Phrikers

[Kiln]

Kiln watches as Siara walks away toward the ridge in the distance. He looks around and sighs at his current position, but starts to get set up anyway. He takes a thermal detonator off of his belt and arms it before looking off in the distance, waiting for any sign of incoming ships or speeders. The girl's logic wasn't exactly flawless. The pirates could very well bring more manpower and equipment this time if they didn't have enough to take the ore last time. But maybe she was a good shot. Or maybe she was just trying to get him killed.

[member="Siara Vorru"]

 

[Siara Vorru]

Hiking up the side of the ridge the mercenary found herself good cover, regardless of how the pirates approached she would be in a good position for a shot on them. Her companion may not be sure but she knew that if they had mustered more manpower they would have long since come back for the ore sitting in the hold of the wreck they had recovered. She looked at the sun evaluating its position in the sky relative to her and the ship, now was as good of time call for help. Siara slung her rifle off her shoulder and setup as she put her helmet back on. She linked her comm to the system on the ship and started broadcasting a call for help from the ship’s transmitter. Watching through the scope linked to her HUD she looked at [member="Kiln"] preparing himself for the fun to come, she tapped her comm back to speak to him directly. “Don’t mess yourself you’ll be just fine, I can’t get all this ore out by myself so you still have some use to me.”

Of course realistically she could just hire someone else but why waste the credits when she didn’t have to, her companion was more than willing to work for what others would consider peanuts though realistically so was she on this one as ultimately the lion’s share of the vein they had discovered was to go to a third party as arranged before departing. As she let these thoughts roll over in her mind she noticed an alert in the upper right of her HUD, the scope on her rifle had picked up movement in the distance and identified it as approaching fast relaying that information to her HUD. Adjusting her aim towards the source of the movement, she identified and marked four fast movers, three speeder bikes and a four seater. In all there were ten men approaching, she marked each one on her HUD in order of priority based on the information she could gather from this distance but that was likely to change when they dismounted. There were more then she had estimated but still manageable as long as Kiln didn’t panic, these pirates were expecting worn out and scared miners not soldiers. She didn’t know what kind of skills the man she was working with possessed but they had the upper hand here because they were expecting the trap.

“Ten approaching, three speeder bikes, one speeder. Let them get close before you do anything. We need to identify their leader, sooner we can put him down the better position we will be in once the fireworks start. Wait for me to take the first shot before you move.” Siara instructed as the speeders started to slow down their approach as they closed on the two mining vessels. She would have to go comms silent from now until she took her shot because if they were scanning for comm signals they would be able to identify her position which would ruin her plan.

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As the speeders stopped a good twenty meters from the two mining vessels a grizzled old man stepped out of the back of the four seater. He spat something on the ground as the rest of his team spread out drawing weapons leveling them on Kiln. The old man walked forward casually his own weapons still holstered. “Where is the rest of your crew son, cowering in the ship?” The old man chuckled to himself as he hollered to Kiln, he was clearly in charge of this motley band of pirates.

“Lay down any weapons you are carrying and you will not be harmed as long as you cooperate you won’t end up like those unfortunate fools whose ship you found.” The old man ordered as he scanned the ridge, he couldn’t see much the sun was in his eyes. He thought he saw something moving up there and as he was about to holler the command to his men to check it out a shot lanced out from somewhere along the ridge burning a hole in his chest. His shocked expression locked in as he let out his last breath this was his last time preying on innocents. The rest of the pirates reacted quickly though not organized at all, most of them started firing blindly up on the ridge, none of them having any hope of hitting anything unless they were extremely lucky, only a pair of them focused on Kiln for now.

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Staring down her scope as the men approached Siara quickly identified the old man as the leader of this particular pack, she adjusted her target priority listing as she leveled her rifle down on the old man’s chest. She made sure to target a part of his chest that was exposed as she waited for him and his men to clear their speeders enough. She squeezed her trigger gently and a shot lanced out at the old man, she didn’t wait to savour the effects of her shot. She moved to the next target in her priority list as she got on her comm to Kiln again. “Move, I’ll keep them busy, you cut them down.” She ordered as she kept firing on the men.

 

[Kiln]

Kiln stared at the old man silently as he threatened him and asked where the rest of the crew was. As soon as Siara took the first shot and dropped the old guy, Kiln threw the thermal detonator out into a group of speeders and dove behind some cover as the pirates started shooting back. Just then the detonator exploded and took out 3 of the pirates, sending shrapnel from their speeders all over the place.

The pair of pirates focused on Kiln are moving around the cover he is behind to get a better shot at him when he vaults over and runs toward them, throwing his lightsaber out at one and tackling the other but not before taking a blaster shot to the side. The saber cuts through one of them and then falls to the ground as Kiln beats the other man's head in with the shield before rolling back into cover. He clentches onto his blaster wound and extends his other hand, calling his lightsaber back to him from the desert floor.

Meanwhile the rest of the pirates start riding their speeders towards the ridge where Siara is shooting at them from, making themselves extremely difficult targets as they swiftly approach her position.

[member="Siara Vorru"]

 

[Siara Vorru]

Seeing the speeders were rocketing up the hillside towards her Siara smirked to herself, [member="Kiln"] had been concerned that he would be facing these odds alone but of course her luck being what it was it was now here facing those odds. She fired a few more shots but they were moving too fast so she dropped her rifle as she stood drawing a blaster pistol with one hand and detaching a pair of grenades with her other hand. They began firing at her but of course with all the speed they were cruising at she was difficult to hit. She detached the pins and held them as the speeders came closer, she waited until they were nearly on top of her as she fired a few pot shots from her blaster to keep them busy swerving.

When they were within twenty meters Siara threw one grenade at the nearest speeder the second grenade where the other two speeders were headed. The first grenade went off sending the pilot and his rider flying, they weren’t dead from the explosion but their excessive speed sent them tumbling to the ground hard the impact of it likely to kill them. She would be sure of it when the rest of this mess was mopped up. The second grenade went off sending the other two speeders swerving away, she grabbed her rifle off the ground taking cover behind a rock as the two remaining speeders attempted to swing around and flank her. They were pouring fire on her cover to keep her down.

“Could use a little help up here, whenever you have some time.” Siara called to her companion.

 

[Kiln]

Kiln looks at the pirates as they race toward the ridge. It was a long way away on foot, so Kiln limps over to the trashed speeders and tries to get one working. He finally gets one started just as two explosions come from near where Siara is, followed by a casual call for help over the comms. Riding full speed over to the ridge, he passes over a dead pirate before seeing two other speeders circling Siara's cover and firing on her, keeping her pinned down.

He takes out his lightsaber and activates it as he nears the first one and the pirates onboard start firing at him, but he is close enough to deflect a couple of bolts before cutting through the engine and riding away toward the second speeder as the first one crashes and flips over behind him. The pirates on the second speeder see him coming though, and they bombard him with too many shots to deflect at once. Kiln turns the speeder on its side and dives off, deactivating his saber. It flies forward into a collision coarse with the pirates and both speeders crash into each other as Kiln hits the ground and brutally tumbles across it to a stop, hitting his head and breaking his left arm.

[member="Siara Vorru"]

 

[Siara Vorru]

As the two speeders circled and fired on her a few blasts caught her armor she was thankful she had brought it along as it absorbed the blaster fire, it was fortunate they were not better trained because as it was their fire was inaccurate and gave her lots of opportunities to return fire. She did was those opportunities presented themselves but it wasn’t until [member="Kiln"] came in lightsaber blazing that she was able to fully stand up and engage the remaining speeder keeping the pilot distracted until her companions’ speeder collided with it and with that the pirates were dealt with. Brushing herself off Siara saw the condition Kiln was in, for the first time since they had met she approached him and gently inspected his broken arm as she knelt beside him. Even though she was cold as ice it seemed she was capable of some compassion though only in small doses. “Don’t move, I will get some real help in here now, you are going to need a medic to look at that.”

Getting on her comm she dialed into the ship’s comm system and placed a call back to the mining camp for real this time. There were no more pirates to intercept the signal so the mining camp responded promptly informing her that they would be there shortly. She didn’t like the idea of revealing their claim before they got the opportunity to mine more but Kiln needed medical attention and that took precedent. “They will be here shortly. We have secured our find there is more than enough ore here to keep us armored for ages if we so desire.”

 

[Kiln]

Kiln lays on the ground holding his arm as he fades in and out of consciousness. He turns his head and looks at Siara as she looks at him, calling back to the mining base. For a moment her face seemed so familiar, like she was someone he had known his entire life. "... Saria...?" He mumbled before passing out completely.

Kiln wakes up again in a ship heading back to the mining base. He looks at himself to see that his arm is in a brace and his blaster wound is patched up. Sighing to himself, Kiln lays his head there for a moment before painfully sitting up and looking for his shield and saber.

[member="Siara Vorru"]

 

[Siara Vorru]

Sitting with Kiln as he apparently hallucinated into a state of unconsciousness Siara waited for help to arrive. With him out she pulled a small medkit from her belt and applied pressure to the blaster wound before. He wouldn’t even notice the pain and he would probably be thankful that it was covered to prevent infection once he woke up. It took about thirty minutes for help to arrive but they quickly mended her ship, unloaded the wreck onto their own vessel and took [member="Kiln"] to be properly patched up.

All told the whole process took a few hours and they were well on their way back to the mining base by the time Kiln woke up. Siara was sitting on a nearby bench as he sat up looking for something, probably his equipment.

“Good to see you up, we are going to be back at the mining base shortly. I have arranged to pay for your treatment I expect you will be paying me back for that, either that or compensating me with something of equal value. Our ore is onboard and they have assured me they will process it when we get back to the base, seems our little endeavour is all but over. Your equipment is in the footlocker, figured you’d want your little lightstick back.” Siara stated as she smirked at Kiln. “So…. Who is Saria?”

 

[Kiln]

As Siara spoke up, Kiln turned to see her sitting on a bench telling him where his equipment was and how much he owed her for covering the cost of the medical treatment. He was surprised to see she was still there. He had half expected her to be long gone by now with the ore they found. Kiln slowly gets up and stretches his shoulder out before walking over to the footlocker where his possessions were. "... I don't have anything to offer you... You can take it out of my share of the ore." He said plainly, putting his things back on and examining the further damage to his already broken shield.

She asked him who Saria was, and Kiln was about to ask her what she was talking about when he suddenly remembered the name. ".... I don't know..." He said distantly. "... A friend I guess..." He couldn't remember much from his past life. But the memory of the name sparked the memory of a face. A face not much different from Siara's.

[member="Siara Vorru"]

 

[Siara Vorru]

Shrugging slightly Siara didn’t really care about the man’s troubles or his past the fact that he couldn’t afford to pay her for her investments in his continued health bothered her a little but she wondered if there was a better way to get paid. [member="Kiln"] was pretty talented with his lightsaber and he could possibly be of use to the Crusade. She wondered if she could convince him to follow her back to Exocron, perhaps if he was sensitive in the force as his weapon of choice suggested she would be able to negotiate a finders fee from her employer.

“Fine, keep your secrets. On another note, you have quite a talent with that lightstick of yours, I know some people that may be interested in meeting someone with your particular skill sets. Since you are obviously living on limited means I’m sure they could assist you there.” Siara stated. “Of course if you’d rather part ways I completely understand.”

If she couldn’t convince him to join her at least she had the ore, she would be able to get it processed into a useable set of armor. Siara waited for Kiln to reply as she daydreamed about the armor she was going to commission.

 

[Kiln]

Kiln thought about her proposal in silence as he fidgeted with the damage to his prosthetic hand. He was so focused on reforging the shield and killing the Sarlacc that he hadn't really thought about what he was going to do in the meantime. Where was he going to live? What was he going to eat? All that was secondary to how he was going to save his friends.

"... What kind of people...?"

[member="Siara Vorru"]

 

[Siara Vorru]

"Well to start with, the type of people that can fix your income issue. I'm also guessing that with that little lightstick of yours that you have some sort of talent with their magic tricks, they could help you hone those skills. They could give you a place to belong but still give you the freedom to pursue your own personal missions whatever those may be." Siara had noted how evasive he had been earlier in the conversation and you don't just fall out of the sky with a lightsaber, he had to have a past and it was probably uncomfortable. One thing she had to give the pod people was they were quite inclusive, she often found herself getting comfortable around them herself which was a truly scary thought.

"If you came along it would give you the opportunity to pay me back properly for your medical costs, I don't particularly need more phrik ore." Siara wasn't above using every angle to accomplish her goals.


[member="Kiln"]

 

[Kiln]

"Jedi? Mercs? I'm not interested in being either... What do these people do exactly? And whats in it for you if I came along?" He asked, turning to her with a raised eyebrow. He didn't particularly need a place to belong. He didn't belong anywhere anymore. But he supposed he did owe her.

[member="Siara Vorru"]

 

[Siara Vorru]

Shaking her head with a rather evil sounding giggle as she looked at Kiln. “Do I seem like the type to waste my time with a little band of mercs or to fit in with Jedi? If you believe their dogma these people make the galaxy a better place but to those who know better they offer a fantastic opportunity to advance themselves and make life for themselves a bit easier. You would probably fit in quite well with my other lightstick waving friends.”

“As for what I gain… well people like you have value to my employers… For bringing someone like you back to work with them I am sure I can negotiate some sort of bonus in my next pay cycle.” Siara smiled sweetly, someone else in her corner should things go wrong for her was never a bad thing either, certainly she was going to screw things up eventually with her employers.

[member="Kiln"]

 

[Kiln]

Kiln thought about it for a moment, looking at his shield and then back at Siara. "... Alright. Fine... I'll go with you, but I'll need someplace I can reforge my shield. I assume there is someplace you had in mind for your armor." He said, putting his hood back on as the ship docked at the mining facility. This wasn't exactly what he was planning on doing afterwards, but the sudden and unexplained familiarity in her face and name maybe made him a bit less guarded against her.

[member="Siara Vorru"]

 

[Siara Vorru]

"Rumor is my employer has their own Phrik mine, I have not personally visited the planet that houses it but surely if they are mining the ore they have some form of smelting facility for the stuff. If that is so I am sure that those with the glow sticks could be convinced to help you reforge your shield if you prove your usefulness." Siara said as she smiled to herself, she was pleased with the idea of being able to earn an extra bonus, it would mean that many more credits to spend on her next binge. As the mining ship landed at the mining facility the Kiffar woman disembarked to arrange for the transfer of the ore from the hold of the mining vessel to her own ship. It wasn't designed to haul much in the way of cargo but it could be packed pretty tight because she didn't have any soldiers with her.

As the ship was loaded Siara waited for [member="Kiln"] to join her, she would take him back to Exocron and introduce him to [member="Crystal"] so he could be evaluated.

 

[Kiln]

As Siara's ship was loaded up with the ore, Kiln went to inform [member="Rave Merrill"] of the ore deposit they discovered and the damage to the ship Rave had lent them. Kiln said he would expect the ore deposit to cover any damages, and then left to board Siara's ship.

[member="Siara Vorru"]

 

[Velok the Younger]

[member="Kiln"]

All went about as well as Kiln expected; business concluded in a manner satisfactory to all parties.