The commander's private briefing room was small, barely big enough for six people.  However given the size of Skyhook's command crew, that was more than enough.  At present though it didn't even house that many.

A simple circular desk sat in the room.  At the desk sat a single occupant.  A human, mid to late twenties of above average height.  He wore the traditional olive-grey uniform of an officer in the Imperial armed forces.  His rank bar, a mere two red and two blue dots with a single code cylinder indicated a lieutenant.  He sat at the table quietly.  He was not bound or restrained in any way.

The rooms sole other occupant was a Cathar, standing at barely five foot tall.  A suprisingly diminutive guard considering their respective sizes.  The Imperial looked a good thirty centimetres taller than his guard.  Her only visible weaponry was a heavy blaster holstered at her hip.  She stood glaring at the Imperial.



OOC: Okay Arcas, welcome to your first official thread.  At present only you and the alien you don't recognise are in the room.  Others will join soon.

Be sure to describe your characters as they enter.

Good luck!
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:20, Sat 12 Aug 2017.

Kyvarr wan't impressed.  She was only an hour into her shift and she was exhausted.  She'd been non-stop for the past day and while she wasn't about to collapse, she'd gone days without sleep in the past, her often 'prickly' nature was heightened.  She didn't like Imperials at the best of time.  Right now, staring at the apparently unconcerned, pretentious prick her rage built.

'Typical Imperial arrogance.' she thought.  'Doesn't even seem to realise how close to death he was.'  She'd thrown four Imps out an airlock and killed another during the assault on this place.  A nice round six seemed fine to her.  But the boss and Fiarr wanted to talk to him so she'd leave him be. . .for now.  He tried anything and she'd respond, violently.



OOC: Welcome Arcas, hope I don't have to kill you!! Kyvarr is 1.5m tall, very slender and looks pissed off.  She's dressed in a simple body stocking, the kind stormtroopers wear under their armour, with a dark grey jacket over the top.  She has a customised heavy blaster in a holster on her left hip, nothing else visible.  She's standing against a wall where she can watch both Arcas and the door equally.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:23, Sat 12 Aug 2017.

Arcas studied the felinoid from under the visor of his cap. While he registered it, he did not appreciate the irony of the situation; His first proper meeting with a member of another species was at blasterpoint. Turning his thoughts towards the felinoid's equipment. The bodysuit was probably not hard to acquire, but it and the overall attitude spoke of something a lot more organized than mere pirates. If that was correct, Arcas thought, it bode well for his eventual request.

Still. Arcas refused to be intimidated and decided to take the initiative. He relaxed his features, folded his hands on the table as a gesture of transparency and hoped that the alien was as receptive to his body language as humans. "Am I correct to assume that I am not speaking to the leader of this operation?" he asked in a smooth tone that some had found surprising for an Imperial officer, with an unmistakable Coreworld accent.

OOC: Thank you, good to be here! Arcas measures 1.8 meters when standing in a fine military posture. Under the officer's cap his dark brown hair is cut short and his equally brown eyes watch the world in an analytical way, without the standard Imperial smugness exhibited by many other officers.

Kyvarr growls in her native tongue.  [Language unknown: "Tiocomthutha Tintiolatund oer."].  She glares at the Imperial.  "What you can assume Imperial is that you'll find it hard to talk with a broken jaw if you open that mouth again.  Speak when spoken too."

"Now now Five."  Comes a voice from the door.  Standing there is a Bothan female with Silver-Grey fur and a disarming smile.  She's dressed in simple jumpsuit with an Imperial officer's jacket over it, clearly not hers.  She has no visible weapons at all, though she does have a tactical communication set hanging from her left ear and a datapad is held in her hand.

She waves a finger at Kyvarr.  "How can this Imperial tell us what he wants to if you go about breaking his jaw."

She moves to the table and sits down.  She smiles.  "You'll have to excuse her.  Given what Imperials did to her planet it's understandable she's a little trigger happy.  Anyway you may call me Six.  She is not the leader of our group, nor am I.  He should be along shortly I imagine."
This message was last edited by the player at 11:12, Sat 12 Aug 2017.

Kyvarr snorts but says nothing from her guard position.

Arcas' features softened as the Bothan arrived. [Language unknown: "Mi oer nti k ma tialul os evat witastkor amese nared."] the man said, observing the Bothan's reaction, "As stated by the Bothan military strategist, Circ Vu'keem."

The man nods to the Bothan after she's sat down. "Good to be able to make this discussion in a civil matter, despite the unfortunate circumstances. I am flight lieutenant Arcas Endeel... Although for the moment we can dispense with the rank, I suppose." he added with a slight tone of bitterness in his voice.

"A civil conversation is more than you and your comrades deserve at this point Lieutenant.  Considering the atrocities you've committed, I'm tempted to let my friend here have you.  You're here because you requested an audience and we've decided to do so.  So rather than quote Bothan military doctrine, I'd appreciate it if you got to the point.  We're kind of on the chrono here."

Arcas snorted, his features hardening. "Very well, although I would like to clarify one matter. I am not responsible for the state of this facility. Quite the contrary; I have spoken aloud against the unethical treatment of the inmates and registered official complaints against the actions of both my superiors and peers. So I would appreciate not having to defend myself against untrue accusations."

He straightened up in his seat. "As for the my request for an audience, I would like to parley for a passage to a safe spaceport for four individuals and myself. These individuals are Imperial technicians and privates who have had nothing to do with the atrocities done here."

"In exchange, I can provide you with a safe way out of this system."

Fiarr seemed unimpressed with Arcas's apparent indignance.  "What you would prefer?  You should be glad that you and the other Imperials are in a nice safe cell, being fed and provided with all your rights under intergalactic conventions for prisoners of war.  I can promise you most people wouldn't have been so polite.  The prisoners we rescued from below would gladly take you out into the hangar and remove your limbs one by one until you told us everything you know.  And believe me, I could do worse, much much worse if I wanted."

She leaned in closer, her features turning more feral.  "At present I'm the closest thing to a friend you have.  You are already guilty of more war crimes than I can count.  Even if you didn't participate, your guilt by association is enough to have you executed on more than a dozen Alliance worlds.  Don't sit there thinking we are equals, or that I even need your help.  At present all I have is the word of an Imperial officer he didn't do all the bad things everyone else did and some miraculous escape route.  You expect us to take your word for it?"

"So start talking.  If you're genuinely interested in helping more than fifty innocent prisoners receive justice, then tell me what you know.  Also provide me with a way to justify your claims of you and your friends' innocence.  If all your information pans out, then maybe we'll take you with us.  At the least we won't kill you."
This message was lightly edited by the player at 03:15, Mon 14 Aug 2017.

The door slid open and a third person entered.  Unlike Arcas' other interrogators, this one was human, and male.
Standing about five and a half feet tall, with short cut blonde hair and a face that looked designed to grin.  He was dressed in a jump suit very similar to the bothan, and had a blaster holstered on his hip.  At the moment, the newcomer mainly looked like a man with a lot to do.

He nodded to his two companions as he entered, sat and listened silently as Arcas made his offer and Fiarr countered with her point about war crimes - he even nodded agreement, his expression hardening as he regarded the man opposite him.



OOC:  Welcome Arcas!  Like Kyvarr said, I hope we dont have to kill you.  But dont worry - even if you DO die I highly doubt it will be any of us three who does it.  we've got people queuing up outside for the privilege....  ;)

Arcas leaned back. Alliance. So these were the Rebels he had heard reports about, both vitriolic and dismissive. The only official information he had received was that they were a terrorist group upsetting the order and necessitating the frankly overblown military response of the empire. Well, at least they were not pirates, mercenaries or other chancers.

The point about guilt by association hang in the air like a juicy polminade, but Arcas swallowed his desire to point out its judicial weakness in any fair court of law. Instead he concentrated on being as convincing as possible. He looked up, dredging his memory.

"For evidence to back my claims, go to the officer's quarters in hangar 2 barracks. There should be a datapad on the desk with written complaints and reports about the violations I have seen. The password is 'Sociological quandary". Most of them have been sent to the station commander, apart from a couple of more scathing ones. And if you have access to the station commander's personal terminal I wager you can confirm that they have been sent and what has become of them. Incidentally, I would be interested in that information too."

"As for the other ones I doubt they have anything written down, so you will have to trust my word on their innocence. I think that they understood that without the protection of an officer's rank, anyone speaking against the management the would have likely found themselves framed for treason or dead from an accident."

Having made his point, Arcas found time to acknowledge the man who had entered the room. Since the man did not seem to be eager to join the discussion, Arcas merely nodded in greeting and allowed him to talk first, if he indeed had something to say. Then he closed his eyes and exhaled the growing sense of antagonism away.

"And yes, I am grateful that your group has demonstrated more civility than I would have expected for anyone in this station to receive. Thank you. Frankly, that was the fact that pushed me to make this offer to you. "

OOC: Hello Devon! I don't think Arcas deserves anything worse than a punch in the face for being a smartass! But we'll see how it goes.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:59, Mon 14 Aug 2017.

Fiarr typed on her datapad.  "We will verify your claims at both ends.  Apart from your datapad code I will need your Imperial access codes for the mainframe computer to justify these letters were sent and logged.  These may verify your claims, in which case we may be more inclined to work with you."

"You still have not stated how you can supposedly get us out of the system.  You may think this is your ace in the hole but trust me, I can get the information out of you if I want to.  I'd rather you show your benevolance and true concern for the prisoners who have been greviously wronged here and volunteer that information freely with no promise of anything in return other than fair treatment under the Galactic Republic Articles for Treatment of Prisoners of War.  Which is generous of me since the Republic no longer exists and the Empire considers the Rebellion as a terrorist group and doesn't adhere to previous mentioned Articles.  Call it a leap of faith on your part."

Arcas took his code cylinder and placed it on the table. "Here are all my access codes. If they do not give you mainframe access, I doubt I can be of further help."

"And the way out is the fact that one of my duties was hauling supplies. Out of boredom I memorized the clearance codes for getting past the Star Destroyers. Assuming the shuttle is still operational, I can get it out of the system without trouble. The comm officer knows my voice and should have no reason to suspect anything."

Devon was sat slouched back in the chair, with his arms folded - as if he wished to stay as far away from the man opposite him as possible, without going to the actual effort of moving his seat.  He regarded the code cylinder on the table, but didn't reach out to take it.
"You know we've already got the commanding officers rank cylinder, right?"  Devon wondered briefly if they still had the rest of the commanding officer himself, and how many pieces the man was currently in.

It was the first time Devon had spoken in Arcas' presence; and aside from a correllian accent,
it revealed that the speaker sounded slightly impatient, which fitted with his general air of being a man with a lot to do...
"That password for your datapad - you use the same on the mainframe?  Because lets face it: if all we wanted was your rank cylinder, there's nothin' to stop us from takin' it."

"How about you tell us more about that shuttle an' the Star Destroyers.  Unlock codes for the shuttle.  Patrol routes an' schedules for the Destroyers.  That sorta thing.  Put some thought into it, be helpful.  Make us glad we're takin' this time to talk to you."

Fiarr regarded the code cylinder but did not take it.  She had been about to mention the various high ranking code cylinders in their possession.  Had Arcas not wondered why they hadn't bothered taking it already?

"I should point out, this gentleman beside me is the leader of our team.  So I suggest you play nice with him because if he orders me to push you out an airlock, I will do so."

She'd actually do far worse but she knew Devon probably couldn't order such things.  That's why some of her grey ops remained exactly that.  What Devon didn't know couldn't keep him awake at night.

Arcas leaned in, looking at the man. "Did you also get his access key?" He extended his hand, "If you can provide me with a datapad I can give you mine. It would be faster for me to type, rather than start spelling out alphanumeric."

As for Devon's requests, Arcas talked. Every now and then he closed his eyes and concentrated. He gave the shuttle's codes and standard patrol and comm contact schedules he was aware of. On the topic of the Star Destroyers he ventured into his own speculation and guesswork; Most of the time for him the ships had been distant blips on the sensors. Apparently Arcas had never been scheduled for any operation where he would have been able to visit them. "Probably because they were worried I would invite a visit by Internal Security Bureau to evaluate their performance", he concluded.

Fiarr reaches into her jumpsuit and pulls out a pocket-sized datapad which she slides over to Arcas.  Once he's finished typing in his code, she hands it and the code cylinder to Kyvarr.

"Have someone get those to Ten straight away.  See if this Imperial's story checks out."

She looks to Devon for a moment then dives back in.  "So while our techs look into your claims, let's consider what you want.  You want yourself and four others to receive safe passage to a spaceport.  Are you referring to an Imperial spaceport or a neutral location?  I assume the latter as you've technically just committed treason."

"Neutral, preferably with good connections to both the Outer Rim and galactic trade routes. I am not aware how the rest would like to continue after this, but I'd imagine discreet work to get their lives back on track", Arcas informs without missing a beat. Probably he had time to think about the next step.

"But should the situation not allow for choice, any spaceport would do. I merely wish to not find anyone dropped off to an uninhabited rock or out the airlock at an earliest convenience."

After a minute or so, Dyre limps into the room.

"Supposed to pick something up for Ten?"  He queried.

He stared at the prisoner intently while waiting for the cylinder and datapad.  He then nodded to Devon then limped out again.
This message was last updated by the player at 00:20, Thu 17 Aug 2017.

Fiarr looked to Devon.  "Anything else boss?"

Devon rubbed his hands over his face and stared at nothing for a moment as he thought.
Then he looked at the Imperial opposite him.
"For the moment, we're puttin' you back in your cell so I don't have to spare someone to guard you."  he indicated Kyvarr
"Five here will escort you back to your cell."

After Kyvarr had delivered the defector back to his cell and returned, Devon looked at his two 'lieutenants'.

the discussion between Devon, Kyvarr and Fiarr has moved to PM so as to spare your blushes, Arcas ;)

(and hopefully to move things along a bit faster, apologies for my slow responses recently)

Kyvarr quickly removes Arcas and returns him to his cell.
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:19, Sun 20 Aug 2017.

Fiarr and Devon leave their meeting and move off to speak with Arcas.  They wind their way through the corridors until they reach Arcas's cell.  A new guard stands out front.  Devon recalls that Kyvarr had gone off duty so it was logical that when she handed over, the guards were changed too.  Currently the cell was guarded by a wookie, one of the few who had managed to survive with the Alliance despite the lack of edible food.  He was incredibly emaciated for one of his kind but still looked like he could fold a speeder in half.  The pistol at his belt looked like a toy against his bulk.

He nodded and growled when he saw the pair.  When Devon asked him to open the door, he did so quickly then drew his blaster and stood ready.

Devon walked past him into the room, Fiarr on his heels.  When they entered the room they both stopped in surprise as there were only four prisoners instead of five.  Arcas was missing.

---

OOC: You seem to have 'lost' your prisoner!  The other four are still here and there's no sign of escape (can't exactly shimmy out the window on a space station!  Well you could try but the results would be. . .messy!)

Fiarr looked around the room a moment then turned to Devon.  "While I'll admit you humans all look the same to me sometimes, I could swear none of these are our guy.  You sure we're in the right cell?"

She stepped outside and began speaking into her comm.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:25, Sun 27 Aug 2017.

(Insert secret PM stuff)

Fiarr comes back to Devon frowning.  "I can't get Two on the comm.  Pretty sure she took over security duties when Five went off shift.  Comms seem to be working, I just can't raise her."

As they entered, Devon looked around the cell.
"What.  The.  Fu-"
Behind him Fiarr said something then walked back out, talking on her comm.  Devon didnt hear.
He stood there, regarding the four prisoners, mind racing.  Trying to think of some scenario in which an escaped prisoner WASN'T a potential disaster.


"I want everyone on duty, now.  I want Two found."  Devon didnt shout, but the tension in his voice and the whiteness in the knuckles of his clenched fists betrayed his mood.  Tendons in his neck stood out as he turned to Fiarr and almost snarled.  "I want our Imperial 'friend' found.  And if you can come up with a compellin' reason for me to not shoot that guy on sight, I'll be interested to hear it."

He rounded on the four prisoners.
"Anythin' you guys wanna tell me?  We came here ready to cut a deal with you lot - get you outta here.  Right now, that's gettin' dumped straight down the disintegrator unless  someone can explain to me why I shouldnt."
This message was last edited by the player at 17:44, Mon 28 Aug 2017.

Fiarr taps Devon on the shoulder and speaks in a language she knew Devon spoke.  [Language unknown: "Vorev all, Ndles waleac neni lalopl inehousta si urst il butdayverous ta teroerset virection."].

She leads Devon outside and starts walking towards operations, speaking on the comm as she does.  "Five, get up.  Yes I know you just hit the sack.  Seven wants all hands on deck.  Security issue.  Two isn't responding. . .Yes of course I tried her comm.  Just get to ops now."

Fiarr turns to Devon.  "Five is enroute to operations, Ten is already there.  Who else do you actually want?  Not sure we need to pull Eight in, he needs to rest.  Five does too really.  Three looks like an AT-AT stepped on him.  Why don't we get a few people together, find out what's up and then plan?  For all we know Two fell asleep in a corner is behind a stack of crates getting wild with our resident Zeltron."

"Only other people are Nine, Sivren and the Alpha and Beta guys who are on station.  Some are resting some have duties already lacking prepping and guarding the shuttle.  You really want me to pull them."

Kyvarr was a very unhappy kitty when she walked into operations.  She's been asleep less than fifteen minutes when she'd been woken and she hadn't slept in over a day now.  Normally that wouldn't be too bad but she had spent most of that day planning, implementing and then dealing with the fallout of the skyhook attack.

She growled as Fiarr and Devon arrived, though her eyes were focused and her posture demonstrated she was ready for action.  "What's the problem sir?  We under attack?"

Before anyone can answer.  A message comes over every Talon's comm.

"All units, this is Delta Three.  Imperial escapee Lieutenant Arcas spotted in jail block B.  He's just shot a guard.  He's not breathing.  Security and medical emergency team to jail block B."
This message was last edited by the player at 10:10, Wed 30 Aug 2017.

Seeing how grouchy Kyvarr looked, Devon momentarily regretted getting her out of bed, but then remembered what was at stake right now.
He was drawing breath to explain when the comm crackled into life and Dyre saved him the trouble.
"There you go." he said quietly when Dyre finished speaking.

Devon switched his commlink to receive-only and gestured hurriedly for the other two to do the same.
"An' we still have no idea where Two is or what she's doin'.  For all we know our runner has her comm.  Or maybe she's workin' with him. Either way, he could be listenin' in."

OK, only ways off this station are the elevator, or the shuttle.  Or maybe you get to the comms an' call in one of those Destroyers.  Or maybe he ain't tryin' to get out at all - but what the hell's in block B that's worth the risk?"

Devon looks expectantly at the other two.
"So I figure we lock down that damn shuttle first, I can take care of that.  You two get after him."

Dyre's voice comes over the comm once more.  "Dammit.  Bastard got me by surprise.  He's locked me in with the Imperial senior officers.  Nearly shot me too.  Get me out and take that Imperial bastard down before he kills more people."

Kyvarr was immediately on the comms.  "This is Delta Five.  All security teams on alert.  I want the shuttle hangar on lock down and a second security team down there.  Alpha Nine, take charge down there.  Delta Lead is coming to secure the shuttle.  Increase security on the elevator as well.  All remaining Alphas report to jail block B.  Delta Six and I will join you there."

She looked to "Sir, recommend you check Two's quarters on your way down to the hangar.  She could be injured."


OOC:  Not sure if any members of Alpha Team were still aboard.  If not, assume I use ex-prisoners we've assigned to guard duty.

"Personally I'd leave the elevator lightly guarded or unguarded.  Let him make a break for it.  He'll only trap himself in the prison camp with a bunch of prisoners who don't much like Imperials.  He's still wearing Imperial uniform last I saw him."

"Getting eaten by the locals sounds pretty appropriate to me."

She checked her blaster and her knife before looking to Devon.  "Dead or alive boss?  How messy do you want him either way?"

One of the guard at the op station looks up.  "Security Team Three has spotted the fugitive Level 3, Section 18B.  He's going for the lifts.  They're pursuing."
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:52, Fri 01 Sept 2017.

Fiarr looks to Mika.  "Ten, cut power to the lifts.  No, wait.  Let him get in one then cut power mid-level.  Trap him in the shaft if you can."

Kyvarr grins at Fiarr's commands.  She grabs the Bothan and drags her out the door then hits a run, heading for the turbolifts on her level.  As she goes she flicks to the guard channel.

"Team two, keep herding him to the lifts.  Let him take one.  All other units, cut off lift access points on your levels.  We'll trap him like a womp rat in a cage."

She changes to the security team who was to join her.  "Team Five, go rescue Delta Two from Cell Block B, then regroup with us ASAP.  We're heading for the turbolifts on the Ops deck."

Devon nods to the other two as he turns and runs for the hanger
"Alive!" he calls over his shoulder as he leaves.
Much as I want to kill this idiot...
Listening in to the chatter on the comms as he ran, Devon found himself wondering just what the hell their escapee was playing at.  After the deal he had offered, why do this?  Did he think the Talons wern't going to accept his offer?  Had it all been an elaborate bluff to attempt to gain their trust?  Was there something else going on?  Something Devon didnt know yet?

Arriving at Kiras quarters, Devon positioned himself against the wall to one side of the door and drew his pistol before opening the door.
Now you're bein' paranoid he told himself.

When no hail of blasterfire greeted him, Devon risked a quick glance round the edge of the door and into the room.
"You have GOT to be frakkin' kiddin' me" he snarled and he strode into the room and over to the bed.  Which he kicked hard whilst yelling
"Get the hell up you useless piece of -   Seeing that the startled woman was awake, Devon turned it down a notch, and snapped:
"Grab your gun an' your comm.  We've had a prisoner escape.  Now get your ass movin' - we're goin' to the hanger.  We'll talk about this later."

Shoving Kira out the door ahead of him, Devon started towards the hanger at a run, herding the still disoriented woman along in front of him.
He triggered his commlink to transmit:
"Four, Five - Two was asleep.  Yeah, you heard me right.  Asleep.  We're headin' to the hanger."

HANGAR BAY
Kira silently but quickly slipped into her jacket and boots.  Her blasters were slipped around her waist and she moved silently where directed.  She didn't know what had happened and why Devon was yelling at her, but she knew she'd let him down.  Fire burned in her.  She would regain his respect, somehow.

The pair reached the hangar to find guards milling about, setting up defences and barricading doors.  No sign of Arcas to be seen.

DECK 3 - Section 18.

Fiarr and Kyvarr moved quickly but surely.  They did not run, but their pace was fast and the kept a firm awareness of their environment.  As they moved they moved, Security Team Five reported in.

"Team Five here.  Delta Two recovered.  He's alive.  Was locked in the room with the Imperial Commander and XO.  But he had them covered and we got him out.  He's heading towards you.  We're leaving one person to guard the cell, the rest of us are regrouping."

As they approached the elevator, another comm call, this time Mika.

"Ten here.  Elevator powered down.  He's caught between levels two and three."



OOC: Devon and Kira have reached the shuttle and all looks fine.  Dyre has been rescued and his moving to regroup with Fiarr and Kyvarr.  Arcas is apparently trapped in an elevator between levels 2 and 3.  Kyvarr/Fiarr can reach the elevator in less than two minutes.

Dyre’s call caught Dohr totally unawares in the middle of his beauty sleep. Having crashed for maybe two hours after a very long and exhausting day, the Doc really needed the sleep to clear his head and return his strength. But apparently the imperial officer they thought was helping them out had other plans.

"All units, this is Delta Three.  Imperial escapee Lieutenant Arcas spotted in jail block B.  He's just shot a guard.  He's not breathing.  Security and medical emergency team to jail block B."

”Huh? What?”

It took the Doc a minute or so to sort out where he was and what was going on. He sat on the side of his bunk listening to the calls on the Talon channel. By the looks of it the Lieutenant wasn’t heading to the Medbay, so Mark and the others were safe for now. Nevertheless, while he dressed, Dohr called doctor Lin-Wan to make she was aware of what was goign on.

”Make sure you have armed guards present and on alert until stand down is called. I will head over to the prison block B to check out the situation there.”

In the rush, Dohr was already heading out through the door when he thought of something. If one prisoner was able to get out, maybe others would too. Although he already was carrying a blaster pistol, Dohr turned around to pick up his trusty N’Gant carbine. Better be safe than sorry.

”Delta Lead, this is Epsi…” The Kel Dorian realised most of the team on board didn’t know who was who in the Epsilon Team, which didn’t actually exist anymore after they’d left the camp behind. ”This is Delta Eight. I am heading to prison block B to check out the shot guard and to make sure the situation is otherwise under control.”

Kyvarr clicks on her comm.  "Seven, Five.  You might want to switch to the guards Tac Channel.  Got someone claiming to be our fugitive on there wanting to talk to the Admiral!"

She didn't slow down as she continues to move for the elevators.  As she went she flicked over to an alternate guard channel.  "All teams this is Five.  Get eyes on the elevator.  Pry the doors open and keep blasters on him.  Don't want him slipping out a hatch or something."
This message was last edited by the player at 10:47, Sun 03 Sept 2017.

Arriving in the hanger, Devon glanced hurridly around to take in the sitatuon - clearly Arcas wasnt here, and security was tightening around the shuttle even as he watched.
He glanced at Kira and pointed to the shuttle.
"No-one gets on that without my say so." he told her, empathically.  "No-one.  Not till we've caught our runner."

What next?  what next?
Arcas would know they were coming for him - whatever the hell he was trying to do, he didnt have long to do it.  Were their comms secure?  Arcas had got the drop on at least one of the Talons, after all.  Devon hurriedly worked his way through the Talons individual frequencies, confirming everyone was unharmed, and hadnt had their commlink taken.

Hearing the chatter over the commlink as Fiarr and Kyvarr closed the net around their fugitive, Devon turned to face the lift doors and called to the people in the hanger with him
"He's in the lifts - they're gonna cut the power."
Devon drew his blaster and waited, if Mika failed to cut the power in time, there was every chance that Arcas would arrive here, hoping to reach the shuttle...




Devon grinned a predatory grin.
Gotcha Then he sobered up.  he'd evaded pursuit himself before now with a decoy elevator to lead the chasers away whilst he took a different route... until they actual had the man in sight, they couldn't be certain he was in the elevator at all.  Kyvarr was one step ahead of him though.  He could trust her and Fiarr to close the noose quickly.

Then the first half of her message sank in.
"He wants to talk to the Admiral?"  Devon muttered "how the hell does he even know abou - wait a minute..."
It suddenly occurred to Devon that no-one had referred to him by name, or even by code-name in Arcas' presence.  But the man had heard Kyvarr referred to as Five and Fiarr as Six... Fiarr had introduced Devon merely as 'the leader'.  Presumably then, Arcas thought Devons code name was One, and thats who he was asking for - not the Admiral...

Devon nodded to himselff and licked his lips.
"Five, Seven - I'm patching in now.  I'll talk, you two close the trap.  I want you an' Six listening in - gimmie any updates or thoughts on my private channel.  I'll hear you, he wont."
Devon took a deep breath as he switched over the Tac channel, and kept his voice as level as he could.
"This is Delta lead - identify yourself."

"Yes sir!"

She looks to Fiarr.  "You got any non-lethal ordanance?  Stun, gas, concussion?  We drop a grenade or two in the elevator and we can end this quickly."
This message was last edited by the player at 00:09, Mon 04 Sept 2017.

Fiarr snorts out loud, unable to suppress it.  "Non-lethal?  Me?  Have you forgotten who you're talking to?  Non-lethal isn't really my thing.  You should have brought Two with you.  She probably likes non-lethal.  Bounties tend to pay more for alive."

Kyvarr chuckled.  "Guess I should know you better.  Then again, who am I to talk?  Tanks and walkers are hardly known for their stun settings either."

"I know wetwork is your thing, but if Seven orders an assault I say we flip for it.  I'd love to get up close and personal with this murderous bastard."
This message was last edited by the player at 03:11, Mon 04 Sept 2017.

The comm clicked on.

"This is private citizen Arcas Endeel. Listen. You have a traitor among your ranks. The man in charge of security, the one who took the datapad and my code cylinder. He is an Imperial intelligence operative. I recognized him from my time in the Academy."

One could hear Arcas drawing breath and continuing: "I suppose his plan was to order the guard to transfer me to the room with the other officers. They would execute me as a traitor and he would blame it on the guard."

"In the scuffle I managed to escape. He shot the guard because I managed to get him to expose himself."

A pause. "Despite these misgivings my offer to get you out still stands. So this is my suggestion: Disarm and detain your chief of security while we are in this system. If he is loyal to you, he will understand."

"I'd appreciate it if you can resolve the situation before you come to reclaim me. I'd rather stay in this elevator for the moment; No-one here is going to kill me for extremely poor reasons."

"Oh, and the guard here has a broken nose, but is otherwise fine."

Kyvarr snorts as she walks with Fiarr.  "You listening to this shit?  Now he's accusing me of being a traitor?  Though he said he, not she.  What the hell is wrong with this guy?  Sound like's he's trying to distract us while he escapes.  We should take this guy down.  Hard."

Fiarr doesn't respond to Kyvarr's statemement.  The Cathar tended to think in black and white terms.  Fiarr was definitely one for the grey.  While she didn't accept Arcas's claims out of hand.  It could easily be a misdirect, she would likely do the same.  Still it could have some truth to it.

She switched her comm to the private frequency.

Quick OOC Update so everyone knows where everyone is at (of course your character may not know all of this):

Devon/Kira - In Hangar (Level 1) with four guards and Alpha Nine
Fiarr/Kyvarr - Turbolifts (Level 3) with two guards
Heigren - In his quarters
Dohr - Outside cell where Imperial CO/XO being held (1 guard and murdered guard there)
Dyre - Medical bay (Level 4)
Zyra/Mika - Operations (Level 5)

Sivren and most of his team have returned to the walker in the prison camp.

Devon had been pacing back and forth as he listened to the comms chatter - burning off nervous energy as he tried to keep track of what everyone was doing.  He stopped dead as he listened to Arcas' accusation.
Hell.
Any fast way to check what Arcas was saying?  None that he could see.  Even just a few weeks ago, he would have automatically ignored what Arcas said as lies told by a desperate man looking to distract his pursuers.  These days, Devon was too paranoid to just let it go...

First things first - keep Arcas talking.  Speaking on the com channel the escaped Imperial was using, he said:  "Put your hostage on the line.  I promise nothin' till I speak to them."

Then he flipped over to the channel he was sharing with Kyvarr and Fiarr.

Looking around the hanger, Devon hurriedly beckoned Kira over.  He'd had an idea.  He flipped his comm to receive-only for a few moments, and beckoned Kira to do the same.  This next bit definitly WASN'T to go out on comms.  Even with his commlink set to not transmit, Devon still pitched his voice low enough that Kira had to lean in close to hear him.
"You were asleep when I found you - you should have been on guard.  Why?"
The woman gave him a bewildered look, still unsure why Devon was so angry with her:
"Dyre said the docs had pumped him so full of stims he couldnt sleep - offered to swap with me."


Devon rocked backwards, almost as surprised as if Kira had slapped him across the face.
It fit.  It worked.  If you assumed Dyre was a traitor, everything else started to fall into place.... but was it a coincidence?  What treatment HAD Dyre been given?

He got back on his commlink, selecting another private channel.




OOC:  Kiras response to Devons question provided by the GM in private message :)   Obviously most of you wouldnt have heard it, because Devon didnt put it on comms, but I included it here to make my post more interesting  ;) 

Kyvarr turned to her team.  "We have a go.  I want cover set up and everyone behind it.  Weapons to stun.  If he so much as twitches fire away."

As soon as cover is set and people are behind it, Kyvarr comms Mika.  "Ten, Five.  Power up the lift and bring him up to level 3.  Cut power again on my mark."

She took position in the centre.  Her customised blaster was really designed for power, but it still had it's stun setting.  She'd let the elevator come up and the doors open before she cut power again.

Over the guard's channel the unmistakable sound of somebody spitting a huge glob of something is heard, followed by "Fuck you Imp."  The tone is very flat and nasally.  Clearly Arcas wasn't kidding about the guard's broken nose or the fact he was alive.  He then adds.  "Watch it, he's got my blaster."


Before more can be said, the elevator powers up and begins to rise.  It reaches the third floor, doors open, then the power goes out again.

Arcas can see a makeshift barricade about a metre before him with four people behind it pointing blasters in his direction.

Kyvarr and co can see a man in an Imperial officer's uniform standing in the elevator.  He has a blaster pistol in one hand.  On the floor a guard lays bound, blood and mucus pouring from his nose.  He is periodically spitting on the floor, showing he is conscious.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:51, Tue 05 Sept 2017.

Fiarr stood ready, her blaster aimed.  She had not followed Kyvarr's instructions about weapons and her blaster remained on kill.  Devon has said Arcas was to be taken 'alive' not 'unharmed'.  She knew that a blasted kneecap did wonders to elicit compliance.  She'd let the others do the stunning.

Kyvarr wasted no time.  "Weapon on the ground NOW!" she roared at Arcas.  Her years as a Sergeant had given her plenty of experience in volume and projection of voice, especially around tanks and walkers.

"Take two steps forward, get on your knees and hands behind your back.  You have five seconds. . .four. . .three. . ."

Arcas grimaced. Well, the situation was out of his hands now. If the fools got him killed now, at least they would probably regret it soon enough. He dropped the blaster, holding his hands far apart and took two steps forward. Then, slowly and methodically he got on his knees and folded his arms behind his back.

For a moment Arcas considered making a snide remark, but he found his anger draining away, replaced by existential apathy. He had done everything he can. So he just exhaled, allowed the guards to take him wherever, half-expecting someone to accidentally or 'accidentally' dislocating a joint or a blaster bolt to bring an end to this.

Kyvarr moved forward and quickly cuffed Arcas's hands.  "Check on him." she said, gesturing to the injured guard.

She clicked her comm.  "Seven, Five.  Prisoner secured.  What are your orders?"

"Bring him down to the hanger."  came the quiet answer  "I wanna word with him, face to face.  Four - you report to the hanger too.

Everyone else - get started on the evac plan.  We're leaving."
This message was last edited by the player at 22:59, Wed 06 Sept 2017.

"Understood sir.  We're on our way."

Kyvarr comms Mika to turn the turbolift power back on and then leads Arcas into an elevator and gestures Fiarr to follow.  To the others she says

"Report to your duty stations.  I'll have instructions for you soon."

Once the doors closed Kyvarr holstered her blaster and removed Arcas's restraints.  She placed them in her pocket but said nothing.

Once they reached Level 1, she escorted Arcas to the hangar to meet Devon.

While Kyvarr did the 'guard thing' Fiarr walked next to Arcas chatting aimlessly.  [Language unknown: "Iopr Aststaive ch olas lawh.  Ststte di utel undourcon?"]

Kyvarr, Fiarr and Arcas arrive in the hangar to find a flurry of motion.  Personnel running in and out, calling into comms, marking off datapads and moving repulorsheds full of equipment.  Zyra stands in the centre of the chaos giving instructions, delegating tasks and ticking off a datapad as she directs teams of personnel to prepare various medical equipment and supplies as well as determine personnel lists for transport.

The shuttle lifts off as the trio enters, Kira at the helm.  As part of the evacuation order, she needed to help move Sivren's team back to the container along with several of the prisoners on the skyhook and any from the camp who were safe to transfer.  This was expected to take a few hours, which the medical team needed to prepare their patients for transfers and the engineers to work out a reliable way to hook up the bacta tanks to the shuttle's power supply without draining the ship or causing a power loss to the tanks.  With the shuttle gone, the only means of escape from the planet went too.  Two speeder bikes sat forgotten to one side, but they were already well above their maximum height limit.

Kyvarr guided Arcas over to where Devon stood, detatched from the hustle around him.  He looked lost in thought, his eyes not focused on anything particular.  From another door Heigren enters as well.


OOC: So Devon, Kyvarr, Fiarr, Heigren and Arcas are off to one side of a busy hangar bay.  Kira is ferrying people to and from the skyhook and camp to the container, most of your excess personnel aboard are gone.

Mika is off to one side arguing with another engineer.  Zyra is facilitating the evac.  Dohr is still on level 4.  Mark is sleeping in a bacta tank in sickbay!  Dyre is also in sickbay.

The shuttle needs to make several transfers so wont be back for a while.  When it does it will need to evacuate the last group (those not going on the shuttle) and then Mika can go to work on it.  ETD - 6 hours.

In the elevator Arcas was surprised to find his cuffs taken off. He looked at the bothan while deciding to keep his hands behind his back, gripping his left wrist and assuming a more straight posture. [Language unknown: "Eveomeing nafievne conughsom ionstavor ol iou N eststiter memint riprng e theintith."] he explained, the ding of the elevator cutting him off.

As they walked along the hangar, Arcas couldn't help but glance at the personnel as they ran about, well aware of the wide, open space and all the dangers it might contain. As they approached the man, Arcas focused on him, nodding and awaiting for him to be addressed.

As Arcas and his captors approach, Devon turned and spoke briefly to the Zeltron next to him.

Devon nodded to Fiarr and Kyvarr as they delivered their prisoner.
"Good work." he told them.  He looked Arcas up and down.
"OK, so after the offer you made last time we met; you're gonna tell me, here an' now, why you risked that by escapin, killin' one of my people an' beatin' another."

A slight grimace crossed Arcas' face. "I didn't. I first escaped being executed for treason by my own commanding officers, then escaped being executed by your person. I 'beat up' your other person because I figured he was going to execute me for being an escapee."

The grimace turned into a very hard gaze. "I would like to know in return why I was transferred to the same cell as my previous superiors and how they knew of my offer."

There was nothing Dohr could do to the dead soldier, so he simply ordered the other guard to cover the dead man's face. It was not the respect and honor he deserved, but there was no time for anything else. There was the unmistakable sound of an incoming private coms call in the Doc's ear and he took the call right away. Dohr cast a look at the guard standing next to the corpse and moved ten meters further down the hallway before speaking.


A moment later there was another comms message from Kyvarr saying the Lieutenant had been caught and was under control. Dohr let out a deep sigh. He was happy the man hadn't been shot on sight. He had found it very strange that someone who had a little while ago wanted to make a deal with the Talons and the rebel army, would then turn against them in such a terrible manner. They needed to find out the reasons for such a behaviour and that would not be possible if the man was dead.

A thought was nagging at Dohr. It took him some time to figure out what it was. When he did, the Doc opened up a call on a private channel.

OOC: Should happen before Arcas is escorted to the hangar?


With the call still open, Dohr let out a very uncustomary curse in Kel Dor. It was doubtlessly clear to the person at the other end that he is indeed cursing.

Already running, once the previous call was over, Dohr selected a private channel to private Trycson. "Trycson, pick up your weapon and head over to the Medbay. Move fast, but act normal. Wait for me on the outside." The Doc really hoped his realisation was wrong, completely wrong.
This message was last edited by the player at 08:41, Fri 08 Sept 2017.

Heigren sighed and composed himself.  Both Devon and Arcas were giving only pieces of the story.  It was not going to get them far.

"Arcas?  May I call you Arcas or do you prefer Lieutenant?  You can call me 'Four' for now.  Anyway, I think we need to step back and go through the full story.  I think from when you left your meeting with Seven here."  He gestured at Devon.

"Now my account is a mix of talking to various guards and prisoners and security footage.  So bear with me."

"Our understanding is you were returned to the cell where you had originally been.  A few hours later we receive a comm to hear you're in the officer's quarters with your former commander and executive officer.  Apparently you convinced your guard you were meant to be transferred there as you yourself are an officer."

"Upon getting there you managed to overpower your guard and shot him twice with his own blaster.  You were intercepted by Delta Three, one of our wounded men, who had received a call for help.  When he got there he got the drop on you and disarmed you.  But you tricked him by kicking a blaster which led his eye.  You fled and managed to lock him in with the officers."

"From there you proceeded to flee to the turbolifts, assaulted a guard and took his blaster.  Then you were trapped and captured by Five and Six here."  He gestures to Kyvarr and Fiarr in turn in case Arcas doesn't know who is who.

"So that's the story as we know it.  Why don't you now tell us the story as you know it, right from when Five led you from the interrogation room."



OOC: Got an update from the GM on other accounts.  Not sure if they were mentioned already but I was hazy on the big picture.  Figured I'd do some snooping while everyone else did 'evacuation stuff'!
This message was last edited by the player at 00:20, Fri 08 Sept 2017.

Whilst they waited for Arcas to reply, Devon touched one finger to the commlink in his ear and mumbled inaudibly for a few moments, apparently giving orders to members of his team elsewhere in the station.



Orders given, Devon returns his attention wholly to Arcas, waiting for the man to speak.

Slowing down from the run, but still moving fast, Dohr limped into the elevator. There was another call.

Devon frowns and mumbles into his commlink again.

Hearing the near-human's speech eased Arcas a bit.

"Finally, someone who understands constructive discussion." Arcas turned towards Four, pointedly addressing him in a more conversational tone.

"For the moment Arcas will do. I'll take my execution attempt as a dishonorable discharge from the Imperial Navy." Then he took a breath and continued:

"After being taken to my cell I kept to myself, knowing that I had just committed treason. Maybe an hour or two passed and the guard came to inform me of a prisoner transfer. Seeing that it was not 'Five' but some young guard, clearly recruited from the prisoners, I became suspicious and tried to pry out the reason for the transfer, without success."

"I was uncuffed and pushed to the same room as the Major and Lieutenant. Immediately after the door closed, the Lieutenant attacked me and Major accused me of treason. At that point I knew you had a leak." Arcas paused to think his next statement. "In the interest of transparency, I attempted unsuccessfully to claim that I was going to betray you on the shuttle. During the struggle I managed to attract the guard's attention and he came to break up the fight at blasterpoint."

"When I asked for him to bring in the one in charge, the Major surprisingly agreed. The guard summoned this 'Delta Three'. He asked for the guard's blaster and told him to cuff me." Arcas' face darkened while he explained the next part, "I then remembered why he seemed familiar; I had seen him in the Imperial Academy. His deviousness got him kicked out, although according to rumours, he was transferred to Intelligence. I confronted him about this as the kid was cuffing me and he cracked. The kid got too curious and this 'Delta Three' shot him."

"When he threw the blaster at my feet and prepared to blast me too, I took the opportunity and escaped. I needed a safe spot with a comlink with which to let you know that your operation is compromised. A turbolift came to mind, so I headed towards the nearest one. I was fortuitous that the guard was there and I could contact you as quickly as I did, although I did have to incapacitate him to get access to his comlink."

"I would have preferred to not get physical, but the first people I met when I escaped started shooting at me. So I trust you can empathize with my situation."

Devon nearly flipped the bird at Arcas' for his comment about 'constructive discussion', but listened instead.  When the man had finished, Devon frowned and said
"You say 'he cracked'...  what was said?  I want exact words - yours and his."

Arcas' eyes driftes upwards. "As an answer to my comment about the galactic republic articles I who invoked, 'The Emperor disbanded those articles years ago.' After that he berated the Major: 'You just had to kill him without fuss.'"

"The kid asked what he meant by it and I volunteered an answer: he was a traitor. I asked if he learned the way he disarmed the kid from the Intelligence. He said yes and shot the kid."

Arcas' mind returned to the present. "Either he is incompetent or the meds he is on shortened his fuse."

Devon listened to this with a deepening frown.  He didnt interrupt.  Perhaps his earlier anger was simple down to being in charge and one of his men being dead... whatever had caused it, now he was listening.  But did he believe?

After Arcas had finished speaking, the human subjected the others Talons to long questioning looks, clearly waiting for their input.

Dohr heads back to the medbay quickly.  Trycson meets him shortly before he gets there.

He finds the place in a form of controlled chaos that reminds the Kel-Dor of his residency days in a busy emergency room.  The doctor and her medics move from patient to patient, preparing, stabilising.  Former prisoners move stores, prepare equipment.  A steady stream of equipment and prisoners move out the door.  In the middle of it is Dyre, datapad in one hand,his other pointing in various directions as he shouts.  He works directing the chaos, keeping the team of volunteers out of the medical team's way and making sure what the medics want, they get.

Seeing Dohr he waves.  "Doc say we're about ready to move the bacta tanks to the shuttle.  Gonna need some techs ready to hook up at the other end.  Don't want the tanks to lose power or suck the shuttle dry mid-flight!  Still I assume you have Seven and Ten on that."

Arriving to the Medbay with Private Trycson, Dohr was relieved to see Dyre doing what was expected - making sure transfering the patients went smoothly and without incidents. He nodded to the human customarily headed towards Mark's bacta tank to make sure everything was it was supposed to be. He watched Trycson move to the other side of the tank to check out the connectors as agreed before entering the room. That way they could cover the whole Medbay together. Just in case.

Dohr turned to face Dyre and smiled behind his mask. "I will make sure we get the help we need, Three. Do not worry, I have every intention of getting everyone out alive." While checking out the readings on Mark's capsule, the Doc called Devon on the Talon channel: "Seven, Eight here. I am at the Medbay with Three. He is overseeing the transfer and wanted to be sure the power connections are ready in the shuttle. It would be great if Ten could double check. I will stay here with Private Trycson to ensure everything goes ok."

Dohr shook his head ever so slightly. It seemed his worries had been groundless. Things were just fine at the Medbay. And yet there was an uneasiness inside him that he couldn't quite rid himself of. The Doc turned to Dyre again. "Did you hear one of Sivren's men was killed just a moment ago? A youngling really. Shot at point blank. Got there as quickly as I could, but there was nothing I could do. Terrible thing."

Dyre's faced darkened, he seemed almost ready to assualt the doctor.  He took a few breaths trying to compose himself.

"Not sure if that's meant to be some bad attempt at Kel Dor humour or your comm is fried Doc.  You know damn well that I was the one that Sulli called for help.  Damn injuries, I got there too late.  Imp bastard shot him point blank in the chest.  Twice!  Now I've got that same arrogant prick saying I'm a goddamn Imp traitor."

"So either catch up on events doc or brush up on your counselling.  That kid was nineteen, and he died on MY watch, becuase I dropped the ball.  Spends months in a hellhole only to die when we try to rescue him."
This message was last edited by the player at 22:51, Sat 09 Sept 2017.

Heigren watches Arcas closely then looks to Devon.  "He's either a good liar or he's telling the truth.  Not getting much.  All that aristocratic sense of entitlement is hard to burn through."

Fiarr shrugs.  "Seems simple to me boss.  We stick Arcas here on the comms station in the shuttle.  He speaks his codes and talks nice to the Imperials.  If he betrays us he knows he'll die with us."

"If you prefer though, I'll use the next few hours to 'convince' him to speak all his code phrases and other such dialogue until we can have one of our translator droids mimic him so well his mother wouldn't recognise the difference.  Can't promise I'd return him in a usable form but it should work too."

There is no malice or threat in Fiarr's tone or mannerism.  Just a simple matter of fact tone that is even more unsettling.  She discusses these matters as casually as she might order a caf.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:25, Sun 10 Sept 2017.

Arcas followed the conversation silent. He did not appear to be pertubed by the Bothan's suggestion, but he did frown and put a lot of effort into not making any comments.

"Do not forget that my assistance depends on my comrades getting on the transport... Assuming they have not also faced a 'prisoner transfer'"

Dohr was genuinely surprised by Dyre's reaction. He'd been out of the picture himself crashing in his bunk when the call came. There'd been no time to get the full picture and the bits of what had happened had reached his ears through multiple sources little by little. The Doc turned to face the human and spread his arms in an apology and spoke calmly. "My apologies, Dyre. I did not mean to imply anything or offend you anyway. But you are right, I need to get things straight in my sleep deprived brain."

There was a moment of silence as Dohr eyed the man from behind his mask. There was nothing about him that would indicate any reaction to the outburst. "But if you wish to speak directly, let us do so. First of all, you fucked up and a man is dead. So yes, you are going to have to deal with it and there will be an investigation into the events at one point or another. Secondly, we are now working as a part of an armed force and that means discipline. So you feel like screaming and shouting, fine, go do it elsewhere and not to my face. Stims or not."

The doctor took a deep breath to calm himself down. He was a former officer and would never have accepted such talk from a soldier in his previous life, but the ranks in the Black Talon group were not quite like those in the Dorinian Armed Forces. There were Mark and Zyra and naturally Devon now running things, but for such a small group there was little need for a more complicated hierarchy.

"But since you seem to willing to get things off your chest, go ahead and tell me what happened. Then I do not have to put together a puzzle of pieces of info I hear from left and right. Seven can always check things from the surveillance recordings, if he so wishes, although I am sure there is no need for that."

The Doc knew such an outburst of anger could always be an attempt to hide guilt. He'd seen it happen more than once. Textbook stuff really. But looking closely at Dyre's face and reading his body language revealed nothing. Shrugging inside, Dohr felt the man was telling the truth. And why wouldn't he be. They'd been working together for a few weeks and there really was no need to doubt him other than the words of a desperate imperial...

Dyre snorted. "I've got work to do. Feel free to go get briefed. Hell, go report me at the same time. I've got an evac to help with."

He looks to Trycson.  "You. What are you doing here? Thought you were handling logistics in the hangar bay."

Devon locked eyes with Arcas.
"I'm still not convinced you're on the level, or that you're right about Three bein' Imperial... but you keep your end of the deal, we'll keep ours."  he said simply.
"But, I'd be stupid to not take precautions, just in-case.  Right now, I have people watching Three, an' when we reach our destination there's people there who can... get to the bottom of this."

At least, I hope he can. Devon added in the privacy of his own head.
"Five, take some people an' go get Arcas' buddies.  Bring them here to the hanger.  We'll hold them all here where we can keep an eye on them, make sure nothin' happens to them.  As soon as the shuttle lands, you will get them aboard, an' make sure they are secure."

He addressed the group as a whole.
"Right now, I'm assumin' we could be compromised...  an' the most damagin' thing I can think of for any spy to do before we launch is to call the blockade Destroyers.  After we're out the system?  wont matter... security at our destination can handle it - we'll call ahead an' warn 'em.  But in the meantime..." 

Devon put a finger to his ear, and started talking into his commlink again, but this time he didn't mumble or subvocalize - but spoke aloud so that the others with him could hear.
"Nine - there any Slicers amongst the prisoners?  I've got a rush job - find me someone who's up to it:
I need someone to go through station comm logs, all the way back to when we took control the station.  I'm lookin' for any outbound transmissions; to the blockade Destroyers or anythin' else even slightly suspicious.  I need to know about those transmissions as fast as possible, an' then I need the comms system junked so bad that not even the Emperor himself can unscramble it."

There's a slight pause before Zyra responds.  "You know, I think I have the perfect person.  She's not Cor but she has talent.  Even on a planet with no tech she proved invaluable in helping me gather information.  She served as my second in information gathering duties but she definitely knows her way around a computer.  Was considering recommending her for the team if all works out.  Her name is Lin.  I'll get her to comm you on channel four."

Kyvarr nodded.  She pulled out a datapad and handed it to Arcas.  "Can you confirm these are the four personnel you are vouching for?"  Kyvarr had the basic info on all prisoners and she'd brought up the files for the four people she'd been advised to.

Once Arcas clarified the four were correct, she looked to Fiarr.  "You coming with, or staying here?"  Once Fiarr responded, Kyvarr moved off, already on her comms.  "Team Two.  Meet me at the brig.  We've got some prisoner transfers to complete."

A young woman with light blue skin under all the grime and a somewhat dirty hair that seemed like pale bubblegum pink tied on a hasty knot stood in the Operations Center and helped a human captive work the computers. "No, no and no. You need to work it the other way around, or you'll end up accidentally sending that to the Imps", she said shaking her head. Her golden eyes were scanning the screen quickly. "There, use that part of the code." But then her attention was caught by the chirp of the comlink on her belt and she replied curtly before switching channels to number four.

"Delta Lead, this is...Golden Eye.", she said, making up a callsign on the fly, so her real name, not even a bit of it, would be broadcasted even if it was a reasonably secure network. Her voice sounded pleasant, the pronounciation refined in a way that suggested a person of high education or at least high intelligence. "Our mutual friend mentioned me to you just now and she told me, you need someone handy with computers. I'm in the Ops right now - what can I do for you?" She asked that even though she had an inkling of what Delta Lead would ask her.

Arcas seemed less sour after the decisions came down and he complied with 'Four'. He still kept his eyes open and regarded every person who glanced at his way with suspicion. But while the situation was moving forward, he couldn't help but think of the stories he had heard of Intelligence and their deviousness.

Getting out would not likely not be as straightforward as he had hoped.

Dohr eyed Dyre for a second or two after his response, but said nothing. The human's behaviour was annoying, but they'd never been best mates anyway. Actually Dohr knew next to nothing about Dyre's personality and haven't really had a private chat with him at any point. Clearly the man was mad at Dohr for bringing the subject up. The Kel Dorian didn't give a shit.

”Trycson being here is my bad really., Dohr said apologetically. ”With a dead guard in the brig and Arcas running loose, I worried over Talon One. I do not like to take chances in situations like this. I am sorry if that caused delays or problems. However, since the fugitive is now back in custody, Delta Two should be available for overseeing the logistics at the hangar bay. I would rather keep Trycson here as he is a trained medic. Just in case.”

Had he had the lips typical for humans and had he not been wearing the breathing apparatus, Dohr might have been biting one right now. He had almost let go the more diplomatic response and lashed back at Dyre about Trycson. He had been about to blurt out that the private was there because the Doc didn’t trust Dyre and wanted to have backup. That he’d been worried the spy might try to kill Mark next. Dohr didn’t like lying, but even in the case the other Talon was indeed an undercover imperial agent, it would be best to get him to calm down. So a diplomatic approach it was…

Once Dyre is back to doing whatever he was doing, Dohr calls Devon again on his private channel. He makes use of the throat mic and earpiece to speak silently. "One, Eight. Did anyone have time to check the surveillance recordings yet? Dyre seems pissed off and does not want to tell me what happened, but that is probably just me rubbing him the wrong way. If he really is enemy, he may not have had time to erase the files. Could be a fast way to settle this for good.”

Dyre shrugs.  "If you think Two is more qualified to handle the logistics involved in evacuating medical patients, the installation of two bacta tanks and other details like that, be my guest.  In fact."  He tossed his datapad to Trycson.  "Since you're here, you can handle the logistics here.  I'm sure I can find some traitorous Imperial stuff to do."

Dyre limps out of sickbay.

"Good call". Devon replied via the private channel.  "I'll get someone on that now.  keep me informed."





"Golden Eye?"  Devon shrugged.  It would work as a code name.  He thought carefully about what he was going to say - this was an open channel, anyone could listen in...
"OK, couple of things.  First up, I need you to go through the station comm logs all the way back to when we took the place over.  I'm wonderin' if they got any messages off.  Look for messages to the blockade Destroyers, or anythin' else suspicious.  Once you've got what you need, junk their comms.  I want no messages goin' out.
An' check internal security cameras, I'm interested to see how our Imperial escapee got out of his cell...

Let me know what you find."
The voice Lin heard was male, and the accent definitely 'street' corellian.

Switching his commlink back to receive-only, Devon turned to Fiarr.  "That went out on an open channel - if we have a traitor an' if they were listenin' in, 'Golden Eye' is now a threat to them... security camera footage an' comms logs could nail 'em.  Make sure nothin' happens to her, OK?"

"Delta Lead, I suggest doing things the other way around. We do not want them to transmit anything and I can make sure of that rather quickly. Pouring through the logs, however, takes time and if I do that first they'll be able to communicate with the Destroyers, in which case we have a huge problem on our hands. But other than that, I'm on it."

Lin did not wait for the Corellian to reply - she was going to cut the comms first to ensure no unauthorized communications got off-planet while she worked her magic. Once the comms were cut, she'd quickly write up a program that would pinpoint any terminal accessing and especially attempting to erase the files from the mainframe, then get to the matter of looking through the data and security footage.

Devon shrugged again.  She had a good point.
"You're the expert, Golden Eye."  he responded.

Dohr sighs and heads after Dyre to the door and calls after him in his best Major-voice: "Get your ass back in here, soldier! I did not give you permission to leave. I do not have the time to babysit your hurt feelings. Besides you have a job to finish." In theory Dohr was higher up in the hierarchy. He had been part of the team for a lot longer and Devon had left the two new members, Kira and Dyre at the bottom of the organisation as far as the chain of command was concerned. Then again he didn't have a clue how Dyre saw the situation.

After Captain Nuruk's briefing a little over a week ago Dohr had pondered what they really knew about Dyre. He had even entertained himself by thinking the man could be an imperial spy for all that he knew. And he had laughed at the thought back then... The thought didn't make the Kel Dor laugh now. He knew he was falling for a simple psychological trap. It was easy to see another person as evil or traitorous when one was angry. And Dohr was angry even if Dyre's reaction was most probably totally his own fault.

"Now, the things I said may have sounded harsh. I have not slept, so I am edgy. You are hurt and your teammates wonder if you are the enemy. Makes you grumpy. I get it. But the worst possible thing you could do to yourself is walk away. Might end up with a private babysitter, if you do. So get back in here and do your job."

"But you have a good point about the bacta tank installation. Trycson is probably better suited for that task. One's vitals are good. I can manage without him."

I wonder, if he will keep on walking or give me a grumpy response: "I would, if you would let me"..

Dyre snorts.  "Apology accepted.  But let me make a few things crystal clear.  First, you don't outrank me.  Seven runs this team and Five and Six are his 2IC's.  You're just a grunt like me.  You may have been some bigwig elsewhere but here you take orders from a Sergeant, a spy and a guy who steals ships for a living!"

"Second I am helping out in here because I volunteered.  Nobody ordered me, not even Seven.  I was here for a checkup after Arcas assaulted me and I was sitting here with nothing to do while people ran around like headless womp rats.  So I took charge.  That means I can walk out whenever I want."

He holds his hand out to Trycson for the datapad.  "But if you're happy to play nice and work as equals, I'll stick around.  This is not a medical emergency so I work with you, not for you."

After Kyvar left, Devon stood and waited for a few moments, a frown gradually creasing his brow.
Then he turned a puzzled expression on Arcas.

"Hey, Private Citizen Arcas Endeel. I got a question.  The more I think about it, the less this place makes sense.

Two blockade Destroyers? building a skyhook?  Keeping all that maintained and supplied?
Even for the Empire, that's not cheap.  All those credits spent for a few hundred low-value prisoners?  Woulda been cheaper to just shoot 'em, or chuck them in a standard jail.
But no, the Empire went a lotta trouble to set up a prison here in the ass-end of nowhere.

So I'm wonderin' - what's in this system that needs a bunch of prisoners nearby and two Destroyers to guard it?"

Devon watched the other human expectantly, waiting for an answer.

Dohr smiled and gave Dyre a deep bow. Any Kel Dorian would've noticed the exaggeration of the gesture. It was almost mocking; a bit like one of those finger signs humans liked so much. But to anyone else it was probably just one of Dohr's customary bows. The Doc did bow quite often after all.

Dohr could've started arguing how he actually did outrank the mercenary. He'd been in the team far longer and currently as the sole medical professional, he's value to the team was far greater than that of another random gunslinger. He didn't consider that an absolute truth himself though. He didn't like the fact, but in a sense he agreed with Dyre. Everyone was equally important, but sometimes having a clear chain of command was well worth the trouble.

And he could've continued lecturing the human that he didn't take orders from any Sergeant or spy or ship jacker. They had all proven themselves as good leaders, exceptionally skilled individuals and most importantly good, trustworthy friends. Not that Dohr could remember receiving too many orders from Kyvarr or Fiarr anyway. They were teammates first, superiors second and this mission was so far the first one on which such a hierarchy had been in place anyway.

But the Doc didn't say anything. He did however make a note of the man's attitude towards the whole operation. You could walk out whenever you wanted, eh? Well try walking out of this station or the planet without a certain space ship stealing person's permission...

Instead of saying anything, Dohr turned to Trycson. "Well, since you clearly are indeed best suited for handling the transfer of the bacta tanks, I believe you should head back to the hangar bay." The Kel Dor didn't apologise for pulling Trycson from his task for apparently no reason. The man was a soldier and was doubtlessly accustomed to accepting orders that sometimes seemed somewhat strange. Instead he held out a hand expecting the private to hand over the datapad to him.

<H>OOC: Once he has the device, Dohr will quickly check out the situation and if everything seems ok he'll offer it to Dyre in turn.

Arcas ceased his musings and regarded the man.

"Good question. I thought that the security was for the prisoners and all of this", he said, waving at the hangar in general, "was just a gross misapplication of resources. One argument for that is my presence: Based on my performance in the Academy, I should have been a squadron leader on a prestigious Star Destroyer by now. Instead, I was tossed here to rot. The rest of the personnel were also stuck here, seeing how eagerly they took their petty frustrations on the prisoners."

Arcas then looked at the void of space, shimmering beyond the force field. "Then again, the Major did say something about me not knowing what is going on... If you want to send your torturer to interrogate someone, I'd suggest him. Because if there is something top secret here, a high-security prison would be a very effective façade."

"Speaking of high security, I'd prefer to pilot or co-pilot the shuttle. The approach and exit vectors are very tight and any deviations are bound to be questioned."

Devon mulls this over for a bit, then turns to Fiarr.
"Yeah, you wanna go talk to this major?  Dont take all day though - we can always bring him home with us if he knows somethin' juicy."
Devon wasn't worried about Arcas trying another escape if Fiarr left - the amount of people in the hanger prohibited an attempt to begin with, and with the shuttle out there was nowhere for him to go anyway.  And Arcas had surely realized that if he DID escape again, the chances were good he would simply be shot instead of captured.

Devon turned his attention back to the ex-Imperial.
"I'll be flyin'.  You'll be my co-pilot.  OK?"
And stood behind you will be someone with a gun Devon added in the privacy of his own head.  Nothing personal

Arcas nodded.

"Agreed."

He was about to turn towards the hangar again, but stopped. "May I ask... Who did you break free? I don't know any of the prisoners."

"I'm curious why Intelligence wants to keep you from leaving."

"oh, you know how it is..."  Devon answered vaguely whilst he watched the activity in the hanger.
"Your best friends in prison, an' his birthdays comin' up, so you decide to extract him... then you figure that since you're gonna be extractin' anyhow, might as well see how many you can extract all in one go.  Try to set a high score, kinda thing."
Clearly Devon had no intention of actually answering Arcas question about exactly who they were rescuing.
"I'm tellin' you: the amount of 'Thank you' cards I'll get next Life Day is gonna be amazin'.  Gonna need a shovel just to reach my front door."


There was a long pause, then Devon continued in a more serious tone.
"Once we have cleared the blockade and are safely out of the system, you will leave the cockpit and rejoin your four buddies, under guard.  I ain't havin' you know where we are actually headed.  When we arrive at our destination, you five will hand yourselves over to my associates."

The ex-Lieutenant raised his eyebrow.

"And these 'associates' will honor the deal I have made with you?" Without waiting for an answer, Arcas shook his head "No matter. Seeing that the options are limited, the best choice is to throw us to the katarns and hope that your 'associates' exhibit more reason in their conduct."

"And I know when my aid is not required. I'll just use my time productively, like acknowledging how hopeless my situation is and how few allies I currently have. That is exactly the kind of mentality I would foster in any captives under my authority."

Arcas' words were dripping with barely-contained sarcasm. Again he turned to look outside the hangar, displaying his displeasure.

Fiarr didn't leave immediately after Devon's suggestion, instead she pulled out a datapad and begin flicking through the information she had.  Instead of involving herself in the conversation between Arcas and Devon, she stepped away and began using her comm to make calls.

"You think we're bein' unreasonable?" Devon asked quietly.  "Lemme remind you that right now, your ex-allies are all in cells - an' I think some are locked in storage closets down on B deck - whilst you're walkin' around up here, unrestrained.  You're up here because you wanted to talk, an' we listened.  We coulda just tortured the stuff we wanted outta you."


He turned to face Arcas.
"So after you've got us out the system, you'll be leavin the cockpit so you don't see where we end up?
Ever consider maybe we're doin' that for reasons other than to piss you off?  Ever think that maybe, since I dont know how far we can trust you yet, I got real good reasons for not wantin' to give you any clue where we're goin?  Maybe I'm doin' it because I'm protectin' my people.  Maybe I ain't answerin' your questions for the exact same reason."

Devon kept his voice level, but was obviously out of patience.
"An' I'll blunt - you offered us a deal, so I figured you wanted to co-operate.  Figured maybe you wanted out of Imperial service.  Figured we could give you that chance.
So heres the pinch... if you've changed your mind, if you think we can't deliver on what we promised... then say it here an' now.  We can chuck you back in your cell an' maybe you'll be able to convince the Imps that you ain't a traitor.

But if you were serious about that deal, then you need to stop askin' questions an' trust that I can deliver.  You need to start workin' with us rather than throwin' a hissy fit.  An' the next words out of your mouth need to be 'yes, sir."

By this point, the two were facing each other and only about a foot apart.  Devon cocked his head to turn one ear toward Arcas,  and leaned forward to bring that ear closer to the mans mouth.
"Am I clear?" he asked quietly and pointed to his ear, making it clear what he wanted.

Arcas looked at the man, listening to his words. There was so much he wanted to say,  so many things he would like to point out... But this was not the time nor place. 'Shouting into a comm is useless if the receiver is not on', aunt Therina used to say, 'take it as an opportunity to work on your message.'

So Arcas folded, for now. "Yes sir."

Heigren looks closely at Arcas, then turns to Devon and sighs.  "He doesn't seem to get it boss.  He's either naive as hell or a sociopath.  I'm guessing the former.  He honestly seems to believe we're treating him badly."

The Zeltron turned his attention to Arcas.  "You may not know this, but my race is mildly empathic.  The emotion down in that prison is a tempest.  I have never felt such pain, suffering and despair in my life.  I was born an Imperial slave but that nearly drowned me.  Up here, a tinge of hope runs through it but it is being overpowered by something more powerful. . .hate.  Those prisoners are looking to take out their hate.  Even the soldiers are feeling it.  Hell, our own friends who were trapped here were EATING their colleagues because your colleagues didn't feed them.  We all have to deal with that, and the fact we can't take all our loved ones away from here as it's too dangerous."

"At the moment, these people who have lived on despair for months are trying to survive on the razor-thin edge of hope.  But the hate is there too.  They want revenge want it terribly.  They want to tear you and all the other Imperials asunder.  The boss here is putting his people in harm's way to protect them.  Your former commander is sitting in a locked room with a guard.  He's got a heated room, a bed, sanitation, food and water.  You yourself are being protected.  I could point to at least three people in this hangar alone who would happily murder you on the spot, despite all your claims of innocence."

"They're good people.  They've just been through hell.  Put yourself in their shoes and perhaps you'll see how much your ideals don't match reality."

He pointed at Devon.  "He gave you his word, he'll stick by it.  As much as he tries to play the scoundrel, he's really more the hero type.  He's a better man than me.  I'm ashamed to say I doubt I'd have treated you half as well.  The things those prisoners have been through. . .it's. . .excuse me."

Heigren moved away and collapsed in a corner, his legs drawn up as the emotions welled over him again.

Arcas listened. He was surprised when the Zeltron collapsed and stood there for a moment. Then he exhaled.

"Look, I don't want to appear callous. I do feel for the prisoners and have done everything in my power to improve their situation. And I appreciate your restraint and decency. It was the reason I decided to offer my aid to you, despite the fact that the Empire has painted you as terrorists and thugs", he explained to the 'boss'.

"So now I invite you to look at this from my perspective. My own Intelligence service tried to kill me, closing the door to my previous life. The people who hold my fate in their hands do not trust my words. They also have a traitor in their ranks, which is very difficult for me to prove. And because of that I don't even know if my aid is enough to get us all off-system anymore."

"So I apologize if I am a little on the edge. That is because my hope too is razor-thin. It is words like his," he nodded towards the Zeltron "that give me reason to do my best to help you. I understand that this situation makes it difficult for you to accept it, but at least I'd appreciate the chance to present my thoughts."

Fiarr moves off to comfort Heigren, sliding down beside him.

This message was deleted by the player at 00:58, Tue 19 Sept 2017.

**TWO HOURS LATER

The evacuation moves smoothly.  Sivren and his team scuttle the walker in the forest and then evacuate to the container along with the prisoners from the skyhook and the ones from the prison they could reason with on short notice.  As the shuttle finally lands back on the skyhook, Sivren comms and advises they are lifting off and need a two hour headstart.  Given the time needed to prepare the shuttle, that doesn't seem a problem.

Aside from the Talons the only people left on the station were Arcas, Lin, Corporal Trycson who was aiding Dohr, one member of Beta squad who was working with Mika, a few volunteer prisoners, the critically wounded and the Imperial prisoners.  The latter of which had all been moved to a single large cargo area and locked in together.  At Devon's order, Lin had set up a time-delay on the locks to open in twenty-six hours time.

Mika and Beta Three had worked quickly as soon as the shuttle was back.  Moving to set up power lines that would power the bacta tanks but not impact shuttle performance was no simple feat.  Still they managed it, though it would reduce the shuttle's endurance.  Mika didn't see that as a problem.  They'd either make it out and be safe in a day or two or they'd be dead.

Once the shuttle was ready, Dohr and Trycson guided teams to move the bacta tanks and the wounded.  As soon as this was done, the pair set up shop in the shuttle's cargo bay, monitoring systems and caring eight critical patients.  Heigren worked with them, serving as a pair of hands, though his calming presence was worth more than any labour he performed.

Kyvarr and Kira had their hands full with security.  With so many Imperials in one place the prisoners were not trusted to watch them.  So between transfers and guard duty the pair were kept busy.

In the shuttle cockpit Devon and Arcas sat together pre-flighting the shuttle and performing all the systems checks.  It was necessary the ship was 100% flight ready if things went wrong.

Lin sat alone in operations, performing the duties Devon assigned her.  The peace and quiet was almost welcome as she worked on encrypting comms then viewing and downloading security footage.

Fiarr was not seen.  She had disappeared with the Major and had not been seen.  Nobody asked where she was because nobody truly wanted to know the answer.

Throughout this Zyra served as the logistics queen.  She kept track of everything and kept all the teams working smoothly.  If the medics needed a hand, she arranged it.  If Kyvarr and Kira needed some guards, they were there.  Assisting her was Dyre.  While she handled communications, he handled the people and made sure the grunt work was actually done.

A little over two hours later Devon recieved reports from Zyra that all the injured were aboard and Mika reported all systems were as ready as she could make them.  Prisoners were secure and Sivren's team had been given their window.  They were ready.

Devon checked his systems one last time but it was prefunctory.  He knew they were ready to leave.  All that was needed was to call all teams back, take off and hope they could bluff their way out of here.


OOC:  So at present Lin is still in ops, Kyvarr and Kira are on guard outside the room where the prisoners are.  Dyre and several of the ex-prisoners are moving about running errands.  Fiarr is with the Major somewhere.  Everyone else is on board.

Currently in the cockpit, Devon and Arcas are in the pilot/co-pilot seats.  Mika is at engineering.  Tactical and operations are empty.  Everyone else in in the cargo hold.

Dohr had been very busy for the last two hours and the previous discussion or argument with Dyre had been forgotten for the time being. But when the tanks and the other patients were ready for the take off and all the Doc had to do was observe, the thoughts about a traitor or a murderer or a traitor-murderer surfaced again.

The Kel Dor had seen Lieutenant Arcas move around with Devon without restraints or guards. The man was unarmed, but still moving about with relative freedom at least compared to his former colleagues. Dohr didn't know what to think about it all. It was clear that if the imperial was not the killer, then the killer was still on the loose. The man had named Dyre as a traitor, but without any other evidence, it was his word against Dyre's. Apparently Devon hadn't made any decision yet about whom to trust, but that was totally understandable. They needed Arcas to help them get out of the system safely.

Dohr turned to Trycson. "I will get a quick caf before we launch. Want one?" After the private's answer, Dohr headed to the shuttle's galley and opened up a silent private channel to Devon. "One, Eight. Any news on the surveillance feed? I know we do not have much time, but would be better than a barrel of Corellian Gold to get the thing sorted out before we head out.""

"OK, so once we clear the atmosphere, we turn onto headin' 212, right?  That's where procedure says we go, so that's where we go."  Devon asked Arcas, checking he understood the flying they would need to do to make their escape look like any other supply run.
Despite their earlier disagreement, Devon now listened carefully to everything the ex-Imperial said.  This was his field of expertise, and they needed this to go right or they were most likely all dead.
"We stay on that till we get challenged by the blockade ships.  You'll talk to them an' get us clearance to jump.  We wait for clearance, an' after we get it, then we line up for the jump they expect us to make, get final clearance, an' only then do we jump, right?"

Devon looked at the checklist he'd made and sighed.  In theory, all he had to do was fly a simple course at safe speeds... but it was going to take concentration - any deviation from the approved course would get them all sorts of attention they didn't want.



Responding via the same private channel, Devon said: "Nothin' yet, Eight.  WIll let you know."
Devon switched comm-channel and and spoke to everyone:
"Everyone - time to go.  This is quite definitely the last ride outta town, so dont miss it.
Golden Eye, if you've found anythin' that cant wait, bring it straight to me in the shuttle cockpit.  Don't put it on comms.  Six, same orders to you.

Nine, I need you to gimmie a head-count an' make sure everyones aboard."



OOC: Hello Mika!   Good to see you back!   Where should you start?  I'm not sure...  maybe the Inside the Camp thread?  Anyone else have suggestions?

"Seven, Five.  Given our situation we'll go as soon as everyone else is on board.  The second you have everyone else ready Two and I will be there in under two minutes.  Best we don't leave these guys until we have to."

Fiarr's voice comes over the comm.  "Okay boss.  Just gotta prep our package and bring him down.  Should only be a few minutes."

"Three here.  Just ordering all my teams to report to the shuttle.  They should be arriving presently.  I'll ensure there are no stragglers then I'll be down too."

Lin was more than ready and had set up some protocols that would not only ensure the Talons received the data but also some to cause gray hairs to the ISB. Realizing, she had a huge target painted on her back while she was carrying the data, Lin set up a system that would have a dead man's switch. If she did not enter a code through her datapad every two standard minutes, the terminals would automatically transfer the data through a comlink over to the shuttle.

Lin also planned her route through the station so that she would be visible to the security cameras the whole time, making sure any attack on her would also be recorded and the culprit shown on the footage. Of course, once she gave the system her okay, the footage would be erased from the servers, leaving no footage of the Talons, the prisoners or her. The cells were rigged to open as Devon had planned, but as a little payback, she had also programmed the toilets in the cells to regurgitate anything flushed through them, which would result in rather stinky if not nauseous Imperials.

"Delta Lead, Golden-eye. Heading there now", she commed, then stepped out of the Operations and headed towards the shuttle after disabling the door that led in to the Ops - it would give her plan ample time to work. Every two minutes on the way to the shuttle, she would enter a combination of symbols making sure the failsafe would not initiate. Once in the shuttle's cockpit, she would begin copying the data from her datapad on to the shuttle's databanks and order the Ops terminals to begin the purges there. And, just in case, she had her requisitioned blaster ready and on stun in order to catch the culprit alive.

Arcas had been silent throughout the wait, pacing about the hangar, enjoying the last chance to walk about before he was going to be detained again.

After sitting in the co-pilot seat, he programmed the course for the autopilot and kept checking the power transfer between the engines, turrets and shields, with the rebel leader's permission. He nodded to his questions about the procedure while calibrating the sensors and evaluating the fire arcs of the turrets.

"If nothing is amiss, they probably won't ask for any specifics. But I am worried about all of this extra bulk. It might affect our flight profile, and I don't know how closely they will scrutinize the sensor readings. If they ask about that, I might have to invent some interpretative arguments," he explained.

"But better have your best shots in the turrets, just in case."

The next few minutes passed slowly.  To Devon in the cockpit it felt like hours.  He could almost see the Star Destroyers targetting them.  But slowly, one of the ex-prisoners who was posted at the shuttle entrance began counting off people as they arrived.  After two minutes he reported the only missing people were Dyre, Fiarr, her prisoner, Kyvarr and Kira.

As he spoke he reported Dyre had entered the hangar with the prisoner.  Fiarr wasn't anywhere to be seen.  Dyre reported that Fiarr was right behind them and that Kyvarr and Kira should start returning too.

Devon and Arcas watched idlely, from the cockpit as the pair came into their side view.  They didn't seem to be making straight for the shuttle ramp.

The door sentry suddenly barked.  "What the hell?  Shit he's lose.  Open fire."

Breaking all pretense, the Major pulled his hands forward, his fake cuffs falling away and he darted straight for the sole swoop bike in the hangar.  Dyre spun and yelled something and began running at him, brandishing a blaster.

A few moments later Devon and Arcas could see Fiarr enter the hangar yelling and waving frantically.  She was limping and seemed to be unsteady on her feet.  It took Devon only a moment to put it all together: Arcas was telling the truth, Dyre was a traitor.  Even as the realisation came he knew he was too late.

Dropping pretense and chasing the Major, he slid into cover near the bike and put down covering fire as the bike roared to life.  The door guard returned fire and Fiarr, who seemed to be unarmed dropped behind cover.

Moments later the bike roared to life, Dyre jumped on the front and hurled it out the hangar door at breakneck speed.  Devon couldn't help thinking what did the fool hope to achieve?  The bike was not rigged for this height, the modifications had given out not long after they'd landed.  Devon had barely survived his bike crashing back down and he had been alone.  Even as he watched the bike seemed to drop severely, falling as fast as it was accelerating.  Then it was lost from view.

Less than twenty seconds later, Kira and Kyvarr arrived.  Too late to do anything but assist Fiarr towards the shuttle.

---

OOC:  Well I guess Arcas get an 'I told you so' moment (though I don't recommend actually saying it).  Dyre has taken the Major and fled on the speeder.  It seems a really dumb move as the speeder is not rigged for this height (it's mods were a patch job).  Odds are Dyre and the Major have bought themselves a quick trip to a fiery explosion.

On the bright side, everyone is now aboard who needs to be!

"Yeah," answered Devon, "This aint my fi-  what the hell?"
Cooped up in the cockpit, Devon could do little to influence events in the hanger.  His first option proved futile - scrambling out of his seat and diving for the tactical console, he quickly realized that shuttles guns wouldn't traverse enough to hit the speeder bike.

Snarling his frustration, Devon peered out as events unfolded, punching the canopy as the bike roared to life and screamed out of the hanger.

Dropping back into the pilots seat, Devon activated his commlink.
"Everyone on board, right now." he snapped.  "Golden Eye, report to the cockpit.  Delta Five, you too."  Even with the slight distortion that the commlink added, anyone listening in could tell Devon was in a murderous rage.  A wise man would not have placed bets on Dyres chances if Devon had been able to draw a bead on the spy.

"Everyone's aboard, so' we're launchin'." Devon growled at Arcas.  "This shuttle is way faster than that bike, even if the damn thing don't break down.  We can chase the bastard down.  Soon as that Slicer gets up here, we can put her on Ops an' she can spot him for us."

Kyvarr assisted Fiarr on board.  Hearing Devon's comments she was torn by a moment's indecision.  He needed her on the cockpit but her friend was hurt.  The hesitation was only for a second though.  Kyvarr obeyed orders, besides, they'd just brought Fiarr into a makeshift medical bay anyway!

The Cathar passed Fiarr off to Kira.  "Put her where the doc tells you then report up front."  She then rushed to the cockpit, strapped into the tactical station and began powering up the weapons.

"Rules of engagement sir?" was all she asked.

Lin was on the bridge about a second after Devon's comm. "Ops it is, then", the clear but soft voice said and a reasonably pretty blue skinned female with a tangled up and dirty bubblegum pink hair tied on a hasty knot took her position at the Ops console. It was quite apparent, where the callsign Golden Eye had come from - the pupils of her eyes gleamed in pale gold, characteristic of her species, the Pantorans. "Now, let's see what we can see", she said, her fingers practically dancing on the buttons of her console.

Had it not been for the rather baggy overalls, she had been given upon the rescue, the lithe woman would have made a rather charming display. Even now, underneath all that grime was a young lady that most certainly could turn heads, but the gear she was wearing gave her a certain street-type credibility. She had a datapad hanging from her belt along with an acquired DH-17 blaster, but not much else. "And once we're off the planet and on our way where-ever we're going, I'd die for a shower."


09:44, Today: Lin Daochi rolled 27.  Computers.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:48, Thu 21 Sept 2017.

Arcas watched the events unfold muscles tensed. He shared the rebel leader's desire to do something, but managed to contain himself. When the bike passed the force field, he closed his eyes, inhaled and exhaled. The Intelligence Agent had gotten away.

As his captor growled his plan and the felinoid and near-human took up positions, Arcas pushed away his disappointment and focused his mind on the moment.

"Sir," he emphasized, hoping to get through to the man, "I strongly advise against pursuing. If the Star Destroyers detect us firing shots, then my codes are worth nothing. Right now they have no reason to suspect anything and we can just quietly leave."

He gestured towards the back of the shuttle. "Listen, you have wounded and ex-prisoners on this shuttle. Are you going to risk their lives and freedom to chase down two people who might not even survive the fall?"

With everyone on the bridge strapped in and beginning to power up, Devon brought the shuttle's repulsors up to power and prepared to fly.  The question was would he chase the fleeing shuttle or follow Arcas's sensible advice?  Dyre was not the mission but then again, he had knowledge that Devon would not want in Imperial hands.  But possible worse, the man was a goddamn traitor.

Lin was already using her sensors to seek Devon's prey as well as scan space, though the latter was limited at present given they were still too close to the skyhook.  She focused solely on the sensors for now for Arcas had already plotted their navigation route.  If she had to alter it, Lin would need to do it on the fly.


Kyvarr has tactical running and the guns and targetting systems blare to life.

Mika has engineering systems ready and begins moving power between systems in preperation for flight and/or battle.

Kira stood silently on the bridge.  Her role was not clear. 

In the back, Dohr gave an all clear.  He also reported Fiarr wasn't badly hurt and was already back on her feet.



OOC: Well you're ready to go.  Revenge or escape (or both)?  On a note, the shuttle has four guns.  Kyvarr can put them in auto mode or she can control any gun from her station, or shift a gun to the pilot or co-pilot station.  People can also enter and fire a turret manually.

Fiarr's once cleared by Dohr moved into the cockpit.  "Sorry boss." she said sheepishly.  "Three caught me off guard.  Walked in, said he'd come to help with the prisoner then stunned me before I realised what was happening.  That guys got a quick draw."

"Weird thing was he didn't kill me.  The Imp put a few boots into my ribs and wanted to kill me but Three rushed him out.  Refused to give him a weapon to finish the job.  He took my blaster and my comm."

"Anyway, I'm fit for action.  You want me on a turret?"

Kyvarr scrutinised her friend for a second then nodded.  "Take one of the rear-facing turrets.  If we need you to shoot it's going to likely be at something chasing us.  We'll need our best gunners at the back I think."

She didn't add that if they were going to shoot Dyre down she imagined Devon would probably wanted to do that himself.  He seemed pissed.  If not, Kyvarr would take that shot.  She still couldn't bring herself to believe Dyre was a traitor but if he was that made her feelings all the worse.  How had he slipped by her?  It didn't occur to the Cathar that subtlety and trickery were Fiarr's area of expertise, not her own.  If he was an agent, Kyvarr would probably be the last one to notice.

It took Lin perhaps three standard seconds to achieve a lock on the escaping speeder and two more to calculate the distance and trajectory. She directed the data over to tactical and to the pilots' consoles. "They are going down fast, diving at an extreme angle and exceeding the safe maximum velocity for the speeder. If they don't pull up soon, they'll end up a fireball soon. If they don't, we could catch them in less than five standard minutes on a proper vector", she said, calculating the optimum course for the intercept. "There is also a Star Destroyer out there, not in the orbit but a bit further out in space. They are not in a position to likely spot us if we open fire on the speeder, but if we left now, we'd possibly be able to give them a slip."

Lin thought for a moment. "Did this guy have access to any explosives or important systems aboard this shuttle? If he did, I would suggest carefully combing the shuttle for any surprises. In his place, I would have hidden a few nasty tricks aboard."

"Three was never aboard the shuttle."  Kyvarr said confidently.  "I've had security on it since we captured it.  Only people aboard were Ten, Seven and a couple of the Captain's soldiers.  I doubled the guard when trouble started.  If he got on board he'd have needed to be invisible and crack the codes."

Lin gave a nod at the Cathar. "Good. I'd hate having my ass fried after all this time in the camp, when I'm about to get my freedom back", she said, giving Kyvarr a smile. There was no sarcasm in it - she had simply had a thought, she would have probably had, were the tables turned. Of course she knew, bypassing a shuttle's security would be somewhat easier to her than most, if she set her mind to it.

"We're not free yet.  But we've got a chance.  If it's any consolation, all your fellow prisoners we rescued are likely a lot safer than us.  That container is nearly impossible to detect on sensors.  Even if we don't make it, they should."

Devon piloted the shuttle out of the hanger smoothly, then started to pile on the acceleration as hard as he could without jostling the injured passengers aboard.
He briefly found himself wondering - as he often had since taking over leadership of the Talons - what Mark would do in this situation.  Probably cut his losses and leave, Devon decided.  The hell with that

"I survived that exact same fall earlier today... so we aint assumin' that he cant."
Responding to Devons hands on the controls, the shuttle swung onto the intercept course that Lin had plotted.
"We don't got time to catch up to them properly - but we can get close enough to shoot."  he growled.
If the bike aint a decoy he told himself.  If Dyre hasnt found some way to turn that bike into a decoy to lead us away from him.  Devon could think of a couple of ways that could be done.  The question was, had Dyre thought of it? And if he had, had he been able to lay his hands on the stuff he would need to pull it off.  Shame their sensors wernt acute enough to detect if there were actual people on that bike.

"Those Destroyers didnt notice five minutes of fire from our walker breakin' through the shield.  They ain't gonna notice a couple of shots from us.

Five - you're takin' the shot.  Aim carefully, don't fire till you're sure.
Golden Eye - feed sensor data to gunnery - give her a clear view of the target.
I'll try an' give you the best position I can to shoot from.

We're gonna make a nice, fast, clean kill.  An' then we're outta here.
One minute till range.  Lets melt that bastard an go home."
This message was last edited by the player at 00:08, Sat 23 Sept 2017.

"Will do", the blue girl piped, her fingers moving across the console as she did her best to enhance the resolution of the sensors in order to give the gunnery station the best targetting solution. She had a determined look on her face, suggesting she was not exactly going to mind turning the major in to a cloud of ash after the treatment she and her fellow prisoners had received at the camp. And she was good, there was no question of it - her work on the sensors showed exactly that, if not more.

08:55, Today: Lin Daochi rolled 30.  Computers (assist gunner).

Damn hothead. As protesting would not get them anywhere, Arcas contended with plotting the best course and handling other copilot duties. The faster this was done, the more likely they could get off-system.

Still, Arcas didn't exactly object to the Imperials' demise, his sore bruises a reminder of his brief custody.

Kyvarr gave no reply but warmed up the turrets and fed in the data Lin was sending him.  Her quality info seemed to make it almost too easy.  She prepared both forward turrets to fire then switched control of the under turret to the pilot.

"Pilot, guns.  Top forward turret locked on.  I've taken the liberty of giving you control of the bottom forward turret should you wish the honour sir."

She prepared her own gun to fire.  If Devon didn't wish to take the bike out she would open up herself.

In Engineering, Mika was keeping an eye on ships systems.  Imperials had all sorts of regs about modding systems and she hadn't found much sign of tinkering.  That almost seems offensive to her, she'd be tinkering as soon as the got out out of the neighborhood.  Still, most everything would align with the books, so easy to figger out.

Speed was top priority, if the Imps got serious about things, the didn't have shields or weapons to accomplish much.

Devon hesitated for a moment, then:
"Take the shot, Five.  I'll be ready with a follow-up.  Make sure I don't need to."  After his earlier anger, Devons voice was level now, cold.  He looked at the target on the scope, and narrowed his eyes - this wasnt about revenge, or honour.  It was about killing an enemy who knew enough to really hurt the Talons if he had chance.  This was about protecting his team.
"Take the shot."

"Understood sir."

She left the ventral turret assigned to the pilot's station and brought up the forward dorsal turret in her scopes.  She didn't shoot the second he was in range.  Such extreme shots were chancy and she didn't want to waste her shots.  She held her fire for several seconds, letting the range reduce, then opened up.



OOC:  Just using standard shots (no rapid fire).  One good hit should be enough here.

Heigren's voice comes over the comm.  "Are you really sure about this?  I mean Three was one of us.  He fought with us, he nearly died down there defending the innocent.  We haven't even asked him his side.  We should let him go."

This message was deleted by the player at 22:25, Sun 24 Sept 2017.

"I hear you, Four."  Devon replied sadly.  "But we can't take that risk.  I'm sor -"
Devon paused.  Heigren's words had jostled his conscience...
"God DAMN it." he snarled.  "Hold your fire, Five."
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:10, Mon 25 Sept 2017.

Kyvarr snatched her hands away at the cease fire order but it was too late.  Only two shots fired from her turret but it was enough.  The first flew wide, but the second connected with the bike squarely.  The powerful turret reducded the bike to a ball of burning vapour in a microsecond.  Survival was impossible.



OOC:  Given the conflicting orders in such a short timeframe I let the dice decide if Kyvarr got her first shot off.  Too bad she's such a good shot and Lin's sensor data was top notch also!

"Target disintegrated", the clear voice said from Ops. "No ejection pods or grav chutes visible." Lin spoke in an official tone, devoid of emotion to one way or another. She had not known the traitor, but she knew the Major well enough to not exactly mourn if not rejoice of his perishing either. "Let's get out of here, shall we?"

[Language unknown: Itekwh no!!]  Kyvarr blurted out as she heard Seven's order to hold fire.  She had only got two shots off but she knew the result even before Golden Eyes reported.

She looked over to the pilot seat.  "Sorry sir.  I have no excuse."  She didn't leave her seat.  Reprimands or not, she was needed to fight right now.

Devon slumped back in his seat an regarded the now blank targetting array for a moment.
"Forget it, Five... I aint sure you did the wrong thing.  I called the shot.  This is on me."
He sighed and grasped the flight yoke again, swung the shuttle round onto its escape vector.
".. but I dunno if we did the right think either..." he muttered.

Devon was silent for a few moments, right or wrong, Dyre was now dead.  Unless he had somehow found a way to get off the bike and survive the fall.
"... to hell with it, anyhow.  Lets go home."
Responding to his touch on the controls, the shuttle began climbing away from the planet.

Devon quickly veers the shuttle on to the course supplied by Arcas.  The ship has barely left orbit when the comm kicks in.

"Gamma Shuttle G654873.  There is no record of you flight plan.  State clearance code, cargo and destination immediately."


OOC: Hope those codes are worth the price you paid!  While Arcas works his magic what are the rest of you up to?  Lin are you on active or passive sensors (assumed you're passive for now).  Kyvarr/Devon are weapon systems powered?  Shields up or down?  Mika, any power diversions with systems for now?  And so on. . .
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:02, Tue 26 Sept 2017.

"We have two Star Destroyers, one about fifty K port, the other two hundred K on the bow but directly on our flight path", Lin said, looking at her console. "I advice against active sensors, because it would raise more questions with the Imps than give answers. She did, however, scrutinize the screen for any more signatures, doing her best to read the emissions from the passive sensor feed.

Lin Daochi rolled 32.  Passive Sensors.

Arcas clenched his fist. Of course they would want the destination and cargo manifest on any ships making unscheduled flights. He had hoped to cruise by with just the clearance codes, without having to do any more talking.

Good thing he had had time to think. Forcing himself to relax and go into the same mindset he had been during so many uneventful shuttle flights, Arcas clicked open the comm.

"This is Gamma Shuttle G654873. I'm currently outbound on an unscheduled cargo transfer. My eventual destination is the Imperial correctional facility on Inawas, with a refueling stop at Resh-Dorn-6627. My cargo has been classified under code Senth-3324. Transmitting clearance codes now", he explained calmly, with a veneer of bored importance while he typed the string of alphanumeric on the comm station.

Mika hadn't been looped in on the actions on the bridge.  The power distribution was still on engines, pending any other instruction.  To kill time, she pulls up the ship's schematics to figure out where she should be turning her attentions when she starts modifying things.  First thing, she was going to have to work on the overrides.  The safety shunts are entirely too conservative.

"Gamma Shuttle G654873 provide identification, operating number and clearance code for officer requesting unscheduled flight clearance."
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:05, Thu 28 Sept 2017.

Arcas turned towards the one known as Goldeneye and mouthed the words: GET. THE. MAJOR'S. CODES.

"The gentleman from Imperial Security Bureau neglected to mention his identification when he authorized this flight. He is currently... Performing inquiries on-board. Shall I inform him that you demand identification?" Arcas asked in the smug voice of one who knows that someone is going to get burned.

Lin jumped to the challenge ahead and scoured through the files, she knew from experience the Major might have hidden his codes inside. Of course having been warned about it prior to takeoff she might have had a bit more time to do the search but she did what she could, flying by the seat of her pants, so to speak. "If there's a next time, give me a heads up a bit earlier than the second you need the codes", she said in a I'm just saying -tone.

Lin Daochi rolled 23.  Computers: searching for the codes.

Lin stared at her screen in frustration. She had no idea how to handle this. There was no guarantee the Major's codes were even buried in the database she'd downloaded and even if it was it could take hours, even days to find. How was she supposed to do it in one minute?
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:49, Fri 29 Sept 2017.

Devon didnt look round, keeping most of his attention on the controls and the flight path he was following; but he did find time to ask.
"You two like doin' things the hard way?"

He let that hang for just a moment - just long enough for Lin and Arcas to start wondering what he meant.

"This is probably the only easy part of our whole damn day, lets not over complicate it..."  he raised his voice a little, to reach Fiarr who was stood at the back of the cockpit.
"Hey, Six?   You spent a lot of quality time with the Major, right?  Mind furnishin' these guys with his code cylinder an' anythin' else they might need?"

"Be right up boss."

Fiarr arrived in the cockpit quickly and handed over the cylinder.

"Don't know how to unlock it but if it helps the Major was bragging how he had Sigma-3 clearance.  That does seem high for a commander of a prison in the middle of nowhere."

She waited for any questions then headed back to her turret.

Lin gave both Devon and Fiarr an indignant look, but said nothing. Things were not much better with the cylinder than they were without it, but at least they had one now. She'd have to hack it on the fly and that was going to be a hell of a feat to pull. For now, they did have an opening away from the Star Destroyers, though it would take them out of the system at a different vector and might delay them reaching where ever they were headed to. It seemed, these Talons did have a plan and while Lin understood the lack of information being given to her, it did annoy her.

Everything happened so suddenly, Dohr had barely had enough time to move inside the shuttle when the shouting began in the hangar. Despite of his doubts earlier, the Doc was taken by surprise by Dyre’s actions. For a second he bought the human’s act; that Dyre was indeed trying to recapture the imperial Major. But the truth revealed itself soon enough as the man started laying down suppressive fire.

Before the Doc had time to react (he did have his hands full of medical equipment after all), the Major and the traitor had already dropped off the edge on their stolen speeder bike and were plummeting towards what Dohr considered a certain doom.

Things didn’t exactly slow down after that either. No time to mull over what he could’ve done differently, Dohr dropped the stuff he was carrying and rushed to Fiarr’s aid. A few questions and a supporting arm later, the two hopped back inside the shuttle and found seats to buckle themselves into. The Bothan was fine. For some strange reason Dyre hadn’t used lethal fire like previously with the guard. A foolish thought appeared in the Kel Dor's mind: Could he be a double-agent?

The Doc dismissed the thought immediately. A young guard had lost his life only a few hours earlier and everything pointed towards Dyre. Surely no undercover agent would need to use so drastic measures to point any suspicions away from himself… Especially when the killer could’ve used non-lethal fire had he been on the same side as the now dead man. Or could he? And why had Dyre shot Fiarr? Had she caught him flatfooted setting the Major free? And why use stunning shots this time? Dohr made a mental note to ask as soon as possible.

It sure as hell wasn’t possible right now as a few seconds later the shuttle launched from the hangar and dropped down towards the surface in pursuit of the speeder. Dyre and the Major had no chance really. The fireball simply saved them from a terrible crash that would’ve taken their lives anyway. Dohr sighed. He had not wanted Dyre to die. But he could understand Devon’s order. There really probably hadn’t been any way to get the runaways back alive.

Dohr rolled his shoulders to loosen a knot, nodded at no one in particular and headed to the Med Bay. Other people were running the show now, there was very little Dohr could do to help them.

Fiarr was confused by Lin's expression.  Perhaps she was just misreading it.  She wasn't an expert on facial expressions.  She reminded herself to ask Heigren when time allowed.  Perhaps the Pantoran was just nervous.

Uh. . .you're welcome?" she stated.  Seeing their was clearly no questions she headed back to her turret.

Lin let out a sigh. "Sorry. I've just had a crappy past couple months, and you could have told me a bit earlier you had the cylinder. It's just that hacking it takes a while - it's not something done in a few standard seconds, especially with the higher grade officers, much less ISB. I could have started cracking it much earlier and had less trouble doing so than doing it on the fly", the Pantoran said quietly. But that was that and she set to work. The blue fingers literally flew on the keyboard and the golden eyes scanned the screen for what would be her entry to the code cylinder's codes.

Lin Daochi rolled 34. Hacking the cylinder.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:17, Sun 01 Oct 2017.

"Buy me a scotch later and we'll call it even."  Fiarr said with a grin.  "If it helps the Major is Imperial Army, he's not ISB."

Arcas paid little attention to things behind him as he hoped his attempted to scare the person on the other end might work.  Unfortunately, the Imperial on the other end of the comm seemed unimpressed.  "Well unless your guest likes having his atoms vapourised you'd better tell him to stop 'performing enquiries' and submit his ISB clearance codes before you are destroyed.  You have two minutes.  Maintain current course and speed."

Two minutes passed and the only sound bar normal shuttle sounds was the mad clattering of Lin's station and she tried to force hours worth of slicing subroutines into a few minutes.  Exactly on two minutes the comm came to life again.

"Gamma Shuttle G654873.  I repeat supply clearance authorisation and code immediately."
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:32, Mon 02 Oct 2017.

"I think I'm close to getting the codes, but you need to keep them busy until I do, unless you want to change the plan", Lin said, working on the codes as she said it. There was a determined look on her face, her brow furrowed. "Figure out something."

Arcas frowned. He didn't expect the security to be this stringent. He was becoming more and more certain that the prison was some sort of front. On the other hand, he was a bit proud that he was chosen to guard such a place of great importance, but on the other, it was still a very poor front full of incompetence.

Regarding this situation, Arcas was quite certain that he was talking to a communications officer or some other fairly junior officer who is merely relaying orders. Well, two can play at that game. And Arcas had no reason not to go all in.

"My guest would like to inform you that he will only communicate his identity on a discrete channel, directly to a commanding officer. So I must ask for your operating number and clearance level."

After clicking the microphone off again, Arcas turned towards the people gathered in the cockpit. After scanning through the collection of aliens and one human with a very specific accent, he said "I need someone who would make for a good ISB agent on the comm."

Devon nodded quickly and activated his comm.
"Four, get up here now - we're gonna need you."
When the Zeltron arrived, Devon indicated Lin and Arcas with a jerk of his head.
"They'll explain.  Hope you're on form right now, this needs to be convincin'."


If only that destroyer wasnt RIGHT in our path...
"Everyone else - we're gonna need a back up plan in-case we cant talk our way outta this.  Ideas, now."

For his own part, Devon started running numbers through the nav-computer.  If they were forced to simply run, then it wouldn't really matter which direction they went in - they wer'nt trying to jump to anywhere in particular, the key was going to be jumping OUT of this system as fast as possible...
He began comparing the positions of their shuttle, the two destroyers, the edge of the planets mass-shadow... added in how fast the Destroyers could reposition, their TIE complements... trying to find a route that took the shuttle to safety as quickly as possible.

Heigren looked between the Imperial and the Pantoran with equal interest.  Seeing the latter was madly doing something on her computer he looked to Arcas instead.

"What do you need me to do?"

"We need to purchase time for your slicer to get our late Major's clearance codes.", Arcas explained briefly.

"So listen close: You are an Imperial Security Bureau agent, sent here to do something extremely classified which involves the prisoners on the planet. Now you have acquired valuable information which you are discreetly transferring to another location. Because of the sensitive nature of your work, you do not want to leave any trails.

Now some officer on some door guard Star Destroyer is making things difficult and interrupting your additional interrogation on this shuttle. If anyone shoots you down, your organisation will make sure they will disappear into Kessel, never to be seen again. So when they want to talk to you, allude to your important operation, threaten them with an ISB investigation. And once we have them, give them the Major's codes. I'll provide you with any names or facts you might need. Questions? If not, then good luck."

Arcas hoped that the ruse was bold enough to work. If the facility had no reason to suspect foul play, surely no-one would think anyone was mad enough to try anything like this... Then again, it was a prison. A prison full of malnourished people on their last bit of energy, but a prison nonetheless.

"Fair enough.  So do I have a name or rank in the ISB or do you want me to keep that all super secret?"

Arcas thought about the question for a second.

"If you want to use the traitor's name, do that. Anything you don't know is classified."

Mika had been monitoring the situation from engineering, it didn't look good.  The engines one the shuttle weren't going to outrun the Imperial fighters and the shields weren't going to stand up to the fighters blasters, much less the Star Destroyers.

The bluff was the best chance...  or at least a bluff.  Audio might screw things, so she keyes in a quick message to Devon.  "I can try to rig the engines, reactor leak or implosion or something, not sure how it might help.  Let me know."

Sending that off, she starts looking at the engine schematics again, looking for inspiration.

Heigren's eyes darted quickly to Devon and Kyvarr at Arcas's casual discussion of 'traitors'.  This wasn't the time for that chat.  His mind whirred.

"So I'm an ISB agent but I'm not giving any form of tangible proof I am one?  Your plan is to use the Major's code but not have the Major speak to them?  Any ideas how I pull that off?  Is there some Imperial procedure where you'd talk to one person but give a whole different set of codes?"

His tone was thoughtful as if he was speaking to himself as much as Arcas as he considered the angles.  The Zeltron had pulled off some cons in his time, but this would be the king of all hustles unless Arcas hadn't let him in on something he'd missed.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:52, Tue 03 Oct 2017.

Arcas snorted, giving a slight, grim grin.

"Of course there is no such procedure, that would be incredibly insecure. But this is not about procedure; This is about fear, ego and authority. If they believe that following procedure will get them into trouble, they will start shifting the blame to someone else. In this instance, it would be the Major. So if intimidating them fails, just say that you are using the Major's authority and he takes full responsibility."

The ex-officer turned towards the console, looking at the light that would indicate an incoming signal.

"That is the price of Internal Affairs", he said to no-one in particular.

Heigren sighs and bends over the mike as Arcas activates it.

His voice immediately takes on an air of authority and arrogance.  "And I can tell you now, if I've been bothered for some triviality Lieutenant.  Do you hae him up?  Fine.  Now can you tell me why I've been pulled from important business to chat to some nobody comm trooper whose next assignment will be scrubbing an acid vat while it's full if he doesn't stop wasting my time?"


Bluff: 35

The comm was silent for a few moments before a clearly nervous reply answered.  "Uh yes sir.  Sorry sir.  It's just your shuttle crew have yet to submit valid codes for an unauthorised shuttle transfer.  If you could transmit your clearance that would be sufficient.  We. . .uh, have no record of an ISB presence on that station."

"Of course you have no record!"  Heigren exclaimed.  "Do you think we advertise our comings and goings?  No.  Why I wouldn't have found the level of incompetence I had with an announced visit.  I will be dealing with this when I return.  Unbelievable what you let people get away with here.  Now the incompetents can't even file a flight plan."

He turns away from the shuttle comm and shouts backwards so his voice comes over the comm but it's clear he's yelling at the bridge crew.  "Comms, get that damn incompetent Stennings on the comm and get him to clear this damn flight.  I'm gonna have him cleaning septic tanks with his tongue for this.  Lets high value prisoners rot in a prison for nobodies without interrogation and now this.  When Lord Vader hears of this the Major will be lucky if he only has to deal with me."

Heigren walks out the cockpit door still yelling and slamming the door.  Once he'd gone a few steps he quietly slipped back in.  He winked at Arcas and gestured to the comm, gesturing that Arcas should take over talking.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:56, Thu 05 Oct 2017.

A satisfied smile on his lips, Arcas leaned to the comms. "We are acquiring the clearance from Major Stennings, hold on".

Then he clicked the mic off again. "Well done. If we can just get the codes quickly enough, I believe we can slip away while they are sorting out their response. Well done", Arcas repeated, then glancing at the blue slicer working on the encryption.

"If that dont go for this, we're gonna need to get outta here pretty fast."  Devon muttered.

Making sure he didnt talk when Arcas was transmitting to the Star Destroyer, Devon started sending orders out via his Talon commlink.
"Ten - this shuttle has tough shields... but if that Destroyer starts shootin' we're gonna need all the shields we can get.  Dont take engines or hyperdrive offline - we still gotta be able to run away... an' not life support either, the bacta cylinders, remember?"

Devon paused for a moment, lips moving silently as he planned.
"Five - you're in charge of  gunnery, Two an' Six will help out - switch to whatever turrets best at the time... Arcas, you'll be on gunnery as well if we have to.  No-one shoots till we are certain we need to, OK?

Golden-Eye... you'll be doin' Ops if this turns into a fight, you know what to do?

Nine, report to the bridge, please."

Devon turned and looked directly at Arcas, Lin and Heigren.
"Do what you can to avoid turnin' this into a fight, guys." he said, earnestly.
"We're on course an' have our jump plotted already - all you gotta do is buy time."

Devon glanced over his should as Zyra entered the bridge.
"Ten, you wanna act as commander if this turns into a shootin' match?  keep us all coordinated."

OOC:  Yes, I stole Hans line, it was too perfect not to :) 

"Ummm, right."  The comm operator stammered, obviously still shaken from his conversation with ISB Agent Heigren.   He paused then seemed to recompose himself.

"Sensors show you two minutes from the Vendetta.  You have ninety seconds to submit your code or you will be required to land on board and your commander and supply his code manually."

Lin gave Heigren a grin as he passed her. It was her way telling him, she had liked the performance. "Im almost there", she said. "Just keep on flying normally and I'll have you the codes soon." She sounded more or less certain about that statement, her fingers still dancing across the keyboard. "And yes, I know. But this won't come to a shooting match, not unless you tip them off somehow."

Lin seemed to be enjoying herself. She was free from enprisonment, surrounded by people who generally seemed to know what they were doing and she was doing what she knew best, slicing in to Imperial codes. What else could a girl ask of life in space? Well, perhaps a long shower.

Mika rolls her eyes at Devon's instructions.  Keep the shields, the engines, the hyperdrive, life support, and apparently the gins based on the orders to Arcus.  Of course, she'd consider this whole mess a failure if Mark dies.  And now the offer to take over as commander...  But the best she could tell, about the only places Devon was leaving out is comms and sensors.  That would give a bit of extra kick, but not much.

"I'll take it if you want me to, but we'll need some one to take over engineering for the duration."

Zyra smiled as she commed Mika.  "He was talking to me Ten.  I think he's forgotten my number!  He IS getting old after all.  You stay where you are."

She took a chair on the bridge.  "I'll do what I can to help.  I'm a bit rusty though."
This message was last edited by the player at 00:03, Mon 09 Oct 2017.

The subjectivity of the passage of time flowed at various speeds for those within the cockpit.  For some, the time seeme to drag interminably, an eternity passing as the Star Destroyer came inevitably closer.  For Lin, it seemed to pass in a nanosecond.  Still absorbed in the task of cracking an Imperial code cylinder on the fly without the proper tools was taking up all her faculties.

Ninety seconds came and went.  The slicer didn't notice.  But with typical Imperial precision the comm came to life once more.

"Gamma Shuttle G654873.  Your time is up.  I require supply clearance authorisation and code immediately."

Dohr had double and then triple checked everything in the Med Bay and decided that there was nothing there he needed to do right now. The first Lin, Doctor Lin-Wan had everything under control, so the Kel Dorian made his way to the Bridge instead. He stood at the entrance for a little while to get a grasp of what was going on, but even after a minute or so he still wasn’t sure he got it all. To remove distractions, the Doc hadn't been listening on the Talon channel for the few minutes they'd been airborne. He now wished he had.

Apparently the Imps were giving them a hard time for not providing the needed codes and Heigren had picked up a role of an imperial spy or something. Several people were talking at the same time. Some where checking the displays and hitting some buttons and switches. Lin was concentrating completely on hacking the codes. Arcas was making funny faces and hand signs at Heigren. Devon had a familiar frown on his face saying the Talons were in a tight spot once again, but all was not lost yet.

Dohr made sure the Zeltron didn’t have a line open before he headed over to Devon. ”Seven, I am available too. I can assist with any computer systems or man a turret or wherever you need me. There is nothing more I can do for One at the moment.” Granted, the Doc had served in the Dorinian army not the navy, but he had experience and skill in using heavy weaponry. A blaster cannon wasn’t that much different from its laser-version  big brother, now was it?

Arcas had spent the time thinking, index fingers pressed against each other, eyes on the arrowhead shape in the distance. If the slicer did not complete her task in time, at least they bought one major boon: The Vendetta would want to tractor them in instead of destroying them outright. Right now, it would make all the difference.

"Do you have any high-yield explosives?" Arcas addressed the man in charge, moments before the timer was up. "I have a couple of plans if this code gambit fails, if you are interested."

After the ultimatum by the Star Destroyer, Arcas exhaled. "Engineering, I need some comm interference", he said, preparing to answer the comm.

"You'll get the bloody codes soon", a sharp retort came from the direction of the Operations console. It was all Lin said, her fingers working faster than before. Of course, it was not a matter of whether she was able to break the codes, it was more so, when she was able to do it. She knew, she was close to getting through the decryption, which was a huge feat with this little time, when normally one would have spent at least hours on such a thing. Doing it on the fly and without a specialized set of computers and programs, she was doing a remarkable job at it.

"I've got a few kilos of detonite, some breaching chargers and various detonators in storage."  Kyvarr offered from tactical.  Why do you want them?"

"Yeah, I'm wonderin' that myself." said Devon quietly.  He made a conscious to not reach for his blaster - remembering what Fiarr had said: if their escape went wrong, Arcas knew he was dead, one way or the other.  But Dyre's betrayal had left the shipjacker a little more paranoid...

Besides, by Devons count there was at least two other people in the room who would happily shoot Arcas before he could, if it came to that.

Arcas gave engineering a few seconds to add interference to his comm message. Whether or not he got any, he answered the Imperials: "This is Gamma Shuttle G654873. Transmitting Sigma-3 clearance and authorisation code now", he said, sending out only the clearance authorisation. If they ask for the code, Arcas' last chance is blaming a transfer failure and buying a few more seconds.

Then he turned towards the others. "The turbolasers are going to be the least of our problems. The Vendetta will very likely move to intercept us and tractor us into the hangar if they do not fall for our ruse. If they get a tractor lock, it will be nigh-impossible to break free."

"But there might be a way out. If they use the same tractor beam station that they use to dock TIE fighters, the emitter is very close to the hangar. So if we can generate a large enough blast to knock the emitter out, we might be able to fly under the effective targeting range of Vendetta's other weaponry. And if we head towards the aft, the engine wash can confuse their sensors for a couple of seconds, hopefully enough to execute the jump to lightspeed", he explained, turning towards the man in charge, "So if you are planning on fighting, that is my suggestion for a battle plan. Unless you have an ace up your sleeve."

While he kept his cool, Arcas was very aware that the plan was a very long shot. But their options were limited. Star Destroyers, after all, had their fearsome reputation for a reason; They were very good at what they do. So against a Star Destroyer, unless you had another one, the long shots were the only shots.

Zyra nodded to Devon and took the commander's chair.  She flipped her station over to what Lin was working on.  "Lin, send some of those computations to me and I'll work on them."

Meanwhile Arcas sent his false code.  The response was quick and the person responding was new.  Arcas guessed it was a comm officer, not just one of his techs.

Gamma Shuttle G654873.  You have provided an invalid source code.  We are also unable to contact Skyhook C198-F to validate your story.  Repeat your code immediately or you will be fired upon."
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:10, Thu 12 Oct 2017.

Heigren listened with concern.  He turned to Devon.

"I could get back on the comm, tell them I'm sick of these screwups and want landing clearance.  It buys us until we get close to the hangar at least.  We don't land of course but even after we fly by we might gain another minute or so while they try to contact us and we stay silent.  After that though, I'm out of ideas."

"Alright", Lin said, transfering an unscoured batch of code over to Zyra's console. If they had just given her the cylinder even some minutes earlier, she might have been done with it already. She knew, she was close to cracking this particular nut and she could only hope, she would be done with it before their cover was blown. If, no, when they got through this, she'd tell them, they'd need to start thinking ahead more. Sure, she was not infallible. She had had her close calls before, but in her line of work, everything was about staying one step ahead every time, all the time.

Her fingers glided on keyboard, her eyes scanned the code that would have seemed like just a batch of random markings to most. She knew, the key was there, hidden in plain sight and she was going to find it. This was what she did, what she was good at. She had cracked this kind of stuff before, though she had done it without having a turbolaser battery aimed at her.

Arcas gestured towards the comm. "By all means. You can blame me or equipment failure for the wrong code", he suggested, still waiting for a response for the battle plan.

The voice on the comm becomes even more insistant.  "Gamma Shuttle G654873.  You have provided an invalid source code.  Provided valid codes immediately or we will open fire."


OOC:  Please note you are nowhere near the Star Destroyer weapons range.  Assumedly they'll launch fighters if they plan to destroy you.

Mika wasn't accomplishing much in engineering, there wasn't much to do and futzing comms didn't take much time.  All she did was loop it through the sensors with the gain amped up to augment the local space noises.  After that, well the shuttle wasn't really didn't have a lot of options.  She checks the ship's weapons to see if they had any torps or missiles.  If the Imps did engage a tractor beam, maybe they could fool it into snagging something that would knock it out and buy a bit of time.

"I got it! Transmitting the codes now", a cheerful voice called from behind the Operations console. There was a triumphant look on the blue face of the Pantoran slicer. She had a wide grin, for reasons most others would not have understood. What she had done, and would probably never be able to tell anyone about, was that she had cracked an Imperial code cylinder in record time - possibly faster than anyone ever before. And even better, she had done so without the specialized gear that was usually employed in such a task. She gave Zyra a wink - she had helped her, after all. Then her slender fingers pushed the button and shot the codes across the comms to the Star Destroyer in front of them.

Dohr smiled behind his mask. He liked the woman already. The Pantoran seemed to have an optimistic approach to things even under quite a bit of stress. And she was good. The doctor gave Lin a bow, but addressed his words to Devon.

"Seven, they will doubtlessly wonder how we were able to get the Major's codes when the Skyhood does not respond to the Star Destroyer's calls. I fear just delivering the codes may not suffice anymore. We need to come up with a brilliant bluff and fast."

"NO DON'T!" Heigren cried in alarm as he heard Lin saying she was transmitting the codes.  He knew he was too late to stop the slicer and his heart sank as he thought of the consequences as what little of their charade the had left began to crumble.

He began thinking of a new angle for his bluff.  He could still do this.  He looked to Devon.

"Recommend you let me get on the comm.  They're going to be highly suspicious that we just supplied the Major's code when comms to the Skyhook are down."
This message was last edited by the player at 22:29, Sun 15 Oct 2017.

Devon grimaced when he realized the mistake they'd just made.  Lins slicing efforts had been truly spectacular, but he could see the mistake now.

He nodded a quick agreement to Heigren.
"Do what you can." he said, and returned his attention to the nav-comp - calculating the best direction for them to run in, if they had to run.  The goal would be to reach a jump point as fast as possible - any jump point.
"This security is insane" Devon muttered.  "Ain't no way its just that prison colony in this system - gotta be somethin' we ain't seen."

Getting the okay he gave the nod to Arcas.  "Activate comms about two seconds after I start yelling."  Once he got confirmation he took a breath.

"I DON'T GIVE A DAMN IF THEY'RE NOT RESPONDING.  TELL THEM I'LL EJECT THEM ALL FROM THE AIRLOCK IF THEY LISTEN TO THEIR IDIOT CO."

He lowered his voice slightly.  "You have the Star Destroyer up?  Good.  Attention Vendetta.  Since the Skyhook is playing possum I've sent you a copy of the Major's code from my files.  If you want the rest of the crew's let me know as I have them all.

Now prepare for my immediate landing.  I want a security team in the hangar bay along with a member of your senior staff.  We will be returning to the Skyhook and arresting Major Stennings for gross incompetence.  Hiding behind a fake comm blackout is the last straw.  Obviously plans to lay low until I depart and hope this blows offer.  Well not today.  Prepare for our arrival.  Let my pilot know where to land.  Out."

He signalled to Arcas to mute the comm.  Once he was sure he'd done so he spoke to the cockpit at large.

"If they thinking we're coming to them hopefully that will stop them sending out any kind of response.  If we head towards them for as long as we can, staying out of tractor range then hopefully they will leave us alone until then.  After that, I leave to you.  I guess we could go silent and hope to gain more time or just pump everything into the engines and hope we make it before we're attacked."



OOC: Bluff: 36.  Hope that's enough!

There was a long pause after Heigren's comments.  Finally an authoritative voice answered.
  "Gamma Shuttle G654873, you are hereby ordered to land in docking bay Beta 2.  On arrival you will submit to inspection and identity checks.  You are receiving instructions now."

New navigation instructions flicked across Lin and Arcas's stations, outlining instructions.



OOC: A small reprieve.  At present speed you will reach the star destroyer in under a minute.  You'll be in tractor/weapons range in around 45 seconds.  Better plan fast.

Kyvarr listened to Heigren with amazement and awe.  He was a scrawny weakling, but his gift with speech was incredible.  She almost believed he was an ISB officer and he wanted to meet the Imperial captain.

She shook it off as she heard the commands from the Star Destroyer.  She was no space pilot but she understood war well enough.

"Sir, recommend we follow their course only until it brings us as close to the jump point as possible.  Then turn on to that course nice and casual.  They'll probably be confused as to our plan and waste time talking.  Perhaps Four can sow more confusion.  The enemy is often loathe to attack when your motives are unclear.  As soon as they are clearly on to us we push our engines to the maximum and run."

Devon studied the new flight plan the Destroyer had sent them and nodded in response to Kyvarrs comment.
"Well, in that case we're already flying the best route we can.  We're headed straight for the nearest jump point already.  We're only doin' about 75% of our top speed right now, so we can go faster if we need to - but then it'll look like we're runnin', so like you said - we stay nice an' casual for the moment."

He looked round to see if anyone disagreed with him.
"Four, when they call us back, do what you can to keep them talkin' for as long as possible - every moment they're not shootin' at us is a bonus.

Ops - Golden Eye: watch the sensors.  Eyes in all directions.  They start launchin' TIEs or do anythin' thats likely to upset us, I wanna know instantly.

Arcas - you an' me are gonna plot a jump sequence.  When we jump outta here, they're gonna plot our jump an' probably pursue... so what WE do is we plot a jump but don't complete it - we interrupt after, say, an hour.  That dumps us in the middle of no-where.  An' unless they can hear us right now, there's no way for that Destroyer to predict it...  so we end up in the middle of no-where, then we jump again, to some place else... an' interrupt again.  We keep doin' that till we feel safe, THEN I plot a jump to our real destination.

Everyone else... you know your jobs; so unless someone has a better plan, lets get to work."

"I'll keep my eyes peeled with passive sensors", the blue woman said. Lin was going to do her best to enhance the output of the passive sensors by adjusting the gain and other parameters. This was nothing new to her - she had done it before numerous times.

Lin Daochi rolled 25: Computers, adjusting passive sensors and detecting anything out of ordinary.

Mika continues to monitor from engineering.  She'd almost wished the Imps would tip their hand, at least get the suspense over with.  Meanwhile, she was planning where all to pull power so she could boost engines.  That was probably weapons, maybe shields too.  If the Imps were serious about taking them down, shields wouldn't make all that much difference.

The only other thing she could think of was to fake a reactor breach, the Imps probably wouldn't want them to explode inside the hanger bay.

Heigren looks to Arcas.  "My part in this is played.  Nothing I can say will improve our chances.  You'll need to speak to them now.  I have three suggestions.  First, just go comm silent or comm static.  Second keep saying you need clearance from me and I've gone aft somewhere.  Finally, just pretend everything is normal.  They say you're off course say your navigator says everything is fine, commence docking procedures and so forth so they wonder if their sensors are screwy."

"Any might buy us a little time or they all could fail.  Do whatever you think best."


Heigren took a spare seat if there was one, else he stood to the back, out of the way.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:50, Wed 18 Oct 2017.

Dohr had been ignored twice in a few minutes time now, but that was totally understandable. There was a lot going on on the bridge and multiple people speaking all the time. As it seemed Kyvarr, Kira and Fiarr had the weapon systems under control and there were more than enough people with computer skills present already, Dohr decided to find something else to do. Waiting around to see if they survived or ended up being shot into smithereens wasn't really his cup of caf.

The Kel Dorian gave everyone a polite bow headed to the aft of the ship. So far he’d only been concentrating on the Med Bay, but if they were going to stay on board the shuttle for a while longer, it wouldn’t hurt to get to know what was where and which condition. The back of the ship was just as good a place to start as any.

Devon kept the shuttle on course for the jump point instead of turning towards the hangar.  Almost immediately the Imperial was on the comm once more.

"Gamma Shuttle G654873, you are hereby ordered to alter course to zero-four-one mark two-three and land in hangar bay Beta Two.  Change course immediately."

Devons hands rested lightly on the shuttles controls.  Occasionally he would release his grip and flex one hand or the other, keeping muscles from tensing up.

"I say don't answer 'em."  he said when the curt orders came through on the comms.
"I reckon Five is rght - they're good an' confused over there, tryin' to work out whats going on.  So lets not say anythin' that might clear stuff up for them.  The more confused they are, the longer they'll hesitate for."

Devon gripped the shuttles controls again, one hand on the flight stick, the other on the throttle.  But he didn't alter their heading or their speed - if they suddenly accelerated toward the jump point, that would be an admission of guilt.

"We're just gonna keep on our way, business as usual, nothin' to see here..."

He glanced around quickly, to see if anyone had a better idea.

Arcas was thinking the whole way through the proceedings. The plan was not working as intended, and the hesitation from the Star Destroyer felt like only a moment's reprieve. Just 'gunning the engines' did not feel like a solid enough plan for Arcas. His career as a TIE pilot had trained him to always press on with the best advantage and surprise the foe. If you didn't, your ship quickly became your coffin.

As for the comm, Arcas did not feel like adding anything. They were already on the edge of plausibility, so anything Arcas would say would likely push them over the edge.

One thought came to mind, one that Arcas felt more than a little guilty of. But the cold voice of a Flight Officer reminded him that war is about making sacrifices.

"Does the cargo container come off? If worst case scenario happens, we could try to fool the tractors with it."

Kyvarr growled, a deep rumbling sound in her throat.  Her claws began reflexively extending and retracting though she kept this hidden at her console.

"We're not the empire.  Here we don't abandon our wounded just to save our own skins.  We live or die together."

Heigren moved over to Kyvarr a placed a hand on her shoulder.  He knew the feisty Cathar could probably remove said hand from his wrist without thought if she chose.

"I imagine Arcas is just running options through his head.  I doubt he actually wants to abandon anyone."



OOC: Not sure if I should roll diplomacy here.

Devon spared Arcas a funny look - wasnt he this shuttles usual pilot?  How did he not know something so basic as whether or not its cargo pod was detachable?  Devon had never flown a gamma class before, and he knew!

"You mean the cargo pod full of rescued prisoners?  that cargo pod?" he asked with a warning edge to his voice
"Even if it did detach - which it dont - we aint ditchin' it."

Behind him he could hear Kyvarrs growl, which bypassed the conscious brain and spoke straight something primal deep inside you -  if asked, Devon would have openly admitted to being relieved that he wasnt the target of that growl...

He forced himself to focus on the task in hand - he glared at Vendetta on the sensors.
"come on..." he muttered.  "Jus' take a little longer to make your minds up, guys.  Every second you give us now, is another we'll make you regret..."

"I like to know my options", Arcas stated, nodding towards the Zeltron, "and while the thought is detestable, I  would think everyone would agree that between some of us imprisoned and everyone imprisoned without any outside knowledge, the latter is preferable."

"That being said, let us hope this works", he added, hoping to placate the others.

"While your argument sounds logical Arcas I don't think too many people here will agree with you.  If this team had followed logic they never would have attempted the prison rescue in the first place.  The risk involved was far too high.  I think you'll find this group would rather go down fighting then abandon their charges.  Is it logical, no.  But it's who they are."

The comm was a mix of confusion, threats and demands.  Arcas ignored it.  He could imagine the poor communication officer at the other end.  Imperial protocol was clear but there had to be that little nagging doubt about tangling with the ISB.

In the end their deception bought them a further forty-six precious seconds.  The response to their continued silence was a flight of four TIE fighters emerging from the Star Destroyer.  Arcas wondered why they sent a flight instead of a full squadron but then he reasoned it was a balanced response.  If it turned out there was an ISB agent on board, four TIE's could be argued to be an 'escort'.  Plus, while it was not overwhelming in power, it should also be enough to deal with the shuttle, especially if it was being handled by a few renegades, not in complete control.

Kyvarr did power up her systems yet though she knew that was not far away.  She noted two of the four turrets were occupied.  Kira forward and Fiarr up the back.  That left her two.  Given they had four TIE's incoming she could use more gunners.

"Anyone who thinks they can shoot a turret better than the automatic fire control  please report to the front lower turret."  She would keep the remaining rear turret for herself.  The would be running so more likely to be targets behind for longer periods.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:55, Thu 26 Oct 2017.

Fiarr sat patiently in her turret.  She was used to sitting still for long periods.  Her role as a sniper had demanded it of her many times.  She didn't imagine it would be long now before she would put her guns to work on the Imperials though.  Part of her relished vapourising some TIE's, though the more pragmatic side of her would be even happier to see the signs of hyperspace flash past her instead.

Kira sat patiently in the torrent, looking out too the void of space, wondering on her path that led her here....sitting in the turret of a shuttle with renegades and a team of people she had known for a short time, fav night down TIE's, while her Mentor, a bothan of unusual skill, sat not far.

...if someone told her this suituation a year ago she would have laughed.

Yet, here she sat, supporting a team she trusted with her life, protecting  the downtrodden and injured. She couldn't help but allow a small smile as she sat there, arms crossed.

...What a ride. She thought to herself.

So. There they came, in an orderly flight. A sensible Flight Leader would form a tight wedge to minimize the amount of turrets firing and overwhelm their shields with a squadron's worth of firepower. Or if they are fancy, send the best wingman to bait the turret, concentrate on dodging fire while the rest hang back and fire with impunity.

But protocol states to form two elements and send one for a close flyby. So they have that going for them; If the TIEs become hostile, they will have to either regroup and allow the transport more time to escape, or attack immediately and face every turret.

"If the situation deteriorates, may I perform command duties? I think I know how to counter their tactics."

"Roger that Five. Heading to front lower turret right away."

While Dohr didn't have proper training in spaceship weapon systems, he is an army guy after all, he does know how to use heavy weapons and is a pretty decent shot too. The sims on Nar Shaddaa had given him some insight on how the spaceship guns differed from the ground based heavy weaponry. Therefore the Doc believed he might actually be able to hit better than the onboard fire control could. Might. It would be his first time in real space combat though.

"So, four eyeballs incoming. I can go for active sensors for a better targetting solution, though it will mark us outright to anyone with any more brains than an Klatoonian Flobberworm. I can also try disrupting their targetting, though without proper equipment that will be pretty difficult to achieve", Lin said. The choice was, of course, Devon's. Lin buckled herself in just in case they'd get in to a fight. It was not her first and certainly not the last if she stayed with the Talons. Had they had starfighters underneath them, she'd probably been a pretty good addition to their numbers, even though she was not a military trained pilot.

At the call for manning the turret, Mika shrugs.  She could be one of the best gunnery people around, but she wasn't going to leave her post at Engineering, it was too critical a post.  Besides, she wasn't anywhere near one of the best gunnery people around.  In fact, if the servos would allow for it, she'd probably manage to blow up the shuttle herself, save the Imps the trouble.

"Now it gets interestin'."  Devon mumbled.  "At this speed, those TIEs are gonna have two minutes to chew us up before we can up... at least we don't gotta worry about that Destroyers guns - we're outta range."

Devon chewed his lip for a moment, thinking.
"Stay passive for the moment, sensors...  I figure they're gonna close in an' give us at least one more chance to turn around... maybe a warnin' shot as well.

So we're gonna continue jus' like we are till they close in, an give us nice, easy shots - then sensors go active, gunnery nukes those TIEs, an' we pour the speed on."
He sat in silence for a moment, then added conversationally:
"Of course, if they actually shoot AT us... you shoot back."




"huh?"  Devon glanced round, and looked at the ex-Imperial, trying to decide how far he could trust the man.  Then he remembered Fiarrs words:  If Arcas couldnt be trusted with this, then he was a dead man - one way or the other...
The knowledge that the former officer was quite literally betting his life helped Devon make up his mind.
"You got a bright idea to ruin their day?  be my guest..."
He turned back to his controls, focusing on the coming fight.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:43, Sun 29 Oct 2017.

The next minute or so pass inexorably slowly.  There is little to do but wait, travel as normal and prepare.  All eyes were drawn to sensors as the flight of TIE's closed in.  Those in the bridge also consistantly flicked their attention to the navigation system which showed distance to the jump point - 123 seconds.  Almost an eternity.  The jump was already calculated and as long as their entry point didn't vary, they could leap to safety as soon as they reached that point outside the gravity well.  But that was a big if.

At their stations everyone went through last minute checks.  Devon could do little.  The more he evaded, the more time they would spend here.  Plus he'd mess up the jump calculations.  Next to him Arcas watched the TIE's, trying to discern wether they followed traditional doctrine or perhaps would differ from normal.

Lin sat ready to provide sensor data where needed.  Down in engineering, Mika grumbled to herself as she prepared to start shunting power and manning damage control.  Her lack of droid or humanoid support was annoying but she'd have to make do.

Kyvarr sat at tactical.  Three of her turrets were manned.  Kira and Dohr were aimed forward, Fiarr was in the back top and she had kept one rear turret for herself.



OOC:  Well battle is almost upon you.  Given you a little time for any last second plans/role changer before the TIE's are in weapons range.  At present I have:

Devon: Pilot
Arcas: Commander
Lin: Sensors
Kyvarr: Tactical (can fire any turret and shield facings)
Dohr/Kira: Forward turrets
Fiarr: Rear turret
Mika: Engineering

Unassigned Members - Heigren, Zyra
Unassigned positions - Co-pilot (Arcas is sitting there right now but you can't command and fly)

Kyvarr switched her comm so all people in the cockpits and the turrets could hear her.

"Alright people this is how we play this.  We'll work in pairs.  Forward gunners will work in tandem and so will the rear.  Concentrated fire will help reduce the numbers against us.  Golden Eye can feed one group sensor data to help us."

"We work together and we whittle them down as best we can.  Six, I'll send you info on which target we'll focus on.  We'll fire when ordered.  Golden Eye, initial shot support our turrets, I'll feed you my target."

She switched off the comm and looked forward to Devon.  "Sir who is giving the fire order?  Is it you, Arcas or would you like me to decide?"

"Understood Five.  Just tell me what to shoot and when to shoot it and I'll be ready."

Fiarr waited for the targetting data to come up.  Then she waited for the orders.

If there was room on the bridge, Heigren took a chair out of the way in case his 'ISB services' were needed again.  Otherwise he headed back to the main section and strapped in.

"Once the shooting starts, I'll go active on the sensors for fire-direction and will do my best to jam the enemy systems", Lin said. She set up the comms to send out static on the Imperial frequencies at maximum power the system could muster, so it would interfere with the communications between the TIEs and the Star Destroyer, but did not push the transmit-button - not yet. If and when the shooting would start, she'd cook the enemy ears with it. No communications, no tactical advantage.

Lin Daochi rolled 18.  Computers, jamming the enemy transmissions.

Arcas knew only basics of astrogation calculations, so he allowed the Rebel leader to work on the jump coordinates fully, instead concentrating on reading the TIE flight leader. He wasn't too concerned about the starfighters; The survival rate against turreted ships wasn't fantastic in simulations. The Star Destroyer was another matter.

"As stated, the TIEs are the least of our worries. If you'll follow my lead, we will persevere", he with a calm and collected voice.

Kira sits put, knowing her task to come. "Roger that Five.  Awaiting targets."

She shifts in her seat not for the sake of comfort, but more for something to do.  She knew that at times she had to be still and silent, but this was one of those times it wasn't as important. She sighed and muttered to herself. "For TOIE's, their taking their time to get here." In truth, she didn't want them to come any sooner....or even get here at all, but she hated the waiting.

The TIE's quickly closed with the shuttle while the Star Destroyer continued to call, question and threaten.  The comms were ignored, all attention focused on the incoming TIE's as the ranged close.

Arcas nodded to himself as the TIE's seperated into two flight elements and drifted apart.  One par were drifitng to port, the other to starboard.  Standard pincer attack.  He knew they'd fly out to the flanks and then come in on perpendicular attack runs to each other.  The question was would they fire on the shuttle first pass, fire warning shots or merely 'buzz the shuttle'?  Any was possible depending on the orders they'd received.

The call would have to be made as the TIE's closed.  Twenty kilometres, fifteen, twelve. . .


OOC:  Maximum weapon range is 10km so ships are almost in range of each other.  Shields and weapons are currently down and sensors are set to passive.  The second any of those systems goes active you reveal yourselves.  The longer you delay the closer the TIE's get (making shots easier) but if they shoot while your shields are down you could take severe damage.

We are now in combat rounds so posting rate will increase to 3/week.  Keep up or be left behind!

Kyvarr watcher her plot closely.  "Golden Eye, determine which of those two elements will overshoot us first.  Six, you and I will target the lead TIE in the slower pair.  We'll shoot as late as possible unless Arcas says otherwise.  Two, Eight, you take the rear fighter in the lead pair when they overshoot."


OOC:  Figure this way both sets of turrets get to fire close together for maximum 'surprise effect'.  Plus if we can take out one in each pair, time is wasted as the survivors regroup.

Kira smiles at the orders, knowing the time was upon them. Cracking her knuckles, she shifted in her seat with a smile. "Roger that five." She checks all the console that was her weapon system. She felt as ready as she could be considering there was a flight of TIE's in flight with the aim to shoot them down.

Despite the thought, she couldn't help but smile.

She muttered to the console and the darkness outside. "Bring it, you plastic coated sons of rancor's. I'll show you what a piece of crap those fighters are"

"Acknowledged", the blue woman said. So, we'll have ourselves a shootout, she thought. Hopefully they'll figure out the need of hacking the security codes or the likes a bit earlier. But in the end, it did not matter. She was still in that post-miraculous feat high that had resulted from the hacking of the code cylinder and it would carry her forward for a while, even though she was tired, hungry and could have used a hot shower. All that would have to wait just a bit longer. She looked at the screen, measuring the speeds and vectors of the fighters from the passive sensor data - she'd still keep the active sensors offline, so they'd have the advantage on the fighters that got within point-blank range.

Lin Daochi rolled 31.  Computers, measuring the speed and vectors of the TIEs.

As the Star Destroyer was left behind, with no way to catch the shuttle on its own, Arcas breathed a sigh of relief. Just the TIEs and they would be away. Now they had no obligation to obfuscate anything and could rely on combat tactics.

Regarding the starfighters, Arcas concluded after a moment's thought to leverage their primary strengths: Shields and turrets. He felt a pang of empathy towards the TIE pilots; Someone signed their death warrant when they gave the command to flank.

"When you have the faster element, activate weapons and fire at will, targeting the lead TIE. Raise shields and if possible, jink toward the survivor to force them on the defensive. Angle shields towards the remaining element and when they begin their attack run, target their wingman. After that, engage at will and maximum speed towards the jump point", Arcas stated, keeping his eyes in the sensors. He was glad that the felinoid's tactic was exactly what he had been thinking: Disruption and forcing the TIE's to waste time.

Now he just hoped that the gunners were up for the task; If the TIEs manage to break and evade, they can swarm and overwhelm the slower shuttle.

Kyvarr acknowledged Arcas's instructions with a simple "Understood."

She turned back to her screen.  "Alright Six we've got Bandit Three.  Two, Eight you try for Bandit Two.  Then fire at will.  Weapons free on my call.  Counting down from five, power up on Three, Goldeneye feed us active targetting data when we go live."

"Five, Four, Three, Two, One, FIRE."  Kyvarr immediately opened fire on the assigned TIE.  After that she fired at the most appropriate TIE.  She aimed for damaged TIE's if she could, else she opened up on the closest.




OOC:  Goal is to let the TIE's close as much as possible before firing.  Kyvarr won't wait for active sensors if they're too slow.

"Acknowledged", Lin piped and got her fingers ready on the buttons for the active sensors. When Kyvar hit three in her count, she activated the sensors, sending a full ping at the TIEs and fed the data to the gunners. The next thing on her menu was to flood the enemy transmissions with static, just to make them unable to work together.

Lin Daochi rolled 14.  Computers: Active Sensors, assisting the gunners.

"Understood."

Fiarr noted the target Kyvarr had chosen, took aim, listened the countdown and depressed the fire button halfway between one and fire.

"Roger that."

The human took note of the targets and when they overshot, she took aim and depressed the trigger, firing on the TIE in her sight

OOC: editted after a chat with the GM.  :)


"Don't you worry, I'll do what I can to give the gunners shots."  Devon told Arcas.
"But we got a lotta people on this shuttle, so my goal is gettin' us the frak outta here."

Devon flexed his fingers again and regarded the incoming TIEs, trying to put himself in their positions - guess what they would do.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:23, Sun 05 Nov 2017.

With Kyvarr's countdown, everything flared into motion.  Lin went active and fed sensor data moments before the rear gunners powered up and opened fire.  Shields were flicked on and the front turrets prepared for their shots.

But the TIE's also reacted impossibly fast.  Either they had detected the power ups or had been planning to fire anyway as fire poured into the hull, the shields too slow to power up.  The whole ship rocked under the fire but the armoured hull seem to take the beating.

Their fire had not been alone.  Aided by Lin's sensor date, Kyvarr and Fiarr had targetted the TIE designated Alpha-3 and both had hit their mark.  Fiarr had struck a wing panel while Kyvarr's shot had passed perfectly through the cockpit, a precision strike.  Neither noticed the skill of the shot as the moment the TIE had vanished in a stream of heated gases, they were searching for other targets.

In the front turrets both Dohr and Kira had fired ineffectually at the nimble fighters as they shot past and out of range.

Down in engineering, Mika and her new assistant were thrown violently into each other as the ship rocked.  Mika noticed with surprise that the shields weren't up, the generators kicking in a few seconds after the fact.  She grumbled about forgetful bridge crew as she checked key systems.  The tough armour had help up.  There were several damaged non-essential systems but critical systems had help up.  The ship was combat capable still and power diverted to power the bacta tanks had not been affected. . .this time.

---

OOC:  Well the TIE's got great init rolls and you didn't get a surprise round unfortunately.  A critical hit from Kyvarr and a hit from Fiarr has reduced your issues from 4 to 3.  Your hull took a hit before shields could go up but no key systems were damaged.

The three ships are ahead of you and are turning to attack once more.



Gamma Shuttle: 230/230SP 274/360HP
Alpha 1: Undamaged
Alpha 2: Undamaged
Alpha 3: Destroyed
Alpha 4: Undamaged

Kira wasn't suprised she missed the agile TIE fighters on the first run....in truth she wasn't the best gunner in the group, but she knew her place and her task at hand, and she wasn't about to give up now.

She aligned the sights with the now turning TIE fighters and again opened fire with a grimace of determaniation.

Kyvarr snarled in triumph at the decimation of the target.  To the uninitiated it could easily have sounded equally like a snarl of frustration.  She didn't rest on her laurels though.  They had got lucky.  TIE's might be pasteboxes but they were agile and the guns she was using were designed for capital ships, not snubfighters.

"Great shot Six, let's keep it up team.  Call your targets and shoot together.  We're not here to rack up a kill count.  We've got wounded to save.  Goldeneye, keep feeding your solutions to the relevant gun pair.  We can do this."

She continued to choose targets based on proximity.  At present she chose the target that offered the highest hit chance and kept Six updated on her choices.

Heigren stepped in the cockpit door, a serious look on his face.

"I just want to tell you all good luck. We're all counting on you."

He left the cockpit and shut the door.


OOC: Couldn't resist!

And stop calling me Shirley!!!!

Good call, Arcas thought when the TIEs seemed to attack directly. If they had waited for one bit longer, they would have missed their opportunity to attack in addition of taking fire.

Seeing the fighter wink out of existence elicited a nod from Arcas. "Good shot. Suppressive fire on Alpha four, he's looking to regroup", he said, following the trajectories of the TIEs on the sensors. Seeing them race ahead and turning head-on gave Arcas an idea. "Shields full front. Helm, slow roll starboard, keep Alpha 2 in the center of rotation. Fore gunners, target Alpha 2." If Alpha 1 is concentrating on coordinating the flight, then he's not concentrating on aiming. And if Alpha 2 is concentrating on aiming, he's not concentrating on staying alive.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:20, Mon 06 Nov 2017.

Fiarr continued to fire at targets as designated by Kyvarr.

Heigren:

Heigren stepped in the cockpit door, a serious look on his face.

"I just want to tell you all good luck. We're all counting on you."

He left the cockpit and shut the door.


OOC: Couldn't resist!

OOC:  Worth it!  :D

______________________________

"Where the frak are our shields" Devon yelled as the shuttle shuddered under the pounding the TIEs gave them.  Gamma class shuttles had never been built for agility, the TIEs could easily compensate for any dodging he attempted.  Then the shields came up, cloaking the ship in layers of protection.

Devon hauled the shuttle back onto the right heading and shoved the throttle hard over.  With one eye on the TIEs, he hurriedly skimmed through the ship status panel and listened to what Mika in engineering via his commlink, muttering responses.
"critical systems? right.  Black-water line burst?  Well, just make sure no-one flushes till we get it patched.  Anythin' else?  No?  Good.  We've got this, kid.  We've got this."
He raised his voice.
"Armour took most of that - we lost a few systems, nothin' critical.  Gammas are built tough.  We're still in the fight.  Two minutes to jump."

When Arcas called for the starboard turn, Devon shook his head slightly, and said:
"Those TIEs?  They're bait.  Think about it:  We're a frakkin tank now our shields are up.  Three TIEs can't do much to stop us.  That Destroyer an' all the rest of its TIEs can though.  But they gotta catch us first.  We don't wanna be wastin' time swattin' flies.  We wanna plough straight through an' run for the jump point."

He didn't turn, kept the shuttle headed straight for the jump point, engines on full burn.  Devon glared out at the TIEs ahead of them.
"Next pass will be head to head..." he muttered.  "They'll try to make us turn."
This message was last edited by the player at 23:50, Mon 06 Nov 2017.

The TIE's quickly regrouped into a standard 3-pronged delta formation and turned in for the attack again, coming head to head with the shuttle.  Fire poured from the front turrets but failed to hit the agile fighters who flew past, hammering the shuttle with fire.  Once past the TIE's turned and began firing at the ship's aft section, scoring several hits causing the shuttle to buck.

The rear turrets returned fire, Kyvarr scoring a hit on one of the fighters causing significant damage but not enough to cause it to break off or seeming alter it's performance.

---

OOC: The TIE's have done a head to head pass and are now directly behind you.  Shields have taken a beating but are still up.  Another TIE is damaged but doesn't seem overly affected.






Gamma Shuttle: 99/230SP 274/360HP
Alpha 1: Undamaged
Alpha 2: Undamaged
Alpha 3: Destroyed
Alpha 4: Serious Damage
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:53, Tue 07 Nov 2017.

Kira grits her teeth at the near miss again against the TIE....they were damn fast!

Still, she readied her weapon again waiting for the next pass. "Damn TIE's are faster than a womp rat on stims." She was happy the first round took one of them out, and where the TIE's had superior speed and manuverability, The ship they were on was armoured. Still, all it took was one shot to disable a ship, and that was something she didn't want.

"That jump point can't come soon enough...these TIE's are starting to get on my nerves."

"The Star Destroyer is launching a full squadron of eyeballs! Two and a half minutes out", she called out, continuing feeding the data to the gunners. Of course, if anything went smoothly, they could slip away before the squadron reached them, unless something vital was hit and they would not be able to make the jump to hyperspace. The Star Destroyer could, in theory, still contribute to that.

Lin Daochi rolled 25.  Computers: Active Sensors, assisting the gunners.

Arcas didn't take his eyes off the sensors, but he directed his words towards the other human. "I know. I called for a roll to evade fire and coordinate gunners." His other idea had been to order a collision course towards the lead TIE, but decided on attempting to save shield strength. Maybe these people weren't as used to rolling as Arcas; After all, he had been mostly flying TIEs.

Observing the fighters forming up behind the shuttle, Arcas frowned. "They've probably had enough diplomacy. Engineering, you can shift power from fore guns to the engines. Shields full aft. Helm, evasive maneuvers if you can. Aft gunners, concentrate fire on Alpha 4." Even one TIE would make survival more likely; Despite the pilot's optimism, the shields would probably fail before they could make a jump at this rate. The additional TIEs weren't really a concern, but more like an inevitability.

Frustrated at his inability to hit the TIEs on their first pass, Dohr closed his eyes for a second and tried to calm himself the way his mother had taught him decades ago. It wasn't an easy thing to do in the constantly moving seat of the turret and with the calls of other Talons ringing in his ears all the time. He needed to concentrate, to learn in a heartbeat how the nimble fighters moved in their attack formation. He needed to anticipate their maneuvers to have any chance of scoring a hit.

Though an ex-army soldier, Dohr too had participated on a couple of lessons on space combat tactics. He now tried his best to bring those teachings into his mind again. Perhaps something Lieutenant Naar had said would apply to their current situation. The Doc took a deep breath, rolled his shoulders twice and opened his eyes again. He was ready. Let the TIEs come.

Dohr didn't share Devon's optimism concerning the ability of their shields to take the beating from the imperial fighters, but at the moment he was just happy they didn't carry torpedoes. "Five, I will fire at the first TIE I see, if you do not mind. I have still some difficulties telling those cans apart."


Dohr Veen rolled 24. Knowledge Tactics.

Kyvarr didn't acknowledge Arcas's orders or change her plans.  Mostly because she was already performing both actions anyway.  As she toggled shields to double-aft she was already lining up on the damaged TIE and firing.  She noted that Golden Eye had already fed her the sensor data and mentally nodded at the woman's efficiency.


OOC:  Shields double aft and shooting at Alpha-4

"One hundred seconds" Devon called.
Watching the TIEs on the sensors, Devon tried to guess their next move.  They were faster and more manoeuvrable than the shuttle... if that had been HIM out there, hunting the shuttle, he'd have tried to have come in on the shuttle at an angle - fire on the weaker frontal shields.  He'd have to watch for that - be ready to dodge or swing the shuttle round to present their stronger aft shields to the incoming fire.
But don't swing around too much he reminded himself, can't afford to stray too far off course.

What have we missed?  Devon asked himself.  Everyone was focussing on their jobs, and given the relative simplicity of the course he had to fly, Devon could afford a moment to look at the bigger picture.  But not too long - have to be ready when the TIEs got back into range.  So what have we missed?  that's what would kill them.  He spotted it and called Mika:
"Engineering - see what you can do to bring our shields back up."

Aderek hooks his leg against the seat locking himself in the seat at the ship rocks.  The action shows a certain ease of being aboard the ship even in rocky 'weather'.  He remains calm focusing on the task at hand.

Then quickly noting the condition of the shields, commenting as he shook his head, "Shields can't take that again." He monitored as the shields are shifted as instructed scanning the indicators noticing the emitter's reaction to the shift, noticing the flickering of shield components failing he gets on the comm to Ten "Ten, appears shield capacitor three needs a manual reset?  Attempted remote cycle failed."  He continues to relay pertinent status information to 10 about anything she needs or engine information to the pilot.

11:20, Today: Secret Roll: Aderek Blaque rolled 24 using 1d20+12.  Tentative Craft/Repair roll, probably as an assist other for #10.

This message was last edited by the GM at 05:12, Wed 08 Nov 2017.

"You got it, boss.". Mika responds to Devon's order on the comlink.  Before she can do much more than turn towards the shield generator, she gets the word from Lefty about capacitor three.  "I'm on it.". Of course it couldn't be capacitor one or two, those were too easy to access,   Capacitor three meant crawling halfway into the generator cavity.  Well, that's why people didn't hire fat engineers.  Pushing in head first and wriggling forward a moment or two and she was within reach.  Quick work with a probe from the tool kit was enough to cycle the capacitor.  "How's it look now?" she asks Lefty.

Kyvarr switches shields to double rear in time to catch the next volley of fire.  The rear gunners open up with a torrent of fire, both guns hitting the damaged Alpha 4.  This seems to temporarily disorient the TIE's who's next shots shoot far wide before they can recover.  The delay is long enough for Kyvarr to score a near direct hit on Alpha 2, blowing a wing clean off and leaving it spinning helplessly.  Only Alpha-1 remained and showed no intention of fleeing.  In the distance, the next squadron, designation Beta squad, inexorably closed.

---

OOC: Well the gunners are sure earning their pay!  Only Alpha 1 remains behind you.  Beta squadron (a full squad of 12 is closing).  I'm assuming Mika ignored Arcas and didn't divert power from guns to engines in the end based on her post.





Gamma Shuttle: 71/230SP 274/360HP
Alpha 1: Undamaged
Alpha 2-4: Destroyed

His greatest concern allayed, Arcas relaxed and nodded. "Excellent shot. Engineering, prioritize shield recovery and engines from now on. Gunners, engage at will. A single TIE can't punch through our shields in time."

As the tactical situation was improved, Arcas shifted his attention to the distance to the jump point, evaluating the distances of everything when they would jump. He hoped that the Rebels had the hyperdrive ready and roaring.

"I hate to spoil the party after those great shots, but there's an entire squadron of twelve, I repeat, twelve eyeballs closing in on us. They'll be in range in about two standard minutes", Lin said, feeding targetting data to the gunners for better accuracy, so they could take the last TIE buzzing around them out before the new wave hit them or something untowards happened otherwise.

"An we're gonna be outta here in about... 80 seconds."  Devon replied and studied the sensors for a moment.
"We're already got enough of a lead enough that Beta wing can't catch us unless we get slowed down - an' Alpha 1 knows that...  he's on his own now, so he might try somethin' stupid.  I'll dodge what I can, you guys get our shields back up an' slag that bastard quick.  Stupid can be unpredictable."

Aderek hears to focus on the shields so he feed further information to 10 to help identify best route to redirect power and refocus the shields against the remaining tie's weapons.

Kyvarr kept up her fire, privately pleased with their ability to hit the TIEs.  "Let's not get cocky people.  Controlled sustained fire.  Let's take this guy out or keep him at bay until we jump."

Her mind began moving to the second group of TIEs.  Devon thought they would jump before they arrived but Kyvarr liked to be prepared.

Kira punched her leg softly, silently cursing herself for the misses....sure they were TIE, known for their speed, but three were already down and she hadn't come close to damaging one let alone take one down.

She shook her head, telling herself to be easier on herself. She wasn't a weapons expert...especially gunnery. She was a scout and tracker...a hunter.

She focused on getting that final TIE, determined to be ready

The cockpit door opens once more and Heigren looks in.

"I just want to tell you all.  Good luck, we're all counting on you."

He left the cockpit and shut the door.

Losing both it's wingmates, the final TIE began increasing it's defensive jinking, making it a harder target to hit.  However this had the effect of throwing off it's aim and the snap shots all flew wide of the shuttle.  It also proved to be fruitless as a shot from Fiarr, closely followed by one from Kyvarr reduced the final TIE to a ball of superheated plasma.

The shuttle was now in the clear.  Beta squad continued to close but they were too far behind to be an issue.  The shuttle cleared the gravity well and Devon and Arcas had time to review the jump coordinates one last time before they pulled the lever and the universe stretched and elongated around them.

They vanished into hyperspace, the squadron of TIEs left helplessly behind.

---

OOC:  You have escaped into hyperspace.  Congratulations.  You're not technically safe yet but you certainly have time to take a breather and plan your next move.

Kyvarr watched her tactical screen until well after they'd entered hyperspace.  She then got on the comm to the turrets.

"Good shooting everyone.  Take a break you've earned it.  I'll be forwarding you all the times of our planned hyperspace exits to your datapads.  I want you all back in your turrets no less than five minutes before reversion, understood?"

Once she received clarification she looked forward.  "Arcas, could you or Seven send me our planned hyperspace reversion times?  Want to make sure our guns are all crewed when it matters."  Once she gets the times she forwards them to the gunners.

She then performs checks of her guns and replays footage of the battle while waiting to see what the commander planned next.

Kira sighs as she felt the jump to Hyperspace, knowing the TIE won't be following...both the lone one and the squadron. She heard TAlon 5's instructions and had a slight smile. "Roger that 5"

Kira stood up in the cramped gunner pod and slowly made her way out. "Time for a drink....don't know when we'll get the next one." She said to herself, and made her way to the mess to grab some water and perhaps a light snack.

Aderek quickly brings up and scans the readouts for all the sensors relating to the hyperdrive system and the power systems feeding it.  He didn't want himself, ten and the rest of the crew to be surprised by a sudden issue tossing them unceremoniously back out of hyperspace.  It would be a rude experience if something had been damaged, or there had been any kind of tampering to the system.

Devon slumped back in his seat and let out a long breath as the shuttle jumped into hyperspace.
"An' we're away.  We'll spend some time doin' some evasive stuff, throw off pursuit... then its back home.  Good work, everyone."

Devon keyed his commlink and called Dohr, still in his turret.
"Doc - medical advice:  I wanna spend a few hours makin' random jumps, confusin' our trail some before we head on to our final destination.  Hows the health of our passengers?  How time critical are things?"
Whilst he waited for an answer, Devon twisted round in his seat to look at the others on the bridge.
"OK, guys, we're currently on course for Commenor, but that's just a decoy.  Fifteen minutes from now we'll drop out of hyperspace an' plot a new course.  Then we'll do it a few more times, if the Doc doesn't disagree.  So take a few minutes - go the fresher, get yourselves a drink.  Bring me a caf back."

Devon returned his attention to the controls, waited till heard the first person get up to leave the bridge.  Then he smirked and called over his shoulder:
"An' someone please find a way to stop Four quotin' that damn film at us!  Use gunfire if you have to!"

Kira smiles as she slowly passes devon while he speaks. "Stop four talking....hmm, might be easier battling a Rancor with a vibroblade." The smirk on her face tells all she's a little more relaxed now they are off the prison planet and away from the enemy

...for now

"Well, I'll be in the refresher for a while, then. If you can find some clean clothing or we run through a supernova, let me know. I am more than certain, I will lose a significant percentage of my weight in there", the blue lady said. "I wonder if I need to get some weights to keep me on the deck." She stood up and headed for the door. "As for the Zeltron, I would suggest pouring his mouth full of ferrocrete. That should work like a charm. You could then use him as a lighting fixture or something like that. The only downsides would be, it'd be eerily quiet here and it'd be hard to use him for what he does best - baffling the Imps."

Heigren chipped up on the comm.  "Hey guys, I've been checking out our culinary choices.  This baby lacks a galley or any comforts there of.  As such I can offer you a small variety of emergency rations and nutri-paste.  You can wash it down with water or a glass of whisky though I'm afraid we're limited on the latter.  Happy to deliver to those who can't leave their posts, else see me in the corner of the cargo bay."


OOC: GM tells me there is no caf on board.  Do we need to pull out the riot gear?

Dohr let out a sigh when the black starriness turned into a familiar streaks of light. They'd made it out in one piece. He knew it was far from over though. With the calculative power of a Star Destroyer's computer systems, the imps had probably been able to track their exit trajectory and calculate possible target locations. For all they knew there could be another Destroyer waiting for them at the other end of the jump.

The Doc closed his eyes for a moment and took a few long breaths to calm himself down. He then got up from the strangely comfortable seat and climbed out of the turret.

"Doc - medical advice:  I wanna spend a few hours makin' random jumps, confusin' our trail some before we head on to our final destination.  Hows the health of our passengers?  How time critical are things?" Dohr rolled his shoulders a couple of times and answered:

"Everyone is stable at the moment and since we have the Bacta tanks, no one is in immediate life-threatening danger. But of course the sooner we get One into proper intensive-care, the better. Dropping out of a jump might not exactly make things better though, so please do it as gently as possible. I will give you an update as soon as I have dragged my useless leg into the Med Bay."

The sarcastic attempt at a joke was so bad, it didn't even make the Kel Dorian himself laugh as he limped towards the part of the ship they'd cleared up for the injured. The Gamma was an assault shuttle designed to carry stormtrooopers into combat, not to act as a mobile hospital so they lacked nearly all equipment of a proper sickbay.

OOC: Just to clarify what I said to Heigren and expand.  This ship is a designed for combat operations but has been modified for transport duty.  It is not a vessel build to comfort.  It has no bunks, no galley, no shower, only one 'fresher (which Lin is now monopolising).  So only food/drink on board is the emergency rations (and Heigren's emergency booze supply) and the only beds are the ones you brought for patients.  The chairs in the cargo area are simple fold down jobs, not built for comfort.

Mika feels the ship surge into hyperspace.  She feels a bit of tension drain out of her, knowing that they've bought a bit of time on their pursuit.  Now she could really focus on getting everything shipshape again.  Still squirming out of the guts of the shield equipment, she calls a muffled yell to Lefty, "What's the status now?"

Getting out and stretching out a few kinks, she looks around to see if there's anything that obviously needs work.

Lefty, takes a moment from his scan of hyperdrive related systems to verify the status of the shields, relaying that information to 10.  He points her to the next most likely bottleneck in the system according to the monitoring equipment and his years of experience.  [I don't know if our past repair roll was successful or not.]

Having limped his way back to Mark and the other wounded, Dohr had a look at everyone's condition and had a quick chat with Trycson. Neither of the men were smiling. Dohr nodded to the younger human and sighed. "Yes. An extra large caf would be a life-saver right now, but we will have to manage without." The Doc nodded to the medic and then made a not-so Kel Dorian gesture and padded Trycson on the shoulder. The soldier was doing and had done a great job so far.

Dohr opened the Talon comms. "Seven, I take back part of what I said. Time... we... he is running out of it. I understand we need to lose the tail, but keep those jumps to bare minimum, please. Other than that, we are ok. For now."
This message was last edited by the player at 20:26, Tue 14 Nov 2017.

Devon stared up at the ceiling and sighed.  This was not the answer he had wanted.
"Understood, Eight.  Will do what I can."

And there was no caf, that hadn't been the answer he wanted either.
"Four - no caf and nothing with actual flavours?  OK - can we at least manage to get something with calories in it sent up?"

Whilst he waited for someone to deliver his oh-so-tasty ration goo and for their first jump to complete, Devon hurriedly began reworking their jump sequence to get them to their final destination that much faster.  He figured that if they completed both the first and second decoy jumps without incident or anyone spotting them, then that he could risk a straight shot back 'home'.

He quickly explained his theory to Arcas, to see if the ex-Imperial could spot any flaws in the plan - but carefully didnt mention that their final destination was a mobile fleet.
Meaning we can just move the damn fleet, once everyone arrives. he added in the privacy of his own mind.

Heigren appeared shortly after on the bridge.  He handed Devon a ration bar.  "It's not great but compared to that nutri-paste goo they feed the stormtroopers, this is heaven.  This should help wash it down."  He hands Devon a small cup, half full. 

Hegren offers ration bars and water to anyone else on the bridge who wants it then heads to the door.  As he reaches it he turns.


"I just want to tell you all, good luck, we're all counting on you."

With a grin he departs.

While the rest of the crew wound down from the spike of excitement, Arcas sat down, contemplating his newfound freedom. While he was still captive of these Rebels, they seemed like they would honor their promise.

Realizing he hadn't eaten for ages, Arcas gratefully accepted the ration bar. While he was attacking the rations, he listened to the Rebel leader's jump plan.

"Assuming they warrant us important enough to give chase, they will probably send the Vendetta. With a Star Destroyer's worth of technicians and analysts, I'd wager they can track us very effectively", the man said before closing his eyes and dredging his memory.

"I recall several tricks how to evade pursuit by cronau analysis: Find a busy hyperspace intersection and make the jump there, make the jump from a dense nebula with radiation interference or find a trajectory that has more than one reasonable end points. I figure in our situation the last one would be preferable... Assuming you have a very good astrogator on board."

Devon cast around for something to throw at Heigren, but by the time he had seized on something suitably heavy, the Zeltron had already shut the door.

He subsided and turned his attention back to Arcas and their escape plan.
"My usual trick is to lay in a course to some place - like right now we're headed for Commenor - then interrupt the jump before we arrive.  We end up somewhere in the middle of deep space, replot and pull the same trick again.  Result is they THINK we headed to Commenor, but we'll have replotted and headed some place else by the time they realize we're never gonna arrive there."

Mika wipes her hands on the legs of her coveralls and heads over towards Lefty's location.  "Looks solid enough, as soon as the capacitor charges, shields should be back to 100%.  Anything else looks like it needs attention?"

"So, this bucket is still very factory fresh, I can't find anything that's been modded at all.  I'm thinking we work on the engines, see if we can get a few more legs out of 'em.  Or maybe we mod shields, we're not going to outrun Imp fighters so maybe we need to be able to take more punishment instead.  What do you think?"

Something about her suggests that she's more interested in assessing Lefty than getting his assessment of the shuttle.

Lin headed for the refresher, but prior to entering it she did her best to find herself at least something clean to wear. As it was, she was lacking everything from fresh shirt to clean underwear. But whether she found anything clean enough for clothing, she was going to hit the refresher like a dirtbomb and practically peel off the layers of dirt and grime. After about thirty standard minutes she emerged from the refresher, now smelling far better and her hair a mane of pink fluff. Her skin was now a couple of shades lighter, she was wearing a slightly oversized Stormtrooper's body glove and there was a somewhat pleased look on her face.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:13, Thu 16 Nov 2017.

Fiarr gratefully climbed out of her turret and stretched as best she could in the confines of the shuttle.  She desperately wanted to shower and to brush her fur but that was not going to be a reality as of yet.  Instead she headed for the cargo bay to purloin whatever remotely passed for food, and more importantly, some of the whisky.  If she knew the Zeltron, it would be decent quality.

The idea of dropping out in some random point in space wasn't exactly appealing to Arcas. That was basically hyperspace exploration.

"If you can astrogate your way back to known lanes, then by all means. In that instance I doubt you need more than one jump. Even the Empire doesn't have the resources to scour every point from here to Commenor."

"That's what I figured," Devon answered as he munched on the ration bar Heigren and left him.
"An this aint the first time we've dodged a Destroyer this way."

Swallowing the last of the bar, Devon sniffed at the contents of the cup.
"Everyone else packed survival gear, medical supplies, weapons... he bought a decent whiskey." he muttered and took a sip, savoring the taste.
"Good stuff.  I gotta remember to mooch some more off him when we're done."
He drank in silence for a few moments.



Five minutes till their stop at 'this isnt Commenor' - Devon sighed and set the cup aside, then activated the comms.
"Five minutes till real space, five minutes.  We ain't anticipatin' trouble, but I want everyone sharp an' ready.  Just in case."

Aderek pauses, looking around the craft.  "Depends on its purpose.  If this craft is going to be used to sneak back into a core system, you won't want to make significant external changes.  But given its current purpose, at least as I know it, I'd run another backup power conduit down here so the Doc doesn't have to choose which people's support systems are shut down here to be able to run others."

Pausing he considers for a moment, "Longer term, if keeping it, I'd probably replace some of those various filters an such that are dependent on disposable supplies.  They are a pain to try to recycle and reuse when you're ona long trip without ready supply runs.  I prefer the ones that are more work, take more skill but can be cleaned and reused with proper tools."

The tone in his voice reflects a certain detachment, realizing he doesn't know exactly where they are going, save for away from that hole of a prison planet.  His comments show a certain disdain for the systems designed for barely trained techs to be able to fully maintain them, perhaps revealing a certain personal appreciation for people's skills.  However, it also includes a definite longer term sustainability that the disposable items trade longer term sustainability for utilizing a steady supply chain.

---

When the call says five minutes until coming out of hyperspace, Lefty responds.  "I'm happy to continue helping here, but it might be good for me to check with Doc to see if he would need to monitor any of the patients vitals when we emerge to make sure none have a reaction."