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

[Assallya]

Ignoring the Jawa now that the a new threat impended Arla moved. She could hear the strange hissing of cutting torches burning through the metal in a dozen places. Padding through the darkened corridors on bare feet Arla felt oddly comfortable in the dim gloom of the emergency lighting. The cargo hold, filled as it was with cages and cargo containers was a small cavern and Arla had grown up in such places, hiding in the gloom. Her people lived their entire lives in such environs, in the darkness deep below ground.

Carefully pressing one of her lekku, the tendrils that extended from the base of her skull, to the hull she let it absorb the vibrations. Through the appendage she could sense the location of every footstep moving on the other side of the hull. Silently, she wished for better weapons than these light guns. Throwing knives, spears and other weapons were far preferable in such a situation. Each time her light stick fired she would be revealed to all, both in terms of noise and in a bright flash of light.

Somehow, from the tone of the others the sky bird was going nowhere. They would have to face their enemies but Arla would do so on her own terms. Moving atop the containers, climbing through the support struts that upheld the ceiling Arla waited for the first of the enemies to breach through. She would pounce upon them out of the shadows.

[Muttonhawk]

As the ship shuddered, Tazzak grabbed onto the edge of the hatch he was in to brace himself. His heart sunk as the situation became clear. It's the cartel! They're going to kill every one of us! He thought. He scrambled to pick up his blaster and sling it over his shoulder, before crouching down and replacing his tools back into their pockets on his bandolier. As the apparent pilot shouted to get the power running again, he glanced over his work before he was interrupted. It was a circuit for a refrigerator somewhere on the ship, at least he was pretty sure. It could have been for those stasis pods. In any case, if he didn't help this ship fly, he would be dead, buried and forgotten before he could even mention that he wasn't even with these guys.

"I'll get this ship back up if you keep them out!" Tazzak hopped out of the crawlspace he was in and slammed the floor shut, before running as fast as his legs could carry him. He knew that if he could get to the power distributors, he could shut down non-essential systems and get the ship in the air. It was their only chance as far as he could see. He disappeared down a ladder, then turned around to pull open a panel that held an array of switches. As one hand held onto a ladder rung, the other searched for the correct symbols. One by one, he shut off non-essentials and deactivated the power chokes he had on the system during maintenance. Normally, he would spend a lot more time doing safety checks before even daring to rush it like he was then and there. He doubted that the Hutt goons would stand around and provide that extra time, however.

Around the ship, some of the lights dimmed and appliances that leaned towards convenience could be seen shutting off. In the cockpit, little bars of energy began to fill the power meter from an empty red to an optimistic yellow.

Good, Tazzak thought, Now, the shield projec-. "AH!" There was a bright flash of sparks as Tazzak shrieked and shielded his face. When he opened his eyes, there was a scorch mark around the fuse that was labelled for the shield projector. Grr, these neglected freighters and their cheap power systems! Tazzak thought angrily. Without being as careful as he was used to, he yanked out the box that held the switch and the fuse and replaced it with a spare from a grounded slot just next to the box. He adjusted a couple of knobs and dials, then tried the switch again. At first, there was a satisfying hum as the shield projector began to power up, but the switch suddenly tripped over to the off position and powered down. A safety feature had triggered somewhere and was draining the whole power system. Tazzak shouted and held his free hand up in frustration. Shaking with adrenaline, Tazzak pulled a small device with a display and an interface plug from one of his pockets. He shoved the plug into the port and it twisted into place. On the display, a circuit map of the ship displayed and a program run to scan for faults. This is taking too long!

[reem]

"Shut up--new guy--and find yourself a weapon unless you'd rather catch a bolt to the face," Ruu bluntly blurted to the man Cor dragged in. She didn't like anyone to lecture her and certainly not a stranger. She already didn't like him.

"We are going are all going to die!" the old twi'lek cried. Ruu pushed him aside and took a position with the boarding ramp hatch in sight. It wouldn't take long before they got through.

The Mandalorian drew her blasters and took aim. She waited. Moments later she could see the sparks flying and the smoke from the working enemy on the other side of the hatch. The hatch exploded into a cloud. The Mandalorian didn't hesitate. She fired her weapons into the clouded fatal funnel, taking out the first two unlucky mercenaries who hadn't even entered the hatch. Her helmet's head's up display filtered through the smoke and she could see more of Teemo's thugs assemble at the hatch. She fired relentlessly at the front and hoped they were as dumb as they looked. If they threw a thermal detonator inside, they would be done for sure, but Ruu knew Teemo would want them alive so he could personally watch them suffer. Hutt's were very adamant about those kinds of things, and she knew first hand what this particular Hutt was capable of.

[vancexentan]

"Well excuse me Mandalorian that I'm a doctor not a soldier!" Harry said as he was indignantly shoved aside by the person. However he did know a trick or two that could help him out in a pinch. Concentrating on the area around him and focusing his thoughts Harry faded into the background while he unconsciously unleashed a small telekinetic surge of energy that would unbalance anyone in the vicinity of that area of the hatch while trying to keep his movements as passive as he could. Harry did so in a way that the Mandalorian would not feel anything more then perhaps a shaking of the hull while flying. He would not be responsible for the deaths of whoever was on the other side but he would tip the balance without getting shot. Besides who would question if the soldiers would stumble in the way through the area and who would question that the gentleman for closing his eyes to such violent behavior. Of course this was all just a formality to Harry whom was so skilled in his rehearsed movements that he'd simply was putting up an act. If he truly wanted to all he'd need to do is concentrate mentally and he could do it. After all it was what came naturally to the older man. The movements he did were unmatched by any of this era except for the truly skilled if he could take any pride in them at the very least. "Don't fear my good man I promise you this may look bad but I've seen what happened in the Clone Wars and trust me Separatist Forces did a lot worse to ships that I were on and we got out alive thanks to the quick thinking of people like our quick to shoot friend over there." Harry said handily as he lowered his hand.

[Assallya]

The first of the cutters attempting to get in through the hull finally finished, the heavy durasteel plate capable of holding in the atmosphere clattered to the deck plating with distinct ring of metal against metal. It was not unlike that of a church bell in the confines of the cargo bay, the sort that would be sounded should a call to arms be made. Arla moved in, a long steel pole in her hands, while the first man through was still blinking rapidly, blinded as he tried to adjust from brilliant sun baked desert to the dim interior. The butt end of the long pole slammed into his stomach then Arla danced back, twisted and brought the other end of the makeshift spear. She wasn't sure what the thing she held was but it was the proper length and heft for a staff or spear.

The first man down, Arla withdrew as several mercenaries outside peppered the hole with crimson hued blaster bolts. She suspected they'd do such. She rather suspected they'd throw in one of their fire spheres and was rewarded when it clinked against the deck plate some moments later. Concealed behind a cargo container she heard it detonate, the pressure wave rebounding off of the walls resonating in her lekku, those sensitive head tails twi'lek were born with. There was enough force to cause her to wince her eyes in pain.

Shimmying up a creature cage she leaped back up into the rafters, her bare feet dangling before the light of an emergency light for but a moment before she pulled herself up into the shadowed recesses of the support frame.

[Muttonhawk]

Tazzak impatiently tapped one finger against the side of the interface device. The fault scan only took a few moments, but it felt like an eternity. There was a short on one of the cables about a quarter-turn around the ship's hull from where he was. When he popped his head up to check the space he had just come from, he immediately ducked down again. He had seen the metal on the wall glowing in a square shape. They were breaching in that way. Tazzak opted to go into the crawlspace at the base of the ladder. It was cramped and dusty, but at least he would be alive.

If I can get to and clear that fault, we'll have enough power to leave. Tazzak thought desperately, Hopefully these guys hold off Teemo for long enough for me to get to it. Elbow by elbow, he dragged himself through the claustrophobia invoking tunnel under the floor, trying not to make too much noise as various commotions went off above and around him. The entire ship shuddered and Tazzak halted and breathed for a moment. Were they still firing on them even with the lackeys invading? It didn't feel the same for some reason. A more distinct shudder accompanied by an explosion from somewhere in the ship hurried Tazzak along. Oh, go on and make another electrical fault while you're at it!

[reem]

"Flash-bang!!! Take cover!" the huntress yelled before diving behind cover as the grenade exploded. She was safe, luckily the cover she had chosen protected her helmet's HUD system and the rest of her gear from the blast. But in the short amount of time it took for Ruu to dive, it relieved the enemy of suppressive fire. Two Weequays, and one Gran mercenary were able to enter the ship.

The Mandalorian fired a few rounds from a covered position. Ruu is barely able to keep the mercenaries at bay at the far and of the loading hatch corridor. The laserfire is very intense, and smoke fills the narrow ship corridor.

"I can't hold them off forever!" she said to the others who weren't being much help... Now what?

[Inkwell]

Travelling along the twisting turning across the desert floor was a small speeder bike being pursued by three swoop bikes all armed with blasters. These gang members had been following Zorris since she had stolen some water from a moisture farm. Their must be a tracking device somewhere on her speeder because they had found her far to easily. However Zorris would have to find it after she dealt with these thugs. Zorris made her speeder bike weave between the sand dunes making it hard for the gang members to get a clean shot. When Zorris went around a particularly large dune she her speeder kicked up a large sand cloud. Seconds later the swoop riders went through the cloud blinded one crashed into the dune, another was taken out by Zorris firing her speeders blasters into the cloud and the last one stopped and took cover behind a dune. The bandits started shooting at the blaster fire coming from Zorris's speeder. However little did they know she had jammed the trigger on her speeder and she was going around the dune. Standing behind the last two with her blaster drawn she whispered "better luck next time" before shooting them in the back.

After dealing with the swoop gang she took her time getting ready to continue on. She gathered together all the supplies she could scavenge of the damaged swoops and loaded it onto the undamaged one. Afterwards Zorris searched the bodies finding very little except for her bounty sheet. "Well no wonder only amateurs and weaklings have been coming after me this reward is pitiful" she said through a toothy grin. Lastly she picked up one of the bodies placing it on her speeder slumping it over the controls and the speeder accelerated off along with the tracking device. She carried on in the direction of the larger settlements traveling along the ridge of Beggar's Canyon so as not to get lost in the seemingly unending dunes.

[Assallya]

The shadowed recesses of the cargo hold was becoming difficult to hold. Another group had successfully cut into the interior of the starship and had begun climbing inside. Arla had kept the first point of entry clear by alternating randomly between using her blaster and attacking with the spear she'd discovered. The second she'd defeated mainly by causing a large cargo crate to fall across the area they were cutting. Soon enough and a fourth group would finish cutting as well leaving her with three sets of invaders. She had no doubts how that was going to turn out.

Crawling over cargo containers and carefully stepping on the bars of the various cages Arla moved throughout the bay. Now that there were others moving about she had to be more careful. Sliding down between a pair of containers and out into one of the cramped corridors between them she saw one mercenary wearing brown leathers and a strange metal helmet that had something looking like a comb for a chin was moving towards her right, peering cautiously around some boxes. To her left another one, a woman with dark skin and curled oily hair was also looking. Pulling out blaster carbine she had attached to her belt she casually fired two blasts down the corridor towards the female and then disappeared back the way she came. The woman turned and unable to clearly make out the man with the helmet assumed it was him that had fired. Arla moved away, letting the two shoot at each other. She didn't care which won the fight, just needed a distraction to move out of the area they were fencing her into.

Moving stealthily she was considering what next to do when a fierce growl erupted behind her and a massive form slammed into the bars of its cage. Arla almost screamed, the hand with her rifle pressed against her bare bosom as she struggled to recapture her breath. Only an arm's length away a fierce creature snarled at her through tusks as large as her head. It possessed mottled brown fur, a maw that could swallow her whole and had four arms, a second set of smaller appendages below the might sinews of the upper arms. She didn't know what to call it but it was definitely a predator.

"You want out don't you?" she asked the thing, not expecting an answer.

It must have been a creature captured as a gift for Teemo the Hutt, yet another creature for his menagerie. Arla clambored up atop the cage and carefully used her pike to unlock the cage and set the beast loose before disappearing. After all, she suspected it wasn't particularly picky on who it stalked.

[Muttonhawk]

Struggling along, Tazzak stopped and pulled out his display. This was the vicinity of the fault, now, where was it? Tazzak took out a small motorised screwdriver and began to undo the cover to one of the pipes covering the power cables. As soon as he removed the first screw, there was a peculiar smell that emanated from inside the pipe. It was as if something died in there.

I swear, if a womp rat decided to crawl in here and chew through the wires... Tazzak's mind was speechless as he lifted up the panel. Latched by the teeth onto the power cables was the charred corpse of a womp rat. ... Really? Tazzak had nothing. This was the craziest day ever. With one of his tools, he poked out the womp rat, and recovered some solder and insulator to repair the wires so they weren't shorting anymore.

After a few moments, he was all done. He replaced the panel hastily and began crawling backwards to return to the switch panel. Now that he had the hang of it, he moved faster. Luckily is seemed that no one had decided to look for him down there, as he didn't feel any blaster shots when he crawled back and ascended the ladder again. Don't you dare blow a fuse again! Tazzak warned in his mind as he flipped the switch for the shield projector. The hum booted up again, and this time the readings were green. Tazzak pumped his fist in triumph. There was still some energy now that the fault wasn't draining the system, so now he just had to remove the fuel choke and they could escape! That is, if they had enough fuel in the first place...

He pulled the control to remove the fuel choke that he had kept for maintenance. Anyone in the cockpit might see some more optimistic signs on the displays now. Might.

[vancexentan]

"Is there any safe port to land at!? Maybe we can get some help from some locals!" Harry Lancer shouted as he hid behind a wall. He really couldn't do much here. He was not trained with a blaster rifle and any telekinetic attacks would only arouse suspicions on himself. He didn't last as long as he did by jumping into action that was not what he had learned as a young man by his four teachers, even if one of them was a digital hologram from some god forsaken age. If he had to however....though it pained him...he would draw his weapon and he would slay as many as he could hopefully all of them. "I'm afraid this is the end of us if you don't have somewhere to run to!" He said as he slowly calmed his breathing to make sure he didn't lose his inner calm that was so important to him.

[reem]

The wild gundark ripped through the ranks of the Hutt enforcers. Crushing the bones and skulls of mercenaries with its powerful arms, the gundark easily slayed six of Teemo's thugs that entered the main hatch. The prey's screams were drowned by the snarls of the beast. The gundark ate its prey, chewing on flesh and crunching bones in it's toothy jowels. The rest of the mercenaries in the ship immediately panicked at the sight of the gundark and screamed as they fled the Krayt Fang.

Ruusaan ducked in time as the gundark jumped over her and attacked the trio of mercenaries down the boarding ramp corridor. They fired back at the monster, but it overpowered them. The huntress knew better than to fight a gundark up close. The monster turned and stared the mandalorian down, she had to act quickly or she would be next on the predator's lunch menu. The gundark leaped for the huntress, but Ruu shot a dart from her wrist gauntlet that struck the beast. She jumped out of the way just in time for the beast to crash into crates she had been standing next to only seconds before. It was done, though the beast wasn't dead only sedated. The drugs Ruu used to knock out her prey when she wanted to capture them alive. And the particular drug she used on her darts would knock out a bull rancor.

In this moment there was silence throughout the ship. The attack had stopped. The cease-fire would only be short lived she knew. Their enemies would surely regroup and be on the offensive again. This was their moment to prepare for the next attack. "Everyone alright? What's the status Cor?"

[Avanhelsing]

"No....No... No...." Cor yelled as the engines began to shut down with the shields and power. To make matters even worse he had to get the shields up or they were as good as dead. He looked at Wrex as if to say get ready. "I am going to try and get the shields back up...." He said as he turned in his chair. He ran over to the control room and saw the engines were down. He had to get to them.

Cor sprinted into the engine room looking around. This was not good. He was in trouble now..."Wrex! Get over here!" He yelled as he ran. The droid turned and hurried after him. He ran in and tried to set up the shields or at the very least get the engines working again.. He sprinted by the Mando and the others with a worried look on his face. "Not well!" He yelled as he ran past. "The engines and shields are down! I need to get them on line! I could use some help!" He yelled to the group as he ran in. Once he was in he would have Wrex interface with the ship to try and get the shields back on.

[vancexentan]

"I'm fine....god knows how I got into this mess though....So is anyone hurt I'm not much for repairs to ships but I can definitely help anyone who has been shot." Harry said taking a brief moment of respite through this madness. What had seemed like a simple stop to help some people had somehow thrust him head first into a fight for his lives. Luckily for him he hadn't needed to take action and that mad gundark was able to massacre and take care of most of their problems. It seemed so unlikely that something like that would happen but hey it got him out of taking action. Harry breathed in deeply and centered himself breathing calmly. "There is peace even among chaos...." he told himself as his master had so often repeated to him. To lose one's self among the ruins of destruction was to give himself over to the losing side.

[Muttonhawk]

Tazzak popped his head up from the top of the ladder he held onto. The ship was slightly quieter now, but someone was yelling from the engine room. It was one of the voices he heard while hiding. They're down? What now!? Pulling himself up, Tazzak clambered onto the deck and ran for the engine room. When he slid to a stop outside the door, he spotted the source of the request for help. Some human and his droid. He didn't look local, so Tazzak pulled out his voice synthesiser and clipped it to the edge of his hood so he could speak basic with him.

"-Out of the way-" The monotonous voice synthesiser droned as Tazzak pushed past the human and inspected the read outs on the engine. The previous owner of the ship had made some modifications to the engine by the looks, but it was a shoddy install job, these kinds of things regularly got blockages. All that would be needed was... Tazzak pushed a few buttons and flipped a lever, before rearing and kicking a nearby pipe as hard as he could without hurting himself. Flipping the lever again, there was a satisfying clunk and whirr. Tazzak turned around to the human and pointed to the droid, "-Get your droid to recalibrate the engines. No time to do it by hand. Also try the shields again. There was a power problem that I found. It should only need a reset-." Tazzak's body language was a bit less patient and grounded as the droid-like voice he was speaking in, but he doubted that the human would need any encouragement in this situation.

[Assallya]

The savage Twi'lek was once again bewildered. Standing at arms, a new harness wrapped her near nakedness, the webbing holding weapons she'd stripped from those she'd slain. She was leaning upon her pike, one that during the fight she'd discovered could be charged with electricity. She had named it the crackle stick. She was expecting to be congratulated for successfully defending half of the ship all by herself when Cor ran past her with wild abandon.

"We leaving are?" she asked as another figure, the much smaller cowled figure with the amber glowing eyes rushed on by, also ignoring her.

"What are seals? Why up they must be?" she said, to nobody in particular, "and where be my four arm friend?"

Moving carefully towards the front of the old freighter Arla kept a wary eye out for her "new friend" lest it rend her with those dangerous claws. Additionally, she had to wonder what else was here in the hold. During the chase and the fighting many of the cages had overturned and might well have opened. It could be quite dangerous.

[reem]

"Cor if you can get us up, I can still use the ventral turret, give me a shot at that sail barge!" she told him as she headed for the gunner's ladder. Sliding down the handrails she readied the systems. Out the view-port she could see the mercenaries mounting up for a second attack.

Ruu aimed the cannons at the nearest of thugs. They were no match against the Krayt Fang's laser cannons. The huntress mowed down as many as she could.

"Eat laser!" she said taking out over a dozen mercs.

Suddenly the Krayt Fang lifted as Cor took the ship up as Ruu had ordered, tilting the ship just enough for the huntress to have her shot at the sail barge. She took her aim and swept fire across the deck hitting the line of attackers, sending the crew members flying across the deck, then she swept fire down towards one of the vessel's repulsorlift steering vanes. The vane was torn apart by Ruu's blasts from the ventral laser cannons. The Hutt's Shadow lost control of her pursuit and spun wildly towards the sandy Dune Sea, but before it crashed the gunners operating the two heavy laser cannons had just enough time to send a volley at the Krayt Fang sending both craft crashing into the sand. The Hutt's Shadow crashed into the remaining mercenaries who were scrambling to get out of the way of the sail barge. Black smoke filled the air. There were only a handful of survivors of Teemo's thugs.

Ruu had done the smart thing and abandoned the ventral turret before the ship crashed, but she was unable to secure herself before it did. The force sent her sprawling down the corridor towards the cockpit she hit the wall then the floor pretty hard. It was a good thing she was wearing armor, but it was painful, and not something she would volunteer, Black smoke filled the inside of the ship, there was a fire somewhere, and Ruu figured it was time to ditch the ship. She made her way to the door following the smuggler and the coughing, old twi'lek outside.

The fugitives shared only a moment of relief before they were faced with a team of persistent mercenaries. It was a standoff. Standing before them, weapons at the ready stood, a man in Tantel armor and short sleeved shirt underneath that revealing his tattoos, he was armed with a vibro-lance and blaster pistol holstered at his side. The man was flanked by a pair of Nikto enforcers. Next stood a cryptically cloaked Kubaz with a blaster rifle. "It has begun" the Kubaz said to himself. A big, burly human mercenary stood shirtless and tanned by the twin suns stood with his blaster rifle ready to go, he spat at the ground in front of him, staring menacingly at his opponents. "You are coming with us!" he spoke. Their leader, a woman in full mandalorian iron and bounty hunter type wielding a DLT-20A longblaster. Beneath the green and grey armor of the Mandalorians lies Rana Shulo, a lithe, pale human from the planet of Mandalore. Cold grey eyes peer from beneath the black visor, glaring out at any who dare to look her way. A brown kama, the cloth protecting her legs from debris, is hooked to her belt. Ruu knew this scum, personally. Rana Shulo was her adversary. The mando stood at the front facing Ruusaan. The two females stared each other through their tinted visors. It was a showdown on Tatooine.

"Leave the mando to me," Ruusaan told the others with hatred in her voice.

[Muttonhawk]

Tazzak was beginning to feel hopeful as the ship lifted off. As he checked a few of the controls that the pilot had abandoned, however, he shouted at the top of his lungs in Jawaese, drowning out his voice synthesiser, "I TOLD YOU TO RESET THE SHIE-!!"

There was a bang, a loud buzz and a shower of sparks from the engine room and Tazzak stumbled back. USELESS USELESS BUMBLING USELESS HUMAN! He raged in his mind as he desperately scrambled for a seat to secure himself on. There was nothing to do now but wrench his eyes shut and hope that he would live.

There was an uncomfortable rumble before everything was tossed about the engine room with the crash. Tazzak opened his eyes once the rumbling had stopped and slowly turned his head to behold a loose screw driver impaled through the head cushion of the seat next to him. His eyes were so wide that their orange glow could have lit up the entire room. How... many more times... am I almost going to die today? He coughed and snapped out of his stupor. The room was rapidly filling with smoke and that could only mean bad things. He had to get out. Shivering with adrenaline, he unbuckled and headed for the door, reaching it shortly after the armoured woman exited.

When he finished coughing and looked up at the silence, Tazzak cursed his fate. At least one more time it seems... he thought amongst every Jawaese swear word he knew. He was too pumped with adrenaline to be afraid now. He might be able to escape though. He reached back and held the handle of his own blaster pistol, waiting for the moment when it would inevitably kick off so he could spray, pray, and... he didn't exactly know. Run?

[Avanhelsing]

Cor was in over his head. Badly over his head. He didn't know this ship or how to use it without killing them all. Course he had to try and save them all. It was only proper he would try to get the shields... No wait that wasn't happening right now. Of course not. He tried to reroute power to the guns but since this thing was slapdash at best that was impossible. Cor got them a bit of power. Enough to fire a few rounds at the sail barge. He hoped it was enough. He tried to get the engines working. Nope that wasn't happening either. Lovely. He... He would have tried to get the shields but that little volley of lasers would be costly. The ship shuddered as it crashed sending him into a wall. He landed with a thump and got up. Wrex looked bad but was still up.

Cor chased after the Jawa and Ruu. He set his gun to deadly. No more stunning. Not with these people. He got ready to fire on her orders.

[Inkwell]

Zorris was traveling near the canyon but still sticking to the dunes so she had some cover. It was nothing but unending sand until in the distance smoke started rising. Curious about why someone was fighting out here she turned her speeder bike in the direction of the smoke. It wouldn't take long for her to get there as the swoop she had stolen was very fast.

Before reaching smoke she hid her swoop behind a sand dune. Then she drew her Dissuader KD-30 and began moving up the side of the sand dune. Once she was at the top she saw the downed Krayt Fang. Outside was a fairly rag tag assortment of crew facing off against what looked like some professional mercenaries. She realised this rag tag crew might be able to help her off world. So she grabbed a concussion stick off her belt she armed it. Then before throwing it she set of the impact timer which would detonate after fifteen seconds. Taking cover behind the dune she heard the boom caused by the explosive it probably detonated in the air hopefully injuring a few of the mercenaries.