Onboard the Arquelle

[(Alex) Jacen]

*** OOC: Anyone following the "Tell me where to aim, and I'll shoot" thread be warned: this thread, and the "Outside the APEX-XTC" are set a little bit in advance...***



Jacen sighed, and slung his bag over his shoulder. "Will you be leaving as soon as the meeting is over, Master Jacen?" There was a mournful tone in Trey's voice. With the "face" of Jango Fett staring at him, it was a little disconcerting.

"Yeah, sorry Trey," he replied, patting the Malandorian Battle Armour of the droid firmly over the shoulder. "I'll get back to base before you do, though."

He turned to the ramp, and began to descend. Then he remembered. He called back over his shoulder to Captain Gavyn Erach of the Rage Marauder...the ship that Jacen had left at 'home'. "Tell my uncle I said hi."

The Captain smiled and nodded. Jacen jogged down the ramp, Trey following in his wake, and Kay-4 rolling along beside him.

[(Alex) Jacen]

It was almost half an hour before Jacen returned...and it was only to escort Trey back "home". As the droid vanished up the ramp, Jacen sighed and turned, knowing by sound every motion the ship made. It rose steadily on its repulsorlifts, and turned towards the runway. It drifted higher, allowing clearence for its wings to decend. Then, as the main engine kicked in, it disappeared skywards. As Jacen glanced over his shoulder, he thought he could see Keldon's ship waiting for them. But even with his visor on, he wouldn't have been able to see. He sighed. Barring some freakish miracle, he was on his own. One night's rest, and then he'd be off to kill a man.

His stomach rumbled. "I'm hungry," he muttered, and headed back to the Gate.

[Trey]

Trey stepped back up the ramp into the Lambda-class Aquelle, but his master did not follow. He, and his astromech companion Kay-4 stood back from the ramp, watching. As Trey stepped onto solid deck, he heard the whirr of the ramp closing. "Bye master," his compassionate third whispered, as he settled down into his chair.

With a click, latches around Trey's helmet released. He lifted it off, revealing his "naked" 3PO head. He rotated his neck through 180 degrees, savouring the freedom of movement. Wearing the helmet restricted the movement of his head, although it did protect his inner workings. But when he got the chance, he did enjoy taking it off.

The deck plates vibrated as the ship slowly began to lift off. Despite his knowledge that the ship was perfectly stable, Trey grabbed the sides of his seat out of reflex. Not your average droid action, but then Trey was not your average droid. He sighed; well, the audio approximation of such an action, and slouched in his seat, the servos in his body cutting to half power. This was going to be a long trip.

[March Kalas]

From the hold in the aft of the shuttle stepped March Kalas. He had been slowly moving through various martial arts tecniques for several hours and had not noticed Jacen's departure. Now he smoothly sat next to Trey and reviewed the shuttle's nav computer; the Aquelle was headed towards their next mission.

He softly spoke to the droid knowing that a droid as advanced as Trey could easily pick up the slightest sound, "He Trey. You up for a game of Defarik?"

(that's the chess looking game in the Millineum Falcon in NH)

[Trey]

Within a single nanosecond, several processes had been conducted by all of Trey's three droid brains. The Lingustics brain scanned for known languages. Of course, March has been speaking basic. The Analysis brain accessed the entry on Defarik. But it was the third brain that kicked into action. Had there been the necessary servos on his face, Trey would have smiled as he became the warrior of his third mind. "Only if you're ready to loose," replied the synthesised voice of a hardened soldier.

[March Kalas]

March chuckled. Only until he had begun work for Jacen had he found a droid that could present competitiveness and a range of response he had not guessed a droid capable of.

"Sure Trey," March answered with a small chuckle. "I almost won last time, remember?"

[(Alex) Jacen]

[Trey]

Trey let out a very un-droid-like growl. "Your tactics were not programmed into my database. But they are now." One of the 3PO eyes on Trey's helmetless head flicked on and off...he winked.

[March Kalas]

"One rule of thumb in martial arts is that repetitive tactics are very predictable tactics," the man responded. "You just really let me know not to use the same tactics."

Reaching out to the dashboard controls, March switched on the holodisplay and a circular board appeared.

"You ready," he asked with a smile. "I just might win this time."

[Trey]

Trey made his first move. One of the figures on the board marched forward. The top and bottom thirds of his eyes turned off...he narrowed his eyes. It wasn't clear if it was in agression, or as a sign of consentration. "You're move," Combat-Trey growled.

[March Kalas]

After studying the board for a short moment, the human issued a command to the computer that caused one of the figures to move around towards the side of the circle.

"So where is it that we're going on this next mission," March asked looking the droid in his mechenicle eyes.

[Trey]

Not surprisingly, the Droid's eyes betrayed no emotion as he made his next move. A large, ogre-like figure set off towards March's front line. "I'm not privvy to that information," the Linguistics aspect of Trey said in its 3PO voice, "And if I was, you wouldn't be."

He shrugged, and switched back to combat mode. "Your move."

[(Alex) Jacen]

OOC: Plot continues here...

http://www.swforums.net/forum/showth...970#post655970