Marooned!

[RC 212]

Location: Hyperspace, on the Edge of the Hydian Way


[member="Audren Sykes"] [member="Kurayami Bloodborn"]

Space, the final frontier. Well not so final but close enough to the edge to make Captain Raxis Uncomfortable. He was on a small paying mission to fly two people he barely knew closer to the core. It was a short-hop flight, simply getting them to another port where they could catch a connector flight. They were in the center chamber of the ship however as Jack wasn't fond of allowing strangers in the cockpit.

Dak his skinny compatriot from Dantooine was at the helm as they ploughed through endless miles of space, quickly making their way along.

"Dak you got a reading on how long till we hit the core systems?"

"No somethings off but I'll keep working."

Jack felt a sudden wrench in his gut. That was never a good sign, since readins were pretty easy to get. A computer could guess them after all.

The spacer captain ran a hand through his hair, messing it all up. He had a very bad feeling about this trip. Something was indeed off and the young spacer could not for thelfie of him determine what was wrong.

"Well keep trying. I'm gonna go see if our guests need anything."

"Got it skip."

Jack simply grunted and hit the door locks, letting them whoosh back. He entered the main cabin and nodded to his passengers, a bottle of whiskey in his right hand, three crystal glasses in his left.

"Well gentlemen, I suppose now's as good a time as any to get to know ya. Fancy a drink or some food?"

 

[Kurayami Bloodborn]

[member="Jack Raxis"] [member="Audren Sykes"]

Kurayami was as usual, quite laid back during the flight. After his leaving the CDF he had spent plenty of time in hyperspace, whether on his own, with a companion, or on public transit. Everything was just as dull as he recalled, nothing overly eventful and certainly nothing to write home about. Then again that was a good thing when it came to traveling through hyperspace. When things went wrong things went south much faster than he was used to. For the time being he was doing routine cleaning and maintenance on his weapons.

He had just finished reassembling his DC-17m when Jack came in and asked about drink or food. Admittedly he wasn't all that hungry, but he had never been known to turn down booze, especially when it was free. He placed the rifle in the holster on his back and removed his helmet. He nodded and kicked out a chair for Jack to join them.

"You come bearing free drinks. How could I be so rude as to say no? If you got the time, take a seat."

He set his helmet down on the table on his left side. He had very little idea of who the man was and was currently trying to remember what it was he had needed to make a trip for anyways. There was a reason even if it was escaping him right now.

 

[Audren Sykes]

Though he could, Audren hadn't bothered to hide who he was this trip. The robes and lightsaber gave away that he was a Jedi. That the robes were non-standard and the lightsaber blade red meant little in today's galaxy. However, the vibroknife and pistol he also wore labeled him as less of a traditional Jedi, more willing to accept alternatives. For better or worse, of course. His blond hair was held out of his face with a braid, mostly grown back by now from the fight with Sith on Thyferra.

It irked him that he needed to take transport when he had his own ship. Stolen, yes, but it was his now. Except with his lack of all but the most basic knowledge, portions of it had fallen into disrepair and had failed badly enough that it needed some real work. With no other ships available for his use, he'd chartered passage. He'd become used to piloting, or at least contributing to the piloting, so sitting in the passenger area rather than the cockpit had him slightly on edge. And the noises this ship made were different than the ones he was used to. Bah.

His companion wasn't all that talkative. He wore a helmeted suit of armor and kept to himself, disassembling and reassembling the blaster rifle he'd brought with him. For his part, the Jedi hadn't initiated conversation, simply sat and watched the methodical process. He didn't know that model, and watching meant he learned about it. Right around the time it was finished, their pilot came into the room bearing a bottle of whiskey and glasses. He wasn't at the controls, but as they were in hyperspace that wasn't worrying. Might as well get to know the others in the hours they had to kill.

"Agreed, a drink would be nice."


[member="Jack Raxis"] | [member="Kurayami Bloodborn"]

 

[RC 212]

[member="Kurayami Bloodborn"] [member="Audren Sykes"]

"Alright then, I like you folks!"

Jack took a seat at the table in the middle of the couches and set the glasses down, pouring each half full with the bottle. It mad e slight clinking sound and he leaned back, glass in hand. From the very dim lights he could pick the Jedi out right away. Coupled with his dress he could almost feel something different about him. the other guy, clad in the armor was surely a Mandalorian. Jack decided not to let slip that he was as well. If he was deserter of the Mado'ade it'd be a poor flight indeed.

Instead he decided to open with a bit of harmless banter.

"Well then folks, this here as you know is the Kessels Pride. I'm Jack Raxis, smuggler and Naval reservist of the Mandalorians. To what do we owe the pleasure of flights today?"

Jack regarded each with a warm smile, but still laid in to them with eyes made as if they were laser beams. A trait passed down from his mother, Vassara Raxis.

 

[Kurayami Bloodborn]

[member="Jack Raxis"] [member="Audren Sykes"]

"Dont have too many admirers. Thanks. Though you aren't my type, sorry."

He chuckled slightly to let Jack know that the jab was all in good humor. He picked up the glass nearest him and took a sip. The warmth of the whiskey burning down his throat was a comforting feeling. He felt like he had seen the Jedi around before, but that could have been a leftover from his time with the Republic many years back. He shrugged, perhaps the guy just resembled another Jedi he had met before. They all blended together after awhile in his mind. The captain seemed to be the laid back type but there was something in the way he regarded his passengers that seemed to hint at more than just a simple freighter pilot. It wasn't any of his business though so he just set the drink down and took a moment to respond to the captain.

"Kessels Pride? Hadn't heard of it before today, should I have? Jack Raxis, pleasure to meet you I'm Kurayami Bloodborn. Ex-CDF , and former special operative of the Republic and Galactic Alliance. Things just didn't seem to fit with the GA after a bit. Nothin' against any of 'em, and I certainly wish them luck in purging the galaxy of all Sith influence. As for my reason for the flight, just gotta get a few supplies that I have had issues getting elsewhere."

Picking up his drink again he took another swig and returned the smile, though the expression wasn't reflected in his gaze. His eyes seemed to be staring through Jack, as if he wasn't even looking at him but rather through him. In reality it wasn't anything personal he just tended to zone out now and again.

 

[Audren Sykes]

The pilot was generous with his whiskey, filling each glass about half-full. Even without looking Audren could sense the other's focus. There was something about the pilot as well, the tangles of Force power making up his presence were a bit brighter than those of a normal person. Maybe he had a stronger, more forceful personality; it didn't mean he was Force sensitive. Even if he was, recruiting wasn't Audren's job.

What caught the Sephi's attention was the man's name. Jack was a common enough name, but Raxis...he'd known a Vassara Raxis, first with the Sanctum and later allied with the Galactic Alliance. She'd disappeared for a bit, but this certainly couldn't be family. What would the odds of that be? How many billions of people over how many millions or billions of inhabited worlds? This had to be another Raxis. Kessels Pride was a fairly typical name for a ship, even if he didn't agree with it's namesake being a source of pride. Prison planet and all that. However, he had no issue with the man being a smuggler, though the Mandalorian naval reservist was an interesting tidbit.

Audren really didn't want to reveal that the reason he was flying with Jack was because he'd not taken care of his own ship. He hadn't known that he'd needed to, let alone how to do it, but that was no excuse. Still embarrassing. He didn't like lying, but who said a half-truth was out of the question? He took a small sip of the whiskey before giving his answer.

"Audren Sykes, Jedi Knight for the Silver Sanctum and Galactic Alliance. Ship is in for maintenance, and I needed to pick up some specialty pieces."

He didn't clarify that the specialty pieces were for something else entirely, nor did he comment on the fact that the soldier - Kurayami, he'd called himself - was ex-Alliance. People came and went, as long as they didn't end up fighting against the group they were just with, and notably the group that Audren was a part of, he didn't hold it against them.

[member="Jack Raxis"] | [member="Kurayami Bloodborn"]

 

[RC 212]

[member="Kurayami Bloodborn"] [member="Audren Sykes"]

"So we got ex Republic and Alliance agents on board eh?"

Jack laughed a bit at the hilarity of it all. Here he was a humble smuggler ferrying around people he barely knew. And they seemed to be prominent folks within their organizations at that. Both lightsiders though, if he had to guess which was fine by him. Sith seemed to leave a rather sour taste in his mouth.

He turned to Kurayami and smirked.

"Don't worry bub, I'm not many folks type and if you heard of my ship then I wouldn't be a good smuggler would I?"

Then he turned to Audren.

"Well transport happens to be my business. What kind of speciality pieces anyhow? I'm a decent mechanic, might be able to mod your-"

But he was cut short as the ship lurched hard and he felt a wave of danger wash over him. His guts twisted hard and that bad feeling he had had become suddenly so much worse. Jack jumped to his feet and burst through the door of the cockpit, snapping at Dak.

"What the hell is going on kid!"

"We got a bad leak on the hyperdrive core, she just blew!"

"Holy feth, move!"

A blow hyperdrive core was a nightmare. If you were lucky your ship simply dropped out of hyperspace somewhere. But Jack was unlucky, so they were stuck in limbo, reverting then jumping and with no actual coordinates plugged in. chances you jumped into a black hole were high, and those were nearly impossible to escape from.

"Kark, fire up the sublights, try to kill power to core."

"Cant, we're being shut off!"

"By what?"

"Hold on."

Dak typed furiously and suddenly he was confronted with a view of the engine chamber, and tons of droids crawling everywhere. Buzz droids, a bunch of em he had been smuggling on this run. For some reason they had turned on and began moving through the hull, severing and destroying systems as they went. And Jack didn't have a control key for them, which meant they would never stop.

"Kark this is bad kid, slingshot us around the nearest moon and get us into whatever system we can. I'll warn the passengers."

Jack pressed his lips thin and entered the rear hold once more.

"Gentlemen, I regret to inform you we have a serious problem. Some Buzz droids I was carrying have gone rogue, and we're being torn apart.You'll need to strap in, we might have a hard landing."

Jack tossed the remainder of the bottle to the two.

"Here for the trouble."

Then he disappeared back into the cockpit....

 

[Kurayami Bloodborn]

[member="Jack Raxis"] [member="Audren Sykes"]

"Yea, that is one way to look at it I guess. I tend to avoid thinking too terribly much on anything for too long."

Kurayami was getting ready to make another quip in response to the whole 'type' thing when the ship lurched. It was another rough ride then. This is why he needed to get back to using his own craft for traveling. That sinking feeling he had gotten on SUllust before the Sith showed up was back, and a bit stronger this time around. Good things never seemed to follow when he got this feeling. Not that it really mattered too much. He slammed down the rest of his drink as Jack ran to the cockpit to see what was going on. All he caught was the word 'hyperdrive' during the exchange with Dak. Well things certainly had gone to hell in a handbasket. Though coupled with the lurch it could be anything from a failed motivator to the core or a coolant leak. Whatever it was was certainly making the trip a bit longer than he had planned for. It was around this time that Jack came back in and gave them the news. Rogue buzzdroids tearing apart the ship. Fuck droids, this just added to the list of things he disliked about them.

"So the lurching halt was a bad thing. Wasn't sure if that was just how this thing stopped after being in hyperspace for a bit. Glad to know that droids are slowly tearing the ship apart though. Thanks for the status report, Jack."

Jack threw the bottle to them and disappeared again. Kurayami shook his head. As nice as the extra drink would have been he would need to be as close to sober as possible if things got worse before they got better. Grabbing his helmet he locked it back in place and waited for the HUD to boot up. He looked to Audren and nodded.

"Sounds like things just got interesting, huh? So I suppose we just sit here until told otherwise or something... all I know is that I hate waiting."

 

[Audren Sykes]

Jack laughed shortly at the idea of having the two of them on board. Personally, Audren couldn't see the humor, but humans were the oddest creatures. He went on to start declaring he might be able to help the Sephi modify...something before the ship lurched. The same feeling of danger that Jack got swept over the Jedi, though he couldn't quite tell where it was coming from. His eyes went up to the ceiling and his head pivoted quickly, almost as if the hull itself was transparisteel. But the danger wasn't coming from out there. Raxis jumped up and headed back into the cockpit, yelling at the other person on the crew, apparently named Dak.

'Hyperdrive' was one word he heard, and he wasn't encouraged by it. Problems with the hyperdrive were bad. One could get stuck in hyperspace indefinitely, or the stasis fields could fail, leaving them to age at different rates than the rest of the galaxy. Or, you know, they could just explode. Not the best of times when that happened. Almost a full minute later, Jack re-entered the passenger area with an update.

"Gentlemen, I regret to inform you we have a serious problem. Some Buzz droids I was carrying have gone rogue, and we're being torn apart. You'll need to strap in, we might have a hard landing."

He then tossed the rest of the whiskey bottle to the two of them, claiming it was 'for the trouble', and rushed back into the cockpit.

"So the lurching halt was a bad thing. Wasn't sure if that was just how this thing stopped after being in hyperspace for a bit. Glad to know that droids are slowly tearing the ship apart though. Thanks for the status report, Jack."

That was said by Kurayami to Jack's retreating back. The Jedi couldn't tell if it was sarcasm or not, or a mix. Either way, he found it funny and chuckled in reply. As the soldier locked his helmet into place, Audren strapped the bottle into a seat of its own using his own precognitive skills to tell when the lurches were coming (and how) and bracing himself between the table and his seat to ride them out. It wasn't the most pleasant ride, but it was far from the worst he'd had - his first time piloting was something he'd rather forget. After that, he strapped himself into his own seat.

"Sounds like things just got interesting, huh? So I suppose we just sit here until told otherwise or something... all I know is that I hate waiting."

"We could always try destroying the buzz droids, whatever they are, but with all this jerking around injuries could get fairly nasty."

For all his apparent calm, the Sephi was still on edge. First it was riding in a ship he wasn't flying, now it was riding in a ship that was apparently being torn apart from the inside, and next thing he knew it would probably be crashing in a ship he wasn't flying. Whatever these 'buzz droids' were, he was never transporting them on his own ship. Ever.


[member="Jack Raxis"] | [member="Kurayami Bloodborn"]

 

[RC 212]

[member="Kurayami Bloodborn"] [member="Audren Sykes"]

"So whats the deal kid?" Jack asked in between furiously throwing levers and switches trying to regain control of the Vessel. The Buzz droids were making quick work, tearing through system after system, disabling power cables and controls. Jack was furious at the thought of it and Dak was about to bear the brunt of it.

"I can't control a damn thing!"

"Hold on tight Skip."

"Why's that?" Jack asked, completely unaware of anything but flashing nodes on the dash.

"That slingshot worked pretty well, but we're about to crash and the Nav Computer is down. I have no bearing where we are."

"We're about to wha- Whoa!!! Extend the landing fins, now!"

Jack still had control of one thing. The Yoke which was a semi good tool in the present situation. He pulled back hard as they plunged through the atmosphere of some unknown planet. Power systems were still going down one by one, and the engines were beggining to sputter hard. Dak managed to extend the brake fins just as the system lost power.

"Got it."

"Strap in, this is gonna be rough."

They were falling fast, with Jack slowly levelling the vessel out. But he could see they were bleeding too much altitude and plunging towards what was a blurred green and blue landscape. Not good. Not good at all. The engines finally failed, power cables severed by spinning saw blades. The Buzz droids had completed their task and now moved to sever the final cables from the steering controls.

"We're crashin!" Jack roared, ship spiralling over and over again, completely out of control. With the introduction of gravity random unsecured objects crashed about the cabins, flying to and fro. Jack felt a ration pack careen into the side of his head and passed out. The yoke slipped from his hands, the Kessels Pride smashed into the dull sands of a beach, and the last thing he remembered was feeling a jolt and hearing crack as everything went dark.....

 

[Kurayami Bloodborn]

[member="Jack Raxis"] [member="Audren Sykes"]

The fact the ride was just getting to be more and more bumpy was not something that Kurayami was thrilled with. It was obvious the pilot was doing the best that he could to keep the ship under control. He was trying to stay in one place as much as possible, the constant bumps and jolts were not helping. This was slightly countered by the reintroduction of gravity, and considering that it wasn't crushing them into a singular point it wasn't a black hole which was at least a small plus. Thankfully smaller pieces of debris that was flying around the cabin were deflected by the helmet.

"We're crashin!"

That was the last thing Kurayami heard before the impact of the craft on the beach slammed him into the table with enough force to knock him out. Not the impact, the sudden stop was what knocked him out.

 

[Audren Sykes]

Forget that about this not being the worst ride he'd had. As soon as the Sephi had finished strapping in, it got markedly worse, lurches and bumps happening more and more frequently. What the heck were these 'buzz droids', that they could do so much to a freighter? Of course, if they'd somehow damaged the hyperdrive in the right way, that could cause a feedback loop into the other systems...what was he talking about, there were supposed to be safeguards against that kind of thing. Not that he knew much about ship mechanics anyways, they just worked.

The artificial gravity flickered, providing a strange sort of feeling, then the inertial compensators too. The base of Audren's chair creaked as a result of that one, though it and the compensators ultimately held for now. Abruptly, they slowed, reminding him of someone jamming on the brakes hard. It had the same effect too, throwing everyone forward roughly against their safety restraints. Kurayami slammed against the table hard, and he went limp. In contrast, the Jedi's seat - already weakened by the compensator flickers - was abruptly separated from the floor and flying through the cabin. He didn't hit with his head, he hit the wall with the seat. That left a nice dent in both, as well as a barely-conscious Sephi. It was the rest of the falling debris crashing into him that finally knocked him unconscious.



[member="Jack Raxis"] | [member="Kurayami Bloodborn"]

 

[RC 212]

[member="Kurayami Bloodborn"] [member="Audren Sykes"]

Smoke....

Jack awoke to a smoke filled cabin, and rubbed his head hard. Luckily the restraints had held and Dak was shaking him furiously. He jumped a bit and then came too, noticing he had blood trickling down the side of his face and a raring headache. The ship!

"The Ship Dak!"

"All good, just needs repairs on the circuits. The crash dislodge the droids and I think they skittered off across the sand."

"Good, let's get to it then!"

Jack hit the release and the harness snapped off. He was up and unsteadily stumbling towards the cabin, through the halls. When he saw it he let out a grunt. It was a figurative tornado in here. Anything unsecured had smashed to bits. So he had a maybe dead Mando and the other guy Audren.

He cracked a wry grin again and spread both arms wide, cocking his head.

"Not too bad for a crash landing eh?"

In the hold there was a speeder. And it would be good to get some fresh air, so he moved across the way and slammed the release hatch. It might have been the last piece of equipment to even work, since it hissed open without protest. Jack poked his head out and was confronted with a bedazzling sight. Perhaps the most beautiful world he'd ever laid eyes upon

Salty air streamed in through the ramp and smoke billowed out. Sun beat down soft and soothing on his face and he felt a part of his soul melt. This was it, paradise....

 

[Kurayami Bloodborn]

[member="Jack Raxis"] [member="Audren Sykes"]

It was a little while after the landing that Kurayami finally came around and opened his eyes. The restraints had done their job quite well, he just hadn't been able to tighten them as far as he would have normally. His head felt like somebody had taken an ax to it. He couldn't remember the last time he had a headache nearly this bad, though he could be almost sure that it had been from drinking. That usually led to really bad hangovers given his lack of control most nights when he was out drinking for one reason or another. It was usually worse when he was trying to forget something as opposed to celebrating. Once he had removed the restraints it took a bit for him to come to enough that he was able to coordinate enough to do so. Trying to stand was quite another challenge that presented itself, and this was why he hated head trauma it was always a queen to try and remember the basics of everything, except breathing. It took a few tries before he was able to stand in a somewhat stable manner. Usually he would try to shake his head to clear his mind, but right now that would just cause him to fall over. He placed his hand on the back of the chair he had been sitting in, using that to stabilize himself.

He heard the ramp hiss open and noticed that the smoke was starting to clear. He wanted to go see where they had landed but now was not the time. Other than his possible concussion he seemed to be fine. Sore from the stop but overall he was doing alright.

 

[Audren Sykes]

"Not too bad for a crash landing eh?"

Audren was jarred awake by the loud declaration and immediately groaned. Not because of the light - there really wasn't much reaching his face due to the debris - but because of the the pain. He could take a hit. Heck, he could take multiple hits. But those hits had a tendency to be localized, not all over. The impact of the chair against the wall and the debris that had hit him was uncomfortable, to say the least. There was blood in his mouth and slowly running down one side of his face, both from cuts.

"Tell you what. The next time I'm in a crash landing, I'll compare the two and let you know."

There was an element of crossness in his voice, accompanied by sarcasm. Despite his dislike of the situation though, he was acutely aware that they could very well have gone into a black hole or become a fireball. It could have been worse. With a breath, he moved his arms from their crossed position across his chest, scattering the boxes and other items that had fallen onto him. He was still in his seat, which itself was lying on its back on the ground. A minor focus through the Force and both cuts stopped bleeding; it would take more to heal them and he wasn't going to put the time in just yet.

Ironically, across the room the whiskey bottle sat belted in its chair, not a scratch on the bottle or a drop spilled.

The press of a button released his safety restraints, and he rolled over the side of the chair to land on hands and knees. He hurt all over, and would no doubt be black and blue in a few hour's time. A quick survey told him that no bones were broken however and he had no injuries worse than bruises and moderate cuts, both of which had stopped bleeding. With a stubbornness that had done him well in combat training, the Sephi forced himself to his feet and followed the human pilot into the hold. This Raxis was definitely not related to Vassara, she never would have crashed like that.

As he crossed into the hold, smoke billowed out past him but he didn't notice. What he did notice was the view, and the salt in the air. They were on a beach, with one heck of a view available to them. If there were better places to crash, he didn't know them.

"Kark."


[member="Jack Raxis"] | [member="Kurayami Bloodborn"]

 

[RC 212]

[member="Kurayami Bloodborn"] [member="Audren Sykes"]

And the beach would have been beautiful, except for the feeling of dread that hit the pit of Jacks stomach right before They appeared. They came from all over. From the and, the water, hell he didn't know how he had missed them, but as they faded into view Jack could tell it was not a good situation. What looked like a highly advanced race of technological beings, with very long rifles and solid armor.

They were massed on the beach in perfect lines. Jack gulped as he watched two lasers center on his chest. They were mad, he could feel it. Rage emanating in waves from them.

"Umm... might have a problem."

"Intruders, show yourselves."

Jack swore his ears were about to fall off. The aliens spoke basic? Or at least he guessed they were aliens from the sound of their voices and the strange non organic shaped armor they wore.

"Umm... What's the problem, we come in peace?"

"Blasphemy! You have unleashed the demonic non sentient life forms upon our beaches. Even now our warriors battle them in the city. They have torn our networks and our power grids and it is your doing!"

Jack reached down to his DL-44 hidden in his waistband. Despite the fat he was an absolute crap shot, suppressing fire seemed like it might be next move.

"I don't know what your talking about bub. How about you just back off, so I can repair my ship and be out of here?"

"The God's demand flesh! Our people are hungry for flesh. You will submit yourselves to our will human, or die!"

Jack had heard enough. He slammed the button one more time, except the hatch didn't slide closed this time.

"Kark me!"

He raised the DL-44 and sent twin rounds downrange, lighting up the gunline and then ducking behind the hatch into the ship.

"We got bad guys on our tail! Dak whats the status of the ship!"

Dak was already at work assessing the damage, Jack felt a shudder as s flurry of plasma bolts impacted the side of his Vessel, the gunlines opening fire. There was probably hundreds of them. He didn't are to count, but he ventured a guess the laser pointers were rigged to the rest of the weapons on the beach. Targeting troops, how convenient.

"Cables only, no major systems!"

"Listen guys, the buzz droids only cut the power cables. They didn't actually destroy anything. So Im'a need you to hold these guys off. Twnenty five minutes tops. Then we can be up and out of here!"

More rounds impacted the side of the Kessels Pride and Jack snorted in anger, popping out and emptying his clip into the masses.

"Stop shooting my ship!"

He ducked behind the bulkhead and nodded to the pair.

"Think your up to it? They get in here I'm pretty sure they're going to eat us."

 

[Kurayami Bloodborn]

[member="Jack Raxis"] [member="Audren Sykes"]

Finally feeling he was stable enough to stand on his own, Kurayami let go of the chair and found to his surprise that for once he was right. There was still a bit of a haze after the crash but that would clear up soon. Then there were the voices. Thankfully not in his head this time, but those of Jack and someone else. That someone else sounded rather angry, so he took the safer route and drew his blaster from his back taking a moment to load and charge the weapon.

It was about this time that Jack came running back into the ship and mentioned that the cables were the only things cut. So relatively minimal damage overall, maybe? There was also a request to hold people off. Well, sounded like diplomacy was out of the question, setting the DC-17m down across his chair, he grabbed each of his T-6's in turn and put a fresh power pack into each, sure only 25 shots but superheavy blasters were worth every one. A quick text of the knuckle plate vibroblades showed they were in working order as well. He picked up his rifle from the chair as he responded to Jack.

"Fortunately I can help you there, all my weapons are working just fine. Twenty-five minutes, guess working under pressure adds to the time, and if we fail to then we get eaten? Sounds like a fair trade."

He was vaguely familiar with the layout of Jack's freighter, and made his way to the ramp and upon seeing the less than thrilled natives wondered if the cargo containers could be easily moved to give them some form of barrier. The though was quickly silenced as a plasma bolt flew by his head. Good way to greet visitors. Without another word he brought the rifle up to firing position and leaned around the corner, firing a quick burst of three rounds before ducking back in. He wouldn't be able to make sure that these shots hit as it was more important to keep himself out of the line of fire for the moment. At least now the ones who greeted them would know they had some resistance to get past before they feasted on anyone.

 

[Audren Sykes]

Kark really was the right word, only this time it resulted from the lines of soldiers fading into view. Soldiers with big guns and heavy armor. Shaped oddly, so likely non-human, but they certainly spoke excellent Basic. And despite being technologically advanced they had some sort of intolerance of droids. Somehow, that intolerance translated over into eating Jack. Once he heard that, the human slapped a button on the wall, likely the one controlling the hatch, only to hear a bit of grinding and no door closing. Bad luck. He started shooting then, which set off them shooting. Only there were a lot more of them then there were on the Pride.

Twenty-five minutes was a lifetime in a firefight, especially when they were surrounded. It was excellent news that it would only take that long to get the ship flying again, but it wasn't going to come soon enough. When Jack emptied his power pack out the hatch, Audren pulled his own weapon, though he refrained from firing it. It had a limited effective range, and he had limited power packs to shoot with. One already loaded and two reserves on his utility belt. Had he known he was walking into a firefight, he'd have brought his carbine. That also had limited range, but it shot a lot faster and held a lot more ammo.

"It would help if you had any additional weapons. The longer their range the better."

The plasma beating into the hull of the Kessels Pride made an interesting counterpoint to his words. It wouldn't be a problem stopping them from getting inside, as long as they used just the one entrance. That was one thing lightsabers were good for at least. Even grenades could be fairly easily dealt with, Force Pushes did wonders with those. It was the long-distance combat that would be an issue. Kurayami was off to a good start on that one with his rifle, even though he'd opened up another hatch to do so.

[member="Jack Raxis"] | [member="Kurayami Bloodborn"]

 

[RC 212]

[member="Kurayami Bloodborn"] [member="Audren Sykes"]

Jack caught the reply from Audren just as he caught a giant toolbox being thrown violently his way from Dak. Some of them dropped out and haphazardly he caught a few and snorted. The rest weren’t a problem, he just need the stuff that could repair the cables. Standard wiring and extra electrical tape to boot. And the flash welder.

He threw the rest of the stuff to the deck and popped open the Deck hatch that lead into the guts of his baby disappearing from the battle. They'd already lost two minutes and as he fumbled around in the dark, feeling alien rifle rock his ship he cursed again.

"Might try one of those containers mate! Pretty sure I kept a Disruptor rifle or two around somewhere."

The smell of the engine room was unbearable. Grease and oil all over the place, Jack was slipping and sliding trying desperately to find what he was looking for.

"Dak glowstick, and get down here!"

A single luminescent glowstick rattled against the shaft and dropped in front of him. Jack scooped it up, putting it in between his teeth and rolling over on his back to shimmy under the engine blocks.

And there it was, power conduit number one sawed clean through. And there was number two, and the ships control hub, and the auxiliary power cables.

"Here start patching!"

And patch they did, working ferociously to connect the two main power conduits first. Jack fired the torch and let it touch the wires, beginning to melt them together.

--20 Mins left--

 

[Kurayami Bloodborn]

[member="Jack Raxis"] [member="Audren Sykes"]

Kurayami was keeping a close eye on his ammo reserves for his rifle. He had been through this plenty of times before, a firefight was nothing new to him. The shielding on his suit was holding well enough and the hatch wasn't exposing much other than his upper torso to return fire. Both a good and bad thing in this case, good because it meant he didn't have to worry about repairing his lower armor after this, bad because he might have to replace the entirety of the upper half when all was said and done. He was down to half a clip, unsure of how many natives he had hit and disabled or killed. Or if he had managed to do more than piss them off royally. Less thinking more shooting, that was his focus right now. Audren was wanting a long range weapon, strange for a Jedi, but understandable right now.

"Go root through the containers. I can hold them at the ramp with a well placed anti armor roun-"

A salvo of rounds hit the chestplate of his armor, knocking him to the ground.

"Kark you too! I'm trying to plan with a friend on how not to end up as hors d'oeuvres tonight. So please stop trying to kill me, it is incredibly rude."

He punctuated the las statement with three quick bursts at different targets, presumably the ones who had managed to hit him. Ducking back behind cover, he quickly checked his pack for the anti-armor attachment. That was there, a good start...but no rounds for it. Dammit all. But he did have the thing packed with extra clips for his rifle.

"Audren was it? Yea, uh, no grenades on me right now. But plenty of rifle rounds. And as long as this hatch closes I can easily cover your position til you find something worth shooing them with. Looks like another 6 clips for my blaster in the bag. So thats a little shy of 700 rounds total. Well now more like 612 rounds, gone through 48 in this clip so far. Either way you do you, get a rifle or pistol or some such and just plink them as they try to get through the ramp. Failing that you are a space wizard, I'm sure you can work something out."

He hit the button to close the hatch he had been firing from, his shields were under half and would need a few moments to recharge. The plates for his armor were not cheap to start with, and he just didn't feel like replacing them. After about a minute the shields were back to full strength and he opened the hatch again, emptying the rest of his clip in an arc before discarding the empty one and slamming a fresh one in. Then it was back to 3 round bursts. It seemed like the enemy was starting to figure out that cover was a good idea and was using fallen or injured comrades to absorb incoming rounds as much as they could, or if they were really lucky they found a rock to crouch behind or a tree to provide some partial cover.