight or there's a lot of story about a really dumpy guy. "The hell kind of gun was he buying? A portable torpedo launcher?"

Nez is -totally- not one to brag. Totally. "Yea, that sounds about right. Did you bring any gernades?" Nez replies with a shrug, inspecting his own gear himself only to be let down by a complete lack of them himself. "With any luck, the weapon he's using isn't actually all that worthwhile. Then again, if it is..." Nez replies as he leads the way. "We might be able to sell it. Sithspit, our client is a laser brain. Why would you send us on such a dangerous mission, only to pay us more credits than we're going to bring back to you?"

"Fear. He's thinking the same as I am." Tess doesn't faulter just because it'll be dangerous, "If he's able to bring down this terrifying thing through whatever means, it'll get around that he pulled that off, and he wont get messed with again... if he doesn't, what has he lost? Fifty credits?" She shrugs, "Ends justify the means. What is protection worth."

Which is probably entirely more thought put into it than Nanda has, but it is still sound advice. "Alright, well I guess we're going to the lowest damn part of this rock looking for an urban terror in a mutant factory." She doesn't sound nervous, but she probably should be.

And so...you go. Rent a speeder, take it down into the underlevels, where the light from Y'Toub's swollen sun does not reach. Down here, there is only the mingled glow of ancient, sputtering holo-ads and dying light fixtures. Down here, the towers are truly vast, the ancient fixtures upon which the modern city exists. Down here, if you squint, you might even be able to see the surface.

Fortune only knows what crawls upon it.

Nez does a flyby around the target area, a vast factory platform constructed between two primary towers each the size of a city block. Even at a thousand meters or so, it's clear that the factory is, in fact, /still going/ after what must be thousands of years since its construction. Even now, though, sparks glitter on the platform's age-worn surface. Awful lot of sparks.

The whole planet is a a metropolis, certainly Nez is able to bring their airspeeder into a landing place that has a good vantage point of the facility. Examining the exterior of the structure, Nez begins to look for any open windows into the building as he controls the Airspeeder. "Let me know if you find a good vantage point. I'd rather gather every bit of information we can from the outside before going in. If we can get a couple of kills before going inside, all the better." Nez says to Tess, explaining his reasoning.

"Ah ha! There!" Nez declairs loudly, having spotted a good place to land. But... Oops. With his excitement, Nez ACCIDENTLY points at the perfect spot, letting one hand release from the control yoke which ACCIDENTLY causes the airspeed to swirve suddenly. A mistake that Nez fixes quickly. If Tess is looking at him, the grin on his face has NOTHING to do with the accident swirving. That done, Nez follows through with bringing the airspeeder in for a landing.

Tess closes her eyes when the speeder nearly kills them, no matter how exagerated this situation is in her mind, and clinches her teeth. The glare she directs at him will have to be felt rather than seen, but trust that it is palpable, "I need you to understand that that action comes with severe and painful reprecussions."

When Nez laughs, it's not at the threat of having Tess kick his ass again, but the laugh comes bellowing out from the Twi'lek heartily as he dismounts the airspeeder. "Trust me, I knew that before I even thought about doing it." He replies with a grin, trying to repress it just a little to save himself from being beaten -too- bad. That said, Nez removes the AFD-43 blaster rifle he had stored in the back seat of the airspeeder and sets himself up a good position to view down the scope towards the building.

Nezlani Bebarv begins assembling the bipod of his sniper rifle, taking position. Soon, the Modified AFD-43 - Sniper Rifle - 2701 is mounted and ready for combat.

Tess takes an extra second to dismount and then grabs Addell from off her back. She sets up in a position laying down to get a better view of the platform proper, "So long as you know." She seeths, hollow through her filters, and extends her view through the enhanced scope of her rifle.

And so you reconnoiter through the lenses of your rifles, like twisted lovebird tourists on holiday. In this case, there's all sorts of things to see. The platform is a large, five-story hexagonal construct, windowless and studded with pipes, vents, and more; the upper surface is where the activity - or was. There, ruined machinery can be seen everywhere, spewing sparks thanks to what appears to be /incredibly/ heavy blaster fire. The scorched corpses of pale, distorted humanoid forms that grew in the dark over thousands of years. Nameless, eyeless monstrosities. Death everywhere. Thirty, forty corpses lying on the deck, as if a division of troopers moved through it.

"The good news is that I might actually finally be able to see you use Addell." Nez replies with a grin. Then, he thinks for a moment as he continues to peer through his rifle scope. "Do you... Have any other rifles? Extra rifles you could use if the situation called for something a bit more close quarters?" Recognizing the entire lack of windows, Nez murmurs a curse to himself. "Looks like we'll have to do inside, unless you've got a better plan. Think landing on the upper surface with all those corpses is the best option?"

Tess is quiet now, humming to herself as she passes her scope over each of the corpses like someone sort of sight seeing adventure into the beautiful evolutional marvels of the Force. "No." She answers of whether she has any other firearms with which to engage this situation, "But I have other weapons. Not ones I'm really excited to use on whatever is carrying the weapon that did that..." She does, however, have another plan. "You go down there and lead him out onto the platform. I'll sit up here and cover you."

A little grin in her helmet.

"Oh, oh alright." Nez replies with a laugh, shaking his head slightly while still looking through his scope. "Right, I'll just go stand right there in the middle of the field of death." Though, she isn't -wrong- per se... This time. With that, Nez let's loose a light sigh, still grinning as he backs up from his rifle and makes his way towards the Airspeeder. "You know I was teasing about the whole swirving thing... Right?" There is a mock tone of worry in his voice as he packs the rifle into the backseat and grabs instead his E-11, preparing it for combat.

"Yeah, right in the center. If he starts shooting, start running in a serpentine pattern." Tess says with a smirk that doesn't make it to her voice, "Put up a better fight against him than you do with me. I don't think you'll get the same treatment from the Gank..." She remains where she's laying, eye to her scope. "Don't worry, I wont let him take you alive."

"Serpentine pattern, huh?" Nez laughs in response, hopping into the Airspeeder. Though, he still has enough time to respond to her latest comment before it is powered on. "I'm so glad! Here I was thinking you were starting to get soft." He teases before finishing the takeoff procedure and piloting the Airspeeder to the designated location. It's a rather short flight, so it doesn't take long for Nez to come in for a landing. <<Got any movement?>> He asks, perhaps a bit more seriously. Though, it's hard to tell through the static of the commlink.

Movement...no. A lot of destroyed equipment, a lot of dead subhumans. And then, suddenly, a lot of noise from inside the structure. The sound is something like if a rainstorm and a fireworks factory got into bed with one another. Nothing visual, but a horrible cycling electrical sound that is rife with small explosions.

<<Sithspit, we've got blaster fire below me. Sounds like a repeater.>> Nez informs Tess with a press of the commlinks controls. Having hopped out of the airspeeder already, Nez does a quick scan of the roof top of the building for any entrances into the facility or possible locations an enemy could arrive from. That in mind, he also looks for the best possible location of cover. It's unlikely that no one heard the engines of the airspeeder coming in for a landing atop the building, so Nez needs to find cover quickly.

<> Tess informs Nez without moving from her scope.

As you speak, the thundersplosionstorm goes on inside the factory. Lights flicker, a fire starts somewhere inside. Smoke pours from ventwork. What the hell is going on in there?

<<Roger that.> Nez replies, spying the smoke coming from the vent. With that, he pulls himself away from that particular area right there and backs away, always moving as close to cover as possible. <<Hey, so there might be a fire or something below me... Just so you know.>> Though, Tess' comments about drawing out the enemy hasn't gone unnoticed. <<I thought me landing on this thing would be enough to draw them out. Got any other ideas?>>

<<As far as I can tell, there's no way out of here besides the one you're at.>> Tess offers without moving from her rifle, <<He'll have to come back this way. I don't have anywhere pressing to be just now and I'm not exactly armed for a close quarters engagement. You brought a sniper.>> She doesn't even sound upset about it, but she also doesn't sound like she's going to volunteer to come down there and fight a big ass monster in a hallway, either.

Fuck that noise.

<<I'm a patient guy.>> Nez adds, nodding his head in response. Though, he has no idea whether or not she has her scope aimed in his direction or somewhere else entirely. <<I really should have brought some of my other rifles. It didn't occur to me that I'd have to let you borrow one of mine. I've got an A280 that you could have used, fully modded.>> With all this said, Nez unfolds the bipod of his E-11 and sets up a good firing position, his weapon aimed at the doorway into the building. Looks like this is going to be a waiting game.

Time passes, and monstrous sounds go on. Eventually, something /does/ happen - and that happening is an explosion. As you watch the factory, suddenly a portion of the upper level buckles and gives way, venting flames, mutant corpses, and a hail of electric blue light. As if unzipping a hole in the world for your enjoyment, you can now plain see the Gank in his full glory: black fur and red armor plating, fused with not only his own protective suit but a tremendous battle prosthetic that swallows his entire lower right arm. Once, it was a Z-6 rotary blaster, but years of experimentation has turned it into something monstrous, something cybernetic and bionic in nature. Something that is plugged directly into the Gank's body, and the armored reactor blister on its humped back. The factory may be filled with mutants, but they cannot survive the storm of brilliant blue bolts that spill from the killer's arm, which not only penetrate their bodies but /explode/ as they make contact. Is this the blaster which the Duro has sent you after? What has that withered alien done, putting this in the hands of a Gank killer?

The explosion would cause Nez to pull back, covering himself from any potential shrapnel and dust. Alas, Nez only heard it, there isn't actually an explosion that he can particularly see. <<Sithspit, Tess, what's going on? I can't see shavit!>> Standing up, Nez folds back the bipod of his E-11 and sprints to a solid location of cover in the direction of the explosion, recreating his firing position.

There are time for questions and there are time for taking shots. A hole in the side of the factory, or more precisely the explosion, draws Tess' scope to the monstrocity that caused it. Nevermind the mutants hurled out of its way like some sort of construction equipment barrelling through a plate of clay houses. The mandalorian sniper takes a deep breath and settles her shoulder in to brace Addell against the tripod upon which the weapon is hoisted.

"Today is gonna be the day that they're gonna throw it back to you..." The sniper adjusts her sight to account for the distance, "By now, you should have some how, realized what you've got to do... I don't believe that anybody, feels the way I do..."

Addell shrieks as the trigger is squeezed, jerking back against the armored shoulder and bipod keeping her errect. "About you now..."

The blast hits true.

It very rarely doesn't.

The Gank practically strolls along as it spews death from its arm-cannon, casually hosing down the monsters around it with explosive, electric death - until, quite unexpectedly, a blaster bolt comes from somewhere else, hitting the hump-backed killer in the side. Unstable plasma erupts into flame, and suddenly the Gank is on fire. It rolls into cover behind heavy machinery, disappearing from Tess's sniper eye, though more death flows from all around to slaughter the mutants nearby. Even under unexpected fire, the cyborg horror does not forget its mission.

Having recognized the flash in the distance to be a blaster bolt. <<Did you get him?>> Nez asks, presuming that the only logical conclusion is that Tess took a shot. Though, even still he can't see his target. Cautiously, Nez moves to the ledge of the building Tess just shot into and peers over it, considering a way to get inside from where he is.

<<Hit, but not down.>> Tess follows where the Gank fell, but is obviously unable to see the monster or his trail of death, <<Don't think he gives a shit that he got shot either, which is disconcerting... to say the least.>>

One last burst of thunder; the factory's guts glimmer with explosive light, and then...silence.

Now speaking into the comms with a much more hushed voice, Nez addresses Tess while shifting his firing position to face more towards the access stairs once again. <<The blaster fire has stopped... I don't like that in the least bit.>> The bipod is deployed again, stabilizing the weapon against recoil, should Nez need to open fire.

<<Well he's wounded and nolonger firing. Either he's coming up or you need to go down there..>> Tess frowns a little, suddenly wishing she'd gone to the platform.

Sometimes, silece is good. Sometimes, silence is very good.

This is not one of those times.

From out of the darkened factory, a stream of plasma spews out toward Tess's direction, like someone turned out Satan's balefire hose - explosive death rains down all around the sniper's position, duracrete shattering and spalling, ozone filling the air all around her. Fortunately, nothing hits her, but the very definition of 'suppressive fire' is turned upon her now.

Divine intervention is probably all that saves the Mandalorian sniper because by the amount of plasma fire directed up at her, her luck has all dried up. She spies the Gank only a milisecond before he hoses her position down, but it's enough time to get both a view of where about he is, but she's got to do a little damage control on her position which feels like it might buckle beneath her under his impressive onslaught. <<Underneath the Assembler!>>

She's not use to being fired on, not from the distances she's at, but she's more than up to the challenge. A At-At he is not.

"I got you, you son of a bitch..." She murmurs, now just really pissed off. Addell is again brought into firing position and yet another bolt rings true from her elevated position.

Ganks usually have one eye, did you know? Usually right dead center of their ovoid helmets, wired in or otherwise. A single baleful photoreceptor, doing the job of their original organic pair. And yet, in this case, all this does is give Tess a good target.

The bolt she fires strikes the Gank's eye square on, blasting through all the way into the skull. Smoke and sparks shower from its ruined head, and it slumps beneath the machines, quite dead.

Nez doesn't need anything more than that. In a dead sprint, Nez keeps moving until he comes with in view of the assembler. Aiming his weapon in that direction, Nez is all too ready to open fire. Then, he pauses for a moment, having spied the body of the Gank. Inspecting it carefully from the distance, Nez looks for signs of life until he sees the whole in the place the Gank's eye used to be. <<Oh, hey. You can hit something. Thanks for putting my doubts to rest.>> Yup, Nez is totally going to turn his praise of her into a teasing insult.

Tess rolls over onto her back when the Gank slumps backwards onto the equipment. She takes several slow, deep breaths, accepting graciously how badly that could have gone if she'd been just a little off her mark. She barely hears Nez, reaching over to eject the empty blaster battery from her rifle, another quickly slammed into place.

She rolls back into position, <<Just go get the something so this dumbass knows the credits came from him and let's touch off. There's still mutants in there.>>

Moving to collect the body of the kill that is -totally- Nez's, he slinging the dead Gank up over his shoulder before making his way back towards the access stairs. Though, he still has his E-11 in one hand, tucking the buttstock of the weapon under his armpit to stabilize the barrel. There are too many hands being filled to make any smartass comments at the moment.

Not so fast there, little man! Though he is terrifying and tall, the Gank isn't some Teek or Ewok that you can haul around like a teddy bear; he's almost as much bionics and armor plate as he is fur and meat, to say nothing about the reactor blister that is built into is body. It's a far harder thing to do to pull the little bastard out from all that industrial equipment - and even as he does, Nezlani may well hear the stirrings of things in the level below.

He didn't finish, you see. The job.

<<The hell are you doing?!>> Tess sounds shocked, if not appauled, by Nez trying to grab and carry the Gank like he's made out of flowers rather than metal and armor. <<There's shit in there, Nez. Shoot through his arm and bring that. Get the hell out of there before you get overrun...>>

Hearing the rumbling below him, Nez decides on a slight change of plan. Just a small one. Tess' comments are heard, though he doesn't have time to respond. Dropping the corpse, he does a quick search of the Gank for anything valuable, and possibly any identification for turning in the bounty.

It's a Gank. Lots of bones, trinkets, and a lot of pieces of what are absolutely forcibly extracted cybernetic implants. Some still have blood on them, even. Either way, Nez is burning precious time, and now it's gonna cost him.

Roaring, a pair of white, eyeless figures are the first to crawl out of a master waste duct, jaws distended and black fangs glittering like glass in the low light of the factory deck. Wuh-oh.

<<Take something and move or'dinii....>> Tess tightens her grip on Addell and prepares to provide limited sniper coverage for Nez's, hopefully quick, escape from that closed in death trap of a mutant farm.

Tess waits, but there's a bit more apprehension now. She's seen a whole lot of things, but she's never really seen a mutant. Heard of them, sure, but this is their turf and she's no Gank with a plasma blaster arm.

She squeezes the trigger when one of the white creatures darts across her open field of view, the bark of Addell like a thunderclap through the open hole in the factory.

Nez aims his rifle at the Ganks arm and fires repeatidly to seperate the weapon from it's body. With this done, he picks up the weapon and sprints full speed towards stairwell. <<Moving.>>

The thing's head turns to paste and drops, just...like a wet sack of guts, which it is. Black blood and steam paints the very surprised mutant behind it.

Call it mercy, call it close proximity to being melted by the same creature what was hunting the mutants, but Tess doesn't even try to hit the one behind the first. It is, however, entirely possible she wont need to.

Addell errupts with a bark and hits somewhere in the darkness, whether by design or by poor aim.

Only Tess and the Force know for sure.

The howling below the deck grows, and more creatures boil out of the pipes - boil out, and converge not upon the fleeing red tower, but the corpse of the gank lying freshly liberated of his bodily extension. Like starving pigs they fall upon the body, shearing through flesh and alloy alike with those black fangs as they make a gory feast of the still-cooling corpse.

Nezlani manages to reach the top, carrying the device - which is /incredibly/ heavy, it must be said. After all, it was meant to be carried in two arms to start with, and that little shavit was wielding it from the elbow. Glories of bionics, friends - but how will he escape?

Lugging the brilliantly heavy device with both hands to ensure he doesn't drop it, Nez runs towards the stairwell, intending to return to the platform he landed the airspeeder on. Should he arrive at the airspeeder without incident, he would toss the weapon in the back seat before climbing his way in behind the control yoke and powering the thing up.

Into the back seat the weapon goes, landing hard into the padding - and as the speeder begins to hum to life, more mutants pour up from the upper level like roaches under a light. Some of them ascend to the top, and seeing Nez in the speeder charge him like idiot bulls, prodded into foaming rage.

Tess remains behind her rifle waiting for Nez to get the damn thing started, even now not at all thrilled about jumping in that flying death machine. <<If you'd kindly hurry the hell up, that'd be great...>> The Undercity had lost its allure long before they got down here. Aint her first time down in the dungeon of Nar Shaddaa.

Quite a bit more frustrated than before, Nez quickly manipulates the controls of the airspeeder in an attempt to move the thing up and away from the swarms of ugly mutant things. <<Right, just let me take some pictures with the mutants first. Ya know, I've always wanted one of those.>> He replies into the commlink, eyeing the mutants charging at him.

<<Stop fucking around...>> Tess takes a shot, but there's SO MANY mutants. The shot misses and she curses under her breath, <<You're going to get killed. Move, your, ass.>>

Yes. They are coming for their close-up, Mr. DeMille, but the bare flapping feet and extended talons keep them from making it to the speeder yet. Horrible, brutal, but gangly and clumsy as all get out.

Tess is not at all pleased by the turn of events, but Nez should be happy as all hell that she's up there. Addell barks, once, twice, three times... two mutants that were danger close get hit, <<Start. The. Speeder.>>

There seems to suddenly be an issue with the slightly cheaper version of airspeeder Nez decided to go with. The ignition switch for the rear thrusters aren't kicking in like they should. <<The kriffing thing isn't powering up right.>> Nez continues to manipulate the controls, doing everything he can possibly think of to get the thing to work correctly.

Yes, these things aren't well put-together; Tess's shots take apart the two mutants closest to the speeder, but more are clambering up to the top, some with fresh blood all over them. Shavit is, as they say, getting real.

Well, there is a faint stream of a thin, black smoke that comes out from the rear right rear thruster. At least the thing powers up in just enough time for Nez to lift off of the area he landed on earlier. The airspeeder dips rearward awkwardly, but it moves nonetheless. Giving him just enough space to no longer worry about the mutants below, Nez opts for flying back towards Tess at a much slow than normal speed. <<Well that could have gone better.>>

<<If I find out you were fucking around...>> Tess packs up Addell once she sees the repulsors come to life on that speeder. The tripods slapped closed because, for whatever reason, she will not kill those mutants if she doesn't have to. Any sentient being? No hesitation, but these things didn't deserve this.

You have to draw the line somewhere.

And she's not killing a mutant for free.

Certainly could have, but Nez is safe now, and free - the masses below that swarm the factory deck roar uselessly at the fleeing speeder, clawing at the air, ignorant of the charity that Tess showers upon them.

Extraction time, go.

<<I know I know. Severe and painful repercussions.>> Nez replies, letting loose a sigh of relief. The sigh is however, quickly followed up with an all too familiar grin. Bringing the slightly smoking airspeeder in for a landing at Tess' position, Nez doesn't even bother to power the vehicle off as he waits for her to climb into the passenger seat.

Tess is ready, Addell laid down atop the weapon he collected from the Gank. She climbs in, "Nothing fancy getting us out of here... You're on thin ice as is. Let's get paid and, more importantly, to civilization."

Civilization. Well, if you mean the Duro's place, the wizened old bastard is still there, behind his counter. Waiting. And when you show up and drop that gun on his counter, he actually /smiles/.

"Fifty Credits! You actually brought her back to me!"

Tess is hidden beneath layers of black armor, but if she were visible it would be difficult not to call for intimidation. "I think you grossly understated the nature of this bounty." She says through her filters, sounding hollow and unemotional despite the raging inferno inside her, "This... is fifty credits.." She got it, pretty quickly to be fair, but it seemed absurd so she didn't even consider to suggest it. Two people involved with Tess feel silly about not following their gut right now.

"We're about to revisit the notion that I'm in an environmental suit and just got shot at by a plasma gatling gun." She takes a sharp breath, "Unless you can compensate accordingly."

"Pay up." Nez isn't happy when he drops the weapon on his counter, and isn't wasting any time with the Duros. "I almost got killed out there, so the reward had better be worth my time." Nez struggles to hide a grin in response to Tess' remarks towards the guy, but keeps a straight face all the same. It seems he would mirror her demeanor.

"Oh, don't threaten me, girly," says the Duro, waving a long-fingered hand. "I said I'd pay, and I will - the money'll be in the account listed in the bounty notice by the end of the day. If it isn't, you know where I am, I'll make it right for ya."

"You're mistaking my threatening voice for my promise of violence voice." Tess confides, "Which is understandable because you don't know who I am." She even sounds calm, anyone could be forgiven not appreciating her position, "If you have a bounty like that again? You find me and him." She points a black finger at Nez, "Tell anyone who you has a bone to pick. We do 'work'." She steps back and stalks out of the gunshop, maybe she's left an impression or maybe the fact that they just put down that sum'bitch was lost on the duros...

Either way doesn't seem bothering to her.

"If it's not, I'd suggest running." Nez states with a matter-of-fact sort of tone. He's not even bothering to sound intimidating, simply pointing out the capabilities him and Tess possess. In any case, he turns to follow Tess out the door. When they've left the gunshop he speaks up. "So, as far as first dates go..." He may be looking forward, but there is a deep, smug grin on his face. "Sounds to me like you're ready for a second."