The Heart Line Story [GUIDE | CIS]

[Magdalena Lethe]

GEONOSIS
Capital Planet of the Confederacy of Independant Systems
Ground level city docking stations of Golbah, outskirts of the Sprawl

Nova 235, a GUIDE Tiefling exploratory craft, carefully settled down onto a docking pad just outside the Geonosian hive city of Stalgasin. Though some preliminary discussions had already taken place, it was still something of a anxiety-inducing event to be traipsing through the territory of a major governmental power. GUIDE had made large efforts to remain within neutral zones, but by and large it was getting more and more difficult to do.

Magda had concerns about this, especially now that the Galactic Alliance no longer held power that would keep entities like the First Order in check. The Confederacy of Independent Systems was something of a curiosity to her - enigmatic in nature. She'd not had enough time with authority figures to make any sort of judgement call, but thus far those she'd shared words with had been open and interested in the GUIDE mission.

For the moment, that was enough.

"Nova 235, checking in to rendez-vous GS10. Hyper Team 6, advise on ETA."

She'd sent out a call to those still within their working force. It wasn't a large group, but they were tried, tested, true, and ready for a new mission. The roll call had included Creia, the head Pathfinder, and her star pupil [member="Isaiah Dashiell"], neither of which Magda had seen in several months.

She'd been away, attempting to secure more funding and investors, and luckily she had good news for them all.

 

[Isaiah Dashiell]

When he'd left it had be reluctantly and to say he hadn't been waiting for her call would be lying. She had dropped some...Interesting truth bombs on him during his all too brief stay at the Beacon of Broadcast and afterwards despite talking several times a day it wasn't brought up again. He half felt like it had been a fever dream story on her end, but in the end there was no one else who had even heard the story and even after digging around with Info Brokers while trying spending all of his credits on figuring out what was wrong with her, any info scrapes had turned up nothing.

One day she just...appeared. Ship and credits in tow.

At least as far as most records were concerned, so he had no reason to think she was lying to him. A search for her brother had turned up almost less information. But he was here now, because regardless of where or when she came from, she was still Mags.

Izzy entered the hangar and whistled at the Tiefling. It had been a few months since he'd seen one. It wasn't bristling with guns or a fancy paint job, but he knew the things could move when coaxed the right way. Creia was already waiting when he got there. He had his still stolen Vanguard armor on, helmet tucked in the crook of his right arm. He gave her a wave, but Creia stood cross armed with the same expression she always wore. He wondered if it was from her days as a stormtrooper or if it was an Atrisian thing.

"At least you aren't drunk this time," she said for her greeting.

"Nice to see you too." The pair shook hands and waited at the foot of the boarding ramp.

[member="Magdalena Lethe"]

 

[Magdalena Lethe]

There weren't many Tieflings permitted leave from the Beacon. In fact, so far as Magda was aware, this was the only one. Cost a pretty credit to run them across the stars - they were hardy and reliable, but goodness did they like to suck down fuel. If she regretted leaving the Beacon stationed at the orbital shipyards of Ceto, it was only due to the mileage.

But it would have cost more to move then entire HQ, Atheema had reminded her over the open link channel in the communications suite.

Magda knew she had a point. Perhaps part of her had grown spoiled and accustomed to money being no object. It left her to wonder what her brother would say. I told you so. Magda quietly frowned to herself as the first two ships checked in: Creia and Izzy. Her heart lept, her breath momentarily fogged up the glass visor of her mask, her hands felt cold and clammy.

Cripes, had she gotten a cut in her environmental suit and not noticed?

"The other teams should be arriving within the hour. I've sent over the platform designs with CETO's additions. All we need now is to work your magic."

"Thanks, Atheema."

The smile she received over the holoimage from Dr. Roenkari was reassuring and appreciated.

"I'll be going now."

Moments later the door at the top of the boarding ramp hissed open, letting in the saturated light of the Genosian sun. Sand and dust blew in and she was briefly reminded of her short time spent in Coalition space helping [member="Jorus Merrill"] patch up his battered ship.

Magda stepped out onto the rail, the golden threads of her suit catching in the light, and turned to put an eyeless gaze upon the pair waiting at the bottom. She was immeasurably glad that Isaiah wouldn't be able to see the warm and slightly watery smile on her face, hidden behind the tinted glass as it was.

"I'm so glad to see both of you."

 

[Isaiah Dashiell]

The suit was...new. He could tell just by looking at it though that his wild dream hadn't come true. She was still sick, but at least now mobile. His eyes were sad but he wasn't embarrassed to share a warm smile with her. He'd stopped walking as if stuck in a trance. Creia on the other hand looked from Izzy to Mags and gave an exasperated sigh before closing the distance between them and giving Magda a mock salute.

"Glad to be back Ma'am," she said and gave a warm smile. Izzy shook his head of messy hair and followed up. He wanted to sweep her up in a hug, but...maybe later. The purples and golds of the suit were striking, especially when they caught the sun.

"Its good to see you on your feet Mags," Izzy said and looked down a little shyly before looking back up and giving her a sheepish, toothy grin. "Really good." Creia chuckled and clapped them both on the shoulder and headed up the ramp, leaving the two alone in the Geonosian air.

"I'm going to check our gear," she shouted over a gust of wind and the low hum of the ship.

 

[Magdalena Lethe]

Magda hung at the top platform as the pair moved up, feeling elated to have them in her presence again - and not through a viewing screen or a pane of glass.

"Creia..." she stammered, momentarily distracted by the look on Izzy's face, "you don't have to do that. I'm not Captain Ra..." Though the warmth in the Senior Pathfinder's expression couldn't be more welcome. Magda found herself heartsick for it and amazed at the loyalty of the people she had working with her.

Now if only Izzy would stop looking at her like that.

The GUIDE Founder lightly wrung her gloved hands. Was it warm out here? It was definitely warm out here.

"Th-" Creia's friendly gesture nearly caused the woman's legs to buckle, "thanks-" she wobbled and braced against the railing, nodding after the Pathfinder as she disappeared inside. Magda looked back to Izzy and felt her smile inexplicably broaden, "It's ... good to be seen. Well ... as much as I can be seen in this ... survival drapery. Atheema designed it. It's based off our Researcher's survival suits, got some upgrades on material and tech and she added this Atrisian silk so I wouldn't feel so ... alien. Uhm, that is to say, not that being an alien is bad necessarily but just different and -"

There were two reasons Magdalena Lethe devolved into tangents: excitement and nervousness. Izzy had two guesses which one it was, the first didn't count.

 

[Isaiah Dashiell]

Was this too forward? He'd almost lost her twice now, and he knew he didn't want to regret any lost time with her. He'd had a long time to think about and mull over things and he'd already decided, even told her how he felt. Though he still wasn't sure if she'd picked up what he put down all those months ago in that white sterile room.

So he went with not too forward. Izzy reached out and clasped her fumbling hands in his and gave a less awkward smile. He gave her hands a tight squeez.

"You look good," he said simply. She got like this sometimes and honestly he thought it was cute, but he'd foolishly stood in the dusty world outside in the wind for too long and had already swallowed two mothfulls of the reddish sand.

"We can catch up while we wait for the others." He gave her a quick, tight hug and started up the ramp. "Besides, if I stand out on this ramp any longer I'll have enough sand in my mouth and hair to refill Tatooine seven times over."

 

[Magdalena Lethe]

Attention caught, the tangent stopped abruptly.

"Ahm - really?"

Forward, not too forward, she couldn't tell the difference. She'd never been particularly good at reading signals of these sorts of things. Awkward, that's what she was, and stood stiffly as the man reached to hug her. A hug she regretted not being fully prepared for.

"Right ... sand ...in your hair," she glanced up at the man's ragged curls billowing in the wind and recalled that she didn't have this issue, "inside then."

The door hissed shut behind them, cutting off the whistle of the wind as Magda lead the way down the hall and into the main control room. There were two others in there, one of which Izzy might recognize as a mechanic from Captain Ra's crew on the Beacon, the other a new face borrowed from CETO.

"Shelly, Mikel, this is Pathfinder Isaiah Dashiell. I think you know Mikel from the Beacon," she gestured towards the man who gave him a casual salut in turn, "Shelly is from CETO. She'll be helping us on the mission."

"Always a pleasure to meet a Pathfinder," Shelly smiled before turning back to her work station.

Magda moved to stand at a holoprojection table, keying in the project outline, "I have some good news. I recently secured two new Investors. It's not much, but it will be enough to get us operational for this new project. The Confederacy of Independent Systems has agreed to sponsor the development of a connecting hyperlane through their space. I'm going to need you and Creia to scout out our proposed route - are you up for it?"

 

[Isaiah Dashiell]

Izzy walked up to the group scratching his head, dumping bits of sand on the floor. He wasn't much a fan of Geonosis so far. Giant bugs, tons of sand, lots of wind...It wasn't for him, and maybe the sand was annoying him and irritating his skin, but maybe he should have waited to get the sand out a little longer. The pair were sitting at what he assumed were their duty stations and were in conversation when he entered. Being introduced as a Pathfinder made him stiffen up a little.

He vaguely remembered Mikel from the Beacon, but only enough to give a nod of feigned remembrance. Shelly on the other hand, she was definitely a face he would remember for a while. He gave her a smile and said,

"Its a pleasure working with you, keep us out of trouble out there will you?" He didn't know if she was just busy with her work of if she was willfully ignoring him. Either way, he shrugged it off and followed Mags to the holoprojector. The projector lit up with plans and Arubesh and numbers. The blue light cast softly on his black armor. He let out a long whistle.

"The CIS eh? That isn't some small sponsor, especially if they want us mapping out hyperlanes. I'm guessing we just find the quickest, stablest routes and they'll come back through and do the heavy lifting?"

 

[Magdalena Lethe]

"Well, stability is certainly key, speed is secondary."

The projection before them switched as she tapped in to the plotted route.

"My proposed route covers several major points of commerce, government, technological development, military installations, and human resources. It will follow an arched path from Kamino to Bothawui, Monastery, Druckenwell, Ascension, Naboo, Tyra'weilen, and end at Sullust. Overall it will connect major trade routes and provide a publicly accessible way-through that will bolster the economy of not only the systems of the CIS, but those presently using the established trade routes as their primary source of import/exportation."

"Nothing's been done to this scale through these areas of the galaxy before. It'll be our very own Mara Corridor and when we've finished we'll be the new Jorus Merrills of the stars. I don't expect this to go quickly, but I fully intend to get it done right the first time."

 

[Isaiah Dashiell]

Izzy let out another whistle, impressed by the route.

"And you think we can get that mapped? There's a lot of empty space between Kamino and Bothawui...I know you've probably already accounted for stars and that sort of obvious thing, but it seems like so much could go wrong in between there. Gravity wells and the like. Its not the only stretch like that either." He shrugged.

"But I guess that's what we're here for right?"

 

[Magdalena Lethe]

"I've run preliminary data scans on known local routes through the systems. There isn't a lot of data, though the CIS has provided me with their own charted lanes - they have what I believe to be a solid foundation for a cohesive hyperlane, but none of the coordinated infrastructure in place."

Magda nodded, lifting a hand to place it on Izzy's upper arm, "So, yes, that is where you come in. Many of the broadzones aren't clear or charted. Kamino to Bothawui is especially lacking. It will be dangerous," she gave his arm a light squeeze before releasing him, "but we're going to do this carefully and no one is allowed to get hurt."

Because she said so. He might not be able to see it but he could probably hear the half smirk in her metallic tone.

"What do you think?"

 

[Isaiah Dashiell]

The con-artist turned explorer inclined his head at the suited woman with a knowing smirk and his eyes sparkled at the opportunity of a challenge.

"When do we start?" Once the pair were talking about work, much of the awkwardness melted away. They were both meant for the stars and any excuse to explore them gave Izzy a rush like none other. The question was a serious one though. As much as he simply...Adored the mystique and rolling hills of red sandstone and red sand and red mountains, he was ready to leave the planet far behind in his memory.

 

[Magdalena Lethe]

"Right away," Magda replied brightly, rolling up onto the balls of her boots to emphasize the point and pausing, briefly, before letting herself back down, "well...once the entire team arrives and I've given the official mission address. Which should be in less than an hour, so we have some time."

A pause as Magda seemed to consider the awkwardness returning with the silence.

"I could use some help switching out the core power cells. The Nova will need to be traveling with as many spares as it can manage."

 

[Isaiah Dashiell]

Izzy was aware that others would have been joining them on this mission, but he hadn't understood that it would have been as large an undertaking as to take several vessels. He'd assumed that they would all fly together and that as a result he'd have more time to spend with Mags in between deep space flights. The revelation caused the young man to cock an eyebrow, only adding to the awkwardness.

"Sure," he said in response. He'd never mapped a route before, but he'd heard it took ages to form new hyperlanes. While new technologies over the course of a few hundred years had sped up the process a bit, the length of time it would take did not register with Izzy.

"Let's get those power cells swapped."

 

[Magdalena Lethe]

"There's two more teams of Pathfinders that will be joining us in a month once they fly in from Ceto," Magda said as she lead the way through the ship back to the engine room, "so you and Creia will have a few more to coordinate."

The implication being that it wasn't simply Creia in charge, but Izzy getting a promotion to team leader. He'd always seemed to be a solo act to Mags, so it left her wondering how he'd take it. "Creia had a few ideas of how she thought it would be best to tackle the route, but I'll leave that up to you guys to discuss. You're the experts, after all."

 

[Mishel Kryze]

Geonosis​

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Golbah​

The Sprawl​

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The Sprawl, the furthest out of Golbah proper before you hit the hives, her sister called it the Fringe. She wouldn't be wrong in calling it that either this was the part of Golbah that was always under construction, repulsor cranes, and fierce excavators took up most of the landscape followed by ramshackled shanty towns and favelas. Favelas and shanty towns hugged the lowend apartments taking up space that would otherwise be reserved for another skyscraper or business venue. It wasn't a problem before the Alliance fell, but afterward? The Confederacy didn't know where to put everyone, Naboo would only take so many and other planets had limited space or were otherwise uninhabitable. This left the capital to take up much of the slack, close quarters was an understatement.

Mishel's boots while thick and durable looked as if they had a run-in with a sarlaac. They made a rhythm out of mud puddles, with spolshes and splashes, her pants tucked into the thigh high boots as she walked. Blaster and slugthrower hung in their spacer's leather holsters as they bobbed against her hips. Forest-damn-near-olive green jacket with brown pads sectioned up along the forearm and over the shoulder, sat over a white tunic. Lightsaber clipped to the back of her belt where her long espresso brown hair nearly met with it. Curious hazel-green eyes examined this section of the Sprawl. She could make out the hives from here and was now in the middle of trying to figure out a direct path.

[member="Alessandra Creed"], Mishel's younger sister had dispatched the not-Jedi to meet with [member="Magdalena Lethe"] and GUIDE on behalf of the Confederacy. Honestly, Mishel figured it was just a way to get her out of the city and out of Alé's hair. With Shia away on some sort of business, it left Mishel restless and uneasy in between 'crusades' as it were.

 

[Isaiah Dashiell]

Izzy blinked and stared at her for a moment....And then blinked again. Had he heard that right? Mags had said he and Creia would coordinate teams? He opened his mouth to speak and then paused, closing his mouth, the confusion written all over his face.

"Wait, what do you mean? Creia's the team leader isn't she? What do you mean coordinate?" It should have been obvious to him, and as the realization began to dawn on him that he was going to be left in charge of people his expression began to twist into a combination of excitement and horror.

"You want me to lead a team?"

 

[Magdalena Lethe]

"Well...yes," though no visible expression could be seen to accompany the response, the tone more than made up for the cue, "next to Creia you are our most experienced and senior Pathfinder. On a project this large we'll be better served splitting into teams."

Magda paused as she reached the doorway to the engine room, turning to face Izzy, "There's no one I trust more to lead the second team. Don't sound so surprised, Izzy, you earned this. I know you'll do a great job." She was smiling behind her visor. The man had proven his worth several times over and showed he had what it took to get the job done and keep his team mates safe.

Entering the security code, the doorway hissed open and permitted them into the engine room, "You know, if it wasn't for you, we wouldn't even be here."


~~~


Outside the docked ship, Shelly studied the dossier and supply lists for their next flightpath, speaking briefly with the dockhand to coordinate further deliveries. She was the first of the GUIDE crew to notice the arrival of [member="Mishel Kryze"] and looked at the woman over a datapad of scrawling information.

"Afternoon," the woman greeted Mishel, "you must be the Confederacy contact. Sorry, didn't catch your name in the briefing - I'm Shelista Kor, ExMaP Director of Ceto Engineering and Technology Operatives. I'm working with GUIDE on the Heartline Project."

 

[Mishel Kryze]

"Afternoon," Mishel greeted csually and nodded in acknowledgment as Shelly, or Shelista Kor as she introduced herself spoke. The woman seemed tall, with a lean build perhaps her facial features struck Mishel as though Shelly was either a human replicant, android, or cyborg and she really bounced between the first two ideas. The sounds of the Sprawl fell into a dull roar behind her, the port held an excellent view of the spires, the former and current hives of the natives. The slow kick of wind blew dust mites and heavier scraps of sand across the otherwise unforgiving landscape. Repulsor cranes, and the movement of construction vehicles dotted the horizon around them. "So, I'm a little slow and slightly dense." A self-depreciation joke as good as any, "but what's GUIDE and... Heartline you said? What's that all about?"

 

[Isaiah Dashiell]

In mock exasperation Izzy tossed his arms up and let his hands fall to his hips with a sigh before he began to follow her into the room. His own team? That was definitely a step up for sure. With a mission as long but easy as this one though? What could go wrong? He paused mid step as thoughts rushed through his head. There were many, many things that could go wrong. They could wind up in the gravity well of an old uncharted black hole, a miscalculated jump could throw them into the pit of a star, a nebula could throw them off course and they could get lost for months....The possibilities were endless. He shrugged and followed her the rest of the way in.

"Not much of a team on my own," he quipped. "Where's the rest of these slackers?" A joke, but in all honesty he was starting to get antsy. They were going to be out there for a long time and he honestly wanted to get started.

[member="Magdalena Lethe"]