[ENDGAME] Deep Black Sea: Farther Shores (Crew of the Gossamer)

[Jorus Merrill]

[SIZE=11pt]MISSION[/SIZE]

• [SIZE=11pt]Traverse the [/SIZE][SIZE=11pt]Nagai Trade Spine[/SIZE][SIZE=11pt] across 150,000 light-years of intergalactic void to chart the satellite galaxy known as [/SIZE][SIZE=11pt]Firefist[/SIZE][SIZE=11pt].[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]VESSEL[/SIZE]

• [SIZE=11pt]The Gossamer[/SIZE]
• [SIZE=11pt]Lotekk-class Deep Space Transport, heavily modified[/SIZE]
• [SIZE=11pt]Length: 1500 meters[/SIZE]
• [SIZE=11pt]Armament: Low[/SIZE]
• [SIZE=11pt]Defenses: Very High[/SIZE]
• [SIZE=11pt]Hangar: 3 [/SIZE][SIZE=11pt]two-seater starfighter[/SIZE][SIZE=11pt] squadrons, assorted shuttles, assorted freighters/small craft belonging to various crew members[/SIZE]
• [SIZE=11pt]Maneuverability: Low[/SIZE]
• [SIZE=11pt]Speed: Moderate[/SIZE]
• [SIZE=11pt]Hyperdrive Rating: 0.5, backup 10[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]CREW MANIFEST[/SIZE]

• [SIZE=11pt]Captain: Jorus Quentin Merrill[/SIZE]
• [SIZE=11pt]Security Officers: [member="Noah Corek"] (armorer), Daymon Vale (secondary role), Nyraen Mirhage (secondary role), [member="Nemo"], [member="Jake Awaud"][/SIZE]
• [SIZE=11pt]Medical Officers: [member="Isis Varida"], Oros[/SIZE]
• [SIZE=11pt]Tactical Officer: [member="Aedan Miles"], [member="Dax Fyre"][/SIZE]
• [SIZE=11pt]Science Officers: [member="Chip"], [member="Oros"], Jake Awaud (secondary role)[/SIZE]
• [SIZE=11pt]Communications Officers: [member="Kimiko"], [member="Jian Kylo"][/SIZE]
• [SIZE=11pt]Navigators: [member="Kalen Genet"], [member="Ivy Lasranae"], [member="Sebastian Thel"], Tegan Katarn (secondary role)[/SIZE]
• [SIZE=11pt]Shuttle/Fighter Pilots: Ivy Lasranae (secondary role), [member="Daymon Vale"], [member="Hypatia Najwa"][/SIZE]
• [SIZE=11pt]Engineers: [member="Losena Kyru"], [member="Dash Kessler"], Noah Corek (secondary role), [member="Nyraen Mirhage"], [member="Simone"] (IT systems specialist), [member="Tegan Katarn"][/SIZE]

The Gossamer had many cavernous cargo holds. Jorus called a general meeting of the ship's immense crew in one of them. A few thousand people packed in to sit on pallets and crates.

"Folks," he said, "by now you've all heard the news. The Galactic Alliance is collapsing and under attack. It looks pretty bad out there. Now, we're more than two hundred thousand light-years away from Coruscant, way on the other side of the galactic void. This ship isn't turning around. We've got a job to do: we're going to chart Firefist and find safe places to insulate civilization against future Dark Ages. But I won't hold it against any of you if you want to leave. We have some fast freighters in the hangar, enough to get a good fraction of you back to the galaxy, though it'd take you weeks or months. The choice is totally up to you.

"Anyone got anything to say?"

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Jorus Merrill"]

Used to be that Tegs would be the first off the ship racing towards the fight with the Sith.

Used to be she was dumb as a pile of rocks.

Things changed, priorities, perspective. There were things she regretted doing- more than fingers alone could count if she was honest. "Sounds to me if the Alliance and its entire might can't hold them off, ain't much we can do about it, yeah?" Her hand curled a bit tighter into the metal of the table. Leaning heavy, before Tegs shrugged just a bit after that.

"One person ain't gonna turn the tide there- sure as hell can do wonders here though."

That was the extent of her opinion on the matter. There wasn't a one-man army that would suddenly reverse the decay of the Alliance, beat the Sith away and reaffirm the territories of the Light. But here? Out in space where every person with expertise counted? Could mean the difference between the ship breaking down in half or them successfully exploring this companion galaxy.

Maybe even make some money with it.

"About it, s'far as I am concerned." Then her attention returned to her cup, letting others speak up.

 

[Kimiko Taiyou]

[member="Jorus Merrill"]

It was a gloomy day in the cargo hold. The talk of fighting and collapsing governments never met with smiles or cheers (depending on who you were). Ki honestly knew little of the GA or the current conflict that was tearing it apart. But, she knew, that if the large government to ORC's north collapsed, they could be next. Her friends, colleagues, and most importantly, her family and people could all be in danger.

...and she had just made herself a cozy little home...

A heavy sigh. Things couldn't be that bad. For the time being, this conflict was focused purely on dismantling the GA.

After intense debate with herself, she finally spoke up, standing on a crate to get some height,"I can agree with [member="Tegan Katarn"]. Yes, as a Coalition member and mother, it is making me nervous. But, we should focus on the mission at hand, so we can return and then worry about the home front." she nodded before hopping down, stating all she had to.

[member="Jorus Merrill"]

 

[Dash Kessler]

[member="Jorus Merrill"] | [member="Tegan Katarn"] | [member="Kimiko"]​

"Don't think there's much further to say than that, chief." Dash called out from the back of the assembled throng, pausing only to take a decent sized, noisy bite out of the ripe garvi fruit in his hand. Mopping the juices that ran down his chin with the edge of his sleeve. "This far out, the main of the fighting will be done and dusted long before we could get back."

The spacer shrugged casually and took another bite. It wasn't that he was unsympathetic to the cause or anything. He'd served in the Galactic Alliance. Suspected he wasn't the only one on-board to have that distinction, either. Of course, most of those probably didn't all have a dishonorable discharge in their jacket, but that was neither here nor there. He still had friends, family even, that fell under the Alliance's jurisdiction. He just recognized like Katarn and Kimiko, there really wasn't anything he could really do about it. "Unless you're biggest aspiration in life is to play galactic janitor and sweep up what remains, not much you can do at that point."

There was a beat.

"But I mean, hey, I ain't set on stopping any of you fine folks from making that call for yourselves. Way I see it, the fewer mouths at the table, the more pie to go around for the rest of us."

 

[Sebastian Thel]

With a thermal mug of coffee in his hand, Sebastian joined the crew of The Gossamer in the cargo hold, just in time to turn up the dial of a portable comm device sitting on one of the crates. More news of worlds devastated by the Sith arrived on the transmission and the small engineer curled up on a box beside Tegan while he listened to her state her piece.

"I don't like the Sith as anybody doesn't, but I know I'd be of no use to the Alliance." Sebastian shook his head as he spoke, revealing his Imperial accent. "I can't fight or use the Force." With a shrug, he sipped the mug of coffee. "I'm more useful to them here." He affirmed.

"I want to help chart Firefist so people can live there." Certain of his answer, Sebastian spoke surely.

"I've made my decision and I'm certain of it." Having worked as an operative for the Empire, he had spent his whole life running away from the Sith. He was done with decrypting messages and keeping secrets. Here, in the far reaches of space, Sebastian had found a place where he belonged. He did not know if he was selfish for not wanting to help defend the alliance, or if his acute survival instincts were going into overdrive.

"I'm staying here." Sebastian said, turning to face Jorus, his soft-brown eyes making contact with those of the captain. "The galaxy won't miss me." He paused said as he shifted on top of the box. "...and I'm okay with that." A nod.

[member="Jorus Merrill"], [member="Tegan Katarn"], [member="Kimiko"], [member="Dash Kessler"]

 

[Kalen Genet]

"He's right," Kalen grunted in response to Dash. "You said it yourself, Jorus. At best it'd take weeks to get back, and I'd be amazed if the groups attacking the Alliance aren't patrolling every hyperlane around to clean up anybody who runs away, or tries to run in." He was moderately annoyed at the inability to be back in the larger galaxy at the time this all was happening—there'd be a lot of opportunity for profit if he was there, if only in helping to ferry around refugees and keep them out of sight—but he'd thrown his lot in with this group for the time being. There was no turning back.

"Our only good route back into the galaxy would take anybody that wanted to go help right into First Order space, considering the hyperlane runs through Endor." While he was speaking, he couldn't help but think back to the battle over Kuat, when he'd actually been helping the First Order and Sith Empire, unbeknownst to him until right at the moment he entered the system. It'd at least given him some good examples of how full-fleet tactics worked with the two groups. "Assuming they're involved with this—which is highly likely—it'd be nearly impossible to go from there and get anywhere we could help. If anybody who stops and inspects any of you who tries to go is worth their salt, they'll figure out enough to know that they want to either detain you or shoot you right then and there. It'd be close to a suicide mission that's a month too late in happening." He crossed his arms, leaning against one of the bulkheads. It was a bit blunt, the way he put it, but so far as he could see it it was the truth.

"The way I view it, we're going to need to everybody on this mission, if we want to be as successful as possible. And unlike Jorus, I'm not nearly as nice - I will hold it against you if you leave." He scratched his chin, looking out at all the others. "Privately, of course, but you'll still have to fly away knowing I'm disappointed in you."

 

[Dax Perl]

Dax stood among the crew, arms crossed, nails biting into the leather of his jacket, jaw clenched, the nervous tension in his body quite evident. The Alliance had been his home for years before they had abandoned him and he'd found a new home and family in the then Outback. But now, when he was needed he was too far away to do anything about it.

"I won't repeat what's been said already. I think we're all comin' to the same conclusion here. We can't do chit from out here. We need to push on, and hope there's enough of an Alliance left when we get back to put something, anything back together."

A deep breath and a long exhale, "We might not be able to help but others will. ORC may be full of smugglers and bounty hunters but that doesn't mean that we're the kind to turn our backs on our friends, others are out there doing their best to beat back those fethers and save as many lives as they can, I know it." The Rogue leaned against the wall which he stood next to and glanced over to his counterpart who'd already expressed her stance. "I'm here to stay, and when we get back, then we can make sure the Sith, the First Order, and whoever else was involved pay. They're not gonna get away with this."

 

[Noah Corek]

Noah sighed as he light up what quickly was becoming his signature filtered cigar. He was sitting in the front row and had listened to everybody throw in their piece so far and it was time for him to do the same but like always he liked to add a little dramatic flare. "When I was a kid, maybe nine or ten, I got into a fight at school. Some other kid decided to call me a half-Mandalorian brute. So I beat the utter poodoo outta him and his friends. My mom wasn't angry, hell she was Mandalorian, but she told me something that stuck with me." Finishing his cigar he threw it to the ground and ground it out under his heel.

"Te jate verd knows tion'tuur brokar akaanir. Te great verd knows tion'turr brokar akaanir. Translated into Basic it means: A good warrior know when to fight. A great warrior knows when not to fight." Noah took another cigar from its pack and lit it with his weathered lighter, the emblem of the Republic Commandos on one side and the old Omega Pyre sigil on the other. Taking a puff of his now lit cigar he sighed. "The Alliance is gonna die. To be honest I always saw it coming just not in such a massive attack. Returning won't change anything, hell how tired and run down we would be by the time we get there we would probably hamper if we tried to help. So I suggest we all go about our business. Make no mistake though, when we return we should hunt every last traitor down and we hang 'em from a bloody tree." During the last few words Noah's anger rose and his original accent broke through serving to highlight. Standing up Noah quickly left, he needed to shoot something. Before he left though he sent a message to [member="Jorus Merrill"] indicating he had found some information that might be interesting.

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Kimiko"] | [member="Noah Corek"] | [member="Dax Fyre"] | [member="Kalen Genet"] | [member="Sebastian Thel"] | [member="Dash Kessler"] | [member="Jorus Merrill"]

"Sounds to me like we are all in agreement then." Which surprised Tegs just a bit. Usually there were more gloryhounds and idiots during missions like these. Hungry for the war, hungry to make a difference. They would have been flying out by now already, dashing themselves into the wall that was the Sith Empire and the First Order to try and make some sort of difference.

Not so much here though.

Surprising... but welcome.

"Dunno about y'all, but I got about six decks to sweep for filtration leaks, so I am gonna go an' start doin' that." The dented tin cup was emptied and dropped down on the table, before she got up herself. "Dash, pretty sure there is a fault line in Six-Aleph with your name on it, so-" A smirk, salute and then Tegan was off and exited the room not long after Noah.

No point in sitting around when there were jobs to do as far as she was concerned.

 

[Jorus Merrill]

[member="Tegan Katarn"]@Kimiko@Dash Kessler[member="Sebastian Thel"][member="Kalen Genet"][member="Dax Fyre"][member="Noah Corek"]

"Well, I guess that's that. Can't say I'm not relieved to keep a full crew running. Anyone change their mind, we can still swing a ship back. No dishonour in getting home soon as possible, if Alliance space is where you're from."

The meeting broke up organically. As crew filed out, Jorus went to catch up with Corek. He snagged his armorer at a big window with a view of an unfamiliar galaxy.

"Hey, Noah, Noah - what's the thing you wanted to chat about?"

 

[Julius Sedaire]

Daymon had come, but only nodded assent, covered in his armor weave and a light loadout of partial armor harness, still strapped with a disruptor pistol and an assault rifle across the back. Impassive gaze watched the grand speeches and he shrugged, grunting. There was a job he had signed on to do, and it wasn't done yet. Staying until it was done was the only option really. As for the Galactic Alliance? Well, there was no love lost between Daymon Vale and that particular government. No ill will or hatred either, but no love lost.

So as the others filed out and pack, Daymon sat down on a nearby cargo crate and exhaled, turning over the dog-tags in his grip, pondering for a second. Old memories and old friends, and lost causes. Hope had died in him a long time ago, along with it any sort of lofty ideals about honor and friendship and more. There was lip service, sure, but the longer he was out the more listless and hollow he felt, the more useless if he was honest. For now, there was this job and his word to see it done. Rushing back to play hero would do nothing. Besides, there wasn't anyone for him to rush back to protect anyway. And so he sat, thinking and passing moments staring at an old memento that was perhaps the last vestige of a version of himself he wasn't sure he missed or was best rid of. Not yet sure, anyway.

[member="Jorus Merrill"] | [member="Tegan Katarn"] | [member="Kimiko"] | [member="Dash Kessler"] | [member="Sebastian Thel"] | [member="Kalen Genet"] | [member="Dax Fyre"] | [member="Noah Corek"]