[Private to Duran; Shanda Rell: Mul takes you to what you assume to be the designated meeting room.  The architecture matches must of the rest of the building, with similar attention to drapery and statues.  The long table in the center is lined with chairs, much like the one back at Tython, but much more comfortable-looking.  At the far end of the room is an older looking human woman with gray hair in a Republic military uniform working on something at a computer terminal.  A number of other people begin filing in at around the same time as you.  Two of them appear to be other members of the military, a short, middle-aged green-skinned Twi'lek and a young human, both female.  A tall, black, bipedal droid enters as well, escorted by a young man who you would assume is some sort of technician, who leaves promptly after ensuring the droid is activated.  Finally, escorted in with hands cuffed behind their backs are two other humans, one a red-haired human man with questionable taste in facial hair, and the other a woman with orange shades and auburn hair.  Their cuffs are released promptly as they are brought in, and their guards depart as well.]

[Private to Shanda Rell: You can see the Force around the auburn-haired woman.  You would guess she is Force Sensitive.]

[Private to Oriana Cy'Kast; Hector Terrachova: The next morning, you're ushered back to the Senate palace in a noticeably kinder manner.  Perhaps good behavior has earned you a reprieve?  In fact, this time you're even brought in on the same vehicle.  You land at the same vehicle bay and are escorted to a similar meeting room.  Inside is General Garza again, standing with her back to you at the moment, working on a computer console at the far end of the room.  There are others entering at nearly the same time: a short, older-looking twi'lek female in a Republic military uniform, a young human woman in a similar uniform, a black bipedial droid escorted by what you assume to be a technician, and a trio of robed figures you assume to be Jedi.  One of the Jedi pulls his cowl back to reveal a set of horns revealing him to be a Zabrak, who walks to the far end of the room towards Garza.  Of the other two, one is a younger human male with blonde hair, and the latter, in redder robes a bit uncharacteristic for the Jedi, a Miralukan, judging by the red strip of cloth over her eyes.  As soon as you're in the room, your cuffs are released and your guards depart as before.]

[Private to Serina Ryo; Seely Komad; EAS-05: You come back to the meeting room at the appointed time.  Garza is at a computer console at the far end of the room, with her back to everyone as they enter.  Davin the technician is here again, but leaves as soon as "Easy" ensures that he is ready.  Entering with you are those mentioned in the dossiers: the two Jedi, and the two smugglers, who are cuffed with hands around their backs.  Additionally, with the Jedi is a third, an older-looking male Zabrak, who promptly walks towards Garza and offers a greeting.  Also, there are some guards who escort the smugglers who release them from their cuffs and leave immediately.]

The Republic General and Mul Orth both turn to face everyone as they enter, and offer their greetings.
This message was last updated by the GM at 20:13, Wed 30 May 2012.

Seely nods, offering greetings to all, even to the formerly bound individuals.  She seems, now moreso than ever, like a female cut from diamond to fit the uniform of a soldier, at least when she came in.  Once the marching stopped and she saw everyone and decided this was more a Jedi thing than a military thing, at least for the moment, she became just a little more casual.

"I'm Captain Komad, but any of you can call me Seely when formality doesn't insist otherwise." She offered in introduction to the others, offering a hand shake to everyone, "I wish we could have all met under less trying circumstances."

Duran, his brown robes flowing behind him enters the room, his sense of the force extended to search out the room and the individuals who enter. The Droid is unusual, the two bound people even more so. Was this the Special Operatives Squad? Were some of them here under duress?

He raised an eyebrow, but decided to exercise some of the patience that both his Master and Master Mul went on about. He shook the Twi'lek's hand as well as anyone else who was interested, his attention drifting to the woman with orange glasses and the man with the red hair, their choice of colour and wear made them look a lot like they wanted attention.

Still he waited to hear what was to be said about all this. He simply nodded to the others and introduced himself,"Padawan Duran." His eyes flicked to the Captain and the woman who had come in with her, another soldier? Then his attention was on Mul and the General.

The Jedi in the crimson robes moved forward to shake Captain Komads hand as well. The strip of cloth covering her eyes did not seem to impede her vision in the slightest as her 'gaze' turned to this odd assortment of gathered individuals.

Her gaze seemed to linger on the auburn haired woman, her hooded head tilting slightly regarding the woman with particular interest, when she spoke her voice was soft and even, "Counsellor Shanda, at your services." Stepping back the jedi folded her hands into the volumous sleeves of her robes crossing them softly in front of herself as she waited to see who would next introduce themselves.

Having had a decidedly pleasant night, all things considered, Hector was in a fairly good mood as he was ushered into the room once again.  This time, however, he wasn't so much pushed in as he was encouraged to enter.  Interesting.  Judging by the crowd inside, most of them would be those he was to work with.  It seemed those in charge didn't want it to look like he was here against his will.  At least, not too much anyway, else he'd have been shoved along as per usual.

"I wasn't told there was gonna be a part," he said upon entering.  With his hands free, he was free to shake the twilek's hand.  "Hector Terrachova," he said, announcing his name.  He glanced at the one introducing himself as 'padawan', and noted the ridiculous-looking braid.  It seemed odd for a man so old to be a Padawan, as he understood it.

Most of those that have gathered matched what information was given in yesterday's briefing.  Only one was an unknown, the Zabrak who had entered with the Jedi.  EAS-05's gaze moved from person to person, studying them.

"Greetings.  I am the fifth iteration of the Experimental Anti-Sith droid series.  Designation: EAS-05.  Commander Komad has determined that it is easier to refer to this unit as Easy."  EAS-05 introduced itself, watching the Jedi closely.

Serina steps into the room right after Seely and looks around at the others gathered, frowning slightly at the sight of the two 'criminals' and their hands cuffed behind their backs.

She's wearing her military combat jumpsuit but left her hair long and loose, not bothering to braid it into a ponytail this morning since it seemed unlikely this was more then a first meeting.

She follows Seely's lead and offers a hand to anyone who seems inclined to take it, moving first to offer her left hand but then catching herself and offering her right hand instead

"Sergeant Serina Ryo"

Having been prepared for another shove into the room as before, Oriana is caught somewhat off-guard by the lack of one.  The expression that crosses her face is very similar to Hector's, also taking note of the fact that someone wants them to look less mistreated today.  Probably for the Jedi's benefit, she muses to herself, a hint of a smirk playing at the corner of her lips.

The moment the *click* of her cuffs disengaging hits her ears, she pulls her hands around in front of her.  They really hadn't chafed too terribly, but even so, she reflexively rubs at her wrists while glancing around the room.  Two military uniforms on life forms she hadn't met previously, a droid, and not one, not two, but three Jedi.  This day was looking up already.

She reaches up and pulls her glasses down a fraction, peering over their rims with her dark-colored eyes as the others introduce themselves one by one.  She chuckles as the soldiers give their ranks, cutting her eyes sidelong at Hector, wondering if he was thinking the same thing she was thinking: There isn't but one captain on a ship.  At the same time, she glances over Hector, noting with relief that he didn't appear to have been given his personal effects back yet, either.

"Ori," she offers with a crisp nod, as she moves through the group to drop into one of the chairs.  "Forgive me if I don't shake hands."  She promptly shoves the seat back from the table, and kicks her booted feet up on the edge as she had the day before, one heel balanced atop the toe of the other foot.

The gray-haired general speaks up as the hand-shaking and greetings settle down and people take their seats.  "Thank you all for being on time," she begins, "but I understand there is some urgency, so let's get this started.  You are now Republic Special Operations Squad codename Guardian.  You will be under the direct command of Captain Komad here."  She pauses to extend an arm towards the green-skinned Twi'lek, and does this for every name she lists off.

"Next is Sergeant Ryo, your medic.  She's one of our best, and is pretty good in a gunfight as well.

EAS-05 here is, as it said, experimental technology, with you as both a test and an insurance policy.

This woman here is Oriana Cy'Kast, she'll be your tech specialist, in charge of keeping your ship together and bypassing whatever security protocols might be between you and your objectives.

Hector Terrachova is your pilot.  I'm told he's all right but remain unconvinced.

The two Jedi seated with you are Duran and Shanda Rell.  I suppose I should let Mul Orth here introduce them as I only know their names."

"Ah.  Duran, Padawan, on his knight's trial, skilled with the saber.  Shanda is a consular."  His voice remains soft and difficult to hear if you're in the back.

The General begins pacing with her hands behind her back as she continues.  "You've been brought together in this mixed group as we don't know what we're dealing with.  At least, that's what I'm told," she says, a thin measure of annoyance in her voice as she casts a glance at the old Jedi seated near the computer console.  "Do great things."

She cedes control of the meeting to Orth.

The Zabrak brings up a map on the display, which appears to be of an urban area.  The straight lines indicating roads bisecting the landscape and the tall buildings kind of give it away.  A specific point is highlighted, with coordinates indicated to the side.  It is labeled "Ussol Manor."

Master Orth then says, "To begin, I apologize.  I have asked my fellow Jedi here, and called upon General Garza to bring the rest of you.  But I do not know...what I'm sending you into."

"Don't apologize, Master Jedi, but please indulge us in what you do know.  What is this Ussol Manor?  And why would we be sent in without any idea of what we are about to face?" Seely knows the Jedi can be a bit of a hit and miss bunch, but this one has the General's ear.

"Any detail can improve our efforts, and might see this task done even easier."

Oriana barely manages to stifle a snicker when the General refers to Hector's skills as merely "all right", although she's unable to resist flashing a brilliant grin in his direction.

Although her posture doesn't change, it's a safe bet that when the Zabrak Jedi starts to speak, Oriana is paying attention.  Behind the blank orange facade of her glasses, her eyes flicker over the holomap, and her hands go still, resting with her thumbs hooked in her pockets.

[Private to GM: Galactic Lore check to identify the urban area in the holomap, or any knowledge about the specific "Ussol Manor" - not expecting anything with that horrible roll, alas. :(

22:07, Today: Secret Roll: Oriana Cy'Kast rolled 13 using 1d20+11. Galactic lore . ]

Shanda sat listening studying the diagram and mulling over the Jedi Masters words. There would be elaboration to be sure, or a guideline, but if the Master didn't know what was exactly going on there it meant the Force was clouded. Specialist team, jedi and an Anti-Sith droid. It didn't take a scientist to realize the Orders oldest and most dangerous enemy was likely involved at some level.

Pursing her lips she sat forward intently focusing her sight upon the Master waiting to see what elaboration would be given, hopefully her mind and worry would be set at ease.

Hector didn't seem to notice the comment.  Truth was, he didn't pay it much mind, given that he doubted the General had any frame of reference.  Oriana, at least, knew a bit about him, unlike the General.  He did notice the look she gave him, and merely shrugged.  He debated making a retort about being unconvinced of the General's desk-flying abilities, but by the time he looked away from Oriana, the conversation had already moved on - likely for the best.

"I think a better question might simply be... why are we being sent here?"

The old master bows his head slightly.  "The only thing I can say for sure is that I wish I knew more."  He turns his back to the group and looks at the map, indicating the highlighted coordinates.  "Ussol Manor is a building on the planet Corellia.  Well, let me go back a bit."

He inhales and exhales meditatively, turning back to face all of you.  "I know this may not fill some of you with any sort of shock or awe, but I have recently felt a disturbance in the Force.  With it, a fleeting vision, or...more similar to an image, a bit of information.  The planet Corellia.  Those coordinates.  A sense of urgency.

"The coordinates are in the manor, as you can see.  I don't know much about it.  It's owned by Eimen Ussol, apparently a businessman.  Heavily invested in the development of hyperdrive motivators."  The image on the display switches to a picture of the man, your standard corporate half-smiling well-to-do-looking so-and-so giving the sense of importance and confidence all wealthy businesspeople seem to exude.  "He's got a clean past, or as clean as the records can indicate.  Former Republic veteran, inherited the family business when he got out.

"Now, I would go myself, but...my age has not done me justice.  I am not well-suited to...excitement.  But I worry.  For reasons I find difficult to explain."  He frowns, cupping his chin in one hand in thought for a moment before looking up at everyone.

"Have...I lost anyone?"

"It'd be pretty hard to lose us doc, since you haven't really told us anything."  Hector sighed.  This Jedi business was already proving to be more trouble than it was worth.

"I don't particularly care who this man is or was.  Why do we have to go to this manor on Corellia?  Why not just have the General send one of her Intelligence spooks over to knock on his door.  It'd be a lot faster seeing as how its Corellia.  Probably have a whole legion stationed there." He glanced at the two Jedi that had been assigned to their team.  "Beyond that... a sense of urgency?  That doesn't really mean much.  Should we go in shooting?  Should we expect shooting?  Hell, a sense of urgency could just mean one of his kids forgot to do a school assignment."  Normally not one to pry for questions, Hector at least liked a little information.  Not asking what was in a box was one thing; being told to go to a place based on just a feeling was something else.

"Oh, come on Hector."  Oriana reaches up and pulls her glasses down, to glance across the table over their rims.  "We just have to go see what's up, feel around a bit.  Think of it as a paid vacation to Corellia," she adds with a grin, which quickly fades as she turns to the General.  "We are getting paid, right?"

She didn't harbor any ill will towards the elderly Jedi, and in fact she felt a little sorry for him, having to try to explain this situation to this group.  But the General was another matter.  She'd 'forgotten' to deliver that holo last night, first off, and Oriana still wasn't seeing her or Hector's things being returned any time soon.

The Captain listens to Hector's concerns and Oriana's response as well, trying to process the Jedi's words all the while.  Really, this one seems to be speaking more on the 'I see the Force' and less on the 'I see reality' level.

"So, Eimen Ussol could be in danger, he could be a traitor, or he could be already dead, and you need a small group of elite operatives with skills in about all facets of interstellar travel and combat that can blend in with normal people, to find out what's going on?" Seely looks around the group, trying to gather the others' impressions.

Duran kept his face as impassive as he could but even he couldn't keep the exasperation the others were feeling from showing. They had nothing but a location, no idea why they had to go there and no idea what they had to go on.

Still perhaps some carefully considered questions should help clear things up,"Do we have time frame in which we need to infiltrate the Manor? Does your vision indicate if we must enter immediately?"

He looked at the others and then back at the Master,"Does the vision show what role we each have to play or have you selected us based on our merits?" In particular he looked at the two prisoners, the woman with the orange spectacles who sat so rudely and the man with the scar and strange beard.

"Perhaps we can gather some information before we go in, weapons ready."

Serina listens to the story of the oldest of the Jedi, and to everyone's questions before adding her own thoughts.

"Well I don't know how the force works, or how the Jedi ways work, but I know they are real, and i'd like to think the force is on our side. So if you feel we have to go there, that's enough for me for now"

She ponders for a moment and trails her left hand slowly through her own hair in an old habit.

"I do think going in quietly and preferably in disguise is better by far then going in blazing. Since we don't know why we're even going. We don't want to cause the problem we are trying to prevent, or make it worse"

"Visions through the Force are rarely so clear to tell exactly what happens. Some Jedi focus thier training to see further through these visions but it is not a common discipline." said the soft voice of Shanda from where she sat, her sight focused on the image the Master showed. "A distrubance is usually all a Jedi has to go on and a few scraps of information as the Master has revealed. But if something is disturbing the natural flow of the Force it must be serious, we should make arrangements to look into this as soon as possible."

The crimsoned robed jedi sat back her 'gaze' shifting to the others particularly the ill mannered Hector, "These disturbances aren't minor trivialities. Ever. When a Master feels a disturbance it usually is something of great import to the well being of the galaxy. For those of you with monetary concern, consider the target. The prime developer of Hyperdrive motivators.  If something happens to them what happens to the quality and prices of parts for your ships? Is it not in your own vested interest to ensure both concepts remain as they are?"

Shanda fell silent for a moment her gaze returning to Mul Orth, "When do we leave Master?"

"Valid point.  A vacation would be nice, although I'm not sure I would consider Corellia a prime location for relaxing..." He shrugged.  It was a nice thought, although he doubted he would get the chance to relax with these Jedi and military stiffs around all the time.  They'd end up making him do things, no matter how much he used the 'pilot' excuse.  Plus, he wasn't that good at lying when it came to his skills, be it piloting or shooting.

Fortunately, it seemed a few of the others shared his concerns.  The blind Jedi - the Miralukan or whatever she was - did not.  Hector didn't find this the least bit surprising.  He remember her being called a consular by the Master.  In his dictionary, that was more akin to a monk or priest of the order, whereas a Knight, or a battle-focused Jedi, was your average soldier.

"The galaxy is on the brink of war.  One guy stops makin' parts, someone else will swoop right in to fill the gap.  Cycle of life.  Business life anyway.  Now, I'm willin' to grant you know more about this Force stuff than I do, but the way I see it, these visions are of the future, or things yet to happen usually, right?  Things that may happen, could happen, hence the urgency?  Isn't it equally possible, then, that by merely going to this place, we set off the horrible event you guys envisioned?  Unavoidable future sorta deal, or unintentional cause and effect, I dunno."  Hector shrugged, then kicked up his feet in a manner similar to Oriana.  "Makes no difference to me though.  Its too late to back out and, to be honest, a starship cabin is a lot more comfortable than those holding cells."

"Such is a fair estimate I will grant." Shandas gaze returned to Hector, her hooded head tilting slightly to regard the man with a smile, "But even as one who has lived most of her life amongst holocrons I cannot say the fear of doing something has ever held sway with myself. For you? In your life do you fear that your actions will always make things worse not better? So much so you are moved to inaction? You do not strike me as the type."

"He's not afraid."

Oriana pivots her head around to the Miraluka, meeting her gaze.  Or well, where her gaze would be, if she had eyes.  "In our line of work, you plan for every contingency.  Jedi might traipse about the galaxy empty-handed on a wing and a prayer, but the rest of us in here are used to a having a bit more information to plan with than that."

She shrugs, and glances over at Hector once more.  "To be fair, though, if Master Orth's felt a disturbance in the Force, it's probably something already in motion."

Despite her disrespectful pose, and slightly abrasive manner, Oriana's usual sarcasm is absent when she speaks that last.

"Likewise we are used to a little more trust and respect for our masters and our 'feelings'.", although his voice held no censure he was just reminding them, both of the prisoners were surprisingly respectful all things considered.

"And if whatever it is, is in motion, we don't want to give it too much time to gather momentum. The sooner we start the more time we have to find out what it is, somethings are better stopped early." or started early, he thought to himself, before things get out of hand.

"I agree, if only because we lack a strong choice in the matter.  Even if I was able to choose to simply leave right now, I don't think I'd be able to ask myself 'would you be willing to let the worst happen?' and answer 'yes'."

The Jedi nods as each of you speaks, acknowledging your comments.  "It is the way of the Jedi to seek understanding.  I have tried, I have searched my feelings for anything that could help clarify this...this message.  No one else seems to have felt it among my peers, so I conclude it was intended for me."  He looks back at the screen, switching it back to the map.  "But I have never been to Corellia.  I do not know many outside the Order.  Nay, outside the Temple!"  A hint of frustration pierces the Zabrak's calm, and, noticing, he breathes deeply once to center himself.

"As some of you may know, a tactic of the Sith is to cloud, to sort of...seed the Force with the shroud of the dark side, before they strike.  I believe that this shroud is falling, sealing the intentions of the Emperor's loyal behind it from our view.  I feel it, something is about to happen.  But what this manufacturer of motivators has to do with it, I cannot guess.  That is why I need you to go."

Garza cuts in.  "Intelligence is spread thin at this point, and given the...urgency," she says, casting another annoyed glance at Orth, "we wanted to get a team on this right away.  Corellia is a neutral planet, despite having had a hand in founding the Republic so long ago.  There is no reason to think we shouldn't be cautious."

Shanda turned her face to Oriana and inclined her head, "Oh I do not think him afraid. As I say he does not seem the type. But by the same token sitting here will accomplish nothing." Motioning towards the display with her hand she turned to face the image.

"I am not one to suggest rushing in blindly, but this place is on another world, the information this far away from the disturbance is uncertain at best, with no disrespect meant to the venerable Master. Thus it stands the reason the sooner we travel to this distant world the sooner we can gain the information to come up with a lasting plan of merit." Turning her face again to Oriana she smiled, "It is not impatience or a naive belief that urges my desire for speed. Merely a reluctance to waste time on fretting over something I have no control over. We shall need to travel there to get the information we need to plan accordingly...best to simply travel there and get to work no? The Force will guide us, shrouded it may be but we shall pull back that shroud in due course."

The Captain just watches for the moment.  The Jedi and the General both have merits to their arguments.  Besides, if this is a matter of Republic security, this matter can either be handled by the best or it will be handled by the rest.  Of course, Jedi could get worked up by a baby on the other side of the planet sneezing really loudly.  This could just be a house-call to gun down some muggers or terrorists, and then it could also be over in a flash...or it could be a galaxy spanning epic that could cost some or all of them their lives.

Life is hit and miss like that when Jedi and the Force is involved.

"Look, I don't care," Oriana interjects with a slightly exasperated sigh, glancing across the table at Hector.  "The General says we go to Corellia to stay out of those cells, we go to Corellia.  I just want my stuff back."

Ultimately, that's what it came down to for her.  The last thing Oriana wanted was another night in that makeshift cell.  She was worried about her X2, and the Skyfisher, and she was sick and tired of being prodded and led about bereft of her weapons and tools.

This briefing was fascinating to EAS-05.  Its only interaction with organics, prior to these briefings, had been with the technicians in the R&D facilities.  Those organics it was used to and these organics it is now in the company of all seemed similar in its photoreceptors.  Various egos brushing up against one another.  The beginnings of an argument brewing.  Concepts that it did not understand being discussed.

"General Garza, was Jedi Mul's belief that the Sith are causing a darkening of his sense the reason for my reactivation?"  To EAS-05's dismay, only once had the Sith been  throughout this briefing.

"As I said, we are covering our bases.  I assume you are capable of combating other entities, Unit Five?  There are no confirmed Sith hostiles as of yet."

Can I use a baseball reference in Star Wars?  YES.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:06, Mon 28 May 2012.

"Anyway, again, I don't know what we need to do here.  I need someone to get to these coordinates and report back with what they find.  With the growing hostile climate in the galaxy, I want to make sure that someone, or...those someones...are protected."

"I understand.  Get there, find out what is happening, and act if necessary.  All right.  I can do that."

Serina nods after taking in everything the others have said.

"It sounds like all we can do is get there, and lead whatever fortune or fate find us, then we do our best to meet the challenge. And it'll be an excellent excuse to wear something fashionable"

"Good.  Mr. Terrachova, Ms. Cy'Kast, your things will be aboard the ship.  It's being prepped at the palace's adjoining ship dock, in bay 3.  It'll be easy enough to follow the signs.  Please make your way there, you've got clearance for takeoff at any time.  Corellia is about 12 hours' time through hyperspace from orbit.  Be well."

Duran stood ready to leave, although he looked a little worried, particularly about the fashionable part of the whole idea. He didn't have any money, and he was sure neither did Shanda...what would they wear as part of their disguise?

"General," Oriana pulls her feet off the table and stands, knuckling the small of her back briefly.  "My X2's on the Skyfisher, too, yeah?  Please tell me your techs didn't wipe his memory or anything silly like that."

She moves to the end of the table and waits there, seemingly for Hector.  Docking Bay 3. She wanted to get to the ship as soon as possible, to sweep over it before takeoff.  The Republic military's crews were probably competent to fuel and prep it, but she wasn't going to take any chances.

"Yes, Ms. Cy'Kast.  After our discussion yesterday I ensured the droid would be available."

"Excellent."

Oriana nods crisply to the General, and pushes her glasses more securely onto her nose, before turning to the elder Jedi.  The technician folds her arms in front of her, one hand curled over the opposite wrist, and bows smoothly to the elder Jedi, "May the Force be with you, Master Orth."

With that, she spins on her heel to look over the others in the room, flashing a broad grin, "Hope you all pack light."  Then, if none of the guards stop her, Oriana makes her way to the door, on a beeline for Docking Bay 3.

Thankfully, Seely is quick and well-prepared enough to not be far behind the group.  She packed for just about any situation, but managed to stay fairly light on gear...

Shanda rose from where she sat and bowed slightly, "May the Force be with us all if this turns out to be what is expected." Her voice was soft but determined, turning to follow after the others. What she wore was what she had to take with her and she was ready to get the mission under way.

Once the meeting was complete, Hector nodded politely to the General and the Jedi Master, then smiled at Ori and the rest. "Well then ladies, droid, and Padawan, if there's nothing else, let us make haste." Allowing Oriana to lead the way, as she seemed most intent on getting there, Hector headed out the door.

Oriana's purposeful pace slows slightly, allowing for Hector to catch up.  Once he does, she glances over her shoulder at the others, and then returns her eyes to the corridor ahead of them.  When she speaks, without looking at him, her voice is soft and designed to not carry much past the two of them.

"I don't know about you, Terrachova, but I want a once-over on that ship before we take off.  I'm not sure I trust the government to not have planted a tracker or something worse on her."

Hector matched Ori's pace, letting the soldiers and the Jedi walk at their own pace.  Plus, they couldn't match the swagger he and Ori had, so it was for the best. 

"As little as I trust them myself, I doubt they'd put 'something worse' on her, since they're sending along their own people as well.  Still, it'd be a good idea to check - probably pretty easy too.  I bet you know that ship better than any of the techs that might've looked her over."

Oriana snorts, and nods.  She catches herself more than once, reaching for the reassuring weight of her blaster at her hip as they saunter down the corridor, still not accustomed to its absence.

"I wouldn't put it past them to try something stupid like rigging her to explode, if we try to fly anywhere other than Corellia.  You know it's got to have crossed their mind that we could just up and take off."

She glances over her shoulder again, running a quick count of the others that were along for this little party, the results of which have her snickering as she turns back around.  "I counted seven in there, not counting the Zabrak and the general."

Hector shrugged.  He didn't trust the Republic any more than Ori did, but he did trust in their stubbornness to not become their enemies.  It paid to be careful though.

"I'll leave it to you, then, to make sure we don't blow up if we have to make a detour," he said, with a chuckle.  If there was one thing he did trust, it was her will to survive.

"Six of us, plus a droid," Hector agreed.  "Although I don't get why that's funny.  Perhaps you could be a dear and clue me in?"

"Marigg only kept a crew of five."

Oriana grins over at the pilot, waiting for that to sink in.  Smugglers weren't usually in the business of transporting passengers.  Sure, it happened sometimes, but not usually often enough to justify converting valuable cargo space into passenger accommodations.

"Crew of five, huh?"  Hector paused in thought for a moment. "Guess one of the Jedi's gonna have to sleep on a mat, or do that meditating thing.  Unless..." he glanced across at Ori with an eyebrow raised.  "Marigg keep a double bed for himself, as any reasonable Captain would?"

"Of course," Oriana quips.

A slow grin spreads across her face as she adds teasingly, "Why? Thinking of offering to share with the padawan, so us ladies can all have our own rooms? How gentlemanly of you."  It's with some effort that she manages to get this out with even the slightest semblance of a straight face, and she's clearly having to work to avoid dissolving into outright laughter.

"Unfortunately for you ladies, I'm not that gallant.  Besides, he's nowhere near as pretty as I am.  It just wouldn't be right." Hector seemed not to notice Oriana's expression.  Or, more likely, he was ignoring it.  "Offer's open to you though.  Maybe those two soldiers as well.  Not sure about the blond Jedi though, he seems rather... rigid."

Seely steps up to the two conversing members of her crew.  She hasn't heard the most of the conversation, of course, but she doesn't really care for much.

Busting their hides for what they haven't done yet, unfortunately, won't make them any less likely to bolt if they get the opportunity.

She speaks calmly, "Hector, Oriana.  You two are a little more keen with ships and that sort of thing.  First order of business is to make sure nothing's wrong with it.  I know it sounds like a basic thing, but I'd like it sorted in case the technicians got lazy.  And, if there's any extra equipment you feel you need, I'll see what I can do to arrange it...I don't want anyone in my squad being under-equipped."
This message was last edited by the player at 04:18, Tue 29 May 2012.

Oriana glances over her shoulder, barely missing a beat of her stride.  "Yeah.  We could use at least a half-dozen explosive charges, with an equal number of detonite packs and timers.  A full dozen of each would be even better."

She cuts her eyes sidelong at Hector, holding his eye for a moment before continuing, "Don't worry.  I know that ship better than anyone alive, and believe me, I'll make sure none of those military schlubs messed her up before we launch."

"A crate of Corellian Brandy would be top notch as well," he said, joining Oriana in the quick shift of conversation.  He would bring up their problematic rooming arrangements later. "Of course, I imagine we can pick that up easily once we arrive on Corellia."

He did find it interesting that Seely had made the same request Oriana suggested earlier.  While she didn't seem to suspect the same things, it was something to note nonetheless.  "I'll trust out technician with most of that.  The cockpit, however, I can take care of.  We won't be taking off if there's anything wrong with her, you can be sure of that."

"Good.  I'll see what I can do about the explosive charges, but you know that that's a bunch of red tape all on its own, especially when we're merely supposed to be going to a location." Seely shrugs her shoulders, turning her eyes toward the female human, "You know the ship, then?  Anything I should know?"

"They might come in handy, if someone's barricaded in the Manor.  I'd offer my own charges, but I've got no delusions that the good General's left those on the ship, with everyone pilfering through her.  We're going to be lucky to get our sidearms back," Oriana grumbles. "If you can't get 'em, we can always try to score some on Corellia if we need them, that'll just draw more attention than we might want.  Detonite's not exactly something you stroll down to the corner and pick up."

She shrugs, continuing on for a few steps while thinking how best to answer the second question.  "Skyfisher doesn't look like much on the outside, but she's fast where it counts.  If it looks like you shouldn't touch it on the inside, don't.  Some of her modifications are, hell, most of her mods are more than they seem.  Beyond that," she pauses a moment, to really look at the Twi'lek for a moment.  "Don't scare my X2, he's sensitive, and he's been terrorized enough by the military this week, I imagine."

That's right, she said 'X2', as in an X2-C3 Imperial astromech.

Seely nods, glad that she's working with someone who is somewhat reasonable, at least.  That little bit of happiness, however, is drowned in the fact that she has no real clout to make demands here.  If someone blocks the General from providing proper assistance, they're on their own.  To explain it to a civilian, of course, is not something she has time for on the best day.

"I'll do my best, but I've got some credits left over if we need to make some purchases on Corellia.  Military bureaucrats make politicians look like younglings, I assure you."

Duran bowed to the Master before slipping out and following the others, he was a little slow to catch up but was there in time to here the Captain talk to the woman in her orange glasses.

With a frown he asked,"What is the name of the ship? And do we have a full compliment of crew?" He lifted his hands and rubbed his face,"Also once we're in space do you think you can tell me where the cabin's are. We left as out planet was going into night cycle....it's time to catch up on some sleep...how long will it take us to get to Corellia?"

Serina follows the others into the corridor, taking a moment to catch up and only catching the last of the conversation.

"I believe the general said it would take about twelve hours to the system, plenty of time to catch up on some sleep. Does your ship have a medical bay by any chance? Or should I set up one in a cargo bay?"

Suddenly barraged with questions, Hector glanced from the Padawan to Serina.  "General's got the right of it, though it could be an hour or two more or less, depending on traffic and such leaving the planet.  I'll defer you to Oriana for the med bay, as its not my ship.  We've more than enough crew to man the ship, although that brings up one issue with the cabins we'll have to deal with once we get to the ship.  Oh, and I think its called the Kingfisher or some silly thing."

Shanda stayed silent walking amongst the others, all seemed quite relevant enqueries so she had nothing to add of her own. Keeping her own peace she matched the pace of the others, keeping her 'sight' open as she listened to the various discussions.

Oriana glares at Hector over the rim of her glasses.  "She's the Skyfisher.  Get it right, Terrachova."  She punctuates this last with a grin, before slowing down slightly to begin answering the other questions.

"Yes, she's got a medbay that should be fine for anything short of fancy cybernetic surgery, but you'll probably want to take a gander at the inventory there and stock up if there's anything else you require while we're doing pre-flight prep."

"Hector and I are your full compliment of crew, but I'm hoping at least two or three of you are capable of manning quad lasers.  If you aren't, we've got time to learn. I've got no delusions that it won't be necessary at some point."

She pauses somewhat, taking in the padawan's weary expression.  "You know the difference between port and starboard, Duran? There's a trio of cabins on the starboard side that should be empty, you can catch a nap in one of those." She glances over the rim of her glasses at Hector again, "Captain Terrachova and I are going to have to discuss the allocation of the portside ones before anyone gets themselves permanently ensconced in those, though."

Duran made a mental note of the name of the ship, clearly it was important to her, he nodded at her note on the quadlasers,"I'd be eager to learn how to shoot the lasers, I think that might be something I could be good at, my training in the force and combat should come in handy."

He frowned when she spoke about the rooms thought,"I think I can tell the difference between left and right, even if you use different names. So I can use the right side ones....." He chuckled as her words made him realise something was up,"What, do we not have enough space to sleep? We can always put mats in the med bay, and I don't think the droid needs a bed. How much space do we have?"

Oriana chuckles, flashing Duran a genuine smile. "Hey, you'd be surprised how many people have never been on a starship before and don't know what 'port' and 'starboard' mean. I like to cover my bases, and I'll be happy to show you how to work the guns."

She rubs at the back of her neck with one hand, buying some time before answering the last, realizing that she was probably going to regret this.   "The former crew was set up for five, so as far as private beds go, we don't have but five.  I wouldn't worry about sleeping on the floor, though." Oriana grits her teeth slightly behind her smile, resisting the urge to glance at Hector as she continues, "Terrachova and I can share, one of us is probably going to always be up, anyway."

Duran nodded,"I look forward to it, I think that it might be a good lesson if this team becomes more than just a flash in the pan." It would be a useful skill all round.

Her answer made him smile, her solution less so, he could feel through the force she was less than happy with the idea and he immediately shook his head,"No, Ma'am, that would not be acceptable. I have had to sleep on a mat all my training, I will sleep in the medbay. You can use my bed. I do not feel that anything else would be satisfactory. Although I may need to steal one of your blankets."

Oriana holds up a hand to cut off the padawan before he can finish.

"One, don't ma'am me, and two, take the bed, Duran.  We're not going to all be down for a snooze at the same time anyway, there's no point in stressing over it. Besides," she adds with a disarming grin, "Passengers get the cabins, and you're a passenger.  Trust me, the captain and I are going to be just as likely to be asleep in the cockpit, and it's the standard arrangement when carrying extra passengers."

She might have gritted her teeth about giving Terrachova the satisfaction, but the arrangement itself was nothing she was unused to.  On the rare instance the Skyfisher had carried passengers previously, she and Marigg had done the same thing.

"Nevermind that I, myself, may very well sleep differently as well." Seely interjects, a little amused by how readily these people were fighting over the right to not sleep in a bed.

Oriana shrugs, "I don't care where you sleep, long as you're not in the way.  But you get a cabin to stow your gear, at the very least, whether you sleep in it or not."  She pauses, waiting for a turbolift to carry them to the level of the docking bays, using that moment to peel her glasses off and look over the collective group.

"I don't know if any of you are used to living aboard ship, but it can get a little cramped, in a big hurry.  You might think you're being gallant and self-sacrificing now, but a month out in space, you'll be glad to have someplace with a closed door to call your own."  She shrugs, pushing her glasses back onto her face and stepping through the doors as they open, adding, "Terrachova and I are used to it.  End of discussion."

Duran's mouth was caught open, and it stayed that for awhile as Oriana spoke, finally he closed it. Shaking his head he thought Well, at least I offered....just thought it was better to keep her safe.

Shaking his head again he nodded at her order,"Whatever you say." He wondered if she would be that quick to take orders from him when it came to his area of expertise, somehow he doubted it. She was going to be difficult he could tell.

Shanda chuckled softly the hooded head tilting slightly glancing sideways at the discussion with some amusement. Returning her focus on the path ahead her soft voice piped up, "Your words reflect greatly on your ship, I take it you and it have been together a great deal?"

Seely is sure, however, that this new arrangements beats the heck out of sharing a fighting hole with two amorous Rodians, whether she gets to sleep on the floor in the cargo bay or in her own bunk.  Hopefully, they'll be just as dependable in the field as they are at taking charge of this starship.  After all, someone could get shot for their lack of speed to respond to orders, but that could be just the same with the Jedi.  These kids are not soldiers, even if they're more disciplined than most.

"If the coveted spot of not having a bunk is so up for grabs, Duran, I'm sure we could make a contest for it." She approaches the young Jedi, chuckling, "I'm kidding, of course.  We could get another bunk welded into one of the rooms if we're going to be doing this long-term, though."

Duran shot a look at the older Twi'lek and grinned,"I had a Twi'lek master, I learnt early on not to have any contests with them." He nodded at her words,"Perhaps we can get the materials now, if we're going to be travelling for that long it won't take long to weld it on, and while I'm no mechanic I can assist."

Oriana laughs, leaning up against the side wall of the turbolift with her heavy boot pressed against the door to hold it open while everyone filters in.  For a moment, she glances directly at Duran in such a fashion as to make the gesture unmistakeable, even behind the blank facade of her glasses.  [Private to Duran: Duran suddenly realizes he can feel Oriana in his head, along with a wash of emotion that can only be described as calm appreciation, and hear her voice say, "Relax, it's fine".  Then, as quickly as her thoughts popped in, they disappear.]

Then she flashes a brilliant grin, and turns to answer the Miraluka, "Going on five years, now."

As the ongoing discussion bounces back and forth, the group finds themselves standing before the Skyfisher in the aforementioned Bay 3.  A Dynamic-class freighter, it's a half-disc at the back with the engines, and a number of obtrusive rectangles at the front.  It appears to be fairly well-armed and is dark gunmetal gray, heavily scuffed up and scratched, with the typical paint scheme for the Dynamic-class rendered in blue on the dorsal surface, and green on the ventral.



As you board, the X2 droid Oriana mentioned is nowhere to be found at first glance, but you find a pair of bags labelled "EVIDENCE" in which Oriana and Hector find their missing belongings.
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:32, Tue 29 May 2012.

OOC: Also pointing out that the Skyfisher is more heavily armed than the standard Dynamic-class, carrying dual laser cannons on both port and starboard side (an upgrade from the singles that come stock), as well as a quad laser turret on the dorsal surface (an upgrade from the stock dual turret), and a completely aftermarket dual ion cannon on the ventral surface.

Like a child rushing to reclaim a favorite toy, Oriana is the first into the bay, striding confidently across the open space, her boots echoing on the plated floor.  "Hey baby, miss me?" she asks no one in particular, although odds are high she's talking to the ship itself.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:18, Tue 29 May 2012.

Serina studies the ship briefly, but being neither a pilot or a mechanic the only thing she can testify to is that it seems to have more guns then another ship it's size, which may draw unwanted attention. Then she moves on into the ship while speaking.

"If anyone is sleeping in the medical bay it'll be me. But I wouldn't worry about sleeping arrangements too much. After 2 months in the wilderness, even a hangar floor would do. At least there wouldn't be poisonous snakes and razorboars"

Once inside she starts to look around for the medical bay, just to get her bearings.

Seely's just glad that the ship isn't held together with duraplastic and the Force, at least from first glance.  It'll get them to Corellia, though she hopes that those guns on it don't come to too much use.

"Too right, Sergeant.  This is about as pleasant as military assignments get." With that said, Captain Komad steps around to inspect the ship, mostly to familiarize herself with the sections and all the other stuff that's around.

Shanda similarly wandered around the outside of the ship though it was more a look of study upon her face, often reaching out to run her fingers across a piece of metal or access point. She truely didn't 'get' ships or the attachment that pilots put on the vessel but she had to admit it felt well made. In truth she didn't even really see the ship, her sight could distinguish it from everything else but it was less solid than one of its crew.

Smiling she stepped away and moved back with the others folding her hands once more into the sleeves of her robe and waited patiently for those that knew more about such matters to finish up thier inspections.

Duran's eyes met Oriana's and he blanched, it took only a few seconds for him to realise what was going on and immediately his face went deadpan. His eyes though followed Oriana out to her ship, never leaving her for a moment as he considered his newest revelation.

His mind awhirl he slipped closer to the ship, the green and blue patterns hardly even registering as he tried to make sense of the new information. Eventually his eyes caught sight of the guns and he asked Oriana,"Which of the turrets would you like me to get familiar with? Top or bottom?"

They both looked like powerful guns and while he had little interest in guns while he was on foot in a ship like this it was crucial that he got used to the big guns. The Sith had many skilled pilots and ships, and somehow he knew they were going to be running from them at some point.

"Oh, I'm used to it alright," was Hector's only reply to Oriana's acceptance of his suggestion.  Although he did have a cocky grin, his tone didn't seem to match it.  It was as though he was both amused by the situation, and enjoying a memory of long hours spent in the cockpit at the same time.  Beyond that, he was content with listening to the group bicker over who would be taking the floor.  It was all rather amusing given that things had already been decided.

Eventually, they arrived in the hangar bay.  The Skyfisher was a Dynamic-class freighter, that much he had already known.  However, given how easy the ships were to modify, he hadn't been able to comment on the ship to any great degree - no two were alike at this point.  Fortunately, this ship was rather heavily armed, and seemed to be in good enough condition.

Of course, the first thing Hector noticed and acted on was the evidence bag. He wasted no time in opening it up in the search of his weapons, then provided they were there, strapping the bandolier and holster on.  Only once that was finished, did he look over to Oriana, who seemed to be having a moment with the ship.

"So, gonna give me a tour?"

"If you can handle one, you can handle the other." Oriana looks up from rummaging about in the evidence bag containing her gear.  As she talks, she busies herself with untangling the contents, and methodically securing them to her person.  "Top gun's a quad laser cannon, heaviest thing we can pack without breaking into military-grade hardware.  It's got better coverage, but is functionally identical to the fire-linked port and starboard guns," she glances up, shrugging into a shoulder holster packed with a plethora of small pockets and compartments spread over the surface area of the harness, carefully adjusting the anchor strap around the front of her ribcage to where the buckle sat comfortably above the cropped hem of her shirt.  "We control those two from the cockpit, but they'll only cover to the front."

Oriana flips the catch on the holster and withdraws a polished silver blaster from beneath her arm.  For a moment, all of her attention is on the weapon, as she efficiently extracts the power pack to check the charge, before shoving it back into the blaster, which promptly returns to its home beneath her left arm.  "Belly turret's different.  That's an ion cannon," she glances up and grins, while reaching for the next item in the bag.  "Because sometimes you just want to disable your target, instead of blowing it to bits."

She straightens, slinging a heavy tool belt around her hips with an economy of motion.  Her hands run over the various pockets and pouches, verifying by feel that each and every tool and device is in its allocated spot, and that none are missing.  "It's still good in a dogfight, though, don't get me wrong.  Frying a ship's systems will really kark up someone's day," she snickers, nodding to Hector in the process, leaving little doubt as to whether or not they've had firsthand experience with just such an occurrence.

Oriana picks up the bag and withdraws the last item, a heavy, military-grade blaster that seems less appropriate for her slender frame than the sleek silver one beneath her arm.   She hefts the massive black weapon smoothly, obviously practiced in its use, and sights down the corridor for a long moment, before bringing the blaster up in front of her face.  She passes her free hand over its bulky contours, checking the fit and file of the weapon's modifications, as well as checking the power pack as she had on the previous one.  Content that no harm has been done to what is obviously her personal sidearm, she slips it securely into the holster dangling from the right side of her belt, commenting while bending to secure the lower strap of said holster around her thigh, "Take your pick, really. Six of one, half dozen of the other. Controls are going to be the same on top and bottom, bottom's maybe a hair more disorienting, depending on how you feel about hanging in space."

Having finished rearming herself, and answering Duran's question, Oriana tosses her now-empty 'evidence' bag at Hector.  "Of course, and anyone else who wants one, too, but you get the foreshortened version for the moment.  I have systems to check and a droid to locate."

"As long as you cover the important bits, I can do with a shortened version," Hector replied, tossing the empty evidence bag away along with his own.  Giving Oriana a chance to take the lead, he nodded towards the large blaster of hers.  "That's a pretty big gun for a lady," he remarked, putting extra emphasis on the word 'lady', as he knew they had already gone over the fact that Oriana was hardly one at all, no more than Hector was a gentleman.

"I am sure even a shortened version will be most enlightening." came the jedis usual soft voice, her head tilted regarding all the different things the two pulled from either bag with interest. Still her head lifted to regard the ship, of far more interest.

Duran listened carefully nodding and looking at the various guns as she spoke, although when she started strapping on her own weapons he watched that too. Interested to see her choices, the tool belt earned a smile as did the shoulder holster and it's pockets. Seems that he had something in common with the unusually woman.

He looked up at the top gun and then under the ship at the Ion Cannon and said,"I'd prefer to learn the Ion Cannon..." He'd like to keep lifetaking to a bare minimum if he didn't have to and an Ion Cannon sounded like a good way to go about that.

He didn't answer as far as the tour went, just eyed Hector out and moved closer to Oriana, clearly intending on taking up the offer of a tour as well.

"Good thing I'm not a lady," Oriana cuts her eyes sidelong at Hector, smirking.  "Besides, as much as you crack on my accuracy, I figure every shot needs to count."

Oriana's tour is perfunctory, pointing out the important areas of the Skyfisher to anyone following along and listening.  She covers the common area of the main hold, where the food is, how to jiggle the lock on the refresher to make sure it catches.  She points out the directions leading to the two groupings of private quarters.  "Three cabins starboard, one port.  Port's larger, but not as private as the other three, because the captain's cabin access is through it.  You four can fight amongst yourselves for who gets which one, makes no difference to me, but Duran might be most comfortable taking the port cabin, to give the three ladies some privacy starboard."  She punctuates the last with a shrug, turning to head to the rear of the ship and ignoring the corridor to the cockpit for now.

"Medbay," she gestures as they pass the room where Serina's taking inventory.  "Turret access," she points out the ladder that disappears into identical rising and descending tubes off the side of the hall.  She pauses in the corridor and gestures to the left and right, indicating the main and ancillary cargo holds.  "Stay out of my engine room," she raps the sealed door at the rear of the vessel, flashing a grin at the collective group, before opening a door into a small, sealed off area of corridor.

There, she stops and whistles a short stream of notes, that some might recognize as similar to the language droids use. [Private to group Binary: "Hey little guy, you in there?"]

"Step back a second?" she asks, crouching down and sliding her hand into a crack between two sections of the flooring.
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:14, Wed 30 May 2012.

There in the flooring is a droid, an X2-C3 for sure.  It seemed to be running in a low-power mode, but activates quickly when the floor is opened up.  It begins its cacophony of whistling and beeping responses immediately.

[Private to group Binary: X2 = online, here | X2 = happy to see you | Query? = identification of others | Query? = location of Kai Marigg]
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:14, Wed 30 May 2012.

"Not a lady indeed," Hector replied, almost mockingly, as he gave her a very noticeable appraisal (not that he hadn't done so already of course).  "Normally I might make another crack about your accuracy, but since you're at least using a respectable weapon, I'll let it slide for now."  With a slight bow, he fell into step with Ori and the group as she led them through the ship.

It was a nice ship.  Could use some spritzing up a bit in the common areas, but it had enough room for the six of them to live comfortably (and their two droids of course).  He did smirk a bit at the suggestion of Duran taking the 1st mate's cabin.  That might end up being rather amusing depending how things went.

"Throw party in Engine Room, got it," he remarked, giving her a mock-salute.  He then made sure to stand back as she moved towards the section of the floor.  He wasn't about to fall into a smuggling compartment.  It certainly wasn't very comfortable the last time that had happened.

"Ah, right, your droid.  So, how about that cockpit?"
This message was last edited by the player at 21:34, Tue 29 May 2012.

This day had been one filled with new experiences.  This was the first time EAS-05 had been on a ship, activated anyways.  It admired the dings and scratches on the ship.  To it, those markings were proof of the ship's service and fulfillment.

EAS-05 mostly ignored the conversation on divvying up on sleeping space, but once the conversation turned back towards the workings of the ship it began to pay attention again.  As Oriana gave the brief tour of the Skyfisher, EAS-05 studied the innards.  The ship was very impressive indeed.

It was slightly taken aback when Oriana mimicked Binary so well.  That was another skill it had not seen in the R&D facility.  It recognized the droid that had come out of the floor was an astromech droid, but the make was not something it was aware of.

"Smuggler Oriana, what is this droids designation?" EAS-05 was curious about the new crew member.

Seely rather intently pays attention to the conversation, but otherwise does not speak.  No reason to go questioning things when they're simple.  She has a feeling someone's going to break the engine room rule before the mission's out, even if just out of curiosity.  Still, she was comfortable enough with just knowing where things were and being ready to use that knowledge if they were boarded at any point.

"In a second, Hector," she hisses under her breath, while smiling and reaching in to fondly pet the top of the droid, as one would do with a pet.  "Hey there little guy, have you been hiding in here for long?"

"His designation is X2-C39, Easy," she adds, before backing up enough for the astromech to wheel his way up to the floor level.  "These are friends, little guy.  Marigg's..." She pauses for a moment, unsure whether or not to tell the little droid the entire truth.  "Marigg's off doing some secret work for the Republic, so we're working with this group for the time being."  Oriana gestures at each in turn, starting with EAS-05 and working her way around to Hector, giving the proper name for each.

Shanda watched the exchange with interest, her sight focusing on Oriana in the midst of her pause in the discussion with the small droid. Inclining her head when she was introduced her own voice spoke up softly, "A pleasure to meet you X2-C39."

Duran listened to the tour intently, he nodded when he suggested that he take the mate's room. Although the smirk Hector gave made him feel decidedly like it was the best idea Oriana had ever had, he would keep his lightsaber handy. That man was not to be trusted with woman.

He watched the discussion with the droid, lifting an earpiece that was tucked under the collar of his robe so he could understand what it was saying. He too was very impressed at Oriana's abilities in binary, he had understood that it was impossible to speak...apparently not.

He wondered what had happened to Marigg, Orianan's hesitation more than enough to give her away to a human, even without the force. He sat quietly waiting to see the cockpit, although his eyes already felt itchy from the lack of sleep. He would need to trance fairly soon if he didn't want to lose focus.

The droid responds with a low whistle, and then continues with a series of noises typical of astromechs.

[Private to group Binary: Previous situation = awful ¦ X2 = taken off Skyfisher, terrified ¦ X2 = hiding for 2 hours, 14 minutes, 16 seconds, rounded down ¦ Query? = destination, purpose]
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:53, Wed 30 May 2012.

Serina looks around the medical bay once with a satisfied nod, it's certainly more then she ever had in the field and should do fine. Within minutes she adds her own supplies to those already found there and starts organizing everything in her own way, putting emergency kits in easy reach and more specialized things away into cabinets. She doesn't care much about how the rest of the ship works really, she'll figure that out on the way, but she does call out into the hallway.

"if anyone has any allergies or specialized medical needs now would be an excellent time to let me know."

Then she hops onto a biobed and pulls a ration bar from her utility belt, since her time suck in the jungle they taste quite decent.

"I'm sorry about that, X2, but you're safe now, I promise.  None of these people will hurt you." Oriana rubs the top of the little droid, offering it a genuine smile.  "Come on out, little guy. I need your help running diagnostics, to be sure they weren't mean to Skyfisher.  Then we're going to Corellia.  Have you been to Corellia?"

Oriana's last inquiry is as much for the rest of the group as it is for the little astromech, as she starts to move down the corridor towards the front of the ship again.  "We'll look at the guns once we get underway, Duran.  You guys can pick cabins and generally make yourselves at home.  Whoever takes the mate's, I don't imagine the good General confiscated my clothes, so I'll be by to clean out the footlocker once we take off, or you can just toss everything into the floor, whichever."

She beckons Hector with a crooked finger as she walks past, not really caring if anyone else follows or not, and heads back up the corridor to the communications hub and the cockpit.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:44, Wed 30 May 2012.

Though some of the others introducedthemselves to the droid, Hector felt no need to.  It was only a droid after all, thus the formality felt wased - especially since he had never bothered to learn Binary.  He wouldn't be able to understand a reply to begin with.  So, he stood idly by as he was introduced to the pet droid - Imperial droid too, it seemed.  Eventually, with the droid in tow, it was time to move on to the best part of the tour.

"Hey Jedi boy, I hope you're a good shot with that turret.  We get into trouble, I won't be flying straight and level to give you an easy shot all the time.  You're gonna have to work for those gunner stripes."  With a smile, he followed close behind Oriana as beckoned.  He wanted to be he first to see the cockpit. Hopefully it was up to the standards Marigg kept for the rest of the ship.

"I'd be happy to leave the ladies to the three cabins, they can have a little privacy and use the passage as a common room if they like. Gives them a bi more space and they don't get any people going through in the middle of the night."

He looked at Hector and smiled,"I sleep very little, thanks to the Force, so I should be up most of the time so the coming and going won't bother me." Of course he followed Oriana when she lead them to the cockpit, he might try his hand at flying he'd have to see how it goes.

Hector's words made him smile, well the man wasn't all that bad when he was dealing with other men perhaps, maybe he just had a weakness. He nodded,"I'm a fair hand at combat, I think the same skills will work out, and of course, the Force is with me...."
This message was last edited by the player at 16:51, Wed 30 May 2012.

"Wherever anyone wants to sleep.  I've been in enough close situations that I could care less as long as we all work out arrangements in a way that doesn't frak anyone off.  Just try to keep any sort of 'encounters' subtle, huh?  I've been woken up enough times by that kind of stuff." Segregating the females to make for the Jedi's sake was fine by her.  It'd take more than fraternization to bother her in the field.

"You might think so kid, but tell me, have you ever had to shoot a blaster while being thrown violently side to side, upside down and backwards while your target weaves around to avoid your shots?  The force is one thing, but it won't help where there is no ability to begin with."  Still, the kid was confident.  That, at least, was a good sign.  As they started towards the cockpit, Hector cocked an eyebrow at Seely.

"You're not what I expected, Seely.  We should have a drink sometime, you and I."

"If we get back from this alive, I'll buy the first round. I hope that's incentive enough to watch my back, huh?" Seely grins.

Shanda gave a soft laugh listening to Hectors description, "Sounds like early jedi training." She said softly as she moved away from the cockpit, piloting wasn't one of her abilities so best not to be in the way of those that could actually make the ship fly. Instead she headed down towards the cabins, looking them over slowly she sat against the wall of the corridor folding her legs beneath herself to meditate, she'd let the others take thier pick first while she refocused her energy on meditating and feeling out the force.

By no means was she a Master but it never heard to listen to the Force and see what ripples could be felt through it.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:13, Wed 30 May 2012.

"Yeah. Here's hoping the Force is with all of us," Oriana comments under her breath inbetween the bits of verbal banter behind her.  Something about the statement makes her chuckle, as she presses the switch to open the access door to the cockpit.  She pauses briefly at the communications hub, setting X2 to work running diagnostics sweeps, and then saunters on into the cockpit proper.

She says nothing, but moves up to lazily drape her arm across the headrest of the co-pilot's chair, before turning around and flashing a grin at Hector.  While she could probably tell him exactly where everything was, it's clear from her pose that she intends to lean there and watch him figure it out on his own.

OOC: The cockpit basically looks like the one here: http://images.wikia.com/starwa...ges/c/c5/Ehawkcp.jpg, with a greater degree of customization to the pilot's and co-pilot's chairs, which Hector can describe.

X2 gets on a mechanical loadlifter and raises it to where its optics units can see over the floor's edge.

[Private to group Binary: "Query? = X2's safety"]

It raises itself the rest of the way out and follows the group to the cockpit, where it plugs in to the ship and presumably begins running the diagnostics Oriana wants.

[Private to group Binary: "X2 = unfamiliar with Corellia | X2 = able to locate information, if desired"]

Duran smiled, particularly at Shanda's comment,"It does rather, Mr Terrachova, I've never had to shoot a blaster. That is not a weapon the Jedi use or spend time mastering, but ship weapons are something else. I cannot deflect a bolt from a quad laser, and so I must learn to fight the other way."

He shakes his head at the question about the planet they were going to,"I've never been to Corellia either. Perhaps get the little thing to see what it can dig up?"

"Diagnostics first, little guy," Oriana calls out to the next room, in response to X2's excited chirping.  "Then you can tap into spaceport control and pull us a fresh astrogational update on the Corellian Run.  Something from the past twenty-four hours."

She pauses a moment, looking Hector up and down from where she leans, smirking as she adds, "You'll need Terrachova's license number to go with ours, so pull that up, too, beforehand."  Sure, she could just ask Hector to give it to the droid, but she knew X2 could find it, and he liked showing off.

She grins, finally nodding at Duran while continuing to talk to the astromech in the next room, "Then you can see what you can find that's exciting about Corellia, while I prep the engines."

While it begins the diagnostics, it chatters a bit at Easy.

[Private to Binary: "X2 = out of contact with other droids | Query? = condition of your processes | Query? = your directive"]
[Private to EAS-05: It's first query there is something of a "How are you doing?" sort of question.]

"From what I've heard, Duran, I don't think you'll be bored. Then again, a nice and dull job would be a relief after all of that hype about the vision..."

Hectir merely smirked at the Jedis' comments.  They had obviously never gunned in such a ship before - let alone in a combat situation where intertia dampeners did little, or worse, malfunctioned.  "Arrogance doesn't suit you, Jedi," he mused, letting out a low whistle as he looked over he cockpit.  He was thankful for Oriana. Ot pointing anything out, since it wasn't hard to do on his own.  Nudging the Captain's chair with his boot, he swiveled it around and took a seat, smiling.

"License number, huh?  Which one?  Anyway, when you're done back there, return to the cockpit, Oriana.  You and I need to have a talk about this ship."  He said this sounding as serious as he could muster, before swinging around to acquaint himself with the controls.  He still seemed amused though, primarily about the Jedi knowing nothing of Corellia, but also about the chair itself, which was both comfortable... and familiar.

Oriana snickers, "Pick one. Preferably whichever one you gave the good General, so spaceport control doesn't try to keep us from taking off.  You know as well as I do, they aren't going to give us astrogational data on the ship's license alone."

With that, Oriana pushes out of her lazy pose, knuckling at her back and stretching.  Then, she drops a hand on Hector's shoulder for the briefest of squeezes, before sauntering out of the cockpit on her own without a further word.  The heavy soles of her boots resonate on the plating of the Skyfisher's central corridor, accented by the occasional jingle of one of the many tools in her belt, both of which abruptly come to a stop at the engine room doors.

Oriana passes her hands over what looks like a biometric lock, pressing a palm flat against the activation plate and pushing, to open the heavy doors, before promptly passing into the revealed engine bay.  Seen through the open doors, she is most definitely having a moment with the ship, as she goes through a standard routine of checking every wire and coupling and power cell with an efficiency borne of many hours of doing.

Duran smiled at the Captain,"We don't call it bored, we call it peace. It's something we strive for." He was clearly joking although the smile slipped at Hector's comment,"It's not arrogance it's assurance, Sir, same as if we asked you if you could fly this ship. I doubt you'd say you think you can. Confidence is important, and mustn't be mistaken for arrogance. I know what I am capable of and what I am not. I will let Ms. Cy'Kast teach me how to use them, I won't pretend I am proficient but part of our training is focusing our minds in the most difficult situations our masters can devise, and let me assure you some of them are fairly drastic."

He watched as Oriana squeezed Hector's shoulder and frowned, perhaps he was defending something that was in no need of defence. Perhaps he didn't need to worry, maybe he had misinterpreted her earlier reaction. Pushing such things aside he said,"We shall see how we handle the blaster cannons when we handle them. For now I have to clear out Ms. Cy'Kast's things. I presume I can move them into the Captain's quarters?"

If no one objected the Padawan turned and headed to the mate's room to clear out anything that belonged to Oriana. Of course it wasn't like he needed closet space. He was wearing all he possessed.

"Ah, but the difference is, I know I an fly the ship.  I've got references.  You, on the other hand, can only surmise.  I meant no offense though, and the comment was directed more at your partner than at you.  You're a lot more humble than she is, from the sounds of things," Hector said, tipping his head towards the door Shandra had left through a few moments ago. "Still, the focus will be useful enough."

Addressing the droid now, he rattled off a quick series of numbers - his starship license number.  Rather, the one that was tied to his true name, as he had a number that he used when smuggling.  He wasn't doing that now though.

Seely was a little happy that the males of the crew weren't tearing each other to pieces, yet.  That'd come later.  It was always when things got stressful that recruits started to really turn on each other in training.  She wondered if the Sith just handed their recruits vibroblades to make them sort out problems.  She pulled out the blaster she had been issued, checking to make sure the power pack had been removed.  It was a heavy sort, made for killing (no questions asked).  The grip was colored gray and the form was painted the same dull color; it had seen its time and had probably been custom painted to stand out less.  Soldiers didn't manage to survive with those brightly colored blasters that nobles liked to pack.

Holstering the blaster again and putting it back with her kit, for the moment, she looked at both Duran and Hector, "Just remember that everyone's got a skill and responsibility, here, gentlemen.  And, no matter who is flying, I only want to see this ship crashed a little bit, at most.  The transport pilots liked to call that 'coming in hot'."

Hector smirked, and swung the chair around to face Seely.  The comment was spot on, honestly, and he found himself gaining more respect for the woman.  However, it did remind him of something he needed to bring up.

"Actually, that comment about responsibility reminded me of something," he said, meeting her eyes. "I understand you're in charge of the mission, Seely, but while we're aboard this ship, there can be only one Captain.  That would be me.  You're in charge of the mission, sure, but when it comes to matters of piloting and such, I'll need you to defer to me, and to Oriana, who I might as well name First Mate.  If we get into a situation that requires it, I'm going to need you and everyone else to follow my orders until we're off the ship.  That good with you?"

EAS-05 took up X2's conversation and replied back in Binary.

[Private to group Binary: "All systems optimal. How are you, X2-C39?"]
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:06, Wed 30 May 2012.

Seely had to think about that for a few moments.  It would be easy to just agree, but she knew too well that she couldn't simply cede authority without terms.  She was much more 'formal' now, "I will follow your orders as they are pertinent to the running of this ship while upon this ship.  I trust, however, that you will not give me a reason to not trust you."

Moreover, she took a moment to let that sink in, "However, you must understand that I do reserve the right as acting officer in charge of this mission to speak my mind and to give orders when I feel that they are necessary, but I will also not abuse this right.  In short, you trust the soldier with more than a decade of experience to not abuse her position of power and I trust two of the people in my squad with the most experience in managing a ship to not abuse the duties, powers, and privileges I cede to them.  Does that sound acceptable?"

The astromech continued chattering.

[Private to group Binary: "X2 = near-optimal, suffering stress from recent events | X2 = thankful for your query | X2 = hopeful we will not see combat conditions on this mission"]
[Private to EAS-05: Go ahead and type messages to the private group "Binary" for that, so the others that can understand it will see it.]

It piped up then in a series of whistles, which show up on-screen so that Hector can read them.

"Status of Skyfisher = ready for take-off, confirmed with docking control tower | Route to planet, designation: Corellia = calculated, ready for use."  This is followed by a series of beeps that descend in pitch, but the droid does not route this to the screen.

[Private to group Binary: "X2's hopes for less space travel = dashed"]

"Don't go forgetting that I'm aboard the ship too.  Plus, I'm not one of those Captains who treats their crew like dirt.  If you're on my crew, you're under my protection, so to speak." He grinned, and considered her terms.  "You don't need to worry though.  Unless it concerns the ship and its management, I don't intend to usurp your authority or abuse my own.  I think we're gonna have a lot of fun on this ship, to be honest."

Hector then glanced down at the screen at the sound of the droid.  "Well well, I guess the droid isn't useless after all.  Might wanna buckle in, Seely, I intend to test out the ship's capabilities before we get there."  With that, he swung around to face his displays, ad began activating the essential systems, and checking the controls.  He didn't intend to take off until Oriana had returned to the cockpit, however, as she was is co-pilot.  Plus, he wanted to see how she dealt with someone else flying the ship firsthand.  Thus, he keyed the shipwide comm and spoke in his best, most stereotypical 'starship captain' voice.  "Would Oriana Cy'Kast please report to the bridge for take-off; Oriana Cy'Kast to the bridge."

"Duly noted, Hector, but I just hope there's as much fun here as there will be interesting times once we've got boots on the ground.  As they like to say: may the Force be with us."  Despite her last minute pessimism, Seely got her kit sorted to her bunk before she buckled in.  Things were about to get real!

It's about this time that Oriana finishes her pre-flight examination of the engine bay, an event that's heralded by the *whumph* of the engine bay doors sliding closed at the other end of the ship, followed shortly by the familiar sound of her boots coming back through the center of the ship.

"Good job, little guy."  She pauses to smile at X2, rubbing the top of the little astromech as she leans past him to retrieve a headset from the console behind him.  As the broadcast comes across the comm, she glances at Easy and half-rolls her eyes, muttering under her breath, "Someone needs a bit more patience, don't they?"

"Damn Terrachova, I wasn't two strides down the hall!" her voice precedes her into the cockpit moments before she appears.  "You could've just hollered," she adds, popping the back of his headrest with her free hand before dropping gracefully into the co-pilot's chair.  Oriana spins around, pausing for half a second to flash her best shit-eating grin while slipping the headset over her ear, and then just as suddenly, she's all business.  Her fingers fly over the console, flipping a half-dozen switches and toggles, activating the ship's navicomputer display to doublecheck the hyperspace coordinates.

"Yelling's less fun," he replied simply.  "Besides, I had to make sure the PA system worked."  Having already initiated the startup procedure, Hector was pleased at how little time it took the ship's engines to warm up.  It seemed they were ready to take off... now, actually.  "Why don't you go ahead and take care of any formalities we have left," he said, taking hold of the yoke with one hand, and the thruster control with his other.

"Well then, lets see what this ship of yours can do." With that, he pushed the docking thrusters to full and pulled on the yoke to take them clear of the landing pad.  Once clear of all obstructions, he rotated the ship on its axis, aimed it towards the sky, and hit the main drive.

[Private to GM:   18:03, Today: Hector Terrachova rolled 25 using 1d20+16. Pilot (just in case).   You never know I suppose.]

Oriana keys up the commlink to the spaceport control tower, casually glancing around the cockpit while waiting for them to acknowledge her request.

"37-S3KZ, requesting clearance for takeoff from Docking Bay 3, control."

She closes her eyes for a moment, seeming to simply be listening to the Skyfisher, the hum of the thrusters and engines singing to life...

Her eyes flicker open and she starts to nod, pressing the headset earpiece to her head with one hand, clearly listening to the other end.  Oriana nods again, holding up her free hand and gesturing in a counter-clockwise turning motion, seemingly simultaneous with Hector's decision to begin turning the vessel anyway, while continuing to listen to the operator on the other end.

"Affirmative, control. Have a nice day," she finally speaks, flipping the mouthpiece up and grinning.

"Take her out, captain."

The ship takes to the air without issue.  All clearance seems to have been pre-granted, as the General said.  The planet falls away beneath the ship, and atmosphere gives way to starry black, with the city-world's ever-present ship traffic all around you.  You take an easy route out and move to exit the planet's gravity well.

Oriana gets the coordinates set, per X2's calculations, and within minutes after takeoff, the Skyfisher makes the jump to hyperspace.

Now that you're on your way, if anyone has anything they'd like to do in the 12 hours to Corellia, go ahead.  By the way, Garza didn't know about the ship's tweaked hyperdrive, so it's actually more like 9-10 hours.  More than enough time.  I'll be getting you out of hyperspace in a post tomorrow morning.

The X2 astromech continues chatting with Easy once in hyperspace.

[Private to group Binary: "Query? = your directive | Query = not answered previously | X2's primary directive = calculating hyperspace jump coordinates".  The droid pauses for a moment before also quietly chirping, "and beverage retrieval."  It extends an arm it has which ends in a clamp; the total mechanism conceivably could grasp a cup.]

Once comfortably en route, Hector pulled off his headset and set it aside, before swinging around to view Oriana in the seat next to him.  "Its not a bad ship, I'll give you that much," he said. "But there are a few things I must comment on.  Tell me, did the ship have this paint job by the time you joined its crew?  And I wonder the same thing about this chair as well - and the copilot's, I suppose, since its the same model."

"Yeah. Why?"

Oriana does likewise with her headset, although she doesn't swing her chair around.  Instead, she kicks her far leg up to rest her booted heel against one of the non-instrument-covered portions of the dash.  Propping her elbow on her upraised knee, she half-turns to Hector, "Don't tell me our 'talk about the ship' is about Marigg's taste in colors."

"In part, yes.  But I'm not criticizing him for his taste, only where he gets it.  You see, the paint, and this chair," he patted the armrest of his chair just for good measure.  It was quite clear by now that he was having a tough time not laughing.  "They're all from my ship.  Granted, he did change up the paint a bit, as the ship is quite a bit different in shape than mine, but the colors are there.  And this chair... I'm surprised he managed to get his hands on a pair.  They're from a series of Luxury liners that have been out of service for about a decade now.  Very hard to find, but amazingly comfortable."

Having not been given any orders by Seely, EAS-05 stays in proximity of X2.

[Private to group Binary: EAS series directive: Termination of Sith Combatants.  X2-C39 hopes of no combat, not shared.  Reassurance, X2-C39 will be protected."]

Oriana pulls her glasses down, and peers over their rims at Hector.

"You're pulling my leg, aren't you?"

Hector's grin grew wider. "Not at all, m'dear.  I'd know this seat anywhere, and once you see my ship, you'll see the paint I'm talking about.  I expected him to take a few pointers when it came to what works and what doesn't in a smuggling ship, but I didn't expect him to rip off my personal taste."

Oriana stares back at Hector, corners of her mouth twitching with a barely-repressed urge to grin.  "How do you know that both of you just don't have the same taste in... things?"

"Oh please, Oriana, you should know by now he's a slime who steals things," Hector replied, laughing now.  "I wouldn't be surprised if he had the same sheets on his bed."

"Smuggling isn't stealing, but even I won't deny that statement." Oriana busts out laughing, shaking her head as she pulls off her shades, before leaning back in her chair.  For a long moment, she sits there twirling her glasses between her fingers, her laughter fading to an amused snicker.

"Is that some subtle ploy to determine if I know what the sheets look like?" she asks, letting her head roll to the side to bring Hector back into her field of vision.

"I wasn't talking about smuggling, I was referring to the fact that he shole my ship.  Or is stealing a ship not stealing a ship?" He smirked. "Oh not at all.  Besides, if you did, I wouldn't be surprised.  It would be hard to live in the mate's cabin and not catch a glimpse of the sheets through an open door.  I wasn't implying anything scandalous, if that's what you thought."

Oriana half-rolls her eyes, "What I wasn't denying was that Marigg was sometimes a thief."

She snorts, and closes her eyes again, going quiet for a few moments.  "Yeah, I know what they look like.  Hell, I know how well that bed sleeps, but not for any of those scandalous reasons you aren't implying.  You owe me a story about that ship."

"A story about my ship?  I suppose I do." Hector turned to look out at the tunnel of stars. "But what story would you like to hear?  Oh, I have so many, you see.  So many stories." Obviously, he could guess at which particular story she'd want to hear.  However, he wasn't going to tell it until he heard that she wanted to hear that particular story from her own lips.

"Isn't that just like a spacer? Promise a girl one thing, and attempt to deliver something else..."  Oriana rolls her head towards Hector again, favoring him with a teasing smirk.  "Tell whichever one you like, Hector, but..." she continues, shifting around to assume a more relaxed position in her own chair, propping one leg up on the other.  She shrugs, stretching her arms over her head to hook her wrists behind the headrest of her chair, while watching the depths of space hurtle past outside the windows.

"The one you promised was about the ship, being stolen. That's the one I want to hear."

"I am what I am." Hector shrugged, then kicked up his own feet on a section of the center console that was not occupied by switches and dials.  "Ahh... let me think.  Actually, to be honest, the story of how my ship was stolen is relatively simple.  I met up with Marigg on Nar Shadaa.  He was looking for transport for himself and cargo to Port Nowhere - a simple run, considering he wasn't actively trying to avoid any authorities; no more than I was anyway." Hector sighed.

"I even had reason to be at Port Nowhere myself.  Had to meet a contact and set up a new shipment.  Course, it seemed Marigg took a liking to my ship en route, as when I lowered the ramp, I was confronted by the acquaintances he was set to meet.  Guess they were on his payroll in truth.  In any case, with four blasters pointed at my face, there wasn't a whole lot I could do.  Fortunately, Marigg was cocky enough to let me live, and nice enough to leave me on Port Nowhere.  Not that it was easy, watching some bastard fly away in my ship."

In reply, the droid issues a number of chirps and tones, sounding worried.  [Private to group Binary: "Query? = number of combat situations you have seen ¦ Number X2 has seen = 6 ¦ All of them = scary"]

Oriana was torn, actually, between amusement at the fact that Hector had fallen for the scam, and annoyance that Marigg had used it against another smuggler.  It was a common enough ploy, but there was usually a sort of gentleman's agreement about who and what such things would be used upon.

Not to mention that Marigg had probably already taken the liking to Hector's ship before contacting him, and had selected him precisely for that purpose.

In the end, she voices none of these thoughts, merely glancing over at her fellow smuggler and asking, "What happened to her?  How'd you get off Port Nowhere?"

"Well, getting off Port Nowhere was the easy part.  I have friends too, you see.  Tried to have the ship tracked immediately, but he'd already made the jump to hyperspace.  It was a matter, then, of using up most of the favors I'd built up over the years just to find where he'd run off to.  I also managed to find out what he was up to as well - heard from a friend of a friend that he was looking for some lost treasure."  Hector reached across the console, and flicked open one of the air vents.

"So, I set out on my own search.  Borrowed a ship, and headed off to beat him to his next contact, and thus procure the next piece of the puzzle that was the location of his prize.  I manage to succeed, and it didn't take long for him to find out.  Sent a group of hired thugs out to kill me.  That, as I'm sure you can understand, was the last straw.  I would've been fine with just getting my ship back, but not anymore.  Anyway, moving on."

"Eventually, I managed to arrive, purely by chance it seems, on the planet at the same time as him.  Lucky, again, that I found the ship as well.  Of course, he wasn't there at the time.  Out drinking, I dunno.  But, I found my ship - and with it, the woman he'd been working with on his quest to find Nok Drayan's fortune.  Seemed said woman wasn't too loyal to him, and decided to stay aboard and team up with me instead."

"It was probably not long after that you met up with him.  Thanks to the information Ves - that was her name - had gathered along with my own, we were able to find the last clue, and piece together the location of the barge Nok Drayan had sealed his treasure away on.  We made best speed there - out beyond the outer rim.  I found out later, of course, that Marigg had planted a beacon on the ship just in case - that was how he showed up at the barge not long after I did.  As to how that ended, you already know."

Throughout the latter portion of this story, Oriana's had her head swiveled around, watching Hector tell it.  By the end, she's frowning, her eyes narrowed.

"You honestly think you got the worst end of the deal there, Terrachova?  Double-crossing a fellow smuggler, that's low enough... but having your own crew turn on you?  That's another thing entirely.  I hope you left her ass in deep space."

"The way I understand it, she was never actually a part of his crew, merely someone who was looking for the treasure as well.  She teamed up with Marigg because he had a ship and a similar interest.  Word is, he wasn't a very nice person to work with."  Hector shrugged.  Oriana had a valid point, but considering the circumstances, he hadn't been in a position to pity Marigg at all.  "'Sides, once we found the barge and took what we wanted, we parted ways with an agreed cut.  Whatever slight upon Marigg she was guilty of made no difference to me."

"He wasn't that bad."  Oriana shifts in her chair, pulling her heels up to perch on the front corners of the seat, so she can rest her elbows on her upraised knees.  She brings her hands together, thumbs and forefingers pressed together into an 'L' shape, the other three fingers interlocked and folded down.  With a sigh, she leans her head into her hands, supporting her chin with the tips of her thumbs, with her fingertips pressed against her forehead, staring straight ahead through the window.

When she finally speaks again, her voice has a tone of injured apathy, like it's just dawned on her that her glasses haven't always been orange, sometimes they've been rose-tinted.  "He took care of me, when no one else would, Hector.  Even years before, when I was just a scrawny kid running errands in the cantinas, he could always find something to justify slipping me a cred or two.  Hell, just last night, he was vowing to make them pay for locking me up."

Oriana draws a deep breath through her nose, exhaling it as a resigned sigh.  "You killed him, but I couldn't leave him there to die, even if I probably should have."

"A few good deeds does not absolve a man of a life of sin," Hector said, turning on a bit of philosophy.  "I'm willing to grant that, from your view, he was a decent man, but the Kai Marigg I and my acquaintances know is quite the opposite I'm afraid."  With a sidelong glance at Oriana, he decided that, for now at least, he would hold off on insulting the Duros.

"While I don't approve of your past association with him, I certainly won't fault you for it, all things taken into account."  He flashed a grin. "Fortunately, you roll with me now.  Things are going to get a lot more interesting, I think."

Oriana snorts, the ensuing snicker perhaps hastily disguising the briefest of sniffles.  "Yeah, well... Hopefully not so interesting that I wind up having to pull your unconscious and dying ass off the floor of a barge headed into a black hole, yeah?"

She glances over and flashes a grin that's a little forced at first, but quickly fades into something genuine.  It crosses her mind to offer him a few hours alone with the ship, to get used to her, but in truth she wasn't tired yet. Sure, she'd be ready for a nap once they landed on Corellia, but that could wait.

And so, Oriana stretches back out in her chair, one leg draped across the other, and both of them propped up on the center console, settling in for the rest of the trip.

Hector put a hand over his chest, feigning shock. "Oriana!  I'm touched you would even consider that!"  The look turned into a smile, and he leaned back into his chair.  Things were going well, and while he figured Oriana was still rather loyal to Kai - meaning he'd have to be a little careful - he did sense they had a sort of rapport.  That, at least, was worth something.

But it did still leave them with a number of hours before either of them was likely to sleep by the looks of things.  "Well then... how about a game of Pazaak?  Republic Senate rules?"

Duran headed into the mates room, hoping that none of the woman would ask for the room, he'd happily hand it over but he was still concerned about the Captain's intent over Oriana. She seemed like she could handle herself but it was one thing when you had a blaster, quite another lying asleep in bed next to the man.

The thought of it made his face colour already as he started to sort through the Cabin, he'd have to keep his eyes open. There wasn't much in the cabin to start with but as he made his way through he realised she only kept things in the footlocker built into the base of the bed.

Opening it he saw her clothing. Simple enough, he started stacking it on the bed in neat piles, most of it looked exactly the same as what she was already wearing. Not much in the way of fash.....

Something lacy fell out of the pile and his eyes followed it down. She wore that? Blood rushed to his face as he looked in the locker and saw several duplicates of the offending item. She was wearing something like that now? It hardly covered.....

He closed his eyes, focusing on the force, his lightsaber anything but the pictures of what was and wasn't covered by what lay on the floor. Focusing he cleared his mind, this was why they didn't allow attachments, a simple piece of cloth and he could hardly think, imagine if he had to actually look.....no better not to think about.

Shaking his head he packed the bits up as quickly as he could, putting them between the other clothing, his face bright red for most of the time. Under the socks, which he piled on top, he found a bracelet and three holobooks. He looked at the titles.

One was in a language he didn't understand, one was a book of fables he'd seen before and the third...well 'The Fires of Conquest' hardly seemed like a promising title. Pressing the display the cover came up, a scantily dressed woman and what looked like a republic soldier with their arms wrapped around each other greeted his widening eyes.

With desperate jabs he managed to close the book, but not before unintentionally opening a bookmark and leaving one of his own a few pages later. Shaking his head he decided the sooner he was meditating the better. Collecting the things together he lifted them up and took them through to the Captains quarters and left it on the desk where it could be easily spotted.

Trying not to think of what he had learned about the woman he made his way to his bed. Sitting into a meditation position he tried to focus, thoughts of lacy bits and 'Flames of Conquest' didn't last long beneath his years of discipline and soon he was deep in a force trance. At least for the next four hours. Then he'd ask to be taught how to use the Ion Cannon.

The hyperspace jump draws to a close.  As everyone straps themselves in, the stars form back into points in the sky, and in the distance, the blue-green ball that is Corellia comes right into view.  Even from here, the numerous orbital construction yards and stations are visible, obscuring the planet with a sort of gray blocky distortion.

Just then, however, as Hector and Oriana start bringing the ship to a course toward the planet, daggers begin piercing the space around the Skyfisher.

The ship's radar lights up as other entities come into position nearby, and then the display becomes scrambled just as X2 issues a series of warning beeps, which it relays to the screens.  "Alert = Skyfisher's communications = jammed."  An entire Sith Empire fleet is now all around you, likewise pointed towards Corellia, with two of the larger Harrower-class dreadnaughts among at least 30 of the smaller Terminus-class cruisers.  One ends up close enough that you think you can see its crew, and it takes some immediate maneuvering to avoid a collision.

What do you do?

A picture of the Harrower-class ship: http://images3.wikia.nocookie....sDreadnaught-EGW.jpg  The Terminus cruisers are similar to the Star Destroyers in the movies, but a bit smaller and thinner.
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:53, Thu 31 May 2012.

Seely had been ready to make her rounds for landing at about the time hyperspace ended.  Naturally, the sight that greeted her in space around them was enough to make her blood rush.  She had seen fleets like this before, but she had had the benefit of a Republic fleet nearby or being on the fleeing end.  Sith fleets like this were a little small for glassing planets, but they could probably turn a region into ash given a little time to set up and a continuous bombardment...

The Captain inwardly panicked as they nearly crashed, but Hector spared them that instant death.  The officer in her came to the surface, "We need to get to a point where we can use our comms, if we can get out of this mess alive."

Serina is sitting comfortably in whatever chair she is strapped into but tenses as the Sith fleet appears.

"Did we just drop out right in the middle of a Sith attack? That's the worst kind of luck"

She tries to look towards the planet itself

"Surely Correlia has defenders of it's own?"

She can't help but glance briefly towards the two Jedi, the Sith might leave a transport alone in the middle of a battle if they don't get themselves involved, but not if they sense two Jedi onboard, if that's even possible.

"Karking Imperials!"  Oriana hisses, swiveling her chair around so fast that she knocks over the remnants of the pazaak game on the center console, scattering cards about the floor.  She'd been on a roll, too.

She ignores the appearance of the Imperial fleet so close by, although whether she's just that non-plussed, or if she trusts Hector's skill enough to not worry is anyone's guess.  "On it, little guy!" she calls out, immediately activating the console to her right to bring up the Skyfisher's main terminals.  Her fingers flash over the keys and touchpads, attempting to coax the trusty freighter's computer systems into overdrive.

"Buy me some time, or get us the hell out of jammer range.  You wanted to see what she could do."

---

OOC: Attempting to override the jammers. The penalty to Ori's check is either a -2 (if we're being specifically targeted with a suite), or a -4 if we're just caught in the area of an array)

12:41, Today: Oriana Cy'Kast rolled 24 using 1d20+21. Use Computer, override Imperial jammers.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:49, Thu 31 May 2012.

"Not enough to save us if we get into trouble." Seely calms a little, logic taking over as she has time to evaluate the situation, "They wouldn't send all of these after us; we just have to not be a target.  Watch out for fire from their turbolasers."

Shanda stood out of the way watching, her hands folded inside her robe listening and observing, Apparently the problem was rather self evident...the Sith were invading the planet or at least attempting to establish a blocade. Standing out of the way she focused her thoughts inwards, her lips moved slowly reciting the jedi code under her breath as she reached out with the force to see how she could best help, even if it were only to mask the presence of the force sensitives aboard the Skyfisher....

[Private to GM: Small query about the power Cloak, would it be possible to extend it to the ship she's in? I know it has a personal target description but just wanna see if it might be possible to do it... :)]

"Karking Republic Intelligence!"  It shouldn't come as a surprise to hear Hector's first words as they drop out of hyperspace in the middle of a Sith invasion.  His hands are a blur as he flicks on all the important screens and pulls the headset down on his head.  Mere seconds after they've dropped out, his hands are on the yoke and throttle, pulling hard.

"Hold on, thing are going to get a little shaky."  Rolling the ship on its axis, Hector aimed to dive down close to the nearest Dreadnaught, to take them underneath the ship where it had the fewest number of turrets.  He aimed to keep them close though, as those large turrets would then not be able to track them.

"Some of you might wanna get on the turrets in case some fighters are looking for an easy kill.  Prove them wrong," he barked out.  He didn't have time to look around for any of Corellia's defenders, which he figured were probably already space-dust.  "Oriana, find me one of those frigates close by the dreadnaught.  We can use her for cover from the larger ship's weapons as we leave the area."  While he asked her to check, he made a quick scan of his own sensor screens to do the same thing - not that it was easy with everything else going on.




16:29, Today: Hector Terrachova rolled 19 using 1d20+13. Initiative.
16:25, Today: Hector Terrachova rolled 27 using 1d20+13. Pilot, roll under and fly close to ship.
16:27, Today: Hector Terrachova rolled 17 using 1d20+14. Perception - look for frigate.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:29, Thu 31 May 2012.

Shanda moved to where she could see beyond the ship laying a steadying hand upon the wall as she reached out to the force shaping it beyond the ship superimposing it for a moment over the Skyfisher but having it veer off in the opposite direction of where the actual ship was heading. Still she frowned, feeling the sweat beading on her forehead. The illousion formed, but it was a mere ghost of the actual ship, only a complete idiot would fall for the decoy illousion.

Panting softly she closed her eyes trying to recover from the strain of creating something so large, she'd make another attempt when she caught her breath.

OOC: Using her Illousion talent to create a second Skyfisher. Sadly the diceroller doesn't like this idea.

18:18, Today: Shanda Rell rolled 6 using 1d20+4. Use the Force check at -10.

"Isn't that an oxymoron?" Oriana laughs, reacting to the sudden pitch and roll of the vessel by shoving her foot hard against the console to maintain her balance, being too busy to bother with negligible things like strapping in.

"X2! Get that Imperial frequency plugged into the IFF!" she calls back to the droid.  While saying this, she quickly switches tempo and runs a scan of the area, happy to note that the Skyfisher's decided to tell the Imperials' jamming array to bugger off, at least momentarily.

"Frigate at ten o'clock, just like you ordered," she taps her fingertip against the sensor screen.

---

Sensor Sweep
16:56, Today: Oriana Cy'Kast rolled 28 using 1d20+18. Perception, look for frigate.

As Hector plunges the ship down, just about nothing happens so far as the Imperial ships are concerned.  It's a bit like they haven't noticed you're there.

As you're flying downward, the scanners open back up as Oriana, despite a quick curse at some interface or other, is successful.  What it tells you confirms what you noticed with your eyes:  there are lots of Imperial ships around you, certainly enough for an invasion.  Likewise, you're able to discern that the jamming they're using is definitely a wide-spread array, extending almost out to the planet.

Hector gets the Skyfisher under the dreadnaught.  There are two frigates below it, each about equal distances away.  The Imperials basically have the two Harrowers rather far from one another, with the frigates taking up positions almost randomly throughout the area.

Another of X2's messages shows up on-screen, "IFF transmission = transmitting."

The Imperials then begin dispensing an innumerable quantity of starfighters, which are all on trajectories toward the planet.  None of the vessels have acted in any hostile way towards the Skyfisher as of yet.

"...they're attacking Corellia.  Is it all for that one man?" Seely doesn't really know what to say with regards to that, but she did know about killing the other guy and not dying in the process, "Duran, get on one of the turrets, I'll man the other.  We do not want to draw their attention unless they show some sign of recognizing us, but Hector's right."

"IFF's online?  Wonderful!"  Casting a sidelong glance at the screen showing the frigate he had asked for, Hector made a quick decision.  "That frigate's a nice screen... but I'm thinking those fighters will provide a better one.  They're goin' our way, after all!" He nodded to Seely though; having those guns spooled up would be a safe thing to do.  Hector made a quick check, noting the twin linked cannons he had control of as well.

"Well, here we go!"  Rolling the freighter over once more, Hector dove down, ducking behind the swarm of fighters coming out of the dreadnaught's bay, and aiming to place the freighter below the swarm, heading the same direction, such that the fighters were between them and the more dangerous guns.  He made sure not to swing too close, of course, so that his actions wouldn't seem aggressive.



18:09, Today: Hector Terrachova rolled 32 using 1d20+13. Pilot, precise flying.  If I need any other roll for what I'm doing let me know.

Oriana holds her breath, her eyes flickering back and forth from the sensor screen, to the fighters outside, to Hector, and back again.  This... this was nuts, and she liked it.  The corners of her mouth twitch into a grin, and she laughs, flipping her attention back to the sensor screen to keep an eye out for any Imperial ships that seem inclined to be breaking their direction.

Duran watched with a sense of fatalism as the Sith fleet warped into space around them, at least now they knew why they were here. Shaking his head at the older Twi'leks words he said,"No, they're most likley here for the hyperdrives, but we know what we have to protect our friend from."

At her mention of the turret he unclipped the belt and stood up,"I'll take the Ion Cannons, Captain." He grinned as Terrachova said he'd be following the fighters in,"Good, lots of targets if we need to fight. Now let's see if Ms Cy'Kast's lessons were any good."

Turning he headed to the turret dropping down the ladder into the turret. It took him a little longer than he'd ever admit to Terrachova to remember which straps fitted where but soon he was in place and had the headset in place++Terrachova, Ion Cannon manned, ready to go.++

He pressed the release button to ready the gun and grinned as he flipped upside down. Spinning the gun around he looked for targets, not that it was time to shoot just yet.

11:03, Today: Duran rolled 34 using 1d20+15. Perception (Force Perception).
This message was last edited by the player at 09:03, Fri 01 June 2012.

Seely situated herself on the other gun and pulls her own headset on as she settles in for what could be a terrible battle, ++Quad lasers?  All right, let's hope I don't have to see what these can do.++

The Skyfisher soars out, tailing a group of fighters.  At this point, you expect the capital ship personnell can definitely see you.  Despite the mobilization of the Sith fleet around you, there is a palpable sense of hesitation, likely due to the IFF transmission.  You get an image of the Sith commanders in charge looking to one another, "Did we just send a freighter?  Who sent a freighter?!"  With their comms down due to their own jamming, they probably have no way to confirm what's going on between ships.

As though on cue, the jamming field drops.  Moments later, a wing of bombers nearby unleashes a veritable volley of ordnance, torpedoes locked on to whatever defenses the Corellians have available.  They'll hit a number of Corellian installations within seconds.  Simultaneously, your sensors show another dreadnaught and escort has dropped out of hyperspace near the rest of the Sith fleet, increasing the Sith presence by approximately 50%.  They begin launching their own waves of fighters.

Speaking of the Corellians, you can see a number of patrol ships and a few defensive corvettes...moving away from you and toward the planet.  [Private to Seely Komad: Likely to regroup, getting into a defensive formation, or perhaps in range of planetary defenses.]

[Private to Oriana Cy'Kast: Additionally, what starts as a tingling sensation at the back of your mind comes roaring forth, cascading over your mind like three of the worst headaches you've ever had all at once.  Someone, probably a Sith given the current circumstances, never learned the control part of their regimen.  Also, the wave is quite pervasive, giving you entirely more glimpses into the sender's mind than you would have liked...you feel malice, recklessness, thirst for power.  As well, while they're not very particular with their probing, you get the sense they now know you're here.]
[Private to Duran: Additionally, what starts as a tingling sensation at the back of your mind comes roaring forth, cascading over your mind like three of the worst headaches you've ever had all at once.  Someone, probably a Sith given the current circumstances, never learned the control part of their regimen.  Also, the wave is quite pervasive, giving you entirely more glimpses into the sender's mind than you would have liked...you feel malice, recklessness, thirst for power.  As well, while they're not very particular with their probing, you get the sense they now know you're here.]
[Private to Shanda Rell: Additionally, what starts as a tingling sensation at the back of your mind comes roaring forth, cascading over your mind like three of the worst headaches you've ever had all at once.  With your Force Sight, you see a nova of Force energy is radiating from one of the Sith ships, sending out wave after powerful wave.  Someone, probably a Sith given the current circumstances, never learned the control part of their regimen.  Also, the wave is quite pervasive, giving you entirely more glimpses into the sender's mind than you would have liked...you feel malice, recklessness, thirst for power.  You're able to maintain your resolve, but you sense Duran and Oriana are now quite known to the "attacker".  It was just a probe, but used far more power than necessary.]

[Private to Hector Terrachova; Seely Komad; Duran:  One of the groups of fighters, about 8 in total, is breaking off to engage the Skyfisher.  They'll be in range next round.]

Assuming you continue heading for the planet, you'll be there in two rounds.
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:58, Fri 01 June 2012.

++Incoming fighters...point 4-5: Duran, watch your fire when they get close.  If we so much as sneeze at anything Corellian, we might not last long enough to explain ourselves.++

Oriana's breath catches in her throat, and she pinches the bridge of her nose between her thumb and forefinger, as a sharp sound of sudden pain escapes her.  "Sith," she hisses under her breath, barely audible as she turns to Hector.  "Lots of them.  The Jedi, they know.  Get us out of here."

The moment passes as swiftly as it arrived, and she takes a deep breath, pulling up the targeting array for the forward guns, just in case.  With one hand hovering over the IFF switch, ready to flip it off the moment they get closer to the fleeing Corellian ships, she keys up the ship-wide comm, dropping back into her usual somewhat sarcastic voice, "Jig's up. They know we're here."

Duran's answer to Seely was a gargled groan over the comm, for a few seconds the Ion Gun swung wildly as he clutched at his head. Finally the noise stopped and after a few seconds he said++The Sith, one of them is in the fleet. Very strong but not very focused...++

His brain registered what Oriana said and he murmured assent++Oriana had it right, the know we're hear. No more friendly playing....get us onto the planet Terrachova!++

With that taken care of he shook his head, trying to shake off the growing migraine and answered Komad++Got them Captain, they look Sith to me but I'll wait for your order to fire.....++

++Not what I meant, Duran: watch out for what's behind the targets.  The fighters might follow us as far as they can, especially if their fleet is preparing to attack Corellia.  Keep your shots tight and try to make them count.++ The Captain trained her turret in the direction of the enemy craft, ++Even if we can't down too many of them, we can keep them sweating until we're out of here.++

Serina get's up as it becomes clear they aren't going to get out of this without a fight

"I don't think I can do much to help here, shall I get the medical bay ready just in case?"

Even as she says this her eyes search out the sith ships and she wonders which one holds the true sith, and hopes it stays far away.

++"Hold your fire!"++

Oriana's voice erupts across the ship-wide comm.  ++"There's not one Sith in that fleet, there's two dozen of them in there! THEY know we're here, no need to draw the fighters' attention too!"++

She takes a deep breath, and then continues, slightly calmer, ++"Let Terrachova put the fighters between us and them, and get us out of here.  Most of those idiots in the fighters just see us as another friendly blip on their radar."++

++She has the right of it.  Like I was trying to imply earlier, Duran, we don't want to draw their attention until they're on us.  Don't fire until we are fired upon.++
This message was last edited by the player at 18:57, Fri 01 June 2012.

Duran sighed over the comlink++Jedi are disciplined warriors, I haven't even got my finger around the trigger. Just getting readings on the range finder. Relax, I'm new to the gun but not to the idea of combat. No shooting till I get the word or we are fired upon.++

++Now all we need is for them to ignore us long enough to get to the surface.++

He really needed to get some time alone with Oriana, he had to ask about the force. How did she know how many there were? He was force trained and he couldn't pick out the numbers without specifically focusing.....she was trained! But by who?
This message was last edited by the player at 19:37, Fri 01 June 2012.

"How in the hell do you know how many Sith there are in that fleet?" Hector asked - but not over the shipwide comm.  He could hear the argument going and, frankly, didn't care all that much.  With what he had in mind, hopefully, they would break atmosphere before that squadron was in range.  "I got something better in mind... hold on."

Putting more fighters between them and that squadron wasn't likely to do anything.  They were agile, and could easily comm their allies to move out of position.  So, they had to rely on speed - something he had been told this ship had a fair amount of.  So, hands dancing across the console, Hector pushed the throttle to its stops, and the freighter jumped forward.  Having drawn power away from the rest of the ship and into engines, the turrets wouldn't be able to fire for a few moments - but hopefully, they wouldn't need to.

Action: Full move.  Basically... we're moving 4x our base speed this round.  Turrets can't fire this round as a result - but the fighters wouldn't be in range this round anyway.  Now its time to see if they can keep up.

Shanda frowned steadying herself against a wall as she made her way towards the cockpit. Glancing over those there she points towards a display indicating a ship behind them, "That one has the sith, a powerful one too if what I felt was accurate...and I don't doubt my sight in the least. He or she knows there are force sensitives aboard this craft."

Grimacing she bowed her head and murmured the jedi code again under her breath. The initial attempt to create a dummy ship had been made too large, this time she'd try a different tactic. "I'm going to try and cloak us in an illousion, if I can break through the power that sith is giving off in torrents we might be able to just hitch a ride with the squad of fighters...by looking like one of them."

Returning to her trance the Consular once more reached out to the force this time scaling back the ship to something more reasonible, it would still be larger than the standard fighters but if she could encompass the ship it might help them just that few seconds more. "I've made it as strong as I can, you'll have a few minutes and I'll try and maintain the deception but getting us through the fleet...now...would be preferable."

OOC: Once more giving Illousion a try... and this time a bit more believable.
20:28, Today: Shanda Rell rolled 26 using 1d20+9. Use the Force check at -5 penalty.

This message was last edited by the player at 01:23, Sat 02 June 2012.

"Ask me later," Oriana retorts for Hector's ears only, while bracing her foot more firmly against the console as the Skyfisher jumps forward.  She hastily gathers up the straps of her seat harness and fastens it securely, then settles back to watch everything outside the window hurtle past, her finger still hovering over the IFF toggle.

Hector rockets the ship forward, causing a bit of a heave and requiring you to hold on to something in order to not fall down.  Shooting past a number of Sith fighters, the ship sort of...molds itself into a shape resembling one of them, at least probably, to outward appearances.  The fighters that had turned to pursue adjust course again as the Skyfisher increases speed, and are barely able to keep up, and while they fire some shots ahead at you, none of them are accurate enough to even graze the shields.

Coming up on the Corellian stations and shipyards, Oriana disables the IFF.  No shots are made on you, but likely due to the jamming, no one's firing on the Imperial fighters either.

Just then, the Skyfisher still shooting forward, you catch up to about where the torpedoes are hitting the installations, and you see a dreadnaught-in-progress immediately crippled directly above you.  Your speed gets you out of the resulting shockwave by a few hairs...but the fighters chasing you aren't so lucky, and you don't see any of them emerge from the explosion.

The Corellian defenders are just ahead now.  Hector and Oriana see that the ship is being hailed, a number of beeps and lights indicating a comms request from the Corellians.  They're likely to be under the effects of the comms and sensor jamming next round.  If you continue past them, you can be in the atmosphere, but generally not something pilots try at this speed and trajectory.

Just barely clearing the blast, Hector threw the Skyfisher into a slow roll to take them up and over a section of the dreadnaught that had been blasted clear.  A pity that had been hit... those Corellian Dreadnaughts would've made putty out of those Sith ships.  The problem was, the Corellians didn't have nearly enough.  One might be worth 5 Sith ships, but when the Sith had tens of thousands... what could one star system do?

A high pitched beeping brought his attention to their current position.  They were about ten seconds shy of ploughing into the upper atmosphere at full speed, at a steep angle.  That wasn't so good.  Pulling back hard on the throttle, Hector dropped their speed, and pulled the freighter up behind the shipyards, using them now as cover as he plotted them a safer approach angle.

"See what you can do about contacting the Corellians.  The defense fleet, those shipyards... whoever.  Maybe not Csec.  They need to know what they're up against, and that we aren't Sith."

++Duran, I'd grab a hold of something, if I were you.  This isn't going to be smooth from the turrets' point of view.++ Seely knows better than to be clenching anything too tightly if they're going to be pulling these kinds of maneuvers in this debris filled slag hole!

Oriana grabs her headset from where it dangles, and slips it onto her head, while flipping the switch to accept the incoming transmission.  "Skyfisher.  Go ahead."

Coming in hot, indeed.  She knew the ship could handle this, but even she was on edge.  Hector certainly hadn't been kidding when he'd said he was going to see what Skyfisher could do.  She hated to admit it, but she was impressed.

Duran whoops, beside his claims of discipline, as he is hammered into the webbing in the turret by the sheer gee force of the maneuver and again as they swoop around the ailing dreadnaught. He had flown in lots of ships but had managed to avoid combat almost entirely, this was something new.

He laughed at Seely's comment++Strapped in and good to go, this is great....go Terrachova!++ Apparently disciplined didn't mean unable to enjoy the thrill of combat.

Still excitement aside, the Ion Cannon was still trained in the direction the fighters had been in, the explosion had taken them out and he felt a mixture of relief and disappointment that he hadn't had a chance to see how good a shot he was.

As you get closer, you see that the number of ships the Corellians have here is positively puny in comparison.

A male voice responds to Oriana's message.  "This is the Corona.  You got yourself here at a bad time, in case you needed telling.  Recommend leaving the system, the Imperials look--inv--"  Static cuts in as the Imperial jammers close range, closing you off from communication with them unless Oriana can get that back up and running.

You're still cruising toward the planet at high speed, about to pass the defending fleet.  Behind you, the Corellian shipyards and defensive installations are being torn apart.

"What a rude man, cutting off a woman like that," Hector said, with a grin as he leveled out the ship with the planet oriented below them.  He then eased the stick forward bringing them into a shallower approach - one that was still faster than most pilots would consider safe - that would take them into the atmosphere.  Given that the Skyfisher was much more ship than most, this would be a safe course as well.

"Gotta say though, Oriana," he sid, looking across the cockpit at his co-pilot.  "Not many people enjoy my flying, let alone get a thrill out of it.  I'm impressed."

Duran kept his eyes peeled but with the Corellian defence force taking the brunt of the attack he didn't have that much to do once they were behind their lines.

He considered their mission and frowned, it might be better if they just landed right at the manor instead of having to fight their way across a world under siege++X2, see if you can find out where this place is and the closest place we can land, legal or otherwise, the planetary defence has enough on their hands that they won't notice our illegal parking. Once the Imperial Forces make planet fall it will get a lot harder to get there.++

++Nevermind getting OFF the planet.++  Came an answer from the other turret as Duran spoke to the droid.

"Here's hoping that that Jedi Master's vision was worth it," the short twi'lek muttered as she scanned her sectors for enemy contacts as they headed closer and closer to their objective.

"I'll note you said 'woman' and not 'lady'," Oriana retorts, flashing a grin of her own across the cockpit.  "Under the circumstances, I think we can forgive Captain Obvious back there." She frowns briefly at the dead communications signal.  Her fist comes down on the closest panel in front of her, eliciting a series of hasty beeps and flickers of various lights, before the console flares to its regular brightness once more.  Not that it made any difference, since the Corellian ships' communications were clearly jammed up in their wake.

"What's not to love about fast and dangerous?" she glances over and quips, punctuating her teasing with a blatant wink, before hastily switching her attention from pilot to ship.  Her fingers fly over the the Skyfisher's controls, shifting the bulk of the shields' power to absorb the freighter's atmospheric approach.

This done, she laughs and keys up the ship-wide comm again, her amusement carrying over into her voice, ++"Don't you worry about that.  This ship's run plenty of blockades."++

"...with less talent at the controls," she finishes, after toggling off the comm.

Serina let's out a slight yelp and quickly grabs hold of a bulkhead as the ship yerks and jolts around, and quickly sits down again to refasten her seatbelt.

"I hope i remembered to secure all the medicine properly or they'll be flying all over."

She wrubs a small bump on her head underneath her blonde hair and shrugs

"At least we might still make it without serious injuries, beyond the ones incurred by this style of.... flying did you call it?"

X2 responds to Duran, displaying its speech on the displays again.  "Coordinates = here."  He displays the coordinates first on an image of the planet, indicating that it is in fact in front of you, sort of, in that you won't have to circle around to the (currently) night side if you're trying to get near the manor.

The map then zooms in to show you some surrounding urban centers.  The manor is apparently in between Coronet, the planet's capital, and another city called Mondek, placing it in a "remote" location near a bit of mountainous terrain.  This is the kind of remote that can only happen on a modernized planet, where there is a bit of forest nearby but hardly far from civilization.

The astromech zooms the view in some more to give you a view similar to what the Jedi Mul Orth showed you back on Coruscant.  He shows you an aerial picture as well.  It's a number of flatter, single-story structures on a bit of elevation overlooking a small body of water.  Quite scenic.

"About time, no?  How many times have you told me you're not a lady?"  Hector chuckled, and glanced over at the screen that showed their destination.  Easing the yoke forward, he took them down into the atmosphere, aiming to take them in low so that they could approach along the treetops, instead of from above.  That way, they would avoid most attention.  But, since this route would take them a few minutes still to even get in atmosphere, and the Sith were more worried about the shipyards, he didn't have much to worry about at the moment.

"A woman who loves both?" Hector suggested, keeping his eyes on the approach as Oriana spoke briefly over the comms.  When she came back with an aside for him, he chuckled. "Please, you flatter me.  This isn't even hard flying.  Those fighters come after us... then you'll see some flying."

Oriana smirks.  "Don't let an honest admission go to your head, Hector.  Skyfisher's the kind of ship that makes things easy, I'm sure you can tell.  Told you you'd like my handiwork," she adds with a chuckle.

Now that the majority of the fighting was well behind them, she has a chance to relax and enjoy the approach, kicking back in her seat and propping her boot up on the console once more.  Leaving her headset in place, she reaches over and flips the switch to connect the comm systems to the local METOSP frequency, on the off chance that it might contain something useful besides warnings of the Imperial fleet's bombardment.

"So women that love both aren't desirable? That explains a lot," she muses, keeping her eyes on the approaching planet, mostly to avoid the urge to break into a grin.  "And only twice.  Guess that makes you a fast learner."