"We have to hurry, but be cautious," Jack said.  "Let's move out."

Everyone followed Jack's lead to the hangar.  Before you even got to the docking bay, the massive hangar smells of exhaust fumes and spilled coolant reached your noses.

"Wait," Ikis said.  "I can probably sneak in and scout things out before we bust in.  Should I?" he asked Jack.

"Go for it," Jack said.

In the blink of an eye Ikis moved quickly, but silently into the docking bay.  And after what seemed like a while, but must have been only a minute, he came sprinting back out, with blaster bolts following him.

"Well I've got good news and bad news.  The good news is: I scouted out the room."

"And the bad news?" Connus asked as more blaster bolts sprayed out the door.

"They spotted me."

"No kidding," Connus said sarcastically.

Ikis described the layout of the docking bay: "There are crates stacked up throughout the hangar, waiting for transport down to Brentaal.  There are three doors off to the left side of the bay; the two closest to us are close together and the third one leads into a room with a transparent window overlooking the hangar, so I can only assume that's the control room.  Two naval troopers are standing by some crates off to the right and an Imperial officer is close by them.  Two more naval troopers are flanking the middle door.  There was no sign of the repulsor sled, but it's probably in the storage area that the two naval troopers on the left are guarding."

"Well," Jack said, loading his blaster.  "There's only five of them, let's go."

Ikis charged back in first, with Jack close behind.  As Jack entered he saw Ikis move blurringly fast towards one of the naval troopers near the officer (NT4).  Ikis swung and missed, and retreated back to cover behind some stacked crates.

Jack moved in to the left and headed behind the lifter.  Once secure he fired at the Officer.

Jack's shot hit but didn't do much damage, grazing the shoulder of the officer.

Talamon charged in afterwards running towards the two naval troopers and the officer.  When he got relatively close to them he splayed out his right hand and the three Imperials went flying, knocked to the ground by a telekinetic punch.  None of them would be getting back up.

Just then a repulsor sled drove out of the storage room that the other two naval troopers were guarding, pulling a block of carbonite behind it.  Upon hearing the blaster fire and seeing three of his fellows fall, the trooper driving the sled, detached the carbonite block and moved around some of the crates.  As Jack was the only one he could see with a weapon , he fired at him with the blaster cannon mounted on the sled.  The trooper made a crack shot, and not even Jack's cover could save him .

The naval trooper that had been standing on the north side of the storage room door (NT1) had gotten a better look at what had happened, and realizing that Talamon was the cause of the others' deaths, he followed the repulsor sled out, making sure to keep behind it for cover, and fired at Talamon.  Talamon was out in the open, so there was nothing he could do to dodge the blast; it hit him in the thigh.

The other naval trooper approached from the other direction, trying to catch Jack in a crossfire with the repulsor sled, but he completely missed.

Connus came in immediately after that and shot at the second trooper, but he missed just as badly.

Ikis moved around the back of the crates so as to keep cover and get closer for an attack on one of the Imperials.

Jack, though injured, fought through his pain and fired at the pilot of the Repulsor Sled.

Jack's precise shot pierced the pilot's heart, and he slumped off the sled, dead.

Talamon quickly drew his lightsaber, activated it and moved in on the trooper next to the repulsor sled.  That trooper fired at Talamon, and he took a hard one to his shoulder.

The other trooper fired at Connus (at whom he had the clearest shot).  But he completely missed.  Connus fired back at him and hit him in the head, killing him instantly.  Connus then moved to help surround the remaining trooper.

Ikis moved in as well.

Jack moved in closer, trying to get line of sight on the remaining naval trooper.  He took one crack shot that went straight through the trooper's head, killing the last of their opponents.

Ikis called Maya on the comm, letting her know that they had secured the cargo.  "Your ride will be there soon," came the reply.

"Let's not forget that crate of Corellian ale that Switch wants us to deliver," Connus spoke up.

Jack hadn't forgotten about the Corellian ale.  No way was he going to miss out on that chance!

It didn't take you long to find the crate of Corellian ale.  And a short time later a large Baudo-class Star Yacht drifted into the main docking bay and lowered its ramp.  Over the loudspeaker, a woman's voice called out to you: "If your Maya's associates looking for a ride, hop aboard."

Jack indicated for the others to board first while he took up the rear.

Connus picked up the crate of ale, and hopped on the ship, with Talamon following right behind him.  Ikis pushed the carbonite block onto the ship as well.  Fortunately there was no one for Jack to worry about, so he got on the ship as well.

With everyone aboard, the loading ramp closed, and you could feel the ship do a quick 180, then blast back out into space.

Pretty soon an RX-13 pilot droid came toodling back to greet you.  "Oh, dear, oh dear," he said as he took in the sight.  "I'm afraid this is more cargo than we intended to take on," he added, looking squarely at the crate of ale.  "Oh well, I suppose we can still fit it all in the storage area.  Follow me," he said indicating Connus and Ikis.  After stowing the frozen agent and the ale, the droid indicated where you could strap in for the jump to hyperspace.  "You may either take one of the chairs in the lounge near the rear of the ship, or follow me back to the cockpit."

"I'm going to the cockpit," Connus said.

"I'll retire to the lounge, I think," Ikis replied.

"Me too," came the chorus from Talamon.

"I'll join you," Jack said, he was a bit tired and wanted to rest in a comfortable spot.

As soon as you were strapped in, you could feel the acceleration of the jump to hyperspace.  As you got more comfortable, you could hear Connus and the captain coming back towards you, discussing piloting; the droid tootled along behind them.

"Oh boy," you heard Talamon utter.

"What is it?" Jack asked Talamon

"You'll see," Talamon replied, sliding down in his seat in an attempt to hide between Jack and Ikis.  But it didn't do much good.  As soon as Connus and the female captain rounded the corner, you saw that the captain was a beautiful middle-aged Human woman with striking white hair.  When she spotted Talamon, she yelled out "You!  What are you doing on my ship again?  When I let you go before it wasn't so you could come back."

"I'm sorry," Talamon replied sheepishly.  "I just needed a ride up to the station, and I didn't do any harm to your ship."

"I know, that's why I let you go," the captain replied.  Then she calmed.  "Well, I guess if you're a friend of Maya's..." she trailed off, but gave a sly smile.  "I suppose we should do formal introductions.  My name is Sirona Okeefe, captain of the Banshee," she said, lovingly patting her ship.  "You've already met my co-pilot, Crash, here.  He's something of a worry wart, but I like him just the same.  I've already met Connus, but who are the rest of you?  Let's start with you, stowaway."

"I'm Talamon Vantika," Talamon said, keeping it brief.

"I'm keeping my eye on you Talamon," Sirona replied.

"I'm Ikis Thanda," Ikis spoke up.  "Close associate of Maya for quite some time."
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:56, Thu 07 Oct 2010.

"I'm Commander Shephard ," Jack replied.  "Though I suppose the title doesn't mean anything anymore."

"Maybe not the title itself," Captain Okeefe admitted, "but I'm sure whatever you accomplished to deserve the title still means something.  Welcome aboard all of you.  I know you've just been through a rough fight, so please feel free to take advantage of any of the amenities I have on board.  We have a refresher just up the hallway, and just past that a medical suite with any supplies you may need to heal up.  We also have 4 passenger suites at your disposal and a fully-stocked galley.  Please, make yourselves at home."

Jack nodded, then waited the appropriate amount of time before getting up to use the medical suite.  He wasn't a weakling, but when services were being freely offered...

Continued in Rendezvous on Alderaan (Jack Shepherd).