The Blazing Moxie

[OhNoesBunnies]

The Blazing Moxie​

17 Light-years from the planet Reecee aboard the Republic Destroyer Blazing Moxie.
13 hours after retrieving cargo from a derelict transportation vessel.​

"So, then I told her that Markeus was looking at her a little funny and you know what she does?" The brown-haired, blue-eyed Republic ace pilot Bean had told this story countless times to his comrades, but each time he did they all sat around the table with grins and chuckles while playing Pazaak and trading credits. "I think I remember how this one went," his friend Mollie interrupted, a strikingly beautiful blond-haired Corellian girl with brilliant green eyes and a scar just above the right side of her upper lip, before placing a card on the table. A large 7 that put her 3 points ahead of Bean. "I don't like this story." Markeus complained for the umpteenth time. The Rodian's voice growing loud to remind them that it never ended well for him, his reddish-hued scaled skin glistening in the light of the dorm. The rest of them were too focused to talk about it. From Ben the Bear, a large burly bearded man that worked in the hangar bay to Tillici the Ithorian, a remarkably beautiful young woman for her species, they all were eager to hear the story again.

"She walked right up to him and struck him between the legs! Ben ran over to help but I fell over laughing, I couldn't believe-" Bean stopped, short of breath with laughter along with the others. Except Markeus of course. He only shook his head and grumbled in that Rodian tongue of his. "Alright, I think I'm gonna call it." Mollie spoke up after she caught her breath, grinning from ear to ear. "My shift starts in 30, and if I'm late again Ross is going to assign me to the Engine core." Bean rolled his eyes, setting another Pazaak card down after Markeus. "Great shift. Twelve hours sitting in front of a coffin." Mollie rolled her eyes at the remark in mockery of Bean, before flashing him a smile. "Well the Jedi think it's more than a coffin. Supposedly..." She leaned in a bit, biting her bottom lip in that way that always caught Bean's eye. "...Supposedly it's full of holocrons. Old ones, predating even the Jedi." Ben laughed heartily to that, his booming grizzled voice practically shaking the room. "Nothing predates the Jedi. Even the Jedi don't know how long they've been around!" Thunderous laughter followed and everyone had a hard time not following suit.

"She's serious!" Tillici claimed, her voice giving off a pleasant bass-like rumble. "I studied the artifact-"
"Coffin." Bean corrected.
"Artifact..." Tillici continuined, "...myself. It's old. Thousands of years old. We're still trying to figure out the exact date but it's proven difficult for standard radiocarbon dating. The coffin-"
"Aha!" Bean pointed at Tillici with an amused smile.

"Coffin, artifact, whatever! It's the same thing!" Tillici defended herself. "The point is, it's super old and made from a material we've never seen. It's also... freezing to the touch. We don't know why, even on thermal sensors it's registering as below zero, which shouldn't be possible. Gally thinks it might be some sort of refrigeration unit for the holocrons inside." The group went quiet for a moment, except for Ben. Everyone could hear him chugging his water like it were Corellian ale. "What makes everyone so sure there's holocrons inside? From what I hear no one has been able to crack the damn thing open." Ben wondered aloud, looking between everyone before turning his attention towards Mollie. "Well, you heard the logs. The deciphered the texts, found the artifact itself and did some kind of energy-reading test on it or something. Pretty sure there's holocrons, and if not that something that's giving off the signature of a holocron."

Bean leaned back a bit, looking a little more serious than usual. "That doesn't explain why they'd leave it in a derelict freighter instead of meeting us in person." Markeus gave up on playing pazaak with them, setting the cards down on the table and giving a heavy sigh. "Can we not start with the ghost stories now?" He asked, looking genuinely distraught by what the group was about to bring up. "Let's just-"

The ship violently jerked. The table flipped, everyone in the room fell with it. Ben smashed his shoulder into a nearby locker, snapping it out of place with a howl of pain and Mollie cracked her head on the floor, losing consciousness almost instantly. Markeus found himself sprawled upon Bean, and Bean was bent painfully backwards over a small trash bin. When everything settled, Bean was the first to sit up, patting Markeus shoulder before pushing the Rodian gently off himself. "Is everyone okay!?" He called out. Ben responded with a gruff "Never better!" Mollie said nothing, out cold on the floor but evidently still breathing and Tillici was already hunched over her, checking on the Corellian's vitals. "She's down but not dead," Tillici said, before giving Bean a concerned look. Markeus grumbled something before moving to wander towards one of the beds. It was only when he sat that Bean noticed one of his antennae was bent out of shape.

"Alright, everyone stay here I'm going to the bridge and-" He stopped short as the lights flickered and died, and the natural hum of the ship simply disappeared. "Okay, what the hell?" Bean grabbed his flight jacket that had sprawled across the floor, shrugged it on, and then snagged his holster and blaster that clattered near the trash bin under his bed. "Be right back," he said, before starting to pry open the door. When he managed a good inch of space from the frame, the screams poured in with a gust of cold air. At first he flung himself back thinking it was a breach in the hull... but there was no suction, no sudden loss of air, and the screams weren't that of twisting metal funneling into a vacuum. They were people screaming. The air began to grow colder and colder still and Ben had suddenly found the strength to stand up, shoving the sliding door back towards the frame. "SHUT THE BLOODY DOOR!" He cried out, his large mitts pushing hard against the smooth metal construct. Bean jumped in quickly to help... He had learned a long time ago to always trust Ben.

When it was finally secure, Bean looked to Ben in surprise; the large grizzly of a man was pale as snow, as if he'd seen a ghost. "Somethin' ain't bloody right I can feel it in my gut, Bean. Don't open that door again, Bean. You hearin' me Bean?" The pilot knew better than to doubt Ben. Whenever he had a gut feeling about something, Bean knew to trust it. "Yeah I hear you... what the hell is going on?" Ben shook his head, turning away from the door and moving towards a control panel at the back of a room. He began fiddling with it, trying to get the screen to display so he could see what was going on aboard the ship. It was, unfortunately, ridden with static. It was apparent that not all of the generators aboard the ship had been knocked out, perhaps only propulsion from the feel of it, and lighting. Some electrical systems as well pertaining to the doors and malfunctioning comm systems. "I don't know. Nothin' is workin'. I think-" He was suddenly interrupted by a loud burst of static and then... a voice came from it.

"...Blazing Moxie. Registry RS0081. I repeat, this is the Republic Warship Blazing Moxie, we are under attack. The ship has been boarded, the crew has been killed. I am the only survivor..." Ben slowly looked to Bean as the message repeated, and Bean glanced over his shoulder. The voice belonged to Mollie, and Mollie was standing behind them with a wicked grin spread across her lips. Behind her, Markeus' head was spun around the wrong way, facing his back, and his body lumped in a half-way sitting up position on his bed while Tillici was missing both her eyes, her body slumped on the floor like she'd been assaulted from both sides. "Mollie?" Bean asked. "No." Mollie answered.

17 Light-years from the planet Reecee aboard the Republic Destroyer Blazing Moxie.
55 hours after retrieving cargo from a derelict transportation vessel.​

Now without any power beyond the emergency beacon's backups, the Blazing Moxie drifted silently through space. It's long range transmitters sending out the distress beacon in every direction, attempting to catch the attention of any nearby Republic and Jedi personnel in nearby star systems. "To all starships in the area, this is the Republic Warship Blazing Moxie. Registery RS0081. I repeat, this is the Republic Warship Blazing Moxie, we are under attack. The ship has been boarded , the crew has been killed. I am the only survivor. My name is Mollie Icellia and... and I'm so scared. Someone please, help us. This message will repeat."

(FYI, Reecee is between Republic and Jedi space, in neutral territory)​

 

[Outlander]

1 Hour After Receiving the Distress Signal​

"Yes, I do."

The holotable in the center of the small cabin flickered lazily as it projected the waveform of the distress call, now muted. Bria leaned back in the chair provided, gazing up at it.

"It's out of our way, ma'am. And I don't need to tell you what kind of force it would take to board a Destroyer."

She crossed her eyes to the man across the table. He was a fighter, a hard man with years of pain to show for it. He was also one of her most Loyal supporters and trusted friends.

"We can't ignore it. It's our job to go out on missions like these."

He shook his head, dreadlocks waving from side to side. "Yes, but, this one?"

She nodded, her resolve clear. "This one. Get a couple personal transports ready; we'll depart within the hour."

4 Hours After Receiving the Distress Signal
​

Four small transports, all various models of light freighter, dropped out of hyperspace. The Destroyer loomed large before the small ships, already looking more like a tomb without its running lights on.

Bria slowly pulled the lead ship around to match the orientation of the Destroyer, and the other ships did the same.

"Blazing Moxie, this is Bria Tsuani. Me and several other ships are here to render necessary assistance. What is your status?"

 

[OhNoesBunnies]

On the outside, the ship appeared to be perfectly intact. Any passes and sweeps over its exterior would only reveal that the ship didn't appear to have been attacked at all, at least not with conventional weapons. As it drifted silently through space, one could only imagine what kind of enemy force had managed to board and kill the crew of the mighty Blazing Moxie. Some would speculate that perhaps a handful of Sith Infiltrators managed to sneak in, others weren't so sure. As the transports neared, the ship gave a groan. Without any of it's primary systems intact, the ship slowly rotating, putting gentle amounts of stress on the hull--just enough to make the ship talk--and making any docking attempts mildly difficult.

For a good while, there was only static on the comm. Every attempt at communicating with anyone was only met with the repeating distress signal... until it clicked off and the static vanished, replaced by a delicate and scared voice. "Hello? T-This is Lieutenant Icellia of the Republic Warship Blazing Moxie... who are you? Why are you here?" She sounded suspicious as well, the comms clicking off to allow the approaching transports--and their captains--to respond. The ship continued to slowly oscillate, a few more groans heard from the stressed hull. Then without warning, the engines briefly flickered to life, pushing the ship forward a few meters with a blinding flash from the exhausts. Then they died again, like nothing. "I... I'm sorry for that, the power on board is fluctuating I... I don't know what I'm doing on the bridge. I'm not a bridge officer I..." She rambled on about nothing in particular, just that she didn't know what she was doing on the bridge.

Then she said something interesting. "The c-core isn't damaged I think. It's... stuck or something. It's like the ship's systems are being jammed from inside..." Then static on the radio began to pick up. It got louder and louder before nothing could be heard at all, but an odd unintelligible whispering in the background. It was faint, and it certainly wasn't Mollie's voice.

 

[Outlander]

"Stay where you are. We're coming to get you." Bria said urgently, pulling on her helmet as the static filled the comms. Slamming the door panel, she walked into the lounge where four other soldiers waited around the holo-table in the center. "Ready up. We'll be docking soon, and I want everyone prepared for the worst."

The transport slowed in near the ship, it's speed and rotation slowly falling into alignment. The clamp locked onto one of the docking ports, sending a shutter through the transport. Bria and the first team slowly exited through the hatch into the ship as the other three ships docked nearby and released their own small squads.

 

[OhNoesBunnies]

The ship groaned even louder inside as each transport docked. When the doors hissed open, a rush of stale air would pour through. Sensors would reveal the life support systems had been compromised, but there was still enough air for seventy-two hours of breathing left. As the last of the transports docked, the destroyer shuddered and suddenly everything sprung to life. Lights flickered on brightly, the engines kicked on again and the ship accelerated forward--albeit slowly--pulling the transports along with it at a steady pace. Within the docking ports, everything was clean and secure.

There had been no signs of fighting thus far, and the doors at the far end leading into the main decks slowly hissed opened, revealing more of the ship. Soldiers on the other side of the ship would report much of the same. The lower decks seemed to be pristine but vacant, again no signs of fighting. No laser blast marks, no drops of blood, nothing except some trash and minor debris scattered on the floor that suggested the ship had come to a sudden and violent stop. Still no bodies, though, and they all had a long way to go to get to the bridge, but things would be easier with the lights on... right?

 

[Law abiding heretic]

Dr. Rhaid was accompanied by four security guards as he limped his way off the shuttle and onto the pitch black docking bay with the help of his cane. "Eight years of medical school and I'm still stuck with crapshoot missions in the outer rim." He grumbled to himself as the Accord soldiers switched on their lights and cleared the area. "Bria? It's Rhaid, we seem to be stuck in another cliché." He sarcastically remarked about the creepy dark ship. "Our best bet is to head towards the bridge, at the very least I can re establish control from there." He said as he made a short hand gesture at his guard detail and the party began making their way towards the ship's bridge. The lack of battle damage in the ship's hallways intrigued the doctor as they shone their lights across the walls, expecting it as they walked.

 

[Outlander]

"Understood, Rhaid. Just follow your team and keep an eye out as you head up to the bridge." Bria cut her comm as her own team spread out, moving down the eerily pristine hallways of the ship. Everything appeared in working order, but there where no crew to be seen; no signs of life. Frankly, even with Rhaid's weathered sarcasm, the ship didn't feel right to her.

 

[OhNoesBunnies]

"Bria..." The voice came from over the comm. It sounded broken and defeated, less hopeful than before when they first made contact. It was broadcasting across the entire ship as well, Mollie's inexperience at working the bridge's systems were obvious enough. "...How did you get here? Where did you c-come from? I didn't think anyone from the... the... R-Republic would have made it so quickly." The ship groaned again and the lights briefly flickered on. Both Bria and Rhaid's group would find themselves funneled to the center of the ship. Only doors leading towards it were working and none of the lifts seemed to be currently operational, not with the power on the fritz as it were.

The lights flickered again and Bria's team would be witness to something... unusual. One of the doors were open and someone was standing in the way, the quarters barely illuminated behind the odd silhouette of a man. Then when the lights flickered again, the door hissed, growled, and then slammed shut with a pop of sparks. The man--or at least the silhouette--was then nowhere to be seen. "Nothing on th-this damn ship is working. Everything s-seems to be b-broken except the main corridor. Th-that runs on it's own backup generators so the c-crew can escape into the pods but... I don't think any of them were launched. I don't think anyone made it."

Rhaid's team would encounter something else along the way towards the main corridor as Mollie continued to talk. The door to a nearby dorm opened revealing a medical quarters inside with a flickering light briefly illuminating it with each lap. Then briefly, the silhouette of a woman was seen, poking her head around gently from behind the doorway as if to spy on Rhaid and his team. "No, no, you musn't... Turn around! It lies. It lies!" She insisted with a voice that sounded almost disembodied, before the door slammed shut with spray of sparks, jamming locked in the process. "I think I can power one of the turbolifts to the b-bridge by rerouting the p-power from the backup generators but... N-nevermind. Just please hurry."

Whenever either of the teams reached the main corridor to the turbolift, they'd discover it did not share the fate of the rest of the ship. It was brightly illuminated with working lights and the air wasn't so stale... but there was a thick, musty smell permeating it. Like old books stacked in a morgue. Turning down the main corridor towards the turbolift they'd certainly discover why: Bodies. Everywhere. Stacked upon one another with arms folded over their chests, the crew were found very dead and very ripe. Inspection would reveal most of the crew had suffered lacerations, broken bones and bruising, but not a drop of blood was found anywhere around them except on their clothes, and even then in sparse amounts. The way they were stacked upon each other left the walls blanketed but the middle of the corridor clear, leading all the way to the distant doors of the main turbolift that lead straight to the bridge section. It was clearly ceremonial... but who would have taken the time to do this?

"Where are you?" Mollie asked over the comm again, curious as to how far they'd made it aboard the ship.

 

[Outlander]

Bria and her team listened to Mollie's rambling as they made their way through the derilect, moving slowly closer to the center of the ship. The hallways curved at each closed passage, forcing them further on.

The lights flickered, and Bria could have sworn she saw a silhouette flash in an open hatch. But it quickly slammed shut with no sign of the figure.

Just...just a trick of the light, she told herself, shaking it off and ushering the team forward.

That was, until they reached the center.

One of her men, a former smuggler that had joined up some time back, gagged violently before throwing his bucket off and vomiting off to the side. The others held themselves slightly better, but still visibly recoiled.

Bria herself shuddered at the sight of all the bodies. It was horrifying, all those people slaughtered like animals and stacked up on top of each other.

But what worried her more: Who stacked them up, and what killed them?

Steeling herself, she turned on her comm. "We're in the central turbolift corridor. We found the crew, all dead."

 

[Law abiding heretic]

Rhaid sighed as Mollie continued to ramble on about nonsensical information regarding to the crew and the ship's failing power supply. Eventually he clicked his comm to mute and continued to walk down the flickering hallway towards the turbo lift. It was strange how the dimly lit corridor was strangely comforting to the crippled scientist.

Eventually he heard the voice of his compatriot, Bria, down the hall who was attempting to contact him through his muted comm. "I'm here Bria." He said with a raised voice as he limped over to the turbo lift to see the stacked bodies as the musty smell of decay assaulted his nostrils. "I really have to invest in a quality resperator, this is swiftly becoming a theme every time I'm involved in one of these operations." He said as he kneeled down by one of the bodies and checked for a pulse. "Of course that's probably why people insist I tag along." Said Rhaid with a chuckle as he reached into his bag and pulled out a few medical instruments.

Rhaid surgically slid one of the syringes into a dead crewman's vein, filling it up with semi-coagulated blood. "What's his problem?" He said, referring to the Mandalorian who was voiding his stomach against the ship's wall. He then took a larger needle and jammed it into the man's head and withdrawing a sample of his cerebellum before depositing both in a cooled metal pod and standing up with the help of his cane.

 

[Outlander]

Bria rolled her eyes, stepping over to help the soldier up from his dry heaving. Rhaid was one of the best scientist around, and she held a deep respect for his medical expertise.

He was also an asshole.

"We can't all be as aloof as you Rhaid." She took the soldier by his shoulders and asked if he was OK to continue on, to which he nodded and picked up his helmet. "What's your preliminary on the bodies?"

 

[Law abiding heretic]

Rhaid scratched his chin as he pondered what could leave such savage wounds but not leave blood. "I don't know, my best guess is that the ship was border by raiders using knives or blunt instruments but that doesn't explain the lack of blood and battle damage. I'll run a few more tests when we get back to the Void just in case there's an environmental factor in play." He said, poking one of the bodies with his cane. "It could easily just be republic stupidity, I'm a cripple and I still managed to escape republic custody!" He said with a laugh as he smacked the 'call' button on the control panel next to the turbo lift. "Let's just get to the bridge and deal with this 'Mollie', whoever she is."

 

[OhNoesBunnies]

"I'm sending d-down the turbolift now." Mollie announced over the comm, before a sudden gush of static began to take over and the comm system cut out completely. The brightly lit corridor then shuddered gently, the ship howling again as the stress on its hull grew, before section by section the lights began to flick off. It started at the back of the corridor where the rear turbolift lead to the primary cargo bay and steadily advanced towards the front, until every inch of lighting had been snuffed. Then the corridor gave another rumble as the turbolift to the bridge began its noisy descent. One by one several of the Accord soldiers flicked their personal flashlights on, shining them about for a moment to shake off what disorientation may have come with the sudden darkness.

"Don't trust them." Mollie whispered gently against Bria's ear, as if she had been standing right next to the woman. Turning about though would reveal nothing. No one else would have heard the voice. Rhaid was next; a soft breath caressed the old man's right ear followed by words: "Run away." Again, Mollie's voice, but she was nowhere to be found. "Are the comms malfunctioning?" One of the soldiers would blurt, suggesting he heard something too. Then another stepped back a few feet, in a bit of a panic; "Sir! There!" He pointed his light and a finger down the hall, illuminating... something queer and terrifying.

Floating at the far end of the corridor with billowing black wraps waving and undulating around its form was seemingly a mummified corpse. A subtle violet glow was pulsing from the tall creature's chest. Still a good 100 feet away, the creature's voice bellowed out in a scream. It shook the corridor and the being began to approach, it's rotten, black toes barely grazing the smooth polished floor of the deck. "Turbolift is almost th-there!" Mollie exclaimed over the comm as the creature slowly approached... 95 feet... 90... 85...

 

[Outlander]

"Lights" Bria ordered to the collected soldiers. They where on it before she could make the order as the lamps illuminated the corridor beyond with points of moving light. She activated her own lamp, blinking for a moment as she adjusted to the new light source.

"Don't trust them."

Bria almost jumped, instead spinning around with the precision acquired over years of experience. But there was nothing there other than the turbolift door. Bria turned around and her men began speaking up, showing their own concerns.

"Sir! There!"

Bria pointer her own lamp up at the hovering form. Her eyes widened beneath her helmet in shock at the creature. Whatever it was, she considered it hostile. For all she knew, it killed the crew. "Open fire!" She shouted, instinctively dropping to one knee and lighting up the target. Around her, the soldiers followed suit, some standing and some moving into what little cover the corpses provided. But all unloaded into the spectre.

 

[Law abiding heretic]

There was a minute of relative peace before the lights decided to quit and flooded the room with darkness. "Republic ingenuity everyone!" He exclaimed as he turned on the tiny light that was built into his glasses.

"Run away."

"Oh yeah that's funny, make fun of the damn cripple! Who said that!" He angrily shouted as he got curious expressions from the other Accord soldiers.

And then all hell broke loose as blaster fire erupted from the group and was directed at some sort of purple specter down the hall. So Dr. Rhaid being a respectable scientist did what anyone else would do. Angrily push the turboloft's call button while screaming "COME ON COME ON COME ON!" At the top of his lungs while firing his old blaster pistol at the specter without looking, doing very little no doubt.

 

[3.14Wookie]

Kerrim Alandi sat as his small ship docked at the blazing moxie. He had no idea how long it had been out their, be it days or be it weeks, but it was worth checking out. It might serve as good testing for DB459-00, and he could at least salvage some valuable parts.
00, Dock the ship and enter the cruiser. We are going to find out whats going on in this ship.
entering the ship, he noted the docking bay seemed relatively well organised, for a ship that had supposedly been attacked, and with only one survivor left. He continued on, heading towards the turb lift, it might have useful parts to upgrade DB459-00 with, and he could easily access the bridge from there. However was transmitting the signal, he doubted was alive. pirates didn't leave a ship without looting it first, and the only other probable culprit was sith, and sith wouldn't leave any survivors. Mollie had probably been dead for days, or even weeks.

 

[Outlander]

"Damn!" Bria shouted, ducking for the cover of the corpses as someone began lobbing stun grenades around. Despite the position of the spectre at the far end of the hallway, one grenade manage to land amongst the startled soldiers, shocking two of them and putting them out of commission, their unconscious bodies twitching on the floor. Pressed up against the bodies of the dead, being fired at by one of their own soldiers, and shooting at a being they couldn't hurt unsurprisingly made Bria somewhat upset. "STOP THROWING GRENADES!" Bria shouted into the corridor, hoping the rogue soldier would hear. "Get your ass to the lift and join the line!" Bria hoisted her weapon up above her cover, propping it across the neck of an unfortunate engineer, and kept firing into the spirit. "Rhaid! Status of the lift?"

 

[OhNoesBunnies]

At first the blaster bolts appeared effective, striking the floating specter with brilliant flashes and sparks, even causing the creature to jolt back a few feet from every hit... then they simply started bouncing off it as the specter held its right hand out. Each bolt now stopped short of striking it only to turn up, down or to the side and strike the walls of the corridor leaving fuming scorch marks. The grenades lobbed at it had little effect as well, each one tossed off to the side down other corridors and causing the ship to rumble in despair with the damage and stress. The creature grew nearer and nearer, 65 feet and closing as the turbolift raced to meet the firing line behind them. "It's almost there!" Mollie cried out over the comm. The creature was even closer than before, and they could hear whispering pouring from it in a foreign tongue. It seemed to grow stronger the closer the beast came, reverberating off the walls.

"...Don't trust me..." Another voice whispered before the turbolift doors finally slid open. The beast was drawing near and both hands shot out towards the group. The nearest soldier would then find himself being pulled towards her--unless he could manage to put up an impressive struggle against the specter's force abilities--and would soon find himself in the specter's grasp if unable to resist. "Come... to... me..." A rather raspy, female voice called out from the specter, and if she managed to get her thin, bony fingers on the soldier, he/she would soon find themselves screaming in horror as their mind was invaded and their life forcefully drained. Through all of this, anyone might have caught sight of the creature's eyes... a brilliant, almost glimmering gold pair of irises on a sea of rotten black beneath the oscillating and undulating wisps of fabric.

Now would have been a great time to pile into the turbolift.

 

[Outlander]

"In!" Bria shouted, partially out of urgency and partially out of her own fear. One of the soldiers manning the line stopped firing, his blaster falling to the wayside and his body jolting towards the specter, caught in a perverse energy field and unable to pull himself free. Bria couldn't see his face past his helmet, but his writhing made his panic clear. One of the other solders dropped his weapon, moving forward to try and pull him free, but Bria pushed him aside, back towards the turbolift. "Now, soldier! That's an order!" He and the others fell back, piling into the lift as the poor soldier was stripped of his life force, screaming at the top of his lungs at his tormentor's feast.

 

[Siah]

The shuttle was a few minutes out and was now within range to establish communications with the destroyer. There were only two souls on board the shuttle, Ran an aging pilot, and Jedi knight Siah Morvayne. Ran flicked the comms switch for short-range communications, he had set the comms for broadband, "This is the shuttle Toan-84 to the Blazing Moxie Republic Destroyer do you read, over?"

Siah had already instructed the pilot to dock as soon as possible. Ran was aligning the shuttle with a docking bay when the Jedi came into the cockpit again. He had put on his helmet and Ran was unable to make out anything from his silent demeanour.
"Any response yet?" the Jedi asked.
Ran shook his head, "I've just sent through a request for contact now, they haven't had time to respond or they may not be manning their comms systems. I'll keep trying." Siah nodded and left for the airlock.

The Jedi stilled himself as he walked to the shuttle's airlock. He had sensed life aboard the large vessel, but the destroyer was too large for him to pinpoint the origin or the number of people alive. This did not trouble him nearly as much what else he had sensed. He had also felt a taint on the rippling force as he'd probed the large vessel. There was something on board the massive destroyer, something dark and mysterious. Siah was unable to sense exactly what this dark entity was, it seemed to be shrouded in a force energy he was not familiar with. He had never before felt the force like this and wondered what it could mean.

The Toan docked without issue and the airlock disengaged. Siah sent another brief message to the pilot, "Ran, the moment you hear from the crew inform me. Give them my headset comm codes and have them direct me to them. Siah out." The Jedi disembarked into a large, silent vessel. He could hardly see in the dank gloom of the ship. Exhaling slowly, he focussed the force and the energy of the cosmos extended his vision to allow him decent sight in the darkness.

Ran simply nodded, this Jedi had never been much of a talker.