"If'n th'Cap'n does'n need'ja, ya, ah'd use th'hand."  Charlie nodded to Connor as he spoke, her smile creeping into the corner of her mouth.  "Ah'm gonna go start'n ta set'p.  S'gonna burn power faster'n ta keep't in, so we's gotta shut down all'f th'unnecessary stuff'n, y'know?  N'just here'n th'bridge, but also, y'know...th'bunks, dinin'hall, all'f tha."  She looked back at Kale, biting her lip for a moment before she spoke to him.

"Y've accounted fer th'fact that Rhaef might be'n not'sa happy t'see us, right?"  There was a bit of a shrug, her arms still crossed.  "Jus'...we'd wan'im an'all, but...always tha's th'sort of chance he's gonna up'n out when we're done, jus'like he did'n such."

Kale cast a vaguely annoyed look in Dake's direction at the obvious lack of understanding how important this job was to all of them.  Kale didn't know what to do with the boy.  But he knew he needed him right now.  Kale could fly Destiny - but not with any expertise.

He looked at Connor, "Go help Charlie, I think Dake can handle things on the bridge, rightt?" he said with a pointed look in Dake's direction.  Basically saying that he had better be able to handle things up on the bridge or why the hell was he even here?

Then he heard Charlie's voice echoing the concern he'd been having ever since he had heard the wave from their mysterious 'friend'.  Without looking at her, without being able to look at her he spoke, "Ya, ya I've thought 'o that ..." he swallowed, "Don' make no difference though, does it?  Whether he wants ta be here or not - I'm guessin' he don' want ta be where he is now.  I owe him that much ..." Kale said lowly.  He was the one that had driven him away after all.

A darn sight better than you can Kale

Dake kept that thought to himself though and instead said:

"I could fly this thing blindfolded with one hand tied behind m'back."

And then it dawned on him, with Connor and Charlene off deck... did that leave Dake alone with Kale!?

Oh.


Great.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:46, Wed 30 Jan 2008.

"Yea...y'er right."  Charlie nodded to Kale's words, taking them as reason enough.  Rhaef might still leave...well, unless his reasons for leaving, he would still leave.  Rhaef wasn't the type to back down from the things he said he would do.  Kale, however, said that this was what they were going to do.  She'd never made a habit of testing his command, and she certainly wasn't going to make a start of it now.  She turned to Connor, uncrossing her arms as she started to think, ordering out the events to getting the ship ready.

"Ya, ah'm gon'start.  Turn'n all systems down'n such, any'thin we don'need.  Vids, medtech'n storage, over'n lights.  Every bit'f th'lectrics gonna run'n make static, which's what they's gonna be pick'n.  This's like givin' Destiny some sort'f muzzle, y'know?"  Charlie nodded again, her mind starting to move faster as she thought about what was to be done.  "If'n they's also runnin' sonar, we'll all hafta be quiet'n such.  Cap'n, tell'm that we've gotta keep't down 'til they's knowin' we're here.  If'n we're lucky, we'd jus'be lookin' like sum'n debris."  Charlie muttered the last part as she headed out of the bridge, making her way down to the Engine Room to start prepping the ship.

----->to Dining Hall----->Cargo Bay---->Engine Room 1
This message was last edited by the player at 00:07, Thu 31 Jan 2008.

Connor nodded to Kale and Dake before following Charlie down to the engine room. It was to be useful and learn a little bit.

(Connor to Engine Room 1 by way of Dining Hall, then Cargo Bay)

The sensor readings went off then, signaling to those on the bridge that they were coming into the vicinity of Beaumonde.  Time to start making sure that everything was set.

Kale sank into the co-pilot's chair.  Something he never would have done with Ren, he trusted the man completely to do exactly what he asked him to and do it better then he could have thought possible.  But this wasn't Ren.  This was Dake.  And Dake, well even as a kid the boy had a tendency to mess things up.  Kale couldn't even count how many times Dake had accidentally ruined one of his and Nate's clever pranks.  Plus, something was telling Kale that Dake didn't give a crap one way or another how this mission turned out - and to Kale, this mission was everything.

He pulled up the nav screen and started pouring over it, "There." he said, pointing, "I need ya to bring us in there.  Change course away from the city proper."  They need to land outside the city and by that other entrance.

(Connor from Engine Room 1)

Connor came bustling back up to the bridge, looking at the two for a moment, before turning to the captain.

"Kale, Charlie's asking me to shut down an excess power systems, so I'm asking if it's alright if we power down the shuttles?"

He paused for a moment before turning to Dake.

"Also, how much power do you think you'll need to get the ship on the ground?"

Kale looked up when Connor returned, he listened to the man and then nodded his head, "Ya, ya go ahead, I'll let Kyoko know that she'll be havin' a temporary black out.  Any other systems gonna be noticin' anything?" he said as he hit the comm button to the shuttle, wondering if he should be letting the folk in the cargo bay know as well.

"Kyoko, we're gonna be shuttin' some systems down so the shuttles are goin' offline.  Ya might wanna move on into the main ship - we should be hittin' atmo soon."

Then he looked back at Connor waiting for any further comments if they were coming.

COMM: Understood captain, I'll be moving now.

Connor looked at the captain.

"I was told any non-essential power system, so, uhhhhh, yeah..."

Connor looked around the room. He wasn't exactly the best at ship know-how...

Kale hit the comm button again, switching it to the cargo bay where the others were supposed to be, "We're preparin' to hit atmo here in a few ticks, Charlie's shuttin' down non-essential systems so just be prepared fer things ta get a bit finicky."

He set the comm down then and looked over at Dake, "So, we ready?" he asked the other man.

“Yeah yeah I see it Kale. I know what I’m doing.”

Truth was he hadn’t actually done this exact manoeuvre before but it wasn’t hard. And there was no way in hell that he’d let Kale know that. He began changing course.



Dake quickly glanced at Connor before giving full concentration to his control panel.

“You take what you need and I’ll use what I got…”

He could fly this baby no matter what state she was in… long as she had a drop of power; Dake could handle it. He hoped.



And now for the moment of truth.

“As we’ll ever be Cap’n.”

And then the whole ship began to shake as they entered the atmosphere.

Connor nodded to Dake and without another word, ran out of the bridge and back down into the engine room.

(Connor to Engine Room 1 via Hallway and Dining Room)

The lights went out on the bridge but due to the view windows there was still light here as they entered atmo.  The ride was a bit bumpier then normal but that wasn't Dake's fault, he was working with half a system online.  All and all, he was keeping it pretty steady.

About half-way down to the planet Kale noticed some funny readings, an extra electrical charge around the landing gear.  He wouldn't have noticed with the ship up and running as normal but with all the non-essential systems down it stood out.

A few moments later Dake had brought them planetside, settling Destiny onto the dirt of Beaumonde.  They had gotten down undetected.  Now flags from Beaumonde officials or anyone else.  They had made it - and this was it.

Kale hadn't even realized that he had been gripped on to the control panel like someone was going to tear him away from it until they landed.  Now that they were down though he slowly released his clenched fingers.  It wasn't that he didn't trust Dake it was just ... well ya, it was that he didn't trust him.  The boy had come through though.

"Nice work." he grunted, and then pulled the comm towards him and hit the button for the engine room.  There had been some funny readings going in and he was gonna need Charlie to check them out while they were gone.  It'd be no good getting Rhaef if they found they couldn't make a speedy getaway.

"Charlie, I got a weird reading down by the port side landin' gear when we were comin' in.  I'm gonna be takin' Geoff and Wei out ta get Rhaef, but in the meantime I'm thinkin' that its somethin' ta be lookin' into.  I don' wanna get caught with our pants down or nothin'."

Well he hadn’t crashed; so that was a big honking plus and were his ears playing tiecks on him? Did Kale just give him a compliment?

“Uh, you’re… welcome..?”

He honestly didn’t know how to take that, and so he covered his confusion with bravado.

“It’s my job ain’t it? No other flies like me.”

A mild pause.

Dake had done his part, would he now be cast aside after fulfilling his purpose?

Probably.

“So er… what next Cap’n?”

Kale turned to Dake, the comm still in hand waiting for Charlie's reply.

"Next - we're goin' ta get our man back." Kale said, and there was a glint in his eye that Dake recognized.  The same glint he used to get back when they were all younger and got ready to pull a particularly dangerous prank.

COMM:  "We're all good, Cap'n.  Ah'll be'n under'f th'ship t'check wha's goin' on."
This message was last edited by the player at 00:35, Thu 14 Feb 2008.

Kale's attention shifted then as he heard Charlie's voice come back on through the comm, "That's my girl.  You hang in there, alrigh'?  We're gonna get him back." he set the comm down then and looked at Dake.

"You.  Stay with the ship.  We should be in and out, but we might be expectin' a quick getaway, make sure she's ready ta go when we need her."

He moved off the bridge then and into the ship, heading for the cargo bay.

[To Destiny: Cargo Bay]

He certainly did recognise the look in Kale’s eyes. It was the same look he got just before telling Dake that he wasn’t allowed to come execute the prank with him and his brother. It was too big and important and Dake was too likely to mess it up.

It looked like some things never changed.

 “Sure. I’ll... be right...”

He sighed. Dake didn’t even get to finish his sentence before Kale walked off the bridge.

“Here.”

With that he kicked back and relaxed; feet up on the control panel, and closed his eyes. If he wasn’t involved, he wasn’t involved. He’d be ready when the rescue mission was over; in the meantime a little nap wouldn’t hurt anyone…

Right?

(Connor from Destiny: Engine Room 1)

Connor hopped the steps two a time and skidded into the second pilot's seat. He turned and looked over at Dake.

"Anything new?"

"Gorram Flying Monkeys!"

Dake nearly fell off his chair and slammed into the front control panel. He had been asleep for a short while.

"I... OW..."

HE then looked up to see who had woken him up.

"Oh it's you... er... no... nothing new to report."

On the bridge the comm button lit up for a moment and the sound of static filled the small room.  No voice came over the speaker however, just a short gasp and then the comm was off.

It all happened so fast that the two men easily could have missed it.

Connor looked over, an eyebrow raised. He'd recognize comm static any day of the week. But...there was no voice behind it, which, obviously, tended to be odd. He looked over to Dake, somewhat confused. Maybe he'd misheard and Dake was just fiddling with stuff?

"Um...not to sound crazy or anything, but did you hear something?"