Starting Line

[Sprint Kelly]

Sprint plopped down on the seats of the Lost Angel. Looking winded, depressed, and almost completely lost. [member="James Justice"] and [member="Triter Zone"] were busy plotting a world war three over there. All the while, all Kelly wanted was a nap and a bottle of pain pills. I mean, hourly wages don't exactly cover turf wars between Justice Shipping, Pirate Toads, and Star Fox over here. Sprint ain't no hero. This ain't how the working man keeps his job. Oh man,

"Oh man..."

He slapped himself in the head and practically fell back asleep in his chair. He could almost here the golden protocol droid's voice now,

"Here we go again."

 

[Triter Zone]

[member="James Justice"]
[member="Sprint Kelly"]

Triter fairly collapsed into one of the plush seats at James' invitation, his head lolling back and his eyes closing as he finally came down from his adrenaline rush, a deep exhaustion setting in.
"We got jumped alright. Jumped by a dead man." The Amaran muttered, sitting up and leaning over to pour himself a drink from the bar. He swallowed it down in a single pull, wiping his muzzle afterward. "James. You remember how I told you I used to be an Ossein Pirate?"
The young spacer gritted his teeth, shaking his head.
"I still consider myself one, even if I'm the last. I swore on my bones that I would uphold the honor of my shipmates... never let their memories be betrayed."
He clutched the now empty tumbler he had poured, thunking it down on the bar with a growl.
"...and that slime-grub of a captain has gone and done just that!"
The Amaran stood abruptly, pacing the length of the small ship's lounge. His hands were clasped behind him beneath his cloak, which swirled about him.
"I know that ship. I helped design that ship. That was the Liburn, the first of a new fleet that was going to help us break the back of the corporate security forces."
He stopped, looking back at James and Kelly, fire in his eyes as he spoke.
"She wasn't finished in time; the corporations smashed our fleet, and last I heard, Blackrow Hyperlines enforcers had stormed the yard where she was being built. I never got much more info than that, but I though for sure she'd been scrapped."
Abruptly, the Amaran spun, slamming his fist against the wall in frustration.
"THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN BETTER!"
He turned back to James and Kelly, a dangerous look in his eye. Despite his diminutive stature, he seemed to have the presence of a being three times his size.
"Somehow, this filth has gotten his hands on an Ossein ship. A ship that myself and Admiral Krayd Hasperre designed together. I'm going to get it back, and when I do, I'm going to make sure the being who dares sit in her command chair pays in full for the affront he has committed... by my bones, and those of all I fought beside, they will pay!"

 

[James Justice]

James knew way better than to get in the way of an angry pirate. Mainly because he himself was known to be the same raving, raging pirate. Some considered him to be reckless. They couldn't be more right. Some considered him foolish. They couldn't be more wrong.

The spacer finished sewing his forehead closed as Triter finished blowing off a little steam. The spacer was very much ok with that. He washed his few other cuts off and patched them up using bandages and a few bits of gause.

"Frell," James said looking down at his shirt, "this was one of me favorite ones."

He discarded his jacket for a moment and tossed the blood-stained garment into the waste basket before reaching on the couch and grabbing another that looked exactly the same. He pushed one of the cushions aside, revealing enough heavy blaster pistols to arm a small army. He pushed a button on his wrist comm and the walls folded back, revealing rifles, blades, explosives, heavy armor, light armor, mechanized armor, exotic weapons, heavy assault weapons. Some were as iconic as the storm trooper armors the First Order was using, garnished off the black market. Others were so exotic that they could hardly be recognized. The crowning acheivement was a quartett of lightsabers that the man had garnered from Sith he killed personally. The spacer gave a chuckle and sweeping grin, "What else do ye think I am gonna do with all this money, lads?"

He donned a bandolier of thermal detonators and EMP charges. Ah just like old times "We ain't done till this be done. Suit up, mates."

[member="Triter Zone"]
[member="Sprint Kelly"]

 

[Sprint Kelly]

Kelly just sort of looked at the other two fellows with one eye open. It was quickly becoming apparent that these two were not like normal people. I mean. Normal people saw a gunship and said, you know what? I'm going to let that go. Nahh. That wasn't [member="James Justice"] or [member="Triter Zone"] 's style. They just seemed to get madder.

And then James opened up a weapons cache that rivaled Jabba the Hutt's. Sweet mercy!? You could equip the One Sith with gear like this? What the frell!?

"Holy smoke Mr Justice! Where did you even find this much gear!?"

Don't answer that.

"I mean. Never mind that. Ugh."

Kelly stood up slowly and moved over to the weapons cache. Oh man. If he even touched that armor, he knew. Yep. I guess they were really doing this?

"Ho man. I guess I just a promotion."

Sprint reached down and grabbed a set of Tenloss Heavy Armor. One of the mercenary sets that Popo the Hutt had built after his time in the Republic Sector. It was gunmetal gray and ice cold to the touch. Way way way too professional looking for a guy like Sprint.

He instantly loved it.

"Oh man. My girlfriend is going to kill me..."

 

[Triter Zone]

[member="James Justice"]
[member="Sprint Kelly"]

((Sorry for not posting yesterday, and the short post today; wasn't feeling especially creative))

Triter raised his eyebrows as a small armory was revealed out of the walls, approaching it curiously. Looking at the selection of pistols, he removed his own, considered a moment, and then replaced it in his holster. He then proceeded to scoop up as many power packs as he could carry in the folds of his cloak.
He then went to the armor. Looking over each piece, he selected a trikiirium vest made out of linked square segments, sliding it on over the flight suit he wore beneath his thermal wrap.
He then began clipping a selection of grenades and demolition charges to his belt.
"I feel it's worth noting that we don't quite know where we're headed." The young Amaran said, briefly admiring an exotic-looking rifle of Tof manufacture, but passing it over. "We should figure out who we're dealing with; can this ship's sensors figure out where that ship landed?"

 

[James Justice]

James gave his friend a soft pat on the shoulder, "Mate, what else am I gonna spend all my money on if not these goodies?"

He swaggered to his cockpit and began typing in a set of commands. The initial scanners and advanced scanners gave no trace of the massive vessel. That was more than ok. He punched in a second set of commands, a few moments later he had sliced through the air command center and saw the billions of transponders moving as blips across the planet. It was a matter of child's play to find the one that corrisponded with their attacker.

The Angel began moving, cutting across the space lanes in a swift arc, honing in on the Liburn. James flicked his wrist three more times as the massive vessel came into view. Their transponder switched to a ghost signal. It would slice into the ships records and produce a verifiable but positive ID the Liburn would approve of. It granted them a bloodless landing in its hangar. James clumped back where his allies were waiting. "Let's get a move on mates. It's show time."

[member="Triter Zone"]
[member="Sprint Kelly"]

 

[Sprint Kelly]

James turned out to more than just a CEO. Frickin' human was a miracle worker. For no sooner had Kelly doned his gear than James was slicking them an access code into an enemy hanger bay. Holy kark! Didn't the flight deck notice it had an unscheduled visitor? Wait, what they were a scheduled visitor now!? This was crazy.

Sprint pulled on his straps as he made his way to the bridge. Watching them pull into the Liburn's hold without even a speck of effort. No chit bobby. I kid you not. It was just that simple. Haha. Oh baby, that was sexy!

"Holy cow Mr Justice. That was amazing!"

He turned to [member="James Justice"] and [member="Triter Zone"] with a look of complete of awe. Then, suddenly realizing that they might just be boarding/assaulting an enemy flagship? His face turned to a mix of cold terror and blushing bafflement.

"Wait... What do we now!?"

The hiss of the loading ramp beginning to drop caused Kelly's heartbeat to almost stop in his chest. Oh gods. I think he had just become a Navy Boarding Commando!?

"Oh man. We are so frakked..."

 

[Triter Zone]

[member="James Justice"]
[member="Sprint Kelly"]

"Captain, small craft on landing vector. Positive ID as the Manphan Tail, one of our in-system patrols."
The shadowed figure on the bridge of the Liburn leaned forward slightly, briefly illuminating an enormous cranium and large, reflective eyes.
"Was not the Tail supposed to be on patrol for another few hours?"
The comm officer checked a computer readout, and gave a shrug.
"I believe so, sir."
The being leaned back in the seat, drumming his fingers in contemplation.
"Bring them into hangar bay 2; we'll hear what they have to say for their dereliction of duty."
"Aye sir. Security team to that hangar?"
"Naturally."
"Aye sir. Security team! Report to hangar 2! Detain the crew of the Manphan Tail and await further instructions."

Triter Zone stood at the top of the boarding ramp as it lowered, looking out into the hangar of the Liburn; one of two such, if he recalled the design correctly.
"'ey! Wait a karkin' minute..."
The Amaran spun to see a quartet of uniformed Shawda Ubb stepping through a nearby service door. They immediately drew blasters, aiming them up at Triter.
"That ain't Manphan Tail! YOU THERE! FREEZE!"
Triter gritted his teeth, but his hand closed around a thermal detonator clipped to the inside of his cloak.
As he dropped prone to the ramp, he tossed it. It clattered amid the security team, who barely had time to register it before the four of them were engulfed in an explosion.
Triter sprinted down the ramp as alarm klaxons began to go off.
"COME ON!" He shouted back. "I would have liked not to announce our presence so quickly, but we need to get out of this hangar before they send up more teams!"

 

[James Justice]

James, clanking with his weaponry, a walking armory with no armor, began charging after Triter. While running he pressed his wrist comm, "Reed, lock her down. Anyone be stupid enough to try and get in, ye know what to do. Minimal damage."

There was a series of astromech beeps in reply. James added, 'And gimme HUD a layout of the vessel."

The spacer blinked twice, activating his HUD contacts, a gift from Blith Tech. Lights began to cover his cornea and to the viewer, he very well may have looked like a cyborg or android. Following Triter, the spacer let his vision go over the Liburn, giving each look and hallway a glance over.

It felt good to be doing this again. The spacer had found himself increasingly the businessman, having to be more responsible, going everywhere with an armed escort, or charging as part of an army, but this reckless abandon, this pure bliss of running headlong into danger with only two other men, well that was what he loved. It made him feel young and stupid again. He wasn't even middle aged yet, and he already felt middle-aged some days.

What a sad life.

A quartet of soldiers rounded the corner, through the Force James felt it a half a second before it happened. He raised his DeathHammer, holding down the trigger. A spray of blaster fire tore through them, some hitting, most not.

"Ha ha ha," he shouted in glee, "Take it ye fething fools! Take it!"

Looking away from the carnage he fell in behind Triter again, "Please tell me ye know where we are going, mate."

A plan was optional. Actually wasn't even prefered, but a destination was one thing that was needed.

[member="Triter Zone"]
[member="Sprint Kelly"]

 

[Sprint Kelly]

I'm gonna die. I'm gonna die.

It wasn't so much a chant as it was a motto at this point. Kelly ran behind [member="James Justice"] and [member="Triter Zone"] with a heavy stomp, stomp, stomp. Armored and holding a large rifle now, poor Sprint was a bit out of his element. The look of complete terror on his face abolishing any attempt at intimidation. In fact, he might have screamed out in pain when James blasted down those four guys just now,

"Ah!"

The bodies lay in smoking lump as Kelly stopped to catch his breath.

"Oh man. I can't do this, man. I can't do this..."

His mantra was quickly interrupted by a tiny BB unit. Which rolled out from the side corridor and smashed headlong into Sprint's leg.

"Gagh! Hey!? ...Watch it!"

The little ball droid perked up it's head and beeped angrily. As if the poor robot was steaming mad. Going so far as to pull out it's tiny electro-rod and zap Kelly in the thigh.

"Agh!?!"

~ Dep doo woo! ~

"Stop that!"

~ Biddle biddle dee! ~

"No. Do not want!"

The droid zapped him again. And again. And again.

"Gagh! Heh! No! Stop!"

Finally Kelly reared up and punted the BB droid like a football. The power armor servos in his leg units doing most of the work. The droid went flying. Ka'thwap! Home run.

~ Weeeeeeeeeee ~

*smash*

The droid bounced down the cluttered hallway with glee. Smashing into just about every crate on the way down.

Kelly seemed dumbfounded at his own strength. Not even realizing that he was wearing strength armor. Wow! Did he just..? Was that all him? He spun around to James with a beaming smile on his face. Almost overcome with glee,

"Ha ha! Did you guys see that! Did you see that! Ha! Hahaha! I'm a frickin' champion! Woo! Woo! Wooooo! Woooooo!"

...

Erm. Little victories, I guess.

 

[Triter Zone]

[member="James Justice"]
[member="Sprint Kelly"]

Triter, sprinting between cover as he made his way up the corridor, took shots at enemies which managed to get around James' fire, picking off a few attempting to get set up with heavy blaster rifles. Taking cover behind a support rib to change his pistol's power pack, he gritted his teeth.
"We're headed to the command bridge. Don't worry, I know this ship like my own finger-pads!"
At the scream of a flying astromech, Triter looked behind him to see Kelly celebrating in the corridor.
"HEY! KID! GET THAT POWER ARMOR ON POINT AND DEAL WITH A FEW OF THESE BASTARDS SHOOTING AT US!"
He slapped more ammo into his pistol and leaned out of cover, snapping off three shots which brought down a pair of Shawda Ubb carrying what looked like an E-Web.
"We need to get to the end of this corridor! Once we're there, we can take a turbolift further into the ship; if they don't block it off, we'll be able to take it straight to the command deck! It's not far from there to the bridge!"
Gritting his teeth, he pulled another grenade from his cloak, tossing it down the corridor, where it detonated with a *krump*, accompanied by the shrieks of several beings hiding behind another set of supports.
"LET'S MOVE!"

 

[James Justice]

James, fool as he was, stood in the open, spraying and praying blaster fire at the world. Was it the smartest thing to do? Not in the least. But it was the thing James did. He watched as Kelly kicked the BB droid across the deck. Personally he found those units incredibly annoying and gave a whoop of approval at the removal of one more annoying astromech model from the galaxy.

"That's an extra thousand bonus for you when this be done," James shouted spinning on his heel and shooting again.

When Triter gave the word, James began sprinting for cover. Ducking, twisting, and spinning in a reckless abandon that was Force-guided. At every moment it seemed like he would fall into a wall or a line of fire, only to barely move away in time, the heat of the shot warming him. What an exhausting way to move across the battle field. At last the spacer made it to the turbolift. He tossed his empty weapons aside and grabbed a fresh set of pistols, slapping the turbolift button three times, "Come ye bloody dog, move move move!"

They were never there when you wanted them, eh how typical. James ducked under a shot, firing back, three more pinged off the durasteel behind him. Feth, what a day for the lift to be running late.

At last it came through--with a half a dozen soldiers inside.

"Feth it to hell!" James shouted, cursing his luck.

[member="Triter Zone"]
[member="Sprint Kelly"]

 

[Sprint Kelly]

"Pancake Attack!"

As the turbolift doors opened to reveal a conglomeration of security within. Sprint came running down the hallway and threw himself over the threshold. Watching in slow motion as the guards eyes turned from surprise, to wonder, to oblivious panic. The large armored Kelly came ramming headlong into the crowd of guards and threw them about like pins in a bowling alley. It was indeed... A pancake attack.

*thud*

A bile of bodies now greeted the heroes in the elevator. Along with Sprint's smiling face,

"Oh hey guys. What's shaking?"

He smiled and turned his rifle to stun. Blasting the remaining stragglers into unconsciousness and beyond.

"Ya know. Did I mention this armor has Powered Servos? Yeah... Yeah. It's pretty sweet."

"Get off of me!"

*zap*

Kelly blasted the guard into a stupor of eating floor. Leaving the elevator empty of conscious gunmen. Though, still full of limp and uncomfortable bodies. Kelly himself, struggled to stand up.

"Hey Mr Justice. Can you hit the button for bridge please? I'm... A little stuck here. Yeahhh."

Something wiggled underneath Kelly's leg and he turned to blast it too. Frap. Dead. Just the way Sprint liked it.

"Um. We can go now. ...Sorry."

Little victories.

[member="James Justice"] [member="Triter Zone"]

 

[Triter Zone]

[member="James Justice"]
[member="Sprint Kelly"]

Triter walked into the turbolift, chuckling a bit, the sight of Kelly flopped on a group of struggling guards being rather amusing. The corridor behind the group was marred by blast-scorching and littered with corpses.
"I've got it, I've got it. Try and get yourself extricated."
The Amaran hit the button for the bridge, grinning a bit.
"Careful, everyone. I'm betting whoever's up there will have something nasty waiting for us."
As the lift began to move, Triter removed a panel from the wall. Reaching inside, he disconnected several wires.
"That should at least ensure we get that far, though."

"Captain! The boarders have reached the turbolift! They're en route to the bridge!"
The being in the command chair shifted uneasily.
"Block the lift, you utter fool!"
"I-I'm trying, captain! The link is disconnected! The car is moving on internal guidance!"
"Shut down power to the tube!!"
The being at the control panel for the turbolifts frantically entered commands.
"No effect, sir! The car's emergency power is engaged!"
The shadowed captain suddenly became still.
"Seal the connecting corridor. Send in the droids. DO NOT LET THEM THROUGH!!"

 

[James Justice]

James was both amused and proud of Sprint. The man was a regular Justice Shipping employee alright. The spacer laughed as he watched the last of the enemies go to their doom. It was comical, it was brilliant. It was Sprint freaking Kelly.

As the turbolift went up the way, James began trading out his weapons. He discarded the empty and near empty blaster and slug thrower pistols he has left on hand. He grabbed a heavy slug thrower rifle off his shoulder and unlatched a pair of pistols on his hips, readying them for quickdraw. James had a feeling all hell waited on the other side of the door. When it opened, thank goodness it didn't disappoint.

The droids were there, and a barrage of syncopated shots came for the open door. Guided by the Force, James barely managed to roll away in time. He let the first shot of lead blast a heavy spray before he pumped a second round in as his shoulder hit the floor. Rolling away, he managed to roll away from the trial of blaster fire that began to snake after James. The spacer gave a curse. He was in hot water, that was for sure.

[member="Triter Zone"]
[member="Sprint Kelly"]