Ask Alaris Safari

[Chant Sindhu]

Alaris Prime, Kashyyyk System, Mytaranor sector​

A Quad-Five Courier descended fast from the clouds pursued by four V-21 T-Wing Interceptors hot on its tail. The predators unleashed a barrage of laser shots toward their unarmed target. The courier twisted and rolled out of the line of fire while continuing its descent.

Inside the cockpit Chant Sindu sweated, holding tightly on the controls while her astromech sat in the droid socket close by. “Typical, just typical.” The pilot exclaimed to herself. What was supposed to be a simple supply run for a Wookiee colony had turned into a desperate struggle for survival.

Frak these guys!

She thought in anger, entering the mist that covered the wilderness below. The courier violently shook as a laser shot exploded too close for comfort while Ness the droid beeped an alert about it. Swearing out loud in the native tongue Chant then said.

“Hold on girl, this is gonna get crazy.”

Suddenly she banks to the left, diving for the large river below. Ness let out a whine of concern at her partner but Chant only gritted her teeth while pressing forward. The pursuing interceptors continued to shoot at their quarry without much success due to the evasive action.

At the last possible moment Chant pulled the stick back and the Quad Five flew up, its belly barely splashed with water. The closest interceptor couldn’t pull up in time and crashed into the water with a great splash. That in turn blinded the second one who hit the river as well. The rest managed to pull up in time and went at full speed, intending to avenge their fallen comrades.

Ness chirped a short report causing her pilot to briefly grin. “Serves them right but we’re not of this yet.” As if to emphasize the point, the two remaining hostiles resumed firing as all of the ships flew low to the water. The Courier twists from one side to another repeatedly in response.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Miles away to the north was the shore of a rainforest hidden in a now ruined Jedi vault. One recently discovered by Transdosen raiders whom sent a large party riding on six skiffs with three Trandoshans on each one. In the center of the convoy was a heavy set reptile in an greeish jumpsuit and brown vest surrounded several his cohorts. Darrack savagely smiled as they approached the ruins from the eastern side. Even though is nothing of value left it can still serve well as new base on the moon. Further thoughts on the matter were interrupted when his commlink beeped. Hissing he took the call.

”What is it?”

Quickly a harried voice spoke on the other end.

”Boss we lost two of our fighters and we’re still pursing the target. But it’s coming your way.”

”What?!” Darrack shouted in outrage causing the others onboard to look in his direction. Swiftly he growled. “You fool take out that ship now or I’ll have your hide mounted on my wall.”

”Yes-yes right boss. We will.“

Turning off the call Darrack focused back on the task at hand. Nothing will stand in his way to glory he silently vowed.

@Topher @Darasuum

 

[Eisa Wex]

Spoiler: THEME

This was looking to be some easy credits! The instructions were simple enough, meet the client at the Star port in orbit around Dxun give him passage to Kashyyk, wait for a short while and return to Dxun with another passenger - perhaps so simple that she could just delegate the task to the protocol droid 'Spares'. But the that would mean activating him and them having to put up with his constant screaming about the injustice that his servo mechanisms had been removed from his chassis to repair her cybernetic limbs. Pursing her lips in though as she spun the pilot seat round to regard the sorry looking 3PO series protocol droid slumped over the comms console like a lifeless ragdoll, before shaking her head whilst dismissing the thought - whilst she could drown out the droid's whinging with her tunes, she doubted that the client in the next compartment over would appreciate the dulcet tones of her leap-jump playlist and the constant complaining of the protocol droid, blaring out from the cockpit.

After all this job came with the supposed promise of more work for the client's employer, the Sector Rangers - A pretty fun bunch to deal with, if the various reports on the holonet were to be understood. A band of law enforcers that moved about throughout the various rims, something that perhaps did appeal to the fiery haired pilot - the thought of jumping from world to world saving planets in distress, and bringing justice to the rims appealed to her greatly, but then again that may have been the ideals of the Jedi that had been instilled in her speaking out. Perhaps time will tell, for now she was a free agent, cruising through the black void with her trusty VCX-100 light freighter, renamed The Rim Hopper and her not so quiet deactivated droid.

Stretching her arm out with a yawn as the console to her side started beeping, the pilot reached over to flick through the screens read outs, her bright emerald eyes narrowing slightly as the scanners were picking up weapons discharges below. As if she was just shot with a syringe full of adrenaline, the pilot sprang bolt up right in her seat, feet falling down from resting upon the upper flight control console, her features flashing with wide eye excitement as she reached over for the control yoke of her freighter. "You might wanna grab onto something Mr Mando, its looking pretty exciting down there!" Eisa called out over the ships comms, figuring that if the masked ranger had moved away from his bunk to the rear of the ship to get some peace and quiet he would hear the intercomm - that way he couldn't complain that the ships sudden dive was not without warning.

Reaching forwards the fiery haired pilot flicked a few switches, powering up the ships offensive and defensive systems, just in case they were about to fly head long into the middle of a war zone. Before with an excited cheer, the pilot plunged the control yoke forwards, pulling it into a steep dive down from the upper stratosphere of the planet, chasing towards where the flashes of green laser fire were appearing below.

The pilots eyes narrowing as she watched a pretty small looking courier type ship being chased by two interceptor craft. "Well Kriff-sticks that's not fair" Eisa cussed under her breath as she manoeuvred her ship closer to where the one sided dog fight was taking place, her eyes flicking over towards the updated sensor screen as the image of the lead ship came into view, indicating that it was no means of protecting itself against the armed interceptors. Toggling the turret systems onto automatic tracking with a light flick of the switch at the top of the control yoke, before spiralling the ship round out of its dive so that the Rim Hopper levelled out towards the rear of the pursuit. "Time to be heros!" the pilot cackled as she squeezed down on the firing trigger, allowing a spray of crimson hued laser bursts rip towards the interceptor fighters.

 

[Roland Rook]

The Mandalorian had hesitated at first after reading the name of the ship when he first was looking at potential transport. Roland told himself maybe he just had a dirty mind but... I mean....Rim Hopper? Talk about phrasing. He was glad to have a helmet on at all times. It still didn't stop him from trying to mask his facial expression when stifling a laugh. But other than the name everything had been fine for the most part. The Ranger wouldn't be surprised if most things were up to inspection specifications so at least the captain of the ship was disciplined to a degree.

He sat alone at his bunk for the time being with his portable flame thrower. The requisition for it had gone through but Roland was honestly hoping he wouldn't need it. The lower levels of Kashyyyk's wilderness was known from being a dangerous place for any creature. It was not something the armored man was going to underestimate.

Hearing the woman's voice call back to him made his brow furrow. "What is it? What's going on?" He wasn't near a window and couldn't see any of the screens or views of outside yet. If nothing else Roland recieved an answer in a way as the ship changed directions. "Shabu-" His curse turned into a huff as he pressed the controls to activate his magboots so he wouldn't get tossed around as easily.

@Topher @Minuteman75

 

[Chant Sindhu]

Try as she might, Chant couldn’t shake loose of the scum. Her hands squeezed tightly on the controls more than ever before as she suddenly turned vertically out and the lasers shots struck water instead. Clearly the interceptor pilots were not used to dealing with prey evade like she does. Though had at this rate no amount of fancy maneuvering will save her and Ness. This situation was all too familiar and both frightened and pissed Chant off.

Is this how it all ends? No, I’m not giving these nerf herders the satisfaction that easily.

Ness called out in droidspeak and her organic partner was surprised. “Another ship?!” Subsequently, the two interceptors angle themselves into position to fire once more. This time they won’t miss…

Laser shots filled the air and struck the left interceptor in the center mass. It immediately exploded, becoming nothing falling wreckage into the river. The surviving fighter flew out of the way and turned around intending to shoot toward the newcomer.

Back in the Theta’s cockpit, Ness cheered with a whistle and Chant followed with a shout of praise. “Whoever that is I owe them a drink. No make that three.” Before the pair could celebrate further a large mysterious creature leaped from the river in front of them.

“Stang!”

The Mon Calamari shouted, twisting away to avoid a head on collision. However, the right wing grazed the beast’s side, breaking the former apart as the latter dived back down in pain. The courier spun out of control and Ness squeaked in terror. Chant’s vision blurred and she was losing consciousness.

Forcing herself to stay awake through sheer adrenaline. Chant pressed the ejection button next to her. A moment later the entire cockpit detached from the rest of the ship, becoming an escape pod. It hit the river, with a great splash.

@Topher @Darasuum

 

[Eisa Wex]

The fiery haired pilots eyes narrowed as she watched the streaks of laser turret fire tear through the trailing interceptor, a light wooping sound ringing out from within the cockpit at the splashing of one of the attacking craft, before a wild grin crossed her features as she watched the remaining fighter break off of it's pursuit of the unarmed ship - looks like for the time being who ever was within with the little ship was safe from their aggressors, as the interceptor was banking round towards the freighter that had just joined the fray. And, to top it all of the grunt from the adjacent compartment, brought her attention back to the fact that she had a passenger onboard.

"Just a couple of shifty fighters with raider paint schemes attacking a little courier craft" Eisa called back over her shoulder. "But don't worry they've stopped attacking the little ship" she added as she watched the remaining intereceptor circle round come in on a head on attack run, the hull of Rim Hopper shuddering as the medium laser fire from the interceptor impacted against the protective shielding of the light freighter. "They're attacking us now!" she added, not that stating the obvious was really necessary however the best of questionable running commentary coming from the cockpit was yet to come as the small courier craft was suddenly attacked by a large aquatic creature that had lunged up out of the body of water they were flying over. "Ah Kriff-sticks that little Courier craft has just been downed by a giant squid looking thing!!"

Taking a deep breath to try and focus herself for a moment, the former padawan tried to think like a Jedi for a moment, reach out for the Force let it guide you, the reminiscent words of her former master ringing at the back of her mind, before her eyes looked down to her cybernetic hand for a moment. "Gonna need a bit of a hand here Mr Mando, need you to jump into the engineer's seat and strap yourself in" Eisa called out as she hammered her metallic fist on the safety harness activation button, feeling the straps wrap around her body and held her firm against her flight seat, like metallic pythons that and slithered out from her seat. "We're gonna pull off a crazy Ivan to sort out the fighter, need you to be ready to launch to mag clamps at the survival pod thats splashed into the river as soon as we're facing the right direction"

Whilst the former Jedi part of her would trust in the Force to guide her hand, the fiery haired pilot had learnt that yes whilst the Force was a powerful ally indeed, she had since found that her flair of the unconventional was just as effective. Reaching over to the flight console, Eisa disengaged the inertia dampeners of her craft, as her bright emerald eyes watched the read out of the scanners, tracking as the interceptor had spiralled around into a pursuit course at the rear of the freighter. Which without having any one on the turret, whilst they were under her manual control. left the Rim Hopper exposed from a flanking attack. - But that was not going to be the case, with only a count down being voiced from the pilot, the freighter suddenly lurched upwards into a tight pitching roll, the hull groaning as it was suddenly flipped upside down as it continued its forward trajectory. As soon as there was a weapons lock tone, the turret mounted laser turrets flashed into life, raining streaks of crimson energy head long into closing fighter.

As soon as the remaining fighter burst into flaming wreckage that came crashing down into the river, the Rim Hopper barrelled back round so that it was one again flying upright rather than inverted. As soon as the ship was righted and facing its correct trajectory, Eisa maneauvered the frigate down so to give Roland a clear shot of the downed courier's survival pod with the magnetic cargo clamps.

 

[Roland Rook]

The more flying that occured had Roland taking careful steps along the deck and making his way to the cockpit. Occasionally he had to brace himself on the bulkhead, warranting a growl underneath his cross-visored helmet. <"This is why I like flying myself"> He mutted in Mando'a.

"I hadn't noticed." He replied sarcastically as the light freighter shook from the interceptor hit the ship. When she asked for assistance he already was pulling himself into one of the seats and strapping himself in. "What?" He breathed the word of confusion. There was an escape pod, a river, fighters, Roland had not exactly been updated with a play by play but things were changing quickly.

"uuuh... which one's the magnets" Roland had never flown in a VCX-100 before and his ships didn't have magnetic clamps. Eventually he was able to read some of the indicators and made sure to engage the cargo clamp. It was not likely to be a very comfortable move and even everything inside the escape pod would probably get slammed into the roof.

@Topher @Minuteman75

 

[Chant Sindhu]

The cockpit turned escape pod floated in the water. Inside at the pilot’s seat Chant laid face down on the panel unconscious. Ness the astromech twisted her dome to examine her partner. The machine expressed her concern in the form of a soft whistle. Slowly however, the Mon Calamari began to stir.

Moaning with a new rendered headache Chant forced herself to look up. Sure enough her vision cleared. The droid close by let out a squeal of relief.

“Ugh..glad you’re in one piece Ness but please lower your volume my head is spinning.”

Breathing heavily she rubbed off the side of her head and felt something wet. Bringing the hand down Chant noted the blood now smeared on it. With a heavy sigh she sat back. “We’re alive at least but still lost the ship.”

The very thought enraged Chant and she slammed her right hand on the arm rest. She and Ness had almost lost everything...again. “We’re just trying to make our way in the universe. Is that a galactic crime or something?”

Ness beeped trying to cheer her pilot up. The latter was still upset; she looked back at the mech and gave an appreciated nod. Just as she was about to consider what to do next when their escape pod suddenly lurched out of the river. Ness screeched before the pod slammed onto something hard.

The effects made Chant’s concussion even worse and she grunted, grasping her head with both hands and murmured. “This is madness.”

@Topher @Darasuum

 

[Eisa Wex]

A light cheer escaped the fiery haired pilot as she felt the freighter shudder under the additional weight that suddenly got dumped onto the load being put on the engines. The flight controls noticibly sluggish, until the pilot throttled the engines up to compensate as she maneuvered the ship away from the river and towards land before turning the craft round and lowering closer to the ground and killing the power to the mag clamps from her console, plonking the recovered escape capsule on the ground.

Once the capsule had been dealt with, Eisa swiftly maneuvered the Rim Hopper do that it could land beside the recovered escape pod without crushing it. - won't exactly be a shining mark on her track record, carry out a daring rescue of a downed ship, only to then immediately crush the survivors under the weight of the freighter. As soon as the ship shuddered as the landing gear pistons took the weight of the craft, the pilot killed the power to the engines, the lights in the ship flickering momentarily as its power shifted over to the battery stores.

"Nice Catch!" Eisa spoke out as she claimed out of her seat to peer out of the cockpit view port to take a look at the escape pod, before turning her attention round to the masked Manadlorian - a bright and wild grin plastered over her features. "that worked better than thought it would" she added, with a light chuckle, before stepping away from her flight seat and towards the wall mounted locker at the side of the flight deck, pulling out and holstering her blaster pistol before slinging a tool sack over her shoulder and then snatching up a med pack.

"Gonna quickly go check if there's any survivors, then we'll get you to that pick up point" Eisa spoke as she spun on her heel away from the locker and turning her attention towards the Manadlorian behind her, before nodding towards the wall mounted ladder that lead to the cockpit escape hatch, figuring that it'd be a quicker means of getting there and back without having to faff about with the boarding ramp at the rear of the ship.

As soon as the hatch opened up, the fiery haired woman jumped down the newly opened aperature, landing with a heavy booted thud. Moments before the sound of metal creaking open, accompanied with the sudden rush of fresh air filling the ship as Eisa opened the external bulkhead door and stepped out. Heading towards the near by escape pod.

 

[Roland Rook]

The ship touched down and Roland peered out of the viewscreen to look at the escape module for a moment. Turning around he headed for the door to be stopped by the wild eyed pilot. "I think that should be a point of concern." He muttered as she walked to grab the rest of her gear.

Roland didn't grab anything else from his gear he brought on the trip. Most of it was just back up and reloads for what he had. He turned to keep an eye on the escape pod. "I'll join you." The ranger replied.

While Eisa jumped down and headed out, Roland followed with less excitement with a more even but measured step. "Do you know who's on board or something?" Maybe Eisa was familiar with who was in the escape pod.

@Topher @Minuteman75

 

[Chant Sindhu]

Chant could hardly think straight. She kept rubbing her head in an attempt to ease the lingering pain. The Mon Calamari pilot sat in the chair, trying to get a grip. Who got us? Before she could even consider an answer the ship that carried the pod finally landed with a thud.

“Kriff me this hurts!” Whispered Chant to herself. Ness the droid spoke about her concern about their situation in droidspeak. Exhaling the survivor remarked. “I don’t know but error on the side of caution.”

Of course if Chant was honest with herself she was frightened and pissed especially given everything that happened. Shaking the pilot drew her pistol and made sure it was loaded. Ness squeaked in binary again causing Chant to nod. “Thanks Ness if this is it I couldn’t ask for a better partner.”

The astromech got out of the droid socket while Chant finally stood up. If whoever picked them up was hostile they were determined not to go down without a fight. The pilot and her companion got to the end of the pod and ready themselves. Taking a deep breath and releasing it, Chant gripping the pistol in one hand activated the door controls with the other.

The door sliding open the still bleeding and battered pilot cautiously stepped outside...

@Topher @Darasuum

 

[Eisa Wex]

Pausing in her advance towards the recovered escape pod, the fiery haired pilot turned round to face the Mandalorian ranger behind her as he questioned whether she knew who was within the downed ship. A wide grin crossing her bright features lingering for a moment before she simply shook her head and shrugged. "Nahh, no idea who's in that busted tin can" Eisa responded with a chuckle, her metallic hand lowering onto the side of her hip. "But, they seemed like they were in trouble when we were passing, it's only right to lend a hand ya know?" she continued with a bright grin, as she nodded towards the downed ship. "Makes the 'verse just that little bit better to live in" she concluded before shooting the Mandalorian a quick wink and turning her focus back towards the escape pod

As the two approached the escape pod, the fiery haired pilot's head tilted slightly to the side as the hissing sound of the door sliding open touched on her ears. Her lips pursing in thought as she slowly walked around the perimeter of the capsule, seemingly it appeared that she was on the opposite side of the pod from where those within were emerging from. "Well they seem to be alive, thats a good thing" she muttered mostly to herself, before pacing her way around the escape pod towards the opening hatch.

As she rounded the corner Eisa, slowed in her advance as her bright emerald hued eyes fell upon a rather bloody and bruised looking Mon Calamari female stepped out of the wreckage, seemingly propping herself up against the battered fuselage - before her gaze eventually focused in on pistol that was held in the Mon Cal's hand. "Woah, no need for the blaster miss blue! We're the good guys, just here to check if you're Ok" Eisa spoke out as she raised her metallic hand above her head whilst waving the med kit being held in front with her remaining natural limb .

 

[Roland Rook]

The cross-visored helmet of the Mandalorian periodically looked skyward, expecting to see more starfighters or even a large avian beast. Either possibility was not something the Ranger was looking forward to. Roland had yet to draw a weapon. He didn't like pulling a weapon unless he needed to for numerous reasons. In this case, the red-headed pilot seemed to be confident that whomever was inside the cockpit-escape pod from the Quad five courier would not be hostile. But his fingers were just a few centimeters away in the event he needed to draw or leap out of the way for any sign of danger. The cloaked ranger simply murmured at the answer he received, unconvinced that was the best outlook. Good way to get taken advantage of

When the pod began to open the Mandalorian inhaled and didn't blink. A moment later a blue skinned Mon Calamari presented themselves to Eisa. Roland quickened his step and came around the opposite side as Eisa. Hearing the pilot mention a blaster he gripped the handle of his own sidearm. But he did not draw it, yet. "Sector Rangers, I suggest you drop your weapon." Technically he was the only ranger present but if he needed to draw and shoot in a worst case scenario it definitely would be bad if he didn't identify himself. At the corner of the escape pod his helmet leaned out enough to see the fish like appearance of Chant and stayed there. If she raised her weapon to Eisa who was clearly trying to help or towards him he would draw his weapon and shoot.

@Topher @Minuteman75

 

[Chant Sindhu]

The sunlight blinded Chant temporarily causing the pilot to grunt as she leaned on the fuselage. Moments later her vision cleared revealing a fiery haired human along with an armored figure. She nearly raised the pistol when the woman spoke saying that she meant no harm and wanted to help. The sight of the metal hand lifted up, holding a med pack stopped Chant in her tracks.

Any further thought of resisting stopped when the human’s partner declared them as sector rangers and ordered her to drop the gun. The Mon Calamari’s eyes widened, obviously surprised. Sure enough Ness the droid just rolled out the pod voiced a similar opinion with a whistle. It was so much for the wounded Chant to handle who thought.

What a crazy universe we live in.

Without warning the pistol dropped to the sand and she fell sideways. Before unconsciousness took the pilot she moaned. “Thank the force.” The astromech whined in concern at the form of her organic comrade.

OOC: The End​

@Topher @Darasuum