Where I Live Now (Expedition to the Kathol Rift)

[Ashin Varanin]

Karideph
Minos Cluster
Rimma Trade Route
Day 454

Rendezvoused with the Sweet Mercy, the Without Number, and a couple of other Underground ships. There's transfers, and the Machin Shin itself is bound for a Silk yard. Something about an ongoing project that's above my pay grade. That's the fifth ship I've called home as a grownup, and the fourth that's been taken from me. Maybe one day I'll get used to it, or just get better at hanging on to what's mine. Most of these ships are here to handle the influx of recruits. The net I set up all over the sector is getting serious traction now, after close to a year and a half.

They're sending another Peregrine-class. They liked the performance we got out of the Alec Aday and the Etherway. It doesn't have the guns to go head-to-head with the Qektoth, but the Qektoth will be broken for a good while, and the Machin Shin didn't even have a hangar. A good Peregrine-class is a pocket carrier with a serious payload, plus enough cargo space to take better samples of everything. We'll be escorting an old Fringe-built Lwhekk Aleph factory ship to the Kathol Republic, then continuing on.

Small mercies: I'm keeping most of my crew, and getting a few hundred more to top up the new ship. She's registered as the Starlight Muse out of Laekia. I'll be taking the time to meet with the new crewers on our way back to Kal'Shebbol. I'm told we've got a technopath slicer coming along to help make sense of the alien tech ([member="Spark Finn"]). We'll also have [member="Allyson Locke"], Grandpa's old first mate. I'm not sure if she's assigned as my engineer or if she's bringing the Coronet as my escort.

I don't know how to feel about being asked to go back into the Kathol Sector so soon after I've left. I know my crew's feelings are mixed. Some have asked for transfers and been granted them. It's not like any other place in the galaxy, it's really not. But the job is the job. We'll be back at Kal'Shebbol in about three weeks.

(Maps, maps, maps, maps, maps, maps. If they come up small, reload manually without hitting refresh.)

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Alec Rekali"]

A temporary reassignment.

Master Lee made her swear over his flask that she would keep to his morning routines. She just hoped her new twi'lek roommate wouldn't mind. In a lot of ways joining up with the Underground was a readjustment: always around people, always around people, and always around people. But in other ways it reminded her of the way things used to be before getting mixed up in force training: little belongings, constantly moving, and spending a lot of time slicing and investigating new tech - hardware and software.

Stomach grumbled. She pulled away from one of the terminals at the public lab in the ship, after shooting off an encrypted email to Master Lee containing an article about the importance of a balanced diet. The man ate too much dried nerf-jerky and not enough veg-packs.

Her unassuming form wandered through the bustling corridors toward the cantina. Out of habit, she took out her datapad as she walked, pulling up a photo of the higher-up she was supposed to be meeting at some point. Someone named Alec Rekali.

 

[Ashin Varanin]

My uniform is like a second skin after a year and a half of this. Threadbare, with stains from alien biotech of a few kinds. Alright, so some of the stains are from the night life on Pembric and Dayark. Even the captain's insignia at my collar is worn down at the corners. When the blonde comes into my office, I suddenly feel, well, shabby.

"[member="Spark Finn"]? I'm Captain Rekali. Welcome to the Starlight Muse." I don't get up, just gesture at the chair across from me. The Underground isn't very formal. "We're about two weeks out of Kal'Shebbol. From there, well...that's when it gets interesting. How much do you know about our mission?"

There's two layers to that question. She'll have been briefed on the basics -- that we're going into the Kathol Outback, then the Kathol Rift, and that she may be called on to handle unknown xenotech -- but if she's been poking around the systems she might have found out more about our last voyage, and know what we're getting into.

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Alec Rekali"]

Oh fethsticks. This was the Captain Rekali. And she was as scary as she imagined she would be after skimming through those logs. The clothes made her slightly more approachable or perhaps it was her demeanor, or that look in her eyes that only those who've been breathing recycled air from long periods of time had.

The slicer sat rigidly across from Rekali wondering if there was such a thing as being too candid.

"I know if it's anything like what you just came back from there's a good chance you'll wish you had a few more back-up technopaths on-board. Aing-Ti Monks. Rescued Bio-tech'd prisoners. A lot of funerals."

Fingers fidgeted on the datapad in her lap.

"I think I get why I'm here. But what made you want to go back in, Captain?"

Hopefully the question wouldn't get her knocked out of the closest air-lock. Grey-blue eyes twitched.

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Spark Finn"]

I take a long hard look at the blonde. Her record says she's seen some crap in her day, so maybe I can talk to her like an adult.

"Because this is my job, it's what I'm good at, and I got asked. Not a lot more to it than that. Am I glad I said yes? Definitely. There are places in the Kathol Outback that I love. Dayark, capital of the Kathol Republic, is like a second home to me now, or as close as I get to one. It's a tidally locked moon of a huge gas giant, and it's so close it's within the fringes of the planet's atmosphere. Constant light rain, lots of farms. Great place to get a drink. I'm definitely looking forward to going back to Dayark. But ultimately, I said yes because that's what you do when something needs to be done. I just got lucky in that it's something I don't mind doing."

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Alec Rekali"]

The seasoned apprentice nodded. Even though Captain Rekali's reputation was a tad intimidating, she seemed surprisingly normal. The woman's answer made sense. And that drinking part...

She scooted to sit more on the edge of her seat.

"So what's our first objective when we get to Kathol Outback? Is there anything I need to be briefed more on."

Index-finger came to push the black-rimmed glasses up the bridge of her nose.

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Spark Finn"]

"Well," said Alec, feeling herself warm to the subject, "this is a speed run. Last time took forever because we stopped to set up boltholes, send and receive scouts, make local contacts, deploy comm relays -- this time is going to be much quicker. Our goal is to get to Danoor, in the Nah'Malis system, the very last stop before you enter the Kathol Rift. Danoor has a lot of university outposts. That's where we sold our payload of exotic alien tech -- and our payload of phrik -- for the funds to get a ship and get home. Our goal is to buy some of the tech back. Boarding tentacles from an unidentified construct in the Rift. If we're in good enough shape when we get to Danoor, we'll go into the Rift, add an extra two or three months to our trip, and get new samples instead of trying to buy them back from the universities.

"Where that leaves you is...well, our comms network could use some tuneups. We have relays all over the Kathol Sector, the Outback and the Rift, based on an old New Republic project. We've got the hardware, but the software was implemented piece-by-piece without much of a chance for backtracking. If you can max out the network's efficiency, it'll make all the difference for our people in those remote waystations -- and our recruiters. This whole region is a major source for Underground personnel now."

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Alec Rekali"]

"Hmm. I'll see what I can do," fingers flew across the screen of her datapad with the ease of someone who messed with tech bordering on obsession. "I'll need to plug in at one of the communication sites in the sector. Once I'm online I might be able to remote into the others. Save some fuel and time for everyone involved."

She stood, eyes still glued to the screen but not out of rudeness, out of pure work-zone.

"Can you air-drop the schematics to the hardware your team has already set-up? I'd like to know what I've got to work with before we get there. I'll do some research on some software available, maybe dig into some of that alien tech you found and see what I can come up with." The glow of the screen reflected off her face as she scanned the read-outs. "Sound good?"

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Spark Finn"]

"I can do that, for sure," said Alec after an interminable pause. "Not a problem. You'll have the schematics within the day. The comm gear is all more or less the same in all the relay points, both staffed and automated -- we bought it off a Barabel dealer on the way to Kal'Shebbol a couple of years back. Our data on the alien tech will get sent to you as well, and feel free to do whatever software research you need. Just make it quick -- once we get out of the Kathol Sector proper and into the Outback, HoloNet download speeds go way up and security goes way down, and our relays don't have the bandwidth for high-volume traffic."

Alec slapped the table and stood, extending her hand. "Welcome aboard, Finn. Glad to have you along. Whatever you need for this project, just let me know and I'll see what I can do."