[Chapter Two] Through The Nether

[Lief]

Edge of the Bubble of the Lost​

The Chiloon Rift​

Onboard The Haunter​

​

Knowledge was power.

Kobe had never needed his Instructors to inform him of such, it was intrinsic. Even in the Jedi, though they worded it differently. There is no ignorance, there is knowledge. Bah. It all led to the same thing in the end. Information was a necessity, required for all walks of life. From your average Joe, to the strongest Force Users in the Galaxy... All had to begin with education.

This venture would further his far beyond the lessons he had already been taught. Provided everything went to plan. Strangely enough, he was not alone this day. Far from it. His vessel, The Haunter, stolen from Kaine many moons ago, was tiny. Far too small to comfortably carry two... And yet a passenger he had regardless.

Apparently this was not a venture to undertake alone. Maybe Kaine was trying to press his buttons, see how far he could push the boy to make him snap and ultimately end his existence. Is that what his Master wanted? A reason? He has had reasons a plenty to slay you, Kobe. Pray that you do not give him further cause.

Kobe had not said a word. The girl had been given his name by his Master, [member='Darth Carnifex'], and he saw no need to expand beyond that. He was not one for words, hadn't been in a great many years, he was not about to change that just because another joined him on his ship.

As he pulled from hyperspace, on the edge of the abyss if his digital cartographer was correct, he turned his head toward the woman and gave one firm nod. Time for her to buckle up, unless she wanted to be splattered against the viewing port. They were in for a bumpy ride if they had any hopes of getting to the other side.

 

[NightSister]

Aria was more than happy with silence.

Words when they weren't a necessity were equally dull and distressing, an artificial way to occupy time - yes, Aria was perfectly comfortable with her pilot's disinclination towards talking. She was in such a good mood today; small talk would've been a dreadful way to end that.

Other Sith, and likely many Jedi too, might have made use of the silence to meditate, but Aria preferred to daydream within her consciousness - her thoughts, after all, rarely let her be. But her current interest was in the man flying them through the Rift, the stranger she was accompanying in a hunt for an old starship. They'd teamed up on the mission into the Bubble of the Lost thanks to Darth Carnifex - she'd known the name previously only from her infrequent adventures with the Sith Order, but she took the Sith Lord to be powerful, if nothing else - they'd not had to exchange a word to arrange the journey, and so Aria knew only the barest bit about Kobe.

Naturally she was curious.

She realised at some point in the midst of her reverie that the man was gesturing for her to get ready. More alert now, she fixed herself into her seat - it was hard not to be reminded of how very small the ship was - and nodded back at him, mentally steeling herself for the final part of their journey.

- [member="Raseri Sarosh"] -​

 

[Lief]

The silence this stranger allowed to stretch on was unprecedented. No stupid chatter, no needless time wasting, just pure silence and time to think. A dream come true. Kaine, it seemed, had done his Ward a great service... Just another thing for him to be grateful for.

When she gave the nod, Kobe wasted no time. He checked his own restraints for just a second, before pushing the ship forward.

For a moment it was as though time stood still. As though every second was stretched into an eternity. The ship did not move, no sounds escaped its engine, it simply existed in suspended animation.

Then came the shaking.

The whole vessel rocked, threatening to throw them from their seats. Kobe closed his eyes, breathing controlled, and focused on the Force. Allowing it to guide him. When he reopened them he felt a little less uncertain, and the ship began to stabilize. But it was far from over.

A bump in space sent the ship off course, as though the bubble itself was attempting to toss them back outside its sphere of influence.

Not today...

The boy bit his lip, hard, and brought the ship back around. He taxed every inch of her engine, pushing and pushing until they finally broke through the resistance and came out the other end.

For a moment there was only silence.

And then a glaring sound from the ships computers pierced their eardrums.

[member="Aria Vale"]

 

[NightSister]

Beat. Beat. The ship was still - entirely frozen. Watchful eyes looked about, faintly wary.

Beat. It was silent.

Beat,
beat,
beat-

Instinctively, her fingers gripped at the edge of her seat less than a fraction of a second before the ship lurched forward, shaking violently. Aria shifted, back firmly against the wall, tensed as she waited for the vessel to stabilize.Slowly it did; gradually her grip eased. They bumped into something, and Aria readied herself but Kobe managed to keep the craft secure.

Still no words. Aria stayed wary, straining to keep an eye on their direction without leaning too far out of her seat. The man was an admittedly good pilot; more than fortunate given the apparent nature of the mission, she supposed.

Silence settled again for an instant; her eyes narrowed, alert.

Then she flinched inwardly as the computers emitted an awful screeching sound.

Aria risked lifting her hands from the seat to cover her ears, and looked questioningly at Kobe regardless of if he was looking back at her. Barely an average pilot, the Echani had very little experience with any flights of this sort and though she could hazard a guess, she wasn't entirely certain what had caused the noise.

Gingerly, she waited for the man to presumably sort out the ship's computer and get rid of the glaring sound.

​

"Clear?"

​

- [member="Raseri Sarosh"] -​

 

[Lief]

He hated noise.

Unnecessary noise more so than any other kind. It grated on him, it made him anxious, and frustrated, and right this moment he wanted to hit the damn systems for playing up on him like this. No doubt it was to be expected, the ship had just passed through the impossible... An area of space many other ships had been sucked into and never saw the light of day again. Didn't make it any more bearable.

He shut off the engines for a moment, just a single solitary second, and they drifted unaided through the Bubble, before he booted the ship back up.

No more glaring. As good a fix as any, he was no mechanic, and he only flew the Haunter so well because, well, it had been in his possession for a great many years now. He would never be able to pilot a ship as he did her.

Only now did the boy remember his passenger. He turned his head slightly, giving her the visual once over to check for any damage, before nodding. Though his tongue felt heavy, his mouth dry, he forced out one word before returning his focus back to the viewing port.

"Clear."

The view which presented itself to them within the next few moments was astounding. It was like an orbital shipyard, only the ships were just left floating around. Some had great big holes carved into their hulls, others were in a better state of repair. None were operational.

How odd.

His gaze scanned them each, before he nodded in the direction of the Star Destroyer they had in truth been sent to explore. While the vessel made its way toward the floating hunk of metal, he turned his head back to the girl.

"Are you..." He ran his tongue against the back of his teeth; talking was not a strong point of his, he found it extremely difficult to engage, more so to find the words. "Okay..?"

It had been quite the bumpy ride, the least he could do was ask.

[member="Aria Vale"]

 

[NightSister]

- [member="Raseri Sarosh"] -​

​

In truth, it had hardly occurred to her that she might have an injury worth her attention.

The brunt of her thoughts had been on how glad she was that the noise had stopped, truly - the sound had been high-pitched and grating, the very worst kind, and now there was a wonderful quiet about the ship. Aria always had been curiously good at disregarding her safety whenever there was something else even remotely interesting to think about.

At his words she stayed quiet for an instant, flexing gently as she tried to determine if any of the aches would be a concern. As far as she could tell, they weren't. Mentally she sighed in relief; Aria had the feeling their mission could prove to be fairly dangerous, and it wouldn't do at all to get hurt before they'd even gotten off the ship.

"Mmhmm." She shifted again in her seat, relaxing her entirely tensed posture and sitting slightly less upright. "You?"

It was wonderful, she thought to herself, how few words one needed to speak to communicate.

Now her focus left her apparent health and followed his to the viewing port, eyeing the shipyard that had come into view. Amber eyes looked in keen interest at the view, curious gaze going from ship to ship as Kobe took them closer to a Star Destroyer. She'd been eager before - she was much more so now.

 

[Lief]

The ship was truly a behemoth. One half of its hull was torn length ways, higher than their ship and as long as the trees of Kashyyyk. It was times like these that he was grateful for modern technology, blast doors and airlocks which could keep the rest of the ship functioning. He wouldn't take unnecessary risks though, and he reached down to his feet where a bag of equipment lay and tossed back to the woman a rebreather. Just incase.

"Mmhmm" he responded, when the question came to his own wellbeing. Maybe a few stiff muscles from where he'd locked his arms in focus, but outside of that remarkably fine. He ran a few diagnostics of the ship as they neared the SSD, and everything seemed fine with her too. Good, now they just had to hope that leaving the Bubble would prove as beneficial to their health.

After what felt like an age, though truthfully only a few minutes passed, the Haunter pulled into one of the port hangars; emergency systems were running, and part of that included the field which surrounded the docking bays. Inside the air, gravity, and pressure, were all stable. One last check of their ship, before the ramp lowered and Kobe swiftly descended with hardly another thought.

On his belt sat his mother's lightsaber, as well as his blasters. A knife in his boot. Rebreather already part of his ensemble, though the mask was retracted. He glanced through the hangar, noting several outdated ships. Despite their age, they actually looked to be in working condition. He admired them from afar, before turning to glance at Aria... As though not entirely believing that she was okay.

"Stay... Close."

It would not do for the pair of them to lose track of one another. Who knew what lay upon this ship, what had caused the gaping hole in its hull, whether they were actually alone here at all.

A few steps out of the hangar, and into the dimly lit corridors beyond, however, made it difficult to believe that anyone was alive at all. Bodies lined the floor, some in better condition than others. They bore Old Imperial Insignia's... Kobe could not help but wonder just how long their corpses had lain here for.

[member="Aria Vale"]

 

[NightSister]

Aria was at the edge of her seat, looking keenly at the massive Destroyer through the viewing port. She'd never been on one, never so much as seen one up close (Aria valued her life enough to ever go near space battle) and it was twice as easy to appreciate the craft's titanic size from within the confines of this very small fighter.

Kobe threw a rebreather her way and she caught it deftly, fitting it over the lower half of her face with only some bother. She fought to keep faint impatience leashed, hands in her lap rather than tapping at the sides of the seat - her habit when she fell prey to restlessness - and eyes still trained on the view through the screen. It seemed to take much longer than it truly had to reach the hangar although she doubted her pilot was paying enough attention to her to pick up on her own impatience; she was nonetheless evidently relieved and pleased in equal measures when the ramp lowered and she could stand up.

Still as comfortable as ever with the near-complete silence between them, Aria offered a mere nod in response to the Acolyte and followed him down the ramp. A hand went to her rebreather to ensure it still in place, then again with her saber; both were fine. Aria would be the first to admit her own recklessness, but even she had her limits with how willing she was to gamble her life.

Golden eyes were filled with apprehension. She was far from new to seeing death firsthand (and force knew she'd dealt death enough times on the battlefield) but the bodies scattered up and down the corridors were enough to at least make her wrinkle her nose.

Regardless she followed ahead, eyes wandering every nook and cranny in careful investigation.

[member="Raseri Sarosh"]​