Private The Cheapest vessel

[Hild Valor]

The Cheapest, a civilian transport vessel
Appearance: Clothes (no swords) | Basic Blaster Pistol (on waist) | Lightsaber (hidden)
Dance partner: Njal The Black

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Whispers a few curses as she settles down in her tiny seat. Tiny for her, that is, but then everyone in this vessel is tiny for her. Mostly humans and human-sized passengers, with her as the only 'oddity'. It doesn't help this ship, as the name suggests, offers the cheapest prices, the shittiest services, but provides transportation to nearby planets. Her section doesn't even have windows to look out into space. Most of the other passengers are asleep or talking between themselves.

But Hild Valor is busy trying to find a comfortable position for her legs while thinking about the events which led her to this situation. She lives an odd lifestyle where she spends weeks or months in one place then moves on when she feels like it is time to leave. She can't attract attention or settle her roots anywhere for a while. At this point she's not sure if that really her experience as a spy and as a Sith telling her to move, or if she's just being a paranoid silly woman, but she avoids taking chances.

Months ago she had the brilliant idea to try her luck in the underworld of Nar Shaddaa. It worked, for a while. But then several small gangs in the area had a conflict of interests, and she was caught in the middle of it because of her good services, and because she lived at the 'border' of their areas. Her lightsaber had to be used against a group sent to intimidate her for protection money.

And now she's leaving that planet to find something better... Well, she has no idea where this is going. She just bought passage aboard the first ship out and took a seat. Everything went well, from the departure to this point. And now she is there, wishing she had more room for her legs or at least a window to look out to space. But, what matters is she is safe.

Nothing can go wrong now.​

 

[Njal The Black]

For all that could go wrong, it would be the singular worst. The Void's Beckoning Call, Njal the Black strode into the hyperspace jump point with his ship - Belial. It was a dastardly pirate ship custom fitted to be armed to the teeth; with a crew of sadists and murderers few could compare. Keeping it all running smoothly, of course, was one of the worst to be named.​

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Njal, the Giant Firrerreo. The ship coasted through space with its interdiction drive active - and the Captain of the vessel forced more spice up his nose. Only when it began to bleed did he relax - in the most loose definition of the term. He was wired, his muscles all tense at once - his eyes were wide and he was a beast without a chain. With heart pounding, toes curling, and a hand that threatened to bend the steel of his armchair - he spoke.​

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"You better have one on the sensors...", he threatened.​

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The man at the console looked at him and nodded - blurting out the positional data. The interdiction officer relayed it to the crew, and before anyone could truly know what was occuring - the pulse would go off. The ship would be torn from hyperspace, and to face it was the maw of the Belial. A hundred guns facing it down as half naked Njal stood and forced communications open.​

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"I am Njal the Black, Voidcaller and Prophet of the Dead Gods. Prepare your ship, and prepare your lives - I come to claim them both."​

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And with that laugh, the ship began to fall into combat position.​

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Hild Valor​

 

[Hild Valor]

The Cheapest, a civilian transport vessel
Appearance: Clothes (no swords) | Basic Blaster Pistol (on waist) | Lightsaber (hidden)
Dance partner: Njal The Black

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Something did go wrong. Oh, joy.

She grows suspicious when there's a sudden locomotion ahead. Proper transport ships, for the common citizens and law-fearing individuals, follow some safety rules, such as spacing and proper compartiments and areas. But cheap transport ships, which are very much a health hazard to just sit on a chair, rarely follow those. So Hild can easily see how the crew is growing restless. She... feels it too. A feeling of restlessness, as if jumping from one danger and into another.

To be yanked out of hyperspace, for starters, was a big tell of course.

The passengers notice it too, but they were already scared to begin with. Only those with enough despair in their hearts would dare get into this pile of metal someone calls spaceship. A massive thing, for a transport ship, but definitely nothing top of the line.

"I am Njal the Black, Voidcaller and Prophet of the Dead Gods. Prepare your ship, and prepare your lives - I come to claim them both."​

She's not sure what sets her off more. The fact the crew had the comms room without any sound proofing so everyone nearby heard it. The fact whoever this is believes in gods, something Hild was forced to stop believing when her prayers always went unheard. Or the sudden realization the nearby escape pods are being used by farm animals. That explains the smell.

"What sort of eldritch deity did I piss on in another life... All of them? At the same time? If I'm to be punished I should at least remember what bad jokes I tried to tell... " She hisses more to herself. The crew is... stalling. They are not fighters. Maybe they are, but more like ambush-fighters and not 'open war against whatever the hell is out there' kind of fighters. She'd be surprised if all the guns worked perfectly. Hild is a fighter, but only for herself. She's not a Jedi to go saving everyone, but she stands up and moves quickly. Panic will set in soon and she wants to be close to the escape pods when it happens. It's... both easy and hard to move.

Hard because of her height and she cannot shove people to create more panic and make her own survival harder. But easy because everyone is in a state of confusion before the full panic, because the crew of the ship is doing a good job pretending to be confident and in control. "Everything is fine, everything is fine! We have fully automated defenses and the hyperdrive will be functional soon!" One of them appeases the crowd.

Hild is cheering for them to actually get it done, really, but just to improve her own odds she finds a seat close to an escape pod. And hopes it actually works and is not just decorative like the malfunctioning toilets.​

 

[Njal The Black]

"Fire the ion cannons. Focus on the engines, anything that lights up on the sensors showing power. I want that ship dead long before I step foot on it.", he demanded as he tossed on a duraplast chest plate.​

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He didn't need much clothes or armor for raids like this - and they only made him sweat anyway. A simple pair of leather pants and a duraplast chestplate would compliment him well - so with boots tightened and his massive war axe in hand, he made his way to the docking ships. In the confines of the hanger, a dozen vessels armed with hull anchors and cutting torches stirred to life as men loaded onto them. Even now the first of their ships were under way - and Njal jumped on the nearest.​

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The other vessel would begin to report breach after breach before the giant would enter himself - but the carnage would be well under way long before he arrived.​

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Hild Valor​

 

[Hild Valor]

The Cheapest, a civilian transport vessel
Appearance: Clothes (no swords) | Basic Blaster Pistol (on waist) | Lightsaber (hidden)
Dance partner: Njal The Black

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Hild ignores the panic around her as best as she can. Or at least she tries to. She's not having a crisis of faith, no. It's a pity so many lives will be lost, but she will now throw her life out for others she doesn't even know. Even more when there's no other outcome other than death to them anyway.

But she can survive this. An unnecessary loss of life, but she will not add to it. She won't even object if some tag along and escape it as well if they do survive that long.

The tall woman opens the pens of the farm animals to let them loose and she moves behind them. Panic is already setting into the hearts of the passengers. From her point of view she cannot see anything on either side of the massive hallway full of confused and scared hearts and minds. The several voices of several different species are a mad song of noises. She... really can't understand most of them but she can probably guess what they are saying to each other.

Hild waits.

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The crew takes up arms to fight. They are not good fighters but they seem to have experience with using their own ship for attack and then run or hide, using both cargo and crew as shields. They even have the good(?) idea of gearing some of the crew with spare weapons, which they were smuggling hidden among the crew's cargo. For whatever good having a panicking and armed team will do to them. The Cheapest team is too few and their victories are bound to not be enough to push the invading force off.

They fight with the despair of dead individuals refusing to die. Some just run up to the enemies wielding anything they can get their hands on. Others don't fight at all, laying down or playing dead. And Hild helps... herself. She slaps and pushes those massive farm animals she can't quite remember the name of the species trying to herd them into a panic in a specific-ish direction. They are big, heavy, ugly and... ugly. Bound to be killed but they'll create enough chaos surprising invading and defender forces alike.

Whoever Njal is, he'll probably get the gods satisfied with a full meal.

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Meanwhile Hild makes her way in the opposite direction of where the fighting seems to be most concentrated. A cape covers her and she walks leaning forward, pretending to have a hunchback and a limp on her step to be as less threatening as possible. Both to not be recognized in case she manages a flawless escape, which she doubts will happen, or to be underestimated and ignored to walk past the crew. Some of them threw judging stares towards her when she did the whole 'Go and die for me' tactic with the farm animals.

Oh well.

She even motions to some survivors hiding to remain there and quiet. With any massive levels of luck they might survive?

... Probably not.

"I wish my only problem now was leg space ... " She is trying to find... something. Since the escape pod she briefly shared with those smelly, weird animals was actually defective -she's ready to kill the Cheapest crew for actually removing important things just for more space but at the very least breaches were not causing the whole ship to die- so for now there's no proper plan. So far she is trying to find a means to escape, be it an actual functional escape pod or an enemy boarding ship to take-over and fly away with it.

How hard can it be to fly an unknown ship? Come on, come on, just an unharmed hunchback woman limping about She really regrets not trying to memorize the layout of this ship. " Oh my leg hurts, how I wish I could actually walk, is there no one to help an old lady?" ​

 

[Njal The Black]

The Void Titan bellowed and cut - a duo turned to quad body parts before falling to the ground in a splashing heap. By now he was covered in blood, bathing in the suffering of innocents and makeshift fighters alike. There were the few onboard who had training - ex Sith Soldiers, New Imperial Defectors, mercenaries; but they were equal in the eyes of his vibroaxe. His voice carried heavy through the ship as he commanded -​

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"Kneel before the Gods! Kneel before me! Those with courage and conviction to the Void may yet plunder with us - but the rest must die.", he laughed, even as farm animals scurried. He reminded himself they'd be a good catch for later - but for now, there was carnage to be had.​

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And carnage would make him a fine appetite.​

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Hild Valor​