Huff Darklighter is no stranger to combat. As a matter of fact he's seen more action than his son or young Luke Skywalker would ever suspect. He also trusts his son unquestioningly, and so wastes no time in hurrying back into the house.

"I-Gee," he barks gruffly as he strides into the entrance room, "Go find Windy and Deak and escort them to the basement."

He continues into a side room, typing a passcode into the terminal inside and pressing several buttons. He knows the logical answer is that this threat has something to do with the strange new girls Biggs has brought home, but still there is a little voice in the back of his head which can't help but wonder....

"After all these years," he murmurs to himself as he moves out of the room and over to switch on a pair of K4 security droids, "Could they finally have come for her?"
This message was last edited by the player at 11:51, Thu 21 Mar 2019.

Janek Sunber tears across the desert sand as he approaches the Darklighter Estate. He has to admit, his dad's landspeeder does handle much more nicely than the old trash compactor he normally drives. Only thing that doesn't work is the comm unit, but no one would be trying to contact him at this time of day, would they? He also can't help but feel a little more manly as he glances at the DLT-20A blaster rifle resting on the seat beside him. Any slaver who even thinks of trying to hurt Angel is going find themselves lying face down in the sand with a sooty hole in their chest.

He has just begun to pass the outermost of Huff's vaporators when suddenly a cloud of dust rises from the direction of the estate in the distance. A moment later the ship lifts off and begins to make a beeline for him.

"Blast, coulda used a comm unit after all," he mutters to himself as he puts his foot down and tears toward the estate.
This message was last edited by the player at 11:53, Thu 21 Mar 2019.

At first Luke was very disappointed that Angel picked Biggs over himself as the pilot for this little "adventure" he's still not convinced will amount to anything.  But then Tank enters the farm perimeter.  Hmm.  I can just see it now.  Huff finds a scratch on one of his precious vaporators from last week's sandstorm and blames my flying for it.  Yeaaah probably best that Bigs is in the pilot seat.

Luke gives a sly smirk to Biggs and counters, "How 'bout we take the excitement back to Tosche Station?"

He's kidding, of course.  Deliberately putting people in maybe mortal danger isn't his idea of a funny prank.

Mits flips a few switches to add the Darklighter Estate to the intended recipients.

"I'm going to commence com silence for a few minutes till we can neutralize the threat.  I suspect the enemy has some means of tracking this signal."

And with that she turns off the mic, but leaves the receiver on.

"I'm expecting Tank to be under fire by the time we get in close enough to pick him up.  Apologies ahead of time if vaporators get destroyed in the process of saving his life, but please don't hesitate to smash stuff that's in your way.  I'll be getting ready for low hover extraction."

Here's hoping Tank has sense enough to abandon his speeder in order to get onboard if need be.  Mits rushes to the loading ramp and prepares a tow cable to use as a rescue line for Tank.

Angel keeps her eyes peeled for any moving targets at all. Upon seeing any, she checks whether it is Tank or not. For now, her mind is on the search part of the search and rescue. Don't wanna kill Tank with an itchy trigger finger now, do we?

Confirming what Biggs said while countering Luke's tease, Angel speaks in a calm tone that suggests she is suppressing nerves, "We're headed to the Dune Sea. Toche Station has people in it. If a fire fight breaks out, we don't want people caught in the crossfire."

Clearly, she took Luke seriously. But also clear is that she is taking Mittens' warning seriously.

"There he is!" Angel hollers as she spots Tank. Probably about the same time as the others. Angel does have keen eyes, but Mitts, Biggs and Luke do too. And Biggs and Luke are more familiar with what it looks like to see their buddy coming in from a distance.

Biggs is too focused on listening to Mittens' to react to Luke's joke. He nods to Mittens grimly.

"Lives are more important than vaporators," he reassures her, privately hoping his father feels the same.

To Angel's exclamation he nods curtly.

"I see him!"

With a smooth turn and roar of the engine he speeds them in Tank's direction.

Even as the ship accelerates in Tank's direction, an object suddenly comes into view in the atmosphere far above them. It appears as little more than a spec at this point, but seems to be rapidly growing in size as it approaches.

Down below, Janek glances up at the ship as it approaches. At first he wonders if maybe Mittens has decided to take the blasted thing out for a joyride, but no, only Biggs can fly like that. All right, Luke's not bad either, though he'd never admit it to the kid.

"Are we under attack already?" he frowns to himself, glancing about for any sign of smoke or laser fire. Seeing nothing, he shrugs and continues making for the ship.

"I was kidding," Luke answers with a sigh, "And I still haven't seen any..."

Luke notices the blips on the console that indicate another starship entering atmo.

"We've got a bogie on our six," Luke warns, "They're headed straight for us, and they're coming in fast!"

Luke gets an idea.  Just in case this is real.  He flips on the mic and transmits, "Please tell me you didn't leave the statuette on board.  YOU DID!?  What were you..."

He flips the mic off.  "Best defense is to be too valuable to shoot.  If this is who you think it is, they'll be aiming to disable engines and weapons rather than blow us out of the sky."

Mits can think of at least half a dozen scenarios where Luke's trick wouldn't work.  But at least the enemy would be out to destroy you regardless in those cases, so it's not likely he made things any worse.

She slaps the switch to open the loading ramp.

"Hey if you wunna thread a different kind of needle, Biggs, we got a chance for Tank to just fly his speeder onboard.  Just hover steady two meters off the ground with the ramp facing Tank.  I'll handle the rest."

"Angel, you might want to fire a warning shot or two at the sky.  It'll let Tank know that this isn't just some stunt.  And let the enemy know that they should keep their distance."

Mits then runs to the edge of the ramp, tow cable in hand, hot desert wind making her pigtails dance like crazy.  Standing off to one side, she beckons to Tank, indicating she wants him to drive up the ramp.

"Good idea!" Angel calls back to Luke.

Angel is a little torn about Tank. On one hand, if she goes to the lift to encourage him to hop aboard, he might be quicker to respond. On the other hand, he might try a little TOO hard and ruin what would normally be routine. Then Mittens tells Angel to open fire. "I'm not opening fire until we've identified them, Mittens! All you've said is there is danger, but those ships might be my parents right before the real danger, or even our captured parents aboard enemy ships! Luke, try to open a com with those ships and find out!"

Biggs nods to both Luke and Mittens, sparing a glance at the approaching ship before turning his focus back Janek's landspeeder which is now less than a hundred meters away. He swiftly drops the ship to within a couple of meters of the sandy ground below.

"Hold on," he calls to the others, "This might be a little rough."

With that he momentarily cuts the engines, and spins the ship so fast that even he grimaces as he fights to keep hold of the controls. The ship spins one hundred and eighty degrees, and leaves the landing platform facing Janek's speeder.

He instantly ignites the engine once more as the ship starts moving in the direction it is now facing, matching velocity with the landspeeder with less than three meters between them.

Janek's eyes widen in shock as the ship hurtles towards him only to narrowly avoid wiping him out.

"What in the-" he curses as he swiftly breaks. He must have been wrong. This is Mittens' piloting for sure. But no, there she is on the boarding ramp... Unless she's using that crazy magic to control the ship from there...

"What the blazes is going on?!" he yells as loud as he can over the pair of engines roaring around them, squinting as sand and heat is blown about him.

Luke's with Angel on this one.  Her parents just showed up and an unfamiliar freighter fires a shot.  They're going to assume that the one shooting without warning is the slavers, not their daughter.  He flips the controls to com the ship.

As smoothly as he can, he speaks into the mic, "Hello there.  Welcome to Tatooine.  This is YT-2400 freighter "The Deadeye" hailing the ship heading in our direction.  Please identify yourself."

If this is Angel's parents, he's hoping that The Deadeye will be enough to tell them who's ship this is without giving any real names.  Misidentifying the ship's model with one that has a somewhat similar silhouette from a distance will hopefully sow doubt in the minds of the slavers if that's who it is.  And finally, he's hoping that the name "Deadeye" will make the slavers want to keep their distance.

Mits discovers an unanticipated detail about the science of freighter artificial gravity.  The makers never anticipated that you'd have the loading ramp deployed with the A.G. engaged, so making sure that the system included ensuring someone at the end of the ramp wouldn't be thrown by a sudden 180 wasn't included in the engineering.

Mits grabs the ramp's struts and holds on for dear life when G-forces and gale force wind suddenly spike and change direction, threatening to throw her.  How many times today am I going to wind up having to cling to a ship with all of my strength? she wonders with the world whirling around her, Good thing I practice rock climbing with Angel piggybacking.

Once she makes the world stop spinning through the age-old Jedi technique of "just shake it off," she gives Janek a big smile.

"Hi there, Tank!  We've got seconds before the slavers open fire, so please try and remain calm!"

A strong toss guided by telekinesis has the tow cable attach itself to the speeder.

"Now just ease off the accelerator, and you'll be pulled in nice and safe!"

"Safe" relative to being blasted in this case.  Another application of telekinesis and the tow winch control is switched on, reeling the cable back into the ship.

Angel just keeps her senses open. She is watching the incoming ships, sure, but is also giving quick glances to anything on the ground that might be hostile. All the same, she doesn't want to hit something unless she is sure it is hostile, so her thumbs are off to the side of the trigger rather than on them.

'Dumbstruck' rather than 'calm' would perhaps more accurately describe Janek's situation. Either way, he makes no effort to argue with or resist Mittens' efforts, slowly removing his foot from the accelerator. He seems to have recovered himself by the time the landspeeder is gliding safely up the boarding ramp.

"Slavers?" he repeats blankly as he scoops up the blaster rifle beside him, "Where are they? Hey! Careful, me dad'll kill me if I scratch this thing!"

The comm before Luke crackles to life, as an accented, male voice responds.

"This ship is not 'The Deadeye'," he says coldly, "This is 'The Lar'aak', and was stolen from me. I have tracked it all the way from Christophsis and I am not in the mood for lies. You will touch this ship down immediately or I will force you out of the sky myself."

Biggs glances grimly at Luke before temporarily cutting the comm.

"Now what?" he says, his brow furrowing, "We technically are flying stolen property, but I'm not letting them take the girls if they are indeed the slavers as we believe."

"It's not your parents," he calls in a louder voice to Angel, "They're threatening to shoot at us if we don't touch the ship down willingly. Tank inside yet?" he calls to Mittens.

"Aye-aye, Captain!" Mittens cheerfully hollers back at Biggs as the ramp closes.

She smiles at Tank.  "Good to see I was wrong about the blaster fire.  And ohmygosh you just drove a speeder into a moving freighter without so much as a scratch!!  How's that for threading a needle?!"

With a wave of her hand to indicate Tank should follow, she bounds over to Luke and Biggs.  "That was amazing, Biggs!  Between you and Angel, these guys don't stand a chance against us in a dogfight!"

Luke's hair stands on end now that the deadly seriousness of the situation hits him like a ton of bricks.  Momentarily completely alone in the universe drowning in fear, he feels a familiar call from the dark places within his mind.  Betray your friends and you can survive this, the survival instinct tells him.  Or so he's always assumed this voiceless pull that tugs at him whenever he's afraid to be.  But everyone thinks things like this when afraid, don't they?

Then the irrationally cheery voice of Mittens reminds him that he's not alone.  He's got the best pilot in the Galaxy at the controls.  Staging a one-man mutiny against his best friend and best chance of survival?  How stupid can survival instincts be?  ((Meanwhile The Darkside shrugs.  "It was worth a shot..."))

"'Stolen?!'" Luke answers the enemy ship, "What's the meani-"

He cuts himself off for half a second then continues, "Get off me you stupid cat!  Ow!"

Cuts off for another second, "...one second.  I think I know who your thief is..."

Mits covers her mouth, desperately trying not to keel over laughing.
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:49, Wed 27 Mar 2019.

Angel says, "Nice delay, Luke! Let's see.. standard protocol would have them demand we exit the ship while theirs is still poised to fire at us. And they still could obliterate us with their ship weapons even if we complied. So right now, the best bet is ship-to-ship battle. They came here for stolen goods, so they will want to disable us. We, on the other hand, do not have to worry about preserving their ship. Let's get them chasing us to that open area you spoke of, Biggs!"

Janek does not yet seem to have grasped the seriousness of the situation. He does a hasty glance over his father's landspeeder, and seems very relieved to see it hasn't been damaged. Yet.

"You just drove a landspeeder into a moving freighter," he corrects Mittens, not as easily fooled as Windy or Deak when it comes to being cheered up, "Now will someone please tell me what's goin' on?"

He watches, unimpressed as Luke does his pretend 'cat attack' routine.

"Don't give up your day job, kid," he mutters darkly, shaking his head. Not that Luke is much better at his day job, but he doesn't say this out loud.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:42, Thu 28 Mar 2019.

"Hello?" comes the accented voice from the comm, clearly confused by Luke's response, "Hello, are you still there?"

Biggs gives Angel a small nod, before looping the ship around to their right and giving a burst of speed as they shoot higher into the air.

"Agreed. Surrender certainly doesn't appear to be an option. And at least you seem to have confused them a bit," he nods to Luke, "Hopefully it will take them a few moments to register that we are fleeing."

He then grins at Mittens.

"I certainly wouldn't want to be flying anywhere near Angel in a gunner's seat."

Luke smirks smugly that Angel's compliment made Tank jealous.  But then he turns a suspicious look to Mittens.

"I'm with Tank.  Seems your so-called 'slavers' are a lot more reasonable than the kind we're used to here on Tatooine.  How do we know that you aren't some hustler that's been making up stories about how you got this ship?"

Mittens can't help it anymore and busts out laughing!

"Ohmygosh!  ME!  A grifter!  That'll be the day!  I wish..."

She wipes a tear from her eye.  "You got me!  Mittens is an expert deceiver!  She totally was able to telepathically forge Christophsis Station's security holo-recordings of being shot at while fleeing from thugs that were angry at her for the crime of freeing the poor souls they were abusing!  She also totally made up the holo-recording inside said ship that you saw that doesn't show her or Angel conspiring to trick a farmer's friends out of their super-valuable blue milk.  And pikas.  Mmmmm.  Piiikas.  The best reward for the Mastermind Mittens."

Luke of course looks annoyed with her sarcasm.

Angel calls back, "Although Mittens made the point that we aren't deceiving you, I am still rethinking the idea of blowing them out of the sky. They may have slaves or such aboard their ship. So I'll be aiming to disable also. Tank! To answer your question: Mittens sensed danger, we came to gather you so you wouldn't get killed, and sure enough, as if on cue, the slavers arrived wanting their ship back. Surrender isn't an option as they will simply kill us or worse. Mittens, is there a way you can think to use the force to give us the upper hand here without killing the people aboard the other ship?"

"Just when you think she can't get any crazier, eh?" Janek mutters to Luke as he watches Mittens' sarcastic outburst. He has to admit, he might have been with Luke on this one, had Mittens been on her own. But there's Angel to consider. No way she could be a hustler.

"Obviously we can trust the girls Luke," he says in a louder voice, "That guy has a slaver voice if ever I heard one. And besides, you know all twi'lek males are slavers, Luke. Like that Bid What's-His-Face Fortune guy up at Jabba's."
This message was last edited by the player at 05:46, Mon 01 Apr 2019.

"Bib Fortuna," Biggs corrects him unconsciously as he glances at the lights and sensors on the desk before him, "And yes, Luke, I think by this stage we can trust the girls. I just hope we can resolve this situation without shooting at-" he breaks off as he veers sharply to the left. The reason for this becomes apparent a moment later as a laser blast arcs past them, exploding into the sand below.

"Guess we aren't going to have a peaceful resolution," he says grimly as he swings the ship back to the right to avoid another blast, "Still think they seem reasonable?" he adds to Luke dryly as a third blast flies wide.

"Did you not hear what she just said?!" Luke complains, "They freed slaves!  And stole this ship from the businessmen that make up the backbone of our economy!  Any hope we had of convincing Jabba to strong-arm these guys off us for putting the Darklighter Estate in jeopardy is out the window!  If anything, we're the ones who's heads'll get served up on a platter if this escalates.  Freeing slaves is a very serious crime 'round here, and I'll bet these guys are all buddy-buddy with Bib Fortuna!"

Luke desperately searches the console to activate anything that looks like a coms jammer in hopes of preventing the enemy from calling in reinforcements.
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:12, Mon 01 Apr 2019.

"Well for one, I can find out for us if they really do have anyone onboard who doesn't deserve to be blasted," Mits answers Angel, sounding surprisingly calm.

"Please accept my apology for the danger you're in, Luke.  But have faith in yourself and your friends.  You've pulled through worse than this before, and you'll do it again."

She closes her eyes, takes a deep breath, and calmly continues, "I sense three hearts of darkness aboard the enemy ship, shrouded in the pall of death.  They are angry, of course, but also desperate.  Like some eminent deadline is hanging over them, or they're already late for a delivery that is very dangerous to be late for."

"'How did they dodge that?!' one says.  'Who's aboard that ship?!  Why didn't they just land as they were told?!  We can't afford to waste time with this!  But what if the statue really is onboard?  This is all your fault!  Your job is to keep the cargo secure!  My fault?!  It was your idea to make the extra stop!'

"Hmm...  None of them are considering calling for help.  Doing so would be bad for them somehow."

(( Just throwing out likely stuff she'd be picking up with telepathy.  Lemme know if I need to change anything to match what's really going on.  Especially if Mits senses any beings aboard the enemy ship that aren't tainted with a murderer's darkness.))

Angel hears Tank, but isn't touching the racism topic for now, though is thankful for the vote of confidence, no matter how blind a vote it may be. She also hears Luke and, although inwardly upset by the things he is saying, now is not the time for debate. Besides, he is clearly blowing steam or else he'd demand the ship be parked and other such insanity that comes from panicked people who imagine taking care of number one will work out when sanity says otherwise.

Mittens then hears the commentary of the people aboard and relays it. Angel makes a mental note to ask her mom for one of those "hear people at a distance" guns. She didn't think she'd need it until now. "That is vital information, Mittens. Thanks! Guys, we can argue later! Focus on staying alive now!"

She'll thank Biggs for expert flying when he isn't concentrated on keeping the bunch alive.

Angel quickly tries to weigh the options on what to do with this information. However, now that Biggs has the group in a clearer area, Angel carefully aims and fires at the enemy craft's guns, damaging one of them! She begins aiming again. "I got one of their guns! Think... how can we use what we just learned?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:58, Mon 01 Apr 2019.

"Luke, stop bein' such a wimp," Janek rebukes his friend, perhaps a little harsher than necessary, "We can take these guys, and what Jabba don't know won't hurt him. Besides, 'bout time someone stuck it to that slug."

He glances at Mittens as she voices her telepathic findings, trying to work out if she is for real. He seems to give her the benefit of the doubt, and nods slowly.

"So that statue thing is important?" he frowns, "You still got it, 'What's-Her-Face'?"

"Nice work, Angel," he grins approvingly as she destroys the gun, "See, Luke? We got this."

Biggs may be a little wiser than Janek when it comes to the consequences of 'sticking it to that slug', but he also seems to be bolder than Luke when it comes to putting his life on the line for others.

"You don't need to apologise Mittens," he says as he keeps his focus on the desert landscape outside the transperisteel before him, "The slaver's are the ones to blame here. You've had about as much choice of your involvement as we have."

He dodges a final blast before Angel takes out their left gun.

"Nice work, Angel, hopefully that will convince them to break off their pursuit. Sounds like they are late delivering the statue to a crime lord or a gang of some kind. Question is, what does it do? Is it just an ornament, or does their employer have a more nefarious plan for it?"

Sure enough, the ship behind them peels off sharply upon one of its turrets being taken out. It falls back out of range of all but the most skilful of sharpshooters, keeping pace with the freighter.

The comm crackles to life a few moments later.

"All right, you've proven your point. What do you want for the statue? Credits? Who are you working for? Whatever they are paying, we can beat it."

"Well I'll be a..."

Luke stops himself remembering there's ladies present.  "Here I was thinking, 'there's a long way between bouncy-ball tricks and a crack shot with freighter scale weaponry,' but it sure is nice to be proven wrong!"

He gives Mits a shrug.  "What they said."

Then calms himself, flips on the com, and answers as smoothly as possible.  "Glad to hear we're dealing with professionals.  We'll be touching down in a valley between some dunes.  Provides the most privacy this rock can give.  Come join us and we can negotiate."

After flipping off the com, he warns the team, "Not to throw sand on our victory celebration, but that drained a lot of what was left in the tank..."  (Not like Fixer could have delivered any more than what he did even if we'd asked, but tanking up once we arrived woulda been wise...  But then how would we have convinced Mr. Darklighter?) "It's a good thing that was ended so quickly.  We've enough fuel to make it back to Biggs' place, but only if we don't spend any more time joy-riding out here."

"Woohoo!" Mits cheers, "Way to go Angel!  That's how it's done!  So glad I could convince you to take the kid gloves off!  And that was some amazing flying, Biggs!"

Mits points at the safe in answer to Tank's question.  She wants to answer the exchange between the guys, but realizes that there's more eavesdropping to do and closes her eyes again.

"'Amateurs!'  'Not likely.  Not with that kind of shooting.'  'Then why aren't they playing their hand to the fullest?'  'I don't know.  There's something off about all this.  Why were they at a remote farm instead of the port city?  And that voice sounds young...'  'Like I said.  Amateurs.  They got lucky with those shots.  At best they've got a talented gunner.'  'If we play this right, we can get the statue and the ship back.  How's the chatter?'  'Sounds like no one noticed our encounter.'  'Perfect.  These sand dunes will make the perfect 'private' grave for our lucky thieves.'"
This message was last edited by the player at 05:50, Wed 03 Apr 2019.

Angel smirks as Luke admits it just sank in that Angel really is a good shot. "Thanks, guys." she directs at all three guys since all three complimented her shot. She also grins at Mittens and winks in acknowledgement of her friend's comment concerning Angel's shot.

Angel ponders. "So far, all they know is there is a person piloting, a person gunning, and a person communicating. And for that matter, the one on the comms could very well be the person piloting. They saw Tank come aboard, so they could easily be persuaded Tank was the gunner that shot them. And Luke could be the 'pilot' they were talking to since they'll recognize his voice. Biggs, Mittens and I could easily be a surprise bunch they don't know are aboard this ship. Hey Mittens... interested in creeping them out? You could animate a cloak to fool them into thinking there is a third, silent person who is a bodyguard. And then said bodyguard can really freak them out once they find out their guns don't do anything to her and she is a ghost."
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:55, Wed 03 Apr 2019.

"Sounds like a plan to me," Janek agrees, "I've got me dad's blaster rifle, so I can play the part of a merc' or somethin'. And that cloak idea is ace."

"Well, Luke, you always like pretending you're somethin' more than a farmboy. Now's your chance. And don't worry 'bout fuel. If we need to we can siphon some out of me dad's landspeeder."

Biggs also nods.

"It seems clear they have no intentions of actually negotiating, so intimidating them is worth a shot. Just don't go getting yourselves killed. We still don't really know who we're dealing with."

"If you want to make things a little more interesting," he adds after a moment, "I can land us near the B'Thazoshe Bridge, out by the Western Dune Sea. It's sacred to the sand people, and we'd be almost sure of an ambush of some kind. We'd be expecting it, but I doubt our pursuers would... Of course, it might backfire just as easily, so not sure if you want to risk it."

"I vote we just drop off the statue on our way out of here," Luke answers, "Let them scramble through the sand for it.  So long as we stay inside the ship, we've got guns and they don't.  But as soon as we exit the ship, we're putting ourselves in a spot where their guns or the guns of the Sand People could hit Tank's arm again.  Not to mention they haven't seen our faces yet.  Soon as they do, we'll be marked for revenge for life."

Killing them and taking their ship is the last thing on Luke's mind.  Even if he were that ruthless, he'd realize these guys' customers will come looking for the statue, and he does NOT want to find out who scares slavers.

Mits on the other hand is loooving the craziness of the plan.  Not Luke's boring plan.  The other one.  With the spooky floating cloak, impersonating a merc, and deliberate Sand People ambush!

"Sweet ideas!  And thanks for offering the fuel in your speeder, Tank!  So what's the deal we'd offer?  The statue and the ship in exchange for 10,000 creds?  Or should we demand whoopies?

"You know...  There's a big part of me that's not very comfortable with letting these guys leave.  I know how it feels to have someone I love taken from me, and that's the kind of business they're in.  Never mind all the murders.  If not for my code of honor, I'd suggest we just blast 'em out of the sky and be done with it.  Even though it would be way more sensible than meeting them face-to-face, I'm not supposed to support killing nasty evil villains who can't defend themselves.  So my plan is to lure them out with the statue then knock them out to be taken prisoner."

Even so, she opens the safe to retrieve the statue.

Angel keeps her eye on the enemy ship despite the enemy being de-fanged, and comments, "Luke is right about minimizing risk. As much as I like your idea, Biggs, the sandpeople may take an offense like that too seriously and track us to your dad's farm. However... if we can lure the enemy into invading the sacred land while we stay safely out of it, they might decide to just dog those guys and forget about us. So if we can do that and do so relatively safely, sure. Otherwise, I say let's keep the sandpeople out of it. Given all that, I trust you to land us where you think is best, Biggs, but let's do it soon like Luke suggested. On Mitts' question, we'll start by demanding we keep the ship. If they start trying to bargain, we let them believe they are persuading us until we have them where we want them. If they attack immediately, we'll still be pretty much prepared for that. Mitts can use telekinesis to knock their aim downward so they shoot the ground instead and then we take them out."

She turns to look at Luke a moment and says, "Dropping the statue to leave them digging for it in the sand crossed my mind too, Luke, but if they have what they are after, they'll turn it in to their boss and then complain about the trouble they ran into. Their boss, pleased that these guys didn't let him down, but annoyed that our interference almost cost him, will do himself AND them a favor and have us tracked down by professionals. That said, nothing says you can't wear a mask so they don't see your face."

Then goes back to watching the enemy ship. "And one more thing: You're all more than just farmboys... you're heroes."

"Bah!" Janek waves a dismissive hand at Luke, clearly sharing Mittens' opinion of the farmboy's plan. He shoots Luke a dirty look for bringing up his arm wound, glancing with a flicker of bashfulness in the direction of the gunner's seat.

"I ain't scared of a bit of revenge," he says, raising his voice slightly, his gaze still on the gunner's seat.

He sends Mittens an approving nod when she speaks, pointing at her.

"That's the attitude we need here. Yeah, ten thousand is good," he says, trying to sound as though these massive sums do not impress him, "And let's do credits. Makes us sound more like off-world big guns. And that's even better," he says when Mittens talks about not letting their pursuers leave, "See Luke, no revenge if they aren't around to tell no one, eh?"

He quickly quiets down when Angel speaks of caution, clearly caught between his desire to support anything she says, and his desire for a macho fight. He smiles slightly when she calls him a hero, but then she's calling Luke one too so she's probably just being nice.
This message was last edited by the player at 09:02, Mon 08 Apr 2019.

Biggs glances thoughtfully at Luke and Mittens.

"I agree it would be better if we could avoid facing these slavers," he says, "Since we don't know their weaponry or skills. But we also don't know what this statue is or does. For all we know it contains something that might endanger the lives of others."

He grins at Angel.

"Don't worry about the sand people. Wouldn't be the first time they've attacked my father's estate because we invaded their sacred areas. I mean, half the planet is sacred to them it seems. But yes, I think they might just cause problems if we are trying this plan with the cloak and Tank and Mittens."

He smiles humbly at Angel's 'heroes' compliment.

"All right, I'm taking us down over these dunes."

Unbelievable, Luke's thinks, I should have just stayed at the farmstead with Huff.  But then Biggs would be the only sane one in this bunch.

But then Angel makes her point about the slavers' boss seeking revenge.  She's not wrong.  And the compliment helps shore up Luke's courage some.  But still there's a lot of problems with this whole thing.

"Who do you plan on handing your prisoners off to, Whats-her-name?  Or was starting your own little herd of slaves the idea?"

At least Biggs relented to not being shot at by Sand People.  But then he makes the whole scenario even scarier with his speculation.

"...like what?  A vial of some weaponized disease?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:40, Wed 10 Apr 2019.

Mits smiles that Tank approves of her attitude.  And especially that Angel found a good reason to not go with Luke's idea.  Not to mention Biggs just made this whole adventure all the more epic with his speculation!

"Ooooh hadn't occurred to me, Biggs.  You might be right that there's more to this than just stolen diamonds crammed inside the hollow of a fake statue!  But fear not, Luke.  If it were a vial of weaponized disease it wouldn't be one ship of slavers after us but rather a fleet of star destroyers.  At most it's probably just stolen industrial secrets.  But if those secrets are schematics for a new targeting computer for the TIE fighter that isn't terrible, the very future of freedom for the whole Galaxy could hang in the balance!"

With her little finger knife Mits starts cutting bandanas out of the bottom of her robe to serve as disguises.  Also lends a creepy tattered look to the robe to add to the scare factor.

"I'm going to insist that I take point in the marching order.  I can't protect anyone with my lightsaber if I have a friend between me and the blaster fire.  If I block a blaster bolt it could reflect right into his back.  That said, it'd probably be best if I didn't do the negotiating.  Angel can probably do that best from the ship loudspeaker.  She's very persuasive."

"Tank's right. Credits." she says to shoot a quick approval to Janek's contribution to the discussion.

So many snarky comebacks Angel is resisting right now. For one, she is resisting the urge to repeat Luke's comment about slaves word-for-word in a mocking tone. For another, she is resisting the urge to point out Luke was the one to tout slavery as the backbone of society. She actually has to exert a LOT of willpower to keep from that second one.

"Judging from your tone, it sounds like hypocrisy and dishonor are prices you are not willing to pay for survival. That is a good thing. What we do with the prisoners can be figured out after they are captured."

She'll worry about lectures and arguments later. Survival and teamwork now.

Angel hears Mitts and says, "For now, what is in the artifact is immaterial because the end goal is the bad guys won't get it. And I guess Biggs and I will be the hidden unknowns then. I'm fine with being a negotiator, but Luke was doing a wonderful job and they know his voice. You sure I shouldn't just stick with guns?"

"Maybe we can drop them off with the sand people," Janek suggests in answer to the prisoner dilemma, "See how they last out in the desert."

He smiles at Angel's statement about the bad guys not getting the statue.

"Exactly. I agree there ain't no point in Angel showin' herself since they don't know she's here. I can do the negotiatin' if you're not up to it Luke? These ain't the first thugs I've handled."

"Let's work out what to do with these guys after we have caught them," Biggs says firmly, "We don't even really know who they are or who they are working for yet."

He sends Mittens a dubious glance.

"I don't know about the 'freedom of the galaxy'. But yes, it might well affect people's lives or freedom. And yes, I trust Luke to handle the negotiations. Hey, if he can handle his uncle, he can handle these guys."

He gives Luke a reassuring clap on the shoulder.

"Now, those rocks over there should grant us a bit of cover. I'll touch us down just beyond them. Everyone ready?"

Luke seems a bit confounded by Angel's observation.  It shows he's not so sure she's right.  Before he can give too much thought to the question, he chuckles at the comment about his uncle and smirks at Biggs.

"I wouldn't exactly say I 'handle' Uncle Owen, but if by that you mean I've done well enough to still be breathing, I can accept that.  Sure, I guess I can see if they'd rather talk to me.  But nothing says whomever wants to jump in can't.  Not like I'm the boss of this group."

Luke heads for the off ramp and readies to exit once the ship lands.

"So the plan is just to keep them talking till they're close enough to punch and then we let 'em have it?"

He seriously doubts he can knock out someone with one punch.  But maybe he can rifle butt them good enough.
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:31, Tue 16 Apr 2019.

Mits is starting to wonder if maybe it's this legendary Uncle Owen guy that's responsible for keeping Luke from going Darkside.  Either way, she gives Angel a huge smile for her praise to Luke.

"That being said, those who do sacrifice integrity for safety soon find that the hole they've dug themselves into isn't exactly safe."

To Biggs she gives a sheepish smile and answers, "It's a habit of mine to try and maximize the drama in order to keep from taking matters too lightly.  If the statue is super important, it's easier to resist the temptation to balance it on the tip of my nose."

Nevertheless, she skips over to the ramp after Luke like she's a schoolgirl on her way home.  Her robe floats off and follows along.  Underneath she's been wearing a long sleeve purple tunic since Angel likes purple.

At worst, Angel was being passive-aggressive to Luke about his remark to Mittens. At best, she was looking on the bright side while encouraging Luke to be good. Hard to say, but it possible she was doing all of the above at the same time.

Angel hops to her feet and pulls out the firearm she has handy before heading off to the ramp, but stays hidden to the side as she waits for the ambush to occur. Angel gives a nod to each as they exit. "Be careful out there..."
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:59, Tue 16 Apr 2019.

Janek gives Angel a wink as he passes her.

"We got this."

He then hurries to catch up with Luke.

"Don't worry, I'll jump in if things start to get out of control. But yep, just keep 'em talking and then take 'em out."

"And yeah, What's-Her-Face," he grins at Mittens, "Less nose-balancing is good. Although I would love to see these guys faces if you walked up balancing it on your nose!"

"You'll do great, kid," Biggs slaps Luke on the shoulder once more as he swings up his own slugthrower rifle, "Don't worry, we'll have your back."

"Hey, don't encourage her Tank!" he hisses after the others as they leave. He then climbs out after Angel.

"You ready?" he asks Angel as he crouches behind some of the rocks.

Fate of the Galaxy has to hang in the balance or she gets bored.  Yeah that sounds like her.  On the bright side, that probably means that a self-taught pilot who knows his way around a spanner will probably be A-OK in the eyes of Angel's parents so long as he's halfway sane.

...Thought the guy about to go talk to slavers he's told want him dead.

He won't refuse Mittens' offered disguise, though.

Luke shakes his head in a, "I can't believe I'm doing this" sorta way and gives a half-hearted thumbs-up to Biggs before exiting the ship, rifle in hand but pointed down.  He'll be sure to stand near anything he can use for cover when the plan falls apart.

"My friends call me Enigma," Luke calls out to the slavers in as boring a voice he can muster, hoping his low volume will encourage them to get closer, "I just bought this ship from a pair of young ladies.  But you're saying they stole it?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:25, Tue 16 Apr 2019.

Mits handed a makeshift bandana to each member of the team and puts one on herself before bounding down the ramp ahead of the group.

"Endless hours of practice is how I'm careful, Angel.  I've survived the crazy things I put myself through on a daily basis, so I've got pretty good chances with these guys.  No dark premonitions, either.  So I'm not expecting anyone to get so much as wounded... besides the slavers, that is."

After passing Tank, she spins around, trots backwards, and balances her lightsaber on her nose for a moment with an impish smile that shows in her eyes in spite of the bandanna hiding her nose and mouth.  "Me too.  Which is why its so tempting.  But I won't for Biggs' sake."

Her robe follows along, bobbing slightly to look like its "walking" but its not very convincing up close.  The sleeves terminate underneath a kerchief that's covering the cat statue.  Mits covered it because she wants the slavers think, maaybe this is the statue?  Maaybe they're trying to trick us with a fake?  They will have to get in close to confirm.

Spinning back to face forward and taking her lightsaber off her nose she whispers, "Hey Luke.  Lemme borrow those macrobinoculars so I can flip the safety switches on their blasters easier with my telekineepers."

Luke shrugs and hands 'em over.  He's got no use for them right now anyway.  Mits takes point and proceeds to surreptitiously flip the safetys to on.  Angel sharing her passion for blasters means Mits knows exactly where to find the switches at a glance.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:27, Tue 16 Apr 2019.

Angel comments to Mittens, "Good thought. While you're at it, suppose you could tie their shoelaces?" Juvenile, sure, but if it works...

Angel puts the bandana on even though she has no intention of getting out into the open. Crouching behind rocks with Biggs, she takes aim and nods with a focussed expression.

Angel nods at Janek with a smirk as he passes and assures her that the group has this.

When Luke calls himself Enigma, Angel inwardly LOVES it! Because of positioning, Biggs is the only one who gets to see Angel's impish smile as Luke announces that name.

The trio that approach them seem to consist of a rutian twi'lek, a zabrak and a weequay, all of whom the party recognise from the ship recording. The twi'lek and zabrak carry heavy blaster pistols, while the weequay cradles a heavy repeating blaster.

"You can cease with the pretences, Enigma," replies the twi'lek as they draw nearer, "We both know the ship isn't what you were really after. You have something of far more value. I'll offer you one-hundred-thousand credits for it. Take it or leave it."

Janek, doing his best to look burly and intimidating beside Luke, lets his jaw drop despite himself. He recovers himself a moment later, glancing at Luke and trying not to look too incredulous.

Biggs, who has his rifle trained on one of the weequay's unarmored legs, glances at Angel with just as much incredulity as Janek.

"Did he just say one-hundred-thousand?" he murmurs, "Maybe it really does contain schematics for a new targeting computer for TIE fighters. Or maybe he's bluffing..."

Luke can't help but react with his signature "give me a break" look.  Which is admittedly mostly hidden under his bandana.  What he's thinking is, "Yeah right.  There's no way that dumb statue is worth that much."  But to the villains it might look like he was thinking a much higher number and is rolling his eyes at their low-balling.

"You have that on you?" is his "I don't believe you," toned answer, figuring that they're just blowing hot air to get him off his guard.  It may have been Mittens' mystical mutterings that tipped off that these guys have no intention of paying, but that's kinda obvious even without her having said so.
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:32, Thu 18 Apr 2019.

Mits nodded to Angel before winding up out of earshot to be at the front.  With the safety switches engaged, she proceeds to sabotage anything else she can get away with on these guys.  Such as tying shoelaces together.

With so much on her mind, the large amount of money offered by the villains only registers in the back of her mind.  But even if she were paying more attention to the negotiation, it probably wouldn't have changed the "I just can't wait to stab you guys' faces!" smile hidden under her bandana.  Which is a doubly strange look to have given that she has no visible weapon on her.

Meanwhile, the creepy cloaked decoy uncovers the top half of the cat statue.  Just enough to keep the villains focused on their prize instead of their shoelaces or Tank's gaping mouth (presumably hidden under his bandana.)  But not so much that it's 100% certain that this is the real thing.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:32, Thu 18 Apr 2019.

Angel whispers back to Biggs, "When you don't intend to give money, you can throw any imaginary number around*. On the other hand, by throwing a number that big... they have made it clear we have something precious. Now to see if they really do have that much money on them."

*The scene rewinds to little 9-year-old Angel eyeing a toy gun she wanted and offered to pay 10 credits to buy it from the bully who owned it. The bully, unsurprisingly, took the 10 credits and didn't give the gun to Angel. But his parents were then visited by Angel's parents who then proved those 10 creds were Angel's because she had written her name on them with a UV pen. The bully was forced to give both the 10 credits and the gun to Angel as punishment.
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:13, Thu 18 Apr 2019.

Mittens' partial revealing of the statue has the desired effect, and instantly captures the attention of the trio of mercenaries. The weequay gives a low growl and takes an eager step forward (his boots do not have any laces to trip him up), but the twi'lek quickly puts out a hand to stop him.

"We have the credits on our ship," he replies to Luke evenly, "A couple of crates full of them. I'll even let you count them yourself if you don't believe me."

The zabrak gives a low guffaw at this comment.

Janek narrows his eyes as the weequay advances, taking a threatening step forward himself. Him and weequay proceed to engage in a staring contest, or, perhaps more accurately, a glaring contest.

Biggs nods slowly in response to Angel, not taking his eye from the scope of his rifle.

"True. A number that big, even if an empty offer, indicates the statue is very valuable. When do you recommend we attack? No way the others are getting on board their ship."

Once again, it's probably for the best that Luke's gimme-a-break face is hidden under the bandana. Well we were warned that they think us morons, he's thinking, but this is pretty insulting.  'Oh we have the creds alright!  Just come into our obvious trap!'

"Deal," Luke answers, trying to sound all professional and stuff.  He's expecting that his best impersonation of a pro will convince these villains all the more that he's a newb they just conned.

"Lead the way.  We can make the exchange once we've seen the money."

Well here's hoping Biggs and the others know to stun these guys once we take the first step toward the ship.  Hey, Whats-her-Name?  You listening?  Can you use your mind powers to tell the others the plan?

Mits' heart stops when the weequay takes a step forward.  This is it!  Go time!

...nope.  Instead it's a glaring contest.  And then the big reveal!

Mits can hardly believe her ears!  Murphey's Law!  Of course they have the money in their ship!  Ugh!  And Luke's not demanding more!  I know it's a lot of money to be tempted by, but didn't Luke hear that if the purchase goes off without a hitch the villains will get away with the dangerous virus schematics statue thingy!?  Didn't we agree to ambushing them?!  Why haven't the blasters started blasting yet?!  Shut up, Darkside!  I'm not the least bit tempted by that huge sum of creds!  Nor am I overly eager for violence!  I'm precisely as eager for stunning villains as the situation warrants!  In any case, I guess it'll be obvious that its time to start shooting as soon as they trip over their shoelaces.

Completely unaware of Luke's thoughts, Mits gestures to the robed one to follow and begins to take a step forward to make it look like she's going along with the deal, ready to use telekinesis to kick sand into the faces of the badguys as soon as combat starts.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:42, Thu 02 May 2019.

Angel isn't sure if the sweat is because she has been out in the heat again or if it is because she is nervous, but that cannot get in the way of the objective right now.

Angel answers Biggs, still being quiet, "I'm on the twi'lek. You take the zabrak. On the count of three. One... two... three."

With that, Angel opens fire! Her aim is on the center of Kandon's mass; right in the belly! With stun setting, it matters more that you get a larger target so the stun can spread better and maybe even drop 'em. But while she knows stun isn't as reliable as an accurate kill shot, it is very much worth the reward of having interrogation as an option later. You can't hold a conversation with a corpse. But more importantly, Mittens is trusting Angel to go non-lethal.

His attention still focused firmly on Luke, Kandon is caught completely unawares by Angel's well aimed stun blast. It catches him squarely in the stomach, and with a garbled yelp he is thrown backwards in a complete somersault, landing face down in the sand. He does not rise.

Biggs' slugthrower rifle echoes through the dunes around them a moment later. Not having a stun setting, his aim is directed at the zabrak's shoulder so as to incapacitate the mercenary without too much risk of killing him. The slug flies through the air, but the zabrak has already flattened himself the moment the twi'lek fell, and the slug whistles over his head to smack harmlessly into the sand behind him.

Biggs curls his lip as he takes aim once more.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:41, Mon 24 June 2019.

"Get 'em!" the zabrak shouts, as he whips out a blaster from his prone position, launching off a hasty shot at Mittens.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:41, Mon 24 June 2019.

The weequay makes a lunge at Luke, only to find himself intercepted mid leap by the bulky form of Janek, who tackles him to the ground. The weequay lands a punch on Janek's ribs, drawing a grunt of pain from the man. Janek returns the attack with a punch of his own which catches the weequay squarely in the jaw. The weequay attempts to hurl a handful of sand at Janek's face, but the young man appears to be no stranger to dirty fighting and quickly covers his eyes before kneeing the weequay in the groin. The weequay gives a gasp of pain as Janek presses his face into the sand.

"You had enough yet?" Janek asks grimly as the weequay scrabbles vainly to loosen Janek's grip on him.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:48, Mon 24 June 2019.

Perfect!  Complete with people tripping over their shoelaces!  Luke gets a smug smile on his face that these "amateurs" just totally crushed a bunch of slavers!  There's a big part of Luke that's loving the trend of Janek the bodyguard taking down aggressors for him.  He raises his rifle then introduces the butt to the back of the weequay's head.  He then takes aim at the zabrak.

"Hey, buddy.  Slugthrowers don't have stun settings.  Surrender or die."

What Mittens was imagining:  https://youtu.be/Jt1h1MinlLI?t=201

But that's not exactly what really happens.  Yes, The Force warns her of the coming danger.  Yes, she successfully activates her lightsaber and even manages to deflect the zabrak's shot with it.  She even pulls off the telekinetic lunge at him.  But as is so often the case with Mittens, her aim was off.  Instead of a dramatic drive-by where the three guys are overwhelmed in a single powerful swipe of the lightsaber, she winds up tripping over the prone zabrack's face.

The moment of impact looking something like this: http://images.viralnova.com/000/106/561/tonfhie.gif only with a foot instead of a fist.

Try as she might, she can't regain her footing after that, and winds up sprawled out in the sand.  http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-keAa...teboard-Fail-Gif.gif

Her lightsaber deactivates the moment it leaves her hand.  Master knew she'd need one with that kind of safety feature.

Biggs missed? Ah. The guy fell out of the way of the shot. Angel loathes those moments and sympathizes with Biggs. Best thing right now is to not even comment. Not only do they need to focus on battle, but not commenting means not drawing attention to the flub.

Angel is briefly worried that Mitts fell because of injury, but this only fuels her determination to end things quickly.

She carefully aims for the zabrak. She'd speak, but doesn't want to give away her and Bigss' position. The fight is not going horribly, but Angel will not take that for granted till these guys are done and tied up.

If the zabrak surrenders, she'll hold her fire. But if he makes any sudden moves, her shot will be aimed at his most apparent spot (which is his head right now). But she is careful not to fire if Mittens is in her line of fire, so Angel doesn't act in haste just yet.

Facedown in the sand, shoelaces tied and his two companions incapacitated, the zabrak wastes only a moment glaring up at Luke before he tosses his blaster across the sand and raises his hands as best he can.

"All right, all right," he growls, "I surrender. Easy on that trigger finger, yeah?"

"Smart," Janek grunts to the zabrak as he roughly heaves over the weequay's unconscious form and begins tearing strips off the mercenary's shirt to use to bind his hands.

"Nice shooting," he adds in a louder voice to the dunes behind which Angel and Biggs are crouched.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:06, Wed 26 June 2019.

"I assume that comment is directed at you," Biggs grins sheepishly at Angel, before scrambling up the dune, rifle levelled at the zabrak.

"Nice work!" he calls to the others, then to the zabrak, "All right, it's time for some answers."

Luke's first thought is to go grab the blaster in case this guy changes his mind.  But on second thought, he stays put, his rifle still pointed at the zabrak.  Could be the guy has a backup.

"I'm glad we could come to an understanding.  I know you guys are in a hurry, so I'll get to the point.  The sooner you answer our questions, the sooner you'll be dropped off at Mos Eisley with your precious cargo.  Minus what we decide is fair for our trouble, of course."

He's trying and failing to think up a good interrogation question at the moment, though.  "What happened to Tank's hands?" is hardly a good -  Oooh.  He punched a weequay in the face.  Ouch!
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:03, Thu 27 June 2019.

"Why do I get the feeling that it's at this very moment that Dad and the others will show up?  Because you're face-down in the sand, that's why, Mittens."

Mits recovers her lightsaber and the guns of the baddies, then focuses on reading the mind of the zabrak, since it's interrogation time.

"First and foremost, when's your deadline?"

She figures this'll be a good starting point for getting him talking.

Angel checks behind the group, just in case the pirates had a sneak of their own circling around. Finding nobody, and honestly not surprised by this, Angel looks to Biggs and smiles. "Thanks... you should've hit. But the guy dropped at the last second. We won, though."

She gets up and heads to the others with Biggs. She gives Janek a smile and a thumbs-up (with her empty hand. The other hand still has her gun ready). Then turns her attention everywhere but the zabrak. Everyone's eyes are on him anyway, so she decides not to take chances and goes to tie up the one she shot.

The zabrak glowers up at Mittens.

"I ain't telling you nothing," he grunts sullenly, glaring at his feet.

His thoughts betray him, however, and Mittens is able to sense that they have already passed their deadline and have been stalling their employer for some time already.

Janek is as always, visibly pleased by Angel's smile and thumbs up, and doesn't seem to be at all phased by his grazed and bleeding knuckles. Having finished binding the weequay, he rises to stride over to Mittens, staring stonily down at the zabrak.

"You guys really like doing things the hard way, huh?" he says ominously.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:34, Fri 16 Aug 2019.

"Thanks," Biggs smiles to Angel. Her comment is a little generous, but he appreciates her trying to make his miss not sound so bad. He reaches Luke and the others, but since it seems like Mittens and Janek have the situation well in hand, he decides to focus on crouching beside the twi'lek who Angel is tying up, in order to search him.

"What do you make of this?" he asks her quietly, frowning at a strange tattoo of three light beams painted in crimson on the twi'lek's forearm.

"Seriously?"

Luke shakes his head in disbelief.  "I dunno 'bout you, but I'm not interested in wasting my time in helping this idiot out of the hole he's dug himself into.  'Hard way' or otherwise.  I say we just leave these guys to the Sand People or sell them to a slaver and be done with them.  They're clearly too thick-headed to realize that we're their only chance at survival."

Mits smiles to Angel for her encouraging her marksmanship rival.  She's always been such a good sport like that.

A number of horrifying interrogation techniques come to mind when Tank mentions "The Hard Way," but this time The Darkside's temptations are pretty easy to shrug off.  These guys may be villains and all, but they're not EMPIRE evil.  So using torture to Force answers out of them isn't something The Darkside can really get it's claws into her with.

Mits shrugs to Luke.  "No worries.  I can read him readily enough.  He doesn't want to admit that they're already past due.  As for dropping them like hot potatoes, I'm in no big hurry.  Except to get outta this blazing heat.  Can we continue the conversation inside the ship, please?"

She continues to pay close attention to the thoughts of the villains.  In case any of them are regaining consciousness and are playing possum.

Angel nods to Mittens. "I agree. Inside is better."

With the enemies secured, Angel goes to drag Zarun towards the ship. But she is just a teenage girl. She waits to have an extra hand with dragging him.

Once everyone is aboard the ship, she says, "I'll keep an eye out. Salvaging their ship would be nice, but for now, I think we'll stick to being ready to take off."

She looks at Luke. "Enigma, if you'd be so kind as to be at the ready for take-off in case of immediate danger? I intend to find out what I can from these guys before we fully discard them."

Then looks at Biggs, "Would you take What's-Her-Name to check their ship for clues? With you being another pilot, if things get bad and we all have to get out of here, you won't be far from a pilot seat. And we may as well take the money they claimed to have."

Angel then looks at Janek. "I'll need you here, of course. And I'll be interrogating our prisoners."

Angel taps something into her datapad and shows it to Mittens so the enemy can't see what's written. It reads: "I figure with your powers, we'll remain a unified group even while split in two. I don't like splitting from you, but I also want to make sure our answers don't get left in the desert or destroyed."

The zabrak scowls at Mittens for her lucky guess on his thoughts, as he supposes it to be. If he realises that Luke is right in that their chances of survival in the desert are only slightly better than that of a tach in a gundark nest, he seems to feel that his chances of surviving if he talks are lower. He remains sullenly silent, glaring at Mittens all the way to the ship.

"I got him," Janek assures Angel, waving her away as he heaves the zabrak unceremoniously over his shoulder and strides toward the ship.

"Yeah, we got things covered here," he says to Biggs and Mittens, "You guys right checking on their ship though? Could be trapped or worse."
This message was last edited by the player at 22:22, Mon 16 Sept 2019.

Biggs nods at Angel.

"You sure you've got things under control here?" he clarifies, "Careful kid," he adds in an undertone to Luke with a bracing pat on his friend's shoulder.

To Janek he grins.

"Don't worry, we'll be careful."

Sure Mittens wants to check out the other ship.  But sometimes being a magical girl means you gotta bite the bullet.  Oh wait!  Cake and eat it too!

"No worries!  Danger's my middle name!"

She types a message to Angel on her datapad, "I should be present for interrogation because of my mind-reading.  Blindfold him and we reconvene at Biggs' place with both ships for the questioning, yes?  Daddy's probably worried sick for him anyway.  :3"

"And I guess the statue stays with you for now."

To Biggs she gives a smile and thumbs-up.

Luke wants to check out the other ship.  But having a pilot in both ships ready to take off makes sense.  He gives a nod to Biggs and grabs the third bandit by the feet to drag him to the freighter.  Tank's such a show-off.

"Yeah.  The sooner we leave The Dunes the better.  Try and stay inside the ship this time, Whats-her-name?"

Angel reads the text. Then looks at the zabrak with a little smile on her face. "Hmm... indeed..." then looks at Janek with a smile. "Thanks, Tank."

She looks at Biggs and says, "Honestly, Grand Krayt Dragon, the one thing I'm worried about is your father. If you have him handled, then everything else will be easy sailing."

She heads to the gunnery seat. "Ready when you all are."

Janek nods to Angel, failing to hide a smirk as Luke struggles with the feet of the other bandit behind him. He strides swiftly across the sandy dune and up the boarding ramp of their ship, where he proceeds to glance about.

"Where do you want horns?" he glances back, narrowly avoiding clunking the zabrak's head on the wall behind, "Cargo hold?"

Biggs moves over to hoist up the shoulders of Luke's bandit as the pair make their way after Janek to the ship.

"Don't worry about my father, he'll be fine," he grins at Angel, "Krayt Dragon Junior," he jerks his head at Luke, "and I have got into plenty of scrapes over the years, so I think he's kind of got used to it."

"Maybe keep them in the cockpit with you two," he replies to Janek, "so you can keep an eye on them in case they try any tricks?"

He proceeds to lean the unconscious mercenary he and Luke are carrying against the wall in the door of the cockpit.

"All right, 'What's-Her-Name', let's go see what's in that other ship!"

Luke chuckle's from Tank's pet name for the Zabrack.  Speaking of pet names, in spite of his extreme Biggs bias, Luke thinks "Enigma" sounds cooler than a junior dragon.  Eh.  Whatever.  Not worth saying anything.  Nor is mentioning that this is probably the deepest, most lasting trouble the two have ever been in.

Luke's quick to make sure the bandits are tied to the something super sturdy in the cockpit.  And gagged.  Last thing he needs is for there to be a tussle or annoying distraction while he's flying.

"Keep an eye on that crazy cat.  Half the time she's in or on anything that flies something deadly happens.  And usually her fault.  I think her name should be 'Jinx.'"

He starts prepping for takeoff.
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:23, Mon 04 Nov 2019.

Mits dons her cloak and offers the statue to Angel with a smile, happy that she gets to check out the bandit ship after all.

"'Jinx The Cat' does have a certain ring to it, but I'd think I'd need to be covered in black fur for that to better fit.  But I'll take it.  Jinxy thinks her new name is cute!"

Mits parkours her way back down the ramp.  "Let's go, GKD!  No time like the present!"

She may be made of rubber and springs, but by the time she gets to the bandit ship, she's ready for Biggs to drag her in thanks to the desert heat.

"How do you people survive here?!  I've been to a volcano world with less oppressive heat than this!  Not that I ever want to go back to that hellish place."
This message was last edited by the player at 23:21, Mon 04 Nov 2019.

Biggs' reassurance about his dad has Angel relieved. Which doesn't really show because she generally doesn't show when she's rattled. So she shows her relief by giving a wave towards Biggs from the gunnery seat. "See you at your place, then."

To Janek she says, "I was actually gonna suggest what Biggs just did; keep 'em in sight. We don't want the remotest chance of them escaping. Thanks, guys!"

She swivels about to look for anyone coming that might try to hurt Biggs or Mittens, but has confidence the group will get out of there soon enough.