You can't have her! (Patreon)

Devin cursed through the filters of his respirator as he attempted to peer into the swirling greenish smoke that filled the banquet hall. This operation was not going according to plans.

       The plan had been straightforward in the beginning. The band of rogues and cutthroats that Devin had joined up with were going hit the Caritan Traders Hall during the scheduled ball of the Caritan Traders Guild. They'd quickly overwhelm the modest security detail at hall entrances. Once inside they'd fire multiple stunner spheres into hall proper rendering most of the occupants unconscious. Then their party would swoop in robbing the stunned attendees and kidnapping some of the more prominent members of the Guild.

      Once hostages had been secured they'd quickly head to the roof of the building. There the gang's heavily modified fast trader would come swooping in. It would hover just above the Guild Hall roof. Quickly they'd board with their loot and hostages . All the while the ship would start broadcasting on multiple channels that they were in possession of several senior Guild members, and unless local security forces wanted to be responsible for their death they would not interfere with the gang's quick exit and jump to hyperspace.

      That was the original plan.

      Then the gang's so-called Tech Expert Razal started making the plan better. Apparently he was concerned that some of the Guild Security Detail in the hall would be droids who would less effected by the stunner spheres.

     So his great idea was to also fire some fancy, home brewed, smoke grenades at the same time. These special grenade, which Razal had made himself, would scramble the optical, thermal, and motion sensors of the droids. When several members expressed concern that these grenades would also scramble their own combat goggles Razal had assured the party that he could adjust the mixture in the grenades so the gang's goggles could be tuned to a frequency that would make the smoke invisible to their equipment.

     Great idea. Too bad it didn't work.

      The new plan started like the first plan with them neutralizing the security detail outside the hall. Then they would charge into the hall, but now they would fire several smoke grenades first. With any security detail inside the hall blinded the gang could then take their time firing the stunner spheres at the blinded occupants of the hall.

      However when they fired the first volley of smoke grenade Devin and his fellow rogues discovered that Razal had not made a mixture that was invisible to their goggles. Instead the gang found themselves as blinded as their targets. So instead of being able to carefully decide where to fire the stunner spheres the gang started shooting into smoke where they had last saw attendees.

     So it was that Devin found himself gingerly picking his way through smoke with his stunner pistol out. The room was cacophony of yelling, shouting, screams, punctuated by random blaster and stunner bolts and the usual assortment of hand-to-hand combat sounds.

     In front of him Devin heard another gang member suddenly let out a roar of combat. This roar was abruptly turned into a scream as the sound of fleshy parts being separated from other fleshy parts could be heard. A few seconds later the bulk of Turgor the Brute came staggering into view. Minus his right arm. Hissing in pain he collapsed to his knees while clutching his bloody stump with his left hand. Devin tightened his grip on the stunner pistol and moved forward.

    To its credit, the hall's HVAC was doing a yeoman's job and continued to cycle the air through the hall. So ever so slowly the damn smoke was beginning to clear. As the rogue advanced he started hearing someone pleading frantically with someone.

     "Val! Val! Wake up girl! Come on we need to get out of here. Come on. Say something!"

     Devin found the source of the voice. A female red fox with black morph markings was kneeling on the floor hold an unconscious nimbat with her left arm. In her right right was a cutlass of cerma-steel. The blade was coated with blood. Devin figured he'd found the source of Turgor's arm separation. In his mind he thought.

      Good job dear. By looks of Turgor's wound you took his arm off in one stroke. Even though he was wearing light combat armor. That takes lots of practice and good edge alignment.

     Upon seeing Devin the fox raised her cutlass. There was determination in her eyes but Devin could see a thin trickle of blood from her right temple and there was a shiver in her right arm that wasn't fear. She'd been on the fringe of a stunner sphere detonation. That also might explain the demolished right sleeve of her jacket and tunic. Still she stood her ground and growled.

    "You can't have her!"

     Devin looked her and the unconscious nimbat. Neither of them were important guild members and didn't look rich. The rogue smiled and slowly raised the muzzle of his stunner.

     "No problem dear. You're not who I am looking for." He started to turn and leave when he paused. From a belt pouch he removed a small container and tossed it to the fox. "That's neural stim rejuvenator. It helps someone recover from stun spheres and stunner bolts. Give it to her and she'll come around faster."

     He turned to leave when he noticed lying at his feet Turgor's bloody arm. Nonchalantly he picked it and continued walking back into the smoke. As he did he yelled out.

     "Hey Turgor! I found your arm!"

      A patron reward for Skyline. The fox his character Remi and the nimbat is Valden's OC. This is sort of follow piece to a previous image. Link and this is the story that popped into my head as I was drawing it.