Dark Space [Peyton]

[Aran Finn]

"Because you're a bright spark of life, kid." Alen chuckled, watching as the engineer droids carefully undid eight centuries worth of wiring. "Couldn't stay out here by myself. I'd go mad, and besides, I need someone to watch my back."

The old hyperdrive was a class 2.0, which these days was on par with the best civilian hyperdrives on the market. Unfortunately, the Reliance would not be functioning as a civilian ship. It would be a hit and run carrier and mobile base, and as such it required something with a little more speed. The replacement one, a military-only model purchased from Iron Crown, would make 1.0 past lightspeed. That was generally as quick as it got. The legendary Millennium Falcon had made 0.5 as the stories went, but Alen had never seen a vessel that could do that in the flesh ... or well, in the durasteel. Someday, he hoped he'd see one ... heck, he'd give an arm and a leg to own one. A fast ship solved a lot of problems. The Reliance would be as quick as anything anyone could throw at her when Alen, Invictus and Iron Crown were done with her, and as a support ship operating by itself, that was essential.

The engineer droids kept working, and Alen folded his arms to watch.

@[member="Peyton Steele"]

 

[Peyton Steele]

Was he going to keep making quips at her age like that? She shook her head but couldn’t help to smile a little bit. Bright spark of life? He was being a charmer, alright. But the bit of him going crazy by himself? Maybe it was her father’s teachings, that she was for all intents an Antarian Ranger, but she never was bothered by being alone. This close to vacuum in a bucket where if you sneezed it probably broke a little bit more, that was different.

“Yeah, a whole lot of crazy going on here.” She shook her head and smirked. Still, her gun was at the ready. And she wished she had one of her repeating blasters on hand, but, travel light in a ship. As for the whole technical aspect? She knew how her Headhunter worked, and that was all she really needed. But a place to call home, and a welcome port? That was something she could only dream about. “So, we’re towing this, with the freighter, yeah?”

Hopefully no bandits came out of the woodwork.

@[member="Alen Na'Varro"]

 

[Aran Finn]

Alen wasn't bothered by being alone either, particularly. He'd learned that solitude suited him, but in his years he'd learned not to turn his back on the galaxy at large. He carried a lot of rage around, it gave him purpose as it lay as a dense, intense ball in his chest cavity. Rage drove Alen Na'Varro, but he didn't see why his catalyst had to dictate his outlook on life. He was done being at odds with the galaxy and its people, he was one of them, he was part of them, and he would do what he could to influence the galaxy for the better. That was why he was here and the way things would be, as he saw it.

"Yeah, that's the notion." He watched as the engineer droids finished unwiring the old hyperdrive. Stretching out with the Force, with his driving life energy, his rage, he thought of his childhood as he lifted the large piece of incredible technology with telekinesis and cast it aside. Out with the old, in with the new as the saying went. "So far, I don't think this little venture could have gone any better."

That was life, sometimes things just went smoothly. Levitating the new hyperdrive, he brought it into place and let the droids get to work. They'd be some time, so Alen nodded to Peyton and began heading up the hallway towards the reactor.

"Come on, let's go see if we can't figure out how the reactor survived all this time."

@[member="Peyton Steele"]

 

[Peyton Steele]

Sometimes it was just simpler being alone. Peyton was just a bit more open about her ability to stay away from people. She felt it worked better than being on a team, there was no one else to worry about, aside from herself. She was the one who trusted her feelings, but not so much where if she noticed something was amiss, she would keep going because ‘it felt right.’ She was simply not that kind of person. It had to make sense to her whole being.

Now one hyperdrive was off, hopefully they could get the second one installed. “Yeah, it doesn’t seem so bad. I mean, not like the ship is full of mynocks or anything.” Or zombie mynocks. And how about we keep it that way?

Another mystery. Why was this ship still here? She knew it wouldn’t deteriorate because of space, but the whole time factor? How was it no one came across it? “I told you my resume is all about shooting stuff, right?” Still, she followed along.

@[member="Alen Na'Varro"]

 

[Aran Finn]

"You mentioned it." Alen continued looking forward as they entered the Reactor room, where a safely contained and clearly still functioning solar ionization reactor lay. "Just stand around, look pretty and pretend to be amazed as I say sciency things."

Solar ionization reactors were really very, very tiny suns. They had a finite period of life, but while they lived and were actively stabilized, they never ran out of power. As Alen inspected the Reactor room, he realised that someone had been stabilizing the reactor during the eight hundred and something year period between the ship being abandoned and Na'Varro and Peyton finding it. It was the only way the Reactor could remain functioning. The Dark Side of the Force was in play here, and Alen had his suspicions. It seemed that he was to maintain a Legacy of Power that had been repeating itself since before his birth. He would have to become a Master himself, a powerful wielder of the Dark Side, to truly understand what had happened here. Speaking with a Master of Farseeing would be key. He wondered who among the Fringe had that talent.

"We were meant to find this ship, Peyton. This fate was decided for us before we were born.."

With that, he turned on his heel and headed for the bridge. It was time to start this bad boy up.

@[member="Peyton Steele"]

 

[Peyton Steele]

That was one thing that Peyton never tried to cover up. She could read people and situations, but hell if it came to her understanding anything remotely close to some of the science in the world. She twirled her hair in a faux ditzy moment. “Well, I can like, totally do that!” Another thing she could do, accenting herself.

“So, what’s keeping this bucket powered?” She looked around, her hand on his pistol. Really, if something behind it, she’d like to know what it was. And if she’d need to shoot it. She was always open to doing that. She was listening to him, of course, but then he spoke.

What?

Before they were born?

“That’s crazy talk.” She said, before actively realizing he was walking away. “Na’Varro! What the hell you mean?”

@[member="Alen Na'Varro"]

 

[Aran Finn]

"Someone's been doing maintenance on the reactor since she was scuttled. Or several someones.." It was eery. A chill ran up Alen's spine at the thought that this Star Destroyer idea might not have been his own. The bearded man had his suspicions. Invictus ... he loved his Star Destroyers, though given his old Master's style, he was surprised that he didn't have an Executor-class stashed away somewhere. The ImpStarDeuce would have to do, and boy she'd do well. "Doesn't matter. All that matters is that we're here now and we have a beautiful, deadly ship to play with. Come on."

They headed to the bridge. Most systems were down, but Alen noted that the engines were strangely undamaged. Receiving confirmation from the engineer droids of the hyperdrive's successful installation, he decided to try and fire the old girl up. It took a bit of coaxing, but a soft shift of pressure forward denoted that the ship was alive. Alen patted the console fondly. She'd done good so far. How she had stayed in such remarkable condition, though, that was a mystery of the universe that he might not ever unravel.

@[member="Peyton Steele"]

 

[Peyton Steele]

What was it with the frelling Jedi and their mysticism? Couldn’t they do a damned thing normal? Peyton now wasn’t quite so sure. She wanted to know what was going on here. No ship could last 800 years and not be a husk of its former self. Sure, in space there wasn’t any deterioration, but it still wasn’t going to run like it had just come off the line. Or mostly off the line. “Who would be keeping this ship maintained?”

It was going to bother her.

Following the Dark Jedi to the bridge, she looked around. Maybe maintained was too strong of a word. There was still work that a dry dock could do on this ship. Plus, powering up her weapons. Just hopefully when they got back into Fringe space in a frakking Destroyer, no one would fire on them. “Yeah, when you say deadly, you don’t mean, ‘gonna explode on us.’ Right?”

@[member="Alen Na'Varro"]

 

[Aran Finn]

"No, I mean in the 'good for us, bad for them' way." Alen's mind was only partially present in the conversation, as he was more interested in actually getting this bucket of bolts up-and-running. Once it could maintain some sort of forward velocity, it'd make towing the 1600 metre ship through hyperspace a lot easier. Having a bit of a brain for mathematics, Alen could co-ordinate a tandem jump quite easily, and it would only be a few hours to Annaj. Then their scheme could begin in earnest. Invictus Aeronautics would finish designing the refit there, then pass the ship on to Iron Crown so they could do the actual legwork. Invictus had to grow before it could refit Star Destroyers by itself.

Everything would require an overhaul. The old turbolaser batteries would need to be removed and the amount of guns would need to be greatly reduced. For what Na'Varro needed, he would have to also greatly enlarge the hangar and make some additions to the non-combative attachments. The living quarters would need work too ... all in all, there was a lot to do. But the Reliance would become the Eclipse Prime, and she would make for an excellent base of operations.

@[member="Peyton Steele"]

 

[Peyton Steele]

She just had to make sure. Some people, especially dark siders, seemed to have an interested idea on what was ‘fun’ and what was… well, y’know… deadly? And they didn’t always seem to disagree. Peyton wasn’t one that was very good with technology, so she was more worried on survival here. And making sure she was around to collect her credits. What she wanted to know was how this was going to go from husk to hulk.

And that was going to be a transformation she’d wait on.

And was she going to move aboard? If the credits were there, and she had a place for her headhunter, sure. The blonde nodded, outwardly and more to herself. “This’ll be some kind of killing machine.” Especially if they arm it with the right people.

@[member="Alen Na'Varro"]