Acquiring a Ship.

[Vakarian]

Somewhere in the Quelii Sector; aboard the Resilience​

(Image courtesy of desert_fox117 on Photobucket)​

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It had been several hours since his departure from Dathomir, taking refuge on this ship when it landed near the Night Brothers village. He had a fierce yearning to see the rest of the galaxy, knowing that there was more to his life than remaining on that cursed world. He would not be a slave to the Night Sisters, even if his mother was one herself. He was not his mother, nor did he likely share her interests. It didn't matter, he had managed to escape his previous life, and sat with his back against the hull of the ship, the gentle thrum of the engines lulling him into a sense of security; he felt at home. He couldn't explain it, nor did he question it, but instead relishing in the fact that he was feeling something more than just anger and loathing at his situation on Dathomir.

The worst part about being on the planet was knowing that his mother was on the other side of the very same planet, but he was forbidden from seeing her. They had told him that his mother gave him up to the Night Brothers, not wanting to bear the shame of having had a male child in a predominately female society. He has hated her ever since they told him the lie, and from his hatred and anger, came the fuel and drive needed to survive and thrive on the harsh planet where everything and its mother wanted to kill you. And, if you weren't killed, you were thrown into a series of trials and then given to the Night Sisters as a mate and servant. That was not to be his life, he wouldn't allow it.

All of these things echoed in the recesses of his mind as the gentle hum of the engines against his back filled the forefront of it, slowly eating away his thoughts as it lulled him to a near sleep-like state, "Do not fall asleep!" Sapphire eyes jerked open alert and searching all around him for the voice that had just spoken in his mind. After several long moments of searching with his eyes and finding nothing, he allowed the lull of the engine to send him into a rested sate. "Do not fall asleep!" , again he searched the room for the voice, but this time he stood and began walking near silently around the cargo hold of the ship, searching for any other presence in the room with him. He found nothing and no one, but as he was settled back into his rested position with his back to the wall, a heavy jarring shook the ship and threw him rather roughly across the hold and into a collection of crates containing foodstuffs and other consumables.

He winced as he regained his footing and rolled his shoulders and various other joints and muscles to ensure that nothing was damaged. Soon after he was satisfied with his self evaluation, he began to make his way towards the cock pit of the ship, his bare feet making little to no sound as he made his way up the metal staircase. As he rounded the corridor of the ship, another jarring threw his back against the wall with a rough thud and another wince. It was at this point that the ships alarms began to sound, signaling that the Resilience was under attack...

 

[Vakarian]

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The alarms blaring throughout the Resilience were deafening for one who was not used to such loud noises, but it only took a few moments for his ears to grow accustomed to them. He became aware of a voice in the cockpit, cursing in some native language and he felt the tilt of the ship as the captain attempted to evade another attack. Coryn knew the dive was a mistake, he didn't know how he could know it, but he felt another presence several hundred meters below the Resilience in another ship, and that ship had its targets set on the Resilience. He knew what would happen next, and sure enough, an explosion rocked the ship as the it took a direct hit to its underbelly, and the alarms quickly faded to a new sound; the one of faltering systems. It seemed that the ship below the Resilience had managed to hit a nerve center on the Resilience, effectively shutting down any chance she had at fighting back.

The next step would be to board her and seize her cargo as your own, and he felt that he was right in his thinking by the sudden stillness of the ship amidst the vastness of space, indicating that they were caught in a tractor beam and were indeed about to be boarded. It was at this moment that Coryn would spring into action, leaping over the railing of the overhang and vaulting to the cargo hold floor with a muted thud and knees bent in to prevent jarring as he landed. He proceeded to slither himself into a shadowed corner, where his presence could be masked from the eyes of the unwanted boarders. It wasn't long after that that the boarders latched onto the ship and drew it in close, and with a harsh screech and resulting wince from Coryn, the doors to the cargo bay were blasted open - a temporary smokescreen filling the small room.

Despite not being able to see through the smoke, he could still feel their presence and location in proximity to him, and breathed a slight sigh of relief as they continued past him without even picking up a hint of his presence. However, it was clear from the shouts above him that the Captain of the ship was not so lucky- further credence to this fact was provided by the resounding fire of a blaster and the dull thud of a lifeless body hitting the metal ground. Anger flooded through Coryn, so much so, that he stepped out of his hiding spot and closed in, like a lion stalking its prey, on one of the boarders that remained on the cargo level, searching for anything of value. He could tell by its harsh speech in its native tongue that it was Nikto in origin.

 

[Vakarian]

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It was fairly easy to stalk the Nikto raiders, they were unobservant when it came to their surroundings, and even more so when they believed themselves to be safe (at least this group was). And, in that foolish notion of safety, Coryn chose to strike, swift as a snake and as precise as a hawk swooping from above - the Nikto raider fell down lifeless without so much as a word. He could think what he wanted to about the Night Brothers and their way of life, but he could not deny the effectiveness of their training or methods. His relative ease at dispatching the raider lent credence to that fact. His success was short lived as the sounds of footsteps reached him from above, and before he was caught, he managed to slither back into his darkened corner - sapphire eyes watching in the darkness, waiting to strike when an opportunity presented itself. He watched motionless as another Nikto raider descended the steps and found the body of his comrade laying on the ground motionless, and Coryn slinked further back into the darkness as the Nikto scanned its surroundings with its own eyes, looking for whatever had caused the death of his fallen comrade.

The Nikto spoke into his comm in his native language, making it hard for Coryn to decipher what was being said, but it wouldn't take long for him to sense the meaning behind the words - it was calling for reinforcement form his remaining raiders above and below. It was a matter of moments before the cargo hold was filled with Nikto Raiders, all speaking in their harsh language while examining the fallen raider for any indication as to what happened to it.

He didn't notice it when he killed the Nikto, but the creature had a holo-cam attached to its front pocket on the ragged shirt that it wore. He hoped it hadn't caught a glimpse of him, and mentally berated himself for being unobservant as the Night Brothers had taught him to be. He was a fool for not noticing the recording device before he had attacked, but his mind had been fixated on killing the creature. No matter, he would learn from this mistake and ensure that he did not make it again. Observance was key to completing any task. He was brought back from his thoughts when the Nikto pulled the camera from their fallen brother and began to play back his last moments - many of them grunting in the process as they saw that he was attacked from behind. Coryn could see the playback from where he was, and he noticed that all that was seen on the playback was a flash of his blue eyes as the Nikto fell to the floor. He let out a breath of relief and began to quietly navigate the scattered cargo towards the lifts that would take him towards the lower levels.

 

[Vakarian]

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His eyes watched the movements of the raiders closely as he took shelter behind the stacked containers and leaning towers of goods on his way towards the lift. He could feel the gentle thrum of the engine beneath him and knew that engineering was below him, and so were the fuel tanks that gave the ship its life. He paused in his steps and took a moment to breathe in deeply and center himself on the situation around him - it had always calmed him and improved his sensitivity to the things around him. He had heard stories of the Force Sensitive night sisters and their dark arts, which only led him to believe that he had someone been made force sensitive through his mother and that it explained why he could sense and feel things that others around him couldn't. It was in his moment of centering that the same voice he had heard earlier spoke to him, "Get to the controls. Pilot the ship and get away from the raiders. They mean to destroy it."

When he opened his eyes, he found that the presence that belonged to the voice had faded and he was again alone, except for the Raiders who had managed to discern his previous location based on his angle of attack. He watched as they all gathered in a backwards U in the corner that he had once been in, and turned on the lights that were mounted on the end of their blasters. It was clear by their grumbling that they were disappointed to find that he was no longer in that corner, but they must've realized that he was still on the ship because they began to split up into groups and search the entirety of the cargo bay. It seemed as though his time had run out, so he had no choice but to reveal himself and hope that he could survive the oncoming fight.

With an deep inhalation of the cool air, he stepped out from his cover and called to them with a few simple words, "Right here, boys." He smiled sheepishly as the nikto turned towards him all at once and advanced on his position. He was unarmed, so they threw their weapons to the floor and charged him - honorable, but stupid. The next few moments would pass in a blur as Coryn ducked and weaved through the flying arms and heavy kicks of the nikto raiders, he was toying with them at this point, realizing that he could easily dispatch them. He toyed with them for a few moments longer, until his entertainment had ceased, and then he brought his fist out in a wide arc sending the nearest nikto slamming into the wall of the ship.

A flurry of fists and swarm of kicks were delivered in primal grace, as the night brothers had taught him, against the raiders. It was a few more moments before the fight had ceased to be, and the bodies of the nikto were spaced across the cargo bay in a circle of primal devastation and death.

"Dive!" Coryn did not question it, he followed the command of the same voice, and dove to the ground just as a vibro-blade soared above him and caused a shower of sparks as it ricocheted off of the walls and landed on the floor a few feet away from him, but managing to stay out of arms length. As he turned to look at the source of the weapon that had nearly caused his death, he realized that it was another nikto, one that he seemed to have not noticed. He really needed to get better at this. A thought to which the voice that had saved him answered, "You will be."

He had no time to process the words that the voice spoke, as the nikto had decided to charge him. He turned towards the blade and willed it to come towards him, and as if by his command his flew to his hand and he brought it up and around just in time to drive it through the rough exterior of the nikto and straight into its heart. He could only stare at the blade in shock as he threw it down to the ground as if it had caught fire and burned him. He stared down at his hand, the room filling with the silence of the death around him.

 

[Vakarian]

"Are you just going to stare at your hand? You need to hurry. There are more of them out there!" , this time the voice spoke and sounded as if it were in the very room with him, and as he focused his senses he found that a glowing form of a Twi'lek was standing in the room with him. He wiped his eyes to ensure that his mind wasn't playing tricks on him, a motion to which the twi'lek was not oblivious to; she only smiled and shook her head.

"You are not imagining me, Coryn Raxis. I am but a memory of who I once was." Coryn stood and stepped closer to the twi'lek before he spoke, "If you are a memory of someone.... Who are you?" He was not experienced in the matters of the force and all its machinations, but he was not fool enough to discredit the existence of anomalies such as this one. He had heard tales while on Dathomir of the memories of beings coming to the aid of other Force Sensitives, he had just not expected to find himself in the presence of one.

"Who I am does not matter at this point in time, Coryn. You must get to the cock pit of this ship and get out of here, your assailants have become aware of their... missing comrades. You must get to the controls." The twi'lek disappeared and her presence faded from the room yet again, but he did not remain to question or overthink what he had just heard and seen. If she was right, he didn't have much time before they boarded the Resilience with a larger force. So, he sprinted up the stairs and into the cock pit where he found the body of the dead captain laying on the floor.

He did not glance at the captain one time, as he took control of the ship and pressed a few controls to initiate a ship diagnostics scan, while also engaging ray shield on the blown door that led into the cargo bay. He'd have to get that fixed somewhere, but for the moment he needed to focus on getting out of the situation he was in. The ship diagnostics came back stating that engineering was suffering some sort of leak, but it was minor and the ships shield systems were operating at eighty percent. Whatever the nikto had used in the initial attack had done quite the amount of damage to them.

 

[Vakarian]

Satisfied with the ship diagnostics, he initiated start up, and listening quietly as the engines thrummed their way to a purr as it came to life. With the press of another button on the holo-projector near him, a holographic image of his ship came to his view as well as the ship attached to the Resilience. He mulled it over for a few moments, before he brought the R-T0 Twin Blaster Cannon under his direct control and swiveled so that it was aimed as the ship lodged onto the Resilience and within moments the repeated blaster fire from the cannon resounded in the vastness of space as he fired upon the arm attached to the cargo bay. Within minutes, the arm fell and the Resilience was free from the tractor beam as well as the docking clamp and was zooming off away from the damaged nikto vessel. Unfortunately, that wasn't the end of them, there was still another ship. And, as if to reaffirm his thoughts...

"The second ship is on your trail. You must get out of the system, jump to Hyperspace.", it seemed that the twi'lek had returned again. Coryn didn't mind the company, but she seemed to show up at the most opportune of times, or when he was the most distressed. It was convenient, if not a little odd that she was able to read him so easily and be there when he needed her guidance - though he would never readily admit that he needed her. It just wasn't his way. "Barrel Roll!", the twi'lek called quickly and as he performed the desired action he watched as ion torpedo's drifted off beside him, narrowly missing the top of the ship. That would make the fourth time the twi'lek had saved his life today. He didn't like owing debts to people, even memories of people.

"It's time to get out of here/" he said simply as he initiated the jump to hyperspace, thought it would take the ship a few seconds to build up to full capability.

"Agreed." was all that was offered by the twi'lek who remained next to him watching the stars twinkle in the distance from the viewing area in the cockpit.

 

[Vakarian]

The jump to hyperspace should have been simple, going off without a hitch, but of course it just wasn't possible in this galaxy.

He had his hand placed on the activation lever for hyperspace and heard the increasing engine power as the ship built its momentum for the jump, and then the audible pop and radar blips of three other ships leaving hyperspace and entering the system he was in. As he looked out of the cockpit windows, he found three more raiding ships, all heading in his direction. He had no time to think through his actions, he needed to get out of here - there was no way that the Resilience would survive an onslaught from three raider ships. She barely survived the first two.

"Allow the force to guide your actions Coryn. Trust in it to do what you cannot." the twi'lek offered her guidance on his current situation, "It is hard to trust in something that you cannot see." he replied hastily, his voice layered with stress and agitation.

"Am I not here, Coryn? Do I not exist or corporeal form next to you?" the twi'lek questioned. "I am visible proof that the Force is with you. You must trust in it, you have no other options. I am reason enough to trust in something that you cannot see. You listened to my voice and followed my guidance, and look where you are - trust in me again, open your mind to the Force, allow yourself to attune to its ebb and flow. Feel the current fill your mind and allow it to guide you down your path." The twi'lek had began to speak softly, almost as if lulling him into a sense of meditation and peace.

He could feel the tingle of something the edges of his mind, as if something were trying to break through the wall that he had erected around his mind, "Let it guide you." came the soothing tone of the twi'lek's voice in his mind. He allowed the barriers of his mind to fall and slowly he began to feel the tingle spreading across his mind. His eyes closed peacefully, allowing himself to fall into a meditation that seemed to slow the world around him, he could sense things at the edges of his mind - things that he had previously not noticed. He could feel ripples of power coming from the planets around him, he could feel the presence of the raiders in their ships a few hundred kilometers away from him. He could feel the life around him. He even felt the presence of the twi'lek beside him, her presence being that of a supernova to his mind, but it was not a harsh and burning light; it was peaceful and soothing.

"Good.. Now, let it flow into your own being, allow it to control your actions. Remember, Trust in the Force to do what you cannot." he vaguely registered her words as he strove to do as she was telling him. He could feel the ebb and flow like waves washing and receding on the shoreline of a beach. He could feel the pull in his gut as his hand began to move in an alien motion, typing in coordinates that he had never known. It was only a matter of moments when the coordinates were completed and he found himself brought back into the real world by the ships alarms blaring in the proximity of the raider ships. They were now within several hundred meters of him.

He gripped the steering controls and activated the thrusters as the ship shot forward at a rather blazing speed. "Activating the baffled drive now," he spoke more to himself than anyone. When the baffled drive was activated, the ship dropped in speed, and the engines cut to near silence as they slowed to the extent that he could pass under the Nikto Raider's scans. The ship still managed to be much faster than the raider ships, allowing to gain several hundred kilometers of distance before he was ready to jump to Hyperspace and the coordinates that he programmed into his navigation system.

He initiated the jump to hyperspace and set the ship to auto-pilot as he stepped away from the controls and went to the cargo bay to clean the mess that was left behind by the initial boarding party.

 

[Vakarian]

The process of cleaning up the mess that had been made by the raiders was far less pleasant than it was making the mess; ejecting the bodies of the dead into the heart of Hyperspace and stacking fallen containers. The ship had quite the amount of consumables and foodstuffs, enough to last several months at the least. It only took a few hours to clean the mess up, and once that was done it gave Coryn the time he needed to properly look over the ship and its features. He stepped into the lift that would take him to the engineering level, where he could properly look over everything.

As he stepped out of the lift, upon arrival on the engineering level, he practically shivered as he felt the gentle thrums of the baffled drive flooding the compartment in an oddly soothing way. Upon closer inspection, he found that when the baffled drive was activated, his main sublight drive ran on chemical thrust, negating Ion Emissions that made the ships detectable to scanners. He would certainly be able to make good use of this ship, though he doubted she would be able to stand long in a dog fight. - she was a stealth ship, retrofitted to be a trade ship. It was a pretty ingenious way to have two ships in one, and it made the vessel a little bit safer against the raiders and pirates that plagued the Outer Rim worlds. It seemed that the previous captain wasn't a total nut after all.

"You did well back there." he nearly jumped out of his skin as the twi'lek spoke to him. His mind had been so enveloped in studying the baffled drive and other components of the ship that he had failed to notice her enter the room with him. Granted she wasn't real, at least not physically, but you would be hard pressed to miss a presence such as the twi'lek beside him. It was as if she were her very own star and her light was shining into Coryn's mind.

"What is your name? If you are but a memory of someone, then you must have been someone in the past." he inquired in earnest. The last time that he had asked this question, she had evaded it because of the danger that they were in, but now that they were a little more free from danger... He hoped she would see fit to share identity with him. "Aaylas'ecura." she answered simply.

"What?"he asked momentarily caught off guard, he had not expected her to say her name.

"My name." she paused as she looked him over briefly, almost as if sizing him up. "My name is Aaylas'ecura, or at least it was before I was trained as a Jedi. Upon becoming a Jedi, I was known as Aayla Secura."

"I know you." he stated in awe. Everyone knew Aayla Secura and the old Jedi Masters during the time of the Clone Wars and execution of Order 66. It was a time of great strife and turbulence in the galaxy, and the Republic had not expected the attack from within. The Sith had proven that there was no place beyond their reach on that day.

 

[Vakarian]

It shouldn't have been a surprise that the twi'lek woman was a Jedi Master, her presence in the Force should have given her away at their initial meeting.

"Why are you here, Master Secura?" he questioned her, his eyes turning towards her and away from the quiet hum of the baffled drive. He had heard of Force apparitions of ancient masters that often appeared before students, but he hadn't expected that he would be a recipient of an honor such as this.

"The Force has guided me to you, Coryn." she answered as her eyes fell on him in full attentiveness, causing him to fidget slightly, "It seems that you need my help for some reason or another. I imagine when my task is done, I will fade and return from whence I came. But, until then I shall teach you the basics of the Force and how to recognize others within it." Her words were smooth and fluid, making evident that she was wiser than she looked. Her soft eyes turned away from him and towards the baffled drive before shifting back to him.

"You are untrained in the usage of the Force, and the galaxy is, and always will be, a dangerous place. You must know the basic usage of the Force if you are expected to forge your own place in it. So, we will move on to your first task; I want you to find your center of being, where you feel most attuned to the ebb and flow of the Force." He closed his eyes and breathed in deeply before exhaling slowly and withdrawing within his own mind. He could feel the familiar tingle of the Force as it caressed his mind - he could feel the flow of it, like wind over his skin. It was unfamiliar and he didn't necessary like the idea of letting something into his mind that he did not understand, "Do not fight it, allow it to enter your mind and connect with your center. If you fight it, you will never learn." Her voice reached his ears as a whisper though she was speaking rather normally.

Following her direction, he slowly released his thoughts and fears into the void of his mind, allowing the Force to flow into him. A new surge of strength coursed through every vein, sinew, and fiber in his being - causing the items around him to rise and levitate in the air. As he opened his eyes, he felt as sense of peace that he had never felt, it was almost overwhelming in its sincerity, and as he looked around him; he could see the objects floating -- bobbing in an invisible current. He closed his eyes again, wanting to experience more of the Force, and allowed the Force to travel into his very being - melding intimately with it. He could feel the presence of Aayla Secura next to him, kneeling beside him and meditating herself.

"Very good, Coryn. Allow yourself to trust in the Force - without trust you cannot become a conduit of it. If you allow it to guide your actions and words, then you will seldom fail. But, you must keep in mind that the Force is untamed and primal in nature. Do not attempt to forcibly control it, it will surely lead you down the path of the Dark Side." her words were soft and uniform as her eyes remained closed, each syllable escaping her lips in a gentle caress to his ears.

 

[Vakarian]

For several more hours he remained kneeling on the floor, next to the memory of Aayla Secura, deep in meditation. It didn't bother him to remain in silence, and it wasn't taxing on him to remain in the position that he was in. The mind-meld with the Force allowed him to be at peace with the alien energy, he even allowed it to empower his own body - feeling as though it gave him a boost in his natural reflexes. He sensed that they were nearing the end of their journey through Hyperspace, and he was eager to see where the Force had guided him. He arrived in the cockpit just in time to see the ship leave hyperspace and a planet came into view - Taris.

It seemed that the coordinates had brought him to the edge of Mandalorian space where it met the edge of Republic space.

"It seems that you have guided me to the Republic, Master Secura." he called to her, as he felt her presence enter the room. It shouldn't have been a surprise that the Force had been influenced to guide him to the Republic when a powerful member of the Old Jedi Order was standing right next to him. Granted, she was long dead, but the Force could still be manipulated after death - she was part of it after all.

"I cannot tell you where your path will lead you. I can only encourage you to follow what the Force tells you, and to always trust in it. You will be safer in Republic space than anywhere else in the galaxy, thought this place is still not without its own dangers." again her annoyingly calm and centered voice reached his ears. It wasn't that he found her annoying, he just couldn't see how someone could remain so calm in emotion, even someone that has been dead as long as she has been. There had to be some regret, if not longing, buried somewhere in those emotionless words. Perhaps it was her longing that brought them to Republic Space?

He didn't question it, disengaging the baffled drive, and initiating another jump to Hyperspace, this time allowing the ship to plot a course into the heart of Republic space via his navigational charts. The previous captain of the ship had kept the an extensive amount of information on planetary systems, sectors and areas to avoid, which wasn't surprising as it was a trade ship that he was piloting. Having plotted the next course of action, Coryn placed his ship on auto-pilot and went back down to engineering.

Upon getting there, he sat with his legs crossed in the middle of the floor and entered another deep state of meditation. He was addicted to the sense of peace that came with allowing the Force to enter his mind, as it drowned out all other thoughts. Still, one thing remained on his mind more than most -- he needed to find his family. If he had a mother, he likely had an aunt, or even uncles. He truly did not know who all shared his bloodline, but he would make it a point to find at least one of them.

So, he opened himself to the Force again, and allowed it to take over his being... the items surrounding him once again lifting off of the ground around him and bobbing in the invisible current that was the Force. He was vaguely aware of the entrance of Master Secura as she followed suit and began her own series of meditations next to him. Allowing the Force to enter his mind fully, he could feel the gentle thrum of the baffled drive -- inactive as it was, causing minor ripples of disturbance and power. It wasn't an unpleasant sensation, in fact, it was rather pleasing to him - he felt more at peace with the presence of its repetitive, gentle, thrummings.