In Orbit SOS (open)

ISDII Chimaera

The bridge crew remained silent in the reversion to real space. For one, the warning sirens were too loud to have a decent conversation and the other, everyone was too busy trying to see if they had collided with something on their entry. By the time everything had settled down, Valerius approached the Captain.

"Scans report a derelict Loronar Strike class Cruiser approximately ten kilometers in front of us. A lambda class shuttle designated as attached to the Strike Cruiser Justicar and two TIE/LN fighters are headed towards us. They are about a kilometer off. Several rebel affiliated starfighters and two cruisers, one Strike class, one Dauntless class, appears to be holding a defensive line around a XQ2 class platform."

Pellaeon nodded as he studied the tactical readout. They had hoped to find a rebel raiding base relatively unprotected in light of the recent raid on an Imperial convoy. The Dauntless and the Strike cruisers were hardly a threat, the former was mostly anti-starfighter detail, the latter incapable of threatening a larger class without the proper load outs. The issue was the rebel starfighters. They could damage or even kill some of their TIEs. For the moment, a sort of Mantellan standoff was taking place, with neither side attacking the other.

"The rebels surely know they cannot win."

"You are correct in your assumptions, Commander, but how sure are you in our ability to win unscathed? We are on a long-term mission here in the outer rim. We cannot afford time wasted in a repair dock nor waiting for reinforcements."

The Commander appeared ready to shout down the junior officer for speaking out of turn but the Captain stopped him before he could make good on his instincts.

"Lieutenant, open the secondary hangar hatch and prepare to receive the shuttle and its two escorts..."

"One, Captain, the other one just got blown up."

"...one TIE fighter escort. Commander, please prepare all guns to fire on any rebel ship that gets too close to our shuttle and..."

"The last TIE has had it, Captain."

"Noted, Lieutenant. Comms officer, please send out on an open channel our intention to destroy any vessel that takes aggressive action. Get our Stormtroopers in Zero-G gear as well. We shall be salvaging that cruiser and rescuing survivors."

---

"This is the Imperial mark II class Star Destroyer Chimaera to all forces. Any aggressive action will be taken as an act of belligerence. We shall now commence search and rescue operations. Any interference shall be taken as an act of belligerence and in breach of Galactic Law. Stand down. This is your only warning."

"Call them back in." someone in the Space Traffic Control Centre of the station said, and the joint channel between the captains of the two cruisers, the STCC, and the command deck of the station hummed in agreement. There was no way that they could win this, even if they tried. The best outcome if they decided to attack would be making this Star Destroyer have to be in a shop for a few days. That was small change compared to the losses they would take. Which would sum up to: everyone currently present.

"Agreed," the STC Officer said, then he switched channels to the Republic starfighter squadrons still lingering to retaliate against a TIE deployment, "Bring it in, boys. There's nothing we can do except pray they don't decide to start shooting." the channel buzzed, some words strings of profanities, others simple acceptance of facts. The channel closed and from the STCC they could see the squadrons of X- and Y-Wings returning to hangars aboard the Vengeance. The air inside and the vacuum outside was tense. It was obvious both sides, in this rare instance, would avoid trying to destroy one another, but the balance of cease fire hinged upon one false move.

"HEY!" a voice cracked through all channels aboard the station, which made several people cringe and drop their headsets.

"I need to talk to whoever's in charge on this thing, I need to talk to them!" the voice cried through again. It was Artamis, who had parked the Morvak underneath the space station and then fumbled with the communications controls until he opened a secure channel with the station. He had a bad feeling about the possibility of the crew of the Star Destroyer finding out just exactly why the Justicar was in this cozy little corner of the galaxy, and two things played out in his head at that moment:

A. "If they need him that badly, they'll want him safe.
B. "If I offer to take him to safety, I'll probably get paid extra than for just helping them ward off that Imperial cruiser!"

That's right kids, don't forget: Artamis is only in this for the potential money. If he was smart, he'd be in it for real money, but potential's the best he's got right now.

After a brief holding tone Riza’s face appeared on Artamis’ comms screen.

“This is commodore Riza Brenner I am the ranking officer here.” A small curve of white hair peaked up from bottom of the screen.

“I would like to extend my sincere thanks for your help in this tense situation.” Slowly more and more of the curve began to rise up from the bottom obscuring more of the screen.

“If you are in need of repairs I can open up a pressurised dock for you to receive them in.”

The whole left half of Xinran’s head was now on camera but on that last line from Riza it stopped and Xinran looked up at Riza.

“Now I don’t know about fashionable guy but I have definite need for my ship to be repaired. The whole nosecone has been blown off you see ‘cause the tractor beams at these republic stations su-gak!”

Xinran was cut off by an expert power-elbow from Riza, knocking the face clear off screen.

“…”

“Ignore that last bit.” Riza’s face kept its sincere smile.

ISDII Chimaera, Bridge

Morlenoth picked up the report from the dispatched shuttles and had a skim through the details. He turned around to the rear of the bridge and approached the captain's command chair. Handing over the report, he summarised the findings of the rescue team.

"Scans complete, Captain. No survivors. Initial scans indicate that the computers have been wiped. Hull integrity is near zero percent. Even if we leave them here, the Rebels will be unlikely to make use of the Justicar save as scrap metal. Your orders."

Pellaeon looked to the accident of civilized warfare that had happened here this day. The Lambda shuttle had arrived safely and news of the Justicar's destruction was spreading like wildfire throughout the ship.

"Our objective is to raid Rebel holdings and to patrol this space to ensure we harrass the Rebel supply lines. It is not to waste our time engaging Rebel forces in places of their strength. Commander, prepare a report to Navy Command. Inform them this system has fallen to the Rebels. Also inform them of what to do with the survivors of the Justicar. Helmsman! Turn the ship around to an escape vector. Recall the troops."

"CAPTAIN!"

The staff officers turned to a young ensign approaching the command chair. Valerius placed himself in between the young officer and the Captain.

"Stand down, Ensign Huskar."

Julian Huskar had graduated from the academy the same time as Valerius, Unlike the latter, however, Huskar had graduated like the other cadets and been assigned a rank of Ensign.

"You can't just let those Rebel scum go for this murder!"

"Ours is not to question why. Ours is to do and die, Ensign. The captain has spoken. Helmsman! Turn this ship around and prepare to enter hyperspace. Comms officer, recall the rescue teams."

Huskar grabbed Valerius' arm as if seeking some semblance of humanity from his fellow graduate of the academy. Valerius did not miss a beat, sweeping the Ensign's feet from under him, unholstering his pistol and blasting the young Huskar with a stun bolt. The bridge security reacted swiftly to a discharge of a weapon and pointed their guns at Valerius as he reholstered his weapon.

"Take Ensign Huskar to the med bay. Apologies for the disruption, Captain."

"Don't do that again, Lieutenant, though I appreciate you diverting the young Ensign's frustrations away from my office. Power up the weapons and point them at the Rebel task force. Remind them that we will not tolerate their interference. Be ready to divert thrusters to allow optimal firing arcs for our guns in case they make a move to stop our retreat. We are getting out of here."

"What?" Artamis watched the head creep into view, then get smashed down, and it took him a moment to realise what was even said.

"No, no, thank you but my ship's fine. I actually had an idea. If these Imperials want that guy," Artamis pointed at the twitching little hand that was still in view on the holoscreen, "then maybe we should take him somewhere safer?" he suggested, let it sink in, then continued,

"I can take him, just give me a destination and it'll be done. One of your officers suggested some sort of bargain in exchange for my cooperation, so naturally it's not just charity work." he offered a tilted grin, then a worried expression when he (my have imagined) heard a squelch of distress from the other end.


"They have us locked, sir." a scanners expert said to the captain of the Retaliator. The captain looked on, and watched the movement of the ISDII before him.

"They're just as much on defence as we are. Let them go, they won't try anything" he said. There was an air of disappointment amongst the younger crewmembers, and relief from the seniors and officers. Everyone was glad to see that the Star Destroyer was on its way out, even the ones that wanted to pick a fight were calming down and realising that missing this opportunity was a good thing.

Riza listened to Artamis’ pitch with the same serene expression. When it ended however, Riza’s eyes thinned out and seemed to bore straight through the monitor.

“So you will take them. Away from here, for money. Just money?”

(OOC: Ensured newest PC entered a safe port, check. Gave sufficient basis for background to new PC, check. Scared an admin with unwanted PIEs of Doom, check. Got me some new named NPCs with backgrounds, check. Served my grand scheme in a minor way without the participants realising their disadvantage, check...er...uncheck. Objectives all...uhh...for the most part completed. Exit stage left.)

"All rescue vessels returned to the hangar. All personnel are accounted for. Zero losses."

Lieutenant Morlenoth nodded as he took the final report and walked back over the central walkway towards the captain.

"Captain, all rescue vessels have returned to the hangar with all personnel accounted for. Casualty count: Zero..."

Looking over a second report, he continued:

"The two passengers, believed to be Captain Megalo Boxers and his second in command, Commander Ezekyle Ivan as well as the crew of the Lambda class Shuttle SCJ1916 Gamma One, have been safely disembarked from the shuttle and are undergoing routine check-ups in the medical bay. Ensign Julian Huskar is also being treated of minor concussion and psychological trauma from the confirmed loss of a kinsman."

Pellaeon nodded as he turned to his own second in command and gave a signal. The commander nodded and relayed the predetermined order to the helmsman and the navigations officer.

"Get us out of here, Helmsman. Nav officer, countdown to hyperspace. This is the Bridge. All hands prepare to enter hyperspace."

The Imperial mark II class Star Destroyer Chimaera completed its vector adjustments and without warning to the Rebel forces there, entered hyperspace.

Artamis saw the Star Destroyer leave, then returned his attention to the hologram of a lady before him.

"The man on your station made it seem like some kind of deal could be arranged that went beyond money. I assume your Alliance is in need of extra help?" Artamis inquired, hoping to get some sort of crew and sign-on bonus with the Republic so he could further his plans. The more help he had, the better.

“My man?”

Riza pulled up the communications log between the station and Artamis’ ship.

“Ah seems like you had a few communications with us. Who was it you spoke to exactly?”

---

Meanwhile Xinran was feeling solidly useless. Xinran started to head towards the doors out of the situation room but was immediately bared by the on-duty security.

“You can’t leave.” Said the most intimidating one that Xinran mentally named Box.

“Why? We’re on a space station, all exits by their nature lead to space. Where am I going to run off to?”

“What Assif is saying…” Said the other less intimidating security officer Xinran mentally named Horseshoe. “… is that it is not like we can really trust you.”

“Hanrahan is right.” Said Box. “You could just be waiting for a chance to get back to Imperial space.”

“…” Said Xinran.

“…” Said Horseshoe.

“Were you not paying attention to the last two hours?” Said Xinran.

Xinran was eventually allowed to wonder about after a non committal shrug from Riza while she was talking to Artamis. On the grounds that Xinran would be less disruptive moving around.

“Like cholesterol.” Riza explained. “Just keep a shortwave beacon on him.”

"I er... never got a name." Artamis told her. He looked through his conversational logs, and an ID was never transferred either. He supposed fair was fair -- they may not have trusted him -- but it made matters decidedly more difficult to explain.

"Loo, even if you don't need help with the guy I'm a bit down on my luck right now. I hoped that I could get some sort of job with the Republic or something so I'm not just floating through space on a lifeboat by the end of it." he came clean with her, not for sympathy but just for the hell of showing his case. It couldn't hurt, right?

“That’s no trouble, I can see the log here vaguely anyway.” Riza punched up a docking permit for Artamis and sent him a copy. “You’ll need to register your ship and yourself and I’ll get the contract drawn up by the time you are parked… oh and we’ll find Xinran too. I guess. Get Xinran to Intelligence Operations Command so that the information can be handed over should make you look very employable.”

Artamis set the ship down to dock and made his way into the station. Feeling his way through the corridors, he happened to make it straight to the office in question with minimal guidance. He was relieved to have saved time.

He didn't even really bother to say hello, instead flashing Riza a smile and a wave before settling down and reading through the contract. He grabbed a red pen from her desk and started writing in a bunch of contingencies, edits, changes in legal binding, and a whole slew of aspects until at least half of the contract had been altered. Then he signed the bottom and added in a line for her to sign the agreement.

The short version of it? He wasn't officially allied with the Republic. He was a privateer under contract with access to limited Republic rights and resources, and was herein allowed six Republic space-faring soldiers (of the Republic's choosing) and one-hundred and fifty thousand credits as a sign-on bonus. The rest of the edits were elimination of fluff that could be used against him in a court, and such things. He was basically altering the whole thing to benefit him possibly more than his aid would help the Republic. He had his doubts it would work, but the little voice in the back of his head that had been guiding him more and more since he escaped Bestine said it was likely that it would work out... even if it wasn't how he expected.

((occ: Racking my brain trying to come up with something other than filler and could only come up with a crappy Toblerone joke. So I am skipping my turn sorry about the delay.))

"Excellent, I'm glad we have an understanding!" Artamis said happily as he tucked away an abridged copy of the contract into his coat. He'd played by the rules of scoundrel's luck, and got a clean getaway. It took some convincing, but he got Riza to cave to his terms in the end and Artamis was a happy camper.

"Now about this Xin-" he was cut off by a voice that held the authoritative power of a high-ranking military officer.

"Customs Station C4-992, this is Admiral Lakhart of the MC-80a Final Call. You are to cease all operations involving the Imperial turncoat and release all rights to his capture to myself and Master Skywalker." the voice said, and everyone in any sort of earshot (which was everyone, since it was broadcast station-wide) immediately turned to the nearest speaker and stared. Skywalker? Here?

"I am sure you are all wondering why we are out here," came a more serene voice through the speakers, a stark contrast to the commanding tones of the admiral, "we were en route to a location I had a strong interest in, when we received a distress call from the Retaliator regarding an Imperial Star Destroyer..." he said, but as he said the last word he trailed off in thought.


"Could it be...? Here?" Luke wondered to himself, as he surveyed the station with his senses. There was definitely a strong presence in the Force aboard the station. Incredibly strong, and still vastly untamed. He concentrated with great intrigue on the space station before him. There was an untrained individual aboard the space station with amazing potential... an opportunity that should not be allowed to fall to the hands of the Empire.

He would need to investigate.

“Ah it’s good to let the bureaucrats deal with the paperwork.”

Xinran chewed on some milky, triangle shaped, chocolate on a chair just outside the situation room.

“I guess I’m travelling with that stylish guy to wherever they can debrief me.”

Xinran was cut off from those thoughts by Admiral Lakhart’s transmission.

“Oh? That’s a bit of a downer. Be a pain to travel with such an aggressive sounding-“

Xinran’s train of thought was cut off yet again when he heard the second speaker.

“Crap.”

"Please prepare a shuttle for myself, and an escort if you desire, Admiral." spoke the young Jedi Master, before giving the military leader a polite bow and turning away from the communications panel and calmly heading toward the port hangar bay. Lahkart watched the figure for a moment, shook his head, and hit a few buttons on the console that sent a message out to the mechanics to prepare a shuttle and three escorts.

By the time Luke arrived at the hangar, the small generic shuttle was primed and ready. He bowed in thanks to the engineers and boarded the vessel. In short time, the craft landed aboard the station, and Skywalker and his entourage were following signs and given directions to where the three current involved individuals were. He found that as they drew nearer, the presence in the Force did so as well.

“Keh.”

Xinran wondered back to station control, tension settling into uncomfortable pools in joints and organs.

“The man who killed Emperor Palpatene and Vader in the middle of their own space station, alone.”

That story had flowed though the empire; smashing though censors like a sandcastle before a blue wale’s fart. However the image of the monster in human form had never really managed to gel with the actual images of the young unassuming gentleman with the flock of seagulls hair.

Xinran sat in a corner silently reviewing everything known about Skywalker.

“Although.” Thought Xinran. “I think I know someone he would be more interested in.”