Sunburns & Hyperdrive Troubles

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

"Then..." she began, her brown eyes anxiously searching Kurt's face for some sort of clue. Some sort of answer. "Then what do we do?" He was trying his best to come up with solutions and so was she. All she ever did was work with dataterminals and search for information. What else did she have to provide than that?

It wasn't like she could just force the --

Her eyes suddenly grew wide, pupils dilating until her irises were thin disks of hazel.

"I can do it." she told him, reaching out to grasp his arms. "I can do it." she didn't mean slicing this time around. No, she meant the Force.

"I can try to lift the blast door."

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

He stared at her for a moment, taking in the sight of her face, the sunken aspect of her eyes, the slight blue of her lips. Normally he would have agreed with her, he would have told her it was worth a try and at the very least they could do something else if it didn't work out, but right now? With the way she looked? There was no way in hell Kurt would be letting her off this ship much less use the force to lift that massive door. He frowned slightly and slowly shook his head.

"No." Kurt started. "I don't think you can."

He very gently put a hand on her good knee. "Look Kaile, I don't know a lot about the force, but I know enough to say that it takes a lot out of you. In your current state you couldn't lift me without some strain, and that door...That door weighs as much as a Star Destroyer."

That was an exaggeration, but still.

"You'd kill yourself opening it up even just a bit." There was sympathy in his tone, though it was clear he wouldn't allow this. "I'd rather have you live, thanks."

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

“ButI can.” Kaile insisted, and this time, there was a rush of growing determination in her brown eyes. Granted, she had never done something of that magnitude, but she had to try.

It was something she could do here, for them. To help out. The consequences of it thereafter were of little matter if she managed to get that blast door open.

“Help me get up,” while the local anesthetic would help with the pain, she wasn’t too certain that she’ll be able to walk on her own. I’ll need to get a good view of the blastdoor for this.

Her throat bobbed, and she blinked rapidly at the courier. He was worried for her, she could tell that just by the way his expression scrunched up. He didn’t want to take any chances.

“Kurt,” she insisted, her voice cracking. There was the faintest of trembles upon her lower lip, pupils dilated wide. Her determination crashing against that wall of resolve. “We are dead anyways.” might as well say it.

“We ain’t saving our skins if we can’t find any other solution…. I have to try”

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

"No." Kurt said firmly. "It's not happening."

It was that simple. "Even if I have to sedate you."

The med-kit was still on the floor, and in that med-kit was an entire host of drugs that he could use for that purpose. Oh she would be furious with him, possibly even never speak to him again, but then again he'd rather have that then let her die. The entire thing wasn't worth it if she ended up dead, even if he was the one that got out alive in the end. Kurt hadn't always been the most selfless of people, but even if he hadn't known Kaile, even if she hadn't been his best friend, he still would have said no.

No one would die on his account. No one. "We have an hour."

Probably a bit more then that in fact, especially if he could re-position The Messa to take up a firing point in front of the broken down rubble. That meant that they had time to think of a solution, one that would hopefully end up with both of them alive and well.

"We'll use that hour." He said firmly. "We just have to think."

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

Kaile wasn't too pleased, but the way Meyer set his jaw and stared into the brown of the Lorrdian's eyes said he wasn't having it. It was reasonable, to take the time to think of other ways that they'd be able to get out of this fix. However, if she was able to get on and use the Force to try and get the blast doors open, then why not?

"... alright." she told him, however, she added, "But if'n we ain't able to get a move on by then... or if poodoo hits the fan and we gotta burn lines, I'm gonna try." she would. If she could get Kurt out of here, she would. If she could get them both out, the better.

"We'll need to check of the Messa took any damage..." she told him, shifting up. "I can try and get them Dark Troopers to be on the alert and use 'em for added protection too."

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

"Alright, don't strain yourself." He said as he turned away from her and headed to the cockpit.

The fastest way to check if The Messa took any damage was the diagnostic systems. For all of it's upgrades and small tinkerings The Messa was still produced by Vanir Technologies, it was advanced, and unlike older Corellian freighters the ship functioned mainly off of computer systems. This is what allowed it to fly so quickly and correct mistakes without pilot input, and it would also help them see if the ship took any damage. Within moments Kurt managed to look up if there were any problems with the ship.

"Looks like nothing huge is wrong." He called down to Kaile. "Left thrusters are a bit jittery but that's not an issue."

One that they had to worry about now anyway.

For a moment The Pilot simply sat back in his chair, eyes closing as he tried to think of a way out.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

Kaile gave a nod, hearing Kurt relay down from the cockpit the status of the old girl. Staring down at her knee, she let her palm run over the bacta patch. If she didn't put too much pressure on it, she should be able to walk on it. Well.. more like hobble, but it would do for now.

"Okay." carefully, Kaile used her hands to push herself onto her feet. She swayed a bit, feeling her knee buckle for a moment before she managed to maintain her balance. The pain killer would make sure that she didn't feel the stabbing ache of the cut, but she shouldn't strain it too much. A grimace twisted her lips as she took stock of herself. I am a mess, she mused.

Covered in dirt, soot, dried blood. Looking down at her right hand, Kaile would notice the fine trembling. Don't think about it. Not now. Maybe it was a blessing that she didn't catch the clone's faces. Honestly, she felt a bit numb truth be told.

"I'll go check on the Dark Troopers." Kurt had left her back to the side of the acceleration couch. First thing, I'm getting my Morp gun.

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

Solution.

Solution.

They needed one.

He knew that they were out there, likely getting weapons or explosive, something to help them clear the blockage that he had created. They had worn stormtrooper armor, though the symbol had been the same as Kaile and he had found earlier. He frowned slightly, lips thinning as he tried to remember everything that they had seen and observed. They still had the crate that he had taken earlier, as well as the two E-11's, the Dark Troopers, and the weapons on board The Messa.

A starship's weapons were strong enough to handle a contingent of stormtroopers given the right positioning, and even with it's significant downgrades The Messa still had enough firepower to handle a tank or two. He frowned slightly as that realization hit him.

Though they had shut down the lift, the stormtroopers had access to the entire base. That means they could get to the tanks, and those tanks included everything from heavy anti-vehicle to heavy anti-air firepower. His lips thinned even further. Even if they did open the door, even if Kaile somehow managed it without dying, the stormtroopers could just shoot them down the moment they exited the hangar bay and the Volcano. "Kark."

It was all he could think to say.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]


Meanwhile, Kaile went hobbling over towards the far end of the cargo bay, where the ramp still lay out open into the hanger. A grimace cut her expression, her hand curled around her Morp gun at the ready. She was far more comfortable with it than the E-11 to be honest. Kaile never had any intention of killing anyone. Stunning was one thing, snuffing out their life was another.

The events of his day would hit Kaile pretty hard later, when the danger had quelled and the storm calmed.

The Dark Troopers were ironically still acting exactly as programed; sweeping. Another reason why droids couldn’t be blamed for what they did; it was their creators that imputed their command protocols that resulted in a machine capable of death or preserving life.

Kaile would now have to reprogram them to ensure that they could save their skins. The hobble took time, but she caught the echoing curse from the pilot halfway down the ramp. Panning her attention back towards the direction of the cockpit, Kaile’s lips grew thin.

If we didn’t come up with anything… she mused.

I’ll do it. I’ll try it with the Force

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

Well this wasn't good.

It wasn't like they were completely out of options, not yet...but things were getting a bit thin. He mused for a second, tapping his fingers against the side of the control console as he tried to think of a solution...any solution at this point.

Desperately he tried to claw at some bit of knowledge from his past, try to piece together some bit of information that he had learned during training, that his father had talked about, anything. He frowned slightly, his head tilting to the side as he recalled lecture after lecture, talk after talk, briefing after briefing. He knew that the stormtroopers had to be clones, knew that they had to be frozen for the last several centuries, knew that there had to be...had to be a command prompt of sorts.

They would be clones...not individuals.

They would be flash trained with something, a program. He frowned slightly, trying to think back to stories that his fathers had told him about the Clone Wars and the weapons developed. His hand suddenly stopped tapping. "Oh."

Kurt made a noise of discovery.

"That might work." He said quietly to himself as he slowly leaned forward.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

Truth be told, Kaile was still rather jittery that another flash clone would jump out of nowhere and attack her. It was actually likely one of the few times she was glad that Bobo wasn’t with her. She needed every bit of awareness she had; Bobo’s biology deadened that. Made it so that she couldn’t pick up on the Force or have any forewarning. Now, well, now she was going back to her training in the Rebellion, where the Major had taught them all how to use the Force to expand those senses.

So far, the only life she managed to pick up on was beyond that rubble. What lay ahead of her, well, were the eleven looming shadows of the Dark Troopers.

This was going to take more of her energy, she knew that. Maybe even Kurt knew, but this was better than having her attempt to lift up that blaster. We all pick our battles. Her hobbling came to a stop. A grimace cut her grimy face, and she studied the Dark troopers.

Time to get to work.

Lifting her hand, Kaile summoned the Force. While she could use the energy to make herself deal with her injuries, this was going to be used for other means.

All eleven Dark Troopers came to a halt. Their heads turned sharply to the Lorrdian. With a twitch and beckon of her hand, they all began to line and file in front of her.

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

"Okay." Kurt said to himself. "Okay okay okay okay."

He had an idea.

Would it work?

The Courier sprang to his feet and quickly bounded towards the ladder to the central part of the ship, dropping down and hitting the deck with a loud thud. There was a slight crash as he nearly fell on his face, but he managed to steady himself quickly enough that he didn't hurt himself. Kurt broke out into a spring, bounding off the edge of the ramp that lead into The Messa and immediately running through the hangar. He passed by Kaile, and quickly began to shout at her. "I HAVE AN IDEA AND WE MIGHT NOT DIE!"

Perfect way to deliver that news.

Kurt rushed across the Hangar and towards the black shuttle that rested on the other edge, pieces of it's bulkhead still sitting beneath it.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

It stung. It did, to have to reprogram the Dark Troopers to once again have a fragment of their original programing. With her eyes scrunched shut in concentration, the Lorrdian went one by one, moving left to right. Touching each and every single Dark Trooper as she manipulated programing and redirected new protocols. Sweat would bead over her brow, trickling into tiny silver rivulets that carved a path down her dirty face, leaving stark trails behind.

Feth, she stuck to high heaven. The scent of death on her. Funny, considering the day prior they’d been alongside a wonderful waterfall with a clear pool to swim in.

Honestly, she missed it.

This was just a dose of reality. The ‘Verse wasn’t perfect and it certainly wasn’t a paradise. One can only hope to survive it if poodoo hits the fan.

For a moment, Kaile wondered what it would be like to be in deep undercover missions. Would she be able to go through all of this?

It certainly was food for thought.

If course this was when Kurt came hollering like a mynock from the nine bells and scaring the wits out of her. Bone weary, the Lorrdian gaped at Kurt, hand still curled around her blaster.


"What?!"

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

"I HAVE AN IDEA!" Kurt shouted as he stormed aboard the shuttle.

There was one thing that clones respected. One thing above everything else.

The Chain of command.

Kurt knew that. It had been drilled into him when he had been in the Navy. The Chain of command was everything. You were told you jump, so you jumped. It was easy, simply to understand, he had never been very good at it, but clones...clones didn't really have a choice in the matter. They would listen to anything and everything that a commanding officer told them to do. It was just a matter of...well being that commanding officer. He rushed aboard the shuttle, reaching the command console and keying in commands to try and pull up the datafiles.

"Kark." He said as he realized his mistake. "Kaile! Kaile I need you! Now!"

This was important. This way their way to survival.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]


Kurt made absolutely no sense. It was as if he was mad. Completely, utterly mad. Her jaw fell, only to be promptly shut.

“I..” confusion bore across her features, but she hobbled behind Kurt none the less. An idea was an idea, but it would be great to get a bit of information on it first.

He was buzzing around, back and forth, entering the shuttle. By the time he yelled out that he needed her, he would find her right behind him, grimacing in pain and wincing at the yell.

“I’m here!” she said, “What is going on?!”

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

"Clones." Kurt said. "We're dealing with clones."

That was already obvious. "Clones, especially these I think are programmed...not really trained. While they're grown they get information flashed into them. How to shoot, where to go, and especially how to follow Orders. So, here...all we have to do is give them orders."

Simple enough.

"We just need the proper codes." The Courier said waving his hand at the console. "Once they hear those...we order them back in the tubes and we're done."

That was really all they had to do, right? There were uniforms in the back, Kurt had seen them. So they donned those uniforms, gave some orders, and bam, the Bunker was once again theirs. He didn't think it would be easy, not really, but at least it was a plan.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

"But we don't know where to even --" Kaile abruptly stopped.

Lips drew thin and her mind raced. Wait. This was viable. They could do it. But what were the odds that any such codes were on the shuttle? Rather slim. However, they could try.

Kaile slipped into the seat beside Kurt, and she briskly added, "Get my bag, quick!" she told him. There was that dataspike she found. Maybe she could get some information of here. Or even better, maybe she could connect to that one officer level that they'd found earlier. If it wasn't in the shuttle, it for sure would have something there right?

"Let me see what I can find."

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

Kurt rushed out the door as fast as he possibly could, heading towards Kaile's bag. In his head he was already going over what else they would possibly need, uniforms, codes, maybe a haircut for him. There were a few regulations that one had to follow when you were a military officer, that included being clean shaved. Kaile could likely pull off the look as well, but somehow he thought that a womans uniform was unlikely to be aboard the shuttle.

He grabbed the bag and immediately turned on his heel, sprinting back towards Kaile.

His head was filled with plans, how they would go about this and how best to pull it all off. Part of him wished he had listened better during instructions at the academy, though he knew that didn't matter now. Instead he ran as fast as he could. "Got it!"

Kurt shouted as he jumped onto the shuttle, tossing the bag onto the chair besides Kaile.

"I'll search for uniforms." He said quickly. "I know there's some in the closet back there."

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

“Okay!’ Kaile would shout over her shoulder, giving a slight grimace as she took the bag tossed by Kurt into her hands. Where is it? she thought, frantic as her hands dove into the satchel. I had it right here, right --

“Got it!” she exclaimed, her fingers curling around the small black computer spike. Spining on her seat, she dropped her satchel onto the floor. Stars, was her heart pumping twelve parsecs a second. Here came the adrenaline again, rushing through her veins and burning white hot.

A quick search, and her eyes spotted the data slot. She was so hopping on nerves and adrenaline that she had to delibrately take a breath to calm down. Then, she slipped in the computer spike. Dirty and scratched fingers went sweeping across the data terminals controls.

“Okay… let’s look for these codes.”

It was a long shot, but at least they had time. One hour or so…

I can do this

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

Uniforms.

That was what they needed now, that was what he was looking for. The Shuttle belonged to someone important, or at least that's what Kurt thought. The man who had owned this bunker, who had commissioned it and put all these clones here had likely put contingencies in place for himself and his officers. That was simply logic, it was why the shuttle was here and why those officer quarters existed, now...now he only needed to figure out a way to put it all together so they could make it out alive.

The closet door slammed open.

Almost immediately he was greeted with a dozen or so Navy Dress uniforms, all of them a stark white. "That was easy."

Kurt said with a small smile on his face. He supposed that their luck had once again turned around from bad to good, something that he wouldn't complain about. A smile broke out on his face and quickly he pulled out one of the stark white uniforms. He noted the rank tags on them.

"Grand Admiral, huh?" Kurt shrugged as he began to pull off his own clothes. "Didn't help you in the end."