Private Stars of Plunder: Pact of Gold

[Anmetei M'lo]

"Oi! I gott'a'knoa'ye to share dat secret!" Slapjoe said, pointing one of his feet to Vulcan Krayt . Anmetei M'lo giggled, resting one of his palms on Vulcan's shoulder. "Slapjoe knows all secrets, mind ye..." he spoke in an irony-filled voice, regardless the seriousness of his tone. "He's got the fastest way to the Nether! All who listened to he's'hite found that out!".

The Cog-hearted turns to Amanda, momentarily seeing E Eric Vales 's expression following her comment. Her continuous serious expression broke a moment of emotion. "You think she has seen them?" she spoke in low voice. The cyborg Duro, sitting opposite on the same table nodded his head abit. "They wouldn't be onboard if she hadn't" he replies with a voice turned electronic by the rebreather's malfunctioning vocal chip. "She needs more than deck rats to pull this off, Alice. The Sisters ain't leaving without a fight now"

"Surprise and overwhelm" Ganii 's words awoke the Cog's gaze, who soon turned over her shoulder to look. She, just like the cyborg Duro on the table felt rather awkward in compared to the rest of the crew gathered. She wasn't participating in any of this... But something had caught her eye on the woman. "They won't last the first fight..." Alice muttered, seconds before the mess hall's lights fade, as a beaming red light shines again and again, followed by a rather loud noise.

BRRRRRRRRRRRRR BRRRRRRRRRRRRR BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

Anmetei M'lo turns his head up to the lights instinctivelly, before he screams towards the sat crew. "GET'CHE'R ARSES UP YE DOGS!". Momentarily there was an awkwardness, before the crew jumped off the chairs and benches and gamble-filled tables. They rush quickly out the Messhall, as shouting fills the air.

"TO YER POSTS NOW!!" Anmetei M'lo shouts, as he activelly limbs ahead over his ivory walking stick. His eyes scan the main deck for a single man. Nayr.

The quartermaster too rushes towards the First Mate. "Anmetei!" he shouts, letting him see his whereabouts onboard, as the dozens of corsairs run left and right. "What the FETHING HUTT SLIME HAPPENED!?" Anmetei roared. "I don't know! Cap'n raised the alarm! The Naefar's 'ere!"

"Get'e'men in shape! I go see what the cap'n plans..." Anmetei M'lo said, shaking his head as he walked towards the bridge...

The very reaction of the crew to the alarm would be rather quick. Most of the men run towards the gun deck, while the very few who took a moment's rest in the cabin jump off the bed sheets, running at their posts ith barely a belt at hand. There was confusion. Although the majority of the crew were akin to the Soudforz's routine, such shock alarms would never fit to their mindsets. Screams and spat curses soon shroud the gun deck, as the many corsairs open the hatches wide, preparing the gears and the chained cranes to lift the munition crates that were stowed below deck...

"O'dat's'a wae! Naefar's'ere, Cap'n's gonna head straight 'ta' trouble!" said Slapjoe. "That's too soon... We never get a head's up don't we?" one of the corsairs complained. The deck was restless; All waited in a strange moment of silence, in which the alarm ringing was all that sounded, along with occasional comments and coughings from the distance.


Ganii E Eric Vales Vulcan Krayt

 

[Vulcan Krayt]

Vulcan barely had the time to respond before he too jumped at the shrill noise and the stillness that had settled erupted into a burst of activity. Vulcan soon followed the others into the hallways. The mashed voices turning commands and conversations into a jumbled mess.

He started by helping his new crewmates open the hatches, which required a bit of elbow grease to get open, no greater thing than chaotic cohesion. A few curses caught his attention. He briefly snorted before pulling his attention back to the task at hand to help bring the ammunition up to the gun arrays if they are needed.

He took a momentary breather and took another swig from the bottle he had put aside. Somehow in the mayhem, he managed not to get trampled in the mad dash to the gun deck. That would be utterly stupid, the first day on the job, to only to get stepped on underfoot several hours later.

Now even more unsettling was the sudden silence, the kind of silence that precedes all seven hells breaking loose. He didn't like it, not one bit. The alarms screaming in his ears also didn't make it any less tense. You could cut the atmosphere with a super sharp knife and barely cut into the tension at all.

Vulcan was ready for a fight.

 

[Ganii]

A weird crew to say the least. Though Ganii still had to struggle to avoid making any further sign of discomfort when Alice definitely responded to her statement. Fortunately, or not, that moment of awkwardness wouldn't last long as the alert went off. Ok, earlier than expected but they were off to work. She was quickly carried along into the crowd, instinctively tapping her gun and dagger as she went. Right now she tried to keep to the back, not to avoid a fight, but because when fights did go off there were often problems to be fixed. She wanted to know if she'd be more urgently needed in the fighting part, preferably not, or if she'd just end up working quick on hyperdrive, engines, or weapons.

She could feel Xaelis on the edge, at the very front of her mind whereas usually he only sat and watched. It was like he was ready to take over. Can you not right now? I'm trying to figure out what I need to be doing.
Sorry. My instinct is to take over and fight, but I know you were not here solely as a combatant.
Even if I was, that's just...a bit invasive.
Sorry.

She tried not to pay it any more mind. Right now, just figure out where she was most needed. She didn't like how hasty this was, but it could certainly have been worse.

Vulcan Krayt E Eric Vales Anmetei M'lo

 

[Anmetei M'lo]

Soudforz, Hangar Bay...


On the flight deck, there would be several technicians and crew members rushing with fuel hoses and munition rounds at hand. Not far from the currently sealed hangar gate, there were two Athysian Starfighters. Their structure was large; complex. By far not any ordinary fighter one could encounter. Their spiked wings carried several tattoos painted most likely by the pilots. As Amanda approaches the Zenith, a man would be standing not far off, by one of the Athysian fighters, looking up and down at her without any effort to hide his dissapproval. He did not like it. His body was well-built, with several scarification tattoos emerging from the throat, up to the chin, only indicating they continued further below to the torso. His pale skin made his yellow fiery eyes to only be more distinct. His arms had several cybernetic parts, popping off from the holes of the sheeves. He leaned back against the crimson-yellow wing of the fighter. "Now we got children joining us too, I see...." he speaks. His taunting voice clearly meant to be heard across deck, with a heavy accent further differentiating him from the rest of the crew. Strong; Cold-sounding. Not far behind the fighter he stood on, the other was. Another man was stepping on the wings, slowly gathering few hoses and wires from the repairs conducted awhile ago. He too was pilot-like outfitted, with very similar cybernetics popping out. However, this one also had the left eye and upper skull fully replaced with a steel cybernetic exoskeleton. "Afraid they going to steal your kills, Katath?" he spoke, hardly bothering to turn and look on the other man. "Nay..." Katath mutters, still having his eyes on Amanda. "But I won't babysit..."

Meanwhile, on the Gun Deck...

"Get'ez cannons ready, you bantha-headed dogs!" Nayr roars to the running crew. Chains are let down, while the cranes are brought over the hatches the corsairs push open. Below, the labyrinth of ammunition crates, ready to be lifted up in place... There were several turret emplacements onboard, all manned manually by the crew; An old ship; Older design. Hardly any automation could be spotted across deck. The crew pulled the chain lifts, slowly bringing the munition up on deck, while others brought the small carriers to roll them into place.

"We are going for a hunt, Hounds, get ya guts'a 'te ready!" Anmetei M'lo 's voice sounds from the speakers. "We got two dolls, loaded up! Cap'n wan'a taste what's inside! We hit 'em hard!"

"Slapjoe!" Nayr's shouting by far covers the chaotic noise on deck, getting the crew into position almost automatically. Hardly anyone delayed upon his calls... "Take two and head to the stern turrets! Vulcan Krayt , Bizz! Forecastle guns, now!"
"AND GET THOSE CRATES BY THE GUNS, OR IM'GON'A LOAD YER'ARSES'IN!"


Soudforz, Engine Room...

Down at the engine room, the machinery screams. Lightning sparks from the cabling, while the pistons leak and crack. "The Naefar's gonna hit the Well" Alice shouted within the deafening sound of the engines, as Ganii approached. "It's gonna kick us hard! Get to the life-support, reduce oxygen discharge 17%!" she continued. 17 percent... Judging by the quality of air, cutting off oxygen so much would almost render the ship's artificial atmosphere Type II...


The more the battle drew near, the more the deck felt hot... Tainted, as the Dark Side felt more and more engulfing, to those who could reach out to such senses...

Down the engine room, several of the cables would spark, as they are pushed along with their system to their limits... And yet, to a keen eye, these would not be natural electric discharges... No... As the eye followed the trail of cables to the console, the sparks became purple... A Force Lightning, flowing through the very systems of the ship, manipulating the flow of energy...

The Battle Starts...

The two Corsair Warships emerge from Hyperspace. As the Annihilators turn silent, a violent kick follows, throwing the whole ship in realspace. A trembling; Quaking blasts in, as the engines blaze, pushing the ships across the empty void. The crew rushes to battle stations under the screams and curses of Nayr. Soon, moments of silence follow...

"First time?" Bizz asks Vulcan Krayt through his cybernetic rebreather, while he performs a seemingly muscle memorized check on the turbolaser controls...

In the cold embrace of space, the pilots of the corsairs and convoy battle over the blazing exchange of lazer fire from the large ships, contesting for void superiority as they carve the way for the boarding parties...

The corsairs onboard their Hunter ships man the turrets and the gun emplacements, battling against the enemy fighters and countering the lazer barrages by repairing shield generators and maintaining the systems onboard, up until the time for the final boarding comes!



Ganii E Eric Vales Vulcan Krayt

 

[Vulcan Krayt]

The brief quiet was again broken by the mayhem on deck, and this time there is a direction to the pandemonium, that direction was into a full-out fight. Vulcan did not need to be told twice before heading to the Gun array on the Forecastle. He ducked and weaved through the crowds going pell-mell across the decks, some to the Guns and others to the Hangar and Engines. He squeezed past a few crewmates that had stopped along a gangway.

It is a rare sight to see everything done by sentients, usually, droids were the ones doing all the ship-wide chores instead. It is definitely a breath of 'fresh air. Well, if recycled air actually counted.

Bantha head? Vulcan gave his head a shake, trying to dislodge that mental image. He really needs to work on not being so literal, there is a project for him to do, learn the slang and be less literal.

Vulcan nimbly got into position as the ammunition crates were lowered into position nearby. He was neither worried nor nervous, why would he be? This is exactly what he signed up for. He did the same checks on the turbo blasters. Then came a momentary silence, the kind of silence that stretched out as far as one of those elastic Tooka dolls before they snap in half. This left a momentary opportunity to have a brief conversation without screaming over the sheer noise.

<"You could say that.>" Vulcan replies to Bizz's question, glad for some volume control as he disliked trying to shout over an engine or crowd of people. It hurt his voice. Slight moodiness crossed into his usual body language, but it soon passed into a more alert posture as he gripped the controls slightly more tightly.

Something will give way, something will awaken the dragon and all hell will break loose, they soon did as the battle starts.

 

[Ganii]

Well, she was right to get to the engine room. Though the orders she soon received weren't exactly ones she was going to enjoy carrying out. She rushed her way to the life support systems to reduce the oxygen. This was not going to be pleasent. She almost wandered if that was a good idea at all to reduce it so much, but she'd rather struggle breathing for awhile than get shot for disobeying orders.

At first she assumed the strange feeling of discomfort was just the reduction of oxygen, or perhaps the battle itself. But, something told her it wasn't. She wasn't truly force sensitive, yet the stone did increase her connection to the force. Unfortunately, she lacked the understanding to know what any of this really meant. And Xaelis still had his own limitations.

But when the sparks began to glow, Ganii know something was wrong. And Xaelis began to recognize the more familiar look of force lightning. But neither of them really knew what that was supposed to mean. Ganii called aloud, "Oy, I'm not so sure what tricks y'all use here but that doesn't seem typical."

If they didn't answer, fine, if they told her to shut up, fine. She didn't know how this ship was run. She wasn't sure if that was supposed to happen or not and she didn't feel like getting in trouble for questioning it.

Anmetei M'lo Vulcan Krayt E Eric Vales

 

[Anmetei M'lo]

The two Quardent-Class Destroyers, Soudforz and Naefar remained still for few seconds to pass... The systems ran sufficiently enough to power the vast armament collective and the struggling life-support that already could be sniffed that its artificial atmosphere was already drastically deprived of oxygen...

Until suddenly...

The void blazes in a blinding crack in reality, as the hulls of three Freighter Ships emerge from hyperspace in a wave of light, broken off their course by the gravity well of the Naefar.

CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK

Turrets turn, barrels calibrate as the several dozen turbolaser cannons aim at the two corsair warships.... A dragon-like roaring breath of inferno melts the oxygen behind the Hoplite fighter, as it is forced into life by the Athysian cyborg pilot.
"Blood waits, Katath! Do not let your Fiend starve for the whelp!" the pilot says, before his cockpit transparresteel cask shuts sealed... Katath stares at Amanda for several seconds. His anger boils his eyes yellow, as lightning sparks from his fingertips. "Well then, baby girl... Mount up... Lets see how much of that you can back in the void...!" he muttered, before jumping fast on his fighter, throwing himself inside the cockpit. Metalic tentacle-like wires were soon clipped onto his cybernetics, as the cockpit cask shut sealed.... For any Force Sensitive, the disturbance coming from the Hoplite fighters would be unable to ignore...

"Mount up, Hounds..." Anmetei M'lo 's voice sounds in the holo. "These freighters' hyperdrives are unreal. We pound them hard, while our birds take out the turrets for our boarding parties!"

The Katath starts hitting the cockpit's consoles again and again, as if hee himself enters a berserk state... Each time, more and more blazes from the lightning produced by his tight fists sparks the enclosed cockpit... Although the transparresteel cut off any sound, the lung-tearing warcries could be heard, the slightest... "Blood! Blood Blood!"

The Hoplites soon lift themselves from the deck, as the anti-gravity generator guides their fiery engines out the hangar...

"Ye heard te'orders, Kraythanded wampaspawns! OPEN FIRE" Nayr barked at the crew manning Soudforz's guns.

The void between the three ships soon turns starlight by the blazing lazerfire exchange. The turrets turn and twist, while the ships are sailing the void, coming closer and closer to eachother...

The starfighters sail in high speed, joined by the eight more Buzzer Starfighters sailing from the Naefar. The swarm descends upon the three freighters, barraging with excess fire, while at the same time scissoring around their formation, activelly avoiding the blinding barrages of the point-defense cannon emplacements of the freighters....

The enemy ships themselves resembled alot the two Corsair Destroyers... Blood red, with the rusty Bronze-like metal carving their silhuette, while their hulls armed to the teeth with cannon emplacements... Athysian freighters, they should be... A strange thing, for one unfamiliar to the culture...


"That's the Captain's hand. You make sure the cables don't melt" the sharp, emotionless and yet still loud voice of the Cog-hearted sounds over the deafening engine noise, as she spends hardly a moment to look at Ganii . Her focus was always in the machinery... Her eyes sparkling with tension, and yet her outside behavior the same all along. Nervous; Quick; Certain. Her coat stained by the grease and blackened discharged ash from the ill-maintained pistons and machinery. And yet still, it was visibly easy for someone who had seen such before, to recognize the old Imperial outfit of the engineer... The insignias torn, some even replaced with tool pockets... The Cog-Hearted tears off a console's cover, only to reveal the melting cables underneath, as occasional Force Lightning discharges turned their very cover colouring into black pitch. "Get the toolkit. That's the Navigation mainframe, if it melts off, she will be blinded!" the Cog-hearted said to the woman. She stood up quickly, rushing to a nearby emergency station from which she tore from it two emergency breathing aparatus, throwing the one of them to Ganii, wearing rushly the other. "Quickly! Our shields will be drained, I go get the circuits running. Fix this, then we meet down the Shield Generator!"

E Eric Vales would soon start detecting anomalies. The overall electronics of the ship gave very rapidly changing signs, with the power being mainly diverted to the guns. With the laptop connected to the ship's mainframe, a lightning would suddenly overcharge the computer's connecting wire. Physically, such an energy spike would burn out the system momentarily. Alas, although the very cable was curved, half-melting by the outbreak, the computer seemed to suddenly turn faster in processing. A rain of coded binary scripts would start bombardizing Eric's screen. Then, a single message appeared, seconds before the computer seemingly returns to normal...

"Shields. Access granted. Fix it"

"Aim at their turrets!" Bizz shouted at Vulcan Krayt as he kept on firing. "Our shields are low, they gonna ta-"

BOOOOOM

Before Bizz managed to finish the sentance, the turret gunner just few meters away from Vulcan was suddenly engulfed in a blazing fire embrace, as the targeted shot from the freighter's turbolaser turret pierces clean through the emplacement, cracking a vertical wound open, as it almost vaporated the lower body of the gunner by the explosion caused. The very turret's ballbearing torn open, with the durasteel debri spreading across deck and void, while the artificial atmosphere's drain of the void sucks the half-melted body of the still screaming corsair in the cold, merciless grasp of space.

"GET THAT HOLE SHUT! WE ARE DYING 'ERE!"

The nearby gun deck officers scream, as the life support's little oxygen still onboard was being drained. Suffocating, several drop on the ground, struggling to breathe while also grasping anywhere their arms could reach, as they are being pulled by the void's hunger to the cracked hole....

Outside, the brutal exchange of fire continues, as the three freighters refuse to give in to the corsair attack... Unable to escape in Hyperspace, they start turning, struggling to accelerate ahead of the Naefar's gravity well that held them trapped in te confrontation....




Vulcan Krayt Ganii E Eric Vales

 

[Hyara Hemstagon]

Her teeth grin behind her wild smile, as her left eye blazes fiery. Her eyepatch black, creating a sharp difference with her pale skin which was covered with ritualistically carved tattoos. Her long, braided hair hanged down her head over her scale-mail beskar armour like heavy chains, as her body moved back and forth before the consoles of the Naefar. Outside in the battle's view, she saw the fighters launching from the Soudforz's deck. She nods; All her motions excess, clearly driven by the tension of the moment.
"HAHAHA!" A laughter breaks through. "Come on, then!" she shouts, as she watches the several Buzzer fighters flying towards the trapped freighter.

"Tear down their shields! All Boarding parties, ready to jump! And let the Marked One pay a visit, if she dares!!! Im feelin' gettin' bit richer till I see Kardir 'gain!!"

"Told' ya we gonna get 'em here, lil sister!" she says in her over-confident voice through the holo. An open holo, used by both corsair warships to coordinate their assault. "To all Hounds, out'ere! POUND'EM 'ARD!"


"She is coming, sister" A low, soft, and yet possessed by tension voice of a woman follows...

 

[Vulcan Krayt]

Vulcan swung the turrets around, ready to fire, that is until he was pushed back by the concussion of the hit, he landed on something hard and his back began to pulse with pain. Everything spun, very much like a particularly unpleasant ride, he soon was scrambling for something to hold onto as the void outside was very hungry for people to eat.

Thinking fast, he tied a cord around his waist to at least buy him some time to help fix the breach with a few other crew members, the spare metal is heavy and required at least three hands to get it into position, the task was difficult, the very real sucky situation before them made it harder, now the suffocation was making everyone panic, not a good thing.

The pain again gave him pause, something is very much torn in there. But still, this threat needed to be dealt with, once it was in position the welders came out to weld it into place, it took quite a while and a few died in the process but at last, the breach was sealed.

The constant noise of gunfire made it difficult to speak, let alone hear what is being said. No matter, he took up his position on an undamaged Turboblaster to return fire at the enemy ships.

Making sure he won't get sucked into space, he secured his impromptu tether. He did manage to blow holes into the other ship after several shots. He did not celebrate, not appropriate in the current situation.

He didn't see Bizz anywhere, which means that he died, sucked into space. Right now, there is no time to stand and mourn as his attention was pulled back to what was in front of him. The sharp stabbing pain in his back roared in protest as he manned his Turboblaster. He can't quit now, not while all this was going on. Besides he had signed up for this.

Besides he is way too stubborn to just not stop doing anything. Petty yes, clever, probably not. So the song of gunfire continued.

 

[Ganii]

Gani didn't get to know what they were fighting, and it wouldn't matter all that much if she did. Other than stressing her out further, all she had to worry about was keeping the ship together and she'd put her all into making sure that happened. It wasn't just a job on the line here. She did however, thankfully, get an answer for why there was that lightning from the cables. And a warning to not let them melt, well that was promising. No wander they had damage, they were actively doing something to melt their own systems. Though just as that crossed her mind she felt Xaelis's criticism of her thoughts. Though he said nothing.

Ganii quickly came over with the toolkit to the spot, and as she went grabbing a compressed air cannister to try and cool it off as best she could. Wasn't much else that really could be accomplished. Water of course was out of the question. Even if there was no risk of any exposed wires all this electricity would put her at risk. She took the mask from the woman simply responding. "Aight, but I'm not sure how long I can keep it going." when told to meet her at the generators. after she took care of the heat. She tried to secure everything and keep it cool, and when she felt she'd done about as much as possible, she set the air compressor on and let it going so that it would help keep everything cool as she went. She did leave some things cracked open. A little dust would be a lot less destructive, and easier to fix, than melted cables.

With a breathing apparatus, things got a whole lot better. Even just going about. And she quickly rushed out and headed to chase down the Engineer to the Shield Generators.

E Eric Vales Anmetei M'lo Vulcan Krayt Hyara Hemstagon