Star Wars STAR WARS: INTERVENTION (A story-telling style OT starfighter game)---Always taking new players!

IC: Daniel Sandstrider

As Daniel listened to Terrel’s explanation, he found himself agreeing with the other man. The Rebel’s were trying to do the right thing certainly, but they weren’t going to be easy to join or anything like that. And being loyal to the Old Republic…and more importantly to the Jedi…that the young man could get behind.

He had heard of the Republic from his parents, and it sounded much better than the Empire. And the Jedi…there could be no more noble of a goal than bringing back that old order. So Daniel could easily agree with that. The question was…could he truly accept the task set in front of him?

"Do you want in? Or should I turn the shuttle around before your fighter is transferred over?"

Daniel didn’t even hesitate, “Yes, I still want in. I want to help in any way I can.”

TAG: Bravo

 

IC: Seige Team Six (Imperial spacetroopers), Sergeant Vestor, Bridge Officer Bob, Samantha Irisa, Technician Flavin, the Delicate Delinquent interdictor cruiser

Preparations made, the four members of Seige Team Six put themselves back into their personal spacecraft suits, head-domes sealed.

Simone activated her inter-team comms. "Professor, that signal, was it Covert One-Three One-Three?"

"Affirmative."

"Copy." Simone recorded a short message for the benefit of whoever were here to pick them up. "Stand by for our signal. I doubt that you'll miss it." She compressed the audio into a short burst, and transmitted it in a quick burst.

* * * *

Main Hangar

Vestor was leading the Authority; Go Team when a jaunty voice attracted his attention.

"Before we start moving anything around," Jim said as he wiped sweat off his brow.

The sergeant whirled and pulled a blaster pistol on the stranger, the platoon following his lead and aiming triple-barrelled energy carbines at Palso too, automatically spreading out to encircle the probable Corellian.

"-Why don't we find out where these Imperial space bunnies are at so we can freeze them? You try hauling around one hundred of these rifles plus fulfillment tanks. It's a Hutt's sister of a job!"

"Who the frag are you?!" Vestor demanded hotly, shaken that someone could penetrate their tight security like this! "Where did you come from?"

The corporal directed four of his men to see where this intruder had come from.

* * * *

Breached Dome Entrance

Bridge Officer Bob was in the interdictor dome that had been breached by the departing spacetroopers from when the Sword of Justice' Go Team had captured it from Imperial forces.

It was an inhospitable place, in reality a huge hollow metal globe that extended from the lower and upper hulls, and even then was one of four such spheres on the cruiser.

The inside was black metal, and so seemed to swallow light from the bare bulbs that had been set up round the place.

Catwalks barely wide enough for two persons ran around the inside skin of the walls, and the Royal Engineers had sealed up the breach in the dome ceiling with an airlock cummerbund, whose glowing white enclosed walkway extended down through the dome over empty blac space, and turned on itself once till it met the nearest catwalk.

Not an easy route for the Mercs to transfer onto the ship, but as far as he had been able to determine, there were no pre-existing doors or airlocks on the interdictor hull to connect it to the Javin Bucket.

There were Jod troops at intervals along the catwalk to direct the lieutenant, and help him stay awy from the "safety" railings.

The dark space echoed with the sound of his comlink, Bobob stopping his progress to answer. "Bridge Officer Bob?"

"Vestor here, Sir. Have you given permission for people to start boarding through the tube?"

"Negative. I'm on the way to do that now." Bobob's gaze took in the way his route extended over the dark emptiness. It looked bottomless.

"Well, I'm not sure you need to bother; there's an abo turned up here in the hangar pushing a drokking trolley. Must have come through somehow."

The deck jumped unexpectedly, pitching Bobob over the safety railing, the officer gamely managing to grasp at the horizontal metal while the tinny sounds of his comlink clattered into the depths!

Although relatively muffled, the dome echoed to the EMERGENCY KLAXON.

Strong hands from the nearest soldier reached over to pull him back up!

* * * *

Main Hangar

Troops and technicians were in disarray as they tried to find footing and balance.

* * * *

Bridge

Irisa winced as her bounce off her chair ended with the seat-edge scraped up her back, and her backside on the floor.

"Frag-stang!" She exclaimed, wide-eyed, "What in Flamewind was that?"

The Jod technician who was up there with her said something, but she could not hear him over the deafening two-tone klaxon that echoed throughout the command deck.

She looked up at him from her place on the floor, as he hunched over the nearest console, either trying to kill the alarm, or find out what had happened.

"Are we under attack?"

* * * *

Outside the ship

Observers, if already looking directly at the Delinquent's bow, would see a short-lived glow of light at the several metres of hull exploded outwards, and though the glow quickly extinguisehed to invisibility in the vacuum of space, gusts of vapour as the sealed compartment belched atmosphere into space, continued, buffetting the four spacetroopers that exited through the hole they had created, and floated along the hull towards the signal being given off by the Crusader, unsure of how far they would need to go.

Tag: Okay-dokey, Jim Palso, Fress Colias, Havah Jeth, Kasumi, Beskaryc, Atin

 

IC: Fress Colias
X-wing patrol

"Oh, believe me Firecracker, I remember that feeling all too well. And while this one isn't as strong as the last time I felt it, there is a hint of that feeling. Buddy keep scanning for me, and let me know the second something different shows up."

Fress led the group back around towards the Delinquent noting a different route that connected up to her altered suggestion route appeared. As they neared the Delinquent she slowed her X-wing down and sent a short burst over the comlink to her wings that she was slowing down so they didn’t accidentally crash into her. They were half way back to the Delinquent when the feeling she felt earlier turned into a full blown warning at the back of her mind.

Saber beeped to get her attention as she looked down at the translator. //I picked up a homing beacon signal on 1313 coming from an unknown vessel.//

“Can you trace to the nearest ship this is coming from?” Fress questioned as someone on the radar looked like exploding debris. That looked like the back hull of the ship or the bow maybe.

//Three hundred feet from the Delinquent, picking up four small objects moving in the direction of the unknown vessel's location.//

“Four small objects?” Fress questioned wondering if someone was holed up in the Delinquent. “Lead to wings, there was an explosion. It looked like it came from the Delinquent. I’m picking up a homing signal on frequency 1313 coming from an unknown vessel, four small objects heading towards an area just off the Delinquent’s rear hull, plotting a new course to take a closer look,” she plotted a course in that direction. “Saber, download the new route to Spook and Phoenix. Who ever are out there, we don’t want to spook them, send a report to the Johnny Boy and the Sword of Justice. Put in a request to monitor the activity and not to engage unless a Destroyer shows up. Might as well let them leave then have a full blown battle over a few individuls. There's been too much destruction already. We're just going in to monitor the situation."

Saber beeped in acknowledgement as Fress headed in the direction of the homing beacon signal.

Tag Coffee, Mitth, Bardan, Bravo, Sith

 

IC: Beskaryc Taab
Crusader

Taab waited as the Crusader drifted ever closer to the Interdictor. He had pointed the nose of his craft towards the larger vessel now and could see it through the forward viewport. He glanced down at the tactical plot in the cockpit. He had taken the risk of powering up the computers and they had crunched the data coming in from the passive sensors.

Naturally the Interdictor was noted there, but the display also showed various other ships as well. The ones that concerned him the most were an old Venator class Star Destroyer and two other large ships. These were marked [UNK-poss DRD]. The computer wasn't sure what they were, but they may have been Dreadnaughts. They were surrounded by a light fighter screen tagged [ARC-170]. He watched as a small group of fighters departed a corvette of some type, the computer couldn't figure the type of that yet either. Nor could it identify the new fighters, marking them as [UNK] as well. These seemed to take a meandering course, either scouting the system for unwanted guests or perhaps adding a reserve element for the fighter screen already in place. He continued to watch them, hoping they wouldn't come any closer to the Crusader before the tra'verde could make their escape. Just then a message came in on freq 1313.

"Stand by for our signal. I doubt that you'll miss it."

Taab's attention went back to the Interdictor, given the message he had received he felt he knew what the signal would be. He wasn't disappointed as he saw the blast rock the ship. He was sure it could be felt throughout the vessel. The time for subtlty was at and end. He powered up the rest of the ship's systems and gunned the engines, taking a direct course to the four "packages" his now active sensors could detect. These he tagged as friendlies.

Taab looked to his transponder to ensure it was sending out a false signal. To anyone reading them they would be the light stock freighter Traveller. Their own identity hidden, he glanced at the tac display again to see just what they were up against. The larger vessels still had the [UNK] moniker applied to them. The computer was unfamiliar with the type. The corvette had been IDed as a Marauder, but as with the larger ships the new fighter elements still couldn't be identified either. Worse yet, though they were still out of range, the unknown fighters were boring straight in at the Crusader.

shab. "At'ika, get ready. We are about to have company." He paused for a moment and then added. "I am firing up the Vultures."

IC Atin Taab
Crusader, forward cargo hold.

While his father was trying to get a better picture of what else was in system, Atin readied the cargo hold for their guests. He cleared out the forward cargo hold except for a large cargo net which he rigged up on the far wall, away from the cargo doors themselves. This would help to catch the Imperials should his father feel the need to make a rapid pickup.

Not long after he finished he felt the Crusader lurch forward, its systems all powering up. Either we have been discovered, or buir got the go code was all Atin could think of. He thought about rushing up to the cockpit to see what was going on, but he had his orders, and wouldn't disobey them. A signal came through his buy'ce (helmet) "At'ika, get ready. We are about to have company. I am firing up the Vultures."

The vultures? Not good. Under normal combat circumstances Atin would take the upper quad turret and his father would slave the lower turret to fire forward, adding to the guns he had under his control. But when there was no one to take the turret, they handed control off to the "Vultures", a pair of Vulture droid brains, salvaged from some combat zone during the Clone Wars. Atin hated it when they had to rely on them. For one thing, they constantly forgot that they were no longer fully functioning fighters, but droid brains controlling a pair of quad turrets instead. They would become agitated when they realized that the ship itself wasn't responding to their commands. Secondly they still thought they were fighting the Clone Wars, no amount of argueing with them could convince them otherwise. This had led to some rather embarassing moments in the past where the pair would spontaneously start blasting friendly ships because they were of an older Republic design. They had a particular hatred for the Eta-2 class interceptor, and would fire on these without prompting.

Atin and his father had tried for years to reprogram the pair, but to no avail. Not even a full memory wipe had helped, so it must have been something hard coded into the droid brains themselves. Still they were kept, and usually powered down so as to not cause any problems. They were accurate, and in a pinch where manpower was needed elsewhere, they could prove invaluable. If buir was turning them on then there must be someone other than the packages out there looking for them. But he didn't have time to worry about that, he still had work to do. He depressurized the forward hold and opened the main cargo doors. His own beskar'gam had been sealed and he could survive the vacuum of space for about two hours with its onboard systems.

He peered out of the open cargo bay door, lowering his range finder he magnified the view and caught sight of the four tra'verde getting closer and closer to Crusader. He knew buir would have marked them as friendly so the Vultures wouldn't be firing on them. But manda (mandalorian oversoul, their concept of God or heaven) help whoever else they turned their attention to, because as soon as they were in range, they would hold nothing back.

TAG: Sith-I-5, JediFalcon, Mitth_Fisto Coffee_Ninja

 

IC: Fress Colias/Alias Kasha Sherland
X-wing Patrol

“Lead to wings, we’re halting here, any closer and we’ll be in firing range of their lasers,” Fress commanded as she stopped her X-wing from going any further. “Saber, can you get me a reading off the transponder?”

Saber beeped in acknowledgement as Fress glanced down. Traveller. She frowned, it was an YT-1300 and there weren’t too many left of this style, she also knew they were a sturdy ship. She switched frequencies to 1313. “Traveller, this is Lieutenant Sherland of the Mercs. I would rather you pick up your individuals that you’re here to rescue, opposed to having a battle. Power down your weapons immediately, we will not come any closer unless provoked. There has been too much death in the past two weeks and I would rather not add to the list. Do you copy?”

Tag Bardan and all involved

 

IC: Kasumi
X-wing

“Lead to wings, we’re halting here, any closer and we’ll be in firing range of their lasers,” Fress commanded as she stopped her X-wing from going any further.

"Understood Firecracker."

Kasumi just waited. She watched the reading from Buddy..and noticed that the reading was that of a ship called the Traveller. Kasumi watched out her windows. No, something was wrong. She looked back to the reading.

"Buddy, you are certain that's what they are transmitting."

{Yes. Something wrong.}

"Just a feeling."

Buddy whistled mournfully.

Kasumi turned her attention to what was ahead of them.

Remember this feeling is all she kept hearing in her ears. Something was definitely wrong.

Tag: Fress et al.

 

IC: Technician Flavin, Samantha Irisa, Seige Team Six, the Delicate Delinquent bridge; outside the ship.


Flavin's eyes flickered across the various readouts and indicators as the ship's systems tried to tell him what was wrong.

He had already killed the klaxon, though his ears were still ringing from it.

"We've had a hull breach. Forward section. Has evacuated the four levels around the forward shield generator to vacuum. Cannot tell what the cause was, just yet."

The communications station bleeped continuously until Samantha managed to wedge herself between it and her chair and force herself to her feet.
Breathing hard, she leaned over and toggled one of the switches. "Uh, Bridge."

"Main Hangar here. Can you direct a medical team this way?"

"Of course! What happened?"

"One of our guys did the splits when the deck moved, and is now rolling about around, clutching his-"

"That's fine, we got the picture," she managed to respond, teeth bared in sympathy. "Bridge out." She glanced over the angled black and primary coloured control board, till she spotted the public address: "Medical Team to Main Hangar, please. You're probably going to need a stretcher."

The tech looked across at her: "And an ice-pack."

"And...," The Summer waitress glanced back. "...and an ice-pack."

"Probably be an idea to give your uncle a call. Get some more medics over here, plus he can probably do more to help that man with those powers of his, than any equipment we have."

* * * *

Outside the ship

The Professor led the group from the ship, aiming his suit towards the location beacon coming from their pickup.

What looked like a patch of black space lit up several sensors as it brought its power up, and suddenly he was reading a Corellian YT-1300 transport, whose telesponder indicated it was called the Traveller.

He hoped it had some poke in it, because his other scanners were reading a number of snubships, with the vast majority being old ARC-170s.

In fact, if he wasn't on an operation, he'd take a picture for the clone troopers back aboard the Hard Eight whom, he knew, would get a kick out of seeing their old GAR starfighters again.

He applied full thruster burn to speed towards the freighter, relieved to see a rectangle of darkness to indicate an open cargo bay, and dove into the ship, where his progress was arrested by by a crash net, or something, which he was struggling to get out off when a trailing spacetrooper ploughed into the back of him, clanging him into the cargo wall!

"Easy there Tiger!" He said. "Is that a concussion grenade in your pocket or you just pleased to see me."

PET-9070 used side manouvering thrusters to roll off his friend, and get out the way of the rest of the pack, spotting someone dressed like Boba Fett, standing off to the sides.

Outside the freighter, the last two troopers closed rapidly, fifty and a hundred yards distant and closing.

Tag: Bardan Jusik, JediFalcon, CoffeeNinja, Mitth

 

IC: Josch Decinchi
Corridors, Johnny Boy

Josch, just like the rest of the squadron, had received new orders and his were to report to the Delinquent along with FLT Yavscout, PO Aurora Cradmoon, Chief Williams, Chief Ayres, and Chef Mary. Luckily for him he had not had much time to unpack so moving over to the other ship would not take him too long. One of the things in the message that had caught his attention was the fact that he had been promoted to Flight Lieutenant.

So after sending a message to Navi to gather up Fidget, Josch headed towards Aurora’s quarters first to check on her and see if he could lend her a hand. But when he got there she was already gone. “Well I see I’m not needed here.” From there he made his way towards the hanger to move his fighter over to it next new home.

As he moved down the corridor he encountered Lt. Yavscout. “Hey Yavs! You ready to head to our new home or what?”

TAG: Sith-I-5

 

IC: Jim Palso
Air Locked connecting ramp, Delicate Delinquent


"Who the frag are you?!" Vestor demanded hotly, shaken that someone could penetrate their tight security like this! "Where did you come from?"

The corporal directed four of his men to see where this intruder had come from.


"Whoa!" Palso said, holding his hands up, "I'm on your side!"

The man who had demanded who he was turned his attention to a comlink, "Vestor here, Sir. Have you given permission for people to start boarding through the tube?"

Another man's voice was on the receiving end as Jim held his hands up to four spec op soldiers with guns. Palso rolled his eyes and thought, Seriously? Twenty questions and I have four men with guns pointed at me!

"Negative. I'm on the way to do that now." Bobob's gaze took in the way his route extended over the dark emptiness. It looked bottomless.

"Well, I'm not sure you need to bother; there's an abo turned up here in the hangar pushing a drokking trolley. Must have come through somehow."

"Somehow?! Look, Ya---"

Palso tried to balance himself as the deck shook under him and alarms went sounding.

EMERGENCY KLAXON

The spec op soldiers seemed to have trouble as well, but as Palso tried to balance himself against the sudden shaking, he caused several of the weapons to go scattering across the deck from the hover sled.

"Okay," Palso said, collecting himself off of the deck, "That wasn't me!"


Tag Sith



********************************************



IC: Commander Terrel Vacks
Wind's Sword, Aka'jor-class shuttle, heading towards the Sword of Justice from the Authority, Greater Javin


Daniel didn’t even hesitate, “Yes, I still want in. I want to help in any way I can.”


"Good," Vacks said, "We need people willing too----"

"Commander Vacks!" Yelped the Jod co-pilot in the shuttle co-pilot, "Communication between the Authority and Sword of Justice suggest that the Delicate Delinquent has suffered an internal explosion!"

"I don't want suggestions pilot," Vacks said, unstrapping and making his way to stand behind and between both pilot stations, "I want facts."

"It's just been confirmed, Commander," The pilot said as the bow of the Sword of Justice loomed ever closer, "A flight of Guardians has intercepted a freighter. Flight is under the command of a Lieutenant Sherland."

"Fress," Vacks said, then was about to add, "Get in contact with the Johnny Boy and---"

"Commander Vacks," came a droid voice over the shuttle's comm system, "This is Dak. Proceed with the evacuation as planned. My programming suggests this is a rescue mission. Neither the Javin Bucket, Authority, or Sword of Justice long range sensors detect any additional enemy forces moving in on our location."

"Suggest!" Vacks responded, "Dak, you know as well as I do that a fleet of starships can hide very well in the dark void of space."

"Very correct, Commander. But for now, we need only worry about Yavscout and the Delinquent."

"Only? Dak, that's hundreds of clones and others we're talking about! Not to mention Merc crew members and pilots!"

"This is not up to debate, Commander. The Sword of Justice is to depart immediately. Miss Sherland's flight will catch up as soon as they can. I am uploading hyperspace routes now to both your shuttle and their starfighters. Miss Sherland's flight will meet you as soon as they can at the hyperspace exit corridnates. Johnny Boy out."

Vacks cursed under his breath; the problem with droids was their stone cold logic. Yes, logically Dak was right: it was better that the SOJ left now in case an Imperial fleet showed up, the less the Imperials could destroy, the better. But, morally, Vacks hated running from a fight if a fight was to be had and leave his fellow Mercs behind. But, Taller had installed Dak's programming to take over for a reason and the veteran Commander had to trust his bed ridden Captain that that decision was for the best of the Mercs.

Vacks nodded to the Jod pilots as the SOJ got bigger and bigger, "Begin final approach. Alert the bridge to our immediate departure."

"Yes, Commander."

Vacks turned back to Daniel as he resumed his seat and strapped in again, "Just another day in the day of a Merc. Looks like your our only official Merc pilot on the SOJ until Fress and her flight gets back. Welcome to the Mercs..." Vacks said with a thin grin. This was going to be a long day; looking up, Vacks asked, "So what's your combat experience like? Can you handle a starfighter and a blaster rifle? Often times as Mercs, we double both as pilots and commandos. Do you have a ground specialty? Sniper? Assault? Covert? Explosives? Spy?"


Tag All
OOG: Coffee, Falcon, Mitth: your R2 units (or nav computers) will have received hyperspace corridnates to hook up with the SOJ after you finish up with the space bunnies and their hot-rod ride.

 

IC: Havah Jeth
Space off Delinquient's Side

Watching Fress' chosen path bear fruit, Havah nodded silently to her redirected flight plan. Sometimes guts paid off, as he looked at the sensor read outs and saw objects moving out and away from the blast his first thoughts went to decompression of bodies being ejected. Unpleasant memories floated at the edge of his mind that he fought to keep at bay as he watched the readouts, the hidden ship appearing, and the objects obviously moving under power toward it. So far Fress wasn't shaping up to bad. . .

“Lead to wings, we’re halting here, any closer and we’ll be in firing range of their lasers,” Fress commanded as she stopped her X-wing from going any further.

"Understood Firecracker." came crackling over the comms from Kasumi.
"Understood." Then in the next breath as he followed the command and began double checking the crafts combat readiness at a flick of a switch, Fress said something that made his blood run as cold as Arkania's Northern Wastes. She had aired it on an open frequency, but as the true Flight Leader, that had to take over if things actually got hairy, or the kid make a blunder he was still having his droids monitor them and patch them through if possibly relevent. This was relevent.

“Traveller, this is Lieutenant Sherland of the Mercs. I would rather you pick up your individuals that you’re here to rescue, opposed to having a battle. Power down your weapons immediately, we will not come any closer unless provoked. There has been too much death in the past two weeks and I would rather not add to the list. Do you copy?”

Looking blankly at the presently leading craft in their formation. The woman was a pacifist! Nothing worse in a battle then a pacifist that wasn't tending wounded. Flipping the switch his s-foils moved to attack position, "Glove lock torps on the remaining travelers." Waiting for a signal lock as the first two flew into the cargo bay of the craft he decided to add his own transmission to the fray as he added his signal on the open comm frequency 1313, "You heard her, power down weapons or your cargo's plasma broiled. You have three seconds." he figured by that time the last trooper would be entering the craft, freeing it to run or fight freely. By then it had to make the distinction clear, otherwise the torp would be able to penetrate the cargo bay as easily as the troopers were doing with the particle shields down.

TAG: Bardan_Jusik , Falcon, Ninja, any on comms

 

IC: Atin Taab
Forward cargo hold, Crusader, Greater Javin Sector

"C'mon, c'mon!" Atin yelled to himself as the Crusader moved forward towards their goal. He knew that both the tra'verde and the ship were powering towards each other, but they didn't seem to be moving fast enough. Especially with so many hostile targets in the area. He was sure the shooting would start any second. Hopefully the Vultures could keep them away long enough for them to complete the mission.

He was relieved as first one of the troopers and then another crashed into the cargo bay, the second landing atop the first. "Two aboard" he quickly radioed his father. He wasn't on the same frequency as the troopers were so he didn't hear the exchange between the two, but he looked them over quickly. No signs of damage to their suits and they both seemed in good condition as they moved out of the way of the bay doors. He raised two fingers to his buy'ce and gave them a jaunty salute waiting for their comrades. Maybe they would pull this off without a shot after all.

IC: Beskaryc Taab
Crusader, Greater Javin Sector

"Targets aquired, roger, roger" echoed twice through Taab's buy'ce as the Vultures came up online. He really hated the way the Vultures communicated, but there was nothing he could do about it now. At least they had fixated on the right targets this time, the unknown fighters closing in on them instead of the ARC-170s that were much further out. They were almost in range and would begin firing momentarily.

“Traveller, this is Lieutenant Sherland of the Mercs. I would rather you pick up your individuals that you’re here to rescue, opposed to having a battle. Power down your weapons immediately, we will not come any closer unless provoked. There has been too much death in the past two weeks and I would rather not add to the list. Do you copy?”

Taab looked down to the tac display in shock and saw the unknown fighter patrol came to a halt outside of laser range. "hut'uun (coward)" he muttered under his breath. He considered the message for a moment, not for the command issued in it, but rather for what else it told him.

First, it had come in on freq 1313, apparently the covert Imperial frequency was not as secure as previously thought. Taab mentally added a 2% surcharge on the fee owed to him by the Empire to turn that information over to them. Secondly, there had been a battle large enough here that even the presence of his ship was considered a threat to avoid. This the Imperials already knew he was sure, or at least they would once this charter was finished. So that information had no monetary value, but it could come in useful in the here and now.

The last bit of information the message told him was the most important. The pilot identified herself as a member of the Mercs. Taab was unfamiliar with them, but only a group of mercenaries would call themselves Mercs. Taab would have to go looking for them when this mission was done. It would do Atin well to work with a larger mercenary organization.

A message from his son shook him from these thoughts. "Two aboard!" That meant two to go. Taab was about to deactivate the Vultures when a tone sounded in the cockpit, someone had locked warheads on them. Another message followed. "You heard her, power down weapons or your cargo's plasma broiled. You have three seconds."

The transmission came from another fighter within the unknown element. Taab gave a wry smile under his buy'ce. Problems within their chain of command perhaps? Now Taab was doubly sure that he needed to seek these Mercs out, it would be good for Atin to have to deal with such firsthand. First, though, came the situation at hand.

The Vultures were going nuts over the "locked on" tone. "Evade, evade." Roger, roger." they kept repeating back and forth to one another. Shabla things, if Atin were in one of the turrets they would have a chance at shooting down one or more incoming warheads. But not with the Vultures. He powered them down, it wasn't worth the risk of losing their "cargo". Too bad though, he would have loved to see these unknown craft in action, just to see what they were capable of. Another reason to hate the cloak and dagger game.

He turned his attention back to the other two tra'verde out there. While this had all gone on, another had already clambered aboard and the last one was in the process of doing so. He sent back a transmission of his own. "Acknowledged Merc flight, I have what I came for. The field is yours." With all four packages aboard now he angled away from Merc flight and prepped for the jump to lightspeed.

TAG: Sith-I-5, JediFalcon, Mitth_Fisto, Coffee_Ninja

 

IC: Kasumi
X-Wing

"Acknowledged Merc flight, I have what I came for. The field is yours."

Kasumi raised her eyebrow at that. What I came for?

What you came for? Interesting, Kasumi thought to herself.

"Firecracker, Spook.....was there a scheduled rendez vous for transfer of anything that we know of? That message suggests that there was...but one that was carried out under our own noses. I'm not sure I like that thought, nor do I like the "came for" comment from that."

While she waited for a response Kasumi closed her eyes and tried to see if she could get a feeling of anything off of someone on that ship. The feeling was still there. She was uneasy....and so were many others. All she could pick up between the uneasy feelings was that of a calculated mind...one of precision....and then the uneasiness took over again.

Tag: Fress, Havah, et al

 

IC: Sydney Ayres
Johnny Boy Hangar

There was plenty of activity in the hangar. Fress had hopped into her X-Wing, the others, well, Sydney wasn't sure where they were. He saw LER move around the hangar, chattering away with that grinding robotic voice of his, that voice that drove Ayres up the wall at the best of times. Sydney could tell that LER needed help. If the droid were human, he would have a bad case of obsessive compulsiveness. Okay, Sydney could live with that. So long as the tools were put back right where they belonged. LER had that look on his face, that metallic face of his, that suggested he could the Hangar Chief if he ever found him.

Dodging a shuttle taking off, Sydney ran up to LER and asked, "Something I can do for you, LER?"

Tag: Sith-I-5

 

IC: Flight Officer Yavscout, Johnny Boy corridor


The elf sat on the deck, back to the wall, palm on the left sside of his skull, which throbbed in pain. He had over-estimated the effect of his promotion; these were mercenaries. You do not just try to relieve one of a bottle of space brandy without at least a blaster handy.

If he was supposed to lead Mercs and some of the Block’s hardest in-mates, he should really collect his Theed Arms S-5 himself from his room, rather than rely on Deputy bringing it along.

Mercs and Outlaw Techs moved up and down the corridor, on business of their own, clearly too busy to spot a wounded elf

Yav looked up as a pair of boots stopped by his raised knees.

“Hey Yavs! You ready to head to our new home or what?”

He looked up the form of the owner of that excited-sounding voice, to find the nearest anyone came to looking like an elf: Zieleb-Xan Macja.

Yav sighed. With the responsibilities heaped on him, he was going to have to Mando up.
He took a deep breath and put up his right hand for the other to grasp and pull him up.
“I need to grab my blaster and my Guardian flight jacket from my cabin, then I’ll be ready to roll. The Mother is ready in the hangar for me, so you can escort us out; or just take your fighter across to the Delinquent when you are ready.” He paused, “You cleared your pilots’ locker out, yet?”

Tag: CPL_Macja

---

IC: Sergeant Vestor, Delicate Delinquent hangar.

The Jod non-com spun slowly around, gaze taking in everything in what was for the moment, his hangar.

He wanted it as ship-shape as possible to hand over to the elf, who had not forgotten the soldier’s part in capturing this most wonderful of prizes from the Imperial fleet!

He had made good use of the just arrived Go Team, sending their un-injured members to check on casualties both here and the smaller TIE hangar.

Due to the Imperial threat, most of the bulkheads had already been sealed, so he wasn’t too concerned about the safety of the cruiser.

The soldier stepped over one of the guns that had scattered from the trolley, and approached their apparent owner, who was now lifting himself from the deck. There were no guns aimed at him now.

“Okay, that wasn’t me.” The man declared.

“Of course it wasn’t.” Vestor agreed readily. “I am Sergeant Vestor of the Kingdom of Jod Army. Do you have a name? And what do you know of the Imperials?”

Tag: Palso

---

IC: SIM-0702 "Simone", PET-9070 "Peta" (spacetroopers), Crusader interior

The shock of hearing the hostiles talking over the supposedly covert Imperial channel was tempered by that Lieutenant Sherland of the Mercs - a name for passing over to Captain Sard later - apparently willing for the pickup to happen peacefully.

Then seconds later, her suit was singing with a high-pitched "target lock" tone!

"You heard her, power down weapons or your cargo's plasma broiled. You have three seconds."

Then she was inside the craft's cargo hold, turning just inside the hatch to bring her not inconsiderable weapons to bear to cover the last of her team, then he was inside and the starfield was whirling as the vessel's captain immediately started the freighter moving!

"Acknowledged Merc flight, I have what I came for. The field is yours."

Simone sagged in her chair in some relief, helmet leaning back onto the spongy headrest.

"Wherever we're going," she heard Peta say wryly in over her comlink, "I hope it's near a dry cleaners."

"I hear ya." She responded in kind.

Tag: Bescaryc, Atin

---

IC: Hangar Tech Ler, Johnny Boy hangar

Although droids were supposed to be emotionless, he was feeling some tension after he got off the comlink with someone aboard the Delicate Delinquent.

It seemed that no-one had bothered to transfer the elf's N-1 from the Sword of Justice to the interdictor.

Right then, he decided, despite the update that the Imperial cruiser was somehow physically linked with the Outlaw Tech star destroyer that they were inside, he could make use of the Mother.

He would have her take the waiting passengers over, but drop Sydney Ayres aboard the Sword of Justice if he could delay the battleship's departure, to pick up the N-1.

Just then he saw the Hangar Chief dodge out of the way of the launching shuttle, and approach him: "Something I can do for you, LER?"

"Where is she going?!" LER exclaimed in disbelief, as the Mother tucked in her landing gear and banked out through the bow doors. He waved an arm to indicate Herc, Ciruit, C.T., Cody, Wolf, and Ayres himself. "She hasn't even got the passengers!" The droid put a hand on top of its head in a typically human gesture of exasperation. "Frag!"

Tag: Herc, Ciruit, C.T., Cody, Wolf, and Ayres

 

I.C. Cody/Wolf
Johnny Boy Hangar

"Acknowledged Merc flight, I have what I came for. The field is yours."

Fress frowned as he quickly agreed to it, either he was outgunned or having Jeth aim a torp at the freighter helped reinforce her message. Other then the space troopers, she didn’t think they came here by themselves. She watched as the freighter made haste to his hyperspace entrance. She smiled tightly knowing she had blundered and couldn’t shake the feeling of a lecture coming from Jeth. A great start she was off too.

"Firecracker, Spook.....was there a scheduled rendez vous for transfer of anything that we know of? That message suggests that there was...but one that was carried out under our own noses. I'm not sure I like that thought, nor do I like the "came for" comment from that."

Fress shook her head with a frown. “I don’t know Phoenix, for all we know this could be just a rescue mission due to a small blunder made by the elf. I have this feeling we’ll get the story from him. After all he did hi-jack the Delinquent with the staff still onboard. I can’t shake the feeling that I know this freighter, I know there is a lot of YT-1300s produced but this one seemed more familiar. I can’t remember from where. It’s what is causing me to have a really bad feeling,” she had used her alias without a second thought and wasn’t sure why but she didn’t want the Imperials to know she was still alive.

Saber beeped to get her attention as she glanced down at the translator screen. Coordinates to meet up the SOJ at the hyperspace exit as soon as they were done. “Looks like we’re meeting up with the SOJ at the hyperspace exit. Coordinates have been downloaded into our R two units. Spook, should we continue to scope out the system incase they come back or should we should meet up with the SOJ while she's still insystem?"

Tag Mitth, Coffee, Bravo
-----------------------------
IC: Cody/Wolf

"Where is she going?!" LER exclaimed in disbelief, as the Mother tucked in her landing gear and banked out through the bow doors. He waved an arm to indicate Herc, Ciruit, C.T., Cody, Wolf, and Ayres himself. "She hasn't even got the passengers!" The droid put a hand on top of its head in a typically human gesture of exasperation. "Frag!"

Cody frowned as he exchanged a concerned look with Wolf. “Someone seems to be in an awful hurry.”

”Getting spooked from an Imperial Star Destroyer that does or does not exist one micro jump away from here,” Wolf pointed out. “On the other hand, the Delinquent did suffer from an internal explosion and the hull was breached.”

Cody looked at LER with a frown. “Some warning would’ve been nice,” he shook his head sadly. "Looks like we're walking to the Delinquent."

"A walk does sound like a good idea. We should go before it decides to leave," Wolf pointed out with a frown.

Tag Sith

 

IC: Havah Jeth
Space, the final recon. . .

As the freighter powered down before slewing away to make a break for hyperspace Havah gave a grim nod. This was either going better then expected, or it was about to go horribly wrong. Kasumi and Fress both started to chat on their comms about what had just happened and possible implications from it. Personally he was still waiting for the other shoe to drop, metaphorically speaking.

Then Fress asked the question he was hoping she wouldn't, she asked whether they should merely go back to base or finish their mission. As if there was a decision to actually be made. "Firecracker! Do you call off a sweep for listening bugs because you found one? We finish the job with a full sweep as there can be more then one, either until we have looked everywhere we were supposed to, all ally ships have left system, or the enemy arrives to kill us. Any questions?" he asked with a hard edge to his voice.

In a way that tone was very similar to the Yaka drill instructor in his first round of intensive training. Noting that his R2 unit Glove had downloaded the coordinates as well he waited for Fress to continue their guided sweep of the system.

TAG: Falcon, Ninja, Bravo

 

IC: Fress Colias
X-Wing Patrol

“Saber, plot a new course for another sweep and down load it to Glove and Buddy,” Fress commanded as she waited for Jeth’s reply to her obvious question. Saber beeped in agreement then chirped to get her attention. She glanced down at the translator screen and grinned at the comment.

//Why are you deliberately aggravating him?// Saber questioned.

“I don’t know, Saber. I just know how to get underneath his skin I guess,” to be honest Fress had no clue why she wanted to aggravate him a little. She did miss her arguing with Anakin over how to command as they both had strong heads and different views. But he used sarcasm in turn which made it fun to argue with him. She knew enough to never call off a sweep search before the job was finished. She had to know if he really was strict or if it was just her imagination. She didn’t have to wait long.

"Firecracker! Do you call off a sweep for listening bugs because you found one? We finish the job with a full sweep as there can be more then one, either until we have looked everywhere we were supposed to, all ally ships have left system, or the enemy arrives to kill us. Any questions?"

Fress shook her head knowing this answered her question on how strict Jeth was which only confirmed her suspicions. She didn’t plan on calling off the search but she was curious. “Only answered my questions about your personality type, Saber is downloading a new route to check while you were well lecturing over the com,” she swung her X-wing in the direction the Freighter had left. She wanted to make sure he was really gone. “Did you really think I would’ve called off the search? Give me time to show you what I’m really capable of. I did make a convincing death scene fifteen years ago that fooled the Imperials into calling off the bounty.”

Tag Mitth, Coffee,

 

IC: Imperial Navy Intelligence, Lone Scout-A
Deep Space, Greater Javin

Well, when Flight Lieutenant Steven Wams had accepted this posting from his second year of tour of duty with his TIE Squadron, "special" had been part of the job description. When given this high profile assignment from the Imperial Navy, so classified that they were now assigned to Imperial Navy Intelligence and no longer part of the Imperial Navy, Wams have day dreams of high danger missions where the "James Bond 007" holo-vids weren't so much of dreaming film makers, but of reality.

Instead, he and his other crew of 3 had been posted out in the Greater Javin sector for weeks now with not so much a communication from their superiors. Until now. And if it wasn't for the high profile context of the message, the over-working heating unit (better then it not working and the four crew members freezing to death in deep cold space) that caused him to have a wet towel over his neck with his flight suit pealed half way down exposing the gray under sleeveless shirt and Imperial dog tags would have caused him to break comm silence and be facing a court martial for breaking strict rules of engagement for a intelligence gathering mission.

Luckily, the deepness and darkness of space hid his sweating form from the public's eyes in the cockpit. And, truly, all he could see was deep, dark, cold space anyways.

"So bad news," Came one of the crew members, a Stormtrooper of all things that tripled as the vessel's soldier, mechanic, and pilot "I won't be able to fix the malfunctioning heating unit we find a safe Imperial port. I've tried everything we had in spare parts and we don't have the parts I need."

Wams looked over at the human recruited Stormtrooper who would have caused any other Stormtrooper to scream treason; his face showed a beard after weeks of not shaving and his classic white armor, while piled neatly by his bunk in the rear, had been replaced by a single black coverall, "An Imperial safe port in the Greater Javin? For a classified Imperial Navy Intelligence vessel? Keep on dreaming, plastic boy."

"Easy on the name calling LT," The stormtrooper smiled.

"You can grow a beard all you want. But once a stormtrooper, always a stormtrooper. Here to keep us rank and file in line, as we both know."

The trooper smiled, "Aren't we all loyal to the Emperor already?"

"Do you want the political correct answer or the 'My heater has been malfunctioning for more then a two hours now and I don't give a Sith anymore'?"

"I would go for the not caring anymore one," Came a reply from the back as a TIE Pilot, like himself, was getting dressed in his single piece coveralls from his bunk, "As long as you don't mind being slammed into an air lock while half asleep by our plastic boy here and ejected into space."

"Name calling please!"

"The armor, Peter," Came the reply from the lone Imperial Navy Intelligence Officer in the rear who also doubled as a pilot, as they all did for such a long operation, "Just get use to it. But rest assure that this crew is loyal."

"On my third tour of duty for the Empire, I would hope to the heavens that the Empire thinks me of loyal! Anyways, why is everyone up! A family reunion? We have oxygen to conserve in case the air recyclers crap out like the heater."

"Not everyday you get a comm message from Imperial Center direct to record a group of ships in the middle of deep space."

"True. Well, glad the boys and girls at IC can see it. Because except for the holo zoom vid here, I can't see jack!"

"We are quite a far ways away, still Lieutenant."

The TIE pilot looked back at the Intelligence officer, "No duh! TIE pilot, remember?"

"Better question is, can anyone see us?"

"Not this far out," The other pilot, younger and a Flying Officer, said, shaking his head, "Impossible. Even with a capital ship's sensors, unless their looking for us. Our deep space scanners are designed for this type of stuff."

"Not to mention we got some fancy technology that allows us to see what is going on...never seen it before. Rumor is Section 19."

"A rumor you never heard, LT?" The trooper whispered so only Wams could heard him.

The stormtroopers' stern voice laid the line; Wams simply nodded.

"Okay," Wams suddenly said as another short message came across their comm board, "Our job is complete. Lets get out of here."

"Hyperspace exit?"

"Too risky. They'll see us. Imperial Center got the live holo footage they wanted to see and we've transmitted it to them. I don't plan on getting blasted now. Four capital ships plus starfighters verse us. They win, we loose. Let's take our time. If they spot us---doubtful---we have a large enough head start to outrun them and jump to hyperspace before they catch us. Slow and easy, boys."

"Makes we wonder, who would want us to record saving some Space Troopers anyways by mercenaries with highly classified holo recording technology?"

"Someone who didn't want everyone else to know that they were recording. Makes me wonder who I really work for sometimes. Navy Intelligence or someone else I've never meet or see..."

The stormtrooper smiled inwardly. Yes, the Emperor had him he for a reason...to keep watch...and act when needed...





Tag (if needed) Coffee, Falcon, Mitth, Jusik, Sith
OOG: There's no way to catch the Lone Scout-A. She's too far out and would jump to hyperspace (if you can even find her first). Just adding this post in for storyline purposes for Emperor Palpatine.

 

OOC: Sweet post, Bravo. Now, I was going back through Intervention, trying to see if Alison the Droideka survived the Time Slip mission, but I fear her fate fell victim to the truncated posts problem. However, I re-discovered some npcs, nrcs, and some background data.
Also, I took a close look at Fress, Kasumi and Jeth's switching in and out of 1313...

---

IC: Chief Engineer Tim Williams, SIM-0702 "Simone", Corporal Loretta (Jod npc), the Javin Bucket, Crusader and Sword of Justice, respectively.

The Mercs' Chief Engineer jauntily descended the Johnny Boy's boarding ramp, smiling as he stepped onto the Javin Bucket's long hangar deck, and followed one of the Outlaw Tech guides to the flexitube that would take him to his new home for at least the next standard month, the captured Imperial interdictor.

It was always a wrench leaving his daughter, Raechel, behind, but Dak's re-assignment orders had not mentioned her or their Hyperspace Technician, Zap, so it was assumed that they were staying behind to work on the Johnny Boy.

Dressed in a bright orange one-piece coverall, tucked into cracked and worn black work-boots, Tim carried a holdall of clothes and tools, both heavy-duty and micro-sized, and he had his trusty blaster rifle, Sandy, over one shoulder.

So someone had iced the King, had they, he grinned in silent mirth. Couldn't have happened to a nicer bloke.

No need to be so blinking cheery about it, Sandy chided in his head. That King Alex was somebody's father......okay, bad example.

Sandy's failed telling off only made Williams smile wider as he mingled with other Merc crew streaming in the same direction.

Up ahead, he caught sight of the white-uniformed Nurse Ulrike similarly weighed down, while trying to corral both a floating black medical coccoon, and one of the flat-headed "Gary" medibots.

* * * *

Crusader cargo hold

Despite sagging in her chair, head back, eyes closed, the female spacetrooper could tell that they had not yet entered hyperspace.

The subtle clue was that she would have felt through her suit, the power from the freighter's engines as they engaged supralights.

The more blatant clue was that she could still hear that Lieutenant Sherland of the Mercs over compromised channel One Three One Three.

“I don’t know Phoenix, for all we know this could be just a rescue mission due to a small blunder made by the elf. I have this feeling we’ll get the story from him. After all he did hi-jack the Delinquent with the staff still onboard. I can’t shake the feeling that I know this freighter, I know there is a lot of YT-1300s produced but this one seemed more familiar. I can’t remember from where. It’s what is causing me to have a really bad feeling,”

This was great. That Sherland woman clearly hadn't switched back out of the Imperial frequency!
It belatedly occured to Simone that she ought to be recording this. She was familiar enough with the controls that she did that with her eyes still closed, just by feel.

“Looks like we’re meeting up with the SOJ at the hyperspace exit. Coordinates have been downloaded into our R two units. Spook, should we continue to scope out the system incase they come back or should we should meet up with the SOJ while she's still insystem?"

"Firecracker! Do you call off a sweep for listening bugs because you found one? We finish the job with a full sweep as there can be more then one, either until we have looked everywhere we were supposed to, all ally ships have left system, or the enemy arrives to kill us. Any questions?"

Two of 'em!

“Only answered my questions about your personality type, Saber is downloading a new route to check while you were well lecturing over the comm. Did you really think I would’ve called off the search? Give me time to show you what I’m really capable of. I did make a convincing death scene fifteen years ago that fooled the Imperials into calling off the bounty.”

Simone chuckled silently inside her helmet. It was like tuning in to Radio Stupido, 95.1FM! She was sorely tempted to ask the freighter captain to delay jumping to hyperspace, but that would be taking the pith.

Shame no-one had mentioned where they were meeting the SOJ, whatever the SOJ was.

She and her crew were sure to be promoted for this!

* * * *

Sword of Justice corridor

Black pony-tail streaming out behind her, Corporal Loretta of the Kingdom of Jod Naval Guards Corps, raced down the hallway in the direction of the hangars, while all around her, the King-class battleship readied itself for an imminent jump to Red Space.

She and her shift partner, Corporal Youngstown, had distinguished themselves some days earlier, intercepting one of those Merc females as she penetrated the bridge in an attempt to meet the Captain.

Now she had been a special assignment, personal bodyguard and aide to that Bridge Officer Bob, over on the Delicate Delinquent, but only if she were able to take the N-1 space superiority fighter out of the Sword's hangar bay before she jumped to lightspeed.

And the ship was not waiting for her!

Her knapsack with spare underwear and personal stuff, slapped the door frame as she skidded into the hangar itself, where she could see a space had been cleared around the black-painted Naboo starfighter that she was due to take out.

Loretta scanned over the hulls of the many vehicles in the hangar, looking for sign of the Wind's Sword, the Aka'jor-class shuttle that she understood was the only thing preventing the battleship's immediate departure from the Danger Zone.

"Gaaaaannngggway!!!" She called ahead to a gaggle of technicians, prompting them to make a hole for her.

Her boots mounted the right foil, dipping the fighter slightly on it's repulsors, and she leapt right into the open cockpit, stuffing her knapsack down between her legs, flicking the switch that brought the canopy forwards over her head.

"Bridge, I have reached the elf's ship." She reported over the comlink.

"Copy that, Loretta." A clear voice came back, one that she easily recognised from long shifts guarding the bridge. "Bank to port as soon as you pass through the mag-con, and you should miss the Wind's Storm."

"Should?" She echoed, checking power readouts. She pushed on the engine levers, and the compact little craft began to smoothly move forward.

"It's not an exact science."

She could hear laughter in the background. "Oh, you. You had me going there," she fibbed for their benefit. "Tell Corporal Youngstown that I will see him in a month. Bye Guys."

The N-1 shot out of the bay into the blackness, and banked hard to port, easily missing the Wind Storm's nose, though she caught a glimpse of two pilots and Commander Vacks in the others' cockpit before she was on her own, nosing towards the rapier thin wedge that was the Imperial cruiser.

Loretta smiled, sensing a new chapter of her life opening before her.

"Delicate Delinquent from N-1 starfighter. Request permission to come aboard."

There were no women on the Sword of Justice' bridge crew, so she was surprised to hear a young girl's voice answer her.

"Permission granted. We have casualties in both decks, so try not to land on anyone."

"Copy that." Loretta frowned as she started her approach, heading under the cruiser. Casualties? Already?

"Also, if you can, try to park at the side, then report to Sergeant Vestor with your orders."

"Copy that."

Tag: Vacks, Colias, Kasumi, Jeth, Lone Scout A(?)

 

IC: Fress Colias
X-wing patrol

Fress glanced down at her com transmitter and realized with horror which frequency they were still on. She grasped the stick tightly feeling terrified that the Imperials will investigate her alias closer now. “Kriff,” she snipped over the com. “Spook, Phoenix, didn’t anyone realize which frequency we’re on? Don’t say anything further, switch back to the usual frequency.”

Fress could’ve kicked herself, if she could she would. If Vader caught up with her, then she would have to deal with him directly. She knew he may come himself considering she tricked a bounty hunter into taking a fake corpse back with enough genetic material to convince them that she died in the fire. She fingered the firing button on her X-wing thinking about putting a hole into that freighter but decided against it. She never broke her promises like that. There was a chance they may not have been listening but she couldn't shake the feeling they had been. The only thing on her mind now was her ten year old son. She prayed to who ever might be listening that they never figure out that he was her child. It would put Brice into danger.

Fress switched to the other frequency as she edged her X-wing forward deciding the freighter had enough of a lead. She led the group back out for another scan. If someone was out there, she couldn’t shake the feeling but she knew there had to be an Imperial team near by somewhere.

Tag Sith, Mitth and Coffee.

 

IC: Sydney Ayres
Johnny Boy Hangar

Ayres watched the Mother depart the hangar. LER was pretty pissed. He couldn't blame him. This entire operation of transferring over to the Delicate Delinquent had been the biggest exercise in delinquency that Ayres had ever encountered in his brief time with the Mercs. But Sydney hadn't given the order for the shuttle to launch. But it was still his responsibility to know what was going on in his hangar bay and he'd temporarily been MIA on that account since hopping from one place to another ever since this great Red Rock adventure began. There were no excuses for the stupidity of the situation. Everyone who had a hand had done an epic face palm when the Mother left. Ayres could only watch the retreating form of the shuttle with a bit of a smile on his face because he knew that they would have to walk to the Interdictor cruiser. Force them all to get some exercise, never a bad thing.

Good times.

"No sense waiting around here for the lights to go out. Time to get a move on. Grab your gear. We're walking," Ayres said as he headed off in the direction of the Delinquent.

Tag: Sith

 

IC: General Perez, Commander Hilton, Captain Stakes' cabin, the Sword of Justice

The General left his chair as Stakes went on about him drilling the hangar crew.

Perez stood over the seated captain, and deliberately pressedhis forefinger onto the other's desk, and glared down at him.

"Did the Prophesy mention Vaska 3, Captain?" He demanded an answer to, "Did we know about Vaska beforehand, and do nothing to protect it?"

"To be fair, General," Hilton, still seated, interjected from behind him, "we had a Planetary Defense Fleet stationed there, one of only three locations in the entire Kingdom."

Tag: Captain Timothy Stakes

* * * *

IC: Hangar Tech LER, Flight Officer Yavscout, Chief Engineer Tim Williams, Nurse Ulrike, Johnny Boy and the Javin Bucket, respectively.

LER looked towards the open bow doors, but the Mother showed no immediate sign of returning.

And it sounded like Ayres had come to the same realisation, when he announced, "No sense waiting around here for the lights to go out. Time to get a move on. Grab your gear. We're walking."

"Of course, Chief. May the Force be with you."

LER was distracted from Sydney's departure, and cheered slightly as he received a comm call from the Delinquent: a pilot had brought over Yavscout's starfighter from the Sword of Justice.

He thanked her, and signed off.

* * * *

In a corridor near to Taller's office, Yavscout pressed a button on his wrist-comlink to end the call, and slid himself up the corridor wall into a standing position, and looked over at Xieleb.

"Good news. My fighter is sorted. You get to your ship; I'm going to collect my stuff."

Yav nodded at his fellow Merc, and headed back to his room, rifling through the bedsheets for the blaster and holster that promised to make his next brandy mugging a bit more successful.

He breathed a sigh of relief as he his fingers closed on the barrel of his S-5, and then the brown leather belt and holster, which he buckled up then put over one shoulder like a bandolier.

Only then did he look around the room; did not look like Deputy had gotten here yet.

* * * *

Tim Williams found a crowd of Mercs unable to progress down the indicated entrance to the flexitube attaching the de-commissioned star destroyer, to their destination cruiser.

He elbowed his way to the front, finding the way blocked by a tightly packed twenty-strong of militarised fashion victims...or Kongdom of Jod soldiers.

"What is going on," he asked of the living blockade, "why can't we go through?"

"Sorry, sir. Bridge Officer Bob has ordered that no-one come through yet, till he can check the integrity of the connection, even if he has to walk through with a barometer."

Williams cocked his head at this news. "What is he, nuts? Send a droid for frag's sake. Stand by." He turned from the soldier, remembering seeing that nurse, with the floating medical droid. "Nurse Ulrike, you round here?"

To be continued...

 

IC: Havah Jeth
Space, the unforgiving spam-tier

Fress' response was classic and one that had him resting his head back as a gloved finger flicked at the flack vest. Although when she finally finished her one woman monologue and then said something that got his attention. In his ire, and her prodding they had forgotten to switch off the open non-scrambled frequency they had transmitted on to the recovery craft. Quickly flicking the switch he tried to sink into his seat as he heard the beeps and boops of glove. "Kriff!"

Raising a hand to cover his face he tried to relax into the cushions that were nearly non-existant. The screens showed absolutely nothing unknown on sensors besides dust and radiation readings, so he felt secure in his next step. "I don't want to know Glove. Just run silent, keep us in formation, and only disturb me if we run into a fight, booze is delivered, or we are landing. Understood?" Hearing more droid speak he simply shrugged as he ignored it, "I'll take that as a yes."

After a moment he repositioned himself, and then again. "I miss my ship." he silently uttered to no one, at least that had had a reclining seat installed with extra cushioning for his armor plated body, this one was just a tight fit and likely going to make him as sore as a sparring session. "Glove? Play Verpine Jizz Metal Band track number eight on frequency 1313, if they are listening I might as well share an impliment of torture to mimick my own." Sitting back he heard the softened version from the speakers as he awaited the freighter to dissappear. Once more he tried to find a comfortable position. . .and failed.

TAG: Falcon, Ninja, Bravo, Sith.

 

IC: Herc, C.T. and Circuit
Johnny Boy Hangar Bay

The trio just watched as the ship left in silence.

"No sense waiting around here for the lights to go out. Time to get a move on. Grab your gear. We're walking."

Herc nodded and the three walked with the group. They were all silent, but each knew what the other was thinking. They wished that they could be out there helping their friend, they wanted to ensure her safety and her safe return.

Tag: All making their way to the Delinquent.


IC: Kasumi
X-wing

Kasumi heard the frustration in Fress' voice. Too many frequencies when one was "in the air" so to speak. This is why Kasumi usually preferred ground combat. Well, that and there was the element of being able to feel more connected with the Force when on the ground, at least for her.

"Don’t say anything further, switch back to the usual frequency.”

Kasumi nodded to that. She ran the conversation through her mind. She didn't think there was anything really that would have put them in danger. If they were going to make a move, the enemy would have made it already. Now it was just a matter of waiting. Kasumi closed her eyes for a moment and let the Force move through her. Her mind set on Lasso. She hoped that he was ok, but she couldn't get a sense if he was or wasn't. With this new change of events, the question now became, was there going to be a rescue for him, or would he be sacrificed for the "greater good"? Something Kasumi never understood. Death was never a "greater good".

Tag: Fress, Havah

 

OOG: Thank you Sith!

The Kingdom of Jod story originally started with my Jim Palso character many, many years ago. Palso visited the Kingdom of Jod sometime before the Yuuzhan Vong Invasion, so please keep his comments in mind with that context.

We can assume the Lone Scout-A has jumped to hyperspace to evade possible detection.



IC: Jim Palso
Hanger Bay, Delicate Delinquent


“Of course it wasn’t.” Vestor agreed readily. “I am Sergeant Vestor of the Kingdom of Jod Army. Do you have a name? And what do you know of the Imperials?”


Palso stuck out a handshake towards the Sergeant, "Palso...Jim Palso. Best smuggler this side of the timeline! Say, your direct approach hasn't changed much...err, I mean, won't change much. In the future that is. And of the Imperials? Which ones? Before the Battle of Yavin or after the Battle of Endor? Two completely different Empires we have there...and Rebel Alliances."


Tag Sith


*****************************


IC: Captain Timothy Stakes
Captain's Ready Room, Sword of Justice, Greater Javin




The General left his chair as Stakes went on about him drilling the hangar crew.

Perez stood over the seated captain, and deliberately pressedhis forefinger onto the other's desk, and glared down at him.

"Did the Prophesy mention Vaska 3, Captain?" He demanded an answer to, "Did we know about Vaska beforehand, and do nothing to protect it?"

"To be fair, General," Hilton, still seated, interjected from behind him, "we had a Planetary Defense Fleet stationed there, one of only three locations in the entire Kingdom."


Stakes looked up at the General, "Sit down, General," Stakes held his stare a moment longer to make his point, adding, "And no, the Prophesy didn't mention Vaska 3. It's not a play-by-play script for us to follow, General. The Prophesy simply tells us what will happen in the near future to shape our future," Timothy sat back and said, in a calmer voice, "Please, General, sit. I am not here to debate religion or politics with you. I'm here to discuss what we need to do to survive as a people and as a nation. The Mercs be damned, the galaxy be damned. My loyalties lie first and foremost with the Kingdom of Jod and the rightful and lawful Royal Family. If we don't save our own people first, then we won't have a home to go back to.

"Vaska 3 hurts us all deeply. I had a cousin stationed at a garrison base there. And I haven't heard from him since the fall of Vaska 3. Even when the search and rescue teams went in, looking for survivors...still no word. So yes, I understand your pain and anger over Vaska 3. But whoever did Vaska 3, did it from within. It had to be. Vaska 3's defensive fleet was rotated in and out, random patrols and re deployments from other sectors of operations went in and out of Vaska 3 daily. There was no way anyone outside of the highest military command circles knew of Vaska 3's true defensive strength at any given moment. Someone leaked information to the Beasts and I bet it's the same people who killed the King and want the Queen to leave the throne. And when that Beast invasion hit, they hit with superior numbers to outnumber any defenses we had and they hit, per official war records, an hour after three light destroyer-class ships left the area to continue patrol. Someone gave them the slip on when those three destroyers left the area, because there wasn't another warship due in for another five hours. The question is who and how did they get that information?

"Whoever is leaking the Beasts this information thinks they can play with the Beasts like pets. But the Beasts are stupid, they'll play the game until their tired of being used. Then, they will turn on whoever is using them. When that happens, the 'new' government over the Kingdom of Jod will collapse and our people will be destroyed. Whoever is playing with this fire doesn't know how bad they can get burned and we need to prevent that before our people suffer."

Stakes' desk comm beeped, "Captain?"

"One moment please," Stakes said to the two officers as he took the call, "Go ahead."

"Bridge here, sir. The Wind's Storm has docked. All systems are green for Red Space."

"Good. Take us out, bridge."

"Yes, Captain."

As the comm went dead, Stakes looked over at the two naval officers as the SOJ jumped to Red Space, then, moments later, reverted back to normal space. In a matter of moments, they covered what would had taken hyperspace capable ships 20 minutes to cover. The advantage of Red Space technology over hyperspace defined.

"I feel like a fish stuck in a jar being forced out into the toilet to be flushed away to God knows where. I feel the stress too, gentlemen. But, I ask that you hang in there a bit longer to see this to the end. Trust me, please. Any further questions?"


Tag Sith



***********************************************



IC: Jason Lasso
Foothills of the Northern Mountains, daytime, Planet of Jod



"Yea," Jason said, "Or so I'm told. But I don't see any Mercs to lead, I don't know what's going on, and I don't know who you are. So lets start with those three questions first. And no mind games, it won't work. I got my memory damaged from a starfighter crash a small time ago. Don't remember everything before the crash, but I'll remember enough to know weather or not your telling me the truth or not with those three questions I asked you about."

Lord Tarfa chuckled, "Why do you view your leadership as one of command? There are many forms of leaderships." Tarfa took a near-by seat and sat down.

"What are you talking about?" Jason asked, adding, "Like I said, no mind games."

"I'm answering two of your three questions, as you asked, with no mind games. You said, you didn't know what is going on. You are here to learn what you must learn to become the leader for the Mercs that you must. But of command, you will not be. Instead, a symbol you will be. I have heard you have come in contact with a man known as "He"----"

Everything went quiet as memories flooded back to Jason...


Start Memory...

End Memory


"Hurry! Get up!" Came a voice and a hand shaking him.


Jason opened his eyes, his vision blurry at first. Then, when his focus came back, he could see a King's Army soldier shaking him while kneeling him. Shouting and blaster fire could be heard outside. The tent was in shambles around Jason---part of it still up, the other part caved in---and the man he had been talking to was no where to be seen! Where was he? What had happened? How long had he been out?

"Hurry! GET UP!" Jason got to his feet and his brown LR-Model 2 Blaster Rifle was handed to him by the other soldier, "Come on, follow me----"

The likewise dressed soldier rushed forward but a solid red blaster bolt shot through the tent fabric, hitting him in the face and dropping the soldier quickly to the ground like a rag-doll. Lasso pushed forward, his hand parting the tent opening aside and the brightness of sunshine outside hit his vision, blinding him with bright light...


TBC