Something more than raw material

[Kaia Starchaser]

Barotrauma.

That was what it was. Not tinnitus. She had a bit of trouble with one of her vac suit missions. But really, that was a worthy consequence. She was able to help out a spacer in need. And by need, she meant pulling him and his valuables onto the Wandering Star and towing his damaged vessel to the nearest port. It was kind of her thing, getting out there and helping people. Between her supply runs for the Underground and the Covenant. But right now? She had offered to do a bit of exploration around for the Covenant, so long as others came with her when she needed them.

And now? She needed them.

The dark haired Starchaser had found an ordinance world. It wasn’t much, but she wanted to check it out. The only trick was that her balance was a bit off. And her hearing was… acting up. A dip in a bacta tank was what she needed, but she had a good feeling about this one. This world. She wanted to get out there now.

And what was the worst that could happen? Dark Siders show up? She had a lightsaber. And her ship. As long as she could get to her ship, she’d be fine. Maybe she should upgrade it… She had seen the ad for iBorg’s new Liberation module.

She had to excuse herself from the game of Battlefront though, as the ship was coming into real space. It was time to get in for a landing. And do a bit of exploring. She should have brought her ExCon suit.

Wow, the writer is making a comment about how Kaia is definitely her father’s kid. Just… more light side.

Her ears were hurting and she shook her head, rubbing her ear when the boarding ramp opened up onto the ordinance world. Moon. It was more of a moon.

[member="Aela Talith"]
@CovenantFolk

 

[???]

What [member="Kaia Starchaser"] would not know is that she was being followed. Cloaked by bent light and with boots that were sound dampened, there was no way to discern the invisible form that would curiously observe the brunette in her casual gait. Observation was key to the role provided by this one, and truth be told, that also meant getting to see what others did when they thought no one was watching.

Silence would reign, each deft step carefully taken, keeping a certain distance so as to lessen that nagging feeling women always seemed to have whenever they thought they were being followed.

Call it what you will, but women had certain witchery about them that often went well beyond the explanation of the Force.

 

[Kaia Starchaser]

It wasn’t that she couldn’t do things on her own, but what she really didn’t want to do was wander a planet alone. She had even set up a signal to broadcast to the Covenant for anyone who was interested in helping her with some salvage. The girl was walking down the ramp and had her Explorer Datapad. She was using it to make sure she could find her way back, and if there was anything she didn’t know (very likely) she’d tag it and save the data.

When she was walking out of the gangway, she had that stuffy head feeling from the barotrauma. She helped people. She needed to keep reminding that this was a consequence of doing something good. She was really wanting to be a Jedi. Be better than her father.

But even without her head sounding really full with each step, she’d probably not have even noticed @??? Back there doing their… thing. Whatever it was. Brooding?

She did pull up a scarf over her head and mouth, between that and her military-surplus canvas jacket, she was ready for whatever it was the world was throwing at her. But there was a meteor that hit the ground near here wreck that she wanted to check out. Could be good salvage for the Covenant.

 

[Kaili Talith]

Salvaging.

The beautiful art of recycling.

Kaili loved the idea of doing something productive for a change. Studying was cool and all but getting practical would always reign supreme over the concept of going theoretical. This was very much an occasion where practical would beat theoretical again. Kaili was no stranger to [member="Kaia Starchaser"] at this point. Well, maybe a little but they had at least talked before-ish.

And once more it seemed that they were being followed by some random stranger again, as Henry had been so kind enough to point out to Kaili. Repeatedly. For each step the man and/or woman seemed to take behind the trio.

“Henry, it’s probably still just Micah.” The robot smacked her at the back of her head in a Gibbs’ peck of his front leg. “Ow! Fine- ow!”

< “That is what this guy wants you to think, Kaili! I just know he is up to something...” >

“Yeah, yeah.” Kaili turned to Kaia. “So, this wreck, what does it look like?”

 

[Kaia Starchaser]

Salvaging was nice. Kaia enjoyed salvage. You could find all sorts of good stuff when you were salvaging. And the Covenant needed some of it. Sure, she had the Underground to watch for, but there were more than enough pilots and people finding things. She knew her father was out hunting for them as well, and well… she’d admit he was okay with that. But don’t tell him she said that.

One of these days, she’d need to sit down with him. But her Odyssey still had time. It wasn’t time to talk yet. Not with him.

And right now she was barely hearing what Henry and [member="Kaili Talith"] were saying. If anyone looked over at Kaia, they’d see her repeatedly opening and closing her jaw, trying to yawn, trying to clear her ears. Stupid pressure.

Stupid.

She should probably be calling out one of the droids. One of those new Z7 Exploration droids she picked up from the LAA. Yeah, that was happening. If Kaili was going to have a mechanical friend? So was she. But the Z7 wasn’t really… modified yet. Just here to keep watch and pick up what she hadn’t seen.
She hit a command on her datapad and called one out to her. Hopefully it didn’t hit @???.

“Huh?” She looked at Kaili and shook her head. If she hit on her head it felt so full, and made that dull thudding sound. “Oh right. Wreck.” Another swallow and movement of the jaw to pop her ears. “It was… kind of like a Mobquet… Older model.” She pulled up an image, along with the technical specifications, of the ship. “I know we landed within a few klicks of it, but its like… the only landing spot.” She looked around at the debris fields and her ship.

Maybe she should downsize? Something sporty? A coupe? In red?

 

[???]

[member="Kaia Starchaser"] [member="Kaili Talith"]

The Z7 exploration droid did ALMOST hit the hidden observer. Thankfully, the advanced whiz and noise from the direction it came from brought ample warning. However, it did nothing to shut the low curse that was muttered. Maybe Kaia wouldn't noticed?

Clearly if she did, she was hearing things!

Half annoyance at oneself would follow a mental reminder to be more alert when around the Levantine Astronaudical Academy student. Either way, wasn't going anywhere from Kaia Starchaser.

At least, that is what the records revealed to be her name. What bit could be found at the very least. Anything more will come in time; or more aptly, when she did things without realizing she was being watched.

 

[Kaili Talith]

Kaili looked at the image and scrunched up. She hadn’t been expecting a wreck of that size and even if she had there was no way they could bring the thing back in one go. Unless Kaia had a really big ship stowed away in orbit but that felt rather unlikely. Henry broke off his attempts at examining the stranger for a second and proceeded to check out the imagery provided by [member="Kaia Starchaser"].

< “That thing is nearly a millenia old.” > He was quick to point out. < “Rust is our kind’s natural enemy, you know, I doubt you will find one.” >

“So we’re going for an old classic?” Kaili shrugged. “I mean, I would have said at the very least a HWK-290, but it’s impossible to find one of those. Trust me, I’ve tried.”

“Besides, it seems you’re going for transport.” She said and shrugged again. “What is it that you hope to do with the ship, Kaia?”

 

[Kaia Starchaser]

Ok, maybe Kaia wasn’t being super observant. She was having trouble with the hearing. No real balance issues though, so that was a blessing. When the Z7 showed up, she kind of wished it could overthrow governments and open up worm holes, but [member="Gerion Ardik"] prevented that. She looked between the other girl, her sort-of-name-twin and her droid. “Its old, but… from what I’ve been told, the ship that went down was carrying a few things.”

Fighters mainly. “And I’m hoping if we find her, and she’s not been trashed since I got here, then we’ll be looking at some good salvage for the Covenant.” Or super secret tree house gang, if they weren’t actively calling the group that Aela built the Covenant. “She should protect her cargo, at least.”

Picking her up? That was another story. “So, yeah, its not really about the ship so much as what she is carrying.” She smiled, one of those Starchaser ‘I’ve got a plan’ smiles.

[member="Kaili Talith"]

 

[???]

Salvage? Cargo?

Now what were the two minxes talking about? From under the black tee of the vision, a furrow of contemplation at just what the brunette was planning would come to mind.

A narrowing of eyes came next. Fingers would tap lightly against a thigh.

What were they planning? And how much trouble were the two going to stir? In the back of one's mind, one would be able to tell that the odds of this turning into a headache was impending.

 

[Liliane]

A third girl soon appeared. She had spent some time away from Kaili and Kaia, trying to focus on her own thoughts, have some time on her own and try to figure what the kark was going on with her. She'd been strangely afraid of something lately and it was something she could not describe. The anxious feeling was everywhere she went, whatever she was doing. And that was slowly driving her crazy.

"Hi," she said as she stopped towards the people. She was not of much use when it came to salvaging, but she wanted to learn something new. Maybe that way she could get rid of her clumsiness at actions which required a lot of physical work.

Something inside her told her she would fail miserably on that mission and her fear did not make this feeling any easier to bear. She hoped her friends would understand she was not the best. That she was still rather dumb at anything related to technology. Huh, she was lucky to have learned how to use a coffeemaker.

 

[Kaia Starchaser]

There was a lot of work to be done. Did she need to pull her weight? Yes. She had the drive to prove herself, and the Covenant was working for something for good. She needed to get involved and help out with it. She had been using the Levantine Astro Academy’s computers to do work and between that and the Frontiers Corp list of ships that were going places? See? The Levantine Sanctum was useful, just as [member="Seydon of Arda"]. The younger Starchaser made sure to report back to Laekia every so often.

Y’know, to see home—the Dawn Treader and report to a class or two.

Her ears weren’t ringing and for a moment it was quiet, and that was when another one of the Covenant came out. Kaia made the announcement that they were going to land, but she wasn’t military any more. So, when things happened on their own schedule? That was fine. She smiled at Lilin and gave a wave. “Morning, sleepy head.” They weren’t out all that long when the other girl came out, but still, Kaia had to make jokes, sometimes.

She liked working with the Covenant. There were a lot of people from all walks of life. Something to learn from everyone.

[member="Lilin Imperieuse"]
[member="Kaili Talith"]
@???

 

[???]

[member="Kaia Starchaser"] [member="Lilin Imperieuse"]

Things were certainly starting to get a move on. Just what else were they planning?

Whatever it might be, it will observed with a closer look. And hopefully, without another droid darting over to crash into. The last thing one needed was to lose the advantage of being undetected.

Closer steps would close the distance between Kaia and Lilin.

 

[Kaili Talith]

Kaili shook herself awake, despite not being the one being told to wake up in the first time. Seconds turned into minutes turned into days but here she was. A grin spread on the young girl’s features much like the one she had spotted on Kaia. The girl had a plan, she must have had one. Kaili didn’t know what, but it was something.

Henry wasn’t as excited. He was after all in a place where his place came to die.

< “Remind me to do this to your people if I ever take over the galaxy.” >

“What?” Kaili asked and laughed.

< “Stockpiling dead things like this, it’s inhuma- indroi- inhu- indr- It’s not right, Kaili!” >

“So, what? You’re just gonna pile dead bodies and leave them out to rot or something?”

< “It seems fair if you ask me, you certainly seem to do it to my kind.” >

“I’m fairly sure we already do that to our own kind as well.”

Henry gasped. < “What is wrong with you people? ... Monsters. All of you. Monsters.” >

To which Kaili merely shrugged and turned back to Kaia. “Just what exactly do you have planned?”

[member="???"]
[member="Kaia Starchaser"]

 

[Kaia Starchaser]

What did she have planned? Well, it was a salvage trip. She wanted to chase down some leads and see what she could find. What she could pull off this world. “Well, word is that there are a few shipments of an older model fighter. I wanna check what shape they’re in, bring them back to the Covenant, and from there?” She shrugged and looked around. “Get to work. See what pieces they need, fix them up good. Might not yield a lot, but it’ll give us some fighters."

And that bit was important.

“If we’re going to be taken seriously against some of these dark side groups, we need to be able to strike on all cylinders.” Woop, there was Kaia’s military training hitting.

“What do you guys think?”

[member="Kaili Talith"]
[member="???"]
[member="Lilin Imperieuse"]

 

[Liliane]

"Yeah, I like that idea," Lilin replied after taking a short while to think about the matter. Her eyes attached to the girl who was kind of leading this expedition, she hoped Kaia would be able to guide them through the whole mission safe and sound. The Imperieuse girl was not the one person anybody would take to a salvage trip, especially because of her lack of knowledge of such things.

And if she couldn't keep herself safe or at least rely on others' help, she would call that trip a failure.

She finally managed to turn her eyes away from her and move them to Kaili instead. She waited for her reply or a gesture which would at least show what she thought of the matter. These two seemed to be kind of professionals in what they were about to do. She was like a little wannabe salvager when compared to these two.

Uh, at least she could use that trip to learn and educate herself if nothing else.