Private The Long Dark Night

[Ran Serys]

<Damage to Internal Systems. Life Support Activated. Crew Evacuation Requested.> ​

The distress signal was on a loop. It played over and over in hopes that someone would hear it. Would Ran be saved? She didn't know. She couldn't know. Still her feelings and intuition told her this wasn't the end.

Guided by the force, Ran relaxed deep into the pilot's seat of the Onyx Runner. The starship's life support systems wouldn't hold much longer. Power to the ship drained rapidly and the remaining air supply was made up of less and less oxygen as time went by. If the cold of space didn't get her, suffocation would. She didn't know which death she preferred, but then again she didn't have to think about it. Her focus was on the force and nothing else. She delved deeper and deeper into a hibernation trance. The trance was instinctual. As curious as it was, her connection to the force was strong and open enough to arrive at the technique. She imagined it was due to the thirty years of it's suppression. The arrow had been drawn and it was time to let it fly.

The mysterious energy field traveled like a waterfall within her and around her. She was a well, and with the distress signal being broadcasted, a beacon. A beacon lit for those who would help, or those who would hinder.

_______________________
Val Drutin​

 

[Val Drutin]

Aboard the Stardust
Somewhere in deep space...

Val floated in the meditation chamber, his legs folded in the lotus position. His closed eyelids twitched, his eyes moving underneath as if he were dreaming. He heard voices speaking to him, whispering and shouting, inspiring impulses to do things, to move, to act...

Suddenly his eyes opened. His feet found the floor soon after as he stood, then turned and walked through the door and to the cockpit.

His co-pilot, the HRD Tamara, turned in her chair as he entered. "Val, I thought you were—"

"No, no, no," he muttered. "I've got to find it. The source. Where's the source?"

Tamara stared at him in grim silence, watching as he flicked levers, pressed buttons, and twisted dials until he pinpointed a distress signal.

<Damage to Internal Systems. Life Support Activated. Crew Evacuation Requested.>

"There!" Val grabbed the ship's controls, rerouting their course to head to the source of the signal. "Tamara, we have bigger fish to fry. Ehehehehehe. What? Why are you looking at me like that? Let's go!"

It was obvious to Tamara that he was having a psychotic episode. Alas, she had been programmed to obey her master and could not protest his orders nor question him. Swiftly she punched in the coordinates, and off they went.

A ship appeared in their viewport, tagged as the Onyx Runner. "Shall I hail them?" Tamara asked Val.

"No." Val licked his lips in anticipation. "Let's board them."

The Stardust drew within range of the Onyx Runner, extending its umbilical and attempting to latch onto the vessel.

Ran Serys​

 

[Ran Serys]

Ran heard nothing in her meditative state, she saw nothing, smelled nothing, tasted nothing, but felt intention arrive. The intention to board her ship. With a gasp she came out of the force induced hibernation as the umbilical of the foreign vessel latched onto hers. Coming out of the trance was like emerging from the deep depths of the ocean. Her mind was cloudy, still focused on the force alone and not the combination of her six senses. As she gathered her bearings, she realized company would soon be upon her.

With little time to set out the fine china, in a manner of speaking, she ran for the cargo hold. She hadn't the time to tell who was coming so she'd hide until she discerned if they were friend or foe. The problem was there weren't many places to hide in the small starship. Ran pushed one of the modular cargo walls into storage mode and stored herself away. It would buy her some time but how much remained to be seen.

As she waited and listened from the cargo compartment, her wits were coming back to her, although she felt like she was still wading through water to think of her next move. Sweat beaded up on her forehead. Was it the stress and uncertainty of the situation, or the heat and stuffiness of the cargo bay that did it. She took a shallow breath and then a deeper one in efforts of calming herself and listened with her ear against the modular wall. Come On. Who are you? The thought echoed in her mind as she tried to gather a mental picture of who or what had boarded her ship.

_______________________
Val Drutin​

 

[Val Drutin]

Val raced across the umbilical as soon as it docked. The speed with which he moved seemed to indicate to Tamara that he expected something on the other ship, but she couldn't tell what. Nor did she like the wild, crazed look on his face.

"Come out, come out!" he called, raising his voice so that it echoed through the interior of the Onyx. "Where are you? I know you're here, I sensed your beacon! You wanted to be found, now you've been found!"

He stalked the halls of the vessel, Tamara following a few steps behind as they searched for someone. Tamara found the ship strangely deserted. There were signs of a power failure. Had it been stranded? Most likely. Somehow though, she didn't think her master's intentions were to rescue any survivors.

Ran Serys

 

[Ran Serys]

Ran’s mind steadied upon hearing the almost giddy commands to reveal herself. In a moment, she took an investigatory glance around the small compartment. Positioned overhead was a vent. As the footsteps drew closer she knew climbing into it was her next move, her only move.

She pushed the grille and climbed in as quietly as she could, but not quietly enough. Her lightsaber shifted on her belt, stress on the belt’s clip led to a pop, the lightsaber fell into the cargo compartment below as Ran pulled herself into the vent above. The lightsaber made a distinct metal whack upon hitting the floor. She lingered on it for a moment, whether she should climb down and retrieve it or continue without it. She knew the former would be a mistake and the latter would be risky.

Instead she reached out to the force and rolled the lightsaber underneath one of the containers that lined the compartment. Hopefully the low light of the compartment and the container's shadow would be enough to keep the saber hidden. She quietly closed the grate behind her and watched to see if anyone would come to investigate the noise.

_______________________
Val Drutin​