The Inspection

[Kyp Durant]

Kuat Drive Yards, Kuat.​

Kyp flicked a few switched on the control panel with his foot as he leaned back in the pilot's seat and whistled softly to himself. This trip was what some would call a blue milk run, about as simple and assignment as you could ask for. And Kyp was mostly okay with getting these assignments as long as it kept it him flying. He had never flown one of these Diplomat class shuttles, they were exclusively for Senators after all, and Kyp had enough self awareness to know the he had a little too much roughness around the edges to ever become one. So this was an opportunity he was glad to have.

He seemed to be doing a lot more of that lately, seeing the silver lining in everything, maybe he was finally starting to grow up, or as some of his subordinates would like to say he was growing old. Whatever it may be, he was in a good mood as a light began blinking on the main console, indicating here imminent exit from hyperspace.

Straightening up in his seat, he flicked a few more switches and made some adjustments before activating the ship's internal comms to inform the passengers sitting in the back about their impending arrival. "Senator, we're about to exit hyperspace. Should be planet-side in five minutes." Technically speaking he should have been in the back with the Senator. She was headed to Kuat to inspect the the shipyards, and he was supposed to be her military contact, to provide the technical expertise she might lack. But he had somehow convinced his superiors to forgo a pilot for the assignment and let him do the flying instead.

His hands were flying over the control panel as the ship pulled out of hyperspace, so he didn't immediately notice it, but once he pulled his eyes up to look out the viewport he almost froze for a second, decades of training keeping him moving. "What in the.." A glance down at the sensors confirmed the scope of what he was seeing, and he reached out a hand to activate the internal comms once more. "Uhh..ma'am, you better get up here. You'll be wanting to see this."

They seem to have jumped right into the midst of a battle of some sort, pirates from the looks of it, probably making a run at the shipyards before they kicked back into full production and became too heavily protected a target for them. They were still a few minutes out from being in actual combat range, but Kyp made sure to activate their shields and prime their weapons. What they did next was the Senator's call, but if they were sticking around then they best be prepared.

@Cazar

 

[Serena Valtome]

The flight was another typical business trip for Serena Valtome. She was spending most of it in the back of the ship reviewing some submissions to the Senate and recent happenings. Empress Teta had a senator that worked for them, but she also pushed hard for the Republic as a whole. This mission was going to be another example, despite it being a bit boring. That's what she assumed at least. When the military escort called for her sounding confused, she almost was hopeful of an issue to overcome. When she arrived at the cockpit, she was a bit less hopeful.

"Frick, not again," she sighed more than said to herself. "We're not a fighter, this is a diplomatic shuttle. As much as I'd love to fight them off.. we need to-"

An explosion rocked the shuttle hard and interrupted the Senator. It seemed one of the pirates did not like their presence and had taken a pot shot moments after the shields went up. It couldn't take much more than that so they needed to move quickly. It seemed getting away unseen or sneaking onto their target was not going to happen easily now.

"Looks like we're spotted. We're in the fight now." Serena jumped into the co-pilot seat and began to put controls into action. "Don't get brave, stick to defensive forces and see if we can't help push them off. See if can find out where they're coming from too."

Despite the fear, Serena said nothing about her own feelings. Dying in space was the lowest on her list of desires. She hated the idea of not being in control of her own fate. Space Combat was not her field and it was so easy to be vaporized or suffocate. The Senator had always preferred the ground when possible.

@Wit

 

[Kyp Durant]

Kyp was already reacting as the explosion rocked the ship, that had been way too cool for comfort and he had to really dig deep to find the restraint to not break into a string of curses. The Senator, though not a soldier like him, was technically his superior and that meant that he had to show her at least some modicum of respect. Not blasting her ears with colorful language from many a tongue was how he did that.

"Don't worry," Kyp replied as his hands and feet flew over the control panel, "I got a few tricks up my sleeve." He flicked the control yolk to the right as he gunned the throttle, hoping to perform a barrel roll, but that first hit seemed to have done something to the controls when it had rocked the ship, and all the ship did was drift idly to the side. This is why he hated flying ships he hadn't spent at least some time working on himself, you never really knew what state it was in.

Keeping his mouth shut, not really sure what to say after the spectacular manner in which his his move had failed, but then he let out a bark of a laugh when the pirate ship overshot them and suddenly appeared squarely in their crosshairs. Looked like even the pirate hadn't expected him to do something so stupid and had expected them to gun it towards the shipyards and the safety of the Republic ships there. But that piece of luck when it really counted was also part of being a good pilot, and Kyp always had the best luck. "What did I tell ya, right where I want him!"

With that he squeezed the trigger and two fiery bolts of plasma shot out from the ship's canons and converged on the pirate ship's engines! His aim was true, but unfortunately the shuttle simply didn't pack the firepower to actually take out the pirate ship. All it had done was cripple its engines, but still it flight worthy. As the smoking ship broke away and began moving away from them and the battle, Kyp turned to the senator for instructions.

"Want me to stay on him or head for the shipyards?"

@Cazar

 

[Serena Valtome]

In the Senator's mind, fighting with her Diplomatic Shuttle was a foolish venture. Kyp as he was called did not agree. The eager guy actually managed to shoot a pirate pretty well and cause it to start fleeing. She did not comment on his maneuver attempt because it worked, but she did smirk a little at their luck. This might be exactly what they wanted in any case. Their enemy had to be partially blinded by his condition and attempt to flee. Following him and tracking his location would come easily enough.

"Follow him. See if it leads us somewhere." Serena said without hesitation as she began working on the scanners to try to keep track of their prey. "If we can triangulate a base location, we can put a permanent fix on this raider problem."

Information came to her screen and she worked through it quickly. Hoping that by tailing this pirate they'd get more information. This military escort seemed competent enough to at least make the shuttle work well. Perhaps he could be a good ally in further operations. Kelly was becoming less and less available due to the demands of the GAR, so perhaps it was good to broaden her horizons. Senator Valtome would be sure to watch how this pilot handled things from here.

As the smoking, nearly disabled ship ran from battle, the diplomat shuttle followed. Serena and Kyp were free to do so as the others were too focused on their battle to notice their fleeing friend had a hidden guest in its smoke trail. Guided by sensors and Kyp's skills, they arrived. Their next challenge would be getting out of here unseen. Hopefully Kyp kept impressing the Senator.

"Save these coordinates, we may need to call for help." She said quietly as she saw their target come on sensors. "Any thoughts on how to approach?"

@Wit

 

[Kyp Durant]

Kyp had to concede he hadn't thought of using the pirate's ship to track their base, so engrossed was he in the cat and mouse chase that he had ignored the bigger picture. If he had been free to act on his own then the most likely outcome of this little encounter would have been the pirate ship already blown to bits and Kyp flying off chasing another ship to try and do repeat the feat. That was why he sat inside the cockpit of a fighter and not on the bridge of a cruiser.

"Roger that." Kyp didn't have to try too hard to tail the ship, their shots had done a solid job on the pirate ship, and Kyp was able to stay just outside the range of its scanner without losing the ship's trail. He had heard tale of some fancy new stealth tech that the Jedi had in their possession, this would have been a whole lost easier if he was flying one of those, but the cards were still very much in their favor and soon enough they had managed to trail the ship back to the pirate base, just as the Senator had hoped.

But as they got closer to the base, their luck finally turned, and while the crippled ship itself seemed to be flying towards the base completely oblivious to their presence, their proximity sensors suddenly sprang to life as a small blip showed up behind them. A fighter of some sort, probably one of those uglies considering these were pirate raiders they were dealing with. The pirate ship might have been more intent on getting back to base before the ship blew up, but it had been stupid to assume the pirates wouldn't have more security around their base in case someone tried to do just what Kyp and the Senator had done.

As the fighter began getting closer, Kyp pushed the throttle to the max, throwing almost everything he had to the engines. "Divert all power to the rear deflector shields, we might have to fend off a few pot shots." Not waiting to see if the Senator did as he asked, he continued playing with the controls as he tried to get a lock on the pirate base. But there were more than a few asteroids up ahead that seemed to be big enough to hide a base and they needed to get a little closer to get a good lock.

A shot pinged on their shields, but nothing they couldn't handle, before they finally spotted the smoking pirate ship slip into a particularly large asteroid. They finally had the base, and the moment they did Kyp had punched in the commands that sent an encrypted message back to the Republic vessels at the shipyard. They would have back-up soon enough, but first they had to deal with this fighter.

"We have to deal with this guy or we're made, permission to engage?"

@Cazar

 

[Serena Valtome]

Serena noted that Kyp was good at listening to what she thought. A little too good at it. She hated to feel like she was being a superior to someone in the military when acting as a senator. This senator was ex-military herself and understood the general feeling they had for politicians. It was sometimes amusing to be on the other side of it now. Kyp seemed competent and respectful, but she wondered if he really thought highly of her or not. She would make sure to keep an eye on this one.

"On it." She said simply, going for the controls which she honestly had not had to use often herself.

It took a few moments. It took longer than Serena wanted it to take. Longer than Kyp probably would have liked it to take too. At least she got them up in time to keep the shields alive after a pot shot. That was the important bit. A little shame came to her as she realized how rusty she had become. Hopefully her aim with a blaster and agility on the ground would be better if they planned to enter this asteroid base.

"Permission? Please." Serena almost cringed at being asked permission to engage the enemy. "Take it out."

@Wit