Shadows in the Light (IC)

By Ryoden, in Star Wars: Edge of the Empire RPG

Fzaexx looks out on the wreck and puts a palm to his head as the fleeting hopes he had of salvaging the Hutt's ship vanish from his mind. Beginning his climb to power would be much easier with a respectable vessel to work out of. Still, there can be many treasures aboard that will make this run handsomely profitable. "Let's not be hasty. Those ships are usually a Hutt's private yacht. They run heavily armed and usually have a docking bay for smaller craft, not to mention the opulent dressings, jewels, or other comforts we might be able to strip. The ship might be a loss, but if the inside holds what I think it does we might be able to fill our hold with precious goods." And if we get lucky, a load of spice too.

Glancing at the wrecked hull, Tox questions the motives of her teammates. He can't seriously think this is worth doing. Isn't it obvious this junk will never fly again?

Trying to remain stoic, she nods slowly until she hears about the smaller craft. Not to mention the credits.

"Perhaps he's right, this may warrant a second look," she offers. If all else fails, I might at least get my own ship out of all of this, so I can go find some answers.

Edited by Mattimeo84
Spelling

(Sorry this is a little late)

Checking readouts and staring at row after row of dials, Khaine nods solemnly and begins walking from the engine compartment to the bridge. I can't beleive this is happening. Everything we had talked about and hoped for over nights of wishful thinking. Khain pauses to look around the cargo hold. Checking the ties on the walker one last time. I'm almost afraid that things are going too good. Satisfied that everything is in order he heads towards the bridge. "Well, she's a stripped down bucket, but the engines are in good shape and the hull is sound. It might be dicey with the paired down sensors though so be careful on approach." Khain says as he enters the bridge. Everyone else is there eagerly watching as they approach the moons of Kiskua.

Khaine waits silently with the others as the debris field comes into view. Wreck upon wreck appear to have rained down from above like so much trash thrown from a spice dealer's hovel. "It doesn't look good down there. It looks like they just dumped everything from orbit. This may be harder than we thought." He frowns as he does his best to adjust the sensors. Much harder... Finally, a he sees what may be a promising return in the garbage the sensors are giving him. "S'zish , can you steer us towards quadrant tree epsilon? There's some thing promising on the scanner." At least I think there is...

Poodoo, she's a mess. Khaine looks around at his companions and sees that they're thinking the same thing. "She looks like she tangled with the wrong star destroyer and lost. Badly." The others begin talking among themselves about moving on when Khaine notices the hungry look in Fzaexx's eyes. There's no way he doesn't want to check it out and I don't blame him. "Wait a minute. Before we decide let's at least check her out. Who knows, the engines may be sound and she could still be space worthy. Besides, we all know how the hutts are rolling in creds. Who knows what sort of treasures they left behind." Not to mention that the guards on their ship usually have the best weapons and armor money can buy. "For all we know, the slug died, his crew abandoned ship and left tubby's little floating palace fully stocked with thousands of creds in loot just waiting for the first sentients bold enough to claim them. And even if he made it out, we can strip some of the valuables and return it for a nice fat reward." Khaine looks around at his companions and sees eyes light up every time he mentions credits. He looks over at Fzaexx for support. "I say we take a look."

S'zish was shocked that the others were considering going to a ship that had been exposed to space for so long. "S'zish thinks that if the group wants to search that ship, then the group should return after searching a more intact ship. But S'zish thinks that the search would be a waste of time."

S'zish was particularly surprised that the mechanic was saying it wasn't that bad "S'zish wonders if Khaine sees the hull breach from impact?"

One of the things S'zish had figured out during his time on Nar Shadda was that the pilot may be able to overrule a decision, but they may not live too long after that. If the group insisted he would take them there, but he didn't see the benefits of going there now. "Shall S'zish move along, or does the group want to attempt the possibly time consuming search?"

Brin laughs softly and shakes his head as he looks down at the mess of a yacht with the rest of the crew. I don't really care about finding a ship anyway, he thinks to himself. But if they're right about that treasure, that sounds like a real adventure. And a profitable one to boot. We may even be able to pay off the repairs for whatever wreck of a starship we do find out here with that haul! And maybe, I can even find a little something for myself... The luxuries of the Hutts, eh, abandoned and ripe for the taking...?

"Well, if everyone thinks it's a good idea, I guess we can see what we can dig out of the old girl" , he says to the team, his eyes sparkling with greed and excitement.

"I see it S'zish. I'm just hoping that it isn't as bad as it looks. But realistically, it's pretty iffy if we can get it going again." Khaine says as he tries his best to be reassuring. "As far as that ship goes I'm mostly hoping for a vault, a safe, or something else that we can get out of it. Sometimes an elusive target is bets caught by going the long way around. Meaning that if we can find something on that ship valuable enough we can buy a ship outright and not have to worry about trying to patch up a wreck to fix up." Khaine pauses to look around at his companions before continuing. "However, if we do decide to go down there and check it out we shouldn't take too long. We are on a time crunch and we don't know when those Imps will be back."

"Maybe we can answer the question without even having to go down there. Let me see what I can do with what's left of the sensors." Khaine sits back down at the sensor controls and begins working the controls. Who designed these controls... It's like they were made for a wookie. Khaine begins to look frustrated and after a brief moment speaks up. "There's just too much interference... Frak it, go big or go home right?" Khaine begins to quickly dial the power up. Suddenly the console lets out a large pop as the overload capacitor sends a shower of sparks from under the console. "Frelling stripped down peice of junk..." Khaine exclaims as he quickly jumps up. "The overload popped. It's going to take a few minutes for the system to reset itself. Luckily it didn't burn out. Give me a minute and I'll have them up again." Khaine sits back down at the console and busily gets to work. I really hope that bought it. I should have known better than to override the safeties in a bucket like this.

S'zish, having been convinced by the rest of the crew to land and investigate the Minstrel Class Yacht, brings the modified YT-1000 slowly around to a flat looking area right next to one of the openings into the damaged ship they are intent on looting. He hovers his craft over the position checking out the viewports repeatedly. The Sensors are still resetting after all. He judges the distance correctly and extends the landing gear and the ship touches down, settling into the dust by about half a meter.

Unfortunately, when he disengages the repulsor engines, a release of gasses from the hydraulic workings of the landing struts blows down into the dust covering the surface. Suddenly massive plumes of thick dark cloud, billow out and around the YT. The dust soon is obscuring the entire valley in a deep dark miasma.

Tox looks into the inky darkness surrounding them. It reminds her of the night her parents left her in the Canyon of Despair. " No, not again" she spits aloud. Then realizing everyone heard her, she quickly lied " This reminds me of my first bounty. I tracked a dug underground for two days." Hoping that was enough, she preps her fusion lantern. " I suggest we all wear these and have our comlinks ready," she mumbles, feeling like she said too much.

They left me, I am stronger now than I ever have been with them. What would Duena say about this weakness. Even just thinking that name causes the bile to rise in her throat. Everyone leaves me when they no longer need me. She slowly looks around her team, wondering who, if any will be the one to take off without her.

Looking at her vamblades , never again.

Tox slowly pulls on her space suit. Fighting back the despair that could take over, she stands, holding the helmet in her off hand, placing more weight on her dominate hip, and says with a forced smile " Who wants to go for a walk? "

S'zish stares out the viewport for a second, this was unexpected the cloud would certainly make it harder to reach the ship quickly. Certain that sensors wouldn't have helped with this, he slides out of the pilots chair trying to remember the exact direction to the yacht's hull breach. He headed back to where the group had stored the space suits. S'zish began to put one on, thinking to himself Maybe searching the yacht wouldn't be a total loss, if S'zish could find something valuable it could help S'zish get revenge against the Empire.

"Fusion lanterns will be required to go anywhere in that cloud." He said to the group before putting his helmet on "S'zish hopes that none of the group delays takeoff by becoming lost, com-links will help with that." He looked inside the space suit's helmet "These helmets have com-links don't they?"

As you start making your way into the hull of the minstrel you soon realize that the ship is not going to hold the treasures you had originally hoped for. While there is plenty of detris and clutter in the ship, much of it has been damaged by exposure to the harshness of space. But even then, treasures can be found under the layers of dust by those looking carefully.

Edited by Ryoden

Flipping on the helmet lights of his space suit Khaine steps out into the murky darkness. A small cargo sled hovers a short distance behind him and begins to follow. Frelling dust. I can barely see a thing. But then, I guess that is sort of my fault... Khaine crosses the distance quickly and guides the small sled into the cavernous hole in the ships hull. "Ok. The armory has to be around here somewhere. Most likely near the main audience chamber." As he moves through the wreckage Khaine pauses to look over the blackened and scorched bodies of the poor souls that were killed in the battle. Most of the bodies are mangled beyond recognition. A testament to the firepower of whatever star destroyer brought the ship down. Every step kicking up dust that lingered in the low gravity, slowing his search. Khaine listens to his companions and they move as quickly as they can throughout the ship hoping for that big score that old mean an end to thier worries. It was probably wrong of me to fill their heads with ideas of treasure and riches. But this ship may be my best chance to get my hands on some serious firepower and some proper combat armor. The hutts never were one ro skimp on thier own personal security. And I might as well be wearing tissue paper and shooting spit balls. I miss my old gns and armor. If ony i knew what had gone wrong... Khaine pauses to quickly check another body over. "Useless! Everyone here either died in the battle from turbolaser fire or lived to flee." The search wasn't getting far when Khaine noticed a severed arm frozen by the vacuum of space and still gripping the handle to a locker. "Hmmm. Now what was so important..." As he opens the locker a small squeal of glee escapes Khaines lips. Quickly clearing his throat to cover the sound Khaine picks up his new find. "Come to daddy you beautiful thing you." Hefting a spotless combat rifle Khaine quickly gives it a full inspection. Fully functional. Today is looking up! What's that? You're lonely? Well, don't worry. I won't leave you behind. You can come home with me and I'll take care of you. Ooof. Khaine grunts as he picks up the large rifle. You are a big girl. It's a good thing someone was nice enough to get you all dressed up with a brand new combat sling. Smiling Khaine slings the rifle over his shoulder and continues on.

After a while it's clear that he's unable to find a route through the wreckage to where the audience chamber or armory should be. Knowing time is short he begins to head back. I hope the others had some good luck. A new rifle is awesome, but it doesn't pay the bills. Well, unless I pick up a few hit contracts that is. hehe. Rounding a corner he spots Tox dragging a large crate back towards the opening in the hull. "Need a hand with that?" Khaine says as he moves to help Tox load the large crate on the sled. " Corellian huh? Very nice find. Hopefully the others had some luck too otherwise we may be using it to drink our sorrows away. Ha!" Khaine continues on with the cargo sled always a few feet behind. " Come on. Lets go see how they did."

Edited by Ahrimon

Brin walks slowly through the damaged and dilapidated corridors, the light of the fusion lantern guiding him through the wreck. Peeking behind him, he can see his allies searching for whatever haul they can find to make their trip worthwhile. He amusedly whistles a jaunty tune to himself as he turns the corner and enters a small chamber that looks like it might have been used as a crew quarters a long time ago. If I were a thief working on a Hutt ship... where would I hide my stash...?

Crouching down and whistling along, he stretches his hand out to the panels running along the length of the floor. He patiently knocks on each of the panel segments, whistling to himself the entire time. Finally, after a few different panels, Brin seems to have found the response he was looking for. Jackpot!

Brin kicks the panel hard and it pops open, revealing a hidden compartment. A faint glimmering sparkle from inside the secret stash catches Brin's eye. He bends down slowly to pick up an opulently decorated ring, adorned with a large blue stone set into a shining silvery band. The stone shines brightly in the light of the fusion lantern. Oh, sweet mama! I may just have to bring you with me and get you appraised! Honestly... it'd be a shame to sell this though... I guess I can put a pin on that thought for now.

Brin stores the ring in his satchel and walks happily back to his team just to see how everyone is doing.

Walking back to the ship with Khaine, Tox relates her story about her find as they pull the cargo sled together. " I was hoping to find the launch bay and maybe get a couple of smaller ships for us, but every turn I took was blocked. I tried lifting a structual beam, but was afraid of tearing my suit. I went looking around for some sort of a lever, a rifle, a tool, a droids arm, anything really. In my search, I got turned around and ended up in the galley of all places. I searched the long decayed food, hoping to find some implement that could help. As I was looking, something shimmery caught my eye. I knew Hutt ships genereally had jewelry, maybe I could score a piece and trade it more more lessons or better gear.

"Upon closer inspection, it turned out in my haste, I dropped a crate on a bottle of Corellian Whiskey. I knew that my bad luck was following me. I looked to see what else was littering the floor. Imagine my surprise when I found an unbroken bottle of Whyren's Reserve, just sitting there. I picked it up and spotted another, then another. Found a complete 20 bottle case when I was done.

"I knew this was a pretty good find so I started dragging the crate. Luckily I was aided by the lower gravity, but you came along at just the right time. Thanks again." Letting out a rare smile, and an even rarer laugh, Tox can't help but hum a jaunty tune. I can share a bottle or two with the team, and sell the rest. I need some new armor, maybe a better pack. And I need information. Liquor always loosens tongues.

Edited by Mattimeo84

S'zish hopped through the cloud, the most efficient way, he had learned, to move in this level of gravity. Entering the hull breach he drifted across the room landing on the far side of the room in a puff of dust. He looked around he looked around hoping to make this trip worth something That partially collapsed hallway looks interesting he thought to himself. Navigating the girders was tricky in this gravity but he had gone less than 6 meters when he noticed a container that had become wedged into what had been the wall of the corridor. Getting the former cargo moving was only the first problem, once he had tugged it out of its resting place. S'zish had to navigate the bulky crate through the broken girders and wreckage of the hallway, keeping it within reach was the hard part, several times he almost smashed it into a girder or sent it flying at the floor, but he manged to navigate out of the corridor. Setting it down he paused for a second, Depending on the type of crate it might be protected from the near vacuum of the moon. Deciding not to open it yet, he moved back towards he exit.

Landing outside the wreck in another puff of dust, he began to bound back to the ship. Entering the YT-1000's cargo hold, he saw the container down and pried it open Ji Rikknit... valuable and rare. Perhaps searching this wreck wasn't a waste of time. S'zish had never had any use for narcotics, but he could sell this on some backwater for credits or information. It's probably best to seal this back up, just in case any of the group wants some. The last thing the group needs is a narcotic addition.

As he steps uncommonly lightly into the maw of the wreck, Neelig cannot but think of the innumerable deaths that had come to pass in these vary halls. Friends, lovers, brothers, mothers, all swept up in but a few blasts of turbolaser fire, their essence torn from their being and flung screaming back into the Force. And here they were looting the vessel, stripping it like carrion birds, to survive. He was becoming a vulture, profiting off of the debt and now death of others just so that what little of his herd was left might continue on, even if it was without him.

Mixed with his pity, with his internal requiem to their lives, laid a small flame. A flame that once burst across a young Rodian in the rotting hulk of Old Duros, a flame his young brothers and sisters witnessed tearfully and in shock with their own two eyes. Anger, anger at the empire, anger with himself, that sense of hatred sparked for a fleeting second as the hammerhead took in a painfully sharp breath; his long thick hands gripping tightly to his staff, the staff that they left him with.

But, it was but a second till his composure returned…they had a corpse to pick whether he liked it or not. Soon, they might happen upon a hopefully working herdship, a place where the young ones could live (as the ecosystem would have surely been strong enough inside to keep itself in balance) or better yet contact one of the insular herdships from within the wreck. Perhaps they would take the youths, but he would remain of course… their was no excuse for what he had done. His hands were red, red from squeezing his staff so tightly. Almost as red as the Rodian males life flowing from his head. Mother Jungle, protect him.

His composure back quiet expediently, his anger held within, Neelig stepped inside the wreck, immediately searching for a med bay of some sort. Medical supplies were not cheap in Old Duros, or really anywhere in Nar Shadda after all. The elder shuffled in the halls, finally finding the small bay he was seeking…only to find it void of anything but a few used needles and various broken spice containers littered around. Junkies.

Fingers slipped into the cabinets as Caab rummaged in the deepest crevices he could, looking for anything that could be of use to either them or the unfortunate. It took a few minutes, but as he jolted the door of what looked to have once been a cubby to store synthflesh out rolled two strange spheres. Copper in color with thin durasteel grey engraving on their sides in Huttese, five legs scrunched together, the Ithorian recognized what they could be- med droids. A few of the doctors aboard among his herd would use such devices, though nothing as unnecessarily complex as these. The undersides were a dull green in stark contrast to the brilliant copper, their legs sharing in the latter.

Carefully Neelig took them into his palms, scanning for a switch or button of some kind to spark them to life as he silently swayed back towards their own vessel, watching as a happy Tox with a crate of what appeared to be liquor and a well pleased Khaine, a new rifle slung in hand. The ithorian took a position behind them before booming into the conversation:

“I see you two found something of interest…is that Corellian?” Be careful Neelig, you know what happens when you drink, “I hope you aren’t thinking of downing all that booze in one go friend Tox. Force knows what you’d do when you are sober.” With that he tucked the droids under his arm sand gave both of them a shake on the shoulder in whatever merriment he could muster around the dead. “It would seem we’ve all been fruitful this find”… not everyone. He gave what he could pass as a hearty laugh before continuing, “Found a few mini-meds myself, hopefully they’re not damaged, I haven’t the slightest on how to turn them on…”

Edited by Weedles and Fries

The cloud of dust still floating in the air is cloying to your senses. It seems that even in the time you've spent searching the Minstrel the dust has barely settled again. The headlamps and fusion lanterns cast light enough to see a mere couple meters in front of you. Beyond that, the cloud absorbs everything. Neelig, Khaine and Tox are discussing their treasures together outside the Minstrel but have not yet brought their things onto the YT-1000. S'zish returned first and has already stowed the crate he found on board. Brin had made his way farther into the wreck than the others and is only just exiting now. Something stirs in the blackness...

Something seemed wrong, S'zish looked up and out the YT-1000's cockpit window, That blasted dust cloud He thought to himself, it was blocking vision across all of the wavelengths visible to a Gand. Despite the cloud he saw something moving towards the others, since the moon had airless it couldn't be wind or wildlife. Snatching his rifle from where he left it he rushed back towards the airlock, even if the shift in the cloud was nothing the group may need help loading gear. As he crossed the cargo bay he broke into a sprint. S'zish paused at the airlock for half a second, it would be worth going out there again just to make sure. He opened the first door to the airlock entered, closing the interior lock behind him. Getting ready for the lesser gravity of the exterior, the air pressure hissed out of the airlock, while he was waiting he called over the helmet comm-link "Does the group see the object in the cloud?" , shortly after that the air pressure equalized and the exterior airlock opened, he peered out preparing to head over to the others.

Edited by Imperial Stormtrooper

Tox hears the worried tone in S'zish's question and she glances to her left once more. There it is again, a swaying in the darkness. She hefts her fusion lantern and tosses it toward the thing seemingly concealed in the billowing dust. The lantern moves through the low gravity in a long arc. As it moves the bubble of light around it suddenly enfolds a hideous thing.

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The chiten covered worm ignores the sudden light but as the lantern strikes it in the sinuous segmented body it responds by aggressively lunging toward you.

Druk! That may not have been a good idea , Tox thought to herself. Taken aback by the sudden appearance of the beast, Tox hesitates for a second, losing critical time. She steels her nerves and darts at the beast. Just like the Kintan Striders back home. As she moves in for the strike, the full view of the worm comes into focus. It's many legs and writhing tentacles seemingly move without purpose. Scuttling around, it moves quickly and with deadly grace. " Ok, maybe not like the striders," she says under her breath.

Dodging it's tail and ducking under it's pincers, she weaves closer and closer. Does this thing even have a weak spot? Getting close enough to strike, she flicks her wrist and the blades pop out from her wrist gauntlets. Jumping on to it's back, Tox thrusts both blades into the creature.

The putrid smell of decay seeps off of the worm, filling Tox's nostrils, reminding her of when she had to crawl through the sewers after falling to Duena. Blinking back memories, she curses to herself as she momentarily lost her focus at the same time the creature bucked. Stoopa sleemo. Only one blade hits true. " Karking wermo! " She barks in Huttese. This shocks her team, who had never heard her speak the dialect before. Holding on as the creature writhes, Tox sees her chances and jumps off, tumbling to relative safety. Jumping up, but before she can catch her breathe, the beast turns to her and cuts the distance between them to less than a meter. " Uhhh, that didn't quite go as planned, any of you Bantha poodoo want to jump in and help? "

The chitenous worm creature writhes around Tox, the tenticles protruding from either side of its mouth flailing about in the low gravity. Khaine and Neelig stand a few steps away still only just reacting to the erupting conflict. Suddenly, a second creature lurches out of the gloom behind them and slams its tentacles around Khaine. The ropey muscles tighten over Khaine's torso and squeeze. The pressure isn't quite bone crushing but after a cry of surprise Khaine realizes he is unable to fill his lungs. The blood is pumping through his body and quickly depleting it of oxygen, how long will he be able to act on adrenaline alone?

Khaine chats with Tox as they walk back to the ship. "It looks like we all had a bit of luck. I found this little cannon in a locker. The former owner was kind enough to point it out to me." Khaine says as he swings his new rifle around to show Tox. Suddenly S'zish's warning crackles across the radio as Tox spins, tosses her fusion lantern into the darkness, and then darts towards a large creature moving in the dust. Taken aback by the sudden action around him Khaine is stands in shock until he sees the massive creature coming towards them. "What the frak is that!" Khaine exclaims, with an obvious edge of fear in his voice. Suddenly his reflexes kick in and snap him out of his shock. Rookie mistake. He thinks to himself as he raises his rifle. But he realizes that he's too late as a second creature springs from the darkness besides him. "Oh poodoo! There's a second one!" Khaine swings to take aim but the creature is on him before he can react.

The creature's tentacles snaked out and wrapped around Khaine squeezing the air from his lungs and drawing him into the large pincers. Pain flashes through his body as the pincers chomp down on him. His heavy clothes cushioning some of the bone crushing force, but not much. The monitors in his suit begin flashing alarms, an unneeded reminder of the pain he felt. Unable to breath, Khaine fires wildly at the creature as the edges of his vision begin to darken. Oh crap. Oh crap. Oh crap. The heavy whump of his blaster rifle filters through the thin atmosphere and mixes with the pounding of his heart and the bio-monitor alarms screeching in his helmet. He continues to fire wildly unsure if his shots were true or the act of a drowning man reaching for anything to save him. One of the blaster shots goes wild and strikes the fusion lantern which explodes in a shower of sparks and plunges the area into darkness. The lights of the ship cast an eerie glow in the distance as the headlamps of the companions turn the scene into the stuff of nightmares.

Edited by Ahrimon

Returning from the abandoned yacht, Brin overhears the din of combat from over the comlink channels. Ah, **** it! He rushes out to meet the rest of the team, fusion lantern in hand, just barely able to make out the shapes of Tox and Khaine fighting... something.

Wow... Tox is... fierce! He holds his fusion lantern up high in an attempt to make out the shapes hiding behind a cloud of dust and cheers her on as she lands a cutting blow against her foe.

"Hah! Yes! Go, Tox! Show that punk what you're made of!"

He yells out toward Tox, cheering her on as she fights. Excited, Brin moves in closer toward Khaine and Tox only to see Khaine caught in the grip of a large worm-like beast with a chitinous hide. Visibly rattled, but still excited, Brin pulls out his trusty Model 80 and yells out, "Aw cripes! What the hell is that?!"

Edited by crookedcrown
clarity, continuity

The worm attacking Tox lashes out and tries to wrap its tentacles around her. Fortunately she is able to deflect them with her vamblades. The creature then scuttles away into the darkness.

Edited by Ryoden