Probing Questions (Rishi System)

[Jorus Merrill]

Once upon a time, a smuggler named Jorus Merrill came to the planet Rishi and made a lifelong friend, an avian Rishii named Quorl. In later years, Jorus passed through the system many times en route to Companion Besh or Void Station, and he and Quorl both became Jedi Masters of note. But those years were now long gone, and Jorus hadn't seen the planet Rishi in what felt like a lifetime, or seen his old friend. Quorl, like so many other Jedi, had scattered to the winds as the Republic corroded and grew more tyrannical.

Jorus had reason to fear for Quorl's safety. The avian Jedi Master's homeworld, after all, was now under the control and aegis of the Imperial Remnant. Not far from here, at Void Station, the Underground operative Cody Bantam had witnessed an Imperial weapon, perhaps a superweapon, frightening away an entire First Order fleet. Soon after, Jorus had tracked an Imperial fleet to Sekalus, right on the border of the Outer Rim Coalition. The Remnant, it seemed, needed to be taken seriously.

The Underground scout ship Black Dagger decanted from hyperspace over Rishi and started scanning. The idea here was to probe a potential location for the weapon, assess the Remnant presence in the Rishi system, and determine whether the planet showed signs of heavy occupation. Privately, Jorus also hoped that Quorl might detect his presence.

 

[Travis Caalgen]

While the planet of Rishi was always a haven for pirates and the like; there was a massive asteroid field around 500,000 kilometers away from Rishi, probably the remnants of a broken moon from long ago, that drew prospective miners and business men, for it was one of the largest sources of Tibanna gas within the territories of the Imperial Remnant. Mere months ago, it had been the site of a secret weapons test for the Conqueror-class Star Destroyer, a ship with power equal to an entire fleet. That same ship, the prototype Silencer, which also served as the mobile headquarters of the Advanced Weapons Research Division was there that very day to resume tests by destroying stray asteroids with the axial-mounted composite beam.

"Commence Primary Ignition."

This phrase echoed through the massive ship while inside the weapons control room, technicians and gunners alike pressed switches and moved levers up and down. The chief gunner gave the signal and a technician pulled down on a latch; tributary beams blasted down shafts and converged on the concave laser dish, which launched a powerful blast into an asteroid that obliterated it, sending debris careening around into other asteroids or into deep space.

​

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"Beautiful." Director Travis Caalgen uttered, watching the display of power from the Silencers' bridge, a smirk creeping over his face. "Allow Reactor Four to cool, charge Reactor Two. Prepare for Single Reactor Ignition." The director told his bridge officer, who acknowledged before leering down at the ensigns and technicians in the crew pits. Something was eerily seductive about the green, destructive glow of the proton beam; but something else made the old man uneasy, as if a bad thing was going to happen very very soon...

[member="Jorus Merrill"]

 

[Jorus Merrill]

[member="Travis Caalgen"]

The Black Dagger​'s ugly, patchwork instrument panel lit up so hard that smoke wafted from the seams. He'd seen the low-resolution scans that Cody Bantam had taken at the Void Station engagement: these results hit all the same buttons. The Force, it seemed, had very specific ideas about where Jorus was supposed to be and what he was supposed to detect. Then again, he reflected, when someone says may the Force be with you, they probably don't mean go stumble over a superweapon.

He steered the scout ship into the nearest portion of the asteroid belt and began slipping his way between rocks, toward the source of the beam. The larger nickle-iron asteroids offered a decent amount of cover, both visually and from sensors. He kept his own scanning suite restricted to passive mode: the last thing he wanted to do was make himself a target for that gun, whatever it was.

Between the asteroids, he caught the occasional glimpse of the beam's origin: a bartially bifurcated Star Destroyer of unfamiliar make and model. Bantam had spotted that ship at Void Station, but Bantam had only been flying a freighter, and his sensor data hadn't revealed much at all.

The main risk here, of course, wasn't the potential superweapon. The risk was fighter screens. The Black Dagger was unarmed, and for every TIE pilot Jorus could trick into ramming an asteroid, another dozen usually stepped up to the plate.

 

[Travis Caalgen]

Director Caalgen turned as one of his lieutenants came up to him; "Sir, Reactor Two is charged." The man relayed, looking upon his superior with a neutral but tired expression. Travis gave a nod "You may commence the tests, fire." He confirmed, moving his gaze from the lieutenant back out to the asteroid fields. "Yes, sir." The lieutenant acknowledged, now facing the crew pits, and with a firm voice announced: "Commence Primary Ignition!". It had been done dozens of times before, the order was relayed across the entire ship and the gunners went to work with the controls.

Once again did the tributary beams fire through their shafts, causing technicians to shield their eyes from their stations, exiting out on the dish and meeting together and pushed through a powerful forcefield. The combined proton beam surged outwards and impacted an asteroid, shattering it the second it met the laser and igniting the Tibanna gas within. Unbeknownst to anyone, they had fired at an asteroid rather close to their uninvited guest who was already snooping...

[member="Jorus Merrill"]

 

[Jorus Merrill]

[member="Travis Caalgen"]

In hindsight, maybe Jorus should have paid more attention to the superweapon. The metallic sensor contacts that filled his screen weren't TIEs, they were fragments of aggressively dispersed nickel-iron asteroid. The Black Dagger juked wildly as Jorus used corrective steering to compensate for the sudden loss of half his starboard dorsal engine. Welds groaned and rivets popped throughout the scout ship. He got control after a handful of seconds, but in that time he'd passed out of the nearest cluster of asteroids.

And pretty much directly into the Star Destroyer's line of sight.

He'd hoped to get a good deal closer before starting his scans. At this range, the Dagger's sensor suite probably wouldn't get the kind of detail necessary to identify the weapon. But without cover, any closer and he'd be easy pickings for the Star Destroyer's capital guns and potential fighter escort. With the missing engine, too, he might not be able to outrace TIEs.

Juking back and forth, he started scanning, crossing his fingers that he could get something before he had to run for it.

 

[Travis Caalgen]

The Weapons Director was admiring the destructive power of his Star Destroyer when an ensign perked up at his station. Turning fast to face the director, the ensign cried "Sir! I'm detecting an unknown starship scanning us!". Caalgen's head snapped towards the source of the sound, anger forming on his features; "Disable it with the ion cannons and capture it in our tractor beams!" He snapped at the bridge at large. Klaxons began to ring throughout the starship as gunners manned their battlestations, on the surface the Conqueror-class' ion cannons swerved and began to rapidly fire at the unknown vessel caught scanning the secret 'superweapon'.

Screeching out of the ventral hangar-bay came an entire squadron, twelve in all, of Imperial TIE/D Defenders which were advanced bomber/fighter hybrids. Forming a wedge formation they blasted towards the interloper; "This is Vector Leader, disable target, over." The TIE Pilot announced to his squadmates.

Oh was he in for it.

[member="Jorus Merrill"]

 

[Jorus Merrill]

[member="Travis Caalgen"]

Even with the loss of an engine, the Dagger had the nimbleness and speed to let Jorus stay ahead of the ion cannon fire - but only if he gave the task serious focus. That focus shattered as his scanners tentatively identified the launching fighters: Defenders, some variant of them anyway. Every bit as fast as the Dagger had been before the engine died. Far more maneuverable. Lasers, ion cannons, warhead launchers.

To every thing there was a season, and a time to every purpose under the heavens: a time to scan, and a time to refrain from scanning. The Black Dagger slipped into the asteroid field, looking for cover while Jorus queued up the hyperdrive.

The drive refused to respond. Predictable, or it should have been: the main drive wasn't far from the engine that had died. The Dagger came with a dinky class-ten backup hyperdrive, but anywhere he jumped, the TIEs might be able to guess. And they could very possibly beat him there.

He had other options, but no time to work on them. Jaw knotted, he jumped for Void Station, his old haunt.

 

[Travis Caalgen]

"DAMNIT!" Director Caalgen cursed, slamming his fist onto the consoles under the viewports. The interloper had escaped before they could capture him, with an unknown about of sensor data on the Conqueror-class Star Destroyer and its weapon systems. "Locate every possible destination from their last known trajectory!" He barked, turning to face the befuddled bridge crew who immediately went to work. "Sir, there are only two possible locations that they could've gone too with the amount of time it took them to enter the navicomputer coordinates, both along the Corridor." An ensign said, looking up at the furious director.

"Kamino and Void Station. Move us out of the asteroid field so that we may send a clear transmission to the fleet commanders at those respective systems." Caalgen said, his white duster following his every move.

​

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[member="Jorus Merrill"]​

 

[Jorus Merrill]

[member="Travis Caalgen"]

Void Station was going to be a problem. He’d picked it because he’d only had a moment, and it was familiar to him. As one of the few places he’d called home over the years, it resonated in the Force in such a way that his unique understanding of hyperspace could help him get there easily. Without question, he could find help there, people he’d employed once upon a time when Silk ran the station and owned most of it.

But the Imperial Remnant controlled it now, tightly enough that they’d been comfortable deploying their pocket superweapon there. As both a smuggler and a former fleet commander, Jorus knew in his bones that someone would be waiting. Fighters, interdiction, all the trimmings most likely, and all before his class-ten drive would get him there.

For once, however, that backup hyperdrive’s glacial speed was a blessing. He might not have room to work, or much in the way of tools, but he had time -- five to ten times longer, in fact, than a normal trip would have taken. Unstrapping, he squirmed past the Black Dagger’s controls and through a maintenance panel. The frigid hull burned cold right through his flight suit, but he kept on going until only his boots were anywhere near the cockpit.

The asteroid impact had damaged, but not destroyed, the .357 Calrissian hyperdrive that made the Dagger one of the galaxy’s fastest ships past lightspeed. He’d built this drive from scratch; fixing it would have been a snap with a decent toolkit. All he had, though, was a handheld multitool -- well, that, and a quarter century of experience modding hyperdrives. He didn’t need the fix to last. One good solid jump would get him somewhere safe, farther along the Mara, to publicly uncharted places where Silk’s search-and-rescue craft stood ready. The Remnant could follow him to Void Station well enough, but they couldn’t find him if he jumped somewhere off the grid.

The problem, though, came down to angles. If he ran into an interdiction bubble, he’d have, oh, half a sphere’s worth of potential vectors, or else a jump would just run him into the bubble again. And that was if he used the Force to counter the edge of the grav well, something that taxed him at the best of times. He could pull it off, but going straight down the Mara would be out of the question, just angle-wise. So where else would be within the Calrissian’s range…

He started chuckling then, for two reasons. For one, if this worked, he didn’t need to limit himself to the Calrissian’s remaining range: a short blind directionless jump at .375, followed by a longer and far more fuel-efficient jump at 10, would put him just about anywhere within a couple sectors. Including the warren of poorly charted, low-velocity, high-hazard nonsense praedia known affectionately as Hutt space.

***​

When the Black Dagger hit a gravity well over Void Station, Imperial forces noted something bizarre. The interdiction field warped, a generator sparked, and the damaged little Underground scout accelerated to hyperspace again. Sideways.

 

[RC 212]

[member="Travis Caalgen"] [member="Jorus Merrill"]

Void Station

It wasn't a place he frequented often. since the collapse of the Republic Rex had been on the run. He used to be a pilot, and a damn good one too. Now instead of a starfighter jockey he was a drunk and a thief. Which was what he was doing at exactly that moment, when the Ol' Imperial Troops busted into the bar.

Ten minutes Prior​

"Where did you go?" He asked one of the troops.

"None of your business spacer trash. Now deal the hand."

Rex grinned, and managed to pocket a sizeable amount of the man's credits as he skimmed them from him person under the table. When the card flipped, he roared again in laughter.

"Ol double dueces eh? You boys suck!"

"What did you say?"

We got a live one here.​

He took another sip of his drink, swirling the amber liquid around in the glass and then slamming it.

Then he threw the glass, right in the troopers face. It shattered, spraying blood drops through the air.

"I said you suck!"

The second his buddy stood up, Rex rose with him, decking him full on with a balled fist full of credits. There was a smack, and then a thud as a body hit the floor. His tipsy vision swirled, but was fine enough for him to arm a ton of creds into a bag and duck as a squadron of Imperial Troops busted through the door....

 

[Darren Jarok]

Commodore Darren Jarok's system fleet came out of hyperspace on a routine patrol of the surrounding systems. The fleet was comprised of 12 ships. The command ship, The Nemesis was different than the others. It was a Nebula class star destroyer that was modified to be more powerful than the base model. Next to it were 2 imperial I class destroyers. 5 Victory I destroyers, 2 fighter carriers and the rest were Arquinten light cruisers.

"Begin scanning the field." Darren said.

"Sir, We are detecting Director Caalgen's ship testing."

"Sir, a fleet of ships have just began attacking Kamino. Orders?" A female crewman said.

Darren looked at her then to the field.

"Set course for Kamino. Get us there fast."

"Yes sir!"

The fleet then turned into the direction of Kamino before zipping away fast.