Saturnz Barz [Jedi Mission]

[Vinn Esper]

Airen sat in the Captains chair of her Republic Class Consul Yacht. The warped blue lines of hyperspace stretched on for infinity as the yacht made it's way along the predetermined route into Hapan space. Airen allowed herself a moment to relax. For the first time in a long time she felt good about the path the Jedi were taking.

She had faith that they were slowly but surely becoming the beacon of unity, peace, and enlightenment that they were always meant to be. Everything else would work itself out once that happened. Airen no that no one wanted to be subjugated, or oppressed. She knew people were just afraid.

Airen wasn't alone on this mission. She was accompanied by a Jedi Master. Most of the trip had been quiet. Airen often felt uncomfortable around figures with authority. She felt as if they were always evaluating her. So, she tried to stay quiet around such beings as much as possible. She didn't want to say the wrong thing and be judged poorly. As she read the instruments, and system messages, she found she had something to say.

"We will be exiting hyperspace in a half hour," Airen said in an informative tone, "Master Taddler." Airen smirked inwardly at the way she addressed him. She had used the proper address for one of his stature, but the implications of the title and last name amused Airen. There was a certain irony the Jedi's name in regards to her own concerns.

@jamessour

 

[jamessour]

Space travel was tedious. Maybe it was him getting older, but sitting in a metal tube and being hurdle faster than the speed of light across the galaxy had lost its marvel, and simply had become noise. Looking down at his hands, he did a double take. The wrinkles, the scars... whose hands were these? The hands of a father, the hands of a jedi, the hands of an ex-general... the hands of a murderer... They didn't look like his hands anymore, they were wrinkled and folded with memories and pain.

Sitting in the ship, he was accompanying a Jedi Knight named Airen Vol. She was a quiet soul - which normally wouldn't be a big deal to the Jedi Master, but he was bored and was looking to take his mind off of travel. Tarnit smiled at his own thoughts. When he was a young jedi, the masters always seemed to be serene and content... that was so far from true.

As Airen gave the estimated time of arrival, Tarnit looked up to her. In the past, he may have corrected her and requested that she call him Tarnit... but he figured it was more work than it was worth it, and they were on a mission after all.

"Great," He responded with a signature smile that had been practiced well over his 56 years. "Hopefully when we arrive, the pirates will find us. With the reports we've gotten, it seems that they are incredibly active." He stood up and picked up his dark jacket that was draped on the back of the chair. Putting it on, he made sure he had all of his equipment. On his hip was his pistol, with assorted clips. Tucked in a specially designed pocket on the inside of his coat he felt his saber hilt. He had discovered that most people don't bat an eye at a blaster, but lightsabers gather un-needed attention.

Happy with his equipment, he looked over to Airen. "Also... Please just call me Tarnit. I've never been one for titles and hearing 'Master Taddler' just makes me shudder a bit." He wasn't planning on correcting her, but he always strived for comfort, and if he was going to be talking to pirates soon, he didn't want to have his counterpart calling him master.

@Vinn Esper

 

[Vinn Esper]

Airen listened to the Jedi Master speak as she performed a final systems check before they would exit hyperspace. She almost giggled aloud when he said Master Taddler himself. He had a valid point though. "I think I can abide by your wishes, Mister Tarnit," Airen responded.

"What is our plan when we exit hyperspace?" she asked the other Jedi, "are we to fly aimlessly and wait to be come upon by the pirates? When they do come, should I try to fight them off, or should I immediately surrender and let them take us? There are some standard rebreathers in the equipment closet along with my armor and weapons."

Airen paused realizing she had been so nervous she had skipped an entire portion of what she'd wanted to say. Her face flashed red for a few moments, partly in embarrassment, partly frustration. She took a deep breath and tried to relax more before giving speech a second attempt.

"I was telling you that," the said, "because my ship has a non lethal security feature which will release knockout gas throughout the ship when activated. I can set it to be activated when the pirate breach and the vacuum effect will draw the gas into their ship, potentially creating less resistance."

 

[jamessour]

Tarnit nodded and smiled deeper as Airen's face expressed joy. Joy was not common enough anymore.

As Airen continued, Tarnit became more excited about this mission. She emoted, and it was life-giving to see someone feel. Some Jedi were scared of emotion, which Tarnit thought was foolish. Emotions were part of life and like anything in life, self-control and moderation won the day.

"I'm not sure yet, Airen. The pirates seem to be organized enough, and perhaps big enough, that just taking out one batch of pirates may not solve the queen's issues." He moved his hand up to his scruff covered chin, "And I'm not sure violence has to be the answer. Mayhaps it will turn that way, and we must be prepared for such an encounter.

"Let's fly around, and maybe through open communications broadcast that we are carrying supplies for Hapes and have a malfunction with our landing gear. That should get the pirate's attention. When they board, we need to somehow find out where their staging area is. Unless we can find the person in charge and convince him to leave, our mission will go on and on."

@Vinn Esper

 

[Vinn Esper]

A few minutes later, the yacht came out of of hyperspace. The blue lines that previously filled the viewports, was mostly replaced by the perfect black of the void and white specs which were far away stars. Airen powered the ships thrusters to twenty percent and the yacht began to crawl forward.

Airen took control of her steering controls and began to turn the freighter to port. At such a low speed, it turned relatively easily. Once they got going, however, maneuverability would be poor. In the distance the giant Hapan planet and it's moons appeared to slowly shift right.

The computer chimed indicating she had to bed the ship to the ideal position for atmospheric entry. Airen didn't want to enter the atmosphere, so she continued to turn. Finally she had turned the ship to a position that allow her to orbit the planet and still pass close to it's moon.

Airen increased the thruster power to forty percent, and waited three seconds. She then increased it to sixty percent. This resulted in a smooth acceleration toward the Hapan system. Airen prepared her communications system to transmit an open broadcast. "Well," she said to the other Jedi ready to activate the transmitter, "here we go. Would you like to paint the target on us, Mister Tarnit?"

 

[jamessour]

Tarnit nodded as he sat back down in the co-pilot's chair. With a small flourish of buttons, Tarnit activated the communication systems and opened a line to an open frequency.

"This is Merchant Moon 4 for Hapen Ground Control, we need assistance. Our landing gear is malfunctioning and we will be unable to land until we get it repaired. Please inform the authorities that the cache of weapons and supplies will be delayed. Merchant Moon 4 out." With another push of a button the outgoing channel was closed.

Leaning back, Tarnit awaited a reply which came soon: "Uh, Roger Merchant Moon, this is Ground Control.... We don't have you scheduled for arrival, and you won't be able to land until we get it cleared up. You'll need to hang tight for at least a day. Should give you time for the repairs. We will contact you soon. Be mindful of pirates; we've heard reports they are active today. Ground Control out."

Tarnit looked to Airen, "Now we wait. Shouldn't take long. You should get prepared, and perhaps keep your saber hidden when the pirates arrive. They likely won't take two jedi to their stronghold."

@Vinn Esper

 

[Vinn Esper]

"Yes," Airen replied in response to the Jedi masters suggestion that she get prepared. Now, that she had set the course, the computer was more than capable of maintaining it. Airen got out of the pilots chair and moved to the equipment closet. She grabbed her Jedi modular armor and her xpc, as well as a much looser outfit she could wear over the armor.

The loose outfit would make her look fat instead of armored, she hoped. She moved to the ships lavatory and took a ridiculous amount of time, for what should've been a simple wardrobe change. In the end she came out and put the suit of armor and the loose outfit back in the closet. She removed a simple brown jumpsuit and pulled it on over the purple shirt and green pants she was already wearing.

She zipped it almost all the way up, and pulled out a brown half face helmet. She strapped the helmet on, and returned to the seat. "Do I appear sufficiently Nerf Herder, Captain Tarnit. Also we should probably switch seats. I'm thinking these men are angry at women for enslaving them. It may help our cause, if I appear to work for you."

A couple yards away a freighter and some fighters seemed to be slowly approaching them. At their present rate of speed and trajectory, they would slide in right behind Airen's ship. Airen pointed them out to the other Jedi. "So, Captain Tarnit, do we give them a run for their money, or are we caught unaware?"

 

[jamessour]

As Airen skirted off to get prepared, Tarnit closed his eyes in the most jedi-ish fashion. Extending his sense through the force, he could tell the pirates were already on their way. He smiled. Let's hope this works, he thought to himself. His eyes glanced to the console. There was nothing on the scanner yet, but he could tell they were coming. Which is more than he could say of his counterpart who seemed to be taking forever.

Spinning the chair around he caught Airen coming out of the fresher and putting her armor back into the closet. Tarnit chuckled as she put the helmet on.

"Do I appear sufficiently Nerf Herder, Captain Tarnit. Also, we should probably switch seats. I'm thinking these men are angry at women for enslaving them. It may help our cause if I appear to work for you."

Tarnit stifled his laugh and nodded. He stood. He had to admit, she was perhaps the most attractive nerf-herder he had seen in a while - not that he ran into too many.

"So, Captain Tarnit, do we give them a run for their money, or are we caught unaware?"

"Well, my nerf-herding companion, perhaps it would be more believable if we were indeed trying to fix the landing gear. If you want to get to the engine room, I'll head to the auxiliary power systems and pretend to tinker with stuff. We will let them board, and gather us. If you are in danger, defend yourself, but let's get them to reveal where they are from."

Tarnit moved to the aft of the ship and slipped down a ladder to the auxiliary power conduit. He was never great with tinkering, so he just stood there waiting for the ship to be boarded.

@Vinn Esper

 

[Vinn Esper]

"That is an excellent idea, Captain Tarnit," Airen said happily. She didn't know why she felt so elated today. They were about to be taken by angry women hating pirates, yet she was happy as could be. Airen made her way to the engine room, xpc in hand. Once there she set her weapon down in a spot where it would be near enough that she would be able to convincingly fail at grabbing it when the pirates eventually busted in.

Airen began gathering various tools, most of which she didn't know the name of, much less how to properly use. Among the tools, however, she did recognize a fusion cutter and a hydrospanner. Airen picked these up and gave them a once over, flicking them on and off.

The tools appeared to work properly. Airen lie on the floor and worked the upper half of her body underneath some big heavy machine, she couldn't name. It occurred to Airen she should hire a mechanic, just in case something ever did really go wrong.

Airen bent her knees up and spread them apart, trying to look the part. Airen knew the pirates were coming. She could feel several people already onboard her ship. Airen continued to wait and act as if she were cluelessly trying to fix something.

 

[jamessour]

The boarding process was much quieter than he had anticipated. They can make boarding quiet but not hyperspace travel silent? Tarnit shook his head as he heard the ship's onboard communication system click on:

"Attention crew of Merchant Moon 4, we have commandeered your ship and have control of the bridge." The voice was much smoother and well spoken than pirates typically would be. "We have two teams sweeping the ship. Please, don't do anything stupid - we'd hate to have to kill you."

Tarnit smiled at the threat the same time two pirates armed with blasters came through the doorway. They were dressed like typical smugglers and ruffians. They were, however, armed to the teeth. "Alright, hands up and turn around slow."

With his hands slowly moving up, he turned. One of the pirates walked up and relieved Tarnit of his blaster hanging on his hip.

"I'd love to have that back." Tarnit jeered.

"We'll see. Let's go back up to the bridge. Cap'n will decide what's to happen with you." They slowly lead Tarnit back to the bridge, where they had him sit in the captain's chair.

Meanwhile, two other pirates entered the engine room where Airen was 'working.'

@Vinn Esper

 

[Vinn Esper]

Airen continued pretending to work until she hard the announcement. Even that was mostly lost to the buzz of the engine room. Airen made a show of banging her head on the machine and sliding out from under it. As she started to reach for the xpc, she saw it was in the hands of a pirate and being pointed at her.

"Nice gun," the pirate said. "It'd be a shame if I had to use it to mess up that pretty face. Get up, slow." Airen complied with the pirate, remaining silent as of she were genuinely frightened. The pirates were mean and shoved her down the hallway towards the bridge regardless of how quickly she tried to walk.

"I'm not a hapan," she said to them hoping they would be a little more polite. It didn't work. The pirates laughed and kept shoving her.

Eventually she got to the bridge where her companion was already waiting. "Ca- Captain Tarnit, what is going on," Airen said filling her voice with false fear and confusion. Airen looked around the room forming the defensive strategy, she would employ if needed.

 

[jamessour]

"It seems we have been boarded - " Tarnit was suddenly was cut off with a punch to the gut. "uff!"

"Shut it." The obvious leader of the group scoffed. "The only captain on this ship is me now." He smiled at the rest of the pirates. In total there were six of them. "We hear you have some supplies, we are here to relieve you of your burdensome load so that you can get on with your repairs."

After a moment, Tarnit spoke slowly and softly, "Well that is incredibly thoughtful of you... however, you are too late." Tarnit looked at Airen, hoping she would follow his lead.

"What do you mean we are too late?" The brigand retorted.

Tarnit smiled slowly, rubbing his midsection which had been punched. "We don't have any supplies."

A silence fell over the cockpit for a long moment. "... What do you mean you have no supplies? You are a supply transport, are you not?"

"Well, the landing crew told us that pirates were active, we so jettisoned the supplies." He crossed his arms across his chest.

"Well, in that case, you are no good to us! And that means you are expendable!" The Pirate growled, throwing his fist into the air in defiance.

"Not so fast, my friend. We still have weapons." At the moment he said 'weapons' his saber sprung from its pocket and ignited when it reached his hands. Immediately one of the pirates fired at Tarnit, who deflected the bolt back into the pirate's leg. Tarnit looked to Airen, hoping that she escaped her guards, but didn't kill anyone.

@Vinn Esper

 

[Vinn Esper]

Despite being angry at women, the pirate guards payed most of their attention to the other Jedi, who was talking. Though they could not know he was a Jedi. If they had known, they might have just shot us in the first place. Airen could feel a gradual build up of the Force as her partner spoke. He had some kind of plan going on in his head.

"Well that is incredibly thoughtful of you," the Jedi Master said to the leader of the Pirates that had boarded her ship. As he did he looked over at her. Airen met his gaze with her own unconcerned stare. She couldn't wink to signify she understood, because the pirates might notice. So she reached out and touched his mind with the force, trying to signify she understood.

There were two guards, sort of watching Airen and two watching the Jedi Master. One of the guards watching her had her own xpc almost directly to her back. The other was in front of her, and off to one side. Airen began to gather the force to her, and prepare her defence.

As soon as Airen felt the Jedi Master begin to unleash his pent up force, she began to do the same. Just as he said "weapons", Airen back flipped in the force behind her captor, who found himself propelled forward, as he tried to react. The pirate who had been behind her collided with the pirate who had been in front of her.

She ran over to the pair, kicking her xpc across the room and away from any pirate hands. She pointed the blade of her light saber down and near the faces of the pirates. "I told you I wasn't a Hapan," she taunted the defeated pirates. Airen turned to the other Jedi, keeping her blade pointed towards the enemy. "What shall we do with them, Mister Tarnit?"

 

[jamessour]

The conflict was over quick. After, deflecting the bolt, Tarnit released a quick force push, knocking leader down.

"What shall we do with them, Mister Tarnit?" Tarnit smiled as Airen spoke with her saber aimed at the enemies.

"Well, I suppose that very much depends on what they want to do." Tarnit deactivated his blade and turned to face Airen, allowing her to keep the pirates in check. It was his hope that they would be slightly offended and unnerved that Tarnit wasn't terribly concerned with them. "We have several options. I know the Hapans would happily take them into prison, and likely give a donation to our Order as well. However, it would mean these pirates would lose their freedom and suffer under the authority of the Hapan Government once more..." He let it hang for a moment. He wanted it to sink it. These pirates were scared of and tired of being under a sometimes tyrannical feministic government, and the thought of being in prison under them again was perhaps the worst thing that could happen to the Pirates.

"Or, if they help us out, they could be free to leave. It very much depends on if they would take us to their base of operations, and introduce us to their boss." Tarnit looked down to the Pirates again to see how they were feeling. They seemed defeated. They weren't ready to go to prison.

"What do you think, Airen?"

@Vinn Esper

 

[Billbo Swaggins]

(OOC: Replacing @Vinn Esper due to his leaving the site)

"Well, I suppose it would be the best way to get into their headquarters." Eryn agreed with the simple effectiveness of the plan, but couldn't help but squirm a bit at allowing these few to escape justice.

If there had truly been unarmed traders on this ship instead of the two Jedi, the pirates would likely have ruthlessly murdered them. She consoled herself with the knowledge that both the pirates in front of them and those that they would meet soon would have an encounter with what was due soon enough, though.

The golden-yellow of her lightsaber disappeared as she, too, lowered her weapon. She wasn't the best at reading the emotions of others, but it was fairly evident that the pirates had lost the fight in them and had surrendered wholesale to the two Jedi. She nodded towards Tarnit,
"I agree, Master. What is the plan?"

@jamessour

 

[jamessour]

The lead-Pirate was deflated. "You don't want to visit a Hapan Cell, do you?" Tarnit extended a hand to help him up.

"Of course not Jedi. Now tell me what you need." The Pirate stood and brushed himself off.

Tarnit was careful to make sure he was still alert and to look and see where all the weapons were located but spoke calmly. "I assume that if this were a normal raid, you would leave the ship and return quickly to base with your cargo. Correct?" The man nodded. "Well, let's move back to your ship then."

The pirates slowly stood and Tarnit looked at Eryn and said softly, "Be sure to keep an eye on them as we board the ship. Something tells me that they're not going to take this lying down."

Tarnit escorted the lead-pirate in the front, followed by the rest of the captive brigands, and flanked by Eryn. They began to board the Pirates ship. If all went well, the pirates would submit and fly to their base. However, there were numerous ways the pirates could still mess with the Jedi.

@TheCalmOne

 

[Billbo Swaggins]

"I concur. These people cannot be trusted."

These men were pirates. Pirates pirate. Eryn would not trust people who pirate. She made certain to keep her lightsaber at the ready, although she kept it unactivated for now. Still, if they decided to turn on the Jedi, she and her weapon would be ready to put an end to their crimes.

As they boarded the pirate ship, she took in her surroundings. It was a fairly large ship, for the number of pirates that had originally boarded their ship - perhaps due to the amount of cargo they normally stole from traders.

The Captain led them to the bridge and hesitated before the door,
"If we cooperate, we'll go free, right?"

@jamessour

 

[jamessour]

Tarnit smiled graciously, "You may be able to go free. That depends on how you handle the next set of instructions." Tarnit emphasized with his inflection that their freedom wasn't guaranteed, but it still required their cooperation.

The captain scowled and his body became visibly tense, sending waves through the Force that Tarnit predicted could end in a fight. "You said-"

Cutting him off, Tarnit put a hand on his hand, calling on the force to calm the brigand down. "Listen. I want us all to get out of here alive. I need you to take us back to your base. If you do that, and you introduce me to your boss, I will let you leave free." Tarnit smiled as he finished the sentence in his head even though we will report the position of the base to the Hapans.

The force calmed the Captain down and the pirates took their place and quickly calculated a short jump into the neighboring system. The ship slowly descended into a small hanger on an asteroid.

Little did the Jedi know, that the pirates had sent warning ahead and that a welcoming party had assembled, but they weren't preparing a warm welcome... Unless you count the burn of blasters as warm.

@TheCalmOne

 

[Billbo Swaggins]

As the ship landed and the pirate crew finished powering down the craft, the Captain once again turned to the two Jedi,
"Done. We're here. Now what?"

His voice was filled with malice. Eryn somehow got the impression that he had been cowed only temporarily. Looking outside the viewport, she saw that the hangar was mostly empty, with a few people entering from a relatively large entrance and headed towards the ship. They were armed lightly and didn't appear as if looking for a fight. She leaned over a whispered to her companion,
"Doesn't look like the ones the base have caught on just yet. What's the plan?"

 

[jamessour]

Tarnit nodded gravely as he listened to Eryn and looked out the viewport. Whispering back, his voice held a severity as he closed his eyes drinking in the Force, "Something tells me it's not going to end peacefully, Eryn. Be on guard. Until then, we get introduced to the boss."

Tarnit turned, clapping his hands and his face finding a smile that had been practiced hundreds of times. "Now we carry on the plan!" Tarnit said to the captain, with the severity replaced with a form of sing-song. This made the captain boil. His anger was as easily seen as it was sensed. "Oh, and make sure you don't do anything stupid. We want this to be as peaceful as possible."

The captain stood and swore loudly. "Fine. Let me make a communication with Gerard, and we will be on our way." Tarnit nodded and the captain manned the computer typing away. With a small flourish, he turned and stood. "Follow me, jedi" He spat the last word as he walked slowly out of the ship.

The group walked down the ramp, flanked by the jedi and they made their way past curious and slightly perturbed men. After walking down the hallway, they entered what could best be described as a type of thrown room. Tarnit nodded, in his experience ruffians typically adopted more basic and instinctual forms governance. Almost always there was some alpha wolf that demanded to be listened to. This Gerard was one such wolf. He was a slightly overweight Hapan man, sitting on a large chair, with a large goblet of ale in his hand.

In a boisterous voice, he called to the group, "What did you bring me, Yun?" He was speaking to the captain who quickly replied.

"These jedi demand an audience with you, Gerard." The captain quickly stepped aside.

"What do you want?" Gerard spoke, but the inflection was less of a question and more of a statement, demanding a replay.

"Greetings, sire. We are Jedi Emissaries. We seek to settle the disagreement between you and the Hapan Government." Tarnit replied diplomatically.

As Gerard laughed, several men started assembling in the room, circling the jedi. Armed to the teeth.

@TheCalmOne