Private Cut And Dry

[James Ephraim]

"prepare for take-off." Said the pilot, sitting next to James.

James looked behind him at the men with him, nodding for them to do as he says. They're not that dull, but most of them are rigorously loyal, to the point of it being a little excessive. It comes with the job, though, and he was known for being a well-liked leader. He always wondered where that respect came from, during his time as a Mandalorian, perhaps? It was too cryptic to say, all that mattered was that he held their respect and loyalty, which in turn met he held their lives.

It was too long before the ship began lifting off the ground and preparing for the long trek that was in store for it. There was a part of him that sensed something wrong about the situation, like a gut feeling, or maybe suspicious. Not of Victoria, she seemed quite trustworthy, but a distrust of the galaxy at large. He took a sip from his flask. It was strange, not too long ago they'd been starving to death, just trying to make it by. Now they were hardened mercenaries, with at least fifty jobs under their belt. It wouldn't be that way forever, eventually, the production of weapons would be far more lucrative.

He didn't see Ms. Cross take off, which seemed a bit odd. Although she was in a stealth ship, he supposed it should live up to its name's sake. With that, the freighter took off, with two combat ships not far behind.

Victoria Cross

 

[Victoria Cross]

Off they went. Victoria tapped her fingers idly and hummed to herself, not that there was anyone else there to hear it anyway. Except perhaps the ECP Protocol Droid, but it pretty much remained silent. It was there for when she needed it, if such a thing happened. For now, it was simply another part of the ships equipment.

She wouldn't be the first for their jump to Sriluur. No point putting herself in any additional risk, if she showed up with them in the jump then if there was a trap she'd get caught in it. If she showed up shortly after then she could simply assess the situation and decide from there. Afterall she wasn't going to profit from this if she ended up dead because she decided to stick too close to the group.

Weapon designs and additional mercenary contacts. Useful. They'd need to be utilized properly, and carefully. She was curious to see how they fought together but also individually. Hm, no real way to test that effectively without a manufactured scenario. Or else attempting a sparring session. That, however, also posed risks. Monetary or otherwise. She didn't feel like paying any extra just to sate her interest on their competence. So long as they got the job done that should be all that mattered.

And hopefully there were no leaks on the side of their clients and their cargo. The physical trek was the most dangerous part of their journey. Always a risk someone in the process was a little too well prepared. They'd deal with it, it was their job.

James Ephraim

 

[James Ephraim]

James leaned back in the seat, eyes searching through the vast, endless sea of stars. Space had a such strange beauty to it. He shook his head, smiling to himself. He was anything but a poet. Cockpits were a great place to be one though, all that ambiance had a way of bringing out the emotions of someone. He began slipping into a vague reminiscence of people he'd met, and who've influenced him greatly. But before he could dive headlong into it, his comlink went off.

The pilot gave him a look, as he brought it to his mouth. "Yes?"

"It's Bonsi, sir." Said his downtrodden second in command, with hints of static.

"What is it?"

"We're picking up signals." He sounded worried.

James quickly scanned the cockpit's viewports. "Are you sure it isn't Ms. Cross you're picking up?"

"Positive, sir. They're too far away to be her." Bonsi cleared his throat. "Should we engage offensive measures?"

James thought for a moment. "No, but put them on standby."

There were a great many things that could go wrong on this trek. James would be lying if said he'd expected it. In all honesty, the man had hoped they'd be lucky. He needed to rethink this. There's a chance that there weren't any hostile ships. They could other smugglers, simple transport ships, the list went on and on. He had a feeling that it wasn't going to be so easy though.

He held the comlink up, looking at it. "Does this vessel have any weapons?" He asked the pilot, lacing his fingers together.

The pilot looked at him, confused, having not heard the conversation between Bonsi and James. "Um, yes. Just a gunport though. It's really more of a civilian ship."

James nodded to his response, propping his head on his hands, comlink to his mouth. He contacted Victoria. "Ms. Cross, we might be approaching potential hostiles soon. I figured you'd like to know."

James moved closer to the viewport, getting a better look at the stars in front of him.

Victoria Cross

 

[Victoria Cross]

She hummed to herself as she followed along until she got an alert, well, that was probably not too good. She let it in for them to speak. Potential hostile...kark it. Well people sometimes were just not discreet enough. Then again, when purchasing anything there was a risk someone would know it was going to happen sooner or later, they could have been camping out for a long time just waiting it out.

"Alright, I'll keep an eye on things. If you catch anything else let me know. My sensors are probably somewhat better but sometimes distance to a target or viewports nearby can outweigh things like that." She said as she started running over her scanners, they were fairly considerable but when you were mostly operating your ship alone you didn't tend to notice everything. She gave extra attention to the life form indicator, as that should also provide the useful idea of just how many people they might be up against in a ship if they actually were dealing with an enemy. Assuming it wasn't run by droids, or fully automated.

Victoria chuckled, this did further reasons for her to follow along on stuff like this. Whether due to her own abilities or her ships, she could provide additional back up when the situation called for it. Helping to ensure the security of her profits.

James Ephraim

Spoiler: ooc

Sorry for so many delays and issues. I'm having a lot of computer trouble. Hopefully this can get fixed on the 24th.

 

[James Ephraim]

James heard Victoria's response loud and clear, continuing to peer out of the viewport in front of him. They'd be here any second. James cursed under his breath many times, trying to formulate a plan of action in his mind.

He doubted that there were many but it still worried him. Bonsi didn't mention how many signals there were, after all. In his experience, pirates didn't go out of their way to attack vessels that looked like they'd present a challenge. They were pack animals in that sense, not wanting to risk being wounded. Well, that was average pirates, they could be dealing with a whole different level.

A part of him, deep down, thought this might have been planned. Not to say that Victoria was trying to pull the cotton over their eyes, but perhaps the buyers were. He'd seen it before, attempting to cut a deal short and double profits as well. Although, he knew too little about the situation to make a call like that. He was food for thought, though.

Just then the ships came into view flying a tri-point formation. There were many signals. Three to be exact. They surely looked like combat ships, although he was never too good with ship types or names. The only reason he knew Ms. Cross' was because he attempted to smuggle one a few years back. He turned to the pilot, "Try and contact that ship." He pointed to the nearest point.

After a few seconds of tapping along the controls, the pilot waited, as did James. Silence... The universe seemed to stand still for just a split second. Then it rocketed back into pace, as the ships began strafing runs on theirs.

Victoria Cross

OOC: It's okay, stuff happens. Hope it's fixed up now.

 

[Victoria Cross]

There they were, kark it. At least three, The ships began to move, Victoria didn't wait for them to fire. She exited cloaking and immediately launched an ion torpedo followed by a homing cluster missiles at one of the ships, followed by two short bursts combining the 2 gatling lazer cannons as well as the mangy cat defence turrets onto two others. Victoria opened up a channel in an attempt to contact them, although she'd already started locking on her missiles to any enemy ship that was moving, "Back off or not only might we end up turning you into space debris, I'll make sure hunters take those ships for me regardless of this outcome." her voice came out with a considerable amount of confidence and almost a fury, and if she didn't get word back in just a second or two, she'd start sending the ion torpedo's and cluster missiles away again with more firepower following it.

Confident though she sounded, she was well aware there was considerable risk in their current situation. They could try and focus her, which she wouldn't like. Her ship was well defended and if she put in the thrusters it would go obscenely fast, but it didn't turn so easily. Meaning if she did make use of that, she'd have to rely on the turrets to deal with them unless she could get far enough out to turn around.

Still, she wanted this profit and she didn't like losing resources or contacts. And she was quite serious about setting hunters on them, she made sure to record every bit of data that came off those ships. Appearances and signals, any paint jobs or oddities she could see. And if she got worried, that information would immediately be sent back to Alternative Aquisition's. She wasn't going to take this lightly.

James Ephraim

OOC: Definitely better at the moment, thanks. HOpefull it keeps up.