MC: AOTE: Fraught With Disappointment

[stingerhs]

"Maybe," Jeez commented as he tossed another shovel load of ore into the cart. "But I doubt that he'd wouldn't notice a cart that wasn't full. Sure, he's angry cause this is his first assignment, but now he thinks he has something to prove to everyone else. That's what happens when you stick with recruits instead of clones."

 

"And you know that without even going over there?" Sam asked somewhat incredulously.

 

"Well, I know what I know," Jeez stated as he winked in her direction. Ryshana just smiled as she continued to help load the cart with ore.

 

"No worries about him, though. He didn't get his position down here because he has a strong mind. His partner is worse off from what I can tell," Ryshana added as a hint to Beryl so that she wouldn't be nervous about having to fool the guards with the Force.

 

With the cart about 3/4 of the way full, another trustee came walking up to the group. "You two, come with me," he said as he pointed out Ryshana and Jeez. Taking them aside, he then said, "Look, I don't know why you're down here, and that's a problem. That problem gives way to the fact that I don't know who you are because I know everybody down here. So, here's the drill: I have to take you up to the assignments office to check you in. Are you new arrivals?"

 

Concentrating on the trustee's mind, Ryshana then said, "I'm new, but I don't think that's much of an issue."

 

"This really isn't an issue," the trustee said.

 

"We can be about our business," Ryshana stated.

 

"You can go about your business. Get back to work," the trustee replied as he turned and walked off.

 

Moving back over to the group, Ryshana then commented, "See, that's not as hard as it looks."

[JasraLantill]

Feeling a bit more confident with Ry's demonstration, Beryl grinned crookedly as Ryshana. Sam just stared in awe.

 

"Now that's really handy," Sam said to the Jedi. "Wish I could do that." She looked at Beryl. "You can do that," she said, patting Beryl's shoulder with confident reassurance. "Wow. Imagine all the things you could get away with. Like... like...," She thought a moment, then grinned. "Like seconds in the mess hall!"

 

"Seconds?" Beryl grimaced. "I can barely stomach firsts. Besides, there's probably some kind of ...," She heaved up a final shovel full of ore into the cart then wiped her brow. "... consequence for using the Force that way." A quick look at Ryshana. "Right?" Ryshana grinned serenely. "Yeah. Thought so."

 

The cart was full again. Beryl looked over to the guards, then at the Jedi, then Sam. "Sam, see if you can casually kick one of those dets we stashed into that hole over there while Jeez and I take the cart over to the lift." She nodded to a small depression in the ground, nearer to the shuttle tunnel but away from most of the ore loaders.

 

Sam raised her brow. "What, you want me to set it off? Now?"

 

"No, I just want you to put it in that hole for now. People know your face. You'll be less noticeable than one of us walking over there. I'll set it off when we're nearer the lift with our next load. They'll shut the lifts down when there's the flash and bang, but once they figure out it was really nothing to get excited about, they'll start the lifts back up again. By that time Conn should be down here, checking on things, and then when they tell him he's got no casualties and nothing to check, he can sneak a ride up in the lift with us." She grinned. "Simple."

 

She took control of one end of the cart, then looked at Jeez. "You coming?"

[stingerhs]

"It would be my pleasure, miss," Jeez replied half-mocking as he gave her a slight bow. Taking one side of the cart, Jeez gave it a good tug as Beryl did the same. "You know, these things really aren't as heavy as they look. Especially when you have a helper, you know?"

[JasraLantill]

Beryl's brow crinkled as she stared down at the heavy cart, and then at the taught muscles in her arms. Laden with ore, the cart was heavy--not unmanageable with two people pulling it, but it still took some effort to get it moving. Yet Jeez wasn't straining at all, and the cart was moving just the same as when Sam had been pulling it with her.

 

She gave Jeez a deadpan look. It was obvious to her now that he was using the Force, and she suddenly felt stupid for not having used it to assist her before now.

 

"Is it your goal in life to make me feel stupid all the time," she asked him, "or just half the time?" Letting out a sigh of resolve, she concentrated on the Force, using it to help her propel the cart forward. It was indeed easier to move now, but when she came up to the two guards, she found that it was difficult for her to concentrate on the cart and them at the same time. She gave Jeez a dirty look, and he gave her an enigmatic grin.

 

She tried to focus the Force on the guard, while at the same time, keeping the cart slightly levitated. It was difficult. "Kriffin' Jedi and their training....," she muttered under her breath.

 

"No talking!" the gruff guard said.

 

Beryl rolled her eyes, then concentrated harder. The cart wobbled, but as Beryl's eyes narrowed, it steadied itself. "I've got a full cart. You need to call the lift," she said to the guard. "I know the procedure," she added.

 

Almost automatically, the guard pushed the lift's call button. "You know the procedure."

 

"I'll just wait by the lift door," Beryl said.

 

"Just wait by the lift door," the guard repeated, motioning her and Jeez to the door behind him. "And no talking!"

 

Beryl's brow raised at how easy it had been to guide the thoughts of the grumpiest of the two guards. She gave Jeez an unsure look, wondering if he had helped her. He merely grinned, and then shook his head ever so slightly.

 

The lift came, and they moved the cart inside. This time, Beryl took a closer look at the inside of the elevator car. She still couldn't see any cameras, but she wondered if Jeez, having more 'covert operations' experience, had noticed anything more than she had.

 

Leaving the cart in the lift, they returned to the group. Sam was just coming back from kicking one of the stashed dets into the small hole Beryl had spied earlier.

 

"It's in there," Sam said to Beryl, as she nodded her head in the direction of the hidden detonator. "Covered it up with some dirt though, sweetie, 'cause it was sort of sticking out a bit."

 

"That's okay," Beryl said, looking over at the small bump in the dirt. "I can...." She looked at Jeez and Ryshana. "...feel it." She took a deep breath. "So, are we all ready for our 'distraction' to get Conn down here?"

[Rogue Nine]

Conn chewed absently at a protein bar as he reached for his hydrospanner. Finding the long cylinder at his belt, he took it and stuck it into the innards of the 2-1B droid he was repairing. Since he was going to be leaving today (hopefully), his moral compass as a doctor did not allow him to feel at ease about it until he was sure that the facility would be left with a functioning medical technician, even if it was just a droid.

 

Snapping the panel shut, he was about to switch the Two-Onebee on when alarm klaxons went off, splashing red light across the medbay. He glanced at the chrono. "Well that was all too soon," he muttered as he grabbed his medical bag. It didn't take long for his comlink to chirp.

 

"Doctor Harlowe," a voice said, slightly distorted. "Please report down to the mines, block 1138. There has been an explosion in the mines."

 

Conn tried to keep his voice level as he flipped the Two-Onebee's switch and made his way to the door. "Casualities?" he inquired.

 

"Mostly minor," the voice replied, not sounding too excited at all. Probably a bored stormtrooper.

 

"Yes, but we can't have the Empire's finest prisoners being injured," Conn replied drolly. "I'll be down there in a few minutes."

[starmark2k]

“Sir Report from the prison facility, there has been an explosion in one of the mines.” A communications officer informed Captain Raikellii as he stared out of the bridge window onto the planet.

 

“So it’s begun.” The captain sighed turning to the Bridge crew. “Ops keep an eye out for any thing irregular and inform me immediately. Gunnery Sergeant have your crews ready to fire upon a small mid-bulk freighter.”

 

“Aye Sir.” The Sergeant responded as he reached for his comlink. The captain then strolled casually over to his second in command until he was standing right next to him.

 

“Have my brother brought up here, I wouldn’t want him to miss this.” He ordered with a small grin stretched across his face.

[JasraLantill]

With his ‘borrowed’ marines standing in formation in the hanger bay of the supply depot for the prison facility, the Admiral was studying the layout of the in the hanger control booth with the marine sergeant. There were several corridors that led to the main hanger bay, but as Berasmus Quitaan had suspected, they were lightly guarded and rarely patrolled. In fact, the entire supply hanger was covered by only a handful of prison personnel. Hence his reasoning behind ‘borrowing’ two squads of marines from Captain Raikelli. He was sure that his sister, Beryl, was planning an escape. She wouldn’t stand for being ‘transferred’ to his care. She had done it before, he was sure she would do it aga….

 

Something began to bleep on the panel. “Sergeant? The Admiral frowned as he pointed to a blinking red light on one of the control panels on the wall. “What is that?”

 

The sergeant gave an enquiring look to the prison guard sitting at a station in front of the panel. “It’s nothing, sir,” the guard replied nonchalantly. “Just a level one alert from Mining Block 1138. Happens all the time. Probably just a small rockslide or even a faulty alarm.”

 

“Faulty alarm, indeed,” the Admiral said, his eyes narrowing. He studied the panel. “Sergeant, if one were to take the supply lift from Block 1138, where would it come out in the hanger bay?”

 

The sergeant’s finger ran along the panel. “Erm… here, sir.”

 

The Admiral nodded. “Then that’s the corridor we leave open.”

 

“Sir?”

 

“Station your men here,” he pointed to intersections at adjacent corridors on the panel, “and here, but leave that corridor open.”

 

The sergeant nodded. “Yes, sir,” he said. He snapped off a salute and returned to his marines and dispatched them to their stations.

 

Hands behind his back, the Admiral walked over to the window that overlooked the hanger bay. All he would have to do now, is wait.

 

*********

 

Coughing, Beryl wiped the tears from her eyes that were watering from the cloud of smoke and dust her little ‘distraction’ had caused.

 

“Thought you said a ‘little’ flash bang?” Sam choked out, while she held the mining cart steady for Ryshana and Jeez to get inside of.

 

Beryl tried to speak, but just ended up coughing again. She shrugged in answer to Sam’s question. Obviously, she had used a bit too much ‘Force’ to explode the buried detonator. It had gone off all right—and had created a huge cloud of rock dust in its wake. It was cover enough for Ryshana and Jeez to get inside the mining cart unnoticed and cover themselves up with Ryshana’s ‘cloak,’ but the dust was also fine enough to make it difficult for everyone to breathe and see. She knew that Jeez and probably Ryshana, too, would most likely pull her up for going a bit over-the-top with the explosion, but probably not until they all got someplace a little less dusty.

 

“There’s the doc,” Sam croaked, pointing in the direction of the passenger lifts.

 

“Great,” was all that Beryl could choke out herself. She hoped he would see them and join them.

[starmark2k]

Nic was dragged out of the Lift and into the bridge of the imperial vessel where he was held prisoner, hands bound behind his back two Stormtroopers pulled him by his upper arms. His feet dragged along the floor through a mix of attempting to resist and exhaustion. Although he had lost all track of time thanks to being locked up and blindfolded the past night he knew the reason why he brought to the bridge, his brother wanted him to witness the deaths of those he travelled with.

 

He was pulled up to the large forward viewing window and dropped on to his knees next to his brother. The blindfold was pulled off his causing him to blink several time as the light shone into his eye.

 

“Remember when we were children Simon.” Kriss asked staring out the window not expecting an answer. “When we use to play games in the streets of Threed? You always won the games, I never figured out how until we grew up. You cheated! You hated lose so much you would be dishonest even when we were supposed to be having fun. This time you have nothing hidden up your sleeve, this time I will win.”

[Rogue Nine]

Conn stepped out of the lift and into the central mining chamber, wrinkling his nose at all the dust. A stormtrooper stalked up to him. "Doctor, there has been an explosion of some sort. Probably hit a gas pocket or something." He waved a gloved hand in the direction the smoke seemed to be coming from. "There were a few inmates working in that area, they might be injured."

 

"Might be?" Conn asked. "You didn't go in and check?"

 

The stormtrooper snorted, the muffler in his helmet making it come out as a distorted crack. "We already have our hands full trying to contain the rest of the rowdy scum down here." To enforce his point, he gestured behind him where the rest of his squadmates were keeping the inmates at bay. No doubt more than a few of them were trying to capitalize on the distraction. Thankfully, this did make it a lot easier for Conn.

 

"I see," Conn told the stormtrooper, trying to sound concerned. "I'll go have a look, you keep them locked down."

 

"Yes, sir." The stormtrooper saluted, then headed back to his squad.

 

Conn shook his head as he hefted his back and covered his mouth with one hand and made his way into the smoke. Coughing sounds caught his attention and he pushed through towards them. "Beryl?" he called out.

 

A hacking cough answered him, followed by an unmistakable, irritable-sounding voice. "What took you so long?"

 

"Sorry," Conn apologized as he came up alongside Beryl and Sam. "Don't you think you overdid it just a little?" he couldn't help commenting, handing the both of them emergency breathing masks.

 

Beryl shot him a look as she took her mask and breathed deeply into it.

 

Conn smirked at her. "Just as long as you know. C'mon, let's get to the lifts."

[stingerhs]

As Ryshana jumped into the cart, her thoughts suddenly brought herself to Nic. She saw him on his knees in front of a white screen. "This time I will win," she heard a voice say. Surprisingly, it sounded a bit like Nic's voice, but she wasn't quite sure. Finally, the screen changed into a camera view, and Ryshana couldn't help but to look past Nic.

 

A small freighter flew by the screen only to be intercepted by several turbolaser bolts. In a matter of seconds, the shields buckled on the small freighter, and it was pulverized by another volley of turbolasers. Then, Ryshana felt several familiar lives become one with the Force, and it finally dawned on her that the freighter was the Echo.

 

"Would you scoot over already? I don't have enough room here," Jeez stated quietly. Despite the confusion just outside the cart, Ryshana finally came to her senses. As Jeez tried to fit inside, Ryshana scooted over. "Thank you kindly."

 

Looking over at Ryshana, he noticed a troubled look on her face. "What's wrong?" he asked.

 

"I'm not quite sure. Something just isn't right about this. I can feel it," Ryshana stated as she was noticeably concerned.

 

Focusing on the Force, Jeez concentrated hard. Trying to see into the future, Jeez suddenly returned to the images from his dream. In the hangar, Jeez could feel death around him, and he could sense little hope.

 

"I'm not quite sure myself. I'm not sensing that the Force is with us, and that's not a good sign," Jeez stated somewhat calmly. "Lets hope for the best. I have a feeling that its one of the few things we have left."

[JasraLantill]

“C'mon, let's get to the lifts."

 

“Doc, you need to get in the cart,” Sam said to Conn, her voice muffled from the breathing mask.

 

“Huh?”

 

Sam gestured with her index finger, pointing inside the cart. “You.” A breath. “Cart.” A breath. “In.” She grinned broadly, then lowered her mask from her face and gave it an admiring look, as a connoisseur would view a glass of fine brandy. “Hey, this is good stuff, doc. You sure it’s just O-two?”

 

Beryl nudged Sam in the side with her elbow. “Hey! Keep focused, Sam.” She looked at Conn, who was still looking a bit confused and in need of explanation. “It’s only for a few minutes until we get ourselves into the supply lift,” Beryl said, moving closer to him so that he backed up into the ore cart. “Just get in.”

 

Conn gave a quick look over both shoulders, raising a brow at Beryl’s odd request. “This wasn't in the plan,” he commented.

 

Beryl’s eyes narrowed as she lowered her mask. “Don’t make me go Jedi on you, Harlowe,” she warned.

 

“Go Jedi?” The corner of the cloak covering up the two Jedi in the ore cart lifted, and Ryshana gave her a strange, but amused grin.

 

“Look, he knows what I mean,” Beryl said, her cheeks reddening slightly, before her Master could comment. “Just get in, Conn. I need to concentrate on the guards, and Sam’s going to be distracting enough as it is.”

 

Even though she was sucking on the mask again, Sam’s grin was evident. “You think I’m distracting, sweetie?” she said, flicking her eyes appreciatively over Beryl. “Nice.”

 

Beryl rolled her eyes. “See?” she said to Conn. “Now just get in. We don’t have much time before the dust clears.”

 

Conn hitched his leg over the edge of the cart and was slowly lowering his body inside the cart next to the two Jedi. “I don’t think that I'm going to...”

 

Beryl shoved Conn’s head down inside the cart unceremoniously and pulled the cloak over it. “You don’t have to think. Just be quiet.”

 

Conn shook his head as he scrunched up tight next to Ryshana and Jeez, making it very uncomfortable for all three of them, especially with his hefty bag. He shot them both a look. "That's Beryl for you. Always doing things the hard way."

 

With everyone stowed away, Beryl nodded to Sam and the two of them started to pulling the cart over to the lift. With three people inside, it was still a bit heavy, but not nearly as heavy as it had been with the ore. Nevertheless, Beryl and Sam pushed and pulled it as if it was very full and very heavy, just like they had done earlier.

 

Her voice slightly hollow sounding from the oxygen mask she still wore, Beryl approached the grumpiest guard and said, “Got another full load for ‘ya!” The guard turned in her direction, and having his full attention now, she concentrated as much as she could on his mind. “Though you can’t see it for all the dust.”

 

“Yeah, some idiot must have hit a gas pocket or something,” Sam added, trying to be helpful.

 

“No talking!” the guard snapped at them both. He rubbed a hand across the lenses of his helmet, attempting to wipe the dust off them.

 

Beryl’s eyes grew slightly wider. Because of Sam’s interruption, she was beginning to doubt whether or not she had established a strong enough Force connection to the guard to completely convince him that he couldn't see the 'very full mine cart' through all the dust.

 

“Yes, probably the same talkative idiot who tried to overload this cart,” Beryl said, still concentrating hard on the guard, but giving Sam a dirty look at the same time, warning her with her eyes to be silent. “This very full, very heavy cart that we are wasting time talking about and should be putting into the lift so we can get back to work.”

 

The guard stepped closer, wiping his lenses again. Beryl inhaled as panic began to set in. She gave a quick glance at the inside of the cart, readying herself for a confrontation, desperately hoping that Ryshana or Jeez, or even Conn for that matter, might be ready to help her, and then….

 

The guard pointed to the lift. “I said, ‘No talking!’ You’re wasting time! Get that cart into the lift and get back to work!”

 

Beryl slowly exhaled, and she and Sam pushed the cart forward.

 

The second guard was nearby, but as they approached, he suddenly turned, seemingly distracted by something to the other side of him. As he left his post to investigate, Beryl grinned slightly, and she nodded to Sam to keep pushing the cart right on past him. In a moment, they were inside the lift with the cart and its passengers.

 

Before the guard returned, Beryl had waved her hand across the open lift door and it shut. She leaned against the back wall of the lift and let out a sigh of relief.

 

“See, sweetie?” Sam said calmly. “You’re not bad with doors yourself.” She lifted up the cover on the cart. “You can come out now, Doc. I think Beryl’s done playing with the guards now.”

[stingerhs]

Jeez was the first to get out of the cart. As he moved outside quickly, he also took a couple moments to help Ryshana exit the cart as well. Much to Beryl's surprise, Jeez also removed two lightsabers from the hidden compartment in his boot. Handing one of them to Ryshana, Sam noticed it as well.

 

"Um, we are going to be in the clear when this thing hits topside, right?" Sam asked.

 

Looking over at Sam, Jeez responded, "No. When we entered this lift, I felt like we just entered a trap, and I want to be ready."

 

"A trap?" Sam started to ask, but she was cut off when Jeez waved her off as he looked to the top of the lift. The lift was moving rapidly, and Jeez was trying to sense when the lift was at the top as was Ryshana. Then, the lift began to slow, and Jeez suddenly closed his eyes and seemed to be holding a large panel with his hands.

 

Finally, a door was in sight, but instead of sliding open as the lift approached, it remained closed. As the lift slowed and finally stopped next to the door, sparks flew from the door motors as they tried to open the door. Finally, the sound of the motors running could be heard, but the sound also included the unmistakable sound of stripped gears grinding against each other. "There, that should give us some privacy," Jeez stated as he returned to normal.

 

Catching the confused looks Jeez was getting, Ryshana quickly stated, "He held the door in position so that it wouldn't open."

 

"What for? Ah, wait, the "trap" part," Sam said.

 

"Precisely. From what I can tell, there's at least a full company of Imperial Stormtroopers on the other side of this door," Ryshana stated.

 

"And not just any Stormtroopers, either. They're Clone Soldiers, and they're probably veterans from the Clone Wars as well," Jeez added.

[JasraLantill]

Beryl had been feeling uneasy since the night before, so when Jeez mentioned a 'trap', she was hardly surprised. As she was still unpracticed in using the Force to 'see', she watched Jeez intently as he performed his task with the elevator door, trying to pick up how he was doing it.

 

"He held the door in position so that it wouldn't open," explained Ryshana.

 

"What for? Ah, wait, the "trap" part," Sam said.

 

"Precisely. From what I can tell, there's at least a full company of Imperial Stormtroopers on the other side of this door," Ryshana stated.

 

"And not just any Stormtroopers, either. They're Clone Soldiers, and they're probably veterans from the Clone Wars as well," Jeez added.

 

Just climbing out of the ore car, Conn's face dropped at the news of clone soldiers. And so did Beryl's.

 

"Clone troopers?" Beryl was about to ask Jeez if he was sure, but a quick look from him told her immediately that he was.

 

She sighed. "Dammit, Nuss...." Even without actively using the Force, she could tell her brother 'the Admiral' was close by. And she had no doubt that the clones were his doing.

 

Conn gave Beryl a disparaging look. "Simple, huh?"

 

"Well, it would have been if my stupid brother hadn't shown up on the scene!" Beryl shrugged as she gave him an apologetic look. "I'm sorry. Sorry, this is all turning out wrong. And it's all my fault. The extra troops are Nuss' idea, I'm sure of it--payback for me declining his 'generous offer' a while back. I should just go and turn myself in--buy you guys some time to escape while Nuss 'transfers' me to kriffin' who knows where." She bit her lip, trying not to get overly frustrated as Jeez was giving her the same 'look' as Jana did when she was irritated with her. "Ok, ok, ok... there's always the emergency hatch, right?" she said, looking upwards at the trap door in the ceiling. "There. We can get out through there."

 

"Erm... if it's a trap though," Sam started, holding up a thoughtful index finger, "won't they be expecting us to use the hatch?"

 

As Beryl shot Sam a dirty look, while Conn said again, "Simple, huh?"

 

Beryl was about to comment when a thought suddenly occurred to her. "Wait... how do the clones know we're in this particular car?" Beryl asked them all. "I mean, they might be expecting us, but do they know that we're here already?" She looked at the elevator door. "I mean, this door could be just stuck for all they know, right? Equipment malfunction due to... to..."

 

"To a You-ee!" Sam suggested, grinning brightly. Beryl raised a brow. "A U.I.E.?" Sam explained. Beryl raised her other brow. "User Interaction Error? It's a common maintenance diagnosis." And to demonstrate, Sam popped open the panel below the lift controls, pulled out two single wires from a mulit-coloured tangled jumble of them, bit the insulation off the ends and quickly twisted them together. A small flashing light inside the panel began to blink, but no alarm sounded.

 

"Overweight load indicator," Sam explained. "Too much weight in the car causes the doors to jam sometimes, because the car's not level. Happens all the time from prisoners overloading the ore into a single car. They guards should think it's a routine problem. And, if they do what they normally do, being as they're lazy, they'll just use the other lift until shift change, and then they'll get around to fixing this one."

 

Beryl exchanged a guarded look with Conn, then Jeez, and then Ryshana, and then she shook her head. "Sam, how do you know all this?"

 

Sam shrugged. "I read a lot."

 

"Uh-huh," Beryl said slowly with disbelief. She looked up at the ceiling hatch again, and then her eyes flicked down to the lightsaber Ryshana held in her hand. "So... I suppose we have two choices. Go through the hatch up there, or...." She nodded at the lightsaber. "Make our own hatch."

 

She frowned suddenly. "Erm, Sam? Didn't Max say she would meet us up top?"

 

"Yeah."

 

"So...." Beryl's eyes scanned the area around her, as she was trying to use the Force to detect nearby life forms. "Where is she?"

[steven]

Cloud and Jack stood over the sensors console as the Echo sped towards the prison's locations in hyperspace. They had just received the data on the enemy fleet and weren't the happiest bunnies. During the exit of the Reaper, Jack stopped in a minor computer facility to steal some computer hard drive containing Reaper dada and leave behind a virus which could come in handy when the Echo left hyperspace. Reading the specs on the Reaper, the two men weren't exactly feeling safe about a confrontation with the Dreadnought.

 

After taking a deep breath, Cloud spoke, "I'm not sure we stand much of a chance... I mean look at the turret system alone."

"Meh," Jack simply replied as he continued to stare at the ships digital blueprints.

"You sure that virus you planted will do the trick?" Cloud asked, looking at Jack.

"Hopefully... It was designed for Star Destroyers however it should buy us some time. But just in case, I need you too make a few adjustments to the hyperdrive, especially the breaking system," Jack replied before writing some info on a peace of paper. He handed the paper to Cloud and was replied with a strange look. "Just do it, there's something I want to try which could be helpful."

[stingerhs]

((obviously, we're about to finish this thing up. just so you guys know, i am taking a couple of liberties here for the sake of just getting this thing over with. if there needs to be a couple of changes, let me know so that i can edit it. otherwise, i just need some confirmation posts from Niner and Jasra for their characters.

 

as for everyone else, i'll be implementing a homing signal here for the Echo to track in order to get to everybody on the prison. at that point, you folks just need to do what you have planned for that point.

 

i'm sorry this rp is taking so long, but if you can't already tell, its gotten a lot more complicated then i had originally planned. with any luck, we'll have this particular thread done before the end of the month. ))

 

Jeez paused for a moment. Feeling around, he could tell that there was some momentary confusion on the other side of the door. Thanks to Sam's meddling with the electrical system, Jeez could sense that the confusion was quickly being replaced by disinterest. "I think they're calling for a technician to get the door open. Definitely a good sign that they think its just a false alarm. None the less, things are fairly tense over there," Jeez stated calmly as he thought for a moment.

 

"Alright, we need to do something now while they're momentarily disinterested about what's going on in here. So, lets get a plan together," Ryshana stated.

 

"Well, I vote that one of us just throws the door open, and we just run right at them. It certainly has an element of surprise, and I highly doubt that they'd be prepared for two Jedi. We can use this cart here as a means of portable cover. Sam, do you still have a charge on you?" Jeez started as he quickly began to formulate a plan.

 

"Yeah, I've got one charge left," Sam answered. Catching a sideways glance from Beryl, Sam quickly added, "It was just in case the first one was a dud."

 

"Good, we can use that to our advantage. Prime the explosive so that it will detonate on an impact. The next part we need is to have a small team that can quickly outflank them. Beryl and Ryshana, that'll be your job so stick together. Sam and Doc Conn will be with me. To effectively coordinate the attack, my group will stick towards the middle of the hangar while Beryl and Ryshana move to the right along the row of freighters. The plan will be for us to slide to the right after the intitial attack, especially since they'll be moving to outflank us on the left. From there, we'll hang back towards the entrance of the hangar till the Echo arrives. Any questions?" Jeez stated.

 

"What about the charge?" Sam asked as she finished reworking the primer.

 

"We'll use that a bit later as our group slides to the right. Basically, we'll toss it behind the first freighter to move it forward to help cover our flank unless an innocent is inside that freighter in which case we'll just use it like a grenade on our left flank," Jeez replied.

 

"Yeah, a really big grenade," Sam stated as she smiled almost sinisterly.

 

Noticing that Conn was about to protest, Ryshana spoke up and said, "Don't worry, Doc. They might be Clone War veterans, but so are we. And don't forget that we have the Force at our disposal. They do not. We'll make it through."

 

"Alright, weapon check: who has what?" Jeez asked as he held out his lightsaber and the small hold-out blaster. Ryshana held out her lightsaber as did Beryl. Conn unholstered his sidearm pistol and held it out. Noticing that Beryl was still moving around a bit, everyone watched as she then produced a very similar blaster that Conn had. Noticing everybody looking at her a bit weird, Beryl then said, "What? It doesn't take much for me to "relieve" a buckethead from his sidearm, you know."

 

"Why didn't I think of that?" Sam asked rhetorically as she realized that Beryl had swiped it off one of the guards at the bottom of the lift.

 

"Take mine," Jeez stated as he tossed Sam his hold-out blaster. "Alright, is everybody clear on what we're doing?"

[JasraLantill]

"Alright, is everybody clear on what we're doing?"

 

Beryl raised a brow at Jeez. "Yeah. Me and Ryshana go right, everyone else goes forward, shoot the clones, avoid 'innocents'...." She snorted cynically. "Like there will be any innocents up here," she added quickly. "And then we hold up by the freighters and wait for the Echo." She looked at Jeez, and then at Conn. "Simple."

 

She twirled the blaster like a gunfighter. "And you know what would make things simpler?" she asked Conn. "If we knew where Max was."

 

***********

 

In the control booth, a small alarm was bleeping. Admiral Quitaan came over to stand behind one of the control booth guards and looked over his shoulder. "What's wrong?"

 

"Oh, it's nothing, sir," the guard answered quite casually. "The door on lift 4B is jammed shut. Happens all the time due to overloading. I have requested a maintenance team to sort it out though," the guard added.

 

The Admiral's eyes narrowed, and then he let out a barely audible sigh. He turned then and walked over to the window that overlooked the hanger bay. Touching his personal comlink, he said, "Sergeant? Stand ready. I believe you're about to have visitors."

 

"Are we still to let them pass into hanger corridor 4A as planned, sir?" said a staticky voice over the Admiral's personal com channel.

 

"Yes. Proceed as planned. And remember, Sergeant, minimal casualties. I want them captured, not killed."

 

"Yes, sir."

 

His eyes scanning the entrances that led into the main hanger bay, the Admiral stood at the window--waiting.

[Rogue Nine]

"And you know what would make things simpler? If we knew where Max was."

 

"Tell me about it," Conn agreed, shaking his head.

 

"You mean you don't know where she is?" Beryl asked, arching an eyebrow at the doctor.

 

"She said she had some things to look into before we left," Conn replied. "She wasn't specific and I didn't ask."

 

A look of worry flitted across Beryl's face. "Are you sure we can trust her? She's a Trustee, after all."

 

Sam snorted. "Max would sooner suck vacuum than cooperate with the Imps, sweetie. Whatever she's doing, you can rest assured that it ain't helping those bucketheads."

 

"She'll meet us before we bust out of here," Conn said. "She's more than capable of taking care of herself, so I'd not worry about it." He gripped his pistol tighter. "I'm more concerned about us right now."

[stingerhs]

Looking over at Conn, Ryshana could sense his concern and his fear. Closing her eyes to concentrate, she could sense the Darkside all around her. Feeling across to the other side of the doorway, she felt something she didn't expect. The disinterest the clones had displayed before was replaced by alertness. They were preparing for something, and now, she couldn't help but to sense that they were about to charge right into the teeth of the trap.

 

Even then, Ryshana could sense that they were expecting lightly armed resistance and not two Jedi and a Padawan armed with lightsabers.

 

"Well, our audience awaits," Ryshana commented as she finally produced something that resembled a comlink. "Its a tracking device that Cloud rigged up for me. It operates on a secure channel that only the Echo can understand. When I activate this, the Echo should pick up the signal and the location. Then, they'll come into to pick us up. Fortunately, it has two settings: one for a hot pickup and one for a secured pickup. Apparently, this is going to be a hot pickup, when we're ready," Ryshana stated as she looked over at Jeez for confirmation. With a nod of his head, Ryshana then pressed a small code into the comlink which activated the hot pickup signal for the Echo.

 

Quickly placing it in her pocket, Ryshana held her lightsaber as the faced the door.

_______________

 

Why do I always have to get stuck fixing this blasted door? They need to get somebody to start paying attention to the cart loads instead, a man stated as he walked over to the lift from the mines in the hangar. Stopping by the panel in next to the door, he put in the code to silence the alarm and to signal that he was working on the repair.

 

"Hey you!! Get out of there!" a Stormtrooper shouted behind him. Turning around, the man noticed that the trooper had his rifle aimed right at him.

 

"What's going on? I got the signal that this door needed fixing again, and I'm doing my job," the man stated as he put his hands up behind his head.

 

"Just move out of the way," the trooper said as he signaled for the technician to get behind him.

 

Shaking his head out of disinterest, the man put his arms down and turned to grab his tools. Glancing at the door, he watched as the door suddenly blew outwards into the hangar. Looking into the lift, the technician watched in amazement as two lightsabers ignited and five people came running out into the hangar with a cart of ore levitated in front of them. Realizing that a firefight was about to erupt, the technician left his tools by the lift and made a beeline for the exit.

_________________

 

Blue stun bolts quickly began to fly everywhere from in front of them as the Stormtroopers quickly opened fire. With the cart serving as cover, though, most of the bolts impacted the cart while the rest flew harmlessly by. Setting the cart down with the Force, Jeez vaulted up over the cart and then began deflecting the bolts even from midair. "Move it!!" Jeez shouted to Ryshana and Beryl who were still behind the cart.

 

Seeing the two lightsabers and Jeez standing in front of the cart deflecting the stun bolts back towards the troopers, the Stormtroopers quickly began to move under cover.

[starmark2k]

Nic watched as he looked out of the window and saw the Echo exit hyperspace where they had arranged for it to do so earlier. He knew this meant Ryshanna had activated the Homing signal and that meant the timers on the explosives had activated. He had a minuet before they exploded and Nic couldn’t help but smile.

 

“Captain I’m p…” An officer began to inform.

 

“I see it.” Captain Raikellii Interrupted. “Have the ship brought into weapons range and prepare to fire.”

 

Nic watched the ship approach while kneeling next to his brother, he continued the count down in his head to be sure of when it would happen.

 

“I never cheated.” Nic stated continuing to look out the forward screen.

 

“Excuse me.” His brother said surprised at the sudden otburst.

 

“I never cheated Kriss, I just knew how to work around the rules bend them a little.” Nic as the timer in his head hit fifteen seconds. “But You are right about one thing… I always have something up my sleeve.”

 

“What!” Kriss asked looking down at his brother only to feel a sudden shockwave ripple through the whole ship, Some of the men got knocked down and the lights flashed briefly. When all had finally settled everyone looked out of the window and could se the ship was in a slow spin. “What in the nine hells just happened?”

 

“Detonations in engines and primary Tractor beam control… We’ve lost both systems, in a slow spin as well sir, we can’t correct it.” A nearby officer informed.

 

Kriss looked down at his captive brother with anger and then turned to his commander. “Get him out of here now!”

 

The commander and two stormtroopers ran in and grabbed Nic by the arms, they had to drag him as he was not willing to go. “What’s wrong Kriss, I thought you wanted me to this?!?!”

 

“Launch every Tie we’ve got!” Kriss ordered as Nic was dragged through the door. “Bring that ship down!”

[steven]

"Did your virus work?" Cloud asked as he watched the explosion erupt from the Dreadnoughts and watched as it unleashed it's payload of tie fights.

"Probably not, like I said, it's meant for the wrong ship, but oh well, things are going just as fine," Jack said before twirling around his seat to face the comms. He picked up the microphone attached to the comm console he had fitted in to fix the old comm voice system he broke last month. "Ladies and gentle. Due to imperial intervention we could suffer from some slight turbulence or explode. To make sure the latter doesn't happen, get your ass into one of the turrets..That goes for you too Cloud."

"But I don't know how to use a turret..." Cloud complained

"Cloud, you move a stick and press a button, It's not hard believe me," Jack said as he accelerated in the prison's direction.

[JasraLantill]

Blaster in her left hand and lightsaber in the other, Beryl charged forward at Jeez's command. She was getting better with the lightsaber, but she was still more comfortable with the blaster. And it showed.

 

As she came out from behind the cart, she shot at the troopers shooting at Jeez once, and immediately hit a Stormtrooper directly in the shoulder. The blaster bolt didn't go through his heavy armor, though it did knock him back a few steps and threw him into the line of fire of his Stormtrooper buddy standing just behind him, and that had the knock-on effect of interrupting two of the troopers with the one shot.

 

Her second shot didn't hit anything but a cable tie on the wall. At first glance, it looked like her second shot had missed, but like her first shot, she had used the Force to aid her aim. It had hit exactly where she had meant it to. The freed cable end shot upwards to the ceiling with a 'zing' while the other end, attached to an ore container half filled with ore and suspended on a crane up above them, plunged down spilling large chunks of ore in the direction of the Clone troopers. The few that were shooting at Ryshana and Beryl had to duck back into the corridor to avoid being crushed by the moving debris.

 

With the coast clear for the moment, Beryl and Ryshana ran towards the docked freighters on their right to guard the group's flank and provide cover for Jeez's group to move.

 

"Hey, I think I'm getting the hand of this Force stuff!" Beryl called out to Ryshana as they ran.

[stingerhs]

As the Stormtroopers backed away into cover, Jeez saw what he had expected: the Stormtroopers were moving to outflank them on the left side with one squad while the other squads remained where they were to provide covering fire. The blue stun bolts were also replaced with red blaster bolts in a matter of seconds. Well, it looks like somebody is changing their tune rather quickly, Jeez thought to himself as he continued to provide cover for Conn and Sam.

 

Signaling Sam and Conn to move, Jeez started to slide over to his right. Sam was quick to lay down some cover fire with Jeez's hold-out blaster while Conn quickly ran towards several cargo canisters for cover. With Jeez standing still and deflecting shots away like a madman, Sam quickly ran over to join Conn.

 

Seeing Conn's nervous expression as she joined him behind the cargo canisters, Sam teased, "What's wrong?? Aren't you having fun?"

 

Almost in a direct answer to her question, a blaster bolt impacted the freighter right above them, sending a shower of sparks raining down on top of them.

_________________

 

"Hey, I think I'm getting the hand of this Force stuff!" Beryl called out to Ryshana as they ran.

 

"Good, just keep concentrating," Ryshana yelled out in encouragement. As Ryshana continued to run, she noticed that one of the freighters had a small turret out and moving around. "Beryl, give me some cover," Ryshana yelled out as she went over to the turret on the freighter. Putting up her lightsaber on her belt, Ryshana quickly got to work on rewiring the turret. Removing the wires that controlled the turret's targeting and movement motors, Ryshana then started reworking the connections so that the turret could move independently of whomever was behind the controls.

 

Then, several blaster bolts began to impact around her sending sparks everywhere. Cursing in twi'liki, Ryshana then quickly ducked behind a cargo canister. Concentrating on the turret with the Force, Ryshana began to manipulate the signals going into the turret. As she now controlled the turret, Ryshana began to concentrate on the area around where the main Stormtroopers were located.

 

The turret then began letting out a stream of blaster bolts in fully automatic fire. The blaster bolts were landing all over the place around the Stormtroopers, and several of the Clones took direct hits and went down for good.

[JasraLantill]

"Sir?" The guard sitting at the scanner station in the prison's hanger control tower turned around to catch Admiral Quitaan's attention. "I'm picking up a small freighter on a vector heading our way. It's not emitting Imperial transponder codes and there's not a pick-up scheduled for eight more hours."

 

The Admiral briefly looked over his shoulder at the guard, and then turned back to the window. "I wouldn't worry about the freighter. Captain Raikelli on the Reaper will take care of it." Suddenly, his eyes narrowed as he thought he had seen some blaster flashes, but before he could confirm them, his comlink bleeped.

 

"Sir? Payne here. I've just received word of a severe malfunction aboard the Reaper. I'm afraid we'll have to put back your scheduled departure time to...."

 

"What sort of 'malfunction'?" the Admiral interrupted.

 

"Erm...." There was silence on the line for a moment, and then, "Main engines and tractor beam control, sir. The Reaper reports they are adrift, but they are aiming to restore power in a few hours."

 

"A few hours?" The Admiral's jaw set, his eyes narrowed, and his left eyebrow twitched. "Keep me posted on their progress, and implement plan 'B'. Now."

 

"Plan 'B', sir?" There was a short pause. "Erm... yes, sir."

 

"Quitaan, out," the Admiral said abruptly, and tapped his comlink off. He wheeled around to face the control tower staff, his normally impassive face reddening with anger and his eyes mere slits. "You!" he said, pointing to the nearest guard. "Give me your blaster."

 

The guard gave him a confused look. "My blaster, sir?" A glare from the Admiral that could freeze water on Tatooine was all that the guard needed to quickly hand over his blaster without further question.

 

As the Admiral strode purposefully towards the door, blaster in one hand, he tapped his comlink with the other. "Sergeant, I'm on my way down to meet you. The only one I want alive is the blonde. All others, shoot to kill."

 

"Shoot to kill. Understood, sir."

 

"I suppose I'll have to do this myself," the Admiral muttered on his way out the door. "Because you are not escaping me this time, Beryl."

 

The door shut, and one of the guards scratched his head then turned to his colleague. "Who's Beryl?" he asked, confused.

 

*************

 

As Ryshana had worked on the turret, Beryl had been laying down cover fire for her but now that the turret was firing automatically, there wasn't much need for her to do that now. She smiled, amazed at Ryshana's ability to improvise. "Hey, you sure you're not half-Corellian?!" she called out to her mentor between bursts of turret blaster fire.

 

Suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, Beryl saw red blaster bolts begin to shoot towards the freighter and its turret. It just missed them but hit the freighter behind them, spattering them both with a shower of hot sparks. As Ryshana cursed, so did Beryl--not because of the stinging sparks, but because she had completely missed seeing the two stormtroopers who had slipped around the pile of ore debris and were now working their way toward them, hugging the wall and using cargo containers as cover as they fired. "Hey! What happened to the blue stun bolts?!" she asked Ryshana.

 

Again she let out a barrage of fire to try to keep the troopers from advancing, but it was only by using the Force, which she was feeling more strongly now than ever before, that she was able to keep them marginally at bay.

[Rogue Nine]

"What's wrong?? Aren't you having fun?"

 

"Sam, I think you and I have very different definitions of 'fun'," Conn replied as he squeezed off shots at the stormtroopers, then ducked as blaster bolts impacted above them, showering sparks everywhere. "This is definitely not 'fun' for me," he concluded.

 

Sam laughed as she continued shooting at the stormies, mowing them down methodically.

 

******

 

Max stuck her tongue out of the corner of her mouth as she welded wires together. She put the finishing touches on it, then shoved the bundle back into the fuse box. Just in the nick of time too, as the ship shook with blaster shots impacting the hull. She clucked her tongue. "Can't you people do things without collateral damage?" she muttered, moving towards the exit ramp. Her plan was to launch the shuttle to provide a distraction for the freighter that was supposed to be picking them up, but as she predicted, things were going slightly awry.

 

Ducking her head outside, she easily spotted the ragtag band of escapees exchanging fire with the stormtroopers. "Lovely," she breathed as she pulled out her comlink and thumbed it over to Conn's frequency.

[stingerhs]

"Hey! What happened to the blue stun bolts?!" she asked Ryshana.

 

"Someone must've decided to fight our fire with equal measure," Ryshana theorized while trying to concentrate on the turret. The fire from the turret continued to impact around the flank of the Stormtroopers, but Ryshana could sense that they were preparing to shift the entire platoon around to put all the pressure on Jeez's left flank. Cursing yet again, Ryshana yelled out, "Beryl! Get around this freighter and find some cover."

__________

 

Meanwhile, Jeez was starting to rapidly fatigue from the constant blaster deflections, and it showed. Instead of the bolts flying back in the direction of the Stormtroopers, the bolts were now just merely being deflected. Recognizing his own fatigue, Jeez began to back away in the direction of several cargo canisters. That's when he too felt the Stormtroopers were about to make a concerted attempt to outflank Sam, Conn, and himself.

 

"Next freighter!!" Jeez yelled out with a hint of desperation in a hope that Sam and Conn would understand.

 

Catching Jeez's statement, Sam motioned for Conn to head over to the next freighter while she popped up and started firing away as fast as she could with the little pistol. Complying and cursing at the same time, Conn quickly sprinted for the next freighter. Diving behind the entrance ramp to the freighter, several blaster bolts impacted around him.

 

"Now Sam!!" Jeez yelled out. In an instant, Sam ducked back under cover of the canister and pulled out the charge. Kissing the charge for good luck, she then picked out a nice spot beneath the small freighter. Tossing it, Sam quickly ran and dove next to Conn. Just before she landed, a massive explosion rang out in the hangar as the mining charge went off. The freighter quickly blew forward into the section of the hangar. As secondary explosions began to go off on the freighter, several large chunks of the freighter in addition to tons of shrapnel went flying across the hangar.

 

Sensing one of the larger pieces coming right for him, Jeez quickly lunged forward as the massive hunk of charred metal came crashing down where he previously stood. With everyone momentarily confused and under cover, Jeez swiftly returned to his feet and ran behind several cargo canisters just to the right of Sam and Conn.

 

Deactivating his lightsaber, Jeez then felt a sharp pain in his lower right leg. Looking down, Jeez could see a moderately sized piece of shrapnel lodged in his leg, and worse, Jeez was bleeding out quickly. Must've hit the vein, Jeez thought to himself. Looking over to at Conn, Jeez signaled that he needed some help.

 

Without waiting for Conn to arrive, Jeez stuck his head out and spied a blaster rifle from a dead stormtrooper across the hangar. Sticking his hand out, the blaster rifle quickly flew across the hangar and landed right in Jeez's hand. Switching the rifle to single shot mode, Jeez started providing cover fire for Conn.

_________________

 

"But the Admiral is never going to forgive you for this," the aid told Commander Relfa.

 

"I'm sure that he wouldn't mind the extra support. Besides, I'm not about to let prisoners escape this place while I'm in command," Relfa replied. "Now, I've given you the authorization to send the Riot Troopers into action, so get it done!!"

 

"Sir yes sir!" the aid replied while snapping a quick salute.