[COU: Tipping Point] Team Red Porg

Writers: Luna_Okami/Turel (#13830) Jael Chi’ra (#15010)
For Competition: [COU] Tipping Point - No Such Thing as Luck

Jael Chi’ra Character Sheet

As the shuttle flew past the floating islands of Sorilis, with the gas nature of the planet swirling past the ship, those upon the ship maintained a sense of unease while blaster shots whizzed through the vortex towards the vessel. Sudden turns and a barrel roll as the wings retracted towards the main body of the ship caused the supplies and persons aboard to shift in their placements.

“Hold on,” Eris yelled as she kept the course of the shuttle, taking small dramatic turns to keep the hull from taking major damage. She released the wings as the ship shuttered unnaturally as the intent was to make the target harder for those who fired upon them. With the hull taking on damage, the Odanite Battle Leader finally let out a groan from behind the pair of women at the front of the ship.

“Can you please be more careful?” Jael muttered in an angry tone with adrenaline still coursing through his veins as he held onto a strap dangling from the ceiling of the ship which was meant for storage. Boxes started to crumble on top of him as he brought up his cybernetic arm to block the various metal containers. Not a word came from Eris to respond to Jael’s pleas as she maintained focus while flying the shuttle out of the islands and away from the planet.

With a quick maneuver of the ship in a small spin behind a large floating rock, the vessel was finally far enough for the blasters to become a distant fear and the group of Odanites could now set their course to Solyait.

“Now,” Eris said in a cheeky yet slightly shaken tone and turned the seat around. “You can thank me later for getting us out of there,” she playfully spoke to the Sephi as she smiled. He smirked at the obvious anxious nature of her nonverbal communication and gave a wink in her direction.

Luna narrowed her gaze at Eris, almost immediately giving her an impression of remember our ways just from the look. Eris blushed slightly, taking her smile down to a more reserved smirk as she turned to watch the older woman move towards Jael.

“As you can tell, you were captured, but for what reason, we do not know,” Luna spoke when she placed herself just about center of the ship as Eris returned her attention to the controls, hands slightly twitching with anxiety. “Perhaps if you can recall any of the events before you were taken to this planet it would aid us in this mission.”

After a few minutes of reflection as Jael stood against one of the ship walls, he decided to speak up but narrowed his gaze while staring at the ground.

“Right,” Jael looked up in Luna’s direction with a slight flicker of his eyes towards Eris before he began to verbally spill out his “guts” of the information he knew. “What I recall before being captured is some Dominion witch or representative as she called herself came to the station, corralled me with a beast and brought me to a corner to basically execute me…” He turned away from them and muttered an insult regarding being called a tainted speck.

“I take it there is more?” After analyzing Jael’s response to the initial inquiry of information, Luna pointed out he was still very much alive and could only make the assumption there was more to this recollection.

“Yeah… Some Chiss woman came in and started commanding these Dominion mercenaries around… She forced one of the guards to shoot the Vatali representative-or-something guy on the station. Even mad-” After returning his attention to the woman as he spoke, Jael was stopped before he could continue when he noticed Luna held up her hand.

“When you say Chiss woman, describe her,” Luna asked, maintaining her reserved expression; however, Jael studied Luna for a few seconds before he actually began to speak as he could get a sense of something very small just under the surface.

“This Chiss woman was nothing like my sister. She was cold-hearted. Clearly some sort of witch as she used the Force to instill fear in the ma-“Jael noticed Luna’s expression slightly changed as if she were annoyed. “Sorry. She had short black hair and some kind of weird tailored armor on. I do believe she also had a saber attached to her hip. Her personality… heh… She was very much one to keep calm and cool, but she is nothing but a dirty witch,” Jael did his best to keep calm while remembering the fight and the fear he had when he saw her initially. He believed he would die right then, but for whatever reason, this woman wanted to keep him alive.

Luna pondered Jael’s description of the “witch” for a few moments. It didn’t sound like a typical dominion ally. Tailored armor with a lightsaber sounded an awful lot like the Inquisitors Luna had encountered on Nancora while fighting alongside Odan-Urr. While they were nominally allies for that particular conflict, she got the impression from Turel and others that it was more of a cease fire than an alliance and they’d be back at each other’s throats the first chance they got. In any case this witch sounded like a Force user and that was something she needed to report to Alethia.

The wolf-mother’s thoughts were interrupted as the shuttle shook from an explosion.

“We’re not free yet, dominion fighters are in pursuit!” Eris exclaimed from the cockpit.

Jael paced impatiently, “Great, first the orbital defenses from the facility and now this.” The half-Sephi jumped into the co-pilot seat of the cockpit. Inquiring, “need a hand?” with a playful smirk.

Eris didn’t break eye contact with the dangerous field of gas and rocks in front of the shuttle, throwing the crafting into a lateral spin an attempt to evade some of the enemy fire. “Could you balance the shields and–”

The recently freed Captain interjected, “–put more into the engines. I sure can!” Fiddling with nobs on the control panel in a cocky and assured manner.

Luna shook her head as she made her way to the back of shuttle, bracing herself by keeping her hand on the ceiling as she went. The Okami’s objective was the master power breaker which would shut down all the medical equipment in the back and free up that power for the flight systems. She was no engineer but she knew every joule of energy mattered in space combat and Eris had instructed her before on the breaker’s location and purpose.

Back in the cockpit Jael had made the necessary adjustments to the ship’s power levels but it wasn’t enough. The shuttle was designed for atmosphere and ship to ship transport, not for dog fighting. Its engines couldn’t outrun the dominion fighters.

“We’ve got to hit them back,” the bearded half-Sephi mused as he studied the local starchart.

“I don’t see how unless I open the back hatch and Luna takes a few pot shots at them with her rifle.”

“That wouldn’t be powerful enough to–”

“–I KNOW THAT!” Eris exclaimed in frustration. The Devaronion quickly regained her composure when an idea flashed across her rapidly calculating and multitasking brain. “You see that gas pocket up ahead at 270 degrees?”

Jael looked at the chart then looked ahead through the window. “Yes…you can’t possibly be thinking of–”

Eris’ yellow eyes burned with a reckless determination, “–using the gas pocket as a makeshift bomb, yes I am.”

Jael didn’t know whether to be impressed or horrified but he began to see what the younger Okami’s plan was. “You hit the brakes and I cycle power to the blasters cannons and forward shields?”

“Sabaac!” the Devaronion exclaimed in confirmation as she began to fly straight for the convenient pocket of volatile gaseous elements.

Without prompting Luna buckled herself into a nearby chair and braced for the inevitable impact. She hated space battles, give her an engagement on the ground where she could actually be of some use and kill the enemy. This was torture.

Eris shifted the shuttle from side to side as she flew toward the gas, baiting the two pursuing fighters like a wounded animal.

“So close, just keep on my tail…NOW”

Jael slammed two switches and the shuttle hummed as different systems powered down and booted up. They’d be vulnerable as the shields shifted from rear to front and the weapons warmed up. Mere seconds, but an eternity in a dogfight. Eris kept an eye on the shield and weapons energy readout with her peripheral vision. They were running out of space before they hit the edge of the gas.

With calculated precision, Eris threw the shuttle into full reverse, catching a stray blaster bolt on the top wing and shaking the entire craft from the damage. The fighters zoomed by and tried to bank to resume the pursuit. Their interia took them right into the gas cloud. Eris pulled the trigger on the shuttle’s forward guns and the cloud ignited into a bright, albeit silent, explosion in space. The craft shook as the reinforced forward shields struggled to hold back the shockwave.

BOOM!

The shield control system shorted out with a large flash right in front of Jael and he flew out of the co-pilot seat with supernatural speed.

“That almost fried my man-bits!” the half-Sephi shouted. “They’re still under warranty!”

Eris slumped into the control stick as the shuttle leveled out, damaged, with shorts in many of the electrical systems but flying under its own power. “No sign of further pursuit and we have a clear path to Solyait…for real this time.”

Luna unbuckled herself and moved to the entrance of the cockpit. “Good, we have a lot to report to the Odanites about this witch you saw.” She glared in Jael’s direction, “I’m glad your ‘man-bits’ emerged unscathed from this encounter.”