Entering the Void

[Onrai]

The Maw

"Now remember... we're looking for an asteroid with a bunch of spindly tubes sticking out of it." Vanessa looked out of the bridge of the Ablution​ at the small specks of unlight surrounded by boiling gas. She was in the Maw - or what was left of it. The destruction of Centerpoint Station had caused the black holes to loosen up, and they had expanded a distance apart from each other - far enough to make hyperspace travel safer than it had been before.

During this hunt, Vanessa was also screening new candidates for the Ablution's​ crew, replacing those who were lost at the Assault on Kashyyyk. She had received a rather strange applicant named Tekkio, who apparently specialized in sabotage.

And he was up next.

[member="Tekkio"]

 

[Tekkio]

Tekkio did not know what to expect. He has always been assigned to areas. Never had to be interviewed beyond the recruitment process. The bridge entrance was guarded by Navy troopers. These troopers was unlike the regulars among the Empire. Some of these ship Tekkio didn't think he would ever be on. The moment he got on this ship was the moment he realized he was not on typical Empire ships. These ships originated somewhere else.

The small kushiban had stepped off an elevator arriving from the floor the hangars was on, where he had came from, heading to the bridge floor. His red fur around his neck lightly poked just over the collar of the black Navy uniform. His red hand paws had more ruffled fur. Out the back, towards the bottom of his pants, a tail swayed slightly showing his patience. He stood upright, hands behind his back. His eyes was amber by choice. Ears perked up in a military fashion for creatures like him.

Some of the soldiers had to bend over counters to see him. He was patiently waiting his turn. He was nervous. Not of the interview, but who he would be talking to, or rather what he would be talking to. He would be talking to a sith, not in the meaning of a person’s faction identification, a mystical, sword wielding sith. He had very little interaction with high ranking sith. He had manage to avoid most sith in general. He knew as his rank increased, so too would this aspect of his career. But to be interviewed by one. It was the idea of what happened to those who failed the interview that had The lupine Lieutenant concerned. He knew this person had a fleet that has been around a long time and saw multiple allegiances. He did know this person had no official Imperial rank. Did she assign ranks to her fleet? Was there even a long list of ranks similar to the Empire? Was she an admiral to the fleet? It was strange to think about. If Tekkio could get in then his questions would be answered.

The bridge doors opened up. He straightened himself and walked in. Spotting her, the sith, was rather easy. It was obvious to him, anyway, who held the highest rank in the room. He walked up to her, normal strides for his small form. His ears bounced a bit in rhythm with his steps. His tail trailed behind him. Coming to a stop he let his left foot take a step away from his right, his stance put his feet paws about shoulder width apart. His right snapped up, putting his hand paw to his forehead in a salute. Amber eyes was straight and forward. Ears was perked in attention, tail was lowered to the floor. His movement was quick, crisp and tight. “Lieutenant Tekkio…” he said in his high pitched, raspy voice. “... 5th platoon, Alpha Company, Imperial Special Forces, reporting for duty, ma’am!” He was so formal and attentive to the last details, careful not to forget a step.

[member="Vanessa Vantai"]

 

[Onrai]

“Holy Sith...”

Vanessa was straight up surprised. Here, a skilled Lieutenant... It was a Kushiban. One of those sentient rabbit things. Or were they hated? She found it difficult to recall. Even one or two of the bridge guards were struggling to hold in a snigger. Vanessa motioned for him to come over. “Okay... please get in my lap. It’ll be easier to talk when we’re... sort of face to face.”

Once he did so, she would begin, unintentionally bringing a hand to give him a scratch behind the ears. “So you’re Lieutenant Tekkio. From my understanding you’ve been an expert at sabotage and... getting into places people can’t go. I think I understand why.” She was just finding it so hard to acknowledge him as a person and not a cuddly little bundle of floof.

[member="Tekkio"]

 

[Tekkio]

"Whu....what?" Tekkio said. His hand paw left his forehead from the shock of the suggestion. She said it so casually, so unthinkably, as if what she said was not strange at all. He could not help but think she did not understand military etiquette, but she was a sith and technically this was an interview. He dropped his arm and walked over to her. He jumped up, having to resort to dropping on four paws to stable himself.

He let his amber eyes look up at her. Then felt her scratch and pet him behind his ears. At first he his ears perked from the surprise, then lightly lowered. It was weird feeling, sure, but he could not help but enjoy it. A small smile came to his face. He head tilted down a bit to the petting. "Sabotage?" He repeated in a question. "I am more trained in the Engineering Corps and Surveillance Corps." He took a moment to look around. "Sabotage is just standard training for special forces. I can blend into my background well and very small. A lot of the times, they are expecting a rather large enemy to be fighting." He said.

His tail curled up around his for on her lap. His fur was soft. Soft enough for anyone to see how their people's textiles became popular in later years.

[member="Vanessa Vantai"]

 

[Onrai]

"Engineering..." She thought. "Well, considering the level of damage this ship has taken over the past twelve months, I would certainly say that I need new engineering staff." She continued to scratch behind his ears. "Well, no one expects a harmless little bunny rabbit to be able to cause such destructive potential. Of course, I don't think many would think you were in fact sentient." She replied. "Your small and nonthreatening appearance is far more of a threat to them than they will ever realize."

She considered for a moment. "Tell you what. I ordinarily wouldn't do this, but I'd like to put your skills in surveillance to the test. Do you know where we're headed?"

[member="Tekkio"]

 

[Tekkio]

Tekkio flicked his tail irate. He could understand the common misconception one would have with the difference between Maintenance and Engineering. Still there was aspects of the Engineering Corps that did maintain ships. "I'm not trained in maintaining ships or fixing stuff." He said. Truth was he was lying. Special Forces required that kind of training.

As she spoke about his appearance, she pointed out aspects he did not even think about. It was true actually. Many considered Kushiban to be peaceful creatures based on their appearance. He listened to her speak, and when she asked him where they was going, Tekkio took a look around the room. He shook his head. As much as he was good at Engineering, he still did not know much of the galaxy. "I don't know."

[member="Vanessa Vantai"]

 

[Onrai]

"Of course." She said. "Though I would suggest not keeping such from me. I do know that which you wish to keep hidden." She gave the slightest hint of a frown. "Well, it's not enough. She kept giving the petting to Tekkio after having halted for a moment. "The Maw Installation was an ancient facility controlled by the Galactic Empire. It was where the blueprints for a tremendous number of superweapons, past and present, were located. Our goal is to find the asteroid with the central computer core and acquire the data. We will use the designs of the superweapons as a basis for our own immensely destructive weaponry."

She looked out into the void. "I have no doubt that the remains of the Maw Installation will be ruined, which is why I require someone who can go where our ordinary salvage teams cannot." She motioned to one of the bridge officers who handed her a datapad. "You will connect this datapad to the computer core and download any and all superweapon information onto it. If you succeed, then you will become a part of the Void Irregular Fleet. If you fail... Well, I'd rather that not happen." She replied.

[member="Tekkio"]

 

[Tekkio]

Tekkio looked at the datapad, ears perked, listening to her. He wasn't sure how a datapad would be able to download something that was not powered. Maybe he could sue the datapad's power instead. He blinked his amber eyes and looked up at her. "Which way would I be entering?" He asked. It was curious how to open doors or even locate anything without power, but then he also knew it was possible. A fusion cutter, echolocation and a few lights, that's really the very basic equipment he could be using.

[member="Vanessa Vantai"]

 

[Onrai]

"You would be entering in a sealed spacesuit. The computer core will likely have a tidbit of power - enough to make the transfer." She said. "You will need to get through all the wreckage and acquire the schematics. We have the blueprints of the Maw Installation, but don't know what asteroid contains the computer - or even what asteroids are there. Alternatively, we'd have to try and hunt for the Gorgon's​ computer core, and I'd rather not try and find a single part in a scrapped Star Destroyer." She responded, giving an extra scratch behind the ears.

"Can you do this for me? If so, a place in my fleet is open to you."

[member="Tekkio"]

 

[Tekkio]

Tekkio smiled at the datapad. He took the small computer. "I can do it! I will do it!" The little fluffy creature flicked his tail as he resettled himself on her lap. His crimson fur lightly shined from the light. His gaze turned to the window to look outside. He wondered how difficult this was. There would supposedly be no one to be blasting at him. He looked up at her. "Anyone going with me, or will I be alone?" He asked. He could handle both.

[member="Vanessa Vantai"]

 

[Onrai]

[member="Tekkio"]

'You will be alone, Lieutenant." She replied. "We'll be coming up on the location of the Maw Installation soon enough. I recommend getting changed into a spacesuit as soon as possible so we can begin this quickly. The last thing I'd like to see happen is for some marauding band of pirates to try and harass us out here. We are close enough to Kessel, so it is possible." Vanessa sighed.

The last time she dealt with pirates, things had gotten very bloody very fast.

 

[Tekkio]

Tekkio smiled a bit at the datapad. He turned from Vanessa and leapt off her lap. His feet claws gripped her clothing as he went to give him a boost. "I will do so as soon as I can." He said. He turned to give a salute before jogging off to get himself outfitted. Which was simple enough. He would take with him the tools he thought he would need as well as a personal distress beacon incase he got lost and needed to reveal his location.

He had never imagined he would be working this close to the stih, or take orders directly from them. He wondered how the special forces in this fleet operated. His paws padded the ground as he jogged. This seemed easy, yet this would be a good little exploration adventure of his. And with this in mind, he proceeded to outfit himself.

[member="Vanessa Vantai"]

 

[Onrai]

The Ablution​ began to scan the asteroid field, looking for broken Maw Installation asteroids identical or otherwise similar to those that comprised the Maw Installation. When an asteroid was found, the ship's tractor beams grappled onto it, holding it steady as the small boarding shuttle was sent into the asteroid with Tekkio aboard. Vanessa would appear on the hologram to him. "Remember what I said - connect the datapad to the computer core and use the brief power surge to download all the blueprints."

Hopefully this would be an easy mission.

[member="Tekkio"]

 

[Tekkio]

Tekkio nodded at the hologram. He was already in the space suit designed for his size. His ears was pressed back and down, riding his shoulders and back. His tail was up and curled around his waist. It was rather uncomfortable, but he could live with it long enough to get the job done. This suit made him look like a regular sith trooper who was very small. It was his walking on two legs that gave away that he was not a diminutive man.

The shuttle bay opened up and Tekkio leapt from the shuttle to the remains of the station. Magnetic boots made Tekkio's landing rather rough. Had there been air in the space, the landing would have sounded like a crash, coming from a creature larger than a Kushiban. Shoulder lights turned on, radar turned on and communications turned on. The way inside was a small duct, which Tekkio would fit in rather easily.

Tekkio looked down at a nearby vent and took out a fusion cutter fir for his size. The cut in the metal was simple for his tool. Before long a sizeable hole was made for him and he jumped down and looked around. He spotted the computer and smiled and walked over to it. He wanted to quicken his pace,mostly due to his nature, but the boots prevented him from quickening his pace.

It was not long before he was in reach. He plugged in the datapad, activated the surge and the power was kicked on for the split second it would take to download the plans for weapons. In that instant, Tekkio saw something, it looked like a ball with a hole in it. He shook off his thought and took out the datapad. But he paused. There was a single action he wanted to do. A few commands, and the remaining plans was deleted from the main computer. Tekkio had the only plans now, and soon Vanessa would have them as well. His head tilted up as he walked back to under the vent leading to the duct. Then he jumped, deactivating his magnetic boots, he did a small flip landing on the top of the duct, upside down from his initial position. The urge to want to jog or even give a light trot increased. He did not like being into a suit like this.

He leapt from the ruins back onto the shuttle and as the doors closed, he could not have gotten out of the suit any quicker, letting his red ears and tail free to perk and sway. He did not walk to the front of the ship, he jogged on all fours with the pad in his mouth. "I have the plans." He announced on the intercom back to the Ablution.

[member="Vanessa Vantai"]

 

[Onrai]

"You have them? Good. Now, on your shuttle, you should see a port that looks like it fits the plug on that datapad I gave you. Plug the datapad into the shuttle and it will transfer the plans over to the Ablution's​ computer core. That way we can get to work reverse-engineering everything." She said. "After you plug the datapad in, bring the shuttle back to the hangar bay. I have a bottle of champagne with your name on it." Her holographic form soon faded from existence.

On the bridge, she was ecstatic and jaded at the same time. On one hand, she would soon have the blueprints to some of the most destructive weapons in the entire galaxy. On the other hand... there was no way the Sith Empire would ever financially support the creation of such vessels as the Eclipse, the Sovereign​, and the Darksaber​. Some of the designs weren't even possible to recreate, such as the Sun Crusher.

Unless...

"Captain, get my design table ready."

[member="Tekkio"]

 

[Tekkio]

Tekkio nodded at the hologram and reached down to plug then datapad in, then paused completely. "Did she say champagne?" he thought to himself. A tail flick for a moment ant then plugged in the datapad to transfer the data. In mid transfer he pressed a small button on a particular design that caught his interest. The shuttle landed and the bay opened. the first one off was the small Kushiban. Instead of a space suit, he walked comfortably in his small black uniform befitting the fleet. He was boasting with confidence from his successful and rather easy mission. His march was steady as he made his way back to the bridge.

[member="Vanessa Vantai"]

 

[Onrai]

Upon his return, he would immediately notice a few things. For one, there were several stormtroopers on the bridge awaiting him. Vanessa stood amongst them, a smile on her face as she held a bottle of champagne in her hand. "Well... I was only half-lying. It doesn't exactly have your name on it, but here is a bottle of champagne." She said, motioning for him to come over. "Given what you have just provided me - I feel you deserve a bit more of a reward than just a bottle of champagne. How would you like to be put in charge of one of my shocktrooper detachments for a bit? I... have a project I'm working on that I feel would probably be a better reward, but right now it's still in the works."

After all, she had to find an example of one first.

[member="Tekkio"]

 

[Tekkio]

[member="Vanessa Vantai"]

Tekkio perked his ears and looked at the shock troopers. His tail flicked as he thought. He had been a leader for some time now. It would only make sense that he was assigned to a unit. He understood it that these shock troopers would be under his command. Those tgouggts only took a few seconds before he replied. "I am honored ma'am." he said and then smiled up at her.

 

[Onrai]

[member="Tekkio"]

Vanessa motioned for him to return to her lap, a smile on her face. "The early stages of the Dark Trooper project are underway. I think I've found a suitable surgeon to lead the conversion of those critically injured soldiers who wish to rejoin the fight against the Empire's enemies into cyborg killing machines." She smiled. "Once that's underway, your shocktroopers will be replaced with the first Phase Zero Dark Troopers." She said. "From there you will eventually become the leader of these units."

It was simple enough, after all.

 

[Tekkio]

Tekkio took a moment before he realized what she wanted him to do. He walked up to her while she was speaking. His form jerked down as he sprang onto her lap. It was awkward at first before he resettled himself. Ears perked to her.

Sure it seemed simple for her but for him it was alot to take in. He did not know much about dark troopers. He tilted his head. He wanted to ask but held his tongue. He would get his answers by being patient. His tail sqayed lightly. Leading these new troopers maybe a new experience for him. He nodded. "Yes ma'am." he said. Whiskers twitched showing his excitment

[member="Vanessa Vantai"]