Weekend Treasure Hunt 13: Starlight, Starfight

[Jorus Merrill]

As with all Weekend Treasure Hunts, I have no intention of joining this thread. This is simply an opportunity.

Stay classy.

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The ancient structure, free-floating in deep space, had long since spun down from the centripetal motion that had given it some semblance of gravity. Factors as subtle as Coriolis forces and as direct as cometary impact had twisted and weakened structures both internal and external. Absent structural integrity, rotation, power and heat, the structure retained little but the suggestion of a cylinder, its gaps too narrow for anything but a very small ship to get through, its surface too irregular to make spacewalkers anything more than slow targets. The cylinder was two hundred kilometres long and twenty kilometres wide, a Corellian generation ship older than hyperdrive technology. Its hollow interior was lit by the local sun through rents or gaps, missing plates and impact breaches. Space dust, drawn by the cylinder's negligible gravity, gave the sun-streamers the illusion of tangibility, like beams of sunlight in dusty air. Occasionally, larger dust-motes gleamed -- pieces of the buildings that had once lined the inner surface of the cylinder. Otherwise, the generation ship was dark and cold, its last inhabitants dead before the Republic took form. Uhl Eharl Khoehng, the nameplate read. The two-hundred-kilometre generation ship contained the history and heritage of the Corellian people from forgotten eras. It recently appeared on long-range sensors in the neutral Farquar system, drifting at the high sublight velocity that it had acquired over ancient centuries. Only starfighters could catch up with it before it passed on into turbulent regions.

Floating inside the massive cylinder, careful scans might find the ship's black box or its databanks, unreadable save with specialized machinery. The Corellian planetary government has put out a call for freelancers -- anyone in the area -- to bring them back as Corellian cultural treasures, with commensurate rewards. Meanwhile, the Underground believes the databanks may hold information on forgotten locations near the Core, locations which could be useful for setting up strikes against the One Sith and the Lords of the Fringe. The Underground will pay quite a lot for any information along those lines.

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• In a starfighter, shuttle or light freighter, catch up with the ancient ship in the edges of the Farquar system.
• Enter through one of the gaps in the thick hull.
• The internal space is a massive cylinder.
• Scan until you find the prizes inside, or other things which might potentially be of value to the Corellian authorities.
• Dogfight as necessary.

 

[Arage Bao]

Life could be worse. There was food, clean clothing, a bath every once in a while and most importantly people didn't try to kill me twice a day. Yeah, life definitely got better after Korr pulled me into the world of the Jedi. Don't get me wrong, it was hard work, but somehow it paid off, not in the monetary section, but there was that faint sense of accomplishment every time I helped someone. It felt like I was making a difference, and in the grand scheme of things that was all a man really needed in his life, that vague sense of being of use to the galaxy at large. I was piloting a Tachyon today, named it the Cheery Skipper 'cause of the shudder it went through every time we hit hyperspace.

Cheery had been owned by a Levantine, 'least that's what the logs had said. Apparently there had been an altercation aboard the ship when it flew through Republic Space, distress call had sounded through the chilly void of outer space and attracted the 'Pub officials. Patroller had bled to death, two other men had been found (also quite dead). It was a bureaucratic nightmare, point is... at the end of the day the vehicle got impounded and registered as evidence. In the end the body got shipped off to family in Sanctum Space, while the vehicle was stuck in red tape-limbo.

That's where I came in and managed to snag it for a lowly sum. Courtesy of Vaud, told me my first crap ship was cause for celebration, we didn't leave Zeltros for a week. Anyway, the ship still held a couple of Levantine experimental gear, most of it broken or defect to a degree, annoying but ya gotta work with the tools ya had.

We were bound for neutral space, Vaud told me there was something of interest here, something his Underground might be interested in. If I gotta believe him this could be my way in, prove myself and aid the cause in a profound way while earning some stone-cold cash.

Ya know me.

I dig charity.

[member="Jorus Merrill"]

 

[Aethan Tannan]

...a transmission was sent out by the Corellian Planetary Government concerning their desire to reacquire lost Corellian cultural treasures located in the remains of an ancient cylinder that once served as a starship floating through the black of space. Likewise a rumor had circulated that the Underground also wished to recover the lost information, data, that the cylinder might possess which made it quite lucrative in the sense that several explorers, adventurers and salvagers would likely have been interested in testing their luck. As it stood when the transmissions reached the ears of one man in particular he didn't even think twice about it before climbing into the cockpit of his starship and setting a course for the coordinates of the derelict, ancient, cylinder...

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...the Tachyon-Class Light Freighter would come out of hyperspace several hours later within a short distance of the Corellian Generation Ship aka the Cylinder. Aethan Tannan was seated in the cockpit of the Light Freighter whereupon he punched a few buttons on his control panel and began a mid range scan of the vessels exterior. Nothing out of the ordinary was revealed obviously. Two hundred kilometers long and twenty kilometers wide; the ship was absolutely massive. As he stared out of the viewport of his cockpit Aethan couldn't help himself..."That's a big damn ship."...he'd have said as though there was someone else nearby that may have heard him before his hands moved over the console of the cockpit again...

...aside from the nominal scan of the Cylinders exterior Aethan had also been preforming a scan of the general vacinity to see if anyone else had arrived though it appeared as though he may have been the first at this point. Nonetheless his deflector shields were operational seeing as how he was aware of how competitive scavengers could be. The Light Freighter would remain still for a moment, hanging in the black before its engines activated and it started to move into closer confines of the Cylinder as it drifted onwards...​

[member="Jorus Merrill"]

 

[Aethan Tannan]

...the Tachyon Class Light Freighter would make distance on the ancient ship as it moved aimlessly through the void of space. Aethan, situated at the helm of the ship, could watch the progress that he made as he came along the backside of the ancient vessel before easing off his engines to apply a quarter thrust allowing him to maintain speed with the cylinder as it continued onwards. Observing the ancient husk from the outside via the viewport in his cockpit he'd have been able to see the large gaps in its thick metallic hull however he was in no rush to throw caution to the wind and fly into the derelict...

...initiating another scan of the vessel now that he was closer to it, alongside its stern, Aethan looked for any inconsistencies however all he managed to find at this junction were several gaps in the hull according to the readings his sensors provided. According to the sensor readings most of the gaps in the structure that Aethan had discovered were large enough for the light freighter to enter through which meant that now all that remained was to come along side one and steer his ship through into the confines of the cylinder...

...up to now he still hadn't detected anyone else which, to him, meant that if no one else had arrived yet that someone would be here soon. Extending his senses via the force Aethan would have reached out to try and touch the mind of anything that may have been alive, sensing them after a fashion, however this precaution also revealed nothing causing him to state..."This place is a tomb."...before applying pressure to his thruster controls once more...

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...outside of the Light Freighter it would appear to come alongside the helm of the ancient starship, run a scan and then moments later engage its thrust again so that it could cover distance along the exterior of the cylinder. Easy stuff...​

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[member="Jorus Merrill"]

 

[Ugoto Chivaro]

Another freighter appeared near the derelict, albeit in worse condition than the others and with an inept pilot based on its erratic flight pattern. The Weequay at the helm, dressed like a Jedi despite having little to do with the Order, would have been self-conscious about his piloting if he weren't focused on keeping himself alive. True to its decrepit appearance, several systems on the ship were on the brink of failing. Not the life support or engines, though. Seqo would have hardly come here to scrape treasures off of this old wreck if he didn't think he could get home afterward. Then again, maybe he wasn't the foremost authority on what ships could and could not do. Especially considering how he now sat in the cockpit, flipping switches and turning knobs, trying to figure out how to run a scan of the generation ship before him or engage in a landing procedure.

Something buzzed audibly, then the words "scan in progress" popped up on the small display screen. Maybe it said something different. It was hard to tell with all the dead pixels and the fact that Seqo had to slap it several times to get it to even turn on in the first place. Even then, it was dull and barely legible. This aside, Seqo assured himself that even this hunk of junk was bound to detect something of interest if he just scanned it enough times.

[member="Jorus Merrill"]

 

[Aethan Tannan]

...the sensor scan that Aethan had performed hadn't picked up the arrival of the new freighter because it had ended previous to its exit into normal space from hyperspace. Aethan was vigilant in his situational awareness but details escaped him, especially while he was piloting a starship, ensuring that it might be several moments before he noted the arrival of another scavenger. The Tachyon Light Freighter had increased speed and was still traveling up the side of the ancient derelicts hull searching for the appropriate gap in the metallic frame to enter the cylinder through...

...onboard Aethan had narrowed his eyes, eying several gaps in the hull closely, until he finally saw one that was everything he was looking for and should accommodate an easy entry. Leaning back into the pilots chair he'd been occupying since the beginning Aethan began to steer the vessel into the opening he'd discovered on the derelicts hull...

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...the Tachyon Light Freighter would continue to travel the length of the derelicts hull until its thrust eventually decreased and it banked towards one of the large gaps in the metal exterior that could accommodate a starship of its size. Anyone who saw the Light Freighter would have seen it turning into the derelict and then disappearing from view as it passed through the gap in the hull and into the confines of the cylinder...

...when it came through the hull thrust needed to be cut back again, there was a bit of debris here, and minor evasive measures were taken to avoid some low hanging steel that had once been part of a greater structure lost in time. As the Light Freighter slowed to a quarter impulse power it would switch on a roaming light to help pick through the debris as it began to search for the cargo the Correllians had put an offer out for...

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...just before he had steered the ship through the gab in the hull of the cylinder Aethan had noticed another vessel in the distance, not to far off, on a residual scan. Likely the first of those coming to strip this ship and contend for the same payload that he was searching for. At the moment Aethan decided it was better to remain on task and he initiated a scan of the wreckage however with virtually hundreds of kilometers to scan this could take awhile which would allow for others to arrive...​

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[member="Seqo Ondana"] [member="Jorus Merrill"]

 

[Aethan Tannan]

...flying through a gap in the hull of the ancient derelict the Tachyon Class Light Freighter would insert itself into the interior of the cylinder ravaged by makeshift debris collecting for an unknown amount of tiem now. As he came through the gap in the hull Aethan would apply breaking thrusters and minor impulse so that he could begin maneuvering around localized debris in the Light Freight. Watching from the cockpit he sat at ease while turning his head, leaning forward as he did this, slowly taking an account of the scene from the viewport on the cockpit of his ship...

...sitting back after taking a moment to appreciate the scene stretching out around him Aethan would apply thrust to the engines of his starship again. The Tachyon Light Freighter would steer itself around some debris as it went further into the confines of the ancient cylinder. Initiating a scan Aethan would begin to perform a sensor sweep searching for anything that may have been of some interest to him at this point but with virtually kilometers of wreckage and debris to sift through it would be extremely lucky to find anything so quickly. This was an operation that would take a definitive amount of time. Luckily it seemed like he was still alone out in the black...

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...the Light Freighter moved. Disappearing in and out of debris as it navigated the interior of the enormous cylinder that had once been a massive spacecraft in its own right. Very little of the actual ship seemed to be intact at all upon first observations and the general impression was that time had left much of this vessel in ruins drifting through space. Maybe the Black Box didn't even exist anymore. As the Light Freighter moved it continued making a forward sensor sweep, locking on to different pieces of wreckage and debris that were of interest and then moving on once it was determined it had found nothing as the process continued...​

 

[Aethan Tannan]

...the Tachyon Light Freighter continued its scans as it traversed the interior of the derelict spacecraft. Up until now nothing had come up during the scans however this hadn't deterred the pilot from continuing. Inside such a massive starship a man could literally explore for days upon days if not longer and still come up with nothing and that was if they weren't disturbed by anyone who might also be looking for similar treasures and want to dispute the relative claim over specific areas. A small matter at this point mind you. Engaging thrust the Light Freighter steered around some debris on the port side before it continued deeper through the kilometers length of the derelict...

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....inside the Light Freighter, sitting in the captains chair that occupied the cockpit, Aethan would steeple his fingers together before placing his elbows on a control panel and leaning forward so that he could observe via the viewport. The Tachyon Light Freighter had come to a halt as it completed another section of its scan and initiated a sensor sweep of the area that would note anything of possible interest. The Explorer watched from the chair where he continued to sit, the expression on his face speaking fully of his boredom at the moment while he took a breath. Only examining the large, lifeless, buildings that remained as ruins lining the surface of the ships interior cylinder offered Aethan anything that might pique his interest at the moment...

...no one had lived in this ship for several generations now, only the dead filled whatever remained of it, however there was a small connection with the force here and Aethan felt it pressing on the recesses of his mind subtly. Looking ahead, he frowned then his eyes started to turn towards one of the screens which seemed to indicate it had picked up something in the distance, kilometers away, faint and barely readable but it could be what he had been searching for since arriving. He sat upright in his chair, hands moving towards the controls of the starship again and he engaged his thrust to steer himself towards the anomaly the scan had detected...

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...at the prompting of its pilot the Tachyon Light Freighter would steer off deeper into the Derelict Generation Ship. As it moved ahead sunrays filtering through the enormous gaps in the hull of the shit would catch the interior of the freighter. It was actually beautiful to see the sunrays and how the reflected off some surfaces in deep space however the moment was lost at this time and place. As the Tachyon Light Freighter continued ahead its readings grew stronger and it began to come into range of whatever it had detected...​

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[member="Jorus Merrill"]

 

[Aethan Tannan]

...the further the Light Freighter went drifting through the interior of the derelict ship the more prominent the sensor readings that it was picking up became. Blips on the one of the screens showed that whatever the scan had detected was several kilometers ahead of the vessel and closing the further it went. Thrust was engaged to help close the distance more quickly however only in careful amounts as debris from the interior of the derelict continued to present a minor but real threat to the Tachyon Light Freighter as it went deeper into the remnants of the archaic vessel. At one point the ship was forced to make a complete stop...

..."Frak!"...was screamed loudly, Aethan ducked his head, from the cockpit where the pilot sat as a large chunk of metallic debris came drifting out of nowhere and looked like it might impact the front of the ship. Incidentally the idea of having the viewport shatter, even crack, on impact did not appeal to the pilot. An all stop disengaged thrust and the metallic debris missed the bow of the ship however it was still heard moments later scraping across the top of the Light Freighter causing Aethan to peer upwards and then exhale a breath that he'd been holding. Now that was a close call and he'd shake his head once before setting his mind to the task at hand and engaging the thrust of his ship again...

...kilometers continued to count down until they reached zero. When they did the sensors locked onto the blip they had detected and performed an additional scan to ensure it wasn't just another pile of scrap that gave a false reading. Everything looked legitimate after a moment though and it appeared as though at least one of the missing treasures of this derelict had been found....

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....rubbing his chin with one hand Aethan attempted to decipher what he was seeing on the initial reports the scans offered to him..."Databanks of the ship maybe, at least part of them. Looks intact if not a bit worse for wear."...he wasn't a slicer so to think he could tell the difference between what might be operational and what wouldn't be was hubris if he ever thought it however he was an optimistic fellow..."Engaging tractor beam."...he did have that habit, he talked to himself once in awhile when no one else was around....

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....the Tachyon Light Freighter engaged its tractor beam on what had been identified as the Databanks for the derelict, at least a portion of them, then it would begin reeling in its prize slowly. Once a steady connection had been made Aethan initiated a subsequent scan aimed to locate the nearest gap in the hull so that he could slip back out into the black while preparing a comms message directed towards the deep of space which he hoped to use to make contact with the Underground, it read simply...

[Corellian Databanks retrieved. Stop. Rendezvous Point Requested. Stop.]​

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[member="Jorus Merrill"]

 

[Jorus Merrill]

[member="Aethan Tannan"] was quickly directed to a rendezvous point about twenty light-years from the nearest detectable matter. Once there, he'd find a certain beat-up YV-929 willing to take the databanks aboard, in exchange for two hundred thousand credits -- the cost of a very nice starfighter, or a handful of Tachyons.