Something tells me the female might be the brains in the operation. says the miraluka
Kordin hears the ruckus down below, does a little lean back and pumps her fist.
"Finally, now which scum should I... got it."
Kordin looks for a thug that doesn't seem to be going for a firearm and jumps down, her jetpack roars as it ignites slowing her descent.
Kordin does the super hero landing and speaks, the sound of some heavy metal like music in the background of her intercom plays as she does so.
"So, anybody want to surrender? I'm pretty sure the Enclave will pay me nicely for the heads of some gangers. No takers? I was hoping for that."
Kordin brings her vibrosword up in an overhand chop with both hands, nimbly spins the blade around and stabs the blade into the ganger, letting the vibration function tear it's way through.
Jubara screams in pain as the Lightning courses through him, and the Rodian lets out w gurgle as Trevan guts him.
Jubara snaps out of the funk he was in with the blast by the lightning and looks between the two of you and the Twi'lek.
In the warehouse, Jax repels down a cable into the room, while Kordin uses his jet pack to fly in and eviscerate one of the thugs, taunting them as he does so.
Koro drops down next to Jax, her form perfect, balance absolute.
Halfway down, her lightsaber appears in her hand, it's red blade blurring as it and it's bearer accelerate towards the ground.
With her other hand, Koro releases the cord , drops to the ground, gracefully rolls back up to her feet, levelling her blade at one of the nearby thugs, "You run....you die. You stay....you die." she says with a shrug, then laughs and leaps to the attack.
The miraluka will strike with the lightsaber
damage
Drawing his pistol, Jax dashes behind some crates.
Looking about, the thugs act with what can only be resembled as chaos. Two of them run to take cover behind crates as two more draw their blasters and fire at Koro and Jax, respectively.
Neither shot hits the target, as both seem to be mildly panicked. The final one still up draws a vibroblade and charges Kordin, seeking to engage him one-on-one. His strike hits true, and he grins as he finds a gap in Kordin's armor.
Jubara 22/52 -2 Condition track
Rodian Dead
Twi'lek
Thug 1 Dead
Thug 2 5/18
Thug 3 5/18
Thug 4 5/18
Thug 5 Dead
Thug 6 18/18 Cover+5 Reflex
Thug 7 18/18 Cover+5 Reflex
Thug 8 18/18 Cover+5 Reflex
Thug 9 18/18 Cover+5 Reflex
Kordin 35/42
Did my lightsabers hit?
Kordin grimaces in pain, luckily her face shield covered it up. But at least this means that she doesn't have to move.
"Good, I don't have to run through blaster fire to take a swing at you."
She yells over to Jax as she takes a swing at the thugs head, the sound of vibrosword through bone and brains is gut wrenching to those not used to combat.
"Hey Jax, how much do you think their heads are worth? Oh crud! Err... half a head?"
Jubara looks from Iliquoi to Trevan to the Twi'lek, a hunted look in his eyes. Taking a step back from Iliquoi, he strikes at the holotable, destroying its components and causing the light in the room to dim.
Iliquoi steps after him and strikes with his lightsaber, burning Jubara's arm.
Kordin beheads another of the thugs before moving behind some crates closer to the stairs. The combat prowess of a Mandalorian is definitely not an exaggeration.
Jubara 14/52 -2 Condition track
Twi'lek 22/22
Thug 1 Dead
Thug 2 5/18
Thug 3 5/18
Thug 4 Dead
Thug 5 Dead
Thug 6 18/18 Cover
Thug 7 18/18 Cover
Thug 8 18/18 Cover
Thug 9 18/18 Cover
Kordin 35/42
The miraluka will channel his hate at this creature that dared to strike at him to channel it into another demonstration of the Power of the Dark Side with force lightening.
UTF
Force Lightning (standard; one target within 6 squares) •Dark Side<BR>+12 vs. Reflex, target takes 8d6 damage and moves -1 step down the condition track, half damage on a miss
Koro rushes at the nearest thug, her lightsaber held low, a wicked grin spread across her face.
Rounding the container he was hiding behind, she brings the lightsabre up in a red , glowing arc...
Jax braces his pistol on the top of the crate he's taking cover behind and aims at one of the thugs firing at his position.
Turning her blaster towards Jubara, the Twi'lek fires at him.
Jubara grunts in pain as her shot takes him in the lower abdomen. He's not down, but he has to be close.
Koro rushes one of the thugs, slicing him into two pieces on the diagonal.
Jax carefully sights on another one and pumps as got into his shoulder.
Jubara
Iliquoi
Jax
Koro
Twi'lek
Trevan <--
Thugs
Kordin
Jubara 3/52 -2 Condition Track
Twi'lek 22/22
Thug 1 Dead
Thug 2 Dead
Thug 3 5/18
Thug 4 Dead
Thug 5 Dead
Thug 6 2/18 -1 Condition Track, Cover
Thug 7 18/18 Cover
Thug 8 18/18 Cover
Thug 9 18/18 Cover
Kordin 35/42
Trevan is surprised by her action, he will seek to disarm her instead of kill her. He let's his rage lapse and attack the Twi'lek.
Disarm the Twi'lek
Lightsaber Damage
if she fires at Trevan -
Trevan's disarm attempt fails as the Twi'lek dances away and says, "I won't attack you, but he's a lot more dangerous than I am!"
The thugs, overwhelmed by your assault, begin fleeing towards the exits of the warehouse, clearly not desiring to stick around.
Jubara
Iliquoi
Jax
Koro
Twi'lek
Trevan
Thugs
Kordin <--
"Cowards! I was only getting warmed up. Jax, Koro, let's see what your friends have been up to."
Kordin heads up the stairs towards the office.
Snarling out the word, "Traitor!" at the Twi'lek, Jubara looks between the three of you, then turns and sprints toward the window, leaping towards it. Unfortunately, he doesn't get a very good jump, and just kind of bounces off and falls to the ground.
Channeling his hatred, Iliquoi lashes out with another burst of Force Lightning. Jubara shrieks in pain as the Lightning courses through him, body spasming, before giving a final jerk and lying still as the Lightning ends, a trickle of smoke escaping his mouth.
The Twi'lek holsters her blaster and looks at you warily.
Kordin opens the door to see a dead Rodian, a dead human, and the Twi'lek, looking somewhat cornered.
The miraluka will smile.
Koro watches the thugs flee, a smirk twisting her mouth. With a flick of her wrist, her lightsaber flickers off and is hung back on her belt.
She mounts the stairs after Kordin, looking around the tall warriors body at the scene within.
She sees the man on the ground near the window, smoke still drifting up from his charred body. Looking over at Iliquoi, noting his cruel smile, "The lightning again? He probably would have been more use to us alive, don't you think?" she asks, pushing into the room, muttering "Subtle...right..."
Having entered the room proper , she addresses Trevan, "Who's the Twi'lek?"
Pointing at the stab wound he received the miralula will retort to Koro He dared to stab at me and he was attempting to get away, he would have let it be known that the Sith were involved, that is something we cannot abide.
Kordin turns off the whirring blade and approaches the dead human before leaning down and rifling through his jacket and clothing for anything not burnt to a crisp.
"Alright, Twi'lek, do you have a name? Answer honestly, you don't want the Sith angry... er. Make any obvious moves and I will tackle you to the ground, make any subtle moves and I'm pretty sure the lady will kill you. Don't move, just talk, answer our questions and I'm pretty sure we can all leave here without further bloodshed."
With whatever she finds she moves to the Rodian.
"Say, do you know anything about computers, mechanics, piloting, or anything?"
"My name is Kolana Trus. I'll tell you everything you want and need to know, no resistance, if you remove the slave collar."
Clearly outnumbered and trapped, she watches all of you warily, yet without fear. She seems intelligent, and definitely looking out for herself.
At Kordin's question about technical skills, she looks at him quizzically and says, "Yes..."
"Nifty, you want the slave collar removed right? After we leave do you have any plans? I have a ship that could use an engineer, you up for it? I can't imagine you'd want to stay on this planet."
Standing up after rolling the two dead men, she sighs looking at the holo table.
"Think you can fix it or get any information about the Crimson Sun out of there? We are looking for a few crates of missing baradium along with a few other missing shipments following some weird holonet activity."
Slave collars? Devices used for weaklings who cannot lead without threats.
Koro gives Iliquoi a withering look then oversees Kordin's search of the dead men.
Her eyebrows rise when the mercenary offers a place on the ship, then shrugs.
She points a finger at the Twi'lek, "You're lucky my overzealous companion killed the only other source of information. Start talking , Kordin....the collar."
Trevan responds to Koro simply, "She is our prisoner. Agreed Koro Tass I tried to keep the fool human alive but well you know how Iliquoi gets...
More importantly Slave, get to work on fixing this table the fool destroyed, I believe it may be of use to us". Trevan directs his comments at the Twi'lek.
Kordin finds the slave collar remote on one of the dead men and holds it up.
"Kolana, we could really use your help, and I'll remove the collar after you give me an answer if you'll join me on my ship. Yes, mine, not Imperial, not sith, mine. Whether you say yes or no I will set you free, I promise. I despise the use of slave collars, they are used by the weak to control those who would rather be independent."
She puts her finger over the release button before continuing.
"I only go as far as the money goes, and I could always use a partner. We'd split the profits of course, probably not 50/50 since I like to put a portion of the money aside for a slush fund for the ship. Can always use some maintenance or repairs, you know how they are. So, what do you say Kolana?"
Kolana looks between the three of you carefully, as each of you is saying different things about her fate. She is clearly enthused about Kordin's offer, but is wary of Trevan, as he seems to be saying she is still going to be a slave. Koro seems willing to free her, but is still acting in a hostile manner towards her. It makes for a very stressful situation.
Sterling her look of resolve, she looks at Kordin and says, "Work on a ship? I'll happily take it. You've got yourself an engineer."
As soon as the collar is released, she throws it to the ground and rubs her neck, saying, "Ah, that's better. Jubara's plan was to load the baradium into three air speeders and then remotely fly them into the Citadel. Specifically, where Imperial Intelligence is located. Apparently they just received some Republic general frozen in carbonite that we were going to grab after blowing a hole in the side of the building. Whoever our shadowy patron was came up with the idea, apparently."
Looking at Trevan, she says, "I'll see what I can do about the table, but it looks like Jubara smashed some critical hardware which would have to be replaced. I can try to recover some data from it, if you'd like."
As she kneels down next to the table, she says, "The baradium hasn't been loaded into the speeders yet. I'll show you where it is once I finish up here. Unless the baradium is more important."
Yes, you would remember what he said about it. Which was a lie.
Kordin takes off her helmet and sets it on an end table to speak. Just because it's a vacuum sealed suit doesn't mean she needs it all the time.
"Glad to have you on board Kolana. I am Kordin, Kordin Cadera III, but Kordin will do."
The woman smiles as she watches her new engineer get to work.
"You know, it might be now that we know what was going to happen with it. Jax, you uh... you might want to call Imperial Intelligence about this. Although I have a sneaking suspicion about who might have leaked the info this quickly."
Kordin crouches next to the table to watch what Kolana does, examining her skills, making sure she'll be a good match for the ship.
"I punched said Republic general in the face at a cantina a few weeks ago, then we dragged him in a carbonite slab to a drop off point. My former employer, the guy who used to own my ship betrayed us for a payoff with the Republic. That didn't work out so well for him as I believe he was fried with lightning, Iliquoi what is it with you and all the lightning? No matter, we only got to Dromund Kaas a couple of days ago, and there's only one person that I know of that knew about both our incoming with the general, and knew exactly when and where he would be kept."
Koro nods, accepting that Kordin's solution at gaining the Twi'lek's confidence and presumed loyalty.
She step over to see what Kolana was doing with the table, commenting, "Iliquoi will probably give you some pompous name for the lightning lik 'a manifestation of the power of the Dark side'" she says in a passable imitation of the Sith," but I just call it grandstanding." she says, flashing a vicious smile at the Mirilukan.
It is only grandstanding to those who have neither the patience nor the talent to manifest this type of connection to the Dark Side, Koro Tass. he responds.
Koro sneers at her Sith brother, then turns back to Kordin, shrugging, "See what I mean?"
She then focuses on Kolana, "Hurry up, the sooner we find that baradium the better. "
Then she realizes, Kordin said something interesting. Turing to the Mandalorean, "So...whom might that be?"
Trevan waves his hand at the Twi'lek, "Indeed you are right, forget the table, the baradium is more important".
He then walks towards Kordin, "The next time you free a slave without understanding who her previous Master was we shall have words".
"Come Engineer Kolana, time is of the essence. Some of these thugs have escaped and they will no doubt report to others in their network what has transpired here.
I assume you are all ready to finish this?"
After hearing the Twilek outlay her masters plan Jax nods at Kordins suggestion and moves back out into the warehouse. While calling Minder 13 on a secure channel he moves about looking for the three airspeeders.
The miraluka smiles at the discord the situation has brought.
Looking over to Koro, the Mandalorian stands up and looks confused at the woman.
"You mean, you don't have any guesses? Well my first guess would be that seneschal. What's his name, oh yeah, Hessin. Then I have two other guesses, but promise me you won't stab me when I say who it might be. Nobody is above suspicion."
Turning to face Trevan, the tall woman stares directly into his eyes, unflinching.
"The man who had a slave collar on Kolana was obviously weak, that's all I need to know. What tools you use to keep your followers and crew loyal to you can say a lot about a person. The Renegade is also my ship. I can hire who I want, however I want. And my crew will not, nor will they ever wear slave collars, end of story."
Grabbing her helmet, she puts it back on.
"The way Kolana stood her ground, understanding her situation, and calmly making her decision shows inner strength. If I had the time, I'd offer her a place and the time to learn my people's ways and become a Mandalorian herself. But that's for another time. And I'm sure that you have your own dreams and ambitions Kolana."
Koro shrugs at Kordin's question, "Betrayal is the Sith way of life, it wouldn't surpise me at all if Hessin was working against my Lord. But we'd need more than suspicion to move against such a man."
Koro raises an eyebrow and smiles at Kordin's defiance of Trevan. She nods at each point the Mandalorian makes, commenting "The mercenary makes sense, adding the Twi'lek increases our capabilities. If she proves treacherous, I'm sure Kordin will be first in line to dole out suitable punishment." she says, smilng sweetly at the mercenary.
She turns to the freed slave, "Find out what you can about who was pulling the strings of this little operation." she says softly to Kolana, "Work well, work fast....your very life may depend on it."
Kolana leads you out of the central office and down the stairs. Winding through the rows of crates she stops at three large crates covered by tarps. Removing one, you can clearly see the caution labels typical to baradium crates. "Here it is. I'd prefer not to move it, in case it goes off, but if you want to, your welcome to."
"Well done, Cipher 12. We're dispatching a team to recover the baradium. Remain with this group. Keeper believes they may continue to prove useful. We'll check Intelligejce for a mole, just in case. Minder 13 out."
You locate the air speeders. They are ordinary in every way. No one would think twice a if they saw them traveling through the air.
Trevan grins, "I hold no slaves nor do I care to Mandalorian. I have made my point ignore my warnings at your peril". Considering the matter dealt with he returns to the task at hand.
"Kolana, do you know where the operatives who escaped may have fled to?"
He turns to the Intelligence Officer, "Jax, were there more than three barrels stolen or have we now stopped this plot in its tracks?"
"Those thugs? They were all local muscle Jubara hired with promises of wealth and power. I think he honestly didn't particularly care whether they lived or died. They certainly didn't know the plan. The Rodian, Kirao, worked with him, and then they bought me for my technical skills."
A look of disgust crosses her face as she speaks of being bought, and she unconsciously rubs her neck where the collar was.
So I'm up to 5 iirc