2007-10-05 - More Than Meets the Eye II

Continued from More Than Meets the Eye I and More Than Meets the Eye I, Amalfiel and Ksar.
You take the repulsorlift to the Bridge.
Elysium: Bridge
SPACE READOUT
Location: Outskirts of the Corellian System 
The stars here are not as brilliant as they are in the depths of the Core, but they are still more dense than anywhere along the Outer Rim. The sharp blue-white of Corellia's sun stands as a beacon leading further into the system, and several orderly lanes of starships follow the path passed the barren binary planets marking the boundary of Corellian space.
Ships: Elysium [CR95] [battered], Republic Transit Gamma II [TLS]
Players: Tuil, Divak Tan
 
Obvious exits:
[Deck 1] leads to Cargo Corridor.
[Deck 2] leads to Light Hangar.
[Deck 3] leads to Captain's Cabin.
 
The lift doors slide open and Tuil emerges, blaster in his right hand and his left arm hanging at his side. His left shoulder is blackened and where his uniform is burnt, the skin is raw and red from a blaster carbine bolt. He steps out onto the bridge and looks around, saying only, "Report."
Republic Transit Gamma II enters the docking bay.
SPACE: Republic Transit Gamma II enters Elysium's docking bay.
Amalfiel arrives from the Light Hangar
Amalfiel has arrived.
The bridge technician turns an accusing face on Tuil, "I'm not taking responsibility for this hull damage, 'lieutenant'. Tarkin's not going to be happy."
The gunner looks up from his station, "It looks like the Stinger's explosion was similar to a torpedo blast. We're just lucky it didn't hit us closer to the hull. As it is, we have about 33% hull stability lost."
Ksar arrives from the Light Hangar
Ksar has arrived.
Amalfiel bursts into view from a nearby turbolift, looking much agitated. "Your vessel is leaking radioactive waste!" he cries, bounding onto the bridge, followed by a great deal of hair--hair in many, many colors--hair in braids and flowing locks. "Your shuttle bay is damaged. We're here to help, but this looks serious!"
 
Tuil looks at the tech and shrugs. "If that fighter had blown in the hanger bay, we'd all be dead. So shut it. I'll take it up with your boss." Turning, he looks at the new arrival and nods a few times. "I suppose we'll have to put in at Corellia for repairs. Your assistance though would be appreciated."
Divak Tan emerges into the hanger, his robes hastily gathered about him. "What is going on, Lieutenant?" he asks. "I heard the commotion." A look of concern washes over the togruta's face as he sees the lieutenant's wounds. He nods to the others present, never having seen them before. "I should have been on the bridge instead of in meditation, I apologist lieutenant. Where are we located currently?"
The shield technician looks tensely from Amalfiel to Tuil, "Shall I angle deflectors, sir?" he asks tensely. "It's a shame the Stinger blew up before the tractors had it outside of shield range. But our shields are still at full strength!"
The communications technician looks at Amalfiel, alarmed, "What the hell are you doing on this ship?! This ship belongs to Mr. Tarkin!" he turns to Tuil, "You aren't in command here! Finally, the Jedi! Jedi Tan, you take command! We have to protect Mr. Tarkin's interests! This bridge is a mess!"
Amalfiel waves his hands, and his hair quite naturally follows in wild rainbow waves. "I'm telling you, we were right outside your shield radius when the ship blew! There's a fuel leak! You'd better land -fast-!"
The shield technician punches a few buttons, "I'm going to angle deflectors to the rear. In case there are more fighters out there."
"You know, sneaking up on us?" he ventures.
 
To Divak Tan, Tuil notes, "Corellian System." To the technician, Tuil merely levels his blaster at the man's head and says, "Call in to CorSec and inform them we have an emergency. Helm, set a course for Corellia. Give it all she's got." The blaster wound looks pretty nasty and Tuil's face mirrors the burned look.
 
From the turbolift, Ksar steps behind Amalfiel. Without warning, he raises his arm. "Time for the beating I promised you pard," he whispers.
Amalfiel spins immediately round and covers Ksar with his blaster. "Hold it right there--pard!"
Amalfiel says, "Corellian bully!"
Divak Tan grins. "It looks like the Lieutenant has command of the situation, but we should get to the bridge and make a secondary assessment of the ship's systems.. and consider why this happened in the first place.. and I will tend to your wounds, Tuil."
Hearing Ksar, Divak Tan whirls and stares with narrowed eyes.
"It's a mutiny! A mutiny! Republican oppressors! This is a private vessel!" the com-technician screams, waving his arms widly.
The helmsman looks doubtfully between Tuil's blaster, the quarreling newcomers, and his helm. He shakes his head, and punches in a course. The ship begins to turn slowly towards Corellia.
"It happened because that-- that Republican Fascist called a Pirate's bluff!" the technician screams in reply to Divak Tan.
SPACE: Elysium proceeds to Orbit of Corellia.
SPACE READOUT
Location: Orbit of Corellia 
In the blue-white pallor of the Corellian System's sun, the world below looks cold and somehow sad. Speckled with downy-white clouds, the world is mostly a drab brown, splotched here and there with weathered yellow-green and the deep, dark blue of its oceans. It appears to be fairly mountainous. The stars around it are somewhat densely packed, and there is a prominent amount of starship traffic orbiting the world and descenging into its atmosphere.
Ships: Elysium [CR95] [battered] 
Ksar points at the control board. "What's that flashing?"
Amalfiel shakes his head emphatically. "Not gonna fall for that, aristo-oppressor. You must think Mantellians are lobotomized at birth, laser-brain."
 
The com tech has his fit and Tuil lowers his blaster, seeing the man is clearly having a breakdown. With the ship headed in the right direction, Tuil nods to Divak Tan, but seeing that the Jedi is distracted by the newcomers, he merely finds something to lean against and then proceeds to lean for all he's worth.
Divak Tan watches as a course is set for the orbit of Correlia. 'The Force is telling us something,' he thinks to himself and then says.
"There will be no more arguments, sir," he says to the technician. "At least until we land safely, do you understand?" He smiles a cold smile, showing his togruta teeth. "There is a reason each of you is here, and we will have a powerful team if we work together.. and will be richly rewarded," he adds.
"Yes - what's that flashing light?"
The gunner looks over the engine-technician's shoulder, the latter of whom looks far too nervous about so many drawn blasters to worry anything about his station.
"Huh. Looks like fuel pressure needs to be vented. That's a good eye, there, fellow. Have you ever considered a career as a technician?" the gunner asks, obviously pleased.
Alarmed, the engineer looks back to his station and starts punching buttons, "Oh boy... venting fuel! Gotta open the seals. Sorry, Mr. Lindo, sir, Mr. Tan, sir. It's gonna leave us dead in the water, but I gotta vent it..."
 
Ksar mutters ripe Corellian curses under this breath. "...outlander pilots..."
"I'm Corellian!" the shield technician says cheerily.
Divak Tan has a slight amount of flying experience and just as much knowledge of ship maintenance. Frowning, he says, "Do what you must." He ticks off in his head the number of transports available to them.
 
Tuil says dreamily, "At least we'll make orbit..."
Amalfiel glowers at Ksar and steps back, out of fist-reach. Then he says, all politeness and sweet smiles, eyes wandering swiftly to the grey-uniformed Tuil: "I'm so sorry that this happened, and I'm so grateful you rescued us, Lieutenant! We could not have survived without your assistance! Was that escape pod carrying the fiendish pirate?"
Divak Tan looks at the battered Tuil. "Come here, Lieutenant Lindo," he says. "Let me take care of your pain.. " He inspects the burns. "This is going to need to be watched carefully. Particularly prone to infection.. and let me know if your arm begins to feel tight.. or tingly.. or numb or weak or cold.. or if you catch a fever.. got it?"
 
Tuil steps forward for the Jedi to poke around. Listening, he nods, collecting himself yet again and then he focuses on Amalfiel. "You're from the shuttle, right. Yeah, he got away. I hit him and he fell into the escape pod. Dumb luck."
Amalfiel nods curtly, hair fluttering madly all around his pale, slim face. "Pirates are cunning like that," he says grimly. "But if we get onto the shuttle right now we should be able to catch him. That pod looked like it was flying on a pretty flat trajectory. My estimate is that it will land near Coronet."
 
"Don't listen to a word the runt says Leftenant." Ksar smiles at Amalfiel's back. "Runt's got nothing but revenge on his mind."
Tarkin has arrived.
 
The pronounciation of his title in such a way stirs Tuil and he turns to look at Ksar. "I know you... From the restaurant..."
The technician finally collects himself to whirl on his control panel and punch in the intercom code for Tarkin's personal chambers, "Mr. Tarkin, sir, I know you said you didn't want to be disturbed, but the Republic Officer has gotten your ship in trouble! You're needed on the bridge."
The door to the captain's cabin slides open. Tarkin enters the bridge, "What is going on?"
Relieved, the technician points an accusatory finger at Tuil, "This... this facist of a Republican used your ship to meddle in business he should not have meddled in! He endangered the lives of innocent civilians! He pointed a blaster at my head! He got your ship torpedoed!"
"He taught me how to angle deflector shields," the shield technician says, obviously pleased with himself, "Would you care for a demonstration, Lord Tarkin?"
"Hull integrity is at 66%, my Lord," the Bridge Engineer puts it shortly, "But the fuel pressure was near to bursting, and I had to open the sealing vents. We're dead in the water."
 
Nodding wearily to Tarkin, Tuil nods and adds his bit. "There was a distress signal. It turned out to be a pirate. I dealt with it." His short little sentences continue, "A torpedo was rigged. The ship's out of danger."
 
Ksar hurries to Tuil's side. "Good sir, my name is Ksar Antilles. I was aboard the shuttle that was attacked. Without this man, I would not be here now." The Corellian takes Tuil's arm over his shoulder and supports him.
Amalfiel produces a silver-toothed comb and runs it through his hair with a dazzling smile. "Even Corellians can be grateful to the heroes of the Republic Navy," he says pleasantly. "Which is a tribute to the Republic Navy, not Corellians. I have calculated that the man who damaged this ship is probably landing in Coronet about now. It might be a good idea to apprehend him."
"Is everybody crazy?!" the com-technician asks, near to tears, "He's the one that _ordered_ the civilian shuttle to come to the aid of the pirate, and initiated the attack!"
Amalfiel approaches Tuil and tries to put an arm around him, smiling so as to show all his perfect little teeth. "No, this man is a hero."
Tarkin frowns, addressing the first technician, "I want a damage report and casualty list. Make sure the damage control parties are thorough." Wilhuff clasps his hands behind the small of his own back, nodding toward the technician monitoring sensors, "Compile every piece of information we have on this pirate that means markings, emissions, ship class, everything."
Ignoring the protests of the technician, Tarkin turns to Tuil, "Well done Lieutenant." He smiles, "Not only have just survived your first engagement in command of a corvette class vessel, you managed to do some good. Now, I want to hear everything about this incident, especially the rigged torpedo."
Staring daggers (again) at the com-technician, Divak says, "You are making a fool of yourself, sir. The ship will be just fine as long as we keep our heads cool. Lieutenant Lindo's concern about the distress call was not misplaced. Or would you deny another sentient in need?" He looks concerned and bows to Tarkin.
"It looks as if we missed out on the action, Mr. Tarkin. I may have been able to sense the trap if I was on the bridge, but alas - I was not. No one is without some small amount of blame today, and we have all learned a great deal, but Lt. Lindo has acted admirably in my opinion."
The technician shuts his mouth slowly, and swallows heavily at Tarkin's orders. But he nods immediately, and returns to his station, signalling the crew to bring in their damage reports.
At Tarkin's commands, the whole bridge springs into actoin, swiftly and efficiently.
 
Supported now on both sides, Tuil can't help but smile as the out-of-control tech is put in his place. But it passes quickly and he finds his inner reserves as he makes his report. "The pirate sent out a... distress signal. The shuttle had capacity to take on passengers, so I asked them to proceed. ...But the fighter powered up and threatened us. We traded shots... The fighter was disabled and we tractored it aboard."
Tuil takes a deep breath and then goes on, "I went down to the hanger bay and the pilot was waiting for me. We traded shots and then he got away in a pod. I examined his ship and saw that he had rigged one of his torpedoes, it was live. I called the bridge and had them tractor the fighter back out just before the torpedo went off."
SPACE: Shoko Leader and its wingmates enter the area.
SPACE: Shoko Leader and its wingmates leave the area, proceeding to Corellia: Coronet Airspace.
Divak Tan says, "And now we are dead in the water.... or so it were"
Amalfiel says earnestly, "But the shuttle is still onboard! Commandeer it and we can get help from Coronet."
Tarkin nods, "I see, the pirate was quite clever." Wilhuff smiles, "I apologize if my crew gave you any trouble. They have come to trust me as their commander and it is only natural that they would have some distrust for an outsider giving commands. They will obey orders without question in the future, I am sure."
Tarkin strokes his chin as he considers his options, "I may have enough materials on board to get us underway again but it is difficult to say for sure. We may have to use the shuttle to secure replacement parts."
 
Ksar steps forward, still supporting young Tuil. "Sir, let me go down. I am Corellian, with considerable clout among my people. I can secure any materials you may need for repairs."
Divak Tan quickly scans the display. "I would vote against spending a long time on a lightly armed shuttle, Mr. Tarkin. I wouldn't think a pirate, especially a solitary one, would be so close to orbit.. there is something .. strange going on." Divak seems to concentrate.
Divak Tan looks at those present, his obsidian eyes disturbed. "The Force has brought us here for a reason.. I sense great peril in the future. We should be very wary."
Tarkin frowns, "I believe you may be onto something, master Jedi." He walks over to the Navigation display and begins to study it, "What is the status of the other ships in the hanger?"
The Corellian scoffs at the Jedi's talk and mutters under his breath again, "...tricks and nonsense..."
Tuil listens to all the Force talk and he displays a heart-felt reverence for what the Jedi says. But it seemingly doesn't run very deep as he turns to Tarkin, his love for the Jedi fading back to more mundane expressions, "I don't think my ship took any damage down there..."
Divak Tan merely smiles at the Correllian. "Your opinions are not shared by my Master," he says and then turns to the lieutenant. "My shuttle, it appeared, was unharmed as well. Likely my Twi'lek friends slept through the whole thing, if they did not come out with their blasters flaring..."
Amalfiel says, "The shuttle is undamaged and has a modest laser armament. That said, it's slow as a limping sea-cow and it has the typical clunkiness of a CEC vessel."
The sensor technician looks up from his station, and steps forward coming to a halt just before the command level of the bridge. He snaps to attention, "My Lord Tarkin, I have the report on the priate vessel you requested."
Divak Tan listens.
Tarkin's eyes close, he taps the console in front of him absently. Without looking up he replies to the technician, "Excellent. What can you tell us?"
"The sensor records clearly show the electronic registry number required of all vessels. This one was registered," and here his voice taken on a digusted tone, "on Nar Shaddaa. Registry name, 'The Plague,' my Lord. Unaani Class Starfighter, from all reports a standard configuration with a torpedo compliment of two. I had CorSec check the registry with Nar Shaddaa's databases. The vessel is registered to one 'Jonathan Doe.' Most pirates get Nubian to register their ships under a pseudonym for a little extra cash."
The technician looks down at his report and clears his throat, "There's one thing, though. As you requested, I've been working on putting security cameras in the escape pods. There was a brief vid transmission before the pod left communications range. The pilot appears to be a human male, roughly two hundred fifty pounds, armed with at least one BlasTech carbine-- it's not quite possible to make out the precide model of the Blaster, sir. He seemed all but unconscious. The escape pod was pre-programmed to head to the nearest planetary body putting out com-signals. That would be Corellia, sir. I've sent the photos of the pilot to CorSec, and they're processing them to see if there are any bounties or mug shots out on him."
Divak Tan looks at those present. "Well, at least we won't have to worry about 'Johnathan Doe' flying back out to attack us. But he might have friends of a rather nasty sort. Let's make quick of it and head planetside. The quicker we can arrange repairs of the ship and track down this Mr. Doe, the better."
"A Unaani class star-fighter owned by an obvious pirate this close a lawful system.." Wilhuff Tarkin clears his throat, "I have the unsettling feeling that Mr. Tan is right about something being very wrong in this system. We break into the spare fuel in the cargo bay to get us planet-side. Lieutenant, can you fly escort? Combat maneuvers may be a bit much at the moment."
 
Tuil pushes off from Ksar and Amalfiel and salutes. "I'll do my best!"
Divak Tan nods to Tuil and sees him off.
Tuil
This male human is around two meters tall and is probably over sixty kilos in weight. He is thin but not gangly. His hair is dark brown and cut short and he is clean shaven. His skin is fair and his eyes are blue. The features of his face are square and firm and he has something of a professional look about him.
He is dressed in a tunic and trousers that are naval grey in color. Upon his chest on the left is the badge of rank that proclaims him a lieutenant of the Navy. On his black belt is a holster for his blaster pistol. He wears a pair of black gloves and he is shod in a pair of black boots.
STATUS: Tuil is a male Human in bruised condition. He wields a BlasTech NO1 Officer's Pistol and wears Black Boots and Black Gloves.
 
Tuil salutes again and wobbles towards the repulsorlift.
Continued in More Than Meets the Eye III.
Category:October 2007 RP Logs
Category:Chapter I