Call me Ishkael

[Kael Rose]

The Pride's Journey was on it's way through gas cloud after gas cloud in the Kathol sector, looking for a local legend. "Livia" was a Livyatan rumored to be in excess of a kilometer in length, cleverly avoiding attack for centuries to feed and grow to monstrous proportions. Thusfar they hadn't found anything, but Kael knew they'd find it eventually. Some Force users had the means to make the mountains shake, but Kael's connection was more akin to being able to listens to the winds. Sometime soon, he'd bet today, he'd find "Livia".

"Captain, our sensors have picked up something in the cloud!" The barabel helmsman cried out.

"Bring us about, have the harpoon manned and be ready for action!" The captain squeaked in his native tongue. Captain Fandar was a sight to see, but he was most recommended whaling captain this side of the Corellian Run. Kael buckled in anticipation, heading towards one of the two "gunships" on the vessel. Both were little more than freighters with a harpoon gun attached, but they helped divert the attention of the beast. It was much easier to play cat and mouse with more cats after all.

"Sir, it's a wreck." The Barabel said as they got closer to the signal. It was a gas miner. Perhaps 500 meters longs in it's hay day it now stretched across a square kilometer in pieces. Distinct marks could be seen where fangs embedded into the vessel, each maybe ten meters in diameter. Kael took a deep breath before a roar echoed through the gas giant.

It was time.

[member="Riva Quill"] [member="Kurayami Bloodborn"] [member="Laguz Vald"]



OOC: I start a ten hour shift in like, thirty minutes. Kael is gonna get on one of the little harpoon boats and try to sink a shot in, so feel free to go on and get things going without me, I'll be back for more tonight/tomorrow.

 

[Riva Quill]

She was hardly a rookie at deckhand work, but whaling was a bit of a new twist. Her familiarity with basic weapon systems and the workings of a vessel in general caught the interest of the captain aboard Pride's Journey, but what had earned her the slot was her efficient manner of maneuvering the deck when in a hurry. They'd told her the cross the decking as fast as she could and so she did... which landed her the job and a few odd expressions from the crew.

At the captain's orders, she bolted from her chore, dropping the spanner in her hand in the process. Nimble feet and agile limbs slid her over and across various crates and protrusions on the deck until she slid to a halt before the controls of one of the harpoon guns. Knowing she wasn't exactly the most proficient shot with the rather unique weapon, she instead shifted to the loader's position next to the capital weapon.

Capital was, technically, a loose term for the ship. Most standard capital weapons were the size of a large speeder truck and required automation or a small crew to man. These were perhaps the size of a toll booth placed on its side atop a gimbled mount. The weapons lacked automation, either because the captain didn't want to spend the credits for the work-saving machinery or because no one manufactured such a thing. Either way, it was a manual labor task to load the weapon.

Riva flipped the top off the harpoon case and grasped one of the long spears, heavy durasteel biting into her bare hands as she grunted and heaved the thing out of the box. She managed to get the butt of the harpoon into the mouth of the gun on the second try and slid it home until it locked into place. The weapon loaded, she ducked back to the rear of the gun and locked the flexsteel cable into the harpoon's end before darting away, the whole process only taking a handful of moments to complete.

"Ready!" she shouted out before ducking down and hefting a second harpoon, readying herself to reload the gun should the creature reveal itself.

[member="Kael Rose"] [member="Kurayami Bloodborn"] [member="Laguz Vald"]

 

[Kurayami Bloodborn]

Once again Kurayami found himself pulled into another nigh suicidal mission. Thankfully this time was just against some space whale or some such, and his job was as a fighter escort to keep pirates and other undesirables away from the main craft. Of course if need be he could also provide a distraction to the creature itself. He had been granted a place to land on the whaling ship inside the hangar. Given that the 'Ankou' fighter was a one off, he told the other maintenance crews to focus on the whaling vessels onboard. He went through and made sure that the armament was correctly mounted. Usually for something like this he would have mounted some sort of extra ordnance, but he had been requested to not fire at the creature itself. Or at least not to hit it. Something like that. He sighed and took a swig from his flask as he made fine adjustments to extra cannons he had mounted on the hardpoints.

Centerline was mounted a single Ls-9.3 laser cannon, and on each of the two dual underwing hardpoints sat another twin autoblaster. They were hooked up to the main systems through cables run through the hardpoints. It was a bit of a hassle to work out the targeting given that the convergence would have to be adjusted on the fly, but overall he was happy with the fact that he had more firepower, the two flex tube launchers carried a load of 4 concussion missiles each. Overall it was enough to harass even a decently sized freighter if the need arose.

He hopped back into the cockpit and closed the canopy, watching at the panoramic display came to life in front of him. Once that was up he ran a systems diagnostic to make sure everything was ready to go. The report came back that all systems were in the green, but the targeting computer was still trying to adapt to the extra guns mounted. He knew that it would have to be done in combat, so the weapons were set to fire simultaneously. He could change that to staggered pairs after the fact. While he was still working on sorting out the few minor issues he heard the call go out that the creature had been sighted, and that the whaling vessels were being manned and scrambled. He smiled as he started to prime the engines on his fighter. Looked like the craft was about to get a good test run here.

"This is Yellow 13. Engines are primed, warming up. I will be airborne in a few moments. Let me know if you need cover. Or if you need me to distract the angry thing we are going after."

As the engines finished warming up he let the repulsors take over as he made fine adjustments before pushing the throttle to military power and blasting out of the hangar. He almost swore to himself that he was not drunk enough to be doing this, but he had to have been drunk to think this would be a good idea in the first place.

[member="Laguz Vald"], [member="Kael Rose"], [member="Riva Quill"]

 

[Laguz Vald]

Though it pained xem to do so, one must needs adapt, lest one perish.

And on this ship, on this job, that meant ‘no sniper rifles’. With tears of sorrow and to the sound of heartbreak, Laguz had left xir loves at home – Tessie, Daisy, Brenda, Simone, Annie, Lara, and Nadine were all doomed to languish, alone, as xe took on xir biggest game yet.

A Livyatan.

The hunter had studied xir target. Xe’d read the accounts of other space whalers; of their successes and failings, of their methods and mistakes, of their profits and of the market. Yet more important still was the creature itself, however. Its anatomy, its behavior, its habits.

Pleased, xe now stood at the wide viewport of the Pride’s Journey, looking in every aspect like a human female with long red locks and keen green eyes. Dea Nierak – one of xir usual... outfits.

When the Captain called out, Laguz went from smile to grin. “Sir, if I might,” she began, “I have a way to ambush the beast.”

The strange creature turned its black eyes up to the apparent woman. “Do you?” he replied with that same squeaking voice. “Let’s hear it, then.”

“I’ll go in on one of the gunboats. When we’re close enough, I can… mm. I can… convince the whale to follow what’ll look and act exactly like its young.”

“What, you gonna pull a Livy calf outta your ass?”

“Not as such,” she said and chuckled. “I’m afraid the ‘how’ will have to remain a professional secret. What say you to a compromise, however? Conduct your hunt as normal, gunboats, harpoons, and all. I merely ask that you don’t have your men shoot at the calf when it appears.”

The diminutive Captain eyed her with narrowed eyes, rubbing his twitching snout. “Fine. Do what you want, human. Gonna be worth a laugh if nothing else.”

“Much appreciated.” Laguz offered Fandar a parting nod and hastened after [member="Kael Rose"] towards the gunboat.

[member="Riva Quill"] | [member="Kurayami Bloodborn"]

 

[Kael Rose]

[member="Kurayami Bloodborn"]

The drunkard starfighter pilot wasn't met with any skepticism. The crew of the Pride's Journey were a scraggly bunch of outcasts and vagabonds that all had their vices. He'd be cleared to go, and began flying out of the Pride's Journey. The cloud was heavy and thick, and maneuvering through it would be a bit more difficult than flying through regular empty space.

And then it appeared.

____________________________________________________________

"All hands to stations!" Captain Fandar said across the bridge, as the bridge crew began communicating and coordinating. Over at the main harpoon [member="Riva Quill"] and the rest of her crew were hard at work. The gunner was screaming that he needed a shot lined up, but the ship was winding and weaving around the gas cloud, evading the enraged "Livia". Livyatan were normally peaceful, but this particular breed seemed ready for action. Perhaps it had learned in it's old age how to deal with hunters. Klaxons rang through the room and the crew attempted to stay hardy and ready, but the tension in the air was thick enough to cut with a lightsaber.

_____________________________________________________________

Kael Rose loaded up with a crew of another half dozen into one of the smaller whaling vessel. He had to pull out of credits for this job, and one of the disadvantages of putting together such a crew was that there was no way to Kael to practically meet everyone that was hired for the voyage. As such he didn't have the pleasure of meeting [member="Laguz Vald"] prior, though the Shi'ido gained his immediate attention.

He couldn't feel her.

The "human" wasn't there in the Force. Kael wasn't up on his history or xenobiology enough to know of the Yuuzhan Vong or Ysalamiri, so the idea that a person could be there and not be there in the Force was very confusing to him, to say the least. Then again, 'she' was here for a job, and Kael wasn't a well known enough guy to spy on, assassinate, or otherwise financially ruin. Probably just an oddity. As he loaded up the whaling vessel and their Duros pilot began to take off and get them into the gas cloud Kael put a hand to his ear and got a transmission, before looking directly at Laguz Vald.

"I'm told you have a plan? What do you need us to do?" Kael asked.

 

[Kurayami Bloodborn]

While the thick nebula would hamper maneuverability to a degree, Kurayami was more than ready. He had used places like this for ambushes before even drawing enemy fighters into them on occasion to see just how they would fare in such a place. The only real issue was visibility was reduced in a place like this and he did what he could to feel how the nebula shifted on its own. The Force was quite useful at a time like this where he couldn't rely entirely on sensors and visuals only for pursuit and evasion. As he worked out exactly how his ship would handle in this place, he felt it a few seconds before his instruments recorded the approach of the creature. He felt the tension in the whaling boats grow exponentially as the chase began.

Pushing the throttle full forward he rolled to the right past 90 degrees of bank and pulled hard into a descending turn. As he neared the large ship he had exited no more than a minute ago, he continued rolling right pulling back and to the right on the stick adding right rudder to sharpen the turn further while bringing the tail of his fighter close to the underside of the Pride's Journey easing up as he came to a position underneath, using the larger ship to keep himself from having to deal with the front of the beast. "Livia" as he had heard her referred to. She seemed to have waited until the smaller craft made an appearance. Crafty indeed. And a creature that would take a bit of planning to deal with. Especially since he couldn't acutally shoot her. Blaster fire in this soup could be deadly if a stray shot hit a pocket of gas.

::Well, at least the angry beast has said its hello to us. Damn near got eaten, so going to stay under the Pride's Journey for a minute or two. Get an idea of what Livia can do here. So just try to stay alive until I can start buzzing the thing to pull som aggro from ya.::

[member="Kael Rose"], [member="Laguz Vald"], [member="Riva Quill"]

 

[Laguz Vald]

Bright green eyes blinked at [member="Kael Rose"] – then her lips pulled into a smile. “Whatever you usually do when you’re setting up an ambush. I can’t pilot a ship for shet, so I’ll leave that up to you lot. The harpoon guns? Don’t even get me started. Too slow, not enough precision.”

The sniper let out a longing sigh. “At some point, you’ll see a Livyatan calf appear out of the clouds. It will lead the big whale into your ambush, where you’ll…” Dea waved a hand, “do whatever you do with those unwieldy weapons.”

“Whatever you do, don’t shoot the calf, yeah?” She patted his shoulder and headed for the airlock.

To… prepare.

[member="Kurayami Bloodborn"] | [member="Riva Quill"]