Ask Smuggling to Sullust

[Flynn Tabouillot]

Flying was something Flynn was alright at but he was a better gunner than he was a pilot it had to be said. But when he was working with others, he much preferred to be the one flying his own ship rather than them. They could be the best pilot in the Galaxy but until he knew them better personally he would be the one flying the damned ship.

Even if he wasn't the best at it, if he was going to be flying into any kind of battle it was going to be him at the helm!

That said he also had a man by the name of Kai from the Five Syndicates in the cockpit with him in charge of the guns and the communications. Flynn's ship didn't have turrets but he was going to be focused almost entirely on flying so he was leaving the actual shooting of the mounted weapons to the syndicate man. As they glided through space, accompanied by what had to be the strangest pilot he'd ever even heard of; a jawa.

Seriously, a jawa was flying support in it's own ship.

Strange the kind of people you met out in the big wide Galaxy.

"Alright guys we're coming up on the drop point for the supplies - we pick them up, we get a move on." he spoke through the coms so that the jawa, J'eek, could hear him just as well as Kai could, "Kai, try and raise the syndicate smugglers to let them know we're approaching for the handover. J'eek, keep an eye open for any jonny law."

As if jonny law would come... he really hoped he hadn't jinxed them there.

@Kalen Auburn @Jowsh

 

[Jeek Dororo]

The rig J'eek had set up in order to fly his ship was rather impressive, so he thought. He had some experience with ships before, mostly scavenging them, so when he and his men acquired this freighter a challenge was presented to him. "How would I get one my own kin to be able to fly something made for beings twice my height." He thought to himself. That's when it dawned on him, scrapped robot legs. After some adjustments to the seating he was a rather impressive pilot. He figured he might have to be on this, his first task off the sands of Tatooine. He had practically been living under a rock during his time there, so when he caught word of the "Five Syndicates", a group of bandits,pirates, smugglers and other "scum" such as himself who help each other with jobs, he saw a business opportunity like never before. He immediately hopped on the first chance he could get to make a name for himself and his clan.

When they were first introduced to each other Flynn's shock that a Jawa would be flying support was amusing to say the least. It's like he'd never seen a Jawa pirate before. He kept a good distance from the other ship, keeping his goggles on so he could keep a watchful eye around them. J'eek was paranoid, a trait he had come to see as a benefit in this life. He felt like something was going to go wrong, but he was not sure what.

That is when he heard Flynn's voice over the coms. "jonny law" was a new one to him and immediately brought about confusion. He had heard nothing about this jonny person and was annoyed that they were after them. He grunted over the coms in clear discomfort, speaking quickly and in the gibberish of his language he said "I will keep watch for this "jonny" person once you describe them, but my eyes are mainly focused for Sector Rangers and other law enfo-" Ah, he got it, jonny was not a person but a slang term for law enforcement. "Understood." he said, skipping right over the interaction as if it never happened.

 

[Kai Ando]

Kai sat aboard Flynn's ship as they honed in to their drop point. For Kai, this would be his first mission since leaving his home... If one could call it that. He grew up on the industrial planet of Bothuwai. While is known for its Bothan population and support for the first Rebellion, the planet itself is home to many different peoples trying to find a place in its bustling technology sector, but the large population also led to some underground crime dealing with that technology. Corporations vying to steal from each, sabotage each other, and do whatever they can to come up op top. Kai grew up in a gang that was often employed by the corporations... That was until something went terribly wrong and Kai found himself fleeing the system. He wandered for a few weeks until coming into contact with a representative for the Five Syndicates on Nar Shadaa. Thus he found himself in this mission. His two companions didn't seem to know that this was literally his first mission with the Five, but he wouldn't try to hide it if they asked. What mattered to him was that he felt confident in his abilities and knew that this was his shot to prove himself to his employer and find solid ground once more since fleeing his birthplace.

Flynn instructed him to raise the smugglers and he complied. "This is Convor 2 hailing Convor 1, we are here for rendezvous." Looking at the proximity data, there was a single large freighter in their sector of deep space matching the transponder code they were expecting.

"Convor 1 you are cleared for airlock 2, over," the freighter's comms personnel responded. Kai looked over to Flynn and repeated the information to him. This should be the simplest part of the mission, though he had no clue what the cargo is. Kai sat back while awaiting Flynn and Jeek to take them in, still monitoring the sensors.

 

[Flynn Tabouillot]

Well the other team had the goods and that was the important part! He patted Kai on the shoulder and hurried to the airlock to ensure that all of the goods got carried over. As he was helping out however, an alarm rang out through his ship, the smugglers' ship and Jeek's ship as well as.

At the same time.

"... well that can't be good." Flynn moaned as he grabbed the last of the goods and disengaged the airlock to untie his ship from that of the professional smugglers, "Talk to me - what the hell was that?"

Unfortunately for Flynn it was Convor 1 who responded over the com line.

"Sorry boys, looks like we came in too hot. Local law saw us on their scanners and is sending scrambling. Good luck."

Well he supposed they weren't going to be much help. That was compounded by the way they quickly calculated a hyperspace jump and left them in the lurch.

"Freighter designation Ez-3z, this is Sullust Militia. We have reasonable suspicion that you have come into contact with a smuggler vessel. On route are several law enforcement ships. Co-operate fully with our investigation and, provided you have not committed a crime, you shall not be detained."

... a crime like having a hold full of smuggled goods?

He really hoped that either Kai or Jeek could spin a yarn and get them to lower their alert status or else the next few minutes would get dicey.

@Jowsh @Deflubber

 

[Kai Ando]

Kai nodded to Flynn as he headed to the airlock. He thought to help him out, but figured that perhaps monitoring the comms was the better decision. As time passed by, he heard the alarms flaring up... Particularly loud in the cockpit. Cringing at the noise, he listened to Flynn trying to discover what the situation was. Though Kai did not have a good feeling about this.

As the truth came in, he could feel the adrenaline start pumping. In front of him him on the comms unit, he saw the light flashing about the urgent communication. Blast! He thought to himself. The first thing he did was search for the kriffing alarm override. Scanning the console after a few more seconds of ear piercing rings led him to the switch. Switching it off, the alarm finally went silent. Now I can hear myself think. He takes a deep breath. This is fine, this is fine, he tells himself, remaining calm. He yells out to Flynn who was making his way from the hold back to the cockpit, "Flynn, give me a sec, I got this." He pauses for a moment, scanning his memory. Something about Sullustan law. Aha! I don't believe they're actually allowed to board us without a warrant.

"Hello officer. This is vessel designation Ez-3z. I understand your concern," he states smoothly, "but under what grounds are you allowed to investigate our ship? Under Sullustan law code SI.37.B, you are not allowed to board our ship without the proper warrant. Do you have a proper warrant to board our ship officer?"

Two light fighters and a patrol boat arrive on the sensors. Kai takes another deep breath. They can't board us, he tells himself. Sullust's history with the Empire constantly boarding vessels for inspections with fake reasoning led to some of the strongest laws for citizens in the galaxy. "There's no way they have enough evidence to board us lawfully!" he yells out to Flynn.

"Er... we do not have a warrant," replies the officer, who is stationed in the patrol boat as Kai can now tell on the comms array.

"Then you do not have lawful means to board this vessel officer."

"Please hold your position momentarily citizen as we run your transponder," the officer says, obviously taken back by this non-native's knowledge of their law code. Officers always try to coerce people into giving up their rights. That was some dumb luck though. Kai was just able to recall that knowledge from some smugglers back at Bothuwai discussing the lax Sullustan inspection laws. Kai waited and noticed the ships orbiting their freighter, stopped in space. "Freighter Ez-3z, you are clear to continue to your destination, but if we catch you in Sullustan space engaging in suspicious activity again within the next standard month, we will have grounds to do a full inspection."

"Understood, thank you officer." Kai sits back and sighs out relief. That was close. Those damn smugglers almost got us jailed. Trying to suppress his anger and frustration, he looks to Flynn and nods.

 

[Jeek Dororo]

J'eek had been on pins and needles for some time now, especially in regards to Johnathan law. So when he finally caught sight of the approaching light fighters and patrol boat his nerves were on edge. He was by no means a negotiator, unless it was in regards to trading, and had no guarantee that the incoming officers would understand Jawaese. He was about to say something when the other human, Kai, began to speak to them over comms. Good thinking long legs. He began to wonder if something similar could work for him, and he imagined he'd be in the same boat as the other freighter.

"Yes, yes you need a warrant! Warrant!" He said this as calmly as the shifting sands of his home planet. At first he thought he had succeeded and successfully avoided suspicion, however the response he got soon dashed that hope. "Uuuuhm, I'm sorry sir I don't understand, can you speak slowly and in a more general language?" This was an irritating response that he should have seen coming, however this also could work in his favor, all he had to do was play his cards right and get them to back off.

If there was one thing he understood about other sentient species, it's that they saw the way his people speak as unintelligible garble as they lack the ability to smell the intentions of his kin or keep up when they speak. He would use this to his advantage as, instead of actually speaking to them he would begin making the garbling sounds they had come to expect, except this time it would be quicker and continuous. "Utinini! Utinini! Ich Yi Woota! Woota!" He spoke into the comms, increasing in speed. This was a gamble, this would either irritate them to where they would hound J'eek thinking he was messing with them or they would give up.

A sigh could be heard over the comms as the patrol fighters slowly began to turn away, not even bothering to give J'eek the verbal clear save for a curt "Move along, We better not catch you messing around again." . While he wasn't sure if he helped their situation, he figures it might take them a while to come back and request compliance, especially they couldn't understand each other. "You have my thanks long legs." He figures had Kai not said what he did, J'eek's garbles would not have worked.

 

[Flynn Tabouillot]

Well it looked like the boys in blue were mostly happy that they weren't smugglers or, much more likely, not certain enough to risk being reamed for excessive force and the like by their captains if it turned out that the ships were clean. It was only going to work because the people with him had managed to possess their rare, perfect, balance between being charismatic, being genuinely smart and being more than a little bit annoying.

Perfect for convincing some law enforcement that they simply were not worth the trouble!

Flynn made it back to the controls.

"Good work guys." he praised the other two as he brought the ship back onto the course they had locked in prior to the exchange, which involved them flying through a patch of space debris to obscure their approach to the planet itself, "You guys have got real silver tongues."

As they moved further away from the site of the smuggling, and of the law enforcement, however it became clear that something else had decided to go wrong. From within the debris field two fighters emerged on the scanners behind Flynn's ship as they were approaching a particularly thick cluster of debris.

Before Flynn could so much as speak they opened fire, shaking the ship as they blew one of his cannon's clean off. Alarms blared and Flynn cursed as he banked hard to try and avoid further damage.

"We got boggies, rivals." he explained to his allies, "Sorry Kai but you're down to one cannon now - looks like they're trying to disable us."

No use in breaking all their cargo after all.

@Deflubber @Jowsh

 

[Jeek Dororo]

J'eek was currently reeling from what seemed like an escape by the hairs of their chins. Johnathan Law had turned his steely gaze away from their cargo and we were about to be home free, or so he had hoped. He was about to reply to the silver tongue comment, probably a small speech about great he was and something about how great negotiators/business men all come from the Jawa line. Right before he could get out the first sentence of self indulgence however, he heard a crashing sound along with several cannons going off.

"Rancor's armpits" he thought to himself in frustration. He had grown distracted and allowed some enemy fighters to slip past his view. He prepared for combat, having one of his kin man the turrets. While he was sure of his own ability to pilot his ship through this situation, he wasn't sure he had enough fire power to take down these enemies. "Preparing for combat, I will attempt to find an opportunity for our escape while we engage the hostiles." He wasn't hit first, so he had an easy time moving his ship near some cover in the form of some wayward debris. "If we make it out of this, I will even give you a discount on repairs long legs." He then signaled his kin to prepare for combat.

"Let's see how right I was about everything going wrong." J'eek thought to himself, the cynicism slowly burrowing it's way into the back of his mind. He was considering leaving the humans behind, but decided he'd rather return with all of their cargo or none of it, besides he wanted to honor the deal they made.

 

[Flynn Tabouillot]

The rival smugglers really didn't like that they were in their area working off their patch but hey, it was a free market economy so what did they expect? Probably to get a cut off the profits to be honest but hell, they weren't even looking at much in the way of profits so they could take a long walk off a short pier if they thought they were getting credits out of this ride!

He yanked on the controls to his ship, urging it into a roll but due to the existing damage and simply because he was trying to evade two fighters, it didn't do anything to actually lose the enemy.

He cursed as his ship rocked from further impacts. They hadn't managed to hit anything vital with that attack run but his ship was beginning to show alarms in the cockpit purely from the damage that they were beginning to take. He cursed louder and activated the fire suppression system in the hold as a small electrical fire broke out.

"Jeek! Give us some cover, please!" he called out to his jawa ally over the coms, "We're getting beaten out of the sky here!"

He angled his ship towards the planet. Right now they were going to be the textbook definition of 'coming in hot' if they didn't get this whole thing under control.

Spoiler: Dice

Evasive rolls = fail

@Deflubber @Jowsh

(Skipped you due to time constraints this round Jowsh)

 

[Jeek Dororo]

J'eek's nerves were at an all time high as his ship turned around towards their attackers, he began to rapidly shout commands to his shipmate. The laser turrets focused in on their targets, nailing one of the ships in the right wing, causing it to lose control and crash into some debris. The turrets then turned, firing at the other ship, hitting it's hull but not doing enough damage to take it out, but it was forced to pull away from the smugglers. This was the chance J'eek had been looking for. "Let's get moving long legs! We won't get an opportunity like this again!" J'eek shouted slapping his console as he spoke.

He prepared his ship for their escape, turning his freighter towards their destination and signaling his kin to keep his sights on the last ship. "I will cover our escape, hurry and get your ship out of here before you lose both your ship and the cargo." His voice was a lot more panicked than normal as he prepared for what seemed like an extremely close call. Oh yeah, he's definitely going to want that discount he thought to himself as he prepared his ship for a somewhat hasty and rough escape. His turrets firing on the remaining smuggler's ship so that it kept it's distance from their cargo.

@Nefieslab @Jowsh

 

[Flynn Tabouillot]

Gods and the Force and every person he had ever bought him a drink - he was praying to all of them to be kind to him as he clutched his controls tighter and tighter. They were coming in towards the planet itself but the problem was that they were, to put it lightly, coming in hot. The initial damage and the second salvo after that had done little damage to the ship overall but they built on each other to affect some systems.

Specifically the atmospheric entry systems.

The ship was shaking around him like a tin can full of angry crickets and he was going to hate to see the price of the repair bill. Despite this however he was grinning despite himself.

"Oh this is going to be a story to tell!" he crowed over the open com line, "We'll drink to this story for awhile Jeek - how we managed to pull a flaming ship in for a landing!"

If, he did in fact, manage to stick the landing.

Breaking through the upper atmosphere, Flynn could see on the sensors that the sector's law enforcement were trying for an active scan to see what was going on with his ship. The only way to get rid of it was to go into the largest storm front he could see and have it scramble the readings.

Of course as soon as he did so lightning struck the exterior of the ship and suddenly his sensors were down, even if the ship itself was still flying and still on a decent landing course.

"... with no sensors! Jeek this will be a story to tell!"

Spoiler: Dice

Coming in Hot
Cop Detection Avoided At Cost

@Deflubber