A Glitch

[Munin]

[member="Sentinel"]

"But I don't even know what I was created for." Munin stated flatly.

Pride, he could get behind the idea, but in truth he still felt far too empty to venture into something like that. The Slicer wasn't sure why he existed, why they had made him. A part of him believed that he was just an experiment, something that they had created because they could. Perhaps that was why they were still after him, because they wanted to finish what they started.

Or eliminate it.

"Wh-" Munin began just as the alarms blared loudly. "Feth."

The Black Sun were known for having plenty of ships. Though they weren't exactly pirates, they did have an entire criminal network to look after that extended over half of the galaxies criminal space and a bit more. It wasn't too surprising that they would follow. "How'd they find us?"

Munin asked as he fumbled for a moment, grabbing onto some straps near the medical chair and trying to secure himself so he didn't end up bumping around and getting even more hurt.

 

[Mariya Pyne]

"This is not a stealth vessel."​

​

The voice carried over the med-bay even as gunfire continued to be exchanged. Turbulent rocking of the freighter erupted as it took repeated shots despite the maneuvering of the AI. It was a simple matter of size and speed. The freighter was larger than the smaller ships assaulting it, slower too. Sentinel hadn't retrofitted the ship to be invisible on scans.

"Calculations predict another starship or monitoring station picked up on us and relayed that to the Suns."​

​

A number of the more loosely secured items rattled as the ship rolled through space to avoid the shields absorbing more than they could deflect.

"It is improbable to outmaneuver their gunships given the present circumstances. Standby..."​

​

The voice silenced.

# Preparing Hyperdrive....
# Plotting Coordinates...
# Ready In 30s...

"We will be out of the system momentarily."​

​

[member="Munin"]​

 

[Munin]

[member="Sentinel"]

Munin felt the lurch as they jumped into hyperspace. The feeling was always an unpleasant one for him, the transfer from realspace being odd on his stomach. He covered his mouth for just a moment and made a sickening noise, though luckily the pain from his injuries kept him focused enough that he didn't throw up all over everything.

The tings of his face however told him he was not well pleased. "They'll be able to follow us."

That was a given. The Black Sun weren't entirely stupid, and even a mediocre navigator could work out the trajectory of a ship traveling through hyperspace. Couple that with all the contacts that Black Sun actually had throughout this sector of space? Munin would be surprised if they could go anywhere.

"We have to land as quick as possible." He told the droid. "Get a new ship."

It was the only way they couldn't be traced. "Then head to a sector Black Sun doesn't control."

The Silver Jedi Perhaps? They were closest.

 

[Mariya Pyne]

"Abandoning this vessel will interfere with my ability to optimally command another. This ship has been modified heavily. as you can well infer."​

​

# Accessing NaviComputer...
# Analyzing Plot Courses...
# Determining Probable Locations...

"There are seventeen possible hyperspace trajectories. Nine of those are still deep within Black Sun space. Four of them edge on the border, though probably is high that pirating bands will lurk within the systems. Two of them will set us on course to traverse a heavily populated asteroid field. One will send us into a Sun, and another into a Black Hole. Naturally they will not expect us to commit suicide, nor will they wager our arrival at a syndicate controlled world. Calculated odds are 7,829 to 1 that they will expect our jump at one of the four fringe systems. I will instead take us through the asteroid field."​

​

To itself, Sentinel wondered just how Munin would accept that assessment and plan. Most pilots steered clear of asteroid fields as they were incredibly dangerous and a single error would spell demise for ship and crew combined. At the same time however, it was the best solution as calculated by the advanced AI. Still, there was room for error, and that the Suns might send a patrol into the asteroid field all the same, but were the two really that important to risk so much?

[member="Munin"]

 

[Munin]

[member="Sentinel"]

He frowned.

There was something in the back of his head, a small thought that he couldn't quite pull free. The injuries he had sustained were harder hitting than he had initially thought and Munin found himself struggling with pulling up the memory he was trying to access. "Hmm."

Asteroid field.

The idea wasn't a bad one. Most pilots tended to stay away from Asteroid fields for obvious reasons, and Munin would normally agree. The fact that a droid was flying this ship however made things a bit easier, particularly because he knew the ship was controlled on a minute scale by the automaton. Still, there was something off.

"What's the name of the asteroid field?" Munin asked, adjusting himself on the table.

 

[Mariya Pyne]

"Will learning the name of this asteroid field somehow increase your support for this course of action?"​

​

The voice echoed through the ship and silence followed. A minute later an intense shaking would be felt as the vessel exited hyperspace in the immediate vicinity of the asteroid field and took a prominent dive beneath a mass of rock careening towards the dwarfed freighter. Proximity alerts sounded but were quickly silenced by the AI pilot.

"Traversing the field will be turbulent. Please refrain from expelling the contents of your organic system."​

​

A bit of synthetic humor wouldn't hurt.

Beneath the asteroid and between another set the ship flew, though there appeared to be no trace thus far of the Suns. It was unlikely they would attempt to pursue them, and even if they did, they would need an ace pilot to stand on par with a machine through the dense path of orbiting rock in their path.

[member="Munin"]

 

[Munin]

[member="Sentinel"]

He let out a groan, though not because of his wounds, mostly at the AI's joke.

"There..." Munin trailed off as he felt a bit of bile entering his throat, the odd humm and movement of the ship from left to right causing him more than a few troubles. He frowned for a moment, catching his stomach just a moment before anything was expelled.

He took a deep breath, then spoke again.

"There are pirates in certain asteroid fields in this sector." He exhaled. "They prey on smugglers trying to get away from the Hutt's, cartels, or anyone else trying to escape fees."

Munin had run into them before. "It's a concern."

They couldn't avoid everything after all.