Public The Kessel Run [SJO] [OPA]

[Kingsley]

"Anyone here?"

A paint can on a string sailed harmlessly by Acaadi narrowly missing his head.

"Utinni!"

Eravana's crew opened fire and a flurry of shock blasts careened off the side of the Jedi's ship. Waddling as fast as his little legs could carry him one of the jawas gripped two stun grenades in flailing hands and bumrushed the canopy. Additional crude traps were set up all over the hangar. Most of them had been very poorly concealed.

Meanwhile up on the bridge Kingsley brushed his talons against a security feed.

"Nida..." he whispered fondly to himself with eyes fixed on Kyra Perl , "You've come back to me, my love. Rrrrawk!"

 

[Kyra Perl]

"Help them?" Kyra protested. "Aren't we suppose to be taking them in, if we help they'll just zip off again." She stepped down with him, checking her belt for her saber. Wow. She never thought she'd wish her training one back, but suddenly bopping people into paralysis seemed like the easiest way to deal with slavers.

Since she wasn't suppose to be killing them and all.

"You ever think sabers are a bit anti jedi?" She mused, not paying nearly as much attention to their surroundings as she should. She turned the corner of the ship, continuing, "I mean, what's the point of them if- ee!" She yelped, jerking back as a jawa's stun-shot nearly hit her shoulder.

She looked to Acaadi, her mouth hanging open. Well that was rude!

She pulled her saber, her confliction over their appropriateness conveniently absolved as she caught the next shot with the length of her yellow blade. The snap-hiss of it opening was lost to a stream of curses, both padawans forced to duck back behind the ship.

"Something tells me they don't want help!"

 

[Aldric]

"I'll 'ave yer 'ead, Jedai!" the tapani roared as his blade came within a hair's width of Aldric's front, the Jedi stepping to the side just in time for the lightfoil to go parallel to his body, rather than into it.

The tapani tried to sweep the Jedi's legs with a sideways follow-up, but a quick jump kept Aldric in the clear. The same couldn't be said for his energy reserves, however. His footing was unsteady when he hit the ground again, stumbling forward ever so slightly. If he didn't find a way to resolve this fight quickly, he'd be done for.

The pirate didn't let up his attack. The lightfoil found its way back to its wielder's side, then shot forwards again, directly towards the Jedi's throat. Aldric barely managed to see the thrust out of the corner of his eye. His sabre came up just in time to barely change the blade's path away from his throat; instead, it pierced his breath-mask, bringing the now molten metal flying away from his face, as he was left stumbling away from the pirate fencer.

He lost his balance after several steps, spinning around to fall on his back rather than his face. The air burned as he inhaled it, his lungs not capable of fully processing the unrefined air under duress. He held the sabre before him, its glow affording the only solace he could feel at the moment. He wasn't quite ready to be one with the Force, he felt, but as pain subsumed him resignation settled.

Guilt struck him as his eyes hazily wandered over the wookiees behind the tapani, however. They relied on him, on his meagre skills with the blade, to save them from their terrible fate. He knew he couldn't beat the pirate, but he could make sure the man wouldn't get away with his crimes.

His eyes closed. The harsh scraping of the tapani's clawed artificial legs once again tearing into the metal floor filled the air, coming closer quickly. Aldric rolled out of the way the moment he felt the sabre move, not saw it. He gave himself over the Force, accepting whatever fate it held for him. The heat didn't hit him directly, instead, the lightfoil radiated mere centimetres from his skin. The tapani's grunt indicated he had missed, giving Aldric the moment he needed to quickly tap the communications device on his wrist.

A general distress call went out from his location. An urgent call for help transmitting his coordinates on Kessel as precisely as was possible. He only hoped others listened, not for his sake but for the wookiee's.

 

[Sasmay Cull]

WIELDING: 4 Whimsy Knives, 1 Nastirci Combat Knife, 2 HG-88 ‘Big Iron’ Hand Cannons, 1 R12 LMG
WEARING: Phase I Haywire Armor on top of UL-13 Corporis Skin Suit

The crates were emptied of weapons, hinges slowly releasing as the panels of the crates came apart and fell on top of each other. Sasmay took a blaster shot against the top layer of armor before grabbing a panel off the ground and using it as a rudimentary blaster shield. It was a strange feeling, holding the homemade handle that had been fastened onto the inside of the plate, but this one she had made herself. The LMG was in both hands, the shield awkwardly in the other. It threw off her aim a bit, but the shield was angled steeply at least.

She stopped firing, the clip finally empty as a distress beacon pinged in her helm. Shaking her head, she nearly dismissed it as the sinking feeling came back, feeling if she didn't answer something worse would come of it. The LMG reloaded, she kept herself tucked behind the shield as she brought up the distress call. Hitting the button on her sleeve to activate the suits built in shield, she took stock of the situation before making her move.

Droids and wookies alike had seen her take the shield, and began picking up whatever they could to do the same, a handful of each party lying on the ground with scorch marks on them. She didn't think about it too much, as death was a far better release from slavery than continued servitude.

"Hey, I'll be back." Sasmay hollered to a droid, taking off at a quick sprint towards the direction of the beacon. It took her to a crude landing port, the woman being none to silent as she came barreling through the landscape with shield and LMG front and center. Her gaze fell to a scene that seemed very much like a bad holovid. Her eyes narrowed at the scene of a jedi and what she guessed was pirate given the wookies behind them.

The LMG was shouldered for a moment, shield leaned against her leg as the comm on her wrist was touched.

"Kass, my location. Disable the offending ship and then head over to the drop zone to help blast the chit heads there." Sasmay spoke in her helmet before moving to a flanking shot of the platform, shield still awkwardly in her hand as the air hummed. They hadn't been far enough for her liking, but she'd only be able to say anything if she made it back. The cockpit of the pirate took a series of laser blasts until it was belching fire before the Junker moved away from their location to aid the wookies.

Aldric

 

[Corte Fletchador]

Kyra Perl , Karra Tor, Kingsley , Jerec Asyr, Acaadi
Chasing Eravana

Over his radio, Corte communicated with anyone who would listen on the Eravana This is Jedi Knight Corte Fletchador in the fully armed and ready X-Wing on your tail. We mean you no harm and as a matter of fact, we want to assist in your repair to enable you to return to your originiation point. Please allow the Jedi to board you peacefully and assist. This situation will not end in your escape, so please just accept that fact now. We can completely disable your ship and leave you here if you don't cooperate. Please respond....

 

[Acaadi]

Kyra Perl Kingsley

"Well the plan is..."

Clunk

"Hey, stop throwing things!" Acaadi shouted. He looked down at the can of paint. It was bright red and now all over the wing of his ship. He muttered something rude about having to clean the ship now.

"...the plan is..."

A stun bolt came flying at him as he climbed down. It struck his ship leaving a dark scorch mark. Now he looked distinctly miffed.

He deflected the next stun bolt as Kyra made what was quite an astute point on lightsabers.

"The plan is to fix their engines but disable their hyperdrive to get out of the maelstrom. And yeah, next time let's bring stun blasters too. We can just push the jawas."

He demonstrated by sending the jawa charging towards them skidding across the floor.

The Force warned him that the jawa had dropped the stun grenades on his return journey a moment too late. He stepped in front of Kyra as they went off.

They were technically beyond the blast radius, but it still send jolts of pain dancing through his muscles. His arms twitched and spasmed.

"Ow. Cut it out!" Acaadi shouted at the jawas. He resisted using the Force for a moment as he let his annoyance settle back down.

 

[Vyri]

"I don't wanna talk about it." Vryi told the floating eye-of-a-droid following her around.

"I panicked okay?"

"Slipped."

"We'll be fine."

The excuses fell from her mouth as she puttered around the small cargo ship, an extinguisher in hand as she 'toottoot'ed out a gathering of electrical fires.

"If by fine you mean missing half our cargo hold," the droid sassed, its voice light and mechanical as it turned to inspect the gaping hole left behind by a chunk of.... something. Emergency bulkheads had been engaged, the metal doors the only thing between her and the gaping maw of the maelstorm. They were floating dead in water. So to speak.

"Shut it or you'll be missing an eye~"

"I only have one eye," it responded, tone flat.

"Exactly." She pufted the fire extinguisher at the droid, then turned and left back for the main cabin without a glance at the doors. She didn't wanna look. She didn't wanna see it.

Her stomach was churning.

"Besides. I already have my distressed beacon out. Someone will be by to help annnny time now," she told it, plopping into the pilot seat. "You know this wouldn't have happened if you had plotted a better course.

The droid's lenses flashed red in annoyance. "Correction. This wouldn't have happened if your fat ass hadn't fallen on the wrong lever."

Eldin Daine

 

[Aldric]

The tapani growled his frustrations. He stood above the Jedi Master, lightfoil embedded into the landing platform. With a quick pull, the glowing sabre freed itself from the metal. A quick flourish brought the blade to the Jedi Master's neck. Aldric's eyes slowly opened as the small amount of heat permeating the electromagnetic plasma-barrier coursed over his skin. He remained motionless as his gaze locked with the pirate's self-satisfied visage.

"Just wait 'til the others 'ear I skewered me a Jedi." the tapani gloated with a bitter crow.

His lightfoil slowly travelled to be above Aldric's chest. The Jedi had been holding his breath, rapid breathing without the mask would only add to his pain, perhaps even cost him his consciousness outright. His muscles ached, he could scarcely focus his eyes on the tapani, let alone the wookiees, and he was drenched in sweat. Their deadly dance had lasted several minutes, but the Jedi's luck had finally ran out. While Aldric had managed to attain the rank of Master, his martial prowess had by far not been a factor in the council's decision, not to mention the ceremony had only occurred less than a week prior.

The tapani's delight at Aldric's trepidation was tangible. The slimy smugness slowly swept through the force, swallowing what resolve the Jedi had and spitting it back out as contempt. He felt some irony in the fact that his last thoughts would not be of harmony or tranquility like he had always assumed it would be. The code always taught there was no emotion, there was peace, but at this moment he felt none of the supposed harmony; anger at the pirate and himself gnawed at his conscious as another grim fit of laughter erupted from the tapani.

"Per'aps I shouldn't'e killin'-" his voice was drowned out by the howling of laser fire.

Several blasts zipped over the two and into the side of the pirate's freighter. Explosions left behind molten slag where it was hit, leaving the cockpit in ruins. A few figures in jury-rigged armour similar to the tapani's came bolting down the boarding ramp, followed by a thick plume of smoke.

"Cap'n! We'z been 'it!" one of them coughed, voice raspy and coarse.

"I can see that ya hutt-spawn!" the pirate spat back, turning towards the wookiees. Realization dawned on him as he waved his lightfoil wildly in the cages' direction, he yelled out "Sithspit, they's lookin' to make off with me cargo! Stop 'em!"

When the tapani turned back to Aldric, ready to conclude the torturous finality he had so relished, he found the Jedi slowly crawling away.

Aldric's lungs burned worse than the time he'd accidentally inhaled skungus mucus after a padawan's overzealous application of telekinetic abilities. His vision had started going blurry, a side-effect of the lack of breathable air he was enduring. He tried the best to calm himself by slowly entering a hibernation trance, but exhaustion was exacerbating the pain he felt each time he pulled himself further away from the tapani. If he could only reach the emergency medical cabinet, he might yet be useful to his saviour.

Sasmay Cull

 

[Sasmay Cull]

WIELDING: 4 Whimsy Knives, 1 Nastirci Combat Knife, 2 HG-88 ‘Big Iron’ Hand Cannons, 1 R12 LMG
WEARING: Phase I Haywire Armor on top of UL-13 Corporis Skin Suit

Sasmay watched the ship belch fire, and now that the jedi was on the ground and her aim didn't have to be as careful, she aimed. The LMG was propped against the shield, a makeshift bipod but not nearly as sturdy as a true one. She aimed, carefully squeezing the trigger at the second being to come into view. The bolt sang through the air, hissing and singing it's song of death as it connected to the tapani as it faced the jedi once more. She smiled, watching the body dropped to it's knees before slumping on the platform.

One down. However many more to go as she stood, picked up shield and weapon before walking towards the grounded ship. The Junker had made a show of moving to the cage before flying off to where Sasmay had come from after landing the first time. Now the large woman cleared the trees, standing on the platform and looking the Jedi over but keeping an eye on the ship for more interlopers. Her gun and shield ready, she gave the wounded man (Aldric) a small nudge with her foot on his leg.

"Hey, go fix yourself up. You don't seem to be doing to well. Not much help to the wookies and droids if you can't fight." Sasmay called to him, keeping the rudimentary shield between him and the smoking ship.

Aldric

 

[Kingsley]

"Rrrrawk! Niiiidaaaa!" an unwholesome voice screeched over the Eravana's internal comms, "I'm coming for you my sweet!"

One of the fallen stun grenades rolled near a relay panel and shorted out the freighter's anti gravity systems when it went off. Each jawa defender conscious or otherwise began to float up from behind cover. A small handful still had sense enough to cry out in alarm but kept firing. Their aim, already unreliable in the best of circumstances, sent them sailing through the air with each recoil. One was zapped by friendly fire writhing in pain before going limp and bumping off the Jedi's ship.

"Nida!" Kingsley drifted down from the upper deck. He could not take his eyes off Kyra Perl .

The smuggler racked his scatter gun and pointed it at Acaadi .

"Back off my lady, pal."

 

[Kyra Perl]

"Acaadi!" Kyra protested, a hand reaching pointlessly out for his arm. She sorely wished she was more like her sister Nida Perl in this moment, Acaadi's pain lancing through her senses. She possessed no healing skills to help him, so instead she turned to force push another charging jawa across the flo--She pushed too hard. He flew out the open hatch and into space.

Corte Fletchador would hear the frazzled static of their chatter as he awaited overhead. "Chit, whoops! Grab him!" The Jawa went floating past Corte's windows, his little arms flailing. Yeah he wouldn't last long, but Kyra couldn't think about that.

"Rrrrawk! Niiiidaaaa!" an unwholesome voice screeched over the Eravana's internal comms, "I'm coming for you my sweet!"

Kyra turned sharply in place, looking around her. "Did you hear tha-" She ducked another paint can, splatters of orange speckling her arm. "Ugh, will you-wha-ha-aaa~" she protested, the gravity kicking off. She lifted off the ground, using panicked movements to try and adjust for balance. For the love of! She force-pulled back to solid ground, her hair floating around her as she reached for Acaadi to offer him the same.

At that very moment, she heard the same strange voice again. Only this time it lacked its metallic edge, the owner floating down before them.

"Back off my lady, pal."

Kyra gaped, her extended hand locked on Acaadi's forearm to keep him from floating away. "Who the hell are you?" She pulled Acaadi back down, the boy having no say in how he was tucked at her back. She stood between him and the gun raised at them both.

"Hey-hey- No need for that. We don't wanna hurt you. See?" Her saber hissed out of sight, passed off behind her and into Acaadi's hands. Hewasscarywithtwo. Her emptied hands were pulled back in front of her, held up passively.

"How do you know my sister?"



Acaadi Kingsley

 

[Eldin Daine]

Inside his environment mask, Eldin’s face was in shock. Firstly, the sight of the man before him look emaciated, old and there was a strong sense of otherworldly about him. Secondly, how was he not dead in this vacuum of space? Although the lights had come one, the life support had not. Was this a trick of the Maw? Some weird time warp this area was prone to do. “Not lookin’ for anything”, Eldin backed away with the piece of metal under his arm. “I just wanna get outa here”.

The mysterious man was not armed that Eldin could see, and did not look as though he meant harm but that did not stop the hairs on his neck from standing on end. “Lier”, the man smiled. “You look for peace of mind Eldin Daine”. This stopped Eldin in his track, how the hell did he know his name. “If you stay, you will find it here. If you go, your pain will follow you until your dying day”. Things just got creepy quick. Well creepier than they already were.

Working with busy hands, Eldin got the piece of metal attached to the side of his ship, it was indeed a rushed job, but it should hold until he gets to a repair yard. And there was no way in hell he was staying here, with the promise of peace or not. “I’ll take my chances”, he started to move toward the ramp.

“If you will not stay, then take me with you”, There was something in the man’s face that told Eldin he was not of this world, not anymore at least, it was like he could look right through him. A ghost? Possibly but quite frankly, Eldin was not sticking around to find out. “All I need is a body”, he did not want to, but his gaze went to the litter of dusted bodies in the bay. The conversation was well over and it was time to get out of here. “I’ll think about it, get back to ya”. He ran up the ramp and closed it, he witnessed the face of the strange man go from a serene look to one of horror, as he realised his ‘prey’ was getting away and as much as he tried to board the ship he could not, as he was bound to this place.

Eldin ran to the cockpit, stumbling on the way in his haste, fired up the engines and lifted off. He was still faced with the problem of getting out of here, wherever here was. He was lost and without a direction to pin to. He flew manually, slowly, heart pounding in his chest and when the distress call came, he all but jumped out of his skin.

“YES!”, he yelled, someone was in trouble! It was a flashing beckon of salvation! Not that he liked the idea of that but now he had a direction, and worked on the navicomputer to pinpoint the co-ordinates. The course was set, laid out through the Maw and they were not far away, sitting of the edge of this entire mess of mass. But regardless, it was a nerve-racking hour until finally coming into view was a ship floating in space.

He opened the com, “Unidentified ship, identify yourself”, he was never so glad to see it in his life.


Vyri

 

[Corte Fletchador]

Kyra Perl , Karra Tor, Kingsley , Jerec Asyr, Acaadi
Chasing Eravana

With seeing a being floating past his X-Wing, Corte came over the staticky radio and asked Is everything alright down there? Is my assistance required? Please respond.

 

[Kyra Perl]

Corte Fletchador "Grab the jawa!" Kyra squealed over the comms.

Poor little fella wouldn't last long without immediate retrieval, the bubble shield Kyra had conveniently put over him as he rocketed out only containing limited oxygen.

 

[Acaadi]

Kingsley Kyra Perl

Acaadi clasped Kyra's arm as she pulled him down towards the deck. Despite having a scattergun cocked and pointed towards him he couldn't help but feel more bemused but frightened.

"Wait, I saw you before...at the Perl club and...Nida...?"

His love? Acaadi couldn't help but draw a mental image. One that was going to cause him a great deal of anguish for some time.

Reminding himself that they were currently dangerously close to a black hole he shook his head and recovered at least some of his senses. Acaadi left Kyra to try and talk their smuggler down whilst he looked for something he could throw at the scattergun.

 

[Corte Fletchador]

Kyra Perl , Karra Tor, Kingsley , Jerec Asyr, Acaadi
Chasing Eravana

Responding to Kyra Perl 's plea, Corte said Can do! He then pulled sharply back and to the right on his X-Wing's controls and began pursuit of the Jawa. The area around him was utter chaos to fly through and he couldn't see anything as he came about. He then cleared his mind for a minute and tried to feel where he should search - suddenly, as if someone else were in the cockpit with him, he turned another 35 degrees and there he was, the Jawa with limited oxygen. He then told A26, his astromech, A26, we're gonna drag that little Jawa back to his ship with our tractor beam - make sure it is set for the lowest possible setting. As they grabbed ahold of their new passenger, he made a mock solute to them and almost looked as if he were enjoying the ride. Corte came over the radio to Kyra Perl again and said You should see the little Jawa coming through the hatch momentarily, make sure you're not in the way..... As he finished the communique, Corte cut the tractor beam and then used the force to shove this unfortunate soul back in where it came from.....

 

[Vyri]

Vyri was running out of air. Call it a complication of loosing half your ship to the devastating remains of a shoot out, but there it was-- life support systems down.

She had what she got and that was... that was about it.

The fate was a grime one as she was forced to sit there ... minutes ticking by... every breath potentially marking the last she'd have to take...

It wasn't like the Maw was often traveled, and those that she had left with had left her well in the dust. Vyri was alone in the depths of space, a fact that wouldn't usually concern her... it was just that recently she had pushing her fair share of luck.

She started off confident. But then as the air in the cabin grew heavy and no blips appeared on the radar... well, the doubt started creeping up. And then the concern. And then the fear. It had just started to crawl its way out of the depths of her chest when the blessed voice tore over the static of her comm system.

She startled, nearly falling out of her seat in her rush to answer. "Huh, wha, yeah. Over. I mean-... Hi I'm trapped can you come get me?" Came the flustered, ineloquent request. He might see her through the cockpit as he pulled up-- a single female staring desperately out the window, half the ship gone and something on the edge leaking out into the depth of space.

It didn't look good.

"Please get me out of here."

Eldin Daine

 

[Eldin Daine]

The ‘Blank Shot’ moving slowly around the disable ship, Eldin could see liquid venting into space which did not look go, it never does. A female voice broke the silence, all a fluster and quickly informed him she was adrift which was made clear by the damage of her ship.

The feed back from the scanner indicated life support was a but depleted, and power was about to fail. The girl was telling the truth.

“Hang in there, I’ll get ya out”, although still at a distance, he could see her form clearly now through the cockpit window, close enough she would see him too. His ship banked, manoeuvring to the other side of her ship to locate the air lock.

Hopefully luck was on the girl’s side, and that the far side of her ship was not damaged or at least the air lock was intact. He pulled alongside, the side of the ship scorched from fire, this girl had been in a fight and recently, Eldin began to become intrigued. What was she doing all the way out here, alone. And who had been after her.

The air lock was hit but not damaged, “I hope ya packed”, he kept the comm open which he worked the manoeuvring fins, slowly rotating the YV-666 until the undercarriage lined up with the air lock. Ever so slightly, the two ships kissed, the clunk echoed through his ship, and once secured he unbuckled and head to the lock to meet the girl.


Vyri

 

[Aldric]

His hand sluggishly slammed onto the metal floor, pulling him further away from the pirate. The absence of scraping metal, raked by the tapani's artificial feet, afforded a glimmer of hope. With hazy sight, he could see his salvation only a few metres further away. The painted white box with a red sign on it fixed to the railing a short ways above ground.

The pirate voiced a brief cry of agony before he was silenced by a loud thud. Aldric's progress briefly halted as his head turned to watch the tapani's form hit the ground. A faint sigh of relief escaped him reflexively. Immediately his eyes opened wider as he realized the mistake, returning his attention to the slow crawl to rescue.

He was still a few metres short of the box when he felt a foot lightly poke his side. His mind raced as panic overcame him momentarily, only soothed when the voice that called to him was not that of the pirate. For a moment he thought the falling tapani had been little more than a mirage, conjured up by his oxygen-deprived mind. However, as he caught sight of the soldier standing over him he felt more at ease, in no small part due to the large blaster pointed at something other than him.

He turned and raised his back off the ground slightly to better face the stranger. He tried making a quiet noise in an attempt to gain her attention, but the damaged vocal cords he'd inherited from his parent produced little more than a whimper. Hastily he covered his nose and mouth with his hand, beginning to feign exaggerated breaths. He shook his head and raised his free arm to point towards the emergency medical box, half-collapsing onto the ground in the process.

Sasmay Cull

 

[Sasmay Cull]

She kept her gaze to the ship, at least until she heard a whimper from beside her as she double took the person laying on the ground. Hand over mouth and the pointing finally clicking as she dropped the shield to the ground.

"Chit. You can't-" Sasmay started, her free hand rolling him over and grabbing him by the back of his garments. Once she had a good grip, she ducked low and hoisted him up, dropping the grasp of his clothing and wrapping the arm around him. Half crouched, she scuttled over to the red box he had been pointing to when a blaster shot smacked her armor between the shoulder blades.

She ducked low and swung him away from the incoming fire, taking the few steps closer to the box before setting him against the rail and turning to the other tepani that had returned. Shots continued coming as she rounded on them.

The roar that came from her as she lifted the lmg was something between anger and maniacal laughter, both hands on the weapon as she returned fire and moved towards the shooter.

"Hurry it up! I don't need you getting shot!"

Aldric