Public A Liner Lost - Pirates vs NIO Liner

[Njal The Black]

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Mygeeto, like it always was...

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Comms had been quiet for days, and the vessel known simply as ‘An Honest Mistake’ seemed more ghost ship than pirate ship. It’s ferrocarbon hull groaned in the midnight darkness as pirates and cultists gambled their hours away - waiting ever more for the sultry prize of a cruise liner carrying one too many VIP’s on board.​

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“Ser - arya sure its common’ this way?”, Ragnar asked with a quick glance away from the navigation console. A few of the screens were broken from a few too many nights of rowdy fighting, and an obvious sign of the care the ship was under.​

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From a flamboyant captain’s chair draped in wolf skins and furs of a hundred planets, a man hardened from war and built from the iron of fallen ships brought his reddened eyes up to meet his first mates. The captain was known as Njal, the Void Beckoner as some had begun to refer him, gave a wiry grimace to the audacity of his crewmate; blood slowly seeping from his nose after one too many lines of deathsticks.​

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“Are you questioning me?”, he said with an ever so slight squint of his eyes. His mechanical hand whirred ever so softly in the momentary silence between them - a few of the others in the room glance awkwardly to the scene, waiting to see what would happen.​

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“N-nay, Captain I-I was jus-”​

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“You were just questioning me!”, the Captain roared as he stood up, throwing the table and its drugs aside in a rabid display of uncaring dominance. He growled as heavy bootfalls carried him across the bridge, wolf skins falling from him with every step before he stood in front of the man - stark nude, scarred to oblivion, with blood trailing down his face from his own drug habit.​

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A finger thrust into the man's cheek, driving his head away from Njal.​

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“Are you trying to become Captain?! Trying to usurp me, boy?!”, he yelled, veins beginning to pop from his muscled neck with every crescendoing syllable.​

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“N-No!”, the man pleaded, leaning ever farther back in his seat - as though he could escape the confrontation through mere leans.​

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Njal watched him, studied his face, moved so there was no choice but to look him in the eye - but he remained silent. Soon, the veins in his neck subsided, he nodded and took a step back. Everyone in the room gave a collective sigh of relief as Njal seemed sated.​

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"No, of course not..."​

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Until a gunshot rang deafeningly loud through the small room. A slugthrower had been picked up by Njal, and he left a well-placed hole deep in the center of Ragnar’s forehead. Blood covered his chest, much of the wall behind Ragnar, and a few of the more unfortunate crewmates nearby. Nobody spoke a word as Njal traced some of the blood from his own chest, and put it in his mouth.​

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“... She’s here.”, he offered quietly as he moved to find his seat once more.​

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And like magic, a small blip began to ping on the sensor array. The luxury liner ‘Profit & Loss’ had found its way into their humble void of space, and directly into the jaws of a legendary pirate…​

 

[Xun of Throne]

"Micky? Was that a gunshot? Micky what the hell?" Gunfist growled into his commlink from the bridge of the pirate ship Red Libation.

"Yeah, yeah, boss," Micky's voice crackled over the comm, "Don't get your space tape in a twist, huh. Just Captain Njal doin' Captain Njal stuff, ya dig?"

Gunfist scowled. "No, you diminutive little rodent. I do not. What happened?"

"Hey, we Squib are a proud and independent people."

"They exiled you for stealing trash."

"Listen-"

"Micky."

"Ok, ok. Look, Captain Njal fethin' blasted a guy who was messin' with him. No big. Some guy named Rugnor or Ragner or something."

Gunfist grunted. Those kinds of things did happen. Had to keep the crew in line. Made sense.

"Fine. Tell Njal our ions are spun up and we're moving in."

"Sounds good, boss."

Click.

Before the luxury cruise liner crowded with the rich, famous, and infamous got very far on its way to hover above the renowned iceball of Mygeeto, the Red Libation swooped in, its two oversized ion cannons pounding the liner's engines into submission and leaving it listless in the vacuum of space.

 

[Ru Comet]

Location: New Imperial Order flagged Star Liner the Profit & Loss
Tags: Njal The Black | Xun of Throne

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Ru had been out of much business since his ship was destroyed during his blockade running, leading him straight into an invasion between the Eternal Empire and Sith Empire. That extra 20% wouldn't bring back his YT-1760 and neither would the next few deliveries.

As he sat on a bench in an expansive hallway of the massive starship he tapped his fingers against the non-descript cargo container on his lap. It was a one foot cube "Baby steps, Comet, baby steps." he muttered to himself "Mom why is he wearing that?" asked a small Rodian girl while pointing at Ru who was wearing his full, now repaired, EVA suit "Don't point! Its rude." her mother scolded her while flashing an uncomfortable glance at Ru whos golden visor reflected their faces back at them "Because, small infant, I am Sith and if I didn't wear this your soul would be sucked out from those big eyes of yours." the Rodian woman gasped and snatched up her child as the little girl looked dumbfounded at Ru.

"Time to go." he stood up and briskly walked away from the scene he had just created. Pushing between two other passengers he looked out the viewing port of transparasteel. He could... almost feel like something was off. Ru's orange cybernetic eyes narrowed as he stared into the void of space "Oh kark!" he pulled out his datapad "Not again! Are you serious?" he hadn't checked the order criteria - this recipient would be owing him another dozen or so creds. He really should check these over "Hey! Hey you." he pointed at Gungan waiter who looked side to side then pointed to himself "Yeah you. Come here, I got to ask you a question." the Gungan nodded and shuffled over "Meesa always be willing to help tha great costuma-" Ru waved his hand back and forth "Yeah, yeah. Great. Tell me, do you know where I can find room Aurek two thirty-four one?" the Gungan was silent for a moment "Mhms! Top of tha floors, Aurek deck. Specials and VIPsa guests onlys. Yousa can be up there only if yousa have Kyber Clubs accounts." the courier patted the Gungan on the shoulder "Thanks pal." and with that he began to walk away from the Gungan who asked "Yousa pass please? Meesa doesn't think yousa should be up heres." the Gungan had picked out that this 'customer' was rather strangely dressed for the midsection of the star liner.

Ru put up a hand and looked down "Right, not a problem I got it riigghhht here-" he was patting around on his belt before dashing through the hallway and pushing over several patrons while spinning around others. Ru stumbled a few times but didn't quite lose his balance. He couldn't be found out for being a stow-away whenever his order was almost complete! Though he did fall and slip as the ship was hit by some sort of projectiles "Ugh!" he looked up at the ceiling in a light daze as a security droid's voice came over the intercom.

"Security to general stations. Security to general stations." flashing alarms followed in the hallways with loud buzzing noises. Now the ship was in a panic.

 

[Emrys Crow]

The hyper-drive was acting up again, forcing Emrys Crow to do short jumps across the system to her destination like a smooth rock skipping across a still pond. Streaks and pinpoints of light almost felt burned into her retinas, leaving behind dark spots in her vision from the constant reactivation of said hyper-drive.

Emrys had to shake her head and rub at her eyes to clear away any lingering dark spots when her last jump jostled something loose near Mygeeto. It forced her to cease the short hyper space jumps and instead, she had to cruse for a bit while R3 worked to reconnect it. Any sort of mental drifting that was planned while she waited was stone walled by the communicator lighting up with R3's binary within less than a full minute of time spent on repairs.

-Sensors indicate multiple vessels nearby. Query. Should repairs be expedited for avoidance or halted for investigation?-

An unmoving cruise liner and the ship approaching it peaked Crow's innate curiosity, "Hold on for now, R3. Go ahead and prepare the shields instead. It may not do much of anything against those cannons from that non-cruise vessel, but it's better than nothing I guess."

BD-10 whirred and beeped their displeasure as the droid moved it's head in an exaggerated shiver over not moving on from its perch on the human pilot's right shoulder.

"Come on, Ten! What's the worst that could happen?" Emrys flew her N-1 Starfighter closer to get a better guess as to what was happening with a cheeky grin at her old friend, "Maybe the liner is just stranded and the other ship is helping them out!"

She could almost feel BD-10's deadpan stare, even though there was no possible way for it to have facial expressions. The sudden sharply turned gaze aimed at her and then the full body stillness is what gave off that feeling. Ten was not amused with her joke.

 

[Njal The Black]

Onboard the ‘Honest Mistake’...​

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“Gunfist’s ship is already firing.”, the man chimed in through puffs of his cigarette. The bridge was full of smoke multiplied many times by its occupants, and Njal struggled through the haze to find his place near the less than clean windows.​

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“Anyone ever tells him he has a damned stupid name?”, Njal said with a glance back to the crew. Nobody answered, knowing already it was rhetorical, but the growl of the Captain set a few of them up a little straighter - encouraging one weapons operator to take his feet off the table next to him.​

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“Man probably had a terrible mom.”, he said more to himself now. His gaze had wandered back to the liner, filled with the well-endowed pocketbooks of a thousand executives, and a few thousand more citizens. Many would make a find ransom from the New Imperial Government, but Njal wasn’t one in the market of trading hostages.​

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They’d find their way as sacrifices to the void - worth plenty more than bargaining chips that way.​

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The ‘Honest Mistake’ lurched forward as the engines began to accelerate them at an astonishing rate. The ship was small, cloaked, and well-armed for what it was - the perfect vessel for outdoing the Capital Ship orientated navies of the Outer Rim; hard to catch a small agile ship after all. Its main weapon, a solar ionization cannon, exposed itself from the retracted basin it was in and began to spin its barrels. When they came into range, a solid barrage would help encourage those onboard to slow their vessel to a stop and hear out their demands.​

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So long as they didn’t know it was Njal’s ‘Honest Mistake’ that was. Rumors spread quick in the trade lanes of what he did to those that let him on board, but it didn’t really matter when he was cloaked. The shots ran a clear burn pattern across the side of the ship - very likely killing a few of the more vulnerable outside cabins, and enacting emergency lockdown procedures throughout.​

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“Send a hail. Demand they stop and let us board.”, Njal said as he draped the final cloak over his shoulders, and began his walk from the bridge. His men were likely preparing themselves for the raid, and a true captain had to prepare himself with them. It wasn’t like a cumbersome liner like that was going to get far anyway.​

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---​

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“Mam, they’re calling for us to stop. Said its the only way we’ll see tomorrow.”, the Communications Officer said.​

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Captain Imuzi Mari contorted her face into a frown, disheveled by the blatant attack on their liner so close to Imperial territory. It was ill tidings, especially since a response team would be shortly on their way - told her the pirates didn’t intend to stay long. Meant they were either fast and brutal or were looking for something - or someone - specific. In the end, however, she didn’t think she had a choice - they’d be able to cripple and vent the ship long before help arrived if they didn’t.​

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“Inform the crew and passengers we’re going to stop. Make sure security retains some pockets of defense in case things go poorly.”, he said with a tightening of her lips.​

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The man nodded, and the command went out to those around.​

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Pirates were soon to be added to the guest registry.​

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Xun of Throne │ Emrys Crow │ Ru Comet​

 

[Xun of Throne]

A long hiss signaled that the docking clamp had been engaged and the door slid open, revealing a passageway to the interior of the cruise liner. Gunfist tossed a glance over his shoulder at his waiting crew. They watched expectantly. He gave them a shrug, then walked down the passageway.

Personally, he would've preferred to come in guns blazing, blast a hole in the liner, land, kill all the security, and- well... it was a more direct method. He supposed Njal's method was fine too. So far.

A woman in an officious looking uniform greeted them, flanked by subordinates. Probably subordinates.

Gunfist stuck his arm cannon in her face.

"You the captain?" he rumbled.

"I am Captain Imuzi Mari, yo-"

"Ok cool," he cut her off, "Take me to the bridge and make sure none of your people have weapons. Make a nice neat pile of them in the birdge and nobody will get hurt."

That was probably a lie. Gunfist couldn't really imagine a scenario where people didn't get hurt in this heist. There was always some damned hero.

A few moments later and they were on the bridge. Captain Mari turned over the control to Gunfist and he promptly put everything on lockdown. Nobody was goin nowhere.

"Silverback, stay here and monitor this with those two. The rest of you with me. Time to go collect some taxes."

 

[Emrys Crow]

The silver and royal blue N-1 Starfighter slowly cruised closer to the large stranded Liner and making sure to try not to drag too much attention, Crow pulled up alongside the bottom of it, skimming just outside of its hull at a slower speed than she normally flew at. It was large enough that the slow speed forced a normally seconds fly by to turn into a minutes fly by, but she couldn't risk alerting any possible hostiles that might be keeping a look out.

BD-10 whirred as quietly as it could, even though no one but Crow and R3 would be able to hear it, staring up at the large ship's hull that they slowly flew under and looking for any signs of entry since this was the first Liner either of them had ever seen first hand.

R3's binary through the ships comms made the two inside jump with surprise when it cut through the nervous silence. -Statement. The docking you are searching for is up ahead. Query. Should I send out a distress beacon?-

Sharing a look with Ten, Crow muttered quietly before turning her gaze forwards again, eyes widening and body tensing at the ship already docked, "If you can and it isn't blocked, please, R3." She then gently guided her ship to slip carefully near the docked second ship, making sure to have her ground weapons ready to be grabbed if she needed to dock and disembark. "Alright guys, let's see if we can hail them. Keep your ears out for any signs of foul play."

An attempt at hailing the Liner connected successfully, much to her surprise, and lead Crow to speak with a false cheery voice, "Cruise liner, this is Emrys Crow. Are you lot in need of assistance? It appears you are currently adrift."