EliteCommander

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

With Sabine returning above decks to watch the shoreline recede behind them, it was perhaps no surprise that Meesei emerged shortly afterwards to join her. She stood next to her, looking out at the steadily shrinking city in the distance silently. The shouting and general commotion of the crew around them did ruin the peaceful atmosphere to an extent, but it was still a beautiful view regardless. As long as they stayed out of the way of the crew, it was unlikely anyone would bother them.

"A majestic sight, isn't it? We have made so many memories in those swamps, so many life-changing events. Some wonderful, some...beyond terrible. I don't think any of us could have predicted what would happen when we first crossed into its hot and humid borders, or even through the pass into Morrowind before that. I think there is a lot we would all like to change if we could, but with everything considered...I think our time here ended pretty well. Your sister is happy. Happy with herself, with her new life, and most of all, with you. As painful as it is to leave, she is proud of who you are, and the woman you are becoming."

Kaleeth's second attempt at climbing into the hammock, this time with Janius, was just as awkward as the first, but at least she had an example to follow. As she tried to climb over him, the hammock rocked back and forth wildly, nearly throwing both of them to the ground several times. Eventually, she managed to find a position that kept the hammock stable, but unfortunately, it was not the most optimal one. She was laying across him in an awkward manner that placed enough weight on his chest to make it harder for him to breathe. It was perhaps possible that she could readjust to make them more comfortable, but she was too afraid of tipping them over to attempt it. "Is this, uh, okay? It isn't, is it?"

The Depths of Deception

While it was much easier to navigate in a weightless environment using telekinesis, Rareth avoided using her magic as much as possible in order to give herself a chance to recover from her prior exertion. She stopped maintaining her barrier and relied strictly on momentum to push her through the corridors. With the chaos the sudden attack had created, any pursuers which had been sent after them had likely abandoned the search or been diverted to some other objective.

The team encountered no resistance for some time as they made their way back to the hanger through an alternate route, near the outer edge of the station. There were no more station rattling explosions, but there were undoubtedly battles occurring across the station, as after rescuing the hostages, their forces were tasked with clearing out the station. Eventually, Shuo asked about her spaceworthiness, and as she rounded the corner, Rareth could see why. A blast door was locked down in front of them. Given that the rebels had been given almost no opportunity to react, it was likely an automated response to depressurization in the chamber just beyond.

"I'll be fine. My wound is closed, and my suit is skintight. It doesn't need a seal to provide pressure As long as nothing actually punctures my scales again, there will be no issue." Rareth explained, taking position by the manual release on the blast door. Like Shuo, she magnetized her boots to the floor and instructed the others to do the same. "Get ready, make sure your oxygen levels are fine."

Once everyone signaled they were ready, Rareth opened the door, sending a sizable rush of air out into the vacuum which lasted for several seconds before a blast door behind them locked down as well. She felt her suit rapidly constrict around her as the pressure dropped, eventually bringing her back to the same equilibrium as before. Before them was a very sizable breach, one that stretched several floors above and below them, and was just as wide. It looked to be one of the impact sites from a plasma cannon, which opened up the breach to allow the missile strikes to penetrate deep within the station. There was a field of debris, from small particles to large metal plates, scattered in the empty space between them and their destination on the other side.

The group pushed off in as straight of a line as possible towards the opposite door, though it would require some maneuvering to get through the debris. However, Rareth caught a light out of the corner of her eye which captured her attention. Looking over, she could see the helmet lights of another group about their size coming from deeper inside the station to their left. From their armor, they were not part of the Assembly force.

"Get to cover!" Rareth shouted immediately through the comms, which was quickly followed by gunfire from the direction of the hostiles. Given that the blast of air has pushed away much of the debris nearest the door, she had to rush to find suitable cover. Since Shiva's suit did not seem to possess thrusters, Rareth grabbed onto her arm and telekinetically pulled her towards a large, slightly spinning piece of the station's hull. As soon as they were close enough, they grabbed on, and Rareth used her telekinesis to stabilize its spin. It was still drifting slightly, but it was still a mostly stable platform for the moment. While Rareth had rested enough to regain some energy, she needed to be conservative with her magic in this fight.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

I'll respond when I can tomorrow. I'll be gone most of the day, though.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Meesei would have stayed longer above decks watching the coastline recede, but the captain urged them to get themselves and the significant amount of baggage they were carrying below decks, and out of the way of the crew. A deckhand led them down to the bottom deck, at the bow where the crew quarters were located. As it was not a specialized passenger vessel, they would be sharing the same quarters as the rest of the standard crew.

The bunks consisted of rows of hammocks along the walls in the triangular shaped room, enough for most of the crew. There were other quarters with more traditional beds in other parts of the ship, but they were reserved for the various kinds of officers aboard the vessel, and Meesei had certainly not paid enough to use those. Fortunately, they were permitted to use an adjacent storage room for their belongings to help alleviate the crowding. As the ship had just set sail, the quarters were currently empty apart from the pack, but from what Meesei understood, they would be pretty much constantly inhabited after a while as the crew alternated between shifts of sleeping and working. It was not the most ideal way to spend the next month, but at least they would all be together to make it more bearable.

The pack was still fresh off of the emotional exchange between Sabine and Ariel, but they distracted themselves by taking their time getting settled in. Once Kaleeth found a place in the storage room for the bags she was carrying, she approached the hammock curiously. Having not used one before, she did not even recognize their intended purpose until she noticed there was no other form of bed in the room. She approached unsteadily, as she was still unused to the constant swaying of the ship.

"So, these are what we are supposed to sleep in?" Kaleeth commented as she attempted to climb into one. "Do I just..." She began, but between the swaying of the ship, the difficulty she had with moving in her dress, and her unfamiliarity with hammocks, she lost her balance and flipped over onto the ground as soon as she attempted to lie down.

Star Wars - Jedi Exile

Shir as well could hear the armored footsteps approaching, though she had no objection to her fellow Jedi's plan. "Agreed, we need to keep others from the hanger if we can. Even if they can get a ship, they will certainly be shot down after leaving." She commented just as they saw the clones round the corner. The beasts they released sprang ahead immediately towards the Jedi. While Shir's new ally went on the attack, Shir adopted a defensive stance for the two creatures rushing her. She crossed her lightsabers in front of her just as the beast closest to her was starting to pounce, resulting in it jumping onto her blades and ending up in several pieces on the ground around her. The other attempted to circle around and attack from behind, but Shir was able to react more than quickly enough. While quite vicious, these creatures had no special protection against lightsaber attacks, and with how fast Shir could strike, she needed no special trick or strategy to kill it. All that was needed was a simple, direct slash across the front half of its body.

With the beasts dead, Shir rushed to aid the Human Jedi. She had not been at the Temple for much of the Clone Wars until recently, so she had not seen them training with Padawans, but even so, she could easily see that there was something different about this group; namely, the sizable twin vibroblades attached at their elbows. She had fought alongside clones long enough that she knew not to underestimate them in numbers, especially their special forces. They were outnumbered four to one, but in that regard, they had advantage. The hallway they were in, while tall, was only a few meters wide, which restricted movement enough to negate the clones' numbers advantage.

Shir ran to the side of the Human Jedi, once again dropping to a defensive stance. Together, they effectively blocked the corridor, so the clones could not flank them and were restricted to attacking only two, perhaps three at a time. If they had been training only against Padawans, as her ally suggested, then the clones would not be at the advantage.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

As per usual, Lorag's reaction wasn't as openly emotional as the others'. He gave a simple, respectful nod, but be was not without feeling at the situation. Ariel had been with them long enough that their final goodbye was something of a sad event to him, but he dealt with it internally, as wcith almost all of the pain he faced in life.

Both Meesei and Ahnasha were similar in that they had prior experience with voluntarily leaving those they cared about, but they were visibly saddened nonetheless. Even Meesei shed a few tears, mostly out of sympathy for Sabine. She wanted to say more in the way of a farewell to Ariel, but in the grand scheme of things, this moment would be best to remain focused on the two sisters. When they both looked back on it weeks, months, or years into the future, it would be their interaction with one another that they would remember the most.

Kaleeth did not have the same attachment to Ariel as any of the others, but even so, it affected her more deeply than any of the others except for Sabine. This farewell reminded her far too greatly of her own goodbyes to her family, memories which were till, relatively speaking, fresh on her mind. She had not wanted to leave her family, just as Sabine did not want to leave her sister, so she understood fully the pain of it all. Even though she did not know her very well, Kaleeth took Ariel's advice to heart. She wanted to be able to give some kind of advice in return to Ariel and Sabine to make their separation more bearable, but in truth, she had hardly even been able to deal with her own pain, so she had no advice to give.

Meesei could see that the crew of the ship were coming close to loading the last of their freight onto the ship, but she remained silent just a bit longer so that Sabine and Ariel could have their time.

The Depths of Deception

Once Rareth was able to distract herself from the pain of the wound, she noted how skilled Shiva was with her healing. The ability to use magic for that purpose was far quicker than any normal method of dealing with wounds, but even so, Shiva's treatment was more effective than any field healer she could recall meeting. Granted, she still felt some pain and soreness in her chest, especially when she moved, but Shiva had only really had time for a quick field treatment to get her moving and out of danger. She could receive some more fine and detailed treatment later. For now, Rareth stood up, coughing as she tried to catch her breath. She drew her pistol, which by this point was on its last magazine, as well as her blade. "Alright, let's get moving, but we can't go too far. We need to stay within proximity of our current location, or we might get caught in the fleet's attack. When Bit collapsed the hallway behind us, it made a hole in the floor as well, Let's get back there and climb down to the lower level." She said, taking the lead out of the data center.

---

Outside the station, close to the other side of the planet above which they were orbiting, the joint Assembly fleet received their message, and acted immediately. There were six ships in all, three Human, two Sovereignty, and one Rothian, the largest of which was the cruiser-class Rothian vessel. One of the Sovereignty ships was a cruiser-sized carrier for fighters, bombers, and so on, while the rest of the ships were frigates, apart from a Human heavy frigate. Overall, it was a force that was far larger than necessary to handle a group of rebels in a civilian mining station, but it served as an impressive and intimidating show of force. Even just one of the vessels would likely be able to handle the situation alone.

The fleet jumped into FTL for the smallest fraction of a second, calculated perfectly to bring them back to subluminal speeds directly outside the station. Even if the team had not already disabled exterior defenses, the station would not have been able to react. Immediately, the fleet launched their first barrage. The Sovereignty vessels' plasma cannons first focused on key external hardpoints, while the Human and Rothian vessels followed through with precisely and meticulously aimed missile attacks. Most of the missiles were designed to pierce through into the interior of the station before detonating, and since the station was not particularly well-armored, it was an easy enough task to accomplish. Explosions shook the entire station, each finely aimed to damage specific systems. Shields, weapons, hanger bays, control centers, all but one of the power generators; each location was specifically targeted to irreversibly cripple the station, and therefore the rebels inside. The only vital system not targeted was life support so as not to harm the hostages, which were able to be avoided in the barrage thanks to the information from the team inside. Following the initial strike, the fleet scrambled fighters and dropships to board the station through exterior breaches and recover the hostages.

---

The team had managed to make their way down to the floor beneath the data center before the enemy force arrived, though with communications back up, they could not afford to run into any more rebels. Fortunately the allied force struck before they could be found. The explosions ripping through the station shook it enough to knock all of them off of their feet, which was followed quickly by complete darkness, then a feeling of weightlessness. The low-level emergency lighting kicked in a few seconds later, revealing that they were all floating in the middle of the corridor. With the station now operating on very minimal power, even the artificial gravity had been taken offline.

Rareth still felt quite exhausted from her prior magical exertion, but it did not take much telekinetic force at all to stabilize herself int he weightless environment. "Looks like the fleet has arrived. Now we can get back to the Hummingbird." Rareth said, now through the radio, which included Ashley, Telmeck, and Srath back in the hanger. "I hope you're all trained in zero-G."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Finalizing the remainder of the payment with the captain went smoothly. Meesei was not entirely certain of what their living arrangements would be while onboard, but for the price they were paying, she doubted it would be anything extravagant. If they were not in an enclosed room, someone would need to keep an eye on Leaps at all times, or keep him tied up when they could not. She would much rather have the little wamasu with them than not, however, as she predicted the voyage was going to become quite dull.

"Good morning, Ariel." Meesei said as she approached. The docks were already crowded, but they had found a place to talk that at least seemed out of the way of everyone else. "Our ship is set to leave at noon, so not too terribly long, but enough for proper goodbyes."

Meesei stepped forward and lightly placed her hand on Ariel's shoulder. "I will miss you, Ariel. When you sneaked into our camp in Morrowind and paralyzed Janius, I do not think any of us could have imagined where it would lead. We are from vastly different places, with different lives and different goals, but I pretty much consider you family by now. If you were like us, I would accept you into our family in a heartbeat, but I understand that your path is different from ours, and I wish you the best as you walk it."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Like the water, Kaleeth was quick to grab the potion Sabine made, and thankfully, it came with considerably more relief. As the magic within the potion started to work, she felt her headache begin to fade. After a few moments, she sat up, then suddenly hugged Sabine tightly. "Oh by the Hist, thank you!." She said gratefully.

---

After Kaleeth's hangover was dealt with, everyone joined by the fire for breakfast, much like normal. Their morning proceeded as usual for a while, but unfortunately, the group did not have all of the time as they did before, as their ship was scheduled to leave at midday. Meesei wanted to be sure to give Sabine plenty of time for farewells, so she made sure the camp was packed up shortly after they ate. Once it started to get close enough to noon, they headed off to Thorn.

Meesei had made sure that the pack was prepared in every way possible for their journey. Anything they did not need or could not directly use had been sold, which would hopefully leave them with enough gold to work with once they reached the Imperial City. As a result, they did not need to stop for anything before making their way to the docks, at the place where they had agreed to meet Ariel. They arrived early, so once Ariel was able to make it, they would have a decent amount of time to talk.

The Depths of Deception

Hmm, I did not except to see any new CS's without actually putting up another interest check. At any rate, I am open to accepting new characters, we just have to work them into the team at an appropriate time. I will say that, at the current point in the story, I do not think we can logically work in freelancers. To make it immensely easier on me, I would recommend having your character be a part of one of the governments, like the UN, or the Assembly itself.

Also, as a side note, it is actually a misconception that an asteroid field would be dense enough to be dangerous. They are actually rather sparse.