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Skajin's three-winged shuttle was a simple thing, but it had served him well. The shuttle bore the scars of Bryn'adul bioships and Imperial close encounters. A boat like this had no business approaching the situation on the Pabol Hutta. The Kubaz academic steered that way regardless.
Ghrom the Molten
dominated the shuttle's command deck. Slavers' blood still daubed the big Hurikanean's stone body. Which was fair enough, really: Skajin hadn't showered either.
Genocide survivors, refugees, crusaders, wielders of the Dark Side - Skajin and Ghrom were much alike. And as one of the Sith flotillas hove into view, Skajin knew Ghrom shared his interest in a little payback.
There wasn't much time between the call for help from Hutt Space and the Saber Squadron embarked on one of their port of calls on Coruscant boarding their X-Wings.
"Yeah don't get smart with me now buddy, I know the deck is stacked." Maynard said in reply to his BB unit nestled in the astromech bay of his X-Wing - the wayward jedi setting his helmet unto the dashboard as he climbed into the cockpit under the howling roars of fighter thrusters and engines igniting to life around the crowded hangar bay. Taking up his helmet again he brushed a hand down the central ridge of the helmet to which held the 'saber' flanked by a symbol of the Jedi Order and the Alliance.
Not a breath after he slid the helmet over his head, lowering down the visor which lit up with a heads up display syncing him with the X-Wing. Receiving a thumbs up for the technician finalizing the diagnostic of his vessel Maynard returned the signal before he reached the hand up to pull the canopy down and over the cockpit with a slow, pressurized hiss.
Revving the thrust of the starfighter the pink ion drives lit up in the ship's aft, slowly lifting it up from the durasteel floor beneath as its landing gear retracted into the fuselage. Ascending from the hangar bay the X-wings of Saber ascended past the setting sun skyline of Coruscant and into suspension within the starlit void.
"Alright Sabers let's rattle off and then we're ridin' out...this is the real deal, the Sith are out here doing some real sick shit- netting up refugees from Bryn space. From one evil Empire and into another- when we're on site I want prio on the boarding ships and then we're doing what we can to knock out those inderdictors ol Jerec Asyr
tipped us off to in his call." Maynard ordered out as he saw the coordinates light up on his nav computer from his BB units input, letting off a deep breath before the formation made the jump to hyperspace, emerging well into the thick of the naval exchange, dropping out near the Confederate vessels onsite to evac refugees.
"Alright now- s-foils in attack position, paint a lock on these damn boarding ships. More we take out he more people that get evac'd! Split into threes lets get some good coverage. People are relyin' on us cmon now!" Outrider said with a voice dipped in several shades of urgency through the comms before soon enough he took two of the Saber Xs and veered away from the main squadron, pitching down only to find an Irza and a meager fighter escort in his sights. Twisting the nose of his X-Wing out to catch a Dominance class fighter in his lock on for a brief moment his fighter spat out a Brilliant missile toward it before veering back toward the boarding pod where he let loose a punishing volley of blaster cannong shots into the hull before finishing off the strike with a proton torpedo into its starboard side.
The massive hulking rock man looked on out the shuttle viewport. Flying was new to him, as was anything space-related. He was a creature of the earth, literally, because he was made of the stuff. Things were confusing and only added to the deadly mix of dark feeling swelling in him like a massive storm.
"I need to smash, these sith beast are filth, vermin and I must crush. Land on the first sith ship, any big enough to hold us and leave me there if you wish. The more I can take, the better this galaxy will be."
Lifting his giant maul of a hand he pointed a stone appendage at the nearest large sith ship. Lowering it he looked down at his savior with a burning light flowing from his eyes. He hoped his new allie would understand, he didn't want to die, he just needed to feel alive again and without his people, this rush of death was his only outlet.
"That one, it is turned away from us. Take me there!"
Chaos engulfed all within the Frigate's proximity, Starfighters firing upon one another as they raced on by the Troop Dropship moving in on the Nebulon Class vessel's Hangar, falling back upon it's repulsors to guide itself down in landing whilst blaster-fire ricocheted against it's hull. There were reports of heavy resistance coming through, though that remained to be seen to the mind of the Wraith. What did interest him however was the presence he felt as the transport's doors opened and the stale air of the Frigate's interior breached their own.
"Spare none that deign to insult the Empire" Malel Mal'gurith commanded those who stood with him, Legionaries, one and all. Any who would take up arms against the Empire would consequently feel the full wrath of the Emperors might through his loyal subjects, while the Wraith would seek to further his will upon they who sought to resist. Extending his hand, the Troopers walked in stride into the oncoming fire, the first of them falling, however they maintained their formation and composure, their rifles lifting and opening up on the militia that tried to contain them.
Pushing his way through the center of the legion, the scream of Malel's crimson blade burst from the glistening Lightsaber hilt clutched within his right hand, the armored hand that brought the stream of energy to bare before him, deflecting several bolts that threatened to scorch his armor black. Within seconds, the Wraith was upon the militants, moving faster than their inferior senses could follow, cutting them down one by one and seemingly unhindered by the blaster-fire of his own as they gunned down the first of the allied greeting party.
Moments passed and the song of battle had quietened all too quickly, save for the groans and cries of those who had not been killed outright. Few lay on the Hangar floor, still moving and clutching their wounds, begging for some miracle to save them. They would find no such grace, only the final sight of the Legion's rifles pointed down at them to cull the voices of dissent.
From there, the Wraith called upon the Legion and turned his attention towards the nearby blast doors that led further into the vessel. Those within would soon be alerted to their arrival, an eruption to announce them as the Legion blew the bulkhead wide open and moved to take the conjoining corridor.
Skajin steered the shuttle toward the Sith frigate, but not directly. He cut the engines and some major systems as if struck by one of the ion blasts getting thrown around. Then a tractor beam latched on and dragged them in like the other helpless boats. A little mental touch, at a distance, made sure their shuttle got picked quickly - and not taken seriously.
The frigate had a tiny hangar for its fighter compliment, offering space for a couple of small ships at a time. As the tractor beams dragged the shuttle in, they also shoved a junky light freighter out. From the shuttle's viewport, Skajin watched detention troopers lead the freighter's paltry handful of passengers and crew across the hangar bay. He spotted a couple of Keshiri, a couple of Brubbs, even a Glottalphib. No Kubaz, no Hurikaneans, but fellow refugees from the Bryn'adul genocides.
Troopers' cutting torches began shearing through the shuttle's main airlock. Skajin cracked his neck, unbuckled, and pulled out his compact disruptor pistol.
If a rock monster could flash a smile to his fellow refugee he would have, but he was stone faced and instead just saluted as he lumbered toward the main hatch. Even before the cutters were a tenth of the way into the door Ghrom flicked the door panel, smashing it but triggering it to open. As the door swung open the squeezed through the opening and clobbering the engineer now taken by surprise.
"Waaaaaaaaaagggggg!!!!"
The raging man roared as stun blasts struck the great hulking Hurikanean but did little as he had no flesh to stun. Instead like a slowing moving wrecking ball he headed down the ramp and to the deck below sending both crew and imperial storm trooper alike flying in all directions. Turning toward the ships interior he took great strides closing on the refugees who were being hurdled away from him as stun blast quickly turned full fledged blaster bolts from the defending stormtroopers.
The remaining troopers attention turned to the new threat and with the skill and determination of well trained troops they faced this new enemy trying to stop it. As blast after blast struck the Ghurm leaving molten red stone spots upon his body his rage grew. The attacks not able to stop him were only making him madder the pain feeding into his darkside turn. The more they fought him the greater his strength was becoming and like wooden blocks before a raging child they were smashed and thrown to all sides of small hanger.
As the fight raged on a new fire team of stormtroopers set up a barrier blocking the entrance to the ships interior. As they did two heavy weapons troopers with Rotary Blasters set up and took aim at the molten and smoking Hurikanean who was laying waste to their comrades. If something was not done about them he would soon be in for a world of hurt as would the refuges and crew who would be caught in the crossfire.
Bralin could hear the worry in Elise’s voice, but he would soon see a notification of exactly how well the Sith seemed to take it.
“They are opening fire on another relief vessel ma’am. I doubt that they will stop their assault without... force.” He would then be jostled by the push from the enemy tractor beams, and the fire that they laid down. The Startreader just seemed to eat up the weapons fire, both shields and hull showing little effect. What would surprise them most would probably be the lack of ionic effect. Bralin would turn into the tractor beam in an attempt to keep his heading.
Jai looked at his cohorts, smiling a little under his helmet. He couldn’t help but let out a slight exhale of a laugh at Sasmay’s simple response. Seemed as though they were of the same mind here, which helped things. Then there was Scherezade.
First, she of course offered cheese, which Jai accepted for once, pulling off his helmet to take a bit. She then suggested that they simply retrieved as many slaves as they could and book it. He looked at her, nodding a little, but not sure how they could do that. Cloud Breaker was a big corvette, but she was still a corvette. He then looked at the field.
“We start by stopping one of the big boys with a little something your style. This girl’s got some tricks.” His smirk could practically be heard as he slide his helmet back on. He then cut the ship in towards one of the lead ships, hoping to keep away to for the fighter onslaught. There was no avoiding it though, but the pair of defensive turrets rang out to take on the smaller ships.
“Time to remind these folks numbers don’t always win.”
Snapping into real space, they were entering a fight that had already started. X-wings peppered the skies, from a fleet she did not know, and were tangling with Sith fighters that had been covering the flotilla of refugees - now in tractor beams.
"I’m getting bio indicators."
Yes, there seems to be some...a single ship of Yuuzan Vong tech out there. As well as some other biomass I don’t have catalogued.
"Forgive me if I don’t want to get too close for your book keeping."
I’d appreciate it, actually.
"Anything for you, Frankie."
The other fleets seemed to be engaged with boarding the oppressive ships, and working on scrambling the tractor beams. Leaving the opening for Sabers to make it their mission to be a thorn in the side of the daunting triangles that were picking off civilian transports at leisure.
"Saber four, six, with me. You heard One - let’s disable the weapons on those Interdictors. After that, we can tango with the other fighters."
What had arrived as a unified arrow of twelve X-Wings, broke apart into four groups on Treicolt's suggestion. Their coordination was maintained through the comprehensive network of their Skywalker class ships, which let them focus on the tasks on hand rather than chattering over the comms to make sure they weren’t crashing into one another.
Her X-wing's rear nozzles fired, hurtling her forward at a speed matched by her squad mates -- racing forward with the intent to get in too close of range for the significantly larger ship to fire on.
The pathway wasn't a red carpet. Smaller Sith vessels presented themselves as obstacles, firing relentlessly to those that opposed. They were organized in groups of four, it seemed. Loske's aiming reticle went red and target-lock tone filled her ears. She tightened on the trigger and launched a torpedo at an approaching fighter. Switching to lasers, she linked all four, then picked another target. As her torpedo hit the first, she flashed into range of it's partner and let it have a burst of laster fire.
The glare of lasers agains her shields hid the result of her shooting, but Frank reported one destroyed and another damaged. That was two and a half.
"Finished 'em." Saber six confirmed over the comms, the blossom of fire against the vacuum of space a testament to the other jedi's sharp shooting.
"Nice shooting, six. Let's pick up the speed, let's not get too distracted with the little guys."
The cascading sea of stars whipping past Ryv ended abruptly as his starfighter exited hyperspace. His gaze flickered across the expansive battle, taking in as much information as he can within the brief period between arrival and Outrider's orders. Dipping the nose of his wing down, he broke formation and rocketed through enemy fire without fear. His hands took hold of the ship's stick, tugging it aside to send him into a concise roll that avoided the entirety of the wave of projectiles. Behind him, the two squad members meant to follow him struggled to keep pace. The kiffar's willingness to launch into danger had not changed since taking up the mantle of Sword of the Jedi. If anything, it happened even more frequently.
"Alright, boys," Paragon's voice rang out over the shared commlink. "Fall in on Outrider and Blue, I'm gonna go find someone real mean and introduce em to my fist," he finished speaking and banked left, narrowly avoiding an oncoming starfighter. He furrowed his brow as another came screeching towards him. He opened fire on the approaching threat, lighting up its hull with a rain of shots from his fast-response ion cannons that saw it blown to smithereens fast enough for Ryv to blow right through what was once an enemy fighter. With a brief pause in the fray, he focused his attention and fell within the clutches of the force. These operations always had a Sith or two operating them. Slaving and slaughter came hand in hand with the usual irate Sith seeking the approval of their regime. His focus rewarded him, alerting him to the presence of one Malel Mal'gurith in a nearby frigate.
"Outrider, I've zeroed in on a bad dude. Gonna go ahead and make my way there, cover my approach if you would," Paragon's voice cut out as he pulled hard on the stick, his fighter groaning in protest as it cut a quick turn. "Alright, BD, we're gonna do something really dumb here," the Jedi Knight said to the droid accompanying him in the cockpit. It chirped up at the pilot with its typical cheery demeanor. "Yeah, yeah, I know everything we do is dumb. Just listen up to the plan, okay?" he paused once more as another group of fighters aimed at his ship. Trusting in Maynard and the boys, Ryv diverted his attention to avoid a quick and explosive end at the hands of a lucky pilot. His ship dipped, turn, spun, and danced between the bolts launched his way. A few skimmed the vessel, jolting the kiffar and droid alike.
BD-8's chirping intensified as it bounced up and down on the Jedi Knight's lap.
"Yeah, chief, I know they're firing at us. I'm assuming Maynard or Loske should be taking them out any se-" Ryv's answer found support as the ships behind him blew apart from behind. "-cond now. There we are! Alright, as I was saying. You're gonna take the controls, get me into there," he pointed a gloved hand at the Nebulon-B Escort Frigate hosting a crew of sith troopers following the orders of the Wraith. "I'm thinking we sweep into an adjacent hangar, I pop out, and you close the cockpit and return to the fight. I'm sure Saber-Squad can use the help. Those refugees are gonna need me."
The droid stayed silent for a moment, visibly considering what its friend told him before slowly nodding. The droid jacked into the ship and took the controls from the kiffar Jedi. Directing the vessel towards the frigate, BD-8 guided it the rest of the way before curving into the hangar. Ryv cracked open the cockpit and leaped out without a word of goodbye. He bent his knees and braced for impact before rolling a half a dozen feet to finding himself standing once more. He brushed himself off and nodded.
"Pretty good landing, if I do say so myself," Ryv turned his attention to the squadron of legionnaires lowering their blasters, aiming directly at the Jedi. "Shit!" he pulled his lightsaber hilt from his side with the aid of the force and activated it. With the customary snap-hiss accompanying it, the Blade of Ruusan's cyan blade surged to life. The kiffar's surroundings were aglow in the soft blue light, marking the Jedi for what he was. "I'm gonna give you boys one chance to surrender before I ring your helmet's like a bell."
The audacity of the jacket-clad Jedi won him a few short seconds of silence before the group opened fire. Ryv's weapon flashed back and forth, blocking the majority of shots while he slowly worked his way towards the group. He swung out and batted one bolt back into the chest of one soldier, sending him tumbling to the ground behind him. Another took a grenade from his belt and lobbed it towards the nearing Jedi, only for Ryv to push it back into them with a telekinetic wave. It stopped far enough away that none of them took the brunt of the explosion, but some stumbled back from the rush of energy and smoke blown into them. Directly behind it, Ryv dashed in and expertly sliced one of the weapons in two. He kicked down at the grounded foe, cracking the soldier's helmeted head into the hangar floor, then pushed out at another, sending that one flying across the room to slam into a wall.
As the other two peered through the smoke, Ryv closed the distance and put each to sleep before they could fire once more.
"Outrider, I'm in one of the frigates," Paragon called out to Maynard as he began rushing down a corridor. "I'm closing in on the Sith leading the assault on this ship. Make sure we don't go down before I can detach the boarding party, will ye?"
Ryv continued his sprint, searching for the malign presence emanating deeper from within the ship.
What had been a delectable cloud of anxiety and fear was beginning to churn, droplets of hope bleeding through as the Jedi, and the rest of their slave-liberating band of friends, came en masse to the protection of the refugees that the Empire had come to abduct. Small hands gripped the coral-like rail that separated her from the translucent barrier between her and the void of space beyond, her hold tightening as she watched the uncoordinated display of Sith forces play like a colony of ants without a queen. Detesting the idea of being subordinate for another, Braith had never ventured into the Empire's own petty squabbles of her own accord unless there was a personal gain to be made. This shameful display of thoughtless, arrogant, cruelty was informing her, however, that had been a mistake.
Turning away from the view, forcing herself to tear her attention from what was quickly becoming the source of her frustration, Braith instead faced the Commander she had been speaking with prior - only now he lacked the grin he had sported when he'd mentioned the rest of the Miid ro'ik and other Yuuzhan Vong warships that would be arriving soon enough. He, too, witnessed the surge in heroism on the part of Jedi and the other spacers that were attempting to keep the Sith from laying hands on the refugees fleeing the Bryn'adul, albeit without the ability to feel the swelling morale and the shimmer of the light in the force. "How long do we have until our Miid ro'ik and A-vek Liluunu arrive?" She asked, her tone like ice - the look in her eyes must a struck a cord in the Yuuzhan Vong Commander, a look of concern washing over his face for a brief moment before it was replaced with a renewed bravado. "The flotilla will be arriving shortly, the call for the move to dark space was made when we arrived. I do not feel concern for us - but the Sith, do they believe they can win a fight that they have provoked without support? Their little hul cannot protect their metal canbin without larger canbin'tar to devour the Jeedai's little crafts." He replied, taken aback by the lack of planning on the Armada's part.
She waved a hand in the air to dismiss his concern, although observing the strange extreme of ships present on the Armada's side was unnerving. "We are here today for us, Commander. If the Sith cannot protect themselves, and succeed, then they do not deserve our concern." She reminded him, though she was certain she'd likely hear her own words rephrased back to her by Darth Carnifex
in the event that she did allow the Armada to face defeat - not that it dissuaded her from saying such. "When the A-vek Liluunu arrive disgorge their Yorik-et, one Yaret-kor is greater than four Imperial or Jedi laser cannons - it will turn things in our favor, but we cannot get involved until the flotilla has arrived unless our Miid ro'ik is assaulted first. Once we have made headway have the Yammosks request the slaveships come to collect what we can and go." Braith added as she climbed the organic steps at the edge of the Miid ro'ik's belly - its hangar - with the Commander in tow. "You are a cold one, Yammka, perhaps that is why I like you." He noted, his macabre grin returning to its rightful place on his grotesque face.
"Remind me again, Vua Choka, how do these... command thrones... work again?" She said as they strode towards the bridge of the living ship.
"The tall-yor? He asked, wondering the purpose of her question.
All Sasmay could do was hold on for the ride, wondering silently if they could in fact be of any help besides offering a place for refugees. A thought struck her, keying her comm's to the channel they shared, shutting it off before piping up. "If you aren't against it, I'd like to jump off and fend off those boarding parties." She pointed to the frigate that an x-wing had entered and promptly exited from. "Innocent folk dying doesn't sit well with me while I sit on my hands."
"Any ships who can hear me, you've got an opportunity here to rip the heart out of the Empire's interdiction capacity. For the moment, those interdictors are pretty weakly guarded. Interdictors attract nearby objects and tractor beams can get baffled by any improvised tractor shroud. Hold out for help by choking their airspace with anything and everything. Time is critical here. The longer the Sith stay on the Pabol Hutta, the more expensive interdictors they lose. Kill them fast. Kill them before they can kill any more of the innocent."
Schereade stared at the holo, chewing on the inside of her cheek for a moment as she considered the new flow of information. If they were going to do any battle with the ship itself, it would put her out. The woman was well trained and had an endless list of combat victories, but none of it included naval work. That was something that others were almost always better suited for.
"What happened to the days in which people had the balls to come kill you to your face and not just click a few buttons from a distance," she muttered, a finger sliding along the sharp edge of one of her knives.
Turning back to Jai, she grinned as he mentioned they'd be going against one of the bigger boys. Plans about what could happen after they slammed into them (were they even going to slam into them?) floated swiftly to her mind and filled her with glee. It was a good day to fight.
But Sasmay herself wanted to jump into the frey and join one of the boarding parties that were starting.
Scherezade didn't particularly like to be a tie breaker. She looked at them both, thinking a moment.
"We can split the party," she nodded, "Jai, let's get Sasmay over there," she said, pointing on the monitors at the location Ryv
was in. "Unless you need her or me to operate the ship, no point in keeping us here all useless."
And yet, Scherezade felt that this might not be the particular boarding party for her. Did she really want to let Sasmay go alone? Not really, not any more than she wanted to leave Jai alone behind either.
"Are we cloaked?" she asked, realizing now that she didn't even know what Jai's Cloud Breaker was actually capable of on any front that wasn't moving people from point A to point B. Ship warring was really not her thing. "I'm starting to somewhat fantasize about some of their bigger ships, and how much bodies with blood they carry."
"Kyros, you in? We've got ships signalling; probably pulled out by interdictors. I know you've got a ship big enough, and I can scramble up enough guys to bring an A-class within the hour. Asyr's in town, plus chatter about a Hutt. What say you we save a few lost souls?"
"I'd say rescue sure sounds great to me. Hurry up on the A-class, will ya?"
Captain Kyros set down the comlink transceiver without taking his eyes off a Sith light cruiser on their bow. They'd just been pulled out of hyperspace minutes before and he imagined Jaya was throwing a fit about the state of their drives. Maintenance fees weren't exactly high on the duros smuggler's current list of worries. His mustache twitched.
"When I give the signal," he murmured to Finley as if the oncoming raiding party he could hear them, "Put some juice back in the shields and weapons. I'm gonna rig our tractor shroud then burn like hell."
The Array was a big ship, too big for him to pilot alone. Cei was handling the maneuvers and secondary systems while his first mate was in charge of their deflector screens and turbolasers.
“Wooooooooooooorrrrrrrrrrr” Goros exclaimed in surprise as ships and entire fleets came out of the void, his tail thrashing about it almost decapitated a nearby buffet which slaves had moved to save, wasting food an intolerable offense to the magisterial pink Hutt at the back of the room.
“Wanga Du Naga DAN!” One three-eyed gran declared that they couldn’t even hyperspace away with all this interference!
Bounty hunters and mercenaries ran this way and that, a protocol droid threw its hands up in the air and at least one person was crushed under the stampede. Everyone trying to work out what was going on. Was this an exchange ambush? The party was over, half a fried bird leg stuck in his mouth. What was a hutt to do? Well… not die was high on the list. First a game of Chinese whispers from the Blue Twi’lek to the Zeltron to the Hutt, and the plan was underway.
Half the fleet would engage, and half would pull back. He couldn’t die here, again, but he couldn’t run without showing his Sith allies he was assisting! Certain OPA fleets might back his Triad rivals if he engaged them! Double bind. His tiny hands rolled part of the impressive pink flab decorating his jawline, formulating a plan. Goros picked an interdictor ship and defended it with half the fleet, then he could claim self-defense if attacked.
Losses he’d have to finance, hoping for a contract or two with the empire down the line. If anyone really looked closely, while they were covering the interdictor, they were also ‘covering’ themselves too, these crews were criminals after all. Not likely to die if they could help it. To them, that was a soldier's job.
Vast ships moved into place through the void, and the first laserfire exchanged with the nearest enemy cruiser, cannons echoed internally as the longer-range weaponry began, and turbolasers soon followed against the starfighters. The first Hutt starfighters meeting any vanguard.
Blink Blink Blink….
A message for Khar Garak
on secure communications?….. A certain blue twi’lek had sent the following through encrypted transmission. 80,000 credits to make the Hutts ships look good, but avoid killing too many of them, signed simply Blue. He may or may not know what a Blue signature from the Hutts meant, others among his number probably would. A name that carried some weight.
A tempting offer only requiring the input of where to send the credits too. The Sith for all their ships were looking badly outnumbered!
Hutt Fleet Actions
Starfighters Holding Back | Covering Nearest Interdictor
Escort Fleet | Half covering the Nearest interdictor, Half pulling back
Massive ships showing up in the atmosphere were clearly meant to be here for something nefarious. If my guy in Varl was barely able to make it out, and he was there as just a lowly civilian, then I knew they would be targeting anyone and everyone. I had no other information to go off of. Nor did I have some big name contacts that would be able to tell me what was going on. There was no way for me to be able to get the best kind of intel on this.
My best chance? Make it out of here alive. Nobody was on my side right now. Rushing to the starport was easy. Everyone else was also making their way there. I would need to be faster than them though. Even as I was running up the ramp, a couple people were trying to get onto any ship they could. I was shaking my head. I really did not want to be responsible for other people's lives. I had my own skin to think of.... feth it.
"YO! Get in! I can take about a dozen people!"
At that moment, it seemed like a hoard of people were rushing to my ramp. I pulled in the first couple people I could manage. At the end, I had legit double what I asked for. 26 people jumped into the ramp and in my vessel as the ramp finally closed. I rushed to the controls of the ship that I had stolen almost a year ago now. Yelling over my shoulder.
"If anyone knows how to man guns, then get on them. Otherwise, sit tight and pray to whatever gods you have."
I threw on the engines as I spoke. The roaring of the engines blasted hard as I lifted off. Picking up the landing gears. Sirens going off that I was moving way too fast and could break the landing gears if I went any faster. Too bad, I would rather crash land and survive than get shot down because I didn't pull up fast enough.
Luckily the ship didn't fall apart as we were getting out into the atmosphere. However, that is when I see among the sky, what seemed like thousands of tiny black dots.
"Chite!" "Whats wrong?" "See those black dots?" "Yah?" "Those are not bugs..." "You don't mean" "Yes, I mean those are all ships."
In unusual tactical move the great super carrier did not hold back and let her fighters do the work for her, instead just as he fighter had flown into the fray she plowed full speed ahead taking little heed of the ships forming a line to keep them from the refugee fleet.
"Sir aren't we a little exposed here? His tactical officer asked."
"Quite right Mr Bowesman, but we don't have time to feth around and play space chess here. You watched them destroy that freighter just as I. These are not civilized opponents that will play fair and by the rules of engagement. These are filithy sith animals that only care for blood and war. Focus all fire on those damned dictors, and tractor ships. When we get close put us in between the damaged ships and the imperial horde. Anything under 400 meters and with engine damage pull in into our frigate holds and we will jump them out once the interdiction field is broken."
Vertigo7th fleet, this is the commander of the OPA command ship Atlas Reborn, we are running the blockage and pushing through to the refugee fleet, please assist as you are able, good hunting and may the force be with you silvers.
As his narrow band transmission ended he received another from an unknown caller.
A message for Khar Garak
on secure communications?….. A certain blue twi’lek had sent the following through encrypted transmission. 80,000 credits to make the Hutts ships look good, but avoid killing too many of them, signed simply Blue. He may or may not know what a Blue signature from the Hutts meant, others among his number probably would. A name that carried some weight.
"Comm reply to Ms Blue the following. Keep the credits, extend us the same kindness of you ask for and you have a deal. As we advance pull back and fire for effect not damage. We will let the sith feel our full rath and batteries and allow you a safe path for retreat. Signed ...the good guys."
Ending the transmission he gave his final order before they came into weapons range. "Navigation, take us in!"
When one has no taste for the Sith and seeks to learn the Dark Side on one's own terms, one finds strange legacies. Skajin now called on just such a legacy: that of the mutant empath Clat the Shamer, the Dark Jedi cultist who had once failed to assassinate Darth Vader. Or so the story went on Cheelit.
Skajin stalked behind Ghrom's fanatical might, disruptor-burning tidy holes in trooper armor. Moderately safe in his associate's wake, he stretched out to the Force and latched onto the minds of the two heavy troopers. Their rotary blasters ceased fire as confusion overwhelmed them. Confusion - and guilt. He spurred their consciences to life, dragged up their own memories of murders in the Empire's name.
One drew his sidearm and put a bolt through his eyeplate. The other simply turned the rotary cannon up against his chin and made his own head disappear.
The two rotary guns rose and spun in midair about the long axis as the rotary barrel clusters engendered opposing momentum. Skajin was no physicist, but he adapted well enough to the complex offset torque. Both guns perforated the makeshift barrier with ease.
Ghrom possessed none of the elegance or finesse of his new compatriot. Ignorant to skills a normal user of the dark arts possess he was a blunt instrument of carnage. As Skajin dismantled the make shift barrier Ghorm forged forward eliminating picking up the blast bolt riddled boxes and dropping them repeatedly upon the remaining stormtroopers till all the remained were red stained decks with flesh filled armor pieces.
Seeing the fight was going poorly those monitoring the hanger seemed to feel more drastic means would be needed. As the two fought on warning claxions began to ring out and the blast door leading to the hanger begin to close. Ghorm grabbed the nearest door and fought against it as mechanized hydraulics were put against the raw force of the stone giant. As all remaining doors slammed shut the energy field holding the atmosphere in the bay began to falter the power having been cut to it from the bridge in a desperate attempt to control the situation unfolding below.
"SKAJIN! What is happening?" the rock man cried out as he continued to fight the door, every instinct telling him he must keep it open or his companion would die.
BOARDING: A Sith Empire Velox-class Fast Frigate
WITH: Ghrom the Molten
A lightsaber would be useful here, but Skajin didn't have one or the necessary training. Instead, ears popping from the pressure drop, he just hastened to scramble through the blast door that Ghrom held open. The door slammed shut a moment later, sealing the two Force adepts away from the hangar that was rapidly becoming hard vacuum.
"My thankszz," he said, and meant it. He clasped Ghrom's hand high, elbow to chest and elbow to chest as comrades, and clapped the big Hurikanean on the shoulder.
The next blast door was already shut. This one started to open, but Skajin perforated the controls with his disruptor and it slammed shut before the pressure could drop significantly. That left them trapped, unglamorously, in a section of hallway.
Skajin leveled the disruptor at the wall, ignored the cautionary pulser buzzing in the handle, and expended his last five shots. Ideally that would weaken the metal and give them a clear path - if not exactly forward, then sideways.
Ghrom the Molten
dominated the shuttle's command deck. Slavers' blood still daubed the big Hurikanean's stone body. Which was fair enough, really: Skajin hadn't showered either. 
