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Message: <blockquote data-quote="LostSoul" data-source="post: 618545" data-attributes="member: 386">The silence in the Imperial customs crusier is deafening.  It is impossible not to feel exposed against the stark emptyness of the cold Imperial passages.  Troy and Feyd move through the main axis of the ship, trying to make as little noise as possible.  All they can hear is the sound of their own hearts beating.  Feyd, moving in the front with his lightsabre aglow, motions to Troy.  Troy stops and swallows.  He looks at Feyd, who has slipped into some kind of trance.  His sabre isn't humming, Troy thinks.  I wonder if he's doing that.  Troy waits for Feyd's next move.Feyd's eyes snap open.  "Most of them are in there," Feyd whispers, pointing to the room up ahead.  "I think they are going to try and put up a last stand."I say we show them who they're dealing with."  Feyd grips his lightsabre tightly and it lets out a deep, growling hum.Feyd leaps into action with Troy creeping along behind him.  He walks slowly into the room, the bridge, his back straight and his jaw out.  Blaster fire flies out at him, but Feyd blocks it all with his whirling sabre.  Troy takes a shot from behind Feyd, blasting one of the few naval troopers left."I am Feyd, Jedi Knight," Feyd says, the words a deep rumble that seem to shake the very walls.  "You will surrender to me now or die."Holy <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />, Troy thinks.  Maybe there's something to his ramblings after all."I'm Captain Babel Torsh," one of the Imperial officers says.  "We don't recognize your authority here!"Feyd stares at him.Troy walks into the room and shoots near Babel Torsh's feet.  "This is our authority.  Drop your weapons and lie on the floor," he says.  The Imperials comply, lining up on the cold steel floor in front of Troy.Troy turns to Feyd.  "Nice work."  Feyd stands rigid, hands tight on his lightsabre."I'll take them to the brig; you stay here and check out the controls.  Look over the crew manifest, too.  I want to make sure we've got all these bastards taken care of."--- Star Wars ---Troy descends a ladder leading from one engineering level to the next.  He takes a quick look at the Imperial readings and controls.  This ship's probably twice as fast as Bessie, he thinks.  Decked out with the newest Imperial tech.  Fancy <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />.  I've never seen anything like this, not even in Arthur's Royal Starfighter Corps.Troy reads over a power output screen.  In the reflection of the glass, he spots someone approaching him from behind.  Troy reaches for his blaster, slowly, hoping whoever that is doesn't see it; then, at the last moment, he draws his blaster and spins around.  He finds himself facing an Imperial wearing a tech jumpsuit, holding a large hydrospanner raised to strike at Troy.Troy blocks the tool with his blaster, then knocks it out of the tech's hand.  "Nice try, idiot," Troy says.  He pistolwhips the tech.  "Get on your knees."  The technician obeys him.  Troy reaches out with his blaster, putting it to the tech's forehead."Please don't kill me," the technician says.  "I'm just here doing my job, trying to earn a living for my wife and kids.""Wife and kids?" Troy asks."They're from Fornax," the tech mumbles."The Planet of Fire?  I've heard of it.  What do the fire-rings look like planetside?""Beautiful, just beautiful.  It's like the sun is always setting, like it's kissed the planet and made it blush.""Wow, that's nice.  I'll bet you'd like to see that again.""And my wife and kids...""Them too.  I'll tell you what: apologize to me, and I'll let you go.""I'm sorry, sir, very sorry.  I didn't mean to do it.""Hmm," Troy rubs his chin.  "Yeah, I just don't buy it.  Sorry.  Guess you're not going to see anything, anymore."The tech jerks his head back, a reflexive move, but not quick enough.  Troy's blaster cuts a hole straight through the tech's head and out the other side.  Blood spurts out, a fine layer of it covering Troy's pants."Great," he says out loud, "now I'm going to have to get these cleaned."  He wipes himself off, then climbs the ladder out of the engineering bay.--- Star Wars ---The Imperial customs cruiser sat silently in space with Bessie latched on to its boarding clamps.  It had been quiet since docking with the rogue freighter.  The opposite was true on the inside; only now had things calmed down after furious firefights rang out on both ships.  Now the crusier's engines fired off, once, twice in quick succession.  The cruiser sprung to life again.On the ship's bridge, Feyd studied technical readouts while Troy played with the engines' power levels.  Both of them were calm, although there was a strange tension in the air.  They hadn't said much to each other since capturing the ship.  Now they were both occupied by their new possession.Once Arthur arrived, with Darius in tow, he gawked over the latest in Imperial technology."Here's the plan," Troy said, eyes still on the ship's controls, "Me and Feyd are taking this ship to Criton's Point.""What about the weapons shipment?" Arthur asks, surprised, and more than a little jealous of the new pilots of the Imperial ship."You and Darius can take them there.  You've got all the right contacts.  I'm sure if you get into trouble Darius can handle it."  Darius shifts his weight and lets out an affirming grunt.Arthur looks around the ship's bridge.  It's like a dream come true.  But when his eyes fall on Feyd, he gets a strange feeling in the pit of his stomach, as though he just watched himself fall into an abyss."Okay," Arthur says, a little hesitantly.  "We'll meet up at Socarro VI once everything is taken care of.""I figure it'll take us four months to get there and back," Troy says.  Arthur's mind reels, knowing that Bessie would take at least twice as long on the same trip.  "I hope you can find something to entertain yourselves.""Don't worry about us.  We'll be fine.  Just be careful.  I want to get a chance to fly this sweet bitch ass someday."Troy laughs.  "Bitch ass... I like the sound of that."</blockquote>

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