Ours Are The Furies: There's No Crying On Jovan

[Q. Samus Dage]

"We're putting as much distance between us and those droids as possible."

The came to a T junction, and Dage gave the quick order to go left, which Rai'fa did without too much complaint.

"At least for right now. I don't have a blaster, so it makes fighting back a bit tricky."

A short distance away, the tube ended at another hatchway. There was no telling what was on the other side, and he was loathe to allow the younger Meorrrei to poke her head out first. He gave a tap to ankle.

"Let me squeeze by you."

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

Rai complied with the request, her thin figure laying flush against the tube's wall to allow Samus to pass. She averted her eyes, partly in a display of residual anger, but also to hide any latent fear that may creep into that stormy demeanor.

"jI rrememberr takjing a fjield trrjip to the Rrojyal Musseum of Mjiljitarrjy Hjisstorrjy."

She had to pause, remembering her forrda audience.

"On Cana'darri. We ate lunch out on the parrade grround, and a fjighterr wjing djid an ajirr sshow forr all the cubss. Everrjyone thought jit wass kuu'ai. And then we tourred the musseum, and ssaw the drrojidss. Ssuch thjin ljittle thjingss. jI thought thejy looked ljike mannequjinss. Harrmlesss."

[Q. Samus Dage]

"Oh they're far from harmless," came the grunted answer as he shifted past her. It wasn't too tight of a squeeze, but the room was indeed limited and he took as much care as he could to make sure that he didn't knee her in the gut or give her any more reason to begin complaining. As it was, she was talking of other things that weren't necessarily sob-filled, so he counted that as a win.

Quick fingers punched in the access code (Damn you, Kes), and with an ominous click the hatch popped back before sliding open.

Dage remained tucked behind the hatch frame, but when none of the telltale sounds of patrolling droidekas or battle droids reached his ears, the blonde slowly leaned forward to have a look.

It looked to be a side corridor, devoid of life or any other activity. The silence was a stark thing from the chaos that had been heard from the merchant promenade, and with a thin-lipped grimace, he carefully - and as quietly as possible - began to pull himself out from the maintenance tube.

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

Rai'faani followed, slinking out of the tube with feline grace. She rolled her spine in an unconscious stretch, gracious for the open space to do so. Her ear's buoyed in the air, straining for any hint of that dreadful staccato clanking from earlier. Not a thing. The corridor seemed artificially quiet. More disconcerting, it looked no different to Rai than the one they'd escaped from just minutes before. She peered down the corridor both ways, but didn't see a thing to discern where they were.

"T'yeellaa wass headed to meet Cirrsseeto."

She hung behind Samus like his shadow, nervously biting at her claws.

"Majybe we can go therre? Get on hjiss sshjip?"

[Q. Samus Dage]

For a moment Dage said nothing. He stayed close to the bulkhead as he moved forward, Rai'fa keeping as close as possible behind him.

"We can try."

Her mention of T'yeellaa only set alight a concerned pang in his mind. It was a strange feeling, and one that caused just as much confusion as it did worry. Worry won out. Only problem with that was that it settled in his gut, and couldn't be shaken off. He knew she was a capable woman; she'd had her share enough of combat, but still...

The worry persisted, and with it his gruff demeanor seemed to deepen. But only for a moment. With a conscious effort, the blonde let out a long, low breath from between clenched teeth as they cautiously approached the end of the corridor. It opened up into a larger common area that was conspicuously empty.

And then that familiar rolling sound...

On pure instinct Dage pushed himself back against the bulkhead wall, his right arm going out to grab Rai'faani and pull her against him while his left went up to cover her mouth. He needed to make the both of them as invisible as possible, and he couldn't take any chances of her letting out with some string of audible Cizeri cursing. He was aided by a support section that cut off any direct line of sight, and he hoped that that would be enough as the pair of droidekas zipped their way past the corridor opening on patrol or - on a more morbid note - on their way to quell other populated areas of the station.

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

Her ears had the sound almost immediately. One moment she was pivoting on her toes with Samus on the tip of her tongue. The Ssa had gotten out, and after that, she'd teleported behind a load bearing beam with him all over her, especially his hand. On her mouth. And she was screaming into it, looking wildly over her shoulder at his cool expression...with her scream petering out under his hand like a fizzling tea kettle.

"mhrmm...mph mmrrmm mrr"

[Q. Samus Dage]

"Sshh."

His eyes never left those rolling balls of death, and Dage made a stern face as he watched them move away. He held his breath, still watching, and then they rounded a corner and disappeared from sight. Finally he exhaled. A slow and metered breath.

Finally he tracked his eyes down to Rai'faani. His features remained like stone, but behind his eyes was a concerning war playing out; get to Khera, or find T'yeellaa, or find Kes... ? It was infuriating, and the blonde gave a last pause.

"Not a sound, got it?"

His voice was low and very nearly hissed out from between his teeth.

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

The nerves and adrenaline and fear resonated in Rai'faani's birdish figure as quiet oscillation. Her body shook while still in his grasp, but she remained still in poise and in expression. Even with Samus' hand still fixed to her mouth, Rai blinked her wide eyes and gave a careful nod.

[Q. Samus Dage]

Slowly his hand moved away from her mouth, and Dage eased her away so that she was flush with the wall. Another furtive look out at the deserted concourse. Along the far wall was a large observation deck that was sunk down on a lower level with chairs and small tables scattered about. Even from a distance he could see a few abandoned drinks still sitting on a few of the tables.

Looking back to Rai'faani, Samus let his eyes fall to her feet. And the pair of heels she wore on them.

His gaze rose again to meet her own for a fraction of a second before returning to scan the concourse, and his voice remained low.

"Lose the heels."

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

These are five hundred credit shoes was the hot-tempered thought that boiled up through the heady terror in Rai's mind, and that thought was sufficient to make her cast a gawk of incredulity at the human. Of course, the gravity of their situation made that ludicrous observation fall back to earth, and the younger Meorrrei kicked away her heels, which clattered on the deck. She rolled her bare arches against the floor, frowning as she thought about it's state of cleanliness.

Her breath was beginning to return to homeostasis, and Rai nervously hugged her arms around her middle as she waited for Samus to tell her when to jump and how high. She glanced back down the corridor. The silence felt murderous here. She hated Samus for his cool-as-water calm in that moment.

[Q. Samus Dage]

"Good."

He meant the word as soft encouragement, but at the same time he was aware that his tone held anything but. His clipped tone gave little in the way of anything but firm direction. And even if he wanted to soothe her nerves, he knew that now was not the time; indeed, they had no time for that.

Instead, he reached down, taking her hand in a strong grip that left little argument or question. When he did look at her then, his eyes met hers with a level gaze. Hard, but encouraging at the same time.

"We're gonna cross the concourse, ok?"

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

But they'd just come from the concourse, thought Rai'faani, her hand tightening in his hold. Get it together, the rational side of her tried to right the ship. The concourse was sprawling. It went around the entire middle hull of the station. They'd been walking through it all morning to the point where her feet got tired. Maybe they'd find a clear spot.

Rai's sharply swishing tail slowed, and she nodded.

"Okajy."

She nodded again, convincing herself this time.

"Okajy."

[Q. Samus Dage]

She was probably as ready as she'd ever be, and Dage nodded as he scanned the concourse. Further down the way was the entry alcove to the lifts that would get them one step closer to the command deck. Of course they'd not be taking the lifts themselves, but there were maintenance access tunnels. And though he was fairly certain that it would be a long climb, it was necessary.

He steeled himself, gave a last look left, then a last look right. And a moment later, he surged out from their cover, pulling Rai'faani with him and out onto the concourse.

The blonde moved at a quick pace, his long gait eating up the distance between them and the alcove.

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

Rai ran in pursuit, ears peeled back in maximum apprehension as she was certain any second she would be stung by a blaster bolt. And despite her lanky gait, she was still too slow for the human, and was being pulled off balance.

"Sslow down orr let go of me!" She blurted, wincing as she hoped it wasn't enough sound to matter.

[Q. Samus Dage]

Too late he heard the familiar clomping of battle droids. And when Rai'faani's voice sounded, he knew it would be a lost cause to try and make it to the lifts. With suddenly no real options left, Dage veered to the side. He gave a final pull, sending Rai'fa ahead of him and down the wide stairwell into the lounge area before he himself jumped down, clearing the steps in one deceptively easy go.

"Under the table," he hissed, gesturing with his free hand to two chairs and a low table that separated them.

His head turned, looking back up to the direction that the marching was coming from.

No time left...

Rai'fa seemed stuck in one spot, and Samus gave her a shove, sending her on a trajectory to the closest hiding place just as the first battle droid came into view.

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

"Aah.."

Rai tumbled back, falling between the gap in the lounge's bar. She quickly shimmied on the floor to pull her legs out of view, then remained as still as she could manage. The metal footfalls were getting closer, a creepy precision to them that sounded like the ticking of a macabre clock. And beyond that, her own wild heartbeat thrumped in hear ears.

She was going to die here. On the floor of some bar on a space station in the middle of nowhere, and her only witness was her sister's bully of a plaything. She glanced over to the liquor shelves, and absurdly thought that now would be a really good time for a drink.

That's when she heard the voice.

"Na kaali. E'kuurra teeissa."

It was tinny and ridiculous, clearly an artificial vocabulator. Speaking in Cizeri.

"Ya Ve Ya Ve." came a reply from a second droid. Rai'faani's expression was one of shock. They're Cizerack droids. Cizerack droids are trying to kill us.

[Q. Samus Dage]

"Ya Ve Ya Ve."

Dage only had a brief moment to consider the words as he stood, half-way squared off against the pair of droids as one of them leveled its' carbine at him. Despite the distance still between them, their colorful markings seemed out of place. He'd only ever seen battle droids in their normal drab beige. But 'ya ve ya ve'?

It was just before the barrel of the droids weapon barked at him that he grimly realized what it meant. Roger roger. Even in a different language the damn things said the same silly things...

And then the blaster bolt hit his shoulder and he was spun around to crash on the floor at the bar's opening.

"Aaarghh!"

His body had hit hard, a hand going over to cover the blackened blossom of charred fabric and flesh. His eyes screwed shut as he tried to shut away the burning pain, and lifting his hand away, the blonde reached out to Rai'fa. His features contorted in pain, his fingers seemed to beckon to her.

Through it all, the sound of approaching metal feet was getting closer.

"Hurrrnghh... "

Words Samus, words.

Labored breathing and urgently whispered words finally left his mouth as his fingers continued to curl in and out.

"Whiskey... please... ?"

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

"Arre jyou crrazjy?!? jYou want a drrjink at a moment ljike thjiss???"

Well why not? She sure as hell did. Rai turned to face the liquor shelf, frantically looking for the brown bottles. Ew, whisky. She pulled the cap off with her teeth and passed it over.

[Q. Samus Dage]

His hand grasped the neck of the bottle, and upending it over his shoulder, Dage growled out a string of curses as the sting of alcohol hit ruined flesh and soaked his shirt.

The clanking footfalls stopped, and looking up at the battle droid standing over him, he flipped the bottle almost expertly to catch it in a reverse grip. A second later her heaved himself up with angry exertion, cocked his arm back, and let the bottle fly.

It hit the droid just below it's chest section, exploding in a shower of glass and liquor and instantaneously followed by raining sparks as the liquid reacted violently with the droid's electronics. The carbine was dropped instantly as arms fell to the thing's side, and Dage had just enough time to scoop up the rifle before having to scramble out of the way of the falling automaton. It crashed to the floor, its' body jerking about violently.

Hefting the blaster up, Dage let fly with a volley of fire that stilled the twitching droid.

And then a row of glasses above his head shattered in return fire from the other battle droid, and the blonde ducked his head to weather the shower of glass that fell over the top of both him and Rai'faani.

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

"yaAAA!!! Naau'e saallameeth'a hei ai!!"

Rai clutched at both ears, pressing them down against her cheeks as the glass began to spall and rain overhead. She screwed both eyes shut as a ribbon of some clear liquor dribbled into her hair.

"Sshoot jit!! Sshoot jit!!"