The Koornacht Cluster, Monday morning to afternoon [FT]
A couple minutes later, Jarael met back up with Zayne and they were in their spacesuits, leaping out after the slaves toward the comet, just before the guards on the Sungrazer caught up to them.
When they landed in a snowpack on the coment, Jarael pointed out, "There! The slaves are there!"
"Call Gryph!" Zayne ordered. "Tell him to--"
Before he could say anything more, Jarael yelled, "Look out!" and used the Force to push Zayne out of the way of a geyser. As he got back to his feet, she said, "Sorry, Zayne. I sensed it somehow."
"Good time to learn," Zayne responded. "This place is like the Rogue Moon in reverse! It's trying to kill us..." Zayne saw the incoming blaster fire from three Sungrazer guards on a vehicle, so he pushed Jarael away this time. "And it's not alone!"
He pulled out his lightsaber and thumbed it on to deflect some of the fire while Jarael drew a blaster pistol to shoot the vehicle down. As the guards crashed into the snow, Zayne and Jarael made their way toward the slaves. Zayne could sense fear eminating from Qohn, but his first move was to slash through the sensor pod attached to Qohn.
"Get everyone topside!" Zayne ordered. "Now! We're leaving!"
"This is no good, whoever you are," Qohn argued. "Forget the control pods. Without jetpacks, we're stuck here! Look around! Even if you had a ship, this comet could go up before you set down!"
"That's my problem!" Zayne said. "Jarael! Call him!"
Jarael hit her comm. "Rohlan? We're ready for pickup. But we have something of great value with us. We're on the sunward side of the large comet. And hurry!"
While she did that, Zayne concentrated and reached deeply into the Force as the comet started to collapse. He didn't have time to use finesse, so he started to lift the slaves off the comet one by one, almost flinging them toward the Hot Prospect as it appeared.
"Zayne!" Gryph's panicked voice called over the comm. "Who are these people? We don't take passengers!"
"We do now!" Zayne said. "Open the airlocks, Gryph! All of them! If I can levitate people one by one on an exploding comet, you can open the blasted doors!"
The doors started to open and the slaves started to pour into the ship. As Qohn was lifted from the comet, she said, "I don't understand. You're Crucible. What are you, some kind of renegade?"
"Something like that. Climb aboard and we'll--" Zayne said. But he was interrupted by the sight of several tentacled droid ships flying toward the slaves, grabbing them in their pincers. "Qohn! Look out!"
"Skreaper drones!" Jarael yelled But it was too late. Qohn was already grabbed. "The Crucible's used them to attack settlements and capture slaves for years!"
"The Crucible?" Zayne asked. "Then that means..."
"Just what you think it means, Zayne," Jarael said as a massive ship came into view. "They've found us."
An older, gruff voice came over the comms. "Mining vessel, stand to! This is the Gladiator, under Fleet Captain Dace Golliard! You're outgunned and surrounded! I claim your craft as forfeit under interstellar law! Surrender to the Crucible or be destroyed!"
"He's found me," Jarael said, panic rising in her voice.
"Jarael! This ship, this Gladiator... You know it?" Zayne asked.
"Dace Golliard. One of the Crucible's 'specialists,'" Jarael said. "He's found me again."
"That you, Snow Hair?" Golliard asked. "I heard you were back in the world. Guess you missed the excitement. You know that ship of yours is messing where it don't belong. And you know what that means...."
Zayne finished guiding whatever slaves weren't already captured toward one of the airlocks on the Hot Prospect as the Skreapers started firing on the ship. "Blast! That's everyone that's left, Jarael. Get inside!" Zayne quickly realized that she wasn't moving. "Jarael, what's wrong with you? Move! Get inside before--"
The tentacle of a Skreaper grabbed her, pulling her off the comet.
"Jarael!" Zayne yelled. Not hesitating for another moment, Zayne Force jumped from the comet and grabbed onto the tentacle with his free hand as he turned his lightsaber back on. "You let her go!" he yelled as he sliced through the arm. He pulled himself over to the pincer, which had covered Jarael in a red shell of some sort. A quick slice opened the shell, though, letting Zayne pull the rest of it open. "Are you all right?"
"Yeah, you're here," Jarael said, climbing out. Unfortunately, she saw more Skreapers approaching. "But so are they!"
"Blast!" Zayne said. "And we're stuck here! What I wouldn't give for a jetpack like... Rohlan!"
As if on command, the Mandalorian flew out toward them with a blaster in either hand, firing at the Skreapers to ward them off.
"I'm glad we keep you around!" Zayne said as Rohlan holstered his blasters and picked the pair of adventures up.
"Quit yammering, Carrick!" Rohlan snarled. "Your scheme brought Jarael to this pass! I should leave you to... to whoever they are!" Rohlan brought them to an airlock and turned back to fire at the Skreapers again. "That warship will be turning on the Hot Prospect itself! Hurry and get aboard if you can!"
*****
Once they were aboard and removed their helmets, Zayne tried to bring some kind of order to the cargo hold that was completely packed with beings standing shoulder to shoulder. "It's all right, we're not slavers! We're here to help! Just let me get through!"
"Zayne!" Gryph called as he forced his way through the crowd at waist-height. "What's this about? Who are these people?"
"Important cargo, Gryph!" Zayne called back. "Get us to hyperspace now!"
"We can't while the big centrifuge is running!" Gryph said. "Stop it now and you'll ruin the whole crop of crystals!"
"This is more important than money!" Zayne barked.
"Kid, if there's one thing I've taught you, it's that NOTHING'S more important! Not unless--" Gryph's angry response was interrupted by the ship being hit with blaster fire and jostling everyone around, knocking himself and Zayne to the floor. "Unless someone's shooting at us."
"Will you two stop?" Jarael asked, still standing. "This is serious!"
A minute later, Jarael was at the gunner station. "I want to fire, Zayne, but I can't! This stupid gun only points one way! Make Slyssk point the ship at something!"
"We can't, Master Zayne!" Slyssk called back. "They're pounding our attitude thrusters! I've got a little pitch control, but that's about it!"
"This isn't a warship, Carrick," Rohlan said. "We're no match for them!"
"Mandalorians live off the land, right?" Zayne shot back. "Well, here's your chance! Get to the remote drill controls, Rohlan! Fire it at the Gladiator and start drilling!"
*****
The Hot Prospect wasn't a gunship, but it did have plenty of tools that could be repurposed in a pinch. The drill caused decompression in the ship that would take them minutes to sort out, so Zayne made his way to the outside of the ship and grabbed one of the vacuum hoses that had been used to get some of the minerals from the comet. Rohlan reversed the flow, shooting some kind of caustic acid that tore right through any Skreaper that got too close to Zayne. While that helped take some of the pressure off Slyssk in the pilot's seat, Rohlan moved back to the big tools, firing a giant hook at the main viewport on the Gladiator's bridge. Even though the decompression shields on the bridge went down quickly, it left the massive battleship blind.
But the battle wasn't over yet. All of the remaining Skreapers started to swarm. "Stop the acid flow," Zayne ordered. "I'm coming back in."
As he made his way back into the cargo hold, Gryph gave an update. "Slyssk cut us loose. But he still can't turn us to fire! Or to get us out of the comet field to go to hyperspace. Never mind the centrifuge!"
Zayne took his helmet off and kneeled down to get to eye level with Gryph. "Wait. How big is that centrifuge?"
"Huge. The whole ship's built around it," Gryph said. "You should feel how we shimmy and shake when she spins up."
"And when it stops," Zayne said, coming up with the final part of the plan on the fly.
"That's right. Why do you... No," Gryph said, catching on.
Zayne started off toward the exposed parts of the centrifuge, spotting a huge exposed gear. "Rohlan!" he called out, then pointed at a couple of the bigger slaves. "You and you! Give me a hand with this!" He used the Force to lift a large durasteel rod, then grabbed the front part of it while the others filled in behind him.
Gryph, for his part, jumped in front of the gear. "Stop! Stop!"
"Slyssk!" Zayne called. "If you can hear me up there, shut off the inertial dampers! And Jarael, start firing.... NOW!"
Gryph leaped out of the way as the four men thrust the rod into the gear's slot, jamming it after just a couple seconds.
After a horrifying groan from the centrifuge, the Hot Prospect itself began to turn as Jarael started firing. The ship started turning faster and faster, tumbling everyone in it around as the gun fired off in all directions.
"We did it!" Zayne yelled with glee. "Jamming it transferred its spin to the ship!"
"Physics later! Hyperspace now!" Gryph commanded. "And find me a place to be sick!"
Since the rotation of the ship got them into a position that wasn't directly facing the comet, they were able to tear off into hyperspace cleanly, making their escape.
[OOC: LOTS OF TYPING. From The Reaping Parts 1 & 2 by John Jackson Miller and Bong Dazo with me doing my best to describe spaceship combat that was originally drawn. Bah.]
When they landed in a snowpack on the coment, Jarael pointed out, "There! The slaves are there!"
"Call Gryph!" Zayne ordered. "Tell him to--"
Before he could say anything more, Jarael yelled, "Look out!" and used the Force to push Zayne out of the way of a geyser. As he got back to his feet, she said, "Sorry, Zayne. I sensed it somehow."
"Good time to learn," Zayne responded. "This place is like the Rogue Moon in reverse! It's trying to kill us..." Zayne saw the incoming blaster fire from three Sungrazer guards on a vehicle, so he pushed Jarael away this time. "And it's not alone!"
He pulled out his lightsaber and thumbed it on to deflect some of the fire while Jarael drew a blaster pistol to shoot the vehicle down. As the guards crashed into the snow, Zayne and Jarael made their way toward the slaves. Zayne could sense fear eminating from Qohn, but his first move was to slash through the sensor pod attached to Qohn.
"Get everyone topside!" Zayne ordered. "Now! We're leaving!"
"This is no good, whoever you are," Qohn argued. "Forget the control pods. Without jetpacks, we're stuck here! Look around! Even if you had a ship, this comet could go up before you set down!"
"That's my problem!" Zayne said. "Jarael! Call him!"
Jarael hit her comm. "Rohlan? We're ready for pickup. But we have something of great value with us. We're on the sunward side of the large comet. And hurry!"
While she did that, Zayne concentrated and reached deeply into the Force as the comet started to collapse. He didn't have time to use finesse, so he started to lift the slaves off the comet one by one, almost flinging them toward the Hot Prospect as it appeared.
"Zayne!" Gryph's panicked voice called over the comm. "Who are these people? We don't take passengers!"
"We do now!" Zayne said. "Open the airlocks, Gryph! All of them! If I can levitate people one by one on an exploding comet, you can open the blasted doors!"
The doors started to open and the slaves started to pour into the ship. As Qohn was lifted from the comet, she said, "I don't understand. You're Crucible. What are you, some kind of renegade?"
"Something like that. Climb aboard and we'll--" Zayne said. But he was interrupted by the sight of several tentacled droid ships flying toward the slaves, grabbing them in their pincers. "Qohn! Look out!"
"Skreaper drones!" Jarael yelled But it was too late. Qohn was already grabbed. "The Crucible's used them to attack settlements and capture slaves for years!"
"The Crucible?" Zayne asked. "Then that means..."
"Just what you think it means, Zayne," Jarael said as a massive ship came into view. "They've found us."
An older, gruff voice came over the comms. "Mining vessel, stand to! This is the Gladiator, under Fleet Captain Dace Golliard! You're outgunned and surrounded! I claim your craft as forfeit under interstellar law! Surrender to the Crucible or be destroyed!"
"He's found me," Jarael said, panic rising in her voice.
"Jarael! This ship, this Gladiator... You know it?" Zayne asked.
"Dace Golliard. One of the Crucible's 'specialists,'" Jarael said. "He's found me again."
"That you, Snow Hair?" Golliard asked. "I heard you were back in the world. Guess you missed the excitement. You know that ship of yours is messing where it don't belong. And you know what that means...."
Zayne finished guiding whatever slaves weren't already captured toward one of the airlocks on the Hot Prospect as the Skreapers started firing on the ship. "Blast! That's everyone that's left, Jarael. Get inside!" Zayne quickly realized that she wasn't moving. "Jarael, what's wrong with you? Move! Get inside before--"
The tentacle of a Skreaper grabbed her, pulling her off the comet.
"Jarael!" Zayne yelled. Not hesitating for another moment, Zayne Force jumped from the comet and grabbed onto the tentacle with his free hand as he turned his lightsaber back on. "You let her go!" he yelled as he sliced through the arm. He pulled himself over to the pincer, which had covered Jarael in a red shell of some sort. A quick slice opened the shell, though, letting Zayne pull the rest of it open. "Are you all right?"
"Yeah, you're here," Jarael said, climbing out. Unfortunately, she saw more Skreapers approaching. "But so are they!"
"Blast!" Zayne said. "And we're stuck here! What I wouldn't give for a jetpack like... Rohlan!"
As if on command, the Mandalorian flew out toward them with a blaster in either hand, firing at the Skreapers to ward them off.
"I'm glad we keep you around!" Zayne said as Rohlan holstered his blasters and picked the pair of adventures up.
"Quit yammering, Carrick!" Rohlan snarled. "Your scheme brought Jarael to this pass! I should leave you to... to whoever they are!" Rohlan brought them to an airlock and turned back to fire at the Skreapers again. "That warship will be turning on the Hot Prospect itself! Hurry and get aboard if you can!"
*****
Once they were aboard and removed their helmets, Zayne tried to bring some kind of order to the cargo hold that was completely packed with beings standing shoulder to shoulder. "It's all right, we're not slavers! We're here to help! Just let me get through!"
"Zayne!" Gryph called as he forced his way through the crowd at waist-height. "What's this about? Who are these people?"
"Important cargo, Gryph!" Zayne called back. "Get us to hyperspace now!"
"We can't while the big centrifuge is running!" Gryph said. "Stop it now and you'll ruin the whole crop of crystals!"
"This is more important than money!" Zayne barked.
"Kid, if there's one thing I've taught you, it's that NOTHING'S more important! Not unless--" Gryph's angry response was interrupted by the ship being hit with blaster fire and jostling everyone around, knocking himself and Zayne to the floor. "Unless someone's shooting at us."
"Will you two stop?" Jarael asked, still standing. "This is serious!"
A minute later, Jarael was at the gunner station. "I want to fire, Zayne, but I can't! This stupid gun only points one way! Make Slyssk point the ship at something!"
"We can't, Master Zayne!" Slyssk called back. "They're pounding our attitude thrusters! I've got a little pitch control, but that's about it!"
"This isn't a warship, Carrick," Rohlan said. "We're no match for them!"
"Mandalorians live off the land, right?" Zayne shot back. "Well, here's your chance! Get to the remote drill controls, Rohlan! Fire it at the Gladiator and start drilling!"
*****
The Hot Prospect wasn't a gunship, but it did have plenty of tools that could be repurposed in a pinch. The drill caused decompression in the ship that would take them minutes to sort out, so Zayne made his way to the outside of the ship and grabbed one of the vacuum hoses that had been used to get some of the minerals from the comet. Rohlan reversed the flow, shooting some kind of caustic acid that tore right through any Skreaper that got too close to Zayne. While that helped take some of the pressure off Slyssk in the pilot's seat, Rohlan moved back to the big tools, firing a giant hook at the main viewport on the Gladiator's bridge. Even though the decompression shields on the bridge went down quickly, it left the massive battleship blind.
But the battle wasn't over yet. All of the remaining Skreapers started to swarm. "Stop the acid flow," Zayne ordered. "I'm coming back in."
As he made his way back into the cargo hold, Gryph gave an update. "Slyssk cut us loose. But he still can't turn us to fire! Or to get us out of the comet field to go to hyperspace. Never mind the centrifuge!"
Zayne took his helmet off and kneeled down to get to eye level with Gryph. "Wait. How big is that centrifuge?"
"Huge. The whole ship's built around it," Gryph said. "You should feel how we shimmy and shake when she spins up."
"And when it stops," Zayne said, coming up with the final part of the plan on the fly.
"That's right. Why do you... No," Gryph said, catching on.
Zayne started off toward the exposed parts of the centrifuge, spotting a huge exposed gear. "Rohlan!" he called out, then pointed at a couple of the bigger slaves. "You and you! Give me a hand with this!" He used the Force to lift a large durasteel rod, then grabbed the front part of it while the others filled in behind him.
Gryph, for his part, jumped in front of the gear. "Stop! Stop!"
"Slyssk!" Zayne called. "If you can hear me up there, shut off the inertial dampers! And Jarael, start firing.... NOW!"
Gryph leaped out of the way as the four men thrust the rod into the gear's slot, jamming it after just a couple seconds.
After a horrifying groan from the centrifuge, the Hot Prospect itself began to turn as Jarael started firing. The ship started turning faster and faster, tumbling everyone in it around as the gun fired off in all directions.
"We did it!" Zayne yelled with glee. "Jamming it transferred its spin to the ship!"
"Physics later! Hyperspace now!" Gryph commanded. "And find me a place to be sick!"
Since the rotation of the ship got them into a position that wasn't directly facing the comet, they were able to tear off into hyperspace cleanly, making their escape.
[OOC: LOTS OF TYPING. From The Reaping Parts 1 & 2 by John Jackson Miller and Bong Dazo with me doing my best to describe spaceship combat that was originally drawn. Bah.]