Chasing Ghosts

[Kirie]

[SIZE=11pt]“Deep in the beating heart of our Galaxy, is nestled a clustered mass of systems. Violent volcanoes, extensive plains, vast seas teeming with new life. Scores of wonders, many of which have never been seen even by our Galactic predecessors. This is our Galactic Core, lost to us after the Four Hundred Year Darkness. At its heart, the shining jewel of the cosmos, the singular object around which our Galaxy spins. The Galactic Centre, unparalleled in its grandeur, but never visited by sentients in recorded history, not even by probes. This is my obsession."[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]-Journal of Kit Caraway. Entry #1[/SIZE]

​

[SIZE=11pt]The cosmos melted out of the blue as the vessel reverted, completing its 24th leap into hyperspace in the last day. Navigation had become difficult this far past Byss. There were no known routes, not in the traditional sense anyway. Kirie and the crew were forced to rely on the calculations out of Kit’s journal, which in turn were taken from a centuries-old text, to find their way through increasingly dense sets obstacles. It’d been a week since they’d last seen traffic of any kind. In fact, Kirie hadn't seen anything manufactured in all that time. The worlds were all barren, untouched.

The systems they visited each day were uncharted, seen by few eyes in living memory, and as they travelled deeper, even unnamed. This was wild, unexplored territory, virtually untouched by Galactic civilisation for all of time.

Slumped in a chair on the observation deck of the ship, Kirie gazed out of the viewport and thought back on the journey so far. Kit Caraway was an explorer, an adventurous spacer that Kirie had first met on Centares. The woman had dreamed of being the first in recorded history to visit the Galactic Centre, to truly observe it for herself. While working for the Mara-Perlemian Council, Kit had worked diligently, poring through ancient texts to find tidbits of information to help her navigate the Deep Core.

Her first venture had been unsuccessful, repelled by pirates. But, as Kit had told Kirie several months prior, the failure had given some insight into the route she would take to reach her goal. On her second mission, she never returned. She’d last been seen with her crew passing through Byss, taking the route outlined in her journal, the route Kirie herself now followed, having carefully copied all of the information to a personal database, from the holonet page Kit used as a blog.

It seemed the closer they came, the closer to discovering the truth, the more her fervour grew. Kirie had to see it. Someone had to get there. She didn’t know why, but she felt she owed it to the lost spacer to complete this mission.

The craft descended to yet another planet, its insides wrenched by the forces of the gargantuan black hole a relatively short distance away. Legs extended from the fuselage, and the vessel settled softly to the ground on a rocky outcrop. This would be a short stop, just enough to make some notes, take video, and move along. Then it would be onwards, moving ever towards the centre. Towards whatever it was that Kit Caraway had tried so desperately to find.[/SIZE]

 

[Aeshi Tillian]

Uncharted Space
Asteroid 39856-Aurek-9987
Stable Orbit- Black Hole

===================

A scream swelled as her cybernetic fists plowed into the punching bag that hung loosely from the corner of her quarters, but faded away again as she flopped into the hammock. She had no idea where they were. Their ship's navcomputer, the best that money could buy, didn't know where they were. Then again, that had been the plan. If she didn't know where she was, then neither did anybody else. Tyrants seized the galaxy and harried them into the farthest reaches of space. Everyone else had fled for the Rim, but no safety lay there. The First Order seemed to take an undue pleasure in mucking up previously ignored backwater worlds.

No, safety lay in the Core. Beyond the Core, even. Somewhere so deep inside the tangled hyperlanes that nothing larger than a freighter could get inside. Partially through the Force and partially through the cybernetic implants, she had made her way here, parked her ship, and decided to stay. For a while, anyways. She had the resources to live by herself for a few standard months while she considered what her next steps would be.

An alarm dinged on her computer. Aeshi frowned and strode to the display. A ship had come in, picked up on the sensors, and put down on the nearby world. Freighter class, Corellian. Her fingers drummed on the console as it vanished into the planetary gravity well.

She couldn't tell who they were, but they were brave enough, alright. Maybe crazy? That was always a possibility, but perhaps it could be worth stopping by for a visit after all.

Minutes later, her ship was hurtling away from the asteroid and following the course of the ship that had just landed. Atmosphere blazed against the shields as the ship dropped in to settle onto the ground next to the other ship.

The boarding ramp dropped open with a hiss and Aeshi strode down, one hand resting on her hip and the other holding a bottle of Tillian Cola Whiskey. A welcome gift, so to speak, as she approached the other ship.

 

[Kirie]

"I've pored over countless journals, tracked down hidden texts lost to the ages, recovered on planets I've never even heard of. I found information unknown even to some of our greatest modern scholars. From these documents, I found a route, a safe path through the majority of the Deep Core, maybe even to the centre itself. It's shoddy, pieced together from a hundred different sources, but I'll be damned if it isn't the finest thing I've ever seen. I can't help but feel as I view my charts that my luck has taken a turn in the right direction. This mission is the one."

-Journal of Kit Caraway. Entry #2

​

Pulling an old-fashioned notepad out of her pocket, Kirie stepped down the boarding ramp and onto the cracked and rocky surface of the plateau. She could feel a deep thrum in her legs, likely the product of the immensely powerful and frequent volcanic activity, which itself was caused by the movement of the supermassive black hole known as the Galactic Centre. Her boots crunched, breaking brittle stems of volcanic rock as the crunched into the surface. Already her uniform, a plain, unadorned flight suit sans a helmet, was gathering a coating of soot that she knew she'd never get out. Though it was dim, the sky obscured by a suffocating layer of toxic cloud. The air below, however, was relatively clear, only with a slight metallic tang with each intake of breath. For safety's sake, a respirator with a new filter hung from a waist-high loop in her suit.

Kirie took a few steps further forward, now about a dozen meters from the edge of the plateau. This was the flattest point nearby, and upon closer inspection it appeared to be a crumbling caldera, the barren remnant of the towering cones that surrounded her, sometimes spewing lava, or releasing a noxious cloud of sulphur and ash. Dutifully, she recorded all of this, scribing the details in small, flowing script on the smooth, cream-coloured pages. Atmosphere: Type A, Terrain: Volcanic, Life-

Kirie put down her pack, bending down and grimacing at the sensation of her knee pressing against the rough stone. After a moment of rummaging, she pulled out a small device. Still crouched down, Kirie produced a swab, and gently rubbed the small strip across a few different sections of ground, before returning the sample to the machine. A moment later, it beeped. There were signs of life here. No samples, but the ingredients that would allow microorganisms to thrive in this environment. She stood up, scribbling in her notebook.

A bright light caught her attention, and she turned her face upward to see a ship coming in to land. She let out a small gasp and her mouth fell open. She hadn't expected anyone to actually be here, so close to the centre. As the craft settled, she wondered how many other wanderers travelled to these unnamed sectors, and why.

Then it occurred to her they were probably pirates.

A pistol hung from her waist, and she took the unfamiliar object from its place at her side, hefting it, ready to use in case of trouble. Her heart beat with apprehension as the boarding ramp lowered, and a female spacer stepped out. Kirie's grip on the pistol wavered. She was clearly non-hostile, but she'd see what the woman had to say before she lowered her guard.

[member="Aeshi Tillian"]​

 

[Aeshi Tillian]

[member="Kirie Ito"]

Aeshi paused as the other woman approached, blaster already removed from the holster. She stopped several meters away and held up her hands, clearly far away from the twin pistols hung at her side. After a moment, she set the bottle of whiskey down and took another step backward.

"Name's Captain Ash," she called, ensuring her hands stayed far away from the guns. She was already regretting her decision and every muscle was tensed. She wasn't sure that she could dodge a blaster bolt at this close range, but with a hint from the Force, maybe she would be lucky. "I work for GUIDE. Brought some whiskey for you."

Soot and rock crunched beneath her feet as she shifted them and slowly lowered herself towards the ground, resting lightly on a spur of rock. It shifted beneath her and she frowned. Talk about a desolate wasteland. Already she was beginning to feel dirty, like she was back on Coruscant as a kid. Aeshi suppressed a shudder at the memory.

"What brings you out here? Awfully far from anywhere. Nice ship. Corellian?" She gestured with her chin towards the other ship.

She didn't look like much. Maybe some corporate scout. Her supplies seemed to be an explorer's or scientist. Aeshi had met enough of them in her work with GUIDE, but she had never done all that much herself. Planets made her feel trapped and it wasn't long before restlessness pushed her onward. Typically, she'd fly the scientists to their destination, park the ship, and either leave for the next destination or wait in orbit.

"Learn anything exciting about this rock yet?"

 

[Kirie]

"It won't be easy. I'm not stupid. There's less than a tenth the funding the last mission had. No other crew but a few cheap droids. There will be challenges, setbacks. But I understand that. Missions like this used to be my currency. A few years on Centares is not long enough to take my grit, my resourcefulness, my skills. It's strange, but I'm not the least bit apprehensive. I'm drawn to the Centre in a way that's difficult to explain. It's as if this pilgrimage was meant to be, like it is my destiny to go there. One can only deny fate for so long. I have no intention to live on borrowed time."

-Journal of Kit Caraway. Entry #3

​

The blaster pistol slid smoothly back into its holster, and Kirie let out a sigh of relief. There would be no violence today. Corded muscles in her slight shoulders released their tension, and with her hands now free she raised them to sign.

'Do you speak sign?'

The question was a simple gesture, known across the Galaxy, even by non-speakers. Kirie tapped a few keys on a datapad strapped to her wrist, and a moment later a small droid emerged from the ship, scuttling down the ramp, moving nimbly across the volcanic rock and up her body, its spidery legs finding purchase in the material of her flight suit. Finally, it crested her shoulder, and squatted, keenly watching Kirie's hands and repeating the words in basic.

'Hello Ash. I am Kirie. Thank you for the gift.'

She studied the woman in front of her. She looked rugged, well traveled. A real wanderer. Apparently Ash was some sort of explorer, like she was, she supposed. That was a funny thought. She'd sometimes dreamed of exploring the cosmos as a girl, back home on Balmorra. And here she was. Though it wasn't exactly what she'd expected back then. Though, nothing really was. The Galaxy was a strange, unruly place. She was still figuring out how she fit into it. As the voices in her mind quietened, and the pulling in many directions of invisible ropes loosened, she found herself isolated. Lost and spit out, a lonely wanderer, adrift. Nought but a part in a larger machine she didn't understand.

Perhaps that's why this mission was so important. It was direction, it was purpose in a Galaxy that had lost all meaning in an inescapable sea of war, violence, and rebellion.

'I guess I am here to escape it all, Ash.' She signed. Dutifully, the mini protocol droid parroted her gestures, spitting them out as words.

'Yes, my ship is Corellian, but she's been property of the Mara-Perlemian Council since its formation. I have glasses inside, let's get a drink and we can talk about this rock.'

 

[Progflaw99]

All that is gold does not glitter, not all those who wander are lost; ​

the old that is strong does not wither, deep roots are not reached by the frost.​

~ J.R.R. Tolkien​

​

​

Unusual. That was how it felt to be this far from the safety of the First Order, without his trusted brethren only a stone's throw away. Castor had been away from home before, been away from the Bastion, even so far as Naboo but never for so long. It had taken him weeks to track down a navigator who knew the core sufficiently, it wouldn't have served him... or the Supreme Leader well if he were to end up in the center of some uncharted star. The navigator had gotten him deep into the core but only to a point. "No, I will not go any further. Neither threat of death or any amount of credits could convince me otherwise." he had said. *Let it not be said that the Knights of Ren have no hearts.* thought Castor. Instead of simply jettisoning him out of an airlock like some of his ilk might, he had been decent enough to leave the man alive - opting to depart on his own via the TIE he'd demanded be held in the captain's hangar. The man hadn't been happy about having to ditch his cargo, almost 200 copies of a holo-vid game called Echo Tango. Apparently they were worth 'a fortune' as he'd put it. Castor didn't doubt the man was happy he had, or else the navigator might have found himself cast into the void of space.

*It's here.* Castor could feel the pull of fate, the orb of a planet far below beckoning. He didn't know what, or why - he couldn't even be sure it was the Force guiding him. It was almost as if in a dream, a vision perhaps? Castor had long ago set aside his own reservations about life, sometimes there were simply things you could not explain. In service to the Supreme Leader had he not seen things of such magnificence? Doubt had plagued Castor's mind since Mustafar, since the battle on Hoth and the Queen of Naboo's escape. There had once been talks of peace between the Alliance and the Order but even now their long time foe had seemingly collapsed in on itself, unable to bear its own weight. Is that what the Order had become?

Safe within the recesses of his own mind, doubt festered, but his feet continued on like a good soldier, like the loyal Knight of Ren he was - He would see whatever this was through to the end. Inputting coordinates into the navigation control, the TIE began its descent into the atmosphere. Out here it was unlikely there were any stragglers but he would come in low anyway, weaving and dipping as he used the landscape to conceal his presence as best he could. The smaller ripples he could make in his endeavor, the better for everyone.

[member="Kirie Ito"] | [member="Aeshi Tillian"]
​

 

[Aeshi Tillian]

[member="Kirie Ito"] [member="Castor Ren"]

Aeshi paused for a moment at the hand gesture. She recognized it, although it had been quite some time since she had used it. Haltingly at first, she parsed together the words saying A little in the sign of the Outer Rim. There had been too many languages in the Rim for even Basic to always be functional. Or, too many species that couldn't speak Basic. So, like all good traders, she picked up some sign.

The droid helped translate the words, augmenting her own rusty understanding of sign.

That is great. Aeshi managed to sign back while still speaking softly to herself as she coached herself through the gestures. She picked up the bottle and ambled over to her ship.

"MPTC?" She asked, pausing slightly to inspect the ship's hull. "Part of their trade guild. You been with them long, Kirie?"

Something beeped on her wrist computer and she paused, adjusting it, to try and narrow down the parameters of the reading. Engine traces. Movement. The planet was too unstable for much more of any specificity, but there was something there. A ship, had to be small to create that tiny of a sensor reading. With a click of the button, her ship sealed itself off and its shields rippled to life. Better safe than sorry, after all.

Something prickled in the Force, but she couldn't pin it down. It was just the itch along the back of her neck that gave it away.

 

[Cassius Droma]

With a distant boom, the YT-1000 light freighter Stardust Melody came out of hyperspace. Inside the cockpit, pilot Cassius Droma frowned and furrowed his brow. “This isn’t Ragoon VI…” he muttered, viewing the barren planet below. From everything he’d read, Ragoon VI was a beautiful, vibrant blue-green world. In the past, it had been used as a survival training ground for Jedi. He’d hoped to do the same as an exercise… but he didn’t seem to be in the right place. He glanced down to his navicomputer, but only found a flickering screen.

“Where are we, Tee?” he asked his K-X series droid, T-4D4. The droid was already tapping out a few commands to try and ascertain where they ended up.

“No idea,” T-4D4 remarked. “Somewhere uncharted, maybe. The navicomputer doesn’t seem to know, and I’m picking up some unusual readings regarding the gravity in the area.”

Cassius heaved a flustered sigh as he flicked some switches above him. “That hit we took back at Hok must’ve damaged the navicomputer.” The pair had stopped at a space station orbiting the desert planet in order to restock before their journey, but they had encountered some pirates who had other plans for them. While they had come out without much of a scratch, Cassius had assumed the shields had held up. Perhaps a shot landed on them in a funny way, and now the navicomputer was out of sync.

“Either way, I don’t want to go back into hyperspace until we fix it,” Cassius said, gripping the controls once more. “How’s that planet below us looking?”

“Breathable, once you get past a layer of toxic volcanic ash,” T-4D4 reported, having just gotten the atmospheric and weather report back from their scanners.

“Any life?” The Stardust broke the atmosphere and soon the rocky terrain was visible to them.

“Not that I can see…” T-4 mechanically uttered, before correcting himself, “wait. Looks like there’s two ships landed a few kilometers away. There’s also a...”

“A what?”

“Nothing. I thought I saw something else, but it might have been a sensor error.”

Cassius directed his beloved ship towards the two that they were picking up on scanners. Sure enough, there was a YT-series transport and another transport he didn’t quite recognize parked quite close to each other. From the cockpit, Cassius could see two people standing outside, but he couldn’t tell what they were doing. Part of him thought of just passing by and landing elsewhere, but if his damage was worse than he thought, these people might be able to help him out, and also be able to tell him where exactly he was.

The Stardust touched down on the rocky surface, but a good distance enough away from the other two so that he didn’t kick dust up into their faces. The boarding ramp soon lowered, and Cassius emerged, with T-4D4 trailing behind. Once he was close enough to see them more clearly, he gave a small wave.

“Hello there!” he called, hoping with everything he had that these people were friendly. “I uh… I think my navicomputer got busted on the way here, and I don’t know exactly where I am. Are we in the Ragoon system?”

Little did he know how wrong he was about to be proven.

[member="Kirie Ito"] | [member="Aeshi Tillian"] | [member="Castor Ren"]

 

[Aeron Tosh]

"And all that glitters is gold; Only shooting stars break the mold"
- Steve Harwell
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

"Crap", I muttered as I put my ship into maximum overdrive. This bounty hunter was relentless, which is more than I was expecting from him. He'd seem to follow me anywhere as long as it'd mean he'd be able to kill me and collect my bounty.

Pew Pew

Thank god his pilot skills are garbage or I would've been blown out of the sky by now. He's too tough for me to take one on one, especially since I'm just a normal smuggler. All I have with me is my wits and some good luck. So I'm going to use my superior intelligence to finally get him off my tail I know no man is brave enough to venture out into the uncharted core and I wouldn't blame them. Terribly dangerous volcanoes and a bunch of vastly empty planets leaves people with a sense of vulnerability and lawlessness, no one except scientists, idiots, or explorers dared travel here because out there no one could hear you scream and that's the way I liked it.

I continued onward despite the ruthless assault coming from my assailant. I weaved and rolled out of every possible shot he could've thrown at me until I arrived at a planet already filled with people and a ship that looked like it was preparing to land. They all looked like ants from this height

......And than it hit me. A jedi! Those guys are always saving people. Haha yes! Lady luck has ruled in my favor, as always.

Without hesitation I landed my ship on to the planet's rocky, rough uncivilized ground and went running up to the jedi screaming, "Help this maniac is trying to kill me!"

[member="Cassius Droma"] | [member="Aeshi Tillian"] | [member="Castor Ren"] | [member="Kirie Ito"] |

 

[Nej Tane]

His eyes fluttered open. He was upside down. The bottle of whiskey he had been nursing in order to deal with the flight, was coming back to haunt him. Or maybe it was the possibility that he had a concussion. Either way, not fun.

He cut the straps with the knife he kept on his shoulder holster, and fell to the ground. He tried to nudge the pilot he'd been hitching a ride with.

Nuthin'. Like a doornail.

Nej grumbled and positioned himself against the pilot, kicking out the window to the crappy little ship he'd been riding along with. He broke the seal with the handle near it, and the window came off with little grandeur. He dug around the cockpit a little more. Found a survival kit. Maybe a day's worth of water and a few days worth of food. Nothing particularly tasty, but necessary. A few first aid doohickeys. He would probably need them, come when his crash landing really came back to haunt him.

He stood up, looking at the wreckage.

They skidded for a long while, and banged a lot of rocks along the way. He was too drunk to even wake up for it. A slugthrower under his arm and a blaster on his thigh, he was more than equipped for any sort of creature, or bandit. He began to walk, hopefully- trying to get to higher ground. At least then, he'd have some idea of the landscape, and how screwed he was. He toyed with the latch over his thigh holster and continued to march.

[member="Cassius Droma"] l [member="Aeshi Tillian"] l [member="Kirie Ito"]

 

[Kirie]

"I've been thinking a lot about the existence of fate. Does the universe have a grand plan for Kit Caraway? I honestly don't know. But right now, it feels like I have a direction, something to aim towards. A goal. The Jedi say that the Force directs our lives in mysterious ways. I'm not so sure about that. After all, I've never been much of a spiritualist. Still, I can't help but feel there's some external force drawing me in."

-Journal of Kit Caraway. Entry #4

​

​

Walking side-by-side with [member="Aeshi Tillian"] up the boarding ramp, Kirie continued to sign to the woman.

'I've been with them for about 6 months. They're good people, but the Council is indecisive.'

Boarding the freighter, Kirie rummaged around an overhead cupboard, eventually producing a pair of small glasses. Taking a seat on the cushioned bench, she poured out a drink for Ash, and one for herself.

'We'll have to drink it neat, I'm afraid. I wasn't expecting to drink on this trip.'

A blinking light on the dashboard in the cockpit distracted her from the conversation for a moment. She rushed over to the nose of the transport. It seemed they had company. Her sensors couldn't make out much through the haze of volcanic ash, but it was clear two ships were fast approaching their landing zone. She'd been lucky that Ash hadn't been a pirate, but that didn't mean these people weren't. Kirie strode back to where she and Ash had been sitting, and quickly signed to the woman.

'We have company, two ships coming in to land from separate areas. This might get ugly, I'm going to warm up the ship just in case we need to get out of here.'

Returning to the cockpit, Kirie set the autopilot to begin the pre-flight preparations. The engines began to spool up, and the computer system individually inspected the components of the ship, ensuring everything was still working. In a few minutes, it'd be ready to fly.

Kirie hurried back out, drawing her pistol and waitng on the bottom of the landing ramp as the first ship touched down. From it emerged a tall, blond man. His posture was utterly disarming. He was clearly no threat. In fact, he just looked confused. Then he mentioned Ragoon, which explained the confused look.

'No... This is the Deep Core.' She signed. From behind her, the droid parroted the words.

Scarcely had she addressed the man when the second ship came screaming to earth, touching down heavily and sending a small spray of rocks across the plateau, where they bounced against the hull of her ship. Kirie cursed, hunkering down and hefting her pistol as a man emerged, running towards them. All these people, she thought. It can't be an accident. Something is guiding us, bringing us together. Whether it was the Force, or something unknown, it was drawing this group together. For better or worse, this motley crew was here now.

[member="Nej Tane"] | [member="Aeron Tosh"] | [member="Cassius Droma"] | [member="Aeshi Tillian"] | [member="Castor Ren"]​

 

[Aeshi Tillian]

[member="Castor Ren"] [member="Kirie Ito"] [member="Nej Tane"] [member="Aeron Tosh"]

Aeshi paused and half-turned in her seat as the sounds of ships tore through the atmosphere. She gave a curt nod and held the glass loosely in one hand. Never got too involved with council politics, she signed after setting down the glass. Just trying to move cargo through.

She didn't like the idea of being aboard a different ship when things went badly, but no need to question the woman's hospitality. She could always make her way back to get her ship or activate the tracking protocol and have the ship computer find her. Aeshi drained the glass of whiskey and set it on the table, sauntering down the ramp behind the other woman, hands resting on your gun.

"Son, if you think this is the Ragoon sector," Aeshi called to the first, "You're in for some bad news. Not even close to Ragoon. Uncharted planet in the Deep Core." A smile tweaked her lips. "Might as well name this planet Rendezvous at this point."

Another one burst from his ship and started running towards them. The guns rasped against her holsters as they slid out and hung loosely in her hands. Someone was trying to kill him?

Not likely at this point. They would be hard pressed to manage to kill somebody with this many people about.

 

[Aeron Tosh]

"Crawling in my skin"
- Chester Bennington

"No don't shoot!", I screamed while cartoonishly waving my arms in the air. "I only need some help. This crazy bounty hunter won't get off my tail and I figured if there was anybody willing to help me it'd be a jedi."

I paused for a moment to catch as breath, and before I could even exhale the bounty hunter's ship landed, Excalibur. It was a ship that had insane fire power, and an entire mansion full of tracking gadgets. The perfect kind of ship for the scum bag pilot that drove it, Steve.

You can obviously tell that Steve thought giving his ship an intimidating name would compensate for his lack of one and I'm sure that isn't the only thing he tries to compensate for either.

 

[Cassius Droma]

Cassius could hear the sounds of the ship’s engines come to life as he approached, and for a moment, he thought that they were going to suddenly leave him behind. That would certainly be unkind, but he was relieved to see two figures come down the ramp. This was when he asked where he was, and got a rather unusual response, in content and delivery. One of them was deaf and was using Galactic Basic Sign Language, something that Cassius was completely unfamiliar with. Luckily, they had a droid to read hands and translate.

Deep Core, Cassius repeated the words in his head. “Huh,” he uttered, looking around them. His navicomputer had been way off, it seemed. He’d meant to go around the Galactic Core, not through it. Spacers were generally considered crazy for even attempting to go remotely close to the bright center of their galaxy. And yet, he’d managed to get so far as to get into uncharted territory without hitting a star or black hole.

There was no such thing as luck.

“Guess I really need to do some repairs, then…” Cassius said, and T-4D4 began to dutifully translate into Galactic Basic Sign Language without prompting from his human friend. Just as his voice trailed off and T-4’s mechanical servos formed the last sign, another ship came nearly careening into them. The ship landed so close that Cassius brought his arm over his face as rocks flew everywhere.

A Twi’lek man jumped out and raced over to them, screaming something about a maniac trying to kill him. The two women understandably drew their weapons, and Cassius raised his right hand in what could be interpreted as a non-violent gesture, but he was really just prepared to use the Force to fend off any sort of first attack. The Twi’lek said that he knew a Jedi would help him… and Cassius’s brow furrowed at that. He could tell he was a Jedi all the way from up in his ship? Impressive, he surmised. Or perhaps this man was just crazy.

“Just hold on there, friend,” Cassius used a calm but firm voice, in order to try and put some order to the chaos that was enveloping. Behind the Twi’lek’s ship, another vessel touched down, one heavily armed. “I’m going to need you to explain just what is going on here, and who that is,” he pointed to the other craft. For all Cassius knew, this could be some sort of elaborate pirate scam – they tended to be tricky people. He tried to reach out into the Twi’lek’s psyche in order to detect any sort of deception whenever he spoke next.

[SIZE=11pt][member="Kirie Ito"] | [member="Aeshi Tillian"] | [member="Castor Ren"] | [member="Aeron Tosh"] | [member="Nej Tane"][/SIZE]

 

[Kirie]

"This time I can't afford to be distracted. I need to keep my eyes on the prize. The Galaxy has a way of derailing you, of taking you down another path. You might be lead so far away you lose sight of your original goal. I won't allow that to happen again. I won't be lead astray"

-Journal of Kit Caraway, entry #5.

​

It was all a bit much, all these people landing. It was as if four different adventures had suddenly collided, each of them coming from a distant corner of the vast Galaxy and ending up on this desolate system, forgotten by civilisation and lost to time. It meant something. It had to mean something. Exactly what she was supposed to do with them was a little less clear. Her dark eyes flickered back to her ship, and an idea occurred to her. There was no need to stick around here, entertaining terrified spacers and wandering adventurers. She had a job to do, and she wouldn't be distracted. This had been an eventful rest stop, but it was time to go.

At the click of her fingers, her miniature protocol droid scrambled up her body once again. Gently, with a voice that grated in her throat as if she was gurgling razors, the deaf girl whispered to the machine, a moment later, it repeated her message, replaying her own voice, but projected over a megaphone, so that it'd reach across the plateau.

"I am on a mission, to the Galactic Centre. I cannot waste any more time here. I am tracking a ship known as the TCV Adiona, a Gozanti Freighter belonging to an explorer who went missing a few months ago. It's likely crashed or landed on a nearby system. If you find a trace of the ship, contact my vessel."

"If you wish to assist me in my mission, I will pay you for your help. I will be transmitting the coordinates to my next destination from my ship. If you wish to join, understand that the risk to your life is great."

The thrum of the droid projecting the sound stopped, and she turned her heel and strode up the boarding ramp, shoulders squared, not looking back. If they felt the pull like they did, the desire to understand, to witness the heart of the Galaxy, to find Kit, they would follow.

In her heart, she knew that.

Kirie took her place at the helm, her eyes narrowing as an expensive-looking and well armed ship touched down, the 5th to do so in a few short minutes. That'd be the bounty hunter, she thought. Time to go. Her slender hand gripped the throttle, and the engines pulsed. In a practiced motion, assisted by the autopilot, she directed the ship upwards, the vessel peeling away as the thrust built. In moments, she was away from the plateau, rapidly leaving the desolate volcanic planet. Nimble fingers entered the coordinates of the nearest system. It would be a short jump to hyperspace to the next unnamed world, the next closest system, drawing her inexorably towards the centre.

The light stretched, and the ship dissipated into the aether of hyperspace. If the others would follow her, only time would tell.

[member="Cassius Droma"] | [member="Aeron Tosh"] | [member="Aeshi Tillian"] | [member="Nej Tane"] | [member="Castor Ren"]​

 

[Aeron Tosh]

I stood there almost helplessly as the deaf girl's ship took off. "Why does she expect me to help her if she wouldn't even stop a bounty hunter?"

I turned my head to look over to the jedi, "You mean you actually care?! I thought you were suppose to be like.... I don't know, protectors of the force or some stupid junk?"

A few seconds went by, and before he got a chance to speak I decided to change my approach, "Ok look, since you care so much..... He's tracking me because I had a drug lord put a bounty on me. A huge one. I might've tried to con him out of some of money in a deal and I failed. It was a dumb mistake made by a greedy person, I admit it, but I don't deserve to die for that, do I?"

[member="Kirie Ito"] | [member="Cassius Droma"] | [member="Aeshi Tillian"] | [member="Nej Tane"] | [member="Castor Ren"]

 

[Cassius Droma]

The deaf woman began to leave them after explaining that she was on a very important mission, and couldn’t spend any more time here. She had said that she would transmit her coordinates to anyone who wanted to follow, and Cassius called after her, “Yeah, except that… my navicomputer is busted…” he then gave up, soon realizing that she wouldn’t be able to hear him anyways. Although the prospect of a new adventure seemed exciting, he really just wanted to get his ship fixed.

Just as her ship was taking off, the Twi’lek explained his situation. Cassius gave him a rather incredulous look, frowning and raising his eyebrow. The green-skinned man seemed to have no respect for him or his beliefs – he simply wished to use them for his own purposes. Despite his mental probing, Cassius still couldn’t tell whether or not the man was genuine. Dealings with a drug lord? Didn’t exactly sound like scrupulous behavior to the Jedi. Also, there was no telling just who the aggressor in this was. Not all bounty hunters were in it for the money. Some of them had a true sense of justice, but merely didn’t want to join a planetary security force.

“I’m sorry, but you’re going to have to deal with this yourself,” Cassius said, and he turned back to his ship, his tall droid following along. “A man must reap what he sows,” he called over his shoulder. To be honest, Cassius just didn’t have enough information on the matter, and at this point, he didn’t particularly care to find out. His current mentor, Gianna, would perhaps be disappointed in him for that. Then again, he didn’t want to get mixed up in something where he would have to pick between the lesser of two evils.

Boarding the Stardust Melody once again, he primed the engines and took off. The navicomputer was damaged, yes, but this planet certainly wasn’t the place to fix it, the hotbed of activity that it was. There were a few asteroids nearby – perhaps they could land on one and try to fix it from within the ship as best they could.

[SIZE=11pt][member="Kirie Ito"] | [member="Aeshi Tillian"] | [member="Castor Ren"] | [member="Aeron Tosh"] | [member="Nej Tane"][/SIZE]

 

[Nej Tane]

Nej threw up his hands as everyone left the two stranded guys there.

"WELL HOW THE HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO GET THERE LADY, WHEN I'M STUCK ON THIS FRIGGIN' ROCK WITH THIS JACKASS!"

He shouted at the exiting ship, pointing at said jackass, [member="Aeron Tosh"]. Then the Jedi left! The Jedi! The supposed good guys! Nej was never a fan, but now he was really, really not a fan!

[member="Cassius Droma"] l Other people l [member="Kirie Ito"] l [member="Aeshi Tillian"]

 

[Aeron Tosh]

"Did a jedi seriously just deny me help?", I thought to myself in absolute shock. "That's never happened before.... Like, ever. Heh, I guess there are bad jedi that exist. Good to know."

Eventually I heard some guy screaming, calling me a jackass. Usually I'd have a smart comeback for something as disrespectful as that but I was too preoccupied with the fact that the ramp on Steve's ship just started to open up.

"Oh crap!"

Before I sprinted back on to my ship in a hurry to survive I glanced over to [member="Nej Tane"] and shouted, "If you want, you can hitch a ride with me unlike the rest of those idiots I actually know where I am, but the ride is going to get bumpy with him on our tail", I pointed at the bounty hunter, Steve, walking down his ship's ramp, setting his blaster to "kill".

[member="Cassius Droma"] | [member="Kirie Ito"] | [member="Aeshi Tillian"]

 

[Nej Tane]

Nej shot Steve in the face with the disruptor pistol under his arm.

Nej didn't know the guy. He was pretty sure he didn't like the guy. But as of right now, [member="Aeron Tosh"] and him were stuck together. That, and the guy said he knew where he was. Steve just so happened to be in the way of that, so Nej did the sensible thing and shot him in the face.

"You know how to fly?"

Nej pushed Steve's body off the ramp with his foot.

[member="Cassius Droma"] l [member="Kirie Ito"] l [member="Aeshi Tillian"]