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The Hawk drops out of hyperspace just a bit ahead of schedule, which you obviously attribute to your genius piloting skills.

"Isss thiss it?" Vangaar says seated behind you, clearly a bit edgy.
He's a Barabel, and Barabel always get kinda antsy up in space; they hunt and fight, they don't fly.

"Yeah, that was the last jump. I swear, if Onaka's tip-off is't genuine I'm going to blast those stupid goggles right off his face," you say to your reptilian companion.

"Why would he lie?" he asks. Vangaar understands the concept of lying as an abstract, but he's basically an honest guy. You think it's because they eat liars on Barab.

"Because he thought he might get something out of it if he did, because he thought he could beat me at cards when he made the wager, because he thought it would be funny....take your pick. Hondo's an honest pirate, but that only goes so far, you know?"

"If he lies, This One will eat him," he confirms in a way you sometimes say "I gotta use the fresher".

"If he's lying, I'll let you," you reassure with a smile.

"Ssss....what are we hunting for?"

"Some kinda derelict, military. Supposed to be pretty much fresh since it's way out here, so it'll probably have something worth taking. Military grade weapons if we're lucky. That would put us in the green for a nice long time," you explain.
Vangaar only asks questions once he's bored or really, REALLY curious.

Normally he shoots and stabs (and eats) whatever you tell him to, and doesn't ask too many questions.

"Why not work for Popara more? He paysss well," he suggests.

"Yeah, and why not put a shock collar on my neck and do my hair up in a braid and dance for him while I'm at it?" you reply dryly.

As usual your wit is lost on him.
"I do not underssstand."

>"Because he's a Hutt."

>"Never mind. How are we on fuel and ammunition for the launcher?"

>>41652805
>>"Because he's a Hutt."

>>41652805
>"Because he's a Hutt."

>>41652805
>"Because he's a Hutt."

>>41652805
>"Because he's a Hutt."
and i'm too pretty to be a nubile slave girl

>>41652952
Seconding this.

>>41652952
snark smuggler is always best smuggler, regardless of whether its stupid when facing a evil space wizard or a giant slug gangster

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>>41653081
pure pazaak

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"Look Van; I like Popara. I really do. He's a decent guy for a crime boss, he pays great, he actually treats me with some kinda respect, and the Anjiliac Kajidec are all-around swell guys. But as long as Popara's name ends with 'the Hutt' I'm not really sure I'll ever trust the guy. The Hutt mentality has a hard time grasping the difference between 'employee', 'minion', and 'slave'. He hasn't tried anything YET but that doesn't mean he won't some day and make like one of those pet Wookiee of his," you explain.

"Also, I'm too pretty to be a nubile slave-girl. The others would be jealous and nobody wants that kind of friction."

"Mir'avi says you are uglier then your ship," he point out helpfully.

"Firstly; since she used to sleep with me her opinion is biased. Secondly the Hawk is a gorgeous ship, so screw her," you say, feeling a bit miffed.

"I agree; you are much uglier then your ship," the Barabel replies with a nod.

You can never tell if he's joking.
His face and eyes don't make expressions like yours does.

>"Check the scanners for unidentified metallic masses, we should be coming up on it."

>"Can you scan the IFF for anyone else here?"

>>41653304
>"Check the scanners for unidentified metallic masses, we should be coming up on it."

>>41653304
>"Can you scan the IFF for anyone else here?"
Better safe than sorry, if we are clear, we can scan for the prize at our leisure.

>>41653304
>"Check the scanners for unidentified metallic masses, we should be coming up on it."

>>41653304

"Check for other ships, will ya? I don't want any surprises today, Vangaar. Not after that run last year."

Got a tie it seems like?

>>41653304
>"Can you scan the IFF for anyone else here?"
just joined!

>>41653446
next time just roll 1d2

>>41653304
>"Can you scan the IFF for anyone else here?"

>>41653304

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"Hey, check for IFF transponders in the area. Hondo said that he hadn't told anyone else about this but-" you request.

"Hondo liesss," Vangaar confirms.

"Yup," you confirm as you push the steering yoke forward as you movd closer to an anomalous signal you're getting.

"There are precisely 41 anomalous Imperial IFF signals in the immediate system," he says after hitting some keys.

"Wait, WHAT?!" you say in shocked response, resisting your urge to immediately bolt and jump back out of the system.

"30 fighters, 10 light transports, 1 capital," he helpfully clarifies.

"Dammit Hondo! You just HAD to be a sore looser at sabaac!" you futilely shout to the Weequay pirate across the lightyears.

"They are immobile and many are on low power," he finishes. "I believe they are only barely active."

"Oh...," you say, feeling a bit foolish. "Why didn't you say so before?"

"I DID say so before, you just didn't let me finish," he points out.

"Okay, then we should....," you begin, just as it comes into view.

An Acclimator-class Assault Ship covered in battle damage, drifting in space.

"....be seeing it," you say, momentarily at a loss for words.

>Get to the looting!

>Do a full sensor sweep first.

>>41653767
>Do a full sensor sweep first.

Let's not get into too much trouble here.

>>41653767
>Do a full sensor sweep first.

>>41653767
>Full sweep

>>41653767
>Get to the looting!

>>41653767
>Do a full sensor sweep first.

>>41653817
>>41653823

"This will either be a very good or a very bad day for us, buddy. Full sensor sweep. Let's move fast, the Imperials are probably on the way."

You pull the Novahawk in closer to the 800 meter wreck, scanning as throughly as possible while muttering to yourself.

"Man Hondo, when you make bets you don't screw around....hey, can you send up those sensor reading to my screen?" you ask.

The Barabel complies, and you see the IFF signals.

"That's why; Grand Army signals and Imperial IFF are identical almost. We have the Hawk geared to send us Grand Army as Imperial automatically. That's why it read as 'anomalous'; the computer didn't recognize what kind of ship they were because they had Imperial IFF but we're eight-year old Grand Army ships," you explain, pointing at the difference on the screen.

"You ssseem to know a lot about Grand Army and Imperial IFF codes," he notes, his voice tone as opaque as ever.

"Don't I though?" you respond with a wry note in your voice. Everybody's gotta have secrets, right?

Your sensor sweep turns in that despite the damage, shaky internal atmosphere and failing backup power, the ship's ENTIRE fighter compliment is aboard, hence all the extra signals.

"If they never launched....their fuel and weapons will still be aboard. The missiles....hell, even the heavy missiles from the cruiser itself!" you say, trying to do the math in your head.

You're having a hard time figuring out what the black market worth of an entire magazine full of capital-ship class concussion missiles is worth. Not even figuring in the ships and power sources and THEIR missiles!

"What is that signal?" Van says, pointing at another one from inside the ship.

"Looks like a distress beacon. Not even powerful enough to get out-system. It's not from the Acclimator, it's from INSIDE it, almost faded. Huh," you say, frowning.

"What happened to the it?"

"Got hit by Seps I'd guess...look, that's why it's dead but it's power systems are intact; the bridge is completely blown out. Looks like a torpedo impact."

"What ssshall we do?"

>>41654360

>Land in the hanger and start inventorying the cruiser. You're gonna need to make more then one trip.

>Land as close to the distress beacon as you can get; might be something good.

>>41654360

"Are you crazy? We got to clear out those missiles, we could live like kings! Prepare for reclamation operations, my friend."

>Land in the hanger and start inventorying

>>41654360
>Land as close to the distress beacon as you can get; might be something good.
Plot bait is plot bait

>>41654360
>>Land in the hanger and start inventorying the cruiser. You're gonna need to make more then one trip.
Get the money.

>>41654360
>Land in the hanger and start inventorying the cruiser. You're gonna need to make more then one trip.

>>41654360
>Land in the hanger

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"Land the Hawk in the main hanger. We won't be able to take the cap ship missiles with us on this trip, but he can loot the ones on the fighters and gunships," you say, getting out of your seat and letting him fly as you head into the back cabin. "Keep an eye out for any incoming signals too; if this thing hasn't been discovered yet I'll be a Wookie's uncle."

You head into your small cabin and fasten on your vest, and your Krayt-leather overcoat, the one that goes to just past your knees before getting your gear.

You grab your heavy blasters, two silver-chromed Dallorian-alloyed pistols with Krayt Pearl grips with enough mods on them to make an Imperial Customs inspectors eye's water just looking at them.

You also fasten up your magnetic clamp boots and attach a few practical tools to your belt as you strap on your weapons before grabbing a pressure mask and rebreather unit.

The ship comes to a halt and you see Van in his room behind you getting his gear together as well.

You step out into the hanger of the Acclimator with your breather on, checking to see if there's gravity on a palm scanner and getting a green.

Behind you Van covers you with a very large blaster rifle that you've seen him put bullseye's into Gundark eyes at 400 meters with; you feel pretty comfortable with him backing you up.

As you step out into the hanger you take a moment to look at the V-Wing fighters and gunships, and give a sigh mixed with a lot of feelings; satisfaction, sadness, and more regret then you thought you had.

"Nostalgic," you comment after a moment.

"Come again?"

>"I've been on one of these before."

>"Nothing. I'm going to check out that distress beacon, stay here and take apart the fighters and load their ordinance into the Hawk."

>>41654935
>"Load up the loot Van, I'm going for a walk"

>>41654935
>"Nothing. I'm going to check out that distress beacon, stay here and take apart the fighters and load their ordinance into the Hawk."

not now tragic past, there's a plot hook

>>41654935
>"Nothing. I'm going to check out that distress beacon

>>41654935
>>"I've been on one of these before."
"A long, long time ago."

>>41655097
In a galaxy far far away?

>>41655149
Maybe <.<"Shifty eyes">.>

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"Pardon?"

"Nothing. Hey, I'm gonna look for that beacon. Stay here and open up those Y-Wings and haul their torps out. I'll be back in a few minutes," you say.

"Be watchful," he warns.
Or not. It's actually how he says "goodbye" in Basic.

You nod without looking behind you and begin following the signal on your wrist computer. You don't even need to look where you're going you've been through these corridors so many times.

You see dead Troopers everywhere, and give another sigh at that. They look like they ran out of air or were caught in explosions or fires which have long since burned out the oxygen in the area.

You come to a cross way in the ship, where the command tower's turbolifts are placed, and glance back at your computer before you hear a sound off to your right in the dark.

>TAK-TAK-TAK-TAK-TAK-TAK

You turn and draw a blaster from your right holster in one motion so smooth it can't be followed in the dim white emergency lighting of he corridor, pointing it the direction of the sound.

>TAK-TAK-TAK-TAK-TAK-TAK

"Overjoyed Statement: Oh Master, you have *no* idea how wonderful it is to see a fully functioning being aside from myself again!"

>TAK-TAK-TAK-TAK-TAK-TAK

A pair of glowing yellow photoreceptors on a dull silver body walk into view from the dark, the sound coming from it's tiny protocol droid footfalls as it walks up to you.

"Is that right?" you da dryly, not moving your blaster even an inch.

"Ecstatic Confirmation: Indeed! It IS Master!"

"That why you're holding that blaster rifle in your manipulator there?" you say, your face still not breaking out into a smile, nodding at his right hand.

The "protocol" droid pauses, lifts up the rifle and stares at it, as if it had forgotten it was holding onto it ages ago.

"Awkward Reply: "Ah. I do seem to be holding one, don't I?" he says in a sheepish tone, like his hand got caught in a cookie jar.

"Yup," you say.

Then you plant two blaster bolts into it's torso.

It falls to it's knees, two glowing holes in it's torso having pierced it's power core.
But you decide not to take chances and put another one right into it's head to blast away it's stupid droid brain.

>"Van, I think I know what happened to the ship."

>"Keep an eye out for any droids."

>>41655576
>>"Van, I think I know what happened to the ship."
>>"Keep an eye out for any droids."
Not mutually exclusive.

>>41655521
>"Keep an eye out for any droids."

take the rifle too

>>41655576
>"Keep an Eye out for any droids."

>>41655576
>"Keep an eye out for any droids."

>>41655576
>>"Keep an eye out for any droids."
we got an HK bots here

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"Vangaar," you say, walking over to the droid's lifeless form.
You take the rifle from it and check the power pack. Dry. Probably spent it years ago.

"Vangaar, do you copy?"

"This One hears," the Barabel says.
You can hear him lifting stuff through the comm on your wrist as he talks.

"Pretty sure I've pinned down in what happened to this ship," you say, standing back up and putting another bolt into it's processor, just in case.

"Enlighten This One."

"Found an HK-series droid walking around the hallways. Looks like the 94 model. My guess is that it was doing that thing where they pass themselves off as protocol droids while trying to assassinate a target," you explain, keeping your blaster our this time as you follow the signal.

"They?"

"Yeah. Things things usually work in small groups. Probably was used by the Seps to sabotage and kill the officers onboard, and likely scuttle the ship. Explains the blast points I've been seeing as we go all over the hull and the plasma scoring on the walls. Something else happened at the same time though, and their charges went off too soon. They got stuck here with their victims."

"That's quite a deduction for a blasterslinger and a scoundrel," he notes.

"Yep," you agree without further comment on it. "Keep your eyes open for more; if one got away then it's a good bet some others did."

"Indeed. I have loaded up seven of the torpedoes so far," he informs.

"I'm almost at the signal. I'll call you when I get to it," you say, ending the transmission as your footfalls echo down the hallway to the shuttle boarding hanger.

Your guess is somebody tried to get away before this thing went up and sent the distress signal.

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You follow the signal and begin to come across more and more Trooper bodies.
Some were blasted, but some were sliced apart, right through the armor.

You frown, your steps slowing as you move into the shuttle hanger, seeing it's blast doors forced half-open and more clone bodies around it.

As you step inside you give a low whistle.
"I'll be damnded."

The hanger has well over three dozen dead Clone Troopers in it, some cut apart, some blasted, all surrounding the open cockpit of a Delta-7B Aethersprite light interceptor in the middle of the mini-hangar instead of a standard shuttle craft.

"I can't decide if this is good luck or bad luck," you say, shaking your head with a chuckle.

You'll bet on bad though.
Luck involving Jedi is rarely ever good.
Just look what happened to them.

>Try to reconstruct the scene.

>Check out the cockpit of the fighter.

>>41656322
>>Try to reconstruct the scene.

Then
>Check out the cockpit of the fighter.

>>41656322
>Check out the cockpit

>>41656322
>Check out the cockpit of the fighter.

swag for the swag bag

>>41656322
>>Check out the cockpit of the fighter.

>>41656322
>Check out the cockpit of the fighter.

>>41656322
>Check out the cockpit of the fighter.

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http://youtu.be/pCHYTILGez8
How's about some John Williams music appropriate to the moment?

You gingerly move over the corpses, lowering your blaster to your side but keeping it drawn, stepping up onto the fighter.

It's body is covered in plasma scoring, the built-in astromech unit just completely blasted apart.

The Jedi, a yellow-skinned male Twi'lek, sits at the cockpit, his body a mess of wounds. In his right hand he has a lightsaber, but his shoulder is ruined from blaster fire. In his other you see a blaster pistol, the kind you found on officers during the war, it's power pack spent.

"Damn. When they shot your arm up you didn't stop fighting did you? You hunkered down here and kept blasting every single trooper that came through that door," you say, a note of respect in your voice at the incredibly tenacity he must have had.

He isn't wearing a robe, but a grey Naval officer's uniform for the Grand Army, the kind non-clone officers wore on ships.

You chuckle at that, impressed at the sheer balls it would take to pull that off.

"That how you got away at first? Ditch the robes, put on a uniform and pretend to be an officer?" you rhetorically ask.

You reach in and remove the lightsaber from his hand. Like all of them, it's different from every other lightsaber you've seen. You turn it on just to see the green blade light up the room, to feel the heat and warmth of it.

"Should've left this behind though. Dead give away my friend," you comment to the Jedi, turning it off, as you search the rest of him.

Under the seat you find a small cloth pouch, and you take out the heavy crystalline octehedral shape from inside it.

"What do we have here?" you say, your eyes widening at the sight.
You're pretty sure you know what it is, but you've never seen one personally.

"Wrong shape though," you mumble. "Do they come in other shapes?"

>Call Vangaar

>Take it.

>>41656834
>Try and turn it on.

Oh, and also;

>Take the Lightsaber.

>Take it and the Lightsaber.

>>41656834
>Take it.

>>41656930
>>Take it and the Lightsaber.

>>41656834
>Take it
The lightsaber will just attract unnecessary trouble, especially nowadays..

>>41656930
Take it all.

>>41656930
>Take it and the Lightsaber.

>>41656930
>Take it and the Lightsaber.

Leave the saber, take the device.

>>41657002

I mean, this is the only real choice. A real Jedi lightsaber? The right buyer would pay a fortune

>>41657188
Finding a right buyer would be a bitch though. That is seriously hot property, hope you guys know what you are doing.

>>41657266

Who knows? Even if we don't find a buyer, it might come in handy. Nobody would expect a smuggler to be carrying one of these puppies around.

http://youtu.be/2HWzgrb9Z4U

You put down the saber, leaving it.
Collectors will pay for them, but it's way too risky in your opinion; you know a few "collectors" that were ISB traps for anyone who might have Jedi contraband.

You take the crystal, fiddling with it.
"How the...," you say, trying to pry it open somehow with your fingers, "..hell do they turn things things in? There's no buttons anywhere or-"

Suddenly it lights up abruptly, the facets shifting like a puzzle in your hand in so many ways that you can't keep track of them all and you drop it in surprise!

A light flashes from it, scattering scattered holographic images and voices like echos and scattering stars across the room, flickering between them all so quickly that they blend together!

>"-o construct a lightsaber you mu-"
>"The basics of Makashi involve-"
>"-hosen One Prophect states that-"
>"-the Sith live, of that we-"
>"-must open your mind to the For-"
>"-ear for Young Skywalke-"
>"-y Little Green Frie-!"
>"RUN JAK, RUN!"

You start, eyes widening at the last voice, an IMPOSSIBLE voice comes out of it and the lights fade and the holograms and voices vanish and it shuts abruptly as it started.

>Something behind you.

You roll to the side, grabbing the Jedi Holocron as the blaster bolt tears up the ground where you just lay, ducking behind the ship!

>Draw and fire back!

>Get back farther behind cover, you're too exposed!

>Make a distraction to get some breathing room!

>>41657379
Just think though, you start waving that around and some sees it?

Bam you're a alleged Jedi and are hunted down.

>>41657418
>>Get back farther behind cover, you're too exposed!

>>41657418

Get under cover, fuck!

>>41657418
>Make a distraction to get some breathing room

>>41657418

Take cover.

You slide back farther under the ship and pocket the holocron as you draw your second blaster, more cobalt-blue bolts tearing up the ground and ship!

"Irritated Statement: Drat. I did so hope to catch you unawares. For a meatbag you have exceptional reflexes."

You roll your eyes as the assassin droid reloads it's rifle.
Who the hell decided he needed to build the model line to be so goddamn chatty anyway? At least the Sep droids shut up unless you were talking to them.

"Mocking Offer: If you come out now I promise to make your death marginally less painful, meatbag! Certainly otherwise I might be inclined to torture you; it has been oh-so-very-long since I had that pleasure."

You hear more droids walk into the room, and mentally swear.
This is gonna get tricky.

"Query: I assume you found the organic?"

"Answer: Indeed. He has chosen to hide in the room and take cover."

"Amused Query: Perhaps your combat subroutines are malfunctioning."

"Irritated Retort: If mine then yours are doubly so!"

>Pop out, shoot back! This isn't your first light-fight!

>Look around for something to divert their attention and THEN attack.

>Uss your droid popper...you only have the one though.

>>41657815
>Pop out, shoot back! This isn't your first light-fight

Let's save the popper, there's only two of them.

>>41657815
>Pop out, shoot back! This isn't your first light-fight!

>>41657865
>>41657872

Let's test the waters then.

>>41657815
>>Pop out, shoot back! This isn't your first light-fight!

You begin firing off shots at their feet as you roll into your back underneath the fighter!
Your position here is awful; they can't hit you (unless they have grenades) but you can't do anything but hit their feet!

You swear, rolling into your back as you keep firing to keep them off-balance, placing your feet against the central landing strut of the fighter!

"Mocking Statement: Meatbag, from such a position you cannot hope to hit-"

You pull back both legs and kick off it as hard as you can, sliding out out from under the fighter and shooting past both of them, their heads turning to follow you as you move between them towards the door!

You lift your head up and aim at their exposed backs.

"Noted."

You open fire with a hail of white blaster bolts blowing through their backs and out their chests, the smell of ozone as your blasters burn the air with each shot.
Both droids seize up and die, falling in a heap of metal

You kip-up to your feet without even letting go of your blasters and begin to turn and run down the hallway.

You have a *very* bad feeling about this all of a sudden.

"Vangaar!" you shout as you run, your commlink beeping as soon as you speak to him.

"Onasssi. I have loaded the cargo bay full of torpedoes. According to the ship the cruiser we are in is suffering a hypermatter reactor leak outside the hull thanks to it's reactor being exposed making it unstable."

"Forget that! Get inside the Novahawk and warm up the engines, we have to get the hell out of here!"

"What? Why-" he begins, but then the transmission pauses.

"Excuse me Jak," he says as the comm cuts in again, this time blaster fire sound coming over the link. "I appear to have prey to kill."

"Dammit!" you swear, running faster!

>Take the main corridors, you'll get there faster!

>Go through the engineering vents, you'll dodge any droids that way.

>>41658564
>>Take the main corridors, you'll get there faster!

>>41658564
>Take the main corridors, you'll get there faster!

>>41658564
>>Take the main corridors, you'll get there faster!

>>41658564
>>Take the main corridors, you'll get there faster!
ohh boy Jedi abilities are showing them selves

You charge down the corridor as fast as you can go, every instinct in your body telling at you to get out of here.

A group of two more HK's are bantering with each other in the hallway as you stride up, and as they turn to see you you interrupt their coversation with a hail of blaster bolts, slicing them both down without stopping!
HK droids are decent shots, but this is nothing compared to that time at Socorro where you gained your fame.

You turn at the crosswalk and head back towards the hanger where you hear blaster fire echoing down the hallway!
You holster your blasters while running and take the droid popper off your belt, flipping the safety switch off and twisting the cap at the end of the metal cylinder!

You arrive at the hanger to see five more HK-droids taking shots at your reptile companion with two of them already dead, and he pops up and blows apart the head of another with a brilliant shot from his blaster rifle!

As much as you love watching Vangaar work, you don't have time for this.
You toss the ion grenade into the crowd and keep running for the Hawk!

Just as they spot you the grenade beeps, sending an ionized pulse that fries their systems and blows out their photoreceptors and circuts!

"I had that under control," Vangaar says in the same inflection as always.

"I believe you, now come on! We gotta go!" you say, running up the ramp.

As soon as he gets inside you close it and start up the ship, powering the engines and burning out of the hanger!

"Why are we in such haste?" he inquires.

"Never mind! We'll sell the torps we got and come back for the rest once we-" you begin, but are interrupted when a big, angular, angry Imperial-class Star Destroyer drops out of hyperspace practically on top of you.

"-once get away," you finish.

Your first panicked thought is that Isard finally found you, but then the comm crackles open.

"HWK1000-class freighter, this is the Imperial Star Destroyer Fist of Order; what is your status? Why are you here?"

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>Lie. You can talk your way out of this if you're careful; you had a plan in mind.

>Just punch the sublight and RUN!

>This is risky; code in your old ID. It MIGHT work...or it might set off red flags.

>>41659217
>>Just punch the sublight and RUN!

>>41659292
>Just punch the sublight and RUN!

>>41659217
>Lie. You can talk your way out of this if you're careful; you had a plan in mind.

>>41659292
>>Lie. You can talk your way out of this if you're careful; you had a plan in mind.

>>41659292
>Lie. You can talk your way out of this if you're careful; you had a plan in mind.

"This is the Zephyr, Order," you respond steadying yourself. "Transmitting our transponder codes."

You press the button and cross your fingers; you have false transponders linked to existing ships so you can get into placed unnoticed and unrecognized.

"Zephyr, what is the purpose of your presence in this sector?" the annoyingly robotic voice on the other end of the line asks.

"We're actually not doing anything in this sector; we're a courier ship, just flew out of Molavar on our way to Arkanis," you blithely lie.

"We stopped in this sector after a bump in our hyperspace engine and heard some kind of distress signal, came to check out if we could help. Looks like we were real late to this one though."

There's silence on the end of the line for a second, then a new voice speaks up, a cultured Core Worlder accent.

"Captain Ondara, is it? One might consider your presence here somewhat suspicious, given the state of this ship and the remoteness of the location and the state of this lost craft."

As soon as the voice speaks you feel a heavy pit settle into your stomach and you don't even know why.

"Sorry Sir, we just wanted to see if there was anything we could do. My pa fought in the wars, and we're a courier ship so if we couldn't evacuate anybody at least we could run for help," you say sincerely.

"I see. And I assume of course you haven't illegally salvaged anything?" it asks, amused.

You turn towards Vangaar.
"Rev up the hyperdrive and set it to random coordinates. Now."

You turn back to the comm and answer.
"No Sir, Captain. I mean look at it; even if we were here for that the size of the cruiser means would couldn't take nothin'. I mean we can hardly fit the mail we're carrying from Molavar to Arkanis as it is!"

"You expect me to believe you're mailmen?" He sounds amused.

"Sir, we just haul stuff wherever. The mail's as solid a job as any, specially in the Outer Rim. There's no Holonet anymore, so mail's about all there is for folks to talk, you know?"

"I suppose that is indeed true," he says, sounding like he doesn't believe you one bit, but is amused by the conversation.

Just as long as he keeps talking.

"Sure enough, Captain Sir," you respond.

"Oh, I'm not the Captain," he clarifies, making you frown on confusion.
Who the hell is this guy then?

>Okay, NOW run.

>Keep him talking; another 20 seconds is all you need. He doesn't trust you but he'd amused by the story so far.

>>41659943
>>Keep him talking; another 20 seconds is all you need. He doesn't trust you but he'd amused by the story so far.

>>41659943
>>Keep him talking; another 20 seconds is all you need. He doesn't trust you but he'd amused by the story so far.
So liuetenant then? Or ensign?

>>41659943
>>Keep him talking; another 20 seconds is all you need. He doesn't trust you but he'd amused by the story so far.

WTF happened to the holonet

>>41660000
The Empire restricted the Holonet to Imperial vessels and installations only to solidify their control of the Galaxy.

>>41659943
>Keep him talking

>>41659943
>Keep him talking; another 20 seconds is all you need. He doesn't trust you but he'd amused by the story so far.

Can I ask why you decided not to take the lightsaber when all but 1 votes were for it?

>>41660065
ok

>>41659943
"Admiral?"

>>41660130
I misread a bunch of the votes and by the time I realized I posted already. Sorry about that.

>>41660207
Well it hasn't been important yet. Could you retcon it? We threw it in a pocket etc?

>>41660221
Sure, I guess.

Just saw this, liking it so far.

>not a captain
Fuck, it's Thrawn, isn't it.

>>41660298
So, so much worse.

>>41660316
Pre-op Daala?

>>41660316
The emperors hand? Well one of them at least? Yssane issards dad? He is still running the intelligence right?

"Well, I hope 'Sir' is good enough then," you say, trying to sound as "aww, shucks" as you can.

"Indeed, Captain Ondara. You said your father fought in the war?"

"Ayup! Renko Ondara, a fighter pilot in the Dantooine volunteer force! Did pretty good in the war! You heard of him maybe?" you ask hopefully.

"No, I'm afraid not," he says, his voice full of amusement. "How did you say he died?"

"I didn't Sir, and he ain't dead. He's just working out farm back on Dantooine. I guess he decided he got tired of flying afterwords, but I still wanted to, you know?"

"Indeed. I suppose I do," he responds. "May I see your mail registry then? And a sample of your cargo?"

He thinks he's got you here.

"Sure thing Sir," you say and send over Captain Ondara's legitimate mail carrying license and a very large sampling of very boring farmer's mail to their settler families and kids in Arkanis.

The trick of a good lie is to make it believable, have plenty of evidence, and make it impossible for them to disprove until you are far, far away after all.

"Everything seems to be in order, Captain," he says.

"Thankee Sir. Should I report at the registry back at Arkanis after this to let them know I ran into ya?"

"Oh no, Captain Ondara. You won't be going to Arkanis at all I'm afraid. You may in fact be telling the truth but simple logic says that the simplest way of keeping you quiet about this is arresting you and asking you questions until I get answers. My name is Tremayne, by the way. Inquisitor Tremayne," he says, sounding very smug.

You dunno what the hell an "Inquisitor" is but it sounds not fun.

"It's rather tragic; while you found this by accident and almost certainly know absolutely nothing if it's significance and have nothing of value, you have to die anyway. I must admit though, you are a remarkably talented liar," he compliments.

"You wanna know what else I'm good at?" you say dropping the hayseed accent.

"Oh, do tell?"

"Running."

As soon as you say it you flick the switch, your hyperdrive kicking in!
You burn space until you see lines, laughing to yourself.

"That seemed somewhat risky," Vangaar notes.

"Sure, but as soon as he started chatting I knew we could do it. The hyperdrive on the Hawk spins up fast and the chatty ones ALWAYS forget to lock tractor beams on you. They want you to feel all dreaded and shit the when they reveal they're about to kill you. It never occurs to them that by making a random jump you can be out of there in half the time it takes for them to power up the tractor beam."

"It was not a disapproving comment," the Barabel clarifies. "Without risk the hunt is meaningless."

"On that we both agree."

>Go check out the swag.

>Go get some sleep; it'll be awhile before you drop out of hyperspace.

>>41660633
>>Go check out the swag.

>>41660633
>>Go check out the swag.

>>41660633
>Go check out the swag.

now what's a good place to lose the empire?

Nar Shadaa is lovely this time of year I hear

>>41660633
>Go check out the swag.

>>41660633
>>Go check out the swag.

is vangaar one of the lizard beings (i forget the name of his species) that view fighting and killing as part of their religion.

>>41660732
He's not trandoshan mate. He's a barabel.

File: Trandoshan.png (541 KB, 800x1200)

541 KB PNG

>>41660732
http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Trandoshan

>>41660732
http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Barabel

>>41660756
>>41660761
>>41660776
ok thank you for clarifying.

"Well, after we drop out of hyperspace we'll chart a course back to Florrum," you say, getting up from your seat and stretching a bit.

"Why? We just came from there."

"To go a punch Hondo in the face so you can eat him," you say, like it's obvious.

"This One is confused," he admits.

"Please. An ImpStar just HAPPENS to jump out of hyperspace on our exact location in an Outer Rim Sector known mostly for the dubious honor of being the home of Kowokian Monkey-Lizards? Hondo gave us a bad tip. Or worse, a COMPROMISED tip. He didn't trust it himself so he went and went and bet it in a sabaac game with me instead," you point out.

"So This One DOES get to eat him then?" he asks hopefully.

"We'll listen to what he says first. Then you can eat him, yeah."

You check out the torpedoes in the cargo hold and find them a satisfactory haul; pretty much anybody would pay good money for these guys, and even if you can't go back the trip is worth it.

You go into the common room and take out the holocron, setting it on the table and frowning, placing the lightsaber next to it.

The lightsaber will be hard to move; you mostly took it on a whim. It's basically useless as a practical weapon unless you're a Jedi, so there's no point in holding onto it yourself.
It's also sorta like saying "here I am, please arrest me" to Imperial authorities and "kill me and collect my bounty" to hunters, which is WAY worse in your opinion.

If you can find a collector by being careful, that's great.

Now the holocron is WAY safer move; most folks don't even know what a holocron IS, so only collectors and rich noblemen will have an idea of it's worth, meaning less overall risk.

Of course you have to figure out how to turn it on and use it first to prove it is what it is.

"Nej....," you mumble.
You SWORE you heard his voice when you turned it on, but that's impossible.
He's been dead for five years now.

>Leave the weird little thing alone.

>Try to turn it on again.

>>41661229
>Try to turn it on again.

>>41661229
>>Try to turn it on again.

>>41661229
>>Try to turn it on again.

Told you guys about the Lightsaber, hope you know what y'all are doing.

>>41661229
>>Try to turn it on again.

>>41661229
>>Try to turn it on again.
Plot ho!

>>41661229
Just a tip. When you're doing multiple post updates, you may wish to type them out first, and then post them one after the other in quick succession.

>>41661260
Even if we are a jedi I'd rather use blasters for a change of pace. Might be cool.

>>41661260
Meh, there are plenty of uses. Use it as a cutting tool, plant it on someone we hate, very carefully sell it, magically-plot-learn how to use it.

>>41661291
>It's basically useless as a practical weapon unless you're a Jedi, so there's no point in holding onto it yourself.

We aren't.

>>41661307
you haven't notice all the force shit thats happening to Jak

>>41661307
Sorry, should have said "force sensitive"

>>41661284
Apologies.
Doing a couple of things at once here.

"Okay...how did that go again?" you mutter, playing with it, looking for what you touched on it.

Nothing. It's a rock.
A shiny expensive rock with ancient microcircuitry woven into it, but there's no buttons or anything at all.

"Freaking...," you grunt trying to twist the facets like they twisted before in their own, "...Jedi...can't just...nnngh...put BUTTONS in it or...something like that!"

You stop trying and put it down.
Then you grab it again and bang it up and down in the table like a Gammorean with his first datapad.

Nothing.

"Aaagh! Why won't you turn ON?!" you grunt in anger as Vangaar walks in.

"You'll break it," he helpfully ads.

"Shut up, you don't even know what it IS!" you protest.

"Offworlders make all their things breakable, especially shiny things. What is it?"

>"A Jedi holocron."

>"Something that might be worth more then all of the torps in the hold."

>>41661447
>>"Something that might be worth more then all of the torps in the hold."

>>41661447
>"A Jedi holocron."

>>41661447
>>"A Jedi holocron."

>>41661447
>"A Jedi holocron."
"So, y'know, don't tell anyone unless an imperial vivisection is your kinda thing."

>>41661447
>"A Jedi holocron."

>>41661447
>>"A Jedi holocron."

"A holocron," you explain, trying to open it again.

"A what?"

"A Jedi storage computer, like a datapad," you explain.

"Jeedai?!" he says, sounding surprised. It's the most vocal inflection you've ever heard him use actually.

"Yeah, so?" you say, looking up and raising an eyebrow.

"On Barab the Jeedai are legend. We tell ssstories of the Knightsss who came and resolved our disputes peacefully! This One left Barab to fight asss a mersssenary when This One learned that the Jeedai were fighting a battle againssst great foesss!" he says, leaning in to stare wide-eyes with his big yellow slitted eyes at the object.

"Huh," you say in honest surprise. "I didn't know that. I figured you just left your world to hunt stuff, hitching a ride off a trader or fringer or something."

"This One did thisss too, but the battle wasss the reassson for it. I fought for Jeedai in their war, until the Empire betrayed them and ssslew them without honour!"

>"I fought in the Wars too. Well, sort of."

>"How do you know the Jedi didn't betray the Republic?"

>>41661696
>>"I fought in the Wars too. Well, sort of."
i wanna learn more about Jak

>>41661696
>"I fought in the Wars too. Well, sort of."

>>41661696
>"I fought in the Wars too. Well, sort of."

>>41661696
>>"How do you know the Jedi didn't betray the Republic?"

>>41661696
>"I fought in the Wars too. Well, sort of."

>>41661696
>>"How do you know the Jedi didn't betray the Republic?"

>>41661696
>"I fought in the Wars too. Well, sort of."

"I fought in the Clone Wars too," you admit.

You've worked with Vangaar for about two standard years, but you never really talk about yourselves. You never ask; it's sort of an unspoken rule among spacers.

"You were a sssoldier?" he asks, clearly surprised. "You fight well, but you do not fight like one."

"No, not a soldier. I mean, technically. I did pretty much what we do now, but for the Republic. I was a spy."

"I find thisss difficult to believe. You do not ssseem like you would make a good ssspy," he notes.

"Yeah, that's why I was one. Nobody looked at me and thought 'that guy, he's spying for the Republic'. I mean, that kinda defeats the whole purpose. They looked at me and thought 'he's a scoundrel and a spacer like any other'. I pretty much could go anywhere and listen to anybody and nobody thought anything of it."

"Ssso you did not fight then," he decides.

"Oh no, I did PLENTY of that. Feels like every other mission ended up being a running lightfight. No matter how much intel we had the Seps always were stalemating us and catching is halfway through a mission somehow," you explain.

"Somehow". Right.
You're pretty damned sure you have a good idea how; it just doesn't make sense.
I mean, you asked Isard about it and he tried to have you killed.

"Hmm...ssso a ssspy isss a hunter, but of sssecretsss?" he says, apparently being familiar with the concept.

"A good way to put it. Yeah."

"Thisss is a good professsion then," he says, nodding.
Figures. Pretty much everything comes down to hunting with Barabel it seems like.

>"When the Jedi died you left the Army?"

>"Did you fight with any Jedi yourself?"

>>41662078
>>"Did you fight with any Jedi yourself?"

>>41662078
>>"Did you fight with any Jedi yourself?"

>>41662078
>DId you fight with any Jedi Yourself?
>When the jedi died did you leave the army?

>>41662078
>"Did you fight with any Jedi yourself?"

File: image.jpg (80 KB, 446x627)

80 KB JPG

"You fight alongside any Jedi?" you ask.

He shakes his head.
"No. My unit was made up off irregularsss. It was enough to know I fought for them though. The droidsss were immensssely unsssatisssfying enemiesss to battle though. Numerous, ssstupid, and they did not bleed. My unit ssstruck down more then I can easssily count. Alwaysss more, no matter how many we hunted."

"Yeah, it felt like that for me too. Seemed like no matter what we did, the Seps always were one up on us," you admit.

"Did you?" he asks.

"Fight with a Jedi?" He nods.

You pause before answering.
"Yeah. One," you finally admit.

"It mussst have been an honor," he says solemly.

You think about it again.
"Yeah. I guess it was. Best man I ever knew."

"What wasss his name?" he asks, clearly interested in hearing of the Jedi.

"....Nejaa. Nejaa Halcyon. He always asked him to call him Nej though," you say, trying hard not to relive it.

"What wasss he like?" the Barabel asks, his eyes wide with reverence.

You sigh.
"A real wiseass. He always shot his mouth off, bragged about the odds...a Corellian, you know? That was the weirdest part when I first men him. He seemed like any other guy from Corellian I ever met. Maybe even cockier."

You remember that easy smirk he wore whenever a fight started, that unique silver lightsaber blade he had.

"He was...I dunno. Wise too though, I guess. He always knew what was right, even when I didn't. Even as cocky as he was he just threw himself into fire to help people like a damn hero. And he always gave the best advice about everything. It was incredibly annoying sometimes...," you admit, rubbing the bridge if your nose.

"How-"

"Did he die?" you ask, knowing that was coming next.
The Barabel nods.

You sigh again.
"Same way they all did; the clones. One day they just....," you say, shaking your head back and forth a second, trying to clear it.

"He died saving me," you admit. "When the clones turned on him, I stopped them, gunned them down. Kept shooting, but there was a whole unit of Clone shadow troopers with us. They turned their blasters on me when I protected him, and then they managed to tag me. He just....he threw himself at them and cut half of them down before they got him. He died protecting me. Then they just....they just stopped. Like a light switch was thrown...and just...,"

>Nej's body is lying on top of you, his eyes closed, his robe full of scorched holes. His lightsaber switches off.

>You're still in shock, confused and wall-eyed as one of the troopers, Dart his name was, walks over.

>"Sorry Sir. Orders. Here, I'll help you up," he says, like nothing happened.

>"Orders? What...?"

>"Sorry Sir. From above, you know. Come on, Seppies will be here soon, and you're injured. Here, your weapon."

>He hands you your blaster.
>And then you shoot him. Right in the faceplate.

>"Sir! What-?!" Jarvi says, but his words are cut off when you shoot him too.
>You don't STOP shooting until they're all dead and your fingers go numb.

"That was when you left? When you slew your pack-matesss?" he asks.
His voice is genuinely curious. You wager this all surprises him as much as he surprised you.

"No. Other stuff happened after that. I needed answers," you explain.

"Did you find them?"

".....not really. I just found out that I really had no idea what I was fighting for in the first place. It's not important. Ancient history now," you say, waving it off.

Another life, really.

>"I'm gonna get some shuteye. Wake me when we get to Florrum. Or if someone starts shooting at us."

>"I'm hungry. You hungry?"

>>41662652
>>"I'm gonna get some shuteye. Wake me when we get to Florrum. Or if someone starts shooting at us."

ohh force ghost or nightmares what will you bring me.

>>41662652
>"I'm hungry. You hungry?"
Something tells me Jak won't sleep well after recounting that story, and he probably knows it too.

>>41662652
>"I'm hungry. You hungry?"

>>41662652
>"I'm hungry. You hungry?"

"Ya wanna eat?" you ask after a long pause.

The Barabel nods, and you both head for the food processor.

Your meal is a quiet one, with him messily scarfing down the flavored protein dough and you focusing on your meal.

The silence is deafening

>"So, what do you DO with your half of the money anyway?

>"Okay, I gotta know; do you like ever seek the company of lizard-women? Sorry, it's just been driving me crazy."

>>41662774
>>"So, what do you DO with your half of the money anyway?

im taping out i need sleep its 3am here night

>>41662774
>"So, what do you DO with your half of the money anyway?

>>41662774
>"So, what do you DO with your half of the money anyway?

>>41662795
After this question I'll be heading out too.
I'll archive this and continue tomorrow ASAP.

"So, Van?" you say, looking up from your food.

"Sss?" he says, looking up with a full mouth.

"What do you ever do with your half of the cash? I mean, you contribute to the ship, yeah, but what else? I never see you do anything else with it?"

"You are changing the subject because the previous one makes you uncomfortable," he states.

Damn smartass lizard-man.
"Yes. So?"

"I buy food."

"Food," you repeat, disbelieving.

"And power packs for blasters. And blades. But mostly food. The money is how you keep score in the hunt. It is not what the hunt is," he explains, like it's obvious to everyone.

"You should get a hobby," you suggest.

"You mean how you incessantly mate with any warm-blooded humanoid you meet?" he says. Same tone of voice, again.

"Hey, I don't do it with EVERY warm-blooded humanoid! They have to be female! And you know...relatively human-looking!" you protest.

"It must be a mammal thing, because I often have difficulty differentiating between them," he notes.

"Oh, there's differences, trust me," you say folding your arms behind your head.

"I do not wish to hear them."

"Too bad! You brought it up and now you're getting the details!" you say, like a mother telling a child to not order food if he won't finish it all.

"Sssss...."

>To Be Continued

>>41662870
thanks for running

I hope you're not a flake OP

>>41662870
Thanks OP. DO you have a twitter or something?

>>41663031
No.
I'll probably have to set one up at some point I guess.

Just found this and caught up, looks fun, OP get a twitter please.