Public The Kessel Run [SJO] [OPA]

[Acaadi]

"Push it"

​

Spoiler: theme

Spoiler: The Kessel Run

It was thirty minutes since the Tempest, a Lothal-II class carrier had arrived at the Maelstrom along with several vessels belonging to the OPA. Silver Jedi, Antarian Rangers, OPA Wardens and many others had arrived.

Kessel had opened up the Glitterstim mines and the illegal transportation of this drug was to be shut down. In addition reports had been received on Kashyyyk of a Coaxium mine using Wookie slaves. All vessels leaving Kessel were ordered to report for an inspection.

Starfighters and transport ships followed the winding passage through to Kessel using a serious of micro-jumps. As soon as they arrived at Kessel a huge number of small vessels broke orbit and headed for the Kessel Run. The Silver and OPA Pilots immediately began to chase them. Several Smuggler vessels turned out to be undercover OPA Judges who joined the chase. Use of lethal weapons is not authorised. Instead the aim is to track the vessels out of the maelstrom and perhaps get close enough to tag them with a homing beacon.

Pride was at stake. The various groups had all agreed they could make both the best time and shortest distance back out of the maelstrom. There was a suspicion in command that some pilots might ignore the smugglers and simply take the opportunity to show off their skills.

---

Objective 1: Kessel run

• Be a smuggler on the run, or
• Be a pilot chasing the smugglers.
• Escape the maelstrom as fast as possible
• Beware the Summa verminoth

---

Objective 2: Rebellion

• Land on Kessel​
• Free the wookie slaves​
• Free the droids too? Maybe?​

 

[Jerec Asyr]

"Sure, it's addictive, but it's no gunjack or ryll kor." Jerec's hands blurred over the controls. The Infinity's Free - under a different name of course- roared ahead into the dark. "Far as I'm concerned, you wanna relax and pick up minor telepathy, that's your business, so it's legitimately my business."

Quekko, his Apokka copilot, gave him the side-eye. "Brrrawk."

"Two hundred thousand or more. Glitterstim's about to have a real supply and demand problem. Ironically it'll probably turn junkies to harder stuff. Yay war on spice."

All that to say, his disguised freighter had a hold full of spice, he'd known the raid was coming, and he had an experimental route in mind. Step one: punch through the death zone between the Pit and the Maw. Step two: risk the Corkscrew. Step three: bear left and hit the lane near Tilurus, where the buyer was waiting in orbit. This boat now had a class-point-five hyperdrive, too. He should be able to wrap the job up before the Judges could catch him and realize one of the smugglers was an OPA guy. That would screw up his life. But two hundred thousand wupiupi, though...

 

[Kingsley]

"Rrrrawk! Outta my way sleemo!"

Eravana roared at full sublight, all four hundred meters of her. Kingsley's bulk freighter could barely fit inside the Channel but the wily old smuggler wasn't about to let a class three drive and basic hyperspace physics ruin his payday. His holds were bursting at the seams with spice and a few wookiee slaves besides. He was certain he'd found the perfect route for beating his competition to market, two short hops through the Maelstrom skirting the Maw and he hoped to bypass the Corkscrew entirely. If it weren't for grandpa here...

Kingsley saw an opportunity and ignited the freighter's booster rockets, burning hard to pass Jerec Asyr through a gap between Infinity's Free and the Maelstrom that was just a little too small.

"Learn how to fly nerfherder!"

He fired a quadlaser burst across Jerec's bow to send a message.

OOC: I'm open to being boarded for any Silvers that aren't about that pilot life.

 

[Acaadi]

The the person training Jedi interceptor was a tight fit. It had plenty of range, but was hardly comfortable for long journeys. He was going to need to get beater seats fitted.

"You remember when I said 'Doing the kessel run will be really exciting' yeah?" Acaadi called over his shoulder. "I'm starting to...not."

Acaadi had put a lot of hours behind the stick recently but he was still quite an inexperienced pilot.

If he hadn't understood the lengths the smugglers would go to then the lesson was right before him. A huge frigate firing warning shots at another smugglers as it burned hard for the maelstrom.

Acaadi flicked a switch above his head, focusing the scanners and deflectors forwards.

"Keep tracking them as we enter the maelstrom and tell me if it looks like we're about to crash..." he called to Kyra. The clouds of the maelstrom loomed ahead of them. The smugglers were not slowing down.

 

[Kyra Perl]

Jerec Asyr Acaadi Kingsley​

Kyra sat gaping in the cockpit, the flashing lights of the readings reflecting against the whites of her wide eyes. It all moved too fast, in a way that simply overwhelmed her. Acaadi was the one that wanted to be a pilot. Kyra only tag along for a chance to earn his trust driving Firefly.

She didn't know what she was doing. Who was she kidding.

She had no idea what she was doing.

Lights flew through the dark of space-- shots ringing out across a bow of a ship ahead. She gasped, her mouth dropping. "...OH NO FAIR! They're using guns!" Which to her of course meant she could start doing the same. She reached for the joystick, having already been made intimately aware of its location on a previous mission, and jammed her thumb on the trigger.

Shots sprayed out wildly, disappearing into the Maelstorm. She laughed in a bout of adrenaline, a hard turn by Acaadi pulling her off the trigger and back into her seat.

She scrambled to relocate the two crafts they had been tracking, her finger slamming into the data pad in front of them. Sensors reengaged on both heat sources, the two managing to stick on them.

"Faster, Acaadi!" Came the shrill order, a 'wahooo' melding into the mix.

She was enjoying this way too much.

 

[Rekha Kaarde]

THUNDER BOLTS AND LIGHTNING VERY VERY FRIGHTENING...................OH.............................SOLO MIO SOLO MIO.....

Rekha the adrenaline junkie had the Midnight Star prepped and primed, and flying like a mad woman through the Kessel run. Yes they had all been brought up on the stories of how Han Solo and broken the speed record to get to Kessel. Then over time how such a great feat had been done leaked out and now everyone wanted to figure out how to get through the maelstrom without losing their ship.

She was in this just for the pride of breaking a record, and if she didn't break it...then she'd be proud of trying it and surviving the maelstrom.

Lila sat in the co-pilots seat the blue twi'lek looked a bit pale, "do we have to?"

"Yes" The answer was decisive sure and anyone who knew her knew she could not be talked out of it now.

"I'm scared!"

"Don't be we won't die" She hoped.

Lila shot her a look...

 

[Eldin Daine]

Kessel Run
Location: On board the Rusty Bucket

Eldin was multi taking, piloting ‘Blank Shot’, and re-evaluating his life. “You’ll make a name for ya self”, he said, “Think of all the girls”, he said. This was going to be the last time Eldin would listen to Zak of Amroth who was probably sitting in a bar somewhere drunk. So, Eldin went undercover and joined the gangs running spice, had been there a good while before they trusted him enough to transport the stuff. And that trust only came after he slept with the boss.

The ‘Blank Shot’ was about to come out of the last miro-jump before the ship would enter the Maw. Eldin was a ball of sweat, he had only done this run once before and he was not the pilot at the time. And all he wanted to do, all that was on his mind was to throw Zak into a sarlacc pit, as the seconds clicked over until he would be faced with the swirling Maw, his butt cheeks clenched.

This was to be his last run with the smugglers, the ‘Blank Shot’ due to delivery the slice right into the heart of the smuggler’s main compound before it was moved on all over the galaxy to dealers and buyers. The OPA was ready for the sting, tracking his ship along the Kessel Run, through the Maw and to the secret location of the compound. The signal would be a jumble to anyone else, static or nonsense, but a good ‘ear’ might work out what it truly was, if anyone was listening that is.

The ship came out of it’s jump, immediately the proximity alarm blared, and the scanner lit up like a festive tree. “Feck”. Reverse thrusters roared shaking the ship as he banked hard right trying to avoid the collision, the ‘Blank Shot’, turned ninety degrees and the sound of scraping echoed through the corridors and anything not secured down went flying.

Once clear, he levelled off and breathed again. The heavy concentration of ships in this point of the Kessel Run was disturbing, it can’t be OPA unless there had been a change of plan. So, who the hell were these guys? Eldin engaged sublight, he was not going to stick around to find out. The ‘Blank Shot’, moved toward the Maw and entered it.


((ooc: anyone is free to join Eldin on board, or chase his ship and board it))

 

[Karra Tor]

"Doing this for the Wookies, doing this for the Wookies, doing this for the Woo-AAAAAAGH!!!!!"

How in the hell did people not get motion sickness in a damn cockpit, it felt like falling endlessly, only gravity couldn't decide which direction to pull you in. Karra had been a late addition to the raid, only insisting that she join after hearing of the Wookie slaves that were among the cargo being sent on the Kessel Run. Putting her feelings as a healer aside, she owed a lot to the Wookies, she had grown up on Kashykk and learned under them, as well as the Jedi there. It was her turn to repay their kindness with her own, even if it did mean subjecting herself to a fate worse than death. See, she was lucky enough to grab the last Jedi Starfighter, buuuuut all the Astromechs were gone or in use so that only left one option as to who her pilot could be.

"GOOOOOONK GONK!!!!" The poor droid wailed over the comms, his rectangular frame haphazardly welded into the astromech's interface jack.
"YOU'RE A DROID! YOU DON'T FEEL THE COLD OR THE INERTIA!!!" She shot back, slamming her hands against the glass door of the cockpit as she pushed down the urge to vomit, trying desperately to limit the feeling of the ship jerking left and right and up and down. It was far from an ideal solution, but Gonk was the only one actually capable of piloting the ship given his mods, but still, it would be nice to link up with some ships for an easier flight. Surprisingly, she actually started to feel a little better once GOnk threw them into the clouds of the Maelstrom, the void being obscured by another deadly, if prettier, hazard. Still, now would be the time for precise flying, and neither she nor the black box out there could handle it.

Karra grabbed the comms controls and fiddled around, opening a channel to the surrounding Jedi ships. "Requesting link up! The clouds are too dangerous for me or my droid to pilot unaided, anyone out there!?"

Acaadi Kyra Perl

 

[Rekha Kaarde]

"YOU NEVER MENTIONED DYING!" Lila grabbed her seat squeezing her eyes as tight as she could get them. "I swear Rekha if we die I'll kill you myself!"

Rekha laughed and looked over, "IF we are dead how will you do that?"

Lila chuckled, "Um... I don't know. " She was calmer now, "Can you make it through?"

"I don't know" the green eyed brunette answered but still that sound of surety was still there and she really wanted to try it. "Just keep the nav comp going and watch it careful so we don't get sucked into a big dark swirling hole that comes out who knows where"

Lila couldn't let go of her seat. Her knuckles were snow white that fear that she kept trying to tamp down just wouldn't stay put.

"I wanna go home"

Rekha nodded, "We will promise"

By the goddess Lila thought she's going to really get us killed one day....maybe today.

 

[Acaadi]

Kyra Perl Karra Tor Kingsley Jerec Asyr
Chasing Eravana and Infinity Free

"Faster?" he asked incredulously. "I can't believe you can trust me to fly into this, let alone go faster!"

Acaadi narrowed his gaze, letting his senses stretch out. The controls of the jedi starfighter were far more sensitive than the twintails he had learned to fly. Slight movements sent the small craft swinging and rolling between the rocks.

"Don't lose...those freighters...I can't concentrate on them and...the storm..."

"Requesting link up! The clouds are too dangerous for me or my droid to pilot unaided, anyone out there!?"

"Stay on our tail! We are...finding a path," Acaadi replied through the comms.

The sensors, much like the Force, we're being overwhelmed with all the information and all the danger. So many rocks that would turn the jedi starfighter into an insignificant smear.

It was only going to get worse. The crazy smugglers seemed to be plotting a path that would take them close to the Maw. A black hole in the maelstrom. The most dangerous section of the maelstrom.

Acaadi swore under his breath. He didn't swear very often.

 

[Jerec Asyr]

GREEN ROUTE, FOR NOW

Acaadi Kingsley Karra Tor Kyra Perl

The Infinity's Free had great legs for a boat its size. Not quite enough to stay ahead of a Jedi starfighter while dodging asteroids, though.

"Cluck."

"Took the words outta my mouth." Jerec wiped sweat from his eyes and spiraled the freighter through the rubble of a recent collision. "Get in the turret and blast'em, I don't care who they are."

In short order, the pursuers were treated to the sight of a small and furious Apokka shooting at them from within a quad laser's bubble canopy.

BLATBLATBLATBLAT

"BUCKAWWW."

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra gave a sigh, Acaadi ’s stress weighing heavily against her mind. “Oh, Acaadi. I trust you with my life,” came a little tender quip. He’d feel her attempt to take a deep breath and detach from the moment, a flicker of calm resonating between their bond. Fear was the mind killer, right?

Shoots rang out again, this time at them, and that silly little concept went right out the window. “Son of a batch of cookies!” She cursed, kicking right back up into their shared fuss. “Bank right! Bank right!” And he’d quickly discover that she only asked him to do that so she could get a better shoot back at Jerec Asyr ‘s hull.

That being said, they all still went wide.

“Is that a chicken??” She exclaimed, her neck churning for a second glance as Acaadi corrected his course.

“ Karra Tor shoot the chicken! Shoot the chicken!” Deft flips of switches kept their tracking devices on target, the targets before them not shaking them much. Yet.

“Man...” She commented to Acaadi, shooting him a forlorn glance. “Now I’m hungry.”

 

[Karra Tor]

Karra let out a loud groan of relief as someone almost immediately responded to her call and pinged the ship, Gonk latching on to the signal and drawing in close to her fellow interceptor. She felt a bit safer with actual people nearby to help her fly the damn thing, and it didn't hurt that she had a heads up now if any tricky maneuvers were required since they were in front. Now they just needed to worry about the smugglers that were in front and now fir-
"CRAP!!!" She howled, grabbing the controls and throwing them to the right as the bolts of plasma burned right past them, barely singing the hull. Of course, that took her into another spin, and she could already feel the vomit in her stomach rising quicker and quicker so she threw them back...only to go in the opposite direction instead.

"Gonk," The droid said, annoyed. As quick as the spin came, it was gone, with Karra smacking her head against the glass as the ship leveled itself abruptly. She would have rubbed her head, but another volley just narrowly glanced past them, so now was really not the time. She leaned forward and grabbed the controls, adjusting them ever so slightly before punching the triggers. She may have been bad at flying, but she still had a surgeon's touch when it came to aiming, and these didn't have the recoil or heat or other jump-out-of-her-skin things a hand blaster had. A few green bolts went flying for the ship's engines, hoping to disable them before they got to the Maw, a tractor beam could keep them from being swallowed whole if it worked.

 

[Corte Fletchador]

Kyra Perl , Karra Tor , Kingsley , Jerec Asyr , Acaadi
Chasing Eravana and Infinity Free

Corte came up quickly on the group in his X-Wing in the maelstrom and saw that the Infinity's Free was taking shots at his fellow Jedi and another friendly who was in pursuit. When he saw the shots, he shifted his shield 80:20, front to back. As he closed the range he decided that he would fire back and asked his astromech, A26, give me a view on-screen of the best place to hit and take out their sub-light, A26. As the astromech scanned and made the required calculations, Corte said over the radio to everyone, The is Corte Fletchador, I figured that I would tag along and help - did you make them mad? As he was talking, he started to see calculations scroll across his screen and finally a firing solution image appear. He saw now that he would have to hit the ship just two meters aft of the engine nacelle to make dead in the proverbial water. Just as he was about to squeeze the trigger, the ships weapons started to train on him and he had to perform evasive maneuvers to avoid being hit.....

 

[Kingsley]

Kingsley cackled in delight as he closed in on Jerec Asyr not caring if his sheer mass sent the light freighter spiraling off course and into oblivion. Cannon fire from their aft forced him to break off in surprise.

"Rrrrawk!"

The Infinity's Free returned fire, several shots aimed at Acaadi and Kyra Perl flying wide and plucking containers off the Eravana's magnetic transport grid. His beak curled into a grimace. That was his spice they were wasting! Now he was serious. The Jedi interceptors were far too light and nimble for him to target so Kingsley fired an assault concussion missile at Jerec's freighter instead. It was a slow moving piece of ordnance and easy to evade but with any luck the resulting blastwave would knock everyone off his tail.

"See ya later, stoopas!" the hiitian smuggler screeched.

With that he plunged into the Akkadese Maelstrom narrowly avoiding a collision with Corte Fletchador . Kingsley had it all worked out. He was going to use the Maw's gravity well to slingshot his ship to safety. After just a few seconds inside this tumultuous region of space it occurred to him for the first time that he might not even make it to the Maw, let alone past it. Smaller ships had at least an outside chance of maneuvering a safe passage but the Eravana was buffeted with debris which shredded containers from their magnetic clamps and sent the birdman bouncing violently around his cramped and filthy bridge.

He wailed in terror. His freighter's navigational computer was beeping rapidly as it struggled to plot a viable course through all this miasma. Nothing yet and at this rate the Maelstrom was liable to shake him apart. Still he pressed on. He needed the credits, and Kingsley wasn't going back to prison.

 

[Acaadi]

Kyra Perl Karra Tor Kingsley Jerec Asyr

Chasing Eravana and Infinity Free

"Don't be...silly Kyra...I can't laugh right...oh... that actually is a chicken."

Acaadi's gaze settled on the cannon that was unleashing a withering storm to dissuade them from their pursuit.

Several laser blasts lashed across their shields. The light craft wasn't build for taking damage and there was precious little room to maneuver.

"Don't take out their engines yet!" he shouted over the comms. "Chip at their shields but if we take out their engines now we'll doom them into the maw."

The tremor rippled through the Force before the concussion missile detonated. The crazy bird was going to be the death of them all.

"Stay on the small freighter, I'm going after the big one. Kyra, hold on tight."

Hopefully she didn't cling to the stick that she was apparently overly familiar with. Acaadi yanked back on the controls and pushed forwards on the power. Twin engines burned harsh white and the agile craft veered upwards. Two rocks appeared out of the clouds towards them and Acaadi rolled a quarter turn and folded down the s-foils to avoid them being ripped off.

Inches from destruction the small craft fired out of the other side of the cluster of asteroids and swerved back onto the tail of Kingsley 's vessel.

"He's going for the Maw. Kyra you ever wanted to see a black hole up close? I don't think I did!" He still laughed, the adrenaline from the last maneuver still firing through his veins.

 

[Jerec Asyr]

Acaadi Kingsley Karra Tor Kyra Perl

"Good shooting, Quek! And, uh, while you're still in a good mood, we just lost shields."

That was probably fine. The Infinity's Free had terrible shield generators. What it also had was CP90 durasteel hull plating, scarred to feth and tough as nails. They'd be fine so long as they didn't get hit be Conner nets, EMP detonations, ion cannons...

The hundred-meter freighter slewed between asteroids and burst into clear space at last. Jerec wiped sweat out of his eyes and took a hard right turn into a deeply unpleasant, narrow passage known as the Corkscrew. The freighter swerved wildly.

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra gasped as she saw a shot bounce off of Jerec Asyr 's hull-- a clear indicator his shields were in fact down. Oh. Right. Yeah. They didn't want to kill them! She released the joystick, scrambling.

"Uuuuh, they ever teach you how exactly we're suppose to stop and catch them?? Cause--" She let out a shrill screech as Acaadi jerked them into a maneuver to avoid something or other. By this point, she was frankly having a hard time keeping track! Ships were in front of them, behind them, the maw was being scary and someone-- oh no-- someone just jetted off into an insanely narrow and scary passage up ahead of them.

Kyra paled as she stared down the mouth of the corkscrew, her hands flushed as they braced against the walls around her.

"Acaadi ... don't... you... dare...."

 

[Tyria Koth]

Kyria sat motionless in the cockpit watching the steady stream of vessels entering and exiting the Channel. Things were quite orderly, everyone taking their time to be careful and not cause any problems, but every now and again some hothead would come hurtling into the local area and tumble into the Channel before blinking off her sensors. She smirked to herself every time this occurred, as it gave away something much larger that was about to happen.

After several minutes of data collection, she activated the helmet on her suit which folded up and around her head with a sigh and a hiss. The armour plating around the helmet fitting into itself and after a moment, its black face plate closed over her features. Within the fully enclosed suit now, things were quieter, more peaceful. The HUD that projected out in front of her tagged each individual vessel as it entered or exited the Channel, with after another moment of breathing and centering herself, she pushed forward on the controls, the whine of the Atrax building behind her.

The Atrax was a sleek, dangerous looking vessel. It also was significantly larger than many of the other single-pilot vessels that crowded through the maw. Like fish avoiding a predator they moved out of her way as she cruised into the tunnel wreathed in swirling clouds. Soon enough, all sensor readings from outside the Channel dropped off as they were obscured by the clouds and their intense interference.

Accellerating, she pushed ahead of the groups of starships around her and tumbled down into the chaotic path which would eventually lead her to Kessel and her goal. Up ahead she spotted a Jedi Starfighter, not unusual in these parts, but it also meant that the warrior monks had chosen this assignment also, whether it be for some extra cash or out of the righterousness of their hearts...she didn't care. As long as they didn't get in her way. She pushed the Atrax a little faster and passed directly over one of the Jedi Starfighters, shrouding it in darkness for a moment before moving on.

---

She was late. This annoyed her. She was never late, someone else must have jumped the gun. Ships were breaking and scattering in multiple directions, some disappearing into the clouds while others headed for the relative safety of the channel. She was here for one ship in particular though...and as long as it was in one piece her payment would be in her bank account before the Atrax overheated again.

She swept the area with her sensors and found her quarry, a freighter...quite small...but big enough for its cargo. Her sensors revealed almost 100 wookies in the hold and several various races in the crew quarters. She pointed the Atrax at the vessel and accelerated.

 

[Corte Fletchador]

Kyra Perl , Karra Tor , Kingsley , Jerec Asyr , Acaadi
Chasing Eravana and Infinity Free

As he saw the Eravana and Infinity Free and the other Jedi fighters enter the small and winding passage known as the Corkscrew, Corte notified his astromech hey A26, looks like we're about to have a little fun - keep me on the straight and narrow and find me a firing solution for the laser cannon on the light freighter. Pausing, he added I'm not wanting to be shot at when there isn't much room to maneuver. Then he called out to the other friendly ships and said, I'm bringing up the rear and I plan to get close enough to the rearmost smuggler to shoot out his cannon so he won't continue giving us trouble. As he passed the other small fighters with his X-Wing, he got on the tail of the Infinity Free. He decided that his first duty was to have some mercy on them and give them a chance at a peaceful ending. Over his radio he said to both of the freighters This is Corte Fletchador of the Silver Jedi Order and both of your ships are known for smuggling. You are herby ordered to return to open space and wait to be given landing coordinates. If you should fail to comply, trust me, you won't lose any of us - we are smaller, faster, more agile, and better armed. We will blow you to oblivion. Please reply with an affirmative. Corte thought that that should be enough to make them fear for their lives and to come about. Just to be serious, he decided to use A26's firing solution and fire on Infinity Free's cannon that had already caused him trouble. He made direct hits on the cannon but wasn't sure as to the damage....