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.