Because this is how you get ants.

[Sasha Santhe]

Sasha paced the room a little looking at the various components laid out about the lab. It was a big project. The lead designer had said it wasn’t practical to lay out all the parts on the ground to be examined, but Sasha had insisted and berated him for a few solid minutes. “See this is why we laid everything out,” Sasha said stepping forward. She pointed at a coupler. “That is a piece of trash. Get its serial number and find the factory that made it. Then make sure it never happens again.” It was rare to get a junk part from her factories, but it happened. She stared at it some more. “This was used, did one of you idiots really bring in a used coupler? It’s all worn out.”

Shaking her head in disgust she walked over to the engine. “This is where we are starting. We have enough power, it’s time to make sure it’s used properly.” Ion array, it was a magnificent and simple engine capable of propelling a craft to great speeds in a short time. But that wasn’t all that was needed, she also needed something more.

The system was ingenious, taking excess heat and bleeding it into a liquid coolant system. “Now we just need the test pilot.”

[member="Marek Starchaser"]

 

[Corey's OOC]

Starting work with Santhe Corp, that was… exciting and interesting for Marek. He was ready for this, to allow the Xi Char engineers the proper company to work for, the proper equipment to work on. With the project at hand, only a few were showing up, selected for the task on a special basis. He had made his way down to the lab, and feeling a bit out of place, he turned to his assistant. “You’ll probably be staying to keep an eye, I’ve got a few meetings to attend.” It would get him out of the lab, where he was a sore thumb.

The blonde, Alana, nodded at him. “Of course, sir. I’ll make sure that [member="Sasha Santhe"] and your test pilot get along famously.”

That was something Marek hadn’t even considered, Riley was… technically related? A cousin, but… still, she was a loose cannon from all reports. Still, crazy enough to fly these ships, and she was a Starchaser, so, why not? It wasn’t like that stick in the mud Jared was going to come around any time soon.

Stepping up to the owner of the company he nodded. “Engines, of course. These things need to be able to run, and get into and out of anywhere. Our test pilot will be along, but… what else are we looking to improve?”

Simple.

 

[Sasha Santhe]

[member="Marek Starchaser"]

Sasha smiled as she looked the man over. "We're going to improve everything..." she said. And it was true enough. Plans within plans, wheels within wheels. "Drive performance needs to be better, but we aren't sure how the new modifications will be effective in the long run. There could be a lot of strain on the radial coupler, or the cooling hose could rupture." Sasha bit her lip "We won't know for sure unless we put some serious test flight hours in with the new prototypes."

And of course there was more. "We’ll need to do some scans and… Marek did you get that test pilot you promised?”

 

[Corey's OOC]

This is something he could enjoy, making something better than it was. Same thing happened with Force training, even if Marek Starchaser wasn't one who did much of that. He had his skills, and they helped him plenty, but to add to them? Ain't no one got time for that jazz. He was nodding at [member="Sasha Santhe"], but the fact of the matter was he only knew enough to fly these things, and fly them dangerously well. Larger craft were his forte. "Its a Santhe product, I ain't worried." Not really one bit.

They did develop the Starchaser favorite, the TIE fighter, granted that was a TIE Advanced in the family history books, the Exalt nowadays. Maybe he should invest in one, for appearances. Speaking of the old line, that was where the test pilot came in. Turning to Alana, he smiled at the blonde, and pushed at her mind. She knew without speaking what she was doing, but he just loved the feeling of her own aura, anyone's really, but hers was his. His to grab, and drain.

Kept him from attacking coworkers, or... whatever word he could use.

Still, the blonde checked the data pad and nodded.

"We've got one, she's a few minutes late. Tell you the truth, she's a bit untested, but from familiar stock." And Marek could probably drain the Force right out of her, should she act up. He nodded at the company lead as Alana stepped out to the doors. "Just... I don't think she's all up to date on her shots." Letting a smile cross his face, he shrugged. Clearly a jest.

 

[Sasha Santhe]

Sasha returned to her work as she talked. With hands outstretched she manipulated a few pieces scattered across the ground and smiled. Yes, that would help to reinforce the cooling system, and prevent heat from melting through the tubing. "Separation and dissipation of heat through poor conductive materials will be key," she mumbled to herself before turning to Marek. "She? That is good. Women are better at this sort of work." She nodded, "No distractions when working with me and a few of the other staff." And why not? "What is this womans qualifications?"

Her hand touched the solar panels of the prototype. By touch she could feel the very essence of the machine. It was the one gift Velok had given her, unlocking her innate talent with the force and technology. The outer cells of the craft will need to be more seamlessly integrated.To keep tot he ascetics of the vessel." That would mean carving into the hull plating and grooving it and then glossing the entirety of the craft. That was good, it would work. "Either way Marek, I hope that your girl knows her stuff."

[member="Marek Starchaser"]

 

[Corey's OOC]

Really, right now Marek was just waiting for Alana to enter, and then he'd make sure Riley didn't try to kill [member="Sasha Santhe"], and he'd let the women do the work. Maybe he'd get in touch with Jared, see what he was up to, catch a drink and a smoke before heading off world. Really, though, it was more just to stretch his legs and get a shake down in. He had a few ideas for a larger merchant vessel, and would let Sasha known once he had it more squared away, but Ovmar and he had a few things to discuss, especially now with Haor Chall being in Santhe, he had liberty to work on other projects.

Sure, they may help the Confederacy, but he still had his sort of sense of honor, and they wouldn't hurt his state.

"Yeah, an' I'll let y'all engineers do your thing. I've got a few meetings to attend, y'know, business things." Real descriptive. He grinned. "Her qualifications? She is the daughter of an ex-Imperial pilot, Force sensitive and a bit of a genetic experiment, to... heighten her abilities." It was funny how his accent and word choice would change from topic to topic, all state dependent, he supposed.

He closed his eyes as he felt Sasha manipulate the Force, feeling the way the vehicle moved. That would be a useful power, had he kept in the contract and engineering game, but Marek was definitely more the middle man and person to connect others, he didn't need that. But the feeling, the power behind Sasha's touch, that was invigorating. He could just... no, he wasn't going to reach that hard for her in the Force.

That was why he had Alana around lately. She was a wellspring of another aura, and he could truly appreciate that. "She's good." He nodded as he turned, Alana was close by, and that other, familiar yet strange aura. He knew that was Riley, the pair ran into each other on the Rim, out on Tatooine, she was tracing steps in the abridged Starchaser handbook, it seemed. When the pair came in, he greeted both in turn, giving Riley a brief hello and stepping closer to Alana, his Force aura latching to hers.

"This is [member="Riley Topol"], Riley, this is Sasha Santhe. She's going to need your skillset." He nodded, introducing the two women. He turned and whispered something to Alana and kissed her on the cheek. "I'll be in touch, if you need me, you know how to reach me." Even if he was in meetings.

And then he was up the stairs and gone.

 

[Sasha Santhe]

[member="Marek Starchaser"] & [member="Riley Topol"]

And with that Marek was gone leaving the women to their own devices. Sasha shook Riley's hand and smiled the entire time. She was an attractive enough woman. Yes the two of them seemed like they could be a party crew on a beach somewhere. All the tourists would drool over them. "It is a pleasure to meet you," Sasha said. "Marek gives you his highest recommendation." And that was it for pleasantries. Sasha pointed over to the Santhe Challenger and escorted the woman over. "This is what we'll be flying. We are using the Challenger as an experimental testbed. We've stripped most of it." A smirk crossed her face. "I designed it, and now I'm redesigning it to house these experimental systems. It is still pretty though, isn't it?" Sasha said with a little smile on her face. And the three women faced the sleek craft appraising it with their eyes.

 

[Riley Topol]

Really, so this was what it was all about, huh? Getting a job, and getting paid? Riley really preferred it if she could just gallivanted around the galaxy a bit, but she supposed this had its purpose. She gave the other woman, not Alana, the one known as [member="Sasha Santhe"] a smile and nod. “Did he? Trusts family a bit too much, but…” Well, Riley didn’t try to kill him. Truth be told, Marek did out Force her, which was a bit surprising.

She wasn’t a typical member of their family. She was better than, stronger, heavier with the Force, but Marek did have a strange finesse in the Starchaser telekinetic power that was wanted. She would get there, she was sure. Smiling at Sasha, she shrugged. “I saw this one hit the market. Beautiful piece of equipment. So… whats first?” Riley looked at Alana and then back to Sasha, she was being really awkward, wasn’t she?

 

[Sasha Santhe]

Walking to the ramp of the speedster Sasha pressed a button. "Remote entry, standard in all models," the ramp descended and revealed the interior of the craft. Much of it had been stripped and wires and circuits were exposed. It was no longer the luxury craft it had once been. Sasha walked up the ramp and into the craft. The cargo bay was filled with new equipment and a few power nodes. "These will all be covered when we're done," she explained, "we obviously need to finish the interior."

She led the woman to the cockpit. "Well?" she asked looking at her. "We are going to take off now. Nice and slow, get us into space. There are two recovery craft nearby in case we stall out the power generator. Otherwise we are to get in space and turn systems on one at a time and take readings." She walked over to the copilots seat but didn't sit. Instead she reached up overhead and pulled open a pannel checking the inside. Her shirt lifted up revealing a bare midriff, her toned stomach contracting with her breath. "And that was the last check," she said turning and sitting down. "We are good to take off when you are ready."

[member="Riley Topol"]

 

[Riley Topol]

Great, she was learning about ships now. Her father was a quartermaster for an entire Imperial Wing, or has-been Imperial Wing, she knew her way around a whole lot of equipment, probably why she was here. “Smart move.” For when you just needed to get away and could open the ship from afar. Of course, Riley could probably tear the door off… But that’d cause issues later on. Following the other brunette up the ramp, she looked around the ship, and y'know, eyes watching [member="Sasha Santhe"], of course. It was definitely not the luxury craft that she saw in the brochure.

“Have to break it down, yeah?” She looked around, really, it was probably easier to maintain this way. Was it possible to get this turned into a working vessel? Not that kind of work, no, she would buy Corellian for any kind of cargo hauling jobs. She kept looking around. Right, cockpit.

“I figured that much, toots.” She said, rolling her eyes and stepping forward to take the pilot seat. Alana was following behind them, taking notes on the ship, or Riley, or Force knew what. She didn’t care, she had a job right now, and that was to fly this and probably put it through the ringer. Really? She was being paid to overclock a ship? Powering up the ship, she looked over to her right, taking a quick peak and biting her lip before running a hand along the controls, the ship was powering up and she was starting to itch to get it to atmosphere.

Reaching up she stretched her torso before running her hands through her dark hair and putting it quickly up in a loose, and lazy ponytail. “Might wanna sit down, both of ya.” She grinned, confidence oozing in her voice and the Force. Grabbing the controls, she lifted the ship up pushed the engines forward, whipping into a quick aileron roll, both left, then right, before pulling and angling for an escape vector.

 

[Sasha Santhe]

[member="Riley Topol"], she was an interesting enough woman Sasha decided as she sat back in the seat and managed the various systems. She took off, out of the hanger and into space. The two ships flanked either side of the vessel and Sasha smiled. She fiddled with the controls and instruments taking the readings. "There is a course in your navi computer. Once we've determined that all systems are a go I'd like you to run it as fast as you can."

And with that Sasha was back underneath a panel examining circuits and wires. After a minute she stood up, stretched out her arms and sat back down into the chair. "The control panel will look neater when we're done of course. We'll more seamlessly integrate it in." Currently the panel had some old style toggles and switches to control the systems. Not visually appealing. She started flicking the switches until all the new systems were on. "Alright," she said a large smile appearing on her face. "Punch it."

 

[Riley Topol]

Interesting was good for Riley. She had the feeling she would begin to bother most people in this galaxy. She wasn’t the most cautious and very often was crass. People would learn to deal with it, or, well, just leave. Riley was the kind of young woman who really followed how she was raised. And by a Corellian hot shot, Corellian cop, and some very egotistical dark side using commando-pilots, well, there was ego for days and confidence to back it up.

It really id get translated in her outfits, as well, clothes that were a bit tight, a bit low cut, shirts that didn’t always meet the hem of her pants or skirts. Y’know, enough o keep men, and whichever women were looking at her that way, on edge. To keep them distracted. Use your assets, her father said.

And skills. She smiled over at [member="Sasha Santhe"] and nodded. “Yes, ma’am!” she said in a faux sense of actually taking orders as she activated the navi computer and activated the course. Leaning back in the seat, and arching her back until her vertebra popped, she took a deep breath before relaxing. Getting into the zone. Looking over, she smiled when she was given the okay to take the course.

“Hang onto your shirt.” She remarked, grabbing the stick and pushing the throttle to max.

 

[Sasha Santhe]

[member="Riley Topol"]
Sasha threw her feet out and arms up as the craft accelerated. It was something she used to do when she was girl and her father would take her for a joyride. She laughed a little, suddenly in her own little world. Sasha liked to go fast…

Her revelry was short lived however and soon she found herself examining the various controls. Everything seemed to be working fine, for the time being. She pressed a button and pinged the escort ships stealing a look at their readings. They were being left in the dust and Sasha expressed her pleasure at this, “Hot flying.”

And then she toggled a few more switches on the archaic control panel. Systems shot to life along the ship and she pinged the escort ships again. They’re readings had changed. Now they only detected a communications ping and not any ship in the area. This was a good thing.

They continued on the course for awhile with the escort ships scanning the area. Every couple of minutes Sasha pinged the vessels and started an uploading taking their data. “We are invisible,” Sasha said with a superior smile. It was at this moment of the vessels two reactors sparked and exploded.

[SIZE=12pt]Sire shot out through the vessel and the sleek little ship started to shake violently. It became clear after a few seconds that they were going to crash… “Get the damned ship under control.”[/SIZE]

 

[Riley Topol]

Riley looked over at Sasha, not really even noticing Alana in the back. She was watching gauges and herself, she supposed. Marek is playing safe, smart move. Not that Riley had any kind of murderous thoughts, just… she liked to be off the leash of her father, and who knew where that would take her? But seeing [member="Sasha Santhe"] acting… what? Joyful? That was kind of cute, and a smile showed up on Riley’s face.

Pulling into a left and then right aileron roll, just because it was one of her favorite moves, and to see how the ship handled, she nodded. “I don’t do anythin’ less than hot… anything.” Really, Riley? Really? That’s what she was going with.

Whatever.

“Invisible? This has a cloak on it?” She was a bit confused as she took her eyes off the front view port.

Feeling the ship rock, she shook her head, grabbing the controls. “Hang on! What’d you do?” Riley all but yelled, looking at Sasha. The ship was fighting her and she did not like that. She was reaching out, to the ship, to Alana, to the ship when everything was going on.

 

[Sasha Santhe]

"I didn't do anything," Sasha said with a vicious tone of annoyance. She examined the systems one more time. "The stealth systems fried the generator." Quirking eyebrows she looked at the displays. The ship bounced and Sasha nearly fell out of her seats. "There is no way these systems suck up this much juice." She frowned and stood up moving towards the back of the craft. She started looking through the exposed wires and systems and examining every inch of the craft.

"No," she said as she examined a specific area. There was a device in amongst the wires, a device which she instantly recognized. It cut into the power lines and bled them of usable energy. This power-bleed would be more than enough to force the reactor to go into overdrive and then, Sasha suspected, on investigation there would have been a malfunction in the reactors safety systems. She frowned as she disconnected the device from the power cables. Who would do this? The thought didn't say in her head very long, survival took priority.

[member="Riley Topol"]

 

[Riley Topol]

Sure she didn’t. Riley looked over at [member="Sasha Santhe"] as she got up. Both her and Alana were checking the systems when Sasha headed back to the back of the ship. “I don’t know, I’m just holdin’ us together!” She said, shaking her head. What was going on here? Couldn’t be power, then what? Riley wasn’t expecting this ship to explode with her in it, not the job she signed up for.

Biting her lip, she was checking her radar and the flight path they were in. She was fighting with the ship, and turning the engines down, less strain on the reactor. “Did you figure out what is goin’ on?” She called back, still at the controls, controlling the momentum of the ship. What the frak.

 

[Sasha Santhe]

Sasha frowned, she didn't like this one bit. Anyone could have been behind the sabotage, but a single suspect came to mind. [member="Marek Starchaser"]. Perhaps he didn't have a good relationship with his family and this was his way of killing two mynock with one stone. "Take us back down to the planet, half speed." she frowned. "I found out what was wrong and I'll need to fix the problem." Sasha wasn't sure how much she could trust [member="Riley Topol"]. Obviously she wasn't wittingly part of the plan, and Sasha knew she couldn't have leaked information as this was the first the woman had heard of this project. But still, that doesn't mean Sasha was ready to tell her all the secrets just yet. "I'll fix the problem when I get to the surface," she repeated.

 

[Riley Topol]

What the frell was going on? Riley wasn’t looking forward to this. She didn’t like when things didn’t go to plan. And while she might be a bit of a rebellious spirit, this company was going to pay her, so why would she try to break what she was testing herself on? She wasn’t Neo, for the love of the Force.

Though… he didn’t really break anything.

Except his sleep cycle.

Follow the white rabbit

Half speed to the planet. “Half speed, planet bound. Yes, ma’am.” She smirked as she turned the ship around, looking over her shoulder at the now silent Alana, and [member="Sasha Santhe"]. This was going to be a blast, huh? “So, I don’t suppose you’ve got a stereo hooked up in this bucket yet?” Ride was going to be longer than the outbound.

 

[Sasha Santhe]

Irritably Sasha looked at [member="Riley Topol"]. She leaned back in her seat slouching and kicked a foot out hitting a button. Music started to play the local Lianna club music. "I knew it might be a long flight," she said defeated. She took a deep breath and tried to calm herself. She had come a long way from the moody teenager she once was and now refused to revert. She pressed the com, "When I arrive, please have [member="Marek Starchaser"] waiting."

Sasha took in a few deep breaths and tried to seem distraught. She was a good enough actress to know that an increased heart rate would help sell it. "That was such a close call," she said. "I can't believe it."

Yes, a good actress and her change of mood came after just enough time for the idea of shock to have crossed the minds of her two companions. "I just want to be on the ground now..."

 

[Riley Topol]

Riley wasn’t the most keen on the Sense aspect of the Force. Keeping her body moving and causing destruction were her games. So, really, looking at [member="Sasha Santhe"] was her only way to gauge the other woman. She bite her lip as she flew the ship down to the surface. Behind them, she could hear Alana contacting Marek, or at least trying.

Seemed Sasha’s team was a bit faster than she was. “I don’t even know what happened. I hadn’t seen the ship ‘til today.” Right, probably be quiet Riley.

“What are you thinkin’ it was?”

Or not.

Right, where was Marek, then?