Roll, Pitch, Yaw. [Kassey]

[Archive]

Ruusan​

Republic Space​

New starfighters were rolled off the assembly line every day, and with the Incom stuff sent to scrap for reasons only the big wigs knew, they were left learning entire new ships from the ground up. Quite literally, as it so happened. Mechanics were given a week to familiarize themselves with the design, go through the internals and then prep loading procedures for armament.

That week was spent throwing the fresh faced pilots through their simulations and get them to have at least a rudimentary feel for the new ships. During this week, a noticeably unamused and displeased Declan came to terms with the fact he wasn't going to necessarily be a starfighter pilot; he was going to be a ground attack pilot. And not only was he going to be a ground attack pilot, he was going to do it in a massive bantha of a machine.

Which is how he wound up here, stationed at a backwater air base in the arse end of Ruusan, doing a preflight check in the cockpit of a brand-spanking-new Wroshyr assault fighter. A big karking wookiee.

Fingers moving across the displays as he tested the systems, he scrunched his nose inside his polarized helmet before hooking up and activating the life support systems. Everything smelled new. He liked that.

A brand new ship.

He just didn't like how massive it was. There was a crackle as internal communications synced up. "Flight Officer, how's the turret looking?" Situated on the back of the fighter like a diseased pustule was a squat, double rotary cannon equipped turret. Perfect for covering their back. Well, their upper back with a bit of coverage for anything angled up to attack the engine to a reasonable degree.

Below the ship? Forget about it. "Looks good, LT." There came a nod, and he cycled up the engines, repulsors kicking in. A switch flipped, and the landing gear came in with a click and a thud. A flagman stood outside the hangar, waving his little bright wands to get him out of the house and into the sky. Left hand easing the throttle forward, he taxied his way out of the hangar and out and into the harsh sunlight streaming in over the plains.

A green light flashed on the console and he gave the repulsors a kick, then slid the throttle forward to Three-Quarters. Even for an unnecessarily clunky vehicle like this, they shot into the air. Angling the nose towards the north - and the practice ranges - he gave a faint grin. Live fire training.

But he wasn't even halfway there before control readied in.

"Wookiee One, Orbital has picked up some pirates." He frowned. "Coordinates are being sent to your flight computer. Scare 'em off." Informal. Just what he'd expect in the arse end of frontiersville.

They were probably chasing some smuggler who'd blabbed about a load. Or a civilian had said the wrong things to the wrong people. Pirates didn't show up without a target. Stupid folk. Pitching his nose upward, he slid the throttle to full and frowned. First posting. First day in a new fighter.

First combat.

Slowly, a smiled started to form. Yes. This would do. I'm coming, whoever you are. Good on ya' fer pissin' off the pirates.

[member="Kassey Daklin"]

 

[Julianna Nero]

"I didn't MEAN to piss them off." Kassey said to the on-board communicator. Her somewhat worried eyes glanced around at the panel of the course ahead of her, but because her ship was acting up, the smuggler knew that she couldn't get there in record time, or so she would like to think of as, record time.

"There is no such thing as not meaning to piss pirates off, sweetheart." The man's voice said back to her, and while Kassey was half-paying attention to the annoying voice on the other end, she was overly flustered and began to sigh just a little. "You stole their cargo, and now you're ship is malfunctioning." This is not what Kassey needed to hear, and that's when she cursed under her breath.

"It is NOT malfunctioning. I hate that word."

"What would you call it?"

"It's just not...functioning correctly up to my ideal standards towards a satisfactory goal." Kassey continued to run the ship's diagnostic problems, as she heard the voice chuckle...now it might have seemed like it was a completely different gender entirely.

"Malfunctioning, definition in the terms of speaking towards machinery or equipment : fail to function normally or satisfactorily. Synonyms for this word include, but not limited to; stop, go wrong, break down, fail, stop working, crash --"

"Okay, that's enough out of you." Kassey finally found the issue, but, as if nothing else could go wrong in the moment, the ship's course map began to continuously beep frantically, as if something was coming towards them. "Like something really needed to get worse. What is this?"

Kassey pushed herself away after hitting a few more buttons, setting the ship's course for hyperspace, but first, she needed to go down below and fix the problem. "Where are you going?" The voice said, and Kassey waved it off.

"I'm going to fix my ship and get out of here before I die today."

"You've come close so many times, and nothing bad has happened yet."

"Now THAT'S a lie. And I know what a lie is."

"Yes, you do."


"You know what a lie is." Kassey muttered under her breath, but if one looked at where the call off of the on board communicator was from, they would find no call to be made in several days. She hadn't been talking to anyone.

Kassey did swindle her way into the pirate's cargo, without even knowing what it was that she was carrying, but she knew that she could not be in this space too long, she needed to fix whatever it was on her ship and get the hell out of this mess.

[member="Archive"]

 

[Archive]

Breaking atmosphere and heading into the void, the lumbering whale of a ship adjusted. The small nav circle to the left of his sensors gave him a full, blue circle. He was headed in the right direction. A few button presses brought up a half circle around where area the coordinates should be at. So far, he wasn't picking up anything, but fighter sensors weren't designed to reach across the vast reaches of space.

They were designed for when you actually got into a furball.

His concentration was broken by a guitar riff piping into his headphones. Frowning, he smacked the side of his helmet, only to hear Twombly an instant later.

"Revvin' up the engine, listen to her howlin' low!"

Were those even the lyrics?

"Metal under tension, beggin' you to touch and gooooooooo."

"TWOMBLY."

"Sorry, sir." The music cuts out.

A pair of interceptors flashed onto his sensors, followed by a third. Two were chasing someone, it seemed, the third was tailing. Likely in the event... yup, it was breaking off and making for him. Turning his head to the left, the holodisplay for his communications panel lit up. Accessing nearby frequencies, he found the one likely in the chased ship which was just now showing on his sensors.

A simple touch and go communication, really. A ping. Letting her know someone was out there who was friendly.

With the interceptor bearing in on him, he realized this one was packing two heavy cannons and he angled his nose upward while cycling power to weapons and shields. The simple fact that there was even the possibility of a head-on caused the pilot to flinch out of the way and head over top of the Wroshyr. Judging by the whine of power coming from behind him, Twombly was getting some target practice in.

He kept on his path towards [member="Kassey Daklin"].

 

[Julianna Nero]

"Almost...done..." Kassey groaned, getting oil all on her hands, then she quickly rushed out of the underbelly where the leak was going, and the girl headed back towards the cockpit. With a look of determination in her eyes, she looked at the radar and didn't see anything at first, but upon blinking quickly, she realized that she needed to get out of there...now.

"You pissed off the wrong people."

"I know I did, but I just don't know who is friendly and who isn't anymore." Kassey started up the engines, and wanted to prepare to jump, but she couldn't, not so quickly...this is what she got for having an ancient ship.

"Consider everyone an enemy. Also, consider getting a new ship....this is too old."

"It's not old, it's vintage."

"Daddy's ship ain't gonna be worth keepin' if you die."

"If I die, then it really doesn't matter, now does it?"

Kassey looked forward, and she started to move quickly, "What are those, interceptors?" Kassey said, but she had no response, not this time...there were even times where she realized that she was talking to herself, not until she stopped getting answers. This is what you get for being alone for so karking long. "Go, go, go.." The Fair Jewel moved quickly, now getting out of the space behind her and moving forward. She had to stall them long enough so that she could jump. Her only assumption was that she was being chased down by these guys because of what she had on her, which she still didn't know what it was. Although the ping came through, she refused to make open communication with anyone, at the risk of getting too friendly with the wrong kind of person.

 

[Archive]

As they got closer, the IFF pinged what he needed. The target was an XS Stock Freighter. Not something he'd ever heard of, but the flight computer was tagging it as a design thousands of years old. Maybe this was one of the newer refits. People did like restoring the classics. There wasn't much time for that, though, as he was weaving and yawing to keep the enemy interceptor from getting a solid lock on him with the cannons.

The shields were whining, and the small concentric circles around the 3D image of his fighter were slowly fading out one by one. Two out of three rings left, and that was just off glancing hits. Twombly, judging by the cursing, was having a hell of a time hitting the little bugger. But really that fire was what was keeping the interceptor from parking on their tail. Really, this vessel was not built for this.

His saving grace in this instance was that the Fair Jewel was stricken and being pounced upon. They were going to have make multiple passes, which gave him time to catch up. Switching some power from weapons to engines, he gunned the throttle into overdrive. Twinned great engines to either side of him spooled up further, engine wash passing into the aether behind them as Twombly kept up a relentless pace with the turret.

Declan was almost afraid the barrels would melt. But a moment later he started registering the tone of a missile lock. Not incoming, but outgoing. He was in range for the concussion missiles and proton torpedoes. Smirking, he locked onto both interceptors and let two torpedoes fly. Almost the moment he depressed the firing stud, the pirates peeled off in opposite directions, torpedoes following in their wake.

Head snapping forward, he realized that he'd sat still long enough for a telling hit to score against the shields. They were down. Frantically, he began weaving again, funnily power from the engines back to the shields and hoping they'd recharge soon.

This is what I get for thinking Command knew what they were doing sending me up here.

No sooner did the thought cross his mind than an explosion rippled off his port side. One interceptor down. But now they were both on him. Wait, correction, sensors said the other was limping off. He'd escaped a proton torpedo. Impressive.

Snapping into a roll at the second, he careened over top of the Fair Jewel and over the cockpit, the mottled blue/green hull of his ship passing into clear view along with the insignia of the Republic. His ship was practically the size of her freighter, and as it made a snap roll and then corrected its turret started flashing again at its pursuer.

[member="Kassey Daklin"]

 

[Julianna Nero]

Don't let the shields down Kassey actually said to herself, without saying it outloud. Just a little longer, and you can jump.

She was not happy with what was going on. While her screen delayed for a moment and blacked out, she realized after a moment what exactly going on. There were three of them, interceptors that seemed to be after her, but after a quick pursuit she realized that they weren't all after her, the third one was trying to focus it's attention on the ship that communicated to her. It was big, but she couldn't tell what it was...in fact, the model was unknown to her for the time being.

While she did her best to get away from the attention, she gunned it and then pushed forward. The Fair Jewel looked like it fell over a hill side, as Kassey put all of the power to go straight down, out of the line of sight for now.

Without bothering herself, she then turned it sideways, and went straight back up as the interceptors, no doubt, wanted to get a hold of the one making the most threat as of now, which is why Kassey didn't even put out her firepower. As the unknown ship was the one posing the threat, they would be focused on that. Kassey just needed to stall for a few minutes to prep to jump, but she didn't have the time.

An explosion hit, she saw it right on her screen as she did what was possible to continue to dash forward, away from the seen. Her shields still up, her eyes still open, it was then that the unknown ship flew over head of her....with that symbol that turned her stomach.

"You're gonna get boarded.." A voice teased, as she growled, and shook her head.

"Not today." Kassey needed that distraction before she tried to make open communications with the ship that was now seemed to be focusing on her, while she glanced around for the interceptors, but it wasn't those communications that she needed, it was the republic one. Not a word was said, and she couldn't fire without risking anything, so for now, it would be the chase, and she needed to get away from it.

[member="Archive"]

 

[Archive]

If she needed a distraction to make a getaway, she was gonna get it. One limping interceptor had latched onto her tail, trailing smoke from a damage engine. The proton torpedo from the Republic pilot had gone off just next to him, wrecking the light shielding the ship had and causing enough damage to dissuade it from pursuing the assault fighter. So that's pretty much where they stood.

Fair Jewel being pursued by a damaged interceptor barely keeping up with her, and the Republic ship being hounded by one at full power.

"Hold on, Twombly."

Without a second thought, he cut the engines on his ship entirely, momentum carrying him forward but nowhere near as fast as the interceptor who overshot. Oldest trick in the book and it worked.

Angling his nose upward as the interceptor shot in front of him, the chin cannon spooled up and unleashed a withering torrent of red blasterfire that stripped shields in an instant and exploded the interceptor. All in about a second of fire.

Holy hell was that thing impressive.

Pushing the throttle forward again, he found he couldn't get over half-speed, meaning that interceptor had one some lasting damage. "Fair Jewel this is Wookiee One, you've got one on your six. Coming around, but I don't think I'll be able to reach you."

He was really hoping they'd receive the broadcast. If not he was talking to empty air.

Two pirates down. One to go.

And then to find out what was important about this freighter.

[member="Kassey Daklin"]

 

[Julianna Nero]

[member="Archive"]

It was almost like Kassey wanted this out of body experience to be able to see. The chases were always fun, but being involved with them...not so fun, especially when she had a ship full of who knows what on her ship. But between getting boarded and getting killed, she'd much rather get boarded by the Republic than killed by some low life pirates.

Thing were getting cloudy, the one interceptor was trailing with this smoke line that followed behind it in a quick manner, but Kassey didn't see any of that. In fact, Kassey didn't see a good portion of what the Republic fighter was doing, she was too focused on getting out of here and out running those damn interceptors. She was looking at her screen, focusing on when would be the right time to jump....When you're not being chased down, that seems like a pretty good time.

Her ship beeped loudly, the sensor ring was going crazy and she realized what was happening the moment that she heard the voice through her comm. "Fair Jewel this is Wookiee One, you've got one on your six. Coming around, but I don't think I'll be able to reach you."

Ah! A VOICE! Okay, Kassey might have been a little too excited to hear the sound of a real person. She might have seemed crazy then...well, she WAS crazy then, because she started to laugh. "Wookiee One!" Kassey shouted, continuing to maneuver her ship back around, flipped upside down and roll over and out to try and get this interceptor off of her tail.

"I got my shields up, there's just little ol' me in here, and I'm trying to see how i can shake him...but I just can't shake him." There was another blast, and her ship started to shake as she realized that she had been hit. "And now he's firing at me. Awesome."

 

[Archive]

He was about to shout something at her then realized she wouldn't know what he was about to say. "I want you to tip your nose downward and do about three quarters of a loop. Level off in my direction." If she was following him right, she'd tip down, face him, then rolled and correct herself. The interceptor wouldn't have any problem staying on her tail but it would allow her to bring the pirate towards him.

The interceptor would have a problem dealing with him in a head-on.

His finger hovered over the firing stud for the nose-mounted cannon.

[member="Kassey Daklin"]

 

[Julianna Nero]

That's when he began to give her directions, which honestly, Kassey wasn't that used to. Kassey was far from being a good pilot, she never claimed that she was any good at flying, she was mostly good with a blaster, or throwing a punch. Unless of course, they were thrown at her, in which case, she didn't like it too much, but that was another topic for another time.

He told her what she should do, and Kassey was in no real position to question him at this time. If he was trying to see what she had on board, then she would follow his instructions, so long as it kept her out trouble, or killed , then she would do it. "Aye aye, Captain." Kassey said, perhaps a little sarcastically until she pushed forward, mimicking the movements that he told her to do. She tipped down, and made that loop, giving the Republic ship the perfect opportunity to shoot the interceptor down and out of the way.

[member="Archive"]

 

[Archive]

"Lieutenant." He corrects, yawing his fighter until the reticle drifted through where she'd just pitched downward. Following the trajectory, he spooled up the cannon, a cone of red blaster fire filling the space as the interceptor followed her tight. The cone of fire reached like a rippling line out to caress the energy field protecting the interceptor. In the next second it overloaded, and the fighter scattered into the void on waves of orange flame.

Clearing his throat and letting go of the firing stud, he brought himself in alongside the freighter so she could see him from within the cockpit. Polarized visor and all. "So what ye doin' that requires bein' chased?" He asked, looking over at her through the small gap separating them.

Pirates had been chased off, as ordered. But now he was curious.

[member="Kassey Daklin"]

 

[Julianna Nero]

"Lieutenant." Kassey repeated back to him, with a small smirk on her face, although he couldn't see her, but she did say it a little sarcastically. She did just as she said, and looped back up around towards him, and then she saw that he took care of the problem at hand, and now she just had to worry about what this Republic ship was going to give her. Probably try to get her to bearings together to try and face this guy no matter what the cost was.

He asked why she was being chased, and she honestly couldn't answer it with a simple lie, because there was really no lying. She groaned a little and bit on her bottom lip while she thought of exactly what to say...

"I have no idea." Sort of the truth...but not really.

"I guess I have something that they want, but....I'm sure it's no big deal. Also, thank you Lieutenant, for saving me...you're a gentleman."

[member="Archive"]

 

[Archive]

"Just following orders, lass." He retorts, tossing her a quick flick of his fingers before focusing on his control panels. His head shifts to the left, and she'd see the holographic display pop up. It seemed to be registering where his eyes were looking, since it was moving and shifting information without any apparent touch. He was logging mission completion, although she wouldn't know it.

He wasn't buying her excuse, not really. But she wasn't flagged for anything in the area so maybe she was telling the truth.

Far be it from him to presume otherwise. "So, Lass. Before you no doubt escape into hyperspace like you were planning on doing before... what are you doing in the arse end of nowhere? Not much on Ruusan."

[member="Kassey Daklin"]

 

[Julianna Nero]

Lass? She cringed a little just hearing that but she continued to keep her composer as she finished what she was thinking. What would be the harm in a name? It's not like she was galactically known or anything, or at least, she hoped not. Then again, the fame wouldn't be so bad, though Kassey learned quick in life that because people knew your name, it just made you a bigger target.

He asked what she was doing out here, but Kassey could only let out a satisfied sigh. "Pit stop, I needed refueling. Traveling a long time to get a job done, I'm sure you know how it is...I bet you're a hard worker." Kassey let out a nod, her head bopping up and down quickly."

"Oh, and by the way...Lass doesn't really fit my style, Lieutenant." Kassey looked over with a bit of that same smirk, only it was a little more arrogant-like. "Daklin. Kassey Daklin." Just as she felt proud in that moment, she saw that her shields were in good condition (although she cursed in her head because she knew that there were damages that were going to cost her a good deal of credits), she saw the boost power up and it seemed just perfect.

Just like in the holovids, the engine of The Fair Jewel could be heard, it drumming up that lovely sound for a jump. "See you next time, Lieutenant." Kassey did a mock salute with her right hand, and just as she hit the switch to jump....

...the engine and roar of the drive could be heard powering down, and Kassey gritted her teeth. "Blast....well, that was a little anticlimactic."

[member="Archive"]

 

[Archive]

"Leftenant Hayes." He responds, letting the accent fall in full force. "And pleasure to meet ya... lass." Oh, but he was going to enjoy that. Kassey, though. He could remember that. Simple enough name. Rolling his ship down below hers and back towards the planet, he gave something of a chuckle and sent her the coordinates for the local starport. "You might want to land and get that thing looked at."

There was a shrug, and Twombly interjected. "He wants to look at your thing, Daklin! Don't fall for it!"

"Twoooombly."

Ruusan rose below him, and he guided his ship down towards atmosphere. He wasn't allowed to loiter once mission was accomplished, after all.

[member="Kassey Daklin"]

 

[Julianna Nero]

Oh geeze, Kassey thought to herself. This was going to be a pain in the ass if she had to land and to have the Republic check everything out. Kassey dreaded that, and she wondered why her ship was malfunctioning.

Not malfunctioning, she thought to herself. I hate that word.

She looked up at her panel and she let out a sigh when she heard another voice speak. With a grin, she looked down at her ship. "Why can't you just work this one time.." She grumbled, and realized that she had no real choice in the matter...it's not like she could go anywhere but the planet anyway, she may as well try to get it fixed, and be on the planet where she could get supplies she needed.

"My THING doesn't need looked at..but I think my hyper drive does." She turned her ship and started to head down towards the planet....even though she thought she had an easy escape.

Well, easy for her, not so much for the Lieutenant Hayes.

"It's Kassey, by the way." The girl felt that it needed repeated with the second attempt at 'lass'.

[member="Archive"]

 

[Archive]

Luckily for [member="Kassey Daklin"], she was going to be landing at a civilian starport. The Republic, ultimately, wasn't going to be scouring her ship for anything. They had no probable cause to search her vessel and so she would be left to her own devices. Declan though? He'd hunt her down. Maybe lend a hand once he was off shift. Bringing the massive ship down and into the hangar, he cycled down the engines and locked the safeties for the weapons before popping the canopy and climbing out.

Twombly was doing the same on the back before sliding down to join the LT.

At that point, it was off to debrief for an hour or two.

Then he could switch into his civvies and hunt down Madame Daklin, Queen of Being Chased by Pirates.

 

[Julianna Nero]

Kassey was very lucky, but just as lucky as she was, she was much more curious than that. As soon as she was able to land, she wanted to make this quick. The problem was, she didn't have a ton of credits, not until she finished the drop off and was paid for the second half of the job. While she still had a good bit, she needed to make sure that she could gather her bearings and get back into the ship before she ran out of time...

She had a couple of mechanics give her ship a look over, although they seemed like they didn't work on old or "vintage" ships like hers, she just hoped that they wouldn't screw up..or screw her over with this job. It paid a lot of money and she needed to make sure she had everything in tact to make a safe landing, and not get her ship scoured by Republic troops or worse yet...."friends" of the pirates.

While the mechanics were looking and (hopefully) fixing her ship, Kassey was in the cargo hold examining the four large crates that she had on her ship. But they were locked, secured, with several laches...she could try to slice into them, but it would be noticeable, and Kassey wasn't really THAT great of a slicer in the first place, it just might have to wait.

"Miss? MISS?" She heard one of the mechanics shout from the outside, and Kassey shut the cargo hold so that she could go out there.

"Yes? What is it?" Not the hyperdrive, she thought to herself. Anything but the..

"..It's the hyperdrive. I'm sorry, but we won't have the right replacement parts until the morning."

Kassey growled under her breath and she curled her hand into a fist before she tapped it gently against the outside of the ship. "Echuta." Kassey cursed in huttese and she shook her head. "Fine, just...let me know when you get the parts in, okay? And I want a transmission of exactly what's wrong with the ship sent to my datapad so that I can see for myself." Kassey bit the inside of her lip and sighed. Not much else could go wrong at this point, or so she thought.

[member="Archive"]

 

[Archive]

Debriefs were honestly the worst thing in this Force-beloved galaxy. Sitting around, talking about what you'd just did, why you just did it, how you could improve. Blah, blah, blah, self criticism and improvements. Twombly and he had packed up for the night, and Declan pulled his peacoat tight against the nighttime spring chill. A short speeder ride got him to the nearby town where he lived and he made sure to make a detour to the nearby starport.

Stepping into the starport, he frowned and made to find the nearest employee, knowing for a fact that there wasn't about to be five or six XS Freighters hanging around. Especially not one with a single crewmember. When he did finally manage to flag one down, they simply wagged a finger in a direction and that was what he got. Must have been the end of their shift. Whatever.

Several hangars later, he found himself staring face to face with the Fair Jewel. Passing a crewmember on the way out, he tilted his head at [member="Kassey Daklin"]. Big blue eyes regarded her coolly for several moments as his brows rose. His hands were stuffed in the pocket of his deep blue coat, and he gave a faint shrug at the look on her face. What could ya do? Sometimes news was just bad.

"Take it I can't help ye fix it, Miss Daklin?"

 

[Julianna Nero]

As soon as she stepped out on the ramp of the ship, she saw him there, and with a smile, along with a shake of her head, she bent her knees and sat on the ramp. She seemed a little defeated overall, since she was really hoping to get off of this planet and back towards the drop off, but for now, she would just need to wait it out, at least for the night. "Not tonight, Lieutenant." Kassey responded back, and again she did a mock salute.

"Turns out there need to replace a part relating to the hyperdrive...or so they say. My problem is, is that I'm as good of a mechanic as I am a fighter pilot - which we both now know are not good qualities for me."

Kassey patted on a space on the ramp next to her, a signal that he could sit down if he so choose to do so, but she wouldn't do much more than that. Kassey was never a real good hostess. "Why the interest? Can't resist a damsel in distress?" A joke, more or less, even though she was curious if any truth rang true with it.

[member="Archive"]