Ask Rainbow Bridge Run

[Darth Tiamat]

Dantooine

There was much to still be done despite the hiccups she had faced with her own mishaps. Though she still felt completely disorganized as she had several major projects going and none of them seemed to be complete. So she decided to start with the largest and most critical to ensure its completion, and that was connecting the gates from one end of the galaxy to the other. It seemed like most were ready to get onboard with this given the swaths of FWA territory that divided the Empire, and limiting resources. The material transports had to traverse dangerously around, pay under the table to allow for passage, or place their materials in the hands of smugglers or pirates with Tiamat didn't trust whatsoever. However, these same pirates seemed a bit distraught that the Empire had a way around this and decided to make things more complicated and create a profit for themselves by stealing materials for the gates.

Aboard the Hawkward, Tiamat guided the ship through hyperspace with an acolyte learner in tow to sort out this mess and ensure the gates would be completed on schedule. As much as she didn't think she needed a plus one however, she felt as she withdrew from the influences of the mask, it was better to have another in case things soured. Meditations were helping to separate from the artifact, but the hunger remained, some moments stronger than others and having someone with her, did bring some reassurance to her success in this mission. Vahliri was given a debrief of the situation and a quiz to ensure she understood. Tiamat had recognized the half-sephi acolyte from the Taris party and did not know too much else of her, making a mental note to perhaps show up more in the Empire instead of hiding out in her work at the lab.

The console blinked and set off an alarm that Tia silenced as the coordinates ticked closer to their destination. She pulled on the control, the stars slowly returning to stillness as Dantooine sat before them. Construction of the gate remained in sub-atmosphere until it was ready to move further out into space. A small grin crossed her face when she saw it, a bit of a fire of excitement burned within her as she saw her work. "Its beautiful..." she whispered and took the ship in to meet with managing crew.

@Altaris

 

[Darth Tempest]

As she sat within the cockpit of the Hawkward, Vahliri couldn’t deny the sensation of excitement and anticipation that coursed through her veins. For all of her time at the Academy, this trip to Dantooine marked one of her first real missions for the Empire - save for that little trek through the mud back on Dagobah. It was an opportunity to prove herself beyond a purely academic capacity, and the presence of the woman beside her motivated the half-Sephi to perform at her best.

The half-Sephi had only seen the Sith Lord in passing at the party back on Taris, and her presence was largely overlooked in light of everything else that happened that night. Nevertheless, today was different. Even if the woman had stepped down from her duties as a Sith Lord, Tiamat was still the half-Sephi’s superior in every way - an experienced member of their Order and an exceptionally powerful Force User. She was someone that Vahliri looked up to - strove to emulate - and it meant that from the moment she stepped onto the ship, the half-Sephi was attentive to everything the senior Sith said. She paid close attention to the debriefing, and passed through the follow-up quiz with flying colors.

As could be expected, Vahliri was dressed for the mission in her standard-issue Acolyte robes - the loose-fitting ensemble of armorweave and dura-plast plating providing her some degree of protection - in exchange for proving to her exceptionally itchy in all the wrong places - a fact she tried to ignore and purposefully didn’t complain about in Tiamat’s presence. Her black hair was pulled back into a loose braid and draped over her left shoulder, while the hood of her robes was left pulled down for the time being.

The half-Sephi pressed back into her seat when the ship finally lurched out of hyperspace, watching as the blur of stars began to still and the blue-green sphere of Dantooine came into view. Of course, it wasn’t the planet that caught her eye.

“It’s amazing..” She said quietly, her voice barely audible as she stared out the cockpit window. Her honeyed gaze traveled outward, fixating onto the partial-constructed Gate that hovered in orbit. It was a marvel of engineering - wondrous to behold and so, so far beyond the half-Sephi’s comprehension.

She stared for several long seconds, her mouth slightly ajar. After a moment or two, she finally turned to look Tiamat in the eye - blinking a few times, before finally asking the senior Sith the most pressing question on her mind. “What is it?”

@GABA

 

[Darth Tiamat]

What is it?

Tiamat didn't say a word, instead, she felt floored by the question. Did the acolyte think she was funny? She was supposed to have read the materials before arrival and now she was asking what it was?

The redhaired woman didn't realize how tightly she was squeezing the controls and she released them slowly with a long exhale. She suddenly felt defeated as she leaned back in her seat, turning to face the half-sephi acolyte. "Vahliri, you know what it is, you just read through the report." she stated, an undertone of disappointment as she sighed and turned back to guiding the ship to a larger cruiser that sat near the structure. Tiamat decided not to linger on it, if the acolyte couldn't keep up then natural consequences will follow.

But still...

The ship landed in the hanger and Tiamat gave Vahl a warning glance not to ask any more stupid questions before exiting the ship where the overseeing Imperial stood waiting. He greeted the redhaired woman and gave a brief glance to Vahl before handing Tiamat a datapad, directing her to follow him.

"We had another attack less than 24 hours ago, but we were able to capture one of their ships."

"And the crew?"

"We pulled what we could and the rest disposed of, however, we got coordinates from their last launch and-"

"We'll take care of it." Tiamat stated, clearly unhappy that some bottom dwellers were delaying the completion of the gates. She scrolled through the datapad, noting the coordinates and then handed the datapad to Vahl. The Imperial didn't argue and instead dismissed himself. "How are your combat skills?" she asked the acolyte leading the way to a separate transport, avoiding taking her own.

@Altaris

 

[Darth Tempest]

While things might’ve been very obvious to Tiamat, it took Vahliri a couple additional seconds to come up to speed. The Acolyte couldn’t help but blink a few times when Tiamat spoke - immediately picking up on the irritation in the woman’s voice and the way she gripped the controls of the ship.

The half-Sephi glanced at Tiamat for a moment more before looking back to the structure just out the viewport. Realization finally struck the half-Sephi, her honeyed eyes widening ever-so-slightly. “OH.” She blurted out, her fluted ears immediately flattening towards her skull. Sure, she’d gone over the report half a dozen times and knew why they were here, but physically seeing a Hypergate was another matter entirely. “My bad..” She muttered, rolling her eyes ever-so-slightly only when she was one-hundred-percent sure that Tiamat wasn’t looking. The half-Sephi was convinced that no one except Tiamat would’ve thought that was a dumb question.

She didn’t miss the warning glance from Tiamat, and it was enough to silence the half-Sephi’s inquisitive digging - for now. Instead, she followed close behind the senior Sith as they disembarked from the ship. Vahliri gave the man a silent nod, listening as he debriefed Tiamat on the situation.

The half-Sephi glanced up from the data pad when Tiamat spoke again, giving a nod of her head in response. “I can hold my own.” She said confidently, proceeding to step her way onto the shuttle that would take them down to the surface.

Only once she’d gone over the Datapad a couple times did Vahliri hand it back to Tiamat. “You know, that guy mentioned having captured one of their ships.. Maybe we can use the navigation history to pinpoint their hideout?” She asked almost hopefully.

@GABA

 

[Darth Tiamat]

The acolyte reassured she could handle herself and Tiamat nodded in approval. She took back the datapad when the half-sephi was finished, suggesting they could use the ship Imperial forces had captured. "Yes, we can." she agreed pulling up the information on the ship. "Over here..." she said leading the way to the piece-of-junk ship. Tia gave a visible grimace as she looked at the state of the ship which despite the scorched marks, looked to be held together with dura-tape. It was almost a miracle they were able to capture the ship as the hatch lowered, it dropped rather suddenly with a loud clank.

Tiamat glanced at Vahl and then stepped inside, heading to the cockpit to download the jump coordinates, several listing simultaneously from multiple locations. "Many of these are proxy locations, meant to throw off their original jump point." she explained, "An old trick, one dating before Sidious' Empire, the technology has become more sophisticated, but..." she finished downloading the list, "You have to have the credits, and these guys look like they were just scraping by." Tia explained unplugged the datapad and handed it Vahliri.

"Lets get it plugged into the Navicompter and see where it takes us." Tia rose from the seat, leading the acolyte back to her ship, "If you haven't already, its important to have major system coordinates memorized, makes it quicker to determine galactic quadrants, how far or near you are from the core."

@Altaris

 

[Darth Tempest]

Vahliri nodded and gave herself a silent pat on the back when Tiamat agreed with her plan. After the senior’s Sith initial reaction to the half-Sephi’s input about the hypergate, there was a bit of undeniable relief that came with successfully not pissing off the former Sith Lord.

The half-Anfynn wordlessly followed as Tiamat led them into the captured ship, wincing ever-so-slightly as the ramp practically fell off its hinges. She stepped inside, taking a moment to glance over the heavily damaged vessel.

She leaned against the interior of the cockpit as Tiamat spoke, making a mental note of the information. Vahliri reached out to take the datapad when it was offered, glancing down at the screen for a few moments before following Tiamat back to her own ship.

“I’ll make sure I do,” She said when Tiamat made the suggestion to memorize major system coordinates. Unsurprisingly, that wasn’t information that the half-Anfynn had really made a priority to know by heart prior to that point.

Vahliri stepped up at the ramp as they arrived back at Tiamat’s ship, making her way back towards the cockpit alongside the senior Sith. The half-Anfynn plugged the datapad directly into the Navicomputer of the ship, uploading the coordinates that they had previously found on the pirate vessel.

After a few moments, Vahliri lifted her finger back to the screen. “Looks like this is it,” The half-Anfynn pointed out one set of coordinates in particular. She took a step back, sinking back into the co-pilot’s chair of the ship.

“Let’s just hope this doesn’t drop us into the middle of some pirate fleet.” She flashed Tiamat a grin.

@GABA