October 30, 2009

541. Black Phoenix - Trychon

"Hold on!" Raezyr yelled into the comm as he took the swoop into a series of violent jerks to make targeting them more difficult. The hail of blaster bolts continued to skim near them, but his juking was keeping them safe for the moment.

Falka ignored the impulse to lean over Raezyr's shoulder and look at the instruments for a bit better bearing, instead holding on tightly and trying to lean into Raezyr's quick and unpredictable maneuvers. "How far to the ridge?" He asked as calmly as he could manage.

Raezyr grimaced as he glanced at the display. "Too far. We're going to have to try something else."

Their pursuit was gaining on them continually. He maintained his evasive maneuvers but leaned off the throttle slightly, allowing the gap to close even more. He didn't need to keep an eye on the controls to feel the attack bearing down on them.

"What are you doing?!" Falka yelled over the comm, even though Raezyr could hear him fine without the added volume. "They're going to catch us!"

Raezyr nodded his head, and veered off his course hard to the left, his hand prepared to pull the brake when the timing was perfect...

--------------

Trychon glanced back over his shoulder at his pursuit. All he could see past Haley's hair waving in the wind was a cloud of dust, though he could feel the Raiders in the Force.

"You don't do this very often, do you?" Haley asked him with a look of either disdain or concern on her face, Trychon couldn't tell which. "My sensors are picking them up perfectly, I'm sure yours are as well. Yet this is the third time you've tried to look past me to see for yourself."

Trychon felt a bit ridiculous as he thought about it. "Actually, Raezyr and I were goading a swoop gang into a death race back on Yaga Minor the other day, but I crashed into a tree and the resulting head injury caused me to forget all I'd learned. Sorry."

Haley sighed calmly. "That's not altogether encouraging, but at least you won't have to worry about the trees this time."

"Right." Trychon agreed with a straight tone of voice. "Thank the Tatooine heat for that."

"Precisely."

Trychon grinned. "Well, we'd better not leave this up to my driving anyway. Be ready." He let go of the throttle and beared down on the brake as hard as he could, nearly flinging them into a nearby rock outcropping. Using the Force, he held them in their seats and flung the swoop to face the growing cloud of sand and dust. He reached down and unhooked his lightsaber from his belt, trying to anticipate what to do next.

October 28, 2009

540. Black Phoenix - Raezyr

Trychon and Raezyr twisted the throttle, boosting more speed from their swoops as the Desert Raiders closed quickly. Haley and Falka opened fire on their pursuers, leveling their blasters over and around Trychon and Raezyr who concentrated on avoiding the incoming fire.

In the blink of an eye, the game of chicken was over as the four escapees screamed through the midst of the Raiders unscathed, yet leaving two smoking wrecks in their wake.

The Sith coaxed as much speed as they could manage from their vehicles, but the Raiders, who had quickly turned about to pursue, were closing the gap, slowly but surely. Each of the Raider speeders were military surplus, clearly built for speed, and only carried one rider while their quarry were on civilian models, and each carrying two passengers. Raezyr knew they had a decent head start, but it would just be a matter of time before their attackers closed to accurate firing range. Even now they were taking pot shots with their vehicle mounted weaponry, gauging the distance.

"If we stay close together, we'll only make better targets for them," Raezyr called out over the comm. He sensed Trychon's apprehension to the unspoken suggestion, and he echoed the feeling.

"We should probably stick together, watch each others backs," Trychon suggested.

"No, Raezyr is right," Falka said, adding his two creds. "If we split up, one of us will have a better chance of making it back, and then we can come back with reinforcements," he suggested.

"Why not call for back-up, now?" Trychon suggested.

"No good," Haley stated flatly. "I tried that already. They have some sort of long range transmission jamming going on. Our communications are unaffected because we are so close, but by my estimation, it will only last up to a distance of 262 meters, give or take 3 meters."

"Nice 'estimate,'" Trychon said, grinning over his shoulder.

"Cut the chatter, Trych," Raezyr scolded, as a blaster bolt ricocheted off Trychon's swoop. A gout of black smoke erupted from the back end, then trailed off. "You alright over there?" Raezyr called.

"Yeah... yeah, we're okay... nothing serious... secondary stabilizer broke loose... nothing major," Trychon said, flipping a few control switches on the panel in front of him before continuing. "We'll split up, then?"

"You and Haley take... Mos Castoff Canyon across the Jundland Wastes," Raezyr said, looking at a small readout on his contols. "Falka and I will take Tracker Canyon and go over Deathshead Ridge," he informed them.

"See you on the other side, little brother," Trychon said, shooting the bigger man a grin, "and may the Force serve you well."

Together they dropped into a gully between two large sand dunes, and immediately Trychon swerved North, angling toward Castoff Canyon. Raezyr watched his sensors as their pursuers dropped down into the same gully. It took them a few seconds to realize their prey had split up, but as soon as they did, two of the remaining four speeders turned in pursuit after them. The maneuver hadn't worked quite as well as Raezyr hoped it would, but it would buy Trychon another few minutes.

The younger Sith knew if they could just reach their respective canyons they could lose their pursuers, as the Raiders would have to slow down to react to the twists and turns, whereas the Sith, with the Dark Side as their servant, could forge ahead at full speed.

Blaster bolts flashed past Raezyr's head, and he rolled the swoop just barely in time to avoid them. Falka spoke over the comm, "I've got a bad feeling about this."

539. Black Phoenix - Trychon

The two swoops continued on their paths for several klicks, changing their route ever so slightly every few moments to keep from being auto targeted. The misaimed shots of Rus'El's cannon exploded farther and farther from their location as they added distance, and Trychon's laughter increased with it.

"Knock it off, Trych! We can laugh at the Raiders later... right now we still need to get back to safety!" Raezyr growled over the comm. Behind him, Falka calmed his chuckle. He wasn't sure if he found the useless cannon funny as Trychon did, or if he was simply amused by Trychon's amusement. Either way, he thought to himself, it wasn't the first time he'd had a laugh at the expense of some ridiculous decision or another of the Raiders' organization.

As though to punctuate Raezyr's sentiment, a small freighter flew over their heads at dangerous speed for the low altitude it was maintaining. Probably just a scare tactic. Trychon thought to himself, noting that it would likely be rather effective against most swoop riders. The dust and wind brought up by the flyby made it not only next to impossible to see, but was even enough to rock the small vehicles' flight. Not being average swoop riders though, Trychon and Raezyr turned to their instincts and senses to allow them to recover and continue on safely.

Within moments, the freighter had turned around and was speeding back towards them from the horizon. Raezyr veered slightly to his port, increasing the distance between the swoops to avoid being jarred into each other.

"That was... interesting." Trychon commed to the group.

"Eyes open, everyone." Raezyr commed back.

"We have incoming." Haley's voice picked up where Raezyr's left off. "Half a dozen swoops, by my sensor reading. On a path to intercept us shortly."

Trychon muttered something about ridiculous ploy maneuvers then spoke up. "They must have dumped them when they turned. Your call, Raez."

Over the comm, they caught the tail end of Raezyr muttering something that sounded like a curse as well. "Lets take them head on at first and see if we can use their numbers against them before we split them up. Falka, Haley... I hope you're up for a few more engagements. Lightsabers aren't really meant for this sort of fight."

The two Phoenixes responded with affirmatives, readying the weapons and ammo they'd gathered inside the Raiders' compound during their hasty exit.

With only a few moments left before they were in the middle of a chaotic mess, Raezyr commed the group one last time. "I never got to ask, Haley... how comfortable are you firing a blaster anyway?"

The incoming bikes were growing ever closer. Haley leveled her blaster at the front of the formation and squeezed the trigger as the ball of dust separated into individual targets. She was rewarded with a small explosion at the front of the lead vehicle, which swerved and nearly took out one of its compatriots before crashing.

Haley spoke over the comm. "The concept is not really that difficult."

October 22, 2009

538. Black Phoenix - Raezyr

The passages consisted mostly of long unused ore tubes and chutes, and a few times they had to emerge from their hidden passageway to enter another, but eventually they were led into a long tunnel carved entirely from the rock. The passage looked to be much older, ancient in comparison, than the structure that sat upon the desert sands above, and for a few minutes Raezyr wondered who might have built the passage, and for what purpose. He quickly decided he didn't care, though, as long as it was of use to him right now.

At the front of the line, Owen came to the end of the tunnel, climbed up on a plasteel crate, pushed a door in the roof of the tunnel upward, and pulled himself up. When Raezyr finally followed, he found himself inside one of the adobe hovels just 50 meters outside the walls of Jama's compound. The inside wasn't as bad as his mind had imagined these dwellings to be, as it was semi-clean and at least clutter free. Behind him, Owen lowered the door back into it's position above the passageway and carefully rearranged the blankets and sleeping pallet which hid the entrance.

"As long as we don't take anything too valuable, the Raiders don't get suspicious," Owen Loneozner commented. "They mostly think their own are responsible for the minor losses, and mostly leave us alone, unless they need some menial tasks performed."

"I came to Tatooine some time ago, as a miner, but the company abandoned me and...," Owen began when Raezyr interrupted him.

"Yeah, that's great," the blue armored Sith said absently. "Listen, we appreciate what you did and all, but we have to go while they're still looking inside the compound for us. The minute they turn their search outside the walls, our escape is done."

Raezyr pulled up the hood on his cloak and turned toward the exit of the small domicile.

"Wait, you said I'd have your gratitude... can't you take me with you?" the man pleaded.

Trychon and the others looked at Raezyr, waiting for him to answer, but the Sith was staring intently outside, studying their route to the shed which housed their speeder and swoops. Just when it appeared that he wasn't going to say anything, he finally spoke up. "Falka, give him the sequencer for the speeder."

"What do you mean?" Falka asked.

Raezyr turned his gaze to the Khommite. "That speeder is too slow and not very maneuverable. The minute we take off, we'll have Jama'Rukus Rus'El and the Raiders hot on our heels. That speeder will never outrun them, but if Trych and I take you two with us on our swoops, we stand a chance."

Falka tossed the initializer over to the older human, who caught it deftly. "Your just going to give me a speeder?" he asked, tears beginning to well up in his eyes. "Finally, I'll be able to get out of here. Ever since I was abandoned here, I've longed to..."

Raezyr interrupted him again. "Whatever. But you better get out of here fast. They should send everything they have after us, when they leave, that's your chance, because they minute they come back, that speeder is theirs."

Raezyr didn't wait for a response before turning to the others. "Hoods up. Let's go. No running or it will draw attention. Right now their eyes are turned inward, but it won't be much longer before they realize we got out somehow, and then they'll turn these squatter houses inside out and upside down, unless they spot us taking off first. A quick escape on the swoops is our only chance, and the only chance the dregs out here have of not being annihilated." He spoke to them over his shoulder as he walked out the door.

So far so good, he thought to himself as they approached the shed housing their bikes. "Falka, with me. Haley, you're with Trych." He stretched out with the Force as they neared the shed, and sensed a presence inside of it. He saw that Trychon sensed it as well, as his brother drew his lightsaber hilt from inside his robes, just as Raezyr was doing.

Together they stepped around the corner, flicked on their blades, and cut down the Weequay guard who apparently had been trying to ambush the four escapees.

As the slashed open body of the alien slumped to the ground, Raezyr noticed the comm link fall from its off-hand, and the transmit light was glowing green. He stomped the device into the ground, crushing it beneath his heel. "We're about to have company!"

Within moments, the four had mounted the two swoop bikes, and we're speeding across the desert sands, Tatooine's twin suns blazing down upon them in the late afternoon.

Suddenly a giant blast errupted off to the right of the fleeing swoops, sending molten sand and dust many meters into the air.

"What the hell was that?" Trychon shouted into the comm unit on his swoop.

Another giant blast erupted off to their right before anyone could answer. Neither blast had been near enough to do any damage.

"It's Jama!" Falka yelled into his comm. "He's got a giant turbo laser cannon mounted on top of his hideout!"

Another blast erupted harmlessly dozens of meters behind them.

Trychon started laughing.

"What's so damn funny, Trych?" Raezyr asked.

"Jama'Rukus Rus'El may have one helluva cannon, but he couldn't hit a ship hangar if he were locked inside it!"

October 21, 2009

537. Black Phoenix - Raezyr

The man wearing little more than rags cringed as the weapons were brandished against him. "Please, put your weapons away, I mean you no harm," the man simpered.

Raezyr took him in at a glance. He looked much older than her probably was, late 40's but looked more like early 60's. The twin Tatooine suns and harsh desert climate hadn't been kind to the man. His skin was dark brown and leathery and his bearded face was deeply lined. "I am Owen Loneozner, and if you're enemies of the Raiders, then I'd like to help."

The four still hadn't lowered their weapons, wary of a trap. "Unless you can get us past all these mercs and bounty hunters, I don't think you'll be of any use to us."

"But I can, you see," the man said, cowering a little less. "I can, because I do it all the time."

"What do you mean?" Trychon asked.

"I live in the encampment outside Jama's compound. I sneak in and out for supplies all the time," he replied.

They all thought of the "encampment" they had seen as they drove in. Run down and abandoned adobe houses being used by the unwanted and undesirable. Raezyr was about to turn down the help, cringing at the thought of being in proximity to the likes of them, but Trychon spoke first. "Owen, if you can get us out of here in one piece, you will have not only the gratitude of the Black Phoenix, but of the Sith as well."

The man frowned at the mention of the Sith as if he were reconsidering his offer, then said, "Come with me. There are secret passages within the old mining millworks here." He picked up a dirty burlap sack and then dropped to the floor, scrambling into a panel that had been taken off the wall. "Whoever comes last, close that panel."

Raezyr let the others go first, bringing up the rear himself. He didn't really like the thought of following this man, and the frown he had given at the mention of the Sith wasn't reassuring either. It was something to keep in the back of his mind.

Once inside the wall, there was more room than Raezyr expected, and he easily reached back through and secured the panel. None too soon, as he heard the sounds of booted feet on the metal walkways approaching. He listened at the panel for a moment.

"Well they clearly came this way, but Takk says they haven't made it up to the first landing yet, they're still waiting," said one voice.

"I don't know... you and your men go down that way, check every nook and cranny. Jama wants them DEAD!" said a familiar female voice he recognized as belonging to that of Lexa Teal.

For a moment, Raezyr considered climbing back out to get a crack at the beautiful bounty hunter, but dismissed it just as quickly. Quietly, he crawled along in the direction the others had gone.