Public Do Bad Well

[The Fool]

Wynter Rackham |The Wayfarer| Maijan Paisea Cei Kyros Alkor Centaris Caedyn Arenais Galen Arterius Kiff Brayde

Of course, Rackham splits himself with the female out of the whole band of no gooders but Roman wasn't going to argue, even if he was in the mood to do so. The plan was solid - in reality, their only shot of getting this job right. Even if it meant being stuck with Captain Cei Kyros. Again.

"If you could stop following me." he growled inaudibly at the Duros but led the group for the bridge on their mission. Up and down, left and right, narrow corridors, wide turbolifts and a short altercation with a droid patrol resolved by the use of an ion grenade Roman conveniently carried, the bridge brothers were right at the doors.

He wiped the sweat from his forehead and checked his ammo once more, then jerked his head at The Wayfarer, "You wanna take point?"

The cowboy did seem like a man who'd breach headfirst unto the bridge. Besides, if there was a nasty surprise behind the doors - he'd be paying the price.

Honor among thieves, right?

 

[Caedyn Arenais]

Starship: "The Vagabond" Heavy Cruiser.
Objective: Cautionary Patrol of Confederacy Borders.
Tags: The Fool | Wynter Rackham | Maijan Paisea | Alkor Centaris | |The Wayfarer| | Cei Kyros | Kiff Brayde | Galen Arterius

Aggressors - The Undoubtedly > The Diligent.
Caedyn Arenais - The Vagabond [SJO]
Kliff Brayde - The Phantom Blood [CIS]
Alkor Centaris - CNS Recovery / Taskforce Upsilon [CIS]

By the time of the Phantom Blood's arrival out of hyperspace, the Vagabond of the Silver Jedi Order was near enough for visuals to be put on screen for the all upon the bridge to observe. Moving to stand alongside the Captains workstation, Caedyn Arenais watched as the civilian vessel was being harassed and now it appeared as though another contingent of the Confederacy had joined the affair.

"Captain, Confederacy vessels on scanners. IFF tags read the Phantom Blood, Ma'am" Ticia C'Here announced, giving a name to the additional vessel on screen.

Cpt. Gene Whayeson spared Caedyn a glance, brief yet the Jedi Knight knew well enough the facts. They were closing in on Confederacy borders, this was closer to their jurisdiction than it was the Order of the Silver Jedi's and a diplomatic incident would be catastrophic were they not careful.

"Hail The Phantom Blood and the CNS Recovery" Whayeson instructed, sitting forward as she prepared to announce their arrival.

"Confederacy Fleet, this is Captain Whayeson of the SN.Vagabond. Forwarding our approach vector now. Be advised, we are responding to a distress call in this region. How copy?".

"C'here, what is the status of the Civilian Vessel?" Commander Lonni O'Jakri spoke up, looking to the Catharian Officer as he walked the bridge. The Zabrak was second in command, answerable solely to the Captain and held a particular air about him. On a personal level, he and Caedyn Arenais were on different playing fields, one light and the other dark. A Fallen Jedi and an Exile with a great deal of experience, having so far proven invaluable to the Crew.

"They appear to have sustained minor damage, and judging from the unknown vessels proximity, their position suggests the Diligent has been boarded, Commander" Ticia responded, turning to look to the Command in lieu of further question.

"What is their cargo?" the Captain spoke up from the center of the bridge, following the O'Jakri's inquiry.

"Uncertain, Captain" The Catharian Officer responded in short, "Trade goods if I were to hazard a guess".

"They're likely headed for Confederacy Space, Captain" came the voice of the security chief, Kara Mason. The young Echani woman passing a knowing look across the room to that of Ticia C'here, a subtle cautioning stare in response to his assumption. "I advise we hold back until they give us permission otherwise...".

"Agreed, Lieutenant" Cpt. Whayeson concluded.

All the while, the Jedi Knight had returned to the observation platform, eyeing the far off Confederacy Vessels. Caedyn didn't much like the idea of staying put to witness a merchant ship being victimized by rogue pirates, yet the political relationship between the Confederacy and the Order of the Silver Jedi was something they could not afford to risk. With the Confederacy having withdrawn all assets from Silver Space, the slightest offense could spark an incident that neither side would benefit from.

 

[Wynter Rackham]

Desperados In Space: The Fool | |The Wayfarer| | Maijan Paisea | Cei Kyros
Cowboy Be- Arterius: Galen Arterius
Nothing To See Here, Mister Police: Alkor Centaris | Caedyn Arenais | Kiff Brayde

OOC: Gonna post again, but Wayfarer feel free to jump back in, if you have the time!

Track Four

It was a good thing Wynter had no idea what was going on outside the ship.

A task force of ships on one side, a red hot territorial line on the other, a Silver Jedi stealth ship finishing it off. That wasn't peanuts. Then again, knowing Wynter he would probably just grin and continue on. Not suicidal per se... though Roman might disagree. Everything was going wrong and they didn't even realize it yet.

Luckily something was about to go right.

Bad luck ended up making this the rendezvous point of a bunch of military ships. But good luck made this particular piece of space one of the many shortcuts used by migratory Purrgil herds on their way back from the Outer Rim. Who could have realized they'd be exiting Hyperspace right now? And who could have thought they'd exit right between the hijacked ship and the incoming ships of Kiff Brayde?

​

They were certainly majestic creatures.

Even if they were very inconvenient right now. There were many of them, and they were slow, as they grazed on the stardust among them. Leisurely dancing about with one another. Wholly unconcerned by the metric fethton of ships currently heading their way. If a collusion happened, it would most definitely not be pretty.

Luckily Wynter didn't have to think about these sort of things.

He was a Captain of a small freighter. These concerns were far above his station.

"Oh, I believe circumstances can always be made right, miss Paisea." Wyn drawled lightly as they slipped through the corridors. It was strange how he suddenly felt better. Like an incoming stormy cloud had just about missed him. "But fear not, my mind s'all about da prize right now." There would be plenty of time to celebrate, have a drink, after all this was said and done. No sense in tempting the fate. They moved quickly. One corridor, the next, until the fourth one ended up with them in a bind.

The hallway was just okay for two people to go through.

You know what it wasn't okay for? Two people moving through it, while on the other side a gaggle of droids started rushing in. Sure, they couldn't see Wynter and Maijan right now, but they'd certainly be able to bump into them.

Wynter cursed and jumped to the side, dragging the magician woman with him. They bumped into a door. It went hiss and slid away. More cursing as he stumbled with the lack of support on his back. The last thing the Captain was expecting was what came next. A dozen cries, mostly female, but some male, shocked and crying.

"...I think I know why this ship wasn't transmitting their own emergency signal..."

All those voices belonged to people collared to the wall.

 

[Maijan Paisea]

Deep Space // The Diligent
The Fool // Cei Kyros // |The Wayfarer|
Alkor Centaris // Caedyn Arenais // Kiff Brayde ​

Maijan's surprise by the tug almost broke the façade they were concealed beneath. If the droids were any more sentient, they would have noticed the undulations of the walls when she lurched from her step and into a concealed chamber. Without any preparation or ability to manipulate the physical, she clattered to the ground gracelessly. Right on her butt, which had gold bits in it, so it made a loud clang noise on impact. She groaned in protest, and crunched upward, reaching up reflexively to check the back of her head before looking around.

Immediately the current reacted, and she knew they were surrounded by life before her eyes adjusted to the shift in lighting.

"This complicates things."

The room was thankfully not big, but it certainly held more people than anyone had expected. Their fear was palpable, and it made the Firrerreo deeply uncomfortable. As hardened as her front was, she had a soft spot for altruism. She rose to stand, and raised her hands to try and calm the desperate sounds from the terrified group.

This was not the cargo they were supposed to bring home. Did that Twi'Lek know about this? Why hadn't she mentioned it? You'd think the madame would be sensitive to slavery? Surely she...

"Did you know about this?" Maijan asked, while reaching out to hold the shaking hand of one of the wan looking women. She tried to calmly coo out some shhhhh shhh's of reassurance. All the while, she tippy-toed to try and inspect the collars and how easily unclickable they'd be.

"You any good at this stuff? We're going to have to do something, surely."

 

[Victor Thrash]

The Diligent
On his Way to the Cargo Bay
PIRATE SCUM: Maijan Paisea Wynter Rackham Cei Kyros The Fool
BOOTLICKING SCUM: Alkor Centaris Caedyn Arenais Kiff Brayde ​

Blaster fire was ringing all over the ship. Karking pirates...Just had to take HIS cargo. Well, not really his per se, but a good chunk of it could have been once they got through Confederate lines. He cursed under his breath as the blaster fire seemed to be getting closer. To avoid it he took a left and almost ran into the Trandoshan he was supposed to be meeting in the cargo bay. The scaley monster hissed. Galen was tall, hell his entire species was tall, but Trandoshans were evolved to hunt and fight Wookies. That put them just a hair taller than him...And then there was Fang. Fang was, well Fang was a monster. Half a meter taller than Galen and with the biggest teeth he'd ever seen the green-scaled lizard man was a walking tank of muscle, tooth, and claw, and his eyes looked like he'd just fallen back down to earth from an un-authorized glitterstim break.

"Uhh, we're supposed to be going that way." Fang hissed again.

"Yousssss ain't the captainnnnn anymore....hisss. I don't ffffollow your ordersssss. Besssidesss, fightin'sss over there!" He shoved his way passed the lanky smuggler. He should have known this spice addict was going to be itching for a fight. He always was. Galen cursed under his breath.

"Ten percent," he muttered. That got the Trandoshan to pause. He turned his head appraisingly at the fellow reptomammal. "I'll give you ten percent of everything we can get off of this poodoo fest."

"Twenty."

"Fifteen." The Trandoshan paused at that. "And I get you off this ship before it goes to hell in a hand basket." The Trandoshan hissed.

"Deal." Galen winked. Apparently, Trandoshans weren't that smart. He'd already said implied he'd take the man in. Besides...Galen would charge him for every credit he used while on his ship.

In a few minutes, they were down in the cargo bay. Frank, err Larry was right. The Twon-Ketee dope was just sitting there. Looked like there was a shoe hanging out of his mouth. Galen didn't wanna know. He'd heard that those things would eat anything, especially if they were on their own, which they usually weren't. Usually after a meal the big red killing machine was pretty docile. Did whatever you told him to do. Galen pointed out a few containers to Fang and the lizard got to collecting. Now Galen had to work on this guy...And the closer he got to him, the more frightening it was. Blood red skin poked out from underneath a torn brown working uniform. Where his secondary pair of arms protruded the uniform was just cut with a laser torch. Cybernetics ran up from behind him and connected to the strange asymmetrical helmet he wore. Twon-Ketee had a mouth, though it was more accurate to call it a maw, that sat right where a collarbone would be and that shoe was starting to look familiar the closer he got to him. Blood pulsed through the large and visible veins on the creatures arms and two of his arms ended in cybernetic hands, one of which was bare, and the other with badly tearing synthflesh that matched his complexion. He was sitting and was almost as tall as Galen was standing.

Galen swallowed hard.

"Here we go. Here's hoping he doesn't just eat me..."

 

[AvCorp™]

//C O N D U I T _ O P E N I N G . . .
// A N A L Y Z I N G . . .
// P O T E N T I A L _ S U C K E R S _ C L I E N T S _ L O C A T E D:
The Fool / Cei Kyros / Wynter Rackham / Maijan Paisea / Alkor Centaris / Caedyn Arenais / Kiff Brayde

//C O N D U I T _ I N I T I A L I Z I N G...

The holo-signal that was sent out from the super-secret AvCorp™ complex on Christophsis eventually found its way into neutral space. The signal was now long outside of its usual range, having diminished in quality quite severely. Despite this, the malicious signal still found its way into the communication systems of the many ships in the general area of the 'gathering'.

The diminished signal would find purchase within several ships, overriding their communications only momentarily. Screens, Holoterminals, and similar apparatuses would suddenly display an image of Avernus in a rather extravagant outfit. Flanking on either side of him was Zhani Amadine and Phadia Alshu both in the cliche 'booth girl' outfits with 'AvCoin©' across the bust.

"Take back control of your wallet!" Darth Avernus exclaimed on the shoddy and shaky image. "Don't trust big banks to handle your money," an image of the IGBC logo would apear on the screen with stock-booing sound effects and a big red X flashing over the top of it. "Invest in stability, invest in control, invest in AvCoin©!"

The AvCorp™ logo appeared on the screen as a robotic voice began to spit off a lighting fast disclaimer. While mostly unintelligible, some words like 'repossession', 'dismemberment', and 'untimely death' could be picked out. The signal ended and left the ships alone almost as quickly as it accosted them.

//C O N D U I T _ C L O S I N G