Ask Clearing The Path

[Jonathen Baize]

The expedition was almost ready to get underway. They had begun scouting worlds along the new project new hyperplane when one such patrol had briefly sent out a distress signal before going silent.

Jon had known there would be issues along the way; missing ships had been what had birthed this project of his. Kali had been in his office when the report of the missing ship had come in. They were supposed to go out right after he had finished with some of his work.

"Hold on a second.." he said, turning from her and scrolling through the report. The distress call had only been received moments ago. "You wouldn't happen to want to, maybe, change up our date plans, would you?" he said, peering up from the holo monitor.

He almost never left Raxus anymore, which also meant the two of them never really worked together anymore. Could Jon send others to look into this? He could, but he was invested in this project and would be caught up in it regardless.

"I need to go look into this. Any chance I could request the assistance of the nearest Imperial Knight?" shooting her a hopeful look.

@LadyRen

 

[Kalique Baize]

Days went by quickly and so had the move. She liked their new routine and with less outward missions, there was more time for them whenever they were busy with day business only. Working late or overnight was still no rare occurrence, but all in all things were going well and they got to spend a lot of more time together, which was great.

Kalique had finished up Squire training in the late afternoon and had waited for Jon to be done with today's paperwork as well, actually looking forward to a dinner in one of the new places all around when the distress call suddenly announced itself through a beep. Her features immediately changed into a frown, reading his concerned expressions for a moment before he elaborated.

"Work never stops, right?" she posed the rhetorical question, a smirk tugging at her lips as she was surprised he even had to ask. "It's been a while since we've been on a mission...so absolutely!" she replied, stating the obvious.

It was a pity that a night out didn't happen, but their duties had always been the top priority and perhaps she was even a little excited about spontaneously getting a chance to get back out there together. As she rounded his desk to press a soft kiss onto his lips, she added, "Knight-Captain Demici reporting for duty", before giving him a quick salute.

The enthusiasm slightly faded though as she quickly skimmed the incoming message, the fact that a ship had suddenly vanished obviously bothering her. "My ship is also ready if you want to go in rather subtly...but I don't like how this is starting" she admitted, nodding towards the screen. A missing Imperial vessel was often a real red flag as it could be an obvious sign of a purposely targeted assault. Perhaps it was wild piracy, but it coukd have also been more, so she was indeed a little concerned.

@Raydo

 

[Jonathen Baize]

"It doesn't seem too..." he said with a bit of a huff. He nodded. It wasn't the time they had planned to spend together, but it was time, he supposed.

"At ease, Captain." he laughed, playfully nudging her. He pulled out his light armored vest. He could change out of his uniform into more mission-appropriate attire on the ship.

"That sounds best," he said, closing the cabinet. He let out a chuckle. "You are just mad we are going to miss dinner at that one place you have been wanting to try..." he teased, moving towards the door.

Their missions together rarely went smoothly, but they always made it through somehow. If they couldn't figure this out quickly, the whole operation Jon had been planning would be put into jeopardy.

@LadyRen

 

[Kalique Baize]

As prepared as Kalique usually was, she had always had a spare amor and uniform in his size aboard so that every eventualities could be met appropriately. "You know, this time it had been my time to choose, but I'll get another pick as this one obviously doesn't happen" she warned him playfully, exiting the office with him.

They left the Command Central and moved across the properties to reach the Hangar where her own ship was currently parked. If there were trouble and violence directed at the Empire, it was clever go move in subtly as a private vessel. "Is it the one ship? Or is there already more data?" he had read the reports more closely, so he possibly had more details.

Once at the ship, they wasted to time before entering and Kalique setting up their quick departure. "Do we assume this will be an operation in space?" she asked him, curious about his thoughts as staying in ships and flying while fighting usually negated some of the benefits her powers brought. One way or another, the engines were on just a bit later after the ship's autonomous diagnosis had been fine.

@Raydo

 

[Jonathen Baize]

"I don't know if that's how that works..." he joked. "I think the rule is you just forfeit the turn..." he said, scratching his chin in thought for a second.

It was a quick walk to the hangar where Kali's ship was. They would obviously have clearances to leave when they were ready. "Well, the scout ship was alone, but we have had issues in the area of ships disappearing. Not sure if that is related to this or not..." he said. Jon and Guin had never been able to find the missing cargo ships, nor what had actually happened to them, whoever it had been, had covered their tracks well.

He dropped into the co-pilot's chair and shook his head. "I am not sure; we have such little data from the scout ship. About half a second of a distress beacon before the ship was either destroyed or jammed," he said, bringing up a star map on the ship's nav computer.

"It was in this area," he said, zooming in on a planet in the middle of nowhere. "There isn't much in the way of Imperial reports, but this world was thought to be totally uninhabited," he said. Maybe it was. Maybe the ship just crashed. A lot could go wrong in space, but they would need to start there regardless.

@LadyRen

 

[Kalique Baize]

"That...isn't fair. For having those thoughts alone I should get an extra turn" Kalique argued, shrugging. It was obviously playful banter, but as soon as it ceased, Kalique's mind focused into mission mode.

They reached the ship and she readied everything they needed before Jonathen filled her in on what he had already gathered. "That's odd..." maybe the incidents were related, maybe they could figure that out too, but for now what mattered was time. The faster they got there, the higher the chances of actually getting the ship back.

"Hmm that all sounds like a mission I've had a while ago. A ship with an Imperial Commander had gone missing back then. It had also been a scout ship, its purpose had been to explore a sector in the Outer Rim. It had been pirates back then" she explained, wondering whether this case was similar.

"Alright...coordinates are set" and with that, they already received the clearance to take off and so Kalique did maneuver the ship out if the hangar and after having left the surface, they were headed right into space. Kalique was hoping that they'd still be able to trace the ship once there, but for now she brought their vessel to full speed to get there as quickly as possible.

"What was the ship scouting for? Was there anything on board that could have been of value for pirates?" she asked him, wanting to assess the situation properly. The pirates who had abducted the high ranking Officer back then had known of his endeavor and had planned on keeping him hostage, but they hadn't expected a Knight-Captain to cross their plans so quickly.

@Raydo

 

[Jonathen Baize]

Pirates was a broad term, and once one left the area patrolled by the Empire, they were a common sight. Hopefully, they could soon begin taming the areas between Imperial dominance.

The ship lifted off, and they were soon bound for a system out in the middle of nowhere. It would take them a while to get there, but they would certainly be faster than gathering a strike group to go after the ship. "We sent out ships to scout possible waystations along the new hyperplane we are laying out between the Eastern and Western Imperial territories. This had been a possible location due to the fact that it was remote, or at least we thought. Other than the pilot, there is nothing of value." he said, flipping through several reports on his datapad. The project was a big one that Jon had been working on tirelessly. It was what had started to pull him out of his rut after his transfer. If successful, ships bringing goods across the Empire would be safer than ever. With that being said, Jon wouldn't leave this pilot behind. If he were out there, they would find him.

"I'm going to go change." he said, tugging at his grey Imperial Uniform. He had a set of trooper armor here on her ship but opted for a set of Black tactical gear before he returned to the cockpit, sliding a blaster pistol in its holster. "This is much better. I am getting to used to these non-combat uniforms..I don't like it." he said, dropping back into his seat.

@LadyRen

 

[Kalique Baize]

Kalique was well aware or Jonathen's great endeavor, yet she wasn't always fully up to date on the details and so the initial nature or the missing ship's mission had been of question for her. She listened attentively and nodded, her gaze remained focused on the viewport though until the ship was finally in hyperspace and the autopilot would do the rest for them.

"Hmm" she did ponder on his words a little longer, running through various different scenarios before she added, "I guess he's alive then. I'm sure they know he's much more valuable alive" maybe this also meant that it hadn't been a coincidence that the Imperial vessel vanished, but for now they had to wait to figure that out.

While she double checked on the coordinates and ran another diagnosis through the ship, Jon went to change and as he emerged he came out with something she hadn't seen on him in a while. "Oh...hey that suits you" she remarked with a smirk, unbuckling herself and leaning down for a kiss.

"Both, actually. But you do sound like you need some time spent on an outdoor mission" she added. Obviously it hadn't escaped her how at first, the changed work environment hadn't really satisfied him. He had adapted perfectly and was successfully growing in his new field, but she knew he still yearned for a part of his old job.

Sliding into his lap, she wrapped her arms around him as the stars zoomed past them in hyperspace. "This feels like old times somehow...it's truly been a while". She was smiling, reminiscing about their past missions however noting that the last time they've truly been out on the field together had been Ord Biniir. This time, it was fairly obvious they wouldn't fight any twisted abominations of the Force, but they had to save the missing vessel and it was nice to be able to assist him with that.

@Raydo

 

[Jonathen Baize]

She was more hopeful than she was, which he was glad for. He borrowed a little bit of that optimism from her. Hopefully, they would find their pilot.

Returning back toward the cockpit, he smiled at the comment. He had gone through a bit of an identity crisis in the months after their return from Dathomir. His career had taken a major turn from its course, and he had been left drifting somewhat, feeling like he had to last himself. "Absolutely, there are only so many line inspections and glares you can give people before you snap." he joked.

"Hrrmm." he sounded, his smile widening. "Makes you wonder how we managed to go out and NOT be in danger," he smirked. Their lives were busier than ever, but their personal relationship had become pleasantly safe. Uncomfortable barracks transitioned into a comfortable apartment, and they traded Force Abominations for pleasant dinner dates and cozy movie nights. Jon was content, but he wouldn't argue there was a certain level of excitement about being out.

He looked up at her, the passing stars throwing shadows across her as alarms started sounding.

 

[Kalique Baize]

His cynical reply made her smirk, but she knew the truth behind it. The transfer was still hard on him every now and then, but maybe that was also why this joint, spontaneous mission was a good idea. "How very true..." Still, regardless of where they went, running into trouble was a habit of them and this was still no different as a date night turned into a dangerous task.

They were here now though and Kalique was still optimistic and as she said on his lap for a moment, the stars that were zooming past drawing a beautiful swirl of lights, however the beautiful, maybe even peaceful moment didn't last long as suddenly an alarm started blaring.

She wondered whether this was a joke at first, but the autopilot suddenly pulled them out of hyperspace and the ship rocked heavily, so Kalique immediately made her way over into the pilot's chair, scanning the screen and wondering whether they were targeted or something, but as they were still in Imperial Space, she found the aparm confusing.

"...Oh". The radar was fine, but the system diagnosis system had found something that surprised her, given that the ship had never had any issues before. "So the ship decelerating was just a safety measure, but there's something wrong with the heating system" she explained, meeting his gaze

"...Given that we don't have time, I'd say we jump back in and deal with somewhat frosty temperatures? We should go take a look at it though". It wouldn't get life-threateningly cold, but surely unpleasant within the next few hours of their travel, but it was nothing that would stop them and maybe Jon could fix it.

@Raydo

 

[Jonathen Baize]

It seemed that the day would not even allow them this small moment as alarms blared in the cockpit and the ship lurched. He grabbed ahold of Kali to ensure she wouldn't fall, but she was on her feet in seconds.

Jon's body immediately tensed as he assumed they were under attack, an assumption that was quickly corrected. Enemies he could deal with, ship issues were another beast entirely.

"Yeah, that sounds good. Get us back on track. I'll go look at the heating system." he said. It was fine for the moment, but if they lost heat altogether, it could spell serious trouble. "Never a dull moment." he winked as he placed a hand on her shoulder as he pushed by her chair out towards the back of the ship.

He slipped off his combat vest and grabbed a bag of tools before crawling into the service hatch of the ship. He wasn't a trained mechanic, but he had grown up learning on to fix a lot of things. Sometimes you just had to make things work on the farm.

"Let's see..." he said, crawling on his hands and knees, looking for the right section. He soon found a section shorting out, sparks flying from burnt-out wires. He knew they needed to divert power around the damaged section, but he wasn't exactly sure how to do it.

A few minutes of tinkering went by and he thought he had it, until the entire ship lost power before they had jumped back in the hyperspeed. "Hey!" he shouted at the blasted ship. He slapped the unit he had been working on, and power started flickering back on before it was fully restored. "...I can't believe that worked..." he murmured to himself.

 

[Kalique Baize]

Temperatures were already slowly dropping. She couldn't see her breath yet, but when the heating suddenly broke in the middle of space, the cold slowly crawled in. Kalique let out a sigh as she started to being them into position again. "You've got this" she reassuringly replied to Jon, giving him a warm smile, actually optimistic about it.

Jon then vanished into the maintenance shaft while Kalique ran some more diagnosis on her vessel. The rest seemed totally fine, so she preparer them for their jump back into hyperspace. Everything was going according to plan and she was closing in on the spot to enter as the ship suddenly decelerated.

All lights went off as power was lost and it took a second before the emergency generator began powering the most important systems. "Uhm...Jon?" she turned her head, calling back, but for a moment there was nothing but silence before the power suddenly flicked back on.

The familiar hum of the heated ventilation system was perceivable, too, so what Kalique also gathered was that Jon had actually made it. "It works!!". She waited for him to join her again before she said, "Not whether the complete blackout was a necessary step but it worked".

She gave him a teasing smirk before she directed her attention back to the viewport and controls to jump back into hyperspace. "Alright then. Now that the first catastrophe is averted, we still have two hours before touchdown. How much more can go wrong until we land?". She let out a dramatic sigh, however there was some truth hidden in the joke.

@Raydo

 

[Jonathen Baize]

"Nothing to worry about!" he yelled back, his voice echoing through the service duct. When he turned back to finish, he smacked his head on a support beam, drawing a small fount of curses before he crawled backward out of the shaft.

Jon walked back to the cockpit, rubbing the small knot forming on his head. "For now..." he said, making no guarantees it would hold. "Clearly, you know nothing about starship repair..." he teased. The truth was, he didn't either, but everyone learned how to patch equipment in the field to get the job done—hopefully, the repairs held until they could get back.

"Why would you even say that?" he said with a wince as Kali dared the universe to throw whatever it could in their direction. "You have to fix the next crisis..." he said, leaning his seat back slightly and getting comfortable. He was on edge, but a soldier learned to relax even during tense situations, doing much more waiting than fighting in their careers.

"Wait, your boat curse doesn't carry over to starships, does it?" he asked, looking at her with mock terror. "They are kind of the same thing..."

@LadyRen

 

[Kalique Baize]

"Nope...not a lot" she admitted with a shrug before she gave him a teasing smirk, "Seems like the secret master engineer inside you need to teach me a few things".

Disabling droids and other smaller machineries was easy, so she continued the joke further. "You know I can instantly shut the ship down by frying just the right circuit. That's step one, right" she extended a hand and moved around some fingers, pretending to mess around with the Force.

"Damn it...you're right though" with that and a soft chuckle, she withdrew her hand again, knowing that they were quite prone to running into problems so perhaps he was indeed right and she shouldn't talk it into existence.

"Hey now!" her gaze hadn't even fully shifted away from him when she threw another jab at her that playfully made her cross her arms in front if her chest. "Firstly, they're not the same, secondly, by mentioning it you're just making it happen!" she shook her head before she let out a sigh.

For now, the mood remained rather lighthearted as they continued talking, but as soon as they did finally approach the set coordinates, Kalique slightly tensed up. By now, they had moved back into the cockpit, dropped out of hyperspace and as Jon took a seat besides her, she critically scanned both, the viewport and the radar.

"Nothing odd yet...the distress call had been picked up rather near this sector though", she said to him, meeting his gaze with a slight frown written in her features. They had to find traces fast, or else the ship and its crew wouldn't surface any time soon.

@Raydo

 

[Jonathen Baize]

He stretched his arms out and folded his arms behind his head. "I suppose I can teach you a thing or two." he said with a grin.

Jon swatted at the outside of her arm. "Hey! No magic on board!" he said before returning to his lounging position.

"I don't think that's how curses work at all.." he said in disagreement. Mentioning it certainly couldn't make her luck worse. He sighed, relaxing back and closing his eyes. "Wake me when we get there." he said with a smile as he descended into a nap.

Sometime later, an alarm sounded just as the ship exited hyperspace. There was a dusty planet in front of them, right where Imperial star charts had said it would be. It certainly looked like a dead world. He sat up and began looking at the scanner monitors. We won't have a real exact location, but its somewhere in the southern hemisphere, he said, pointing at a specific region. They would need to fly over and see if they could see anything.

There were clearly signs of dust storms in the area, visible from orbit. "We definitely don't want to get caught in one of those..." he said as he fastened the safety harness. They may be in for a bit of a bump ride.

"Let's start looking along that ridgeline." he said, pointing to a spot on the map.


@LadyRen

 

[Kalique Baize]

Their playful banter continued and she argued, "Wow...isn't it something like 'my ship my rules'?". Obviously, she wasn't claiming any real possession of her ship. Jon was generally allowed to use it and treat it as his, but in this situation, it served as another point.

Time seemed to fly until it was time to approach the unknown planet from which the distress call had come. "Alright..I'll get us as close as we can". Perhaps they'd spy something from above, maybe the ship, different vessels, any signs of life, perhaps even traces of former struggle like ship parts that had been blown away - they could find anything, but Kalique was hoping it would be good news.

"Nope..." she agreed as her gaze lingered on the dust storm for a moment. It was somewhat fascinating, at least from above where they were safe, but they had to take care and monitor their movements. "Damn it...I guess we'll have to go low, but with the dust in the air it will be hard to see". They still had various radars and she had her own ethereal senses, but she was convinced the damn storms would hinder them at some point.

She was highly focused as even where there were no storms, the air was rather wild. Interestingly enough, she could also feel a slight disharmony in the Force, so as if wild, unhinged forces ruled this place, but while it piqued her interest, she knew she wasn't here to investigate the source of that.

"Mhm" she held on tightly to the controls as she brought them down further until they hovered across the ridgeline. For a few minutes, there was literally nothing, until the radar started beeping. "A smaller craft on the ground...looks like some kind of a speeder. Should we pursue them?" she asked him, pointing towards the east where, in a rocky valley part between a canyon like structure, the vessel flew through.

@Raydo

 

[Jonathen Baize]

He agreed with Kali; the scanners were not picking up anything, but the storm would certainly hinder the ship's sensors.

They descended into the storm, luckily, it wasn't the worst part of the storm, and it was still flyable for the moment, but that could change in an instant. "Nothing on the sensors..." he said, trailing off as she spotted a faint blip on her scanner.

Before Jon could answer, alarms started blaring, and a message appeared on the console advising a misle had locked on them and was hurling toward them. Kali would need to react fast, or they would certainly take a hit. He was glad they had opted for her more nimble ship; if they had taken an Imperial transport ship, this would have been a much harder task.

"There is a canyon off to our west, or we can break for the skies above the storm and hope the point defense turrets can knock it down," he said, giving her two options but leaving the choice to her as it was her ship and she knew it best.

 

[Kalique Baize]

The ship was somewhat rocking in the air as the turbulent winds encompassed them. She slightly gritted her teeth, internally cursing as Kalique wasn't too keen on being stuck in a ship where her abilities were basically limited, especially if she had to focus on flying right now.

Jonathen did a great job as co-pilot as he attentively kept scanning the area, but as the ship suddenly picked up the missile that was targeting them, Kalique's eyes widened. "Ohh great" she sighed, only having a split second to think, but given that her ship was maneuverable, she immediately went for a dive inbetween the rocky ledges.

"Hold on" the warning came a little too late, but they were at least both buckled in. However, as steep as the ship was suddenly zooming downwards, she was still abruptly pressed into the seat's harness. "Whoops" - probably nothing you'd love to hear while being a passenger, but she had it under control.

The Knight-Captain was perhaps a little out of practice, but as she had always been a decent flyer, they mananged to shake off the missile after a few sharp turns. "Damn...so they know we're here. I don't want this to turn into an areal battle, but we also can't let them a chance to escape...what if we find one of their bases and I drop down?". Her emerald gaze never left the viewport as she was still highly concentrated on the flying, but she was relying on Jon's judgements for that.

@Raydo

 

[Jonathen Baize]

Jon's stomach lurched to his throat as Kali plunged the ship downward into the canyon, his knuckles white from griping the armrest tightly. He looked over as she let out a "whoops". Under normal circumstances, that would have earned a smart comment, but his mind was black as the ship lurched as it leveled.

"Left..left left....now right!" he shouted as she expertly piloted through the canyon. A few turns into the ship rocked slightly as the missile exploded behind them, striking the wall.

Jon let out the breath he had been holding. "Pretty slick flying there..." he said, swatting the outside of her arm. He really hated flying...

"That sounds like a good plan," he said, pushing the hair out of his face. "We don't want to wander out in this dust storm anyway," he said before looking back down at the scanner panel. "The missile came from the east. Guess we should start looking that way."

 

[Kalique Baize]

Getting chased by a missile was never a great place to be at, but even if the situation seemed dire at first, Kalique fully kept her cool and did maneuver them out of danger as the explosive projectile collided with a rocky wall after a bit. She exhaled the breath she had involuntarily held and her muscles did relax a little for now.

As Jonathen agreed with her plan, and she curtly replied, "Thank you" while she was still too tense to actually smile. "I'll try to not get us killed while still in the air" she still reassuringly added while she continued through the canyon.

"True...as I'd love to keep the ship safe and hidden, I'd say we check for a good landing spot and close in on their base as soon as we find it". They'd be able to move quickly and stealthily, but they definitely had to stay close to the ship to be able to follow if someone tried to escape.

"It's weird that the scanners haven't picked up anything on the surface...do you think they've got anything underground?" but where was the Imperial vessel then? There were still too many questionmarks, but while Kalique decelerated and moved the ship back to the East, she took the missiles trajectory into consideration and let the ship quickly run an investigation.

"Retractable turrets...a hidden base" she said after a moment, musing for now before the system came to the same conclusion. "Looks like landing is our best option...I'll find us a way in". They had no idea what dwelled underground then, how many and whether they were allied with anyone outside the system, but it looked like they were about to find out soon.

@Raydo