A Wookiee Walks Into A Junkyard (with an Ardennian and Two Humans)

Posted on Sat Jul 24th, 2021 @ 12:56pm by Flight Officer Tawshiikkyrr & Flight Officer Onyesonwu Zyd

Mission: Scoundrels, Cuttthroats and Rogues
Location: Nar Shaddaa - Arco's Junkyard
Timeline: Day 2 at 2300

If she was returning to the junkyard alone, Onyesonwu would have taken a more circuitous route, and entered through a secret break in the fence hidden behind an ancient bent fuselage she or Haro could climb through. Especially at night. But with Tawshii accompanying the two young humans, they traveled the main street, and entered through the bipedal gate.

Arco's office was a shack next to the main gate, on a platform above the road, the view of incoming or outgoing traffic lit with floodlights. A custom missile launcher was mounted on the balcony, within easy reach of Arco's remaining five limbs. The usually-busy Ardennian loitered uncharacteristically in his office doorway, as though waiting for something to happen.

No matter how many times Haro walked past that launcher, he still couldn't help but flinch just a tiny bit. Sneaking in the back way wasn't exactly Arco's favourite thing in the world, but he tolerated it from his two favourite workers. For the most part at least. Today was different, in more ways than one.

"What's up?" Haro asked, as Tawshii's growl resonated with the exact same question.

Past the area illuminated by floodlights, Onye could make out the X-Wing wreck's silhouette still in the staging area. Arco definitely was not happy to see them, though she was the only one of them he'd specifically ordered to stay away until the following evening at least. She bowed her head and signed disobey apology even though Arco wouldn't understand.

"None of you should be here," said Arco in the gruff voice he used for bartering with dangerous customers, even though he knew it was unlikely to work with these three. They knew him too well. "Take your human pups elsewhere, Tawshii. The junkyard isn't safe tonight."

Tawshii threw his head back and quietly complained about that request to leave. He couldn't, he reminded Arco in a series of sounds and hand gestured, leave. The entire reason he was stuck on this damn planet was sat waiting parts from the X-Wing he could still see in the yard. Haro was already walking closer towards it, slowly but surely gaining ground, his tools in the backpack at his chest.

"Nowhere's safe," Haro pointed out for anyone who hadn't gotten the gist of the wookiee's low volume outburst. "But we need to harvest the bits we need for the Tobuk Chal-Lanna." He looked to Arco for permission to approach the X-Wing closer. "We'll be real fast."

"Oh, you'll be real fast?!" Arco infused his complaint with overt irritation and derision. "Hold the record for stripping a fighter do ya? You and your little friend holding illusions of grandeur around skipping in and outta my yard, all invisible-like," he gestured with three arms waving wildly, towards Tawshii. "Real covert with your seven foot tall walking destroyer here," he added.

That brought a generous laugh from the wookiee, Tawshii's shoulders shaking with amusement. Then he spoke with a calm urgency, explaining a little of their own situation. They had limited time. They needed off-world.

"There's no choice," Haro pointed out, respectfully to the junkyard owner, echoing the wookiee's sentiment. "We gotta get outta here. You know we do, Arco. Wait - what happened to the Tie?"

Arco glanced at the gate and sucked in his cheeks. "Imperials. Two black uniforms and a squad of bucketheads confiscated the TIE. I had to message Jux Paffi and inform her." The Ardennian rubbed the stub of his missing arm and shuddered, remembering Paffi's response. "I expect she's excising a refund of bribes she's made to certain Imps, but she could arrive here any time. Or the bucketheads could return to collect that X-Wing. None of you wants to risk a confrontation with either party. Ship parts aren't worth it." Arco looked at each of them in turn. Onye and Haro were so damn young, and Tawshii should know better than to tempt fate.

Any earlier sign of humour left Tawshii's stance and mood at this information, and the wookiee patted Arco's shoulders supportively. His low growl, however, left no doubt that the ship parts absolutely were worth it. If they had any other choice, they wouldn't be risking it.

"Please, Arco?" Onye made a pleading gesture that could be interpreted in any language. As cranky as she knew her employer to be at times, she knew he genuinely cared about her and Haro. "We don't need to strip the whole fighter. We know exactly what parts we need. We'll be fast. And… and maybe you could come with us." Onye sent Tawshii a guilty look. Inviting Arco to go with them wasn't her call to make.

The wookiee's dark scowl was all Tawshii felt was required to remind Onye that she wasn't in charge here. Haro was already moving closer to the X-Wing.

Arco had been ready to tell them once and for all to get out, but Onye's offer gave him pause. Not that he would ever accept such an offer, he had his own reasons for staying in the junkyard despite everything Paffi had done to him. What was that ridiculous human saying? Something about it's the thought that counts. "Fast, then. If you get caught, that's on you."

Quick as if danger was already on his tail, Haro closed what was left of the distance between him and the damaged fighter. He was up on the closed wings lifting body panels and harvesting parts before Arco had finished scowling. Tawshii, standing tall and confidently imposing, remained with the Ardennian on guard duty. Quietly the wookiee made a short promise of support for the junkyard owner, one that was received with a frown/nod combo.

"I ain't going nowhere," Arco muttered. "We both know it. Jus' be careful you don't get dragged into the fighting pits again, alright? We both know what'll happen to those two kids if you do."

Tawshii rumbled his dissent and confidence in their ability to exit Nar Shaddaa safely, but followed up with a sincere gratitude for the concern. They'd be fine, the big guy informed the short, anxiety ridden Ardennian then.Worry about your own skin. But if you want a ride, you got one.

"I'll bear that in mind," complained Arco. "Just get done and get gone."

The low growling howl shook the air between wookiee and X-Wing as Tawshii reminded Onye and Haro they needed to work faster.

"If I could drag the parts outta here any quicker I would," murmured Haro, but he kept his voice low and his hands busy. One by one the smaller parts and associated cables dropped into the backpack at his chest.

Onye had followed close beside Haro and took up a perch opposite him on a cracked wing. She worked with deft, quick hands, removing selected parts and dropping them into some of her pockets.

Finally, she signed last part in Tawshii's direction, and caught Haro's gaze. After two years working side-by-side, Onye usually anticipated Haro's skillful actions, and he could anticipate hers. To extract the last part, they'd need to proceed together as one. In Arco's better moods, he sometimes joked that the two of them - with four arms and hands between them - were almost as good as an Ardennian. If they managed to get the Tobuk Chal-Lanna off Nar Shaddaa, Onye would miss him.

She disconnected the cable on her side and held the part steady while Haro completed the extraction.

Tawshii signed back the universal okay swiftly followed by 'faster', and swept his own eyes about their immediate surroundings while Arco's scanner over-searched the same space with a little wider perimeter. Incoming. Weapons. Troops.

So as Haro completed his own disconnect and took that last slice of freedom into his pack, the wookiee's bowcaster was tracking targets dressed in white and black on the junkyard's periphery.

"Stand-up fight?" Haro muttered, checking the blaster at his side. Tawshii's hearing didn't struggle to pick up that question, nor did the big furry guy waste any time in instructing the boy to leave. "I hate running," Haro complained, as he gave Onye a gentle shove in the direction of their sneaky exit. "But he's right. We gotta go get the TCL up and working."

Onye's worried gaze took in the wookiee who had given her a home and family, and the Ardennian who'd given her friendship and work, before she responded to Haro's urging and took off at a run towards their hidden exit. She hated leaving Tawshii behind, but she knew her presence and Haro's would only divide his concentration.

Arco meanwhile, seemed keen to argue the split difference here and take the fall.

"The Hutt needs me," he told Tawshii. "And I don't need you on my conscience. Get the hell outta here while you still can. Ain't like you can hide in a parade, furball. Jux won't let 'em do too much damage, not if they don't find you here."

Arco's words became muffled as Onye ducked into the rusted fuselage of an aircraft built for a species smaller than human that probably hadn't been space-worthy even when it was new. Short as she was, Onye had to scramble along in a crouched position, and squeeze through the narrower bent section. She dropped to hands-and-knees and crawled through the hole at the end, abutting a break in the fence she and Haro were just small enough to wriggle through.

Then Onye paused on the fence's other side and waited for Haro, sounds from inside the junkyard drifting through the night air. With a healthy dose of luck she and Haro might get most of the acquired parts installed in the Tobuk Chal-Lanna by the time Tawshii met them there.

Tawshii regarded the already slightly broken Ardennian. They all were a little broken, he supposed, though there was absolutely no way either Arco or the wookiee were going to admit that out loud. Like ever. A demonstrative shrug was followed by a deliberately muted poignant wavering verbal chorus of sound that spelled out Tawshii's own personal view on the matter. He could lead the Imps on a distracting chase, buy Arco some time, but ultimately it would be obvious where they'd got the parts needed.

It would, he reluctantly agreed, be better to utilise their time in standing ground and making sure they were in plain view. That way, the wookiee explained, they gained a little more time for Haro and Onye. Besides, they had incoming troopers, so it was already too late for a disappearing act.

"Yeah, screw it," Arco muttered, with a definite sense of inevitability. "I'll man the turret," he said, flashing a wry smile to his own feet.

For his part in the heist, Haro didn't hesitate to scoot through the exact same obstacle course as Onye. He didn't, however, wait on the other side, but hit the ground running with only a friendly nudge to his companion and the occasional check to ensure she was keeping pace.

Onye ran behind Haro, her heart pounding, only just able to keep up with his longer strides. She forced herself not to turn around and look back. They'd get to the ship and start on the repairs and Tawshii would be all right. She chanted in her head, over and over to the beat of her feet on the ground. Tawshii will be fine. Tawshii will be fine…

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