Responsibility

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Asmus Janes"]

Well, seemed like things were all taken care of.

Asmus didn't seem worse for the wear and now the crew of the Quin were starting to depart. She caught Asmus' bending down to scavenge what he could from the gang members, giving a slight frown at that. Right, smugglers.

Personally, Kaile wasn't the sort to go scurrying about and playing the pick-pocket. Too much of a sweetheart an a kind soul to really consider rifling through pockets for what could be used. It was one thing to do so on a salvage yard; another when the guy was knocked out cold after stunning him with enough juice to knock a Wookiee on its arse.

In fact, Kaile felt a bit sheepish about it. So as the scoundrel would have his way with whatever pertinent goods he might so aquire, Kaile bent down to the knocked out Nautolan.

"Sorry!" she whispered, truly meaning it with the slight sheepish expression on her face. Kaile didn't like hurting people, not if she could help it. If she could do just fine with the stun all the better.

Bounding up after Asmus, hair bouncing with every step, Kaile left the prone gang members to the very painful headache they would have once they finally woke up.

 

[Asmus Janes]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

A pack of frozen peas were quickly collected from the galley en route to the cockpit. Kaile was close behind and he turned to her with a look that was apology behind a veneer of pain.

"So sorry about that, wasn't really right of Kairon to ask you to stand with us. Glad you did though," he said, holding the back to the side of his jaw. There was still a faint ringing in his ears and his free hand started to tremble lightly from the adrenaline come down.

"Boy, get her fired up!" Kairon shouted as he ran back through the galley towards. Asmus wasted no time in abandoning the frozen veg and dashing into the cockpit, leaping to the pilots controls.

"You fly much?" he called over his shoulder.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Asmus Janes"]

Kaile was much like a lost puppy following Asmus around. Likely because she had no where else to go and honestly, she didn't want to be alone. Asmus was fun, and he was making her laugh from time to time. It was nice.

Felt warm.

Her adrenaline rush was waning, and her fingers began their soft trembling in its wake. She curled her then into fists, skin ding into an empty chair next to him. His question would prompt her to nibble on her lower lip again. A memory.

Kurt always flew the Messa, but their year together saw them get on as pilot and navigator. His VT throne aloud him to focus on things, but Kaile had been there by his side every time.

Slowly, that strawberry blonde head gave a shake.

"Rarely do. Your uncle have you assigned as the pilot?" She asked.

 

[Asmus Janes]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

"Hah!" came the sardonic laugh. "Get him drunk enough later and Kairon'll admit I'm better at the helm. His missus is ex-navy and reckons I could make it as a pilot. I dunno, but I'd look good in uniform. Still, when there's a chance of a scrap he prefers to be at the helm." Levers were slid into place and switches flicked. Lights danced across the console and she started to purr.

Turning from his console, one hand continued to start up routines on its own accord such was the familiarity of the routine. "But he's not here," he said with a wry grin. "Console on your left is scanners, controls to the right is countermeasures. Get that system up and running. We might need it. Kanjiklub tend to travel in armed freighters.

"Speak of the devil..."

Through the viewscreen he saw several more gang members arrive. He slammed down on the repuslor controls and they lurched upwards. Two members turned and ran from the hangar, whilst one started checking the casualties.

"Boy!" came an angry cry. But Asmus was grinning now. The Quin turned on the spot, inertial dampeners only taking the edge off the maneuver.

"You'd best get on weapons, got to run!" Asmus replied to Kairon at the top of his voice, flashing Kaile a cheeky grin. The heavily modified freighter shot out of the hangar well outside of regulation speeds.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Asmus Janes"]


Setting up countermeasures was easy. That was like riding a bike. She did the same back on the Messa. This small little lull as Asmus told her what to do was a mirror of what Kurt and she did a long while ago, until it became habit.

Okay, so far so -- Wait.. what?

Kaile’s eyes bulged at that suggestion. On weapons?

Like actually… shoot a turret?

What Asmus didn’t know is that Kaile wasn’t the sort to shoot to kill. The most she ever did was use a stun blaster. Kaile couldn’t harm a fly. However, it appeared that crew of the Quin were well used to having to get by scrapes that could very well turn ugly…

The blood would drain from her face.

Thankfully, that’s when she realized Asmus didn’t mean her. But Kairon. The sense of relief was apparent. Okay, she swung back around to the countermeasures.

A toggle flipped turned on the scanners. Countermeasures came online with a stream of green lights.

“Got it!”

Here they go again. Seemed like this was one space rodeo that never seemed to end.

The corner of her mouth perked at that.

 

[Asmus Janes]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

"This is control, please slow to approved cruising speeds for scanning."

"Got a bit of a rush on control, got into some bother in bay three, security needs some work around here. We can stop for inspection if you want. We've got thirty seven pods loaded," Asmus replied, keeping the engines hot as he skirted close to the control tower and away from the scanners.

There was a pause. In these shoddy establishments no one wanted a Space Master hauled over to go through every modular pod.

"Please keep your speed down," came a curt response. At that Asmus eased off and reduced to half way between his present relative velocity and the suggested cruising rate.

"Alright," Asmus said to Kaile, flashing her a grin over his shoulder. "Keep your eyes on the scanner for something pulling an intercept on our vector. They'll wait til they're beyond the station's secure zone before making a move. If they're out there.

"Don't worry," he added. "She can shift well enough for her size and she's already churning the hyperspace jump," he said, giving the console a gentle pat. "Right, see anything?" he asked as he eased the throttle and twisted them about one eighty on the roll axis to put the station in view of the ventral turbolasers.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Asmus Janes"]


“Got it!”

Kaile was giving it all she had. Okay, she could do this. Observing things was her schtick, even if in this case it was just sensors. There was so much chaos, such a high chance of things changing out of the blue that for the first time since she left Tatooine, Kaile managed to push past her sorrow and focus on the now.

“So far so good…” she began, giving Asmus an update over her shoulder. Of course, Asmus was right and she spoke a little too soon. They were the seasoned smugglers, and were well aware of what were the chances of the gang coming at them for a hit.


This was a whole new world for Kaile, and to be frank, it was a little bit exciting. Her fingers would tap a small beat as brown eyes would watch the sensor array. Sure enough, once they were given clearance to go, two bloops flared along their portside, just outside the station’s secure zone.

“We got three portside,” one light freighter and on heavily modified gunboat. Maybe the gang had a bit more weight in heavy handed power than they first thought.

 

[Asmus Janes]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

"When did Kanjiklub start buying gunboats?" Asmus asked rhetorically, looking a touch concerned.

"Asmus," came Kairon over the comm, voice low and serious now. "Keep her fairly steady and rely on countermeasures as they start shooting. If they close do what you need to, we'll keep up."

"Understood," Asmus replied. He flicked a switch and the displays shifted to tactical. Two holograms appeared on his left showing Kairon and Mai in their turrets. Pm the viewscreen appeared a representation of the relative positions, velocities and accelerations of the vessels. Dark blue swathes showed the firing arcs of each of the weapons. Asmus locked the rear turbolasers onto the big freighter. For a moment it seemed as if the crew were now treating the matter entirely seriously.

"I mean, you won't keep up, but I appreciate the thought," Asmus replied. A vector appeared on his display, the computer having crunched the numbers and found the path to a suitable jump point that gave the longest time to intercept. He veered gently, working the engines hard and diverting power between systems. The Kanjiklub fell into line behind them.

"We got this," he said to Kaile, as he watched the numbers carefully. It was all about the numbers when trying to chase someone down. Distance to jump point and relative acceleration. Both sides were burning hard, but it all came down to one small number: relative acceleration. From this came the fact that they were going to catch the Quin before the jump.

An ion engine had two real aspects that governed the impulse it provided. Firstly the power applied gave the velocity applied to each ion and therefore the ship. The amount of ions determined the mass and therefore momentum going through the engine each second. Asmus had a control for each, most typically left this to the computers.

He notched up and fixed the power to the most he could managed. Then his hand held over the fuel nozzles.

"Boy if you break my ship again..." came a weary warning.

Asmus cut the fuel. Instantly the relative acceleration between predator and prey leapt. Asmus yanked on the controls and flipped the ship to turn and face the enemy. With no thrust they kept moving towards the edge of the gravitational well, but backwards. Asmus slapped the torpedo controls and fired two homing concussion missiles at the gunboat. Then he flipped the Quin over again and eased the fuel back through the engines slowly until they hit maximum acceleration again. Range rings appeared on the tactical, showing how close their pursuers now were.

Warning lights flared. Two dots appeared just like their own ordnance.

"Alright Kaile hit those countermeasures at 200 and I'll hit lateral thrust."

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Asmus Janes"]

Things went from zero to hyperspeed in a Coruscanti minute.

Tension was high and all Kaile could do was hold on tight. "They are catching up." she murmured to herself, just as the klaxons blared and two red dots came right at their vector.

Kaile shook her head, unable to pull her attention from the sensors. One hand hovered over the red toggle switch, and her thumb flicked off it's protective sheath.

Five hundred.

Four Hundred.

Stars, she couldn't breathe.

Three hundred...

Two - her thumb set off the chaff and shot out the remaining countermeasures, jettisoning the debris that would allow the missiles to lock on and explode. A second later there was a shudder, the explosion bursting in their wake with enough force to cause a faint shudder.

 

[Asmus Janes]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

Asmus groaned against the force of the lateral thrusters being pushed to their limit. Bits of detritus grazed against the shields and a cerulean rippled flashed across the viewscreen. He didn’t even use the opposite lateral thrusters to remove their drift. It didn’t matter as long as they kept pushing for the point in the gravitational field when they could jump. The new point five Silk hyperdrive would leave Kanjiklub for dead. He saw the ships tailing them apply a lateral drift to match. Now all the ducks were neatly in a line again and they were closing fast.

“Perfect,” he called to Kaile without taking his eyes from his displays.

The tactical screen updated, closing ships now had shield and capability readouts. The gunboat’s shields were already faltering. They hadn’t expected the sudden flip and fire and both concussion missiles had hit home. Asmus tapped two buttons to re-load another pair of missiles. A fighter broke from behind the freighter and joined the gunboat in closing to weapons range. Now Asmus started to move. He wasn’t navy trained, but he had a knack for it. Lasers streaked past the viewport as he gave them more trouble hitting home than he had right to in an eighty metre freighter.

“Keep calling their positions to the gunners,” he grunted through clenched teeth to Kaile. They only had a limited view and even though they had screens it was easier for them to focus ahead and let another voice warm them.

Asmus prepared to cut power to the main thrusters again.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Asmus Janes"]

Okay, focus. Keep calm...

"We have two coming starboard!" the beep, beep, beep would only get louder. A few strikes of fire would strafe the Quin, hitting their shields an prompting a shudder of the craft. Kaile gave a grunt, bracing herself as she stumbled forward a bit. They were almost there.

Wait.. where did the other one go?!

Frantically her eyes would scour for any indication. Come on, come on! WAIT! There!

"Coming up portside, another fighter!"

 

[Asmus Janes]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

“Rolling starboard!” Asmus called – primarily to the gunners - as he tugged on the controls. The Quin rolled such that they both had clear shots on the targets. Quad laser fire streamed towards their targets, forcing them to abort their runs.

The freighter started firing on them, but the Quin’s turbolasers returned fire, giving them a bloody nose for coming in straight. The freighter backed off slowly and banked to one side.

“Hitting the brakes!” Kairon shouted, channelling thrust forwards whilst keeping the ear engines hot. The fighter and gunship streaked past. A sudden staccato string of beeps indicated they were locking on. Augmented reality HUD showed four corners of a square slowly closing on the gunship. They came together and turned yellow. The beep became a constant whine.

Fwoom. Fwoom.

Two concussion missiles arced out to meet the gunship as she turned. Energy rippled across her hull and she banked listlessly through space, disabled. Full forwards thrust was resumed and Asmus checked his display. “Hit it!” he shouted to Kaile, one hand off the controls and jabbing at the hyperspace lever before her.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Asmus Janes"]

Hit it??

Such an utter expression of panicked confusion went washing over Kaile's face. She already got the countermeasures. What else was she supposed to do?

A jammer? Other countermeasures? WHAT?

"Hit what?!" she yelled over her shoulder, a bit flustered and unsure because she desperately did not want to screw anything up.

 

[Asmus Janes]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

Asmus yelped as the fighter flashed across their view, lasers lashing across the deflectors and dropping them to forty percent. A string of green bolts arced up to meet it, forcing the pilot to pull some fancy manoeuvres.

“Hah, my bad!” Asmus had the chutzpah to laugh at himself for not being more explicit in his instructions. “Hyperdrive control, big level, all the way forwards!”

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Asmus Janes"]

The hyperdrive lever!

RIGHT!

Kaile frantically searched over the console, locking onto the lever. With a grit of teeth, she reached up and then jerked it back. The reaction was immediate. They were all flung back as the stars on the viewport enlongated, turning into streaks of white lines as the Quin jumped into hyperspace.

Adrenaline pumped hot through her veins, and she couldn't help but feel a slight sense of vertigo. It was okay though.

At least now they were safe...

 

[Asmus Janes]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

“And this,” Asmus said. He turned to face her, half his face splashed with the cerulean hue of hyperspace, a broad grin on his face. “Is what we do for a living.”

Turning to face Kaile, he drew his knees up to his chest and leaned his side against the back of the chair. “You were great by the way. Saved my ass twice. You must have been in a couple of scrapes with a blaster and at the helm before. Thank you.”

Blood was racing, heart pumping. Don’t think of the sonic. There was concern on her face, she almost looked a little distant. “We should grab some food. Got a long haul. You alright?”

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Asmus Janes"] was talking a parsec a minute and it was a bit hard to keep up. Brown eyes were wide, and just adrenaline edged with that spike of fear of what could have been sending her belly aflutter and her body thrumming with energy.

It was energy and a rise she didn't know how to express. How to even react to it. Kaile was always the sort to be in the background, running intel ops in a passive manner. Nothing like this.

Never like this.

Her fingers went curling upon the armrest of her chair, and her lips would purse. Slowly a smile would grow out of the ashes. A smile and a grin that ultimately brightened her entire face.

"Yeah... " a nod.

Had this been the Kaile from before, she would have jumped up immediately to hug Asmus and squee in happiness. Things were all about baby steps with her. About going through her emotions and living with them.

And just maybe, be able to settle the ghosts and keep them at bay.

For now however, Kaile gave Asmus the brightest of grins.

"I'm okay."

She bit her lower lip, then the concern would return.

"You?!"

 

[Asmus Janes]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

Asmus had been about to return to type. Then he reminded himself that they were well past that now. Besides it was rather refreshing to be dead honest for a change.

He held up one hand, palm down and fingers splayed. It trembled lightly. "Yeah, that was a bit hairy wasn't it? Think I might get that ice back on my jaw."

Already the skin around the left of his jaw had gone a few shades darker. As his heart stopped thrumming in his head that persistent whine returned from the blow to the head. He could hear the noisy metallic rhythm of the other crew members coming up and down from their turrets.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Asmus Janes"]

Kaile saw the mottled purple blooms already spreading across his jaw. Kaile gave a visible wince. An expression of determination swept over her brow, setting it with a decisive thought.

"I have some bacta lotion that may help with that."She told him, recalling that it was particularly good for bruises. Granted, one walked around smelling like sickly sweet Cotten candy, but it would help with the swelling.

Coming to her feet, she made a small motion for him to follow her. That is, if he decided to take her offer.

 

[Asmus Janes]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

"Sounds good to me," he replied, feeling his jaw start to throb again. Reaching up he flicked a few switches and checked the diagnostics before getting up to follow.

He paused in the galley to grab the pack of frozen veg where he'd left it in a hurry. Kairon crossed his arms over his chest and gave him a look.

"Seeing as you're determined to break my ship you can give the ion tanks a good service once you're done to make sure you haven't set them to bursting at the seams with those moves," he said.

"Sure, sure, I'll grab something to eat too."

"You just ate. How do you stay so skinny?"

"Cos I'm not old," Asmus replied entirely deadpan.

Kairon glowered. For a moment it looked as if he was considering cuffing him round the back of the head. Asmus prepared to duck. Instead his eyes flicked to Kaile and then he gave an exasperated sigh and shake of the head and walked for the cockpit. Asmus followed Kaile down to the crew quarters, ice held to jaw.