Log:Raiders of the Lost Cache Part 1
The Explorers are ejected from Dxun and the Empress Teta System, while one of their shuttles crashes on the surface.
OOC Date: March 20, 2016
Location: Dxun
Participants: Renegade, Old Explorer's Guild, Rax Vaelus, Bar'duur, Oriana, Kyr'am, Oozlevort, Kann Zonra, Kev
00:03 Coruscant Galactic Time.
ETA to Empress Teta System: 30 seconds.
"All right, this is it everyone."
Sitting in the cockpit of the ominous Sith Infiltrator, Rax Vaelus reaches up and flips a switch to prime the laser cannons of the sinister-looking ship. Looking back down, Rax watches the countdown timer displayed on the console, "30 seconds to contact. Bar'duur, you'll screen the right side, I've got the left. We're launching a drop shuttle as soon as we enter the system, which should put us just above the atmosphere of Dxun. Shuttle team, report status."
The Renegade is a huge, vast gravitic footprint in the hyperspace tunnel, hurtling toward the world of Onderon and its moon. In the landing bay, a combat shuttle waits with the ground team inside.
The Nautolan Kann Zonra sits easily in a seat, the straps secured across his chest. At his hip is a blaster pistol, and across his knees rests his vibrosword, the sling unable to be worn while sitting. His black eyes flick around the unknown ship and its unknown occupants as he listens to the human speak. As silence stretches out afterward he clears his throat and says in a gentle voice, "Kann Zonra, present and accounted for."
Oozlevort has berthed his fighter in the weaponless assault frigate and come to to the landing shuttle, seating himself but not strapping in. The robed Gand has two pistols across his chest - an elegant blaster with an expensive scope on top, and a stun pistol with a broad barrel. On his back is a rifle, just in case. "Oozlevort is here. Oozlevort has read that this is a very dangerous moon, this Dxun. If we make it down to the surface."
Once ready and armored up - which is some basic armour, Oriana had boarded the shuttle, found a seat and rested back. At her side is her rifle, on the other is her pistol. Her big brown eyes would casually look to the others, she doesn't seem bothered by potential danger. To them a nod is given as well, before she rests her head back and looks up as they wait.
On the shuttle waiting for landing Kyr'am sits in a jumpseat, The man's hands lifting to secure his helmet in place with a soft hiss sounding out as the armor seals. The Mando'ade's lips holding a small smile as the helmet is drawn over his face before becoming hidden beneath the distinct helmet. The Mando'ade looking around before double checking his blaster carbine.
Bar'duur is suited up in hiw Tie suit, wearing the helmet and all of course because in a ship like his there is no life support. "Confirmed." Says the Zabrak, sitting at ease inside his cockpit he mostly watches the ships and such, as there isnt much else to do, but soon he's checking systems and getting ready.
Remaining securely strapped into his seat, Kev checks his pistol rather carefully once more. Can never be too sure, right? Looking over a the others present, he takes a few more calm breaths as he studies them. A brief pause as he looks to Oriana, offering his sister a grin now.
10, 9, 8...
Rax flips the switch to bring up the Infiltrator's weapon systems to full. "Really wish the Malachor had been here for this..."
5, 4, 3...
"Okay, here we go!" Leaning forward in his seat, Rax's lightning eyes narrow as he braces for Hyperspace Reversion.
Above the skies of Dxun, the Infiltrator, the Deep Hunter, and the Renegade all revert from hyperspace as long stretches of material suddenly condensing back into spacetime. In the Renegade, the shuttle's thrusters suddenly roar to life, and repulsorlifts push the ship up and out, just as the forward thrust starts to rocket them out through the forcefield sealing the hangar. Running a scan, Rax peers down at the display, "Bar'duur, I'm reading..." Then, it suddenly makes sense, before he can even finish his thought.
Rax's head snaps up, and he jukes the Infiltrator to the left as turbolaser fire suddenly pierces the darkness. Lit by the light of Empress Teta and the nearby planet Onderon itself, a Marauder-class corvette looms above the steaming jungles of Dxun. "What the hell! Renegade, shuttle crew, heads up! We're not alone!"
Kann continues to sit on the shuttle and wait for instructions to be sent his way. His eyes move over Oriana and Kev, and dips a nod to each of them if they glance his way.
Oozlevort engages the shuttle's thrusters as soon as the Renegade exits hyperspace into realspace. Sublight drives flare a bright blue and they are off toward the planet! "What, why are we being fired on? Cover us, fighters!" The Gand's three-fingered hands grip the flight yoke as evasive maneuvers are attempted, angling for the moon of Dxun.
Rax Vaelus tests an NPC's skill of 85 at a difficulty of 135. The result is successful (7).
Turbolaser fire from the Marauder glances off the bubble of the shuttle's deflector shields, causing the ship to pitch down and to the left suddenly before leveling.
Her head turns, Oriana looks to her brother, twin brother, who is Kev and lifts a brow shaking her head. She seems a bit amused, but it's only a faint light in her eyes. "Offer stilk is there, brother." Standing she looks to Kann and gives him a nod in passing as she goes to help up front, with thr sensors."
With the warnings given and the help needed Kyr'am cusses in Mando'a before undoing his harness the man quickly raising up and moving to the turret's platform before slipping into the seat before it's controls. The Zeltron slinging his carbine over his chest as he takes the controls to assume fire control.
"Sensor contacts coming in from.. above it looks like. Could be a fighter craft." Oriana adds, as she works the sensors.
"I'll get some space, see if I can draw some attention from you and Renigade." He arcs upward and keeps an eye on his scanners, cycling through contacts a bit even as he keeps an eye on that Marauder, looping around while spinning and angling toward it, he's just zipping around quickly trying to draw attention.
Wincing a bit at the happenings, Kev grimaces momentarily. "What do you need me to do?" he offers, starting to get to his feet to be ready to help with whatever it is he should be doing.
The Marauder is burning at full thrust to intercept the shuttle, which is streaking down toward Dxun. A pair of Z95 Headhunters light up on sensor arrays as they suddenly unleash laser fire down on the shuttle from above, and the shields collapse under the withering fire from the lead fighter. The second misses, however, and is forced to spiral and juke aside as the Sith Infiltrator suddenly comes screaming in, all six laser cannons lighting up the black. Bar'duur, twisting and barrel-rolling around a hail of anti-fighter fire from the Marauder draws the attention of the first Headhunter, which breaks off to pursue.
Meanwhile, a massive lance of green energy suddenly streaks from the Marauder, the turbolaser blast going wide just above the aft fins of the shuttle. "Who the hell ARE these guys, anyway?!" Rax asks as he banks the Infiltrator around, attempting to line up on the fighter still harassing the shuttle.
Kann curses under his breath as things start to go crazy. He quickly works at the points of the harness that secure him to his seat. Taking his sword in hand he stands and runs the length of the ship toward the other Turret and flings himself into the seat. He gazes with wide eyes at the controls and shakes his head. "I don't know what the /hell/ I am doing here!" he growls aloud, hands moving to the controls and looking up through the view port and beginning to push buttons and pull triggers at random. He yells out in surprise as his turret chair rocks with the laser that races out to nearly miss the fighter.
Oozlevort squeals as the shuttle is struck by the Marauder's fire. "Shields are down! Ahhhhhh!" He turns the flight control this way and that, weaving through fire on their descent to Dxun's thick atmosphere. "Where is our fighter cover?"
She works the computer, as best she can, and strangly seems to be having luck. Managing to get a lock she looks over her shoulders quickly, her pulled back hair swaying around her. "Got a lock on the attacking ship." The woman calls out, then turning to look at the computer, speaking something in her native tongue.
Inside of the shuttle manning that turret fire control Kyr'am shifts attention to the incoming ship, When Oriana calls out about the ship the Zeltron nods before calling back, "Firing.." The man quickly triggering the fire controls causing a burst of fire across the bow of the Headhunter striking the nose causing damage to the enemy ships shield.
The Nautolan is still pressing buttons and pulling triggers without stop. Even with a target lock, however, Kann still seems to suck at this form of combat as he shoots and still goes wide. "Obviously not too much of a lock!" he yells in reply to the call of a target lock. "I still didn't kill it!"
Kev grimaces as he hurries over to help with trying to get shields back in order. "Now, let's see what can be done..." he mutters, starting to work on those shields now. "Come on, come on..." he mutters to himself, as he continues to try getting those shields in order. "Got shields partially up," he calls out. "Let's get that thing blown to pieces, right?"
The tractorbeam fires without bright flash or distinctive sound to warn of its arrival. The only difference is a slight shudder in the ship, which causes the Gand to yank hard on the controls, ducking out of the beam's area of influence. The shuttle is not so lucky when the turbolasers fire, however, and a glancing blow smashes through the remaining shields to clip the rear of the vessel, cutting out the sublight engines.
Bar'duur is evading fire and whirls around to lay laser fire into the nose of the oncoming headhunter, but the enemy vessel fails to respond in kind. The shuttle gunners manage to knock out the other Headhunter's shields, and its astromech fails to raise them before Rax comes around with the laser cannons of the Infiltrator, raking fire across one of its wings.
The Headhunter isn't destroyed, but its hurting, and it continues to pursue the shuttle down into the atmosphere of Dxun...until it becomes clear that the shuttle is in freefall, hurtling toward the jungle moon.
Kann continues to fire after the fleeing Headhunter, but once again misses.
Oozlevort rattles with the shuttle as they are struck. "Sublight engines are out! Someone must fix them! Maybe the repulsors still work? We are falling into the moon!" He fiddles with the controls, gaining some purchase via the repulsors.
Holding on tight Oriana tries at the computer again, and fails horribly. Suddenly cool air rushes on everyone. With a mixed look of anger and surprise the woman begins some angry muttering of words best not understood under her breath.
Kyr'am quickly moves away from the turrents weapons platform as the alarms begin to sound, The Zeltron looking to the others. "Seriously!? None of us is a mechanic?" His head giving a quick shake as he moves towards an access panel using the butt of his rifle to bash it open before he begins to pull at the wires in an attempt to disable to override.
The Headhunter veers off as the TIE Avenger continues to pummel it with superior firepower, and the second Headhunter finds itself between the TIE and an Armed Star Courier from behind. Though Rax's shots are hilariously off target, the fighter ducks and jukes and swings around behind the corvette, which is still laying down withering fire on the fighters. "Bar'duur, the shuttle's going down! We need to go find them!" Veering off pursuit, Rax doubles around and the twin ion engines of the Star Courier shriek as they piece the humid atmosphere of the jungle moon.
On the shuttle, the jungle canopy is rapidly approaching, and it's going to be one hell of a devastatingly hard landing... Or it /would/ have been if Kev hadn't taken a pair of the wires Kyr'am exposed and twists them together with a powerful jolt. An electric shock runs through him, but the shuttle suddenly lurches forward. The engines ignite with a powerful roar, and the ship jerks and shudders, trying to pull up out of a suicidal dive.
"Oh, I think people back home would be shocked if they found out you've learned all those words," Kev remarks in Oriana's direction. Not that he actually heard precisely what she was muttering, but it's a way to deal with the stress. Continuing to work on the computer stuff, he grimaces. "Oh what the..." Reaching for some of the wires, he looks around. "This might do it..." Twisting them together, the shock of it sends him stumbling backwards, hitting the deck rather solidly.
Kann growls and hurries to fasten the straps that hold him into the turret chair. His headtails flutter around his head as the ship is in a free fall and he curses. "I knew I should have stayed my ass on Nar Shaddaa," he laments.
Oozlevort fights with the flight yoke, pulling up as repulsors engage. The damaged shuttle tears through massive vines and underbrush as it descends into the canopy of trees, making a hard landing, which technically does not constitute a crash landing, even if people die.
Not the smoothest landing, and Oriana was only holding on. As they land hard, her hands have no grip as her body is thrusted against a wall, and she yelps out in pain while briefly seeing stars.
With the sudden and rather hard landing into the underbrush of Dxun the momentum of his own form with the initial speed of the ship carries Kyr'am forward as he had still been near the access messing with the wiring. The man shifting as he is thrown with the force of the landing clipping with his side one of the jumpseats before being sent against another on the opposite side of the shuttle. The Zeltron cursing loudly with anger and pain in his voice as he comes to a unceremonious halt on the shuttle floor.
Bar'duur is still busy fending off the fighters and marauder unless they have peeled away, though at first opportunity he will peel offf and fly toward the planet as well.
The shock from his little stunt with the wires still stinging him, Kev is also tossed into something, but thankfully, he doesn't end up taking much more of a wound than getting the air knocked out of him. "Oooof..." he mutters, as he looks around.
Dxun.
It's hot. It's humid. And, most importantly, it's dark. A croaking sound floats across the valley. Shrieks can be heard in the distance. Glowing bugs flit and flicker in the damp haze. And above, a TIE Defender and Sith Infiltrator circle around, searching for a place to land wit searchlamps active. This shuttle won't be flying again any time soon, and somewhere in orbit is the Marauder.
Welcome to the jungle.
