Public Padawan in Peril: a Purgill-class Pirate Problem (Jedi-Open)

[Casaana]

Jadefire

The dissolution of the Galactic Alliance sent shockwaves rippling through the region. Almost overnight there was little enforcement or cooperation between the many planets that had relied on Alliance organization, funding, personal, and equipment. Individual planets and quickly formed treaty clusters had gathered what they could, but that mostly applied to the wealthier systems, those that could tempt security and navy officers suddenly without a paycheck to bring their ships and crews over. Into the sudden void, raiders emerged.

Swallowed in the furor of the changes sweeping the region, few bothered to notice when a shipping company at the end of the Rimma Trade Route lost a lightly crewed escort cruiser to pirates. Casaana's curiosity had been raised when she'd caught sight of it while laid up between hyperspace jumps, a sleek mon-cala design built for speed and half a kilometer long, not broadcasting a transponder code. Curious, the Padawan tucked her interceptor in next to floating debris and settled in to watch for a little. As she did, she pulled up the system info on the Jadefire's center display. She'd picked this system because it was right at the range of her single-jump ability and it held a miniature nebula offering some interesting views while her hyperdrive cooled and cycled. There were also a smattering of asteroids caught in the single sun's weak pull, not quite formed into a belt yet. Maybe they'd make the system's first planetoid in another hundred million years.

Her drive was nearly cooled and the light show provided by the nebula had fully drawn her attention when a beeping from her sensors drew her attention down to the passive scanner display. Another ship had translated out of hyperspace and immediately broadcast a message. Punching it through, all Casaana got were the squeals and warrks of encryption noise, and she quickly shut it off. This new ship was smaller, a Cumulus-class Corsair also without transponder ID, and Casaana shifted in her little fighter's saddle seat in excitement as she watched it move in closer to the light cruiser. Were they going to fight? Her comm picked up a few more encrypted transmissions before quieting. Neither ship seemed to power weapons or launch fighters. Seemed like they were friends. Smugglers waiting to make a handoff? Something worse? Feeling like spying a little longer, the young girl pulled out a nutri-bar and settled in to watch with her snack.

Hours had passed, during which Casaana had both napped and meditated while the two ships still hadn't done anything other than hang in space. "Come on, nebula isn't that interesting." She muttered to herself, thinking about giving up when she picked up another hyperspace translation on her sensors. This time the transponder came through loud and clear, MPO-14025, Rassa's Dream, Purgill-class star cruiser. A luxury passenger liner. Casaana's blood ran cold as the other two ships powered up and began closing on the cruise liner, this had been what they were waiting for. Bolts of light flashed out from the two pirates, turbolaser and ion cannon fire, which Rassa's Dream gamely began trying to return with her own guns even as her two attackers began launching a dozen snub fighters. Casaana's own systems flickered on almost without thought from the Padawan as she found herself powering towards the conflagration. She was a Jedi, she couldn't just stand by and watch.

As her home-made interceptor came up to speed, Casaana flipped on her own comm, setting it to at least five different Jedi Orders frequencies she'd had membership in along with another dozen enclaves and temples. "This is Jedi Padawan Casaana, I've engaged pirate raiders on my coordinates. Hostiles read one mon-cala escort cruiser, one Cumulus corvette, multiple fighters. Civilian star-cruiser is in danger. Any Jedi forces, please respond. I repeat, pirate ships attacking a civilian liner on my mark!" She'd done her best to keep her voice steady and her nerves out of it, but her hand was shaking as she keyed the transmission to send before her fingers tightened around the control yokes again. Lining up on the Cumulus Corsair, she plowed a stream of ion energy down its shielded flank with her underslung heavy beam cannon. She had to at least draw some of them off, buy some time for reinforcements to arrive or at least give the Purgill a chance.

 

[Aether of the Iron Order]

AX-01 Vanguard Mark I
Jedi Securitron Model Parts
[Aether's Build]

Weapons : 1 Training lightsaber x 6 | Hot 'n' Heavy Compensator | War Maul

TAGS: Casaana

The comm panel crackled back to life, as sound came from the empty static.

"Signal received. This is Aether of the Iron Order. Hold course, Padawan. You are not alone, help is coming..."
Aether tried to ping and hail any friendlies still logged in his registry who might be within range of the original distress coordinates. One by one, his pings vanished into static.

The Shard paused a moment in the dim light of his cockpit, considering his next course of action, before he suddenly diverted from his patrol route and aligned toward the signal's last known vector.

 

[Braze]

Tags: Saram Kote Casaana ​

Braze was with Saram on a supply run, gathering parts and provisions for the Mud Duck's refit. The two had been moving through the open-air bazaar, bartering with vendors and checking over manifests, when the sharp chirp of Braze's hush-cuff coms cut through the noise.

He paused mid-stride, blinked once, then his eyes widened. He brought two fingers up to his earring.
"Azure Phoenix acknowledged. Enroute."

The line went quiet again, leaving only the hum of passing speeders and the chatter of merchants. Braze turned to Saram, a grin spreading slowly across his face, one of those looks that never promised anything peaceful.

"You in the mood for ruining a few pirates' day? Sounds like a friend's in trouble."

 

[Mykel Dawson]

Some time after Padawan's Casaana's distress transmission, a single azure Jedi Starfighter screamed out of hyperspace. Cronau radiation and gravitic eddies from reversion may have been initially detected, but as the deltawing began to flit about the periphery of the space battle now unfolding it became like a ghost to most sensors as an electronic veil blossomed over the nimble starfighter.

"This is Jedi Padawan Casaana, I've engaged pirate raiders on my coordinates. Hostiles read one mon-cala escort cruiser, one Cumulus corvette, multiple fighters. Civilian star-cruiser is in danger. Any Jedi forces, please respond. I repeat, pirate ships attacking a civilian liner on my mark!"

[Her report checks out! (ﾉ･ｪ･)ﾉ It's not an ambush!]

Mykel initially found the transmission little fishy, no stranger to fraudulent distress calls, but his AI had confirmed its authenticity. Hecate now populated his cockpit's panoramic holographic display with moving icons of several bogeys. Meanwhile, Casaana's unique fighter was marked by a flashing green triangle.

"Padawan Casaana," Mykel started over the same encrypted comm frequency she had used to hail the NJO. "This is Knight Dawson of the Spare Fleet. I jumped ahead from my mothership for reconnaissance purposes, but now a quick reaction force is being routed here as we speak. I trust other Jedi will answer the call. Until then, we hold the line."

The Knight's voice brimmed with resolve, but it also carried warmth for his fellow Jedi, finding the Padawan brave for standing up on behalf of the beleaguered civilians alone.

His tone then took a frosty note as he addressed the attacking pirates directly over an open channel.

"Pirates, this is your first and final warning. Cease your attack, or you will be neutralized."

The warning was mostly a formality, but maybe some of the brighter ones would peel off and make his job easier.

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Tags: Casaana Aether of the Iron Order Braze​

 

[Vyn Ryder]

Padawan in Peril: a Purgill-class Pirate Problem
Gear: In Bio
Interacting With: Open

Vyn stood at attention aboard the Mon-Cala Cruiser, the sleek five hundred meter long ship quite different from the pirating ships he was used to. With its austere white aesthetics, panoramic windows, and armatured command chairs, the vessel was a top of the line warship - not some retrofit that had been cobbled together with black market parts. For all its glory, though, the sight of it made Vyn sick. Shifting back and forth on his feet, leather armor creaking, his hand idly drumming on his heavy maser pistol, he fought the urge to yell at his superior officer, the Dread Pirate Rohbur. He owed the wild-eyed man a life debt for breaking him out of prison for a crime he hadn't committed. Yet, even so...

"Sir, the Galactic Alliance just dissolved. Is now the time for -"

"Stow that talk, First Mate. The Pirate Nation has lurked in the shadows for far too long! Creeping in, like the void across the stars, we will blot out their skies! It all begins here, a single decisive victory, the first of many!" The wild-eyed pirate captain, his one cybernetic eye rolling, raised a fist to the bridge crew, who cheered in response. "Ye be questioning me again, on me own bridge, and I'll have ye spaced! I dunna care how valuable ye cybernetics are to us!"

Vyn stood straighter, and offered a pirate's salute. "The order is given! Sensorman, update on our status!" To the side, a scrawny looking human in mismatched clothing squinted at the sensor map. The viewscreens had mon cals in mind, and he had poor eyesight to begin with. "Aye! One sensor contact incoming...she'll be in our copes in one minute." Vyn nodded curtly, taking a place behind and to the right of the dread captain. Their target was a crippled Alliance warship; hoping to continue their streak of fortuitous acquisitions, the dread pirate had maneuvered to capture another warship to add to his small fleet, solidifying his power in the Pirate Nation. "She be on our scopes! Sensor profile...er..." The sensorman paused, unsure how to proceed. "...Er...she be a MPO-14025. Purgill-class."

"What?" Snapped the dread pirate, making the man cower in fear.

"The warship must have diverted. With the collapse, fleet patterns are erratic. Weapons, stand down. Helm, take us back into the nebula." Replied Vyn, inwardly relieved. With nods, the bridge crew began to carry out his orders. What came next chilled Vyn's blood.

"Belay that! Weapons - target that ship! We shall try out our new cannons!" Crowed the dread pirate, eye glowing menacingly.
A murmur went about the bridge. A luxury liner had no sizable loot beyond chronos and datapads - it wasn't like it was a casino ship, stuffed full of credits. Attacking civilians went against the Pirate Code, and was a taboo. They could attract some very unwelcome attention. Fleet remnants, for one; or worse, Jedi. Vyn, paralyzed in shock, barely registered the order.

"First Mate! The order has been given." The dread pirate growled ominously, his cybernetic eye fixed on Vyn. Vyn snapped out of his stupor, awkwardly turning to the man. "We will be respected, and we will be feared. Give the order First Mate. I not be asking again."

"Captain...the Code." Stuttered Vyn. Captain Rohbur had never held steadfast to the Code, but he had never abandoned it either. Vyn had expected the Captain to turn back into the nebula and seek better prey. But as his power was growing, Rohbur's true colors were showing, his ruthlessness and need for blood outweighing any and all common sense. "Sir...Captain...I must refuse. I cannot give the order."

"Space the Code!" Snapped the Captain. Hidden in his sleeve, a pocket blaster spat out a ring of stunning energy, the ring enveloping Vyn and sending him to the floor. "Quartermaster! Take this traitor to the brig! Weapons - target and fire on the liners engines! Anyone else who disagrees will be spaced alongside traitor Vyn after the battle!"

There was a chorus of aye-aye from the bridge, some more enthusiastic than others. A burly gamorrean, the quartermaster, grabbed Vyn by the heel and began dragging him away. More than a few on the bridge looked at each other uneasily, some making gestures to ward off bad luck. Dimly, Vyn was aware of the Mon Cala's guns thumping away.

Mykel Dawson / Braze / Aether of the Iron Order / Casaana

 

[Casaana]

Jadefire

The first loops of her dogfight with the pirate snubs had been easy, they were still feeling her out and their numbers hadn't closed in. And as much as she hated to do it, she was leaving the cruiser to its business with the passenger liner, instead luring away and using the Corsair as a shield from its many guns. Craning her head around to track one of the fighters through her bubble canopy, she flipped power from her main thruster to the Jadefire's maneuvering jets, tightening her turn and letting her get the heavy beam cannon on target. It's brilliant blue-white beam chewed through the snub's shields and disabled the craft in a shower of sparks as power arced across its surface.

Then she cut into a turn before rolling out of it as another strafed lasers through the space she'd just been. Her transceiver kicked on, relaying smooth, if robotic sounding reassurance that brought a grim smile to her face. It was good to know someone had at least heard her. Cutting her main engine, Casaana put her interceptor into a flat spin, her four wing-tip blaster cannons raking across her pursuers before she kicked the drive back on and executed a snap roll away. Then a voice she knew spoke up, and all the tension she'd been carrying released in a burst of pent-up laughter. Braze was coming! A pair of bolts streaked past and blackened her wing's finish, yelping, she was suddenly refocused on her evasion while hoping he made it in time. Glancing down at her controls, she also sheepishly turned her shield on and hit the shield booster to quickly power them up. She'd remembered to activate the multispectrum targeting jammer when the furball had begun, and that along with the number of pirate fighters kept her alive as they jockeyed for position to get the kill on her, but she'd been so focused on everything else she'd forgotten she'd turned it off to keep her signature down while lurking.

Clear blue energy wrapped around her little interceptor as she snapped around again, trying to pull another pirate into her sights. Though this time another had gone wide and turned in on her. His four lasers spat red energy bolts her way and she tried rolling through them, taking a hit to the Jadefire's lower hull. She gasped, heart in throat before she noticed, full charge on the shields. The Mark III's had saved her life again, absorbing the shot to recharge themselves. Grinning again, Casaana flipped around on the pack pursuing her and charged them down, evening out her power distribution for more speed, her wing cannons spitting fire as she lined up the heavy mount again, taking out another two in the pass and breaking through for a run on the Cumulus corvette. Sure it had anti-fighter guns, but it wouldn't be able to fire on her without risking its own fighters coming about on her again. And that was a risk she was willing to take to break the pack apart some more.

Pirate ship closing in, a blessed third voice hailed her over a reciprical frequency, "Padawan Casaana. This is Knight Dawson of the Spare Fleet. I jumped ahead from my mothership for reconnaissance purposes, but now a quick reaction force is being routed here as we speak. I trust other Jedi will answer the call. Until then, we hold the line." Her own targeting pulled him up as a blue delta, recognizing a fellow NJO member. She was yelling at him even as he was broadcasting his warning to the pirates. "I left as many as I could for you, so anytime you want to jump in!" She rolled inverted and gave the Corsair a long burst of the Ion beam as she strafed its gunwales, all guns blazing. "Nice seventy-two by the way!" She added chipperly, appreciating the Silver Jedi era fighter as she out raced the tracking of the corvette's guns before 'diving' behind its block of engines and hopefully into a blind spot for a bit of a breather.

Aether of the Iron Order Braze Mykel Dawson Vyn Ryder​

 

[Mykel Dawson]

​

In the brief pause he allowed for the pirates to relent, he caught glimpses of the Padawan's dogfighting. Firstly, the peformance of her fighter was suburb, quite agile, and sporting a powerful beam cannon that she wielded with a marksman's precision. It reminded him of the Jehuty's composite beam cannon. Even more impressive were her tactics, like using the corvette as a roving shield, pivoting off its bulk to break up lines of fire from the pursuing snubs and the larger cruiser. Even solo she was effectively shaping the battlespace to her advantage.

Such a promising Padawan.

As expected, the pirates didn't heed his warning. Every bogey signature on his holographic display promptly shifted into crimson diamonds for bandits.

"I left as many as I could for you, so anytime you want to jump in!" She rolled inverted and gave the Corsair a long burst of the Ion beam as she strafed its gunwales, all guns blazing. "Nice seventy-two by the way!"

"Thank you, and that's quite gracious of you," Mykel murmured as he lined up his interceptor to strike. "From here on out, you can refer to me as Dagger-1."

Still maintaining his distance from the ensuing furball and the envelope of the capital ships' point defenses, he unleashed a full-powered shot from one of his Tenjins, using it as a standoff weapon. The torpedo of pure ion energy surged forward at ludicrous velocities, nearing fractional lightspeed, and then slammed into one of the snubs trailing Casaana less than a second later. The craft's hull shimmered with arcs of ionic energy for several moments before it careened wildly off course. His wingman, startled by the sudden strike, also veered off his pursuit vector, creating a bit of breathing space for the Padawan.

"I can keep the other fighters off your back if you can focus on disabling that corvette's shields. Then we'll knock it out of commission with a concerted ion strike."

Ironically, the Jedi's focus wasn't on outright destruction, but on capture of the corvette. The Spare Fleet, still largely relying on donated vessels, always sought to add to its numbers by all sort of creative methods.

Meanwhile, the luxury liner was left to trade blows with the Mon Cal cruiser alone; there was only so much two Jedi pilots could do. Mykel, however, had one card to play that could tilt the odds.

"Hecate, start slicing into the enemy's battlenet, and also get us into direct contact with the Rassa for coordination."

[Way ahead of you! ╰(▔∀▔)╯ Decrypting enemy transmissions now...currently at 37% Now contacting Rassa's Dreams charter company to share a channel. Stand by.]

Even the military grade encryption and pyrowalls being used by the well outfitted pirate crew was no match for the dedicated slicing AI. With an array of dense hypermatter processors that operated as superluminal speeds, it was only a matter of time before the network was cracked, and then that's when the real fun began.

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Tags: Casaana Aether of the Iron Order Braze Vyn Ryder​