Faction Treasure or Trouble? (Levantines)

[Delila Castillon]

Was a Nun trolling her? How long did Gamorreans live that she was considered the 'young one' in this situation?

They wandered down to the hangar, the Nun was buzzing with excitement - even without the Force it was easy to see. Delila was worried more about the logistics of the operation. Even if Xin was the one flying she would be worried ; lives of innocents were on the line instead of her own.

Well, with the Mother flying, her life was sort of on the line too.

"Mother? A favor? Can you try not to kill us. I'm not exactly going to the good afterlife and I would really like at least a couple more years on this plane. So whatever prayer or genuflection or chant we need to do just let me know."

Dells just hoped that prayer wasn't to Seydon and his firm beam once again.

Mother Arg'garok

 

[Kurayami Bloodborn]

So the bit before the jump and during the jump had been uneventful and rather quiet. Usually was a good sign, or at least good enough. Upon reversion to realspace though apparently Mishel suddenly had to actually start responding to people again, which she managed pretty well. From what he gathered this was a pretty basic rescue op though it got a bit hairy due to some complications with the fact the planet was a gas giant and prone to ion storms. Okay well that presented some fun challenges, as with all the fun gadgets to help prevent getting fried by ionic interference a storm of this magnitude would likely overwhelm the systems within a short time, though that might be able to be extended by diverting unneeded power from weapons and the retribution shielding cycling the excess power back into the main shields instead. It would buy some extra time, but how long was up for debate.

They were running out of time to decide on a course of action though and it seemed to be the one that was both simplest and would give them the best chance of pulling it off with minimal prep and almost no downtime. Kurayami nodded to Lav in agreement that it was probably the best choice before taking a swig from his flask and addressing Mishel. "Alright, Looks like we got an idea. Figure we diver power from the retribution shields and weapons to the main shields. It'll give us a bit more linger time in the AO to pick up survivors, but I cant give any estimates as to how long. Once shields are down and it starts hitting the hull though we only have, I dunno a matter of seconds to get outta dodge. Depends on how bad the storm is when we reach the area. Ready when y'all are."

Coren Starchaser | Delila Castillon | Jorus Q. Merrill | Tessa Sedaire ​

 

[Coren Starchaser]

The Jedi Master smiled. It was so good to hear Mishel's voice. The one padawan he had that seemed to have one, survived, and two, made something bigger of herself. It always helped to have people he knew he could trust around. "Sorry you don't have time to acquaint with the scenery Mishel. Its… you know, on fire."

As was most of their meetings nowadays. He was going to have to fix that.

"Got that, City, and we can help collect whatevers dropped and pull it out." He looked at the screens. The engines on this old bus were still strong, one of the first things, behind the shields that he took to working on. It was going to be needed, after all. If they were out in the scar worlds area.

But then he was back to thinking about his own ship. The YT-2000 was his joy, and this was exactly what he had used it for the past dozen times, helping people. She was more equipped for carrying people around, and not for carrying massive cargo, but the important pieces could be thrown in, and she'd get herself away.

"Don't you two scratch my ship too bad!" Coren called out over the comms as he took the CR90 and started pulling it down into the gas giant. Porter beeping out as he gave status of the shields.


Delila Castillon Mother Arg'garok Jorus Q. Merrill Mishel Kurayami Bloodborn Tessa Sedaire

 

[Mother Arg'garok]

There was a perk to the old Gamorren nun’s slow waddle. Eventually, they made it to the YT-2000. It was a good thing @Coren Starchaser’s ship had wide doors. Otherwise Mother would have become stuck long before she made it to the cockpit.

"Mother? A favor? Can you try not to kill us. I'm not exactly going to the good afterlife and I would really like at least a couple more years on this plane. So whatever prayer or genuflection or chant we need to do just let me know."

“We are one with the Force, dear child.” She replied with a devilry that should not be in one so pious.

“A pure heart and clear mind shall lead the way,” hearing her say this in Huttese as her prayer beads jiggled at her sides and her wimple bounced was a riot to see.

Don't you two scratch my ship too bad!"

The comm crackled just as Mother settled in the piloting chair. The chair gave an audible screech of protest under her girth, but the nun paid it no mind. Her spirits were high, her faith true.

"I am but a leaf in the wind." A snort giggle came from the Gamorrean, a twinkle on those cataract eyes. Clawed hands took control of the ship. Oddly enough, it was like a wave of energy originated from the nun and went sweeping across all the controls, bringing a hum of life to the ship. A flicker of lights and then they settled into place. It was up to Delila Castillon to be back up now to guide for the docking and evac.

“Watch as I soar!” Came her fervent chant.

 

[Jerec Asyr]

THE SHIP IN DISTRESS
TANNHAUSER-CLASS FREIGHTER INFINITY'S FREE (100 METERS)​

Cables crisscrossed the decks. With the reactor down and the backup out, Jerec was rerouting everything he had — mostly the powerplants of small craft in the holds — to keep the repulsorlifts even partially powered. His cousin Boola honked something aggravated at a rusty droid. Big ship or not, the small Ithorian crew was tripping over itself in its collective haste to not fall deeper into the gas giant.

Someone has shouted down from the bridge that other ships were inbound. Pirates, maybe. Right now Jerec would take a place in a hostage cell happily. The comms and sensors were both down; every spark of power was going to the repulsors.

He paused in a windy, storm-wracked hold. He'd been running a cable to half an old starfighter whose cells might hold some charge. A long thin space train, a Reclaimer-class, was easing up alongside the Infinity's Free and working its tractor beam. Raider, rescuer, potato, potahto. Stabilized was stabilized.

Granted, he might feel less chill about getting looted once he was no longer falling to his death. He spared exactly two seconds from his work to check that his plan, battered laser sword was still at his toolbelt.


Coren Starchaser Mishel Kurayami Bloodborn Mother Arg'garok Delila Castillon Tessa Sedaire

 

[Delila Castillon]

“A pure heart and clear mind shall lead the way,” hearing her say this in Huttese as her prayer beads jiggled at her sides and her wimple bounced was a riot to see.

This is how I'm going to die, by the hand of a crazed Nun.

Delila had been no stranger to situations where death was very well and around every corner. How she had lived this long was still a mystery, but it looked as if maybe her luck was running out. The Gamorrean was incredibly excited as she sat in the pilots chair, now she was chanting a mantra. As long as it keep them in the air and alive, whatever worked.

Taking up her role as co-pilot, she set about making sure this freighter wasn't modded and allowed for a diversion of power. Dells was thinking as they docked the rear thrusters might need more power to get away from the failing vessel, lest they both get caught into the gravity and turn into a bigger disaster.

"Failing vessel, this is...." What was the name of this blasted Jedi freighter? "....your rescue attempt..."

Attempts to hail via comm were met with static as the lurched forward, the Nun underway. Pit in her stomach deepened to dread, there was no turning back now.

"Looks like their comm is down Mother. Not sure if they will know we are trying to dock, I may have to enter their vessel and do a sweep for survivors. Don't want to leave anyone behind before we depart. You'll just have to have a steady hand longer than we first thought."

Mother Arg'garok | Coren Starchaser | Mishel | Kurayami Bloodborn | Tessa Sedaire

 

[Mishel]

Mishel chuckled a little and replied back on comms to Coren, "that sounds about right." Then a beat later, "we're gonna get in as close as we can, even with the pyronium infusion, the Leia won't be able to hang around long. We'll do what we can." It was more of a reassurance for both of them. She heard what Bloodborn was saying, and turned in his direction, "I'll work on diverting all non-essential systems, that might buy us just a few more seconds. You'll have to holler at me in the back, I'll head down there to help get people and whatever else onto the ship."

Swiveling back around to the comms station, she reached out toward the failing ship, "Distressed vessel, the Princess Leia is here to help. Be ready to board our vessel so we can get you guys out of here." Message sent, Mishel slid in her chair down a console, the wheels of the chair bumping over the grated floor as it did so. "Power... being diverted now." She looked over her shoulder toward Bloodborn and Lav, and once they gave the thumbs-up or paw as it was with Lav. The Tygaran got to her feet and headed through the ship's galley toward its loading area.

Kurayami Bloodborn | Delila Castillon | Coren Starchaser | Jorus Q. Merrill | Tessa Sedaire | Mother Arg'garok

 

[Mother Arg'garok]

A snort grunt and a nod relayed a confirmation, “Then through prayer and a steady hand make it so.” Mother told Delila Castillon .

The easiest solution would be to go for the larger target. In this case, work with Mishel with the evacuation and hope Delila Castillon would provide guidance that the nun wasn’t doing too bad at connecting the ships.

With full belief in the power of the Force, the nun let it take the wheel. Or in this case, the piloting.

With a joyful kick of thick cankles under her nun robe, Mother fell into the embrace of the Force, letting its intangible hands full her in with its power. From behind cateract lined eyes, a faint glow would began to form.

The YT-2000 made its decent, slow and steady towards the ship. Perhaps it was to everyone’s credit that she did so at such a pace, for the chance of damage was not catastrophic.

Just an underbelly buffer panel.

Not so shabby indeed.

Jerec Asyr Kurayami Bloodborn Coren Starchaser Jorus Q. Merrill Tessa Sedaire

 

[Jerec Asyr]

Up a utility shaft's ladder, Jerec heaved his neck against the hatch. It squealed in complaint. CP90 durasteel tended to rust, and the hatch was rustier than some. He twisted through the almost-open hatch and got up on the deck of his precious ship, which could fall from under him at any time.

He shielded his eyes from the storm with both hands and squinted. A number of ships presented themselves in the area, all ramshackle, maybe civilian or looter or, ugh, hero. There was that Reclaimer space train alongside with its tractor beam ( Jorus Q. Merrill ), a YT-2000 that appeared to be angling to land on the top deck not far from Jerec ( Mother Arg'garok and Delila Castillon ), a YT-2400 ( Mishel and Kurayami Bloodborn ), a CR90 corvette ambling down from on high ( Coren Starchaser ), and some kind of custom Corellian gunship ( Tessa Sedaire ).

Jerec found himself torn. These ships felt like they were circling, buzzardlike. But they might well be his crew's best hope of survival. He'd rolled all his dice by plugging his small craft reactors into the big boat's repulsors to buy time to fix the as-yet-unfixed reactor.

An idea struck him. Maybe not a wise one. His laser sword spat burnt-orange plasma. He began drawing on the top of the hull: the universal symbol for a power plug. Half-circle, two prongs off the flat face, squiggly line off the round side to represent a much-needed cable, all drawn in half-molten metal.

 

[Coren Starchaser]

That ship was in so much trouble. An exploration freighter.

Who ever heard of that anyway.

Now it was going to be a rescue ship. Maybe it was time to retire the old freighter and focus on something a bit more modern? He digressed. There were people who needed to be saved, Starchaser. They were finally getting a name of the ship in question. The Infinity's Free. Coren felt he knew that name, but that wouldn't make any sense.

"Don't over stay then, Leia."

He heard a clunk and got a report from Porter.

"Mother Abracadabra, did you just… was that a buffer panel?"

What held it on that long?

"Pulling in above the transport." Coren announced. "Locking on and activating tractor beams. Going to steady it in case you need to break power away City."

Mishel Jorus Q. Merrill Delila Castillon Mother Arg'garok Jerec Asyr @Jon just for good measure

 

[Delila Castillon]

The unmistakable sound of metal-on-metal being scraped could be heard as the underbelly panel was ripped off. As she was locking the Jedi freighter securely to the failing one, sensors weren't screaming at her. Whatever the good Mother ripped off wasn't vitally important or the problem just hadn't reared its head yet. She was going to believe in the first option until the ship told her otherwise.

"Good flying Mother, I'm mildly impressed."

With the Princess Leia also assisting in the rescue efforts by docking to another hatch, Dells hoped this process would go even quicker.

Getting up from the co-pilot's chair, her old eyes spotted something being carved into the rust. Some kind of top hat? No, Dells, that didn't make sense. Maybe a type of tool. Then the squiggly little line brought it into clarity. A cord of some type. Or maybe they meant some other form of power. It was unclear without speaking to someone and getting inside the vessel.

"Do they want us to toss an extension cord out the window?" These distressed beings on the ship were crazier than the good Mother, and that was saying a lot.

"Mother, I'm going down to the hatch. I've got us locked onto the Infinity's Free. Yell if it starts looking like we're going down too."

Time to see who was aboard this vessel.

Mother Arg'garok | Mishel | Kurayami Bloodborn | Coren Starchaser | Jerec Asyr | Tessa Sedaire

 

[Jerec Asyr]

The Infinity's Free lurched in the storm, a repulsor hiccup as some starfighter reactor burned out in one of the hangar bays below. Jerec hastily put his laser sword away lest he lose a foot.

As Delila Castillon descended onto the hull, Jerec made his way to meet her.

"Main reactor's out!" he yelled over the lightning with the full force of four throats. "Comm's down, everything. You got a jumper cable?"

 

[Delila Castillon]

Now had she been flying the Saegassum, a jumper cable could be found. Their little crew took many a long-haul cargo trips and had a well stocked storage room of various parts, cables, tools, and the like collected along their travels. They often took long, meandering paths into sparsely populated areas and let's face it, no one was looking for an old human, a Nautolan, a Barabel, and a monkey-lizard if things went south.

She was about to answer 'yes' but this was the SS Pompous Jedi after all. No doubt the owner might have felt the "force" was on his side and the storage room for spare parts repurposed into some lame meditation chamber.

"Hold on!" She called back to the Ithorian and climbed half-way up the hatch so she could yell into the comm.

"Princess Leia, you guys got a jumper cable? Or does this thing have a cable to spare?"

If no one had a spare part could this rag-tag group really call themselves spacers?

Jerec Asyr | Mishel | Coren Starchaser | Kurayami Bloodborn | Mother Arg'garok

 

[Mother Arg'garok]

Jerec Asyr Delila Castillon Coren Starchaser Kurayami Bloodborn Mishel

“I shall send a warning should the situation turn dire.” Her thick legs gave a kick of excitement.

Meanwhile, Mother was doing her best to monitor the situation and ensure she kept the ship still.

Thankfully, all this required was a steady hand. A lifetime of healing and treating wounds ensured that even though Mother had lost her sight to eye disease, her hands remained stable and true.

 

[Mishel]

Mishel was monitoring the Leia's systems, while evacuating everyone and everything she could. Things had been holding up okay but the closer they got the more the Leia strained. She wasn't liking the noises that were coming from the ship's hulls. Going back and forth wasn't her ideal plan and on her way back to the ramp she heard Delila Castillon and responded. "Jumper cables? Maybe?" She remarked with hesitation, and then the Leia began to groan again and in a way she hadn't heard before. "Shit." She muttered beneath her breath, "hold that thought... I'll check."

She rushed up toward the pit where Lav and Kurayami Bloodborn were, "guys we got anything to give our friendly neighborhood sentients in distress some help?" A look over her shoulder and Mishel turned away from them, "reach me on comms, I'm going to finish up at the ramp." Mishel wasn't entirely sure if they had any way of helping. Most of their power had already been diverted. "Give me a sec, we'll try and figure something out." The Tygaran relayed on comms back.

Mother Arg'garok | Jerec Asyr | Coren Starchaser ​

 

[Coren Starchaser]

Watching carefully to one too many things was not going to go well for Coren. He had his eyes on his one too many things was not going to go well for Coren. He had his eyes on his Tachyon Rising as well the alerts coming from the Seydon. He couldn't tell what was going on with the other ship but Coren was moving close and trying to keep the tractor beam tight to the Free and keep it from tearing up in the gravity well.

Coren looked at the ships out his viewports and shook his head when he heard the connecting conversation. Jumper Cables? He shook his head and his mind at once went to one of the old tools he had in his repertoire, namely the Jump Start Cannons, but that was not on the Rising. And he knew it wasn't on this corvette.

"Hows it going down there? Moving the sentients and cargo?" He really didn't know what was going on down there.

Mother Arg'garok Jerec Asyr Mishel Delila Castillon

 

[Kurayami Bloodborn]

As soon as Kurayami had given Mishel the thumbs up that all systems were in the green after power was diverted, everything seemed to move much faster. Too fast for him to keep up with almost, while she was running back and forth between the evac and monitoring systems, he was helping Lav with the adjustments to throttle or other minor inputs to keep the Leia and those aboard from becoming electrified chunks of debris. That was where his focus was, though the noises the ship had been making did not escape his awareness by any stretch of the imagination and he noticed that the innate feeling of 'time's up' was seeming to speed up as the noises increased in their intensity.

While his focus was almost entirely on his senses and what directions Lav was relaying, Mishel's odd request came through. Jumper cables? Hell this was her ship, he didn't know. "I know I spend a lot of time on this beast Mishel, but I dunno if you keep jumper cables on your ship. Also not sure that we have much power to spare, especially if we need both the main and emergency thrusters to get us outta here once loaded down. Your call. Either way it better be quick, cuz I'm not a fan of all the noises this hull is making."

Delila Castillon | Mother Arg'garok | Coren Starchaser | Jerec Asyr ​

 

[Jerec Asyr]

What he'd asked was, in fairness, a risk. Run a feed off your reactor, enough to get the Infinity's Free up out of the gravity well, and you might not make it out yourself. But with half a dozen ships here, at least a couple of tractor beams...it should be doable. In theory. So why—

Jerec sniffed the stormy air with both sides of his neck. It wasn't a physical scent, but close enough. He smelled burlap and money. He smelled Jedi.

Of course, of course Jedi would let him and his cousins fall. And the very same ship where, not too far from here but far outside their jurisdiction, Jedi had killed his first mate.

One side of his neck curled in a sneer.

The Dark Side roared up in him in ways that his teacher — a reformed Inquisitor — would have found...dubious.

"Someone," Jerec yelled into the storm at a superhuman and very Ithorian volume, "throw me a jumper cable, or on Quekko's life I swear I'm not the only fuckin' ship taking a dive."

Mother Arg'garok Delila Castillon Mishel Kurayami Bloodborn Coren Starchaser

 

[Mother Arg'garok]

Coren Starchaser Kurayami Bloodborn Mishel Delila Castillon Jerec Asyr

The bellow was full of Darkside energy and thrumming with contempt and scorn. A wound turned into a keloid scar. At the ship's helm, Mother's foggy grey eyes grew wide, the many folds around her eyes accordioning.

The metaphysical scar radiating from the direction of where the Ithorian stood within the ship below was the type of psychological trauma the nun had witnessed in her own life and that of her attempts at a pious life afterward.

Through the comm, the Nun of G'aav'aar'oon gave a snort and a grunt with gentle but motherly disapproval, reprimanding Jerec Asyr for the threat of violence in a rescue mission, "Young one, we come in peace to assist in the survival and first aid of those souls you hold dear and are responsible for."

"Trust in the Force, my child. Do not fall to violence. " her voice would echo with genuine encouragement.

Humbly, the Gamorrean nun took a deep breath. "A daily struggle, yes, but a breath at a time."

While her portly body had all the aches of age, her mind carried a wisdom that she utilized to draw from what the Force and previous Mothers had learned from those before.

The morts on her chin gave a quiver of anticipation, and then a thought came to mind. The many wrinkles of her face and fat folds pulled back to reveal a toothy, tusky smile.

"Yes, the Force provides a way." She grunted with blind faith, optimism only a nun could hold.

Those blind, cataracts-covered eyes fell shut in her subsequent prayer. Misfortune mastery. The art of sudden and inexplicable mechanical problems, system failures, and navigational accidents. A manner that the non-violent nuns were able to turn away imperials from the asteroid they called home.

In her mind, the Force bloomed as Mother's senses extended. The yaw and groan of Jerec's ship resonated with that finely spun veil. Durasteel, circuits, sensitive equipment, rivets, and every single life form blossomed in an aura of light.

While Mother could not jumpstart energy into the ship, she could encourage the break down of targeted sections leading to the main reactor — just enough to potentially - and hopefully - cause a short circuit of energy.

It was all up to a prayer and a whole lotta faith.

 

[Mishel]

"Lav?" Mishel asked, sure it was her ship but she didn't do much but sleep, eat and write ramblings in her journals.

The Selonian squawked over comms, and Mishel rushed away from the ramp and rifled through a box near the cargo bay door. She grabbed something that looked like a cable. "Right, I think I've got... it." From there it was a matter of following Lav's orders and hooking things up to where they go, "the red wire goes to the red box, and the black wire goes to the black box and now we toss this and pray." She managed in a semi-song manner and got back onto comms to Delila Castillon and managed, "right, so, cables are being dispatched, we'll give you what we can but the Princess ain't happy. We're gonna be going from disco ball to ultraviolet acid trip quick, fast and in a hurry if we can't get out of here fast enough."

As to Bloodborn, "I ain't a fan either, but we gotta do what we can. I'm not exactly a technomancer so let's hope this is all done fast."

"Starchaser," she called out over comms once more, "you're gonna wanna see if you can't help pull us out of here, once these cables are attached. The Princess is given'er all she's got and then some."

The hull groaned, again, the Princess was definitley not happy.

Kurayami Bloodborn | Coren Starchaser | Jerec Asyr | Mother Arg'garok​