Hyper Children

[Dawyn]

Space: cold, lifeless, and infinite, yet the place where so the fates of so many lives were determined. The final frontier, but one that was ever so necessary to control to ensure the citizens of the galaxy could be at safe and at peace in their very homes. Thus it was that two beacons of light, both metaphorically and literally, dropped out of hyperspace near Gyndine. Alastar allowed himself a little sigh of relief as he reverted to realspace in his RG-5, disengaging the hyperspace ring as he did so. No immediate threats in the vicinity, or indeed even any other ships. Just the blue-gray outline of Gyndine before them.

This is starting off well at least.

He and his companion had been assigned to deal with some local children, some teenagers, who had decided to take up piracy. Normally this would be something Gyndine security would handle, but they had taken parts vital to the Army’s naval operations and that of the shipyards, and they needed all the good will they could get on the planet. He personally hoped it did not come to violence, although he was prepared for that eventuality. He liked kids, but not enough to be blasted away into oblivion by them if he could avoid it. Maybe it was a good thing he thought it unlikely he would ever become a father.

Opening up his encrypted communications channel, he spoke to his fellow Jedi. He had not had much time to get acquainted with him, but surely Vosrik would not have assigned him to this mission if he were not competent...right?

“From what we can tell, the ‘pirates’ we are going to be dealing with have a bulk freighter that they managed to steal from the yard and several assorted, outdated fighters, along with maybe a smaller freighter or two. Last we heard, they were flying somewhere near an old, abandoned KDY research facility near here. Something seems wrong with the hyperdrive on the main freighter, which is why they haven’t hightailed it away yet. I’m thinking we swoop in and convince them to drive it back to the shipyards. They’re only guilty of theft at this point...maybe the planetary authorities will go easy on them seeing as they are minors. Fire back only if they do, and try to disable rather than kill if you can, but don't take risks. I've been informed that reinforcements are stationed slightly out of system if we need them, but I don't anticipate the need for that."

At least he hoped the Gyndine government would, if the Army was willing to cooperate with them. They did not need to become the Sith in order to beat them.

@Raydo

 

[Raydo]

Silas flipped the switch in his cockpit to disengage the lock with the hyperspace ring as his thrusters fired. He formed up with the other RG-5 as Alastar went through a quick briefing. He had already read through the documents while they were in hyperspace, but didn't mind the quick overview. The only thing that shocked him was the part about re-enforcements. This seemed like a simple enough mission, but he wouldn't argue.

"Sounds good, I'm with you. I'm Silas by the way, got thrown into this at the last minute." he said as he did a quick check of his sensors.

"Start scanning the system for traces of the ship" he said to his droid, who replied with a series of beeps. "This is going to be a short mission if they have already fixed that hyperdrive." he said to his partner, chuckling slightly.

The two Jedi fighters angled towards the abandoned research base and the asteroid belt it sat just inside of.

 

[Dawyn]

“Alastar here,” he transmitted back, glad his fellow Jedi was friendly. “And yeah, I was tossed into this too. Think we’re spread a little thin, probably part of the reason they want us to help out with Gyndine, if we can get access to the shipyards, things might become more organized.”

Switching off his transmitter, he opened up a channel to his droid to also begin a scan of the system as the two fighters flew towards the abandoned research station, then opened up communications again to reply.

“Indeed, thankfully they’re just kids raising a little bit of hell...although I rebelled against authority by cutting my hair differently, not stealing starships.” He replied with a laugh. “Still, repairing a hyperdrive on a ship that large might be a bit of a challenge for them, and there are only so many places out here they can hide.”

As the two fighters swept over the facility in a low initial run, he glanced down at his scanners. Nothing unusual so far.

“Besides, I-”

*Beep roooooooo beeeeeeeeeep* His astromech whined as his HUD lit up, MISSILE LOCK DETECTED flashing right in front of his face.

“Break off now!” He shouted into the comms as he banked his RG-5 hard to the left, opening himself up to the Force to guide his movements as he skirted along the outer edges of the facility, swinging his fighter from side to side, up and down, and diagonally at random intervals. Two bogies had appeared seemingly out of thin air behind them on his sensors.

They must have been waiting for us, powered down, in a hidden nook or hangar, then when we passed floated up with their thrusters silently, locking on to us with their missiles. Damn it, hopefully this will throw them off, I just need to last until I can swerve under the facility, that’ll break their lock for certain. I hope Silus is doing as well.

 

[Raydo]

He was sitting back in the pilot's chair as they made their way to the base. He had stolen his Master's ship a couple of times throughout the years, and had always got caught. They were probably just up for a joyride.

Silas' HUD lit up at the same time Alastar's did. He broke off hard to right, rolling between two of the towers of the station. He spared a quick look behind him, seeing the missile closing quickly. He pushed the thrusters to full speed and broke for the asteroid field. He started seeing lasers fly past his viewport as the missile grew closer. "Just great" he thought as he started flying erratically to avoid fire. This slowed his pace, and the missile grew closer and closer.

He came into the asteroid at full speed, trusting on his instinct to navigate. He spotted a large asteroid and dove in a small hole in the center. Firing twice he knocked some debris loose and sped by, rolling his ship to avoid a collision with the rocks he had knocked loose. The missile struck a large rock, causing an explosion that rocked Silas' ship. He struggled to regain control before speeding back towards the base. "I am swinging back around, hows it going over there" he asked his wingmate.

The fighter was still behind him, but his best bet was to evade him until they could deal with his partners attacker.

 

[Dawyn]

As he pushed the RG-5 to its limits just above the station, Alastar hoped Silas could take care of himself. He could dodge the missiles fired at him, but he needed them. Seeing the edge of the station ahead of him, he banked hard to the left and down as he crossed it, swooping under the station. It would buy him the few precious moments he needed. He looked around for something, anything that would suit his purpose-and then smiled as he saw it. An old comms array hanging down from the center of the station. It would be risky, but then again, wasn’t serving the Army?

If this doesn’t work, I might be the first Jedi in recent history to be murdered by children.

Turning his starfighter towards the antenna, he locked one of his concussion missiles onto the thin metal cylinder holding it to the station, then fired. He followed that up with a full barrage from his lasers, then quickly dove as far as he could down, so that his ship zipped right under the falling comm array-in the nick of time, too, as two missiles slammed into it.

That was close, far too close.

Knowing he couldn’t waste time, he reached out with his senses as he pulled his starfighter up this time towards the top of the facility, coming around it in an arc, just to see another explosion erupt from a nearby asteroid. It was Silas, speeding back towards the base, being pursued by a fighter.

I only have a little bit before my pursuer realizes I didn’t die.

“Not particularly, but good enough to shake that one off your tail, how about you do me a favor and pop the one about the come up over the station on your pass?” He shouted back into the comms.

He began to open fire at the fighter behind Silas, who was taken by surprise by the appearance of the second RG-5 flying straight towards him almost as if to joust him. Alastar’s laser cannons scored a few direct hits before he was forced to bank to the right to avoid slamming into the kid, one of which penetrated the shields on the fighter’s wing and ripped through it in a blaze of blue and red energy, sending it careening out wildly into space. Alastar hoped it put the juvenile out of the fight, and that he did not slam into an asteroid. It would be hard for him to sleep knowing he killed a kid.

They’re flying old fighters he realized and likely not all that well-maintained, don’t think any of their mechanics are that good. It’s a miracle they’re flying to begin with. Have to be careful disabling these, one errant shot could punch through their cockpits and kill them.

 

[Raydo]

"I got you." Silas said coming back out of the asteroid field and towards the base. He spotted the Jedi fighter coming around the the station and towards Silas.

He flew directly at Alastar, shots flying past him from the other Jedi fighter aimed at the the ship on Silas' tail. At the last minute right before Silas' yelled into the comms "Roatate left" as the two ships passed within only a handful of meters of one another.

Silas had to dodge out of the way of the fight behind Alastar. They were not experienced fighter pilots, and it showed in their dog fight.

The Jedi Knight came banked around hard and came around on the backside of the remaining fighter. He poured on the speed, trying to get as close as possible to increase his aim. He spared glances on his targeting computer, he waited until he was perfectly aligned with the enemy fighter before firing two shots from his forward laser cannons. They slammed into the engines, the ship jerking as the pilot fight to maintain control for a moment before the engines failed altogether.

He had taken a few shots from having to fly a straight line to give Alastar a clean shot. "Give me a damage report." he said to his droid as they screamed past the disabled fighter.

"Well, that freighter is still out there somewhere. What do you want to do with these two." he commented slowing his ship down and bringing it back into formation with the other Jedi Fighter.

 

[Dawyn]

“Mhmmm…” Alastar replied thoughtfully as he brought his starfighter close and to the right of Silas, with enough room to maneuver in the event something went wrong. The kid he had shot was still spinning out of control, although safely beyond the range of any asteroids. Maybe he had also damaged his thrusters? If so, he was going to be rapidly spinning for more or less an eternity, until something interrupted him.


I can’t imagine these kids have too many more fighters, if any, for reinforcements. They could barely keep those running as is. Maybe another, smaller freighter for reinforcements? If so, where are they hiding them? I can’t imagine they’re tactical enough to split their forces that far away. So where…?


“Probably see what we can get out of them and then leave them to the Gyndine authorities. Not much we can do, the Army barely has the resources to conduct the war, let alone run an extensive juvenile detention facility. Maybe suggest to them that the kids be given lighter sentences, they still barely know what they’re doing, and maybe some counseling. Many of these kids probably don’t have parents, or ones that aren’t that great to begin with.”


Wait, both the fighters were powered down and waiting in the facility, and it used to be run by KDY. That means it more than likely has repair facilities, meaning…

“I think I know where are our missing freighter is.” He posited, turning his starfighter back towards the facility and opening up communications on a wide, open channel.

“Ok kids, you’ve put up a good show. Hell, better than I could have done at your age. But the game’s up. You’re going to need to return what you stole, and apologize to the people you stole it from. I understand some of you may not have had parents, or had them killed, but this is a lesson you all need to learn. No one needs to get hurt, and we can all go home a little wiser.”

He waited to see what kind of response would come.

 

[Raydo]

He pulled u in formation with his fellow Jedi as he tried to make contact with enemey.

They sat for several long seconds in silence. Silas was just about to speak up when two ships accelerated out of two hangers and broke off in two different directions.

They were both freighter sized ships but one was much smaller than the other. Looks like they were making a run for it. Alastair broke off first towards the larger of the frieghters. "I'll get this on, then" Silas said song his thruster down and bolting back towards the asteroid field. As he drew closer, he was met with a barrage of laser fire.

He dodged and weaved through the asteroids as he closed in to his own weapons range.

 

[Dawyn]

Alastar waited patiently for the children’s response. He doubted they could do much more-if their hyperdrives were working, they would have already booked it. That, and if they were smart enough to steal parts from Gyndine, surely they’d be smart enough to know when the game was up, at least some of them. Maybe that was the argument going down between those kids who knew ships and those who didn’t? That could take some time-he was just glad he had the forethought to bring his music player into the starfighter with him.

Now, what should I listen to? Coruscanti rock is always good, but there’s that one Sith who quit them to become a pop singer that I just absolutely have to listen to, Army regulations be damned…

This important thought was suddenly interrupted by warnings from his cockpit as two freighters suddenly roared to life and sped out of the hangars, one much faster than the other. Silas took off after the slower, larger freighter, leaving him to deal with the smaller one. At first glance, he would appear to have gotten the better deal, but it was much harder to hunt down a fast, manueverable target than a slow, bulky one, armaments be damned.

Thanks for giving me the hard job, Silas!

Kicking his RG-5 into high gear, he sped off after the freighter, a YG-300. This was going to get interesting.

 

[Raydo]

The top mounted laser cannon of the frieghter fired relentlessly on Silas, causing him to have to spend most of his time dodgin. He let off a few passing shots, but he would need more pressure if he was going to punch through the shields.

His droid beeped frantically as hs sensors dedicated the object dropped from the ship Infront of him. Silas reacted instantly, bringing his ship into a deep dive as a bright blue explosion filled the area. The shock wave rocked Silas's ship as he fought to regain control and begin the person again.

This time he came up from the bottom of the ship. It was a bit more protected from this side, but was far less armed. He opened fire, seeing the freighter shutter slightly from shots.

 

[Dawyn]

Whoever the pilot of his YG was, Alastar suspected he was going to grow up to be a great pilot, and might even be somewhat Force Sensitive. Only about a quarter of his shots came anywhere close to landing as the pilot jerked vectors and positions seeming preternaturally, and the turret was giving him more problems then he would have liked. Sure he had the speed advantage, but he still did not feel like trying to tank too many shots from the gun at the top of the freigher.

“You’re pretty decent at flying, kid, I give you that.” He opened up over an open channel, not expecting a reply.

“Ha!” came a transmission back as the two traded off more shots, spinning, weaving, and ducking around the station. “I’ll be even better than my father! He was a great Trandoshan, making the Scorekeeper proud!”

Trandoshan? This kid must be the leader then. To think he’s pulling this off at twelve! No wonder he has a gang behind him.

Grinning despite the situation he was in, Alastar continued to duck and weave, testing the limits of the kid, and his own.

 

[Raydo]

Silas narrowly avoided plastering himself against an asteroid as he made another pass at the freighter. His ship took a lucky shot from the freighter. Silas let out a few choice words. He didn't come all the way out here to let some punk kids kill him because they didn't want to get caught joy riding.

He swung around, arming missiles. He fired one missile and then another one. He then shot a barrage of fire from his laser canon until the first missile struck the shield, shields visibly collapsing.

The second missile slammed into the engines of the ship. Silas thought he had just outright destroyed the ship, but when the ball of fire died down the ship had leaned to the side, engines completely knocked off the ship.

"First freighter down." Silas announced as he turned towards Alastar.

 

[Dawyn]

Alastar, for his part, had scored several hits on the freighter, but none clean. In turn, a shot grazed his wing, but was easily absorbed by the shields. The young Trandoshan was definitely Force sensitive, even if he was not aware of it. There was no way a regular pilot would have been able to evade him for so long, not at his age. Sighing, he drew even more heavily upon the Force, using it to bolster his reaction time, speed, and perceptions.

You may be good, and have a spark of the Force within you, but you’re no match for a trained Jedi when he goes all out.

Instead of chasing the lighter freighter for another path around the station, Alastar banked hard and up over it, deciding to come at his opponent head on when he made another pass around the side. Arming his concussion missiles, he sensed his opponent making his pass, and gunned the RG-5 straight towards him as if to ram him-something that shocked the young Trandoshan. At the last possible second that it was safe, he fired off two of the missiles, then banked hard to the left. An explosion erupted behind him, and he turned to see the freighter, its shields down according to his sensors, but mostly unharmed with some minor scoring, yet he was already speeding away...on yet another run around the station, likely to dodge most of Alastar's fire again.

For the Force’s sake! How did he avoid that with only losing shields? Did he concentrate all his shields there that quickly?

“Good job Silas! Can I get a little bit of help here? This kid is persistent, and likely Force sensitive as well. We need to take him out of this quickly before he can regenerate his shields!"

 

[Raydo]

Silas saw the explosion light up the scene. He was more than a tad worried his fellow Jedi had been caught in the blast until he came over the com. "Force take it I thought you were finished in that blast." he let out in the secured comm channel.

He bolted towards the freighter as it banked away from him and began speeding up. Silas slowed his ship, matching that of the freighter he stayed right on its tail, occasionally letting out small burst of laser fire.

"These kids don't know when to just quit." he murmured sending another round of laser fire across the hull, scorching it in places. The freighter returned fire from a rear gun, barely missing Silas at the close range. The RG-5 was no light fighter, but he didn't want to take any other hits.

"Now would be a good time to end this!" he yelled out, frantically dodging the hail of laser fire. He wasn't sure where the other Jedi fighter was at, but he hoped he made his move quickly.

 

[Dawyn]

“I nearly was!” Alastar shouted back over the comms as he watched Silas move to engage the freighter. This was his chance. While the Trandoshan was distracted attempting to dodge Silas’s fire, he immediately moved his fighter to one side of the station and engaged his docking clamps to it momentarily, powering down completely to hide himself from the young pilot’s sensors. He was going to use the same trick he had used on both of the Jedi.

Patiently waiting, while also knowing he could not spend too much time there since Silas was under fire, he stalked his foe using his senses. When the Trandoshan was on a vector and course that would bring him hurtling by quickly, he disengaged the clamps and let his fighter float a little bit off the station, still not turning on his engines. As he caught sight of the Trandoshan beelining towards his area, still not seeing him, he smiled.

Opening up himself to the Force, he waited until the Trandoshan had almost passed him before opening fire with a quick, controlled burst of laser fire that directly struck the engines, sending the young Trandoshan careening into space at high speed, where he narrowly missed one of the nearby floating asteroids, joining his other disabled companion getting motion sickness in the void. It was over, thankfully.

“Finally. Who would’ve ever thought a bunch of kids would be so much trouble?” He responded, then opening up a comm channel to the local Gyndine authorities.

“We found your ship thieves and put a stop to them. The stolen vessels and cargo are intact…” He glanced at the heavily damaged heavy freighter that Silas had shot, its engine still on fire, and the other three scarred ships. “...mostly, you know, uh, some damage was inevitable of course. But nothing that can’t be fixed. I’ll beam you the coordinates now.”

Transmitting them, he continued.

“Please don’t judge them too harshly...maybe some could even be pilots in the Gyndinian Navy some day, they're pretty decent for their age, and I have a request from the Army. We’d like to take their leader, a young Trandoshan, for Jedi testing. He seems to be remarkably skilled…”

After conferring more with the Gyndine authorities, Alastar negotiated for the young lizard to be escorted back-under cuffs-to Dantooine for further approval. In the last few moments before both Jedi jumped to hyperspace, the shuttle having already taken off, he opened up his comms to Silas.

“Good job back there Silas. We didn’t die, and we even got a new...recruit...to take back as well. I’m sure he’ll come around eventually, though he’ll need a strong master. Maybe Vosrik, Brand, or even that maverick Tarek will decide he’s worth the trouble. Tell you what, I'll buy you a drink when we get to Dantooine, and we can talk about our own unruly childhoods."

With that, Alastar jumped into the infinite white and blue of hyperspace, speeding back safe and sound to Dantooine with his new charge.