Sat Dec 29, 2012 10:42 pm by Liya Tawaza
*I thought I was used to the craziest, most hair-raising, daring piloting by now, but I nearly lost my breakfast as the Millennium Eagle shot and slid and bumped and twisted it's way through the asteroid field surrounding Skip One. Apparently, the experience was a thousand times more nerve-wracking when you weren't the one doing the flying. The two-toned shrieks that Scrappy had uttered, and his veritable stream of binary curse words (before I mercifully shut him down), indicated that I wasn't the only one disturbed by our flight path.*
*But finally, and none too soon, we were through what might be termed the deep space equivalent of an endless stone avalanche, and the dark chasm that cut into the depths of Skip One loomed before us. Success! You could now add Sam Ghomesz to the rather short list of pilots crazy enough to attempt the deadly stunt and good enough to survive.*
***
*After leaving the Captain and Seros behind on the bridge, I had hurried to follow Jace to the bottom deck and inventory the supplies. Jace had mentioned something about some friends who had resupplied the ship (what was all that about, anyway? Fel seemed to know, since he hadn't questioned it), and it was quickly evident that he was telling the truth. One stowage compartment was filled with food, and another with maintenance equipment, for keeping the Loronar's systems in order. A quick glance into the third compartment showed that it was ... empty. My eyes lit up, however, as I observed the last compartment, which was racked from deck to bulkhead with weaponry of all types. Jace stood, with his back turned, examining one of the weapons. I longed to do the same, but I had a lot of ground to cover in the next few hours, and so I slipped away on silent feet, unnoticed.*
*Making my way up a level to the Millennium Eagle's berth, I quickly gathered up my travel chest and my other kit, and moved it to one of the unoccupied crew cabins. Opening the chest, I picked out my gun belt, and holstered my DL-44s. Checking my pockets, I found the suspicious datacards, and slipped them into a side compartment of the chest, locking it separately. There was no sense in carrying those with me to Skip One. Closing the chest, I turned to go, then stopped, glancing down as I reconsidered my outfit.*
*I'd put on work clothes, expecting to have to help Fel repair the UA myself, but now that I'd been given a new assignment, I'd be a lot safer wearing my armor. My stomach ached just thinking about what had happened the last time we'd visited the Skip. There was no way in space I was going to let myself get shot again this time. Re-opening the chest, I stripped down to my jumpsuit and buckled on my armor. Tightening my gun belt, I slung my helmet over my back, and slammed the chest shut. It locked itself with a satisfying click.*
*Next, there was the little matter of recruiting a crew for the operation. Locating Sam, I quickly explained the situation to him. We would need the Millennium Eagle, since it was the only bird still flyable. And I wanted Sam to come along, too. It was a pretty simple case, really: First, he knew his ship way better than I did, and could more safely guide it through the asteroid belt. Second, someone had to fly the Eagle back after dropping me off on Skip Five to retrieve the Bronze Star. The third reason I kept to myself, but surely he guessed it: his "Jedi" magic.*
*Fel had recommended that I also draft one of the passengers. Sky seemed like the logical choice, as I knew the most about him, while the Noghri a little too sinister and too quiet, and Faith seemed incapacitated by her grief. Wade's friend did not take much persuasion, although he was clearly hesitant to leave Faith. I explained what sort of place the Skip was, and that while Captain Fel would not dump them here, but would wait for a safer port, Sky could help pay his fare and ingratiate himself and his friends to Fel if he were to help us on our supply acquisition mission.*
***
*And so there we found ourselves, staring out once more at the mingled graveyard and parking lot that defined the interior of the monstrous, ancient underground hangar, and listening to the soft hiss of the Eagle's engine cooling systems. Here and there, the half-gloom was enhanced by neon signage, or the spotlights from a cargo hauler in the midst of offloading contraband. Small groups of armed sentients moved about cautiously, some of them hauling packages, while others stumbled slightly as they walked, as if drunken. All around them, derelicts lay eternally berthed, side by side with living, breathing, functioning ships. Some carcasses looked as if they had not been moved for a century or more. It was an eerie sight, made even stranger by the swirling clouds of exhaust gas that never seemed to fully dissipate.*
*But Sam and I had seen it before, and no doubt Sky had seen similar sights, and worse, in the Underworld on Coruscant. Unbuckling my safety restraints and reaching out a loving hand to power on Scrapheap once more, I motioned to Sky.* "Come on. Let's find a dealer, get our supplies, and get off this rock before someone decides to make trouble for us." *I exchanged a glance with Sam's seemingly emotionless faceplate, and he gave an almost imperceptible nod. He would stay with the Eagle, to guard it from thieves, and in case we needed a quick evac.*