Phrikers

[Kiln]

Kiln looked at the girl blankly before taking out a length of rope and securing it into the ground with a stake and tossing the rest of it down into the hole. "Are you going to be able to climb down, wearing all that?" He said, referring to her heavy and encumbering looking set of armor. "Maybe you should wait here. Bring the ship down after I've checked it out." He put his shield over his shoulder and grabbed onto the rope, rappelling down into the mineshaft.

[member="Siara Vorru"]

 

[Siara Vorru]

“It isn’t that heavy, but if you want to go down there and take that risk I am find with that but I will cover you from up here until you get setup down there. Can’t have something jumping out of the shadows and getting you.” Siara spoke slowly, there was concern in her voice but it wasn’t concern for her companion it was concern for the ultimate outcome of the mission.

Watching him descend into the mineshaft she wondered why they started digging straight down, it didn’t make sense to her that they would do that without building anything to traverse that distance conveniently. Of course it was entirely possible they had deconstructed the equipment but why would they have left the ore behind. She shook off the questions for now as she the silhouette of something moving down in the shaft, she couldn’t tell what it was but something was moving down there.

“There is something down there, why don’t you be a good man and play bait so it will come out and I can shoot whatever it is down there.” Siara said over her comm to her companion quietly as she unslung her weapon aiming down the mineshaft waiting for the opportunity to manifest.

[member="Kiln"]

 

[Kiln]

"I didn't bring you along to worry about me. Go get the ship." Kiln repeated, repelling down the mineshaft and into the caverns. As he lowered himself down to the cavern floor where the flare was, he suddenly hears Siara fire her rifle and looks up to see something falling down at him from the mineshaft. Just as he whips the shield around and holds it above his head, a small creature of some kind smashes into it and bounces off, falling down to the cavern floor with a high pitched squeal.

Kiln touches down on the ground and looks at the creature's broken body laying in the light of the flare as it squeals weakly.
http://img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20080521153335/starwars/images/thumb/c/c2/JKJO_minemonster.png/250px-JKJO_minemonster.png
"... What the feth is that..." He looks around at all the space the flare lit up before lighting another one and walking toward the darkness, stepping on the creature and killing it.

As he lights up more of the cavern he comes across a few more of the same crab-like creatures that quickly scurry out of the light from the flare. Eventually he comes to the edge of another dark drop in the cavern floor and looks down into it. He takes his lightaber out and activates it for light, before tossing the flare down into the darkness. The flare falls for a few seconds before landing on something, making a metallic clang. Kiln looks at the area the flare lights up to see a broken down mining ship, covered with slug creatures.
http://ayay.co.uk/backgrounds/star_wars/creatures/duracrete-slug.jpg

[member="Siara Vorru"]

 

[Siara Vorru]

“Sorry, that’s not how this relationship works my friend, you don’t give me orders unless you are paying the bills and last I checked we are equal partners in this venture until that status changes I will continue to act upon my own instincts. And I am most certainly not worried about you I am concerned for the success of the mission, I don’t want to have to do all the work here.” Siara stated sarcastically as he quipped back to her concern before stepping over the edge repelling down into the mineshaft.

As he continued down into the mineshaft and she spotted something moving she lined up a shot on the movement. With the aide of her the HUD in her helmet she corrected her aim slightly on the heat signature of the being creeping up on her companion. Siara squeezed the trigger gently and the shot lanced out of the end of her rifle into the side of the creature. As her shot hit her target she smiled satisfied that it was maimed enough that it would not be a problem any longer. She watched as [member="Kiln"] was forced to block himself from being struck by the injured animal she couldn’t help but have a little chuckle as it bounced off his shield and continued on down the tunnel.

Watching Kiln activate his lightsaber Siara made a mental note to herself that the weapon the man carried was a functional weapon. She watched him disappear quietly deeper into the mining shaft she shrugged to herself and humped it back to the ship. She boarded the ship taking her gauntlets and helmet off for better control as she took a seat in the cockpit.

Powering the ship back up the mercenary reached over to the comm. “Is it clear for me to bring the ship in?”

 

[Kiln]

Kiln stares at the ship laying in the trench. Guess the miners who dug down here never made it out. But they probably weren't just killed by a bunch of slugs. There could be something more dangerous down here. The whole place looked like the perfect breeding ground for any number of subterranean creatures.

His thought process was suddenly interrupted as Siara's voice came through the comm, asking him if it was clear. Kiln looks around at the darkness, but can only see so much of the open caverns with the light from his saber. "Bring it in." He says over the comm. The lights on the ship would reveal much more of the caverns than a couple flares would.

[member="Siara Vorru"]

 

[Siara Vorru]

Lifting the ship off the ground slowly and navigating it into the large tunnel some other ship had already bore into the planet's crust she flicked on the exterior lights so she could see better. The cavern was just barely big enough for the ship to squeeze into if they had to get out in a hurry it wasn't going to happen that much was certain. Siara came up on the first drop and having to operate on sensors alone as she descended slowed her advance, last thing she wanted was to cause damage to the ship and get trapped down here. She came to the bottom of the first drop and pressed the stick forward slowly advancing along the trail [member="Kiln"] had left with flares. Bringing the ship up behind him she misjudged a sharp edge and clipped it causing a small collapse, nothing she had to be worried about in the ship but it could present a danger for her companion.

Setting the ship down casting the lights down the second vertical tunnel she leaned forward in her seat to see the disabled mining ship ahead blocking their advance covered in some sort of creatures that seemed to be feeding on it. "Well that's not a good sign, do we want to check it out? Perhaps they have some ore on board we can transfer to our own hold? And we may be able to get some sort of hint as to what happened to it if we can get get enough power out of it to access the logs. Wouldn't hurt to have a little insight into what we should expect down there."

 

[Kiln]

The light from the ship lit up a much larger area of the cavern. Kiln deactivated his lightsaber and put it back on the shield, looking around. As the ship clipped the edge of the cavern wall, some rocks broke off and started tumbling down towards Kiln. He quickly moves to the side, looking up at the ship sternly. "Watch it." He says with an impatient tone, scanning the area before looking back down at the disabled mining ship.

Siara set the ship down behind him and suggested they check the wreckage out. It was probably a good idea, but Kiln had no idea how dangerous the slugs were. "What are those things?"

[member="Siara Vorru"]

 

[Siara Vorru]

Grabbing her gauntlets and helmet putting them back on she left the cockpit to join and stepping up beside [member="Kiln"] the mercenary gazed down into the cavern silently scanning the creatures. She unslung her rifle and brought it to her shoulder viewing the creatures through the scope to get a closer view. She didn't recognize them at all but she wasn't an exobiologist and had little interest other living creatures unless they presented a threat of some sort to her. "They look like a pain in the ass to deal with, but other then that they look like targets."

Stepping closer to the edge Siara slung her rifle over her shoulder again getting a sense of the best way to descend into the cavern below. Hiking back to the ship she went back on board and grabbed a sturdy cable from the cargo hold. She went back outside and tied the cable off on the ship throwing the rest of the length over the edge. "I'll check it out this time, go get the ship prepped to haul this wreck out of the way, I am sure there is enough power in the tractor beams to get it out of here. Wait for my signal though, I'm going to clear the interior before we bring it up so we don't get any nasty surprises." She gripped the cable wrapping it around her armored arm before leaning over the edge she held her other hand behind her as she started making her way down the cavern wall.

Repelling quickly to the bottom mostly driven by the weight of her armor Siara set her boots down on solid ground, she strutted forward under the forward hull of the wrecked mining vessel inspecting it for stress fractures that could potentially tear it apart. She drew a knife from a sheath on her hip and pried one of the creatures off the hull with it. It squealed as she separated it from its' food source, it oozed some of it's corrosive saliva on her armor as it fell to the ground. "Gross!" She drew her blaster pistol and shot the creature for its unintentional offense.

Climbing on board the wreck she moved slowly, activating her night vision as she stepped out of the light of their mining vessel. She found more of the creatures inside apparently trying to devour the vessel since it had been abandoned down here but there was no other obvious signs of any threats on board it was also apparent there wasn't enough power left in the cells to bring any of the systems online. They would have to get it out to the surface and hook it up to their vessel to get any life out of these computers. She checked every section of the ship room by room leaving the cargo area for last anticipation growing of what she may find in there as she moved. Finally stepping into the cargo area Siara found the bodies of the miners who had used this vessel strung up in some form of warning that didn't bother her she was more focused on the large unclaimed crates. She stepped over to the nearest crate and pried it open with her knife finding it full of Phrik ore as she had been hoping for she got on her comm. "Jackpot, get this ship out of here, there is a fair amount of ore already in here, and once we get the vessel out of the way we can proceed deeper into the cavern, though we may want to do so carefully, someone didn't want these miners down here."

 

[Kiln]

"...Tractor beams?" Kiln said before Siara jumped over the edge and started repelling down. Great. More technical stuff. He had brought the girl along to help with that, but she seemed more interested in the disabled mining ship at the moment. Walking back into the ship, Kiln sits in the pilot seat and looks around at all the controls. Why couldn't there just be a button that said "TRACTOR BEAM"?

As he tries to figure out how to work the tractor beam, Kiln suddenly hears a noise that comes from the back of the ship. He turns around and stands up, looking at the door leading into the back half of the ship. Was that the droids? He thought they deactivated after returning to the ship. Kiln takes the shield from his shoulder and walks through the door into the back of the ship to find one of the slug creatures laying on the floor. He looks at it for a moment and then realizes that there is a hole in the roof of the ship, right above the slug. "Feth."

Kiln take his lightsaber off of the shield and activates it, the red light reflecting off of the slime that the creature secreted before he burned off the thing's head with it and then deactivates it again. The slime seemed to be slowly burning through the ship like some kind of acid. Just then, another slug falls through the roof and plops down behind Kiln. He turns around and looks at the slug angrily before looking back up at the holes in the ship. There were more up there. They must have been on the cavern ceiling, and fallen onto the ship.

[member="Siara Vorru"]

 

[Siara Vorru]

“What are you doing up there?” Siara asked angrily as she started trying to shoot some of the slugs with her blaster pistols. “Get this hulk out of here, I have to come up there and do it I am not going to be happy about it.”

Tripping over another slug Siara growled and turned around shooting the slug killing it instantly, she was getting tired of being down here in the cave. Leaving the ship the mercenary returned to the rope she started to climb her anger increasing with each step. As she crested the ridge of the tunnel and pulled herself back onto the level with [member="Kiln"] she climbed back onto their vessel, she started searching the ship for her companion. She found him standing over the corpse of one of the slugs and a hole in the ceiling. “What the hell, are they eating through our ship?”

 

[Kiln]

"There's more on the roof. They must have fallen from the cave ceiling when you clipped the wall!" Kiln says hastily as he runs out of the ship and climbs up the side. Spotting the slugs, he activates his lightsaber and cuts them all in half one by one, being careful not to damage the ship any more than it was. Thinking he got them all, Kiln deactivated his saber before noticing smoke coming from one of the rear engines. "Oh no. Come on. COME ON!" He yells as he runs over to it to see a slug inside a hole in the engine block, eating its way through. He reaches his hand out and grips the slug with the force, pulling it out of the hole before ripping it apart and throwing it angrily off of the ship. Examining the damage, Kiln runs his hand through his hair and sighs, hoping the ship would still fly. If it didn't, then they were trapped down here.

[member="Siara Vorru"]

 

[Siara Vorru]

Watching [member="Kiln"] dash off again babbling about her causing the slugs to attach to the ship she shook her head at his impulsive nature, she could hear the distinctive sound of a lightsaber and her companion running around on top of the ship. While he tried to chase the slugs all over the surface of the hull she slowly strutted to the back of the ship looking for a high voltage line near the landing ramp. She found what she was looking for and casually taking some tools out of a nearby tool chest she detached the panel whistling to herself as she worked. She could still hear her companion thudding around up on the top of the ship. She detached the wire from its housing carefully and pulled it out as far as it could go, it didn't go far but it could reach a section of the outer hull. "Get off the ship I am going to electrify the outer hull to make sure there isn't anything left alive up there, it will keep any more from attaching as well."


Not waiting long Siara took some heavy duty tape and pressed the cord to the outer hull sending enough electricity through the entire hull to fry a fully grown bantha. She could hear the squealing of more of the slugs as those her companion failed to get fried. Satisfied with her efforts she climbed back aboard the ship and headed for the cockpit. She powered the ship up again, it struggled a bit because of the damage to the main engine block but it leveled off quickly as she forced it to comply. She drifted forward just slightly to train the tractor beams on the wrecked ship below. She targeted and powered them on beginning to drag the wreck from its final resting place. Really she didn't care about the ship itself or the deceased crew inside, there cargo was her only concern that and being able to proceed deeper into the cave to find more of the precious ore.


Dragging the old wreck out of the cave and back to the surface bumping it around roughly throughout the cavern she finally set it down outside their own ship setting down beside it. She walked back to the landing ramp, grabbed the cable she had strung to the outer hull and detaching it. She reattached the cable where it belonged before heading down the ramp to take a closer look at her prize, waiting for her companion at the bottom of the ramp of the wreck.

 

[Kiln]

Kiln jumps off of the ship and walks over to the wreck as its pulled out of the trench. Siara comes out of the ship and walks over to the wreck. "The ship's engine is damaged. Will we be able to fly out of here?" Kiln said as he looked at the broken mining ship she brought up. "Are the crew inside?"

[member="Siara Vorru"]

 

[Siara Vorru]

Shrugging just barely as a response to Kiln's question Siara looked at the wreck, she didn't know if the ship had enough power left in the engine to get them back to the mining base but at least they were on the surface now. If they needed to call for help they could, but she got the feeling that is what happened to the other crew so she wasn't so anxious to call for assistance either. "We will have to see when we are ready to go. I know there is a load of ore on there, hopefully it is enough to justify the trip and hopefully we have the power to lift off with it loaded."

"Come, I'll introduce you to the crew." Siara said with a grin and a glance in [member="Kiln"]'s direction. She led up into the wreck towards the storage area stepping into the room where the crew was strung up decaying slowly, she approached one of them examining the wounds for a clue as to what had happened. "I hope you have a strong stomach, they kind of stink."

 

[Kiln]

Kiln follows Siara inside and looks and brings his hood around his neck, covering his mouth and nose as the stench of death hits him. When they enter the cargo room, Kiln sees the bodies strung up in some kind of threatening manner. "They're... on display..." He said with a grimace. Apparently there was more to worry about down here than just wild animals. Someone had murdered the crew of this ship and stung them up here to scare anyone else away from the ore. But where were they now? "We aren't alone down here..."

Kiln checked the crates for the ore that was in them. Already there was more than enough for what he needed, but Rave wanted the entire vein.

[member="Siara Vorru"]

 

[Siara Vorru]

Shaking her head at [mention="Kiln"]'s evaluation of the situation Siara responded. “I don’t think that is how they are setup to be honest, it’s certainly now how I’d arrange things with these disgusting little creatures presenting a barrier. My bet is these creatures don’t belong, that they were put here intentionally to disable ships. Those ships send out a distress call that is intercepted before it gets back to the nearest mining base. These pirates swoop in, take what they want and if they don’t get what they want they punish the crew as evidenced here. The only thing I can’t understand is why they didn’t take the ore, perhaps there is some sort of mark on this stuff that makes it unsellable without permits?” She shrugged and looked at the collected or again.

“Regardless, If we are to fulfill our contract we will have to secure this vein, so we will have to draw out these pirates and eliminate them, up for a little rough stuff?” Siara asked anticipating being able to kill gave the woman pleasant sensations, she obviously enjoyed her work too much.

 

[Kiln]

"I assume you have a plan then?" Kiln asked, raising his eyebrow. "It's not going to matter how much ore there is if the ship wont fly." He walks around, checking the rest of the cargo before looking back at the crew's dead bodies. Kiln walks over to them and starts taking them down, laying their bodies next to each other.

[member="Siara Vorru"]

 

[Siara Vorru]

“I got us out of the cave didn’t I? We won’t be flying too high but I’m confident as long as the ship doesn’t take any further damage we will be able to haul this load. We can use the construction vehicles this thing has to salvage any parts we need from this old wreck to ensure our ship gets us out of here probably use it to cut a hole in the side of the wreck to get easy access to the cargo, then we just move it over into our cargo hold.” Siara said as she looked over their surroundings. It was pretty bleak but their tunnel was dug into the side of a ridge, if she could get up on it she would have an excellent shot on anything approaching.

“I assume they will approach on speeders now that I think of it that would be the only reason they wouldn’t tap this vein dry or have unloaded this wreck of its ore. We should set ourselves up for a strong defense and spring their trap. If I get up on the ridge there I’ll have a fine shot on them as they approach. Really this plan depends on how good of an actor you are and how many of them there are, it is a shame we can’t get enough power to the wreck to review its sensor logs it would be nice to know how many we could encounter here. If I had to guess I’d say less than a dozen of them, hardly seems like a fair fight if you are any good with that little glow stick of yours.” Siara looked at [member="Kiln"] waiting for his opinion not that it really mattered to her.

 

[Kiln]

Kiln stared at Siara blankly for a moment. "That's your plan? Make me fight them, while you watch from a safe distance? And what makes you think there would only be half a dozen? If they're coming to take the ore, they'll be bringing manpower."

[member="Siara Vorru"]

 

[Siara Vorru]

Smirking just slightly Siara shook her head. "No silly, you are just the bait to draw them in nice and close and distract them from the fact that I will be up on the ridge killing them all from there. If they had more manpower or equipment then a half dozen men on speeders they would have already come for the ore, it isn't like they don't know where it is. That display was meant to discourage superstitious miners from investigating further until our pirates could wrangle together the resources to steal the ore. They will be protective of it but also after more and a functioning version of our ship would be a tempting target for them. All you need to do is keep them occupied while they assemble away from their speeders. That way when I begin firing they will not be able to simply retreat or find easy cover. If you are too scared you can hide then."

"Unless you have a better idea I'm going to start hiking up the ridge." Siara looked at [member="Kiln"] intently and confidently, this wasn't her first rodeo so speak.