Log:Hitching a Ride
Hitching a Ride
OOC Date: February 19, 2024 (Optional)
Location: Tatooine
Participants: Amaia Dara, Narsai Ordo, Terek Rosol, and Hadrix Kora as GM
An old freighter, its make and model questionable with all of the 'additions' bolted to it, was coming down to land outside of the field base. Maybe it had started out as a Cargo Countess, maybe an old Action IV. Big enough for a crew of pirates or raiders to be stashed inside. Unaware of anything untoward, having been given the return signals 'acquired' from some of those captured when the Mandalorians had raided, its landing spots were sweeping the ground and turning the localized sandstorm it was causing into a mist of particulate.
Days of awaiting their arrival finally paying off. The numbers aboard were unknown, but the craft was preparing to touch down.
<<"Don't let them take off without a way for us to be aboard...">> Hadrix was settled in the sands nearby, watching through his helmet magnoculars.
Get Mai Dara on the ground, and all you got...was Mai Dara on the Ground. But ships, well, ships were where the pirate hunter had been made to be. So, yes, the fact that they were being tasked with a way to get onto the ship...that interested her very much. Keen eyes studied the refurbished and repurposed ship, <<"I might suggest a frontal assault to gain attention, while a smaller team makes access through one of the docking ports. Create a backdoor for ourselves.">>
It wasn't the first ship like this that Narsai had seen, mission after mission. As long as it was able to get them close enough and do the job? It hardly mattered! Seems the pirates were beings of practicality, and the redhead Ordo woman was left watching the ship set down through her visor. <<"Give them time to power down, it'll make any paniced launch that much slower. If they send an advance team? Detain or deal with them. I'll be ready to assault the ship as needed, if they try to get airborne again.">>
<"Assaulting the ship does sound like a good idea, but perhaps from a couple of different angles, could even rocket on top of the ship, try to get in through a hatch."> Terek offers, while keeping an eye out as the pirates were landing and starting to turn off systems, <"I assume we don't want to damage the ship too much."> Otherwise he knows where he could get a rocket launcher that would make it real easy to make sure the ship doesn't take back off.
The ship sinking partly into the sand, the landing struts settle with a creaking grind of metal against silicate. The main ramp beginning to drop as 'ground lights' try to illuminate the immediate area.
<<"If we can move silent... we could try to board silent while they try to figure out what happened here... then they take us back without knowing we're aboard.">> Hadrix opines from his hiding spot, beginning to worm forward in a low crawl towards the ship. <<"Magnetics if you can latch on to head for an airlock before we break atmosphere.">>
A low hiss of pneumatics precedes the clatter of boots moving down the ramp. A cluster of figures in armor and full face coverings to combat the early evening heat still slowly dissipating.
<<"If they're smart, they'll purge their hyper-space logs if they think they'll lose the ship. If their smart... Call it.">>
<<"Move on the ship,">> Narsai begins, lowering her weapons from her vantage point for a moment and then exhaling a soft breath. <<"Even this hodge-podge of parts can be put into emergency lockout. We can prevent them from erasing their nav and hyperdrive data. If you don't think you can sneak close? Keep eyes on these investigators, cover us. We know they're not going anywhere if they can't get back on the ship.">>
Then, with that being said, Narsai does something rather odd: she unfastens her helmet and starts to remove her beskar breastplate.
Mai, still having taken a knee as she observed the ship, offered only a nod of the head at the Revivers Alor set the target. And, as Mai always did, she moved into step to see the plan to its conclusion. <<"Moving.>> Just that, and then she was off, keeping low and, while not slow, slow enough to stop the dust devils from kicking up to allow her position to be noted. She made for one of the docking ports, though there was still quite a lot of ground to cover.
Terek's attempt to creep through towards the ship is probably not as quiet as it could be. This is what happens when you try to creep around in assault armor. While he manages to keep from making too much noise, he's not quite able to blend into the shadows despite his dark armor.
<<"Copy, moving silent.">> Confirmed by Al'Verde Kora after Narsai's request, continuing his approach - wending his way past mounds of sand that provide visual cover and trying to go only when ship noises or the wind can cover his approach. Drifting like a giant iron plated ghost towards the ship.
The sentients moving down the ramp call out for the field base, pausing as they touch ground, fanning out under the cover of the ship and looking among one another while they await response. More movement is hinted at by shadows above and behind them and two of the ground party begin trotting towards the encampment while others begin maneuvering power loaders that had been brought down with them.
The movements by Terek causing the lot to freeze, weapons being drawn as one with their face concealed calls out, <"Raggah! Get out here before we start shooting, this isn't the time."> the forerunners stop in their tracks, pointing in the direction of the cathar's shadowed figure, leaning to peer into the shadows, one reaching to begin putting on a pair of goggles.
The sound of the pirates coming to alert at one of the team's movements gave Mai only a momentary pause. This was not a case of leaving a man behind, it was a case of getting to the front to give everyone a hand up. And as Mai always did when she worked with others, at least of the mandalorian variety, she trusted Terek to be able to either manage himself, or turn the encounter to his advantage. So...she soldiered on, making good use of the cover the alert had caused to continued forward, keeping low, careful foot after careful foot.
It was...loud, messy. A protocol droid plugged in might complain that the ship had a 'most peculiar dialect'. But that wasn't it, it was more like...talking with a stutter and an echo at once. Once she'd worked it out, she could translate, she could talk.
She could command.
Before she'd been the Ordo Alor, a warrior of any reputation, or even a 'Witch', Narsai Ordo had been the 16 year old Mandalorian mechanic setting out to see the galaxy. The ship's systems began to show error, power siphoning out of other systems into the lockout itself...while the ships remaining ramps and catches began to pop, opening the vessel while manual controls were locked out.
Attention shifted, her datapad lit up as the navigation computer began to broadcast itself into the team's own devices.
The cathar stops moving as soon as he makes the noise, freezing and dipping as deeply into the shadow nearby, hoping his dark armor will keep him safe. He holds perfectly still, scanning from his visor to mark the pirate that is looking for him. His hand does slowly reach down to his side, not drawing his weapon yet, but preparing to.
Once the pirate has stopped looking for him, he will resume trying to move towards the ramp, trying to catch back up with the others without giving away his position to the pirates again.
The two closer to the field base turn to one another, then back towards the group by the ramp. One shrugging and the other hollering, "Place is empty!"
<"What in Muun's Bankrupt Hells do you mean, empty?"> the one in full armor demands, incredulous, several of the ramp group moving to close in, leaving the apparent field commander and the one with loaders to remain by the ship. Weapons being pulled as they closed in.
"Just what I kriffing said!" the nikto of the first pair steps within the base, clicking on a flashlight mounted to their rifle and sweeping it around. "The place is shot up! Nothing taken!"
<"Tuskens?"> the question's tone practically screaming it might be rhetorical before at last the last group begins to approach.
"Dunno! There's no tracks around the place!"
Barely managing to get close without scraping his armor over shards of crystal poking from the sands, Hadrix raises into a crouch, closeby and watching when he receives the navcom broadcast. Head tilting and looking towards where Narsai had been, <<"Anyone else get that broadcast? If we have the data... we can fade - leave them none the wiser.">>
The two closer to the field base turn to one another, then back towards the group by the ramp. One shrugging and the other hollering, "Place is empty!"
<"What in Muun's Bankrupt Hells do you mean, empty?"> the one in full armor demands, incredulous, several of the ramp group moving to close in, leaving the apparent field commander and the one with loaders to remain by the ship. Weapons being pulled as they closed in.
"Just what I kriffing said!" the nikto of the first pair steps within the base, clicking on a flashlight mounted to their rifle and sweeping it around. "The place is shot up! Nothing taken!"
<"Tuskens?"> the question's tone practically screaming it might be rhetorical before at last the last group begins to approach.
"Dunno! There's no tracks around the place!"
Barely managing to get close without scraping his armor over shards of crystal poking from the sands, Hadrix raises into a crouch, closeby and watching when he receives the navcom broadcast. Head tilting and looking towards where Narsai had been, <<"Anyone else get that broadcast? If we have the data... we can fade - leave them none the wiser.">>
<<"Our mission is to deal with these pirates, right Hadrix?">> she questions, exhaling as she keys her comlink. <<"If we let them return to the base and report this place being empty, the others could get spooked and move somewhere new not in these files.">>
Adjusting her hair behind her ears, the mostly unarmored woman's gaze moves to the pirates. <<"Detain or eliminate them, maybe we can then use their ship to infiltrate the base.">>
<<"If we know their location, we can beat them back there. We've got faster ships.>> Hadrix responds, <<"Element of surprise... and we could always use the Resolve, in case we expect they'd have strong base defenses...">>
Mai Dara, who had almost gotten to where she wanted to be, paused as the information they had been wanting began beaming itself into her helmet, saved into her system files. How precisely it happened? Well, that wasn't the sort of question one asked when they were in the midst of trying to keep a low profile. So, she crouched, and she listened as the two who outranked her had a quick conversation. And then she shifted, moving quietly into the sand, using we body weight to sink her a bit lower. It was a slog, but it gave her some cover, <<"Moving to a hold position. Less chance of being spotted. Weill meet back when the area's clear.">>
<<"Fair point...it's going to take them a fair while to fix their ships systems,">> Narsai nods, bending to refasten her armor into place, her helmet giving a little hiss as it's locked in. <<"Alright, move in and make for our ships. We'll hit them while they're still waiting for these guys to come back.">>
They have what they came for. There's no reason to stick around. Terek glances back towards where the pirates are, and then slips back towards their exfiltration point, leaving them none the wiser other than their companions are gone. Buried out in the endless dunes.
<<"Ba'slan shev'la...">> is declared then, and Hadrix is already melting back into the shadows. More pirates and some larger combat droids moving down the ramp to take stock and begin clearing out their base. Several of their number moving in a patrol, paranoid of ambush. The ship itself powering back up while cargo, and fairly everything else in the base, is packed up to be moved out.
Night falls fully in the world desert, while armored figures disappear to begin the next, and final, part of this whole operation.
If there was any respite from the day, it was that it was over. Despite the protections of the armor, the sheer relentlessness of the light did wear on a person. And it was hours, or so it seemed, before insight fells, and the other Dara rose to her feet, the base cleared, and the small team ready to proceed on target to their next destination. <<"Heading back to the ship. I'll start analyzing the information we retrieved.">> That was the job. And work was good.
