RPlog:Nar Shaddaa - Sabrina's Rescue 3

The Voidstalker had set down not far from Galla the Hutt's cargo facility's north side, with her landing ramp facing the north as well. This keeps both the Voidstalker and a small number of other ships between herself and the entrance to the cargo facility. Luke, Ai'kani and Snarl held a brief meeting in the living quarters, as they went over the scans captured by R2-D2, noting twenty heat signatures inside the building itself. After a few minutes of conversation, the group departed. From the cockpit window, not much can be seen. However, a rear-angle camera feed shows the team coming around the aft end of the Voidstalker, and sneaking toward a bulky transit that rests between the ship and the cargo facility. Then, the team comes into view from the cockpit as they form up, with Luke in the middle, Ai'kani to the left, and a four-legged Snarl on the right. R2-D2 brings up the rear, of course. The team walks around the nose of the bulky transport, and comes up on a pair of grizzly, human guards outside the cargo facility. There is a brief exchange of words, and humorously, Snarl seems to be putting on the act of being a mere mindless pet, nuzzling up against one of the guards who pats her cautiously on the head. Within moments, a large, cargo door opens in the facility... And the team disappears inside.

Leaving Spanner to watch the ship's systems and the sky up front, Rook eases into the back of the ship, moving up to the doorframe of the landing ramp. She makes a last check of her Stormtrooper II, which Korolov had left her (unintentionally, she's sure) during the time he'd abducted her and dragged her to Kashyyyk, then promptly abandoned her there when his lizard mount had gotten away from her. It seems to be fully charged. She takes off the safety and grips the weapon with both hands. Through the open hatchway she can just see the facility, and her uplinked datapad, strapped to her thigh and linked to Spanner, and thusly to the ship's computer, shows the camera's view of the facility. It should provide her a little warning if the Hutt's people decide to get inquisitive about the ship. She leans against the doorframe, getting comfortable for a wait. If someone does come, and it's the wrong someone, she wants to be sure they get a Gallisport-style warm welcome.

A few minutes pass. Depending on how you see it, it could be a good thing or a bad thing, but Rook's 'comfortable wait' isn't going to last too long. A pair of Rodian thugs emerge from the cargo facility's only entrance, and speak in harsh tones to the human guards, their twin-speak voices easy to recognize even from afar, though the words are lost on the pre-dawn wind. One human guard nods, smacks the other in the shoulder, and they take off, jogging alongside the Rodians for the starport beyond. Behind them, the large cargo door entrance to the facility begins to close.

Rook may be comfortable, but she's not napping by any means. The camera shows the approach of the guards. She pulls down the protective flap over her wrist vid-comlink. "Spanner, are there any counter-boarding weapons on this ship? Autoblaster, stun steps, anything?" A series of bleeps come from the speaker, but the text on the screen is clearer. 'Negative. Looks like this is your party, Rook.' Rook nods tersely. "Okay... I guess the refreshments are up to me. Keep us on idle, but be ready to bring up the power plant for a quick takeoff." She takes up a position, leaning partway around the doorjamb, her carbine braced and aimed with her left hand. The first one she sees will never know what hit him.

The group of four stops just outside the nose of the bulky transport that Luke and his team stopped at, between the Voidstalker and Galla's facility. They look back to the cargo facility itself, and the reason becomes clear pretty fast, when Spanner sends a burst of bleeps over Rook's vid-comlink. 'Energy Readings from the facility... Flash Bombs!' Flash Bombs. Any mercenary’s worst nightmare. A field modification of the common sonic charges used by bounty hunters throughout the outer rim, flash bombs are strong enough to burst the eardrums of a normal sentient, and bright enough to temporarily blind the unsuspecting. The telltale sound of muffled pops comes from the cargo facility... the thick, duracrete-reinforced cargo facility. Shocked and surprised, Galla's thugs hesitate, before splitting up. The Rodians head for the bulky transport, and the two humans? They're headed for the Voidstalker.

The two guards don't hesitate an instant, but head straight in the direction of the boarding ramp, weapons ready. They know their job. They're at the base of the ramp in seconds. The first indeed never knows what hit him. The ST-II has a massive punch over short range. Flames literally lick at the material of his shirt around the fist-sized hole in his chest as he collapses, falling off the side of the ramp. Another shot follows the first, but misses narrowly. The remaining guard snaps up his weapon and fires a hail of thin scarlet bolts up into the ship! Rook ducks around behind the doorway with such speed that she loses her footing, sliding down the doorjamb to land in an awkward heap. "Merr-Sonn Intimidator... frell!" She winces as the roof of the ship is peppered with coin-sized burn marks. "Luke's never gonna forgive me for messing up his upholstery...." Not daring to look around the doorjamb again, she does hear footsteps moving up the ramp, one cautious step at a time. Another round of shots tears into the ceiling from the jittery guard. Rook slips a small object from her pocket, thumbing a recessed button and holding it in her hand for a two-count, then rolling it onto the ramp, letting it gain speed on its own. The second guard is watching high, not low... it proves to be his undoing. The defensive grenade bursts almost at his feet. Perforated with a hail of shrapnel, he stumbles and falls off the ramp, to the opposite side that his companion did. Rook peeks around the corner, seeing no other uninvited guests. "Spanner, are we clear?"

A series of fast-paced beeps and whistles are decoded by Rook's vid-comlink. 'We're clear, but they're not. I think the Hutt's people called for reinforcements!' The vid-comlink switches to a scan taken by Spanner from the cockpit. More beeps and whistles. 'Visual was blocked by the transport outside, but my scans show twenty more heat signatures entered the base just before the flash bombs went off.' Meanwhile, a smoky haze has formed at the ramp of the Voidstalker, shrapnel and pieces of fabric (most likely clothing) falling in slow, flittering tumbles at the entrance of the ship. If that wasn't bad enough, the stink of charred flesh is... well... ripe. A few more bleeps come from Spanner. 'Blaster fire.' Just then, the beeping stops, paired with a low pitched buzzing sound as Spanner's sensors are briefly overloaded with data. There's a muffled popping sound, followed by a familiar vibration that goes through the ground and into the ship itself. Thermal detonator. A view from the cockpit would show the southeast side of the cargo facility having been torn open by the blast, with a column of smoke now rising from the corner.

Rook's pale eyes widen. "Uh-oh... our friends are in way over their heads!" She fidgets, undecided. She should stay here and guard the means of escape. She wants to dash in there and lend some support, so the team can escape! A long few seconds later, she slowly stands, then hurries down the ramp, standing at the bottom to watch what's happening with her own eyes. The sight is fear-inspiring... For a moment she sees their faces: Luke, solemn and steady, with his wisdom-lined features; Snarl, orange and powerful, but gentle-eyed; Sabrina with her sharp features and quick eyes; Ai'kani, youthful and spiritual, charged with a hope Rook could only match inside. "Please, Luke, Snarl... get them out of there..." she whispers, eyes damp under her visor. She's seen too many of her young comrades die in the void... back here on the ground, it somehow hits harder.

There are answers to these sorts of hopes. When they come, many believe it to be a miracle. Artoo's scans were clear on one thing - there's only one way in and out of Galla's facility, those large doors on the north side of the building. Yet, when Rook's comlink crackles and comes to life, it is Skywalker's voice she hears, barely discernable through the poor transmission of a damaged link on his end. "Rook, it's Luke." His voice is a mirror to the image in her mind... solemn and steady. "We have Sabrina. We are approaching from the west side of the building. Get the 'stalker hot for immediate dust-off." Indeed, it is from the west side of the cargo facility that the team comes. Ai'kani leads the way, followed by a four-legged Snarl who carries the limp form of a dead or unconscious Sabrina on her back. Luke takes up the rear, followed at a bit of distance by a slower moving R2-D2. They charge for the Voidstalker, uninhibited; no guards or thugs are in sight any more. The Rodians had broken into the bulky transport between the Voidstalker and the facility, and have most likely either met the tip of a blaster, or are waiting there for when Luke and his team 'supposedly' enter that ship to escape. Oh, how they have been tricked!

Rook blinks twice at the sound... then quickly lifts her comlink to reply, letting her carbine drop to her side. "Luke..! Copy that... I'm on it now!" She pauses for only a moment, to lift a finger beneath her visor. It returns to view damp. "Smoke in my eyes..." Without another word, she whirls and dashes up the ramp. She doesn't stop 'til she's in the cockpit and dropping into the pilot's seat, stripping off her utility belt and helmet and setting her blaster to one side. "Spanner, get those firecrackers popping! We're goin' places in a hurry!" An answering warble comes from the droid. It needs no translation, for the hum of the vessel's powerful engines quickly fills the cabin, and the cockpit gauges wink on with electronic beeps of their own. Rook smiles faintly as she surveys the active ship, lifting her comlink to speak. "Luke, dust off in one minute! Get in here and strap down, 'cuz I'm not gonna spare the fuel cells!"

Thank the Maker for the Tosche Station, and power converters that are built right. "Copy!" comes Luke's response, his comlink left open for the moment. His voice can barely be heard through the crackles and pops of his damaged comlink. "..stoff in one... ... ma.. s.. bbrr.. sstraped in tight.. elp artoo!" The starship rumbles louder. Boot steps can be heard first, followed by the thumping of Horansi paws, and finally boot steps again. Time is ticking, and rummaging can be heard from the cabin as the crew scrambles to get Sabrina and their own selves secured as the landing ramp goes up. With a mere ten seconds to go, Luke comes dashing into the cockpit, stopping his approach by slamming a hand into the back of the co-pilot's seat. His hair is matted, and a face covered with carbon dust is smeared with drip-lines of sweat. In spite of this, his breathing is steady, and he does not appear rushed or excited. "Ai'kani's been injured, she'll need me to help stabilize her wounds. Can you handle the dust off alone? I have a feeling we're not going to get out of this system without a fight."

Rook sighs quietly in relief. "Get yourselves strapped down!" she calls from up front. "We're in the air in five!" Switches are thrown, coordinates are set... she's ready. She grins wickedly up at Luke. "Help her... I've got this covered." And Luke can sense a fierce energy from within the normally-somber blonde... this is her element. The chips are down, dear beings are at stake, and she is truly alive... The Voidstalker lifts from the ground with the delicacy of a nesting mother bird, then begins to ascend, its nose beginning to tilt up. Rook intends to give Luke time to get into the back before she opens the throttle.

Not that a Jedi Master would truly need such a luxury... but it's duly appreciated. Rook has no idea of knowing to what degree Luke has just expended himself in there. However, with a single, deep breath paired with focus, he draws the Force into him once more. Midi-chlorians at the microscopic level are motivated, drawing energy into cellular packets that naturally shouldn't even have enough oxygen to survive. Lactic acid is thrust out of his system through sweat at a faster pace than should be necessary, and the Force itself draws molecules through the air like water into his veins. Most Jedi, even Luke, don't understand what happens at the microscopic level, but the Force is life... drawn in, it brings superhuman ability. Luke feels now as if he's ready to run a marathon, and he disappears into the cabin where he can take care of Ai'kani. Meanwhile, the horizon dips and within moments, a pair of Y-TIE's appear on the scan display.

Voidstalker accelerates as Luke gets into the back and to a secure place, surging forward like a spurred charger! Feeling almost at one with the vessel in the depth of her concentration, Rook angles for a steeper climb, seeing the blips on the sensor screen. The matches come back negative, but the surface scans show a pair of mismatched picket fighters. Rook's smile becomes faintly feral. "Uglies... they get too much in our way, we'll send 'em back to the scrap heap." Spanner's derisive series of gurgles and blats seconds the emotion. Such junky fighters... surely the Hutts can afford better! Rook alters course only a little, to make the patchwork ships strain to catch up with them. She knows the type: lots of guns and armor, but all grunt and no go with those tiny ion engines. Voidstalker arrows out into its native element, heading straight away from Nar Shaddaa.

The Y-TIE uglies let off a burst of heavy fire, but not only is their aim terrible, they're by this point out of range. The real trick comes when, as the Voidstalker lurches deeper into space, scans now pick up three new blips on the sensor array. These come back negative as well, but a surface scan reveals them to be TIE-Y uglies. Faster, so fast they might even run circles around the Voidstalker, and they're positioning themselves for a straight on run with the starship. Odds are, the pilots believe they can outmaneuver Voidstalker's front-mounted cannon, and swing about for a rear engine shot before Rook can adjust course.

Bolts of scarlet and green from the Uglies' mismatches laser cannons flash around the Voidstalker, but the ship is left untouched! The Y-TIEs underestimated the ship and its pilot... Rook evaded their fire with little trouble, leaving them to fall farther and farther into the 'Stalker's ion trail. But the battle is only beginning. Sensors are showing more trouble ahead. "Luke, it looks like we didn't catch that picket lighter sleeping! Hold on back there, this could get tense!" Rook's pale eyes narrow as she sees the images from the composite scanner. She lines up the gunfights and begins firing, hoping to catch at least one of them, and possibly throw them into frantic counter maneuvers. And her aim is a lot better than that of the pilots she just left behind...

The TIE-Y Ugly taking the center is struck by Rook's well aimed blasts, and the fragile ship bursts apart into a hundred pieces, absorbed by a bubble of expanding gas and fire. The other two Uglies split apart and pass by Voidstalker to either side, as the wreckage from the destroyed star fighter heads straight into Voidstalker's vector. Sensors show the Uglies peeling about behind Voidstalker, going for the obvious attempt to get on her tail.

Voidstalker dips a bit to get below that debris cloud... only a fool flies into the wreck of a destroyed ship. And as she'd thought, the two remaining ones are going for a tail shot. "Let's dance, boys..." Rook murmurs, slackening throttle to 3/4. She can't outrun or outmaneuver them in this ship, fast and nimble as it is, but battles are won by the best pilot, not the best machine. And though it demands reflexes, dog fighting also demands creativity and psychology. Time for a little bluffing. Rook jinks, making her path erratic... she's also intending to draw the Uglies in closer. Their headlong speed is sometimes hard to control because of their kludged-together control systems, intended for much less powerful engines. And she intends to take full advantage of that. But first she has to get them in closer... she toggles shields to full rear and accelerates, trying to give the impression of a panicked pilot fleeing...

The rear shields are peppered with light blaster fire, absorbed easily and only giving Voidstalker a bit of turbulence. The TIE-Y's come in hot as a pair, readjusting to the jinking of Rook's piloting and preparing to let loose another barrage of blaster fire, hoping to weaken Voidstalker's shields. However, they aren't able to slow down fast enough, and are nearly upon Voidstalker's tail when they fire again. At this close range, it would be nearly impossible to outmaneuver cannon fire. However, not long after the Uglies open fire, one of them comes a bit too close to the radiation scatter flung by the impact of energy weapons against energy shielding. The Ugly is thrown off course, strikes the ventral hull of it's companion, and begins leaking gas into space as it spins out of control to port, crystallizing gas forming a shield of white over the cockpit windows. Meanwhile, the second ugly jeers off to starboard, and zips past Voidstalker, coming into her forward fire arc for a moment, before the pilot realizes what's happened and tries to veer hard to starport, out of Voidstalker's fire arc.

And that's what Rook was waiting for! She hits braking thrusters, pulling the nose sharply upward to line up her shot, and traces a long, raking burst of fire from the ship's cannons, aiming to perforate one engine and the body.

The Ugly is struck at the tail end of Rook's stitching fire! The port engine bursts open, spilling gas and a cloud of high-yield ion-charged energy into space. The thrust unbalanced now by the active starboard engine pulls the star fighter back to port, where Rook's peppering ignites the gas and ion cloud, swallowing the ship in fire. A split second later, the reactor overloads, and the ship explodes in a ball of nuclear fury, sending a shockwave through space that rocks Voidstalker, but leaves her intact. Meanwhile, the other Ugly seems caught in a flat spin, distancing itself without will into space. It would seem that this is the end of the battle... though that Ugly still has her systems online and capable, still registering on the scans. Of course, no human could survive the flat spin the TIE-Y is caught in. That's assuming the pilot is human.

Rook kicks the etheric rudder and angles away sharply, avoiding the debris of the destroyed fighter. She checks the scanners for intercepting picket ships... if there are any capships out there, they're best avoided. Voidstalker once again picks up speed as the throttles are rammed home. Shields are equalized and refreshed from the cannon power banks as Rook takes a straight course out. "Spanner, get the navicomputer on that hyperspace jump..."

Spanner whistles an acknowledgement, and starts to boost the navicomputer with his own processing power as a jump is programmed. Luke's voice comes in from the in-ship comm. "Are we clear?" The scanners don't show it, but the Ugly way off in space suddenly begins to maneuver its way out of a flat spin. It's a tense procedure that isn't picked up by the scanners, until the ship has managed to right itself and aim for the distant Voidstalker. It sits there, quietly for a moment, as the pilot tries to find a way to clear off the crystallized gas from his cockpit window. Spanner blips twice, and a message is translated on the cockpit's display. "Two minutes left to calculate."

"Looks that way! We're calculating the jump to light speed now!" Rook calls back, eyes still on the void through the forward view port. She's not going to feel safe 'til they're out of Hutt space. There's too much that could happen here, and most of it bad. She holds her course, though, and Voidstalker roars out into clear space under full throttle, straining to reach the best jump point. No time now for mistakes!

That's when the scanner comes online again, bleeping a warning as the TIE-Y finally lurches forward, screaming in pursuit of Voidstalker. The gamble is on. It's entirely possible that the TIE-Y will be able to catch up before Rook makes the jump to light speed, though it could also shake itself apart in the process. The scans are clear though... the Ugly is accelerating at breakneck speed, and even after a few seconds, the gap is closing.

Rook blinks as the scanners show a blip from behind, closing fast! "That one I didn't get before... that'll teach me to leave a job undone," she murmurs. But she holds course. Until he gets in cannon range, he's engaging in wishful thinking. But with his speed, he just might do it before the jump coordinates are in. "Just a few more seconds!" she calls back to the living area, willing the Voidstalker to go faster. She kills the laser cannon's power feed, throwing the surplus to the engines, and they start to accelerate again. Trimming the shield feed to maintenance level gets a little more speed; she's not willing to leave the ship unprotected while that Ugly is hurtling in her wake. And that will just have to be enough...

Voidstalker begins to rumble in protest as the engines are strained to the absolute max. However, there's one thing she's got going for her that the TIE-Y doesn't. Hull integrity. The TIE-Y is almost in range to fire, when suddenly, the hull begins to crack, a fissure tearing at where TIE and Y-Wing parts have been welded together. The ship screams in Voidstalker's wake, and suddenly the front half of the ship buckles downward, and the entire Ugly turns into a mass of crumbled metal and wiring, caught for a moment in her own gravity. Just as Voidstalker's nava-computer completes the calculations for hyperspace, the Ugly's engine core overloads. The cracks are filled with red energy, and the crumbling star fighter bursts into a thousand pieces.

Rook's eyes are nearly shut in her concentration, her hands tense on the controls... almost... almost... And then behind them something changes... Rook almost feels the Ugly breaking apart in their wake as the sensors show the ship beginning to fall behind, out of control and out of the chase! And Spanner bleeps! 'Jump calculated!' the screen reads. Rook pulls the hyperdrive engage levers with a jerk... And Voidstalker vanishes from Hutt space, leaving only the remains of the three TIE-Y Uglies to show that she had ever been there.