| Archive for Rebels A Star Wars Roleplaying Community |
| Rive Caedo |
Venom of the Empire: A Galaxy Without SinThis roleplay is a follow up to Kallibann: A World Without Sin. You're encouraged to join even if you weren't a part of that roleplay, but please - I urge you to read this overview of important events that happened during the previous roleplay. You're also, of course, free to read the entire previous roleplay to have a more complete picture, but that's sixteen pages
If you were a part of Kallibann, feel free to scroll down to the Venom of the Empire logo - which is where the new story begins. Overview of events during Kallibann: A World Without Sin Kallibann was a distant Outer-Rim planet uninhabited and ignored by both the Republic and the Empire. Until, 17 years before the Battle of Yavin, a massive Force disturbance was felt across the galaxy emanating from Kallibann. Thousands of people flocked to the world as word spread that the few remaining Jedi were risking coming out of hiding to journey there. Others came when they heard the true nature of Kallibann after the Force disturbance: Kallibann was a world without the Force. The Force could not be used or even felt there. A few weeks after the disturbance, suddenly a large number of massive pearly-white spires were formed from the ruins on Kallibann's surface. A group of adventurers: among them being several Jedi, a duo of pirates, and roughly two dozen Mandalorians descended into one of the spires in an effort to find a Jedi who had descended into the spire alone: Armia Delvron. After evading the attacks of a large black-armored pale skinned warrior race ((unknown to them at the time, but would become clear decades later: the Yuuzhan Vong)) the group fell into a trap. ((This next part is a bit hard to compress. I've done my best, but it's still a lot of information to take in. To sum up the summary: Shadra hates the Jedi because they blew up her planet thousands of years ago. Shadra discovered a metal (Pacathium) that blocks the Force. She planned to use it to eliminate the Force throughout the entire galaxy, just like on Kallibann.)) They were held captive by a woman named Shadra. She revealed that she was planning to use a slime engineered by the Yuuzhan Vong that was able to copy the traits of any metal it consumed to rid the galaxy of the force. The slime copied the traits of the metal Pacathium that Shadra had retrieved after the destruction of the planet Palawa by the Jedi Order thousands of years in the past. The method that the Jedi Order used to destroy Palawa imbued the Pacathium with properties that stopped Force-bonds from forming. Shadra had lived with the survivors of Palawa's destruction in Kallibann's underground until they finally left for the planet Bunduki. After this Shadra placed herself in hibernation until she was awoken by a man named Ceth. Ceth was a Teräs Käsi martial artist from Bunduki, descended from the original inhabitants of Palawa. Ceth told her that the Jedi Order had changed over the years and that the underground safety of Kallibann would never again be needed. Shadra decided to see this for herself. Shadra then revealed herself to the group to be a shapeshifter. She had taken the identity of Armia Delvron at some point before the Clone Wars and trained as a Jedi. During the Clone Wars she felt that the people of Palawa were betrayed again by the Jedi Order. So it was then that she resolved to rid the galaxy of the force. She was going to launch the Yuuzhan Vong spires filled with the self-replicating Pacathium imbued slime throughout the galaxy. ((Whew, I told you it was a lot to take in. If you missed it: Shadra and Armia Delvron (the Jedi that the group was looking for) are the same person - she's a shapeshifter.)) This plan was averted when two allies of the group - a Rodian archaeologist and a former imperial droid - saved the group using a landspeeder equipped with mining lasers. The droid transmitted an imperial signal that resulted in the orbital bombardment of Kallibann. The group barely managed to escape in time (in fact, the bombardment was already underway when they did). Shadra/Armia also escaped. She docked with the Imperial Star Destroyer Integrity and met with Darth Vader - saying only "I have a proposition for you..." Two years have passed since then. 
Integrity, previously the flagship of Generals Kenobi and Skywalker during the Clone Wars four years ago, hung in orbit over the world of Kallibann as the last echo of the bombardment two years ago that had left the world as a barren graveyard. Kallibann was still cratered across its entire surface from that bombardment, but now small patches of green were now visible across the equator of the planet as life began to take hold in the dust. Integrity was just as grey and barren as the planet: a soulless reflection of the blazing red paint the Venator-class Star Destroyer had worn in service of the Republic. Inside, however, the Star Destroyer was very much alive. Particularly the singular room that had been the focus of its activities for the past two years. Lord Vader had transfered his command to the newly commissioned Imperial-class Star Destroyer Devastator and had left the older Venator-class Integrity behind for this mission on the very day of Kallibann's bombardment. Integrity had been marked as destroyed due to a reactor overload during the bombardment and Kallibann had been marked as destroyed in the Hyperspace registry. If any ship were to arrive without authorization, Integrity was under orders to destroy it, but no ships - authorized or not - had arrived in the past two years. Effectively, Kallibann and the Integrity were non-existent to the Galaxy at large. Inside the one room that served as the central point for the Star Destroyer's primary mission, two Imperial science officers sat at two separate tables with simple data consoles sitting on them. The data consoles were welded to the table and the tables were welded to the floor. Across the room was a reinforced blast door. Beyond that the room was empty except for the object in the center of the room that was all-important. "Sample 74, variation 7, sub-variation 235 ready for testing." "74-7-235 confirmed. Proceed." "Injecting sample to testing chamber." They were words that the two science officers had repeated thousands of times over the past two years - only varying in the numbers. The same words had also been repeated by the sixteen other science officers aboard. This was the first test for today. In the center of the room stood the all-important object: a large tube filled with a blue liquid. It looked very similar to a bacta tank, but the liquid had a much thicker consistency. As the Imperial officer initiated test 74-7-235 a small amount of silvery liquid entered into the top of the tube and began to mix with the blue. The officer watched his chronometer and waited for exactly one minute to pass. "Test preparation complete. Proceed." The second officer pressed the button initiating the next phase of the test before the other officer had even finished his sentence - they'd done this thousands of times and it started the same way every time. After he pressed this button though, was when things got interesting. As he pressed the button a small electrical charge pulsed through the testing tube and the blue liquid began to become even thicker than it was before and compressed towards the bottom of the testing tube. As this occurred it also began to redden. Slowly, the liquid began to take humanoid shape. Moments later it fully formed itself into the body of a young blonde woman. "Good morning, Armia." the officer, Brekin Kadir said with a smile as he stared across the room at her. Armia Delvron, a Shi'ido shapeshifter also known as Shadra, made no reaction. She lay on the floor with a vacant expression staring at the section of the wall between the two officers. The other officer was far more detached, "Subject Delvron, carry out standard test procedure immediately." He placed particular emphasis on immediately. Without moving otherwise, Armia flicked her wrist slightly. In reaction, a lever next to Brekin Kadir rose up from its resting position on the table into an upright position - pulled there by the Force. "Test 74-7-235 result: failure. Prep test 74-7-236" the other officer said as he typed a few notes into the databank. Brekin pulled the lever back down to the table. This was a good day. It usually took at least an hour to get her to cooperate, "Thank you, Armia." Armia lifted her head slightly and shifted her stare to him. "Go to Hell." Welcome to Venom of the Empire! The sequel to Kallibann: A World Without Sin. This Roleplay takes place 15 years before the Battle of Yavin. That's about 4 years after the formation of the Galactic Empire and 2 or 3 years before Abba forms the "modern" Jedi Council. Most importantly, it's 2 years after Kallibann: A World Without Sin took place. Two quick rules before you join: You may only post once per day. So make it count! Place out-of-character text in Cyan (like I am here) |
| Rive Caedo |
Rive Caedo sat aboard the Active Archeology, Skod's newly purchased YV-500 freighter. It was fresh off the line and still smelled like a Corellian industrial factory.
He was trying to meditate, but it was nearly impossible over Skod's loud singing along with the latest song by Eevro Sookcool - a Rodian currently on the run, like Skod, from Navik the Red. Navik had become the warlord of Rodia last year. His new - Imperial backed - regime had politely asked Skod to leave Rodia due to his suspected Jedi ties. Skod's polite exile had been upgraded to a death mark when he decided to make off with three million credits from Navik's storehouse. To further spite Navik's exile of him, Skod decided to exercise his Jedi ties by inviting Rive on the Active's maiden flight. The freighter, of course, had been purchased with the stolen credits. "Thooose liiiiights of Rodiaaaa are caaaallin' meee baaaack hoooome!" Rive shuddered and gave up on his meditation. It had been a long couple of years. He'd been pursued dozens of times by Imperial forces and captured once. Other Jedi he'd talked to were faring better... except the ones who'd suddenly stopped responding to his calls; they were probably dead - or at least in deep hiding. The Force, his appearance not being altered quite enough, Eezee. Something always gave him away... but he couldn't bring himself to stay away from the core worlds. Still, Rive thought as he leaned into the YV's turret station and looked up at the stars, it was nice to not need to worry about the Empire for a few days. |
| Xander Vos |
"Tadik, report," Korus asked, lifting the comm unit to his mouth.
"Tadik here, the two Mando'ad you found last week have refused our offer, they say they care little for Mandalore or any nationalistic ideals you may posess." Korus sighed, "Very well, better luck next time ner'vod." He placed the comm unit back on his belt, and stood up, rubbing his eyes blearily. Over the last two years, he'd been working from this safe house on Nar Shadda, trying desperately to regain his ner'vod, his brothers, who had been killed on that hell of a planet, Kallibann. He knew deep down that replacing his closest comrades would never be the same, but at the same time knew, pragmatically, that increasing the ranks of Mandalorians not currently under the control of the Imperials on Mandalore was a sensible idea. Ever since he and his brothers had escaped Kallibann and arrived here, they'd been scouting out various cities on the planet, Mandalorians being quite easy to track down, both as they generally travelled in groups of two or three, and additionally still felt enough pride - despite perhaps never having visited Mandalore and only having Mandalorian parents - to wear the armour. That bristling armour set full of weaponry always managed to stand out in a crowd. Korus checked the chrono, it was late, and he felt exhausted. And yet, he couldn't possibly sleep. He hadn't slept in two days now, because when he did, the nightmares returned. The screams of Pudik, Krev, Widur, and the others, every one of them consumed by the monsters that had roamed the catacombs beneath the surface of that planet, the catacombs he had been lured into by a traitor and spy, Xander Vos, who had turned out to be nothing but a backstabber, a traitor, someone Korus should never have trusted, but had. He sighed, and walked out of the small room, into the larger room where many Mando were gathered, talking amongst themselves, sipping caf as reports from other small teams came in from various cities, where other Mandalorians had been spotted. This month had been lucky. Some months they'd find none, and would sit around gathering credits from various bounties they took up, and others, like this one, there seemed to be a large imigration of Mandalorians to the planet, and with their monthly "tips" at the imigration offices, it was easy to keep tabs on them. Whatever happened though, Korus had decided over a year before, he would never put his brothers in the sort of danger he had on Kallibann. He had been irration and thoughtless with what he had done, and it would never happen again. |
| Jaden Nightsaber |
Nova Sky, a space pirate, sat alone in his office. He had set up affairs on Nar Shaddaa after he had escaped the burning world of Kallibann. And what an escape it had been.
With the Empire raining down death and everyone just having just escaped death by the hands of a shape shifter Nova was a little frazzled when he made it back to his ship. The Black Spice wasn't in perfect condition when he arrived on Kallibann but in the effort of leaving his ship took the beating of it's lifetime. After Nova got out of range the Empire focused it's efforts on Kallibann again. Nova knew a good mechanic on Nar Shaddaa so that was why he stopped there. His ship was now technically operational but not how Nova wanted it so he stayed on Nar Shaddaa, occassionally hitching a ride to other planets with other mercinaries that Nova did business with. But mostly he stayed around and set up underground gambling and smuggling. That was why he was here today. Knock, knock. Nova knew he didn't have to answer because two seconds after the polite knock the vistor let himself in. A Duros man who Nova had come to appriciate entered looking at a datapad. "Mister Sky, it seems your shipment has arrived. The parcel will be waiting at Dock 17." No responce. "Mister Sky?" Again nothing. "Mister Sky?" "I heard you!" He yelled at him. The man quickly ran out. On days like these where all he had to do was sit in his office his mind often wandered and found it's way back to Kallibann. This never put him a good mood. |
| Lord Invictus |
((This takes place about two hours before Xander's post.))
Vos Gendu, a semi-infamous Mandalorian, looked around the cantina for any danger. Apart from the ocassionaly violent drunkard the bar was devoid of any dangerous features, except Gendu himself. It was filled with bright lights and drinks of questionable origin. The cantina was far from boring, but lacked the excitement of a hunt that Vos craved constantly. Vos had just returned from some adventures hunting down a rogue smuggler with poor results; during the middle of a space chase (ryhme unintended) the ships passed by an Imperial Frigate patrolling near Nar Shadda. Apparantly, the Imperials weren't too happy to see civilians battling it out in space and decided to intervene. The smuggler's ship was boarded and now the Imperials had a way to track his boss, a small time Hutt gangster, wanted for minor crimes. Gendu's ship was badly damaged in the chase but he managed to make his way to Nar Shadda and land here, awaiting repairs. He had spent almost a week chasing that smuggler and after all that he lost money (although he had managed to blast the side of an Imperial Frigate to pieces). And now, to ease his anger, Vos was walking into a bar in full Mandalorian body armor, not sticking out too badly and yet, if anyone would be suspiscous, they were probably too drunk to notice. "What news have you got?" asked Vos. "Not much is going on around here, Gendu," replied the bartender. "Although, the Imperials are strengthening their hold on the area a little bit. I've heard rumors of some Jedi traveling onto Nar Shadda. In fact, I think they were near this bar even. Maybe you could strike a deal with the Empire to hunt some." "Even bounty hunters have morals, Mr. Ordo," laughed Vos. "No please, call me by my first name," responded Ordo. "Okay, Ramii," said Vos. "But please, I'm not exactly in support of the Empire." "But you aren't totally against it either," laughed Ramii. "Hmph," grunted Gendu. "Well, I'm against whoever shoots at me, that's for sure." "Perhaps you could join the Empire," suggested Ramii. "With the offenses I've commited?" laughed Vos. "Fat chance. So, do you have any other jobs?" "Well, I was told to tell you this," Ramii said. "Well, I was told this and now I'm going to tell you even though he didn't mention you in partic-" "Just get on with it," intterupted Vos. "Okay, okay," Ramii responded. "I think that he wants a man near here dead. I was told that, luckily, there's a criminal deal going on tonight. Our informant is willing to pay you six-hundred thousand credits if you can kill this man without causing a shootout. He wants this to go on secretly. No need to get any of this out." "And if I do cause a shootout?" asked Vos. "Half of that," answered Ramii. "And I need two hundred credits for the info." "What?" gasped Vos. "No... ten." "Fifty," Ramii bargained. "Ten and.... I'll buy a drink," Vos offered, eventually shaking Ramii's hand while picking up a drink, sipping it lightly. "Thanks." Vos walked outside, swallowed the drink, crunched up the plastic cup, and threw it in the garbage, walking back into the bar and renting a room. After walking upstairs Gendu threw a small suitcase onto his bed and closed the door. He pulled out his carbine rifle and loaded it, equiping himself for the assassination schedualed to occur in a few hours.... ((I know this doesn't appear relevant to the story but it may become so. It's introducing my character, Vos Gendu, as a proffesional assassin.)) |
| Lord Vexen |
Shin sank in his chair aboard his stolen ship. He was incredibly bored since his last few tasks where trivial and quite meaningless. Shin then took out his lightsaber and looked at it.
It had been exactly two years to the day since Shin escaped the hell that was Kallibann. His time ranged from stealing loot from rich merchants to assassinating Imperial officers. Shin sort of missed Kallibann, it had been the only excitement his had had since the Clone War. After a few minutes, his chair bleeped stating that he had a message. He opened a message and read it. His eyes widened with suprise, he had recieved a message from the Sith called Revenous. Revenous was the man who had sent him to Kallibann in the first place. "This will be interesting" said Shin |
| Dakoth |
The frigid icewater cascaded down the contours of his face, down into the washbasin where it pooled toghether with sweat and blood. His blood.
Blinking the water out of his eyes, he averted his sight from the stagnat filth of the washbasin. Slowly turning, his eyes fell on the deteriorating foyer of the apartment. Three bodies lay there. Imperial agents. With a mournful sigh, he bent down, closing the eyes of the felled Imperials. "What a place to die.." He mused as he pulled his robes over the fresh bandages lining his upper arm, refastening his sabers to his belt. Giving the three dead men one last look, he turned and exited the dingy tenant, thrusting himself back into the virulent throng of refugees and criminals that was Nar Shadda, the last place anyone in the galaxy would look for him, Dakoth, Champion of the Jedi. The Jedi could not help but scoff at his own sarcastic remark. Some warrior he had been, fleeing in the face of battle, fleeing from the empire, He was even too much of a coward to return to the Acadamy on Bakura. In truth, he shouldn't even be carrying a saber anymore. So here he was, a lost soul, condemned by some long-dead cult to wander the disesased streets of backwater planets, ruled by terror. |
| Lord Invictus |
"Get out of they way," whispered Gendu almost silently when he noticed that an armed rodian moved in front of the head man who, obviously, Vos needed to kill. "Ah... I've got a clear site. I might as well find out what's going on until I get a clear shot."
Gendu began to read the men's lips and found that they were dealing what appeared to be death sticks. Finally, Gendu got a clear shot when the "boss'" guard moved out of the way. When another car parked in the parking lot down the road, most of the guards turned away. Gendu aimed at their leader's chest and slowly pressed down on the trigger. The man fell to the ground, and Gendu aimed at the others. "What's going on?" asked one, noticing the other guard on the ground choking before he himself fell. "One last man," whispered Topher, shooting the other death sticks dealer while he was running away. "Now I'd better clean up before anyone hears moaning." Vos walked out into the deserted (because it was late, of course ) street and threw the corpses into the hover car, getting inside himself while driving into a small industrial mine, jumping out of the car in time to land on the street. The hovercar fell off the road into the hole in the ground, crashing into a group of wheels, crushing the small vehicle and the people in it into a small thin sheet of metal. Gendu looked down at the crushed into the sheet and fell into a trash bin, where, in a few hours, the remains of it and the trash would be automaticly cremated, deleting all evidence of the incedent. Vos Gendu slowly walked back into the inn and into his room, feeling as if he was being watched or even followed by someone.... |
| Xander Vos |
The pale figure leaned out, his torn lip curled in a snarl, and his living weapon unleashed itself, striking down Widur. Korus leapt aside, missing the follow up strike. He drew his blaster, but it was knocked from his hand. Backing up, he tripped, and fell, staring into the face that loomed above him, the face of the creature that would kill him...
Korus jumped, as he was shaken awake. He sat up, and wiped the slight sheen away from his brow. Over the years he had taken to not wearing his helmet unless in public. His ner'vod knew his face, and it removed a barrier, both physical and mental, from the group. "What is it?" "One of the men we've been trailing, Gendu, has just offed some Rodian. Do you want to make contact?" Korus swallowed, his throat dry from his short sleep which, he checked his chrono, had only lasted half an hour, "Sure, do what you feel is right. He seems to already have a career in Bounty Hunting, so he'll be a good addition if he wants to sign up." Huror turned away, "Affirmative ner'vod, pick him up." |
| Rive Caedo |
Rive walked into the wide cockpit of Skod's new YV-500 and stood behind the Rodian. Rive recognized the planet outside the window immediately. He'd only been there once or twice himself, but he'd lived in Coruscant's underworld long enough to know extensively about the "sister planet" to the underbelly world of Coruscant: Nar Shaddaa.
It had reentered his mind recently when the Empire declared a "Clean Up Nar Shaddaa" program which claimed it would clean up the criminal capital and make it a paradise like Coruscant's upper levels... What had actually happened, as expected, was they installed a Moff that was only a bit less corrupt than the Hutt crime lords that ran the planet. He was accepted bribes from the Hutts to let them go about their business. Except for a few TIE fighter's patrolling the skylanes and a few aging Acclamator-class Star Destroyers in orbit, nothing changed. Rive scoffed, "You want to land here? All they'll do is scuff the paint." Skod spun the pilot's seat around to face Rive, "Good, that's what I came here for. I want it repainted, the transponder changed, and then scuffed up enough that it looks like its been flying around for a few years." "They just started making this ship last month! You insisted on their most expensive freighter." Rive hadn't been there when Skod bought the ship, but suspected this was exactly what Skod had done. "If I'm on the run, I want to do it in luxury." Skod patted the nerf-leather seat next to his own, "Besides, anyone Navik hires to hunt me down won't be able to tell the difference between a YV-500 and a YV-400 or even a YV-100. They all look alike." Responding to a steady beep, Skod pealed off the protective black film that was still covering the ship's transponder panel. The ship had received clearance to dock in Bay 6 of the Aruk's Gleaming. Aruk's was apparently a cantina, but no cantina on Nar Shadda was just a cantina. There was always something illicit going on in the back rooms of the docking bays. Personally, Rive didn't care today. All he hoped was that Aruk hired bartenders that kept Alderaanian ale in stock. Rive sighed at the amount of grime and rust visible even at this distance as the Active Archeology coasted into Bay 6. |
| Jaden Nightsaber |
((Active Archeology! I love it!))
Docking Bay 17. Nova said in his head as he left his office. He could hear the chattering of all the people roaming around Nar Shaddaa. The door slid open and Nova stepped out into the dark alley where his office hid. He slowly walked out into the artifical light of the walkways. He walked to in the direction of where Docking Bay 17 was. He picked up his pace as he pasted the first few. Some of the docks were empty others had ships that Nova had seen for weeks. A banged up YV-500 was pulling into Dock 6 as he passed it. Nova hit the midway mark and changed his course to the cantina placed every so kindly right in the break of the docks. Two kids were outside the cantina trying to convice the Bouncer that their IDs were genuine. As Nova passed them he grabbed them both by the back of their clothes and kept walking inside. "They're with me Manny." Nova said pulling the slightly resisting youngsters in with him. He heard a grunt that signified that Manny understood. The doors to the cantina swung open and the boys chokked as the smoke and vapors hit their lungs. They were humans. Nova quickly threw them both down into empty chairs. They brushed themselves off and were about to speak but Nova cut them off. "Listen, I don't want to hear a noise out of you two. You are to do as I tell you or I'll give you back to Manny. Understand?" They both looked at each other and slowly nodded. "Good. Both of you go to Dock 17. There will be a package waiting and probably a few big men. All you have to do is say 'It fell from the Sky.' and they won't kill you." They both exchanged worried looks at this. "Then bring it back here. I'll give you some credits and maybe a drink or two if come back on time. You have 12 minutes." Both of the boys just looked at each other. "Go!" Nova sat down as they ran out the doors. He chuckled and looked over at the bar. He caught the bar-tender's eye and gave a nod. Nova had become well known around these parts recently. Hopefully those boys won't be killed and the rest of my day can go smoothly. Fat chance. |
| Dakoth |
Dakoth didn't so much as flinch as the Cadre of stormtroopers sprinted past him, in the direction of the tenants, no doubt to respond to thier suddenly missing agents. They had paid him the same kindness, not even sparing him a glance as they thundered by. And why should they? Between his Filthy tattered robe and the unkempt half-beard beginning to grow on his face, framing his glossed over eyes, he looked like some homeless spice addict who couldnt so much as lift a blaster.
He supposed he should feel relieved, but good feelings for this Jedi seemed to be few and far between lately. A screaming rodian merchant screaming at some thief dragged his attention back away from the stormtroopers. Evidentally a boy had just made off with a bottle of Vintage Jawa Juice. He didn't much care, but the whole incident did serve to remind him that he was thirsty. Seeing nothing better to do, the disillusioned Jedi set off to find a dark cantina corner to sulk in. |
| Thar Kast |
thar kast walked out of his ship a YT-2400 designated the raptor after his old areospite. thar walked towards the catine in his custom designed armor made of mandalorain armor it was flexible and hardy and huge. being made for a 6'8" tradoshan.
his blasters clanked at his side the mandalorian heavy blasters were modified to be military grade 50 cals. he walked into the cantia taking a seat he called for a correllian ale but drank it slowly e sensed something out of place but he couldn't understand it. |
| Rive Caedo |
Aboard the Star Destroyer Integrity orbiting Kallibann...
The tests for the day had concluded and Armia drifted in a type of consciousness that no humanoid could comprehend. After the Imperials' tests each day they would remove the air from the transparent tube they kept her caged within. This forced her to enter a liquid state that allowed her to survive without oxygen. Within the liquid state she was able to sleep and to think, but had very minimal control over the Force. For the past several months she'd been manipulating the situation as best she could to be under her control. It had been a long process. During each 'test' where she was forced simply to lift a lever using the Force, unaware to the Imperial science team, she was also performing the much more difficult task of loosening the bolts under the floor that held the two tables in the room firmly in place. She didn't want to imagine what kind of hell they'd put her through if her escape failed. With this in mind, Armia began trying to locate the security camera in the room with her clumsy manipulation of the Force in her liquid form. This was it; she'd only get one chance.... ______________(Insert Star Wars Style Scene Transition)______________ Nar Shaddaa, Docking Bay 6 outside of the Aruk's Gleaming Cantina... Rive stepped off of the ramp of the Active Archeology with Skod shortly behind him. The dock was open on both sides. To his left he could see the open archway entrance leading into Aruk's cantina. A flickering neon sign above the arch read 'Aruk's Gleaming Welcomes All' which contrasted with the 'No Desilijics' painted onto the wall just below the sign. To his right were several more spaces for docking, two of which were overrun with makeshift tents and shanties. Milling about were dozens of aliens - likely waiting for a ship that looked like an easy target. A group of Devaronians were staring at the YV-500 until Skod activated its security system. "Awful lot of Rodians over there. Friends of yours?" Rive inquired as they walked towards the cantina. Skod didn't bother looking back, "Friends in exile, I suppose. But its doubtful I know them personally. Navik's terror extended to entire clans and families - mine wasn't involved." Skod paused before adding, "I had the pleasure of being targeted personally." "So who are we meeting? I figured they'd meet us at the dock." Rive said as they approached the cantina's arch. Skod twitched his snout to the left. Rive glanced in that direction without moving his head - barely managing to catch a glimpse of a squad of stormtroopers sprinting by. "Ah. So I suppose the cantina would be the safer place to buy an illegal transponder." Rive said as he passed under the archway into the cantina. The first thing he noticed as he entered was the mural of a Hutt - presumably Aruk - spanning the back wall of the cantina. It struck Rive as rather sad that over the past four years the Hutts had come to represent safe haven in his mind. |
| Lord Vexen |
The message told Shin he was to go to the planet of Nar Shaada and find Rive Caedo, and give him the codes included in the message. Shin didn't know why, but it payed good and he might get to do something interesting like Kallibann again.
Shin walked to the hanger and found a decent sized ship, an old ARC-170 fighter and entered it. After priming it, Shin took off and used his hyperspace ring to go to Nar Shaada. Shin landed at docking bay 6 and went to the most likely place to find anyone on this planet, the Cantina. |
| Lord Lanik |
Deketh Shin'se muttered a curse under his breath as he fumbled uselessly with the Solar Eclipse's engine. He had never been good with these blasted things; at least he was better than Vikro had been. He growled another cusr, this time not for the engine of the outdated freighter that he used. He had been trying to get his brother, and his former life, out of his mind. But reminders of who he had been were everwhere. The docking bay in Nar Shadda was one of the worst he had seen anywhere, but it was all could be expected for the criminal infested world that the planet was.
With another not so muffled oath, Deketh slammed the engine pannel shut. It crashed in with a loud clang. Still muttering under his breath, he brushed his almost black hair out of his face; he should probably think about getting it cut. But funds had been tight lately with the Empire cracking down on smugglers. Cargo that would have normally pass under inspectors' notice now could get a man killed. He wiped his hands off on his tunic, grabbed his viroblade and blaster pistol, and headed down the landing ramp of the "Solar Eclipse". At least the bars are bad here. |
| Dakoth |
Dakoth shuffled sullenly into the cantina, past the two burly guards at the door, through his innate force response to such menacing figures. His head hung, he slipped himself into one of the many dark corners of the estabilsment. He wasn't sure exactly where he was, only that he might be privy to some privacy and a shot of something to dull the pain.
Not exactly very Jedi-Like, but who was nowadays. As he slumped into his booth and waited for a server droid, he instinctively made a quick canvas of the room, the only distinguishing factor being some elaborately disgusting hutt mural that seemed to have been vomited forth on the place's back wall. Turning away from the rather unsettling sight, he resolved himself to staring at the multitude of dents and scarrings along the booth's tabletop, musing as to how they occured. |
| Xander Vos |
Korus sat up and stretched, he'd managed to drift off to sleep again, but now his joints were starting to ache, as they'd been prone to do after sleeping in awkward positions as he had the last two years. He was quite well known in a small privately-owned cantina, Aruk's in Sector 11-3-8, and it was quite a magnet for Bounty Hunters, so he decided it was time to pay the place another visit and get some medicine for his pain.
Sitting up, he reached for his helmet, and tugged it onto his face, checking it was airtight, and then rose, strolling out of his safe-house. He slid into their rented speeder, quite dull and scratched so as to not draw attention, and headed off for the cantina. ______________(Insert Star Wars Style Scene Transition)______________ A few heads still turned as he entered the cantina, but most were regulars and knew his armour by now, not giving him a second glance. He casually strode over to the bar, nodding politely to a Twi'lek serving girl who had helped warm his bed on more than one occasion. Turning to the bartender, he just tapped on the counter, indicating his presence, and the bartender nodded, sliding him a glass of '22 Corellian Brandy. ((Not 22 BBY, in case you think I'm being cheesy)) Turning, he headed into one of the private booths, where the light was dim enough for him to take his helmet off and sip at his drink, as he'd begun to do more and more over the last few months. He sighed, and leaned back, staring off to the side at a number of intricate art designs hanging from various walls, carefully avoiding the mural of the rather overweight - by Hutt standards - Hutt Aruk. |
| Lord Invictus |
Vos Gendu fell out of bed, creating a large yet muffled thud as his body slammed against the soft yet thin carpeting overlapping a clay floor. Vos snatched a nutritous health bar and shoved it in his mouth, violently chewing it to pulp before swallowing it whole, getting part of it caught in his throat before a rough gulp sucked the remains down. Strapping his armour to him and holstering his two pistols before picking up his suitcase full of weapons, Gendu slumped out of his room and halfway down the stairs to see a normal day at the bar.
To the average sentient all would appear normal. Mandalorians are not the average sentients. Vos' eyes, trained in self reliance, zipped around the room, attempting to find any possible danger. To Vos' surprise, some popped up. Four Mandalorians were in the bar, walking in different directions, apparantly searching for something- or someone. Vos locked his helmet onto his head and checked for his two pistols before walking downstairs casually into the huge crowd. "Vos Gendu!" Ramii greeted rather loudly, obviously attracting the Mandalorians' attention. "I was just told this morning that my informant has transferred the pay of six-hundred thousand credits into your account." "Thanks for screaming that out like a loud moron, Ramii," laughed Vos, trying to hide from the possibly threatening Mandalorians. "What's wrong?" Vos walked up to Ramii and whispered into his ear, "There are four other Mandalorians in this room searching for something. I think that I might have a bounty on my head." "Why?" "Remember the Imperial collision I had? Well, I'm not in the Empire's grace now. Don't scream my name out. I think that the Mandalorians are after me." "Vos Gendu," said a Mandalorian, tapping a blaster on Gendu's shoulder. "We require you to come with us to our HQ. Please-" he tapped his pistol harder on Vos' back- "get in the car." "Oookay," said Vos, not wanting a fight to break out. "I'll come with you." ______ (Insert Star Wars Style Scene Transition) ______ "Hello, Captain Gendu," said a somewhat familiar sounding voice. "Good morning, eh-?" began Gendu unsure of who the person was before him. ((Xander, I hope you don't mind me controlling Korus very briefly)) "My name is Korus," said the man. "We are all the remains of the Mandalorians. I am gathering the remains of this once glorious nation. Mandalorians are few and it was lucky I was able to find you. Today you, Gendu, are faced with the choice of joining us or turning your back on us. What will it be?" Vos Gendu, not entirely educated on the topic, was, however, rather overjoyed at the idea of gathering up the remains of Mandalore and decided to jump at the possible fate he had. "Do you require more time or information?" asked Korus. "No, I do not require anything more," Vos answered. "I'm in." |
| Jaden Nightsaber |
Nova sat sipping his Fire Whiskey waiting for the boys to return. He checked his watch. He gave them 12 minutes, they now had about 45 seconds before Nova had to go and get his package himself. A task that would probably involve his blaster rifle.
Even over the numbing buzz of people talking and Cantina music playing Nova could hear the sound of running into the room. Which meant one of two things, Stormtrooper raid or the boys were back. The latter was a lot more likely. And indeed he was right, the boys came through the door flustered with their heads on a swivel looking for Nova. They found him and ran over. "Here....you are...sir." The boy with the package panted. Nova simply kept his head down looking at his watch. He looked up at them and could see the fear of failure, and what it might mean, in their eyes. "Thank you boys." Nova took the package from them and set it beside him. "Now go calm down and get yourselves a drink." They both nodded eagerly. "One drink and then get out of here." The boys scurried off. Honestly Nova was surprised they made it back with the package. This day might go smoothly after all. |
| Ga'nen |
Horgie walked around the upper platforms of Nar Shaddaa, a criminal underworld with people who were more hated than the Jedi themselves. Leaning up against a railing he looked down to see the pitiful view of what was once a most glorious city.
Placing the side of his fist against his mouth he pressed as he coughed, he had undoubtedly sucked in polluted air and it was going to work on his lungs. Turning from the rail he moved away from the spot to avoid further destroying his lungs with the air that was making its way up over there. Walking Horgie could see the tough life that many people lived here, if you were a smuggler, mercenary, or a bounty hunter then this planet was just not the easiest to live on. Horgie renounced his Jedi title and only kept his weapon as a percaution, but he's never had to activate it once since he threw away his past. This was one of the reasons that he enjoyed Nar Shaddaa, it didn't matter where you came from, everyone was here for the same reasons. As long as Horgie no longer used the force he would just be another person amongst the hordes of people searching or a place. Throwing his backpack over his shoulders with his right hand he stalked away, he felt destiny had given him nothing but destiny had a funny way of working. |
| Lord Vexen |
As Shin walked toward the cantina, he recived an update to his package. Apparently it was not adress to Rive, but to someone that had been and accosiate of him. Shin was to deliver the package, and then make sure no one was to see said person again.
Shin walked into the cantina, and looked at the picture of the hutt near the ceiling. "Disgusting" thought Shin. Shin looked at the ID on the package and spoted his target sitting at the bar. Shin walked up the the person, a normal looking human male and gave him the package. Upon looking at the contents of the package, the man threw it to the ground and made a rush for the door. Anticipating this, Shin silently threw one of his knives at the target. The knive hit him directly in the back and the man hit floor, nearly two inches from the door. What looked like hutt guards picked up the body and dragged it to the back room of the bar before and Imperial Stormtroopers could find it. Shin turned to the bartender and said "Get me the strongest drink that you have in this place." |
| Dakoth |
The thud of a body hitting the floor barely registered within the disgraced Jedi's mind, only causing him to slink deeper into the darkness of his booth, not even getting a look at the face of the assaliant who two years ago would've probably already been running for it. |
| Rive Caedo |
Aboard the Star Destroyer Integrity orbiting Kallibann...
It was only a short time before the day's testing would begin - it had taken several hours for Armia Delvron to locate the room's security camera in the Force and then another hour to nudge the holo-array out of alignment. Once she did, the reaction was almost immediate. She felt a disturbance as someone entered the room to fix the camera's suddenly ruined image. At least, she hoped it was someone and not someone and escort. Her senses weren't attuned enough in this liquid form to tell. After a few seconds - long enough for the engineer to make it across the room to the camera - Armia shifted back into humanoid form. She was in luck, the engineer was alone and paying such complete attention to the holocam that he didn't notice her shapeshifting directly behind him. That made things simpler for this next stage, a stationary target. Armia fixated her will on the table that she'd been spending the past week loosening the restraining bolts on. After a moments effort, the table creaked loose from the floor and flew across the room. The engineer only had enough time to turn his head before the solid durasteel table slammed into him with a sickening crunch. His presence vanished from the Force immediately. So far, so good. Armia wiggled the table loose from the engineer's impacted corpse. She then pressed herself against one side of the tube that caged her and crashed the table into the other side of the tube. Armia allowed herself a quick sigh of relief as she stepped out of the shattered half of the tube for the first time in months. Then it was back to work. Armia grabbed the already paling engineer's identification, then she glanced over his body - paying particular attention to face structure. Quickly shifting her appearance to that of the engineer, Armia swiped his identification across a scanner. The blast door opened and Armia walked out of the room. Armia, disguised as the deceased Imperial engineer, offered a quick nod to the stormtrooper guarding her room and said, "Need to grab a few more tools. I'll be back in a moment, trooper." Armia was stopped suddenly as the armor-clad guard grabbed her by the arm, "Sir, I need to take a bioscan. Standard procedure for anyone exiting this room." Armia pressed down on the stormtrooper's mind with the Force, "Procedure has changed, you only need to check my identification." She held out the stolen identification still in her hand from opening the blastdoor. The guard's hand loosened, "Procedure has changed, I only ---" A blaster bolt impacted into the door behind Armia as a stormtrooper on the other side of the room that she'd failed to notice shouted, "It's the prisoner! Stop her!" Armia snatched the E-11 blaster rifle out of the hands of the guard next to her that was still disoriented from the Force suggestion she'd planted in his head. Without remorse, Armia shot the guard in the neck and then turned her attention to the stormtrooper across the room. Well, she thought as she began to exchange fire with him, she hadn't expected the entire escape to go smoothly. _____________(Insert Star Wars Style Scene Transition)_____________ Nar Shaddaa, inside the Aruk's Gleaming Cantina... Rive Caedo's attention turned downward as he entered the cantina. He had just stepped in a small pool of blood just inside the archway entrance. From the puddle a trail of blood led back towards a door in the back of the bar. Rive suddenly flashed back to a cavernous room on a planet he'd tried not to think about much in the past two years. Ten corpses in a pile. Ten trails of blood. Three leading to one door. Seven leading to another. Rive snapped back to reality as Skod shouldered past him. Only for a moment though, as he caught the eye of another person in the dingy cantina that slid his mind back to Kallibann. |
| Lord Invictus |
Vos Gendu walked into the small semi-indoor courtyard of the repair shop of Nar Shadda, looking at his repaired ship. Glistening in the sun, the Hunter-Gatherer was and imposing site to those who recognized its rather vast armnements, extremely powerful for a fighter. A human technitian approached him and looked at him.
"Finished?" asked Vos. "Yes, Vos," replied the repairman. "It's in fine condition now. Now about my pay-?" "I'll pay you the fifty thousand you asked for, Caynze," answered Gendu. "I brought a transaction card with me." ((I don't know if they have cards or "chips" as I've heard or just computer datapads for credit transactions but I'm just going to say that Vos brought a datapad for credit transactions with him. If I'm wrong then just tell me what the proper currency transaction device is within the Star Wars galaxy.)) "Fifty thousand?" asked Caynze. "No, no. I believe I requested two hundred thousand." "You always like to bargain whenever I need a repair," laughed Vos in a 'this isn't funny so just let me pay you an extra ten thousand and give me my ship back' sort of way. "I'll pay you one hundred thousand." "One-fifty thousand," bargained Caynze. "One-twenty thousand," said Gendu firmly before they shook hands and made the transaction. Vos boarded his ship and briefly took off into the busy sky, flying a few streets down before parking in a free parking complex, ready to take off once again. After locking off the Hunter-Gatherer, Vos walked down the steps, into the street, toward the safehouse of Mandalorians.... |
| Lord Vexen |
Shin's drink arrived next to him and Shin quickly began drinking it. Out of the corner of his eye Shin noticed two people he thought he would never see again. He saw the crazed rodian that had saved them all, Skod and the Jedi Rive Caedo. Shin thought that Rive hadn't noticed him yet, but Shin knew that wouldn't last long thanks to the Jedi's force sense. The jedi looked at Shin and walked right past him. Shin was extremly suprised yet happy as well. |
| Rive Caedo |
This was all just a bit too damn coincidental. Skod was in the corner dealing for the illegal transponder replacement with the pirate... Novo? It all seemed so long ago, but Skod nevertheless seemed to be trying to get a discount 'for old time's sake'. Rive couldn't recall the pirate and Skod from ever meeting directly on Kallibann, but nevertheless the Rodian had saved the man, along with the rest of them, with his landspeeder... So a discount seemed fair. ((Although from Rive's perspective Skod is bargaining, it's more likely Skod is simply a bit nervous considering he and Nova DID meet - and Nova knocked Skod out cold.))
Rive had caught eyes with Dakoth - looking just about as run down as himself. Both Jedi had simultaneously expanded their Force presences to sense danger. Shin, he remembered that one. He was paying close attention to Rive, but had no ill will in his emotions - actually he seemed to be filled with gratitude, especially as he shifted his attention to Skod. Beyond that, Rive couldn't detect anyone from the events on Kallibann, but three coincidences were more than enough for him to consider the situation more than strange. ((Korus hasn't noticed Rive or Dakoth yet, so Rive isn't detecting any ill will - and he isn't able to recognize Korus's presence as familiar because the Mandalorians left Kallibann on their own. Rive was never around Korus while he was able to feel the Force.)) But now, to top it all off, he was receiving a message from R1X-E0 aboard Skod's freighter that the droid was picking up a transmission being signaled to the transponder signal of Rive's Z-95 that had been destroyed two years ago during the escape from Kallibann. Not only that, but the signal was marked as being from Armia Delvron. Again, Rive couldn't sense this as being some sort of trap - so he turned the volume up on his comlink loud enough for Dakoth, Nova, Shin, and Skod to hear over the cantina's ambient noises. The message was already in progress: "---ologize for you being unable to reply to this, but maybe that's for the best. I'm ghosting this signal over top of this ship's Holonet request beacon - they should be unable to detect it. I'm sure you're not inclined to trust me after the previous... unpleasantness. But you must believe me when I tell you that my work has fallen into the hands of the Empire. I trust you realize the danger that represents. My efforts to escape and inform you in person have failed. I realize that you have no reason to assist me, but I also realize that you're the only one in the galaxy who knows, understands, and may be able to counter this threat." There was a long pause and Rive began to lower the comlink. "May the..." Another pause. "I'm transmitting my coordinates now, I hope you use them." The comlink clicked off and the small display on its side displayed the coordinates. Trilibor System Kallibann Venator-class Star Destroyer, Integrity Deck 24, Section 7 |
| Dakoth |
Dakoth's head shot up from the bar table in shock. His shock? No, no this was anothers. And as sure as he was in the cantina, Rive was standing there, barely masking the turmoil that had entrenched itself into the Jedi's gut. It was a terrible twisted feeling that he had not felt in years. Something the Jedi had thought himself finally rid of:
Kallibann Silently, slowly he rose, scanning the cantina with a more scrutinizing eye, his earlier depression crushed by a sense of urgent duty. The place was as grim as he had thought, riddled with what he could only call the underbelly of society. A group that he just moments ago had considered himself firmly entrenched in. He wasn't alone in his alertness. All eyes seemed to be on Rive, all hands on thier owner's sidearm. Even more suprisingly, more than one of the eyes he caught were all too familiar. Quite a few of the more unsavory types that he had encountered on that damned planet were intently focused on Rive's recent broadcast. He didn't quite blame them. Fighting his temptation to charge over to Caedo and demand answers, he wordlessly slipped through the throng of people in the bar, briefly making eye contact with the Jedi before gliding out the back door into the rather unpopulated back alleyway of the building. He wouldn't normally think of it as an exactly safe place to discuss a matter, but there was no way in any of the nine Corellian Hells that he was going to stay in that cesspool. |
| Jaden Nightsaber |
Nova was shocked. The package Nova was trying to sell was to a Rodian, this much he knew but to a Rodian that saved his life two years ago on Kallibann. Nova was lucky that this Rodian was gracious enough to save his life after Nova knocked him out to get into the spire. Whether Skod recognized this or not Nova was unsure of. It was hard to tell if Skod was neverous because it was Nova or because he never bought something illegally before.
"I believe you have a package for me." The Rodian said a bit neverously. "I do. I believe you have credits for me." Nova said simply. Skod shook his head. "Hey don't I know you from somewhere?" The Rodian said. It was now that he finally recognized him. "Yeah! You were in my speeder when we got out of Kallibann!" His voice got louder as he got excited. "I was also the one that knocked you out. Now be quiet or you keep your credits and I keep your package." Nova said quite firmly. Not only did Nova not like to have his business overheard, he also wasn't a fan of thinking about Kallibann again and all those dead Mando's. That was the image that haunted him most. If it hadn't had been for the few Jedi there Nova would be on top of that pile. "Oh, I forgot about that." Skod rubbed the back of his head like he had just been hit again. He looked over to his compainion he walked in with. Nova recognized him as one of the Jedi with him on Kallibann. Nova could hear a message being played. He recognized that voice. That was Shandra. The woman that was behind all of Kallibann, the woman that got away. Both Nova and Skod stopped to hear the message. "Can we get Kallibann out of our minds for thirty seconds to do this deal?" Nova said returning to business after the message was played. "Oh! Of course. Here are some credits for you." Skod placed them on the table and slid them toward Nova. Nova looked down at them and agreed that it was a fair amount. He placed the package on the table and slid it to Skod. "Thank you very kindly sir." Skod looked up but unfortunatly for him Rive was not there. Nova scanned the crowd too and found him making his way toward the back door behind a shadowed figure. "Back door," said Nova quietly. |
| Lord Vexen |
Shin heard the woman's voice and shook with fear. That woman was the one who had kill several Mandalorians and had been the only one who ever captured him. It had been the voice of the shapeshifter Shadra/Armia. Shin knew that she was back and she would come for him because he stole her lightsaber. Shin ordered a bottle of Fire Whiskey. As Shin downed him drink he noticed that a person he recognized as his rival bounty hunter Nova Sky follow a dark clothed figure out into the back alley. Shin decided he would follow Nova and hope for the best, they could also discuss the message. |
| Xander Vos |
Korus looked up briefly from his drink as first a dull thunk signalled a body falling to the floor, and then minutes later when a message began to play from an old man's comlink. He squinted slightly in the dark, and then in his drunken state remembered he could just as easily put his helmet back on.
With a hiss, it slid into place, and he stood, more or less, and walked slowly over to the bar, with each step becoming more certain he knew who it was. ((Does Korus know Rive's name?)) |
| Zsaber |
"SLOW DOWN NOW OR I SWEAR I WILL BURN ALL YOUR HAIR OFF YOUR HEAD." Ur shouted.
The BARC speeder screamed as Jynzo piloted it through the streets on Nar Shadda. Behind them, nine imperial storm troopers were hot on their tail on 74-Z speeder bikes. "I'll slow down, but I need you to convince them to not shoot use when I do. Deal?" Jynzo shouted back as the large man behind him began to squeeze him. "I don't care, just slow down." Ur yelled. "You better be quiet or i am turning this thing around." Jynzo yelled over the roar of the engine. "SLOW DOWN" Ur shouted again. "Thats it mister." Jynzo shouted. Jynzo slammed on the brakes and spun out 180 degrees. He came to a complete halt, then gunned then engines, rocketing towards their chasers. "Even worse" Ur muttered The speeder flew at their chasers, Jynzo ignited his light saber and knocked back several of their blaster bolts. With a quick spin he cut one of the speeders in half. The halved speed crashed into 2 of the other speeders, creating a large fireball. "6 left" Jynzo said to himself as he gunned the engine once again. |
| Thar Kast |
thar sat in the cantina watching a drunk human sing and dance if you could call it that the he noticed his company in the booth next to him it was dakoth and he didn't look good at all
thar stood up when he saw rive more out of reflex of the temple. thar eyed him with mild curiosisty he had know rive his whole life why where there so many jedi here it raised questions the force had brought them that was for certain but for what purpose. |
| Rive Caedo |
Rive watched as Nova, Shin, and Dakoth all departed out the back door of the bar. He was about to follow when he felt two distinct ripples in the Force. One was large, but outside of the bar - in the hangar. Another was smaller and much closer.((The smaller ripple is Korus approaching Rive))
Rive closed his eyes and focused on the larger disturbance. The large shapeless feeling began to separate itself as he focused more intently on it. It became individual beings, dozens of them all working towards a singular purpose, large mechanical structures in motion and... A booming voice broadcast from the docking bay outside was dulled by the walls of the Cantina, but still clearly audible, "Attention. Nar Shaddaa, Sector Twelve, Docking Bay 6. This is Imperial Civil Protection. This zone is entering lockdown status." Ah, yes. A few dozen imperial troops locking down an entire sector of Nar Shaddaa would fit that ripple in the Force just about right. Rive shouldered past an armored man as he went out the back door he had seen some of the others go through. Skod was glancing back and forth nervously at the members of the bar whom had suddenly switched from jovial laughter to dead silence after the Imperial broadcast. Rive grabbed the Rodian by the collar and led him out the back door. "Cheery little reunion. Too bad we're all going to die now." Dakoth, looking like he'd had better days, said as Rive closed the door behind him. "I suppose crazy girl wasn't aware that the Empire has been monitoring all holonet signals for the past three months?" Shin said as he pounded on a blast door that had just closed - separating Docking Bay 6 from the rest of Nar Shaddaa. "We're not going to die." Thar said in response to Dakoth's assertion. ((Thar didn't explicitly leave the bar, but I'm going to assume he left just before Rive)) "They just shut down the entire docking bay. They'll have full security squads posted behind every entrance within a minute or two, if they aren't there already. Then they'll send a few dozen troops in once the perimeter is secure. I've seen enough Jedi die this way to know the pattern." Dakoth stared at the ground as he said this. "Well then we're not dead. You've seen it and survived." Thar continued to speak with optimism. "They weren't after me those times." Dakoth dryly stated. "They may still not be after you. They probably only want to kill him, he got the transmission." Nova said pointing at Rive. "Thanks." Rive responded sarcastically. Suddenly there was a loud bang as the back door was kicked back open, Rive was knocked to the ground, but sprang back up quickly. Skod struggled to get back up, but was pushed back down by an armored foot stepping on his back. Weapons were drawn by the members of the group still standing. The armored man's voice crackled through his helmet, "You know, this is the second time you've brought the Empire down on me and my men." "Korus?" Rive couldn't tell for sure - the man's armor was different, but he couldn't recall any other Mandalorians he'd angered in the past ten or twelve years, "Planning to shoot somebody during an Imperial lockdown? Brave." |
| Lord Vexen |
"Well isn't this just a cheerful little reunion. Korus and his Mandalorians ready to kill us, with the Empire hunting Rive here. Whatever happened to meeting some old friends without running for your life eh?" said Shin. The Mandalorians simply stared at him |
| Dakoth |
Dakoth sighed flatly as he stood, taking a sluggish step forward. Pressing his chest up against the Mandalorian's drawn blaster, arms extended weakly at his sides he muttered in a tone that could amost be construed as boredom. "Just do it if you're going to already."
A concerned Thar quickly pulled Dakoth by his robes back into a sitting position, the Jedi offering no oposition as he thudded to the ground, the same lethargic expression etched in his brow. |
| Xander Vos |
As Rive shouldered past Korus, Korus nodded, and several Mandalorians who had been discreetly posted around the cantina moved into step behind him. He turned, growling slightly at the casual nature with which Rive had dismissed him. Shouldn't that mystical power of his alerted him to Korus' presence?
Knocking a Twi'lek dancer out of the way, he barged through a side door the old man had moved through, and shoved it open, knocking Rive down. He brought his blaster to bear, as his men did so as well. You know, this is the second time you've brought the Empire down on me and my men." Korus said, with just the slightest bitterness in his voice. "Korus?" Rive asked, getting to his feet, "Planning to shoot somebody during an Imperial lockdown? Brave." "I don't know what to do with you yet. Firstly I want to end the life of that di'kut who killed my men. If I'm not mistaken, you just received a transmission from her," Korus said, his aim not wavering. "Well isn't this just a cheerful little reunion. Korus and his Mandalorians ready to kill us, with the Empire hunting Rive here. Whatever happened to meeting some old friends without running for your life eh?" asked another man - Korus believed he was Shin, another momento from their time on Kallibann. Another man, stubble coating his face like brown frosting, pushed himself into Korus's blaster, "Just do it if you're going to already," but was pulled aside by a Trandoshan. "Don't be so quick to end your life," Korus hissed, finally relenting, and holstering his blaster. |
| Lord Invictus |
Vos Gendu was getting a little trigger-happy. His right index finger was gently tapping his MG-15 Carbine rifle. His left hand tightly gripped the added bantha-leather padding on the rifle, trying to keep it leveled. Yet his hands were shaking slightly, so the rifle floated up and down uncontrollably. He had seen fights between soldiers and Jedi before. It usually ended up with half a squad of soldiers being killed and the Jedi dying. With Gendu being right behind Korus, and with their being so many Jedi, he had the feeling that if a fight broke out he might be in that half.
"Don't be so quick to end your life," his commander hissed, holstering his blaster. Vos was unsure whether or not he should holster his own blaster, so he kept it aimed at the Jedi like the other Mandalorians. Outside he saw a few stormtroopers walking around. Vos wasn't a particularly wanted man in the Empire, but he had the feeling that the stormtroopers wouldn't find a bunch of Mandalorians with blasters aimed at a few wanted Jedi an ordinary scene. Then again, they were on Nar Shadda.... "Sir, there are a few stormtroopers outside," stated Vos. "Orders, Sir?" |
| Rive Caedo |
((We're already outside of the bar and the hangar is locked down - so I'll assume by "outside" you meant outside of the little alleyway we're presumably in behind the cantina.))
Rive placed a wide suggestion in the Force - and he could feel the two other Jedi doing the same. It was simply a general suggestion indicating to the stormtroopers that nothing interesting was happening in the alleyway. After the squad passed by, Rive turned to the Mandalorian that had spoken, "Dakoth was right. It'd be pointless to try to fight our way out. They have a whole planet full of troops to draw on and they'll be in constant contact with any troops they've sent in." Vos Gendu, the Mandalorian's disdain was evident even with the distortion provided by his helmet ((I'm assuming Vos is also helmeted?)) "So what do you propose, Jedi? Go back to the cantina, have a drink, and hope they give up?" Shin chuckled, "I've heard worse plans." Rive glared at the Mandalorian for a moment, "Fortunately, we have a freighter in the hangar with a droid onboard full of Imperial access codes." The Mandalorian's tone changed from sarcasm to genuine interest, "So you'll be able to override the hangar lockdown and open the docking doors back up?" "Sure, no problem." Rive wasn't actually sure if R1X-E0 had codes that were still valid on Nar Shadda. He did his best to keep Eezee's codes up to date, but Imperial security procedures were constantly shifting. But, expressing anything but certainty to the Mandalorians didn't seem like a good idea right now. Dakoth scoffed from his sitting position, "Have you honestly survived two years like this?" he stood back up to project authority in his next words, "As soon as you fly out of the hangar they'll have TIE fighters intercept you before you can even make it above the cityscape." ((I'm not sure if canonically the Empire has/will have TIE fighters 4 years after its established, but without TIE fighters its not the Empire gorrammit!)) Rive played along for a moment, "Because they'll have every ship in the hangar transponder flagged as not being cleared for departure, right?" Dakoth could sense the tone in Rive's voice indicating he had a plan, but responded anyway, "Exactly." Rive grabbed the small box that had skidded across the duracrete floor of the alleyway when Skod was knocked down. He displayed the object to Dakoth, "Then its fortunate it won't look like we're flying the same ship I landed here." "Transponder spoofer. Aren't those are illegal now?" Dakoth allowed himself a very slight lopsided grin. "Actually, those were illegal even before the Empire." Nova interjected jovially, "Of course, that didn't stop me from selling them then, too." "Can we worry about the legality of our escaping after its insured that we will? We still need to make it across a hangar bay of stormtroopers on high alert!" Skod's antennae ears twitched as he shouted from the corner of the alleyway - as far away from the stormtroopers that had passed by a moment ago as possible. |
| Xander Vos |
Korus turned to Rive and raised a finger, almost as if it in itself were a weapon, stopping the elder man in his tracks, "I'm not letting you kill my ner'vod again, Jedi. This time, they stay here. I'll take these three with me, but that's all you're getting from me. I need to rebuild Mandalore. Too much has happened, too much pain arisen from Kallibann. They need time to recover and begin life anew."
Rive paused, staring into the visor, his eyes piercing deep into Korus, as if seeing his essence within, the pain that had built up inside him over the decades he had walked the Galaxy, fighting first for his home, then his world, and now for his men. The man's expression softened, and he nodded, "Very well, I couldn't have expected any more from you than I already have Korus." Uncomfortable with the tender moment, Dakoth leaned forwards, "Should we get going?" He asked, "Because I have a date with an awefully nice looking Twi'lek girl I was going to have to cancel on, and I mean really nice looking," he said, grinning and jabbing Shin in the ribs, electing nothing but stony silence and a sharp glare from Nova. "What, Kallibann stripped the Force from us and humour from you guys? Gimme a break," Dakoth muttered, leaning back against the wall. |
| Ga'nen |
Horgie was walking around when he realized something bad was going on, it didn't take his Jedi powers to realize that, it just took that terrible gut feeling when he could hear the doors sealing in a distance. Sighing he continued on, he would find someone that would know. His question was answered by Imperial Civil protection announcing the lockdown. Cursing under his teeth he made his way faster than before.
Horgie noticed an alleyway where people were standing, walking towards the group cautiously he spoke, "Do any of you know why there's an Imperial lockdown?" A large gathering of people like this on nar shadaa only meant terrible things. Someone had done something or the Empire was looking for someone or something. |
| Lord Invictus |
Vos swerved around as soon as he heard the noise behind him. He aimed his blaster at Horgie's chest. He looked at the figure, and then back at the group. He stroked the trigger, almost pressing down on it. He kept Horgie in his sights but turned around toward Korus.
"What should we do with this?" he asked, nudging his blaster forward toward Horgie. |
| Jaden Nightsaber |
Everyone was on edge. A voice spoke from behind them all. All at once their blasters collective turned to this new intruder. A man was standing at the end of the alleyway. Danger.
"What should we do with this?" A Mandalorian asked. "Kill him." Nova said coldly. There was a pause where no one spoke. "He could be an Imperial spy." |
| Zsaber |
"HOLY ****" Ur cried out as they jumped from the Barc speeder and sent it flying into an imperial land cruiser.
"Why are there so many of these things around? I thought I lost them when we reached the hangar bay!" Jynzo asked as he cushioned their fall, but it still hurt as they crashed into the pavement. They ran into an alley way and made several turns. Suddenly they were facing the full expanse of the hangar bay. There were at least three full squads of stormtroopers, two of them were questioning and arresting people in the hangar bay. Another was marching in Jynzo and Ur's direction. Trying not to look suspicious, the pair turned out of the alley and walked along the exterior wall of a building for several heart-stopping moments until they were able to turn again into the archway entrance of the building. "Why don't I just kill you?" Ur asked, wheezing. "I'm to much fun to be with." Jynzo said, with a pained laugh. Then he looked around. They were in some cantina by the looks of it. His eyes wandered, the rested on the patrons. Several of them were staring back at him for a moment, but then they resumed staring at the archway entrance. The atmosphere in the room was as heavy as death. |
| Ga'nen |
Horgie sighed, he figured his life was already in danger, "You could kill me or you could let the Imperials kill me. And if i were a spy, why would i be here? The imperials have the place surrounded, they aren't looking to infiltrate, they are looking to detain."
With a flick of his wrist he had the blaster out of his general direction, "Lets keep ourselves civilized while we're still alive." |
| Xander Vos |
Korus waved a hand to Vos Gendu, a flashy young upstart recruit - found only yesterday if he recalled correctly - to lower his rifle. "I don't want anymore deaths," he said softly, "This man has already cost me enough," he said, turning back to Rive. |
| Lord Vexen |
Despite the mandalorians lowering their blasters, Shin kept his aimed at this new person. "If you aren't a spy, then why are you here?" asked Shin. |
| Ga'nen |
"Funny question, I was going to ask why a small group of mandalorians were hiding out behind a cantina. As you can see, there is a lockdown preventing me from leaving, I'm limited to where I can go." Horgie didn't take kindly to those that felt superior, he had long ago dropped that idea when he was a jedi. He learned that even as a Jedi he wasn't the law or justice, or the authority to which people answered to. He was just a man. |
| Rive Caedo |
((Grah, I tried to post this yesterday - but apparently it failed. I hate rewriting posts!))
The phrase 'funny question' to start a story always struck Rive as being just that, the start of a story - not reality. But, this wasn't a time to divide the pitiful little band in the alleyway against itself, "We can worry if he's a spy later. After we're half-a-dozen parsecs away from Nar Shaddaa." Rive didn't unholster his Bryar blaster pistol, but he did click its safety off, "For now we'll just keep a close eye on him." Korus took a step towards the Jedi, "I seem to recall we had a spy in our midst during the entirety of our last... excursion." The Mandalorian paused for a moment, "So you'll forgive me if I don't trust your ability to judge the character of anyone." Rive had ignored Korus's earlier assertion that he was the cause of all of the Mandalorian leader's woes, but this couldn't be ignored. Rive took a step towards Korus, further closing the gap between them. The Mandalorian was taller than Rive, probably even without the armor, so he tried to keep his posture as tall as possible. Rive spoke in a raised voice, "And I seem to recall that you were the one that trusted that spy enough to be hired by him." Korus was about to respond when they were interrupted by a clatter of boots and the muffled shout of "Weapons down! Imperial Civil Protection! Hands in the air!" Rive had allowed his perception of the Force to narrow down to just Korus's presence. He suspected the other Jedi had done the same - focused on the brief conflict and allowed their focus to drift away from convincing passerby that nothing of interest was happening in the alleyway. There were at least eight stormtroopers from Imperial Civil Protection at the end of the alleyway now and resolute in their desire to investigate the situation - simple mind tricks wouldn't work any more. Before Rive could consider the situation any further, he felt a surge in the Force from Dakoth and heard the outcry of the stormtroopers being knocked to the ground. Several of the stormtroopers fired their blaster rifles as they fell, but the bolts flew harmlessly over the group and towards the roof of the hangar bay. The group hastened to rush back into the rear entrance of the cantina while the stormtroopers were incapacitated momentarily. ((Reminder: Apparently ZSaber has quit the roleplay and his characters are not inside the bar? EDIT: Apparently it was just a misunderstanding, and Zsaber's characters ARE inside the bar.)) |
| Xander Vos |
"Seem to have a knack for getting us into trouble," muttered Thor, another of the Mandalorians with Korus, and Korus snapped his head around to gaze at he man.
"Quiet until we get out of this." Korus snapped, trying to mask his outrage at being challenged by the youngster. Thor was one of the many Mandalorians who had been gathered on Nar Shadda, and so held little respect for Korus, hadn't seen the efforts Korus had gone to, to save his men from the dangers that lurked everywhere. As they flew through the cantina, patrons glared up at them as cafs went flying throughout the room. Bursting through the door and on to the main street, Korus flicked his head back towards the safe house, "My safe house is that way if you want to try losing them, or we can head straight to your ship, your highness," he said, mockingly, to Rive, "What'll it be?" |
| Zsaber |
Ur and Jynzo sat down to try and not draw anymore attention to themselves. It really didn't work, someone Ur's size is just to hard to miss. They had been sitting for a while until the back door of the cantina was thrown open and several eerily familiar people ran through the room. They knocked over several things as they ran, finally exiting out the front door onto the main street. Jynzo and Ur watched them pass, an odd look in their eyes. They looked at each other.
"Was that?" "I think so." "Could it be?" "Don't know." They looked at each other for a few seconds before getting up quickly. their chairs flew back as they did. See them again did not mean tulips and dumplings, something bad was going to, or all ready, happening. They ran after them, throwing the door open and Jynzo crashed into a towering behemoth in full body armor. |
| Lord Vexen |
As they kept running Shin spoke his mind. "Well, on top of running from giant green tentacles with you, now I'm running from stormtroopers. You both know how to show an old friend a good time. Now, my vote goes to heading for Rive's ship." |
| Jaden Nightsaber |
Some of the men joked out loud, others questioned their destination but Nova stayed silent. He wasn't going to waste vital oxygen which might possibly get him caught. He already made the decision that if one of them were to be caught Nova would keep running either to Skod's ship or back to Nova's hideout. It may not be the noblest thing to do but Nova was no Jedi.
He had avoided Empire inturruption thus far but this strange coiencidence of a reunion seemed to end that. Even though this group had fought strange unknown warriors before Nova wasn't about stop and fight a large part of the Empire. He just concentrated on pumping his arms and moving his feet, all the while ready to duck and roll drawing a weapon in the process. |
| Ga'nen |
Ga'nen muttered under his breath, "sithspawn!" as the soldiers drew near he noticed the force collect itself around the soldiers and end their threat. The group then ran, while it wasn't the smartest move to go with a group of unknown people he figured if he stayed around he would get shot, arrested, and blamed for what happened here. Especially once they got word that there were jedi present.
He kept up with the group, he tried to open his senses to the surrounding area, not wanting to get caught off guard again he wanted to not find another squad of troopers waiting for them around some corner. He ignored the dropping mugs and glasses in the cantina, when it was a matter of life or death one seemed to forget proper etiquette. He figured as long as he stayed with this group then he might find himself in a position to get out of this place and away from them forever. Especially the two jedi. |
| Dakoth |
Dakoth's thoughts were clear in the chaos of the moment, the adrenaline focusing him for an instant, his survival instincts taking grasp of his body. He flicked his eyes around the fleeing group, immediately noticing several peculiarities as time seemed to slow to a crawl.
For one, at his side was the so-called Imperial spy, horgie, fleeing just as fast for his life as they were. he hadn't quite expected that. Immediately to Horgie's side, slightly blurred out of focus, but no less noticable, a familiar face charged down the street. Well, not so much familiar as hard to forget. Ur, Dakoth believed he was called. Whatever his name was, Ur just happened to be a walking tank, and seemed to have simply popped into existience in the midst of the chase. He would figure that out later, though. Last to be noticed on his periphiral sweep was certainly the most immediately useful piece of knowledge. the group had just passed right by an abandoned Peragian Fuel tanker, whos driver seemed to have found it prudent to find himself a place to hide rather than deliever his most likely ill-begotten goods under imperial scrutiny. All the better for them, he supposed. Quickly expanding his mind in the force, Daktoh felt the presence of the rapidly approaching stormtroopers as they fired thier blasters hapazardly about. Shooting a hand down to his belt, he twitched his wrist and swung it back towards the tanker. Four.. Three he counted down in his head, a devilish smirk taking over his face as time resumed its normal pace, shooting him forward into the chaos which he had so expertly sowed. Two... "ONE" The Jedi shouted aloud to the slightly alarmed group, diving forward, throwing his hands over his face, several of the more quick witted members of the group following suite. A deafening bellow of thunder erupted through the foul Nar Shadda night as the splintered and twisted, haphazardly heaving about shrapnel and brimstone. Gritting his teeth as he turned back into the wall of heat to observe his work, Dakoth found the entire street engulfed in hellish flame as the metalwork of the tanker warped in it's death throes, billowing smoke and fumes. |
| Rive Caedo |
"I just wanted to get my ship repainted!" Skod shouted as the wave of hot air from the explosion moved past them, "I don't deserve this!"
Korus growled, "No choice now. We have to get off the planet." Rive had planned to do this any way, there was no way he was going into the 'safe house' of a man who had a deadly grudge against him, "What? Why?" Korus gestured backwards as he ran - towards the wrecked tanker, "Because now they have a legitimate reason to arrest us." Dakoth, now at the back of the group, responded with dead pan sarcasm, "Excuse me for stopping them from killing us. Won't happen again." Rive responded neutrally, "I was hoping the cantina dwellers would stop them." He really had thought this would be the case. Pity it hadn't been that easy. Shin answered, "Please, I know their type. They're probably having a celebratory round of drinks now that they know they're not the reason the ICP ((Imperial Civil Protection)) locked down the Hangar." Thar, surprisingly calm in the situation, refocused the conversation, "They'll have heard that blast. They'll be convening on this position any second now. What's our plan?" Rive answered truthfully, "Run faster." |
| Lord Invictus |
Vos fiddled with his blaster a few moments while running with his commander and the Jedi. After a long series of clicking sounds he looked back. No stormtroopers yet.... Soon they would be flooding all of the locked-down area. He kept up with the group moving toward the ship as fast as their feet would take them. |
| Rive Caedo |
((Nar Shaddaa Hangar level cleared: Boss fight incoming
*dramatic music plays*  ))
The group skidded to a halt as they entered the main hangar bay. Skod's ship looked alright. No damage to its hull and it looked like they hadn't even forced the loading ramp open. Skod would have shouted if he could have, but he was winded from trying to keep up with the group running down the alleys, "I don't think.... running.... is going to..... help us....... against that!" Nova stood awestruck, he'd had more than his fair share of dealings on Nar Shaddaa, but he'd never seen the Empire using anything ike this, "What in the Nine Corellian Hells is it? It's huge." The four legged beast's humped back towered nearly to the top of the hangar bay's roof. The sound of its mechanized movements echoed off every wall. Rive rubbed his head in frustration, "It's called an All-Terrain Armored-Transport. I saw one, 6 or 7 years ago at the Battle of Jabiim." Shin seemed more puzzled than concerned, "How'd they even get it in the hangar?" Dakoth shot Rive a sideways glance, "You never told me you fought in the war." Skod was rapidly swearing in Rodese and pacing between the two walls of the alley. "I didn't. But that didn't stop me from being in the wrong place at the wrong time a few times." Rive eyed the towering behemoth more closely. It's head swiveled as it kept its heavy blaster cannons trained on a group of Rodians being marched out of the hangar bay in stun cuffs. "That's not the same type that I saw though... looks heavier. Meaner." "They know we can't get out of this." Korus finished sweeping the hangar with the built in electrobinocular capabilities of his helmet. "They're guarding every ship in the hangar. Four stormtroopers each. They're waiting for us to come to them." Even if they managed to sneak aboard the Active Archaeology without getting killed, they'd never manage to take off before that AT-AT shot them down. |
| Xander Vos |
Korus clenched his teeth. Caedo was a cure. A big fraggin curse. He'd been in the man's presence all of an hour, and already he was under life-threatning duress. They had one chance to get through this, and one chance only.
He turned, and nodded Ulric - his third Mandalorian bodyguard - and the man snuck around the back of the group, heading over to a data-port, and slicing in as fast as one possibly could. Within seconds his fingers were racing across it, keying into commands for various functions within the hangar. Then the lights went out. Korus grinned, flicking his infra-red mode over on his helmet, the storm troopers standing out like sitting ducks, and he waved a hand forwards, knowing his three body guards would have switched over as well. The four of them drew their rifles, and took aim, brilliant bursts of light sprung out, striking into storm troopers at random, as the AT-AT began firing wildly in their direction. Korus had taken a gamble and it had warn off - the AT-AT was relatively old - it was a new model, but had probably been here a year or so - and unnesescary functions, such as spot-lights and infra-red had been stripped away by the commander for discreet visits from Twi'leks. After all, how much trouble could Nar Shadda provide, with a Star Desroyer in orbit? As the Mandalorians continued to fire at the storm troopers, Korus saw several shapes move forwards from around him, headed for the AT-AT. |
| Rive Caedo |
Rive Caedo hated the dark. He could feel presences of course, and the Force could warn him of an incoming threat before it reached him, and the darkness was preventing the AT-AT from doing anything more than make a loud whining sound as whomever was piloting the beast swiveled its head back and forth trying to decide whom was firing their blasters and what to do about it. Still, the inability for Rive to see his opponents was unsettling to him.
For the briefest of moments, Rive considered ordering E0-R1X to override the lockdown early just to get the lights back on. But it passed just as quickly, he wasn't crazy enough to do that - or crazy enough to even try to escape in the Active Archaeology while the AT-AT was standing only a half dozen meters away from the ship. Even in the dark the walker would have no trouble hitting a ship with its lights and systems on. Rive had an epiphany. It was only a half dozen meters away from the ship. Which meant it was only a half dozen meters away from the ship's engines. Rive quickly located the AT-AT pilot's presence in the Force and pressed heavy influence on it. You'll be much safer if you take a few steps forward. Rive felt the presence recoil away from his directive instantly - and violently. Interesting, apparently this pilot had felt the tug of a mind trick sometime in the past. Probably more than once. Rive sighed, "I suppose that means we'll be doing this the hard way. Dakoth, Thar, and..." Rive double checked the presence he had felt fleetingly before - "Jynzo. Pick a leg. We're taking that thing for a little stroll. You can help to if you feel up to it Imperial spy." The fifth Jedi in the group, Horgie shouted from somewhere off to Rive's right in the dark, "I already told you, I'm not a spy!" Rive ignored him and clicked the comlink on his belt, "Eezee, you there?" E0-R1X responded with an affirmative chirp, then went on to ask why his connection to the holonet was being blocked, why the hangar's land-locks had been engaged to prevent the Active Archaeology from leaving, why Imperial activity in this sector had increased by approximately 84113.832% in the past fifteen minutes... Rive interrupted the droids stream of questions, "Eezee, just get ready to fire up the ship's main drives on my order." Eezee whistled back a negative. When an unknown entity (probably stormtroopers, Rive thought, although it could have just as easily been the vagrants in the docking bay) had attempted to force their way into the Archeology, the ship's alarm system activated and locked down all the ship's critical systems. Rive gritted his teeth. Skod just had to buy a ship with the 'deluxe alarm and security' package. "Alright, just turn a light on the underside of the ship" A light on the underside of the ship wouldn't be visible to the AT-AT, but it did instantly identify it to the group on the ground in the still pitch black hangar, "Skod, Shin, and Nova. Go get the ship back online and get ready to activate the engines." Rive directed his all of his focus to sliding one of the AT-AT's legs slowly forward - inch by inch using his maximum exertion possible in the Force. |
| Lord Vexen |
Shin heard the scraping of metal as the AT-AT was apparently being dragged by 4 Jedi. Shin decided he would definitely not mess with them. When Rive told him to get back to the ship he immediately ran for it - guided by the blinking white light on the bottom of its hull, with Skod behind him. |
| Dakoth |
Size matters not Dakoth scoffed to himself, the startings of a grin visible on his face to anyone who might happen to be able to see in utter darkness.
Closing his eyes, not that they were doing anything for him in the first place, the Jedi reached out, expanding his presence like a duarasteel clamp around one of the AT-AT's four motorized quadrapedal propulsion units. Gritting his teeth instincitvely as he started to pull, on the behemoth construct, he could feel it slowly slipping forward, a sickening, low, grinding sound resounding througout the hanger, sparks showering forward from the floor as the intense friction fought the unearthly movement. "Guys... they're gonna see this.. or hear it..." Dakoth said as the realization dawned on him that this wasn't nearly as steatlhy as he had hoped it would be. Yet the stomrtroopers were still preoccupied with the mandalorians, and if the group had any sort of luck, thier commander was either dead or too inexperienced to notice or report unexplained sparks and groanings in the heat of battle. But if the mando's failed or retreated, they were all dead. |
| Ga'nen |
Horgie realized that perhaps being shot to death by a group of stormtroopers was more pleasant than being shot or smashed by an AT-AT. But perhaps he could get his wish with the stormtroopers who were filling into the hangar. The mandalorians went and took care of the stormtroopers, though perhaps using them as fodder against the AT-AT could be useful.
Then he could hear the suggestion from rive, with a sneer he focused his strength not on the AT-AT but upon the individuals who were working to drop the behemoth. If he could split his strength and give a little to each, it would increase each of their chances on dropping the AT-AT. It was straining a bit, he could feel the tugging from each of them for more power, and opening himself as he was to being used as a source of more power he too was losing strength with them. Opening himself to the force he allowed it to pour in him, he could feel it's coolness touching every inch of his body like a cool water in a bath. It surrounded him, it slowly engulfed him. He hoped that his doing so would give the other four the strength they needed to accomplish the goal. Still it was a weird sensation, the thoughts that ran through his mind quickly as he forced concentration. He hadn't touched the force like this in a while, only for small tasks, it had become more of a tool than an ally. Now he was embracing it as an equal, not a means to accomplish a goal. |
| Lord Invictus |
With a few quite clicks, Vos turned on his night-vision and prepared his weapon for battle. Following his commander, Korus' orders, Vos aimed and opened fire on the stormtroopers. With the assistance of the other Mandalorians they fell like dominos. He aimed at an Imperial officer, now firing blindly into space. The officer shot at least four of his own troops before he perished by Vos' blaster. He firing his blaster at a few more stormtroopers before summoning enough courage to charge into a three-man squad of them. He attached one of his Morgukai Glaives (bayonet-like knives usually meant for throwing) to the front of his rifle along the way. He stabbed at one stormtrooper and kicked another in the chest before retreating to cover behind a transport shuttle. He picked a thermal detonator from his armor and looked at the AT-AT, but decided the time was not right, considering the Jedi being so close.... |
| Rive Caedo |
((Well, Thar didn't post. But since Zsaber's given me temporary control of Jynzo - I suppose we have 4 Jedi that helped ))
The AT-AT was nearly in position now. The pilot had realized the AT-AT was no longer under his control and was attempting to move the walker in the opposite direction, but the Jedi were managing to keep each foot firmly grounded. However, it was no longer sliding any closer to the ship's engines. "I don't think I can keep this up much longer." Horgie, the stranger to the group, was using a technique Rive himself had only seen once in his past - Force Transference. Indeed that small boost was likely what was allowing the other Jedi to keep the struggling AT-AT rooted in place. Rive struggled to keep his concentration set as his commlink beeped once more, this time it wasn't Eezee's beeping that answered as he clicked the receive switch, but the space pirate Nova's, "Weapons and Hyperdrive are still locked down, but the shields and main drives are back online. Ready for the engine burst?" Rive's spoke in short spurts due to the strain, "No... we're not ready... just yet... sit tight and..." Now Eezee's panicked chirping could be heard in the background of the transmission. "Well then stop them!" Skod shouted at the droid. Rive couldn't make out what Eezee was saying over the comm, "What's happening... now?" "They're bypassing the sliced illumination circuits. It's about to get a whole lot brighter out there." Nova answered. Rive tried to pull more on the Force and slide the AT-AT the last meter to get it within range of the ship's engines, but there simply wasn't any more to pull on. He knew that once the lights were back on there would be a bloodbath. The Mandalorian's had been picking off stormtroopers like wingless flies in the darkness, but there were certainly still enough in the hangar to injure or kill many of the group before they were able to retreat to the ship. If they didn't eliminate the walker as a threat soon they were going to lose a lot - maybe all. Rive knew the Jedi Council wouldn't approve. But the Jedi Council didn't exist any more. Still, he hoped the other Jedi were too focused on the AT-AT to feel what he was about to do. Rive let his mind's hold on the AT-AT's legs slip slightly. The other Jedi moved to compensate. Once again Rive located the angered and frightened pilot of the AT-AT within the Force. This time Rive didn't try to plant a suggestion in the man's head. He simply tried to leave a clear message. If you don't stop now, you will die. Once again the pilot reacted violently and tried to fight off Rive's influence on his mind. Rive sighed and narrowed his focus from the entire pilot to just a small portion... and snapped his neck. The AT-AT immediately stopped struggling and resumed sliding loudly across the hangar deck. Rive could feel the AT-AT's gunner panicking and trying to figure out why his pilot had suddenly fallen for no apparent reason, but he didn't take the controls himself. Within a few moments the AT-AT's broadside was lined up perfectly with the Active Archaeology's main engines. Rive clicked his commlink again, "Do it." A breath later, the pitch-black hangar was illuminated by the flare of the YV-500's engines. The towering Imperial walker began to glow a steady yellow to a pulsing orange, to a pure red. Rive could still hear a few blaster shots echoing off the hangar walls, but most eyes - Jedi and stormtroper - Mandalorian and Imperial, were turned towards the almost blinding blue light. The ship whined and groaned as its thrust pushed it forward, but it was held in place by the Imperial landlocks keeping all the ships in the hangar firmly in place. Rive could feel the slight ebb in the Force as the gunner and crew of the AT-AT joined the pilot in death as they were consumed by the raw heat, but Rive waited until he actually saw the neck of the AT-AT melt away and the head dropped to the ground before he felt it was truly over. The hangar was dropped back into darkness as the ship's engines shut of and the eerie blue glow bathing the area subsided, replaced by the dull warm glow of the warping AT-AT. To the left of that, Rive saw a bright light cut across the hangar deck as the Active Archaeology's boarding ramp opened. Shin leaned out from inside the ship and shouted "Come on! Now! Everyone get to ship!" As his boots clattered across the hangar deck, Rive watched the legs buckle and the walker melt into a jagged partially melted puddle just behind the Archaeology. The pilot would have died anyway if everything had gone according to plan, but he felt worse knowing that he'd done it. He was personally responsible for breaking that man's neck. Rive Caedo felt a slight bit of relief as he realized it hadn't felt good. He wasn't falling to the Dark Side. It didn't feel right. But it had been easy. |
| Lord Invictus |
By this time Vos had taken out his two pistols and sheathed his rifle. He blasted away at as many stormtroopers as possible while walking toward the ship, keeping the detonator at his side so the ship could leave the area with a bang. He took out his rifle again and jumped to the side of the hovering ship, ready to board the Active Archaeology and leave this blasted place. He shot a few more stormtroopers before turning around and grabbing at the ship, trying to jump inside.... |
| Xander Vos |
Korus grabbed Vos and pulled him in the rest of the way, batting aside the unprimed detonator, "What in blazes do you think you're trying to pull," he growled.
"I was going to leave them a going away present," Vos answered meekly. "And risk a complete cave in, drawing more Imperial attention to us? We're in enough poodoo as it is without you bringing that Imp down on us!" Korus yelled, "You joined my crew under the agreement you would take your orders from me, that means you listen to what I say, and don't try to pull stupid stunts of your own, got it?" Vos paused for a moment, locking his gaze with Korus, and then looked away, marching off sullenly into the ship, pulling his helmet from his head, and smoothing down his sweaty hair. Korus followed suit, though slower, easing his helmet off, and taking a deep gulp of air. The risk he had taken back there, if that AT-AT had still had its night-gear, they would have all been toast. For just the briefest of moments, he had been placed in Caedo's shoes, had known what it was like to be in command of not just his bretheren's lives, but also of people's who owed him no allegiance, and had not joined him under choice, but under circumstance. As he moved into the main room of the ship, he settled onto a hover-couch, placing his head in his hand as the ship lifted into the air, clearing the hangar. A respect for Caedo was creeping into him, and as much as he disliked it, Korus understood what it meant. Whether this mystical Force existed or not, he knew he had run into this group of trouble-makers again for a reason. Whatever it was, it needed them to all be united, for if they were unable to, they would surely fail to prevent it. |
| Thar Kast |
thar slashed through the cest armor of a stormtrooper as his fellow troopers rushed forward into the hanger. thar force pushed them back and jumped by rive's ship and rushed up the gangway.
he slumped into a seat and calmed himself his emoptions rising. |
| Lord Vexen |
As Shin reached the Active Archaeology he saw Korus and the Mandalorians demolishing the stormtroopers. Before boarding the ship, Shin took a shot at a soilder and the blast struck him dead center in his neck. Shin climbed aboard and heard Rive giving orders to wait and then ignite the thrusters. After waiting a few minutes, Rive yelled to turn on the engines and Shin pressed the button. Shin watched as the AT-ATs head fell off and the rest of the vehicle exploded in a huge fireball.
"Lets go everybody!" yelled Shin As soon as everyone was aboard the ship closed and Rive took the controls. Shin walked over to Korus and sat down next to him. "Just like old times eh? Although instead of green tentacles and alien warriors we are taking on the Empire." |
| Rive Caedo |
"At least the tentacles didn't issue a warrant for our arrest." Rive spun around to face R1X-E0, who was hooked into the Archaeology's main computer input.
Nova leaned into the cockpit with a smear of grease across his face, "The transponder spoofer's wired in. We should show up on sensor's as the YV-422 Promenade." Rive had entirely forgotten about the false transponder. Promenade. Rive had a feeling this ship was going to see anything besides a leisurely stroll. "Alright Eezee, override the lockdown." Eezee gave an affirmative chirp as he sent the code to override the Imperial Lockdown. Rive breathed a sigh of relief as he heard the loud mechanical clanks of the landlocks immediately releasing. Simultaneously the nearly pitch black hangar was lit by the bright fluorescent lights of the Nar Shaddaa night as the docking bay's blast shield slowly retracted upwards. The Archaelogy's thrusters - or rather the Promenade's thrusters to any outside observer - engaged and it glided out of the hangar and into the eternal twilight of Nar Shaddaa's undercity - chased by blaster bolts from the few surviving stormtroopers. _____________(Insert Star Wars Style Scene Transition)_____________ Fondor Shipyards "Lord Vader, apologies for interrupting you, but we've just received a transmission on a Priority One channel from the Star Destroyer... Integrity." Kendal Ozzel, temporary commander of the newly commissioned Imperial-Class Star Destroyer Devastator paused for a moment, "It must be a mistake. The Integrity was destroyed over two years ago." An incoming transmission was no great interruption compared to the constant noise of last minute construction that had intruded the Dark Lord's thoughts for the past two weeks. Especially not one he had great interest in. However, Vader hadn't expected to receive a transmission from the Integrity so soon, perhaps he had underestimated the capabilities of its crew, "It is no mistake, Commander. Transfer it here. Now." Vader read only the first three words of the message before reopening a channel to the Devastator's bridge, "Commander Ozzel, inform Fondor Control that I am canceling the launch ceremony. Set course for the Trilibor System." "Lord Vader. With all due respect, the Devastator isn't ready for launch. It's still lacking anything more than a skeletal crew, our TIE fighter regiment is..." "I understand the situation, commander." Vader closed the channel without repeating his orders. The Dark Lord returned his attention to the message from the Integrity. It was vague, but gave him all the information he needed to know... ::Project AEGIS compromised. Subject Delvron's location unknown. Unauthorized transmission detected routed to Nar Shaddaa in the Nal Hutta system:: |
| Rive Caedo |
((Blarg, I hate replying to my own post - but I can understand how no one would want to get the ball rolling on the new shipboard setting))
"So where are we heading?" Shin inquired from the copilot's seat. Rive seemed to think that was obvious, "Away from here." Shin huffed and clarified his question, "After that." "Ah, right. Uh..." Rive gathered his thoughts for a moment, "I'm going after it. After her." Shin had almost forgotten the transmission, "The message? Shadra? Armia? What for? It's a trap - wants to finish what she started." "It probably is, but if she doesn't spring it on us - she'll spring it on someone else." Rive smiled, "And we've already escaped from her traps once." Rive got up from the pilot's chair, "Take the controls, Eezee, nice and steady until you can make a jump - no one's looking for the Promenade." Eezee whistled affirmatively as Rive walked down the short hall connecting the cockpit to the rest of the YV-500. Half of the room was sitting silently and the other half of the room - consisting entirely of Mandalorians was standing - also silently. Between them was the only thing in the room making a sound: a blue-skinned Rodian with a walking stick. Skod was currently leaning down near Thar, "So, tell me, what do you think of the hovercouches? They're new, fresh off the line." Skod's voice lowered and he spoke less excitedly for a moment, "There were some... kinks... in the first batch, they tell me - random repulser failures and such..." Skod spoke much louder and faster now, "But these. These are new, better, perfect even! Spared no expense!" Recieving no response, Skod glanced uneasily at Ur - whose large frame looked like it could cause one of those 'random repulser failures' - before turning around to face the Mandalorians, "And how about those inertial dampeners? I bet you've never been on a ship that you could stand up in while accelerating into orbit and not feel a thing, but then again, you've never been in a YV-500!" Before Skod could quote another of the lines the Corellian Shipyards manager had pitched him, Rive interrupted, "Alright, it's decision time. I'm heading to Kallibann to see what our old friend Armia is up to." There were several protests and questions, but Rive spoke over them, "She said she's on a Star Destroyer, so I can use all the help I can get. But, if you're unable or unwilling to come with me, Mon Calamari's right on the way. From there you can pick up cheap transport back here or to the Core. We'll make a stop there for anyone who wants off. Your call." |
| Jaden Nightsaber |
Nova was walking around the ship after they had taken off and knew they were safe for the time. He was impressed by all the interior had to offer. Skod had spared no expence for this ride. As he walked into a room that most of the riders were in he overheard Rive.
"She said she's on a Star Destroyer, so I can use all the help I can get. But, if you're unable or unwilling to come with me, Mon Calamari's right on the way. From there you can pick up cheap transport back here or to the Core. We'll make a stop there for anyone who wants off. Your call." "I'm going with you." Nova spoke suddenly as he walked in. "We let that rat get away once, I won't let her get away this time!" He spoke strongly and suddenly Rive knew he had one man with him. |
| Lord Invictus |
Vos was confused beyond belief... and angry, too. But angry at himself. First of all, he'd left his ship and most of his possessions on Nar Shadda where the Empire was probably confiscating everything he owned. Second, was he supposed to feel friendly toward the Jedi or keep them as hostages. Korus seemed to integrate both feelings into one toward the Jedi, which, frankly, confused Vos. Gendu was new to this particular situation, and now he'd made a new enemy throwing himself in with this lot; the Empire. He looked around at his fellow Mandalorians and then at the hovercouches.
Vos decided it would be best to stand but paced around the room, looking at everything in the ship. His hand pulled his helmet off and, for the first time, he looked at the scene before him with his own eyes. His eyes zipped around in their sockets, processing the scene. In the crowd of Mandalorians and a few Jedi finding his commander would be impossible. For now, Vos guessed, standing around and trying to keep himself occupied were his orders. |
| Lord Vexen |
Shin looked at Rive with a smirk on his face. "We let that rat get away once, I won't let her get away this time" said Nova.
"Well, I'm going too then, I think old Shadra gonna love seeing us again. Especially after we fried her tenticle friends back on Kallibann. Although, I do wonder what happened to Xander Vos...or whatever it was." Shin was also slightly nervous however, because he still had Shadra's lightsaber from Kallibann. He ignored these feelings though, he had been training with it and had the skills of a Jedi Padawan, he could use it if neccesary. Besides Shin always knew how to use his blasters. |
| Thar Kast |
"count me in. i love taking on the empire."
rive nodded at thar. "good to have you kast" he said. the others shifted the weight they were nervous that much was obbvious. so wass he... |
| Zsaber |
"I'm in." Jynzo said, then whacked the back of his hand against Ur's chest "And so is Ur."
"Hey, who made you my boss." Ur said, almost a threat but not quite. "Like you have anything better?" Jynzo almost laughed, that shut Ur up. "Fine" Ur grumbled -- Sumomo had long since jumped out of Jynzo pocket and explored the ship. At the moment she was sitting on the dashboard in the cockpit. She was deep in conversation with a droid named Eezee, though she was still unsure about what they were talking about. After a few minutes, they were hailed by an imperial cruiser. It was checking all ships leaving the planet. ((maybe i can get in one post every few days)) |
| Xander Vos |
Korus glanced at the floor, memories of those horrid times on Kallibann flowing back to him as smoothly as if they were a fast flowing river into his mind. The tentacles, that Shin was making light of, that had torn apart his brothers, his men, the strange aliens who had taken out even more men, had taken hours to merely take down because of their incredible armour.
This wasn't an experience Korus wanted to repeat, and he shook his head vigerously, trying to rid himself of the horrid nightmares, but they wouldn't leave, the red blood rising up before his eyes, the stench overwhelming him, the air growing heavy as he struggled to breathe in the overwhelming stench, and suddenly it was gone. He looked up, glancing at Caedo. He knew that he couldn't oppose this many any longer, that any rebellion against this man's leadership would be both unfounded and futile. He either pledged his full support now, or left the group at Mon Calamari and made his own way back to Nar Shadda to evacuate the rest of his men. Deep down, he knew there was really only one decision he could make, and keep his conscience clean. Even if his men had proved bantha fodder - he grimaced at the thought - on Kalibann, they had proved valuable in defeating the alien threat the group had encountered. He knew that if he withdrew his support now, Caedo and the others would be verging on suicide. Standing up, he nodded to Caedo, "You can count on me for support as well." Caedo nodded at him, and an unspoken message passed between the two, as each acknowledged the other, and the sacrifices they were making for the greater good. Korus turned to his men, "I know you'll stay by my side, ner'vod, but I want to give you this chance, if any of you want this to be the end of the line, no one would think any less of you to get off now while you still can." Ulric shook his head, "I've heard from the others what happened on Kallibann," he said, his Concord Dawn accent turning the words into a crisp statement, "I want to get the chance to take those di'kut down." Thor also shook his head, "I could never leave you sir, last time we faced them we faced them, we got away, we can face them again," he said grimly. Korus nodded his head at both of them, and turned to Vos, the only new recruit of the trio, "What about you Gendu, what say you?" |
| Lord Invictus |
Vos decided to answer honestly.
"I am new to this game," he said. "Perhaps I am not proven enough to fight and die as a true Mandalorian, but I accept this quest, and my loyalties... my honor, lie with Mandalore and with my comrades. I will fight and die with you, my friends." - he raised his hand in salute- "Haat, Ijaa, Haa'it . I am with you, Sir." Feeling he had proven his point of staying with the Mandalorians until death, Vos took his hand out of salute and stood ready for further orders. |
| Ga'nen |
Horgie looked around at everyone, he was confused as well as unaware of why everyone was so willing to pledge their lives to an unknown task. "Hey now, I have no idea what's going on or who any of you guys are referring to but I have a slight feeling this is more of a reunion than a first time meet for most of you," Horgie's eyes followed each person trying to distinguish which one were obviously tied together.
"I don't know if can just pledge my life, happily avoiding exploits like these is what makes me who I am. Going on some crazy trip, to a star destroyer no less, is far beyond my realm. I don't know about you but quite frankly placing my life on the line for an unknown cause is part of a life I left behind." He scanned around the room again, he was going to assume they would either jettison him from the ship, drop him off at mon calamari, or think he was self-absorbed. But he would rather be self-absorbed than to be crossing the galaxy to face off against one of the Empire's mighty ships in a hunk of junk like this. |
| Thar Kast |
Thar glanced at horgie. "i also do not know why we are going i do not understand the importance. but i sense that is so. you may run now but sooner or later you will have to make your stand better it be with allies then alone against the might of the empire." |
| Dakoth |
For the first time since he had entered the room, Dakoth lifted his head to observe the motley group that had assembled before him. This was suicide. Cadeo was sitting there telling them to go invade a Star Destroyer. Why? To rescue the very woman who had attempted to wipe out everything that he stood for, to castrate the very nature of life, to annihilate the Force. The very thought abhorred him. And yet, he hadn't felt as alive as he had now since Kallibann. It compelled him, it made him feel like he had purpose.
"Well, she Does owe me a date." He quipped, hopping up from the opulent hovercouch and pivotig towards the ship's main hall. "But for now, I'm hungry." he exclaimed abpruptly, turning and strolling from the main lounge as if he had just signed up for a casual Pazaak game, and not a mission he would probably never come back from. With that depressing thought taken care of, he went off in search of the no doubt closet-sized gallery. Perhaps a bathroom too, He shrugged, raising a single hand to itch the unbridled beard that was clawing its way across his face. If he was going to go fight for the galaxy, he supposed that he should at least look like a Jedi. |
| Rive Caedo |
Rive had forgotten that Horgie hadn't heard the transmission - in fact, he was surprised Jynzo and Ur had agreed to go, since they hadn't either.
"Eezee," Rive always felt uncomfortable speaking to the walls of a ship, "play back the message from Armia." Immediately Armia's voice crackled over the ship's audio system. "Greetings Caedo, I hope you haven't changed your comm frequency since our last encounter." Nova interjected, "Hey, we didn't hear this part!" It was true. Rive had begun playing the transmission in the cantina after it had already started. Rive's active comm frequency had, in fact, changed since his Z-95 was destroyed, but he'd kept the old one active for precisely this reason - old friends and, in this case, enemies to be able to reach him. "I'm transmitting to you from the ventilation network of an Imperial Star Destroyer. I was captured by the Empire immediately after their arrival at Kallibann and I regret to tell you that my research has been continued and perverted by them. I've attached the only file I've been able to retrieve without a security clearance. It's doesn't contain any technical details, but should give you an overview of the threat." There were a few mumbles amongst the room as the transmission continued into the portion they had already heard, "I apologize for you being unable to reply to this, but maybe that's for the best. I'm ghosting this signal over top of this ship's Holonet request beacon - they should be unable to detect it." Shin chuckled, "Lot of good that did." "I'm sure you're not inclined to trust me after the previous... unpleasantness. But you must believe me when I tell you that my work has fallen into the hands of the Empire. I trust you realize the danger that represents. My efforts to escape and inform you in person have failed. I realize that you have no reason to assist me, but I also realize that you're the only one in the galaxy who knows, understands, and may be able to counter this threat." "May the..." "I'm transmitting my coordinates now, I hope you use them." As soon as the transmission ended Rive did what everyone was sure to want, "Eezee, play the file attached to the message." Screens all over the ship displayed an Imperial Logo accompanied by a man with a heavy Imperial Basic accent's voice, 
"This Imperial Biomedical file:" a more mechanical computer generated voice took over, "Project AEGIS Proposal" the man's voice resumed, "is only authorized for reading on the Imperial Star Destroyer," the computer voice took over again, "Integrity." Rive sighed, "She's certainly making things easy for us." He walked over to a console on the wall and closed the file - clearing the Imperial symbols from the screens, "I have some friends on Mon Calamari that might be able to decode this by force. So I suppose we'll be making a longer stop there than I planned..." |
| Lord Vexen |
Shin listened to the message once again and what followed. Rive told of his friends on Mon Calamari and Shin sunk. Being a top assassin in the underworld had its perks, he had knowledge even the Empire didn't have, such as what is going on on the planet. He decided to withold the information from the rest of the group, for now. He would tell them if it was absolutly neccesary. |
| Ga'nen |
Horgie listened to the message, his body twitched a little at the mention of the possibility of the Empire creating something from something he didn't even understand. Everyone else seemed to know what was going on but he wasn't quite sure he understood though from what the radiating feelings revealed: it was bad.
"So you have a message from a girl on a Star Destroyer, there are tons of people on those ships. I'm not here to save no pseudo-princess or anything, you want to save her from the Empire then find a rebellion. I don't even know what work she's talking about but if my reading of the human body is correct then it may not be good. Also, the Empire itself is not good so this couldn't be any worse." |
| Lord Vexen |
Shin looked at Horgie and was incredibly close to laughing at him. He held himself back however. "Does somebody want to tell him the story of Kallibann or should I?" said Shin. Shin personally hoped Rive would, but he had enough memory of the event to make a decent retelling. |
| Rive Caedo |
"Fine, we probably have just enough time for that." Rive checked a screen behind him, "We're only an hour or two out."
"That soon?" Korus was surprised, it'd take almost twice that time in his own ship. Skod, once again eager to show off his cutting edge freighter, jumped up to answer "You can thank the new Series 352 Hyperdrive system for that little miracle. Just one more standard feature of the YV-500 Frei---" __________________((Insert Star Wars Style Scene Transition))_____________________ The formerly famous Mon Calamari Shipyards now floated dark and abandoned above the blue gem of a world. The Empire had scrapped their plans to utilize the shipyards after it was deemed too expensive to convert the shipyards to produce standard Imperial vessels - and the Mon Calamari vessels they were ready to produce now were unfit for species with fingered hands. Rive Caedo had spent part of the past two years as a supply runner. The struggling Mon Calamari resistance movement was desperate for outside news and supplies that the Empire had cut off entirely from the planet. It was a bit less dramatic than overriding an Imperial hangar lockdown, but the Imperial Codes that R1X-E0 carried that had allowed Rive to convince Imperial dock workers without fail that he was on urgent business from the Outer Oversector's Grand Moff, Wilhuff Tarkin. Despite the change of ship, it appeared to have done the same this time, the Promenade (at least according to its transponder) drifted past an Imperial cruiser and down into the atmosphere of the watery world without incident. As he'd done at least a dozen times before, Rive diverted from his course as soon as they were out of orbital scanning range and headed for the shattered remains of Hikahi, one of the floating cities of Mon Calamari that had been bombarded by the Empire in an attempt to break the Quarren and Mon Calamari resistance. The show of force had managed to do nothing more than drive the resistance into hiding - Mon Calamari and Quarren citizens slaving for the Empire in the day would perform acts of sabotage and open rebellion at night. Rive's contact was a resistance leader named Ackbar. Ackbar had been the representative of the Calamarian Council for Coral City prior to the rise of the Empire, but like the other Calamarian Council leaders - he now had a price on his head and had been forced to relocate his base of operations beneath the ruined city of Hikahi - the only one of the three cities bombed by Imperial forces that was still floating... for the most part. The Promenade set down on a small docking circle near the center of Hikahi. Rive set the comm unit to an extremely narrow range and sent three clicks then waited three seconds and sent another three clicks - the standard passcode for entering Ackbar's hideaway - Home One. On his last supply run a month or two ago, Rive had left two Jedi in Home One's care. Damon Revus was looking for a temporary place to hide after the Empire had placed a bulletin out for his ship. The other was named Dejohn... something, Rive couldn't remember if he had ever been told his last name. That one seemed more interested in tracking Imperial fleet movements for some reason. After a minute of waiting - Home One was scanning to make sure the Promenade hadn't been followed - the docking ring began to lower down inside of Hikahi's superstructure. A falsified docking ring slid into place above the ship so that Hikahi would continue to appear deserted from the air. Underneath the twisted metal and blackened remains of Hikahi however, Home One was very much alive. Rive stepped off the ramp of the Promenade and frowned as his boots flooded with sea water. It wasn't a pleasant place for a non-Mon Calamari, the entire sublevel hideaway was flooded with half a meter of sea water, the lighting was extremely dim (Home One had to run on its power to avoid Imperial notice - the majority of Rive's supply runs had involved bringing a large quantity of power packs), and the air was stale and stank of salt. It was a minor haven for the fishy Mon Calamari, but an acrid prison for humans. But it was safe. |
| Dakoth |
Dakoth had regretted his earlier meal of breaded seafish the minute he set foot in the algae-ridden water that had pooled around the docking hall. Although the water ahead was a great deal cleaner, it was of course no less wet, the salty brine soaking through his boots, chilling the soles of his feet as he sloshed forward in pursuit of Rive, sending ripples cascading in all directions. It was about at this point that he began to resent that an effort had not been put out on his part to master Self-Levitation, which was an extremely finnicky and focus requiring act. Getting off the ground was easy enough, but moving was another thing entirely.
Lost in his random digression on the intricaicies of levitation, and whether or not eating fish would prove to be a capital offense, Dakoth contiuned to saunter forward obliviously for the first time in what seemed like eons. Here finally, was a place where he was safe. |
| Devrin |
Damon had received word that Rive Caedo and the others had landed on Home One and was excited to finally see them again. He headed down the flooded sublevel hallway and rounded a corner, only to meet Rive on the other side. He smiled and shook his head with joy. "It has been too long, my friend." Damon told the Jedi Master. |
| Dakoth |
Although he didn't recognize the new arrival, the saber dangling from his belt was indication enough for Dakoth to offer a friendly smile as he passed to greet Caedo. And if theres one thing that Dakoth knew, it was that any friend of Rive's was a... well, bounty hunter, archaeologist, Mandalorian, Jedi, Mercenary, Imperial Droid, Fish-man, Crimelord, or his personal favorite, A shapeshifting alien from another galaxy devoid of the force.
Suffice it to say he was beginning to regret that smile the slightest bit. Still, from the looks of it, and the oh so reassuring presence in the force, it would seem as if this was indeed a Jedi in hiding. The term Jedi-in-hiding still felt unnatural to him, who had just years earlier witnessed thousands of Jedi mulling about a temple on the Galactic Capital in complete unobstruction, being lauded as peacekeepers rather than terrorists. But that was a world lost to him now, and one that wouldn't be returning any time soon. |
| Rive Caedo |
Rive had only met Damon Revus a few weeks before he dropped him off here, at Home One. Still, he could understand the Jedi being enthusiastic to see someone - anyone - without giant eyes bulging out of the side of his head and slimy skin.
"Far too long," Rive forced a smile as he shook the Jedi's hand, "I trust they've been treating you well here, Revus?" Damon glanced uncomfortably over Rive's shoulder as four Mandolorians strode down the ramp together, his answer came out slowly due to the distraction, "Yes... of course..." Damon shook his head to refocus his attention, "Assuming you like steamed kelp." "Steamed? Blast, and here I was craving some broiled kelp." Dakoth joked from beside Rive as he turned to face him, "What are we doing here, anyway?" Nova gave Dakoth a light rap on the top of his head as the space pirate walked by, "We're decoding that Imperial file, remember?" Dakoth rubbed his head and glared after Nova as he mumbled, "Must have been in the bathroom..." Damon was now staring at Ur, the hulking man having to duck down to make it out of the ship, "Colorful friends you have." Rive, "Yeah, they're a joyful bunch. You know I th---" Rive cut himself off as he saw one of the few Mon Calamari that Rive could recognize on sight approaching their docking port. Ackbar was wearing the deep blue dress uniform from his time as Coral City's representative. Ackbar had taken to wearing it the past half-dozen times Rive had dropped supplies off - most likely as a show of respect. There was a young female Mon Calamari trailing behind him. "Master Caedo, I came as soon as they told me you'd arrived." Ackbar extended his webbed hand and Rive awkwardly shook it, "We weren't expecting another shipment from you for a week." "Afraid I don't have anything for you this time, Councilmen." Rive used Ackbar's defunct title also as a show of respect, "I was actually hoping for a favor." Ackbar's eyes drooped slightly, he had been delighted to hear of an unexpected shipment of supplies, "We have little to offer besides security and a fresh meal, but..." Ackbar eyes swiveled to catch as many of the group's members as he could - who were already milling about the docking hold, "You are, of course, welcome to it. For as long as you need." Rive nodded, "Appreciated. I was also hoping you'd be able to decode this for us." Rive handed Ackbar a disk containing the file Armia Delvron sent. "We'll set our finest to work on it right away. Now then, I have some pressing matters to attend to." Ackbar gestured to the young girl at his side, "My niece, Jesmin will lead you to the mess hall. We'll meet again in the morning after you've all gotten some rest and a full stomach. It looks as if you could use it." Ackbar turned and walked back across the docking hold and out of sight. Jesmin stared with wide eyes at the Promenade before forcing herself to break away. She grabbed Damon by the arm - the only person in the hold she knew - and pulled him with her across the hold in a different direction than Ackbar had gone, "Come on!" she shouted, "The kelp's getting cold!" Korus rolled his eyes inside his helmet at the child fish-girl, "This is going to be a very long day." |
| Cimil |
Cimil sat in the mess hall, played with the kelp on his plate. What's up with these fish people? he thought. He had been hired by the republic several days ago but had seen no action so far. There had been a lot of moving crates and running drills however. He would give anything to use his saber again. To hear the sizzle as it flashed into life. To hear the crack as he pulled the trigger on a unfourtunete enemy. He glanced up to see an odd assortment of soldiers being led by a small fish. Could this finaly lead to the action he'd been promised. |
| Thar Kast |
thar looked around the hood of his robe shadowing his face. he felt thge mist of the surf casscade over his reptillian body making it..... well slimy.
"yuck" he said aloud as he followed his group he fell in behind them all and followed almost running shin over at one point. |
| Dakoth |
Dakoth, already sated by his last meal, which might have been Ackbar's old tour guide for all he knew, wandered off from the group, touring the recesses of Home One. While it was still dwarfed by Hikahi's crumbling superstructure, it was still of adequate size to accomadate a resistance movement. Or so it appeared, from his very brief experiences which really contained little more than wet boots and awkward passings with the denezins of Home One. It really made him wonder how the Mon Calamarians were going to decode the transmission without electrocuting everyone.
He smiled at himself as he pictured a cartoon Ackbar lighting up like some kind of fish-lamp as he decoded the tranmission, not even stopping to take notice of the fact that he was glowing. Then, to the Jedi's pleasant realization, he noticed where he was, threw back his head and started laughing uncontrollably, kicking up water as he fell against the wall, cracking himself up like a child. And it felt good. To finally throw back without a care in the world, completely ignoring the puzzled looks of the passerby, not worrying about being beaten and jailed by an imperial patrol, or in his case, shot at by. It was as if he was coming back from the dead. |
| Rive Caedo |
Rive took a large bite out of the Whaladon slice on his plate. Damon and the Mandalorians were the only other ones eating.
Shin whispered to no one in particular, "Is this alright? I mean... it's whale." A Mon Calamarian resistance trooper eating at the table behind Shin turned around in his seat and answered him, "We have an agreement with them. It's in the Whaladons' interests to drive the Empire off-world, so they've been supplying us with the carcasses of their dead." The Mon Calamari looked back down and focused on his plate, feeling a bit shameful, "We never would have considered it before, but we're having a hard enough time getting power and medical supplies down here - hunting for all our food would be unmanageable." "I meant..." Shin didn't finish his sentence, which probably would have ended with something along the lines of 'you're pretty whaleish, aren't ya?' Korus spoke between bites of meat, "You eat Nerf, don't you? Mammals just like us. So are Whaladons, actually." Shin and the others at the table who had never visited Home One began to tentatively eat - although many of them started with the kelp. ((Ahhh, it feels good to do a plot free post every once in awhile.)) |
| Devrin |
Damon sat eating the whaladon and thought it was delicious. He didn't know why the others thought it was disgusting, but then again, he had been here for some time now. He shrugged slightly and continued to eat. Once he was finished, he set his plate where the other dishes were kept and walked back to the room that he had been staying in. He sat on his bed and sighed. It was good to finally see his friends again.
He looked at a shelf, which contained many books, and he took one that had many pictures in it. It wasn't exactly a picture book, but a book that had pictures of his friends from the Jedi Order. He came across a picture that included himself and his brother, Randy. For an instant he could hear blaster shots whizzing by and missiles being fired. He remembered when they were on a peace keeping mission to Iridonia. And also a time when Randy had lost his life. He set the book down, and stood up from the bed. He could slightly feel his cheeks getting wet and he wiped his eyes before anyone saw him like this. After all, he did have a reputation to keep. He chuckled slightly and closed his door. |
| Dakoth |
"You're crazy!" A Calamarian shouted to his friend as they were walking down the hall.
Somewhat intrigued by such an exclamation from the normally quiet fishmen, Dakoth made it a point to trail them in earshot. "Look, I'm only saying that Ackbar should strike some deals with them, not become them!" The other retorted boldly. "You don't just Make Deals with the Hutts, they'd turn us over the second something better came along!" The other responded passionately. "Oh, I'm not so sure about that, I can think of a thousand reasons why they'd want to get rid of the Empire, and you know the saying, The enemy of my enemy is my friend." The mon Calamarian countered as the pair began to drift down a different corridor. "Yeah well the back of my back is my front, but you don't see me striking deals with it" The other responded as they dissapeared from sight and earshot. Shrugging, Dakoth countinued to mull about Home One in search of other crazies. |
| Ga'nen |
Horgie walked through Home one curiously looking at everything. He was surprised the group allowed him to walk around seeing as they thought he was a spy but then again, what better way to lay a trap than to use the trap of your enemy. Apparently there was a Mon Calamarian here who was leading a resistance against the Empire, Ackbar was his name but Horgie hadn't paid too much attention to those details.
Walking into what was a cafeteria he grabbed food of some unknown origin to him but he didn't bother to ask as the rest of them were downing it as if it were water. Taking his chances he sat at a table eating slowly as if expecting something. He figured being here was a lot better than Nar Shadaa but then again, a resistance movement had a better chance of being found and destroyed along with any here than those on Nar Shadaa minding their own business. But something was intriguing about the group, he didn't know what it was but there was something directing them, something directing Horgie to them. If he were interested in hearing the force's voice he'd discover some secret unveiling itself within the enigmatic energy that was the force. Ripping a piece of meat from the larger chunk he just chewed thinking quietly to himself. |
| Zsaber |
Ur looked down at the "food" on his plate. He had eaten weirder lookig things in his life but this was just unsettling. The food was alright, but combining that to where they were, what they were doing, and what their situation was, it just kind of gave him a funny feeling in the pit of his stomach. Ur was also aware of the odd glances he got from the other people in the cafeteria. He was actually bending the bench he was sitting on. Not to mention that the little droid on his shoulder made him an even odder sight.
Ur gave a quick glance to Sumomo who say, fidgeting, on his shoulder. "What is this?" Ur asked Sumomo, indicating the food on his plate. Sumomo's eyes glazed over for a second and she became still. After just a few seconds she returned to normal and answered the question. She had a database of thousands of different types of dishes in her memory banks, and could identify food using optical and ocular sensors which were built into her. She could identify incredibly rare dishes that could only be served on a certain planet at a certain time, or what was in a sandwich someone ordered at a bar. The answer Ur got did not really make him very happy. "Meat!" Sumomo cheered jumping up from her sitting position on Ur's shoulder. "Thanks." Ur said sadly and returned to poking the "meat" with his fork. ------ Jynzo looked out at Home One from the cockpit on the ship. He could not go outside and walk around the base. Or at least not yet anyway. The ship held the emotions of relatively few people. This feelings were soft and gentle, though they were real and almost material to him. Even now he could feel the lingering emotion of anger that the Mandalorians had had a while ago in the ship. But this base was to much. So many people were in Home One and they all felt the same thing. Fear. It filled the base, giving it a slimy feeling on Jynzo's skin when he had taken the first few steps off the ship. He had nearly fallen down and had to retreat back into the ship. He had told Ur to take Sumomo with him, he could not be trusted alone. Jynzo smiled at the thought of the large man with the tiny droid on his shoulder. Even now he could feel all that fear slowly seep into the ship, If he was not careful it could change him. His empathy was strengthened with his connection to the force, and this was a great asset and a great weakness. Jynzo sighed as he steadily put up blocks against his empathy, he had to get off the ship some time. |
| Rive Caedo |
Rive saw Jynzo give a slight jump as he entered the Promenade's cockpit from behind him. After Jynzo saw Rive's face he settled back into his seat and turned back to the window.
Rive hadn't expected anyone else to be on board, "Can't stand the smell of salt water either, eh?" Rive clicked a switch engaging the sleeping bunks in the starboard living quarters as he asked this. Jynzo responded in a low, measured tone, "Not exactly." "Mmm..." Rive located another switch to dim the lighting in that section of the ship, "I can block it out, but I always found it easier to just sleep in my shuttle's cockpit any time I made a supply run here." Rive made one last attempt at casual conversation as he searched for the temperature controls for the starboard living quarters, "I've never liked sleeping in a cramped cockpit either, so this should be a nice change." "I'd imagine." Jynzo said simply. Rive shrugged and began to walk out of the cockpit, "Ackbar's people tell me they've almost got the message decoded, we're meeting with them in the morning. Come along, if you're up to it." Jynzo didn't respond at all this time. Rive turned into the starboard quarters. The lights were low, the temperature was pleasantly warm, and the bunks were deployed. At that moment it was hard to disagree with Skod's statement what seemed like days ago: 'If I'm on the run, I want to do it in luxury.' Rive fell onto one of the lower bunks and almost instantly fell to sleep. |
| Jaden Nightsaber |
It was night, almost everyone was asleep. But not Nova. While most of the halls may have been silent he doubted that everyone was asleep. Considering the position they were in it would be foolish for the whole crew to be asleep. But the only sound Nova heard was the sloshing of water as he continued on.
He wasn't really looking for anything, just kind of wandering. Nova didn't get much sleep anyway. He pondered the semi-reunion of these people, those that were on Kallibann. Strange, it seemed, that they would all meet up. Fate or coincidence? A question Nova found himself asking ever increasingly ever since Kallibann. The time was irrelevant to Nova right now, he didn't have to worry about being busted by the local squad of Troopers anymore so he relaxed a bit. Relaxation, it sounded nice to him. He could finally enjoy it. He wandered to a dry spot, took off his boots and sat down. Relaxing was better than he thought. Nova actually ended up falling asleep against the wall there. |