'Za pitches in over the comm again. "Still no sign of a secondary threat, Arnae, and I'm in the turret if one appears. If there's a threat, it's likely the loaders themselves; either they may have concealed weapons, or may be programmed to open the mynock cages while still aboard. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem there's any other way to get the cargo unloaded, and no other way out of here - short of killing everyone on the ranch..."
It doesn't sound as though that last notion bothers Jileeza in the least.
"I hope it won't come to that, 'Za. Now, crew, push those crates up against the cargo door and get ready to open their hatch-side faces when you see it opening. Ready?"
Arnae listens for a "ready" as his finger hovers over the "Open Cargo Bay Door" button.
All four crates are shuddering and screeching as the crew manhandle them into position with the dolly. Wayde stands back, blaster ready, and gives the go-ahead to Arnae.
The cargo bay doors cycle open slowly.
From the commlink: "About time, captain. Glad to see you got yer troubles work-"
The crates slide open with a hiss and a cloud of eight, maybe ten mynocks swarm the loading droids, picking at exposed wiring where they can and burrowing into power cores where they can't. The droids scream back, a cacophony of low-pitched whomp whoom bwhums, but scream is all they CAN do.
Jileeza sees the goings-on continue from her turret as the cargo bay doors cycle shut once more. One of the droids gives a shudder and a fountain of sparks cascades from an arm joint. Another droid, flailing about, smacks one of its fellows across the sensor pod. Stricken, the damaged droid can't stop the mynocks from quite literally eating their way into its droid brain. Within a few minutes, the mynocks have silenced the loading droids and are gorging themselves on their electronics.
"You'll PAY for that, you son of a sith!" the voice shouts over the commlink.
"To be delivered alive and intact is what I thought the deal was. I believe our end of the contract was fulfilled to specifications. It's not our fault the droids mishandled the cargo."
The deflectors flicker on as the Chance's cargo bay closes, leaving the mynocks to their meal. Arnae gets no response from the commlink until he starts fiddling with the transceiver settings, trying to punch through their jamming.
"That's not gonna do you any good, cap'n," the commlink buzzes again. "They'll be here in less than an hour and then you can scream for help all you wa-"
Arnae, with a pleased smirk on his face, resets the commlink and manages to block the jamming frequencies. For how long, he doesn't know, but the signal lines are clear. For good measure, he sets sensors to scan the hangar atmosphere - no gas, no poison, just breathable air.
A few of the mynocks tire of their droid meals and try for the freighter. After repeated attempts to get through the deflectors, they flap over and slide into the yacht's intakes.
"It looks like there's no way to fly the Chance out of here until someone opens those doors. If we can't convince our hosts to open it for us, then someone will have to go find the controls. Any volunteers?"
Quote: from Infested Paladin on 6:27 am on Oct. 1, 2004
"Neg on that, 'Za. Not just yet, that is.
"It looks like there's no way to fly the Chance out of here until someone opens those doors. If we can't convince our hosts to open it for us, then someone will have to go find the controls. Any volunteers?"
Wayde reluctantly raises his hand.
"What the hell. It's not like this'll be the first time we've had to shoot our way out of a mess. I'll take Mak and I'm gonna need Aurelia's hacking skills."
Quote: from fanchergw on 10:44 am on Oct. 1, 2004
Jileeza snorts. "Not with live Mynocks out there! Wouldn't it make sense for me to kill them before everyone goes wandering about?"
"They don't attack people. They're only interesting in chewing on power conduits and such. I'm more worried about They'll be here in less than an hour and then you can scream for help part of this equation. Time is something we do NOT have."
Wayde attaches his assault gear he'd been saving for a rainy day.
"I was hoping I wouldn't have to use this stuff again, but then I look around at the lot I'm working with and it should be no surprise."
Wayde, Mak, and Aurelia gear up and head down the Chance's ramp, Jileeza keeping the autoblaster trained on the mynocks while the ramp is open. 'Za turns the guns to cover the bay doors as the trio jog across to the door access controls.
It comes as no surprise that the door's locked down, so Aurelia pulls off the access plate and starts fiddling with the wires. Pretty soon, there's a *pop* and the door engages, sliding up into the frame slowly. Mak and Wayde slide into the wide grey corridor the bay door reveals, their blasters pointed forward.
(OOC: lemme know if you want to shut the bay door behind you or not)
The corridor is wide enough to admit the hovervan currently residing in the ship's cargo bay. Metal deckplates cover the floor, while the walls and ceiling are bare rock reinforced by support girders, much like the large hangar bay. Three large standard doors line the left side of the corridor. The rooms are numbered 1, 2, and 3. Without peering in, Aurelia's best guess is that they're auxiliary storage areas. A turbolift sits at the end of the main corridor with a standard door to the right. Both are surveyed by a small camera set into a ceiling support, which whirrs as it watches the far end of the hall.
Wayde sidesteps down the side of the corridor, sighting in on the camera, which falls to the deck in a shower of sparks and debris a second later. Wayde lowers his smoking blaster and the group sidles down the hallway.
They key the door next to the turbolift and burst in, ready to blast anything that moves. They are greeted by a smallish room, one wall of which is covered in monitors and holodisplays. One monitor is conspicuously showing naught but static, but the other displays seem to be showing feed from the storage rooms and various points in the large hangar bay. There are even two monitors scanning the immediate area around the hangar doors on the surface. There's two chairs in the room, a combination desk/computer station, and some empty snack wrappers. All in all, it appears to be a security station.
Aurelia sits down at one of the consols, rather glad that she has what have turned out to be two fairly competent violent types watching her back, as the holdout pistol tucked securely in her vest does very little to reassure her.
Trying to get a feel for the system, she trys seeing if there is a way to access the central alarm system, as well as get an idea from the security point about what's between them and their destination.
Within a few minutes, Aurelia's exhausted her options. This station is simply a "dumb" terminal, with no access to higher systems. The only thing going for it is 1) you can plainly see the storage rooms in the corridor are sparsely filled with large crates (similar in size to the mynock crates), and 2) you do have two views of the surface around the hangar bay doors. A lush garden surrounds the camera view, and a fat cylindrical building, an extension of the ranch walls, can be seen overlooking the garden. Presumably you are underneath this complex.
The group files into the turbolift and keys the panel. A woosh and a short ride later, the lift doors open onto what may have once been a grand foyer. Sleek earthy-toned stairs curve upwards to a balcony overlooking an indoor courtyard of flickering holographic sculpture and lush foliage that has overgrown its bounds. Several doors are set into the perimeter of the court as well as the upper level. The largest doors, a double set of old-style hinged affairs of actual wood and metal, lay flat on the floor just inside the front doorway. A warm dry breeze from outside flows through the expansive area.
Something clanks on the balcony above you in a rythmic beat: clank clank clank clank.... clank clank clank clank...
Exiting the turbolift, Jileeza immediately hears the clanking noise from above. Sounds like a droid. Edging toward the garden area, she attempts to get a peek at the balcony without being seen.
'Za slinks quietly across to the foliage to get a better view. Yep, it's a droid, all right. A decades-old droideka waddles its way back and forth on the balcony, pausing every few steps to survey the area. One arm lacks the typical repeating blaster, a large cylindrical multi-barreled launcher of some sort protruding instead.
'Za ducks back quickly to avoid being spotted by machine. "Not good. It's a droideka," she says quietly to the others. "Anybody know a quick way to take it out?"
fanchergw
