First Reply Adrift

[Orenda Noxomi]

As the transport broke from hyperspace, Orenda took a deep breath and collapsed into the pilot's chair.

"Are they....gone?" came Kael's voice from behind her.

Orenda kept her eyes closed and rubbed her forehead with two fingers before she addressed him. What did I do?

"Yes," she answered, swiveling in the chair to face him. In the darkness, she could just make out his blond hair as the glow from the starlight caught him. "We are far enough away that - "

She was cut off as the control board suddenly turned red and began issuing a low warning, as blips of large objects began popping up on the holomap.

"Look out!" Kael shouted. "Rocks - !"

The garbage scow was suddenly pelted violently as it entered an asteroid field peppered with large, smooth stones. The Twi'lek and her human charge were abruptly thrown about the cockpit, their feet slipping against the smooth metal floor as they both fought to grab the steering wheel.

The vessel rocked side to side, smashing into more rock as it continued its journey forward, despite the hyperdrive being shut off. The Twi'lek's bony hands tensed at the wheel, her eyes narrowing in hard determination to try to steer them out of the field. "Kael - hold on!"

 

[Tibera Jessen]

Asteroids pelted the scow, denting the hull in several places as the thick plates gave way. Small cracks appeared in the vessel, leaking air before bulkheads automatically sealed off hallways. However, the spacerocks would be the least of the small crew's worries.

Their hasty hyperspace jump had brought them into occupied space. It was near a shadow port, one used by criminals to store important hauls. Patrolling vessels were soon able to suss out the small scow, most ignored them, believing they were just scrap in the large debris field.

One corvette-sized vessel had taken notice, and released a small pod-shaped boat to bring over a retrieval team. There was only two of them, both expecting to find nothing but trash and scared civillians. It was hardly an exciting detail to be sure, but they had to make sure it wasn't some kind of spying operation.

"Thrunn, you sweep the lower decks, I'll make my way to the cockpit," Tibera said, her Trandoshan teammate gave a series of growls in response. "Because I don't trust you not to scare the living daylights out of them..." She replied to his growls.

The heavy sounds of metap boots stomping toward the sealed cockpit doors filled the room. No doubt there was a great deal going on inside. She had her rifle slung over one shoulder, considering a more aggressive entrance. On the one hand, her commander probably wouldn't care. On the other, it'd be a weight on her conscience if there was someone on the other side.

Instead, she gave a knock on the closed door, waiting for any reply from the inside. The merc woman was intrigued, but not enough to fully lower her weapon in case someone came out swinging...

Tag: Orenda Noxomi

 

[Orenda Noxomi]

Orenda had managed to steer them through the worst of the asteroid field, but not without the hull taking serious damage. As the minutes wore on, the vessel slowed until it was simply adrift, lost somewhere in a sector of space she had haphazardly punched into the navicomputer - an uncharacteristic mistake for the normally careful Twi'lek.

She and Kael settled into the pilot's and the co-pilot's chairs together, each of them shaken from being tossed around by the rocks. For a moment, they started back at one another, quietly - his eyes curious, her eyes exhausted.

"Where will we go, now?" he ventured, after a moment.

The Twi'lek folded her hands in her lap and gathered a bit of her robe. "Uh...we will..." she started to say.

She froze at the sounds of boots boarding the ship, and then a brisk knock on the outer door.

"Kael - go to the lower level. I want you to hide among the trash," Orenda instructed. She pointed with a long finger. "Quickly!"

The human boy looked as if he wanted to argue, but she held a finger to her lips and gestured for him to disappear again. He did as he was told, slinking away into the darkness until she was sure he was far enough away.

"Who is it?" Orenda called out in a high voice, pressing her head closer to the door to be heard.

Tags: Tibera Jessen

 

[Tibera Jessen]

Who was it, as if they'd know even if Tibera told them! Could always call up Thrunn to bring a torch and cut the damn thing open. Bah, might as well try the honey before the vinegar. No need to scare them chitless if they could just knock on the door a while.

"Name's Sergeant Jessen, I work on a station nearby. Looks like your ship took a fething walloping in the debris field. We can tow you back to the station and get your life support looked at..." It was a half-hearted promise that Tibera was giving, she couldn't assure them the criminals wouldn't just scrap the ship for parts and do who knows what with them. Tibera just wanted to make sure everyone was going to make it out of this thing alive. She had enough on her mind to not at least try and save these people.

Meanwhile, Thrunn was skulking his way through the lower decks of the ship. He'd found the scow's ration storage, already tearing into some freeze-dried morsels that would probably satisfy him, but only probably. He sniffed the air, a gravy-flavored dust on his maw as he started walking around the maintenance areas.

<Jessen, I smell something down here, and it ain't just trash,> Thrunn said in Dosh, which strangely Tibera could understand. That was in spite of it just being a series of reptillian growls and hisses.

"If there's anymore civvies on the ship, then just keep them corralled until I get down there. And keep your teeth to yourself for goodness sake..."

Tags: Orenda Noxomi