First Reply Please, sir, I'd Like Some More

[Raphael Gallustrade]

The ship gave a slight lurch, as he came out of hyperspace, and Raphael gave a grunt. He was in a borrowed transport ship, given that his own was still... well, on Tython, which REALLY sucked. But, for now, he was borrowing ships from the Order. They didn't have much time, with reports of both the Sith Empire and Dark Empire approaching Coruscant, there were major directives underway. People were being evacuated, and others were freaking out. He pondered if there were some, within Coruscant, that would try to buy favor with either of the Empires by opening the doors of Coruscant to them.

He sighed.

He wondered how his master was taking the news; she was one of the most serene Jedi he knew, beyond Master Noble, but she'd been doing her own thing, for now. That was why Raphael had decided to head out here. He'd returned his lightsaber crystal to the planet it had come from, a while ago and he needed a new one with everything that was soon going to go down. He still favored makashi, with a slight secondary emphasis on soresu, for defense. He'd been studying niman, as well, though he wasn't sure if he was going to make that a focal point in his studies.

Still he didn't know where he was going to go to find a new kyber crystal. They were found all over, oftentimes, in the most unlikely of places, but what did that matter? A crystal needed to call to their appropriate user and, since he'd returned his original one, he'd heard no such call. Perhaps for the best, though. He wasn't too concerned about it, for the time being. His mission was one of peace, this time, though. Food and medical aid was something that the alliance would need, moving forward, and he wanted to make sure that he could at least secure something to that effect from at least a neutral planet. He'd heard of the Sith Empire advancing on a few, already, and so he'd already crossed them off of his visitation scheudule... He wasn't very good at directing people, but visiting places? Talking to those outside of his normal group? That was definitely more his speed. Thankfully, he almost lways looked the part of the smuggler.

It was a fairly small planet in the midrim, not yet "visited" by either of the crashing Empires. Still, as he requested clearance to land, he could tell that things were tense. He wondered as to the possibilities of their already being agents of the differents Empires on the planet's surface. Potential sabotage and subterfuge going on in the background. He couldn't give himself away too much. He would need to ask around at the local port... Rising from the chair, he walked down the ramp. Hopefully, it would be a busy day.

 

[B/U-187 "Ayana"]

Old ships made perfect hiding spots for rats, and today 187 would be one unusually sized rodent. Her cover had been blown on Coruscant, all because of a single picture. It was, in hindsight, a stupid idea to try and get her way past one of the Jedi Masters all for a sword. There was little time for self-pity though, she still needed to make it back to Tion without getting caught by the Alliance!

As the ship zipper through the hyperspace pocket it created, 187's mind wandered, mostly about her ship. Here she was in the guts of some old freighter acting as a stowaway, a parasite the ship had picked up in some galactic pitstop. What would her cover be? How would she manage her way back to the Imperial Worlds without getting snatched up? She looked in the mirror of the ship's bathroom for the answers, casting her eyes upon her own borrowed face for them. She hadn't even changed from her business casual camouflage in all the time she'd been running.

Perhaps the Empire would overlook her blunder if they knew she evaded the Alliance's security in heels? Unlikely, but such a nonsensical thought brought a cold comfort to Ayana, and even a chuckle. With any luck the Intelligence group would never know of her bungling a simple operation. However, ship restrooms made poor places for contemplating life choices. So the spy washed off her makeup and dried her face, before leaving the room entirely.

Her heels clicked and clanked against the ship's metallic flooring. It had seen better days, and the halls stank of rust, but it just needed to hold up a little while longer. After they made it to the next planet the agent really didn't care for the fate of the ship or it's crew.

Speaking of the ship's crew, it didn't really seem like it had any! That usually meant a smuggler type, they were easy enough to handle. A flick of her hair and some saccharine sweet tales of a woman being hunted would most likely work, if they were the hero type. If not, some cold credits would definitely be enough. She could handle either scenario, so it mattered little who was flying, or so she thought...

Fate would have another idea though. For as she strutted along the corridors of the ship, she almost literally bumped into the man responsible for her get away. Shock filled the young woman as she caught sight of him. This was not what she was hoping for at all...

Raphael Gallustrade

 

[Raphael Gallustrade]

Raphael blinked as he rounded the corner, nearly running into a woman and he forced himself to stop. When in the Force had she gotten on? He blinked and stared at her, a moment. It was fortunate, for him, that he was a jedi, even if he lacked a lightsaber, at the moment. His movements were fluid and focused, as he dodged around her, making it seem, unless she were to watch him very intently, that he was just a smuggler.

"Whoa! Whoa whoa whoa! Sithspit, lady! How'd you get on my ship??? Wait, no, scratch that, when did you get on my ship???" He was certainly confused, though not nearly as surprised as he was making himself out to be. This was just the mask of the normal smuggler/courier that he used, when he was out and away from the Temple. It made things so much easier to sneak around, when people didn't suspect you of being part of the group of ascetic monk people with the glowing laser swords...

He scratched the back of his head and looked down the hall where she seemed to have come from. Thankfully this was just an old, nigh on derelict hull so it wasn't going to be flying many more places anytime soon. Still, it did disturb him that he'd not sensed her presence.

"Uhm... You didn't take anything, while you were down there, did you?" he asked, sounding genuinely concerned. "Or, uhm, open any of the boxes, right?" He gestured back down the hallway where he'd managed to procure several boxes of electronics and food for "trade". The ship had to look the part and he needed to make sure he had some goods. Otherwise, it'd look REALLY weird.

"Where'd you come from, anyways? Not that I'm complaining, mind you, but I didn't remember signing any kind of contract for taking someone." He let out a frustrated groan. "Let's... I'll just start with the basics: What's your name, where'd you come from and please tell me you're not a runaway." These, ironically, were questions that he used to ask, when people wanted transported somewhere, back before he'd become a Jedi. Runaways always had extra baggage and extra "issues". Still, he'd wait to hear her explanation and, hopefully, learn more about his unexpected companion in travel.

B/U-187 "Ayana"

 

[B/U-187 "Ayana"]

Ayana had much to decide, and not a lot of time to do it. The only saving grace for her was that her pilot seemed to do a lot of talking for her. She could tell he was a fidgety sort just by his reaction to meeting her, as well as the scratching of his head. He didn't try and touch her or hit on her, so he was a grade above a lot of the slugs that called themselves smugglers, but the day was young.

"I stowed away in the cargo hold the last time you stopped for fuel. I've been hitching rides trying to get away from Coruscant. As for my name..." Ayana caught herself, she was about to make a huge error. She didn't know what name to give this man. Her cover as Laci Blackthorn was most likely fully blown at this point. Damnation this was difficult.

"Just call me Ayana, I think that'll be the best for both of us." She loathed using her personal name for situations like these. It felt like wearing your favorite dress to work, a total waste in her mind. If the mission demanded it though, she'd have to do it.

Addressing all of the smuggler's questions one at the time would be a tedious endeavor, but it wasn't like she had anything better to do for the next few hours. Maybe there would even be some fun to be had on this little expedition? The idea of that got 187 to flash a smile, before removing her glasses for her pilot. "Would love to know your name though flyboy. You seem to be pretty worked up about whatever it is your towing in that bay. Or maybe you just don't get many women aboard?"

That last utterance came with a flutter of her eyelashes, attempting to put the smuggler off his game. If she could get his mind off his questions, and onto how lucky he might get, the ride should be a lot smoother. Little did the spy know that she was trying to flirt with a Jedi, a notoriously fruitless endeavor. Though only time would tell just how well all of the monk teaching would hold up under harsher scrutiny.

Raphael Gallustrade

 

[Raphael Gallustrade]

Raphael was immediately horrified when she said that she'd stowed away, as there were a lot of potential issues in that. If she had family looking for her, then his ship could be flagged. If he was lucky, then such a thing wouldn't happen, but his luck didn't always hold out. Yet her near hesitance to provide a name, made him blink. If she'd stowed away, then her hesitance made a bit more sense. He didn't want to really bother with it, really after all she had her reasons, but that woulnd't be the first time. Yet, eventually, she gave a name, which relieved him just a bit. Ayana...

"Ayana, roger that." He nodded. Having a name was, at least, a good start and he readied himself for further requests. Shortly after, though, she asked for his name, further referring to him by "flyboy". Somehow, he kept from chuckling. It was a very fair assessment, he supposed. Raphael had always done a lot of flying and even though this ship was larger than what he was used to, it wasn't anything that he couldn't handle.

"Ah, well, you can call me Noi. Handle, if you will. Far as my cargo, I'm guessing you never delivered X-109 motherboards. Oxydization or even nitrogenization can cause nearly irreperable damage to the electronics of the boards." He paused a moment, considering her last question. "And, uh, no, I don't typically have women on board my ship. I typically travel alone, don't relly have much of a crew, if you understand." He gave a light stretch.

He blinked as she fluttered her eyelashes at him, after all, he didn't know quite what it was that she wanted.

"I'm...guessing that you're needing flown somewhere, then?" he asked, tilting his head. "We can talk about that once I've dropped off the circuit boards... Don't wanna leave these on ship too long, now that I'm here. Gonna have to get some more stuff to ship a bit further out. Outer Rim always needs stuff, especially with the war raging the way that it is." He chuckled, as he headed down the walkway, pondering how she'd gotten on without him realizing. Perhaps his senses needed some fine tuning after all...

B/U-187 "Ayana"