[Rebel Mission] Trade on the Corellian Run

[blstrgmr]

Prospero sighed when his call wasn't loud enough to reach the cabin. Great. One of these ships. He would address Jaleer's concerns first. "Straight on is a suicide run. Just stick to your side so you'll have cover and be out of the crossfire. If you try to take the lead, they'll target you first, potentially before I can move into the breach. Let me tell you from experience, lightsabers are little pocket knives when faced up against a proper slugthrower. Just stick to the flashbang softening them up, then move to your side of the sector. If either of us has trouble and can't follow through, the other's screwed."

He jotted a few more notes down, more for himself. They'd just be little words and phrases that didn't seem to mean much of anything. "I know you Jedi types have some big ideal that you're one-man-armies and that you're stronger than a non-forcer waving a gun around, but there's no room for playing the hero here. I'm asking that you try to trust my experience."

With that final word, he eventually managed to locate the call button on the intercom and held it down. "On a scale of 1 to 10, how successful can you be with driving us up to an airlock on the target freighter and shooting us into it...quietly?"

 

[CaptainWolfgang]

"Maintain speed. Everyone at ease." Kalo Wolftenn ordered. He was still rolling Botan's coin over his fingers as he stood near the doorway to the hall. Things had seemed to transition into a much nicer atmosphere since he intimidated Snegge. He knew that this was a good opportunity to start armoring the ship or double checking entry points, but for some reason all he could think about is how he had nothing to do for twelve hours and how nice Snegge looked in uniform. Zeeyra wasn't too bad on the eyes either, even with the... witch... thing she had going. As for Botan? Well, Kalo wasn't picky. Her 'delightful' personality was a drag, but Kalo lived by a philosophy called "I'll-try-anything-once." He found himself resisting the urge to flirtatiously wiggle his eyebrows at them whenever one looked his way. Deciding not to invite more trouble, Kalo flicked the coin in the air, caught it and swiftly tucked it in his pocket.

"If anyone needs me, I'll be in my quarters taking a fifteen minute rest." He said as he exited the cockpit and walked to his room. He entered a password on the door, locked it behind him, and sat on his bed for moment. Retrieving the coin from his pocket, he toyed with it while he pondered its meaning and how he was going to make it through a three day voyage surrounded by remarkably evil women.

 

[Richie B.]

Jaleer looked at Tyler blushing but felt he had misspoken and his reasoning was lost in translation.

"No Tyler I don't feel like that, I just rather be the one dead than have my two team mates injured because I didn't protect them. But alright we will stick with your plan, an I will submit to your greater experience. Also thank you I will try to remember this hope I can learn from this." Jaleer said while looking at Tyler, he kept on spinning the two small metal spheres over his right hand.

He sat down in silence waiting to see what will happen between the Sniper and the captain. Jaleer hoped everything will go smoothly but he will make sure he is ready if something happening. But Jaleer knew that nothing every goes smoothly when it came to a mission like this.

 

[Taruna]

-~-​

At first, there was no reaction over the intercom, but before someone could speak another time, Jennifer appeared in the airlock leading to the cockpit "To an airlock, including docking? Twenty one, no matter how much they try to evade. " she then added "The idea of doing so silent on the other hand you can forget completely." she pointed at the ceiling "This is a Escort Freighter, not a stealth dropship. We will be on their sensors as soon as we leave hyperspace and thus you can choose the airlock or any part of the hull.[/COLOR]"

She then winced her face a little "If things go drastically south, I can toss you out close enough to float there through space, but that would mean I had to shoot at the target to slow them down. Which I don't want. We need that freighters content in one piece, not in dust."

-~-​

Kalo would remain undisturbed during the 15 Minutes he was in his room, except for a Message on his PAD with no sender, probably sliced.

Dear Mister Wolftenn. I hope you arrived at your ship undisturbed and would like to use this opportunity to once again congratulate you on your command and hoped to wish you that your travel will be boring and uneventful. Unfortunately I heard otherwise. You will be in for a nasty surprise at one of the later stages of your journey, more specifically during the third jump, if I got the information correctly. But do not worry and by all means remain on your course, my money and reputation is on the line here. Punctual delivery is nothing to be altered and a renegotiation would not be advisable. I do have a few nasty surprised myself I already sent your way. Enjoy the show. Sincerely, X"

When he would leave the room, he would find that the crew already created a 6-hour shift plan for all the inhabitants excluding the captain to ensure there would be one in the cockpit and one close to the cargo at all times.

 

[blstrgmr]

"Well, we'll figure it out if things go south. But, it's good to hear you can hit the mark. Let us know when we're within a half hour of the AO." Prospero cut his end of the comms and looked around at his gear and then to the Jedi apologizing. "Learn what you can, but not too much. Your Order wouldn't agree with my methodology...wouldn't want to land you in some sorta Jedi court marshal."

Prospero secured his equipment to his vest; everything was very compact. A handgun rested in a hip holster while the cut-down rifle, also known as a Mandalorian Special, was slung across his back on a cross-draw. "But, I'll lay down some ground rules about how we're going to operate. If it has a gun, take it down. If it's in an enemy uniform, take it down. Don't care how much they beg or seem innocent, if they're not our HVT and they meet either of those criteria, drop 'em. We'll also be keeping pace. Slowing down gives them time. Enough time, and they'll get smarter. If they're smart, then we're dumb. Dumb people get killed." The sniper yawned and shrugged. "But, enough of that gloom and doom, we'll be fine. If you need me, I'll be scoping out the facilities."

Prospero turned on his heels and moved out of the hold, venturing around the ship and doing a quick exploration before winding up in the piloting area. He had already scoped out his quarters, not that he'd be needing them. There was a bit of room to sleep, but it wasn't practical to take a nap like usual. With a strong knock on the metal bulkhead, he walked a few steps into the cockpit. "Cap." He addressed her, trying to carry himself casually and in a friendly manner, but that wasn't so easy with the gear hanging off of him and the earlier hyper-professional demeanor.

 

[CaptainWolfgang]

Kalo decided to keep the message to himself. Around the third jump he would push the crew into overdrive just to be safe. In the meantime, he decided to start work on the ship. He left his room and paced back toward the engineering section, retrieving some tools and then returning to his room and locking the door behind him.

He began by removing the floor panel and clearing a small space, then doing the same to the wall panel behind his closet. When he was done, he entered the crew quarters with the tools and started removing the floor panels there. He wasn't a big fan of the crew so far, but it was his first job as Captain, and he wasn't planning on letting them die on his watch. Maybe they could gain the element of surprise. In any case, the message Kalo received was worrying him, and these modifications might come in handy.

 

[Richie B.]

Since Jaleer had nothing better to do, he decided to meditate, helping his focus. Jaleer could feel the sniper trying to talk with the Captain, and the space outside the hard shell of the ship. Jaleer continued to spin the metal spheres but now they were going around his body in perfect circles. If someone saw him they would think he was a monk, if anyone tried to approached him he would be able to sense their presence. But he will continue to meditate until they drop out of hyperspace and try to get into the enemy's ship. Jaleer hoped everything goes well but he was sure they would be met with some challenges on the enemy's ship.

 

[Taruna]

-~-

"Cap."

Jennifer looked up from her navigation computer and gave the sniper a respectful nod "Good thing you're here, spares me the intercom usage." she spoke up in a mix of casual and professional voice "As you will take the lead on this, at what point am I to intervene?" she turned around to him to explain more in detail "My orders are to deliver space support, and only to enter the enemy ship when necessary. So.. What except of 'oh my god we are all gonna die' can I take as signal to enter and provide support?"

-~-

While Kalo was busy screwing around in the crew quarters, he would sooner or later notice that Botan was standin in the door, the helmet head slightly tilted to the right, indicating she was expecting a reason why her sleeping pause was prevented by a captain who was tearing everything apart. That showed way more interest as Snegge did, since she only passed by the quarters with a short glance at him and his activity.

 

[CaptainWolfgang]

"Take a nap in the lounge, I can come get you in a few minutes." Kalo said, not really explaining what he was doing. He debated keeping his secrets to himself, but something told him that Silent Bo wasn't the gossiping type. He stood up and motioned for her to lean in so he could speak softly.

"Command has let me know that someone is going to make an attempt on this ship. I'm making false panels to store cargo. Or people. Whichever I deem more important at the time." he finished the sentence as he was returning to work. Maybe she'd cut him some slack if she knew that he was trying to save their wicked little lives. In any case, he decided to skip the wall-paneling in the crew quarters. He genuinely felt bad for cutting into the crew's naptime while he was given his 15 minutes uninterrupted. True to his word, he would return and fetch Botan as soon as his alterations were complete.

 

[blstrgmr]

Prospero crossed his arms and leaned back on one of them bulkhead supports, kicking one foot up onto the wall of the ship. The professional facade was such a pain to keep up. He wished he didn't have a reputation that required him to be such a way...but it secured good business. "As for what you need to do...I guess that portion of my plan hinges on how well you'll shoot. Ideally, I want you near the attachment point when the ships latch. Whenever we're inside and out of the airlocks and into the enemy cargo bay, I'd like you to stack up at our airlock and keep watch. Whenever we get to to the evac stage, push into their ship a bit and cover our escape if need be. Of course, you'll know all this over comms."

The sniper calculated a few points through his head. "At no point do I want you in direct physical danger if you can help it...you're crucial to our survival rate and objective success..." Prospero brought his voice down to a low whisper. "If the situation starts going south and we need to pull out, you'll know. In that case, focus on getting Jaleer out first. The Jedi are far and few within our cause. I can accept being expendable. If the time comes for you to be directly involved, you'll know it when it happens."

With a bit of an exhausted sigh, Prospero shut his eyes and rolled his neck in discomfort. The metal bulkhead wasn't exactly a cushy pilot seat. "I think it's painfully obvious that we're both putting up a bit of a professional act here. We've got a bit of time I suppose. Hit me with some fun-facts about yourself, hm? Get's rid of the pre-entry jitters."

 

[Richie B.]

Jaleer continued to meditate feeling the force around him even if he was in space where there was no live. He felt the sniper and the captain talk after extending his senses with the force though he couldn't hear what they were saying he felt like the two could be friends. But Jaleer decided to continue meditating on the mission hoping the force could give him a glimpse into what will happen, he had heard of Jedi's being able to see the future but that was during a time when the dark side of the force wasn't so powerful. An no matter how long Jaleer would meditate hoping for that glimpse into the future it will never come.

 

[Taruna]

-~-​

Botan apparently did not get much of a nap, since at the time Kalo arrived at the lounge, he saw Bortan and Zeerya facing each other with the strangest greeting. Each of them two had a blaster pistol pressed at the chin of the other, and none of them moved a muscle when Kalo entered. Zeerya did not move away her eyes from Botan and spoke up "I think this guy is a traitor" she spoke with a raw voice that was apparently not used often. "I saw him taking a suspicious look into your room and throwing something inside when passing by on the way here to the lounge. And he doesn't talk a single word. What hired gun does that?"

Kalo did not see Botans eyes, but a slight nudge of the blaster pistol and a almost unnoticeable turn into his direction made him feel Botan's 'don't tell anything' look without even seeing her eyes.

-~-​

Jennifer had nodded at the explanations and seemed to agree, but at the last sentence her eyes kept locked with his, as if searching for something. A few heartbeats later she smiled slightly "That's either the worst pickup line I heard in months or an unfair attempt on bonding." but she leaned back, swung a leg over the other and leaned "How about a more fair give-and-take? I answer a question and can ask one in return?"

 

[blstrgmr]

Prospero rolled his eyes and gestured a bit with his hand as he talked. "It's whatever one you want it to be. If I was good at talking to people, I'm sure my job would involve a lot less shooting."

He pushed himself off the bulkhead and meandered over to the co-pilot seat. Placing himself in it, he kicked its adjust back to push it as far back on its railing as it could go before kicking his feet up on the "dash" of the craft. "Alright, how about something simplish. Where'd you come from?"

 

[CaptainWolfgang]

"Drop the blaster, Botan." Kalo ordered firmly. He approached the two smoothly and put a hand on each of their shoulders, but it wasn't a comforting hand. It was more of a light grip than a reassuring gesture.

"If there is something dangerous in my room, then Botan is the one who will open the door, and I will watch her retrieve it for me. Zeerya, I want you to follow us to my room, then wait for me in front of the cargo hold. If Botan tries anything, restrain him. Let's just hope he was simply leaving a kind note for his favorite Captain."

 

[Taruna]

-~-​

Jennifer chuckled about the first remark and was quite relieved about the easy start "Born on Naboo, but not rooted there, my parents were retreating to Cyphar when I was born. It's been an agricultural planet. How about you?" she shot back almost immediately not willing to explain more without receiving something.

-~-​

The tension did not lower much when both lowered their blasters very reluctantly, and Zeerya was certainly not the first one to lower hers. Nevertheless, Bothan moved towards the captain's quarter, followed by Kalo and with some distance Zeerya, who kept her hand constantly on the handle of the blaster pistol.

In the room, there were only a shoulder belt with half a dozen concussion grenades, naturally not armed and raised by Botan to indicate they were not dangerous. Botan then locked his head into Zeeryas direction, clearly waiting for an apology.

 

[CaptainWolfgang]

Kalo took the shoulder belt from Botan and looked at Zeerya. "Do you think this is it? You're sure he just threw something in?" he said, trying to not make Zeerya feel too ostracized for looking out for her Captain. "I had requested some concussion grenades, but I didn't expect them to be left in my room." Kalo lied, trying to protect Botan. "Botan, wait in my room for me, I'll be with you in a moment. Zeerya, follow me to the cargo hold." he said, loosely setting the grenades strip on his shoulder, but not fastening it on in any sort of way.

Once in the hold, Kalo offered Zeerya a small bonus of credits out of his own pocket. "I appreciate you looking out for me, and as long as I'm Captain of this ship I will not punish loyalty." he said, carefully watching her reaction. So far he'd gotten accustomed to the other two, it was time for him to see what Zeerya was all about.

 

[blstrgmr]

Prospero nodded along to her explanation. His work had never brought him to Cyphar, so he was fairly unaware of its state of affairs. However, the way that she said it almost mechanically seemed to make him believe that there was a bit of a hidden twist to this story. Maybe it was for the better that he didn't know, and it would be unfriendly to press harder for more detail. Then it was his turn. Tatooine. My father was a Hutt and my mother was an Echani. Not really. I can guess I was born from human parents, but they sold me into slavery when I was too young to remember them. They bought me for Cartel usage and taught me what I know. There really isn't a tragic twist here, they were probably much nicer than my bio-parents." The sniper shrugged. It was a strange upbringing, but they were always fair for whatever reason. They let him walk out when he was old enough. Their teachings had served his skills well. But, maybe if he hadn't been brought up in such a way, he could've just opened a small shop and lived quietly instead of...this.

Two questions for you then. I asked you where you came from before. Now, where are you going?" He paused and slipped in his last question. "And...ETA to the drop-point?"

 

[Taruna]

-~-​

Jennifer raised an eyebrow, apparently in surprise "So, not even the third round and you are breaking the rules here" she answered and smiled mischievously "I'll make sure to note that in my report" but then she suddenly got serious again "Where I'm going is to the success of this mission, I do not plan that much more ahead these days." She then took a look at her navigation system and announced ship-wide "ETA at the rendezvous point is 20 Minutes, get yourselves and your gear ready for everything"

-~-​

Zeerya only took enough time to look at the credits to recognize them and returned her eyes to Kalo's "You can punish whatever you wish.. captain, but my loyalty lies with my ward, not with a title." she then lowered her voice a little

"I do not understand why Snegge did decide to keep you as acting captain, but I have to respect her decision." and after a short pause, to raise the importance of the following sentence, she added "And I will respect it as long as Snegge remains on her decision, decides otherwise or any of you proves to be a danger to her.. or the mission. In this case I will not hesitate to eliminate all and every thread that is there" at this point, she dropped the piece of floor panel Kalo and Zeerya stood on, it have been raised by about a inch above the floor while she spoke almost undetected

 

[blstrgmr]

Prospero let out a small and subdued laugh at her remark before listening to her response. "Good answer. Let's get to it." He'd produced a small business card, simply white with black text. The text consisted of a number and information that could reach him on some sort of obscure network. "For the future." The sniper would walk out from the cabin and bang sharply on the bulkhead frame of the room Jaleer resided in. "Go time. Prep for EVA."

Putting the breather cuirass on and placing it below his combat gear, he made sure his helmet would also be sealed tightly over his usual suit of medium armor. The Rebels had a good idea with modularity...it made gearing up that much easier. Flashbangs strapped and ready to his vest, and the Mando Special rifle slung across his back, the operator seemed to be ready to get moving. Finally, he'd holster a blaster pistol before moving to their airlock, preparing to be shot out of it. That'd be the hard part.

 

[Richie B.]

Jaleer was ready he just needed to know if they were going to be jumping through space into the air lock or if their was another plan. Only now Jaleer began to think about this since the captain spoke through the ships intercom. Heading to sniper hoping to know what the plan was so he can be ready before it was to late.

"Tyler, what is the plan do I need to get a suit on or what?" Jaleer asked as he was right next to the man hoping to get a answer soon.