x102: Cowboy in a Plain Brown Wrapper

Pirates, Yar!

Carandil and Zelina

The ship comes back from the scan: a junker ship, unable to identify exactly, but looks like it might be a Y-wing base. Armed with a laser cannon.

The ship is about to land on the big asteroid, but, the asteroid is about to move into a dangerous area full of other asteroids on its long orbit path.

Ground Crew in a Cantina!

Fei, Lupus, and Vasten

While the other locals around the room don’t seem too intimidated by Lupus’s scowl, the situation seems to calm itself when Sil releases his grip. The bartender pulls his arm back and massages his wrist, but in a way that says “I’m looking for a concealed wound” more than “ow, that hurt.”

”What do you want here, strangers? To find a pilot? If you’re looking for a pilot, you need to ask the mining groups. They hire the pilots.”

If he knows the man, he’s not fessing up anything at this point.

Status

Carandil, 17f, 22r, 18w, 40/40hp
--TIEUgly, 21f, 18r, 5dr, 75/75hp
D-PFA (Fei) , 17f, 19r, 21w, 49/49hp
--Longscout, 26f, 13r, 10dr, 110/100hp
Jack, 17f, 23r, 14w, 47/47hp
--TIEWing, 24f, 12r, 10dr, 10sr, 80/80hp
Lupus, 20f, 21r, 19w, 70/70hp
--Swiftfang, 26f, 13r, 10dr, 10sr, 80/80hp
Vasten, 19f, 20r, 19w, 59/59hp
--Badass, 25f, 12r, 10dr, 15sr, 120/120hp
Zelina, 18f, 19r, 20w, 50/50hp
--Z-Wing, 20f, 16r, 10dr, 10sr, 60/60hp, Personalized lasers

"Not precisely. We are looking for pilots to hire us." Fei tilts her head. "We have been told that there is work as cargo escorts in this area. We represent a small group of such escorts for hire."

As Zelina's starfighter arrives on the scene, she sees a small ship approaching one of the larger asteroids. "Sithspit!" she exclaims as a quick glance at her sensors tells her that it's way out of range, so she takes a second to survey the area around her. Where the heck was Carandil?

Vasten groans and sips at the drink. "Fine, I'm keeping the credits," he murmurs half-heartedly.

"Blast!" Carandil exclaimed. He started trying to calculate how long the big asteroid would remain in the dense part of the asteroid field.

Taking 10 on what I am assuming would be Knowledge (Physical Sciences) for the celestial mechanics involved, 20

Perception (11)
Perception (30)
Perception (24)
Perception (9)

Pirates, Yar!

Carandil and Zelina

Zelina spots Carandil’s ship, just on the edge of what has become a big clump of asteroids. Both pilots are able to calculate that the possibility of navigating through that asteroid field, at the moment, is around 3720 to 1.

Carandil figures it’ll be a couple of hours before the orbit of the asteroids clear out an easy path. Given that the ship was a cargo vessel, that’s probably the same amount of time it’d take to unload the ship. Some good piloting could probably get him or Zelina through the field as is, but even a bit of bad luck would be deadly.

And, worse, there’s still no certainty that the ship was the right one.

Both pilots note that there is a standard transmission frequency emanating from the asteroid, probably a control station. It would be possible to talk to the miners down there, though who knows if they’d be cooperative. Alternatively, there are others mines through the field that might be worth exploring.

Ground Crew in a Cantina!

Fei, Lupus, and Vasten

The bartender gives Vasten a long, long, look as Fei apparently tries a different story. His brows furrow as he obviously doesn’t completely buy the line. ”If you want work, use your datapads and log into the Canteen.

It’s like Craigslist in Space!

Everyone logs in there to look for work. I don’t know if any pilots ever really hire escorts, the profit margins are pretty slim to begin with, even with a dozen guys dying each cycle in the asteroid field.”



One of the pilots, from a table with a few other guys of course, walks up behind the group. In what only could be a reciting of the most cliché of rustic barroom statements, he says, ”What say you strangers leave now, before there’s trouble.”

The fellows at his table look ready to rustle. Fei and Lupus note that the men look willing to fight, and most are armed with blasters and fists. They look like they want a fight, but not to die.

Status

Carandil, 17f, 22r, 18w, +9P, 40/40hp
--TIEUgly, 21f, 18r, 5dr, 75/75hp
D-PFA (Fei) , 17f, 19r, 21w, +16P, 49/49hp
--Longscout, 26f, 13r, 10dr, 110/100hp
Jack, 17f, 23r, 14w, +6P, 47/47hp
--TIEWing, 24f, 12r, 10dr, 10sr, 80/80hp
Lupus, 20f, 21r, 19w, +14P, 70/70hp
--Swiftfang, 26f, 13r, 10dr, 10sr, 80/80hp
Vasten, 19f, 20r, 19w, +3P, 59/59hp
--Badass, 25f, 12r, 10dr, 15sr, 120/120hp
Zelina, 18f, 19r, 20w, +10P, 50/50hp
--Z-Wing, 20f, 16r, 10dr, 10sr, 60/60hp, Personalized lasers

Zelina brings her starfighter to a crawl before the asteroid field in front of her. She's not particularly disappointed that the cargo ship got away; she wasn't enthusiastic about this haphazardly planned sortie in the first place. But it wouldn't look good for her to give up so easily, so she turns her ship around for another pass. But before she throttles up her engines, she decides to see if there's anything her comm systems can pick up.

Communications, try to intercept:
Dice Roll: 1d20+10
d20 Results: 5 (Total = 15)

Sensors, on her second pass:
Dice Roll: 1d20+10
d20 Results: 19 (Total = 29)

Fei's voice sounds rather arch. "Well, this is a cliche. I don't suppose I can convince any of you that we have no need to fight?"

Zelina is able to speak on the publicly available comms circuit if she wants. There are no other transmissions from the asteroid (no secret comms) that she can find.

"You'll have to start with me," declares the Devaronian, as he levels his rifle on the pilot. There's a moment of awkward silence as Sil stares down the man.

"Mine's bigger than yours," he begins. "Gun's pretty big too..."

OOC: Activating Natural Curiosity. I can't remember the mechanics, but I know I want to do it.