"I know that, I know that - I'm just trying to work out who is best where..."
answered Devon quickly, whilst typing something into his datapad.

Beeeep booooop beeeeep!

Zyra moves out of the pilot seat so Devon can work.

"Have the ship pre-flighted and ready for liftoff at a moments notice.  We will need to go from here to the rendezvous point for the others, Cor has the co-ordinates.  Then we'll need to set a course for the Core, Coruscant perhaps.  We'll only follow that course for an hour or two, find a safe port for our passengers then circle back.  We'll need to ensure we have everything ready for all our passengers, some are wounded."

"Cor, I need you to co-ordinate our timing.  I imagine it will only take a minute or so to reach the rendezvous point and we don't want to be on the ground any longer then it takes to pick up our people and the refugees.  Here are our clearance codes for when we need to go"  She places a datapad next to the system operator's console.

"I'll be in the Captain's quarters.  I have some messages to send."

Cor nods neatly to Zyra.  "Of course, Ms Jax," she says softly, and continues doing exactly what she was.  Chances are good she was already mapping routes.  Walking around a little as she does she taps her earpiece and starts speaking.

"Lets get started, then." says Devon.  He offers Mika a hand to help her stand up.
"A9 is coming aboard and will help with navigation.  You wanna take engineering? And we're gonna need someone out there to open the hanger bay door, unless we wanna just shoot a hole in the wall.  But I'm betting if we did demolish the hanger to get out, it would ruin our cover story though.  What is the cover story anyhow?"

Dropping into the pilots seat, Devon snagged the datapad that Zyra had left behind and started reading through it - after all, Zyra had gotten them permission to fly, and he figured he'd better know what their cover story is.

_{"I remember last time we blew up the hanger to get out."}   He mumbled to anyone who was listening whilst he read.  _{"Wacky fun. I'd like to get shot at less this time."}

Once he finished with the datapad, Devon started into the preflight routine.
"Cor, you going to have a course ready for me before we lift?" he asked without looking round.

OOC: So whats on this datapad then?

"I have had coordinates for an extraction point ready for a little over half an hour," Cor nods to Devon.  "The exact course you take to get there is the pilot's task."  Tapping a few buttons she sends the coordinates for a place about two minutes' flight away, well out of town.

Mika scoots her way out of the access panel and accepts Devon's hand up.  "I'd like to keep after it until we've sliced the command codes, but I guess now's not the time.  Yeah, I'll take engineering if you want."  She takes a moment to gather up her tools and heads towards the engineering deck.  She wasn't all that familiar with the ship, but she could just follow the power conduits if nothing else.

Cor seats herself in the systems operator seat and extends a hand toward Devon.  "I believe Ms Jax left the datapad for me, Mr Kismet.  I will need the clearance codes it contains to get us off-planet."

She keeps her head facing the controls.  In fact she avoids looking toward the wide-open viewports to the front of the cockpit as much as she possibly can.

"Yeah," answered Devon, amiably. "and as the pilot I needed to see if those codes include clearance to launch from this hanger; the ships original flight plan says no launch till tomorrow morning.  If we lift without clearance, then security will be on us instantly."

He paused for a moment, his eyes widening as he read the first few lines.
"Yeah..." he managed.  "I imagine those codes will get us where we need to go... or anywhere really.  Hell, give me that sort of clearance and I'll go to Coruscant and steal the Emperor's personal speeder for you.  Where did you even get this?  They don't just hand those out to anyone... no matter how good they look in a dress!"

More than satisfied, Devon handed the pad back to Cor with an apologetic grin.  Cracking his knuckles, he busied himself with the preflight.  After a couple of minutes he spoke without looking up.
"OK, all looks good at my end.  Unless Mika found something unexpected, we can lift any time.  We need someone out there to open the hanger, and thats it."
This message was last edited by the GM at 12:28, Tue 24 July 2012.

Cor takes the pad back and looks it over, seeming unsurprised.  Eventually she mutters something to herself in Umbaran and starts punching codes into the systems operation computer with the speed of someone who's made computers her life. 

"We need to wait for Mr Nallis to report back, as it will take him anywhere from six to eight times the duration to get to the extraction point than it will us - and I am reasonably certain you do not relish the idea of squatting the ship down for eleven minutes whilst we wait for him to arrive."  She glances at him, shielding her eyes with one hand with a kind of instinctive gesture, sort of like a blinker on one side of a horse's bridle.  "Ms Jax got the codes.  She can be very persuasive when required."

Devon nods his understanding as Cor explains the schedule.  "Sounds simple enough from our end - if Xil doesn't bring trouble with him, we should be OK."

Devon fiddled with the controls for a few seconds, testing things.  Then he looked round at Cor again.
"hang on, you said Zyra got those codes?"
After Cor confirmed, Devon mumbled to himself for a moment:
_{"Gorgeous,intelligent and can make get-out-of-jail-free cards.  I think I've found the perfect woman."}  Unexpectedly he raised his voice to bellow back towards the captains cabin.
"Zyra!  Marry me!"

Cor flinches hard as she's yelled past, fixing her eyes on the console in front of her and muttering to herself in Umbaran as she runs through a few checks she likely doesn't need to.

"Awww, that's so sweet." Zyra calls back.

CC9 stomps back in, filling up the doorway with intimidating red-accented durasteel.

"Assessment of the craft is complete.  Report ready.  Further orders?"

"I will assess your report later, CC9," Cor says without looking away from her panel of instruments.  "Once we touch down on-planet we will be taking aboard a number of unarmed refugees of disparate species, along with a stormtrooper who has apparently decided to defect.  The stormtrooper may be armed.  Your recommendations?"

"There are several weak points to stormtrooper armour that a well-placed blaster bolt -"

"No," Cor says quickly, "we intend to keep him alive and unharmed as long as he takes no aggressive action."

"That is a tactically unsound intention," CC9 states in his flat, emotionless monotone, "but under the circumstances I recommend disarming this stormtrooper and confining him to quarters until we have returned to the Nightshrike.  If he refuses to relinquish his weapon I will shoot him," the droid continues, "as my protocols to ensure your safety require confirmed action."

"All right, but..."  Cor wrinkes her nose delicately.  "Make sure you shoot him on stun.  We do not wish to upset Ms Jax or Mr Sheppard."

"My security protocols override their opinions or commands," CC9 states.  Then, after a lengthy pause he adds, "But I will comply, mistress.  Further orders?"

"Please find our stormtrooper... guest secure lodgings, CC9, thank you."

"By your command."  The droid turns and stomps out.

As she heads back to engineering, she hears Devon's shouted proposal to Zyra and smirks.  She mutters a quick, "Yeah, that's going to happen."

Once in the engineering bay, she uses the comlink to call Devon and Cor, "Ready on my end." she says tersely.

Cor replies in kind.  "Ready here also, waiting on Mr Nallis."

With so many people working on the pre-flight it took next to no time at all to get ready.  Then there was the waiting.  Devon and Cor waited in the cockpit while Mika, having ensured engineering was ready moved down to the cargo bays and ensured the lifts were ready.  They wanted to load everyone as quickly as possible so they were going to use the elevators.  Zyra, having changed into a simple jumpsuit that was a few sizes too large, came down to help Mika prepare.

When the call finally came that Xil's team was nearly at the rendezvous, everyone went into motion.  R2-A9 went and opened the hangar doors while Cor requested flight clearance.  The return clearance was fast, faster then any Cor or Devon had experienced before.  Their high level clearance was paying off.  In less than five minutes they were airborne.  It took less time then that to reach the rendezvous point.  Devon, realising time was critical, and perhaps eager to show off, rapidly flew down and landed without slowing down.  THe landing was a thing of beauty but nobody seemed to be admiring it.  Cor was busy at her station.

Down in the hold Mika immediately began lowering the elevators.  Seeing the three speeders waiting, Zyra jumped on the comms.

"Load the trooper transport onto the port elevator.  Get the other two on the starboard.  I want us airborne in two minutes."

The process took just under two minutes.  The two starboard speeders loaded without a hitch.  The port speeder was slightly oversized but Mika was able to quickly set up a winch system to take care of it.

In the cockpit, Devon had kept the repulsors running with a fraction less power then they needed to lift.  The moment the lifts closed and Mika gave the okay he slammed in the power and aimed for space.

Passage through the custom checkpoints was quick, their pass ensuring nobody stopped them or even asked them a question.  Devon didn't even need to wait to clear the customs zone before engaging hyperdrive, instead the second he cleared the gravity well he had clearance.  He quickly checked A9's course and found the route was good.  It took them towards Coruscant for a few hours before making a long circuitous route back to the Nightshrike.

Without a further thought, Devon pulled the hyperdrive levers.  The stars elongated and stretched out before them as the ship lurched into hyperspace.

The day was finally over.  They were safe!



*THREAD CLOSED - Post in debriefing thread*