The Akurian Queen

[General Dan]

"Yeah, well, let's not downplay being mad, as you call it. I just prefer chalking it up to intangibles."

There was a lot of tension suddenly, and Dan backed off. They had a job to do after all. Debarking, the ship's skipper immediately greeted them. Or, specifically, Lok. Dan frowned a little.

"She's not a museum piece, Captain. She's here to make sure that we both come away from this with our skin intact."

[Torik Beirhannon]

Torik gave a light-hearted hmph, pushed away from the bulkhead, and shrugged as he turned around.

"Just curious, Dan."

He led the way deeper into his ship, a lazy sort of walk that was almost a swagger. Making sure to allow enough time for the Rebel group to observe their surroundings, he set a measured pace that soon enough brought them into the cargo hold. Not large, but large enough for the supplies he'd been tasked with delivering.

"Everything is here, from weapons to your basic ration packs and small colony supply kits. Nothing large, since your superiors didn't want anything that would bring unwanted attention, but it should be enough."

Torik stuffed his hands into the pockets of his trousers.

"From what I've been told, this isn't your first time establishing outposts, so you should find it all in order."

[General Dan]

He stepped forward, giving the cargo pallets and shipping containers a cursory glance. Upon request, the manifest was pressed into his hand, and Dan scanned through it.

"Good, they have the pre-fab shelters and the insulation packs. Not exactly going to be the balmiest stay for whoever's planetside."

Dan returned the manifest to Torik, and gave a nod of approval.

"This'll do. Right now, we've just got to take a look around below, make sure the grid is safe, and find a spot to touch down. Should be a few day's work from there."

[s'Il]

The Captain was largely ignored as she let her gaze sweep over the loaded skids. They were familiar sights, and s'Il bit her lip as she tested the air. It smelled of metal, wood, and plastic; a smell that was strange when mingled together with recycled air.

For the most part, it was a woven strand of scents that had become almost commonplace for her, and though she occasionally wished for fresh air, the Lupine knew that such a luxury was not common.

She turned to one of the commandos that'd come aboard with her and Dan.

"Stay with the Captain on the way down."

"Sure 'nough."

He knew the drill.

[Torik Beirhannon]

Torik hid a ruefall smile, and looking to the side at the Jedi woman, gave her strange look.

"Leaving a soldier with me on the way planetside?"

His voice gave off no indication of offense. Instead, his eyes traveled from her face down to the soles of her boots before rising back up to meet her eyes.

"I'm sure you'd be much better company than anyone else here."

[General Dan]

Typical spacer bravado. Dan didn't feel any particular impetus to defend Lok's honor, since the Jedi was more than capable of holding her own in that regard. Still, his stock wasn't improving by putting on like some lech.

"Just make sure to stick to the waypoints, Captain."

With that, they parted, heading back to the shuttle. Once the airlock doors sealed, Dan's frown deepened, and he looked to his Jedi companion.

"I don't like this guy."

[s'Il]

She shared Dan's assessment, and gave only an agreeing nod. Trust was a commodity that was in increasingly short supply, and her careful habits had only increased over time.

"That does not surprise me," she mumbled, making her way back to her seat.

Of course, his verbal admission only dealt credence to the uneasy feeling that had begun to tickle at the outer edges of her senses.

"He is hiding something, yes."

[General Dan]

Dan gave her an expecting look, as if to say care to elaborate on that.

"We can't just scrub this on a bad feeling, Lok. Too much time, effort, and resources are in play, and a lot of them are aboard that ship."

He sighed, taking his seat again opposite her.

"I need something. Anything. Hell, I'll light a fire under Brecklin to see if anything falls out of the tree. If this guy is south of good, we need to know how bad that gets."

[s'Il]

The answer came in the words of the shuttle's pilot, his grim voice cutting through any other conversation.

"Docking clamps not responding, General."

For her part, s'Il snapped her head in the direction of the cockpit, abandoning the thought of a quiet passage back to Novgorod in the span of a microsecond. The nagging at the periphery of her sense pulsed stronger now, and her eyes narrowed.

The pilot went on, knowing it would be a waste of time to wait for the obvious question, and his tone held the hard edges of a man who knew something was about to happen. Even has his fingers scrambled over the flight console, he was shaking his head.

"We're locked up; nothing is working."

[Torik Beirhannon]

The light tapping that came from the other side of the closed hatch sounded like a clapping bell, almost deafening in the silence that followed the pilot's words. It was a soft rapping at first, only getting louder with each repetition before a familiar voice came over the comm unit.

"Knock knock."

[General Dan]

Well, at least they weren't going to have to wait for the doublecross. Dan drew a blaster from his holster. Giving s'Il a glance, he tapped the comm controls.

"Seems you're having some trouble with your umbilical clamp freezing up, Captain."

So it was playing coy, then. He wasn't going to give this weasel the satisfaction of hearing him rage and vent about the predicament.

[Torik Beirhannon]

"No trouble, just making sure my cargo doesn't float away."

On his side of the closed hatch, Torik smirked at the commando who'd been assigned to accompany him; the man only glared back angrily, arms pinned behind him by a pair of stormtroopers. Another group of white-clad soldiers stood behind, waiting for the word to advance. They'd been briefed, having hid in the cargo crates and shipping containers until the Rebel General had finished his inspection. Now however, they had moved on to the next phase of this particular plan.

Beirhannon spoke once more into the comm.

"I've got some friends with me that would very much like to make your acquaintance, General. Surely you wouldn't deny them the opportunity to meet them face to face?"

He gave a self-serving chuckle.

"Of course, I suppose it's not necessarily up to you, is it."

A few keystrokes on the locking pad, and both hatchways began to roll open. Torik stood to the side as the Imperial soldiers came forward, roughly pushing the commando through first, sending him to the deck of the shuttle as they lifted their own blaster carbines in greeting.

[General Dan]

They were at a standoff. Dan with his blaster, Lok with her saber, against troopers with weapons to bear.

And there was one more trick Dan had.

"Dan to Novgorod. Lock weapons onto the Akurian Queen."

He knew how a Tatooine standoff worked. He was just making it interesting.

[Torik Beirhannon]

Safe within the numbers of stormtroopers, Torik gave a snorted laugh.

"You do that, and the base down planetside is going to slag your precious ship. They'll take her offline with ions, then kill her with a thousand cuts of turbolaser fire."

His own blaster came from its' holster then, and he leveled it at the Jedi even as his eyes stayed on Dan.

"So how about you do what I say, and drop your weapons."

[General Dan]

"You're bluffing. There's no Imperial base this far out in the ether."

He raised his wristcomm to his mouth.

"Target their engines. Wait for my order."

[s'Il]

"No wait - "

Her free hand came out to grasp his wrist, pulling it down.

"He's not bluffing... "

[Torik Beirhannon]

Torik gave a serpentine grin at the Jedi's words.

"You should listen to the woman, General. She can see the truth now."

He gave a last gloating look to Dan before the fingers of his free hand snapped together, and the stormtroopers surged ahead like a menacing, armored tidal wave.

[General Dan]

Without Lok committed to the resistance, the odds were not in his favor.

"Novgorod, belay the last command. Withdraw to the rally point."

"Sir?"

His teeth ground at the inevitable fate approaching.

"Do it."

[s'Il]

The advancing stormtroopers were met with stern-faced stoicism, and the Lupine ignited the amethyst blade she held even as she began to move, a hand going out and to the side to push Dan back towards the cockpit; to push him behind her.

The troopers paused, but only briefly before their gunbarrels raised up once more, threatening to open fire.

[Torik Beirhannon]

At the sight, Torik lofted a brow.

"It's no wonder the Jedi died away, if they're so quick to step in front of blasters."

It was spoken as a taunt, though a half-hearted one at that.