[dcs_p]Xandar curiously inhaled a deep breath of the green fumes. Though he had
already noticed it’s absence of ill effects, he continued to wonder why the pirate
hadn’t just poisoned them. Before he could conclude what the gas might consist
of, a knee came out of the darkness, nailing Xandar in the groin. He stooped
over, crying out in pain. Xandar was used to fighting hand to hand and being able
to see his opponents. Those fights left him well advantaged because of his size.
This pirate must have realized that and used the gas to even the odds somewhat.
Yelling out at the phantom attacker, all Xandar managed was “You bastard!”
before the pirate flashed a fist across his face, knocking him to the floor
completely. As he began to get up, a boot crushed into his nose. Feeling none the
better, Xandar slumped to the floor to play dead. The technique he had used so
many times in his childhood and teenage years could possibly serve him once
again.[/dcs_p]
[dcs_p]He had quickly decided it was his best, if not only, chance. But the enemy wasn’t
letting up, and this time a gun barrel cracked against Xandar’s skull. Moaning out
of pain, Xandar received one more kick to his face before blacking out.[/dcs_p]
[dcs_p]Joanna was worried now. Steven was still unconscious from the previous attack
by Xandar. Michael was missing. And though cries of Xandar were a little over a
meter from her location, she could still see nothing. Squinting to give her eyes
some “extra” edge, she closed her finger gradually over the trigger of her
needler. Xandar was obviously down. His silence came as no surprise, for this
was one well-trained pirate or stowaway. Understanding both of her crewmates
were unconscious and most likely on the ground, Joanna quickly devised a plan.
She would spread needler fire across the open space of the room. Splintered
plastic from most needlers maintained very little ricochet capability. If she
peppered the entire room around chest height, she would probably injure this
pirate without killing her friends or herself in the process.[/dcs_p]
[dcs_p]Stretching her arm across her chest, Joanna fired the needler. Starting off to her
left, she quickly spread her stream of high velocity plastic across the room’s tight
confines. Finishing her sweep to the right, she exhaled softly. Something wasn’t
right; the pirate hadn’t even been shot, let alone revealed his location. Firing the
constant stream, she had wasted almost an entire block of the polymer. Joanna
decided to lunge for the hatchway. After jumping through the opening she began
to run down the corridor and out of the smoke. Seeing more clearly now, she
made out 2 figures in front of her standing near the corridor corner. Joanna flailed
out her right arm to reveal her needler. She quickly shredded the face of the
larger of the pair. Maintaining a run toward them, she trained the needler on the
other, smaller pirate. A high-pitched hiss revealed the needler out of plastic.
Screaming out, she flung it at the smaller man. Though mildly distracted by the
action, he pulled a small holdout laser pistol on her. He began to grin as he
closed one eye. Joanna tried to jump to the ground, but before she could she
heard a shot from behind her. It was the other pirate probably, and she was
dead. He’d taken advantage of her problems to get a perfect aim, and now his
bullet would end her debacle.[/dcs_p]