The Beginning of It All

[Aela Talith]

Aela's eyes snapped open, her lips parting and a quick breath sucking into her lung.

Something was wrong.

She could feel it, sense it. Her entire body surged and thrummed with a sort of energy. Her eyes, bright orange suns seemed to fade for a second, and she caught a flash of something. Her lips sealed and thinned, her eyes snapped closed, and her hands shot to cover her face. She let out a loud groan as a rush of something fell over her, and then suddenly it stopped.

Aela let out a loud gasping sigh, her body shaking suddenly, a cold sweat forming across her skin. She reached out, grasping her sheets and pulling herself up and out of her bed, bare feet touching the cold floor.

“Felix.” She called out over the comm, reaching the small wall device within only three steps from her bed. “Felix is everything okay?”

The droid didn't answer for a few moments, causing a few skipping beats of Aela's heart.

“Affirmative.”

She let out a sigh of relief. Apparently she had just had a bad dream. The Rising Tide was perfectly okay and everything seemed to be going well, at least according to Felix. She fidgeted for a moment, running her fingers over the comm-device before shaking her head. Slowly she dressed herself in loose robes, shifting slightly and heading out the door.

Something was still wrong, but she didn't know what.

 

[Micah Talith]

Micah wasn’t in bed.

No he was raiding the food processor.

Half dressed in loose dark gray pajama pants, the fifteen year old would stand drinking chug after chug of namana nectar. Sweet and with a hint of a rush, the teenager enjoyed drinking some much needed hydration after his late night workout.

He was sweaty, with his brown hair sticking out in damp tuffs in all directions, his face flushing from the exertion. Muscles would flex, sinew rippling over the tone features of his physique. He was well on his way to manhood, and it was showing.

He gave an exhale, licking his lips and pressing the cold container of the nectar over his forehead, the cool temperature a fantastic sensation over his hot skin. Beads of sweat went rolling down his jaw, past the flecks of barely there scruff he would desperately try to grow out. It was an awkward stage, where the patchwork look was not quite as good looking as that of his father’s.

But it was a work in progress.

His free hand went running through his damp hair, pushing back the damp forelocks to reveal the bright glow of his amber eyes. A proper cooldown was always part of the routine, and this particular one meant he would wander the corridors of the Rising Tide drinking his nectar.

A yawn would break, and he would stretch, unaware of [member="Aela Talith"]’s particular dark foreboding.

 

[Aela Talith]

She wandered slowly through the halls of the ship, each step was tentative and slow, each one paced. It was an odd thing, as if she were scared of her own ship.

The Rising Tide was safe of course, completely so. No one could get onboard this ship that she didn't know about, no one could even look at the ship without her knowing. That was because it was a stealth ship, and yet the bad feeling inside of her stomach persisted, pressed at her. She didn't think about it, but she was still scared.

“M-Micah?” Aela said as she turned another corner.

He was the only other person on the ship, or at least he was the only other person who should have been on this ship. She slowly moved faster, her feet carrying her a bit more towards the center of the vessel. Her own room was located at the front of the ship, near the bridge, yet if there were any stow aways they would come from the back of the vessel.

In the cargo hold, right?

 

[Micah Talith]

Micah froze. Did he hear something?

He would frown, slipping the bottle of namana nectar away from his mouth. He was confused, but could have sworn he heard [member="Aela Talith"]'s voice.

She'd been acting really weird lately. Stranger than usual, and that was saying something. Still frowning, the teenager would open up his senses to the Force. He was always good at figuring out where his siblings were at. Following that ribbon of a connection, it didn't take long before he caught the sight of his normally aloof older sister tentatively walking towards the cargo bay.

He gave a slight scowl and a half expression of baffled amusement," Just what are you doing?" he would ask her, giving her a look that said she was acting weird.

 

[Aela Talith]

A sigh of relief left her lungs as she found Micah walking through the halls. Her face contorting for half a second as she was confronted by him. For half a moment she had thought he was an intruder, a ludicrous thing of course, but a fear that had held strong.

“Nothing.” Aela said, quickly trying to save face. “I thought I heard something, that's all.”

She smiled, or tried to.

It wasn't an expression that she was very good at. Of course Micah would be one of the few to have seen it at least once, though the others that were now in the Covenant were getting more used to it. For a moment she observed her little brother, then opened her mouth to speak again. “What are you doing up so late?”

There was a hint to her voice.

One that made her sound like Kira.

 

[Micah Talith]

"Ri-iight," he'd say, a slow gait bringing him closer to his sister, a look of disbelief plastered across his chiseled, patchwork scruffy face. "And I'm the Prime Minister of the Republic." he'd joke, taking another swig of the nectar. His ears would perk at that tone; oh here we go again.

A grimace of annoyance swept over Micah's face.

"Sleep-walking," he would say with slight sarcasm, gesturing to his body, the lack of a shirt and sweat pants his only article of clothing. Let's not forget the slight scent of sweat and musk still hanging about him, his face and skin still flushed from his earlier work out.

"Clearly. You have saved me from inevitably walking into a door." He would give a slight mocking toast to Aela with a cant of his bottle of nectar.

"Thanks, sis. Good looking out." He said, starting to walk right past her to head back towards the bow of the Rising Tide.

 

[Aela Talith]

“Har-har.” Aela said in response to her brother as he began to walk past her.

She moved to grab him or at least get his attention.

“Dra-” Her voice was suddenly interrupted as the lights all aboard the ship flashed out of existence. The bright fluorescent white suddenly turned to black, the sound of electrical sparking could be heard, and a deep rumbling shifted throughout the ship followed by the crash of metal.

Aela tried to catch herself, but as the ship shook she suddenly fell over onto her rear, landing with a hard impact and thud, sliding against the wall and smacking the back of her head against the bulkhead. For a few seconds her vision went black, and then suddenly the alarm began to tear throughout the ship, resounding once, then twice.

“Warning.”

Aela shook her head, trying to shake the dizziness away.

“Warning. Sail integrity compromised.”

She shook again, touching her head as another surge shifted through the ship and the Rising Tide fell out of hyperspace.

 

[Micah Talith]

"Esmae!?"

His voice would be faint. Almost as if coming from a distant tunnel.

"Esmae!"

It came again, seemingly echoing through [member="Aela Talith"]'s ears as she would come to.

"Esmae! Get up!" yup, now that was loud enough to pierce eardrums. Micah's face was flushed with concern, a small cut over his temple already bleeding, Namana nectar spilled in a puddle on the floor, the bottle rolling as another shudder shook the Rising Tide. Strong hands would drag Aela to her feet, holding her tight and upright, urging her to walk.

Klaxons would scream over head, red alarm lights sweeping as the emergency floor lights illuminated their path.

"Keep walking," Micah told his sister, his voice gruff by her ear. He was worried, an edge of panic in his tone. "Head towards the bridge."

What in the blazes had happened?!

 

[Aela Talith]

Her head shook from side to side, her vision cleared, and slowly she began to wake up again.

Aela's ears were ringing, her lips turned down in a scowl as pain throbbed through the back of her head. Had she hit something? She must have. Her eyes shifted down to look at her little brother, his words striking her. Something was wrong? Shifting again she looked at the bright red alarm lights sweeping across the ceiling.

Suddenly she remembered everything.

“The bridge.” Aela said quietly. “Lets get to the bridge.”

She was less telling Micah, and more telling herself. He knew exactly where they had to go, but she needed to state it out loud to herself as a sort of mission. Quickly her steps increased in speed, and with Micah guiding her the two of them managed to reach the bridge in what seemed like no time at all.

 

[Micah Talith]

To the bridge they went, stumbling here and there as the klaxons and alarms kept blaring overhead. All the while, Micah would carry the bulk of [member="Aela Talith"]’s weight, not because she couldn’t do it herself, but more for the fact of his concern over her.

Older sister or not, Esmae was his sister, and he had a protective streak when it came to the well-being of his siblings.

Warning cries would continue to flash, but even Micah knew that it had to be something big for them to be kicked out of hyperspace. But what?

They both made it to the bridge a few minutes later, worn and with a few drops of blood from a cut on his temple smudged here and there on his face.

“Felix!” he cried out, moving Aela towards a seat as the ship gave another shudder.

“What’s going on?” He himself went to review the sensors.

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Micah Talith"]

Aela simply watched.

What was clear was that they had dropped out of hyperspace. The clear streaking blue lines that were supposed to be in the viewport were completely gone, replaced by bright purple and pink mists, dashes of yellow cutting through. Her eyes wandered, danced across the viewport.

She could see nothing.

No stars. No quasars. Nothing.

Was it a nebula? No. Nebulas weren't this thick. They didn't hide everything. The alarm systems blared, and Aela snapped. “Felix, shut it off!”

The droid complied, and quickly the red blaring lights and the loud klaxons became silenced. Aela watched for a moment more, staring out the viewport, trying to figure out exactly what was going on. Her eyes narrowed.

 

[Micah Talith]

"I'm getting nothing." Micah would echo over his shoulder to [member="Aela Talith"], his entire focus on the ship's sensors.

"Figures that Nohei decides to skip this trip to study more with dad," he'd mutter under his breath, the irony no escaping him that he one more apt to be able to figure out what was going on was not with them. Well this kinda blew.

He gave a frown, his forefinger sweeping across the holographic display, eyes drifting back and forth as the remarkable lack of information detailing exactly what they were dealing with would scroll on by.

"Scanning the local area." he told her, moving onto another screen, fingers tapping across it as another display would pop up, bathing his face and bare torso in soft blue light.

"I'll try and see where we are at. Get our last point of reference from the trajectory." he would move onto the Nav Comp then while the sensors would sweep around the ship and the nearby system for any threats and information.

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Micah Talith"]

Aela thought, barely listening to Draith as he did actual work.

She frowned slightly, watching the mists outside of the window. She tried to think, remember. This seemed familiar. Not as something that she had experienced before, not as something that had happened to her on occasion before, but something that she had read about, something that she knew about from somewhere.

“Not a nebula...” She said to herself.

No the mists were far too thick to be that of a nebula, and nebula didn't block all sensor readings or communications, just some of them. Her lips thinned as she tried to think, her eyes watching some of the sensor reading.

“Felix.” Aela caught the droids attention. “Tell me all relevant data on the Hapes Cluster.”

Was that right? It seemed right.

 

[Micah Talith]

Micah heard the mention of Hapes. But that wasn't right, he'd frown, his brow furrowing. He began to shake his head.

"No, no where near Hapes. We are in Protectorate Territory" he told her. That was wrong. His fingers went sliding across the screen, bringing up the data of their trajectory. His face would bloom with more confusion, dark damp and slightly bloody forelocks sticking to his temple.

"We are near the Yag'Dhul System"

The Yag''Dhul System was home to Yag'Dhul, the home world of the Givin and capital of the Givin Domain. Small and barren, Yag'Duhl's three large moons produced tidal forces so extreme that often the planet's water and atmosphere were drawn to different parts of the planet, leaving the rest of the world in vacuum. The planet was at the intersection of the Rimma Trade Route and the Corellian Trade Spine, ensuring a heavy amount of traffic. This was Protectorate territory; which was fine. They were likely to find aide here. The Protectorate and the Pyre had regular scouting parties, especially this close to a a hyperlane intersection.

Well, at least from what he could remember. Word had it that the Protectorate was starting to scale back ever since the Event, their resources strained as much as everyone else's with the disappearance of so many.

 

[Aela Talith]

Aela shook her head.

“I know.” That wasn't what she was thinking about, not that they were in Hapes, but...the mists. “There's something up here, Draith. This isn't a nebula, it shouldn't have knocked out all of our sensors or comm's...and definitely couldn't have pulled us out of hyperspace.”

No, this was something more.

“Miss Aela.”

She looked to Felix who was holding a small datapad. She frowned at him, then grasped the small metal slab and began to scan the information over it. Her eyes flicked up and down the screen, quickly scanning the information. Her finger tapped against the glass, once, twice, then a third time until she suddenly came to a stop.

An excited noise escaped her throat. “Transitory Mists!”

That was what they were called. They were what had allowed the Hapes Consortium to grow and to become so isolated. The ionized region of space that made the Hapes Cluster so safe from invasions, that must have been what they were in now...or something like it at least.

 

[Micah Talith]

"What?" came Micah's befuddled exclamation at that.

"Transitory Mists?" his nose would crinkle, and a hand rose to wipe back his hair and a smear of blood away from his face. "There is no record of them here." he told her.

"It is no where in the database." He told her, returning his attention to the navcomputer. "There's no way. The Protectorate has the Omega Defense Force scouting these lanes constantly.. and even if they do not have the resources they once did, there would be a mention of them to begin with somewhere."

His hands were a flurry as he tried to make sense of that information, searching the Nav-Comps databank stores.

 

[Aela Talith]

She nodded in agreement. It didn't make any sense that the Protectorate would miss this, but then again, the galaxy was massive. It was impossible to scout all parts of the galaxy, and it was entirely plausible that even the the Protectorate had missed this, after all they were hardly infallible. Her lips thinned slightly, worry lines creased her face.

“They must have missed it...” Aela trailed off, concern pouring through her voice. “What else could it be, Draith?”

That question worried her. If it wasn't Transitory Mists...could someone have done this on purpose? “Felix. Do any of the scanners work at all?”

“Yes Miss Aela.”

She nodded. Okay, that was good at least. The Sensors were down and so were communications, but at least they could user the scanners.

“Scan our surroundings, see...” She looked at Micah for a second. “See if the scans match those found in the Transitory Mists around Hapes.”

 

[Micah Talith]

The scans would indeed show that they would match the Transitory Mists around the Hapes Cluster, much to Micah's chagrain. "They match." he said with an edge of frustration.

"It seems it is smaller than the vast expanse that included all the worlds of the Consortium." Micah would relay from the sensors, leaning forward upon the array, bracing his weight on his palms as he would continue to review the information.

He gave a small shake of his head as concession, " That could be a reason why it would be missed by the Protectorate or their scouts." He told her.

He would turn to look over his shoulder at Aela, "That also means that the likelyhood of a very specific route through it is the only way out." especially since the mist would block long range and holocomm transmissions.

 

[Aela Talith]

The question was, were they in that route?

Had they been knocked into the mists and torn out of hyperspace? Had the sails been ripped apart by an Ionized strike? That must have been it.

It was lucky that the Rising Tide had other thrust systems besides its massive sails. Briefly she wondered if she should perhaps have those systems enhances, strengthened and made better. Her lips thinned, her head shaking as she realized now was not the time to debate upgrading her ship. “So, what do we do?”

Did they keep going forward?

If they did they would end up deeper in the mists. The path for now seemed to be safe, there were no more static discharges in the ships systems and the rumblings had stopped. They seemed to be on a safe trajectory, but would it change if they went back?

"Do we keep going?" She said echoing her thoughts. "Or turn around?"

 

[Micah Talith]

Micah's lips would thin. He didn't answer Aela's question just yet. They first had to figure out what damage they were looking at with the Rising Tide. He would push himself off from the sensor array, striding over towards another terminal that he would use to determine their state of affairs.
It wasn't just a simple thing of bringing in the Rising Tide for a quick fix.

No, the complexity of the design meant that they had to go back to C.E.T.O. for repairs.

What he found had him set his expression in a rare grim line. "The sails are ripped apart." They still had other thrust systems, but right now, while the sensors would say that the mists are smaller here than in the Hapes Consortium, small was relative.

"Any hails for assistance or emergency beacons are not going to go through the mists." he said bluntly. There was not calling for help. "Felix will not be able to navigate through this on his own. Not with the exact route." For once, his expression was serious, and the look he had on his face made him appear so much like his father at that time.

"Unless--"