Public Hell and High Water | Zygerria

[Tadietti Tann]

Tag: Andrew Lonek

Hope this works
Walls blew out, guns pointed at the newcomer, but the assassins weren't trigger-happy. Tadi accepted his help without hesitation this time, giving a small nod to an associate. Firing and moving, she headed toward the outer ladder. Over-eager Trandoshans, entering a hunting rage, rushed down the hallway, but the colorful Twi'lek assassins covered their new shield bearer and the merchandise exslaves. The weapons only grew more fearsome closer in: flamers, Cryoban sprays, savage disruptors, and even a rare tensor tractor ray. The hallway twisted into a war zone conjured by two arms dealers at odds.

"Your assistance won't go unrewarded. Do you have a ship nearby?" Tadietti's body double, Nukutnah, asked Andrew Lonek . They looked similar; it was a good cover, but maybe not enough to fool his companion's digital eyes. They knew he had some ship, but this tried to subtly asked if he had room for all of them without directly asking.

Smoke rose, covering their exit, with only wild shots breaching the grey sheet. Sonic weapons pierced the air, shrieking shots exploding nearby to concuss the senses or wound. One shook up the cartel underboss, reminding her that something had to be done about Goros. She sidestepped behind a pillar as a few shots deflected, dipped down low to return fire with her silverbolt blasters, and then ducked behind another crate near the ladder.

Screened by the blanket, Tadi made a subtle gesture with two fingers on her wrist. The green Twi'lek twins, Aeyih and Kinsa, stayed especially close to Andrew Lonek , covering him. Aeyih seemed to be enjoying herself far more than her sister. "Big finish time, thanks boss." Aeyih relayed confidently to Andrew checking her guns, while Kinsa rolled her eyes.

Climbing the ladder to the ship, the smoke provided limited cover; they were still exposed on the facing wall, struggling to get the slaves up with them. Nobody let up their shooting; the ladder became treacherous as she climbed. Tadietti covered each of her assassins as they took their place on the climb. When any fell to a stray shot, another scooped them up if possible. Sienn, her bodyguard, was the last to climb with her. Turning around to shoot back only exposed her more. A blaster shot bit into her thigh with an unmistakable sting.

It looked like Blue might fall; her large bodyguard, Sienn, reached a hand lower to her just out of reach.

 

[Shem Spinner]

Zygerria
Tags: Kiwa Kiles , Henri Van Baker , Kresh Volthruc

Epo-1, R5-T399, The Freebird, Lightsaber​

Shem stood firm as the hail of blasterfire came towards them, determined to take every shot. He moved with percision, the angle of his blade poised in such a way that it was almost though he knew where the blaster bolt would be at any given moment. Precognition in action, guiding his hand to fend off the onslaught of their attackers.

And then debree fell on the enemy. Shem took the moment of confusion to lift his blade, firing from the crossbow to send the rest of the Zygerrian soldiers to the ground. He moved to the explosives expert, patting the woman on the back.

"Great work!" he beamed. "You can open your eyes now..."

One of the gunners managed to land a shot on his talon, disarming him as well as throwing him to the ground for a moment as he squawked in pain.

Shem's head shot up towards the rooftops. In a blink he was airborne, shooting up towards the sky and finding a lone Rishii standing down a force of Zygerrians. The force led his movements, and the wayseeker let a barrage of bolts from his crossbow fly. Rather quickly, the men surrounding the other Rishii dropped to the rooftop.

"Come on, cousin," Shem began with a grin. "I don't imagine you want to stay here, yeah?"

And with that he turned to shout down to the crew below.

"Get on the ship!"

 

[Jurr Awaud]

After so many weeks, Miraj still does not understand. What did she do wrong? She was too young to comprehend why her uncle was executed for something called "high treason", or what the Game of Thrones means for the relatives of the losing side.
If the royal guards would at least have told her what she did wrong! She would have apologized and sworn to do it never ever again!
But they didn't ask or accused her of bad behavior, as the nannies did.
They put a collar around her neck and threw her into the slave pits! And the slaves were so mean to her too, just because she was a Zygerrian.
All were so mean and hurt her. And they said she would be sold to the Hutts to be a dancer! She hated dancing and was not good at the dancing lessons.

Miraj felt miserable. She never thought how the slaves in her palace felt. Now she knew, and the gods could let her wake out of this nightmare!
Please, gods!
But the gods were cruel and made the nightmare into a fiery hell!

Shrieking ships, loud explosion, gunfire, blood and death. A rioting mob of slaves overwhelming the guards. Even as people died by exploding slave collars or electrocution, the sheer mass of slaves overrun the pit masters.

Myraj saw with shock as headless corpses fell just next to her, as she was pulled with the crowd. The little princess writhed in agony like all the other slaves around her, as the shock collars and electrowhips send their nervewracking waves into the mob. Luckily, the guard with the controls was ripped apart, before Myrajs little heart stopped.
Now she got really, really angry at her own people! "Unfair! SO UNFAIR!" she yelled and grabbed a rifle from the ground. It was surprising light to lift, and even more surprising she felt only grim joy as she fired a salvo into a surprised slaver guard.

She stilled sobbed. "Unfair!" as a hovertank and a battalion of Zygerrian royla elite guard formed a line at the end of a street.
The girl gripped her rifle faster. She would die free, not as a slave! She hated her own people and slavery now! And she hated how powerless she was! No gods would send angels to liberate and save her!

Then the gods sent a miracle! Angels clad in iron with fiery wing on the back descended from the sky and rained plasma on the gathered guardsmen! A bulk freighter landed direct on top of the hovertank, slammed it into the ground and grinding it to scrap, as the powerful thrusters of the ship burnt the rest of the guards to cinder!
"When you want to survive and stay free, get into the ship!", a mighty voice boomed and after a moment of stunned stupor, the freed slaves ran toward the opening cargo bays.

Myraj nearly survived this stampede, still clinging to her looted rifle. A towering figure cast a shadow on her. The sun was like a halo behind the T-visored helmet. "Oya, what a brave bad kitty!" A hand in gauntlet was extended to the fallen princess.
Without hesitation, she grabbed it and was whisked away to a brand-new life.

On the bridge, Claef coordinated the operation. So many slaves rescued with minimal losses! The enemy was totally caught by surprise and was eliminated by the Hundreds.
"Oya, let's call it a day. Extraction to jump point. All ships escorting this captured vessel. This day the bad kitties would not forget!"
On the ways out, the bombers dropped a few seismic charges to level some pretty palaces.
The raid of Clan Awaud was swift, precise, and they vanished again like ghosts into the fog of war.

 

[Kebii'kara Solus]

CURRENT MISSION - Freedom Fightin'
Immediate Goals -
1: Break the Chains
2: Beat back the dark

FRIEND(s) - Those who free the slaves

FOE(s) - Those who keep slaves

TARGETING ACTION(S) - Open for interaction!

---

High and above, contributing the the ozone of blasterfire was the little patrol-boat called the Sojourner. Aboard her was a Lasat with many regrets, regrets for her duties to the Empire of the Lost - the best of a bad compromise, and her failures to do against the worst of the Dar'Jetti; Regrets that she would be so far from her Clan and Creed, but for now the consequences were far and away.

Long ago, when she was much younger and only a little shorter than she was currently, she vowed to uphold the ideals of House Solus and later on, the Sunstar Order. Today, she wasn't an affiliate of the Empire, or the Lilaste Order - she was Kebii'kara Solus, and she would ensure that these would remain in chains no further.

Donning her armor, her, fire-spear, her beskarweave cloak and mantled furthermore by her pale-scaled drakeling companion

"Geena." the Lasat turned to her trusty astromech. "You and Doc Tyme keep coordinating with the Freebird, there are too many Dar'Jetti on the ground for me to ignore."

Geena warbled out a worried salute while what passed for a triage doctor aboard the Sojourner, a Secondary Droid echoed the sentiment. "Do be careful, Miss Kebii."

Somehow, by force of their own will or Manda's, a brief clearing in the cacophany of the aerial battle allowed the ramp of the Sojourner to open - allowing the azure clad errant and her drakeling to fall into the swirl of conflict and darkness, letting fate guide her hand to break the chains of those below her.

If the Manda was exceptionally kind to her, she may even get away with these good deeds.

 

[Henri Van Baker]

Tags: Shem Spinner | Kiwa Kiles | Kresh Volthruc

"We're alive? WE'RE ALIVE!" Henri shot up to his feet, for the past combat encounter he had been completely out of sight hiding behind a flipped over table, the slightest sign of life being his whimpering, even as Kiwa had cursed the spontaneous decision to throw a thermal grenade and was blinded by the flash. He only stopped whimpering once the blaster fire had stopped, and only popped his head up once the enemy soldiers weren't capable of shooting anymore.

With a victorious cry- and also that of pure joy at being alive -he'd rally some slaves with his yelling proudly chanting "To the shuttle! To the shuttle!" into the air, fists held high while jumping on his feet. Then ran towards the lambda shuttle, moving up to the platform without a care in the world. Even as explosives went off in the distance, the pilot had no regard for what was going on around him, the city seemed like it was gonna be far away any second now...

There were loud thuds of boots hitting metal, the interior was just a blur of seats and boxes, not even acknowledged in detail as the cockpit was suddenly opened. With boundless energy, he pressed several buttons in rapid succession, at such speed it seemed to differentiate in milliseconds, the shuttle suddenly coming to life albeit the engine wasn't on yet. "I'll just make sure the power levels are adequate for atmosphere-to-space travel as well as spool up the engines, then we'll be good to go! It might take a minute." For anyone outside of the ship, Henri's voice could be heard echoing out of speakers integrated into the hull.

 

[Kiwa Kiles]

Kiwa just...laid there for a solid minute or two as everyone walked over towards the shuttle. Her vision wasn't exactly coming back anytime soon with how much the light had fried the sensors in her eyes. That was a note for later. She needed to make like...sunglasses eyes. Something that would help reduce the impact of flashes like that. For now, she just laid there, waving her arms up in the air, trying to find someone to just grab onto and drag herself in the direction of the ship. It was safer to be on the ground than walking around blind anyway, right?

"I'll just make sure the power levels are adequate for atmosphere-to-space travel as well as spool up the engines, then we'll be good to go! It might take a minute."

She blinked at the sound of the voice coming out of the speakers. Well. It seems like if there were any slavers still around, they were going to be infesting this place like sharks around a single drop of blood now. Eventually, one of the slaves rushing towards the shuttle noticed one of their would-be saviours struggling around on the ground and hurried over to grab Kiwa, dragging her off in what she assumed was the shuttle...Until her boots hit the familiar material of metal and she was practically thrown down into a chair.

"...Bolts for brains. Just letting you know, your voice has echoed around the area for who knows how far"
All of her energy was gone by this point. None of this was fun anymore. She couldn't even tinker with anything when everything was a fierce darkness around her. If she focused enough, it was almost like she could see some colours around her...but most of them were a dark gray colour. Almost neutral in colour in fact. When she was outside, there was a bit more colour. The Bird Man seemed to be blue to her...but apart from that, she hadn't really seen anything else. For now though? She was just going to sit back in the chair and wait.

Shem Spinner Kresh Volthruc

 

[Kresh Volthruc]

≪ ◦ ❖ ◦ ≫​

"Come on, cousin," Shem began with a grin. "I don't imagine you want to stay here, yeah?"

Kresh looked up at the sound of bodies dropping around him. He turned his gaze to Shem, recognizing him as one of the people he noticed before and nodded.

He pushed himself up, calling to his pike in the force and leaping off the roof towards the shuttle he noticed the crowd rushing towards.

As he entered the metallic interior of the shuttle, the adrenaline began to fade, and with that the pain caught up. He looked down at his wrist to see an angry burn wrapped around it and grimaced, somehow now only noticing the smell.

He transferred his pike to his other talon, listening to the frantic conversations of the slaves around him as he searched for a med kit.

≪ ◦ ❖ ◦ ≫​

Tags: Shem Spinner Henri Van Baker Kiwa Kiles

 

[Shem Spinner]

Zygerria
Tags: Kiwa Kiles , Henri Van Baker , Kresh Volthruc

Epo-1, R5-T399, The Freebird, Lightsaber​

"I'll just make sure the power levels are adequate for atmosphere-to-space travel as well as spool up the engines, then we'll be good to go! It might take a minute."

"No time to wait."

Shem took his seat in the cockpit of the shuttle, assuming the secondary pilot position. With confirmation that all the slaves were on board, the Rishii was quick to fire up the engines and begin the liftoff procedure. He turned to the cowardly human man for a split second.

"Spot me," he instructed. "Keep an eye on the systems and course correct if you must."

It would be easier with two pilots, Shem assumed. He was a rather good pilot himself being a Jedi, so two experts was sure to get them off the planet with little hassle.

So Shem began to climb. The shuttle lifted off, heading towards the upper atmosphere at a steep incline, until they breached the stratosphere of the planet. Chaos raged below as the vessels of allies and enemies alike scrambled to tackle the crisis. The skies around Zygerria slowly began to fill with stolen starships, vessels commandeered by those who had fought for their lives. In the mayhem, these shuttles began to jump away into the swirling void of hyperspace. Even if they hadn't made a sizable dent in the slave operation on Zygerria, this would be a day to remember.

Shem turned the shuttle towards some nearby debree. An asteroid awaited them, one which had been carved out to create the vessel that would carry them to safety...

The Freebird.

"Prepare the shuttle to dock."

 

[Henri Van Baker]

Tags: Shem Spinner | Kiwa Kiles | Kresh Volthruc

"But what if we-!? If the shuttl-!"

Before Henri could finish a word, everything had already happened- everyone had came aboard, shuttle filled with freed slaves, and it was already beginning to lift in the air. He held onto his hat as the whole thing shook violently as it lifted into the air, then steadied out as they began their ascent. In a rare moment of slight bravery, he didn't panic with all the chaos going in the skies, for piloting was his element and having a Jedi also helped. There was a hint of professionalism in his attitude "Of course. This thing turns slow as hell but definitely has power in the engine, as long as we keep accelerating we'll be out of atmo and into space."

That was said a minute late, given the Jedi's competence with flying, they were already breaking far past the clouds. For a couple of minutes there was just the idle beeping of the console and the bustle of the passengers right near the cockpit. Henri remained focused on the console, frequently checking for any sign of movement. Observing the console, then the radar, then finally looking out the window, Henri was left baffled.

"I'm getting an anomaly, we're obviously approaching an asteroid but it isn't appearing on an any detector or radar..." Sun rays shined off of the metal attached to the asteroid, hull glistening in the light "...A ship, thats a sizable hanger for something of that size, let alone the structure..." As Shem ordered to dock, the human refocused "Oh, ah, I see! Right, I'll start the docking procedure. Adjusting shuttle axis, keeping vessel upright on ship-to-ship transaction, adjusting for localized ship-side gravity, docking procedure initiating." ...Anything else coming out of his mouth was a series of complicated technobabble that, frankly, wasn't worth listening to.