Bacta, We Don't Need No Stinkin Bacta, but Seriously We Do! (The Underground)

[Orick T'ane]

Mustafar System

Orick brought the Ranger around and cut the propulsion down to zero. He shut the engines down to standby and turned it [member="Anastasia Rade"]. " Looks like we're a bit early, I'm going to start broadcasting on the private channel we're set up with [member="Eliza Steele"]. Running this with two ships should work out a bit better than with one. If all else fails, at least one of us gets the mission done."

He toggled on the beacon and the signal that they had agreed on was being broadcast. It didn't mean anything, but the constant stream of corellian city names would be the notice that would let Eliza know where to find them. He checked the sensors again, hoping that their signal didn't attract unwanted attention. He debated turning on the ECHO DED-3, but he didn't want to make it any harder for her to find his ship. He leaned back and swiveled the pilot's chair around so he was looking at Ana, " The trip to Verkul should go easy enough, we're in neutral territory so it should be fine, the problem is going to be getting to Sullust. The fastest way, and the way least likely to get hit by pirates is by using the Sanctuary Pipeline, it runs right to Sullust. We just have to cross through Fringe space to get there." he sighed and thought about the trouble that could cause if all of the rumors he heard about some Fringe civil war were true. All he could do was hope for the best and prepare for the worst.

 

[Anastasia Rade]

"Neutral areas should be ok but I hate not knowing what's out there." She stated spinning around in her chair to face him. Ana liked being prepared which was something that she could be for what probably awaited them in Fringe Space but the unknown was a whole different story.

The mission seemed easy enough, get Bacta from point A to point B without being taken by pirates or worse. They had been through battles together so this ought to be a piece of cake. Ana wasn't about to let her guard down though. "I'm sure we will be just fine, Cyar'ika." She smiled at him lightly placing her hand on his leg. "We are in this together. Both ships are going to see this through." Ana was confident in the ship and them.

Ana had heard the rumors as well in regards to the civil war however she didn't want to jump to conclusions. It was possible they could make it out of there without getting in the middle of that mess. They could worry about that later, first they needed to safely get to point A. As co-pilot it was her job to navigate [member="Orick T'ane"] to said point as safely as possibly. She was going to also be keeping in constant contact with their partner for this mission [member="Eliza Steele"] .

 

[Eliza Steele]

[member="Orick T'ane"] | [member="Anastasia Rade"]

Steele never wasted a run so as the Corellian Dawn made it's way from Ord Mantell, its main port of call, to the Mustafar system to meet up with another smuggling ship for a big job hauling bacta, stops were main along the route dropping off goods and making a few extra credits, which always helped the petite smuggler's bottom line.

A soft baritone bark and a moan came from the co-pilot's seat where a golden brown Wookiee sat as the YT-1930 light freighter got closer to the rendezvous point, alerting it's captain they were in the right area.

"Yeah I know, Rahl… It sure is bittersweet listening to all those names, especially Tyrena. Corellia will dearly be missed," the dark-eyed brunette answered, a definite ache still felt in the fiery Corellisi's heart for the loss of her homeworld; one that would never go away.

Another YT freighter suddenly showed on the scanner as the Corellian Dawn came around the dark side of the second moon of the fifth planet in the Mustafar system. The transponder matched the one given by the captain of the Aimless Ranger.

"That's it.. Let's give 'em a holler," Eliza said, then keyed the comm to hail the ship.

"Ranger, this is the Dawn… We're coming up on your six. Ready to get slimed?"

 

[Orick T'ane]

Orick heard the comm traffic and he smiled, " right on time." He said to [member="Anastasia Rade"] as he flipped his comm on.

" Glad you could make it Dawn. I'm sending you the first set of hyperspace coordinates for the jump, it will take us to Bespin. That's the edge of Fringe space, so I want to replot before we get any closer in case we have any unexpected surprises the way." He flipped off the comm and turned back towards Ana.

"Send them the coordinates and lets get the engines fired up to make the jump to hyperspace." He began to go through the startup sequence for the hyperdrive system, his hands flipping switch and pressing buttons all across the control panel. He was glad that they had decided to bring along [member="Eliza Steele"] and the Corellian Dawn, the extra cargo space and ship would make this run much more profitable. Even with the split they would all clean up rather well. He knew very little about their partner, but she had a sturdy ship and wasn't afraid to pull the trigger when needed, that would be enough to get them through the next few days, he hoped.

 

[Anastasia Rade]

Ana nodded as she turned back to the controls to send the first set of coordinates to [member="Eliza Steele"] . You should have the coordinates now Dawn. I'll send you the rest once we see what we are dealing with."

Bespin was in Fringe space but on the outside so hopefully they wouldn't get caught up in whatever civil war they had going on there. She had heard it had gotten nasty in the last couple of days. She didn't want their simple run to turn into them in the thick of any war. That was a headache she knew her brother didn't need.

"I'm checking to see which ways through Fringe space are passable. It's touch and go, one day this area is safe and the next it's not. By the time we get there the whole situation will have probably changed." She sighed a little turning to look at [member="Orick T'ane"] . The comm link next to her was blinking rather fiercely as if to tell her to pick up. Ana had requested updates for the "situation" in Fringe space. She was getting a lot of them. It was good that they had backup for this.

 

[Catherine Romanov]

The MMG-84S Gunship appeared out of the hyperspace jump in the close vicinity of the two freighters. Catherine was late, but understandably so. She had only been informed of the last-minute employment by ship captain known as Orick T'ane. She had been hired as an convoy escort, and would do her best to protect their little convoy of two ships, three if she was counting hers. Oh, and she definitely should indeed, she was not intending to lose her ship and her life just yet! Although she was but one ship, she would not go down without a fight that was for sure. A warrior went down fighting or not at all.

She had made sure to reconfigure her ship's loadout, to replace the usual troop transport capabilities with the more offensive loadout, loading on the Argus missile bombardment system in its place. She was alone, and had no co-pilot with her, as she had yet to find one suitable enough to fit the role, so she had to juggle between the two roles, something she had done considerably well so far.

Catherine decided to hail the two ships, so that they would not get spooked in any case. "Captains, this is Catherine Colburn, your hired escort for the run, running a little late, but I scrambled to come as soon as I could. Didn't even had breakfast. A good meal would be in order after this is over! May good luck and fortune smile upon us all!"

[member="Orick T'ane"] [member="Anastasia Rade"] [member="Eliza Steele"]

 

[Eliza Steele]

[member="Anastasia Rade"] | [member="Orick T'ane"] | [member="Catherine Colburn"]

"Roger that, Ranger… The Dawn will follow you out," Eliza answered, responding seemingly to the male captain's female co-pilot.

"Okay, Rahly… Get those coordinates loaded into our nav-compter. Hopefully they have an inside to how best to ferry our way through Fringe space. It won't be pretty otherwise," the petite smuggler commented to her own co-pilot.

A warning growl came from the sandy brown Wookiee as the scanner picked up another ship joining them. "I see it… Didn't know we were going to have an escort, but sure can't hurt."

Eliza keyed the comm. "Gunship, this is the Corellian Dawn. That is a great idea! Now time is credits… Clear skies everyone."

 

[Orick T'ane]

Orick smiled as he heard that everyone was ready to go. Adding the unship would slow them down a bit, but it would give them another ship to work with, and a better chance of survival. He checked his sensors and confirmed that they were all in position, "Alright Captains, I'm sending you hyperspace coordinates now, the jumps are going to be a bit shorter than originally expected, but we don't want to outrun our escort. If things go wrong, jump out and we'll find another way to get this job done."

He turned to [member="Anastasia Rade"] as he was going through the process of warming up the hyperdrive engines, "Go ahead and send the coordinates to the other ships if you would." He pushed the levers forward and the stars in front of them began to stretch into long strands of light as the ship entered hyperspace. "I really hope that everyone comes out fine. Bespin better be nice and peaceful, if not we're going to have to jump back out right away. I need you to get working on the closet jump back out as soon as we come out of hyperspace. I may just be paranoid, but It's better to be paranoid than dead." He had been thinking that adding a droid to the crew wouldn't be a bad idea. He knew that someone made a navigator droid that would help with the ship's functions. He didn't think that he and Ana wasn't a good enough team, btu adding a third to the rotation would help. He could finally fill that navigator seat and give Ana the training he wanted to give her in the pilot's chair.

[member="Eliza Steele"] | [member="Catherine Colburn"]

 

[Anastasia Rade]

“I’m sending you both the coordinates now and will send you plan B coordinates a little later just in case. Ranger Out.” She had yet to look into a backup plan as of yet on the off chance that things went south on Bespin. It was something that she planned to do during the ride there as well as keep in contact with her contacts. Whoever said space travel was boring never had to multi-task like this before and were probably just a passenger not a co-pilot or even a pilot. @Orick T’ane did most of the work, Ana just back him up when needed.

Pulling up the navigational system Ana looked at the map to see if there was somewhere they could just back to incase things were hairy when they left hyperspeed. The key was that it had to be out of Fringe territory and at the same time not be in another government’s territory. There was also little thing about finding landing in unknown territory there could be anything out there waiting for them. They had to take a chance and she knew that the Captains they had today could handle it. “Vassek is right outside the boarder of Fringe territory in the middle. If Bespin is a bust, I suggest that we head there. What do you think?” She turned a little to look at him.

[member="Eliza Steele"] [member="Catherine Colburn"]

 

[Catherine Romanov]

Catherine received the jump coordinates from Ana, who was on Captain Orick's ship as his co-pilot. As soon as the coordinates were transferred over, she waited for their necessary action, before bringing up the navigational menu with a tap on the dashboard. As she keyed in the given coordinates, the map zoomed towards as it searched its database for the location of the planet Bespin. So, that would be where they would be travelling to. She also added in the coordinates for the contingency plan as well, just as a safety precaution. One never knows what might happen. And it sure won't hurt to have a back-up plan ready.

With the settings configured, she pushed the levers and other controls that would activate the ships hyperdrive. The stars in front of her stretched into long white streaks as the ship travelled through hyperspace. Once she had jumped towards the intended location, she would then scout and secure the area if needed, hopefully ensuring a safe path for the rest of the other two freighters on the way.

[member="Orick T'ane"] [member="Eliza Steele"] [member="Anastasia Rade"]

 

[Eliza Steele]

[member="Orick T'ane"] | [member="Anastasia Rade"] | [member="Catherine Colburn"]

With the newly reconfigured coordinates for the added gunship's accommodation placed into the nav-computer, as soon as it chimed a ready-status, Eliza pulled back on the hyperdrive lever to make the jump with the other two ships. It would be some time before they exited hyperspace at their destination, so the petite smuggler left her Wookiee co-pilot in charge of monitoring things in the cockpit while she went to the galley to make a strong pot of caf… The Corellisi had a bad feeling she'd need one to prepare her for what was to meet them on the other side.

 

[Orick T'ane]

Hyperspace travel was, if everything went according to plan, extremely boring. Orick had left the ship on autopilot, with a warning tone to be sounded if something anomalous came up. He had moved to the small third cabin on the ship, the old storage room that he had finally converted into a small armory and workshop. since Ana had become a part of the crew, and had added all of her weapons and armor to his, he needed a dedicated spot to store it all, as well as a place to repair the many moving parts of the various weapons systems they owned.

He was currently trying to put his blaster rifle back together, it had taken a beating on their last mission on Terrijo and he was hoping to get it working again. it was his heaviest weapon and the thought of losing it made him frown. He sighed as he placed the different components on the table, there were just too many broken pieces for it to go back together properly, and he didn't have any spare barrels or another rail system to make it better. Shaking his head and throwing his arms up in the air he made his way to the small kitchenette to grab a cup of caf before he returned to the cockpit. Ana had gone off to her cabin to take a quick nap before things got busy again and he knew that next jump it was his turn to take a nap.

The soft pinging alarm informed Orick that they were about to reach their destination and he put the cup down and slowly pushed the controls for the hyperspace engines back to normal. The streaking stars slowed and stopped all together, becoming small pinpricks of light in the distance again. He could just make out the planet Bespin. He had made sure to jump out far enough away from the major traffic lanes that they could jump back out if trouble showed up.

He knew that Ana was going to yell at him for not waking her up for this part but he didn't want to bother her, so he quickly tapped in an emergency hyperspace jump and the computer began its calculations for the final jump to Verkul. He checked his sensory continually, hoping that the other ships arrived soon, the longer him and the Ranger sat here alone, the more he was worried that something had gone wrong.

[member="Anastasia Rade"] | [member="Eliza Steele"] | [member="Catherine Colburn"]

 

[Anastasia Rade]

Normally during Hyperspace travel Ana kept busy with for training, cleaning of her weapons or even reading. It helped pass what would normally be considered a pretty boring time and she had learned quite a few times. This trip was longer though and as such she was taking the first shift of naps. On the next leg of the journey he would be the one taking the nap Ana wished they could have both just snuggled together but she understood that someone had to watch the ship. She instead elected to snuggle with the big teddy bear he won for her at the carnival during her nap.

She had thought that perhaps she would have been awoken by Orick when they got there. Lately she had been sleeping better at night so while she normally didn't take naps she had no issue sleeping. Ana had ended up however hours later waking up on her own. Yawning she got up out of bed and went to the kitchen to grab a cup of caf before heading to the cockpit to see where they were.

"Did we just make it out of hyperspace?" She turned to look at [member="Orick T'ane"] as she sat down in the co-pilot seat with her caf. Ana was assuming that they had just arrived out of jump number two. Ana wasn't fully awake yet but she didn't see anything suspicious.

[member="Catherine Colburn"] [member="Eliza Steele"]

 

[Eliza Steele]

[member="Anastasia Rade"] [member="Orick T'ane"] [member="Catherine Colburn"]

The trip so far had been rather routine. Nothing to suggest any problems. The meet up with the Aimless Ranger, and late add-on of the gunship for backup, had gone as expected. The Corellian Dawn was running well with all systems green, course Leebo, the ship's LE series repair droid, had OCD when it came to that and was constantly tinkering to get the most out of the ol' girl… So why then did Eliza still have this continued bad feeling…

Corellian, duh?!

The petite smuggler had just pulled on her second boot after taking a bit of rack time when the proximity alarm echoed overhead, followed a moment later by a growl over the intercom. "I know, I know… Don't get your fur balls so in a bunch. I'll be right there!"

Eliza quickly exited the captain's cabin, then walked with a purpose down the YT-1930's rounded corridor to the forward-centered cockpit. Rahl seemed to be chomping at the bit for some reason. Maybe he had to take a leak, who knew, but it was unlike him. The brunette slipped into the pilot's seat, then flipped some switches taking control of the 'Dawn. "Take it easy, buddy… I've got this interim jump. You go get some rest, or eat, or what ever you need to do there. Next time wake me up so ya don't have to suffer," she quipped, then pushed the hyperdrive lever back up reverting the light freighter into realspace on the edge of Bespin space.

Immediately the Ranger was spotted, but the gunship wasn't. The sensors hadn't picked up any other ships in their vicinity either, which was a good thing and bad. "Ranger, this is the Dawn. We are good to go. Any word yet from our wing mate?"

While she waited for an answer, Steele got the nav-computer revved up for their next jump.

 

[Catherine Romanov]

The 84S came back into view as she finished her rounds of scouting the area. It seemed to be clear of anyone or anything right now. But given the popularity of hyperspace jumps, anything could change in a split second. At least she was sure that there wasn't anyone waiting out in ambush in the immediate vicinity. On her way back, her sensors picked up signatures of two of ships. The two freighters were already waiting for her. Good. They were ready to go then.

"Dawn, this is the 84S, I'm here, I'm here. Just went on ahead to scout the area while waiting for you guys to jump in. The immediate vicinity looks clear, but you know what they say. Shit happens. Or tends to rather." Aligning her ship back into formation alongside the two other ships, she spoke back in the communication channel.

"Ready to go? If we are, then let's set off!"

[member="Orick T'ane"] [member="Anastasia Rade"] [member="Eliza Steele"]

 

[Orick T'ane]

Orick smiled as he heard the gunship check in, he was hoping that the trip would be smooth and that there wouldn't be any issues. He watched as [member="Anastasia Rade"] was busy typing the coordinates into the nav computer. He knew that the final solution would be up and ready to transmit in moments, " Good work, 84S. Nav coordinates are being set up as we talk. Now, once we get to our destination, let me do the talking. We'll land and get a nice meal while we wait for our clearance to depart. Simple and safe, just like we talked about." He cut the comm and stood, stretching his legs a bit. He didn't want to disturb Ana while she was working so he went to the small kitchen and refilled their glasses with more of the caf and he brought her out one of the fresh muffins that she had baked the day before.

" Brought you a fresh cup of caf and a muffin." He said as he sat back down. " Once we get underway, I'll catch a quick nap" He sat back down and checked the sensors again, he was sure that if there was a problem the others would have seen it first, but he wanted to be sure that they had every option covered. The three ships were close together, well close as far as spacial distances were concerned, and they had overlapping sensor coverage, but for that to work they all needed to be vigilant. " As soon as you have the coordinates locked in, transmit them to the Dawn and the 84S and I'll jump us to hyperspace."

[member="Catherine Colburn"] | [member="Eliza Steele"] |

 

[Anastasia Rade]

Ana was too focused on finding them a safe route to Verkuyl to notice that [member="Orick T'ane"] had left the cockpit. She was still getting used to the whole being co-pilot thing and this was a big job. She knew that messing up meant lives and so she had to focus in order to get this right. It wasn't until he came back with caf and a muffin that she looked up. Thank you, Cyar'ika." She smiled taking the goodies from him before setting the muffin to the side. Taking a few sips of the caf she punched in a few more buttons.

"Sending you both the final coordinates now. Please be careful, we don't know what's out there." Ana had checked the holonet again but didn't couldn't find any war updates. This was supposed to mean that it was safe out there but in her eyes it seemed far to simple. There was a civil war going on which meant that something had to be going on in the back corner. She wasn't worried, they could handle anything that the galaxy through at them.

"This is the last jump before we pick up our load." Ana stated as she turned slightly to look at Orick. She was glad that during this hyperspace jump he was going to get a nap. He was going to need it if they were going to get everything onboard quickly. Ana was thinking of doing some baking.

[member="Eliza Steele"] [member="Catherine Colburn"]

 

[Eliza Steele]

[member="Catherine Colburn"] [member="Orick T'ane"] [member="Anastasia Rade"]

"Will do, Ranger… See you and the Gunny on the other side," Eliza replied back, then checked the sensors one last time while the nav-computer was counting down the next jump using the coordinates sent over from the other smuggling ship.

Something caught Steele's eye on the view screen - a quick blip, but was gone again in a millisec. The petite smuggler double checked everything, but nothing came up out of the ordinary so when the nav beeped ready, she pulled back on the hyperdrive lever sending the Corellian Dawn into hyperspace about thirty seconds behind the Aimless Ranger.

 

[Catherine Romanov]

"Coordinates received, Ranger."

It was not too long after that both of the ships jumped out of sight. With both of the ships that she was supposed to be guarding gone, now that they have jumped to the target coordinates, Catherine prepared the 84S to do the same. They had all received the coordinates for their final jumping destination, and the Mandolorian was more than ready for whatever awaited them out there.

Her gunship was bristling with armaments and ready for war, if that was what it came down to. Running through her pre-jump procedures, and satisfied with everything on her checklist, she pushed back on the hyperdrive lever, jumping the gunship out, following the rest towards their target destination.

[member="Orick T'ane"] [member="Anastasia Rade"] [member="Eliza Steele"]

 

[Orick T'ane]

Orick nodded and puback on the hyperspace engine controls, the galaxy outside of the glass went from calm sprinkles of light to white streaks. The Ranger was equipped with very fast hyperdrive engines and the ship wouldn't take but a few hours, but that was enough time for him to catch a quick nap and maybe a trip to the 'fresher as well. "I'm going to hit the cabin for a bit, if anything happens give me a swift kick." he rose from the pilot's chair and wandered into the cabin.

Ana could handle the ship easily enough, she had spent quite a bit of time on board and he had shown her all of the little tricks to handling the ship. He was absolutely sure that there would be no problems, whether they were in hyperspace or landing on a hostile planet. Stumbling through the ship he slapped the panel to open the captain's cabin and he didn't even bother turning on the lights, he just dropped onto the bed and closed his eyes.

There would be more than enough time between when they dropped from hyperspace it when they landed to work out the nuances of the details of their next move. He didn't want to seem like they were in a hurry, but he wanted them to load and go as quickly as possible. The longer they hung around the planet, the more likely they were to have complications.


[member="Anastasia Rade"] | [member="Eliza Steele"] | [member="Catherine Colburn"]