Open Turning Pirates Into Privateers

[Drow Venn]

Red Rordrik sat in his throne-like captain's chair aboard the Nightmare Fuel that served as the flagship of his ragtag but nontheless impressive pirate fleet. The crew and ships came from all walks of life from freed criminals to escaped slaves to even other pirates that had been convinced or pressganged into joining Rordrik in terrorizing the Outer Rim. Although far from being the most well-armed or even the fastest of his fleet, Rordrik's Nubian starship served proudly as the head of the collection of ships, feeding into Rordrik's delusions of supremacy. Of course, while he might be stunting in the vessel fit for a royal, he was still a pirate and, therefore, had his ship modified with several attachments that could punch a hole in other ships out there.

And today, looked like an especially good day for the pirates because they stumbled upon what looked to be a dead Sphyrna-cruiser just floating listlessly in space. They'd heard rumors about it in their local cantina and so had immediately and greedily approached the asteroid field that the ship was supposed to be at. Unbeknownst to the pirates, those rumors had been planted by Jedi Master Drow Venn, using his underground contacts to spread the falsehood. And furthermore, the ship wasn't dead at all.

"Alright, they're all here boys! Now!" Drow shouted form inside the Jedi's Sphyrna known as the Chainbreaker. The ship's cannons and engines came to life, obliterating an asteroid next to Rordrik's flagship as a warning shot. To further punctuate the fact that this was no soft target to the pirates, five X-Wings flown by the noble Pamarthans who had pledged loyalty to the Jedi came out from the asteroids they'd been hiding behind. They were joined by any other ships that had seen fit to join Drow on his mission today. The Jedi were at war with the Sith and an important part of war was supply lines. Drow hoped by converting these pirates into privateers, those supply lines could be disrupted and, indeed, diverted to the Jedi instead.

"Rordrik, you have the death sentence on over six systems and bounties of over a hundred thousand credits on a dozen more. I don't have a second's hesitation in turning you over to those authorities but I'd much rather you surrender so we can talk." Drow cautioned over an open comm channel. Rordrik cackled and turned to point one of his four arms at his first mate.

"Show these fools who they're dealing with." he barked. Drow was not surprised to see a dozen pirate starfighters of varying make fly towards the X-Wings while the

"Evasive action boys. No need for any of our own blood to be shed for pirates." Drow ordered, trusting the skills of the Pamarthans to lead the pirates on a merry chase through the asteroid field without blowing up themselves. Pirates were used to soft, defenseless targets. Flying through an asteroid field against actually skilled combat pilots would surely be a wake up call for them.

OOC: Open to any Jedi/Sector Ranger/sympathetic party that is looking to rid the Outer Rim of some pirates and convert them into privateers against the Sith. Also would be fine for a DM to RP as the pirate crew but if not, we'll just self-DM

 

[Vayla Mirana]

Spoiler: Music OOC

Amid the Pamarthens, the Jedi Drow Venn provided the stalwart leadership to see the mission through. The former were already known for their courage and skill and the Force would only amplify such qualities.

By himself, the Jedi Master was a force to be reckoned with, not least of all due to the armaments of his vessel—but he was not alone.

In his midst, a Jedi Knight had flown beside, forsaking her Star’s Sanctum so that a starfighter could perform the maneuvers that the freighter could not.

Mobility is exactly what Vayla needed. As her leader’s voice blasted over comm, the Knight shifted her fighter further toward the flanks, allowing the greater vessel to obliterate the asteroid while she poised her smaller one for defense against any retaliation.

It came. First the pirate-lord Red Rordrik barked his confidence back at his assailants. Then came his own starfighters. Vayla was ready. Evasive action, Drow had called for, and he would get no objections.

While a group of Pamarthens led the pirates on a merry chase through the asteroid field, Vayla stuck beside the Chainbreaker for screen and support. She would not put past the pirates or their paramount to pull some dirty trick from a sleeve.

It came. A few of the pirates broke formation to fly the flanks, navigating between the asteroids without needing to concern as much with the X-Wings. It looked like they were trying to get behind Chainbreaker.

"I've got them," Vayla commed over the allied channel.

Out of nowhere, chunks of rock flew apart at the corners, scattering toward those pirates so as to deter them. If nothing else, it clued them in that at least one starfighter would be keeping them in check, and she was no simple pilot.

@Drow Venn

 

[Drastus Drahr]

Drastus Drahr, a Padawan far longer than in his mind he thought he should be. He lobbied his request to the Council and had been denied. They felt he hadn't enough mastery of the Force. It was hard to do so, when your Master was absent and the one who trained you most had fallen in battle. So that is what brought the Padawan to join Drow. Master Venn had been a good friend of Drast's for some years now, so when the Jedi mentioned Pirate hunting, something the Padawan had a knack for, who was he to turn it down.

Stationed on the Sphyrna-class and operation the dorsal cannon, Drast would grin as the fighting kicked off. He was clad in his Mandalorian armor, with the helmet sitting on the console out of the way of any of the controls. Drow issued his sales pitch, they declined. Their loss. With the weapons systems fired up, he would begin to engage the pirates. They were quick, but they weren't expecting a skilled force to be fighting them.

Letting out a slow exhale, Drast would lock onto the first target and open fire, the first few turret shots shredding the shields before the fighter was turned to nothing less than space dust. Knight Mirana had chimed in her aid and Drast would flick on his comms. "Knight Mirana, if you can watch our left, I got the right." The turret would swivel as he spoke and he lit up another enemy fighter. Pirates were cowards, kill enough, and they would sue for peace. "Hey Drow, let me know if you want to engage his ship."

@Fantasy Liver @Die Shize

 

[Drow Venn]

Two H-Wings, decked out in skulls and warpaint broke off from pursuit of the Pamarthan X-Wings to attack the Chainbreaker on its lower left flank. Drow monitored the shields taking the hit from these two with cautious optimisim until a proton torpedo came and impacted against the Chainbreaker. Actually seeing the shields go down a few percentage points at once made Drow realize that this was no laughing matter. He patted his astromech droid on the head and made his way past a few Gammorrean and Junker crewmen to make his way to his personal Y-Wing that was nestled in the docking ring of the Chainbreaker.

"Drastus, you're in command of the Chainbreaker now - I'm going to engage with those H-Wings. Lay some shots on the Nubian flagship. Vayla, follow those Stalwarts and make sure they don't come back around!" Drow barked over his comm, referring to the three Stalwart-class starfighters that had just made a passing run at the Chainbreaker. It had been mildly successful, with the cruiser's shields now even lower than before and Drow wanted them dealt with. As he hopped into his Y-Wing, he disengaged and followed the path of the two H-Wings, having timed it well enough where they'd be flying right under him as soon as he'd started his engines. The Y-Wing was hardly the best dogfighting craft, even 100 years ago, but in Drow's hands he could make the old girl do things most people thought impossible. One of the H-Wing's lost their port engine as a Y-Wing screamed out of nowhere and blasted it to bits. The unfortunate pilot careened into an asteroid, leaving the other two for Drow to deal with. One of them peeled off to try and make his way behind the Y-Wing while the other maintained course and flew closer to asteroid debris to try and knock Drow out of the sky that way.

For their part, the Pamarthans were doing an excellent job of keeping the bulk of the pirate's forces engaged, even managing to fire off a few shots to turn a couple of them into space dust. That coupled with Vayla's maneuver meant that the pirates were having a very difficult time navigating through the treacherous asteroid field. A large chunk of rock was also heading for the Chainbreaker but was fortunately blasted away by one of the gunners. Unfortunately, with much of the focus being dedicated towards the pirate starfighters and asteroids, the freighters and flagship of the pirate fleet had been left untouched.

@Rhogar @Die Shize

 

[Vayla Mirana]

Spoiler: Music OOC [Recurring]

Watch the left, Vayla bounced the request around in her head, made it her own command, let her compatriot watch the right as she watched the left.

Military tactics should ever be so simple, so straightforward: You do this, I do that, we do this and that.

Communication and coordination were the keys to victory. It took neither a naval pilot nor a Jedi Knight to know the truth of that.

Vayla just then learned that the ringleader, Drow Venn, had taken to a Y-Wing, leaving both the Chainbreaker to fend for herself and herself to ward off assailants.

We can do this, she reassured. We will do this. The Force was with them...and, if it wasn’t, well, no matter—it was against the pirates, time and again.

Three Stalwart-class starfighters broke for the Chainbreaker, unchecked and unchallenged—or so they thought.

“These are mine!” Vayla affirmed. “Watch for lead targets of enemy; flagship at shared coordinates.” It was nothing to overlook. Keeping the enemy’s flagship in check was paramount.

For her part, Vayla concentrated on keeping the Stalwarts in check. None of her team could afford to lose the Chainbreaker and she had no intentions of it.

“Stand down!” The Jedi cried over comm. The pirates did not heed. So flew bolts, so fell lives. Losing theirs, the pirates could no longer commandeer their fighters, though one out of three had proven more troublesome than her peers.

“Come get me!” the pirate called back.

The Knight nodded. “Death, yet the Force.” And her trumpets blared. Bolts soared in a spiral as the Jedi’s starfighter twirled, ducking between asteroids to surface beneath her opponent.

Shots glanced her wing, slid beside her cockpit, but before a fatal bolt could bite her Vayla unleashed her own. It exploded into the adjacent fighter’s cockpit, penetrating right into the skull; a glimpse of death before the executioner pulled away.

Pull away… Vayla begged the pirates through the Force, through her thoughts, through the results of her team. Surrender!

“No more deaths are needed!” The cry came over the comms. “Stand down and death will not follow!”

@Fantasy Liver @Rhogar

 

[Drastus Drahr]

A command? Fuck. Drastus had never been in command of a ship before. This was... awesome. "Aye-aye mo'capitan." he said with a smirk. "I'll hit them with the ol' tickle-tickle-punish. Oh and Drow, stay safe, yeah?" He then offered a faux salute, though his tone suggested he meant the final words. Drow was one of the few Jedi Drast fully trusted, and he would offer a silent prayer to Kad for the Jedi's protection.

With him at the command he would start yelling out to the rest of the crew. "Use the field for cover! I want us to flank their flagship!" He wasn't much of a pilot. Thankfully, some of the crew were. And they were quick to jump to the pilot's seat. "Keep the shields powered up, but try to stay to the shadows!"

He would activate his comm. "Knight Venn, Knight Mirana, we're moving to flank the flagship. Some added space debris would be most appreciated."

@Fantasy Liver @Die Shize

 

[Drow Venn]

"That's "Master Venn" to you, Padawan" Drow said a bit cheekily over the comms to Drastus. He knew the Padawan would know he was kidding - Drow had never been one to focus much on rank and, truthfully, still felt amazed that the Council had made him a Master in the first place.

"Watch yourself Vayla! I have one breaking free!" Drow shouted as the H-Wing he was pursuing quickly shifted directions just a hair too fast for Drow to catch him. The bomber was now barreling towards Vayla on her left flank, hopefully anticipating to catch her by surprise. That left the one behind Drow to deal with. He fired a quick torpedo at the massive asteroid in front of him, causing it to splinter apart and break into smaller-but-still-ginormous pieces. The H-Wing behind him just barely managed to avoid the debris but, in doing so, allowed Drow to slip behind him and blast him into space dust.

But Drow didn't have long to rest as Drastus was ordering for more asteroids. Well, that could certainly be arranged, Angling his ship, Drow fired off three more torpedoes. Two towards asteroids near the Nubian and one at the Nubian itself.


**********

Meanwhile, in the pirate's flagship, Red Rordrik was feeling more and more nervous, doubly so after Drow's torpedo rocked the ship. His first wave of bombers and fighters were essentially gone and the Chainbreaker with superior firepower was now making a move to blast at him.

"Send all fighters out to engage the Hammerhead cruiser while the transports and gunboats make the jump to hyperspace."

"Sir, with no cover from the gunships and transports, the fighters will be sitting du-" Rordrik's first mate protested before a vibroblade to the heart silenced him forever. The remaining crew looked shocked at this display of violence, even for a pirate captain.

"Anyone else got a problem with fucking orders?" Rordrik asked, deactivating the vibroblade and wiping the blood off of it. The other pirates quickly shook their head

@Rhogar @Die Shize