MC: AOTE: Rhea

[steven]

"Fiveteen minutes." Replied Jack "We haven't long got out of the Correlian Run tradelane. The Rhea has been picked up on our scanners...which is weird because in the Moffs log he stated that he left the ship dead, nothing running at all. We shouldn't be able to detect it."

[starmark2k]

Nic thought for a second. "O.K Make sure we drop out of standard cruisers weapons ranges... Oh and get cloud to power up weapons and shield. I'll be there in five."

 

Nic quickly grabbed a shirt and threw it on, he walked out of his room and over to Jana's door before knocking on it.

[JasraLantill]

“Yeah. It helped a lot. Thanks.” Beryl was quiet for a long moment, then she said, “But you know, Jana, that was just a little bit creepy listening to Tarl… sorry, Reibe speak like that. I mean, for a moment there, I felt like I was back at the TCTA. In detention.” She shivered. “Anyway, what she said might not have made sense to you, but it made sense to me. But then again, she was always pretty good at explaining things.” She raised an eyebrow. “Although I doubt any Jedi would have used the analogy of ‘the Force is like a big bowl of assorted Junjees* and Force Sensitives are the blue ones,’ even if they were talking to a seven-year old. But I understood what she meant.

 

“And,” Beryl continued, “I think I understand what she was saying about how masking the Force inside of you was like staying in the middle of the mix so that you were hard to pick out from the rest. And, what’s more,” her eyes met Jana’s, “I think I already do that.”

 

Seeing Jana frown, Beryl tried to explain. “I’ve spent my entire life trying ‘not’ to stand out.” Jana gave her an even more doubtful look. “Well,” Beryl admitted, “not trying to be a wallflower or anything like that, but I always tried to be part of the group. The In-Crowd. The Sorority. The Big Picture. The Team. You know what I mean? I didn’t want to be ‘different’ or ‘unique’ or ‘original’. Except when I was flying. Then could I let myself be myself. And when I’m flying…,” she said dreamily, “it’s like… like I’m a whole bowl of blue Junjees. When I’m in the cockpit, I’m not just flying the ship, I’m a part of the ship and everything around it.

 

“And that’s what Reibe was saying. If you are a blue Junjee, and you don’t want to stand out, then you mask yourself in the middle of the all the colours. Granted, I don’t know that I’m masking myself in the quite same way as maybe Ryshana does, but that could explain why Vader seemed puzzled when I met him. If I am ‘masking’ myself already, and I’m obviously not a Jedi, that would sort of throw him a bit, wouldn’t it?”

 

There was a knock at the door.

 

“Uh oh.” Beryl cast a glance at the door. “That’s Nic. We must be getting close to the Rhea.” She eyed Jana nervously. “You won’t tell anyone about this, will you?” she asked, even though she trusted Jana not to. “I mean, the less Force Sensitives on board the better, right?” She stood to leave. “But, thanks for sharing that hololog with me. I wouldn’t mind having a second look at it,” she said as she headed for the door. “Reibe might have some other useful non-Forcey tips hidden in there. If you find something you think might be useful, can you let me know?”

 

She opened the door and found herself standing face to face with Nic. She stared at him for a moment. “You alright? You look… erm… not. Or…” She grinned slyly. “…maybe it’s just because you’ve got your shirt on inside out.” She patted him on the shoulder. “I’ll just go and get my gear,” she said as she sidled past him. “Thanks, Jana,” she called over her shoulder before ducking into her room.

 

~~~~~~~~

 

*Junjees are tiny, inexpensive Corellian sweets that come in a variety of colours and flavours and are very popular among the under 10’s. Blue Junjees are highly sought after, not only because they were rare (less than 1% of all Junjees produced were blue), but because they stained your tongue an obnoxious shade of cobalt blue that lasted for a least a day.

[starmark2k]

Nic watched Beryl duck into her room before shouting. "Hey it's not inside out, it's the latest fashon coming out of Alderaan." He lied unconvincingly. "And i need you in the headhnter before we drop, but don't launch as we may need to turn tail."

[Writer]

Jana came to the door as Nic turned to speak with Beryl as she left Jana's room. "What's up, Nic? Don't tell me. We're almost there."

[starmark2k]

"Yeah." Nic confirmed as he turned back to Jana. "It seems the ship is letting out energy reading, chanses are it's active. So it's probably got operational weapons, I'll need you in the turret in case they have active fighters aswell."

[steven]

There was a small jolt and the sound of the Echo entering hyperspace. Jack's voice was then heard on the intercom "We're here captain. From the looks of things it's a classic Republic Star Destroyer, popular during the clone wars and the basis of the new Imperial Star Destroyer. Scans show that only Life Support and verious misc. systems are operational... and this is weird..." There was a moments pause "I'm getting strangh readings from a large chunk of the ship."

[Writer]

Jana hurried past Nic and entered her turret. Over the intercom to the bridge, she said, "You just let me know if something looks odd enough to shoot, Jack. I'm ready and waiting if needed."

[starmark2k]

Nic hit the intercom button. "Strange readings? Any chance you can be more specific?" Nic took his hand off the button.

[JasraLantill]

But not before putting on her comlink. "Jack, you read me? I'm just heading down to the hanger. I'll keep an open channel though, so let me know if I need to hurry, okay?"

 

As Beryl got her gear together in her room, she sang.*

 

"As we glide through space,

We’ve no way of knowing,

If we’ll arrive at the place,

We thought we were going."

 

She was feeling a lot better after having talked to Jana and watched the holovid of Reibe. Maybe being Force Sensitive isn't that bad after all, she thought. Well, not as bad as I thought it was anyway. Not that I want to immerse myself in Jedi philosophy or anything, but knowing a few tricks wouldn't be bad. That mind trick thing Ryshana did seemed to come in pretty handy at times....

 

Wearing her body armour now, she checked her blaster pistols, holstered them, then reached for her... "Damn!" she said, frowning as she looked at the empty peg where her krayt leather jacket used to hang. "Stupid tusk cats. I really liked that jacket." Her mood undaunted, she grabbed her SimPack module and helmet and headed for the Headhunter.

 

"Up ahead, danger hides,

Missiles primed, lasers glowing..."

 

She slid down the railings of the stairs to the cargo bay.

 

"But we will sneak through,

without them even knowing."

 

Reaching the Headhunter, she quickly installed the SimPack. "Remote control, back on line," she said proudly to herself. She clapped her hands together eagerly, then climbed inside.

 

"More than this, you know there’s no-thing," she sang, as she put her helmet on and adjusted her comlink. "More than this, tell me one thing..." She pushed the button.

 

"Jack, you reading me?" she said. "Tell the Boss, I'm ready. Just waiting for his word."

 

She hummed a bit, and nestled deeper into the seat. "More than this, there is no-thing...."

 

~~~~~~~~

 

Set to the tune of Roxy Music's 'More Than This'.

[Writer]

Jana couldn't help but laugh. "Havin' a good time there, aren't you, Beryl?" she said. Then, she started to sing along quietly to herself, off the com system, harmonizing with Beryl's melody and doing a good job of it. Smiling, she told herself again that the crew would never know she was a good singer.

 

Flipping the switch to the com again, she decided to pay a compliment and said to Beryl, "Never knew a package of so much recklessness could sound so good."

[JasraLantill]

*singing* "Like a dream in the night, who can say where we’re going..."

 

Hearing Jana's voice break in, Beryl paused in her chorus. "Reckless? Reckless! Me?" She laughed. "I'm not reckless, Jana. I am just very skilled in the art of controlled chaos," she said jokingly. "But thanks for the compliment. Did I ever tell you that I was in a band once? Last year I was at the TCTA. We were ' Qbert's Tactical Hallucinations.' Kind of a mixture of old Heavy Isotope and Glimmik. Played at Kikot's Cantina just off campus." She sighed reminiscently. "Ah... the good 'ol days...."

[Writer]

Jana laughed. "Hey! I remember you guys. That was good. What ever happened to the rest of 'em? Y'all sorta vanished after that year..."

[steven]

Nic hit the intercom button. "Strange readings? Any chance you can be more specific?" Nic took his hand off the button.

 

"Yes I can. There's a strangh green light coming from several of the Rhea window" Repliled Jack as he looked at an inlarged picture of the Rhea's side "I'm guessing it's radiation spilt from some sort bio lab or something."

[JasraLantill]

Beryl laughed out loud. "I dunno," she said into the com to Jana, as she switched on the Headhunter's systems and began her pre-flight checks. "Didn't see much of them after graduation 'case, I started working at Incom-Subpro with my twin brothers Telk and Teser. " She paused, her thoughts momentarily turning to the brothers that she had once been so close to, but now hadn't seen for a long while.

 

A scrolling display on her scanners caught her attention.

 

"Being a test pilot doesn't leave you much time for 'band' practice," she said as she analysed the screen. "And, speaking of pilots.... Jack, I've got my scanners on and I'm picking up some odd fluctuations from that ship. Might be just interference from our shields, but it could be some kind of internal energy shielding or something. You getting the same thing? Or do I just need to recalibrate?"

[Writer]

Jana looked out at the Rhea and blinked. "Uh..." She pressed a button to open her com channel. "I'm not exactly a know-it-all," she said, "but is it supposed to be... glowing?"

[JasraLantill]

"It's glowing?" Beryl said in response to Jana. Still being inside the Echo she could only see the Rhea on her scanners, not actually how it looked outside.

 

Her mind thought back to an accident she had witnessed at Incom. An experimental Z-particle drive engine gone horribly wrong. "Erm... glowing like how?"

[steven]

"Only a the contimanted," Suggest Jack "If they did have a bio lab on the ship then they would have an automatic locksystem which should pervent any hazardous matterials escaping and infecting the whole ship. I also believe if we get to the bridge, there would be a map which shows with area's are safe or not."

[starmark2k]

"O.K. Jack dock us then get ready to board... We're all going over to see what's going on." Nic said before switching the comm to talk to the whole ship. "Everyone arm and get ready we're going to board the republic derilect."

[ExtreamJedi12]

Cloud heard Nic over the intercomm and went back to his room after his 4th bowl of soup and 2nd cup of blue milk. He picked up his sword and sharpened it a little. He picked up his E-11 blaster, some grenades he made himself, and a small knife. he then whittled down one side of the blaster to fit it with the knife. he then walked down the halls still holding his gun and knife. It was a technique he heared about from his customers. He heard it wasn't popular with the Empire. He then put away his gun and knife and went to talk to Beryl. When he got there, he heard her say "It's glowing?" and "Erm... glowing like how?". Cloud then stepped in and asked "What's glowing?"

[stingerhs]

Ryshana had almost forgotten about the datapad she had from the previous mission concerning Jeez now that she had started to think about him again. Going through her stuff, she quickly found it and started to look through the files.

 

"Everyone arm and get ready we're going to board the republic derilect."

 

Closing her eyes for a second, Ryshana sighed to herself. Smiling to herself, she remembered how she probably would've groaned out loud when she was younger. However, the smile soon faded. Gathering herself together, Ryshana made the decision to quit dwelling on how hopeless things seemed to be. It wasn't what she would've done just years earlier, and now wasn't the time to go through it now. If Vader wanted to find her, then so be it as long as she could guarentee the survival of the rest of the crew.

 

Putting on her leg brace, Ryshana then quickly disassembled her lightsaber and cleaned it out a bit. After putting it back together, Ryshana then attached the saber to her leg. Standing up, Ryshana suddenly noticed that she felt a bit woozey. Darned ale. I need to quit going into this frustration crap, Ryshana thought to herself as she used the Force to overcome the minor woozey-ness.

 

Opening her door, Ryshana went out towards the airlock and waited.

[JasraLantill]

Cloud then put away his gun and knife and went to talk to Beryl. When he got there, he heard her say "It's glowing?" and "Erm... glowing like how?". Cloud then stepped in and asked "What's glowing?"

"The Rhea," Beryl said to Cloud as she was taking off her pilot's helm and getting out of the Headhunter. "Jack think's it's contaminated with some sort of bio-experiment gone wrong. But it's probably contained enough, so Nic wants us to all board the ship," She sighed with disappoinment as her feet touched the floor. "Guess we won't be needing the Headhunter after all."

 

She looked at his home-made bayonetted blaster. "Hey, that looks very handy," she complimented him on his new creation. "Who knows what we'll find on that ship?" She grinned slyly then. "Say, Cloud, I'll bet you 10 credits that Nic will give you the job of point when he sees your new toy." She extended her hand. "You on?"

[ExtreamJedi12]

"I'm always up for a friendly wager." said Cloud back to Beryl. He then took Beryl's hand and shook it. "Where're we supposed to be meeting? Nic didn't say over the intercomm."

[JasraLantill]

"Well, Nic asked Jack to dock with it," Beryl said to Cloud. "So, I'd say we all should meet at the airlock." She started forward across the cargo bay towards the airlock doors. "Say," she said, raising a thoughtful finger, "didn't we have a stash some of those bio-hazard rebreathing masks around here someplace? You know, the ones we 'commendeered' from those crates of Bavar Breathing masks? They might come in handy, even if the Rhea's containment systems are working."

[Writer]

Jana slipped out of the turret and ran to her room. From there, she took a small-ish blaster pistol and a long knife. Once both were strapped to her belt, she joined the others at the airlock.