The first rays of soft morning light pushed their way through the lacey white curtains of the room. Simon reluctantly cracked his eyes open and took in the lavishly decorated room around him and the soft plush bed he lay on. A shift in weight drew his attention to the purple-maned white unicorn that crawled her way into the bed. Rarity stared at him with half-lidded eyes that gleamed with hunger and desire as she closed the gap with a painfully slow pace. With a smirk, she draped herself around his shoulders and brought her snout teasingly close to his lips.
“Ortell,” she breathed out in a low, husky voice.
He felt her warm breath and smelled that sweet, flowery perfume. The smuggler sensed his heart race and desire rise when she inched her lips closer to his. Licking his lips in anticipation, he moved to meet hers when everything fell apart.
Simon’s eyes snapped open to find he was sitting in a rather uncomfortable metal chair. Pain shot ran through his arms starting at the binders around his wrists. The taste of warm copper filled his mouth while the side of his face began to numb and drive out the sharp hurt. His eyes just barely began to adjust when he came to realize that he was in a dimly lit room surrounded by cargo boxes and snickering mercenaries. At the center of it all was a face, or rather, mask that sent an icy chill through his entire core: Vrax.
“Heeeeey there, Ortell,” he greeted him warmly with that harsh, gravelly voice. “Sleep well, I hope?”
“Vrax,” Simon replied in a groggily, “I was just having the best dream about your mom and a bottle of Corellian Blue."
The smuggler couldn't help but start laughing at his own joke while all those in the room simply moved away from Vrax. But instead of flying into a rage, the Ubese started laughing along with his captive. What started as a few light-hearted chuckles quickly rose into boisterous laughter shared between the two outlaws. Vrax was still laughing happily when the metal appendage connected to his left arm launched forth and sank a set of three thick claws into Simon's side. Simon froze up while pain shot through his entire body and a warm sensation ran down his side. Vrax was still laughing in his face when the claws were yanked free.
"Oh, sorry about that, Ortell," he said while still snickering. "See, I'm still on a loooooot of painkillers. I guess I got a bit carried away," Vrax brought the claw up to Simon's face so he could see it better. "See that Force bitch you went to meet with kiiiiiinda cut off my arm when I cut out her heart. To top it off, we didn't really have any fancy sleek prosthetics laying around, so I settled for this combat droid arm. What do you think, suits me, right?"
Simon didn't respond, only slumping his chair while the three puncture wounds in his side continued to drain needed lifeblood. Through his blurring vision he could see a pool of red starting to form at his feet while his head became rather light.
"Uuuuh, boss," one of the henchmen spoke up. "Maybe we should..."
"Oooooh, right," Vrax nodded in agreement and waved over the bipedal medical droid. "Patch him up, so I can hurt him again, would ya?"
While the mechanized construct saw to Simon's wound, shrill beeping drew the gangster's attention. He produced a small disc-shaped device from his pocket that when activated created the small holographic image of an annoyingly familiar Unicorn. A Unicorn who looked more than a little irate at the moment.
"Vrax," she hissed at him,"I believe you have something that belongs to me."
"Well how about that," Vrax asked with a heavy taste of poison in his tone. "Sure looks like the game has suddenly changed. Tell me, how does it feel to be on the other side and to have what you want so far out of your reach?"
"Where is Simon?" Rarity barked at him. "I know you have him."
"You're not in a position to make threats," Vrax growled at her.
“Darling, I’m a lady - I don’t make threats...only statements.” Rarity levitated one of the supposed lost cases into view of the holo-projector. "Besides, I have sufficient capital to make any comment, threats included if I so wish, that I desire. Show him to me, now."
"Alright, but I gotta warn you: I think we might have voided the warranty a bit," the Ubese said as he brought Simon into view of his own holo-projector. "There, your boyfriend is alive and in slight disrepair. How long he stays this way is up to you."
"Simon!" Rarity gasped at the sight of her beaten companion. "Vrax, you heartless degenerate fiend!"
"Heartless?" he asked, bringing the camera back to face him. "How dare you insult me when I go out of my way to have his wounds patched up? If that's the way you're going to be, then maybe I should just start pulling those stitches out strand by strand while you watch."
He made sure that she could see everything he was doing, tilting the projector to get just the right angle where she could see him playfully tug on a freshly sown spot on his torso. Playfully the gangster tugged at the medical grade string and forced lovely pained noises to leave his victim's throat. All the while, Vrax kept a careful eye on Rarity's expression, a wonderful mixture of anger and worry.
"Stop it," she screamed at him.
"For now," Vrax growled after he stopped his bit of torture. "But keep this in mind: I'll do far worse than those paltry scratches, unless you give me that case."
"Don't," Simon groaned. "Just run..."
"To where?" Vrax asked with an amused snort. "Where's the little uplifted alien going to run and hide that I won't find her? Back home to her friends and family, surrounded by all those big scary Mandalorians? How long do you think it'll take me to find one that's willing to sell his loyalty long enough to bring her to me beaten and bloody? Her entire stupid race threw in with that galaxy's most notorious mercenaries. Throw enough credits at them and all that talk of loyalty and family will go out the window eventually. Oh wait, I know, why not go back to your old friend Lorn? I'm sure it won't take me long to find his shop or even kill an elderly Sullustan. Oh, right, you were hoping I would know about the geezer right? You really do know how drag your friends down with you, don't you Ortell?"
"I want to make a deal," Rarity said in a low defeated tone.
"Rarity..." Simon pleaded.
"You want this blasted case don't you?" Rarity asked. "Then please, just return Simon to me alive and in one piece, swear to leave us alone and it's yours."
"Sounds reasonable," Vrax agreed. "Keep in mind, he might be a little...scuffed...when you get him back.”
“Harm another hair on his head and so help me….” Rarity hissed at him.
“Or you’ll what,” Vrax shot back at her. “Space the crate? Go right ahead, I’ll be sure to send you copy of his death vid, I’ll even make sure it’s nice and slow just for you.”
Rarity’s expression began to crack and break. “Please, Vrax, I just want Captain Ortell back… if the case is what you want, then fine, take the blasted thing! Just give him back.”
Vrax looped an arm around Simon’s shoulders and pulled him close. “Ya hear that Ortell? Your woman wants to save your sorry hide! Ain’t that just the most romantic thing you’ve ever heard?”
“Go to hell,” Simon managed to grumble between labored breaths.
The Ubese roughly messed the broken man’s hair with his metallic claw before shoving him aside. “Bah, you’re not much for this mushy stuff are you? Alright, Force Witch, you got a deal, the worthless smuggler for the mystery case.”
"I'm glad we could reach an agreement," Rarity replied with a forced smile. "Now, if you could just send us the coordinates-"
"Not so fast," the mangled gangster was quick to interject. "There were two cases and you've only proven that you have one of them. If you intend to give me half my prize then I'm afraid that'll only get you half this piece of space trash."
"Now see here," Rarity barked at him. "The other case was in your possession at the time of our egress. If it has been lost then the responsibility of such an action falls upon you, Vrax. Besides, how do we even know you don't already have the second case with you and this is just an excuse to waste time and justify a thinly veiled excuse to continue harming my companion?"
"Simple," Vrax replied through a snarl while his new metal claw tapped at the side of his leg. "You don't. Simon Ortell's life for both of the cases, it's that simple. Now, I'd scurry off back to Black Luster if I was you; no telling who's got that box by now."
----------------------
As the holo-projector went dark Rarity let fly a long collection of curses that had been building up in her head. Some were from her beloved Equestria while many more were little bits of local flavor she'd picked up from the various aliens she'd been dealing with. With her rage boiling over, the normally composed fashionista slammed her hoof into the console and let out an angry shout. She could feel the eyes of her companions upon her as the haze of anger started to lift away from her mind. Looking over her shoulder, she noted the stoic Kaily sizing her up with her arms crossed over her armor plated chest. In the corner, she could see R8-Z7 beeping and chirping in a low sad tone as his domed head shook back and forth.
"Harchak I say to his little errand," Kaily boldly said with a snort. "Let's just track him down and put a few dozen blaster bolts through his head."
"If we rush in, he'll simply kill Simon on the spot," Rarity was quick to remind her.
"So your plan is to play his game," Kaily asked with a scoff. "That second case could be halfway to the core worlds by now if someone picked it up. And like you said, there's no guarantee that Vrax doesn't already have it and he just wants an excuse to screw with us."
"I don't think he was lying," Rarity admitted. "For a man that wears a mask at all times he had a very obvious tell and when you work in sales and deals you tend to spot these things. His claw was tapping away at his leg when I asked him about the other case."
"Great, so we're going back to the space station we just shot up," Kaily said with a chuckle.
"Technically the only thing I shot was a pipe or two, darling," Rarity corrected her. "But you're correct: I'd imagine that the authorities will not be pleased to see us return."
"Considering that they're probably getting a few kickbacks from that little nerf karker," Kaily pointed out. "I wouldn't be surprised if this was all one big trap."
"Perhaps," Rarity agreed. "However, Vrax has been very hoofs on since we started dealing with him. If this was a trap he'd be there waiting to savor the moment. No, while this certainly will be a most difficult task, any interference we encounter will be from those that believe themselves earning their master's favor with our capture, not through Vrax."
"Well ain't you just got all the answers," Kaily replied with a brash smirk plastered across her face. "All them big words make me feel like this just might work, so let's go do this before I wise up."
Z7 let out a loud happy chirp and quickly rolled himself into the cockpit. The reenergized droid wasted no time in plugging himself into the console and taking control of the ship. It quickly dropped out of hyperspace and made an about face before an explosion of speed sent them hurtling into the blueshifting tunnel once more.
------------------------------
Sure enough, the station's security was on much higher alert than when they'd left it. An assortment of various aliens were now patrolling the halls in force, all them garbed in the same cheaply-made uniform armor and armed with an equally random collection of weapons.
The majority of the influx of protection was centered around what had at one point been the upper level's most lucrative nightclub as well as the neighboring restaurant. From the concealment of an access hatch across the promenade, the fully armored Kaily Ortell and far less armored Rarity were able to watch the authorities go about their business. While Kaily had the benefit of her visor's zoom function, Rarity had to rely on a pair of electrobinoculars that she hovered in front of her face. As a number of bodies were brought out on hover gurneys one piece of evidence caught Kaily's attention: One of the officers holding up a pair of metallic hilts and questioning his commanding officer about the objects.
"No way," she breathed out. "Those are karking lightsabers. Why are there lightsabers?"
"Our robbed friends came equipped with them," Rarity quietly informed her.
"What was the blade color," Kaily asked with a strange ring of fear in her voice.
"Red," the Unicorn beside her replied as she continued her surveillance.
"You guys got mixed up with freaking Sith," Kaily hissed under her breath.
"I'm afraid I'm not entirely familiar with the group," Rarity replied while still not looking up at the bulky human. "But they were a most dreadful collection of characters. I've never felt a chill run down my horn and spine like that before."
Just then she noticed something that nearly made her jaw hit the floor. Exactly what they had been waiting for: the missing crate. In his haste to flee the station Vrax had left it behind and now it was in the care of Black Luster's security forces. The Unicorn's mind raced and time slowed to a crawl as she tried to think up a plan on the spot. Kaily and Simon both said it: these were no officers of the law, merely hired guns that kept the peace as their buyers saw fit. And one of those buyers was Vrax. No doubt he'd be given the case or at least contacted about its whereabouts the moment they were away with it. She only had this window of opportunity to change the outcome in her favor. And that's when a plan hit her.
She levitated Simon's lost com-link from within her coat and with careful precision she used her magic hurl it across the open ground towards the case. Her face scrunched up in concentration as she pushed her magical reach to its limits and beyond, ducking and darting the little device in and out of cover as she tried to reach the box. A few beads of sweat formed on her brow as the strain and pressure of such a task started to weigh heavily upon her. Finally it gently found its target and with a quiet little click it fastened itself to the underside of the crate. Rarity let out a quiet thank you to goddesses as she nearly collapsed upon the metal grate below her.
A large metal hand clasped the back of her neck with a gentle pat. "Not bad, not bad at all. Nice having Force Magic to back ya up."
"Well," she said through a string of heavy breaths. "It wasn't much really, but I dare say that even Twilight Sparkle would be impressed by that small feat."
---------------------
"You hear about that good-looking tailhead down on Sub-Sector Eight?" one of the guardsmen asked his companion as they road down deeper into the bowels of the space station. A number of boxes marked evidence sat on a hover trolley in between them.
"The one with those green markings down her lekkus," his companion asked with a grin. "What about her?"
"Word from up top is that she's been helping those new Spice pushers set up shop down below," he told him. "Chief wants us to pay her a visit and make sure she remembers who's in charge around here."
"Tch, about time," he replied. "Those dealers think they're such hot poodoo coming to our station and setting up shop like that."
"And not even giving us our cut," his friend interjected. "Now that's just bad manners, we're gonna need to teach these punks a lesson in how things are run here on Black Luster."
"Speaking of which, any idea why the sergeant was so hot to get this box to storage," the other asked. "I mean not everything makes it to evidence, but with the way he lit up you'd think it was his Life Day present or something."
"Above our paygrade - that’s all you gotta know," was his partner’s even reply.
When the turbolift doors slid open with a loud hiss, a heavily-armored fist slammed into the lead officer‘s face. While the sound of metal crushing bone filled the air, his companion was given just as little quarter to react to this when a metal grate suspended in blue energy smashed into the side of his head.
The pair were left sprawled out on the floor by the ambush while Rarity and Kaily stood triumphantly over their unconscious bodies. Between the now resting guardsmen the evidence container and the seemingly all important crate laid there before them. "Told we could catch them in time," Kaily stated as she started to gather their target item.
"Yes, well, imagine how impressed I was when you managed to fit through that vent," Rarity replied while keeping an eye out down the corridors behind them.
"A crack about my size, really?" even with the voice modulation it was easy to spot the annoyance in Kaily's voice. "Do you talk to my brother like this, too?"
"Oh no," she quickly responded with a touch of bemusement. "My banter with your brother has been known to reach rather marathon stature. According to a number of tabloids we may be setting a galactic record."
"Tch, always figured he'd settle in with a smart ass like himself," the bulky mercenary said while she strapped the container to her back. "I know I'm hard to find but least you two could've done is dropped me a line about it."
This statement clearly caught Rarity by surprise and caused her to do a double-take looking rather a gasp. "I beg your pardon?"
"Look, don't worry about it," Kaily replied as she started checking around the halls with her blaster at the ready. "I know my brother plays everything close to the chest, so I'm not even mad. Hell, you seem like a decent enough girl, probably keep him grounded pretty well I'd guess. I'm gonna guess he talked you down from some big ceremony and bringing in a ton of friends and family and just doing something small and low key. If ya want, after we save his sorry sheb I can twist his arm get you whatever dream wedding you actually wanted with the louse."
It took Rarity nearly a full minute to process all of this. During this time her jaw sat firmly on the floor between her forelegs while she stared in disbelief at the powerful young woman listing out her assumptions. The mare bristled slightly at all of this: of all the foalish ideas! Her, married to a scruffy space jockey like him? The very thought clearly disgusted her to the point where her heart skipped a beat and a deep crimson pushed through the white fur of her cheeks.
"Hey," a playful shove from Kaily knocked her out of this stupor. "C'mon, I'm just fooling with ya. Simon's way too much of an idiot when it comes to women to ever land a wife."
Rarity gave her an annoyed look before agreeing with the statement. As they were about to leave however something in caught the mare's sharp eye. During the scuffle the lid to the evidence container had been knocked off and laying there on top of a number of randomly collected bits of importance was a pair of metallic hilts. She gave the weapons a close look, it was hard to believe that they could cause as much damage as she'd seen and heard about. They were truly elegant and devastating weapons. As Kaily called for her to follow, Rarity finally ripped her attention away from the box containing a lightsaber hilt.
----------------
Simon was having anything but a good day. Granted, it had started out in what was becoming a rather typical fashion: filled with blaster fire and death threats. Lately though, things have certainly started to escalate, a fact that quickly entered his mind when one of his captors roughly shoved him into the wall. His captors had made it no mystery that he was anything but welcomed on this ship but they had at least patched up the majority of his injuries. Unfortunately for Simon they hadn’t been kind enough to leave him with any of his tools otherwise he would have already been out of the binder cuffs that kept his arms restrained behind his back. Just as he was starting to recover the henchman that was escorting him roughly shoved him further along.
“C’mon punk,” his guard snarled at him. “I ain’t got all night to waste on you.”
In a quick act of defiance, Simon hurled himself backwards into the far larger and fitter man behind him. The smuggler’s smaller form slammed ineffectively into the broad wide chest of his keeper whom didn’t even budge an inch. Simon cautiously looked up to meet the gaze of the henchman he’d just tried to assault and was met with a rueful glare which the spacer countered with a wide awkward grin. A fat, meaty hand clasped him around the back of his neck and hoisted him into the air. Simon’s legs kicked at the air as he was sent tumbling further down the corridor and tumbling across the metal grating of the floor.
“You must really have a thing for getting your butt kicked, Ortell,” the henchman commented with a smirk.
“Maybe I’m just biding my time,” Simon replied with a grunt. “That way it’s that much more impressive when I turn the tables on guys like you.”
A boot slammed into his gut yet again with a great deal of force behind the blow. “Somehow I have my doubts about that.”
Simon gasped for air and curled himself up on the floor following an instinct to hide his exposed underbelly to his attacker. He continued to cough and wheeze long after his jailer left the tiny room and locked the door behind him. Once his senses started to return to him a smirk started to stretch across Simon’s face when he slipped the vibro-knife he’d taken from his violent captor out from his sleeve. The tricky smuggler pulled himself into a sitting position and began pressing the now-vibrating blade into the connecting band on his binder cuffs.
--------------------
“I have to admit, I had my doubts I’d be hearing from you again,” the hologram of Vrax said to the Unicorn. “This where you admit you couldn’t find it and then beg for more time?”
Rarity was stone faced as she stared into the visor of the Ubese gangster. Her horn lit up with a blue aura as she hoisted both security containers up for Vrax to see. She continued to glare at the tiny image of the alien, even through his expressionless visor she could see the wheels in his head turning.
“I suppose I stand corrected,” Vrax admitted. “Bring your ship to-“
“No,” Rarity interrupted him.
“Really,” Vrax hissed in response. “I suppose you don’t care about what I do to Simon then?”
“And you must think me a foal blindly follow you into what is obviously a trap. No darling, I think I’d rather not place my neck in your latest noose. Instead, you’ll be bringing Simon to a location of my choosing and you’ll be coming there alone. Unless you’d rather I dumped both of these cases into the first sun I happen to swing past.”
Vrax glared at her through his environmental mask as he tried to break the equine before him. The metal claws of his prosthetic arm clicked together as he defiantly let her demand go unanswered. With an angry growl he finally relented to Rarity. “Fine, Witch, we’ll do this part your way. But only if it’s in a public place, I’d rather not walk into your trap either.”
“Agreed,” Rarity happily replied. “I will contact you within the hour with the location.”
Her hoof tapped the console in front of her and cut off the transmission. With the feed cut she let out a long held breath and nearly collapsed on the ground with a sigh. Her attention snapped to Kaily when she felt her hand pat the back of her neck.
“Not bad,” Kaily said, praising the Unicorn for her ingenuity. “Now that we got Vrax dancing to our tune, what’s the next move?”
“I wish I knew, darling,” she said with a sigh. “Things are in our favor for the time being but that can easily change if we don’t make the right move from this point.”
“So where are we taking this deal?”
The mare shook her head as she began to pace the common room. “I’m not sure. We can’t get him to return to my home planet, he’d never agree to place himself in blaster range of the Mandalorians and I can’t have him anywhere near my home and loved ones. If we go to some underworld planet or station he could easily bring them under his sway with a few well placed credits. We need someplace neutral that he can’t turn the tables against us.”
The mare took a seat upon one of the couches with a frustrated sigh and buried her face in the fabric. Kaily began busying herself with the computer as she listed off places they could face Vrax on equal footing but her words fell upon deaf, tired ears. Rarity’s gaze settled upon the crate she and Kaily had stolen back. This unassuming metal box that had caused both her and Simon so much trouble since Seraph gave it to them. Ever since it’d shown up she had been fighting for her life all across a dark uncaring galaxy. As she gazed upon the cargo container her ire and curiosity began to flare.
With a glow of her horn, she hoisted the box into the air and floated it across the room to her. Rarity took a moment to examine the device on the front of it but the electronic lock clearly had no intention of giving up the secrets of opening the latch. An idea formed in her head: it was rather unconventional but it could work in theory. Her face scrunched up in concentration as she focused her magic upon the inner workings of the device. With a bit more effort she finally managed to force the latch to unlock. Rarity smirked with satisfaction at her victory over the object.
Upon lifting the lid her feeling of joy quickly changed to fear and panic. When the lid opened a feeling of dread and terror rushed into her body with a force that choked the air from her lungs. She let out a scream and slammed the lid shut, the lock clicked into place much to her relief. As she panted and forced down gasps of air she could see that her panic attack had not gone unnoticed.
“Yo, you alright?” Kaily asked her with a curious brow.
“I… I think so,” Rarity replied and wiped a few beads of sweat from her brow.
“What was that about?”
“That box,” she said pointing a shaky hoof at it. “Whatever that is inside it is something dark, something malicious and hateful!”
“Makes sense,” Kaily admitted. “Sith don’t normally go looking for artifacts of fluffy cuddliness.”
“I don’t know what that it is in the box, but I know we can’t let Vrax or anypony else get their hooves on it. We need to get rid of that thing as fast as possible.”
“Great well, that’s pretty messed up,” Kaily agreed. “But since we still need it we’re gonna file that idea away for now m’kay?”
Rarity shot the mercenary an annoyed glare before finally regaining her composure. “Right then, we shall stay focused on the task at hoof. Where can we lure Vrax to that he can’t gain the advantage?”
Silence hung heavy in the room for a moment until Kaily finally chimed in. “I might know a place.”