Expanding Our Boarders

[Zanra]

Ottega System OOC

The hull of the little Jedi ship shuddered as the tractor beam of the pirate vessel pulled it into the hangar bay. All according to the plan that the brave little group of Jedi had concocted to take out this particular vessel. It was a pretty simply plan, but that just meant that it was less likely to go wrong.

Right?

They'd gotten the little freighter they were on registered as a civilian cargo hauler, said they were carrying...whatever it was Pirates wanted in this system, it could have been rotting fish for all Zanra knew. Then they file a flight plan that took them near where their dubious intelligence said the pirate ship was, and waited. So far it'd worked out pretty good, with the pirate ship blasting the ship to hell with ion cannon fire to keep it from getting away. The corridor that Zanra was in was dark, lit by red emergency lighting running off whatever backup power systems the ship had.

The corridor was actually part of the ship that lead to the boarding ramp, so theoretically a bunch of pirates were going to be on the other side of it as soon as they landed. In Zanra's slightly off kilter opinion, their best option to take the ship with as little bloodshed as possible was shock and awe. Overwhelm them, get to the bridge, get the info, turn the ship off.

Simple as that.

In theory at least.

It suited Zanra. She was a big believer in doing things as fast, and directly, as possible. No weirdo sneaking around that would take forever, or any of that nonsense. Just straight up blazing a trail, and getting things done before anything could go wrong.

The freighter shook as it passed into the Marauder's hangar. It touched down, not exactly gracefully on the deck. If anyone aboard had been asleep, that would have been their wakeup call. Any minute now whatever pirate scum awaited was going to start trying to get into the ship. Probably with a plasma cutter or somesuch, but that part didn't really matter.

"Hope everyone's ready," She shouted. Where the hell was everyone?

"Great. I guess I get to fight off all the pirates by myself," She muttered to herself, pulling her breathing mask over her face. She'd brought it along just in case they decided they were going to gas the place before entering themselves. It was kind of a crazy thing to do, but she wasn't exactly willing to be on the sanity of pirates operating around a place like Ithor.

Grabbing her lightsaber off of her belt, she took a ready stance, with the hilt in both hands. She didn't ignite the blade just yet, there wasn't much point in doing so. Not to mention that it wouldn't look nearly as dramatic.

A few seconds later, she heard the distinct sounds of something very hot trying to cut its way through the door. A little bit after that, a red spot appeared on the door, and started to grew brighter.

@Ferre
@Reya Starlyght
@Amaru

 

[Ferre]

To say Bast was staring catatonic at the control panel of the ship wouldn't be over-dramatic. The lanky Arkanian padawan loomed over the short circuited electronics with a dead-panned expression that hid internal dismay. That ion canon did a number on the system. Bast stared at the damage that was illuminated by intervals of red flashes. Did you even try? He wondered to their little ship with no lack of sass. Honestly. The short circuiting happened way too quick, even if it was the plan. He would have to fix that later. If it deserved to be fixed. His dead-pan expression melted into one of judgement, eyeing the control panel as though it were a child that knocked over a vase. The discussion would be tabled. It was go time.

Unfortunately.

With a sigh, Bast turned on his heel, slapping the wall for a breathing mask and securing it to his face with little to no difficulty. Breathing in and out a few times to test the functionality, Bast felt satisfied and made his way to join Zanra at the opening.

"Great. I guess I get to fight off all the pirates by myself,"

"Well, I mean, if you don't need me..."

The padawan came up behind Knight Zanra, half his expression hidden by the re-breather but his eyes trained straight ahead, following the ever glowing red light the sparked through the door. Outside, the sound of voices began to seep through the door. Unintelligible, but rough, hoarse and altogether unfriendly. A trick of the Jedi was being able to sense the life force of others. A way to see how many opponents they will face before actually seeing them. It would be rad if Bast had this ability, and standing there waiting for them to be shot at by force knew how many blasters, the young padawan made a mental note that just maybe it should be the next thing he learns.

If they had time to chat, it wasn't long. The barrier that once separated the Jedi and the pirates gave way. Bast had an exact number now. 12. Oh wait, can't forget the ones higher up. 14. They had blasters too. Great. Thanks for volunteering. Long distance first.

As soon as the first shots from the lovely pair in particular rang out in the open air, the hiss-snap of his icy blue saber saber made it's aggressive reply. The shots reflected back with precision into non-lethal areas of his opponents.

Yikes.

With one good move in, the padawan started his move forward, this time refracting honestly as best as he could, which was quite mediocre for a Jedi, but effective. Frantic calls for backup on behalf of the pirates displayed that if anything, the Jedi had the element of surprise on their side. Whatever the pirates were expecting to find, it certainly wasn't a group of hostile space wizards.

 

[Alaasha Seriin]

Some may call a simple plan a bad one, but in some cases it fit well. Especially when you were boarding a pirate ship where half of its members were forced laborers. Alaasha and her Padawan would attempt to get these members to their side, while the Knight Zanra and Padawan Bast would attack the pirates, Bast getting to the ship's control center and hijacking it. If everything worked well, the Jedi would have a frigate in their possession. If it didn't, well Alaassha didn't really want to think about it.

Alaasha had been piloting the ship's approach to the frigate, but shortly after it had fired an ion cannon and locked the little freighter into its grasp. At that time, Alaasha exited the cockpit. Her Padawan was outside, and she motioned for him to come.

"Stay behind me and you'll be fine Amaru."

Alaasha arrived at the boarding zone just before Bast, grabbing a breathing mask and struggling to put it over her montrals. She really hated breathing masks, especially the ones that were meant for human-sized heads. Finally she secured it, although it was extremely tight and uncomfortable.

Thank goodness she hadn't offered to use The Dawnwind for the mission, as it was clear that the pirate ship had no intent on using the freighter's dock, instead slicing through the ship's hull with a plasma cutter. Almost immediately after, 2 of the supposed 14 fired shots, ones that Bast promptly deflected. Alaasha was near a corner of the ship, one which she ducked behind and fired three shots at the nearest three pirates firearm hands. The blasters in their hand dropped, and the 3 ran back into the frigate. It seemed that these pirates were no different then most, downright cowards.

 

[Amaru]

Amaru was sitting quietly during the first part of the mission. Being in a ship, that was going to be blasted by pirates wasn't exactly something he would have chosen. Even though it was reasonably certain, that pirates are not going to capture the ship, there was always a chance, that something will go terribly wrong. Although he trusted his master judgement he wasn't sure, why he was even here. He had little luck trying to calm himself with meditation, especially since he wasn't really into that.

The whole situation was made even worse when they finally found the pirates. Ship got hit with Ion cannons and quickly disabled. Even though that was exactly the plan, it still felt very unnerving. Their little ship was then slowly swallowed by the pirate's marauder. He was a jedi and not the worse warrior that ever lived, he had another 3 jedi with him and he was still nervous. He could just imagine the fear and dread that other people would feel, if their ship was in the same situation.

The voice of his master brought him back to reality. "Yeah, sure master... I'm coming" he said, though he couldn't mask his uneasy feelings. He surely had easier time putting mask on, than his master though. He waited patiently as pirates were cutting into the ship. Pirates were for some nasty surprise. The battle erupted quite quickly and few pirates were defeated quickly. He was holding near his master, trying to not getting himself killed. He was out of the fight so far, hiding behind master, concentrating his energy. Once he done so, he reached in the Force and pushed one pirate right into the wall with enough force to knock him down for quite some time...

 

[Zanra]

Before the first shots fired, Zanra's blade was also at the ready. The hum of the soft green blade was a welcome, and familiar sound, the kind of thing one could anchor themselves to in times of chaos. Breathing in and out, Zanra focused so that she could use the Force, and swing the super glowbat around to deflect any blaster fire back.

When the door finally came down it was like all the gas from a balloon had suddenly been released by a pin popping it. Lightsabers swung, blaster bolts went both ways, the Force pushing people about, and it all ended with the pirates pulling back. Zanra personally wouldn't think of them as retreating. They were probably taken aback as to what they'd seen in the ship, but odds were that just meant they were going to regroup. There was strength in numbers, especially against unknown threats with lightsabers.

Zanra moved forward as the pirates moved back, carefully. In particular she kept her eyes peeled for any signs of a grenade, and was fully prepared to use the Force to toss any that came their way back. She also didn't want to get hit by her own side. Her expertise with the lightsaber was the more defense third form which helped when it came to the fine art of deflecting blasterfire, and she preferred not to go too fast with this. That wasn't the same as slow however. On a macro level (as in the mission as a whole) she might've favored the fast and direction approach, but on a micro (as in little fights), you could only go so fast without getting shot. Her pacing was more methodical than reckless. Her general attitude might've conveyed the latter, but she was still a Jedi Knight, and certainly wasn't about to intentionally risk the lives of her fellow Jedi. She was more than willing to risk her own life however, which was one of the reasons she was moving forward.

They had to get out of the ship, quickly, but that didn't mean they needed to do so suicidally. The fastest way possible usually involved making sure no one got seriously injured so they didn't have to waste time dragging them around anywhere. The quicker they could get out into the open hangar, the quicker they could disrupt any attempts at regrouping here in the hangar, and ergo, the quicker they could get into the main areas of the ship itself. Moving out of the hole and onto the boarding ramp, she was prepared to be the obvious distraction, using her lightsaber to deflect any blaster fire that came their way, providing cover for her fellow Jedi to breakout. That was basically the role she'd assigned herself after all.

Was it grandstanding? Maybe a little, but she'd never admit to it.

"Let's go!" She shouted, somewhat muffled through the mask. She was still keeping an eye out for anything like grenade, or anyone holding a weapon that looked particularly nasty. Not the easiest thing to do in a firefight, but she'd learned to scan a room quick, and had that little Force sense thing to aid her. As it had been at the start, the hum of her lightsaber blade was the anchor that helped her to retain the focus needed to pull it off. She certainly wasn't going to be able to keep up playing target forever though, and certainly wasn't going to stay still for long. She hoped they all hurried as much for their sakes as hers.

@Ferre

 

[Ferre]

The young Arkanian moved with Zanra. Their mission would be to take the bridge together, and looking at the vast amount of pirates that stood between them and that goal...let's just say Bast wasn't about to stray to far from the knight who had the defensive technique on lock. Yet as he moved, his grip around the cold metal hilt remained firm but consistently moving. As blasts of bright color shot in their direction, the padawan reflected what shots he could and dodged the rest. As soon as Zanra stood, planting herself as a target for the pirates to draw fire away from their companions, Bast saw opportunity and quickly disengaged his blade.

If one is creative enough, anything can be a barricade. Bast kept this in mind as he hunched just out of range behind Zanra. Occasionally, like the meerkats on Lothal, the young Arkanian popped out into range to deliver a single calculated stun shot over the Knight's shoulder. He would then descend back down, leaving the blocking of return fire to his new hero, before popping up again and knocking another down. 1, 2, 3...damn his missed. The padawan gave an annoyed grimace before turning to the left and choosing an easier target. 4.

Feeling a presence creep behind him, the young padawan turned on heel to stun a pirate trying find a break in Bast's completely cowardly but undeniably effective defense. Bast let lose enough shots that one hit it's mark, but not before his sleeve got a good singe to it. He looked back at the ship, hoping Knight Alaasha and her padawan had made it out safely and started par course to the engine room. Then Knight Zanra and Bast could stop playing whack-a-mole and take to the hallway.

 

[Alaasha Seriin]

The pirates were retreating, or at least pulling back some, from the boarding area. This was good for the party of four Jedi, as it put them closer to achieving their goal. However, there was still a major drawback. Both Alaasha and her Padawan had to get on course to find some enforced workers, preferably without being chased by a ton of pirates. This meant that Bast and Zanra would have to provide a distraction, which was what they were doing.

It was a simple technique they were utilizing, but an effective one nonetheless. As they pair were drawing fire, Alaasha prepared to make a dash for the nearby containers and fuel that could provide cover. She motioned to Amaru the plan, and then ran.

Most of the pirates were distracted, however there was a particular sniper up above them that noticed the Togrutan. He aimed at her, and fired, however missed. Alaasha had already been behind cover at that Tim, however if her Padawan and followed her instructions he would be right in the line of fire.

 

[Amaru]

Amaru, as instructed, was standing nearby his master The situation was slowly getting under control, at least now and for this moment. He was pretty sure, that pirates had few aces in their sleeves that had yet to be shown. But there was very little time to think, mostly because they had mission - freeing people, who were forced to work here...

To that end, it was necessary to leave this room. Master gave a signal, so he followed her quickly. Before he could reach the cover a blast just missed his master, giving Amaru just enough time to ignite his cyan blade. Just in time to reflect another shot. His quick reaction saved him from death, but also gave him no time to reflect the shot in any specific direction, so the shot ended up harmlessly in nearby wall. Amaru quickly jumped to cover and deactivated the blade.

"So, what's the plan?" he asked. It was just a matter of time, before the pirates come up with some counterattack, and the numbers surely were in their favour.

 

[Eccles]

"What the bloody bantha is taking so long!?" a giant-looking Cathar emerged from behind the line of pirates and seemed in a right foul mood. "If that carrgo isn't ours in a jiffy I'll have you all marroooned" he barked at his fellow pirates and stepped forward, protected by cover fire, as he raised his blaster cannon towards the Jedi.

No wonder he was so big. This particular Cathar was responsible for disabling the Jedi's freighter and was the Chief Gunner aboard and his aim was always sure, but this time his firing rate was also too high to block. The Cathar gunner was spraying bolts towards all four jedi, with quite a few being shot dangerously close to the fuel containers. The Jedi, therefore, were in quite the predicament if they wanted to keep pressing on. Although, surely, this wasn't something the Force was helpless against

 

[Zanra]

The giant Cathar with a blaster cannon was a very obvious thing to see, and a major oh shit moment.

Time to move

Zanra sincerely hoped the pale guy moved as well, otherwise he might be in for a world of hurt.

As for Zanra, she simply stepped to the side, dropped, and stepped back so that she was now under the boarding ramp. It wasn't a very big thing to hide behind, but it had the benefit of not being filled with flammables, and being made out of the same stuff that made other parts of starship. It'd hold up better than any other bit of cover available by her reckoning. But with a little luck, and the Force, she wouldn't need a great deal of time. The cannon might've been firing too fast for her to block with a lightsaber, but in certain circumstances the inverse could also be true.

And a blaster cannon made for a helluva target to focus in on with all that noise it made. Focusing in on that sound, she closed her eyes and reached out with the Force. Her lightsaber left her hands as she manipulated it via that cool telekinesis thing. When she was ready she shot the lightsaber out, and guided it towards the source of that sound, all without getting out of her own cover. She was putting as much strength as she could muster behind it so that it was flying as fast as was possible. The action would undoubtedly exhaust her for a while, but it wasn't like there was much else she could do anyway.

But even if it didn't find its mark, that lightsaber was going to cut up more than one person, and hopefully that alone would give her compatriots time to take the Cathar clearly taking performance enhancing catnip out of the equation.

 

[Ferre]

Huh.

Bast peaked over his barricade in the seconds before it would move away from him. His pale blue eyes taking in the giant opponent who held a weapon the would not be so easily refracted. It was times like these that Bast wondered why he himself didn't have that weapon. His gaze then began to scour the room, looking for a replica of the weapon on a different opponent. A weaker link so to speak. A sick limping pirate at the edge of the pack who the young Arkanian could procure the weapon from.

No such luck. However, It's not like he took a considerable amount of time to scope out the area.

Yet during his scope, he saw a hallway that led deeper into the ship. Most were preoccupied at the moment, in particular, that area was out in the open. It was reckless, if he were to move in that direction to attack, he would be done for certainly.

Luckily, he was not planning on attacking.

Like the fantastic Jedi that he was, Bast kicked his heels and made way for the bridge. Leaving his companions to fight Goliath over there and dodging blaster fire as though he were dancing through the air. To be fair, this wasn't actually complete cowardice as one might assume from his initial hiding. Rather, he trusted his comrades, the three of them, to take down a single man without much of a problem. In fact, he counted on it. Though he would be delving deeper towards bridge, it meant the poor technologically inclined padawan would be left to his own defenses.

Hurry up Zanra. He muttered harshly under his breath as the lanky Arkanian disappeared from view of the hanger.

 

[Alaasha Seriin]

Perhaps it hadn't been the best idea to sneak behind fuel containers. They were quite prone to blowing up violently. However, in a split second Alaasha thought of a way to use that to her advantage. The spraying of fire was currently on the opposite side of the hangar, so there was time to avoid being blown to bits.

"On the court of three we're going to push these fuel canisters towards the pirates. One, two, three!"

Alaasha used the Force to propel the dangerous fluid towards a group of pirates nearby. At the rate of fire of the Cathar, he would end up blowing his comrades to death instead. Alaasha didn't get time to see how her Padawan did however, as she has already dived to some containers nearby, these ones simply holding normal supplies.

 

[Amaru]

Amaru had very little time to concentrate. His skills in telekinesis was questionable in best of times, in the middle of the battle, with very little time no less it was useless. But right now there was no time to doubt himself, this was a battle, not a training. Failure here wasn't just failing his master, it could very well be death. On three he pushed, because the other choice wasn't acceptable. In that moment another shot from the sniper just barely missed them... he wasn't probably that good, or perhaps his aim was shaken by the exploding fuel. Amaru wasn't going to let him fire again. Instinctively he moved his hand and watched the sniper fall to the ground. Right there he returned to reality and ducked for cover. The fighting around was still too much to be just standing right in the open... it was a quick way to get himself killed...

//sorry for the delayed reply, I am quite sick at the moment :(

 

[Eccles]

The oversized Cathar was slashed in the left shoulder by Zanra's flying lightsaber and his aim took a dive for the worst and as he spinned around, screaming because it had taken a large chunk of him, the cannon started firing on his fellow pirates. Two of them fell before even the fuel containers body-checked three others to the ground, but that didn't mean all the harm was done. Before the Gunner fully realized what had happened, the containers exploded into a huge fireball, burning all the pirates alive. Their screams of agony filled the boarding area, drowning out all other sound in a horrid display of suffering and death.

The way onward was once again clear and after having watched it all go down through the security feeds, it would be a while before the pirates would be able to muster a real threat, being scared shitless of these rather efficient Jedi.

 

[Zanra]

Zanra coughed as she moved from behind her cover and out into the open of the post-explosion hangar. Fire, smoke, the usual post-explosion things dotted the hangar. She had to admit that she hadn't exactly expected the fireball, and was glad to have been behind cover when it occurred.

Now where the hell's my lightsaber?

Stumbling around the wreckage and remains looking for it, she wasn't sure she was going to find it at all. It could have been vaporised in the explosion, or thrown into a galaxy far far away for all she knew. So she was pleasantly surprised to find it on the ground. A little charred maybe...She didn't think she wanted to try turning it on until she had a chance to take a look inside and put everything back in place so it wouldn't just explode in her hands or anything.

Grabbing a blaster rifle that looked more or less intact, she pulled the trigger to make sure that was case, sending a blaster bolt into a wall.

And with that she was ready go. If she wasn't mistaken this was the part where they were supposed to split, presumably somewhere in the corridor leading further into the ship. She'd wait for Bast, since they were headed to the bridge together, before heading out herself. She was tired, but the adrenaline was there, and her blood was pumping.

@Ferre

 

[Ferre]

The presence of the Knight ahead of him surprised Bast to say the least. Last thing he remembered he had left the valiant heroes to fend for themselves as he took to the hallway towards the bridge. His own noble effort slightly squandered by a few pirates that proved less of a challenge for him than dodging the younglings in the Tyhon halls. Only this time he had to stun them too. He abhorred using his lightsaber, the silver hilt remained currently sheathed as he jabbed all who came in contact with him with a brilliant handheld device of energy.

Yet among the bodies that fell around him, he couldn't remember the body of Zanra running past him.

"How did..."

The young Arkanian glanced over his shoulder down the hall, back where the noise of the chaos still vibrated towards him. Perhaps she took another way. The padawan shrugged, but breathed out heavily with annoyance that there appeared to have been a way that was shorter. Gripping his knees for a moment in a stance that rather made it look like he was about to puke rather than bravely journey deeper into the ship, the padawan collected himself and jogged over to the Knight.

"Shall we?" he noted rather quickly as he nodded towards the bridge. He would then lead the way, jogging as quick as his lanky Arkanian limbs would take him.

 

[Alaasha Seriin]

As the fuel cans burst into flames, Alaasha used the distraction to dash past the rest of the crates and into the next hallway. It was more than likely that no pirate would see her, preoccupied with something that would seem like a much more obvious threat. However, Alaasha guessed that a large amount of pirates were down the hallway she was currently facing, and she knew that pirates could be quite difficult. Right now it was clear. The Togrutan hoped it would stay like this for a few more minutes, as she did not want to rush into the next part unprepared. Especially with a Padawan that happened to be on his first mission.

The hallway itself was straight for about 25 more meters, and then took a bend to the right. There seemed to be a room at the end that was locked, and near Alaasha was a ventilation duct.

"Nice work Amaru. We're in the clear right now, but I'd wager this part of the ship's going to be swarming with pirates real soon. What do you think we should do?"

This was more of a test for the Chiss then anything. There were only a few options available to them at the time, and one seemed quite superior. Alaasha could be overlooking something though, and besides, she was curious to hear what he was thinking.

 

[Amaru]

Amaru was following his master. Even though she escaped the room without notice, he was still behind her, because that was his task. For this very moment he was quite relieved that there were no pirates in their way. He wasn't exactly keen on killing people. The sniper he just pulled to the ground could very well me dead or dying, not to mention the fireball they created just a moments ago... his thoughts were stopped by locked door. Or more like his path was blocked by it in the most literal way. Then master spoke... and it was a test of course.

"Thanks, master... but do you think this is the best time for tests? As you say, there are swarms of pirates just waiting to kill us... " he said. But since she asked he could very well give his best theory. "We should continue of course... we have to save those people... this door are blocking us so we could just cut through them, but that would take some time... we could hack the door... if you can do it, or we could bypass it with the vent... " he said. He found it very unlikely that the vent had any kind of security inside...

 

[Eccles]

"They're all-" the Rodian quivered, "-they're all dead. B-b-burned alive."

A shudder of fear went through the pirates that had locked themselves into the bridge, all listening intently to the updates from the rodian who was watching the security feeds. "The Jedi-" he continued, his quivering becoming more intense as he subconsciousnly started searching for his blaster pistol that was strapped loosely to his right leg, "-they seem unfazed by it all."

"Impossible!" a large Nikto yelled more to himself than to retort the Rodian, his hands, too, were shaking although he tried his best to keep it hidden from the others. "That HoloNet docu said Jedi view the living force as a deity, so that means they value life above all else," he referenced a HoloNet documentary about the Jedi Order of years ago, before the formation of the crusading army, and clearly didn't remember it quite as well as he might've thought. It had an averse effect on the other five pirates on the bridge, who were now asking themselves the question whether or not their attackers were really Jedi, and if not, what where they?

____________________________
[ooc: Feel free to move the plot forward with your posts and I'll put pirates in your way when it's appropriate. Right now it's just "let's move this way", without an actual progression.]

 

[Darkling]

A simple straight forward plan is only as good as the people who enact the plan. So far the mission had basically killed a half dozen pirates and damn near killed one of their own. Through sheer dumb luck , not by the Will of the Force, The master and youngest Padawan of the group survived a very ill thought out plan. Hiding behind volatile fuel drums is at best a sure way to ensure you never wake up alive. Apparently both sides haven't given any real thought in engaging the enemy.

Solaris walked out of the ship and pointed at Master Seriin and her Padawan Amaru "Please refrain from trying to cook anymore of us." She sternly yet calmly said. She looked at young Amaru. " Your assessments of options is always valid. Whether a Master , Knight, or Padawan every Jedi have something to contribute to a mission. " she said with a slight smile.

She walked toward the door and withdrew something from her belt pouch and placed it in her wrist mounted data pad. Hooking it to the controls she let her fingers dance across the touchscreen interface. The door opened quickly. "I assume our rather speedy compatriots are heading head long toward the bridge. Let see if we can maybe delay a few more pirates from showing up there." she strode out after replacing whatever she used to connect to the door and with drew a blaster pistol in one hand and her lightsaber in the other. She looked back at Amaru and his master and winked and beckoned with her head to follow her.