Private Don't Forget To Stop And Smell The Subglacial Pseudo Algae

[Niysha]

As it turned out, the Ridge was somehow less built for combat than the Dancer. Niysha legitimately didn't think that was possible, but maybe she'd become too used to In's ship and its exceptionally rugged defenses. A bulk freighter with enough defense to take more than one turbolaser shot seemed to be rarer than she'd expected. The North Ridge was even less. Fortunately, they were well inside the ship-station's effective range by the time they were taking legitimate damage.

In, as per normal, flew like a spiced-up monkey-lizard. It had stopped bothering Niysha a month ago.

When the docking clamps fired and locked, Niysha considered for a moment whether or not she really even needed a mask, at a practical level, then decided that it was probably a good idea. Reducing any strain on her concentration would make the ensuing firefight and boarding action that much easier. When she was properly secure, the Miraluka stood behind her partner. In would have plenty of time to cut in with her power tools, and she'd given her a clear objective.

It took almost no effort at all for Niysha to see inside the ship-station-thing, though the hull was thick enough to need a little concentration. The layout before her sprawled in dull-shaded but very clear lines, and within those lines were several very unconscious living auras... as well as a few electrical signals. "Corridor about two meters deep," she reported, her already soft voice distorted by the gas mask. "Looks like two or three droids eight meters to the left of the breach. Two bulkheads closed nearby. Right side seems clear for at least ten meters. There's too much electrical interference to see much farther than that."

Tilon Quill In Rhan

 

[Tilon Quill]

This was probably technically piracy, and Tilon weighed that as he geared up. He was already wearing a blaster-resistant vest; he added a basic helmet over the gas mask. For his main weapon he had a blaster rifle, a stormtrooper-style carbine, set to stun. He kept his lightsaber at his belt, which probably had something to do with that technically-piracy thing, until he realized just how he'd feel if In or Nysh took a shot he could have blocked. Saber in the right hand, deactivated; blaster in the left, less accurate but then again this was stun rings at close quarters. He did switch it to kill because Nysh said droids, but made a note to switch it back after.

A chunk of hull fell away and Tilon was first out the airlock. He glanced out and got a withering barrage for his troubles, too much to block.

"Three legs, two droids," he said over the blasterfire. "Some kind of droideka derivative. Jedi iconography. Knocked out humans on the deck."

He stuck the blaster rifle around the edge and laid down something approximating chest-height suppressive fire.

In Rhan Niysha

 

[In Rhan]

All things considered, In was dimly aware that she was the least combat-capable member of their team and in no way should be the first person through the breach. Niysha had a lightsaber, Tilon Quill was wearing armor and had a rifle. When she was done sawing through the hull and created a breach, Tilon was the first through. A part of her adored that courage. A part of her worried if she'd rather take a shot herself rather than risk him taking a shot on her behalf.

After setting the big saw aside, In was through the breach the moment Tilon laid down covering fire. The Pantoran woman took long, leaping steps into the hazy interior, spraying her SC-15 in the direction of hostile fire. The blaster wasn't very accurate - especially in full auto - but it DID effectively throw shitloads of tibanna in a general direction in amounts most things didn't want to deal with. Her aim was further not helped by the fact that In was deliberately aiming high to avoid hitting any of the comatose victims of their heist.

In bounded half-dove half-rolled into cover behind a chunk of bulkhead, propping it up to provide a layer of protection between her and the hail of automatic fire from the droid down the hallway.

 

[Niysha]

Droideka alternative? That meant shields on a dangerous gun platform. Niysha didn't know if she was ready to trust Tilon's defensive skills, but she also didn't want to send the whole ship-station into a red alert by being the first to ignite. Realistically speaking she absolutely would be, but she didn't need to rush that. Instead, she waited behind Tilon in the boarding hatch and took her sweet time.

Blaster bolts were simple. Any Force-user could react to them on instinct, with enough practice, but Niysha had the uncommon advantage of being aware of them from the moment they came into existence. She could leisurely inspect their trajectory, their volume, and every angle they could be perceived from. At anything greater than a couple of meters, blasters weren't a great hinderance to her; even less so when it was droids firing them. What they gained in precision programming, they lost in the Force correcting their mistakes.

So, when she noted a break in the volley enough for her to run past unscathed, Niysha circled out of the breach and rushed across the corridor to take cover in one of the sealed bulkheads further up. She had to step over at least three unconscious people to get there. None of them seemed to be in any immediate danger, and she didn't care enough about the welfare of pirates, cultists, or pirate-cultists to make any moves to save them from their own droids.

From this close, the solid ball of bright that comprised two shield generators was too glaring to avoid, though she could at least make out the skeleton of the droids within. In one of the older texts from one of the most exciting periods of the history of galactic war, Niysha remembered something about handling these... She expanded her vision a bit, focused hard, and looked for one specific toy.

The Force was cooperative today.

Without a word, Niysha pressed her lightsaber to the base of the door she was hiding in and ignited it, then slowly pulled the blade upwards along the seal. When the seal failed, she deactivated her saber and held out her hand, pulling one small, metallic ball to it. Then all she had to do was wait in the shadow of the supply closet she'd just opened for a brief break in the blaster fire, tap the big red button and gently roll it out into the hallway.

The effect was dramatic and immediate, electricity siezing one droid's entire form. It was unfortunately stopped from hitting the second by its shield, but very fortunately, EMP grenades were exactly the sort of thing that wouldn't cause hull breaches.

Tilon Quill In Rhan

 

[Tilon Quill]

Tilon was firing haphazardly around the corner when an option came to mind, and not a bad one either. It didn't put In and Nysh at risk, it wasn't too energy-intensive or flamboyant, and it solved the situation neatly. Its only real complication was weirdness, or rather the time he'd need to take to explain if Nysh had questions or feelings.

The Force was orders of magnitude older than the Jedi or the Sith. Hundreds of thousands to millions of years back, there'd been a starfaring multispecies tradition called the Mist-Weavers, unassuming people voyaging through what had to have been a much larger, emptier, more glorious universe back then. Certain Mist-Weaver elders had woven cocoons to let them pass through time. A few had even made it to the modern era and trained a few more in some portion of their ways before they died of extreme age. Tilon had visited. Difficult memories, personal challenges and cognitive dissonance, but he'd come away with a whisper of a much older tradition than any still extant.

Also, droidekas were not known for their DEX.

Under cover of the corner, he left off firing and closed his eyes. Wisps of fog drifted inside the droideka's spherical shield. The fog twisted tight, spun itself into strands, and wrapped around the droideka's arms, which ended in guns. The mist-weavings, almost like yarn, drew the barrels' ends tight together and out of alignment with any target more than a centimetre away.

The firing stopped in a way that felt distinctly confused.

Droidekas weren't known for their INT, either.

In Rhan Niysha

 

[In Rhan]

There were some amazingly convenient things happening. Between the coma gas and trying to not let her head get blown off, In had a limited amount of visibility. Her amazing companions were well-prepared, though. Niysha produced a grenade from...somewhere? It brought down the Droid's shielding. All of a sudden it stopped firing and In was fairly sure its handguns were tied somehow. Likely some clever rope trick on Tilon's part. In was briefly awestruck, but she didn't want to let her companions handle everything. She had to contribute, had to earn her share of the take.

"Going!" The Pantoran woman warned her backup and broke cover when the firing stopped, sprinting for the mildly confused Droideka. It brought its bound limbs to bear, but not quickly enough - In dodged low, baseball sliding between tripod legs. With her back to the floor In swung her legs up and hooked them into the crooks of the Droid's arms. Her full weight thrown while twisting her hips was enough to bring the droid off-balance. Her face planted on the bulkhead, In blew out one of the things legs - enough to finish the maneuver and slam it back-first onto the bulkhead.

It shuddered and began to close up. In was already on it, driving a hydrospanner into the guts of the droid and forcibly tearing out the restraining bolt before it could fully curl.

Tilon Quill Niysha

 

[Niysha]

With one Sam's Club destroyer droid fried by EMP and the second one being...

Niysha had to stop and stare for a long moment, one of her lips curling up just slightly at the breathtaking sight of In. The Pantoran woman was standing over the fried wreck of the second droid, burning with pluck and courage, with a mild electrical charge sparking through the air around her. Honestly, she could watch In pant with heavy effort in a moment of shocking improvisational CQC for a solid week without stopping and it would still never get old. At least this time she eventually remembered to breathe; the last time she caught herself staring at In, she'd wound up drawing way too much attention gasping for air when she realized she'd forgotten about it.

Even so, the immediate danger had passed. That left Niysha a few moments to search their surroundings. The corridors and open rooms were basically inactive, flooded as they were with gas. There were plenty of closed rooms nearby, with a lot of anxiety bunched up inside, but more importantly there were more station security droids on the way.

"About six walkers... that way," she indicated, pointing off towards the empty corridor ahead of In. "Nothing from the other direction, which is a little concerning. Tilon, can you close that corridor? I don't want to get vented if that's their plan." For once, when something absolutely crazy was happening, Niysha couldn't say "again." This hopefully wouldn't be the first time she got vented into space, but she was realistic. There was no concievable way she'd be able to avoid that forever.

Tilon Quill In Rhan

 

[Tilon Quill]

Tilon tore his gaze away from In's impressively muscular work — it reminded him of a longshoreman he'd known on the Rishi expedition's big logistics ships — and refocused. "Corridor, on it."

He'd had the notion more than once of walling off atmosphere in similar situations with a skein of mist-weaving; he'd seen it done on that strange quiet world. It was beyond him and anyways he'd never ascribed to the kind of Force connection that made everything look like a nail.

Instead he squinted through his gas mask and poked around a couple of niches until he found the right blast door control. He punched his lightsaber through its central mechanism to weld it shut and deactivated the weapon right off. The last thing he wanted was the locals deciding to worship him. He'd play that card only at the most extreme need, and not just because counting on fanatics was the last refuge of fools and maniacs.

The corridor sealed, he turned back and put himself between In and Nysh and the direction of the six inbound droids. A moment later he realized he'd sealed some of the unconscious locals on the other side of the door: if that got vented, they'd die rapidly, albeit in their sleep. Some portion of that was on him.

"There's a T-junction right," he said, pointing the blaster rifle at the corner where the droids would emerge. "Sign's got Jedi-derivative iconography that says Generous Hearing and Benevolent Expounding. It's the commscan."

In Rhan Niysha

 

[In Rhan]

"We'll want to stop them from calling in the field boys." In replied quickly, getting to her feet and shaking out her limbs. "Outfits like this usually have away teams out looking for scrap and suckers. We shut the comms off, we take what we need, we get out." To take out pirates, after all, it helped to think like a pirate - and In had spent most of her adolescence with pirates or pirate-adjacent folk. Was she a pirate? The thought gave her brief pause, but she swiftly discarded it. Of course she wasn't a pirate. These guys needed to go down, and there the rule of law out here didn't really exist. There weren't any Wardens of the Sky, either. Somebody had to do something, so she'd be somebody.

In hefted a shield from one of the slumbering pirates around her feet, set the butt of her blaster into her shoulder, and gave her companions a nod. "We move quick." She reiterated firmly, before setting off towards Generous Hearing and Benevolent Expounding. The Droids were coming from there, so she'd meet them in force. In barreled around a corner into a battle droid, slammed her shield into it, and then planted a shot in its torso as it fell back into the arms of three more droids.

More than she could deal with. The Pantoran woman took a knee, folding her body behind the profile of her new riot shield as a barrage of blaster bolts assailed her through the coma gas.

 

[Niysha]

Niysha wasn't fond of using blasters, but the last thing any of them needed was the whole crew being on high alert after someone saw a red lightsaber. As the three of them ran past a few more unconscious cultist-pirate-evangelist-zealots, she reached out her hand and called one of their rifles to it. What she lacked in skill, she made up for in care and perfect information; she might not be a fantastic shot, but a significant number of dangerously near misses tended to make people rethink their approach.

She'd leave the ugly, sloppy, inefficient, uncivilized weapon on the station when they left.

Tilon had given them direction, and In took point. Niysha happily brought up the rear. Frankly this might've been her best position, as it was basically impossible to ambush her. It also gave her more space to avoid any blaster fire from the defense droids up ahead, and thus more time to line up a shot. Hopefully she wouldn't need to do much actual aiming. Or killing. Both In and Tilon seemed strongly opposed to taking life, and Niysha couldn't afford to cost herself brownie points with her friends right now.

As their small team and the slightly larger automated defense squad collided, Niysha found herself another doorway to hide in and took stock of her surroundings. When she had a moment with no blaster fire actively threatening her big, poofy hair, she peeked around the corner just long enough to put a couple of shots down-range, then returned to cover.

Tilon Quill In Rhan

 

[Tilon Quill]

We shut the comms off, we take what we need, we get out."

"Same page," he said, and when In and Nysh laid down covering fire he surged ahead into the commscan suite.

It was empty except for one unconscious cultist. First order of business was to blast the two obvious security cameras. Then Tilon felt comfortable activating his lightsaber and shearing a specific really nice and conveniently placed module off the Generous Listening end.

"Damn thing was top of the line thirty years ago," he said over his shoulder. "Miles better than the signal detangler I've got on the North Ridge."

The Benevolent Expounding end of the setup was tempting and similarly valuable. It also had a big clunky aftermarket panel for minefield detonation and deactivation.

With the thirty-pound signal detangler in one hand - he'd cut wide, so the dripping molten bits were from adjacent elements, not the component itself - and his blaster rifle in the other, he went to take his place in the firefight.

"Lot of mutually exclusive options in there."

In Rhan Niysha

 

[In Rhan]

A shield could only take so many hits before it stopped being useful. Either it cracked, or the enemy pinned you and worked to an angle where they could lay down effective fire. In realized about three seconds once the firing started that she'd gotten in too deep - and without an exit plan. If Niysha hadn't been there returning fire, the droids could simply have walked forward and ended her. Chilling thought.

In heard the distinct ping of one of Nisyha's or Tilon's bolts spang-ing off of the head of a security droid, and took a risk. She charged the line, bearing into the one that Niysha hadn't sent reeling. She then swept the automatic fire from her blaster across the hallway at waist-height, shooting one of the droids nearly in half and critically injuring the third. She reeled backwards with the recoil, falling against the side of the hallway with a gasp. "Any... sundivers?" In asked breathlessly, chuckling.

The fourth drone - completely forgotten by In - loomed over the Pantoran woman with his injured-but-not-dead companion over his shoulder - blaster rifles brought to bear at point blank range. In shrieked and dove to the floor, getting out of Niysha and Tilon's line of fire while trying to retrieve her shield.

Tilon Quill Niysha

 

[Niysha]

Tilon had found a couple of cameras, and Niysha sensed he wanted some privacy. That suited her just fine; stationary targets were much easier to hit for someone who was legitimately bad at blasters. The Miraluka focused for a moment to pinpoint any other little bundles of electricity and intent nearby, her vision expanding a proper thirty or so meters in all three directions. One, two... that was just about it. Tilon had only missed half of the immediately relevant cameras. A couple of quick shots from Niysha finished off the rest.

In was busy being a macho amazon queen again, and it was far too dangerous around for Niysha to get wrapped up in it. There were still a couple of droids surrounding her, and her squeal and dramatic dive for cover were all the encouragement Niysha needed to stop sandbagging. Dropping her rifle to the ground, she held up both hands, and felt the few meters ahead of her through the current that connected all things.

Without strain but with plenty of visible effort and a the uniquely clear wrath of a girlfriend companion getting a bit too protective Niysha's arms pushed to either side, taking the droids with them. There was a mighty, metallic clatter as both smashed into the bulkheads of the ship, knocking loose more than a few internal gizmos and bits. Niysha followed by cramming her hands back together, and the droids once again followed. The crashing, grinding noise of metal and sparks dominated the hallway for only a couple of seconds before the rogue Sithling let their remains drop to the floor.

Then she fixed her hair and turned back to face Tilon. "An armory wouldn't be a terrible idea, either. We should keep our goal set on the prize, but some extra protection wouldn't hurt on the way to obtain it." Protection for In, of course. Niysha was clearly doing fine.

Tilon Quill In Rhan

 

[Tilon Quill]

In shrieked and dove to the floor, getting out of Niysha and Tilon's line of fire while trying to retrieve her shield.

and her squeal and dramatic dive for cover were all the encouragement Niysha needed to stop sandbagging. Dropping her rifle to the ground, she held up both hands, and

Without strain but with plenty of visible effort and a the uniquely clear wrath of a girlfriend companion getting a bit too protective Niysha's arms pushed to either side, taking the droids with them.

There was no circumstance under which Tilon could do what Nysh had just done. Translation, sure, mist-weaving, shifting probability, vision enhancement, astrogation, detoxification, even sharing knowledge. The utility kit, the bag of tricks, even the odd moment of elegant lethality. Gross impact, never yet successfully, not even under duress in the Sith. Impressed and unnerved, he reminded himself in the ensuing pause that In was still her bona fides.

"Armory we can do." He squinted past the broken droids. "'Bestow the Will of Ashla.' Yep, armory is that way. The coma gas is thinner down there, though."

They were still only a couple dozen hard-won places from their boarding airlock. He went back and put the stolen module inside; it was too heavy to lug around and too precious to risk. He rejoined In and Nysh promptly.

"All good back there. The welded corridor is holding."

In Rhan Niysha

 

[In Rhan]

Tilon running back to the ship gave In a moment to catch her breath and sort her equipment. Give Niysha a deeply grateful look. Ponder how much control the Miraluka had considering how gently she'd lifted In and Choonga into the shuttle back on the weasel planet. Truly, her partner's skills were without boundary.

Advancing towards the Will of Ashla with Niysha on her heels, In did considerably less rushing this time. Less blind corners, less brisk running. A steady jog at best. While In didn't know this ship's interiors and she couldn't read/parse the language the signage was in, most large ships had fundamentally similar layouts when you got right down to it. The more likely it was to explode if shot, the more likely it was to be in the core or back of the ship. Fuel? Back and core. Bridge? Top. Armory? Probably core. Midsection, where it could be reached relatively quickly on the way too or from what had once been the hangars, In imagined.

Where her instincts would fail her, she imagined, Tilon or Niysha could pick up the slack with knowledge or The Force.

In led the way down a switchback series of ramps, catching a pirate about to climb to his feet in the thinner gas - she put him back down with a swift kick and tossed his blaster into a garbage chute. Probably non-lethal kick. "Think we're close. It'll be down here somewhere - likely a big solid door. I can try to slice it open, but it'll probably go more smoothly if you two slice it open." In insinuated.

 

[Niysha]

Objective changed. The group moved out. Niysha brought up the rear, as she usually did.

Towards the center of the ship-station-satellite-repurposed-wreck-thing, where the gas was a bit thinner, there was plenty of mobile life nearby. It was at once nice to see and distinctly worrying. So much void and soulless metal was making her antsy, so real people with real thoughts and feelings was a relief, but conscious people meant lethal violence was inevitable. This was especially true when they were pirating pirates. Or cultists. Or... zealots? Whatever these people were was a bit lost on Niysha.

In had found her way down into the lower parts of the ship, corewards, and kicked a guy off a landing. The sound of his scream was iconic at a level that Niysha didn't know she could properly appreciate. In seemed to have an idea of what she wanted to happen, but Niysha kept herself from forming presumptions. There were countless ways to solve most problems. Lightsabers were fast, loud, and obvious; if they could find something quieter, even if it was a bit slower, that was the preferable path.

"We'll see what happens when we get there," the Miraluka responded quietly, her already soft voice dampened by her gas mask. Hopefully there wasn't anything too exciting between them and bigger, better weapons and armor than they'd come in with, but the Force had been far too cooperative today. Chances were they were in for some strife.

Tilon Quill In Rhan

 

[Tilon Quill]

"Shavvit," said Tilon on the switchback ramps, scaffolds really, all the field expedient structure you'd expect from turning a shipwreck into a habitat. It reminded him of Gadma Station. "Shavvit, when the droids — I forgot to turn off the minefield or blow it."

That felt like a colossal mistake. Maybe they'd go that way while heading back and maybe not. Then again, the minefield could be useful depending on the...mood of their eventual escape. And the company.

He moved on so as not to get in Nysh's way.

"There we go. There it is down there."

Large door opening up. Large men in large white-and-gold ornate power armor. They weren't using ranged weapons, but shavvit, they moved fast up the scaffold ramps and those large claws looked businesslike.

In Rhan Niysha

 

[In Rhan]

Guys charging up the scaffold. This would be a much easier sort of problem to solve with a laser sword that could cut through most anything, In reflected, though with such a tool she was probably much more likely to cut off her own arm. Like fighting with a temperamental plasma cutter. Lightsabers were probably a lot like plasma cutters, honestly.

In glanced over her shoulder, marking the location of her two companions. She realized she was standing between them and danger again. It felt right. Felt like a good place to be.

Experience suggested that this instinct was poorly-founded and perhaps vainglorious.

In brought her blaster to bear and braced it against her shield, peppering the power-armor clad zealots with a few bursts of automatic fire. Testing the mettle of that metal. She got a lucky shot on one, hitting something near a midsection joint, but her mass-produced blaster and entirely mundane shield weren't much use against heavier armor grades. In raised her shield, and took a step back to clear the way for the people with weapons that did really good against armor.

 

[Niysha]

Niysha saw the power armored guards approaching before they were pointed out. As always, In took it to the face. Gauntlets and claws backed by servo-muscles were far too much for her makeshift riot shield, but fortunately, like last time, the Pantoran woman fell back when her hardware proved insufficient to the task. Good. Her being out of the way was important, but so was all of that time she bought them.

All things told, Niysha wasn't terribly well-versed in any armor designs that might be available to paramilitary fringers, but all power armor had weaknesses. Parts that weren't as strudy as others. Pipes, wires, cables... things that made the "power" function of the power armor work. She set to work deciphering the rigs the men were using while they took a few seconds to beat the tar out of In, and had just about figured it out when her captain backed up.

There was a large, external cable running from the power pack to both shoulders, and tapering down the spine for further support. That was the part that was vulnerable - the junction sparked bright with battery power, like a tiny starship engine. Niysha had her target. She held out her hand and concentrated, then wrenched it to one side, asserting dominance in a tiny, precise manner. The servos powering one man's suit sparked and zapped, the whole thing falling forward like so much dead weight.

Sure, he wasn't dead, but he wouldn't be getting up any time soon. From what Niysha understood of how Tilon and In thought, that was preferable.

Tilon Quill In Rhan

 

[Tilon Quill]

In brought her blaster to bear and braced it against her shield, peppering the power-armor clad zealots with a few bursts of automatic fire. Testing the mettle of that metal. She got a lucky shot on one, hitting something near a midsection joint, but her mass-produced blaster and entirely mundane shield weren't much use against heavier armor grades. In raised her shield, and took a step back to clear the way for the people with weapons that did really good against armor.

She held out her hand and concentrated, then wrenched it to one side, asserting dominance in a tiny, precise manner. The servos powering one man's suit sparked and zapped, the whole thing falling forward like so much dead weight.

That was one solidly down and one impaired, which left, feth, three coming up fast and careless of their fellows. Zealot work. Absent clear good options and getting no traction off his rifle, Tilon took point and fired up his lightsaber. Not to signal righteousness or spark cognitive dissonance, but to snip through the scaffolding and send the power-armoured locals tumbling down a couple meters.

They got their balance quick enough. He didn't like how the amber blade of his lightsaber reflected off their helmet lenses. It looked too orange, and orange was practically red.

Any thoughts of playing an 'I'm a Jedi' trump card seemed much more naive than ten minutes ago.

One planted his foot on his fallen comrade's back and jumped to grip the nearest edge, close by Tilon's feet, with huge metal hands. Tilon took a reluctant swing and found the metal resistant. Doonium, nyix, a low-grade phrik alloy, something serious like that. But he managed to chop off a hand and saw the operator's unhurt hand, tiny and grasping furiously inside the cavity of the wrist. He hacked the other off and sent it falling.

"I think we pull back," he said rapidly over his shoulder. "Maybe we run. Ions and mines if they come out?"

In Rhan Niysha