Sunburns & Hyperdrive Troubles

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

Kaile didn’t stop. She couldn’t. Around her, the sound of explosions and fire booming made her flinch. This was not typical of what the espion was used to. She was an embedded agent; one that would come in, gather the information, then get out. She never was in the trenches. Never had to use her stun blaster beyond the few rare times. There had been nothing that she couldn’t talk her way out of.

This, this was diving straight into the heart of chaos and combat.

It wouldn’t be anything like what Kurt had lived through; but it held a tang to the fierce shoot out [member="Asmus Janes"] and she had been subject to over a month before. Back then, they had been holed up behind some rocks, fighting against the Kanjiklub in a fierce shootout. Things had seemed to go all sorts of crazy then…

“Damnit!” came her curse, slamming against the side of the Messa. There was the ramp. Grimacing, Kaile took a deep breath then went crouching low, scrambling to go up without getting shot. The pew, plink of other blaster bolts ricocheted, making Kaile cry out.

“Chit!” pain went lancing through her, and she went slamming against the bulkhead. Two shades of white lighter and a clammy faced Lorrdian slammed her hand down upon the small console to close the ramp shut.

It was a good thing the Messa was so compact. Not so good that there were things still scattered everywhere. Stumbling in a half hobble, Kaile let the adrenaline fuel her drive as she went straight to the cockpit. She came to a stop at the ladder well, and then began the climb.
The whir of the Messa’s engines blazed to life not a minute later.

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

Kurt just kept squeezing the trigger. Every time he saw a flash of white, every time a blaster bolt managed to fly through, every time Kurt saw even a hint of movement the triggers on the joystick were depressed. There wasn't any other way. He could have tried to reason with them, he could have tried to argue, but none of it would do any good.

The Clones had already learned their deception, now they just had to get out.

The Messa swung behind the Interceptor, cutting behind the ship and slowly maneuvering it's way into the center of the hangar as Kaile began to position the ship. The Vessel was slightly wider then the Interceptor, but the hole that had been carved into the Blast Doors was wide enough that even the bulkier light freighter could pass through. The ship was maneuvered perfectly, and then slowly, just to make sure, The Messa passed through the gap of the blast door and out into the volcano.

Kurt turned back for half a second, watching, then breathing a sigh of relief.

He saw another flash of white ahead of him, depressing the triggers just long enough to fire a single burst before turning around.

The Courier pulled the interceptor into a sweeping turn, rushing the vessel in a one hundred and eighty degree turn about to bring it towards the center of the hangar and out the door.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

The Messa swerved, moving up and out of the volcano, before turning starport side. From behind the viewport, a very pale Kaile watched with wide eyes for Kurt to show. The blur of black of the interceptor came out not a few seconds after.

Not wanting to risk an open comm, Kaile let Kurt take point. There was no need to linger. No need to wait. Whatever lay in the bunker and the mass of TIE fighters still in the auxillery hanger meant that the clones could very well come after them.

They had to burn lines and hightail it, fast.

A grimace would curl her upper lip back, baring teeth. It was hard to breathe. Harder still to focus. Beads of sweat were forming over her brow, dampening her hair. The Imperial uniform was stifling, harder still to move in. Raxus Prime had been their destination afterwards. Maybe they should go there.
Or somewhere that wasn’t here.

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

There was an issue. As soon as the two ships swerved into the darker reaches of space and out of the planet atmosphere Kurt came to the realization that his new Interceptor didn't have a hyperdrive. There was a soft curse that broke out from his voice followed by a series of switches being flicked. It was lucky for him that The Messa could dock with other vessels, even more lucky that they had some mag-lev holds instaleld on the bottom of the ship for extra shipping.

"Kaile?" He called out over an encrypted comm, being acutely aware that talking was rather dangerous.

"Kaile turn the auto-pilot on." Docking the ships would be impossible otherwise. "This thing has no hyperdrive."

The Messa would be able to carry both ships into hyperspace, but unfortunately it would be slowed down quite a bit. They would have to go somewhere secret, somewhere they wouldn't be attacked. In his head he was already listing off a dozen or so planets where they could go.

There were a few options, but he didn't trust any of them as a whole.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

Hearing Kurt’s voice over the encrypted comm brought a curse to Kaile’s lips as well as a sense of relief. It was dangerous, but the fact that they now knew that his interceptor had no hyperdrive meant that they had to improvise.

[ Copy that. ]

Her voice was edged in a faint strain, the Messa gliding over the island they had originally made camp at. Bending forward with a hitched breath, the Lorrdian flipped a few toggles and pressed another button to activate the auto-pilot.

The VT freighter eased off, leveling as the autopilot took over. She already knew what Kurt had likely deduced; they would use the mag clamps to secure the interceptor. At least they were doing this within atmosphere.

They just had precious little time.

Back in the base, the storm troopers were swarming to regain their bearings. The blast that Kurt had delivered them had damaged a majority of the TIE’s, but not all of them. A few clone troopers cloned to be pilots were summoned to the auxiliary hanger.

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

It didn't take long for Kurt to bring the Interceptor beneath The Messa, they were after all two of the fastest ships in the galaxy. There was a sudden shake as Kurt pressed The Interceptor directly under the Messa's belly, then another as the mag-lev's activated and clamped the vessel into place.

There was a lull for a moment, then the underbelly of his ship slowly slid open.

This had been part of the normal tech for the original freighter designed by Vanir. Though The Messa's original design had been meant as a fast frigate, it's extensive engines meant that it could still haul quite a bit of weight, that meant having a docking ram was intelligent, not to mention that it allowed the ship a bit more open versatility with where it picked up and dropped off cargo. A few more moments passed, and then Kurt was happily crawling into the cargo hold of his ship.

"We have got to get out of here." TIE Fighters were fast, but The Messa was still faster, even with another ship attached. They couldn't out maneuver the smaller ships, but they could certainly out run them. He jumped onto the ladder that lead to the cockpit and quickly crawled into place, spying Kaile sitting in the pilots seat. He quickly motioned to her, noticing her labored breathing but being too panicked to say anything about it at the moment.

They had to get out.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

Kaile gave another grimace, her lips tight. Nodding she got up from the chair, passing by Kurt in a half stumble to allow him to sit on the main pilot chair. She staggered onto the co-pilot seat, buckling down as her clammy skin glistened under the console lights and the afternoon sun.

“Go!” she told him, knowing full well that he was far more able to fly them out of here than she was. Swallowing hard, she shut her eyes. The pain was rearing up to a sharp point. Just breathe. Just breathe.
The whine of engines soon roared within that auxiliary hanger. They were running out of time.

A small beep, beep, beep in their sensor array gave a whine of warning. Kaile barely leant forward, her eyes going wider.

Three tiny bleeps.
“GO!”

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

She didn't have to tell him twice.

As soon as he saw the blips Kurt pushed the engines to almost their limit. There was a lurch, and then a roaring burn of the engines as they were propelled forward. Space began to unfold before them, the stars began to almost turn into strips, The Messa's powerful engines nearly accelerating them fast enough that they struck hyperspace naturally.

"Coordinates." Kurt said quietly as he pushed them forward, guiding the ship towards the edge of the gravity well and making sure they took the fastest, and most direct path towards an exit from the system. Kaile shouted some numbers, perhaps a destination she had in mind or perhaps just a random place where they would be safe. It didn't matter to The Courier, it didn't matter where they would go or what exactly they would find there, as long as it wasn't more TIE fighters.

"Hang on!" The Courier shouted as he punched in the numbers. "Here we go!"

The ship shook, and then jumped.