"Pair of what?" Helene inquires, coming up to stand in the doorway. She's changed her clothes and restrained her hair, having settled on something significantly more practical for the mission at hand.

All black fabric and leather, the outfit immediately gives the impression of being a uniform, although clearly of a Tapani style with the tight fitting collar closed about her neck and crisp lines on all the seams and folds. Her same utility belt encircles her waist, but hanging below it on both sides are additional weapons that not even Duran had seen before.

On each side, brushed steel tubes of a simple and smooth, almost organic, construction hang beside petite blaster pistols. The pistols are the more standard matte black colour one usually sees, as opposed to the chromed and polished weapon she'd previously worn. The tubular devices are, of course, lightsabers, of a more typical length compared to the lightfoil she had earlier.

"Binder cuffs," Hector replied almost as if on cue.  He took the arrival of Oriana, and shortly after, Helene in stride, and had noted the added coloring Duran had taken on.  That was part of the reason for his straight response.  Of course, it was entirely possible that his reply could be taken with a different meaning, such as using them to bind their prisoners once they landed... but he rather hoped they would get the right meaning. "Won't be long before we have to make our run, by the way.  If you have any lasting regrets, now's the time to correct that.  Or learn to deal with it."

Helene sighs, placing her hands on her hips as she looks out the forward viewport.

"I don't think I even want to know," she comments under her breath.

"I'm sure you can guess," Oriana offers, trying her best to stifle the impulse to snicker.  She's mostly successful at that, but completely fails at hiding the way the corners of her mouth twist into a barely-repressed grin.  Sure, there were mundane uses for binder cuffs - some that she was even thinking of employing very, very shortly... but there wasn't a doubt in Oriana's mind as to what type of use Hector had been referring to.

After all, it's what she was thinking, too.

Even Duran had realised his attempt at 'mediation' was becoming something of a farce, so with a sigh he opened his eyes, uncrossed his legs and stood, turning, pausing, gaping at the get up Helene was in before wondering how many lightsabers, weapons, electronics and sets of clothing this woman had.

He was starting to feel a little under-prepared in comparison, with his single set of clothing and one weapon. With a sigh he gestured to Oriana,"Swap." Clearly intending to sit next to Helene and allow her to sit next to Hector.

Oriana offers a reassuring smile to the Jedi, as she moves to slip past him and reclaim her own seat at the front of the cockpit.  She reaches up and gives him a sisterly pat on the shoulder in passing, before falling gracefully into her co-pilot's chair.

Normally, this is where she'd be flipping toggles on the console and firing up her array of sensors and the like, but with the ship still running dark, Oriana elects to simply kick her feet up and relax for a few more minutes instead.

X2 lets forth a guilt-ridden hum.  [Private to group Binary: "Scan = complete | Outgoing messages = cleared | Notice = obvious Imperial signature on deletion."]

"Huh. Really?"  Oriana swivels around in her seat and blinks at the astromech.  "Who wants to know whose messages the Imperials were deleting?" she asks the cockpit as a whole, while spinning around and activating the computer terminals in front of her.  She cuts her eyes sidelong at Hector and grins, reaching for her headset and slipping it on, "If you want to take the slow, scenic route in just this once, I won't argue."

Oriana then focuses all of her attention on the computer terminals and the feedback in her earpiece, as her fingers fly over the keys and strings of mingled text and binary start rapidly scrolling up the screens.

Use Computer: Improve Attitude Unfriendly (-5): Take 10.  10 + 16 -5 = 21 vs. 19
Use Computer: Improve Attitude Indifferent (-2): Take 10.  10 + 16 -2 = 24 vs. 19
Use Computer: Improve Attitude Friendly (0): Take 10.  10 + 16 = 26 vs. 19
Use Computer: Access Information: Take 10. 10 + 16 = 26 vs. 25

If time becomes an issue, Ori will skip the third Improve Attitude check and just work with the computer at Friendly, instead of pushing it all the way to Helpful.

A decidedly more excited series of beeps!  [Private to group Binary: "Target = Correllian Comm Buoy | Designation = 01B | Number of deleted messages since Imperial attack = 38,182 | Speculation = Imperials attempting to circumvent spy attempts."]

"Slow and scenic just means a lot more of this," Hector replied, with a shrug.  "Hell, we can drift all the way towards the planet and the probably won't notice us.  However, once we hit atmo, we'll have to power up.  Power up or burn up." He nodded towards the droid. "Do tell.  I love secrets."

"I was more meaning the route that doesn't get us shot at," Oriana replies with a smirk.  "Turbolaser fire is surprisingly distracting when sneaking around in an Imperial network."  She blinks at the screen and shakes her head, as if trying to register what the astromech has said.

"Thirty-eight thousand messages since the attack? All from that one comm buoy, little guy?" Oriana asks, glancing over at Hector with a look that should say that's the answer to his question, despite being a query of her own.  "Where's that buoy at?"  While waiting for X2 to locate the buoy, Oriana peels her headset off and spins around slightly.

"The Imperials are deleting messages, presumably to prevent anyone getting ahold of them - which makes sense, of course... but that's a LOT of messages all coming through one Corellian comm buoy.  Don't ask me if that makes it located at Imperial Central, or if it's something else, though."

An explanatory whistle.  [Private to group Binary: The droid provides the coordinates of the buoy in question.  "Buoy = One of 61 buoys with hypertransceivers | Corellia = Planet with high population."]

Duran shifted in his seat, glancing around as Oriana worked the computers, nothing he could do to help there so he leaned over slightly in his chair, his hand stretching out to rest on Helene's leg as he smiled a slightly nervous smile at her.

For some reason he was debating mentally whether binder cuffs, shirts or ropes was better and, perhaps unsurprisingly, he decided that he just didn't know enough to make a choice...but he did have a few ideas in his mind about how to approach the topic. The mere thought coloured his face but he was still grinning like a fool and his hand was still on Helene's leg.

Then the beeping started, this time he had his ear piece in and he frowned,"38 000 messages? That is a freaking lot, it's been less than 24 hours. Don't suppose we can divert the messages to the ships computer instead? Maybe picking up a few of them might give us a better idea what's going on....not to mention we might be able to send a few of them on. Some one seems desperate to get a message out."

He looked at Helene and frowned,"How good is GiGi with computers? Maybe we can plug her in to deal with the messages if they start getting sent to the ship." He had no idea if it could be done but it most certainly was a good way to shut the annoying blabber mouth up.

If Duran had any notion that Helene was in any way distracted by his hand, the expression on her face would surely correct his assumption. In fact, standing in the doorway as she is, still looking out the forward viewport with one hand on her hip, one could conjecture she doesn't even feel his touch at all. For only a moment, her forefinger idly meanders around her own chin, before she raises it slightly as if to mark her point.

"If there are sixty one buoys that have hypertransceivers, but only one of them is being blocked, it must be servicing the specific area they want to black out. Perhaps your teammates are in that area?"

An indignant, low-pitched beep coupled with a slow spin of the astromech's "head".  [Private to group Binary: "Assertion = likely incorrect | Number of other buoys checked = zero | Estimated probability that other buoys' logs wiped = 99%."]

Oriana pulls up a map of Corellia, with the location of the buoy and the last known location of the ground team both marked.  The buoy is - perhaps unsurprisingly - almost directly over the indicated area on the surface.  "Yes and no.  That buoy's right by where we left our ground team, no mistake, but the Imperials are probably blocking planet-wide.  Odds are, though, the rest of the planet might not even know they've got a Sith infestation on this side."

That would, of course, explain how the Imperials were keeping the planet blockaded with just a single pair of destroyers.  They weren't.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:45, Wed 15 Aug 2012.

Helene starts to say something, incredulity plain upon her face, then thinks better of it.

"Well then. Speaking of transmissions, then, do our erstwhile associates on the planets surface have cryptological modules? If they don't, it would be better to wait until we're closer before trying to reach them."

At least Duran could comment on this, the rest he had little to say on, letting his hand slide back into his own lap he said,"No, the only person with an encrypted commlink is me, the rest of them are using unsecured comms." All this electronics and stuff he didn't know much about but he had made sure he had an encrypted comm, even if it was a short range one,"I have a pocket scrambler as well as encryption but it wasn't very useful when the rest of the team didn't have it." He did like his electronic toys.

"Encrypted or not, the moment you send a signal, those destroyers are gonna hear it.  They might not know what you're saying, but they'll know you're saying something." Lifting his feet off the console, Hector brought the control yoke back into the locked position, and began the quick sequence to bring the engines and other systems online from standby mode.

"I think we've drifted long enough.  Hold on." Once the engines were hot and ready, he immediately pushed them to the stoppers and aimed the ship on a high angle approach vector to bring them into the planet - hopefully faster than the destroyers could react.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:14, Sat 18 Aug 2012.

"No real need to bother, anyway.  Duran and I are gonna lock onto 'em like Alessian terror moths to a lamp, once we get close enough."  Oriana yanks her headset down to hang around her neck, and pushes aside the search of the comm buoys that had been running, turning her attention to the task immediately at hand instead.

"Wanna get that IFF ready just in case, or feel like seeing if we can get shot at, just for kicks?" she asks, glancing over at Hector and flashing that grin of hers that says she just might not be kidding.

With a chuckle at Oriana's words Duran added,"Ohhhh, getting shot sounds fun, haven't done that in a couple of hours...you want us to man the turrets or we going to wait till they start shooting properly, just to make it fair on them?"

Duran was confident enough in Hector's ability to fly that he doubted he would need to be in the turret but it never hurt to be prepared.

The ship accelerates to full speed quickly.  Oriana's hasty work in getting the ship back together seems to have resulted in no noticeable problems.  As a result, the Imperial patrol does not respond as the Skyfisher goes roaring past.  Likewise, entering atmosphere is a bit bumpy.

Helene has to brace herself with her hands on the door frame when the ship hits the atmosphere, and then quickly slides into the available seat.

"Well, at least they move with typical Sith alacrity," she comments, regarding the way the Skyfisher blows past the patrol.

"Duran? Why don't you see how're they're doing? I'll see if I can get a better fix on their location," she adds, closing her eyes as she concentrates.

Helene will be attempting to sense force users every round until she finds something or is otherwise interrupted.

Duran almost gets up when he spots Helene bracing, like he wants to help her to her seat, but he stops himself and straps his belt on instead. Strapped in he closes his mind and reaches out for Shanda's mind with his own. Time to find out how things are going on the planet's surface. He sends not one but two separate messages to her, he has to smile, finding it oddly ironic that he has an easier time communicating with Oriana, a non-jedi, than he does with Shanda one trained in his own order.
[Private to GM: Duran's mind is filled with concern, humour and a touch of anxiety as he touches Shanda's mind twice. The first is a question"Your Status?" The second more of a statement,"Landmark, landing."

22:28, Today: Duran rolled 24 using 1d20+15. Use Force (Telepathy).
22:28, Today: Duran rolled 22 using 1d20+15. Use Force (Telepathy)]

Duran hears Shanda's reply.  [Private to Duran: Her response is "Safe" and then "Towards spaceport."]