Ask Caf, Blasters and Sabers

Lorcan

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Gods be damned the suspect was taking fire! How was he supposed to return him for the investigation if hijackers decided that it would be better should he be without limbs or head? He wanted to grumble aloud but there were more pressing matters at hand that demanded his immediate attention.

Not to mention one of the Jedi had taken a hit too... though he cared far less about them than his job and, right now, the suspect was his job and the job came first. So the suspect came first, alongside general public safety of course. And then things went from bad to worse as the ship exited hyperspace far too fast to be their scheduled stop.

"Kark... it's a trap."


He reached down and grabbed Kel, pulling him up to his feet and dusting him off with one hand as he examined where the shot had landed. Noting how the armour was cracked and deformed, he grimaced slightly at the light burning of the skin but it looked worse than it was. He patted the man on the other arm.

"We'll see about some bacta when we can."
he assured the suspect before shouting out, "Corran! What's your status kid, you alright?"

He grunted to the Jedi.

"One of you check the cockpit."
he told them, before speaking lowly so that only Corran, Kel and the closest Jedi could hear him, "We need to prep for worst case scenario here; boarding actions. We got anything bigger than a rifle between us?"


@TerranSteel @Reyn @Catbert @ModernMarvel
 

Kel Dryden

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The wound wasn't too bad; Kel had been through worse. But with the rangers and the glowstick wielders handling the situation so well—and stealing all the spotlight while at it—the scoundrel was ok with taking a backseat. Thanks in no small part due to the hit he had taken. The only thing he did was quietly reach for Lorcan's bloodied knife that had slipped out of Kel's hands earlier. He prepared to defend himself, gun and knife at the ready, but no pirate came after him.

The younger ranger, Corran, had taken cover nearby and addressed him, but Kel was too turned in upon himself to reply. The only thing that brought the scoundrel back from his thoughts was the all to familiar feeling—a half-numbed thud as the ship had exited hyperspace. Kel smirked soundlessly under the helmet. Ain't the timing just perfect?

He didn't worry about whether the ship had arrived at its destination, or whether the hyperspace exit point was different. Kel had another concern. Two minutes and one damaged flight-suit earlier that could've been his escape—take the nearest airlock out and engage the distress beacon in his suit'a life-support box. Actually, how long would he even survive like that? Maybe an escape pod could still work...

Lorcan's intervention and a jolt of pain from being lifted up distracted the scoundrel from that train of thought. Promised bacta by the ranger, Kel smirked under the helmet again. "Mighty generous from someone who threatened to bring me in cold," he replied quietly from under his helmet, with a snark that wasn't too begrudging.

Then he noticed something. His own blaster and batons hanging from Corran's belt. And just as Lorcan brought up worst-case scenarios and weapons. "You've got my stuff," he pointed at the junior ranger. "I'll trade you," he extended the bloodied—clearly second-hand—knife back to Lorcan and the lousy cricket of a compact handgun to Corran. A melee weapon and a blaster for another melee weapon and a blaster seemed fair.

As for the situation in general, Kel's own instincts screamed: "Take an escape pod!" His logic, however, warned him against voicing the suggestion. Handling the situation was the rangers' job anyway. Besides, you don't simply share your escape plan with the people you intend to run away from.
 

Brienna Lanaamer

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The Jedi offered a grin and a, “thanks,” as the Padawan assisted in dispatching the three pirates who had trapped her. Only a few moments later, it was clear that the new, somewhat ragtag group of fighters had cleared the compartment of the assailants. Looking around, Bri grimaced slightly, noticing that some had been dealt with more violently than others.

Bri was looking down at her wounded arm, raising and lowering it gingerly, when she felt a familiar shuddering of the ship, ending in a slight thud. The back of her head bumped against the seat. The streaky blue hues of hyperspace had dissipated into the dark of real space, dotted with the stars of other systems. Something, or someone, as the Jedi presumed, had caused their exit out of hyperspace much sooner than scheduled. Bri assumed it was most likely a coordinated attack with the pirates they had just defeated. The same line of thinking led the Jedi to believe that the rest of their crew, or larger group, were most likely stationed on a nearby planet or ship. Out of the proverbial frying pan and into the proverbial fire.

The Jedi stood up and walked over to the Rangers, Criminal, and Padawan. Bri heard the more senior looking Ranger curse about the ship ending up in some kind of trap, which she concurred with, but didn’t offer a sign of emotion in such a colorful way. Following, he directed a question at the two Jedi, yet sounded rather displeased about having to do so. Bri figured that the current moment was not opportune to try and dive into why the Ranger seemed prickly in dealing with Jedi, instead volunteering to search the cockpit. “I’ll go,” she replied with a nod of her head. After watching the way the Padawan had handled the pirates, Bri understood that the Vratix didn’t need to be babysat, yet knew she would feel responsible if anything was to happen to the student.

Still stretching her wounded arm with a frown, Bri traversed through the small service compartments that connected to the cockpit of the ship. Crates were overturned, blaster marks singed on the walls, and every few meters the body of a crew member was found; obvious signs of a struggle. The Jedi paused and kneeled over each that she passed, reaching out with the force to sense if any were still alive. She was regrettably unsuccessful. The pirates had clearly passed through these service compartments on their way to the cockpit, eliminating any of the crew members with extreme prejudice. Stepping over a few more pieces of debris, Bri arrived at her destination. She raised her hand and bypassed the locked door with the assist of the Force.

The cockpit looked much like the compartments she had just passed through. The pilots were dead, and the ship’s controls looked to be smashed to pieces or blasted until no longer operable. A small trail of smoke emanated from the closest control panel, as sparks occasionally jumped out. It was clear the ship wasn’t going anywhere. Trying to press any of the buttons, switches or levers was an exercise in futility as Bri sighed heavily, attempting to see if anything offered a response. Giving up, she walked forward to the large window, looking to get a better sense of where they were, hoping to spot any recognizable feature in the dark of space. The Jedi’s knowledge of galactic geography was passable, yet she felt fairly certain that she recognized the dual planets of Onderon and Dxun on the port side of the cruiser. “What are we doing all the way out here...” she muttered to herself, looking down at a twisted and flashing screen display, which eventually confirmed her suspicions after the screen had received a forceful thud from the Jedi’s fist.

On her short walk back to the group, Bri attempted to put the pieces of the puzzle together that she had so far acquired in her mind. Pirates had hidden aboard the ship, and taken control to reroute to the Japrael system. The controls were smashed, preventing any kind of further escape or change of course. These pirates aren’t just simple robbers or criminals, they must be searching for something on the ship...

Returning to the others Bri offered a quick status report, looking at those gathered around her. “Looks like the pirates fought their way to the cockpit and killed the pilots. We exited hyperspace in the Japrael system, nearby Onderon and Dxun,” she paused before adding, “I’m no mechanic, but I’d also say that they’ve smashed the controls of the ship beyond repair. Whatever is going on, it appears they’re looking for something stored on the ship and don’t want us going anywhere else. Does anyone have access to the manifest?”

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Corran Velt

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On command, Corran pulled himself up from his hiding spot between a row of seats, “I’m uninjured and ready to go, sir.” The rookie was a bit out of breath, though. The whole firefight had been a chaotic mess and the interior was worse for wear, not to mention the passengers and pirates. Thankfully, that situation had been temporarily resolved. Corran made his way to his senior partner right as he dismissed one of the force-users to check the cockpit and asked for options on weaponry.

Mr. Kel Dryden made a point that his weapons were currently in the possession of the Rangers and offered up the ones he currently held. Corran wasn’t too keen to hand weapons over to a suspected criminal - the one the two Rangers came here for in fact - and there certainly wasn’t any honor among thieves. Kel could immediately turn his blaster on them for all Corran knew. In addition, the junior Ranger wasn’t one to play hard and fast with the rules.

“Thank you,” Corran said as he took the pocket blaster from the suspect, “and I’ll be holding onto these for the time being. I’ll return them should the situation warrant it.” He tapped his hand against Dryden’s weapons that hung from his belt. The rookie wasn’t about to hand over gear an alleged criminal was comfortable with, unless it was life or death. Not to mention, one already wearing a space-suit. Corran could have shot him with a stun blast, but complied with the Ranger manual on not harming a suspect if they are complying.

A few quick moments later, the human force-user returned with ill omens. The ship, now tragically adrift, was in the Japrael system. On one hand, Onderon was a friendly world and had notable civilization. They get there, consider everyone rescued. Dxun, on the other hand, was a place of horrid nightmares. Almost anyone who went there turned into beast food. What did the pirates want from this ship anyway? What were they after? The female force-user was ahead of the junior Ranger as made apparent by her asking for the manifest.

"There might be a manifest back in the luggage compartment, Ma'am," Corran replied as he pointed to the room where he took cover. Some of the luggage in view had been shot to pieces with passenger clothing and travel supplies scorched and strewn about. "The cargo hold might contain what these pirates were hoping to secure. Follow me; we'll see if we can find it."

The storage compartment held various carry-on that was too big for over-head bins but too delicate or needed to be accessible to be stored in the cargo bay. Built into the wall was a terminal, the screen lit-up with several options. "1st Class holovids... On board refreshments list..." Corran read aloud before pointing at an icon, "There it is. Storage manifest and log. Take a look."
 

Izel Thral

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With the fighting over for the moment Izel let out a sigh of relief and extinguished her lightsaber. She took a few moments to look around the cabin, taking stock of the situation. Several pirates lay on the ground dead, the rest unconscious. A few civilians had been injured in the crossfire as well and were now languishing in their seats, being tended to by their fellow passengers. There was a general air of unease about the whole place, with the people seemingly on the brink of panic. And the Padawan didn't need her Force sense to tell her that, the terror was plain on everyone's faces. Their little group of defenders needed to take charge of the situation now lest it deteriorate even further. Some of the passengers had come forward, rough and experienced spacers. They looked ready to help.

"If you could restrain those pirates it would be appreciated." Izel said, gesturing to the unconscious men and women. Some of the passengers seemed reluctant to show mercy to their attackers, but followed her instructions nonetheless. With that dealt with the Vratix joined the rest of the defenders. As the senior Ranger brought up the possibility of a boarding party Izel spoke up.

"We can check the pirates to see if any of them are armed with more high grade weapons," She suggested. "We could also check the manifest to see if any of the other passengers brought weapons with them. If any of these people know how to fight we should see to it that they're armed. We'll need all the help we can get." She paused, realizing that she still didn't know any of the people around her, even her fellow Jedi. "I'm Izel by the way," She introduced herself. "Izel Thral, Padawan of the Jedi Order. But I suppose that's obvious..."

Once the human Jedi returned and mentioned the system they were in the Vratix's demeanor immediately wilted. She did not have a pleasant history with Dxun and had no desire to return there. As the younger Ranger took the human Jedi to the luggage compartment Izel turned her attention back to the senior Ranger.

"We should also consider the prisoners we've taken," She suggested. "If we play this smartly we may be able to exchange them for safe passage to Onderon." She hesitated. "I know you probably don't like the idea of letting criminals go free, but we need to think about the safety of the passengers."

@Nefieslab @Catbert @ModernMarvel @TerranSteel
 

Lorcan

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Dxun.

The karking Demon Moon of all the places in the Galaxy... and being ambushed by pirates soon no doubt. There was nothing to be said that could be construed as pleasant about their current situation. Had he the option, Lorcan would have gladly screamed his frustration into the abyss of space before turning back to deal with the situation at hand. He ran a hand over his face as he thought about the situation a little bit more.

"I don't care."
he replied bluntly when the bug Jedi introduced herself, "What I care about is managing to get out of this mess without hundreds of civilians either dead or enslaved."

Moving to the cockpit, he looked around. Indeed the control were rather shot and the ship was drifting towards Dxun rather quickly all things considered. The speed hadn't bled off from the ship because they were in space; nothing to act as resistance to slow them down. Once again he thought about screaming but didn't, instead sitting down in the pilot's chair after callously shoving the corpse of the pilot out onto the ground.

He stared at the controls.

"... I'm going to have to hot-wire the controls, redirecting power from some of the non-essential systems to the controls."


Some of the ship's controls were still working however... there were lights still on and despite several blaster holes in the arrays he was reasonably sure something could work. Using the knife he had received back from the suspect he prized open one of the panels underneath the steering controls to look at the wiring.

"Human Jedi, take the controls. Corran, see if you can restart the power core in the back yeah?"
he called out as he stripped some wires and crossed them over to others, forming new connections, "Dryden! You make sure that bug woman doesn't try and set the prisoners free; they're not going to negotiate with us because we don't have anything they want. They want something on the ship; we don't even know what it is. They have the might to take what they want; and they're callous enough to not give a damn about prisoners they likely already consider dead."


@Catbert @ModernMarvel @TerranSteel @Reyn
 

Kel Dryden

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The junior ranger had the nerve to hold to Kel's weapons and take the compact pistol that the scoundrel had picked earlier. That gave Corran a solid advantage in the "Worst ranger Kel ever met" competition. At least the rangers couldn't see Kel's expression under the helmet. But then the human Jedi arrived and informed them where the liner had exited hyperspace. Onderon and Dxun. Kel had never been there, but he heard stories... especially about the moon's carnivorous fauna.

Again, perfect timing. The scoundrel was starting to see a pattern. His flight-suit had been damaged just before the liner left hyperspace, denying him a chance to take the nearest airlock out. His weapon had been taken from him just before he found out that he'd be able to take an escape pod and flee to the nearby moon. And going to Dxun without a weapon was suicide. But maybe the situation was still salvageable...

With Corran gone to the power core, the scoundrel was left to his own devices. Maybe some of the pirates had dropped another gun? But unfortunately, as Kel walked through the compartment, he saw no weapons. All of them had already been collected by the spacers aboard, who were restraining the pirates. Dosh.

Turning his face—or rather, helmet—to the Vratix, the scoundrel commented: "So, uhhh... Please don't set any prisoners free. They or their friend would try to kill us..." But then again, what could he do against whatever a "Padawan of the Jedi Order" was? She had just deflected blaster bolts. Kel tilted his head, and tried the only thing that could work in that scenario; he added "Please" after a short yet awkward pause. Then he moved on to the next objective.

Perhaps he could at least secure the cargo that the pirates had been going for? It would give him a bargaining chip and might pay off for the trouble. Unattended, Kel returned to the luggage room, going through the manifest. Alas, there were too many entries to go through, and nothing caught his attention, so the scoundrel gave up on that endeavor. Perhaps he'd have more luck later.

Without an option to escape with the prize, or at least safely, the scoundrel decided to stick around a little longer. The prize could wait, and Kel was relatively safe... until the Sector Rangers and the Jedi would decide that they have what it takes to land a space liner.

He had no idea if any of them were good pilots. He had doubts about Corran being able to restart the power core. The the human Jedi had explicitly mentioned she was no mechanic... Not the best crew to man a spaceship, perhaps. So for now, Kel headed to one of the two places where he could make a difference right now—the cockpit. If they were flying towards certain doom, at least Kel would see it first-hand before taking measures.

"Are we..." Kel started his question rather loudly as entered the cockpit. It only took a glance through the viewport to let the gravity situation sink in. "... on a crash course." he finished quietly, not as a question, but as a statement. Taking a free co-pilot seat, Kel strapped himself in. He saw Lorcan fiddle with the wiring, and at a quick glance he noticed at least one of the wires that needed to be connected.

"This one goes there, that one goes there," he pointed at the wire, crossing which would hopefully return the power to the ship's controls. However, as he wasn't aware what all the wires did, following his advice could disable the power somewhere else. Internal lighting could go out, the hangar bay with 2 shuttles could get vented, or all escape pods could get launched... But at the moment, all that mattered was averting the crash on a wild moon.

 

Brienna Lanaamer

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Bri nodded as the younger Ranger explained the potential of a manifest being located in the luggage room. She had to suppress a slight scoff as the Ranger called her ‘ma’am’; the two looked to be about the same age. “Just Bri is fine,” she responded in return with a light laugh, following him into the adjoining compartment. The Ranger pulled a tablet off of the wall and began to scan through, reading off a few items before stopping and selecting the manifest option.

The Jedi took the tablet and began to slowly scroll through the various items listed, the blue screen illuminating her face in a light hue. Truthfully, she didn’t exactly know what she was looking for. Her search was more of the, ‘I’ll know it when I see it variety,’ or she hoped it was. Bri furrowed her brows in concentration, remaining still as she continued the evaluation. Most of the items seemed to be standard fare for a public transport cruiser; stocks of food, varying goods and sundries, smaller parts destined for larger machines. She stopped scrolling as a particular set of items all had the same origination name, followed by a series of characters and numbers that seemed to have been generated at random. “That might be something,” Bri muttered out loud.

Her concentration was interrupted as the others passed by on their way to the cockpit. The Jedi heard the senior Ranger dismissively brush off Izel’s introduction, which caused a frown to form on her face. She followed the others, replacing the manifest. Re-entering the cockpit, it was obvious that Onderon and Dxun were closer into view, and a few lights had begun to flash on the dashboard, indicating some kind of warning.

Bri remarked that it was clear the Senior Ranger saw himself as the leader, rather gruffly handing out tasks and responsibilities, addressing her as ‘human Jedi.’ Bri knew it probably wasn’t worth her while, but responded to him, with a slight frown “Hey Ace, we’re all in this situation together, there’s no need to be rude.” She paused and looked around, identifying the proper console which represented the central controls for the ship. It was not in great shape, largely due to two blaster holes on its side.
 

Corran Velt

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While Ranger Lorcan took charge and stock of the situation, Corran and the female force-user were working their way through the manifest. On the way, she had seemed a tad affronted by the “ma’am” honorific. It was the polite title for a woman and certainly the professional one, Corran thought, if one did not know her name. Thankfully, she offered hers. “Bri? Nice to meet you,” The junior Ranger replied, “I’m Corran Velt, Sector Rangers. Though… uh… you probably knew that.” He coughed to break up the awkward atmosphere.

Kel Dryden made his way through the luggage compartment, seemingly looking for something and even paused to examine the manifest before moving on. Corran kept an eye on him the whole time with a slight grimace. It didn’t feel right to be giving a suspect free reign, even in an increasingly dangerous situation like this. Lorcan seemed to give him a pass; that would do for now.

Bri murmured something under her breath and Corran looked over her shoulder down at the datapad. A single case on the manifest labeled by origination and a seemingly randomized code. It wasn’t a guarantee, but the force-user might have found the sought-after cargo, as much as Corran didn’t want to admit it. “Not certain, but it’s worth a look.”

Down the aisle, Ranger Lorcan brusquely shooed off any diplomatic exchange with the other force-user and made way to the cockpit. A frown appeared on Bri’s face and Corran was reminded why Lorcan wasn’t on the Sector Rangers public relations staff at HQ. “Don’t take it personally. He’s a little rough around the edges but if someone’s trying to kill you, he’s the best to have around. You know, to kill them.” Corran nodded in the direction of his partner. The young man wasn't sure if Bri took that small comfort as she marched towards the cockpit herself.

Lorcan called back for his junior partner to restart the ship's power core. Corran sighed and rubbed the back of his head anxiously. "Yes sir, I'm on it!" He shouted back, though with some apparent unease in his voice. Keeping his YT-1300 running was entirely different than restarting the power core of a large passenger-cruiser. The basic concept was at least the same though, right? Right?

Corran strode briskly towards the back of the ship, past a number of worried and panicky passengers. It took a minute, but he eventually found a maintenance hatch with rungs that went down to the guts of the craft. Illuminated signs pointed to various components in which mechanics would need directions to if they were unfamiliar with the layout. It was cramped, but the Ranger eventually found the core. "Lorcan? Corran here," the junior partner reported through his communicator, "Core is ice cold. Also looks like they skipped a few 100,000 light year tune ups. I'll get her jump-started or you'll notice the sudden loss of hull integrity. Out."

Pawing around a few storage containers built into the hull, Corran found a set of emergency tools meant for this kind of situation. A proper start-up sequence could take hours, but if he did it the proper way, everyone on this ship would be a crater on the Demon Moon. Climbing under the protective railing, Corran opened a panel to the core. The ignition intake opened like a metal maw. "Well, here goes nothing."

Shoving the entire emergency energy thermos into the ignition, the Ranger shoved the panel closed with panicked speed and dove over the railing. The core began to spin up wildly, shooting sparks and loosely-secured components off of it. A bolt tinged off the ceiling and landed squarely in front of Corran - still white-hot red. Pressing a shaky hand to the commlink, the junior Ranger reported again to his partner, "Lorcan... Core is running hot. Not sure for how long though. Over."
 

Izel Thral

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Izel was a bit taken aback by the senior Ranger's response, tilting her head in confusion. She didn't challenge his word, not seeing a point in undermining the chain of command he was trying to establish. Better to just let things slip for the time being, now wasn't really the time to argue. She was still annoyed when he ordered the fugitive of all people to keep an eye on her, as though she was actually going to just cut the prisoners loose right then and there. Being called a 'bug' didn't do much to endear him to her either.

When the fugitive turned to her and awkwardly asked her not to free the prisoners she just stared down at him blankly for a few moments before turning and walking away without responding. Ridiculous. Since no one seemed to be taking the time to try and calm the increasingly frantic passengers, Izel decided to seize the initiative before a riot broke out. The Vratix took the center of the aisle while the others were getting to work, speaking up loudly to draw the attention of the passengers.

"I'm sure you're all very shaken by the attack that just occurred," She started calmly. "Rest assured the situation is under control. We are not far from Onderon, and once we've repaired the ship we'll see to it that you are all brought to safety. You have the protection of two experienced Sector Rangers and two Jedi at your disposal, there is no need to fear." The passengers seemed to be visibly settling down. They had already proven they were good in a fight, so it was clear they had the trust of their charges. "However your cooperation in this matter will be most appreciated, and go a long way to helping us resolve this crisis sooner," The Padawan continued. "If any among you have medical experience, I would like you to start tending to our wounded. Any of you with military training should come forward as well, so we can organize a defense against any potential future attacks..."

They were in luck, several among the passengers were ex-military, frontiersmen, even some mercenaries and bounty hunters pitched in. All in all the civilians seemed to be in a pretty good state, with their nerves calmed and their morale boosted. Izel quickly organized the volunteers by level of experience and delegated tasks, sending them to patrol the ship as well as move the prisoners to a secure location. This group she followed personally, taking the pirates to the sleeping quarters and lining them up. She crouched down before one of the pirates she had personally incapacitated during the skirmish, the man immediately shying away from her.

"Things don't seem to be going in your favor." Izel explained casually. "I think it's in your best interest to cooperate-"

"Kark off freak!" The pirate spat back, clearly unwilling to give up anything. Izel sighed.

"Very well..." She waved a hand before him, calling upon the Force once more. "You need to trust me." The man's brow furrowed for a moment before he seemed overcome with anxiety.

"T-this is bad... I need to trust you..."

"Why did you attack us?" Izel asked with another handwave. The other prisoners were going insane and shouting at their comrade to say nothing.

"A Gran," The pirate answered. "Trak Almir, tech specialist. He has some experimental tech on the ship somewhere. The Boss wants it."

"That's all you know?" Izel asked. The pirate nodded. As the other prisoners cursed at her the Padawan turned and exited the room, returning to Lorcan.

"They're looking for a Gran scientist. Trak Almir." She relayed the information very matter-of-fact. It was clear the senior Ranger was all business, she decided not to waste time mincing words.


OOC: Posted a dice thread Here if anyone wants to use it
@Nefieslab @Catbert @ModernMarvel @TerranSteel
 
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Lorcan

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Ugh... if that Jedi gave him sass one more time he was going to see if they had the power to survive being jetisoned into space. Knowing how much bs the Force was they probably would survive but there was only so much he could do with so little patience.

He was busy, he didn't have the time to pretend he cared about their feelings and ensure he didn't die like a dog on some backwater planet. But he could still answer pertinent questions such as where they on a crash course?

"Not yet we're not."
he assured Kel with a wave of his hand, "Don't worry - I used to boost shuttles."

Yeah he hadn't ever been squeaky clean after all. He cursed at hearing that the pirates were after one sentient. The wires were beginning to spark but they were weak due to the core. He pulled his hands away on Corran's coms.

"Copy that Corran."
he spoke to his com before grimacing, "Alright; we need to find either the scientist or his luggage. Both preferably. Anything worth such a large pirate incursion in semi-civilized space is dangerous."

And then the ship shuddered.

Lorcan grinned before jumping up to his feet again. He began flipping several switches of the suddenly alive control board before taking control of the ship with the control sticks. Taking a deep breath, Lorcan pushed forwards, plunging the ship into motion towards Dxun. They were already caught in the gravity well of the planet and they didn't have the power to escape it.

They might have the power to crash-land as opposed to just crashing. He glanced to Kel as the ship began to shake as the atmosphere began to burn around the ship.

"Get everyone strapped in as tight as you can; I'm setting the ship down in the jungle so it's going to be rough."



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Kel Dryden

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The ranger was confident that he'd land the ship, but Kel had a lack of faith. Still in a co-pilot's seat and strapped in, he'd at least look his death in the eye if Lorcan didn't live up to his act. Corran's report didn't give many more reasons for optimism. On the bright side, if the ship would lose hull integrity, Lorcan's ability to fly the liner would become irrelevant. However, in all this mess, Kel did note one thing. Gran scientist. Trak Almir. It would be worth tracking down him or his luggage after the landing. Perhaps it would make the trip worthwhile... assuming Kel would live through it. Of course, Lorcan had the same idea.

"I'm opening hatches, extending all flaps and drive fins," Kel decided to do at least something. He had no experience landing a liner like that, but he had heard it was a good trick for a situation they were in. Then Lorcan commanded to get anyone strapped it. Running around the ship wasn't an option, so the scoundrel did the only logical thing: use the intercom: "Attention, this is your captain speaking. We are preparing to enter atmosphere. Please buckle up and enjoy a little shakiness while it lasts," Kel pushed the button, turning off the intercom. "For it may be your last," he mumbled under the helmet.

The announcement has created commotion throughout the ship: people were strapping themselves in, and even pirates were put in the free seats, with hands tied. Some pirates found it a good opportunity to start a riot and wrestle a weapon or two from the spacers who were watching them. However, it would soon become irrelevant, as the ship entered atmosphere, and those who weren't strapped in would have a hard time standing on their feet. A few escape pods were launched, however: some by the scared passengers, and others by the pirates who had managed to break free.

Amidst all this commotion, while trying to help Lorcan land the ship, Kel also pressed a couple of buttons on his life-support box on his chest, trying not to draw attention. One was to put the life-support on standby, and the other was to activate a distress beacon. A parsec in the galaxy was smaller than a needle in a haystack, but Onderon was a prominent place, so there was on harm in trying.
 

Brienna Lanaamer

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Bri was glad to see Izel take up the responsibility of trying to calm the passengers while she searched through the ship's manifest and then assisted in the attempted re-controlling of the ship. The Padawan had even managed to get some information out of the pirate prisoners, who described the sought after technology of a Gran scientist. The strange ragtag group of individuals had obviously all been in high pressure situations before, yet the majority of the passengers on the ship were currently experiencing something akin to one of the most remarkable events of their recent lives. Ensuring they remained calm was paramount to guaranteeing that the whole situation did not descend into chaos. Bri looked back up out the cockpit window and remarked to herself that instead, the ship might literally be descending into chaos. Aka Dxun.

It became apparent that the ship was going to be landing on Dxun, the only variable that remained was if said landing would be of the more untrammeled, crashing nature, or something that might be potentially be described as 'controlled.' As Bri heard the Senior Ranger interact with his partner, and bypass a response to her comment, she could tell that he was getting increasingly frustrated with her, not needing to use her Force abilities to read his emotions. Instead, his facial expressions showed everything the Jedi needed to know about what his current feelings were. Nevertheless, Bri was stubborn, and felt that she would be butting heads with the Ranger again in the not too distant future.

Before being able to react any further, the ship began its entrance in the atmosphere, shuddering slightly, as the windows began to glow with a yellow-ish red hue. Bri strapped herself into one of the co-pilot chairs, and managed to access a damaged control module, fingers moving quickly on the singed panel. Luckily, the equipment was largely still functioning, and the Jedi was able to ensure the ships shields were properly online for the rather bumpy entry onto Dxun. Bri looked back up and updated to the others the success of her endeavor, "shields re-angled for atmospheric entry." All that was left was to hope that the ship was under decent enough control to ensure no one was injured on the rough landing.
 

Corran Velt

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Corran had just exited the maintenance shaft when Lorcan and Kel's announcements from the cockpit rung through the audio-speakers of the passenger transport. "Entering the atmosphere...?" Corran said aloud as his brain worked to catch up to the reality of the situation. He glanced out the viewport of one of the isles and saw heat licking up the hulls, protected by the shields holding destruction at bay. The horizon was a mixture of the dark void of space and the baby blue hues of the gravity well. The rapidity of the descent told Corran all he needed to know - the ship didn't make it. They were going to bring her down in an open field on Onderon somewhere. Better strap in.

Making his way up the aisle, some passengers fought to make entry into an escape pod, but the emergency doors sealed up at capacity and fired it into the atmosphere. A few of the other pods had departed as well. The rear cabin was a mixture of panic, prayers, and resignation. Corran looked out the window to view the escape pods and then he saw it. Jungle. Jungle as far as the eye could see. In the greater portion of the sky was Onderon proper. They weren't crash-landing on a civilized world. They were coming down on Dxun. The escape pods fluttered in the upper stratosphere but would eventually descend onto the Demon Moon by the will of gravity alone. The junior Ranger felt his gut turn over. The occupants of those pods would be dead in hours. They just didn't know it yet.

Making his way to the more forward section of the cabin, Corran took a seat near the aisle and buckled himself in, secured the gear on his person, and used whatever he could to shield himself from impact and debris.
 

Izel Thral

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Upon receiving Lorcan's order Izel nodded and exited the cockpit, moving to assist the passengers in the cabin. She made her way from seat to seat, offering some calming words to the civilians and attempting to identify the Gran that was at the center of all this madness. She was able to spot one, perhaps not Dr. Almir, but the only Gran the Padawan had seen on the ship thus far.

She started to move towards him, only for several of the prisoners to suddenly turn on their captors. This caused a panic, and soon a large group of passengers were stampeding for the escape pods. "Wait!" Izel shouted, trying to stop them, Only to be shoved aside and nearly trampled. In the ensuing fight several shots went off, and a few pirates and volunteers went down. The Vratix struggled to her feet in time to see the Gran disappearing around a corner, heading for the escape pods. "No..." She muttered under her breath, and made a mad dash after him. He had no idea how much danger he was in, and they needed his insight to understand what was really going on.

Unfortunately she only made it a few steps towards the escape pods before the ship slammed violently into the earth, ploughing through the landscape and bringing about an eruption of screams in the cabin. Izel was thrown from one side of the aisle to the other before finally managing to grab hold of a chair and cling to it with every one of her limbs. Among the fear and desperation she felt something else. The wild, dark energy of Dxun. She was on this damnable moon again. How could things possible get any worse?

@Nefieslab @Catbert @ModernMarvel @TerranSteel
 

Lorcan

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Having the shields angled for re-entry was good in some ways and bad in others. Good in that it probably was the only reason that the ship didn't start to melt around the armoured edges on re-entry but bad because they were operating on limited power, secured only through some hotwiring. Re-routing power to the shields meant that there was less power going through to the cockpit and this became apparent to Lorcan almost immediately as the lights flickered in the cockpit.

He blinked.

"... shields on and we're losing power in the cockpit."
he said, mostly to himself as the ship shook violently around them, "I've got no instruments anymore, I'm going to have to eyeball the landing."

Gripping the controls tightly in his hands, he angled the ship and tried his best for an even stretch of land. The chances of finding a cleared stretch of land were slim to nil on the jungle moon but he didn't want to slam into the bottom of a cliff-face or slide right off the top of a cliff to their doom.

As the ship came down he closed his eyes just a second before contact, opening them as the ship violently shuddered as the trees smashed into it as they plowed through them. Their shields and armour, along with the momentum, were making sure the trees were what were destroyed even as they slid onward. It was going about as well as he could honestly expect it was capable of going before there was a jarring smash and tear as the left side of the ship collided with something that was NOT a tree.

He was flung bodily around within the cockpit, his straps breaking on impact, as the side of the ship clipped an ancient Mandalorian bunker, the durasteel and duracrete of the bunker tearing a hole through the side of the ship that honestly probably smeared half a dozen passengers. The only upside of such a sudden collision with something so solid was that the ship was stationary.

Lorcan, sprawled against the wall of the cockpit with a ground, spat out some blood onto the floor.

"I need a drink."



@Catbert @ModernMarvel @TerranSteel @Reyn
 

Kel Dryden

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In retrospect, getting the front-row seat might have been a bad decision. On the one hand, it was better than the uncertainty of sitting in the passengers compartment. As a pilot, Kel had an understanding of what was going on. On the other hand, his hands weren't on the controls, and all he could do was watch—mostly helplessly—the jungle below engulf the viewport. As the ship was about to hit the ground, Kel gripped to the armrests, looking down at his stomach.

Everything else was a blur. The ship shuddered and screeched through and through. Kel's teeth and fingers clenched. The trees crushed and burned in their path. And then, a sudden jolt brought the ship to a halt. Luckily, Kel's safety harness held... unlike the ranger's. A minute after the ship was brought to a stop by the collision, the scoundrel finally found it in himself to unbuckle and fall out of the seat on the ground.

"Whew..." he exhaled through the helmet. Luckily, the oxygen supply from the suit wasn't necessary. The young man thanked his luck for not having taken breakfast... Otherwise, the inside of his helmet would've been a worse environment than the outside. Getting on his fours first, Kel stood up with some effort—the floor felt slightly tilted now. Absent-mindedly, he tried to press the button on the intercom. But without the indication he had no idea if the blasted thing worked. It probably didn't. "Well, that was some landing? Is everyone ok?" He addressed that question mostly to the people in the cockpit.

After checking up on his companions in misfortune, the scoundrel would walk towards the exit from the cockpit. He'd have two parts in his agenda: a Gran and a gun. In any order.
 

Brienna Lanaamer

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As soon as the shields were reengaged, it became clear that the power needed to keep them active was being transferred from some of the steering in the cockpit. Lights flickered, and Bri noticed the Senior Ranger,actively struggling to keep the ship on course. Naturally, without the shields, the ship would have most likely burned apart on re-entry, so a lack of control was the more desirable of the two outcomes.. The Jedi did not envy the position of the Ranger having to land the ship, not only due to her lack of adequate flying skills, but also because it seemed highly likely that there was not going to be a smooth landing pad for the ship to gently touch down on. No, this landing would be decidedly of the crashing variety.

Just before Bri verified that her straps were fastened accordingly, the ship began to shake violently, obviously now destroying a vast swath of the Dxun flora. Bri felt her head whiplash forward and back, unable to maintain control in the carnage, before the ship struck something that was not a plant, the sound of metal scraping and crunching cacophonous. The starliner had been accosted on its side, which brought a new dimension to the crash, as physics pushed Bri sideways, her shoulders straining painfully into the seat straps.

After what felt like an awfully long time to b e crashing, the ship shuddered to a stop. Bri managed to lift her head up with a groan, squinting her eyes. The Ranger who had been piloting the ship was thrown askew, while the apprehended criminal looked to be faring slightly better still in his seat. The Jedi unclipped herself, and slowly stood up, rubbing a particularly throbbing section of the side of her head. "Something like that..." she replied in response to the criminals question, hoping that the passengers who were still on the ship had managed to come off just the same, or in better condition than she had.
 

Corran Velt

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The descent had gone worse than Corran could have ever dreamed up in a nightmare. When the space liner touched down, the view-ports were slapped and scraped but Dxun foliage. Passengers strapped into their seats shouted in panic and concern for their lives. Corran felt his teeth clench and his grabs dig into the armrests. Then the world shattered. The Ranger among the passengers didn't immediately know what struck the side of the cabin. The whole left series of rows immediately across the aisle from Corran tore away, taking the unlucky citizens who occupied the space moments before with it. The safety harness built into the seat dug into the Ranger's torso as the sudden loss of acceleration jerked him forward. There would be burns. Shards of hull, view-port material, and seating debris fired into the cabin like a shotgun. One such chunk struck Corran in the head.

Luckily, it was a ricochet and did not immediately kill him. His vision was blurred, and his left eye could only see the world through a glaze of red. Slowly, gingerly, Corran pressed the release on the safety straps that held him to his seat. He then carefully freed himself from their tight-wound vice around his chest and shoulders. It stung to peel them away. Surprisingly, the wound on his head didn't hurt. Corran pressed his fingers on the left side of his forehead. He winced and pulled away his hand rapidly, as if he touched fire. Blood was on his fingers. It flowed down his face.

It didn't matter though. The Sector Rangers were still the most present authority here. The civilians needed help. Corran tried to speak as he weakly rose from his seat. Nothing came. He swallowed and took shallow breaths to recover. "Sir, are you alright? Sir!" He shouted to a man sitting a row ahead of him. The Ranger used the back of the seat to balance himself as he moved to help the man. It didn't matter how much Corran had shouted - the passenger had been killed by impact. His body hung limp. The Ranger checked for a pulse. Nothing.

That's when he saw Dryden exit the cockpit. The scoundrel looked in far better shape. Corran gestured with his hand at the suspect to wave him off. To Dryden it must have looked like the Ranger was beckoning him. "Dryden!" The junior Ranger yelled, "Lor... Lorcan..."

Even speaking this soon after a traumatic crash took all the energy Corran currently had. The Ranger stumbled down the aisle and fell onto his hands and knees, gasping for air.
 

Izel Thral

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It was worse. As the ship scraped across the surface of Dxun, uprooting hundreds of meters of dense jungle, Izel thought idly that she had never been in a starship crash before. Well, one more experience to jot down in her journal. She clung to the seat she had managed to grab with all her strength, using the Force to help anchor herself in place.

Suddenly the ship ploughed through something much stronger than the foliage, some kind of building. It tore open the side of the cabin opposite her, killing about two dozen passengers instantly and spraying deadly debris in the direction of the rest. Izel, desperate to try and minimize the damage to the passengers around her, held up a hand and summoned the Force. Creating a shield she watched as hundreds of bits of sharp metal and glass stopped just inches in front of her and the surrounding civilians. Others beyond her reach were peppered with the deadly material, those not killed were severely wounded. Looking on in terror it was all the Padawan could do to maintain her concentration as more lethal shards were hurled towards them.

When the wreck finally ground to a halt Izel released her hold with a gasp, letting the bits of metal and glass fall to the floor. She collapsed on the ground, her chest heaving as the rest of what was left of the cabin recovered. People weren't panicking so much anymore as weeping or stewing in their misery, stunned by the events that had just transpired. A handful of Izel's volunteers managed to keep it together and tried to start taking an account of the situation. Seeing the junior sector ranger was in a much worse state then her Izel slowly crawled over to the human and tried to help him up. it took her a few moments to get her balance back herself, but eventually she was able to pull Corran to his feet, pulling his arm over her shoulder and propping him up.

"Easy, you're injured." She told him, and looked towards the other survivors. "I need bacta here!" She shouted. She watched as the fugitive slipped past, offering a suspicious glare. He was up to something, she could sense it. But there were more pressing matters at hand. Helping Corran back towards the cockpit she would speak urgently to Lorcan. "We must organize a search of the surrounding jungle at once." She said, still trying to catch her breath. "Several escape pods launched. Dr. Almir may be in one of them." She was still shaken from the crash herself, but she had to remain focused. These people were depending on them.

@Nefieslab @Catbert @ModernMarvel @TerranSteel
 
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