o.o
Once the group had exited the elevator, Erinyes stood between the door to the security checkpoint and where Dasha was cheerfully breaking into a secret passage. The map of the facility had showed it was possible to bypass the security checkpoint completely by going through maintenance shafts, but after all the work Erinyes had put into getting a uniform, she was bloody well going to use it.
“If anyone else wants to go with Dasha, we’ll stand here until you’ve closed the panel behind you.”
The stunted Sephi made short work and disappeared into the shaft quietly, squirreling into the system and already heading to a destination.
She shimmied down the shaft like a squirrel on a mission.
Meanwhile, Erinyes skimmed through the base’s schematics to figure out the exact route to the isolated mainframe once they got into the secure area. Something about the map seemed naggingly familiar.
Aylin followed after Dasha and disappeared from sight quickly. She had memorised part of the route they needed to go, so she should be fine.
It was down quite a few levels, in a central mainframe within an engineering section in the forward of the base that, once again, was naggingly familiar to her in its placement.
Anders, did indeed, follow the former Consul, though his hand grazed the lightsaber hilt attatched to his hip. He’d be ready for any eventuality.
The doors opened, revealing a long hallway that lead to turbolift doors on the left, and a large double set of armored doors on the right. Stormtroopers were on both sides of the hallway, with two black and gold armored stormtroopers in front of the armored doors.
The stormtroopers gave the group a glance, but did not say a word, as the doors opened.
Erinyes returned the stormtroopers’ glances, but kept right on walking into the security checkpoint itself. She kept her eyes peeled for the exit from the maintenance shaft where her teammates might emerge, especially if it would be in the troopers’ line of sight.
If they came out straight though, and not into the turbolift shaft, the two black and gold troopers would spot them super fast.
Erinyes let out a slow breath and reached out in the Force, trying to touch Aylin and Dasha’s minds directly. She didn’t want to risk one of their comlinks or datapads beeping if she tried to send them a message.
If she was able to make contact with either of them, the message would be to go to the elevator shaft, else they would be seen.
Erin was able to warn them both not to go straight, and Anders directed them to go left and then right and into the shaft.
And something about avoiding a green meadow.
Between the two of them, Anders and Erinyes had sent the signal. It was like a message on a datapad, or at least, that was what he hoped.
Anders glanced at Erinyes, giving her a small nod.
The closer they got the twitcher Aay'han became, unable to really stand in complete stillness or walk with a calmness. Her hands fidgeted with discomfort, not used to wearing any kind of uniform.
On ocassionally she muttered about cheap material and rubbed at her wrists often.
The trio exited the long hallway without an issue, in front of them the twin turbolifts and a button on the wall between them. Behind them guarding the armored doors, the troopers there seemed as if they were boring their eyes into them.
Erinyes pressed the button, doing everything in her power to look like she belonged there.
The troopers did not move. The lights above moved, and then the left turbolift door slid open for them.
She stepped into the lift car with Anders and Aay'han, but waited to press the button until Aylin and Dasha were able to catch up.
BUDD-E tilted its head on Anders’ shoulder, taking in the scenery around it. Luckily the troopers either didn’t notice or didn’t care. BUDD-E was a relatively small droid, so by definition, was relatively unassuming.
That, or the troopers didn’t get paid enough. Anders would look into that at the conclusion of their mission.
“Cool droid, bro.” one of the two troopers said as the door closed and the turbolift began descending downward.
It continued down for one floor, and opened to a pair of stormtroopers who were waiting to get on, and did just that after the doors opened.
“Man, Commander Salazar is really being a pain today.” one of them remarked. “Feel bad for the FNGs.”
“You feel bad for them? Even after he caught them minging up and down the corridors in front of the bunks? And when one of them took a pot-shot at the Brigadier General?”
“I mean, them no, just everyone else caught in the wake of that. Last I saw they were still running laps in the bay.”
“Still? Man…I really do kinda feel bad now. Didn’t he catch the minges like four hours ago?”
“Yep. Only managed to do so thanks to shock again.”
“Let me guess, tazers?”
“Yeah. Was kinda comical, one fell down the lift just as he connected to his backside. He’s in medbay with quite a few injuries.”
“Wish Commander Cannoli was still here, never had those issues when he was around.”
“I know, right? Not sure what it is, but Salazar just can’t keep control of the regiment at all. Won’t be long before the Brigadier General replaces him.”
“Nah, fifty credits says he gets offed by the General first given all of the minging.”
“You know, I could see that. Or he passes the task off to the new Admiral. Or the new Colonel.”
The one turned to the other, with a stare that if could be seen would be that of shear shock.
“Ok, first, why would the General pass that off to Fleet? Second, the Colonel is a rabbit.”
“So? He already killed a minge that tried to get past the checkpoint into the command center. Shot straight to the back of the head, pow!”
“The rabbit did that?”
“Yep. At least that’s what I heard.”
“Man…never would have imagined that out of a little pint sized thing like that. I figured his appointment was a joke, like the former Grand Admiral’s.”
“I thought so too. But apparently he’s quite good.”
“Mm.”
“Rumor is he’ll be on base today for an inspection.”
“The new Admiral? Or that rabbit?”
“I’d stop referring to the Colonel that way.”
“Dude, he’s a rabbit. I don’t care what you’ve heard, theres no way he wasnt appointed as a joke. You know the General’s sinister and sick sense of humor.”
“Alright…your funeral.”
“Yours if you ever think I’ll obey the instructions of a kriffing fuzzball.”
The one shrugged. “Just make sure I’m nearby and have a credit pool started.”
“Why, so I can be rich?”
“No. So I can pay for your funeral.”
The elevator continued to descend, the two discussing back and forth.
It was amazing the things you hear when you blend into your surroundings. Nobody pays any attention to you, and the information received could be invaluable.
The rabbit. They were a character of interest. As was this Brigadier General.
‘I hope you both are listening to this as much as I. This rabbit and Brigadier General might be important people of note for Cassandra to be informed about.’
Anders side-glanced BUDD-E, giving it a quizzical look. The droid gave a slight nod back. Yes, it was recording the entire conversation happening around them.
<@645466919415054357> <@359063763736854538>
Erinyes nodded at Anders’ observation. Hearing stories about the lack of discipline in the regiment rapidly dimmed her opinion of these “traditionalists”. If this was the quality of troops that Regis supposedly had on hand… well, at least they’d make for a useful distraction in the short term.
Speaking of a lack of discipline, Erinyes withdrew a flask—her own flask, the one with drinkable stuff in it—and took a slug. Ahh.
Anders smelt it before he saw it, and heard the twist of the flasks lid being opened. He scoffed, rolling his eyes and lightly shaking his head.
“It’s for medical reasons. It prevents injuries.”
“The minges though. Why did they allow unknowns to join up?”
“Why do you think they’re under Salazar? Its to weed out the ones who arent capable of being a part of the corps. So many from Chyron, Ostara, Port Kasiya…”
“I guess thats true. Only what, six made it out of his last batch of thirty?”
“Yep. Rest were either shipped out, sent to the brig, or died if they were stupid.”
“Well, at least we arent with them in the bay.”
“Anyways, how are things with you and Emelia? Heard you two had a date in the city.”
“Oh, it went good. Her parents don’t exactly approve though.”
“They joined you?”
“Yeah, for dinner. They…dont like my profession.”
They both turned to face the Lieutenant Commander.
“Prevents injuries? What is it?” One of them asked.
<@645466919415054357>
“Yes, what is the injury?” Anders’ mouth curved into a smirk.
The other whispered. “Betting the Admiral is just as much of a hardass.”
“Oh, just tsiraki, but it prevents injuries to other people. My old skipper aboard the Orthanc had the ship’s doc put a note in my file after he got tired of seeing wiseass ensigns end up in sickbay.” She gave Anders pointed side-eye.
She also smiled brightly at the two troopers, for added “uh…” value.
They quietly gave a glance to each other, then turned around, now silent.
“You’re fine, troopers. You’d have to try a lot harder than that to piss me off after a couple of minutes in a lift.”
“I think I remember seeing that file once, actually, though I was there for an entirely different reason. Some kark suckers thought it would be funny to mess with the life support systems in the med bay. It took days to fix, but at least it got me out of the way of the General,” Anders turned to the troopers. “You know what I mean?”
“What do you think?” one asked the other. “Should we ask?”
“I mean…it’d be fun to see if she isnt already aware of it. Salazar and Waltz usually are the big two at the end. Be fun to see someone show them up.”
They then heard Anders, one of them laughing. “I actually remember that. I was a Cadet back then, patrolling outside the mess hall when the call went through. Life support went down, medbay sealed itself thinking it was a bulkhead breach. Wasn’t it the Chief who ended up blasting the door panel and using a launcher to blow the door apart?”
“So it was you who did that.” he continued, looking at Erinyes.
“It wasn’t a launcher. It was a set of thermal detonators. I swear I saw him frothing at the mouth,” Anders held out a hand to the troopers. “I don’t believe we’ve had the pleasure. What are your names?”
The trooper looked Anders up and down before taking a step back. “…you’re a little young for it to have been you. I assumed you meant her.”
“Agreed, he looks what, maybe 30?”
“If even. And this was about 20 years ago.”
The troopers looked at each other then at Anders, their hands tensing up.
“Mhmm. Back when I still had my wings.” Erinyes noticed the shift in the troopers’ demeanour, and quirked an eyebrow as she secured the flask back in her tunic.
“I’m actually 40. I take very good care of my skin.”
“It’s true. People underestimate that baby face of his. It makes the good cop/bad cop routine a lot easier.”
“Remind me to thank my mother. GammOréal was a gods send when I was younger.”
They both looked at each other again before one of them shrugged.
“Makes sense. He is a chiss after all, and you barely know anything about aliens.”
“I know, fun to bluff though.”
“Maybe he’s born with it.”
“Nate, don’t do it.”
“Maybe its…”
The other stormtrooper raised his blaster at him. “Don’t you kriffing do it. I swear I’ll shoot you.”
The other one lashed his blaster onto his belt and suddenly did an air guitar before yelling out. “MAYBE ITS HUTTALINE!”
The other stormtrooper’s arms shook in clear visible anger. “God…kriffing damn it Nate…”
“And that’s why Im squad leader.”
“Yeah, while still being a lowly Sergeant.”
“…don’t have to rub that in, major.”
Erinyes snorted with laughter. “They should hire you for ads. ‘Skin as smooth as polished plasteel!’”
Anders chuckled. “If they ever open a department for military skin-care, I’m your guy,” he pointed at himself.
Nate looked at her before scrambling for his datapad. “Oh thats good, I have to note that down.”
“Are you really enabling him? Really?” The other muttered before poking Nate’s shoulderplate. “I hope Salazar wipes the floor with you in the next boxing tournament tonight. Concuss that idea right out of your thick-headed skull.”
“If they hire him away, you won’t have to listen to his puns anymore.”
“Oh, what time does that start again?” Anders looked at Erinyes, feigning ignorance.
“I have no idea. I expected to be busy with whatever Captain Richardson saddles us with, so I didn’t look it up.”
“It’s at 1800 hours, about an hour from now in upper bay 2 on deck 73, opposite the engineering bay.” Nate said, just as the lift stopped. He glanced at the panel, then at the two. “Guessing this is your stop.”
“Yeah. Thanks, gents.” As she squeezed past the troopers, she stopped in the doorway and began coughing, to buy herself time to send a telepathic message to Aylin and Dasha: Stop here.
They recieved the notion of wanting to stop.
In that case, Erinyes continued out of the lift to see what was in the corridor beyond. Hopefully it’d be somewhere they could loiter for a minute while Aylin and Dasha got out of the lift shaft.
Anders followed suit, his eyes immediately taking in their surroundings.
They were in one of the larger corridors now, just behind a checkpoint on the left. The guard that stood there had their back to them, obviously guarding what came in. The opposite direction to the right had a door with “Medbay” written above it, and a “Do Not Enter - Systems Control” sign beyond it in that hallway.
Erinyes counted out enough time for the lift they’d been in to have departed, then retrieved her datapad and sent a message to <@417336769181122562> and <@77213354619318272> , reasoning that the guard wouldn’t hear the ping through the walls of the lift shaft—or if he did, he’d assume it came from her or Anders’ commlink. “You should be clear to come out now. Quick, before another turbolift comes.”
If needed, she would levitate Aylin and Dasha into the corridor to make sure they didn’t suffer any nasty falls. While they waited, she went back to her datapad and scrutinised the details of the base again. She had a hunch she knew why it looked familiar, but she wanted to confirm whatever details she could.
She examined the layout over and over, but at the immediate moment nothing overly stood out to her. She had specific thoughts, however, about things that would be different…and to verify that, she would either need to visit the reactor core section 12 decks further below, risk going into the Systems Control area down the right hallway, or go back up and try to enter the command center where a particular identifier would be if she was correct.
The guard at the checkpoint was in the same uniform as them, but stood legs slightly spread with their hands behind them. On their shoulders were green shoulderpads with a thick yellow stripe on the outer topside of it, and smaller one directly next to it.
He was still oblivious to all of them, his attention firmly set on everyone outside of the checkpoint.
Aay'han followed the pair in silence, she wasn’t sure what she could say, socialising was a relatively new novelty.
Her attention was diverted to the guard as she half listened to her companions. She couldn’t help but move towards him, curious as to why his uniform was different.
As Dasha stares at the blueprints that Erinyes has up, she notices the rooms, halls, and passageways along with the area they just came from being in the front area of the base so far above, and the areas ahead of them towards the rear get more compact and narrow…
It reminds her of older Taldryan ships she used to see float in the sky, especially over Ostara. Pointy ships.
It then clicks. She knows the ship type, only based off the overall shape of the base.
But why is a base in the shape of one…?
Maybe they miss their time in space and designed this to play pretend capital ship since they are stuck on the ground? Or they just like Chissritos or Tattooine Cantina Chips?
Erinyes tilted the datapad so <@77213354619318272> could see it more easily. “What do you have in mind, Major Malfunction?”
Dasha drew her fingers around the ship in some odd combination of paths to what she assumed their destination is. The datapad recorded and set a red pathing line for the others to see.
“That…” and off the Sephi dashed like a squirrel with a mission only on 2 feet.
“How is that even a solid line?” She squinted down at the datapad, but by the time she looked up again, Dasha was already gone.
The guard looked at her in surprise, calling out “NO RUNNING!”
Finally, he sighed. “I swear. I thought the stormtrooper cadets were a problem…now it’s fleet.”
“Apologies about her. You know what new recruits are like,” Anders shrugged. “Basic Training isn’t what it used to be.”
He then followed after Dasha, mostly to ensure that tbe young Sephi wasn’t about to do something stupid.
She watched them go and turned back to the guard.
“Have you been on shift long?”
“Few hours.”
Dasha was to the tram hall before she knew it, but was suddenly ordered to stop before she could get on. The person who did, was in the same uniform, and had similar shoulderpads to hers…except they were white, with a red trim and Taldryan crest on the upper part where it was triangle shaped, and one leaf on it in the middle. She was flanked by two others, both of whom had the exact same, but were black with two full red stripes, the inner most one with a circle on it, and thin red between them.
“Where’s the fire, ensign?” she asked commandingly.
<@77213354619318272>
Anders also, depending on what Dasha says or how she reacts, would be able to feel the immediate emotion of what she has at that exact instance in time.
Sighing, Erinyes set off to follow Dasha, wondering what kind of trouble she’d get into—and immediately spotted the higher-ranked officer confronting the Sephi as she rounded the corner. Uh-oh.
Erinyes picked up her pace, hoping to catch up before Dasha said something unfortunate.
Anders followed, though at a much more leisurely pace. If they all rushed, it would look suspicious.
Why did Erinyes feel the need to rush after Dasha?
He connected with the Force, focusing in the Sephi. Maybe her emotional state would provide an answer.
Erinyes’s feelings were founded as Anders could sense the Sephi go into panic mode.
The Sephi’s ears pinned back as she takes out a datapad and a random tool, wordlessly passing off that she was there for servicing.
The officer raised her eyebrow. “What would require your direct attention to service that couldn’t be passed off to maintenance?”
When she got into earshot of the Commodore and the Sephi, Erinyes put on her best command voice. “Ensign! Wrong direction! Down that corridor, then your second left!” Then, she snapped off her crispest salute to the Commodore. “Sorry, sir. We’ve just transferred over from the Orthanc. We’re used to being a lot more hands-on over there, with the smaller crew and all.”
Dasha’s ears perked up at Erinyes’ voice and immediately went to obey, dashing right off before the Commodore could get another word in.
The Commodore looked the newcomer up and down, recognizing that she did not recognize her. It did make sense however. “I see. Well, here we do things slightly different to maintain an efficient structure. Since she is already enroute, have her handle it this time. But next time, ensure it goes to maintenance.”
She turned and looked at the Sephi, watching as she ran. “Commander, make a note to ensure she is properly disciplined. Not even a salute or proper dismissal.”
The Commander next to her gave a nod as he pulled out a datapad and began to pull up the crew roster, looking for her credentials to make a note. He paused for a moment before looking at the Commdore. “Ma'am, I dont see her listed as part of the crew.”
The Commodore took the datapad and began to look herself. She then gave Erinyes a glance before going through another folder of personnel.
Anders sensed Dasha’s panic, then saw her darting across the hall like a little Sephi blur. Then he overheard the conversation with Erinyes and the Commander.
“With all due respect, sir…” Erinyes coughed, then lowered her voice. “She has an overactive bladder, sir. Our previous skipper gave her permission to jet if it was to avoid an ‘accident’. I’ll make sure to speak to her about proper protocol to prevent it from happening again.”
“I see..” she said as she kept her attention on the datapad.
“As for the records, we were informed prior to departing the Orthanc that there might be some delays in getting the transfers processed officially. My understanding was that they were structured in such a way as to avoid drawing attention from certain parties on Caleria.”
She paused, considering that for a moment as she looked Erinyes straight in the eyes, staring for a moment as if playing a game of “lets see who blinks first”.
Anders approached behind Erinyes, locking eyes with the Commander.
“Sir, you know very well this is all a big misunderstanding. Theres no need to look through the personnel files. You will allow us to handle our comrade.”
The Commander looked at the Commodore. “Ma'am, there’s no need to look through the personnel files. You will allow them to handle their comrade.”
She turned and looked at the Commader with wide eyes. Her expression was that of someone killing a precious pet. “Excuse me, Commander? I will what?”
The Commander now had her full attention. “That sounded very much like an order. So please, repeat what you said. I would very much like to ensure I heard that correctly.”
The Commander did just that. Her jaw dropped. “Congratulations, Lieutenant Commander. You just earned yourself a demotion.”
She then turned and stormed off.
Erinyes had opened her mouth to answer, but with the Commodore now storming off, she wasn’t about to tempt fate. Instead, she waited until she was sure the senior and no-longer-senior officer were out of earshot, then breathed a sigh of relief and reached for her comlink to ping Dasha. “You can come out now.”
The newly annointed Lieutenant Commander stood there, confused. He leaned against the wall and slumped to the floor, holding his head.
“Did I really just do that…?”
“Slip of the tongue, sir. I’m sure you can get back in her good graces before she puts the demotion through.”
He looked up at her and nodded before standing up and giving chase.
“Man, now I know what it’s like to work for me.” Erinyes shook her head at the retreating officer.
“You’re welcome, by the way,” Anders crossed his arms across his chest as he waited for Dasha. He had something he needed to say to her regarding her actions…
“Oh, that was your doing? Good thinking.”
Ironically, next to them, was the tram that ran along the adjacent hallway with the bay at the far end.
However…it was the same hallway that the Commodore was now storming down, flanked by her Commander and her now lost puppy who had been disciplined.
Erinyes winced and opened her ‘link to Dasha again. “Stand by.” Hopefully, the Sephi would get the intent behind the message.
Dasha peeks out first before hurrying to rejoin the group as if she was always there. Now hiding behind Erinyes also like a puppy.
“I’d deffo be busting by now, dunno how you do it to be honest.”
The Nautolan caught up to them and frowned slightly, not really sure what was going on here at all.
“Does someone need help?” Aylin asked as she looked at Dasha
“I think we’re all okay. Major Malfunction just had a run-in with someone who might’ve been trouble.”
Anders proceeded to smack Dasha round the back of her head with the palm of his hand.
“Do not run off if you are unable to blend in with your surroundings. Stay glued to the hips of those who can!”
“Are you okay? Sorry we couldn’t get you into the lift, there were too many people to open the hatch without drawing attention.”
Erinyes waggled a finger at Anders as he reached around her to dope-slap Dasha. “Hey, now. The way we discipline people around here is to hold them in the air and lecture them.”
“Can’t do that right now, lest we be seen, so this is the next best thing,” he addressed Dasha again. “Am I understood, young lady?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. Been in tight spots before…”
She glared at Anders, keeping herself in check not to glitter bomb him right there and then at the display he was holding.
“Good. Let’s get moving before we run into anyone else—together, this time.” She stuck her head back around the corner to make eye contact with <@359063763736854538> , then started towards the tram car.
As they walked, she looked to Aylin and Dasha. “Next time we find a dataport, can one of you check whether this base has any escape pods?”
“Of course, no problem.”
Dasha thought for a moment and took out a round sphere…. one of her bombs.
But then she heard Erinyes and slipped it back away.
“Failing that, hopefully there’ll be some other kind of craft we can use to leave. I don’t like the idea of trying to bring someone through security checkpoints against their will.”
The group was at the tram, and ahead of them was the trio. Once they start, it would be at most twenty seconds before they were on top of them. The Commodore has not yet paid attention to anything behind her.
Aylin snuck onto the tram and hid herself behind one of the walls.
When the group had gotten into the tram in their chosen positions, Erinyes hit the button to send the tram towards their destination.
And the tram was away! It barreled down the pathway. As it progressed, the group could see the lost puppy was making hand gestures as if he were pleading or begging. The Commodore’s hands were in fists as she kept storming on.
He kept on and kept on, and she stormed on faster and faster. She finally glanced over and noticed the tram, having a wonderful idea. She turned and tried to grab onto the edge of it and get taken along just to get away from the annoying one.
While she succeeded in getting her foot on the entryway and grabbing the edge, the quick motion made her fall forward.
She looped around the edge before falling off and rolling down the tramway rails. The other two quickly went to her aid, not paying attention to the tram’s occupants.
Erinyes didn’t have to try to look shocked when she saw the Commodore take her dive off the platform. She was too far away to be able to reach the woman and help her aboard before she fell. Instead, she covered her mouth in what she hoped would be seen as a gesture of horror, instead of an attempt to hide her laughter.
The tram stopped about 30 seconds later in front of a closed double door.
Erinyes stepped forward and experimentally pressed the button to open the door.
The door opened, and there was a small straightaway to a closed blast door, doorway to stairs on the left, and a hallway to the immediate right.
Straight ahead would be the bay.
Out of curiosity, Erinyes checked the map to see what was to the left and the right.
To the right was a secondary hallway that lead to an undisclosed room, and another hallway that came into the bay from the rear; along with a lift that went under the bay. To the left, the stairwell lead upwards to a large massive area above and to the rear of the bay, along with a segmented area with 12 fighter-sized bays.
She made a note of the undisclosed room—maybe there would be time to check it after they found their saboteur—but for now, she proceeded forward to the blast door. Assuming there was nothing unusual in the hallway, she took a moment to look into the Force and see how many people were beyond the door, and try to judge whether they’d meet immediate confrontation.
She sensed about twenty life forms, but wasnt able to determine any potential hostilities.
“That was… interesting, ” Anders shook his head. What in the name of the Force that woman was thinking as she fell from the tram was anyone’s guess.
She was an idiot, pure and simple.
“That was hilarious.” Twenty wasn’t too bad. She compared the schematics to where she expected escape pods to be, searching for the closest one in case they had to make a run for it, then hit the button to open the blast doors.
Escape pods werent anywhere near their location for some reason, but only on the exterior sides a signifciant distance from them.
The doors opened to reveal a large conveyor system where workers were assembling E-11 blasters. Parts dropped from adjacent conveyors, and each person added a single part before putting it back down, letting the next person add a different part, and so on before reaching the end where several workers checked them, then stored them into crates. Next to the blast door was an interface console.
Immediately to their left, was a massive door easily the size if not bigger than the span and height of a lambda.
Erinyes proceeded through the bay to the room where the isolated mainframe was located, once again attempting to look like she belonged there. If the techs were smart, or at least as smart as most Imperial techs, they’d know better than to question a random group of people in officer’s uniforms.
And she was right, no one was questioning it.
Anders was almost amazed at how simple it was tricking them. Yes, they’d had their hiccups, but it helped when you had a former Consul assisting who knew the ins and outs of the Taldryan hierarchy better than most.
He followed Erinyes, keeping himself mindful of his surroundings. He looked at BUDD-E and whispered;
“Are you still recording?”
The little droid beeped back happily.
“Very good. Keep doing so.”
At the console, Erinyes retrieved the code cylinder they got from Aay'han’s contact and plugged it into the relevant port. Surely, a great adventure awaited!
An adventure did await. It greeted her with: Welcome Vice Admiral Marp.
After that, she had a full root breakdown of personel folders, systems access schematics, manufacturing, and information about the base.
What the hell kind of name is Marp? In any event, she copied as much information as she could from the database to her own datapad, then motioned for <@417336769181122562> , <@77213354619318272> , and whoever else had spare data storage to do the same. Hopefully, this would confirm her suspicions about how the base had been constructed.
Aylin got over to the console and started to download the information to her datasticks and have Siky sort through the files as it could read faster then they could.
A ton of it was locked behind a password, however. The only ones that copied was the folder related to the manufacturing.
Dasha dug into her bag and pulled out containers to help Aylin organize and store as much data as possible.
Erinyes waited until the others were finished copying whatever data they could, in case someone were to wander by and ask what was going on. When they were done, she proceeded towards the isolated mainframe, keeping an eye out for a data port along the way.
“Would you two like to try accessing the data with a code cylinder, or would you rather just get at it yourselves?”
“I’m fine either way, I don’t think the password will stop us for to long,” she said with a cheeky grin.
“In that case, how about you work on Admiral Marp’s password while I see if I can get into the maintenance logs with my code cylinder?”
“Sure, sounds like a plan to me.”
With that Aylin started up some tools and typing away to crack the code.
Erinyes nodded and headed for the isolated mainframe, looted code cylinder (the LCM’s, not the VA’s) at the ready. Time to find out who the saboteur was, and end the– er, present them to Cassandra, entirely unharmed.
As soon as she made the first attempt, she knew she was going to have to be careful or try another method. At the bottom of the screen, it showed in red text “1 of 5 Login Attempts Used”.
As she entered the little windowed room with the mainframe, a technician who sat at consoles directly in front of the window glanced over at her, her shoulderpads, then back to the manufacturing process outside without so much as a word. Behind him was the mainframe itself, with several more interface terminals.
Erinyes breezed past the technician and to one of the mainframe’s terminals. She plugged the code cylinder in, and looked up the inspection records of the suspicious crate of weapons.
And…she gets the crate pullup. Set for weapons for mock performance, alteration of blaster chip C-17Z by bypassing jumper 14 and disabling the sequence chip at that junction. Chip modification was set to be performed by a Specialist named Lucas King and quality checked by a Specialist Jessie Briggs.
Potentially pushing her luck, she tried to pull up what King and Briggs’ current duty assignments were.
ERROR: Personnel Duty Files for Engineering Division restricted to those with Rank E7 and up of Engineering, and those within Personnel Regiment.
Hmph. Well, it had been worth a shot, anyway. She copied the two names and maintenance data to her datapad, then headed back to check on the others.
As she walked out, the technician watched her go. Then took notice of the other individuals at the console across the bay…and raised an eyebrow. Why were people from…
He turned and looked at the console where she was and went over to it, typing several keys to pull up the access logs.
She made it back to the others, who were still trying to get past the password barrier.
Anders kept his eye on the technician that was watching from across the bay. Judging by their mannerisms, they were clearly suspicious.
The technician paused for a moment before turning off the console screen and going back to his desk at the window and sitting back down.
He kept watching them. It appeared he didn’t need to act just yet, but kept glancing over in case of any sudden movement.
She wandered up to <@417336769181122562> . “Any luck? I got the names, but I don’t have their duty rosters.”
“Shouldn’t be long now,” she said as she glanced up from her typing and going through various codes. “Siky is working on the files we got before. Perhaps he knows something about duty rosters.”
He did, actually. While it didnt give names or other critical information, the maintenance section of the files did have the specialist schedules tied to specific personnel IDs.
“Great job, both of you.” She patted the little droid, then started cross-referencing the personnel IDs with the duty rosters to get any info she could—schedules, bunk assignments, whatever.
She locked onto the IDs. Both of them apparently would current be on approved break in Central Bay 1, which according to their map was back down the tramway and down two decks, opposite the massive doors and an open void of where they were now.
“I’ve found them. We probably shouldn’t grab them right away, though. We need to figure out our way out of the base first.”
BUDD-E beeped, sounding a little bit annoyed and… was that jealousy?
“Hush,” Anders commanded the little droud, whose cranium drooped lowly on the Chiss’ shoulder.
Who knew droids could sulk?
Based on what she saw from the map, there were a few potential out-points. Where escape pods were noted on the outer perimeter of the base, despite them being underground, out the way they came past the two checkpoints, or if this is what she thought it was, there would be a third way out…in the upper section of the bay they were in now, traditionally used for drop procedures.
As she continued, the attempt counter just kept increasing. Despite appearances, the base’s central system was very well defended. Abnormally so.
BUDD-E, deciding it was a spiteful, jealous little droid, leapt from Anders to Aylin with a feat of mechanical acrobatics that If the group were honest, was slightly impressive.
The little Droid hummed into Aylin’s ear, inquiring if it could help too. <@417336769181122562>
As she continued, she managed to get in finally! Though now that they had what they wanted, what could they possibly want to get at this point…?
And given the rank level of the account, is it safe?
Anders peered over <@417336769181122562>‘s shoulder. “Whilst you are there, see what you can do in regards to attaining the Vice Admiral’s communication logs and a list of the highest-ranked officers in the base.”
Aylin downloaded what she could without risking further suspicions and looked for the file requested by Anders.
She found the officers list, and also noticed a folder named “CONTEXT SENSITIVE COMMUNIQUES (HIGH IMPORTANCE - FLAG OFFICER EYES ONLY)”
<@417336769181122562>
“Copy and download if you would please, Ms Sajark,” Anders requested, politeness in his tone.
Cassandra would he most interested in that information, and as would he and the rest of the OSI. It gave them leads to follow in the inevitable lead-up investigations that would come from this Caleria Affair.
She nodded absently as she was already doing so, making a copy for herself as well.
When she was done with everything she handed him the stick with the folder and other info.
“Anything else you want me to do or search for?”
“Search for personal information. Families and associates are a good start, including routines and habits. It is unlikely anything will be there regarding that, but any information we can get our hands on will be invaluable to us in the long term.”
Erinyes shook her head. “I don’t want to spend too much time here. We still need to find the saboteur before the Regent does, and now we have twice as many names to check.”
“I already copied all of that and Siky is working on those to see which would light up more then others. So I guess I’m done then,” she stated as she started to remove traces of her slicing and search records.
And Erinyes’ fears were warranted. The doors out slid open and a group of four shock troopers walked inside and towards the isolated mainframe room.
As Aylin continued, she became quick to notice that the panel was no longer responding to her commands despite her current access level.
<@645466919415054357> <@417336769181122562>
“We’re leaving. Now.” Erinyes waited just long enough for Aylin to unplug herself from the console, then started walking back towards the entrance to the maintenance bay.
Anders followed, maintaining his professional guise whilst storing the memory stick in BUDD-E.
“I’m done,” she said as she pulled out the spikes and storing everything away.
Two of them stood outside of the isolated mainframe as the other two went inside and began talking to the technician. Erinyes and the others went out of the bay where a medic was tending to the Commodore who sat against the wall on the floor. They could go past her and act like normal, or take the tram and zoom by directly next to them.
Having no desire to walk that close to the Commodore, Erinyes set off for the tram. The way she saw it, the less time they spent in the Commodore’s line of sight, the less chance there was of being spotted. At worst, the tram would get locked down and they’d walk anyway.
Anders followed Erinyes’ train of thought, though he readied to use the Force against the Commodore should the unfortunate occur.
“Stay close,” he said to the smaller trio if Aylin, Dasha, and Aay'han. It would do them no favours got lost behind and captured.
Dasha made sure she was somewhere in the middle of the group, other memory sticks stored away already.
Her ears visibly swiveled like radars to catch sounds of approaching persons or any signs of danger.
Aylin followed after them as she tried to act as innocent as she could, stuffing Siky away in her pant pocket.
They were all on the tram, and it was away. As it went past the Commodore, the Commander, the lost puppy who was devestated that he was going to wind up a Lieutenant now, and the medic, they noticed that she was dazed and out cold.
Choosing the tram was the smart move however, as when they reached the far end of the tramway, they were able to discern the shock troopers exiting the bay, one pointing down their direction. No sooner than they were off the tram, the shock troopers called it back towards them.
“Ooh, they’re on to us. Try to act natural.” She headed toward the break room where the suspects were at a brisk-but-normal pace.
Anders started walking in a brisk pace in the general direction of their next objective. He kept his hands behind his back, trying to look as natural as possible.
They were doing fine, and quickly out of sight of the shocks. Around the next corner, they were at a pair of doors with a sign saying “Mess Hall’ above it.
As the team was about to enter, Erinyes had An Idea. “Ay and Aay, lose yourselves in the crowd. Malfunction, stay with Anders. Anders, find King and bring him back here. I’ll get Briggs.”
With that, she set off into the mess hall in search of her quarry.
Inside the mess hall were dozens of people eating and conversing at long tables. At the front was a long bench with chefs behind it, stoves, fridgerators, and a large sign of available meals. The most prominently named one was “Admiral Bob’s Burger”.
Aylin wandered off and acted as if she belonged between all the people around her.
Erinyes only sees a sea of people with the right potential looks…but so many keep moving around, she cant possibly lock down her target.
Instead of wasting time relying on her not-so-sharp vision, she flagged down the nearest person in a weapons technician’s uniform. “Hey, I’m looking for Jessie Briggs. Know where she sits?”
The person raised an eyebrow a bit before responding in a condescending tone. “And who the hell are you to ask, fleetie?”
“Someone who’s not interested in departmental pissing contests.” Erinyes sighed. “A crate of blasters with her ID attached to it malfunctioned. I don’t think it was her fault, and I’m trying to get her off the hook before Fleet sends a complaint. Help me out, alright? Or help her out, if it makes a difference.”
“Ah kriff. I told her to pay sharper attention to her work, not the first issue she’s had an issue with.” he turned and bellowed out across the room. “Yo! Jessay!”
A small red-headed girl’s head popped up, with glasses and green eyes. Her head instantly went back down, disappearing into the crowd. It was a moment later a short girl appeared from behind several others, and looked up at him and then Erinyes and Anders. “Hiya.”
The man popped her on the head before crossing his arms. “You kriffed up again, Jessie. Be lucky fleet is trying to save your ass this time.”
“Owwwww…..I didn’t mess anything up!”
She was maybe just over four feet tall.
“Hi, Specialist Briggs. Can we talk outside for a minute? You’re not in trouble or anything, I’m just checking on one of your maintenance reports.” She glanced at Anders. “Join us when you find King.”
“Sure. Oh, and he’s in the main bay preparing for the boxing event. Stormtrooper Commander Salazar is participating this time, so there’s a lot of interest in putting him in his place.” she said with a slight giggle before following Erinyes. “So which report is it?”
Erinyes looked at the information she’d downloaded to her datapad. “XK-427, according to my records. The weapons were supposed to be used in a training exercise. Alteration of chip C-17Z… Ring a bell?”
Idly, she tuned her wrist ‘link to Anders’ frequency, so that only he would hear her instead of the entire team—or Zxyl, for that matter. It wouldn’t do for her to give Aylin and Aay'han away by someone overhearing their conversation.
She pulled out her own datapad, and her fingers just flew across the pad, selecting entries and sections no sooner than they were pulled up with a blink of an eye. “Yeah…definitely does. It was a custom order that was sent in. Bypass the main, initiate a lock-in loop to make sure they can’t be put into fire mode at any point. Basically ruins the blaster unless it’s rebuilt from scratch, not very efficient or cost effective.”
“Who sent the custom order in?” Erinyes quirked an eyebrow. This wasn’t the information she’d been expecting, but hey, never look a gift nerf in the mouth.
She went back several menus and started burrowing more more into the interface. “Let’s see…”
“They were ordered by Vice Admiral Marp of the Orthanc, at request of the Chancellor’s aide.”
“Interesting.” She noted that down on her datapad as something to chase down later, when they weren’t at risk of having shock troops crawling over them at any second. “There was a problem with those blasters, Specialist. Someone sabotaged them, and a lot of people got hurt as a result. Counter-Intelligence has narrowed the suspects down to the person who modified the blasters, and the person who signed off on the inspection.” Erinyes looked up from her datapad and stared Briggs directly in the eye. “Think very carefully about how you’re going to answer this, Jessie. Did you confirm those blasters were modified according to the work order before they went into the field, or did you just assume King did the work correctly and sign off without checking?”
“I’m here to catch saboteurs, not bully technicians. If you made a mistake, and you admit to it, I’ll treat it as not being any of my business—but if you try to hide it, it’s going to make you look really bad.”
“I mean, I…” she stuttered for a second. But before she could answer, the doors opened and the group of of shock troopers walked into the mess hall. Jessie turned and looked at them, back at Erinyes, before bolting under the legs of one of the shock and out of the bay.
“Hey, wha?” one of the shock said, confused. “Halt!”
Erinyes knew she only had a split-second to decide what to do, and lifted her commlink to her mouth. “Warn King!”
… only to realise that not only would Anders—probably still standing next to her—be the only one who could hear it, but if the shock troopers were close enough for Briggs to duck past them, they were well within earshot. Kark.
By some miracle, either they didnt hear it, or they were too busy with the now fleeing technician. “This is S-47, target is fleeing towards stormtrooper bunks and main bay. Inform the Regent General we are in pursuit.”
Again, never look a gift nerf in the mouth. Erinyes waved for Anders and Dasha to follow, and started moving towards the other end of the mess hall—not towards the exit, but towards Admiral Bob’s Burgers. Trying to escape right away would look suspicious, but cutting in line while everyone else was distracted was the kind of thing any group of asshole officers would do.
Once the shock troopers were moving away, she withdrew her datapad and typed a message to <@417336769181122562> and <@359063763736854538>. “Head up to the main bay and get eyes on King. We’ll meet you when we’ve lost our tail.”
Erinyes had a tap on her shoulder.
Erinyes turned around. That probably wasn’t good. Maybe it could’ve been worse, but it wasn’t good.
It was a single shock trooper. “You were talking to Jessie…what was she telling you? And why were you accessing the mainframe?”
Aylin took a glance at her datapad and frowned. Get to the main bay and find King? Easier said then done and then what?
She shook her head slightly and stuffed the datapad away and headed for the main bay. They wouldn’t notice her leaving now with all the commotion around her.
Anders took charge, locking eyes with the trooper.
“You don’t care about Jesse and what she told us. You’ll leave us alone.”
He hesitated for a second before looking at Anders. “You realize we have authority even over fleet, right? You two’re coming with me.”
“Do you have authority over the Regent General? Because he signed off on our investigation personally.” Erinyes paused for a moment to let the shock trooper absorb what she was saying. It was even kind of true; after all, it was Zxyl’s idea that they race to find the saboteur.
“Really now. He signed off on your investigation. And may I ask the name of whom I am gracing that he ever so gracefully allowed to perform this investigation?”
BUDD-E began relaying the important person’s information to Anders, giving the man a name, a single name as requested that was stored within the card Aylin gave them earlier.
“General Seraine Ténama. His old boss, and your old commander-in-chief.” She sighed, irritated or doing a good job of playing it up. “You know what? Fine. I get that you have a job to do. Bring us in if you want, but unless you want to be known as the incompetent who let an anti-Taldryan saboteur get away, you’d better make sure that Briggs and Specialist Lucas King are in the next cells over.”
Aay'han stepped in with Aylin clocked the crowd and immediately nopped out of the situation. She immediately froze as her coworker stepped into the crowd.
Stepping straight back outside she began looking for any ventilation units she could easily gain access to.
“Do be aware that you are interfering in a high-level Taldryan counterintelligence operation. Should the saboteur escape due to your actions, you will at least receive immediate dismissal from duty, or at worst, a prison sentence,” Anders folded his arms across his chest. “Of course, you could aid us by ensuring Briggs and King are held in a cell whilst we deduce who the unfortunate soul is that decided to act against us. You could receive a good word, maybe a promotion. A brotherhood within a Brotherhood. You scratch our backs, and we will scratch yours.”
“I must first verify this, but you are free to pursue in the meantime.” the shock trooper said as he raised his hand to his helmet. Another trooper came inside and stood with the group. “Stay with them, wherever they go.”
He then turned and proceeded out of the mess hall. The other one stood there silently with the group.
The trooper paused at the door for a moment, as if considering something. He turned around and looked at the group. “You’re right, General. Go about your business, our troopers are tracking her towards the stormtrooper bunks. If you are looking for King, he’s in the main bay below us two levels.”
<@837236610684813342> <@645466919415054357>
Aay'han noticed one down the corridor, on the floor.
<@359063763736854538>
Aylin was already ahead of them, in the turbolift and headed down the two levels as relayed by the map.
She made a right directly after getting off of the lift and through an open blast door.
The room looked like a massive hangar almost, with tons of crates and boxes. In the middle was a makeshift boxing ring enclosed by fence sections.
<@417336769181122562>
“Very good. Once we’ve apprehended and questioned both of them, my team and I will bring the saboteur topside and deliver them to the Regent General.” She opened a different note on her datapad, already containing Captain Richardson’s name. “What’s your designation, trooper? I’ll make sure your diligence is noted in your file.”
“Shock Trooper Batallion Captain, S-47, General.”
“Excellent work, Captain. We’ll meet you in the detention area when we’ve recovered King. I hope to see Specialist Briggs there.” She took the trooper’s designation down, tucked her datapad away, and turned to leave for the boxing match in the main bay, motioning for Anders and Dasha to follow.
Two floors down. Once again, it appeared they would be taking an elevator below.
Unless…
Anders attempted to connect to the Force, though found himself distracted, if there were any below him, he couldn’t be sure.
He followed Erinyes, clearly the former Consul’d had the same line of thought as he. He’d been impressed with her thus far, barring the drinking habit. Lady Second seemed to value her highly, and Anders was beginning to see why.
Tbe approached the turbolift, the group stepping inside and pressing the button to descend.
“Stick together unless specified otherwise, ” Anders said. He closed his eyes… if their target was truly on this floor, ultimate discretion was advised.
Telepathy. Such an underrated ability in the Force. He weaved his influence into each of their minds.
‘You should all be able to hear me. Do not panic. I have formed a telepathic link between us all. We can communicate with thoughts alone, just like earlier. This will give us an advantage in cornering our target should we confront them.’
The turbolift doors opened, with Anders being the first to step out into the hallway.
Dasha stuck close but was on her datapad padding away as if she was some loyal scribe or secretary. Whereas… she was up to her own things as usual, slicing cautiously through the system. She had started her program where those looking from different angles than her’s would see that she’s typing away or checking schedules.
‘Ms Talus. Have you spotted anyone that looks suspicious?’
Aylin walked closer towards the boxing ring and mixed herself between the onlookers. She edged herself more towards the ‘entrance’ for the boxers to get a better look at who was there.
There were about half a dozen people near the ring, shirtless and in shorts. Some were wearing masks as well.
People continued to enter the bay, talking as the volume gradually increased.
Two were already entering the ring, but they were not very spectacular, most likely just warming up.
<@837236610684813342> is able to discern everyone present, a larger group of people over in the corner huddling around something.
‘There appears to be a mass of people gathering in the corner. Ms Talus, can you get surveillance on them?’
<@77213354619318272>
“Last call for signups!” an officer with Commanders markings calls out, holding a datapad in front of him.
<@359063763736854538>
Dasha gave a slight nod and pulled it up, but pulled it to the side as she continued her work so she could glance at it now and then.
Due to the crates, she wasnt able to get a good look at what exactly they were huddling around.
Erinyes debated for a split-second, then grinned to herself and headed to the signups officer. “I’m in.”
“Bracket 3, combatant 7.” he said to her, taking down her name and information before turning to another who was interested.
Erinyes stepped back from the signups officer and put the wait time to good use by scanning the area for King.
She sees people. Lots of people. Moving around.
And briefly a mouse droid that bumps her foot. But its gone just as fast. Was it even there? Was it a hallucination? Surely not.
Dasha hesitated then puts her datapad in her dufflebag and hands Anders the duffle to look after. If he accepts it she’d go and poke at the Sign-ups officer timidly, but just enough to give an innocent smile and chirp, “I wanna sign up too!”
He looked her up and down for a moment, blinking, before he took her information and put it in. “Bracket 1, combatant 4.”
Erinyes blinked in surprise as Dasha came back from the signup list. “Okay, this, I have to see.”
She walked back to <@837236610684813342> and began disarming herself, tucking her lightsabers into loops in her borrowed uniform belt, then wrapping the whole assembly in her tunic and stuffing it in Dasha’s duffel bag—except her flask, which she kept and unscrewed. “Any luck finding our target?”
The officer snapped his fingers and then whistled, and everyone fell silent. “Still looking for a few more, but we shall go ahead and begin. Matchup one, Specialist Roberts against Stormtrooper Corporal Richards.”
Two men made their way up as someone opened a panel of fence to let them into the caged ring. They were nothing overly special, and the fight itself was over after about seven rounds.
The officer looked down at his pad. “Richards is the winner! Next up, Fleet Ensign Talus and Engineering Lieutenant Niskayuna.”
The cage door opened and a slender man made his way in. He took off his uniform top and handed it down to someone before beginning to stretch his arms.
<@77213354619318272>
“Go Malfunction!” Erinyes grinned and held her flask up in salute.
“Not as of yet, I-”
Anders was cut off by the call for fleet ensign Talus. He grimaced. Of course. Nothing could ever go smoothly, or logically, that would be too much to ask for.
His positive opinion of Erinyes had taken a turn when she condoned an action that in Anders opinion, jeopardised the task at hand. The Chiss reopened the mental link between the group.
‘Ms Talus! What in the Nine Corellian Hells do you think you are doing!?’
“She’s learning to face situations head-on instead of running from them. Trust me, this is an improvement.” She took a slug from her unusually large flask, which she estimated to be about… three-quarters full, still.
Anders had to use all the restraint in his soul to prevent himself from seething. Amateurs. No wonder he was tasked with running the OSI when he arrived in Taldryan. Who else could they trust?
He shook his head, and then decided to use that festering energy towards something productive. One could easily turn a negative into a positive if they could twist the situation to their advantage.
Anders approached the group huddled in the corner, just close enough that he could see them whilst he spoke to another lieutenant. “Two hundred credits says short-stuff in the ring knocks the guy on his rear.”
Dasha walked in and looked about. Her ears swiveled a bit in slight uncertainty as she moved her arms around to warm up, followed by her waist… shaking out her legs a bit and doing some side-aways stretching before she bounced like a little bunny at her starting spot.
It wouldn’t be until the fights start that Anders and Erinyes could sense her demeanor shift.
Niskayuna turned around, tweeking his head to the right and left before raising his fists towards her. The door was closed and the officer looked between them.
“Keep it clean. And fight!”
In that instant, Niskayuna made the first move with a jab straight at her face.
Dasha effortlessly dodged right just enough for the right-fist to miss, but she also used the motion in a counter-attack into an uppercut into the man’s solar plexus… just at the perfect location for the short Sephi. The dirty moves can wait till later… or can they?
As she turned into her follow-up, she reverse-pickpocketed and slid a small timed glitterbomb into the collar of his shirt.
Niskayuna recoiled from the shot, not even noticing her slip the glitterbomb into his nearby shirt on the floor.
He reached up and wiped blood from his nose before shaking his head and going in with a one-two-three.
And effortlessly she dodges all three one after the other! The crowd goes wild.
Dasha flows past his punches by sliding to one side, the other, then rotates while going under, loading into a turning spring before launching a devastating kick to the underside of his chin with the sole of her foot.
At the same time her foot made contact, the glitter bomb went off making it look even more dramatic as a heavy blow.
He was already tired by that point with no chance to recover, and was launched into the air just to drop onto his back; glitter raining down from above.
The crowd cheered as medics came in to get him out.
“Winner; Talus!”
“Next, Stormtrooper Major Thomas and Stormtrooper Commander Salazar!”
At that moment, <@837236610684813342> saw what the group had been huddled around. A large human, who looked as if he had been training with wookies, completely filled out with muscles and standing about 6'8, slowly stood up and made his way over.
Thomas, who also had a fair amount of muscle, made his way inside followed by the Commander.
No soomer than the officer called for them to begin, was the Major all over his Commander. Punch after punch to the face, sides, chest, abdomen, kicks as well, before laying him flat with a kick to the jaw.
Thomas began to cheer, raising his arms into the air.
It was over.
Erinyes looked around for something like a snack bar. There had to be somewhere she could get popcorn, right?
There wasn’t, unfortunately. And while she was looking, the room fell into sudden silence. Salazar’s hand had gripped the Major’s leg and ripped it out from under him. He stood up and dusted himself off.
“Fifteen hits free, as promised.” he echoed before cracking his neck to the left and right. “Now we finish this.”
Thomas stood up and re-engaged his assault, but this time Salazar stood firm. One uppercut even connected to his chin, forcing his head backwards.
But he merely brought it back forward slowly. He then pulled back his fist and struck Thomas directly in the chest with numerous cracking sounds, saliva flying from his mouth as he lurched forward onto his knees, arms gripping his chest, with dry heaving. As the officer counted down, Thomas managed to recompose himself and stand back up.
But Salazar was on him, and had him against the fence. Punch, after punch, after punch, after punch.
It was definitely over this time as Thomas fell forward face first onto the floor, bloodied.
“Winner, Salazar! Next matchup, Specialist King and General Tenama!”
Erinyes took a couple of gulps from her flask, then screwed the top on and tossed it into the bundle with the rest of her stuff. Then, she rolled her neck and inspected her opponent as she headed for the entrance to the cage. This was the first time she’d actually gotten a look at him, come to think of it.
He was your run of the mill technician, decent body structure, black hair, and glasses. Around his neck was a small metallic crest…a claw of the house Dinnari.
Well, that was just rude. Unless he was hiding Force powers, there was no way King had earned that symbol. Luckily, she was there to take it from him.
She began bouncing from foot to foot, like a kickboxing warmup, but her movements were a little… sloppier. The quick shots of booze had gotten to her head a little.
As he stepped inside, he brought his palms together and closed his eyes, slowly breathing in and then back out as he concentrated for a moment.
He opened his eyes with a snap, and took an unusual stance…one not associated with any martial art Erinyes would be familiar with.
His fingers slowly closed multiple times, as if inviting her to make the first move.
“Your move, General.”
“You are way too calm for a Dinaarian.” She launched a quick probing jab with her lead hand, more to watch his reaction than anything—but it was a real attack, not a feint.
Her strike went through, but his hand gripped hers as he twisted around almost as if flowing with her movement as he guided her jab past him. As he spun, his aggression went way up and he went for an elbow straight to the back of her head, hoping to end it quickly.
The officer yelled out in frustration. “Boxing! Not martial arts, you kriffing idiot!”
Oh, Erinyes went past him, alright. She went so far past him that she had room to take another step—but instead, she pivoted on her one foot and brought her whole body around to face King. WHAM! Her open palm caught him on the side of his jaw that wasn’t protected by the elbow he’d tried to smack her with.
King twisted his head away from her, letting her palm just graze his jaw but still miss. He brought himself downward and attempted to punch straight at her open chest.
The crowd was getting excited at this matchup so far, and Salazar was quietly watching the fight from his corner of the bay.
“Hey! No getting handsy!” She twisted away from what probably wasn’t an attempt to grope her and brought her fist into King’s stomach. If she could, she’d sneak a headbutt in too, because she was a jerk like that.
Her headbutt connected flawlessly, but…he didn’t budge. Only, he grinned. “As I would expect of our former Consul…”
A bead of blood ran down his forehead.
“Finally, someone recognises me.” She grinned and laid into King with a haymaker that wouldn’t have looked out of place in a bar fight. In fact, that’s probably where Erinyes had picked it up.
He wanted to get away from it. He did. Honest. But from his position, he wasn’t able to get away from it and her arm connected and he went down to the hard floor with a cracking thud. The crowd erupted in cheers, and even Salazar was clapping.
Erinyes knelt down and hefted King up—only to carry him over to Anders and drop him at the Warlord’s feet. “Here. Call the shock troops and make sure he gets taken into custody.” She took the opportunity to loot King’s Dinaarian amulet, very curious to see where it came from, then retrieved her flask from her bundle of stuff and swigged from it.
The last match, almost as unspectacular, was a dwarf against a chef. As much as one would have expected the chef to win, given how much they often carry and sling over their shoulders in terms of moving produce and food supplies, and their legs with how much they run around, the little one’s speed and agility was unparalelled. Compared to Erinyes’ and Salazar’s fight, this one ended in record time with a headbutt to the groin while the officer was not looking.
The officer looked at the datapad and called out for the next match. “Next up, semi-finals! Fleet Ensign Talus and Stormtrooper Commander Salazar! Report to the ring.”
<@77213354619318272>
“You’ve got him, Malfunction. Just aim for his… well, whatever isn’t all muscle, yeah?” She patted Dasha on the shoulder.
Dasha pondered for a moment as if formulating a plan. The Officer may have called her an Ensign… but they didn’t know her true rank.
The small Sephi looked like a mouse compared to Salazar. When the fight started, Dasha waited for Salazar to start his first testing punch where she’d dodge. She’d continue to dodge until he threw something serious where she’d catch his arm and pull him off balance towards the edge of the ring. Small as she is, she wouldn’t be actually able to throw him… but she would slide behind him while he’s midstep to catch his balance and throw a punch… at his butt… Her small hands ended up causing a “Thousand Years of Pain” scene while she left behind another glitterbomb as he clenched.
Salazar stood there and watched her for a moment, considering.
He then brought his arms up in a traditional boxing stance, hoping on his feet, southpaw style.
His left fist suddenly shot forward with incredible speed straight at her abdomen, trying to put her down quickly.
Erinyes wove through the crowd to the refreshment stand. She waved to the cashier for a large strongest-thing-they-had, then continued watching the fight.
She nearly dodges, but he gets a POWERFUL strike into the dead center of her lower abdomen with considerable damage.
Not one to finish an opponent while they are down, he backs off and raises his fists defensively as he hops on his feet, letting her squirm and maybe even vomit. The next move would be hers.
<@77213354619318272>
Dasha haven’t eaten much hacked a little bit before struggling up onto her feet, adopting a standard shockboxing stance to start things off. Though she’d attempt the same thing, watching and waiting for his move though watching for the fast following strikes this time.
He dimmed his eyes. She wasn’t willing to fight…there wasnt an once of any kind of aggression. And honestly? That pissed him off.
Even Admiral Cain was one to fight him full on despite his appearance…and often times kick his ass.
His anger helped fuel his strike and he put his full might behind it for a…sudden uppercut.
And its a strike. His fist connects with her jaw with a cracking crunch, all but incapacitating her at the exact same moment. The force behind the strike sent her upward, and through the chain link fencing up into the air of the bay nearly halfway up towards the catwalks before she began falling towards the floor.
Erinyes extended her free towards Dasha, and the Force wrapped around the Sephi to slow her fall. As it did, Erinyes drained the rest of her strongest-thing-the-concession-stand-had, tossed a few credits on the counter, then walked back over to where she’d left her bundle of stuff to retrieve her flask—all without looking at Salazar.
Anders unceremoniously scooped King up onto, and over his spare shoulder “Looks like this one will be spending some time in the medbay, am I right?”
He got a few chuckles from that.
Then saw Dasha nearly hit the floor.
This was his team dammit.
‘Erinyes. Do me a favor will you, please, and make it so this Salazar fears women for the rest of his life. Ms Sajark, Ms Beviin, you may accompany me. We have a charge to question.’
Anders left the room with King, heading towards the Brig to interrogate him.
The bay was silent. Instead of Salazar, everyones eyes was on Dasha and how she had not gone thump. One even asked “…where’s the thump?”
Salazar himself was mildly surprised, but made his way out and back to his corner without so much as any other glances.
“So…um…next semi-final match, Chief Engineer Fenn and General Tenama!” the officer said. “Will take place once we get the fence panel replaced…”
“Take your time. Your technicians can’t be any slower than your medics. Don’t let Salazar leave until I’m back.” Erinyes picked Dasha and her belongings up and set off for the medbay.
Aylin glanced back for a moment before going after Anders. She didn’t like to leave Dasha behind, but she was getting annoyed by the mind speak from Anders.
“Let’s go then.”
The group headed in opposite directions. Erinyes and Dasha took the turbolift outside the bay up to the checkpoint level several decks above, and made their way past the checkpoint with ease. The guard there even ran from his post and summomed the medics for them.
Anders and Aylin were intercepted by shock who graciously took King from them, lead them back to the tramway and down an adjacent hallway which lead to a set of stairs going up one deck. Just up those stairs were the shock trooper bunks, brig, and sub-engineering access.
They threw him into one of the rear cells.
Anders casually walked inside with King. “Ms Sajark, would you mind locking the cell please. It is up to you if you and Ms Beviin wish to accompany me in the interrogation.”
<@417336769181122562> <@359063763736854538>
King stared at Anders, with a mildly confused expression. “I lose in a match and dragged here, makes sense.”
The Nautolan tilted her head slightly and followed after Anders into the cell. Her datapad at the ready for anything they might need access to as well as locking the cell behind them if Aay'han wasn’t going to follow them inside.
Aay'han and Aylin stepped inside, with the Nautolan inputing a series of codes into the blast shield that inevitably locked them inside.
“Indeed, you do, Mr King. I’d like to formally introduce myself. I am Chief Inquisitor Anderson, though you may call me Anders if you prefer. I am Taldryan’s acting Spymaster, and I have questions regarding events that took place not too long ago involving weapon malfunctions. Does everything I’ve said make sense thus far?”
BUDD-E’s lense focused intently on King, recording his every movement and word.
King sat back against the cell wall and raised his left leg over his right as he crossed his arms. “It does.”
“In fact…I’m surprised you’re here so willingly. Given the disdain between us and the Republic. How’d you do it?”
“That’s a tale for another time. Unfortunately, my good man, we have questions that need answering. Recently, the Second Taldryan Supreme Chancellor organised an event in order to display the readiness of Taldryan in the event of another full scale war. Are you aware of this event?”
“Fully. Me and my sister both, she chose our manufacturing plant for the weapons to be used during it.”
“Who is your sister, full name, and which manufacturing plant was this you speak of?”
It had been some time since Zxyl had seen the group over camera. But they were almost to their objective, something rather undesired. Watching them through several security feeds laid out on the holo-table before him, the Mandalorian raised both hands and pointed first towards the technology in front of him, then around, and began chanting in a mixture of Dathomirian and ur-Kittat.
Green ichor began to flow from the Sscilla Nightsister Talisman mounted in the bottom of his left gauntlet, while the Aruduz Sith Amulet mounted in the bottom of his right crackled momentarily with lightning. As he continued chanting, the smoke and crackling lightning from a twisted form of Mechu-Deru spread from his arms into the area surrounding his armored form, seeping into the walls, floor, and doors. The main reactor began to spin up, with lights activating across the entire area.. and doors took on a mind of their own at the direction of the Regent.
This was one prize that belonged firmly with those true to Taldryan.
Admiral Cain, who stood at the front of the bridge in her white uniform, shifted her attention from the blocked viewport surrounded by water, and she looked at the consoles before glancing over at the Regent.
“Ma'am, reactors are spooling up.” One of the crew called out. Another spoke immediately after.
“Power distribution transfer from city grid to internal systems complete. Battery confluence initializing.”
She cupped her left elbow with her right hand and touched her chin with her other hand. It was earlier than planned, which made her curious what had changed.
It wasnt long after that Dasha woulf awaken in the medbay, with several medics present as well as Erinyes.
She would be quite sore.
<@645466919415054357> <@77213354619318272>
“Don’t talk until they’ve fixed your jaw. I think squeaking is okay, though.” She looked up to the medics. “Prep a bacta tank for Commander Salazar. He’ll be arriving shortly.”
Then she heard something familiar, but altogether out of place: a starship powering up. She looked up and around as she felt the enormous current of Dark Side energy swirl through the base.
When the battery hum of a massive generator filled the air like a mechanical heartbeat, Erinyes knew the place was alive—and it was a creature of the stars, not the sea. She activated her comlink.
“General.”
She was also able to sense a large amount of excitement; meaning the fence most likely is repaired.
Well, it was a good thing she was on her way back to the main bay, then!
When she arrived, she’d take a moment to glance around for any shuttle-sized craft that, if this place were hypothetically a space vehicle, she and the team could use to escape.
In the main bay at least, there was not. If there were, most likely they would be in upper bay 2.
The small form of Fenn stood in the ring, bouncing around on her feet and practicing with wide swings.
Erinyes paused to take a swig from her flask, then climbed into the ring. “Friendly warning, Chief: your job just got a lot more complicated.”
She stretched her arms and wrists, then moved into a Corellian kickboxing ready stance. She had a feeling she’d be doing a lot of blocking with her shins this fight.
“General,” responded the Mandalorian as he voice activated his comlink, hands otherwise completely occupied. By now he had finished his incantation, and was in the process of infusing the vessel with enough energy to sustain itself. It required his utmost focus, and was already taking a toll on him physically.
“I got a little bit sidetracked from our contest. On the bright side, I’m about to solve your crew’s morale problem. I’d also like to recommend two of your people for promotion—they’ve been very helpful to my investigation.”
“No kidding,” the Regent snorted, waving one of his hands. Several doors in front of Erinyes closed, “Start from the beginning.”
“Or, well, our investigation. They may have been under the impression I was working on your behalf.” Erinyes narrowed her eyes at the self-closing doors, and the pieces began to come together in her mind. “Why hear it second-hand when you can watch it in real-time? Pull the video feed from the detention blocks. That’ll tell you all you need to know.”
“Mmm,” Zxyl debated.
Some of the personnel in the bay started poking the door panels, discussing with others what was going on. One of them started knocking on it with their hand.
They were confused as to why the door wasn’t working, Fenn taking notice as well. “Excuse me, General.”
She made her way out of the ring and waddled over to the closed blast door and its panel.
“I’m assuming you didn’t know the saboteurs were personnel at your own base. Harbouring people who would ambush and murder fellow Taldryanites without actual hostilities doesn’t seem very ‘Scion of Taldryan’ of you.”
Erinyes waved the Chief Engineer off with something like sympathy. Poor gal’s job was probably about to be a nightmare, now that she had a massive mechanical puppet to look after.
The officer controlling the fights shrugged as Fenn ran off without acknowledging him. “Well, uh…I guess we’ll move on to the final round? Stormtrooper Commander Salazar against General Tenama!”
Erinyes held a hand up to the officer. “Stand by, I’m on the comm with the Regent General.”
“Of course not. But we will root out any further extremists momentarily. We’re just waiting on one final piece of the puzzle.”
Zxyl muted his comlink for a moment, before exerting a substantial amount of energy at once to finish his twisted Mechu-Deru process on the vessel, the final systems powering up and taking up new life - albeit only for an undisclosed period of time. Lights flickered across the vessel as everything from weapons to shields came online at once.
Bes'uliik released a heavy breath, before reacting his link, “And there it is.”
“Sitrep.” Cain called to the pit. One officer after another gave status updates of every system, including efficiency and rate of error or deviation. Everything was within the exacting standards of perfection and tolerance that would be expected of a facility of Taldryan.
She turned to look at the Regent General. “Everything is operating at peak efficiency, nothing outside expected performance parameters.”
The flickering lights made Erinyes pause for a moment. Twenty-four standard hours ago, she wouldn’t have believed Zxyl was Force-sensitive, but now? Blocking her perceptions through the Pomojema Shard, the strange fluctuation in the Force and the suspiciously-timed door activity, and whatever she’d just sensed mid-conversation?
Somehow, the identity and motives of a couple of saboteurs seemed like a distant second to this discovery—perhaps even a third, if the base’s striking similarity to a Star Destroyer was more than coincidence.
“Admiral, I want a full assessment on what compartments can be sealed flooded without sacrificing ship integrity. The ship will help us identify any extremists on board,” declared Zxyl, closing his eyes and resting his hands on the holo-table,
“Understood.” Cain responded firmly before approaching the holo-table where he was. She brought up a three-dimensional schematic of the vessel and green lights appeared to represent every blast door, doorway, hatch, and vent seal system as it initiated.
She then initiated a pressure test, with only a handful of locations turning yellow, but did not approach red. The rest remained a vibrant green.
“According to pressurization tests, you would be free to flood any compartment of your choosing. Vent and ductwork seals will hold, as will blast door bulkheads.”
“Excellent. Standby.”
The Regent General reached out through the vessel. The live vessel, feeling out the actions and footprints of everyone on board that could be considered to be extremist and counter to their ways, representing them on the same 3d map that Cain had displayed for him. Members of the Taldryan Republic’s team on board, however, were displayed in a different color to differentiate them.
Zxyl returned to his little chat with Erinyes, “General. It won’t be long now.”
“That is a remarkably vague and unhelpful statement, General. I have a feeling the terms of our contest have just changed wildly, though, so I have a proposal for you.”
Eight red figures appeared. Three were in the main hangar bay with everyone else, two were in engineering at the engine room, one was in the brig, and the seventh was ascending the lift to the surface. While the seventh was too far out of reach at this point, the last one…
The eighth. Was on the bridge with them. Cain zoomed the map in, and saw the red figure at the sensor station. She reached to her side and unholstered her pistol, proceeded over to the pit where the officer was, raised her pistol and promptly shot him.
“Ensign Carys, you are hereby promoted to Junior Lieutenant. Take his post.” She remarked as she reholstered her pistol and returned to the console.
Now, there were only seven.
“I’m listening,” Zxyl nodded as Cain took care of one target. Zxyl raised his right hand as he stared at the seventh and sixth on the screen. Once the rest of the ship was protected and everyone else out of harm’s way, he clenched his fist - calling upon the slave ship to instantly flood those compartments.
Five. They were in more… Precarious spots, however.
“Give my team time to finish interrogating King while I deal with Salazar, so that we have something to take back to the Chancellor—call it a token of appreciation for bringing this issue to your attention, or whatever. And, you know, actually let my team and I leave in one piece.”
The two in the engine room could be seen panicing, trying to get to high ground. One went for the engineering access, only to find it locked. It wasnt long before both disappeared from the map.
“Interesting proposal. Of course, I would never seek to directly harm any one of you. "King remains on the ship, and I will supervise his interrogation. You can likewise take Salazar.”
Several doors around King locked down and secured themselves.
“You can leave after we depart.”
The Mandalorian muted his microphone again, ensuring that this.. King was not harmed. Doors started closing and funneling Salazar to Tenema should he be separated. With Cain at the table, he tilted his head in her direction.
“Order an immediate evacuation of the shipyards. This vessel departs in the next ten minutes.”
He awaited a response from his fellow General.
“Oh, I don’t need to take Salazar anywhere. He just hurt one of my team fairly badly, when I’ve already had to spend most of the day sober and non-confrontational. You know how it goes.” Hopefully, the invocation of “I’ve been sober and non-violent all day” would emphasise the gravity of the situation to Zxyl.
“As for King, I’d appreciate it if my team could remain there and record his interrogation. Besides, I still have to decide whether to give his amulet back.”
“Understood, Regent General.”
She turned and threw her arm outward. “Initiate operation revelation. Ten minute timer. At last we shall reveal ourselves to the Republic. At last, we shall have our justice.”
The seventh figure disappeared as it went outside the range of the ship’s detection. Cain shrugged it off as a non-issue, as with the destruction of the shipyards, the traitor would perish in the seas.
It was a matter of dealing with the other four now.
Jessie was on the surface level, and adjusted her glasses as she proceeded along the hallways as if she belonged. None seemed to question it, either, due to her actual rank and authentic uniform.
It wasn’t long before she was outside, able to breathe fresh air. No sooner than she did though, did two masked individuals appear out of nowhere and swoop her away.
Klaxons began going off as the Calerian Armed Forces began to move on the Taldryan Naval Fleet Shipyards, ordering an evacuation.
Given the tense status, many refused to give up this place to ‘enemies’, and some threatened to engage if the Calerian forces did not leave Republic territory.
Cain reached up and touched her ear briefly, listening to the chatter. “If they don’t want to leave, that’s fine. They will reap what they’ve sewn in less than ten minutes. Get those who will leave out, and disregard the rest.”
Salazar stared over at Erinyes, arms crossed. “Anytime, General.”
<@645466919415054357>
“We’re just waiting on the Regent-General. Wouldn’t be very smart of me to hang up on him, would it?”
She turned her attention back to her comlink. “So, what do you say? My people record King’s interrogation and take it back to OSI to make sure there aren’t any co-conspirators in the Republican forces, and we can all go back to staring each other down like proper rivals.”
“Yeah, that’s fine. General.”
“I’ll join my team in the detention block when I’m finished here. General.” She waited for a moment to see if Zxyl had anything else to say. If not, she closed the link.
The link closed.
With the conversation with Zxyl over, Erinyes drained the rest of her flask—whew, that had a kick, especially combined with the other drinks—and climbed into the ring, undoubtedly to the cheering of the crowd. An awful lot of people seemed to want Salazar put in his place, and after seeing the way he treated Dasha, Erinyes was one of them. A sensible part of her mind pointed out that anyone who had the reputation the Stormtrooper Commander did probably had it for a reason, and that walking into a situation where she didn’t know the odds against her was stupid.
That just made it more fun.
Salazar was bouncing on his feet, ready to go…but this time with his right leg forward and left behind. He wasn’t in a southpaw style this time.
“You ready?” he asked as he hit his fists together.
“Oh, so you’re not left-handed?” Erinyes took up a guard stance, but her hand position was odd… it looked more like a claw than a fist. Combine that with how she was already swaying on her feet, and she certainly wouldn’t seem ready to most people. “Bring it.”
He shot inward with incredible speed with his right…but feinted to his left, having used his right arm’s outward momentem as a way to further draw energy and launch his left fist forward.
And Salazar has her dead to rights! But just as he is about to strike, she inadvertantly moves out of the way with no warning as if she were a graceful ballerina. This catches him off guard and he nearly stumbles.
Dasha squeaked in surprise then clasped her jaw in pain then grimaced from being sore… one after another. She’d behave and medically treated in the meantime.
“Doesn’t matter, she’s probably already escaped to the surface and is long gone. And its our weapons manufacturing, Im sure you’ve visited already.”
Anders nodded his head slowly. It was time to put his interrogation techniques to use.
1) Build a rapport with the subject.
2) Speak calmly, and non-threateningly.
“I understand, Mr King. Family is important, and you don’t want to put your sister in harms way. I too, had siblings, though I do not get to see them anymore. I want nothing more than to ensure you and your sister remain safe, lest something happen akin to my circumstances that you inevitably regret, but to do that, I will require her name.”
“I’m not telling you a thing. What we did, we did for Taldryan. The real Taldryan. Not this…Republic, ruled by outsiders who care only for themselves. That left us to die on Ostara. Ignored our pleas when the atmosphere nearly collapsed due to the severe ionization. Let our family perish in the first storms by sending unarmored craft for civilians and while using armored lamdas for Taldrya and Taldryanites.”
Meanwhile, Anders recieves a message though his private comm to his ear. “Sir. The one you tagged earlier, she came to the surface as you predicted. We have her now, transporting to the Chancellor.”
“Understood…” Anders gave a curt nod. “Unfortunately, Mr King. We don’t have all day, and if you will not talk willingly, then you give me no other option than to use more invasive methods…”
Anders knelt down beside him, hovering one large, gloved hand over King’s scalp. He locked eyes with the Human, an act that sealed the latter’s fate as the Chiss weaved the intricate webs of the Force through his mind.
“You will tell us what we want to know. You will make your sister proud, you will make Taldryan proud.”
Instead of the emotions of fear, despair, and agony coursing through him, Anders had chosen a different tact. Instead, pride overwhelmed King’s emotions, followed by his love for both his sister, and for Taldryan. The honour within him gently encouraged him to tell Anders all he knew…
“Jessie…will be proud…” King muttered. “We will destroy the Republic, bring honor to our people and our fallen loved ones. Altering the weapons was but the first step.”
“What are the remaining steps, Mr King, and who is the mastermind behind this plot? Jessie is most certainly proud of you for what you are doing for Taldryan. You are doing exceptionally well…”
Pride swelled in the man again, bringing him on the verge of tears.
“We haven’t thought that far ahead. Our leader is an officer of the Axios, the sensor officer, Kriles.”
Cain stared at the board as system after system began lighting up green, signalling final activation and pre-launch tests had been completed.
“Four minutes until we are ready to launch, Regent General. Communications, signal all personnel to stations in two minutes.”
“Yes ma'am!” A voice called from the pit. “Two minute notification, set.”
“You can tell me where Kriles is now, and what they look like, can’t you?”
Erinyes twisted and sidestepped in a way that made her look like she’d tripped over her own feet. Her clumsiness did nothing to reduce her speed, though; if anything, the relaxing effects of the alcohol seemed to make her faster. Wobbling in a circle, she lashed out with three strikes that stitched up Salazar’s side, then spun so they were standing back to back—no, she was actually leaning against him.
Finally, Erinyes’ claw-like strikes became apparent to the crowd as she raised one hand to her mouth: she was miming holding a drink.
“Should be..on the bridge…not sure what he looks like, only ever talked over messages.”
Salazar was slightly infuriated at this and pulled his right arm behind him before spinning around and swinging it at full speed.
He was going to put this jester on the floor.
He manages to strike her and shove her away from him, her feet stumbling but still managing to stay up. A light trickle of blood falls from her lips.
The crowd was watching intently. Someone was almost standing toe to toe with their Commander…
Erinyes hit the side of the cage and bounced, her head spinning with the force of Salazar’s punch. Grinning like a madwoman, she spun and launched a furious backhand, only to have her opponent catch the blow on one forearm.
With that catch, he had a perfect shot. He held her arm away with his forearm and swung in with his left at full force, having her dead-to-rights but paused inches from her chest as the officer shot his blaster in the air.
“Match suspended! All personnel to assigned stations.” he yelled as everyone began groaning in frustration. Salazar took a step back and bowed to Erinyes.
“It was great to fight you once more, General. Not since Karufr when we last sparred have I had a match as exhilarating as this.” he said as he extended his hand to shake hers. “We will have to finish this sometime.”
“Agreed.” The blood spilling from her lip probably made her look like one of those gore-drenched Sith from the Karufr days, as she grinned Salazar’s hand. “Oh, and Commander… bully one of my people again, and you’ll be facing a lightsaber, not a flask.”
“I actually apologize for that. I did not realize her fragility, I’ve already instructed the medics to forward me all bills and to ensure she has the best treatment. I hope that will suffice.”
“Good enough. I won’t keep you.”
He gave a nod before making his way out of the ring. He instantly went to drill instructor mode. “CARLSON! DON’T JUST STAND THERE, GET YOUR ASS TO THE BUNKS FOR PATROL ASSIGNMENT OR YOU’LL BE ON JANITORIAL DUTY FOR A WEEK!”
He began ordering other Stormtroopers around, Erinyes easily able to discern why he was disliked…but efficient.
Erinyes unscrewed her flask—ow, drinking was going to sting for a bit—and collected her belongings, then set off for the med bay. Surely they’d have tended to Dasha by now, and she less time they spent in this place, the better.
Suddenly…the entire base began to rumble. As if an earthquake were beginning to occur. Those around the Taldryanites did not seem phased by this, however, and continued with their duties or were moving to their assigned posts within the base.
Erinyes herself could sense an intense amount of panic.
<@837236610684813342> <@77213354619318272> <@359063763736854538> <@645466919415054357>
“Reactor output at 37 percent.”
“Bottom-side thrusters at full power.”
“Locking clamps disengaged, external power relays terminated.”
“Ascent vector at 0.1 meters per second and climbing.”
“Thruster heat within tolerance. Topside hull integrity at 99.9 percent.”
Admiral Cain stood at the front of the bridge, watching the viewport as the metal plating began to fall away revealing the open seas ahead of them and massive rock mounds just outside that were beginning to crack.
“Once the rock face shatters, terminate the support struts and get us airborne. Expect a swift response from the Sovereign Battle Group.” she ordered to the pit. “Once we are at 300 meters, full power to topside shielding.”
<@260640060775464960>
NSD Axios Sovereign Battle Group Flagship
A light began to go off on one of the bridge sensor relays, its location over the Perune moon of Kasiya.
One of the technicians, a female Twi'lek, glanced over to it and pressed several keys to zoom in and bring up the details of it.
She raised her hand and one of the officers that walked along the top of the pit came over and knelt down. He took a datapad from her and examined it before he walked back to the center of the bridge towards the Captain on duty, a male Zabrak with blue markings.
“Sir, priority one notification from headquarters. A massive earthquake has been detected under the city of Kasiya, emergency evacuation has been initiated.” the officer said as he handed the datapad over to the Captain.
He too examined it for a moment. “Have the rest of the Sovereign continue patrols. Set our course for Kasiya, maximum speed.”
One of the operations technicians turned to look at him. “Sir, maintenance is still pending on engines four, six, and seven due to the coil failures. It is not advised that we exceed cruising speed until that is completed.”
“I’m sure it will be fine.” the Zabrak said reassuringly. “We aren’t far from the moon, go ahead and send shuttles ahead of us and set speeds to seventy-five percent of capacity.”
Feeling a lurch in her stomach that matched the upward motion of the ship, and sensing the panic above, Erinyes opened a second comm channel on the TRNF Shipyard’s frequency. “All personnel, this is Summit Guard General Ténama. Evacuate the shipyards immediately. I say again, evacuate the shipyards immediately.”
“General, this is Captain Murphy, Commander of the shipyards. Thank the force you’re here, we have no contact with headquarters and most of our personnel are refusing my orders to go into Caleria due to their aggressions over the day. We don’t have enough ships to get everyone away from the shipyards and headquarters. We don’t anticipate the yards holding, what are your orders?” Murphy said over the comm, with noises of collaping pillars and frames in the background behind him.
“Put me on the loudspeaker.” She waited for a few moments for Murphy to comply. “All personnel, this is General Ténama. Evacuate the shipyards immediately, or you will die in the collapse. There is a ceasefire in place with Calerian forces.”
Then, she flipped her comlink to another frequency: Regis. “Governor, it’s Erinyes. Tell your people around the shipyards to let the Republic personnel evacuate before the whole thing comes down.”
Regis was quick to respond. “Understood, I’ll dispatch the orders immediately. We’re currently coordinating evacuation efforts across six districts, we will assist as well with the shipyards. Hopefully this earthquake subsides quickly.”
The Mandalorian General’s armored form stood defiantly at the helm of the bridge behind Cain, arms folded over his chest, as metal gave way to the darkness of water outside the viewport. Once fully free, the vessel’s topside floodlights activated at once to reveal her form.
Leaving the Admiral to handle the remaining logistics of getting the ship in the air once it began to move, the Dathomirian-Mandalorian returned to the command table to view the current situation, which was displayed in 3D holo. As the destroyer began to rumble, Bes'uliik placed a hand on the table.
One-way ship wide communications activated.
“Today,” the Regent began, adding gravitas to his words, “the true Axios rises again.”
As the support struts for the shipyards began to collapse, plate after plate began to crumble into the water below. Cranes, shuttles, some lingering personnel, fighters, everything that remained in the shipyards.
From the crumbling ruins, however, the familiar visage of the top section of an ISD began to appear. Plates and other debris slid off of its topside as it rose further and further.
From the Taldryan Republic Naval Headquarters, Fleet Admiral Zangar watched in horror as alarms began to go off throughout the facility. “That was no earthquake…order all Naval personnel out of Caleria. Command team to rendevous at 2130 hours on project snowflake.”
“We still have no external or internal communications sir.”
“Do it the old fashioned way. Tell them that we are abandoning headquarters.”
The Axios moved across the system as quickly as its engines would let it, despite half of them being down for maintenance.
It was a significant ways away from the Sovereign Battle Group at this point, with Perune far in the distance.
“Estimated time to arrival?” The Captain asked.
“Three hours, sir.”
“Three hours?”
“Yes, sir. We’re about to approach Grannus and Hurracan’s magnetic interference zone, and engineering wants us to avoid it given the maintenance being performed. Plus if something goes wrong, we wont have any contact until we left the zone.”
He pondered for a moment.
“Take us though, raise port and starboard shield strength to maximum. Set the modulation to 3.7, that should keep the interference to a minimum.”
<@645466919415054357>
On a secure communications line, she suddenly hears the voice of Cassandra.
“Erin, can you hear me?”
Erinyes is on her way to the medbay to retrieve Dasha. “Nice of you to join us.”
“Well, that was unexpected,” Anders claimed.
“What is going on out there? Emergency channels are lighting up like christmas trees, senate has called an emergency meeting.” Cassandra asked her curiously. “I’m sending the ship early if its needed, and I will be enroute to the senate complex.”
<@645466919415054357>
The Axios slowly moved into the magnetic field between the two volcanic worlds, carefully balanced between them.
“Long range communications and sensors are blacked out.” one of the officers called out. “We wont have them back until we are clear of the field on the other side.”
The Zabrak nodded as he watched out of the front viewport area. “Thank you. Shield integrity update and estimated time until we are through?”
Another officer looked up from the pit. “Shields at 98.7 percent and falling, estimated shield collapse in 24 minutes.”
“Based on projections we should be through this area in 21 minutes.”
Three minute margin of error… That wasnt much, the Captain thought to himself. The Commodore had not reunited with the Axios ahead of the magnetic field as had been planned, which was odd, but wouldn’t be a problem.
“Sir, if I may be so bold…” another officer started to speak from the operations console. “If we lose shields, based on the gravimetric pull and the heat being drawn from both worlds, our hull will not survive for long, maybe 10 minutes at maximum. I still advise we go around instead of straight through given we are down several engines and our reactor system is not at full power.”
“It’s fine. If there was other dangers I might take that under advisement, but I made sure to check the system for any irregularities or enemies and nothing came up.”
<@260640060775464960>
“It’s a ship, Cass. They built an entire Star Destroyer underwater. Get everyone as far away from the shipyards as possible. I have no idea how much collateral damage this’ll cause.”
“Don’t send the shuttle yet, either. I’ll let you know when things have calmed down enough to be safe.”
Cassandra paused for a moment, taking in what was said. “Did you say an entire destroyer?”
<@645466919415054357>
“Yeah. Kind of amazing, isn’t it?” As she reached the medbay, she sat on the bed next to Dasha’s and wiped the blood off her lip. “I’m pretty sure we have safe passage out of here from the Regent, so uh… don’t blow us up before that happens.”
“…the Regent? He’s helping you? And don’t worry, I’m sending a dispatch to the Sovereign Battle Group to get back here and back up the Bastion. The Leviathan and the Allegiance are too far out to be able and respond.”
“Alright. I’ll have it stationed just inside of the red hills outside of Caleria’s aerial sensor range. Let me know if anything changes. I’m headed to the capital. Cass out.”
The rumbles stopped as the destroyer was high in the air now, roughly 300 meters above the city.
Admiral Cain watched the screens, already seeing a shift in the Bastion Battle Group’s formation towards Caleria, giving a small smirk on the side of her mouth.
“Everything is proceeding exactly as you have foreseen, Regent General. The Orthanc and the rest of the Kasiya defense fleet are headed our way. The Sovereign has begun moving inward from the outer system as well.”
Erinyes closed the link with Cass, then switched over to the team’s frequency. “Everyone, regroup in dorsal bay HB-2 where the boxing matches were when you’re done with… whatever you’re doing.”
Her words weren’t slurred. It was comm system interference.
After she’d sent the message, a medic came by and covered Erinyes’ split lip with bacta spray. She ignored his frown at the alcohol on her breath and pulled her uniform jacket back on as she shuffled over to Dasha’s bedside. “How’re you feelin’, Malf?”
“Good. I beat him up for you. Would’ve finished him off if the skipper hadn’t made that all-hands call.” Erinyes popped her flask open and tilted it bottoms-up, then frowned at the trickle that came out. “Mmph. Wonder if that concession stand is still there. You good to walk?”
Dasha nods and slides out of the medical bed to double check her muscles. Everything seemed just fine and Dasha looked up to Erinyes with her ears perked up.
“Le’s go.” She waved for Dasha to follow and set off for the docking bay. When they arrived, she’d see whether the concession stand was still there and manned.
Anders was literally shaken by what could only be described as an earthquake.
“Were leaving. Now. Ms Beviin, ensure our guest makes no attempt to run. I’d hate to have to hunt down anyone closely associated with him. Ms Sajark, ensure there is no resistance on to our exit.”
Anders let the threat hang in the air for a moment before reaching for his communicator.
“Erinyes, this is Anders. We are on our way.”
<@417336769181122562> <@359063763736854538> # <@645466919415054357>
King simply crossed his arms and stayed seated in his cell. The two shock troopers outside, would also easily make sure that he stayed put. Once Anders and Dasha were out, they closed the door. “The prisoner stays, by orders of the Admiral.”
Surprisingly…it was still there. Nestled comfortably on the left side of the bay, with shuttles and other ships to the right. Several TIE fighters were on the ceiling mounts, being moved towards the TIE bays.
Aylin nodded and grabbed her datapad to check messages being send back and forth, “We should be good to go.”
She noticed a lot of messages regarding area status’ and relays, any issues or concerns, and how things are progressing. Nothing too out of the ordinary…but an awful lot of calmness for a base that just experienced an earthquake.
Erinyes shuffled over to the concession stand and started digging through it for snacks and drinks. All that fighting had given her an appetite. If it was locked, well, that’s what lightsabers were for.
With the orders to go to assigned stations, it was indeed closed. Blast door gate and blast door door. It was meant to keep Vodo out back in the day, she knew that much, but would it also keep her out?
Erinyes sighed. Cutting through the door with a lightsaber would draw a lot of attention—maybe more than she’d be able to explain away to Zxyl. Then, a thought occurred to her. “Hey, Malf, can you open this?”
Dasha pulled out the Datapad from her duffelbag that was left beside her in the medical bay and started plugging it into a nearby terminal to slice away~
The door slid open to reveal cooler after cooler after cooler in a small room, along with cabinets and shelves with food products.
“Nice!” In she went—brr, walk-in fridges—in search of snacks and drinks. “What do you eat?”
Dasha walked around and grabbed a few things… from various frozen fries of various vegetables to bacon to some frozen berries.
Erinyes was not preoccupied with healthy food—frankly, she had better stuff in her fridge anyway. For her, it was all about the snack foods and booze.
Dasha carried a small mountain of goods out and started occupying the fryers for all the fries-like vegetables and baking the bacon before she got to making smoothies with the berries. It’s almost as if she has done this before…
There was a knock on the blast door window cover, followed by a voice.
“Is food ready yet?”
“I hope it is. We have to launch soon, and cookie usually doesn’t start food this early.”
“That bacon smells divine. Wonder if he’s cooking any quenker ribs today…”
Anders, whilst briskly making his getaway with Aay'han and Aylin, began humming a tune, specifically, the Mantooine Minuet, a personal favourite of his.
Anders and Aylin made it to the upper bay…where they saw a massive line of personnel in TIE uniforms standing in front of a closed blast door in place of a window.
Erinyes cracked open the bottle of ale she’d liberated from a drinks cooler and proceeded towards the blast doors. “I had no idea you knew how to cook, Malf. I should bring you on my ops more often.” She hit the door controls with an elbow to allow the rest of the team to join her and Dasha inside the canteen—and stopped short when she saw the line of pilots formed up outside the canteen. “The frak are you all doing here?”
They all turned their heads towads her, and one of them spoke through his helmet voice modulator. “Waiting on our daily ration before departing, ma'am. We’re hungry.”
“Daily ration? What kind of outfit is Zxyl running here?” She sighed and shook her head. “What’s the cook’s name and comm frequency?”
“Feed us first, then we will tell you?” Another commented, clearly more interested in the food.
“Mate, there’s only two of us back here. If the cook doesn’t help, the food won’t be done before you have to launch.”
They looked at each other, some of them huddling together and whispering for a moment to each other.
“We can help you cook! Just…let us in.”
“Yeah, let us in! We’ll help you!”
Erinyes studied the group for a moment. For all she knew, they just wanted an excuse to ransack the place… but the pilots needed to eat to do their jobs.
“Alright, tell you what. You lot come in, you do exactly what she tells you.” She pointed at Dasha. “The rest of you, keep an eye on them to make sure they cook for everyone instead of just stuffing their own faces. You all eat at the same time, when the food is done. Deal?”
“Deal!” one of them exclaimed as a group of five rushed the door, getting past her. But they weren’t ransacking anything…instead, throwing food into the fryers, pulling stuff from a small cooler and preparing it, slicing fruits, and more. Others looked to Dasha in case she had special ideas. <@77213354619318272>
Dasha’s ears perk up when she was indicated. Her childish demeanor seemed pretty innocent.
She would attempt to direct them properly by setting them at stations.
Erinyes raised her eyebrows in surprise as she stood back and let the pilots go about their work. Maybe her cynicism had been unwarran– ahahahaha, yeah, right. Still, she took out her datapad and opened up the file where she’d noted the other names of helpful personnel. “What’re your names, pilots?” Maybe they’d do a better job of managing the kitchen as a committee than the cook the base’s supply officer had assigned.
Three of the five froze immediately when she asked that, the other two who were with Dasha gave their names immediately and happily.
“Uh…Doug Jones.” one of the three said.
“Heetz Michaels.” another said.
“……my name is….Tinkle, Ivona.” the third one said before increasing his speed in food prepping.
“Wash your hands after, then.” She paused for a beat while she took another swig of her beer. “You’re clearly doing a better job of looking after your wingmen than the galley crew is. Maybe they should leave it to you.”
“Malf, make sure there’s enough left for the team, eh?”
Dasha ran into the freezer and brought out more supplies for the team to food-prep with.
One of them chuckled. “Maybe they should. That would be fun.”
Another looked at their datapad which was attached to their hip. “We need to hurry it up, next shipment will be in soon. And we need to launch.”
The others nodded in affirmation as they began boating stuff up to serve, one of them opening the concession stand window and quickly serving it with abnormal speed.
Erinyes put the datapad away and helped the pilots run food out to each other. The sooner that was over with, the sooner they could get out of here themselves.
The pilots were grateful, and were eating as they jogged across the upper hangar bay 2 section towards a large open bay on the far side where the TIE Fighters were being loaded towards.
Suddenly a voice boomed. “WHAT IN LOVING KRIFF IS GOING ON HERE!?”
The three apprehensive pilots inside the stand froze once again, grabbed some food for themselves, and quickly bolted from there. “Crap, its cookie. Get to the ships.”
<@77213354619318272> <@645466919415054357>
Erinyes sauntered out into the docking bay, beer still in hand, and fixed her eyes on the loudmouth. “Your job. Funny how it seems to be going better when you aren’t here.”
The cook looked at them confused. “What are you talking about? They just had breakfast less than an hour and a half ago, lunch isnt scheduled for another three hou-”
He paused and watched as the last of them disappeared, starting to laugh to himself as he shook his head. “Let me guess - they told you they were hungry, didn’t they?”
“I gave ‘em the opening, and they took it.” She grinned, resigning herself to being the butt of the joke. “Some of 'em are pretty good at it, too. You should bring 'em in to help you out when they aren’t on shift.”
In this, Dasha is quickly packing their team’s food into to-go boxes and carefully organizing them into her duffelbag.
“I would if they didn’t already break that trust by constantly robbing me blind or eating everything in sight every chance they get. That’s why the door and window were replaced with blast doors to keep them out. And why they are fed here on a schedule and not allowed in the mess hall. Last time they were there, they were like a pack of wild eopie’s.”
He looked at the stand and sighed. “But, even that didn’t keep them out apparently. Can you give me a list of names if you got any so I can report it to the Wing Commander?”
She had yummy yummy food with her once the bag was packed.
“Sure, but I wouldn’t trust the last three.” She read them off, even snickering at “Ivona Tinkle”, because she had the sense of humour of a six-year-old. “You’ll probably know who they are by their aliases anyway, though.”
The cook gave an affirmative nod. “That last one, fairly sure I do. The first time I caught him, he told me his name was Oliver Clowseoff. The second time, Eura Snotball.”
“The first two…no clue.”
Suddenly, the intercom of the ship activated. “This is the Admiral. All hands, Defcon 4 positions and prepare for turbulence.”
“Bribe them with extras for helping out. Take it from a Sith: Greed is a powerful ally.” She glanced past the cook to confirm that Dasha had finished packing the team’s bento boxes. “What’s your name, mate? You deserve a pat on the back for all this.”
“Gunnery Sergeant Matthews, TIE division cook.”
“Now, if you’ll excuse me..” he saluted her and quickly ran off at the order from the intercom.
“Keep up the good work, Gunny.” She took the name down on her datapad, then stashed it and helped Dasha clean the kitchen up. While they worked, she opened her commlink to traffic control’s channel. “Tower, this is General Ténama. Tag the Kom'rk fighter Lancelot Albion as friendly when it hits your screens.”
It was several minutes before the fighter was…in the base? And landing in the upper bay’s large open space. The ramp lowered, and Gehn waved to Erinyes and Dasha.
“Howdy, Gehn.” She saluted with the last of her beer “They let you out of the hangar for once?”
“Yeah. Guessing they figured since it was my final day as a member of the Leviathan, might as well start doing some flight duties. Got word to bring you all back to the capital.”
“Nice of them.” She wouldn’t spoil the surprise. Instead, she looked around for the rest of the team. “We’re waiting on three team members, then we scoot.”
And just like that, Anders, Aylin, and Aay'han appeared. The first thing the Chiss noticed, was the smell on Erinyes’ breath.
“Nice yo see you had time to engage in recreational activities whilst on-duty, General,” Anders scoffed and rolled his eyes before addressing Ghen.
“Am I to assume Lady Second sent you?”
<@645466919415054357> <@61385159655559168>
“Yeah, but we made you lunch. Well, Malf made you lunch.”
“Oh, well in that case. All is forgiven and we can all be very good chums.”
The sarcasm was very evident. Whether Erinyes would notice due to her inebriation, however, was a different matter.
On cue, Dasha started handing out containers.
“Indeed, her and the Vizier both felt that I should be here in case things went south. Though…” he said before trailing off. “I didnt expect to land on a foreign vessel with no resistance or enemy forces going against us.”
“Believe me when I say that we can be very convincing.”*
There was a hint of a smirk as Anders said that.
“Vizier? What vizier? Since when do we have a vizier?”
“You haven’t heard? Vice-Chancellor Kendis has…retired. The Field Marshal has temporarily taken up the post of Vizier to assist the Supreme Chancellor until a replacement is na-” he started before Erinyes’ datapad began chiming.
And while being a loyal member of the Taldrya, which assisted with the events of today…she now had a new problem to face.
Cassandra had named her as the new Vice-Chancellor, while still retaining the Summit Guard.
Apparently things were moving quick in the current Senate meeting…if that were a good or bad thing.
Erinyes blinked at the message, then wordlessly walked back to the kitchen and opened the blast door. A few minutes later, she emerged—still wordlessly—with a bottle of some kind of hard liquor, already opened.
Suddenly there were loud screeches as the TIE bays opened nearby, as did the large launch doors in the manufacturing room to let in an inordinate amount of light. The fighters launched from their bays one after the other and out into the open sky.
“That’s our cue to leave.” Erinyes waved the team into the Kom'rk, then joined Gehn in the cockpit—but in the co-pilot’s seat. It’d be nice to see the Ugnaught fly firsthand, and she was in no shape to take the stick.
It was a rather bumpy ride, and one of extreme caution due to the various other ships that were in the area around the massive destroyer.
Once clear, the Lancelot Albion accelerated to full speed and was back in the capital only a few hours later. It let everyone off at the Taldryan Tower, before taking anyone else who needed to go up to the senate complex north of the city.
Anders decided to try some of the food Dasha made… it couldn’t be that bad, right? He was peckish, if the slight rumbling of his stomach was any indication.