Play of the Black Sun in Lok (Lereana's Intro RP)

[Guest]

Flying all the way back to her ship across the desert, Maple dragged the tied up man aboard her ship and secured his feet and hands in one of the bunks, where she knew he couldn't get loose.

And then she had to think. Was it possible to earn more money?

She checked her fuel reserves. Just enough to make it back to Coruscant, with a little bit in reserve where the bounty was posted and get paid. But if she had to, she might be able to spare enough for one or two more tasks.

The Silent Erika floated up as its landing gear retracted. If there were more bombs in the area, there might be something more to it, depending on how dangerous the people she had just escaped from were.

She would do a quick flyby. That shuttle had been completely vulnerable, but the Silent Erika was not. Not after it had escaped that army of hyperintelligent rancors. Wait. Skip. Not real.

She sent a wide ban transmission. If she was fired on or sensed intent to harm, she would rocket this thing into the atmosphere and escape. If they were reasonable...she might stick around.

"This is the captain of the Silent Erika to the concerned party below. I was the occupant that escaped the compound not too long ago. You have probably noticed by now but their leader is not among them. That was my bounty. I can't part with him unfortunately. He's worth too much. But I am willing to assist you in the search for your explosives as a token of good will...and a reasonable fee. If interested, I will either do recon of the coordinates I transmitted to you earlier or I will assist the ground team on foot. If interested, send a reply and don't shoot me in the head," Maple transmitted, hoping they were at least semi reasonable. After all, if she was a Black Sun criminal why fly back, lie to them, and risk getting shot at?

 

[Myrian Zara]

Even she was hearing this herself from the woman who claimed to be visitor on the outpost...

"Is she serious?" She asked herself in thought. "Now that I think of it, she wasn't intent on doing anything else than nabbing the Black Sun's boss, huh? That's reasonable."

Myrian was just landing at flat ground near the outpost. While hearing the rest of what that captain wanted to say, she was impressed. There were terms if assistance would come. "Impressive," Myrian thought. "Looks like she's a bounty hunter, and a legitimate one to offer services for a price. For assistance too? I wonder what my favorite three think of it though?"

Exiting the Iradi and closing off the hatches while securing them, she heads at the side entrance of the outpost, hoping to meet the leader of the ground squad she assisted...

[member="Lereana Vainscepter"]

 

[Lereana Vainscepter]

Getting the squad to split while securing long-range emitters at the east and west of the outpost, she was hearing the Silent Erika's captain speaking out of the services she was offering. Lereana seemed interested here, but she always knows there's a catch somewhere between the lines. She's not so easily trusting, especially when she made a small mess on the main building interior. She even remembered what she did: She shot all the unconscious bodies herself, not taking the chance they'd wake up and retaliate.

Deciding she'd done enough, she went to a spot of the outpost waiting for Myrian, since she heard that ship land somewhere off the outpost. She eventually started to get a stat update from all her squad members.

"Cinder Squad, status?" Lereana inquired this, expecting immediate answers.

"Kohr here. Nothing but small wildlife from my scope," Kohr responded. "Expecting an animal watch routine?"

"Jax responding. Nothing here so far but smells of corpses from the inside," Jax replied. "Hey, LT, we ain't here on vacation."

"Can it, you two." Lereana said while crossing arms over the other. "Relax. We'll get this done soon enough. Actually, I'm glad to find out there were more bombs. Makes me want to save people like a hobby."

Then her holo-communicator rings. Browsing a pocket, she took it out before pressing a button, activating it, and seeing the small holographic image of a man wearing a heavy-armored chest guard. She had a mustache, and he looked to have not only a formal standing posture, but as well as the physique showing what makes a capable soldier.

"Major?" Lereana said this, almost giving up her formal tone when it came to communicating with a superior officer. "Glad you called, Major Akksel."

"Ah, Captain Ana," the Major on the other line smiled and chuckled. "Wasn't expecting you to actually make it out without a scratch. So... How's Lok?"

"If you ask me, it's a deathtrap so far. If you haven't received my status message about the update on the situation... well... It isn't looking good. That bomb's replicated, and I got myself a set of coordinates and-"

"Cut the Bantha bull, Lereana." Akksel said this, changing his tone to a more darker approach for the Captain. "Why can't you just die? Hehe... Why, oh why?"

"Sir?" Lereana called out in shock. "Wait... What were you expecting?"

"That you die.

"See, this is the part where you're supposed to NOT respond at all. After all, nobody escapes a quick explosion from a medium-sized outpost like that one you're in right now. But that's not what happened. No, it's supposed to be a cinch, because by the time you should have gotten to that bomb, it would have exploded on my command. Plain, and simple."

"Major?! What the heck is the meaning of this?! Were you trying to kill me?!"

Major Akksel laughed at what she felt. In this, Lereana felt disgusted. She heard the laughs of someone who looks down on people.

"You bastard..." Lereana loudly muttered this. "And you're telling me because?"

"Because your memory of Cinder Squad should have stayed dead. Unit X-Light is the future, and the galaxy will make use of the unit."

"You formed that unit to serve the interest of corporations, Major. That's not what a lifelong military unit's purpose is for, and it is insulting-"

"-said the last commander, Captain Vainscepter! All the doohickey you heard before shouldn't be taken literally!!"

"What remains of Cinder Squad still had the Republic to live for, and at these times, I know it's hard. But you don't need to step on us like this."

"No, I have to. If I want to not have any loose ends, you could have died, because I planned it."

With the realization Lereana heard, she had another in her mind that she knew was obvious. "You're in league with the Black Sun too."

Major Akksel chuckled. "You don't know the half of it, Captain. But what does it matter right now? One way or another, you will die. And I'll make sure of it myself if I have to. No space in the galaxy is your hiding spot forever, so may as well say your prayers."

At this, Lereana had a sense of darkness in her heart, finding herself more than betrayed, but actually disgusted by a man who wanted profits than serving the interests of people who wanted freedom more than anything. Serving the good, is what she believed she's doing, but she wouldn't know, yet.

"Say yours," Lereana replied. She threw the holo-communicator at the ground before aiming and firing at it with her M-400. "Damn you... DAMN YOU!!!" She kept firing at the holo-communicator and stopped just before the energy cell loaded on her blaster rifle ran out. Lowering it, she was recharging her weapon, but she heard Kohr and Jax contact her. "I'm fine, I'm fine. Listen... You two need to form up on my position right now."

And eventually finding Myrian at the spot... "How long were you there, Myrian?"

[member="Myrian Zara"]

 

[Myrian Zara]

"Long enough," Myrian said. Her looks of concern were already placed after she walked in the middle of the conversation this squad captain had with her superior, and it didn't look good at all. Being betrayed by a high-ranking officer? It would mean the situation has changed in Lereana's position. "I'm sorry, really. But if you want to accept that woman's invitation for assistance, I suggest we move quickly. The Iradi's just off the outpost right now. If you want, we can get a move-on, and quickly."

If [member="Lereana Vainscepter"] would allow it, Myrian would have led the squad to her ship...

 

[Lereana Vainscepter]

"Alright," Lereana said. "Lead the way."

Lereana follows Myrian to the ship...

"Captain!" Kohr came shouting while arriving at Lereana's side. Soon, Jax was with them as well. "Cap, what's going on?"

"We're gonna consider ourselves unemployed right now," replied Lereana. "Akksel stabbed us in the back. X-Light's homebase should be considered hostile, and so is the rest of that damned unit."

"What now? We can't operate without resources here."

"Your guess is as good as mine. The only choice we got right now, is doing what we can. That visitor is a woman, and she's responsible for contributing to the bomb being disabled before we got there. I say, we give ourselves the chance to meet her. She's assisting us on the search. Not to mention... she's a bounty hunter."

"Captain, seriously?" Kohr spoke up. "With all due respect, aren't we usually opposed to bounty hunters?"

"We are, but I think we got something that could be of great interest to her. It's worth it if our objectives are aligned here in the planet." Lereana said this while looking at Myrian. "You're connected to us, so we need to use your resources too. You got a narrow frequency tracker in your ship?"

[member="Myrian Zara"]

 

[Myrian Zara]

Myrian nods. "Yes, I got one. From that wide bandwidth frequency she used, I should be able to track it. And... Leave the payment to me. I might have something that's better in her eyes."

Unlocking the Iradi and getting in the ship first, she invites the three in. Going straight to the ship's holo-terminal, she punches in multiple frequency functions at the same time. "I'm making sure I track the frequency source, but tracking's not enough. I've got to encrypt it too, to make sure she won't be heard by other parties. This is to protect all of us in case there are other parties. Make yourselves at home, you three. Oh, and Captain, you'll be needed here if you want to talk to her for real."

As she was finally done, she did a few presses for the functions she put in to be useful. The holo-terminal's getting a signal and Myrian hummed in approval of this. Soon, she was able to open that channel to the same frequency as before...

"This is Myrian Zara... not really a captain, but a great flier of the Iradi. I see you're interested in the three soldiers, but I'm counted in since I wanted to help. So... I should know the name of the bounty hunter who made things easier! Oh, and Captain Vainscepter's here too!" She gave a cheery tone towards those who listened at the other side of the holo-call...

([member="Lereana Vainscepter"] or [member="Maple Harte"])

 

[Guest]

Maple listened to the decrypted message, and responded.

"My name is Maple Harte. If you're with them, I'm more than willing to discuss terms of assistance with all of you. Hold on, I'm going to land near you so we can discuss this in person."

Maple sent off her own encrypted transmission and the Silent Erika descended from the sky, a black chromium blade against the stars. The only things about the J-Type that stood out in the blackness was the reflective gleam of the stars off its black chromium and the red tint of its viewports.

The hatch opened up on the side and Maple headed out with her staff to the other ship, waiting for someone to meet her.

"Captain Vainscepter?" Maple called out, ignoring the Non-fact she had just been buried in a pit of snakes for three years. She struggled to focus, but some days were hard.

Night missions triggered stress, because so many of them as a Jedi Shadow had been executed at night.

Fighting an irrational sense of paranoia that whoever met her was secretly a Sith Spawn, Maple gripped her staff a little bit tighter than normal. Focus on the money. The money was real. You needed the money.

Maple needed funding, upgrades, anything she could get her hands on.

 

[Lereana Vainscepter]

"Harte," Lereana greeted with a nod as she walked up to the bounty hunter. She was ahead of her other two squad mates after briefly leaving the ship. "I'm leading Cinder Squad, well... at least... without support now. I just found out my own employer's turned on me and used the goons in that outpost to distract me the whole time."

Kohr approached from behind, followed by Jax. The Lieutenant even glared at Maple. "It could have been smooth, but this actually happened. YOU, happened."

"Give her a break," Lereana replied.

"Yeah," Jax spoke up. "Not to mention without her help, the bomb would have blown up if we touched the bomb ourselves."

Lereana then continued. "That said, Major Akksel is now ahead of us. He's in league with the Black Sun and this is just getting way better. If we're gonna get assistance, of course, it's your way to handle cash after accepting. I don't know, but Myrian over there says she'll pay you." She points at [member="Myrian Zara"].

 

[Myrian Zara]

Myrian only shrugged as she approached the party. "Me? Pay her?" She paused for a little, but chuckled and looked at Maple. "I'm kidding. Anyway... As I promised, this is something of good value. Two days ago before I got here, I was getting a few Kyber crystals appraised. I got them both at the most unlikely of places they normally are.

"Anyway, these yellow Kyber crystals are pretty special since they got powerful properties. To remind you of its use... it can be applied to either blasters or lightsabers like how the Jedi have been using them. Oh... I wouldn't be proud of them if I didn't show them to ya!"

As Myrian browsed her sling-bag, she brought out two hand-sized yellow Kyber crystals, both shiny and purely unused. "You can even check the quality of these. Heck... I even got this appraised and they told me this can be sold for fifty grand each! Can ya believe it?!"

[member="Maple Harte"]

 

[Guest]

Maple looked at the crystals, hiding a flash of pain at the memories such crystals triggered. At the same time, she listened to how Vainscepter had been betrayed by her own commanding officer.

"I can relate to your situation, captain. Its happened to me also, so I know you are having a bad day. Tell you what. I'll be nice. As my payment, I will take only one kyber crystal with the other given to Captain Vainscepter and her men, so they can have a source of capital."

"As for the bombs, I stand ready to fly with you to their coordinates and assist you against whatever enemy is defending them. How likely is it to expect further interference from this Major?" Maple asked Vainscepter, truly empathizing with the unpleasant position she had been placed in. She knew how it felt to be cut loose.

"I only ask because I'm guessing he's going to send someone, and soon. If I had decided to kill someone with the military equivalent of a schoolyard prank, Its not unreasonable to have a back up in case that fails. He could be sending a team right now to shoot us. So you guys wanna use my ship or are you comfortable with Myrian's?

Inwardly, she was trying not to panic at the mention of the bomb she had disarmed.

Wait a minute, that actually happened? Maple thought in alarm, trying to keep her cool.

 

[Lereana Vainscepter]

Lereana was listening to Maple attentively, glad to see the bounty hunter would only take one of the Kyber crystals, and getting the other for her own squad. She would need it. Getting the Kyber crystal off Myrian's hand, she immediately pockets it.

"We're all gonna need it, and we shouldn't frown at this." Lereana said this, continuing to listen to Maple's suggestion of flying with them. It's either they're using one ship or two. Just to keep things simple, it's logical only to use one. But then she'd have to choose.

She then looks at Myrian. "Myrian, what do you think?"

[member="Myrian Zara"]

 

[Myrian Zara]

Listening attentively, she was glad the Kyber Crystal deal worked out. But now, there's the matter of whose ship will be taken for the trip to find the bombs, hopefully if they'd be found. As Lereana asked her what she thought of this...

"I think I'd wanna steer clear with my ship if this'll involve anti-air cannons this time. With this outpost already done for, my merchandise could get ruined in the process too if they brought missiles.

"I'll lock my ship down for travel. Hm... I'm interested in the Silent Erika now. Be back in a bit!" Myrian runs back to the Iradi to engage security measures, while locking the ship...

She had a few thoughts in her mind. "I wonder what the handling feels like in the Silent Erika... Hm...! I could only experience what it's like flying a ship, but what about a ship that's flown by a bounty hunter. Maybe there's aggression in her flyin' or maybe there's smooth flying? I wanna find out!!!"

Eventually, Myrian joins the party again.

[member="Lereana Vainscepter"]

 

[Lereana Vainscepter]

Lereana was surprised Myrian took this well and actually saw the pilot lock down her ship.

"Hey Cap," Kohr whispered at Lereana. "Think she's a little creepy when it comes to being too cheery."

"Shut up, don't judge her." Lereana's reply was with a whisper before she looked at Maple. "Looks like we'll be taking your ship after all."

It was then that Myrian had returned...

[member="Maple Harte"]

 

[Guest]

"My ship it is, get on," Maple told them, heading back into the Silent Erika. A J-type Nubian had never been the scariest thing out there, and had become an antique in many ways, but it was still a very fast ship. Fast enough to fly them to the location in very fast fashion. The interior was very clean, and it was obvious Maple cared greatly for the vessel by the way it was fastidiously maintained.

"You can sit wherever you feel like, but mind you, I'll take us close, but not too close in case Myrian is right and we run into cannon fire. You guys work out the best possible way into this place we are flying and I'll catch up once we get there. I gotta check on something." Maple said, heading away from the cockpit and into her locked cargo bay, where the crime lord was still firmly secured.

Maple kicked him in the groin, then the face and then headed into engineering. The engines on these were powerful, but this craft was old when Maple had been but a baby. The Engines could stress at times.

She checked every instrument, checked the temperature readings. Nominal.

She then headed back to the cockpit to start the ship. She remained silent, because she knew what could happen if she stayed off topic too long...they would figure out she was a few crystals short of a staff-saber. What was left of her Jedi Shadow training only went so far.

 

[Myrian Zara]

She was awestruck as checked out the interior of the ship. Looking around at all spaces of the ship as she walked around to where she would be allowed, she could see how the Silent Erika fares well against the Iradian.

"I can say that it's really amazing compared to the Iradian... Hm... Slug Cannons on my end, but what's your weapon spec on this one?" ([member="Maple Harte"] on answer to question, but let [member="Lereana Vainscepter"] go first, please.)

 

[Lereana Vainscepter]

When she along with Kohr and Jax got inside, she could notice the ship was old. Seeing Myrian react to the ship's shape and design must make the smuggler ship less appealing. "Maybe," she thought to herself.

"Not bad I'd say," Kohr comments. "She's got a good ship."

"...even if it looks like a rust bucket," Jax replied. "I'm not really a fan of the old designs. And isn't this a Nubian?"

Lereana nods. "Yeah, I recognize the concept. Nubian, but I think it's older? I'm not really digging remembering ship designs too well, but I think this is one for history to record."

[member="Maple Harte"]

 

[Guest]

"The Silent Erika ain't got weapons, Myrian," Maple told the ghost-woman. Was she a phantom? She'd heard spacer ghost tales about phantom hitchhikers. Was she one of the nice ones? Or one of the ones that ended with everybody dead or worse, phantoms themselves. Could she be banished? Was the phantom vulnerable to sticks?

Maple forced herself to stop freaking out. Myrian wasn't a ghost. Myrian was not a phantom.

"But she's fast. Very fast." Maple added. "Fast enough to get us there, and fast enough to get us the hell to another system on the double in case Vainscepter's enemies come here."

The Erika zoomed through the night like a black razor, blue white ion engines glowing in the back as it sped to the coordinates on Lok. Her sensors detected a missile warning.

Maple smiled, and increased speed as the missile sped towards her vessel. She warned everyone to hold on as she climbed through the atmosphere, heading into the clouds as the missile got closer.

And then she swung the vessel in a wide loop sideways, careful not to stress the inertial dampening beyond its threshold but going just to within tolerance. She knew this ship like the back of her hand. When it wasn't torn off like in that one delusion.

She corkscrewed her ship through the air, making the missile chase her before diving down, right towards the pillbox hidden in the cliff that had first launched it.

Maple heard the alarm pinging faster as the missile got closer. She opened herself to the Force, searching it for a simple answer.

She slowed her breathing as the ship sped toward the cliff face. A simple ping from her soul told her to pull up, but it was a shallow pull up, barely clearing the top of the cliff...

The missile could not correct its path in time. It smashed into the concealed pillbox, annihilating it.

Maple soon found a landing area in a large arid patch of ground close to the cave where the other weapons were hidden.

She turned to the others. "You're close to the cave. Call me when you're done. Hurry!"

 

[Myrian Zara]

Myrian then understood that Maple's ship was more onto the agility side than that of an armed side of ship configurations. At least it's dependable for evading. The Iradi can do a mix, but it easily gets into an engagement more often. Speed is a problem with her ship, but evasion and three types of weapons are dependable on a variety of situations.

She held on to a nearby railing while laughing in joy, evading anti-air fire from where the coordinates led to. And as soon as she sensed Maple's ship nearing a cave, she felt the ship quickly slow and land down. Immediately heading to the ship's hatch, she finally got out while equipping her dual blasters. Having a trusty short sword holstered at her belt, she smirked at Lereana's company.

"Slowpokes!!" She chuckled after making the remark.

[member="Lereana Vainscepter"]

 

[Lereana Vainscepter]

Lereana then heard the Silent Erika isn't equipped with weapons, which worried her a little. But if the speed makes up for the loss of armament, it'll be worth it. And it was proven when Maple announced a warning to hold on something.

"BRACE!!!" Lereana ordered Kohr and Jax. The two immediately did as she ordered. As she experienced Maple's flying in avoiding missiles from below, she was impressed with the fact this bounty hunter had more than the skill of how to outmaneuver them. "I don't know about her, but she's doing a good thing here."

It was even a close call or else they would have hit the cliff face. Lereana was relieved, but Jax felt a little sick.

"Get used to it," Lereana said.

"Easier said than done, Cap," Jax replied. "And that ship you promised you buy better be worth it."

"It'll be very much worth it whatever way," Kohr spoke. "We're on our own even after this. If we got a shot at Akksel, we'll take it. But for now, we take whatever's usable."

"Right," Lereana replied in agreement.

Meanwhile...

"What do you mean they had help?!" Major Akksel was on the holo speaking to one of the defending point commanders from the Black Sun. "i don't care if it was a bounty hunter that got attracted to your boss's attention!"

The commander groaned. "You're not gonna sue us, are ya?"

"No. If I have to crush your faces with my boot, I'll do exactly that. Man all defenses at your position. I'll say the same with the other site."

"Heck no, Major. If these people took down a whole outpost, there's no doubt they'll come over here and make things bad for us all. Forget it. We're pulling out."

"That's an order. Remember our deal."

"Screw you, Akksel."

Akksel chuckled. "I was hoping you'd say that." His heards were heard by the Black Sun commander before someone aimed a blaster pistol at his head, before the shot rang out. A few Black Sun goons were shocked of this. The owner of the pistol was one of the righteous lieutenants, and he chuckled at the death of his superior. "Rahks, you're more than ready for the troop defense. Even all defenses out. She'll be expecting all of the main force to come at her. But you know to equalize the pressure on any attacker."

"I do," Rahks replied with a smirk. "They'll be screwing with the wrong bunch today. I swear it on their dead heads. I'll set things up now. They got past our air defenses."

"I'm counting on you, Rahks. You'll be rewarded with so much more. Make use of my people at the site. They're more than capable besides being experts on weapons oversight. I gave them orders to follow you, so use them as you see fit. Cut comms. I'm clearing my affiliation from this planet now. Good luck. I want her head seen the next time you contact me again. Otherwise, you make it out alive and contact me nonetheless."

As Lereana sensed the Silent Erika was being flown to one of the solid entrances of the cave network, she finished up her conversation with her squad and focused on Maple.

"We DO need an extra hand if there's another site around. Don't be too risky for us and pull out if it's too much. We'll make this quick." Lereana said this just as she saw Myrian step off the ship. "Get out of here once we're off. Good luck. And I have your frequency!!"

Lereana was the first to step out with Kohr and Jax following behind her. She snorts at what Myrian said:

"Slowpokes!!" She chuckled after making the remark.

"We'll see who's the slowpoke when I out-tag you at this place, Smuggler." Lereana loudly muttered.

[member="Maple Harte"]

 

[Guest]

Maple nodded to him and lifted the ship off, speeding into the sky, trying to draw fire and distract by flying overhead to draw fire from Black Sun's missiles, two of which were launched in her direction, forcing her to perform a side-winder manuever with her vessel as she flew upward, the two missiles speeding towards her. What to do?

Maple decided to try the same trick and dived, but these were apparantly different models of missile from the one she evaded previously. They adjusted their turns tighter and were faster. She gunned the engines to their maximum as she dived, corkscrewing towards the mountain, leaving trails in the air. Her sensors spotted a small opening for gun emplacements, which started firing at her. She zipped through the fire, her ship responding like it was her own body as she twisted and weaved through the turret fire, one of the bolts hitting one of the missiles by accident and destroying it, while the other stayed behind her.

She twisted upward, just as she was about to reach the terminal point where it would have been impossible to evade the cliffside and the missile slammed into the gun emplacement. The explosion behind her was massive.

As she circled around she saw part of the cliff face had blasted open, with smoke and fire in the upper sections. She knew the others probably had not gotten far, but she signalled them anyway.

"Maple to ground team, I think I softened it up for you. Looks like the missile tracking me took out an adminstrative section and...barracks...from the looks of it." She said as she flew by. "Standing by for your pick up request. Will continue scouting until contacted."