Private Extra Cargo

[Kahlil Noble]

Kahlil let out a heavy sigh.

Hyperspace was, usually, safe. If boring. And traveling from one corner of the galaxy to the opposite took time. Days, even. Boring, uneventful days. The Jedi stared up at the various switches. At least they changed. Staring out at the blue was always fascinating at first, but such interest never lasted. He leaned farther back in his seat, hands behind his head. "R6, I think I'm gonna take a nap. Wake me up if something important happens." There was a trill of sarcastic beeps as the red colored R unit rolled into the cockpit. Kahlil only laughed and shook his head.

"Just keep an eye on things."

A low whine was his only answer before he closed his eyes.

R6 rolled off shortly after, grumbling to itself about work and Kahlil's apparent laziness. The Bastion wasn't a large freighter, but it was homely. The droid continued through the living quarters, looking to the couch. Kitchen. Table. It looked more like a small apartment than a space ship. Just as Kahlil wanted. He kept on rolling though. Nothing seemed to be amiss. Down to the cargo bay, just to take inventory. Medication and food was the purpose of this trip. It's the only reason they'd ever go this far. No amount of credits was enough for such a long trip otherwise.

Moira Connell

 

[Moira Connell]

There was something about hyperspace travel that put Moira at ease. It might have been the low hum of the hyperdrive as it slipped through space. Or perhaps it was the creaks and groans of a ship as it settled in it’s new home for it’s time spent in hyperspace. It was a mystery that even if she could find out, she would’ve never wanted to. As a person who's constantly peeking into the future it was nice just being surprised for once. Not knowing was a privilege to her, not one she would squander as she lay in the maintenance vent of her latest taxi across the galaxy.

Her blue eyes peered up at the drab, dusty corner of the ship she would call home… at least for a little while.

Trace thoughts made their way through her mind as she fiddled with Stormburst sidearm. Some of them were directed at how dirty her pistol had gotten. She couldn’t even remember the last time she cleaned it… She couldn’t even remember the last time she fired it!

In open defiance of herself her arm reached up, the bullet sat in the chamber eager to be fired. It would have lodged itself in the plating rupturing multiple different lines. The report would’ve echoed down this passageway alerting this whole freighter that there was someone among us. She would’ve probably been taken prisoner or just blasted out the airlock.

The present settled back on her like a thick blanket, her arm outstretched holding the handgun.

Finger on the trigger.​

“Guess I shouldn't do that, huh…” she shrugged to herself and holstered the slugthrower, being extra careful of the trigger as she did so.

With it securely hanging from her hip she got up and stretched. With a flick of her hand she brushed some blue tinged hair out of her face and turned to look down the passageway. While the lesser parts of her brain had been focused on nearly blowing her cover, the majority of it had been focused on where she was heading towards. A new goal set in her mind she made her way down the glorified duct, her footsteps softly tapping away as she went.

Brief glances could be found through vents. A living quarters, humble and quaint. Something people would aspire to... perhaps. A later vent would reveal the cargo bay, laden with various boxes and containers. Her eyes wandered over the crates until they settled onto a figure framing the bulkhead. It was an imposing figure to say the least, one she would not want to find herself facing in combat.

Even she didn’t need her precognition to see how it would go...​

 

[Kahlil Noble]

A light sort of tune echoed through the cargo bay as R6 went about it's inventorying of the shipment. Unaware of the eyes focused on it. At first. The small droid trilled lightly as it's one eye scanned about. Curious, at first. Investigative next. There was a heat source here, where there shouldn't be one. Too small to be Kahlil. The droid rolled right over to where it caught trace amounts of body heat, close to where Moira Connell actually was.

For the droid, though, it just assumed there was some kind of rodent running around. No person would use the vents, right? It lit up a search light, scanning through the crates as one of it's arms extended. A sort of taser zapped on the end. While used for electrical engineering, it could kill whatever rodent it had found.

 

[Moira Connell]

The anomalous heat source in the vents peered out towards the cargo bay, bright blue eyes flashing in the dark. While there were some in the galaxy that would consider her a pest, she was no rodent. The soft tune made its way into her haven coming from a small droid that seemed to be looking for something.

Did… did the pilot know she was hiding on their ship?

Her breath caught as she stared at the droid, as it would move from one box to the next completing it’s errand as it neared her hiding spot.

It’s arm would unfold, an engineering tool that would have to be repurposed to extermination, and crackled with electricity. The smell of chlorine soon would’ve filled the small compartment as oxygen broke down and reformed along the length of the arc as it slowly would make its way towards her. No, she wasn’t a rodent, but there wasn’t much that separated a large rat and her… at least when compared to size.

Her mind raced for her options. She could always just shoot the droid. Not ideal and definitely a last resort. The droid had found her which would complicate the rest of the journey and there was no taking that back. The Force? For all the secrets the Force had let her into, those were it’s only gifts to Moira. She wouldn’t be able to Force “Herself from this situation”, or whatever power would help her out here.

Run?

Run.​

The droid's light revealed the vent in the present, just as the clopping of boots could be heard from them. Subtlety be damned, she was not going to get tazed today.

-
Kahlil Noble

 

[Kahlil Noble]

Kahlil was never much of a deep sleeper, yet he almost didn't notice the soft beeps from his comlink. Almost. With a loud yawn the tall figure leaned back up in his chair. Stretched his arms overhead before finally answering the com. "Mm.. What's up buddy? I haven't even been asleep for like.. Ten minutes." The response had him jolt right up and out of his chair.

"There's what in the vent?"

R6 had already given up on the chase the moment it was boots that sounded off in the vent. No rodent it had stored away in it's memory bank bothered with clothing. Which only meant there was someone hiding there. A stowaway. A rather annoyed, cussed filled stream of chirps and beeps escaped the smaller R unit as it rolled across the floor back towards the living quarters. This problem wasn't it's anymore. No, an actual person fell into the captain's sphere of influence on the ship.

The cursing didn't cease, even as the droid rolled past the still somewhat tired Jedi. Kahlil did his best to stifle a laugh as he climbed down the ladder into the cargo bay. R6 never was a fan of people. Once there he looked around. Well, pointlessly. If the person was in the vent, he wasn't going to see them from here. So he went to the grate, crouching in front of it. He couldn't fit. A normally heighted person likely couldn't anyway.

"Hey uh, it's kinda dangerous in the vents. Not sure if you can hear me, but you don't have to hide?" He really didn't expect a response. Whoever was hiding was hiding for a reason. Instead he opened the grate and set down a toolkit.

"But if you're gonna stay in there, the ventilation system needs a band replaced. If ya wouldn't mind. I can talk ya through it if ya don't know how. Just, short of taking apart a wall of my ship I can't get to it easily."

Moira Connell

 

[Moira Connell]

Fight or flight was a common recurrence in Moira’s life, be it in decrepit starship graveyards or actual warzones. Perhaps she should’ve stayed safe on Kashyyyk, hidden away from the world. Ever since she left the Silver Jedi danger had hounded her, although most of it was caused by her actions. She had seen the darkness in the hearts of men and had shared a drink with the people who would later attempt to kill her and everyone on Terminus.

She had also gotten paid, so maybe take the good with the bad…

In the moment however she could see no scenario of getting off this ship peacefully, but it was never her intuition that she relied on. The future presented itself to her in the form of an empty vent. No blaster fire, or gas, or electricity would find its way down her passage. Only the words of an exasperated man. He wouldn’t threaten her, nor even present any hostility… he wanted her to…

Work?

Her mind raced as she tried to line up her responses, measuring how this person would react. They seemed amicable for the most part, just trying to figure out who was on their ship and maybe getting some quick service out of the deal. The rogue’s heartbeat came to slow as his words echoed down the vents in the present.

“Uhhh… sure?” you had all the time to think of a response and that’s what you come up with?

She scooted closer to the opening, still unnecessarily wary of the man who was asking a favor of her. She would have plenty of warning should the guy try anything hostile, and it wasn’t like he could actually come get her… that was, unless he was willing to actually pull the wall down.

“What… um, what do ya need?”

-
Kahlil Noble

 

[Kahlil Noble]

Oh, a kid. It was either someone young or someone of a smaller species to fit inside the vents. He took some steps back, trying to at least make Moira Connell feel a bit safer. Hard to imagine she would, though. Stowaway on a stranger's ship. What ever happened where she felt the need to hide must of been worse than the idea of being caught with no where to flee to. There was a lot of questions already forming in his mind about this whole scenario.

Regardless.

"A bit farther up the way there's a junction box. Just past that a motor. I'll have R6 shut down the fan and you just replace the belt. You ever work on mechanics before? Or do ya think you'll need more of an explanation when you get there?"

 

[Moira Connell]

She reacted before Khalil could open his mouth, his words floating through time on the force. the words mostly would go in one ear and out the other. She leaned over and scooped up the bag of assorted tools, many of which she couldn’t fathom their purpose.

“Well, if I did, it would be a lie!” she chirped from the vent as soon as the present had caught up with her, “but, like… what’s the worst that could happen?” No, she was not a mechanic. She had only pretended to be one once and she almost had to break time to make sure it went off perfectly.

Moira dragged the toolkit back towards the junction box, and further down to the motor in question. She watched the fan spin, all the while visions of various limbs being removed from the high speed metal. A shake of her head would excise the intrusive thoughts and make her brain ready to accept instructions and for the fan to stop being a threat.

Sometimes seeing the future really wasn’t as great as it could be…

She spared a thought to the pilot of the ship. He didn’t seem like he was particularly bothered by her presence on the ship, nor did he seem like he was angry with her being here. Most of the time when people found she was a stowaway they would… they would actually put her to work, she realized. How had this become her life, where she gets caught and instead of in trouble she gets put to work. Not that she would complain… not out loud that was.

“Ok, so I'm in front of the motor? Do i just like… yank it off? The belt, not the motor… that is…”

-
Kahlil Noble

 

[Kahlil Noble]

"You blow out the vent in the ship and I have to take apart the wall to get it repaired anyway. Except it's warm. Really warm." No point in hiding what could happen from Moira Connell , especially since it seemed like the kid could tell what was going to be said before he said it. A Jedi? Or someone untrained? Kahlil rubbed at his chin a bit in thought. It wasn't until she spoke up about where she was that he started to talk again.

"No no, belt's still running. You'll burn off your fingerprints first. Hit the red switch, then carefully push the rotors together. It'll loosen the belt, then you can take off the old and put on the new. Make sense?"