Chapter 7 - Fire Team?

Becoming more harried by the minute, Nox begins to sweat as he pores over the controls. "I think we're in for a bad time if we try and shoot it out. Keep them busy talking Ken. Let's get ready to fire defensively. Otherwise let's try and break this blockade. I need your backup AD-hoc."

Nox closes his eyes for a moment, breaths out, and goes full send piloting their escape.

Ken raises the corvette, 'Mayday, mayday. Imperial Vigil class picket. We are under attack. Rebel forces have infiltrated Obroa-skai. We are fleeing the planet with sensitive weapons systems that cannot fall into Rebel hands...Mayday mayday. Imperial Vigil class picket...' He isn't expecting to fool them, just make them think twice while Nox punches out of this star system.

Freedom in sight, AD-hoc starts charting their path through hyperspace...

Once in hyperspace, Nox slumps over the controls, sweat running off the sides of his head. "Never flew a bird this big." He leans back into the seat with his usual carefree demeanor gone. "I'm just glad we're alive, clearly I've got some more to learn."

He turns to the rest of the crew, "Everyone okay?"

"Affirmative, well done." AD-hoc says before standing up. "If past encounters are any indication, everyone will be meeting in the bar, assumimg the ship has one."

Tomas, who was holding onto something at the back of the bridge by the time the ship went into hyperspace, is visibly relieved at their escape. He says quietly to himself, "Now I get to be even more afraid of the Empire. Great." He answers Nox with, "Still breathing."

As tensions relax somewhat among the crew, he asks, "So are we away? Did we do it?"

Ken finds no residual crew, but he's surprised to the see the cargo hold. Other than a meter wide path down the center, it's completely full of shipping containers. As ubiquitous as they are plain, they are stacked end to end and floor to ceiling in the cargo hold. You'll have to unload them before they can be opened, but that shouldn't be all that much trouble once your back at base.

Exiting hyperspace on the edge of the asteroid belt presents a pretty deserted area of space. All the better for slipping over to the base. You work your way through the asteroids and as you approach the base, you see a pair of ships leaving, X-wings maybe, though at this distance they could be Z-95s. Comms seem to be working well now and the base clears you for landing.

As you ease down into the landing area, you can see signs of life that definitely wasn't here when you first discovered this place. A small droid waves landing sticks as Nox brings the ship to ground.

As you walk down the ramp, Dancy comes out of the main door.

"By the stars, I hire you to steal a freighter, expecting any old tramp and you come back with a '775. That thing is worth more than any cargo I thought you'd make it out of there with." She pauses for a second and looks at Ken, "Is it full?"

Ken strolls down the ramp carrying two squared glass tumblers, each containing a drink made up of black, white, and orange layers. Sipping from one he hands the other to Dancy. 'Dancy, Dancy. Only the best for IsoTech, you know that.' He gestures to all the activity, 'You seem to have been busy while we were away.'

Taking the offered drink, Dancy smiles at the group. "Come on up to the mess and we'll grab a seat and see about getting you guys some credits."

Leading you into the base, she waves down a tech and sends him off to get started unloading and inventorying the ship's cargo.

Once on the upper level, you find yourselves in the mess hall. It's considerably cozier with the lights and heat on. Not to mention the comforting sounds of life and people moving about. Once seated, "I may have to find harder jobs for you guys, nobody appears to have any holes that they didn't leave with, and you brought back a pretty big haul." A droid walks up and hands Dancy a handful of credit sticks.

" It'll take a day or two before we account for everything in that cargo. In the meantime, here's five thousand for each of you. You're welcome to hang around here, or there's a couple mining stations scattered across the belt. They're bound to have places eager for your credits. Then again, it's a big galaxy, just check back with us in a couple days and we'll see what we can do to square everything up."

"How is the Slippery Ghest? Has someone been looking after it?"

Tomas just feels tired. The experience of going up against the Empire just to make a few creds was overwhelming, and he feels lucky just to be alive. He massages his wound.

Nox has been uncharacteristically silent since the team arrived back at base. He avoids most of the revelry and takes after Tomas.

"Hey man, just checking in with you. Everything okay?"

Tomas flashes a weary smile at Nox. "I'm alright, I guess. But, uh, I'm not sure this kind of job is for me. I think I'm just going to take my money and run!" Tomas looks around at everyone, says his goodbyes, thanks Dancy, and goes off in search of his life...

Looking over the credits Ken can't resit a narrow smile on his snout. Keno Tetsu, you are on the way up. Soon you won't even need these losers.

'Thank you Dancy. We'll be back in a few days to see what it's all worth. In the mean time I think we might be going shopping.'

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Ken ambles up to the Slippery Ghest and gives it a once over externally, looking for any signs of someone having interfered with it, installed trackers and so on. Then he opens up the ship and retires to the galley to fix a few more drinks and look over his weapons and armour. I think I need an upgrade.