Ground Control to Major Tom

[Kaia Starchaser]

She had to work on her practical. That meant she was ‘renting’ a shuttle from the LAA. But that didn’t mean it needed to be a boring trip. She was still a ‘greenhorn’ but she also wasn’t going for an actual degree right now. Nope, she was working on her certification to be officially recognized as a pilot for the Frontiers Corps. The Underground and Covenant understood she could fly, but right now?

It was a matter of taking this mission and getting through. The girl was of Corellian descent and that meant she had a lot of jet fuel in her blood levels. Right now, though, it was a training mission. She had one of the Niathals the Academy was such a fan of, her instructor, who wasn’t her father, thankfully, and a few other students aboard. She was going to pilot, but the mission parameters included making a run out to Arda, dropping off some supplies for a Sanctum mission out there, and then making a run to Mon Calamari to drop off a few members of the AgriCorp, apparently there was something on the fritz with their hydroponics in one of the air-breathing cities.

Simple, right?

Kaia looked back as she started to turn the shuttle through pre-flight. She was being observed, which meant she was ship captain, if not mission commander.

“We all ready?”

 

[Zak Dymo]

Fuel for the trip to Arda.

Acquisitions contracts, and the proper fiscal authorities to actually put some credits behind those contracts, so that they could re-fuel en route.

Additional equipment for Mon Cala. Rebreathers. Kolto packs in case of heat stress or stroke while on Arda or Mon Cala...

The Niathals were sleek and fast, but what they absolutely were not were shuttles designed with additional cargo room in mind. Add in passengers and the demand for additional stores skyrocketed. Under ideal conditions, the shuttle could operate for a month before it needed to be re-supplied, but the course that had been charted for this mission practically zig-zagged across the cosmos.

No surprise, then, that is was a Starchaser at the helm.

What was disquieting was the fact that much of the space through which they would pass was part of the Silver Sanctum Coalition. And, if the Order of the Silver Weaksiders weren't bad enough, there was this whole Covenant thing, and then some smuggler's labor union of terrorists undermining commerce...

The galaxy as a whole just didn't seem to appreciate the mercy and love that the Host Lord and Prophet of the Primeval was trying to spread. Granted, [member="Zambrano the Hutt"] probably wasn't doing much to improve their image there as an organization of love, peace, or harmony, but still...

“We all ready?”

The young Pantoran looked up from his supply inventory to regard the fellow cadet. Her uniform was embroidered with the green piping of a freshman, the same as his own. "Inventory checks out," the tween remarked. "We're fueled and ready to depart."

Now, if they could actually leave before the dock master came to charge them for another half hour at the star port. Really, some of these berthing fees were just unnecessary. But the husbanding agents that kept the ports going were nothing if not a mafia.

Probably owned by the One Sith. Or Z-Hutt.

[member="Kaia Starchaser"]​

 

[Kaia Starchaser]

Pilotting. That was what Kaia was worried about. She ahd been doing it for… how many years now? Enough. People put items in her freighter or shuttle, and she brought it from A to B. Now she was going to be getting an official certificate, which would have her being officially recognized and she wouldn’t need to lie about her credentials. Captain Kaia Starchaser had a nice ring to it, didn’t it? Sure, her father did it, but whatever, so could she.

And you know what, [member="Boo Chiyo"]? This was her ship, she could fly however she wanted. It was a true fact that the Starchaser line, even Kaia who tried to NOT be like her father, were more about the action and less about the logistics behind it. But the actual captain of this shuttle had to approve things. Sure, he had the ability to call for an extraction should the ship become bogged down, but the crew that was assigned here? They were from a variety of classes.

When Boo replied they were ready, and the number of other people who may be NPCs or just filled in later were also ready, Kaia smiled. “Engines green, we’re heading out. First stop will be Arda.” The Niathal was lifting from the ground, in a calm fashion, but once the thrusters hit, the shuttle was taking in a not too friendly path out of the world. “Anything on sensors?”

 

[Zak Dymo]

Arda was probably paradise by most standards.

Being Pantoran, it actually wasn't the boy's ideal vacation spot. Too sunny. Too sandy. Too... warm-y.

Hoth would be lovely this time of year. Or even the glacial planes of Orto Plutonia. And the northern lights over Pantora's frozen lakes was nothing if not spectacular.

If that didn't give you a theme for the boy's preferences, then just understand this: Snow, not sand. Ice, not water. Cold, not hot. Plus, he looked ridiculous in most beach wear. Floral shirts and brightly colored board shorts were just not made with blue people in mind. And the purple hair wasn't helping any. Plus, the sun bleached the color from out of the yellow tattoo marks on his face.

Overall, he just wasn't all that into Arda. But, c'est la vie. He'd be able to head back to Primeval space and chill out on Korriban for awhile if he wanted. It was dusty, and rocky, and not pretty in the least -- but it was a nice chilly temperature year round. If only it snowed there...

[member="Kaia Starchaser"]​

 

[Kaia Starchaser]

The trip to Arda would be a quick stop. Kaia wasn’t too keen on spending time not on a ship. Sure, if she had to pick a world, it would probably be something like Arda, though temperate worlds, like her family’s home were more suited for her. She didn’t like being hot, didn’t like being cold loved fall, and wasn’t really obsessed with seasons. Some place that sat at seventy Fahrenheit would be nice. Bay Area, California? Sure.

Get too cold and well, Kaia was a tiny girl, it didn’t work out well.

They wouldn’t have time to step foot on the world. After that, it was a run for the AgriCorps, unless Corey the writer got a smart idea in his head. Which as this wasn’t in the Unknown Regions where they were blazing a hyperspace route just sounded fun. They broke atmosphere shortly and were on their way to the hyperspace buoy that the ship set up. Kaia was using an established route, she didn’t need to reveal her gift for astrogation to the galaxy, not here.

Keep that for her extracurricular. And no, it wasn’t intramural lacrosse. She was an AV geek. “Making the jump to light speed, 3, 2, 1…” And the ship was off, heading to Arda.

First jump would be simple.

"How close to the wire will this trip make us on fuel. Arda to Mon Cal and back to Oswaft?" She turned to [member="Boo Chiyo"], was always nice to discuss with her crew, right?

 

[Zak Dymo]

What was he, the science officer now?

Taking a seat at the rear of the cockpit, the small Pantoran boy punched up the navicomputer calculations and then ran an overlay with the most recent cartographic data. Travel through space was never a straight line, with any trip between Point A and Point B so full of detours, diverts, or deviations along any projected route that it might as well have been Point A to Point Z instead.

At 38 by 18 by 12 meters, the MC15 Niathal-class shuttle displaced about 1,300 tons - give or take, depending on the amount of gravimetric sheer through the constantly changing interstellar medium. Operation inside of a star system actually consumed the most fuel, due to the magnetic fields of the planetary bodies and the sun creating additional drag depending on the angle of approach and orbital rotation speed of the object that they were passing. And speed. More speed meant more fuel, but also less resistance. So, there were a number of variables that would have made a statistician second-guess themselves in answering it. Being that he wasn't a droid, able to numbers out to ten to the twelve power, the Pantoran was erring on the side of caution.

He didn't want to break down on Voss this trip.

Or, any trip for that matter.

"The flight path to Arda ought to consume most of our fuel," the boy remarked, looking away from the projected route as he turned his chair back toward where the older girl was seated.

"We should have enough to make it to Mon Cala, but we'll hae to re-fuel the hyperdrive at the shipyards before we can make the jump to Laekia," the boy remarked, pausing to look back at the chart for reference. Arda and Mon Cala were near enough. Laekia? That was a hop, skip, and a jump. And then another jump. "Otherwise, we might not enough have enough left to make it to Munto Codru."

[member="Kaia Starchaser"]​

 

[Kaia Starchaser]

The tattooed girl was a Starchaser, sure, she didn’t really ever talk to her father, so any similarities between her and Coren would be due to a genetic template, or something. Think Han Solo and Jaina Solo, except this pair doesn’t get along real well. And that Kaia was probably a lot more pleasant when she needed to be, probably because she was trying her best at being a Jedi AND a Starchaser, things that typically weren’t roped together. But Boo was her logistics officer, he was in charge of fuel. She was in charge of flying.

And she didn’t want to end up Voss either. She was only in the Sanctum Coalition because the Astro Academy, while on its own, was sometimes linked to the Levantines and the Frontier Corps, but she didn’t want to deal with the Silvers. Her Master was… not really there, hell, she was one of those Rebellion style Jedi. And even then, it was more she wanted to do the right thing.

And she looked good in blue. Not as good as [member="Boo Chiyo"] did, but very few people could pull off that shade. “Right, that makes sense. We’ll fuel up at Mon Cal. They are a Sanctum…Coalition, whoever world, so our transponder should get us in and out pretty quickly. So long as there aren’t any issues on Arda. I’m hoping not, last time I stopped by the AgriCorps it was a quick drop off.”

What would Boo think if he found out she was also in the Underground.

 

[Zak Dymo]

In all honesty, the young Pantoran would probably surprise [member="Kaia Starchaser"] for his willingness to help out with the Underground.

At least, in so far as the Primeval wasn't a target.

An agent of the Bleeding Sun, the tweenage youngling had already racked up an impressive history as an agent and assassin. But, he had an equally impressive record of volunteering at shelters, soup kitchens, and donating to orphanages or other charitable organizations. He had an earnest desire to help people, he just viewed the galaxy through a lens of a particular religion. But that religion was the sum total of any allegiances. He had no love for the Sith. Quite the opposite in fact. Growing up poor on Coruscant and abused as a Sith Acoylte, the boy harbored his own thoughts about the One Sith.

But, they shared a common enemy. Which was not the same as sharing a common goal, the same for which could be said of the Techno Union.

By contrast, the alliance with the Hutt Cartel had been a deal brokered as a purely pragmatic solution to the Primeval's isolation. Blockaded and surrounded by the Mandalorians, the Republic, and the Silver Jedi, contracts with the Hutts ensured that necessary and desired supplies were smuggled past the patrols and into the hands of the Primeval citizens. Arming the faithful with food, clothing... and weapons.

One didn't rely on faith to be its own defense. The gods had equipped all of them for the tasks before them. Theirs was but to do and die.

"I wouldn't worry about the transponder," the Pantoran commented from the back of the cockpit. Glancing over to the teenage pilot, the youth explained, "I made it from Bastion to Laekia without any problems."

Several times. Back and forth even.

Of course, his transponder was a little modified. Still, everytime he'd entered Levantine space, he'd done so while broadcasting the identicard of the Equinox, a Seinar Systems vessel constructed over Coruscant and registered out of the Primeval capital on Bastion.

 

[Kaia Starchaser]

The One Sith and Techno Union, groups who were harming freedoms from a variety of beings were definitely targets to the Underground. Sure, the former Fringe Federation was as well, yet her father was a ranking consulting pilot for said government and did his best to make sure the structure was hurt even if he did his best to keep the people free and clear from harm when the Underground made strikes on the Federation. As for the Primeval, time would tell, word hadn’t really come down and she knew her father wasn’t touching the Primeval with a ten foot pole.

They were kind of insane, but her cousin also lived out there, and she wasn’t so bad… It was… tricky. She knew the stories of her father, though. He was trained to fight the darkness in the galaxy with its own weapons. In some circle he’d be called a Jedi Shadow, but he never claimed to be a Jedi, he was something more. The only issue was that Kaia felt an eye for an eye was a terrible concept for trying to save the galaxy.

The Sith were her father’s main target. They had captured Csilla and were reported, in some rumor mills, to be the reason Corellia had been split. All Kaia was worried about was keeping the darkness, the real darkness from taking the galaxy over. And however that revealed itself? She’d take it on, head first. If she was to be quantified into a Jedi rank, it’d be a Jedi Guardian, or an Ace. Somewhere in there.

As for the transponder issue, she was just stating that they were a student craft from a neutral academy. They’d have no issue getting fuel and getting through the queue. “Bastion? My brother served around Bastion, during the Fel Imperium. I was there a bit. What are you doing out here?” Was she judging him for being a Primeval member? No, not really. [member="Boo Chiyo"] didn’t come across as evil to her. “And what are you doing modifying transponders?” That was technically illegal.

But in the immortal words of Daniel Tosh ‘You can’t tell me how to live, signs!’

 

[Zak Dymo]

What was any kid doing in a military academy?

Doing what the kark their teachers told them to do, for the school that their parents sent them off to so that they didn't have to deal with their kids. Or, in Boo's case, his foster care program. Otherwise known as the Bleeding Sun, the premier assassination and espionage arm of the Primeval. Attending the Levantine Astronautical Academy gave him access to the Coalition, insight in how they learned, and what they knew about strategy or history. It also gave him insight into who some of the leaders of a military confrontation might be, such as FrontierCorps Captain Coren Starchaser.

Simply put, it was a good practice to have a student go be apprenticed to your enemy. They came back with insight and contacts, provided that they stayed loyal to the cause.

"I dunno," the boy answered with a lackadaisical shrug. "Goin' to school."

The question about altering transponder identi-codes was a more astute observation, which drew a thin smile from the pale blue youth. He wasn't modifying. At least, not yet. He was merely looking at the ID codes and programming an alternative code that could be broadcast in its place. "Nothing," the youngling answered. A half-truth, which meant it was also half a lie. "Unless we come across a Hutt Cartel or Techno Union ship out here. Then I wouldn't want a Coalition tag broadcasting."

But a Primeval transponder? They could cruise past a One Sith vessel and probably not draw attention with that.

Having been a Sith Acolyte, he also had one of those codes up his sleeve if the poodoo hit the air recycling unit. It was an older code, but it ought to still check out.

[member="Kaia Starchaser"]​

 

[Kaia Starchaser]

There were military academies, and then there were military academies. This was the former. Now super military, but graduates typically found homes in a variety of militaries. Typically in that whole ‘we are light side’ type of nation. Kaia… well, she didn’t claim allegiance to any major group. Just herself, the Underground and the Covenant. Sure, some days she considered herself as Corellian, and that would put her in One Sith turf, but she was a Jedi.

Even her second home, Csilla was in the One Sith space. The galaxy was funky. And the Republic, well, she was no where near a Republic citizen, but they did have Jedi so she liked to occasionally learn from them. She missed the initial Sanctum, the Free Space. It just screamed of freedom of the skies.

And that was why she was sad with the administration.

But the Frontiers Corps lived on with the Silvers, and that was… well, it was what it was.

“Yeah? What are you majoring in?” See? She could be friendly. Plus she didn’t know it, but Little Boy Blue was skilled in a power she was starting to learn, that of cryokinesis. Maybe with her it was her need to control things that made it easier, and while she could manipulate temperature to a degree, she wasn’t ever going to be a weather alter-er like black-sheep-cousin Marek. But if she could chill things? That was good for her.

“It probably wouldn’t be good… On my own ship, that’s never a problem.” Yeah, she wished she was on her ship, not the Dawn Treader but the Wandering Star.

And next post they’d get pulled from hyperspace.

[member="Boo Chiyo"]

 

[Zak Dymo]

"Strategic logistics."

That, combined with a minor in Military History, was deemed by the powers-who-be in the Bleeding Sun to be the best use of the Pantoran. When he had completed his course of study, he would have an understanding of military supply systems as well as an appreciation for historical strategies and how those supply lines had been leveraged or exploited. It helped that the Pantoran had no interest in flying large spacecraft. He liked starfighters just fine. Those were just airspeeders that went up a little higher. But freighters? Transport ships? Calculating the jump to hyperspace? No, thank you.

"You?" the tween asked, turning the girl's question back on her.

The answer was probably lost, as if this writer had understood Corey's last sentence correctly then this is the post where the ship gets pulled out of hyperspace.

As the ship was violently jerked back into normal space, the blue-skinned youth braced himself against the side of the cockpit. Outside the transparisteel windows, the starfield had returned to normal. "I take it, this is our stop?" the boy joked glibly.

[member="Kaia Starchaser"]​

 

[Kaia Starchaser]

Strategic logistics. Now that was a pretty heavy program, wasn’t it? Seemed it to her, but of course, the mini-Starchaser was here for her Master Pilot cert, so she could start trailblazing officially and be a master of any vessel and her salvage vac suit certification. That was important to her. Maybe after all that was done, she’d move into a Hyperspace Nav major for real and actually take a few classes.

“That’s pretty heavy, huh?” She looked at the controls of the ship, had to be a master of her craft, after all. But the next thing that happened? She was not ready for. How could she be? The ship lurched and she caught herself on the control console, luckily the hardened part and not any of the controls. Kaia might be a crappy Jedi Knight, but she knew what she was doing in a ship. And apparently running, because Art of Movement.

But yes, it coincided with [member="Boo Chiyo"] asking about her course of study. She checked the quick scans. “Anything out there?” She called to the red-shirt Ishi Tib that was sitting at the sensors table. Right, no one could understand that creature. Kaia took her ship and spun it around, searching the starscape.

 

[Zak Dymo]

As the disorientation wore off, the training began to kick in.

Pulling himself back up to the communications console, the Pantoran began cycling through the various frequencies on the commlink. "I'm not picking up any transmissions..." the boy remarked from the back of the cockpit. Was that because no one was out there? Or because they weren't capable of receiving any signals?

Reaching over, the youth keyed a diagnostic of the ship's hyperdrive before returning to his console. Calling up the HoloNet transmitter, the boy sent a ping to the data network. Normally, the trace-back returned data within the same instant as it had been transmitted. In this case, seconds ticked by with the message that it was still waiting to connect.

Turning back to face the front of the bridge, the blue-skinned cadet announced, "I think we're being jammed."

[member="Kaia Starchaser"]​

 

[Kaia Starchaser]

No transmissions. Great. Kaia shook her head and looked around. She had primary drive, but there was something out there that was keeping them in this area. Looking down to her scanners, she wasn’t seeing anything out there. And that was when she heard Boo call out that there weren’t any transmissions. Who was hunting along these space lanes? Warden of the Sky training and worry: activate.

Process one: See who was being attacked.

Process two: Fix that.

Process three: Leave.

“Can you try to contact anything out there?” She took the ship into a rotation, trying to get 360 degrees of visual. And that was when she saw it. “Quickly, please.” Biting her lip, the girl fell into the Force, fell into the controls of this ship. She jammed the accelerator and activated the shields. A flight group had been coming her way.

“Incoming starfighters!” She shouted, not powering up her weapons systems, not yet. “Let them know we’re an academic vessel.” Diplomatic vessels were so 1977.

[member="Boo Chiyo"]

 

[Zak Dymo]

"Should I say we're the LAA shuttle Thesis Five?"

As he joked, the boy turned his attention back to his console and started to work, "Or would Juris Doctorate be a more academic name?" the boy deadpanned lightly, recycling the communication protocols to broadcoast across a myriad of frequencies -- not just those used by the Silver Jedi or the Coalition. And definitely making certain to include those frequencies that R3 had noted as being most active around Sempra the Hutt's white palace... just in case this was some pirate out of the Hutt Cartel on a fishing expedition.

"Mayday, mayday, mayday," the Pantoran announced, proclaiming the traditional cry of maritime distress. "This is Niathal-class shuttle in sector Zero-Seven-Nine-One-Golf. We are an academic training vessel. I say again, we are an academic training vessel."

The boy paused to ensure that the comlink was transmitting the message on all frequencies, then turned his head to face the back of Kaia's chair. "Fifty credits says they don't give a feth," the boy wagered bluntly.

[member="Kaia Starchaser"]​

 

[Kaia Starchaser]

Kaia shook her head and, had the other people not been powering up weapons, she’d have stuck her tongue out at the other cadet. “Just let them know where we’re coming from!” She bit her lip, looking at fighters. They were coming in. The girl was keeping the Niathal Shuttle on the setting it was on. Moving meant you had something to hide, but… she also had the shields to fall back on. Shaking her head, she at least was happy that Boo knew how to signal.

She looked over her shoulder. “Just keep trying. Keep an eye on those sensors.” How far out were they? And weapons were powered up. Not hers, she’d run before she started firing in this vessel. Gripping the controls, she went white-knuckled.

They weren’t slowing down.

“Strap yourselves into something…” She turned the engines on. Thousand klicks…

She didn't need NPCs flying around her bridge.

[member="Boo Chiyo"]

 

[Zak Dymo]

If this was one of Sempra or Z-Hutt's lackies on a joy ride to blow chit up, Boo was going to be royally pissed.

Rolling his eyes as Kaia's demand, the boy returned to the comlink as he announced, "Approaching vessels, this is an academic vessel of the Levantine Astronautical Ac..."

He could see the sensor read-out too. Distance decreasing, rapidly. Shields up. Weapons hot. "Feth it," the boy declared, throwing the headset for the comlink down and hopping from out of the rear seat to pull the random cadet NPC from out of the co-pilot's chair. "We got weapons on this chit or what?" the Pantoran demanded, as the youth began looking over the console to familiarize himself with the pay out.

He'd not paid much attention to the firing systems on these Silk-made fethers, but now looked to be a good time to learn.

[member="Kaia Starchaser"]​

 

[Kaia Starchaser]

Kaia was not having fun anymore. Well, she would, in a moment. Once the ship was moving? She was a Starchaser that meant she was a pilot, first and foremost. She was from the stars, born between them in a military vessel. She knew who she was, and what she was on about. The dark haired Knight of the Light Side might be a decent pilot and a better sniper, but this was where he home was, and no one was going to end her when she had thrusters at her beck and call.

Shields were coming online and the engines were warmed up and firing. Kaia was going to need to calculate a route, but she wasn’t nearly as fast as her father. Looking over as Boo kicked out NPC von Red Shirt Cadet, she nodded. “Center switches, black stick, red button. I’ll get them in our cross hairs.”

The Niathal was heading right at the fighters and Kaia had that small grin that no one ever wanted to see on a shuttle pilot. She was going to fly this thing like it was a TIE, just you watch. She kicked it into gear and rolled it, trying to get in between the fighters, even if a few were crossing the bow, weapons were still working on warming up.

[member="Boo Chiyo"]

 

[Zak Dymo]

Center switches, black stick, red button...

Nodding, the boy quickly looked over the console before him as he picked out precisely what the girl was describing. Cycling power to the weapons, the young Pantoran looked back over his shoulder even as Captain Bly started the Kessel Run like this was some souped out Corellian ship with nos in the mix. "Gimme some power from life support," the boy said, looking over at the cadet who'd been forced into the technician's chair.

Bleeding Sun tactics. In a dogfight, the temptation was to sacrifice weapons for shields, or shields for weapons. But the life support systems consumed a fair amount of energy, and the ship wasn't going to cease supporting life in the time it took to life or die. Twelve seconds was the usual life expectancy of a dogfight in space. So, if died in the next minute, then it wouldn't matter if the life support was powered on or not.

Center switches, black stick, red button...

Taking hold of the stick, the youngling's amber eyes lit up as he waited for the weapons to complete their primary ignition cycle. Closing his eyes, the child silently mouthed a prayer to Balagoth. A cold, icy calm washed over him as he reached down inside and tapped into the well-spring of anger and frustration he felt for the situation that they were in.

In a straight up fight, Boo had a lot of options. More control. Or, at least, the illusion of control. But here, in space, it was as if he were helpless.

He didn't like feeling helpless.

A layer of frost spread across his arms as the boy's senses stretched out with the Dark Side of the Force. The gilded irises snapped open in the same instant that the weapons came on-line, the cross-hairs aligned as the boy pulled the trigger.

[member="Kaia Starchaser"]​