Log:The Rescue of the Rai'goo
The Rescue of the Rai'goo
OOC Date: February 15
Location: Kungbargon Asteroid Field
Participants: Tarion Tavers, David Ironside, Kasia Ciph, Zhu Yan, Lioria Thrace, Sapphira Solari, and Jehni'va Cihn as GM
The light freighter Rai'goo is in trouble. The wealthy merchant vessel was badly damaged following a run-in with some asteroids and they have lost control of the ship, their life support systems are starting to fail, and - of course - they are slowly drifting toward a black hole. The crew of the Rai'goo has issued a desperate plea for help in the form of a general distress call with a very specific incentive: 'save us and be rewarded'. Do-good pilot Jehni'va Cihn has assembled a rag-tag crew to try and haul the wreckage to safety, but they won't be the only ones trying to save the Rai'goo and collect a reward... And it won't just be the 'good guys' that pick up that signal...
Parallax: Tarion Tavers, Lioria Thrace
Celestial Guarlara: David Ironside, Sapphira... Yavok?
The Kungbargon Asteroid field: the galaxy stretches around the chaos of a disrupted asteroid field, a jumble of mineral and debris that occupy a forgotten clump of space a stone's throw -in hyperspace- from the Y'toub system. The death of its resident rocky, uninhabited planetoid wouldn't even be notable had it not become a black hole upon collapsing. Now, a great chasm of mind-bending blackness slowly churns the asteroids, and anything caught within them, towards its hungry, soulless, maw.
<<"Repeat. This is FRT Rai'goo, we are in need of assistance.">> The young male's voice breaks as the power flickers around him again, reflecting disconcertingly off a fresh gash across his forehead. The Rai'goo is a dead mass adrift in space, slowly becoming a coffin for the young and reckless crew that put her there. A Twi'lek, her clothes burnt and dirty, sticks her head into the cockpit, disdain etched across her brow and evident in the frustrated twitch of her lekku. Unlike her captain, there is no waver to her voice - only accusations. "Power to navigation is totally severed, there's nothing I can do." He nods, numb, to dismiss her, but she doesn't move. "Ash is dead." He nods again and doesn't resume his transmission until the mechanic is out of sight.
<<"Help us, please, we'll pay - just... Just get us out of here.">> He throws himself back in the co-pilot's chair and chances another glance out the viewport - the black hole looms in the distance, swallowing asteroids and debris like hair down the shower drain. It's closer. He wets his lips and leans back into the failing communications device. <<"This is FRT Rai'goo, we are in need of assistance...">>
Fool's Errand:
The starscape of a microjump surrounds the Fool's Errand and her captain leans against a bulkhead, hands stuffed in her pockets. "I mean... Hey, whatever shady deal the Rai'goo was trying t'pull out in the middle of nowhere is none of our business. They got in trouble and they're asking for help - that they're paying hard credits for it is, uh, inconsequential." Jehni'va Cihn babbles on in a tone that suggests the payoff is anything but, but she doesn't want to be /that/ person... Gods, when did she become /that/ person? "Anyway." She continues, shaking off her existential crisis and making a mental note to donate to charity. "I've got a salvage rig jammed onto the back of this baby - so, if we're lucky, we'll be able to get in, snag the Rai'goo, haul them out of the hole's pull, and board'em for repairs." She winces. "Chances are, we won't be that lucky. Kasia, if you wouldn't mind flying we can have Yan co-piloting and lighting them up with the laser cannons. I'll be down in th'turret." Where luck may fail them, her ship has guns. This ship has a lot of guns.
"Honestly, Jehn, your head is in the wrong place," answered Yan. He was settling into place in the Clearwater's copilot seat, familiarizing himself with the controls. And the guns! Oy, the guns! Fun times! "They're paying hard credits. Of course we should help. It's only fair." Once again, he was banging on about making money when really he should have been saving lives. He was like a more dishevelled yet cleaner Tarion. "Question, if we outrun this black hole, do I get to paint it on my hull since I'll have done it twice?"
Kasia is settled into the pilots seat, fairly comfortable with that whole thing now, and it's a better place than anywhere that has her firing weapons. "Her head is fine, helping people ranks higher than making credits, though if you can do both at the same time, it's all the better." She shoots a look at Yan, brows furrowed. "I sincerely hope we don't need to try and fight a back hole, it doesn't sound like a particularly good time."
And just like that, the Parallax winks into space, the Firespray patrol craft looking for all the world like a giant flying clothes iron with wings. <<Breaker breaker, this is uh, Captain Rintin Fargo of the /Welltrod/,>> a smarmy voice announces, and you can almost hear the grin through the comms. <<Distress signal received, we are uh... we are considering rendering aid but we don't like the look of that black hole on scanners over there, do we, Leera?>> the voice continues, adding on <<Happen to be real busy myself, so maybe if you sweeten the pot we'll give it another think-over, over. Um. Over.>>
In the cockpit of the Guarlara, Dave picks up the comm chatter, having his droid plugged in to get a clearer signal. Entering the asteroid field he picks up the reply of one "Rintin Fargo", and decides to butt in. <<This is the Celestial Guarlara, what's going on down there?>> He flips a few switches and the deflector shield comes online with a hum and a dim flash of blue light around the vessel. The wide craft dips down to the asteroids, the shield immediately doing what it's supposed to.
Fool's Errand:
Her head is, more often than not, wedged firmly somewhere in the ass region, but Jehn pushes aside her moral crisis all the same. "I mean, if you want to." Jehn shrugs, nodding as they drop from hyperspace. "Let's.... Get out of it, then? I'll man the turret." Jehn taps the comm at her ear - she'll be able to hear the others in the cockpit without issue and disappears... And then, "Is that kriffing Tavers? Someone yell at him, please. What is he doing?" Chatter, chatter... A Gualara-Something enters the fray. "Eh, we figured we'd have company. Kas, let's see if we can get in there and I'll hail the Rai'goo."
"No no no, let's just see how it plays out," said Yan, listening with interest. He was standing by on the controls ready to aid Kasia should things get hectic, go tits up, or fail a roll or something. "If we get more creds I'll be happy."
"Someone said credits, of course Tavers is here," Kasia remarks as she watches the view screen in front of her. "He would jump into a volcano if someone told him there was a large stash of credits beneath all that lava. Not that I'm against earning credits, paying for everything that we do isn't cheap."
Who knows the reason, or the conversation that took place that ended with Jehni'va somehow giving the keys of the Hotbox to Gand. The alien had not been in Defiance for long, but short though his membership may have been, it's the effort that seems to have counted. The light freighter flies toward the asteroid field at a brisk pace, the Gand himself monitoring and toggling the comm systems in an attempt to hone in on the location of the distress broadcast, as well as ensure that his voice is heard. "Hello there! This one is reading you loud and clear FRT Raygoo. It is inbound to your location. Do not fear, if there is any gand in the world of gands that you can trust.... it is this gand."
Fool's Errand:
"Okay, but if he gets stuck by those asteroids too, we're not saving him. Ah, and that'll be, uh, Gand. The Gand? A Gand? The... That guy." Jehn groans and then switches into the comms. "He better not be banging my ship up... <<FRT Rai'goo, this is captain Jehni'va Cihn of the Fool's Errand...>>
The Rai'goo is firmly nestled in the center of the asteroid belt, already jammed in a risky place for pilots to follow, but with the added benefit of the all-consuming shadow of space-time kriffery, it's difficult to predict how the rocks are going to shift and move. The light freighter is pulled along with the asteroids at the same speed, which is a blessing only in that it prevents -mostly- new damage from the rocks - but it is going to be one helluva ride to get to them. From the rocks, a signal bounces loose. <<"Welltrod? Th-thank... T-this is Captain Whitrook of the Rai'goo. Welltrod, what do you want? We... We can offer you -->>" But the voice stops at the arrival of the new ship. <<"Celestial Guarlara this is FRT Rai'goo, we are in need of assistance. We have no control and are losing our life support systems. Please aid.>> It seems that they would rather not pay as much if they don't have to.
<<Rai'goo, this is captain Jehni'va Cihn of the Fool's Errand. We are prepared to offer aid... We'll discuss payment once things are a bit more... Comfortable.">> Excluding the Parallax, the ships have a rough time getting into the disrupted field of asteroids, and more than one turret or fixed mount blasts into rock. One asteroid pings against the side of the Hotbox, and Jehn's nerves are nearly palpable through the vacuum of space.
<<BREAKER BREAKER, this is Captain Rindin Fardo of the Welltread,>> Tarion calls through the comms again. <<Whatever you have is probably fine, Ragu, just be ready to hand over the goods,>> the bounty hunter- er, benevolent but in a hurry captain announces. The Parallax spins its nose upward and circles easily through the asteroid ring surrounding the area, heading directly for the Rai'goo. <<We'll have you out of there in a jiffy, which, I think, probably deserves a bonus.>>
The Guarlara is swerving around the larger asteroids, diving into the field deeper. As the Rai'goo continues to emit their distress call, David calls back. <<I'm headed into the asteroid field..>> he pauses to dodge another one, smaller asteroids bouncing harmlessly off the shields. <<..and I'll do what I can to help. Hang in th-->> Dave's eyes widen, as he dodges an asteroid expecting to be able to continue on his way, another asteroid appears right in his intended path. Luckily, with no gunner in the turret seat as of yet, he has control over the weapon from the cockpit and is able to quickly blast the rock into pieces, causing a loud but infinitely more harmless rain of rocks on the deflector shields. <<Yeah. We're gonna agree with the Welltread here, this is going to cost me more money than I'll gain in karma.>>
Blip. Blip. Blip. Blip. BLIP! Whumph! The cannons on the Clearwater lit up and Yan pulverized a rock that Kasia wasn't quite able to avoid. He was on the ball today, oddly silent, and paying attention.
Fool's Errand:
"Hopefully he doesn't," Kasia replies as she steers them around a few of those asteroids with ease, but one puts up more of a fight than she expected. Thankfully Yan is there to blast it out of their way so she doesn't end up banging up THIS ship. "Gand, I mean, not Tarion. If Tarion gets into trouble we'll... figure it out." Possibly by just leaving him to die. Haha. Don't tell Tavers.
Gand is having a much harder time of things in the Hotbox. Whether it is because the windshield is all fogged up from all of the smoke that has been present in times past or the little alien is just a terrible pilot, he winces at each shuddering clash of the ship scraping past an asteroid. "Oh no..." he says aloud to himself, trying to lean forward enough to peer out of the ship to see if that last collision scratched the ship and bouncing right off another one further ahead. He jumps, elbow pressing the comm accidentally, <<Oh no. Jehni'va is going to be so mad at this Gand...>>
Celestial Guarlara:
Sapphira Tavers, er no wait ... Sapphira Solari, that's it. No wait, it's something different now ... Sapphira Yavok, as she's going by. That's the one! Sapphira Yavok stumbles into the cockpit from wherever she'd passed out. The bar she was hanging out on Rori had some good booze. Surprisingly good. Perhaps it's because everyone has to drink there to stand it. Space Florida.
So, hung over, she's totally here now. "S'goin' on?" Sapphira asks, falling into the co-pilot's seat just as a voice crackles over the radio. She glares. "You working with my ex-husband now?" Cause, yeah, she knows that voice. Almost out of habit, she starts flipping switches and working the scanners on the ship. "Didja know we're in an asteroid field?"
That Gand is right. Thankfully, Jehni'va is about as dangerous as a very dumb puppy wrapped in pillows. <<"We'll pay anything.">> The Rai'goo affirms. <<"Just get us out of he- wait, didn't you say your name was - n-nevermind. Just get us out of here.">> Despite the apparent good faith of the galaxy, it's doubtful that anyone thought it would take long for things to get worse for the Rai'goo and her crew. Even with help descending, their broadcast didn't discriminate: three new ships emerge from hyperspace. One of them, calculations skewed by the misplaced asteroid belt and disrupted gravitational forces of the black hole, only appears on scanners for a moment before it is smashed aside by a massive rock as easily as if it were a cat slapping at a fly. The explosion is brief, violent, and bright - and then nothing but debris to be sucked in after the dying Rai'goo.
One of the remaining vessels, a Jumpmaster, doesn't divert course, but on the general communications channel, Jehni'va Cihn's voice sounds again. <<"This is Fool's Errand hailing unidentified--">> The captain's voice becomes garbled and unintelligble before it dissolves to static and then complete silence. One, or both, of the new vessels are jamming comms.
The other bogey, a Maccrow like the Hotbox, changes course, zipping into the asteroid belt with expert precision to make a beeline for the Rai'goo, followed by the Parallax. The other rolls to target the Guarlara, a volley of fire from the laser cannons streaking toward the ship.
David glances sideways at Sapphira. "You were married to Rindin Fardo?" Nevermind that though here comes the laser fire! Dave dodges the sudden blasts, spinning around asteroids and other ships alike, managing to come out unscathed. Dave wipes his forehead on his sleeve, relieved there's no real repairs to make yet. When the larger vessel turns to take aim at one of its assailants, his blasts go wide. Must be something about the asteroids bumping into the shields and just generally getting in the way and being a nuisance. <<This is the Guarlara, how are you doing down there, Rai'goo?>>
The Parallax rolls in like unchained lightning, the artificial gravity onboard the craft keeping the pilot and copilot Leer- Lioria from passing out from the the maneuvers he's pulling. Hurtling around an asteroid, the mounts at the ship's nose light up to spit hot fire at the oncoming bogeys, with a comm broadcast of <<Breaker breaker, this is Captain Rin- krif. Um. Captain Rinnie,>> the voice decides noncommittally as spewing turbolaser blasts send one of the opposing ship's engines up in flames. <<Bogeys, please be advised that my copilot shot a man for liking his caf black, and she'll do worse to you, over,>> the smarmy voice announces.
The Fool's Errand danced through the laserfire like the galaxy's most elegant brick. Whoever was at the helm, pro-tip: Mama Kas, knew what they were doing. The rocks were mild impedances in the way of hunting bogeys. The heavy blasters on the freighter went pap pap pap, scoring a good hit on the Jumpmaster as the ship did a pass. Kasia and Zhu Yan were a TEAM, and teamwork is very important! There was the scritching of comm static as someone tried inadvisably to communicate but the message was lost to the ether.
Fool's Errand:
"Stand down or we'll be forced to b... ah crap it's not working," was what Zhu Yan was trying to transmit.
Gand yelps as the explosion of the foreign ship explodes into a sudden gout of flame that vanishes as soon as it appeared. He peers around, considering all of his options before he begins to cut a path through the asteroids, not to get closer to the stranded ship, but in an attempt to circle his way around and start heading back toward the safety outside of the field. He shakes his head as he looks at the warning indicators on the console and mutters, "Jehni'va will not forgive this one if it blows up her ship..."
Rai'goo:
With the pirates blocking communications, the Rai'goo aren't privvy to the chatter. They are only privvy to their encroaching death, the way their breath fogs the ship surfaces, the way the temperature gets colder, the way they grow closer and closer to the black hole - are they picking up speed? It certainly feels like it. "Whitrook." The mechanic's voice is harsh, and the human looks up ashamedly. "We have... Minutes, at best. This is on you." He can only nod.
Outside the Rai'goo, things are heating up. The pirate vessels are taking fire and giving it right back, and the one deepest in the asteroids - the Maccrow in front of the Parallax - having taken fire by both the Errand the Parallax, starts to veer and waver. Smoke gushes from two spots as the ship struggles to compensate for the badly breached hull and then - BOOM. Another silent explosion in space rains debris on the ships in pursuit as the Maccrow loses control and veers too hard to port, smashing into an asteroid. There's only one left - and it's angry. Setting its sights, the jumpmaster looses a series of bolts from its laser cannons. The first for the Hotbox, but its more interested in the Parallax, as its closest to the Rai'goo, obviously the target here. Everyone is getting closer and closer to the black hole, and it's starting to affect the ships and the asteroids there. The Rai'goo has definitely increased velocity - it won't last much longer.
The Guarlara is ducking and weaving, dodging asteroids, laser fire, a black hole and a bunch of other ships. Comms are apparently still down, they must be jamming from that last remaining vessel. The top turret locked in a straight forward position, as there's nobody using it to gun, Dave pulls back on the controls, the vehicle briefly becomes a bigger target before circling around and spinning to get the top turret at said position once more. When he's satisfied, the turret emits several bursts of laser fire at the Jumpmaster.
The Parallax is goin' crazy, just like the GM said, and somewhere in the distance, the sound of DA DA DA DAAAAA DAAAAA DADADADAAAA is going. The bounty hunter at the helm is laughing, over comms, like a maniac. Captain Rinnie, to the rest of the nobody, the pirates are jamming comms. At any rate, a panel pops out of the side of the nose of the Firespray and a missile goes singing across the distance between the patrol craft and the pirate Jumpmaster, blowing a chunk out of its hull.
The Errand is killing it - for a ship her size, Kasia handles the Clearwater like a pro, and they close fast on the Parallax and imperiled Rai'goo. They aren't dodging fire like the others, so it's easy for the pilot to line a nice shot up for her crew; still without communications, none can hear the wince in Jehni'va's voice as she spies an oppurtunity with the turret. The first shot misses, smashing into an asteroid in a spray of rock and color, but the second takes the pirate vessel across the nose and forces it to change direction. The pirate seems to realize its bitten off more than it can chew - if only it had left comms open, perhaps they would have taken its surrender. Instead, the relentless assault of ship weapons pepper the jumpmaster mercilessly until a missile from the Parallax blows a fresh hole. A course change is clear: they're trying to retreat. Will they be able to? How far the ship can travel with the damage it's taken... Why are they stopping?
They aren't. The jumpmaster is now trapped in the pull of the black hole, too damaged to force their way free. Maybe if they weren't jamming coms, they'd be able to call for help. Oh, the irony.
Sapphira hums to herself as she flips a few switches, looking up and out through the cockpit at the last ship. Then she makes a soft 'oh' sound, and types something into the computer terminal. The dull fuzzy sound going out over everyone's comms suddenly gives way to a loud screech, the kind of thing you get when you have two radios too close together. It's brief, but it's ear shattering. And then there's Sapphira's voice announcing over the comms, "Comm's are back!"
Mama Kas made the Fool's Errand dance and Zhu Yan made it spit hot fire from its staccato gangsta rap cannon. Pow pow pow! The cannons fired into the gaping hole left by the Parallax's missile, only further committing the ship's fiery and time-dilated doom. As the comm static lifted, words started to emerge across the open channel. They were from Zhu Yan, and he was failing singing taskrolls left and right. "Oh, yeah yeah yeah yeah? Oh, yeah yeah yeah yeah!"
Fleeing gracefully and knowing when you are in over your head is a valuable skill. One that Gand is utilizing now as he weaves the Hotbox in and out of the asteroids still separating him from freedom. "Please..." he murmurs to nobody. "Please don't hit anything... please don't hit anything.... Maybe she won't notice? This ship is always filled with smoke anyways..."
Rai'goo:
"Are you recording a message for your folks?" Kinsakwi'teska, mechanic for the Rai'goo, asks accusingly. She's caught her captain hunched over the holorecorder. "We can't transmit anything. There's nothing you can do." Whitrook, the captain, slams the device off and turns to her with a growl. "It... Makes me feel better, okay? What do you want?" She snorts. "You don't get to feel better, otaf?alkin. Not after what you've done, deesh. You ixta -" It's Sapphira's voice that cuts them off, and the two crewmates stare at each other for a moment, not daring to hope. "Move." Kini demands.
With the pirate vessel slowly drifting towards the black hole, the sudden return of communications is fortunate and unexpected. <<"Sapphira? That you?">> Jehn's voice perks through the rabble. <<"Nice going. Rai'goo, please stand by. Parallax and Guarlara, I have, uh, very cheap tractor beam capabilities... Ish. I thin- y'know, it was all done in kind of a rush? We're working with what we have. But we /should/ be able to get a lock on the Rai'goo and pull her out, split the reward, and be on our ways?">> Unless someone has a better way to get them out on their own, and then it's just a matter of not killing each other over saving someone else. <<"Just kriffing try it!">> The voice from the Rai'goo isn't the same one, Whitrook. It belongs to a female, this time.
Fool's Errand:
"Hol' up," said Yan quickly as his fingers danced across the control panel. He was hacking into the DVD drives, punching through the RAM port, reversing the AVI code polarity, isolating the upload OGG matrix, and overall making Kasia fly better. Zhu Yan was truly the hero they needed, if not the one they deserved. "You learn a few things flying the starship equivalent of a blastsword." Someone had been to Adumar recently, it seemed.
The Guarlara speeds through the asteroids, heading near the Rai'goo. Having to swerve around the huge space rocks -and- account for the pull of the black hole doesn't seem to phase Dave, though it's taking all of his focus at this time. He doesn't even glance over to his co-pilot when he asks her, "See if they want out, I'm pretty sure that tractor beam can pull the ship but if it ends up having to let go, at least it'll save their lives, right?" Finally a look towards Sapphira, one that betrays he's not feeling as cocky as his excellent piloting would make him act otherwise. He's learning!
Fool's Errand:
"I hate firing that thing." Jehn has appeared in the cockpit. She is clutching a bag of crinkly dried vegetables, crunching loudly, and offers them to Kasia and Zhu without a word. "M'glad we didn't kill the *CRUNCH* pirates." CRUNCH. "Still... Guess that's better than dyin' in a black hole. If they die. Who knows?"
Sapphira leans forward, speaking into the little mic that transmits her voice across the different ships. <<"Hi Jehn! Let's go for drinks after, okay? I miss you so much!">> Ugh, really? Lives in the balance and everything? Ugh. Just ugh.
Sapphira gets down to business after that. <<"To the Rai'goo: be prepared to exit via the airlock if the tractor beam can't hold you. It's a fail-safe but if we have to get you out that way, we will. You'll have to leave the cargo, leave everything but yourselves. Over.">> Oooooh boy. Tarion's not gonna like that.
Fool's Errand:
Kasia tries to touch a computer part and it zaps her, and the screen flickers, and she does nothing at all helpful. With that failed attempt at trying to do computer things, she just focuses on flying while Yan is a BOSS at computering. "I fly what looks like a large penis and testicles, I'm not sure what you learn from that." This is all definitely better than dying in a black hole, with the simultaneous being crushed and torn apart over and over and over again. No thanks. "I've never fired a weapon on a ship before, Hex usually does that for me."
When the comms finally clear, what immediately comes over them is the sound of Tarion's laugh, as he gibbers like a madman while pushing his ship to its absolute limit in the middle of an asteroid field. The Parallax twists and darts around and between the chunks of cosmic rocks in ways that it seems should not quite be possible, but there it goes, and unless he's muted, the idiot at the helm will fill everyone's speakers with his manic delight as the Firespray pulls in alongside the Rai'goo, deploying his tractor beam to pull the derelict vessel in close. <<Ragoo, this is your captain speaking, please disregard the lunatics out here, everything is under control. Do /not/ leave your cargo behind.>>
Fool's Errand:
"Oh yeah they'll die. Probably already dead of old age by now," quipped Yan from his control panel, keeping the ship stable whilst Kasia tried to break it. "You know what's a fun concept? Time dilation. Yeah, they'll starve to death before the gravity kills them." Morbid.
"Yeah, sounds about right." Jehn nods, sagely. Crunch, crunch, crunch. "Hope Gand made it out with my ship.... Wait, what looks like a dick and balls, Kas?"
Black holes, man. Some messed up junk right there. "The Aristocrat," Kasia moves on to that subject because it's less depressing. "It's shape, from above it kinda resembles a dick and balls. With a few extras, but look at it from above and you see it."
"Stav bought it. Stav named it. The resemblance is deliberate, see," Yan helpfully pointed out. He was nodding and grinning in the 'I know you know' sense. "I helped." OF COURSE you helped!
<<"You'll have to catch me up, love!">> That's Jehn, carrying on that conversation. Lives in the balance. <<"Blue Light later? I'm gonna need a drink after this. Rai'goo, you're welcome to join.">> Tarion, of course, puts cargo first - but it isn't going to lead to any deaths this time.... Well, not yet at least. The Parallax and the Errand, equipped with tractor beams, are able to lock onto the Rai'goo. It's slow, it's difficult against the pull of the black hole - and the Errand's hastily arranged, cheap rig gives a groan, a shudder, and starts to fail. Losing its lock on the Rai'goo, it almost seems that they will fail - but someone on board must do something, because the tractor beam on the Errand kicks back up. The Rai'goo is on her way to freedom! With the Hotbox retreating, the Parallax and the Errand pulling their hearts out, and the Guarlara standing by, it looks like this ragtag group will manage a rescue. Asteroids continue to pose a danger to the two ships pulling the Rai'goo, but turret damage keeps them at bay.
But pirates aren't known for being gracious losers.
The fire explodes along Dave's flank, just as the wounded jumpmaster disappears into the hungry maw of the black hole, a final 'eff you' to the universe... And David and Sapphira's engines.
Fool's Errand:
Even as the Guarlara runs into it's own trouble, the alarms start to blare around the Errand's cockpit. "ON IT!" Jehn pushes off without further ado, tossing her chip snacks into Zhu's lap as she disappears down the ladder. "PICKLE!" She cries out, and throws herself down to the maintenance shafts.
BOOM BLANK BEEP - the lights go off. Not just the alarm lights - the actual lights. She fixed the tractor beam, but whatever it did required her to redirect power from other parts of the ship.
Zhu Yan jumped in surprise when the packet landed in his lap. "Oh yeah, free food!" One hand came off the control panel, grabbed a fistful of ships, and rammed them into Zhu Yan's mouth. His grin was massive and the crunching was LOUD. "Mmmm mmm mmmm!" was his cheerful muttering as he kept at work keeping the tractor beam alive.
Kasia watches the chips sail and land into Yan's lap, then looks head again, frowning. "I hate it when ships start making that sound," she complains, trying not to sound too worried. But she is worried. Then things go dark and she twists around in her seat to holler, "Jehn? We good?"
"Uhhhh.... Working on it!" It comes from the ceiling above the cockpit.
"As long as we're good. We lose my control panel, we lose the extra engine power, and we lose the ship." Yan sounded uncharacteristically calm. That was bad. The pair of them knew the man well enough by now that an exuberant Yan was an in-control Yan, and a calm one was a stressed one.
The lights flicker and a panel pops from the wall close by Yan's head. "Yan." Jehn greets, face appearing in the gap like a greasy, obtrusive framed photograph, and then she disappears again. There is only darkness and silence until, all at once, the lights blaze to life again. Jehn pops back into the panel gap. "We still breathing?"
"Working on it, that's ominous," Kasia mutters quietly enough to probably only be heard by Yan. She focuses on her job though, which is to guide them basically anywhere than into the black hole, or other ships, or into anything unforgiving. "Wait, are we still breathing? Jehn, is something wrong with our life support?" Now she sounds real concerned.
"SITHSPIT!" blurted out Zhu Yan, exceptionally startled. Veggie chips went EVERYWHERE, from the bag, from his mouth, from his lap. It was a mess. He was still breathing heavily in shock when the lights came back on. "We're alive! Well, you're alive! I feel like I've just had a heart attack! Line up the pretty nurses! Zhu Yan's going to the emergency ward!"
"Not anymore!" Jehn grins at Kas from her hole in the wall before disappearing once more. It takes several more moments for the grubby stoner to reappear at the top of the ladder. "There aren't any pretty nurses around here, but I can have Pickle shock you if you think that will help." Pickle, the R2 unit chillin' in the cockpit, looses the arm that used to hold the stun weapon, but now is an intense welding torch. "Oh, right. Trashapple upgraded her so she could light for us... Well, I may have one thing that can help."
"Thank the fates, because I like to breathe, and... you know, live," Kasia exhales some relief as they continue the work of pulling the ship free, and not accidentally heading into a horrible death. "I object to ever getting this close to this thing again, for the record," she notes to anyone who will listen, which is basically just Jehn and Yan, and Pickle too.
Celestial Guarlara:
The blast briefly tears Dave's hands from the controls, but he's been shot at often enough that it doesn't last long. Only the other times he'd been shot like this the control stick would've been right between his legs or off to his side. When his hands find the decidedly more wheel-like controls of the YT-1300 again, he calls to Sapphira "Go see if you can fix anything, bring R2 if you need him." Oooh, that sound coming from back there is pretty ominous and imminent death-like.. "I'll do what I can from here. There's headsets at every station, so keep in contact." He turns to his left and yanks a thin white headset off a hook to slip it over one ear. "Go!"
Sapphira was thrown to the ground at the explosion, because seatbelts exist for a reason people. Wear your seatbelts. But after a moment she's crawling to her feet, already taking off running out of the cockpit and down along into the corridor. She follows the sounds of alarms to the engine room, only to open the door to see a small engine fire in the overblown circuitry. That is delt with quickly with a handy dandy extinguisher hanging from the wall for just this purpose.
It's about three or four minutes later, however, that David will find the sluggish engines suddenly working at capacity again. Yep, just one quick little bypass and everything is running hot, but running. It's only then that she finds her headset. "You're good," she reports to Dave. "But get away from this hole, we don't wanna overwork these things."
Pulling... Pulling... Pulling... The Rai'goo is exiting the black hole's pull on the tails of the Parallax and Fool's Errand, but her life support systems are still failing. <<"This is the Rai'goo... Thank you all. You will be rewarded for this as soon as we reach the next starport.">> It's the female voice from the Rai'goo that comes over the comms again, and then there is a pause. <<"Celestial Guarlara. Our life support won't last until we get there, though. May we still come aboard?">>
The Parallax continues to tow with its hearty tractor beam. It's designed for this sort of thing, intercepting pirates and tugging disabled ships to return them to a secure location, so it's really no surprise that it's fared well. The comms from it have gone silent for the time being.
"Do what again?" Dave replies to Sapphira as the comms come in. <<This is the Celestial Guarlara, bring all survivors to the airlock, we're coming in.>> He does so, flying casually through the asteroids now, leveling up the freighter with the Rai'goo. A few maneuvers are made to dock, but it's all good. <<Opening airlock, someone grab the headset over there and let me know when it's good to undock.>> When the call comes, and I'm SURE it will, Dave undocks the freighter and pulls away from the other ship and starts to make his way out of the asteroid field. He opens the line to the others. <<Crew is accounted for, see you guys at the Blue Light, then?>>
There are only two surviving crew members that wind up on Dave and Sapphira's ship. A flustered looking human male, his jet black hair tousled and matted with blood, and a practically dressed, blue Twi'lek woman. "I am captain Kinsakwi'teska." The Twi'lek introduces herself before nodding to the man behind her. The black eye and fat lip probably didn't come from the asteroid damage. They both look young, maybe brushing their early twenties, but hard-eyed and frightened all the same. "This is Whitrook. Thank you, truly. We are in your debt."
It'll be a laborious haul back to Nar Shaddaa, but the Rai'goo, her crew, and all those that came to help them are making it back in at least two pieces. Upon landing, a generous share is awarded to the rescuers from the deep bank account of Whitrook Tah. Who knows what is to become of the kids after that? Pushing his way into the starport, a Trandoshan taps at his datapad screen as a picture of Whitrook flashes across it, a credit amount displayed beneath.
