Hostile Negotiations...

[Kian Karr]

Location: On Route to the Bilbringi system


Ki'an Karr was effectively blind. He had altered the light filter on the side of his goggles to leave him in complete darkness. He could hear the hum of his lightsaber out in front of him in a defensive stance and he could feel the slight vibrations of the blade through his hands as he held his hilt in a wide, two-handed hold. Ki'an took a deep breath, he could feel the force flowing through him. Everything seemed to slow and he became very aware of his surroundings. The beeping of the control panels on the ship, the slow drag of his breathing coming in through the anti-ox masks filter, even his own heartbeat seemed amplified to him.

Then the remotes struck. Ki'an's armed moved as if on their own, first right and then left, then low. Each time his arms moved, his yellow blade intercepted a small red blaster bolt being fired by the three floating remotes. Then the remotes fired again, alternating their attack patterns to increase the difficulty. Ki'an blocked another two bolts, then one, then two. However, the final volley of shots were the hardest yet. They alternated in a series of two and three bolts at a time. Ki'an blocked the first three, then the fourth, but the fifth leaked in past his defense and he felt the sting of the bolt hitting him on the shoulder. He had been forced to pull low to block the fourth bolt leaving himself exposed to the fifth shot.

Ki'an knew he shouldn't be upset with himself, he had done well against training remotes set at a higher difficulty then he normally trained on. But he couldn't help but be a little disappointed. If Ki'an had learned anything on Carida and then Empress Teta, it was that slips in your defense left you dead. As much as he regretted it, he had used such slips in defense to cut down many a Sith trooper.

Raising his taloned finger to his goggles, Ki'an altered the filter and his eyes took a moment to adjust to the light. He had been training longer than he realized. His body was covered in a thin layer of sweat. Ki'an took a calming breath, and ran a hand across his forehead. Ki'an and his master, [member="Talon Vosra"], were enroute to the Bilbringi system. Communications had been lost from a research space station and they had been asked to investigate. The reports Ki'an had perused when they had first left were highly redacted, leading Ki'an to suspect that the research station may have had military contracts.

Ki'an felt more on edge then he normally did. He hadn't been on many one on one missions with his master, as the war with the One Sith had taken precedent. Besides that, the Bilbringi system wasn't far from Dorin and Ki'an felt his mind wandering to home. He wondered how the newest Baran Do initiates were fairing with their training. The Baran Do were the only family that Ki'an had left, with the exception of the Jedi that is. Taking another deep breath, Ki'an centered himself.

 

[Talon Vosra]

Talon sat in his seat with his eyes closed as his Padawan practiced in the center of the room. They would drop out of hyperspace soon but for now they needed to prepare. Talon didn't open his eyes as he sat and wait for his student to finish. He focused on the force, he let it flow though him and guide his thoughts and feelings. Once he was centered on the force he sat sensing and focusing on his mission.

[member="Ki'an Karr"] finished his practice with a shoulder a tad more sore than it had been previously and Talon could relate. He remembered all to well the sting of a stun bolt.

"What keeps pulling at your thoughts Ki'an?" Talon asked eyes still closed as he sat on the chair with one hand to his chin and the other tucked into the crook of his elbow.

Talon could feel the slips in his padawan's concentration occasionally, and to the young Kel Dor's credit he usually pulled himself back to focus without being prompted, but it always helped to know his master was there to talk to.

 

[Kian Karr]

Ki'an turned to face [member="Talon Vosra"] as his master spoke to him. Ki'an felt a little better. The training had put him into the right mind set for the mission, but still his thoughts were drawn to home.

"The mission sir, we know so little about the research facility," Ki'an began. It was a lie and Ki'an shook his head to himself. Smiling beneath his mask, Ki'an added, "We're also not far from Dorin....I am a bit distracted by thoughts of home." Ki'an said. Ki'an wondered if his master had experienced such thoughts as a padawan. If he too missed home sometimes.

Ki'an found it funny. As a youth he had spent so much time talking about leaving, talking about the adventures he would go on once he was off Dorin. As a Jedi, Ki'an had ample opportunity now for excitement and adventure, but he now missed home. He missed being around people like him, he missed the stern yet compassionate voice of the Baran Do masters, and he definitely missed not having to wear the anti-ox mask. Ki'an loved the path he was walking, but he couldn't help, being so close to home, to think about the planet of his birth and the place he had lived for most of his life.

 

[Talon Vosra]

[member="Ki'an Karr"]

Talon thought for a few minutes about home. He had left when he was a child and found a great many hardships along the way and even lost his path a time or two. He did miss it, Zelos II, The great sea was a sight for any to behold, and the people were so free and full of life. Talon could empathize with his young friend.

"I don't know how many times I have said I should go home and visit." Talon said smiling, "but time and unforeseen occurrence befall us all." Talon stood and looked out the view port at the bluish cloud of hyperspace as they flew.

"After the Mission we can talk about visiting Dorin on the way back." Talon said before continuing in his Teaching tone, "What -do- we know about the research facility?"

It was test time. Time to see if Ki'an was growing in his senses as well as his deductive reasoning. He didn't know it but Talon was the leader of the Jedi Shadows and Investigation was as important to Talon as lightsabers and force powers.

"Think about it carefully, trust your instincts."

 

[Kian Karr]

Ki'an was delighted to hear the possibility of visiting Dorin on the way back from Bilbringi. He doubted that [member="Talon Vosra"] had ever visited the dimly light, hazardous planet before, and he thought the opportunity to show him around the capital city would be an excellent one. Perhaps Ki'an could even take him to the Baran Do Temple and introduce him to the sages.

Ki'an quickly pushed that thought aside though. They had a mission to attend to. Ki'an considered his masters words carefully. Kneeling down, Ki'an closed his eyes and began considering the facts that the report had shared and what he knew about the Bilbringi system.

"Well," Ki'an began raising his hand up and rubbing the side of his mask, "we know that Bilbringi is an important asset to the military, as it's astroids supply materials for the shipyards. We know that the report was heavily redacted, indicating that there are some things about the research facility that aren't allowed to be public knowledge, or that they feel safe sharing even with the Jedi. We also know that they lost communication recently and already they are responding, and they are responding by requesting Jedi aid. Whatever the facility is working on, it is very important to the Galactic Republic."

Ki'an considered saying more but stopped. That was really the most of what he had gathered from the reports given him, and Ki'an didn't feel comfortable with too much conjecture. He could begin to hypothesize about potential scenarios, but those would all be guesses and Ki'an didn't want to skew his perspective before being given all the facts.

 

[Talon Vosra]

[member="Ki'an Karr"]


Talon smiled and nodded.

"Good." He said with a tone of satisfaction, "We also know that the station has not contacted the planet and the planet has not reported an assault so what ever is happening, it is localized to the station itself."

Talon turned his head as the warning klaxon that said they had five minutes until they would exit hyperspace went off. He looked at his Padawan and pushed himself to his feet.

"When on an investigation it is always best to plan for the worst and hope for the best." He said reminding Ki'an, "Lets make last minute preparations and get on with the mission."

 

[Kian Karr]

Ki'an listened intently to his master and nodded his head in understanding and then the alarms began to signal that they would soon be leaving hyperspace. Ki'an began to feel excited, but he quickly pushed that thought aside.

"Understood Master." Ki'an said bowing to [member="Talon Vosra"] and leaving the training area. He quickly made his way to the small room that acted as Ki'an's quarters. Entering, Ki'an removed his charcoal grey outer robes and laid them out neatly on the bed. Then he removed his green tunic and pants, leaving him in only a night shirt and a pair of underwear. Opening up the storage chest by his bed, Ki'an pulled out his combat armor. It wasn't anything fancy, just the explorer corp's body armor that was standard issue to Jedi Padawans. The material was good defense against blaster bolts, but wouldn't do much against a lightsaber blade. Typically the armor was black, but Ki'an had selected a lighter grey variant outlined in green.

Ki'an quickly put on the combat armor, which covered him from neck to shins. He liked the armor because it was light and easier to move in. He could get better armor, but that was more restrictive, and Ki'an liked to be able to move freely when fighting. Securing his utility belt around his waist, Ki'an pulled his outer cloak back over him, leaving the hood down.

KI'an quickly made his way back out and to the cockpit. He settled into the co-pilot seat and began to go through the motions of preparing them for coming out of hyperspace. Ki'an wasn't much of a pilot on his own, but he wasn't a bad co-pilot, and he had found in the training before Carida, that he was pretty good on a turret.

"Coming out of hyperspace in 60 seconds." Ki'an said as his hands moved over the console.

 

[Talon Vosra]

[member="Ki'an Karr"]

Talon went to his small quarters and removed his Jedi robes. The scars of Sith torture still were dark green like the color of his blood on his back. His emerald eyes closed as the thoughts of his times tortured by the Sith lord Krag and his minions. He shrugged it off as he usually did but he could not help but jump from the thoughts of Krag, to the slaves he had rescued, to [member="Kira Liadain"] the woman who had been his dearest friend. He fought hard to push the memory of her aside and only did so for the sake of his padawan. He quickly donned a plain black flight suit and his utility belt. The twin sabers he had made on Dantooine hung in their places in hand reach as he checked himself.

Soon he walked into the cockpit and took the pilot seat by the younger Keldor. He was progressing well and had already had two invasions under his belt. They had not won as a whole but they had learned much about the enemy. The thought of the One Sith led to the thought of their oracle, Moira, Darth Isolda. She was too often in Talon's head and just the mere thought of her sent his head spinning. He reached up and held a hand to his head for a moment before focusing on the lightside of the force. Her cackle was in his ears and she called for him to give in.

'No,' he thought before sitting up straight and returning to his task.

"Exiting Hyperspace in 5...4...3...2...1..." Talon said as a pinpoint of light expanded in the view port until it became beans of white light then finally snapped into place. Within seconds they could see the station and what looked like a small ragtag fleet docked with it.

"Ki'an stay sharp, I have a bad feeling about those ships."

 

[Kian Karr]

Ki'an's watched as the view port changed and they exited hyperspace. For a moment, Ki'an's stomach turned, but he swallowed hard and pushed away the feeling. he still wasn't entirely use to space travel. At Master [member="Talon Vosra"]'s statement, Ki'an's hands began to glide over the control panel in front of him. He began scanning, trying to look for any clues as to what was going on at the station. Suddenly an alarm chimed and Ki'an's eyes darted from the control panel to the viewpoint.

"Master," Ki'an said, "we have incoming fighters." Ki'an said as six small dots broke away from the larger fleet and began heading toward them. Ki'an turned back to the viewpoint and ran some diagnostics. The attack squadron coming toward them were a mismatch of different fighters. That was somewhat odd. After a moment of consideration, Ki'an turned back toward his master.

"I think they are pirates." Ki'an said. Reaching forward, Ki'an pressed a few more buttons.

"Master, I'm arming the turrets and increasing forward shields." Ki'an said his eyes darting between the control panel and viewpoint once again. The ships were closing fast and were coming in in attack formation.

 

[Talon Vosra]

[member="Ki'an Karr"]

Talon looked at the viewport and stretched outward with the force. He could feel several presences and while not as twisted as the One Sith oracle they felt familiar.

"I think you're right." Talon said adjusting the controls of their ship for a dog fight. "Hit the ventral turret I'll keep us from getting fried."

Talon was more impressed with the young Keldor everyday. He was quick minded, cool under preasure, and was not far from knighthood. Talon's hands moved over the controls aa he prepared to evade and give a good firing platform they would have to get to the station somehow but he prefered to do it in one piece.

 

[Kian Karr]

Ki'an nodded at his masters command and rose from his seat. Ki'an found himself smiling even though they were in danger. He hadn't had an opportunity to work with his master one on one as of late. Too many other pressing issues. The defense of Carida. The invasion of Empress Teta. He was glad to finally be able to fight alongside [member="Talon Vosra"] and he was humbled by what he would learn.

Ki'an pushed those thoughts aside though as he rushed to the turret. Sliding down the ladder, Ki'an threw himself into the seat and brought the gun into his control. Ki'an took a breath and calmed himself further, stretching out with the force before he began to use the instruments to assess the upcoming battle. The incoming ships split into two groups. The first swung out and around to flank the vehicle, while the other three kept their direct course, to draw their attention.

Ki'an was confident his master could handle the second group and turned his attention on handling the flanking maneuver. Swinging the gun toward them, Ki'an took a wide lead of the first pilot and opened fired. He missed his target, but found himself lucky in that his stray shot caught the wing of one of the other ships. A second series of shots, and the damaged fighter exploded, its shields overpowered by the powerful quad-turret fire.

"Got one." Ki'an said over the intercomm. Swinging his gun around Ki'an opened fire on the second vehicle and within a few minutes obliterated the fighter. The third however, the lead ship, proved more difficult. The pilot was good. Several times Ki'an would fire and the ship would evade. He's good. Ki'an thought to himself. Finally, Ki'an brought the gun around and fired a series of shots in the front of the ship, hoping to press it down in a dive. Then he swung the gun down, throwing bolts of energy at where he hoped the ship would evade to. With a yelp of surprise and triumph he found that this plan worked and the ship evaded directly into his cannon fire.

"I got those three master, how are we doing up there?" Ki'an asked but made no move to leave the turret. He was unsure of whether he would be needed here.

 

[Talon Vosra]

[member="Ki'an Karr"]

Talon had been quite busy giving Ki'an a good shooting platform while trying to avoid the death the fighters were intending for them. Emerald eyes scanned the starry expanse the lay in the distance and the station sat not far away. He didn't notice another wave but he could feel danger he could sense someone stretching toward them in the force.

"Ki'an, come back down and get ready I think it may be Sith." Talon said as he increased the thrust of the ship's engines and sent them nose down at a near right angle as a blossom of red energy from a turbo laser streaked through the space they had just occupied.

"Hang on this may be a bumpy trip." Talon said over the com, "I'm going to try and put the station between us and them so we can dock."

Talon sent them into an aggressive weave pattern as he used the smaller ships speed to try and reach the opposite side of the station before the small frigate sized ship could get another firing solution. He looped around the edge of what he hoped was the pirate's range and made his run for one of the auxiliary docking bays. Another shot this time from an Ion cannon blossomed just in front of the view port and another passed over them. It was getting hard to avoid the shots that began coming from the station itself. The took a solid hit and their ships lurched sending Talon straining against the crash webbing as the ship's shield went down. However, they were now drawing close to the docking bay and Talon hit the emergency reverse thrusters as he turned the ship and sent it into the docking bay to crash into several other ships before it stopped against the far wall. Talon quickly pulled out of the crash webbing and went to grab Ki'an, they were going to have to move and fast.

 

[Kian Karr]

Ki'an had heard his masters call and was coming out of the turret when he heard the second message. Ki'an didn't have time to get to the crash webbing, so he interlocked his arms on the ladder for the turret bay and held on. Ki'an's body was thrown side to side and he locked his legs onto the ladder as well. He was jarred several times, but managed to hang on. When the ship crashed into the docking bay however, the impact sent Ki'an loose of the ladder and tumbling back into the docking bay. He managed to cushion the blow with the force, but he was sure he'd be bruised in the morning.

Sith! Ki'an thought to himself, as he ascended the ladder once more. If it were Sith, bruises were the least of his worries.

"Master," Ki'an said over the comm, emerging from the turret and finding his master approaching him, he put away his comm and come up beside him. Ki'an could hear alarms coming from the docking bay, and it was likely they would be dealing with enemy combatants at any moment. "What is the plan?" Ki'an asked, unhooking his lightsaber but keeping it deactivated. Ki'an hadn't sensed the presence in the force as his master had, being to distracted with taking out the fighters.

 

[Talon Vosra]

[member="Kian Karr"]

Talon reached his padawan and nodded as he looked around.

"Good Question." Talon said before, "We need to get out of the ship we can't defend it forever."

Talon pulled his lightsaber from his belt and held it in his hand as he headed for the emergency dorsal hatch.

"Let's go follow, my lead." The Zelosian said as he climbed the ladder and opened the top hatch. He looked out and climbed onto the top of the ship then lay flat against the hull while he waited for Ki'an.

The pirates or whoever they were soon began coming in from the near door but if Talon and Ki'an stayed low they would be unseen.

'Keep close there may be Sith or force cultist here." He whispered, "I felt at least one likely more."

Talon would then climb to the edge while a group would storm the ship and drop down to escape when they were inside so they could escape.

 

[Kian Karr]

Kian nodded his head in agreement with [member="Talon Vosra"] and followed him as they ascended the ladder to the top hatch. Kian came through the top hatch and kept low, following closing and silently behind his master. Kian's heart began to race at the excitement of what was happening and he had to take a moment to calm himself, taking a long steady breath.

Sith? Force cultist? Kian hadn't considered this when they were discussing the possibilities of what they would find at the base, but he probably should have. The Sith seemed to be everywhere these days. He had faced them now on Carida and Empress Teta and he had faired well. More importantly though, he had seen just how destructive they could be, and how deluded they were. Kian hadn't felt the presence of the Sith or Force cultist, but he hadn't been paying attention and he dared not reach out with the force yet, not until they were sure they could not be detected.

Waiting with his master, the soldiers below entered the ship, clearly searching for them. All entered, save two. They stood below the ship on guard. Seeing them, Kian searched the area and saw several crates off and to the right. Reaching out his hand, Kian used the force to make one of the crates fall down, and the two soldiers turned immediately to the noise.

"What was that!" said the one, "over there" the other and they raced off toward the crates. Taking that opportunity, Kian dropped down with his master and they made their way out of the spaceport. Kian wasn't sure where they would go. He knew they had to get their bearings. There were too many unanswered questions. Lifting his datapad, Kian viewed the layout of the station.

"There is a security outpost not far, we could slice into the security feeds?" Kian whispered, "if not, that way leads toward the center of the station and the main labs." Kian indicated a door in the opposite direction.

 

[Talon Vosra]

[member="Kian Karr"]

"Good work." Talon said as he looked about and listened for more reinforcements, "Time for a quick lesson in stealth Padawan Karr."

Talon began heading toward the security post and did his level best not to make any noise.

"Focus on your presence in the force focus on it until you can feel and project the feeling you want in the force. When you've got that try drawing your presence in on yourself. It will help hide you from force sensitive persons and if you get could they won't even know you're there.

Talon slowly did just as he had just described to his padawan as they moved along. He drew in his presence until he could see it in his minds eye as little more than the size of a seed. It took considerable concentration for anyone but it did get easier with time and effort. They moved along and without fail could hear foot falls at a junction in the corridors ahead.

'Hold." Talon whispered as he held out a hand and pressed his back to the bulkhead. It would be only a matter of time before they had to fight but it was best to choose their battles wisely.

 

[Kian Karr]

Kian listened intently to his masters words. He had used some stealth in the past, especially on Empress Teta, but it had been rudimentary and unrefined. Focusing on what his master said, Kian found himself beginning to move quietly, giving little sensory signals away that he was in the area. This would protect him from detection by non-force users. Force users were another problem entirely.

Focusing now on his presence in the force, Kian took a deep, steadying breath and began, slowly, to make his presence shrink. At first he found it was hard to do, but as he relaxed he was able to get his presence down to almost nothing. It took a great deal of concentration, but once it had been done, he felt sure he could do it again. This would be something he would have to work on more once they were back to Ossus. If they were in immediate danger he might not have been able to draw himself in so effectively and that was a problem. Their enemies wouldn't always give them a chance like this.

"Hold." [member="Talon Vosra"] said and Kian back up against the wall. He still clung to his lightsaber, and he took it up in a two handed guard, leaving it unlit. It seemed clear that his master wasn't eager to fight yet. Kian could understand this. They still knew so little about what was going on. However, if those making the noise rounded the corner, he was sure they would be seen. There wasn't enough cover in the corridor. Then Kian felt a cool breeze hit the back of his neck. Turning around, he saw that the wall they had backed up to had a small, but not too small, ventilation shaft, covered by a vent.

"Master," Kian said quietly to get his masters attention and inclined his head toward the vent. It appeared to be held in by a latch in each corner. It wouldn't be hard to remove it.