Ask The Best Laid Plans...

[Linjal S'Nad]

Fortunately for the Cathar, they were skittish, and when Silvus fired, their foot flicked out of the way as they startled in response to the sound of a blaster discharging. The bolt seared itself into the floor of the ship, leaving a visible scorch mark and the unmistakable smell of something melted. (Cathar dodge roll: 19/20)

Unfortunately for the Cathar, Linjal was also skittish. The Zygerrian startled as well, his grip tightening not only on the Cathar's shoulder but also on his blaster, and his own blaster went off; sending a stun bolt square into the Cathar's jaw. The man crumpled to the floor, depriving Linjal of his shield and his bargaining chip.

"Very well" said the Zygerrian after a beat; nodding his head in agreement as he fumed on the inside. Incompetent Cathar! Truly, the Zeltron was correct that he'd stumbled across "An even split it is. I shall rejoin you as soon as I secure this one on my ship." Silvus needn't worry about him making off with this putz of a captive. One arm would begin dragging the limp form of the unconscious Cathar with him, while the other still gripped his blaster. "And no funny business!" he said; threatening someone else always made him feel better about himself.

@Moon Nymph

 

[Silvus Dawn]

“Pssh, please!” You would have to look far for so clumsy a being.
Silvus allowed Linjal to drag the slender Cathar off to his ship, but like him he never stopped holding his blaster in a firm grip. Cooperation with this man was not something he found desirable, but it was a mere question about time and resources. A necessary evil.

He awaited his return with his back leaned against the cold dura steel wall behind him.
“I will suggest we cherrypick the group. You took this one because he was available, but time may not be on our side in this”.

@SlagathorTheUnknown

 

[Linjal S'Nad]

Linjal nearly cut his losses and ran, but the promise of more profit outweighed his disdain for the Zeltron and the awful deal he'd been forced to accept. Giving the semiconscious Cathar a kick for good measure after dumping him inside one of the cells on his ship, Linjal checked the scanners once more and found the surrounding space clear.

It would not stay that way.

No sooner had Linjal returned to the pleasure yacht when he was alerted by his droid that there was an incoming ship. The Zygerrian was incensed, and he made his displeasure known. "You idiot!" he raged, his voice carrying throughout the hallways as he strode towards where he had left the Zeltron. "If you called in some kind of backup, all they'll find of you are pieces!" Linjal flexed his clawed hands furiously. There was about one minute until the pleasure yacht was docked at from the other side; as a small patrol craft with half a dozen crew pulled up alongside the yacht. Cursing in his native tongue, Linjal took cover behind a table and faced his blaster towards where the troops would enter...

@Moon Nymph
(Minutes to backup arriving: Rolled 1/6)

 

[Silvus Dawn]

The relaxed stance of Silvus evaporated into thin air, and his colourful face turned gradually paler by the second. He watched Linjal, grinding his teeth roughly together in frustration.
NO!

When Silvus had talked about limited time, he didn’t expect to jinx anything. He felt his heart begin to raze, and he looked down the hallway, trying to calculate the best move possible. Retreat would mean all of this had been in vain. If he stayed, he would possibly be able to get away as soon as the ship arrived to the closest spaceport. He could just be a poor victim like everyone on this ship. But, that required that the original celebrity hadn’t been found yet. It was an unknown. A risk.

Trying to escape wouldn’t necessarily be the safest bet either. But staying would mean he escaped empty-handed. Silvus looked at the brave Zygerrian that rather would play hide and seek. That was when he sat in sprint down the hallway from where he came.

“Excellent initiative, my friend! You hold them back with those claws, right?”
Linjal didn’t get room to answer, because the tall Zeltron was gone.


Logic fought the rising sensation of panic and adrenaline in his chest. His eyes flickered around to his surroundings. Millions of thoughts crowded his mind. Where did they go? Had they retreated to another room? Did they somehow manage to leave the yacht? If they were in the opposite end of the ship, there would be no way he could reach them before the law enforcement arrived.

“Olavea!” Silvus’ voice shook with desperation, as he called her name again and again.

The light chirping of the senator daughter finally replied, and the echo of heels confirmed that she was running in his direction. When she emerged from a door, it was an angelic sensation that hit him.

“Marzal! I’m so glad to see that you escaped unharmed. I was so worried! Marzal, we are saved. We will all be okay. The authorities are arriving within minutes. I can’t believe it”.
Mascara marks shaped stripes down her cheeks. She had been crying and practically threw herself into the Zeltron’s arms.

“We WILL be okay. Just trust me”.
Silvus grabbed the girl’s wrist in a firm grip and dragged her determined after him.

“Marzal, what is going on!? We are running the wrong way!”

As soon as he returned to Linjal, he pushed Olavea to him. Confusion hit her. Then horror.
“THIS. Is our insurance. Let’s go!”

@SlagathorTheUnknown

 

[Linjal S'Nad]

To Linjal's pleasant surprise, the one now known to him as 'Marzal' wasn't a complete idiot like he'd feared. Not only had the Zeltron been telling the truth about Olavea von Z'conn's presence on the yacht, he'd had the presence of mind to recognize that bringing her to Linjal was a good idea.

The Zygerrian snarled in glee as one of his hands shot out, grasping Olavea around the wrist. No amount of protesting or screaming could break his grasp, and soon Linjal was dragging the Senator's daughter aboard his ship. A hail of covering blasterfire from Linjal would only down one of the six pursuing guards, but their return fire was nearly nonexistent as they tried to avoid shooting Olavea as well; if Siluvs decided to shoot, the odds would be even better. In short order Linjal's fist hammered the button to close the hatch between his ship and the pleasure yacht, and while he was slightly disappointed that the Zeltron had also managed to make it aboard it wasn't the end of the world.

"You're going to make us very rich, sweetie" he purred at "his" prize captive. "Not bad" was all he'd say to the Zeltron. "Now, lets get out of here!"

(Guard shooting roll: 1/6)
@Moon Nymph

 

[Silvus Dawn]

Silvus tried to multitask between returning the fire of the guards and maintaining his position close to Olavea and Linjal. Olavea was their shield. And Linjal – Silvus didn’t trust Linjal for even a second to get ahead of him.

When the hatch closed and he was safe – for now, he took a deep breath, completely ignoring Olavea’s confused crying. His respond to the compliment was a simple hissing humm. They had caught a good prize, but that was not from Linjal’s peak performance. And this was not the time for debate.

“How quick can you fly this thing? We need to get out of sight fast”.

@SlagathorTheUnknown

 

[Linjal S'Nad]

"I can fly just fine" Linjal sniffed, heading towards the cockpit. How dare the Zeltron insinuate that he couldn't fly well? Ignoring the crunching sounds that echoed throughout the ship as he yanked the control sticks away from the pleasure yacht- remembering too late that he'd not disconnected the docking tube, rendering it in need of repair but fortunately not damaging the integrity of his ship- Linjal began piloting his ship away form the pleasure yacht (Linjal fly roll: 7/20).

Almost immediately, a couple of blips appeared on the screen, heralding the pursuit of two fighters. The Armed Courier shook as their shots washed over its shields, and the Zygerrian yelled back in the direction of the Zeltron.

"Make yourself useful and shoot back!" There were a pair of light laser turrets to choose from, if Silvus wanted to get in on the action.

Pursuers roll: 2/6
@Moon Nymph

 

[Silvus Dawn]

”Am I the one that has to become more useful!?” Silvus shouted in an angry growl.
However, he did not object and moved towards the laser turret, while stabilizing himself against the wall of the ship, whenever Linjal’s “I-can-fly-just-fine-skills” caused the whole ship to shake.

Silvus grabbed the seat and the controls of the laser turrets. Every time he tried to take aim, the other ships moved out of range. It was almost to a degree, where riding a stampeding Bantha over rocks and hills would be steadier than this.

“Keep her stable, Linjal, or you are going to get the four of us killed!”

The stressed Zeltron shouldn’t have said that.
Olavea’s crying now grew to unbearable pitches, making Silvus sink his teeth into his lower lip to keep focus. A warm liquid began sliding down across his chin, and a well-known taste of metal bloomed in his mouth.

He had to calculate where the ships would move to, every time Linjal evaded, and he narrowed his eyes. He fired for the ships’ turrets to neutralize them. After some return fire back and forth, Silvus managed to strike them on the first ship, rendering them both gunners and pilot helpless. The shields gave up afterwards, and the first pursuing ship went down in an explosion, that made parts of the ship rain down in a meteor-like hellfire.

Silvus smiled with satisfaction of his accomplishment, but any celebration could wait.
There was still one ship remaining, that stubbornly tried to stop them from escaping. Silvus’ experience with direct turret combat was limited. However, the man had one advantage – he was good at predicting things. The pursuing ship now had to avoid both lasers and the ship parts. This caught the pilot off guard, to its own demise.
(Roll on Silvus hitting or missing the ships: 5/6 – both ships are struck.)

It was the voice of a king, high on adrenaline that roared back to Linjal:
“Who’s not bad now!?”

@SlagathorTheUnknown

 

[Linjal S'Nad]

"Will someone shut that hussy up?" roared Linjal in the general direction of Olavea and Silvus, ignoring the fact that he'd just asked the Zeltron to shoot back. Clearly, his latest prize had a lot to learn about being seen and not heard, but Linjal had his hands full trying to keep his ship in once piece. Contrary to his boasts, he preferred to leave the flying to his astromech, but eventually the two pursuing fighters were scrapped.

Despite their success, Linjal frowned to himself as Silvus took all the credit. Hadn't he given the man a level platform to shoot from and kept them alive in the process? If anything, the Zeltron should been crediting him for their success. The Zygerrian spun around in his pilot's chair, noting as he did so that the obnoxious wailing had ceased; only to freeze as he recognized the reason why.

Standing uncomfortably close and leveling a blaster at him (where had she gotten that?) was Olavea, tears still streaking down her cheeks but apparently determined to flip the script on her would-be captors.

@Moon Nymph

 

[Silvus Dawn]

The silence would be something Silvus has appreciated greatly, was it not for how wrong and out of place it suddenly felt. Neither cries of the young woman, nor keen remarks from Linjal echoed across the ship, and that made Silvus turn his attention towards the pilot.

His eyes widened, when he realized that the spoiled daughter apparently had more ice in the stomach than he thought. With slow steps, Silvus moved towards them. Both of his hands held up in a defensive gesture to signal for her to calm down. The Zeltron softened the tone of his voice to an almost hypnotic sound, and with that he tried to transmit his emotional mindset to Olavea and fired up for his pheromone usage. If it wasn’t for the situation, he would have removed his sunglasses to create eye contact. But eyes that some would find rather demonic, didn’t exactly suit tension.

“There there… it’s going to be all right, love. Deep breath… That’s right. If you ended up hurting yourself, your father would be heartbroken. All alone without you. We can’t have that, can we?”

 

[Linjal S'Nad]

Olavea's nostrils flared as Silvus addressed her, pivoting her head over to glare at him but not lowering the weapon. "Don't tell me to calm down!" she said, practically biting the words as they came out of her mouth. "I'm not listening to you anymore!"

Linjal watched the exchange and, when he'd judged that the Twi'lek was suitably distracted, leapt forward; hoping that the element of surprise was on his side.

It was not.

With a shriek, Olavea pulled the trigger, sending blaster bolts spraying throughout the cabin as the blaster bucked wildly in her untrained grasp. The Zygerrian felt two impact him and several other singe his fur; one was absorbed by his chest armor, but the other found a gap in his armor and seared into his left bicep just as he reached Olavea. He knocked the blaster from her hands with a powerful blow from his right hand, but by the time he'd disarmed her the damage had already been done- behind Linjal, the control console bore the scars of her wild shooting, and emergency lights flickered on throughout the ship as the life support kicked in- estimating that there was only 30 minutes of power left.

A murderous look crossed Linjal's face, and he reached for his whip now that Olavea was once again cowering before him. "You'll pay dearly for that, darling" he snarled at her. He only needed one arm for this.


(Olavea shooting roll: 1/20)
@Moon Nymph

 

[Silvus Dawn]

Silvus eyes grew wide with horror. Should Linjal get hurt in the process, he would be able to navigate the ship alone. But this wasn’t Linjal that was severely damaged. This was the very vessel that should carry them into safety itself. The red lights reflected the speed Silvus’ heart rate was increasing, and he tried to clear his mind once again.

He grabbed the wrist of Linjal and held it tight as soon as the whip was risen in the air.
“No, you idiot. We have 30 minutes. We need to get the ship to the closest planet, unless it is in your interest to get stuck here. Or get blown to bits like the little rescue team, by faulty machinery”.

If given the choice, and the other option was to be stuck in space with this man, Silvus much preferred to blow himself to bits any day.

 

[Linjal S'Nad]

As Silvus intercepted his plan to vent his wrath on Olavea, the look that the Zygerrian sent the man could've stripped the hair from a bantha. However, after a few tense moments, Linjal conceded... if only for the moment. The whip would be returned to his belt, although it was clear to anyone in the vicinity that the Zygerrian was still in a very foul mood.

"Fine. I'll lock her up, you begin looking at the damage." It was only right that he assume the role of leadership in this situation, after all. "R6!" he called out, hearing the treads of his astromech droid zoom across the deck of the ship as it raced to answer its master's call.

"Assist this man with the repairs."


@Moon Nymph

 

[Silvus Dawn]

It was a slight relief for Silvus that he had no casualties of major importance to take into consideration – besides the ship that just had departed ways. He exhaled deeply. But there was still the state of the damage that worried him, and he held his breath when he walked over to the control panel and bended down to check.

“That doesn’t look so bad!” Silvus exclaimed with a smile, knocked on the control panel with a hollow ‘clonk’ twice. And in response sparks shot out from it.
…
“Could be worse!”

He removed the cover plate and began removing the broken parts, while making space for R6. With every metallic part that hit the floor, it gave off a loud crash.

“This is junk. This might be junk – I think. – Off you go. This is definitely screwed. This is also junk!”

R6 beeped furiously and for a brief moment stopped welding the machinery.

“No, not you!”

Silvus called back to Linjal.
“I hope you are very well versed in orientating yourself. Because we might have more luck with a drunk man to guide the way to the closest opportunity of landing. The coordinate system doesn’t look too good!”

@SlagathorTheUnknown

 

[Linjal S'Nad]

The damage that Olavea had caused his ship- along with the 'partnership' of the bothersome Zeltron- would certainly eat into Linjal's profits, so the Zygerrian's decision to not vent his wrath on his newest captive was not due to the goodness of his heart. He'd seen many Twi'lek girls come and go, some even more beautiful than the Senator's daughter, so Olavea's desperate pleas fell on deaf ears. In short order, Olavea was safely locked away where she couldn't cause any more trouble for the slaver.

Linjal returned to the cockpit just in time to catch the end of Silvus' diagnosis of the navigation system. The Zygerrian rolled his eyes before rounding the corner- did he have to do everything around here? Still in pain from the blaster wound he'd suffered- and deeming himself the most knowledgeable humanoid onboard his ship- the slaver decided that the most logical choice for himself was to supervise.

"R-6 models can substitute for navicomputers" he informed the Zeltron, scowling as his eyes washed over the pile of parts torn off the central console. "Our bigger problem is restoring power to the ship before the life support runs out!" With four humanoids aboard instead of one- and one of those humanoids sobbing in her cage- time was not on their side.

Fortunately, R-6 beeped and whistled; its barrel-shaped body nearly inside the control console as it went to work. Linjal heard and felt one engine come humming to life as the astromech droid repaired a broken connection (R6 fix roll: 13/20). With one engine online, they would have plentiful power to sustain all the critical systems on the ship... at least until fuel ran out.

Rather than praise the hardworking droid, the Zygerrians's eyes narrowed as he processed the information that the droid had relayed. "We can move at sublight speeds, but the hyperdrive is also offline. That will need to be fixed or we're not going anywhere."

@Moon Nymph

 

[Silvus Dawn]

”Move!” Silvus dragged the poor droid out in a harsh yank. Linjal was not the only one close to lose patience, but unlike Linjal, Silvus knew that breaking things – or people didn’t make the outcome of their situation any better. He trusted the droids repairing skills more than his own, but the speed it worked at worried him.

He peeked into the machinery again.
“-And the hyperdrive seems to be offline, because the transpacitor is overheated. If we don’t fix it, it won’t matter if you have even the most high tech R6 model at service to navigate the ship! The connection between the transpacitor and the null quantum field generator is essential, or there won’t be anything to prevent us from leaving hyperspace prematurely, before we reach our destination, and we may end up somewhere entirely unknown. Like I said – it's the coordinate system!” Silvus declared with newfound confidence in his diagnosis abilities. Those basic studies back of Zeltros had not been in vain.

“So either we have to cool the transpacitor down, or we have to find a spare part. If this is unavailable, we must try to create something temporary from the titanium-chromium scraps”.

@SlagathorTheUnknown

 

[Linjal S'Nad]

Linjal's nostrils flared as he considered the sheer insolence of the Zeltron standing before him, who had just gone on a long-winded, needlessly technical explanation of exactly what he'd just said; something something 'hyperdrive', something something 'fix'... not only that, but he'd handled R-6 roughly! Nobody did that but him! Good help was impossible to find these days...

Linjal stepped forward toward Silvus, one finger raised in warning. "Let's get something straight here; you put your hands on my droid like that again, and I'll cut them off and feed them to you." A threat he was more than confident in his ability to carry out, but also a course of action that would make bossing the Zeltron around significantly less useful.

Silvus did have a point, though- they were looking at one more substantial repair in order to get the ship moving again. "So now that we're on the same page about that, tell me what you think needs to be done. What would it take to cool the transpacitor down?"

@Moon Nymph

 

[Silvus Dawn]

The Zeltron chose to smile as his only reply to Linjal’s threat. They were in the middle of possible disaster, and threats was one of his main objectives? A response would only slow their progress. So instead, Silvus rolled his eyes in the matter that usually only were reserved for rebellious teenagers. A little of it could be seen behind the shaded sunglasses.

“Do you by any chance have alcohol with an inhumanely high percentage? Normal liquid will destroy the system. But alcohol evaporates before it can do any damage. It’s worth a try to pour it over the transpacitor. We are speaking Zeltronian wine grade or higher. The funny stuff. Almost 100%. But without sugar, as it may caramelise by the heat”.

@SlagathorTheUnknown

 

[Linjal S'Nad]

As much as he hated to admit it, the Zeeltron was right; an incredibly pure alcohol was required to quickly cool down the transpacitor. Even worse, Linjal carried no such beverage with him, having drunk anything of the sort during a long pity spiral following his escape from Zygerria. No, there was only one ship that he could think of that might have the needed alcohol onboard.

"Back to the pleasure yacht we go" Linjal growled, knowing that the move risked conflict with the authorities that had responded. There would be at least five fuzz aboard, but his count, and what's more, the element of surprise would be lost. Idly, the Zygerrian considered sending Silvus aboard the yacht to take the fall and then trying to leave anyways, but a series of affirmative beeps from R6 quickly quashed that notion; it was too risky to try a hyperspace jump without first cooling the transpacitor down.

Still scowling, the slaver began piloting his ship back towards the pleasure yacht; this whole thing had become far more of a headache than he'd ever anticipated.

@Moon Nymph