Mining Problems - Part Two

You’re where? Andan asked his apprentice through the Force.

Five hundred kilometers from the southwest end of Sindyal, Andryan replied quickly.

Is it just you an Rannik? The Quaestor asked apprehensively.

Yes. was the only reply that came.

Hold tight, we’ll be out to get you guys soon. Keep a low profile, don’t move unless you have to. Remember your training. Andan said as he reached over and hit a small red button on his desk. The house’s main computer responded by sending a general alert to every member of House Archanis. The message was simple:

“All Dark Jedi of House Archanis are hereby recalled from all assignments. Report to the Great Hall in Mount Archanis in two hours. This is not a drill.”

Andan sighed and called down to the hanger to order a preflight on the One Armed Scissor, his Assault Transport. It was one of the few ships on-planet that he knew of that could blast its way into just about any situation and it had room to take on the two downed Dark Jedi.

Andan stood up from his desk and sighed; this was turning into what he’d hoped to avoid. As much as Dark Jedi tried to bend the Force to their will, sometimes the Force was stubborn and refused to be bent to the will of any individual. It was a fact that all Dark Jedi were forced to accept at one point or another in their training – we all have limitations. Where manipulating the currents of the Force failed, however, lightsabers and blasters usually got the job done.

***

At the appointed time, every member of the house gathered in the Great Hall of House Archanis. As they took their seats Knight Gobhainn Sgath, the Rollmaster of the house, walked through a side door on the stage and announced “Battlelord Andan Taldrya Marshall, Quaestor and Archpriest Daniel Goad, Aedile.” The assembled members quickly stood as the two leaders took the stage and sat again when Andan motioned for them to do so.

“We have little time for formalities today, so this will be a brief meeting.” He paused and surveyed the assembly. Roughly half of the Dark Jedi gathered were either Knights or Equates with Master Keirdagh Taldrya Cantor being the lone Elder. His presence here was simply to show support, he had already been consulted about the situation. Although he held no official leadership position, Keirdagh had been Andan’s mentor and the closest thing that he had to a master in the Brotherhood, which afforded the Master a position of respect beyond what was due simply based on rank – Keirdagh was one of the first people who Andan turned to when he needed advice or another opinion.

“As most of you know, the war with the Vong has depleted Taldryan’s resources – especially after rebuilding our fleet. In order to defray some of these costs Duga has decided to increase the taxes paid by businesses operating in our systems. The problem with this, however, is that a few of the mining corporations who operate on Volcanus aren’t very keen on paying us more.” Andan paused. “The Black Forge corporation in particular seems to be very opposed to this new tax and it appears that they’re leading the resistance to the increase. Crimson Vanguard has already taken out Mort Turr, the top ranking executive of the company on our planet, but we ran into a bit of a problem when Shadowmorph did some fact finding work about their suppliers and plans.” Andan let that sink in for a moment before continuing. “To cut to the heart of the issue, Andryan and Rannik have been shot down and need some help. To make matters a little worse, the people who shot them down know that they’re still alive and are trying to find them. These people are being paid by Black Forge too. We’ll deal with them after we get our people back though.”

Andan tapped a button on the table in front of him and a hologram of the area Andryan and Rannik were stranded in sprung to life large enough for the people in the back of the room to see. The stage took on a white glow as Andan’s lightsaber sprung to life with a snap-hiss. “Here,” the Battlelord said, using his lightsaber as a pointer, “Is where our two Jedi Hunters are stuck. This location is 500 klicks southwest of where we are now. We aren’t doing anything fancy, just swoop in, pick the two of them up, kill anyone we have to and get out. We aren’t going to pick a fight but if anyone fires on us or makes threats of firing then we’ll make sure to show them the error of their ways.” A low chuckle arose from the gathered Dark Jedi, their leader’s intentions were very clear to them – they’d had to show the other clans the error of their ways many times in the past, the concept was not new to them at all.

“I’m not going to send a specific squad out to deal with this, just whoever can pull themselves away. I’m going to be flying lead in the One Armed Scissor. I’m going to need someone in there to pull Andryan and Rannik in and cover them if they need it and I can use a gunner too. Beside those two people, everyone else will be flying Matsuki Squad’s Hyperions. If we need more fighters then that, we have Inferno’s TIE Avengers. If we don’t need them for Dark Jedi pilots then they’ll be flown by our non-Jedi pilots.”

Andan took one last look around the room and said “We lift off in 30 min. Anyone who is coming with me be in the hanger by then or we’re leaving you behind.” With no dramatics, Andan walked through the same door that he’d entered and went off to change into a flight suit and make sure his ship was ready for the trip.

Andryan opened his eyes to see the wreckage around him. He saw Rannik’s ship deep in the ground, though he was not very strong in the force he could sense Rannik still in the cockpit of the ship.

Andryan flashed a message to Andan, to which he replied that they would be out to get the two as soon as possible. Andryan had total trust in Andan, but he knew it would be awhile before there was any rescue for him.

Ace kicked open the know cracked cockpit and stood on the nose small fighter ship, Andryan had managed to keep his ship fairly level during the crash so it didn’t go into the ground like Rannik’s had.

Andryan lend into the cockpit of the ship and took out a long silver sword and one of the small, black E-ll blaster rifles found all through out the galaxy. Ace strapped the sword to his back and put the blaster rifle at his side. He looked down on his leg, where he had a blaster pistol attached and on his belt, where several small katana had been placed.

With his weapons out and ready Andryan hoped off of his ship and walked towards Rannik’s. When Andryan arrived at the ship he peeked down inside it, he smirked.

“Having fun down there Rannik, must be comfortable for you.” Andryan laughed as he saw Rannik stuck upside down in his ship.

“Shutup and just get me out of here.” Rannik replied, frustrated.

Ace pulled Rannik out of the fighter and saw that Rannik already had his weapons equipped.

Andryan looked at his surroundings; they were on a big flat piece of dry land that looked like it stretched on for several kilometers. There were some rock formations off in the distance, possible one of the many volcanoes.

“Alright, we need to find some cover…but we need to stay close to the crash sight.” Andryan thought out loud.

“No way, We are heading out, there is no way we will survive here!” Rannik yelled back.

“You are right,” Ace said in almost a whisper, “But we can’t move just yet, Black Forge doesn’t have any of their hired agents to kill, or capture, us yet.”

“So we just wait?”

“For now, yes.”

Eludajae listened to her Quaestor, then moved to her quarters with a purpose, her battleteam had removed the Black Forge top executive in hopes this crap would be avoided but people never learn do they.

She, pulled out her knives and placed one in each of the sheathes about her person, and looped her whip and clipped it to her side. Then she walked over to the pistol, she'd been training with it more now that she was in the Clan.

She loaded the pistol, a small hold out blaster, and walked towards the hanger. She knew what to do, it was not an assassination or the like but she knew what she had to do. She wasn't a pilot so she was going to have to be one of the ones that helped retreive the two downed Clansmen.

She came into the bay and it was alive with activity, almost as much as durning the war, she moved towards the One Armed Scissor got to the boarding ramp and entered the ship.

"Tetarch Mnar reporting for duty." she said into the comlink. then moved into the internal part of the ship to await its departure.

She looked around and smiled, she loved action, and it was about to get as active as it can.

Eludajae turned on her heels quickly at the sound of heavy boots coming up the boarding ramp. Grabbing hold of the top of the doorway, Daar Kareth pulled himself forward while ducking his head. With a wide grin Daar making eye contact with the Tetrarch, “I call turret”. Eludajae’s stern expression quickly faded, as she chuckled in amusement at the Flight leader’s joke.
Quickly tapping at the red tri-paneled button upon the bulkheads communication unit, Daar informed the Quaestor of his presence, and announce he was bound for the above cockpit turret. Andan quickly acknowledged the Knight, and returned to preflight system checks.

“Is that all you brought with you?” Eludajae remarked at Daar as she looked over his person. The Knight stood wearing the plain robes of a Dark Jedi Knight, with only his light saber, Ember hung from his belt in the typical fashion. Yes Tetrarch, replied the man to his superior officer. It is all I’ll need, Tetrarch, Daar said as he bowed his head, and dismissed himself.
The two walked own the short corridor, before going their separate ways.

Later in the above turret position of the One Armed Scissor, Daar sat in the synthi-leather upholstered chair in front of the turret controls when the voice of Quaestor Andan Taldrya Marshall came through his headset. “Prepare for lift off, in five, four, outer bay doors opening, three, lifting off, two, retracting landing supports, one, exiting bay doors, and clear”. “We’ll be there shortly, Kareth I want your eye’s glued to that scanner, Tetrarch Mnar report to the cockpit”, Andan ordered the two Crimson Vanguard officers. The two officers acknowledged their Quaestor in unison, a shared ability to finish each others sentences and thoughts had began to make itself present since the war. A bound that had made both Eludajae and Daar a efficient team, and a logical choice for the command of the Crimson Vanguard.

With a quick tap of a button on the right hand panel of the turret chair, Daar activated the target scan visor, the short metallic arm attached to the visor quietly clicked into place, locking the visor in the “activated” position. A detailed layout of the passing terrain beneath the One Armed Scissor panned to and fro in a red holographic glow in front of the Knight’s eyes. Concentrating heavily on the task at hand, Daar’s eyes took in every detail presented before him on the visor’s screen.

Meanwhile in the cockpit, Eludajae entered the room with a air of confidence around her, one that comes from experience and trust in her skills that is seldom seen in many Jedi hunters, this “confidence” was developed during the Vong war. A monumental event that had affected every member of House Archanis, and the hard earned pride from another Taldryan victory had added such confidence and drive for success to the members of Archanis.

****
OOC The rescue team has been assembled, next to post can use my character, keep in mind I’m only equipped with a lightsaber so if facing ground forces, need to be within arms reach. For use of Daar’s force powers, consult the ACC’s Journeyman FP table.

Due to lack of participation I'm going to close the RO and close the comp. Winners of the first round can expect their medals soon.