The dockmaster must jump ship

[Jayscreec Alecwit]

Spoiler: Mission

The temple has begun construction and point defence weapons are planned out. Problem is air superiority. A Sith team will travel to Anaxes in the inner rim. Once there They need to secure several wings of starfighters to help in the defence of the temple for the moment. Whether the team takes the diplomatic approach or sith approach doesn't matter. All that matters is getting those fighters to the temple.

Despite Jay worked for the Navy he barely heard anything good about this Anaxes. As far as he knew they welcomed Imperials, so it could be possible to still cut a deal.

The journey to the facility took a couple hours from their staging point. They went in the middle of the night, so they didn't see anything until sunrise. Either cities or forests covered the surface, at some points caverns, canyons and dry hills made it diverse. Their destination stood on top of a lonely hill, obviously it was easier to launch their ships and keep their operations relatively out of sight from there. Some buildings stood in U-shape on the eastern side inside the hill, and two additional hangars were on the northern side. Four or five meter tall walls protected the whole settlement, probably against wild animals. They used turrets against aerial threats, one in each corner of the stronghold.

"You?" Jay said. "Looks like we're being partnered again." He smiled at Kat. "So as far as I know four or five fighters are enough. I brought some pilots."
"Here we are," their transporter's pilot said. "I will keep the engine hot."
Other than Jay and Kat the transporter carried four pilots, each one temporally under their supervision. Jay stood up first. "You all know the deal, Lieutenant Solari's doing the talk. If they're reluctant to support the Empire, we have to steal the ships."

@Space Grunge

 

[Kalanda Tishire]

Kalanda didn't like this assignment, but a job was a job, and she certainly wasn't going to skip out on doing it. She looked to the agent that she was told to monitor and sighed inside her armored suit. This was a waste of her talents, what did she know about piloting? Well, she wasn't going to actually be flying the ships, but still, she didn't like it. "Agent, are you ready?" She asked with a tone of indifference, her arms crossed as she stood in the center of the group, blocking the way for the rest of the group. She could feel the shuttle rock about before it settled down, and with it Kalanda turned herself towards the exit, as she would begin to stride towards the gangplank to allow them to exit. This was some nonsensical diplomatic mission, if anything they should have let her kill a few of the people to get a message across. No one could tell the Sith what they can and can not do. Who did they think they were?

@Ediwa

 

[Jayscreec Alecwit]

The Anaxes personnel welcomed their guests in a friendly manner. Karli introduced himself as the deputy director of this factory. They led them to their conference room, where they could see the settlement through the huge glass panel window. Kalanda and Jay got some refreshments before they began dealing.

"Are you interested in buying ships? We are one of the top ten partners of the Imperial Army," Karli explained. "We have starfighters, bombers, interceptors, fitted with cutting edge arsenal."

Jay looked around as he gathered his thoughts. "Look, I am going to be honest with you," he paused. "We are at war. These ships here will allow our strategy to conquer an important place. After that, couple weeks, and we can pay you even some extra due the delay."

The deputy director sighed. He could guess it was going to turn out like this. He was not a naive inexperienced person. Hence his security team on stand-by, guards surrounding him all time, turrets in the corners of the settlement. Could anyone take him for a fool?

"I will be honest too," Karli said. "We are running a business here. I have employees who need to feed their families too. I understand there's a war, but that's not my war, not my problem."

"Not much of a patriot, are you?" Jay scoffed. "Let me use the bathroom, I need to throw up from you. Talk to my partner."

@Algarus

 

[Kalanda Tishire]

Upon meeting the Anaxes personnel, Kalanda already wanted to strangle man as he let loose a swarm of pathetic nearly groveling degree of speech that she frankly found offensive. Unfortunately this man also had a security detail, and a serious amount at that, so his life was spared; for now. Her agent companion attempted to talk through to him, but quickly gave up, roaming off in search of the restroom it seemed; some help he was. She leered at the man before her, her fingers tapping against her robes.

"So madame, are you in the mood to make a deal?" He asked, throwing up an attempted disarming grin, but it only made her want to kill him even more. "Yes. I'll give you the deal of a lifetime." She muttered, gripping her arm tightly as she was frankly sick of this little act. Her face shifted to showcasing a great deal of disgust all aimed at the man before her. "You drop the con act, and I'll let you live." Her look of disgust switched into a rather unpleasant smile, which by now, had caused the man to back away. "This war might be your problem if you try and pocket money from either side." She said rather pointedly, before backing off as she realized the mans armed escort were training weapons on her. Perhaps she played her hand a little too strong. Karli chuckled nervously, brushing off imaginary dust from his shoulder like he was a big shot. "Madame, as flattering as your words are, I'm going to have to decline your offer. Empty threats won't get you those ships." He must have been suicidal, because the bastard winked at her. "But I know several arrangements that just might."

@Ediwa

 

[Jayscreec Alecwit]

Jay strolled through the hallways without being escorted. The Anaxes was prepared to fight, but they didn't have the experience of Imperial forces.

At the last corridor two guards turned right and walked into the biggest hangar. Jay carefully followed them and examined the hangar. Now he knew the way to the ships, he just had to get back without being noticed.

Still out of the bathroom's path, a guard stumbled into Jay. "Hey! What are you doing here?"

"Sorry," Jay said as he nervously reached behind his back, approaching the guard. "I was just trying to find the conference room. Can you help me?"

But this man didn't have any of it. He had to verify everything and report back to Karli to keep his job. "No. Stay where you are!" As he reached down to his radio Jay stepped forward and sliced his throat. One more second of hesitation and the entire mission could fail, an agent couldn't allow that.

Jay hid the body inside the bathroom, but he couldn't wash the blood off from his uniform's sleeves. This wasn't a trade deal anymore for sure. He sent a message via his datapad to notify Kalanda and the pilots. "Hangar's second to the left. Just run here, I will cover you from the corridor." He took cover and trained his blaster rifle at the hallway.

@Algarus

 

[Kalanda Tishire]

As the words left Karli's lips, Kalanda's smile shifted into a rather intense grimace. She was definitely going to kill him now. "And what might those be?" She muttered through gritted teeth, her hand slowly working to the lightsaber concealed under her garments, but she froze as she felt movement behind her. She heard through her comlink the voice of one of the pilots, "Ma'am, the agent is giving us the go ahead. Proceed?" Kalanda's body relaxed, as the words sounded like music to her ears. Karli was talking, but Kalanda was well past listening. In a swift motion, she pulled the deputy towards her and locked an arm around his neck, as her remaining hand pulled and ignited the lightsaber, holding it to his throat. Karli let out a startled yelp, but his security team could do little without risking killing their employer. "Move it!" She shouted, keeping herself between the guards and the shuttle behind her, as the pilots hardly got far before being fired at.

Kalanda shoved Karli aside, finding her opening, as she rushed the nearest guard, stabbing him in the chest, before throwing her lightsaber to the remaining one, slicing him apart. The pilots took care of the remaining two guards as their backs were turned, though Kalanda had to rush to recover her lightsaber. "Security! Security! Everyone to the hanger! We hav-" Karli was clinging to his comlink for dear life as Kalanda nearly leaped on top of him and slammed her heel into his face to shut him up. "How's that for an arrangement dirt bag?" She spat, before rushing to catch up to the guards. Jay would spot the pilots booking it towards his position, but he would also notice a rather intense flashing light just above the hanger door, as a pair of blast doors began to slide together, attempting to seal the hanger and prevent the pilots from leaving with their much desired ships.

@Ediwa

 

[Jayscreec Alecwit]

As the alarms went off a small group of Anaxes guards immediately responded. Jay took down all four of them before they could reach the conference room.

"Get some," he grinned. "Pilots! Take the ships!"

Jay met with Kalanda when they noticed the closing roof. "Ah blast, that's why I hate businessmen. Whenever one's falling, he'd grip into everybody else to drag them along."

In the control room at the hangar's side guards and employees started to gather. They had no means to access their own ships anymore, but they decided to fight and close the roof. "There they are! We need to get in there. If we can get close I can smoke them out of there."

Jay put on his rebreather mask and activated it.

@Algarus

 

[Kalanda Tishire]

Kalanda was just rounding the hall as she made eye contact with Jay, the pilots having already made it into the hanger. She spotted the pair of four bodies along the floor, and quickly stepped over them. It didn't take long for her to realize that they had locked the blast doors down, and to make matter worse they had put ray shields over the control room. These people were really trying her patience. "I hate this place." She muttered, turning towards the control room crew as they scurried about like a pack of rodents. The pilots were still getting on board their fighters, but Kalanda knew that unless they got those doors open it didn't mean anything. "Agent, with me." She spoke with a great deal of annoyance in her tone, seeing as the man put on a mask, she found they had the same idea. The idiots might have shielded the door and windows, but she highly doubted they had done the same for the room above them. Calling upon the force, Kalanda managed to land herself at top the metal structure, and slammed her saber into the hole, as she began cutting into the metal. She could hear the surprised shouts of the men inside, but she couldn't relish their panic; they were on the clock, if they didn't have these ships out of here in the next ten minutes the planetary security force would be swarming them. She looked to the agent, prepared to help if the poor thing required it.

@Ediwa

 

[Jayscreec Alecwit]

By the time Kalanda opened the control room's top Jay was half-way through the wall. Upside down. He used his Gription-Boots to stick to the surface.

"I got it," Jay said. "Let me smoke these rats."

He threw a CorSec knock out gas canister into the crowd. "This thing always works. Don't inhale it, you might want to jump off." The effect becomes stronger and stronger. First people feel fatigued, then drowsiness overcomes them, a few seconds before being finally knocked out.

Some of the guards had tasted biological warfare before. They immediately broke the shield and ran outside. The rest had no idea what to do. Panic came over them. The employees, such as engineers and everybody else from the office got stuck.

"Open the roof and I'll give you the anti serum! Otherwise you'll die!" Jay lied. The gas itself wasn't deadly. But lying already worked before.

@Algarus

 

[Kalanda Tishire]

Kalanda popped open a hole in the control room ceiling, and nearly caught a gas canister to the face as Jay narrowly hit her with it. She glared back at him, but quickly realized the fumes would soon be upon her as well. She leapt back, sensing the men inside panic and jostle one another to leave, which allowed her to swiftly eliminate them with some well positioned force shoves. One of the men grabbed a blaster pistol and began to shoot wildly, before he finally dropped to the ground unable to speak.

Several of them dropped not long after that, but one particularity panicked gentleman threw himself on the controls, apparently he was the only one who wanted to live among his colleagues as he pressed the emergency override on the blast doors. "I-I did it! Save me!" He screamed up with his hoarse voice, coughing up a fit in the process. Kalanda looked to Jay and only shrugged, before jumping off the control room and looking for their way out. Jay had the 'cure' for whatever he did to them, that was his problem now. The pilots were just starting to rev up their engines, as the 'thoom' of their engines filled the hanger bay. "Agent, what exactly was the extraction plan for us?" Kalanda asked, as she wasn't exactly sure how they were to get out of this place in one piece.

@Ediwa

 

[Jayscreec Alecwit]

As soon as the blast doors opened the stolen ships took off and left the base. The turrets in the settlement's corners opened fire and eliminated a few of them, but enough escaped.

Jay glared back at Kalanda. She looked at him the whole time like he was dragged out from a hutt's bottom. "We have the ship that brought us here," he said. "Along with our pilot."

The panicking colleague who opened the doors also fell on the ground as he passed out. Jay jumped into the control room through the hole and collected a pass card, maybe it would provide helpful later. From the outside he pushed the door closed. "I'm going to let them sleep."

On the hallways between the hangar and their ship, through the conference room, nobody showed up. Everything was empty. Jay held his blaster rifle up as he approached each corner. "All clear. Can you sense something?"

Upon stepping out from the building he spotted it. That's where everybody else went. Their pilot was held at gunpoint by the remnants of the Anaxes crew.

@Algarus

 

[Kalanda Tishire]

Kalanda watched the fighters take off, swearing to herself as she realized that the defenses for the base were still online, but the pilots were capable enough to get past the slow moving turrets and crew. She looked back to the agent, as he leveled a glare of his own, which she found rather cute in her weird way. He said their shuttle in was their way out, which to her sounded like a terrible plan, but that was the plan they had, so there was little choice.

Kalanda was rather confused when the agent leapt back into the control room via the hole in the roof, only to reemerge from the door keycard in hand. "Stop screwing around, we need to leave now." Moving into the hallway, Kalanda kept her lightsaber out, ready for use, but stopped as she soon realized there was a strange lack of personal in their way. That wasn't a good sign. Jay moved into position against the door, ready to spring into action. He asked her if she sensed anything, something she was already about to check. "I sense you're getting on my nerves." She said rather bluntly, before closing her eyes and letting her mind flow into the next room. She sighed and swore to herself, as it turned out the security force was waiting for them. "We aren't alone. Be ready." The door opened up, revealing Karli and his men standing at the ready this time. Karli held a handkerchief, nursing his apperently broken jaw, as he attempted to speak. "Y-You think you can just wal- Ow!" He yelped, clutching his jaw for a moment before continuing. "You don't get to mess wit- Ugh!" He broke out into a pained yelp once more, leaning forward in pain, before pulling back and waving towards his men, signaling them. "Screw it, screw it shoot them! Ow!" He whined once more, falling to the ground as his men moved to start firing.

@Ediwa

 

[Jayscreec Alecwit]

The exhausting Navy training taught Jay to remain in cover at all times. He didn't expose himself to talk or anything like that, yet it wasn't his day. He took a shot in his armor.

"Damn it," he hissed. "I'm hit!"

Jay slightly leaned out and returned fire from his cover. He took out two men and hit Karli again, who fell on the ground unconsciously.

"We can handle them."

There was a small distance between the guards and the ship they desired to take. Jay decided to roll a fragmentation grenade into the group.

"Grenade! Once it blew you can get into their line!"

@Algarus

 

[Kalanda Tishire]

Kalanda's lightsaber sprung to life, but she swiftly dodged out of the way to avoid being shot to pieces, unfortunately her companion was not so lucky; taking a shot to his armor. Karli hit the ground, unmoving, as the hallway erupted in blaster fire. Kalanda heard Jay call out about a grenade, and knew just what the agent was planning. As the explosion erupted in the room, Kalanda jumped into action, coming down on one of the guards, whirling backwards and slicing another man in two. The pilot wasn't so lucky however, as he laid wounded from the explosion, but other wise was alive. Kalanda took a moment to look over the men that laid dead at her feet, finishing off any who still showed signs of living. Once that was done, she drug the pilot onto the transport, before moving to Jay. "Get up agent, we need to leave. Now."

@Ediwa

 

[Jayscreec Alecwit]

With Kalanda's aid Jay pushed up himself with a loud grunt. He stumbled toward their ship with his blaster pistol in hand. "Damn it, I thought we had better armor."

Jay sat down at the pilot's seat and worked on taking off. Minding the operational turrets around the base, he remained close to the ground until he deemed it safe to ascend. "I've set our destination," he said. "I will check how he's doing immediately."

The pilot laid on the ground, nearly lifeless. Jay grabbed the medkit from the ship's compartment and gave him first aid. However, the wounds were still bleeding. Something stronger was needed, potions, medicine, or a medical droid.

"We cannot loose him! Can you help me?!"

@Algarus

 

[Kalanda Tishire]

Kalanda was more than pleased with herself as she set the dying pilot down, knowing he wasn't going to make it. "Let's get out of here." She ordered, taking a seat on one of the many vacant benches, watching as the man in front of her slowly died. There was nothing she could do, absolutely nothing, save watch him die; or mercy kill him. She watched as Jay scrambled to save the man, but she knew there was no point, though she respected his desire not to let the man die. He asked for help, his tone panicked as his hands were coated in the man's blood, the fragmentation grenade had taken it's toll on his body. She frowned, his pleading bringing back unpleasant memories of her youth. "I can't help you, but I can help him." She spoke, kneeling beside the dying pilot's head. She didn't expect him to understand, nor did she expect him to forgive her. "Man the controls, I'll ease his suffering." She wasn't lying, but given the one capable pilot they had was panicked over the loss of a single man, she needed to get him focused on the task at hand.

@Ediwa

 

[Jayscreec Alecwit]

Jay was far from panicking. The acolyte needed more nudging to help the man. Clearly, she had other ideas.

"What?" Jay scoffed. "Don't kill him. We are going to save his life."

He ran back to check on the auto-pilot that now was about to bring them back to their starting point. The dashboard's lights signaled everything was all right, except one thing. On-board sensors indicated only two living beings.

The pilot either bled out, or the Sith finished him. Jay would never find out which. But they all knew what they signed up for.

END THREAD

@Algarus