Roleplay > The Other World
Just Another Blue Milk Run - A Star Wars Legends RP (IC Thread)
Tytor:
The weeks passed. Before too long, Tien was getting ready to drop the Ace of Staves out of hyperspace in the Both system. The journey had been uneventful enough; just a few overzealous customs officials, and no sign of Imp pursuit. Yet something about this trip made Tien uneasy. At first, he thought maybe it was his basic distrust of Bothans, brought about by a run-in he'd had in Bothan Space a few years ago, but no... this was different. Despite her promise to tell Tien more about her experiences in the Clone Wars, Threebie had remained tight-lipped (could a droid be tight-lipped?), and Tien had yet to work up the nerve to ask the Jedi for more information himself.
Tien sighed to himself. The moment had come, and it was time to end this leg of the journey. The ship's computer chirped at him, and he pulled back on the lever to revert the freighter to realspace. There was the system's primary, Both, shining brightly as ever. There was Bothawui, a mottled green-and-blue sphere splashed with the white of clouds. There was the typical traffic of such an important shipyard, mingling with the world's own defense force.
And there, dead ahead, was an Imperial Star Destroyer.
Tien was shocked. The Bothans did not take kindly to Imperial meddling in their space. Tien didn't blame them; as an Imperial client state, Bothan Space was supposed to enjoy a degree of independence from the Empire, as it had as an Allied Region under the Republic for thousands of years before the Emperor was even born. Tien couldn't tell exactly what the Star Destroyer was doing here, but based on the security vessels shadowing its movements, the Bothans did not seem to be very happy about it. Tien keyed the Ace of Staves's intercom.
"Well, folks, we've made it to Bothawui," he said, "But we may be facing some issues here before we can continue to Krant. I suggest everyone find a place to strap in, because things may get a little dicey before we're through. And Master Jedi? I would appreciate your presence in the cockpit as quickly as possible."
Tien half-remembered from stories he had heard told over the years that Jedi could sense other Force users. While it seemed almost impossible that those inquisitors could have reached Bothawui before them, it seemed too much of a coincidence for him to want to ignore the possibility. He switched the intercom back off and leaned back in his chair.
"I have a bad feeling about this," he muttered.
Achkaerin:
Anja made her way to the cockpit, her sense of the Force had practically screamed something was up and Tien's tone of voice was more than enough to give her confirmation. She'd spent most of the time meditating and keeping an eye on the kids, not to mention keeping a discreet watch on the Dathomirian. She was pleased to have learned from Gav that a friend of hers had survived the purge, and the directions for Krant were enough to tell her what that friend had in mind. Stepping into the cockpit she saw the Star Destroyer hanging there and let out a deep breath, she knew they had a head start on Ruves and having looked around the Ace of Staves she was fairly convinced a Star Destroyer wasn't as quick as this ship, still if that Imperial ship was here for them then Anja could tell how it was possible - the Miraluka inquisitor, it made sense didn't it? Probably the most Force sensitive species it wasn't beyond the realms of possibility for the Miraluka to be able to sense her but even assuming she had tracked Anja it was highly unlikely that the inquisitors were aboard it. Still it did present a problem.
"Nice and easy." Anja said putting a hand on Tien's shoulder "No need to do anything alarming. Let's try and bluff this, see if they're here for us or if this a random flexing of muscles."
Tytor:
Tien jumped at the sound of Anja's voice. He hadn't heard her come into the cockpit. Still, her presence was calming in an odd, almost unrelated way. In the back of his head, he was aware that it was probably something to do with the fact that she was, well, a Jedi, but this didn't really bother him at the moment.
"Nice and easy," he echoed, and steadied himself. There was relatively little to fear, in the event that the Imps were just harassing the Bothans and not actively looking for the Ace of Staves, as the old girl had a few tricks of her own up her metaphorical sleeves. For one thing, she actually had a few different transponder codes that he could swap out whenever he needed. In fact, he'd been on Nar Shaddaa using the transponder code of a fictional freighter called the Druckenwell's Bounty. He'd had the foresight to swap codes during the first jump to Randon; they were now registering on any scanner pointed their way as the merchantman Force of Habit.
The comm buzzed insistently at that moment. "Unidentified freighter, this is the Star Destroyer Vainglorious," a bossy male voice said, "Identify yourself and state your business."
"Vainglorious, this is Captain Siuv Sall of the Force of Habit," Tien replied at once in Sullustese, "We are a private contractor with SoroSuub, transporting a shipment of grain to Kothlis." There was indeed a private contractor named Siuv Sall who did, in fact, work for SoroSuub on occasion, but he owned an Action IV transport - a bulk freighter. Tien was hoping, almost against hope, that the Vainglorious would buy the story without looking too deeply into the details.
There was a long pause on the ImpStar's end. Tien realized that the Imps were doubtlessly doing some factchecking. It didn't take too long for Imperial Navy interpretation software to translate a simple sentence of Sullustese into Basic, after all. Finally, the comm buzzed again. "Very well, Force of Habit, you are cleared to transit the system," the bossy voice said, "Due to circumstances here, we're rerouting you somewhat. Please adjust your course to the heading being transmitted to you now."
"Acknowledged," Tien said, still in Sullustese, deciding in an instant not to push his luck further, "Thank you very much, Vainglorious." He switched the comm off and collapsed into his chair, practically melting into the soft synthleather seat in relief. He keyed the autopilot to follow the course the Vainglorious was giving the Ace of Staves, and swiveled his chair to face Anja.
"I don't know whether you speak Sullustese," he said, speaking Basic once more, "But we've got ourselves a change of plans. Rather than going straight from here to Kranth, we're going to have to jump to Kothlis to keep up appearances. Fortunately, it doesn't seem like the Imperials are actively looking for us here; we seem to have bumped into them by mistake."
Achkaerin:
"A wise Jedi Master once remarked that there's no such thing as a coincidence." Anja said as she kept her eyes firmly on the Star Destroyer, even if it wasn't the Inquisition it was still the Empire. "But yes we should keep up appearances, however let's not stay at Kothlis too long." she knew the longer they took getting to Krant the greater the chances of their being discovered were. She'd been on the run for so long that she knew better than most of the galaxy how this game was played, you ran, you kept your head down, you let life in the galaxy go on, you survived and you believed that the day would come when the Jedi would return and destroy the Sith at the heart of the Empire, order would be restored to the Galaxy and hopefully this time without perceived arrogance going with it. "Fate has a wicked sense of humour." she mused "Still if there's a chance he's alive that's useful right now in more ways than one."
Tytor:
Tien pretended not to hear Anja's muttering, and nodded fervently. "Yes," he said, "It definitely wouldn't do to stay at Kothlis too long. Though I think we may want to at least stop for a few hours to fully dispel suspicion. I told the Imperials we're transporting grain, though obviously we don't actually have any on board aside from whatever's in our provisions. However, what with the Inquisitorius after you and all, I think it might be a good idea to find a place on Kothlis where all these orphans of yours can lay low until we can get them all off to Telos. I believe I recall a nice enough apartment complex not far from the spaceport in Tal'cara, if you believe it worth the potential risk."
Just then, the Ace of Staves reached the edge of the gravity well, and a light told him that the navicomputer had the route to Kothlis calculated. Without further ado, Tien punched the hyperdrive into action. He sat back amid the silence as the stars lengthened into streaks across the pitch black void of realspace, and then all was swallowed into the pulsating blue and white of hyperspace.
"Anyway," he continued after a moment, "As I'm merely the hired pilot, do let me know what you would like to do. If we choose to offload the orphans, I think I can estimate a stay on Kothlis no longer than... oh, three or four standard hours, give or take a few minutes' haggling."
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