Star Wars Roleplay: Chaos

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Dark Space [Peyton]

There were rumours that Alen Na'Varro was in need of exploring. Between Taloraan and Kayri, on the edges of Fringe space, there was word of something that the Dark Jedi Knight was looking for. Something he'd need if he was to achieve his goals. For some time, Alen had been planning something. A galaxy-wide reckoning, a movement by the people for the people, a tidal wave of blood. To start, he needed a mobile base. Something tangible, something powerful, and something that was not rooted to one place, one system. A mobile base ... a Star Destroyer. One of the fabled ImpStarDeuces of old.

Stranded in dark space, hundreds of thousands of kilometres in between any discernible system. Thank the Force that Alen had seen the way, or he and @[member="Peyton Steele"] would be in a world of hurt. From Taloraan they would jump, guided by Alen's use of the Force, and find the Reliance, a crippled hulk from the days of Palpatine. Then they would get it the feth out of there, and haul it back to Annaj where developments could begin in earnest.

Traveling aboard a large spice freighter that would double as a towing boat, Alen looked over at his ally Peyton and then back out of the viewport. When she was ready, he'd begin.
 
Really, there were a few things that Peyton was going to sign up for on principle along. Most of her jobs were because the pay was there. She was a girl with goals, and needs, and really, credits solved the majority of them. The fact that she left her fighter behind was tricky, but there was something about Na’Varro that she felt she could trust.

Or at least, she could trust the credits and the chance to change the galaxy, one way or another. She was traditionally ready for anything, with denim jeans and a jacket and boots made from stiff nerfhide.

Turning to her companion, @[member="Alen Na'Varro"], she quirked up an eyebrow before making sure her hair was out of her face. Really, she didn’t feel she would need to use her looks in this situation, after all, they were just hunting an old boat. “So, what makes you think there’s even going to be anything out this far?” Really, she saw the flight plan, there wasn’t stuff for light years.
 
"The Force.." Alen chuckled, not exactly sincere in his mirth. His mind was on other things, namely the Reliance. "Blah blah blah ... if I said what I was going to say, I don't think that eyebrow would ever come down."

He moved to the controls of the heavy freighter and strapped himself in, ready to make a short jump through hyperspace. The exact co-ordinates of their jump had been chosen in a strange way ... it was half an accumulation of stories that had given Alen a good idea of where they'd find the ship, and half pure gut feeling. The Force, so to speak. Alen had learned to trust it. He knew Peyton wouldn't understand half of it, but as long as she trusted him, they'd be fine. They needed that ship. They needed Alen's gut feeling too.

He pulled the controls, and they jumped-

@[member="Peyton Steele"]
 
Of course he was going to answer in some mythical thing. Peyton wasn’t a Forcer, but it didn’t mean she doubted those that could use it. She just didn’t want to be on the receiving side of it. “Right, forget I asked.” She smirked at him. There was a whole lot of people he could target and threaten to get this information.

Or something.

Strapping herself into the co-pilot seat, she was checking for the weapons that this bucket had. Not as nimble as her fighter, but few things were. As long as she had weapons, and Alen was half awake behind the stick, they’d be fine. Regardless of what was coming up for them. This ship?

Was it even going to be there?

@[member="Alen Na'Varro"]
 
@[member="Peyton Steele"]

Nope.

Or not immediately. Alen felt that their jump had taken them close enough to the Reliance to not jump again, but he could see nothing in the black of space and the sensors were picking up nothing either. Thankfully, the Dark Jedi had the Force as his tool. He stretched out with his feelings, with his frustration at not getting the jump perfect, and tried to sense a lump of something in the middle of nothing. It wasn't as easy as you might think. Force Sense was something Alen was definitely good at, but without life forces around, it was no walk in the park. And it didn't help that Peyton was next to him, bright, vibrant and distinctly alive. Killing her might make finding this ship easier ... Heh, good joke. Alen liked Peyton. A real doer, and deadly to boot. She would make for a great ally.

Alen pricked up, sensing something, and slowly the freighter began to move into the black abyss.
 
See, this was one of the good things about being Force blind, not reading the thoughts of others, if that was even how it went. Peyton just did her job. She showed up and doled out pain at the point of her pistol and rifle. It was just a whole lot simpler than having to deal with the Force and all that came with it. She knew that it could be messy, having to watch out for what people were going to pull out of their bag of tricks.

She’d seen sorcery, and the Force was still something bigger than that. “So, where’s your ship, Na’Varro?”

@[member="Alen Na'Varro"]
 
"Uhhh ..."

The freighter maneuvered slightly to port, the controls manipulated by the whims of the Force. Alen was concentrating hard, and as such Peyton had faded to a mere distraction. He wasn't even really listening as she queried him, instead channeling the Dark Side through his body with increasing intensity, finding deeper memories at the core of his psyche to increase his power. He thought more of his father, many years dead now, and the rage flowed back. A snarl crept up his face as he concentrated and raged simultaneously, honing in on the ship like radar or sonar. But it was the Force, and it ate into him as he channeled, taking a toll on him as they crept closer to the vergence in Alen's mind, the derelict Imperial-II class Star Destroyer that was merely a feeling up there.

After a few minutes, Alen flicked on the freighter's search lights out of impulse, and there it was. The ImpStarDeuce they'd come all this way to find. And it was a gigantic, useless hulk. Structurally sound, but Alen had a feeling that nothing would work on board. He, Peyton and their team of engineer droids might even have to spend a few hours on the hyperdrive and reactor core before they'd be able to budge it. Thank the Force they'd brought spares.

"There, Peyton, you smartarse."

@[member="Peyton Steele"]
 
See? Right, there was a bit of uncertainty with the Force. That was all she really needed to see. That it wasn’t exact. Not perfect, like so much in this galaxy. She was watching the expanse of darkness and stars, waiting to see what was going to be hidden and then revealed. The stars all seemed to remain, untwinkling in lack of atmosphere. It was home.

But there was supposed to be something here? When Alen all of a sudden turned on the search lights, Peyton quirked up an eyebrow. Really? They came out all this way for this? She knew that there was going to be some derelict, but… was it as bad as she thought?

“Well… you sure that we can’t just find one on Ord Mantell? It’d probably be… in better shape?”

@[member="Alen Na'Varro"]
 
@[member="Peyton Steele"]

"Ord Mantell? Heh." Alen chuckled, looking over at the pretty young merc and shaking his head. Peyton was a good kid, but they'd never think alike. "This is an ImpStarDeuce, from Palpatine's Empire. This is older than me. You don't just find these lying around. And besides, this is a hell of a lot cheaper than buying one. If you could find one to buy.."

The Dark Jedi got out of his chair and stretched, arcing his back and yawning. Searching for a hunk of durasteel in the blackness of space was mentally tiring work. Not for the first time, he wondered if there was any point to this. There was, though, his will was just flagging because he was tired. Na'Varro told himself to harden up and started moving out of the cockpit towards the hangar, and a small shuttle that would take them across to the derelict. It had a team of engineer droids and everything they'd need to get her moving again, at least temporarily enough so that she could be hauled through hyperspace by a smaller ship. Every little bit helps.

"Let's get moving." Maneuvering the shuttle out of the hangar, they began to traverse the maw of black between the freighter and the Reliance.
 
Well, they wouldn’t have to worry about possibly decompressing here. “Y’know, I don’t know if your age keeps going for all them years you’ve skipped. Pretty sure that’s cheatin’.” Now she was starting to get into her rough language. Once she relaxed and realized she didn’t need to be proper, like when she was around Sal-Soren, she was just herself. “And if you left it here, I’m pretty sure you could’ve just left it somewhere… safer?”

Force users, couldn’t do anything easy. Just dump it under a planet, like Coruscant, something that wasn’t going anywhere. Well, maybe it wasn’t the safest bet, with what happened to it during the Invasion.

Standing up, she checked her pistol’s power pack, not that she was expecting anything over there, but hey, she was leaving her rifle and detonators behind. “I just hope there’s gravity.” She shook her head, following Alen to the back of the freighter to the shuttle. At least when Sal-Soren paid her bills, she was able to wear nice dresses.

@[member="Alen Na'Varro"]
 
@[member="Peyton Steele"]

"I didn't dump it, and I don't know who did." Alen mused on that. Probably an Imperial Ship Captain after the fall of the Empire after it had taken a pounding from some of those old Rebel Alliance cruisers. Blast damage was evident in parts of the hull, but the structural integrity had been maintained. It was still sound and solid, and as such they could work with it. Refit it, give it a new varnish, carve their initials on it ... it would be good for them. Good for the Eclipse family. "There'll be gravity. The Imps did things right back in the days. Arti-grav for days ... Well, hundreds of years."

Alen piloted the ship into the hangar and set it down. Yes, there was gravity, thank the Force. That would make everything a lot easier. Have you ever tried to refit a hyperdrive in zero g? Would you want to? No, no you fething wouldn't. The Dark Jedi disembarked quickly with Peyton at his side, the engineer droids following loyally behind them. They were lugging something serious, namely, a large military grade hyperdrive. Alen absent-mindedly called the Force to him and levitated it, giving the droids a helping hand.

"We've got a couple hundred metres to cover. Thankfully, life support still seems to be working. The miracles of ancient technology ..."
 
She was just a bit shocked the ship remained. One of these would make any pirate or smuggler captain very happy. Not to mention anyone who was half awake and wanting to go on a military rampage. Dropping into any system with an ImpStar even half armed was enough to send a planetary commander to the ‘fresher.

“If there’s not, Na’varro…” She wasn’t a soldier. Sure, she was a bounty hunter, but she preferred to do her hunting planet side. This running from world to world and deep space abandoned vessels was something else. And how in the Nine Corellian Hells were they going to crew this? Droids?

“I’m still shocked this was sitting around for so long. Think the life support’ll last?” She looked around, shining her glowrod, she was amazed it held up this well. Alen was right, the wonders of technology.

@[member="Alen Na'Varro"]
 
"If it's lasted this long, Peyton, it'll last another few hours." Alen looked up, and then made a slight bow to the ship. "Last another few hours, please."

They headed off through the main corridor, an odd group marching down a dark tunnel. Engineer droids, two organics and a floating hyperdrive. Good times all round. Thankfully, the engineering room was on the same level as the hangar, which means they didn't need to climb through any elevator shafts and Alen only had to Levitate the hyperdrive for a few minutes longer. The place was a mess. Time had ravaged the interior. Thankfully the old girl was holding together alright, and most of the major systems were there, even if they weren't working. They could work with this.

"Seriously, I have no idea why you follow me on these fool's errands.." he said as they neared Engineering, looking over at the blonde Bounty Hunter. Sure he was paying her, but was it really worth it to her?

@[member="Peyton Steele"]
 
She did not like vacuum. As much as she didn’t mind being in a ship, she hated the idea of vacuum. And living on a ship? Well, she was going to be taking every opportunity she could to be planet side. And blowing things up. So what? She liked excitement. “Yeah, you’re convincing.” She shook her head, looking around the hall they count themselves in.

This was going to be home? It needed some lights, and a bar. Definitely a bar. Maybe more than one. Shaking her head, she looked over at Alen. Giving him an almost too affectionate, and clearly faux, rub on his back. “You take me to all the nice places.”

She smirked before looking at the door to Engineering. “And you pay well.”

@[member="Alen Na'Varro"]
 
“And you pay well.” Alen chuckled at that. Peyton had a way of reminding him of their arrangement that was endearing. She was a character, and that's why Na'Varro kept paying her for crap like this. He was sure there would be a time where he could convince her to join his cause for free. The girl had to fight for something, why not an ideal? He'd give it time ...

"You're so sweet, kid." The older man grinned. "Kind of like a daughter I never had. Because I was probably thirteen at the time ... wait, nope, I was traveling through a hole in spacetime. I keep forgetting. But those are both reasonable and contributing factors."

Alen tried the door to engineering. It wouldn't budge. Clearly eight hundred years doesn't help with the mechanics of a sliding door, particularly an automated one. Great. The hyperdrive was set down to the floor as the engineering droids stood at attention, and Alen gave Peyton a look that said 'stand back.'

"Feth it," he said, igniting his lightsaber and shoving the blade through the door. Now they just had to wait for the door to melt wide and tall enough for them to pass through it.

@[member="Peyton Steele"]
 
Peyton fought for something. She fought for credit. Sure, she had her loyalties, there would be people she would take jobs from over others, and there were jobs she’d just not take. But the over under was that she expected to get paid. And who knew? Maybe it’d turn to a long term gig.

With a ship.

“Thirteen when?” This guy got that young? Did that happen? She smirked and shook her head before running a hand through her blonde hair. Taking a step back, with her free hand on her pistol, she looked at Alen. Really? All this way, the air circulated, and the ship pressurized to get defeated by a door?

Right, lightsaber. Of course. “I feel the holonet could make a deal off of those weapons of yours.” She smirked, imagining the late night informercial man who spoke in capslock could sell it to do anything.

@[member="Alen Na'Varro"]
 
"Really, you think? Quite the business idea you have there.." he said, dryly. Alen got a little bit irritable when there were obstacles in his way; kind of snarky but still with a taste of good humour. And he cussed more. He cussed when he had to fix things around his house, and he cussed when he had to stick his lightsaber into doors. "Unfortunately, these things don't grow on fething trees."

The door was getting as hot as all hell, and Alen winced as his hands started to feel the heat. A couple more seconds though, and then the door began to melt away. A few more seconds and they could get through the door, and so they did. Na'Varro took point, moving into the black with his lightsaber illuminating the way. The first thing he saw was a light switch. With an air of dry humour, the man flicked it. And the lights came on. What. Alen stopped and looked up at the lights, then at the Engineering room which stretched out in front of them. There was the old Class 2.0 hyperdrive, which was obviously dead. But then again, how the hell was their power. The solar ionisation reactor was still working? Alen shook his head.

"Wow." He shrugged at Peyton, still a little miffed, before turning back to look at the hyperdrive. "Well, let's get to work."

@[member="Peyton Steele"]
 
She shrugged. Peyton wasn’t that much of an entrepreneur, but she could probably sell the idea to someone like Sal-Soren. He’d go for it. “Yeah, but we could kidnap a few Jedi kids and have them make them on some abandoned derelict in the middle of no-where.” Right, because only half of that sounded crazy. But could fund a whole lot with that endeavor.

Walking in, her glowrod in one hand and her pistol in another, she looked and turned quickly with her blaster at the ready as the lights came on. Her father taught her better than that, better than to fire unless you were absolutely sure. Here, she was just jumpy. She didn’t mind ships, but this one was busted, and the vacuum was right there. “What is this place?”

Who shut it down before they abandoned? Why was it even here? “I got a feelin’ its just gonna work for us. You try turnin’ it on?” By it, she meant the whole fething ship.

@[member="Alen Na'Varro"]
 
"You try turnin’ it on?” Alen grinned at that.

"Never hotwired a Star Destroyer before.." The Dark Jedi ambled over to the hyperdrive and tried to get it started the traditional way, then tried a fancy kickstart he'd learned while smuggling in the Territories as a youngster. Nothing doing. It seemed like the hyperdrive was one of the only things on the ship that wasn't working ... it was eery. Almost as if some kind soul had left the ship for Alen to take, centuries later. For the first time, Alen began to expect that Invictus and his master Drako were involved somehow. Invictus had the power of farseeing after all, and he was sure that Drako did too. This could have been their work, and his destiny ... or he and Peyton were just extremely lucky. Or that.

"Let's replace the hyperdrive, then check the engines for damage, then we'll turn the thing on. Or try to." At his signal, the engineer droids moved to begin work.

@[member="Peyton Steele"]
 
Hotwiring a Star Destroyer? Nope, Peyton wasn’t one for the hot wiring. Typically she just shot things until they stopped working. She really wasn’t one to make things start working. Was that bad of her? Not really, she just had her own way about everything and people would just have to deal. However, she wasn’t ever paid here to fix it. She was a hired gun. As for the whole destiny thing? That was someone else’s department.

“So, you know I ain’t mucha mechanic, why am I on this trip?” She watched the engineer droids move and start to go to work on the hyperdrive. It would be nice to get this hulk together at least so they could bring it somewhere to get worked on. Out to the Fringe, really.

@[member="Alen Na'Varro"]
 

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