'Yep. As the old saying goes, I've got a bad feeling about this.' Lyla replied as they boarded the Alabak's Gold.

While Lamar confirmed the coordinates and Klyn examined the agromech, Lyla stowing the cargo securely. As she did, she gave each piece as cursory check for a hidden bomb, bug, or other bit of sabotage, though she reasoned Slythor wouldn't have had much to set up any too well concealed. She put the kalikori in her room to research later, if she ever found the time to be bored. Maybe one day she'd find the Twi'lek it belonged to, and reunite one clan where she could not bring back her own.

She was back and putting away a canister of crash foam when Lamar handed her a datapad. She looked at it, and asked 'What does this mean? Oh, the Whisper's in orbit? At least we don't have to go far.'

She glanced across to where Lamar and Klyn examined B11. 'See if it's got any recordings of conversations. But be gentle, it looks like it comes from a broken home.'


OOC: Perception 13, rerolled to 19

The droid's coding was obtuse and difficult to decipher. Lamar was surprised to find R4-B11 was a rare specimen and truly independent which made any analysis mostly futile.

Lyla found no trace of any bugs on any of the cargo and they found no recordings on B11.

Realizing that B11 was independent, Lamar sent a message to it. I realize you are worried about what I'm attempting, but we need to know we can trust you. If you will not resist me I can verify your trustworthiness, and then you can have a home with us. What do you say?

I will also promise that I won't alter any of your programming.

The droid remained belligerent, it whirred and bleeped angrily before it calmed down enough for Lamar to examine it further. Lamar found the droid was cranky and had been reprogrammed many times. Its original programming had been for repairs on machinery, from starships to farm machines. B11's quick temper often resulted in it taking things apart but never putting them back together. This had resulted its later programming for various roles such as valet, pilot, guard and entertainment unit. Over the course of this programming modifications had also been made to B11 and within its portable nav storage unit where the coordinates for Dega and Korad. There was also a hidden compartment with a hold out blaster.

"That was nicely handled in there commander."  The ubese said when they were back aboard. "I would have cruked it up something awful if I had been the one to verbally tussle with a self appointed king... but that's why they pay you the big bucks I guess."

Keeping his word he didn't try reprogramming B-11. And looking at what was on the files he copied them. "Thank you B-11. You're going to find we're all a bit unusual in this crew. If you give us a chance, you might find a home. I'm going to copy some data, but only copy, not delete, or change in any way. If you want we can give you some maintenance? Klyn here is a pretty fair mechanic, and you look like you could use some maintenance."

'Pay? Big bucks? Ha!' Lyla guffawed, shyly deflecting the praise. 'Nah, just too much experience talking my way out of trouble. To be honest, I'm still not sure I haven't just crukked it up. Slythor's playing something, I'm sure of it.' she noted, crossing her arms and watching B11 open up to Lamar.

'What have you got there?' she asked, coming over to join them. 'How's it doing?'

The droid chriped and whistled absentmindedly but had no great need for repairs to its primary circuits.

Their squib escorts commed the ships "are you ready for lift off?"

'Just stowing our goods now, thanks.' Lyla replied, but only after a wince of realisation. The escorts were going to follow them, of course. That would make making off with the Whisper tricky. She just hoped she'd have bad enough news to give Slythor something more to worry about.

"L.T. The little guy has been abused for so long he doesn't trust people. But I was able to convince him that we wouldn't try and reprogram him nor erase his memory. I also verified he's not bugged or set to betray us. And has records of traveling to both Dega and Korad."

Packing up his computer he patted the little astromech on the head. "Don't worry buddy we'll show you what it's like to be part of a real crew."

Turning to Lyla he said, "Looks like our escorts will be with us for a while, but once we know where it is we can come back to get the ship. Unless there is an opportunity to ditch the escorts."

Lyla frowned, rubbing her chin; the news was good, but concerning. 'Dega and Korad? Both the pirate hideouts. Hmm... Alright, take us to the Whisper, nice and casual. The ship's already a write-off, getting it back is a bonus. As long as we can get the data off and scrub it of evidence, we're good for the mission.'

She squatted down in front of the agromech, and with a rag tried to wipe some of the grime off its casing. 'Hi, B11. Welcome to the crew. I'm Lyla, that's Lamar, Klyn, and Rynn. You're part of the team now, okay? You will have to help out, but we'll never kick you around or use you as a trash-can or anything like that, okay? First thing you can help us out with is this: do you know anything about the pirates called the Scourge, or Chalmer Trilili? What did you do on Dega and Korad anyway?'

The droid knew nothing of the Scourge or Chalmer Trilili, it complained that its duties had always been tiresome and boring.

The flight up to orbit was quick. The Whisper when they saw it was unfortunately in no state to fly. There was a gaping hole in the hull and four mynocks were attached to the hull soaking up the stellar rays.

"I suggest shooting the mynocks with small arms so that we don't collect them onto our hull." Lamar suggested. "I can hit them from a couple of hundred meters with my rifle, and small arms won't damage the ship." He added patting his case.

"Either way, we'll need to board it. I'll have to be one of the borders to access the computers and get any info they might have." He concluded.

The hole in the hull was disappointing – not to mention disturbing, and Lyla had to wonder how the Gray Griffins survived – but Lyla adjusted her plans and tried to look on the bright side. 'At least we don't have to worry about recovering the Whisper now.' she remarked. She agreed with Lamar's suggestion, replying 'Good idea; I'll join you with my rifle. Slythor can't complain about some free pest control either. And it'll be good cover for anything else we need to do.'

'B11, you can join us. It should be fun.' she said to the agromech; it might not be an astromech, but should have enough repair skills to help them. And besides, she wasn't about to leave the droid to its own devices. 'Let's suit up.'

"Good call LT." Lamar headed to the airlock where the EVA suits were kept. He took along his rifle in its carrying case. The bulk of the suit's gloves would have interfered with the assembly, so he first assembled the rifle.  Once that was finished he suited up.

"LT, remember that blasters do have some recoil, and in zero-g, that will move your entire body if you're not braced." He said conversationally. "Plant your feet behind your line of fire, and lean slightly into the shot. It won't be much recoil, but if you don't brace you could go flying off into space."

Similarly, Lyla prepped her DC-17m ICWS blaster rifle for vacuum operation and single-shot fire with the long-range scope. She missed the ease and practicality, and just plain old familiarity of her DC-15a, but she couldn't deny its power and flexibility. She listened to Lamar give her his tips. In truth, she knew that, she'd attended Alliance training too and was an expert marksman. But she also didn't have much experience in EVA combat and a reminder never hurt. 'Gotcha. What's our range to the Whisper?' she asked as she started adjusting the scope. After that, she started hauling on her flight-suit before heading to the airlock.

Lamar thought about the range. "I don't think we want to get too close or the mynocks will fly to our hull and then we have to hunt them down. Maybe 50 meters or more would be safe. Any closer and they might detect the ship's emissions. Of course that's a guess, since I'm not a biologist."

Correctly Lamar kept a safe distance away. The mynocks were known to be attracted to power sources and could in large numbers put a strain on a ship's power generation.

Their ships orbited Korad within the ring of debris then those preparing to board the Whisper donned their spacesuits.

'How far can mynocks sense? I can't recall off the top of my tails, but I'm good for up to two hundred and twenty-odd metres.' Lyla replied, indicating her rifle and scope. Her tone was light and casual, but her distance made her one of the top-rated marksmen in the Rebel Alliance. 'But, given the relative motions of the ships, zero-G throwing off orientation, and space lighting, I'd rather get closer, so yeah, maybe fifty to ninety metres.' She contacted Klyn to take the ship to within that range.

With flight suit checked and secured, Lyla cycled the airlock and stepped out with Lamar, making sure to tether her suit to the hull and magnetised her boots. With that, she clomped out onto the hull, and drew her rifle, careful to keep it strapped around her body. Looking around the area and finding the Whisper, she peered down the scope and looked for the mynocks. With no atmospheric diffusion of light, illumination was bright and the shadows deep, and mynocks fairly well camouflaged against a hull, so she looked for organic textures. 'There you are.' she murmured, laid cross-hairs and laser-sight on the back of a mynock, and fired.


OOC: Perception 29, rolled a 20

Aim to ignore Cover, Point Blank Shot +1/+1
Attack 28 (corrected to include Klyn's mod), damage 16

On the hull and through her rifle scope Lyla counted four mynocks. She also saw that the gaping hole in the Whisper was at least three metres wide. On target she shot one of the mynocks, the creature flapped it's wings in agitation and detached from the Whisper fleeing into the ring of debris that orbited the planet. The incident resulted in the other three mynocks Lyla had spotted likewise fleeing to avoid the aggressive attack by her.

As the mynocks took off and scattered, Lyla quickly tracked them and caught one in her cross-hairs again. She fired, another blaster beam lancing into space, but they moved too much in the sharp light for her to be confident of her hit. Getting rid of the mynocks had been easier than she'd expected, but she'd rather make sure they didn't get brave and come back before they were done with the Whisper.


OOC: Shoot another mynock, PBS +1/+1: attack 18, damage 7

Lamar had taken a few moments to aim when Lyla's first shot spooked the mynocks. Cursing quietly he traversed his aim to hit one of the moving mynocks but missed as the creature turned as he fired.

10:14, Today: Lamar Danar rolled 9 using 1d20+7.  ranged. (point blank not sure if this applies, careful shot, and precise shot if it applies.)

The Mynocks fled under the assault from Lamar and Lyla. The creatures were cowardly, not interesting in fighting for any power remaining in the Whisper,  there was plenty of other junk they could latch on to.

She scanned the area, but couldn't see any more mynocks. 'Looks like that'll do.' Lyla decided, lowering her rifle and tromping back to the airlock. Once she and Lamar were inside, she contacted the cockpit, saying 'Alright, take us closer to the Whisper... If you've got all you need, Lamar, we might as well stay suited, but I'd rather take shelter inside the airlock in case of debris.'

Lamar didn't like missing a shot and was a little miffed at the miss, so just nodded and stepped back into the airlock. Once there he commed back to the cockpit, "We're ready to go over when you are." His voice was cool and tight betraying his anger.