Team 2 - Shipjacking Team (Devon, Mika, R2-A9)

The file contains a shipping ID and IFF codes.  Zyra has attached a note.

'Need a small, non-distinctive transport.  One that could be a private charter arranged at short notice.  I will have our exit passes prepared for us so that we bypass security and customs.  Just make sure you have the transport and quietly.  We'll likely need this transport either tonight or tomorrow morning latest.'

Devons lips moved silently as he reviewed the info on the datapad.

'Hopefully shouldn't be too hard...'  he mumbled to no one in particular.
'First thing we should probably do is check out what ships are suitable and close enough for us to hit.  Ideally I'd like to pick a ship that does take private charters - fewer questions that way.  Plus if we actually hire - or at least look like we're going to hire - the vessel, then maybe we could get aboard without any trouble.'

He glanced at the other two members of what he had decided to call Joyride Team and grinned.
'Either way, we're going to have to do some research.  What you guys think?'

OOC:  There are a few options.  There is a major spaceport in the city (though not as large as the one in Phindar Prime).  But the shipjacker feels one of the two smaller spaceports would be better.  They are smaller, and mainly handle cargo, smaller passenger flights and private vessels.  There is one towards the centre of the city (about 10 minutes by airspeeder) and one on the SW outskirts of the city (about 30 minutes by airspeeder - you're on the eastern outskirts of Sorren).

Please remember that unless you hitch a lift with one of the two other teams (who are getting ready to leave) you don't actually have an airspeeder to get you to one of these places!
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:21, Tue 14 Feb 2012.

The droid lets out a few beeps which seem to be the binary equivalent of shrugging, performed by a being without proper shoulders.

Mika feels a bit more eager.  She'd been interested in boosting ships every since she met Devon and now was a chance to see how it was done.  She looks to the others, "Know anything about the public transportation around here?  I think we can spend our time better than heading out on foot."

If one of the other teams could give them a lift, that would be okay as long as they didn't get seen getting out.  After all, attacking a senator or getting in front of a raid wasn't the sort of attention a hopeful ship jacker needed.  Besides, if they had to get out, they'd be stranded without their own ride or at least some other alternative.

She pats R2 on the top of it's cranial unit.  "Of course she does buddy, who wouldn't want their own ship?"  She glances at Devon, "R2's pointing out that hiring a ship, or at least pretending to hire a ship, might not work so well if our ID's are compromised."

She shrugs, "Maybe we can find a ship that needs some repair work in a hurry.  That might be a good in.  But first things first, we got to figure out which one to go to and how to get there.  I'm thinking we start with the closer spaceport and see what's what.  If we don't find anything that looks good, we move to the other spaceport.  Besides, we ought to have more transportation options heading into the city."

OOC:  Can we pull any public information about public transportation options?

Absolutely!  Being a large town it has an extensive publc transport system.  There are taxis, hoverrails, buses, etc.  Added to which your destination is likely one of the spaceports you'll find that each has a rail station near it and buses that go to it.

Of course the fastest route anywhere is to get Xil to drop you off somewhere.

As Xil's team were leaving, the group decided grabbing a lift to the nearest spaceport was a wise move.  From there they could easily use public tranpsort to get elsewhere.  On arriving at the small commercial spaceport, Mika, who had been forced to sit on Xil's knee for the trip, crawled uncomfortably out.  She didn't say too much about it as she knew to complain would likely earn scorn from R2-A9 who had once again been unceremoniously stored in the cargo compartment.

Once Mika, Devon and A9 were safely disembarked, the speeder quickly took off again.  The trio stood near the entranceway to the spaceport.  Security here was much lighter then the large spaceport in Phindar Prime.  Mika noted that the fence was high and tipped with sensors.  There was a single armed guard at the gate, talking with the administrative personnel.  Two armed guards could be seen walking a patrol around the spaceport grounds.

Devon meanwhile was looking at the ships.  There was a few large commerical cargo freighters being loaded at the moment.  There were also twenty hangars which likely held smaller ships, either privately owned or owned by a business.  All the hangars had closed doors so it was impossible to tell what they might contain.

A9 swivels his head a bit, looking for a computer terminal - the sort that starport workers or foremen might use to log work as it gets completed.  Such a device would, logically, have itineraries or work orders that'll list what's in the hangar bays.

He also keeps an eye out for security cameras, because it'd suck to pull off the greatest heist in the galaxy only to have the whole thing caught on datacard.

OOC:  A9 can't see a scomp link terminal from his position but calculates the probability as 93% that at least one exists in the spaceport, probably several.  Not only do people need to log work orders, but several maintenance droids could be seen and they needed to plug in to log completed orders and obtain new ones.  The maintenance hangar seemed the highest probability.

R2-A9 was able to spot one camera covering the spaceport entrance.  Some of the private hangars could possibly have their own security as well.

'Ok....' said Devon quietly enough that only Mika and A9 as he reread the instructions on his datapad.  'They said "Small and not distinctive".  I'm thinking we should add "Fast" to that list - might be in a hurry when we leave.' He gave the visibile ships a quick glance before discounting them.

Knowing that at this stage - and in full view of the gate guard - paying too much attention to the spaceport could be disastrous, Devon led his little team away in the direction of a cantina he had spotted on their way in.
Once they were out of earshot of the guard, Devon started talking again.
'Ok, first obstacles:  Getting through the perimeter undetected, and we have no idea whats in those hangers.  Now, if some of those are vessels that are avaialable for hire... there's going to be a publically available list somewhere that tells us what those ships are and their specs - we might be able to settle on a target before we even get inside.'

Devon grinned at the other two.
'Once we have an idea of what we're going to hit.... we'll settle on the how.  I'd like for this to be a bit less improvised than the last thing I 'jacked for the Talons, so tell me if I've missed something.  '

Mika nods, "Fast is always a good thing to add to the list."

She looks around to see if there's a way to access the local net, either via a connection for A9 or some other means, such as a datapad. 

"They might have postings of ships for hire, but I'm thinking it won't be quite that easy.  We might have to ask around, see if there's a ship available for hire and work it backwards that way."

Mika plugs her newly acquired datapad in and starts sniffing around the boards, looking for anyone advertising charter services.  She pays particular attention to the number of passenger berths, cargo capacity and any special notes such as to able to make particularly fast deliveries or people who specialize in avoiding unfriendly attention or any other such notes.



11:59, Today: Mika Trake rolled 31 using 1d20+12. computer use.

OOC: This will take Mika a good 10-15 minutes to do so what do A9 and Devon want to do (if anything) during this time?

A9 heads off to look for a scomp-link terminal, starting off in the non-secure, free-to-roam areas.  He'll avoid going anywhere secure unless he really needs to, which he suspects will be, at this stage, unlikely.

"A9, don't go far." Mika says to the droid while she's busy interfacing with the data pad.  Later, she'd have to tweak the user interface to be a bit more friendly, but that would have to wait.

Wether he heard Mika's call or not was unclear as the little astromech disappeared for about ten minutes while Mika conducted her search.  It proved frustratingly slow as she had to piece different bit of information from various sources.  There was no list of ships at the spaceport she could tap into, short of breaking into the maintenance office that is.  Instead she reviewed bulletin boards where captains offered passage and cargo, holonet sites offering services, etc.

By the time A9 came trundling back through the door, Mika had made some headway.  She could tell that at least three small to medium-sized freighters had to be onsite judging by the information she'd pulled.  It was likely more as she had found a courier business and a few commerical freighter organisations that worked out of that spaceport.  Of course she couldn't tell if their ships were onsite or on jobs at the present time.

For the first time Mika noticed that Devon wasn't with them.  She spotted him in the corner playing with his wrist datapd.

Mika shrugs as A9 comes trundling back.  "I'm not finding much on the public nets buddy, how 'bout you?"

A9 beeps a few times, spinning his dome in response.

Grumbling in frustration, Devon looked up from his datapad, where he had been carrying out a similar search to Mika.
'Nothing.' he announced.  'Well, nothing as good as I hoped.  Ok, so we're going to have to get in there to see what are options are.  Traffic control and Maintenance should both have a list of who's parked what where.  I'd say we hit Maintenance.  We look the part more than we do for Traffic control, plus security would be lighter.  First up though, we gotta get in without upsetting anyone.  Ideas?'

Devon glanced back the way they had come, at the main entrance and the guard, wondering.  If this was a small civilian port, could they just walk straight in?  Friends of ship crew or similar?  He frowned.  Sometimes the simplest approach was the best.  On the other hand, since he and Mika could both easily pass as mechanics...

Glancing around, Devon looked for any other entrances to the spaceport: maintenance accesses, cargo entrances, he'd even settle for an easy to access sewer main that came up inside the port.

Mika looks around.  "There's probably some maintenance crawlspaces or maybe some ducting that we could sneak through."

A9 doesn't say anything in regards to Mika's suggestion but somehow he manages to do it loudly.  He's not really built for crawling.

After a quick examination of the starport from a distance, the trio quickly noted there were only two main entrances.  An administration/passenger terminal where people on foot entered the spaceport and the main gate where various speeders belonging to the spaceport or companies who had dealings with the port entered.  The speeder entrance was manned by a uniformed guard, while the admin entrance had two administration staff behind desks.

The spaceport fence was high and ringed with proximity sensors, making any approach to sneak onsite difficult unless the sensors were dealt with first.  The control tower would quickly spot any speeder trying to fly over the fence, even at low altitude.

Mika shrugs.  "The maintenance crawlways would have to be big enough for droids to get down there and do maintenance.  It's use full grown types that would have to crawl."  Of course at a mere 1.5 meters tall, Mika was hardly one to brag about being tall.

"Looks like we either try to bluff those admin types or we find an way in underground, utility tunnels and so forth."

Mika puts action to word and starts poking around to see what she can find on the public nets about such underground pathways with her data pad.

17:15, Today: Mika Trake rolled 24 using 1d20+12. Computer Use.

'Reckon we're headed underground.' sighed Devon 'I do so love sewers - the smells wonderful for keeping... well, ANYTHING away.  Your best shot for paydata is probably public utilities records.  But, just in case we have to go over or through that fence rather than under...'

Devon let Mika get on with her research.  If there was anything to find, she would find it.  Whilst she worked he leaned against a handy wall and stared out over the spaceport with apparant vague interest in watching a ship that appeared to be readying to lift off.  Occasionally he referred to his datapad and tapped in a note or two.

Only someone watching Devon carefully would realize that he was actually examining the proximity sensors on the fence carefully.  A glance at his datapad would reveal that his notes were actually a short list of ideas on how to disable, sabotage, disarm or otherwise neutralize the sensors long enough for them to get inside.

Devon spent a lot of time staring at the data on proximity sensors.  They were tricky things.  Disabling them was easy, an emp grenade would wipe them out for a hundred metres.  Taking them out quietly was a lot harder.  For before one could even begin to disarm them, they actually had to get close enough!


Meanwhile Mika had not been able to find any information on underground tunnels on the public holonet.  She wasn't surprised, as such information tended to be restricted to government works buildings, but it had to be tried.

Mika sighs.  She'd hadn't expected it to work, but luck tended to happen for those who gave luck a chance.  But there's wasn't much for it, they needed information and could spend weeks tramping about and be none the wiser for the efforts.

She moves closer to Devon, close enough for a low tones to be heard.  "No dice.  I want to try a slice, but we should get ready to bail if it goes south.  Or should I wait a bit?"

OOC:  Just to confirm, we got dropped off here with no effective means of running away accept our feet (Devon and Mika) or wheels (R2), correct?

OOC: That is correct.  It was planned you'd either be leaving in a starship or grabbing a taxi or something.  You could call for a pickup from Jamie's team if needed.  Sheila and Aryan were to dump their speeder when done (as it's stolen).
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:13, Mon 05 Mar 2012.

Mika decides it's best not to risk a hack without better options to get clear if such proves to be necesary.  Since neither R2 nor Devon seem to be kicking out suggestions, she looks to the admin desk and straightens her shoulders.  "Maybe ey've got some job openings."  She moves towards the admin desk to ask after any jobs openings for maintenance personnel.

'Hold up a second.' Devon calls after her.  'What are the odds they'll let us in and give us a tour cos we applied for jobs that might not exist?  Plus our IDs are busted, remember?'

He glares at the notes he'd made on his datapad. 'I'm really starting to think our best bet is sneaking in via the sewers - which isnt saying much.' He sighed and eyed R2 'count yourself luck you dont have a sense of smell.'

A9 beeps and whistles.

Mika turns back, annoyance cleat on her delicate features.  "Okay fine, let's go figure out where we can get into the sewers and if it'll get us in there or not."  She was fine with the idea, as long as the made some headway.

Zyra's voice comes over the commlink.  "Nine to Talons.  Progress report please.  We're on a tight schedule here."

Mika pulls the encrypted comlink out and clicks it on.  "We're working on it.  We hit some road blocks and are considering options."

Encrypted or not, Mika didn't really want to speak aloud about breaking into the airfield and conscripting a vehicle.

She turns to Devon and the droid, "Looks like we need to push ahead.  Let's get out of here."

She leads the way out of the place and she starts looking around for access panels or hatches that might give access to sewer systems, utility tunnels and so forth.  Once a safe distance from the surveillance equipment and assuming that Devon and R2 have followed her lead, she speaks up, "Okay, we need computer access and we need to hack into the city utilities and pull some schematics.  I'm a decent enough slicer, but if either of you are better, I'll let you take it.  Now, where to find access...."  She starts looking for another cafe or other place where they might be able to get a signal.

"Understood.  Just remember if four does his job we'll need your services within an hour or two.  I need to know ASAP if you can't accomplish your mission."

Realising that records like sewer systems are not generally available on the Holonet, and if they were would require significant time to slice, the pair decided to do a simple visual recon for a sewer entrance.  After a few minutes of searching Mika finds a sewer grate in an area not heavily frequented.  The engineer estimates it's about a four metre drop to the murky water below.  Fortunately there is a ladder installed, well fortunate for people with hands.
This message was last edited by the GM at 10:54, Wed 14 Mar 2012.

A9 beeps as he surveys the grate, rolling back and forth slightly.

Mika's face snarls up as she looks below.  "Well, times wastin' away."  She bends to shift the grate to the side.  "I'll go check it out, but don't think you're getting a free ride R2.  If that water's shallow enough, you're coming with us."  Mika's clothes showed plenty of abuse, rips, patches, stains...  Time to add a bit more grime and muck to it.

A9 beeps uncertainly.

"I don't know yet. Let me take a look.

Not that she wanted to say it aloud, but R2 could probably survive a 4meter drop okay, assuming the water wasn't so deep.  Of course, getting him out would be a whole different issue.

Crouching next to A9, Devon reads the message on his pad.
"I dunno." He says to A9  "Perhaps we can..." Devon trails off and stares at the R2 unit for a few moments.  Then he raps himself sharply on the temple with the datapad.

"I - am - such - an - idiot." he growls, and turns to Mika.  "Just thought of something that's been staring us in the face the whole time.  Here's you and me trying to work out ways to bluff or sneak ourselves in... chances are that A9 can simply roll straight in.  Or at least with far fewer questions than we'd face.  Everyone EXPECTS to see astromechs in places like that."

Turning to face A9, Devon addresses himself directly to the droid.
"what you reckon, little guy?  They'll probably stop you at the check point, but shouldnt be too hard to convince them you belong on one of the ships inside, right?  Then once your in, find somewhere you can patch into their computer network - download data and maybe fake up some reason me and Mika can just walk in?
Register us as passengers on a ship or independant mechanics come to do some work on a ship or something.  Send the details to my datapad.  Failing that, glitch the security long enough for us to get through that fence." He glances down at the sewer entrance Mika was investigating. "Or under it... which ever."

Mika looks at Devon, annoyance plain on her face.  "Fine, I'm certainly up for any plan that doesn't have us slogging through the sewers and hopefully won't wind us up in the local dungeon.  But we need to decide now, is that the plan or not?  If it is, then let's go implement it.  If it's not, then let's decide what is the plan and then implement that.  We don't have all day to dither around."

The R2 unit beeps absently, looking this way and that.

Mika shakes her head at Devon, "He needs ID's to set up clearances, here's mine."  She passes the information over to R2 so that he can scan, input or otherwise collect the necessary information.

"But time's tight and I'm going to explore this one.  If R2's successful, call me on the comlink."

A9 beeps idly a little while waiting and then, abruptly, starts toward the gates with a sharp whistle.


With that he rolls on in, not stopping unless confronted.

'Will do.' Devon answers Mika, leaning against a wall and trying to look relaxed.
'I'll keep an eye on R2 from here, best I can...'

Watching the droid roll off, Devon starts tapping at his datapad.

As Devon types on his datapad, Mika and A9 take off in different directions.  Mika disappears around a corner and is lost to sight as she heads for the sewer entrance the had found.

R2-A9 meanwhile rolls boldly up to the maintenance entrance of the spaceport.  Devon watches as the droid communicates with the security guard who lets the little droid into the spaceport!  Devon watches as A9 rolls over to the maintenance shed, but leaves again after a few moments.  The droid then rolls over to a hangar, interfaces with a scomp link and disappears inside.

Mika looks down the grate again.  She sure didn't relish getting down into the muck, but 9 had made it clear that they were on a clock and she didn't think she could wait around and see what R2 came up with.

The data pad joins most of the rest of her gear in the knapsack in a hopefully non-futile attempt at keeping it all dry.  She'd hold on to the comlink and the glowrod.  After a moment's consideration, she removes her belt with the holstered blaster and slings it over her shoulder in case she needed to get to it as well.

Climbing down the ladder, she stops as close to the water as she can without getting wet and turns on the glowrod, trying to decide how deep and how dangerous the water might be.

After a while A9 responds to Devon's query.

PM

Mika continues to perch on the ladder, flashing her glow rod about and trying to get a better idea of the lay of the land.

Mika dropped into the sewer with a small splash.  The water was only ankle deep and mostly clear due to recent rains.  Fortunately a small walkway traversed either side large enough for someone to walk and stay out of the water.  Using instinct and a map program on her datapad, the engineer tracked through the underground maze of tunnels, clutching her glowrod in the other hand.

After several minutes of tracking and back-tracking, Sheila felt she was finally approaching the spaceport.  Her suspicions seemed confirmed shortly after as the tunnel ahead was blocked by vertical durasteel bars.  The bars allowed water to pass but there was no way a humanoid or droid could squeeze through.  The walkway ended at a barred door that had an electronic lock attached.

Devon whistled to himself, impressed, as he read back the information A9 had sent to his datapad.  He tapped in a quick response to the droids comments before glancing down into the sewer.  Given that Mika had disappeared form sight, he pulled his Talons commlink out.

'Ten, I think we have a target - any joy on your end?'

"Maybe, found the right conduit, but the valve is clogged.  I might be able to clear it, but I'd hate to rupture it and set off the pressure alerts back at base."  Mika thumbs off the comlink.  Encrypted or not, she was hesitant about broadcasting an illegal entry.

She takes out the glowrod and analysis the lock.

Ding!  You have mail.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:36, Mon 02 Apr 2012.

Devon grinned as he read the latest message on his datapad.  He could get used to working with that droid, he really could.  He started typing.



Devon spent a few moment mentally decoding what Mika had said before he replied.  If he understood her correctly, she'd found a potential route inside, but something was blocking her and she wasnt totally sure she could get round whatever it was...
"Don't make any messes just yet.  From what I can see it looks like a bypass might be easier - just need the paperwork signing, then we'd have to go talk to the guys on the front desk.  You can see how badly clogged that valve is though, so it's your call."

Mika lets her impatience get the better of her and she takes a stab at disabling the electronic lock.

09:05, Today: Mika Trake rolled 12 using 1d20+8. Disable Device.

Fumbling around in the limited light, Mika accidently crosswires two junction points, resulting in a cascade of sparks and a fusing of the lock.  The mechanic cursed aloud at her mistake.  If there was an alarm wired to this door, she would have tripped it.  As it was, it would take some time to unfuse the door.

Mika curses in terms that would have made her dearly departed mother faint dead away.  But as annoyed as she was, there was little time to indulge.  Grabbing up her stuff, she hauls butt back to the access, hoping to get clear before anyone else could catch her down here.

Once she's moving, she grabs the comlink.  "It's a bust, clearing out before company arrives."

Mika clears the area as quickly as possible without risking a potentially embarassing fall into the water.  Putting good distance between herself and the gate before cautiously emerging onto street level once again.  Coming up in a quiet side street, the engineer quickly replaces the cover.  Aside from wet trouser bottoms and a bit of an aroma, she was no worse off for her adventure.

'Understood.  Where you coming out?' responds Devon and ambles off gently down the street.  Where possible, he was a firm believer in the maxim that only amateur thieves 'run like they stole it', good ones walk off in a relaxed and calm fashion that doesnt draw the attention of vengeful authorities.

As he walked, he typed in his datapad.

A9 beeps and/or whistles to himself while doing Things to the computer system.

Clear of the sewer and the cover replaced, Mika breathes a deep sigh of relief which she hadn't dared do in while below, for reasons of both preference and timing.

Moving back towards the shipyard, she thumbs the comms.  "10 back on line and moving towards spaceyard, how are things progressing?"  She wouldn't mind a chance to stop by a fresher and run at least her boots and trousers through it, though a full course for herself would be welcome as well.

It took less that fifteen minutes for Mika to quickly clean up and regroup with Devon near the spaceport.  There had been little movement from the spaceport with no obvious alerts going off.

Finding Devon, Mika moves up confidently.  "Well, that could've gone better.  There was an electronic lock on a grate, looked easy enough but I bungled it and figured best get clear since you guys had another angle.  So, how's it going?  We got access?"

Devon looks from typing on his datapad and winces in sympathy at Mika's misfortune.
Then he consulted his pad again as he answered her questions.
'Yeah, our little friend's done good: The Golden Nebula.  She's a privately owned light freighter, a Ghtroc 720 to be precise.  Captain - also the pilot - is a guy called Aldren Steele.  Fully licenced to travel and shift cargo in Imperial space.  She's fully fueled and ready to leave with clearance for tomorrow evening with a cargo of durasteel to be loaded in the morning.  No other crew, no passengers.  We don't know if the captain is aboard or not, but apparantly the Nebula is powered down... maybe Steele's onboard, and maybe he's not.  I think we assume he is.'

Devon looked up from his datapad.
'A9 is patched into a shipping manifest system... so he's going to get us registered as freelance engineers here to do some work to the Nebula.  That should get us inside. Once we arrive at the ship itself, well... we'll play it by ear.'

Mika nods, glad that at least one of their plans seems to be working out.  "I'm not all that up to speed on the Ghtroc 720's, anything special you know about them that might make our job tougher?  Of course, can't expect anyone to leave a stock freighter stock."

A blip of info comes up on Devon's datapad, along with a small file transfer that's done in under a second.

The work order that comes up on Devon's datapad authorises two representatives of the Bandit Security Service to perform a full security sweep on the Golden Nebula as he's had issues with suspected stolen cargo on previous runs.  The order looks perfectly legitimate having been sent from the Nebula's hangar, supposedly by Aldren Steele.  The order is also backdated 6 hours so looks like it was sent in the early afternoon.  A9 had done a bang-up job.



OOC:  The Talon's false ID's to get on planet identified you as members of a private security force.  It was why you were allowed to bring weapons on-planet.  So A9 had to make a story that fits your ID's so as not to cause too much suspicion.

Mika hears the tone on Devon's datapad indicating an incoming message.  "What's it say?  We in?"

Devon whistles in appreciation as he reads through the details on his pad.
'I think we are.  Take a look at this.'
He hands the datapad over with an evil chuckle.
'Written permission - from the ships captain no less - to try and find a way to break into his ship.  I'm really starting to like that droid.'

He accepts the datapad back once Mika had finished reading.
'Anyhow, shall we get moving?'

Mika reads the message and nods her approval of the droid's efforts.  "Yes, let's."  She falls in step with Devon, heading for the check point.

She glances down, clothes are suitably worn and dirty, if a bit smelly from the sewers.  Still, she looks the part of a mechanic well enough.

A9, for his part, waits.  He does a couple of circles and then, out of boredom, starts doing advanced astrogating algorithms.  When that becomes boring he starts looking around the hangar, staying unobtrusive but checking the layout of the place.

Mika and Devon, having read the backgrounds A9 had sliced for them approached the spaceport on foot.  As it has been before, the spaceport still had the two entrances;  the vehicular gate where a security guard stood, letting through maintenance and freight vehicles, and the main entrance where two administration personnel stood behind a desk, serving customers.

Mika stops short before approaching the main entrance as she hears the comlink beep for attention.  Hitting the switch, she hears Shelia's message.  "I've got about that much, but I sure as hell would expect to be reimbursed."

"Yes,  You will be." Sheila's voice comes through. "Even if I have to do it.  That plus what we have is just barely enough."

Devon nudged Mika as she got off the comms.
'What you think?  I think we head to the desk - anything else would look out of place, right?'

With obvious reluctance, Mika hooks the datapad into the holonet and transfers 1200 of her own funds to Sheila.  She sends a note along with it....


She logs off and looks to Devon.  "Yeah, I think so.  Want me to do the talking?"  It was best to keep moving so she didn't have time to think about the funds she'd passed to Sheila.

Devon shrugged.  'If you want.  Anything I should know before we go over there?'

Mika shrugs, "I can't think of anything, just follow my lead."  Perhaps Devon was the better one to take the lead, but Mika was annoyed at things, mostly her failure with the lock in the sewers, and she just wanted to push ahead.

Stepping up to the admin desk, she looks at one of the bored administrators.  Her face showed a bit of annoyance.  "Hi, we're here to check out a freighter, what's it called...."  She makes a show of checking her datapad, "Yeah, the Golden Nebula."  She gives Devon a sidelong glance and her voice flat, "And we're late."  A sigh of exasperation accompanies her boldly presenting her ID as she motions for Devon to do the same.

One of the administration staff, a young male with a neatly trimmed moustache and immaculate uniform, frowns at the two ill-kept people in front of him.  He hesitantly takes the datapad from Mika as if afraid he'll catch some disease from it.  He examines the datapad then returns to his computer.

"Your work order appears correct but I have no log of work entry permit signed for either of you.  Permits for maintenance staff need to fill out a five nine dash four at least two hours in advance.  If you haven't filled out the forms I can transfer you some now and the passes can be ready for you tomorrow morning."

Internally, Devon rolled his eyes.  Save us from bureaucrats he thought to himself.

'Tomorrow morning?  can we not get anything done sooner?' Devon shared a worried look with Mika.  'It's just we've got another job on tommorow. If we can't get the Nebula done today, its really gonna screw up our schedule for the next week.' he gave the official a hopeful look.  'Look, we're happy to do the paperwork, but cant you get us in there today?

Mika looks over at Devon, "I told you the dispatcher's full of bantha poodoo."  She turns back to the petty official behind the desk. "Look, he's right, if we can't get in today, our schedule goes to hell and it doesn't do any of us any good to have ships grounded in your shipyard if they don't need to be."

OOC: Bluff rolls please

07:41, Today: Mika Trake rolled 8 using 1d20+1. Bluff.

The admin frowns at Mika suspiciously then shrugs and turns to Devon.  "Well you do have a legitimate work order so as long as you get that five nine dash four now along with a six one dash alpha I can issue you with an emergency pass"

Once the necessary datawork was done and Mika and Devon had been given visitor passes, they were escorted by a guard to a hangar.  Once there the guard checked their passes then swiped them into the hangar.

Inside A9 was racing around a small track he'd traced on the ground to pass the time.  The hangar was in darkness other than a few security lights overhead.

Mika give the admin a relieved smile, "Thank you so very much."  She enlists Devon's aid to get the forms filed out as quickly as possible, remembering to list her alias instead of her real name.

She then falls in line with the security detail as they make their way to the hanger.  Once inside, she sees the A9.  Once they're alone, she chimes in with,  "Good to see you, buddy."

A9 lets out a cheery beeping whistle and rolls over to stand by Mika, ready to... do... something.  Anything.  He doesn't seem to be taking the waiting well.

Mika looks to Devon, "You're the one with the experience, what's the plan?"  Mika moves closer to the ship, looking it over with an experienced eye.

'For a moment there I thought we might be out of luck.' Devon told Mika once the security guards had left.  He glanced at the work permit they had been given.  'We got four hours...'

Devon gave A9 a friendly rap on the dome as the droid rolled over.
'You,' he told the R2 appreciatively 'do good work.  If I cant have you with us every time, then I'm going to have to get a droid of my own.'

Devon turned his gaze to the hanger and pursed his lips in thought.
'Ok, lack of lights imply the good captain isnt around.  But we dont take that for granted.  Security cameras up there,'  Devon nodded vaguley at the ceiling.  'We better at least look like we're working.  They're probably visual only - a ship taking off would deafen anyone listening in, but lets keep the noise down anyhow.'

Rummaging in his toolbag, Devon ambled towards the freighter. 'I know a little about Ghtrocs,' he told his partners in crime.  'From down here, our options for getting aboard are limited to cargo lifts or the main ramp.'  As he walked under the hull, Devon pointed to things as he mentioned them.

'oooh, hang on... port escape pod is missing.  Thats another access point right there.'  Turning to the others, Devon rubbed his hands together briskly.

'Ceiling cameras wont see us down here.  OK, I'm thinking we go in through two points at the same time.  Escape pod hatch and main ramp.  Even if the captain is aboard, he shouldnt be able to respond to both, right?  and if he is... put him down fast.  Dont hesitate, just do it.  Quietly if you can.  Don't want to kill him, but we HAVE to bag him before he can trigger any sorta security.'
Devon paused for a moment, thinking. 'Questions?'

Mika nods, absorbing Devons teachings.  The note about the survellience being most likely visual only was one almost obvious in retrospect, but she'd not stopped to think about it.  Possible entry ports seemed pretty obvious, if there was anyone on board, they'd probably put them down faster then a cargo port where one would have to push through the cargo bays to come to grips with anyone inside.

"Stun attacks okay to bring him down if needs be?"  She was looking at the entries, nodding at Devon's logical choices.  "You want the main ramp or the escape pod hatch?

'Stuns fine by me, I like stun.' said Devon as he set to work on the main hatch.
'You shoot stun at people, maybe they'll shoot the same back - and everyone gets to go home that night.  Or to jail, whatever.  Point is, your alive to go there.  But you shoot "kill" at people and they definitly shoot kill back, and the only place you end up going is to the morgue.'

Devons rambled monologue on the benefits of stun attacks trailed off into incoherent mumblings as he continued to work, detaching a panel to expose some wiring behind it.
'Gimmie a hand here, would you?'  He handed Mika a circuit probe.  'What we're.. trying to do here is tell the lock we already given it the correct passcode... so all we have to do is press the open button, when we're ready.  Then we set up the escape pod hatch the same, and we can open both together.'
Gingerly, Devon levered the panel out further, giving him better access to the wiring.
'Here, attach that probe there.' he pointed.  'that should kill the alarm...'
This message was lightly edited by the player at 18:08, Tue 22 May 2012.

Mika steps up to assist Devon in his efforts to outsmart the ships security system.  While perhaps not as strong as Devon, her hands prove small and nimble enough to manipulate the wiring perhaps a bit easier....

OOC:  Not sure if the GM would rule that Mika's aid would net a bonus to the roll or not.

"Four to Talon teams, coded sit-reps ASAP."

Mika thumbs her comlink, "Ten here, we're about to pop the hatch on a freighter."

Devon curses as his hotwiring doesn't seem to be working.  He was close, he knew it but for some reason he couldn't bypass the last circuit breaker.  He was assisted by Mika, who noticed he'd accidently polarised the secondary bus with an exposed wire.  Correcting the problem, the hatch quickly lowered.  In the silent hangar, the noise made the two humans jump.  A9 registered the sound had been less than 45 decibels, quite standard for a hatch opening, to the others it felt louder than a blaster bolt.

The interior was dark, save the odd console light.  The ship was quiet.  If someone was onboard they were being very quiet.


OOC:  That synergy bonus Mika got you for helping pushed you over the line.  Nice work!

Mika jumps as the hatch slides open, not particularly loudly, but it sounded like a klaxon to her ears.  She draws her blaster and whispers, "Any reason not to push ahead?".  If nothing else, she'll step through the hatch, not wanting to give up what they've gained.  Going dor the escape pod hatch seems a moot point to her at the moment.

A9 keeps a lookout for the most part, fiddling with something on the hangar computer.

Devon spends a moment to unstick his tongue from the roof of his mouth when the hatch opens earlier than he expected.  Had someone inside opened it?  Was this all some elaborate ambush?  He double checked the bypass they'd made.  No, the door opened because he'd triggered the circuit.  Slightly reassured, Devon quickly slapped the panel cover back on.  He'd reattach it properly later when he had more time...



Devon shook his head, hurriedly repacked his tools and slung the toolkit on its carry strap over his shoulder. "would have preferred to go in through two hatches but..." he whispered and shrugged. "play the hand we got.  Bridge should be directly behind us as we go in. Cabins likewise.  Secure all those first."

The pair with blasters drawn moved up the ramp and into the engineering space.  They found it dark and empty.  The ship was incredibly devoid of items.  It looked like the captain used every free area to cram in cargo.  Since his load didn't come until tomorrow, the place seemed cavernous.  Navigating through to the berth section, they found one of the berths had been converted into a single cabin, with a double bed, desk and a few accoutrements.  This was clearly the captain's cabin.  It was just as clearly empty.

A search of the other two cabins found they two had been modified.  One had been stripped of furniture to allow it to be used as a cargo area, though currently it was empty.  The other cabin still had bunks but scuff marks suggested it was often used for extra cargo capacity.  None of them showed signs of life and only the captain's cabin showed signs of habitation.  It seemed likely the captain wasn't taking passengers on this trip, or so he had thought.

The last point to check was the bridge.  Putting his blaster back in its holster, Devon moved as quietly up the stairs as he could, though he was far from silent.  Mika cringed as the shipjacker clomped up the stairs.  However it all proved alright as the bridge sat empty.  Clearly the captain was not on his vessel.
This message was last edited by the GM at 10:19, Sun 03 June 2012.

Even though they'd searched and confirmed the ship was empty, Mika's nerves were strung tight and she kept her blaster near at hand.

"Okay, we're in.  Do you think we need to worry about any security systems that might alert the captain?  We should lock down the entrance and put that panel back on properly."  Mika makes a visible effort to calm herself and watch Devon.  "What do you want me to work on?"

Devon was frowning around the bridge.  This almost seemed too easy.
'Frankly what we've done so far is the easy bit.  Now that we're on board, we've got to take control and lock anyone who isn't us out of the ships computer.  Change the pass codes.  And not set off any silent alarms whilst we're at it.'
Flat on his back, Devon reached under a control panel and started unscrewing bolts on an inspection hatch.
'Also, we've got to come up with a way to stop starport security from kicking us out once our work permit expires.  And we need to be ready for the captain if he comes back.  AND we need to come up with a legit sounding excuse that we can use to launch on short notice... if it turns out we need to.'

Devon peered up at Mika and A9.
'Mika, Can you guys get that hatch closed and hide our handiwork out there?  If the captain comes back, hearing it open should give us some warning.  Then come back up here and help me out.  A9, if you patch into the spaceport computers, anything you can do to stop security coming back when our permit expires?  maybe make them think we already left or something?'

There was an electric crackle and Devon yelped, cursed and shook his singed fingers.
'Damnit!  Who overclocks their backup databus and then doesn't put in a circuit breaker to prevent power spikes???'

Glaring at the offending circuits, Devon returned to work.
'Lets see you do that again, I are you.' he growled.

Mika gives a nod and heads for the main ramp.  First order of business is to put the panel back on.  Then she'd have a look at the door mechanism.  If she could disengage the mechanism, then perhaps a mechanical failure would mask their involvement.  Of course it had to be something she could be reversed quickly and easily.

"A9, think you can patch into the ships sensors and keep an eye out for any visitors?"  A few moments warning might make a lot of difference.

Heading back to the control room, she sits down to start working her way into the ships computer system.

13:36, Today: Mika Trake rolled 28 using 1d20+15. Repair check.
13:39, Today: Mika Trake rolled 18 using 1d20+12. Computer Use check.

Mika quickly and expertly rewired the external door panel and refitted the casing.  It would appear undamaged unless someone looked very closely.  The only problem now was that once they closed the ramp they couldn't open it from the outside until Devon bypassed the security systems.  They could raise and lower the ramp via the switch just inside the ship near the ramp but that would be it.

On the bridge, Devon allowed a few moments for the smoke to clear and to recompose himself.  The spark had been more powerful than he admitted.  As it was, he felt it would be a while before he needed hair gel again!  Muttering he went back to work.

A9, from his position at the hacked terminal, lets out a whistle and sends messages to both Mika and Devon's datapads (easier that way)...

Mika curses softly under her breath for her lapse of memory.  Quickly tapping on the datapad, "Stay where you are for the moment, we'll handle things on this end."

She returns to the ships computer.  Step one would be to hack the system.  After that, there were a few things she could do, change the control codes, tie the sensors into the comms and have the ship send a warning of any exterior change of status....

"Any chance you can alter the records after shift change?  Once the new shift hits the admin desk, make it look like we left during the current shift?"

Another beep, another message.  The droid stays where he is, obediently, though he doesn't start hacking the spaceport's system.  Instead he waits to see if Devon still wants him to do that given the droid's warning about the likelihood of success.

Devon pulls himself out from under the panel, shoving his toolkit irritably out the way as he sits up.
'No idea what the hell is up with this ships security.' he grouses to the other two.
'It's gone into some sort of lockdown and encrypted itself... and I left my decoder ring at home.'  he sighed. 'We can still get in but it's gonna take longer.'  he worked a few sums on his datapad, and winced. 'An hour at least.  Damnit, this was only supposed to take about ten minutes!  I think this guy must have installed a paranoia circuit during the last overhaul.'

Still sat on the floor, Devon rubbed his face tiredly.
'Only way we're gonna crack this faster than that is if we have the command codes.  Which means we need the captain.  I'm wondering if theres some clue to where he's gone that we can find?  And a holopic or something too...  then we can comm Xil and he can get the others looking for the guy.  If they find him and can get the codes outta him, fine.  If all they can do is stop him coming back here and getting us busted... thats fine too.  A9, no point trying to use the ship sensors now...  they're locked down.  But don't go slicing they spaceport security either if thats going to get us caught...'

Devon hauled himself to his feet. 'I'm gonna go check his cabin...  sooner we can get the others looking for him, sooner we can get back to doing this the slow way.' As he slouched out the bridge, Devon paused just long enough to give a perfectly innocent control panel a vicious kick, leaving a dent in its casing.

Mika nods as Devon heads for the captains cabin.  "We're still not sure there's no one on board, I'll tag along.  And who knows, maybe we'll find something tomhelp us break the ships security.  Failing that, I'm not the galaxy's best slicer or anything, but would it by anything to put another pair of eyes on it?  Or would that just be another intrusion and take it up a notch?"

She certainly didn't like the idea of going after the ships captain.  Boosting a ship was okay, but she wasn't a thug, leastways when she could avoid it.

The captain's quarters are reasonably sized for a freighter.  It is sparse but functional.  A holoprojector sits on the desk and cycles through various shots when Devon flips it on.  It appears to be the captain and his family as all the shots are of a man, a woman and two children.  Some are just the children, others are all of them in various locales; playing in a park, at a sporting event and so on.

Devon then proceeds to go through the drawers and cabinets.  He finds a datapad with a book loaded that the captain was obviously reading, a small computer with his accounts and statements on it.  A quick glance showed nothing more than a legitimate small business owner.  It was possible there was more but Devon left off a thorough searc for now.

The rest of the search was quick and showed little.  A few changes of clothes, a small cafmaker and some personal items.  There was a locked cabinet in the top of the cupboard that would need to be forced or sliced if they wanted to examine it.

Mika, relieved that the captain is not in evidence, though perhaps it would have been better if he had, seems a little confused.

"Devon, you said that this bucket's got some pretty high brow security.  Kind of odd for a puddle jumper like this isn't it?  And that lock on the ramp wasn't any big deal.  Maybe I'm just getting suspicious, but you think we're walking into some sort of trap?"

While waiting for an answer, Mika studies the locked cabinet.  Not willing to let it lie, she plies the data pad and starts seeing if it's something she can slice.

15:13, Today: Mika Trake rolled 26 using 1d20+12. Computer Use - Slice the Cabinet.

Mika examined the locked cupboard for a few moments, realised it was a basic mechanical code lock and she put her datapad down.  Rummaging through her repair kit, she improvised some tools and went to work on the lock.  It proved to be a fairly standard lock and in a little under a minute she had it open.

The locked cupboard contained a few items:  a fairly ordinary blaster pistol with a power pack sat beside it; a stack of Imperial currency, approximately five thousand credits; and three datachips.  Going through them Mika found one contained the registration and ownership data for the ship, another contained the permit for the blaster and the final one contained the captain's travel permits.



OOC:  All fairly standard items to be found in a captain's safe.  A blaster in case of trouble, some cash for when credit just wouldn't cut it and valuable information you wouldn't want to lose in a fire, or have lifted by a lightfingered dock worker, etc

Mika gives a little self-satisfied sigh.  "Look, here's a few things that might be useful."  She collects the cash, the data chips and the power pack.  If the blaster has a power pack in place, she'll pull it as well.

If Devon notes the small scraps and signs of opening the cabinet, she just shrugs it off.  After all, you can't expect a freighter to not acquire a few dings and dents over time.

"So, what's next?  Want me to try to cut through the encryption and bypass the lockdown?"

Unless Devon instructs otherwise, Mika will make her way back to the cockpit and attempt that very thing.

11:33, Today: Mika Trake rolled 22 using 1d20+12. Computer Use - Cut the Encryption.

Devon was frowning at the pictures the holoprojector was showing, apparently deep in thought.  It was several moments before he looked up.
'Be my guest - will be perfectly happy if you can crack it.  Hey... is that the ships registration your looking at?'  his expression suddenly clearing, Devon leaned round to read over Mika's shoulder.

'You know.. if we DO have to track the captain down, this is exactly what we need.  Can I have those?  I'll call the others and get them on it, then come help you.'
Once Mika had handed him the datachips, Devon slotted them into his own datapad.  He spent several moments reading, then activated his commlink and called Xil.

'Four, this is Seven.  We've hit a snag with the ship and might need the captains command codes to crack the lockdown we're looking at.'  Devon hesitated for a moment before continuing.  'Either the command codes or at least an hour longer than I thought.  The captain is not aboard so I'm guessing he's out in town somewhere.  I can give you full details of ship registration, his travel permits, blaster registration and a physical description.  Think you can get on tracking him down?'

Devon continued to page through the data whilst he waited for Xil's response
This message was last edited by the player at 18:41, Thu 07 June 2012.

Mika passes the datachips to Devon before returning to the bridge.  "Maybe you or A9 could take a look through the computer logs, maybe that'll give you a clue where the captain went."

20:47, Today: Mika Trake rolled 20 using 1d20+15. Repair - Fixing overload.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:49, Fri 08 June 2012.

"Seven, two things. One, what happened in the acquisition of the ship. Two, you're asking me to try find someone in a city with basically a physical description. I may be able to use his ID info, but only if he has needed to use it. You're going to have to get me more intel if we are to be of any help."

"And Seven, send whatever you do find to both Six and myself"

Devon took a moment to compose himself, today was not turning out to be a good day.  His voice was absolutely, artificially calm when next he spoke.  To anyone who knew the shipjacker well enough, it was clear Devon was angry and trying not to show it - probably angry at himself.
'I screwed up, OK?  Skipping the details: I screwed up, got electrocuted and short circuited the ships security. My hands are still numb from the shock.'

Devon paused and glared at the ceiling for a moment.  He took a deep breath and sounded more natural when he continued.  'Yes, I know what I'm asking... but if we want this ship in less than an hour, we don't have a choice.  I'd start with the local cantinas - I don't recall seeing anywhere to get something to eat here in the port, so he might have gone to a cantina for a meal.  You've got a datapad, right?  I'll send copies to you.'

Whilst the files were copying over, Devon looked at the holoprojector on the desk again.
'Now, he's got a permit for a blaster... but we've got the blaster here.  So unless he's carrying a second, unlicenced blaster.. he's unarmed. And Four?  This guy has a wife and two kids.  I for one don't want to make any orphans today, OK?'
This message was last edited by the player at 12:11, Fri 08 June 2012.

A9 beeps idly to himself a few times out in the hangar near the computer terminal.  No translation comes through the datapads (and his player assumes Mika's out of earshot).

After a few moments A9 beeps again, flashing a message up to both Devon and Mika via their datapads.

Mika glances at the datapad and nods absently at A9's note.  It was good work, but her mind was stuck in the mode of getting the ship flying herself, not by boosting some freighter bum off the street.

Devon stared in disbelief at the message on his datapad, before activating his comms again.
'Apparently he's at the local Grav-ball arena, taking in the game.  He bought tickets and the game he's watching isnt due to end for a while yet.  Here's the details.'

Devon typed briefly into his datapad before heading back up to the cockpit to help Mika.

A couple of pleased-sounding beeps from A9.

Mika continues to work at trying to bypass the security system by hacking the command codes.  If that fails, she'll look to start taking things apart and getting at the guts of the ship.

Rann's voice comes over comms “Ten how quick can you send me a virus to beat a basic vending droid?”

Mika gives a curse at the interruption, stops her efforts and snags her comlink.  "I don't know, it'd take a pretty long while, I've not tried to make a droid virus before.  3's a better choice for it or if she's busy, get to a comms and call 11.  If I have to stop and do it, we're not making our deadline."
This message was last edited by the player at 14:59, Wed 20 June 2012.

Mika, even more exasperated at the second interruption, sets her tools down, grabs the comlink and thumbs the control.  She makes no attempt to disguise the irritation in her voice, "I can get the ship in the air a hell of a lot quicker than I can write some sort of virus code for a droid."

'Yeah.' grumbled Devon to no one in particular as he returned from the captains cabin and crouched down next to Mika. It was perhaps for the best that he had switched his comm to receive-only and Rann wouldn't hear him.
'Call the droid expert and leave the engineers to do the engineering.'

Devon examined Mika's work, trying to get an idea for what she was attempting and how he could help.
'How about if I open up the parallel databus and try to bypass the logic gates?'
Popping another inspection panel off, Devon set to work again.

Devon paused in his work to listen with growing disbelief to the comm chatter.
He looked across at Mika with wide eyes, double checked his comm was set to receive only and frantically signalled her to do the same.  He sure as hell didnt want anything he was about to say to go out on the commlink whilst a storm trooper was listening in.

Only once Mika had turned her commlink to receive only/off did he speak.

Mika, setting her comlink to receive only, gives Devon a mystified shake of her head.

Devon nods agreement.

With a plan settled on, Devon got back to work, muttering to himself as he worked feverishly to bypass the lockout.

Some time later A9 can be heard to beep excitedly at his post out near the hangar computer, and a message pops up on both Devon and Mika's datapads.

::Designated Talon units Eleven and Nine are on their way here!  ETA ten standard minutes!::

Mika glances at her datapad, then looks to see if Devon's noted the message.  "Looks like we're going to have company.  How do you think they'll get through the front gate?  Blast their way in?"

Devon was busy rereading the message, and hurridly typing a reply.
"I really hope not.  I'm asking A9 to ask them how they plan to get in here.  What do we do?  One of us go out and meet them or what?"

After a bit A9 responds.

Mika shrugs.  "I don't think we have any magic pill for getting them through the gate.  I think we stick it out here and get the ship moving.  A9 can let us know if they get through the gate and if they do, then one of us can go see about guiding them back here.  It would be good to have a bit more muscle about."

OOC:  Are Mika and Devon seeing any positive results to their attempted ship jacking?

"yeah, right." mumbled Devon as he got back to work.
"Lets just hope that the muscle doesn't arrive wearing standard issue white armour."

Devon paused to check a circuit diagram on his datapad, then typed a brief reply to A9.
"How's it look from where you are?  We've got the safeties and error checks turned off now, so if we can trace the encryption circuits and pull them out of the loop, we should be able to send the main computer an 'unlock' signal and it'd think it was genuine, right?"

A sudden rush of beeps and excited electronic chirps from the R2 unit is accompanied, about ten minutes later, by the sound of the hangar door opening.

Cor and Zyra walk in.  Cor is blindfolded and has both hands on the top of A9's shiny dome as the astromech guides her toward the ship.

The Umbaran is in a form-fitting slinky black dress that manages to be both sexy and classy, black thigh-high platform boots and several bracelets around each wrist.  Under the impromptu blindfold the shape of wraparound sunglasses can be seen.  It's a shiny, sexy outfit that's obviously meant to be alluring but not get her arrested.

Her manner, though, doesn't match the clothing.  She's tense and shivering, keeping her head as still as she can.  Nonetheless her footfalls don't seem to falter any as she walks.  One of her hands, resting on A9's head, tightly clasps a datapad.

The astromech, for his part, seems quite accustomed to his mistress's foibles and unerringly directs her toward the ship.

OOC:  Just to clarify, Cor, Zyra and A9 are now in the hanger, heading for the ship?  I believe we locked down access to the ship, though of course if Devon and Mika could hack the lock, others could too.

Zyra follows closely behind, similarly blindfolded, her arm latched firmly on to B2-CC9's.  Once the group is inside, their 'handlers' speak quickly to CC9, turn and leave the hangar.  Once gone, R2-A9 quickly shuts and locks the door and are able to remove their blindfolds.


OOC: To clarify, nobody outside the ship can get in unless they slice the controls or ask Mika or Devon nicely to let them in.   However Mika and Devon have yet to be told of their 'guests' so wouldn't know (A9 is serving as their eyes, ironic as he doesn't possess any!).  Mika and Devon need a few more minutes to bypass security and then preflight the ship.  Hopefully someone has a plan to get this ship offworld!

Beeps and whistles.  Beeps and whistles!

Cor keeps her blindfold on. It seems hers is in place for somewhat different reasons to Zyra's.  Quite a contrast to the talking she's been doing over the comm channel, the Umbaran is silent now.

Mika gives another muttered curse word.  "i just got my hands past that damn inducer and into the wiring matrix.  You mind lettin' 'em in?"  Mika considers Devon to be the senior guy inside the ship and she feels a bit awkward asking him to play doorman, but shereally didn't want to turn loose of the components she'd finally managed to access just yet.

Devon scrambled out from under the control panel he was working on and peered out at the droids and two blindfolded figures.
"what the hell? they're wearing blindfolds..."  he gave Mika a puzzled look.
"What's that about? Cant see anyone else with them and A9's messages don't mentioning any problems.. I think we might be OK."
Devon pondered for a moment, then slid his blaster from its holster, checked its settings and put it back. "I'll go get 'em.  But if you hear any blood curdling screams, you come rescue me, OK?"

Trotting quickly down to the main hatch, Devon thumbed the switch to open it.
With one hand on his blaster Devon crouched to peer through the widening gap as the ramp lowered and looked hurriedly around.
"We're having a mildly paranoid day here, so get in here fast and then we can swap stories."
As soon as they were on board, Devon jabbed the hatch controls again, causing it to start closing.

Zyra seems amused by Devon's antics.  She brushed past him with a smile.  She is wearing a long coat that is open in front which reveals the dress she is wearing.  A matte black with shining green gems, it is cut low and seems a little small.  It does little to hide Zyra's cleavage.  Her dress is long but with a very long slit up the side.  Her horns are gilded in gold leaf and her face is heavily made-up, which is quite unusual for her.  She also wears a far amount of gold jewellrey, one long chain especially which drew the eyes downwards to her plunging neckline, not that any self-respecting male needed such help.

"B2-CC9, could you assist your mistress onboard please?  Seven, why don't you take us to wherever Ten is hiding and you can bring us up to speed on your actions."

Zyra moves to wherever Devon indicates Mika is located.

The combat droid stares at Zyra a moment.  Who knows what it's thinking?

"By your command."  Then it takes Cor's hand and guides her into the ship's interior.  Tromping down the corridor a little way it then stops and commences a very obvious weapons check on its blaster rifle.

A9, having relinquished his mistress to the huge battle droid and having no other orders, heads back to the hangar computer.

Cor waits until she hears the docking ramp clamp shut behind them.  When CC9 releases her she feels for the wall, and then for the opposite wall.  She turns carefully to face one of them - the other wall, toward the ship's hull - before removing her blindfold.  Staring at the wall seems to calm her down and then after a few moments she starts looking about the corridor curiously.  "Yes, Mister Nallis has requested a situation report on the ship's status.  Again."

Then she speaks to the battle droid in a low voice, her words phrased carefully in Umbaran.

"By your command," the droid responds and immediately lumbers off down the corridor.

'Mister Nallis can go shove his sniper rifle up his...'  Devon trailed off into harmless sub-vocal grumbling.  'We'll report when there's something to report.  He needs to leave us to get on with things.'

'I think the Talons are not having their best day ever, ladies.  From what we've been hearing on the comms, it seems like things are going wrong everywhere'  Devon gave Zyra and Cor an apologetic grin and turned to lead the way up to the bridge.  'And thats left us more than a little twitchy.  Still, its good to see you guys.'

Stepping over Mika and various scattered tools, Devon perched on a console that had a dent in its casing where someone must have kicked it at some point. 'Can we make this quick - still got work to do here if we want to fly this bucket.'

Devon glanced from Cor to Zyra. 'Looks like you guys have been having fun.  We got in here OK, with some help from A9.  Little guy is invaluable - especially given that local security assume hes a droid from one of the ships and basically let him go where he likes.  Front desk thinks me and Mika are private security contractors running a check on the ship at the captains request; our clearance expires in about another... two hours.'

OOC:  I think its two hours?  not sure and having to post from my mobile phone so cant check easily.  if its not 2 hours, someone please correct me!

Devon paused, gathering his thoughts.  The sight of Zyra and Cor obviously wasnt helping his concentration.
'Our main problem here is that I managed to electrocute myself... and the feedback sent the ship into total lockdown.  Right now we cant even switch a damn light on.  We're working on it.  Should have full control in another half hour or so.'

Actually, it was more like ten minutes.  But like many other engineers, Devon believed in the idea of always saying things would take longer than was actually true.  That way, when you finished on time they thought you were a miracle worker.  He hoped Mika shared the belief and didnt correct him.

Zyra smiled at Devon's report.

"Do not worry about your clearances, that is all in hand.  We'll be leaving as soon as you're ready."

"Cor, could you assist with repairs?  I'd be grateful if you could shave some time off Mr Kismet's schedule."

"I can," Cor nods, "though ship engineering is not my speciality and I may be of more use on the comms still.  Unless, that is, Mister Nallis has the extraction - or elimination - of Troop leader well in hand.  A9 is a skilled mechanic," she adds to Devon.  "Did he refuse to provide repair assistance?"  The Umbaran looks concerned; does her astromech require an 'adjustment'?

Mika voice is muffled by the fact that she's still buried to the waist in a maintenance hatch.  "Nope, A9's great.  But we needed someone on watch and he was the least conspicuous.  Besides, we figured between the two of us, Devon and I could handle the ship.  I've got to say, we'd probably be done now if it weren't for all of the interruptions.  Can someone hand me that hydrospanner, the little one with the blue handle?"

"Ah, of course."  She nods thoughtfully.  If she has any opinions on the interruptions that the shipjacking team have experienced then certainly she doesn't voice them.  She tugs the hem of her skirt up a little to aid bending - coincidentally exposing considerably more leg, which probably doesn't help Devon's concentration any more - and squats down by the hatch to hand the hydrospanner to Mika.

'I'm guessing you sent CC9 off on guard duty?  Hope he's going to stay out of sight.  A9 doesnt look out of place round here, but a battledroid?  Might raise a few eyebrows.'
Laying down on his back, Devon pulled himself back underneath the panel he had been working on.
'Then again, I'm betting your outfits did that too.  So you say you've got our clearances sorted?  AND permission for us to fly? What did you do?'  he stuck his head back out for a moment and grinned up at the two women.  'And who did you do it to?  For that matter, I just gotta ask... what was with the blindfolds?'

Devon worked in silence for a few moments, then one hand emerged and groped round in the scatter of tools on the floor.  Devon could apparantly identify his tools by touch because there was no hesitation when he selected a particular dataline probe.
'So whats going on out there?  And what are we going to do with that storm trooper who says he's helping us?'  Even with his voice muffled by the console he was working in, the others could hear the emphasis Devon put on the word 'says'

"Quite full of questions, mmm?"  Cor starts scanning the ship where the pair are working on it, making a few mental notes before starting to get her hands dirty.  "CC9 will remain out of sight to anyone who cannot stare through ship hulls.  If someone who can see through solid metal and plasteel comes along then we will be in a little trouble, yes.  But for the moment he is patrolling inside the ship, not outside of it."

She waves in Zyra's direction as she's taking data readings from a collection of instruments, keeping a close eye on data flow.  The lack of her normal toolkit is aggravating her, though.  "Ms Jax dealt with air clearance.  You would have to direct your questions regarding her private business to her.  The blindfolds were for... mutual protection.  Mine came in handy, as it turned out."  She doesn't elaborate, but she does continue.

"What is happening is that Mister Nallis is meeting with the Troop Leader and, I sincerely hope, assessing whether he should be put down or taken into... our care.  What we are going to do with him is, I suspect, not something you or I have much say in."

After a few moments she taps her commlink earpiece (see comms thread).  Once she's said her piece (seems she knows how to be... lenient in her time estimations, too) she rolls up her proverbial sleeves and gets to work helping fix their ride.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:48, Fri 20 July 2012.

Zyra had seated herself in the pilot's chair and was going through what little of the preflight checklist she could without power.  Hearing all Devon's questions to Cor, Zyra turns.  "Now, now Mister Kismet.  You and Mika just finished telling us how you can't get your work done due to distractions.  We can't have Ms Lambar distracting you now can we?  We can talk when your work is done."
This message was last edited by the player at 00:57, Sat 21 July 2012.

With a third engineer helping out, the work goes even faster and less than five minutes later, the ship begins to whir to life as systems begin coming online.


OOC:  You have bypassed security.  Probably would pay not to shut down systems until you've had time to completely take over the system, but for now you have full ship control.  You could have her airborne in a few minutes

The pilots controls emitted a subdued chime and several screens lit up.
"Yes!"  shouted Devon from underneath his console.
He scrambled hurriedly out, and leaned past Zyra with a mumbled 'scuse me' to start typing typing commands into the pilots console she had been working on, studying the results and flipping through menus almost too fast for her to follow what he was doing.
"A qualified 'yes', a limited 'yes'... but we've got her.  She's taking orders and we can lift soon as preflight is done." He grinned round at the others and then continued typing.  There was a large component of relief in Devon's grin.
"What ever you do, DON'T log out of anything that's logged in - we still don't know the command passcodes... all we've done is bypass them.  It'll take time to convince the ship to let us to change the passcodes, but that's only an issue if the real owner realizes we've jacked his ride AND has a transmitter that can reach her."

Devon quickly bolted the console he had been working on shut and scooped his tools back into their kit.
"We need to run preflight if we want to go anywhere."  He looked at Zyra.  "This can is designed for a one man crew, but we can speed things up a LOT if we have someone in engineering, and a separate navigator."

"I am sure we have more than one person able to pilot, there are two engineers right here, and an astromech outside," Cor says mildly, straightening and brushing her dress down. She pulls out her datapad again and brings up some maps, making notes here and there.

"I know that, I know that - I'm just trying to work out who is best where..."
answered Devon quickly, whilst typing something into his datapad.

Beeeep booooop beeeeep!

Zyra moves out of the pilot seat so Devon can work.

"Have the ship pre-flighted and ready for liftoff at a moments notice.  We will need to go from here to the rendezvous point for the others, Cor has the co-ordinates.  Then we'll need to set a course for the Core, Coruscant perhaps.  We'll only follow that course for an hour or two, find a safe port for our passengers then circle back.  We'll need to ensure we have everything ready for all our passengers, some are wounded."

"Cor, I need you to co-ordinate our timing.  I imagine it will only take a minute or so to reach the rendezvous point and we don't want to be on the ground any longer then it takes to pick up our people and the refugees.  Here are our clearance codes for when we need to go"  She places a datapad next to the system operator's console.

"I'll be in the Captain's quarters.  I have some messages to send."

Cor nods neatly to Zyra.  "Of course, Ms Jax," she says softly, and continues doing exactly what she was.  Chances are good she was already mapping routes.  Walking around a little as she does she taps her earpiece and starts speaking.

"Lets get started, then." says Devon.  He offers Mika a hand to help her stand up.
"A9 is coming aboard and will help with navigation.  You wanna take engineering? And we're gonna need someone out there to open the hanger bay door, unless we wanna just shoot a hole in the wall.  But I'm betting if we did demolish the hanger to get out, it would ruin our cover story though.  What is the cover story anyhow?"

Dropping into the pilots seat, Devon snagged the datapad that Zyra had left behind and started reading through it - after all, Zyra had gotten them permission to fly, and he figured he'd better know what their cover story is.

_{"I remember last time we blew up the hanger to get out."}   He mumbled to anyone who was listening whilst he read.  _{"Wacky fun. I'd like to get shot at less this time."}

Once he finished with the datapad, Devon started into the preflight routine.
"Cor, you going to have a course ready for me before we lift?" he asked without looking round.

OOC: So whats on this datapad then?

"I have had coordinates for an extraction point ready for a little over half an hour," Cor nods to Devon.  "The exact course you take to get there is the pilot's task."  Tapping a few buttons she sends the coordinates for a place about two minutes' flight away, well out of town.

Mika scoots her way out of the access panel and accepts Devon's hand up.  "I'd like to keep after it until we've sliced the command codes, but I guess now's not the time.  Yeah, I'll take engineering if you want."  She takes a moment to gather up her tools and heads towards the engineering deck.  She wasn't all that familiar with the ship, but she could just follow the power conduits if nothing else.

Cor seats herself in the systems operator seat and extends a hand toward Devon.  "I believe Ms Jax left the datapad for me, Mr Kismet.  I will need the clearance codes it contains to get us off-planet."

She keeps her head facing the controls.  In fact she avoids looking toward the wide-open viewports to the front of the cockpit as much as she possibly can.

"Yeah," answered Devon, amiably. "and as the pilot I needed to see if those codes include clearance to launch from this hanger; the ships original flight plan says no launch till tomorrow morning.  If we lift without clearance, then security will be on us instantly."

He paused for a moment, his eyes widening as he read the first few lines.
"Yeah..." he managed.  "I imagine those codes will get us where we need to go... or anywhere really.  Hell, give me that sort of clearance and I'll go to Coruscant and steal the Emperor's personal speeder for you.  Where did you even get this?  They don't just hand those out to anyone... no matter how good they look in a dress!"

More than satisfied, Devon handed the pad back to Cor with an apologetic grin.  Cracking his knuckles, he busied himself with the preflight.  After a couple of minutes he spoke without looking up.
"OK, all looks good at my end.  Unless Mika found something unexpected, we can lift any time.  We need someone out there to open the hanger, and thats it."
This message was last edited by the GM at 12:28, Tue 24 July 2012.

Cor takes the pad back and looks it over, seeming unsurprised.  Eventually she mutters something to herself in Umbaran and starts punching codes into the systems operation computer with the speed of someone who's made computers her life. 

"We need to wait for Mr Nallis to report back, as it will take him anywhere from six to eight times the duration to get to the extraction point than it will us - and I am reasonably certain you do not relish the idea of squatting the ship down for eleven minutes whilst we wait for him to arrive."  She glances at him, shielding her eyes with one hand with a kind of instinctive gesture, sort of like a blinker on one side of a horse's bridle.  "Ms Jax got the codes.  She can be very persuasive when required."

Devon nods his understanding as Cor explains the schedule.  "Sounds simple enough from our end - if Xil doesn't bring trouble with him, we should be OK."

Devon fiddled with the controls for a few seconds, testing things.  Then he looked round at Cor again.
"hang on, you said Zyra got those codes?"
After Cor confirmed, Devon mumbled to himself for a moment:
_{"Gorgeous,intelligent and can make get-out-of-jail-free cards.  I think I've found the perfect woman."}  Unexpectedly he raised his voice to bellow back towards the captains cabin.
"Zyra!  Marry me!"

Cor flinches hard as she's yelled past, fixing her eyes on the console in front of her and muttering to herself in Umbaran as she runs through a few checks she likely doesn't need to.

"Awww, that's so sweet." Zyra calls back.

CC9 stomps back in, filling up the doorway with intimidating red-accented durasteel.

"Assessment of the craft is complete.  Report ready.  Further orders?"

"I will assess your report later, CC9," Cor says without looking away from her panel of instruments.  "Once we touch down on-planet we will be taking aboard a number of unarmed refugees of disparate species, along with a stormtrooper who has apparently decided to defect.  The stormtrooper may be armed.  Your recommendations?"

"There are several weak points to stormtrooper armour that a well-placed blaster bolt -"

"No," Cor says quickly, "we intend to keep him alive and unharmed as long as he takes no aggressive action."

"That is a tactically unsound intention," CC9 states in his flat, emotionless monotone, "but under the circumstances I recommend disarming this stormtrooper and confining him to quarters until we have returned to the Nightshrike.  If he refuses to relinquish his weapon I will shoot him," the droid continues, "as my protocols to ensure your safety require confirmed action."

"All right, but..."  Cor wrinkes her nose delicately.  "Make sure you shoot him on stun.  We do not wish to upset Ms Jax or Mr Sheppard."

"My security protocols override their opinions or commands," CC9 states.  Then, after a lengthy pause he adds, "But I will comply, mistress.  Further orders?"

"Please find our stormtrooper... guest secure lodgings, CC9, thank you."

"By your command."  The droid turns and stomps out.

As she heads back to engineering, she hears Devon's shouted proposal to Zyra and smirks.  She mutters a quick, "Yeah, that's going to happen."

Once in the engineering bay, she uses the comlink to call Devon and Cor, "Ready on my end." she says tersely.

Cor replies in kind.  "Ready here also, waiting on Mr Nallis."

With so many people working on the pre-flight it took next to no time at all to get ready.  Then there was the waiting.  Devon and Cor waited in the cockpit while Mika, having ensured engineering was ready moved down to the cargo bays and ensured the lifts were ready.  They wanted to load everyone as quickly as possible so they were going to use the elevators.  Zyra, having changed into a simple jumpsuit that was a few sizes too large, came down to help Mika prepare.

When the call finally came that Xil's team was nearly at the rendezvous, everyone went into motion.  R2-A9 went and opened the hangar doors while Cor requested flight clearance.  The return clearance was fast, faster then any Cor or Devon had experienced before.  Their high level clearance was paying off.  In less than five minutes they were airborne.  It took less time then that to reach the rendezvous point.  Devon, realising time was critical, and perhaps eager to show off, rapidly flew down and landed without slowing down.  THe landing was a thing of beauty but nobody seemed to be admiring it.  Cor was busy at her station.

Down in the hold Mika immediately began lowering the elevators.  Seeing the three speeders waiting, Zyra jumped on the comms.

"Load the trooper transport onto the port elevator.  Get the other two on the starboard.  I want us airborne in two minutes."

The process took just under two minutes.  The two starboard speeders loaded without a hitch.  The port speeder was slightly oversized but Mika was able to quickly set up a winch system to take care of it.

In the cockpit, Devon had kept the repulsors running with a fraction less power then they needed to lift.  The moment the lifts closed and Mika gave the okay he slammed in the power and aimed for space.

Passage through the custom checkpoints was quick, their pass ensuring nobody stopped them or even asked them a question.  Devon didn't even need to wait to clear the customs zone before engaging hyperdrive, instead the second he cleared the gravity well he had clearance.  He quickly checked A9's course and found the route was good.  It took them towards Coruscant for a few hours before making a long circuitous route back to the Nightshrike.

Without a further thought, Devon pulled the hyperdrive levers.  The stars elongated and stretched out before them as the ship lurched into hyperspace.

The day was finally over.  They were safe!



*THREAD CLOSED - Post in debriefing thread*