Private Kyrikal V: Thus Ever to Cowards (Levantines)

[Skajin var Imret]

Forest moon Kyrikal V
Population 320 million (85% Mon Cala, 15% Ithorian)
Secret home of the Fallanassi​

Until this morning, Alosha had been a thriving settlement: a small city in the mountain forests, a destination for tourists and retirees, all built around geothermal springs. Now smoke rose from a dozen points: the main comms relay, the police stations, key bridges and intersections...

And a small auxiliary Fallanassi enclave, home to a dozen human, Ithorian, and Mon Cal women. Until this morning.

The Kubaz raider ships had looked like normal traffic between the moons of Kyrikal. They'd had some previous knowledge of Alosha Settlement and struck precisely. Most of the settlement was terrified but alive; mere hundreds had died. Now the disguised raiders were vanishing into hyperspace as quickly as they'd come, holds laden with luxury vehicles, quality foodstuffs, spring water, and other treasures.

At the ruin of the Fallanassi enclave, Skajin var Imret stood from the body of their leader, whose own hand held the knife that killed her. Skajin took a laser stylus from his belt and wrote on the wall beside the broken door.

THUS EVER TO COWARDS​

He nodded, satisfied, and vanished into the cold forest.

 

[Hoku Kalani]

The Forerunners were still out there. Hoku could tell. He knew they were, but he also ddn't know quite what they were waiting for. The galaxy was an ever changing place and that meant one must rise to the occasions. It meant exploring, and preparing to bring ever more greatness around. That was through science and technology.

Having found himself in the Forerunner space, the Selkath ever-student was making his way and visiting worlds he'd never been, places where the Force was strong, or the technology was great. Finding himself on this Forest Moon was just interesting. He was testing out a new set of armor for him and his kind, but it wasn't ready for overclocking in a heated world just yet.

And a temperate planet was wet enough.

However, this one? Yeah, based on what he had just experienced, and why he was hiding with his datapad in the library that the Fallanassi had given him access to.

 

[Delila Castillon]

Back on board the Saegassum, Dells was feeling more at ease. It had seemed the boys : Xin Boa , Brak, and Skreech had secured a job while she was gone, a load of luxury goods to a small mountain town called Alosha. Apparently the place was full of tourists and retirees, a thing she didn't expect far flung in the Tingel Arm but folks even out here wanted a holiday. Delila had come to learn even in backwaters there was a high demand for luxury and high end goods ; a lot of folks had credits and just wanted to be left alone.

She was at the co-pilots chair, having kicked Brak out of his spot in order to talk to Xin as they approached. It was the first time they could properly catch up since the group picked her up from the tractor beam adventure.

"....so this Nun, right, a Mother so you know she's up high in the order is there. She's Gamorrean so luckily I remember Huttese from my youth and wow, I'm glad I remember the language. We're trying to rescue this ship caught in planetary gravity using a tractor beam and its not working so hot. The Nun just starts praying that the tractor beam is as firm as Seydon's 'blade' , which I take as code for a certain male body part."

She flashed the Nautolan a smirk.

"I can't say I've never prayed for a firm blade but normally I'm wearing much less and in a different company."

Eyes glanced over the controls, viewing the sensors. They had a few minutes until they reverted to real space on their approach to Alosha.

"It was nice seeing new and old faces but I'm glad to be back home. I thought I'd enjoy being away from the Saegassum and you three but it sounds better in practice than reality. Guess I've gotten used to the quiet life."

Not that their life together had anything but quiet, but he'd get the idea.

 

[Xin Boa]

"I...er... I got nothin' " Xin said with a shake of his head tails.

He was grinning from ear to ear at the story. Those little Nautolan tells, the movements of the head tails, the patterns in his eyes, they all told of his humour. Once, Dells had known a Xin who smiled like this, but the rest of his Nautolan body language had been subdued.

Those days were long behind them.

"It's alright to wanna see old friends," Xin replied. "But less of the prayin' to a higher power please. We got a few more years before you need that."

Xin laughed, reaching for the hyperspace controls. The stars snapped back into place and they had almost two serene seconds until the alarms blared out.

"Shields!" he called out to Dells.

Xin made no sharp maneuvers. There was a formation of vessels coming at them straight on. Laser fire from several small ships that offered dogged pursuit to the fleeing raiders had set off Xin's alarms.

"Brak I need you on guns!"

They were not in a warship and they had no handle on the situation, but Xin wouldn't show a soft belly to the approaching ships.

 

[Skajin var Imret]

There was a formation of vessels coming at them straight on. Laser fire from several small ships that offered dogged pursuit to the fleeing raiders had set off Xin's alarms.

KYRIKAL V - LOW ORBIT

Though a number of the raiders had already jumped, half a dozen hadn't yet, mostly for technical reasons. These were ramshackle ships whose navicomputers and hyperdrive capacitors varied widely. Among them was Skajin's quick little Stoneheart Sleen. He'd caught up with his compatriots just before their pursuers engaged: several small system patrol vessels, highly motivated. He'd considered taking hostages as shields. He'd decided not to, and was now regretting it.

Two problems, then: the patrol vessels in the rearview, and the new ship that had just reverted ahead, a shielded and armed freighter whose transponder read Saegassum. Two problems, and Skajin had two options, each well suited to half the situation.

The Stoneheart Sleen disgorged a seismic charge. It fell behind the raiders with an eye to sowing chaos among the system patrol vessels. The other part took a good deal more effort: while flying, Skajin oriented his ship's one and only gun on the Saegassum and opened fire. It was a light turbolaser retrofit, outsized for a boat like this, maybe enough to cause the Saegassum some concern and buy the raiders time to jump.

Delila Castillon Xin Boa

---

Hiding in the torn-up Fallanassi enclave, Hoku Kalani would have been one of few survivors. The place had taken a few surprise shots from the raider ships; it was largely still standing, but a ruin. Hoku would have seen raiders snag this and that from the vicinity. He'd have seen Skajin, an old Kubaz in light armor, confront the wounded leader, speak quietly with her, and in some mysterious way cause her death. Since Skajin had removed his helmet for the final moments, if Hoku had any knack for Kubaz faces, Skajin would be recognizable in the future. Hoku, being Force-sensitive, would have felt the Dark Side at work.

 

[Delila Castillon]

"Oh really? You'll have to sh-"

Lewd reply was immediately cut off by alarms ringing throughout the Saegassum. Up ahead, a formation of vessels, odd and mismatched but clearly united in some type of goal. In hot pursuit was planetary authority - or some type of military authority, Dells couldn't read the wording without her glasses and with this much chaos going on, it didn't matter.

Shields immediately went up, diverting power to the forward shields for optimal protection. If Xin kept course she wouldn't have to worry about their back end and by the judge of things, this group wasn't interested in turning around and firing.

Comm crackled.

"....half already have made the jump. No pirates left in the town according to authorities....Focus fire on the last two vessels..."

Pirates? Seemed like an odd type of pirate to her.

The rhythmic thump-thump-thump of turbolaser fire indicated Brak had finally gotten down to the turret, none too soon since one of the lead vessels had opened fire on them. The Saegassum wasn't made for much in the way of warfare. Enemy turbolaser hit portside, causing them to rock slightly, the lights to flicker before coming back on.

"Xin, these don't look like ordinary pirates."

Xin Boa | Skajin var Imret | Hoku Kalani

 

[Hoku Kalani]

This was not what he had in mind for this trip. The Selkath was looking to learn more, to help people. And the Fallanassi were ones who helped others, they weren't the best healers, but he was hoping to learn just… anything he could from them.

And today he was getting a lesson in hiding.

The challenge here was that he couldn't stay hiding. The scientist wanted to help people and this was the best place to do it. Active combat zones, he supposed.

The Kubaz, a species he wasn't totally familiar with, not good enough to recognize the individuals, had killed the leader… He looked around heard the quiet. It was time to move. Willing himself up, he took stock around. Some were injured, some were dead… He moved to check on one woman, to help stabilize the human-near-human-maybe person before he noticed someone of authority.

"The raider… it's a Kubaz… He can use the Force. He did use the Force!" Came a very wet sentence in Basic.

 

[Xin Boa]

"Can tell if you being mean or..."

Laser fire splashed across their shields. Xin swore under his breath. That vessel had packed more punch into his main gun that he expected.

His hand moved over to the power controls, diverting more to the deflectors.

"...but it can wait. "

Xin pushed the control stick forwards. Their nose veered 'down' but he gradually changed the rate of the turn and added a touch of lateral thrust. Even for a big ship, it would give targeting computers cause to actually do a few calculations.

"Brak, hold for a moment and give them a synchronised burst!" Xin called out.

 

[Skajin var Imret]

The light turbolaser turret was poorly maneuverable at the best of times, to the point where Skajin typically just aimed it by steering. He had little latitude on that front.

The tumbling seismic charge thrummed into a radial shockwave, askew from every vector involved. A patrol ship split apart. The others rushed on around the wave, disorganized but barely delayed. A raider ship exploded, and Skajin wasn't sure if the pursuers or the shockwave had done it.

Turbolaser fire jolted the Stoneheart Sleen. Skajin took his hands off the controls — no maneuvering, no shooting back — and clung to the arms of his chair. Panic roared up in him and he harnessed it. His skillset in the Force wasn't of Sith or Jedi derivation. It has its uses, but anything he could plausibly do would only make matters worse right now.

The Stoneheart Sleen had excellent shields for a boat of its size, tested against the Bryn'adul. A concerted barrage ripped them down to 15%. Jolting around in his seat, Skajin grabbed the controls again and threw his boat into a flat spin. His focus was on the navicomputer's lightspeed calculations.

"Fasszter, fasszter..."

Delila Castillon Xin Boa

 

[Delila Castillon]

Where the hell did a seismic charge come from? A patrol boat was ripped apart in front of them, another two vessels clipped one another and veered out of control. The situation was getting dangerously out of hand way too quickly in her opinion. While she had complete faith in Xin and his abilities, it was the others she had to worry about.

Lights and the aircon went out in the Saegassum as she flipped them to emergency life support, forcing even more power into their shields. Not just the seismic charge but the debris was becoming a concern now, last they needed was something sucked up into an intake or a large piece snapping off a sensor array. They only had so many spare parts aboard.

"I've got everything diverting to the shields that I possibly can. Brak?"

Just as the sound of turbolasers started, the Stoneheart Sleen disappeared into hyperspace.

"What the hell was that about?"

Xin Boa | Skajin var Imret | Hoku Kalani |

 

[Hoku Kalani]

The human woman, as was known to her and every member of her race, she wasn't exactly androgenous, looked up at the panicked Selkath as he approached. No recognition came into her face aside from that of 'oh fish man.' Then he started speed talking in some broken Basic filled with water about a Kubaz.

"We saw… They have left already." She indicated the sky. "Blasted off after the raid." The law enforcer looked at the Selkath. "You don't appear to be injured. Are you able to… did you say the Force?"

Hoku looked at her and gave a very over-exaggerated nod. He felt it had to be for her to understand. Their heads moved so much! The Forerunners understood Selkath. Had to, with some of the former enslaving and uplifting the Selkath.

"Yes!" Hoku blurted out.

"I'll inform the proper people. For now, can you help? Assist with locating people?" Didn't fish species have echolocation?

Delila Castillon Xin Boa Skajin var Imret