Re: Star Wars: Rogue Traders (RP Thread - Open)

[cyclonecasey]

"I told Jarik five years ago that you'd be nothing but trouble" he said plainly, as though I wasn't holding a blaster against his temple "I told him it would be unwise to take you on, dangerous even, but when Jarik makes up his mind about something-"
"I know" I almost whisper, lowering my weapon slightly as my mind drifted back over the last five years.
He looks at me almost sadly "I suppose you do," he murmurs "but that's the problem isn't it? That why you'll never be free" his chuckle snaps me back to the reality of the situation, my sadness turning to anger. I slam him against the wall, pressing my blaster hard against his squishy head.
"Ardana, don't be stupid. Killing me will achieve nothing"
"It'll make me feel better"
"It'll make Jarik angrier than he already is. Ardana..." unable to listen to another word, I pull the trigger. The loud blast was followed by uncomfortable silence as the others behind me tried to make sense of what just happened. I could see them out of the corner of my eye, shifting and throwing glances at each other, none wanting to be the first to speak.
"We should get out of here" I tell them, holstering my gun and turning towards the door.
"Oh no no no" Tek pipes up, stepping quickly into my path "I think it's time for an explanation"
"No, Ardana's right, we cant stay here now" Fesa chimes in, grabbing Teks fur and pulling him back. As if cued by his words, footsteps from on the other side of the door approached.
"sh*t, too late" I hiss pulling my blaster back out.

(just imaging a guard doing his rounds, could be more if you want. I need to take a shower and do some washing now, I'll be back later today)

[Damxge]

I spun about, picking an arrow from my quiver and firing it off at the door. It impacted with a loud pop and a burst of bright blue electricity, energizing the metal door for an instant. The guard on the opposite side fell through to the floor, out cold and rigid from the shock.

"Let's go!" Fesa said, sprinting out the door, through the small hallway, and into the main corridor, which was now well lit, the lights I'd taken as inoperable now blazing a bright yellow. The distant sound of running feet and yelling reaching our ears, coming from all directions. Following Ardana's lead, we sprinted through the facility, curving through side paths and small, narrow halls, to get us back to the training room from which we entered. Inside were six men, standing around the grate, obviously having seen the bodies of the guards where we'd stashed them. Without hesitating, I barged through the door with a deafening war cry, sending two of the men recoiling so hard they fell to the floor. I set onto them like a mad ape, my ancestors would be proud, as my fists crushed bone and tenderized flesh. Without hesitation, I yanked the grate up from it's position in the floor, Fesa and Ardana jumping down without hesitation, Fesa with a sideways glance at me, either impressed or concerned, I couldn't tell. I then shoved the fresh bodies into the hole and jumped down after them, landing on the pile. I jammed the grate back in place and joined my two fleeing compatriots in their dash down the tunnel.

As we reached the end, I leaped up and grabbed onto the rim of the pipe, my feet grabbing a fistfull of Fesa and Ardana's shirts, swinging them out, over the pool of sludge, and around to safety on dry land, where they immediately broke for the ship, dashing through the forest. I, as I'd done on the way in, took to the treetops, swinging from limb to limb, keeping a watch for any dangers in the woods.

"Start the ship," I heard Fesa say into a radio as we neared the clearing in which we'd landed. Almost immediately the distant hum of Skipper's primary engines drifting through the darkness ahead of us. After another several minutes of running, we burst into the clearing and charged aboard the Skipper, the landing gear already lifting off of the ground as we boarded.

"Fast exit, then?" Kinto asked, relinquishing the controls to Fesa, who immediately began hitting buttons. I flopped down in the seat next to him and grabbed the controls, keeping her at a steady hover while Fesa prepped her to take off and straight to a hyper jump.

"Aim 'er straight up," Fesa said loudly, hitting the calculations monitor, which was flickering unhappily.

"We don't have hover for vertical takeoff," I responded, looking around wildly, a round of blaster fire bouncing off of the starboard shields.

"I know, do it manually," He responded, screwing with the wiring on the monitor, Kinto joining him. With a nervous laugh I aimed the forward thrusters straight down and gouged them, pointing us straight up. With manual override on a single rear thruster, I rotated us to a rather rapid corkscrew to keep us from simply flipping over backwards, Kinto wedging himself between the windscreen and the control console to continue his work without complaint. Each time we began to tip any direction, I would spin us so that the bow thruster faced that direction and give it a little juice.

"Hit it!" Kinto yelled over the blaster fire that was raining down on us. And like that, we were out in space, far, far from the planet.

"They won't be able to track our jump for a while," Fesa said, leaning back in his seat with a sigh of relief, Kinto doing the same on the windscreen. I was too preoccupied with what had just happened to relax just yet.

"Why didn't we just take off and jump once we were in space?" I asked, my hands visibly shaking.

"Because, when you jump through an atmosphere it offsets your course by several degrees, making it much more difficult to track which direction we went," Kinto explained, hopping off of the console and wandering back toward the bunks. As I began to calm down, I looked down at myself and realized I was completely filthy from our little adventure, my clothes and fur matted with all sorts of disgusting refuse.

"How long until our meeting?" I asked Fesa, flicking the switch on autopilot, which eased us to a gentle hover in the expanse of space.

"We've got another eighteen hours, get a shower and take a nap," He said, voicing exactly what I was thinking.

[Chavvy]

I'd have loved to have been able to sleep, but I just couldn't bring myself to do so just yet. So much had happened in the last 24 hours, I'd not had chance to think on any of it yet, and when I need to think, I need a drink. With the ship in autopilot, there was no need for me to be in the hotseat, and with not needing to stray too far from the planet, the engines are on low power to conserve fuel, so the chances of a sudden shift were remote, unless we were attacked, which again, was remote.

The Skipper is advanced in many ways, engines much larger than what it needed, the weaponry unmatched by any vessel of this size, The accomodation five star compared to most ships aside from those posh ones, and the best part, the stealth drives. Most scanners scan for heat, space being so cold, it was perfect for heat scanning, so the way around it is to hide the heat. When in low power such as now, the heat can be harnessed, and recycled to fuel itself, and being a hybrid, it needed little modification. The advantage of minimal heat leakage is that it works so well over a range, we hardly come to bother. The other way of hiding was a brainwave of Kinto, when there is minimal light, such as between systems, Kinto has modified the shield generator to not allow light to pass through, rendering us invisible to an extent. The only issue is that it also cooks the ship, trapping all the heat, so can only be used for a very short time, think the best me had managed was around 15 minutes, but we were both down to our underwear, and smelt like a banthas backside.

But for now, the low power mode would suffice, and I left the cockpit to go to the kitchen, grabbed a bottle of Idorian liquor and headed to the starboard wing in the cargo hold. It just seemed quieter in there than to go to the crew quarters. There was nothing special in the cargo hold at the moment, just our basic supplies such as emergency food and ammunition should the kitchen or armoury run out. The only thing in here at all was a single bench near the boarding ramp, just in case we had to take off that quick, that there was no time to get into the common room to strap in. There, I sat for at least an hour, with no interruptions, just Hiss occasionally rolling past doing his regular rounds, he was more a hosting droid anyway, he had to ensure everyone on board was comfortable. It was only after 4 roll-bys and quarter of a bottle of the liquor that he actually said anything.

"Is everything alright, Captain?" Hiss queried, in a monotonous, slightly glitching voice.
"I see Kinto has finally got round to fixing your vocabuliser. And whats up with you actually calling me Captain? Usually you have some sarky petname... or is it the day you finally got over being stolen?!" I joked, slurring my words slightly.
"Its working, but not fixed unfortunately. Diagnostics show that it is still slightly magnetised, and drawing static from my other components, causing it to glitch. Master Kinto says this should pass in a few weeks. And I can only call you captain now as you actually have a crew. Two men and a droid is certainly not a crew." He explained. I guess he made sense. "But you are avoiding my question, Captain. That partially consumed beverage would suggest you have something on your mind. I am programmed to help, so whats wrong?"
"Nothing is wrong Hiss, I just needed some quiet time, I've not slept for two days, and its been all go since I woke up. I just... I just dont feel comfortable leaving the ship in their hands. They're capable, but can I truly trust them? Kinto, yes, but he must be ready for some sleep too by now..." I moaned, leaning back on the bench, putting the bottle to one side.
"I have been monitoring them as close as I can, Captain. So far, nothing would suggest mutiny, or other misdeeds. I know that you have dont some stupid things in your time, you stole me for a start, but this is just paranoia, I can alert you should something happen." Hiss said reassuringly. "You should really get some rest, even if for a couple of hours. It'll help you think straight."
"I guess you're right, sleep will do me good. Get me up in three hours if I'm not already up." I replied, standing up, taking a grip of the bottle again to screw on the cap.
"Yes, Captain. Is there anything else you require?" Hiss asked out of courtesy.
"One thing... Keep an eye on the new recruits..." I answered, opening the cargo hold door, and making my way to my bunk.

[Conor]

I sat in my little spot under the ship's deck, beneath the first floor and in the engine pods, which people really shouldn't e in, but I've had to squeeze into tighter spots for work. But this wasn't for work, it was for a quiet moment while i once again observed the only possession I truly owned. I had collected it from my locker while the others were out and about. it fitted in my palm perfectly, a soft yellow glow emanating from its shell. It was my light saber crystal, a lightsabre for which i did not possess. It wasn't secret or anything, but no one knew i had it, because i only look at it when i'm alone.
As far as I knew, it worked fine, because the last time it was used it cut off my deckhand's head. Back when i was a captain.

"Perhaps, one day, we'll find something to use you in." I murmured to no one in particular. Out of nowhere, as if purposely timed, Tek's head popped down from above.

"Watcha say?" he asked, his big eyes darting straight to the glowing crystal in my hand. "You have a saber crystal?" So much for secrets.

"Yeah," I answered relaxedly, closing up my fist and putting the crystal away "But it's useless. No light saber. How did today go?" I asked as Tek attempted to wiggle his long body into the hatch, but upon failing, made do with squatting it above it and peeking down.

"Not as smoothly as I'd hoped, but we're alive." he answered truthfully "The girl, though, Ardana... something's off."

"No sh*t, brother. She's not just a Twi'lek whore, there's obviously more to it. Unfortunately, I lost interest yesterday." I smiled "How did the new bow do?" Tek grew a smirk and nodded.

"You have a gift, that's for sure."

"You're the one that's firing it, mate." I groaned, leaning back.

[Damxge]

After chatting for a few more moments, I left Kinto to his, well, whatever he was doing, and wandered up to the bunks. I figured I would take the captain's advice and try to get some sleep. I'd already taken a cramped shower and now smelled fresh and clean, so all that was left was to get some shuteye. I noticed Ardana sitting on one of the bunks off to the side but paid her little mind as I found the highest bunk I could and settled in, my back to the wall, my eyes scanning the room slowly. Ardana was over there playing with her blaster and for whatever reason I was getting an odd feeling. As much as I tried to shrug it off and go to sleep, it wouldn't let me. So, after a while, I hauled my ass out of bed and made my way to the cargo hold, found the tallest stack of sh*t I could, and flopped down. I heard hiss rolling about beneath me as I drifted off to sleep.

It wasn't long before I awoke, probably about four hours or so. I didn't sleep long, none of the Vatik I'd ever known did. When I was with the Red Band people joked it was because my small brain didn't take long to recharge. I snorted as the memories crossed my mind, a startled hiss scooting out of the hold. I wondered if he'd been here the whole time I was asleep as I climbed down from my perch atop what looked like ammo crates and made my way to the galley, my stomach grumbling along the way. I dug around in the freezer for a few moments, finding a bag of some purple fruit that I carried with me as I wandered to the pilot seats. I sat for a few hours snacking on the strange sweet fruit, thinking back on the past few days, and then further back to my days as crew with the pirates. This was far different, far more personal, far closer, and far far more dangerous. As Fesa said before, there was no hiding behind other crewmates this time, if we got into sh*t, my face was out there along with the others.

It wasn't long before Captain Thorn came from his bunk and took the seat next to mine without a word. With a sluggish demeanor, he flicked at the switches and shifted us back to full power as he swung the ship around to face our destination.

"We'll be there in a half hour, you ready for this?" He asked me without looking over, keeping his eyes fixed on the planet.

[Chavvy]

"Ready as I'll ever be captain." Tek replied, re-routing power from the stealth systems to the boost drives. as the last cables where plugged in, I reached forward to throw the switch, and we launched back towards the planet, with little complaint from the other crew.

"Prime the shields for re-entry, Tek!" I shouted over, as we approached Nar Shaadars' atmosphere. I faint blue glow pulsed across the cockpit windows as the shields activated, before going clear again, the occasional spark and flair confirming that it was still active. We punched through the atmosphere, the shield layer going haywire as it seared. We flew across the surface of the planet for several minutes, passing various sectors of the mass city, and the few gaps between. I suppose one good thing coming from it being such a vast amount of races living here is how diverse the buildings are, from the tall skyscrapers, to the small homes and cantinas, not one place was the same, you could explore for a lifetime and still only scrape the surface. But among this came our port, a dingy place in what was classed as "Sin central", laying on the outskirts of Gatwin sector, and is probably the biggest concentration of strip clubs and whore houses on the planet. It is no wonder that among all this, that the Hutts do business, as no-one will be paying attention to them when theres naked Twi'leks around. We made port around half an hours walk away from the location, as not to draw too much attention to ourselves or the target. At least an approach on foot is easier to conceal than a 130 foot freighter.

I gathered the others in the common room, to go over the plan, picking my rifle up on the way through, clipping it to my shoulder plating.

"So, as I explained before, we're heading to Grah'lems' palace, a strip joint in Kimho the Hutts territory. The plan is for you three to position yourselves around the building to eavesdrop on the meeting between his lead security officer, and his new recruits for any leads on where this spice cache is. As you may know, my face is not welcome around there at all, so I'm gonna have to take a backseat with this part of the task. I will take a vantage point on the building opposite, and observe through my scope from there, as well as monitor your headsets that I will pass out in a minute. I will be able to cover your route to the back room where the meeting will take place, but once you're in there, you need to stay out of sight." I explained, before firing up the holodesk again with a schematic of the building. "Having looked over this, the easiest route to the rear upstairs would be through this window here, taking you just past the dressing rooms, into a corridor that may likely be guarded because of this. Do your best not to raise any alarms when taking out guards, use non-lethal methods if you have to. once there, the staircase should be to your right, hidden by a door leading to a closet. Once up there, slowly make your way to the room, again, it may be guarded, so make sure they're all inside before taking out guards. If in need of a quick exit, theres windows in the the two smaller rooms upstairs here."

"Now, these are the headsets, they're simple, but they will do the job. Simply, its an earpiece, microphone and camera, with a clip to make sure it stays on. They may take a little getting used to newbies, but it'll help no end if we can record this meeting so we have references. Any questions?"

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