Log:Jedi Order: Spanning the A-Byss

Jedi Order: Spanning the A-Byss

OOC Date: December 9, 2020
Location: Byss Run
Participants: Jedi Order: Vhe Tenara, Rune, Elrych Cometburn, Chani Tahn, Zandra naMuriel, Aryn Cole, Kasia Ashkuri, and Jax Greystorm with Ben Solo

The Byss Run, a circuitous course to the Deep Core, terminating at the hidden world it's named for, is open. Barely.

The Libertine, flanked on both sides by the TIE Defenders recovered from Jakku, cruises through the star-dusted void over Prakith. <"We managed to tie the Run together, but it's unstable, unbalanced,"> Ben reminds the others from the cockpit of the Star Yacht. <"There's no straight shot through it. We're going to have to take this in stages: calculate, jump, back to realspace, and repeat, until we make it through."> The big man looms over the back of one of the pilot seats rather than sitting in it, talking into a handheld comm as he peers out the viewport. <"These aren't ships that have made the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs, but this isn't the Kessel Run. This is a distance race, not a sprint.">

<"We don't know what we're going into. All we know for sure is that the Deep Core is a dangerous place and any mistakes will probably kill us all. And that whatever's waiting on the other side was built by the Emperor, and probably designed to kill us all."> He shrugs. <"But what else were you expecting? TIEs, stay close and you'll be able to ride along when we make each jump. This box doesn't have any weapons, so... maybe this was all a terrible mistake."> Encouraging!

Vhe is most definitely not flying and has chosen a seat for herself as the rundown is given. Not going to be easy ride either but she's got decent passenger fu. She makes certain her harness is in place just in case they are in for a surprise.

Glancing aside to the others, specifically Rune, she offers a smile of reassurance. Welcome to the deep end. She looks over his harness and remains silent then, her fingers curling around the edge of the seat as she sets her feet a bit further apart to secure herself in place.

That wild hair has been tamed, braided back and kept from her face. All will be well. All will be fine.

Rune hasn't been off the planet of Ossus for long and he can count the number of times he's been in a ship on one hand.... actually, on two fingers, fifty percent of those flights went well. Here's hoping the percentage increases with this flight. Bright hazel eyes squint at the big magic user, he thinks his name was 'Ben' or 'Ken' or something like that, trying to understand each and every word that is coming from his lips.... He fails, mostly... still getting used to the whole speaking thing, but the intent is clear. There's a lot of difficulty in this run and there's a lot of bad things that could happen... great!

The young force user tugs at the robes that cover his form, more comfy than the rags and furs he's used to, and shifts to grab onto some solid surface while space rushes by them outside. His knuckles quickly turn a bone white while he grinds his teeth, uncertain glances being sent to Vhe and Kasia, the two on board that he recognizes the most. "Dangerous?" Rune asks with a quick nod toward the cockpit and the stars streaming by outside.

<<"If it's anything like jumping through the Transient Mists out Hapes way that this ought to be reeeaaalll interesting.>> That was Elrych voice over the comms coming from one of the sleek, house of cards solar panels having, TIE Defender. He was clad in the old suits of Imperial armor which allowed him to breath. Such as it was, there was no music for him to blast in the cockpit as there was no atmosphere.

He sighed, "I rekkin hate Seinar. No life support, barely any hull plating. At least this model has shields..." He pauses, as if expecting a retort from someone but was granted only by the high pitched wine of the TIE's Ion engines. Another sigh, "And no droid socket."

He triggers the comms again, flying steady as if escorting the Libertine around, <<"Vhe? How's Eggsy doing?">> He had left the Astromech in the hands of the Ysanna, the R2 unit whistling to his other 'Master.' looking slightly agitated.

Quiet among the group, Chani Tahn sits in the passenger compartment of the freighter with her eyes shut and her breathing pace measured. Her hands rest on her knees, with the outer shell of her robe folded closed around her and the sleeves almost swallowing her hands whole. The leather boots covering her feet are visible from beneath the robe's hem, planted roughly shoulder length apart from one another and kept flat on the floor. Her dark hair is swept and bound back, kept out of her face and behind her ears in a way that'll prevent it from being intrusive to her vision or her hearing. She inhales through her nose and then out through her mouth, exhaling just loud enough that it's a barely audible noise through her parted lips.

Zandra is in the second TIE, and lucky enough cannot hear all that Elrych is saying. She doesn't mind the lack of the droid, she's mostly not used to one anyway. A wings. TIE's. Fighters are fun, if you ask this fighter jock. She triggers her own comm to say, << Sounds like we'll all need to keep on our toes. Hang in there everyone, we can do this. >> She may be the optimist of the group. She takes a breath, reaching for the Force, and relaxing into it, as they get going. << Staying as close as is reasonable, lead. Though it is kind of odd being in the TIE. >> Instead of shooting them down, that is.

Kasia is seated in the co-pilots chair, leaning forward slightly with her focus down on the console in front of her. She's listening to Ben as he speaks, glancing back every so often. It's only at his remark about mistakes that she murmurs, "Comforting," to herself, though anyone in the cockpit will hear it. "We can do this." A deep, steadying breath is drawn as she glances back at Rune, nodding. "Yes, dangerous. But it will be fine," she answers, not entirely sure if he understands all the words, but her tone is calm and smile reassuring. Focus returns to the console, tapping buttons here and there as she tries to work out the correct coordinates for the jump. "I... I think this is right?"

Aryn is in the pilot's seat of the Libertine, and operating the controls that brings the ship to speed. Impulse engines are bright with energy as the vessel moves along its way through the void. She's in the process of hitting a series of switches to bring various instruments to life that help measure their operational status on the ship, and allow Aryn to see what she needs to.

When the first coordinates are offered, Aryn glances to the side to see them, then inputs it into their nav-comp. Its computations work out the incorrect path by some functioning miracle and Aryn responds by thanking Kasia for her work, "Thank you." With the nav-comp locked, it's all just a matter of aligning the vessel to the jump-point and allowing the ship's hyperdrive to charge before she initiates the first leap to hyperspace. This is triggered by pulling back on the hyperspace throttle with a gloved hand.

Rey emerges from the direction to the ship's private cabin. She's wearing a black tunic with black trousers and a leather belt wrapped around it, a bit unusual for her taste, but her hair is also down rather than up in any fashion of the various braids and buns she normally places it in. The two new additions to their team tonight garner her attentio, Chani and Rune, as she steps in to the area of the ship with them. She first looks to Rune and offers him a soft smile at his singularly questioned word.

"We'll be okay. It might get a little bumpy, but we'll find a way. We always do." She says in her Core Worlds accented voice, offering hopeful reassurance to the Ysanna Force User.

To Chani then, Rey smiles lightly as she too steps to the passenger seating area to lean over the table and activate a holographic display of their ship, and their TIE escorts.

"We've re-established this old trade route, it apparently hasn't been active in a very long time." Rey tells those near her. "This should be fun... I hope. Rediscovering old pathways..."

Jax remained quiet as Ben gave out the orders for this mission. He reaches down to gently clasp Kasia on the shoulder in a pat, "I have faith in the flight team. You're right you guys can do this and it will be fine." He looks at what Kasia and Aryn are entering, "Looks right to me, Kasia. I'm no Astromech droid though. It shouldn't kill us anyway." THen he looks at Rey and gives her a wink then says wryly, "Riiight, Fun. We really need to work on your definition of fun." Then he chuckles. "The Force is with us. We got two of the best interceptor class pilots in the galaxy flying escort. We'll be alright."

The Libertine slows for a moment and then rubberbands forward in that curious vanishing act that is a jump to hyperspeed. The TIEs, close behind, are able to ride the wake into the hyperspace tunnel, following the same trajectory. From the inside of the cockpit, the stars grow in brightness and then drag out into long strands of light before the purple-blue miasma replaces them. After the speech about how this is going to be extremely dangerous, the relative calm and silence of hyperspace is either anticlimactic or increasingly stressful, depending on personal preference.

Ben, it seems, is in the tense group, staring out at the repetitive swirl and chewing at the corner of his lip. Positioned between Aryn and Kasia, he mutters "Are you actually surprised?" to the latter dryly.

But it's a short jump, and abruptly the Libertine rockets back into normal space and time.

Directly in front of the viewport floats a huge cluster of orbital mines, like a flotilla of jellyfish. <"Take evasive maneuvers, NOW!"> Ben abruptly yells into the comm, and grabbing onto the back of Aryn's chair. Jostling the pilot always helps. <"Get the next hyperjump calculated. We need to go!">

The nearest mines have already begun to drift towards the tiny escort group.

Vhe hears the click over to comms and her hand lifts to her ear. <"He's just fine. Anxious? If a droid can be so..."> Her attention shifts back to Rune. "It will be okay. We have some of the best pilots in the galaxy. Worry not." From her seat she winks at him and then turns her head forward just as the cry for evasive maneuvers is yelled.

She gasps and pulls against her harness, forgetitng its there in that moment as it yanks her back into her seat with a soft exhale of air.

Already her hand is up and Vhe reaches out through the force, her honey eyes narrowing as she focuses on the nearest mine to the Libertine. Not wanting to catch the fighters on their sides off-guard she shifts the mine to the left slowly. Its a process but eventually it spins its way free of their vector of approach and clears room for the ship to make its calculations.

Adrenaline flows through her along with the force causing her to breathe heavily, chest rising and falling quickly as she readies to as she just did again should those flying tneed the help.

Even when the meaning of words fail to register, body language and expressions are there to save the day. Rune understands some of what Kasia says and the basics from Rey but it's the smiles from those two and Vhe that do wonders for the scavenger's nerves. As the ship lurches into hyperspace, a deep breath is sucked in to be exhaled over what seems like the entire journey of break-neck speeds.

It's most likely a good thing that he's more calm, and strapped to a chair, or the rise in intensity of Ben's voice might have sent the poor man screaming into the depths of the ship, only allowing himself to be coaxed out with some sort of sugary treat. Still, he grips tight to the restraints that keep him planted, eyes wide at the sudden burst of energy from the crew and passengers. As those around him lift their hands, mimicking the magic that he called so many times in the wild, Rune attempts the same... reaching out into the void to shove whatever threatens them away. Sadly, the void is all he feels and nothing moves due to his efforts at least.

<<"He probably just wants an oil bath or something. How's the kid?">> Elrych asks over comms as they slipped into hyperspace. By Kid, he meant Rune. Yet of course Elrych was only likely a few years older than the foundling Ysanna .

Before the responce can come, the Defender is warping back to realspace and alarms start going off. Green energy lances towards the ship. He pushes the throttle back hard before taking an extreme maneuver. One thing about Seinar... they made fast and agile ships, more maneuverable than even an A-Wing. "Holy hell!" THe Jedi Knight exclaims as his suit attempts to keep up with the g forces he's pulling on the turn. He levels out after a moment, taking scope of his sensors. <<"Alright... gota clear a way, Zandra... let's try it.">> He swoops in and lances one of the mines in a crippling blow. It explodes. A glance as the other mines seems to move via an invisible force. He can feel the others in the Libertine reaching out with their powers, <<"Nice work.">> He encourages.

Meditation is difficult to maintain when someone's voice is yelling through the intercom of the ship. Eyes snapping open, Chani glances towards the viewport looking out into the vacuum of spcae and spies the mines heading for the yacht. She also watches as the TIEs escorting them begin to engage, stitching the darkness with bright red lances of superheated tibanna gas. Her hands lift from her knees, allowing her thumbs to hook underneath the broad straps of the seat harness that are slung over her shoulders and fastened near the center of her torso by a buckle plate. Her fingers curl, too, trying to provide her with some extra leverage to hold on as the yacht does exactly what the voice screamed for it to do: begins evasive maneuvers.

With visual contact, Chani tries to calm the rapid beating of her heart on her chest and focus on stretching out with the energy flowing around her. The difficulty of the task is too much for her, however, and she exerts no appreciable influence on the mines trying to make this trip through space a short journey.

Zandra's calm stays, though she is so to speak on her toes. As they come out of hyper, she's on sensors, and eyes widen with the alarms clangoring all over. She arches a brow, and also has to evade, on the opposite side of the Libertine from El. There's a whoop of glee that nobody can hear, as Zan discovers, like El, the maneouverability. << I could get used to this,>> she says easily. << Clear a path, roger. Targetting mines, >> she calls, her voice sounding alert, but calm. You'd think they maybe did this a time or two.

Kasia looks up at the screen, holding her breath as they go into the jump, but the quiet remark from Ben has her exhaling it in a laugh. "Not in the slightest." There's a wry twist to her lips as she glances over at him, then down to Aryn, but as soon as they're exiting hyperspace her focus whips back around to the console to once again attempt to navigate the next leg of their journey. There's a slight cringe as evasive maneuvers have to be taken, but that's not hers to focus on, not her job, helping get them out of there is. "Working on it, working on it..." she murmurs, but it's in that way people do when they're saying something without thought while entirely focused on a task.

This is not Aryn's first time piloting the Libertine and it shows. When Ben yells they take evasive actions, Aryn acts instead of reacts and focuses on the effort required for flying. She slaps down three switches and takes hold of the yoke lifting it up to make the Libertine /dive/ down and away from the cluster of mines. Just as they level, Aryn slaps the switch for inertia dampners to boost because she's pulling the throttle for speed a second later. The engines grow loud, and the floor panels warm; Aryn can feel the paneling vibrating beneath her feet.

From the outside, the Libertine is moving fast despite the Guild d'Lanseaux's design for luxury over practicality. Its engine nacelles are a bright circular shaped blue, and given the ion output, a glaring contrail follows the Libertine.

Aryn begins to input the astrogation coordinates for the computer, making use of the auto-correction feature that helped compute the route; this was a standard feature on most crafts that kept starpilots from hyperjumping into the center of stars! Aryn felt calm in her motions, and when the computer began to beep, Aryn aligned with their jump point and accelerated again, this time putting her flat against her seat with a soft sound.

Aryn embodies a sense of patience and calm, doing her best to focus on the task. Every life aboard this vessel depended on their success in the control cabin. She loved all of them, and would not want to be responsible for their deaths. Each face flashes before her mindseye as she alerts the occupants of the cabin that, "The jump is locked in." Her gloved hand rests on the hyperspace throttle once again.

Rey, seated on the edge of the pasenger sofas around the holo-display, brings up the ships in their mini-convoy, then glances down at her hands to adjust the display and draw the sensor scope outward enough to watch as they come back out of hyperspace. "Bumpy ineed." The young woman mutters.

Her right hand darts up to brush her hair back behind an ear as she glances over in Jax's direction to grin at him. "I have a good feeling about this." She says in good humor before her gaze goes back to the holo-graphic image that is now showing space mines appearing around their vessels. "Blast... speaking too soon." She mutters.

Rey's eyes close as she focuses on the flow of the Force and what lies around the Yacht beyond its hull. She finds one of the mines through the ever flowing river of energy and coaxes it to zip past their ship instead of colliding with it, she parts her lips and then exhales a slight breath.

As the alarm starts going off, Jax reaches the console between. "These fancy ships always got some type of hidden counter measures. We'll vent the waste desposal chamber create a bebris field while we escape. You guys focus on the next jump." Jax hits a few buttons, Then the rear landing structs deploy in space. The console lighting up with warning signs, " This is not a standard configuration. That's not what I meant to do. " Then he quickly goes to fixing his mistake.

From the panic of the mines, the ships zip right back into the calm blur of hyperspace. "If we had gotten that last booster online, we might have been able to risk a straight shot," Ben remarks, relaxing his grip on Aryn's headrest and straightening up a little. "But as it is, we have to do it this way." He's not naming names, he's grown as a person! Nobody is flying up against the ceiling for their failure or anything.

This moment of maturity is interrupted as the purple tunnel surrounding them suddenly shrinks down and pinches closed, throwing the Libertine and company unceremoniously out and cutting their power in the process.

Tossed into the back of Aryn's chair, Ben finally starts to look around the cockpit like he might take a seat as he gathers himself up again while the lights resume and a medley of warnings and reboot noises chime from the control consoles.

The yacht shudders, and from outside, the TIE pilots will see why, but all the folks inside know is that a black screen suddenly lights up with straightlined red letters: 'Hull Breach Detected'; and then a second screen next to it: 'Intruder Detected'. The first screen goes out.

"...get us back into hyperspace," Ben decides.

It is hard to see who has succeeded in aiding the ship and who has not but Rune gets a nod from his fellow Ysanna. Her smile warms now that they are jumping again and she can relax. A sigh leaves her and shoulders lower as she rolls her head from sight to side and then her shoulders to loosen up a little. "Good job. It will take all of us at times." Meaning the entire Jedi group. But as the red lights shine across the front, she leans over to get a view and stops.

Slowly she undoes the harness that kept her from spilling form her seat during the hairy maneuvers and rises to her feet. Slowly she turns and looks towards the middle of the ship.

"Company." She tilts her head, glancing back over her shoulder as she gives those watching a tilt of her head to indicate she's headed back to have a look. Her hand reaches to the saber at her side and removes it, leaving it sheathed for now. The darkness enveloping her forward path she has to slow and study what is ahead of her.

Something catches her eye, first the red light and then slowly forming outline of a droid in her vision. <"Droid. We have one at least."> Already her hand is reaching out to stop it, using the force to seize its form and keep it from doing harm. "State your business." Its said evenly as she imparts the question to the droid knowing full well she won't likely be able to hold it for long. Her saber snaps to life to be held before her.

Wild eyes snap to and fro, the alarms, the raised voices, the display of their ship surrounded by images that don't look as if they belong... all seriously wearing on the reined in temperament of the near savage Ysannan. He looks to the faces that share the seating area with him, both eyebrows raised in concern while the lights aboard the yacht flash and flicker back to life around them. "We there?" Rune asks, forming the words almost naturally as more of the civilized being fights his way back to the surface.

Once more the part of Rune that unconsciously led him to safety or gave him an edge to survive in the harsh lands of Ossus surges to life. A warning, something that teases at his very being... and he turns his head slowly to stare at the middle of the ship. "Bad feeling about this." He states, unbuckling his own harness and, following Vhe's lead, reaches to pull his own metal cylinder clipped to his belt. He stands, just off to the side, and spins the stunsaber in his hands, peering at the object in an attempt to remember how to use the damnable thing. "Button?" He asks of no one in particular and depresses the black circle. Suddenly the weapon flares to life, held the wrong way of course, and a bright white tube expands from the emitter. "Button..."

Elrych blinks from behind the trooper like visor of the imperial flight suit. He studies his HUD and the various displays and read outs. "What the..." He looks towards the Libertine, doing a flyby. <<"Violet, you see that?">>

<<"Libertine, Libertine. You've got something attached to your hull. I can't remove it without causing a serious hull breach. you're going to have to fix it on your he-.">> He was interupted by sensor pings from behind him. More of these dagger shaped craft. He brings the TIE Defender about to face the mounting cloud of bogies. His voice comes in choppy over the newly established comms. <<"THere's more coming in... I'm engaging. Let's not let more hitch a ride on the hull!">>

Pushing the throttle forwards, he locks onto on, knicking it with green bolt. He checks the sensors and grumbles, <<"They're as armored as fighters.">>

The sudden loss of power is enough to increase the amount of adrenaline dumped into her system. Chani's fingers tighten around the straps of the harness over her shoulders, and while the darkness reigns, her eyes search out for anything that might look familiar. There's a flickering of those lights, though, and then they're back on, flooding through the passenger cabin of the craft and leaving Chani's dark irises darting around the section to see if anything has changed in the few seconds that she was blind. Something's changed, alright. Chani watches two people she hasn't met rise from their seats and face off with a droidd that comes from seemingly nowhere. She definitely doesn't think it was on the ship with them when this all started.

Unfastening the harness, Chani rises to her feet and mimics the other two by drawing the stunsaber from its spot fastened to the right side of her belt, right hand brushing aside the robe to get to it and then thumb quickly finding the activation stud to depress it. She adds to the extra illumination spilling through the cabin, but she makes no aggressive moves whatsoever towards the droid. She only raises the stunsaber in one hand to provide a defensive angle meant to protect her core. "That didn't come with us, did it?"

<<"I see it, Elrock, >> Zan replies, the call signs coming automatically, once the two are investigating. The comms flicker out and then back on, so that at least everyone can hear. Including them. She eeps quietly though, as El communicates back to the Libertine, and Zan's sensors light up with whatever however many of these things there are. Too many. Zan tries to evade the incoming attack, but she torques too much, and the TIE roars right into the path of the attack instead of away from. It's bumpy and the shields take a beating, but Zan manages to circle up and about, to regain her position despite the crazy flying - << I think we probably want to leave .... yesterday. But... mynock wannabe on the ship's ... glommed ... good. >> Choppy communications, indeed, as the only other word that can probably be made out is, << calculations. >>

Kasia isn't new to trying to pilot or trying to figure astrogation coordinates in stressful situations, which is good because those alerts flashing across the dark screen are pretty concerning. "I'm working on it," she says to the demand that they jump again. Her fingers speed over the console, pausing to go over the numbers again, a slight crease forming between her brows as she speed-skims her work. "Almost." The sound of sabers igniting makes her glance back a beat, but she forces her focus ahead to her job. Lips purse into a line before she slaps another button to submit the coordinates. "That should do it."

Aryn was dazed by the sudden and abrupt exit of hyperspace. The inertia was enough to cause a momentary blackout. When Aryn's eyes opened again, it was to the symphony of alarms going off; part of the console even sparked, and her viewport was black. She tasted blood in her mouth, her lip made more ruby red because of it. Aryn shakes her head to come back to her senses and begins the reboot process of the ship's subsystems.

Step One: Solve the hull breach. Aryn deploys a counter-measure to close the hull breach using the shield technology. This was common for ships in order to maintain cabin pressure and integrity, and it came standard in some of the more high-class vessels like this one. Step Two: Get the ship's main shields back online. Elrych's transmission revealed the reason why they could not see out. Something was attached to their hull? How do you detach? Aryn triggers the shield emitters back online, ushering whatever it is to back off. They have a small window of time to react when the shields come online, and that's tied to the reason behind the final alarm: Proximity Alert.

Aryn leans forward, setting the craft to Full-Back, and yanking the throttle to 'reverse thrusters' or reverse their thruster output. Ion engine vents switched outputs giving them locomotion, and Aryn increased its output to compensate for that short window of time. She takes hold of the yoke, just as she's pushed to rock forward from the momentum of the ship flying reverse. With a practiced motion, Aryn directed the ship in a half circle, whipping the front end about in an odd spin sideways. Mid-spin, she grunted, shoving the throttle forward then and setting herself firmly against her seat back once again. The Libertine responded with a ROAR of its internal engines below, and her feet vibrated as a result. Aryn quietly thanked the Mother for a responsive ship. She could hear Jessika's voice in her head, reminding her that this technique was reserved for only the most responsive ships: and by responsive, she meant well-calibrated and maintained. Guild d"Lanseaux had their reputation to live up to, and for once, they did.

Kasia's input of the nav-computer triggered a sudden lock for their next jump and Aryn sighed in relief as she focused on aligning with their next jump point. She informs those with her that, "the ship is locked onto the next jump point." She settles her gloved hand over the top of the throttle.

Rey braces herself with her hands on the edge of the holographic table when the ship lunges back in to, and within moments, back out of hyperspace. She adjusts the holo projector to display the exterior hull of the ship while she hears the pilots in the TIEs communicating with their ship.

When the sabers come on, and the warning of intrusion is given, Rey's eyes look up to those igniting their defensive weapons. "Be careful." She advises them, currently remaining precisely where she is, not even having her lightsaber on her person at the present moment.

Jax looks at Rey. "I think I'll go see if Vhe and the others have things covered." He pivots and goes heading down the hall of the ship to help. His hand falling on his saber and he takes it up. < Vhe, this is Jax, I'm coming to assist. If you need it.> The Corellians finger settling on the button of his saber ready.

Amidships, the darkness is persistent, the lights knocked out by the power outage and the intruding of... whatever the thing that plugged its own boarding hole is. When the sabers activate, the sudden bath of blue and white light casts the white walls and black floors in an eerie glow and reveals not one sleek silver body, but another clambering quickly out of the foreign vessel, and behind those, a hasty tumble of spindly beige parts that immediately unwind and reorient into a trio of less-imposing but still very unwelcome battle droids.

"Surrender your ship, Jedi dogs," the non-restrained B2 buzzes, levelling a blaster-laden arm at the Jedi while the other wrestles free and the B1s raise their short rifles. With a shriek of metal, the boarding craft pops out, like a cork, and falls away into space as Aryn encourages it to let loose and pushes the ship into reverse.

Like Rey, Ben remains in the cockpit, too intent on supervising the actual flight to go find out what's happening with the others. Aryn and Kasia's teamwork is continuing to keep the journey running, and when the lever is pulled back, the ship plunges back into hyperspace, tugging the TIEs along behind it.

This time, the tunnel is narrow, and Ben eyes it suspiciously, nervous glances cast at the nav console, but when they reemerge, it is as planned. What wasn't planned was that they emerge on the edge of a singularity.

"Oh, not good," Ben says.

Outside the viewports, space is colored green with the drawn-in hydrogen gasses and then abruptly split to black, absolute black, a huge curve of nothing that stretches out as far as the eye can see, and the Libertine and its escort are being dragged towards the middle of that void.

Saber's offer the illumination needed to see what has thus been hidden until this moment and she hesitates as the other two come up. The answer she gets is not one she expects as she still holds the first droid that entered with the Force. Her hand curls as fingers tighten inwards to try to keep it there.

"Jax...good to have you." Chani and Rune are noted briefly in peripheral before the gypsy releases the force as she steps forward. The first swing for the battle droid she held misses but the crossing donward swing to keep the momentrum finds its home, slicing into the main systems and causing the droid to drop, melting and smoldering from the cleaving path of the pale blue saber.

Spinning back around the other way she unfurls the saber in an attack side long across the middle of the second as it tilts and falls to the ground sideways with a rattling clank leaving the three smaller droids to deal with.

After contrasting his stance with the other two bearing weapons, he flips his saber over in his hands and clutches it properly, his attention locked to the multitude of metal creatures that are climbing from the belly of the ship. Rune directs the brilliant white light outward, holding the hilt aloft to the side, more like one would a spear. Obviously not quite as it is intended to be used but he's still learning.

Speaking of such things, more and more basic connects itself in his mind, the language sounding and coming more naturally and the hollow voice that sounds from the vox of the droid registers nearly word for word.

'Jedi' is a word the Ysanna has only heard in his dreams, told to him by the figures in light that spoke to him in his youth. Regardless what the rest of the words were, understood or not, the metal beings' intent is clear with the blasters being leveled in their direction. Shortly after Vhe leaps to attack, Rune follows suit, swinging the lightstick around in an approximation of her own movements. Whatever he did seems to work as the droid suffers two slashes to its midsection and collapses in a heap, sparks flying from the punctured hull. Rune, for his part, is beaming from ear to ear... what with everything on this trip thus far, THIS is what he understands.

Elrych turns about, slipping into hyperspace just behind the Libertine and leaving the old Clone Wars era boarding fighters for the next unlucky passenger trying to recreate the Byss run. That probably wouldn't be for another few hundred years at the least. <<"Drek...">> He breaths out slowly, the tenseness leaving him. <<"Those thing must have been waiting there for close to a hundred years.">> He really shouldn't be relaxing because there is still the case of the droids on the Libertine.

That's alright, because as they are dragged out of hyperspace again, planned or not, the Defender streaks past the Libertine and starts to tumble towards the singularity. "How?!" Elrych exclaims!

He manages to level the craft, moving it from out of the spin, but his screens are beeping at him. He's gone too far past the Gravity well for a normal burn to keep him from tumbling into the Event Horizon. His heart sinks. "Not like this... damn it..."

For a moment it's as if he'd given up, ready to mediate untill ripped apart atom by atom in sweet gut wrenching and immensely painful spaghettification.

An idea pops into his head... "Shields... It has shields!" He runs a quick calculation on the computer and the trajectory shows green. So, he puts it into practice. He routs the entire power of the shield generator into the engines, turns about towards the Libertine, and pushes the throttle all the way forwards. The ship shakes violently, the singularity not wanting to let him go. Bit of the panels fall off, falling violently back towards the darkened dead star. He's pushed back into his seat, the pressure of the various intense G-forces working. The ship climbs, slowly, burning hard. Blue Ion engines streak and flare...

Finally he breaks the well and shoots back towards the Libertine. <<"Damn that was close... back with you Violet, Libertine.">>

Now he could breath, even though he was now about 5 minutes /older/ than he used to be. Time Dilation, it's weird stuff.

The arrival of Jax prompts a quick glance towards the man from Chani, but her attention diverts back forward towards the droids that have boarded and are now threatening their lives. The woman with the blue lightsaber begins to engage them, and so does the other man with his stunsaber. Chani herself steps forward towards one of the B1 Battle Droids to attack it with her weapon, hoping to disable it before it can do any harm. Her thrust, however, is clumsy and off target, missing the droid by a good margin and doing nothing more than illuminating it and casting its shadow against the wall opposite that of where the white beam of her stunsaber is positioned. It is nothing like the effective attacks of the other Jedi.

This is ... well, this is not a usual Rogue mission is it? Zandra, along with the others, comes out of hyper into <<Force protect us, >> is Zandra's fervent wish, as she sees the green light and then the soul sucking black of the singularity. She pulls back on her throttle instinctively, staying on the right side of that bubble, unlike poor El. Her heart sinks too as she sees his ship slide in - in slow motion? Zan is concentrating on her piloting, trying to hold to the Force. They're all in this together, but she's not sure how best to go in there after El. That thought may be a bit too much team centered, truthfully. As Elrych manages to rescue himself, Zan's sigh of relief can be heard on the comms. Because she flicked them to report just before that. << Violet here. I'm okay so far, but we definitely need to relocate. Who creates this kind of crazy route anyway? >>

Kasia closes her eyes at the sensation of going into hyper again, the pull of it making her stomach roil uneasily. A slightly ragged breath is sucked in, and then she swallows hard. She's not going to vomit on the console, she's not going to vomit on the console. An audible exhale precedes her eyes fluttering open again. Whatever help that might've been, the words from Ben undo it as she casts an uneasy look to the viewport. "Not good," she echoes this sentiment, and does what she's tried to do all along, which is calculate their next jump. The more she taps against buttons and screens the more she frowns, glancing over at Aryn. "Nothing is coming out right. I don't--" Tap tap, jab. "I think this thing," she motions to the viewport. "I think it's messing with the system. If not that, something is." She continues to work, or to try to, but the severity of the frown settling into place suggests it's not going well.

Emerging to realspace in the wake of a singularity was the single most scary thing Aryn had done in her entire life. Her heart beat elevated to the vicinity of her throat and her eyes widened with immediate concern and worry. Instinct dictated she reach out and engage their impulse engines, but the throttle locked to half efficiency and would not budge.

Aryn wanted to cry because she either lacked the strength to move the throttle, or the pull of the singularity over-taxed the engines making it impossible to increase their efficiency. Everything began to shake violently, and Aryn oriented the Libertine away from the singularity. She wished that object permanency was a lie, that if she no longer saw something, it no longer existed. Sadly, that defied all logic, and Aryn knew their only hope was pulling away from the singularity, which thankfully, she had reacted in time to prevent them from being pulled back. Slightly stressed over the effort, a tear crawled down Aryn's cheek. Please Mother, save them all!

"Try now," Aryn offers to Kasia without looking her way. Her blue gaze is locked ahead as if she tries to /will/ their ship further away. "We are moving from its gravity well."

Rey stands from the passenger bench and steps back over it to watch the others progress onward to deal with the boarding threat. She separates herself from it though and dashes up the stairs to the cockpit to look to the back of Ben's head. "This is crazier than we expected." She announces to no one's benefit. Her eyes dart up to the ship's forward viewport beyond Aryn and Rey can't help but ask. "Where are the stars?" As all she sees is the enveloping blackness outside.

Her gaze then darts to Kasia, who looks busy, but also borderline sick. "Kasia, are you okay? Do you need anything?"

But the continued sounds of combat further back in the ship make the Jedi woman wince as she looks back and down the stairs toward the interior of their besieged vessel.

The pull of the singularity stems from the black hole at its center, devouring anything that comes within a certain distance of its gravitational pull without the energy to escape it again. The exit juncture did the Jedi no favors, depositing them perilously close to the point of no return, but through skill and sheer will they've pulled back from the brink.

Ben stands between the pilot and navigator, now latched onto both of their headrests, staring intently out the viewport at the drifting fog of green-tinted atomized gases as they're inexorably dragged along the eons towards this spot. "We can do this. We have to do this. We /need/ to do this."

In the middle of the Libertine, the exotic wood paneling lining the seating picks up a few new scorchmarks as the droids are carved to pieces, reflecting to a large degree their historic legacy as scrap parts within a few moments of encountering Jedi, except for the second super battle droid. With its legs cleaved off, the top half still has one arm, the firing arm, operational, which it turns on Vhe and opens fire. "Jedi scum! We will win this war!"

Rune's work with the stunsaber distracts her just enough that the impenidng shot seers across her arm and cause her to side step. The brief smoke and smell of burnt flesh fills the air as she recovers and sweeps the injured arm with saber in hand upwards. The slive through the center of the droid goes clean through and as it separates to the view of glowing dropping metal it sparks a few times and makes a whirring sound as it tilts and falls apart in two.

Catching her breath as she comes about, she keeps the saber lit to look at the others in the intercepting group. A nod is given to Rune, a knowing smile of approval before she looks to Jax. "Definitely glad you came back..." She says this until her gaze sweeps to the opening and space is beyond. "We should probably head back, just in case..."

She looks to Chani then, introductions can happen once they are back where air will be present if shields fail. <"The boarders have been handled as far as we can tell."> She glances to Jax and then the others. "We should probably sweep the remainder of the ship though." Second thoughts and she turns back around, passing that precarious hole in the hull.

Rune stares in wonder at the glowing stick of brilliant white in his hand, twisting it this way and that while marveling at its effectiveness. Even if he had been paying attention and not in the middle of combat, Jax's words still sound like so much noise to his ears. As the remnants of the last foe fall sparking to the floor, Rune lifts his head to look directly at Jax, extends his hand, points his finger at the lot of scrap at their feet, and nods. "Roger, Droid." Well, at least he caught a few words from that

The button on the cylinder in his grasp is pressed for a second time, the bright white tube recalling into the hilt with the faintest of whispers, and Rune takes stock of the room. A smile accompanies the nod he returns to Vhe, a lifted eyebrow being reserved for the hole in the floor. He had always wanted to be closer to space, THIS, however, was not what he had imagined. The scavenger steps away from the inky nothingness, the stunsaber fumblingly replaced on his belt as he goes. He's at a loss what to do next, the expression of question plain on his face while he looks from figure to figure.

Elrych is breathing even again as he stays clear of the Singularities gravity this time, sticking close on an escort trajectory with the Libertine. He relaxes even more as Vhe announces over comms that things have been taken care of. <<"Let's get on with the next jump then...">> He checks his sensors and looks about the ball cockpit's multiple viewports for sign of the other TIE Defender.

Once all the battle droids are gone, Chani depresses the activation stud on the stunsaber a second time and the white blade vanishes. Glancing to Jax, Chani intones. "I'm familiar with them. They did invade my homeworld once." Guiding her right hand back to her side, Chani secures the stunsaber hilt to its position and lets the robe fall back over it so it is once more concealed. Her gaze passes over the others present, from the woman to the wild-haired man, and then towards the gaping hole that is the hull breach. Chani's mouth slightly turns down and her eyes squeeze slightly more shut than they were before. "We.. should probably get away from that?" She's already starting to move towards the exit of the passenger cabin.

Zan is very relieved that the Libertine is pulling away from the singularity, and so is Elrych. She also is flying, but that singularity is rather stubborn. <<Nice flying, Elrock and Aryn!>> She can feel the singularity pulling at her ship, the throttle shaking in her hands. Good news from the Libertine, and that's worth another sigh of relief. But Elrych's sensors will show it. The Libertine's too, no doubt. The whole TIE is trembling, and not from just being well flown for once. There is a tinge of fear, a frisson of omg, no! and Zan's struggling to keep that calm, to recenter herself, as she realizes what is happening. Zan's TIE is slipping slowly backwards, as it's tugged back by the singularity, inexorably pulling her towards that doom that Elrych managed to escape only five minutes ago.

Kasia sets her shoulders, jaw shifting and cheeks hollowing for a moment as she stares at the navigation panel in front of her. "I'm okay." The answer is to Rey, but is she? She looks a little green around the proverbial gills, but is soldiering onward for now. "I'm okay." It's hard to say whether or not this second reassurance is to Rey, or herself, but she says it out loud all the same. Aryn's urging to try again sets her fingers into a frenzy of motion, jabbing at the computer to try and get system to work as they're supposed to. There's a low, slightly frustrated sound that originates from the back of her throat, but after a series of slightly more aggressive jabs, she pulls her hands back waits a beat. "I think I've got it!"

The Libertine is pulling away, the interior shaking from the conflict between their vessel combating the influence of the gravity well. Aryn feels encouraged by her companions though, and the transmission from Zandra makes Aryn smile, despite the fresh trail of a tear on her scarred face. She takes hold of the impulse engine throttle and grunts, slowly forcing it to max speed, and the engines respond, the floor vibrating from the constant output.

When Kasia manages to finish their navigation input, Aryn is overjoyed to hear the beeping from the nav-comp indicating the jump was locked, successfully. "..Mother's mercy," She said softly and speaks over the sounds of the ship shaking inside: "We are locked on target for the next jump." She rests her gloved hand over the throttle and looks ahead, her mouth fixing to a slightly crooked grin.

Rey's eyes go from Ben, to Kasia, then back to Aryn, and inevitably back to Ben. "Oh, dear." She mutters. The bridge crew is very busy, and everything outside the ship is showcasing that quite brightly. A quick nod is given to Kasia, but Rey elects to leave them all be as she turns around and makes her way back down the staircase to the main interior of the ship, her arms stretched out to brace herself as she passes through the rooms.

With the sounds of the sabers further ahead, Rey darts back the way she'd come toward the Captain's Cabin to gather a few of her things from within it. They'd known the ride would be bumpy, but not like this...

Jax eyes go wide as Vhe takes a blast bolt nearly point blank and is fine. "Whew, the force is with you." Then he rolls his shoulders lowering his saber. "I didn't know what they taught you in history class or what you paid attention too." He though chuckles at Rune calling the Battledroids, 'Roger droids.' "I like that. I'm Jax." He syas pointing at his chest with the his thumb. He looks at the gaping hole in the side of the ship. "That's going to be fun to fix later." Then following Vhe's lead, "Sounds wise, holler out if you run into something. I'll do the same." Then he goes to search the rest of the Libertine.

The Libertine is nearly foundering, struggling to put much distance behind it away from the singularity. Smoke plumes from one of the turbo injectors running alongside the ship where the boarding craft hole is punched through. Though it creeps ahead, the pull remains strong, and anyone watching closely can see Zan's Defender slip by overhead back towards the black hole. There's a collective held breath in the cockpit as Kasia finalizes the calculations, submits them through, and Aryn's hand lands on the throttle, broken when Ben yells "Punch it!"

The throttle snaps down with authority, and the trio of beleagured ships stretch and snap out of existence, back in the purple haze of hyperspace and safety.

Ben collapses back against one of the high-end consoles, letting out a sigh and looking at a spot on the ceiling. "That was close."

When the tiny escort group comes shuddering out into realspace, it is finally above a planet, a sparkling green and blue gem of a world. "Take us down towards the city," Ben says to Aryn, pointing at a swath of grey that covers nearly an entire continent. "The middle."

As the ship makes its approach, he cracks open one of the storage spaces beneath a seat and pulls out a bunch of red blankets, piling them up high on the floor. Under these are glossy red mantles. "Put these on," he says, indicating the red blankets. "They're robes. Uniforms. Before we land." No amount of funny looks and questions seem able to convince him that this isn't necessary.

With everyone dressed in flowing red, the yacht spirals down, flanked by two TIEs, towards a mammoth spire jutting out from the heart of the city, towering high above the rest. "Take us in." He points to a yawning hole near the top of the building, a hangar that seems to be open to them. <"Stay close, Imperial Escort,"> he says over the comms, and as the three ships settle in, a small contingent of white-armored troopers, black uniformed workers, and grey-suited officers come filing out to meet them, arranging themselves into orderly formation rows as the Libertine powers down and the landing ramp extends.

With the Libertine settling down and the engines winding into an idle position, the gangplank of the ship lowering and those within it preparing their departure, the ship fires off exhaust beneath it's hull as movement inside of the Libertine can be seen.

Footfalls. Black leather boots. Moving down the ramp...

The figure emerges in to sight for all those waiting outside. Dressed almost entirely in black, with a long coat and crimson leather gloves that reach almost entirely up to her shoulders, Rey stands at the foot of the ramp of the Libertine. Her hair tied back now in tight spheres that rest at the base of her head just above her neckline. She scans her eyes over the Imperial entourage waiting them, her eyes lined in dark makeup and a hard-edged glare given to those lingering here, waiting to meet them.

As the Imperials stare with wide eyes upon her, Rey's darkly painted lips offer a reserved smile.

"After all these years, you've managed to survive, cut off from the rest of the known galaxy here..." She says to all of them, before pausing a moment. "What then? Aren't you going to welcome your Empress?"