The First Step (First Order)

[Zak Dymo]

Once the boy had received permission to launch, he eased the TIE out of the docking berth.

Drifting through the hangar, the box-like starfighter ghosted through the air until it was over the open doors at the base of the ship. Then, plunging downward, the young Pantoran punched the accelerator. Twisting the ship around, the boy angled the ship toward the planet as he sped toward atmospheric entry.

Reaching up for the comm unit, the youth had to stand up from out of the seat in order to make the necessary adjustments to scan for the pod's transponder frequency. Settling back into the pilot's chair, the blue-skinned 'tween' prepared for the rollercoaster of re-entry. The exterior of the cockpit and the edged of the wings already starting to glow red with friction as the TIE skimmed the upper atmosphere.

 

[OK-3103]

From within the pod, 3103 figured the gravel storm has abated. He realised suddenly that the incessant hum outside had stopped. He pressed the controls for the hatch and waited. It unlocked with a clank and groaned open – allowing sunlight in from above. An avalanche of sand poured in. When it stopped he grabbed his rifle and pulled himself up through the hatch.

The sun was peeking above the horizon. From what he could see, the entire pod was buried. With the transponder scrapped, nobody was going to find it in this wasteland. He realised he has to hike out of here on his own. But which way led to the nearest settlement?

He jumped back in surprise as five scurriers pop out of the open hatch and race off into the desert. The pesky scavengers would be seeking out the nearest food source – garbage. Trash meant there had to be some kind of civilization around here. He grabbed his macrobinoculars and climbed the nearest dune and focused the macros, trying to track the scurriers.

He spotted them, already about a kilometre out. The numbers suddenly read four meters as a massive blur rose in his macros’ viewscreen. A gigantic head and long neck burst out of the sand. He didn’t care if it was a sandworm, krayt dragon or worse. He raised his rifle and was about to shoot when a snout playfully nuzzled his helmet.

He lowered his rifle and saw a ronto with an innocent smile on its snout. Its sand-flaps dangled from the back of its head. The beast cooed as it rubbed his helmet again. “Hey, stop it,” he said, gently pushing the ronto away. The he noticed a set of reins dangling from the animal’s snout and a squarish saddle strapped to its back. He reached up to scratch the ronto’s neck. It bent down and licked her visor. “Hey there, big fellah. Where’s your rider? You must have been stuck out here during the gravel storm. I guess those sand-flaps helped protect you.” The ronto just affectionately rubbed its snout against his helmet.

Which was when his comms burst into life – they must be boosting the signal from their end. He could hear them but not reply. SAR was standard protocol, so he did as he was told and waited patiently.

[member="Evangeline Ovmar"] [member="Boo Chiyo"]

 

[Sentiri]

Always doing things with a smile. That was something foreign to Sentiri. Among the Chiss, smiles were rare commodities. Genuine smiles, those not for the purpose of business or keeping up appearances, were nearly nonexistent. That facial expression was just not a part of Chiss culture or even vocabulary. Why have "happiness" when the purpose of life was accomplishment? Pleasure was nothing more than a distraction to progression.

Yet humans seemed to have such a knack for these little distractions, for smiles. They were unsettling to the Intelligence operative. They reminded her of Klaus.

The agent pushed those thoughts from her mind. Neither her countenance nor her body language betrayed her brief flush of emotion. As she and Commissioner [member="Viktor Alexander"] made their way to the freighter, she continued to download information to her datapad and scan through it for relevant information to her assignment: flight logs, surface scans, pings from other surrounding vessels, the origin of the communication from [member="Arthan Corvax"].

She settled into the vacant co-pilot's chair as the Commissioner gave the pilot his orders. Her mind took note of the Commissioner's words to the man. She was especially interested in his interpretation of the mission. Where the Intelligence agent was concerned about the pod and its malfunction and retrieval, the Government official was concerned for the life of a trooper. Odd humans, she thought, filing that information away in another part of her mind.

Within seconds, she had a course plotted. As the pilot prepped for take off, she triggered the comms. "Coyote-one-nine. Sending you telemetry now. This sensor data should narrow your field of search. Judging from a lack of communication from the pod, assume transponder offline. Suggest to pick up your visual scanning." Moments later, after clearance had been granted for departure, the freighter lifted off from the Coercer on its repulsorlifts and moved out into open space.

[member="Boo Chiyo"] [member="OK-3103"]​

 

[OK-3103]

The transponder was down, he was sure of it. So waiting by the pod only had value if it was easily visible – and under all that sand it was hard to see when you stood next to it, let alone from any distance. He needed to either make his visible signature as large as possible, or effect his own rescue.

A fire was his first thought – but there was nothing to set light to. So he slung his rifle over one shoulder and approached the ronto’s saddle. There were no ropes or harnesses to climb. It turned its long neck to stare at him, the ronto knowingly kneeling down on the sand. 3103 grabbed the saddle, stepping onto the ronto’s bent leg and swung himself up.

Settling into the awkward saddle, he patted the creature’s neck. “Good fellah. Now, can you take me home?” The ronto looked back at him quizzically. “You know, home,” he said insistently. “Food, water, civilization? Hello...” he said, patting its head. “Is there anything clicking in that tiny brain of yours? Look, fellah, if I don’t find civilization, I can’t hop a transport back home. But I’m not going anywhere unless you start walking. Get it?”

The ronto craned its neck back and nuzzled his helmet once more. “Look, you can mess up my crash hat as much as you want when we reach a settlement, okay?” He knew the creature didn’t understand. Maybe it just felt like moving on? Anyway, the beast abruptly stood up and began stomping off over the sand, following the same path the scurriers had moments before. He sighed and patted the ronto’s neck. “Good fellah.”

[member="Sentiri"] [member="Boo Chiyo"]

 

[Graf's Archive Account]

Arthan had been trekking for about seven minutes before spotting a ronto on the horizon, he stopped and took a drink of water from his flask. He couldn't see the escape pod anywhere even though this was the area where he had seen it land. Arthan decided to try to sense where the lifeform was so he dropped to his knees and closed his eyes, entering the deep state of meditation.

After fifteen seconds his eyes burst open and he broke into a run towards where the ronto was. When he had sat down for the meditation he didn't sense just the ronto, but the trooper he was looking for who was mounting the ronto. The ronto he was running towards started moving in an unknown direction, taking the trooper with it.

Of all of the powers of the Force that Arthan had, why wasn't Force speed one of them? It was too late now to learn it, but to just keep running. He reached the point where he felt that they would be within earshot "Trooper! Wait!" He yelled to them in a tired but rather loud voice, hoping that one of them would hear him and stop.

[member="Evangeline Ovmar"] [member="Boo Chiyo"] [member="Viktor Alexander"] [member="Sentiri"] [member="OK-3103"]

 

[Kenrath]

Viktor looked on as the Freighter breached orbit towards their destination. Turning towards [member="Sentiri"] he smiled.

"So Agent Sentiri what brought you to the First Order?"

He was of course making small talk filling the time before they reached their destination. He was sure that either [member="Boo Chiyo"] in the Fighter or [member="Arthan Corvax"] on the ground would send in updates as they became available. Besides he was curious and even a little intrigued by the Chiss woman.

After a minute he reached over opening a Comm channel to reach [member="OK-3103"] on the standard SAR frenquency.

"Oscar Kilo three one zero three this is Sierra Alpha Romeo four six......SITREP over."

Viktor wanted a good idea of what they were flying into and what kind of condition the Trooper was in.

 

[OK-3103]

[member="Arthan Corvax"]

The ronto had keener hearing than the trooper on its back but at least he had his wits about him. When the creature's ear flicked at the sound, he realised it must have heard something and he pulled on the reins for it to stop.

He scanned the horizon and sure enough, there was an individual heading towards them - and whoever it was, they wore the robes of the Knights of Ren. So he turned the creature and headed towards the figure, closing the gap quickly. Once he reached the man, he jumped down from the creature's back.

"OK-3103 reporting for duty."

 

[Graf's Archive Account]

The Disciple grabbed the flask from his belt and offered it to the trooper, after all in a desert terrain it was best to stay hydrated and Arthan didn't know how long they'd be waiting for SAR to get there. He then activated his comlink and made sure it was still on the frequency of the commissioner that contacted him earlier "Commissioner Alexander, this is Disciple Corvax. I am with the trooper designated OK-3103, transmitting location right now." He said, pressing a few buttons on it and sending the information to him.

Arthan turned to the trooper "Are you hurt?"

[member="Evangeline Ovmar"] [member="Boo Chiyo"] [member="Viktor Alexander"] [member="Sentiri"] [member="OK-3103"]

 

[OK-3103]

[member="Arthan Corvax"]

The private shook his head at the question, then remembered protocol. Even Disciples of the Ren were treated like officers. "No Sir," he confirmed. "Some dehydration, and the escape pod was written off. Vermin in the capital ship stowed on board and chewed cables. It was a surprise I landed in one piece. But I can show the recovery team it's location - and advise the crew on the starship to eradicate the rodent menace."

He patted the ronto. "Looks like the end of the line for you and me." And with that he removed his helmet and attached it to the creatures saddle. It turned its head and nuzzled the white armour. "Each to their own," he smiled, "And I'm sure we won't miss this one."

 

[Sentiri]

What indeed? Sentiri thought. Mostly she was thinking about how to answer the question from [member="Viktor Alexander"] without getting personal. The months leading up to her joining the First Order had been a trial. The guilt of her siblings, the betrayal of her husband, the exile from her people. She had wandered the galaxy searching for purpose. Sentiri wasn't one to lead a life without direction, and despite the mass of unsettling feelings surrounding her becoming an outcast, the Chiss woman had quashed them all. Rather than spending time thinking about the future, instead, her thoughts were quite clear on what she wanted.

"Order. Loyalty. Ambition." She said each word matter-of-factly, without gravitas or inflection. She imagined that her brief explanation would come of like not unlike many of those brainwashed through re-education. The woman cared not. Her desire for those things was genuine, especially after being lied to by her own people's disrespect for those values.

The Agent was relieved when a transmission came through from the surface, putting a kibosh on any possibility of follow up questions from the Commissioner. Sentiri pulled the communiqué up in real-time and, instead of hearing the voice of [member="OK-3103"] as she had assumed, instead she heard the voice of [member="Arthan Corvax"]. Homing in on the source of his transmission once more, she plotted a new course into the navcomputer and transmitted the same data to "Coyote-One-Nine."

[member="Boo Chiyo"]​

 

[Kenrath]

Viktor chuckled glancing at [member="Sentiri"] briefly.

"Now see if you were a brainwashed Storm Trooper that answer may actually be a valid answer." "That is what the First Order offers but not what brings people here." "Sounds like you got that answer off a recruitment Holovid." "Me personally it was because I hated dealing with Sith. " So rather than being subjugated as a walking corpse I left the One Sith and came here."

The transmission from [member="Arthan Corvax"] interrupted their little discussion.

"Acknowledged ETA......... two minutes"

He had started to ask why [member="OK-3103"] had broken every protocol in the book but decided to save it for when they got the ground.


[member="Boo Chiyo"]