Emergence: Pirates!

[Serena Laran]

[con't from here]

"Please, Morgan, can you make sure Rhianna is strapped in?" Serena steered through the floating graveyard of abandoned ships that was in high orbit of Nar Shaddaa. She didn't look up from the control console as the yacht powered towards the jump point. She'd decided on Ithor as their destination. Morgan Evanar, her passenger, hadn't seemed to mind the where so much as the when. The sooner the better.

Ithor was located in a suitably neutral star system. From there, she would be able to put out feelers and allow the so-called Rebel Alliance to locate her. After the Separatists threatened the Republic, throwing the galaxy into civil war, she'd hoped that at the very least Supreme Chancellor Palpatine would have imposed peace. Even if the cost for it was too high, peace was preferable to coming back to an Empire that was at war with itself again.

She'd waited too long in exile. Finding out from her passenger about Emperor Palpatine and his pet, so-called Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Vader. Serena sought inner calm again as she considered how badly the Jedi Order had miscalculated. What could one do about a hidden threat, though? It is hard to root out a rumor, or to pinpoint a feeling of unease.

The Empire was not facing a hidden enemy, however. After the battle over the forest moon of Endor (she'd been studying recent events over the last two weeks while waiting for the ship to be repaired), the Rebel Alliance was a crippled, but serious threat. The Empire would find the remnants, and destroy them. The Moffs had all the resources they needed to keep the Rebels on the run for the rest of their short lives. If the Empire could pull itself back together after having it's head cut off, of course.

If there were other Jedi involved with the Alliance, but there probably wasn't. Endor had been more of a fiasco than a victory, with both sides taking losses and limping away. A faint smile touched her lips as she remembered Master C'baoth extolling the virtues of Jedi Battle Meditation in a hallway of the Jedi Temple. Such meditation was not something she had ever studied, and even Jedi Masters seldom attempted such a dangerous meld. Also, it could not be accomplished without two or more willing and trained Jedi, something that was in drastically short supply since Palpatine had unleashed Darth Vader. A few Jedi engaging in battle meditation would certainly be able to turn the tide of any battle.

And they had. Until Order 66.

Serena pulled the hyperdrive controls, and was rewarded with starlines and a tug against her body as the inertial dampers played catch up as the ship entered hyperspace. They were making a stop over in a non-consequential system for more supplies before making the full jump to Ithor. The first jump was only a few hours long. As the starlines swirled into the multi-colored hues of hyperspace, she spoke to her faint reflection in the transparisteel window. "I will not take part in a war again, however just the cause."

[Morgan Evanar]

Morgan strapped Rhianna into one of the seats in the quarters that she shared with Laran. Over the last few days the girl’s health had turned sour. She had probably never been exposed to some of the strange stuff that floated through Nar Shadda’s atmosphere. Rhianna looked up at him with glassy eyes and said something that sounded mournful, but he had no idea what it meant. Then she sneezed, which the girl had been doing for the past day.

He started back for the cockpit when he heard the hyperdrive wind up, so he braced himself in the doorway to combat the brief disorientation that would follow. One moment, according to his sense of balance, someone had just shaken the sno-globe, and the next, everything was right in the world again. Once he had been running while a ship jumped. That had ended with a bad spill.

“So far so good. I’m not about to paint a target on my back yet.” Sarena should have looked a little surprised. She had probably expected him to sit for the jump. This woman seemed unshakeable with everything but the most dire news.

"Not that I’m particular, but where are we headed?”

[Serena Laran]

She raised an eyebrow at the transparisteel, and then swiveled in her chair to look back at Morgan, her face calm. "We are making a short jump to Toydaria, where I will need to take on some more supplies. Then we head toward Ithor in the Gricho Sector. You may stay as long as you wish."

Serena hoped he would want to stay on at least until Ithor - having a man on board was helpful, especially if they came across any intensely patriarchal societies. If all went as planned, there would be no problem, but with Rhianna falling ill... She flexed her hands, and then folded them in her lap. She could heal her, but the girl needed to be immunized. Caridan Influenza, which it appeared she'd contracted, was something most beings had within their first decade. When a human fell ill with the Caridan virus after adolesence, the affects were fatal if not treated.

"Toydaria is not the best place to find a good deal on anything," a wry smile touched her lips, "But we should be able to find what I'm looking for."

[Jaime Tomahawk]

"Captain?"

"Yes?"

"Do you want any stimcaf? I'm heading to the dining for some"

The man at the controls of the mid sized freighter yawned. "Oh frell yes. It's been too long since I've run a double shift"

His fellow in the control room nodded. "Maybe we're getting soft or something. We aint done this in far too long"

"Going corewards?"

"Yeah"

The second man was silent for a moment. "You think it's a good idea?"

"Dont see why not" replied the captain. "I agree with the General actually, it's a damn good time to do some good paying work while the rest of the Galaxy is distracted and the militaries are pretty much disorganised. Get in, make enough to buy a planet, get out. And with the latest little toy we picked up on Tattooine, we can pounce a hell of a lot easier on some unsuspecting convoys"

"Well.... that's what concerns me, Sir. We've been out in the Outer Rim and basically away from real news for so long. How do we really know? What if this Endor thing aint all it's cracked up to be?"

The Captain sighed. "I've been thinking the same thing Jaspers. If it were anyone else, I'd have said so too"

Silence.

"You trust her to be right Captain?"

"Since when has she been wrong in all of these years?"

"Yeah... true. We might be in the middle of cold space right now, but we do allright. Be back shortly"

--

Jansen moved down the quiet corridors of the frieghter, the lights dim as the ship was in it's self imposed 'night'. Most of the crew woud be in their bunks, taking the opportunity of rest before they made their final jump Corewards. Most of the old hands tho were pulling extra duty, the ones she trusted most of all. The ones she knew would do things right. The ones whom the core of this band were made up of, usually old soldiers that for some reason had sought the Outer Rim many years ago. Jansen himself had been in the crew for nearly ten cycles, a long time for a merc but frankly the crew was good, the pay was good and the action was plentiful.

Whistling quietly, he entered the dining mess, went to the caf dispenser. He saluted as he passed the dark haired woman sitting in there already, datapads strewn about, concentrating her attention on one in particular.

"Caf, General?" he offered.

"Yes, thank you Janson" she growled, her voice distinctly not matching her looks. "Are we on track?"

"Yes Madam, we're even a bit early"

"Good". The growling snarl made it sound anything but. "In one time click, give code clearence to all commands and have them acknowledge. We'll do the jump corewards to Toydaria as planned in 12 time steps"

"Sir, noted"

She went back to her datapads, making notes of somethign he didnt bother to try to over look as he handed the caf to her.

[Morgan Evanar]

Toydaria? Most Toydarians on Nar Shadda were only a sneeze away from dishonest when it came to business dealings. He was somewhat baffled, but Laran was somewhat baffling. What was she looking for?

“Oh.” At least they wouldn’t be able to talk behind his back by speaking Huttesse, and he knew a smattering of the native tongue, too. Then again, it was possible he wasn’t giving them a fair shake. The Smuggler’s Moon seemed to attract the seediest of each species.

At least Ithor would be beautiful, and maybe quiet.

"Rhianna isn't doing so well." Morgan sounded concerned. While he could do great bandage work and even minor surgery, he never got sick beyond mild alergic reactions, so he had no idea what to do, or what it was.

[Serena Laran]

Serena finished checking the onboard systems, and nodded. "I know." She brushed a few strands of thick red hair out of her eyes, and pulled her long braid over her shoulder. "She's got all the symptoms of early stage Caridan Influenza. You don't usually see it in someone at her age." Satisfied that the ship was going to stay in hyperspace with no problem (thank the Force that Jerrad's work was as good as he said it would be), she got to her feet, adjusting her ivory tunic.

"I cannot get the imunizations she requires until we reach civilized space. And it is too late for an inoculation against what she has now." Serena fiddled momentarily with her silver and turquoise belt, rubbing her index finger over the small hole in the side where her lightsaber's D-ring would have been clipped.

"Then what?" Morgan was genuinely concerned, which indicated that she had been right to trust him when he'd approached them on Nar Shadda. Still, there was so much she did not know about him.

The Jedi started walking down the passage towards the cabins. "We will do what we can for her. Make her comfortable. Prayer and meditation have cured many ills."

[Jaime Tomahawk]

She had her spot picked out for this test - half a light year from Toydaria, unlikely to pick out anything for now.

"All systems checked as green, Soth's Gold, Nightace, Redwing, Tattooine 145a, Spotforth in place for phase one, Flitter reports initial power tests green. We have 7 other ships standing off at a microjump in case of anything we cant handle. All ready General"

She looked at her tactical screen. "Have Soth's Gold move 1 across, that should strengthen the ensnarement" She waited while her order was communicated, waited until the ship was in place where she wanted it, then doubled checked the readouts and reports. Everything was pretty much what she wanted.... "All crews, you are now on Code Ready Amber. You have your orders, I expect them executed as well as I know you can. Flitter.... Activate"

The sensors began to flash, then there was the blinking warnings of the nav computer, now making the crew of her ship aware that there was now a gravitational field in effect - their latest accqusition, a grav field that could interfere with hyperdrives and drop a ship out right into their waiting clasp. This was only a training drill, something to get all the ships of her motley band of privateers used to the tactics they would need to quell a snare. And also for her to think of the best ways to use it.

"Excellent" she growled, noting the ship positions, the area of the field, mentally taking notes, "Phase II commence"

"Looking pretty good" commented Jansen.

"Quite good. 85% of original output, much better than we could have resonably expected. Flitter's readouts still green?"

"Yes, it's reactor is coping well with the power output"

"Continue as planned" she growled.

[Morgan Evanar]

Rhianna was asleep, her head slumped over to the left while the jump harness held her in place. He unclipped the harness and scooped her into the bed.

“She’s burning up.” Her skin was hot to the touch. Morgan went into his room and reappeared with a shredded shirt that he had run under the faucet, and wrapped it around the girl’s head, hands and feet.

“All I have are some light painkillers. I don’t think they’ll bring down the fever at all.”

[Serena Laran]

Serena nodded approvingly as Morgan brought the cool wet cloths, but sat on the end of the bed and removed the ones he'd placed on her feet. "A good idea, but not on her feet. Feel, here." She pulled his larger hand over and put Rhianna's small foot against his palm. It was icy to the touch. "The fever is in her head and chest. We'll have to draw it out."

She took the gyspy girl's foot between her hands, and began rubbing it. As she worked on warming the girl's feet, she spoke reassuring words in Rhianna's language. "If you would like to help?" Serena stood, relinquishing her spot at the foot of the narrow bed. "I... I must pray over her."

He might think her a religious nutcase, but she dared not reveal her Force abilities. Calmly, whether he took her place rubbing the girl's feet or not, the Jedi knelt on the deck at the head of the bed, placing her slim hands just so on Rhianna's body. Right hand over the wet cloth on her forehead, left hand just under the rib cage on the abdomen.

Serena closed her eyes, and began to delve with the Force.

[Morgan Evanar]

"Uh huh." he focused on getting the blood circulating through Rhianna's lower legs and feet. Wait. What? Pray?

"If it makes you feel better." he said. After all, the more he learned about the galaxy, the weirder it got. So hey, if Laran felt better by praying, why not? He gave the girl's calf muscles a good rub-down before going back to her feet. And gradually, something felt different. Not with Rhianna, per se, but a very nebulous something. It was a good thing, whatever it was.

[Serena Laran]

The jump to Toydaria was not long, and it was barely an hour later that they were scheduled to revert to real space. Deep in a Jedi healing trance, Serena was aware of the time. But Rhianna's condition was worse than Morgan had thought, and Serena was carefuly soothing the girl's immune system, encouraging it to produce the needed antibodies.

Too much too fast and Rhianna could go into shock. Not enough, and the girl would continue to sicken. She was aware of Morgan checking the chrono fastened to the wall. When it appeared that Serena was not going to get up to babysit the ship as it came out of hyperspace, he got to his feet, ready to make his way to the cockpit.

Little beads of sweat were appearing on Rhianna's forehead as her fever broke, and the girl sighed heavily. The Jedi remained motionless, hands resting on the girl's body. Morgan said something, and turned to leave the room.

With alarming suddenness, Serena received the warning from the Force. Her head snapped up, and she stretched to touch Morgan's arm as Serenity shuddered violently. She held Rhianna to the bed with the Force, keeping the sick girl from flopping around or hitting the ceiling as the yacht was forcibly ripped out of hyperspace two minutes early. Using her touch as a cover, Serena steadied Morgan with the Force as well, allowing them both to keep their feet as the inertial dampers failed for the half second of reversion to real space.

An alarm wailed.

[Morgan Evanar]

He had fully expected to bounce off the bulkhead and then deal with things as best he could, but it didn’t happen. There was no time to wonder about such things.

“Oh frack.” The slicer scrambled to the cockpit. A quick glance outside and at the sensor readout told him that they were screwed. While he had never flown a ship, he’d fixed enough navicomps, sensor proccessors and astromechs to know what everything meant. Besides, the view out of the transparisteel told the entire story.

“Laran, we’re in trouble!” He called over the alarm as he scanned quickly over the various readouts and then started coaxing the navicomp to give him more data. They were just out of the Toydaria system, maybe a half parsec or so. Morgan glanced at the sensor screen. They weren’t Hutt, or BlackSun, or any of the other large organized crime groups: they all would have fielded more fighters and dedicated military hardware. Nor were they Rebel or Imperial. The Imperials would be sitting with an Interdictor and a Victory Star Destroyer, maybe even an old Venator. The Rebels would probably field some Corellian Corvettes and a Nebulon-B or two.

[Jaime Tomahawk]

"Moving into.... KRYST!! General!"

She looked up as the proximity alarms went off. Almost right where a real trapped ship would be.... was a trapped ship, dropped out of hyperspace. Got out of her seat with a nod to the Captain - while it was undesired while they were training for this trap, it had been discussed with the command of her group what to do. With most of the crews of the 'fleet' ex military, the crew broke from the relaxed attitude of a drill to the intensity of their past and training. Now anyway it was like what they had done so many times before.

"General, get off my Bridge and to your station" snapped Jansen. She acknowledged for as much as this was her group, she was not the Captain of this ship, the crew knew their jobs and she knew they would do them. Besides, it was a command distinction - when the chase on, her part was to get off the bridge and get ready for what she loved doing - boarding. She knew exactly what was goign to happen anyway - two shots across the surprised quarry and Whiqst would jamming long range signals and Soth's Gold would be demanding reactor shutdown.

--

Two of the bulk frieghters had dropped pretence, revealigntheir armaments, had turbo lasers pointed at the newcomer, two shots across it's nose. Making it clear it was to stop or else.

You are directed to power off your engines. Any move to power up shields or to run will earn your destruction. You will ready yourself for boarding. Any resistance will be met with severe retalitation. Co-operate and we let you live

--

Tomahawk's ship drove forward, even as the General herself accepted a headset off another of the boarding party. She grabbed her rifle and pistols off the gun rack, belting them on as the rest of the boarders powered up and loaded weapons.

"What we got?"

"Old junk General. Havent seen one like this in years, not since the the War."

Interesting "Life signs?"

"Minor"

"Probable smuggler or personal transport then. We do this as normal then. Any word from the Bridge if they will resist boarding?"

"Not yet"

She hoped they would.

[Serena Laran]

In the cockpit of Serenity, Serena silenced the alarms and stopped trying to get the engines back up. Looking at the ships facing them, she turned to Morgan. "Any chance this might be the Rebellion you spoke of?"

He shook his head silently.

The Jedi pursed her lips, and nodded. "Then we cooperate." She flicked her hands over the console, making sure the hyperdrive hadn't fried when they'd come out of hyperspace. "The sensors say we are in the gravity field of a planetary mass, but Toydaria is almost a parsec away. Curious."

One of the larger pirate ships flew forward, getting itself into position to open an airlock between the two crafts. Serena's lightsaber was tucked away in a hidden compartment, one that had been constructed by the Temple's engineers. Pirates would not find it. She got to her feet and gestured to Morgan as the other ship docked with Serenity. "Let us meet our guests. If there is information you think I need while they are here, I will be able to hear you even if you speak as quietly as possible."

They walked towards the door where a loud hiss indicated the pressure on the other side was equalizing.

[Byl Laprovik]

Byl was up from his nap at the sound of the klaxons, and naturally went for his piece, dropping it into his inner waistband holster as he threw a shirt on. The door to his quarters creaked open, and he stepped out into the corridor. A few crewers jogged past him in the opposite direction, and he decided to follow. His new 'partner' was a lady of some interesting qualities, and he'd taken the opportunity to use her convoy as a well-protected but anonymous means of transit between his various safe houses.

This, however, seemed unexpected. Byl tapped a wrist-comm.

"General, sounds like you're having a party. Got enough invitations for one more?"

[Jaime Tomahawk]

'Feel free to join in" she growled into her headset "But if your not ready when we board, we're not waiting for you"

She wasnt surprised when he was waiting at the airlock with the rest of the boarding party, a mix of mercs and what she called 'old hands', ones whom had been with her since the War itself. The one thing that was common was that none of them were younger than 40... but she would take experience and steady hands over youth anyday. Plus, every single one had real military training and experience on their resume - even damn good service records. Special forces, black ops, name it, they had done it.

And yet every single one was now earning their living as a pirate.

One day she would try to work that one out, how such a group of warriors ended up doing this. But not now, now was the job on hand.

"Got a lock on?"

"Yes, establishing pressure..... right. Airlock open"

She pointed, one of the group running forward, working the lock controls on the other craft. She worked the rifle's safety, hearing others doing the same on their weapons. "Looks like they surrendered, General. We wont need to blow this one out"

"Pity. Lets go introduce ourselves...." Door opened, she as her want stepped in first. The rest of her team pushed forward, moving to secure it as fast as possible. Professional, quick. And also she saw what she presumed were the occupants, two beings. One male and one female. Locking her attention on them, raising the gun barrel to eye level. Finger on the trigger. Letting the weapon do the talking. The rest of the boarding party knew their jobs - secure the ship, find other beings, begin to look for anything worthwhile.

[Morgan Evanar]

He could hear them combing for valuables. Morgan's heart sank. He had a suitcase full of slicing gear, some of it heavily customized. He didn't keep records of jobs, just useful scripts for defeating certain common systems quickly. Very slowly, he lifted his hands and put them on his head, with his fingers laced together.

"I wonder where they dug up a gravity well projector." He whispered, barely above a breath.

For pirates, they were incredibly organized. The weapons they carried were weilded with discipline. They moved efficiently, and chatter was kept to a minimum. The word he heard most was "clear." Further, no one leered at Laran, nor, apparently, Rhianna, who was out cold.

Morgan sighed. With the retrofit of Laran's ship gone as smoothly as it had, something had been bound to happen.

[Serena Laran]

Serena kept her hands at her sides. She watched the men who stormed into the yacht calmly. Gravity well projector? She had never heard of such a thing. It certainly seemed to work, however.

The woman who'd walked in first was holding a blaster rifle at Morgan's face, while a blond man had her covered with another weapon. He wasn't quite pointing it at her head, but somewhere in the vicinity of her chest. Morgan slowly raised his hands to his head, and Serena found herself doing a double take at the female. General Tomahawk? But it couldn't be - the woman would have to be in her mid fifties by now.

She looked like she hadn't aged a day, although her features were a little different. Perhaps.. surgery? Whoever had done her work was very gifted, if that was indeed the case. Serena calmly laced her fingers together over her stomach. "There is an unconscious girl in one of the cabins. She is very sick."

[Byl Laprovik]

Byl followed up the assault, filing into the room that Tohmahawk's main force had secured. From the looks of the General's men, the situation was covered a few times over. They may not be young, but they had probably decades of experience at this sort of thing.

The Rebel let his pistol's business end rest at the secondary threat. A lanky male with a perturbed expression on his face held his hands behind his head. If things went sideways, it would be with him. The woman beside him looked back at Byl with doe eyes. Probably had a heater tucked somewhere she'd rather not have searched. She didn't look like a spacer, but there was enough experience on her face. Next to her friend, she seemed unassuming though.

Byl could handle this. He glanced over to Tohmahawk to be sure. This was her show.

[Jaime Tomahawk]

Confirmed General, one human female, lifesigns show fever

Good. Looks like they had someone who didnt want trouble, but as she glanced over what she presumed was the male pilot, somethign just didnt seem right. Somethign was giving her an itch and she didnt know how to scratch it - and when she felt like this, she had long ago learned to stop, find out what was makign her uneasy and then act.

Was it the male? No, seemed the shady type who would have this ship. All in order there.

The ease of the catch? Could be a trap. Didnt feel that way.

The ship? Creepy it was pure Republic. That was soemthign she hadnt seen in years but still... it was just a ship.

The woman.... older looking, maybe something close to Tomahawk's age. Unusually calm and relaxed for having a bunch of pirates come barging in. Much, much too calm and she had the odd feeling she had seen that type of calm before. She scanned her memory...

No way. No krysting way, this wasnt possible... yet right here in front of her. She could feel her anger suddenly boil just at the thought of what they had uncovered.

"Mr Laprovik, escort these two to a private room. Make sure they are not armed. Begin introductions"

She pushed past, then into the captured ship's control room, where she immediatly slamemd the rifle down, exploding in a stream of well chosen verbal abuse. One of her troops gave her a questioning look. "General?"

She continued her tirade for a few more words, before regaining control of her temper. "We're getting the hell out of here"

"Trouble?"

"Jedi"

"WHAT?!?!"

She looked at the trooper, named Entre, a hardbitten warrior they had come across 15 years ago. "Jedi, at least the old one is. I've seen her before. Get Jacques to jump us out of here"

"Acknowledged. And the Jedi?"

"I'll deal with those betraying krysters myself" she snarled. But no straight away. She would calm down, get her temper under control. She wanted to have a chat and find out something she wanted to know for the last twenty years - why had the Jedi betrayed the Republic.