DRAVIC 9: Chapter 1 “The Arrival”

JOURNEY OF DRAVIC-9

Main OCs: Ezra Renard, Guardian Eris Laverna, Ranger Rita Fuller

NPCs: Rhys Farkas, P1A9UE

Equipped:

* Detailed scans of the Wormhole

Prologue summary:

Je'daii Ranger, Rita Fuller, was one of many who fought during the Battle of Tython. But it was by the Will of the Force that her Starfighter caused the rip in space.

In an attempt to avoid enemy missiles, her ship got hit and spun out of control. It went into a collision course with the transport carrying Dark Matter. Before it hit Rita managed to eject herself out of the cockpit into space.

Several minutes later, after the blast. Guardian of light, Eris Laverna arrived in the Tython system, on a reconnaissance mission. However she was too late, the battle already happened. Thousands of ships lay dead in space, and in the midst of it all she picked up on a life force. The Balosar Knight found Je'daii ranger Rita Fuller, unconscious floating in space.

As she rescued the unconscious pilot, her ship was attacked by the Dravic-9, a Darkshield ship piloted by Ezra Renard and Rhys Farkas. For several minutes they changed the Crescent moon over the battlefield until both ships got stuck into the vortex of a Temporal anomaly. As they went in, Eris made scans of the wormhole, hoping that she could learn more about it.

Start journey:

* Location: Shador (noolian sector)
* Ship status: shield offline (crescent moon to damaged to continue)
* Company: unknown offering help

~\*~

## CHAPTER ONE: THE ARRIVAL

GM: Sabina

Music: "Tout l'univers" by: Gjon's Tears

https://youtu.be/EuimHmJMEFA

Date: 1259 BBY

// Mid Rim, The slice, Maerdocian sector, Q-13, Shador System. //

After delivering supplies to Fink's Hole, the Togorian; Cato, leaves Mud Station. Next to him in the co-pilot's seat of his small freighter sits his partner, the Twi'lek girl; Jolie. "Glad we're getting out of here" she says as they leave the swampy

surface behind. Cato says nothing, he just smiles as he takes the freighter higher. "I just can't stand the smell of that place" Jolie continues "and I don't just mean those Gamorreans we met at Zeboron Delta" she says as she puts their next destination in the navigational computer.

"Come on... Gork was just trying to be nice" Cato chuckles as they break through the clouds. They were now so high above the surface the skies no longer looked blue, the blackness of space was visible, speckled with shimmering stars. "Nice? Is that what we call it these days?" Jolie responds and glances with a raised eyebrow at the Togorian male next to her. Cato looks back at her, giving her a toothy smile "for a Gamorrean he was behaving well… a real gentleman" he says and winks at her as they break out of orbit.

"A gentleman?!.. he had his hand on my…" her voice trails off and her vibrant green eyes widen. Cato looks at her with concern, "Jolie? Are you ok?" The orange skinned Twi'lek nodded and pointed at something in the distance "look!... What the kriff is that?" She asks. Immediately Cato turns around and sees a strange light, so bright he has to squint his eyes. "Karking hell" he mutters in shock.

Right in front of their eyes the light suddenly grows bigger turning into a massive swirling vortex and something seems to come out of it. "I...I.. see something… look.. something is coming out" Jolie stammers and gets up from her seat, moving closer to the window to see. Cato slows the ship down, he also notices something at the center of the anomaly.

Both of them lean in, trying to see what it is. Before they know it, a large piece of hull is spat out into open space, quickly followed by a larger chunk of debris. "Is that from a ship?" Jolie asks. But before Cato can respond the answer presents itself. A small vessel is thrown out of the vortex, it's badly damaged, missing a large piece of its wing. A split second later another vessel is spat out, much larger and seemingly intact. Then in a blink of an eye the mouth of the wormhole closes.

"What just happened?" Cato asks as he gets up from his seat, trying to see if the anomaly has moved. But it is gone, leaving only those two unidentified ships.

~\*~

\*\*Several minutes prior\*\*

The Crescent moon was pulled into the temporal anomaly. Guardian; Eris Laverna had cautiously turned the nose of the Jumpmaster towards the vortex, hoping it would keep them safe as she let the current take them. Ezra Renard, Pilot of the darkshield Decimator followed their example.

However, half way through something hit both ships. First Dravec-9; a large piece of debris crashed into the shield generator on their hull. At once the shields went offline, leaving them vulnerable. That same piece of debris ripped through the wing of the Crescent Moon, rupturing the hull. Alarms went off, life support systems began to fail as they were thrown out of the wormhole.

~\*~

"We have to help them!" Jolie exclaims as she sees the heavily damaged ship floating towards them. "H.. h.. help them? w..we.. we don't even know who they are." Cato reacts in shock as he sits back down. He had no idea what just happened, but his instincts were telling him to get out of there and fast. However his partner thought differently "Yeah help them" she says and reaches for the comms, opening a channel to the two vessels.

"This is the Togorian Freighter Fong to the…." Jolie pauses, the computer didn't recognize the codes or even models of either ships. "The two unidentified vessels.. Do you require assistance?.. I repeat, this is the Togorian freighter Fong, do you need help?"

\*\*\*\*\*

"Shields down to 43 percent" the computerized voice echoes over the Dravec-9's bridge. Only moments ago they were in the midst of battle, chasing a small enemy ship across the battlefield before suddenly a mysterious vortex appeared. Caught by it's pull, they soon were swallowed by it.

~\*~

Ezra Renard is sitting in the pilot's seat, doing his best to keep the large Dark Shield Decimator steady as it is pulled forth by the current of the wormhole. Behind him Rhys Farkas runs away from his station to a panel on the other side of the bridge "Transferring power from life support on lower deck to shields" he yells over the noise.

"Life support?!" Ezra responds in shock and glances over his shoulder at his partner. "Fox, it's just the two of us remember. You focus on keeping the ship steady, let me do my job" his partner says behind him as he presses a few buttons.

immediately, when the power of the lower decks is rerouted to the deflector shield on the ship's hull, the shields go up. "Yes, shields are going up, 50 percent, 60 percent, 80, 90 and 100" Rhys says with pride. "Shields restored" the computer confirms, but it's only for a brief moment as soon after they are hit by more pieces of shrapnel. "Shields down to 73 percent". "Kriff" the red haired pilot muttered through gritted teeth. If only he could see where it was coming from he would be able to evade.

Then once more they are hit. This time they can hear the sound of metal grinding as a large chunk of debris scrapes over the Dravec-9's hull. "Shields down to 61 present… shields down to 53 percent…" the computer keeps going until the emergency lights switch on, shrouding the bridge in a crimson light. "Warning, Shields offline, warning, shields offline!"

"Offline!?" Ezra and Rhys respond in shock. Then as the young pilot looks through the front porthole, he sees the large chunk of debris that had just bounced off the Dravec-9, rip through the small crescent shaped vessel in front of them. "Kriffing hell!" Ezra can't help but feel sorry for them. Rhys, however, didn't care about the enemy vessel, he didn't even bother to look "How can it be offline." "Ehm… because we have no generator" Ezra answers with a bewildered look on his face. His partner looks up "What do you mean, I just restored defectors power" his voice trails off as he now sees what Ezra meant. The shield generator was floating in front of the ship, stuck in the same current as them. "Ah.. that explains a lot" Rhys whispered to himself..

"Look!" Ezra could see the wormhole was opening up and before they knew it they were spat out into open space. A split second later its maw closed. Apart from the two damaged ships and a field debris, there was no trace of the wormhole ever being there.

"Where are we?" Ezra asked as he glanced out of the window. One thing was sure, they no longer were in the Tython system, but when he looked at the navcom the readings didn't make sense, somehow the star chart was off. "This isn't right" he muttered confused and then asif the computer had heard him it suddenly responded "Systems need recalibrating." For a moment the power all over the ship went off and it began to reboot itself. As soon qe the navcom was back online, Ezra looked at their location. With raised eyebrows he turned to his partner "according to this we are in the Shandor System."  Both of them looked surprised, neither understood how this could have happened.

A moment or two later, the Dravec-9 was hailed. At once Farkas opened the channel and they heard a female voice "This is the Togorian Freighter Fong to the" the voice paused for a moment. "The two unidentified vessels.. Do you require assistance?.. I repeat, this is the Togorian freighter Fong, do you need help?" It was obvious, the hail didn't come from the damaged enemy vessel, it came from another ship in the system, a very old freighter near Shandor.

Before Ezra could respond, Rhys answered the hail. "This is the Dark Regime Decimator the Dravec-9, we do not require your assistance." "What are you doing?" Ezra asks, confused but Rhys ignores him and continues. "This is Dark Shield business, do not interfere. I repeat do not interfere or we will open fire." Rhys kills the transmission and walks back to another control panel. "Wolf? You are joking right?" Ezra gets off his seat and turns towards his partner. "Joking? I'm dead serious. We got them.. they can't run from us now" he says before opening a channel to the damaged vessel.

"This is the Dark Regime Decimator, the Dravec-9 to Enemy vessel. Prepare for boarding, you are under arrest" he said coldly and activated the tractor beam, capturing the small damaged vessel.

\*\*\*\*\*

“Why won’t you answer me?” Grunted Rita to herself through clenched teeth, as she crawled on her belly towards the woman sitting in the pilot's seat next to the droid. Something had the woman’s attention, and it wasn’t just the massive vortex that they had just flown into, or was it? They seemed to be travelling through some kind of swirling tunnel… as though space itself had created a kind of slip lane for them.. but where were they going? And why? Was this woman a friend?? Or had the Ranger been captured? Was Rita infact a slave of this woman, prehaps on her way to being sold? Or, was this woman a bounty Hunter.. and had Rita in fact been a criminal on the run from the law?

There were just too many questions.. and try as she might, the dark skinned woman was totally void of any meaningful answers.. “best to be cautious, until I can find out what this woman wants with me.. and hopefully, she may even have some answers.. like what is my name and what I’m doing on this ship for starters..” thought the human woman to herself.

After a few seconds Rita managed to stand on her two still shaky legs, still seemingly unnoticed by the pilot. The full body suit felt heavy in here.. but she was in no position to remove it just yet. There was something long and hard she could tell, strapped to her waist underneath the spacesuit about 30cms in length. Something felt strangely familiar about it.. and she sensed an odd sense of attachment to it as though it was a part of her somehow.

Just as Rita managed to steady herself and about to address the woman pilot again the craft suddenly was hit by something, something that caused enough damage to it to once again send the unrestrained Rita tumbling backwards and landing hard once again into the rear of the hold, once more knocking herself out cold....

\*\*\*\*\*

At first, everything went well. The Guardian of light piloting the Crescent Moon, managed to keep the small Jumpmaster steady. Letting the current of the wormhole take them, all she had to do was avoid any debris. While next to her a small orb shaped droid, Plague, used the ship's enhanced sensors to scan the vortex from within. By now they knew it was a temporal anomaly and that would mean 'time travel'. Something deemed impossible by most and yet there was plenty of theoretical research to be found in archives all across the galaxy, even some rare records of those who claimed they had done it.

But still Eris couldn't believe it, 'how could she?' She had no idea what had transpired before her arrival at Tython. Was it a weapon? Did the anomaly suddenly occur because of the Force? She didn't know, but there was someone who did, the Je'daii pilot she had saved, who was now lying unconscious behind her. That's what she thought anyway.

Too preoccupied with keeping the ship steady she hadn't noticed the pilot had actually gained consciousness. It was only briefly as shortly after the Crescent Moon was hit by a large piece of debris.

\*CLANK!!!\* "kriff, what was that" Eris yelled as the ship shook violently. \*KRRRRGGGGGGKK… CLANK!!\* "what's happening?? I'm losing control of the ship!" The Balosar held on to the yoke, but it was no use. The dashboard lid up, alarm bells went off and then she saw it. A large piece of hull plating followed by a crescent shaped piece of debris. "Is that what I think it is?" She couldn't believe her eyes "that's.. that's our kriffing wing!!!" \*CLANK\* another hit, "what's that?" She asked, at once her droid bleeped in response. "A shield generator?" She exclaimed in shock as she tried with all her might to keep the Crescent Moon steady.

~\*~

Not long after being hit, the vortex suddenly opened it's maw and threw the heavily damaged Jumpmaster out into open space. "Ooooh kriiiiffff!!" Eris screamed as the ship was spinning out of control. "Engaging thrusters…. I hope" she said, flipping the switch. Relieved the ship responded Eris eventually managed to slow it down with a few thrusters the ship still had. But that was all she had, "we're losing fuel, shields are down… we don't even have a wing and let us not forget about our guest" she said with panic in her voice.

Not long after she received an incoming hail, offering the help she needed. The Togorian freighter Vong offered assistance but before she could reply she received another hail, but this wasn't one offering help, on the contrary, it was a threat. "This is the Dark Regime Decimator, the Dravec-9 to Enemy vessel. Prepare for boarding, you are under arrest" a cold voice said and before she knew it she felt their tractor beam locking on to them.

"No.. no.." Eris began to panic, her breath quickened and her heart began to race. "Open a channel to the freighter" she said and her droid companion obeyed. "Togorian freighter Vong, this is the Crescent Moon. This is the Jedi reconnaissance vessel the Crescent Moon, please help. Our ship is damaged, we have wounded.. we need help. Don't let them take us" she said, almost begging, waiting for a response. Then she remembered the shield generator that hit her, 'must be theirs' she thought to herself "Togorian Freighter Vong.. they have no shields! Help please" she said and prayed that it was indeed 'theirs'.

Meanwhile the ship was still being pulled by the tractor beam. Eris turned to Plague "download everything about the anomaly, it's vital information we have to protect." She got up from her seat and walked over to the unconscious pilot. "Hey.. please wake up" she grabbed the woman's shoulders and shook her body, trying to wake her. "Come on… I can use all the help I can get right now.. please girl wake up.. they're going to board!"

\*\*\*\*\*

GM UPDATE:

After the threat from the Dravec-9, the Togorian captain; Cato, shakes his head as he looks at his Twi'lek partner; Jolie. "You heard them, this isn't our business. We should get out of here." It's obvious he has no intention to interfere, however Jolie doesn't agree, especially after they hear the call for help from the damaged ship. "Are you serious? They need our help" she replies in shock and wants to respond.

"Hold on, this is my ship" Cato pushes her hand away from the comms. "And I like to keep it that way.. just look at that ship, that's made for war and not our war" the Togorian says and is ready to get out of there. But again Jolie goes against his wishes "you can't be serious." "Oh I'm \*very\* serious.. I don't know what that Dark regime is or what Dark Shield means but I don't plan on finding out either. \*We\* have a job to do.. delivering our cargo \*asap\*."

Jolie looks outside and sees that the Dravec-9 caught the damaged vessel with a tractor beam. "They have no shields, we can do this" she says and glances at her partner, whose eyes widened in shock. "You want to start shooting?!, you're crazy" he says but then the corners of his lips curl up ever so slightly "I like it when you do crazy" he says with a chuckle. "You're going to be the death of me aren't you?" He says and lets out a sigh.

[Dice roll for assistance or backing off. 1x4 (1-2 help, 3-4 backing off). Result 1]

For a second or two Cato says nothing and then reaches for the comms "I'm going to regret this" he says and glances at Jolie. Her eyes sparkle with excitement, happy to hear he had changed his mind. He pushes the button to open a channel to both ships "Dravec-9, stand down. You and your Dark Regime have no jurisdiction here. I repeat stand down" he says and gives Jolie a nod. The Twi'lek smirks and takes control of the Vong's weapons, arming them. "Armed and ready" she says. Cato nods in acknowledgement.

"Let go of that vessel and leave the system" the Togorian continues. "Shall I give a warning shot?" Jolie whispers. When Cato nods she doesn't hesitate and fires the front laser cannon.

[Dice roll warning shot. 1x4 (1- shoots past the Decimator, 2- direct hit disabling front cannon, 3- shoots past Decimator, 4- direct hit disabling tractor beam.) Result 3]

Jolie fires a warning shot and it shoots past the Dravec-9. Now they wait for their response. Will they let go of that vessel and leave or open fire in return?

\*\*\*\*\*

…"Come on… I can use all the help I can get right now.. please girl wake up.. they're going to board!" Said that same familiar voice again, breaking its way into focus through Rita’s unconscious haze and she could tell she was being physically shook by the shoulders. Her head was pounding and her body ached from being thrown around the inside of the ship like a rag doll, but she at least finally was able to remember something.. “Uhh…” she groaned and held her hand to her head and sat herself up with her other arm. She felt something sticky and warm in her hair on her fingertips..”Rita.. My name is Rita..” she said groggily and opened her eyes. She still couldn’t remember anything else though, where she was or how she had got here was still a complete mystery as were any details of her life to date.

“What’s happening? Who is going to board?” She asked the clearly distraught woman before her. Now closer up she finally had a good look at her. She was a strange looking humanoid, with two fleshy antennas that sprouted from her head beneath her cornrow braids and eyes a vibrant green. Rita couldn’t quite put her finger on it, but something deep down told her she should trust this woman. Perhaps she wasn’t her captor after all. Although there was something else now, a feeling of dread started to quickly rise inside her mind that made her stomach tie itself into knots..

“I’ve got a bad feeling,'' said Rita finally as she looked around and gathered herself. The ship they were in was getting pulled, Rita knew this feeling as though it had happened to her thousands of times before except she had no idea why. “A tractor beam.. we’re being brought in..” she said trying to think fast.. “We have to hurry,” she said.. “is there any way to hide in here? Any maintenance hatches or wall panels that could hide you?”

\*\*\*\*

IC Eris Laverna

Ship: crescent moon

To her relief, the woman woke up when Eris shook her by the shoulders. Still obviously dazed, she introduced herself as; Rita. Eris gave a faint smile "I'm Eris.. but I'm afraid further Introductions will have to wait Rita."

The Balosar rose up and turned towards the cockpit where Plague was downloading all data of the temporal  anomaly. "The bad guys" she responded to Rita's question as she quickly grabbed her blaster from her belt. Nervously checking her weapon she continued "the Dark Regime.. after I pulled you from the wreckage they chased us across the battlefield.. until" but before she could finish her sentence she was interrupted by the small droid.

"What do you mean? Shots fired" she asked and leaned forward to look through the window. The droid beeped and booped in response as he unplugged himself. "A warning shot.. great.." she turned back to Rita "there's another ship, a freighter. Seems they are willing to help."

Eris nodded her head after Rita asked about their options. "I think I could hide you in here" she walked to the left wall, and pushed a panel. It popped open revealing a narrow compartment that stretched into the wing. "They don't know you are here, so you and the droid can hide in here.." she said as they heard a loud metal \*clank\* making the small vessel shake.. "have to be quick, any moment that hatch will open.

\*\*\*\*

IC Je’daii Ranger Rita Fuller

Ship: crescent moon

“Wreckage? Darksiders??” Rita was still so confused. How was it she didn’t remember any of this?? Still, seeing no reason not to trust this Eris woman, Rita nodded and then moved quickly to the opened left wall panel followed immediately by Eris’s floating droid. “If what you say is true then I owe you my life Eris. I’ll hide, but then I’ll come for you ok. I promise. So don’t you go getting yourself killed.” Rita added reluctantly as she stepped inside the space and tried her best to flatten out her body and make herself smaller. Once the panel was closed up Rita stayed deathly quiet, and listened for any information she could make out and that could help her after she got out.

\*\*\*

"Wolf! Are you crazy!" Ezra yells at his partner. Stubborn, Rhys replies "we can handle that little freighter". "But we have no shields!" Ezra tries to reason with him but it's too late. A beam of light flashes past the Decimator, a warning shot.

Ezra's eyes widened. Quickly he turns in his seat, looking at his partner who was still not going to let go of that damaged vessel. "Rhys!" The pilot yells, "just let them go!" Shaking his head Rhys calmly responds "You stay put, I'll deal with the freighter" and steps towards the weapon controls.

The young pilot felt panic rise, he knew he had to act quick before they got into more trouble. He turned back to the helm and tried to access the tractor beam controls, hoping to be able to disengage.

But then he heard Rhys' voice. "Armed and ready… forward cannon locked on.." "wolf! Wait!" Ezra yelled, but before he could disengage the tractor beam Rhys said "Fire!" The young pilot looked up, through the front view screen and saw the cannon fire a single shot at the freighter.

\*\*\*

GM UPDATE

[Dice roll shot. 1x4 (1-shields hold, 2-damage weapon systems, 3-damage engine, 4- damage cargo) Result 2]

The small freighter violently shook as they were hit. Their laser cannon exploded, sending spark through the weapon systems. "Weapons down!" Cato growls, " it's time to go Jolie" the Togorian added. The Twi'lek shook her head, she didn't want to leave them "We can't just leave them, they need our help." "Without weapons we don't stand a chance, that ship has far more powerful weapons.. we did what we could" Cato says and returns to the helm controls, ready to leave.

"Wait" Jolie says and opens a channel to the small ship. "This is the Fong to the damaged vessel. I'm sorry.. we were hit… you are on your own." She says as tears well up in the corners of her eyes. She ends the transmission and nods to her partner. Cato turns the ship around, leaving the scene.

Meanwhile, the tractor beam successfully pulled the Crescent moon in. The docking clamps lock on, securing the jumpmaster in place.

\*\*\*

Listening closely from behind the panel Rita faintly heard a half muffled message call out from the cockpit "This is the Fong to the damaged vessel. I'm sorry.. we were hit… you are on your own." She made out. A woman’s voice.. seems like the freighter had taken damage just as they had but we’re lucky enough to escape these dark regime bad guys as Eris had called them. Rita’s breathing became shallow as her throat tightened and a pit began to form in her stomach. Nervously she moved her head, the droid floating next to her shifted in mid air, its small neon light reflected in her scared brown eyes as she struggled to find the gap.

She squinted and peered through the small opening out into the corridor that was visible from the panel.. nervous, her heart racing, deep down hoping she could see or hear anything at all but at the same time dreading to hear or see anything at all. She wished she could disappear into the darkness of the small space. That this was a bad dream.. that she would close her eyes and when she reopened that she would be somewhere else, somewhere familiar, with people she recognised and away from here. Safe. She closed her eyes, hoping for that impossible chance she’d just created in her mind.. but once she opened them she realised the horrible truth of it.. she was here, and the only person she could recall the name of was in serious danger.

\*\*\*\*\*

IC: Rhys \*Wolf\* Farkas

"Docking clamps secured" Rhys said with a satisfied grin on his face. "Airlock sealed" he added a moment later with triumph in his voice. Then he walked away from his work station, to the weapons locker on the bridge. "Better arm ourselves, you never know what type of scum those Je'daii hired to help them in their losing battle" he said as he grabbed a E-11 medium blaster rifle from the locker.

~\*~

IC: Ezra \*Fox\* Renard

Ezra turned around in his seat and looked at Rhys. "Wolf, why are we doing this?" He asked in disbelief, he barely recognized his friend. "We are obviously nowhere near Tython.. the battle is over" he said and got up but didn't move to follow his lead.

~\*~

IC: Rhys \*Wolf\* Farkas

At first Rhys said nothing and just checked the rifle he had picked from the locker. But when he looked up and saw his ginger haired partner looking at him with disapproval in his eyes he spoke up. "We have no idea what happend, they are the enemy and we are taking them in" he said coldly, grabbing another rifle and threw it at Ezra.

"Now stop moaning and get ready" he said. Rhys turned around and left the bridge making his way to the airlock. He shook his head, he didn't understand why Ezra was making such a fuss. They were simply doing their jobs, they might even get a reward or a promotion for bringing those Je'daii traitors in. Who know what information they could get from them..

Moment later he arrived at the airlock, he turned to see where Ezra was and when he finally caught up he turned to the control panel. "Be prepared fox" he said as he pressed the button. At once the airlock opened. Holding hier blaster rifle ready he stepped inside and stopped at the door of the JumpMaster. Again he glanced over his shoulder to look at Ezra and then he unlocked the door.

With a pop and hiss the JumpMaster's door opened. Rhys held his weapon ready. "Je'daii scum… surrender now before anyone gets hurt he yelled and stepped inside."

~\*~

IC: Ezra \*Fox\* Renard

The young ginger haired pilot followed his partner, weapon ready as instructed. He still didn't see the point of doing this and truly hoped they could avoid any violence.

Rhys stepped inside, threatening whomever was aboard. Ezra peeked through the open door and only saw one woman, a Balosar.

\*\*\*\*\*

IC: Eris Laverna

Eris stood with her back against the wall hands up. Her heart racing, worried they would find Rita or Plague behind the wall panel.

"I surrender… I'm alone" she said with a slight tremble in her voice. "I'm unarmed," she added but it was a lie. Before they had boarded she had hidden her lightsaber and kyuzo Petar in her robes. Her blaster however lay on the floor and she kicked it towards the armed Dark Shield.

\*\*\*\*\*

Eris moved in front of the wall panel at the first sound of the enemy boarding and what little view of the corridor Rita had through the small gap was suddenly blocked. Taking small, shallow breaths the dark haired ranger did her best to listen in on what was being said.. “Je’daii scum.” The man had called out before Eris declared her surrender.. Je’daii? Was that who Eris worked for? The enemy of this Darksider regime? And where did Rita fit in all this?

Something had tugged at her subconscious but as though she was trying to catch smoke with her bare hands the memory of this Je’daii continued to narrowly escape her grasp, no matter how hard she tried.

The droid next to her continued to float inside the small enclosed space and Rita placed her hand over its largest light. “Shhh… “ she shushed through pursed lips. She was scared and instinctively her hand lowered to her waist brushing over the hard whatever it was inside her jumpsuit. Somehow just that motion seemed to sooth her and she focused on what was happening outside. She wouldn’t leave Eris to her fate if it came to violence, but at the same time there was no point in being taken captive as well which was sure to happen if there was no advantage in her revealing herself. She would need to wait for the right time to make her move.

\*\*\*\*\*

GM update:

\*Beep\* \*Beep\* \*Beep\* an alarm came from the cockpit. \*Beep\* \*Beep\* \*Beep\* it kept going. The lights flickered and suddenly went off. Everything was black except a few lights flashing in the cockpit..

\*\*\*\*\*

IC: Ezra "Fox" Renard

The ginger haired pilot stood besides his partner. Rifle ready, aimed at the young Balosar female. He glanced around, she seemed to be alone and already had thrown her blaster on the floor.

His attention was drawn to the rhythmic beeps coming from the cockpit, at once he knew shit was about to hit the fan. "Rhys we got to be quick" he called out a moment before the lights went off.

~\*~

IC: Rhys "Wolf" Farkas

The lights of Dravec-9 shun through the airlock onto the wall where the Balosar stood. Hands still in the air she told them she wasn't gonna cause trouble. "Move it!" Rhys yelled as stepped aside, motioning with the barrel of his rifle to the airlock.

\*\*\*\*\*

GM update:

\*Beep\* \*Beep\* \*Beep\* the alarm kept going and after a moment or two the emergency power switched on. Red light filled the main hold and cockpit. \*Beep\* \*Beep\* \*Beep\*. Then suddenly a pipe bursts and began to fill the main hold with smoke.

\*\*\*\*\*

IC: Ezra "Fox" Renard

The entire room rapidly filled itself with smoke, luckily Ezra's cybernetic eyes adjusted quickly to thermal vision. He could see thw Balosar's heat signature through the smoke. Still standing against the wall with her hands up.

~\*~

IC: Rhys "Wolf" Farkas

Wolf stepped closer and kicked the blaster aside before pressing the barrel of his rifle in her side. "I said move.. or do you want to go down with your ship?"

\*\*\*\*\*

IC: Eris Laverna

"Ok, ok, I'm coming." Eris responded when she felt the barrel poking in her side. She stepped away from the wall and with her hands in the air she moved towards the airlock where the other armed Darkshield stood.

The alarms kept going, she knew her beloved ship was going to blow. But that wasn't what worried her most, no, she worried about the stow away and her droid hidden behind the wall. She prayed to the Force that they would get out on time.

\*\*\*\*\*

GM update:

\*Beep\* \*Beep\* \*Beep\* "warning, engine failure… warning engine failure…" the computer began to call out.. "Warning Initail dampers offline.. warning transpacitor offline.. warning radiation breech.. warning.. warning.." \*Beep\* \*Beep\* \*Beep\*...

\*\*\*\*\*

IC: Ezra "Fox" Renard

"We've got to go now!" He yelled over the alarms as he looked at the Balosar moving towards him. His cybernetic eyes noticed a strange heat signature behind the wall, but there was no time to investigate.

~\*~

IC: Rhys "Wolf" Farkas

He shoved the woman in her back, pushing her into Ezra's arms. "You take her to the brig, I'll disengage the airlock and get up out of here" he said and ran past them back to the bridge.

~\*~

IC: Ezra "Fox" Renard

The red haired pilot caught the Balosar in his arms, "you heard him, better get moving before it's to late" he pushed her through the airlock and and began to lead her down to the ships holding cells.

The airlock was still open, smoke from the Cresent Moon seeped through, filling the main hold of the Dravec-9.

\*\*\*\*\*

Hand raised to her mouth to keep from making noise, Je’daii Ranger Rita Fuller whimpered as the alarms and warnings rang out from the corridor beyond the paneling. Red lights of several klaxon warning beacons amidst the darkness flashed across her glassy brown eyes as Eris, the Jedi pilot woman who had rescued her was finally moved out from in front of her hiding place.

It was hard to get a good look at the two men who had boarded them, but one had called the other “Rhys” as they entered. Both men sounded rough, threatening and now very much in a hurry to get Eris back through the airlock.

"We've got to go now!" said one of the two men.

"You take her to the brig, I'll disengage the airlock and get up out of here” replied the other, who must have been the Rhys whose name she had heard called out. She then heard running leading away from her.. But from here, in the dark and now smoke filled corridor she was unable to see anything.

“You heard him, better get moving before it's too late" replied the first male. Rita strained to see, pressing her face hard up against the gap but could only just manage to make out the outline of the intruder pushing Eris out towards the airlock.

Sounds of the warning alerts fresh in her mind Rita waited a few moments after Eris and her captor left her sight and pressed both her hands against the wall panel and pushed.

The Crescent Moons grey, scarcely insulated internal wall panel fell to the floor with a light thud revealing its human and droid occupants. The open cavity instantly flooding with gas and smoke from the small craft's malfunctioning internal systems, surrounding them both and making it hard to see anything but the red flashing warning lights. There was something else too she noticed shining in from the other side of the corridor… Something green….. the green light!! The realization hit her like a hawkbat to the face! “The airlock!” she whispered to the droid that floated beside her. “Quick! Hurry! But stay quiet.” she said and moved through the smoke haze as quickly as she could while attempting to still be stealthy enough to not get caught.

Once inside, Rita kept low and crept forwards cautiously. Again, through instinct her hand brushed against her waist, feeling the smooth hard item underneath her jumpsuit. Eris was in here somewhere.. And there were at least two others, both armed and clearly NOT friends. The Ranger hoped her new friend was alright. And that hiding was the best move. “Common” she whispered to the droid who followed along obediently after her. All the while trying to listen to where they may have gone and also keeping an eye out for anyplace she may be able to stow away for the short term. Ahead we're some doorways.. She swallowed, her throat dry from the adrenaline. “Where are you Eris.?” she whispered.

END OF CHAPTER 1