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[SAGA] Star Wars - Resurgence of Darkness
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<blockquote data-quote="Beretta" data-source="post: 4617426" data-attributes="member: 12260"><p><strong>Tracking the Damsel</strong></p><p></p><p>The starlines flare as the short hyperspace journey begins. Fifteen minutes pass before the hyperspace transponder begins to beep – they are coming up on target…</p><p></p><p>The <em>Bellerophon </em>emerges from hyperspace on the edge of a vast asteroid field. In the distance, a small section of space is crisscrossed with green and red laser fire where the diversionary attack is taking place.</p><p></p><p>Khail flicks a few keys on the comm. board, scanning New Republic frequencies for any kind of signal. In a few moments it beeps as it locks on to a weak, coded distress signal emanating from a large asteroid in the midst of the field ahead. If he hadn’t been specifically looking for it, it would have easily been dismissed as mere background radiation.</p><p></p><p>Thalo takes the copilots seat as Fenri heads up into the ship’s gun turret and powers up the weapon system. Cyan takes a seat at the sensor panel and scans nearby space for any signs of Imperial patrols.</p><p></p><p>“All clear,” she tells Khail as he expertly maneuvers the freighter through the rocky debris. </p><p></p><p>“I’m going to do a quick visual sweep of the asteroid for any powered-down vessels. The Imperials could have arrived here before us and set up an ambush for any would-be rescuers like us.”</p><p></p><p>Khail brings the ship in towards the vast chunk of jagged rock the size of a small city, from which the faint signal is being transmitted. Scanning the surface, they can see several dark craters left by impacts of smaller rocks. One particularly deep crater appears to be a dark entrance to either a cave or deep crevasse.</p><p></p><p>Khail orbits the asteroid once and, finding it clear of any hostile vessels, steers the <em>Bellerophon </em>into the cave entrance.</p><p></p><p>The cavern extends deep into the asteroid. Ahead, lit by the glow of their ship’s lights, is the Corellian Corvette <em>Stellar Damsel</em>. There are numerous burn scars on her hull and a lot of damage. The remaining lights on the ship flicker on and off sporadically. </p><p></p><p>As the <em>Bellerophon </em>draws closer, the sensors show that there are still people alive on board, but the Damsel’s power readings have grown very weak.</p><p></p><p>Suddenly, the asteroid shudders and rumbles slightly. Small pieces of rock break off from the cavern and pelt both ships. From the <em>Damsel</em>, a flock of shadowy forms take wing and flutter through the darkness towards them.</p><p></p><p>Fenri lines up the barrel of the laser cannon with one of the approaching mynocks and depresses the trigger, and the resulting bolt of red energy instantly vapourises the creature. Then the remainder of the flock is upon the ship, gnawing into exposed energy cables and power couplings.</p><p></p><p>Khail glances at the red lights flashing on his control panel as he opens up a tight-beam comm. channel with the corvette. “<em>Stellar Damsel</em>, this is Captain Khail of the <em>Bellerophon</em>. We’re here as part of the Corva Sector task force to assist you. Please respond.”</p><p></p><p>The comm. is silent for a few moments, and then a heavily accented voice replies. “This is Acting-Captain Guro. The ship is too heavily damaged to make it out of the asteroid field, and only a few of us are left. The captain and most of the crew died in the initial attack. The docking port got heavily damaged, but if you can bring your ship over we have a few space suits we can use to cross the gap. Please hurry – the asteroid is unstable and could come apart at any moment!”</p><p></p><p>“Roger that – stand by.” Khail maneuvers the ship over to the doomed corvette’s docking port. “Fenri, Thalo - see if you two can clear those mynocks off the hull. Cyan and I will help get the survivors on board. Sensor readings indicate that there’s no atmosphere out there so you’ll need to suit up first.”</p><p></p><p>Everyone heads to the ships airlock and once there, dons a space suit. Khail attaches a long, thin cord from the airlock to his suit. “Make sure you all attach a tether line to the ship – I don’t want to have to chase down anyone who gets knocked away!”</p><p></p><p>He punches the airlock access panel and the hatch opens with a rush of escaping atmosphere. This is quickly followed by the sound of retching over their comlinks as Cyan doubles over, clearly sickened and disoriented by the zero-g environment. Only Khail seems totally unperturbed with the loss of gravity.</p><p></p><p>Approximately 20-meters away, they can see a small group of the <em>Damsel</em>’s crew clustered in the airlock of their ship. Fenri grabs his blaster. “I’ll go topside and clear the mynocks,” he says. “Thalo, you go underneath – I saw a few of them disappear under there.”</p><p></p><p>Thalo nods and moves awkwardly out of the airlock, his lightsaber flashing into life. Fenri is next and with one hand pulls himself up onto the top of the <em>Bellerophon</em>. Finally, Khail leaps out of the airlock and floats over to the Damsel, Cyan holding on to his belt grimly. </p><p></p><p>The corvette’s airlock opens and they land gently inside, just as both ships are pelted with more stones shaken loose from the unstable asteroid. One of the Damsel’s crew moves forward, and through the visor they can make out the face of a Sullustan. </p><p></p><p>“Just in time, captain,” he greets them in his heavily accented Basic. “I have experienced tremors like these on Sullust, right before a cavern collapsed. I fear that we don’t have long before the same thing happens here.”</p><p></p><p>Khail nods. “We are informed that you have important data that needs to get back to the New Republic?”</p><p></p><p>“Yes, I have it on datadisk right here,” Guro replies, patting one of his space suit’s pockets.</p><p></p><p>“Right then, let’s get your people back to my ship.”</p><p></p><p>“We’ll need to do this in two trips, as we don’t have enough suits for the entire crew...”</p><p></p><p>Khail sighs as he, Cyan, Guro, and part of the corvette’s remaining crew begin floating over to the <em>Bellerophon </em>– it isn’t a much of a surprise that things are turning out to be irritatingly complicated. </p><p></p><p>From what the smuggler can see, the others are still struggling with the mynocks. Thalo has dispatched two, but the third has managed to entangle its winged form about him and is delivering quite a battering. The emerald-bladed lightsaber is being waved about frantically as the Jedi struggles to get free of the mynock without injuring himself in the process. Fenri has also taken care of one, but the other is taking advantage of his clumsy movements in the zero-g environment and is darting quickly around him, inflicting painful strikes and dodging the frustrated soldier’s blaster fire. </p><p></p><p>Once they are back at the freighter, Khail re-pressurises the airlock and collects the suits for return to the remaining crew waiting aboard the <em>Damsel</em>. </p><p></p><p>“How’s the mynock situation?” he asks after thumbing his comlink.</p><p></p><p>Fenri’s reply sounds pained. “Those damned pests put up quite a fight – they certainly didn’t appreciate being interrupted. We both got knocked around some, but managed to dispose of them before they were able to do any serious damage. We’re coming back aboard.”</p><p></p><p>Khail reopens the freighter’s airlock, and he and Guro drift back over towards the stricken corvette, clutching the space suits tightly. Displeased at the prospect of suffering from another bout of space-sickness, Cyan returns to the Bellerophon’s cockpit in order to oversee the evacuation from there.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Beretta, post: 4617426, member: 12260"] [B]Tracking the Damsel[/B] The starlines flare as the short hyperspace journey begins. Fifteen minutes pass before the hyperspace transponder begins to beep – they are coming up on target… The [I]Bellerophon [/I]emerges from hyperspace on the edge of a vast asteroid field. In the distance, a small section of space is crisscrossed with green and red laser fire where the diversionary attack is taking place. Khail flicks a few keys on the comm. board, scanning New Republic frequencies for any kind of signal. In a few moments it beeps as it locks on to a weak, coded distress signal emanating from a large asteroid in the midst of the field ahead. If he hadn’t been specifically looking for it, it would have easily been dismissed as mere background radiation. Thalo takes the copilots seat as Fenri heads up into the ship’s gun turret and powers up the weapon system. Cyan takes a seat at the sensor panel and scans nearby space for any signs of Imperial patrols. “All clear,” she tells Khail as he expertly maneuvers the freighter through the rocky debris. “I’m going to do a quick visual sweep of the asteroid for any powered-down vessels. The Imperials could have arrived here before us and set up an ambush for any would-be rescuers like us.” Khail brings the ship in towards the vast chunk of jagged rock the size of a small city, from which the faint signal is being transmitted. Scanning the surface, they can see several dark craters left by impacts of smaller rocks. One particularly deep crater appears to be a dark entrance to either a cave or deep crevasse. Khail orbits the asteroid once and, finding it clear of any hostile vessels, steers the [I]Bellerophon [/I]into the cave entrance. The cavern extends deep into the asteroid. Ahead, lit by the glow of their ship’s lights, is the Corellian Corvette [I]Stellar Damsel[/I]. There are numerous burn scars on her hull and a lot of damage. The remaining lights on the ship flicker on and off sporadically. As the [I]Bellerophon [/I]draws closer, the sensors show that there are still people alive on board, but the Damsel’s power readings have grown very weak. Suddenly, the asteroid shudders and rumbles slightly. Small pieces of rock break off from the cavern and pelt both ships. From the [I]Damsel[/I], a flock of shadowy forms take wing and flutter through the darkness towards them. Fenri lines up the barrel of the laser cannon with one of the approaching mynocks and depresses the trigger, and the resulting bolt of red energy instantly vapourises the creature. Then the remainder of the flock is upon the ship, gnawing into exposed energy cables and power couplings. Khail glances at the red lights flashing on his control panel as he opens up a tight-beam comm. channel with the corvette. “[I]Stellar Damsel[/I], this is Captain Khail of the [I]Bellerophon[/I]. We’re here as part of the Corva Sector task force to assist you. Please respond.” The comm. is silent for a few moments, and then a heavily accented voice replies. “This is Acting-Captain Guro. The ship is too heavily damaged to make it out of the asteroid field, and only a few of us are left. The captain and most of the crew died in the initial attack. The docking port got heavily damaged, but if you can bring your ship over we have a few space suits we can use to cross the gap. Please hurry – the asteroid is unstable and could come apart at any moment!” “Roger that – stand by.” Khail maneuvers the ship over to the doomed corvette’s docking port. “Fenri, Thalo - see if you two can clear those mynocks off the hull. Cyan and I will help get the survivors on board. Sensor readings indicate that there’s no atmosphere out there so you’ll need to suit up first.” Everyone heads to the ships airlock and once there, dons a space suit. Khail attaches a long, thin cord from the airlock to his suit. “Make sure you all attach a tether line to the ship – I don’t want to have to chase down anyone who gets knocked away!” He punches the airlock access panel and the hatch opens with a rush of escaping atmosphere. This is quickly followed by the sound of retching over their comlinks as Cyan doubles over, clearly sickened and disoriented by the zero-g environment. Only Khail seems totally unperturbed with the loss of gravity. Approximately 20-meters away, they can see a small group of the [I]Damsel[/I]’s crew clustered in the airlock of their ship. Fenri grabs his blaster. “I’ll go topside and clear the mynocks,” he says. “Thalo, you go underneath – I saw a few of them disappear under there.” Thalo nods and moves awkwardly out of the airlock, his lightsaber flashing into life. Fenri is next and with one hand pulls himself up onto the top of the [I]Bellerophon[/I]. Finally, Khail leaps out of the airlock and floats over to the Damsel, Cyan holding on to his belt grimly. The corvette’s airlock opens and they land gently inside, just as both ships are pelted with more stones shaken loose from the unstable asteroid. One of the Damsel’s crew moves forward, and through the visor they can make out the face of a Sullustan. “Just in time, captain,” he greets them in his heavily accented Basic. “I have experienced tremors like these on Sullust, right before a cavern collapsed. I fear that we don’t have long before the same thing happens here.” Khail nods. “We are informed that you have important data that needs to get back to the New Republic?” “Yes, I have it on datadisk right here,” Guro replies, patting one of his space suit’s pockets. “Right then, let’s get your people back to my ship.” “We’ll need to do this in two trips, as we don’t have enough suits for the entire crew...” Khail sighs as he, Cyan, Guro, and part of the corvette’s remaining crew begin floating over to the [I]Bellerophon [/I]– it isn’t a much of a surprise that things are turning out to be irritatingly complicated. From what the smuggler can see, the others are still struggling with the mynocks. Thalo has dispatched two, but the third has managed to entangle its winged form about him and is delivering quite a battering. The emerald-bladed lightsaber is being waved about frantically as the Jedi struggles to get free of the mynock without injuring himself in the process. Fenri has also taken care of one, but the other is taking advantage of his clumsy movements in the zero-g environment and is darting quickly around him, inflicting painful strikes and dodging the frustrated soldier’s blaster fire. Once they are back at the freighter, Khail re-pressurises the airlock and collects the suits for return to the remaining crew waiting aboard the [I]Damsel[/I]. “How’s the mynock situation?” he asks after thumbing his comlink. Fenri’s reply sounds pained. “Those damned pests put up quite a fight – they certainly didn’t appreciate being interrupted. We both got knocked around some, but managed to dispose of them before they were able to do any serious damage. We’re coming back aboard.” Khail reopens the freighter’s airlock, and he and Guro drift back over towards the stricken corvette, clutching the space suits tightly. Displeased at the prospect of suffering from another bout of space-sickness, Cyan returns to the Bellerophon’s cockpit in order to oversee the evacuation from there. [/QUOTE]
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