Now We're Stuck Together (Tech & Candira)

[Techn0logic]

It was about twenty minutes in when all hell broke loose. It was a routine operation where they'd come in and kill or subdue, or whatever came first, the crew and salvage the cargo. Their ship boarded it without incident, and everyone was ready. But they weren't expecting the GPF (Galactic Police Force) to be here, to be waiting. The first one who was hit was Jezzo, he was cut from the comm-link first. When they tried to regroup, both Howie and Melania were killed when they reached the rendezvous.

Then the communication link went out, some kind of jamming signal most likely. The rest of the gang were on their own now, the only option left was to escape to the ship and make a hyper-jump. Though right now, the odds were against them. The trap was perfect, it had gotten most of the band of pirates so far. But not every plan was perfect, not in the slightest.

A hail of ballistic bullets stormed down the hallway, ripping bits of metal shrapnel and interior wiring from the walls. A trio of GPF soldiers were positioned at the end of the corridor, each one making various 'leap frogs' of burst fire from behind cover. Their target was down the hall, positioned at the opposing corridor. He was already hurt, blood soaking through his metallic flak armor. He was alone, injured and bleeding from a botched ambush attempt. They were supposed to take him down when he took the corner, but the fatal shot missed, hitting him in the flesh area of his shoulder.

Van cursed under his breath as the bullets kept him pinned at the corner, leaving little room for the man to move. He was stuck in the flight deck, learning only recently the GPF had locked the controls down to the ship. There was only one way in and out of the flight deck, and that was the hallway. The pirate had slouched down, holding his rifle close to his chest as he slowly peered from beyond the corner, quickly forced back as bullets traversed towards him.

"Someone come in, for fuck's sake say something!" Van screamed, his finger pushing into the 'talk' function of his earpiece. But there was nothing, nothing but static. He knew three were dead already, and there was originally five including himself. Someone had to be alive, had to be surviving this trap.

The pirate's bright blues stared about the current room, trying to find something to turn the tide, to give him an advantage. Then he saw it, a steel table with retractable wheels on the legs littered with various flight plans and documents. With a brush of his hand over his chin shag, he gave a wicked grin.

The firing had stopped, and the masked GPF officers had looked to each other. "Did he bleed out?" One of them asked, having the other shrug. Slowly, one of them had taken the corner, looking to the two others. "Eyes on the end, if you see him, drop him!" He ordered, having the other two nod in acknowledgment.

Now a trio of guns were pointed down the hall, with one of them now moving, the officer crouched and slowly making an advance down the hallway. It was a rather wide one, to accommodate the necessity of evacuation for the flight crew if a serious problem occurred. The officer kept up his approach, half-way down the hall when it happened.

The massive steel table had been turned on it's smaller side, flipped up like a giant tower shield. It had been placed outside the door, causing the walking soldier to immediately fire upon it, creating various dents and spreading of shrapnel.

"Shit!" The officer yelled out as he was littered with hot led from Van's gun, the pirate now slowly easing the the table forward with heavy pushes, using it as a bullet magnet. One of the officers quickly moved to the center of doorway, firing against it. "That was my friend you bastard!" He screamed in anger, emptying out his clip. The other officer stood behind the doorway on the left, looking to his comrade in panic.

"Get behind a wall-"

"Fuck!" Screamed the enraged officer, the table had been pushed to the ground, and kicked down the hallway with the wheels, slamming the officer into a wall and pinning him by the waist, effectively breaking his pelvis. Before the other officer could effectively fight back, Van was upon him.

Van's gun was whipped against the GPF officier, causing him to stagger. The pirate then grabbed him by the head and repeatedly slammed him into the wall, thus breaking his mask and forcing splinters of metal into his face, effectively taking him out.

Before the pinned officer could even try and push the table away, it was forced back into his broken pelvis painfully by Van, who was holding his gun on his shoulder, grinning with his foot on the other end of the table.

"Who's still alive?"

"Like I'd fucking tell you!"

Van slammed his foot against the table, providing a painful reaction from the soldier who screamed out in agony.

"I'll ask you again, who is still alive?"

"You bastard, you're all dead, the only one still not fucked is some bitch in cargo, she's wounded and they got her cornered, we plan to have a little fun with her then kill her, but you are gonna head to your fucking ship aren't yo-"

Before the soldier could finish, a bullet was planted straight into his face, piercing through the mask and between his eyes. Van gave a slight sigh, running his hand across his short blond hair. Melanie was dead, and there was only one other female that was with them.

His started on his way to cargo.

 

[Candira]

When they'd spotted Lana, they figured she'd be an easy target. They were very wrong. Just because she was a woman didn't mean she was going to be easy to pick off, though it wasn't like you had to be a sharp shooter to take part in an ambush. Having seen her curves, however, they'd chased after the tall, tan woman to the cargo bay and pinned her down in a position that was defensible, but inescapable. She would be quite literally fucked unless she could pick everyone else off.

They'd managed to hit her in the thigh as she'd dove for cover, elliciting vision blurring pain and some blood loss. She was just glad she was wearing cargo pants. One of her pockets had had enough gauze in it to stop the worst of the bleeding, but her heart was pushing too much blood to stop it completely. She ran her fingers through her chocolate brown hair and pulled it back again into a ponytail, since a lot of hair had escaped.

If ever she had wanted looks to kill, this was the time. Because an icy glare was about all she had left in her arsenal. She'd seriously diminished the amount of bullets she had by simply defending herself up until this point and the bastards had managed to make walking pretty much unbearable. Also, the dizzying blood loss wasn't helping. She was weak and pinned down. As long as she had ammo, she was okay, but the instant she ran out, they would know and they would come for her. That would be the end of it.

She had about six rounds left and she prayed that she would not run out before she escaped. They were trying to lure her out by angering her. Psychologically, they had beaten her to a pulp. The only reason she wasn't curled in a ball crying was because she had enough adrenaline pumping through her system to remember that she wanted to stay alive, if for no other reason than to spite the GPF bastards.

But the way it sounded they knew they'd won already. Though she'd managed to critically wound at least two of them and kill one more on her way to the cargo bay, they were still outnumbering her and she had no way out of this current predicament while they were all focused on her. Derisive laughter floated through the air and unsettled her already sick stomach.

"Your little friends are all dead girlie. Why not give up and save us all the trouble? Who knows? If you suck my cock, I might let you live," one called out to her. She lifted her gun, turned it backwards and fired at random. When she heard a scream, she smiled and pulled it back down. Smug little bastards.

Still, there was the horrible sick feeling of shock and loss as the words echoed through her head. Her friends were dead. Her whole and only family was gone forever. And even if she lived through this, she had no idea how she would be able to go on living without them.

Deciding to take a risk she popped up from behind the barrel took quick aim and shot several more GPF grunts, taking them all out. That only left 3 standing. She ducked behind the cover again as they shot at her and she looked up at the ceiling with teary eyes. "You bastards...I'll never forgive you for taking them away from me..."

And that was when they managed to sneak up on her and get her at gunpoint. She was forced to drop her gun and then picked up by the ponytail. Growling in pain she shot them all looks that could have made the devil's blood run cold and tried her best to escape. Needless to say,she failed. One stayed back and kept his gun trained on her, another held her down on the crate she'd been hiding behind. The third looked down at her triumphantly and pulled her hair free of the elastic band that held it back. He grinned and put it around his wrist before licking his lips.

"Oh, I'm going to enjoy this. Say your prayers bitch, because you're going to wish you were dead before we get through with you."

 

[Techn0logic]

Van's passage to the cargo was partially unhampered. Aside from a few patrols he managed to slip by, most of them were mopping up at this point, making sure the dead pirates were all accounted for. This little factor had it so sooner or later they'd go to the flight deck, it was only a matter of time. He had to hurry.

Lana, of all people to still be alive. Her and him weren't exactly on good terms, they always disagreed on everything! If it wasn't for the fact of Jezzo playing the negotiator, well, only god knows what would of happened all those times. But now he was dead, the one person who calmed Van down and protected Lana was dead. Despite all this, Van was risking his neck further to reach her, to save her.

He had heard the bullets exchanged in the cargo, and by the time he reached it, the battle was all but done. Lana was pinned, pinned and about to be abused by three of those GPF assholes. Ducking behind a crate, Van took a minute to evaluate his plan. His movement was indeed hampered a tad by his own wound, but he had grown accustomed to pain, it slowed him, but sure as hell refused to stop him.

"God damnit Lana," he whispered to himself as he slowly placed his rifle on the floor, quietly, silently. He had unholstered his ballistic pistol with his right hand, all the while unsheathing a ka-bar knife from his waist. He had to make this quick, he couldn't let them communicate with friendlies.

The trooper with the gun was the highest priority, he would be the first to die. Van maneuvered about the massive crates, slowly bringing his feet silently across the steel floor. His eyes had drifted to Lana, who for once, inspired him to be mad in a good way.

"What the fuck!"

The GPF trooper yelled out as Van wrapped his arm around the man's neck, immediately gathering the attention of the two others, who immediately backed off of Lana to grab their weapons. Before they could even grasp them however, Van's pistol made perfectly aimed shots at both of their heads, bringing them to the ground rather quickly. The last trooper was about to shout something more, but his neck was quickly sliced, the blade now seared in blood as the trooper fell to his knees, grasping his neck as he hit the floor.

Van immediately groaned, falling to a single knee as he grasped his shoulder, feeling a heavy kick of pain from the still bleeding wound. His eyes then shot to Lana, the male breathing in heavy as he regained his composure and cleaned his blade along his leather pant leg.

"Lana, long time no see eh?" Van joked with a slight grin as he offered his hand to her, exhaling softly. "Can you walk?"

 

[Candira]

Lana had never been so happy to see Van alive in her entire life. Normally he was a brat with a mouth on him that drove her crazy in all the wrong ways. Today, he was a hero. She let her face remain stoic by focusing on the pain in her leg as they readied themselves to take her out. And then they were all dead. Her eyes her full of tears as she took in his face. That familiar face was all it took to bolster her will to live. His question snapped her out of it and she blinked the tears away from her green eyes.

"Not without help. They got my thigh," she said, gesturing to the wound she'd received. She took his hand and gasped as she put weight on it. "Damn it. We need to get to a ship quickly. I can walk but it'll be slow," she said, instinctively transferring her weight to her uninjured leg. Ever the pragmatist, she picked up her own gun and the gun of one of the dead GPF member. "Let's get out of here, huh?" She tucked her own gun into one of the pockets in her pants, safety on, and then readied the other.

"Thank you, by the way."

 

[Techn0logic]

Van noticed the tears, but didn't say a word about it. Why he came to her rescue, hell he didn't even know. But she was safe, she was shot, but she was safe. This all in all felt right, so why not go with the flow? Van saw as she readied herself, standing on her one non-injured leg. This wouldn't be fast enough, they'd be on them too soon.

"Save it, wait till we are out of here or else it's all for nothing." Van said as he gritted his teeth, kneeling down next to Lana. With a painful groan, he brought his arm under Lana, bringing her up against his form. The pain was terrible, stressing the already tensed nerves of his wounded shoulder. "Hold on, we aren't making any stops!" Van said as he grabbed a GPF rifle, holding it with his free hand.

He darted out of the cargo-bay, charging down the hall with Lana slightly bouncing in his grasp, his teeth gritted tightly to suppress the current pain. The GPF troopers were distracted, and the path to the boarding ramp of their craft was clear. But as soon as he made it to the entrance, the barking of orders came down the hall, GPF troopers taking the tight corner with their guns aimed at them.

Van had charged into the docking station of their ship, hitting the corner as he slowly let down Lana, sighing as he grasped his rifle with both hands. "Get to the pilot seat and cut the path, I'll hold them off!" Van said to her as he reared his head about the corner, firing off several rounds to keep them from moving.

 

[Candira]

She could feel the tensing of his muscles working hard to help carry her as they made their way to their ship. Lana couldn't place why he would have done so much at such a great risk to himself, but she wasn't going to complain. As he set her back down, she felt her lips brush against his cheek but ignored it for now. She gave him her stolen gun in case he ran out of ammo and then did as he said.

Growling and clenching her teeth as she started walking, she prayed for his safety. He might have been an asshole, but he was the only person she had left in her life. She fired up the engine and managed to clear the path with the guns on the ship. Using the PA, she told him to get his ass back on the ship. "Now, Van."

She wasn't sure what had prompted him to get her to safety so quickly, but she would be existential and come to terms with reality later. Now they needed to get out.

 

[Techn0logic]

"Come on, get some!" Van hollered to the GPF troopers, the pirate spraying his assault rifle with quite the reckless abandon. He was one third pissed they killed his friends, another third pissed they tried to rape Lana, and last but not least, pissed they shot him! As he heard Lana, he nodded to himself, smirking.

Van scoured his flak armor, gripping on to circular object. Ripping the pin with his teeth, he tossed the grenade past the boarding gate, down to the feet of the GPF trooper. Before he could see what happened, the docking door shut, and a huge explosion rang in Van's ears.

In a minute or two, Van was seen in the cockpit, a lit cigarette between his lips. "Punch it," he stated as he walked over to the co-pilot's seat and sat down, sighing.

 

[Candira]

Lana blew out the hold's door and did just that, flying the out fast and far. She didn't relax until they were in warp. And then her hands began to shake. she dropped them and closed her eyes, trying to control her breathing and failing. They were all gone. Jezzo, Melania, Howie....her friends. Her family. They were dead. Her eyes closed and tears for them began to flow, not to mention the pain of her wound. She punched in safe haven coordinates and managed to stand on her own. "Oww...I'm going to find the first aid kit. Come on," she said, heading toward medical bay. Of the group, she was the one who knew the most about medicine, so in that way they were lucky. It wasn't much of a silver lining. The lesser gravity on the ship allowed for freer movement, but it still hurt like hell to walk.

When she was finally in medical bay she started looking for the necessary materials to fix both her and Van up. Once she had them, she called up to the bridge, keeping her emotions in check. "Come to the medic bay. I'll fix you up."

 

[Techn0logic]

Lana blew out the hold's door and did just that, flying the out fast and far. She didn't relax until they were in warp. And then her hands began to shake. she dropped them and closed her eyes, trying to control her breathing and failing. They were all gone. Jezzo, Melania, Howie....her friends. Her family. They were dead. Her eyes closed and tears for them began to flow, not to mention the pain of her wound. She punched in safe haven coordinates and managed to stand on her own. "Oww...I'm going to find the first aid kit. Come on," she said, heading toward medical bay. Of the group, she was the one who knew the most about medicine, so in that way they were lucky. It wasn't much of a silver lining. The lesser gravity on the ship allowed for freer movement, but it still hurt like hell to walk.

When she was finally in medical bay she started looking for the necessary materials to fix both her and Van up. Once she had them, she called up to the bridge, keeping her emotions in check. "Come to the medic bay. I'll fix you up."

Van had secretly look to her, seeing how she was reacting to what just happened. Van had turned to the view of empty space and sighed, taking a heavy drag of his cigarette. For the last few years they were together like a family, and now it was all over. Him and Lana were the last survivors of the once famous space pirates. Van was upset, just as Lana was. But he held it inside, he'd take it out on something later. At least Lana was okay.

Van had climbed out of his seat and followed Lana down to the medical bay, his eyes seeming to drift to an idle stare. As they reached the station, Van had climbed up on one of the med-bay beds, sitting on the edge.

His flak armor made a thud as it hit the ground, the interior of it covered in scarlet red. Van was shirtless now, most of his chest covered in various blood streaks that arose from his shoulder.

"Lana.." He paused, taking his cigarette from his lips and stretching a bit, cringing as he rested his hands on his knees. "We'll find out who set us up, we just gotta lay low right now." He said with a half-lidded gaze towards her, giving a weak smile. "Besides, I already got the guys who were gonna rape you, that just leaves the master-mind." He commented, taking a brief drag.

 

[Candira]

She frowned, turning her attention to his wound. "This is pretty serious, Van. It might take awhile to fix," she said, walking to the sink to get some water to clean him up. "Just be still and I'll take care of it." She couldn't count the time's she'd seen him without his shirt, but she'd never been forced to really look at him before. Though it was not really the time for appreciating his body, she couldn't help but note how pleasing it was as she gently cleaned him with mild soap and water. When the blood was gone, she looked into his eyes and smiled at his mention of finding the master mind.

"Yeah. We'll get them," she said. "Speaking of saving me, thank you. I wouldn't have been able to escape on my own." She smiled again and then went back to his work. "Now hold still. I have to find the bullet," she said, picking up a small mirror like object that let her xray him. When she found it, she used a delicate tool to extract it and then close the wound. Then, she set him up with an IV of blood they'd taken from him in case of emergency.

"Just rest now," she said, letting him lay back on the bed. Once she had fixed him she stood again with visible pain and took off her pants, not really caring if he saw or not at this point. She wore a pair of boyshorts underneath her cargo pants. She threw the gauze she'd used away before cleaning the wound and shakily extracting her own bullet. It was in a bit deeper, and caused her a great deal of pain, but she did it. She closed the wound with the same technique and then hooked herself up to her own IV, drinking some water with a pain killer. "Do you want something for the pain?" she asked, before she would go and sit down.