It's in the eyes

[Marina DeVoe]

"No no no....don't cry...." She started to quickly undoing the straps.

"We...we had a bit of turbulence..that's all..." She undid the last one, then parted the girl's hair out of her face. the auto grav G-force compensators had done their best to keep up with her wild bucking of the ship... but that was all. It had done its best, but things still got tossed about due to the micro-lag time in the stabilization of the artificial gravity in side the Mariner IV.

"It was just turbulance...that's all...Oh Skye...what are we to do?" She took to embracing the girl, trying to comfort her. She didn't know quite why as to the girl's tears, but they were hurtful ones. Not physical, as it was evident of the sobbing. It stemmed from within. Lost ones?...friends...family?
Marina didn't know, just knew the girl was alone now...or had been alone for some time. This saddened her and she held Skye till she stopped sobbing.
Marina didn't have the heart to tell her what had just transpired not 20 minutes before.

She figured best not loose the girl again, like the last time she informed her of their surprise jump. It wouldn't make a difference if the girl knew or not at this time. Not until the girl was well enough to take it...or they dropped out and then she'd know then. Marina preferred to tell her before hand...just not right at this moment.
They had another 5 hours till they dropped out. Marina didn't even know where, as TK had grabbed the quickest and most feasible one that came into the scope of her crazy maneuvers.

"Hey, hey..." She patted her back, before drawing herself back enough to look into the girl's eyes.
"What you say we grab some hot cocoa?...I'll top it with loads of cream...heh?" She gave Skye her best forward smile, doing her best to hide her own concerns about where the hell they were heading to. Marina prayed it was someplace close to Alliance space. At least they would have a chance to make a run for the border and into friendly space.
But she'd worry about that in a few hours to come. Right now, her concern was the poor girl and the mess she got her into with her.

It had not been Marina's intention to have this humanitarian run go so out of control. Her ship had certainly been scoped out and clearly identified back on Faldos. How in blazes did the First Order-

"Gasp!...shiet!.." Marina blurted out, as the obvious reason just hit her.

"Oh..no..no...sorry. I just thought of something.
Look...lets go make that cocoa. I've got to get TK to do something for me...I think our long range thing-a-ma-jig is loose or something. I got to get TK to hammer it off or something..." She then said, thinking now for sure the troopers that had dropped on her roof had secured a tracking device.
She'd get TK to go over the hull and discard anything not belonging to the ship.

"TK!..." She called on her droid.
It rolled in pretty quick, being concernd as to what was wrong with the girl, seeing her laying down again.

"I think she's going to be fine...
I need you to go out on the hull and...and go check on the thing-a-ma-jig that doesn't belong...." She gave the droid a stern look.

It beeped not understanding what a thing-a-ma-jig was and if she could identify it.

"Tk...just go take whatever thing is on the hull that DOESN"T belong... off." She once more gave it a stern look.

be beep...it understood.

"Yea....and dispose of it...good"

It beeped and was off to the center hub that had the droid lift that accessed the top of the Mariner. The droid was designed to run outside the ship in deep space to perform repairs and such. It would easily pick up what didn't belong on the ship and remove it. marina was certain that there was a tracking device or two attached to the mariner iv. It was the only explanation as to how the First Order were to guess at the ship's trajectory course and had dispatched the Gravity well generating SD to intercept them en route. It had to be the only way they could be tracked...the only way.

"Come on...up up...on your feet.
Come on, nice and slow. You've been horizontal quite a while, so nice and easy. " She helped Skye up and plant her feet solid on the deck.
"Got that nice comfy couch in the galley, calling you.....fixing us some hot cocoa...all's going to be OK...." She coaxed the girl to her feet and out the med bay, holding her close, one arm around the girl's waist.

She wasn't certain how well Skye would be able to walk on her own and wasn't going to take any chances. So much had already been going down on this girl. They needed something to break...hopefully the bad luck they were both seemingly hitting at every turn.

 

[Skye Achlys]

Skye, who wiped the last tear from her face, walked alongside Marina. The girl leaned on Marina and because of it she could walk relatively easily, albeit a lot slower than normal. Where she was sobbing a moment ago, she had now calmed down significantly.
She walked alongside Marina, letting the other woman lead.
"Thank you", Skye managed to whisper to the blonde. That was all she said, not wanting to be overwhelmed with guilt again.

As they arrived in the galley and Marina helped Skye onto the couch, Skye expression turned into a more serious one. She let go of Marina's hand which she had taken hold of while walking, and looked up at the woman.
"We should probably talk", the woman sighed, obviously hinting at her own identity, who she was and why she was here. The only way for her to dispose of the guilt which was haunting her was for her to confess everything to Marina, and hope for the best.
Breathing heavily and slowly in an attempt to keep herself calm, she nodded. "I..I need to confess some... things", she told the woman. "I'm not who you think I am. And I....I don't deserve any of this from you", she said before looking at the ground, evading Marina's look.
It was probably best if she just confessed everything.
Yeah.

"Like I said, I am... with the First Order", she sighed. "Or I'm part of a special group siding with them, anyway. I don't live on Faldos either. No, I was sent here as part of my training. I had a target, who I first had to follow, then had to kill. My target was a woman. A smuggler, of sorts. Mission seemed easy enough: find her, locate the cargo, take care of her." She took a small break, filling the room with mostly silence. "And I found her", she continued, but she stopped again immediately as her voice started to become shaky, sounding as if she was about to cry again. A few deep breaths stabilized her a bit before she continued. "I am worth nothing to you. I should be worth nothing to you. I am your enemy and I always will be...

But I don't want to be", she said, almost sobbing once again.

 

[Marina DeVoe]

"Skye....come on...." She were pleading her, "...what kind of talk-" but it were of little use, trying to quite the girl down.

"You have to understand that you've gotten pretty banged up..." She could feel the girl struggling to walk, as she helped her to the galley.
Marina was at first chalking most of Skye's delirium as gibberish, that could have even been brought on by a dream the girl had while unconscious. What they had gone through was in fact a First Order assault on the ship. That and the stabbing in the alley must have ran through the poor girl's unconscious and formulated what she was trying to relay...a nightmare that the girl must have had. And in her state, it were possible that Skye was confusing a dream with reality. After all, the poor girl had been tossed about like a salad.

But Skye insisted on getting it off her chest and Marina thought it best to go ahead and listen. Maybe when it was all said and done, that Skye would take it slow and try to recover, then collect her thoughts and realize it wasn't true.
Right now, Marina needed Skye to remain awake, for if she did have a concussion that wasn't showing up on the medical scanners for one reason or another...she couldn't go to sleep. So Marina nodded, giving the girl the understanding that she was listening. As Skye continued with her lavish tale, Marina was just a few steps away making that delicious hot cocoa with whipped cream that the girl had so much enjoyed before.

Taking a deep breath first...."First Order huh?...Hmm..." Marina replied patiently, keeping her eye on the girl. Not for what she were ranting about, but in making sure she wasn't going to black out again.
"Oh my, that's kinda describing an assassin..." What else was one to say to a dream? Marina could only chalk that up as so at this time.
"Ok...go on..." She encouraged her to keep talking, for that was what one should do if there was a slight chance of a concussion. The longer one stayed awake, the least chance of them going into a coma.
And what an imagination...or more like what a nightmare. It were not entertaining at all and quite scary if one were to think of it..nightmare or not. It did send a shiver up Marina's spine. But she bared it and kept listening, as she topped the hot cocoa with whipped cream.

She brought it over to where Skye was sitting and drew it near the girl, keeping an eye out in case the girl's motor skills were a bit off, so that she could grab the hot cocoa so the poor girl wouldn't spill it on herself.

"Whew...well, can't be me, right?...I'm no smuggler-" Yes, at first, it was a kind of relief the girl's nightmare didn't include her. But it was exactly whom Skye was referring to.

"Ok...now you're like freaking me out. You dreamed that you were an assassin for the First Order and you were to take me out?...Brrrrr..." Marina couldn't help but shudder. It was a creepy dream, that was certain.
Marina then tapped on the table, trying to get Skye to get her attention on the delicious hot cocoa and off that horrid nightmare. But then the poor girl really started feeling guilty of her account of the dream. Marina's heart sank as Skye was melding a dream with reality.

"Skye...come on....don't think that. You're here, safe in my ship..." Oh Lord, were they? Marina was doing her best not to look worried about what fate had in store for them, once they emerged out of hyperspace.

"...and you're here with me. You can't think that you are useless. You are very important to me Skye. You saved me...you didn't kill anyone.
And it doesn't matter what you've done in your past...if you can look forward to tomorrow, then it'll be what you make of it. " She found her hand gently caressing Skye's, trying to assure the girl that she was important to her.
Whatever the poor girl had gone through, Marina was certain that if the gods gave her the chance to help this girl out, that she could.

Be de beep be... her droid was heard coming back from the center hub.

"Aha...I thought so..." Marina had quite a contempt smirk on her face, as she nodded to TK first, then to Skye.
"Yep...those little buggers had placed a tracking-" She proudly were telling Skye when her droid interrupted again.
"TWO?!
...really, two tracking devices?.... " She nodded to TK, who confirmed it and of their disposal..

"Two." Marina put up two fingers, trying to cheer up the girl. "Two trackers floating light years away into oblivion. let them home in on that..he-he..."

"See...that's what I thought..." Marina was now proud of her quick-...er, delayed thinking.
"Ok, well I should have thought about it as soon as we jumped from Faldos... but better off now than having them track us. " Marina had a genuine relief of a smile, and she were trying to relay that to the girl.

"That calls for two hot cocoas now. What say you wet your lips on this one, and I'll go make me one too?"
But it wasn't working...cheering the girl up.
It only seemed to despair the poor girl.

"Sigh....Skye..." Marina, drooped her smile and looked over to her friend with quite a concerned look.
"I'm sorry. I wish you weren't involved in all this. I really am sorry. But seriously, You'll be more than Ok outside of First order space...once we get free of it.
You can stay with me as long as you need to. I know you'll have a brighter future...I won't have it go any other way."

Often enough when refugees, families and people in general she rescued, from either natural disasters or war torn systems, had doubts of their future. They all did. The only thing they were first grateful was just getting out of the hell hole they were in. But anything after that, was always something they weren't certain of, as they had only known one type of life. And that life no longer existed, as they left those systems.
marina knew what this poor girl was likely experiencing for she had been brought up to survive as best she could in a world like Faldos. Of course Skye was trying to deny she was from Faldos...how else was she to go forward, and forget the oppressive life she had come from?

 

[Skye Achlys]

Skye focused on the woman's words, about how Skye wasn't guitly and about a 'better future'. But there was nothing of the likes. There was no better future, she had her life within the Knights of Ren, that was where she belonged. She had already felt it. Perhaps Marina would've had a chance if she had met Skye when she was much younger, before the dark haired woman had been raised and taught by the Order. How to think like them, how to be like them.
Besides, there was no leaving the Order. That'd be treason. And even though it was indeed possible to get out of First Order space, Skye'd never be safe. If she deserted, she'd just be hunted down by numerous bounty hunters and assassins, and each one would be greater than the last.

Skye figured it would be best for her to remain silent for a while about this, as the woman was clearly not taking her very seriously at the moment. Ah well, they had more important things to do right now, like getting Marina out of here and to safety.
Sky sighed again before she replied to Marina when the blonde had finished talking. "Marina... I can't.. just walk away. I'll have to go back eventually, but..," she fell silent for a short while," that is of no importance now. Now we need to focus on bringing you to safety."
She stood up as she grabbed Marina's hands. "Do we know where we're going to end up? We need to get out of First Order space as soon as possible. I'll stay with you as long as it takes for you to reach safety", she promised with a certain drive in her eyes, staring straight at Marina. Skye seemed to be jumping from emotion to emotion.
Skye had taken it as her duty at this point, to protect Marina. There was no way she'd leave the blonde to fend for herself. Skye'd help her, even now when she was so... injured. She'd do all she could to protect such a rightful woman.
Besides... wasn't she given a mission to 'help the blonde' or someting. She remembered the man saying that it'd be a 'good training opportunity'.
So she had two reasons: she wanted to do it, and she was oddly ordered to do it.
How much more motivation could one need.
To be very fair, Skye had probably already helped if she only asked nicely while staring into her eyes...
Skye was still a bit too easily manipulated.

 

[Marina DeVoe]

"Where?...sigh..." Marina got up not feeling like staying on her butt at the moment.

She needed to take a moment to let everything that had transpired sink in.
So many things started to add up. But what didn't was the fact the young woman had more than once indicated that her life was on the line. First the so called bounty hunters that somehow turned up as First order troopers zip lining down on her ship..
The tracking device leading to the gravity trap.
But in all of that, the girl never once showed any sign of aggression

Marina looked at her wrist crono. There was some time left before she'd have to get to the cockpit and take to piloting the Mariner IV once they emerged from hyperspace.
She didn't have to look over to Skye to see that the girl was as distraught as she concerning their ordeal.

"It matters little where we'll emerge...It'll still be First Order space. Only without them tracking us, they won't be expecting us. Not with the Galactic Allience at their borders and with the skirmishes. We're little fish...." She then spoke, turning once more to the beverage dispenser.
yes, she was making another round of hot cocoa.

" First.... I don't believe the alley thing was a play. THAT, was real. And not staged.
So that being the case, if i was your target...your superiors at this point would be quite pissed off at you..no?" Marina withdrew the hot cocoa from the dispenser and went ahead topping it off with whipped cream, setting it aside as she went ahead and made hers.

"You are not like them. Much like i am not like the ones the First order says are their enemy.
Being Alderaani means to be tolerant of those who do not understand the true meaning of peace. " She took the two cups of hot cocoa back to the table, sliding the one with the whipped cream over to Skye.

"I think-
I believe we're friends, Skye. " She then said, picking up her fresh cup of cocoa and taking it to her lips.

"Hear me out....
I believe you...I believe pretty much all you've been trying to get through my thick skull...sigh...I believe you never wanted to hurt me...anyone really. At least not indiscriminately. " She put the cup down.

"Hex E-46...that's the sector we're dropping into in a half hour....that's where." Marina then said, as the time drew closer.

"Skye...you know I can't just drop you off on the nearest inhabitable system in that sector and be off my merry way.
Not when I won't know what's to happen with you.
Your superiors are quite pissed off...and i pissed them off twice that I can count. The First order doesn't like to be made fools of...not on their home turf.
So you aren't going to be welcomed with medals of honor or crap of that sort
They'll take a pound of flesh from you or maybe worse, for failing." Skye had actually taken a wound on account of her already.
No way in Hell was she going to have this girl suffer any more pain on account of her.

Ok, so the zapping and being tossed about was an accident. But still, she wasn't going to drop this poor girl off and skedaddle on home. Marina wasn't made like that.

"Again...what are we to do?" She repeated what she had said before in the med bay...about their situation deeper into First order Space.

 

[Skye Achlys]

"Trust me, my superiors are more than well aware I can sometimes be... rebellious", she shook her head after the last word. "Terrible choice of words", she added as her mind briefly brought her back to the day she killed those two poor stormtroopers and almost escaped the First Order together with an unknown man she hadn't seen again since that day. He had left with his ship and he would've left together with Skye had she not been flung away from the ramp by some First Order disciple. There had also been some.. person or thing all dressed up odd. Skye believed the man had been called a 'Tusken' or something like that. All she could remember for sure was his lightsaber. It was red, yet he fought the troops which had been arresting Skye. The Tusken's alleigence had been a mystery to Skye on that day- and it still was now.
And then you had her. That woman. Vara-

No. Not the time for that. Focus.

Skye stepped back and forth, thinking about their current situation. Obviously Marina had other plans in mind for when they would leave First Order space, but that mattered little if they didn't get out of this space first. How would they be able to escape? Just go and hope for the best?
"We could just... go", Skye offered. "Hope we're too small for them to bother about us"
But she kept thinking rather than waiting for an answer because she knew that her idea probably wasn't going to work that well.
It wasn't easy to come up with a plan when you're just two girls and a ship.

And a droid.

Then Skye turned on her heels to face Marina, as a new idea popped up in her head. She was eager to share it even though it was pretty a desperate one. "You just mentioned you're... Al.. Aldela?", she fell silent trying to remember the word Marina described herself with a moment ago. It was at moments like these where Skye's lack of knowledge about the universe and factions was most clearly shown.
When Marina had watched Skye struggle for a little bit with a smile and chuckle, the blonde helped Skye say "Alderaani".
Skye nodded, indicating that was what she meant. Happy Marina understood, but too afraid to repeat it alone, Skye quickly continued. "That means you're of like, importance? Right? This ship and your name and all that. It's all beautiful and it definitely sounds... important. Right?", she asked Marina with big eyes, clearly hoping for a yes.
With the slightest movement of Marina's head Skye already continued again without even having been able to see whether it was a 'yes' or 'no'.
"You.. you could make a deal? Right? I"ve seen it before! Diplomatic things and all that. Surely someone with your name and appearance could do that? Maybe? No?", she asked with a slight hint of desperation in her voice, not necessarily because she wanted her plan to work, no, she just wanted A plan.

 

[Marina DeVoe]

"Er... a deal?" Now this came out of the blue...or rather out of the void of space.

"Skye...." How was she to put it to her?
Marina certainly didn't want to delegate over the girl's own will. It was heartbreaking enough to hear Skye not wanting to leave such an autocratic state, but to expect them to make concessions with the likes of her?... An Alderaani?

"...I think we-
....me rather., are past the point of making any deals. I'm in their space...an entire quadrant in. And in less than 20 minutes we'll be dropping in quadrant E-46. Now as far as my ship's records show and they are not up to date on First Order space whatsoever... not much intelligence this deep makes it out to the public... but it could just be sparsely enough populated that there may not be any significant military presence in that sector. " Yea, like so there were no known systems in her computer's databank., but that sector still contained millions of star systems. Marina's nav comp didn't have acess to military intelligence mapping.

"We could have enough time to be able to come up with an awesome jump calculation that'll sling us past this side of the galaxy and into Allied-" wait, it wasn't where Skye wanted to go...no.

"No...Damn it... I'm sorry. I need to consider your needs, Skye. ...sigh.... Heavens, I wish you'd reconsider coming-" But no, Marina couldn't finish her thoughts, for it showed clearly on her friend's features that she didn't want to go or leave the First order.

Marina slumped her butt back on the table's edge. They both seemed to want to be where they were used to...where each one thought they belonged. They were friends for sure...at least Marina felt that. But they lived in different worlds..different lives. Where they at an en pass?...a place neither of them wanted to be?

She checked her crono, seeing her droid approaching them.
"Yes, yes I know TK...15 minutes to emergence...sigh..." she beat her droid to the punch.

Marina then looked over to Skye who was just at a loss for a real plan as she was. They both couldn't or didn't wish to be at a given place. But they were here at this moment together and soon had to somehow figure out how both of them could get out of their individual mess without inadvertently affecting the other.

"I'll be up in the cockpit in time TK...now just see to the ship and ready the nav comp for another jump."

be de beep be ...

"No... I don't know how far or where at this time. We're still trying to figure this mess out."

do doo be deep be beep...

"Noooo...we'll figure it out. Now git! We don't have much time left to figure it out and you're eating up that time. Now go!...sheesh!" Marina turned to Skye after sending her droid back to the cockpit.

"I don't know.. " Marina pushed her hair back, more running her hand over her head as she were lost for ideas. She was no strategist....couldn't think or plan too far ahead. But that never impeded her thinking on her feet when cornered. Right now, they were lofting through hyperspace...one of the smoothest portions of her trip in days.

"...but negotiating with the First order is not going to happen. Nothing ever good come out of the First-...shoot..." She had to stop generalizing. It was the government of the FO that was bad...not the majority of it's colonies..or it's people. And Skye here was First order and nothing like any she had ever met, despite her claim that she was of an order. And orders were always above the populances. Yet Skye was no different a girl than she was. There was care, concern and compassion. It were one reason Marina's heart hurt, for Skye deserved a better life than the one she only knew about.
"No, I don't really mean that, Skye. Just that time's ticking away and I'm out of ideas as to how to get you and me out of this mess." See, similar. Each thought about the other's situation and were willing to put the other's concern above their own...

"The only thing we have is surprise. They don't know where we'll drop out. This may give us time to properly align the galaxy map...make some plans as to frog leap two jumps. One to drop you off in a safe..First order system and then the other for me to skedaddle completely out of FO space." She glanced at her crono.
Time sure seemed to speed up when you were getting squeezed.

"10 minutes to countdown....that's all I got so far, Skye. If you have any other idea...now's the time to come forth"

 

[Skye Achlys]

Skye shook her head as she walked back and forth. "Right..", she mumbled multiple times. Sunken in her own thoughts, her surroundings slowly faded as she noticed nothing but her thoughts. She stayed in this state for at least two minutes, and responded to any of Marina's questions only with 'hmm' during these two minutes.
"It's not going to work", the woman suddenly spoke in a thoughtful voice as her head turned towards Marina. Noticing the blonde's questioning face, she continued.
"I overheard a few.. messages, a while back. I'm not allowed to tell you their contents, as we are... friendly opposition, but as a result of the events described in these messages..," she sighed," I believe they have multiple patrol vessels along the edge on this side. They'll pick you up on their scanners the moment you approach the end of First Order space."

She shook her head again. "Stupid, the only time protection doesn't serve me", she mumbled. "There's no way to...-", she mumbled further, before suddenly stopping halfway.
Her voice livened up again. Speaking louder she turned her attention towards Marina again. "This ship? Can it broadcast a message? Does it have some form of escape pod? It does, right?", she asked, speaking ridiculously fast.
"I...then..", she stumbled over her own words. After taking a breath- or a rather a half one- she continued, "I'm bait! We'll...we'll lie about our...our encounter! I mean you wouldn't be able to come back here again, but I'm pretty sure then don't like you anyway. Sorry", she rattled further. Her tone was reminiscent to the one of a small child who had just made a beautiful drawing and wanted to show it.

"Look, I 'secretly' broadcast a message, that I've been 'captured' or whatnot by you, and am currently being held hostage and that you plan to take me away."
She held both her fist in the air. One resembling Marina and herself, the other the patrols. She slowly moved her fists towards each other.
"We'll broadcast it in such a way and range that only these outer patrols will pick it up, right? Then, they'll jump over here to 'retrieve' me. BUT just as they do that", she said before she suddenly jerked one of her fist away from the other," you jump in the opposite direction, away from here and over the border- and the patrols won't chase you, because they'll be busy saving me from a floating escape pod!"
The girl looked at Marina full with expectations. "That could work right?", she asked, hoping for an end to this hopeless stress. Her smile slightly faded as she stood still, staring at Marina, waiting for her approval.

 

[Marina DeVoe]

She had to concede that Skye most certainly knew how the FO worked better than anyone present.
And her plan, did make more sense than marina was willing to admit, for it was in line with something she herself would possibly come up. But that meant taking a risk on the girl's life that the operation would not go haywire. After all, they were talking about using emergency equipment and not something that was normally used in everyday operations. Sure, the escape pods were for saving lives, but they were intended for emergency deployment if and when the primary ship and life support could no longer provide a safe environment for the occupants. There were risks. But those risks were the lesser evil, than stay with a doomed vessel...

"Well...uhm, the part about wanting to take you away is kinda true..." Yes, she wanted so bad to save this young woman from her current situation.
Marina knew in her heart that Skye, however the woman believed that her place was not among the free galaxy, would come to realize that she had self empowerment to be master of her own destiny. She could be whomever she wanted to be in the free galaxy.
Here..in the FO you were only as good as what they made of you. Most of the girl's life had most likely been planned for her. How this Ren clan-hood ran, Marina had no clue, nor did she know of what it was about.
There was hope..a new beginning for Skye...if only she could grasp it.

But the girl's plan was as desperate as her own about skipping and hopping their way back to the free space of the galaxy.
Still, the kidnapping part was what Marina couldn't do, even if it was for Skye's own good in the long run. To deceive her would be no different in what the FO did.

Time had run out. She didn't need the crono to tell her that..TK just wheeled itself back to the galley and in a quicker pace.
Be de beep be beep.. it went on.
The countdown to dropping out of hyperspace was at T-47.....seconds.

"Sigh....come on. Follow me...we'll figure this out...." Marina got her butt off the table's edge and made toward the cockpit.
Skye followed, still hot on hearing Marina's response to her plan.

"Pods, I have... yes..." Marina replied as she entered the cockpit making for her chair. TK was just right on Skye's heels.
"Jettison you out...I-
...I just don't know." That was the difficult part.
Sure, the pods had a 3 day emergency food and water for two, and a re-circulatory gas generators that could sustain life support for a month. But to just chance jettison the girl into space and fake an retrieval/escape plan..
"Skye...what if they don't take you as bait? I can outrun them...
You?...you could be floating for... Sigh. Buckle up!"

...3...2...1... Emerge>

The Mariner IV instantly dropped out of hyperspace. The streaking starf ield collapsed, almost giving them the impression they jumped backward for a slit second.
But they were now in open space..still in FO space. But nothing at this moment was showing up on their screens...just a distant but nearby system star.

The readings were coming in, enlightening the system...it's planet groups, star intensity and ...
"Bingo." Marina said, pointing to the holo image of the 4th planet coming into more detail.
It wasn't so much the plane itself that was of interest, as it was a gas giant, but one of it's closer moons. It was almost planet size, much like Naboo, as it had no core density other than water. And it had no artificial satellites, nor anything unnatural through out the entire star system. The FO had somehow no interest in this system. And why would they? The moon so far was the only inhabitable satellite and it had no real natural resources due to it's low density, meaning it lacked many elements such as metals and ores. It was mostly comprised of water and rock...and foliage of course, as it was a green world.


Be de beep de de beep... her droid sounded off by the nav comp

"Alright...just keep them cycling TK...keep our windows open... we' re not jumping so soon..." She replied.Marina was piloting the Mariner IV closer to the gas giant, while TK had been cycling through various jump computations as the Mariner IV headed into the system..toward the fourth planet. Actually toward the habitable moon.

She then turned to Skye, who herself was looking over the same readings.
"I'm not trying to take you against your will...just that to let you go..."
"Sigh...I know I will have to. It'll break my heart to not know how you're doing and if you'll be alright with your Ren people...the First Order..." She spoke while easing her ship closer to the moon, being cautious of anything out of the ordinary.

Of course she didn't know what system this was and neither did her nav comp, despite it being very up to date. But a sector, even deep in FO space, had literally millions if not more star systems. Not all were explored, nor even mapped...there just wasn't enough resources or means of categorizing every single star system. The probability of doing that was astronomical, let alone patrol millions upon millions of star systems in the entire scope of FO claimed space. If anything, this system could provide them with some cover...even time to devise a real working plan other than making a run for it.

"The pods do have emergency transponders... if anything, we can amplify their signals with some mods.
Maybe your plan could work...but not so haphazardly..." Ok, so Skye's plan was the best so far, but it wasn't without risks.

"What do you say we jettison a pod once we 're in orbit..look for a good potential spot for it to crash in...we go down to the pod, modify the transponder, and initiate the part of your plan 'that you've escaped' like you said?" Marina was saying, as she maneuvered the Mariner IV around the moon, to establish a low orbit. In doing so, much of the moon's topographical imagery was being mapped by the nav comp. It was all for determining an ideal landing spot to have the pod come down on...and then the ship. They needed a good cover in case there were some patrols that made it to the system in their effort of trying to locate her ship.

What they needed was a good place to set the pod down on...even though it would be empty. As no way, no how way was she going to chance putting Skye in an escape pod to have it crash land as it was designed to do. There was always a chance of injury, as the pods were mostly designed to be in free space. Although they could re-enter atmosphere and then parachute down..firing its retrorockets at the last minute.
failsafe?..not quite. But they were emergency escape pods and not meant to be actual space ships that could land at will.

 

[Skye Achlys]

Skye nodded quickly.

"Yeah, yeah that sounds okay", she said as she stood up again. "That could work. We drop a pod down there, and then you fly me towards the pod... it does have to look damaged though, so we'll have to launch it from high up."

She ran the plan through in her head once more before she realised she didn't know how to modify the transponder.
"You will have to give me a quick transponder course as I have no idea how to modify it", she admitted. "Sure you could do it, but should some disrespectful annoying bloke see the need to question me... Better be safe than sorry, right?"

She sighed. "I think we can make this happen. I'm looking forward to it, but I'm also dreading it. It'll be nice to be back among my ranks again without the whole being hunted part, but I'll probably start to miss you too", she silently admitted. She then walked over to Marina and she threw her arms around the woman who was still sitting, hugging her. "I can't leave my Order, but why don't you come with me?", she asked jokingly, even though she secretly had small hopes, while she rested her chin on Marina's head. "I'll show you we're not as horrible as you probably think we are", she chuckled.
The silence she recieved when Marina didn't immediately have an answer ready was more than enough to confirm what Skye already thought. "Yeah. We should probably let eachother go our own ways", she then said, a slight sense of disappointment in her voice, as she let go of the blonde again. "We should set this thing into motion", she said as she stepped away from the blonde, who appeared to still be in her thoughts.

 

[Marina DeVoe]

She nodded... "That's why I don't really want you on it. It has to look like it was launched in an emergency and maybe had sustained some navigational control problems."

Marina got up, stopping only to look her new friend in the eyes. Eyes always told the truth.
But they were as uncertain as her own. They were just two. Two of them trying to come up with a viable and believable plan that would get both of them out of this jam. Marina knew that she, with the Mariner IV and her tin-bot could make the frog leaps to Allied space. But Skye's life..her allegiance lay with the First Order.
It was not as bad as Marina had heard, Skye was saying.
Maybe not.
Not to one who knew no other life but the First order maybe. Then again, same could be said of her own beliefs, though Marina.

Currently, she were looking into the eyes of the First order. And she saw nothing but a young woman...someone she didn't want hurt or suffer on her account. No, the First order as she looked into Skye's eyes wasn't as terrible as she thought.
No, not when you broke the First Order down to individuals, like Skye. Then you would be looking into similar eyes as she were this moment... an individual, not much different than herself. One on one, they were just two human beings who readily connected. Differences in governments and political alliances didn't matter. In so many ways they could be construed as diplomats, as long as they were apart from outside influence.

Marina had come to understand that if Skye had been in a similar situation over the border within Allience space, that the Alliance would maybe give this woman the same chase as the First Order did her. Maybe the Alliance wasn't so different than the First Order either in that respect.
Maybe...maybe when people got together in hordes... much like rats, they acted like pack animals too.
Marina had to suppress those disturbing thoughts. What mattered was them two here at this time.
They had become friends. There were feelings now. Feelings of care and concern over the other. It weren't strange as to how it had come to be. It was because both were just two individuals that had taken to experience something together that had first been planned to run on two entirely different planes. Two individuals from different worlds that came to understand the other. If such things could be possible on a larger scale... there would be no need for borders or wars.

"Sigh... Ok, to figure out how one could makeshift an amplitude module..from parts gathered in a hurry..." Marina was trying to think of how to make a crude amplifier to extend the pods beacon that would project outside this system. Sure any transmission could reach the far end of the galaxy..in say 100 million light years if it transmitted in standard light speed. The pods did that, no problem.
But they needed a hyper-signal that would transmit that range in a fraction of the time. And they needed to put together such a module that looked like it was made /put together by Skye and not one of the Mariner IV amplifiers.
It had to look like Skye put together the amplifier...rigged the pod herself, otherwise why wouldn't she use the Marine IV's comm, if she had access to the amplifiers on the ship?

Be de beep beep... Her droid TK was more fighting her than helping.
They had removed some components from the galley and hall displays, along with some coils and boards from easily accessible components, simulating something to the fact that Skye had somehow barricaded herself or created a sort of division in the Mariner IV from the fore.

"No, no..TK, we know that those components are a no brainer to apply, but we need to make it look like it was jury rigged..."
Naturally her droid couldn't understand why take a primitive salvageable approach to creating a hyper- amplifier.

So it went, as the three of them devised a believable last minute escape that Skye managed to do.
"No no!...just components from the aft of the ship. And not so neat and proper...just...
oh I don't know..just twist them together.
STOP!...don't fuse it....just...just twist them..."

"Look...let us finish this TK. Why don't you go and check on...on the pod's life support system?"

But how many times did it need to be checked? Her droid had been sent to do diagnostics on it three times already.

"Just go...do it again!" Marina shooed her droid away while she pointed to where Sky should make the connections. Some were purposely attached wrong and bypasses were made in an effort to look like Skye was trying everything she knew little of in making it work. In the end, the amplifier was three times the mass and had countless useless components that were just bridges. Marina was however giving Skye a good rundown as to how it should have looked and what wasn't needed. It was to get Skye an understanding as how to assemble an amplifier. This was in case she were under question..a debriefing of her encounter and ordeal as a captured prisoner of the horrid Marina DeVoe..Pirate Smuggler Extraordinaire.

"He-he..." They chuckled as for the short time they were busying themselves on the makeshift construction of the hyper-amplifier, they were drawing up elaborate but quite believable background stories.
Yes, the Marina whom the FO had believed to be the humanitarian pain in the butt wasn't that Marina at all. At least not the one which Skye had run into. Skye had run into a slicer..a body double that had taken on the identity of the Marina DeVoe..only that when Skye found out, all hell broke loose and a struggle to gain control of the ship resulted in a stalemate of sort. After all the horrid doubleganger that posed as Marina was actually armed with real blasters. This was devised so that the FO wouldn't waste their time going after the real marina who had nothing to do with all that went down.

What final showdown brought was a ship divided. Only that the slicer had the cockpit and was taking Skye who had barricaded herself on the back half of the ship with her as a prize to the Hutts.
Yes, the Galactic Alliance weren't even involved but the notorious Hutts..the Underworld. Skye had felt her duty to do her best to escape and warn the FO of the Underworld's plan in sneaking into FO space and profit from it. Profit from what? well, Skye didn't get a chance to find out as when she discovered the plan and exposed the fake Marina; all hell let loose.

Finally reaching a final version of the plan, they went over it, like they were reminiscing it. It was burned into Skye's memory.
And of the hyper-amplifier... Skye did pick up some tech knowledge as how such a device worked and how it was fashioned. In fact, the working amplifier was taken apart 4 times and assemble the last two times by Skye alone without any faults. It worked!

Their short but excited celebration was indeed short lived. Reality hit. They had everything set and prepared.
The only thing left was to launch the empty pod and have it crash at their given site...a sort of swamp. It was Skye's idea..as she indicated she had quite an experience in a swamp..Dagobah not to long ago. She couldn't go into details..but maybe one day if they should ever meet under more desirable circumstances, she promised to tell marina about it.

"We're coming up on the launch window in 5...4...3...2..1.. do it." Marina gave the go ahead, from the cockpit as she monitored the planet below. Skye who was near the pod's control, ship-side was to launch it upon Marina's 'Go'.

Marina couldn't see Skye, not from where she was, as the pod that they were going to use was aft of the ship. this too added to the realism of the concocted story. The pod was serial numbered as one of the aft pods. Marina got the indicator on the monitor in the cockpit, that it had launched.
Now all they had to do was for Skye to head back up to the cockpit and both would monitor the pod's descent and crash site. After that, they would take the Mariner IV planet side and set up the act that Skye had been in it all along.

That had been their plan....

 

[Skye Achlys]

Skye fiddled around with the pod's systems and then placed her hand on its door. She wasn't planning on following Marina's plan. Maybe she would've, if the circumstances would have been different. But now there was something else in play, something neither had forseen.

Skye took a good look at the Escape pod and its door, and as she did, she heard something behind her.

It was TK, who then proceeded to beep something to her.

Skye briefly looked over her shoulder before returning her gaze to the small window.
"I don't have to speak your language to understand what you're saying", she replied.

The droid then seemed to get ready to retrieve Marina.

"But", Skye calmly added, which resulted in the droid stopping," I must ask you to do something. Not for me, no, but for Marina. And her life."

The droid then proceeded to beep in a different tone, no doubt a concerned one. Skye sighed as she grabbed something from her backpack. It was the small device she was communicated on earlier. Skye had thought that was all it was used for: communication. But she was wrong and she saw that now.

"You see this little thing right here, buddy? This is what people from my side used to order me to do things to Marina and such. Now, I taught it was communications only, yet, when I constructed this little beacon right here," she said as she retrieved the small beacon with her other hand," I noticed a set of components both items share."
She clicked open the transmitter to show TK the insides.

"I assumed this to be communication-related, but now I see that isn't the case."

The droid immediately started making all kind of noises, clearly distressed about Skye's discovery. The woman then sighed as she returned her gaze towards the pod.
"So now I ask of you to help me. I need to leave, in the pod, now. Once Marina gives us the 'go' signal, it is my time to leave you two. But listen," she said as crouched down in front of the droid," you have to save Marina, okay? The patrols, they're probably already on their way here. And with probably I mean check the scanners. I know they're close. You need to make the jump to your safe-space."

"Don't let Marina stop you. Whatever she does or says, ignore her untill you reach safety, understood?"

She stood up again, as she stepped back from the droid. "Now go"

As the droid turned around, Skye spoke one last time. "Actually, give her a message from me, yeah? Tell her.... tell her she's a lovely woman- and that I wish her the best in her life. And..and..."

"Actually, TK. Just leave it at that"

"Take care of her, bud"

The droid beeped once more before it hurried her way towards the cockpit.

"5...4...3...2..1.. do it."

And Skye did it. Marina would see the pod being shot off towards the planet.
Yet the blonde didn't know that Skye was inside it, or that TK was tasked to get her the hell out of there immediately.

And with a last look towards the spacecraft and Marina, Skye made her way towards the planet, where she would eventually crash. Others would come, patrols would pick up her beacons, and then she'd be saved.

Both would be safe. That was a mission accomplished in her book.

 

[Marina DeVoe]

"All ready back there?" She asked her droid who had just entered the cockpit.
"Skye, you set to launch that can?" Marina shouted out of her cockpit in the direction down the corridor to where Skye was at the pod controls.

Be de... it announced all was set in place, before it casually moved over to the nav comp console.
Marina was keeping vigil on the planet surface as the Mariner IV was orbiting it and soon to come up on their designated prime landing spot for the unmanned pod.

"Alright...coming up on it in T minus 1 minute and counting..." Marina called out the minute.

"SKYE...coming up on it in 54 seconds!" She got shouting behind her toward the corridor to where her friend was at the emergency override controls of the designated aft escape pod. There were 3 ways it could be launched . One was from the cockpit, the other was from inside the pod and the third way was from the override panel next to the pod door. They had chosen the override as it would blow the panel hatch housing the pod, versus the panel sliding open if done from the cockpit. The override was much like if one was inside the pod. The panel that released it would blow and leave some marks that it had been launched in that manner.
If it were by her cockpit, the panel would not blow but slide out of the way, giving clue that it had not been done in an emergency. They had gone over this scenario a few times and they had it down flawlessly. It was to appear that Skye had escaped, not left freely.

"SKYE...45 seconds and counting!..."Marina's heart rate was up, as this was in a way exciting, even though it was really a mock scenario that they were pulling. Still, they had orchestrated it to look like Skye had fought and struggled to get herself free from what had been a honey trap...an Allied agent that posed as the blond Marina DeVoe.
The entire story upon which both had collaborated a story that went back all the way to Faldos. Supposedly when Skye discovered that an Allied Agent was posing as a humanitarian Marina DeVoe, all hell broke loose and a struggle ensued. Skye had been outnumbered and overtaken by the agent's assassin droid and could do nothing to stop the Allied scum from taking off when troops arrived to secure the ship.

"Uhm...SKYE?!...
Skye you hearing me?...30 something seconds to go...YOU ALRIGHT BACK THERE!?" Marina took to worrying that maybe something went wrong. Did the girl accidentaly short something and zapped herself good this time all on her own?

"Skye-...." She was about to get up out of her seat to go check, as what the hell, they could do another orbit and be over the same spot in like another 20 minutes; but her droid stopped her.

De beep de beep de de...it suddenly, toned in, informing her that Skye was indeed good and that she had the emergency panel switch armed and ready. TK suggested she best put her bottock back in her chair and commence with their plan...as stupid as it was.

"Huh?... What do you mean, stupid?
NOW you beep in and say it's a stupid plan? Where were you when we were going over all the details-" But she was cut off by her droid as it informed her of the 10 seconds left to pod launch.

"Arrg!...You and I are gona have to have a talk.." She said, before returning to the task at hand.
.
"Skye..4...3...2...1... let it rip!" Marina shouted.
And sure enough the outer skin panel that covered the pod tube was seen blasting away and the pod shot out like a cannon ball.

"YEA!..Ho-hoo!...come on, give me a five..." She said, seeing the pod disappearing down into the atmosphere from her monitor.
Naturally TK didn't or couldn't give her a five, despite her hand up near it for TK to even simulate a high five.

"Oh come on you party pooper...give me at least your comp link-
Hey... why are you linked up to the nav comp anyway?" She now noticed her droid linked up directly to the Mariner's comp.
Had something gone wrong? She did see the pod release.

"OH MY GOD..." Marina suddenly got up and was about to race out of the cockpit and down the corridor to where Skye should be.

But the sudden jolt of the Marine's sub-light thrusters knocked her off her feet and to the floor.
The planet below suddenly became topsy-turvy as the mariner spun itself out of orbit and back into open space. But how was the ship doing that on it's own?

"TK! What the frak are you doing?!..." Marina scrambled to her feet and for a moment didn't know whether to take over the controls or go check on Skye.
She opted to go check. Marina rushed down the corridor to where Skye should of been, but no Skye. Marina pressed herself against the emergency pod window glass. The pod no doubt wasn't there. Hell, she seen it launch. But she checked on the tube nevertheless in disbelief as to what had gone down.

"No, no, no...no..." She scrambled back toward the cockpit and on to her droid, trying to pull it from the console...or more to the point, get it disconnected from the cockpit console and computer.
But the tin can wouldn't budge.
"What's gone into you?!...get out of the system!" She kept futility trying to move TK, but it was connected to the Mariner like it was a permanent piece of hardware.

"Ouch..." Her few good kicks at the droid got her toe hammered she kicked TK so hard. Despite her boots it HURT!.

"No, no NO!" She was aghast at seeing them go from sub-light to hyper-drive. The stars streaked and they were instantaneously millions of miles, racking billions at every heart beat away from where Skye had left in the pod.

"YOU....you....arrrg! TK, stop it. I order you to disengage. TK!... Arrg!..." She got so mad she bopped it on the head...more carefully this time so as not to hurt herself. She knew better than to strike at a metal droid or anything harder than herself...if she was to strike at anyone.
Marina slumped into her chair. She knew it was futile to try and take control of her ship. Not when her droid was directly connected to it, she couldn't.

She despaired..dropping her head into her hands and cried to herself.
This by the way, got Mr hard head to disconnect itself from the comp and went over to comfort her. After all, TK didn't want Marina to hurt in any way...especially cry. She had after all smashed her foot hard against his shell and now was crying with pain.

"Oh TK...sob, sob..." still crying, she dropped her hands from her features and opened up her arms for it to come over so she could find comfort in a hug. Her droid did just that.
And that was the last thing it recorded before it went dead off line.

"You little bastard you!..." She pushed it out of the way, with his breaker in her hand. She had reached over like in an embrace, but had pulled his power supply breaker instead. it immediately went off line.

Marina turned in her chair and took control of the mariner again. First thing first was to see in what goddamn direction this sorry fodder of a droid had jumped the ship too...and why? ..why had TK done this?...and why had Skye actually boarded the pod?

"What the-?" She could well see the path and coordinates the ship was heading too...Allied space.
"Frak!...why?...WHY?!!..." She took to shouting at an off line droid. But she figure it out. It was obvious...Skye herself had a few times suggested she be just dropped off and for marina to head alone out of FO space. But why and how had TK gone along with it? It was loyal to her...conditioned to obey her, not go against her-
Not go against her unless her life was in eminate danger.

Her droid came back to life. Marina had replaced the breaker. it now stood erect and alert before her with a low tone..like a puppy who had disobeyed its master and it was sorry.

"Lets have it..." She then said, her voice not revealing what she felt. But she knew that there had to be a message. And a message there was...

Be de beep be... it replied before the hologram of Skye appeared.
It had recorded her by the escape pod and showing TK the transmitter she had. It had a tracking device in it. Skye had realized it when she and Marina were making the modifications to the transponder they were to use. She had no idea that she had a tracker on her, which explained as to how they had first found them so easily.
And of course, the reason as to why her droid did what it did. TK was only protecting it's master...Marina.
The hologram played out in it's entirety, up to the point that TK left Skye to head up to the cockpit.

Marina was now crying real tears. Skye had sacrificed herself and safety so that Marina could go home...safely and without a mark on her head.
She merely got up off her chair amid the jump and left the cockpit.

"Stay the course... I want to be alone for awhile..."