Shimmy shimmy cocoa pop!

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

"We can do this.. We can.." Kaile would shout, her focus completely on maintaining the shields optimized. An orange sigil flashed upon the screen, that last hit dropped them down to 79%. That wasn’t even including the massive rush of red flickering now due to unresponsive systems.

This was not good. Not good at all.

“Nek take it!” she cursed. Panning her wide brown eye’d gaze over to Jamie, she set her lips into a thin line. “ I’m going to go check out the life systems.. See if i can do anything to get them back online. “ she began to mess with her straps, dropping them away and hopping onto her feet. Wild gestures would indicate for Jamie to focus.

“Keep trying to avoid them. Do your best! Once you get the indication that our life support is back online, jump us into hyperspace as soon as you can okay!”

Here’s to hoping they could do so. Otherwise… well.. Do Pirates make you walk the plank? Or just jettison you out into the black?

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Jamie's face went pale as she watched Kaile clamor out of her seat and start towards the back. White knuckles grappled with the controls, one hand brushing hair from her face, along with the beads of nervous sweat now erupting out of her pores like a small glistening well. "I! Wha...Oh gosh!" The blonde couldn't find a single word, phrase, or sentence to explain just how screwed the two of them were. Nothing was going to plan here, and now Kaile was leaving the co-pilot's seat in an attempt to fix something, leaving Jamie to continue her hopeless evasion attempts.

"Hang on!!!" She shouted as loud as possible, pulling hard left on the control sticks in an attempt to quickly circle around behind the massive asteroid they'd just collided with just moments before and gain a few moments of cover. Surprisingly it seemed the pirates were not expecting such a maneuver, likely because it was blatantly apparent how terribly unskilled the girl was at piloting that a single moment of genius eluded their expectations.

That wouldn't last long though, and soon enough they'd be back on top of the damaged ship.

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

Kaile barely heard the warning, the J-Type banking hard portside as the blonde pilot had them orbit round the asteroid. Hands shot out to slam against the bulkhead beside her, a loud thump as she braced herself. It wouldn't do her any good to get knocked out --

Brown eyes went wide.

"Bobo." came her hoarse whisper. Spurned forward by a sudden realization that her pet had been left at a nook and could very well be harmed in the chaos, the Lorrdian headed towards the lounge.

"Bobo!" she cried out, stumbling and trying to not fall flat on her face. Things were a bit messy and strewn about already. Oh stars, I need to find him!. Panic was all too real. She couldn't have anything happening to her buddy. Moving into the lounge, her eyes panned straight to where she had left him last.

There she found him, latched onto the wall. He was using his claws and the little suction cups under his feet to keep himself safe. "Oh thank goodness." she breathed out. A few harrowed steps and she snatched her backpack from the floor.

"Come on lets get you into your tube quick!" she had precious seconds before she had to head off and check their life support systems.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Jamie could only hope that Kaile knew what she was doing back there, and that she was equally as fast as she was talented, or this was going to end up being a very terrible day indeed. Sensors alerted the blonde to the news that their friends were back, just as she'd suspected. They were fast, they were determined, and they were far better at navigation that she. Her one trick was used up, and they likely wouldn't fall for it again. Unsure of where exactly the strawberry blonde was at that very moment, Jamie took to the comm and radioed through the ship "Whatever you're doing Kaile you better do it fast!" Flares of green flashed past the viewport of the ship, They missed! Holy kark they missed for once! That moment of glee would be cherished for many days to come should the two live through the current one.

Circling back out and around the asteroid the blonde throttled up, abruptly and completely, jerking the ship forward and pushing the engine and core into overdrive to get the ship up to speed quickly, something it was clearly not thrilled about being forced to do, given whatever damage the vessel had already endured. Jamie looked out to see just how long it would be until they cleared the asteroid field before radioing Kaile once more. "We're gonna clear the field in about three and a half minutes! We need to get gone or we're gonna have some uninvited guests joining us this evening!"

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

Kaile tucked Bobo in, there wasn't time for her to be gentle. She'd taken out her servodriver and hydrospanner just seconds prior. "Sorry!" she mouthed, tightening the straps of the bag and slinging them through each arm to secure it on her back.

She wouldn't be able to use the Force right now, but she'd be damned if she couldn't fix a life support system with tools and her know how.

Another shudder sent her flying, crashing against the wall. Pain shot down her shoulder, a dull ache that made the Lorrdian grimace.

"Gorram it!" she cursed, pushing herself up. In one hand she held her tools, with the other, she used as balance to make her way down. She'd worked before on J-types, during her stint with Omega Pyre, the Protectorate had worked on a few of their ships. The Lady protector had a modified one she'd travel around in.

And all life support systems were generally the same.

Three and a half minutes, Jamie had shouted over the comm.

"I can do that." she said under her breath. But if it was more of a pep talk than actual confidence it was hard to say.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

A puff of air pushed its' way past the blonde's lips as she tried to relax her death grip on the controls, lest she quite possibly tear them from the ship itself. Being as pale as she was it was genuinely surprising how white her knuckles had grown over the course of this ordeal. Landing and taking off was strenuous enough on her! How did she end up having to outrun pirates!? This was crazy!

"There will be no more of this!" She shouted defiantly to herself in the cockpit, as if there was something she could actually do to back up her words. Passing a pair of equally large asteroids Jamie pulled back on the throttle and steered the ship between them. As expected, the pirates turned to pursue them. What they weren't expecting was for the girl to make such a sharp turn that by the time her pursuers had rounded the bend the J-Type would already be turned around to face them. Not only that, but she throttled up hard once more and charged the ship dead ahead towards one of the enemy ships in a very callous game of chicken. Except she wasn't bluffing. The blonde wasn't veering off course. The pirate was either going to divert its' course or they were all dead.

At the very last moment, with sweat pouring down the girl's face, neck, and back, the pirate finally bowed low and beneath the Skiff, grinding the two hulls against one another for but an instant before being sent off. Their enemies would have to circle back around the two asteroids to clear enough distance for the both of them to pursue the single ship, buying Kaile perhaps another minute, and Jamie a moment to wipe the sweat from her face and relax her trembling body.

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

"Okay... okay.."

Kaile had to chant to herself in the continuation of the mini pep talk. She made it into the section of the J-Type's belly that contained the main controls for the life support systems. First was taking of the panel -- and tryin to not crash into the sensitive equipment around her.

Not to mention, try and not think about how every rapid puff of air she was breathing was taking just a little bit more oxygen that could very well send then to their doom.

If they didn't crash in a fiery blaze or get taken by pirates.

Popping her servodriver horizontally into her mouth, Kaile took the hydrospanner and began to twist off the screws. Popping that baby out, she set the panel on the floor, firmly keeping one foot on top of it. If Jamie banked hard again, she rather not have the sheet of metal slamming into her.

Big, brown eyes would skim over the electronics. Red lights and emergency sigils upon the small datascreen told a grim tale. The hit had managed to cut off power, meaning she'd have to redirect some.

Okay, let's see if we can bypass it and redirect.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"I...I might have bought us another minute!" The girl announced over the comm, the tone of her voice clearly impressed with herself. "Just don't tell me we're screwed and I think we'll actually be able to get away!"

Settling back in the girl gently increased the speed of the ship to continue on course to the outer vicinity of the asteroid belt and towards the freedom of empty space. By the time they reached the clearing hopefully Kaile would have been able to fix the critical systems necessary to allow them to safely escape. If not, well, the two had best hope their pirate friends were more accommodating in person than they'd been.

Jamie let go of the controls with her right hand, raising it to cover a portion of her face while releasing a sigh of relief. Even just a few seconds of peace was a gift, as her nerves were practically shot. There hadn't yet been a time in her life where she'd been quite this afraid. A truly life or death situation. Bespin had been frightening, but it held no fire to this encounter. One thing was certain, this detour the two were making had better be worth all of this.

Kaile certainly brings with her plenty of unexpected adventure... The blonde dropped her hand back down, though her eyes widened in disbelief when she took sight of what was in front of her. "No-ho-hoooooo." Gritting and gnashing her teeth she sneered angrily. "Come on!" Somehow the pirates she'd just bailed on managed to circle back around before even the skiff could clear the asteroid. "How!?" She shouted. Then it dawned on her...."They corralled us into their fleet...Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!" Slamming her fists on to the console Jamie grabbed the comm once more. "Kaile...Don't bother. We're...Not going anywhere fast."

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

"Wait what?!"

Alarm grew thick upon Kaile's expression, the blood draining from her face. Oh no. This was not good. Not good. Blinking rapidly, the Lorrdian attempted to take it all in.

Okay. Okay. What could we do? What can we do?

Her brown eyes went snapping on to the back up generator. Either way, they needed lifesupport. "Okay.. don't panic. We.... we can think of something." However, it was a rather grim reality if they were corralled to their fleet. Who knew what would happen then!?

Kaile wasn't going to give up. Focusing on her hydrospanner, she set to work. She had to get this online.

"Let them think they have us..." if anything that might give them more time. But if they do end up getting caught...

Well, we'll think of something then.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

From the viewport Jamie could clearly see a massive ship. At the very least it was the size of a cruiser, maybe even a capital ship! Though Jamie could hardly tell from their position exactly how big it was. Escorting the massive vessel were a dozen or so small corvettes with a number of star fighters not unlike the ones that had pursued Jamie and Kaile earlier.

"Pirates? How do pirates get ships like that!?" The blonde said out loud to herself. "And what could they possibly see in this ship as worth their time? They have THAT."

Jamie pulled back the throttle, bringing the ship to a halt a few hundred meters away from the massive ship and its' fleet. Closing her blue eyes the girl lifted her hands and covered her face, resting her elbows along the control cluster in front of her. "Ughhhhhhh" She moaned. "Now what?"

Time seemed to slow to a crawl as she sat there in the pilot's seat like a statue, looking out into the void wondering exactly what was going to happen.

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

“Frak, frak, frak!”

Jerking her hair into a messy ponytail, Kaileann was busy talking her own vexation aloud to herself. In the midst of booting up the secondary generator, a sudden spark of electric wires would evoke a start from the Lorrdian and a hiss. A shock hit the tips of her fingers, prompting her to shake it off amidst a stream of ‘gorams’ and ‘tarnations’!

She felt the ship come to a slow halt, and all the while, Kaile knew time was of the essence. A bite of her lip and another dive into the generator saw her wiggling in and working with her hydrospanner. If she could only reroute power by --

Wait! I can bypass it!

A stretch of her hand and she would grasp a power coupling. A quick jerk sent another sizzle, but Kaile quickly panned her gaze to find the appropriate receptacle. With an adjustment of wires, and if she connected this here...

“Almost.. Got it!”

There was another snap and pop as the surge went through, but Jamie would see the beep beep of indicator lights that life support systems were back online.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Jamie looked down as an indicator light began to flash, displaying on the terminal before her that Kaile had somehow repaired the subsystems and life support thereby making it possible to jump into hyperspace. Though, at the moment they had a number of objects obstructing their path, and were not in any position to engage the hyperdrive until it had time to charge.

Still, their options were slim...Either surrender and find out just what these pirates were after, which was unlikely to be anything friendly, or throw caution to the wind and fire the engines and hyperdrive. Jamie wasn't much of a gambler, but the situation was grim regardless of which option they chose.

"Hell, if I'm dying, it's gonna be on my own terms." She mumbled quietly to herself, before grabbing the comm. "Find a seat and fast!" There was a clear overtone of duress and nervousness to her voice as she spoke, before giving Kaile just a few seconds to situate herself wherever she could.

The blonde placed her hands on to the controls once again and throttled the ship forward without another moment of hesitation. It was incredible how much power the engines had when pressed to their absolute limits. The girl dipped the ship low to avoid an immediate collision course with the much larger cruiser, while simultaneously charging the hyperdrive to make the jump.

Where they would end up? Who knew... 3...2...1...

And like that, the blonde thrust forward the ignition to send the pair and their skiff into the void of light, headed towards whatever destination was in the navicomputer, or their death.

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

There wasn't much time for Kaile to really buckle up; instead the Lorrdian gave a startled cry as she went crashing against the nearby bulkhead. Stars shot through the back of her eyes as her head cracked against the durasteel. There was a faint trickle of warmth that would follow, but there wasn't much the dazed espion could do. Hands shot out, trying to grasp a purchase to latch onto. That sharp ache turned dull, and there was a faint stumble as she did her best to stay on her feet.

Goe se! The abrupt Zeltron curse shot through her mind; or did she actually say it aloud? Kaileann was too disoriented to really keep up. Which was good, considering what was coming up to them next. The J-Type skiff shot into hyperspace, but that wasn't before an attempt to latch a tractor beam shot at their direction. It missed, much to their irk, but the skiff was not completely untouched. Jumping into hyperspace with fluctuating systems was not a good idea. Who knew if once they were in - if they survived - what the damage would be.

The hyperdrive had the coordinates set for Sullust. Would the pirates follow? Did they managed to latch a tracer on the skiff? So many questions. Sliding down to the floor, one very dazed Kaile blinked past the spectrum of stars in her eyes. A hand drew up, sinking into her hair to rub at the side of her head. Fingers drew back stained with a thick red liquid.

"Oh..." she said rather nonchalantly. "Well that ain't good..."

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Jamie sat back in her pilot's chair, nerves relaxing a bit from the heightened levels of tension that she'd just undergone. A deep sigh pursed through partly closed lips while one hand rubbed the stress away from her temple. The thunderous pounding of the heart was at last subsiding, allowing the girl's mind to finally hear itself think over the violent thumping of her chest. How Kaile had managed to fix the life support systems in such an incredibly fast manner was beyond her comprehension, but she had done it, and because of that they were able to escape with their lives. A quick glance to the navicomputer indicated that they were now on proper course to their destination and would be there soon enough.

A minute or two of calm silence would pass before Jamie finally leaned over, grabbing the comm to call for Kaile.

"Girl, you are wonderful! I don't know how you managed it, but we're clear! We should be to Sullust soon! Head back on up!"

Without another care in the world the blonde kicked off her shoes and tossed both legs up to rest the heels of her feet atop the control cluster in front of her, pushing back in the chair with both hands cupped behind her head for comfort. Finally, peace. Shutting her eyes Jamie found herself able to enjoy the moment, the slightest hint of pleasure forming a smile on her face as she thought to herself about the craziness of the day the two had already endured.

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

It took a bit of seconds for Kaile to register the over head comm. Wait was that Jamie? Another grimace shot through her expression, that dull ache beginning to throb.

"Told you, you could do it," the Lorrdian mumbled out, blinking rapidly. Ow.... Another rub of her head and more red coated the digits. She kinda stared down at her crimson stained hand with a bit of a dazed expression.

"Well... that's not good." she told herself. A few drops of blood already managed to scatter over her shirt. It was a small cut, but being a headwound, they always had the tendency to bleed like a stuck nerf in the midst of butchering. A rather graphic image, but hey, Kaile wasn't one to shrink against the realities of life. Like where one's nerf steak came from.

Ok, she was feeling a bit dizzy, and there was a swelling lump growing where she struck her head. With them now in hyperspace - at least that's what I think she's insinuating - then Kaile could sit her for a few minutes while she cleared her head. Ain't no sense in wandering out stumbling into things.

"Yeah.. just.. wait here a bit."

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Handfuls of minutes had long passed before Jamie's eyes flashed open with the realization that Kaile hadn't yet returned to the cockpit. Odd. What is she doing down there? Fixing other things? The thought had crossed her mind that perhaps the other woman was busying herself with repairing whatever else she could while they had the time to do so. That would make sense after all. The strawberry blonde did appear to enjoy keeping busy, and surely there were many things that could do with fixing after the scuffle they'd just endured.

"Guess I better see what she needs help with then..." Jamie's cheeks flourished red with embarrassment, the idea that she was laying back relaxing, borderline sleeping, all the while Kaile was working made her feel like an idiot. Lifting legs off the console the girl swung around in her chair and placed bare feet on to the cold durasteel flooring and began to walk down towards where she hoped to find Kaile working on one of the subsystems.

Grabbing hold of the cool steel rung ladder the blonde slid her way down and walked with purpose to her friend. "Kaiiiiileeeee" She called, as if looking for a hiding pet. "Where arrrrre you?" Rounding the corner of one of the tight corridors and poking her head through one of the hatchways she noticed the woman sitting on the floor. It was then her eyes widened in shock. "Oh gosh! Kaile! Are you alright!?" Her voice turned shrill, nearly entering into panic. "There's blood all over you!" She pointed to the crimson splotches on the woman's shirt, then to the smears along the hull. "What happened!?"

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

Well there was no mistaking Jamie.

Big, wide, brown eyes darted up to the blonde as she erupted in an exclamation of concern. "Oh.. hey!" a rather bloody hand wave would gesture over to the younger woman's direction, complete with a rather floppy half grin. Odds were that she might have a concussion, but a medical scan might help out with that. As it was, she had a very silly grin on her lips.

"Oh this?" Kaile's gaze fell from Jamie, to her bloody hand, and back to Jaime. "It's just a flesh wound!" she attempted to difuse the situation. "Head kinda knocked a bit with the wall, hehe.." a half chuckle then a grimace.

"But they always did say I've a hard noggin." Really, head-wounds did have a horrible affinity to bleed profusely. "Got a lump the size of a krayt's pearl I do... " a sudden rush of blinks.

"You shouldn't move so much Jamie... you'll get dizzy."

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Jamie could feel her own lips tremble as she looked at the bloody mess that was Kaile's head and hand. Her words might have meant to subdue the intense concern in both her look and voice, but it was not very effective. Jamie scurried as quickly as her legs would take her and knelt beside Kaile, looking her over attentively. There was a certain familiarity to the manner in which Kaile was speaking that frightened Jamie. Typically it was when someone had undergone some type of injury and were acting delirious or otherwise abnormal. It might very well be something very minor, and Kaile just needed to rest and have the wound tended, but until there was absolute certainty she wasn't going to take any chances. They now needed to get to Sullust quicker than before.

"This isn't okay Kaile!" Jamie exclaimed, looking around for something, anything really to use as a bandage. Despite her best efforts there was unsurprisingly really nothing to use. The ship wasn't a medical frigate, and was not meant to handle trauma in any kind of manner. The bleeding had to be slowed, and covered at the very least, until they reached safety and could get her to a hospital.

"Here, stay still." She said, her hands grabbing at her shirt to pull off the top. It wasn't a fantastic solution, but there wasn't exactly a ton of options at that moment. Carefully the girl folded the shirt on itself to thicken it into more of a bandage than clotihng, and gently pressed it against the back of Kaile's head, holding it in place firmly. "Don't lay down for any reason okay? You can't go to sleep. You need to hold this tightly until we get to the spaceport."

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

Before she knew it, Jaime had slipped off her shirt and pressed it against her head. Grateful, but still amused, the Lorrdian attempted to assure the blonde everything was ok. Well, once Jaime wasn't as much of a fuzzy blur. Things were starting to come back to Kaile, and blinking a bit more cleared her vision.

"I'm right as rain. " a grimace cut her expression, and she gave a twitch of her nose. After a second she gave a wide grin at the half naked blonde.

"See, told you you could do it." Kaile practically beamed. "You did good!" Her free hand went over to pat Jamie's forearm. "Hehe... Now you can't be scared of nuthin when flying. You passed through this!"

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"Yea..." She said quietly. "I wouldn't call this good. If you hadn't fixed the ship who knows where we'd be right now." Jamie smiled half heartedly to Kaile, her eyes still very much fixated on the blood that had now colored itself into the girl's hair. "You still need a proper bandage to stop that bleeding and so it doesn't get infected. It shouldn't be long 'til we reach Sullust." Jamie turned and sat beside Kaile, resting her hands atop her knees and head against the wall.

"No more surprises today. We've had enough."

[member="Kaileann Vera"]