Log:Resistance: Trail of Poisoned Crumbs

Resistance: Trail of Poisoned Crumbs

OOC Date: March 21, 2020
Location: Desevro, Tion Cluster
Participants: Elrych Cometburn, Jax Greystorm, Ektor as the GM, Lofty, Zandra naMuriel, Dyannah Nerus, Sesti Greystorm, Yuun, Aryn Cole

The wastelands of Desevro, where a human supremacist cell called the 38th House is preparing for an attack on Dac. Find out as much as you can about them, and call in the fleet if it gets too hot.

According to Intel by way of the.. occasionally reliable Naq Muura, a Human supremacist cell in the notoriously xenophobic Desevro system is preparing an attack on Dac using dangerous and banned bioweapons. Calling themselves the 38th House, they are headquartered in a desolate stretch of ancient, crumbling cityscape on the edge of a vast frozen swampland.

Such humano-centric groups are rather common in this sector, occasionally violent, but of little training and of even less means. The climate is below freezing, the polluted clouds and fits of wind send gusts of black snow swirling through the air as the team disembarks at Jigani Port, and descends toward their known destination. What was a grand tiled plaza full of fountains centuries ago has been reduced to a level stretch of cracked masonry and shattered statuary, pressed into service as a landing field for a handful of mismatched starships: three large, blocky vessels, and a number of small fightercraft.

"This world, it is a fossil from a greater age. Reduced to its skeleton and made hollow by the icy winds. Death is in the air." Aryn says cautiously as she steps down the ramp and hugs her heavy fur-collared cape close. Gloved hands feel the cold stab of the wind, and Aryn's cheeks turn a noticeable red. She tucks back her hair, which became untamed when her hood blew back. She pauses at the foot of the ramp to wait for the more experienced members of the team.

Lofty the Talz disembarks from the ship wearing a dark blue cape that blows in the wind. He's an obvious alien, but his large size and the giant long gun on his back likely keeps any locals from voicing their opinions. He collects some information from a starport smuggler-marketeer known to him, then returns to the ramp to chat with Aryn and Elrych. "They no like non-human."

Elrych isn't far behind Aryn, his hood threatning to fall back and off his head with the strong wind. "If I didn't know better, I would have thought these were INVIDS. Uglies and old TIEs next ot expensive freighters and a kriffin' Carrack. I mean seriously... That's a lot of credits. Someone is paying good these days." He could only guess but the answer seemed obvious with what was going on on coruscant.

Jax was working his way way along with the group. Though he stops pulling his electornic binoculars down to observe the people coming and going. "Yeah not only are they paying good. There's a small army down there and somebody's loading canisters on the Carrack. The intel on this might just be legit." He says as pulls up his binoculars.

An anthropologist might notice that an archaic numbering system had been used to emblazon the number '38' on an abandoned structure that has the look of an ancient palace that had been repurposed several dozen times until it just looks like a shabby old stone shell with tarps for roofing. At this distance, none within the conspirators' base have noted the off worlders.

Aryn is perhaps the most /least military/ of the bunch here. So it should come as no surprise when the young doctor asks, "What's a Carrack?" This question is forgotten with a sudden concern for Lofty's well-being. If they did not like Aliens, he might be in real danger here! Not that Lofty couldn't blast his way out of any problem, but it still concerned the Doctor who traveled with the Talz to various places (like Hoth).

When Aryn surveys their surroundings, she skips over a seemingly key element of their mission, but her second pass over it has her take in a sharp breath. "There.. that ancient structure. It bears the Tionese archaic numerals 38." What Aryn didn't say was that the shabby old stone shell probably pre-dated the Republic by a few thousand years; it may have been erected in the age of the Livien League!! AHHH! Intriguing.

Elrych gleens the structure Aryn mentions with his solar shade covered blue eyes, pushing the thick black rimms of the sight implements up the bridge of his nose. "Yeah I think that's what we're looking for... or something." He looks to Lofty for clarification. "Well... we could just call in an air strike... or go down there and like... convince them to be nice... or something." The young Jedi was still learning the finer part of combat tactics, even in the skies and especially on the ground.

Zan is here, but she's not sure quite what she's doing. She hasn't been on very many ground missions at all, so it's probably good that she comes along and learns what to do in different situations. She looks from one to the other, listening to what they say, and then squints, trying to see whatever there is to be seen.

Jax points out the Carrack, "The long boxy warship down there is bigger than the Tantive IV but smaller than a Star Destroyer. Princess to be blunt they're a pain in the ass to fight. The fleet could deal with a single one but yeah. If it's got fighter support and catches us not paying attention. It could deliver its payload." He considers for a moment pulling his binoculars back down, "I can't make up the chemical labels. Czerka Corporation. It's got Biohazard warnings. Oh this is a fun, they got a fifth container." He looks to Elrych, "I'm with the kid, this might be a Ektor job and not a commando job. A squad of Y-wings or B-wings could handle this situation."

Slipping the binocs back into the pocket of her sleek fur coat, Dyannah puts a gloved finger to her ear. "Chemical canisters with biohazard labels from my vantage point and a crate labeled flight suits. Lockers, too. Not just any lockers but small arms...if ammunitions marked on the side is any indication. Not a big haul of information. Making my way back to you all. " A lock of blue hair escapes the hood; she tucks it in as she slips around the perimeter to rejoin the group.

One trapedoidal cargo canister ascends the Carrack's loading ramp on industrial repulsorlifts, others waiting their turn to follow. While the bulk of the work is going on there, a figure in a brand new flightsuit walks over to the dozen Humans lingering in and around the landed fighters, drawing audible laughs and whistles from the other pilot's, before turning in place to soak in the attention and show off the combat flightsuit. Luck has held thus far, and none have yet drawn attention to the distant observers.

"Oh, I see. That /is/ a large ship." Talks of bombing this place earns a crooked tilt of Aryn's head as she studies the lay out. "Bombing would be problematic. Historical site obliterated by Resistance bombs, collateral damage to include significant civilians under the speculation of bio-terrorism; unconfirmed identification. This has media smear campaign all over it."

Aryn adjusts slightly. "Sending in a team to do this by hand was wise. Is there a way to disable this.. /Carrack/ while it's on the ground? Disrupt their means of transporting what they intend to deploy?"

Lofty listens to Jax Greystorm's description of a carrack cruiser, reminding him of that Adegan donut shop back on Naboo and their deep-fried Carrack Cruller donut. His snoot starts to water at the thought. The polluted black 'snow' of this world has gotten caught in his thick white fur, making him look not only windblown but also dirty. "Lot of soldiers for small team to hit. They have small army, we have small team. Carrack take at least 500 crewmens. Blowup in space would be nice, less mess."

Elrych Cometburn glances to Aryn and the others as he thinks over their options. "Place a tracker on the ship with the pods and hit it in space... Yeah probably more my thing but..." He looks to Jax specifically, "Could do... unless we plant explosives or otherwise disable it on the ground."

"Well they're loading, so Aryn's right. We better hit this thing now." He shrugs, "We could try to sneak aboard and highjack it. It's been a long time since I did something like that. Maybe one of us sneaks aboard sends an aboart ship message to abandon ship. Then sets course for the star in system? Of course making sure we escape." He turns this helmeted head to look at Lofty, "It would require a better plan than we charge and see who can make the jump."

"Well, if some of them move away, could we steal their gear and sneak on that way?" Zan offers, thoughtfully. She shrugs though,not at all sure. "It's not the safest of ideas, though." She frowns, and then says, "If we do fail that sneaking though, I'm not so sure good things will happen."

Back with the group, the Zeltron takes off the coat that served as camouflage in the black blowing snow. Sitting in the nest of fur, Dyannah double-checks the ammunition on the A280 that awaited her. The high pitched whine of the blaster coming to life signaling its readiness. "Not a bad point, they have the numbers, we have position if they don't have any incoming that could pin us. Out in space has the advantage of no blowback of biohazards. Dr. Cole makes an even more trenchant point: collateral damage. ID them like Elrych suggests and blow them in space or hit them now. Hitting them now suits me." She slaps a new power cell onto the rifle and stands. After locking on the helmet that waited alongside her blaster rifle, the visor gleams silver as she powers on the HUD.

<"Just saying." >she says helmet angling as her glance moves from person to person.

Yuun is the last to come off the ship, having checked his gear and making sure he had what he needed, which honestly since his talk with Aryn, he's been slowly getting himself situated again. He has on a his robes, which also he wears a loose fitting heavy coat. Yuun has been on quite a few ground missions and he knew what to look for.

Scanning the area around them and letting the others talk, when information about the 38th comes to him he just nods his head, "We have a few eyes on us, I think they're just the locals." he says says to the group into his comm. "I don't think they have anything to do with who we are here to check on."

In the course of her return to the main band, Dyannah is noticed by a young, poorly dressed Desevrar girl, who stares at the hooded Zeltron with big brown eyes. "Mama- look at the pink Hutt," she murmurs with a widening smile. Following her daughter's eye, 'Mama' grabs the girl's hand sharply and hustles the child indoors and out of sight of the aliens and their guns. The child is scolded for waving bye-bye.

<<"There is a means to the ship that is not so direct. One moment.">> Aryn says over the encrypted line. From her back, Aryn produces a Theed-Arms S-5, and triggers the weapon to cable mode. Taking a balanced stance, Aryn aims at the biggest ship on the field, her tongue sticking out slightly. She fires the soundless cable and makes a distant connection. Turning then, the weapon cycled its second harpoon, and she fired it at a second location, deploying the spool that formed a steel sheepshank to shorten the length of the cable yet maintain its friction. It looked no different than a power cable. Its deployment sounded like a clip PLINKING from its chamber.

The next step is casting her cape over the line and 'zipping' across to the other side. When she lands against the hull, she makes for the exterior airlock, climbing with a bit of difficulty, but managing.

<<"Made it.">>

Lofty the Talz remains on the ground, wrapped in his dark blue cape. He stands beside a building and some crates ready to give cover in case the entry team has to leave in a hurry. His long rifle is surreptitiously removed from his back and the orb igniter is clicked on with a thrumming sound.

A bit of smile spreads across Jax's helmeted face as he sees Aryn and Erlych jump into action. Jax turns to look at Dyannah,"I would never call you a hutt, Boss." Then he starts strolling through the crowd of terrorist. His very nice armor getting him most the way. Though as he draws near the canisters he tries to get a view of them so his helmet playback option can catch the chemical names hopefully of the toxin. Then he pulls his helmet off when he draws near somebody questioning him. With his very human face, Corellian charm and grin and just a touch of the force, "I'm a member of the crew and need to report to my station." Then he hads up the ramp.

Elrych Cometburn grins as Aryn manages to get the cable attached. He summons the force around him and aticks to the shadows before quickly climbing up the wire. Once aboard he looks around for a hatch, "Yeahhh... Imma steal a ship, baby." Perhaps he is far too exceited he got this far without being spotted.

Zan stays back with Lofty and Dyannah, keeping a watch on things, as the others take the opportunity to sneak aboard the ship. Or just walk right on. She shakes her head, watching Jax, and then grins. A moment and she shrugs to those back with her. "We can't all be sneaky," she says with a laugh. Quiet then, she takes another look, cautiously looking to see if anyone is watching them or there's any danger they've not noticed as yet.

Working with Jedi still makes Dyannah do double-takes. The princess's maneuver followed by Elrych has her mumbling an invocation to the goddess of mercy as she takes her position to cover them from incoming troops. Protective of the people that work with her, her fists clench with anxiety when Jax strolls up to the ramp claiming he is a crew member. She has no chance to explain that all non-natives are Hutts here, she wants him to concentrate. Settling into position behind some unlabeled crates, Dyannah watches the men strut in their flight suits hoping she won't need to pull the trigger.

There's a slight shake of a helmeted head next to Dy in her cover as Sesti watches her husband. "He is lucky he is so charming," she mutters quietly to the woman next to her, her blade resting low along the ground but not turned on, yet. Her eyes scan the rest of the area to see if anyone seems to be taking too much interest in her husband and his compatriots. Yuun watches over Aryn as she moves across the rope, once she makes it over, he looks at the area she was going to and the ship. Once she is on the ship he nods his head, he looks to Elrych as he floats over to the rope and runs on it. He shakes his head a little and smirks. Glancing back to the others, he sees Zandra and smiles to her. "I will go down with these two, we will report back what we find." he says to whoever is the leader, he then crosses over the zipline and once he gets across he sneaks onboard the ship as well coming up behind Elrych and Aryn quietly.

There are a few sets of eyes on the team that remains behind: a trio of locals (one teenager and a pair of younger children) are staring at Lofty. Just.. wide eyes, mouths hanging open, *staring*. One speculates quietly that the Hutt might be using its drool to, "speak Hutt". The pilots- men and women alike- are well and truly occupied with the impromptu new flightsuit runway show, and the high priority loading of canisters consumes the attention of the others. On one of the Carrack's upper levels, Aryn, Elrych, and Yuun have entered through an airlock, finding no crew immediately inside the airlock, but the sounds of activity nearby. Gunnery turrets are common on the upper walkway, while the main cargo bay stretches a level below.

With a team of three Jedi on top of the cruiser, it was going to make this effort a little easier. Aryn smirks as she takes a knee and looks at the airlock for a moment. Raising a gloved hand, her fingers extended, Aryn uses her influence of the force to take hold of the locking mechanism behind the door. Closing her eyes, Aryn focused on the mechanism's functionality until she understood how it worked.

With a corkscrew motion of her hand, the airlock unlocked with a muffled noise, and making a horizontal gesture, the door slid into its track opening the way for them. "Gentlemen.." Aryn said, beads of sweat on her forehead, but she gestures to Elrych and Yuun to lead the way. She'd slip in last.

Elrych Cometburn drops into the airlock as Aryn pops it open with the force. His saber is plucked off his belt, but stays from activating the blade. He waits, quietly, observing. He can hear people but his Jedi Radar isn't really tuning into specifics. "Gota be careful... use the trick if we get caught."

Jax slips his helmet back on as he makes his way up the ramp. Then seeing the crates of holoporn, Jax heads that direction and finds a position to hold up on out of site among the crates. He speaks into his comlink, <Alright, I'm hiding in the hold. There's a party down here. We also got torpedoes, porn, sand, blaster packs, slugthrower rounds and food. I think they might be sitting up a base. They also don't seem to familar with the ship or each other.)

Zan frowns, where she is, with Dyannah and Sesti, as she considers the situation. "might help if some of them are busy with something else," she murmurs, thoughtfully. She glances around, and then again, before she tilts her head. She reaches out a hand, gently, as she reaches for the Force. It's a bit of a stretch, and there's a slight wobble for a moment, but she reaches for what looks like some rocks on top of the wrecked building, lifting them up and sending them flying. She's careful to send them away from where she knows there are people, wanting them to go running to find out what is happening and not trying to hurt anyone. "maybe that will help."

< I didn't consult with the other on their plans in the upper part of the ship. Jax, lay down demolitions and get out, right?> Dyannah's voice crackles over their encrypted channel. In an aside to Sesti, < It must have taken a whole cargo of charm to win you. He's a lucky man; I hope he knows it.>

The catcalls and whistles continue during the flight suit show. A growing swell of sound from Zandra's TK push makes heads turn, and people stand up from their impromptu seats. There is nothing for anxious Zeltron to do but track the movement of the outside group.

Yuun drops down after Elrych does and he smiles a little bit as he began to take the lead, though he does remember what happened last time. He moves up along side him, "There is quite a few people here." he says as he looks to Aryn and Elrych, "Stealth would be a good means for infiltrating." he tells them.

"Of course there is porn," Sesti mutters, her eyes rolling upwards unseen under her helmet. She cocks her head at the sound of the rocks falling and turns to the others. "I am going to head a little closer, in case I am needed. I am better at short range." Scanning the movement around her, she waits until there's a clearing in the traffic, following behind the last person and ducking under cover once again.

Gusts of black snow that had settled atop the tarps are blown free as the newly loosed material blows loose, promptly drawing a couple dozen of those moving in and out of the ruins scrambling to get the sheet drawn back into place and anchored back down before the weather damages the stores and quarters inside. The pilots don't help. Lazy pilots.

Inside the Carrack, it sounds as if the captain (whoever that is) intends to lift off within an hour.

Aryn lands inside after the other two Jedi and moves to the doorway. She doesn't need the Force to tell her there's a bunch of people on board. It's a big 'kriffing' ship, according to both Jax and Elrych. Not HER words. "Look sharp, gentlemen. We move forward. This ship cannot be allowed to carry out its mission. We must reach the helm and take command of it."

Aryn triggers the hatch, and walks right out into the corridor, her cape trailing behind her. Walking with a sense of entitled purpose, it may have helped to be a noble in this instance. "Come along, gentlemen!" She issues to Elrych and Yuun, and strolls right toward the men at their gunnery stations on her way to the bridge.

Elrych Cometburn moves with purpose as Aryn makes way towards the bridge. As they pass a group of crew being shown about, the Corellian guves a lazy two fingered salute, reaching out with the force to tickle their madula oblengata. "Hey folks, don't mind us. We are totally supposed to be here. Move along..."

Jax comes over the com, <Mines? What mines? Note to self bring mines next time. Learn how to use mines. Hey Boss lady, the one that's not my beautiful wife. If they ain't doing anything scary out there. Could you prep the ship, maybe prep a stiffing run against these fighters? I don't wnat to die in space.> Then he looks around for a moment and grins, < I'm going to try to get some of the knuckle heads out of here. You guys going take the bridge? We better do this fast.> Then he pops his helmet off and yells, "OH, Kriff, that canister's leaking! Run!"

Zan can certainly fly, if that's needed. "I guess we should get to the ship? I can fly if you can shoot?" she offers. "I can shoot fixed mounts, but - don't ask me if the guns are moving." She's totally willing to do something, if it will work.

Despite the rating for her armor the cold creeps through her seat, Dyannah shifts wishing for a cushion. If the field base were a raft, it would be tilting to one side as more and more crew run down the ramp joining the people moving to fix the blowing tarp.

<No mines, Jax but MIND. Good job getting the panic going. The ship will be prepped and waiting.>

Following the two other Jedi, he smiles as Aryn gestures for them to follow her. Walking along with them, he smiles as he moves down the hall of the ship. Yeah, using the force to sense life forms was DUUUUUUUUMB and even Yuun facepalms himself as he walks down the hall. He chuckles a little bit as Elrych gestures to a few people letting them know we belong here. He sighs, "Yeah." is all he says as he keeps track of those around them as they move through teh ship.

Sesti closes her eyes and she wraps her fingers tightly around the hilt of her sword, before she replies. <<You could not have suggested that two minutes sooner, could you?>> she grouses at her husband, despite the lovely wife boss reference. <<Be lucky if I do not tag your tail.>> She sheathes her blade, and then winds her way back to her original hiding space, then out, jogging to catch up to Dyannah and board the ship.

The six gunners and their commander look up curiously as Aryn and her pair of robed escorts appear. Elrych's force-aided suggestion is enough for one of the gunners to mutter to another, "She must be one of the Thirty-seven," which is met with an agreeing shrug. One of them even tried a hesitant salute, before the director gets them gruffly back on task. "You heard him: move along. Point defense turrets are this way-" Below, sudden panic raises a clamor in the cargo hold. Something about a leak. Dozens have rushed down the ramp and into the black blowing snow by the time an authoritative voice shouts from aft, "You idiots- it's solid, it CAN'T leak- besides, it only kills fish! GET BACK HERE," to little avail. The bridge of the light cruiser is occupied only by a puzzled pair of techs, one of whom is asking into a comm panel, "Is this some Hutt-sucking DRILL you're pulling on us?"

Lofty is the next to fall back to the original transport after Dyannah and Sesti do so. His long rifle is kept down and hidden by his cloak. The Talz is already reaching for his comb when he goes up the transport's ramp, mumbling, "This snowdirt take forever to get out." Disgusting.

Aryn smirks when Elrych deploys his uncanny ability of mind trickery; which secures them a straight route to the bridge. The doors part with a loud hiss and in walks Aryn. Her lightsaber makes a sudden click noise as it is pulled free of her belt and activate in a tell-tale SNAP-HISS. "Get out!" She screamed to the two techs, standing her ground for a moment colored in the hue of blue light from her sword.

When they scramble from the bridge, Aryn deactivates her weapon and clips it back to her belt. "Yuun, seal the door. Elrych, I need help. I.. I don't know how to fly something this large."

Aryn finally clicks the comms. <<"Team, this is Doc. We've taken control of the bridge. Please, make way to your shuttle unless you're aboard this vessel. Send word to the New Republic that we're in the process of stealing their ship which was intended to deploy that poison. We'll chat more once we're spaceward. Doc out.">>

Aryn flips a row of switches near the power station, bringing the core online. "You've got power now, Elrych. Green across the board. Where do you need me next?" Aryn glances back to Yuun, then to Elrych. This was precarious. They were outnumbered, impossibly, and it all hinged on those doors staying shut. "Can we trigger an evacuation alarm of some sort? If they figure out we're only a small number, this could get.. this could get really /really/ bad."

Jax steps otu of the his hiding place with his helmet resecured and lights his saber, "Leave if you want to live. I'm taking the the ship. I will not allow you to poison people." His blue saber glowing off his white and red armor of his Katarn armor. While he may not be a jedi knight he does look like a knight of legends. He stands ready, < I'm emptying the hull. Soon as we get in atmosphere space the hold. I'll be fine and set the self destruct.>

"Oh, Darlin'... all you gota do is ask and I'm there, Princess." Elrych says sweetly, hooking his lightsaber back onto his belt before taking a seat at one of the conn seats. He runs his hands affectionatly over the console before he starts to flip switches and press buttons. <<"you're doin' it, Doc... youre doin' just fine... keep doing that. Closing the main hatch now... Overriding any safeties..." The ship roars with a shutter, Elrych pausing to grin at Aryn and Yuun. He waggles his brows, "Thruster's online." His attention returns to the controls... "Just one more thing..." He brings up a display and searches through something. Then with a few more switches... loud swinging music starts to play through out the entire ship. "That's better..."

Zan is quiet as she makes her way back to the shuttle, and she makes her way to the pilot chair, sliding in, and starting the take off sequence. <Come on, let's go!> She sounds urgent, but she's not overly rushed, making sure that things get started up appropriately. <We are launching,> That to Aryn and company. "We need com out to the big guns, right?" A glance at Dyannah, cause heck if Zan knows about that.

Joining the general exodus Dyannah runs obliquely to the crowd heading towards the shuttle that they hid. <Stay safe everyone! The message will be relayed. Stay safe, Jax>

Once inside the shuttle, she slams herself into one of the gunnery stations. <Green here, Zandra. Go go.>>

Having made sure the bridge doors was secured and locked, Yuun moves to one of the stations to assist with the launch of the ship, "I will do my best to help out here." eh says as Aryn is already kicking ass with getting this big bird up and going. Yuun does help with getting the bulkheads secured and gettign more power to the engines.

Right on the heels of Dyannah, Sesti is up the ramp and then branching off to another gunnery station. Nimble fingers unlatch the med pack and scabbard from her back as she runs, so she can drop them just before she slides into her own seat and straps herself in. <<Green here, too, Zandra>> she adds, flipping the switches and warming up the weapons.

The unexpected early liftoff of the Carrack- not sudden, but all the more shocking for the light cruiser's sheer size, sends the entirety of the 38th House into frantic activity. The tarp is forgotten (not least of which because the cruiser's thrusters have knocked it loose all over again), as Desevrars scramble amid flurries of black snow. Pilots hurry to prep their fighters for launch, the running lights of the ponderous BFF flicker to life, and the successful hijacking of a capital ship now transitions into fleeing for their lives.

To be continued .