Log:Resistance: Exaltation 4: Glee

Exaltation 4: Glee

OOC Date: April 18, 2019
Location: Ylesia
Participants: Aryn Cole, Callax Dalso, Ektor, Kare Kun, Lofty, Merek, Miri Sakir, Snap Wexley, Tallissan Lintra

Rain hisses on the canopy of leaves overhead. A front of cloud has moved in from the ocean bearing rain that obliterates the light of the moon and the stars. The jungle is an impenetrable black making movement difficult but detection less likely for the group. The dense leaves overhead protect them from the rain as they hunker down. The t'landia til that threatened them has run away. Blaster fire flashed through the darkness wounding him. Disoriented, moaning to himself, he limps further into the jungle away from the city leaving them a margin of time.

Staying low and heading through the underbrush, Miri makes her way to the clearing. Keeping her blaster in her left hand, she asks Sapphira, voice low, "Need a hand, Red?"

Merek has poured his flask out after almost getting shot and also as he shot the being that was trying to use tricks on them. He takes out a canteen of water to drink from, and wipes at his mouth while he comes upon the laser emplacements, so that he can work with them, taking a moment to tap on his bracer datapad, while he works.

With the immediate threat gone, and the imposing presence she felt in her mind absent, Aryn moved ahead to join the group working on the terminal. She read the display that detailed LASER GUN EMPLACEMENTS, and started to navigate the menu, looking for anything that may have led to another discovery of their defenses. She steps aside when others join her, and not feeling like the expert they needed, she yielded to the other pair.

Lofty is still kneeling in the brush near the clearing where the slicers are doing their vital business. With the singing alien scared off, the Talz pushes back his rebel trooper helmet and keys into his comlink. "Guards on perimeter spotted." He raises his bowcaster, the weapon emitting a faint hum as the positive and negative polar globes maintain their magnetic field.

Four heads pour over the computer displays while in the distance the Lester's moans fade into the night. The rain has silenced the denizens of the jungle. Everyone but our hearty Resistance group hot on the trail of their comrades shelters from the wet.

The perimeter of the city is protected by a long wall of the dull grey local brick. There are two entrances, the one closest to the starport on the south east. It is also the route taken to the spice mines. The group is nearest the northwestern entrance; the large plasteel doors are shut at night. It leads to the ocean route and seems to disappear into the jungle swallowed by the surrounding trees. Both entrances have laser turret emplacements, the double guns looming over the wall. They are the latest state of the art and can be operated with a gunner in the turret or by remote control. The network controlling the guns and the alarms is hardened but not impenetrable.

Back at the house of Ye Slavering Lizard, in the slave quarters, Callax is still prodding at the access plate to their cell door. "Right," he says, having come up with another piece of metal prised from another piece of furniture - so resourceful, these Resistance girls! - and prepares to try and get the panel open and at the mechanism's entrails. "This.../should/ be a simple magnetic seal, so I think once I get it open, I could set up a feedback loop that'll keep the door open." A beat. "Assuming I can get in, of course."

Their search having scrounged a bit of 'something' Kare says simply, "we get out of here we may be best to find some normal clothes. We stick out like sore thumbs. It could buy us a bit more time." And make them hard to identify. She drags her hand up through her hair, the room unpleasantly warm since it bakes in the sun. "What I would not do for some water." But she is watching what Callax does to the panel. "Well all you can do is try," she says and then glance back over her shoulder at the other slaves left to swelter within the confines of the room. "Give me a moment I am going to try to rouse some troops to help us." And she leave him to the panel, that skimp loincloth like sheer skirt, tangling with her legs and causing her to very nearly rip it.

Patrols walking the perimeter between the laser emplacements and the guard towers march with the vigilance of the bored and those trying not to get wet. It has been a long time since there was any hint of threat or an uprising, another long dark night of routine is about to be disrupted. Two sets of two march in opposite directions crossing each other every eight minutes.

It is a large entrance with a sliding steel door wide enough for two lanes of traffic to pass through, with a small side door on the side. Through the combined skills of the Resistance fighters the doors magnetic lock is suddenly no longer operational. Stairs leading to the laser emplacements are on the inside of the wall to the left of the entrance. The double guns of the emplacement point towards the airfield but are on a pivoting platform that swivels to target low.

After watching the patrol patterns, Miri whispers, <<I've got an opening.>> Shawtie got low and makes a beeline for the entrance, and she starts working on opening the door.

Merek looks up from the emplacement of that laser when it looks like he makes less progress. He then makes a way towards the gate to sneak in, moving with any of the others that do so, as he manages that well enough, settling back with his pistol as he keeps a palm upon the combat knife he has with him.

At the urging of the professional soldiers, Aryn crosses the expanse following the Resistance fighters' tracks, and makes it to the door. She stays quiet and out of the way, uncertain her skills were even useful here. Opting to remain out of the way, she shrinks back a bit, content to follow orders and do what she's told.

"Lets make this happen then, Flight Officer." Captain Wexley urges to Miri when she indicates she has an opening. The old pilot is doing his best impression of an infantry soldier, and by the way he carries himself on the ground this is not his first Goat Rodeo. When Miri makes her move, Snap quickly follows after her -- keeping low and his rifle at a ready position. When they reach the door he kneels down with only minor huffing and puffing, and he forces his breath to slow. He keeps his rifle at the ready, and looks around for any sign of trouble.

Lofty brings up the rear! The large Talz in ill-fitting Resistance trooper armor waddles after Aryn Cole, his bowcaster readied. The breastplate and arm/leg guards barely fit around his limbs, leaving gaps where white fur sticks out.

"Oh, la, we'll be fine," says Callax at Kare's words, making a face as he tries - and fails - to get the tip of the metal bit in between the panel's perilously thin gap and the frame. "Ah, piss and blood," he roars in the most unladylike way, banging a fist on the wall. "All the ridiculous slaving libertines in the galaxy and we get the one who ponies up for a magnetically sealed access panel /for the magnetically-sealed lock!/" With a toss of his magnificent head, he continues to work, hard-nosed and single-minded, prepared to open the panel by will alone if need be. He is /not/ staying in here.

"Calm yourself or it is going to be hard to get someone to join the team..if not all of them," Kare is sweaty, poorly dressed - in her mind - and is quickly moving between the slaves as she smiles and begins to rouse them to rise and help. Looking for someone skilled with hacking or working electronics. A quirked smile here, a glance there, and even a rousing speech who need morale than anything else to get moving and Callie has the help he will need to get that control open and in use for their purposes. She glances at the others and sets the to the other side of the door. "When this opens are going to need to move. Fast. Take them down, take weapon and stick together. You must fire with the intent or freedom." She is playing instructor as well.

Nearly through the walls and unspotted. Two guards can be heard approaching talking loudly about their last drinking bout. Discipline is lax.

INSIDE THE WALLS: The city sleeps steaming under the warm rain. The streets are built in semi-circles radiating from the Temple of the One and Only that has its back sheltered against the foothills of the Exalted Mountain. Think of a rock dropped in a pond and the ripples that radiate from the point of impact. The inner rings, the most protected are near the Temple.

The rich sleep the slumber of the sheltered. Soft beds, rich foods on the sonorous breath of their snoring dreams expand into the soft, humid night. The temple lies in darkness. And in the slave quarters of Bus'vah Daslade two recent slaves are scheming to escape.

Miri glances at her HUD, moving quickly through the city toward the slave quarters. As she rounds a corner, she nearly runs into a patrol she didn't account for, ducking behind a decorative planter. <<Careful, I think the rekkers see me.>>

Aryn remains out of the way, opting to follow behind the ranking officer of the mission, Snap Wexley. When they reach a stopping point, the young doctor kneels down and runs a gloved hand thoughtfully over the lightsaber hilt on her side. She convinces herself that it is not needed, but anxiety is beginning to creep into her mindset, and her hands begin to fidget.

Lofty remains with his back against the ugly brick palisade until the gates are hacked open, then inside the Talz goes. His lower set of eyes open to give a better picture of the nighttime landscape. He moves from building to building, surprisingly nimble for such a large alien, and keeps his bowcaster at the ready. He memorized the overhead map to the slave quarters before the mission, so Lofty vaguely knows where to go.

Merek manages to make enough sightline and noise that he's noted, although not seen in full. It is enough to be shot at. He tries his best to move to cover, rather than begin to shoot back. No reason to make this a full fight in the open.

<<Well, kriff me...>> Snap says over the comms as Miri indicates they are spotted, and the Captain hears the first indication of gunfire. <<Lets move fast to secure the packages. Once we have them, then we can try to fight our way out of the city. Only return fire if you feel you really need to. Best judgement here, Rebels.>> The old pilot says into the comms, and then glances down to the young Jedi at his side -- his brown eyes flicking to the lightsaber. "Counting on you to cut our way to freedom when this goes sideway..." Snap says lightly to Aryn with a roguish flash of a smile, as he presses up against a wall to remain in cover. "And since Black Squadron is here... It will go sideways." He glances ahead towards those leading the group. <<Keep us rolling Officer Sakir.>>

"Now if I just...ohhhhhhh." Callax snaps long, dextrous fingers, and with them turns the slip of metal just-so to get it in between the metal frame and the access panel - which, with a faint click, pops off to land in his lap. "Lovely! And now...yes, good, it's a System Sixty. Sorosuub makes strong seals, but their electronics are so /very/ simple. And....la!"

With a buzz, the door makes a soft clicking noise, and Callax gets to his feet. "And now, my darling Lieutenant, we can make our escape."

Ektor drawls over the comlink, <<Hey, you all get stuck and want the boat rolling in, just holler, yeah? Oh and uh... if somebody could send back coordinates of their big guns, that'd be just great."

The rag tag cavalry has arrived and Callax manages to get the door open. As it hisses open after his third try she grins over at him, stepping forward as she glances out. "Get a weapon as soon as you can, Callax we stick together." There is little more to say when freedom is presented its likely that a majority of the slaves are rushing to freedom along with the two familiar with each other. Bare feet are quick across the flooring. "I do not remember my away around this place all that well, you?" she asks of her companion, watching as out for anything that can be of use as a weapon - literally anything.

In the dark, one of the pair of guards stops and holds a hand up to his comrade. "Wait. You see something?" I swear I saw something?

"Nah, I didn't see a thing."

Pulling his blaster out he fires at a shadow. The blaster lights the street like a streak of lightning but nothing moves except for a lizard running for its lair.

Over the com, <<Report! Was that blaster fire? Hold your fire.>> Over the guard com network. <<We have possible intruders on the 5th Row, working our way to the 4th. Alert all street patrols to be on the look out.>> Running footsteps can be heard coming down the street towards the hidden group who move up an alley into the next semi-circle then must negotiate a block, out in the open.

Hiding behind decorative planters seems to be Miri's move for the day. She ducks behind the massive leaves of a colorful fern as the next patrol passes by. <<False alarm, I think I'm still good. Almost there.>>

In the wealthy sector, houses take up entire blocks bounded by a front street entrance and a back street entrance. The House of Dashade is typical of the style. The high walls and gates around the Dashade Estate bespeak wealth and concern for security. The front entrance to the north has a double guard house at the wide metal gated entrance. Guards walk its wide perimeter in opposite directions, crossing and recrossing crossing one another. The back of the house, the southern entrance, is reserved for the kitchens and slave quarters, tradesman use the entrance as well as the slaves when allowed out. It is also guarded but with less vigilance. Once addicted to the seductive song of the t'landia til no one wants to escape and those few that do are replaceable or will die in the jungle.

Aryn looks up toward the venerable gaze of Snap and feels the weight of expectation fall on her shoulders. If she could look any younger in that moment, it'd have been comical, but the blonde nods her head and straightens back up. "I'll follow your lead, Captain. Just tell me what to do; I'm no soldier, sir."

They move, and this time Aryn is spotted. A glimpse of her is made just as she slids behind a rather robust looking planter of stone. Her cheeks are red, and her bright eyes cast over their group, looking for direction. Her hands fidget more, her nerves getting to her.

Lofty is fired at twice. Or rather, the group is shot at twice. The first could have been a fluke but a second shot is too much. The Talz turns and aims his bowcaster down the alley and presses the trigger. A quarrel in the strange weapon is engulfed in plasma as it is fired, and then the polarized globes at each side propel it through their magnetic field, increasing the speed like a railgun. The quarrel zips down the alley and explodes into the guard's neck, killing him.

"Neither am I. Just an old Recon Pilot here looking a friend." The former Rebel says in deep in reassuring tones to young Jedi. "Besides you're a Jedi. The Force is with you. I'd fly with you any day." The sound of gunfire grabs Snap's attention, and he looks in the direction of it. <<Keep moving, Rebels. The temperature's rising in this city.>> Snap says over the Comms, and then looks up towards Miri. <<How far are we out Officer Sakir?>> He says quietly, and slips through the shadows in her direction to join her.

<<Roger that, Lieutenant. We'll see if we can't get some solid fixes on those gun emplacements.>> Snap then says over his comms to Ektor back on the Ghost.

Merek lifts up the pistol while he points to the one that is aiming to him. He takes two clean shots that take the guard to the floor, while he shifts the weapon and moves away from the group, while speaking to his comm, << I am going to draw a few away while you all do your work.>> He then tries to find a place he can settle in to keep cover.

As they slip out of the room together, Kare turns down a side corridor and she pauses, making a motion at the end where Tuckit is standing. Turning to look over her shoulder Massone is at the opposite end. Without saying a word she brings her hands to her neck to quietly mime she is going to choke him. That is when she hurries forward, bare feet brushing the ground in such a way as to keep her somewhat silent. Those last few feet see a barely dressed Kare launching herself as a small yet proportionally toned arm suddenly slips in under the man's chin.

Tuckit gets snugged back against her shorter frame and she squeezes while gritting her teeth. Her back leg presses back to take her weight and then she spins to the side to get his stomach to the floor and her knee into his back. This is how she waits him out, gritting her teeth as she squeezes just a little tighter around the windpipe to choke the guard out.

Moving to assist Kare, Callax slams the heel of his hand into the grappled guard's solar plexus - it's an inexpert attempt, and the first strike lands too high. But the second rams home, painfully pushing the air out of the guard's mouth and rendering him limp so that Kare can do the rest.

"Right," says Callie, taking the Tuckit's pistol from his belt holster, "Let me just get that other fellow and we can arm you, too."

Noise, the faintest scrape of foot on brick alerts Tuckit. He looks up giving Kare a better target to grab. Down the street Massone squints into the darkness, the leaf he had been chewing earlier has made him sleepy. There is a rasping sound like someone struggling for breath. He leaves his post and sees a knot of shadows struggling in the dark street. He can't distinguish between Tuckit and his attackers until two strange shadows, one tall and one shorter stand up leaving a figure in the street.

Coming through a nearby alley to the east the Resistance group comes in quietly one by one. Not far behind them are two guards. One has just called in an alert that will bring down more guards on the group as they try to flee.

Miri is a fern. A very deadly fern. The fern fires two shots at Massone. One of them hits. She dashes to the house, trying to find her way to the slave quarters.

Snap's words reinvigorate some confidence in the young doctor, but not enough to have her plucking up a blaster to shoot someone! She watches him as he returns to managing their communications, and listens to what's passed to the other.. rebels. If her parents could see her now..-- Aryn moves when they move again, ducking behind cover once more and waiting to be told what next to do.

Lofty fires down the alley once, killing one guard, then moves with the team toward the slave quarters. "Hurry! Better call in Ghost ship," he warbles. The Talz pauses and turns as they are pursued, firing two magnetically-accelerated quarrels into Guard Serex. Serex explodes and dies horribly from the powerful bowcaster.

Merek moves through the cover, while he lifts his pistol up. He places one of his palms upon the weapon, so that he can take aim, then he takes a clean two shot to the guards, taking another to the floor while he shifts back to his cover also.

Snap keeps up with Miri, moving from potted plant to potted plant -- the leafy ferns obscuring his robust figure easily. He continues to keep his eyes on the group, looking from member to member in turn to make sure no one is getting seperated. <<Lieutenant Apollyon... Why don't you start warming up the engines on the Ghost. We're about to pick up the packages, and we're coming under some fire. Going to see if we can't get those guns sighted for you.>> The Captain says over the comms to their rescue pilot. He then takes a shot from the hip at one of the guards, and it goes wide.

Now with a blaster in his hand, Callax turns in his inexpert martial arts for his expert marksmanship. Toggling over the guard's blaster to stun, the pale pilot puts a pair of stun bolts into the other guard's torso, center mass, and drops him like a sack of wet cement right in the street.

"Right, Lieutenant," Callax says to Kare, head on a swivel with his pupils having turned, disturbingly, into a goat's black bars, "I've got overwatch. Get that idiot's gun and let's get moving!"

Leaving Tuckit in a heap on the floor, Kare rises up and glances to Callax as he shoots Massone. This means Kare has to close the distance to the body and quickly she does. Skidding bare feet across the ground she keeps her mass low center of gravity to grab the gun and rise back up. She digs her feet in and rushes towards Callax."Go GO GO!" She yells at him and makes sure her weapon is off of stun just in case.

The El-Tee is booking it without stopping as they head down the street. The mass of resistance rescuers suddenly come into view as they round a corner and that causes Kare to stop. "HEY!" She calls out. "HEY!!" She starts for them.

Ektor returns over the comlink, << I hear you, Cap. Firing up the boat now. Already got a nice wild escape vector plotted out, ain't NOBODY gonna chase us out that way, yeah?>> He sounds dangerously pleased to have chosen a flight path no one should fly in. Hmm. Around him, the control boards and running lights of the Ghost light up, and the boarding ramp lowers on hissing hydraulics. To himself, he mutters, "Poe, buddy: if a pack of lizard monkeys sneak on and drop dreks on your boat, I want it on record it was not on purpose, yeah?"

In the distance an alarm is sounding. One that has not been heard in the city for many years. In the guardhouse near the spice road that goes by the starport, there is a general scramble, bunks are emptying. Shouts can be heard and the com channels are jammed as a general alert for a disturbance in the northwestern quadrant of the city goes out. Around the Resistance group, lights are coming on. Down the street a head looks out from a house and pops back inside.

Callie and Kare unwittingly are in danger from friendly fire. A voice calls out, Aryn the young Jedi doctor senses them through the Force and calls out their names.

When Miri catches sight of Kare and Callax, she sings out, <<Got eyes on the package!>> She points in their direction of egress for their benefit and starts to run. A blaster bolt hits her in the calf and she stumbles, but she grits her teeth and keeps moving.

And Aryn is off. Running after the others only following the moment she spots their allies. Thankfully, identifying them has prevented the unlucky circumstance of being shot by friends, but it does not hinder the guards pursuing them. At the ushering of the others, Aryn is up and running with the others to safety!

Booted feet pound splitting the quiet of the night as the alarm warbles in the distance. Behind the troops, the temple guardians are being called out. Four t'landia til leave the temple at a run and join the troopers that move in from east and west. Lights are coming on and the private guards from the slave owners in the city are joining the chase.

Snap sees the missing pilots in the street, and a broad smile splits his face in two. "Oh hey! We were just talking about you. All good things. All good things." The old pilot calls out to the pair as they sprint towards them -- waving them on as they come. "Now lets keep running." Snap then looks to Aryn, sees that she is moving, and is pleased at the site. Before he runs, the Captain turns around to fire back at their pursuers -- trying to keep them honest and at bay. His shots go wide however. <<Lieutenant, looks like we've woken up the city guard. Our entrance is going to be a bit spicy. Be ready.>>

Merek takes off with the others when it looks like the mission is finished. He lifts up his pistol to return fire at the slaver which also manages to take them to the floor also, as he shifts the weapon and works his way to the ship.

The storms of Ylesia are beginning to howl as the Resistance team hustles out of the city and toward their waiting Ghost. <<Welcome aboard, this is your Captain speaking- hey, is Joy back there? Did she faint when she heard I'm a Captain, yeah?>> Ektor chuckles as the VCX is <<Ready to run, yeah? Somebody holler when we got everyone, and then hang onto something. Or someone, I know emotions are high, about now.>>

Having been snatched up like a flag and yanked bodily through space, Callax laughs madly as Kare leads them through the streets of the city with the rest of the gang - firing pot-shots uselessly behind them as they go, he looks more like some kind of madcap gun moll to Kare's gangsterette than a proud pilot of the Resistance, but his blood is up and they're just /getting away/. He's got no time for elegance. Soon they're running up the ramp of the Ghost and he's panting, laughing and panting, and grasping Kare by the arms he gives her an almost feral grin.

"I. Love. This. Job," he affirms to the woman, and looks past her to the rest assembled. "And I. Love. You. People." He draws a deep breath, eyes wide and goatlike and strange, crackling with that mad energy. "Oh, /la/!"

The two are still rushing towards the group at first. Kare smirks a bit at Snap, "Later." She nots to the group at large as they now have a pack to run with. When Callax stumbles and threatens to fall behind she moves her gun and lowers her arm, slipping it beneath one of his and steadies him as she slows herself but keeps them moving forward. "I got you Callax, keep moving." She says. Once outside the building the air is a little more palatable and not tasting of sweat and body odor from the other slaves."Glad you are still enjoying yourself." She remarks to Callax.

As Ghost comes into sight she helps Callax up the ramp and into the ship and once they are on board she releases him and turns back around. Only when everyone is on board does she move to sap and there is a sudden hard hug before she knuckles his shoulder as she turns her head and glances towards the cockpit. "Tion! I was not gone long enough for that to happen!" She glances at the group that came for them and she sighs, standing there.

Our long resistance pilots are gathered back into the arms of their comrades after hard street-fighting and through the thick of the beguiling songs of the t'landia til. Gun batteries are being brought to bear on the ship that has flared into existence on their scans. While the crew celebrate briefly at the return, the pilot is going to have to fly his best to get them out in one piece.

As the Ghost lifts off, its hatch sealing shut and the shields flickering into being around them, the city defense grid opens fire. The larger turbolaser batteries are impressive but pose little threat to a ship of this size. More alarming are the alarms. A warning klaxon sounds in the cockpit, recognizable to all pilots who have ever been the target of an attempted missile lock. "HA. Good luck with THAT, Hutt-suckers. You'll catch an honest Corellian before you catch this-" And then the point defense batteries open fire. "Eh, drek!" Ektor curses, throwing the light freighter into a wild evasive maneuver that shifts everything and everyone inside. He starts to answer Kare with a crooked grin over one shoulder, before actually SEEING her and scoffing, eyes back on the business of avoiding ground defenses as he gripes, "What kinda drek is this? When I'm a slave it's all burning lashes, freezing mines, soul sucking energy spiders and torture droids.. But when YOU'RE a slave its slinky loincloths and.. well, apparently not much else?"