Wood Bandits

[Ner Giza]

Difficulty Checks​

Outer space over Kashyyyk, Mid-Rim Territories​

Ner’Giza checked the display on the comm from the latest sensor readings and sighed. ”Still no pirates” she complained before calling out to the astromech droid, ”Nine-nine, are you sure you fixed this thing properly? Three days and still no sign of pirates.” The Tempest Hunter had taken a little bit of damage during their last mission, but 99 had been able to make the repairs back on Hoth before she was sent right back out again. At least the new Groundsweeper canon was installed and operational.

The astromech droid, busy with its own scans of the ship’s systems whirled round withdrawing its computer probe in the process to snark at her in droid speak. She laughed and said, ”You’re right. How would I know if you didn’t?”, unlike her uncle when it came to mechanics she was heavily droid dependant. 99 whined sadly and rolled over to the Dajarik table. Her partner was the one who played and with his own duties increasing they were often on separate missions. It was only right, she thought. She was not that great when it came to diplomacy so it was only natural the Alliance would capitalize on each of their strengths.

”Yeah I miss him too, nine-nine. How about after this mission we see if I have gotten any better at Dajarik”, she said in order to cheer him up. It seemed to work but she knew that she wouldn’t provide the challenge Aurel did. She had yet to win against the droid once. Deciding to check in on Tyler she flicked the comm to his frequency and transmitted, ”Star Seven to Tyler. Seen any sign yet?” It was unlikely he wouldn’t have contacted her, or that her own sensors would have missed picking up on illegal ship traffic. This patrolling stuff was nearly as boring to her as Hyperspace.

@Faster Than Light

 

[Tyler Ward]

Ugh, Tyler hated flying. He did learn a thing or two on a flight simulator when he was trained to be an Imperial Agent, but he never cared for flying and perfected working on the ground any day. But he happened to be assigned to this mission, to patrol the space above Kashyyyk for pirates that would be seeking wookie wood or actual wookies. And if any pirate goons come in, the Galactic Alliance members are to to blast them.

Tyler strapped in and was wearing a flightsuit, piloting a plainly colored, stock RX/4 Starfighter. The ship would be flying forward, not straying too far off from his partner however.

The ex-Imperial Agent was bored. He is working with member of Star Squadron, Ner Giza aka Star Seven. To help pass the time, Tyler would have the dash playing some electronica-style music, The young man would be slightly moving to the beat. It sure is better than hearing nothing but the sounds of the void of space and the fighter's engines going.

Suddenly then Star Seven started patching Tgim through the comms, she was wondering if he found anything yet. Easy answer to that. "Tyler here. Negative. Haven't found anything yet" he said after turning the music off so Ner Giza doesn't have to hear it.

If it wasn't for the music Tyler probably would have fell asleep in the cockpit if he would being honest. Either way, either they will get some action or the patrol will be called off. T

@Kayenta Moenkopi

 

[Ner Giza]

Sadly Tyler had not pulled a mynock out of a hat. Her lips blew outward with the breath she exhaled before tsking through her teeth. Her eyes drifted from the scanners to view the planet below with her own eyes. The forests of Kashyyyk were the most amazing thing she had ever seen. If there were wonders of the Galaxy, the Twi’lek looked on the massive trees as such. But then over Life Day celebrations she had not ventured down into the canopy not being a huge fan of spiders.

So if just their presence providing extra patrols accomplished the goal, all the better. She didn’t hardly think it was going to be that easy though. Sighing she pressed the comm responding, ”The only thing I have found is irony. How come you can never find a pirate when you want one?” Ner’Giza flicked the comm off so she was not transmitting but could still receive.

Rubbing her nose she put off day dreaming to gaze at the scanners once more. “Gah I detest empty space.”

Just then the co-pilot called out from the turret ball. ”What are you talking about. You can’t see those ships”, Mig’s voice sounded quite strained but was muffled by the droid speak of KLT-99Z going on about her insisting on having the controls for the groundsweeper routed to the pilot’s seat instead of the co-pilot. Before Ner’Giza had a chance to even speak, Migs was back on the comm cursing, ”now they’re gone!”. Tapping the scanner it went dark and she yelled, ”99!". She hardly had to finish for the astromech was already attempting to work his magic.

It seemed that a licensed instillation of the groundsweeper lazers being a requirement for not voiding the warranty was more than just a credit scam. The wiring of the power supply had short circuited the scanner. She was flying virtually blind. Hitting the comm she said, ”Hey Tyler? I’m gonna be without sensors for...how long 99?” the droid’s bleeping could be heard over the comm cause she kept it open. ”Oh about 20 minutes. Scanners were picking up ghosts here right before they failed all together.”

At least there were no pirates around.

Spoiler

2 rounds without scanners

@Faster Than Light

 

[Tyler Ward]

Tyler would keep flying with his fighter, covering more ground. All is quiet. Too quiet though. It's sort of agitating, and boring really. The Ex-Imperial Agent would hear his partner on the coms and had a chuckle. Tyler can't say he's been the victim of a pirate attack, but they do come at you when the Galaxy decides you luck is bad enough and when it comes seeking them out it's a chore. Funny how the galaxy works. "Because that would be too convenient and we ever don't get that lucky" Usually if something is too convenient then it's not going to happen. Things tend to happen when it's inconvenient for you.

After some more flying around, turning around, Tyler would then get some more comms chatter from Ner Giza. Apparently, her sensors went out? And she and her droid are expecting them to be out for twenty minutes and picked up ghosts before the sensors went out. Tyler was wear about the ghosts that were picked up. They are just duds on malfunctioning sensors or something along those lines, but never hurt to be cautious. "Alright Star Seven, if you see anything just let me know." the Alderaanian let her know.

Still really weird for sensors to go out. But still probably nothing major. What are the chances of pirates showing up before they are back up in 20 minutes if there hasn't been any all day. Tyler would then look down at the controls and push a few buttons and turn on back those tunes he had going on. Now looking through the viewport, Tyler would veer his ship around, and in doing so, a stray piece of rock floating around would be caught in the path of his fighter's right wing. The wing would collide with it and break a piece off as the fighter shook, as a knee jerk reaction turned the music off. "Oh shit..." Well. Tyler grimaced and frowned.. Half of the right wing was broken off, exposing some of the inside. Luckily not the worse thing that can happen. no weapons were lost, although that may prove to be a hindrance latter and have to be replaced.

"Okay" Tyler muttered to himself, as he will resolve to stay alert and not get distracted or careless going forward today.

@Kayenta Moenkopi

 

[Ner Giza]

Keeping pace with Tyler, Nera steered her freighter tracking his movements visually; the last thing she wanted to do now was risk becoming separated. It alleviated some of the boredom but as time wore on she just kept wishing for something to happen. That was when she saw the piece come flying off his right wing and veered off toward one of the planet’s three moons to avoid the shrapnel shower. Cuing the comm she sent, ”How you doing there Tyler?”

Before she could hear his response blaster fire streaked across her field of vision forcing her to pull back on the controls, increase her relative altitude, and turn upside down. All the while she and her co-pilot were yelling back and forth to one another, both suddenly more busy than they could ever wish.

”What? Where’d that come from?”

”Two pirates, coming out from behind the moon. Pull up, pull up!”

Punching the comm her voice would ring out to her partner, ”Heads up Tyler”, was all she said. His scanners were working and she needed to focus.

At the peak of her backward arc she finally could see one of the freighters but without her scanners at this distance it could have been anything. Evading its blaster fire the gunner was able to get off only one burst of shots at the ship before the flying arc of the Tempest Hunter obscured his field of vision. Even so the gunner had taken it out.

At first she thought his yelling was a victory cry, but it was anything but. The second ship had gotten above her keeping out of view during the whole maneuver, and when she paused to get a view of the pirates Migs spotted it.

”It’s above us Nera, punch it!”

It was the best advice she’d heard all day and the woman set the ship into a dive pushing close to her max speed. Conscious of losing Tyler she kept her evasive arcs doubling back as best she could, but it was anyone’s guess how long she could evade blind as they were.

@Faster Than Light

 

[Tyler Ward]

Tyler still couldn't believe he ran into that little rock and shattered his craft's wing. How embarrassing. Who ever wanted to give Tyler the keys to an actual starship probably should have found someone else. Hopefully Star Seven was too busy working on getting her sensors fixed and haven't seen it.

Star Seven asked how he was doing, and just as he was about to answer, some laser cannon fire started raining down on their positions. Pirates at last? Look at his sensors he can see they are there now. They came in at the perfect time when Star Seven's scanners are down and he was busy processing running his ship into a random floating rock. Tyler instinctively veered up his craft to evade. Fortunately despite the wing being shattered and the hull having a weakpoint, The Ex-Imperial Agent was able to cope with the messed up state of the ship and avoid taking any damage to his shields as he maneuvers out of any laser canon fire.

And surely not running into any more random stray space rocks. Tyler managed to maneuver his ship to where it behind the second freighter. Tyler can keep in it's tail, as the ex-Imperial agent is more than enough faster than most freighters and is maneuverable as well. The freighter would be too busy trying to attack Ner Giza's ship that he neglected his own defense.

Tyler would fire continuous streams of laser cannon shots from his fighter and once he had the target in his crosshairs. Once the shots landed on the target, it would back off of Star Seven's ship, allowing her reprieve. Tyler wouldn't let his target go until the target was down and done for.

@Kayenta Moenkopi

 

[Ner Giza]

Truth be told the radio silence was getting to her. But then her ability to evade with the sensors out was being aided by a constant stream of directions from her gunner. As yet that hadn’t involved anything fancy for the pirate freighter had followed along hot in her wake within full view of the gunner. So she didn’t spare time for another call to Tyler putting her focus at the task of staying alive.

”Wooo", the gunner suddenly called out from the ball turret as he spied Tyler swinging round to take up his pursuit behind the pirate. ”Tyler made it! He’s on its tail." Relief coursed through the female smuggler turned fighter pilot.

Pulling the Tempest round in a hard left banking turn, she laughed in a release of tension ”Just in time”. Before long her co-pilot was sharing the good news the pirate had been killed. There was no point in harassing 99, the repairs would take up less time if she just left him alone. So she cued the mic and said, ”I take it your are safe!”, her soft laughter was transmitted as well before she said, ”Thanks for pulling my bucket out of the fire. Can your ship handle a little detour? I’d like to get a scan on the moon. They came at me from over there.” Although it had seemed like forever she knew it would be a little while before the repairs were done.

@Faster Than Light

 

[Tyler Ward]

The last pirate freighter went down and then exploded in the void, leaving nothing but chunks of debris following it. Target down. Tyler would then pull up slightly to avoid the aforementioned debris and decrease his speed now that the little sortie is over. Tyler chuckled in reponse to Star Seven's first remark in concert with her laughter. Shooting that pirate scum down was no problem and no worries.

No, Star Seven did bring up a good point about taking a trip to the moon. Just because two pirate ships got destroyed doesn't mean there won't be more of them. And if those shots came from the moon there is a good chance there might be more of them. "No problem. And yeah, we should probably go ahead and do that." it wouldn't be very prudent not to. Besides, can't just call it a day after just two ships have been destroyed. Kashyyyk is a popular place for pirate activity, be it slaving or anything else. "Ready when you are"

Tyler has his ship ready to join Star Seven. Although his wing is damaged he should be fine. At least the people who designed the craft didn't put any of the weapons where they would be snapped off along with the wing. Plus he has shields. He is going to be more careful going forward here to. He's focused.

@Kayenta Moenkopi

 

[Ner Giza]

Just then 99 let her know the sensors were repaired only seconds before the view screen flipped into focus loading a view of the area. ”Sounds good Tyler” she said seeing the readout of his vessel displaying properly. ”Scanners are operational now. Let’s go see about some pirates.”

She called back to the astromech and said, ”Good going Nine-nine. I’ll have to get you an oil bath once we’re back on base.”. This seemed to placate him readily enough and this time she hadn’t cued the comm. She could well imagine the Wookies having to keep something like this up indefinitely, but if she and Tyler could show the pirates that Kashyyyk wasn’t going to be easy pickings anymore, word would get around. Only the most foolhardy would attempt poaching the forests once that happen. Well it was a good plan, now time to see if they could bring it all about.

Moving her ship in closer to the moon, she monitored the read outs but found nothing of interest. Just as she was about to suggest to Tyler they investigate the other side of the moon 99 piped up. ”Well then, try to boost the signal. Did someone just come out of hyperspace or not?” Her mind was racing on the gravity anomaly the droid had detected wondering if it was more pirates? Or had the two from before managed to get a distress call out for back up before being destroyed?

But it was no good. They were going to have to round the planet to get a better reading. The only thing was, it would expose her to possible detection as well. She flicked the comm switch once more and said, ”We’ve detected a gravity anomaly Tyler. Something has just dropped out of hyperspace on the other side of the moon but we can't get a good enough read to say what it is. What are you reading?”

She thought it was prudent to find out what was over there before announcing their presence.

@Faster Than Light

 

[Tyler Ward]

Tyler would fly his ship along aside Star Seven's keeping pace with her vessel. He had a tight grip on the controls and mentally prepared himself for anything that could lie in weight on or around the moon. It might be nothing but it's better to be prepared or not. That's how good men get killed. In the meantime as they are making their way towards the moon, Tyler would look at his fighter's dash. Everything holding up still in-spite of the missing wing, laser cannons are still good, shields are all the way up, and still has a full payload of concussion missiles.

Then Ner addressed him on the comms. Something has just came out of hyperspace. Could be anything really. Of course, most likely not anything good considering it's coming from the same general trajectory as where those pirates came from. Most likely more of them. "Copy Star Seven, just a moment" Tyler would use his ship scanners in an effort to identify what it is that came out of hyperspace. They won't have a visual until they get over the moon, but if they could determine what it is before hand it will prepare them.

Before too long, Tyler would have a pretty good idea of what it is. "Alright, it's larger ship. About about the size of a bulk-freighter or a light corvette it looks like" Tyler would actually have to be closer to find out anything further. "What do you want to do now?" he would ask Star Seven on the comms. The freighter would be a Gorath class Freighter upon closer inspection when they are able to spot it.

@Kayenta Moenkopi

 

[Ner Giza]

DC ​

”Holy Rycrit udders”, she breathed her thumb pressing down the comm once Tyler had made his report. It had been a while since she had gone up against a bulk-freight but then she was just part of the boarding crew being too green to sit in the co-pilot’s seat, let alone pilot. Not that long ago she had been part of mission against a Corvette and she was mindful she wouldn’t be alone. But with his wing the way it was.

’Had vrimera, vil ish karnoyi vla dei kesar tohso circoo’, she reminded herself internally. He didn’t seem to be hindered by the damage, able to adjust his flying with a skill she didn’t know if she could match. Pressing the comm with her thumb she said, ”That’s a pretty big rig. Sounds like a they plan on making a large haul today. I don’t think we can afford to back off just yet.”. They had been sent out to leave a clear message that the forests of Kashyyyk were no longer easy harvesting grounds.

The decision would nearly be made for them, for the sight of the Gorath class freighter beginning to clear the moon filled her vision. Making her mind up she said, ”Let’s take her down.” Her co-pilot called back from the turret and said ”Ready when you are.”

Near as she could recall her Mynock exceeded the top speed of the Gorath by at least 30 MGLT and that would give them an edge in evading. Ner’Giza pushed the throttle forward running the Tempest Hunter just shy of full tilt. Lined up perfectly for her, she flew along its starboard side, Migs firing targeting the ship. The blast struck the power core and suddenly the speed difference between their craft was moot. The freighter began slowing unable to do more than return fire.

@Faster Than Light

 

[Tyler Ward]

And here they go, and the Galactic Alliance patrol would then be engaging the Gorath Bulk Freighter. Tyler would push the throttle on his little fighter, he would get to the heavy freighter before Star Seven can. Even if the powercore on the bulk freighter isn't damaged, it's still a big ship with the maneuverability of a Hutt at that. Tyler's swift fighter would easily close most of the distance between it and the heavy freighter.

While the ship could still move, it would shift it's angle to where it can get better shot with it's dorsal mounted light laser cannon turret. The initial shots managed to graze his ship's shields as he swerved to avoid. No good intentions if it shoots first... And it would keep firing. Tyler would be able to see those shots coming in for him through his fighter's view port, so turned his fighter right to avoid those shots after his swerve. He would then then come in, using the fighter's decent maneuvering characteristics to evade further laser cannon bolts as he attempts to get in closer. Once close, Tyler would go in for a little strafing run at that turret. Firing it's laser cannons and firing a missile at it, the turret would be destroyed.

However in doing so, Tyler's fighter had his shields depleted, as the laser cannon never stopped firing. Luckily it was destroyed before it actually did more than superficial bleed-through damage though his ship. By this time, the ship's powercore would be caught in an explosion. With it slowing down and it's meagar only defense crippled, now what. "Alright, turrets gone. What now?" he said after he would fly away to gain some and circle the freighter, noticing that it slowed to a craft.

They could destroy this freighter. But it might be better just to send out a call to the Galactic Alliance, so they can send a boarding team and possibly capture those on board.

 

[Ner Giza]

DC​

Watching Tyler engage the Goliath she winced to see the blasts from its canon strike home before he could take them out with his own. Her blood lust was up and she was angling round to make her own run when cautionary thoughts began to plague her. Aurel would have hailed the vessel and asked for their surrender and it shamed her that she was becoming more and more dulled to the taking of life.

Didn’t they have a duty toward making the greatest deterrent possible to these poachers thinking they could take from Kashyyyk any time they liked? Sure, death was the greatest hindrance, but who would know? If they could get the crew to surrender though, they could stand trial and word of such a public event would get around. She cued the comm and said, ”How about we take them alive to stand trial? You wanna call in for a boarding crew? I’ll hail them demanding their surrender.”

Feeling better about the decision, she knew it was not the time to give way to emotion in the heat of battle but to think things through. Cuing her comm to an open frequency she hailed the ship, ”Crew of the Goliath. Surrender and prepare to be boarded.” The answering call came over the same channel ”Roger that. We give up”.

Feeling pretty pleased with herself, she missed seeing the alert that a small shuttle craft had launched from the goliath and was making its way toward the moon.

@Faster Than Light

 

[Tyler Ward]

"Sounds good" Well, with that Tyler would be start sending out a signal to the Galactic Alliance requesting reinforcements for a boarding party as Ner Giza would be sending out a hail for the heavy freighter demanding an immediate, unconditional surrender. If the pirates were smart, they would just comply and save themselves maybe a harsher sentencing.

But pirates aren't always the smartest bunch of people. Tyler was finished sending out his signal and then he happened to look down and see a new blip on his radar.

It's coming from the heavy freighter itself.

"Star Seven do you see that on your radar? Something's coming from the vessel. I'll check it out."

Tyler would then pull a U-turn fly his starfighter over towards the blip was, and before the shuttle can get too far, Tyler would see it. Pulling behind it and matching speed, the ex-Imperial Agent thought that was a pretty cute attempt by the pirates to get away. Oh dear. The Alderaanian would then hail the shuttle.

"Nice try pirates, but you guys aren't going anywhere. Turn your shuttle around or be prepared to be destroyed" Tyler had the shuttle in his cross airs and the missiles were locked on. The pirates would then turn around reluctantly.

With that, rebel ships should arrive soon and take it from here. The Alliance pilots' patrol here today was a success.

/endthread

@Cazar @Kayenta Moenkopi