Mon Jun 04, 2012 3:32 pm by Liya Tawaza
*Hours later, my neural processes finally resumed functioning on a level conducive to self-awareness and conscious thought. Slowly, I opened my eyes, and found myself looking up at the unmistakable dim red-orange light, barred doors, and decaying duracrete walls and ceiling of an old fashioned prison cell. It didn├óÔé¼Ôäót take me long to remember what had happened. Firefek, did I ever hate getting stunned. And apparently there actually was something worse than waking up after being hit with a stun blast. A stun net left you just as sick and disoriented as a stun blast, but where the blast tended to leave you with a single impact injury from the shot, the net burned you dozens of places and generally left you feeling like you├óÔé¼Ôäód been used to bridge together several hundred power conduits. I lay still, and tried to collect my thoughts. The pain wasn├óÔé¼Ôäót bad, but the vrax-board pattern of burns made my entire body ache. It was a good thing I├óÔé¼Ôäód been wearing my armor ---.*
*Armor. Where was my armor? I tried to sit up, but the room swam in circles, and I lay back against the prison bed once more as the obvious dawned on my weary brain. I didn├óÔé¼Ôäót need to see to know that my armor and weapons were gone. The weight difference was sizable. And it was only logical, since I was apparently in a Coruscanti jail. All I had left was the black jumpsuit I├óÔé¼Ôäód been wearing under my armor, and even that felt askew, like it had been thoroughly searched. Moving gingerly, I began to pat down the cuffs and secret pockets where I├óÔé¼Ôäód hidden various tools, but everything was gone. Or was it? No! I could feel a small, flat metal object in my right sleeve that had been overlooked. My lockpick! I let out a sigh, some measure of relief flooding over me. Better to leave it be for now, however, until I figured out just what my situation was.*
*My head had finally stopped imitating the inside of a caf blender, and after a few minutes, I was able to sit up. There was another bed in the cramped cell, on the opposite wall across from me, and a fresher in one of the back corners, but no signs of a cellmate. Other than a dingy glow panel overhead, and cracks in the floor tiles, there really wasn├óÔé¼Ôäót much to see. I was alone, at least, and for that I was grateful. Either the police had been smart enough to realize that my earlier brawl with the other two thieves made me likely to start another fight when I woke up, or they didn├óÔé¼Ôäót have many female prisoners. Or more likely, it was both factors.*
*Idly, I wondered if either of the two strangers had gotten themselves killed, or if they were inmates nearby. Not that it mattered, I thought darkly. It was their fault I was in this mess, and I wasn├óÔé¼Ôäót going to waste any more time on their accounts. I needed to get back to the crew right away. How long had I been unconscious, anyway? It had to be daybreak by now, if not later. Fel would surely be angry if he├óÔé¼Ôäód gotten a job but couldn├óÔé¼Ôäót leave because I├óÔé¼Ôäód disappeared.*
*Standing up, and shivering slightly as my bare feet touched the cold floor, I crept over to the bars at the front of the cell, and looked out. I was surprised that the cells weren├óÔé¼Ôäót ray shielded, but then again, this was the fringe of the underworld. Maybe they couldn├óÔé¼Ôäót afford that level of security, or maybe local corruption kept antiquated systems in place so that the high rollers of the underworld could escape. There were twelve cells in my prison block, six on each side of a central aisle. The cell across from me appeared to be empty, but I couldn├óÔé¼Ôäót see into any of the others. To my left, there was a single pair of cells, and then a small entry room, with a heavy door set into the far wall. Two were patrolling the cell block in rotation, one standing in the entry room, while the other stalked up and down the aisle. It was impossible to tell what size police facility I was in, but it was a dead guarantee that there would be cameras and real, flesh and blood guards nearby. Breaking out wasn├óÔé¼Ôäót going to be easy. I stepped back and began to observe the patterns of the blue, cylinder-headed sentries.*
*A few minutes later, the door swooshed opened, and I leaned forward eagerly, but it slammed shut again with a nasty clank before I could get a look at what was beyond. A short, fat, bald police inspector with an amused grin on his face had entered. He swaggered down the aisle ├óÔé¼ÔÇ£ and stopped right in front of my cell. Oh great.* ├óÔé¼┼ôAha, you├óÔé¼Ôäóre awake, missy.├óÔé¼┬Ø *The inspector exclaimed as he approached. He reeked of brandy.* ├óÔé¼┼ôGood. I have some simple questions for you, and the sooner you answer them, the sooner I can get you out of here.├óÔé¼┬Ø *He leaned closer to the bars, his grin widening condescendingly.* ├óÔé¼┼ôWhat├óÔé¼Ôäós your name, missy? We don├óÔé¼Ôäót get many ladies down here, y├óÔé¼Ôäóknow.├óÔé¼┬Ø
*I shot him a cold stare, and said nothing. He waited. I took a step back and sat down on my bunk, folding my arms and smirking. I could wait. He sighed.* ├óÔé¼┼ôAlright then, your two friends --- who are they? It├óÔé¼Ôäós a shame y├óÔé¼Ôäóall couldn├óÔé¼Ôäót agree how to split your spoils, eh? Cost all of you your freedom.├óÔé¼┬Ø *He smiled his big, fake smile, but still I said nothing. He seemed a little surprised by my silence, but from his next words, he clearly misunderstood the source of my refusal to talk.* ├óÔé¼┼ôThere├óÔé¼Ôäós nothing to be afraid of, missy. You├óÔé¼Ôäóre not like the others. All that equipment you had, you must have friends in good places. You help me, and I can get you out of here.├óÔé¼┬Ø *He paused hopefully.* ├óÔé¼┼ôAw, c├óÔé¼Ôäómon, do you have a voice, sweetie?├óÔé¼┬Ø
*I gave him a disgusted look and nodded once but said nothing. He gave up and turned away.* ├óÔé¼┼ôAh well, I├óÔé¼Ôäóll let you think it over. I├óÔé¼Ôäóm sure a pretty lady like you doesn├óÔé¼Ôäót want to rot in a hell-hole like this for very long, does you? I├óÔé¼Ôäóll be back, okay?├óÔé¼┬Ø *And then, thankfully, he was gone. I glared daggers after the man long after the door had closed behind him. He was lucky he hadn├óÔé¼Ôäót decided to come inside the cell, or I would have ended him. I shuddered to think what he might do when he came back. It would probably be pretty easy to get him to come inside, actually. He├óÔé¼Ôäód love that invitation, for all the wrong reasons. But I couldn├óÔé¼Ôäót wait for that. I needed to get out. Now.*
*Resuming my observation of the sentry droids, lockpick concealed in one hand, I leaned against the bars, and monitored their patrol patterns in minute detail as I fiddled with the lock. The key was to move so slowly that my efforts wouldn├óÔé¼Ôäót be noticed until it was too late. The old fashioned lock was surprisingly simple. I could feel five pins inside the lock, and began sliding them out of the way, one by one, ever so slowly and quietly. Then, just as one of the sentry droids passed me on his return trip, I slammed the door open and jumped him from behind, grabbing the back of cylindrical blue head with my left hand and driving it forcefully into the floor. There was a sickening crunch, and blue sparks crackled all over the outer plating of the droid.*
*Jumping to my feet, I came face to face with the second droid.* ::: Halt ::: *He barked electronically, pointing a small stun blaster at my face. I was too fast for him, ripping the blaster out of his claw with my left hand and simultaneously jabbing the lock pick into his eye with my right hand. He collapsed to the floor, red sparks shooting from his neck, and waved his legs convulsively.*
*That was that, but now how to get out of the cell block? There was a single camera above the door, I saw now, but there was nothing I could do about it. If I'd been spotted, I'd been spotted. If they opened the security door, that would actually help me. I could see other prisoners in other cells, all fast asleep. Hopefully they would stay that way. Almost anything could be beyond the security door, from a small constabulary station house, to rows and rows of cell blocks in a sector prison. I grabbed both droids├óÔé¼Ôäó stun blasters one of their comlinks and flattened myself into the shadows at one side of the door as I listened. My eyes widened as I heard shouts and screams and an officious voice calling for backup over the com. What on earth?*
~~~~
*Frustrated by his failures to draw any new information out of the mysterious woman, the police inspector had decided that it was time to let his contact know that two suspected Nightwings had been taken into custody. The agreement was simple. The Syndicate had paid him a nice supplement to his usual salary, in exchange for alerting them if anyone meeting certain parameters were arrested. The two hapless thieves from the liquor store fit the parameters perfectly. It was all too easy, and the crooked inspector knew his superiors would turn a blind eye to any suspicions about his conduct. He'd made these deals before. But this one felt different. He sweated nervously as he stood outside the small police facility, but he got out his comlink and sent the signal. He needn't tell them about the young lady, either. She hadn't matched any of their parameters. Or anyone else in the police database, for that matter.*
*He didn't have to wait long. Five minutes later, two Gammoreans and two Weequays arrived on speeder bikes, and all pointed nasty looking blasters almost directly at the inspector. Trying to keep a straight face, he hastily surrendered, and allowed the underworld scum to restrain him with his own police issue binders. Then, they made their way inside. There was a small waiting lobby, a single desk, and two doors in the back wall, two of which stood open to reveal a com center. A second police officer sat at the front desk, and a dozen police droids were scattered about. The Weequays simply swept the room with a hail of blasterfire, shooting indiscriminately at everyone and everything. The droids never stood a chance, but the desk officer hit the floor behind his desk, and hauled out his comlink, yelling for help. The inspector grimaced, hoping that he'd successfully cut the local comlinks out from the main system. If so, the only ones who would hear that cry were the two droids inside the prison block.*
*He struggled mightily, for the benefit of his colleague and any unexpected onlookers, as his 'captors' dragged him into the middle of the station floor, tore his keys from his belt, and then flung him into communications center. His part was done. He smiled. He'd sold it, and now he was safe. He heard a terrible scream from the other room as his fellow constable was silenced, and then a crunch as someone stepped on the fallen man's comlink, but even that couldn't shake the conscience of the crooked inspector. One fewer person now knew about the chick they'd caught last night. He strained for a better look at the disaster scene in the main room of the station --- and felt his jaw suddenly grasped by a dirty Gammorean hand. He looked up in surprise.
*Right into the business end of a blaster.*
*And the gleeful eyes of a Weequay.*
*The Weequay pressed his blaster between the inspector's eyes. "Sorry, no witnesses."
*He'd been right to worry.* "But we had a deal!"
*He smiled cruelly and fired.* "We are altering the deal."
~~~~
*I could hear the enraged roars of at least two Gammoreans over the explosions of blaster fire, and then the fighting died down to an occasional blaster shot, and I was finally able to make some sense out of the audible chaos coming over the police comlink. A strange voice (not the inspector I'd met earlier) was calling out orders, although no one seemed to be responding.*
::: Guards, be ready. They're breaking into the cellblock. There's a --- AHhhhh! *crackle* :::
*And the transmission went dead. What in space was going on out there? Something big enough that no one was watching the security cameras, and something deadly enough to be killing police men. I grimaced in spite of my current situation. Whoever was on the other end had apparently just taken a pretty good hit. Yes, the Coruscanti police were my captors, but they were probably a lot closer to allies than whatever was cutting its way through the prison right now. And "the" cellblock? There was only one? Then this wasn't a prison, it was a station house. That meant the Gammoreans and friends were coming in here. I quickly examined the two droid blasters, but they only had stun settings. Useless. My stomach tightened as I pried the power cells loose, and dropped the guns to the floor. There was only one thing to do. Go back to my cell, set up an ambush, and hope that they ignored me.*
