One more for the road

[Adar Bolner]

Adar was right next to the airlock of one of the transports. The sounds of lasers being shot surrounded him. The young man had never been in a space battle, aside from the various simulations he had partaken in. It was somewhat disorienting, but he pressed on. He grabbed his gear and made sure everything was strapped in correctly. Wouldn't want to lose anything amidst a battle in space.

"R2 unit, keep the ship steady and in one piece." Adar had only presently gotten his Delta-7, and he wouldn't have it immediately blow up. Not the most affordable thing when you have the budget of a Jedi padawan.

Once inside the transport, he initially felt some relief. No sound of combat. Maybe the Sith had not made it in yet. A violent shaking quickly proved otherwise. He grabbed his blaster with his right hand, and his vibroblade with the other. Before heading out, he took a moment to connect with the Force. It was a good luck ritual, that also calmed his nerves and made him focused. He was alone for now, with no enemies nearby, but no allies either. He stopped to check him comms. The chatter was heavy, but he reported being aboard one of the transports.

Being isolated was a big problem, but it was about to save him. He could hear people running in the corridors ahead of him, and quickly turned and hid behind some boxes, presumably the shipment they were carrying. The people rushed pass him, paying no attention to him. From the quick glance he took, they were most probably Sith troupers. It then occured to him that the Force sensitives, aka the actual Sith, would have been able to sense him. He would need to be more carefull next time. But for now, he continued to make his way towards the bridge.

[Annan Rainwalker]

Coordinates received, Annan's fingers danced across the holoboards as he fed them to the navicomputer. Preflight checklists completed, Annan made sure he had everything he needed with him just out of habit. His Antarian Ranger Armor was always a part of him, worn beneath his Jedi robes as a permanent part of his attire. He had his two sidearms, he had a Dart Shooter strapped to his arm which was always helpful since it was a weapon he didn't need his hands to actually wield, and he had a Corellian spark grenade. Probably not wise to use that in close quarters, but Annan could always levitate it and throw it like a ball at a distant target.

It was fun being a Jedi.

Pressing down the comms button, the Jedi spoke. <Marmaduke to Targon's Tusk. After you.>

He received confirmation of the Tusk's movements soon afterwards, and Annan clutched down on the stick, his B-wing's sublight engines roaring to life as it took off, flying starboard of the Action V freighter.

<Man, this Slicer Droid is really neat,> he heard Captain Ashara's voice through the comm from the Tusk, and he grunted. She was way too fixated on that droid.

[Emic Lai]

The pilot took steady course, sailing through the ether with a precise, serene determination. All he saw was the open hangar of the Action V he had chosen to target. The Sith fighter escort that came with them was taking care of the trouble, dodging laser fire and returning it. One was hit, taking out some critical system that forced it to retreat. As the fighter pilot panicked, attempting to get himself out of trouble, the Kings' pilot replied simply. "Acknowledged."

The remaining starfighter was able to just barely cover the approach, cannon fire scoring the hull of Seldom Quiet, but nothing critical. Searing into the hangar and hovering, the assault transport opened laser fire onto the hangar crew, clearing it sufficiently to land. Body parts, shorn off by means of laser cannon, were strewn across the metal floor of the cargo bay. As Seldom Quiet set her landing legs down on the ground, though, it was clear that they still had company, though how much was yet to be determined.

Opening the door only slightly to allow the barrel of a heavy repeater to breach it, the red charge of blaster bolts rained into the open bay.

[Annan Rainwalker]

Calmly opening his eyes he felt the flare in the Force, Annan raised an eyebrow in anticipation. His B-wing's sensors lit up but a moment later, as the comms were suddenly jammed with maydays and all sorts of traffic about raiding vessels and fighters, identified as Sith, having jumped and surrounded them.

The pants of the Dark Side had fallen.

"Or was it 'the shroud...'? Hnn, can never remember that one," he mumbled to himself, before sighing.

His very first encounter with Sith Raiders had been when he was but a Padawan. Since then, he had seen much of the galaxy, to the extent of becoming a pirate himself. Having seen how real raiders raid, a Dark Side raid group like this one felt like nothing more than a pestilent nuisance for the most part.

Taking over manual control of his B-wing, Annan reached out to sense his pursuer. He counted only one he needed to actually bother with. Annan slammed his sticks left and down, his B-wing swerving port suddenly towards the hangar bay of his own bulk freighter. The Pursuer behind him had launched twin warheads, and Annan's targeting systems projected the trajectories of the weapons.

'... Oh?' the Jedi was inwardly far more perturbed than he let on with that simple phrase, of course, yet he trusted the Light to see him through this. Reaching out to touch the Force, an astoundingly reckless strategy solidified itself in his mind. The Fabritech ANq 3.6 Computer Tracking System of his assault starfighter quickly locked onto the angled warhead, firing a single Arakyd Industries Flex Tube proton torpedo. The very next instant, Annan jerked his stick port, his assault starfighter beginning to spin into a barrel roll towards the Tusk, cross the trajectory of the Mudhorn's angled warhead, moments before his own warhead finally met it an intimate kiss.

A massive explosion rocked the void.

<What the kriff, Ani?!> Ashara screamed through the comms as the Targon's Tusk reverberated with the force of the shockwave detonating so close. Annan himself struggled to stabilize his B-wing, which had been even closer to the explosive shockwave, yet he rode the concussive effect of the explosion to yaw his starfighter around a full 180 degrees.

Annan's B-wing spun around and into position between the hangar of the Action V and the Mudhorn, his back now towards the Action V and his cockpit facing the Mudhorn and its incoming second warhead, the one with the straight trajectory. Jerking his thrusters into back gear, Annan would then reverse his assault starfighter through the ether, sailing towards the Action V behind him while facing the Mudhorn and the warhead in-between. Locking onto it, Annan awaited the right moment. The flare in the Force came, and Annan discharged his anterior ion cannons to hit and disable the warhead point-blank.

[Professor Mors]

Sa’ato scoffed as his surprisingly versatile foe claimed victory in the game of chicken between the two warheads. Had he a tongue to click in disgust, the Neti surely would have done so. Such as things were, he could only harden his gaze on the Mudhorn’s portside airlock, and growl as its hull scraped along the exterior of the Tusk. “Dee-One!”, the professor barked at the Pursuer’s integrated pilot droid, “Hold position until I’m away. Increase power to starboard shields, and engage the ion cannon, convex fire”. Whoever this convey jockey was, they thought themselves clever. The ion bursts would only delay them, but that was no issue.

If the pilot wanted to pursue the retired academic, he would let them do just that. In close quarters, the professor would find out just how clever this person was, and take their bloody measure liter by liter. Once the hasty docking procedure was at an end, Sa’ato all but bolted into the shadowed corridor of the larger freighter, and sped forward in search of cover. In cause of a hull breach, the Neti could not rely on a quick gimmick of his biology, lest his flight suit become compromised. At least, not on the outside. Calling on the Force as he scaled a ladder trailing up to an observation walkway, the wandering teacher kicked a select portion of his cells into overdrive.

The plantlike raider relied on naturally-generated gluten to propel the spiraling pseudo-system that comprised his muscles. Aided by his heightened state of mind, he set the microcosms to his being to work burning glucose at a much higher rate than normal. For a limited time, this self-enhancement would allow the prospective acolyte to strike harder, and move much faster than the average sentient. If he could lay low the unsuspecting defender within the next fifteen minutes or so, then Sa’ato was home free. If his foe proved more experienced however, then it might be wiser to retreat, or stall for time until reinforcements arrived. Such was the plan, and the gamble.

OOC:

Adjusted Equipment Roster at BK’s Request

Stouker Concussion Rifle
Flight Suit
P-15 Shield Generator
Protocol Droid

[Adar Bolner]

The stealth operation Adar had imposed upon himself was going well. He had managed cover a sizable ground within the freighter, yet there was still no sign of the crew. They must have hauled themselves on the bridge. Not the best course of action but risking one's life for some ore and raw materials is not an easy thing to do, even for a crew that does this on the regular. Perhaps the presence of a Jedi could invigorate their spirits. After all, it was win or die with the Sith. Capture was even worse. And if they were going to win, they would have to work together, and work efficiently.

Being now one room away from the bridge, he could hear banging on the doors. No, not only on the doors. It was from the walls as well. What was happening in there? With his blade in hand, he moved in, opening the door fast in order to surpise whomever was behind it. In the end, the one who was surprised was him. It was the crew of the transport, making impromptu repairs to the hull. The explained that a sith squadron had attempted to break in the bridge and take control of the transport, but they had managed to repel them. Those captured or killed were in the bridge, along with their wounded. Adar pondered for a while, a very skeptic and analytic expression dominated his face.

"They are most probably going to try to attack again. Not to mention that the cargo is open for the taking right now. I need a few who can still fight to come with me to secure the ship and its cargo. The rest stay to defend the bridge."

Initially, they did not seem interested in the Jedi padawan's orders. After all, they were expecting central command to give them orders, or the captain of the transport. However seeing as nothing new was coming on the radio, and the captain was heavily wounded, they decided to go along with his plan. It's not like what Adar was proposing was out of order. Hell, it might just work.

"Alright then, let's send those Sith back where they came from! May the Force be with you all."

[Salem Norongachi]

Once upon a time there was a man who wanted to maintain the balance. He reasoned, after a time, that if the powers that be had their guns pointed at each other, they'd have a lot less time to point them at the little people. He'd done terrible things in pursuit of that goal; murder, planetary annihilation, betrayal. So much betrayal. In the grand scheme of a galaxy in eternal turmoil, only a fraction of those living in it ever saw it first hand. It had made a twisted sort of sense to Salem Norongachi. He wasn't cruel about it and it was never personal.

Then there was the other side of the coin, where good deeds are done because they were the right thing to do. Like strapping on a Merr Sonn Boarding Armour, picking up a Security Droid like it was made of paper and standing expectantly in an airlock while laser fire and missiles filled the void all around his ship.

"You ready?" he asked the compliant droid that had no name and probably wouldn't need one after this. It gave a monotone beep, as if it had accepted that its life would be short and hoped that if droids had reincarnation it could come back as something relaxing like a GNK Power Droid.

"Okay, you know the plan." he spoke through his helms com to TW-4T as the droid assumed remote command of the Helix. A response scrolled across the holographic HUD and the countdown began.

3

2

1

The outer airlock door blew at the exact moment TW snapped the ship into a turn and Norongachi and his droid passenger shot out into the quiet of space. Things could be said about the beauty of a space battle, a silent movie of colour and motion against a pin-pricked backdrop but they were moving so fast toward the open hangar that only expletives and a panicked moment when Salem tried to remember the training on how to use the Merr Sonns rocket propulsion system occurred to him.

It fired a moment later and he maintained their momentum, the droid, its single red photo-receptor fixed on their growing target, drew its weapons. The distance rapidly receded and finally Norongachi kicked in the maneuvering jets, flipped himself almost feet first toward the opening, and fired the retros to bring them in and over the boarding vessel.

[Kita_Ikari]

The moment she had already begun her pursuit to board and fight Ali, she felt another presence touch her mind. One that was just as fierce in personality as the padawan she fought on the train. She didn't know the padawans name, but she knew she was more a threat right now then Ali was. Silvanius had to choose, but not before shooting at Ali's ship a few times in hopes of damaging her ship at least. That left one less ship for her master and the other sith to worry about attacking back on their raid for the cargo.

With that done, the sith apprentice pivoted and begun her approach to where Ranah was. However, she felt another familiar presence. Her Master's long time annoyance Ben Kenobi. Silvanius remembered him as well, failing to save her from Tormentous grasp so long ago on the shores of Tibrin. If she were to fight a jedi Master and a Padawan, she was going to need backup. Defeating 2 jedi on her own wasn't possible for her yet. "Master, I'm going to need assistance. Your rival Kenobi is on this ship...along with a newer padawan I met not long ago. If ur rival is guarding the cargo, you know this is going to get alot more complicated."

[Varn Badaash]

Floating in space with nothing but a space worthy power suit between you and near instant death was a frightening prospect even for the most trained souls. Throw in starfighters and heavy laser fire and it became one of the most dangerous activities one could engage in. The Rangers were trained to operate in any terrain, including zero-G and they were given access to some of the best power armor available to increase their odds but even with all the training and gear Varn still felt the adrenalin kick in as his heart began to race.

“Mynocks, split up and give support to defenders on each cargo ship!” The Dashade’s gravelly voice ordered.

With his orders given the suits of armor all jetted off towards the freighters that had boarders. Varn tracked a ship as it went head long into one of the freighters and immediately pushed his jets to full to launch after them. No wind, no resistance. The jets powered down and pure inertia carried him towards the outer hull. A quick reverse burst from his front mounted thrusters slowed the large suit just enough to land safely atop the moving ship. With quick reactions the boots maglocked to the exterior and Varn marched to the near by airlock. It was time to get in and help push back the invaders.

[Emic Lai]

With the targets suppressed, it was a simple matter to fling open the assault bay doors and the Kings rushed out, small in number but immeasurable in venom. The Chief was the last to leave, finding cover behind several crates. She analyzed the situation. The defenders in the cargo bay were mostly armed technicians. The real security force would be mounting a counterattack, and they could come for one or both of two ways: through the interior door to the cargo hold, or through the hangar.

"Dig in! They'll be coming!" she shouted to her subordinates. "We'll force a retreat, and then push further in to the bridge!"

Replies of "yes--," "aye--," and "acknowledged, Chief," rang out through the hold. Two watched the hangar. The rest, and the Chief, watched the interior door, waiting for some unlucky nerfherder to stick their head out.