Log:Sunfire Chronicles: Dune Sea Pirates

Poe makes a questionable decision.

OOC Date: March 7, 2022
Location: Mos Espa, Tatooine
Participants: Ghost Crew, Krssantan, Ektor, Tess Vikander, Erinn Laski, Zorii Bliss, Poe Dameron

It's a normal morning on Mos Espa, the chill of a desert night being chased off by not one, but two suns. New shipments and activity centered around the palace which once belonged to Lord Jabba was becoming the source of an increased Cartel presence in the area. Poe was enjoying what passed for breakfast beneath the tattered awning of a cafe when he noticed a heavy speeder truck pull up and two thugs exit.

Curious as always, Poe shares a look with a new ally he's been talking to, then looks out to the truck again. "If I had to guess, that truck is loaded with all sorts of expensive goodies." Poe lifts his glass, draining it, and rises up. "Let's steal it."

The ally Poe is sharing a table with is a massive dark-furred Wookiee. Even larger, broader, and taller than the mighty Chewbacca, Krssantan is a famed warrior of the world, and a raging bounty hunter when the pay is worth his time. While the surprise Poe earns from him suggests he's not willing to cross the hutts, the Wookiee's actions prove other wise when he rises up and follows the shorter pilot.

Rounding the speeder truck, Poe looks to the other side to see a few thugs smoking and joking as they wait for whatever it is they're waiting for. Poe frantically waves to Santo to 'climb on the back'. Poe steps forward, like he owns the place and is totally supposed to be there, and opens the door to the speeder and climbs in.

A second later, the engine comes on, and Poe sets it into gear. Santo roars that he's set, the cartel members realize something's amiss, and Poe floors it.

A frantic voice cuts over the comms. <<"HEY GUYS! SO.. I DID A THING.. AND I'VE GOT HALF OF ESPA AWAKE!.. I'M IN A SPEEDER TRUCK TRYING TO OUT RUN THE CARTEL.. WITH THEIR SPICE.. WEAPONS.. AND..--distant roar-- RIGHT.. MORE SPICE. DUNNO WHERE YOU GUYS ARE, BUT THIS IS GOING TO BE A HARD RUN.. I'LL SWING BY AND PICK YOU UP!.. ZORRI.. XER.. WE NEED FIGHTERS.. SANTO SAYS HE CAN SEE AIRSPEEDERS FIRING UP AND COMING AFTER US!">>

It's shopping day for Tess and that means a restock of her medical supplies. After ending to the Tuskan children and those who came with them, plus stabalizing a half-exploded pirate, her wares were getting dangerously low. That's been done in the wee hours of the morning and now she is at a new vendor that has moved into the Town Square. Currently, she is holding up a new, thick beige robe with an appraising eye. Seeing how it looks against her form currently wearing some light armour.

"And you say this will keep me cool? How does that even work? More layers means... cooler?"

"Not-a cooler," the hovering Toydarian corrects with natural-sounding annoyance. "Not just. Also sandstorms and see?" He flutters over and pulls at the hood. "Shade. Everywhere shade."

"Hmmm. That would be nice." The Echani aren't known for getting tans. "I suppose---"

Poe is suddenly yelling in her ear, causing the woman to visably stumble in surprise. It's a lot of explanation said very quickly and she blinks. <"What have you--- uh... Town Square! I'll meet you in the open!"> She quickly throws a bunch of credits -- more than the outfit is worth -- onto the vendor's stall and bolts away; heading for the open space in the middle of the Square and frantically looking around.

Ektor had wanted to keep the void suit on. Not for any of the sensible reasons like concealing his identity, or having effective protection in case of sudden action scenes, but just because it was so. rekking. hot here. But as Poe and pals were making impulsive decisions, Ektor was still sorting out the mess of his last impulsive decision, and was in the process of re-wiring the shredded left side of the Preybomb's cockpit when the comm chirps to life. <<"Somebody say spice?">> Because hey: priorities. "Drek-" he curses, leaving the console half assembled and without a functioning sensor array. He slips into the seat and latches the canopy down, muttering, "Engines still work? Come on, come on... YES, engines still work!" The weld-scarred fighter rattles into the air. <<"I'm up, yeah?">> Now.. do the guns still work? "Come on, come on..."

"Yeah, but like -how- mad would you be?" Erinn asks Zorii after a moment of silence. For context, the two have been discussing the completely-one-hundred-percent-hypothetical scenario of Erinn Laski keeping a baby Womp Rat as a pet in her room. The question comes after several moments of silence, during which the engineer had resumed tinkering on a little bit of electronic circuitry that would later on become a bomb.

Just a typical Monday on Tatooine.

She does look up from her circuitry when that question hangs around like an awkward kid at a party. Or maybe she's the awkward kid at the party. Either way, the young woman turns her attention over her shoulder to Zorii and narrows her eyes again. "...Like, y'know. -How- mad...?" she asks again.

Mercifully, the sound of Poe's voice cuts through the comms and Erinn drops her circuitry with a delicate little 'click' and a whine from the engineer as all those tidy filaments shatter like glass.

<<"Noooooo!">> Erinn laments over comms, but the gravity of the current situation sets in a little soon after.

<<"We're coming to you! Just hang on!">> Erinn says and pushes up from her chair to follow Zorii.

Zorii is leaning beside Erinn in her body suit with the bronzium helmet sitting on the table upon which Erinn is working on her electronics, "On a scale from Hoth to Mustafar?" She asks the engineer with a smirk, a smirk she cannot help. "When we're overrun by womp rats, I'm going to kick you out of your room and weld the doors closed so those little monsters can't get to me." Over the course of the last week it has become abundently clear that Zorii Bliss has an irrational and intense phobia of rats.

This is who this whole conversation started.

"Erinn..." She'll never call her Laski! EVER! "Since it's you.. and only because it's you.. and ONLY because yo-" Enter Poe.

Zorii listens to what he's saying with her smirk slowly becoming a rather intense frown. "Guess we have to go..." She wonders and grabs her helmet, "Come on, we'll take the Flyer. You know how to work a duel-cannon?" The helmet locks in over her head, ponytail bundled up in the back. She climbs up and drops in the cockpit, <"Move it, Erinn! We have to go save Poe from himself!">

<<"We're on the way. Try not to do anything stupid before we get there... Try not to do anything ELSE... anyways.">>

So when the speeder rounds the corner of the dirt-street, Poe has to downshift because sand is clogging the ventral intakes that made it possible for the repulsors to stay air-cooled. This creates a LOUD roar of an engine that spills Santo over, off his feet to land on the large bed of the truck and roar in protest. "SORRY.. I KNOW, SORRY!" Poe calls back, the gears grinding aloud as the pilot tries to manually purge the vents by cycling the gears and giving it 'gas.'

<<"DOC!.. You should see us now.. SANTO IS GOING TO GRAB YOU ON THE FLY.. HOLD YOUR ARM OUT!">> Poe manages to correct the speeder, gunning it forward with another loud roar of its engines and Doc Vikander sees the large truck loaded down with crates and crates of stuff rush toward her. Santo, if she didn't know, made himself known by leaning out of the side and offering a massive furry paw for her to latch onto and grab.

Inside the driving pod, Poe flips down a row of switches and reaches under the dash, feeling around for something specific. Behind them, airspeeders SCREAM closer, discharging small blaster shots that spark along the back bed of the speeder. Krssantan shields the doctor from the concussion of the blast, then turns to yell at the four air speeder chasing them. He picks up a piece of metal scrap and hurls it toward the speeders who easily avoid it.

<<"TRANSMITTING COORDS NOW, GUYS.. WE GOT AIR AND GROUND CHASING US! AHH!">> Poe orients the speeder truck for the open desert, and behind them: two speeder trucks with several thugs on the back are chasing, and air-speeders dominate the sky flying erratically to disable the speeder that Poe has commandeered.

Tess is in the open spinning this way and that. She can hear the commotion approaching like a robotic stampeded. If that wasn't enough, the shocked gasps and cries of the Mos Espa denizens quickly trying to get out of harm's way a few blocks over. The cacophany gets louder and louder on the approach and just as Poe announces their arrival, Tess has visual.

And what a visual it is!

Stuffing her new outfit into her crossbody satchel, Tess reaches outwards to be picked up in a most unconventional way. A big, hairy arm loops under Tess and just like that, she is airborne! The Town Square is speeding past in a blur with the sound of roaring engines and a roaring Wookie. Patting the massive, furry arm, Tess lets out a breath of "My hero!" She quickly scoots into the passanger seat draws the carbine from her back. "I see now why you needed a doctor, Poe!"

"YES, I got engines AND guns. That's all a bird needs, yeah? Wings and claws," Ektor crows as the Preybomb roars toward Mos Espa, rattling growing louder as he accelerates. Poe is transmitting coordinates? <<"Great, I got-">> he looks to the sensor readout. Or rather, the empty, gutted console where the sensor readout would normally be. "....drek." Ahem. <<"Hey, uh.. Bliss. I'm just gonna.. follow you to where Poe is, yeah? No reason or nothing.">>

"No idea!" Erinn responds to Zorii as she scrambles into the seat of the mounted turret and straps herself in with a mechanical -click-. "How hard can it be, right? Just point and... woah!" Erinn's flipping on the various switches that look like they ought to be flipped on and the whole turret comes alive. It shudders beneath her, and the seat she's sitting in swings into its gyro-swivel as the guns swing back and forth. Some calibration is needed, clearly.

"I got it! I got it I got it," Erinn says as the turret stabilizes. It's a bit disorienting, really. Thankfully, that gyro keeps the turret fixed at one spot even as the ship maneuvers around. Fancy.

<<"Hang tight, guys! I've got a visual. Weapons are hot!">>

KREE KREE KREE. The turret chunks hot plasma everywhere across the desert sand but the speeders she's trying to hit. It's probably SUPER scary though!

"Farkle!"

The Flyer kicks up out of the hangar at far faster speeds than anyone should be allowed or capable of flying a fighter. As soon as she's cleared for takeoff, the Y-Wing rolls out and kicks forward with the throttle pushed to maximum. In atmosphere, that throws Zorii back into her seat and sends Babu tumbling through the cockpit... Red streaks cut out from the twin engines as she devours distance between their hidden base and where Poe is making a run for it from the Hutt Cartel goons.

<"Hold onto your knees, Erinn, this is going to get bumpy..."> In ship born comms, <<"On me Xer. I'm going in danger close so try not to vaporize me...">>

What exactly does that mean?

The Flyer dips low, headed straight down towards the dunes, <<"Hit the gas, Poe!">> When his speeder leaps forward, Zorii's fighter fills in the gap betwixt him and the chasing group of Speeders. Twists on its axis with the afterburns sturring up a massive cloud of dirt, dust, and sand, and makes the whole place look like a god damned nightmare for them to try and chase without running into something.

Then she shoots back out between two buildings, twisting the whole frame of the fighter to wrap out with only a bit of sand-stone brick snapping against the shields as she comes roaring back out into Tatooines night sky. <"Let's see how you sons of Banthas drive in a dust storm...">

One of the airspeeders explode as the two fighter pilots manage to join their stupid leader in his quest to piss the Hutts off. With open desert now, Poe takes advantage of the sudden confusion, heralding the decision to gun it by warning the two riding with him, "HANG ON!"

Shifting the speeder into gear, the engine roars, and Poe 'floors it' as Zorii tells him to hit the gas. <<"I'm RED LINING DOWN HERE! GREAT THINKING ZORII!">> Poe thinks they may survive yet.

Three air speeders fire blindly into the dust storm Zorii stirs up using her nacelles, one blast nearly hitting the speeder truck as Poe jerks the 'wheel' one way, then recovers. The large trucks chasing them have a tough time catching up, but one manages the effort.

Coming up along side Poe's speeder, a gutsy cartel thug runs and jumps, landing on the truck bed of Poe's speeder. As he rises up, he sees a nine-foot tall Krssantan before him, who roars and bashes his spiked, electric knuckle weapons together which spark with glee. The cartel member begins to think he made a mistake.

<<"HOLDING THIS COURSE..SENSORS SAY WE HAVE A FEW MORE AIRSPEEDERS COMING THOUGH.. COUNTING.. THREE.. I THINK..">> Poe yells, his voice on comms has a lot of background noise from the engines and the tinky-tats of gravel being flung against the speeder's metal exterior.

They are leading a impromptu parade, complete with fireworks, out of the city limits and into the Dune Sea. It's a chaotic parade route will a lot of ducking and weaving. The speeder jerks to the side and then the other; flinging Tess against the outside edge and then throwing her against the driver. "Where did you learn to drive?!" Wherever it was, the techniques are keeping them alive and that stands for something.

Their vehicle lurches as one brave soul leaps onto the back only to get a face full of Wookiee. Assured Santo has that under control, Tess turns her attention to the driver of the speeder running up alongside them.

"Oh... the Six forgive me." A twist of her waist spins Tess around to face outwards, leaning back against Poe's shoulder to brace herself and line up the shot. The rival drive takes an explosive hit to the shoulder, screaming a curse in Huttese but manages to keep their vehicle under control.

The second shot immediately afterwards, however, blows a hole where his ribs used to be and he slumps deadweight on the wheel. The speeder's nose hits the sand, topples over--- and the carnage is swallowed by the Bliss-made sandstorm.

<<"Spice Girl, I'ma be up in your engine wash, don't dread none, yeah?">> Ektor returns to Zorii, flying close enough that onlookers might struggle to even notice a second fighter in the desert air. When the Blissful Flier dips low, the Preybomb breaks out of her wake and Ektor annihilates an incoming airspeeder. <<"SURPISE, Hutt-suckers! HahaHAA.">> When Poe calls out three more incoming, Ektor answers, <<"Unless you say different, I'ma guess they coming from behind you, yeah?">> His next salvo sears through the sand and air, but does nothing worse than scatter glassed traces of silica across the target's canopy.

Erinn Laski's no good in the turret, but that doesn't mean the lil nerd can't do some... other good. While fanning the proverbial hammer and chucking plasma to turn desert sand into glass, her eyes spy a little visual element in the top right corner of the targeting module. She squints at it, the report of the cannons causing her torso to bounce with each shot fired as she squints at that targeting element. She releases her fingers from the trigger and lifts her hands to brush it towards the center of the heads-up display.

"Momentum vertices... inertial estimates... automatic pitch and direction anticipation... this is a targeting module!" she exclaims!

<<"Calculating a lock for you, Zorii. Gimme just a... secco...">>

-bee beep!- The computer chirps and Zorii's reticle will switch from a neutral white to a green.<<"Got it! Feeding you the information now!">>

<<"I see you, Xer.">> When he sweeps in out of her wake to rain down on the speeders during her crazy stunt flying... She skins a building and cuts power, jerks the stick, and sends the back end skidding like a thrown disk without any power behind her. The thrusters kick with a right pedal, twist her all the way around on a dime, and then power is thrown back into the nacelles, about facing. Just as Erinn's fancy computer work beeps a target lock on her main forward guns.

<"You can keep the womp rats."> She murmurs, but whatever she said is immediately gobbled up as she squeezes the trigger on the fixed forward cannons. It's a hit.. the speeder stands zero chance against star-ship grade weaponry and is blown into so many pieces, even Jawa aren't going to bother sift through it.

Another air-speeder careens in towards the Flyer, peppers her ships, but it rocks the forward guns... the second blast misses... But that third shot? Oh yeah baby. Oh yeah... Carbonized and burnt durasteel crashes into the ground with a amazingly cinematic spray of sand.

The Flyer cuts up, twists, and breaks through the sand storm she'd created only a bit before.

<<"Three more.">> Dead eye glance over her shoulder, <<"Poe, looks like they're on us. You should be clear... We'll keep them busy. Xer, they don't hit hard, but they're no slouches.. Come around on my port-side and we'll say give them a nice goodbye kiss.">>

The cartel thug unfortunate enough to share space with the mighty Krssantan comes to regret every choice they ever made that led them to this point. Santo was not kind or gentle, and whatever was left of the cartel thug was cast off the side of the speeder with a defiant roar and flex.

Poe switches gears again, trying to keep the engines from red lining so much, but he was really pushing the speeder hard to cross the desert. "NO ONE!" Poe answers doc, just before she caused a catastrophic defensive shot that took out one of the speeders. Poe chuckles, "What kind of medicine do you practice?!" Clearly joking.

<<"WE'RE COMING UP ON THE CANYONS NOW.. IT'S A MAZE THERE.. I THINK I CAN LOSE THEM IF YOU GUYS CAN DEAL WITH OUR TAIL!">> Xer's question is answered when the three airspeeders arrive to reinforce their companions, but Zorii is quick to even the odds with amazing piloting. Five more are coming onto sensors, and Poe relays this, <<"THEY MUST REALLY WANT THIS DREK BACK!">>

"HANG ON!" Poe's speeder takes a jump, the repulsors incapable of sustaining their propulsion for a second cut out and they dig into the sand going down a steep hill toward the canyons. Poe manages to jump start the engines again by flipping the switch on and off about 13 times as they slid down the hill. "I CAN FIX THIS," He had yelled.

Tess puts her foot up on the edge of the speeder, holding herself in place right up against Poe as she checks her shots remaining and brings the carbine back up to a high-pitched whine. "Ask me again when we're not getting shot at!" Which might be never at this rate. As for wanting it back "That's rather astute of you, Poe!"

They lurch and then take to the sky again. The engine dies and--- "Can you?!" By flicking it on and off several times. This man must have some kind of comsic luck. That or the galaxy is having a damn good laugh. "Santo, you okay back there?!"

Tess locks her legs under the front console, knees dug into her seat, as she turns to face backwards and firing into the pack of speeders chasing them. Another driver bites the dust -- literally -- but she can't see what happens to the vehicle beyond the cloud of sand.

Did Poe just say something about canyons?! "I /was/ having a loving shopping trip, you know!"

Ektor chuckles over the comms, <<"I'm a lousy kisser, but I can rekk em up real good, yeah?">> Really classy, Ektor. The Tionese pirate banks around on Zorii's flank as requested, wingtip heavy laser cannons primed and ready to roar. Idly, as life and death is doled out in the sky, he cackles back at Poe, <<"You fix it, we gonna make a bigger mess.">> The two heavy starfighters are heavily outnumbered, but far from outgunned as Ektor's wild cannonade blasts another Cartel airspeeder. <<"Somebody remind me to start selling airspeeders, yeah? Got a hunch it's about to be a... booming market, yeah? ..Yeahhhh?">> He's going to assume the lack of uproarious laughter is due to comm jamming, and not any flaws in his dubious wit.

Erinn Laski continues to clickity clack away as the guns on that mounted turret start to cool. She's -in- the computer, now. Accessing all of those tasty files that connect to the wide range of different computerized systems within Zorii's ship. It's... honestly probably a bit of a security issue, but given that this is all self-contained stuff, maybe it's not worth worrying about? We'll go with that.

Accessing the communications doesn't take long, and neither does developing a nasty little subroutine that ear-worms its way into the sensors. She bites down on her bottom lip as she peers out the window to see those speeders weaving and flying around in what -appears- to be some sort of deliberate, coordinated movement.

<<"I'm gonna scramble sensors. We're gonna go dark, which should -hopefully- stop them from sending more goons at us. But it's also gonna... kill our comms. Okay, lights out!">>

She leaves no room for deliberation. Just executes that protocol and shwwwrrrrr... lights out. The Ghost Crew is now dark.

"ZORII!" she yells out from her spot at the turret. "SHOOT THEM GOOD OKAY?!"

<<"Erinn, make sure Xer's comms are turned off please, thanks.">> Zorii says, watching him sweep up on the three remaining targets, but there's a sudden spike on the sensors... and the engineer is back there doing magic with her datapad. <"Oh...."> A grin spreads acros her face behind the bronzium helmet. <"Hold on, we're going to say hello.">

She reaches up and flips a switch to her right, drawing power from her shields and transferring it to her nacelles, then throttles forward ~ The Flyer fires off like a missile towards those new designations on her screen. They're coming in tight towards the canyon, jerking her wrist to drag the heavy fighter around in the increased pull of atmo, until she's within range of one of the pair of proton missile tubes. Blaster fire peppers off her shields, flashing blue as she comes in on them like a charging Rancor.

<"Watch this."> She says, flips over manual firing control from the computer and, loops the nose of the fighter around... releasing one missile out with a woooooppaa as it cuts across the sky. When it hits, the explosion is magneficient and can be seen for several dozen miles in every direction. Wreckage rains down into the canyon, into the sands, and into the hearts and minds of every Jawa! Dinner time! get your hydrospanners guys! We feast tonight!

<"That's intimidation.">

The speeder came back to life and Poe was back at square one gaining speed. They jerk forward and Santo wipes out on the back, hastily latching onto some of the goods there and yelling out about it. "I KNOW.. SORRY BUDDY! HANG ON.." Shifting gears again, Poe chuckles, "He's not having a good time back there." As if on cue, the two speeders chasing them burst through the cloud of sand dust and land behind them. Fortunately (and unfortunately for the cartel) one collided with a rock pillar and immediately exploded.

The other increases their speed and catches Poe's speeder, pulling up along side long enough for 4 thugs to jump across and surround Santo as he was rising back up.

"WE GOT COMPANY BACK THERE!" Poe calls out.

Zorii and Xer have five air speeders left to deal with, but now those cartel pilots are flying blindly and unable to communicate (Diff increased for them.)

Thunk! Thunkthunkthunk! A quartete of uninvited guests hop aboard and not Tess isn't /quite/ so sure Santo has it covered. Nor is she so cavalier with her own skills with a rifle that she thinks she absolutely would NOT hit the much larger Wookiee target. "Keep her steady!" Is yelled at Poe for all the good that will do.

Quickly shedding the weight of her satchel and kicking it safely under the front console, Tess slings her carbine onto her back and climbs over her seat into the back of the truck. Santo is still getting to his feet when the four start to circle him, and Tess picks the closest one as her new dance partner.

A hard kick to the back of the thug's knee throws him enough off balance and, as if on cue, their speeder jerks HARD to the side, allowing Tess to combine the momentum to throw the hapless opponent into the racing sands below. "Three against one feels more fair, hmmm?" When that 'one' is a massive mountain of a Wookiee.

Ektor was already flying without the benefit of functioning sensors- it's something he's done often before, whether for damage or an overly enthusiastic A-wing pilot, he's had practice. Less so his atmospheric rivals, who start to grow predictable. One more is destroyed in a satisfying fireball, disintegrating into scraps too small to interest a Jawa.

Erinn closes her eyes when she feels those shots impact the shields of Zorii's ship, half expecting the whole world to go white and to open her eyes to the faces of her family instead of the sands of Tatween. Alas. She opens those eyes and lets out a long gasp. Never did get used to getting shot at in the military. She slaps down on the belts holding her in place and falls down onto the floor of that turret mount. She scrambles up towards where the shielding array's consoles are sparking in protest from the strain. Her fingers slide across the manifold and pop it open, attempting to divert power from auxiliary systems to forward shields.

Sparks shoot up from that opened panel and shower her face and torso, causing her to wince and cover her face. It's insult piling onto injury as a sudden (necessary) piloting maneuver knocks the engineer onto her back and sees her sliiiiide across the floor and away from the shielding array.

"No no no no no!" she protests.

Zorii is doing everything under her considerable power to out fly a bunch of speeders. Which, it turns out, isn't really that hard when she's in a suped up Y-Wing bomber that helped take down a Super Star Destroyer and free a planet (temporarily anyways, this is still Star Wars) from an axis of evil. She red-lines the engine power, pulling more power from her shields... which is a problem suddenly.. only she didn't know it was going to be a problem until it was a problem so she should be forgiven for that.

Erinn is trying to FIX the shields and for like a couple seconds...

They have no shields.

They just fizzle out.

BLINKY BLANKY.

Just starship grade durosteel armor plating.

<"Erinn, darling, please fix that."> Super casual. Totally nonplushed. This is fine.

She doesn't even retreat! Look'at'er go! Flying after one of those speeders to let loose a torrential downpour of explosive salvation! Through which, she flies! A bit of twisted metal actually SCRATCHES her canopy. Right... no shields.

What's left of the ground crew chasing Poe's team comes to an abrupt end when their driver glances over at Poe who waves at him, the window 'down'. The driver realizes they're in danger and reaches for their blaster to shoot at Poe, but when he looks back up, Poe has him sighted in with a DL-44 handcannon. BEELAMMM! "WAIT!" Screams the other driver, clutching his shoulder from the first shot. He tries to reach for the throttle to reduce their speed, but he isn't quick enough. He saw the throttle, then he saw black as his existence was snuffed out with a subsequent shot.

Pulling the smoking blaster back to watch as it veered off to one side, Poe nods his head in approval. BOOOOOM! Followed, the speeder truck igniting the moment it collided with a rock wall. He slides the DL-44 into a cup holder and increases the speed into the maze of canyons.

Meanwhile, Krssantan defends the Echani doctor by breaking their foes with thunder-cracking punches. Each one that lands sends a body overboard to a sudden, devastating end. Black Krssantan roars victoriously as Poe's speeder leads them away from danger. Glory!, he yelled. GLORY indeed.

Up above, struggling to maintain visual contact with anything, airspeeders fly like they're lost in the sauce. With no sensor capability to help them navigate or target, they have to rely on their pilot sense, and unfortunately for them, they're up against two of the galaxy's most seasoned pilots. With Poe and team away, it left Zorii Bliss and Ektor-Xer Apollyon to mop up what remained.

"How have these Hutt-suckers not run away, yet?" Ektor laughs to himself. "Hell, maybe this is them TRYING to run away and they're so drek that they can't manage it. Heh, that'd be funny," the relapsed pirate muses, still blithely rambling over jammed comms, as if anyone can hear him. Maybe he's just talking to Rocket. The musing is punctuated by cannonfire, and another Cartel airspeeder is gunned down. "I bet that's it, no lie. I think they're such drek they can't even run away right."

Tess turns away in time to miss most of Santo's dance with the trio and upon the victory cry, it is just them in the speeder truck left. "Well done!" She's not squeemish. Tess just wants to make sure she sees the next hard turn coming or she might go flying out of the back of the truck next.

Scrambling back into her seat, Tess straps herself in proper and glances up at the sky; white hair whipping madly around her head like tendrils. "They going to be okay up there?" She calls out to Poe next to her.

Erinn's eyes remain on that sparking shield array as she rolls about from Zorii's aerial maneuvering, her fingers grasping onto anything that she can get ahold of to stabilize it. "I know... I know I know," Erinn says, more for herself than for Zorii. Shields are down. Gotta fix. Gonna die. She pulls herself up and crawls the rest of the way there. Another shower of sparks make her squeal out in surprise, but the engineer steels herself. Wires are clipped and tied. Power shunted from one unit to the next. A few consoles bzrrrrt out of commission, but that shielding array -pops- back into life a few moments later.

"Yessss!" she calls out, lifting both fists into the air in triumph just as Zorii pulls back on the yoke. She slides on her butt into the cockpit, conveniently being deposited back into the swiveling gyro-chair of the turret mount she'd been in at the beginning. She spins it forward and locks it into place, watching Zorii's masterful flying and shooting up close and personal.

"Bringing comms back online in three... two..."

Flick. Click. Vrweeeee.

<<"One. Weeeeelcome back, Ghost Crew. I see Mr. Dameron is the proud new owner of a speeder truck filled with drugs. I hope he saves me some. Hahaha.">>

In the meantime, Zorii is flying like a wizard through the blaster fire raining down on them. Think you got what it takes Hutt Cartel thugs?! Think you'll be the death of Zorii Alakata Bliss?! No.. you wont. Because that's not her middle name.

She ducks and dives the fighter through the canyons while Erinn is working, using cliff walls as the shielding she does not have, until the shields flash blue and reconnect. <"Great work!"> Now it's time to do some exploding.

She pulls up sharply, throws full power to her engines, and loops directly up and over the speeders to come back down into the canyons high bank behind them. Loosing a whole barrage of explosive light cannon into their puny little speeder! <<"I can't believe Poe ran off with a half-cockamaimy plan to steal a co- oh comms are back on...">>

<<"Uh... hey good job...">> She clears her throat.

Poe looks at Tess incredulously, "You're kidding, right? Hahaha, this is a field day for those two. Make no mistake," He says, pausing as he adopts a more casual driving position with one arm out the window and the other on the wheel. His head pivots back to Tess, "They're the best Y-Wing fighter pilots in the galaxy. I've seen what the galaxy has to offer in talent, so trust me."

<<"Good work team.. already working on getting in touch with Maz. She'll have a buyer lined up.">>

Santo stands at the back of the truck cab, large arms draped over the top as he held on, goggles over his Wookiee eyes.