MC: AotE: Old Friends and New Jobs

[Writer]

"You know things most don't," Riebe said quietly. "Yes, I know who Vader was... but in his own words, that man is dead now. What difference does it make?"

[ExtreamJedi12]

"It might make a difference someday." Cloud said. "My father used to tell me great things about the Jedi like when they turn to the dark side, they can turn back if they try."

[Writer]

Riebe shrugged. "It's been known to happen, I suppose," she said. "Though I'm now curious... why the hell do you know so much about Jedi? And me... how did you know my age. It's not something I tend to tell people."

[ExtreamJedi12]

"I loved the Jedi when I was young. I did all I could to learn about them. I read books about their adventures, watched holograms of battles, and learned about lightsaber designs. As for your age, it was something I didn't know until meeting up with Sephiroth on this thing. I get a strange feeling when he gets near. Sometimes, I can even hear his thoughts. Vader told him about you because in his mind, he knew your age."

[Writer]

Riebe nodded thoughtfully. "Curious..."

 

Cloud felt a slight pushing against his mind and then Riebe smiled. "Of course... there isn't any other way. You, Cloud Strife, are Force sensitive. It is the reason you sense Sephiroth's presence... the reason you heard his communication with Vader... it's also the reason you nearly defeated him."

 

She frowned thoughtfully, "I just wasn't aware Vader knew my age..." She shrugged. "Rumors and truth spread with equal speed, I suppose... even among Jedi."

[starmark2k]

((occ-out of curiosity how many force sensitives are on the ship now? as i'm prety sure Beryl is suppose to be one.))

 

"As much as i hate sneaking around, it's our best option." Nic said thoughtfully as he turned to Jack. "and an explosion isn't the smartest idea."

[JasraLantill]

((@Starmark--Well, Ryshana's one (obviously). Beryl is, but she doesn't want to be and would deny it. And I suppose Cloud is now, too. So...two and a half?))

 

"Then let's go already!" Beryl said impatiently, to Nic. "This place gives me the shivers."

[ExtreamJedi12]

When Cloud heard that he was Force sensative, his mind went racing. Everything made sense now. His skill with mechanics(helped w/ the Force), his ability to sense Sephiroth, and his swordfighting. They all made sense. Then he heard what Riebe said after that. "I guess so. But, I can't believe I'm Force sensative. I lived on Alderaan during the Clone Wars, so I couldn't have gone to the Jedi Temple to train. But, I guess I would've been killed or on the run. But enough about that." Cloud said. "Let's go. I'll get the Headhunter." With those words, Cloud ran for the Headhunter.

[XoRRoX]

"You lead the way. I haven't been on a stardestroyer - and my sense of locality is not good trained" he said, and took a bik gulp of his juma juice. "Led the way!". He was beginning to be a little drunk.

[steven]

"A good explosion alwase sold everything. But if you say so" He walked out of the room and looked down the corridor on the left side of him "That way leads to the janitor closet and armory. Are we still going to the armoury? I think I saw them taking your shot-gun there."

[starmark2k]

"Jack i've told you a thousand times, she has a name! Now let's break betsy out." Nic then walked down the corridor.

 

(check the discussion thread please.)

[steven]

"And I thought my old buddy from piolt school was sad" He said to himself and followed Nick. He entered the armour and went to it's vault. "Any guesses to the vault compernation, anyone?"

[stingerhs]

"Then that settles it. I'll meet the rest of you at the Echo," Ryshana stated. Concentrating slightly, Ryshana suddenly seemed to first shimmer slightly, and then, she vanished from view. As she quietly crept down to a nearby guard station, Ryshana knew she had to prioritize things. First things first: get a readout of the ship so she knew where to go. Then, she would need to disable the tractor beams, the controls for the hangar bay, and finally disable any type of autotargetting system.

 

As she approached the guard station, Ryshana quickly counted up the guards. Hmm, five guards: one officer and four stormtroopers. And, if i make out the insignia on the one trooper, he's one of the few clones left over from the war. This should be interesting, Ryshana thought.

[JasraLantill]

"Any guesses to the vault combination, anyone?" asked Jack

 

Beryl looked around the armoury. There were some day lockers off to one side. She weaved her way through Jana and Oliver, and began to open them, one at a time, poking her head inside and looking along the inside of the doors and the underparts of the top shelves. After examining three or four, she finally paused.

 

"Jack?" Beryl's voice echoed from inside the hollow metal locker. "Try eight-six-four-nine-two."

 

She poked her head back out and met with a curious stare from Nic. "What?" she asked, staring blankly back at him. "There's always at least one idiot that is too stupid to remember a combo and ends up writing it down someplace 'safe.' I thought everyone knew that."

[ExtreamJedi12]

Hmm, five guards: one officer and four stormtroopers. And, if i make out the insignia on the one trooper, he's one of the few clones left over from the war. This should be interesting, Ryshana thought.

 

((Uh, there were many clones in Imperial Legions. One of them, the 501st(Vader's Fist), is made up of all clones. So if we are traveling on a ship with Vader on it, they might be the 501st.))

[steven]

He pressed in the bottens Beryle had told him to "Bingo. I just love looking into armours. You get spoilt for choice."

The armour was jammed packed with bastlers, riffiles, rocket launchers, grenades, the lot.

[stingerhs]

Moving slowly and deliberately, Ryshana approached the guard station. Once she was within melee range of three of the troopers, she used the Force to 'create' a very loud explosion that only the squad could hear. All of them turned to face the sound, allowing Ryshana to quickly strike at the troopers, seemingly all at once. With her speed heavily increased by the Force, Ryshana was able to sequence her strikes: one with a kick to the head, then the back; the next would take first a kick to the front of the knee, forcing a hyperextension backward, and then a kick to the front of the neck; the third had his neck snapped.

 

All that was left was the officer and the one clone Ryshana noticed earlier. The clone was just starting to react and was turning to fire at Ryshana. Taking a quick step forward, Ryshana kicked upwards and caught the back of the blaster hilt. The rifle ripped upwards, out of the trooper's grasp, and Ryshana then brought her elbow forward into the trooper's neck. Catching the rifle in one smooth motion, Ryshana very quickly aimed and fired at the officer's leg. Catching him with two bolts, the officer dropped to the floor in pain.

 

Quickly walking up to the officer, Ryshana shimmered as the Force continued to cloak her. The officer was about to pick up a blaster pistol and shoot at Ryshana, but she quickly stepped up and kicked the gun out of the way. Reaching down, Ryshana took his ID card and swiped it to open the blast doors. Bringing the butt of the rifle down, Ryshana finally finished off the officer.

 

Quickly and quietly, Ryshana then hid the bodies in a nearby cell. Checking a nearby computer port, she then memorized the locations she would need to go to shut down the various systems. Studying the layout a bit further, Ryshana mapped out a sequence that led through the circulation system that would get her to just about everywhere she wanted to go. Unfortunately, she would need to find a maintenance droid first in order to shut off various sensors within the system that would raise the alarm.

 

Shouldering the rifle, Ryshana then made for the local maintenance station on her level.

[JasraLantill]

Beryl picked up a repeating blaster and examined it. "This'll do me," she said.

 

She picked up another blaster, and then looked at it reminiscently. It was remarkably similiar to the models that she had used as a T.C.T.A. student.

 

"Here," she said, tossing it to Jana. "What does that remind you of?"

[starmark2k]

Nic Looked around the room and stoped at the shelf 'converscated weapons' He walked over to it and took his pistol and knife holstering them both. He then grabbed betsy "They better not have hurt you." He examined the gun and noticed all was fine.

 

"O.k people lets get to the echo."

[XoRRoX]

Oliver took also a gun. A nice one - but very small. I't diden't look very dangerous.

 

"Well - i'm ready. Let's go!" he smiled.

[steven]

Jack picked up a chain gun and two clone blaster rifles. He strapped the chain gun to his back and in each hand he had the clone rifles "Let's hope I my training is still in my head."

[stingerhs]

Looking down a hallway, Ryshana suddenly froze as a minor officer was heading towards the detention center. Stopping in front of the open blast door, Ryshana could read his confusion. Not wanting his confusion to amount to anything, Ryshana decided to make his incredibly confused. Using the Force, Ryshana bombarded the man with conflicting thoughts and bodily signals. Stunned for that brief moment, Ryshana quickly performed a roundhouse kick to the back of the officer's head.

 

After hiding him with the rest of the guards, Ryshana swiped the officer's card to close the blast doors behind her. Utilizing a bit of technique, Ryshana also took the time to lock the blast doors through the console next to the door. Still cloaked by the Force, Ryshana quietly made her way down to the maintenance station. Pearing through a window, she could make out a lone technician working on a protocol droid of some kind.

 

"How in the blazes did you manage to blow your motivator again?" the technician asked the deactivated droid. "I swear you do it to me on purpose." Suddenly, the door opened behind him. Without looking up, the technician stated, "If you don't mind, I'm quite busy at the moment."

 

"Not to busy to help me out?" Ryshana asked. As the technician looked up, he jumped backwards and hit his head on a droid part hanging over his head. Rubbing the back of his head, the technician looked back over at Ryshana who was now decloaked. She also had the rifle pointed right at him. "Well, I-I guess I could-" the technician started.

 

"Good. I need access to the circulation systems."

 

"Well, anybody has access to them-"

 

"Preferrably without setting off an alarm."

 

"Well, I-I, umm, I could give you my card."

 

Noticing an astrodroid just behind him, Ryshana asked, "What about that R2 unit behind you?"

 

"Hmm? Oh, well, yeah, it would work, but he needs a couple of repairs."

 

Sensing the lie, Ryshana replied, "No, he doesn't need any repairs. You just simply have him deactivated. Now, my suggestion to you is to start complying with my requests without evading them. Or else you're going to find yourself full of blaster holes." To emphasize the last point, Ryshana flipped off the safety which produced a charging noise. "Ok, fine. I'll activate him, and you can keep him for all I care. Just don't, umm, shoot me, ok?" the technician replied nervously. "Take off the restraining bolt and give it to me, first."

 

As the technician complied, Ryshana suddenly lashed out with another stunning technique. Pushing him into a nearby chair, Ryshana then put him to sleep with another Force technique. Sensing his exhaustion, Ryshana knew that he would be out for a very long time. Taking the restraining bolt, Ryshana reconfigured it so that it would respond to her commands. Putting it back onto the droid, Ryshana then activated it.

[Writer]

"Now this brings back memories," Jana said, smiling slightly as she caught the blaster tossed to her by Beryl. She looked over at Nic. "Lead the way, Captain."

 

Nic nodded and led the group out of the armory and toward the docking bay holding the Echo.

 

----------------------

 

Using the droid, Ryshana was able to access all the systems she'd set out to. The tractor beam was disabled, along with any other systems designed to keep the ship from escaping in one piece. As an added touch, she disabled the Star Destroyer's propulsion systems. Satisfied with her work, she decided to leave the droid where it was, but it followed her, even after she ran into the others.

 

"Nice droid," Jana commented.

 

"Extra astro-droid never hurt anything," Nic chuckled. "Maybe we can reprogram it entirely to serve us."

 

They entered the bay where the Echo was being held and found themselves face to face with a group of Stormtroopers. Before anyone could fire, Nic held up a hand to stop them all.

 

"This may sound strange," he said quietly, "but I'm kinda thinkin' they can't see us."

 

"Or hear us, for that matter," Jana agreed, staring at the troopers. They began walking through the troops when suddenly, Beryl stopped.

 

"Riebe said she was bringing Cloud back to us," she said. Turning to Jana, she said, "I'm gonna go for the Headhunter. We can't leave it behind."

 

"Better it than you," Jana protested. But Beryl had already run back out the door. Jana groaned and started after her. Suddenly, the door reopened and Beryl came through in midair, squirming against an invisible hold.

 

"Your Headhunter will rejoin you outside," Riebe said, stepping into view and continuing toward the Echo and still holding Beryl. "Cloud ran off to it before I could stop him."

 

"Put me down!" Beryl protested. Riebe chuckled and Beryl dropped roughly to the ground.

 

"Into your ship with you," she said sternly. Jana couldn't conceal her smile as she boarded the ship, followed by the others. Nic trailed slightly behind the others and, just before boarding, he turned to Riebe.

 

"It's because of you these troops are ignoring us," he said slowly. "They ignored you on Alderaan, made you look like a traitor. That got you called some pretty harsh names here." Riebe nodded wordlessly, waiting for him to continue. "So, I guess what I'm wondering is why you came back? Why would you bother with us, especially seeing as you weren't very welcomed."

 

Riebe smiled slightly. "I like to keep my eyes on people I care about," she said. Nic stiffened slightly as she continued. "But I can't keep my eyes on all my descendants at once. So, I watch, give the responsibility to others... see if they can earn it."

 

"Take care of her," Nic murmured. He stared at Riebe. "That was you?"

 

"You done well, Nic White," Riebe said, smiling. "You done very well." Shifting slightly, she added, "See you in space, Captain."

 

Her fighter was nearby and she went to it now and got in. Nic stared after her for a long moment before moving up the ramp and sealing off the Echo.

 

Jana approached him and looked at him, questioningly. He merely smiled and murmured, "I done well."

 

Jana shrugged and smiled. While she was curious, she knew Nic wouldn't likely explain.

 

"Alright, Jack!" she called. "We're all on. Get us out of here!"

 

With a grunt, Jack lifted off and flew out of the Star Destroyer. In space, they met up with Cloud in the Headhunter.

 

"Careful with that!" Beryl protested as the Headhunter was once more stowed inside the Echo.

 

"I failed," Cloud told Beryl, getting out of the Headhunter.

 

"You're still alive," she retorted. "I call that success."

 

"But so's Sephiroth," he interjected. "I was gonna kill him."

 

"At least you'll get another chance," Jana said, coming up to them. "Now, please, Cloud, we need you in the engine room. Beryl, the Headhunter's calling your name. TIE's set to intercept in less than a minute."

 

With Beryl in the Headhunter, Jana at the turret, and Riebe in her fighter, the TIE's were taken care of in minutes, but Riebe's hyperspace ring was destroyed in the process.

 

"This time, I'll ask," she called over the comm. "I need a hyperdrive. Mind if I use yours?"

 

"Anytime," Nic offered generously. A short pause. Then, "How often do you think it'll be?"

 

Riebe chuckled.

 

"Oh, I'm sure I'll drop by from time to time," she reassured him. He nodded. Beryl returned in the Headhunter and Riebe attached herself to the ship. Then, the Echo shot forward into hyperspace.

 

 

Off to a new adventure...