Hometown Feel

[Alysanne Drast]

Near Phelar, Eriadu​

Alys had never been to Eriadu, though she knew about the planet and its strategic location on the Rimma Trade Route. But that was more or less all she knew about the planet, her education had been more focused on the core of the two power centers, the sectors surrounding Korriban and Coruscant. Well, this was going to be as a good an education as any. She only wished she was visiting the planet under better circumstances.

But she was here for a reason, and she was determined to get the job done. There weren't many things she had felt very strongly about in a negative light, but slavery was one of them. She abhorred the very concept and witnessing her "cousins" parading their slaves had been one of the earliest times in her life when she had realized she didn't want to be like them.

But slavers weren't pushovers, so she had also come expecting a fight. She had brought along an extra blaster alongside her standard side arm, a crazy looking DH-7 one of the pilots had been willing to lend out and was even wearing the armor she normally ignored. A couple of smoke grenades and a pair of frag grenades had rounded up her arsenal. Making sure that all her gear was in order, she waited for the all clear from her companions before they set off from the staging site to seek out the slavers.

@Kayenta Moenkopi @Lazy Swordsman

 

[Aurelian Keth]

Aurelian didn’t know a lot about Eriadu although he’d done some digging before the start of their assignment. As far as he could tell it was something of a centre of trade, an intersection of trade routes. The Rimma Trade Route and Hydian Way if he was remembering correctly. Other than that he hadn’t come across much of interest. The rest was just what had come with the mission briefing. A farming community was suffering under unsure mysterious attacks and the locals where blaming a rival community of some sort. However the Alliance believed it was slavers and Aurelian had come to trust his commanders quite well, especially considering his discovery of the Jedi Masters in their ranks.

As soon as he had heard it was slavers he had decided to come prepared, the mission on Ryloth had taught him that despite his distaste for carrying such equipment there came a time when it was necessary. He was carrying his usual DH-7 and vibrosword but he’d also fetched his R5 Blaster and got his hands on the rifle kit to set it up as a R5R. The rifle had served well in the hands of Devin Wolfe and so Aurelian hoped it would serve him too. He didn’t want to have to resort to stealing weapons from the dead again, especially if he ended up stuck with a damn repeater again. Also, under Nera’s suggestion, he had requested a set of standard issue rebel armour. He usually wore his own light armour, set up to look closer to clothing than anything militant, but if he was going up against slavers then it was going to be necessary no matter how much he disliked it.

‘If I knew how to use the Force this wouldn’t be necessary.’ he thought with annoyance. He’d yet to find training, or know if he was really ever going to be trained. He sighed softly, no doubt the Jedi Master had far more important things on her mind than he but he still couldn’t help feel a little angry at how little progress he’d made since being made aware of his force sensitivity. Forcing himself to focus on the situation at hand he cast such thoughts aside and double checked his equipment. Ner’Giza had tried to get him to take a few grenades but he’d only accepted 1 flashbang and 1 concussion grenade. His lack of experience with explosives made the scholar far too wary to carry something like a fragmentation grenade.

Making his way to the meeting site the Rebel met up with the woman he was a little familiar with but had little interaction with. She had been behind the wondrous mission to Naboo as far as he was aware. Meeting up with her Aurelian nodded and smiled. “Nera should only be a moment.” he informed her, glancing back to see if his Twi’lek companion was coming.

Spoiler

Mission loadout

• Rebel Armour

• DH-7 Blaster Pistol with 2 power packs (10 shots each)

• R5R Blaster Rifle with 2 power packs (25 shots each)

• Personal Vibrosword

• 1 Flashbang Grenade

• 1 Concussion Grenade

@Kayenta Moenkopi @Wit

 

[Ner Giza]

One thing that Ner’Giza had learned over the course of their recent missions was that she couldn’t carry it all. Even if she’d had the missile launcher of her dreams she would have had to leave it behind. She sighed regretfully as she clipped the pair of DH-7s to her waist, having pawned both her hold out blasters to get even one. Though more suited to mixing it up in a rough cantina than an all out assault upon a gang of slavers, they had sentimental value. At least the second she had been able to draw from the strained stores that supplied the many missions out of Savareen. She would have felt unbalanced without a matched pair of pistols. Content with how her rifle handled, she slung the weapon over her back; her grenades and spare power packs, already on her belt, ringed her waist below her armor.

Ner’Giza said goodbye to 99, the droid would be staying behind this time to install the new military grade power core on the Tempest Hunter. In no way could she complain about that as it came courtesy of the Alliance. It was a daunting task supplying the needs of so many but in the long run it would only serve to make them stronger. Sadly her ship would need quite a few modifications if it were to be an effective part of a real squadron. ”One step at a time, eh 99?”, she commented to the droid as though he had been privy to her thoughts.

The Twi’lek laughed as she fled from his outraged bleeps, something about not needing tips from a bleep-tweeter-raouwl...she really was going to have to brush up on her droid speak some day. Trotting across the ground, her ship retreating in the background, she soon saw that Aurelian and Alysanne had arrived before her. ”All ready, Aruelian”, she announced needlessly before turning to greet the woman. Unlike her partner she had no knowledge of the existence of the Jedi nor the force sensitivity of the Scholar. ”I’m Ner’Giza, it’s good to finally meet you.” Knowing the woman only through reputation and her involvement in their missions to Naboo, the Twi-lek was hopeful for their chances in retrieving those who had been kidnapped.

Spoiler

Mission Loadout

• Vorantikus Blaster Rifle with 2 power packs [ 30 shot each ]
• DH-7 Blaster Pistol with 2 power packs [ 10 shots each ]
• 2 frag grenades
• 2 grenades: CZ-Riot Gas [/url]

http://www.thestarwarsrp.com/forum/index.php?threads/vorantikus-blaster-rifle.84612/

http://www.thestarwarsrp.com/forum/index.php?threads/vorantikus-blaster-rifle.84612/

 

[Alysanne Drast]

Alys smiled in greeting as first one, then both her companions for the mission arrived. She had worked with them during the recent expedition to Naboo, but with the number of hands involved in that little venture that they hadn't really come to know each other. But this was going to be a good enough opportinity to rectify that, nothing quite like shooting up a gang of scum-bags to forge the bonds of camaraderie!

"Nice to meet both of you, I'm Alys!" Though Aurora and a few others knew her true identity, to most members of the Galactic Alliance, and actually the Galaxy at large, she was still introducing herself as simply Alys, or Alysanne. Hopefully before long she could share her secret with more people, but for now she would try her best to earn their trust and respect so that when the news of her being a Drast came out they would judge her on the basis of who she was and not who she had been. "Let's get cracking, shall we? Not a long hike from here to the outskirts of Idell."

If there were no objections the trio of rebels would begin moving carefully towards the abandoned city that had now become the base for the pirates. The staging ground had been as close as they could get via air without alerting the pirates of their presence, so now they had to carefully cover the remaining distance to the city on foot, on the lookout for any patrols the pirates may have out in the area.

And though careful she was, Alys was not the most seasoned of field operatives and as they came upon the first such patrol, she almost blew their cover by stepping on a branch at the wrong time. The loud span drew the attention of the 3 man patrol, making them pause but thankfully they didn't think to explore it further when the rebels didn't make any further noise. Probably assuming that it was just an animal, the patrol resumed its rounds after a few tense minutes, but they were a little more on alert now.

Alys turned to Aurelian and Ner’Giza once the pirates had stopped looking for the source of the sound, whispering so that only they could hear her. "Do you want to take these three out while we can or should we continue towards the town?" Taking them out now meant there would be three less pirates for them to deal with once they hit the base, but if they managed to get away and raise the alarm then they might lose the element of surprise when hitting the base.

@Kayenta Moenkopi @Lazy Swordsman

 

[Aurelian Keth]

Glancing at Nera when she arrived he chuckled softly as Nera announced she was ready, despite already standing there beside them. “Ready when you are.” he replied to Alys with a smile. The sooner they got moving the quicker they could track down the slaving scum and provide assistance to the locals. The scholar wasn’t the biggest fan of combat missions but he had a certain distaste for slavers to put it mildly. Maybe it was his years on Ryloth and his close friendship almost familial relationship with Ner’Giza’s Clan. He’d met many on that world who’d suffered first hand from such cruel trading. The recent mission to Ryloth was a strong reminder of those days, of those who took advantage of the innocent and weak. Yes he wanted to get on with this mission.

Moving alongside his two companions the rebels made their way towards Idell. It didn’t take long for them to make ground, the terrain was even and not difficult to traverse. Aurelian wasn’t exactly the greatest covert operative in rural areas, most of his days running from the Empire had been spent in the poorest areas of heavily urbanised worlds. That wasn’t to say he was unused to being outside of Cities, he grew up on a rural world but he hadn’t been trying to sneak around Orron III to avoid enemy patrols. If Alys hadn’t made the mistake then he probably would have, luckily they were quick enough to take cover and wait for the investigatory patrols to pass.

Waiting until the alerted patrols give up and moved on Aurelian found himself spending a few stressful moments glancing at his companions waiting for one of them to speak first. When Alys spoke Aurelian nodded slightly, keeping his voice down. “I’m far from the galaxies best Marksman. However if we’re forced to fight them soon or later I’d rather thin their numbers out now. I wouldn’t be confident in our ability to tackle the entire gang once we get to their base.” he said, his soft voice going even quieter than usual. “Of course we will have to make sure we take the entire patrol out before they can sound the alarms.”

He waited for the others to respond, he would abide by the decision of his fellow rebels regardless of what they decided.

 

[Ner Giza]

More than eager to get underway, she nodded to Aly and headed out cross country for Idell. Bringing up the rear as she was, she kept her perceptions focused as though she were landscape leading up to the abandoned village it was easy for her to imagine the people having to seek a living elsewhere. It was the lucky break, so to speak, that forced them to duck for cover saving them from running right into the three pirates.

It didn’t really occur to her that they could be anyone else other than those involved in the slavers encampment, for the intel the Alliance had provided her in the past had never been wrong. Fully expecting to find the kidnapped civilians in the abandoned village, who else would be in the area but the perpetrators? As far as she could see, there was nothing to bring anyone out to this desolate place.

Turning her head to whisper as she peeked out round the edge of a boulder her back was braced against, she said ”You know this close to the village our shots will probably blow whatever chance at a surprise attack we have right out of the sky. Regardless she didn’t like the odds of them being stealthy enough to take them out up close and quiet like. ”Just saying, once we go, be on the lookout for reinforcements.”

Flicking the safety off her pistol, she turned and edged the barrel of the blaster over the rock sighting in on the pirates. Nodding to the others she said, ”Let’s do this” she murmured sighting along the barrel once more before pulling the trigger. ♦ The blaster missed and she cursed the pawnbroker immediately thinking he had sold her a piece of junk. Their Uncle Taln’erca had told her over and over again not to take an untried weapon into battle. Hopefully she would live to rue her mistake.

The three pirates immediately reacted swinging round to make a dive for cover and spoiling their advantage completely. Cursing inwardly she tried to make an adjustment to her sighting by aiming a bit lower, for her shot had been way off in elevation. Already shots were being returned and she was having to duck for cover again before getting off another volley at the pirates.

 

[Alysanne Drast]

Aurelian was right, sooner or later they had to fight the slavers, there was no way the slavers were going to just give up and come quietly. So when Ner’Giza made the call to take the patrol out now, Alys nodded in agreement and pulled out her own weapons, a blaster in each hand ready to deal with the trio of pirates.

As Ner’Giza took her shot, Alys cursed as it missed and the pirates tried to dive for cover and rose out of her position and began firing. Her arms swinging around int a wide arc, she tried to shoot at all three of the pirates as her weapons swung by them. She clipped the first pirate in the arm, but as he fell wounded to the ground he noticed where she was and began firing back towards her, forcing her to duck behind the boulder once more, pinned there by his fire. But before he could retaliate she had managed to get a couple more shots off, hitting one of the pirates dead center between his eyes and killing him immediately, while the third pirate was left completely unarmed and by the time she dropped behind cover he had joined in with the injured one to shoot at her.

"Try flanking them!" She whispered loudly enough for Aurelian and Ner’Giza to hear, hoping that one of them could do something about the remaining pirates while their attention was focused on her. She raised her blaster over the boulder for a brief moment and fired a blind shot in the general direction of the pirates, hoping to keep them occupied and giving the others a chance to get at them.

@Kayenta Moenkopi @Lazy Swordsman

 

[Aurelian Keth]

Well Nera wasn’t waiting at all for the go ahead. Perhaps he should have expected it. Slavers and pirates where held with special hatred in her heart and given her background it wasn’t surprising that the Twi’lek was quick to shoot. Unfortunately her eagerness appeared to be a mistake, her shot went wild as it flashed past the patrols.

Aurelian hurled himself into cover as the slavers swung their weapons around to face them and unleashed a barrage in their direction. As blaster bolts lit up the air above them he glanced at the others to check they were alright, confirming both women where unscathed he took hold of the rifle hanging from his shoulder even as Alys returned fire. When the woman ordered them to flank he nodded and with a silent gesture to Nera he pointed for her to flank in the other direction.

Sneaking around to his left as the other human rebel fired her gun to draw attention Aurelian moved as swiftly as he could, keeping his head down but not worrying too much about silence and being more focused on staying in cover.

Finding a rock outcrop to kneel behind he raised his rifle and quickly fired of 3 shots. He worked as swiftly as he could but he felt unusually confident, like someone was standing over him and guiding his shots. He pulled the trigger once and a shot took the uninjured slaver square in face while a second shot, released swiftly after hit the already dead man in the chest before he even fell. An instinctive feeling, like a whisper urging him to look to his left, brought Aurelian’s gun around as the pirate who’d been injured earlier by Alys began to rise to his feet. The blaster bolt slammed straight in-between his eyes. Like that it was over. Aurelian blinked in surprise, unsure of what had really happened. It was as if his good luck in moments of crisis had only gotten better since meeting Aurora. Perhaps it was the force despite his ignorance with such things? ♦

He released a shuddering breath, killing was always unpleasant no matter how scummy the target. Standing slowly he shot a glance around to see if there was any other patrols but he couldn’t see anyone, at least not close by. Looking over at Nera he tapped the side of his helmet, his was a basic kit but his partner’s had a HUD display that she could use to check if any more patrols where incoming. He didn’t need to speak a word, he knew she’d understand.

Kneeling over the corpses he double checked that they were definitely dead. He considered grabbing one of their comms but decided against it, there was the chance that this crew had the technical ability to track individual communication units and if so it would lead them straight to the rebels. Instead he checked their supplies, finding a compatible power pack for his rifle which he stashed in the pouch on his belt. However the last pirate that had been killed, Aurelian was just now noticing his gear was slightly fancier than the others. Patting the corpse down Aurelian came back with a datapad which hadn't even been locked.

Once done he rejoined Alys, he nodded to the rebel. “Let’s hold up for a second, Nera is going to check for any unwanted guests.”

As he waited Aurelian flicked through the datapad and then froze, his expression one of disbelief. He checked it, then double checked it. “Hey Alys... I think that guy was an officer or something.” he said handing over the device while glancing over at Nera and speaking loud enough so both of his allies would hear. “This datapad looks like it has troop deployment, their patrol routes and numbers.”

He began to smile, maybe their luck was turning for the better.

Spoiler

Update to ammo

• Rifle - 22 shots remaining in pack. 2 spare packs.

Edited in bonus from 100 roll after confirmation from Nef - Officer's datapad

 

[Ner Giza]

She didn’t get off but the one shot before having to duck back for cover, but Aly had managed to wing one and down another. The barrage of return fire kept her pinned down until the woman managed to give her whispered order. Raising her hand to Aurel, she waited for Aly’s covering fire to roll away from the stone and work her way around their right flank.

Before she could get into position she heard the sound of blaster fire from the direction her partner had gone. Crouching behind a coulber she peeked out over the barrel of her rifle in time to see him take out both of the pirates. It was was damn fine shooting, especially taking out the second guy. His reaction time left her blinking, but only for a moment as his eyes locked with her own.

Raising a fist in the air, she flipped down the visor of her helmet and began scanning the area. The initial reading confirmed the sudden stillness in the area was no lie and she moved from out of concealment turning her head from side to side as she moved. Expanding the range of the scan, her rifle held to ready, she didn’t detect a soul. Ner’Giza motioned the others forward with a wave of her hand, and worked her way to a copse of trees for cover.
♦

Suddenly her hand clenched into a first as she picked up a visual of 4 slavers advancing toward them. ♦
The leisurely pace eased the alarm in her mind, they would have been in bigger hurry had the party of Rebels been heard. It was still too close for her comfort but at least it was not a whole raiding party barreling toward them. She slide her back against the trunk of the tree relaying a message to Aly and Aurel. ”There four more coming up through the ridge 2 o’clock to my position; they don’t look like they heard a thing.” Holding her position she would wait until her teammates replied and decide what tactic to employ.

@Wit
@Lazy Swordsman

 

[Alysanne Drast]

Emerging from behind her boulder once Aurelian had dealt with the patrol, Alys nodded him her thanks as he came over and showed her what he had found. A grin appeared on her face as she realized that his assessment was right, and that he had discovered that could turn the tide well and truly in their favor.

"This is amazing!" She was about to say more when Nera's voice came over the comms, warning them about another approaching party. "Let's deal with this lot and then try using what you found to come up with a plan. We should be able to spring a few traps if we know what they're planning." With that she ran off to the side to prepare for the approaching pirates. "Nora, we'll engage them from here. You sneak up on them from behind and pick them off while they're busy with us?"

It seemed like a good plan to her, but that wasn't saying much due to her limited field experience. She was simply going off of the one aspect of her training that she had been able to make sense off, keeping things simple. But even the simplest of plans could go horribly wrong, and that was just what happened with this one. As the pirates moved past Nera and came close to their position, Alys prepared to engage them. But as the first two pirates emerged and she fired off two shots at them, all she managed to do was warn them of their presence as the shots went horribly off mark, missing them both entirely. What was worse, the two pirates behind them began moving to the sides. No longer grouped together, Nora couldn't as easily pick them off as Alys had hoped. Specially if they were all clubbed together.

She ducked behind cover once more as the pirates began shooting back, waiting for an opportunity to fire back, be it when they stopped firing or when Nora jumped them from behind.

@Kayenta Moenkopi @Lazy Swordsman

 

[Aurelian Keth]

Hearing his partner call out that there where four more pirates incoming he glanced at the woman. “Gotcha boss.” he replied to the Twi’lek over his comm-link. Turning to Alys he nodded as she spoke. “Yeah sounds good, Nera can take the flank while we keep them preoccupied.”

Moving into position behind another rock outcrop, but far enough from the young woman, so that the incoming enemies would have to split their focus at least. Spending some time he set himself up in a comfortable firing position. Aiming in the direction of the hill that he knew the pirates would be coming over in a few minutes. The scholar messaged Nera. “I’ve got myself set up, keep yourself hidden until they’ve engaged us and then hit them from behind.” he said calmly. “Once we’ve blown through this group we’ll be able to go through that datapad we found earlier.”

As the first two pirates came into view Alys took the first shots. Unfortunately her shots went wide and the men began to split up and try to take cover because of it. Luckily Aurelian was already in position and tracking their movements as they began to move. His first shot cracked one of the pirate’s in the shoulder, causing him to fall back against a tree and the second shot took the other in the leg causing the man to simply fall over with a yelp of pain. ♦

The last two members of the patrol came over to the hill moments later and having seen Aurelian’s earlier shots immediately focused their attention on him. The rebel dropped behind the outcrop as laser bolts smashed into his cover sending rock chippings everywhere. Cursing his luck he hugged his rifle to himself as he huddled low for safety. Although his bolts had made contact and had temporarily put his targets down it was definitely only temporary. None of the four pirates where out of the game yet.

“Any time now Nera.” he muttered to himself.

@Kayenta Moenkopi @Wit

 

[Ner Giza]

Aly and Aurel’s voices came over the comm and she replied, ”Will do”.wondering what this data pad was. There would be time to sate her curiosity later so she held her questions for the moment. The Twi’lek worked her way through the trees to circle around and attempt to flank the slavers.

The sounds of blaster fire filled the air while she trotted in a low crouch through the trees and rocky landscape, having to veer round in a wider arc as the pirates began to split their grouping. By the time she topped the small hill she could see Aurel popping back down for cover having just winged a couple of the slavers. Leaning against the trunk of a tree she lined up her shots aiming for the two remaining pirates that were uninjured.

Her first shot clipped one pirate in the thigh, causing him to topple over to the side. The pirate was one tough warrior and even as he fell to the ground he rolled over and began firing back at Ner’Giza. Darting to the left, her blaster held to the ready, she fired another shot taking the fourth man through the chest before dropping to the ground behind a boulder. Peering out she was set up perfectly; the three injured slavers unsure who to target first were laying down blaster fire panicked and trying to get to cover. Lining up her shots, the first two missed completely, those warriors that Aurel had hit having managed to gain cover. Luckily her third shot struck the last man through a chink in his armor beneath his upraised arm striking him before his blast could be fired. Planting her face on the ground she hugged dirt for a good three seconds before realizing he hadn’t shot.

They had to root those enemies out of the rocks. She pressed her comm link again, ”They slipped into the rocks”, she said before pushing herself up from the ground. Skirting low within the rocks she would moved to advance her position on the fleeing pirates before they could reach her partners.

@Wit
@Lazy Swordsman

 

[Alysanne Drast]

Behind the cover of the boulder, she waited as blaster fire rained down around her, pinned down till Aurelian began firing back and a little later Nera joined in the party. Alys heard the sounds of the blaster fire being exchanged between her companions and the pirates, and only when she couldn't see any bolts flying her way did she dare to peek out over the boulder to see what was going on.

One pirate seemed to be down, but three still remained, and Nera's words over the comms quickly let her know what had happened to them. Jumping out of cover, she began darting away from the rocks, not wanting to be a sitting duck and letting them run straight to her. But she did keep an eye out for them, and thanks to Nera's warning she was able to spot one of them almost instantly. And as luck would have it it looked like he hadn't spotted her, so she quickly slipped behind a tree so that she could keep and eye on him. Having spotted him, she quickly found another pirate, and noticing how close to each other they were, slipped a hand into her pouch and pulled out one of the frag grenades she had brought along.

Waiting for them to get a little closer together, she armed the grenade and activated her comms. "I've got eyes on two of them. Find some cover, this is going to be loud." She wasn't sure where the third pirate was, so there was no time to waste in case he got the jump on any of them. Counting down the seconds, she tossed the grenade to land right in between the two pirates, getting back behind the tree and pressing her ears shut with her hands as she waited for it to explode. Waiting a few seconds after the explosion, she peeked out from behind the tree to check on the pirates, finding them collapsed on the ground. She wasn't sure if they were dead or just knocked out, but now wasn't the time for that. There was still one pirate left.

"Two down, anyone got eyes on the third?"

@Kayenta Moenkopi @Lazy Swordsman

 

[Aurelian Keth]

From behind his cover, with his hands clasped over his ears, he grimaced giving a muted curse as the grenade went off. He despises explosives. Once Alys message sounded over the comms he glanced over the rock outcrop and tried to get a good look at the remaining pirate. “I’ll see if I can get eyes on him.”

Sneaking around the side of the rock, hugging cover as he moved and sticking close to the ground, Aurelian glanced in the direction that the grenade had went off. It took him a moment but eventually he saw the remaining pirate coming out from behind group of trees with his gun raised. Aurelian raised his rifle and swiftly fired three shots in the pirate’s direction as swiftly as he could. Just as the slaver stepped out the first took him square in the chest, the second slashed over his shoulder barely grazing him and the third slammed into his stomach. The patrolman hit the ground, going utterly limp as he did so and remained silent. Gun stilled trained on the fallen individual Aurelian moved swiftly across the space between them, placed his hand against the apparent corpse’s throat. No pulse.

“All clear everyone. That seems to be the last of them.”

Walking back towards Alys who still had the datapad he shouldered his rifle and sighed. Although he might not like killing these men it was a necessary evil, to protect those they preyed upon and, frankly, things were going shockingly well.

“Time to start planning properly then. Does the information on that pad provide enough information for us to find a safer way into the town? An easier way to deal with the patrols? If it has all the positioning of patrols then hopefully we can calculate how many slavers remain?”

@Kayenta Moenkopi @Wit

 

[Ner Giza]

Coming up behind the pirates as they worked their way up through the rocks, she heard Aly on the comm link and dove for cover back down the slope. The explosion rocked the area sending debris everywhere. Then Aly reported back, as she was climbing to her feet, with Aurel quick to respond. She cued the comm, ”Copy. I’m moving up the right flank.”.

Before she made it up over the rocks she heard the blaster fire, three short bursts, then Aurel’s confirmation of the kill. Cresting the slope, she looked down into the mayhem below, seeing her two partners gathering to confer. She raised her hand in the air to indicate she was fine then joined the pair while the data pad was examined. ”You two alright?”, seh inquired while scanning the hillside for anyone who might have heard the sounds of battle.

It just wasn’t her day for the readout screen was glitching out some. Tapping the side of her helmet didn’t seem to help much and she ended up having to take it off and see if there was anything obvious broken. ”Slag worms in heat!”, she cursed under her breath. ”I think the quartermaster hates me… this HUD is defective”, she complained before putting the helmet back on. They might be blind now, as far as far range scans went, but hopefully it would at least protect her head.

@Wit
@Lazy Swordsman

 

[Alysanne Drast]

Alys waited for a response from either Aurelian or Nera regarding the last pirate from the patrol, hearing the blasterfire that ultimately took him out before Aurelian's voice came over the comms. Sighing in relief, she stepped out from behind the tree and swapped out her blaster's power cell for a fresh cartridge.

By the time Aurelian reached her she had holstered her blaster and pulled out the datapad, and at his words began poking around through the data that it held. "Let's see, maybe we'll get lucky and it'll tell us something good." She flipped past the patrol routes and brought up the logs where the activities of all the pirates were tracked, to get a better idea of how many there were and how much of a climb was still left for the three rebels. What she discovered though was a little surprising. She had been hoping for good news, but the Force seemed to be really smiling down on them.

For one reason or another, there were not as many pirates at the base as they had expected. A fair number were in the neighboring towns, ones that offered more comforts than the abandoned one they had made their home. "There..there are only two more of them at the base, looks like we caught them at a bad time. Bad for them I mean." She held out the datapad for Aurelian and Nera to take a look at the information, thinking on this new information while they went through the data.

"We have to get this datapad to the authorities, with it they can round up all the pirates who are out having their fun right now. Should be pretty easy for them to pick them off one by one. Which leaves us with the two at the base. Do we go and deal with them now and hand the datapad over after, or do we prioritize getting this datapad to the authorities and leave now?"

@Kayenta Moenkopi @Lazy Swordsman

 

[Aurelian Keth]

Aurelian shot a grin at Nera as she joined them, grumbling and giving off about her equipment. “You really need to stop breaking your stuff Nera, you’re gonna cost us a fortune.” he quipped jokingly before nodding slightly. ”Yeah we’re good.” he replied with a smile.

Turning his attention back to Alys he took the datapad off her as she held it out towards them, he could never read something when held in someone else’s hand. Smiling with relief he laughed slightly. “I can’t believe it, this is great!” he exclaimed happily. “Only two more…”

Aurelian glanced off in the distance, holding the pad out for Nera to take if she wanted to have a closer look. He pondered. The more “rebel” thing to do would probably be to deal with them themselves but the man would never be a true soldier nor did he want to be. He fought only when he had to and with this development they did not have to.

Looking at Alys he chewed his lip for a few seconds before sighing and running a hand through his hair. “Look I know they’re terrible people but I don’t want to kill anyone we don’t have to. So we either go and stun them, detail them and bring them back with us which could be a whole mess in and of itself or we just go.” he said. He knew many of the Alliance would consider his way of doing things cowardly but he didn’t care. This was just how the scholar was. “We only really needed the evidence right? So we’ve got it, more than that we’ve already dealt a significant blow to their onsite forces apparently. If we move quickly enough the authorities can act before the pirates have a chance to redeploy all their off-site forces.”

Putting the strap of his rifle back around his shoulder he let the weapon hang there while he folded his arms. “I would rather we just went and reported what we’ve found. But if you both want to deal with the last of the pirates then I want to capture them, not kill.”

He paused, with the adrenaline from their fight fight fading his mind began to clear and the man looked genuinely concerned. “Although... did the mission report not say something about civilian prisoners at their base?”

Frowning he glanced at the others before focusing on Nera. “What do you think?”

 

[Ner Giza]

Ner’Giza’s head came up at the false accusation of her partner, her mouth gaping over. Then she laughed and shrugged, ”Oh I plan on getting a refund from a certain shister soon as we wrap this up.” Passing up a chance to see a read out on their target was not something she would pass up, and once Aurel had passed it on to her, she looked over its contents smiling brightly.

Listening to her two companions she could only agree with their assessments. ”I don’t see any mention of prisoners in here”, she handed it back and sighed. ” Not that this means anything. It’s not like they have to track their movements once they locked them up.”

The data pad was a stroke of luck and would provide all manner of proof about who was really responsible for this incident. It should go a long way to settling the issues between the two warring factions. Her suspicious nature had to wonder if it was a deliberate plot to try and provoke the factions against one another, or if the pirates were just some random thing to stir the kettle. Fortunately that was beyond her pay grade, as her Uncle Taln’erca used to say.

”I think we should capture those two pirates for questioning, rescue any prisoners if they are still on site and not been moved for sale yet, and get this back to the base right away.” So far things were still pretty quiet but that didn’t mean some of the pirates might not return. Keeping a close eye to toward the village, she waited for the plans to be changed or implemented.

@Wit
@Lazy Swordsman

 

[Alysanne Drast]

Alys smiled on seeing the banter between Aurelian and Nera. No matter how messy things got, through thick and thin she had seen more and more of the rebels showing a inherent goodness that she hadn't known among the Sith. every day was an affirmation of her decision to join them, these were good people.

And as the three of them discussed what to do next, Aurelian and Nera's words made it evident to her that there was was one course of action that needed to be taken, because it was the right thing to do, and because of who they were she could see that her two companions wanted to do things a certain way.

There was much for her to learn, and not all of it from Aurora and the Jedi, some of it would come from good people like these two. "You're both right, we don't need to kill these pirates, but we shouldn't leave the captives behind either." Rescuing them and getting them to safety might not be important tot he prison, but it was the right thing to do.

So the three rebels headed off towards the base, using the datapad to approach from the best direction possible and keeping quiet as they soon spotted the two remaining pirates. Now all they had to do was quickly and quietly take them out.

@Kayenta Moenkopi @Lazy Swordsman

 

[Aurelian Keth]

Aurelian nodded with a grin, happy at the consensus the group had reached. Moving swiftly towards the base with the others he glanced at the datapad again, helping to guide his companions, before memorising the patrol route and pocketing it.

For once things worked in their favour. Aurelian gestured at the other two to grab their attention when they reached the edge of the base. “Leave the patrol to me, there’s only two of them. You two get in there and find the captives then we can go home.” he said with a grin and confidence.“May the Force be with you.” he bid with a smirk as he ran off. The Force was with them, he knew it.

Moving silently through the base was an easy job, after all it was basically deserted, Aurelian soon found a small alley between two buildings which the patrol would pass and simply waited. It took about five minutes before the men came into sight, almost exactly when the datapad had said they would and he stepped out behind them.

“Why hello there.”

When the pirates spun to face him Aurelian fired his blaster pistol at them in quick succession. He’d turned the power setting down so instead of the usual deadly bolt it was a blue ring of energy that hit each man. The men fell to the ground limply as the stun blast struck them. ♦

Sighing with relief he flicked on his comm-link set to the shared team frequency. “That’s the two handled. Once the captives are friend I’d appreciate a hand dragging these guys back to the ship.”

In the meantime Aurelian ramsacked one of the buildings that looked like it had once been a store, finding some syntherope he was able to tie the unconscious men up fairly easily. Once help arrived he’d drag them back to the ship where they could be handed in alongside the datapad.

All in all a good days work.

@Kayenta Moenkopi @Wit