Private Fallen Feathers of a Kingfisher

[Spek Zhio]

"Will I get to fly a ship, then?" Zhio inquired.

It had been quite some since he got to sit at the helm of a fighter. Growing up as a Jedi, he developed quite a knack for it, and some, even dared call him a natural. Particularly, after his sorties alongside his previous master, Kell Nova, during The Great Galactic War.

All minor skirmishes, of course. Nevertheless, his skills in space combat maneuvering - and the promise of improvement - did not go unnoticed.

The Hor-Aha, an E'Ron Class Corvette, was saturated with the Light side of the Force. Zhio could perceive the energy that flowed from its kyber crystals, somewhere deep inside, as rhythmical strobe lights bathing everything in cold white. Even the circuitry seemed to pulse, as if light was the ship's lifeblood.

It was interfering with Zhio's natural sense of the Force. He could not wait to get out of there.

Furthermore, a ship that size, would most certainly have trouble against small and fast smuggling ships, that could easily hide between the asteroid field. So, Spek's question was not entirely centered on his own well-being.

Unless, these were the kind of smugglers with the resources and the audacity to transport their goods in the open, inside a well armed and fortified capital ship.

If that was the case, boarding the outlaw starship was the only option.

Zhio was so thrilled for either possibility, eagerly awaiting for his master's reply, that every thought regarding a possible knighthood were wiped-out from his mind.

 

[Jairdain]

Tilting her head a little to the side when Spek asked his question, it was clear she was truly thinking about how to answer him. Giving him something of a real smile, she nodded. Unless he pulled away, she would place a hand on his shower and nod.

"If it comes to that, yes, Padawan."

Luckily, she had her own starship on board. If they needed to take the fight to them, then he would have to find one of his own. Which really shouldn't be an issue. This ship had several fighters and he could easily take one if he wanted to. She just hoped it wouldn't happen.

It wasn't that Jairdain didn't trust him, he was old enough to have a ship of his own. These had been with her for a few years now and she was reluctant to just throw one away on the whims of somebody she was training.

"Here's the information we have."

Handing him a datapad, what was on it was in a language she did not know. Being blind, she couldn't even see what was there. Everything needed to be spoken to her.

Spek Zhio

 

[Spek Zhio]

The placing of one hand on his shoulder, would have felt more endearing and less awkward to him, if they were not both about the same age. Chaos was spreading throughout the galaxy, with major and minor conflicts erupting everywhere. This master and apprentice dynamic was, most likely, not gratifying to either of them.

Spek noded. His pheromones flared up. The padawan never got a chance at a normal puberty.

Studying the information shown on the datapad, Zhio ascertained that they would be boarding an enemy vessel. A large one, by the looks of it, and not very well armed for a ship its size. But, a frigate nonetheless.

Its weapons would probably be engaged in blasting asteroids out of its way, taking some of the workload from its shields. Their scans would therefore be focused on the path ahead, performing only nominal peripheral scanning. If the two of them maneuvered a fighter in just the right way, they could fool the ship's sensors into thinking they were just another piece of debris. Slowing down, approaching the frigate's stern, would enable them to fly past the deflector shields. And, after that, it was just the matter of finding a sweet spot on the hull, and breaching the vessel.

Once two Jedi were in, there would be nothing anyone inside could do to prevent apprehension - unless they were Force users themselves. But, certainly, were that the case, either Zhio or his master would have felt it by now.

This struck the young man as the perfect course of action. Pitting both capital ships against each other, amidst an asteroid field, would just lead to unnecessary - and easily avoidable - casualties.

Spek, recounted his plan to Jairdain, already imagining that she would probably say something like, 'I was already thinking of doing that'.

Still, he added an allusion, that he guessed could earn him points in her favor, "This can easily be done. We'll be flying like a leaf on a wind current."

Maybe that way, she would let him pilot the ship.

 

[Jairdain]

Luckily, she already had all the information she was handing to Spek. So he did not need to read it to her. Much like he had predicted, she had scanned to see if their targets could use the Force. Having not felt anything from them to indicate that, she assumed none of them could. They needed to be ready for anything though and she had to keep that in mind.

"Taking the fight to them sounds good."

Putting larger ships onto the playing would just be stupid and she had to agree with him. Allowing him to feel he had beat her to it, she nodded when he posted it out.

"I'll be the wind with you like the current, Padawan."

Removing her hand, since she couldn't help feel his emotion of it being awkward. The two of them were close in years and he probably noticed that. It wasn't something that crossed her mind. With her life being as dark as it was...getting close emotionally to another person was the farthest thing from her thoughts.

"Tell me. Do you know how to do a Barrier?"

Spek Zhio

 

[Spek Zhio]

The possibility of piloting a ship after what seemed like an eternity, clouded his judgement. There was a reason why Zhio gave up on emulating his master's analogies. Whenever he did, he would only get more cryptic idioms in return.

He was about to ask, straightforwardly, if he could be the one flying the ship. But, Jairdain's sudden question, presented itself as a more pressing subject.

"No, master. I apologize, but I was never taught how to do it by my previous master."

Would this ineptitude of his, foil some kind of plan that she was contemplating? Or, was she intending on teaching him that skill? Could it even be taught - even if in a cursory manner - on such a small window of time? And, just before they went into battle?

All pertinent questions, according to Spek's reasoning. But there was another still, rising to the surface. Drowning all the others.

She doesn't even know what I am capable and incapable of doing? What kind of master is this? The Padawan wondered.

 

[Jairdain]

In a way, it did not surprise Jairdain he was unaware of how to make a Barrier. She had learned about it until she had been counted among the Sith. A path, she had turned away from but had never forgotten. This was also something Spek was probably not aware of.

"I don't normally like to teach in this manner, but I can implant in your mind how to do the skill. If you would allow me."

She could also take memories away and she learned the hard way about some of the repercussions of doing it. It was not an action she generally enjoyed doing. At the request of her love, she had though and this caused them to break up. Only time would tell if he ever learned the truth and loved her back again.

"When going into any type of battle, I always prepare a barrier. It protects me from direct damage for a short amount of time. The better you know the skill, the stronger it will be and the longer it will last."

Saying this in an understanding tone, she did not seem to be trying to insult her Padawan.

Spek Zhio

 

[Spek Zhio]

Learning something in that way, seemed both cheating and an invasion of privacy. Nevertheless, Zhio was not about to turn away knowledge, or such a considerate offer.

The Zeltron Padawn, simply nodded in acceptance. He relied on Shien and Djem So, to keep himself protected against ranged and melee attacks; either from sharp edges, energy beams, or the Force itself. Regardless, also employing the Force to boost his defenses, could only prove beneficial.

Or so he thought.

"What should I do, Master?" he awaited her instructions on how to proceed.

 

[Jairdain]

"Do you trust me?"

They really had been thrown together and they had to make do with the situation. It wasn't like they had many years together and knew how to work off each other. Waiting on his answer, Jairdain got ready to pass the knowledge on the easy way.

As she had said, she did not normally teach in this manner. Perfecting it would be on Spek though. For now, just the basics would have to do.

"Use a barrier to protect yourself or another person...even an item. Just know it will only last for a short amount of time and if your focus gets lost, so does the barrier."

This she knew all too well. Being a Master, she was able to perform this skill easily, readily and did not have to focus on it all that much. As a Padawan, she could not expect him to master it right away. Right now, they did not have the time to focus on him practicing.

Once he indicated he did trust her, she moved to stand in front of him. Placing her hands on either side of his head. The Force flowed from her to him and with it the base knowledge of how to form, perform and use a barrier.

"Give it a try while we are on the way to our fighters."

Yes, she had said that in the plural. He would get to pilot his own ship for this.

Spek Zhio

 

[Spek Zhio]

"Yes, Master." He did trust her, to the same extent that he would trust any other Jedi of the Concord. He was brought up that way.

He never knew his biological parents. Yet, every Jedi that he met acted as surrogates. Alas, truth be told, Jedi are ill-suited to play the 'endearing relative' role.

As he let go of the defenses enclosing his mind, Jairdain was able to flow the Force into it. At first, she would feel like waves crashing against a cliff. After a while, she would be able to determine its contour, as that of a giant dome, warm to the touch. She would probe around this outline and find a weak spot, which she then would exploit, shattering the boundary into a thousand small and sharp pieces.

Then, she would be standing at the base of a tall ziggurat. Below her, an endless vault of blue and billows of white. Above, the emerald lush of a planet unknown to her. Edges of luminosity enclosed the ancient structure into another, that of a smooth-edged pyramid. The light grew in intensity. Burning like a hypergiant star.

She would be back on the Hor-Aha, so suddenly as she had left. Her Padawan's mind now an open book, to where she could pour the necessary knowledge.

Zhio opened his eyes.

At her permission to practice the newfound power, he immediately extended his left hand, and used it on a close by Astromech. After surrounding it with an energy field, invisible to anyone not Force sensitive, Spek proceeded to ignite and throw his lightsaber at it. The energy blade bounced back, and Zhio used the Force to redirect it towards his hand, deactivating the lightsaber and releasing the Barrier.

The droid was unharmed, if a little bit hysterical, as he spun and disappeared around the nearest corner.

The apprentice grinned, "You are amazing, Master! You taught me how to use it in the blink of an eye!"

 

[Jairdain]

In a way, what Jairdain saw in the mind of her Padawan was reminiscent of when she had dueled a Sith Lord. This made her really curious about his past and what Spek did not remember from it. Something they could talk about later. If anybody was in a position to help, that would be her. She could not think of anybody else better suited for delving into things relating to the mind.

The images did not last long and she found herself pretty much standing as she had been before seeing them. Somehow, it had shocked her out of the trance she had started going into to pass the knowledge along. Feeling a little confused as to what happened, it was certainly odd but she recovered quickly.

Resuming what she had been doing previously, the knowledge passed into Spek with great alacrity. Lowering her hands, she opened her eyes and gave him a bit of a grin. His enthusiasm was rubbing off on her and she allowed it to envelope her a little. It helped bring her a bit of comfort and actually make her feel happy in her dark times.

"That worked better than I expected actually. I'm proud of you, Spek. C'mon. Let's get to our fighters. Your choice."

Spek Zhio

 

[Spek Zhio]

Completely oblivious to the details that transpired inside his mind, Spek was just ecstatic to have learned a new Force ability, and be able to pilot an assault craft. All on the same standard day!

As the Jedi duo neared the hangar bay, the Padawan could barely contain his excitement, filled to the brim with anticipation regarding the wings that were assigned to him. As they turned a corner, and Zhio nearly rushed to peer at the ships on dry-dock, his eyes glistened as they immediately froze on a small squadron of Typhoon-class Interceptors.

"Are those Mark two?" He could not believe his eyes, regarding what he saw afterwards.

Next to his master's Quarrel, and also being prepped for flight, was a Typhon II-class Starfighter. His only response to the scenario unveiling before him, was to slowly turn his face towards Jairdain, his mouth ajar.

After hearing what the Jedi Master had to say, he would race towards his own fighter, inspect its loadout and assist with the launching preparations. And, before he knew it, he was performing a system's check inside the interceptor's cockpit.

All avionics were A-OK and flight-ready, which included the Calor-series Bio-Computers - these latter, Spek was already planning on immediately relegating to elementary subsystems regulation, as soon as he got cleared for take-off. These parallel computing organic co-piloting processors, had the uncanny capability of learning and mimicking the previous pilot's idiosyncrasies, in terms of space combat maneuvering. While a trait that might seem an asset to most aviators, Spek did not want someone else's bad habits cramping his style.

In terms of payload and weapons configuration, he already knew what he needed. The Padawan did not expect a squadron of fighters to come out from a smuggler's spacecraft. But, if any did come out, he could quickly reconfigure the lasers and rippers, mid-flight. He was planing on boarding the enemy vessel, by breaching the hull of the ship, and flying his own fighter inside. As soon as either the emergency blast doors or the magcon field were activated - in order to contain the atmosphere inside the frigate - he would be free to exit his own fighter spacecraft and dispatch the crew in close combat.

For that purpose, he set the Vaapads to supercharged fire mode, and the Juyo rippers to auto-cannon - a good compromise, since he planned on being up close and personal with the target frigate's outer plating, anyway. The young Zeltron also made sure that the maintenance crew were loading a dozen Starbolt-class missiles, into the LLT-7's Warhead Launcher pair. He did not want to bomb the enemy or rip out a big chunk out of it. A gap with 5 meters in diameter, would be more than enough for him to comfortably steer his ship inside.

Best make that length a radius, to accommodate for Jairdain's gunship. Whoever would be flying wingman, should not have to fire at the existing hull breach in order to make it larger. Doing so, could damage the fighter already inside, or any important system - such as the ones responsible for sealing the breach and containing the atmosphere inside the ship. If the Quarrel took lead, Zhio would have no trouble fitting his Typhoon-class though whatever hole the larger gunship managed to travel through. On the event that he was the one leading the assault, he had better make sure there was a large enough gap, to prevent having his master having to thread the needle with her much bulkier craft.

Best make it a 15-meter diameter. Just to be on the safe side.

Nevertheless, Starbolts would do nicely. Even more so, if they did end up in the middle of a dogfight, before being able to approach the other frigate.

Spek Zhio, flicked his Padawan braid aside, with a jerk of his head, before fitting the flight helmet to it. He smiled at Jairdain, and gave her a cheerful - borderline-professional - thumbs up.

He just could not wait to be amidst the cold vacuum of realspace.

 

[Jairdain]

They were now about to go into a battle and the dark aura that Jairdain had been struggling to keep hidden started to show itself again. This was not an aspect of being a Jedi that she liked or enjoyed. She had the feeling something was going to happen soon and it might not entirely be just the fight they were heading into. These kinds of things happened to her now and then and they were rarely wrong. Jairdain just was unable to know exactly what was going to happen. Trying to shake off the feeling, she would pay attention to things and hope they went well.

Taking her time getting to the hanger, when she did arrive, Spek was already looking at the ships being made ready for them. Nodding as he asked about the make and model, she signaled he could get into his. Climbing into her Quarrel, she would be able to punch a hole into the hull of the smuggler's ship. He should then be able to take his smaller ship into theirs and engage them personally.

Ensuring they both got there safely, another fighter would be behind them to take care of any others headed their way. The Master was confident in the plan they had and it hopefully carried through the Force to her Padawan.

Because she was blind, everything in her ship had been adjusted so she could use it. An AI unit had been installed to pilot for her and the Force would guide her if she needed to fire her weapons. Knowing they were going to be needed for this run, she had the AI run a systems check and returned the thumbs-up motion to Spek when everything was ready.

Putting her helmet on, she wasn't even sure why she needed one but really didn't question the procedure. Mentally shrugging, she allowed him to lead out and followed a few moments after.

Spek Zhio

 

[Spek Zhio]

Blasting off as soon as they were cleared, Zhio emerged as leader of a three-craft Vic formation. Flying astern, his left wing was the unknown pilot aboard the second Typhoon-class - Spek did not know the man's name or appearance, other than he had seen him wearing a red shirt.

On his right wing, purposely falling behind, into a somewhat staggered formation, was Jairdain's gunship. Zhio was merely following his master's instructions, he took the lead, because it was given to him. Mere seconds ago, before flying into the vacuum, he was the picture of effusing exhilaration. Now, he was the epitome of sheer focus. Calm and collected, as if cleansed by a wave of serenity, the moment the Nimble-7's sublights kicked in - and the inertial dampers prevented his spine from being squashed against the seat by his other internal organs.

Spek, wanting to try something, shielded himself with a Force Barrier. Weak enough so as to not put a toll on his body, but still sufficiently strong so that he could dial back the compensators to ninety percent. This, granted him a better feel for the starship, while preventing him from blacking out due to the shifting accelerations.

As they were about to encroach on the Roche asteroid field, Zhio requested some computations from his onboard systems. A layman might think that the best way to navigate through a dense asteroid field, is by shooting everything that stands on your way. A pilot, knows that asteroids do not just move around, and instead, tend to keep the same distances between one another. They are celestial bodies, after all, and like all other celestial bodies are also affected by gravitational forces, and stay on the same orbit. No one would expect a planet to suddenly collide with another planet, or with one of its moons. So why people inexperienced with space flight, believed that asteroids just flew around willy-nilly against each other, was beyond him.

That is, unless an external force came into play.

And what better external force is there, than some shooting and blasting at space rocks, having them split into smaller space rocks, that go flying all over the place and end up hitting other space rocks, to start a cascade of space rocks splitting into more and more space rocks hitting more and even more other space rocks, everywhere? Something that, ultimately, culminated in a no-fly belt of fatal debris.

Flying through an asteroid field was indeed a breeze - if they had those in space. Dogfighting in one? Quite the opposite.

The computer returned a safe flight path for them to take. Even though, oddly enough, had the path come into Zhio's mind before the screen even showed it?

Sending the vectors to the other two wings of his Vic section, he soon received their confirmations. The vee-shaped formation, was great for many things - such as collectively performing a one-hundred-and-eighty-degree turn, without breaking formation, by simply swapping the leader. There was no need to adjust it to a trail formation, for example, since they were going to have plenty of wiggle room between asteroids, on the course that Spek calculated.

That is to say, on the course that the onboard computer, calculated.

---

source: No Man's Sky subreddit
Theme: Imperia
​

---

Before coming into view, the enemy frigate had been long picked up by their sensors. As expected, the preliminary scans done aboard the Hor-Aha, were correct. The smuggling vessel had most of its turrets and defenses towards its bow. Jairdain was already sending him her own new approach vector, aimed just ahead the port-side engine of the capital ship, near its stern. Along with her own flight plans, she send over his, and his left wingman's, new vectors. He acknowledged his master's command.

They were supposed to fly ahead and secure her approach, so that the Quarrel could rip out an opening through the hull. After that, the two interceptors would quickly perform a U-turn, and follow her into the enemy vessel, before being closed off by whatever means the ship's automated emergency systems would use to seal the breach.

It was then, that red lights flared up on his cockpit. Enemy fighters were scrambling out of the frigate's hangar.

"New directives. Delta One and Delta Two will engage the enemy. Delta Three, stay the course!"

He did not wait for confirmation from his master, before having coaxium injected into the combustion chambers of his fighter's ion drives. Significantly boosting its speed over the unaltered course. This was the right thing to do. The only thing to do.

A squadron of twelve fighters came out, on a collision path. They were flying in echelon. "Amateurs," those were good odds.

Stopping the coaxium, to recover maneuverability, Spek made no efforts to change his weapons configuration. "We''ll flank the poor bastards! Send them into disarray!"

The Typhoon II-class starfighters split up. While performing the flanking maneuver, Zhio got a lock-on on one of the bandits. A single volley from each LLT-7 was all that it took. "One bogey down, eleven to go!"

"Keeping score, Delta One?" the voice came from the comlink on his flight helmet.

"You bet I am!" The launcher's revolving drums were still loading the next ordinance, while Zhio was already releasing a barrage with the Juyo-class ripper cannons at a second fighter. "Ha ha! Two, nothing!"

Cursing and swearing was all that came out from the comlink, this time around.

The two fighters were now flanking what was left of the enemy formation, as they aimlessly broke it.

"Two to one!" came the voice from the other side. "I have another, padlocked!"

He was not actually competing. But, pretending to turn it into a sport, helped dehumanize the whole endeavor. It lessened the fear of death, and the ethical dilemma of murder. The Zeltron was mostly doing it for his wingman. Mostly.

Three to one. Four to two. Five to two. Then six to three. Until there were only three enemy fighters left, and four missiles on each launcher of Zhio's ship. He blamed the onboard computer, that kept trying to correct his aim, by predicting the enemy's flight path. Only, these were not expert pilots, and they flew erratically. Spek's eye coordination and Force sensitivity, made for much better aim assistants. Yet, the stupid thing insisted on releasing missiles at close range or aiming the lasers as if they were not on supercharged mode.

The asteroid field had become increasingly dangerous, due to their fight. The three remaining fighters started to withdraw. "Delta One, I'm in pursuit."

"No! Two! No, fall back!" Spek screamed at his sensa-mic. "They're baiting you into turret range!"

He watched as the frigate's weapons opened fire. Almost immediately, one of Delta Two's wings was hit along with the warhead launcher in it. This, caused the detonite charges of the remaining Starbolts, still inside, to violently explode. It did so, in a beautiful soundless firework of plasma and metal. What remained of the fighter, including the cockpit, went spiraling against an asteroid.

Next thing he heard, were abruptly-cut screams coming from the comlink. A second explosion, reduced Delta Two to dust, and split the asteroid it had collided with, into hundreds of smaller fragments.

"Druk and kark!"

The space rocks were acceletaring towards Zhio's fighter. The safest maneuver he could perform, in order to avoid them, would bring his interceptor within firing range of the turrets.

 

[Jairdain]

Because Jairdain had actually very little space flight under her belt, she had allowed her Padawan to take the lead on the mission. The plans he had made and the ones they were executing made sense and it gave Spek the opportunity to learn about leadership. She had been in a similar situation and position before. Unfortunately, that mission ended up with her getting kidnapped by cultists...not wanting to remember that, she focused on what was in front of them.

Falling into the last spot, the two faster ships started to engage the incoming enemy fighters. Her weapons were not built for much close-range action. Her ship had quite a bite but only under certain conditions. Listening to the conversation between the two men, she said a small prayer for all of the souls that were lost. This was done in the hopes there might be some form of forgiveness when she eventually died.

While the two of them were taking care of the spicer pilots, she stayed on her own course. Besides, that is exactly what Spek had ordered her to do. Jairdain might be his Master but right now he was in charge. Smiling just slightly, she allowed her ship to continue on its path.

However, as she was getting close to where she needed to be, the tone of the conversation changed between Spek and the other pilot. A man, she did not actually know the name of. Luckily, the people they were coming for were more focused on the other two fighters and did not seem to care about Jairdain's lone ship. Getting into her spot, she lined up the gun of her ship with the bow of the spicer's vessel.

It would take her rail gun a little while to full charge and she was able to focus on the other fight going on.

"Turn around, get out of there!"

Yelling into her own com device, it was too late and she heard the last comment from Spek. Using the Force to guide her senses, she picked up on him and maybe his own panic.

"Stay exactly where you are. Do not move closer to their ship."

There was a tone in her voice, he had never heard in their time together. One that indicated she meant what she said and was deadly serious. Placing a barrier around his ship, the debris would strike against it and break into even smaller pieces. This caused the barrier to glow and as more and more hit it, it would glow even brighter.

"Now to me."

Letting out a sigh of relief, the immediate danger he had been in had passed. Now all they needed to do was wait until she got them an entry into the other ship.

By now, her rail gun had finished charging and she fired her Force-guided blast. Hitting the thrusters, she beat him to the hole she had made and fired her small lasers to finish the job. By then, hopefully, he would have joined her and they could both land on board.

Bringing her ship in, she heard him land behind her and she popped open the top of her ship to jump down. The area had been evacuated and for the time, it was just them.

Spek Zhio

 

[Spek Zhio]

"I wasn't planning on it!" Zhio sent over the comlink, in response to his master's advice of not to approach the enemy frigate.

In a split-second decision, he fired two missiles at the fastest and closest incoming meteoroid. There was not enough time to adjust the laser cannons to stutterfire mode, and he doubted that they would do much to alter its trajectory. Shifting the Juyo-class rippers to blaster mode could work, the stopping power on those things would not be significant but the rate of fire would compensate for that. Still, not enough time.

On the other hand, Starbolt missiles were not accurate at short range and he did not have enough time to get a lock on the incoming projectile. Firing them as dumbfire ordnance, would have to suffice.

The meteoroid was blasted into tiny rocks, small enough to be deflected by the fighter's shields. But, the detonite explosion managed to throw the ship off course, and damage some of its hull.

Three missiles left.

No time.

Spek ripped the chords connecting the bio-computer to the navigation controls. It was time to go old school. Trust the Force.

The Padawan closed his eyes for a single second, reached out with his senses, and felt his master. That was the direction that the frigate was.

As the Typhoon was spiraling out of control, meteorites still raining down on it from seemingly every direction, he directed the thrusters to move the ship away from the enemy vessel. Away from his master. With the galaxy constantly spinning on his cockpit viewport, he managed to fire yet another volley of Starbolts at an incoming hazard. The ship was still intact, for now, but the damage to the hull was becoming increasingly unsustainable. Furthermore, its trajectory was once again diverted.

This was not going to last, or end well.

Mindful of what happened to Delta Two, Zhio's acumen - or the Force - led his attention towards an incoming meteorite with a sharp edge. Turning off the deflector shield generator, and in a last-ditch effort, he rolled the ship to the left, so that the right wing would come into contact with that edge. The gambit worked as intended, which is to say that the small asteroid managed to rip off the right wing, near the fuselage, and not impact with the missile launcher on the other end of it.

Spek lost a Vapaad cannon, and a warhead launcher with two missiles still in it. The interceptor would also not be able to fly in an atmosphere - but that last one, was not something to be concerned about, at the moment. The play was not yet over.

Turning on his shields into reinforced anti-concussion mode, as the Typhoon flew away from the torn wing and the meteorite that caused it, Zhio aimed the fighter's countermeasures - a single ventral-mounted turret - at his lost wing. As expected, upon successfully hitting the wing's missile launcher, an enormous explosion propelled everything in its vicinity, away from it. At least now, the small asteroids and debris, instead of coming at him from different directions, were all flying in the same outwards one, as was his starfighter.

Two missiles left, inside a single launcher. He was still far from being safe.

One missile left, as the pilot had to alter the course of a larger meteorite. The ones whose mass was considerably greater than that of his spacecraft, had sufficient inertia to resist a change in acceleration. Zhio's fighter was alarmingly approaching them. Maneuvering the ship without one of its wings, also proved harder to do than what Zhio expected. Since, it was difficult to compensate for the absence of one of the thrusters, that was located on the now missing wing.

Maybe, forcefully disconnecting the onboard navigation assistant, was not such a good idea, after all.

One missile left. Still being loaded into firing position. One huge incoming meteorite. Not enough juice on the sublights to fly out of harm's way. That was it.

Suddenly, the asteroid shattered into a thousand pieces, in front of him.

His ship flew through.

The Padawan spent a moment checking the ship's status. It did not have enough shields or hull, even at peak condition, to be able to do something like that. As his analytical mind gave way to his spiritual connection with the Force, Zhio felt something akin to the warming embrace of a winter sun. Jairdain's Force Barrier, had saved him. He was now, out of the debris field.

"Remind me, drinks are on me, once we get back!" he tried to hide the trembling in his voice. "Thank you, Master."

Struggling to turn his ship around, Zhio managed to, nevertheless, fall back behind the Quarrel. As the gunship tore a hole through the frigate's hull, they both pilot their ships inside.

Exiting the cockpit, throwing the flight helmet back at the pilot's seat, Zhio spoke with a smile. "That was fun!

"Let's never do it again!"

 

[Jairdain]

Due to the extent of their distance and the damage Spek's ship endured, she had actually gotten worn out keeping her Padawan safe. Taking a brief moment to regain some strength, this allowed her to recharge a little. Hopefully, it would be enough for them to accomplish what they came here for.

Giving him a smile when he said a round of drinks would be on him, Jairdain gave him a thumbs-up sign and joined him on the floor of the hanger.

Letting out a sigh, she then shook her head slightly.

"And this is what happens when I allow somebody to fly a fighter."

In a way, her tone sounded similar to how a mother would when their child ruined a toy or had an accident. Rubbing at her forehead, they needed to focus on the mission now.

"Do we have a layout of the ship?"

Following the Force was also an option but she wasn't sure just how much trust he had in it.

Spek Zhio

 

[Spek Zhio]

"Maybe had I flown a gunship, instead of an interceptor, through an asteroid field, the ship would be in better shape..." he did just gave her the window she required to open a path through the frigate's hull. "...and so would you." Maybe she could have dealt with the bandits, and still make a run for the frigate, on her own. "For that, I apologize." Notwithstanding, he would definitely have become one with Force, had she not intervened. "Master."

The adrenaline from the dogfight was leaving his body, as if evaporating from his skin pores. Then, came her question, and he answered it.

"I do have the ship's layout on my datapad, though I don't need it to know where the bridge is." He refrained from adding, that he also could - somehow - feel their destination, as if his entire body was a compass, and their target a magnetic pole. "I've memorized the blueprints."

Why was she constantly downplaying his achievements? Belittling him. It was more than just a test. Did she had doubts about his skills? It made him feel self-conscious. It made him have doubt regarding his own skills, as well. Why was he not getting knighted?

His former Master, kept reciting that doubt leads to the dark side. That he must cast doubt aside, trust the Force. But what about her doubts?

Zhio centered himself and held up a sigh. Closing his eyes, he ignited his blue lightsaber, holding it horizontally, with the hilt below the chin, almost touching it. A stance that could be used for both combat and meditation, taught to him by the deceased Master Kell Nova.

Cast away the doubt.

A blast door suddenly opened, several smugglers started shooting through the opening it created. Zhio, still with eyes closed, began deflecting the incoming bolts. They were not expecting Jedi, otherwise, they would have never opened the blast door - not that it would prevent the duo from gaining entry, merely assist in delaying them.

Shifting into a Soresu stance, he opened his eyes and continued to repel the particle beams to the side. The Padawan, much preferred a more aggressive stance to one taken from The Resilience Form. A stance that would allow him to create an opening, rather than just wait for one to present itself. Still, now was not the time to give in to the passion he felt with Djem So. He needed to remain mindful.

As the weapons were overheating and the shooters had to slow down their rate of fire, he saw his opening. In an instant, he reached out with his left hand, reached out with the Force, and crushed every single blaster rifle, while still on the smuggler's hands.

Center.

The would-be attackers ran back, in a panic.

Center.

They were not expecting Jedi.​

He turned to Jairdain, pointing with his lightsaber at the door that was left open. "It's this way."​

 

[Jairdain]

As much as Spek picked up on her doubts about him, he did not know just what she was going through in her life. If she were honest with the Council, they would never have put the two of them together and actually given Jairdain some time away. However, she had a duty now and she was going to see it through to its end...one that was coming far sooner than she expected.

It did impress her that her Padawan had the ship already memorized. Any praise would have to wait though as the blast doors opened and a few smugglers came rushing out at them. Spek deflected their blaster shots and through the Force, she would attempt to stop them all from running away. Unfortunately, something must have distracted her and she failed to accomplish this. Through the Force, she watched the forms run from the hanger and disappear into the ship again.

Mentally kicking herself, she did give Spek a large smile.

"You handled that very well. Lead the way and make sure to keep the barrier on. You know...just in case they decide to start blasting again."

Luckily, the smugglers had left the blast door open for them. There wasn't going to be a need for them to cut their way through.

Spek Zhio

 

[Spek Zhio]

Center.

Zhio stood and watched the smugglers run, frozen in his tracks. Letting the fury seep from the pores under his feet, instead of seething through the ones on top of his head.

Center.

As he glanced over his shoulder to look Jairdain in the eye, and point the way, the realization hit him like a blazing ball of lead to the pit of his stomach.

Cen-ter...

She was not.

That smile alone spoke volumes. A smile that never reached her eyes.

It... was not his place to say something, though. Was it?

"Thank you, Master. I'll try not to let you down," he replied, instead.

He had found balance, once again. And she was the one who tilted him in the right direction. Not deliberately - seemingly not so, at least - but by displaying that she too, was fallible.

Spek followed the Master's instructions, and put up a Force barrier around him. Maybe she had failed to notice, that all the blaster bolts that he had deflected, were so with his lightsaber alone. It amused him how his previous Master was a lightsaber combat purist, while Jairdain seemed more pragmatic. Both methods had their merits. Like everything else, apparently, two sides of a coin.

The virtue - and difficulty therein - lay with balancing it on its edge.

---

The path towards the bridge was unobstructed. Soon, the pair stood in front of the closed blast doors that granted access to it.

If Spek could sense the number of sentient beings inside, and their hunkered down distribution, as well as that of a couple of droids - from the vacuum they caused in the Force - then certainly his Master did so as well, and with much less effort.

It was something that either one of the two Jedi, could easily handle on their own.

"How shall we proceed, Master?"

But they were not on their own. They were together in this.

For now, at least...

 

[Jairdain]

Keeping an eye on the area behind them with her senses, just in case anybody planned to jump out and ambush them, they walked along the hall leading from the hanger. The path was easy and straight. Jairdain trusted in her Padawan and hopefully, he knew this.

Her hand hovered near the hilt of her lightsaber but did not actually touch it. For the most part, she planned on any fighting to be done by Spek and would be there to support him. Even as a Master, she still only had a little ability when it came to physical combat. The strengths she had were with the Force and maybe that was why the Council had made Spek her Padawan. To teach him more about the Force than fighting.

"I'm sure they expect us to come through the doors in front of us. Are there other ways in they might not be aware of?"

Relying on his memory, she waited on his answer before telling him of her plans.

Spek Zhio