Blank Space?

[NightSister]

So her uncertainty had not gone unnoticed. Aria didn't have the effort to decide whether she had faith in his statement or not, so she nodded twice and slipped back into her quarters, letting the door close with a quiet click. In all likelihood, the decision would not be one the Echani would have to make today.

As quickly as she could, Aria kitted herself out in her usual Jedi gear, brushed out her hair - properly - and plaited it back, and stretched off the last of her tiredness - just about. Well, this was exciting, at least. A mission infiltrating the One Sith! Aria was keeping quiet about it, but she was in fact more than a bit animated at the prospect.

Finally, with a splash of cold water to ensure she was fully awake, Aria opened her door and popped out to see Connor approaching from his own room.

"Alright then," she said brightly, her head still resting against the wall. "Let's do this!"

[member="Jamie Pyne"] | [member="Connor Harrison"]

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Closing the door after the two had left to gather their belongings Jamie quickly went about collecting her own things for the trip. A duffle bag containing her equipment, namely the lightweight bodysuit and gadgets that she had acquired were neatly packed within, along with her lightsaber and camera. The small backpack she also planned to bring along included a few changes of clothes, grooming essentials, and a datapad. Mostly it was everything she had brought along with her to the temple. It was simply easier to take it with her, rather than return to get it later.

Upon opening the door once she had finished getting herself ready she came to see Connor and Aria already waiting outside. Jamie offered a smile and a nod to both and headed toward the hangar where their ships awaited. "We'll be stopping outside of Metalorn at the ATC station there. We'll meet up with my contact to get what we need, and then board one ship for the rest of the trip." She spoke as she walked, turning down a winding corridor that opened up into the modest temple hangar. "We'll have to do some scouting to find where this place is once we reach Iridonia, but I imagine it shouldn't be too much trouble. If SIS was able to track them to Iridonia, they couldn't be too difficult to find."

[member="Aria Vale"] | [member="Connor Harrison"]

 

[Connor Harrison]

Connor walked beside Jamie and Aria, all kitted out in basics for their little venture into unknown territory. Another caf was due soon just to hit that sleepy wave starting to wash over him again.

”Sounds good to me. SIS locating somebody is one thing; that’s the easy part. It’s getting in, extracting the information, and then getting out which is harder.”

He looked around the hangar and it was quiet, but still had a few bodies carrying out their duties through the early hours for such calls to duty like this.

”Keep your wits about the terrain, depending where we land, Aria. Don’t know if you’ve been to Iridonia before but it’s a little dangerous in places – caverns and canyons and stretches of land and pockets of acid that can strip you to the bone if you come across them if you get lost.” He nudged her with his elbow. ”Which I’m sure you won’t.”

Connor looked back to Jamie.

”So how long have you been with the SIS Jamie? You working with your significant other in this line of work?"

[member="Jamie Pyne"] | [member="Aria Vale"]

 

[NightSister]

Aria looked around the hangar with keen interest, mildly surprised to see that they were not the only ones going about their business at this atrocious hour. She supposed it shouldn't come as a surprise - as Connor was always keen to remind her, being a Jedi meant that at times you had to sacrifice such luxuries as a regular sleeping schedule; though she remained hopeful that such events remained few and far between throughout her career as a Silver Jedi.

Realising that Connor was speaking just a moment before he directed his words towards her, Aria turned. Iridonia - she didn't recall ever having visited the planet throughout her travels across the galaxy, and being informed about the canyons and pockets of acid - she flinched visibly at the thought of acid burning her skin to nothing - it came as no surprise as to why.

"Ugh. Not getting lost today," she agreed, an apprehensive undertone slightly notable in her otherwise bright tone of voice. She would have to take lessons from Jamie in remaining upbeat and bubbly some other time.

[member="Connor Harrison"] | [member="Jamie Pyne"]

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"Agreed." She said with a nod to Connor. "Getting in and out is what I'm most nervous about. Everything else is just details."

Minor details the grand scheme of the operation, but details that needed to be carefully looked after. After all, what good was it if they collected what they needed only to be blown out of the sky before jumping to lightspeed? Not very good. At least, in Jamie's eyes. She had come a little too close too frequently, and was hoping her fortune would begin to turn around in that aspect.

"We need to avoid the locals as well." Jamie added on to Connor's little speech he gave to his student as they neared their ships. Jamie's was a few landing pads over, but nonetheless close enough. "Tribes, villages, that sort of thing. We can't risk tipping the Sith off to us if they have agents. The last thing we need is a welcome party." She said those words with a bit of a light hearted tone, though this was one of those fine details that needed to be watched and not overlooked, as the ramifications could be quite disastrous.

"I've been picking up on the go training for the most part, with the SIS, for a few months. My mentor there is also a Jedi Marshall of the NJO." She nodded once more, pausing at the fork between their two ships. "Kurt isn't involved with what I do, though. He also doesn't quite know what I do or where I am during these types of things. It's better that way though."

[member="Aria Vale"] | [member="Connor Harrison"]

 

[Connor Harrison]

Connor walked and listened, giving Jamie his attention as they arrived before their ships. Impressive, sleek vessels that seemed to be made just for this sort of operation, ones Connor liked. Get in, get out, no frills.

”This one has a keen mind and a good eye and she’ll be ok out there,” he said, placing a hand on Aria’s shoulder and shook her gently. ”Like you said, the less who know, the better.”

Side stepping towards his ship, he ran a hand over the hull and rested on it, turning back to the two.

”We’ll follow you. Don’t stop for anything or anyone. You can’t trust anyone out there, even if you think you can.” He flashed a smile. ”Except for us, of course.”

[member="Aria Vale"] | [member="Jamie Pyne"]

 

[NightSister]

With a pleased grin and a joking nod of the head at Connor's words, Aria followed as he and Jamie neared the vessel. At the same time, she listened to their chatter contentedly so as to try and make sense of the new face - for the most part, her powers of deduction fell behind the pace of the conversation, but she was able to pick up a few things. Jamie was certainly an interesting persona.

By nature, Aria was always happy to remain quiet when it was convenient, but as the conversation slowed Aria found herself eyeing the design of the ship as she tried to offer her own input.

"Uh, so if your mentor's a Jedi," she said after a moment with a look towards Jamie, wanting to confirm her theory, "You're one too?"

[member="Jamie Pyne"] | [member="Connor Harrison"]

 

[Jamie Pyne]

The girl shrugged. "I guess you could say that." She hadn't quite given the title of Jedi much thought ever since she had started to accompany Aela around, learning as she went.

"Not in the traditional sense though." She said, running one hand back through several strands of curly blonde hair. "Temples and all that, the training, the meditating for hours, the practice droids and such. None of that."

Her training was entirely unique, in part due to her age of both discovering the Force and beginning to utilize it knowingly. Aela was also very particular when it came to her method of teaching. She mentored Jamie in the same fashion that her parents had taught her, in the heat of the moment and without much preparation. She learned what she needed as she needed it and without delay or baby steps. The Padawan was thrust into situations where she needed to learn quickly, and implement that almost immediately. It was effective, but it was exhausting both physically and mentally.

"I don't think I would be considered a Jedi by most standards, but as an ideal, yes, I believe that to be accurate."

She offered a reassuring smile to Aria, before stepping out towards her ship. "I'll meet you two at the station over Metalorn soon, okay?"

[member="Aria Vale"] | [member="Connor Harrison"]

 

[Connor Harrison]

With Jamie chatting away, Connor stepped up inside their allocated craft, poking his head in and glancing around. Small and basic, no frills, but it would do the job. Streamline but spacious enough. Leaning back out, he held out his hand for Aria.

”See you down there Miss Jedi-Not-A-Jedi,” he called after Jamie.

Connor was in, and when Aria joined him, he sidled through to the cockpit which was again, pretty basic and neat, serving a single purpose without too many bells and whistles. He took a seat in the right hand chair, usually the co-pilot.

”Take a seat Miss Vale, time for you to fly.”

Settling in his seat, he turned and looked for her.

”You don’t just need to learn the Force if you want to be a survivor with me. Anything and everything is a tool at your disposal, and so you can take us to Metalorn. It’s a rather humid place, but you’ll be alright.”

He started to slowly rub his hands together, getting comfortable, waiting for her reply.

[member="Aria Vale"] | [member="Jamie Pyne"]

 

[NightSister]

Another nod and intrigued grin at Jamie's words - she'd never met a Lightsider who didn't call themselves a Jedi before - and Aria departed alongside Connor, looking into the ship's interior with a sweeping glance. Nothing exciting, but then she wasn't the sort with much appreciation or care for starship design.

Then at Connor's words she turned, eyebrows raised half in surprise and half as a silent way of accepting the task. Flying the starship? She wouldn't pretend she had any great love or skill for flying, but to let that prevent her from having learned as soon as possible would've made her life very difficult. With any luck the space creatures and other potential disasters would still be sleeping.

"Okay. Awesome. Sure." Mildly caught off guard by the challenge but not displeased, Aria took her seat and started the engines. Of course, today she had to go reasonably fast and on reasonably little energy, but she wasn't one to shy away from a challenge. Tentatively, she flew them out of the hangar, initially taking care - departing and landing were always the hardest bits; the flying itself wasn't even all that tricky - then accelerated once she was clear. Time to fly.

~​

​

"All...right!" Slowly, with eyes darting over the control deck, Aria brought the ship down, and with a bump as they hit the landing pad the craft came to an eventual halt. The flight had more or less been smooth with only the occasional swerve, and Aria had mostly kept quiet for the relatively short journey.

"Okay, I guess Jamie'll be here in a minute." As the landing ramp lowered, Aria hopped off the starship, waiting for Connor to follow.

[member="Connor Harrison"] | [member="Jamie Pyne"]

 

[Jamie Pyne]

A rather loud thud echoed throughout the hangar of the station, the legs of the starship coming to an abrupt landing atop the durasteel floor. Hard landings were the norm for this girl, but it was certainly better than crash landings, which more often than not seemed to be her specialty. Today however it looked that this station would be spared the pain and agony of clearing debris from the hangar due to an overzealous young woman's attempt to put down a craft she was wholly incapable of piloting with an degree of professionalism.

Heads turned to look, and half a dozen workers halted their daily routine to take note of the less than subtle touchdown made by the new arrival, though quickly returned to their tasks as the ramp to her ship slowly lowered and Jamie's boots began to clank against the metallic walkway. Curly hair bounced from left to right as her blue eyes scanned the length of the bay looking for Connor and Aria's ship or persons until finally catching them at the far end. She hopped up and down a few times, waiving to them to hopefully grab their attention before she began to make her way over to them. Her contact would be waiting at a nearby housing complex for visitors, where they would make the pick up before embarking on the main leg of their journey.

"Hey there!" She finally said upon reaching the two Jedi. "Are we ready to go?"

[member="Connor Harrison"] | [member="Aria Vale"]

 

[Connor Harrison]

”Not bad. Not bad,” Connor remarked as they walked out into the hangar, and moments later greeted by an excitable looking Jamie. ”Here she is! Ready to go. Lead on.”

Falling in with their SIS agent, Connor motioned for Aria to walk with them as they started off out from the hangar to the outside world for their meeting with the contact. The humidity was powerful and instantly Connor craned his neck to get what air he could around his body, fingers opening the collar more of his tunic as he looked around.

A few natives were going about their daily business, some catering for visitors, others at work.

Thankfully the trinity looked less liked your usual Jedi and intelligence agents on first glance so hopefully wouldn’t cause too much of a stir.

”So who’s your contact again? What’s his game.”

[member="Jamie Pyne"] | [member="Aria Vale"]