Ambush (Mora, closed)

[Rhoden Carbine]

It had taken time, a lot of time, but he had done it. Rhoden had sliced, lied, and bribed his way into the transport convoy. He had no interest in the convoy itself, of course. He was laying in ambush. Waiting for the evil “pirates” to come and blow holes in the poorly defended convoy. Rhoden, in the Firehawk, would play dead long enough for them to link to his little ship as it drifted ‘dead’ in space—and then they would be dead.

He smiled, this would be fine first mission for the young Mora, if she played smart—and to her strengths. “They’ll be along soon Dot, Mora.” He said. The ID-12 droid beeped in reply—a resigned sound. “Hmm. The usual blade, do you think? Or maybe the sword?” he asked, joking. Dot beeped again, an agitated sound. “Why, you’re no help at all.” He smiled. “The usual.” He looked over at Mora to ensure she too was prepared.

Rhoden listened idly to the chatter over the comm system, responding with the right words at the right times. It really was rather dull, he thought—the whole cargo hauling business. He sighed, but dull or not he had to find Bareil.

There was a blur of motion and the pirates were there, the Firehawk took three direct hits—they did no damage, of course—and he rolled the freighter over, cutting lights. “We surrender! We surrender!” the convoy leader’s voice came over the comm waves. Rhoden smiled, they sounded like proper cowards—just as he’d instructed them to. He put his helmet on and headed to the docking clamp, humming to himself. There was a none-to-gentle bump as the pirates docked with the Firehawk. “If they’ve scratched the paint I’ll kill them twice!” Rhoden growled.

The door slid open and the first two pirates fell with startled yelps, reflexive shots, and smoking holes in their chests from Rhoden’s blaster. He continued on, a moving shadow, dodging the shots fired by the pirates further back. Three more fell to him and a retreating fourth was sent reeling head-first into a wall as Mora snapped a shot off with her own blaster from behind him.

“Get to the engine room, Dot. I’ll deal with the bridge.” He said. “You go with Dot.” Rhoden said to Mora. Dot beeped again and headed off in another direction, screams, blasterfire, and a shredding noise ensued. Rhoden chuckled, “I’m so glad I found my mechanical friend," he said to Mora, "Go.” he turned and headed down another corridor. A door slid open and two pirates ran out, faltered, and died as Rhoden barreled into them and burned them alive with his wrist mounted flamethrower. He ran on.

[Mora Norith]

Rhoden couldn't have possibly found any other way to draw his pirates that was more boring than drifting around in space playing dead. Mora was ecstatic the first thirty minuets, but she soon found out space is a very dull place to be. Trying to amuse herself, Mora takes out her dagger and starts to polish the blade with a rag.

"I'm swear if they don't get here soon I'll stab myself." She mutters, studying the blade for any smudges.

Suddenly the pirates appear and quickly surrender after Rhoden rolls the freighter over. Mora chuckles when Rhoden threatens to kill them twice if they scratched the paint and follows him into the ship. She walks along the hall as Rhoden does, a shadow and catches the one pirate spared by Rhoden's fire. He instructs Dot to go to the engine room and the droid heads off, followed by screams and blaster fire, as well as a mysterious shredding noise.

"What a friend." Mora replies to Rhoden and follows Dot down the corridor. She fires at any stragglers and catches up to Dot, the two a deadly wall for any approaching pirates.

[Rhoden Carbine]

"Sir, the boarding party failed to report in, we've lost contact with several people in the engineering corridors." said an Ensign. Ensign. it was a presumptuous military title for an organization that was little more than pirates and rebels at its core. Of course Markus Bareil liked to keep order, discipline. The Captain just wanted a life without the Empire's heel at his throat, if he had to work with idealists like Bareil so be it. "Go to full alert, assume the intruders have access to every area of the ship and act accordingly." there was a chorus of acknowledgements and a flurry of quiet relaying of orders.

The Captain pursed his lips, perhaps there was something to the discipline thing Bareil had worked to institute. The crew was calm and professional, but some of them were kids, some were clones--or so he'd been told. It was an odd bunch Bareil had put together, he really did wonder what the end-game would be...


The ship was an unknown design or, more appropriately, was of no design whatsoever. It appeared to be cobbled together with whatever Bareil's people had on hand--which was not, unfortunately, a recipe for a poor ship. No the ship was particularly well suited to this kind of raid. Rhoden ran into a crossway--it looked like the primary corridor which ran more or less straight through the core of the vessel.

There was a snap and the clacking of boots and Rhoden turned to face the noise. A blaster cannon fired down at him and he yelped, jumping across into the next hallway. He heard a distinct rumbling roar on the deck and quickly jammed the door closed behind him to stop the Droidekas.

"Bridge, bridge, how to get to the--" a door slid open just ahead and he surged forward silently. The man's eyes widened as he saw Rhoden but it was too late. His vibroblade caught the man in his left shoulder and pinned him to the wall. There was a slight gasp of pain and a hissing intake of breath. "Why hello there!" Rhoden said cheerily, checking his HUD for any approaching hostiles. "Could you, perhaps, tell me how exactly I might reach the bridge?" he said. The man looked at him as though he were mad--ironic given his recent recovery from such. Rhoden hefted his blaster slightly and fired into the man's kneecap from above, the shot traveling down the leg. Rhoden's prisoner cried out and began to fall, but this caused him more pain as Rhoden's still-present blade grated against bone. He pulled himself up on his remaining leg.

"First right, next available turbolift--take it to Level 1, follow the hallways it's just officers rooms and the bridge." the man said, trying and failing to contain a whimper. "Thank you very much!" Rhoden said kindly. He withdrew his blade and shot the fool in the chest. The Other One would have taken a perverse pleasure in torturing and stabbing him, mutilating him with a blade in a time-consuming manner. Rhoden did not take particular pleasure in killing the man, but he was the enemy--and he simply would have suffered longer if Rhoden hadn't shot him.


"Security team in the main access corridor has engaged hostile." one of the bridge crew responded, "How many are there?" the Captain asked. The crewman relayed the question to the team--static. The young mans face paled, "Seal all blast doors on command level, lock down engineering, contact all other vessels and advise them to prepare to jump out." he snapped. There was a brief pause, "We've lost contact with engineering and our communications array is offline." The blast door sealed behind them and the Captain breathed a sigh of relief. At least something was working.

[Mora Norith]

Mora pokes her head out and quickly pulls it back as blaster fire flies past her.

"Have any ideas, Dot?" The droid beeps a couple of times and Mora sighs. "I guess it would be helpful if I actually understood what you say." She mutters.

Grabbing a flash grenade from her belt, Mora rolls it down the corridor and shuts her eyes. There's a loud bang and the yelling of confused pirates. Taking advantage of the confusion, Mora fires at her opponents and enters what must be the ship's engineering area. More shouting echoes down the hall and Mora takes up a stance at the door.

"I'll hold them off while you do your thing." She tells Dot. The droid beeps and triggers something that closes the room's blast doors. Mora shrugs. "Or you can do that." Dot makes a sound like a laugh and returns to messing with the ship's controls.

Suddenly, a big bang hits the door and Mora runs to the window. Her eyes widen at what looks like a cannon pointed directly at the door. The cannon fires again and Mora ducks as the bolt hits the door.

"Dot, open the door. I'd rather defeat them now then later when we don't have any protection." The droid complies and Mora fires off a few quick blasts at the pirates controlling the cannon. Then she fires at the cannon causing it to explode, taking out the rest. Dot closes the doors again and makes happy sounds.

"I'm guessing you've accomplish whatever Rhoden told you to do." Dot nods and Mora smiles. "Wonderful."

[Rhoden Carbine]

Rhoden did not break stride as the blast doors slid open far too late--the blank monitors and delayed opening indicating that Mora and Dot had completed their objective and opened the doors from engineering. Rhoden entered the bridge proper and shot the first person who reached for a weapon--a young woman who fell with an expression of infinite surprise on her face. "Why hello there!" he said, smiling as he turned his weapon to who was clearly the captain of the vessel.


The blast doors slid open and the captain whirred around. Ensign Gooding reached for her blaster and fell with a gasp as the fully armored man in the doorway shot her. The Captain pulled himselef up to full height and glared at the man, "Who are you and what do you want?" he asked with as much venom as he could muster.


"Nothing much, captain." Rhoden said, smiling broader at the man's pride and summoned fury, "Just your ship." his smile faded somewhat as he added softly, "Be thankful the Empire's playing nice today." he switched his weapon to stun and fired until the rest of the bridge crew were on the floor, he ran up and checked all systems. "Weapons, shields... yes." he muttered as he ran down the list. The convoy hadn't been pulled out of hyperspace by nothing, and this ship appeared to house a small but adequate gravity well generator.

Rhoden fumbled with the controls and ensured the projector was online--well... he thought it was online. He was mostly sure. Sort of. He began recording his comm, "Note: Hostile vessel is equipped with gravity well projector, condition and technical specifications suggest that it's in good condition--so they either have the resources to make their own or have a supplier." he ended the recording and went back to the controls.


Captain Tomas Dendricks watched as the ship approached slowly. The Imperial had said to expect an ambush by pirates, but Tomas had never seen pirates so well armed--at least not in these parts of Imperial territory. So far the Imperial's ship was the only one which had been taken, the others were being more cautious with the larger convoy ships.

"What do we do, Captain." his first officer asked. He grimaced, "I dunno, but it's starting to look like our Imp got himself blasted. We might have to lose this cargo after all."

[Mora Norith]

Dot successfully accomplishes whatever Rhoden told him to accomplish, and now Mora doesn't know what to do.

"I guess we just stay here until Rhoden contacts us." Dot beeps and Mora takes a seat on the floor. As soon as she sits down she gets right back up.

"Nope, we're going after whatever remains of the pirates." Mora walks to the door, but they don't open. "Dot, open the door." Dot beeps some more but refuses to budge.

"Oh come on, no wonder he sent me with you. You're a babysitter." Dot flies up to Mora's side and shocks her. Mora yelps and grabs her arm.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry." Dot beeps satisfied and retakes its position at the controls.

[Rhoden Carbine]

Captain Dendricks sighed, "Prepare to receive guests." he said defeated. He turned away from the viewscreen and whirled back as the hull rattled with an explosion. His first terrible thought was that the pirates had decided it would be easier to just kill the crew outright, but he was pleasantly surprised. The ship which had been heading for them now drifted away to the side, the engines blown to pieces and the rest of the hull scarred from the explosion.


Rhoden didn't key up the targeting systems, he didn't want to alert the rest of Bareil's ships. Most were sitting quite still, apparently ensuring the situation was under control before seizing their prizes. Only one was moving at the moment. Rhoden began manually targeting weapons, running calculations and checking all systems--there could be no failure.

"Dot, is Ms. Norith secure?" he asked, Dot beeped a distinctly amused response and Rhoden snorted, "Very good, I want you to take control of all weapons except... Port Battery 5." he said, "On my mark fire on the engines--targets have been acquired. Once that's done hit the shields and communications systems." Dot beeped an acknowledgement. Rhoden took control of his own battery and targeted the moving vessel.

"Mora, head to the cargo bay--clear any hostiles and see what there is to see." he did not wait for an acknowledgement. "Mark." he said over the comm to Dot.


Captain Dendricks fumbled with the controls for the sensors and laughed, "Pirates have lost engines and shields, looks like they're taking out the communications array on 'em too." he smiled, "Not bad." he said, his first officer breathed a sigh of relief. "We're getting paid for playing bait, right?" she asked. Dendricks paused, his mouth hanging open, "Well... you see... I... er..." he coughed and turned around, "I want a raise." she said bluntly, "Not now."

[Mora Norith]

"Alrighty then, the cargo bay."

Dot opens the blast doors and Mora slips out of the room. Traversing the corridors, Mora looks out for anymore panicking pirates trying to flee or openly attack. Surprisingly she finds only one.

The pirate holds out a knife and runs for her. Mora easily ducks under his slash and uses her own knife to cut his side. As he stumbles, Mora slams him into the wall and brings her knife to his throat.

"I would appreciate it greatly if you tell me how to get to the cargo hold." She growls into his face. The pirate gulps and gives her directions with a nervous tremor in his voice.

Mora smiles. "Thank you." With that she slashes his throat and continues on her way.

Other pirates come and meet their deadly fate when getting into her way. Finally she reaches the cargo hold and contacts Rhoden.

"I'm in the hold, what would you like me to see?"

[Rhoden Carbine]

"What's the cargo?" Rhoden asked, "If they're here to pick something up it should be empty crates." he said. "If there's stuff in 'em I want to know what it is." Rhoden examined the situation outside the viewport and nodded in satisfaction. All of Bareil's forces were disabled or straight up destroyed, none of the freighters was foolish enough to move while under his guns without receiving his permission.

"Dot," Rhoden said, switching his comm channel over to the droids, "Scan the interior of the ship and begin having the crew head back to secure areas, lock them in." he said, "Seal off anyone who doesn't comply and cut life support, vent the atmosphere if you can." a short acknowledgement and then silence.


Captain Dendricks waited for the communication clearing the convoy to continue on its way. It didn't come. "Convoy leader, I have one of my associates checking the cargo in this ship." the Imperial's voice came over the comm, Dendricks swallowed, "I have a theory, you see." the Imperial continued in a calm and smooth voice. "If the hold is empty the intention was indeed to relieve you of your cargo." there was a short pause, "If the intention was, in fact, to transfer cargo to you then the hold will contain various items--illegal, I would suspect." there was another pause and the Captain felt as though the man were smiling to himself, "Naturally the transfer would account for lost time and cargo, you would arrive at your destination and discreetly offload your new cargo while speaking of the terrible pirates who robbed you. This also makes your plan twofold. Not only would you smuggle cargo to its destination, but you would deny supplies to the Empire while fueling the pirates." Dendricks took a calming breath, "I shall give you time to think on my... theories." the Imperial finished. The comm cut off.

"Sir?" his first officer asked, her voice fearful, "We'll be fine." he said, "Smuggling isn't too bad. We can get off with fines and revoked shipping licenses." his voice was too high, came to fast. "Or they can just label us as pirates. Or worse." her reply came. "No." he responded firmly. Why had he agreed to this? The credits weren't worth his life.

[Mora Norith]

"Got it."

Mora looks around at the piles of crates in the cargo hold. She holsters her blaster and stabs her knife under the top of a close crate. The top pops off and Mora looks inside. The crate is filled with blasters and as Mora goes around the room opening crates, she finds vibro blades, grenades, blast cannons, body armor, and droids for multiple purposes. Mora stands in the middle of the hold surrounded by the open crates holding the weapons.

"We got a jackpot, Rhoden. Blasters, vibro blades, grenades, armor, droids, you name it they have it. This is definitely not a raid."