Burn Sky Until We See Lines (One Sith Territory)

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

Raxus. Now that was an idea.

The junk world would do them good. The only thing is that it would take time. Time in getting there. Time in finding a place to set camp - because the weren't gonna do what they needed in one day - and time to go scouring, salvaging, cleaning, fixing, troubleshooting and that was just to start.

It could very well take a week. Maybe more.

[ Reckon we'll need to get some base supplies first then. ] was no harm in being prepared. Kaile could make a call for an advance; and once she got Retii on the line, haggle for that heigher stipend.

It was the least the Alliance could do now for Kurt now that he was risking his neck for her.

[ Maybe we can find you an extra transponder code too. ] they were illegal, but considering there was no galactic wide bureau, wasn't like one could really ping 'em for it.

It was just another safety measure she reckoned would be best.

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

Kurt had more transponder codes then he knew what to do with, mostly because Sif gave them to him. Part of working for a shipping company meant going to different systems and different galaxies. It wasn't like there was any issue with the Messa's ID tags but...well certain governments got testy when you were making deliveries to their mortal enemies. Of course, Kurt had never used any of these alternate transponder codes, mostly because doing so was a pain in the ass.

"Eh." He said to himself before leaning over to the intercom. "I don't think it's a big deal. Maybe we can create a cycler though."

Something that would flip through all the different transponder codes.

The idea was a neat one, if they could pull it off. "First we need this thing to work though."

Kurt offered the Hyperdrive a small kick, the device moving slightly and revealing a series of crossed wires. The Courier eyed the wires for a moment, inspecting them with an interest and moving closer. He made an audible noise of surprise, then quickly grasped what had happened. The ship's hyperdrive, which Kurt had fiddled with some time ago, had been compromised during an explosion, in order to make it work still Kurt had fiddled with the hyperdrives power supply and had made it draw directly from the reactor itself. With this change it was a bit easier to get the drive working faster, but it came with the issue of not having a sensor in place to watch powerdraw.

So what had happened was simple, the hyperdrive, or rather the reactor, thought that too much power was being drawn and thus shut itself off to prevent critical overload.

Simple really, and an easy fix.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

[ A cycler? Now that's a shiny idea. ]

Her voice would crackle out the change of inflection in her surprise and then agreement. It was always easy to read Kaile, whether it be by voice or body. With the courier now aware she was of Lorrdian descent, it made more sense.

Leaning forward, the young woman kept an eye on the sensors. [ shouldn't be too hard. With enough parts out in Raxus I can work us something.]

Then there was also the emergency shield for the reactor and hyperdrive she wanted to install.

[ I've a mind to get an emergency shield round the generator and the hyperdrive. That's what I'd been working the last month. Nailing dorm the specifics... ]

If she hadn't left, then they could have installed it. Maybe then what happened to the Messa wouldn't have occurred.

A pause.

[ Was it the reactor spikes? ]

She asked, wondering what was it that actually caused her explosion.

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

"Uhhh." Kurt said, slightly hiding his embarrassment. "No."

He said as though he were looking away. "It's something I did."

Of course he wouldn't be saying quite what he did, that was a trade secret, and also, he couldn't remember exactly what he did. The entire week was actually rather a blur now, a series of actions and consequences that he couldn't quite pin down. He knew that he had been angry, he knew that he had been upset and on the verge of doing something stupid, had actually done something stupid, but he had also been under duress. Perhaps that excused some of his behavior, though hardly all of it.

"It's alright. I can fix it." The issue wasn't all that complex, he just needed to rewire some of the input to the Hyperdrive itself so that it didn't draw directly from the reactor but instead fed off of a sub-system, that way the sub-system would shut down the overdraw if it ever happened again.

Kurt nodded to himself.

He knew that eventually The Messa would become little more than a massive compilation of different junk held together by some very strong tape, but as it was right now...he loved it. His ship was the fastest in the galaxy, capable of outrunning any capital ship and even most interceptors. Nobody could hold a candle to The Messa, and that was because of the modifications that he and Kaile had done to the ship. What was a broken hyperdrive compared to that?

"A shield huh?" He mused quietly, pulling wires and stripping them.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

There was more to it.

It was in the delay of his voice. The slight pause. Had she asked him in person, Kaile would be able to tell more. He was embarrassed. Kaile wanted to know more, but there was a line that Kurt and she had. Nothing official, just that Kaile understood the need to not press when one didn't want to say more. As a Lorrdian, she already had the advantage of learning more about what bothered Kurt and his state of mind than what he would be likely be comfortable with.

To a degree, she already had an unfair advantage. She already knew perhaps too much. Kurt wasn't a target for her to glean information from. Nor was he a curiousity to dissect to date her questions. He was her best friend. Her lover. Her family.

Kaile didn't want to 'work' Kurt for information. No, I want him to be able to tell her himself.

It was an odd thing perhaps, considering she was a galactic spy. But that was how the cards fell with them. It wasn't to say he hadn't told her much about his life; he had. More than she ever had the chance to respond to in turn.

Something I'm going to change.

[ yeah. If we hook it up to activate at a specific critical range, it should be able to automatically activate to hold in any explosion. Just a secondary level of protection -- trouble is it with all that we do, perhaps a new generator might do some good. I was thinking that if maybe... We managed to salvage an isotope 5 generator...]

By far one of the most efficient generators, it was also one of the most expensive. Good thing that Armatech had a whole bunch of salvage from their war with the socialist Rebellion on Geonosis.

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

"Huh." That was a neat idea, very neat actually. On a Vanir Technologies ship Reactors and hyperdrives were the two biggest threats really, at least from within the ship. The reactor was constantly at a state of near overdrawl and the Hyperdrive didn't exactly like that either. The two of them could explode at times, as Kurt had proven with his tinkering. This little idea that Kaile had thought of would prevent that explosion, allowing for the Vanir Ship's to at least survive any mishaps, though likely still become little more than derelicts in space.

"When did you think of this?" Kurt asked as he pulled a wire free. "When you were gone?"

It wouldn't be hard to do, at least not really.

Shield generators were a dime a dozen, in fact, he was more than willing to bet that Raxus had everything they needed. Perhaps they could take an old personal shield from a Droideka or something of that sort. The only thing that concerned him was the power supply. Isotope five wasn't hard to find, at least not with all the battles that the galaxy had, but it was dangerous in it of itself, and Kurt was no electrician, neither was Kaile as far as he knew.

Maybe they'd have to find some schematics.

Just as he had that thought Kurt crossed two of the wires, a large spark flying for half a second before the reactor jumped back to life and the engine thrummed.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

[ No… I had the general gist of it back on Bespin. ]

Now it was Kaile’s turn to sound a bit embarrassed, maybe even a bit of guilt. Not because she hadn’t told him earlier, but more that if she only had, perhaps then he wouldn’t have been hurt at all.

[ But I … I managed to fine tune it the past week. ]

Another pause. Should I tell him? The thought raced through her head. Then she considered what she had sworn herself earlier.

She was going to be open about things.

[ Thought I’d build it and send it your way. ]

Whatever might have come next was quickly overridden by the hum of the engine once more. Kaile’s eyes went wide in surprise then amazement, grinning from ear to ear.

[ YOU DID IT! ]

Her voice returned to its usual vibrancy, already she was checking the diagnostics and going through the checks.

[ So far so good. ] her eyes critically looked at the indicators for the generator and the hyperdrive for any noticeable spikes or a hint of a potential issue.

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

Well, it looked like everything was working now.

He supposed that was good, though they would have to take a closer look at everything when they were out of One Sith space and somewhere safe. Right now though, it was time to go. Scrambling up from his place on the floor Kurt hurried over to the ladder, a slight limp in his step as he did so.

Injuries still plagued him, face aching and eyes slightly swollen. It was a miracle that he had done so well over the past two weeks, even more so that he was even alive. Any other time and a blast like that would have killed him, it was simply amazing that he was still here. That was why Kaile's shield was so brilliant, the idea of it, it's function would entirely have saved Kurt from ever getting hurt in the first place. The thought made him wonder about other applications the technology might have. He mused for a second more, then braced himself for the climb. He ascended, moving up to the cockpit one rung at a time until he crawled to his feet.

"Alright." Kurt said as he slipped into the pilot's chair. "Let's get out of here."

Corellia was nice, or rather, used to be nice, but with the Fleet nearby and those patrols still going Kurt was more than happy to go.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

Kaile was busy checking the diagnostic computer, making sure everything was working fine. By the time Kurt climbed into his chair, she had finished reviewing the results. So far so good, she mused to herself.

Ask Kurt sank himself into his chair, Kaile flashed him a friendly grin of welcome. " not too shabby if I do say so myself." She would tease the pilot, leaning back against her own chair. For a moment, It felt like old times again. Catching the blues of his eyes, Kaile wondered aloud, " i'm going to meet a lot more bacta to take care of your mug." She teased shaking her head in mild humor.

"Don't worry though," she added, a slight mischievous twinkle in her brown eyes, flecking them with glints of hazel. "I hear women like scars," her hand reaching out to playfully skim very gently over his temple.

She was notably more prone to touch than before, something that had hiked up to new degrees since she's left. Spending time with Asmus had fed that need, that desire to not be alone. To have arms around her again.

Maybe that made her a little bit clingy. Maybe it didn't. Maybe it was just a need to reconnect.

A sigh expelled from her lips, agreeing to his last. She eyed to distant derelict of a shipyard. "Yeah... Reckon it wouldn't be good for us to hang out much longer. They'll be back soon enough." The patrol that is.

"Raxus?"

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

The hyperdrive began to spool up even as Kurt began to push The Messa forward. The courier decided to ease the ship into the path, deciding that was easier than trying to go full throttle again. "No."

He said quietly.

"We need someplace a bit more relaxed first." They had to effect repairs on the ship, at least make the place a little bit safer first. "Lets see if we can't find somewhere we can be alone, someplace nice."

Of course what Kurt meant by that was someplace where they wouldn't get killed. Kurt was tired of that. He wanted a day, no, a week of just sitting and doing nothing. He wanted to lay on a beach and relax, he wanted to sit and do nothing. No running, no chasing, no working, nothing. The Messa needed to be repaired, they needed to get things in order and then they could go to Raxus. He nodded his head as if affirming to himself that's what they would do, then reached up and smacked Kaile's bottom.

"Let's go." His hand wrapped around the levers for the hyperdrive, pressing them forward and pushing The Messa out of realspace.