Looks like a fixer-upper!

[Hask Jen]

Tatooine/Junland Wastes​

14:15 local time​

The Cutter was airborne, its lower turret still down but all other systems were still operational. The field repairs were holding up fairly decently. All it had to do was survive the coming confrontation.

"Gun turrets get ready. Aurie, prime your guns and stand by. The rest of you, to stations. As soon as they are in range, jam their transmissions." Hask announced into the comms for the entire ship to hear.

"I have a good feeling about this."

He turned the ship in the direction the approaching enemies were said to be coming from. Indeed they were coming. In the distance a couple dozen fighters were inbound, ready to try and put a stop to the pirates attacking their base and ships. At least they weren't alone. A bunch of pirate freighters that could be spared soon joined them in the defense. Hask looked the controls over, checking the ship's status. "Aurie, shields up. Engines are still a little fragile so let's try not to get hit too much." he spoke calmly.

The enemy ships were approaching fast, but Hask maintained His head-on approach. The dorsal gun turret faced forward, picking its targets. Hask's grip on the controls were tight and he focused on the force, trusting in it to guide his hands. He gave Aurie a quick smile before focusing on the force coming at them. At least he knew with her behind the controls they would be all the more likely to survive. He still had to figure out how the ship handles...

"Alright here we go, get ready." he announced into the comms

@Pyrenees

 

[Aurelie Fleury]

It felt good getting the ship started, although there were some slightly worrisome noises coming from somewhere, probably the engines. Aurelie flipped a few switches and familiarised herself with the controls and panels around her. "Weapons primed and good to go." she said once she had prepared them. She flipped a three more switches "The scrambler systems are online. I will engage them as by your instructions." she said, feeling unusually proper.

The girl threw a glance at Hask as he mentioned having a good feeling about it and smiled silently. It was good to finally see him in the captain's chair again. It hadn't been too long since they lost the Hellion but it still felt like it had been an eternity since they piloted a ship last time.

"The shields are stable and the engine's output is secure. But yeah, don't let them shoot at it our we're in for a real bumpy ride" she said, studying the readings of the panels.

They were facing numerous opponents which meant that missing would be harder. Still, the young woman prepared the weapons' targeting systems but didn't pay much more attention to them than that. Instead, she wanted to make sure that she could handle the scrambler once they got in range and consequentially just kept her left hand on the trigger leaving her right hand free. Prepared to both fire off a few bolts and jam the enemy transmissions, Aurelie kept an eye on the scanners and called out over the ships comms "Alright guys, we'll be in range at any moment now. 3.. 2.."

@KinkyPrawn

 

[Hask Jen]

Aurie gave a countdown and Hask tensed up, ready to move.

"Now!"

He slammed the joystick forward and the ship dove nose down. Hask felt the blood rush to his head and his vision going red at the negative G dive. Maybe dog-fighting in atmosphere was not the best idea. He hoped that Aurie hit the signal jammer in time to disrupt the enemy fighters. With squads this big they had to be relying on comms to back each other up.

The first wave of cannon fire passed over the ship as it dove. The top turret opened fire and brought down 2 fighters. The 3 pirate freighters flew straight through the barrage and one was unlucky enough to collide with an enemy fighter, blowing up the entire nose of the ship and sending it down into the desert. That left them with 30 or so enemy fighters with only 2 ships for support.

Hask yanked back on the stick and brought the ship back up. For a massive gunship it was handling fairly decently. He came up behind the group of fighters, giving Aurie a straight, clean shot to take a few down before they came around. His dorsal turret proceeded to down another fighter while the 2 pirate freighters shot down 2 more. Hopefully their luck would stay this good.

@Pyrenees

 

[Aurelie Fleury]

Multiple laser shots could be heard ringing from the ship as she pressed down on the trigger whilst the dorsal cannoneer did the same, creating a flurry of bolts traveling against their opponents. Aurelie wouldn't have to fire for very long, however as Hask brought the nose of the ship down, skillfully evading the enemy barrage. Using her free hand, she quickly started scrambling the nearby comms channels of their opponents, taking care not to let it affect their allies. And judging by the sluggish reactions and mistakes made on the enemy side, it seemed to be working.

His maneuver exposed them to g-force, well enough to knock out anyone with a weaker constitution. After having done her best to help him with the move by regulating engine output, she looked over at him. "If you wanna create some me and you time, keep doing those tricks, alright?" she said jokingly when having recovered, insinuating that he'd be knocking the rest of the crew out if it continued like that. Out of the two of them, Hask probably had the better constitution, by far which prompted her to chuckle "Or some you and Scrappy time, I guess"

The lighthearted atmosphere soon died out as their allied freighter collided with an enemy fighter and spiraled down to the ground. She reshifted her focus back on the fight with a determined look on her face. Having done what needed to be done with the scrambler, she put her right hand on the controls in order to aim better. The girl considered whether to fire all weapons or just the ion cannon as the Sith lined the ship up behind a number of fighters. Going all out would my all accounts obliterate the, perhaps, ten fighters in front of them.

She glanced over at Hask with a sorry expression on her face before just using the ion cannon. This was a risk, for sure, as they'd now probably have to deal with more enemies. Bringing herself to just kill ten people outright proved to be an impossibility, but it felt horrible as this meant that she was also risking the lives of the crew and more importantly, Hask. Still, the preparations which she had made paid off, and the weapon hit three separate targets, completely disabling the fighters which she managed to shoot. Slowly, they started loosing height, forcing the pilots to mechanically use their vessels' emergency ejection system.

Normally, she might've looked down in shame, but this was not an occasion during which she could afford to waste time. Instead, she just bit her lip whilst her eyebrows furrowed. The co-pilot still had her full focus on the fight and was determined to try to make up for the loss in efficiency which she had caused.

@KinkyPrawn

 

[Hask Jen]

3 of the fighters sputtered and started to lose altitude. He knew she would go for it and he didn't complain. With the survival capsules deploying he knew that the pilots were alright and that meant Aurie was alright...hopefully. "Great job. Capsules deployed, they're fine. Keep it up." he rambled quickly to give her some reassurance. The 24 fighters broke and scattered, some almost colliding without any communication. A squad of 5 peeled off to the left, trying to circle around and take them from behind. The rest was headed straight for the pirates and freighter on the ground with another 6 breaking off to the right.

Hask opened the comms to the other freighters. "You guys break off and take those stragglers. We'll focus the main force." he spoke sternly and the pirates obeyed. He was currently running at 45 mglt. The engines were holding together but going higher was risky. But they needed the speed...

"You wanted alone time? Alright." he quipped and before she could react he yanked back on the stick, climbing high above the group of fighters. Once satisfied he rolled the Cutter over and dove at an angle, lining up Aurie and the dorsal turret to disrupt the strafing run. "Fire!" he exclaimed. The Cutter was gaining more and more speed as they got closer to the ground. He waited until the last moment to bank hard right and break out of the dive, giving the gunner and co-pilot enough time to fire before losing contact.

The pirate freighters were holding their own, harassing the squads of fighters before they could attack. He could only hope that they would survive against the more nimble fighters.

@Pyrenees

 

[Aurelie Fleury]

Hask's encouraging words were very welcome as their meaning and sincerity made her much more comfortable about taking the riskier option. The fighters were far too numerous to scatter as efficiently as a smaller amount of them would've been able to and their jammed comms made things even worse which allowed Aurelie to take a few more carefully timed shots, downing another two of the hostile ships before the swarm scattered completely.

After a while, Hask said something about alone time, prompting her to let out a "huh?" but even that was cut short by the sudden maneuver. Although slightly stunned by her initial surprise, the young woman quick recovered to resume her responsibilities as co-pilot whilst they were still climbing. "By the end of this fight, the captain might've knocked out more of his own people than enemies" a robotic voice commented whilst checking which of the crew were still conscious.

Once they began dropping, the girl was quick to focus the targeting devices on the fighters which were about to strafe by below them. Whilst keeping the ion cannon at the ready, she created a pillar of bolts before one group of fighters, forcing it to either get out or keep relatively close but risk crashing with other ships. Once the time was right, she fired off the ion cannons which took down four enemies. The impact formation along with the jammed comms created a few light crashes and collisions which caused enough damage to disable the guns of one fighter and the engines of another.

@KinkyPrawn

 

[Hask Jen]

The strafing run failed and 4 fighters went down by Aurie's hand. The resulting chaos caused a few to ram against each other and Hask saw smoke billowing out of a fighter's engines before it went down as well. The one freighter managed to shoot down 3 fighters before they joined with the main group but the other only got 2 before it was shot down. To add to the mess they finally decided to throw what little coordination the had out the window and scattered to all directions.

"Zip it Scrappy!" Hask called out and banked left to evade a cluster of cannon fire heading for them. Their job just got much harder. The top turret was doing its best to take care of the fighters, downing another 2. The last freighter was also managing to hold its own at least. "That bottom turret would have helped right now." Hask muttered as he managed to line up a shot for Aurie before breaking off to the right again.

The ship shuddered a bit as a few bolts landed, but the military grade shield was holding up. Thank goodness for military grade hardware. The other freighter downed a fighter as well and once again Hask found his was behind a fighter for Aurie. Things were chaotic but Hask knew that they weren't the only victims. The fighters relied on communication and the lack of that advantage was showing. They were losing their momentum and numbers. "Aurie keep hitting them. They can't keep this up for much longer." Hask spoke sternly, completely focused on what was going on in front of him. Another shudder went through the ship and the shield's warning light came on. "Well that's not good."

The top turret downed another fighter as did the other freighter. The numbers were dwindling. A few fighters made their way to the heavy freighter on the ground, prompting Hask to intercept. He led the targets as best he could to give Aurie a chance to hit them. "Take 'em out." he almost shouted in excitement. He waited for her to fire before banking left and ascending again to gain some speed. The simple field repairs were straining under all the harsh maneuvers. If the fight doesn't end soon they'll be going down in a ball of fire. "This is the last time I dogfight in atmosphere. With a kriffing gunship of all things." he grumbled. The strain of the G-force wasn't helping either.

@Pyrenees

 

[Aurelie Fleury]

Taking every opportunity given to her, Aurelie would make sure to fire off a few ion bolts at any enemy fighters appearing in her sights. Their teamwork went well as they downed more and more fighters but the engines were beginning to overheat and their shields were running out of power. She looked on the monitors with a concerned expression on her face and concluded that it was probably much safer to stabilize the ship's situation. With that, she pulled off every trick in the book to help the engines cool down and transferred the energy which was going to the ventral turret and her main front guns to the shield where it would probably be of greater use.

The warning light from the shield went out and a wave of relief washed over her. If the engines were just nudged by enemy fire, they'd be in a real bad position and this would surely keep them safe a bit longer. The emergency measures did take some of her concentration away from the main fight, however. Consequentially, Aurelie just returned her hands to the weapon controls and her eyes to the aiming system when Hask lined the ship up to fire at the fighters heading towards the heavy freighter. "Aye aye" she said with a rushed voice and started firing the ion cannon with which she managed to hit two fighters before they had to break the chase.

Noticing that the dorsal turret was completely still, Aurelie spoke over the comms "Gunner, are you there? Gunner? H4, can you check it out please?" Her voice was clearly strained from under the pressure as she sat leaned tightly against the seat. "The captain has taken out another pirate" he said over the voice comms, sounding as if the pirates were enemies rather than friendlies. "Well, then you go ahead and take the turret." she said with a pressed voice. She then glanced over at Hask "You're really trying to get me that alone time, aren't you?" she said sarcastically once the ship had stabilized.

@KinkyPrawn

 

[Hask Jen]

Hask was wondering why the ship sounded more quiet than it did a minute ago. Turns out he did indeed knock a crewman out. Would have been funny if they were in different circumstances. At least H4 was there to take over. Droids could at least function under such heavy conditions.

The turret came to life once more, shooting down a fighter while the last freighter shot one down as well. Hask was feeling better. The shields stabilized and the warning light disappeared, but before he could praise her the engines' warning light came on. To add the the worrying the ship...groaned? It was feint but Hask could hear it and feel it in the controls. Not good. Taking a risk he cut down the engines even more, dropping their speed significantly. At least the warning light went away so that was fine.

Aurie's sarcastic comment didn't go unheard and he smiled as his eyes were focused on not getting hit by the fighters. "Well we get so little so might as well." he quipped. He got on the tail of another fighter to give Aurie another shot. But before he could break off another fighter came from the side, firing at them. The shields went down and a few shots hit the hull, shaking the vessel. But instead of finishing the job it kept flying past. Soon the other fighters also turned around and flew in the direction where they came from. They were retreating. He brought the ship around and hovered in place, watching them. They were all flying away. "They're retreating!" he called out.

He hit the dashboard softly with a loud woohoo and in the comms he could hear the others cheering as well. Taking this chance he touched down on the roof again. The hiss of coolant venting was heard as soon as the engines shut down. How close were they to going boom? He looked at Aurie with a smile for a second or two then stoo up and pulled her in a hug. "You did bloody amazing!" he shouted. He was finally able to relax after this whole time. He let go of her and led them towards the exit, passing the passed out crew members. "I think next time we should keep the dog-fighting outside the atmosphere." he said with nervous chuckle as he scratched his head. They'll come around soon enough.

Outside the ship Hask could see the extent of the damage. It looked pretty worse for wear but with the counter attack most likely only happening much later they had time to repair.

@Pyrenees

 

[Aurelie Fleury]

It seemed as if they were in quite a bit of trouble as the makeshift repairs didn't seem to want to stand the test of time despite Aurelie's emergency fixes. She gave the warning light an annoyed death stare with a frown and narrowed eyes for a brief moment - if it was alive, it would've died immediately. At least slowing the ship down seemed to work, but it was far from optimal. They'd need to win the fight soon or else they'd just be a sitting duck to the much faster fighters.

Seeing that her captain was lining up another shot for her, the young woman got an idea of how to force the fight to end sooner. Turning off the scrambler with the quick press of a button, she allowed the enemies to resume communications. Unlike when the comms were first scrambled, they'd now be fewer than ten instead of thirty. After they had been allowed to speak a little, Aurelie took the shot which Hask had lined up for her, making short work of the enemy ship and surely demoralizing the remaining fighters further. Satisfied that it had done the trick she turned the scrambler on again, right before another fighter made an attack run at them. Just like she hoped, the enemy ships soon retreated.

Quickly removing her the safeties holding her to the seat, Aurelie raised her arms in the air and let out a joyous "Yeah!!" as she rose to her feet. Relief and happiness washed over her as they celebrated their victory. "We did it!" she chirped happily whilst being pulled into Hask's hug. "Good flying there, capt'n!" she exclaimed while hugging him back.

The two exited the ship together after having landed at the same location as where the intense battle had begun. The destruction they had caused on the roof paled in comparison to the ship which had a heavily damaged ventral turret, damaged engines, downed shields and a few blast marks and ripped off panels from the last attack. Smoke was sipping out from several spots and hissing sound could be heard as the different components cooled down. "Even if you stand to earn another beauty such as this thing?" she asked jokingly while nudging her elbow into his arm.

H4 soon emerged on top of the ship's ramp and began walking down from it. "I have reviewed the battle, mistress." it stated before looking towards Hask "I believe congratulations are in order. According to my analysis of the other freighter's crews, you, single-handedly took out more pirates than any of the defending fighter pilots." Aurelie looked first at Hask, then at H4 and then back to Hask again as the tension slowly built up. She then burst into laughter as she put an arm on his back while leaning against his side to support herself. "Weapons or no, you just had to take a few guys out anyways, didn't you?" she asked while still maintaining a cheerful laugh.

@KinkyPrawn

 

[Hask Jen]

Hask looked at Aurie and returned her nudge with one of his own, smiling widely. H4 soon appeared and decided that some teasing was in order. Hask was not in the mood for him, simply giving the droid a death stare. He was about to speak up until Aurie burst out laughing. He looked at her then back at H4, but he couldn't hold his smile back. Pretty soon he was laughing along with Aurie. "Well I do have an image to uphold don't I?" he said through his giggling as he finally managed to compose himself somewhat.

He looked around the platform. The pirates seemed to have everything under control. The door was still in place but there was no noise coming from it. Either those trapped inside found another way out or decided to give it up for a bad job. Not that he would complain. The less interference now, the better. He noticed the captain approaching and stood in place, waiting patiently for him. "Captain. Before we commence with our deal, I have thought something over. he spoke professionally when he finally arrived, Hask's hands resting on the pommels of his lightsabers. Not that it was just out of habit, but because he had no guarantee that this pirate would honour his part of the deal.

"You only have to pay us a quarter of what was agreed upon on three conditions. One: We can take this ship for ourselves. Two: You help us fix this ship up in decent order to get us to a proper space port for repairs. Three: You either give me men to crew this ship, or you provide me with the means of acquiring a crew." Hask was speaking firmly and sternly, more like commanding the captain than asking. He won't let this ship simply slip through his fingers.

He held his right hand out for the pirate to shake, out of respect and allowing him to use the force if it came to that. "What say you?"

@Pyrenees

 

[Aurelie Fleury]

With one hand resting on her hip, the other was hanging freely with easy access to the blaster Hask lent her earlier. Aurelie had just regained her composure and tried to look as respectable as possible as she quickly stood up straight, seeing as the pirate captain was approaching. The man didn't show any clear expressions on his face as he approached the trio with four other pirates along with him, standing in a wide line. The band of pirates stopped a couple of meters away from Hask and his little crew. He eyed the Sith's sabers and then looked at his companions and finally back at the Sith himself. The captain was about to speak but barely managed to get his mouth open before Hask started speaking, causing the leader to stay his tongue and listen.

Aurelie was thoroughly impressed by how her ally managed to create such a commanding aura after the two of them had just been stumbling over in laughter. She felt quite fortunate that they were on the same side. Standing on Hask's left-hand side, she eyed the two guards standing on her side of the captain whilst Scrappy did the same on the right side. Out of all four guards, none of them looked particularly remarkable but the ones next to the captain who were carrying what looked like a flamethrowers.

Although the situation was quite threatening for the pirate crew, their captain kept his cool, although his usual outspokenness was quite suppressed. He had expected his crew of six to step out behind the Sith but instead, they were nowhere to be seen. With this, their numerical advantage was smaller than expected and their potential foes weren't surrounded like he had planned. "Where's my crew?" he asked but soon shook his head, knowing that it didn't matter much now - besides, he wasn't the most caring captain anyways.

"Never mind. You'll have a quarter of what you were promised. You'll have the ship. My guys from the Salacareza will help you get the ship fixed." he said, nicely complying with what could only be described as orders. He then decided to test his luck with the Sith "As for a crew... you've got the means to acquire one already - the payement, a quarter will be enough." He let out a chuckle before continuing "We captured a few of those guards you fought, trying to escape through a ventilation shaft. You could have a few of them if you want some cheap labour. That's what they're intended for anyways" A mischievous smile grew on the captain's face as he thought of how much of a profit he'd be making, not only capturing the shipment, but also taking out the base, meaning that they'd be able to raid freely in the area for weeks.

If Hask's hand was still hanging in the air, the captain would be quick to shake it.

@KinkyPrawn

 

[Hask Jen]

Hask's hand lowered as he thought the counter offer over. The force was still ready to be utilized by him in case they tried anything. He looked at the flamethrowers in the pirates' hands, with a slight chuckle escaping him. How easily he can make those backfire was slightly amusing to him. He looked back at the captain. "I want 4 of those prisoners and 4 of your men. The ones still passed out in my ship will do. The rest you can do with as you wish." his voice was still commanding, but much more cool than it was a few seconds ago.

Whether the pirate agreed or not, Hask would shake his hand rather enthusiastically. "Deal! Alright, captain, let's get this ship fixed up." Hask turned to walk back into the ship but stopped abruptly. "Oh and you can come fetch 4 of your men in the ship. They all passed out...seems dogfighting in atmosphere didn't agree all too well with them." he spoke with a slight smug tone in his voice.

For the next hour or two Hask would work with the pirates to both get acquainted with the ship as well as make sure the pirates kept up their part of the somewhat one-sided deal. Eventually they were done and the ship was ready to go. Though before the ramp closed, Hask force-pulled the Zip flamer of one of the troopers towards him and handed it to H4 to hold onto. "Thanks for the parting gift!" Hask called out just as the ramp closed. Just a final grain of salt on the pirates' wounds.

The new ship was airborne once more but at least this time the systems were stable. The new crew members looked like fish out of water but they would settle in soon enough. Soon they were off, flying through hyperspace once more. Only this time it was in a new home. And what a home it was indeed...

/End Thread

@Pyrenees