The advantage of intergalactic trade

[Aurelie Fleury]

The Hellion was slowly making it's way out of Exoleen's outer atmosphere. It almost felt rude how calm it could be inside the ship as utter chaos plagued any space traffic going to or from Thraxa spaceport, the most heavily trafficked hub on the planet. Naturally, feeling rude about the chaos would be especially fitting for Hask and Aurelie who happened to be very much responsible for the situation. The mayhem planet-side was perfect, for they had planned on raiding a shipment and this would surely prevent any kind of timely reaction from the Exoleen navy. Speaking of a navy was, actually, rather generous as the newly independent planet's fleet was primarily commercial and what few military ships they had were in dire need of maintenance and manpower. Nevertheless, the lack of reinforcements of any kind was rather essential in order for the plan to work.

Aurelie sat slouched on the co-pilot's seat. The mayhem they caused came at a cost as she had been shot in the calf. The damage was not quite as devastating as it could've been as the range from which the shot was fired was on the farther side of the spectrum. Still, for a thief who'd greatest injury from before was a broken bone, the apocalyptic thoughts were rather inevitable. She glanced over at Hask, grateful for his help as he both brought her back safely to the ship and shared his medical supplies with her. The young woman wore a pair of loose pants with the left leg of the pant rolled all the way up to her thigh, exposing the injured calf wrapped in a kolto-infused bandage. Aurelie felt fine when she weren't moving or putting pressure on the leg, but the pain was certainly noticeable when she walked. The girl was hoping that the effects of the kolto would kick in with a greater impact very soon, or else she'd have a hard time boarding the vessel carrying the shipment when the time came.

"Thanks for saving me out there, chief" she said with a sincere tone, refraining from playing around like she usually did. She thought back to how composed he had remained under the stressful situation - compared to their expedition on Exoleen, the thief's normal activities seemed like a walk in the park. She reached over and put a hand on his shoulder, wincing a little from the pain as she had accidentally moved the injured leg "I'll try to repay the favour someday" her tone was still serious, but he could soon see a playful glimmer in her eyes and a slight smile "When the day comes and I'm going to collect on your bounty, I'll let you choose in what state you are to be delivered" The girl giggled mischievously as she quickly retreated back to her side prepared for any retaliatory measures the Sith might take.

After a while, the two would arrive at the coordinates which Aurelie had entered into the navigational system. She pointed out the window at five RX/5 starfighters floating in the same formations as the five dots on a primitive six-sided dice. "That's all the resistance we'll face out here." she said with a proud and excited voice.

@KinkyPrawn

 

[Hask Jen]

Hask sat in his seat, piloting the Hellion out of the atmosphere and moving to Aurelie's provided coordinates. It seems her skills paid off, providing them with the exact coordinates of their prey's exit out of hyperspace.

He was out of his armour and his weapons were in the workshop. There was no need for them on his person on his ship, after all. He was dressed in a simple black t-shirt and sweatpants, not even wearing shoes. He sat back in his seat, keeping his eye on the flightpath, but shot a quick look at Aurelie's leg every now and then to make sure she was alright.

He might have seemed calm and collected...and indeed he was for the better part of the mission...but he was steadily losing his nerve when the alarm was sounded and his friend was shot. He blamed himself for her injury. If he remained wary of his surroundings it would have never come to that. At least they escaped with their lives and a complete mission, so in his opinion it balanced out somewhat.

Somewhat.

She leaned over and thanked om for helping her out, of course followed by a snarky comment. It was a relief to see her sense of humour was still intact. He shot her a small smile in response, but he was still angry at himself over her injury.

"No need to pay me back. We're partners right? We look out for each other, free of charge." he said calmly and happily, reassuring her that payback isn't necessary.

It wasn't long before their prey arrived, escorted by 5 RX-5 escort starfighters flying in a simple line formation around the freighter in the front. 'The Freighter' was a simple Gorath-Class heavy freighter, stock standard and very vulnerable without an escort...and in the exact position that the pureblood wanted them to be. If Exoleen were under the Empire's control, pulling off a stunt like this could be suicide, but without that kind of protection the fleets' defence dropped drastically. Couple that with just exiting out of hyperspace, a valuable cargo, no prepped shields and walking in an ambush unprepared, you've got yourself a sitting duck most pirates would die for.

He stood up, handing control over to his friend as he went to suit up for battle. Although her leg was still hurt, she could still pilot like a pro and theoretically she should be able to aid him in boarding if they do their job correctly.

At least reinforcements won't be coming anytime soon to aid this whale of a freighter.

As soon as he was ready for battle he took his seat in the turret and swung it around to keep the small convoy in his sights.

"Alright, shields up, weapons hot. Let's take out these fighters quickly and easily" he spoke into the ship's comms to his pilot. He pressed a few buttons, bringing the blueprints up in hologram form of both the starfighters and the freighter for him and Aurelie, so the both knew what to aim for.

@Pyrenees

 

[Aurelie Fleury]

Hask didn't retaliate after Aurelie's joke about the bounty. She eyed him suspiciously until he spoke, he was serious. Looking at him for a few moments, the young woman finally decided to make another joke, despite him being sincere with her "Actually, you're paying me to be here" She smirked but soon found herself incapable of just disregarding his kind words "But yeah, we're partners, Hask and Aurie" she announced with a sense of happiness in her words.

***​

It didn't take long until the shipment arrived with the escorting fighters swooshing about, roughly in a simple line formation. "Did you like the trivia earlier?" she asked while Hask stood up, thinking of the little side note in the message she sent. Not caring much for an answer, she decided to share some information about the shipment regardless - and when Hask left to get ready for the battle, she continued over the comms, not wanting to rob him of the (more or less) interesting information "You know, after Exoleen seceded from the Empire, they found themselves without a real navy. Their one saving grace is that their planet lies so close to Corellia, but Corellia is still controlled by the Empire and can't just sell the seceding states a bunch of military ships, right? So, instead of buying ships, these guys decided to start building ships themselves!" She paused for a moment, considering her last sentence "Well, at least they're trying to" she said with a laugh over the comms. "Can you guess why this freighter of ours is carrying that shield generator of yours?" Without waiting for an answer, she responded to the question herself, apparently having had a few boring hours on Exoleen "Yupp, they're carrying ship parts for the Exoleen build-it-yourself edition of a warship." With a raised finger, which could hardly be seen by Hask, the surprisingly well-read Aurelie added "It's because of it's military significance that it has an escort of its own. Usually, they just rely on protection being sent from Thraxa in the event of an emergency" It was obvious in the tone of her voice that she was rather proud, as that element of their defense had already been eliminated by the first step of the plan.

Aurelie piloted the Hellion steadily towards the shipment until she was hailed by the captain of the freighter "This is captain Yurm Gloute. This is a sanctioned and protected vessel and shan't be approached without prior clearance. We do not recognize your vessel and therefore ask you to change your course immediately." Aurelie waited for a few moments and produced the most nervous voice she could muster "II'm sosorry ma'am, captain" she stuttered "My, uh, uncle is ttaking me out for a first lesson in piloting." The thief was quite happy about her performance and didn't have to wait very long until she received a response "Very well, lass. Just change your course, OK?"

After the exchange with captain Gloute, Aurelie changed the course, steering the ship diagonally upwards. Soon, they were in a position from which they could sweep down and attack all five fighters who were awkwardly positioned in a line formation. At the command of her Captain, the young woman was prepared to sweep down in a first offensive.

@KinkyPrawn

 

[Hask Jen]

Hask sat in the ball of the Hellion's gun turret. Frankly it was embarrassing that this was the only armament his ship had. Nevertheless he sat calmly in the seat, listening to Aurelie speak in the comms as he watched the heavy freighter.

"Definitely makes sense. With them breaking away from the Empire all of their shipping lanes will be exposed and open for attacks much worse than this..." he trailed off as the wheels were turning in his head. Something was off...then it hit him.

"I just noticed something. Take a look at that freighter. I'm not sure if it's coincidence or not, but those Gorath-class freighters can really easily be souped up into a proper makeshift warship. They call them 'Janteel Galleons', really popular with pirates and serious mercenary groups that are looking for a serious warship on the cheap-cheap. I'd wager the only cargo that thing is carrying is the generator...because the freighter itself is cargo as well." he explained, thinking out loud more than anything else.

Their last peaceful minutes were cut short when the freighter's captain hailed them. At least Aurelie was quick to think of something, fooling the captain perfectly. As they flew overhead Hask spoke up. "Alright, flip her over, belly up. We got a clean shot on the freighter and a fighter to boot, let's make it count!"

As soon as the ship flipped over and brought the freighter's engines into his sights, he opened fire. 3 rounds lobbed into the engines, disabling them and bringing the ship to a standstill. Hask didn't stop, lobbing a few rounds at their turret as it spun to face them. The gun made a small explosion and fell flat as the Hellion's rounds hit their mark. One of the fighters flew up to meet them, but received 2 rounds right into its cockpit, destroying it and stopping the fighter dead in its tracks.

Their 15 seconds of fame was up. All 4 other fighters scrambled to take them out.

"Aurelie, full power! Let's give them something to chase, shall we?" Hask said as a menacing smile grew on his face.

"Game time."
​

@Pyrenees

 

[Aurelie Fleury]

After the trivia session, Hask seemed to have been inspired as he too, started to sprout trivia regarding the shipment they were attacking. Aurelie chuckled in her seat as she found the entire conversation rather amusing, still, the information could prove to be rather useful, especially for the last part of the plan. Right before the comms chat with Captain Gloute, the girl managed to throw a sarcastic comment at him "Yeah, yeah Mr. smarty-pants".

***​

The co-pilot's hands held the controls steadily. She knew she was a skilled pilot, having learned how to handle a ship since a young age and even participated in a particularly nasty Swoop race on Nar Shaddaa - but aside from said swoop race, she didn't have any experience flying while being shot at. Well, there was this mission she did for a noble where she got her hands on a fighter, but still, thoroughly inexperienced, almost. At least, she wouldn't have to shoot while also flying the ship now that Hask manned the turret, which was quite a relief. There seemed to be some kind of silence before the storm, as she waited for Hasks signal to commence the attack.

There seemed to be a certain sense of calm to the Sith as he spoke up. With one swift movement, the Hellion flipped over and made a sharp turn towards the shipment. The young woman could see the lasers of the Hellion's light cannons taking out the engines of the freighter while the fighters started scattering. Seeing as there was little point in continuing heading for the center-mass of the freighter, Aurelie steered the ship towards the backside of it instead, allowing the pilot to take out the turret and one of the fighters.

The smaller fighters were somewhat quicker than the Hellion and it didn't take very long until the companions had a four-fighter tail. In an effort to avoid the fighters flurry of bolts, Aurelie piloted the Hellion, which was by the backside of the freighter by now, to go in under the belly of the large craft, granting them a momentary respite from the chase. The thief wanted to give Hask a better shot at the fighters which were bound to arrive behind them soon and consequentially turned the Hellion over once again. With the light scout craft and the freighter flying belly to belly, he'd have a clear shot at the fighters swooshing down behind them, especially considering that they had to turn in a wider arch than Hask's more maneuverable vessel.

What Aurelie hadn't expected was for the defenders to split up with only two fighters following them below the freighter. As soon as they got out from under the belly of the freighter at its nose, shots could be seen from the two other fighters who waited for them above the large freighter. "Incomming!" she screamed in surprise as she made a barrel roll to avoid as many bolts as possible.

@KinkyPrawn

 

[Hask Jen]

Aurelie handled his ship like a natural.

This is where his ship would have a chance to prove its worth, because never before did the Hellion need to go head to head with an escort on its own. Getting out of here unscathed seemed almost impossible.​

She dove them down around the backside of the Gorath and flew in underneath it. As she was doing this Hask was banging round after round at the enemy pursuers coming up behind them. He was rather confused as to why there was only 2 pursuing, until he realised what they were planning.

He spun the turret around just as his co-pilot screamed and barrel-rolled to avoid the shots. The ship shook a little as the shields absorbed some of the shots and went down, leaving only the ship's hull armour to protect them. The pureblood retaliated by peppering the fighter to the front right as it flew past, tearing it apart. On that trail he turned to fire at the right-hand fighter in pursuit, but only hit its wing slightly as it broke off to avoid getting shot.

Another violent shake caught Hask's attention. 3 bolts hit the left side of the Hellion, scorching the armour and blowing a small hole in the hull as one of the fighters took a wide left turn to face them.

They were being swarmed, flying in a line like this. The had to get one of the fighters off their tail

"Aurie, evasive manoeuvres! Don't fly in a straight line. If those missiles hit us we're dead! Bank left!" He spoke, focused on the fighter coming in from his left, just out of range. A quick left tug from her would put it right in his crosshairs...

@Pyrenees​

 

[Aurelie Fleury]

Aurelie's stress levels were going through the roof as a the flurry of bolts flew past and and the ship shook as it lost it's shields. "Blast it, blast it, blast it, blast it" she whispered to herself off of the comms. The girl noticed how Hask managed to peel off a fighter and thought that the situation was starting to improve. That was not the case as the Hellion soon shook a second time. An alarm signal went off as the damage monitor for the outer hull started flashing red "I'm sorry!!" she exclaimed over the comms, prolonging the y as she made a minor adjustment to the course upon another two shots being fired, barely evading the attack.

It was quite fortunate that Hask was there as the young woman had a hard time figuring out how to best escape the fighters. The co-pilot didn't hesitate at following the captain's orders and quickly made a hard turn to the left. After having turned 90 degrees, Aurelie maintained the turn to the left but kept a slightly wider arch, allowing her her to take sudden dramatic turns in any direction while maintaining the course back towards the freighter. Any ship chasing them from behind would eventually be faced with the risk of hitting their own vessel if Aurelie managed to evade their shots.

The journey back to the larger ship was very tense for the thief who noticed that there was one particular fighter that was especially ruthless in its attacks. While she managed to evade most of the shots, the ship soon shook another time as the upper left wing was hit near the top from behind. The girl weren't sure if Hask would ever let her pilot the ship again and piped up in the comms a second time "Sorry! I'll fix it up later, promise!". Soon, they reached the freighter, and this time, Aurelie dived in against it's right side, putting it between the Hellion and the fighters still coming from the left.

@KinkyPrawn

 

[Hask Jen]

She immediately banked left and the shot lined up as perfectly as he could ask for. The barrels lit up and the fighter blew apart as Hask lobbed a couple rounds into him.

The ship took a wide turn out from underneath and flew around the left of the freighter in a wide arch. Another fighter stayed with them, firing and tearing off the Hellion's top left wing, causing Hask to spray him down with cannon fire as he growled in anger. Aurelie was apologising all the way for the damage, but he ignored her. He stayed focused on the last fighter, coming up behind them from below, levelling out behind them and firing 2 missiles. Hask fired wildly to try and hit the missiles, but only managed to hit the last fighter and one missile.

The second missile came right for them, fast and ruthlessly. "BRACE FOR IMPA...!" he was cut off as the ship lurched, throwing him out of his chair and to the floor. He took a knock to the temple as he landed, dazing him and causing his ears to ring.

He felt the ship lose speed significantly and depressurise a bit before returning to normal. "Au...Aurie?!" he called out her nickname in a weak voice, but he could barely hear himself. He sat on his knees and hands, trying to get back up but finding himself too dazed to stand.

"Aurie!" he called again, his hearing started coming back, but he started worrying about his first mate. "Where are you? Speak to me!"

The Hellion took a massive beating. One of its 3 rear thrusters was blown off and a big chunk of the cargo hold's ramp was torn off as well, which caused the depressurisation. At least the emergency ray shield kicked in quickly, returning the artificial atmosphere to normal. His astromech screamed in its binary language as it put out a small fire that erupted in the kitchen area.

Some cables hung from the roof, throwing a slight spark every few seconds.

The ship was thankfully still operational, but both it's light and sub-light speed lost more than a third of its output.

Tough girl.

Same could be said about his first mate, as he saw her approaching...or it looked like her at least, with his head spinning it was a little hard to tell.

@Pyrenees

 

[Aurelie Fleury]

Despite the maneuver around the large freighter, it seemed as if it was only a matter of time before the final fighter could line up behind them. "Kriff!" Her voice was high pitched as she saw that the fighter had lined up behind them on the scanner. "Another scratch and Hask will kill me" she thought while biting her lower lip. The girl knew that was a rather unlikely scenario, but considering how much he loved his ship, this was one of the least implausible scenarios under which he'd do it. There was not much else to do than to turn the Hellion around again and making use of their superior maneuverability. That didn't happen though.

Barely having any time to react to what the captain screamed, everything soon started to shake extremely violently as the missile connected. Aurelie once again seemed to hear everything is if she were underwater, just as when she'd been shot. "Thanks dad" she mumbled while raising her heads and eyes upwards - he always insisted on her wearing the seatbelt and activating all safety programmes which probably saved her from life long pain or even death. She didn't feel very energetic at all as she sat there in her seat, allowing her head to fall back down. Her chest area hurt quite a bit, a natural consequence as the safety straps pushed against it hard during the crash. The noticed that she'd started bleeding as the straps had been particularly strained at her upper left-hand side and probably been able to cut deep enough to cause the bleeding. But all in all, she had gotten away with relatively minor injuries.

As the the girl patted herself down and made sure that she didn't have any new holes anywhere, she came to think of Hask. She started taking off all the seat belt straps and the other safety measures in a rather speedy manner when she heard her friend call out for her. She could barely hear his voice and what she could hear didn't sound like the voice she was used to, in this instance, he sounded weak, maybe even desperate. She started working quicker at removing everything holding her to the seat and shouted out "Coming!" with a cough as the smoke from the fire had reached her too. Before standing up, she threw a look at the scanner - while the thief could usually catch small details after a quick glance, this time, she just saw a couple of lights on the screen, too rushed and worried to bother deciphering what they meant.

Although the Kolto's effects had grown notably since before, she could still feel some pain in her calf as she stood up. It was survivable though and the momentary pain in her chest was even more noticeable than the pain in her leg. Hask called out for her again, this time sounding a little stronger, but still far from normal. "I..." she begun as she started walking, careful not to step on any debris which had fallen to the floor or stumbling into any wires hanging from above. "I'm on my way! Just.. au!" she let out a small whine as a cable flung down from above and hit her to the left prompting a little bleeding from her chest to commence again. She was lucky that the cable wasn't cut open, however, as that could potentially electrocute her.

After taking a large step past a toppled over shelf, she spotted Hask on his hands and knees "Hask!" she shouted, followed by an unending stream of the word 'kriff' as she rushed forth towards him. It was clear that the captain was alive, but he had certainly seen better days. She quickly knelt down to his right and carefully patted him down, just as she'd done to herself a few moments earlier. He didn't appear to have any injuries which would make standing up or moving dangerous and she kept asking if he was alright. "I think the fighters are gone, at least they haven't come around for seconds." she reported with very rapid words. The girl took a deep breath "Let's get you to the med bay. I need you, we're partners, right? Hask and Aurie" her bright blue eyes were filled with worry as she guided his right arm onto her shoulders and readied herself to help him to his feet whenever he was ready.

@KinkyPrawn

 

[Hask Jen]

He was glad to hear her voice. She was alright.

She tried to help him to his feet but he just slid down and sat on the ground. Before she could help him he held his right hand up to stop her, while he placed his forehead in his left hand in an attempt to stop the world from spinning. "No I...I...I'm..." he exhaled deeply and shakily as he sat with his back against a wall. "I'm okay. Just...give me a minute." he said softly.

The world stopped spinning but he still had a feint ring in his ears. He just needed to catch his breath.

When he felt confident enough, he slowly stood up. Using the wall as leverage he got off the ground and looked Aurelie over. He noticed that she was bleeding faintly from her chest. "Are you okay? You're bleeding..." he said weakly, placing his mechanical arm on her shoulder as he looked her over. "Sit down. Take the weight off your leg. I'll be right back." he said softly, turning to the ladder next to him and climbing up with a struggle to see the status of the Gorath freighter.

With the scanners down he had no way of seeing whether their shields were up or not. Going against his better judgement he shot a round at them. It absorbed into a green bubble around the ship. Firing a few more times he saw their shield go down.

"Perfect."

Hask climbed down and ironically swung Aurelie's arm over his neck, taking the weight off her leg. "I leave you alone with my ship for five minutes and this is what you do to it." he said to her, laughing weakly at his own terribly placed joke.

He helped her to the med-bay, placing her down on the bed. "Let's get you patched up then I'll go over there and get the shield. You stay here, I don't want you in another firing line." he said sternly as he scrounged around, looking for bandages and a kolto pack.

His ears finally stopped ringing and he felt like a pureblood once again. Now he had to focus on his friend.

The freighter isn't going to go anywhere soon, so they had time to do a quick patch-up before docking...

@Pyrenees

 

[Aurelie Fleury]

The two made a valiant effort to get the Sith back on his feet again but he didn't seem to have the energy and Aurelie most definitely couldn't hold up his weight on her own. She listened to him as he pleaded for her to give him a minute or two to recover. With a nod, a soft smile and caring "Of course, chief" Aurelie stood back up. She carefully made her way to the kitchen area where the astromech had already managed to douse the fire. Picking up a bottle of water for her friend, the thief returned, only to see that Hask had already risen to his feet. Before managing to give him the water, he started examining her too. "Yeah, I'm fine. It hurts, but nothing major."

Hask had the right idea when he told her to alleviate the pressure on her injured leg and she did as he said. Seeing him climb up the ladder to the turret, however, made her worry. It simply didn't seem like his brightest moment when the recently dazed captain climbed up the ladder to the turret. At that moment, preventing another accident seemed like the most relevant course of action for the young woman who walked over to the ladder, prepared to aid her friend in case of an accident. The ship's cannon was much larger than any weaponry she'd ever handled from up close. Seeing Hask fire it and the ensuing recoil along with the violent flash of light as the laser left the barrel startled her for the briefest of moments, reminding her that she weren't really used to combat in the same way as him.

Without much opportunity to neither hop away nor resist, Aurelie felt as her friend swung her arm around his neck to prevent her from putting too much pressure on her leg. She didn't feel quite right supporting herself on her friend who had just been on his hands and knees shouting for her on the floor but he had proven time and time again that he had good judgement in these kinds of situations where she felt more like a Tauntaun in the dense jungles of Felucia. At first, she was scared to death as the Sith made his joke about the damaged ship. Just as she was about to apologize, the girl noticed that he was laughing at what was a joke all along. "Careful now Sithy, I bite!" she snapped and proceeded to show her teeth and produce a most harmless "Grrr!"

It was good that they were on their way to the medbay, at least he agreed with what she said before. Even if there was nothing obviously wrong with him, Aurelie felt that it was important that she could check up on his injuries more thoroughly. Apparently, they did not have the same idea as she soon found herself on the bed instead of him. She started to let out the beginning of a long 'Heeey' when he spoke up. Her friend seemed to have recovered a little as his voice was more spry then before - he was even capable of producing the stern voice which she had fist encountered on Tatooine. Hearing his stern voice, Aurelie didn't feel very inclined to argue at all, although this time, she was quite tempted too as her friend wanted to board the freighter alone while she was feeling alright. She just laid there for a few moments, hands clasped together on her flat belly as she debated whether to say something or not. The girl locked eyes with him for a while and was about to speak up, but in the end, she stayed quiet. While no words left her mouth, it was clear that she was conflicted and both the worry and concern for her captain could be seen in her eyes.

@KinkyPrawn

 

[Hask Jen]

He took a bandage and cleaned the wound on her chest. At least he didn't have to undress her to do it. Something told him it would end badly regardless of the situation.

He applied a kolto-infused bandage to the wound. It wasn't very big or deep so it would be healed up within the hour.

She wanted to argue but he interrupted her. "No if's, but's, or anything. You are in no condition to fight, board or attack." he said in his stern voice, satisfied that she didn't argue back. He sensed her confusion as he checked up on her leg. "Don't even think about it. You are staying on this ship until I say otherwise...that's an order." he finished his speech.

When she was done he made his way to the workshop next door. He grabbed his helmet and slid it on. In no time at all he was in the bridge...which looked like a nightmare. How the ship was still functioning was a miracle. He checked the status of the ship...or what's left of it. At least all primary functions were online.

He manoeuvred what was left of his ship to dock on the heavy freighter's left ring. As the tube pressurised and his door opened up, he stared at the enemy vessel's door.

He could sense the crew's fear, anxiety and anger. As soon as that door opens, all hell would come pouring out.

Just another day of the week for a sith.

He unclipped his lightsabers, ignited both crimson blades and breathed a deep breath as he steadied himself, drew the force around him and made ready to breach.

"Just another day of the week..."

/End Thread

@Pyrenees