Hussle and Tussle

Posted on Sat Oct 22nd, 2022 @ 1:58am by Lieutenant Kor' de'leia & Lieutenant Melvyn Kosta & Flight Officer Tawshiikkyrr & Flight Officer Onyesonwu Zyd & Flight Officer Rana Dahlgren & Flight Officer Veil of Shadow, or Vesha (Tiphereth)

Mission: Scoundrels, Cuttthroats and Rogues
Location: Kolia Breaking Yard
Timeline: Day 1 at 0000

The events that had unfolded after the explosion happened so fast, it was hard to keep track. Melvyn saw Tawshii charge in a rage, something that he enjoyed a lot more when he was not the intended target. He almost winced when the shistavanen came crashing down. He still had bruises from his first encounter with the wookie.

He hesitated to open fire but Kor wasn't shooting, and she must have a good reason because she wasn't usually the kind to hold back. Besides, it wasn't a clear shot and he didn't want to risk shooting Tawshii instead of the shistavanen.

That is, until Tawshii had his opponent pinned down, the piece of shrapnel in his shoulder apparently no bother at all. Melvyn kept his blaster pointed at the twi'lek, trusting Kor and Tawshii to keep the shistavanen under control.

"Everyone stop moving," he said. "Unless you really think a shoot-out here and now is really a good idea. Right now the odds don't look to be in your favour."

There was no hiding the Imperial accent that he had acquired through his schooling, despite growing up in the Inner Rim. That would not be a convincing argument for the twi'lek and shistavanen, who didn't particularly look like law-abiding Imperial citizens ; but hopefully they would at least stop and listen.

Kor agreed with Melvyn's assessment. "We've all got some important things to attend to and It would likely work best if we help each other get what we need over shooting it out on a station none of us belong on." He lekku waved freely showing her openness to working with the newcomers, her hand however did lightly grip the handle of her dagger behind her back.

"So how do we get through that?" she stated pointing to the sealed blast doors cutting them off form the station and the Chal from open space.

Tiph gave Tawshii a smile when he handed her her goggles. She nodded in agreement that yes they had been broke. "I will have to look at them and see what I can do to fix them." Her attention shifted from Tawshii to the one that sounded like an Imperial. Her ears twitched slightly though she decided not to question his allegiance. Mainly because she figured that Tawshii would not be traveling with an Imperial. Her attention then turned to the other Twi'lek.
"Well, I agree that helping each other is our best option. (glancing at Rana hoping she agreed as well) As for getting through that, (nodding towards the blast door), I could see if I could override it."

Rana nodded in agreement, for better or worse they were in it together "I'd suggest blowing it open, but the likelihood is that would destroy this place, so I am not sure," she said indicating the door.

The big wookiee canted his head as he regarded Tiph, his gaze curious rather than hostile. He wondered at the goggles, but didn't question the attachment, losing himself for a moment in those glowy eyes. Then he turned his attention to his comm, growling a message to Haro up on the Chal.

"We'll try," Haro returned, knowing Onye would have guessed the question before it had come directly to them. "Can we get your new friends to open either blast door, d'ya think?"

Over the Chal's comms Onye said, "One of those Imperial Cadets, the slicer, has opened a line of communication. I think she wants to avoid that Imperial Cruiser as much as we do. But if we want her help, I'll need to at least offer to take her with us off the station."

Meanwhile, down on the station floor, Tawshii hefted his bowcaster easily and stormed over to investigate the outer blast door's panel. An airlock to vaccuum had to have a manual override for safety purposes, right? And he wanted off this death trap. His yowled words to Kor spoke of 'getting the &%$#' out of here.

Kor certainly understood the wookie's sentiments. very little had gone right since they set foot on this station. But the squadron, if it was to be one, needed fighters, and after her last tustle with Rebel Intelligence, that chance of getting anything, let alone decent was quite low.

She growled something back to the wookie that was likely not grammatically correct, but hopefully told him to quickly check the door. "I don't think either of our crews got here to just turn around and leave. We are looking for ships. I suggest we find them." she stated plainly.

Tapping on the comm unit in her ear, Kor called the Chal. "Onye. Can we tap into the Imperial server and see if they have any fit ships they are planning to recycle?"

Tawshii returned a comment that was mostly cursing, but the end grizzling rebuke was clear even to a novice in his language. Essentially, he didn't care what Kor suggested, he was leaving.

"On it," came Onye's reply over comms. A few moments later, she continued, "There are several potential ships. We can guide you to the location. Are you able to get to the next level down from your current location?"

Kor wandered a little as she spoke, gazing into the large hole that had been melted open where the deck plates used to be. Several rooms and a main cooridor were apparent in the middle of the twisted conduit and wreckage.

"Who wants to go in the big scary hole first?" she muttered aloud.

Tiph gave a nod in agreement with Rana's at her assertation that trying to blow the doors open by blasting them with the ships guns might blow this place up. She moved to the doors and looked for a panel to see if she could pry it open and override them. As she was looking she passed by Tawshii. Hearing him growl out, what she assumed was a question, she smiled at him. Her glowing blue within blue eyes flashed brightly for a moment, just before she went back to looking for a panel.

Tawshii shook his head emphatically. They could grab all the ships they wanted, but he already had one that he needed to keep running or they were all screwed. Soon as that outer hatch was open, he was headed out. They might, his unhappy whining roar suggested, be glad of the back-up support.

Finding one rather quickly, Tiph went about prying it open. Only to find that the wiring was shot. Turning to let everyone know that they would need to find another way in, she heard Kor say something about who wants to go down the big scary hole. She had looked at it when she went to the blast doors but had not given it much thought. She looked to Rana, then to the others. "I will go first." As she made her way to the edge and looked down into the hole.

Over comms Onye said, "Update on the blast doors. That slicer says she's working on opening them. Also, even though the slicer seems to be an Imperial defector, it sounds like the other cadet is loyal to the Empire."

"Acknowledged. Do what you can." Kor stated. The notion of another rebel defector in the midst of all of this seemed too good to be true, but as the Rebellion was hard up for any friends, she would need to see what this slicer was offering.

Tapping the comm on her ear, Kor replied. "Does the Hacker have a plan to join us, if we can find a way to get off this rock?"

Within earshot of Kor, Tawshii loudly voiced a strong dissent for this option. Not on his ship, that was for sure.

Meanwhile, Kor smiled at the initiative of the curvy Shistivanen. "Hold up, I'm going with you. Lets get a couple lamps and a rope and see what we can find down there."

"A good idea," Rana told Kor "The hole could be quite deep and we could get injured badly," she added.

Tiph watched as Kor approached. Seeing his smile she returned in kind. "I think I have a couple of head lamps on the Maz if you got the rope." She gave a warm smile to Rana as she started to head to the Maz.

The lights on the large blast door blinked momentarily and then faded. Silence followed from the great metal barriers. Then a small tremor shook the floor as the great door began to inch open.

Over comms, Onye replied to Kor, "I don't know how the slicer plans to join us. We have control of the blast doors now, so we have a way off the station. This hacker's help could still be some kind of trap. I suggest they meet you at the target ships' location, unless you have another idea."

Kor nodded. "Understood. We can meet up there but keep the Chal nearby in case this thing goes sideways. We might need an evac real fast." Exactly how much more sideways Kor was concerned about things going was a little vague.

Rana looked up at the now opening doors phew saved by a nameless god she told herself "Either that is good news or its bad news," she stated.

Tiph's ears twitched when she felt and heard the blast doors start to move. Turning to face them she pulled her blaster. In reply to Rana she gave a nod. "Good or bad. We will find out soon enough. Be ready my aada. (dear)" She slowly made her way to the doors, blaster ready.

Fortune seemed to be smiling on them for a change as the doors continued to slide open and the force screen holding the atmosphere appeared to hold.

Kor walked over by the Wookie. "Have you got a rope? If we are going to keep going we gotta get a level down safely." Not that she was that concerned about safety, but there was no way they were getting back up to the hanger without one.

Tawshii grumbled, jogged up the ramp into the Chal and grabbed a long coil of light rope from a locker within that initial airlock. He handed it off to Kor, but didn't move any closer to the Twi'lek's intended path deeper into the station. His head shook with an emphatic 'no', and he gestured moodily back towards his ship. He'd support, but he had no intention of getting lost looking for fighters deeper within the station, particularly not with the Imps en route. He would not leave Haro and Onye on the Chal alone. He made that very clear, eyes dark with warning for the rebel before him.

Via comms, Onye said, "Tawshii, maybe we should consider aborting? Cut our losses and get out now, before anyone else is hurt, or killed, or captured."

The return roar was thunderous, impatient wookiee displeasure wrapped about the shyriiwook words to leave Onye (and Haro beside her) in no doubt of Tawshii's current vibe.

"We're not the boss of him," Haro helpfully translated, leaving out the cussing and colourful additions to that expressed sentiment. "And, yeah, we're leaving. Kor - we'll hang around and keep watch, cover your ass, but leave it too late and we're leaving." There was a loaded pause. "Don't be too late, k?" Haro pleaded kindly, his question backed by the stomping of wookiee feet on the Chal's metal ramp. "Onye, clear the route. Let's get outta here..."

Kor watched her rebel compatriots run back up the ramp of the ship they flew in on, leaving her with an ex-imperial and two rogues and smugglers. Fine. She had been in worse situations. She turned to the other Twi'lek and the Shistivan. "I'm not leaving here with out a starfighter. You two in?"

"I'm down," Rana stated.

Tiph looked to Rana and gave her a nod and a smile. Her ear twitched slightly, "Well, it looks like we are going shopping." Putting her blaster away she grinned. "Let's see what they have."

Kor nodded then clicked on her comm. "Onye, do you still have access to the station inventory? I need the three best ships that can fly. Guide us to them."

Onye's voice over comms responded, "There are several potential ships. Looks like two strike fighters, a shuttle, two couriers, a light freighter, and a gunboat. All in the same general area, scheduled for recycling but flown in under their own power." Another pause, then, "You should have access to the station schematics on your wrist portable. Your path is marked on the map by green dots. But, be careful, if there are obstacles or if there've been structural changes since the last schematic update, your path might not be clear."

Kor flipped open the display on her forearm. The schematics of the station showed up with several location highlighted based on Onye's input of vehicle locations in the station inventory. She nodded a little.

"Good job Onye. We will see what we can bring home." she said into her comm.

"I'll review the decommission reports and try to determine the condition of the available ships. You wouldn't want to steal a ship that isn't space-worthy," replied Onye over comms.

Kor looked to her remaining companions. "Looks like we have some excellent prospects in the sub hanger. Which it appears someone conveniently made us a quick doorway to." she stated gesturing to the large whole in the floor.

"What are we waiting for?" Rana asked.

Tiph looked to Rana and smiled.

Kor tossed a utility rope down the hole and started tying it into the clip on her belt.

"Let's go get em." she said with a devious smile.

Rana moved towards the hole in the floor and paused before securing herself to an anchored rope "I hope no one is afraid of dark and cramped spaces," she said with a grin.

Tiph reached out and ran her hand across Ranas shoulder. "You know I can't let you go first. Can't have you gutting hurt." She gave Rana a mischievous yet warm grin.

Kor smiled at the two sentient. She had a good feeling about them. She checked her dagger was secure along her back, in case her feelings betrayed her, then jumped down the hole.