[IC] SW: Edge of the Empire: Ep. I - Escape from Mos Shuuta

[Lord Wyron]

Sektor was poised and tensed, ready for a fight. A hundred shots wasn't terrible, but by no means could he be generous with his shots. Ruusaan had already taken care of one of the ships, leaving three more left.

He jerked the joystick to one side, letting the turret lurch to one side before clicking on the trigger sharply, sending a volley of three bolts from the gun. Two of them grazed the hull of the ship, the third missing barely as the lightweight aircraft whizzed past.

Turning on his comlink, he warned Ruusaan, "Aim for the cockpit! It's bulging quite obviously, should be able to kill the pilot." Without waiting for a response, Sektor fired another volley, managing to pierce the cockpit with a bolt, smiling behind his helm as the glass shattered, setting the whole console alight and killing the pilot.

"Two more left!" He called, priming his lasers once more. "Smuggler! How are things looking?" He demanded, wanting to know just how much power they had to disperse to land safely without becoming space junk.

[Avanhelsing]

Cor's hands were still flying to keep the ship flying. Right now he was trying to keep the ship from falling apart in a manner most unfortunate. He was trying to keepo this thing moving. He felt the blasts hit the ship. He cursed loudly as he tried to keep the thing from blowing up. He looked around and then tried to keep the damage down. He looked worried as he turned and yelled into the back of the ship. "Well we are getting hit and thing is not the best with shields! Hold onto your pockets cause here come the rockets!" He yelled before he pressed the big red button and fired the main engines to full. The ship would rocket forward into the canyon. He was hoping the ships would get stuck or hit one of the walls. The ship was rocketing through the canyon.

[Assallya]

Arla's brown eyes followed Cor's movements, noting many of the small things that he did though she didn't quite grasp the reasons for them. Pulling back on controls caused the metal bird to fly upwards, pushing forwards made it dive. Then Cor pushed forwards on the controls with abandon and the metal bird dropped so fast that she was pressed back into her seat.

Seeing the canyon walls so close to the window, the rippling uneven wall moving by so fast that it seemed like a unbroken sheet of red and brown. Despite herself, Arla found she was curling up in the co-pilot's seat, almost as if she expected that they were going to plow into the ground.

[reem]

The two remaining starfighters prepped to launch their proton torpedoes as they smashed into the massive walls of Beggar's Canyon. The Krayt Fang shot through the dangerously narrow opening of the canyon. Ruu saw a fireball of explosion with dust and rock of the racing canyon walls. She let out a breath of relief. The huntress didn't think they were going to make it out alive. She wondered how Cor was able to pull that off, and she would thank him later.

The jump the Krayt Fang made through the canyon without further problems. Despite the vessel’s dilapidated condition, it seems to hold together and handles well. A whole galaxy is now open to explore. Free from the grasp of Teemo the Hutt, Ruusaan could kick back and relax a little, getting used to her new surroundings. She hasn't had much time to get to know this ship, and it certainly could do with some alterations before she could comfortably call it home. A rank smell permeates the vessel, and several warning alert icons display on the navigational computer’s VDU. Suddenly, a loud klaxon begins to wail and the sound of a dozen snorting and growling voices can be heard echoing over the ship’s PA system. The Krayt Fang begins to shudder and shake; clearly not all is well aboard the stolen freighter.

Several Alert Icons – These are winking red icons displayed on the Navigational Computer's user interface. There are six of them. In order of priority, they are:
- A large flashing red script at the top right corner of the screen - "Shields - 0%"
- A large flashing red script at the top corner of the screen - "Hull Integrity - 10%"
- A large flashing red script in the center of the screen – “Fuel Low”.
- A small flashing icon in the shape of a crescent moon, or fang.
- An irritating and intermittent pop-up in Trandoshan script.
- A flashing red icon in the form of a simplified cage.

Annoyed with all the noises, Ruu was glad she had a helmet with filtered oxygen because the smell was very strong and unpleasant. The mando climbed her way up the ladder and made her way back to the cockpit where the smuggler was at the controls. "Turn that noise off!" She snapped at Cor.

[Avanhelsing]

Cor looked at the control pannel frantically pressing dfiofferent buttons as they rocketed forward. That had worked so well but there would be massive problems when it was done.He saw all the damage the jump had done. This was bad. Very bad. He started to land the ship in the canyon. He looked around and smelled some terrible smell. That was the engines most likely...

He saw that the shields were down and they had little to no fuel. He was screwed. The ship was not in good shape. He landed it and turned to look at the Mando. "I would love that too! We are basically dead here. This thing might have enough to get to Mos Shutta!" He yelled shutting down the ship. "We are in trouble. I need to get this working." He said looking worried "I have no idea where we are honestly. " He said looking out the doors. He tried to figure out where the smell was.

[reem]

A loud klaxon and the sound of deep grunting voices can be heard over the PA. Ruu figured that the klaxon is an alert to the fact that the ship is low on fuel and is therefore keyed to the alert message on the navigational computer. The grunting is a Gamorrean Opera soundtrack that Trex liked to listen to during journeys. The Mandalorian thought the resulting cacophony was disorienting, and she never understood the Trandoshan's fascination with such horrible garbage some idiot decided sounded like music.

As Cor messed with the Krayt Fang's computer he pressed buttons. He eventually turned off both the kalaxon and the music which Ruu was grateful for some peace and silence. A popup menu in Trandoshan script appeared after Cor hit one of the icons. A third pop up links to a simple program displaying a note in various languages, including Rodian, Trandoshan, Gand, and others. A version in basic is provided, as read: “ATTENTION! ATTENTION! Captive militant B’URA B’AN still on board. RECOMMENDED RESPONSE: Return to Mos Shuuta and collect bounty immediately. LAST FED: 6 hours ago. LAST REFRESHED: 8 hours ago.”

"That smell is the Wookiee pelts and raw hunks of flesh Trex has laying around ship. I'm going to investigate our prisoner and I'll see about getting rid of the pelts" she told the smuggler as she headed for the main cargo hold.

As she searched the ship Ruu discovered that Trex was a messy eater. The seats around the holochess set are covered in gobbets of rotten meat and rancid fat. She traced the smell to a section of the floor of the hold: a smuggling compartment that can be accessed via a section of decking that can be pulled from the floor. The huntress pulled up the floor panel to discover six nauseating wookiee pelts. Now she really was grateful for her helmet. She couldn't imagine the pain Cor and Arla must have been in from the strong odors. The huntress began to drag the pelts out to the loading area, one by one. She dropped ramp and tossed the pelts out, scattering them across the Tatooine desert sand. She immediately felt the blazing heat and closed the ramp.

Ruu back-tracked through the corridors and into the Engineering section that provided access to the ship’s engines and fuel reserves. A small fire danced along the engines. Ruu grabbed a fire extinguisher and put out the flames. A hand scanner was left in one corner of the hold. The huntress continued on to Number Three Hold. This hold housed some of the equipment used by Trex for the restraint and transportation of captives. Seven sets of binders hung from the walls, and there are six small cylindrical cell units mounted on tracks for ease of transport. Five of these units were empty, though one contained the crouched and cramped form of a male Twi’lek. The captive appears old and frail, with pale blue skin and a single long, thin lekku coiling from the right side of his head. Where the left lekku would be is an ugly cauterized stump. At the sound of the hunter's approach he raised his head in alarm, but his expression became one of curiosity when he saw the Mandalorian.

B’ura B’an was hesitant to see the Mandalorian warrior and asks if she would be willing to free him so that he can stretch his legs and use the ship’s refresher. Ruu thought about releasing him, though he was only a bounty to her. She would lock him back up in his cage after he was done. "How did you end up in here?" she questioned coldly.

“Well, my name is B’ura B’an, I’ll try to keep my long story short. For some time now the rulers of Ryloth have been, in my opinion, remiss about who they allow in on the planet’s Ryll mining industry, which you must understand is only barely legitimate in these days of Imperial dominance. For some time, bands of Aqualish thugs terrorized mining communities, forcing Twi’leks to work for scant reward and extorting all sorts of favors and resources from mines that might otherwise have prospered. I banded together with some associates in order to protect New Meen, our most profitable mine, from the thugs. For a while we held them off.Then they simply disappeared. We were relieved at first, but soon learned that they had been killed in the process of some underworld take-over. Shortly after that, bands of outsiders began to purchase land near the mines. They claimed they were developing it, though we could tell they were there merely to spy on us and make life difficult. A short while later, during a journey to Nabat, I was attacked by a band of rogues, including the Trandoshan who maimed and branded me before sealing me up in this cell.”

Ruu was half paying attention to the Twi'lek's story, she could care less; but now that he mentioned the underworld take-over, she knew exactly what had happened. Teemo was involved. Since he was a prisoner of Teemo the huntress no longer cared about the bounty on his head, she had a bounty on her own from the slimy Hutt. Ruu released the Twi'lek from his cage and allowed him to use the refresher. She gave him a nutrient bar to snack on and brought him over to Arla. As soon as the old Twi'lek saw her his eyes-lit up at the sight of her. He began to speak to her in her own tongue. He introduced himself. The Twi’lek gestures sparsely with his remaining lekku during his speech. He seems to be open about what he is saying, but there is something he’s not sharing. B’ura B’an asked Arla to tell him her story.

[vancexentan]

Among all of the planets the man had traveled among the Hutt Space ones were the ones he disliked the most. Harry Lancer remembered a time when he could walk and talk freely about his old life but that was a long time ago in a era of war different from this one. He had dedicated his life since then to not being a freedom fighter like some of his old comrades had but to being a doctor and helping the sick with little to no charge only enough to travel from place to place. Harry could if he had wanted to gone back to Corellia but in the end of the day it would have been more trouble than it was worth with the Empire on the hunt for people like him. Harry had been given a nearly broken down land speeder in exchange for helping in fixing some moister evaporators. He sighed to himself remembered the days when water was such a simple commodity Then again he was away from places like Manaan on deserted planets with little life so he couldn't really expect the Emperor's Palace could he? He laughed to himself as he mentally chided himself for being lost in the memories of his past. One could not live with that sort of thing and expect it to end well. To live now was the key not the past and not for revenge that was what he had learned from Ju in the past. That old Duro bastard was stubborn but without his guidance he wouldn't have lived as long as he had even at thirty something years of age. So why was Harry here...well something inside of him moved him towards going this way as if he was simply meant to go this way. And know his instincts must be trusted if he was to survive on this planet he did so. He just hoped he came upon something soon in this damnable land speeder because the mechanical noises coming from it made him miss the selkath language and that was something he did not enjoy listening to because it sounded like a fish out of water which literally what they were technically....regardless he just hoped for a sign....ANYTHING to show up otherwise he'd wasted his day for nothing.

[Assallya]

Arla hissed through her teeth, anger seething. This other Twi'lek was a surface, living on the thin band of hospitable land between the frozen and burning sides. They were of a ruling class, lording it over the majority of those that had to live beneath the surface in order to survive. It was people like him that raided her people for slaves, stole their own crops of Ryll. One of her people would be traded for nothing more than a single blaster, which would further be used to subjugate her tribe.

"I should kill you," Arla spat in her native tongue, "You son of a rak'sha."

Snarling Arla pointed her blaster at the old stump lekku'd twi'lek and pulled the trigger. The dull black metal remained silent and did not hurl the hot light she was expecting. Flipping the light stick over, she shook it, and then pulled the trigger again. Why it would not fire completely boggled her mind. She had no idea what a safety even was, let alone how to disengage it.

"How work this light stick?" Arla demanded, turning to Russan, "No work! No work!"

[reem]

Ruusaan smiled behind her helmet as she watched the Twi'lek slave attempt to kill her own kind, though she had no clue that the safety was on. The huntress grabbed the weapon and switched the safety off before handing it back to Arla. She was going to enjoy watching this. "There you go, it works now."

[Avanhelsing]

Cor could not stand the smell in this place. The opera music had made him desire some fresh air. He needed it badly. So he figured he should step outside. He noticed a rifle on the side of the ramp. He grabbed it with a smile. This could be useful. He walked out of the ship ignoring the commotion he was hearing.

They were lucky. The canyon at least kept the area relatively cool. He looked around with the scope trying to find anything.

[Muttonhawk]

The soft green glow of Tazzak's digital timepiece illuminated the cramped space he was in for long enough to read it. It had been a while now. The lunatics who hijacked the ship had probably flown some distance already, but by the sound of things, they had landed. Stuffing the device back into one of his bandolier pockets, Tazzak wondered it he should risk peeking his head out of the floor panel he was hiding under. There were what? Four of them? Three? The last time he peeked his head up, he had very quickly hidden himself again. One of them had been removing that dangerous bounty hunters' wookiee pelts. Human sized. Armoured. Armed. Tazzak probably would have tried to shoo them off himself back at the spaceport if he hadn't heard the death throes of the ships previous occupants by the assailant's hands.

There were voices out there now though. Maybe if he could take them by surprise. If he could threaten them off the ship, he could reconnect the main fuel distributor and fly it back to Mos Shuuta safe and sound. Carefully, he held his blaster in both hands and slowly pushed up the floor panel he was under. Across the room were a couple of Twi'leks, one with a blaster and another without one of his head-sausages. In rapid Jawaese, Tazzak shouted at the two, his blaster pistol shaking in his hands as he failed to hide his own fear at those who could have been the murderers. "Yuyu! Twi'leka! Keeza fanzi, tan okka!"

Even though it didn't immediately occur to Tazzak whether or not the Twi'leks would even understand his language, he was more worried about the armoured humanoid. Didn't he hear her voice a few moments before? That was when he noticed the helmet-shaped shadow on the floor panel in front of him. She was right behind him. He didn't dare turn around...

[Assallya]

Arla paused, her finger curled around the trigger and in the midst of squeezing. What the hell was that small thing? Arla couldn't see anything inside the small person's cowl, just a pair of amber orbs swirling inside the shadows. The one thing she was sure of was that it was holding one of those light sticks off-worlders used and it was aimed loosely at both herself and the metal head woman. She could turn her light stick but there was no possibility of twisting fast enough to shoot first.

"What that is?" Arla asked, since she spoke not a word of Jawa and everything it said just rolled across her ear cones as gibberish.

[reem]

Ruusaan had the drop on their uninvited guest. The jawa was obviously frightened. It's hands were shaking with the blaster.

"Drop the weapon, shorty!" she demanded. Ruu never liked anyone sneaking around her. This little thing better have a good explanation or she was going to make him a foot stool.

"Tell me what you are doing aboard this ship, and I may just let you die peacefully."

[Muttonhawk]

The armoured one didn't even get halfway through her first sentence before Tazzak's blaster hit the floor of the crawlspace with a clunk. His little gloved hands shot up. He'd screwed up big time now. He was a bit too frozen to reach for his voice synthesiser, but that was probably for the best in case one of them thought he was reaching for another weapon.

Tazzak spoke in fast, high pitched Jawaese, "I-I'm just a mechanic! Just a mechanic! I was trying to fix the ship when you took off. I wasn't going to shoot, I swear! See, look!" Tazzak nodded and pointed to some of his tools which were still strewn around an electronics system underneath the floor panel in which he was hiding. "Hey, look, the ship has a faulty power distributor and the shield projector keeps resetting itself. You probably saw it on the warning lights in the cockpit. I can get them working in less than twenty minutes if you'll just let me live. The hyperdrive won't power up without power and Teemo's goons'll shoot you down if you don't have shields." Tazzak hoped that his last fallback of bargaining would save his life. He hoped with everything he had that they understood him.

[vancexentan]

As Harry sped along the desert he checked his machine thoroughly to make sure it wasn't about to overheat. However he felt something as he sped along and decided that he should and would check to make sure what he was feeling was right. His sense never betrayed him no matter what situation he had been in. Harry after a couple of minutes more worth of speeding along came upon a ship stranded in the middle of the dunes of this desert planet. Why hadn't they stopped at a space port? Smugglers? Well regardless of what they were or who they were he supposed he should at least check. After grabbing his back pack from the back of his speeder and taking a swift swig of water for good measure he brushed some dust that had gathered on his rough brown clothes off and jumped out of his speeder before quickly walking over to examine the ship. He was no ship maker but he knew that there would be better times ahead for this thing if it stayed to long in this blasted dune sea. Clearing his voice he shouted, "Hey can anyone hear me? Is anyone alive in there? Do you need assistance?":He said as he stood there in his boots which were purposely over sized. He must look like some kind of buffoon in this clothes. But appearances can and will be deceiving. .Harry did not hear any of the commotion inside of the ship. However on closer inspection of the outside he found someone standing on the outside. "Oh sorry I missed you standing there. I'm Harry a traveling doctor what happened here?" Harry Lancer asked patiently and kindly towards the man who was some distance away from him.

[Assallya]

The green skinned tw'lek considered shooting the small cowled creature simply out of expediency. After all, its first act upon meeting them was pulling out one of those light sticks and threatening to kill her. Still, she decided to wait for Ruusan's signal. After all, the metal head woman was stupidly violent. It wouldn't do to upset such a woman.

Turning her attention back upon the blue skinned twi'lek Arla ensured he was still where he was bound. After all, she had just attempted to murder him. Seeing him meekly still Arla turned her attention back to the Jawa, her bare breasts bobbing as she settled her aim.

"What that is?" Arla asked again, gesturing with her light stick in the creature's direction, "Where come it? It we kill?"

[Inkwell]

Sorry

[reem]

Ruu shook her head at the Jawa, this guy was just desperate to stay alive. "This is a Jawa, Twi'lek...." but before she could continue to mock the coward. The whole ship rocked as if they were in a collision. No, it was laser cannons. The fugitives were under attack. It sure didn't take Teemo long to find them. "On second thought, Jawa, you keep that blaster... Arla aim at the chest and pull the trigger to shoot the blaster. Cor!!! We got company!" Where the hell is Sektor?

In the hot skies of the Dune Sea, soared the Hutt's Shadow, Teemo's large modified Ubrikkian Industries Luxury sail barge, flanked by four desert skiffs. Teemo's forces attacked the Krayt Fang. Along the handrails on the deck of the Hutt's Shadow lined a dozen of Teemo's crew of mercenaries armed with antipersonnel heavy blasters drilled to the rails. The crew opened fire sending a rain storm of blaster-fire on their targets. Also on the deck were two Me/7 heavy repeating dual laser cannons that were operated by gunner's taking aim at the downed vessel. They quickly destroyed the Fang's ventral turret. The Cartel soldiers opened fire on anything moving. The desert skiffs descended around their target acting as troop transports. They each carried a load of a dozen more of Teemo's thugs and began to land on the sand, deploying their troops. The ship was quickly surrounded by Teemo's army. They began to enter the ship by force. Cutting into hatches and creating their own from all sides.

Sektor wasn't going down without a fight he shot up into the sky through the top hatch of the ship with his pistols blazing before he was shot out of the sky by Teemo's henchmen. He was still alive but he fell hard into the sand and was quickly captured by six of the hired guns on the ground. They bound him up and escorted him aboard one of the sand skiffs. The skiff ascended up in the air and headed in the direction of Teemo's Palace.

[Avanhelsing]

vancexentan said
As Harry sped along the desert he checked his machine thoroughly to make sure it wasn't about to overheat. However he felt something as he sped along and decided that he should and would check to make sure what he was feeling was right. His sense never betrayed him no matter what situation he had been in. Harry after a couple of minutes more worth of speeding along came upon a ship stranded in the middle of the dunes of this desert planet. Why hadn't they stopped at a space port? Smugglers? Well regardless of what they were or who they were he supposed he should at least check. After grabbing his back pack from the back of his speeder and taking a swift swig of water for good measure he brushed some dust that had gathered on his rough brown clothes off and jumped out of his speeder before quickly walking over to examine the ship. He was no ship maker but he knew that there would be better times ahead for this thing if it stayed to long in this blasted dune sea. Clearing his voice he shouted, "Hey can anyone hear me? Is anyone alive in there? Do you need assistance?":He said as he stood there in his boots which were purposely over sized. He must look like some kind of buffoon in this clothes. But appearances can and will be deceiving. .Harry did not hear any of the commotion inside of the ship. However on closer inspection of the outside he found someone standing on the outside. "Oh sorry I missed you standing there. I'm Harry a traveling doctor what happened here?" Harry Lancer asked patiently and kindly towards the man who was some distance away from him.

Cor kept his rifle aimed at the guy but for some reason HE put his rifle down as he looked the man over. "Assistance would be nice. Course we do not have a doctor on board and the Mando is going to get us killed..." He said the last part to himself. "Cor. Smuggler and other things. We sort of... Okay I crashed the ship.." He said laughing a bit. "We were on the run from... from that guy..." He said pointing at the incoming ship. "Get in!" He yelled dragging Harry into the ship. He closed and locked the doors before locking it down. "Yes we do! Oh we have a new person!" He yelled as he ran into the cockpit. Oh hell no...." he said remembering they did not have fuel. "Uhh guys! I could try and get this thing up in the air or I could get power back to the weapons. Oh wait no... We are going to have to fight!" He yelled grabbing his rifle. "They have Sektor! He is as good as dead!" He yelled to the group getting ready to fight should need be.

[vancexentan]

"What in the name of Nal Hutta is going on here!?" Harry asked completely confused but not panicked and he wondered how a simple stop to ask to see if anyone needed to help would almost instantly throw him into a dog fight that included a mandalorian. "Hey what's going on here and why are you people running from those men!?" Harry questioned as he was glad that he had kept most of his belongings inside of his backpack including his weapon of choice but his old teachers always did tell him 'the moment you draw your weapon you lose your advantage' there must be someway for him to settle this but it was clear words weren't going to cut it. In fact he supposed he may as well be on the hit list of these people now that he's stuck with them. "There's always a chance! Don't just abandon a friend unless there is no other option too!" Harry pleaded but he knew that his pleas would likely fall on deaf ears people in this part of the galactic charts didn't exactly listen to an aging man such as himself. "Blast it....I haven't seen something like this in awhile." Harry said to himself as he once more had to question: How the heck did he get into this!?