Heart Of Gold

[Tycho Kae]

COORDINATES: CLASSIFIED​

LOCATION: MSV HEART OF GOLD​

​

The YT-1300 class light freighter known affectionately as the Razorleaf shot through the magical, hand-wavey extra-dimensional dimension known as hyperspace, where a ship could move through a colour-melding blue and black tunnel for an indeterminate amount of time and end up somewhere else. This somewhere else could be accurately predicted and plotted due to ... mathematics and science and whatever. Tycho Kae couldn't wrap his head around it. He'd leave the hyperspace magic shavit to the nerds and their calculators and their gorram stupid pocket protectors. And their awkward, "never touched a woman in my life" personalities. Go write sci-fi fan fiction in your spare time you geeks. Where this agitated train of thought came from, Tycho didn't know. Perhaps it was nervousness. This was his first security gig, his first trip off world, and they were about to explore an abandoned ship that was over four hundred years old. That, and the skipper didn't exactly inspire confidence.

- Ah ... fellas? This is your, ah, captain speaking. - Lord's voice came over the intercom. There was a long pause. The bloke was probably trying to compose himself. - Ahhh ... Well, we're about fifteen minutes from the ... our intended location and ah. Yeah. We're gonna cut our way on board near the cargo hold and have a little looksie for the ... stuff. Karakus can go first. Kae, could you take care of the rear? ... Ah yeah, so ... this stuff could be valuable. Cool. Ah ... yeah -

Awe inspiring. Tycho, mouth open and eyes wide like a stunned mullet, looked over at the ship's mechanic, Bryce Njem. The cheerful Korunnai look back and shrugged.

"He has never been the best at oration, my brother." Tycho nodded at that. Must have skipped his Basic classes.

Fifteen minutes until h hour, with a wall of mystery in front of him clouding his vision of the future. Uncertainty. Friction. Danger. Chance. All the elements of an interesting mission.

OOC: This thread involves the discovery and search of the MSV Heart of Gold, a merchant freighter that went missing during the advent of the Gulag Plague. On board, there are artefacts from the Atrisian Galactic History Museum. Feel free to specify what you have found, just don't go overboard and start discovering the Soulsaber or Sun Crusher or whatever. If you go full stupid, I'll basically deal with you on the spot. Yes, there are enemy. I will control that element.

To any Jedi who wish to join, Tycho is force sensitive.

Have at it!

 

[Lina Ovmar]

Aella found herself jolting from a snooze as the captains voice droned over the comm. Propped up on a crate in the cargo hold, she rubbed her eyes and stretched. Despite her new found feet within the Protectorate and a fresh start with the Jedi Academy, Aella couldn't help but be drawn out into space. It was quiet, provided you didn't run into trouble, and peaceful. Sliding off the crate she brushed a strannd of dirty blonde hair from her face and straightened her jacket. clad in spacer clothes, she looked every bit the mercenary, and not in the least bit well...Jedi.

She moved towards the mechanic and his somewhat uneasy companion, head tilting slightly at the hesitant speach from the captain. "Any ideas what we might find?" Emerald green eyes setlled on [member="Tycho Kae"].

 

[Tycho Kae]

"Any ideas what we might find?"

Tycho's eyes rose from the floor and met [member="Aella"] agreeably enough. He didn't know much about the passenger on board the Razorleaf, but something seemed inherently different about her. The young Echani couldn't pick it exactly, but the lingering ... doubt was the word, perhaps ... yes, doubt; remained in the air between them. Something set Aella and the ship's crew apart. That same intangible something set Tycho apart from the galaxy. He could sense it, and despite all of his charm and agreeable personality, he could never fully erase that something. Instead, he mitigated it, enough to ensure that only a few noticed it. Those few were special ... like him, though he chose to deny it.

"Love, this is my first time doing anything like this." His Corellian accent drafted through the cargo hold to Aella. He smiled, eyes tinged with a hint of excitement. "Captain says artefacts. I'm hoping for something sick though. Like, I dunno, ancient weapons or Rakatan tech or some shavit."

"What about jewels, mate?" Bryce pronounced jewels as 'jools.'

"You can keep 'em. I want something memorable."

"Fine by me." Tycho shrugged, and grinned at Aella.

"How'd you find out about this?" Meanwhile, a slight lurch suggested that the Razorleaf had just exited hyperspace. Any moment now, and they'd be ready to board.

 

[Lina Ovmar]

Aella shrugged at the question. "I've done a few scavenger jobs before, I like to keep my ears open for opportunities like this." Her slate wasn't what someone would call clean, The shi'do had run with pirates and smugglers alike, never with the same face yet always with the same intention. To learn something.

"Artifacts, you say?" she mused smiling slightly. "I've little interest in weapons or tech, so lets hope there's a datacron or two around." There was something about this man, something that set him apart form the others. He, like her, had the force. She opened her mouth to say something, then snapped it shut. All the great wars in this world began and ended with force users. Dislike and suspicion were the instant reactions to force users more among people like this, more often than not.

"It's Kae, right?" she offered a hand. "I'm Aella."

[member="Tycho Kae"]

 

[Tycho Kae]

"Yeah, call me Tycho." He grinned and accepted Aella's hand. Last names were so impersonal, especially with females. Tycho liked being on a first name basis with females more so than males. That was just how he operated. Feet began drumming a rhythm into the floor of the cargo hold, the manifestation of nervous tension. Yes, he was nervous. This was his first time salvaging, his first time outside of the Corellian system, his first time off-world ... and there was no telling what they would find on board the Heart of Gold. His gut screamed at him, telling him that this was a bad idea. Tycho crushed that feeling, dismissing it as just nerves, and knowing that there was no going back now.

-Alright, ah ... action stations team, we're here.-

Tycho's eyebrow rose in amusement, throwing [member="Aella"] a knowing look. Action stations ... Force, this guy serious?

"Looks like that's us.." Standing, his right hand felt for his blaster on his hip, an instinctual movement already, and then shouldered his electrostaff, which at the moment was doubling for an Echani spear. Slowly, gracefully, the Echani martial artist headed for the cargo bay door as soft shuddering indicated that the docking process was mid-initiation. The rest of the crew formed up around him, all armed, all tense. By all reports, the Heart of Gold should be empty of danger, and full to the brim with valuable artefacts. Should.

Tycho Kae had a bad feeling about this.

The door opened into blackness.

 

[Lina Ovmar]

Aella could only grin in response to Tycho's look. Shrugging, she pulled her own blaster out of its holster and checked its clip before moving to from up with Tycho. "Relax," she said quietly "I've got your back."

Whether or not that was of any reassurance to Tycho, Aella didn't know, but she felt the same niggling sensation that something wasn't right, that something was going to go wrong. Still she couldn't help but smile. Where, after all, was the fun without a little bit of risk. A wave of tension rolled over the crew as the air lock opened and for a moment nobody moved.

Then, one by one, they began to shuffle forward Aella and Tycho bringing uip the rear. Aella began to humm softly.

[member="Tycho Kae"]

 

[Tycho Kae]

"Could this place get any more fething dark?" Tycho's Corellian drawl cut through the blackness.

"Shut up!" came the Captain's frantic voice in reply. "I can hear something!"

The crew halted immediately, waiting and listening in anticipation. Some were clearly terrified, others less so, however ... there was a tangible nervousness amongst the crew. Tycho felt it and recognised it, his hand tightening around the grip of his blaster. The group's pause lasted five seconds, or maybe it was fifteen. None of them could tell. Their only accompaniment was silence. And so they pushed on. Rada, the first mate, navigated them forward through the dark, maze-like corridors. Their objective was the bridge. The bridge would still have a dedicated back-up power source waiting on stand by to be initiated, and from there they could unlock the cargo hold. From there, it would just be a matter of having enough time to make enough trips to bring all the loot onto the Razorleaf. A remarkably simple plan. A "cakewalk."

They reached the bridge without further incident, filing through the archway into the Heart of Gold's central nervous system. Still dark. Still mysterious. Still nerve-inducing.

"Kid," said Rada, 'kid' meaning Tycho." "Get the lights."

Tycho complied in silence, swiftly analysing the vague shape of the room and deciding on the most likely area in which they'd be located. He was right the first time. The young Corellian Echani had that knack ... the lights flicked on, and the rest of the crew blinked furiously as the light hit their darkness-indoctrinated, dilated retinas. Tycho was no different, his eyes taking a few seconds to adjust to the light. And then he saw it.

"Aw what the feth.." The young Echani stood in silence, looking behind the rest of the crew to the far wall. Their, beside a large hyperspace navigation display, was a man frozen in carbonite.

"Look, I know that's not a datacron, but ..." he said to [member="Aella"], shock negated somewhat by his dry sense of humour.

 

[Lina Ovmar]

The shi'do hummed the entirity of the walk through to the bridge, falling silent only at the command of their leader. Darkness and silence were far better companions than blaster fire or flashing swords, both of which she'd encountered before, so for Aella, this was a pleasant raid. There was something though, something that stirred in the back of her mind that made her think they were being watched.

Aella blinked, eyes adjusting to the sudden light on the bridge. There seemed to be a silent groan of disappointment from the crew. Aella on the other hand grinned, clapping Tycho on the shoulder. "A man is a far better source of information than a machine, they can offer something a machine cannot," she moved forward, almost bouncing as she approached it. "emotion." she concluded fingers running along the edge of the carbonite. "An account that allows you to build a true picture in your mind, allows you to feel."

She checked the display on the side of the slab and grinned. "His vitals are fine. Shall we wake him?"

[member="Tycho Kae"]

[sorry for the delay i was on holiday ]