Log:Jedi Order: A Call for Help

Rey sends the Order to help a friend of Master Luke's.

OOC Date: April 26, 2021
Location: Ruusan
Participants: Rune, Chani Tahn, Zandra naMuriel, Ban Iskender, Jax Greystorm, Qutha Buvu Pah, Kasia Ashkuri, Yuun, Ben Solo, Aryn Cortess, Kyle Katarn NPC/Mentioned

It is night time when the team arrives using the coordinates from an old ally of Master Luke's. The message was dire: I need help, here are the coordinates. What they find is that the entire area is being jammed. There are no comms whatsoever, just static. The clearing that the Falcon sets down in is just large enough to accomodate its size, and that of the Moldy Crow's. The Crow appears to be offline, but it's hard to tell given the jammed sensors and such.

After the Falcon has set down, its ramp lowers to allow the passengers off to explore the area. They find that the air is chilled; it is cold enough to see one's breath, and there is a subtle wind. Beyond the presence of wind though, it is quiet. The Falcon tick-tick-ticks from its cool down whilst the Mighty Chewbacca THUMPS down the ramp with a bowcaster in hand to scan the area. His first concern is to the Falcon. He turns on a light to run its beam along the outside in search of maintenance anomalies that require immediate attention; you never knew with the Falcon.

The Moldy Crow rests nearby, roughly 30m away with an idle strobe flashing along its ventral exterior. Each time the light flashes, it provides a view of the ramp that's been left partially open, as if something is trapped between it and the threshold.

Normally, Aryn would be with the main group, but she isn't. When they arrived in system, Aryn briefly reunited with her friends before blasting off to a separate section of the world that Rey asked her to investigate. Unfortunately, without comms, the young Doctor has no means by which to communicate with the main group.

It had been a while since Rune had run with the Jedi, the young Force user having spent some time away on a sort of sabbatical. Granted the young man wasn't a teacher, but the mission was about coming to terms with his new life, finding himself with the force, and generally taking it easy once he'd been thrown in the deep end since he met the folk.

This mission seemed innocuous to start, the gentle flashing beacon of the ship in need, the chill air causing the younger Ysannan to gather his robes up around his body, and the general good natured reunion the crew had on the Falcon. But that's how they always start, he reminded himself, and he raked the landscape with his eyes to see if anything looked out of place or generally just off. "And this was a friend of Luke... what was it... Starkiller? Do we happen to know the person's name?"

Her first breath is cold. It prickles goosebumps along the surface of her skin, mostly hidden as it is beneath the cream colored attire hidden by a dark robe. The new texture of her skin makes the abrasive feyd-cloth hit different, but Chani's mind dismisses the minor, outside annoyances. Her exhale mists in front of her and curls in on itself before dancing up and away. It vanishes as it cools. The rhythmic thuds of her boots against the descent ramp transition into something softer against the hill. Between the lightness of her steps and the way the robe mostly covers her footwear, the sound diminishes almost to the point of being inaudible. Her peripheral vision catches the strobing light coming from the second ship and draws her attention.

Lifting her left arm, Chani gently wiggles her hand free of the robe sleeve's embrace. The front is pulled away to expose the leather belt about her waist and its to the small device secured near her right hip that her fingers go. Drawing it from its place, her thumb brushes the button on the device's facing twice. Then, doing nothing else, her arm lowers itself back to its neutral position. Moving with a distinct amount of caution, Chani begins to approach the second craft. She passes the towering Chewbacca guiding the beam of his flashlight towards various points of the old Corellian freighter.

Hopefully medical isn't required, with Aryn off investigating something critical. Zandra has been her usual cheerful quiet self on the trip over, chatting when spoken to, paying attention to what's going on. She takes a few moments to meditate, as they close in on the planet, concentrating and preparing herself. "May the Force be with us," she says, before she heads down the ramp. She gives Chewie a grin and a wave as he starts looking after the Falcon, and turns her attention to the Moldy Crow, gaze on that ramp, and attention very carefully checking the area they've landed in. "That ramp doesn't look right," she observes quietly to whoever is next to her. She heads over that way, while reaching for the Force to sense if there's any hint of danger immediately nearby. She looks to Rune and Chani, and has to shrug, not sure. "Hopefully we will find out," is her comment.

Ban Iskender descends the ramp at a steady, measured pace, taking note of the seemingly stranded HWK freighter. A moment spared to survey the remainder of the clearing, and the gentleman starts toward the Moldy Crow. "Are any present able to sense the presence of survivors in the vicinity?" he wonders aloud. Rune is corrected idly, "Skywalker. Starkiller was a tool of genocide."

Following the mighty Chewbacca down the ramp, Jax walked quietly with his hood pulled up and wisps of his breath escaping from underneath his hood as he walks toward the Moldy Crow flanking Ban. There's a soft nod of his head in agreement with Ban's assessment of the names Skywalker and Starkiller. Though he doesn't comment on this. "I had a Hwk-290 for years. Good ship." Then he calls out, "Hello!" Drawing closer to inspect what was keeping the ramp from closing properly.

Stomping angry wookiees, antiquated transport craft, missing Aryn's and blinking lights - following the light beam with his eyes to the open ramp, the Zelosian begins taking cautious steps.

"I would hope that they've not been caught up in there long, whomever they are." Qutha notes as he walks, "Friend or foe at one time - they're likely in need and even if a powerful enemy we would be enough to at least draw them away if we cannot face them alone." lips in a line, "And again... it would be wrong to leave them one way or another." and so he plods forward, adjusting his sleeves and engaging glow-rods on his belt robes to deal with any sort of gloom that might threaten his footing.

Kasia has been quiet and a bit more distant than usual from the Jedi of late, nothing dramatic of note but just a lack of visits to the temple, or even Chandrila, but she's here tonight. Others move down the ramp of the Falcon and she follows, gaze sweeping what she's able to see in the low light. As Jax moves to see what is causing problems for the ramp, she takes a few quick strides to catch up and then walk alongside him.

It's been a while, a long while since he has gone out on a mission with just the Jedi. He didn't know who all would be on this mission but it was just good to be going. Having rode on the Falcon, Yuun enjoyed the ride, it felt like his first time on his first mission but hey here he is. Yuun's disposition hasn't really changed, a smile always present on his lips as he enjoyed the ride. He did respond when there was talking going on but now that they are here, he nods his head, "Yes." he agrees with Zan.

He follows Chewie down the ramp along with the other Jedi, still he could feel the cold, as he walks down the ramp. He takes in a deep breath and lets it out slowly, watching his breath come out. Taking in who all is here, he smiles at some recognizable faces, and he brow raises to some he's not me or only met once. He looks towards the Moldy Crow, he keeps to the center of the group. His eyes scan the area around them, and he cast his senses out with the Force to see if there is any other life forms around them.

Many 'old allies of Master Luke' are dead, some of them due to a particular member of the current team who is on his way out of the Falcon with the others, dressed in black as usual and looking up critically at a panel on the Falcon's underside as he passes. "Take a look at those thrust converters, something didn't feel right about the way we came in," Ben advises Chewie, pointing up at the suspect spot before he strides purposefully in the direction of the Moldy Crow.

"Seen better days," he appraises immediately, looking the thing over, heading straight for its landing ramp. "They left a doorstop?" Dark eyes peer at the seemingly propped-open opening. "If you belonged inside, you would think there's a better way."

A hand reaches out towards it, and there's a familiar compression of atmosphere, a tension in the air as the Crow's landing ramp is unceremoniously dragged downward against a protesting squeal of hydraulics. The object caught in the gap slides inside the ship and then, as the tipping point of the ramp breaks horizontal, slides clattering down towards the Jedi: a man-sized automaton, all dark metal and plating with a head that vaguely resembles the style and shape of a stormtrooper's helmet, missing its legs. They're cut off cleanly below the torso. "Oh. Good."

The immediate sound in the area is Jax's echo as he called out.

"HELLO...Hello...hello"

It becomes lost to the wind, and the reigning silence returns until Ben takes command of the Force, influencing the malfunctioning ramp open. The automaton is halved, its legs cut clean through by something (though it's not clear what.) Its 'front' is left to look up at the Jedi after rolling into the open. Eyes of crimson red light up, flickering, but a sizeable dent in the side of the automaton's 'head' seems to be the source of its mechanical trauma.

The way aboard the Moldy Crow is open, except a flickering blue presence in the form of a projected holo takes shape. Them image is a handsome, older bearded man with an annoyed look on his face. <"Want to know why it was hard to get in the ship?"> It asks, skipping slightly (indicative of a recording). <"Because it's not your ship!">

The image rises from their seat and walks off frame, the sound of a lightsaber IN THE RECORDING activating. <"Well, not my best work, but it'll do."> He says, coming back into view. <"That was just a scout. Let's activate the jammer.. there. Okay, if you're seeing this, you got my message. My name is Kyle, this is my ship, and you're here because this planet is very important to /our/ Order. Unfortunately, I was tracked here. I don't know how, or by who, but they want what this planet has.. and we must deny them.">

The image shifted. <"When you turn the jammer off, expect that..-- oh man, there's more of them.. okay.. the answers for what you need to do is on board the ship."> He says hastily. <"Defend it, and get it out of here. Don't worry about me.. "> Kyle rises up, moving his hand toward the recording device to turn it off, the sound of a snap-HISS going again before the image faded altogether, then began to repeat.

A nod comes to Ban's correction. "Skywalker... right. Oh, like Rey! Was he a relative?" Rune asks the group as a whole, an eyebrow lifting in curiosity. A sudden burst of wind causes the man to huddle into his robes even more, unable to suppress a shudder as the chill air bites through his clothing. Or maybe the shudder was from the clatter of the droid that tumbled from the ramp when it was forced open... even when disassembled, the hollow eye sockets of the killer promoting an air of dread. "Well, that is not a very welcoming or hope inducing sight." He remarks while stepping closer to the older ship, his gaze over the horizon now having at least some manner of target.

His attention is quickly pulled back in when the hologram of Kyle makes its appearance, the Ossus native watching the message with a measure of intensity, trying to piece together the scene that isn't recorded. When the image fades Rune glances up at the darkened ship for a moment before once more pulling his attention to their surroundings... he's no good with technology but tracking in the wild, that's his cup of blue milk, so to speak.

It doesn't take too long once he begins his search around their landing zone, heavy foot prints leading from the ship to a small impact crater nearby... and that's where the trail begins. "These droids... they came from above." The younger Jedi remarks, squinting as he pulls his focus skyward.

The awful keening of the Moldy Crow's ramp being lowered down triggers a reflexive squeezing of Chani's eyes when the grating creaks blare the sound of metal on metal being forced to move. The sleek-plated, humanoid figure at the bottom of the ramp looks like nothing she's ever seen before. She doesn't miss the similarities between its design and stormtrooper armor, though. Giving it a wider berth rather than walking directly to it, Chani begins to pass by it to ascend the ramp itself. Or would have, if not for the sudden holo-projection of an older, bearded man presenting itself to them. In just a few moments, an explanation for the state of the humanoid droid is provided. Much like Jax had before, her voice calls out up into the hollow guts of the craft.

"Is anyone there?" A lack of response before makes her think not, but if someone is intent on hiding out, no amount of questioning will get a response. The fact that the hold has been open this whole time means anyone or anything could have tried to gain entry. Perhaps inviting herself in will revel any presence. Returning the device she held in her hand to its spot on her belt, Chani next withdraws a small illumination pen from one of the pouches on her left side. It might be small in size, but the light it casts is intense enough to light up pitch black areas like daylight. She pans it up the ramp to highlight a distant interior wall. It turns when her vision does in synced movement to allow her to search the hold.

Her steps are still measured and cautious and a subtle bend in her knees allows her to lower her center of gravity should she need to try to cast herself out of harm's way at a moment's notice. She looks for whatever might stand out as the thing they're searching for and are urged to defend by the stranger. It is, however, really dark.

Zandra comes to a stop, he gaze going to Ben first, as he takes initiative to find out what's blocking the ship ramp. Oh. Oh indeed. She takes a breath, shaking her head. "I'm sensing no life signs other than our own," she reports crisply, based on her life detection exploration through the force. "Kyle has left - or well, been removed? I think we have to go aboard the ship." She moves to look at the legless droid with the red eyes and shrugs. "Not anywhere near as cute," is all she comments, and then she heads for the ship ramp. "I think the solution will be aboard this ship, and we do seem to have an invitation." Blue hologram guy that it's from. Zan shivers a bit with the cold, and frowns. She concentrates briefly, and warms the air around her just a smidge. Better. And she follows Chani up the ramp, hand on her lightsaber, as she holds ig unactivated but ready to go.

Ban Iskender raises a black brow in curiosity as he looks aside to Qutha. "My good sir, I daresay the number of dreads so dire as to overawe a band such as ours to be few, indeed." The clattering of of the ominous automaton as it rolls down the ramp. Upon moving aboard, and beholding the hologram, the young soldier draws a long, slow breath through the nose. "Very well, then. Defense and extraction of this vessel. Ideally with the pilot, but he was quite clear." A short look aside to Zandra. "Mistress naMuriel, if you and the more mechanically and technologically adept among us can commence following the prepared instructions for preparing the craft for flight, the rest of us shall see to the defense. Master Chewbacca-" he looks to the Wookiee, "As prodigious as your mechanical talents are, we may have need of you to pilot the Falcon in our impending withdrawal." A glance aside to Jax, and the nobleman reaches for his own sword, as well.

Jax looks at the Dark trooper half. A frown crossing his features as he pulls back his hood. "Dark Troopers. Imperial battle droids. They're durable, they fly, they know how to fight, and they hit hard. This is not going to be easy." The Corellian lets out hooded robes pool around his feet as he takes up his saber. Jax draws a breath centering himself. There's a woosh sound as his saber ignites washing him in blue light. His blade humming as the saber's held high in a form three defense. His eyes scan for incoming in the sky. "Ban, perhaps one of these days our social interaction will not be limited to us simultaneously fighting the worst that a fallen Empire has to offer. Maybe we'll get to play Sabacc or holochess."

Quiet while the message plays out, Qutha takes notes mentally. Lips in a line - Ban's commentary on what might be a threat to their band having heartened him despite the dire nature of the message. Listening to the others, what has been, what is being said and ultimately following his instincts to make his way towards system computer readouts. A stylus pulled out to tap at the screen and keys as his other hand pulls out a pair of reading glasses.

Tucked onto his nose, he frowns a little more, "Actually, my lord ban I think we shall need both Mr. Chewbacca and Knight Zandra's technical expertise. This ship will need a proper systems restart, coupled with a system slave to the Falcon so that we can even get it started up..." leaning in closer and scrolling the data.

"Seems we will need flight control repairs as well." head shaking slightly, "Dear oh dear." chewing his lower lip while tapping it with his stylus. "Among all of us here I'm likely the... well lets be honest the least talented. But I'm an above average pilot. While Mr. Chewbacca and Knight Zandra get things working, I could get this tub airborne." another pause

"OH! I found the system disable for the jammer as well. It'll likely go down with the system reset, but I can get it disengaged as needed."

Turning to see the clattering, Yuun looks to Ben as the landing ramp to the Moldy Crows comes down. Yuun watches where the others go, he himself move off to his right, it's not until Jax speaks about the Death Trooper, that he turns back to the Crow. "Well this is going to prove troublesome if there are more." he says. Yuun wrings his hands together for a moment, and as he does he looks over to Ban then around them. "I will stay out here then, my ship knowledge is coming slow, and I'm still learning. We already seem to have someone in there working on the ships computer, so, I will go where I'm needed." Turning to face outwards and looking around in the skies and land keeping a watch. His senses didn't pick up any other lifeforms outside of them when he tried to reach out for other living beings. A part of him feels a little jumpy.

Kasia pauses as she feels that subtle shift in the air, and at the first creak of metal she glances back at Ben, then back around to the ramp on the ship as it's pulled down to reveal the droid. She frowns at the thing, but doesn't seem familiar with the model so she moves on to looking around for other clues. The recording is enough to make her pause and listen, brows slowly drawing closer as the message comes to a close. "Well... that sounds ominous." With that helpful bit of commentary shared, she begins to search the area, pausing to point at a place on the ground. "Footsteps here, this may have been the direction he went?" suggests. There's a slight squinting of her eyes at something, and after a few steps she's picking up a small disc like thing. "I found a holo projector, but I think it's too damaged to work right now." She turns the thing over in her fingers. "I think I can fix it though, I just need some tools."

The recording plays, and Ben listens unobtrusively, which is another way of saying hangs back out of the way. Once it's finished and most of the others have already decided on their courses of action, he proceeds inside the ship, looking down at the terminal display Qutha roots out and its accompanying readout of things that must be done in order to get the ship airborne. "Reboot the system." He frowns down, looking around for the requisite controls to do just that, and settles on a nearby switch, which is promptly flipped.

A shower of sparks cascades from the control panels directly above the viewport, and the system does not reboot itself, though the terminal flickers like mad. "Not like that, but one of these has to do it." A hand is resting on the saber behind his hip, though, just in case these computers refuse to cooperate.

The Moldy Crow powers down with a loud, soothing noise.

WOOOoooooeeewww.

Followed by an annoyed sound from under the Falcon that is none other than Chewie's roar! Everyone is calling his name, and he was trying to focus on the repair Ben prompted him to look at. Trudging out from beneath the ship, the mighty Wookiee pauses to see what the commotion is only to see a few Jedi with their brilliant weapons out.

"ROWWWWWLL RORRGRRRRRROOOOOW!" For those familiar with the tongue of Wookiees, Chewie asked in a succinct, vulgar manner, just what was going on? He moves toward the Crow, kicking up sand behind him with each step.

With the ship powered down, the side effect of faulty systems inside (not directly Ben's fault), the sensor jammer turned off. Aryn's posh tone is heard over the comms. <<"A vessel just passed over my location and is heading your way! Oh, I hope they can hear me.."> She laments before the comm cuts again.

Sure enough, a vessel is enroute, but bright orange spots appear beneath it, launching from its belly. While the vessel is slow moving, these spots are not. They number fifteen (15) in total.

Now the team is faced with a difficult task. Defend the vessel, whilst repairing its systems to bring it back online. If that large ship makes it to them, it could spell the end of this trip!

It takes thirty seconds for the 15 orange spots to reach this location, and they begin to hit the ground suddenly, causing small craters and stirring up night dust. RED EYES stare at the Jedi as the dark shaped frames extend to their full 10ft height. The step heavily, clearly mechanical, and level their weapons to engage them with extreme prejudice.

With no answer given to his question, Rune nods with the assumption that Rey and Luke were family of some sort. He hasn't met too many people off his home world, but he's only met one Skywalker thus far. However, more important concerns are apparently at foot as a blue light appears nearby with the sound of a lightsaber being ignited. It seems the information that they come from above was already known by at least a decent portion of the group... that and they're nothing to be trifled with.

Rune removes the stunsaber from his belt and begins to walk back toward the group. He has a question about what exactly they may be facing on his lips when the quiet sound of a vessel above can be heard, his notice drawn to the bright orange spots that appear below the ship and begin accelerating their way. "I would assume that these are more of that fellow laying over there." He remarks with a flick of his stunsaber toward the downed Dark Trooper.

In answer the villains arrive and plow into the soil, kicking up dirt for a few yards past their impact point. Rune turns to ignite his weapon and peers into the cloud of dust, heated red eyes appear and peer back at the lot of them before the Troopers walk from the settling dust. Being too far away, and a bit outmatched with weaponry, Rune raises a hand instead, gathers the Force, and grips one of the offending machines, flinging it towards one of its companions. The Trooper flies sideways to crunch against its companion, only minor damage appearing on either one for his effort. "This is not good."

The holding bay of the Moldy Crow is filling with Jedi, and what started as the distant hum of an engine on idle turns into a shuddering through the bulkheads when it begins to shut down. It had been quiet, but there's true quiet now that the air circulators are off. Chani can hear her own exhaled breath. Unsure of the ramifications of what's just taken place, Chani is given some semblance of an idea when Aryn's voice blurts over the comlink she'd secured to her belt but left on. Stowing away the illumination pen, Chani takes the Princess' worried communication as the threat it seems to be and begins taking the few steps necessary to start to descend the ramp again. Her right hand extends to her left hip and slips beneath her robe.

As she descends, her right hand withdraws a silver, metal cylinder from within the robe itself. Depressing the activation stud along its hilt, Chani angles the vibrant blue blade up into a defensive position and adjusts her left hand to join its twin on the lightsaber's hilt. She stops at the bottom of the ramp and takes up a defensive stance in case the array of darkly-plated droids attempts to fire into the hold or approach it. There are other Jedi already beginning to engage and Chani's gaze naturally flicks towards the armored Alderaanian Lord joining the fray.

Zandra watches Ben push that switch, a hand on his saber, and she says, "Please don't - " A pause as the young Jedi Knight shakes her head. And then there's Aryn's voice as Zan is trying to look around, for something. "Goggles. There should be goggles with this sort of ship, I think. Anyone else see them?" Wait, is that what Qutha has with his reading glasses? A pause, as the ship powers down, and Zan considers for a moment. "We're going to need juice for this thing first, maybe? There's - wait, what was that whole list of things, Qutha? Reboot the system, fix the ramp, deal with slaving to the falcon - "

A glance at the yowling Wookiee who hopefully arrives. "We got a bunch of repairs to do and not a lot of time. Can you give us a hand?" That at least if Zandra's request of Chewie, as she tries to find goggles she can't see anywhere.

"Sabacc?" Ban echoes Jax, dryly. "I rather prefer imminent doom, sir," he quips with the hint of a smile. "Holochess, perhaps-" Qutha's correction of where Chewbacca is needed is met with a short nod. "As you say, then." He yields promptly on matters mechanical. "If any repairs can be effected prior to the system reset, see to them. Else, commence at your discretion, sir." He hears the distinct crackle of a shower of sparks and turns a wary look back into the ship. His green regard is drawn back to the terrain as the incoming ship deploys a phalanx of dark armored battle droids. "So it begins." His radiant green sword is raised in salute to the incoming enemy, as the Alderaanian steps swiftly onto the attack, striking down a pair of the Dark Troopers.

A small gasp, "OH. Oh. I... I didn't think we should reboot yet." blinking rapidly and turning towards Ben at that. Mouth closing and then dropping open again. "We should have pre-" looking up despite there being a roof covering his sight of the sky. "Master Solo - not that I presume to issue commands - but can I please request you might keep the..." ducking at the sounds from outside, the clanking and the sounds of sabers igniting.

"I'm a..." frowning a little lower as he steps up to the control panel again, "System is starting up now, we need the control board fixed, the ramp and we need to hook this thing to the Falcon so we can get her powered to full and off the ground." chewing at the stylus as he watches readouts going into the green while he adjusts some system resources and even splices a wire or two. "Dear oh dear oh dear..." swallowing and looking back up at Ben, "I apologize again if I seemed to have been issuing orders. Just the stress of the situation!" hopefully the urge to destroy computers will directed to computers in robot bodies out for blood.

The Dark troopers arrive but not in the manner that Jax had expected. He frowns, "I had not expected a control ship." Then as the dark troopers land around him, Jax is on the move his saber slicing one in two close to him and then a back flip he brings the saber around to decapitate the droid behind him. "I see him, Rune. Just kinda busy at the moment." Jax lands bring his saber up in the guard to deflect any shots coming at his font side. "Rather dramatic entrance on their part. Come on, I'm the worst Corellian Sabbac player in the galaxy. I'm not that bad to play against. Okay what about holovids? Nar Shaddaa got a star fighter ace league. They power down the weapons and dual. That's always good times. There's a Rodian that flies a Red Z-95, call him the Red Rodian." Then Jax calls out, "Did you find the flight googles? Unless he's moded it needs googles to fly!"

With more pressing issues coming up, Kasia tucks the small disc into a pocket for further investigation later. "No, it's not," she agrees with Rune's assessment on the situation. "I'm going to see what we've got going on inside the ship."

There are plenty of others with brightly colored weapons to deal with the droids as she sets forth to do precisely what she said she was. While she isn't exactly an engineer or mechanic, she's spent a lot of years on ships where sometimes she had no choice but to help with repairs, and is mechanically inclined enough to probably make it work well enough. Hopefully.

After a bit of searching a panel is removed from the flight controls, and after another brief study, she begins to work as best she can in these circumstances. There's a burst of sparks and a sharp inhilation of breath as she yanks her hand back, shaking it out briefly before continuing to work. "O...kaaay. I think this should work for the moment, well enough for now." She doesn't sound completely certain, but this is outside of her area of expertise..

Looking up he sees the orange specks, Yuun looks to the others for a moment and as the Dark Troopers land and their gleaming red eyes shine from the dust that floated up as they landed. Yuun moves back a bit, he lets out a breath, then he breaths in, and out again. His hand goes to his lightsaber, he ignites it and the blue blade comes to life with a snap-hiss. "Jax, I think you beat me in Sabacc." he says, "Or was that Elrych?" he asks as he smiles a little bit. Then the fight began, they had to make sure the others were able to get the Crow up and going.

Moving to fill up any gaps, Yuun is fast, though he's precise as he moves. Yuun brings his lightsaber around in a horizontal slash to one droid, severing it in half. He quickly moves to his left spinning his blade and cutting through one Dark Trooper diagonally from left to right. Noticing there is another trooper close to him, he tries to do a reverse grip slash but misses completely. Still Yuun keeps in his position to keep the Troopers from getting through.

At Qutha's request, Ben puts a hand on a bulwark and leans over, peering out through the broken ramp at the fighting going on outside between the Dark Troopers and the Jedi. "...they've got it handled," he decides, straightening up again as the system starts to reboot, eyes narrowing and shifting up to stare at empty space as he recalls the list. "We need power. I'll do it."

In the same pace and stride as he came onboard, Ben steps down the ramp, heavy boots clomping as he walks purposefully back towards the Falcon, ignoring the fighting off to the side. He nods at Chewie as they meet in the middle. "We need the slave cable, come on."

WROOOORL.

"I know, but we need the cable to get that thing off the ground before more of them come after it."

RAWW waaar.

"I know, that's why I need your help."

GRAWRL wuff.

"What do you mean, it's /tangled?/ Didn't you put it away the last time?"

The chaos outside erupts into a blaze of incoming fire. Several Jedi are hit in the onslaught, yet many remain standing as well. The Dark Troopers march forward, closing the distance fearlessly and firing continuously as to overwhelm and kill their foes. Each step is taken with a heavy sounding mechanical locking sound, leaving distinct imprints in the dirt and sand.

Meanwhile the large ship is slowly drawing nearer.

Chewie is seen crossing the open expanse of the battle, ROARING as he makes it back to the Falcon. If any watch the ramp, and the light cast from the interior of the Falcon, they'll see items being thrown out as Chewie unburies the slave cable and throws the entire reel down the ramp. It takes Chewie a moment to find one end of it to hook to the bottom of the Falcon, then he screams and roars at the tangled reel trying to get it untangled so he can lug the cable back across. That is one unhappy Wookiee!

His fling of the Trooper was apparently the calm before the storm, the crunch of metal on metal preceding a veritable hail of blaster fire that erupted from the settling dust. Red bolts light up the surroundings, ricocheting off parts of the ship, others striking the ground, and at least three landing solidly in his friends.

One bolt is sent his direction and he begins to wince with widening eyes. Then it's as if time stood still, the Force working through him to see the angry red streak getting nearer, and his hand holding the saber raised, striking the blaster fire to send back at the Trooper that delivered it. Sparks fly from where the bolt struck and Rune looks at his weapon with wide eyes. "Wow..." He then backs slowly toward the Falcon, heavily outmatched by these droids.

Before the two mechanical troopers even turn their blasters on her, Chani's instincts warn her of the impending danger. It's not that she doesn't react fast enough, it's that she doesn't react efficiently enough. Trying to yank the dark blue blade of her lightsaber into the path of the incoming blaster shot sees her over-extending the placement and leaving her left side vulnerable. The crimson bolt pierces straight into her left side through the brown robe and the cream tunic beneath it. Both are left blackened and singed. Chani grunts. The explosion of pain spreading through the branches of her nerves is like fire. It's more than enough to distract her from the next shot, which catches her high on the right side towards her shoulder. It doesn't bite as deep.

It's still enough to scramble the signals through her muscles. Her thumb eases off the activation stud of the lightsaber and it turns off. The double impact of the shots and the radiance of torturous sensation dominating her mind quickly has her balance shifting out of proper order. She falls back onto the angle of the ramp and the next breath that comes is far more shallow than all the ones before it.

Zandra calls out, as she hears Jax's yell. "No, not yet!" She is looking for them, though, clearly. Ben's departure gets a grin, and Zan turns to Qutha. "Nicely said," she tells him. "You are doing a wonderful job here. Keep up the good work." She finally gives an "Aha!", reaching out for a pair of goggles that are hanging behind the copilot's chair. "Here they are." She holds them up triumphantly, eyes agleam. "We need them to fly this ship, so they're important." She looks to see Kasia there, and then she runs through the list and what's going on. "I guess we need the ramp fixed next, yes? Also, does this ship have weapons? We might need to defend it as we get airborn and then into orbit."

Ban Iskender answers Jax after a moment's delay, as the ongoing melee commands his attention, "I do not approve of gambling, sir. Any skill is beside the point," he notes, evenly. A swift survey of the field notes Yuun and Chani having joined the fray, the latter of which is noted with a short nod, before his focus returns to defending against the automated assault. In a rapid trio of parries he turns aside the barrage of blaster fire sent at him. As he sees Chani's saber go dark, the swordsman cuts through three more of the powerful droids, en route to placing his sword at guard near, "Mistress Tahn. How dire your hurts?" Should he receive no answer, that is still an answer. He sees Jax and Yuun fighting on, and knows the two are hale.

Jax quickly dodges the first shot but the second shot hits him dead center. The second shot hits Jax dead center but all it accomplishes is steam rising off of him. With a quick flick of the wrist the Dark trooper is disarmed and with another it's sliced in two. Then Jax is running to the left to another trooper with a reverse grip slash. "You know you don't have to pay for credits or star ships. I prefer playing for candy." Then he says as he spins around slicing the second one in two. " Nice deflection, Rune. Chani, how are you?" He sees Ban's protecting her. "Yuun, I know Sesti says Corellians are interchangable. We're really not. That was Elrych. It was definitely Elrych if you lost."

"Much obliged to you, Master Solo! Safety follow you I hope!" Swallowing and looking towards the cockpit, "Miss Kasia! Do you need any assistance? Anyth--" compatriots are being hurt lancing a pain through his thoughts and Qutha grunts with a bit of a stumble as he goes for a tool kit and heads towards the ramp, "Bother. Bother and blow." reading glasses tucked up onto his forehead en route for the ramp.

"Bother." kneeling to open a panel at the ramp, twisting a bolt and then standing up very abruptly. Shaking out his hand, "OH! By the FORCE. That feels... AMAZING." that Jedha prayer he's heard the little pink pig person has said coming to mind as he hops once, twice, thrice, turning in a circle.

"Oh... I am ONE with the-" breathing, calming, one eye squinted as he tries to get back into the panel he was working on, only for a bit of violet tinted electricity to jump cables and go into his fingers, "FfffFFFOORCE... and the Force is with ME!" fingers in his mouth. Oh... Space. Hydraulic fluid. Now he's retching and rubbing his hand all over the front of his robes.

Delicious.

"I can truthfully say I have no idea what this ship has outside of a busted ramp, and flight controls that probably work," Kasia replies to Zandra as she tries to wipe the grease on her hands off on a small handkerchief. What actually ends up happening is that she smears the grease around on her hand and ruins the kerchief. "I'll go take a look at the ramp next." She hears her name called and makes her way back out, pausing long enough to take in the scope of the action. It's fine, everything is fine. "I've finished the-- No! Don't touch that!" She moves quickly down the ramp, making a shooing motion at Qutha. "If you vomit on my shoes I'm going to be very cross," she pre-admonishes him, and then eyes the system that needs work. So much in there to get her hands dirty. Just terrible. Even with the terrible circumstances, she sets to work once again. "You're lucky this was detached or else you might've given yourself enough of a shock that you'd just be a pile of ash and spectacles."

The fighting is intense, yet Yuun is able to glance about him, though keep his focus on his opponents. Seeing Chani and Jax get hit, he turns to look at the Dark Troopers who are still engaging them. There aren't a lot of them left which is good, with a burst of speed Yuun charges towards a group of three Troopers. His lightsaber trailing behind him, and keeping a low profile. Yuun slides along the ground spinning, he brings his lightsaber around cutting through one trooper's torso. He quickly sidesteps and turns his back and stabs behind himself missing the second trooper. Yuun doesn't stop, he keeps moving making sure that he doesn't get hit nor allowing them to get a bead on him. The third trooper finds half it's body sliding to the ground. "Pulling back to the rest of you!" he calls back.

"I think you're right Jax. I think it was Elrych who I lost to." He says a small grin comes to his face as he looks at the two remaining troopers. "How is everyone doing?" he calls out to everyone who can hear him.

The TANGLE causes more than a few moments of distress, and Ben just sort of watches Chewie take his anger out on the rat's nest for a moment before finally shoving in and separating the Wookiee from it, and in a few deft movements, shakes the line loose. Then the pair of them grab on, dragging it across the sand with difficulty towards the Moldy Crow. There's a certain spot under the vessel where the coupling must be connected, and it takes a bit longer to connect this, all while the fight with the darktroopers is continuing, complete with a chorus of frustrated noises from Chewie and a deep frown etched across Ben's face.

The slave cable clamps into place once Ben and Chewie get it to that coupling spot, and the Moldy Crow immediately reacts with a sudden shift. Modified engines are churning with an initial ignition followed by an idle roar! Ion blue emerges from the vents, casting up a cloud of dust aft of the ship and catching the last two Dark Troopers in a fierce gale that's so strong, it casts them backward to collide with nearby rocks and malfunction, sparking and collapsing to the ground.

Inside, the ship comes to life in a chorus of beeps and boops, and the goggles Zandra has convey the hidden holographic emblems and such needed to bring the ship to flight capability. This ship sounds like it was meant to be fast, and the power pouring into its reserves quickly fills up before the coupling detaches itself with a bright spark of electricity.

An alert in the Crow's cockpit signals that the ramp is still down, but Kasia's repair work to sync it back up sees the alert change to a notification that requires a quick touch to close it.

Chewie takes hold of the slave cable, hefting it up with his fur being blown back and roaring at Ben. Chewie is returning to the Falcon, or so he conveys, and he jerks the cable to lay straight before laying it on the ground. A slow jog takes the Wookiee back to the falcon where he triggers the automated spooling of the rat's nest to draw the cable back up. He ROARS!

Time to go.

The corvette is drawing closer to their location and is nearly upon them. The time to leave was now!

"Thank you!" Rune calls to Jax in his retreat, stunsaber held in front of him until he reaches the ramp to the Falcon. "I am doing surprisingly well, considering." He remarks to the one he had just met, June or Yuun or something like that. The youngest Ysannan is terrible with names. He slips back into the relative safety of the Falcon, peering beneath the edge to see the rest of the action.

His eyes strayed to Chani, reassuring himself that she was being taken care of, Ban having scooped her up to head onto the ship and out of danger's way. Meanwhile Ben and Chewie were wrestling with a cable, Q was drinking hydraulic fluid, and Kasia was admonishing him for his attempts at repair. Despite everything Rune chuckles, depressing the button on his stunsaber now that he is clear from the field of battle. He doesn't have to wait long for something to happen, the engines of the Crow flare to life with a bonus magic trick of turning the remaining Troopers into scrap metal, and Chewie is gesturing furiously and motioning back toward the ship. Seeing the tall Wookie charging in his direction, he figures it's best to get out of the way and up the gangplank, finding himself a seat for a rapid takeoff.

Zandra puts the goggles on, settling into the pilot's seat. "this is - strange," is her initial comment. She catches the ramp signal, and calls, "Ramp is online. Thank you, Kasia and Qutha! I'm closing the ramp. Who is flying copilot?" She hits that button and then starts the sequences to prep the ship for launch. The ace pilot is following the instructions both with the goggles and the ones that Qutha found, the ones left by Kyle - whoever he is. Skywalker's friend. She runs through the take off in a safe, but swift fashion, the steps the same even if each ship is a bit different. Is there still jamming? Violet has been known to turn on jamming in her other life, but right now, she simply calls to the Falcon, << Preparing to launch. Get everyone to safety! >> And she makes sure that goes out, with a loud shout through the Crow so that everyone can here it, maybe even those outside, just as the ramp starts to raise. "Hopefully that Kyle fellow is okay, wherever he is. For now, it's time to get out of here." Her fingers move over the controls, eyes flicking with the symbols provided by the ship's goggles, and she finishes the prelaunch, and then starts the launch sequence, the engines revving, the blue flame increasing. There's a moment of glee that shows on Zan's face. "Oh, this ship feels fun."

Blast off.

Ban Iskender deactivates and sheathes the ornate hilt of his lightsaber, freeing both hands to attend the task of moving the unconscious Chani into the ship proper (taking care to secure her lightsaber, so it is not lost). "If there is a skilled healer, Mistress Tahn has need. Else, signal Knight Aryn and inform her we shall have need of her talents, once clear of this conflict. What remains in need of doing?"

Jax watches the two Darktroopers go down to the Moldy Crows engines. He hits the button to extingish his saber. Then clamps it to his belt. "And I thought my old Hwk-290's engines were fast. I'm fine Yuun." He looks to see that Ban has Chani to get to safety. The Corellian turns to return to the Falcon. His feet carrying him quickly towards the ramp and one of the gun wells. 'Just in case.'

Hobbling back and out of Kasia's way, with a clean bit of sleeve in his mouth and water in his eyes, Qutha nods - only to slump against a wall where he can get clear, or out of the way, "Thank Kasia, I just got shocked and pinched!" a pained laugh coming as he watches Chani being brought in by Ban to the Falcon.

"By space... What a day..." trying to recall the names of the droids that had been faced outside before he gives a nod to Kasia, "Fortunate you were here, ma'am." heading his way to the cockpit to settle into a cockpit seat, "Knight Zandra. Fancy seeing you here. I apologize that I'm a" grease spattered, hydraulic fluid spattered, green at the gills, "mess." a thin smile as he gets strapped in.

"I hope I shall be good company though. Until Kasia gets here, I'm sure she'll make up for my lacking eh?"

Kasia closes the panel while quietly despairing at the state of her hands, continuing the futile attempt at cleaning them off with the kerchief that just isn't up for the job. She turns and jogs up the ramp of the Crow, stepping into the cockpit. "I think everything should be good to go now. I hope. I did what I could, so know that if I've killed us all it was probably my fault and I'm sorry."

As the remaining Dark Troopers are destroyed by the powerful engines of the Moldy Crow, Yuun smiles a little. Not deactivating his weapon just yet, Yuun turns around to look at everyone as the ships are starting to be prepped. His eyes widen the more he hears the engines of the Moldy Crow, "My Raven is an updated version of that ship. I'm missing out." he chuckles.

Hearing the others call that they are alright and Ban has Chani and taking her to the Falcon. Yuun moves back towards teh landing ramp of the Falcon, "Alright, good." he says to those who can hear him. He deactivates his lightsaber and clips it to his belt and he runs up the ramp of the Falcon. "I will take one of the gunnery turrets just in case." he says as he climbs up the ladder to the top turret.

Zandra smiles at Qutha, "You are fine," she says to him, easily. And then to Kasia, she says, "I think we're okay. By the way, do either of you know what a Jan Ors is? Or who?"

Who's closing the ramp?

With everything functioning again and the power restored, Ben throws back the locking clamp on the coupling for the slave cable and tugs it loo- tugs it- "Great. Perfect." Tugs it. "Exactly what we need right now." KICKS it, and the coupling drops off of the belly of the crow like an injured remora, retracted back towards the Falcon with such speed it nearly drags Ben with it. "How did that get tangled if it can do that!" he yells at Chewie, stomping through the sand and catching the side of the ship to redirect himself up the ramp.

ROWWWRL

Slapping at multiple panels inside the ramp as he comes aboard, Ben activates the closing mechanism and the metal ramp jerkily closes, the pneumatic pistons actually moving of their own accord this time, and the ship with a pilot at the controls is able to finally take off, with a hiccup and a lurch of shifting inertia, just as that corvette begins to close in too close for comfort. The Falcon soars up and ahead of the Moldy Crow, its broad dish shape tilting to one side then the other as Chewbacca waves goodbye through it. Or maybe he just bumped the stick.

As the two ships flee the scene, Ben reaches the cockpit. "So. We've successfully stolen the ship of the person we came to rescue. What's next?"