Weekend Treasure Hunt 4: Cannibal Stormtrooper Death Star

[Matreya]

Damien took roughly ten minutes walking through halls, checking compartments, basically doing all the average looter business. Slowly though, as he moved, dual energies came closer and closer. Before long he stepped into a room he could only guess was some kind of control room, possibly a for firing the superweapon.

Standing in the room were dual lightsiders, conversing about who knew what...

Activating the heavy thrum of Nox's saber, Damien's voice came from beneath his hood, "A Death Star is such a wonderful tomb."

The message was simple. He wouldn't let the Force bring him somewhere for no reason, and such figured these two were the reason he was here. If not to gain a tool or the like, then it must be to test himself.

[member="Bellalika"] [member="Aeron Kreelan"]

 

[Aeron Kreelan]

Main Firing Room [member="Lord Daemos"] [member="Bellalika"]

Welp, by the time the Zeltron answered her, some new guy showed up in the middle of removing the secondary energy crystal. But the guy clearly didn't see she wasn't alone. There were after all 10 other Pyre mercenary and soldiers who were trained to fight against force users.

Enter crazy guy bringing out the two sabers.

Aeron gave a sigh.

So enter the MK1 Bolter, specially formulated to fight against forcers, came up. And in this tight little area, there wasn't much where the guy could go off towards. The salvagers at her back would continue their salvaging, one ton crystal having been removed and currently being clamped with those repulsors.


Six of the guards sent six different MK1 Bolters at the guys direction, each with 30mm x 45mm explosive bolts. The bolts are armed at launch and any significant pressure on the warhead will cause it to detonate. This includes shields, Force powers, glass etc. Bolt has a two metre ‘casualty zone’ on impact against most humanoids. Up to six metres can be injured by either shrapnel or blast wave.

Six meters per bolter, add in how many were being shot at his direction.... yeaaaaaah... we were talking at least a 180 degree wave of explosive bolts coming at the guys direction, contact considered hostile, for even bringing out his sabers. There was no shield that would be able to withstand that. And no Force power would be able to hand wave that many fragmentation bolts shot at them.


Really, the guy shouldn't have pulled his saber out.

Especially when Aeron would hold out her hand as the powerful telekinetic would attempt to hold him in a tight force grip to make sure he went down.

 

[Bellalika]

[member="Aeron Kreelan"] [member="Lord Daemos"]

Belallika looked over and at the man as her body didn't react but she spoke holding the cuffs up. "Ah keys so I can help... maybe. You look like you got it handled." She stood there in the armor and let it gleam as she did rather find the people this ship was attracting interesting.

 

[Raziel]

Raziel sat at the bridge of his transport. Little happened in the galaxy that Spynet didn’t get word of, but it seemed they had been too far away to react quickly to this. The roid field had prevented an approach with the larger ship they had brought, so they had cautiously approached in the transport. The Nightshadow coating wasn’t in the same class as a cloaking field, but they had moved slowly and cautiously, keeping signal noise to a minimum. He had no interest in getting into a fight today, and so had been carefully skirting the field, observing.

A handful of vessels had docked so far, and so Raziel was heading for a docking bay at least fifty clicks from the nearest scavenger. The whole station was millions of cubic kilometres, the chances of meeting anyone inside would be small. Nevertheless, he was going in well-armed. Suited in his Nightshrike armour, he wouldn’t show up on many scanners. He was planning on using one of the Kybuck speeder bikes on board and a Spynet REDS to get around. The bike would necessitate a level of noise he wouldn't b comfortable with, but he could hardly silently pad across a whole moon in a day.

The ship slid into the bay, using minimal manoeuvring thrusters to avoid attention. The ramp slid down to the deck and Raziel rolled down on his bike. Turning to the nearest operative he gave a few quick orders: “Get the slicers to the nearest active terminal you can find and see what can be pulled out. Have a look around the vicinity to see if you can find anything about the ship’s origins. I’m going comm silent, you’ll be able to send me updates, but I may not reply.”

And with that, he accelerated forwards. His HUD switched to night vision on its own, but as sensitive as he was it was unnecessary. He could cycle through these corridors with his eyes closed. The suit reported basic life support, which indicated power. Hopefully one of the slicers could pull some directions out of a terminal. Military vessels didn’t tend to have signs for important systems, and sure enough those he could see where numbered and colour coded, but had nothing written in plain text.

He’d need to go deeper to get to key systems, but would need some guidance soon. Millions of cubic kilometres, one man on a bike…

He had no interest in salvage really. He surmised that anything interesting would need a larger haulage ship than could get through the roid field. No he had one goal in mind. He wanted to know who had built this ship, how, why and when. If he could pull some schematics down from the secure computer networks, that would be ideal.

Spoiler

Equipment
Quickfire 2 Holdout
Splinter Knives
Nightshrike Armour
Smart Grenade/Mine Launcher
Splinter Pistol
Lightsabers
Verpine Shatter Pistol
Personal Cloaking Device
REDS extraction system

 

[Warren Century]

When the boxes and all the heavy items were put down, his droids immediately picked them up. They immediately started walking, and carrying the equipment to the ship that belonged to him. Once the cargo bay had been loaded with everything they had collected, the heavy weapons, the 100 or so lightsabers, the adventurer gear and anything else they had found, Jeff had them load the self driving speeders. Finally with all of that loaded and on board his ship, Jeff decided to make his exit. Taidarious would make an excellent friend for him. Plus having more Force Sensitives as allies might actually come in handy later on in his life. It would benefit him, that much was certain.

So with everything loaded, Jeff gave the command to the pilot who immediately began to maneuver or try to maneuver the ship out of the hangar, so departure could be done. They had everything they needed now. Once out of the Death Star, they immediately went into Hyper Space.

-Fin-

 

[Raziel]

Raziel cruised along the straight, long corridor. He was a remarkably sensitive Force user, but found his deepest connection with the emotions of others. Even without lifeform scanners, he was certain there was no one around for kilometres. Even so, he slowed down to a crawl as he started to notice scorch marks on the walls.


It wasn't long before he found the remnants of a skirmish. He pulled a flashlight from his belt for a closer look. Stormtroopers, just a few. Their armour was crudely painted in either red or blue. He tried to ascertain how long ago the conflict had been, but it was hard to be certain. Molten plastoid has resealed the bolt entry points, so even though the bodies were barely decomposed, they could have been sealed in.

He pulled a comm unit from a red helmet and connected it to his suits own systems. Then he tried a blue. Different frequencies, strange. Clearly a large quantity of personnel had been left behind following whatever disaster had befallen the station. He tried to imagine what that could have been like. Maybe they'd tried a concerted effort to escape, but perhaps in the end those left had fought for the remaining resources.

His suit scanned on both channels. Nothing. Or perhaps...It picked up a faint signal on the red channel. Encrypted, but it didn't seem to be a repeating message. The suit gave him a rough heading. Perhaps there were still crew alive. Crew who could start to explain.

Perhaps not, he thought a minute later, reaching a decomposed corpse. On closer inspection he realised it wasn't decomposed. It was a skeleton, but the flesh had been stripped away.

He actually jumped when a voice started talking into his ear: "Sir, we've used fuel cells to power up a few systems. Just maintenance stuff, but even these have been purged. We're spreading out, suggest you look for portable devices."

Curious. A methodical wipe of data, as a force would do in an organised retreat. And yet plenty of men left behind. What could have led to this? Why was there no information about a Death Star still in existence. A mystery. A challenge. Raziel felt his pulse quicken. He got back on his bike.

 

[Matreya]

The instant motion began, Damien's own was simple, a twitch of the lips upward, revealing fangs, and his eyes glazing over until fully jet black. Gathering all of the energy he could at once from his Force Walk, Damien used a Force Explosion to shove every shot fired straight back, as well as bending and grating against the walls. Being an attack that went straight out, in all directions, his back was fine, and in moving so swiftly, would likely be left mostly unscathed from the blast damage.

In the end, though huffing slightly, the explosion left him in the center of a now wholy orb like room. As well, that didnt take into consideration what the bodies and shots fired did upon contact with the walls.

Damien did not yet have the rank of Master, but many Masters indeed showed him respect. Being Anzati Czar, he held a 4:1 ratio on strength over the average human, with speed topping 5:1, with all his major combat training residing in martial arts and Trakata. But that wasn't even where his true strength lay, no, for he was an ancient mentalist that bore knowledge in molecular manipulations, with advanced knowledge of over all things pertaining to the mind. As well his Spirit allies gave him access to even more power than his own Force reserves held, which werent meager after being enhanced thanks to eating other Force User soup.

They should have brought more company.

Lunging forward at speeds that could only be perceived as a blur, Damien slowed just before the red skinned woman, seeking to bring his deactivated hilt into a stomach blow, while simultaneously pushing lightly off the ground. Seeming almost to slide up the woman's body, he would seek to bring his knee straight into her face.

The woman was in luck though, he never liked to start off at a full power attack.

[member="Bellalika"] [member="Aeron Kreelan"]

 

[Raziel]

Blast doors. Blast doors were a good sign. Important things tended to need blast doors. Raziel pulled his bike to a halt and stepped up for a look. No way to force or slice them, there wasn’t even power to its mechanism. He pulled his saber from his belt, awkwardly holding the small hilt with two hands and plunged it into the barrier.

Ten minutes later he was through, and found himself on the precipice of an endless drop. He looked back and forth. He could see multiple doors on the far side of the chasm, but no bridges seemed to be in place. No power to move one either. Oh well, he thought. Nothing like field testing a piece of equipment. He pulled the REDS from his bike, and went down to one knee. The liquid rope dispenser fired, but the magnetic clamp fell short. Raziel sighed, slowly pulling the clamp back. He only had a handful. The next shot was on, slamming into the closed doors on the other side. He turned, and span the REDS around, firing the anchor into the blast door behind.

He gripped the powered zipline and attached the cable to his belt. Then he jumped into the abyss. The cable held, Raziel found himself being pulled across the gap. The assassin suppressed a smile as he shot across the empty space. There was just a tiny lip on the other side, and it took all his agility to make a landing. Once again, no power. He pulled his saber from his belt once more and went to work on the doors.



He wasn’t entirely sure what he’d found, but it was clearly a key system. Still, during his years working for a Hutt cartel, thieving had been one of his main tasks. He carefully searched the consoles, finding the data disks removed, just as his team had reported. He found the cabinet at the back of the room. He knew the type well, commercial, but highly secure. He had it open in five minutes.

Data terminals, some disks, and some equipment he didn’t recognise. Perfect. He decided to risk activating his comm unit and sent a message to the team. “Send the slicer up to my position, I need something looked at. Send some power packs we need to charge up some hand-held devices.”

“Shall I send an escort?” came the reply.

“Not to worry, I’m only four clicks in and there’s nothing between us.”

“Got it.”

Hell of an interview for their newest slicer, Raziel mused. A short journey through the dark remains of a Death Star, not to mention the wire crossing she’d need to do. Nothing like a bit of pressure to bring out the best in people. [member="Chloe Hinata"]

 

[Charlyn Nairne]

After being informed that this was an interview she was than taken on a sort of trial run mission. This was a crazy day and not something the hacker was expecting in the slightest but she would roll with it. Chloe knew that working here was a chance of a lifetime and she didn't want to screw it up. It was everything that she had ever dreamed of and while she wasn't used to being in the field she could do this.

After being briefed on where she was going and equip with a blaster and a bag of chargers she slowing made her way to where she was needed in this Death Star. She was lucky that he had done all of the hard work and all she needed to do was follow the trail that he had left behind in his wake to his position.

Chloe wasn't going to admit it to herself but this place was kind of creepy and she wished someone would turn the lights on. That was going to be something she would do when she found a control panel but first her potential employer needed her to do something. She could play with the wiring later after she nailed this job.

"You rang," she smiled leaning over the equipment he was in front of. "What were you looking to get into?" The equipment looked old but that would make this a fun challenge for her. She could show off her skills for him.

[member="Raziel"]

 

[Raziel]

[member="Chloe Hinata"] seemed remarkably chipper for someone who was used to a desk job. A quick scan of her emotions revealed that she was indeed coping well. Excellent, the kind of adventure seeking slicer they needed, not a civilian with a hobby.

He waved nonchalantly at three piles of data pads. "The first two are personal devices, no encryption. Too easy for you, I've pulled the data off the disks already. The owner's identity might give us some clues.

"It shouldn't exist, this place." He said, diverting from the topic and turning to the slicer. The adaptive camouflage on his armour was off, and his helmet open. "No one should have been able to build something like this without us knowing. But anyway, I could only power one pad at a time. The second pile is mid level encryption, third pile is top end military. Haven't found a server or terminal yet with the disks still in place, by all means have a look!"

Raziel had hinted as his real concerns, which was more than he revealed to most. Just how could this have been built with no trail in spynet's extensive databanks to even hint at its construction? If there was no technical evidence he would follow another trail. That signal suggested there might be survivors. He would search for them, he would get an answer to this puzzle.

 

[Aeron Kreelan]

[member="Lord Daemos"] [member="Bellalika"]

Main Firing Room

Well this is when things got interesting. The first repulsorlift was in route to leave with the battle began, the secondy energy crystal placed on repulsors. The Silver Jedi's cuffs removed just as chaos erupted.

While some folk got stuck in the blast, others did not. That force grip turned into something all together different when Aeron used a Force bubble to protect those around her from the damage. And when the man came over to attack the Silver Jedi, two cryno grenades were soon sent at his feet to explode, hoping to use his focus on attacking the woman to distract for what was to come.

The icy blast of the cryo grenades would lash out from under his feet, threatening to freeze his and perhaps the Jedi's body as well.

Here's to hoping the jedi had some good defenses in store.

 

[Matreya]

Damien was good, but he wasn't beyond untouchable. The Force was all knowing, he however was not in anyway, and as such, was caught at just the proper moment when the cryos went off. Feeling his feet freezing swiftly as the air molecules about him solidified instantaneously, Damien swiftly reignited his saber and spun it beneath his feet. This didnt stop the freezing, nor the damage done and being done currently, simply allowed his body to continue in his upward direction.

With both feet and most of his legs stuck together there was little finesse in his landing - being little more than a swift burst of air that let his fall be a simple thud. In the time it would take to burn the ice away, to many things could happen, so instead Damien used his arms to push himself upward. Once vertical he balanced his form and began gathering energy swiftly once again.

Eyes already black, the next step after came the feeling of dread that built up in the air as darkness seemed to spread. The air cooled under such darkness. Hairs stood on end, all those tingly goose bumpy things.

Letting another twitch touch his lips, he reached an arm out and called to the Force. Horrible screams began, sounding far off and growing closer until the spirits of the dead warriors showed themselves to Daemos. Then, it was finalized with a flourish. Their power would add to his own, strengthening his Spirit count by 3.

"Every one who dies here will fuel my rise to galactic power." Damien said, "Run, while you can little ones. Just make it interesting." Then in a move meant to show off, he cracked the ice with dual jerks of his legs. Though freed, his left leg were dislocated in the process, knocked clear from its socket.

With a harsh blow, Damien knocked it back into place, feigning indifference to the pain that was evident.

[member="Aeron Kreelan"] [member="Bellalika"]

 

[Velok the Younger]

The Lethewalker exited hyperspace just outside of the asteroid field, at the head of a flotilla of Silk and ATC Jo'henry mining ships, larger Mandal Hypernautics planetcrackers, and assorted other ships with good tractor capacity. There would be damage, there would be mess, but the Tion Hegemony was here to rip off a chunk.

The Tion Hegemony, by and large, didn't care about stripped-out tech, no matter how massive. The Tion Hegemony didn't care about trying to own a Death Star; the Tion Hegemony didn't, for the most part, care about the trinkets that were mostly gone by now anyway. The Tion Hegemony didn't even care that they were about to break something amazing.

The Tion Hegemony was here for the durasteel. A little piece of it, anyway, just a handful of kilometres in any direction, a pimple on the Death Star's surface. Probably not enough to make the station break up entirely, but that was the risk and the sport of the thing. At a guess, those aboard would find good reasons to be elsewhere in the massive station as Tion carved out its pound of flesh.

The Jo'henry mining ships' half-kilometre plasma torches flared to life, and the flotilla of subcapital mining ships began to brute-force its way through the asteroid field, escorted by heavy-hitting TIE Exalts. The Lethewalker and the other large ships hung back for now. That asteroid field would batter their spoils, but dented durasteel wreckage and undented durasteel wreckage looked about the same in the business end of a furnace.

[member="Danger Arceneau"] [member="Marek Starchaser"] [member="Jared Ovmar"] [member="Sasha Santhe"] [member="Moira Skaldi"]

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Rave Merrill"]

Sasha and me had explored the inner reaches of the Artificial Star, had even been able to gather a variety of interesting trinkets from it and let’s be honest here… the experience in itself had been worth all the trouble with the cannibal stormtroopers and the kind. Nobody had walked inside something so mind boggling huge for… well ages, so to be able to say that you had been inside such a place? Had explored it and was even able to gain a certain lightsaber? An experience unmatched if you asked me.

But yeah, I had seen advantages to this place, other than the experience and the trinkets scattered across the station. The durasteel… truth to be told we could have gathered it anywhere else, but the amount that we needed… it would probably have desecrated a portion of a planet. Not something any company of the Hegemony would want to be associated with.

So I went to Rave and told her about the thing, which explained why we were all here in force.

I now sat next to Rave and again traversed the asteroid field, it was surreal that just a time ago I had been here with Sasha and a few troopers. Standing off against the plant girl, but now was not the time to reminisce about that. Now was the time for resource gathering!

 

[Danger Arceneau]

"Now ain't that a beauty," would come Danger's coo over to [member="Rave Merrill"]. They were here for salvage and they were going to get it. With Lord Ovmar relaying just what lay beyond this asteroid belt, it was no wonder that those that graced the more corporate inclined Tion Hegemony would rally to the cause. And Danger was not a fool to not lend her vast array of Jo'henry's and planet crackers for the job.

"Get 'em down to smaller bits and then smelting the lot shouldn't be too much of a hassle," she would say, watching as their crews began to do their job.

A thought came to mind, "Figure there are still other buzzards down there?" she'd ask curiously.

 

[Ashin Varanin]

delete

 

[Velok the Younger]

[member="Danger Arceneau"]

Rave tapped the comm.

"There's plenty of air in the rest of the station, blast doors work fine from what I'm told, and we're taking something like one nineteen-thousandth of its volume. I'm not especially worried about the scavengers, Miz Arceneau, nor the cannibals."

 

[Corey's OOC]

There were times when Marek was just starting to get the swing of things, and then he would change up tactics. While he wasn’t exactly the strongest fighter, he was here as a business man. He knew his place in the galaxy, and what his skills could do. He kept alive, and kept working.

Right now, he was here to start doing his part for the Tion Hegemony. Sure, he was part of the Confederacy, or whatever they were called now, doing the business side of things, but there were other people in the galaxy, new and exciting beings that he was connecting with. Taking the Vagrant Wind, his lesser known ship, and flying with Tion Hegemony, flanked by Salvager Vessels he was ready to assist here.

He turned to Alana and nodded the woman away. She was going to need to man the guns, just in case. And it kept her out of Marek’s hair. “Any particular target?” He transmitted to [member="Rave Merrill"] aboard the Lethewalker.

 

[Danger Arceneau]

[member="Rave Merrill"]

"Good," she would relay, bringing a big fat cigarra to her lips. A press of a button would transfer her voice again.


"Though I reckon this will be a heck of a surprise." came her heavily amused chatter, green eyes locking over as the combined ships blasted through a path through the asteroid field.

 

[Velok the Younger]

[member="Danger Arceneau"] [member="Marek Starchaser"]

"Sending you the coordinates now. It's an asymmetric area of surface with a few major structural weaknesses around it -- asteroid impacts, mostly. The data includes suggested cut points for the plasma torches. From there it's just a matter of dragging it out into the clear zone, getting the small ships behind it, switching tractor beams to pressor mode, and using the chunk as a shield to get through the belt."