Public Goola Bargon

[Arkyn Rane]

--Ivaax Nebula, Anoat Sector, Ione, Enroute to Burnin Konn System
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Somewhere along the Corellian Trade Spine, Arkyn had picked up a tail. The Dragonsnake's sensors gave no indication of anything amiss, and R5 was none the wiser, yet she knew someone was following her. Or maybe they were waiting on her? The sensation made her skin prickle, the hairs on her arm standing on end as if electrified. It was a street rat's intuition, and it had kept her alive for twenty-three years so far.

"I'm pulling us outta hyperspace early R5. I feel trouble coming."

R5 beeped furiously, ending with a long undulating whir.

Arkyn was rendered all but speechless, even as she typed rapidly on the navicomputer, fingers seemingly moving of their own accord. "That's some kinda mouth you got on you mister. You watch your language, bub, or else it's the scrap yard for ya'."

The droid plugged itself into the ships main computer, taking control of the targeting modules on the freighter's gun turrets. He clicked and whistled at Arkyn, all three of his eye-lights flashing.

"Inept organic brain?!" She all but shrieked. "I built you, uba stupa droida!"

The rust-bucket had a point though. Why would anyone be following her? She'd been laying low since she split from Vorga, smuggling innocuous and completely legal cargo, like exotic alien wildlife, luxury speeders, the occasional political or professional delegation, and once, a troupe of galaxy-renowned dancing Besalisks, who'd all been fans of hers during her racing days.

She wasn't delivering anything so exciting now- this was just a standard food run to Burnin Konn. The planet's vegetation had long since been stripped bare by world-wide mining operations, leaving the people of the planet to rely on offworld exports for sustenance. She'd picked up a number of delicacies from all across the mid-rim, but nothing that would garner attention, and her cargo wasn't worth enough for pirates to bother...

Unless she was being followed for other reasons. Personal reasons. Like the bruised ego of a Huttese crimelord. As soon as she had the thought, she knew it to be true. She could feel it in her gut, and if she trusted no one else, she trusted herself.

I got me. I always have, I always will.

The Dragonsnake slipped out of hyperspace at the fringes of the Ione system, in the shadow of a cluster of asteroids that drifted in the wake of a barren planet. She sent the YT-2000 into stealth mode immediately, sliding the freighter beneath a particularly bulky asteroid. "Keep an eye out R5...something's coming."

R5 chirped sarcastically and extended two of his eyes from their sockets on metallic stalks.

"Har har, very funny R5."

 

[Aeshi Tillian]

Ione. It was her type of world, not that she would ever admit having one. Sparsely populated, as far as planets went, but populated enough to disappear into if need be. Ships and people passed through along the trade route all the time, making her small freighter innocuous and hardly noticeable compared to some of the warships and bulk freighters that passed by.

“Yeah, we’re just waiting on landing clearance now,” Aeshi said, spinning her chair around to gaze into the back of the cockpit. Her Imyni co-pilot nodded and leaned back, bracing his feathered arms behind his head. There was a series of trills and Aeshi just shrugged.

“This cargo is clean, relax, it’s cover, not a money maker.” She would turn a small profit on it, but hardly enough to make it worthwhile. No, her real goal here was information. About the old First Order, about the Final Dawn, about the disappeared viceroy of Eriadu. Politically, it was a sticky situation.

But where there were fascists, there were those who couldn’t wait to stick a thumb in their eye. Aeshi was here to try and find some of them.

Something flashed on her scanner and she spun around, replaying the data stream with a frown.

“Something’s hiding out there. Fast reversion followed by a quick vanishing act.”

Her co-pilot shifted around and leaned across the consoles.

“Think it’s those reptilian raiders branching out further?”

The only response was a shrug. It could be. Aeshi nudged the throttle forward and turned the ship around, coasting on low power in that direction.

“We’ll just check it out to make sure. Get the afterburners ready in case we need to eat dust to get out of range.”



Arkyn Rane

 

[Arkyn Rane]

A heavily modified CSS-1 shuttle appeared from hyperspace not far from Ione. She watched it drift in the black of space as if waiting for something. Waiting for her. She recognized the markings on the hull, stylized red slashes like claw marks.

It was Drex Korgon, one of Vorga's favorite pirates. Odd, she thought. He usually travels with a whole escort of light transports and star fighters.

"On my signal, fire the sublight thrusters. We're gonna sling shot around the planet and lose them in the traffic over Ione."

R5 clicked and beeped and whirred.

"Go planetside? Hmm...that might work. Force em' out into the open, see what I'm dealing with."

The longer she thought about it, the better it sounded. Drex was liable to have a bounty hunter or two with him, to say nothing of his usual thugs. Settled on a course of action, Arkyn started shunting power to her thrusters.

"Depower the ion cannons and laser turrets to 1% capacity, R5, and adjust the catalytic hyperactuator by point three six two degrees." She was going to have to be quick- she couldn't take the shuttle in a fire fight, it sported far too many cannons for her to even chance it, but that much armament would certainly slow it down.

If the Dragonsnake held together through this, she swore to get her fixed. Properly, this time, with parts still under warranty.

"Aaaaand...NOW!"

She flicked the power switch, and as energy flooded the sublight thrusters, she slammed the accelerator forward. She felt more than saw the shuttle turning towards her, even as the g-forces crushed her against her seat, but they were too slow, she'd be long gone before the could triangulate her position- then she noticed, bleeping over the sensor array, another ship arrive, then another, and another.

Well feck. There's the escort.

Aeshi Tillian

 

[Aeshi Tillian]

Arkyn Rane

"Oh feth," Aeshi said, her hands dropping for a moment as a freighter appeared on the sensors at a blistering speed. She yanked the controls over to one side and let the other craft blast past them. She was glad they were in a void, and didn't have to worry about atmospheric wake.

"That's a lot of ships," Aeshi said after a moment, leaning over to stare at the sensor readings. "And they are not very friendly looking."

She was studying the transponders, but she knew just as well as they did that transponders didn't mean anything in these regions of the galaxy. She had more than a dozen false transponder IDs to switch between on her own ship and she only engaged in criminal behavior a small percentage of the time, and only against governments who deserved it.

"SLAM, now," Aeshi hissed, adjusting the controls. The ship hurtled forward as she slammed the maneuvering jets. The g's slammed her into the chair and her vision got hazy in the corners, but she bit her lip and let the Force guide her actions as she whipped the ship around.

One hand lunged the throttle all the way forward and the ship hurtled after the other freighter. Aeshi didn't know who they were, but they had the right idea. These new ships reeked of Hutts or other criminal scum and she was not prepared for a full scale dogfight in a situation like this.

 

[Arkyn Rane]

R5 was quick to point out that they were still being followed. Closely.

Arkyn cursed. If they caught her she was dead. She couldn’t maintain this speed for long, let alone push the Dragonsake any faster. Not without compromising the integrity of its hull. Yet, she wasn’t afraid. Her heart was racing, pulse thrumming in her ears…but she felt no fear. She knew she would make it to Ione. She wasn't so sure about the Dragonsnake, though. The ship was several centuries old, at least.

“Slowly subvert the circulators to regulate the power intake, on my mark," she told R5. The Dragonsnake was shuddering much too violently for her tastes, the hull groaning in protest from her abuse. "Now!"

She watched the beeping sensor screen, ignoring the red warning light flashing over the gyroscopic capacitor gauge. One of the ships was almost right behind her- the other four were still coming around the planet, having been much to slow to adjust to her maneuver. As fast as they were going, the ship behind her was still close enough to cripple her ship with a couple well placed volleys. So why weren’t they?

Definitely not with Drex, she realized, and the thought had the ring of truth. She decided to trust her instincts.

“Hail that ship, R5. Please.” She waited for the droid to connect, using her own screen to slowly return power to her ship’s various systems, and then: “Oi! Who the frak are you and why are you following me?! If you’re with Vorga, e chu ta! And if not…you might wanna make like a Kindalo and leave. Drex and his ilk don’t mind killing bystanders.”

Aeshi Tillian

​

 

[Mae Tecono]

Mae was minding her own business on route to Ione for supplies and to make contact with someone who offered her some information on a part she needed for her latest project. Little Evil, the interceptor she piloted, was using its cloaking field and not picking up much interference as she glided through space. However, that changed when a pair of freighters zipped by her. She was unsure of their intentions and why they were burning that much fuel so quickly, then her scanners picked up a horde of craft following them. She

"Engines to full, I want to catch those two!" She ordered her first mate, Marcus. It took him little time to react and Little Evil was off in a flash trailing and eventually catching up to the two freighters. "Patch me into their communications" She ordered quickly.

The intercepted communication between the two ships came in very choppy to say the least.

"Oi! Who the frak ................. you following me?! If you're .......... And if not…you might wanna make ...... and leave. ............don't mind killing bystanders."

"They must be pirates if they don't mind killing innocents!" She jumped to conclusions of the two fleeing ships quickly and had assumed that it was them who did not mind killing innocents. This made Mae mad and she decided to follow them to gather a bit more information on them before she decloaked and removed them from existence.

 

[Aeshi Tillian]

Mae Tecono Arkyn Rane

"Following you?" Aeshi snapped back into the comms, nudging the throttle faster. "I'm chasing comets trying to get out of firing range of the rest of these things."

Something crackled in her comms and she frowned. There was something else happening and she scowled, rerouting the communication channel to bounce off a station's encryption. "And I can't calculate a jump when I've got thugs on my aft."

Her eyes rested for a moment on the scanner and her frown deepened, glancing over to her Imyni co-pilot. He nodded his feathered head. "Is something wrong with your ship? Scans are getting a lot of instability."

 

[Arkyn Rane]

Arkyn silenced the audio on her end. "R5, you hear that? Somebody's listening… reprogram the encryptions and reroute the comms." Drex probably had a slicer onboard, she figured, trying to figure out who she was talking to.

Whoever was following her- a woman, judging by the voice- Arkyn was all but certain they weren't with Drex, and thus, not actually following her; they just so happened to be flying very quickly in the same direction.

She flicked her comms back on when R5 was done. "That sucks for you; I can calculate hyper lane routes in my sleep."

That was only technically true, R5 reminded her with a long shrill and a staccato stream of beeps. She'd nearly led them into the maw of a black hole, to say nothing of the drifting hulks of space wreckage. They had nearly died.

"Whose side are you on R5, mine or hers?" She fixed the astromech with a nasty glare. "And as for my ship," and she chuckled, nearly hysterical, "-it's right as rain! Certainly not about to crap out at any moment, no ma'am!"

Her data screen was going nuts, all sorts of gauges and meters in the red. The gyroscopic capacitators were all but shot, meaning entry into Ione's atmosphere was gonna feel like being chewed up by a Rancor, and the oscillating power distributors were on their last legs. She'd pushed the ship too hard, and the Dragonsnake was simply too old. Her newest parts were several decades old.

"I'll make it to Ione…barely. Might not make it off, though."

She eased more power away from the engines, even though Drex might manage to catch up, certain that being captured was better than dying in the vacuum of space from her ship ripping apart.

"Do yourself a favor, mystery voice, and scram. The pirates are after me… and I know just where to lead them," she finished quietly, angling her ship towards Jar Shuul, a busy starport in the planet's Southern Hemisphere where she could comfortably crash her ship and deal with Drex. There were a couple people in Jar Shuul who owed her favors, and the city was just labyrinthine enough to get lost in. It was perfect.

They were entering Ione's space traffic now, a seemingly slow moving sea of transports and freighters, the occasional stafighter zooming overhead. She saw pilots flipping her the finger as she zipped past, weaving dangerously through the space lanes, the tail of her ship spewing black smoke. A few of the starfighters were angling towards her as she continued to break traffic laws, their hulls gleaming with the symbol of Ione’s security fleet.

Her data screen was a mass of angry red and flashing caution symbols, and one of the starfighters was trying to hail her. She ignored the message. "Hold tight, R5, this is gonna get rocky."

They entered Ione's atmosphere, and the Dragonsnake didn't like it one bit.

Aeshi Tillian Mae Tecono

 

[Karkosuchus]

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Spoiler: Equipment

Bandolier Right Shoulder Bandolier Flash Grenade Sonic Detonator Bacta Grenade Concussion Grenade Thermal Detonator Left Shoulder Bandolier Stun Grenade Ammonia Bomb Utility Belt Syntherope Food Rations Hush 98 Comlink Imagecaster Energy Bola Fire Blade Field Security Overloader

Holster Dissuader KD-30 .48 Caliber Enforcer Pistol Stouker Concussion Rifle Brass Knuckles Echani Shield Heavy Battle Armor The Swamp Vanquisher

The Gutless Mongrel exited hyperspace with a scream after the Group of Pirates came around the planet to chase a fleeing vessel. His contract had been given from one Vorga the Hutt. Although he typically worked for Gorba the Hutt and the Hutt Space Consortium. The opportunity for extra credits weren't out of the question. His target of the day would be one Arkyn Rane who had unfortunately crossed the wrong side of the tracks as it were.

Karkosuchus reviewed the information from the Captain's Chair of the Mongrel as his crew went to work to bring them closer to the chase ahead of them which seemed to involve two vessels. He was slightly confused as the information provided by his employer stated that the quarry only possessed one vessel. Either someone else was running with them or he had managed to come across a smuggling outfit. He would figure it out when they managed to catch up. For now he ordered the ship to merge with the escort accompanying Drex.


"Blast our engines to a full charge; recycle our shields and get those ion cannons loaded."

A simple command was issued from his crocodilian mouth to the crew on the bridge. As they scrambled to follow their captain's orders with the sound of clicking buttons on the screens in front of them was heard. Although the Gutless Mongrel lacked serious offensive power the nose of the ship was perfect for ramming other vessels and that was exactly the thing he planned to do.

If Drex was hit in the crossfire then so be it. His glowing orange eyes gazed out from the bridge as one of the two ships veered towards the surface of Ione. The Gutless Mongrel would give pursuit; blasting their engines to a full charge as the flaming plasma kickbacked in orange flames. The bow of the ship went down as the vessel went through the atmosphere of the planet.

Ramming straight ahead into the slow moving sea of transports and freighters. Small explosions were heard as the vessels were destroyed by the impact and the rubble floated down onto the surface of the planet. Damage did occur to his vessel but nothing that the ships engineers couldn't fix by the time he was done chasing his quarry.

"Fire Ion Cannons"

He commanded into the soup can into the decks below; the gunners moving to open the cannon hatches directly in front of the vessel. The ion cannons beamed into existence as they send ion rings forward directly towards the crashing vessel being chased by Security Starfighters.

His quarry would not escape him.

Aeshi Tillian Mae Tecono

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[Aeshi Tillian]

Arkyn Rane Karkosuchus Mae Tecono
The Requiem

Aeshi's lips twitched as the response came back. She could hear the tension in the other woman's voice. She shrugged and leaned over to look at her co-pilot. "I like this kid. We should help her out."

The Imyni stared at her and shook his feathered head in dismay, but tightened the safety straps on his seat. Aeshi considered for a moment and then did the same.

Another ship appeared, angling in for an attack. She thumbed the comm. "I like your spunk, kid. And lucky for you, I've been itching for some excitement lately. I'll make sure you get the time you need to get down to the surface."

Her co-pilot let out a long trill in disappointment. Aeshi just looked over and grinned. but then her face paled as the other ship rammed through transports and other civilian vessels in the atmo. "And feth this comet chaser. Ramming bystanders?"

Her knuckles cracked on the controls and she locked her seat into position, pushing the throttle forward and twisting to one side. The Requiem rolled and dropped into a pursuit vector of the ramming ship.

"Activating targeting computers," Aeshi commented. They beeped, hissed, and screamed in protest. She frowned, watching the distortion on the scans. "Interesting. Copy all the data readouts," she said. "Ship it out to the Rescue Service and the League. See if they can put a warrant out on it or something. Endangering traffic? Causing damage? By the Force, the Merchant-Captain's Guild is going to peel this punk's hide off to pay for these damages."

She glanced at the displays. "Turbolaser charged. Ion cannon ready. Concussion missiles loaded."

No targeting computer, but she would do it the old-fashioned way. She switched to open comm. "Ione Control, this is Requiem. Moving to engage the ship ramming through the traffic lanes. Noting severe collateral damage from its vector. Going to try and disable it."

"We read you, Requiem. Security vessels have been dispatched to intercept."

"Roger that," Aeshi responded, adjusting the engines, to bring her into a tighter angle. "Will check lanes of fire."

She activated the manual targeting system for the turbolaser and let her gut feeling lead the target before she squeezed the trigger, sending several turbolaser blasts towards the raider.

 

[Mae Tecono]

Mae was able to intercept all the communications between the two ships this time and it cleared things up much more clearly. It was one of the two ships that was being attacked and chased by thugs who did not mind killing innocents. The fact was magnified as a third ship made chase and began to crash through transports and other traffic traveling through the trade lanes of the planet. Mae would curse before making a split decision, she was on the fence in helping the situation but then innocents started to be hurt or killed and that made it up. She jumped into the fight, she placed her ship on dampeners for a quick moment pulling her back from her decent and put her in a more chase position. She saw the second of the two original ships, a cargo looking ship also fall behind the raider and open up fire. This was good as it was using turbo lasers and ion cannons or the raider and could weaken those rear shields enough for Mae's own Quad heavy lasers to do some damage.

"Commander of the YV-929_armed_freighter, hold your position and only maneuver to your right, left or upward as I am taking up position directly beneath you." Mae decloaked her vessel and told Aeshi Tillian .

"Rotate all medium cannons to forward position and engage the target" She ordered her gunners who swung their 4 Dual-medium turrets around and began to fire and join her heavy cannons. The two ships, Aeshi Tillian 's and her own, began to punish the raider from the rear giving it a choice to either pull up and out of the fight or be destroyed.

 

[Karkosuchus]

​

Spoiler: Equipment

Bandolier Right Shoulder Bandolier Flash Grenade Sonic Detonator Bacta Grenade Concussion Grenade Thermal Detonator Left Shoulder Bandolier Stun Grenade Ammonia Bomb Utility Belt Syntherope Food Rations Hush 98 Comlink Imagecaster Energy Bola Fire Blade Field Security Overloader

Holster Dissuader KD-30 .48 Caliber Enforcer Pistol Stouker Concussion Rifle FC-1 Flechette Launcher Imperial Heavy Repeater Brass Knuckles Echani Shield Heavy Battle Armor

Karkosuchus sat within the captain's chair as the The Gutless Mongrel launched a full barrage of ion cannon rounds towards their quarry. Although they seemed to either miss or shoot down even more civilian targets due to the mongrel only working half the time. An Old Battle Droid model walked up to the captain's chair with a datapad handing it over before walking back to his station within the bridge.


Karkosuchus gripped the seat with his giant claws; scratching the armrest as he overlooked the data upon the pad. He was about to comment on the information to direct the crew towards their next action when the full impact of two turbolaser rounds slammed into shielding around the back of the mongrel. The high level of shielding protected the vessel from serious damage but there capacity was at 93% now. Karkosuchus thought hard on his next action; weather to break off the pursuit or attempt to turn around to face his new enemy at an angle to give them a full broadside.

He clicked a lever next to his chair; as a small platform rose from a panel with a old fashion pirate wheel which was connected to a majority of the ships systems to give him full control. Grabbing his captain's hat on the table nearby he promptly placed it upon his head before grabbing the wheel with both claws. If they wanted a fight then he would give them one. He spun the wheel to the right hard as the high maneuverability of the vessel became clear to both of his enmies within the rear.

The ship turned towards its right side enough for them to fire a full broadside. Karkosuchus pulled the engine dead switch as the vessel started to descend downwards due to the weight and lack of momentum. The Iron Cannons on the side of the vessel fired at will towards both of his enemies within the rear. Sending a storm of ion rings towards their general direction as more turbolaser rounds impacted against the shielding to make it 80%.

Karkosuchus pulled the lever forward as the engines roared back into existence; another spin of the wheel turned the vessel right on course but beneath both of his enemies within the rear. He pressed the command console and activated turbo as the mongrel's speed rating was high. Blasting the ship forward back into the chase after his quarry.


Mae Tecono Aeshi Tillian Arkyn Rane

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[Arkyn Rane]

Arkyn scowled, even as the Dragonsnake entered turbulence and the hull groaned and rumbled in protest. Kid?! Did she just call me a fething kid?! ​

​

R5 snickered at her in binary chirps. She gave the astromech a one finger salute, ignoring her holo screen and all the warning lights and flashing caution symbols.​

​

"Thanks for the help, granny-"​

!​

​

She heard a sound that wasn't a sound, like a silent klaxon blaring in her mind. Without even thinking about it, she jerked the controls, leaning harder into the planet's tilt. The Dragonsnake shook so fiercely it made her bones ache. As the nose of her ship tilted, pulled down into the wind, she executed a clumsy barrel roll- the best she could manage with her ship falling apart- hull creaking and groaning around her, like some old dying beast. ​

​

Her instincts seemed to calm. She saw through the viewport, like meteors streaking through space, a glittering pair of ion rings zooming past her previous position. Who the kark had fired on her?​

​

R5 chose that moment to spew a litany of vitriolic, scathing whirs and clicks, as if he had heard her silent question. ​

​

"Karkosuchus? The Karkosuchus? Like, the giant, murderous, saurian mercenary that eats people?" She sighed deeply, lamenting, not for the first time, her terrible life choices. Trust Drex to find one of the very worse sorts of people to hunt her down. Karkosuchus had been working for the Hutts for years. "You gotta be kidding me."​

​

R5 gleefully reported that no, he was indeed not kidding her. There were at least two other freighters trying to help keep Kark off their ass, however, and after the mad bounty hunter had rammed his way through a couple lanes of space traffic, the space security forces that had been following her instead veered toward Kark's monstrous ship. ​

​

She had a moment's reprieve but the Dragonsnake was still enroute to a graceful crash. The data screen was so riddled with flashing red symbols that she simply cut it off. She didn’t need a navigational computer. She was Arkyn kriffin Rane.​

​

Beyond her viewport was white sky, grey mountains, chrome cities, and vibrant forests that, from the air, looked more like carefully pruned gardens than rolling woodlands. She could just see Jar Shuul beneath the horizon, nestled between rolling hills in the shadow of a vast stretch of mountains. ​

​

"Almost there, R5." ​

​

Her engines were all but dead at this point, oscillating on fumes. She wouldn't make it to all the way to Jar Shuul…but she'd get close enough.​

​

Fingers crossed.​

​

Aeshi Tillian Mae Tecono Karkosuchus ​

 

[Aeshi Tillian]

Arkyn Rane Karkosuchus Mae Tecono

"Feth-" Aeshi spluttered, yanking the controls and then freezing as a ship decloaked much closer than comfort. "I read you, Cloaked Ship. Maybe a bit-"

She stopped speaking as a warning flashed through her mind and she rolled to the left.

The bigger ship ahead of her broke hard right and unleashed a broadside. She stared at them, looked over to her co-pilot, and then back to the displays.

"A broadside?" Aeshi shook her head slowly in consideration. "That is good to know."

"Karkk-" she hissed as the ship pulled another rapid maneuver. She slammed the throttle in reverse and slammed into her safety harness as she spun the maneuvering thrusters to drop into a tight spiral downwards in a corkscrew.

Her stomach churned and her vision blurred for a second, but she let the Force guide her, slowing down the spiral and coming up in a low loop from the side.

Aeshi gritted her teeth, giving a quick glance at the scanners. Security forces were en route, but not in range yet.

The raider vessel, however... Aeshi adjusted her course and squeezed the trigger, releasing two concussion missiles. Target lock was incomplete, but she stretched out with the Force and gave the missiles little nudges into the right direction.

 

[Karkosuchus]

​

Spoiler: Equipment

Bandolier Right Shoulder Bandolier Flash Grenade Sonic Detonator Bacta Grenade Concussion Grenade Thermal Detonator Left Shoulder Bandolier Stun Grenade Ammonia Bomb Utility Belt Syntherope Food Rations Hush 98 Comlink Imagecaster Energy Bola Fire Blade Field Security Overloader

Holster Dissuader KD-30 .48 Caliber Enforcer Pistol Stouker Concussion Rifle FC-1 Flechette Launcher Imperial Heavy Repeater Brass Knuckles Echani Shield Heavy Battle Armor

The Gutless Mongrel was very close to its quarry before the entire ship shook from the impact of two concussion missiles which deleted the shielding towards 0% leaving the vessel open for counteract. An engine was down and seen smoking on the left side as the ship veered towards the ground in a crashing motion. Karkosuchus decided that the best option was to abandon ship at this time until the proper repairs could be made. Moving away from the captain's chair and rushing down the long corridors of the vessel. He neglected to warn his organic crew of the danger and simply decided to preserve his own life instead of trying to play hero.

There was only room for a single starfighter on board the vessel and Karkosuchus quickly jumped into the cockpit of the Ancient Annihilator Class Starfighter checking the various systems on board and clicking the ignition button on the engines. The starfighter zoomed to life and blasted out of the vessel about a few seconds before the mongrel impacted into the ground to a fiery explosion. Slamming into the dirt and other materials until it was mostly half buried in the ground and half charred by fire.

Karkosuchus sighed to himself that his ship would take longer to repair now that it was engulfed in flames. But he wouldn't give up on his mission so quickly. Relinging himself with the direction of his quarry's ship.

"I have you now"

He said to himself within the cockpit clicking the firing mechanism and blasted down the way in the general direction of the crashing vessel.

Aeshi Tillian Mae Tecono Arkyn Rane

​

 

[Arkyn Rane]

R5 let out a trilling whir. ​

​

"He's what?" ​

​

Her scanners were fried, but even if they weren't, there was no time to check them, only act; Karkosuchus was still following doggedly on her heels. Her instincts flared and her hands twitched against the controls, pulled left and up, but the Dragonsnake was too slow in the air- she took a glancing blow to her failed engines, rumbling the ship and chattering her teeth. Another screen went blank. Thanks a lot, Kark. Hit a girl while she's down why don't ya. ​

​

The ground was coming up much faster than she liked.​

​

"Hold on R5!"​

​

His answering bleeps were lost in the thunderous noise of the crash. She jolted around in her seat as the ship lurched and slid, gripping desperately to the controls as if they might ground her. ​

​

The ship came to a groaning stop aside a river that knifed through dense forest. ​

​

"R5?" Arkyn called out, woozy from the crash. Her head was spinning and she felt like she'd been trampled. ​

​

The droid beeped and whistled, even as he abandoned her in the cockpit. ​

​

"Nice to see you alive too dopa-maskey sleemo."​

​

She freed herself from the cockpit and retrieved her weapons and greatcoat from the hold where R5 was keying into the doors, locking down corridors. She had no intentions of trying to take Karkosuchus in a fair fight- he was literally a monster- so she armed herself as well as she could. She holstered a DG-29 on one hip, a side-loading slug thrower on the other, and strapped her double-barrel shotgun pistol to her back. Her few grenades went into the pocket of her great coat. ​

​

"''Fraid I gotta leave ya behind, buddy. Hide in the ship- go into sleep mode if you have to- and start repairing what you can."​

​

R5 had some colorful words for her, but she knew he'd do as she said. She'd programmed him, after all. ​

​

Outside the ship, she could see Kark's angular starfighter headed straight towards her. How much was Vorga paying for him to chase her so recklessly? I need to get out of the open. Now.​

​

She took off into the forest, heading towards Jar Shuula. ​

​

Aeshi Tillian Mae Tecono Karkosuchus ​

 

[Mae Tecono]

Mae scanners must have been malfunctioning as when her interceptor and the other freighter opened up fire on the large raider, the turbo-lasers of her partners ship only read to have done 7% damage to its shields...

After the raider took the opening fire from Mae and the other, it did something else that she can not really explain. In a deep dive through a planets atmosphere, it turned 90 degrees to fire a broadside and then return back to its original heading as if it would not have been torn up by entering the atmosphere at such a wild speed for the flying brick that it was.

Mae was not allowed time to scratch her head, however, as she had to make a quick, yet simple, maneuver to avoid the slow moving ion rings fired by the broadside. She then returned fire and made a mental note to talk to her partner about what type of concussion missiles she was using as they did more damage then her turbo-lasers. The raider crashed into the surface below, but just before it did, it spit out a small starfighter. Mae had her first mate make note of the position of the fallen raider as she would go back and finish it off after she made sure the pilot and crew of the ship she was trying to save were okay.

Mae quickly got on the tale of Karkosuchus starfighter as it made its way towards Arkyn Rane and began to pelt its rear with heavy and medium laser bolts. "Easy pickings" she said out loud to no one in particular.

Aeshi Tillian

 

[Aeshi Tillian]

Mae Tecono Karkosuchus Arkyn Rane

"Is this dude some sort of fanatic?" Aeshi muttered, easing back on the throttle as the hull began to light up with the friction from the atmosphere. She checked the gauge on the temperature. It was rising slowly.

Her co-pilot just shrugged, readjusting the targeting calibration and overlooking the concussion missile reload.

"I'm not shooting down a fighter in this," Aeshi muttered, peeling away from the pursuit to pick up an intercept vector of the crashing vessel. Security could handle the wrecked raider. "Let's see if we can pick up the kid."

She pulled up a map of the local area and pinpointed the coordinates of the nearest region of civilization. There was a city not far away. Aeshi readjusted the course to skim through the atmosphere, rather than around the planetary sphere, aiming to cut ahead of the pursuit.

 

[Karkosuchus]

​

Spoiler: Equipment

Bandolier Right Shoulder Bandolier Flash Grenade Sonic Detonator Bacta Grenade Concussion Grenade Thermal Detonator Left Shoulder Bandolier Stun Grenade Ammonia Bomb Utility Belt Syntherope Food Rations Hush 98 Comlink Imagecaster Energy Bola Fire Blade Field Security Overloader

Holster Dissuader KD-30 .48 Caliber Enforcer Pistol Stouker Concussion Rifle FC-1 Flechette Launcher Imperial Heavy Repeater Brass Knuckles Echani Shield Heavy Battle Armor The Swamp Vanquisher

Karkosuchus looked out from the cockpit of his Annihilator Class Starfighter as his lasers smashed into his quarry's ship and forced them to ground crash. He didn't have a moment to land as his starfighter was pounded into by the heavy and medium laser bolts of Mae Tecono as his starfighter began to smoke and the wings of the craft blasted off. He purposely enter into a barrel role of the main body of the starfighter to crash into the forest area where he had barely seen Arkyn Rane run off too. Smashing through trees and branches before finally coming to a halt in the forest floor. Karkosuchus kicked the cockpit hatch with his giant foot as it came off with a bang and slammed into a rock nearby.

Bleeding and disoriented from the crash; he checked that his gear was still in place and decided to walk away from the crash site to begin tracking his quarry using his old fashioned scent and having cover from the starship that was chasing his own. A small explosion was heard behind him as his starfighter exploded. Grabbing his Stouker Concussion Rifle from his five weapon holster on his right side; he stalked through the underbrush of the forest his loud steps no doubt echoing enough for his quarry to hear him.

He wouldn't abandon his mission no matter how close to death he was going to be. A bounty hunter always finished a job without complaint nor worry about their own lives.

Aeshi Tillian

​

 

[Arkyn Rane]

Arkyn raced through the forest.​

Her breath came in quick, powerful bursts, legs churning, arms pumping. She heard an explosion near her ship. The boom echoed through the forest, scattering the wildlife that her own crashed ship hadn't scared away. She could feel Karkosuchus chasing her, and after a time, she could hear him as well, his loping gait loud and menacing. ​

She ran faster. This wasn't a chase, she told herself- it was a race, and she had never lost a race. Not once. ​

A race where loss meant death. High stakes, but she always performed best when the pressure was on. ​

I won't lose this one either. ​

Jar Shuul was two clicks away, maybe less- two clicks of woodlands and rolling hills, not quite harsh terrain, but certainly not a walk in the park. As she crested a tall hill, she could just see the city in the distance above the treeline. A space ship passed low overhead. She recognized the freighter- it was the one that had backed her up earlier. ​

She slipped her DG-29 free and shot twice into the air. There was nowhere nearby to land, but she wanted their attention- if they could keep Karkosuchus off her back, it'd be greatly appreciated.​

Aeshi Tillian Karkosuchus Mae Tecono