Star Wars Roleplay: Chaos

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Flight of the Navigators (Jorus Merrill)

Vaudin Miir

Planetary President of Iktotch
The black, the infinite black. For most the plethora of stars barely warrent consideration but for a few, a blessed few, it was home. Vaudin felt that way and though things had changed he would always feel most alive amongst the stars.

He waited and gazed out the viewport at the debris filled astroid belt in front of 'the Bantha'. He was here for tech and scrap, but he was meeting an old friend as well and fellow Vagrant, @[member="Jorus Merrill"].

They were going in on this together and they had some catching up to do...
 
@[member="Vaudin Miir"]
"There's gold in them thar hills, as someone said once."

Hagron's World was a pinprick of blue-green light off to starboard, blinking as asteroids passed between the planet and the salvage ship.

"I don't just mean the salvage either," Jorus said after a minute, examining the sensor readouts. "This whole field's studded with maranium, terenthium, desh, gadolinium -- there's value here. I'll have to hook you up with a Jo'henry if you feel the need."

He had a KUT-42 plasma torch in the back, and a space suit. "This system's seen its share of wars, the last one only twenty-five years back. I'm readin' an awful lot of picked-over hulks, all torn up. I doubt we'll get much in the way of components or rare materials out of this, or functional guns, but we could be surprised."

A few fingerclicks brought up one hulk, a gutted capital ship that rotated slowly in a debris field. "This is our best bet. Gettin' there's gonna be a trick, though. Nice an' easy, relax, go as calm as you can, an' steer by instinct."
 

Vaudin Miir

Planetary President of Iktotch
@[member="Jorus Merrill"]

"Instinct?" Vaudin said with a smile, "Mate, I'm good but I don't know if I'm that good."

Vaudin watched as the various Astroids moved and rotated. He wanted to see a pattern or an opening, but things were tight for a freighter.

"You think we can really get through that mess?" Vaudin trusted Jorus and he knew some of the things the man had pulled off, but Vaudin wasn't Jorus. The gambler in him said the odds were against him.
 

Vaudin Miir

Planetary President of Iktotch
@[member="Jorus Merrill"]

"Alright, I'll give it a go." Vaudin replied as he began to concentrate and let his instincts take over.

They started forward. His hands were light on the stick as they started to enter the 'field. He brought his crate passed the first big asteroid and dipped the nose just missing a bulge that rotated thier way.

They next few went similarly as smallish debris tinked off the shields. It wasn't long before they drew close to the old hull.

"You may just be less crazy than I thought." Vaudin said with a grin as he felt himself guided toward their goal.

"What do the scanners say on this now, anything?"
 
@[member="Vaudin Miir"]

His gut, and he trusted his gut, said that Vaud was doing it right, and the flying sure reflected it. Back in the day, the Vagrants had packed a disproportionate number of Forcers, more normal sorts than Jorus, and one or two of'em had mentioned that Vaud had the knack. Untrained, apparently.

"Nice work," he said. "For real. That's solid flying, and I'm thinkin' you've got a touch of the knack about you. Not that I can teach you how to throw rocks or swing a glowrod, but what I got ain't bad."

He hunched over the sensor monitor console. "Looks like there's some intact compartments or modules near the stern. Little bit of radiation, not too bad for suits. Got a couple of sixty-pound plasma torches in back that'll gut this sucker easy enough."
 

Vaudin Miir

Planetary President of Iktotch
@[member="Jorus Merrill"]

"Never had much use for overgrown glowrods." Vaudin chuckled "overcompensation if ya ask me."

He definitely was not Jedi material but his people weren't strangers to the force and Vaudin looking back had felt a knack sure as banthas have horns.

"We oughta get this done quick 'the Bantha' has external cargo pods we could load easy as sabaac." Vaudin was interested in learning more from Jorus and then they'd be able to come back with the Jo'henry and haul out some of these asteroids for mining.

"What did ya mean teach me?" Vaudin said leaning back to unstrap his crash webbing.
 
@[member="Vaudin Miir"]

"What I mean is, alright, lemme speak blunt. I can use the Force, you can learn to use the Force, I've got no powers or nothin' except piloting, hitting things, and hyperspace. If that's dren you wanna learn, I can teach it. Least I could do after you got those charges planted off Void Station." He pulled on his helmet and sealed the suit, then turned on the little speaker.

"Besides. Overgrown glowrods ain't got nothing on a good salvage torch."

Suited, he clipped the gravity in this hold and began maneuvering the sixty-pound plasma torch out the airlock. Through a viewport, Vaud would see an eight-metre-long lightsabre blade extend and shear into the hulk.
tumblr_mre8njgT4o1sxkosfo1_250.gif
 

Vaudin Miir

Planetary President of Iktotch
@[member="Jorus Merrill"]

"You're talking about teaching me do do my three favorite things haus. If you mean it I would be happy to learn."

Vaudin moved the ship close and lifted the external cargo pods into position. Heading back he sealed his flight suit grabbed the other torch and headed out after Jorus.

Activating the comm system he asked.

"What do I have to do to learn," vaudin activated the torch and started cutting carefully, "lets see a lightsaber do that." He grined.
 
@[member="Vaudin Miir"]

"Well, it's all about your gut, Vaud." He turned off the plasma torch and watched Vaudin cut. "Credits to chupacabras there's something in there as won't like gettin' cut. We're close to some old tanks of somethin' awkward. See if you can thread the needle, cut this compartment off just with your gut. Shouldn't be too big a boom if you get it wrong."
 

Vaudin Miir

Planetary President of Iktotch
@[member="Jorus Merrill"]

Vaudin could understand what Jorua meant. He had gone with hos gut more than once and if Jorus Merrill could sit here and trust his gut, then Vaudin Miir could give it a darn go.

"Alright. Hang on to yer shebs mate." He said robbing the Mando word for backside. "Here goes."

Vaudin looked at the hull and took a deep breath. It was like calculating a jump or timing a shot just had to focus and let his gut do the work. He picked a spot just a few milimeters from where he just was and began cutting. He didn't think or talk. He just let his body do the moving while his gut did the talking. He moved slow but steady and after a few minutes maybe more the compartment came free. He turned off the torch and latched a cable to the compartment so they could keep track of it and see what they had found.

"Well I'll be a Bantha lovin' dirt farmer." He said shaking his head as he looked at old tanks that he couldn't read. "That could have been a lot bigger boom than I would have liked."
 
@[member="Vaudin Miir"]

"Good call, Vaud." Jorus directed his light inside and hopped in over the superheated edges, though 'hopping' didn't exactly fit the bill. "Looks like some decent stuff, or it used to be. Twenty-year-old medicines and...hmm. Medical gear. You ever see a medkit that had so many holoprojectors attached?"

He lobbed a random bit of tech towards Vauden. "Hulk's got no spin -- you can just leave the torch hovering there. C'mon in, this goes on for a ways."
 

Vaudin Miir

Planetary President of Iktotch
@[member="Jorus Merrill"]

Vaudin let go of the torch and reached for the tech Jorus had tossed. It looked like diagnostics gear for a med bay triage unit. He shrugged and tossed it toward the open cargo pod then pushed toward the opening where Jorus was. He activated his suit's shoulder lamp and began looking around.

"Medical gear for sure." He said as he shined his light around. "There's a bacta tank and med droid. Those'll be worth a few creds."

Vaudin moved toward Joris to see if he had more finds.

"So how do you use the Knack when you want to. Just trust yer gut?"
 
@[member="Vaudin Miir"]

"Yeah, the bacta's gone bad but the tank looks good as new." He rapped it experimentally as he passed, then reoriented in the zero-gee to go feet-first through a passageway. "Check it -- the damage ain't as bad as it looks like from the outside. I don't know this model, but the Krevaaki 'round here never rediscovered the hyperdrive, so it won't have a true navicomputer. What it might just have..."

He floated through into a burned but unbroken section, and wiped soot off rolls of undamaged plast. Unrolled, they turned out to be-

"System maps. Asteroids, caches, comets, waypoints. Twenty-five years old, but still worth their weight in aurodium."
 

Vaudin Miir

Planetary President of Iktotch
@[member="Jorus Merrill"]

Vaudin followed his friend and teacher through the opening and reoriented himself to see what Jorus was talking about.

He was right those maps were a great find. Vadin stretched back.

"All in a days work I'd say." He was joking but they had just barely gotten into the ship and they had found a find that would make any scrounger jealous.

"I'm surprised there only 25 from the looks of this hull from the out side." He began dusting off more rolls it looked like the ship had been getting around. That or it was a part of some kind of fleet and the maps were being deliver to other ships from the planet.

"There's alot of maps here for one ship this size." He noted aloud. "What do you make of it?"
 
@[member="Vaudin Miir"]

Jorus paused. "You got a point. I don't really know what makes and models of ships these Krevaaki used a quarter century ago -- proprietary ones, for sure. This mighta been a command ship, a deep exploration ship, mighta been on some kind of five-year mission. I doubt the computers are anything like intact, the exterior's torn up enough that I've got no idea how many weapons it mounted. It's like lookin' at a painting that's been hit with turpentine. Who knows what this sucker used to be.

"If it was a command ship, though..." He pulled out a bag and unfolded it in zero-gee. Without air, it had no real incentive to open until he started stuffing maps into it. "...well, who knows what might be aboard. An' not all weapons are on the surface. Let's keep moving, see what we can see."
 

Vaudin Miir

Planetary President of Iktotch
@[member="Jorus Merrill"]

The ship had a story. Everything did if you took time to look. Krevaaki were not historically known for being very militaristic and Vaudin was willing to bet a ship like this with these many maps and charts had carried what Krevaaki were known for artifacts and historical items. They were explorers and gatherers, who loved history and that meant this ship could have some very valuable space junk somewhere on board.

"Krevaaki liked history and stuff. I wonder if this ship has any art or artifacts in its holds." Vaudin said as he moved to search deeper with Jorus.
 
[member="Vaudin Miir"]

"We should be so lucky." One armored palm closed around ragged metal, and he pulled himself 'up' through another internal rent. "If there's valuables to be found, I mean serious valuables, they're more likely to be on these star maps. But you never know."

It took a good three more hours to sweep the derelict, and that was shorter than he'd anticipated. His space suit had acquired an odor, he was about four aurodium chips richer, and neither art nor artifact had shown its head. There was, however, a safe containing only a sheet of paper with coordinates written on it in Krevaaki script. When applied to the star maps, those coordinates suggested a spot on an airless moon, elsewhere insystem.

"Shower. Food. Nap. Treasure hunt. Oh, and you're making the microjump blind. Any questions?"
 

Vaudin Miir

Planetary President of Iktotch
[member="Jorus Merrill"]

The ship was a marvel. Its ancient construction and layout was a testament to a people free from many of the vices that were all to common in the galaxy at large. Vaudin searched with his former Vagrant friend and turned up little other than the star maps but what amazing star maps they were.

Vaudin and Jorus exited the derelict and bee-lined for the Bantha. Minutes later his suit off Jorus made mention of 'shower, food, nap, and treasure hunt' four things Vaudin enjoyed but the last one caught him off guard.

"Did you find Krevaaki liquor and not tell me?" He asked although he knew full well the man was as serious as Shotgun, "your the boss."

Vaudin headed to the 'fresher to hit the shower and get some new clothes on before he headed to the galley. If they were gonna try a micro jump he wanted his last meal. He heated a left over instameal and some Caff, ate and manned up to the challenge. Jorus was taking his own life in his hands as well as Vaudin's. That said something...what he didn't know but by the force it said something.

Vaudin headed to the cockpit, hunkered down into the pilots seat to wait for Jorus and maybe said a prayer or two to whoever may be listening.
 
[member="Vaudin Miir"]

Jorus did things in a different order, old shiphand habit to save space. Ate first, took a sonic shower that smelled vaguely of some kind of green-skinned dancing girl -- fething Vaud, man -- then crashed. He stumbled into the cockpit, groggy, bleary-eyed. "Worst nap ever," he grunted. "Glad you're flying. So. Starmaps."

He unrolled the flimsiplast maps all over the consoles, and pulled out the little slip from the safe. "Coordinates lead to this moon," he said. "No air, no life, just a spot on a rock." He leaned back in his seat and rested his bootheels on the dashboard. "Take us out."
 

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