The Rimma Run

[Greybok]

"We're going to do what?!" Twobee was beside herself, as usual. The Starbird had just reverted to realspace above Eraidu and Greybok was already beginning to steer it towards their destination on the planet's northern hemisphere. As he did, he barked a short answer to the droid while checking his instruments to ensure everything was proceeding according to the plan given to him by Commander Ion. "A train heist?! On Eraidu?! Surely you misunderstood the Commander, Greybok. There is no way he would give such an insane order!"

But give it he had. A local war of some kind was disrupting trade on Eraidu. Goods were being transported to processing stations and then to starports, but concentrated local blockades were preventing them from leaving the system. So, Commander Ion had simply told Greybok to do what he did best: smuggle some of the goods off-world to show that it can be done, and that the Alliance has pilots capable of doing so. The Commander hoped that such a demonstration would discourage the blockades and business as usual would resume. Greybok was skeptical, but he complied. A mission was a mission.

As the light freighter slipped seamlessly into Eraidu's atmosphere, Greybok loosed a series of barks giving Twobee instructions. The droid continued to complain. "Explain to Mistress Leah the plan? I don't even know the plan!" Greybok snarled angrily at the droid and began to loudly bark and howl until the droid said, "Alright, alright, I've got it! Damn Wookiee..." The protocol droid rounded on Leah Reach, who was seated in the co-pilot's chair. "We need to dislodge a crate of goods from a repulsor-train and haul it up into the Starbird. Unfortunately, this ship doesn't have a tractor beam, so we... Ahem, you... will need to attach a heavy-duty towing cable." Greybok made a series of corrections with another pair of barks. "Ah, yes, and you will need to cut the crate loose so that Greybok can pull it free."

A dry valley appeared beyond the viewport and, already, Grey had spotted their target. It was moving quickly over the valley, but the train's speed was mediocre compared to his prized ship. He reached down beside his seat and handed Leah the tool she would need cut the crate loose, then howled some more. "He said to comm the ship when you're ready for tow cable attachment," the droid translated. "He also said we will do our best to protect you with the ship's defensive armament; but, if I might be so bold, do bring a blaster with you. Given the recent political turmoil on this planet it wouldn't surprise me if this world's inhabitants were somewhat... antsy."

Greybok positioned the Starbird directly over the back-most car and flipped a switch so that the landing ramp opened for Leah. Wind screeched into the new opening in the ship's hull, inviting Leah to jump out into the void. It was times like these he wished he had a dedicated co-pilot so that he could go with her... @Deviant

 

[Leah Reach]

Classic Greybok and Twobee. The pair were engaged in another heated argument. About what, she had no idea and neither did she care. Whatever bizarre relationship the two shared would remain between them. The rebel ambassador was not in the mood to intervene or mediate. Better instead that she meditate. At least that way she could find some feeling of calm in spite of the pressing mission ahead. Although it was rather hard to focus. She could not so easily slip away into the quiet confines of her mind in a not so quiet environment. The fact that she decided to stay in the cockpit, not so much as a meter beside them, didn’t exactly help her situation either.

She sighed. Eyes sliding open, she grimaced and looked over to the two. “I received the briefing too, but thanks for the shallow review. Very enlightening.” Her voice was chock-full of sarcasm. She was not feeling particularly annoyed but she had grown accustomed to poking fun whenever in company with the droid and its owner. It was one of the rare moments she could be. As a Jedi Master, she had to maintain a sense of grace, empathy and constant warmth. As a Rebel Commander and ambassador, she was always hooked to a professional attitude and respectful poise. But as a rebel combatant? She could be everything but.

Leah rose out of her seat. She knocked a finger against Twobee’s metallic skull. “Don’t worry Twobee, I can handle myself.” Her gaze briefly moved over the Wookiee. “Try not to crash.” With that, the woman coasted out to the hull of the ship and waited for the landing ramp to open. Not a moment too soon, the hull opened. Wind lashed her hair, pulled back and tied, and the Jedi Master offered only a wry smile to the train below. With a small hooked rope in hand, she leapt out. As the Starbird hovered close above, she effortlessly rolled to cushion her landing against the roof of the train, just as any ordinary rebel would. Pressing both hands against the metal, her head shot up to her surroundings.

“Here goes nothing.” She whispered before making a beeline for the crate.

@Malon

 

[Greybok]

Twobee didn't seem the slightest bit perturbed by Leah and went righ ton arguing with her Wookiee overlord. "You know, you really should install tractor beam projectors on this piece of junk, Greybok," the droid opined. "All the Corellian stock freighters have them now. We could have taken an entire train car with those equipped."

Greybok disagreed and barked loudly to inform the droid as much. The mandibles on the Starbird were much further apart than on most Corellian light freighters. It would take more rigging than Greybok wanted to bother with to make such an upgrade work. Not to mention the ship would need a more robust power core to accomodate the additional stress. This, he surmised, was why Twobee was a protocol droid and not a mechanic or an astromech. She knew nothing about starship specifications or weighing the risks and benefits of a ship upgrade.

Suddenly, Greybok's sensors began to whistle warnings and he ignored Twobee's bickering to pay attention to the main display. Hostiles were inbound. But the incoming speeders weren't law-enforcement. In fact, their transponders weren't registering with the Starbird's computer database at all. Twobee, having shut up long enough to recognize this, immediately had something new to talk about.

"Oh no! Pirates!" the droid threw her hands up in the air. Greybok barked angrily and began to vigorously flip switches around the cockpit. "True," the droid continued. "They could belong to one of the warring factions. Either way, they don't look very happy to see us. Shall I warn Mistress Leah?"

Greybok ignored the droid and engaged the Starbird's groundsweeper light cannon. Leah would know there was danger by the sound of laser cannon fire shooting at that danger. Around that time, BE-ET rolled into the cockpit and began whistling wildly. "Not now, BE-ET! We're in the middle of a— GREYBOK, LOOK OUT!" Having been distracted with the threat (and the desire to cover Leah's back), Greybok hadn't noticed that the train (and his ship) were headed straight through a narrow pass leading up away from the flat terrain and into the mountain.

He pulled hard on the Starbird's yoke in an attempt to roll her on her starboard side so that they could fly sideways through the narrow ravine. However, the reaction came a hair too late and the ship's hull scraped up against the side of the ravine in two places. The ship rocked hard and warning sirens blared in the cockpit, letting Greybok know that the shields had taken a hit. He snarled through gritted teeth and BE-ET whistled a question to Twobee in response.

"I believe he said, 'Shit, she's got a fat ass.'" the protocol droid said over the sound of more screeching as Greybok finally pulled the ship free of the ravine walls and successfully rolled her on her starboard side, allowing them to slip through the crevice without further complication. He leveled out on the other side and immediately turned his attention to locating the bogeys and targeting them with his gun. He just hoped Leah was doing alright down there... @Deviant

 

[Leah Reach]

Leah was featherweight against the train but her heels gnawed into the metallic roof with every step. There was no way she would risk running along the convoy without a safety harness or hook. While she did hold one in her hand, she had to reach the train car that contained the munitions they were looking for first. In the meantime, she pooled together her strength in the Force to maintain her balance and willpower. Her eyes were fastened ahead of her, and never below or behind. Although she was not particular afraid of heights, she certainly was of falling. Looking down to the canyon below did not exactly help foster courage. Better she pretended it was not there at all.

Unfortunately, that way of thinking prevented her from noticing the enemy approaching from behind. She could hear the distant whirr of speeder engines but had assumed them to be part of the train. It wasn’t until she heard the roar of cannon fire that she realized what was coming. Her head twirled around to see Greybok and the Starbird begin lashing out to a company of sentries, or pirates, or an enemy faction— oh, forget it. They were enemies in the end. Enough to send the woman into a scramble for what they came for. Staggering, she rushed forward and leapt between two cars. With a another roll to cushion her leap, she brushed a few strands of hair from her face and continued.

Above her, the Starbird scraped against the ravine. Rocks and shrapnel rained down on the train, narrowly avoiding the Jedi Master but still managing to annoy her. As she was ahead and could see Greybok through the windshield of the cockpit, she waved a hand and yelled. “I thought I told you to try not to crash!” Doubting he would hear her even over the comms, Leah twisted around, hooked herself to the side of the train and returned to her duties. Revealing a tool akin to a blowtorch, she carved into the roof. “Absolutely ridiculous.” She murmured to herself as she cut a new and massive opening. Not a moment later, the metal plating gave way to reveal what laid inside the car: the crate. The aperture was big enough for the container to fit through, she just needed to get the cable.

Leah reached for her comms again. Before she could flag down the Wookiee, several guards popped out of a hatch in the train car behind her. Not only that, but a pair of pirates split off from the main company as they harassed the Starbird and descended toward the train. The situation was about to turn into one hell of a mess. All Leah could do was groan. Perhaps for the hundredth time since meeting Greybok.

@Malon

 

[Greybok]

Greybok saw the sentries split off from the main group and head for Leah. He barked at BE-ET, which the little droid proudly whistled a reply to. It rolled up to the scomp port near the co-pilot's seat and connected its own scomp link, which spun a few times before it whistled again. The Wookiee then got up, grabbed his crossbow, and headed for the docking hatch. Twobee was beside herself. "You're going to let him fly the ship?! Have you lost all your senses, Greybok?! Come back here this instant!"

But Greybok wasn't listening. He had already hit the button on the hull that would lower the landing ramp. Fortunately, BE-ET's flying was much smoother than his own and the droid held the ship steady as Greybok emerged from inside. Standing on the ramp, he aimed his crossbow at the offending sentries all while tossing Leah the cable she would need to hitch the cargo to the ship. He then fired two shots at the enemy. One shot hit the engine of the sentry's speeder cleanly, causing it to explode in a brilliant ball of gas and flames. The second shot hit the second sentry's steering controls, which sent the craft spinning... into the side of the train.

Another magnificent explosion followed, but the smoke and debris kept Greybok from seeing if Leah was alright. To complicate matters more, BE-ET's flying was too bland to allow the auto laser cannons to hit the other pursuing pilots. Their shots grazed the Starbird's shields, causing the ship to rock and forcing Greybok to brace himself on the landing ramp's support beams. Inside, he could hear Twobee cursing wildly all the way from the cockpit and BE-ET was doing some shrieking of its own. But Grey had more pressing matters than his ship.

Looking down at the smoke, he howled for Leah to ensure her safety and then prepared to fire at the pursuing sentries yet again. Hopefully the droids could keep piloting in the meantime... @Deviant

 

[Leah Reach]

Chaos. All Leah could see was chaos. As she looked above, she could see several of the speeders trying to shoot down the ship. Which so happened to be the only way she could get the container away from Eriadu, and the only way she could escape from the mess too. She was tempted to start praying to the Force for Greybok to prevail. Instead, to her further shock and horror, she spotted the Wookiee on the edge of the opened landing ramp and throwing her the towing cable. She assumed one of his other droids, BE-ET, would have given it, or something automatic in the ship. Instead, she watched their best pilot expose himself to the pirates. A concern least worrying compared to another thought: who was piloting the Starbird?

The Jedi Master caught the towing cable but tried to flag down Greybok. “Who the hell is flying our only ticket out of here?” She cried out, visibly upset. Before she could further rage against her rebel compatriot, she noticed a volley of plasma bolts sail toward her. Ducking to the ground, Leah narrowly dodged the attack. Her wild eyes fixed onto the train guards who had emerged from inside. With magnetic boots to their feet, they slowly but surely began to charge at her. As she hissed angrily, coming up with a new curse word for her growing vocabulary, the Jedi aimed her blaster at the approaching enemy and fired. Most of her shots were aimless and off point, but she did manage to take down two armored sentries. Still, there were two left, disregarding the additional pirates.

One of them swooped down with their speeder, almost decapitating the rebel ambassador, and leapt from it to fight her face to face. With a vibroblade in hand, they flourished the sword in the air, taunting and intimidating the woman to do something about it. An ordinary rebel or untrained swordsman would have cowered in the face of such skill, but being the Jedi Master and lightsaber duelist she was, Leah only scoffed. Rather than engage them in a duel, however, she took her blaster and fired two shots at their feet. As the pirate’s attention focused to the ground, she twirled the towing cable around and used it as a lash to smack them across the face. Stunned, they staggered back and fell into the opening.

“Amateurs.” She mumbled before following after them. Making sure they were out of the fight, Leah used their blade to cut the container free and then attached the table to it. Hoping Greybok could see her from inside in the aperture, she gave him a thumbs up. Unfortunately, they were not done just yet.

@Malon

 

[Greybok]

Upon seeing the all-clear signal, Greybok honked and threw up his own thumbs up. About that same time, a blaster shot sailed passed his head and smacked the landing ramp, prompting him to howl angrily at his attacker. Leah was okay, and she had the cable, so the Wookiee quickly ascended and then detracted the landing ramp. Back in the cockpit, everything was in disarray. Twobee and BE-ET were bickering loudly with one another. Neither droid seemed to notice the Wookiee come back in and settle into the pilot's seat. But once he was there, he resumed letting the auto-cannons light into the sentries.

Two more speeders vanished into balls of heated gas as Greybok's shots hit their mark. He was worried about Leah down there on the train, though he couldn't risk shooting at her assailants without hurting her as well. Instead, he issued a spray of laser fire that would discourage anymore of them from leaping down to fight with her. Then, he brought the ship down closer to the train and did his best to stabilize it. At this range, it would be much easier for Leah to nab the payload and make it back into the Starbird.

But he soon noticed a much bigger problem. The train was reaching another ravine, this one with a bridge over the top of it. And there were sentries waiting on that bridge. "Greybok, I think they have detonators! We have to warn Mistress Leah!" Greybok agreed and slammed on the comm buttons on his steering yoke. He barked loudly into them to warn Leah of the danger, but, just as he did, the sentries—whom he was convinced were truly pirates—detonated their explosive charges. They were playing scorched earth tactics: either they got the train's contents or nobody did.

Now, the heist was a race against time. Leah needed to get the container into the Starbird and fast or she would have to abandon the mission entirely! Grey did his best to hold the ship steady and to keep cover fire coming against those few speeders still in the air. He howled once again into the comms. She needed to hurry or she was going to be a human pancake in a few minutes... @Deviant

 

[Leah Reach]

The payload was attached, the container cut free, the Starbird stabilized above the train. Everything proceeded as planned save for the uninvited guests still harassing Leah and Greybok. Seeing how quick she managed one and how easy the Wookiee did the others, the Jedi Master was unbothered by the turn of events. It was only a minor setback to a successful mission. She could return back to the Rimma rendezvous point with a smug grin. Some on the Rebel Council believed the mission was unnecessary given how late it was in the overall operation. She was excited to prove them wrong with how quick they finished and with the crate of munitions in tow. Never again would they doubt her or the other Rebel Commander. Even if she was still not comfortable working with him.

Of course, Leah spoke, or thought, too soon. Just as Greybok barked over her comms, almost popping an eardrum, an explosion roared ahead of them. The container was slowly lifting out of the train car but not faster than either would have hoped. She was high enough to see the explosion, and the tracks that were no longer where they were supposed to do. Were they seriously that spiteful? For the hundredth and one time, the rebel ambassador groaned. Furiously, annoyingly so. The second she believed she was out of the woods was the second she tripped right back into it. There was no escaping her terrible string of luck. But they had time, right? The payload would be in the air soon. Or again, so she thought.

The container shifted too far to the left. The edge of it caught against the inner edge of the opening she made, blocking a smooth transition out. Leah cursed under her breath. Rushing to the brink of the payload she stood upon, she tried hurriedly to push it away or slide it through. However, by its sheer weight, it refused to budge. The train was getting closer to its perilous end, and so was Leah. She needed to think fast. Desperation took hold of her mind, then her hands, which filled with the Force. With unnatural strength, she pushed against the fringes of the opening, swaying the container to the side and freeing it from the lock. Immediately after, the train plummeted from the tracks.

Narrowly escaping death for perhaps the tenth time that month, Leah collapsed atop the container out of relief. She wasn’t tired, so why was her chest heaving so hard? Adrenaline. She hadn’t felt so alive in years. And while some might have thought to try it again, the rebel ambassador was absolutely done with the idea. “Get us out of here, Greybok!” Was all she could manage to say as the Starbird would inevitably lift toward the sky.

@Malon

 

[Greybok]

"You do plan on coming inside, yes?" Twobee's voice chirped annoyingly over the comlink. "After all, organics like yourself cannot survive in space." The droid was prevented from making anymore obvious statements when Greybok cut her off with his bleating. The Wookiee did as he was bade and pulled away from the train, angling the light freighter up towards the atmosphere. BE-ET did the rest, using scomp link back in Hold One to reel Leah's crate into the ship (and the undercover Jedi Master along with it).

The pirates didn't seem to follow them any further and, soon, Greybok was above Eraidu once again and sailing off into the infinite abyss of space. As the Wookiee pilot made his calculations for the jump to lightspeed, Twobee left the cocplit in a waddle to go and check on Leah in Hold One.

"Most impressive, Mistress Leah," the droid said with surprisingly levels of enthusiasm. "Once again, your unique set of skills has resulted in another successful mission. Why, I wonder what the Alliance would ever do without you." The droid waddled closer. "Do you require medical attention? We can always send a transmission to base, since Greybok doesn't have the forethought to equip his ship with a medical ba—"

Greybok's howling over the Starbird's intercom cut off the droid's rambling and made her metallic head jerk up in the direction the voice came. "Get my metal what to the cockpit?! How dare he! You are not my master, Greybok!" The angry droid, having completely forgotten about Leah in her rage, waddled back out of the hold towards the cockpit where she was bade.

Outside, the Starbird began to approach one of the orbiting trade blockades. This was the final test. The light freighter had made it through the blockade on the way in to Eraidu. If it could make it through the same blockade on the way out, they could show the warring factions below just how useless their blockades were against a few smugglers and perhaps coax Eraidu into ending the fighting down below. @Deviant

 

[Leah Reach]

“No, Twobee. I would absolutely love to float coldly and aimlessly through the dark vacuum of space. It’s one of my favorite pastimes.” The sarcasm in her voice was biting. Although Twobee may have been a thick-headed droid but she trusted they would recognize what she meant. The obvious was obvious. Stepping into the ship along with the special munitions in tow, the Jedi Master slumped into the Starbird’s cabin. Resting her head against a cushioned seat, she sighed as her attempt to relax was interrupted by the droid once more. At their first meeting, Leah thought Twobee was a voice of reason compared to Greybok. Now, she found her as irritating as he. Still, she appreciated her compliments. Truly.

“Thank you, Twobee.” Was all she could muster. With the wave of her hand, she allowed the droid to leave her in peace, not requiring medical attention of any sort. She only needed some rest. The mission was not particularly hard, and while they came very close to death, Leah was used to it. As a rebel and Jedi, that came on a daily basis. Her use of the Force was what troubled her. She had always tried hard to maintain the secrecy of the Order, to play the role of a simple freedom fighter. However, as the months progressed and their enemies grew ever stronger, she understood eventually she would have to abandon the whole pretense. She needed to be a true Jedi Master.

Half of her was glad for it. Leah wanted to stop playing games and become who she was meant to be, but the other part of her didn’t think she was ready. Her thoughts still lingered on her husband and daughter. She always wondered where her son was, if he was alive, what he was doing. Her mind debated back and forth between change and tradition. She was conflicted, not like the last Master Reach and not like the others. Could she fill the shoes of her husband? Perhaps, perhaps not. Those were questions better suited for another time and occasion. Meanwhile, it was time for her to settle back and rest, especially as the Starbird successfully maneuvered through the meager planet blockade. It was going to be quite a trip back.

But the worst was now behind them. For now.

End Thread.​