A Dangerous Escape

[Narir Solus]

Artee and Smartee had gotten the ship up and running while the trio of Mandalorians climbed aboard and the ship jetted out of the hangar, but now that they were in flight it was up to the trio of Mandalorians to actually get out of here alive. He slipped behind the controls of The Marauder's Revenge as the droids moved out of the way. Navigating out of the asteroid field was going to be difficult at best and catastrophic at worst.

Someone take the guns, he said as he slipped into the pilot's seat and strapped in, indicating to the co-pilot chair who would currently have control of the pair of double laser canons and ventral torpedo tube. The guns and torpedos could theoretically help clear out some of the asteroids that he couldn't avoid. Hopefully he could avoid them all... hopefully. Narir fired up the shields to full power, doubling down on the particle shield and hoping they could deflect further stray asteroids. In other words, they had - in theory - 3 layers of protection. He hoped it would be enough.

Eyes open, he said, pointing to whichever of the Mandalorians had opted not to take the guns. He would be Narir's spare set of eyes to avoid collisions and look for openings. Pull up long term navigation, he said to Artee and Smartee, the pair of pilot droids whose role was - at least for the moment - obsolete. One could start calculating jump coordinates while the other overlaid the navigation charts with their trajectory. The detonation caused a greater shift in the asteroids and meant that - while they were unlucky in that regard - perhaps some of their old charts were still useful... but it was unlikely they would be worth much. @Lucid @Painus

 

[Leandros Solus]

Dice​

Leandros sighed and settled into the co-pilot’s chair, familiarizing himself with the ship’s weapon systems. He had to admit, Narir had an impressive ship. It probably cost him – or whomever he took it from – quite a bit of credits to acquire, though that was none of Leandros’ business. They needed to get away from Bilbringi soon because their sabotage attempt was likely to bring about some serious trouble, especially considering the asteroid field they had to get through in order to escape.

The mission on Bilbringi had gone rather well; they took out a Sith acolyte, taking his lightsaber as a trophy, and ended up successfully detonating the reactor. The detonation of the shipyard, however, provided them with a different challenge to surmount. While they fled Imperial space, it was up to the trio to successfully escape the space around Bilbringi and return home, though that was far easier said than done.

Leandros took control of the laser cannons, finally accustomed to their fine-tuning. Unlike his modified overhead, this ship was top-of-the-line and handled as such. As Artee and Smartee began plotting their way out, Narir maneuvered through the asteroid field. Around them, massive rocks drifted lazily through the void, keeping Leandros on his toes in order to ensure nothing would block their path. Luckily, none of them got directly in the way and, provided Narir had some degree of piloting ability, they would be able to easily slip past the nearby ones. Leandros kept his eyes forward, scanning the field. He hoped that Dan would be alert enough to act as another set of eyes, but he did not hold his breath.

@Lucid @Phoenix

 

[Daniel Solus (old)]

Daniel was so busy trying to figure out the navigation charts that he didn't immediately look up at the windows. Narir was doing some brilliant piloting and Leandros was on the guns--always good--but it wasn't going to be enough to get them out. To do that, Daniel had to do his part. He was ready, he knew they must not die, that they had to live on to carry the war on their shoulders and burn the Sith from galactic history.

Once again the people would be free, life would be good and Daniel would be home. Home! How long had it been since he'd been there? It felt like years, though it had only been months. He missed his sister and his badger and everything else. He missed the bakery and the ancient man who had taught him everything he knew. For a moment, homesickness gripped Daniel hard. Only after he had shaken off his temporary funk did he look out the side windows. What he saw was a very quick death hurtling towards them.

A massive asteroid was almost upon them, how had he not seen it? He'd been daydreaming of course. Though, better late than never.

"NARIR DIVE! KRIFF!! DIVE DIVE DIVE OR WE'RE ALL DEAD!"

@Painus @Phoenix

 

[Narir Solus]

Dice​

Narir gripped the controls of the ship tightly, not realizing just how tense he was about this. His stomach was in knots and he wanted nothing more than to be out of this asteroid field. He was a decent enough pilot, but he wouldn't classify himself as a master smuggler or some insane, super ace. An asteroid field was outside the scope of what he wanted to do without a navigation chart, but going back was suicide, so here he was.

There was no sign of asteroids in front of them, but the screaming from Dan quickly alerted him to what he couldn't see. A rather... large asteroid had been shifting toward them from above, just in the perfect position to be a difficult spot for the pilot. There wasn't time to waste, but Narir had been looking closely at what was in front of them, and he knew where those dangers were at least. It was all clear ahead, and he jammed the accelerator forward, clearing the asteroid just in time before pulling back on the throttle again to decelerate so they didn't risk hitting one of the asteroids ahead.

Good spot, he said, blinking several times as he returned his view to ahead of them. Only... 94% of the way to go, he said with a slight groan. They were going to need some luck to get through this, and he was beginning to really hate his Bad-Luck Badger role right about now.

 

[Leandros Solus]

Dice​

Leandros kept his eyes peeled, exhaling as Narir swerved out of the way of the massive asteroid they were about to become well-acquainted with. Leandros trained the ship’s cannons on it as they flew past, ready to blast it apart if they were not going to clear the entire thing. Luckily, using Dan as an early warning system and Narir’s quick reflexes meant that they were in the clear for now. Feeling a bit better about it, Leandros groaned when Narir announced that they were not even ten percent out of the massive asteroid field.

Keeping the weapon system steady and aimed ahead, Leandros scanned the field, watching the trajectories of the different rocks, alert for one headed their way. He caught a glimpse of one that he thought was angled unusually, but a larger asteroid flew before it, obscuring his view for a few precious seconds. Once the larger asteroid cleared, he noticed that the other asteroid was heading on a direct course towards their ship! Leandros aimed the ship’s cannons at it, ready to squeeze the trigger and clear their path. Unfortunately, a smaller asteroid bumped against the ship’s shields and jostled them around, ruining Leandros’ aim right as he fired. The bolts sailed by and hit an asteroid behind his intended target, fracturing it somewhat.

Leandros cursed and adjusted to take another shot, shouting out in alarm, ”Asteroid, to our eleven o’clock!” He hoped Narir would be able to dodge this one again since his shots missed and he had to reacquire the target.

@Phoenix @Lucid

 

[Daniel Solus (old)]

Dice​

Fully alter now, Daniel scanned the scene with keen eyes. Their charts were unreliable and so were rocks, if the amount of asteroids they kept narrowly avoiding were any indication. As Narir read out status reports and Leandros cursed and shot their way clear of yet another huge rock, Daniel gripped hard onto copilot's chair and tried to spot a way out. After a few tense moments he thought he saw something.

Two large asteroids had just collided and were currently speeding in opposite directions of each other just a little way forward and to the left. Given how busy Narir was, he wasn't sure if the other man had seen it. "There, just ahead between those two rocks that are flying away from eachother. Looks clear past then, might give us an opportunity to cover some ground," Daniel's voice was tense, this whole situation had been a series of close calls. It was about time they had a break, but he wondered if their luck would hold.

Narir responded with a grunt and expertly maneuvered the craft through the opening Dan had spotted. For a blissful moment, everything was clear.

@Phoenix @Painus
71% left

 

[Narir Solus]

More asteroids... this was turning into a fun situation. It was almost like they'd flown into an asteroid field... oh that's right, they had. The Mandalorian was keenly aware of every bump against the very small asteroids that bumped off of the shields. They were still holding strong, not having taken a serious hit yet that would decrease their power. That was good, because they would need it for whatever went wrong on the way.

Narir pushed the controls down as he maneuvered around the bottom of the asteroid, keeping his pace slow and steady to allow them more time to spot and evade oncoming targets. He could feel his heart pounding, and couldn't help but think he was getting almost as much of an adrenaline rush from this as he did from a genuine gunfight. Perhaps dogfighting was something he should take up if he survived this. Probably a bad idea.

A glance down at his scopes revealed that they were at least making progress. 71%, he called out to the other two. They were well on their way out, but still had a long way to go. @Lucid @Painus

 

[Leandros Solus]

Dice​

Leandros sighed in relief as their ship cleared the asteroid ahead. Dan was doing a good job of being the navigator and getting them through the field because all Leandros was focused on was taking out any big rocks headed their way. As Narir maneuvered below the asteroid, Leandros craned his neck as he looked around for any oncoming threats. They were doing well at avoiding the big ones, but they were making almost zero progress through the field. Seventy-one percent complete. Gods, they would never make it out at this rate. Leandros sighed and rolled his neck around, tired of watching rocks float around them.

Something caught his eye as Narir finished maneuvering beyond the larger asteroid – it was nothing massive like they had avoided earlier, but it was still something heading towards them. He swiveled the turret around to fire on it, letting loose a single shot to see if he could destroy it. Unfortunately, the namesake of their pilot kept him from having any degree of competence and the bolt sailed harmlessly past the smaller asteroid. They would likely clear it just moving at their current trajectory, but it would have been nice to actually hit something for once.

”Rock, right above us. Too small to do much damage, though,” he called out, letting the others know there was at least something in their path.

@Phoenix @Lucid

 

[Daniel Solus (old)]

Daniel continued to look for a way out of the asteroids but he could see nothing. Without a clear path spotted, they made meager progress at first. Daniel and the others were starting to feel the pressure, this was getting dangerous beyond anyone's wildest imagination. However, it seemed as though Narir's infamous bad luck hadn't manged to taint everything. The navicomputer beeped suddenly.

Daniel looked over to the computer, it seemed as though that when the outdated charts had been called up, the ships systems had automatically triggered a sensor sweep and update to the new positions. The computer had been chugging along all this time and finally it was ready. The navicomputer had found a path based on current positions and projected paths that Daniel with eyes alone had not been able to see.

"Narir, check your heads up. The navicomputer updated and I'm forwarding the path to you now." Daniel's voice was tense as he worked the controls and sent the info to Narir. They weren't out yet but they had what they needed to make some decent progress.

@Phoenix
@Painus
71% - [12%(natural distance completed) + 30% (map updates)] = 29% left.

 

[Narir Solus]

Narir was gradually making his way around the asteroid when it abruptly slammed into a second floater. The course altered rapidly and Narir slammed the controls down, but it was too late. The asteroid bashed into the shield and the impact thumped through the entire ship, shaking it and giving a sound that was like sheering metal. Narir hated it, and cursed rather loudly.

Shields at 65%, he said. They'd doubled up on their shields, which was likely the only reason it had fared so well. They wouldn't be able to take very many more hits like that, and he wondered what they would find next.

A glance at the sensors revealed they had actually lost distance from the impact, backing them up another 10%. We lost ground... 39% left, he said. One impact and over 50% of the way through... that could have been worse, couldn't it? His heart was absolutely pounding at this point, though, and the reality that he might die here and now doing this set in. @Painus @Lucid

 

[Leandros Solus]

Dice​

Leandros was feeling pretty good about their chances of success. So far, they had avoided most of the rocks, even if they were moving at barely a crawl through the massive asteroid field. Even despite the constant tension of anticipating a collision, they had so far been unscathed. The navicomputer updated and provided them with a new readout of the asteroid field, meaning they now had a recent version to look through rather than their outdated scans. See? Bad-Luck Badger was not so unlucky at all.

Naturally, as soon as Leandros thought this, the ship was violently rocked and the sound of shorn metal screamed through their heads. Leandros cursed and jolted, unprepared for the sudden collision. He looked around at the others to ensure they were okay and to see what the hell happened before immediately focusing on the asteroid field ahead.

Though they had taken a fairly rough collision, the way ahead of them seemed to open on its own as asteroids drifted apart, providing a clear route. Leandros pointed it out and spoke up to Dan, ”Right there, boy, look. The rocks are moving apart. Can we use that?” The hit may have given some superficial damage, but at least their luck was beginning to look up.

@Phoenix @Lucid

 

[Daniel Solus (old)]

Dice​

Daniel was looking the other direction when Leandros called to him. He had been scanning space to their left after Narir called that they had been set back. Well, it seemed to him like setback or no, Narir had been doing some wonderful flying. They made up their ground and by the time that Leandros called to him they were almost clear. He looked and checked ranges with the navicomuter.

Indeed the bouncing asteroids had opened a path. It wasn't much but it was just enough. "Narir, between those asteroids, go quickly and we should be clear." The Bad-luck badger didn't seem to need twice telling. He punched the drives over the stopping guards and they shot forward on their new trajectory. The inertial compensation struggled to keep up as the ship rocked through the new opening and Daniel was nearly thrown into the celing when they bounced off their particle shields and along the new corridor.

Then, for the first time in what seemed like forever, the tension in the cockpit dropped and all three Mandos took a big sigh of relief. While capable each on the battlefield, the randomness of space had been a very trying experience. "So...let's never do that again." Daniel said, wondering if his hands would ever stop shaking. "I'm going to go throw up." With that, he got up and left the cockpit as Narir punched the ship into hyperspace. Whether or not Daniel made it to the refresher in time will remain a mystery for years to come.

@Phoenix @Painus

//THREAD