"Getting Supplies"
By Chun Li - pilot and PI
Location: Somewhere in Yallder
Date: Rheudis 8, 4 ABY
***
Li looked around, on guard. She had been to the cantina again yesterday, and
she had selected a spot a bit closer to Zarrak this time. But she hadn't been
able to hear anything there either. One of the advantages or disadvantages,
depending on how one looked at it, from a cantina was the noise, making it all
but impossible to be overheard.
So she needed some bugs to plant at his boot, but she didn't have any at the
moment. So she had flown back to Drogen, to see if Lek had some, but he didn't
have any either, but he knew someone in Yallder who might have them. And so
here she was, in the cold, waiting for the classic
'friend-of-a-friend-who-knew-someone'.
"You are Reyes Nagykálnai," someone asked her from behind.
Li turned around,
slowly, and looked at one of the biggest humans she had ever seen.
"That is correct," she said.
"Follow me," the man said, "the boss is waiting."
She followed him towards a waiting land speeder, a luxury model with tinted
windows.
Because the windows were tinted and it was dark outside, not to mention the
fact that she didn't knew the area well, Li had no idea where they were
heading. She would be able to find her way back, or so she hoped, but she
didn't know where she was. She could have asked, but she wouldn't have
recognised a truthful answer from a lie, so she hadn't bothered.
It took fifteen minutes, before they stopped on a non-descript street, like she
had seen so many. She was escorted into a building, which clearly could do
with some repairs, and there, on the first floor, she saw 'the boss'. He had
clearly taken some lessons from Jabba the Hut, as his 'throne' room looked
quite a lot like Jabba's, at least from the holo's she had seen about it.
There would probably not be a rancor, but she made sure she was within easy
jumping distance to the dais upon which the human sat.
He looked quite nice, this so called boss. Not really her type, but not like
Lek at all.
"Our friend said that you needed some supplies," he said, "well, what do you
need?"
Li named everything on her list, and he looked at her.
"Who are you following," he said, recognising the equipment.
"Just somebody," Li said, "I don't think he's part of your organisation. He
works for the empresses."
The look on his face showed that he did have people in the palace, but he had
to know she wasn't going to tell more.
"I can get these things," he said, "but how are you going to pay?"
"Cash, I think," Li answered.
"Cash is okay," he said, "and maybe some extra?"
"Like?" Li asked, wondering what he meant with that.
"You look nice," he said, standing up and coming closer, "maybe a more
'personal' type of payment."
Li took a step backward, fully alert now. There were two bodyguards inside the
room, but one of them couldn't see anything, because his boss was in front of
him.
"I don't think so," she said, "I've been raped once, and not a second time."
"Who said something about rape," he asked.
"Since I don't want to, you'll have to," she answered, "I know the market value
of these items, and I'm willing to pay a little more, as they might not be
obtained easily, but any more 'personal' payment is out of the question."
"Are you sure," he asked, a grin on his face as he came closer.
"I am," Li said, pulling out her blaster, which they hadn't taken away from
her. She saw his eyes go wide with exactly that realisation. The one
bodyguard who had a free field of fire, brought his carbine down, but she had
no intention of letting him. Shifting her blaster towards the side, she
quickly shot him in the face.
But this man was different from Lek not only in appearance, but also in
agility. The short amount of time it took her to dispose of the bodyguard, he
had moved to the left, clearing the way for the other bodyguard, who also had a
blaster carbine. The one shot, and Li felt a burning pain shoot up her leg.
This caused her return shot to go wide, only hitting the bodyguard in the arm,
instead of in the centre of his chest. It was however, enough to make him drop
his weapon. After a few hasty shots at the man who called himself the boss, Li
decided that it was a good idea to leave the area.
She had seen a window, and she ran that way, or tried to with her leg wound.
It wasn't that bad, but she had some trouble. Not wanting to slow down, she
just jumped through the window. As she was in the air, she felt another tug at
her right leg and a lot of pain when she came down. Lucky it was only one
floor, and she had tried to put most of her weight on her left leg, but she
still felt it in her right leg.
Knowing there were more people in the building, she didn't linger, and left as
quickly as she could. She made a couple of random turns, but nobody seemed to
pursue her. She stopped a few moments to check her leg, and she noticed she
had two shot wounds in her right leg. She needed medical attention, and quickly.
"Homeward Bound"
by: Rylaa Lyssander - PC
Lani Vissip - NPC+
Lorgal - NPC+
Location: Avalon VI
Date: Rheudis 8, 4ABY
***
Rylaa woke with a start from the nightmare he had been having. His brain was not fully engaged so he sat for a few moments blinking in the surroundings. The hut that had been provided for them was bare, which was saying a lot from the spartan way it had been. The only things in it now was a bed, a chair, and a busted up medical droid. The bed was curently occupied by Lani, the chair by the criminal himself.
He had spent the night in the room, worrying over Lani so much that the old droid had given him a mild sedative which had eventually put him to sleep. That's when the nightmares had started. Now that he was awake, Rylaa honostly could not remember what it was he had been afraid of, only that it had threatened everything that he had.
A yawn broke free from his lips and he found himself stretching. Sleeping hunched over in a chair is not exactly the most comfortable thing in the world. He hauled himself to his and, scratching his backside the whole way, headed towards the 'fresher. A splash of cold water nearly brought him to his senses as he looked at himself in the mirror. His long brown hair was raised on one side, like it had been licked by a Bantha. He was rather scruffy, as he had not shaved in a couple days, and his moustache needed to be trimmed. All in all, Rylaa found himself to be one handsome, if slightly pudgy and tired looking, devil.
He exited the 'fresher feeling a little better and much more awake. For the sake of appearences, not because he really cared, he had patted his hair back down into some semblance of normality. As he shuffled back toward his chair to have another go at the whole sleep thing, he noticed Lani was awake, and staring at him. For some reason, her unblinking gaze unnerved him, it was like she was looking at something else entirely.
"Lani?" he asked cautiously. She continued to stare for a minute more before finally blinking herself back into reality.
"Rylaa? You there?" Her voice held a note of tension, as though she feared that he had left her.
Rylaa took her hand in his and held it. Since he had realized what she really meant to him, the fat criminal had become very protective. "Yeah, I'm here babe," he replied. That seemed to relax her a bit, though her eyes were still tense.
"We need to leave here," she urged, squeezing his hand.
"What? Why? There's still plenty to explore down there, next time we'll take a full security team, it'll be ok, I swear!"
"No, you don't understand," Lani said, her voice lowering as she grew more serious. "That thing down there didn't run from the blaster fire, it ran because it knows it can't leave that place." That caused Rylaa to blink in thought. The four PAX-25 assault armors he had with him could pour enough combined firepower from their repeating blasters to slag an armored vehicle in seconds. The fact that all those shots hadn't even fazed it startled Rylaa into thinking about his own mortality. If it had been able to leave the temple, he would be dead right now, or worse. Not that he hadn't faced death before, he had stared the reaper in the face any number of times while in space combat or many of the various jobs and scams he had pulled. It was just that death had never looked so... realistic as that wailing cloud of darkness.
"Oh... well good for that then," was all he could muster up as a reply. "How do you know that? That it can't leave the temple that is?"
"When I passed out, it was because I had briefly touched minds with it. Not enough to know what it really is, or where it came from... just enough to know that it hates everything, and nothing we could have done would have stopped it had it been able to leave that temple." Lani spoke ferverently, her voice just above a harsh whisper. "It would not have merely killed us, it would have taken us into itself. We would have become a part of that thing, neither living nor dead, feeling only hatred and pain for as long as we existed."
"Sounds like some marriages I know," he quipped. Lani shot him a withering glance.
"Now is not the time for jokes, Rylaa," came her retort.
"Sorry babe," he said with a shrug and one of his disarming smiles, "Humor is my defense when I'm a little freaked, and frankly that black cloud has me quivering in my boots. Alright, I'll go with what you said, let's leave planet as soon as you are able."
"Sir," the medical droid in a emotionless mechanical voice, "There is nothing physically wrong with her, she was in here because of simple exhaustion. A good night's sleep took care of that."
Rylaa gave Lani a flat look that made her squirm and give him a sheepish smile. "I sat in that blasted chair all night thinking that you were going to die on me and you were just tired?" Somehow the calm, cool way that he said that made her more afraid than if he had shouted it.
"Well, you looked so comfortable in the chair I didn't want to wake you." It was a weak arguement, but it was all she had. She gave him a sheepish smile and a look that had "forgive me" written all over it.
He just couldn't help himself, he smiled back. "Fine, if you say so. Then get dressed and let's get the hell off this planet. It's beginning to wear on me for some reason."
Lani lifted the covers off her nude form and walked to where her clothes had been piled on the floor. Rylaa watched with a half-smile as she got dressed. "Alright, let's go get the others."
*** Landing Pad ***
The last of the supplies they had brought with them had been loading onto the ship and Rylaa's men were making the last pre-flight checks. The surviving doctors were gathered and arguing with the criminal.
"I don't understand," an irate Doctor Golaj said, "why are you leaving now? There is still so much to be discovered!"
"I don't care about that, Doctor, I care about profit. Right now, I don't see any profit in the further funding of your dig. Expect all funding to be cut off the second I leave this miserable jungle." Rylaa spoke with such vehemence that the older man actually took a step back.
"But the knowledge!" the doctor pressed.
"Is useless to me, I can't sell that. I can, however, sell the location to this Jedi Temple not only to the Jedi, some of whom I happen to know, but also to the New Republic who I'm sure will be happy to come down here and dig away to their heart's content. Minus you and your friends of course."
"But...."
"Shut up, Doctor, I don't care anymore. I no longer need you and have no problems eliminating you just to prove a point." As if by magic, two security troopers appeared as Rylaa's side with their rifles lowered. The doctor stepped back with his hands raised to ward off any shots that they might make. He then turned and ran back towards the camp. "Kill him anyway," Rylaa ordered. Both troopers fired simultaniously and Doctor Golaj's form sprawled forward in the dirt. The remaining doctors took their cue and ran as well. No shots followed them.
"That was cold," Lani said as he walked into the cockpit.
"They are all going to die anyway," Rylaa responded.
"Why is that?"
"Remember all those pissed off natives the Imperials tampered with?"
"Yeah."
"We never did take care of them all, and I suspect that without our troops around they are going to have a merry feast."
Lani didn't say anything further as they lifted off into space.
*** In Orbit around Avalon VI ***
Imperial Colonel Kurt von Shultz was having a cup of tea in his study when a breathless ensign burst in without so much as a knock. Kurt didn't even look up. "Next time be sure to knock, Johnson, I might have shot you without realizing it."
"Yes sir," the young officer replied. "We've got news about the ship you asked us to monitor."
"And?"
"They're lifting off planet now, sir."
"Excellent," Kurt said, "have the TIEs prepped and ready for intercept. I want two full squadrons of Interceptors ready, this is a smugglers ship and it is sure to have many illegal 'upgrades'."
"Of course, sir." The ensign turned and ran back towards the bridge. Kurt finished his tea and stood up, adjust his uniform as he did. Soon they would find out why it was not a good idea to make an Imperial Colonel look like a fool.
"A Daring Escape"
by: Rylaa Lyssander - PC
Lani Vissip - NPC+
Lorgal - NPC+
Kurt von Shultz - NPC+
Ares Macrotech Security Force - NPCs
Location: Above Avalon VI
Date: Rheudis 8, 4ABY
*** On board the Star Destroyer Indefinable ***
Imperial Army Colonel Kurt von Shultz stood just behind the sensor operator on the bridge of his ship. His recently acquired metal hand tapped impatiently on the back of the nervous young petty officer's chair. The tiny blip on he screen that was the Arc Royal was being tracked by a sensor satellite they had deployed earlier. The Star Destroyer itself was hidden behind the bulk of Avalon VI's moon.
As the modified freighter moved closer, Kurt ordered, "Launch the TIEs," to the ship's captain. The squat bearded man, more suited in demeanor to the sailing ships of old, nodded and relayed the order in his loud, gruff voice.
Minutes later, two TIE squadrons and two TIE Interceptor squadrons launched from the belly of the capital ship and quickly soared into formation. Four deadly wedges flew from the moon's sensor shadow and towards their target.
*** On board the Arc Royal ***
"Sir!" called the troopers from the sensor station. "We've got multiple inbounds coming from behind the moon. It looks like they have energy signatures concurrent with Imperial TIE fighters."
Rylaa Lyssander, consummate criminal turned ruthless businessman, swore under his breath in several languages. "That damn Imp Colonel must still be out here somewhere. They may even have a base on the moon. No one else sure as hell is out here." He gave his barabel secretary/bodyguard the order to man defenses.
"Man up the quads," Lorgal's booming voice ordered. The two troopers designated as the best in air-to-air gunnery showed up quickly, both half dressed and both breathing hard. "I'll take dorsal, Vento take ventral and Biggs you take aft." The two troopers spun and left, Lorgal hot on their heels. Lani also got up from the co-pilot's seat to help but Rylaa restrained her with a light touch on her arm.
"I need you here with me," he said in a soft voice, not taking his eyes from the darkness of space. The silent plea in his voice made her turn her head to look at his closely. It wasn't often that Rylaa admitted he need anybody, admitted that he couldn't do something alone. Lani slid back into the comfortable chair, thought buzzing in her mind like bees.
He said nothing more as he concentrated on flying, though he donned the chilled leather headset. Lorgal an the two troopers manning the ship's three quad laser cannons were chatting idly about the upcoming engagement. "Sir," the sensor tech said, "We've narrowed down the bogies to four groups of seven. Two of the group are moving much faster than the other."
"Squints," Rylaa murmured, using the common nickname for the Empire's interceptors. He warmed up the three front laser cannons and the concussion missile launchers before handing over weapon controls to Lani. If they were going against TIE-Is, he was going to need all of his concentration. "Here they come!" he said into the vox at his throat.
The two squadrons of interceptors broke apart as they sped within weapons range, forming into four wings of three ships and one wing of two. In a classic wall formation, they headed for a collision course with the Arc Royal. Rylaa had played chicken in his youth with speederbikes, and he knew how to make people flinch. Lani opened fire with the three forward lasers, vaporizing the lead TIE-I and scattering the rest enough the Rylaa was able to make a rolling shot through the center.
The Arc Royal's quads opened up on everything that flew in front of them. The Imperial pilots, not expecting the heavy firepower, broke apart their wings further for individual attacks. Rylaa concentrated on flying a dodging pattern, he wasn't intent on prolonging the engagement longer than it had to go. There was still fourteen more TIEs headed towards them.
Biggs, in the aft turret, watched a TIE-I that had flown into his cross-stream of laser fire flame out and drift spaceward. If the pilot was not rescued soon, he would eventually asphyxiate from the lack of life support. Emergency reserves could only last so long. "I've two more on the six," Biggs reported over the net.
"Then shoot them!" Lorgal bellowed back. The big barabel's bloodlust was on the rise as the battle escalated and he whooped and shouted with every pass. Both TIE-Is opened up with their own four laser cannons. Emerald lances of energy speared through the ship's shields, peeling armor from the quad turret but not breaching it. Biggs shredded one of the fighters while his buddy decided he had had enough.
The Arc Royal bucked as shot after shot splattered against the shields. Rylaa prayed silently to anything that might be listening, thankful that he had thought of replacing the old shields with newer, stronger one before leaving Tae'Karada. "Hang on," he voxed, "I'm going to pull something fancy."
Rylaa jerked the flight stick around and grinned at the way the ship smoothly responded. The Calrissian Special was a maneuver not normally performed in a freighter, even one like this. While the old girl didn't have nearly the speed of maneuverability of his personal fighter, the Getaway, it never the less performed better than any freighter he had had the pleasure of flying.
"Second group of TIEs are engaging," the sensor tech said from his console. The was a quiver in his voice as he sought to keep down his lunch.
The ship executed another looping spin through the new groups of fighters. "Damn it! We can't fight all of them, and we can't run from the Interceptors." A TIE spun sideways past the cockpit, one wing sheared off. Lorgal's whooping war cry echoed through the ship. "However much fun some of us are having."
"We need to get power to the engines," he said to no one in particular. "If we draw from the weapon systems and the batteries we may be able to boost our speed further. It will put some heavy strain on the engine, but it might just push us up to where those TIE-Is won't be able to catch that easily.
"Lani, grab some of that spare cabling from the cargo bay and get to the engine room. The backup for the weapons systems is there and you should be able to tap into it. I know you have the electrical knowledge necessary to pull it off." Lani nodded and left while Rylaa pressed on, mostly to himself. "Now once we begin to outdistance these guys, they are going to fall in to find us and concentrate their firepower into our aft shields, which will be boosted of course. But we can't hold off forever. We need some way to keep them away from our backs."
"Sacrifice one of the PAX-25s," Captain Blake said. Rylaa hadn't noticed the head of his security detail enter. "We can set one of them to overload and kick it out the hatch. It may not be a big explosion, the fusion generator on that thing isn't all that big, but it might be enough to scatter them for a bit."
Once again, Rylaa thought about making the man's position permanent. "Good idea, captain, get on it. I'll pass the word back to you when it's time to release."
The man nodded and exited, leaving Rylaa mostly alone to concentrate on avoiding the enemy. He juked and rolled sharply, barely missing a TIE-I that had gotten close. The shields were growing weaker as the fighters poured more and more firepower into them.
Most of their shots missed, thanks to Rylaa's extraordinary flying ability, but the shots that were hitting were starting to peel away at the armor. "Lani!" he shouted into the vox, "We're losing armor, I need that speed boost now!"
"Almost done," her voice came back. The stattacco from the quads died down.
A message flashed across his status screen. <>
"Blast! This is not the time. Lorgal! Get your big ass back there and plug that hole with something, I don't care if it's just a box!" Rylaa was yelling over his shoulder.
"Gotcha, boss," came his voice.
"Done!" Lani's triumphant announcement came as the ship accelerated suddenly. Rylaa felt himself being pushed into the cushions as the compensators strained to match the awesome output from the engines. The Arc Royal shot out of the cluster of surprised fighters like a cork and fled towards the planet's moon. The TIEs recovered quickly though, and within seconds they were back in hot pursuit. The sleek, deadly forms of the TIE Interceptors outpaced their slower cousins quickly and the slowly gained on the freighter.
Lani pulled herself into the cockpit with some effort and slid into the co-pilot's chair. "Did it work?" she asked eagerly. At the grim set of Rylaa's face, though, she asked, "No?"
"Mostly. The squints are still gaining on us," he replied. "I'm heading for the moon, if my next plan doesn't work it's our only hope." The TIE-Is slid closer and soon their laser shot were splattering against the aft shields in sporadic bursts. "Captain," Rylaa voxed, "Kick that armor out the... Holy Shit!"
Rylaa's came as the deadly white wedge of an Imperial-class Star Destroyer emerged from behind the moon's shadow. As soon as the capital ship's batteries of turbolasers were unmasked, they began to flood space with laser blasts.
"We are so dead," Rylaa said to no one in particular. "We've got one chance to pull this off."
"Pull what..." Lani started to reply, then she realized that Rylaa was probably going to pull something very stupid and very brave. Something that there would be a 1 in a million chance of survival. "I've got a bad feeling about this," she said quietly, unknowingly echoing one of her heroes.
"Buckle down, boys and girls. This is going to be a wild ride." Rylaa slammed the stick straight back, fluttering the engine as he went. The Arc Royal loop 180 degrees in a much tighter radius than it was ever designed for. Still in the competing gravity wells of Avalon VI and her large moon, the ship was undergoing stresses that threatened to tear it apart.
With the turn complete, the Arc Royal found herself hurtling towards the squadrons of TIEs at breakneck speeds. Another game of chicken, but who would win this one? Rylaa's hand slapped down on the button label, breaking the safety interlocks on the engines and guaranteeing them a visit to the scrap yard. The ship began to shudder as the compensators started to run down and everyone found themselves gritting their teeth against the sub-sonic vibrations.
At the last possible second, Rylaa executed and wide barrel role, which swung the fleeing starship around the Interceptor screen. The Imperial pilots, confused by the highly unorthodox tactics, were barely able to react before being blown into their component atoms by the Star Destroyer's turbolasers.
"Plot us a hyperspace route," Rylaa said though his teeth.
Lani brought up their pre-planned route back to Tae'Remok. "Course set into the astrogation computer.
"Getting us the hell out of here!" Rylaa grabbed the lever for hyperspace and jammed it home. The stars elongated and were soon replaced by the warm, comforting view of hyperspace. Everyone let out the breath they hadn't realized they had been holding.
*** On board the Indefinable ***
A body lay on the deck of the bridge, a blackened hole still smoking in the center of its chest. Deep green eyes stared lifelessly out of what had once been a handsome face. The man had once been a junior officer in the Imperial Navy, in charge of capturing or destroying the recently escaped criminal. He paid for his failure with his life.
Nobody on the bridge of the Star Destroyer looked at the body laying where it had fallen, nor did anyone make a move to recover it. Kurt had ordered that it remain where it lay, to serve as an example. Failure would not be tolerated.
The Colonel himself sat in his cabin staring out the window at the stars in contemplation. He was absently rubbing his artificial hand. His nemesis, he had just begun to think of the rotund little businessman as such, was proving to be a far more cunning opponent that he had first surmised. He had outsmarted Kurt on the planet, attacking with a brilliant strategy where only a fool would have attacked at all, and pulling it off. He had kicked Kurt off planet, but only after he took his hand. And now here, in space above that very same planet, he had evaded his own destruction with a skill that Kurt found himself forced to admire. But where had he gone?
The door chimed and Kurt turned his chair to address whoever was there. If he found it not important, the interrupter might find themselves missing a few fingers in the morning. A nervous looking lieutenant walked in holding a data pad in front of him like a shield. "What is it?" Kurt asked irritably. "I asked not to be disturbed while I'm brooding."
"Yes sir," the man replied in a reedy voice. "But I have some information that I believe you will be interested in."
The man paused, and for some reason this irritated Kurt further. "Go on," he said gruffly.
"Sir, I compiled the sensor data we got off the modified freighter that escape and was able to trace the registry back to its current owner, and to the owner's location."
"And? Who owns the ship and where can we find them."
"The ship is owned by small time corporation called Ares Macrotechnology. They are mostly a weapon R&D firm, but they have widescale production in several areas. Their products include everything from..."
"Just tell me where it is," Kurt grunted, "I don't need a sale brochure."
"The Outer Rim, sir. A well colonized system called Tae'Remok, on the planet Tae'Karada."
"Never heard of it. But that's alright, there's plenty of room in the galaxy and I can't have heard of every planet or system. Excellent work, lieutenant. I want as much current information about this Tae'Karada as you can find by tomorrow afternoon. Tell the captain to make best speed for there as well." The young officer saluted and turned to go but Kurt stopped him with a, "Oh and one more thing. You are now in charge of this mission, I expect you to report directly to me on its progress. I do hope you do a better job than your predecessor." The lieutenant gulped loudly and fled down the corridor.
Kurt turned his chair back and return to his silent contemplation. They had escaped him this time, but now he knew where they were going. A lone planet in the Outer Rim had no chance of standing against the Indefinable, and if he had to turn its surface to slag in order to flush out his prey, he would.