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?"