Private Life in the Unknown [Eclipse Rebellion]

[MERCYCOM]

0835
Unknown Regions
Emerald Moon Station

In the months since the rebellion had found this station, progress on repairs had been slow, despite the relative calmness between the Rebellion and the Eternal Empire. For whatever reason, the Empire seemed... Preoccupied with something within itself. What this was, none of the rebel agents could figure out, and not even Rabbit could tell them about it. Despite this, finding people capable of making station repairs proved challenging.

Deciding that her crew was in need of much needed help, Captain Renaya Avry sent out a message to all rebel cells a week ago, calling for anyone with engineering or electrical knowledge to arrive at the station today. Now, she waited in the hangar for those that answered her call. Her only hope was that they wouldn't be entirely inept at fixing things. As everyone arrived, Renaya took a good look over all of them, and gestured all of them to stand in front of her. Once everyone arrived, the captain took a deep breath, and leaned against a crate of supplies before speaking to those gathered.

"All right, now that everyone is here, I guess it's time for introductions, yeah? Some of you have been here before, a few months ago. Things ain't changed much since, ya see, so that's why I sent out that message. I'm Renaya Avry, Captain of this station. I named this old lady Emerald Moon, but she's... She's on life support, with how decrepit and broken down she is. I don't know who broke her this bad, but some parts of the station we can't even get life support to function in. Artificial gravity don't work is some places, either. But that's where you lovely folks come in! Y'all are gonna help me and my crew fix ol' Emerald up, for the Rebellion. Get with my crew and figure out where you're needed, and hopefully we can get more work done today than we were able to get done in the past 6 months."

 

[Kalic Daws]

Kalic took a breath as he walked in, having come back on the same Ranger-class FAC that he had come here on before. The Miraluka would listen carefully as the captain explained the situation. He looked at the station. Honestly didn't seem any worse than some of the stations he'd been on before. He looked around, patting Jee before speaking up.

"Just tell me where you need me. If I can keep my fighter up and running I should be able to help."

 

[Adenn Kyramud]

The call had taken him by surprise, seeing as it came from and old friend and someone he considered vode. Sadly such family trappings had fallen to the wayside in recent times, in part due to newer obligations, and in part due to preparations for the protection of his home. But he wouldn't give up such an opportunity to reconnect with family, much less one so closely trusted as Taozi. As a result, the Aegis Eternum had been prepared, though it would run dark, as would Adenn and his vode. He had little clue as to what osik she had gotten herself into, but he knew that he didn't yet want to fully commit, as another war would devastate his clan further.

Thus, his old ship had been prepared, as those who could remember the vessel were close vode. There were few, if any others, that would even recognize the ship, much less associate it still with the clan or Adenn. Still, as a precaution, it was given an all black color scheme, even as Adenn and the handful of Mandalorians with him did the same, while also having donned heavy cloaks. The color was relatively easy, seeing as they had armor changers, and the cloaks simply added to the cover. With such preparations in place, Adenn had departed for this Emerald Moon Station, and coming with him were two engineers and two other vode to crew the ship. Said vode would remain on the ship, even as Adenn and his engineers would see what they could help with, while also seeing just what Taozi was involved with and how much they could help.

Now though, they were simply three cloaked figures standing amongst a small ensamble of figures. The Aegis Eternum hidden away to ensure as little of it was seen as possible, while Adenn and his vode were hidden just as much. To further that, they had brought no truly heavy weapons, as this was an aid mission. Still, they were armed as all Mandos should be, but nothing that would stick out too much, nor anything to draw attention to them in the Force or not. All that was truly visible and attention drawing from them were their visored helms, and in Adenn's case, the gleam of his Jaig Eyes. If any there knew the significance of that symbol, Adenn didn't know, though he doubted many would care if they did.

Still, Adenn and his two vode remained at the back of this group, eyes still warily searching the rest. They did listen to what was said and readied to offer their services to the... Adenn's thoughts were brought to a halt upon hearing another in the group speak. His searching took on a sharper tone, as Adenn recognized that voice, however faintly it may have been. After a long moment of scrutinizing, Adenn's gaze landed on the Miraluka. He looked familiar to Adenn, though time had certainly changed the both of them. Kalic would be able to feel Adenn's gaze boring into his back, even as Adenn ran scenarios through his mind and attempted to truly remember the man that stood several meters away.


MERCYCOM | Kalic Daws

 

[Eliana Shan]

When they had arrived at the station several months prior, Elly had immediately taken note of its admittedly decrepit state. Her mental list had stacked up rather quickly, and the subconscious exercise had provided a simultaneous source of comfort and welcome distraction to their then-priorities. Her focus had remained on the meeting when she had attended, of course, but part of her mind had remained on the station itself, even after their departure.. So it had come as little surprise that, when the call had come out for assistance in repairs, she had been one of the first to sign up. Her training was important, yes, but there was so much she could accomplish here, for the station and for the Rebellion, and Adelle had known that as well as she did.

So it was that Eliana Shan found herself once more on the station -- the Emerald Moon, it seemed she was called -- only this time, her mind was much more focused on the prize. As the Captain, Renaya Avry, broke down the situation, she found herself taking her own stock. Life support was barely functional, artificial gravity was off across swaths of the station.. she nodded to herself at that. Lack of gravity wasn't as detrimental as it sounded, at least in initial repairs: after all, it allowed for one to reach the upper portions of a deck or corridor, and tools could temporarily be kept suspended nearby. Life support being on the fritz, though.. that was more concerning. An oxygen leak where it wasn't expected, no matter which direction it went, could spell potential disaster. There were other priorities as well, to be sure, but she knew that that was going to be a large one, if not top of her list.

"Get with my crew and figure out where you're needed, and hopefully we can get more work done today than we were able to get done in the past 6 months," she heard the Captain finish saying. As the rest of the assemblage began searching for their direction, Elly smiled; it would have been difficult to keep her joy at the task before them off her face had she even been trying, but truth be told, she was not. Six months of work in a day? Her grin only widened at the prospect.

She stepped forward, armed with her hydrospanner, her datapad, and her wits. "You name it, I can rebuild it. Where are we working first?"

MERCYCOM | Kalic Daws | Adenn Kyramud

 

[LE-03 (Leigh)]

"I have formulated an ideal priority list for tasks required on this station."

Leigh stood back and to the left of the Captain, her dome blank and her arms carefully crossed behind her back to make herself as unimposing as possible--after all, it would not do to scare her own allies, and a large mech with a cannon for a limb was, she had found over to the years, naturally intimidating. She had shared more than her fair share of the crew since she had first arrived on the station some time ago, and had cultivated the posture to keep the more easily-startled of them at ease.
If only Na'an were around more often, she found herself thinking at times. Yes, it was half her own fault that Na'an was never on the station, having been sent on covert mission after covert mission after covert mission, but her absence still made the station feel only a little more unwelcome than the Kalidan palace. At least she did not startle at the sight of Leigh the way some of the new rebels did. Nor did Na'an talk around her instead of to her, like she was empty chassis rather than the actual Voice of Abbaji that had led them in their cause.
Of course, there was one other person on this station that did not treat LE-03 like either a curiosity or a threat to her face. And that was...

She turned her chassis slightly to the right, deliberately avoiding the impression that she was looking at the brown-haired woman carrying a hydrospanner in any way.

That...was complicated.

"Life support is stable in the primary decks, but in order for it to extend further the hull breaches in sectors 2, 3, and 7 must be repaired," she said smoothly. As Leigh spoke, her dome flickered to life with a downloaded schematic of the station, the breached stations flickering in red. "Anyone with welding experience should see the Requisitions officer and suit up for spacewalk conditions. Species with keen eyesight and fine motor dexterity should be delegated to monitoring and repair of electrical, fuel, and atmospheric lines in these areas, with a mind towards patching any visible breaks or ruptures. Fire prevention will be critical--one of the lower decks near the aft defenses has already been compromised in this manner, based on extensive burn damage in the area. If this station is to be defensible, systems on those decks need to be stabilized. I suspect that malfunctions in those areas may be due to some sort of infestation, most likely of an insectoid variety. Please alert the Captain or myself if any nests are found."

She paused, wondering if she had forgotten anything. "I will be focused on the communication systems via the network hub on the bridge.

Any questions?"

MERCYCOM | Kalic Daws | Eliana Shan | Adenn Kyramud ​

 

[MERCYCOM]

Renaya looked over those gathered as LE-03 (Leigh) was able to give clear instructions on where the systems that need fixing were. Kalic Daws looked like a lost kid, with how he just asked where was needed, and the Captain gave him a smile before pointing with her thumb towards Leigh's map on her domed head.

"Pick a spot and get to it kid. If you're good with welding, go to where we need ya to weld. If you're more like that Commenor President fellow, I'mma need ya to go where we got electrical issues, yeah? Or if you're good with a blaster... Eh, hopefully there ain't bugs since we're in space, but there's some freaky chit out here where no one bothers to look. Same with you, little lady. I don't know y'all's skills, so I'm trusting ya to go where you know you can be useful."

As the gathered Rebels broke off one by one, the Captain took notice of the 3 figures standing by the wall, all dress in black. Rabbit's people? Couldn't be, Rabbit was medical, not engineering, wasn't she? Renaya walked over to the three and held out a hand to shake. Her eyes glanced up at the markings on Adenn Kyramud 's helmet, before lowering back down to the visor to make eye contact.

"Well hello there ya spooky lookin' fellas. You look like some of Rabbit's people, didn't know she had any engineers in her group. Nice to meet ya. I'm assumin' you could hear our droid friend's explanation, yeah?"

 

[Kalic Daws]

Adenn Kyramud MERCYCOM LE-03 (Leigh) Eliana Shan

Kalic would nod to Leigh, then to Renaya as he looked over the map. He smirked a bit and looked at the places that needed welding. He guessed that would be him and his Spacer self.

“I weld up my fighter all the time, so shouldn’t be too hard. Don’t need mask either. Jee here is good with electronic stuff, and since she’s a Q7, zero G isn’t an issue.” Jee would whistle a little before floating off to one of the areas with electrical issues. Kalic meanwhile would go to get suited up for a space walk, hoping he could handle whatever he was about to see.

 

[Adenn Kyramud]

Standing there to the back of the group, it became apparent to the trio just what was happening. Every individual had to play fully to their strengths, and the diversity meant every individual had to find their own purpose. It meant all would work where they thought they would fit best, even if it wasn't entirely for the best regarding speed. Still, it was efficient enough that it worked across the breadth and width of life. It also helped that the combat droid had listed out everything and where it all was.

Listening silently to the clinical speech, though quietly discussing where they would be best utilized via their helmets, Adenn nodded as it concluded. Then the captain spoke up once more, directing her attention to the two that had spoken up thus far. It got him to snort in amusement, thoughts drifting to better times. And then the little gathering slowly dispersed, with people heading to their suited locations. Adenn and his vode were going to move when the captain began approaching them, easily making her way through the crowd to them. As a result, the three Mandalorians simply remained standing where they had been, eyes still roaming the hall or gazing at the captain.

Adenn was part of the latter camp, skull helm having shifted from Kalic to the captain as she approached. As she extended her arm, Adenn did the same and gave her one firm hand shake. No warrior shake yet, if ever for her. Then she examined his helmet symbols, the Jaig Eyes, and it brought a wry grin to Adenn's face, even as her gaze shifted back to his visor. She had no clue who or what he was, nor what the symbols truly meant. It amused his vode and he greatly, even as she spoke up.

Their amusement mounted as the captain spoke, until rough barks of laughter escaped the trio around 'Nice to meet ya.' That laughter drowned out the rest of her sentence as the Mandos reigned in their amusement. Adenn himself had partially tilted his head back, chuckling well and truly. Then the laughter stopped as suddenly as it had started, even as Adenn's helm tilted forward to glare down at the captain. There was still mirth in his posture, but far more hardened steel.

"We are many things, dear captain, spooky being the least threatening on the list." It was clear that a hand was hovering near a concealed weapon, not yet drawn, but ready nonetheless. And then Adenn straightened and the hardened aura about him lessened, instead becoming more leaderlike as Adenn focused on the task at hand. "But aye, Rabbit did send us. There are many roles within the group, known or not. You needn't worry or concern yourself with it, simply know we've been asked to help here and we shall."

With his fists hooking onto his belt, Adenn's gaze swept the hanger once more as he took in the droid and the others once more. Then he nodded once as he spoke again, his gaze slowly returning to meet the captains.
"We did hear the droids speech and are able to assist wherever necessary." Adenn held up a hand then, stopping the captain before she could even start. "No, don't give me that osik about trusting us to be useful wherever we think we fit. My vode fit anywhere, and are well versed in nigh on anything you could need doing. As for myself..." He snorted shortly. "extermination sounds like it's needed. Unless you have some other grand plan, Captain Avry."

Kalic Daws | MERCYCOM | LE-03 (Leigh) | Eliana Shan

 

[MERCYCOM]

The Captain grinned as Adenn Kyramud and his men doubled over in laughter. A good sense of humor was always nice to see in the Unknown Regions! When he tried to be intimidating, she smirked and cocked her head to the side, mechanical hand on her hip. Concealed weapon or not, nothing the man could do could be worse than what the Empire could do. After all, the Empress was even spookier than the man in front of her! Who knows what that woman could do?

"Ah, well, shucks, I guess you've got me there!"

Snapping the fingers of her organic hand, Ranaya shook a finger blaster at Adenn jokingly.

"There's a couple other things that I want taken care of that LE-03 (Leigh) didn't mention, but those ain't something I want the regular folks ta worry 'bout, ya feel me?"

Smiling with a hidden anxiety, the captain nudged Adenn's chest with her elbow. She turned around to look at the now mostly-empty hanger.

"It ain't nothing for ya to worry about, so you can go shoot whatever our droid friend thinks infested the station, yeah?"

There was an obvious tenseness to the Captain's posture, before she turned her head and gave Adenn and his men a small wave, before walking off to the control room. Subtly, she would motion for Leigh to follow her.

As Kalic Daws finished suiting up, a male Twi'lek would approach him, suited up for a space walk, holding his helmet as his side. Once he reached Kalic, he held out his hand to shake.

"Well hello there! Are you the one joining me on the welding of this area? My name's Kiran. I hope we can work well together."

 

[Adenn Kyramud]

Her lack of concern regarding his more intimidating nature brought a grin to Adenn's face. It was rare for non-Mando'ade to be so jaded, so it was good to see that this Rebellion did have some spine in it. As such, his posture dropped his steel entirely in favor of a normal outlook. For a moment, Adenn wondered just what this woman had seen to jade her so, but shook it off. That didn't truly concern him, so he wouldn't bother with it.
"I like you."

And then she spoke of other matters, ones that seemed to be far more important. Thus, he focused on what she said afterwards. A frown formed on his face at that, even as his vode exchanged glances behind him. Adenn himself said nothing though, tilting his head a bit in confusion instead. Snorting as she turned and began to walk away, Adenn immediately began to follow her, his vode close behind. Stepping up to walk in lock step next to her, Adenn spoke up.
"No way in Manda you expect me to just walk away after you say that." Controlled chuckles came from his vode, even as they prepared for the worst. Voice lowering to a quiet whisper, one only she could hear, he kept at it. "Whatever your problem is, we'll help you deal with it. Because it seems like it'll be something big, especially if it's not cut off soon."

As the Mandalorians walked with the Captain, it was clear that they were ready for anything. Their postures had shifted from calm and relaxed into combat mode, even as they hefted various weapons beneath their cloaks. Adenn himself held a hidden rifle of some sort, while other parts of his armor clicked as they activated, such as his extra arms. All of this wasn't visible to the outside eye, but the good Captain would be close enough to see and hear various weapons activating and armor powering up fully. They were prepared for the worst, and anything that tried to stop them would regret it.

MERCYCOM | Kalic Daws | LE-03 (Leigh) | Eliana Shan

 

[Kalic Daws]

Adenn Kyramud MERCYCOM LE-03 (Leigh) Eliana Shan

Kalic would look at the Twi'lek, quickly shaking his had and nodding.

"I'm hoping so too. Seems like this station could really sure some love. Seen smuggler ports with better sealing." KAlic would quickly get ready to go to work, testing the welding torch before stepping out, looking around for any breaches.

 

[MERCYCOM]

Kiran smirked at the few words Kalic Daws spoke. The kid was funny, even as one of little words, and humor of any kind was appreciated out in the Unknown Regions. Putting on his helmet, and hearing the click of it connect around his head and lekku, Kiran followed Kalic out into the void.

"You ain't much for words, are ya? Unknown Regions native, then? My wife, Renaya, is from Bakura ya know. She was an engineer before the Empire decided to slaughter civilians for protesting, and joined up with the Rebellion shortly after. She and I found this station with our little cell, but ten people ain't enough to repair and run a whole station, ya know?"

Even as the welding began, the vacuum of space swallowed up the sound, leaving nothing to be heard over the comms besides Kiran.

"Sorry if I talk too much for ya, I ain't much for working in silence. Makes me anxious, 'specially out in open space."

 

[Kalic Daws]

Kalic couldn't help but chuckle a little at Kiran's comment about where he was from, though he gained a more serious look as the Twi'lek said where his wife was from. He took a breath as he prepped his torch and started welding some holes up. He'd look over sighing a bit.

"Outer Rim actually. Spacer at that." He stopped, looking at his work before continuing. "I was there when they attacked too.... Did what little I could, along with the other Rebels. It was.... It wasn't pretty. I can't believe they seem to be trying to change overnight. You don't go from that to... whatever they want people to think they are now." He'd keep repairing things, laughing a it more at his new friend's apology.

"No need to apologize. I understand. Just... things happen, you know? Especially in a war like this. Guess me being quieter's my way of coping."

MERCYCOM

 

[LE-03 (Leigh)]

"People often mistake quiet for weakness."

Leigh was only half paying attention to the conversation between Kalic Daws and going on at the hull breach; they were, after all, well out of sight of her physical body, which was following the Captain to the bridge. It didn't help that the audio sensors of the station were less reliable in the vacuum of space, without air to carry the sounds efficiently. She was already absorbed in solving that problem, the other half of her available processes dedicated to the rapid debugging, then recycling, of the atmospheric regulators in the decks being repaired (a surprisingly complicated problem, given that she had to manually adjust the gas levels to suboptimal oxygen levels for fire suppression purposes, at least until the breaches were sealed. The station's previous governing computers were....not terribly imaginative).

That being said, for a digital being, the difference between half and full attention was all but impossible to discern without knowing the tells. It was fortunate, she mused idly, that she had thought to move the sensor in advance so that it would vibrate against the hull for better sound emission.

"The Empire's new leadership seems not to have learned that lesson even as they utilize it themselves," she mused idly, fiddling with the nitrogen percentages on deck 7. "As well versed in covert operations as the Empress is, and their current tactics favoring political domination, assassination and communications control, such a level of ignorance is surprising--but not outside of possibility for organic species."

It was several milliseconds before the droid paused her atmospheric adjustments and fully processed what she had just said.

Aloud.

And across multiple decks.

She found herself, in the following three milliseconds, tremendously grateful she had left her facial hologram off so the Captain would not see her horror.

"My apologies. That was meant to be encouraging, not an insult. I am...not unfamiliar with the kind of strength that comes from having to wait."

This whole operation had her operating suboptimally. Her human, just too far out of her reach...her creator, always within sight...With the Rebels, but still having to hide her true nature as the Voice in order to protect them...Just enough of an improvement so that the droid could not complain, but just off-kilter enough that she had made a slip that any human who bothered to look closely would be able to sell that her mood was off.

MERCYCOM | Adenn Kyramud | Eliana Shan​