Ask IT'S RAIDIN TIMEEEEE

[Z'Kair]

With the collapse of the New Republic and many of them withdrawing from ISC, the vast majority of the Core planets were left to fend for themselves. Most local governments were scrambling to shore up finances to reorganize their entire infrastructure. This gave way to rampant crime and piracy with Rangers being disbanded or stretched thin.

Kai and his little gang had been stopping at more trading routes to con people into signing up for the stupid Emryc Energy subscriptions to pay off their debt. While it never seemed to bring their debt down, it did dig up a signal trace for a banking ship set to return to Aargau packed to the brim with supplies. Word had it that this particular ship was delayed and off the regular schedule, and that meant it wouldn’t have its normally extensive security detail.

Kai was busy running his two new crew members through how he imagined this would go, “Flexo, no spontaneous pushups,” He said a few times now, “Blue, you join the raid only when you know there aren’t any starfighters to fret over,” Kai said, “And…” He gestured to a series of actual helmets, “No fucking lettuce or paper bags this time.”

It wouldn’t be long before they jumped out of hyperspace with Zhaan in the pilot seat. Kai was freed up to be on guns, “Let me know when I’m cleared for a shot!” He called out over the comms. His goal was to take out the engines and stall their target ship when they spotted it. This meant Flexo had to work the docking clamps.

@Fine Dining Set @Mr. Teatime

 

[Chef HoloFlex]

Flex clicked his boots and saluted. "No promises on the push ups, Captain." He wore an armor set hastily welded together from scrap metal and a dream. His helmet, more like a sport helmet with imposing tusks hastily tacked on, uncomfortably slid over his face. He banged his chest twice. "Let's start the boarding!" His voice muffled under the helmet.

His vision held up enough to operate the grappling gun. However, he had to wait for the right moment. Right when Kai would disable the engines, he knew the ship would reroute power to turn them on. This would leave a vulnerability in the ship - it's shields would be down. If they moved quick enough, it would be smooth as butter.

As the crew took their positions, he tossed them both brown paper bags. Inside, tiny lunch boxes contained a smattering of snack foods - hummus, vegetables, diced up meats - as Flex called out to his crew. "Make sure you eat up, bros. We're gonna burn a lot of calories on this run. Would be good to run a surplus." And then, without another word, Flex descended into his comically undersized chair, scanning for his moment to grapple onto the target.

@Sreeya @Mr. Teatime

 

[Zhaan Duran]

"Aye, Kodi," drawled Duran in response, trademark easy smirk plastered on his face. His own helmet- agrinium-coated and older than anyone there- was tucked under his arm for their brief, uh, briefing. He slid it on and neatly mag-clipped the hat atop his armor as he plopped into the navigator's seat. Zhaan'd be damned if he went into a stellar brawl without the crew that raised him.

The little paper bag was stored by his boots for now. As Three-Armed Jack used to say, never brawl on a full stomach.

"Realspace!" he warned, pulling back on the lever until they popped out of hyperspace. Sensors whirred and pinged to life on his console as he brought the Aurore-class into a sweeping motion, keeping things broad to find their target. The plan was to go in quick and hard to disable the freighter so it couldn't get gone.

"There, point-three-five," he rattled off, flicking a switch to send the sensor data out across the gunnery consoles the other two manned. "C-ROC ahead, movin' in." Chuckling to himself he eased back a lever and slammed his boot down a pedal, launching the Aurore forward toward the Gozanti's rear left flank. The freighter hadn't even noticed their bucket of a raiding ship was a threat, yet.

"Full bore!" he called out to Kai. They had two front guns, and damn if they weren't gonna use 'em both.

@Sreeya @Fine Dining Set

 

[Z'Kair]

Kai was praying this raid would go better than the first one. He had more confidence in this mainly because they had an actual pilot instead of Kai bullshitting his way through. And they didn’t have lettuce masks. Things had to go better since the lettuce upgrade.

The Fiani was ready when they jumped out of hyperspace. He took a swig of Emryc Energy, not even realizing that he was hooked on the shitty drink now.

“Aye!” He called back, lining up the laser turrets as Zhaan turned the ship around. Kai fiddled with the targeting, “I have a lock!” And he fired and hoped for the best. He gritted his teeth, his tail swishing erratically as he watched the blasterfire erupt. Instead of a miss, he saw both strikes hit perfectly and exactly where he intended. The engines exploded without any growing damage to the rest of the ship.

“WOOOO! DID YOU GUYS SEE THAT?!” He called out excitedly, marveling at his handiwork before he remembered there was a lot more to do, “Flexo! The clamps!”

Kai quickly bolted up from his seat, scrambling back to put his armor and helmet on. He grabbed two blasters, his fusion cutter, a computer spike and some knives.

Roll: 17/20

@Fine Dining Set @Mr. Teatime

 

[Chef HoloFlex]

Kai struck the engines! Amazing! This was already off to a better start than the last raid.

"THEY DON'T KNOW YOU, SON!" The Orc bellowed to his crew. The first shot was the riskiest - a mistake there would have cost the entire group. Now, they were preparing for the inevitable onslaught.

From here, firing the grappling cannons was a simple task. He simply aimed, shot, and began to reel in their catch of the day. Flex resisted the urge to do a celebratory set of push ups. As they approached, Flex prepared his boarding kit. A burlap sack, for taking things. A giant cleaver, for cutting things. A blaster, for blasting things. It was gonna be a pretty straightforward affair from his perspective.

Inside the ship, the defenders prepared for the boarding party, as well. While security was lackluster for a vessel of their size, they were well outfitted and trained to handle small pirate bands. The group would have their work cut out for them to claim this freighter for theirselves.

As the freighter's soldiers armed themselves and prepared for combat, Flex did the same. He slapped his chest several times to shake the nerves and get his blood moving. Let's go.

@Sreeya @Mr. Teatime

Roll for Defenses: 12/20

 

[Zhaan Duran]

MUSIC​

"Great shot!" he loudly agreed, scanners checking the damage done. The transport's engine looked disabled, but well fixable with some parts. Perfect.

Duran brought their ship past the stalled transport and angled to give HoloFlex the best shot, turning again to line things up and lock 'em in place. About then's when the screeching over comms started from the freighter. "How dare you!? This is an Aargau banking transport! We have security!?" "Oh, do ya? Oh, yeah, there they are. Please hold." "WHA-!?" Zhaan put the transport captain on hold.

He cleared his throat, focused the ship scanners on the incoming squad, and flicked on the ship's intercom. "Squadron here, three craft," he informed them in that breezily casual way of an experienced combat pilot. While Kai and HoloFlex were gearing up, they'd hear the rumble and creaking of the ship's gun rotating.

Zhaan grinned, flipping up another console that linked his pilot's chair to the guns. The security squadron probably thought they were safe with their angle. Nope! "Hold tight," Duran called out right before jacking up the inertial dampers and firing topside maneuvering thrusters, rotating both the Scurvy Fox crew and the transport they were attached to. No one would be thrown anywhere, although they might feel a little like being on a rollercoaster.

Again the rattle and rumble of rotating cannons, then a pair of booms, thoom-thoom. Duran's maneuver forced the squadron to angle around right into his sights, where he shot the lead and the tail fighter. The one in the middle crashed into the lead, sending them all out into space as one big, messy fireball of scrap and corpses.

"All clear," he informed Kai and Flexo. He took the transport captain off hold. "Those were them, right?" They hung up on the Chiss. Very rude.

Duran set the ship to idle in place, double-checked the scanners- clear, yup- and strode off to join the others.

Transport crew watching all that from the bridge or windows took those shots straight to their morale.

@Sreeya @Fine Dining Set

Spoiler: Clear Airspace Roll

1d20, nat 20. Cleared by Zhaan, death by Duran.

 

[Z'Kair]

Kai wasn’t sure what Blue was doing when he called them to hold on, but he did as instructed. He could see from his peripherals what was happening as both ships pivoted entirely, guns circling around to shoot one fighter and the rest more or less offing themselves. It was a genius maneuver and Kai stood there with his jaw hanging open. Clearly the Chiss was much better in the sky than he was on the ground.

“Don’t you do it, Flex!” He snapped at Flexo, who he knew also saw the epic move and would be compelled to do some victory pushups. The Fiani let the much bigger man charge ahead to rush through anyone coming over to defend. Kai knew they would have to split up briefly to be effective, but for now he stuck with his crew. The Fiani had his blaster set to stun and he fired at anyone he saw, dropping them like sacks of potatoes.

It was then that he skidded to halt, looking around the interior of the ship. He quickly spoke into his comms, “Change of plans, boys, we’re taking the ship!” Kai called out, deciding this would serve as the perfect ship to do real piracy, “Let’s take the bridge!”

Klaxons were blaring and the corridors had bright, flashing lights. Down the hall, he could spot some combat droids leveling their blasters to shoot the pirate crew, "Incoming!"

@Fine Dining Set @Mr. Teatime

 

[Chef HoloFlex]

Whew. An impressive maneuver. They were off to a good start. The Scurvy Fox jettisoned towards the cargo craft, and Flex guided the boarding clamps towards the hull, anchoring their ships to one another. For better or for worse, they had to get it done, now. They were locked in tight.

Vapor hisses as the cargo doors opened. This felt different than the last time. A real raid. Beneath his helm, sweat flicked down Flex's face. He gripped his gun, a heavy blaster befitting a creature of his size, and counted his ammunition packs. Armed and ready. The doors lurched open.

Flex seized the momentum - storming into the hallway with a barrage of blaster fire. He made his way off the Scurvy Fox down the hallway to temporary cover - a stack of durasteel crates in the vessel's own cargo hold. He fired down towards the droids, in an attempt to provide the cover for his allies to move forward. They could leapfrog their way through the guards, firing and moving. Firing and moving.

The droids met them in resistance, though, and Flex found himself locked down in gunfire. He held his position, occasionally returning fire, as he waited for the rest of his crew to catch up.

@Sreeya @Mr. Teatime

Roll: 8+2 (10)/20

 

[Zhaan Duran]

"Aye!" Duran agreed with gusto. They were taking the whole blasted ship! Damn if hadn't missed this. Down the hall they ran, surrounded by blaring klaxons and blasterfire. Flexo charged ahead, while Duran drew one of his matched pistols and looked for cover. Ducking below the incoming bolts, he fired occassional shots around cover, but they were pretty well stuck in the cargo hold.

The droids were keeping themselves out of a direct line of fire while still pouring down suppressing fire of their own, which was bad for the boarding pirates. They needed to get them in a better spot. "Movin' around!" he called, crouched, and fired his jetboots to leap off to the flank, sliding along the metal ground behind more spread-out cover.

Zhaan drew his second pistol and leaned out from cover to fire a quick barrage of bolts from both pistols. They had low accuracy, but they'd hopefully push the droids into a better spot for the other two to take down.

@Sreeya @Fine Dining Set

 

[Z'Kair]

“I’ll find another path,” Kai called out as he stepped back from the fighting. Between Blue and Flexo barreling through the corridors, he could slink away for a more discreet route to the bridge. The Fiani jumped up on a cargo box and used his tools to unscrew a vent. With that done, he hoisted himself up and into the shaft, quickly scurrying through it.

He could hear fighting below, along with droids and guards gathering on all points. Kai kept crawling, judging where to go based on where he saw people starting to flood in. Many of them had been milling about near the bridge and they scattered to address the pirates. The Fiani shuffled through until he was above what he was sure was the bridge. Miraculously, only the captain and one guard was left behind.

Kai jumped down from above, taking both by surprise as he stunned the guard. He turned to the captain, who looked as if he soiled his pants, and with his hands up.

“Call off the droids,” Kai said, “NOW!”

The man practically squeaked as he tripped over himself to type in a code and press a button. Meanwhile, Blue and Flexo would notice half their targets suddenly switch off. The organic guards looked around confused, giving the pirates a shot to down them.

After a moment, Kai’s voice resounded over the intercom, “Gentlemen, I have the bridge.”

Roll: 19/20

@Fine Dining Set @Mr. Teatime

 

[Chef HoloFlex]

With Kai's fantastic disruption of enemy lines, Flex had the opportunity to finish off the final two guards with Duran. And then, silence. It was over. And they had won handily; completely outperformed this banking vessel with a few quick-witted maneuvers. Praise the gods of luck and fate!

Flex did not let his desire to celebrate through a vigorous workout consume him. No, they still had a mission - to find the booty of the ship. A large cargo hold would mean ample storage space for his growing horde of energy drinks. On this auspicious day, aboard a banking ship, it could also mean a boatload of credits. Trepidatiously, with a great deal of hope, Flex delved into the large vault, using the security ID from one of the fallen guards to navigate his way through. The heavy, steel doors lurched open to reveal...

A massive pile of TREASURE. YARRRRRRR HARRRR HARRRR.

ANOTHER pile of treasure?? Yo ho yo ho!

Flex's eyes glinted gold as a tusky smile crept to his face. Goodbye, debt.

"CAPTAIN, PILOT!" Flex bellowed through the halls. "YOU HAVE TO SEE THIS!"

A pirate's life for Flex.

Roll for loot: 84/100