Log:Waywards: The Hard Way to Scavenge A Ship

The Hard Way to Scavenge A Ship

OOC Date: September 23, 2017 (Optional)
Location: Socorro
Participants: Kadi, Jax Greystorm, Ax, Nezlani Bebarv

Having received word from one of his many uncles, Ax loads up the Knight and some of his people, especially his wife, and gets the ship into flight. "So, Uncle Dink said that there was a bounty hunter that tried collecting a bounty on Uncle Do'gon," Ax says as everyone arrives to the bridge. "Anyway, it didn't end well for the bounty hunter, but according to Uncle Dink's sensors, the ship was mostly intact after it crashed in the desert about two hundred clicks west of Vakeyya."

Kadi as usual has her 'away' bag. Though what items she puts in there is always questionable. A rope, water, rations, a hat, a screwdriver - certainly those are in there, whether she needs them or not. She settles into a seat, not touching any of the controls, and listens to Ax's explanation. "Someone actually went to Socorro to try to collect a bounty? Brave hunter," she comments. "Well, or stupid." A pause. "Mostly intact ship crashed in the desert, huh? Sounds like something we should go collect?"

"You've got a lot of uncles then, huh?" Nez says as finds his place on the bridge. There isn't much he'd really be able to help out with, so instead he simply finds a place to sit while they travel. "This could prove profitable. Who knows what kind of salvage we could find. Not just the ship, either." With that, he looks over towards Kadi and bobs his head in agreement.

Jax comes into the bridge just as Trixi was leaving. He stops looking at the Zeltron outfit. He makes his his way to his friends, "When did Miniskirts become part of the bridge uniform?" He looks around, "What's going on?" He looks at the screne and then to Ax, "Home coming?"

"My mother died when I was young," Ax says, looking back towards Nez. "My dad was a smuggler with the Black Bha'lir. His allies helped raise me, all were basically uncles." He chuckles. "Uncle Dink is taller than you," he says with a grin. "A huge disfunctional family of pirates, smugglers, and thieves. But they have a code that makes them not so bad."

Ax looks to Kadi, "You were talking about a new project, this might be your chance for one." Then, his attention shifts to Jax. "Gonna go pick up a busted up some dumbass's ship that tried to collect a bounty on Socorro."

Kadi nods. "I'm game to go check it out," she says with a nod. "After all, it could be good salvage, if there's anything there. And if it's at all salvagable I'm pretty sure I can fix it." She's not even bragging, just matter of fact. "Does this mean we do or don't get to visit your family while we're here? I am hoping for more stories about you as a child you know."

Nez isn't blind. He saw Trixi alright, it's probably the reason he was only half listening to what Ax was saying about his uncles. That's when he spies Jax there, observing the same 'features' he was. With that, Nez gives the man a grin, looking back at Ax. "Sorry to hear about your Mom man."

Jax nods, "What class and model?" Jax says as he reaches into a pocket to produce a peice of fruit. He bites into it and starts chewing. "Kadi, You sure about that? Ax's mystery is part of his charm. I like to think he emerged from a hole in the ground fully grown."

Looking back to his wife, Ax just chuckles. "They don't tend to venture too far out into the desert if they can help it." There's a pause as Ax brings the ship out of hyperspace. The larger ship is going to be difficult to get through the asteroid field that surrounds Ax's homeworld.

"Jax, might want to take the secondary pilot station, if you don't mind. Kadi, take sensors." Granted, Ax knew he could make it through without too much issue, but it was good to make the others feel useful at least. "I think it's a Trilon design, at least from what I gathered from what it looked like." Then, looking to Nez, he gives a shrug. "Yeah, it sucked, but I had a great family to help with things. And, I've had Adder since I was 9."

Kadi starts a bit, staring at Ax briefly. She then glances at the board in front of her, fingers dancing across it, to bring up sensors. Just in case. "Sure," she says, as she works. "I can do that. Though the passives have been feeding back data all along, it never hurts to be careful." She is meticulous as she checks them all, not missing a one. "Jax, that may be so for you, but some of us have a different opinion. And a different outlook on things."

"And now you've got Kadi too." Nez adds, granting a brief smile before peering out of the viewport of the bridge while Ax nimbly maneuvers through the asteroid field. For a long moment, Nez is gawking at how skilled Ax is at flying. Though, it wouldn't last long because oh look, Trixi is back. And she is bending over just so while she manages something on a terminal.

Jax moves over to the Co-pilots seat. He starts to check things for Ax, "You look good from here." He says as he adjusts the shields a bit. Then just watch Ax takes us in. "Fine Kadi.... Ruin it it all for the rest of us." He chuckles. "Nez don't trip over your lekku."

Ax, having grown up in this system and having learned to fly in this very asteroid field, seems to maneuver the ship through without much problem. Even though it was a much larger ship than was normally used for such a venture. "Smooth sailing ahead," he says as they break through. It's only a few minutes before they're entering the orbit of the planet and heading towards not Soco-Jarel spaceport, but towards the Do'aba Badlands.

"What, you think I'm going to /tell/ you?" Kadi retorts to Jax. "Nuh uh, you get them to tell you stories on your own. If I learn secrets they stay secrets." She smiles over at Nez, catching where his gaze is, and Jax's comment cements it. A brow arches slightly, but she doesn't comment. Yet. "Let's see if we can find this crashed ship on sensors," she murmurs, sticking mostly with business for now.

It takes a minute for him to have registered what Jax has said, even but Nez does eventually blink back up from his viewing towards Jax. "What? I was uh.. Looking at this control panel here." He says, pointing to one of the panels on the bridge. It's a lie, of course. Though, not a serious one. It's obvious from the tone in his voice that he isn't really trying to convince anyone of his lie.

"Sure you were, Nez. Sure you were," Ax says with a laugh. Flying over the city of Vakeyya, he brings the ship out over the black sand desert and lands it amongst some sand dunes. "Somewhere in a twnety click area of here," Ax says. "But it looks like a recent sandstorm came through, so it's going to take some searching."

Jax looks over and laughs at the interaction between Nez and the others. " I heard there were a couple of hotties down in engineering. You're not allowed down there. You'd fall into something and we'd need another over sized bounty hunter." He looks to Kadi "So You got a new project Kadi? You finding anything?" He looks at the scopes, "Ax we need to worry about any of the rival guangs?"

Kadi raises a hand briefly. "One moment," she says. She continues to use the touch screen, pauses to connect her datapad, and download, before she sends to everyone else. "I think I might be able to give us a bit of a better target," she says with a smile. "20 clicks is a big radius to search." She finishes up, and then stands, before she says, "Neither of you are allowed in my engineering, just for the record."

Not saying much about the earlier view, Nez simply gives a grin in response to Ax. Turning his attention over towards Jez, he looks like he is trying to some up with a good response. "That... Isn't..." The struggle for words continues before he looks over towards Kadi for help. Aaannd then she flips on him. The only thing Nez can really do is slump down in his seat in defeat, pulling up the data sent to his console from Kadi.

"Not really the gangs, but maybe some of the local fauna, or there are some not-so-friendly tribals in these parts of the desert," Ax says, looking back to Jax. He brings the ship down for a soft landing and leaves the systems powered up instead of shutting everything down. Looking to Kadi. "Do your magic, babe," he says, motioning towards the sensors.

There's a nod from Kadi at Ax's suggestion, and she does continue to narrow things down as much as she can for the group. "Local fauna? You mean like the things that want to eat Adder?" she asks Ax, curiously. "Or worse?" Clickety click - if there were such keyboards, but it doesn't take long, as Kadi and this computer sensor system are good together.

Jax chuckles, "Hey. I keep my hands to myself. I love my wife." He makes a minor calculaitons, "Ax, I'm not seeing anything on scopes. It looks like your right. Maybe some critters or some tribesman." He laughs, "Of Course, worse. They're bigger critter. They're always bigger creatures. Hopefully not Rancors."

Standing, Nez removes the E-11 from his back and checks it quickly to make sure it is stil working. Yup, everything looks good. Peering over at ax, he tilts his head at the man. "There are rancors on this planet? Are you serious or are you messing around?" There is a hint of nervousness in his voice as he asks that.

"Or worse," Ax says. "Though, we're here during the day so it shouldn't be that bad. Most of the desert predators are nocturnal," he adds. Then, he looks to Jax. "There actually are a species of Rancor on Socorro, but they're usually found in the areas nearest water. The Tra'cor as they're called here. Amphibeous monsters that eat anything that they can catch." He chuckles at Nez. "Not likely one we'll see. Worst thing may be a hive of Chiru, which is bad enough. Damned big insects who have a rather potent venom. If you hear loud buzzing, I recommend running for cover or surrounding yourself in fire."

Kadi pauses. "Uhm. Well, surrounding myself in fire sounds like it might not be much better than being eaten alive?" she suggests, though she's not exactly serious. "Is there anything on this planet that isn't venomous, cranky or murderous?" she asks wryly, shaking her head. "It's a wonder anyone even lives here, far as I can tell, location and all." With her sensor work done, and the results downloaded to comms, she grabs her rucksack and says, "C'mon, let's go. I want to see this ship."

Jax shrugs, "You said that about my house growing up." He looks at he looks over at Nez, "Yeah what Ax said. That and there's pygmy desert Rancors. They're the size of Meep but all the fangs. They run in packs. They're the color of the sand. So you don't see them till they surround you." He says standing up. He looks to Kadi, "I blame ancient Corellians."

Casting a side long glance towards Ax, Nez kind of just stares for a moment before looking over at Kadi and bobbing his head in agreement. Then he looks towards Jax as he speaks, slowly shaking his head at the three. "You lot are crazy coming out here. Hope this ship is worth all this fuss."

Ax just chuckles. "They're a bit bigger than Meep," he says as he grabs his gear and heads out of the ship. "Remember, this is a desert planet, black sands, inhospitable heat, it's not the easiest of environments and we're going to be in the deep desert which is the most dangerous of all. Keep your heads straight and listen to what I tell you. I grew up here and I'm not even an expert of the badlands."

Doaba Badlands - Socorro 
"The greatest power of any desert is in the power to treasure its inhabitants of their mortal vulnerabilities and their diminuitive stature in the grand scheme of the cosmos."
                                                                    Ibhaan'I saying
A hostile, forbidding place, the desert landscape of Socorro holds remarkable beauty to in the introspective eye. Many natives view the desert life as a test of fortitude or as a means of
spiritual cleansing. The Doaba Badlands are a collective entity with an extreme range of moods. These vary from common desert landscape to ravaging ash storms.

The rich black sand gives the affect of being cloistered, protected. When Socorrans want to be alone with their thoughts, a short walk in the desert puts their minds at ease and their 
spirits well within reach of the peace they may be seeking, thus the name Doaba, which in Old Corellian, means "Peace".

Kadi steps down the ramp, eyes wide as she looks around the exotic locale. "It's still beautiful," she murmurs, as she looks around briefly. She locks in the ship's gps coords, so hopefully they don't lose the Knight. Trixi gets to stay behind and mind the ship, along with other red shirt crew members. She has technology in hand, not a weapon, which perhaps says a lot about her sense of priorities.

Jax comes out behind Kadi, His features hidden in the brown cloak he wears. His eyes hiden behind a pair of googles. "We going far?" " He says as he looks around. "Pretty or not. It's still a hostile environment. Least it's not the bugs on Dantoonie." Following the group out into the desert heat, Nez doesn't actually seemed to be too bothered by the environment actually. What has him nervous is the wildlife that they were talking about. "Right. Stick together, do as the boss says... Those are easy instructions to follow."

Could be worse, Ax thinks to himself as he pulls out a small scanner and uses it to triangulate based on Kadi's earlier sensor sweep. "We're gonna start here, keep your eyes peeled, but we'll be travelling 38 degrees from here. That should get us close at least."

Little did they know, but the hunter who'd gotten shot down wasn't dead. With his ship disabled, he'd been trying to find a way off planet. The Trandoshan watched from a distance as the Knight landed. It was too big of a ship for him to fly himself, especially considering it likely had a decent sized crew compliment, but it didn't mean he wouldn't try something.

Kadi nods to Ax, adjusting her own scanner, and puts the little sack over her back, so it's out of her way, leaving her hand free. "Right, and it's hopefully not too far - since we have triangulated the range, based on our readouts and on Uncle Dink's." She follows Ax, unless someone suggests she goes elsewhere in the marching order.

Jax moves long with the groups. He looks around for under his cloak. He didn't really say or do anything for the moment. Then finally he says, "I don't feel anything. That doesn't mean anything though."

Still not having figured out what Jax means by 'not feeling anything', Nez kind of just casts the man a look of awkward confusion, tilting his head at him. "Wha... What in the hell are you talking about?" He inquires before looking towards Ax, his weapon still at the ready should he need it. "Roger that." With that he takes a moment to scan the area around him for anything relevant.

Ax nods to Jax, "Same," he says. He then looks to his wife and begins moving forward. He does take a moment to loosen the strap on his holster though, just in case. "Keep your eyes peeled for movement of any type."

Kadi looks at the guys with her, and she steps a bit to one side so she can see around Ax, and then she frowns. "I think the sand is moving," she says, squinting a bit. "Or no - not the sand, but there's definitely something moving that way." She points, and then takes a moment to rub her right arm before she loosens her own blaster in its holster. With a swallow and butterflies in her tummy.

Jax shrugs, "Hmmm?" He says to Nez. Then he looks out seeing movement. "We got something up ahead." His hand moving to his blaster. He's yet to push aside his cloak. "One of these days. I just want to go to a nice place where people aren't upset with me. Mayble a beach."

"Kadi is right, they look humanoid from his distance... No, those are battle droids." Nez says in response before looking for a place for cover. Already he has his weapon facing in that general direction. Though he isn't pointing directly at any of the droids just yet.

Ax nods, having spotted movement as well. "Battle droids.. that's not something you see every day," he mutters, gesturing towards his wife, envelopping her in a wave of protective force energy. He then looks ahead. "Nez, you've got more range with that rifle of yours than we do with out pistols. Think you can get a better visual. Maybe they haven't seen us yet." He looks towards Jax. "If they're hostile, we'd do best to flank them while Nez keeps them pinned. You up for that?"

Kadi's steps come to a stop, and she looks over at Ax, thoughtfully. "What do you want me to do?" she asks. "Well, assuming they get close enough for me to shoot at them and they are hostile, I'm going to shoot. Droids won't like my blaster at all." Hah. She takes a breath, but then adds, "However, it would be odd to have droids on their own - there must be some brains behind this, somewhere. That - please be careful. All of you."

Jax's looks at Ax, "Of Course. Lets do this." He glances at Kadi. "Keep an eye on Nez. While he's lookign down range. Make sure no one sneas up on him." He says as he takes off moving in the direction he'd been ordered to.

Finding a nearby rock, Nez rushes over and kneels down into a proper fighting position. Setting up at the tock, Nez deploys the E-11's built-in three piece folding stock, propping the weapon up to enhance the stability of his weapon should be need to fire. With that done, he edges his cheek up onto the buttstock of the weapon and peers down through the sights of his weapon. "They see us! They are moving towards now! Just inside my firing range... What's the call boss?"

"Err on the side of caution," Ax says. He motions for Jax to sweep left. "Kadi, stick with Nez, and keep your head down. Make sure nobody attacks him from behind." Yes, the droids definitely spot them, and they open fire, though they're beyond their weapons' ranges and the shots are nowhere near target. "Move," Ax calls out running off to the right so he and Jax can hopefully flank the trio of oncoming droids.

"They're firing at us," Kadi says indignantly. "How rude!" Even if they're not anywhere near hitting, it's something that irks Kadi's gentle good nature. So to speak. She puts her gadget away and gets her blaster in hand, ready to go. "Better not hit anything," she grumbles glaring at the droids in the distance. "Or else." Never mind she's got no idea what or else would possibly be. She gives Nez a look, and then she starts to look all around. Nez is there, he's safe, unless something sneaks up behind - so that's where she looks. Including at the sand and the sky, at least briefly.

The blaster bolt from one the droids hits Jax squarely in the chest. Though he shrugs it off. "Damn.... that worked." He says looking to Ax. "Yeah not our friends." He says as he continues to run with Ax. " I really really hate droids."

The moment the droids begin to open fire, Nez starts shouting out information in response. "Contact contact! Get down!" Having identified a threat, Nez immeditately responds by returning fire, releasing a controlled burst of blaster bolts at the three battle droids. Nez isn't paying any real attention to Kadi at the moment unless she deems it necessary to draw his attention away from the fight.

Ax runs forward and to the right, the droids advancing and firing. He manages to get a shot off once he's around a hundred meters or so away and when he goes to fire again, there's nothing but a click. "Dammit!" he mutters as he fumbles to reload.

Of the three droids, one is heavily damaged, one is moderately damaged, and thanks to Ax's shot, one is completely destroyed. The two remaining droids fire at their targets.

Kadi doesn't see anyone coming from anywhere, but her attention is not on the incoming droids. She's crouched down, mostly hiding behind Nez. This works cause Nez is freaking huge! Ahem, Anyway, Kadi is oblivious to folks getting shot, mostly. She peeks over her shoulder, but can't see through Nez.

Jax takes off at a run firing a series of shot as he aprays at the droid going or quanity over quality. Dropping one of the battle droids. The other one firing at him and hitting him in the chest. There's the smell off flesh being burnt, the his of flesh and Jax is knocked off his feet.

Roaring out half in pain and half in anger, Nez reacts as one of the bolts from the droids smack right in his left lekku. The lekku flys up and over his shoulder in response, his own position knocked back a bit. Then he regains his composure and posture. Although it's not life threatening in anyway, a Twi'lek's lekku are highly sensitive so it hurts like hell. "You kriffing Hutt-spawned pieces of shavit!" Nez roars out with anger, returning fire in kind with a second controlled burst of blaster bolts.

With the three battle droids gunned down, Ax pauses to catch his breath. "See anyth...." he begins to say before an orange blaster bolts goes past his head, missing by quite a bit. "Where the hell?" he asks, as he dives for cover.

Kadi's attention is grabbed by Nez's shout and cursing. Her eyes go wide as she realizes that the shot probably didn't miss her by that much. She peeks to see what is going on, if she can, but she's not trying to distract Nez. "Is it - do you need me to do anything?" she asks, which isn't meant to distract Nez so much as to find out if he's about to die from a lethal blaster wound. Of course, this means she's looking just at the right moment to see that orange blaster bolt. "That way!" she calls out, totally ridiculously ineffectively. She does point, mind you, for all the good that probably does.

Jax eyes flash open after a moment. He stays laying there. "What the hell. You alright?" He calls out to Ax. He knows there's another sniper out there. The best thing he can do for the moment is lay there.

The lekku now dangling down Nez's back pulsates around the area that the droids blaster bolt hit, appearing charred at the point of contact. The skin around the char mark is even more red than the rest of his skin with streaks of purple mixed in. "Where? Where?" Nez says in reaction to the blaster bolt that comes barreling towards Ax. Then Kadi peeks up and points, with which Nez swivels his position to face that direction. "I don't see 'em, Kadi." His tone of voice is calming down now as he is gritting through the pain shooting up his headtail, so he isn't exactly shouting at Kadi.

Ax pokes his head up to see what he could, only to have rocks explode right by his head before he ducks back down. "Holy crap!" he calls out. "Sniper, about 250 meters up the ridge. Out of my range. Nez!" he calls out, hoping that the Twi'lek can get a shot off. "You alright Jax? Kadi?" he calls out, keeping his head down. Damn, that was a close shot.

Kadi calls back, when Ax asks if she's okay. "I'm good." She's got no chance to shoot and not really worried about it. After all, this way she doesn't risk hitting Jax. Or anyone else. "C'mon, Nez, you can do it," she says, remembering to take a look around behind them, just in case. So far, she doesn't see anyone sneaking up on them.

Jax lays there for a moment. "Been better." He sounds with a groan. "I'm going to laying here and not move."

"Got 'em boss!" Is all Nez would shout out having finally identified the position the enemy sniper has taken up. Taking a deep breath, Nez does what he can to grit through the pain, before squeezing on the trigger to fire off volley of blaster bolts towards the sniper.

Nez's shots seem to zero in on the Trandoshan, and there's a roar of pain as the bounty hunter takes a heavy blast to the torso. This causes the man to change his target, obviously the rifle-wielding Twi'lek was a bigger threat, and the hunter fires a shot towards him, though at great difficulty due to pain and range.

Ax was still out of range of the bounty hunter, but with the man taking aim at Nez, Ax takes the moment to move forward, trying to cover the distance.

"I think you hit him," Kadi says, then has to duck with a squeal as there's a wild shot headed in their general direction. "you definitely made him mad." Yup. She knows she should stay hidden, but she peeks up anyway, curious to see what is going on. "Oh, Ax, be careful!" she half whispers.

"That's right, right here you son of a blaster!" Nez shouts out towards the other hunter as the bolt of orange energy streaks into the rock he has been using for cover, causing a spray of dust and smaller bits of the rock to kick up at Nez. Though the distraction wouldn't last long before Nez was able to return fire again, releasing a volley of three blaster bolts at his target.

The pissed off and injured Trandoshan fires another shot, and out of pure luck, it connects with his target, just before a trio of shots from Ax hone in and end the bounty hunter's life. His rifle rolling down the side of the hill. Immediate, Ax is running back towards his wife and Nez, knowing that the Twi'lek got hammered by the last blow.

With the last shot from the enemy hunter coming in, it pierces right through the lower section of Nez's torso. The shot is very near fatal, and the impact alone sends Nez flying back right, gasping as the air in his lungs escape him. His body falling on the unsuspecting Kadi behind him, pinning her into the sand. That's when Nez passes out from the pain, on the verge of death.

Kadi doesn't even have a chance to scream, because the breath is startlingly struck from her lungs by the impact of the big Twi'lek. She hits the ground with a thud, and it takes a moment before she's on the comm. "This is Kadi," Her voice is a bit breathless. "Coordinates here, we need someone big enough to get this lug off me, please." She pauses and then, without turning off the comm, she says, "Nez. Nez. Are you okay?" There is a hint of panic starting in her voice.

Fortunately, they weren't far from the knight, and with Nez and Jax both injured it was a good thing. A trio of troops come rushing out of the ship with a hoversled in tow to haul Nez back to the ship's medical bay and immediately, the Twi'lek is taken back to the ship for treatment. Ax carries Jax out on his shoulders. "Let's get back to the ship," he says to Kadi.