They Have Laws Here?

[TAC]

The HWK-190 light freighter - at this point jury-rigged beyond what most would find an acceptable or safe level - rocketed through the narrow pass. Staying low in the canyons of northern Eriadu, she had up to this point stayed in one piece. The jagged edges of the rocky formations she was being flung through and the well-armed security ships that safely tracked her from above offered equal and amble conversation for that to be changed. Besides, wasn't it better to risk death at the hands of an expert pilot within the canyon, out of reach from the more bulky freighters that followed her and would mean a certain, fiery death?

Captain William Lathia Prescott grimaced behind the controls as he jiggled them slightly. An antenna - he wasn't really sure what it was for anyways - was ripped away as he needled his way through a pass. The ship bobbed back and forth more than he would have liked, and the small, mostly unconcerning scrape echoed quite loudly throughout the small ship. Willi cursed to himself. He had three passengers in the common area, and while he had found them all pleasant enough, he knew they wouldn't be particularly happy with him right now. The Captain didn't have any desire to address those concerns right now.

Besides.

He was busy.

As Willi entered the HWK-190 into a straight-a-way, his indicators flashed even more warnings. He pushed forward hard, giving his sublight engine a bit of a boost, and the canyon wall behind him exploded. "Attention HWK-190 light freighter. This is your final warning. You are under arrest. Land your ship and submit yourself for arrest." Breaking his concentration for a moment, Willi's hand reached out and slapped the comm system. 'I most certainly already turned you off, amateurs, Willi thought to himself, a bit annoyed. He could hardly afford to be distracted while weaving his way through treacherous mountains, and this local security lieutenant squawking over the comms and shooting at him were quite distracting. The comm box did nothing for a moment, hopped two channels, and then blinked blue - indicating the security forces comms signal had been muted. Willi puffed to himself as he entered a turn, making it a lot harder for those flying above to get a steady shot, as he weaved to and fro through the snake of narrow canyons.

Gaining a bit more comfort as he weaved through the canyons, which offered him relative relief from the threat from above, he heard the thump of steps behind them. He puffed once more, to himself, although quite a bit quieter. Willi had picked up three persons who had been attracted by his advertisement for quick, cheap, and private transportation through the section. When each of them had boarded, he had ensured that the others were not on board or busy in their relatively small crew accommodations - making it appear as if they were the only paying customers on board.

When they had found out about the others, his passengers had appeared less than pleased. Willi had managed to skirt the situation, pressing a quick button that announced over the on-board speakers that there was a technical problem in the cockpit requiring his attention. He had informed them all of a slight detour to Eriadu, where he had picked up some cargo and put it in the hold, locked away from his passengers. The pick-up had been quick, which probably annoyed the passengers a little less. However, Eriadu security forces had apparently been tipped off, and had given the HWK chase through the largely unpopulated planet. This chase was about his cargo, not his passengers, but they were now inseparably involved.

Willi had most certainly been in these situations before. There would be an opening and he would take it, blasting out to the atmosphere before taking some slightly-curved calculations for a relatively low-risk but speedy jump. He just had to wait for the inevitable situation to present itself.

Dipping into a turn, debris sprinkled onto the ship as the security forces took another shot. Within the curve, their weaponry was slow and not accurate enough to predict his movement and hit him. However, it was definitely closer than the last "pot-shot" they had taken. Willi quietly prayed there were no more straight-aways anytime soon. And he prayed that the presence he felt join him in the cockpit would 'go the frack away.'

 

[Hugh Capet]

Cæcus wasn't entirely certain what he expected from such cheap travel. The initial trip was uneventful, save for the discovery that he was actually one of three different passengers on board. Rather than complain, as less gentlemanly men would do, he maintained a stony silence, save for a single sigh of resignation. Little conversation was exchanged between himself and the remaining two, but it was polite enough. Of course, the announcement of a detour, coupled with the taking on of cargo, was even more disheartening; he had it in his mind to give the pilot a stern word or two on misleading everyone involved, but he held his tongue. After all, 'twas better to be polite rather than stern.

However, as he and his fellows were being jostled about with every twist and turn of the craft, the nobleman could feel his anger mounting beyond the limits of his control. Standing up, he carefully trudged his way toward the cockpit, slipping here or there as the ship either ran into the canyon wall or was rocked by incoming fire from who or whatever was shooting at them. Cæcus huffed and puffed from his exertions, as he was not at all accustomed to such adventure. "Captain," he demanded, "for goodness's sake, what's going on out there!?"