IC: Tirran Huxley & Sinre as everyone else COMBO!
A message foundThere was a message waiting, Tirran had been scouring his messages and seeing what pieces of his network could still be viable after his protracted incarceration. K’Kruhk appealed to Tirran to return for him and Master Tr’a Saa. And the General Dameron if he intended to come along. To brave the blockade again. No credit incentive was appended. That was a mistake. His offer of evacuation when he had been present had been tied to such a thing for them to even merely be passengers to his own escape.
Still. Hmm. Tirran shuffled back to older messages.
The Droid Intelligence network provided him all manner of data to catch up on. Naboo had just rejoined the Empire, based on Bastion, and ended contracts with him due to his absence; the great resource train to Anaxes had just been shattered by an Echani attack, scattering metric tonnes of supplies across the space lanes; the First Order borders had withdrawn the Inner Rim, and security cordons around Fondor, Coruscant, Kuat and Corellia kept even his droids on Coruscant from updating him.
The Rim was split between the Adumari Union, Confederation, Sun Guard, the Empire, and the Resistance, now based on Lothal. Each territory was split across the galaxy, separated by the Unknown Regions, or each other, and there were a handful of independent systems remaining - Serenno, for one, which had just been named the location of the Galactic Court; Nouane, albeit in the Inner Rim; Hapes, secluded behind its fleets and courtesans. The Echani themselves appeared to be establishing independent territory too.
But the attack on Anaxes had immeasurably increased the value of the supplies he had stolen, and there were several incredibly well paying contracts for independent verification of what the First Order was secretly building at their four shipyards. Tirran had risked so much already, what was one more gamble and tumble with the fickle tides of fate?
Seeing the sad state of affairs, a set of stable bank accounts, things poised to disarray by the cosmic tides of a new war, and missing pieces of his networks. Credits would have to be poured out, network contacts greased, droid repair and upgrades authorized as well as new acquisitions. Grow or adapt. Either way change was needed or the static system would degrade and become useless except to perhaps an archeologist in a in lifetime of whatever the prospective species was using to frame acquisitions.
Second, a ship from Anaxes that had been scattered carrying grain, was pinged to divert to the Jedi resources with a message. Collect a fast ship, store it in the grain section and rig for expulsion along with grain stores at K'Kruhk's location. The Jedi pilot inside the secondary ship should be an ace pilot as well as able to mask their lifesigns one way or another. A scattered droid ship making an abortive hyperspace jump as close as possible into the world and bursting a grain dump on the side furthest from the largest cluster of contesting forces should be a window for retrieval. Sending the orders Tirran blew bubbles as he contemplated his last risk.
It was time to make some credits and grow despite the drains on his accounts. Grow or die, it had to be risked. He would do the trip, make a small fortune, access additional intel on the shelled worlds, and then...make an obscene fortune!
But a trip to where? Would he accompany the ship back to Jakku, or advance to one of those four major shipyards - and risk it?
Otherwise, the grain ship replied, and began to divert to Jakku. Aboard there was a Jedi named Yaqeel Saav’etu, who communicated with the droid pilot his willingness to contribute - the Order hadn’t given him any direction for months. There was the sector blockade, including the dreadnought, Mortis and twenty star cruisers, which had scattered to cover all jump points, and then Jakku itself.
Tirran noted the willingness of the Jedi aboard the ship and directed the Jedi to the message concerning having a small fast ship that was jump capable. If the Jedi could aid the droid in circumventing the blockade routes, perhaps with the Jedi jump trance thing Yaqeel could get the craft into proper position. It was a long shot and Tirran was not going with the man. It was a solo suicide rescue mission, he emphasized that point to the Jedi. There would be no safety net nor aid, this was akin to a space walk without life support. Possible in only the most crazy or by Force points of view.
His own mission would best be served by doing his trading and spying by passing through the Corellia system. Enough traffic to help mask his presence, and plenty of opportunities in every direction.
Yaqeel would see what small ship he could obtain. It wouldn’t be a TwinTail, but probably an XJ3-Wing or some such. Maybe an A-wing, as those were smaller and faster than most. He would signal when the mission could begin.
Otherwise, the medallion input into the console, it requested a route from near-Jakku to Corellia. It would involve passing two chokepoints in First Order territory; Yag’Dhul had twenty star cruisers defending it, but there was a fortress world too at Kinyen along the way. The latter involved a huge spread of mines, many gravity equipped, so they had to be shutdown. Between Yag’Dhul and Corellia? Duro, defended by ten Golan stations.
Data flowed as to acceptable routes in-system to Corellia. There were forty Golan Stations deployed, with twenty at Corellia and five at each other habitable world - Selonia, Drall, Talus and Tralus. The Corellian Fleet itself was expected to patrol the Corellian Sector, apart from Nubia, which had recently been selected to be the new First Order capital and had its own defenders as need be. That being said, the ten Strident-class Star Defenders held not too far from Corellia, in a singular formation, commanded by Admiral Delpin. The ten together matched twenty Golan stations, so it wasn’t as it the First Order situation was precarious…
This was more data from the Core than anyone and seen in months. Specific Corellian Sector deployments. There was no data on the actual construction, merely a rendezvous expected by the delivery ship to Talus, the outermost world of the Corellian system.
A jump window was afforded to Tirran; in twenty minutes time, the mines at Kinyen would go down for a five minute interval, giving him time to pass Kinyen and head to and past Yag’Dhul and Duro, neither of which had any gravity well projectors active.
Then straight to Corellia.
No other routes and disclosures were made; Corellia had been chosen, no data about Fondor (or nearby Atrisia, Giju and Hynestia), Kuat (or nearby Koesenayr, Rendilli, Balmorra and Commenor) or Coruscant (or nearby Brentaal, Borleias, Castell and Venjagga) was given. Other worlds kept from him included Perave, Loronar, Byblos, Chandrila, Isht, Diamala, Metellos, and N’Zoth. Anaxes was also kept from his data, but everyone in the galaxy knew about the Echani strike there.
Putting on a selection of Drall sciences and historical rhapsody and classical works as his background music, Tirran progressed to his first stop of deliveries. If he could see about getting a second load of material to move to another of the blocked worlds he would. Meanwhile for the trip his droids would work on creating a proper prosthetic arm and stoic face to pass for the chosen identity of working First Order persona.
They had plenty of time to work more on the disguise.
Kinyen was passed.
Then Yag’Dhul.
The Duro.
He was about to arrive…
Talus, the fifth planet of the Corellian System.
Preparations were made and Tirran settled in for the role he would have to play in making this delivery and accepting payment. One of his droids also was prepared with infiltration software to give Tirran a back door into the local systems. Based on some data systems from the base there was an indication that the First Order often ‘updated’ the brain washing and programming of both troops and droids. If he updated the files he could slowly over time have a sleeper control and steady information into the systems very heart. With the crews or droids acting to spread that ‘update’ when redeployed or resupplying at other locations. Without them or anyone else being the wiser, potentially.
They arrived.
The Golan stations were set out curiously, even by First Order standards. One hung above the Talis capital, yes, but four held in a formation that required the freighter traffic to pass through a triangle of three, to a fourth, which was acting as the security checkpoint.
But the freighter traffic, it wasn’t heading towards Corellia. In-fact, scans showed the Corellian shipyards were missing, and the outer system was the location of the traffic; free-floating shipyards by the distant Kiris Shipyards. The freighters were micro-jumping, once passing security…
Tirran would have to pass a physical inspection to be able to pass further. The network wasn’t pliable either, it was resisting remote slicing attempts. It may be more accessible physically, of course…
In short order Tirran would be unable to leave without attracting pursuit. A handful of TIE Whispers were evident, keeping the traffic in order, and two were en route to act as escort.
Deciding on only a sacrificial droid to do the implant of the viral packages into the network, Tirran moved ahead. Following directions for the inspection and moving into proper position for the TIE Whispers to guide him in. Hopefully all the droid’s preparations were going to be enough to make this happen.
The shadows of the Golans fell upon the shuttle, and then tractor beams locked in, drawing the ship inside the Golan.
He was committed.
A Shadowtrooper was evident, holding a blaster rifle ready, as a single protocol droid in glossy black stepped forward. "All crew are to descend. A scanner will be sent aboard shortly. The Emperor has personally confirmed that no security step will be overlooked; no traps for Jedi or Rebels are needed anymore." A tsk of the droid's vocabulator. "Only absolute security for the final order."
The trooper had his blaster co*cked at the ramp of the ship as it set down.
Nodding his understanding he lifted a pad and keyed in a sequence for the droids to follow him out. If the protocol droid entered the droid service suite unattended a unit missing it's legs on a repair table would nudge the inspection droid into the service rack which would auto plug into the droids hookups and force a patch update. Being able to see the model before leaving the ship meant the system could be preset for the correct model. It was an unlikely scenario, but it was not his objective just an - if luck happened to smile on him preparation. He doubted it would happen. Any other attempts would have to be in the natural gaps as he found them.
See AlsoStar Wars Planets Guide, By Media: Video GamesStar Wars: The High Republic - Temptation of the Force Book Review by Star Wars LadsSome things you shouldn't force. Paradoxical as it was, for Tirran that was infiltrations into secure networks with active security and no viable route of escape it goes sideways. So he would play the dutiful officer and get this transfer done with an eye to any open chances. Included in the transfer was of course one of his own droid with a memory backup rebooter so that it could feasibly be taken, First Order programming and then after a reboot be a sleeper droid. It was supposedly based off of some infiltration droid that was used to ferret out the rebellion back under Palpatine. Although without the lethality mods inappropriate to a protocol droid.
The little crew of droids clanked down, and the scanning crew went by Tirran to do a deep investigation for stowaways. A single Stormtrooper in white plasteel was pushing the floating scanner up the ramp.
There was suddenly a loud thump, just out of sight. The trooper called down. "Hey, could you give us a hand with this?"
The Shadow Stormtrooper looked at Tirran, and indicated with the blaster for him to head back up and do so.
The black protocol droid sighed, audibly. "Sentients. Dropping everything."
Tirran burbled in frustration. "Just want to make my delivery and get back to the next task." he murmured in a grumbling imitation of the dock worker he had had to deal with to get these supplies. With a programmed sigh he turned and went up the ramp. Ready to see what was happening and what they had done to foul up in his ship. Still he was cautious as he walked in, weary of something that might trigger a situation and expose him.
As he reached the top of the ramp, there was a whine of a blaster. Two men were evident, one half dressed in the Stormtrooper uniform, looking over with a scowl. “He’s not armour.”
“I know,” bit the other. “You, call down for help. We need a trooper so we can take their armour.” He gestured with the point of his blaster. On the floor there was the unconscious scan crewed; the single Stormtrooper.
The one half dressed gestured a hand. “You want to help us.”
Tirran shifted the body as he paid attention to the inside of his tank. Luckily they thought he was a human First Order officer. Or perhaps they knew what he really was? It was hard to say, depended on if they snuck aboard when the Masters didn’t catch a ride, or were there when he had supplies loaded onto his ship.
“I want to help you.” He slowly voiced as he turned. As he was sideways he triggered one of the ships internal intruder safety measure as he called out, “Need help!” The deck plates everywhere except where he stood would electrify to disable anything up to a Wookiee in a bad mood. While that happened he pulled his blaster and crouched down and forward trying to duck any possible attack as he drew his uniforms blaster.
One of them was down, and one of them reacted, impossibly, attaching himself to the ceiling, stuck in place. The man bared his teeth. “What are you doing?!”
There was a clatter as the Shadowtrooper ran up the ramp -
“Helping. Freeloading and unpaid stowaways are punishable by spacing. This is much better.” Tirran calmly and almost in a semi-dreamy quality replied. Aiming his blaster from his crouched position at the ceiling he awaited the trooper coming.
A gesture drew the unconscious man to the man pinned to the ceiling as if by invisible string, and then the man leapt down, using the hovering sensor device as a landing spot as the Shadowtrooper tracked him. "Get down," the trooper suggested to Tirran, lifted the rifle, and began fully automated fire.
Snap-hiss.
The other man, blonde, blue eyes, stood with a green blade and battered the bolts back at the trooper -
Tirran was left with a bad choice. He was currently a business partner of a group of Jedi. If this Jedi was part of those Jedi he owed the men to try and save them. If he wasn’t there was no reason for Tirran not to shoot him down. The First Order would have a mini-investigation, and that was where things started going wrong in Tirran’s mind. Mini-investigation could be minutes, could be days, could or could include a full medical examination of all involved and one of those First Order reprogramming sessions that would also reveal his non-human nature. Or it could be a boon and he would be set for life with a promotion and more freedom?
The Jedi were, well they were sloppy. Still, they might be the safer choice for his getting out of here undiscovered. Aiming down from his ducked position he fired a couple stun blasts into the ankle joint of the Shadow Trooper. If the man went down he would have some quick talking and work ahead of him.
"Jedi!" The Shadowtrooper's armour absorbed the bolts, little sunspots flaring before they were vanished.
His voice carried down the ramp, and seemed to echo; no, others were taking up the chant -
The Shadowtrooper dropped to the ground when stunned, but seemed to have a only a dead leg from the shot. The Jedi saw the opportunity nonetheless and put his blade through their neck. Confused, he glowered at Tirran. "So you stun Javon... and then help me?"
With a palms up helpless gesture Tirran shook his suits head at the man. “Not my fault you didn’t identify yourself before now with a color coded glow stick. Met a few of every color.” Tirran replied in his defense. “Your cover’s blown. Either go steal a ship and I’ll swap Javen into cover armor and trust me to save him, or something … cause they won’t be above blasting this ship and supplies.”
The Jedi glowered. "Nice to see you have such a direct approach to stowaways, Huxley." A sigh. "My fault, we should have made contact before now." He regarded Javon. "Okay, you're responsible for him, I'll head off into Corellia, see how much I can do before I get cut down, I guess." There was a firm clatter of noise in the hangar, echoing.
"I'm Seff Hellin, by the way." He sketched a salute with his lightsaber hilt, despondent but determined. He held out his hand. "May the Force be with you."
Tossing a mini-thermal detonator into the Jedi’s hand Tirran shook the suits head at him. “Don’t get captured alive. I’ll keep this one alive. Forget who I am.” He whispered back.
Raising his blaster and flicking a switch he backed to the dropped man. Then yelling, “Get off my ship Jedi! Die! DIE!” And with that he punctuated his words with first sloppy then more and more accurate blaster fire as let the suit take over as he saw to a quick scan of the downed scanner tech for implants as he would finish the costume change for the unconscious man.
The Jedi nodded, and fled, deflecting staccato bolts, and then jumping into the fray. There were shouts, more fire, and the noise spread - but it went away from him.
Tirran Huxley was alone.
Tirran saw to finishing the costume change, then verified the body had its fingerprints scorched by the ships anti-intruder deck plates, and put a blaster shot into the bodies face. Grunting at the mess he made a loud grumble of “Stay dead.”
Then it was time to drag the dead out and see what the situation looked like in the hanger if Javon was not awake yet.
Javon was still unconscious, and the hangar was, frankly, pandemonium. Other ships crewers were taking pot-shots at the Stormtroopers as they clattered into the area, mainly traditional white-plasteel outfits but a bulky Mechtrooper and a trio of Shadowtroopers were evident, the latter sniping dead spacers with accuracy.
The Jedi was in the middle of it all, deflecting bolts while avoiding the swings of the Mechtrooper, whose burnished armour apparently could take a lightsaber cut without issue - beskar, seemingly.
The tannoy called out. "All First Order assets that are not engaged, withdraw from the hangar. In the circ*mstances, your cargoes will be delivered directly to the Kiris Shipyards. Security procedures are briefly dispensed with, but any attempt to flee the system will result in the death sentence being imposed."
The voice was firm, trying to bring order to chaos.
Making sure his record function on his eyes was working Tirran crouched there leaning out his landing ramp until the announcement snapped him out of the trance of watching the display. Pulling the droid caller from his belt he summoned his droids to return to the craft - with a secondary signal that if they returned with any extra droids that was fine so long as they all made a pit stop at the droid calibration station to sweep their software and hardware for irregularities.
Standing guard on his ramp he waited for them to return or for his window to get too small. He had to get to Kiris Shipyards after all.
They all returned, with a sleek black BD unit in tow -
The violence was increasing, and on the display one of the nearby Golan's was burning as if the battle had sprung up there too -
Had Tirran triggered a revolt?
Tirran nodded at his returning droids and the BD unit. “Security software check all units. New or separated units first.” With that stated he turned to head to the co*ckpit and see about getting the vessel underway. As soon as a couple units passed their checks he would set them to the ‘trooper’ while they headed to the shipyard.
The BD unit beeped, glowering, and suddenly sprouted arms tipped with flames and buzz-saws and turned to dive into the ship -
The droid that had brought him aboard abruptly began attacking the others in the mechanical harem. The First Order droid had suborned his droid! Beautiful.
Whether the commotion would distract from the forming shape of the Kiris Shipyards, who could say. The asteroids were so far outside the Corellian System that they were barely orbiting it's star, and traffic had to micro-jump from Talus (or Tralus), and even then a cordon kept them far away.
But the shipyards had previously and secretly constructed an entire assault fleet for the Corellians, and later been turned towards the construction of Resurgent-class battlecruisers. The Corellian Dreadnaught, an egg-shaped warship worth two Imperial II-class Star Destroyers - at very least - was an impressive warship and it hadn't taken much to adjust the yards towards the Resurgent.
In short, Corellia built battlecruisers.
Fondor, that built Dreadnoughts, much like Kuat, but also everything else between a Victory-class Star Destroyer and an Executor-class. Coruscant's yards could service a Dreadnought, build a battlecruiser, or construct Star Destroyers, with ease. Depending on the priorities of the time, larger shipyards could be re-tasked as repair facilities for fleets, like Sluis Van, or shifted to construct armadas of escorts, as Fondor was during the early New Republic.
So when a quintet of 2,406 meter length Star Destroyers were evident among the asteroid shipyards, it matched the narrative to-date.
At this distance, it was a mere profile - the act of using long-range scanners to actively scan the warship would set off a barrage of warnings. That being said, there were only First Order TIE Defender's present, piloted variants for once, rather than any Interdictors - clearly the Shipyards relied upon the security point to do most of the counter-infiltration works. If Tirran, mid-droid scuffle, wanted to get closer to confirm the ships design, he could, of course. Or he could risk a sensor ping and rush to escape.
Danger was either way present.
Tirran triggered his ships anti intruder floor tiles again. This time using the settings for droids, and triggering the tiles the offending units were on, as well those immediately around them. Locked in place his other units could retrieve an ion pistol once programming cleared and see about getting these units back under control.
The ship would continue on course for its delivery. The temptation of profits and a highly profitable avenue of those profits was too tempting to pass up. This disruption would not sway the course.
The rogue droids went down, as did a few of his friendlier units, resulting in a sad chirping among the nonverbal droids.
As the ship trundled forward, a TIE Defender positioned itself above and behind the freighter, a standard security action.
The Star Destroyers resolved more fully into Xyston-class battlecruisers. The protruding underside cannon was even visible.
The shipyards tied him into the comms mainframe.
"... reports of growing disturbances on Corellia -"
"... this is 270 ready to detach from the yard -"
"... a terror attack on Drall -"
"... send an urgent communique to Nubia for reinforcements -"
".... 270, you're not authorised for departure until the final hyperdrive check is complete -"
"... security checks on the incoming freighter were incomplete, prepare boarding party on arrival -"
Tirran's ship was squared away and the droids would see to repurposing and reactivating the damaged droids. Any non-viable would given damage to blend with something from the battle to explain their state. That left Tirran to see about waking his guest so that the man would be ready to pose as a scanner tech and that the ship has already been cleared. One droid would see to implanting teh scanner data to match for what should be found to clear his vessel.
Thewles sat up with a groan. He looked up at Tirran, and frowned. "Where's Seff?"
"Fighting his corner of the mess you two made. Left me to save your backside and make something of it. We're about to be boarded and inspected. You ready to be a hero scanner tech that killed one of the two Jedi stowaways?" Tirran replied as he continued working the programs to prepare for the inevitable boarding.
He shook his head, groggy, as he stood up. "Give me a sitrep."
Standing Tirran opened an emergency med cabinet that for this ruse was loaded appropriately for humans. "Let's start with a stim. Clear your head. First Order is boarding and inspecting due to attack."
He arched his neck and accepted the stim. "And we didn't finish the official scan."
Stretching, the man blinked. "Alright. I get you. You've faked the data?" He was already fishing for his comlink. "I doubt the First Order remembered to cut the comms that Seff and I had yet, my clearance should still be good."
“Sounds like a plan. Do you want dropped off at the hanger or do you want further transport?” Tirran responded, planning out future moves was a good way to keep busy as things were prepared. That and it kept his mind off of the precarious circ*mstances outside of his control.
“I’ll stay aboard for the moment,” Javon said. “I can send the report before we land.” He tapped a few times. “They won’t bother us when we approach, now.” He showed the datapad to Tirran. “They’re concentrating on the other freighters.” There was a Techno Union freighter and an Action Transport approaching behind them.
As if to sell that fact, the TIE Defender turned to go.
Leaving the situation as was Tirran's ship would continue on course to the proper ship they would directed to. All his droids should be hopefully finishing their triage and rebooting of the invading forms before they landed.
"Very well. Consider your passage now paid." Tirran stated matter of factly about the whole situation. As if it wasn't as dire as it was. What business venture didn't come with risks after all?
"Very funny," the man said. He was glib, but sobered up as they approached the massive Xyston-class.
The comms continued.
".... 265, ready to depart..."
"... authorised -"
"... hearing about High Lord activities intensifying in the Tapani Sector..."
"... I've heard an uprising on Coruscant has just been quelled..."
"... tens of thousands dead..."
"... Kuat of Kuat is looking pretty nervous right now..."
"... incoming freighter, please divert to 270 to deliver final suppllies... "
That was addressed to them.
Javon took a deep breath. "Seff isn't going to make it, is he?"
“One man or two? Neither would make it. If you had consulted me prior to attempted hijacking I would have aided you in intel gathering plans that might work. As is he has a chance of dying. His only hope is destroying where we left and surviving in the debris planet side to escape, or stealing a ship in the confusion and escape. We will honor his needless sacrifice with song and drink later, and if you prove helpful with a healthy discount for what we find.” Every moment of open comms was giving a bigger picture and every meter a better detailed passive scan. The value of the information he was accruing was phenomenal, but if he could set hooks for more data it would be priceless.
If he wasn’t floating in a concealed tank his goofy smile and thin strands of drools swaying in his tank would have belied his utter lack of sympathy or true appreciation for the Jedi. Let alone the cost of the man’s impending death. Soon he might have enough to own more worlds.
The ship diverted as ordered. Smooth and unconcerned with the localized chaos. Just another ship making a delivery.
Javon shrugged. "We didn't precisely have permission. Masters T'ra Saa and K'Kruhk didn't think it was a good idea to poke the First Order any further than we had, and Master Zekk and his team were missing. So Seff and I made a decision on our own."
But he focused. "That's a Xyston-class, isn't it? I thought most of them were destroyed at Exegol. I know one survived to the Battle of Coruscant, but... they're building more? What number was this one? 270? Do you think that means they've built that many?" He was gabbling. A bad habit Seha had given him.
“First Order troops are the strong silent types. Best maintain discipline until we leave the system.” Tirran simply replied as he set about double checking his ship and droids to keep himself busy. “I’m here to deliver goods and keep my eyes open. We can discuss and compare notes later.”
One of the Xyston's left the dock and began heading out-system. Javon watched it absently. "Wonder where that is going."
Their ship was promptly within the hangar of the Xyston known as 270.
There were crimson armoured troopers everywhere, and crimson variations to the traditional First Order officers.
Javon pursed his lips as they landed, and smoothed down his attire. "I don't like this."
“Don’t care. We are frustrated transporters with a load and a schedule that has been wrecked. Gotta unload, see if we get an opportunity to implant an update in their systems, and then we leave to make another run whether we get anything or not. If you’re not up to it get back in smuggling compartment.” Tirran stated with some annoyance. It was show time, not like they could do anything about it now. They were in the proverbial belly of the beast.
Even with their pre-scan, a four person squad crimson armoured Stormtrooper was still present at the ramp to escort the delivery and the droids that would carry them.
Javon swallowed. “Do you think it’s advisable to try the droid trick? The Intel about the construction here is valuable.”
Tirran did not verbally reply. It was a trick only if the opportunity presented itself, otherwise it would not happen. The fact that the First Order used flash training on their droids and soldiers to ensure loyalty meant it was a weakness and data trove the greedy Gallussian would abandon entertaining just because he had something worth a little.
Risk some to win some. He had come this far by swinging large and he wouldn’t give up now. Especially for a fidgety no Force liability like Javon. Pressing the button to the lower the ramp he stood at attention with his delivery pad in hand, prepared to follow proper procedure for this load.
The Sith Troopers simply allowed the transfer, and all seemed potentially to be fine, until alarms went off. The screen above the hangar activated, and almost everyone, even the droids and Javon, craned their head to look up.
It showed a sensor display, a capital ship in enemy blue en route; a big ship. “All hands to battle stations and secure points. A Corellian Star Defender is en route and launching A-10 Vigilance’s and X-wings. All TIE escorts are to deploy and fend off the enemy until the last four Star Destroyers clear the shipyard. All departures are cancelled.”
Javon looked at Tirran.
They were about to be stuck.
“You really can’t plan for these things.” Tirran stated with about a pinch of mirth in his deep baritone. Going inside his ship he pulled a secondary repair and infiltration kit and passed it off to Javon. “Better go see to ships secondary repair points. She hasn’t had her shake down cruise yet. I’m going to check the droid maintenance bays. My droids will see to securing the supplies, ship, and a roller for the ships core. Let’s get it done. For the First Order.” He replied jovially before heading off to his own self appointed task.
Javon was fuming. “We need to get this data to the galaxy. We die, they won’t know what’s coming.”
The Star Destroyer was shaking as it began to move off. Through the hangar viewport they could see the other three Destroyers moving off. Dozens of TIEs were evident too, mainly TIE Daggers alongside the deployed TIE Defenders. There were more TIEs than Corellian fighters, but not enough to stop a Star Defender. Shields went up on the warships, and then alarms went off.
Aboard their ship.
“Shields did not activate. Repeat. Brace for impact on hull. Hyperdrive test due. A microjump is pending.”
“There’s your answer. Forget the repair points. See about ‘repairing’ navigation for more than a micro jump. We will return to ship and shields incase it all goes wrong.” Tapping inside his tank he adjusted his droids to see as well as their programming infiltration if they could cause a ship wide hyperspace shielding error so that it would kill any unshielded organics. His own exosuit would protect him in that situation from the radiation. If Jovan made it back in time he would survive as well. “Reports are good, proof is better.”
The droids began to short out, one by one, as if encountering something truly malevolent in the defensive network. Tirran would receive all the updates.
Xyston 270 was simply not ready to launch, and had to. Strengthening structural fields across the ship, the ship was getting ready to launch. Javon stepped over to Tirran. “Are we really riding this all the way to whatever?”
Telling his droids to stop until they had a means to bypass the defense network Tirran was left to watch the sky. “Passengers don’t dictate stops. So far there is no safe spot to get off this ride.”
“Well then,” Javon said drily, “let’s hope the Force is with us.” The Xyston buried into hyperspace, and that, as they say, was that.
TAG: @Sinrebirth
