Dark Nest [Caelag Vass]

[Théodred Heavenshield]

Utegetu Nebula

On route to Reecee

[member="Caelag Vass"]

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"There is very little to go on", Theo spoke aloud voicing his thoughts. However, there are many places in the galaxy like this but not one of them had escaped some form of history past. But that was history and today they had a new mission to undertake as it appeared that people had been going missing without any trace. There could be many reasons for this, anything from Sith to slavers, so Theo and Caelag had ventured out to discover the mystery behind the disappearances.

On board a ship, the five minute warning told Theo they would pull out of hyperspace close to the Nebula. There had been some reports from the local authorities of Reecee of activity here, they had found a correlation between the movement of unmarked ships and the disappearances, the traffic of these ships between the two locations.

Caelag Vass, an member of the Iron Empire was one of many he had not had the pleasure of meeting. Today would rectify this. He knew as much about her as he knew of Reecee but this did not concern him at all .. so the mysteries would unveil themselves as time went by.

 

[Caelag Vass]

Even in here, en route to Reecee, it was hard for Caelag to believe she'd been convinced back into military service, especially under a new banner. Everything had happened so quickly, the encounter with the Princess, the small pirate band that she'd taken care of during her visit, it was.. so fresh in her mind. She ran her hand over the chest of her new armor, up to her shoulders, and back down to her solar plexus. It was, she missed her old uniform. This one was so.. she couldn't properly use it in the way she used to. She was an infiltration expert, this was too.. clunky. At least she still had her purple cloak, with the hood up over her head... she hated wearing the helmet after all.

The blaster rifle sitting in her back, however, she was rather fond of. This.. what was it called again.. a 'Wo3A'? She appreciated how, compact it was. A bullpup weapon was something she'd always considered purchasing herself, the fact that this one was standard made up for much with the armor. She'd had only a short time to get used to the weapon, so it wasn't impossible for her to use it semi decently. For the matter of combat, she had something far more unique.

Her beloved modified X-52, which was in her lap, as she cleaned it very slowly. The powerful weapon, a sniper weapon, was able to injure individuals even through some heavy armor with a bit of luck or aim. Proper shots could always strike joints, as an unfortunate mandalorian or two had learned during her time ages ago in.. well it hardly mattered now didn't it? She still had her lovely rifle, that was enough.

Her thoughts focused in on [member="Théodred Heavenshield"] as she continued to clean her already pristine rifle (though she wouldn't know it, of course). There wasn't much she knew about the man, but unlike him she could pick up on more than just appearance, or name. Being a Miraluka, beyond her bandaged blindfold she could 'see' him, glowing in the force like a blue beacon of light. It was different from the usual soldiers, the strength he held was evident to her, seeing through the force like she did.

After a while, she finally spoke, her voice reaching out to the man. "You're strong in the force, aren't you?" The best she could do with small talk, it seemed.

 

[Théodred Heavenshield]

He shifted in his seat annoyed that they were entering a mission with little known facts, but they would get to the bottom of the disappearances one way or the other. Theo's eyes caught sight of the young girl sitting by herself working over her rifle, time and again. Her actions to be expected especially if the rifle was weapon of choice, and any good marksperson will maintain and care for it. It is the same with any weapon, including a lightsaber or bow it mattered little but care was paramount for it not, it would forsake you one day when you need it the most.

He was not the only one that could be sensed through the force, she stood out like a beacon of raw energy, untamed. Theo had experienced this many time on Midvinter, the Valkyri able to be attuned to the force, yet did not know of it .. that would change now. It would have to change now and for the better. "Maybe, I guess that depends on how many force attuned you have met". He was strong enough that was true, and would grow even more so over time but there was more to it all, then mere training, natural talent will only get you so far, but life experience is the true and honest 'master'.

"You are as well", she shot back at her, only seconds before the ship jolted out of hyper space. Before them, the view of the Nebula filled the viewing port larger then anything Theo had ever seen, and swirling with the most amazing colours known to exist. The Nebula, remarkable and filled with power of energy. It was evident that the young girl would not be able to physically see it, but she might via the force and through the senses. "Nothing on the sensors .. wait ..".

"What is it?", Theo promptly asked.

"One ship, large .. but there is are no readings of it, the engines are off line, so is life support. It is dead". Theo stood from his seat to move closer to the view port and the control panel. All that was able to be seen was a mass of blackness in space, nothing else was visible.

"Approach with caution".

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[member="Caelag Vass"]​

 

[Caelag Vass]

"I'm not a force user. I'm ju-" She was cut off by the jolting of the ship, catching herself quickly before anything could happen. What in the force was that? She stood herself up and moved closer to the cockpit to listen better. The nebula, it was bright enough she could barely see it through the ship, vibrant as it was with energy. Not as much force energy as one would assume, but enough. She hefted up her rifle, makign sure the safety was on. Never know what was going to happen, after all.

She wandered over to the ammunition, and began to place blaster packs into a bandoleer. Four designed for her rifle, and a fifth she would load in, with a very loud click, along with another three for the blaster rifle she'd be taking as well. Everything was loaded, armed, and she was one of the most dangerous individuals on the ship in that very moment.

A dead ship. "The utmost caution. A dead ship would make tantalizing bait for a trap and I am not terribly well equipped to deal with anything that might be on it if we must go aboard.." Indeed, her lack of training made her force sight less, refined than it could be. She could see through things with some effort, and with a perfect spherical field of vision, but a helmet limited it, the unfortunate situation of lacking any training.

Not that she minded... just meant they'd have to restore the life support systems. Simple.. right?

Caelag pressed her forehead to the view port, and focused. "There's a fuzzy spot, right through the nebula. There's definitely something there. I can't see anything past it, but we're quite a ways out anyways. See if you can confirm the status of the life support systems as we close in, it's possible it's on emergency life support and we're too far out to detect the power." She wasn't an expert, and she clearly wasn't terribly well versed in ships. She was only making guesses what could be going on.

She needed to get accustomed to military life again... including all the facets of war.

[member="Théodred Heavenshield"]

 

[Théodred Heavenshield]

"Yes it could be a trap, mostly likely is", he agreed with Caelag. Although the ship appeared to be disabled and by all the senors, had been for some time, but there was no report of it from intelligence which was odd. However, their ship proceeded toward the dark ship and as they neared the lights from their ship cast an eerie glow over it. The ship was actually black and not one light on in any of the portholes or viewing windows.

"Proceed to docking", Theo ordered with some degree of trepidation. "Continue to run diagnostics and scanners and let me know if you find anything, or rather the moment you do". He stood up straight and turned to Caelag. "Well .. we are not going to find out what happened to that ship by standing here. Lets go suit up". With no signs of life support, let alone life, they would need their environment suits.

"No emergency life support operational, or in operation", the crew confirmed.

"Stay close at all times", he spoke softly to Caelag as they proceeded to the docking and to dress up for the party. By all accounts, this should be straight forward. Even he could not sense anything through the force, and the read outs suggested they would be alone on the dead ship but in this galaxy anything is possible, one thing he had learned from a very young age.

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[member="Caelag Vass"]​

 

[Caelag Vass]

It was impossible to hide the small grimace at needing to wear the enviro-suit. She did suit up, of course, as she was hardly suicidal. But after she did so, and the helmet went around her head, she found herself a little less... steady. "The helmet obscures my vision somewhat.. you'll need to help guide me. I can 'see' fine enough ahead of me if I focus but don't trust me to have my full field of vision unless we turn on life support again."

Perhaps it would seem odd to the trained force wielder, that her sight, an advanced form of simple force sensing capabilities, would be obscured by the helmet she wore. Yet, just as some armors would obscure certain abilities, her lack of formal training made the helmet act the same for her. Her 'tunnel vision' was almost literal, so long as she was forced to wear it. But for now, the matter was in use of weapons.

The ship likely had wider corridors than usual, judging by its size, but even so it would be foolish to use her main weapon. Yet, as she ran her hand over it, she couldn't help but feel she could trust [member="Théodred Heavenshield"] to stay in front of her, and give her any opportunity she needed. So she hefted up her sniper, and nodded her head. "You ever heard an X-52, or seen what it can do?"

 

[Théodred Heavenshield]

"Understood Caelag", he said before securing the environment helmet onto his suit. This young girl certainly did like her guns, he had not seen what her sniper rifle could do, having limited experience with them. Although trained to use a rifle and is handy when he needs too, he lacked in knowledge of the variations because his choice of weapon was swords.

"No I have not heard of an X-52", he said with a smile that beamed through the helmet. He reached out and unlocked the door that would lead them to the dead ship. A hiss spewed stall air into the air lock accompanied by darkness, so Theo turned on his torch and directed the beam into the ship. For the moment all he saw was the disturbance of dust floating in the light, but not a thing in sight.

"Hold onto my belt and follow my lead", she spoke to Caelag through the comm. Taking the first steps on the ship was without event, the only consequence of this was leaving foot prints in a thick layer of dust which seemed rather strange considering this was Space. Where had this ship been in the past to have this amount of it? One of many questions starting to form in his mind.

"Okay lets see if we can get life support on line".

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[member="Caelag Vass"]​

 

[Caelag Vass]

Caelag rested her rifle on her shoulder, the comfort of having the X-52 so close making her less nervous to grab onto [member="Théodred Heavenshield"]'s suit belt for guidance. She was aware the ship was covered in... something. Most dust held dead flecks of skin cells after all, and they were slightly darker in force energy than the metal. She frowned as she followed, something was up. Something was definitely up with this place. Still, no point in concerning herself too much...

"An X-52 is an old weapon. Cold war era, no one makes them anymore. But that might be because of the kick. Poorly holding this weapon can rip an arm out of its socket with kickback. But it'll take down just about anyone with a shot, maybe two. Hell, I've shot a mando force user in the side at least once with this... it clearly hurt." A common technique to remain calm as possible, make small talk. Banter. Make due with the situation so nerves never became an issue.

It certainly helped her. Not to mention it made it easier since all she could see was Theo, and nothing else. For someone who saw in the force, this situation was utterly terrifying. AT least Theo could see the area, dull and empty as it was.

 

[Théodred Heavenshield]

The objective was to make their way to bridge and this alone was going to prove difficult considering there was no source of energy to operate the turbo lifts. And they had come to a dead end and Theo stopped outside the lift doors. The bridge was on the level above there location and it appeared they would need to climb the shaft. He half listened to Caelag as she rambled on about the rifle, he did not stop her understanding that this was her means to settle the nerves, and listening help him. Yet the hairs on the back of his neck prickled, whether it was the force warning him or the atmosphere of the ship, was hard to tell or both.

Pulling apart the turbo lift doors was not an option, they are fixed fast flash and so the only alternative was to cut their way through. "I am going to cut a hole in the doors, we have no other way to the bridge them to climb the shaft". With that his white blade ignited, "Stand back".

Theo plunged his blade into the metal and held it until the blade burned through, slag hitting the floor at his feet and slowly he began to cut. It would take some time to complete the task and a sharp push with the force had the slab of metal hit the floor of the lift with a loud echoing thud. And almost immediately he wished he had not done this, as if it would awaken something ..

Once the metal had cooled they could enter the lift and find a way up through the top, the grill on the ceiling would do just nicely.

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[member="Caelag Vass"]​