Log:Black Squadron: Do Not Lose Them Pt II

The stunning conclusion to the first mission!

OOC Date: November 10, 2020
Location: Cloud City, Bespin
Participants: Rey, Jessika Pava, Elrych Cometburn, Ektor, Mandl, Bors Thul, Poe Dameron, Black Squadron

On our last episode, Black Squadron (reinforced with Dr. B'rot) eagerly gave chase to a criminal element when they ran from the scene of a hostage situation. The 'chase' that followed led the squadron through the metropolis Cloud City, and our steeds? Cloud Cars. Unfortunately, the scene was tense, for the squadron couldn't open fire on the fleeing terrorists lest they alert local authorities which might lead to an intergalactic incident. So they followed, and followed, and followed until finally the speeder they were chasing flew for an open hangar in a district of the city thought abandoned for renovations. The speeder truck landed roughly inside, sliding across the hangar decking until they came to a stop. A general alert was sounded and members of the terrorist cell began to populate this hangar and open fire on the cloud cars that followed.

There was no diplomatic response that might de-escalate this. A terrorist Organization was uncovered, and now it was about survival.

Poe's voice crackles over the comms. <<"It's too small for me to land and join you guys. I'm going to scan the building and look for other ways they could leave. Clear out this mess; arrest who you can but if they don't give you a choice..">> He trailed off. <<"Once you guys have smashed this zone, I'll bring intel in so they can sweep it. Testor, you're up. I'll let you know of any developments. Dameron out.">> The Ghost pulled away, leaving the view of the open hangar.

The hangar is not very large and it is riddled with tall cargo containers clearly marked for various mining elements. These containers were being used for cover, and members of the terrorist group pop out in random sequence, blind firing at the speeders. There's opportunity for immediate cover where you all land, but exposing yourself to engage the enemy opens you to attack. Stand and defend, or take the attack to them. Thermal scans reveal 15 gunfighters in close proximity and they're closing rapidly.

<<"Ghost there are yet several ruffians what surrendered within the manufacturing plant with the ughnauts if thee wish to communicate with city security so that we might begin rounding them up">> Bors stared at the controls, lips a line, then looked out of his cockpit towards Rey's before he taps the intercom,

<"This thing is so slow. I can walk faster than this..."> he looks around himself and then speaks into the comms again, <"I think if I get out and kick it will give us a boost."> the griping ready to continue when, <"OH! Fantastic, our death approaches - my lady Jedi I have enjoyed our brief time as partners in the sky - when they shoot the mid-point of our craft I shall remember thee well before the Mother's arm embraces and the Father's voice chides me for getting into one of these things."> tapping system controls, making to bring up sensor data on the incoming.

"He used his name," Jessika Pava mutters in the cockpit. It's a train of thought she's not focusing on, because what has her focus is the lightshow of blaster fire streaking past the canopy of the conjoined car craft when she sweeps it into the hangar. Short of an emplacement weapon, even this older craft is too uparmored for small arms fire to do much against it. Shots still leave carbon scoring aross its chassis and plasteel, bubbled viewports. "He knows no names over the net." She's still talking about it despite a majority of her attention centered on the controls in her hands and the way her fingers dart over the various switches that transition the craft from its sublight engines to its repulsorlifts. Scattered dust and debris rush off from beneath the craft, and with a slight lurch, Jessika sets it on its landing struts.

They're facing away from deeper into the hangar, because popping the canopy and giving her a space to exit is best done in a situation where she's not climbing out into the oncoming fire. "Elrych, we've got to secure this hangar and make sure they don't prevent the rest of the team from landing." It's a duh kind of thing, but in the heat of combat, Jessika says it all the same. It helps hone their priorities. Quickly unfastening her restraints, Jessika scrambles up and out of the seat and into a drop to the hangar floor. She does so with her knees bending deep, dispersing the momentum with a grunt. She moves to the containers on their own side of the hangar that provide them cover, and begins inching to the edge to set herself up to engage in combat.

<<NOW can I blow them up? Just a little bit, yeah?>> Ektor has never been famed for his trigger discipline. <<A little explosive decompression to let them reconsider their choices can be really rekking persuasive, yeah? Heheh.>> The Tionese pirate bring the bulbous binary airspeeder into the abandoned hangar hot.<<I'm gonna open up with the blaster cannons if no one tells me not to by the count of ten, and we all know numbers go 'One', 'Two', 'Ten->>

"Relax..." Said Elrych who was riding with Jessika in her speeder. "Everyone knows who he is anyways. He's bad at disguises. It'll be just fine." And was it even? No, not usually.

He unfastens his own restraints and goes about pilling out along with Jess. His robes flutter as he hops down into the hanger, taking his lightsaber from his belt but not yet ignighting it. He looks around, icy blue eyes hawkish and observant.

Mandl hops down from their pod, readying weapons and staying within whatever cover their vehicles provide 'til an approach respecting "the part where we aren't shot" is brainstormed, workshopped, and the memos drafted. As you do.

Rey looks over to the other pod on their shared Cloud Car. She spies Bors and offers him a smile through the canopies. <"Stay positive."> She tells him as she looks back to the controls in front of her. <"Stick to the skies if you need to as well. I'll try to draw them off of you as best as I can.">

Whatever that means.

A second later and the canopy on Rey's pod opens up...

She can be seen removing her crash webbing before she suddenly LEAPS up out of the fighter and in to the air! Rey's leaping arch taking her toward the ground, while tumbling her body over in a graceful front flip that has her landing on the hangar floor...

And drawing her lightsaber!

The hangar bay begins to erupt with blaster fire, most of which is red, some blue, and there's even one guy using a blaster that fires a green bolt! WEIRDO! Most bolts hit the cloud cars still hovering in place. Those of Black Squad that have disembarked are presently behind the safety of a tall cargo container, GREAT cover, but danger lurks beyond.

Danger, in this case, takes the form of fifteen (15) bad guys popping out from their cover to open fire. Black Squad, some how.. finds the advantage in this cluster-rekk.

It may have been watching the pretty lady leap from her fighter, land heroically, and activate a golden energy sword that left some of the terrorists speechless. "Rekk me.." Some say, while the others are confused why they feel threatened by cloud cars.

By the "MOTHER..." lips slam shut and eyes go wide as Bors begins hitting commands to bring all controls to his pod. "FRAKKING..." he pauses. Comms on? No? Excellent. Proceed. "You could WARN A GUY before you decide to BASE JUMP out of the FIGHTER you -are- CO-PILOTING..." comms are still off. That's fine. Everything is fine. This is fine.

"This is absolutely fantastic, I suppose she'll be able to remember me fondly once she lands..." stay positive. Sniff. SNIFF. "Father give me the guidance to mine hand that I may aegis my fellows to the best of my ability and Mother please grant me the peace to offer quarter and the ability to find forgiveness should I be forced to take life..." head shaking as he watches the sight below, sweeping into a slight bank and locking all fire controls to his stick.

<"Testor, keep thine head down and our compatriots. I shall attempt a most exciting maneuver espied in the holos!"> laughing now as he manages to get the fact that Rey left him for dead. FOR DEAD. Chopped liver. The prettiest chopped liver in creation. But the cloud-car begins spinning on the central connector - while bitty-cannons spew emerald death into enemy positions - stitching a line of smoke, slag, and a few clouds of vaporized ex-people in his wake.

"Still got it." Bors's looks to his reflection in the canopy and gives a wink. Charming devil.

Apparently the whole part about not firing their Cloud Car weapons in the hopes they don't alert all of Cloud City is not a memo everyone gets, or thinks about, because as Jessika eases to the edge of the container to be into position to engage the enemy targets, she's treated to one of the Cloud Cars coming in hot. She watches the bubble canopy pop open and Rey leap out, performing the kind of momentum bleeding flip that allows her to land in the hangar and activate her lightsaber in a loud snap-hiss that floods the immediate vicinity around her with illumination. She thinks for a second about telling Rey to get into cover, then remembers the time the woman set something on actual fire with her mind and thinks better of it.

Instead, her attention turns to the Cloud Car, which dangerously sweeps through the hangar and fires its weapons. "Well, I'm glad they pointed those weapons in the right direction." Taking the opportunity to engage now that the hostile targets in the hangar are scrambling to avoid being mince meat, Jessika peaks out from cover and brings her carbine up to her shoulder. There's little movement in it at all when she lines up her reticle with a target and squeezes the trigger twice in quick succession, and the target in her sights takes two to the center mass before dropping dead with smoke and the smell of burning flesh rising from the two craters in his chest. "Guess we're not negotiating."

The whining of the approaching cloud car engines causes Elrych to turn and look as Bors comes in hot for his strafing run. "Oh bother!" He laments, ducking for cover near his battle buddy for the operations; Jessika Pava. THe display was so distracting he missed Rey's flippidy-do from her own cloud car onto the hanger floor. He did hear the snap-hiss of her Lightsaber however. That gave him cause to ignight his own, the blue blade coming to life loudly before humming into an almost quiet whisper. He waits for Jess to pop out and fire before charging forth. His blade held high as it comes down swiftly and cuts through one of the goons. A flurry of blades as he spins around and slices another. The Third gets away. "It's negotiating... Just agressivly!"

Ektor maneuvers the hovering cloud car inside the hangar with uncanny ease; he has a lot of practice flying ugly, non-aerodynamic craft that anyone with a functional sense of style would shun. The blaster cannons might be barely enough to tickle a real spacecraft, but they *blat blat* with terrible effect on the crates and unfortunate enemies behind them, in a short, precise double blast. Ektor settles the craft down and- never having put his safety harness on in the first place- prepares to hobble-hop out. "Drek, I got a great job," he cackles to himself, adding a loud, "Orange Squad!"

Mandl's attempted assist, a flying glue-bomb, rolls wide and *skitters* across the tarmac, exploding with minimal effect and maximal mess. Mild Bith profanity ensues as their draw their fist-sized pistol, probably scowling beneath their nasolabial folds.

Rey is right there with Elrych, moments after Bors does a fantastic strafing run on the hangar, lighting parts of the place up and making bodies go flying! The two lightsaber wielders rush in together side by side, Rey's own golden blade growling like a hungry spirit as she breaks off from her Jedi counterpart to sweep her own saber down through one of the gunmen's weapons, then spins to swipe at another who jump-rolls away from her!

Not slowing down for a moment, Rey lunges forward in time to slice a blaster-wielder's arm in two from the wrist, causing them to howl in pain befor ethey're able to fire on her! She sweeps her saber around and deflects two more incoming blaster bolts, sending them flying off in seemingly random directions where they cascade sparks down on to the hangar floor!

The hangar once filled with hidden bad guys learn quickly that combat scenarios are 3D environments. Loud bursts of blaster cannons convey gusts of kinetic energy generated by the impact of each discharge. One cannister is knocked back, spilling some poor soul over who was crouched and covered for their life because of the deafening noise! Another area exploded with energy, casting a mural of carbon scoring against a crate where once a man stood, now no longer!

"FALL BACK!" Screamed the poor soul from a moment before, but his companions will not hear of it. Three charge ahead, opening fire on the laser sword wielding members of the special forces team only to realize.. this may not have been their best work. Back tracking and firing now, terror shapes wide-eyed stares that reflect the colors of the laser swords staring them down.

An alarm sounds in the hangar, likely the result of that 4th guy running away to inform the others inside that drek just hit the fan!

Three bad guys remain in the hangar and they're backtracking toward the only doorway leading further into the facility. It's an open threshold that leads down a large wide corridor. The corridor angles down, as if leading to a much larger atrium.

Likely to be given a dressing down? Extra work duties? Possibly struck? Well worth it - that was excellent. Ok - so he fired the cloud car weapons, but he's not so good down there on the dirt - and maybe they'll surrender now that they've been blasted so very thoroughly. The wonders of heavier firepower to suddenly make others reasonable? Right? Jedi too. Right?

"Now there, gentlebeings!" Bors air-car comes to a hover since there is no need for fance-pance-shmancery in flight. Blaster cannons still pointed towards those not fleeing and targeting system live. "Hail and be welcome, stand thee down and relinquish yourself to our custody to be met in fairness and not in ruination."

The guns whine as they threaten to power to full... until blasters hit the deck and the ship likewise reduces power to the offensive systems.

"Mother protect you! An excellent choice." Was that a tooth-ping from inside the cockpit.

"We.. really need to work on his delivery." Jessika says it to the empty space around her rather than anyone else. The two Jedi are up where the hostiles are surrendering, the Bith and Ektor are near their own hovercar, and Bors is hovering, craft's weapons trained on the individuals. Clearing her throat, Jessika leaves her carbine in the grip of her right hand and lifts her left to the band around her throat. Depressing the switch manually to make sure none of the transmission is broken up, Jessika appraises General Dameron of the situation. <"Ghost, Testor. We have apprehended, uh, a small size of the force."> She winces as she says it, because this goes against the prerogative to arrest people that Poe had assigned them.

That can all be handled during the debrief. "Secure those men!" Jessika calls out to Elrych and Rey, all the while starting to close the distance towards the single exit leading from the hangar and deeper into the base. "Then stack up on me!" She has to yell thanks to the blaring alarm. Ailee, seeing that things are no longer dire, cables out from the canopy of the Cloud Car and rolls across the hangar deck, quickly catching up with Jessika. "Ailee, see if you can shut that alarm down!" The BB unit rolls up towards a panel embedded into the wall to try her luck at the order. A panel recesses into her chassis and her datalink arm extends, allowing her to try to interface with system. <"Bors, get out of that craft!">

Ektor clambers out of his own cloud car, landing on the deck and drawing his blaster with a crooked grin. "Stacking up!" he hollers back, turning his good eye from Jess to the door leading deeper into the facility.

How does one stack a Jedi? They could used ranged attacks with the Force, or close in for a Melee... One in front one in back? Probbly the best to deflect blaster bolts.

Elrych sip ties the surrendering goons with the help of Rey, sitting them down in a circle so that they may collect them once they finish clearing what's ahead. He falls in at the groups six. "I got out six..." He says.

Mandl accompanies Bors, clack-clack-clack. "That's approximately thirty persons-- Dr. B'rot wonders what the size of such a conspiracy can be, in full. Does anyone have insight related to similar uprisings?"

Rey's eyes look back to the PA-voice from Bors in what was once their shared Cloud Car, but her stare goes back to the remaining combatants as they do see the light of reason. Her sun-hued saber is deactivated then, and she walks toward them with Elrych. Once they're secured, Rey starts back toward Jessika. "The survivors will need medical attention." She says. "Lets hope this is the last of the ones that choose to fight us though, for their own well being." A look is given up to the skies as she searches for the Ghost.

<<"Roger, Testor. Be advised, I found the back door. There's a hangar lower than the one you guys went to. Maybe there's a path down. BB-8 says they're prepping vessels to leave, so I'm going to chill here and wait for you guys to crash their party. I'll use the Ghost to block the way out. Ghost out.">>

There's no success with killing the alarm, so that annoying noise is something they get to listen to while following the corridor down. As they progress through the facility by way of this corridor, they pass open rooms with equipment inside used for weapon development, engineering advances for starship reactors (particularly old ones), and there's a few craft rooms for custom parts building. This operation seems like a restoration process for something old, requiring a lot of raw materials from the mining communities on the Cloud City.

Fortunately, for the team, these rooms were hastily abandoned. And when they neared the hangar Poe had referenced, they could hear the sounds of people screaming for others to hurry up.

"GET THESE PEOPLE LOADED UP ALREADY! LET'S GO! ANY WHO ARE SLOWING US DOWN, BLAST EM! WE DON'T HAVE TIME!" The roar of starship engines prepping could be heard.

Once they could get a clear view of the hangar, they could see the place was filled with people, but not everyone was carrying guns. What looked like fifty to sixty people were in chains and collars, being forced at gun point to board prepping vessels to relocate. Tall weapon crates, and even an exposed TURBO LASER that might normally be on the exterior of a large vessel, lay out in the open bay waiting to be shipped off. There are twenty (20) bad guys in total here, most ushering 'slaves' to ships.

"Gladly." the hatch pops and Bors slips free, brushing himself off as if to clear unwanted detritus from him. "We have need to just deliver unto this place a squadron of old Headhunters if they stand convinced to ridge garbage and call it patrol vehicles." making to move up behind Jessika as she starts for the entrance, pulling his EE-3 back out and checking its charge en route.

He looks like he wants to be humming, if not for the present company rendering it a poor choice. But Mandl saves him from further ire when he asks aloud, "Alas I am not worldly of such things - too much time spent in the core, or among the Ash Worlds."

He quiets as they near the source of potential poor choices and hangs back though, murmuring for Jessika's ears alone, "Major, I would attempt to stir those indentured to our cause, by your leave?"

The myriad rooms they come across trigger a little tickle in the back of Jessika's mind. Engineering stuff for old starship reactors? Weapons development? Custom parts? She wonders if it has anything to do with something really old they found just recently. "Ailee, retrieve image data of these rooms." The BB unit remains behind as Black Squadron advances and begins to catalogue the finds. Once they reach the hangar and the situation becomes apparent, Jessika holds up near the entryway, tucked to the side so as not to be exposed to the fatal funnel, and tries to survey just what the hell she's supposed to do from here. If they reveal themselves, there's a good chance the hostile targets are going to do one of two things.

Jessika doesn't like either of their two options, which is to either demand they lay down their weapons by holding the slaves hostage or to simply start killing them en masse. "Shut the drek up for a second, Bors. Just for one minute." Bors talks a lot, Jessika thinks, and right now she needs to think, because this situation? This situation rekking sucks. Inciting the slaves to riot is just going to cause even more casualties. They're unarmed and they may outnumber the individuals holding them captive, but those individuals are heavily armed. <"Ghost, Testor. We got a bad situation here, boss. Some few dozen captives and about twenty armed men. We don't have the numbers to drop them outright. They could hold the captives hostage or just start calling them outright. Request advisement on how to proceed."> Jessika glances to Rey and Elrych. "This is could be really messy if we don't do this right."

"Someone say uprisings?" Ektor drawls, ears perking up as he looks toward the Bith on their way deeper. "I been part of lots a revolts. One even worked! What you wanna know, numbers? Eh.. it varies a LOT, yeah? There was this one Hutt-sucker called himself the 'Argaive Free State', and swore he was an empire." Ektor pauses. "Most revolts are pretty drek." He does shit up as they get deeper into the facility, giving a grimace at the sight of slavers at work. "Rekk. We can drop.. half of em pretty quick, but.." he murmurs, looking to Jess as they await advice.

"What an operation..." Elrych says as the stacked Squadron walks through the corridors and passed the rooms. Jess already had her droid on recording the data there so he doesn't bother to comment further. His thoughts were the same as her own.

Once their down to the next hanger, things do indeed look worse. His lightsaber was still in his hand yet he had shut the beam off to avoid detection. He keeps low, crouching down as they move up behind some cover and go over their options. "This is tough... I'm not cofident in my abilties enough to do what I could do with the Force. Rey is probably more practiced than I... but." He glances to Ektor and shakes his head. "Or we can drop everyone..." He pauses, holding up his hands. "Hear me out... Does anyone have a flashbang or some sleeping gas or something? Just knock everyone out and seperate them later."

Mandl nods. "Dr. B'rot knows which channel to query. Cloud City guard will arrive as fast as they... might." The portly Bith checks the ceiling, estimating which level they've penetrated. A few turns of a comlink-dial, zeroing in, and the space-911 call is whispered into a pickup. "Shall Mandl hurl a grenade? Can we do something with the fire-suppression system? Lowering mobility and visibility does seem apt."

The alarm certainly was an annoying sound, but without knowing where the control of it was, Rey just ignores as best she's able to. Their descent to the hangar where the large amount of people are congregating is reached, the situation is taken in. Rey exhales and reaches for her comm from her belt on her waist.

<"Black Leader, this is Blue."> Her eyes go to where all the people are. <"I think its time to call in the Cloud City security. This situation has escalated to being one that they need to be aware of. As many as this group has in custody... it could have roots within the city far larger than we're even remotely aware of. IT'd be irresponsible of us to deal with this, not thinking it could run far deeper within this community. Best to get the authorities involved now.">

She lowers the comm and looks to the others with her. "I can go in and talk to them, tell them what's to come. It might stall them enough to let the local forces rally and cut off any ultimate retreat. If these... villains, don't see the error of their ways with their retreat options severed, well then, we'll be forced to take more aggressive measures."

Rey moves to stand up then to go do just that, apparently to go 'talk to them' unless otherwise stopped!

<<"Stand by,">> Poe initially responds to Jess, drawing out the silence and the weight of the decision that lay ahead. When Rey signals to Poe, he responds. <<"Roger. I'll.. get on the horn with them. Dr. B'rot, I'm going to patch you through. You're the local contact here. Stand by.">> Poe turns back. "Hey buddy, you're up. Patch us into the local comm network, trigger it to be some random local origin too. I don't want the Ghost on their records." After a few moments, BB-8 warbles that the net is up, and that it's being forwarded to the group. <<"Secure line established, Dr. B'rot. Initiate the call and bring them in. Testor, we'll need time.">> Poe's voice cuts out after that. It's a plan!

A sniff. Jessika is peeved and Bors's brows are raised to her declaration for silenced. He does give her that patented sweet smile of his and with his free hand lifts it to show he will acquiesce to her request of him. Head bopping a little bit as he begins visually doing the math on the height and width of the corridors... Mental geometry. Cloud car height and width... clearance variances...

And then The Bors got an idea. A wonderful idea. The Bors got a wonderful, amazing, idea. The smile grows until one might think he was about to slit his head in half before he turns that dimpled smile to Ektor - as if Ektor was the window to a sea of onlookers unable to interact with them directly.

But he looks again... the smile fading... Then it comes back! It's BACK! And he turns it towards Jessika.

<"Roger, Ghost. Testor out."> Mandl makes the call, Rey starts to walk in, and Jessika lifts a hand to stop her from advancing through the entryway. "We need to wait, Rey. If they don't listen and a firefight starts, we'll have jumped the gun too soon. What we need is shock and awe on our side. We'll need to intimidate them into standing down, and if we go in with just the few of us, they have all the advantages. At the moment." Jessika glances back in through the door and scans the area for some semblance of advantage they might get. She spies the turbolaser at that moment. It's not loaded up yet. It's also not hooked up to any power. Cursing to herself, she looks back to the group, and that's when she sees Bors with his smile. ..She doesn't like that smile.

"I know we're all impatient to get something done, but we need to wait for the cavalry. When Cloud City Security arrives, we'll have the backup we need. If nothing else, they can't leave because Poe's outside in the Ghost. They won't be able to leave the hangar. I suggest patience. It'll take them time to load all these people and equipment."

Ektor grunts with a wordless wince as Jessika lays out the situation. "I hear you. It ain't an answer, but once folk start running slaves.. they don't tend to stand down. If they ain't got a clear path out, it's like to get real bloody real rekking quick, yeah?" He gradually notes Bors' smile. "No way. No telling way- you-" he looks excited. "You got a *stun bomb*? You been holding out on me, Buhbors??"

"A distraction it is...." Elrych says, clearing his throat. He keeps that lightsaber in his hand but doesn't ignight it again. Taking a deep breath he steps out of cover, calmly and slowly walking towards the group.

"Hey there Fellah's. Mind if I ask you to hold up there one second. Ya see... There's a whole army surrounding you right now and well... they're not too happy about all these slaves. So can we maybe talk about letting them go?"

Mandl lets fly another grenade, probably muttering a prayer. As it lands, two of the mooks are unfortunate enough to be glued to the landing-bay-- the horrific taffylike glue does, perhaps, its only job.

Rey's entry into the hangar is halted by Jess' protest against interfering until the Security team can be contacted. "Understood." She says to the other with a light nod. "We'll stay back the--" Elrych walks past her and in to the hangar to do his thing. "Wai--" He's already talking to them. A glance is sent back to Jessika before the blasters start to sound off inside of the hangar, and Rey is forced nwo to enter in the wake of the other Jedi!

Upon entering the chaoatic explosion that has erupted within the hangar, Rey sees hostages being taken, and her first reaction is to (no, not shoot the hostage, Keanu, but rather) reach out and grab for the presence of the armed man's weapon within the energy field of the Force. She feels it, cold metal, brimming with a charge of gas waiting to be fired at the hostage!

Rey's hand goes out, she calls the blaster toward her, but doesn't aim to catch it, she just lets it skitter off to a corner in the hangar, as she raises her saber up and activates its golden blade again, once more to defend herself from any onslaught of attacks before the Cloud City security can arrive!

"What do you mean there's blasters going off?!" Poe yells at BB-8. Concerned for the welfare of the team, Poe takes hold of the flight yoke and lowers the Ghost into view. The large freighter blocks the light of the hangar exit as massive double heavy laser cannons rotate and lock to the forward position and shields glimmer to life. Poe tints the pilot canopy for the control cabin, switching the optics to display combat setting. If he was forced to fight, he'd have to gun down departing ships at point-blank range. Hopefully, they knew better.

With no call going out, Poe flipped the switch to the comms and took over. Thankfully, he knew enough about Cloud City to negotiate a quick reaction.

<<"Hi. My name is Poe Dameron of the New Republic military. I have the location of ...">> The conversation isn't important, but needless to say, Bespin Security now knows about Black Squadron's presence! Security is being dispatched!

IN THE HANGAR, the sudden confusion of an outsider calling for release in lieu of an army surrounding the area earns a loud rebuttal.

"BLAST HIM!"

Thirteen gunfighters open fire, three seek hostages not wanting to go down without and fight and four move for cover thinking they might actually be surrounded by an army. Two people get glooped by a grenade, and one man holding a hostage suddenly loses his weapon entirely. He casts the hostage aside and tries looking for a gun. He doesn't want to go down without a fight!!

Nay, yet should we be aiming to do something that purchases seconds that the Major deigns we must... Thee and I - we make for the hangar and see if we might disconnect one of the blaster cannons from yon flying trash-heaps, with one of the emergency battery power supplies... or two. Bring it, or they, hence and thus be capable of showing the scum ours is the largest gun?" He still has the grin. Even if he expects Pava to shoot it down. It could be fun - and satisfying to rip that thing out of that dung-heap of a patrol car.

Did we mention Bors hates those cloud cars? We feel it was unclear.

OH! And now Elrych is being shot at! "Daresay I Lord Knight, that your may have roused their fury! T'was good attempt to disarm the whole potential fracas!" a blue ring of ion slams into one of the thugs, sending him boneless to the ground. "But fracas we have found!"

The second blue ring goes wide, splurping against a crate ineffectually.

"Sto--," Jessika tries to stop him as Rey does, too. Elrych marches straight through the door and announces their presence to the entire room and the pit of her stomach drops. She feels like it happens in slow motion it's so hard for her mind to grasp the situation. Then chaos erupts and blaster fire begins discharging into the hangar, where a whole lot of innocent people are going to be in the line of fire. <"Testor to Ghost, we need reinforcements now!"> She rushes through the entryway after, clearing it and to the side so that she's not in anyone's way. Sweeping down onto one knee, Jessika hikes her blaster carbine up to her shoulder and flips the selector to stun. "STUN ONLY! NO KILL BOLTS!" It's to the team she announces this while squeezing off a blue bolt wide of her target. The next one hits, though, and Jessika watches as the two fall over. There was no way to avoid it.

Hell, the shooting started. Ektor rushes through the door a step behind Jessika, shifting to the opposite side of the portal from the Major and takes aim at one of the hostage takers, his thumb flipping the old pistol to stun, and after a trio of blasts, he manages to catch the slaver square in the face. While shooting, he asks Bors, "So was that a 'yes' or a 'no' on the stun bomb? No lie, I got no idea what you said, just now."

Elrych usually followed orders. He usually was a pretty reliable guy... but sometimes he did dumb, brash, stuff that took a lot of bravado. Had he heard Jess? Had he heard Rey agree with her? It was too late because he was already walking out with that swagger of his, charming sleezy corellian smile, talking smooth like any good looking pilot should.

Then blaster rained down upon him. He disappeared into the hail of gunfire, two seeming hitting him and exploding against his robes. He disappeared into the smoke, only to walk out of it brushing off his shoulder. "That was really rude!" He says, his lightsaber ignighting. He slashes through the remaining smoke, summoning it away with a bit of passive telekinesis. "Nah... it was a dumb idea. Sorry Testor, please kill me later." Said to Bors before he charged forward and swung at one. THey tripped back missing his blue blade. He swung again, but they crawlled backwards. Finally elrych caught their gun hand and seperated it from their body.

Mandl hurls another grenade, this their most effective yet! A brief exclamation of success in Bith as the muted detonation merely propels a sheet of marshmallowy foam over a half-dozen rioting, shooting, shouting rebels!

Rey doesn't hesitate as the others charge in, she starts to scan the crowds of people for any sign of the person who might be in charge. She thinks she sees him too, barking orders near one of the landing ramps...

Rey's right hand snaps up, she wraps her mind around the man's body, freezing him in place with the power of the Force. Her brows lower, her eyes focus solely upon the man as he's trying to get up the ramp himself, locking him in place!

With an almost angry expression, Rey snaps the man around and draws him across the floor of the hangar straight to her before she twirls his stiffened-body around and brings him back up to press his back against her chest. She puts her chin over his shoulder and speaks in to his ear. "Call your people off." She says, her breath tickling his flesh.

"Tell them to put their weapons down and stop this madness." She commands him with a forceful voice in her Core Worlds accent.

Chaos erupted, stun bolts are going EVERYWHERE.. there's a lightsaber in there too! GLOOP GRENADES! Then suddenly, the boss shrieks, and those that remain watch in horror as he is drawn from the fight and held in place by a force of energy they cannot see. Truly singular.

"Y-y-you heard her! STOP FIGHTING!.. DO WHAT SHE SAYS!" Their vigor to fight on was drained. How does one fight such a power.. how does their leader stand up to something they cannot see?!

Meanwhile, the real battle is happening in the cockpit of the Ghost as Poe is told <<"We're disappointed in you, General. This should have been left up to professionals.">>

The Ghost backs away from the hangar bay allowing light to filter back in. Behind the VCX-100 craft? A small armada of Bespin security with flashing lights and noisy sirens. <<"Testor, when the locals land.. get our team back on the ship. Local authorities want to cordon the area, and they're not willing to cooperate with us beyond allowing us to leave as 'good samaritons'. We're lucky we're not going to jail. We're to leave at once. Pretty boy out.">> Poe sounded.. like he'd been chewed out before. At least they didn't smack him like Leia had. That hurt the most.