NationStates Jolt Archive

The Stars shone in the Distance as the Four ARC-170 Starfighters and the Jedi-Piloted Delta 7 flew through the void of space. On Patrol between outer star systems the Five Starfighters were making their way. Their sensors reaching out as far as they could.
"You know, you clones don't talk much do you?" Jedi Padawan Rolar Obi asked "You know you can talk when I'm in the squadron you know"
The Three Clones in the ARC-170 of to Starboard laughed "We were concentrating" The Pilot grinned.
"Oh yea right" Rolar replied a smile creeping across her features"
"We do!" The Co-Pilot of another ARC-170 insisted.
"Well concentrate on this!" Rolar laughed before pushing her Delta 7 to maximium speed "Catch me if you can"
The 12 Clones across the Four Starfighters looked on in amusement before following their Jedi Commander through the stars.

"In the name of the Emperor, you are to cut your engines and prepare to be boarded!"

The voice of the Imperial commander played over the vox-link, and the pict-screen displayed an officer, a young woman sporting the black uniform of the Imperial Navy.

The pirate ship, like so many others of it's class, was a rather small vessel. However, pirate ingenuity had prevailed once again. The ship, while no larger than an Overlord-Class battlecruiser, sported several modified turret-emplacements, and a few improvised hangar bays sported a good number of fighter craft.

The pirate captain, an Eldar male of indeterminate age, smiled. He had long, white hair, and came with the natural height and weight of all the members of his race.

"I'm terribly sorry, captain..." he began, a smirk besmirching his face "But I'm afraid that I can't do that. After all..." He motioned to someone behind him. The lights on the bridge illuminated, showing several people, some human, some Tau, some Eldar, bound and blindfolded, surrounded by guards in jagged red armor and black fatigues. "...These young men and women will make excellent slaves."

"You scum!" The Imperial captain shouted, her fist clenched. "Those people are rightful citizens of the Holy Imperium!"

"At the risk of being blunt, captain." The Eldar captain continued "They were your people. Now they are ours. Good day." He motioned to his bridge crew.

"You pirate scu-" The vox-link cut off, and the pirate ship took off into the Warp.

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"Damn!" Captain Miranda Sullivan slammed her fist on the console in front of her, causing several of her bridge crew to jump. Her ship, the Exorcist-Class destroyer christened Rightful Cause, had been following reports of pirate activity in this area of Imperial Space for a good week, with the assistance of four Lunar-Class frigates. Their greatest lead to their base of operations was now escaping through the Warp to parts unknown.

"Trace their Warp-trail!" She commanded, returning to her seat in the center of the bridge. "We can't let them get away!"

"Yes, ma'am!" Her navigation officer shouted, inputting several commands into his console. A minute or two passed.

"I got it!" He shouted.

"Input course correction!" Sullivan ordered, smoothing back her neck-length brown hair. She placed her officer's cap back on her head.

"All ships, engage Warp-engines!"

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The pirate ship arrived a few minutes later in a different area. Thinking quickly, they moved the ship into cover behind a nearby volcanic planet, but the disturbance caused by entry was enough to alert any nearby craft...

"Hey Rolar, got something on Lpng Range Sensors in the system, some ship just dropped from Hyperspace and appears to be hiding" CP-5677 "Vulture" Commented "Could be pirates or raiders?"
"Agreed, lets take a look" Rolar replied and the Five Fighters headed towards the Pirate ship 's postion "Don't make any agressive moves without orders"

The 5 Starfighers approached the Pirate ship.

Pirates
"Uhh, capt'n?" A bridge crewman, a human, announced.

"What?" The pirate captain turned his head, clearly annoyed by this intrusion into his train of through. Mon'keigh were so insolent, but useful indeed.

"We've got some trouble..." the crewman explained "...we're picking up five small contacts, moving fast towards us."

"That's impossible." The Eldar captain said, raising an eyebrow. "The Imperials couldn't have found us that quickly." The realization suddenly dawned on him. "...Unless they're not Imperial at all." An idea forming, turned around to the hostage's guards. "Get that lot off the bridge!"

The guards moved forward, whipping and hitting the crying hostages off the bridge to the brig.

"Now..." The Eldar captain smiled a genuine smile, turning back towards the pict-screen. "Open a contact."

This the trader vessel Ditomis, is anyone out there?

The Squadron sped over the top of the ship, if sound could be heard in space it would hav roared. Coming about they heard the message and the Captains face appeared on the small screen in the left top corner of their Helments.
"Ditomis, you are in Star Republic space, please explain your presence" Rolar instructed as the Squadron came back towards the Ship again.

The captain nodded "We are a merchant vessel, on instruction from Guild Hawkespur of the Holy Imperium of Angenteria. A pirate fleet had attacked our convoy, and we have been forced to flee here.

(OOC: I edited the reason why they were here.)

As the Fighters sped over the ship again Rolar gasped and her Delta-7 wobbled, nearly hitting the ship.
"What is it?" Vulture asked over the secure comm-link
"The Force, Pain...terrible pain" Rolar gasped, out of breath
"From the ship?"
"Yes, there's something going on aboard that ship" Rolar replied.
"Slavers perhaps, if so we should do something" CP-5567 'Eagle' Commented.
Rolar recovered as they came about.
"Ditomas, what is your cargo and destination?" She asked

The captain didn't bat an eyelid. "Well, we were carrying..." a momentary pause "...foodstuffs to Otherium IV." He should know, his ship had raided that very convoy earlier that day. Guild Hawkespur was being stupid, sending their convoys into known raider space, with only a few fighters for protection, all for the purposes of arriving a few days early. Smashing their defenses was pathetically easy, and so was taking the poor crew of the lead ship hostage. The captain held back a bloodthirsty smile as he leapt for joy inwardly. He would taste yet more blood before the day was done.

"If that's the case we'll need to come aboard for a Health and Safety check on those foodstuffs" Rolar said as the Fighters came around again

The captain smiled. His plan had worked perfectly. Get the fools inside his ship, then eliminate them when they were at their weakest. His hand, unseen by the pilots went to the hilt of his sword. He could feel it thristing for blood.

"It would be an honor."

"We will dock shortly" Rolar said closing the comm channel to the Ship and opening one to the pilots "Ok boys, heres what we're going to do, I sense great malice in the force, so we'll set our shields out to two metres so any attempt to destroy our ships is thrawted, put your armour on with personnel sheilds at Max DC-15's at the ready"
"What about you?" Eagle asked concerend.
Rolar smiled "I'm a jedi, I can handle my self".

The Fighters landed in the hangerbay of the piarate ship. As planned their shields covered the Clones and Rolar as they stood by the ship and made sure their gear was ready and awaited a welcoming commite.

(OOC: Don't worry, the shooting will commence shortly! :D)

The first thing the new arrivals would notice as they disembarked from their craft was how empty the hangar was. There was next to nothing there. No stacked up crates of merchant goods, no ships idling in the hangar, no crewmen to greet them. The place was totally quiet, save for the humming of the ship's engines, and the ongoing hiss of steam from a ruptured pipe far up in the ceiling. Apparently, the crew hadn't gotten around to having it fixed yet. A sound echoed through the room as the hangar doors on the far side slid open, and the Eldar "merchant" strode out, smiling broadly. Following him trailed two assistants, one Tau, one Human. Strangely enough, their merchant's robes were quite ruffled, some torn at the bottom, and didn't seem to fit them properly, almost as if they were designed to be worn by somebody else.

"Welcome to the Ditomas, guests!' The eldar approached the five newcomers with the natural elegance of his race, his arms held out. "I am Captain El'shalas, and it is an honor to make your acquaintance!" He bowed gracefully and abruptly, his white hair dangling from his face.

"Rolar Obi" Rolar replied keeping her robes pulled around himself and bowing polietly "Sorry for the Inconveinice but its a polociy"

(OOC: Sorry for the delay.)

"It is no trouble at all..." the captain replied, smiling with an emotion that was almost sinister. "..after all, we might be here for quite some time." His face straightened. "I assume you're here to inspect our cargo? Follow me." With a turn, the captain led them into the corridors of the ship.

"We're not a first-class ship, as you can plainly see. But it serves it's purpose." The captain explained, leading them down the corridor. The first impression would have been that of a constant state of repair. In almost every place they turned, crewmembers were replacing some part or another. All of them were armed.

"We're almost there..." the captain went on "...just a lit-" he didn't get the chance to finish his sentence because, just then, a nearby door opened, and a man, nearly naked, stumbled out, panting and scared. Noticing Obi and her team, he began to shout the word "help" before a las-bolt from inside the door blew through his skull, splattering blood all over the wall. The brig guard ran out, a smoking lasgun in his hands. "Tryin to get away, you Guild piece of sh-" Noticing the guests (and his Captain) for the first time, his eye's widened.

His rifle went up.

One of the CLone Pilots shot the Brig Guard as the Rest of the Team drew their blasters and Rolar egnited her lightsaber. The Clones went into a defensive sphere, their weapons armed and ready. Rolar stood her Lightsaber held in a defeinsive stance.
"What the hell is going on here?" Rolar demanded the Captain as the Clones kept a watchful gaze on the surrondings "Why did he aim at us, consider us a threat?"

(OOC: Apologies for crappyness of the following post.)

Obi's words fell on deaf ears, and the captain had already escaped their presence, and was nowhere to be seen. Soon the thumping of feet could be heard as the crew converged on their location, weapons at the ready.

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Nearby, a warp disturbance could be detected as the Rightful Cause surged into the nearby system.

"Status?" Captain Sullivan asked, her arms folded.

"Ma'am. The Warp trail of the pirate ship ends here. Judging by their engine trail, I'd say they are in this system." He indicated the nearby system on the star map.

"Very good. Let's get going, maximum speed. Bring power to void-shields, and have all gunnery crews on station. Send fighter patrols out to ascertain their location."

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Space, a few minutes later

The first squadron of fighters, five Lightning interceptors, we're already en route to the system.

"Hey, do you think that she'll fall for a guy like me?"

"Gram, there's no way in hell."

"Shut up, dammit! I've got th-" The banter of the two pilots was suddenly cut off by the lead ship.

"Shut up, you two. We're approaching the planet." A volcanic planet loomed in front of them. The lead pilot considered her options. "We'll head over the pole, bearing three-mark-five-seven-two. Keep your eyes peeled for the ship."

"Roger, one." Came the first pilot. The squadron flew in tight formation over the pole of the planet, far enough to not be affected by the atmosphere, but close enough to detect anything nearby.

"One, this is four. I'm picking up a signature bearing mark-two-six."

"Roger, four. Change coordinates and investigate."

The fighters changed course with darting accuracy, and flew in the direction of the frigate. Soon, it came into view, and the fighters flew a first pass.

"Frak! We found it!" A pilot called out.

"Get a signal out to command."

A moment's pause. "It's no good, we're being jammed." Came the reply. "Wait, I'm picking up something on scopes...FETH!" One of the fighters broke formation as a lascanon burst sped through the area the fighter used to be. Below, a number of pirate interceptors darted upwards from the pirate ship to meet them.

"Dammit!" The lead pilot cursed. "Engage, engage!"

"Ok boys, lets get our sorry Ass's back to our ships, take the lead, I'll deflect from the back" Rolar instructed as they began to retrace their steps, the clone pilots firing at anyone holding a weapon and Rolar with her Lightsaber prepareing to deflect any incoming fire with her egnited Saber.

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