Imperial Entanglements

[Asmus Janes]

[member="Allyson Locke"]

"Let's go have a look," Asmus said boldly, but he looked to his captain before he moved. There was a balance to be struck between looking courageous and suffering weeks of pain and crap jobs from Kairon for not doing as told.

Kairon gave him a curt nod and strode out of cover, his own blaster kept trained ahead of them. "Mai, Jarrick, get to docking control and make sure they lock it down! We'll meet you at the main docking pylon and see if we their shuttle is still there."

Asmus was looking over the dead soldiers. Some downed by body shots and a few by head shots meant some complete suits.

"Got more on that plan?" he asked Allyson.

 

[Allyson Locke]

Allyson had wandered over to the troopers and started to piece together a suit of armor for herself. She felt kind of bad stripping the bodies as if they weren’t anything, but there was something on the line. Well a few things on the line here. She needed to get off this planet with some of the stuff she had picked up off some stray Imperial ships and she needed to get through some blockade or whatever was blocking things on this planet. Either way, she had a lot on her mind. Finally finding something that resembled a full suit of trooper armor, Allyson held it in her arms to find somewhere to change rather quickly.

The guy that seemed to be at her side through all of this so far asked her a quick question about her plan. Allyson wasn’t one to plan, she’d tell everyone she had a plan, but really she was flying at the seat of her pants. Biting her lower lip, she thought silently. They had the armors now they could get onto the ship somehow, but she didn’t really want to put these people into anymore danger. Still, she’d need at least someone to go onto the ship with her mostly to watch her back as she sliced into the ship.

“Now that we have the trooper gear we can sneak onto the ship, there I’d need at least one person to cover me while I slice into the ship, download anything of value and down it or something. Take it out of commission so we can get the heck out of here and cripple the Imps.” Turning her attention from Asmus she smirked. “But first I need to find somewhere to change.” Wandering away she remembered her cover spot. It seemed like a decent place to change quickly into the trooper armor. Ducking back behind where she had wandered from, Allyson quickly began to pick apart the armor to figure out how to put it on along with removing any and all unnecessary clothing. She needed to move quickly before she was left behind. [member="Asmus Janes"]

 

[Kairon Rees]

[member="Allyson Locke"]

Kairon crossed his broad arms over his chest as Asmus started stripping down and getting into a stormtrooper body glove in the middle of the corridor. Jarrick returned back from the dokcing control with Mai, keeping his blaster shouldered.

"They've locked themselves up tight in there," Jarrick said.

"Alright," Kairon replied. "I'm not sure about the lass' plan. I think we probably just get to the Quin and high-tail it out of here with everyone else." Asmus short him an angry glare, but he ignored the folly of youth for now.

A grave expression crossed Jarrick's face. "You should know...A lot of smugglers have gathered themselves down near the docking pylon. Doesn't look good for getting out. That Impstar is right on top of us."

"We've got through worse. We don't have to be really fast, just not the slowest ship out," Kairon said. He didn't see what was bothering Jarrick so much.

"Some of them...well, quite a lot of them..."

"What?" Kairon snapped.

"They've been asking after you."

"What?" Kairon replied incredulously.

"Well you organised that whole racket with the Merchant Fleet. Some of them kind of...well...they're looking to you to tell them what to do."

Kairon's face dropped, much of the colour drained from his face. Asmus meanwhile was grinning. "Looks like you're the boss now!" he exclaimed. "So if we can't escape, we go with Allyson's plan!"

Kairon gave him a dirty look. "Jarrick, get suited up too. Maybe we'll go with the girls plan. Where did she even go anyway?"

 

[Allyson Locke]

It was a good thing most of her clothing was tight on her frame, the armor would be able to just slip on and sit on her clothing. The only thing she had to discard was an old leather jacket, but she had a few of those, her favorite though was still on Borleias. Sighing softly, she did miss the jacket, but it was in a better place for the time being. Also gave her a reason to return to the planet, of course beyond the real reason why she’d return. Wrinkling her nose she made sure the helmet fit, it smelled which bothered Allyson but not enough for her to try and find a new one. Pulling her ponytail into a bun she appeared back from behind the boxes she took cover behind.

There were whispers and talking, the old guy seemed to have that same grumpy look on his face. The one that totally made her doubt her plan. It was the same face her father usually had when she was being foolish. Frowning back, she tried think of something smart to say to him, but it probably not a good idea especially since he was already against going with her already. Looking towards Asmus he seemed to be the only one on her side.

Her frown faded into a smile as she showed off the armor to him. “Do I look pretty imperial to ya?” It was nice to have someone on your side. “So any news on any shuttles to get us to the Impstar? We need to get to one to get me onto that ship. Once I get in, everyone should be able to get out once the Imstar goes down or they get distracted enough trying to fix it.” [member="Kairon Rees"]

 

[Kairon Rees]

[member="Allyson Locke"]

"Got them on the comm?" Kairon asked Jarrick, who now had a pile of armour under his arm. The old veteran tossed a unit across to the captain.

"Docking control?"

"Yeah?"

"There's an Imperial shuttle clamped to the hull somewhere on the bazaar side. Can you find it?" Kairon asked.

"Give us ten."

The group marched down towards the bazaar where a crowd was milling. Weapons were being passed out. The stalls that had been used to offer all sorts of colourful and stolen wares had been pulled together and piled into some kind of barricade across the middle of the street. Goods were strewn across the floor. It looked like they were preparing to make a stand. Kairon caught snippets of conversation as he approached.

"The TIEs have blockaded us in."

"They've got a convoy of shuttles just sitting there."

"What are they doing?"

"Rees!"

"Captain Rees!"

Kairon noticed a number of eyes turn his way. Sterk from the Belligerent, Ickthar from the Dainty Bellow. A number who'd worked with him on the Merchant Fleet missions.

"Feth," he swore quietly.

"Got any ideas?" someone called his way.

Kairon pinched the bridge of his nose and looked down, shaking his head. "We...she has a plan," he said, putting Allyson on the spot in front of a crowd of smugglers, pirates and cutthroats.

 

[Allyson Locke]

The crowd was there and not asking for her, which in her mind was probably the best thing that could have ever happened. She stood there in her stolen Stormtrooper uniform and waited to hear what the guy that they were chanting for said. It was then the spot light was put on to her. Blinking, she looked at Kairon and the rest of his crew, then towards the people that were there. They were people like her smugglers, thieves, and cutthroats. Which the latter was a group of people she wasn’t particularly fond of, mostly the whole throat cutting and stuff. Allyson gulped and looked back towards Asmus wondering if she should feel betrayed that she was being thrown out there, or honored.

Cautions steps were taken as she held the helmet under her arm. Stepping up, she cleared her throat and looked out towards the group that was stuck here with her. She had to do something, she had to help the people. A gusto filled her and she lost the timid feeling and cleared her throat once again. “I’m going to take down the Impstar. That thing is what’s keeping us here.” Looking towards the shuttles, she knew she could get into one of those and get one to the target. “The TIEs are blocking us in, but if your ships are capable of fighting them you can help distract them while we take a shuttle to the Impstar. Once there I’ll take it down and we’ll be off this planet and the Imperials will think twice before trying to shut us down!”

She kind of felt like an action hero, talking to the crowds and trying to get some sort of support rallied behind her. In her mind people were cheering and totally following her, but in reality, that probably wasn’t the case. Looking towards Asmus, she knew he would be on her side for all of this – which was good, at least one person was on her side. “We need to get one of the shuttles up into orbit and towards the Impster. I’m sure we can hack one or something and get it going. Sound good?” She looked towards the man they called Captain Rees waiting to see what he would say on the matter. Allyson knew this was crazy, but it was the only thing she could think of on the spot. [member="Kairon Rees"]

 

[Asmus Janes]

[member="Allyson Locke"]

Kairon turned away from the group, one finger in his ear. Asmus didn't hear what he was mumbling, but it was likely the docking control.

"It's our best shot!" Asmus added loudly. Was it really? He wondered. She was brave, very pretty and a little dangerous. It was an awfully arousing combination.

"They've found their shuttle clamped to underside of the western pylon," Kairon announced suddenly. "They must have slipped in quietly and latched onto the station's hull a few minutes before the Impstar arrived."

"The pilot will have lost contact with the troopers by now unless they were on radio silence," Jarrick observed

"Why don't get get some of the smugglers to chase us off once we've taken the stormtrooper's shuttle?" Asmus asked. "We can radio in that we're under attack, if they make it look good they imps should let us make an emergency landing. Might be easier than dodging cannons."

 

[Allyson Locke]

Allyson was lost in her own thoughts for the time being, she needed to figure out how to get the shuttle back to the Impstar. Without the cooperating pilot, they would have to knock him out or something. Though either way the pilot of the shuttle was probably with the troops or he was still on the shuttle itself. There was no way to avoid that conflict, hopefully they wouldn’t have to kill him or her…or it. Sometimes you really didn’t know the gender of someone with this trooper armor. Which now that she thought about it seemed a bit suffocating against her chest.

Hands moved around the torso as she adjusted the duraplast or whatever it was that they wore. It was then she caught the wind of Asmus supporting her and coming up with a brilliant idea. Excitement spread across her face as she moved the short distance and placed her hands on his upper arms. Nearly shaking him with excitement she spoke rather loudly, “You’re a genius!” In all of the excitement, she quickly flashed him her own smirk and leaned forward quickly, stealing a quick kiss on the lips. “Genius.” Turning her attention back towards the crowd she nodded.

“Chase us and shoot at the ship look like a riot! But don’t really shoot this ship or we’re all going to get stuck here.” Looking towards Asmus, then towards the young man’s uncle she nodded. “Is he still on board? We need everyone Asmus, Kairon, the rest of your crew, these guys…” Pausing she smiled softly, “I need you too.” The girl knew how to work it and if she was going to pull this off she would need everyone and she would need to use every card up her sleeve. “Once everyone is ready and on board we can start this and radio the Impstar from the shuttle after we get on. First let’s get a distress signal out should be something on or in one of these armors…” Allyson began to pat down her trooper gear along with examining the helmet. [member="Asmus Janes"]

 

[Asmus Janes]

[member="Allyson Locke"]

"I have my..."

She kissed him.

"...moments..."

When she turned away Asmus looked thoroughly pleased with himself. For some reason though, he couldn't shake the feeling that he was out of his depth with this girl. Kairon shook his head and rolled his eyes.

---

"We have lost contact with Raptor Squad. Request permission to abort and return to the ship?"

"Hold tight Besh Three. Our landing fleet is on its way shortly."

"Wait! Someone is trying to breech the door. Oh, wait it's... "

Fwoom

Asmus shoved the pilots body aside and slid into the chair, waving Allyson towards the copilot's. Jarrick, as a soldier, took the comm.

"Come in control, this is Raptor Two. We've lost our pilot and we're attempting to disengage from the space station. We're under attack." Jarrick called as people filed into the shuttle.

"Roger that Raptor Two. Has anyone in your squad a twenty seven kresh?"

Jarrick took a moment before making an educated guess. "That's a negative, but one of my boys is good with some civilian ships. He's not that steady though."

"Understood, we'll clear the deck of bay two. We're reading multiple freighters taking off and flying towards your location. We'll try and cover you."

Jarrick clicked off the comm and took a gun control position.

Asmus' nerves were jangling. He turned to Allyson and smiled. By the Force, he hoped he was getting another kiss if they actually pulled this off.

"Ready?" he asked.

 

[Allyson Locke]

[SIZE=10pt]“Born ready” [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]She grinned and settled herself into the copilot’s seat. Normally, she would demand to be in the pilot’s chair, but it seemed Asmus had that part covered. With him piloting she would be able to get acquainted with the system the Imperials had installed with their ships. They all ran on the same system, software to make things like docking and other things transiently stable. Machines have to talk to each other right? Exactly, so Allyson would be able to get a taste of what she was up against. Reaching into the bag that she had slung over her shoulder, she grabbed her small datapad and plugged it into the shuttle. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]“This is more complicated than I had assumed, eh good thing we got a hold of the shuttle.” She mumbled to herself as she ran her fingers over the touchscreen quickly. Several bits of code and the like went into the pad as the program ran a slicing program. The data quickly uploaded and she saved everything that was imputed on the shuttle’s data. That was going to be for safe keeping and help her when she gets to the Impstar. Disconnecting the datapad she put her hands onto the controls, the ship felt more familiar than she had expected, but she did just download its brain into her own and the datapad. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]“Shouldn’t be too far, the shuttle seems pretty quick…but maybe we can boost her a bit.” Hands flattened against the co-pilot’s control panel. Allyson used the mechu deru she had been focusing on and training in to help funnel more power into the thrusters of the ship. They needed to get to the Impstar fast. The faster she brought that thing down, the faster the blockade or whatever is going on ended. “Head to the second gate that’s where they’ll be waiting for us. You ready?” A grin that showed off her pearly whites and then her hand was removed from the panel. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]“All power is focused in the thrusters, have at it and let’s hurry.” [member="Asmus Janes"][/SIZE]

 

[Asmus Janes]

[member="Allyson Locke"]

"You look ready," he said. He furrowed his brows as he tried to discern what she'd done through his console. The computer didn't know, so he decided to just roll with it. Whilst he may have been nervous, he damn well wasn't going to show it in front of her.

"Just remember, fly like a vaguely competent civilian," Jarrick rumbled. "So I suppose for you, just fly."

"Har, har," Asmus replied. He threw Allyson a conspiratorial wink as he dialled the inertial dampener down a few notches. As the ship flew free of its clamps, Jarrick was pressed back into his seat and swore under his breath.

Freighters fell in behind them almost immediately and bolts started to fly around them. A TIE fighter ahead of them burst apart as it was struck by a missile. As expected one of the freighters grazed them with some laser fire.

"Clear the deck, we're coming in hot!" Asmus called, keeping the ion engines at full burn. The smugglers turned and retreated as the TIE fighters closed in to escort them back. The hangar bay loomed over them and Asmus dialled back on the throttle and angled up towards them.

 

[Allyson Locke]

Allyson knew this was all staged, but it didn’t stop her from feeling the adrenaline. They were drawing closer and closer to where she was actually going to have to perform slicing into something rather complicated, more complicated than she had ever attempted. Though, she had the Force on her side – that had to be something…right? Groaning under her breath, she knew this was going to be a bad idea. She paused for a moment as they drew closer, her attention remained forward and she tightened her hands into fists against her thighs.

“Asmus. If things get fishy or if I’m not able to slice into the system. Make sure you guys get out. Leave me. I’m pretty good at talking my way out of things, so don’t worry. Just promise you’ll get out of there okay?” Allyson turned and flashed him a grin. The last thing she really wanted on her conscience is Asmus dead on some hallway on an Imperial ship. Trying to return the situation back to a light-hearted nature. She shrugged and laughed slightly.

“When I pull this off, I’ll let you take me to dinner. Sound good?” She had to stay confident, if she didn’t then the others would begin to doubt her. Though she figured as much that they already did, yet for some reason they were crazy enough to go this far with her. Maybe it was because they had other motives or maybe they actually did believe in her. The galaxy was weird like that. The man piloting the shuttle was the oddest of them all. She figured he had something up his sleeve, but he seemed genuine in his desire to help. Sighing softly, she knew she was growing a bit of a soft spot for him. Which was why she wanted him to bail if things hit the fan. [member="Asmus Janes"]

 

[Asmus Janes]

[member="Allyson Locke"]

"I suppose after following you on a suicide mission dinner will have to do!" He replied. Emerald eyes flecked with gold turned to regard her for just a fraction of a second before returning to their focus on the matter at hand. In his mind he'd been considering some witty retort about smooth talking imperial probe droids, but faced with the view of that Star Destroyer coming up on them very quickly the comments vanished.

"That looks too quick!" Jarrick called.

"Trust me," Asmus growled. He reached to turn the initial dampeners up to the maximum. If he'd forgotten that step he likely would have flattened them all against the viewscreen. It did seem to be preparing to swallow them up far too quickly, but Asmus followed the numbers on his display. He new all too well how quickly the ship could come to an abrupt halt. He didn't even have it on manual. As good a pilot as he was, he couldn't guarantee not to hit the control a fraction of a second too late.

Instead, when they were about to cross the threshold the emergency thrusters fired on their own. The velocity indicator started to drop like a stone. The hangar swallowed them up and he pressed the nose down hard. They caught the roof of the hangar, sending sparks in all directions before Asmus brought them skidding to a halt. Could have worked the ruse a little harder, but they needed an escape ship and couldn't guarantee to find another.

Emergency crew bustled out from behind a blaster door and rushed towards them with fire extinguishing gear and a medical droid.

"Here we go," Asmus said, pulling free his blaster with an unnecessary flourish.

 

[Allyson Locke]

Well now was the moment of truth, she was going to have to prove that she didn’t just lead them to their deaths. It was that moment that started to have serious second thoughts. Yeah she was over her head on this, but with the troopers heading towards them and blasters being removed she really didn’t have a lot of time to sit down and ponder her situation. Shoving her helmet back onto her head, she waited for the hud to load up and after a few moments of trying to adjust the darn thing, she decided against it. Throwing the helmet down, she realized why those buggers couldn’t shoot straight.

Checking the small blasters she smirked towards the man who decided to show off his skills with spinning blasters. He was quite the show off, she’d have to remember that especially if he decided to try and do a bit too much when he was fighting. Which meant she would have to watch his back, remembering what it looked like - she didn’t quite mind it.

Blasters pointed towards the door as she waited for the rescue team to come to them. She wondered if they were going to just blast them when it opened. The hatch slowly opened, Allyson readied her weapons and held her breath. [member="Asmus Janes"]

 

[Asmus Janes]

[member="Allyson Locke"]

As the hatch slid open, Jarrick opened fire with stun bolts. Two were down before Asmus came down the ramp after him, pistol held up.

"On the ground!" he called. These were just maintenance guys and medical staff. For all he knew they might have come from Eriadu too.

Coming under attack from their own troopers, the crew raised hands almost immediately. Each took a stun bolt to keep them down, just to be sure. Smugglers started to alight from the transport and rush out of the hangar. Those in stormtrooper gear hung back, hoping to go unnoticed whilst the smugglers made a worthy distraction.

"Why do you need to gain access?" Asmus asked.

 

[Allyson Locke]

The guards and the medics fell to the ground with the stun bolts hitting them. They were out of the woods for the time being and Allyson looked towards Asmus who had said something. There was a ringing in her ears from the sounds of the blasters popping off their sun bolts. Wrinkling her nose, she tried to let the ringing to disappear and she caught the tail end of what he was saying. Her best guess was something about where she needed to access the system on the ship so she could slice into it and basically bring down this blockade.

“Er, well best place to go is the bridge, I mean the central computers are there hehheh.” Of course that was utterly out of the question. If they were going to make their way towards the bridge, might as well just steal the entire ship along with turning it against the others. Though the latter idea of forcing the ship to turn coat did cross her mind more than once. Shaking her head, she removed the thought from her mind and climbed out of the shuttle. “Two points are second best compared to the bridge and one is in the engine room or any other computer that can basically access the central mainframe. I can get into anything so I don’t have to be too picky. Ideally though I’d like to make it somewhere that we won’t get into too much trouble.”

Nodding she, pulled out her data pad which had a rough schematic of the ship they were aboard. It helped hacking into the shuttle’s system. She was able to get ahold of basic intel which should help them. “So what do you say, steamy engine room or the first computer and panel we can find? I’m pretty easy so either works for me.” [member="Asmus Janes"]