Faction Treasure or Trouble? (Levantines)

Coren Starchaser · Oct 24, 2023

The one trick about wars, they were always disruptive. And that meant things didn't go according to plan. The new group who were out there waving a flag that very much read Levantine Sanctum Nursing Home Gang had found, the need to start things up small. They weren't making a movement to change the whole galaxy. No, that'd be conflict with the Alliance and the Empire.

Not something the group wanted to do. But for now? Through channels Coren and some of the Underground had, an old moth balled CR90, set up as a picket carrier was 'lost' the way of him. But if they were going to doing good, it meant it had to start somewhere. And that somewhere was here.

But the start also needed a some how. And that? It was found by a distress call coming from the suburbs of Malachor. A cargo freighter, large compared to the ship they were in had gotten itself lost. The Parleminan Trade route ended as the ship was trying to make jumps out to the Tingel Arm. Really, familiar space for the group.

With his YT-2000 aboard, Coren was taking a shift of being on watch as the call came in. Some of the group were out doing their own thing, some where here.

But the call was going on all frequencies.

"Help Needed. Coordinates to Follow. Freighter Caught in Planetary Gravity"

Meant it was time to work.

OOC: Ship caught in planetary gravity. Could be crushed. Definitely carrying settlers. Definitely carrying cargo. Lets make some profit

Jorus Q. Merrill · Oct 25, 2023

As the City of Nar Shaddaa rumbled up the Perlemian, Jorus bounced a recording through to

Coren Starchaser and company.

"About that distress call — old Levantine Frontier Corps automated relays caught it from two angles. The offset between their timestamps gave me a conical plane that only intersects with a couple nearby planetary systems within a parsec of each other. Still a big search field but I'm heading there now, hoping to get in the area before the detailed coordinates arrive, so I can get on site quick as possible. I'm sending the two systems' data with this message.

"As for assets, ship I've got has good engines and repair arms, but only basic tractor beams. Flip a coin whether it'll do any good."

Mishel · Oct 25, 2023

Mishel hadn't any real intentions as to her purpose these days, she mostly drifted going port to port helping where she could. It happened that she and the Selonian pilot Lav caught wind of the distress call. It was Lav who figured out it where it came from and who it could belong to. Mishel shifted her weight from one foot to the other as she leaned over the pilot. "So...." Her voice trailed off, she unfolded her arms and tapped a small screen, "are we playing fetch or not?"

Lav slowly moved Mishel's hand away from the dashboard, he gave her a solemn nod.

"Right." She dropped her arms to her side and stepped away from the cockpit, "let me see if that Corellian is awake." By that Corellian she meant

Kurayami Bloodborn the only other pilot on the ship. "But first, I suppose I oughta tell someone we're gonna be helping..." Mishel looked over at the small comms station aboard the Princess Leia. Taking hold of the headphones she popped the microphone down and got onto a frequency that seemed to be in use. "I hope you don't mind a bit of help, I might be able to aid in the tractor beam department. Just as soon as I figure out which button it is."

Mishel ended her part of the communication and set the headphones down. Hands on her hips as she looked at the station, Lav squawked at her to grab Kurayami. "Alright, alright, alright, stop busting my tail." She all but groaned, irritated more than anything as she entered the main galley of the ship. "Bloodborn!" She shouted, "Bloodborn! Lav needs you up front, pronto."

Coren Starchaser |

Jorus Q. Merrill

Delila Castillon · Oct 25, 2023

Delila had no idea what to do.

After a discussion with Xin, it had been decided he would stay behind on the Saegassum and continue on their normal jobs with Skreech and Brak while she went with the Levantines for a bit. So thats how she found herself about the SS Seydon, a weird little CR90 vessel that she was fairly certain was older than her by a wide margin.If it wasn't, maintenance and flying safely wasn't a huge concern to the previous owners.

When it wasn't your boat in the sky there were only so many decisions one could reasonably make. There were various shifts to take watch and she was thankful hers was mercifully short. Pilot, she was not and there was only so many maneuvers and tricks she could make in an emergency. Something this big? Likely kill everyone on board accidentally.

So she busied herself in her downtime by doing something she was halfway decent at : cleaning and checking the blasters. Despite their overall thoughts to keep out of war, Delila knew full well how trouble found folks all too easy. Best be prepared so they didn't end up on the wrong side of someone else's barrel.

Catching the last bit of the distress call, the redhead wandered up into the cockpit. Eyebrow was raised slightly, just wondering how they were going to get said vessel out of the gravity situation. Space and flying clearly was not her strong suit.

"Do we even have a tractor beam aboard?"

Coren Starchaser · Oct 26, 2023

The problem was, he was comfortable. Feet up on the desk, well controls, from the bridge. He was on watch here, and it meant that as he got the call, he was also supposed to be getting the Retirement Home bus, also known as the Sanctum Ship Seydon, yes that

Seydon of Arda , to get moving. But he hadn't received the coordinates yet. The message from Jorus helped, though. Placing his lightsaber, the extra casing had broken years ago, on the chair, he finally got up.

The ship was warming its engines up as he made the announcement.

"Seems we have a distress call. Going to be moving, prep for hyperspace." He didn't think any fighters were out, but he didn't want someone to launch any ship and to be left behind. "Prep to jump towards Malachor."

He was speaking of the world as merely a location, not in the fantastical way the Jedi were known to. The instinctive astrogator was moving across the controls and weaving a lea from their current position of Laekia out towards the world. Once he was certain all the ships were accounted for, and someone was making sure the engines weren't going to fall off, the ship leapt into hyperspace.

Turning, he was looking more like his old self, the Warden of the Sky self, not a Jedi, as he looked to Dells. "Its supposed to. I know my freighter does and she's aboard…" But would that little ship be enough.

Delila Castillon

Mishel

Jorus Q. Merrill

Mother Arg'garok · Oct 26, 2023

A quick but decisive snort came from the elder portly Gammorean nun alongside

Delila Castillon . Despite her rather large toothy and ferocious mug, thick snout, close set eyes, tusks and horns, Mother Arg'garok, Nun of G'aav'aar'oon, was quiet, pious, and calm. The way of the Nuns was one of calmness and passivity rather than violence, which they were encouraged never to use.

It had been several decades since she last saw

Jorus Q. Merrill , but when the call came to her asteriod nunnery, she was delighted to help out. Long of tooth and tusk, with more parasitic morts attached to her chin and neck wattles, the elder Gammorean nun was barely held together by a Force prayer and layers of fat.

None the less, the desire for a rekindling adventure made her cataract covered eyes twinkle despite their loss of sight a decade ago.

Slow of speak and movement, but quite well versed in the healing art not only through the Force but through conventional means, she was excited for this chapter. While she may be on par with the creaking of bones and aches of back and knees, there was a fire in her that age could not deny.

Now, while the latest technology was not her fort, the nun had an idea in the sorts of contraptions that would be on a ship. At least, she thought so.

“Do not all ships have a tractor beam?” She grunted out in Huttese, the more common language outside of the Gammorean she knew. Hopefully Delila or others were adept at the language.

Coren Starchaser

Mishel

Kurayami Bloodborn · Oct 26, 2023

Kurayami was currently not awake which may have surprised some as he seemed to never sleep out on the hyperlanes. Qutie to the contrary though, the Corellian found hyperspace flight exceedingly dull, granted they hadn't been for a bit they were waiting for something. Or were they just between jobs again? Honestly with how much Ryssa had him chasing after some kid or another or playing chaperone for some inane bullshit reason, he was worn out. So yes, the nap was well deserved and he was enjoying it as much as he was able to while sober.

Then came the great annoyance of awakening. More specifically being shaken awake by Mishel. Unsurprisingly, he attmepted to sit bolt upright from where he was currently stretched out on the bench seat, grazing his head against the table before over correcting and slamming it hard into the backrest.

"Kriffing hell Mishel! If it's that important to ya I'll make sure the next birthday card isn't musical. Geez. Yea, sure I'll get up fron ant see what Lav needs."

He made sure that his equipment was still in place from before falling asleep, and to absolutely no one's great surprise it was. Taking a seat in the co-pilot's chair he swiveled it to face out the viewport and shrugged.

"Alright. So what's the deal? You needed me enough to wake me up. Talk."

To say he was antisocial before caf was a slight understatement.

Mishel |

Tessa Sedaire · Oct 27, 2023

In a slow spiraled spin, the Heartfire translated from hyperspace just port of

Coren Starchaser . Scanners lit up, and anyone that held a candle in the Force would feel as if a shore that waves broken upon as Tessa's hands glided over touch-controls upon re-entry. She wasn't showing off, she told herself... Her ship was just loud... Milieters from physical touch, the circuitry inlaid in her hands glowed and hummed, a symbiosis between her and the ship translating to an almost eerie grace and sleek trajectories that to any but the most experienced eyes would seem slightly off and unnatural. Part the benefit of the circuitry, part just guts and skill on Sedaire's part, the ship took a high orbit and began scans as Tessa rolled her coveralls down and tied the arms around the waist, leaving her top half bare as she began slotting in slicing and other tools to the multi-pockets on her web-suit.

"Heartfire to the Aged and Eldery. Five by five on all, translating to shuttle craft in ten for a closer look barring objections from the more senior members...."

Mishel

Mishel · Oct 27, 2023

The Selonian pointed to the co-pilot chair and told Kurayami to ready the tractor beam, he had received the coordinates just fine and began punching them in. They would be in range soon enough, the trio hadn't been long in that part of the galaxy, mostly helping where they could. Rather than get on the horn again, the Tygaran merely sent a message to her old master.

| Tractor beam located, en route to specified coordinates. ETA Under 7

Lav looked over at Bloodborn and counted down, on his mark, the ship made its jump with the hues of hyperspace engulfing the small freighter. Mishel took her seat beside the communication station as the Princess Leia made its way to the designated coordinates.

Tessa Sedaire |

Mother Arg'garok

Delila Castillon · Oct 28, 2023

Mother Arg'garok said:
“Do not all ships have a tractor beam?” She grunted out in Huttese, the more common language outside of the Gammorean she knew. Hopefully Delila or others were adept at the language.

The question gave her pause for two reasons.

First being Delila truly had no idea if all ships had tractor beams. Did the Saegassum have a tractor beam? Dells was fairly certain the answer was a yes because she could have sworn they had picked up salvage and bits of things from space before. Did it haul anything bigger than a small speederbike in? Who knew. She was very confident

Xin Boa would have explained it at one point and she was also very confident she had met his explanation with a 'that's great dear' at the end.

Second pause being she hadn't spoke Huttese since she was a teenager. Still could understand the language just fine, read basic texts even. It was the actual pronunciation and remembering how to frame the syntax. She turned to the Nun,

Mother Arg'garok .

"Noah..?."

Okay that was the word for no Dells, how to articulate a tractor beam. Wait, if the Nun could understand basic just fine, Dells would keep her reply that way.

".....No? What would a personal freighter be hauling in. This ship does seem modded, I suppose the bigger question is how strong the beam is."

Mother Arg'garok · Oct 28, 2023

The Gamorrean nun gave the parasitic morts attached to her flabby cheeks an affectionate pet in contemplation at

Delila Castillon 's explanation. Her cataract-covered blind eyes grew wide, and then she gave a nod, her triple chins jiggling while her nostrils flared outward in conviction.

"I see, I see." a pause, then in a matter-of-fact voice, she said, "Then I shall pray that the beam is as firm and powerful as the great

Seydon of Arda 's blade." even in her remote little asteroid, the Nuns of G'aav'aar'oon had heard of the infamous warrior.

And that is exactly what she did, much to the redhead's surprise. Began to pray.

Coren Starchaser · Oct 29, 2023

So many questions and Coren Starchaser barely hand answers for… well, for most of it. There was a ship out there and he didn't know what it was, but it definitely had cargo and people, otherwise, why call for help? He heard the call from Jorus. Letting his astromech run through the systems that were sent, there was a few tweets and sounds in the affirmative. Coren had heard that enough from the droid who'd been in his fighter too many times.

"Good enough for me, buddy."

The fact that the Princess Leia and his former Padawan was heading in that direction was a good sign.

Typing up another message to blast along the frequencies, Coren looked at their location and the destination. A simple modification to the trip.

All. Looking at the system, we're heading for the gas giant. Ship's in the gravity field, why it was harder to detect. Approach from core-ward, and should see it.

"Crews. Prep for real-space reversion. Pods get priority. We'll secure the ship enough to not lose it." And enough to just ransom it back for credits. Simple. But saving lives was important.

As he took the mental breath, the Seydon reverted to real space. The corvette shuddered a little, as Coren did, admittedly get a little close to the gas giant. And it was storming.

"The frakking hell is this world? Porter, mark this as a do not fly in the future…" Coren shook his head, how many places had he been to, but this one? Hell.

A few moments of scanning and the Mon Calamari who was in the sensors seat found the ship. "Its definitely falling, Dells, Mother Aragorn Ragnarok, thinking we can get the tractors moving? Got your ship on board, or need the Rising?" He was referring to his YT-2000 Tachyon Rising.

"And I hear you there, Tessa…" How was that ship in one piece? "You're more nimble, you wanna get down there? See if you can get a clear path for the organics."

Once Jorus and Mishel made it to real space here, then it may be a bit easier.

Jorus Q. Merrill · Oct 29, 2023

Coren's more precise coordinates found Jorus half a light-year from the SOS: an unthinkable distance for most civilizations and most of history; nothing but a twitch of the nav panel. The City of Nar Shaddaa leaped and reverted in a heartbeat of starlines and blue iridescence, barely gone from realspace at all. The modded hyperdrive purred like a nexu kit.

Medium-range sensors pulled up Coren's corvette, the Seydon, above the gas giant's storms. There were two other rescuer ships arriving:

Tessa Sedaire 's Heartfire and

Mishel 's Princess Leia. Farther down in the well, in the murk, the sensors picked out the ship in distress as an intermittent contact.

"All ships, all ships, this is the S.S. City of Nar Shaddaa. Not sure I've got the tractor beam strength for this, but I've got enough cap drains to manage ion cannons, ought to hold out against those storms. Bad idea: if all the ships with tractors fly close and hook to me with conductive cables, lightning rod style, it might..."

He trailed off. Too many variables, plenty of cooks in the kitchen, didn't want to take up space, mostly just lost his train of thought.

Delila Castillon

Kurayami Bloodborn

Mother Arg'garok

Delila Castillon · Oct 30, 2023

"Uh, good idea Mother."

Delila blinked slowly, trying to let her brain process what was happening.

Was a Nun, a woman of high order and regard, praying that a tractor beam should be akin to....well. The only time Dells had heard of someone praying for that was typically in the middle of the night. Quite different when it was coming from a cataract riddled Gamorrean. There were times in her old age when she had thought she had seen it all, only to be reminded she hadn't.

Coren Starchaser said:
A few moments of scanning and the Mon Calamari who was in the sensors seat found the ship. "Its definitely falling, Dells, Mother Aragorn Ragnarok, thinking we can get the tractors moving? Got your ship on board, or need the Rising?" He was referring to his YT-2000 Tachyon Rising.

"How attached are you to your vessel?"

Dells didn't typically fly. There were emergencies where

Xin Boa had her take the yoke and push the Saegassum along. In all of their years together she could count on one hand how many times it had been such an emergency that he and Brak had given her the reigns. Most times she had taken position as a co-pilot or gunner, depending on what mess they had gotten into. She liked the co-pilot role, it was one she wore well.

Seeing the look on Coren's face told her everything ; very attached.

"Excuse me, Mother. Uh....do you know how to fly a ship?"

Mother Arg'garok · Oct 31, 2023

One didn't need to have eyes to notice the excited thrum of energy pouring out of the portly, blind Gamorrean nun. The parasitic morts seemed to writhe in pleasure as if they were her peanut gallery, cheering for this moment in time for her to shine in glory!

Her back straightened as if to suggest she would be the one to stand up to this cause. To be a tribute. Never mind that she had never piloted anything before. By faith and prayer, the Force had given the Nun of G'aav'aar'oons the ability to affect technology. A ship wouldn't be any different, right?

"I will take this honor to assist for the glory of the blade of Seydon of Arda ," Focusing back into that tractor beam she prayed to.

Never mind that she didn't answer

Delila Castillon 's question about piloting. "My body is ready, young Coren Starchaser ."

Coren Starchaser · Nov 1, 2023

A deep breath and then he realized what he had done. Let others fly his ship.

Another breath and he realized why. People were in need.

And he was supposed to be flying the Seydon into the mess, closer to the other ship. The Corvette could probably haul some stuff a bit easier, than his freighter, but the smaller YT-2000 was faster, a bit of a hot rod, or deuce coupe. Dock, move people, and get away.

The corvette was going to have to move any material, or at least stall the falling ship, but the damned Jedi in Coren meant he had to save the people at least.

"Mother, Dells, you're clear…" He said as he gave the YT-2000 the right to launch. "You're going in for people, the ship won't do good to try to drag that ship up, Leave that to me and Jorus." The hangar turned green as the freighter whirled from a remote start from the Starchaser.

"Leia, Heartfire you mind helping get the people and small goods off loaded before we lose that ship?" And a chance of salvage.

A third deep breath and he pushed the thrusters. Porter reporting the gravity anomalies right to Coren's screen.

Mishel · Nov 1, 2023

No sooner had the Princess Leia revert to realspace did they receive their instructions, and see the mess they were facing. "Acknowledged Nar Shaddaa," she called out, and looked over at Lav and Kurayami to figure out the best course of action. Between the ship's pyronium infused hull and the anti-ion mesh overlay they could handle it for a time. How much time remained to be seen, neither Mishel, Lav nor Kurayami had ever really put the Leia through her paces. At the comms station, Mishel radioed the response to Coren, "copy that Coren, we'll see who and what we can grab."

Jorus Q. Merrill · Nov 1, 2023

He wished he could've taken his time parsing the comms and sensor data, but the throughline was that time was short. That ship - and he still couldn't get a clear read on its make and model, even - was sinking lower into the grip of the gas giant.

"If some of you're aiming for evac and offload, I'm going to get down there now and start stabilizing. I'll nestle in alongside it. My boat's two hundred meters - feel free to use me for storm shelter."

The City of Nar Shaddaa might take forty acres to turn, but on a straightaway it had real speed. Jorus set a new course that drifted down across the storm in an arc, low and elegant, using the gas giant's gravity in combination with the ship's engines.

Delila Castillon · Nov 2, 2023

This was something she could work with. Idly, she was already forming a plan, and realized it was going to take a steady hand in order to dock the two vessels together. Dells doubted there was enough envirosuits on the ship they were rescuing and needed to be prepared for that fact.

She looked to the Nun. Immediately she wished Xin would have joined them.

"Mother, I'm going to need a steady hand. We are going to have to dock and pull people through. Not sure how long it's going to take but I will hurry."

She was putting her life in the hands of a blind Gamorrean who was worshipping the Force in some capacity she didn't understand. Delila hoped the good Mother was particularly pious, maybe the Force would take pity.

"Let's go. I'll be your copilot until we get closer."

Mother Arg'garok · Nov 2, 2023

Steely determination glinted in those cataract-lined eyes. A grunt-snort of agreement came, the thick pig-lick nostrils flaring in exhilaration. To anyone who could sense the Force, there was a distinct, thrumming aura radiating from the Nun of G'aav'aar'oon. Faith and hope were mighty powerful in ways that could sway the most terrible of circumstances with a much-needed morale boost.

In this case, Mother Arg'garok would do what she did best: let the Force guide her hand. She may not have the eyes to see, but she could sense that weave of intangible energy around her with the same familiarity of one with perfect vision. After all, scores of her years had been utilized to study the intricate and complex systems of different sapients bodies. The same concept could be applied here, too.

"Lead the way, young one," a laughable comment in Huttese considering the former Rebellion human female's age, but to Mother, Delila was still in the prime of her youth. It was said in excited cordiality, the morts along her chin twitching with glee.

"Let us be the bridge to bring salvation to those souls!"

Mishel |