Hoppin' Through Space!

[Tri'sta]

Flicking a few switches directly in front of the pilot's seat in the not-so-famous "Chubby Lop", Tri'sta was more than ready to leave the small independent spaceport on Kessel. With her hidden storage compartments packed to the brim with spice obtained through other means and an impatient client waiting on Tatooine, she was going through the final flight checks before she could take off. To make her day even better, not only would she soon be leaving Sith space, but she had picked up a second member for ship, making this no longer a one-woman show. So far, there'd been no bumps in the road, but she kind of wished she had some wood to knock on even if she wasn't truly the superstitious sort.

Flicking a switch to her right on a small, stainless black console, she turned on the comms and called back to the engine room. "How's that new Torque Converter holding up?" She asked with a wide grin, even daring to peek over her shoulder and down the small hallway that made up the bulk of her cargo shuttle. Outside, the spaceport was bustling with a variety of humans and aliens, all going about their day--loading cargo, miners and sometimes even prisoners--as regular Imperial patrols casually wandered past with a passing glance at the various cargo ships that had been approved for landing. Though she felt a little nervous whenever she saw someone in Imperial garments, she knew--or at least thought--she had nothing to worry about beyond the random inspection. To fly cover for her shipments, all the authorities in control of the spaceport knew was that she was flying out some old spanners for Corellia, and wasn't due back for another couple of weeks...

 

[Corvetta Salvo]

Another job with a rather unique employer. But that applied to just about every cargo run or mysterious quest she had been aboard for. The galaxy was full of crazies.

This one, she would not exactly classify as 'crazy', though the Twi'lek smuggler was nothing but eccentric, to say the least. From her curious wardrobe to the detectable deception about their cargo, the navigator could read that things were a bit delicate. Whatever was in the cargo holds, she was not willing to poke into. Besides, every additional hour spent in Imperial territory just multiplied tension. The sooner they lifted off, the better.

Corvetta smiled as she wiped the back of her grease-covered arm against her forehead, smearing her face with the black gunk. While piloting was, granted, more fun, mechanical work was not low on her list either. She shouted back to her captain as she gazed satisfactorily at her work. "Frakkin' snazzy, flygirl. You're clear to dust off as soon as you're sick and tired enough." She shrugged at her own humor and peeked out from the engine room.

[member="Tri'sta"]

 

[Tri'sta]

When Corvetta poked her head outside the engine room after announcing the status of the torque converter, she couldn't help but chuckle. For whatever reason, that little bit of good news helped alleviate much of the tension she was feeling and the Twi'lek suddenly had a very good feeling about today. "That's just what I wanted hear... Let's hope my luck--er, our luck--stays this good for the rest of the trip." She flicked a few more switches and turned on the external comm system, but was met with a few seconds of static from the spaceport's control tower before a thick, authoritative imperial voice greeted her. "Civilian freighter 001134-B, you are cleared for take-off from docking bay 13. Follow the navigational way points to Checkpoint One then proceed to engage your hyperdrive-"

She cut him off with a half-giggle, half-sigh. "I know the drill, Sir. Don't engage hyperdrive until we're out 15 meters past Checkpoint One, this isn't my first rodeo." The comms officer was quiet for a moment, before acknowledging, "Very well, have a safe flight. Tower out." With a click, the comm system automatically turned off and Tri'sta pulled down on a lever to her right. The ship suddenly rumbled n' rattled as it came to life, several thrusters and the primary engines beginning to power up. With a soft beep of confirmation that the ship's landing gear was ready to retract and all external hatches had been closed, she took hold of the 'wheel' of the ship and pulled back on the flight controls, gently easing her baby to be airborne. Soon enough, the cockpit was facing the end of the cavernous docking bay, tow thick metal doors slowly opening up with a delicate blue glow of the hangar bay shields just on the outside. "So, just a warning... we might get boarded after passing Checkpoint One. Maybe. They tend to do this sort of thing out here, but I'm sure you've had enough experience with that on your own, no?" She said with a cheeky smile, briefly throwing her gaze over her shoulder towards the engine room.

With that said, the ships main engines kicked in and the Chubby Lop threw itself forward with a harsh jerk; passing by the docking bay's hangar doors and through the atmospheric force-field without a hitch. Then, the shaking n' rattling of the starship came to a delicate hum once the ship met the vacuum of space... it wouldn't be long before they reached Checkpoint One.

[member="Corvetta Salvo"]

 

[Corvetta Salvo]

Corvetta twisted her lip in annoyance. Indeed, it was not at all unusual for the Imps to run a 'surprise' exit inspection just before an outbound flight could reach a solid hyperspace entry point. She had been through the routine once or twice before, but the fact that they were leaving Kessel loaded with a suspicious payload made her nervous. At least her job would be relatively simple once they got out of range, though. A simple ride through the Triellus was nothing to sweat. She could make the run in her sleep.

"Yeah, I got it, Cap," she acknowledged, thumbs raised. Ducking back into the sweatbox, Salvo mentally ran through the smuggling routine she had compiled over the years, legs subconsciously adjusting for balance as the small freighter rumbled out of the hangar bay. Tri'sta had never mentioned anything about engineering liberties. Surely she would be cool with Corvetta playing by ear.

Leaning back through the hatch, she called up to the smuggler once more. "By the way, if you feel her swoon like a dehydrated dewback, that's just me stitching the sublight with life--just in case, ya know?" The first mate glanced to the side, unsure if she should explain herself and her elaborate description. "Don't worry, though. I'll have it back pumping as soon as it chokes. Trust me." She flashed a wide grin, trying to convey her seasoned confidence to the Twi'lek.

[member="Tri'sta"]

 

[Tri'sta]

As soon as it chokes. She didn't like the sound of that one bit, so much so she couldn't help but peek over her shoulder as she was flying through the way point markers set up for her by Imperial patrols. "What do you mean 'as soon as it chokes'? What does that mean? Why would it choke? What did you do to my ship!" She was almost shrill with worry for a second before a warning alarm sounded and forced her to steer both her gaze and the ship back on course. That sense of worry she'd previously chased away with laughter was now back and bubbling about in the pit of her tummy. It made her slightly nauseated.

With both her hands back on the flight controls, she sighed and gritted her teeth. Mumbling something incoherent first, she then called back to Corvetta with a grunt; "Next thing you're going to tell me is that there's something wrong with the torque converter." It was one of those moments where she wished she had some wood to knock on, regardless of whether or not she was superstitious. On the monitor upon her forward console, she could see the edges of the checkpoint she was about to pass... and the large Interdictor Star Destroyer paired with another large star cruiser waiting for them. A sinking feeling caught in the pit of her tummy and she checked all the scopes; everything seemed to be in order. The Interdictor itself didn't appear to have any active gravity well generators, so they were probably in the clear.

Probably.

"Might want to fix whatever needs fixin' because we might get boarded. Imperial ships dead ahead... they could be just waiting for us to pass by but, that's just wishful thinking."

[member="Corvetta Salvo"]

 

[Corvetta Salvo]

"Don't worry, girl! I've--" She was interrupted as the starship shunted, engines cutting off as she had warned. Gloveless, Corvetta rapidly worked to unseal the hot torque converter unit, calloused fingers oblivious to the scorching temperature of the engine component. Once she had made its interior suitably accessible to her, she capped the converter with a siphon leading from the atmosphere unit of the life support systems.

She hoped this trick worked. She had kind of made it up on her own in a previous encounter with the authorities, but never actually had to utilize it. It should work.

Wondering if Tri'sta was freaking out, Corvetta shouted consolation as she sweltered amidst the metal organs of the vessel. "The TC unit--it's totally level! I promise! Just flip the burner." Almost as an afterthought, she added, "Might feel a little spacefree for a tick. But I've got it all tight!"

(Hurray for post 100!)

[member="Tri'sta"]

 

[Tri'sta]

"Don't worry about wha-" A noisy whine and a sudden sharp jerk let her know she had plenty to worry about. It felt as if the entire cockpit of the Chubby Lop wanted to pull away from beneath her feet. She panicked, flipping a few switches and even grabbing the manual pump above her head, giving it a good squeeze and slowly pumping it to try and restart the engines from her seat. Each press up on the handle only caused the engines to whine though. "Don't worry she says. Everythin' is frakkin' snazzy she says..." She droned on as she continued to desperately pump the emergency restart.

Then suddenly she was, for but a moment, seemingly floating. It was like all the weight in the world had just been pulled away, but it only lasted a second before that sense of being settled right in with it's fatty, fat heaviness. It's fat reality. Reality was fat. "If the torque converter was totally level we wouldn't be having these problems in the first place! Why are you breaking my ship?" With another whine that quickly accelerated into a brief rumble n' roar, the engines came back to life and everything seemed to be running like new. She set the top emergency pump into a stand-down position then put both hands on the flight controls... eagerly putting the ship back on course.

"We are so getting boarded. They're going to board us, they're going to find the spice, they're going to find the thermal detonators... and then they're going to find the spanners. Y'know, the only legit cargo we're actually carrying." She spouted nervously while anticipation was beginning to form a knot in her stomach.

 

[Corvetta Salvo]

"Trust me trust me trust me..." Corvetta whispered, hoping Tri'sta was not about to kill her already. She elected not to hear what the Twi'lek was saying about their cargo. She was fairly certain that was not something she wanted to know.

Scrambling to yet another component of the engine, Corvetta apprehended her blowtorch and seized the cylindrical container she had left near the alluvial damper. She had mixed a paltry amount of oil with a large volume of highly concentrated additive inside the canister prior to launch, and now was the time to utilize the mixture. Pouring the murky fluid into the unit, the spacer called back up to her pilot, "Hey, Tris! I'm gonna kill the ventilation for like, sixty secs. Might feel a little floaty in the head, but..."

She threw the emptied oil container aside carelessly and scurried out of the engine room and up to the cockpit. Peering through the canopy, she observed the Imperial warship's location and velocity. "Yeah, let me know when they're in drag range. I'll get us out of this, and it'll be frakkin' snazzy." She patted the orange Twi'lek on the shoulder and rushed back to the engine. "Remember! Tell me as soon as they're in range!"

[member="Tri'sta"]

 

[Tri'sta]

"When we get to Corellia, I'm going to get a real mechanic to fix this mess, then when we get to Tatooine, I'm going to kill you." She said, but the latter was likely a frustrated jest. Likely. She didn't look like the killing sort. Before she could say anything else though--even as her head swiveled and her eyes locked upon the engine room door--the ship suddenly rumbled quietly as it passed into the Imperial Interdictor's gravity well. "I'm guessing they're in range?" She said without an inkling of actual knowledge, as if she'd never bothered to figure out the math behind the range of an Imperial Interdictor cruiser.

"Uuuh..." She started to say as she spied over her console, glancing at a plethora of numbers that seemed to register them as near a habitable planet. "I think we're caught in a gravity well. I don't believe we'll be able to go to hyperspace like this." She claimed as the cruiser ahead of them turned towards them. "I think comms are down too, I'm not getting any hails..." She said, flicking a bunch of switches above the communications panel.

 

[Corvetta Salvo]

"Full thrusters, girl! Full thrusters!" Corvetta yelled at the top of her lungs. She immediately diverted the cabin pressure and air circulation into the torque converter, funneling the abundant oxygen into the sublight thrusters system.

Jolted onto her back as they came into the warship's gravity well, she desperately kicked at the flush valve of the alluvial dampers, raising her hands to shield herself from the oil can she had pitched earlier as it jounced about the engine compartment and towards her face. It was becoming difficult to breathe, having switched the air from life support into the engine--not to mention the stifling temperature the compartment's atmosphere had attained.

Rolling off her back, the flygirl scrambled for the damper with her blowtorch and blasted a stream of furious gases into the unit, catching the volatile mixture of oil she had previously poured in. "I got it, I got it!" she screamed triumphantly. The entire vessel heaved and trembled as the aft boosted under the added combustion, jerking itself towards the edge of the gravity field's influence. Gasping, she dived for the atmosphere unit and clutched the dial, ready to return the flow to the cabin. She hoarsely called out to the captain, "Are we out? Are we out?!"

Oh, please work, she prayed.

[member="Tri'sta"]

 

[Tri'sta]

"I'm using the thrusters! I'm using the thru-" She never had a chance to say the rest as a bout of turbolaser fire snapped n' popped off the forward deflectors. The ship itself jerked down, causing them both to rise without proper gravity, before it somehow wiggled free of the gravity well's field. With a furious click n' flick of various switches and buttons, the hyperdrive gave a noisy whine before the immediate space around her suddenly blurred and turned into a beautiful, blue tunnel of hyperspace. Practically falling out of her chair, Tri'sta fell back and hung her head--the autopilot taking control as they resumed their course to Corellia... likely with Imperial pursuit if her the scrambling beacon she had launched seconds ago failed to do its thing.

"You owe me a drink!" She spouted, before unbuckling herself from the chair and moving towards the engine room.

[member="Corvetta Salvo"]

 

[Corvetta Salvo]

Corvetta began laughing hysterically as soon as she figured out that her little trick had indeed worked. She felt so savvy and cunning; maybe like a Jedi knight or something returning victorious after slaying a Krayt. Or maybe just like a totally snazzy flygirl who had just saved them from being boarded by Imperial forces. That was cool, too.

She had to cut off her jubilation shortly, however, as her captain still seemed in a bad mood, even after her heroics. "Oh, yeah," Corvetta acknowledged after redirecting life support to... life support. She wiped her sweat-soaked brow with the back of her singed hand before adjusting her fogged goggles--the goggles she only ever used as a sort of hairband--and brushing hair out from in front of her eyes. "I probably do owe you a drink. Want one?" The girl sat up and dug into one of the many pockets of her cargo pants and produced a tin-silver flask. "Mantellian brandy--my fav'!"

[member="Tri'sta"]

 

[Tri'sta]

She leaned against the doorway with one arm above her head, hanging over her curled tendrils, while the other slipped about her own waist. "Okay, I'm not that upset, just a little spooked... never came so close before!" She claimed with a little huff, before grinnin' like a fool before turning her eyes to that mess of an engine. "Sheesh, my little baby is really startin' to show her Corellian side, huh?" When she was offered brandy, she bit her bottom lip thoughtfully before shaking her head. "The hardest stuff I drink is carbonated, not much for any sort of brandy or liquor. I... can't really hold it!" Though that was a partial fib, she earned a disdain for alcohol in a previous life.

"So! What's it you do for fun, kitten?" She asked with another grin, leaning out more from the doorway and giving a delicate chuckle. "It's most definitely gonna be a long trip from here to Corellia, and then we've got to stop at Tatooine afterwards which... ugh, do you like Holoboard Games? I have a sort-of-functional display in my room. Holonet vids? Things? Stuff? Drinking? I bet you like drinking."

[member="Corvetta Salvo"]

 

[Corvetta Salvo]

"You're not a serious freighter until your engine starts looking something like this," the spacer said with a knowing grin. "If you ain't tweakin', you ain't tryin'." She shrugged and tucked the flask back into her pocket as Tri'sta explained that she was not the most fond of alcohol.

Kitten, huh? That was a new one. While Corvetta did not mind being called that, she had never seen herself as the 'kitten' type--whatever that meant, anyway. She smiled and accepted it, though. She supposed it signified that they were on good terms. "For fun? I do games, sure." She picked herself off the floor and wiped at her dirty nose. "I actually don't really drink for 'fun', exactly. So don't worry about me being tailspun on the job. I mainly keep it around 'cause I've got sleep deprivation and stuff... Big girl drinks are the cheapest fix, 'cause I can't hold my alcohol, either."

Corvetta paused, appearing deep in thought for a moment. "Or, if you really wanna pass the time... I could cook something." The girl tried to keep a straight face and bit her lip to subdue a smile.

[member="Tri'sta"]

 

[Tri'sta]

"Or, if you really wanna pass the time..." Her mind went places. An unfortunate side-effect of traveling into the depths of space, alone, with the only companionship she's had in months. She brushed the lekku from around her neck n' almost lifted a brow in genuine curiosity until the second truck came in and smashed right through the other, sending her mind into a flip of embarrassment. Mental, silent embarrassment. "I could cook something." She had said as faint evidence of blush raced to escape the caps of Tri'sta's cheeks. "Ah, well something to cook..." Well, she wondered silently to herself. Wondering if she was at all hungry after almost voiding her bowels to the sight of a massive star destroyer nearly abducting and skinning them alive for the illegal exports she carried along. "...I'm not really sure. Don't feel too hungry right now but I think if you start gettin' somethin' good on the stove in the back, I could probably dig a few bites to eat." She claimed with a bright pearly smile, leaning s'more up against the doorway of the engine room.

Once more her eyes scanned across the little vibrating hunk of bolts n' flimsy plating. It was really showing it's technical age there, and she couldn't help but scrunch her nose a little bit to the smell. Like singed hair and fossil fuels... wait, why did she smell gas? "So, if I fall asleep... I'm not going t' wake up dead, right?" She asked with a cant of her head, before remembering something critically important. "Ah, right. This trip is gonna be a day or two at the most, we're not exactly the fastest bucket of bolts out here soooo... you might wanna get a little sleep whenever you can. Oh, n' we only have one bed. I'm not saying we're sharing, n-no! Just weeeee... might have to sleep in shifts. If we sleep. I mean, I don't want you flying if you're dead tired or something comes up." She started to babble a little bit, her eyes rolling up to peer up at the ceiling.

[member="Corvetta Salvo"]

 

[Corvetta Salvo]

Oh frak. Did [member="Tri'sta"] actually expect her to cook something? This was bad news. Very bad news. Hopefully there was a cookbook around here--even then, Corvetta would need all the luck. She wondered if she could disguise the freeze-dry stuff as 'gourmet spacer fare'.

This one was showing herself to be quite the odd one, and Corvetta had seen odd. Her tongue was tripping all over the place and the first mate was not able to decipher half of what she said. The pilot had heard that Twi'leks had some language that utilized those tail things on their heads, so maybe there was a lot being lost in translation. Maybe they made their faces change colors as some sort of code as well. Either that, or the girl had admitted to something really embarrassing and it had completely floated over the navigator's head.

Corvetta tried her best to interpret everything and still felt that she was missing something. "Course you're not gonna wake up dead, spinner! And it's totally fine--about the bed. I don't sleep much anyway. I'll let ya have your space. Won't be going anywhere..." She laughed, winking at the orange Twi'lek. "Weather outside ain't so great."