Duran blinked and looked at the others,"They are safe and close to the spaceport....if we head that way we're more likley to detect them." He glanced at Helene to see if she had anything to add to what he knew.

"I already sense them... A lot of them, actually, in the city and... three others, together, below the ground."

Her speech is slow, languid and peaceful, almost as if she's in a trance. She very well might be, in fact, for her face shows the peaceful calm only found when someone is sleeping.

An indicator on the ship's main console begins blinking.  X2 transfers his speech to the display.  "Skyfisher = Receiving message on hailing frequency | Origin = Imperial."

The ship's sensors spout a warning as well.  As though on cue, four Sith fighters come into range sensor, approaching at high speed on an intercept course from the planet's surface.

So much for witty banter.

Oriana had turned her attention to the Skyfisher, being at least a little bit concerned about her hasty repairs holding up.  She knew she was good, but the way she saw it, being worried about screwing up equaled built-in quality control.  So it was that she'd been paying very little attention to Duran and Helene's searching and communicating with Shanda and the ground team.  Kark, the last thing she wanted to do was give the Consular a warning that they were approaching...it would make shooting her that much more difficult.

The sudden appearance of the blinking lights on the console, followed closely by the high-pitched squeal of the sensor's warning catch Oriana's attention instantly, and she turns to Hector.  The way she sees it, they have three options, and the one that includes letting the Imperial fighters escort them to the planet and then trying to talk their way out of things probably isn't the best, given their companions onboard.  Which left them with two viable choices in her book.

"Bluff, or run?"

Duran straightened at the mention of a message, and actually got out of his chair at the mention of fighters,"Well, let's go, into the turrets with us, darling... He put a hand on Helene's shoulder, colour coming to his face as he tried the term of endearment out for the first time.

Grinning like a fool he continued,"You can sense them later. I get the Ion Cannon, you did good on that one Ori, works like a dream." He grinned at the woman, her sisterly support from earlier wasn't going to be forgotten so soon, with that he headed off the ladder, slow enough that Helene could catch up to him.

Hector didn't pay much attention to the indicator, considering he was expecting it.  In fact, it had gone off a little late - the Sith here were a little slow it seemed.  "Well, I ain't slowing down.  You're free to try and bluff if you want.  Plus, at full speed in atmo, those fighters likely won't keep up anyway." Of course, they might have problems once they reached the spaceport, but the fighters would only get one pass before they touched down, likely in a place that had cover.  Leaving Oriana and the others to do what they wished, Hector brought them down a little lower, and kept them at top atmo speed.

"Damn right it does," Oriana retorts to Duran, in the moments before Hector answers.  Despite the fact that she hadn't been expecting anything different, she half-rolls her eyes behind her glasses, and quips - with more than a touch of amusement, "Run it is."

Helene sighs, "Is anyone even going to answer them?"

She comes out of her trance readily, though a serene expression dominates her features still, masking the incredulity in her tone.

"Well, I wasn't planning on it, but if you're gonna insist..." Oriana smirks and flips the toggle to queue up the audio-only transmitter to accept the incoming Imperial communication.  In the split-second it takes her to do so, she slips seamlessly into a cheery rendition of near-perfect Bocce, with just a hint of a Durosian accent.  "Greetings gentlemen! I assume we have you to thank for the lack of CorSec patrols?"  Oriana's amusement is obvious enough that surely even the Imperials on the other end of the commlink can hear it in her tone.

There is a noticeable pause from the other end.  "Identify your ship and state your destination," is the laconic response, and while you don't actually hear it over the comm there is an obvious eye-rolling sigh following the sentence.

Well, that was good at least.  If the Imperials are as bored as they sound on the comm, then perhaps they were letting their guard down a bit - at least enough to not open fire on the Skyfisher just yet.  Unfortunately, Oriana hadn't thought quite this far ahead, and she didn't know squat about the smugglers' runs in Core space.  With any luck, Hector would.  "Kark!" she hisses, finger hovering over the comm toggle, "Give me a smugglers' port on Corellia."
This message was last edited by the player at 15:59, Tue 28 Aug 2012.

Without flipping the comms on, and focused on keeping the ship flying without burning the engines out, Hector says offhandedly, "Anten Deck."

Without missing a beat, Oriana cues up the transmitter again. "This is the Kingfisher," she continues, glancing over at Hector and flashing the briefest of grins, although her obvious amusement is absent from her tone, "Headed for Anten Deck."  She pauses briefly, before adding almost as an afterthought, "Look, I don't know what you guys are here for, and really don't care - there's no profit in it.  Just want to drop our cargo, pick up a fresh load, and get out.  Far as I'm concerned, you guys aren't here."

Duran wondered back into from the passage, clearly something else was going on and he hadn't got the memo or picked up the subtle subtext. He was bad at that sometimes. Leaning against the side he asked,"What's going on? We're screaming towards the planet at top speed, I don't think they'll believe we're delivering holobooks or something. There are no other ships around...."

He really didn't understand what was going on, or why Helene wasn't coming to the guns, seemed like a logical place to him when they were being intercepted by Imperial Vessels.

Helene merely beckons Duran over, softly stating, "Quiet... Just because they're Sith, doesn't mean they cannot be reasoned with. Be ready, but give them a chance to make a smart choice."

Her finger crooked and he was moving before his brain had time to think it over, instinctively he copied what he had seen Oriana do a couple of times to Hector, coming to lean against her chair, one hand resting on her shoulder he shrugged, taking a strand of her hair between his fingers he twirled it gently between his fingers as he listened to Oriana speak, interested to see what reasoning could be had as they rushed the atmosphere.

There is another pause on the Imperial end of the comm.  The fighters are still tailing you, falling behind noticeably though still trying to follow for the time being.

After about fifteen seconds, there is still no response from the Imperials.  You're over civilization at the moment.  Corellian architecture juts up from the ground, followed by a deep-earth mining area featuring kilometers-wide, circular cylinders carved into the planet.  [Private to Dame Helene Decrilla: Keeping an "eye" available to search for Force users, you notice that you are about to pass over the ones who are beneath the ground.]

"They must be wondering if we're really headed where we say we are... and we're about to pass over the three underground. They must be down there somewhere," Helene muses, pointing to indicate the shafts.

Hector perks up, giving the issue some thought.  "That's uh, not a spaceport..." he says, directed primarily at Duran before turning his attention to the newcomer.  "Are you sure?" he asks.

Duran shook his head,"No, it's most likley not them, they must be some that still need to be collected. Mark this place, we'll have to come back I think. Can you scan for imperial presence, so we know what to expect when we return?"

"Oh, for kark's sake," Oriana grumbles under her breath to the cockpit as a whole. "Did you not check?"  She closes her eyes for a second and concentrates on the surface - and specifically on the Force users underground.  If the trio included Shanda Rell, or either of the Sith that had been with the ground crew when they'd last seen each other, she'd know it.

Passing them by would be no issue.  They'd simply come back later, when they didn't have a compliment of Imperial fighters on their tail.

"Shanda's down there." Oriana opens her eyes, continuing in the same confident tone.  "No doubt about it, but the other two aren't the Sith we left her with, and they aren't together."  She quietly made a mental note to have a second discussion with Shanda Rell about what a good thing it was they hadn't wasted their time going to look for the ground team at the spaceport they were most definitely not at.

16:21, Today: Secret Roll: Oriana Cy'Kast rolled 31 using 1d20+11. UtF: Sense Force.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:54, Wed 29 Aug 2012.

"I do not like the options for what that inconsistency entails," Helnee announces calmly, leaning her head towards Durans hand some as she ponders.

A short moment later, she adds, "I think it's time the good Consular and I had a chat. We should probably lose the fighter escort, first."

"Do they charge you by the minute for that mind talk stuff?  Figure it out, please."  Frustrated but still focused, the pilot slows a bit as the lead on the fighters has grown enough that it has eclipsed sensor range.  He turns and continues down another route, away from the spaceport.

Duran rolled his eyes at Oriana's comment,"No, for some stupid reason I trust people." He closes his eyes but even then he feels Helene's lean, his hand dropping lower down the chair to touch her as he reaches out to confirm what Oriana has already said.

His fingers trailed along her cheek and down her neck and then back up again as his mind reached out to the far reaches to search the three minds below.

14:56, Today: Duran rolled 26 using 1d20+15. UTF.

You're not sure if the Imperials fell for ruse or not, but the fighters have not caught up and whomever you were speaking with before has still not responded.  Hector has taken the ship away from the mining area but over terrain that all but Helene recognize as the environs surrounding the manor visited yesterday.