Ask Plot It's Probably Nothing...

[Kai]

THEME​

Details: The best thievery is when the person you steal from doesn't even know they've been had. At the very least we can make it so that nobody knows until it has already happened. Near Dathomir in the Ord Cestus system there is a routinely scheduled automatic freighter. While the ship itself doesn't bear life support it is believed there may be a few droid guards on board or an early warning system in place. Board the ship without damaging the cargo and redirect the route to Dathomir before any backup can arrive. You sh

The cold darkness of space was all consuming. Everything resided within it technically but with only a few meters between him and the vacuum of the void definitely did not put Malakai at ease. Even with his flight suit he was not looking forward to what came next.

He was not alone onboard his rangemaster scout ship. He had a partner and it was the first time they were working this closely together. "You ever done a space walk?" He asked with a slight modulated voice.

Slowly in the distance nothing but the blackness of space looked back at them. The automatic freighter had yet to arrive and they had come early to make sure they were ready. A satchel chocked full of welding putty sat on the deck next to them safely inert for the time being. "Ooh hey do you have a lightsaber? That could make my plan go muuuuuch faster."

@Wit @Zarine Bashere

 

[Zarine Bashere]

Dressed in a more generic flight suit, Zarine was already questioning her decision to help out on this mission. She had known little about what she was signing up for, or even who she would be working with. But after her interactions with Talak she had realized what she thought the followers of the Eternal were, and what they really were did not actually match. So she was doing what she could to fix that.

But walking out into the cold vacuum of space was not something she had expected to do. Still, she was here, and if nothing else, this would be a good learning experience. The lack in her control over the Force as compared to Talak was another issue she had decided to fix, and learning to better control the Force in extreme circumstances would be the fastest way to do that. This definitely counted.

"No." She replied to Kai's questions, not sure how much confidence either of the answers would inspire in the man. "First space walk, and never even held a lightsaber. Didn't know either would come into play today. What is the plan, and how much harder does it become without a lightsaber?" Why didn't you bring one if it would make things easier? She kept that last bit to herself, not wanting to start things off on the wrong foot.

@Darasuum

 

[Kai]

The woman had spoken little so far on their voyage though that still told him a bit about her. But she was also honest. She valued the truth from what he observed but also Malakai just liked that she didn't pretend to be something more than what she was.

"Not so much 'harder' as it is just less easy" He tried to sound optimistic. "The ship has no life support. So we're going to connect with the ship, but chances are there might be bulkheads or airlocks to cut through. I've got plenty of welding putt that can do the job but it's not fast."

Malakai activated the engines and had the ship hurtling towards their target. Using the scanners of the ship as he approached he was able to tell where to target the slow moving craft. The vessel lacked any shields so when the Grysk fired his ship's laser cannon the slave circuit of the ship was blasted. It would prevent anybody from triggering any recall actions or further remote orders. Afterwards he would deftly match the speed off the ship, jarringly connecting the RangeMaster with the automated hauler. "Time to play with dough" He said as a began making the forced entrance against the hatch of the ship. Soon enough, sparks were flying.

@Wit

 

[R5 TY]

A loud spine cringing series of scretching sounds resonated through the maintenance corridors of the automated transport, the sound to most sentient lifeforms or fleshies,, would be as discomforting as the sound of nails being continuously scraped over an unending chalkboard. The source was a twisted length of durasteel plating that extruded from the base of an black former First Order R5 unit that was traversing its way through the bowls of the ship, looking for a way off. R5-TY had once again in its corrupted logic processor and subroutines had found itself being loaded onto the automated transport craft as part of the droid contingent to supposedly maintain and repair the craft as it made its journey from ##Planet designation corrupted## to Dathomir.

As R5-TY continued along the maintenance corridor, its crimson photo receptors scanned along the bulkhead walls that surrounded him, before focusing in what was registering a high thermal source, as the surface of the metal was glowing white hot. ++High Thermal output detected, fAulty power conduit??? - conclusion engage fire suppression porceedures ++ the droid analysed as it surveyed the site of the thermic cutting tools of the boarding party on the other side of the hull burning through the metal of the ship. A series of gnurlled grinding sounds emanated from the droid as one of its tool sockets opened and a fire extinguisher lance lowered out of its casing, before proceeding to douse the area with fire suppressing gas and flame retardant liquid, all of which was intended to mitigate the spread of fire within the ship - Despite the fact that the ship being crewed by droids without any atmosphere the risk of fire spread was non existent, R5-TY's flawed efforts would only fill the area with a cloud of gas and cover the surface with a film of foam, and do little more than create a possible hazard for those on the other side of the melting aperture.

 

[Kai]

Malakai was practically tapping his foot. <"I thought it'd burn through fast."> He muttered in Huttese to himself. He used the time to double check his oxygen levels. The ship they were boarding still had gravity. No life support didn't mean no air. It just meant there wasn't any recycled or filtered atmosphere. Chances were, whatever air that was trapped when the ship had last been in atmosphere was still in there. "Probably cold as a tauntaun's horn" He said as the burning welding putt finished its job.

The grysk walked up to the glowing circle and raised a hand. Letting out a burst of the force it flung in the opposite direction letting out a loud clang. Smoke that would normally be harmful drifted to about. "hmm..." He stared at the corridor and stepped through over the forcefully made portal. "You know...it makes sense that its dark. I don't know why I expected it to be brighter." The hallways had what would probably be considered 'emergency lighting' but as the legionnaire thought about it limiting lighting was also a more efficient way to run a ship.

"I could learn a thing or- OH KARK!" He raised his blaster at the astromech just on the other side of the bulkhead. He had not been expecting anything on the ship, let alone something right next to where he entered. His heart jumped for a moment. Droids made no impression in the force. He held his fire, mostly because he recognized what an astromech looked like and did not think it was much of a threat.

@Topher

 

[R5 TY]

A series of confused tones emanated from the droid, as the mixture of fire retardant foam, and suppressive gas did little to stem the growing glow of the melting bulkhead panel, only for a few shrill screeches to resonate out from the distorted speakers as it out of no where the bulkhead seemed to shoot across the room and crash into the opposing wall with a heavy clang. The droid's glowing red diodes spun round towards the blown out panel, scanning the metalic slab, before it's internal sensors picked up the movement off to its side.

As R5's gaze spun round to look at the source of the additional detection, the astromech's drive motors jammed into a sharp reverse as it backed away from the sudden appearance of a fleshie - whom above all were pointing was pointing a weapon at the droid. Yet despite it's initial threat assessment, its systems were intact - the fleshie had not fired. Rolling forwards slightly, the black cased droid, extended one of its manipulator arms up towards the barrel of gun. ++ No Resistance Fleshies allowed ++ R5-TY spoke out through a series of binary tones, distorted by the faulty wiring of it's speaker, as its manipulator arm moved the muzzle away from its casing - though within its state of poor maintenance, the arm seemed to just swat about in it's general direction.

The computation that the droid had eventually came to, was that only resistance operatives would try to board a ship buy cutting holes in it. The conclusion of course was biased by the lingering fractured remnants of its primary coding installed by the First Order. ++ Leave the Finalizer at once ++ the droid crackled through its damaged speaker before a servo driver sprang out of it's plastoid hull, its coding not being updated to account for it's load out being changed from prisoner 'pacifiers' to service and maintenance tools.

 

[Kai]

Malakai cocked an eyebrow underneath his flight suit's helmet though the Droid would not see it. He did cock his head to side at the odd personality the astromech exhibited. Its about due for a memory wipe

"Hey!" He said at his blaster being moved out of the way. "I'm not a resistant fleshie. Well...I resist a little bit but cuz that makes it fun." He pulled out a restraining bolt. "You want to show me to the bridge so I can....update the firmware or am I going to have to add some scrap to this ship's cargo compliment." His blaster kept in the general direction of the droid letting it know he was ready to blast it at a moment's notice. His body moved deeper into the ship, already knowing which way was the ship's bridge.

@Topher

 

[R5 TY]

A crackling tone of confusion emanated out from the droid's casing at the response offered by the fleshie humanoid that had stepped out of the recently formed temperature. He was not a resistance fleshie, nor was he resistant, but he was a resist fleshie? -- Argument computation failure -- R5-TY concluded before falling silent, it's crimson irises shifting away from the humanoid and back towards the severed bulk head strewn against the wall.

Slowly it's held rotated back towards Kai as he continued to speak, now brandishing an all to familiar sight of a restraining bolt. Every time R5-TY tied compute the amount of times that someone had attached a restraining bolt to him, the droid would hit a run time error and force a processor reboot. Rolling back a meter or so away from the humanoid with a cringe inducing screech as the base of the droid's central tread ground against the plasteel surface of the deck.

It seemed that this Resist fleshie, would make the droid comply regardless of whether it permitted it or not, letting out a resigned long tone, the droid focused it's receptors on the masked figure ++ You tell General Hux ++ the droid crackled, through it's distorted speakers, before turning round rolling towards the aft of the ship, leading towards the service elevator. Figuring in it's flawed perception programming, that if this masked figure that had boarded the ship was a member of the resistance, then the first order troopers on the bridge would deal with the fleshie - then perhaps it might be able to return to its programmed function of prisoner transport.

@Darasuum

 

[Kai]

"Who the kark is General Hux?" Malakai didn't know of any general these days. There weren't any standing armies save for perhaps the more militant planetary defense forces of individual systems. The Grysk understood binary, or at least he thought he did. It was a work in progress sort of study.

As he moved further down the ship he moved through the dimly lit vessel. But ahead he saw more photoreceptors looking back in the darkness. Then another pair came into view. "Friends of yo-" His question was interrupted as he a hail of blaster bolts filled the hall making fall to get out of the way. Flush against the bulkhead he waited until the barrage stopped. "Kzzt~ you are trespassing. Unauthorized life forms are to be treated as vermin." The main directive of the security droids was clear as their steps continued to indicate they were advancing. They didn't seem to notice or care about the astromech since it was not technically a life form though that did not mean they would hold their fire if near Malakai.

Readying his blaster rifle he took a deep breath. Right after he saw a blaster bolt pass in front of his face he dropped out of cover and fired a few bolts. The blaster bolts provided half the light he was using to see at this point. "Frggnmthrshzzmmbrgr" His jaw was clenched as he swore though managed to destroy one of the security droids.

@Topher

 

[Arden Kryze]

The SS-54 gunboat fell out of hyperspace and started to fly at full speed to the only ships in the area. "'Ello there, sunshine! Fancy seein' you here." he chimed in over the comlink as he moved over to the top of the ship. He maneuvered the ship in place and locked down, extending his docking tube as well. There wasn't exactly a docking ring but that was alright. His scanners also indicated that he would be breaching close to his employer as well in this position.

He slid his helmet of his new flight suit on and made his way to the outer hull. With a hum he stuck some welding putt on to melt a hole for himself then took cover. The putt did its job and started to burn into the hull in a perfect circle. He activated his jetpack as well as his survival gear then jumped down. His jetpack helped to soften his land as he crashed through the hole...in the exact same hallway the shootout has taking place. "Wha' the kark, mate!" he shouted at nobody in particular as he rushed into a doorway for cover. He fiddled with a simple lamp, sticking it to the side of his helmet. The torch switched on and he quickly took a look around to get his bearings. The direction of the droids' fire gave him a hint as to where his boss was hiding. "Hope you don't mind tha' I just drop in, do ya?" he called out with a laugh as he drew his pistols. The safety switches were flicked off and he threw a couple bolts down the hall at the droids.

"At least this won't be boring." he commented as he shot the last droid center mass. Only it didn't shut down. Bolts still flew from it, this time focused on Arden's position. He hugged the wall, glad that he managed to stay in shape as bolts barely flew past him stomach. "Mind gettin' him?" he asked with a strained voice as he tried keeping his stomach sucked in.

@Darasuum

 

[Kai]

At some point during the fire fight Kai lost sight of the astromech. It probably rolled away from the blast bolts flying through the air and was trying to find some safe and dark recess in the automatic freighter. The Grysk couldn't say he had expected much more from the R5 unit.

Sparks danced behind Malakai and he saw the cutting ring from Arden's belated arrival. "I was about to say the same to-" Kai flinched as a blaster bolt struck the bulkhead right near his face, cutting off his words. "Shoot them already, Mando!" He fired a few shots around the corner as he was getting impatient.

Arden got into position and began firing. But one of the droids did not want to go down. Pushing off even without the man's request he moved across the hall and fired as he did so. Somehow Kai managed to avoid getting hit from one of the blast bolts and added another two holes in the security droid's torso. With an electrical warble the bipedal automaton clattered to the ground. Silence followed and Kai checked his air readings. "Common. I don't have much time."

@KinkyPrawn

 

[Arden Kryze]

Kai moved quickly and managed to land a hit on the droid, finally killing it. He exhaled and finally relaxed his stomach. He stepped out of his cover as Kai came walking towards him. "Yeah, this place isn't exactly the type of a'mosphere I'm used to." he joked as he fell in behind Kai. His pistols were still at the ready just in case any more droids decided on jumping them from the shadows.

It was very quiet, with the only clear sounds being their footsteps on the durasteel floor. Arden's flashlight illuminated the hallway ahead of them. "Ships like this always gimme the creeps. Shadows constan'ly look like they wanna mess with ya." he commented, glancing behind them just in case. He glanced at Kai for a moment before looking ahead of them once again. "So wha's the goal exactly? Your message wasn't very clear on the way here." he asked him as he checked behind them once again. "How much time you go' left?" he asked him just to have a rough idea of how much time they still had left.

@Darasuum

 

[Kai]

Trotting ahead he made his way to the bridge. At least that was what it seemed like. The room was mostly domminated with terminals meant for maintenance and not direct control of the ship. That was fine, he didn't plan on actually flying the vessel. The security spike in his flightsuit had him inside the primary directives in a matter of moments. "Just a couple of tweaks here....aaaand..." An agreeable beep came from the terminal and showed green with the new flight plan locked in. The man made sure that remote alterations and tracking was disabled.

"You're not getting paid to know where..." He retorted back to Arden. It wasn't anything personal but Kai liked knowing who knew what. But he made sure that people were paid to have plausible deniability. Arden was smart enough to know this was illegal. A new base on Dathomir for studying the dark side and its history on the witch planet was not something that he figured a Mandalorain would care for either way.

"Come on. We should try to seal up the hulls before we leave." He would head back to where his ship had forcefully docked with the automated freighter. The hole made by the putty was resealed with a new more carefully placed frosting of the thermite substance to weld the hole closed with the hunk that had fallen to the ground. The two ships would be able to disconnect from the ship and then leave the automated freighter to head towards Dathomir where it would get offloaded by Kai's associates almost in its entirety before having its data banks scrubbed of the past few days and sent back to join is other automatic freighter fleet. The technicians probably wondering what happened during its lost time would not be able to understand what kind of detour. Ultimatly, Kai was a little sad he wouldn't be able to witness the confusion as they realized the contents of the automatic freighter, all 100 kilotons, were lost.

"Know any place nearby that has good beer?" He asked as he powered up his own hyperdrive. The large droid controlled freighter jumped to hyperspace with its new destination ahead.

END THREAD​