Blockade Runners

Callus and 3 others sat in the cockpit of the YZ-900, Dune Lizard. They were preparing to lift off from the Plagueis Headquarters on Kapsina running what most considered a pointless mission into the core. Callus and one other however knew it was somthing else entirely.

He leaned forward and punched in his clearance code for the hangar bay and got immidiate clearance from the Dock Officer. The repulsor lifts gradually lifted the ship off of its landing struts as it slowly lurched toward the open mouth of the bay. The power fluxuated for a moment throughout the ship and Callus turned to look accusingly at the pilot.

The ship came back on course and made its way out of the hangar and activated its sublight engines quickly reaching escape velocity. Once they had cleared the atmosphere the NavComputer quickly relayed the destination to the hyperdrive and the pilot engaged the engines. The feeling of pseudo-acceleration quickly became a rush of star lines followed by the mottled blue of hyperspace. They were on their way to Obra-Skai.

As the Corellian freighter blasted off into Hyperspace, Anubis left his seat. He was wearing his standard black robes and cloak with his lighstaber and Exotath attached to his belt. The Annedu needed to figure out what had caused that flux in the auxiliary power. Leaving the other Obelisk in the co-pilot’s seat, the Jedi Hunter walked out of the cockpit and through the crew lounge into the hallway leading to the quarters and service ladder, passing the woman he knew as Octavia on his way.

She had been sitting there quietly doing something, but the Valheru decided to leave her be. Reaching the service ladder, Anubis slowly climbed down and onto the small maintenance level of the freighter. He was heading towards the auxiliary power generator, to try and determine what had caused the flux. It could have been any number of things, infestation, blaster damage, he really didn’t know.

In all honesty, this old ship was beginning to need more and more repairs. It was easier to damage, and most of the newer modifications were starting to go bad as well. It was probably time to get a new set of wings. While the Jedi Hunter’s fighter was still in top condition, the freighter wasn’t. When they made their run to Obra-Skai Anubis would make sure that they made a quick stop at a large starport so that he could have the freighter stripped down and sold for parts, and buy a newer one.

All in good time, thought the Valheru.

Finishing his crawl to the auxiliary power generator, the Obelisk cursed lightly. He could see a small nest between large bundles of wires, and new that wasn’t good. Whatever was inside the ship was chewing on power cables, which wasn’t good for them all. Backing up, the Hunter made his way back to the ladder, and up into the corridor again. Walking at a normal pace to the cockpit, the Plagueian was glad to know that Callus hadn’t left the room yet. He was still in his seat, and turned as the Hunter walked into the cockpit.

“Know anything about killing pests in the middle of Hyperspace travel?” he asked.

Octavia fiddled around with her pack a bit. she made sure she had her blaster and saber before she put her pack under her seat. The blue eyed twenty year old sighed deeply and hoped she hadn't made a bad choice by coming along.Shaking it off she stood and walked closer to the cockpit. Always the curious one she smiled a bit and heard the question, and answered before she could even think twice about the answer.

"I'll make you a deal, I'll take a look at the pests if you show me how to fly."

Running a hand through her hair she mentally kicked herself for being so brave, but just smiled and tried to play off her stupidity as cockiness.

"I'm good with creatures, show me where it is."

Running a hand through her short brown hair her blue eyes scanned the cockpit and then men in, hoping for her sake she didn't seem stupid.

Ralph was sitting in the co-pilots seat, just mindlessly staring at the bank of controls as his hand rested lazily on the hilt of his blade. He was now very curious about the weapon and where it came from. He pulled it from it's scabbard slightly, allowing the full hilt to be seen. Turning to Callus, he spoke softly as to not bother the other people on board.

"Have you ever seen a blade with this design anywhere?"

The stars were streaking past them at light speed, the nav computer easily keeping them on course. He had met the Vong for the first time recently, and he wasn't sure how eager he truly was to face them again so soon, but he was trying to make a good impression on the experienced Obelisk seated next to him. He pushed his wariness to the back of his minds and concentrated on the mission that was ahead of them.

Callus glanced from his dataPad to the sword shook his head 'no' and returned his attention to his 'pad. He was having trouble getting in contact with the connection on Obra-Skai and it was a bit disconcerting. He adjusted a few communication settings on his dataPad and then moved and adjusted some settings on the ships comm panel and jacked his 'pad directly into the ships comms array.

After a few moments he recieved a secure message from his contact.

[---MSG FM: MR.JONES---]
[---MSG SECURE: PWD?---]
:******
[------]
[---PWD ACCEPTED---]
[---UNPACKING---]
[---NAV COORDINATES INCLUDED: UNPACK Y/N?---]
:Y
[---COORDINATES UNPACKED---]
[---MSG READY: READ Y/N?---]
:Y
CALLUS,
Location secure continue as planned agreed upon shipment and price a go. Clear Skies.
Odnal
[---END Of MSG: REPLY Y/N?---]
:N
:CMD: DELETE
[---DELETE MSG Y/N?---]
:Y
[---MSG DELETED---]

As Callus was about to unjack his datapad another unexpected message came through.

[---MSG INCOMING WAIT---]
[---WAIT---]
...
[---MSG FM: CMAN---]
[---MSG SECURE: PWD?---]
:******
[------]
[---PWD ACCEPTED---]
[---UNPACKING---]
[---MSG READY: READ Y/N?---]
:Y
CALLUS,
OrrOchia cata'wn sheriiup? Creaci uu'ruup azadwa Corellia. Darrapz reaqual Vong! Freash'l dreayr proqwala. Clear Skies.
CMAN
[---END OF MSG---]
:CMD:DELETE
[---DELETE MSG Y/N?---]
:Y
[---MSG DELETED---]

Callus put his dataPad away as he recalled the last message. It had been in boccie a common trade language and one that Callus knew how to speek but he knew from the sender that it was ment to deter others from understanding it's meaning. He had done his best to conceal his suprise at reciving the message from the other occupant in the cockpit and was sure that he hadnt picked it up.

He yawned and leaned back in his seat. He closed his eyes and attempted to relax, a difficult task after the last message.