Private Unseen Cargo

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: Flickerfox

Equipment:
Training Jumpsuit | Lightsaber | Modified DL-27

The cockpit was quiet. Outside, stars streaked like silver veins across the dark a hyperspace corridor. Ace sat with one boot kicked up on the control panel, his body relaxed but his eyes tracking the nav readouts. They were only a few minutes out.​

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He could feel it again. It was like a quiet ache in your bones before a storm hit. The Force was stirring for some reason. Ace wondered to himself, was this more than just a simple cargo interception?​

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He'd volunteered the Flickerfox for this mission and, in turn, himself. The fresh rebel figured he'd may as well put her through her paces. Show the Hidden Path he wasn't just a lightsaber. Signal scrambler, blackout stealth plating, fast too - she was perfect for an assingment like this.​

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Aris Noble was to accompany him on this, or maybe, Ace was accompanying Aris. He wasn't sure. Either way, they'd worked together once back during that weird business with the Forge, Aris was a decent person from the short time they'd spent together. Although, neither hadn't spoke since then. Still, he was Valery Noble 's kid and they survived the Forge together, so Ace trusted the now crimson-haired Jedi Knight to keep him alive. And, he'd do the same for Aris.​

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"Got the manifest again." he said, tapping the screen beside him. "Still blank. Ship ID checks out Imperial, but whatever's onboard? It's not logged. Either it's contraband… or classified."​

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His gaze drifted toward the viewport, just in time to watch the flicker of realspace bleeding through the corridor. It was almost time.​

 

[Aris Noble]

"Imperials don't do contraband, so classified it is." Aris settled down in a seat beside Acier, hands noticeably in his lap. Away from the controls. As much as Zaiya Ceti had taught him, he still wasn't good with actually piloting himself. Last thing they needed right now was to crash, especially considering their mission.

Find whatever it was the Imperials felt they needed to keep off the books and bring it back to the Rebellion.

"We'll have to hit it hard and fast so they can't get any reinforcements. Think your ship can handle it?

Acier Moonbound

 

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: Flickerfox

Equipment:
Training Jumpsuit | Lightsaber | Modified DL-27

Ace snorted, a faint smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth.

"She can handle it." he said, giving the console an affectionate pat.

He sat up straighter and dropped his foot from the dash as the nav readout ticked down the final seconds. Ace's expression hardened into a stony focus. Then, he glanced sideways at the giant sitting next to him: For a stealth mission, Aris was a unique person to have by your side. Guy stuck out like a sore thumb, red hair and tall as all hell.

The viewport shimmered, stars slowing, elongating, folding into stillness. Realspace. Ace's fingers flew across the controls. The stars snapped into place.

The moment they dropped out of hyperspace, the target lit up on sensors. It was a mid-sized Imperial freighter, drifting like a dead thing with no escorts. No patrol routes either. Just a big, silent box gliding through the dark. Ace adjusted the Flickerfox's trajectory, angling for a low sweep beneath the freighter's hull.

Ace activated the ship's stealth plating, flicking the switch on the console. The ship's lights dimmed. Outside, the hum of the shields died, replaced by a soft vibration through the floor - the telltale draw of blackout mode draining the auxiliary core.

"Signal scrambler's live too. We're totally invisible."

Ace guided the Flickerfox in close, flipping on the external camera feed as they approached the freighter's underbelly. His eyes gravitated toward the monitor, what was displayed was a faded maintenance hatch nestled between coolant ducts.

"There." he pointed, tapping the monitor "Weak point."

He keyed in the docking protocol. The Flickerfox gave a low thud as magnetic clamps engaged. There was no pressurized link-up, just hull-on-hull and a sealed crawlspace.

Ace stood, grabbing the breaching pack from a floor locker, and made his way toward the hold. He dropped the hatch and stepped into the crawlspace, the chill of exposed metal settling into his bones. He paused at the hull, set the charge, and looked once to Aris above.

"Ready, Red?" he said.

Then he blew the panel. The charge cracked outward with a clean, muffled explosion, cutting a neat ring into the freighter's underside. Ace slipped in first. His boots hit the floor of the cargo bay with a dull thud. It was cold and dim inside. Crates stacked in tall rows. As far as Ace knew, the ship's crew were still none the wiser.

The stir he felt in the Force earlier, it was denser now. He could feel... distress? But it wasn't his, or even Aris's. It was as if the air, the atmosphere, was in distress. Without a word, he moved forward.

Aris Noble​

 

[Aris Noble]

"I trust your word on it."

Aris didn't know enough about stealth ships or the like to know what was and wasn't good. In a way, his life was in Acier's hands. If something went wrong, there wasn't much he'd be able to do to help the other. He tilted his head curiously as he heard the hum of the shields fade and the buzz of something else. Stealthed.

Interesting.

He looked over the screen, nodding as Acier pointed out the weak point. Then he followed, right into the crawlspace. Kind of. Given his size, he mostly waited for Acier to blow open the door for them both to enter. He gave a nod, and the moment the explosive went off he followed in. On the other ship he was already looking around, listening for heartbeats as he always did.

He didn't need to really be stealthy if he could just hear where the others were.

And a heartbeat beating much faster than the others. Panic and fear. His brow knitted together as he glanced to Acier. Had he noticed too? He seemed to have noticed something b how quick he had started to move.

".. There's a patrol coming, just around the bend. Stay low, they're not alerted to anything."

Acier Moonbound