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"]