Session export: Bounty 001: Jerric Wendt

Techweavers were a dangerous threat. Being a Techweaver himself, Hector Von Ricmore could fairly state that he was correct in this point of view. Against a Techweaver advanced technology could malfunction and droids could be turned against their owner. It would be foolish to bring a droid unprepared. It was impossible to protect against a Techweaver’s mechderu forever but efforts could still be made. Aboard his Skipray Blastboat, Vanguard, Hector carried 2 crates.

One contained a variety of medical supplies that would be useful later. The other contained materials for crafting, and a variety of electronic odds and ends. It was the second crate that he made use of now. The Pau’an opened the crate and withdrew a small pouch of Sarrassian Iron. The metal resonated with the Dark Side of the Force and had been used in previous crafting operations throughout history.

Hector set up his small nano forge, adding a small, specialized bowl to the bottom of it. He placed the metal in the bowl and activated the laser at its highest setting. Over several minutes the metal melted into a liquid.

The Sith grasped the bowl which remained cool to the touch. He infused it with his personal Force signature, the Dark Side mewling in pleasure at the preparation for the coming violence. He took the bowl towards his astromech, L7. The metal leapt from the bowl of its own accord. It latched onto the droid as a thin layer, not unlike a coating of paint. The molten liquid did nothing to harm the droid, the Force preventing such a natural occurrence as it cooled.

The Force whispered. Hector knew the ritual was complete but he had to be wary. It would only provide absolute defense against Mech Deru for a single attempt. The Dark Side had granted him power; but it was temporary. The beast lay in waiting, patiently awaiting a mistake and the opportunity to destroy him if he faltered. How fitting of the darkness.

Kanal’s bounty fob lit up like a life day tree and he plugged it into the Nightstrike’s computer system. The holoterminal displayed a female Umbaran Techweaver. The marker noted that she was wanted dead or alive but that she has a prototype for a new weapon in the fight against the Children of Mortis.

Juda, newly promoted clan Pro Consul, sat in the seat just behind Kanal and processed all of the information in real-time with him.

“Looks like it’s time to get dirty.” Kanal said.

“Where are we off to?” Juda asked.

“Intel says the last known location is the Chommel Sector” Kanal added. 

Juda simply nodded his head having never been there. Tracking down Jedi on unfamiliar worlds. It was enough to stir some excitement. Afterall, upon his appointment to Proconsul, he had spent much of his free time aboard the Basilisk. Getting out, traipsing through the galaxy had taken a backseat to his more political endeavors. 

“Scanners are picking up on an incoming IFF signature. Conquistador. What’s Aeternus doing here, I thought he was in wild-space? ”

The comm-link crackled to life as the sleek Gunship streaked into view, it was as dark as the space that engulfed the Nightstrike.

Aeternus had returned from wild space too late to be of any use in the war, but had decided that returning to it now would not be of any use, either. The trail he had been following would now be as cold as beskar steel.

Instead, when he recieved word of a jedi with a possible weapon against their enemy, it was an easy conclusion to assist in the hunt. As used as he was to a long solo hunt for a target, this seemed rather straightforward and quick, and hopefully the extra hands in the Razorcrest nearby would not hurt, either.

He opened a channel to them. “Kanal, Juda, I will be joining you. I have coordinates set. Are you ready to proceed?”

Preparation was key to success. With his droid modification finished Hector turned to preparing himself. His armor was extremely useful, producing a magnetic field that could deflect blaster bolts and lightsaber swings. But such a defense came at a cost. The user experienced pain from exposure to the unnatural magnetic field. Hector would love to be able to modify the armor, to lessen the pain of such technology. But time was of the essence and with technology that advanced the Pau’an had no idea where to begin. Leaving the field off for the time being he instead packed a set of surgery tools and a bottle of extremely powerful painkillers. The painkillers could help with the headache of using the armor and it was always wise to have a set of surgery tools in case of extreme injury.

As he finished his preparation Hector heard his droid let out a series of beeps. It appeared the ship had arrived at the Chommell Sector. Turning to the viewport he saw a ship he recognized as Kanal’s Nightstrike. The other vessel was unfamiliar to him but it was registered to Clan Vizsla as the Conquistador, under Darth Aeternus.

L7 beeped again alerting Hector that the sensors had picked up a transmission between the Conquistator and the Nightstrike. It would be polite to allow them to finish whatever business they had but the group needed to find Jerric before she escaped the system. “L7, contact the Conquistador and the Nightstrike. Use a common encryption available to all Vizsla members.”

The droid beeped in affirmation as it opened a secure connection. “This is Hector Von Ricmore of the Vanguard speaking. Who am I currently addressing?”

Kanal acknowledge Aeternus message and accepted the coordinates. With the flip of a few switches, he pulled the handle down to enter hyperspace. The stars faded into nothing before the Nightstrike was encompassed in a swirling blue-white tunnel of hyperspace.

It was several hours later that the Nightstrike followed by the Conquistador arrived in the Chommel system. Kanal received a message from Ric and jumped on the comm.

“This is the Nightstrike Ric, Kanal speaking,” Kanal responded. “I am here with Juda and we are ready to fly.”

“Juda Graves? Interesting. I look forward to seeing our new Proconsul in battle. Shall I assume the inhabitant of the other vessel is Darth Aeternus?”

‘that is correct. I am ready to follow you in. “, Aeternus responded.

“Excellent. I propose that we capture our target alive. Jerric Wendt has secrets that myself and the Brotherhood as a whole would no doubt like to get their hands on. What do you all think?” Von inquired.

“I say we can either bring them in warm, or we can bring them in cold. Either way works for me.” Kanal chimed in.

As he waited for a response the Pau’an decided to make use of his time wisely by getting a head start on finding their target. Getting up from the pilot’s chair, he walked over to the sensor operating station and sat down. He began to scan various parts of the system looking for residue from hyperspace travel or anything out of the ordinary that could aid in the search for Jerric. His eyes widened behind his helmet as he noticed an asteroid. The chunk of rock appeared normal from the outside but the interior was hollowed out. The scans could not pick up anything more than that, as if something were interfering; something inside the asteroid no doubt.

“Your flexibility pleases me Kanal.” Hector transmitted back. “I decided to scan the system while the group decides on our course of action. There appears to be an asteroid which I believe to have been modified by sentients. This location could be where Jerric is hiding out. But be warned, I was unable to scan the interior of the rock. Preventing scans is a skill well within Jerric’s ability. We should expect traps and obstacles to interfere with the hunt.”

“If we can take the target alive, that would be preferable.”. he paused as he listened to Von’s report.

“Do you detect any traps outside, or possibly a place to dock?”

“Not from this distance I’m afraid. We’ll have to move closer to get a better look. I’ll transmit the data I’ve collected and begin moving towards it if anyone would like to join me.” He responded

“L7 transmit the data please.” He requested. The droid sent the information from the scan to the group. Hector stood up and moved back to the pilot seat. As a precaution he ensured that the shields and weapons were online and functioning. He input the coordinates for the safest destination he was aware of near the system and activated the hyperdrive.

“I will move in with you, and will forward telemetry data directly to you. Maybe we can triangulate something.”

Aeternus motioned for the droid next to him to execute his intentions, and immediately cut them off when he saw they were going to object. “No. Not now. We will do this our way, not yours.”

The Nightstriker swooped in with the rest of the party to create a tight formation as Juda stood to look out the viewport. All the while the behemoth asteroid in front of them seemingly grew larger and larger.

“L7 keep the turret ready to fire.” Von instructed. Gripping the controls, he flew Vanguard past the atmospheric shield and into the hangar.

Alarm klaxons began to go off as Kanal’s sensors detected a cannon lock on his ship. He flipped the shields on targeted one of the turrets.

“Ric, those two emplacements are live,” Kanal said quickly. “Can you target the starboard one and I will take out the port?”

“Got it Kanal.”

“Two turrets? Hmm. No doubt more surprises await inside.” Von muttered to himself as he deftly maneuvered his ship. He saw streaks of red as the AA turrets fired upon his ship.

Pew-pew…pew-pew….pew-pew

“L7 prepare to fire the turret at the droids.” The Sith ordered as he faced the Starboard side turret. His thumb hovered over the launch button for the Proton Torpedos aboard his ship as he waited for his targeting computer to get a lock.

“Alright I am going in guys,” Kanal said as he flew towards the hanger. He dodged laser fire as he headed in. He took a few shots at the weapon emplacements but, because of the fire he was taking he had to dodge in an out of target lock and missed every shot. It was not his day.

Von’s eyes widened as he witnessed Kanal’s attempt. With the pressure of the turrets and droids at close range the miss was certainly understandable. The Vizsla knew he had to act to regain the momentum. With the hand hovering over the proton torpedo launch button he pressed down with his thumb. The blue projectile exited the Vanguard and slammed into the turret to his starboard side. Proton Torpedoes were meant for damaging and destroying capital ships. When the impact cleared the Pau'an could still see the turret. Flames erupted from the side of the weapon but it continued to open fire at Kanal. “Those turrets are made of sturdy stuff. I’ll need to salvage them after this operation is over.” He promised himself. “L7 you have control of the ship. Keep the ship intact as I meditate.”

The Pau'an sat down and crossed his legs. He immersed himself in the Force. The Dark Side was eager, hungry, and so very cold. It demanded destruction; destruction the Mandalorian strike team would be happy to give it. The effects of the Battle Meditation were immediate. Kanal’s expert flying appeared to be a little closer to perfect. Juda ceased his inaccurate blasting as he steadied himself, ready to send his enemies to whatever awaited beyond. The Dark Side urged the party forward, to dominate and conquer. While he could not see Darth Aeternus he had no doubt the meditation affected him as well. The Sith was no doubt eager to tear into his foes. A predatory smile unconsciously formed upon Von’s lips. Victory was never guaranteed but the Meditation would prevent catastrophic failure.

The first droid to make a move on the group was the lifter. It headed towards Kanal with arms raised as if to smash him into the deck plates. Kanal dove at the droids legs into a roll and stopped in a crouched stance. He turned around and stabbed the droid through the backplate with his Beskar spear.

It went all the way through to the front and he pulled it back out and quickly stepped back from the droid giving it some distance.

“Tough droids.” Kanal said as he backed away from his mark. He crouched down holding his spear straight across his leg and placed the DL-44 Blaster right on top of the spear. He took aim and shot the droid in the already damaged area before it could turn around. The droid took the brunt of the damage but was still standing firm, though clearly not functioning at one hundred percent efficiency.

Juda growled as the shot whizzed by him, narrowly missing. Sliding forward, a Sith Sword materialized from a shadowsheathe and upon rolling the weapon with a flourish he guided the sharpened edge through the B1’s neck, severing its head.

Aeternus stepped out of his gunboat, slightly cursing his pilot droid who decided that it was better to try and fire on the droids in the hangars rather then the turret already firing on them. That droid had had too much time without a wipe, and would be undergoing that now as soon as possible.

He saw the droideka deploy near him. Intuitively, he stepped slightly aside as it started firing, and steeled himself for the fight. The first blast flew past him, and the second simply disappeared when it would hit him, its energy absorbed by the Sith. With a sneer, he returned the droid the favor, and sent a burst of force lightning in its direction. It did not destroy the shield, but Aeternus expected it to be at least a bit disoriented, with its sensors overloaded with the energy coming its way.

L7 was an astromech droid. It followed its orders to the best of its ability. Nothing more, nothing less. The droid was instructed to fire at the AA turret. The droid followed its orders. Red laser cannon fire flew from the Vanguard’s turret towards the enemy weapon emplacement. Every shot missed. L7 had no feelings on this matter. It was instructed to fire at the tower. It did so. L7’s owner said nothing of actually hitting the enemy.

Kanal sidestepped the lifter droids attack easily. The droid’s memory core was exposed to the Mandalorian and he saw this. Taking his blaster he put two quick shots into the core and watched as the droid slumped to the ground, deactivated. Sparks left its metal shell.

Kanal turned his attention back to the Super Battle Droid that was staring at him. It went to charge its Bryar Pistol again but not before Kanal shot the gun from its hand. He let loose another few shots. One hit the arm in the shoulder join causing it to go limp, while another hit it just near the side of the head. The final shot hit it in the waist.

The droid was taking a beating and lived up to its name of Super Battle Droid.

Aeternus was getting annoyed with the the droideka, and forced his anger into a concentrated burst of telekinetic power. While he was aiming for it to smash into the other droid, it missed, and went rolling over the floor past it.

At least now it would need some time to reorient.

The Super Battle Droid was still up, and it had narrowly avoided being hit by its comrade the Droideka. The Reaver stood tall and aimed his blaster at the droids head and blasted quickly at it. Several shots hit their mark and the droid had a new hole where its head used to be. Sparks went flying as the droids systems went offline.

L7 continued to fire at the turret. The droid logically concluded that if it fired long enough the turret would eventually be destroyed. The spray of dual laser cannon fire from the Vanguard grew closer and closer to the AA turret until the lasers began to hit. Blast after blast slammed into the AA turret until it began to smoke and stop firing. That turret was no longer a threat. L7 had completed its instructions. It ceased to fire and began to wait for new orders.

A barrage of bolts from the droideka rang true as crimson streaks lanced out, hammering Juda’s armor. He dropped to one knee, tracing his fingers over the durasteel plates, looking for cracks in the neo-crusader carapace. His breaths came in long draws as he refocused and watched as his brothers pushed the assault.

The Droideka stared down Kanal as he took position behind the downed Super Battle Droid. He started blasting the Droideka with every shot being absorbed by the shield. Suddenly the shields started to flicker in and out of existence.

He nodded at Aeternus, his lightsabers already at the ready. It was his move to make.

With it shields dropped, the droideka got into motion again, and seemed to try to get behind the hunters, with its path taking it close past them. The Sith frowned at its stupidity. Apparently, it had taken some damage through its shields after all, it was clear it was skipping some steps in its logic engine.

Aeternus timed its approach, and simply stuck his lightsaber into the control unit. It shut down immediately, with its momentum keeping the most of it out into space. Some parts fell to the ground, motionless.

“And that is why you don’t leave security to droids.”

Keeping his regular lightsaber ignited, aeternus strode up to the large blast door in front of them, and unceremoniously pushed the saberblade into it. While he felt some resistance, tapping into the dark side as he was right now, it was not enough to deter him.

After cutting a large man-sized hole through it, he shut his saber off, and gave the block a telekinetic shove, pushing it open.

“shall we move on?”

“A classic indeed.” Von thought to himself. It made logical sense that their foe would have prepared for lightsabers. Jerric would not have been so bold as to antagonize a group known to employ lightsabers without having some sort of countermeasure. A lightsaber was like a hammer. It was a powerful weapon and a tool usable for several functions. But it could not solve every problem. Some say that when one uses a hammer long enough everything begins to look like a nail. Something similar could be said of the lightsaber, especially among Sith Warriors and Jedi Guardians. The lightsaber was a crutch as much as it was a tool. It was the reason Von had decided to eschew the use of a lightsaber.

Thankfully for the group there were other methods for breaking into an enemy fortress. “L7, come with me.” The pair exited the Vanguard and made their way to the east side door. The Sith removed his slicing pad from a belt pocket. Inserting the code cylinder into the nearby terminal he began to slice into the system. The security was bypassed swiftly, granting Von control of the east door. He noted that the terminal seemed to be disconnected from the rest of the network; it served only to operate the door and lacked any other holonet capability or function. This was troubling. This security measure in addition to the well protected front entrance implied that Jerric had time to prepare for visitors.

“I’ve got access to the east door.” Von announced to the group. “When you are all ready we can proceed.”

Kanal acknowledged Von opening the door and followed close behind him.

Juda shifted to the eastern door. He saw Aeternus struggling with the blast door and Kanal and Hector moving to the Western corridor. If Jerric were to slip out, an empty hall would be an easy getaway.

Kanal moved north into the facility and came to a doorway leading into another area. He walked up to the door panel and pulled out his datapad in an attempt to slice open the door.

Kanal was visibly shook after the shock, “ouch.”

Juda uploaded the map to the datapads of the boarding party and moved down the hallway to two doors. One faced north while the other faced south. He positioned himself, back against the wall and decided he would move north.

Aeternus merely raised an eyebrow at the voice taunting him from the speaker. Another door would not stop him long, but their target had potentially given themselves away. “can anybody track where that transmission came from?”, he asked on the viszla channel, as he cut through the second door. “there is a good chance it will lead us to our target.”

Without waiting for a response, he finished his cut, pushed it open, and stepped through, his saber ready to face whatever would be in this room.

Aeternus looked down the pit, and noticed a bunch of droid parts laying in it. Knowing the others were going through the rooms on either side, he decided to go forward through the blast door facing the one he came in through. Unlike the previous door, this one had a doorway to go through.

Walking on, still keeping his saber at guard, he came into another room, again with all sorts of droid parts scattered around. He couldn’t make out if they had been damaged in combat, or discarded for parts. Either way, he expected to be facing more active droids eventually.

Kanal looked around the room he stood in. The droids that were laying all over the floor were put together using parts from several well known models. He walked over to a computer terminal to try and activate the droids.

Kanal looked around the desks and finds datapads laying on them. “I wonder if the passcode is on one of these”

Kanal presses the button labeled “Open Sesame”

“That can’t be good.” Von thought to himself as he heard Jerric’s taunting voice. He had to get back to the hangar now. Activating his Jetpack he shot backwards towards the hangar. Flying indoors was dangerous, Von was soon to learn, as he found himself hurtling towards the curved wall of the hangar. “Turn in time, please turn in time.” He muttered to himself as he barely managed to clear the wall, armor an inch away from scraping it. With the crash narrowly avoided the Pau’an landed in the hangar, stumbling a short bit due to the momentum before steadying himself. He reached down with his right hand and drew his blaster from his hip. “Now it’s time to see what Jerric is up to.”

“Full shutdown of the ship now, and turn yourself off as well. Don’t debate, just do it”, Aeternus transmitted to his Droid on his gunship, not trusting it to resist any attempts to hack it.

As he sent it, he turned around and headed back to the hangar.

After hearing the message from Jerric over the intercom system, Kanal double-timed it back to the hanger to check on his Razorcrest. “She will not be taking my ship so easily.”

Juda twisted on his heels and spun back around towards the hangar. His heavy footsteps clanged against the grated flooring as he regrouped with his party.

Aeternus felt rather then saw the blaster bolts incoming, and knew where they would strike. With his saber still ready, he deflected both bolts.

One bolt would have hit his shoulder, but instead hit a blue saberblade, and was redirected at the kx droid, which it hit but did not damage. The second was more lethal, and going straight for his neck. At least it was, until it collided with one of two nearly invisible saber blade now being projected from what seemed at first glance two barrels mounted on his gauntlet, now being held defensively in front of him.

That bolt went into the floor in front of the scorpenek, and Aeternus braced himself for any more incoming fire.

Juda snarled inside his helmet but his focus on Jerric, who had just jumped onto the back of an even bigger droideka, was cut off by two spider droids. Flourishing his sword back into its shadowsheathe, he felt the need for a more ranged approach as he quickly drew his westar from beneath his black cloak. Before one of the droids could pivot its weaponry, a salvo of violet bolts was unleashed on it. One bolt in particular bit hard as it connected with the spider droid’s chassis. It stumbled and rattled back as a shower of sparks was followed by a plume of smoke pouring out of a smoldering hole. The pesky droid wasn’t destroyed, not yet, but it was definitely worse for wear.

Kanal saw the spider droids approaching he and Von and took his shots at the nearest of the two droids. It hit the droid and made it stop moving forward though the impact was a glancing blow. It did make the droid think twice about moving forward though.

Kanal watched as the frag soared through the air. Instinctively he activated his jetpack and flew out of range of the explosion.

Shrapnel from the grenade detonation flew closer and closer. In a moment it would impact Von. But a moment was all he needed. A burst of flame exited his Jetpack, propelling him above the shrapnel which nearly grazed his foot. He landed safely, blaster in hand, and readied himself to face the next threat.

The blaster shot flew right at Kanal byt he managed to turn out of its path just in time.

“You alright Juda?” Von called out. He carefully aimed his blaster at the spider droid pressuring Juda. Pulling the trigger, the Sith fired directly into the chassis where Juda had blasted earlier. The penetrating bolt slammed into the droid, causing it to topple from the impact.

Out of the corner of his eye, Aeternus noticed Von motioning for a barricade, two hands held in front of him. Nodding, the juggernaut focused briefly, and made a gesture with the hand to which his saberclaw was mounted, and extended his mental barricade to cover the other Sith as well. A slight shimmer was the only sign of the field now extended before them both.

No doubt he was planning something, and needed some protection for that.

Kanal, still in mid-flight, turned his attention towards Jerric directly. There was a better chance to capture her by getting her control panel for the droids. He flew over the smoke and headed straight for her. Jerric turned to see Kanal flying towards her and side-stepped on the droid to avoid getting speared by the Beskar weapon. Kanal flew by and was now clear of the smoke.

The droids were getting dangerous. Von knew something had to be done. The Scorponek drone was the largest threat in his eyes. But he hadn’t forgotten Jerric’s interest in Kanal’s ship. “L7, go investigate the Razor Crest. Check for any signs of tampering.” He instructed the droid. “Beep boop beep.” The Astromech affirmatively stated. With something being done about the ship the Sith returned his focus to the combat. Reaching out with the Force he sought to influence Jerric. This was no mere mind trick. The Pau’an sought domination, imposing his will over Jerric’s own. “You will deactivate the droids.” Von ordered.

Aeternus shook his head slightly as the droids kept sending blaster shots into his barrier, enough to cause him to drop it. He decided to no longer be the anvil, but to be a hammer instead. with both his sabers ignited, he raised one hand at Jerric and the droid she was upon. As he took a step forward, lightning shot from his hand.

Kanal landed next to the unconscious target grabbing energy binders as he did. Quickly he placed them onto Jerric and picked her up to carry her to his Razorcrest where Juda would undoubtedly watch over her and keep her sedated. The Elder looked like the last blast took a lot out of him and was breathing heavily. Even with that battle he looked to recover quickly.

Kanal walked up the ramp into his ship and saw the little astromech wheeling its way out of the hold. It beeped at him and the translation came up in his helmet, “nothing found to have been tampered with. Returning to my ship.”

That was good enough for him. He strapped Jerric into one of his ships passenger chairs and waited for the others.

Von returned to his own ship, astromech in tow. Turning on his ship commlink he transmitted to the whole group. “If it is ok with everyone I’d like to make a brief detour to the Collegium medical ship. Jerric is a threat to the Brotherhood now but if we fit her with an inhibitor chip she could become an incredible asset.”

“sounds.. good.”,Aeternus managed between breaths. He had poured a lot of anger and frustration into his attack, and it had taken a toll. “this was.. A good fight. Drinks on me when we get back.”

It left him with one problem, his shut down ship and Droid. Walking to the entry door, he places his hands on both the door, and the hull next to it, he unlocked the mechanical deadbolt telekinetically, the pulled it open. It wasn’t the first time he had to leave his ship undefended, and he found this simple solution worked quite well. Inside, he powered on the ship leaving the recalcitrant Droid shut down, programmed the autopilot to follow the rest, and finally collapsed in a chair, hopefully out of sight of everyone else.

Juda sank down into one of the seats on Kanal’s ship. He was beaten up pretty good on this mission but his beskar'gam held up. Still, he couldn’t shake the thought of having pure beskar armor. Maybe it was time for an upgrade, especially as he grew older. Tracking down the metal would lead to more missions however. No, Juda wasn’t finished, he was only getting started. The credits earned for this Bounty would kickstart this bloody campaign. If he were to become the conqueror he was destined to be, he’d need every little bit of help he could get.