Public Treasure Hunt: The Forsaken Shipyard

[Ken Martano]

Ken still wasn't sure what to make of Mishel Kryze, and didn't much care for the idea of going deeper into the shipyard with just her. But he had bills to pay, and if Jerec Asyr was content to stay here and scavenge the relatively safe parts of the station, he would have to take whatever help he could get in exploring its deeper (and more lucrative) mysteries. "Suit yourself," Ken told him, throwing him an appreciative nod. The man had been helpful without any real incentive to be, and he wouldn't forget that.

Turning an eye to the mysterious lightsaber-carrying woman, Ken indicated the nearest doorway deeper into the station. "I'm going deeper. We'll get a bigger haul if we each carry some of it, and we can split it down the middle. Your call." He turned nonchalantly to walk towards the bulkhead door, but kept his senses alert. He wasn't sure what to expect from her OR the station, and both put him on edge. Striding up to the control panel, he cycled it and stepped through. Mercifully, this hallway was free of gas.

Drawing his blaster once more, Ken let his glow rod illuminate a path forward. This section had clearly seen some foot traffic, probably from the pirates who had taken up residence here. He hoped he could avoid them, having been lucky in that respect so far; maybe the mysterious "Bucky" had distracted them, judging by the firefight that had broken out earlier. But there was no telling whether his luck would hold. In his experience, it usually didn't; that was the reason he ended up in messes like this in the first place.

Suddenly, the rebel veteran froze in mid-step. The light of his glow rod had just barely fallen across a tiny monofilament wire, set right at ankle height. Ken put out a hand to stop Mishel from taking another step, if she was following. His eyes tracked along the wire to a gap in the wall. It was packed with a shaped charge; anyone who struck the tripwire would be messily de-limbed from the knee down. "Great," he hissed between his teeth. "Booby traps. Watch your step." He stepped gingerly over the wire.

Where there were traps, though, there was something worth protecting. Ken stumbled across it only a minute or two later: heavy blast doors marked with orange paint. It was clearly raw materials storage, though it looked like the pirates had gotten in. Rather than being looted, however, it seemed that the storeroom was still in use. There was no telling whether the original crates were still inside, but even if they weren't the room was probably full of supplies stowed there by the pirates. That would be worth something.

Of course, they still had to get in. "Big fething door," Ken breathed. "It won't be easy to get that open."

Dyre Redwave | Eocin Chiyat ​

 

[Mishel Kryze]

This is the way.​

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"Ugh, I hate that stupid show," she retorted, "every single karkin' time."​

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"I'll follow you, beats staying here with Holoflix and Chill over there," Mishel gestured toward Jerec. Once Ken began to move, Mishel followed keeping a safe distance from him in case he decided to turn that blaster her way. This was far from the most bizarre or even dangerous place she'd been to but even so, it seemed to have plenty of surprises up its sleeve.​

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The former Jedi looked around the corridor and seemed to be in awe of its construction, and quite possibly looking for things of value when the man in front of her stopped. "Bloody Ashira!" She yelped, having nearly run into the man, she let out a sigh of relief when she didn't knock him into the damn wire. Ugh. Traps, she hated traps and half the time the loot wasn't entirely worth it like, you'd think it'd be a massive score but no turns out to be bloody crafting materials instead. Mishel had better luck running into people's homes on Ossus and smashing pots for jewels. This was of course in her OG Ren days.​

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Carefully, Mishel followed Ken through the trap ladened area.​

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Eventually, they would come across the big fething door as Ken called it.​

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"You're right, normally it wouldn't be."​

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Mishel took hold of the Force and focused on the door itself. The door shuttered, dusted fell from its massive durasteel frame before it jostled opened - even so, it was just only slightly open. Still, it'd be enough for Ken and Mishel to squeeze through. "That was a little harder than I thought it would be," she admitted.​

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Ken Martano | Jerec Asyr ​

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[+1 Helping w/ Door]​

 

[Jerec Asyr]

Ken Martano Mishel Kryze Eocin Chiyat Dyre Redwave

Jerec kept flashing back to reading a famous piece about gathering versus hunting in myth and storytelling. Not serious flashbacks, mind you, just something to think about other than giggling to himself over his 'this is the way' joke. Well, that and salvaging, but that's why the essay kept coming to mind. See, some salvagers worked according to the big-kill philosophy, digging deep for the mother lode. Jerec had done some of that, but consistently, for years now, his best results came from gathering berries instead of staking it all on taking down the mastmot. A decent amount of patience and elbow grease accumulated two dozen Ubrikkian components, each with a market value in the hundreds. Grand total, maybe twelve thousand wupiupi at any decent chop shop. He hadn't just paid for his fuel and repairs, he'd financed at least two visits to a place a lot nicer than this. He stowed that haul aboard the Infinity's Free, sealed up again, and kept roving around the immediate area.

If Ken and Mishel ever came back this way, they'd find the halls littered with nuts, bolts, sheared-through structural elements, loose (inert) wiring, and entire bulkhead plates. The mess presented a capital-Herf Hazard for anyone not used to being around intensive, consequence-free salvage work. It hampered the old replica B-1 battle droids he'd deployed. A couple of them had already fallen over, and repairing them was going to be a pain.

But heck, if the haul kept up like this, he could just sell the B-1 units for scrap and buy the genuine article, maybe some old Hegemonic Automaton models.

1 point - claim treasure
1 point - new hazard

 

[Ken Martano]

Ken had seen what people called the Force before, but only in brief and violent glimpses. He'd watched Sith lift people off their feet and crush their windpipes with their minds. He'd witnessed mystics electrocute whole squads of freedom fighters with lightning from their fingertips. He'd gaped at warriors who moved - and struck - faster than any living thing had a right to. He'd never understood the Force, but he knew it to be all too real. Even now, when it was being deployed to his benefit, it sent a chill down his spine.

He didn't comment, just nodded and slid between the halves of the barely-open door. What he saw inside took his breath away. "Sithspit," he whispered, taking it all in. In front of Ken and Mishel Kryze was a well-stocked armory, no doubt a significant supply depot for the pirates. Missile launchers, boarding harpoons, and heavy repeaters were carefully stacked against the walls, positioned so as to be easily picked up and used. This must be where the marauders armed up before heading to the hangars to intercept a prize.

It was only the earlier firefight elsewhere in the shipyard, Ken reasoned, that had drawn them away from guarding it.

That meant there wasn't much time to find something valuable and portable. The heavy weapons, unfortunately, would never fit through the narrow gap Mishel had managed to open in the security doors. Ken moved deeper into the armory, looking for something easier to pocket. At the very back, surrounded by an eerie greenish glow, he found it. The huttese markings on the side identified it as a crate original to the Cartel shipyard, though it had been opened and partially looted since. But some of the contents were still inside...

Ken had a good eye for valuables, and he knew instinctively when something was going to be worth a lot of credits. The glowing green crystals, each held in a transparisteel hazard containment unit, had that look. At first he assumed that the pirates had been gradually trading them for ammunition, but that didn't make sense; they would've been kept with the plunder. No, these dangerous little rocks - labelled "Brakhan core crystals" - were clearly being used as the ammunition, or at least its power source.

Ken scooped up as many of the containment units as he could reasonably carry, strapping them across his belt and bandoleer. "These look pricey," he told Mishel, "and they're easy to carry. More than I can take on my own, though, and the crate won't fit through those doors. You've got your pick of the arsenal, of course, but there should be plenty of these if you want to try 'em." At that moment, however, the sound of tromping feet made him go quiet. Whatever firefight had gone on must be over.

"The pirates are coming back," Ken hissed, redrawing his blaster. No telling how many there were, and no way to warn Jerec Asyr ...

1 Point - Acquire Treasure in Post 3 or Later (Core Crystals)

Eocin Chiyat | Dyre Redwave​

 

[Mishel Kryze]

Ken nearly took the words out of her mouth, Mishel would've gone with a different vernacular altogether. Nevertheless the sight of a well-stocked armory way out here in the middle of a dilapidated shipyard, half-finished no less. Definitely, worth the jaw drop in her opinion, all of these weapons meant nothing to her personally but it might mean something to other people she knew. She followed Ken toward the ghoulish, greenish glow in the back. Mishel smirked - these - the crystals made every second of her trip worth it. "Sure..." Mishel's voice trailed off as she squeezed through the armory. "All I need... is one," she patted herself down for a very specific pouch. Any artificer worth their salt would have a pouch for crystals on them, she felt it on the inside of her jacket.​

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She dared not to touch the crystals with the Force or her hands. Instead, she patted herself down once more and grabbed a pair of small extractors that had been hiding in a pouch along her utility belt. She fetched the pouch from the inside of her jacket and slid one crystal inside. Once the process was complete she put away the extractors and looked around the armory.​

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Mishel looked at the gap and back in the armory. Heavy weapons would have to stay behind, even if she could get the door to open wider, some of this just wouldn't make it through. Jerec on the other hand, had a point, scrap metal sold for a stack of Talons at least out in Coalition, erm, Alliance space. "Yeah, just gonna try and-"​

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"...damn."​

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Mez wouldn't let Mishel take the risk of exposing herself to the pirates, they could take the heavier weapons. Instead, Mishel looked around the room to find something she could use as a bag, and when nothing sufficed. The Tygaran took off her jacket, gloves off as used them to tie off the sleeves and from there she began to place handheld weapons into her jacket. Mishel's cybernetic hand became exposed it was, yet another reminder of her past she supposed. She slung the jacket-bag over her shoulder, "don't think we've got much time left, after you." She gestured toward the gap in the door. Mishel did have a plan for the pirates or at the very least the armory. ​

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Ken Martano | Jerec Asyr ​

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[+1 Acquire Treasure/Loot in Post 3 or Later (Core Crystal, Handheld Weapons)]​

 

[Ken Martano]

Ken kept one eye on Mishel Kryze as she looted what she could from the armory. Her cybernetic hand, the lightsaber at her belt, her interest in just one of the crystals for reasons he suspected had nothing to do with their black market value - all of these pointed to pieces of her story, pieces he would likely never know. He'd drifted among so many people now, watched so many live and die, that he was generally too jaded to pay much attention to the details of new acquaintances. But some still captured his attention, made him wonder about lives so different from his own.

Letting his blaster lead, Ken slipped through the gap between the heavy doors - and immediately ducked back inside as a hail of blasterfire erupted all around him. "Feth," he swore, taking cover as a few errant bolts made it through the gap where he'd just been standing, pinging off of weapon crates. He really hoped they wouldn't hit anything volatile. "They're right on top of us," he said, craning his head around to look at the attackers before ducking back when another blaster bolt nearly blew it off. "I count six, maybe seven."

At this point, they had what they came for. It was time to wrap this up, and they couldn't do that if they got pinned down in this durasteel vault. But although they couldn't bring the heavy weapons with them, that didn't mean they weren't useful. Casting a glance around the armory, Ken's eyes settled on an old Republic model missile launcher. He hurried over and picked it up, then loaded in one of the rockets from a nearby crate. "Watch the backblast," he warned, crouching by the doors. Then he leaned in and blind-fired it through the gap.

The explosion was deafening in the narrow metal halls, but it didn't quite drown the screams. The rocket, used by pirates who didn't want to damage the ships they boarded, was little more than a compressed ball of razor-sharp shrapnel waiting to be released, and it had torn through several of the attackers without putting so much as a dent in the walls. It occurred to Ken that this was the first time he'd killed someone without even knowing what they looked like. It was a queasy feeing, heavy in his gut. He pushed it down.

"That's our chance," he yelled, making a break toward the hangar. Of course, the surviving pirates - and more - would soon pursue them...

Eocin Chiyat | Jerec Asyr | Dyre Redwave ​

 

[Eocin Chiyat]

Equipment: "Jackal" ACR, "Nascticiri" Combat Knife, & a "Corporis" Skinsuit (No Gloves).
Tags: Dyre Redwave | Jerec Asyr , Ken Martano , & Mishel Kryze.
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Decades-old security protocols? How uninspiring. The disabling of the automated defences seemed to be hardwired to a command centre somewhere... but he was no stranger to creative solutions. Issuing the order, he braced himself, feeling the space station shudder as the defensive turbolasers turned their firepower upon each other. Probably venting an unimportant section or two, but oh well.

"Done. Now, Bucky, I expect my files..." Swearing under his breath, he verified his suspicions. Comms were down - the station's, anyway.

Setting off in the direction of main engineering, his photoreceptors glowed red with annoyance. He had come this far, damn it, and he would not leave without that manufacturing data.

Mechanical legs hurling him forward with inhuman speed, he soon found himself in a section that looked like it had been struck by a kleptomaniacal hurricane, loose parts scattered around with abandon, forcing even him to slow down. "Who scavenges power couplings in a place like this...?"

 

[Mishel Kryze]

Mishel wasn't nearly as observant as Ken, she instead focused on the pirates. The brunette heard the man curse and watched him take cover, she remained in the armory for now at least. "Seven? That's it?" She felt offended personally, then again, when you often run headfirst into battles where you're likely to be outnumbered twenty to one on a good day, seven felt small. A makeshift bag of rifles and the crystal, it was all she wanted but getting out of here with minimal Force usage was starting to become something of a daydream.

Ken looked back toward the armory and Mishel read him clear as day. She only smirked when he warned about the backblast, "oh I will." A deafening explosion shook the corridor, Mishel stepped out through the gap in the doors and watched the pirates. Somewhere on fire and others screamed, she tilted her head and looked in the cybernetic hand and pressed it against the corridor wall. A surge of electric energy charged toward the pirates and if they had been screaming - their voices went silent. Ken's voice broke her thoughts, "yep, time to go."

She could sense an uneasiness about Ken but then again, this whole situation was uneasy. Mishel wasn't too far behind Ken, she only hoped that Jerec had already made a break for his own ship. The sound of boots wasn't too far behind her, and if push came to shove Mishel had no problem taking them on, "keep going Ken, don't look back, whatever you do - don't look back."

Blaster bolts fired up the corridor, Mishel looked at a spot just ahead of her and tossed the bag of rifles toward it. She spun on her heels and summoned fire into her hand and threw it down before summoning her lightsaber to her cybernetic hand. Mishel cut the first pirate down with ease, and the fireball sent several other pirates down onto the corridor floor.

Jerec Asyr | Ken Martano

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