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Thread: Sifting the Detritus

  1. #1
    Siloo Jaska
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    TFA Closed Sifting the Detritus

    "Squadron check in."

    The shift of the kaleidoscope of hyperspace into the real was a jarring experience to a green pilot. Some got a round of nausea. Most took seconds to get their bearings. To Captain Jaska, it had become as natural as breathing - as if the galaxy as a whole took one moment to let out a pent-up breath. Apparently some Verpine pilots could nearly read their bearings by the way the vortex swirled. She'd never be that salty of a pilot, but it didn't take long at all for Siloo to get the gist of where they'd ended up.

    Well, the corona of garbage around Raxus Prime also helped.

    As her squadmates in Gold Squadron began to report green status and successful reinsertion, Siloo was already looking for the best approach vector. The Tion Cluster was officially Republic space, insofar as a feral dog might claim territory by pissing on it. There was law on Lianna, because Lianna built Republic ships. The rest of the cluster had about as much law as Hutt space. It made a good place for the First Order to lay in hiding, though it wasn't the First Order they were hunting today. The General had a special mission for her.

    "Kanno, cut throttle and fall behind. We're gonna run out of sky here."

    "What the hell are we doing out here anyway? We routed the dome-heads at Sojourn, shouldn't we be back on the warpath?"

    Thin-lipped, Siloo adjusted her transponder frequency as she glided her T-70 X-Wing past the shattered remains of an old Corellian cruiser.

    "The General disagrees, that's all I can say. She was specific on our destination. Something about an old friend."

    "Old friend? Thought we'd run out of those to piss off."

    Captain Jaska gave a half grin as she glanced portside out her cockpit.

    "It's a big galaxy, and the General's holodex is about as big. I guess she found a bridge that wasn't quite burned up."

  2. #2
    Cresting the apogee of Raxus Prime, the great winged warship swept up and around, the contours of a rakish design clearly visible before dipping back down towards the planet. Like a Katassa Hawk swooping down to pluck its' prey from water, the ship angled itself into a slow dive. It kissed the upper layers of atmosphere briefly before plunging further into the gale, hull plates gleaming brilliantly in flashes of red, orange, and blue.

    On the bridge, a stern-faced Loklorien s'Ilancy sat forward in her seat, muscles tensing as if she was about to leap to her feat. The initial glow of Raxus Prime had dulled as they passed through each atmospheric layer, and the Lupine watched intently at the deceptively calm scene before her on the forward viewer.

    No signs of the enemy, yet.

    She kept her eye ahead, acknowledging the old droid, KHER, with a simple nod.

    "Good."

    The years that had passed had left their mark... in so much as they did for those of her kind. Her features held more age and a strange level of determination that was borne from old wounds. And yet there was still a hope. A hope for something better. It could never die.

    Passing through the final layer, the ship settled into a smooth glide, and the Lupine finally rose to her feet. She let a fleeting look pass to her partner and companion before sending final orders to her pilot.

    "Mr. Nakka, keep us in the air, yes?"

    "Aye Ma'am."

    They had done this enough time before, and s'Il merely nodded before turning once more to the man waiting for her at the door of the bridge. Both stepped through, and they started down the corridor to the lift.

    "You smell as though you've Changed, recently."

  3. #3
    Siloo Jaska
    Guest
    "Siloo, got an active power signature in orbit."

    Head back on her instruments, Captain Jaska was quick to confirm the readout.

    "Got it. North polar ascent."

    Kicking the data back to her astromech for analysis, Siloo frowned. R7-G3 had a sagely databank, and if he couldn't match the ship, it was a rare kind of bird.

    "I don't know what we're looking at. Doesn't match any known configuration. Cruiser class, going by tonnage. Five, you got visual?"

    At the nearest flank, Gold Five gracefully threaded two large pieces of space debris, on approach to the sensor reading.

    "Coming into range now."

    Feeding the visual data to the rest of the squadron, Gold Five was silent for a moment, but that was broken with a "Wow."

    "Doesn't look like one of ours. Definitely not a First Order ship though."

    "She's not running Republic tags. Could be the Hutts."

    "Maybe." Jaska muttered, breathing onto a shop rag as she leaned forward to wipe a smudge from her canopy. "Awful fashionable for a garbage scow though."

    "So...do we say hello?"

    Siloo remained silent a moment, then switched to another tightbeam band.

    "Diva, follow me in close. We'll cut across the bow and strike colors. Maybe they'll be in a talking mood."

  4. #4
    Old Zem
    Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by Master s'Ilancy View Post
    "You smell as though you've Changed, recently."
    "I sleep better that way." Zem Vymes gravelled as the doors closed before them. Unlike his companion, the years weighed heavy on the older Jedi. They may have left him one with the force if it weren't for his decision to accept young Teagan's gift a year ago. It was a tie that drew them closer together as a family, even if it was one the old Jedi was still getting used to.

    "Guess I look a little less raggedy in front of a mirror too."

  5. #5
    "It takes time for the cells to regenerate," was all that she offered as the lift sent them to the lower levels. Truth be told, the Lupine had never encountered anything in her readings that mentioned individuals turned later in life, or how their bodies reacted.

    "Or so, I imagine that is the case."

    There was a touch of perplexed inflections in her tone, and s'Il merely offered a shrug before giving his shoulder a gentle pat.

    It was still a thing that she was getting used to; his scent had taken on a strange accent that was at times intoxicating in the simple fact that he had become one of the House. He was as she, and there were times that she could only stare at him in wonderment. Their years since the attack on Ossus had been - in some ways - much like their years after the Purge. Except, this time around they had agency. They had control of so much more than before. Before they were simply running and trying to stay one step ahead of the Empire.

    Now?

    Now they had a much more firm grasp of their capabilities. They knew what they could do, and what they were capable of.

    No longer were they in such fear.

    Now they were the protectors.

    And yet, they still worked in the shadows, apart from the Republic and those who'd turned their backs on the Jedi.

    The lift slowed to a stop, and s'Il led the way out. Two Jedi Masters, bent on a quiet war against the First Order.

    "Your contact - you are sure they are trustworthy?"

    It was an almost teasing question. Zem's sources had an almost perfect record of solid information.

    "If we are ahead of the First Order, then I am glad for it, but... "

  6. #6
    Old Zem
    Guest
    With tired eyes and a knowing smile, Zem raised a hand to stifle Lok's concerns.

    "They're not one to break a promise, and they wear their heart on the outside, so to speak. The junk warrens of Raxus prime peddle in more than rust and used wiring. Those that choose to eke a living here tend to hear all manner of things from the travelers."

    Zem paused, a frown on his face as his eyes turned downward.

    "It would have taken this news months to reach the Republic. Perhaps one day they will earn the namesake of what they aspire to be."

    Even as he said the words, Zem's eyes turned suddenly to a wall, as if seeing something plainly that wasn't visible to any other eye.

    "We're not alone."

  7. #7
    Alis'ans'amey
    Guest
    "Sounds like fun." Sansa, callsign 'Diva', replied. "Hope they're in a mood for a fight. I'm bored." Like most obnoxious and spoiled teenagers, Sansa was still of the belief that she was completely invincible, and of course, considerably more skilled than anybody else. Therefore, she didn't sensibly fear confrontation, but crave it. She hadn't yet had her chance to prove herself outside of the simulator, and she was excited for the chance to do just that.

    Her fighter broke away with an unnecessarily flashy twirl, spinning around to fall in behind Gold Leader. She did, at least, appreciate being part of Gold Squadron. Mainly for the colour. After all, if the Resistance would refuse to have a Pink Squadron, Gold seemed the next best settlement to have on the side of her starfighter. She adjusted her speed to just fast enough to be impressive (and break in to evasive manoeuvres if fired upon) but slow enough to make a show of them being there, and followed her leader with practiced skill. Sansa might have been the biggest spoiled brat most people would ever meet, but she really did have skill behind the controls of a starfighter, and seemed to fly as naturally as most people walked.

    Of course, Sansa herself always walked like she was on a catwalk, she was such a budding fashionista, so perhaps that analogy didn't really stick for her...

  8. #8
    Siloo Jaska
    Guest
    It hadn't taken long for Sansa to get Siloo's respect - in the cockpit at least. On the ground she was obnoxious and insufferable - and not in the endearing obnoxious and insufferable fashion that Siloo considered herself. But there was no denying results in space. A joint-squadron mission a month ago was all Captain Jaska needed to know. She wanted her. She pushed her weight around and threatened all the right people to get Sansa into her squadron. As long as she didn't have to bunk with the Naboo Princess Doll, it was instruments-all-green to her.

    An unguarded smile formed on Siloo's lips as she caught sight of Diva's fuselage to her starboard. They flew slightly staggered, but they were so close that their wing cannons nearly touched. Sansa had a feather touch and intuition, the sort that no flight academy could really create. You either got it, or you were someone else's squadron. Someone else's problem.

    "They've cut back into the atmosphere. Must've been spy-hopping in low orbit. Hopefully they're not the shoot first and ask questions later sort."

    The polar cloud cover obfuscated the unusual ship from their vantage, but that wouldn't remain the case for long.

    "Set descent vector three-three-eight at three quarters power. Follow my lead. If I break, you break. Got it?"

  9. #9
    Alis'ans'amey
    Guest
    "Got it." Sansa replied almost lazily, falling in behind perfectly as ordered. She couldn't deny, however, that things seemed slightly suspicious. The ship must have seen them by now, and yet, it hadn't responded to their flyby and only dived lower. They weren't running, but they weren't turning to fight either. It was like they were ignoring the Resistance fighters. Did they not see them as a threat? It was possible, of course, especially if they considered themselves allies, but not comming them was just rude. Sansa had already texted three of her friends back home on her comm device while on this mission (a fact she should probably not tell Siloo, but hey, she was always texting friends, right?). They could at least hail them!

    "We've still got no response. Should we lock S-Foils?" She asked, wondering if they should be ready for a fight or not. The situation was still a difficult one to read. At least to Sansa, who had a natural flight ability, but not much experience in situations like this one.

  10. #10
    Aboard Khera'Va'ss'io


    She felt that small itch almost as soon as he did, and out of instinct her hand reached out to push the 'halt' button on the lift's command panel. It shuddered to an almost instant halt as her own eye took on a distant look of its' own. Like Zem, she peered beyond. She looked past the bulkheads of her ship and out into the aether surrounding them.

    "They are not First Order," was all she could immediately divine.

    She returned inward, her gaze sweeping to her companion for only a brief moment before letting out a thin-lipped breath.

    "KHER," she addressed the air around them.

    Yes Ma'am.

    "What's outside?"

    There was a pause, then KHER's tinny voice came through the ship's internal comm once more.

    Looks to be two X-wing's, Ma'am.

    She blinked at that, then turned her attentions once more to Zem.

    "I wasn't aware we were going to have company."

    Words spoken without malice, yet at the same time with a measure of concern. Their contact with the Republic (as the Alliance styled itself these days) had been non-existent since the massacre on Ossus. For obvious reasons.

    KHER cut once more into her thoughts.

    Shall I have Nakka break from atmospheric descent and leave orbit?

    She grimaced, the recommendation a tempting one to agree with.

  11. #11
    Old Zem
    Guest
    "This isn't the work of my contact." Zem shook his head in response to Lok's subtle prodding. "He's not that showy."

    Still, the old man didn't seem quite ready to balk at the encounter either.

    "KHER, are the ships broadcasting Republic markers?"

    A momentary pause preceded the droid's answer. Negative.

    Zem ran a hand through his unkempt mane of thinning hair, a twinkle of intrigue appearing in his eyes.

    "Maybe we've been drawn to Raxus Prime for more than one reason."

  12. #12
    She gave him a look of carefully controlled patience.

    "I'm not going to risk my ship being baited. Nor am I going to endanger our already lovely status of 'missing and presumed dead'."

    Despite all of their years together, there was still the innate desire to protect those under her care, and the Lupine was loathe to even think of any sort of contact whether it be formal or otherwise.

    "We are successful because we are invisible. Otherwise... "

    She knew there was no reason to finish her sentence.

  13. #13
    Old Zem
    Guest
    "If we spend the rest of our days hiding, no presumption will be needed."

    Zem groused, the age on his face showing his mileage a lot more plainly than Lok did.

    "I never enjoyed hiding then, and I don't enjoy it now. Patience is a Jedi virtue, but so too is knowing when the time has come."

    That was all of the elder Jedi's protest, however. His face defied gravity in a little smile.

    "It's the Captain's decision. All I'm here for is the advice and the scenery."

  14. #14
    TheHolo.Net Admin

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    It was a brief moment that she stared at him, trying to suss out the reasons for his smile. A sigh, and the Lupine closed her eyes as she shook her head, and a hand went up to give a light pat to his cheek. Perhaps a fraction of a second her touch lingered, but she soon enough pulled away.

    "Bring us back up, KHER. And inform Mr. Ieno that we'll be remaining aboard."

    Yes Ma'am.

    The lift started back up.

    Looking away from him, she let her mind wander back through the years of relative solitude. Of operating within the shadows of the galaxy. Was it inevitable that they would eventually be found and pulled away from the protective layers of the darkness? More than likely. It was always a matter of time she supposed.

    "We should've gone back to Schwartzweld for good all those years back," she grumped.

    "It is First Seeding there, now, for the Kera Grapes. The orchards are getting their first buds of green now, I imagine. And the yield from last year's crop is ready to drink... " a wry chuckle, "... if you don't like to wait for your wine, that is."

    But the wistful look in her eye didn't leave, and s'Il bowed her head.

    "It is selfish, I know."

  15. #15
    Siloo Jaska
    Guest
    "Unidentified cruiser, this is Captain Siloo Jaska of the Resistance. Do you copy?"

    The T-70's began their descent, and Sansa stayed as a perfect shadow in formation, even though the polar cloud cover was thick as pea soup.

    "Sansa, cutting to one quarter power. Keep your S-foils at ease...but go double front deflectors."

    And then, it happened. A shadow began to coalesce beneath the cloud bank, it's edges quickly becoming sharp and defined right in their flight path. Siloo's eyes went wide as instinct kicked in, throwing her fighter into a tight turn relative to engine output in the atmosphere.

    "Segnor right!"

    In the midst of her turn, Captain Jaska cut her starboard burners, causing an already tight turn to overpower. Her entire X-wing juddered in the thickening atmosphere against the strain, but the extra finesse on her engine balance helped to add an extra 180 degrees of turn, which not only allowed her to clear the lane of the still-silent cruiser, but to put her guns where they needed to be - if they needed to be there.

    "Sansa, you still with me?"

  16. #16
    Alis'ans'amey
    Guest
    Sansa had the advantage that being slightly behind Siloo she had slightly longer to respond, but the suddenly looming ship had really taken the pair by surprise. Whoever these people were, they were flying strange. Ignoring the X-Wings, flying silent knowing they were out there, it was like they wanted a collision. She hauled on the control sticks, throwing her fighter to the right, pulling it tightly around to stick behind Siloo, even as the ship's collision alarms began to blare. Unlike Siloo, she didn't risk cutting her starboard engines (an old trick her Mom was fond of too) because in atmosphere, the risk of throwing the ship in to a flat spin was too high. In space there was no resistance so it was easy to counter spin, in atmosphere, you could lose control.

    Instead she lifted the control yolk back pointing the ship up and away from the big cruiser, and hit her engines full power. The fighter juddered and screamed against the sudden change of direction, and BB-L, her astromech, seemed to wail in complaint. But in doing so, the afterburners fired and got additional thrust off of the hull of the cruiser, lifting her fighter up and away at the last moment (not to mention scorching the cruiser's hull a little).

    She fell back in behind Siloo as the ship's alarms screamed in complaint before finally beginning to quieten down.

    "Roger that, Gold Leader." Sansa confirmed. "I hope they weren't too fond of their paint job." She added in a quip. "Now ​do we lock S-Foils!?" She asked, irritated, and now determined this ship was messing with them. They could only be fooled so many times before they got ready to take action, right?

  17. #17
    Siloo Jaska
    Guest
    "Yes, goddammit!" Siloo growled, already hitting the switch to bring her wings into attack array. "Give that goddamned helmsman a haircut and remind him to watch where the hell he's going."

    Captain Jaska punched it back up to three quarters power, skimming past the cruiser's bridge as her wing cannons barked in a string of ZAT ZAT ZAT ZAT, missing just off the starboard, but close enough to wake up the shit-for-brains flying this heirloom.

    Again, she flicked on her tightbeam comm to the cruiser.

    "Cut the bullshit silent treatment and check your vector, unidentified!"

  18. #18
    A steady stride brought her back onto the bridge just in time to witness the warning shots that sailed starboard. With Zem close on her heels, the Lupine felt her shoulders hitch back instinctively at the gall with which their unknown 'guests' had made themselves an obstacle.

    We're getting an incoming comm.

    She moved to her chair, lowering herself to sit.

    "Put it through."

    The pilot's voice pierced the air of the bridge like a knife.

    'Cut the bullshit silent treatment and check your vector, unidentified!'

    A sideways look was sent to Zem. Her features held a mixture of acceptance paired with an iron-willed and stubborn scowl. It seemed their time as a lone entity was fast coming to an end. Whether she liked it or not, the fact was now glaringly obvious. It really only made her scowl deepen as she leaned back in her seat, her eyes moving to stare ahead.

    "Open a channel, then."

    Ma'am?

    "Do it."

    Another moment of hesitation from the old droid passed before her gave a mechanical grunt in affirmation.

    Her voice rose slightly, steely overtones laced all throughout.

    "This is Captain s'Ilancy. State your business, Pilot."

  19. #19
    Siloo Jaska
    Guest
    The General had been right all along. This wasn't a fool's errand.

    "Weapons cold, Sansa. We've found who we're looking for."

    Siloo veered her X-wing about, this time for a friendlier pass with more personal space. She drew her wings back together, and once more passed with her colors exposed. Switching the tightbeam back to the cruiser, Siloo acknowledged their response.

    "Captain s'Ilancy, just who I was looking for. My General wants to meet you. Years ago, you served her in the Alliance."

  20. #20
    A single eyebrow rose at that, and s'Il leaned back in her seat. Was she surprised that someone would come looking for them? Not really. It still didn't make this encounter any more enjoyable, let alone desired.

    She shifted in her seat, leaning to the side a bit to afford Zem a look. Her expression was a semi-questioning one. She had a notion on who this 'General' was, but chose to keep her guess to herself for the time being. Finally she spoke once more.

    "Pilot, I served a lot of people in the Alliance. But that was a long time ago, and I've no satisfactory reason to go back. Now. I recommend you and your little friend take yourselves back to where you came from."

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