Survival With A Pyne

[Cenric Marus]

[member="Mariya Pyne"]

Most everything that was going on went entirely over his head.

The droid was doing the flying, Mariya was replacing the generator, and all he could do was sit in his seat and watch the sensors. The small fighters that had detached from the cruisers were screaming towards them, and after Cenric hadn't answered their comm the Imperials had opened up with a full salvo directly towards the little freighter. It was, in a word, terrifying.

His fingers dug into the underside of his seat, his head slammed back. ”Kark kark kark.”

Cenric swore again and again as R7 barely managed to weave and guide them through the arc of turbolaser fire. At the same time the sensor panel lit up, showing the creeping progress of the fighter craft coming closer.

The shields burst into life just as the first volley of laser fire tore from one of the TIE’s.

”Fighters on us!” He screamed to Mariya. ”We need to get out of here!”

Frantically he began to search for the hyperspace controls.

 

[Mariya Pyne]

A small rumble echoed through the corridors as Mariya made her way back towards the cockpit of the ship. The invigorated shields shrugged off the fire that the fighters put out with relative ease. She was confident that it would hold up against the cruiser's weapons as well, at least until they had managed to escape. It had been a stroke of luck that the very materials she had stolen from the Imperials was what would now save their behinds as they made their escape from them.

The rest of the isotope would find its way to the destination.

"I'm coming!" She yelled out just before reaching the ladder. "Thanks R7, you really are the best friend I could ask for."

The brunette sat down beside the Jedi and swiveled forward, placing her hands on the controls and looking out over the sensors and field of view in front of them.

"Hope you enjoyed your tour of Ossus." She said sarcastically, before reaching up over her head. "It's time for us to go."

The freighter had a few guns to its name, but nothing that a cruiser would concern itself with, and dealing with trying to track and take down fighters was hardly worth the effort or time. Her fingers flipped forward the charging switches to the hyperdrive. Mariya leaned forward before activating the drive, relaying a comm to the Imperial cruiser. "Ta-Ta! Better luck next time, bucketheads!" And then severed the line, throwing the ship back into hyperspace towards Roche.

"They'll know where we're heading for sure, but they would be out of their gourds to follow us into Silver territory."

The girl let go of the radio, laid her head back, and breathed a small sigh of smug relief.

[member="Cenric Marus"]

 

[Cenric Marus]

[member="Mariya Pyne"]

Cenric slumped back in his chair, nerves utterly fried. Starships, he was coming to find out, made him incredibly nervous. The lack of control, the realisation that he had no idea how any of this poodoo worked. It all added up to an extreme amount of anxiety. Add to that everything that had happened on the station and he was feeling like he was ready to pass out.

A loud sigh escaped him, not smug like Mariya’s, but one of intense weariness. He was tired, ragged, and just didn't want to deal with this anymore.

”Let's hope you're right.” Cenric said quietly. He had never been to Roche before, but his master had told him about the Silver Jedi. They were good people, more peaceful than the New Jedi Order or those serving with the Rebel Alliance. It was a good thing he supposed, meant the Sith likely wouldn't want to venture there. ”How long?”

He asked, not knowing if it would take hours or days.

Hyperspace travel was always shifting and changing, and he had no idea what route Mariya intended for them to take.

 

[Mariya Pyne]

"Six hours." She said looking down at the map.

Pushing back in her chair she threw her legs up and over the console, leaning backwards and allowing herself a moment to relax now that she was certain they were in the clear. Mariya breathed in deeply and exhaled several times, as if meditating, though she was not at all sensitive to the Force it still was a measure of calming.

"Once we're there we'll need to get fuel, the ship wont make it to Coruscant with all this cargo to offload otherwise."

At that point she'd have to get in touch with the contacts she'd made to transfer the Isotope to its final destinations. "I can drop you off in Coruscant, if that's where you need to go. Otherwise I'm heading back to Naboo afterwards. So you can pick your destination, but I'm not a taxi service so you'll have to tell your master to pick you up somewhere at one of those two places."

She was sure he was eager to leave her unsavory company as a filthy smuggler, even if it was stealing from the Sith, supposedly their sworn enemies or something.

[member="Cenric Marus"]

 

[Cenric Marus]

[member="Mariya Pyne"]

Six hours to Roche and then however many it would be to Coruscant.

He frowned slightly and wondered if he could get Cedric to pick him up on Roche, though he doubted it. His Master was rather busy with the staging of their assault on the Sith Empire, and he doubted that the man would take a swing left to go and get him. After a moment of consideration he made a quick decision.

”Coruscant will be okay.” At least he was pretty sure. ”I can grab a shuttle from the New Jedi Order to get back to the fleet.”

The Rebel Alliance was currently staging itself out of a small fleet, mostly floating around the edge of Sith space. The advantage was quick movement, but if they ever got caught the Sith would likely eradicate them. At least that was Cenric fear, his battle tactics weren't exactly the best among the Jedi.

Something else he needed to learn more of.

A frown touched his lips, and slowly he looked at Mariya. The young Padawan couldn't help but think she was beautiful, though the fact that she was a smuggler made the thought feel oddly dirty. His lips turned to a full scowl, and then he began again. ”So whose getting the isotope?”

If her answer was anywhere close to 'this cartel I know’ they wouldn't make it to Roche.

 

[Mariya Pyne]

"Okay then. If anyone asks how you got there, or who you were with, make up a name please. I don't want to be tied to your Jedi business."

Nor did she want to be tied back to Naboo, given her, well, family, but Cenric needn't know that.

"Trip from Roche to Coruscant will take a few days...Much further than Ossus to Roche unfortunately, but there's a few bunks you can pick from. My last partner took a small vacation for herself."

Leaning forward again Mariya dropped her feet to the floor beneath the console and pulled up a small hologram. On it was the planets of Scarif, Kamino, and Tarsunt. "Imperial worlds." She said for clarity. "The Isotope is going to the rebels fighting to reclaim their homes from the Empire." She waived her had to the right, showing her three contacts on Coruscant, each one the leader of individual cells on each of those planets. "The three of them are supposed to meet me on Coruscant, where we'll divide up what's going where, and I'll take a small cut of credits to cover the cost of the fuel, food, and equipment."

She waived her hand again, cutting off the hologram.

"But I suppose the details aren't important when you're just a smuggler, right?"

[member="Cenric Marus"]

 

[Cenric Marus]

[member="Mariya Pyne"]

Once again Cenric found himself frowning.

She could have been lying of course, but he was very good at telling when people were lying. Body language and micro expressions were a dead give away with something like that, and being from Lorrd Cenric knew how to read both of those better than most. It wasn't impossible that she was still deceiving him, she'd done it before after all, but he chose to believe her.

Something that could perhaps be attributed towards the Padawan still being somewhat naive.

He quite simply wanted Mariya to be one of the good guys, and thus believed her. It was foolish, and if she had any Ill intentions it would likely get him killed, but it was what he decided on. A sigh escaped him, and his hand slowly ran through his hair in exasperation.

”I'm sorry.” He said quietly. ”I was wrong to yell at you.”

His ego wasn't large enough that he couldn't admit he'd been wrong.

 

[Mariya Pyne]

"You should be mindful of the people you accuse in the future." She said bluntly, before standing up from the pilot's seat. "Before someone innocent ends up on the hot side of that lightsaber."

Mariya then climbed down the ladder, heading towards her quarters.

"I'm going to get a few hours of sleep. R7 will watch over the ship. You may do as you wish. The food in the galley is yours if you want anything."

After the day they'd had, a few hours of sleep was welcome, and necessary. She hadn't been shot, but the adrenaline from the day's events had worn her down, and if she was going to be of any use once they arrived at Roche, she needed a bit of sleep. Closing the door behind her she sat at first on the bunk, and then allowed herself to fall back, legs dangling over the side as she stared up at the ceiling. A bit of hair fell over her face as she landed.

Finally she pushed one foot at a time out of her boots and curled up onto the bed.

[member="Cenric Marus"]

 

[Cenric Marus]

[member="Mariya Pyne"]

Cenric had eventually found his way to one of the bunks that Mariya had told him about. The space had been small and rather cramped, though he hadn't minded it too much. Back with the Rebel Fleet he had been crammed into a similar space, and at least he wouldn't have to share a refresher with Mariya or anything.

At least he was pretty sure about that.

Either way, the smuggler wasn't the only one who got a little shut eye. To say that Cenric had been dead tired was an understatement. He'd used the force quite a bit, both consciously and unconsciously. Adding to that his injuries and everything else Cenric had been in severe need of some rest. The young Padawan hadn't even really taken off his clothes before hitting the sack, choosing instead to just get as much rest as he possibly could before they had to land on Roche.

Cenric woke only an hour or so before their arrival was due, his eyes snapping awake when he accidentally rolled onto his side and struck his bandaged wound.

A loud hiss escaped his teeth as he sucked in air, body involuntarily jumping away from the pain. He flailed slightly, and then went crashing onto the ground of the small room with a small thump.

 

[Mariya Pyne]

The quiet chirping of her chrono woke her up. She could already feel the stiffness in her neck from the tension of earlier. One hand rubbed the sore muscles behind her head as she laid there. The alarm meant they had approximately 10 minutes before R7 would take them out of hyperspace and into the asteroid field surrounding Roche. The droid was more than capable of landing the ship, but she planned to be in the cockpit in the event that there was any surprises awaiting them.

Better to be prepared, and all that.

After a minute or two she pushed herself up and into a sitting position, stepping into her boots and pulling tight the laces. Mariya looked over at the mirror, fixing her hair into a tight bun that sat neatly atop her head before opening the door and meandering her way towards the galley to grab a small nutrition bar while on the way to the cockpit. R7 beeped at her, and she smiled, tapping the astromech droid on its dome and thanking it for handling things while she was resting.

"All clear, little buddy?" She asked. "Fuweeet" it chirped.

The brunette dropped down into the pilot's seat and pulled over the headset to listen for any radio communications being sent from Roche as they prepared to exit hyperspace.

[member="Cenric Marus"]

 

[Cenric Marus]

[member="Mariya Pyne"]

Cenric managed to pull himself up eventually, pain still emanating from his wounds. Luckily both the bandage around his hand and the bacta patch had stayed in place during sleep, something that he was rather thankful for. The Kit Mariya had given him was hardly infinite, and the less of her supplies he used the better.

He had already felt bad enough when she'd bought him clothes, now with everything else that had happened he felt even worse. He had screamed at her, judged her, and even accused her of being at fault for the enslavement of hundreds. The young Padawan wasn't exactly sure how to recover from all that, in fact he was somewhat weary of facing her at all. His lips settled into a frown as he scooped up his scorched shirt, pulling it on over his head.

For a moment he fingered the hole in the cloth, letting out a sigh.

Cenric didn't have anything else with him, his own pack having been left behind on the station. "Guess it will have to do."

It wasn't like he wasn't used to looking a bit in shambles. A lot of the clothes back home had holes in them, though from usual wear and tear not blaster shots. He pulled on the jacket, doing his best to hide the hole in his shirt from sight. After a few seconds of inspection in the nearby mirror he simply shook his head and moved towards the cockpit. He found Mariya already there, and quietly swung into the co-pilots seat just to the side of her.

 

[Mariya Pyne]

Mariya pushed aside one ear piece of the headset as Cenric sat down.

"Two minutes. We'll fuel up at the station and leave immediately after that. No getting off the ship to bother the Verpine. Fuel and go, that's the plan."

As unlikely as it would be for the Imperial fleet to follow them this deep into space, she wasn't about to test the theory any longer than absolutely necessary. Not to mention she didn't want to cause trouble for the Verpine either, nor the Silver Jedi. Nor did she want anyone asking questions about her ship and why it was where it was. The less time she spent at any dock that wasn't her designated bay on Coruscant the better it was for all involved, including Cenric.

The ship had enough food to last until they returned to Coruscant, so there was no need to step foot off the freighter. The ship used an old private transport signature, which the Verpine wouldn't waste their time looking into if they were not planning to board the station or use their facilities outside of payment for fuel, so they at least had that going for them. Mariya had been through the sector enough times to know where was safe to stop, who would search what, and when to avoid certain lanes.

Slowly she pulled back on the controls, drawing the ship out of hyperspace and just outside the Roche Asteroid Field.

[member="Cenric Marus"]

 

[Cenric Marus]

[member="Mariya Pyne"]

"Okay." Cenric said almost meekly.

There wasn't really any point for him to argue with her. Even if he wanted to it didn't really make much sense to go running around Roche. He had heard plenty about the Verpine growing up, they were masters of mechanical engineering and more than once he'd been told they could fix anything. Cenric wasn't entirely sure that he believed that, but he very much would have liked finding out.

Now wasn't the right time though.

The small freighter dragged itself out of hyperspace directly in front of the Roche Asteroid fields. For some reason the sight caught Cenric almost by surprise. He knew where Roche was located, but he hadn't quite expected all of the asteroids to be so...close. He frowned for a second, thinking to himself that this was likely the reason that the Battle of Roche a few years ago had been so difficult. He couldn't imagine capital ships moving around in that.

Slowly they drifted forward, weaving through the asteroid field. "Have you ever been here before?"

The question came quietly, almost as if he were just trying to break the tension.

 

[Mariya Pyne]

"A dozen or so times, yes. I don't spend a lot of time here, but they recognize the ship now. Always the same landing pad, generally the same crew. They're very efficient. I don't cause trouble, and as long as I'm not offloading anything they don't ask questions. Everyone wins."

Of course that never stopped them from asking to fix up every little scrape the ship had on its exterior, for a price of course. Regardless they always scanned the exterior of the ship and gave her a readout of what they could improve on if she decided to make the payments. Even with what wealth she had from her noble status on Naboo, the credits they'd need to make the old freighter look as new as the day it left the shipwright was more than she was willing to part with. But from what she'd seen of their work, they certainly made it appear worth the cost.

Mariya angled the ship down towards the same pad she had used in the past, extending the landing gear and placing the request for fuel to the tower crew.

Before long they touched down. "Ten minutes." She said, "That's generally about how long it takes them." Most other stations cost her thirty to forty minutes of her time. Efficiency was worth paying for.

[member="Cenric Marus"]

 

[Cenric Marus]

[member="Mariya Pyne"]

Cenric nodded as Mariya explained, his gaze drifting out of the viewport and towards the little verpine that quickly scurried about and attended to their work. It was impressive how fast they moved, particularly given that each one was only about half of his size. Briefly he wondered if the rumors about their telepathy was true. Cedric had told him some species could communicate through the kind without the force, Verpine being one of them.

”I see.” He supposed it didn't really matter how long it took them, given that the Sith were no longer in pursuit.

Coming to Roche had been a good idea, though Cenric couldn't help but wonder what was now happening back on Celannon. He frowned for a moment and then swiveled his chair so that he was facing the communications panel.

”I'm Going to check the public broadcasts.” He told Mariya. ”See if there's any news about what happened back on Celannon.”

In truth though, he wasn't really sure if he wanted to know.

 

[Mariya Pyne]

"Okay. I'm going to go hand them off the credits for the fuel then."

She hopped up and made her way down through the ship to the loading ramp. As expected, as the metal walkway lowered to the ground where a Verpine was promptly waiting to receive their guest, and the smuggler offered them a smile and a small waive.

"Hi again! Back once more!"

The insectoid greeted her first in its native tongue and then in basic. Sure enough she was welcomed by the same Verpine that had been there the past few times she landed. Reaching into her pockets she removed a few credit sticks and dropped them into the hand of the Verpine. Mariya always paid them a bit extra, both for their expeditious service and because they never made a hassle of her stopovers. It was a convenience worth paying for, and worth overpaying for. Mutual benefit, really.

"I swear one of these times I will stick around longer than just to refuel!" She promised, knowing her host would likely ask once again to review her ship and push their services. "Tight schedule and all!"

For the next few minutes she spent conversing with the Verpine while the ship was fueled, knowing that Cenric was busying himself with listening to broadcasts, though she presumed whatever happened on Celanon would be well covered up by the Imperials long before word ever reached other systems.

[member="Cenric Marus"]

 

[Cenric Marus]

[member="Mariya Pyne"]

Mariya was right.

There was no news from Celanon, but neither was there any from Coruscant, or Corellia, or pretty much anywhere else in the core. It took the Padawan a little while to figure it out, searching through a dozen channels and finding no information on what was going on. Hed have thought there would be reports, coverage, anything at all. Yet what he found was almost complete and total silence. Not just on Celanon, but anywhere.

He frowned slightly, an odd feeling beginning to form in the pit of his stomach.

Something wasn't right. The alliance should have been broadcasting, at least their standard signals anyway. Something would have had to happen in order for them to stop those. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat and pulled up one of the comm lines that he knew would reach to an Alliance emergency broadcast. It was a sub system not often used, but with everything else dead he figured he would try.

For a moment Cenric fiddled around.

Then he caught the barest wisp of a voice.

The sound was barely intelligible, but he caught enough of it to get the gist. His face dawned in horror, expression growing more and more grim by the second as he realized just what he was listening to. For a moment he sat immobile, and then he tore the headset off and called out. ”M-mariya!”

His voice bellowed.

 

[Mariya Pyne]

The girl perked an eye and turned back towards the ship. With a scrunched face she waited a moment, then shifted back to the Verpine. "I'm sorry, my crew mate seems to need me for something. If you'll excuse me, perhaps we can catch up another time?" She smiled and waived farewell to the man, and quickly hurried her way back into the ship, closing the ramp behind her. Sprinting forward towards the cockpit she leaped forward, hands grabbing hold of the rails and feet carrying her up the rungs, skipping half on the ascent.

"What? Why are you shouting at me now?"

Her eyes immediately fell to the terminals, half expecting that the Imperials had followed them to Roche, in which case they were in more serious trouble than she had expected, and also somewhat impressed by the gall they'd have to actually pursue them that far into Jedi space. Though as she observed the sensors they were coming up clear, so now she felt perplexed by his sudden outburst. Was the stress finally getting to him or something?

"What's your issue?"

[member="Cenric Marus"]

 

[Cenric Marus]

[member="Mariya Pyne"]

”Someone hit Coruscant.” Cenric managed to blurt it out, half cutting Mariya off as she stepped back into the cockpit. His entire body was teeming with urgency, his eyes darting from the smuggler to the control board and then back towards Mariya herself. ”And Corellia, and Fondor, and a dozen other worlds.”

The broadcast had not been specific, not really. It had simply been an emergency message, half cut off by what Cenric had assumed to be jamming technology of some sort. There was report of fleet battles over a dozen Alliance worlds, a sudden strike that had seemingly come out of nowhere and from more than one side. From What Cenric could tell through the static, the whole Alliance was under assault.

”Has to be Sith.” It made sense.

They had hit Celanon with a small fleet, taking a chunk of territory around their own space while at the same time their armada struck deep Into Alliance territory. Their power grab had extended itself all in one swift move, and now millions of people would die as the galaxies capital suffered once more through an attack. The young Padawan was in half a panic, his face drained of color.

”We have to go.” He doubted Roche would be attacked, even the Empire couldn't attack two major galactic powers at once. ”We have to find out what's going on.”

His stomach twisted slightly. What about Lorrd? What about mom and dad? Where they okay?

Had the Sith gone there too?

 

[Mariya Pyne]

The girl's face contorted. "What?" She glared at Cenric with eyes that suggested he was out of his mind. "What are you talking about?" Mariya was certain that he had misheard whatever it was he was listening to over the communicator. Maybe he was delirious, maybe the injuries he sustained on Celanon Station had done something to his brain, or maybe he was just still exhausted. Regardless of the explanation what he was saying made absolutely no sense. How could Coruscant, Corellia, Fondor, and other planets be under attack? And the Sith? If anything she suspected it to have been the First Order, given their recent history, but the Sith? Unlikely. Why initiate a war in the core when they had cemented themselves as a force in the Unknown Regions?

Leaning over the terminal Mariya grabbed the headset and began scanning channel frequencies one after another. Her piercing gaze never left Cenric as her fingers twisted on the knob, listening in for anything that would prove the Jedi wrong. At first it was deadly quiet, most of the alliance channels were silent. It wasn't until she reached the same channel the Jedi had that she paused, eyes partially closing as she listened closely to the transmissions breaking through the static. At first confusion washed over her, then disbelief.

Hands pressed tightly against the headset to better hear the words. Once the message looped three times over she slid the device down onto her neck and simply stared into the vacuum of space beyond the viewport of the freighter for a long minute, processing the words she had heard.

How? It makes no sense...

Coruscant, Corellia, Fondor?! How could they reach that far into Alliance space entirely unopposed?

"We can't go to Coruscant." She shook her head as she dropped the headset on to the console and dropped herself into her chair, briefly covering her forehead with her hand, pressing her fingers against her temple to think about what to do. "It will take days. If those worlds are being invaded there's nothing we can do. This ship isn't equipped for war, and I don't exactly have a squad of commandos at my disposal. And to be blunt, you're not really a great Jedi."

Mariya dropped her hand to the controls, fear carrying over her as she mapped out the galactic coordinates for the three planets in her head. "I have to get to Naboo."

[member="Cenric Marus"]