[sub]Collab between Ruby (Briar, Selene) and Sini (Collem)[/sub] Briar didn't hear them coming. That, to her, meant that they were likely a Force user. Otherwise she would have heard feet on the false floor of the craft's interior. This working theory of the Imperial Ace was very quickly confirmed with the presence of a lightsaber. Briar knew there was a chance someone not trained in the Force could use a lightsaber, it's just what Imperial citizen hadn't seen [i]those[/i] videos? Some idiot, usually some non-citizen, cutting bits of themselves off of themselves because they had no idea what they were doing with a lightsaber. Funny as they were these days Briar suspected maybe it was the Sith themselves who produced the videos. [i]"See? So vastly superior is our space magic that even attempting to use our weapon will leave you maimed."[/i] Or, what precious little amounts of age and wisdom she had hard won allowed her to consider, she was just a jealous non-Force user and a little paranoid about the Sith. At the command, Briar didn't hesitate a beat of her quick beating heart. "Lieutenant Vaughn." When the woman told her to go, Briar clipped her harness in, smiled big, and jolted the sticks. There wasn't much space in the hangar, but enough for her to zip up without hitting anything too hard. The force alone was enough to send her out of her seat flying if not for the harness. The woman who threatened her went flying, slamming the back of her dark haired head against bulkhead. Briar was out of the harness and had her blaster pistol in hand. The hull shook, and for a heartbeat Briar thought she might have hit the stick, but it was the woman: the look in her eyes and the way her hands reached out. Under her breath she cursed all Force users, and aimed the pistol at the woman's head. "You will NOT win this confrontation." Briar's voice lowered, her blaster did not. "And you will not make it anywhere alive without me Sith." The response was immediate, and insulted. "I'm not a Sith." Briar snorted hard. "Sure as hell act like one." --- Selene blinked, stunned. [i]Do not![/i] was the immediate response at the tip of her tongue, but even she knew better than to lower herself to adolescence. "Incoming hail." Her head snapped. [i]Hope?[/i] "Who?" "My mission commander." It felt, not for the first time in the last hour, like her heart fell straight to her stomach. Her face was trained not to show it, but even the facade of the Sovereign was starting to crack under the stress and anxiety. Her body was fast to its feet, faster to the headset that the pilot handed her. “This isn’t your pilot. It’s your target. Who are you?” --- A momentary silence, followed by a clipped voice sticking to the point. It was clear the person on the other end would give away as little as possible. He was weighing his words as carefully as a spice addict weighed ryll. “Collem Corvinian, in charge of this task force sent to rescue you.” The rescue claim was a half-lie, and indeed the term ‘retrieve’ was the one used in the mission description. “Where is Lieutenant Vaughn?” --- Selene let off the mic's button, staring down at the pilot, her heart threatening her chest with explosion. "...I really was your mission target." Words Selene spoke with absolute certainty and unmistakable sadness. The mic went back up to her lips, the shock and sadness of seconds before hidden behind that cold hard mask. "A Sith asking about his pilot? I think maybe he likes you." Selene smirked, though she was still a little too stunned to be her true brand of smartass, giving the blonde only the slightest wink instead. The pilot's eyes rolled, and Selene had to keep herself from a defeated little chuckle escaping her lips into the mic as she made click hot. "Rescue my ass. She's as safe as I am, for now. Who ordered the mission?" --- Deplorably, the audio link did not convey the cocking of Collem’s eyebrow in response to the verbal crassness. Selene’s profanity made him switch tack. “Preferably all of you, not just your ass. It is my damned head on the line if something were to happen to you. Body parts - and apparently politeness - aside, I have no idea who ordered this strike… other than it is someone far higher up the admiralty than I am.” --- "He's not a Sith," the blonde pilot interjected as Selene considered her next response, "I know him. I've served with him before. That's why I'm here. I'm an Imperial fighter pilot. I'm an Ace. I'm not lying to you, and neither is he...we have no idea who ordered this mission. All we know is it must come from up top. The Sith they sent after you...they're old, they're powerful, they don't speak much. They make me more scared than any fight I've ever been in, just standing next to them. I've never seen anything like them come on a mission like this. I've never been asked on a mission like this...I don't know who you are but there is only one way out of this for any of us, and it's that man on the other end of that comm line." Selene stared but remained silent. And remained silent. The Sith the pilot described didn't match the two Sith that had reached her...but Selene had seen the Sith that the pilot spoke about before. In visions, in nightmares. Finally her hand went up to the headset, and the mic was turned hot once more, "Collem Corvinian, how much time can you give us to talk before the Sith those 'higher up the admiralty' sent for me get their hands on me?" [i]“Just you and I?”[/i] Selene snorted, depressing the mic’s button. “Just us. The pilot, you, me.” [i]“Long enough for us to figure out some answers, I daresay.”[/i] There was a hint of relief in the undertone of the Imperial’s voice. Fingers snapped at Selene, her eyes darting at the sound. The pilot held out a gloved hand, and after a moment of uncertainty, Selene placed the headset in the gloved hand of the pilot. "It's Vaughn. Try to give me some cover; the moment I leave this ship and head back to ours I'm gonna be the popular girl on the dance floor. Oh and there's no one else on this ship with us. You might have to help that second ship make it back considering it'll be filled hull to hull." --- “As if I do not already have a complicated battle to fight as it is…” Collem sighed through the comms. One could practically hear him grip the station. “You do know how much I love messy challenges. Very well, I’m assigning two squadrons to keep that corridor open. It will be tight, Vaughn, one of those Hammerheads is moving into position and our Terminus cruisers will join the fight soon enough. Be sure to treat the flyboys to a round of Corellian contraband when you get back.” A bit of static and then a final sentence before the comms went dead. “They’ll need it.” --- The pilot looked at her, impatience growing by the microsecond. "Strap in, sweetheart, this is gonna be one hell of a ride." Selene found co-pilot seat. Found the harness, a few clicks and a tightened strap and she was ready. Her body inhaled a deep breath, uncertainty and anxiety cascading through her limbs. Quietly her right hand took ahold of her left, to keep it from shaking so hard. Ready to go to the Sith ship, to the heart of the darkness she had been running from for far too long. "Screw it."