Private Isolation

[Kara Dur]

No matter how hard she tried , no matter how many warnings she gave, the Jedi Knight received nothing but cold looks and words of disapproval. Of course, as a Jedi, she wasn't quick-tempered. Although even she had her limits. The only other individual aboard this station who could actually comprehend her warnings through the Force wasn't trying, and the others apparently believed that there was no truth in her words.

Especially Zenor had tested the boundaries of her tolerance. Something that made her inclined to disagree with his speech. "Not to mention, we still have a Jedi and Mandalorian to help defend the base." No they didn't. "I have given you both warnings and advice. I will not defend your station from what doom you may bring upon it." She calmly stated. Besides, the Jedi Council had assigned them with a different task. She was perfectly aware that she couldn't be forced into action by anyone on the station. Nevertheless, she still held a responsibility to protect the innocent; the few people who, like her, were against exploring the mysteries of the strange ship.

---

Zephyr agreeing with the condition she gave him was something she was grateful for. "Thank you." she replied as she followed the Mandalorian down the hallway.

Kara nodded after his short explanation. "I doubt it is anything legal if we don't know of it." She patiently watched as he bypassed the lock with his charge. Naturally, the door didn't open immediately. Things were never that easy. "Of course." she said in response to his question.

With a swift summon of the Living Force, Kara raised her arms. Simultaneously as she raised them, the door slowly slid open. "After you."
​

 

[Cadere]

The Padawan snickered at Isabeau's sarcastic comment, while he had no personal quarrel with Zephyr - her snide comment was still funny nonetheless. However, he shook his head at her statement about him being 'more Mandalorian' "Wouldn't go that far. I'm just trying to do the right thing." he argued with a serious tone of voice.

Isabeau's strategy was sound as well as simple, two things he appreciated when in a scenario like this "Cool." he said with a smile and a nod "I can work with that." Cas added as he turned his attention to Morgan and Zenor, who decided on dispatching a team of the volunteers to investigate the transmission. Kara's interjection regarding not protecting the facility while they were gone caused him to shake his head - "Give the galaxy another reason to hate us, why don't you." Cas passive aggressively fired at her before she left. With that over with and those that would remain on the ship gone, Cas got up from his seat and moved in a little closer to Zenor as he went over the plan.

Placing a hand on his hip and raising the other over his head "I'm one of the best pilots in the Order, I can get us there." he volunteered, while he may or may not have been allowing some of his ego to show itself as he did so. After he'd get his answer from Zenor, Cas would lower his hand back onto his hip and turn his head to look at Dawil who seemed more than a little nervous - Cas chuckled and smirked "Don't worry, Dawil - Isabeau and I will keep you safe." he winked before speaking out to everyone else "And... if we screw up and die, haunt away." he jested.

Cas then hooked his thumb and index finger to his chin, tilting his head upward to convey his thinking "Though, if we're all dead... does it really count as haunting? Y'know, instead of just harassment?" he joked again, trying to lighten the mood for everyone else in hopes of taking some of the fear, uncertainty and nervousness away.

Isabeau Storyteller Zephyr Kumaara Kara Dur

 

[Isabeau]

Taking the next chance she got, Isabeau leaned over to Cas shortly after Kara had felled her comment "I didn't take your kind for the ones to sit brooding in a corner with their arms crossed" she said, eyes switching between the young jedi and the grumpy one. Leaning her head to the side, Isabeau reconsidered "Actually, Jedi do like to brood in a corner while contemplating their peace, don't they?" she said, smirking and adding a somewhat mocking emphasis when saying 'peace'. While their insistence on peace and the softer values might have worked to hold them back, they were still respectable warriors and Isabeau was content in responding to the distress signal with Cas and she was looking forward to spending more time with Dawil the Engineer and perhaps even getting to know Zenor and Barnet better.

The group that was designated to go soon gathered around Zenor - Isabeau and Cas were already there. Her eyes scanned the others, she was quite curious to see what Zenor was actually capable of doing since he had not agreed to spar with her so far. Barnet had denied her straight out before and chosen to watch a movie with Cas instead. Naturally, this had lowered his standing in her eyes, but if anyone needed to be sacrificed, at least she would have a good candidate. Cas had at least agreed to spar with her at other times. Of course, it would be even better if nobody had to be sacrificed which also seemed like the more reasonable scenario. Ignoring Kara's doom and gloom, the most likely cause of the distress signal was probably some spacer who had run out of fuel or something.

Biting her lower lip, the young Mandalorian tried to keep herself from laughing and fortunately only allowed a slight chuckle to escape her. "You are one of the Order's best pilots?" she asked, looking at Cas skeptically before joking "You guys can't be doing very well then. Might be ripe for a few raids." She was smiling happily whilst continuing her train of though "How many years of practice have you had? Did the more senior pilots die or do they just lack talent?" Enjoying the line of questioning, she dropped one last comment on the matter, deciding to believe in his claim for a moment "What stroke of clairvoyant genius caused the Jedi Order to send one of their best pilots to a research station in the middle of nowhere?" Isabeau's eyes were looking at his with a playful glimmer, curious to see if he would come up with a retort or not.

Standing up after the chat with Cas was over, Isabeau neared her friend, Dawil the Engineer. Wrapping her arm around his side, she gave him a light squeeze "If you really don't want to come, I won't go along with forcing you. I mean, it would be nice if you wanted to, but you should be the one to decide this for yourself" she said, giving him a friendly smile before letting go, fully prepared to stand up for him if he continued whining about it.

Storyteller Zephyr Kumaara Kara Dur Cadere

 

[Storyteller]

As people dispersed from the sudden meeting, people started to mumble, when Kara said the last bit, before leaving "I will not defend your station from what doom you may bring upon it". It did not help people's worry and the fact that she openly admitted to just let people die if anything were to be brought back on the station, did make some of them question why the Jedi even were here, if not to help them?

Nevertheless, the crew on the station did not voice their opinion or worry and kept it among themselves, as they still trusted that Kara would help when it came down to it.

With a low "woosh" sound came as the door slit open, they would find themselves looking into the start of a room, but not any room, a room that contained all manners of old equipment and empty glass vials on shelves. What they also would see placed in neat rows on a table, was a bunch of small containers filled with what smelled like rot and decay, all with name tags of dead animals. The table also had four drawers in a vertical line, all locked with a simple keycard. Lastly 4 round neon green-coloured barrels with a nuclear warning sign on the side of the barrels. The lids on the barrels were in a darker blue colour and sealed shut, with an airtight lock of a lock pad on top of the lids.

Other than that, the room was square-shaped with dull white colour for walls along with a singular light in the ceiling, and seemingly no other doors or opening that could potentially lead a person anywhere else, then out the way they entered.

~~~~~~~~ Back in the canteen ~~~~~~~~​

Isabeau seemed to get her question out first, before Zenor, asking exactly the same question as Zenor wanted to ask, so he just asked the next question on his mind to Cas. "Why would they send the Order's best pilot here?" Asked Zenor with a serious look on his face, not joining in on the joking. "No, I will fly us there. Now is not the time to play hero, wonderboy" comment Zenor, not at all joking, having a rather grim look on his face. Unlike Isabeau and Cas, Zenor did not live for battles or war. Fighting was bloody, and it slaughtered the young and stupid, so the old and stubborn could live in peace.

"Great, thanks, will not at all haunt my nightmares," said Dawil sarcastic, trying to get his nerves under. "No no, you do make a good point, the potential scrap and parts could provide help to our own base. But... please don't let me go first" joked the engineer, to lighten the mood a bit.

With a clap on Dawil's back, "don't worry friend, you have two badasses here to protect you, and grumpy here" joked the cook and poked Zenor with his elbows. "Yes yes, it's all fun and games until someone dies. Let's move" said Zenor finally and led the group towards the small hanger of the station. Dawil look to Cas and Isabeau, "yea sorry about Zenor. He takes his job very seriously" apologized the young man with a sheepish smile, before getting up and following Zenor with the Cook.

First, they would stop by the security office, where Zenor would grab a blaster pistol and a communication wrist-device for himself and the rest. "With this comm, you will be able to contact each other out there and with me here" explained Lars, sitting in his chair, spinning from side to side. Barnet took one of the rifles, the type where you shoot once and had to reload.

When they finally arrived, they would stand in a very small hanger, smaller than Isabeau and Cas would have seen before. The ship itself looked used and not exactly new, though it still had paint on it and a decent size for them all. Walking over to the ship, Zenor activated the ramp and entered the ship along with Dawil, Barnet, Isabeau and Cas. The ship had only two front cannons on the ship and the co-pilot controlled those. Even the cannons weren't particularly powerful. It was safe to say that this ship acted more as a transporter than anything else.

Upon entering the small ship, they would find that it was pretty empty, a row on each side of the ship and enough seats for everyone working on the space station. In the other end, was the cockpit, which only had room for two people, the pilot and a co-pilot. Zenor took the piloting seat as he started to power up the ship, meanwhile, both Dawil and Barnet found a seat in the back and had no reason to sit upfront.

Cadere Kara Dur Isabeau Zephyr Kumaara

 

[Zephyr Krayt]

"That's... concerning." He said in response to Kara's comment. If Morgan was doing illegal research then they needed to determine the content of the research and the implications it could have as there was a reason it was illegal. Zephyr's gaze was focused on Kara as she used opened the door, intrigued by the Force, the mystical power he knew little about. He gave a small nod in thanks as she allowed him to enter first and walked in ahead of her.

At first, he looked over the whole room, taking in the peculiar sight before crouching down to eye-level with the table and examining the seemingly dead animals with his eyes. He wished Isabeau were here now as all her suspicions about Morgan had proven to be founded and they may never have discovered his secret lair if it hadn't been for her. "I wonder what kind of research he's performing on these that needs to be kept secret." He thought aloud.

The next thing to catch his eye was the bright barrels so he got back to his feet and approached them to examine them briefly before addressing his main concern which he had noticed upon inspection of the room. "There aren't any other doors in here." He told Kara while glancing around the empty walls of the room and running his hand along one to try and find any disparities which suggested a hidden door. "But he doesn't leave through that door." He pointed at the door they had come in. A sense of confusion and dread swept over Zephyr.

Isabeau Cadere Kara Dur Storyteller

 

[Kara Dur]

"I don't think I want to know." The Knightess commented. Whatever he was researching, she highly doubted the Council was aware of it. Otherwise, she and Cas certainly wouldn't have been sent to the station. Her eyes darted over the many vials that decorated the room. "What do you think, evil scientist yes or no?" she mumbled, as the barrels caught her attention. She immediately recognized the hazard symbol for radiation, which made Morgan's research even more questionable. "Either he's making biological weapons, or..." She really didn't want to finish her sentence. She had some suspicions of what Morgan's research entailed, but she had no solid proof. The Kel Dor wouldn't be able to accuse Morgan of anything, without evidence.

"We'll need his research files, reports, everything." She would glance over her shoulder, to make sure that Morgan hadn't returned yet. "Can you open those drawers please? I'm certain we'll find what we're looking for in there." She continued, before Zephyr reminded her of the lacking passageways. She took note of it, but dismissed it quickly afterward. "Those doors are the least of our concerns at the moment. Also, if you see Morgan, be extremely cautious. Hand on blaster kind of cautious." Perhaps she had made a name for herself with her doom prophecies, but she had found yet another reason to dislike their current situation.

If Zephyr would open the locked drawers for her, the Knightess would search them for research reports, possible sources and literature his work was based on, and the results he had obtained so far. Among all that material, she was specifically looking for comparisons with one specific project. A highly illegal research topic in Galactic Alliance and Jedi space; Project Blackwing.

​

Zephyr Kumaara Isabeau Storyteller Cadere ​

 

[Cadere]

Un-phased, Cas waved off Isabeau's teasing "You'd be surprised. I'm game to prove it to you someday." he said smirking at the Mandalorian. What the young Mandalorian didn't know however was that before joining the Jedi, he spent a year as a shuttle pilot honing his skills and once he discovered his Force-sensitivity, it only enhanced his piloting skills - whether confidence or arrogance, the young Padawan definitely believed he was one of the Order's best.

Glancing over at the downer that was Zenor, he answered his question sarcastically "I don't know, I didn't ask." he shrugged, before correcting Zenor "I didn't say I was the best pilot, even I admit I got a ways to go for that." he chuckled. However, Zenor declined and stated he'd be piloting the ship as well as calling Cas 'wonderboy' in the process - quickly firing back, Cas raised a hand "I believe the term is 'flyboy', sir." with a sly grin.

Folding his arms, he nodded at Isabeau and Dawil, agreeing with what she said in attempts to reassure Dawil. Cas joined the two after Zenor and the others left for the ship with Dawil apologising for Zenor's glum nature - turning to Dawil, the Padawan smirked "With the way he comes off, you'd think it was illegal to smile on his home planet." he quipped to Isabeau and Dawil before following the rest.

Detouring at a security office where the others stocked up on weapons and communicators were handed out, Cas promptly attached the communicator to his right wrist "Fancy. Really matches my eyes." he quipped again, hoping to lighten the mood once more. With that over with, Cas accompanied the rest to the small hangar with a smaller ship inside, at first glance it was nothing special and had even less impressive weapons - if this really was a trap, Cas was unsure if the ship would be the best for a quick getaway. Leaning over to Isabeau, he spoke in a hushed tone "Ten credits says that this ship'll isn't making it back in one piece." holding his hand out, in case she accepted the bet.

Entering inside the ship, Cas diverted from the rest of the group and followed Zenor into the cockpit. Sitting in the co-pilot's chair next to him, he swivelled round and gave Zenor his trademark grin holding a hand in the air to halt him from speaking "Now before you get your draws in a twist, you didn't say anything about me co-piloting." he said, arguing his point.

Isabeau Storyteller Zephyr Kumaara Kara Dur

 

[Isabeau]

Throwing a glance to the side, Isabeau looked at Zenor with impressed eyes, feeling a profound sense of satisfaction as he continued her roast of Cas' bold claim. Although she was a bit disappointed by the response her jedi friend provided, seeing as it lacked any sense of a real comeback or even a bit of sharpness to it, she simply nodded at him before letting out a "Sure, as long as I'm not the one in your cross-hairs."

Dawil the Engineer, one of her favourite non-combatants on the station - probably outside of the station too - seemed to have convinced himself to come along, although he had plenty of help from herself and the others. Still, Isabeau let her eyes linger, looking into his to be completely certain that he meant it and didn't just feel forced to come. Cas was there too and with a smile, Isabeau shook her head upon hearing her friend's remark about not going in first. "No" she said with a serious tone before continuing "I think our Jedi friend here is much better suited for that" with a more lighthearted tone.

Waving Dawil the Engineer's apology off, Isabeau quickly froze to listen to Cas' joke. Letting out an involuntary laugh, she added "Only for jedi" with a cheeky grin before turning to join Zenor on their way back to the security office. She had been there many times before - often dropping by during her long patrols. Once there, she let out a casual "Hey Lars" which had become sort of a routine whenever she came by. Then walking straight over to the weapon's locker, she eyed the other's as they grabbed what what they felt comfortable with. "Dawil, are you bringing your gearbox or something?" she asked upon seeing that he stood idle whilst the others armed themselves.

Despite already carrying all her normal equipment, the young Mandalorian took a blaster pistol and a long-shafted vibroaxe from the locker before closing according to procedure. After picking up a comms unit, she joined the others at the back as they walked towards the ship. Catching Barnet in the corridor, she handed him the axe "I thought you'd like this. It laid hidden under a couple of knives and who-knows-what" she said, hoping that the large man would appreciate it.

An amused smirk spread across her lips as Cas challenged her to a bet of whether this ruckus of a ship would make it back in one piece or not. Shaking her head, almost in a confused manner, her facial expression asked Do you take me for a fool? Instead of asking it audibly, she spoke to him playfully "If you find someone who'll take that bet, let me know... I've got a bridge to sell them"

Being the last to enter the school bus of a ship, Isabeau took a seat right next to her friend, Dawil the Engineer, and opposite to Barnet. Angling her body towards Dawil the Engineer, she brought out the extra blaster pistol she took from the locker earlier. "I want you to have this, just in case" she said, holding the blaster pistol as if on display with both hands. "You know how it works right?" she asked - but didn't give him an opportunity to answer, hoping to avoid an awkward situation. Instead, she simply pointed at whatever she was talking about "The safety is on, so you'll have to pull it to fire. And I've set it to stun, but you can set it back to lethal if you want" Leaning forth and looking at him seriously, she spoke "Even if you aren't going to use it, holding a gun and looking like you know what you're doing can be much safer sometimes"

Once the episode of trying to convince her friend Dawil the Engineer of carrying the blaster and showing him how to use it was over, Isabeau leaned back in her seat and looked to Barnet "You were pretty quick to volunteer. Done much of this stuff in the past?" If he admitted to having seen his fair share of action, Isabeau would - naturally - be quick to ask a follow-up "Got any tricks to share?"

Storyteller Zephyr Kumaara Kara Dur Cadere

 

[Storyteller]

Dawil, despite being on edge, gave Isabeau a small smile padding his orange jacket, making some of the tools hanging from the tool belt, to wiggle a bit. The only seem Isabeau actually would have notice Dawil without his tools, was during sleep.

A toothy grin formed on Barnet's lips when Isabeau handed him the vibroaxe, "Ha! You should!" He said with a laugh grabbing Isabeau around er shoulder and shoving her into for a short hug. "That remains me that time I took down a man-eating worm the size of a building, only having a vibroaxe! There I was, standing alone among the dead bodies of my men, bloodied and alone!" He started in a medias res, though when they got to the ship, he cut the story short. "Ask me about it when we get back Metal girl! But let's just say, the rest of the surviving men didn't go hungry in bed" teased the large man and entered the ship.

Barnet was not a man that would ever run out of stories to tell and a lot of stories at dinner or in the common room, that he has given enough hints to have done some heavy shit in his younger days. "This? No never, no wait! No... Not the same. Then again, I did beat a gang with only my trusty pans and knifes one time! Oh that was fun, they would think twice to try and steal my spices" said Barnet, recounting the story as he leaned back in the ship's seat.

Meanwhile, Zenor didn't look at Cas when he entered and decided to sit in as co-pilot or when he tried to be a flippant brat about not getting his way. Zenor would imagine the kid didn't get no a lot from whoever was teaching him or whatever they called it nowadays and was probably why he thought he could just get away with so much. "No, just don't touch anything Jedi and keep your hands off the controls" explained Zenor, not biting Cas's attempt to argue.

Getting out went relatively smoothly and before they knew it, the ship had left the station and flew in the direction of the signal. Over the radio, Zenor's voice came out clear, "ETA 60 minutes" Before he cut off the ship's comm. Zenor ignored Cas if he tried any of his streetsmart teenage tricks to argue with him. Instead, Zenor called back to the station, to let Lars and Morgan know that they had departed and would most likely call them again when arriving at the signal.

~~~~~~~~ Meanwhile back at the base ~~~~~~~~​

As Kara and Zephyr went through what now seemed like a mix of a secret office and self-made lap. Upon inspection of the room as Zephyr ran his hand along one to try and find any disparities which suggested a hidden door, he found none. The walls seemingly stood solid, surrounding the two individuals. To both Kara and Zephyr's surprise, if the Purple-armoured man lockpicked the drawers, they would actually find one biomechanically locked, very thick folder. On the folder's broadside, was a scanner, formed to match a hand. If they would examine the folder more closely, they would find that the biomechanical hand recognition was the only way to open it the regular way.

The sudden eerily whistle echoed down the corridor and moved down an otherwise silent corridor, almost as if the whistling moved on its own. Closer and closer the whistling came to the door and room that Kara and Zephyr were inside of. With only a few meters from the open door, the voice of Lars broke the eerily whistling of Morgan and stopped him in his track. "Zenor is calling" called Lars from the other end of the corridor. "Oh, how wonderful. Let's not keep our dear head of security waiting" replied Morgan with a humorist tone and started to walk back, now leaving creaking steps, which he didn't before, as he walked further away to follow Lars.

Cadere Kara Dur Isabeau Zephyr Kumaara

 

[Zephyr Krayt]

"For sure." Zephyr replied. "No wonder he wanted so much security." He muttered. It had seemed unusual to employ a level of security offered by two Jedi and two Mandalorians on a relatively remote station and although it was justified by recent attacks from pirates, he was beginning to get sceptical if it was the true reason. He looked at Kara inquisitively when she cut herself off but didn't push her for an answer, figuring that they would find out soon enough with any luck. "Of course." He knelt beside the drawers and retrieved a lockpick from his belt. After fiddling with it for a minute, he stood back up and slid the drawer open for Kara, assuming she would have more expertise on the matter.

Zephyr stood near the door, within earshot of those in the corridor and upon hearing a whistle his hand went to his blaster, flicking the setting to stun. He wasn't sure how they would worm their way out of this one if they were caught shooting a member of crew which made him hesitant but if this truly was something dangerous and unbeknown to the crew then perhaps he would've done them a favour by taking Morgan out of action.

As the whistling grew, so did Zephyr's nervousness. He turned to Kara, almost irritated and whispered a harsh "Can't you do some Jedi voodoo or something?" Before turning his attention back to the door. Thankfully, Lars had saved them and as the footsteps grew more distant, Zephyr removed his hand from his blaster when he was sure it was safe to do so. "Should we be concerned that they have our blood on here?" He asked Kara as the thought came to mind. Now knowing the potentially dangerous and illegal research that Morgan was in possession of, it gave reason to be concerned about him having possession of their blood too.

Storyteller Kara Dur Cadere Isabeau

 

[Kara Dur]

"That's... disappointing." The Knightess commented as the content of the drawer was shown. They wouldn't be able to open the thick folder without leaving traces of their intrusion. That alone made their whole operation a failure. If she couldn't uncover what was happening here, the council would never grant them the authority to intervene.

But there was another way to obtain the information they needed.

Just as she wanted to convey her plan, a familiar whistle echoed through the hallway. It made her Mandalorian ally uneasy. If his body language didn't betray it, his snarky comment did. "I could do a card trick if you'd like." she retorted, before her attention was drawn to the doorway. Kara fully expected to see Morgan turn around the corner, but luckily for them, Lars intervened.

Once the two men left the corridor that lead to the lab, Kara would turn to Zephyr. "I don't think we have to worry about our blood. As it appears right now, Morgan's research stands independent from the others. I doubt he'd be able to procure our blood and use it without someone else bringing it to our attention." She thoughtfully replied, while she moved her hand along the bottom of the desk, hoping to find some secret switch. "As it stands, there's not much we can do right now with what we've got here. But we can uncover his secrets quite easily." she closed the drawer as she spoke. "Do you know where Isabeau placed those cameras? We can take one and hide it in this laboratory." Perhaps Morgan would find it, but she was willing to take that risk. After all, there wasn't much else she had in mind.​

 

[Cadere]

Cas simply listened, grinning, as Zenor really stuck to his grouchy old man shtick - it was getting a little old. However, for someone like Cas, getting under someone like Zenor's skin was way too satisfying. The teenager slowly spun around in the co-pilot's chair before facing Zenor again and raising his hands "Alright, alright, Zenny. Don't blow a gasket just yet, we still gotta get to the distress signal." he teased all the while smirking at Zenor.

As the gruff older man radio'd in that their estimated arrival would be sixty minutes, Cas leaned into his seat and relaxed his hands behind his head. Staring at the dark abyss of space in front of him, he felt a hint of uneasiness wash over him it was like a small, calm breeze brushing against his skin causing goosebumps to surface. It effected him so much so that he quickly sat up in his seat and glanced at his arm's goosebumps, worry was clearly on his face - something was wrong, but what?

Shaking his head, Cas pinched the bridge of his nose for a few seconds as to regain his composure - he made a mental note to remain cautious once they arrived at their destination. Forcing a smile on his face, the Padawan whipped his head round to face Zenor and crossed his leg over his thigh resuming his previous relaxed stance. While he could go back and hang out with the others, he was curious about Zenor - despite taking pleasure in annoying him, he did want to know his M.O... his real reasoning for disliking Jedi in particular.

"So, Zenny ol' buddy ol' pal - what's your deal?" Cas would ask bluntly.

Isabeau Storyteller Zephyr Kumaara Kara Dur

 

[Isabeau]

Leaning back, Isabeau listened to Barnet tell his old stories. Relaxed and with a satisfied smile on her face, she paid attention to what he had to say. While her first impression of him was rather poor, the chef was starting to grow on her. Although he had once preferred to watch some movie or something instead of sparring with herself when she was still a newcomer, he did at least have some interesting stories and if they were to be believed, he was also a capable fighter. She pondered if she should forgive his laziness in light of his more redeeming qualities when she heard Zenor's voice from the cockpit. "60 minutes" she said, looking at the two others with an excited smile.

Figuring that she could get a bit more of a detailed status update from Zenor in person, Isabeau stood up "I'll be right back" With that, she turned and walked to the front of the ship. While the door was rather creaky as it slid open, most of the noise seemed to be covered by the other more or less concerning sounds that their vessel made. Nothing in her timing could be worse, however, as she arrived just in time to hear Cas ask that Zenor's deal was. If they caught her, she would leave after a quick and high pitched "Nevermind" and if they did not catch her, she would simply leave with out a word.

Turning back to Dawil the Engineer and Barnet, she raised her hands in the air "Nope, I'll take on pirates, jetii, darjetii or what have you, but not that"

Sitting back down, Isabeau assumed a more serious posture "Be careful guys. I mean it - I have my armour and Cas has his sabre, but other than that, we're pretty squishy and we did not bring the doc. So stick together, keep an eye out for each other and let us know if you see anything or are in danger." With a sigh, she looked over to the cockpit "If our lovebirds in there can't stop bickering, I'll see if Zenor would agree to watch our rear while Cas and me take the front. Otherwise, I'll watch our rear" she said, wondering if it was a mistake of the to bring the old guardsman instead of someone more tolerant. But there was not much which could done about it now and with that, Isabeau checked hear weapons and gear, making herself ready to explore whatever it was that sent the distress signal.

Storyteller Zephyr Kumaara Kara Dur Cadere

 

[Storyteller]

After Lars and Morgan disappeared, the corridors went silent again, with the exception of rumbling pipes once or twice made themselves known. While she moved her hand along the bottom of the desk Kara only felt the smooth surface of the drawer, apart from some dust that had settled in the corners.

~~~~~~~~ Meanwhile out in the Unknown Region ~~~~~~~~​

While flicking a few switches as he flew the ship, Zenor ignored Cas's teasing and kept an indifferent expression that didn't change no matter how much the Jedi Knight tried. Leaning back in the seat, Zenor then let the ship take care of the rest, flying most of the way before he would take over again when they arrived. Noticing Isabeau enter the cockpit, yet Zenor ignored it when she didn't have anything to say and left again. Cas's blunt question actually made Zenor release a dry sharp laugh, yet no happiness was shown on his face. "You Jedi always expect everything to go your way. Everyone should just love and respect your way of doing things" said Zenor and he turned her face to look at Cas. "Life doesn't work that way, you claim to be of the light, yet you have no problem taking life when it suits your kind" continued Zenor coldly and turned back to look out the window, not saying another word.

When Isabeau returned she walked in on Barnet telling one of his fantastical stories of beating a gang on pirates with only pots and pans singlehandedly, using large hand movements and grandiose body language. Meanwhile, Dawil just rolls his eyes, as it was a story, Barnet, like to tell every time things started to get boring. Dawil, on the other hand, sat and fiddled with a handheld slicing equipment just out of boredom mixed in with nervosity. Dawil looked up when Isabeau spoke, "oh I'm not leaving any of you out of my sight," said Dawil seriously, "every horror holo-movies always ends badly when people split up" added the engineer in a mix of seriousness and humour to lightens his own mood or attempt to.

Lars commed back to Zenor to confirm and shut off the comm again. Flying in nothing by empty space with the distance almost fainting stars as the only thing to break the pitch blackness outside would make anyone nervous for the unknown. The ship they flew in, didn't help things as creaking and rumbling every so often could be heard around them.

The hour of flying through space would either go by quickly or slowly, depending on how people handled flying without anything else to do than sit and wait. Despite the boring flight, Cas and Zenor would see start to notice a large darken silhouette 400-500 meters out from their position. Reaching for the ship's communication system, Zenor called back to the station, "This is Zenor, we see a darken silhouette about 4-500 meters out and match the position of where the signal came from, over." reported Zenor and took over the ship's controls.

"Understood, be careful and good luck" commed Lars back. Coming over the ship's comm, "this is Zenor, we're nearing the position of the distress signal, get ready for anything" said Zenor and went back to flying. "Oh shit, guess this is it" comment Dawil and rose from his seat and looked through one of the small windows in the hull along with Barnet.

"Jedi, get ready to fire if we get attacked," said Zenor as the ship got closer and closer to the darken silhouette. As the ship got closer and closer, the darken silhouette started to show shape and form, revelling a large spaceship, broken and half-destroyed in many places

. Flying closer to the foreign spaceship, they would soon see how messed up the state of the ship was. sparks by airlocks every time the two doors tried to open but was stopped. No lights were active on the exterior of the ship, the engine was half blown to pieces with large chunks floating peacefully around. A large gate with an external platform was more than large enough for their ship to land, which Zenor did after a bit of scanning.

Windows were blown out and the scanner caught no live signatures, in fact, if Cas reached out with the force, he was met with cold dead emptiness. It was as if the force had died upon the spaceship, leaving only a strange foreign chilling coldness to it. Dawil looked on with wide eyes, "what the heck could have done such amount of damage so far out?" Asked the engineer now really nervous, which Barnet placed a hand on the kid's shoulder. "Don't you worry my friend, stay close and nothing bad will happen to you. And if nothing else we got our friendly neighbourhood Mandalorian and Jedi to take care of any bad guys or monsters" grinned the cook. "I guess you're right," commented Dawil, taking a nervous breath.

After landing the ship, Zenor powered it down and got up and entered the location where the cargo normally would be. "Alrighty folks, the ship renders no life on board, but we'll still investigate nonetheless. Grab a spacesuit from the lockers in the back, as I doubt there will be any breathable air inside the foreign ship" explained Zenor and walked over to one of the 7 spacesuits for spacewalking. Dawil along with Barnet went over and started to equip their own spacesuit and after a few seconds stood ready for exiting.

Cadere Kara Dur Isabeau Zephyr Kumaara

 

[Zephyr Krayt]

While they waited in the tense atmosphere, Zephyr's gaze shot towards Kara at her quip and beneath his helmet an expression of disgruntlement grew on his face. "Yes please. That would really lighten the mood." He replied sarcastically. Now Zephyr was starting to get to know what she was like more, he began to dislike her more. He had limited experience of Jedi and she was painting them in a negative light in his eyes.

"Right, ok." He replied, unconvinced by her words. It may not have been an immediate concern but he was certainly wary that someone as sketchy as Morgan could have access to the DNA of most of the crew and if he could be this secretive about research then there was no telling how secretive he could be to get what he wanted but it was a concern he would share with Isabeau rather than continue to discuss with Kara.

"Yeah, I saw her put one in place." He replied. "Back in a moment." He told Kara before leaving the room after ensuring the coast was clear. He plucked one of the tiny cameras off of the wall and brought it back to the room. He glanced over the room for a moment, deciding where to put it before settling on a corner that allowed for a good scope of the room. "Let's go before he comes back." Zephyr suggested.

@everyone

 

[Kara Dur]

Kara was relieved to see Zephyr returning with one of the cameras Isabeau had placed sometime prior to this. Perfect! Maybe we'll be able to figure out what it is that he's doing in here now." she proclaimed, her mind wandering off again to think of all the possibilities. Zephyr's suggestion to actually leave the laboratory made her snap back to reality. "Oh, yeah. You're right. Give me a moment please." Kara would walk over to the desk and grab the folder. She had no intentions of leaving it here. Besides, Morgan wouldn't know who would be behind this anyway. For all he knew, it could have been Zenor. The man was shady enough himself after all.

Once they were done, Kara would follow Zephyr back to the main corridor. "So... what happens now? Will you sit and wait for the others to return?" She asked, uncertain of what to say now their main objective was gone. She hadn't really spoken the Mandalorian before. Any Mandalorian, for that matter. "I know I may have gone a bit overboard, but I meant what I said." Her outburst had either angered or disappointed everyone on the station. "I don't know what that distress signal will lead them to, but I am certain that it has the potential to kill us all... No matter how many Jedi or Mandalorians we bring." It wasn't a subject she wanted to talk about, but it was something she felt needed to be discussed. She hated to admit it, but she was a warrior. Just like the Mandalorians were. And in order to win a battle, warriors had to share the same goals, ideals, enemies and information. "Please, tell me you'll keep your eyes and ears open. No matter if they come back empty-handed or not." she pleaded, hoping to gain a single ally aboard this station.​

 

[Cadere]

Zenor's dry laugh actually surprised him, good to know he was still capable of showing emotions other than brooding. What came next though prompted the young Padawan to raise his eyebrow, the way he described Jedi - it was as if he had been personally wronged by them, or at the very least had a bad experience involving them, especially at the mention of Jedi taking life in particular.

Frowning, he swivelled his whole seat round to face Zenor as he rested a single hand on his knee "We do serve the light." Cas stated in defence "It's not like we don't have issues taking a life, of course we do! It's just... sometimes there's no other way in order to keep the peace." he argued, fluctuating between annoyance and sorrow. How could Zenor not understand that sometimes it had to be done and that in a perfect galaxy, every criminal a Jedi faced would face trial - but that was another argument in itself. Folding his arms, Cas stared at Zenor accusingly "Besides, what would you know anyway?"

Whether their debate continued for the duration of the trip didn't matter, as both Cas and Zenor would eventually notice a dark object far in the distance - the Padawan watched wide-eyed as they drew nearer, hoping to the Force that it wasn't the originator of the distress signal. Soon after, it was all but confirmed that this was indeed the location of the signal, Cas averted his gaze in sadness.

"I'm on it." Cas replied with a serious expression at the prospect of the potentially being attacked. It was revealed that the ship which the distress signal had came from was now derelict and parts of it were scattered, drifting through space - as the Padawan watched intently, the only words he could summon were "Oh, man..." in a quiet mutter. However, what worried him more was the fact he couldn't feel or sense anything - it was as if the entire area was a void in the Force. Whatever caused this, they were about to find out.

As Zenor landed the ship and everyone converged to acquire their enviro-suits, Cas would inform the rest of the group of his recent discovery "Guys." he addressed them all in a serious tone "I can't sense anything on that ship, not just any life but I can't sense the Force, period." he confessed "For those that don't know, it's a bad sign when a Force-sensitive can't, y'know, sense the Force." Cas pinched the bridge of his nose, before concluding "We all need to be on high alert, even more so than we had planned."

Isabeau Storyteller Zephyr Kumaara Kara Dur

 

[Isabeau]

Walking to the ship exit after having taken the suit on - now working as a form of double protection since she never took off her helmet or other armour, Isabeau turned a little to throw a glance at Dawil the engineer. Barnet was taking care of him already, so she simply let out a short "We're a team, we'll look after each other" Turning back, she looked out the side window and carefully observed the debris laying outside. Chunks of scrap was floating about peacefully - indicating that the complete destruction of the ship couldn't have been too recent - especially considering that none of them seemed to be burning.

Listening to Cas speak of not being able to sense anything, she sent a sharp elbow into his side. "We get it" she said, somewhat annoyed that he was continuing to put the fright into Dawil the Engineer instead of just giving them an extra warning to be careful. Looking at him for a bit longer, however, she soon gave him a nod and pulled out her rifle, showing that, despite working for him to pipe down, she would still take his advice into account. Already standing at the rear with Cas, she turned one last time "Zenor, keep an eye on our back" hoping that he wouldn't be bothered by being assigned to rear guard by her.

In other situations, there was no doubt in her mind that she would have continued sending snappy comments at him - and there was plenty of material to draw from - but now, they were working and the stakes were real. If nothing else, she would remain more professional to instill some calm into Dawil. "Disengaging the magnetic seal" she said as she pulled down a lever. The door that separated the cargo from the sitting area immediately shut behind them and their current chamber depressurized with oxygen quickly being sucked out. Finally, she pulled another lever "Opening bay doors" Slowly, the doors opened, granting them a clear view of the relic of a ship they stood on and the vast emptiness of space behind it. "Remember what the jedi said - stay on your toes"

Walking out, Isabeau aimed first to the left and then to the right with her rifle - ensuring that no immediate threats would set upon them. Once that was done she advanced on the gate and crouched down by the wall next to it. Listening to if any sounds came from inside, she would - if it all remained silent - try to knock on it with code - three short knocks, three long knocks and finally three more short knocks. Not expecting any response, she would not wait long before signalling to the others that they better start going inside and readied her rifle whilst one of the others would access the gate controls to open it.

Storyteller Zephyr Kumaara Kara Dur Cadere

 

[Storyteller]

Spoiler: atmospheric music

For optimal effect, have this song play on reply when reading this and reading other's posts

Dawil was not feeling particularly brave, like Isabeau or Zenor and not very cheerful as Barnet. He was thankful for Isabeau's attempt at stopping the Jedi Knight you freak him out even more. But hearing a Jedi, a freaking Jedi not being able to even feel the force itself, did not help his nerves. Wasn't the force to be like everywhere for these guys? Nevertheless, he equipped himself with a spacesuit along with the rest of the crew.

Hearing the depressurization of all the oxygen, made him take a step back, standing right beside Barnet and took a deep breath. Watching one after another leave the safety of the ship, why did he agree to do this?! Okay okay, take it easy, just a simple search and rescue, nothing to worry about. Dawil would feel Zenor place a hand on his shoulder, cause the young man to snap his head to look over his shoulder in a bit of a fright. "I'll be right behind you" explained Zenor and started to lead Dawil out of the spaceship and on to the large landing platform for ships.

Zenor did not even question Isabeau, it was serious and petty debates of who got to be lead or take the most glory had no place right now. Armed with the vibroaxe Isabeau found for Barnet, the cook looked at the surroundings of the exterior of the ship.

Moving up slowly when the Mandalorian had made sure the platform was cleared, they met her by exterior blast door. When Isabeau knocked no sound could be heard, dead silence. Holding his blaster in one hand, Zenor poked to Dawil, speaking over the comm in their suit, "can you open the blast door?". "Right, sorry" commented Dawil, snapping back from looking nervously at the exterior of the large ship.

Walking over to the control panel, the engineer tilted a bit forward, to get a better look at the panel. It didn't look overly complicated and he should be able to get the blast door open. Kneeling down, he pulled out a multi-tool and forced the panel open, giving him access to the components and wires. Standing on the other side of the locked blast door, he held his blaster lowered but ready for when the door would slide open. Barnet moved to stand behind Zenor as standing right in front of the door could end badly if something jumped out.

While Dawil got to work, working slower than normal because of being in space, he still managed just fine. Looking up from the panel and at the rest of the party, "everyone ready?" He asked, not at all ready himself. Once everyone gave him an affirmative, he sparked a wire together with another one, forcing the blast door to open.

Taking a couple of steps back, letting the actual combat experts go in first. Zenor looked to Isabeau and pointed between them and then the open door, giving her direction to enter together, so they could each cover a side when entering. Waiting to see what Isabeau, Zenor would follow professionally.

Meanwhile back at the base​

Exiting the room, they would find themselves quite alone, walking down the cricking corridor. A muffled voice down to the right one of the other corridors, inside of the medical office, could Quinn's muffled voice be heard through the open door. Inira along with Kla'ak broke the silence as they entered the main building and corridor that Zephyr and Kara were. However, they entered the canteen and disappeared from view.

Depending on what Zephyr and Kara wanted to do, they didn't see anyone else in the corridors at the moment, given that under half the team was away. They would, however, hear the very familiar whistle from the Site Manager as the formless whistle made its way in their direction.

Cutting back at the crew entering the derelict ship​

Zenor held his blaster pistol aimed, scanning the darken, almost pitch black greeting area.

Pressing a button on the wrist, two headlights lit up from the top of the head, aiming forwards. Barnet and Dawil followed suit as they watched people enter the eerie location. When looking around, the hallway with their headlight, the group would see a greeting area. It had potted plants with dead and withered for quite some time, who stood on each side of the room. One of which, stood by a bench with orange cushions, while the other one was laying on the side with dirt forming a small avalanche out of it. In the middle were two sofas placed with their back to each other.

To the left, built into the wall, was an office of some kind, though neither of the people from the group was close enough to see what was inside. Looking past all that, down the long corridor, leading deeper into the ship, it became impossible due to how dark it was outside of the beams from the headlamps

Cadere Kara Dur Isabeau Zephyr Kumaara

 

[Zephyr Krayt]

Zephyr waited for Kara by the door as she took the folder. It seemed like a risky move as Morgan would be certain his desk had been tampered with which would likely only give them limited time if he wished to confront the crew about it but he wouldn't be the one caught with it in his possession so he didn't particularly care what Kara did with it.

"I don't know..." He replied thoughtfully. "Isabeau isn't here so there's not much to do." He told her. He wasn't familiar with much of the crew as he made no effort to get to know them so with his main point of social contact gone he was at a loss for what to do but he wasn't about to buddy up with Kara but as he was about to excuse himself, Kara offered a warning. He hadn't paid much attention to her previous warning but it was harder to ignore this time.

The doom and gloom she predicted intrigued him though he didn't share her concerns as suggested by his nonchalant response. "Sure, ok." He told her, still sceptical of her warning. He didn't understand the extent to which the force worked or how Kara was claiming to know what she was telling him and since he didn't know her well he didn't know if it was just her overreacting but even if she was right then he was confident they could handle any enemies between them, regardless of her foreboding.

His gaze followed Inira and Kla'ak as they passed while Kara was talking and after answering he soon changed topic. "I'm going to try and find out what I can about the research." He told her before starting in the direction of the two researchers, pausing after a few steps to look over his shoulder at Kara. "You coming?" He asked as an afterthought.

Zephyr was glad to be leaving as Morgan approached as he was beginning to feel more uneasy around the man, especially after what they had uncovered. He joined Inira and Kla'ak in the canteen and approached the pair. "What kind of research is being performed on this station?" He asked the pair. It was likely the pair were unaware of Morgan's research but their answer might help provide a clue so it was worth a try.

@The squad