Battered Light, RPathon Thread #3

[Lutz]

An array of lights were flashing wildly, a strange alarm sounding throughout the bridge. To anyone, it might sound like an attack, something to be frightful of. To the crew of this ship? It was the promise of riches! Riches beyond imagination and perhaps a woman or two to share the sheets with for a night. That was the way of this crew, they travelled the Galaxy in search of alarms such as this, alarms that heralded a battle ahead. Though battle was being generous to the opposition, as what this was truly the sign of was an ambush.

"Cap'n! She'll be appearing any moment now!" came a grizzled voice from behind, a battered old man punching at buttons on a computer.

The Captain grinned, his eyes glinting as he surveyed the fast-approaching dot on the scanners. The ability to pull ships straight from hyperspace was a fearsome addition to his ship, it heightened his striking power as a Pirate and allowed him to strike terror into the hearts of even those tucked "safely" away in hyperspace. No one in the Galaxy was beyond his reach, no matter how many guns they packed or how deep inside lady hyperspace they thought they were. It was an empowering thought to him, and only served to widen his grin.

"Pull 'em!" he cackled.

A shudder shook throughout The Jaffa, some of the less-balanced crew shaking slightly on unsteady legs. With a harsh ripping sound a large machine powering down could be heard nearby as the Captain watched the once fast-approaching blip on the scanner cease right beside their ship. It was enough for him to make a move. Barking a few quick orders at his crew to keep the other ship in position the Captain made his way to the large two-way video screen reserved strictly for situations such as this. Plopping himself down in a large chair and kicking a casual leg up over the table in front of him he turned to a nearby man.

He surveyed the video screen for a few moments, the battered ship upon it gliding closer to The Jaffa only served to boost his ego even more. This was going to be easy.

"Dori, open communications." the man laughed.

As his oh so masculine shipmate went about doing this the Captain waited for the connection to be opened, leaning back further in the large chair for maximum comfort. When the screen flickered to life and displayed the beings onboard the other ship he raised one arm and pointed it directly at the person on the other end of the screen.

"It is yer lucky day mate. Yer to be boarded by none other than Cap'n Lutz himself." rasped a confident voice from behind a tribal mask. "I'd make it easy on yersel' an' drop the shields..." he advised.

Was he going to put them all to the blade and blast the ship to bits once he got everything of worth (including those items bolted down) onto his own ship? Damn right. But it would still be much easier this way, without the part where he is forced to blast their ship and hope it doesn't collapse in space taking all the goods with it.

[Dori Dannesk]

Somehow it had all spiralled out of his control, which had obviously not been part of his master plan when he had run away from the Jekore. He wasn't exactly sure how it had happened, how he had come to be a crew member on a pirate ship...a giant orange pirate ship with the ridiculous name of Jaffa and run by a foul smelling Kaleesh who Dori was beginning to suspect was quite insane. Yes, this hadn't been part of his grand plans at all. Pirate hadn't factored into at all, in fact, except perhaps in the form of "avoid pirates lest they kill you and loot your dead body." And now, in a strange twist of fate...he might very well be the one killing people and looting them.

Perhaps it was all delusion on his part, but he still entertained some foolish notion that he might be able to be an honourable pirate. Maybe all the ships that the dread Captain Lutz pulled out of hyperspace were cruel, despicable monsters who ate small children. Did such things even exist? Most people would say "NO!" but Dori was not most people. He'd been raised on an isolated colony of religious maniacs. Peaceful, of course, but maniacs still according to the rest of the galaxy. What did he know of pirates and child eating aliens?

Once he'd been recruited onto the Jaffa having come from a well-structured and well-organised background, Dori expected that he should be subjected to the same on the ship. Not so. Though he'd told the captain that he could pilot and navigate and do all sorts of things, Lutz had assigned him to the bridge...with no real specific job. The captain just kind of jabbed his finger at a random individual and told them what to do on a whim. Like right now, when captain Lutz pointed a clawed finger at him and told him to open communication with the ship of child eating monsters that they had just pulled out of hyperspace.

He'd not really been paying attention to what the ship was or what it looked like until then as before that he'd been focusing on repairing one of the Jaffa's back up navigation systems that had been damaged the night before when Captain Lutz had put a boot through it in a fit of drunken glee...or rage...Dori wasn't quite sure which. Looking up from his work with some annoyance at the order, all prior thoughts were pushed out of his mind when he saw the ship that the captain had pulled out.

No...it couldn't be! He thought, his face paling and his eyes nearly bulging out of his face. But no, there was no mistaking it. He'd flown that ship before himself...Jekore's Light. He'd recognise that sturdy, battered ship anywhere. How could this have happened?! Everyone was constantly going on about how huge the galaxy was and here he'd run into the very people that he'd been running away from. He swallowed. What was he going to do?

"Yes sir," he said in a weak voice as he activated the comm system and swiftly ducked under the comm station so that he'd be out of sight when they made visual contact with whoever was on the Jekorian ship.

[Jiris Rylnrar]

Jiris stood behind the pilot of Jekore's Light, watching the blue-white swirl of hyperspace outside of the window. Normally he could enjoy the feeling of traveling across the stars, but for now his sense of urgency was making him impatient. If he could have willed them to their destination with the Force, he would have done so, but such was beyond his power, or the power of anyone in recorded history. For now, he could only watch the fluctuating light outside and wait. He could have meditated, perhaps, but he was the senior Jekore aboard the ship, one of the three Ternions. Spending the trip shut up in the cabin on the upper decks didn't seem fitting, he wanted to set an example and maintain a presence among his students and the crew. He also wanted to be on hand in case anything went wrong. This old rustbucket wasn't known for being sturdy or dependable, and he was the one on board with the most starship maintenance experience, from his wandering days. If anything should happen to the ship, he wanted to know right away.

For now though, things were pretty normal considering the state and age of the ship. Despite it all, Jiris had a sinking feeling in his gut. Why it was there, he wasn't sure. This investigation into a rumored Jekore artifact should have been a simple search and recover mission, no reason for it to go wrong. The planet was not known for dangerous terrain, wildlife, or habitants. It was a mild-mannered world with a small population, mostly plains and farmers. So why was he feeling like something was going to go wrong?

Suddenly, the tunnel of hyperspace stopped, abruptly. The ship dropped out into realspace, and it took a second for Jiris and the rest of the crew to realize what had happened. In that second, however, things went from calm to crazy. Alarms started going off, a pitch that cut the silence and confusion. Consoles went red or blacked out entirely, and a low rumble echoed through the ship. Jiris could see the ship's crew jumping up into a bustle of activity. The comms to engineering said that the hyperdrive had shorted out and that they had entered some kind of gravity well. But there weren't any planets near enough outside to drag them out of hyperspace. Besides, this stretch of lane had been cleared and approved against such gravity wells. It was then that the sensors picked up the ship, a warship a ways out. No ID, but sensors showed it was the source of the gravity well.

Jiris watched all of this unfold, able to stay calm as he regarded this new ship with curiosity. Finally, a communications alert cut through the alarms, causing everyone to pause. Jiris took this opportunity to lead by example, slowly and calmly walking forward to the communications console, opening the line to the other ship.

He was greeted by a face behind a mask. He was laid back, his leg propped up and out of view of the projector. He didn't seem concerned, in fact the look behind the mask was one of amusement. The man introduced himself as Captain Lutz, and demanded they lower their shields for boarding. So, they were pirates then? Jiris shook his head, taking a stand in the middle of the viewscreen.

"This is Jiris Rylnrar, Lutz. I'm sorry to say that you've not chosen your targets well. This ship is not carrying cargo of worth, only passengers and minimal survey equipment. Also, as you can see by the state of our vessel we do not represent wealthy interests. We will not be lowering our shields, and we request that you remove the gravity wells and allow us to pass peacefully."

[Lutz]

The boy sounded a bit sick as he agreed with Lutz' command. The Captain couldn't help but wonder if he'd picked up some odd contagion off a male friend. That seemed like the kind of thing that would happen to him, bring aboard some horrible sexual virus he picked up in a male brothel and end up spreading it around the whole bloody crew. Well, Lutz would have to be asking about that later, after they pillaged this ship. Perhaps it could be a threat. You there! Give over your goods or I'll have this pretty boy rape you...he's infected.

"You..." Lutz muttered in a confused tone, ignoring what the man on the other end of the comms was saying for a moment as he raised an eyebrow at the man crumpled on the floor behind the station. "Are ye sick lad? Ne'ermin' Later." he said gruffly, dismissing the oddness.

With this he turned his gaze back to the screen, the fool on the other end had actually shook his head and had the balls to deny Lutz! Nothing of worth, hah! That was what they all said. We ain't got nothing sir, just on our way to see our sick old mummy on Nubia. Then Lutz cracked open the old freighter and out spilled riches beyond the imagination. Or armaments, or explosives. Every bloody time they said they had nothing they were carrying much more!

"Listen up now, ye blue skinned bastard." Lutz demanded, cackling slightly like only a maniac could. "E'rybody in the galaxy uses the same line. Ain't got nothing sir! Let us go on!" he snorted. "Naw happenin' Lower the shields, or I'll get my pretty boy shipmate to fire a volley at them." he threatened.

With this Lutz took another look in Dorians direction, the boy still not standing up. Was he playing hide and seek? If so, who bloody with? They were the only two here other than a now approaching Iya. The blue-skinned girl edging into the room causing Lutz to groan slightly. She was an odd one that, ever since he picked her up she wouldn't stop...well...clinging to him. It was odd, but at the same time he wondered if she would refuse him dare he ask for...things.

"Ahh lass!" he grinned. "Check the boy. I think his crotch is paining him." he laughed, spluttering flecks of spit everywhere. "No worry, he won't touch you...ahahah"

Lutz returned his gaze to the Duros on the screen, casting one last puzzled look in Dorians direction.

"Maybe he won' fire a volley." he said in an uncertain tone. "No worries though! If I throw the boy across he'll give all yer arses a good seeing to then ye will all be bowed o'er on the floor with a burning crotch." he cackled again, far too amused at his own joke.

[Iya Neria]

Before Iya joined the pirate ship alarms had always meant bad things. You’re being attacked! There’s a malfunction! Someone’s hacking into the system! They were all reasons to panic or flail about while other people went about fixing it. After joining the pirate ships the alarms had come to mean excitement and happiness! Everything always got loud and then they ended up with new stuff! It also seemed to make Captain Lutz happy, and she did so love when he was happy. His happiness made her happy! That was why the alarms were a happy event.

That was also why she needed to get to the bridge, besides the fact that she disliked being away from Lutz for too long. It wasn’t that she thought he couldn’t manage without her, it was just Lutz made her light so much bright—and most of the crew on the ship scared the hell out of her. They were all bigger than her and sometimes their expressions where frightening and she could never understand why. She knew they all probably just wanted to make friends, and that she should try to be friendlier, but Lutz was out of her line of sight so right now she didn’t have time. Making them less scary would have to wait.

Except with that one man that she couldn’t remember his name, which was weird because usually she was good at remembering things when she wanted to, because she didn’t find him scary to behind with. It never occurred to her that maybe she didn’t want to remember Dorian’s name. Maybe she was even jealous that he seemed to get so much more affection than she did from Lutz.

It even showed the moment she showed up with a huge smile for Lutz. He was concerned about That Man. He’d beaten her to the bridge and beaten her in Lutz’ concern! She must try harder! She must show Lutz that she was worthy of attention! And she would do show by trying to be very nice and helping That Man.

“Okay!” she exclaimed with a bright smile and skipped over to him. Now that Lutz had mentioned it he did seem rather ill, and for a moment any jealousy she may or may not have been feeling fluttered out of her mind as her natural, naïve sympathy came out.

“Does it hurt?” she asked looking down at the exact area really no sensible person should be staring at. It didn’t occur to her that this was a bad thing when she was only trying to help him feel better. “Do you want me to look at it?” she asked obliviously. She didn’t know anything about medicine but maybe she could find some way to help.

[Dori Dannesk]

Dorian didn't need to peer over from his hiding place behind the comms station to know who it was that Captain Lutz was speaking to on board Jekore's Light. It was a damned Ternion. Of course it was! Why couldn't it have been some fresh young, faceless Knight that Dori had never met before? Why did it have to be Jiris Rylnrar the Gok'Re Ternion of all people! And who knew who else was on the ship with him? Something special if a Ternion was out and about...perhaps they were on to him. Perhaps the Gok'Re Ternion had come himself to apprehend him and take him back to Selvaris, destroy his lightsaber, and wipe his memories.

No, no, that was ridiculous. Deep breaths...deep breaths. What happened to calm, cool logic after all? No, it was too soon for them to come after him. He'd been too careful. They wouldn't suspect for at least another month. For all they knew Dori Dannesk was still a knight on his mission and he would be returning back to Ghatan with a new relic post haste. He'd been incommunicado of course...but that wasn't odd. His ship had been old after all, the comms system had probably malfunctioned or perhaps he'd encountered trouble and needed to silence communications. Anything really!

Pale faced, Dori looked up at his captain who had now noticed his peculiar behaviour and shook his head. "Nothing's wrong, sir," He replied, practically whispering his response. He did not make any motion to move away from his hiding place, however. He whipped his head around, however, when the captain insinuated that he had some sort of foul, venereal disease. "No! That's not it! I'm fine! I don't need her or anyone to look...down there!" he cried defensively. He had almost said that it was quite impossible, but backtracked from that line of speaking as it would probably do him more harm than good in the end to reveal that piece of information.

His protests went unheard, however, as the little Pantoran girl approached him. "No! I'm fine! Nothing hurts...especially not down there! Just go...I'm fixing something!" He said as he fumbled for a tool and started randomly fiddling with a piece of equipment underneath the comm station.

[Jiris Rylnrar]

Jiris had expected as much for an answer to his request, and let a little disappointment show as he looked back to the pirate. He hadn't expected to do anything besides give advice on this trip, and now things had gone sour. On the other hand, he always relished the opportunity to test his abilities."I can see you aren't willing to let this go. Well then, Jiris signing off, Captain Lutz. It's been a pleasure." Jiris nodded to the man manning the comm relay, and the feed cut. Jiris preferred negotiation when it worked, but this pirate was not willing to co-operate. But he would not allow such a foul being as this Captain Lutz aboard this ship.

"What is the status of our hyperdrive?" he asked a crewman at the back.

The crewman checked his datapad. "Sir, the hyperdrive was overloaded when we were pulled out of hyperspace. Repairs aren't impossible, but we need to wait a few hours for the core to cool."

Jiris nodded, realizing simply tricking them into lowering their gravity wells for a few minutes would not work. As he stood thinking, he glanced across the sensors for something he could use. His eyes settled on Talasea, a planet near enough, he hoped, for them to outrun the pirates and wait them out. Wait until they lost interest and moved on. "Pilot, take us towards Talasea. Steady course, but as fast as we can fly this thing. Keep shields up, and turn the top turbolasers back on them."

"Sir, they've got military-grade shielding, at this range we couldn't hope to destroy-"

Jiris held up his hand. "Yes, I know. When I drop my hand, I want you to fire the turbolasers at them. Do not deviate course, do not stop firing."

While the plan was not known to his crew, they were raised as citizens of Jekore, and they knew to follow their orders. The ship started to turn, and the turbolasers with them. Satisfied, Jiris closed his eyes, and sat down in a meditative trance on the deck.

The noise of the bridge slowly faded as Jiris immersed himself in the Force. The bridge faded into the backgroud of the Force, and Govon could feel the lives on board, Jekore students and citizens alike. He stretched his influence out, towards where he knew the pirate ship would be waiting. He could touch the minds of those on board, some sensative, some not...and one that seemed to recoil a bit at his touch. Paying it no mind, he pictured, in his mind, an old Imperial-class Star Destroyer. Pictures of one he had seen before, his photographic memory tracing every detail as he pictured it in his mind. Finally, with the picture in mind, he projected it onto those on the ship, letting his hand drop. In combination, it would appear as though the ship had de-cloaked, and by mixing imaginary shots in the vision with the real ones from the turbolaser, he hoped to fool them for the precious seconds they would need to reach the planet safely. Absorbed in the effort of foiling minds, he could only hope his illusion worked...

[Lutz]

Lutz cried laughing as Iya tried to check Dorian, asking him if it hurt and if he wanted her to look at "it". It was too good to be true, he didn't expect the girl to actually look when he asked her but then again...this girl seemed to do anything Lutz said without a question, she seemed to want nothing more than to please him and whilst Lutz liked loyalty, this seemed to be, well, something above that.

Something weird.

He'd deal with that later though, she was useful to him, with her handy skills and the knowledge she'd passed on? Yeah, Lutz had absolutely no reason to get rid of that little cash bantha just yet. Probably never, if she continued to bring in the riches. Besides, having someone along for the ride who danced along so merrily to his tune only made her all the more useful to him. He could set her on just about anyone...

"Hey Ji-" Lutz said, turning back to the screen once more. "Where'd he go?" Lutz asked, puzzled. "Ye better not have busted this screen!" He growled at Dorian. "Iya! Kick him!"

At this moment another series of alarms sounded, these ones getting a similar happy response to earlier. That tiny little craft was actually firing on them! Trying to defeat Captain Lutz with their ridiculous guns? It was too good to be true, he was going to enjoy blasting that bug-eyed freak into a thousand tiny pieces. He needed Dorian to get up though, to actually do something but as Lutz turned to yell at Iya to kick him in the face what he saw firing on them snapped his attention away.

"Cap'n, we got company...big company." a shaky voice of a crewmate said.

What Lutz found himself face to face with was a bloody Star Destroyer! Uncloaking as if it was just out for a casual test flight! At that moment Lutz realised it hadn't been the tiny craft firing on him! It must have been this bastard, this hidden enemy. What were they doing here? They didn't seem to have any distinguishable markings, didn't seem to...

Fuck!

"Fire! Fire everything!" Lutz spat, slamming his fist on the table as he jumped to his feet. "Nobody attacks the Jaffa and gets away with it! I don't care how big they are!"

This would be interesting. Lutz had yet to test the Jaffa in an encounter as large as this and...well, they were perhaps a little disadvantaged, what with the ambush and the scale of the enemy. Still, Lutz wasn't one to fear things in a great way, any attack the ship launched on the Jaffa would only make Lutz more determined to blast it.

"Dori, get a reading on tha' ship, how many fighters?" He growled. "Iya, kick 'im again if he doesn't."

[Iya Neria]

Iya was suddenly confused for two reasons, the first of which being The Man’s reaction to her wanting to help him. His type of reaction wasn’t registering with what she was used to. He really really didn’t want her to help him. Did he want Lutz to help him instead? What was wrong with her? She knew Lutz would have been better, but it still hurt that he didn’t want her specifically helping him.

The other reason she was confused was because he said he was perfectly fine, which mean Lutz had been wrong. Either that or That Man was wrong and he wasn’t even aware of it. Could someone be in so much pain as to not realized they were having it? Well she did hear that sometimes people could go numb from too much pain after a certain point. Poor him! If he didn’t want her doing it, he really should at least get it checked! It might fall off or something, and in her experience people didn’t want their parts falling off.

Because of all this Iya didn’t move a bit away from Dorian. The command hadn’t really registered in her brain and when that happened it wasn’t likely she’d do it unless it was restated when she was paying attention.

She blinked as suddenly Lutz sounded angry. Oh no! He was so happy and laughing just a moment before. Before she could even ask if there was anything he wanted her to do Lutz told her. Iya had never kicked anyone in her life, having previously believed it was a bad thing, but Lutz telling her to do something couldn’t be bad. Maybe it was like kicking a horse to get it going.

Either way, as this was going through her mind so that the action was a-okay in her mind, her body acted on command. He wanted it, he would get it. Iya was already close to That Man and he was on the ground, so it wasn’t as though he was a hard target. She swung her foot forward as hard as she could manage without bothering to aim it at all. It would hit where it would.

It was around then that a chill went through her, not because she felt the Force or anything, she wasn’t capable of that, but because an inkling of doom was suddenly hanging over her as she realized that it was their ship, while large, was again a much bigger ship. Part of her brain knew this was very bad, but the other part of her brain was quickly taking over. Just imagine the computers they must have on that thing to run it! She’d hacked onto ships before, but never one that big. Oh how she’d like to try, or maybe just board it and play around on the computers. Would they let her? Maybe if she asked nicely…

Iya was distracted by Lutz’ yelling. They were going to shoot at them? But of course! Self defense! It all made sense. Any jerk who actually went about shooting at Lutz or his ship was just a meaniehead. They had what was coming! Assuming they could do anything. Could they protect themselves against that? But it was moving away. It was running! Ha! They were scaring it! But they were still being shot at.

“Okay!” she exclaimed happily as Lutz told her to kick Dorian again if he didn’t get the reading on their fighters. She crossed her hands expectantly of him, fully waiting for him to jump up and answer their Captain with the upmost enthusiasm.

[Dori Dannesk]

Dori felt a flood of relief wash over him as the Gok'Re Ternion disappeared from the screen, but his relief was short lived as the captain started blaming him for the Duros' disappearance. "What! No! He just closed communications!" He protested, but his explanation was in vain and Lutz had already ordered the Pantoran to deal with him. "Kick me?" He echoed back to Captain Lutz, clearly confused. Was this some sort of strange pirate humour?

"Ow!" The sharp stab of pain between his ribs was hardly a joke, however, and he glared up at Iya who seemed absolutely delighted to be abusing him on behalf of their captain. "I didn't do anything!" But it was no use. Lutz was too busy cackling wildly from behind his barbaric mask. Maybe it was a joke then...just a very strange, twisted sense of humour that was completely alien to Dori. It was all he could do simply stare from Lutz to Iya and back again with big, confused blue eyes as he rubbed his poor rib.

Fortunately, he was distracted from the insanity of his captain and the strange blue girl by the sudden appearance of a massive star destroyer that had appeared out of nowhere in front them. The Jaffa was a large ship, but this Star Destroyer completely dwarfed her, making them feel small and insignificant. At the sight of her, however, Dori felt something almost like happiness. This Star Destroyer would definitely put a kink in Lutz's plans of attacking and boarding Jekore's Light. They'd never get past this ship! And if Jiris Rylnrar had any sense in him he would have used the distraction to get as far away from the pirate ship as possible. He was so fortunate that this Star Destroyer had shown up when it did!

As the Jaffa went on the attack - which put a damper in Dori's happiness a little bit seeing as how they seemed a little outgunned - he was snapped back into reality by Lutz screaming an order at him to get a reading on how many fighters the destroyer had...and also for Iya to give him another kick if he didn't.

"Don't you dare!" He said to Iya as he leapt to his feet and ran across the bridge to the proper console. At first, he was confused by the read-outs that he was getting and only stared at his panel in confusion for a few seconds.

"Uhhh Captain..." He said as he fiddled with the panel as he tried to make sure he was reading it right. "There's nothing there. There's no read-out for any fighters...or even the Star Destroyer, it must be -" and that was when Dori chose to shut his mouth as his mind put two and two together. Oh yes, wasn't it just so fortunate that a Star Destroyer should come out of nowhere with no warning at all, allowing Jekore's Light to make a getaway. They should have been able to see it coming for ages! Something that big couldn't sneak up on them like that. He stared up again at the screen, at how realistic the image looked before him...the quality of the illusion was simply stunning...something truly worthy of a Ternion.