Nothing ever goes according to plan

[Sakadi Marathi Sinvala]

"This is your captain speaking" the message echoed through the halls of the large passenger ship. "We will be leaving hyperspace in 5 minutes. Enjoy your stay on Alderaan!" The cheery voice of the captain amused Sakadi. After all these years, he still seemed to enjoy his work. It made her mission just a bit more bearable. Her mission was quite simple. All she needed to do was to find her contact aboard this ship, get their monthly report and deliver it to the Galactic Alliance. In short: she played mailman for the rebel cell present on the planet.

Despite having been a Jedi for four years, she still had a particular dislike for the Galactic Alliance. She saw them as nothing more than terrorists, an image which would be hard to erase from her mind. She still remembered it as if it was yesterday; the many people who asked for her opinion on the subject of politics years back, when she was still seen as a celebrity. She had often advocated against the Galactic Alliance, and now look at how the tides had turned. So naturally, her face had taken the shape of an uncoming storm. Even strangers saw that it was unwise to bother the young Sephi woman. Not that anyone would be able to though, as starting a conversation with the mute woman had always been a challenge.

As the ship jumped out of hyperspace, Sakadi noticed how some people held their breath in awe. Clearly never been on an interplanetary flight before.. She thought. Sakadi checked the small clock in the corner of her compartment. It was about time for the transfer to take place. She stood up, and gracefully moved past the small crowd gathering in the passageway, until she reached the door to the central corridor.

She took a quick gander to her left, before heading out. The transfer was going to take place in this central corridor. Making use of the environment, in this case the chaos, was her idea. No imperial would notice the transfer when tightly pressed against a crowd trying to get off the ship.

Sakadi had traded her normal Jedi robes for a simple white dress. She had decided to keep her hair in her usual fashion. She didn't feel like putting too much work in this mission anyway. Of course, she had brought her lightsaber, which she had neatly strapped to her left thigh. She also brought a small holocommunicator, but she didn't need to hide that piece of tech. It was quite common after all.

another five minutes passed and the amount of people present had already increased exponentially. One of those people was likely going to be her contact. She was told that he would find her, so all she had to do was wait. She stood close to the engine room, which was also part of the plan. She quickly glanced at the security of the passenger ship. Were they onto her? From there fruitless attempts to bring some order in the chaos that was the growing crowd, she could tell that they had no idea.

Just as she started to lose her patience, a door opened up behind her. A voice she hadn't heard before called out to her.

Hey honey! thanks for coming. I told you you wouldn't regret it, remember?

The man was wearing a standard workers' uniform. Seemed like her contact wasn't a passenger at all. He was part of the crew.

Luckily for him, Sakadi had the makings of a great actor. Her expression instantly changed to that of a girlfriend who was happy to see her boyfriend again. Her contact grabbed her hand tightly, as she felt the small metal chip in his sweaty palm. The report. Her contact guided her straight to the crowd.

Now I've got some days off, we can finally enjoy the luxuries Alderaan has to offer! he remarked with joy in his eyes. She couldn't tell if he was that good an actor, or if he was being genuine. Her contact moved further into the crowd with ease, until they were in the middle. If all went according to plan, Sakadi would board the next ship back to Galactic Alliance space, while he stayed behind and returned to the rebel cell. But just as the ship should've started to enter orbit, nothing seemed to happen.

Sakadi noticed how her contact started to get uneasy. While she hated doing it, it felt like she had no other choice at the moment. Sakadi closed her eyes and took a deep breath, connecting with the living force around her. With the ease of a rancor catching it's prey, she invaded the man's mind.

Relax. I'm sure it's nothing. Besides, is it truly such a drag to head to Aldera with your part-time girlfriend?

Her contact seemed startled at first, but the latter part of her message made him smile. That was, until a familliar voice echoed to the corridor.

"This is your captain speaking, we have lost contact with Aldera's spaceport and we don't have the permission to land yet. Please stay calm and return to your seats."

She would have none of it. She focused her attention back on her contact.

Give me the report. I'll try to contact the alliance down there. It could be nothing, but I have a bad feeling about this.

In a fluid motion, she let go of his hand, slipping the chip in a specially made casing, which was also strapped around her thigh. Before her contact could argue with her, Sakadi disappeared into the crowd. She was heading for the engine room, which seemed like the only quiet place to contact the Galactic Alliance right now.

@Caught in Strangereal

 

[Funani Avanti]

Theme​

Oh my... Hyperspace it's... it's like it's full of stars! Funani thought to himself as he was mesmerized by the transition from hyperspace back to normal and suddenly the giant land mass of Alderaan gazed back at Funani from his view port. The clouds and green glistened and just the sight of vast oceans from space was humbling. More water than what he could possibly imagine on Tatooine and life that was in abundance. This alone had made the long journey from Ifrane (another desolate wasteland like Tatooine) to Alderaan worth it. The boredom of being locked to a spaceship barely able to stretch his small legs was ejected from his mind as opportunities started to fill his cranium.

What should I do first? Go explore and shop in the city? Oh Oh maybe I should rent a jeep and go explore the forests? Maybe try skiing! Will the authorities be mad if I go hunting? HA! only if they catch me! Just one idea after another continued to pop in Funani's head finding himself for the first time in his life paralyzed by the sheer amount of choices he could make. So this is what true freedom taste like? Funani wondered still in a total state of awe. This was shaping up to be the best thing to ever happen to him. If only mom and dad could see this right now...

A small pan of sadness hit Funani as the thought of his dead missing parents (they had to be missing right?) streaked across the landscape of joy and wonder in his headspace. It lingered and Funani decided to try and distract himself by going people watching in the central corridor. It was a habit a lot of traders and salespeople developed as the need to be able to quickly size someone up was important. Being able to determine someone's status, the mood and energy they carried, and other small factoids about the happenings of a person's complicated life could all be determining factors for how you approached and dealt with someone. Plus it was always fun to play detective and try to deduce it all and see how correct you were.

His eyes scanned the room until someone caught his eye. A Sephi in a simple but elegant white dress waiting by the door that lead to the engine room (Funani knew it was the engine room due to him asking repeatedly if he could check out the engine and being politely told to screw off). This person already aroused Funani's interest. White typically denoted upper class as the color of such clothing made it easy to stain and impractical for people that worked with anything that could get them remotely filthy. It wasn't just the clothing too the entire demeanor she carried backed it up. She deftly meandered around people in smooth motions the kind that said that you had all the time in the world and couldn't be bothered to rush like any of the common peasants. It's easy to get mad at such an attitude most people couldn't handle the implication that someone was better than them just through the sheer way they carried themselves. Funani then notice a small hint of irritation coming from the Sephi, eyes darting back and forth in search of something and a small repressed scowl starting to form something was happening probably waiting for someone or just wanting to get off the ship.

Funani's question was answered when a man in a worker's jumpsuit approached her and started conversing. Her energy changed at the flip of a switch as she started to hold hands with the man. Aww she was anxious waiting for her lover. Funani thought as his heart warmed up at the sight. Maybe they might of met because she frequently traveled on this ship and they slowly developed a relationship. Maybe he supported her life style through the aching work of ship maintenance. This was probably one of the few times they got to have time together. Funani's sadness was gone as he distracted himself with constructing the narrative of two people of different lifestyles finding love in each other. This however was soon to be interrupted by a message from the captain.

"This is your captain speaking, we have lost contact with Aldera's spaceport and we don't have the permission to land yet. Please stay calm and return to your seats."

A murmur erupted amongst everyone and speculation became the primary currency in the corridor. Stewards and flight attendants where trying to calm everyone down. Ra'ti. Can't I just have one thing in my life that doesn't have a complication to it? Funani thought with a wave of disappointment washing over him. he started to putter back to his seat until he stopped. A few things started to build inside his head hitting him in waves. If the ship lost contact that means one of three things was happening: The ship's communications systems malfunctioned, Aldera's communications were down for some reason, or some sort of phenomena was scrambling communications. If Aldera's was down then the crew would be informed by someone else right? If that's the case they could be redirected to a different port, but why didn't that happen yet? As for phenomena could it really be that, It's possible and Funani recounted in his head to tales some spacers gave him of dealing with solar flares and storms but those were often in uncharted space. These things weren't problems in the more charted worlds because they could keep track and monitor the stars and prepare. Plus if that were the case we would have been warned before hand this was too sudden. So Occam's razor was starting to favor the ship communications being down. That's why we can't communicate with Aldera and nobody can with us. It was the simplest explanation available in Funani's head.

Thoughts about the Sephi started to make it back to the forefront of Funani's thinking. Why did it only look like the ship worker was the only talking? why did they only hold hands? no kissing, no laughing and no hugging. Where were they now? Funani scanned the corridor again looking around when he noticed a patch of white enter the door leading into the engine room realizing it was likely the white dress of the Sephi.

Why can't something just be what it appears to be? Funani wondered to himself as he started to head for the engine room.

@Powerfullhorus

 

[Sakadi Marathi Sinvala]

The loud noises of the large turbines and generators filled her ears as she quietly entered the large engine room. She stood on an elevated platform, with a stairway down to her right. She allowed herself a moment to take it all in. There were obviously workers around, but she had no idea where. The loud noises were bothersome enough to keep her out of focus, so she could only guess where the workers might possibly be from her point on the platform.

Her first move was rather obvious. Sakadi had entered the ship on high heels, which she was rather fond of. But this part of this ship had a floor consisting out of gratings, which meant that wearing them would only form another obstacle on her path. Quite literally. Sakadi slipped her slender feet out of her high heels, before picking the pair up with her left hand. She quickly moved down the stairs; the longer she stayed up there, the higher the chance would become that someone spotted her. Sakadi cursed herself for coming on high heels, as she snuck in the general direction of the first turbine. Walking on bare feet over the gratings wasn't ideal either.

Reaching the first turbine, Sakadi took a minute to activate her holo-communicator. The sound of approaching footsteps had her on high alert. The advantage of these gratings was that walking over them made a lot of noise, which the sensitive hearing of the Sephi was able to pick up. But now, she had to act fast. Sakadi closed her eyes and focused, falling deep into the warm embrace of the light side of the force. For a moment, she saw it all. Three behind the second turbine. One stood on the opposite side of turbine one and the final one sat in the small control room at the end of the passage. Child's play.

Sakadi stepped around the corner. The first worker was directly to her right, but he had his back turned towards her. She had no time to analyze what species he was, but he was atleast twice her size, that much she could tell. Keeping her eyes closed, she slipped passed the first turbine. Three workers left. She had to distract them. But with what? Sakadi opened her eyes and peeked around the turbine. This was such a drag. With a loud sigh, Sakadi called upon the force once again. She made a quick gesture and one of the many levers near the three workers moved downward. A loud warning sound followed, which in itself was followed by the surprised cries of the workers. Second obstacle cleared, she thought as she slipped passed the second turbine.

All that rested were a few generators, which she easily passed, before she faced the small control room. She hid just in time, as the door swung open. A fat man in his early 50s walked out, shouting at one of the other workers.

"Damn it John! What part of don't mess with the setting do you not understand?!"

Sakadi grinned as she waited for the man to pass her hiding spot. With all her obstacles cleared, she now had acces to a place where she could finally search for the information she needed to understand why the hell they hadn't entered orbit yet.

The room was filled with multiple monitors and control panels. Sakadi swiftly approached the closest monitor, using a small cable to connect it with her holo-communicator. The communicator was a handy thing, but it wasn't exactly useful for someone who lacked a voice. A digital keyboard appeared on the monitor, exactly what she needed.

A lot of questions went through the Sephi's mind. What could possibly cause a total loss of communications?

@Caught in Strangereal

 

[Funani Avanti]

The whirling of various machines and turbines where like a musical to Funani's ears upon entering the area, but he couldn't stop to enjoy it. His eyes darted about the room and he could make out a human cosplaying as a hutt yelling at a group of workers. Funani contemplated the possibilities. Should he talk to them? What would he say? Hi I'm a random Jawa trespassing around and there's a women who looks suspicious in here? Sure he could try but he had a feeling they would just kick him out, apprehend him and try to pin it on him. Besides even if it did work there's a good chance that that if this Sephi was involved she would see him telling the guards and realize that people were hunting her, Giving her a chance to run. Looks like if Funani wanted to confront this woman he would have to do a good old fashioned Jawa cave greeting. Funani scanned the room and thought to himself. If I were a potential terrorist sabotaging a ship where would I run to in a engine room. Funani looked around and then saw a small control room. Bingo.

If it controlled the turbines and hyperdrive then there was a lot of damage you could do there. Overload the turbines and you could cause a power surge and cut off atmospheric maneuvering crashing the ship. Cause a hyperdrive to go critical and well Funani didn't want to think about it. Funani also made note of a yellow box repair kit centrally located and embedded into the floor of the main engine area. Useful if he needed to repair any damage this person might do but also in case he needed to improvise a weapon. He had his blaster rifle Emilee with him under his robes but still you never know.

Funani scanned for a vantage point he could comfortably view the control room from. His eyes turned to the turbines and the massive bundle of wires that jutted out leading upwards. The nice thing about these industrial areas is that there is a priority placed on ease of access over looking pretty. So the wiring remain exposed as it reach the ceiling and started running parallel to the ventilation ducts feeding into the walls to distribute power to the rest of the ship. The wires could provide a view into the control while remaining concealed after all nobody ever looks up.

Funani did a fast shuffle over the to the nearest turbine, thankfully his lightweight meant that the grating didn't produce any noise loud enough to over power the noise of the machinery. Quickly he started to climb the wiring taking care to position himself in a way that would hopefully be out of view of all the mechanics. His small dimensions meant that climbing up was exhausting as he tried his best not to make any noise that would be audible over the current noise floor.

This better be worth it, I swear if all of this was to find out that she was just having an affair with some guy named Dave I'm going to explode. Funani thought to himself as he neared the point where the wiring went from vertical to horizontal Which put Funani about 10 meters up. A second before climbing over the wires (finally) he heard the door open again and the bellowing of a man.

"Hey engineering, y'all need to get your asses over to the meeting room pronto. Cap wants all hands on deck there to discuss about the situation going on with Aldera" The XO barked before exiting moving on to the next group of employees to shout orders at.

"Come on man do we really have to go?"

"John do you really want a repeat of that time the XO found the beer you had stashed here?... Exactly we're going." All the staff operating the engine room evacuated leaving only the whirring of the turbines to accompany Funani and the Sephi. Funani who had managed to use this time to rest and allocate himself to this new position. HE exhaled comfortable with the probability no one would hear, and used this moment to whisper to himself.

"Ra'ti. Things must be getting serious if they're calling all of the staff over." Funani then focused his eyes over to the control room making out the white dressed Sephi now having a device connected into one of the monitors typing on it. Funani had no idea what exactly she was doing but it couldn't be anything good. He took out Emilee from under his robes and tried his best to ready a aimed shot into the control just in case crap was about to hit the fan. Waiting for the Sephi to make a move.

@Powerfullhorus

 

[Sakadi Marathi Sinvala]

Her fingers touched the various keys displayed on the monitor with astounding speed. As a child she always had trouble typing, but as she grew up and lost her voice, it turned out to be one of the most reliable ways to get her points across. And that was exactly what she needed right now. Clarity.

Communications with Aldera Spaceport have been lost. My ship is not landing. Is the mission still a go?

Did the Imperial agents figure out the location of their transfer? Was the rebel, no, Galactic Alliance cell neutralized? No. If that were the case, the communications with the spaceport wouldn't be lost. Perhaps something was jamming their signals? That made more sense. She impatiently tapped with her fingers on the desk. Come on.... give me something...

That's when the door to the engine room swung open. It startled her, from experience she knew that it was possible to look straight into the control room from the elevated position. She sat behind the monitor, like a deer in headlights. But luckily, the man didn't pay attention to her at all. He shouted something to the workers, something she couldn't hear from inside the control room. After a small exchange of words, all the workers prepared to leave the engine room. That was actually quite favorable for her, as she now no longer had to hide behind the large displays in fear of being seen.

The minute she finally felt like she could relax, a message popped up on her screen.

Do not land. Aldera is done for.

Seven words. Sakadi stared at the screen, reading it once. Twice. Thrice. She blankly stared at her screen for a moment. Then she started typing again.

Sakadi: Describe the situation. What is happening down there??

GA Cell: The city is being massacred. We can't hold out.

Sakadi: Who is responsible? What is attacking Aldera?

Sakadi: Hello?

No reply. The Alliance cell had no reason to lie. Their communications weren't being jammed, her mission wasn't compromised. In fact, it had nothing to do with her mission. Something worse was happening down there, which affected both the Alliance Cell and the spaceport. A city-wide attack. UP here she was safe, the people were safe. But if the captain decided to enter orbit... No. She couldn't allow that to happen. Sakadi disconnected her holo-communicator from the monitor. I must warn the captain, before it's too late..

 

[Funani Avanti]

Glowing eyes stared into the control room trying to read the Sephi. Hands gripped on the rifle ready for anything. Funani was starting to feel the same as when he would hide from a group of Tusken raiders hoping he wouldn't need to fight but knowing it could happen at any second. Hyperfocus and adrenaline were fueling the Jawa now. He noticed something seem to shaken the Sephi for a second after peering at the monitor. What the Hoth could that be?

Before being able to ponder the situation Funani felt a violent shift in the array of cables that was suspending him up, then he was falling. Life seem to slow before the Jawa's eyes as he processed his impending doom, not wanting to look down at the floor to greet him. All he could manage was a high pitched yell until it was cut off by a thud and the sound of his blaster rifle discharging. Everything had gone black for what felt like an eternity until his eyes opened again. Everywhere hurt and he could now see colors and what vaguely looked like a ceiling. There was a large figure looking down at him that looked like it could be the spirit of his dad about to start scolding him for getting into this mess until it started talking to him.

"There you are little Jawa. Funani right? nicce placce you found for uss." Coming from the lips of towering barabel. The reptilian had green skin a couple battle scars but most notably for Funani a set of razor sharp teeth that would be perfect for eating Jawa right now.

"*cough* I don't know who you are and how you know me but I swear I didn't mean to sell you anything defective and if you got those scars because of something that was sold by me I'm sure we can work something o-" Funani spat off his now completely memorized angry disgruntled costumer script.

"Ha! Sso it really iss you good. I don't care about you sso ccut the crap. Where is Kura's money? Tell me now and I'll make your death quick."

Oh kriff. That cheapskate actually hired Someone?! Funani thought. Kura was a prick that tried to cheat his way out of not paying for the buy out of Funani's business. Sure maybe yelling at him wasn't a good idea. Maybe maybe threatening to blow the guy up and nearly doing it was a little too far but this was ridiculous! There was no way in Hoth Funani was going to give that Hutt a single credit.

"If Kura really needs the money, then tell that hkeek nkulla to look under the folds in his skin First!" This was immediately followed by a hard punch that caused Funani's head to knock into the floor followed by him coughing up blood.

"I can do thiss all day. I doubt you can."

 

[Sakadi Marathi Sinvala]

Sakadi sat in the control room it's only seat. How was she going to convince the captain to stay in orbit? She could show him the message, but she'd rather not show him that she contacted a secret galactic alliance cell. Wouldn't really be profitable for the organization. But then again, it was not like she cared about the Alliance. However, this was bigger than the Alliance. The entire city was being massacred by something she couldn't place. Despite the size of the city, she was far too inexperienced to sense if the dark side was responsible. Atleast not from up here. If there were lives to be saved, she had to go down there.

A high pitched yell snapped her out of contemplating her next move. She looked up from the monitor, only to see a huge barabel standing in the middle of the engine room. And he wasn't wearing the worker's uniform.. Also, it was hard to believe that the high pitched yell came from him. She looked around the control room for a moment. Was there anything she could defend herself with? Her lightsaber would instantly betray her affilation to the Galactic Alliance, so she had to come up with something else. She started to frantically open every drawer and case she saw, until she came across a decent weapon. A simple blaster pistol and two energy packs. Likely last resort measures, she thought as she loaded one of the energy packs into the pistol. Making sure that the safety was off, Sakadi moved to the door and waited. She disliked blasters, but she did not have much of a choice. Her free hand moved to her thigh, making sure that the datachip and her lightsaber were still tightly fastened to her body. She was ready to defend the control room to her last breath.

What bothered her though, was that she heard two voices, but only saw one person. She hesitatingly opened the door slightly, just enough to take a quick peek. The barabel didn't seem to be interested in entering the control room. That was weird, because what else could he be possibly doing here? Then she saw it. The tiny figure on the gratings. What the hell was a Jawa doing here?

 

[Funani Avanti]

"This Jawa is a lot tougher than you think!" Funani spat out just in time as the Barabel landed an even harder punch. Funani was hurting like crazy but he wasn't going to give this guy the satisfaction of seeing him suffer. His eyes scanned around him and saw his rifle which had been tossed aside roughly 5 meters to his left. Not that it mattered because he could see that the charge pack also was still attached to him rendering the rifle inert. It probably came apart due to the fall. Useless unless he could perform the feat of convincing someone to stop beaten him long enough so they could get shot. Which considering that the barabel now had him pinned down leaning his bodyweight on the jawa. Nekkel juuvar obwegadada this barabel was heavy!

"I'm going to assk you again and thiss time you better tell me what I want to hear. Where is the money?"

Things were starting to get serious and Funani finally noticed the blaster pistol on the Barabel's hip. Welp this is just going to get worse. Still Funani thought maybe he could try to buy himself some time for well anything to happen. Those useless pricks from engineering to come back, someone to open the door, a hull breach anything as this point.

"Go eat Ra'ti!" Funani than spit into the face of the barabel. The Barabel not pleased that some punk Jawa wasn't getting the point and still was resisting picked up Funani and threw him across engine room. Funani was then sent flying crashing his small frame against one of the housings of the turbine. Funani felt the wind knocked out of him but saw that he could make a lunge for his rifle now. Before he could execute this plan the Barabel drew his blaster pistol.

"One lasst time. Where is it?"

 

[Sakadi Marathi Sinvala]

This was getting out of hand. She observed how the barabel, who had the jawa pinned to the ground, tried to get some information out of the Jawa. Which obviously wasn't working out for him, as the Jawa flew through the room a moment later. Why in the Force it's name, was a barabel threatening in a jawa in the engine room. And why did it have to be right now, of all days. Sakadi checked the blaster in her hand once again. She had never used one before, but had a general gist of how it worked. Turn off the safety. Point at the thing that needs to get hit and finally, pull the trigger. Easy. That's why people prefer blasters over vibroknives, or so she thought.

Right at the moment she thought that she could sneak past the barabel, he pulled out a blaster pistol of his own. Great. If I leave, somebody is going to die. That somebody was likely going to be the Jawa. Sakadi sighed. Getting them to stop fighting in the engine room would require quite a bit of luck, since yelling at them to leave obviously wasn't going to work.

Sakadi opened the door a bit further, just far enough for her to leave the control room without alerting the barabel. The angle she came from would allow the Jawa to see her coming. Not that she bothered though, as the Jawa didn't really pose a threat at the moment. Getting the barabel to drop his blaster pistol, that was the endgame right now. Luckily, she had a trick up her sleeve. Her vocal cords had been permanently damaged, but she didn't need her vocal cords to whistle. She brought her free hand to her mouth and blew out hard. The high pitched whistling sound would hopefully startle the barabel, as she kept her own blaster pistol aimed at his gun-wielding side's shoulder with determination in her eyes. If he dared to point his own weapon at her, she would pull the trigger and hopefully make him drop the pistol. If he didn't, well that was not an outcome she wanted to think about.

 

[Funani Avanti]

Funani had his life flash before him for the second time today as the barabel took aim and then he saw his unlikely savior creeping out with a blaster of her own. Funani wasn't able to process whether this was good or bad but then the Sephi whistled. Funani still had no idea if he could trust the Sephi but this sound created the perfect distraction now except Funani had no idea what to do. It would take too much time to put his rifle back together he could try to scurry around the turbine and hide but well that was just pathetic. Wait most people probably didn't know that the rifle was safe they would see something vaguely gun shaped pointing at them perfect. Funani slid over to the rifle and picked it up in one smooth motion and aimed it in the general direction of the Barabel.

The barabel who had turned his head towards the Sephi pointing a pistol and then turned back at the sound of Funani grabbing a rifle now aiming at him. The barabel was now in the humiliating position of being caught between a Jawa and a Bourgeoisie woman that looked like she had no right holding him at gun point. Suddenly his power trip was reversed on him leaving him to try and negotiate his fate.

Really? You have her as your bodyguard? I didn't know you would stoop this low. Or is she something more?" The barabel said raising his pistol pointing at the ceiling now. The last comment had a cheeky amount of suggestion thrown into it that in any other circumstance would cause Funani to barf a little in disgust. He ignored the comment for now.

"Quite Frankly I thought she was a terrorist, and I was this close to shooting her when you interrupted me, but for right now? sure she's my bodyguard."

Ok maybe calling your knight in a white dress a terrorist and saying you were about to shoot them wasn't diplomatic but right now he had enough of this entire situation. Funani really just wanted this stupid ship to land and he wanted to get the hoth off of it right now. Anything seemed to beat being interrogated and beaten right now.

@Powerfullhorus

 

[Sakadi Marathi Sinvala]

Sakadi slightly tilted her head for a second as the two started their argument again. What did these two have with violence and speech? This time, she seemed to be subject of their conversation. The Jawa had taken up a weapon, just like her. He aimed it at the barabel, also just like her. For now they seemed to be allies. His conversation with the barabel however, made her doubt that theory again. The barabel's statement pissed her off a bit, which was clearly visible on her face. Why, in the name of the Force, would she ever date a gremlin with no fashion sense? She wasn't the most excessive when it came to fashion either, but come on. That get-up should be buried somewhere deep on Tatooine, never to be found again.

Now, the statement of the Jawa made more sense. If someone would've asked her, she'd consider herself doing the work of a terrorist as wel. Kriffing Galactic Alliance had no place in her heart. The one mission she decided to accept, a simple transfer, turned into a do-or-die at gunpoint situation. Also, their ship was about to be overrun by some horrors down on Aldera of she didn't inform the captain of her findings. She opted to ignore Galactic Alliance missions from now on.

Sakadi snapped her fingers, catching the attention of the barabel again. She wasn't planning to let this conversation continue if they were just going to drag her name through mud. She gestured at the door leading back to the corridor. To back up her gesture, she stepped forward with determination. She'd force him to get out of here, whether he understood her message or not.

Realizing that the Jawa still didn't understand what she was doing her, despite apparently chasing her through the ship, she'd let him know of the dire situation down on Aldera first. She reached for her holo-communicator, it should still display the message she just got from the Galactic Alliance cell. She tossed in to the Jawa. She didn't mind if he figured out that she was with the Alliance, who the hell was going to believe a Jawa who blamed a mute Sephi from being part of a so-called "terrorist organization", aka the Alliance. She patiently waited for the Jawa to look at the displayed message. For now, the barabel had her full attention.

@Caught in Strangereal

 

[Funani Avanti]

Do not land. Aldera is done for.

The city is being massacred. We can't hold out.

The words were like a train crashing through Funani's mind. All that occupy it now was silence. Suddenly The Barabel seemed like such a waste of time. Was this what she was doing? Finding out what's happening. What's massacring the city? Why? Where's the Empire or anyone really? Funani knew what terror was, the fear for death but this was something new. This was dread, and these people could be heading straight into the heart of it.

"Look the money isn't worth it! You need to leave now! We can't land... we can't land! Don't stand there like a slack jawed idiot. Get your ass in gear and get off of this ship NOW before it lands." All of the fun and excitement in Funani's voice was gone, so was the jokes and defiance. All that could be registered was sheer fear. The barabel found the sudden change in the Jawa's temperament unnerving. Sure some people try the tough guy act but can be broken easily but this wasn't him breaking the Jawa. Something was wrong, very wrong.

"I don't understand what's hap-"

"What's happening is that if we land we die. OK? We land we die. So get out while you can."

Barabel actually obeyed the Jawa as the panic that Funani was experiencing had been transferred to him. This would be one of the few times in his life the Barabel merc had felt it but everything in his brain was telling him that the Jawa was somehow right. Something bad was happening below and he needed to get the hoth away from it ASAP. He bolted from engine room leaving the Sephi and the Jawa alone. Funani looked at the Sephi and finally asked:

Who are- Never mind you can tell me that later. Uh uh uh The crew! The captain had ordered all the crew to a meeting room to gather and talk about what's going on. I don't know where the kriff it is but if we find it we can warn everyone and maybe save them all. We have to tell the crew."

@Powerfullhorus

 

[Sakadi Marathi Sinvala]

The Jawa had understood the message on her holo-communicator. She could tell that he believed it, by his sudden shift in behaviour. And now it struck the barabel as well. Only a little convincing by the Jawa was needed to get the Barabel out of the engine room, which finally allowed her to put the gun down. Sakadi turned towards the small figure as he seemingly asked her a question, which mid-sentence changed into a plan of action. Was he really concerned over lives that were not his own? For now, she'd tag along with the cursing Jawa. A slight nod was all she gave him as indication that she agreed to his plan, before taking the lead and darting out of the engine room. They had done enough damage here. A blaster had misfired, she had pulled some levers with the Force and the engineers were gone. She feared that if they would stay here a little longer, they'd end up destroying the entire passenger ship.

The corridor that previously held a large crowd was now nearly empty. The captain had instructed all of the passengers to return to their seats, a command only few seemed to disobey. But she wasn't looking at the few passengers who remained in the corridor, no, she had to find the one thing every passenger ship had: the evacuation plan. Of course she wasn't planning to leave the ship, but it would give her a general idea of the layout. And what she needed right now, was a location where the captain could possibly hold his meeting.

Sakadi scanned the corridor, until she noticed a small screen displaying a blueish sketch of the passenger ship. Finding an evacuation plan was never hard, the hard part was going to be convincing the captain. Sakadi moved towards the screen, still barefeet. She had left her high heels back in the control room. No matter, she would just pick them up later. Another reason why she had to prevent the ship from landing and getting overrun by whatever was down there.

The screen displayed a floor plan of the entire passenger ship. It was large. She had no time to observe all of it, so she skipped nearly everything that had a simple title. The plans in this main corridor were meant for passengers; not personnel. Some rooms were marked with difficult names, engine unit 35C, the engine room they had entered, being one of it. Names like that, that was what she was looking for. She pointed out a few obvious locations where the captain could have called his meeting, memorizing where they would be. She hoped the Jawa would do the same.

The more she looked at the evacuation plan, the more she realized that heading to the right side of the upper floor would result in the highest chance of finding the meeting room. All they had to do now, was find an entrance to the restricted areas of the ship, marked with "personnel only" signs, and bypass the security that locked those doors. Considering she had a Jawa on her side now, she wasn't worried in the slightest. If someone could get in there, it was going to be him.

 

[Funani Avanti]

Funani was trying his best to keep up with his new Sephi partner. The confident fast walk of Sephi contrasted with the hurried scurrying of a Jawa who's small legs could only carry him so fast. It was unnerving how she didn't seem to talk at all, just nods and gestures but speculating on that was a waste of brain power right now. She stopped before a general map that was used for evacuation plan. Funani made note of all the highlighted exits and escape pods, lines were drawn to shown the most efficient route to these areas and it looked like the engineers thankfully put thought into the placement of these pods and exits so that you could find one a short walk away when they designed this ship.

The Sephi pointed some rooms on the map, still not uttering a single word... odd. Funani quickly tried to guess what she was getting at before remembering that they agreed to look for the crew and realizing that she was probably trying to point to her guesses to where the crew were meeting. She seemed to be fixated on a single area on the upper floor the most. Probably because she thought it was where the room was.

Funani's mind went back to the silence question. As it was becoming more and more detrimental. It would make things so much easier if she said anything. Even single word statements would be enough but nope she was dedicated to the strong silent type act. He really hoped that it would not be up to him to convince the crew by himself. Who would believe a Jawa from bumkriff nowhere that he knew- oh kark she still hasn't talked, he may have to convince the crew by himself.

Calm down dude, you got this. You just worrying that's all. Just ask. Funani told to himself as he looked over the map one last time. Funani then looked to the Sephi.

"Ok so you think they're here right?"

silence still emanated.

"You do talk right?... Right?"

 

[Sakadi Marathi Sinvala]

The Jawa caught on to her thoughts quickly. While she wanted to tell him that the crew had to be there, all she could do was nod again. That's when the little guy asked her a painful question. She stopped for a moment, looking straight in the two glowing bulbs that supposedly were his eyes. Hesitating for a moment, she shook her head. Of course, she could talk. But not in a way he was going to like. She wasn't going to invade the mind of the one person who could convince the captain without freaking him out. Saddened by having to disappoint the Jawa, Sakadi returned to her task: Find an entrance to the crew restricted upper floor.

Sakadi turned around, facing the corridor again. If she could trust the evacuation plan displayed on the screen, there should be a crew-only elevator near their position. Just a bit to their right. It didn't take her too long to find the almost concealed elevator door. She pointed in it's direction, the Jawa would have to deal with the responsibility she had put on his shoulders later. Right now, they had to get in.

The elevator required a crew acces card in order to open the door. Kriff, where is that contact when he's needed.. She bit her lip as considered what her next action should be. She had her lightsaber which meant that when they had no other option left, she could open the door by force. But if possible, she'd like to keep the passenger ship in one piece. Also, she didn't want to reveal her Jedi status when she didn't have to. How capable was the Jawa when it came to bypassing security systems? She expectantly looked at the Jawa. Could he do something about this? If he couldn't, she'd have to play her trump card. Sakadi looked around once more, hoping that atleast one crew member was still walking around, but she didn't spot any.

 

[Funani Avanti]

"Ok you'll be lookout, I'll handle the elevator." Funani then searched the wall around the elevator in hopes for a service panel. There was nothing immediately visible but Funani started to feel around the elevator to see if the any portion of the wall felt hollow. Funani's search rendered nothing evident either, causing him to sweat under his robes knowing that every second wasted was another second potentially closer to Aldera. To whatever it had in store. As Funani was about to give up he then noticed a small almost imperceptible seam that was in the wall near the panel that he didn't notice before.

Funani took out his hydrospanner and used it as an improvised wedge to dig into the seam. After only a modicum of effort the flimsy plastic piece meant purely to hide the service panel flicked off without a care in space, revealing the true treasure. A panel with an array of wiring, circuitry, buttons and switches that would likely used by the maintenance crew to work on the elevator. He could lock down the elevator with this, open the elevator's service hatch and any number of things but Funani only cared for one thing the wiring. The security system would likely be just a sensor that sends out a bit of current to the elevator door switch to unlock it. Really all he would need to do is find which wire controlled either the door or the security system.

Funani starting going through the pouches on his Bandoleer and pulled his datapad, a well worn but trusty piece of kit that Funani had used for years, which probably still had plenty of sand from Tatooine inside it. He then took out a strange looking cable with a metal prong on one end and a plug on the other. Of course to Funani this strange thing was just a current probe, with the handy ability of not only being capable of seeing if electrical current was running through a wire but also could transmit a small amount of current as well. Finally Funani took out a pair of wire cutters and some electrical tape. Now if Funani had a circuit diagram of the ship this part would be trivial. Look up the wiring that controls the door, find the wire add a bit of current and boom were up. Funani however, would have to play around and do some guess work not the most elegant way but it was the only way available.

"Ok this might take a minute but I should be able to open the door." He whispered mainly to reassure himself the Sephi.

Funani was hoping that no one would interrupt him as they would assuredly come to the same conclusion that nearly led to him putting a blaster round into his new friend's brain socket. Funani really liked that his brain socket was blaster bolt free and wanted to keep it that way. In some way though he wished was like all the other passengers blind to what's really going on, not knowing that death may follow them today. Ignorance can truly be bliss but Funani often found he could never have bliss in his life.

 

[Sakadi Marathi Sinvala]

Sakadi glanced at the tinkering of the Jawa. Nope, she understood none of it. That didn't mean she wasn't interested though, on the contrary, her childish curiosity came into play. She caught herself frequently looking at the Jawa, trying to understand what the little guy was doing. Sometimes a passenger would walk by, forcing her to move her angle a bit, blocking the Jawa from sight. She winked to some annoyingly observant men, trying to catch their attention, instead of the Jawa behind her. So far it was working, but it didn't take much for his cover to be blown. Couldn't these people just stay put and wait? It was starting to annoy her.

She could finally rest at ease when she heard the Jawa whisper behind her. It meant that he atleast knew what he was doing. They were going to fix this mess, save some life and--- The sounds of the speakers being flicked on interrupted her thoughts. It was quickly followed by a familliar voice. One that made her hair stand on end.

"This is your captain speaking. We apologize for the wait, but we will now enter orbit in five minutes. Thank you for travelling with Alderaanian Spacelines and thank you for your patience."

If she had a voice, she'd be shouting right now. The idiots decided to go for it anyway! What do they think this is? Some joke? They had to make haste now. The crew was likely still at the meeting room, which meant that they still had a chance. But they had to be quick. If necessary, she would force her way through to convince the captain. She looked at her new ally once again, hoping he could deal with the pressure.

 

[Funani Avanti]

Nekkel juuvar obwegadada! Well wasn't this just wonderful? Just karking wonderful to hear. These idiots were gonna to try to land. Time slowed down and Funani started to throw caution into the cold vacuum of space. Quickly cutting the insulation around the wires so he could get at the raw cable. With way less care than he normally would apply to just jam the fricking probe in there and see if it was just the right kriffing one! The first few wires yielded nothing just dooka. Still he now tried to cut some more wiring as he swore that a minute had already gone by.

"Eungh" The small Jawa cried out as he accidentally touched the raw wire and electrical current briefly flowed through. It hurt like hoth and slightly burned some of his fur but that didn't matter right now. "come on I know you are there little wire, just come to papa Funani so I can open this... kriffing... good for nothing.... ra'ti." Funani now began the time honored tradition among mechanics of whispering to the thing giving you trouble to convince it to play nice with you. "Oh Kriff." Funani whispered as he accidentally severed one of the cables. He stared for a second at the exposed pieces of conducting wire. Funani then quickly tried to pinch the two pieces together with one hand and connect the probe to it with another. Ok just see... yes still can flow current... and now to send some down and... UTINNI!

There was the satisfying beep emitted from the card reader and the employee elevator came open, heavenly and beckoning to Funani's stressed out brain. It was then that Funani realized he had lost all awareness for what was going on around him having got complete tunnel vision. Also he realized that if they were landing again then people might start moving around the ship again like he was doing before he got involved into this crazy mess. He looked up to his ally to see how the mute was doing during all of this.

 

[Sakadi Marathi Sinvala]

How could a living being this small make so much sound? The message of the captain obviously meant that people were going to start moving again, which was not going to be in their favor. Just like her new partner in crime, Sakadi threw all caution out of the window. Shutting the blast doors suddenly seemed like a good option now. A member of the crew could easily open a blast door, but that was just it. There were no members of the crew on this level yet. She dashed to the control panel of the first blast door she saw in this corridor, analyzing it only to realize that this would require a crew card as well. Yeah, there was no way she was going to get this door shut the way it was meant to be shut. Sakadi pulled the blaster out again, and fired once at the panel. Firing once was enough, as the blast door instantly shut itself. No way people were going to come through and bother them down. Her actions might've been a bit rash, but not everything could be done according to protocol. Not when lives were on the line.

She returned just to hear the Jawa cry out some sort of victory shout, as the elevator opened before him. Now all that was left, was find to find the captain. And in order to find the captain, they'd have to get past the security first. Sakadi entered the lift, waiting for the Jawa to join her before she pressed the button which would take them to the upper floor. Once they reached it, she would have to be ready. The captain probably believed that their communications were being jammed, and if a Jawa and Sephi suddenly stepped out of the employee elevator looking for him, well yeah. That would likely end in a fight. It was not like anyone was going to believe a Jawa's story and she wasn't exactly in a state where she could argue with the captain himself. She needed the Jawa, so she'd make damn sure that he wasn't going to be shot or removed from the upper floor.

Without warning, she pulled her trump card from under her dress. The weight of the hilt comforted the nervous Sephi, as her thumb hovered above the activation button. She was ready to remove any obstacle presented on their path. She glanced at her companion for a moment. Did he know what she was holding? Of course he did. The weapon had become more of a signature nowadays, representing the Jedi Order and through them, the Galactic Alliance. Sakadi shifted her gaze again, this time looking at the rising number just above the control pannel, until it stopped changing. They had arrived.

 

[Funani Avanti]

Funani was now starting to wonder if it was a giant mistake to trust his new ally as she made the totally rational to blast the door control... great. He had hoped that hey maybe we could convince the captain quietly without you know causing massive amounts of panic by having a blaster go off in somewhere that could have people within earshot. He scurried for the elevator as the Sephi who seemed still to be miraculously calm about everything going on.

"Hey you trying to cause a ma-" Funani trailed once he saw her take a weapon out, not just any weapon though. Even though he never saw one in his entire life he sort of knew already like a sort of mass cultural memory that was ever present. The most interesting (but the most likely to be total dooka) stories was always stories of Sith and Jedi. Beings of invisible power that wield these fearsome blades of light that could cut through the air itself. Yet here was one of those warriors right in front of him. Funani pinched himself to make sure he wasn't in a dream... he wasn't dreaming even though that would be a much nicer prospect right now. He was really with one of these people.. and yet many other circumstances he would of walked right by her none the wiser. He didn't know if she was Jedi or Sith(though considering he hasn't been vivisected yet that made it more likely to be Jedi).

The elevator continued upwards as awe struck his mind like a tidal wave, only to recede to the situation at hand. They would still have to go ahead and convince the crew. A swearing Jawa and a mute with a laser sword, that sounded more like a comedy act than a serious force of diplomacy. He steeled himself nowing that this was going to be a really hard sale. "remember, what would mom and dad do?" Funani whispered to himself almost as a cry for help that they would reach out him some way, maybe they were out there in a way. Though Funani was never a praying man but man did crises have a way of making you doubt.

Funani felt the butterflies in his stomach fly out of him as the elevator came to a halt. The conversation in the room screeched to a dead halt as the door open. All eyes were on the dynamic duo, showtime. The captain briefly had his mouth agape. The XO looked like he was ready to tackle the Jawa until notice his mute accomplice with a weapon. Everyone else seemed too shocked waiting for someone to do something. Funani cleared his throat and walked forward.

"Who the hell are you? you don't hav-"
"Look, I know you just met us and your in the middle of something... but I've been through too much karking, kriffing crap trying to reach you guys to care right now! You guys are about to do something that's going to get everyone killed. Yeah killed you heard that. The city is being massacared right now. That's why you can't reach them. So unless you want to everyone to die... DON'T KARKING LAND!"