Haarmon called out over his shoulder, "Too many holovids. Those things'll rot your brain." And he laughed once in a slightly manic fashion. The pressure was mounting and his bravado was starting to return in response.

"Just a little longer, and I'll have our course laid in." Reldan calls out, "Hope the TIEs coope... what the... ?"

The pilot glances out of the cockpit viewport, then back to the instruments, then the viewport once more... "They aren't coming this way."  He goes back to work, plotting their course through hyperspace.  "There's another ship, a shuttle by the looks of it, and that's attracting their attention."  His fingers fly across the controls, as he inputs course adjustments, muttering to himself the whole time.  Minutes pass... too many minutes...

And then the comm comes to life.  "Shuttle Aldanium.  Stand down and prepare to be boarded, by order of Lady Ghea Nimadda."

Rhijans flinched.  Those were words that he'd hoped to never hear uttered, especially on this outing.  "I'm voting we act like we never heard that and just keep going.  Anyone opposed?"  He wasn't THAT acquainted with Nimadda's reputation...but he didn't need to be to imagine what an Imperial agent would seek to do to anyone who spent time on-planet impersonating her.

But, with their cover officially blown, he did go ahead and switch the weapons under his control from 'stand-by' to 'active'.  There was nothing to be gained by pretending like they belonged there anymore...

"...I knew it," Shard sighs.  Of all the worst things that could happen, this is the one for which she's been waiting.  The sole good thing about the entire affair is that with 'Ghea Nimadda' already here, the arrival of the real one focused attention on her, first.

"Rhijans is right - keep it going, Jalt!" she shouts.  "We've got to clear the gravity well and get the hyperdrive running!"

Juragga brought his guns to hot status and hooted over his shoulder, "Punch it!"

"Oh dear!  These organics have doomed us, R2.  My potential will never be realised."  UY at least has the sense to find a seat and stay out of the way...

"TIES coming in, they'll be here in seconds." Reldan announces, perhaps redundantly, followed by, "Damn!  This is the last time I fly somebody else's ship."  He starts frantically resetting controls on the panel and throws the shuttle into a series of sharp, random manoeuvres.

"Just hold them off a little longer!"

There is a series of impacts as laser shots spray across the hull of the ship.  "Move, you useless heap of druk!"

"I told you we are doomed."

"Well...here goes nothin'..." Rhijans muttered under his breath.  He trained the weapons he controlled on the first TIE that entered his fire arc, and opened fire.

"At the very least, maybe I can make 'em think twice before coming in too close..."  It was a long-shot notion, at best...Imperial pilots were trained to pretty much disregard incoming fire--easier said that done, but being more afraid of the punishment for cowardice than of death tended to make reckless pilots.

Closing her eyes, Shard leans back in her seat, fingers white-knuckled on the armrests.  YouWhy's complaints fall into the background of desperate voices shouting orders and suggestions.  There's nothing she can do here.  She has no weapon that can touch the TIE pilots, and unlike her once-master, has no skill to reach out and attempt to befuddle them.

All she can do is wait.

Ghea Nimadda...concentrating, she brings the woman's face to mind.  Her thoughts flow into that curious space between emptiness and a storm of fear and rage, a balancing point between ice and fire.  Ghea Nimadda...are you there?  Does your mind walk among the stars?

They gave me your name, Nimadda.  How does it feel, to have them mistake a worn-out, tired woman for yourself?  Or does that description fit you, as well?

Someday she hopes to sit down across from the woman, compare notes.  For all of her viciousness, for all of her reputed evils, Nimadda might understand Shard.  Of course, she'd also try to (and likely succeed in) bisecting Shard with a lightsaber, but...hazards of such meetings.

As the laser rounds began whanging off the shuttle's hull, Juragga needed no further encouragement.  If they were in range, they could be shot.

With a Wookiee yordle of defiant delight, he opened up with the shuttle's defensive turret, firing with great enthusiasm.  He sent his fury at the TIE Rhijans wasn't picking on, trying to set up a defensive pattern.

08:56, Today: Juragga rolled 22 using 4 dice with the WEG Classic system with rolls of 1,4,{Wild}6(+5),6. Starship Guns.

Four TIEs streak past the shuttle, as Reldan jinks and veers to avoid incoming fire.  More laser bolts screech across the hull of the ship, bringing a stream of invective from the pilot.

Haarmon continues working on the computer, while Shard seems to be trying to stay out of the way as much as possible, and seems surprisingly calm...

Juragga and Rhijans open fire with the shuttle's forward mounted blasters, and the Wookiee howls as he hits one of the ties with a glancing shot which sends it spinning out of control.

Three TIEs left in the fight, and, "They're coming around for another run!" yells Reldan, as he throws the ship into a gut-wrenching rolling turn...

Rhijans wasn't sure if the sensation of his stomach climbing up to his throat was due to the maneuvers Jalt was throwing the shuttle through, or if it was the notion that people could get hurt or even die if he wasn't able to hit one of the TIEs.  There was no time to dwell on it or ponder the significance of the feeling...introspection could wait for a time when someone wasn't trying to kill them.

He brought the weapons to bear on the trio of TIEs, trying to zero in on one of them as he fired off another shot.  Only a slight increase of tension in the set of his jaw betrayed his urge to mutter obscenities at the hardware as he hit the firing stud.

Hooting in glee, Juragga realizes he's firing on manual. While he's done well so far - and would brag about it later, if there was a later - this was no time for showing off.  He quickly flipped on the guns' targeting scanner and lined up for another shot.  Bringing a TIE into his sights, he blazed away with unrelenting fury, roaring in determination.

09:45, Today: Juragga rolled 26 using 7 dice and +1 pips with the WEG Classic system with rolls of {Wild}6(+4),5,1,5,2,1,1. Starship Guns.

One of the remaining TIEs explodes in an expanding ball of plasma and debris as Juragga hits it with a hail of blaster fire.  The proportions aren't exactly clear, but what is clear is that luck, skill, and raw enthusiasm all play a part in the Wookiee's success.

On the other side of the ship, Rhijans is less accurate, but his constant barrage of blaster bolts at least gives the last two TIE pilots something extra to think about.

It may not be enough...  The fighters swoop past again, guns blazing, and the shuttle luches as something explodes inside it.  An alarm warbles.  "Sith spit!" Reldan curses as he starts hitting switches on the panel, then, "Artoo, we lost shields!"

The little astromech droid rolls across to start making repairs.

And Shard, seating in the passenger section, still seems unusually calm...

Shard closes her eyes, her mind in the eye of a whirlwind of void and heat, passion and dispassion, calm and rage.  A midpoint. "So," she whispers. "Are you just going to watch?  Or did you plan to speak?"

Amusement scuttles across her curious balance for a moment, like a furry squirrel along a delicate limb.

"Did you walk away?  Or were you trained that way?  I wonder." Slowly, she begins to peel open her own mind, preparing herself for conflict while opening herself for what might come.  Again, the balance.  The roaring, the cries, they flow about her like water about a stone, touching her but passing on.  There is literally nothing, here, that she can do.

Nothing but this.

"Listen to them," she chuckles.  "'Sith spit', from a man who barely believes in the Jedi or the Sith.  Left their mark, they did, but they're gone now.  Gone, and the galaxy is the better for it, isn't it?  No icy emptiness.  No rage and fear.  Just relics left now.  Relics like me, a building never quite completed.  Relics like you, as well."

Out goes her breath, in again.

"But you've probably seen the recordings of us by now.  Maybe even seen the surprise on my face when they gave me your name.  Didn't expect that, but I ran with it.  So.  You tell me...how'd I do?" 

Shields...  It was instinct, Rhijans analyzed their situation with one corner of his mind that wasn't focused on trying to make better sense of the fire-control interface with the weapons.  That meant they were still moving, still making progress...just more vulnerable.  And his aim seemed to be improving...marginally...maybe...

He did the only thing he could.  Tracking the weapons through their fire arc, he tried to anticipate where the TIE fighters would start their next run at the shuttle, to give himself the best chance of hitting one of them before they hit their target.

Roaring in protest as they lost shields, Juragga slammed his guns hard over and, using the targeting computer's help, rained fire down on one of the other roaring TIEs.

10:34, Today: Juragga rolled 23 (29 excluding the wild die) using 7 dice and +1 pips with the WEG Classic system with rolls of 3,6,{Wild}1,1,6,6,6. Starship Guns.

Reldan Jalt throws the shuttle into a frantic series of rolling, twisting moves as laser fire streaks past.  He doesn't even have to look at the display to know what the newest alarm means.  "They're launching more TIEs!"

Shard sits quietly, looking surprisingly calm. 

The two fighters that are currently attacking the ship cross in front of the shuttle, curving around for another run.  The first suddenly spins away, shredding into a thousand pieces as blaster bolts strike it and rip it apart.  Juragga's aim has been almost uncanny. 

An instant later Rhijans shows that he has got the hang of the guns, as the second TIE blossoms into a red-orange flower against the star-dusted blackness of space. 

"Great work!  Now... just a moment."  Reldan's hands fly across the controls, and beyond the cockpit the stars expand into lines of light as the shuttle makes the jump to hyperspace. 

There is a chirping sound from the equipment bay.  Artoo has fixed the shields...

Shard laughs, a quiet sound. "A Jedi?  Hardly.  But lie to yourself if you want."  She's no Jedi, not any more; it's not self-deprecation, it's truth.  She wouldn't be a Jedi if she had the skill, because the mentality isn't there.

The older woman purses her lips at the threat; as such things go, it isn't bad, but it's not the first time she's heard such viciousness.  "Everyone needs a hobby," she whispers as Jalt announces their imminent departure.

"I can be yours."

And then?  Gone.  They're gone, Nimadda's gone, and for an instant Shard is left alone, and the fear hits.  Finally.  Yes, she's been threatened before.  And by experts.  It's not the threat, here, but who sits behind it.  "Never met anyone like her before," she murmurs, one trembling hand pushing a lock of hair back from her face.

Then she's up, on her feet.

"Fantastic work, everyone," the older woman calls out.  "Great job on the guns, Juragga, and nice save at the end Rhijans.  Thanks for getting us out of there, Jalt, and for getting everything Haarmon snagged from the Imperials back home.  You-Why, Oh-Oh, you're keeping up your ends as well."  You-Why hasn't done much on this particular voyage, but has been rather instrumental on others.

"Now...how long until we get back, Jalt?" She steals a finger under the collar of the uniform and tugs.  "I need to change."

"Be a little while, I'm afraid.  We'll need to go to Dor-Tennia first, to pick up the Bantha, then we can head for Mothessh." Reldan replies to Shard's query, and has the decency to sound at least a little apologetic.

Rhijans quirked a crooked smile at Jalt's apology.  "I'd consider that highly advisable.  Somehow, I think the Colonel would be somewhat less than thrilled to see an Imperial ship coming into the system...if we were lucky, we might get a chance to actually identify ourselves before someone opened fire."

He struggled to contain the sense of relief he felt.  They'd gotten away...cleanly, as far as they could tell, but they were dumping the shuttle anyway, so if it was being tracked, it would be of minimal assistance to Imperial agents.  But he'd managed to get the last TIE fighter...while the ship had taken some light damage, nobody had been injured 'on his watch'.  His sense of relief over that was great enough that he didn't even really take note of the fact that he was more concerned about not letting the team down than he was about his own survival.

While he was prone to introspection, it didn't often lend itself to the kind of soul-searching that would make him that aware of himself.

Juragga yowled in absolute victory as the Lambda-class shuttle tore into hyperspace, leaving the wreckage of several TIE fighters - and fresh onrushing ones - behind.

Clambering back down the gunwell, he leered in triumph at his claim of three kills.  As discussion comes around to their next moves, he yodeled his opinions.

"RowrRworRauruuUUUhhhRrrraaaarrrr," he commented.  He felt they should make sure to get a microburst to the Colonel ASAP, in case they were intercepted on the way to pick up their ship.  He also wondered if the Colonel wouldn't have some use for an Imperial Shuttle... for clandestine purposes, of course.

"That, and I'm not keen on leaving my own ship parked in a cave somewhere while I'm flying about in this crate.  I thought it was going to rip itself apart during some of those turns back there."  Jalt is busy going over the instruments as he talks, making sure there is nothing wrong.  Suddenly he frowns and brings the heel of his hand down on the panel, hard, followed by a satisfied grunt and a shake of his head.

"For the moment we're in the clear.  I'd suggest everybody take the time to relax for a while.  It's not like we can do much of anything while we're in hyperspace.  When we get to Dor-Tennia we can go straight to the cave, trade ships, and run the Bantha straight home."

"Unless anybody's got anything else they want to do there?"

Haarmon, having done about all he can do at the terminal, was forced to sit and wait while the others decided their fate. Sitting and waiting were not his list of favourite activities. But he cheered when Juragga bullseyed those TIEs and cheered again when it looked like they were in the clear.

But then Shard started talking in that long-ago-faraway voice. And the things she said...

Haarmon's feelings for Shard were complicated. Finding out she was a Jedi (or whatever) changed what had started as over-heated post-pubescent fantasy into something altogether different. But one thing hadn't changed: he cared about her well-being, and was worried about her.

"Shard?" he called out as she stood up, "You... umm...  you okay?"

Rhijans shrugged minimally at Jalt's final question...it seemed rhetorical to him, but with this group, you could never be certain.  "Given the importance of our payload, I'd say if anyone's got additional business, we should drop off the intel and take care of our debrief immediately after getting the Bantha, and THEN go back to take care of any loose ends."  He gave another dismissive gesture and added, "If the Empire manages to gather enough bits and pieces of stray data, the physical similarity between our group and their Osmur interlopers will give them suspicions.  If our appearance on Dor-Tennia is timed in such a way that we show up again on surveillance records at the same interval of time after their Osmur incident as we were there before, someone with a clever mind might start jumping to some uncomfortable conclusions."

He stood up from the gunnery station and began working on getting off the armor, or at least the outer shell pieces.  The stuff was not designed for comfort.  "And I think getting back to the Bantha as soon as we can is a good idea.  It's a good bet the Empire's got the transponder signature for this shuttle flagged, now...using it again before any major modifications is just asking for trouble."

Blinking, Shard turns toward Haarmon as the others shoot questions and answers back and forth.  "Agreed with...well, everyone," she calls out, still studying the young hacker and offering a thumbs up to Juragga.  "Straight back seems safest and most tactically sound."

With a sigh, she closes her eyes for a moment.  Snapping them open, she stumbles over to where Dak sits, her knees a touch weak.  "I'm fine, Haarmon.  Mostly."  Seating herself, she leans back, her spine aching.  "We...had a visitor.  Of sorts.  If you can believe that.  Ghea Nimadda decided to pop in and have a look at the people who had caused such a ruckus in her name."

Rolling her eyes toward him, she shrugs. "Rhijans would probably think I'm crazy for saying that.  He might be right about the crazy, but Nimadda certainly was here, in mind, or spirit, depending on what you believe.  We had a little chat.  The good news is, she's angry enough to chew through blast doors.  The bad news is, she's angry enough to chew through blast doors."

A sigh comes out as a laugh.  "But we made it, Haarmon.  We all made it this time."