Shimmy shimmy cocoa pop!

[Kaile Vera]

“How long?” The dark driftwood of Kaile’s eyebrows wagged a comic little story as she thought back. “The basics didn’t take that much. Turning on and off. What took the longest was making sure I stayed focused. Going through higher and more difficult encryptions took a bit longer.” she said honestly, but her grin grew wider in remembrance.

“Have you ever done those Tetan mind puzzles?” she asked her, “With the metal bits and you have to figure out how to pull them apart through all of their loops?” the girl would lean back a bit, but her hands would gesture along with her story, becoming more animated as she spoke.

“That’s kinda how it feels. As if you are trying to solve a puzzle. It gets easier the more you do it.” now as to the more complex stuff?

“Hmm...something with a heavy encryption can take me…” she began to bite her lower lip in thought, eyes rotating to the left up towards the ceiling in memory. “ About less than a minute. Once I’m inside it is easier to simply use the keyboard.”

She shot her a grin.

“But this is also a way to learn information very quickly if you don’t have the time to study.” her eyes would widen in mischief. “Say you wanted to learn how to… speak Wookiee.”

Kaile took the datapad, giving it a slight gesture as she brought up the holonet. “You can find a language datafile with the full comprehensive language.” her thumb would slide and move across the screen with an almost eerie deftness. Clearly, if there were a texting olympics, Kaile would be a contender for the title!

“This will wear you out,” brown eyes flicked up to latch onto light blue. “And it can take about twenty-four hours of meditation to go through that information, process it through your mind, and not have a massive headache in the end -- ah here it is.” she brought up a small file with common conversational Wookiee phrases.

“Something this small could probably take about five minutes; but by the end of it -- “ she flashed [member="Jamie Pyne"] a wicked grin. “You’ll be able to understand it no problem!”

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"Oh!" She shouted, recognizing the puzzles that Kaile was speaking of. She had been given a number of them when she was younger as gifts. At first she hated them, though as she grew older she found herself enjoying the difficulty of solving some of the more complex puzzles. It was simplistic, solitary enjoyment for her mind. For hours on end she would spend working on solving some of the most complex puzzles she could get her hands on. "I remember having a bunch of those back home! They were a lot of fun!" An odd thing to say really, most kids had dozens of other hobbies, but not Jamie. She was a pretty simple girl with a very complex mind. Quiet, anti-social for the most part, but the gears in her head were always turning, even if they frequently jumped back and forth between dozens of things at seemingly light speed.

She continued listening to Kaile speak, as if the datapad at her fingertips were now an encyclopedia of endless knowledge that could be easily retrieved using her mind instead of her eyes. She blinked several times, almost in disbelief at the words.

"That's....Amazing!" She exclaimed again, now fully enticed by the idea of learning this skill. Looking down at the datapad she smiled, tracing her finger over its' glossy surface as she lost herself in a momentary daydream considering the endless possibilities. "There's so many things I don't know about the Force, this is just crazy!"

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

 

[Kaile Vera]

A cheeky grin went flashing over [member="Jamie Pyne"] ‘s direction. Her excitement was infectious. “Yeah, there are loads of applications with the Force… and this is just the small bit that I know!” A great sigh left her lips, blowing out her cheeks as she went leaning back. Both hands went flat against the floor, and she extended out her legs so she could wiggle her toes.

“You don’t want to go back to back on the information dump. You’ll end up with a migraine if you don’t rest.” she said that as if from experience, giving a slight grimace in memory. “But if you really need to, you can do quick little bursts for what you need. As long as you have the time to meditate and concentrate, you’ll be fine.”

Letting her smiling brown eyes fall upon Jamie, Kaile gave a slight chuckle, “ I hope I’m not overwhelming you.”

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"Small bit or not, it's light years more than I." If nothing else, Kaile had shared with her a bit of knowledge, but also and more importantly, the realization that she was astronomically further behind in her training than she had previously thought. Whether that was a good or bad realization was yet to be seen. The blonde hadn't found herself in any truly dire situations as of yet, which was certainly for her benefit, but that only worried her as to what she might do if that had actually been the case.

The girl shook her head, "No, not overwhelming!" She smiled and nodded. "Quite the opposite, actually!" Setting the datapad down she mirrored Kaile, placing her arms behind her and shifting her weight to her hands, outstretching her legs before looking about the room.

"I just couldn't have possibly underestimated the limits of the Force any further, that's all!"

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

Kaile gave a cluck of her tongue, giving a half huff of ‘well if you thought this was neat’, “This ain’t nothin’” Kaile told her honestly. “I only know a few bits. There are other far more talented individuals with the Force.” she said plainly, no amount of lack of respect and wonder in the blonde’s voice.

“Amazing feats of healing… I saw one Jedi Healer able to cure the poison right out of a child once.” that impressed her. “Saved her life.” her mind would wander.

“I’ve seen folk be able to lend strength to others. To boost up their morale…. to do all kinds of mind blowing things.” she shot Jamie a half smile.

“The possibilities are endless.” a small shrug of her shoulders, and she smiled again. “But I’m happy where I’m at. I’m good with electronics and slight of hand tricks.”

A thought came to her.

“The Jedi have more to teach. But they arent’ the only ones.”

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"Wow!" She nearly shouted. Every time she learned something new about the Force it was sure to become what she wanted to learn the most. There was a vastness to the Force unlike anything else Jamie had ever known. There was a lust for learning burning behind blue eyes that would likely never be fully sated in a single lifetime, though perhaps that was a good thing. To be fully captivated by something throughout one's entire life meant that there was little room for boredom.

"Being able to mend wounds, heal toxins and bring people back from the brink of death is incredible. I suppose I have something else to add to the bucket list!"

Kaile's last bit brought on a bit of confusion as Jamie pondered for a few moments as to what she meant by 'others' who could teach. "If not the Jedi, then who else?" In her mind that just meant either ex-Jedi, having retired or exiled themselves, or the ones who played with the Dark Side.

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

 

[Kaile Vera]

“Hmm…” Kaile would scrunch her eyebrows in thought, mulling on who to start with. There were so many. “The Jensaarai at Susevfi is another.” the Lorrdian would say, thinking about the one of the more recent additions to the Galactic Alliance.

“They are rather interesting folk.” she began, lightly rocking her leg back and forth. It seemed that the young woman couldn’t quite stay still for too long. “They say that their abilities are syncrestistic; like a crock pot of Jedi and Sith teachings that complimented each other.” as she wasn’t one of the Jedi, Kaile wasn’t one to let prejudice get in the mix.

“They are all about their honor and discipline and respected the same traits in others. From the Sith, they learned about the power of aggression but not to the point of the Darkside -- I guess just being able to handle their determination and willpower.”

A hand ran through her hair, pushing it back. The strawberry blonde strands fell behind her ears and around her head in a slightly messy, but endearing fluff.

“But they are all about the defense of peace and justice, “ a slight arch of her eyebrows, “Kinda remind me a bit of them knights of justice and all that. They take it ‘pon themselves to be the custodians for Susevifi and help out the Galactic Alliance as much as they can.”

A wag of her finger would bring emphasis to the next.

“Though they are all about their armor,” she gave a knowing nod, “ Just as much as a Jedi with their lightsaber actually. They put more emphasis on their armor construction than they do on their saber, and folk say that it is used as the transition from apprentice to full 'knight'.”

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"I'm not much for assimilating into a sect or group, so learning here and there when and where I can is preferable." The idea of joining a particular order didn't really appeal to her. Perhaps that was due to the influence Keira had over her decision making, or maybe it was just that she was not the type to conform to a particular set of beliefs or standards of practice. Either way, taking what she could get from anyone willing to learn would get her to where she wanted to be in the end, and that was good enough for her.

"Maybe if it's in the cards I'll visit these places one by one and see what I can learn from them all." She smiled, pushing her own feet against Kaile's in a playful manner. "One thing at a time though of course!" There was a bit of laughter followed by the pressure against Kaile's legs. "I think what I want most is to be able to protect people from harm, whether that is by way of lightsaber or mending wounds both on and off the battlefield." Jamie knew she would likely never be as skilled with a saber or as knowledgeable with the Force as many others were, but where she could contribute she would.

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

 

[Kaile Vera]

Kaile could agree with that one. With a cant of her head to the right, the Lorrdian shot Jamie a nod and a half grin. "Mhm... same here." she told her, adding for clarification. "No sect that is. I enjoy doin' what I can here and then, but it ain't what defines me." it was honestly a matter of just what she did in the end. The Force wasn't what defined her as a whole.

"Sometimes the Force can be useful, other times I reckon I can do just fine with my hands alone." the corner of her mouth twitched. "I'm good at fixin' things with or without it. I just rather not end up bein' all dependent on it. Come in a tight spot, if that is all ones used to doin', gonna hurt yourself somethin' mighty awful if'n can't think beyond usin' the Force."

Which is why Kaile was perfectly content having Bobo around. Even without the Force, there was plenty for her to do to help out the Alliance as an embedded spy.

"You'll see that there are plenty of things to learn. Not just from the Jedi or anyone else." she'd say, rocking her neck to crack it a bit.

"My time wanderin' around has shown me plenty in that."



[member="Jamie Pyne"]

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"That's a fair point of v-" The girl's voice was interrupted by the ship's system alert to the exiting of hyperspace. "Gah! It's so loud!" She said, attempting to raise her voice over the beeping. Pushing herself up with her hands she stood and offered a hand up to the strawberry blonde who was still sitting on the floor. "Let's go see what we've got, huh?"

Quickly Jamie made her way towards the cockpit again, hoping to turn off the alert so that it would stop the ringing in her ears as soon as possible. Upon making it to the chair she took her seat and spun around in an almost seamless motion, her finger slapping down hard on the control button to mute the incessant beeping. "Ugh! Peace at last."

With that she looked up through the viewport to see the flash of white fade from sight as the ship rocked and bucked the moment it dropped out of hyperspace, a sea of small bits of space debris with the planet just ahead, growing in size with each passing second they neared it. The blonde pulled back on the controls to slow the ship's approach. "Looks like we made it!"

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

Spoiler

What?! You don’t want to talk for hours on end during hyperspace?

So anxious to get to Sullust!

Kaile’s eyes widened in surprise.

“That was fast.” She’d say. Did time really pass that fast? A thought followed up that when training and using hte Force, time could slip by them both very easily. A small shrug of her shoulders left it at that.

“Looks like.” She agreed, brown eyes staring off into the slow moving sea of asteroids and ice. An eyebrow would perk.

“How confident are you at navigating through these?” She’d gesture out towards the asteroid belt up ahead. If she had trouble getting out of Cloud City’s docking port, one would wonder how she did with moving celestial objects.

Good thing they were very slow moving.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Jamie's eyes glanced up to the asteroid field, then beyond to the planet before tilting her head back towards the navicomputer. A few times her nose wiggled back and forth before scrunching, a look of confusion washing over her. A finger scratched her cheek first, then moved to the bridge of her nose before she finally voiced a pronounced "Huh."

Well that's odd. This doesn't look right. The blonde pursed her lips, blowing a breath of air between them before turning to Kaile.

"I don't think this is Sullust. It was too fast, and the computer doesn't seem to know where we are either." The girl slapped the computer a few times to see if it would recalibrate, though unsurprisingly nothing happened beside a few moments of static appearing on the screen. "I think maybe the wrong coordinates were put in. Maybe a digit off. This system doesn't have the charts for wherever this is though." That was mildly concerning, though not so much the priority now that the ship was trailing straight into the asteroid belt before them.

The younger girl pulled back on the throttle to slow the ship further, pushing the controls forward to dip the ship hard downwards and away from a pair of rather large rocks headed towards them. "Right...First thing's first! We should get out of this mess, then figure out what to do next!"

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

 

[Kaile Vera]

The dark slash of her brows pinched in and upward.

This didn't make sense. I could have sworn I entered them correctly. Confusion would bathe her face, but [member="Jamie Pyne"] was taking it in stride. Could I have entered a digit off?

Doubt would cross her mind. The more she thought about it, the more she felt this subtle wave of forbearing rush along her skin, rising the tiny hairs at the nape of her neck. Having Bobo with her all the time had the effect of making Kaile not realize as quickly just what these little tell tale signs were.

"Where are we?" she uttered under her breath, growing concern rising. Moving towards the Navigation screen, a quick few taps would bring in the holomap.

That.. was so random.

"Miztoc Sector...." They had exited hyperspace far too soon. "Why are we here?"

 

[Jamie Pyne]

While Kaile fiddled with the navicomputer Jamie's eyes focused on what was in front of them: dozens, no, hundreds of chunks of rock and asteroid debris. There was just so much, too much to avoid all of it. Pieces of frozen rock slammed against the hull of the vessel as the blonde attempted to navigate beneath the asteroid field above where they had exited hyperspace. Quick tugs and twists on the controls diverted the ship wildly from left to right and down before turning up again. The motions were enough to make one sick. Jamie herself even began to feel queasy as she pushed her own limited abilities to their limits. It seemed like for every space boulder she avoided the ship collided with two more.

"Not good!" She finally managed to shout as the ship pivoted down once more to avoid a rather large asteroid directly in their path. The ship pitched at a nearly ninety degree angle as she dove quickly down, the top of the vessel scraping angrily against the enormous girth of the asteroid. As if on cue the ship's alerts began sounding off one by one indicating hull damage. Whether that meant breach or just damage she wasn't certain. What she was certain of was that they had to get out of there quickly, before it got any worse.

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]


"Oh geez!" by that time, Kaile had sunk herself into the copilot's seat and buckled herself right quick. Things were getting mighty precarious out here, and considering the amount of skill and time it took the younger blonde to get them out of Bespin, this wasn't looking like the best of measures.

"I'm getting weapons online." she told Jamie, intending to blast off a few of the smaller bits that were getting too close. "Just keep us away from the larger bits comin' our way, we can clear this field and --"

That was when another alarm came in. Their sensor array bloomed with activity. One. Two.. No three ships! All of which were sitting tight just past the clearing.

That sensation of dread rose the tiny hairs at the nape of her neck. Unmarked and no known transponder codes. In fact, weapons were coming online.

"Oh chit..."

Pirates.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

While Kaile worked on getting the few small weapons the ship carried online Jamie focused on not crashing and killing them both. The next alarm that sounded off indicated proximity of additional ships, though as terrifying as that was in and of itself, she had little time to worry about that at the moment, given the rather poor situation they were in already. The blonde winced as she felt the ship rock, the hull creaking with each space rock slamming into and off of the ship one after another. It was as if there was simply no empty space to navigate through without colliding into something. Thankfully the ship was easy enough to steer clear of the asteroids that would very well kill them, but it wasn't without making the young girl break into a panicked sweat.

"I don't suppose they're friendly?" The question was almost rhetoric. Still, there was a meager level of hope that maybe Kaile thought they were possibly there to help them. "Any suggestions?" Her words held a sense of urgency, not just because it would only be a short time before they escaped the asteroid field, but because she was entirely sure that she wouldn't be able to outmaneuver another pilot, let alone three.

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

“Suggestions?” Kaile would repeat, a note of rising alarm edging her voice.

“Try to save our skins!” She called out, her brown eyes widening as streaks of crimson laser fire came streaking towards their direction. The ship shook as the beams hit them portside, the flare of red rippling across the shields as it absorbed the bulk of the damage and shock.

“Gorram it!” Kaile muttered. Turning to her right, the Lorrdian reached out to flip a toggle. The shield sensor array flared as the combined graze of the asteroid and the pirate’s fire dropped their shields down to a 98%. .One of the great things about the J-Type were Its powerful deflector shields. They could withstand large amounts of damage, including bombardment by turbolaser emplacements.

Taking the gunner’s control, Kaile swiveled the small laser weapons to take pot shots back.

“We got the shields to last them out here and hopefully get away!” Kaile told her, a glance spared over to the younger blonde.

“Just don’t crash!” She joked, but offered an encouraging grin. Turning back to her monitor, she sent a few more pot shots down. The slow moving asteroids allowed for them to move in and out, but when being chased, that made it all the more difficult.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"Why are they trying to kill us!?" She shouted over the rumbling of the ship as it began taking fire. "We didn't even karking do anything!"

Just don't crash...Easier said than done. Was she aboard the same ship when we took off? Does she not know I'm not a pilot!? We're gonna die!

The blonde flinched as the laser fire continued to streak across the viewport, small flashes of light intercepting them as the shields took the brunt of the energy. Even with Kaile's reassurance that the shields would hold, it wasn't something that Jamie quite wanted to test any longer than necessary.

"Do you even know where we are?" The faster they got out of there the better. Even if those aboard the chasing ships hadn't planned on killing them, there were likely things worse than death on the fringes of space, things she certainly could do without experiencing in both near and distant future. The thought sent a shiver up her back, momentarily taking away her focus from the controls. That split second of distraction nearly caused the girl to collide with another asteroid, only narrowly evading by quickly turning the ship hard left and around the massive rock. Behind them the ships began to move closer, navigating their own way through the field in pursuit of Kaile and Jamie.

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

"Holy Mynocks!-- "

The curse was abruptly cut off as Jamie swung them hard port.

If there was any doubt, this was a sure-fire way of getting the good ol' heart pumping. Adrenaline was in no small amounts here. It went flooding through her veins like liquid nitro. Even a ship this size could still feel quite a bit of g-forces, and when they went up sharply, Kaile felt her stomach sink.

Ohhhh boy!

Bolts of green shot against their shields again, flaring green and dropping another two percent. Crisis averted, for now at least.

"Ahh..." Kaile breathed out with a bit of anxiety, her focus going from Jamie to the pirates. "Miztoc!" she shouted out at her, blowing out of her cheeks in a puff of hot air. She could practically feel Jamie's own trepidation. Okay. focus!

We have to focus!

"Use the Force, Jamie!" Kaile told her, her chocolate brown eyes panning to catch her blue. "Trust in that gut instinct... we are going to need it."

Nothing like riding the gauntlet to really get ones senses to bloom in awakening. Just then, a slow behemoth of an asteroid rolled ahead of them and her eyes went wide. A shiver shot through her spine and she quickly adjusted shields with a tap of her fingers.

"Pull up.. pull up.. pull... "

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Jamie shrieked as the laser fire hit the ship. Despite being absorbed by the shields, she was fully aware of the fact that those wouldn't last forever, and that she was an absolutely atrocious pilot. Two things working against her, compounded by the fact that she was now navigating a karking asteroid field served only to raise her blood pressure, heart rate, and anxiety to near catastrophic levels. The blonde's breathing slowly began rising to audible levels before teetering on the edge of hyperventilation as she struggled to maintain what semblance of calm she had left to give. "Use the Force!? I don't think I have enough of it to use!" With Kaile chatting in her ear and the sense of urgency and panic in her voice to pull up, it finally broke the girl's concentration.

"I'm pulling! I'm pulling!" Before the blonde could mutter another word the horrifying sound of grinding, bending, and crushing metal rang out through the entirety of the ship. Jamie cringed, her body tensing, her knuckles turning white as she gripped the controls with her full strength to try and somehow correct the terrible falter she'd just committed. Alerts across the flight deck began warning of a number of system malfunctions, others indicating non-responsive, and some even stating that they had endured catastrophic failure. Of those systems affected, the landing gear, hangar bay hatches, communications relay, and life support systems were of particular note. "Kark! Kark! Kark! What do we do!?" Any kind of jump to hyperspace with diminishing life support was an awful risky gamble, yet those in pursuit certainly didn't seem the friendly type in the least.

[member="Kaileann Vera"]