Diplomacy All That Remains

[Charlie Nooran]

Location: Spess - the Croissant​

Objective - D

Charlie frowned, hearing the explanation from the Junior Knight. It was a silly excuse, in her opinion, especially since he was a far better pilot, and she could have handled coordination. Her training growing up had been full of diplomatic missions even though she enjoyed it when things devolved into hitting things with her hammer.​

“Fine fine, but the only two Corellians I know are you and Ms. Allyson. Both of you are good - though Ms. Allyson is way better.” Hopefully, she poked him in a sensitive place as she turned back around to the viewing pane to see the Oswaft fly over them. She blinked quickly in awe seeing the giant manta. “Wow…” it was all that the young woman could say about the view.​

Finley addressed the Kamonian doctor that was with them. Charlie looked back towards the tall Kaminoan and wondered if she was the answer to the short padawan’s height curse. She would have to ask the good Doctor for tips after this was all over.​

Finley Dawson Tyl Ro

 

[Allyson Locke]

Objective - B
Space Station - Docks

Allyson’s embarrassment disappeared as she heard the man over the comms, Captian Jerec made her laugh slightly, and she nodded with a quick response. “Roger that Captian. I’ll meet you and your crew at your docking station. Over and out.” Shutting down the comms, she relayed her messages through the proper channels allowing Jerec and his crew to land with the appropriate clearances.​

A funny feeling, one that she only felt faintly on the daily, it was the type of emotion she was able to distract herself from on most occasions, even meditate it to behave, but it was strong this time. Allyson patted her chest and cleared her throat. Others around her looked at her as if she was covered in the plague, waving her hand; she explained: “Ah, just a little heartburn - uh that Corellian whiskey can get ya.” Once more clearing her throat, she left the engineering room and headed towards the dock where the Infinity’s Free unloaded. ​

The former Rogue pilot wandered and waited to greet Jerec. While she stood by the Infinity’s Free, she continued to feel that odd feeling, but she shook it off and began to inspect everything. Arms crossed, the woman waited to see who was their most gracious savior and she hoped he and his crew liked whiskey, it had been a while since she was around her type of people.

Spoiler

Amea Virou Jerec Asyr Vyri Lucien Dooku Ay Ge Caedyn Arenais Junko Ike Salamander Gir Quee ADM. Reshmar Taiia Locke BB-4001X Nova Casamyr

 

[Vyri]

Vyri stretched out her legs, the muffled words of her peers taking a hot moment to reach her through the ear plugs. It was their prolonged attention on her that caught her attention in turn. She jolted up, pulling out a plug and looking around in explanation.

"....Oh, we heading okay now? Got it, boss." She shoved the rest of the chocolate bar in her mouth, standing out and moving after Amea Virou . "Here." She shoved the ear plugs and wrapper into Ay Ge 's chest. "Explanation: You'll need this." The ships music was already workings its way under her skin. Not everyone here found the catchy enjoyable.

Vyri twitched, then left the cabin altogether.

"What are we here to do again?" She asked, catching pace with the woman. She rubbed a chocolate stain from her mouth, chewing fast through the mass in her mouth. She glanced around them as they hit the main doors, eyes keen as the bulkheads out of the ship opened up.

Jerec Asyr Kelsie Sylvan Allyson Locke @everyone else i am so bad at tagging

 

[Nova Casamyr]

Location: Aboard Oasis with BB-4001X, approach vector to
Objective: B - coordinate with the other spacers on Project: Move This Rock
Also in conjunction with: Jerec Asyr , Vyri, Allyson Locke , Kelsie Sylvan , Ay Ge , Amea Virou

The claw floated slowly through vacuum towards her. A precision shot was easily handled by a droidbrain, so naturally Nova had volunteered to do the menial labor outside the ship. This was exactly why we needed more crew, she thought to herself as she grabbed the cable near the claw and maneuvered the clamp into its respective position. The reluctant Captain was grateful to have another set of hands aboard. Still, "Beebee" was not a very creative nickname. Nova had been working on coming up with one since they had met on Nar Shaddaa but nothing had stuck yet. She had certainly spent more time thinking of a good name than bothering to note which governments were involving themselves in the Oswaft endeavor. She'd have a moniker for the afrodroid soon enough. In the meantime, she refused to call him "Beebee."

She listened to BB-4001X's conjecture on how to move the object. Nova was definitely worried they wouldn't be able to keep the thing in one piece. The limpets were a fantastic option to move something solid, but she wondered if Captain Asyr had taken into account how delicate the thing was. "Yeah. We definitely don't have a decade to get this done."

"Clamp secure. Setting the magclamps on the roof of the tank." Attaching such a weighty object to Oasis required plenty of safety measures. Especially since they would be flying through hyperspace. The modified landing claw attachments would secure the container from the sides and four magclamps would secure the container to the hull. Nova had learned the trick from her parents long ago when hauling large amounts of cargo or something that couldn't be brought aboard. The bays were even modified so that they would close on the landing claw cables and the cables would still be taut.

The spacer activated the electromagnetic devices with the wrist utility built into her spacesuit. "Alright, magclamps active. Reel in the tank until it attaches to the hull." Another tap on her wrist and the tether attaching herself to the ship started pulling her back towards the port-side bay. "On my way back inside." An occasional fire of her maneuvering jets guided the tether pull back to the bay where she had first walked off into space. She stopped the reeling of the tether when she was back on solid plating, activating her magboots. Nova detached the tether from her suit, quick-reeled the rest of the cable, and walked through the open door into the engine catwalk. Once on the other side, she sealed and started pressurizing the compartment. She announced her status once more. "Once the tank is secure, seal up those hatches and let's get us on to rendezvous with Infinity's Free at Beldon Station."

 

[Lucien Dooku]

A yawn escaped Lucien's mouth as he lifted off the comfortable bed within the modest quarters he kept on the Infinity's Free. Prior to this current assignment, Luc had been off in another part of the Rim for a couple of weeks on a solo job for the old Hutt Jinnosha. A simple, well in description at least, snatch and grab of a smuggler vessel and the illegal contents on its cargo hold. The crew themselves had earned themselves a spot on the local collective of Hutts radar for biting off a bit more than they could chew, and Luc was brought in to alleviate them of everything they owned-- including the lives which they forfeited in the process. Long story short, he eventually made his way back to his home vessel with a lump sum of credits deposited in his name, and back to the day-to-day grind of Jerec's crew he went.

A few days of leisure were exactly what he needed before their crew's next assignment was brought to the fore. The job involved a joint assignment with a bunch of other spacers, organizations and non-aligned groups who were all coming together to assist a species of overgrown Space Mantas on relocating their space-cave to their newfound home away from the turmoil that soon would reach its nebula. Jerec had a plan to tackle the problem, but the intricacies of improvised voidfaring was admittedly not Luc's forte in the slightest. He was mostly along for the ride this time around, but as always he figured that he'd eventually find a way to make himself useful.

A pair of wireless headphones entered his ears once he finally committed to stop lazying around his room. He navigated to his usual playlist using his wrist-mounted NAVI, and shortly after his head began nodding in unison with the strumming of the bass guitar that initiated the beginning of the first song shuffled on his list.

I think it's time we blow this scene
Get everybody and the stuff together...
Ok, three, two, one, let's jam!​

Grabbing his stylish Serennoan jacket, Luc slipped it over his shoulders and straightened out the crinkles in the leather. He still felt a bit lagged, but the build-up to the drop of the song had done its part to wake him up as the chorus of instruments began blaring in his ears. Cyber-lense contacts covered his irises next, and the various weapons he carried were holstered in their usual spots. His Loth-wolf pendant was the last piece to the finish the puzzle, settling loosely over his shirt just as the doors to his room opened and he shuffled out to the beat of the music. The familiar thud that rocked the ship gave him the heads-up that their ship had just coupled to something; probably a space station, maybe a ship, but with any luck there wouldn't be Beskar-clad Mandalorians greeting them on this run.

Luc waltzed through the ship's corridors to the music in his ears, ignoring the incoming messages from his droid and staying within his own zone while making his way towards the coupling station that would bring them off the ship. Along the way he spotted a couple of the ship's familiar faces behind him, but it was clear that he wasn't all that interested in much besides waltzing to the music, attention focused on what was in his ears at the moment. Eyelids alternated from long periods of being shut to the occasional moment of opening, the use of visual stimuli to guide him where he needed being unnecessary. He knew the ship like the back of his hand, plus the Force whispered to him enough to correct any unfortunate mistakes like running into a wall or a shut set of doors.

A few songs later and Luc had reached the docking station, stepping onto the metal tiles with a suave gambol that insinuated he was still preoccupied with not truly paying attention. A final waltz transitioned into a modern Serennoan shuffle, a single earbud being removed and tossed into his pocket in time for another notification blaring across his communication devices. He picked up the line, one ear still focused on the music blaring into his eardrum. A series of chimes and beeps followed, to which Luc responded with a 'pffft.' from his lips. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. If you're done complaining, go ahead and warm her up. I have a feeling that I might find myself useless here real quick." He closed the little chat with his astromech companion to refocus on the music.

Back on the Infinity's Free, Midnight revved to life, hovering off the floor and nonchalantly thrusting out the hangar doors. Moments later, R4 had brought the Jedi Starfighter right into the docking station, parking her just feet away from Lucien. "I said warm her up, not bring her in, you doof." Lucien spoke up since the droid was within speaking distance now. He was visibly annoyed, and the blasé response that R4 gave him prompted a roll of the eyes that followed with a glare. "I should've scrapped you when I had the chance."


Jerec Asyr Amea Virou Vyri Ay Ge Kelsie Sylvan

 

[Jerec Asyr]

Jerec's skill at all manner of docking procedures being what it was, the Infinity's Free cuddled up to the station with a minimum of clumsy mistakes. In due course he and his crew went through the cargo airlock to meet Allyson Locke . He'd reassured them - well, strongly suggested - that this wasn't the kind of job where they might need to shoot someone. Tool belts and sidearms only.

Laden with crates of tech, Jerec drove a forklift through the cargo door into Beldon Station. "You Locke, I'm guessing? I'm Captain Jerec Asyr. This is Vyri, Lucien Dooku , Ay Ge , and Amea Virou . We're here to unload and tinker and show your navy how to turn a wrench."

Some of his crewers were, admittedly, more technically inclined than others - but they all deserved a little wander about the station, and he knew they'd pitch in where they had something to contribute.

"So where you want the gear?"

 

[Allyson Locke]

Objective B​

A man that she could already assume was the generous Captain Jerec Asyr. Allyson nodded at his question of her identity then looked towards the crew that he introduced. They were a ragtag team, and a part of the Corellian was jealous - seeing them brought back some good memories. With each member of his crew, she made eye contact. This moment gave the woman a chance to see the faces along with locking them into memory. It was a good thing none of them had recognizable faces, which mean Allyson had never met any of them before this - well except for one. Eyes lingered slightly longer on Amea Virou , but Allyson caught herself and looked away, focusing now on Jerec Asyr .​

“Thank you for your help, really, Captain.” He mentioned this being her navy, and she shook her head, “I’m just a former fighter pilot trying to do some good in the galaxy - so yes, these guys need all the help they can get.” Using her wrist comm, she brought up a hologram and gestured to offer passing it along to the Captain. “Uh here,” she pointed at the hologram map, “That’s engineering - best place for things to get looked over there and fitted.”​

A hand wave and the holo map disappeared, after giving Jerec time to study it. “As for your Neimoidian grandma, let me at least pay you and your crew with a warm meal and some fine Corellian whiskey made before the catastrophe.” The whiskey was the rarest, and the finest Allyson owned. “Something to look forward to after we finish the job, eh? The old man that took me in would turn in his grave if I didn’t treat you guys to something nice.”​

Allyson smiled and then looked passed the crew; she knew others were coming as well. Hopefully, they were almost there - time was of the essence.

Spoiler

Vyri Lucien Dooku Ay Ge Caedyn Arenais Junko Ike Salamander Gir Quee ADM. Reshmar Taiia Locke BB-4001X Nova Casamyr

 

[Jyoti Nooran]

Objective A - Diplomacy

Robes

After each guest boarded the silvery corvette, they were led to the bridge by a junior officer. There they would find Jyoti standing over a tactical feed, communicating with her counterparts across the nebula. The humanitarian operation was a large undertaking for Great River and its allies, involving several moving parts moving in concert. The officer announced the presence of the guests and the alerted Echani excused herself from the conference to meet with them.

"Thank you, Lieutenant Kihel, that will be all."

The Bothan nodded and returned to his comm station, leaving her with the guests. She turned her full attention to them, offering a small bow in greeting.

"My name is Jyoti Nooran. I serve as one of the directors of Great River. We're pleased to have you join us in our diplomatic efforts."

She paused there, giving her guests a chance to introduce themselves and their organizations if they represented any. She was vaguely aware of the female Cathar by reputation - and by her impressive armada parked next to the courier. Meanwhile, the man remained a complete enigma to her. She'd like to get to know them both personally before proceeding with discussions.

Salamander Xzaien

--------------​

Objective C - Fleeting Advisory

Master Vurel Dardec, Jedi General​

As the Directorate ships made their way deeper into the Nebula, they were soon trailed by thousands of curious Oswaft, most of whom had never witnessed such vessels in their entire lives. Their sensors may have been able to pick up the chorus of microwave emissions between each ship sized creature, information dense communications that resembled something akin to tactical datalinks between warship than normal speech. With most of their mass dominated by their gigantic brains, the were in effect like flying supercomputers.

Security officers on the Directorate vessels had to be vigilant as some of the more daring Oswaft probed their communications, casually slicing into their encryption with little conscious effort. There was no malicious intent by their attempts, just a matter of curiosity with the new foreigners and the rocket strapped metal tubs they used to cross the cosmos.

Eventually, the Directorate vessels would be hailed by a lone GR carrier called the Gersnbeck. On holo display would be a middle-aged Khil Jedi sitting in colorful robes.

"Greetings, Admiral Quee and Reshmar, I'm General Vurel Dardec. On behalf of Great River, we are delighted to be hosted to two such esteemed commanders. I'm confident that my Oswaft comrades are in good hands now. I have a briefing prepared to provide an overview of their current resources and combat effectiveness, but first I'd like to share a translation program. It'll allow you to transcribe their microwave transmissions on the fly, and allow you to do the same with your speech."

The Khil wouldn't go as far as to say that it was a perfect translator, as the Owaft were communicating with each other with great speed and complexity akin to AI constructs. In essence the program served to dumb down Oswaft speech to something the humanoids could comprehend.

"I have the file queued for transmission, you only have to accept the transfer request, and then we may continue."

ADM. Reshmar Gir Quee

 

[Gir Quee]

Bridge, MB-C1 Medium Transport Pulsar Wind II, somewhere in the ThonBoka Nebula

A brief silence permeated throughout the bridge, with Dav starting to hum along with the music as he inspected the rest of the ship's crew stations, all of which were empty save the comm's station, which Gir sat at. The blonde man himself began to flip through the latest holo-news, idly noting the various atrocities that were occurring across the galaxy, from the Brynadul's latest purge of species to the new TSE order to experiment on Mandalorians. On second thought, he began to wonder if becoming so numb to the news was a sign of genuine apathy or fatigue after countless years of fighting against those malign forces in one form or another.

But he was rescued from his own thoughts.

The freighter's bridge doors whisked open with a burst of fresh cold air to reveal Ariela followed by a handful of gruff-looking Directorate Trade Agents still in their street clothes. His spy chief set her eyes on him with an expression that Gir thought might be a frown. What's worse than trying to figure a woman's thoughts? Trying to figure out the thoughts of a droid that's pretending to be a woman...The man from Hast rose up as the group shuffled in. He met the HRD's eyes.

"And what news do you have?"

She slowly shook her head, "Nothing of real interest yet. Juot and the boys here have made some contacts with some of the civilian activist surveillance groups and another academic team from the University of Agamar that's documenting the migration."

"More sets of eyes on the route then. That's not a bad thing..."

In an attempt to proactively stop any threats to the Oswaft, he had made it his mission to set up an early warning web to detect problems before they reached the reclusive Oswaft. Hundreds of deepspace probots had been scattered across likely points of entry into the nebula and dozens of casual infiltration droids were wandering nearby starports and cantinas looking out for rumors and signs of possible aggressors. The trade agents liaison with more local groups was the last thread of his web of mirrors. But there were more empty spaces in that web than he cared to admit. Something or someone probably could slip through it, but it was far better than nothing. A new voice crackled over the bridge's intercom:

"Greetings, Admiral Quee and Reshmar, I'm General Vurel Dardec. On behalf of Great River, we are delighted to be hosted to two such esteemed commanders. I'm confident that my Oswaft comrades are in good hands now. I have a briefing prepared to provide an overview of their current resources and combat effectiveness, but first I'd like to share a translation program. It'll allow you to transcribe their microwave transmissions on the fly, and allow you to do the same with your speech..."

"I'm not downloading that garbage onto my ship," announced Dav, pushing out his chest, "not from someone or something I don't know or trust."

Could the Pulsar Wind even handle that software in its current state? Always a bolt away from exploding into hyperdust it seems...He'd probably lose some motivator somewhere if he tried...the morale here is just that bad. He fought the urge to smile at his own bad joke.

Gir shrugged, "That's fine, the message is being rerouted to here from the Ocean Tide. The Tide will get the software download, and if it's bad, there's a bunch of people and droids there to fix everything."

Dav raised an eyebrow, "They don't know you're here, do they?"

"Not yet," said Gir, "I'm officially on the Tide still."

"You won't be able to keep this ruse up forever," cautioned Ariela, "someone's going to figure out that there's an unusual lag in the communications or that you don't have the specific situational awareness of what's going on with your ships that you should."

The man sighed. She's right though, as always. What do they call that, the burden of command?

"I'll head to jump into the courier then to go over to the Tide. I trust the two of you...err...all of you can keep things under control here? Yes? Good, let me know if anything new pops up..."

 

[BB-4001A]

Objective B
Onboard Oasis - with Nova Casamyr

=================================================================​

"Alright, magclamps active. Reel in the tank until it attaches to the hull."

From the cargo bay, the astromech known as Reeve gave a series of bleeps and whistles to register its acknowledgment. As the droid plugged into the grapple arm controls, the reels started to slowly pull the cable lines in toward the wing-shaped Baudo.

While Nova announced her return to the ship, the droid occupied himself with a check of the ship's systems. The added mass of the fuel tank would require a re-balancing of the engine thrust vector. And additional fuel allocation would be required for initial thrust.

"Once the tank is secure, seal up those hatches and let's get us on to rendezvous with Infinity's Free at Beldon Station."

Reeve and Fifi would see to the immediate tasks inside the cargo bay. Toggling the subspace radio, the droid called out. "Beldon Station, this is Oasis," the replicant announced, as he shifted from the navigator station to the pilot controls. Running an initial start-up check, the boy prepared to bring the sublight engines back on-line. As the start-up sequence was warming, the boy continued the call to the station, adding "Requesting docking clearance."

On the assumption that such clearance would be forthcoming, the droid set his hand on the controls for the bowthruster. Keying the internal communications, he announced: "Tank is secure. Maneuvering into docking position."

Translation: The ship might jolt a little.

He activated a three-second burst from the bowthruster, which put the ship into a flat turn, after which he eased the ion drive up to just one-quarter to generate forward inertia while he lined the ship up with the station. Counting the seconds off precisely in his droid brain, the afro-headed simulacrum then killed the thrust.

Their momentum would carry them into dock.

 

[Amea Virou]

A Good Cause​

.-.

Crew
Ay Ge
Jerec Asyr
Kelsie Sylvan
Lucien Dooku
Vyri

.-.

Others:
Allyson Locke
BB-4001X
Caedyn Arenais
Salamander
Gir Quee
Junko Ike
Jyoti Nooran
Nova Casamyr
ADM. Reshmar
Taiia Locke

.-.

“We are towing the big crystal thing.” She said and turned around towards Vyri halfway through the sentence. “If this works, we will be attaching a big tow cable to it and relocate to somewhere else in the galaxy. Supposedly there is even some Jedi involvement or something.”

The ramp opened and Amea took the first step out, her arms spreading in a half-shrug. Amea sighed, shook her head and turned back around to step into the hangar.

Jerec introduced them to this ‘Commander Allyson’ and Amea stepped up alongside the rest of the crew for the introductions. They all got their attention from the military woman. A way of memorizing people most likely. It was a hazel-eyed stare for each person that she met, imprinting the image of their presence to remember later.

“I’ll be down in engineering.” Amea said and nodded along at the hologram, gently spinning it around to find a good path down there. She extended a small circular plate before her and brought up her own copy of the map as Allyson turned hers off to study the layout.

“Anyone else?” She asked and looked at the others.
​

 

[Salamander]

The old man bowed his head to Jyoti Nooran and Xzaien .

“I am Jedi Master Casimir Heliobas,” he said. “I apologize if my arrival seems abrupt. Your request for aid came so suddenly, there was no time to properly announce my involvement beforehand.”

Much could be gleaned from simply observing Heliobas as he spoke. Tall, statuesque, and bestowed with a booming baritone voice, he had the larger-than-life charisma of a stage actor who must speak his carefully worded lines clearly and loudly to be heard, as well as using grandiose gestures to convey their meaning.

These unusual, almost anachronistic mannerisms, coupled with his habit of not quite looking directly at anyone as he spoke, made him seem somewhat aloof and unapproachable. But there was something admirable about the absolute conviction he poured into every word.

“I have come not as an emissary of the Jedi Order, but of my own volition. I will assist you in any way I can, though my strength lies in diplomacy. I will speak with the leaders of the Oswaft people and resolve any issues with the stragglers who stubbornly remain behind. They need not sacrifice their culture or their history in order to survive as a species.”

 

[Ay Ge]

The whole crew was here, the Dooku being the last to arrive from what she knew, his sightly ruffled hair showing signs of someone that had only woke up recently. Her figure falling in behind Jerec Asyr as the docking was finally done, standing just to the side as they parlayed with the women known as Allyson Locke .

If their was one things she agreed on when it came to military minded people it was their to the point manner of things. Not beating around the bush, just objectives and orders in how to complete them without any confusing slang or possible sarcasm. As the small speech wrapped up it was Amea Virou who took up the first decision, asking if anyone would join her to the engineering room.

"Answer, I do not consider myself to be of adequate knowledge to be of much use in such an area at this time, I will remain with the majority of the crew and partake in the 'warm meal' which has been offered". The whisky though would probably be a pass, but she wasn't going to say that out loud, Ay had some tact, even if it wasn't put on display very often.

Lucien Dooku Kelsie Sylvan

 

[Lucien Dooku]

"Nah." Luc responded to Amea's query through a yawn, his face returning to normal after briefly contorting from the exhaustion leaving his body. "I uh- yeah, I left my toolbox back on the ship." He finished, the astromech slotted into his nearby starfighter taking the opportunity to chime in the conversation to call him out on his bull. He pretended as if R4 said nothing, and would even go so far as to fool himself into thinking that none of the spacers around him could interpret binary either. It technically wasn't a lie- well, it definitely was a lie to a certain point. Luc didn't carry tools back on the Infinity's Free, but instead kept a toolbox within Midnight's storage compartment behind the starfighter's cockpit. It was mostly packed with the right tools and equipment to cater to the smaller ship's parts, and also the various intricate pieces of tech that were installed during its upgrade.

He probably could've found a way to improvise down in engineering with what he had available, but really it just wasn't his thing. Hot and humid engineering bays were the last place he wanted to be, and not surprisingly he avoided engineering back on their ship too. He'd much rather be out among the stars, flying Midnight at high speeds while shooting down Sith and Mandalorian fighters. There were a fair amount of heavy-hitters helping out the Space Manta's though, so he doubted that the chance would arrive despite their proximity to more hostile space.

A hot meal, on the other hand, sounded more up his alley for the time being. He had all day to wander about and help out where it was needed; but everyone knew the effectiveness of a youthful, growing Jedi was truly abysmal without proper sustenance. He made sure to analyze the holographic map that Allyson Locke provided and copied it over to his wrist-mounted NAVI. His right-eye lit up a neon-blue as the AR-hud on one of his lenses activated, the layout of the station pulling up before the activated cyber-ocular lens. Taking advantage of the calm while people were still making decisions, he removed his jacket and tied it around his waist. At the very least he figured it would make him appear as if he were being productive. Then again, the lack of mechanical/engineering equipment and the plethora of weapons holstered on his body would probably be a giveaway in any case.

Oh well, time to blend in Luc, and maybe explore a bit- yes, sounds like -the- plan of the century. He locked his hands on the back of his head, which rested comfortably within his interlocked palms. "Sustenance awaits~" Luc said to the others with a playful grin.

Amea Virou Jerec Asyr Ay Ge Vyri Kelsie Sylvan

 

[Tyl Ro]

Objective: D - save the plankton!
Tags: Charlie Nooran , Finley Dawson
Makeshift research bench aboard Croissant

Tyl craned her long neck to address her companions. "I do have a few words. Please offer my thanks in being given this opportunity to assist their people. And kindly ask our guide to start with the Oswaft's main feeding ground. The research requires both exemplary specimens of the Oswaft food source as well as samples of the organic material within the nebula that enables the plankton to thrive in a vacuum." The Kaminoan gave a warm smile to accompany her lilting voice. She had found that, over the many years of interacting with non-Kaminoans, that she had to adapt certain characteristics of her behavior in order to better communicate. Exaggerating certain gestures was effective to a point. A smile could go a long way towards endearing oneself to one's compatriots. Smile too much or too broadly and the gesture began to appear disingenuous.

Being genuine was not something that the Kaminoan ever found difficult. Expressing that feeling without seeming artificial was ever a challenge.

All in all, though, the Jedi Scientist had enjoyed her journey thus far, and was looking forward to getting to work. She had been wandering the galaxy again since leaving Sanctuary. Never her own vessel, always public transport or occasionally chartering a course with what credits she had available or in exchange for honest work. The Force had brought her to Padawan Charlie and Knight Finley. And so, she had been led to this great undertaking. The three had not had much time for discourse, but opportunities would present themselves, and Tyl would relish the chance to know another generation of Jedi.

Her attention returned to the microscope. A preliminary sample of organic matter from the nebula rested there, clamped to the examination tray. Time to get to work.

 

[Nova Casamyr]

Location: Aboard Oasis with BB-4001X, docked at Beldon Station
Objective: B - coordinate with the other spacers on Project: Move This Rock
Also in conjunction with: Jerec Asyr , Vyri, Allyson Locke , Kelsie Sylvan , Ay Ge , Amea Virou

Much-less-stuffy air rushed in through the crease created as Nova removed the helmet of her spacesuit. Even the recycled air of a starship was a welcome relief to the humid air created by your own breathing. Sure there was some filtration, but the confined space only allowed for so much, and moisture was not a priority for the suit to filter out. Within moments she was out of the suit, keeping the magboots, and into one of her many dull, but practical utility jumpsuits, this one in a terribly exciting gray-green.

Leaving the engine catwalk, she triggered the comm again. "Alright, Afro4000." Nope, that wasn't it either. "Time to meet the locals and the other spacers. I'll wait for you at the airlock." Located on the topside of the ship's hull, Oasis had to roll to dock at ports that only had horizontal access hatches, but could maintain a normal orientation if the port was vertical. If a roll was necessary, the airlock maintained its own tilt-grav generator to normalize the shift in downward orientation between the ship and wherever Oasis was docked. Such was the case the Beldon. Nova was used to the tilt-grav lock. But the odd compartment through off many first time users. If BB-4001X was well equipped, she doubt he would have trouble with the shift in orientation either.

Nova waited for the HRD crewmember just outside the airlock. "Ready? she would say once the boy-droid arrived. "I've never met any of the other spacers here personally, though a few have a reputation that precedes them. They all belong to a Guild. I joined with Oasis on Ord Mantell. Through their network of contacts was how I found the job en route to Nar Shaddaa. Not everything they do is legitimate. But then jobs like this come along. So I figure, as long as we keep to the legal stuff, it can't be all bad, ya know?"

She entered the airlock and initiated the room shift as she spoke. The walls of the room including the floor and ceiling were identical, an off-beige color with a black square border just inside each wall's edge and an ensconced light ribbon just inside that border. The door was the only exception. Beneath their feet, the floor turned, but with no viewport for orientation, the feeling more resembled riding a lift upward rather than a rotation. Pressure from overhead seemed to squish them downward ever-so-slightly. Within a few seconds, what had been the wall became the floor and the sliding door opened to the station.

A short walk down a gangway led them out of the docking port and into the interior of the station. Not far off was a group that Nova could obviously tell were fellow spacers. They just had that look. One of the beings she recognized from an earlier holo-briefing.

"Captain Asyr?" she said, walking up to the group. "I'm Nova. Nova Casamyr of Oasis. And this is my first mate, BB-4001X." Nova gestured to the droid accompanying her. "We spoke briefly earlier about,... well all this. I have a tank in place for the spare fuel needed for the limpets. We're ready for the next step, whatever you have in mind to move this thing without turning it to space dust."

 

[Finley Dawson]

Object D - Observe and Collect

"She definitely takes the cake on explosive exits, no arguments on that." he quipped.

Doctor Ro responded with great grace and poise to his question, making the Corellian feel quite gruff. This was why he had stuck to scientific fieldwork in the Nebula rather bumble through the diplomatic mission occurring in parallel. He should probably work on the finer points of basic vernacular sometime.

"Thanks Doctor, I'll relay that. I'm glad to have you on the team, by the way."

He swung back around to his console and typed out a new reply to their friend, who he was now just going to refer to simply as "Wen". A few moments later, and the Oswaft was on the move.

"Alright, Wen is going to take us to one of their plankton fields. Apparently, the Oswaft actively farm them to increase output. That'll be something to see."

Wen was on the path for vast glittering blue fields spanning hundreds of thousands of kilometers. A casual observer may have mistaken it for another gas cloud within the nebula, but it was in fact the plankton, their bioluminescence a product of steady exothermic reactions metabolizing interstellar particles and radiation.

"Once we get there, Charlie, I'll have you man the tractor beam, while I'll take a space walk. Also, there's something else Wen wants to show us after this."

Tyl Ro Charlie Nooran

 

[BB-4001A]

Objective B
Docked at Beldon Station - with Nova Casamyr

=================================================================​

"Alright, Afro4000."

The afro-headed chore-bot had been in the midst of running through the shut down checklist when the call had come over the comm. Even operating at the speed of milliseconds, the simulacrum still paused. Blinked. And then did a double take as his vocabulator blurted out, "Afro4000?"

"...the locals and the other spacers. I'll wait for you at the airlock."

And then the signal went dead. "Afro4000," the droid echoed again. Clearly, his auditory receptors had been malfunctioning.

Fifi wheeled herself into the cockpit. A low whistle sparked the boy to look down at the astromech and ask, "Did that really just happen?"

A sharp bleep and a low tone confirmed that it had.

He left Fifi to finish shifting the reactor over to standby mode, disembarking the cockpit and making his way over to the airlock. He was still attired in his shipsuit, the sleeves rolled back on the coveralls. He wasn't armed, but he had a utility belt that held a multi-tool and a micro-tool pack. He'd like to think that he looked the part of a serious repair droid. The reality was, he probably just looked like Bob the Builders black friend on the playground.

"You know, it's okay to just call me BeeBee," the droid said, as the pair entered through the transition to the station's different gravity orientation. As they walked, Nova explained how they'd come by this job. Apparently, she'd heard about it before she'd ever landed on Nar Shaddaa. Which, explained her eagerness to try and find more crew -- even if Nar Shaddaa was the last place in the entire universe in which to do it.

"Not everything they do is legitimate," she added, commenting on this Spacer's Guild that seemed to have popped up since the droid had semi-successfully extracted himself from the graces of the Black Sun.

Seriously? Just a few cycles ago, he'd been running deathsticks through the Republic. "I can hardly imagine," the droid deadpanned dryly.

...and then she went and introduced some guy named Jerec Asyr

"Just BeeBee," the droid supplied for himself simply.

He'd still take his full droid model over that Afro4000 though.

 

[Charlie Nooran]

Charlie listened to both the Doctor and Finley, and there was something magical about the entire experience. The young padawan found herself lost in the beauty of the nebula and the plankton. It was amazing to be seeing the sights like this. It was devastating knowing that there were those in the galaxy wanting to destroy it. Frowning slightly, Charlie grabbed her comm device and took an image of what she was seeing. She didn't want to forget the beauty.

Finley's voice drew her back to reality, and the Padawan frown remained. "Why do you get the easy job? I flew, so you should man the tractor beam." Pausing, the Corellian tempted her with an after event, "Well, I'm better at it than you are, so it's probably best I control it." Looking back towards the view screen of the plankton.

"Looks like we're getting close. I'll get to the tractor beam - anything else, Finley" She didn't know if she should call him Master in this aspect, either way, he was more her friend than anything.

Finley Dawson Tyl Ro

 

[Allyson Locke]

Objective B​

It seemed that some of their volunteers were ready to eat, and the others were ready to work. It had seemed Allyson wasn’t clear when she mentioned the food. It was okay, remembering when she was working on a freighter, the first thing she wanted to do when in port was eat. Letting her lips curl into a smile, she looked at the man who had left his tools on the ship. “Well, Lucian, its Lucian, right?” She waited a moment for confirmation, then continued. “We have extra gear if it’s too much to return to the ship to get your tools. So don’t fret, you’ll find some work.” ​

Her attention left the lazy boy, and to Ay Ge, in her hand were a few vouchers for the mess hall. “Here, these should get your food until we have a big celebration meal after we succeed. Please let me know if you run into any issues. The mess hall is a few corridors down. You can’t miss it.” Allyson pointed in the direction for the woman to follow. Others came, but it seemed that they knew Captian Jerec, this meant Allyson could let the man handle things. She gave him enough direction, and he had a good head on his shoulders. ​

Clearing her throat, Allyson moved to follow Amea. Doing her best to ignore a familiar pull towards her, Allyson did her best to relax and not press the woman about what her gut was telling her. “I’ll go with you to engineering; I do better working than trying to organize people.” ​

Allyson began her trek towards the engineering department of the station, and it wasn’t a far walk. Still, it allowed Amea and anyone that followed a good glimpse of the station and its inner workings. ​

“How was the trip?” Allyson attempted small talk, mostly to let herself organize her thoughts and push down that nagging pull in the back of her head.​

Spoiler

Amea Virou Jerec Asyr Lucien Dooku Ay Ge BB-4001X Nova Casamyr Kelsie Sylvan Vyri