On Abyssal Tides [The Kathol Outback]

[Jorus Merrill]

The encrypted transmission was an ugly thing, patched together from a datapad recorder and a seriously futzed subspace transceiver. From there, the image had bounced from Kathol system to Kathol system on unreliable local subspace nets until it found an Underground relay.

The bridge of the Underground attack ship D'Lessio had seen better days. So had the man in the only occupied chair. Two seconds into the recording, a fallen cable sparked behind him, and he flinched, rubbing at his eyes with a cybernetic hand.

"This is..." He coughed. Smoke swirled behind him. "This is General Jorus Merrill of the Underground, calling from the D'Lessio. I'm in Kathol Republic territory. They asked for aid after a colony went dark -- feth, I've got to hurry. Colony was wiped out, no reason to it. The ship that did it is still here, along with the wrecks of a few Kathol Republic cruisers.

"I've commanded and flown the largest starship in the 'verse, so when I say this monster's like nothing I've ever seen, take me seriously. Totally alien shields, engines, hull composition, comm protocols, language. Qektoth guns that go right through shields. Near as my sensor operator could tell, the inside of the ship is at two gravities, lit in the infrared, and pumped full of methane. I've done a couple first contacts in my time. These fethers don't want to talk.

"Oh, and all you Jedi, watch your back. Something they did..." He grimaced. "Well, I've got some distance on them, and I still can't touch the Force. Can't even feel it. When I say I've got a bad feeling about this, I mean it.

"We need to know who these fethers are, folks, and what makes them tick, whether or not I get out of this intact." His eyes shifted, or rather one of them did. Both were prosthetic. Clearly, one was damaged. It tossed a spark against his cheek. "And there's a good chance we're going to need to take them down. Be fething careful. The Kathol Republic is the strongest government in our territory, and this ship made mincemeat of their patrol fleet.

"I don't know when I'll be able to call again. They've got small craft hunting me now. Took shelter in a gas giant. Look, if this is -- look, if this gets to my family, Mara, Alna-"

Static.

[member="Ria Misrani"] [member="Lok Munin"] [member="Bryce Bantam"] [member="Julius Sedaire"] [member="Runi Verin"] [member="Judah Dashiell"] [member="Sor-Jan Xantha"]

OOC/ This is open to all TKO members - I just don't have the tag list handy, and I don't think it's current anymore anyway due to how much we've grown. It's also open to TKO's friends who might be in the area.

 

[Ria Misrani]

​

In the entire six months, that Ria had been with the Kathol Outback, she had come to recognize Jorus as something of a big brother, so when she received the message while on her way through back to Demonsgate (really Kal'Shebbol, but Demonsgate was on her way in), she didn't shed a tear. "Change course," she ordered the transport she was on, "I don't have much in credits but you can drop me off with the nearest Kathol Republic Outpost, and I'll get to - I'll get to the D'Lessio."

"The D'Lessio?" The driver asked and thought for a moment, "keep the change, and hang tight, this is ain't gonna be pretty, blondie."

Ria and Gigi had parted ways some time after her stint on Atrisia, she checked her body and ensured her new Racket Bites were ready to go. She was still working for better armor, but that would have to wait until after she got to General Merrill. Sitting back on the transport she buckled herself in and felt the thing jolt as maneuvered. Hyperspace was fast, but it wasn't the fastest, and she just prayed that the Force would keep Merrill safe until her arrival.

[member="Jorus Merrill"]

 

[Bryce Bantam]

​

Bryce listed to message again with the ear of a scholar. He had ready decided to take the gamble of taking the still unnamed prototype into battle and was now trying to get every last drop of intel out of the broken distress call. Cla'Mari, Bryce's new wife sat on an overly lavish couch next to him seemingly disinterested and instead concentrated her disgust on to matters of business.

"This is foolish boy, you heard the message. He is probably dead anyway why are we risking our new ship and most importantly ourselves."

Bryce slammed his fist upon the desk he was sitting at and rose to his feet. His eyes glowed with an unnatural rage at the thought of losing some he held as close to a father figure. Fear, genuine fear crept into the beautiful Twi'leks face as she beheld this side of her husband.

"I take a lot of Fething poodoo from you "Lady" Rha but I'm in no mood. If it wasn't for the General force knows where I would be so put some more respect into those condescending tones you love to strike or..."

Not finishing his thought Bryce left the room and proceeded down the hall. He needed some space and time to calm down, lest his rage make him do something he would regret. His personal journey for strength was coming at a price, his normal passive ways and overall control of his gifts was slipping away. But what he was losing he was gaining back in spades when it came to his skills with the blade. Needing the release and discipline practice he took up his blade "Dream weaver" and went to closes internal bay he could find for a quick form and a long quiet meditation...

 

[Sor-Jan Xantha]

THE STAR DESTROYER
I N T E R V E N T I O N
THE KATHOL OUTBACK | MARCOL VOID REGION

"Look, if this is -- look, if this gets to my family, Mara, Alna-"

The small Anzat said nothing.

Brooding silently, the young Jedi listened to the message play out. It was the third time, actually. The recording looping as the boy stood on the bridge of the former Republic star destroyer, mulling over the contents of the message and listening for any nuance or detail he may have missed before.

As he did, an older male came and walked over to him. Kneeling down beside the child knight, the man noted aloud, "Com-scan has analyzed the signal origin, sir."

With a nod of acknowledgment, the small Jedi turned and followed the man down the main bridge walkway. The Sasori Research astrometrics lab filled the back portion of the bridge, filling it with holographic representations of the space in which the ship was now operating. Corellia Digital had been out here trying to build a telecommunications infrastructure. It was slow work, but the very fact that they'd received the message from [member="Jorus Merrill"] meant that something they'd been doing was working.

A gesture from the older male caused the holographic map to come alive. Illuminating the area around the ship, the cosmic map rotated around to reveal a large planet in a different part of the region. "The signal appears to be from a Type IX gas giant in quadrant three of sector delta-nine."

"How soon can we be there?"

That was the only question.

As for the rest, he'd already made up his mind. They were going. The question wasn't when. The question wasn't how. The only question was, when would they be arriving?

Which didn't mean his own employees wouldn't try and make him re-consider. "Sir, the transmission did bring up several significant threats..."

"How soon?"

Based on the reality of how his species matured relative to those around them, the boy was accustomed to repeating himself or not being taken seriously. Even still, the tone in which he'd uttered the shortened question made clear he didn't intend to repeat himself again.

"Fourteen days."

The answer made the small Anzat do a double take. A rare moment in which someone caught a nine hundred year old Jedi Master by surprise. "Fourteen days?" the child knight echoed, as though uncertain he'd heard that correctly. "This ship will make point-five past lightspeed."

"Yes, sir, and this highlighted area here represents a collapsing nebula that is feeding the formation of a cluster of supernovas," the man remarked evenly, a wave of his hand rolling the cosmic map back, to reveal what looked like a storm cloud cutting a wide swath across the map. "Attempting to fly through that would be like running through a black hole."

So they were left with only the option to take the long way around.

"The Discovery is in the vicinity of Exocron. She could be there in seventeen days," the man offered, in a conciliatory tone.

If that was supposed to make him feel better... it didn't. "I consider Master Merrill to be a friend, and you're telling me two to three weeks is the best we can do for him?"

"This is the Kathol Outback, General," the man stated frankly. "All things considered, it's impressive that we could do it in two to three weeks."

All things considered...

"Have the Queen readied for launch," the boy remarked, taking a last look at the cosmic map before he started toward the exit off the bridge.

"Sir... should I ask what it is you're doing?"

"Learning to run through black holes," the boy tossed back, before he vanished around a corner.

 

[Lok Xiangu]

There he was on his personal ship, the Firebrand about to try a new product of spice from his dealer that was rolled up in a nice joint and ready to be lit from the flame of his lighter. Unfortunately that would have to wait when the General of the Outback sent a distress, encrypted message to an Underground relay which every agent of the Underground could hear. It was very rare to hear a distress transmission from the General, at least to Lok, but he knew that when ever that happened it was something very serious. The teenager listened to the words of Jorus and as predicted it was something very serious. The Jedi was in Kathol Republic territory since the government had asked for help from their neighbors against some unknown, mysterious, powerful ship whose affiliation was unknown. It didn't belong to the Qekoth despite the ship having weaponry belonging to the Qekoth.

Whoever these people are, they managed to outplay Jorus and a whole Kathol patrol fleet.

"Well, before I die, let me take a hit of this," the Munin said as he punched in the coordinates to the nearest Kathol outpost and lighting the joint of spice in his mouth. He took a nice inhale of it, the drugs soothing him but not experiencing the symptoms of getting high as feth, and jumped right into hyperspace.

[member="Sor-Jan Xantha"] [member="Bryce Bantam"] [member="Ria Misrani"] [member="Jorus Merrill"]

 

[Coryn Raxis]

Raxis wasn't a popular name in the galaxy at the moment, or maybe just not a popular name with the Mandalorians. Might as well be the galaxy as fast as that lot grows.

Truth be told, Coryn had never met a great many of his family members and even more likely, he wasn't aware of their existence. He had lived a sheltered life among the Night Brothers on Dathomir, sold to them when he was born by his mother Althea Raxis. He didn't even remember her face, nor did he wish to. A woman that gave up her child for credits was not a woman that he wanted to meet, let alone call "Mother". As far as he was concerned, he had no mother and no father. He didn't even know who his father was, or if he was even alive. He had a pretty crappy family life, but he didn't need them.

He had always done well on his own, trained by the Night Brothers, hardened by their abuse -- physically, mentally, and emotionally. He was led to believe that he was nothing, a poor excuse for a boy whose mother never wanted him. He did not belong with the Night Brothers, they made that clear early on. But, still he persisted and over time he began to win their respect and the cessation of their abuse towards him. He hated the dark bastards. But, he was grateful to them as well; for without them he would not have the strength that he has - the will to resist the darkness and the drive to bring a better future into existence. He did not hold on to the anger that he once felt for them, they had molded him into the warrior that he was today, but that did nothing to lessen the distaste that he had for all things dark in nature.

He was a lone warrior, branching out on his lonesome, searching for a purpose in the galaxy. He did not fit with Jedi, he held no moral inhibitions that they held, but neither did he fit with the Sith; they were creatures of malice and inhibited evil. So, the only place left for him was his ship and the vast void of space.

He interacted with the general population at times, but only when necessary. He wasn't a social butterfly, he was a recluse. Perhaps that was why he had had the fortune -- or mistfortune -- of intercepting a transmission from one [member=Jorus Merrill] an apparent General of something called the Kathol Outback.

It would be a lie to say that he wasn't hesitant to follow the trail of the transmission to its origin, but he found that his curiosity certainly outweighed his surival sense. He had a somewhat stealthy ship, so he had that going for him.

Entering the coordinates of the source of the tranmission, he entered hyperspace and settled in for the long ride to its source. He had no idea what he was getting himself into.

 

[Runi Verin]

[SIZE=8pt][member="Jorus Merrill"] | [member="Ria Misrani"] | [member="Bryce Bantam"] | [member="Sor-Jan Xantha"] | [member="Lok Munin"] | [member="Coryn Raxis"] | [member="Gabriel Lethe"][/SIZE]​

A secretive and scattered organisation by design, the Wardens of the Sky represented freedom in its many forms, walking countless paths across the galaxy that rarely saw them intersect with another of their kind. Kark, in the years she had been plying the hyperlanes, Runi could probably count the number of fellow wardens she’d run across on one hand - and have fingers to spare. Those she had met seemed to disagree with what exactly freedom meant to them, let alone how they went about achieving it in an increasingly fragmented galaxy. There was one cardinal rule, however, that they all seemed to stand united on.

You always answered the distress call.

It was simply what was done. No ifs, no buts, no warra nuts. It rarely mattered who was on the other end of the channel, the moment that emergency frequency triggered, you had an obligation. One you were expected to keep if you wanted to still be able to meet your own gaze in the ‘fresher mirror the next morning.

It should come as no surprise, then, that the Boracyk neatly adjusted course upon receipt of Merrill’s last ditch message, hyperdrive already spooling up for the series of jumps it would need to make over the next few days.

“<This is the free vessel Boracyk.>” A hard voice announced over the encrypted line, a series of identification codes filtering through a second or two later. Most would mean little to those receiving her message, but a few might recognise her from Kal’Shebbol. “<I’m currently a ways out from the D’lessio’s last fixed position. ‘preciate it if any friendly vessels in the vicinity of the Kath Rep make themselves known.>”

A coordinate string would follow the request.

“<I’m fixing to be at the above location in a few days, maybe a little less if I can coax it. If we’ve got a hope in finding Merrill this side of haran, seems like a good enough place to start searching as any, ‘lek?

Return acknowledgement when possible.

Boracyk out.>”

 

[Alana Sunrider]

Onna glowered at her ships's console. Floating in the dark of space far from anywhere was hardly ideal, but there wasn't much else she could do at this point, being a known accomplice and compatriot of Jack Raxis, with the entire galaxy after him and his bounty, or members of clan Raxis who sided with him instead of Gray and the Mandalorians. So she had fled to the edge of the galaxy, where she knew of some, and had some distant contacts with the Kathol Outback. Not really a true member, and only a small auxiliary member of the Underground. But it was a place she could, a place for the outcasts and those who remained hidden.

A signal popped up on the ship's comm and she leaned forward hitting the button. That was the emergency frequency, and an Underground one at that. The message played itself, while the ship's computer saved. Onna slumped back in her seat. She had heard of General Jorus Merrill, of course. He was a legend among spacers, and he was in danger. Even as one of the more insignificant members of the Underground, she would be obligated to help. As a Warden of the Void, that was part of the code as well. Never to leave a distress call unanswered.

Finally! The ability to do something of value to the galaxy! She sat straight in her captain's chair and brought up what charts she had access to of the Kathol Outback, tracking the source coordinates. It would take her a long time to get there, but, she would go anyways.

She tapped out the coordinates and sent the ship into hyperspace for the first leg.

Hold on, General, she thought to herself, help is on the way.

Of course, there was still the giant mysterious alien warship that seemed invincible and they could also cut Jedi off from the Force. Onna wasn't worried. She'd survived worse. At least, what seemed worse to her.

She put together a message to be relayed to the Outback.
Onna Sunrider of the Ambrian Adventurer responding to distress call. Requesting direction and information to join other rescuers.

 

[TC-91]

[member="Jorus Merrill"] | [member="Ria Misrani"] | [member="Bryce Bantam"] | [member="Sor-Jan Xantha"] | [member="Lok Munin"] | [member="Coryn Raxis"] | [member="Runi Verin"] | [member="Onna Sunrider"]

It had been only a short while ago since Nawago managed to finally take his exit from Kal'Shebbol. He decided upon simply relaxing for a bit, taking time to gather his thoughts after the year of discomfort.

Now here he was, sitting near a human he believed to be known as Bryce and a twi'lek he never heard of, heading to a ship known as the D'Lessio. Tasked with security, he was given a fair bit of information regarding their goal. However, that didn't stop him from ease dropping into the conversation of the two. Already, he had listened to the call sent out by the general multiple times, believing that if he listened enough times, some sort of indication would magically appear. Of course, nothing new showed up.

As the conversation progress, casual talking turned into complaining and arguing, followed by Bryce storming out of the room. He usually kept his mouth shut in situations like this, but against his better judgement he decided to make a comment towards the woman.

"He's not wrong. Without the general, who knows where we would be now. I know I'd probably be dead and forgotten in an arena. Besides, despite my short time here, I'm certain he's lead The Outback through many battles that led us to now."

Nawago turned to face out the window, returning to being lost in his thoughts. No matter how much he tried, he couldn't think of a proper scenario of what happened to both the ship and the general. What sort of aliens could take over an attack ship and kill most to all personnel? It just confused him to think about it.

 

[Bryce Bantam]

Fourteen hours out...

His new prototype ship didn't have the speed the Starr did. Still, .8 was nothing to sneeze at. Already well out of Kal'shebbol on his new prototype's first shakedown when he first got the message, Bryce had figured out the going back for the Starr would have delayed his arrival enough that ordering an untested vessel into battle was his only option. Pulling the silken sheets from his body he rolled to the side of it and sat rubbing his face. Cla'Mari had come to him once he had time to cool down and she "apologised" to her husband. "Making up" in the usual way Bryce looked back at her sleeping peacefully on the other side of the bed before rising to his feet.

I was a marriage of convenience, they both knew it. Cla'Mari's father need her to be married before his wealth could pass to her. This by Clan law made it hs as well and not the two lived in this pseudo business relationship without the normal emotions one would expect from a marriage. Just a strange mix of passion and disgust.

Walking over to his desk he saw his comm officer had been doing her job and routed any transmissions related to the General to him for review. Nothing from the General himself but there seemed to be many ships that responded ready to help. Bryce had learned from his now years with the Underground and Outback that good intentions that are not focused and coordinated can lead to disastrous consequences. With that in mind he prepared a coded response to be sent out with his Corellian Digital communication equipment.

"To all responding, @General Beyyr has yet to respond with orders. As such I will be assuming point on this rescue till such time as relieved by a superior officer. And, this is a rescue, I want to stress that. Engage the enemy at your own risk, we do not have the assets to take it head on so if you choose to do so, do it with the understanding you will be on your own. I'm still fourteen hours out from the General's last known location, and will report in again before entering the system. Till then fly fast, fly safe, Bantam out..." ( [member="Onna Sunrider"] | [member="Runi Verin"] |[member="Coryn Raxis"] | [member="Lok Munin"] | [member="Sor-Jan Xantha"] | [member="Ria Misrani"] )

Bryce rubbed his eyes before sending the message to his comm officer for transmission. He could already feel the nerves building in his gut again, needed something to take his mind off these feelings of helplessness that now began to creep into him.

"All agents, gather in the command center in thirty minutes for briefing." ([member="Simone"] | [member="Nawago"] )

 

[Ria Misrani]

[member="Runi Verin"], what a voice to hear after so long. "See you soon, Ru," she whispers as she watches the stars fly by them, and then she hears Bryce, and smiles [member="Bryce Bantam"], "and you as well, kid." Although he didn't seem much like a kid these days. It was good to hear old familiar voices again, and so she sat back in the transport and wondered what would happen from here. How long did the General have? She was sure he could survive for awhile but - how long would that 'awhile' be, exactly? Was someone closer to him? From the sounds of it, they had all been caught off guard.

"Any chance you can patch into the Boracyk? Or the Starr?"

He nodded, "I can get both, but only one while we're traveling, who do you want?"

Ria should talk to Bryce, she should - but a chance to hear Runi's voice? Never gonna pass that up, "Boracyk."

"Right, here you go," he tells her plainly gesturing, it'd be audio only and that was fine with her.

"Hey Ru, it's Ria I got your message, I'm on a transport we're heading that way, I can meet up with you on the Boracyk and go from there."

She waited for a response and slid into the seat next to the transport pilot, tucking loose strands of hair behind her ear. She looked at the navigational charts and began to look at where the D'Lessio's message had last been heard and at her coordinates. Ria could manage to get there a little sooner. She looked at the communication capabilities aboard this transport and began to ponder how she could create a private channel just for the Underground...

 

[Lok Xiangu]

He was still hours away from the nearest Kathol Republic outpost and he was already bored of sitting on here in his prized ship until he was out of hyperspace. To entertain himself, he was fixing on sending a holotext to Onley to see what was up on in whatever planet he was in; however, a female voice that he was familiar with and was still attempting on getting her number was heard via the transmitter of his ship. Hopefully Lok could get Runi's number on this search and rescue mission.

The Munin tossed the joint of spice he was consuming and would then respond back to Runi's transmission, and started off by saying, "Hey, Ru-Ru." He knew that she hated it when someone called her like that and there was no doubt he would receive backlash from her in the form of a hard punch that could potentially knock out a teeth. But if there was one thing he knew is that if you wanted a girl like Runi to like you, then you needed to bother and poke her in the places that would make her react.

"It's the Firebrand, still speaking to [member="Runi Verin"], "so I think I'm heading into the direction that you're heading at. Wanna take my ship or yours? I'm fine with whatever. Just let me know." He awaited for Runi's response and then another encrypted message was sent out from another voice he knew of. [member="Bryce Bantam"]. Apparently, Bryce assumed the role of being in charge of this operation until someone like General Beyyr relieved Bryce of leadership. Did Lok care if Bryce was the leader? No, not really. All that really matter was getting Jorus out of there alive and in one piece.

For now, all Lok could do is sit here, smoke his spice, wait for Runi's response, and not get too high as feth.

[member="Ria Misrani"] [member="Nawago"] [member="Onna Sunrider"] [member="Coryn Raxis"] [member="Sor-Jan Xantha"] [member="Jorus Merrill"]

 

[Simone]

Simone rolled reluctantly from her bunk, drowsy from a sleep that simply wasn't long enough. Rubbing her eyes and yawning she trudged to a basin, dousing her face with icy water to wake up, peering for a moment at herself in the mirror. Purple shadows were beginning to form under her eyes, a sure sign she was working to hard. Still, nothing a few cups of caff and a decent pay check couldn't cure.

Snatching up her clothes she dressed quickly, pouring a cup of caff into a large mug she scooped up her datapad, wirelessly downloading the ships diagnostics as she moved for the command centre. Her brow creased as she read the incoming report, so far as she could see, nothing was wrong...well, things needed tweaking, but that was to be expected. She took a swig of her caff and flattened herself against the wall of the corridor as someone came running through. Only then was she aware of the tension in the air, of the concerned look on peoples faces.

She continued, pulling up recent transmissions and groaned. Merrill had a habit of late, of requiring rescuing. Perhaps it was time someone sat him down and told him he was 'getting to old for this'. Tucking the datapad under arm she entered the command centre and nodded towards [member="Bryce Bantam"]. "Now, while I'm all for search, destroy and rescue, I should, as your technician, advise against doing it in this ship. My work is cut out as it is you know?" she moved across the command centre, setting her mug on her station and pulling a cigarette from her jacket. Leaning on the station top, she lit it up, drawing from it for a moment.

"Qektoth guns will knock us out. Bang, done, finished, doomed. Whatever you wanna call it. They're designed to disable and I don't know if i can reconfigure against that. Whats worse, is you've got nothing to punch with before they punch you. Whatever they are."

 

[Bryce Bantam]

"Morning sunshine" Bryce said after he let Simone finish her rant. While she was right, the "105" prototype was not meant to be a warship, her bleak summary of the situation was far from the whole story.Bryce smiled and pulled up a chair next to her. Turning it so the back was to her Bryce sat and leaned his chest against the back while his arms rested crossed on top of the chair back.

"Happy to say this bird has a few surprises left in her sweetheart. You see when a ship designed builds a ship, especially one that flys in a dangerous region like the outback a good designer may add a few sneaky tricks to help it survive an encounter with the worse known enemy, right? I were said good designer I may start with building a defense that plays on the weakness of said enemies weapons, like oh, I don't know many be a thick, ablative armored shell that is made to withstand particle and energy weapons our enemies like to us... any why look at this, the "105" has such a system... Interesting..."

"Now I know what your thinking, but their bio-weapons, when they do get through and it our circuits we are gonna get shorted out and poof, GAME OVER! Right? Well if this was a conventional ship you would be dead on, however this bird its' fly by wire, its' fly by Resu."

Walking over to a large access panel Bryce opened it and exposed the gleaming metallic shine of the a Resu Liquid Metalic Hydrogen artery. Pulling his stun pistol from his belt he set it to max before calling out.

"Navigator, system overload test on vein A-43."

A large flash went off as the pistol expanded its' bolt into the conduit. But instead of burning plastiod, melting wire and system failure the Artery just absorbed the blast.

"Results?" Bryce asked.

A metallic voice soon came over the ships comms and said. "Test complete. point zero zero three two percent damage done to ships systems, estimated time of complete repair four seconds."

Looking over at [member="Simone"] Bryce asked "Pretty cool huh?"

 

[Simone]

[member="Bryce Bantam"]

Simone grinned, despite herself, raising her hands in mock surrender. "Alright," she took a final drag from her cigarette, dropping it into the astray and scooping it up her coffee to cradle with both hands. "So we can take some punishment. Assuming that that's all they've got up their sleeves and assuming that the hydrogen doesn't overheat and cook us all." She held up a hand to prevent any protest. "I'm not saying we shouldn't go, I just want to make sure that you're aware of all the risks."

She shrugged. "My point is that we're not gonna know till we get there. Best we can do with the limited intel we have is soak up some damage, while getting a decent read out of what we're up against and hope the others have enough firepower to bring it down." They could stand here all day and discuss hypotheses all they wanted, people were dead, Jorus soon to be among them by the sounds of things.

"I'll get a link set up with the other ships," she pulled out her chair as she spoke, setting the mug down and began tapping away at the console. "see if i can't pull the data from everyone's sensor readout when we arrive and paint a bigger picture."

 

[TC-91]

[member="Ria Misrani"] | [member="Sor-Jan Xantha"] | [member="Lok Munin"] | [member="Coryn Raxis"] | [member="Runi Verin"] | [member="Onna Sunrider"]

Eyes slowly open, Nawago realized that he accidentally dozed off while staring out into space. Must've been a bit after the message came through on the intercom. Hopefully it wasn't too much past thirty minutes, and the briefing was already done. It probably wasn't since someone would've woken him up if it was. The biggest challenge now was actually finding the location of the command center.

Entering the room, Nawago was welcomed by the sound of two of his crew members, [member="Simone"] and [member='Bryce Bantam'], discussing something involving the ship. As usual, he understood none of it, with not exactly being strong in the technology category. He waited for the girl to begin typing before joining into the conversation. "I have no idea how you people know so much about ships. The most I know is how to turn on autopilot."

He turned to look at all the consoles around the room before continuing. "I've been listening to the call being sent out, and I can't get my mind off what the general keeps saying about those aliens 'disabling' the Force. If they are that advanced, makes me wonder what other edges they have over us." Despite how much he would love to tear through a few hordes of unknown aliens, knowing what they were capable of doing was frightening. The good part about not being able to use the Force is that you don't have to worry about one of your abilities being hindered and only needing to rely on your own strength.

 

[Sor-Jan Xantha]

YT-2400 LIGHT FREIGHTER
ALDERAAN QUEEN
THE KATHOL OUTBACK | EDGE OF THE MARCOL VOID

<This i... ree ves.... acyk.>

Gravimetric distortion from the supernova farm was creating all kinds of havoc with the ship.

Even the Rekali navicomputer was on the fritz, having at one point identified their position as a half-parsec from Chandrila. As such, he'd had to drop out of hyperspace and run a bypass on the hyperdrive, shutting down the Rekali and taking direct control of the hyperdrive engines.

It was risky business, instinctive astrogation.

There were only a few Jedi he knew who could do it successfully. And [member="Jorus Merrill"] was the best of the bunch. The young Anzat had done it as well. A bit less successfully, and one spectacular moment of which had been the unintentional time-jump from 19 BBY to 844 ABY that had landed him centuries apart from the galaxy he knew.

The comm was a buzz with all kinds of static feedback. Time delay and distortion making receipt impossible. If people were transmitting updates about Jorus, the Anzat would have to wait until he was clear of the supernova farm before he could have a conversation with anyone about it.

...if he made it clear of the supernova farm.

Nothing like bouncing between two supernovas blindfolded.

Situation like this, there's was naught to do but pull back on the hyperdrive. And hope you made it through to the other side.

[member="Nawago"] | [member="Simone"] | [member="Bryce Bantam"] | [member="Lok Munin"] | [member="Ria Misrani"] | [member="Runi Verin"]​

 

[Bryce Bantam]

Bryce agreed, knowledge is power and with that being the case this whole rescue was coming from a place of extreme weakness to be sure.

"Make it so [member="Simone"]," Bryce said. "Have the navigators help you as this is their tech and to be honest I'm still working to get my head wrapped around it."

Giving her an awkward slap on the shoulder, Bryce then turned to the massive fur covered death machine that was voicing his concerns on defence.

"Hopefully nothing a master of the pit can't handle [member="Nawago"]. If things get dicey I'm glad we got ya here to crack some heads."

Pulling up a three-dimensional star map Bryce looked it over and focused in on a unique cluster just ahead of them.

"We are two hours from the final system before we get to where [member="Jorus Merrill"] last broadcast, figure it may be a good place to group up and devise our entry plan, as the end of a supernova farm it should be safe enough for us to plan our next move and fo us to recharge our Ion generator before the final push." - [member="Sor-Jan Xantha"]

 

[Jorus Merrill]

[member="Ria Misrani"] [member="Bryce Bantam"] [member="Sor-Jan Xantha"] @Nawago @Simone @Lok Munin [member="Onna Sunrider"] [member="Runi Verin"]

The Kathol Republic Constitution-class heavy cruiser was a tough ship, the powerhouse of the region. In theory, it could take an Underground Ackbar-class head to head. In practice, it could make sparkly chunks out of a Qektoth Confederation Ascendant, though the Constitution would take some serious hits in the process. There were mainstream galactic governments, Mid Rim and farther in, who would have liked to field a few Constitutions in wartime.

The wreckage over the scarred colony world belonged to no fewer than six Constitutions, in divergent and decaying orbits. Nobody down there was left alive to care that next month or next year would see a hard silver rain. The same ship that had broken the Kathol Republic heavy cruisers over its knee had scooped out the planetary colony with casual ease. The colony massacre had come first. The alien ship hadn't bothered to leave orbit before or since the cruisers arrived: the Kathol Republic fleet had found it the enemy sitting pretty over the evidence of the massacre. Now it drifted through their wreckage comfortably.

The D'Lessio had lost its pursuers, alien small craft, in a turbulent gas giant just outsystem of the former colony. Now the damaged Undercround cutter crouched in the deep shadows of a polar crater on the colony world's moon. With power off to nearly everything but sensors, the moon's 0.15g made every step a wobbly, gleeful bounce. Jorus didn't feel much like bouncing.

 

[Leos Palle]

Her breathing was shallow. Each inhale and exhale a gasp as if drowning. She turned over in her seat, slamming a fist into the command console. Pain ricocheted through her arm and she snapped her eyes open.

"Just a dream. Just a dream, Kytra."

She stared at the empty wall of the Manta, a vessel she'd effectively stolen from someone who'd stole it from whoever it was that made the things. She honestly didn't know. Rubbing a hand at her eyes, she wiped away tears. Every time she slept it was the same thing. First the dreams of home, and then him. Then the horror she'd inflicted. Each time she woke feeling as though she were once again covered in the blood and entrails of people whose guilt she didn't know. People who shouldn't have died, but had because she'd been unable to control the monster inside of her that fed on her emotions as if they were the nectar of life itself.

Sitting up, she looked around to realize she was still alone. The ship was drifting in deep space, just as she'd left it. Truthfully, she had piloting, but she needed a means to get around, which she often did alone, and meant that when she was tired, it was best to find somewhere safe to land or just drift in space. There hadn't been anywhere safe nearby, so drifting had been the only option. She powered the engines back up, and noticed that the comm was blinking. She tapped it on and listened to the recorded message.

First came the report from Merrill. She'd not met him, but she knew of him. That was something. Then came other messages, mostly calls for meeting together to determine what to do about this new potential threat. Kytra shivered in her seat and wrapped her arms around herself. What was happening out there? A new enemy, always like the last. Killing senselessly. A whole colony, though? What reason did these beings have for this? And what he'd said about the Force? Perhaps that wouldn't be the worst thing out of all of it. Maybe it would be nice to be free of what caused her so much pain.

She shook her head and tapped the comms.

"This is Kytra Odran to any Underground. I'm en route. I will- see what I can see of this vessel from a safe range and relay what I can. Odran out."

Dangerous. Stupid. But who else would do it? And would they die? If she died it would be no great loss. A monster like her deserved death; an end to the pain and suffering. If nothing else, she could go out helping the others. The navigation screen lit up with a myriad of issues which she bypassed, picking the riskiest and quickest route because of the importance of time in the matter. With the course plotted, she punched the hyperdrive. It was out of her hands now.

[member="Jorus Merrill"] [member="Bryce Bantam"] [member="Sor-Jan Xantha"] [member="Nawago"] [member="Simone"] [member="Lok Munin"] [member="Ria Misrani"] [member="Onna Sunrider"] [member="Runi Verin"] [member="Coryn Raxis"]