Pre-nuTL - The Reactor is off limits!

[Danee]

Alderaan - Orbit
Imperial Frigate - HMS Fortitude
Academy Trip - 11 Years Ago​

Ashlaa Timenia was a promising student, not the best of her class, but she was up there, she could always see the top marks within her grasp, but then something would slip up and she'd fall just short of winning against her classmates. Usually this wasn't a big deal, the grades through out the year were all accumulated into one grade at the end of each year, based on how well you had done through out the full year, so, Ashlaa wasn't afraid of falling out of the top ten in her class. However this time it had mattered, the six students with the highest scores on the last test had been allowed to go on a trip to an active duty Imperial Frigate, the HMS Fortitude, while it was going to be docked above Alderaan. So, of course, she had poured every waking moment into preparing for the test, and it had paid off, but, not quite enough to snag that number one spot, instead she had gotten the second highest, which ensured that she was going to the Frigate without a doubt.

However, during their trip to the dockyards where the Fortitude was docked, they were informed that they would all be looking after another student during their trip to the Fortitude. This came as a surprise to the students as class-to-class interactions were rather limited, but what came as an even bigger shock was that the students they would be looking after were three years younger than them.

Once they had been told who they would be looking after they were told that while they were on the Fortitude they were to give the Commander their undivided attention and do exactly as he said, as failing to do so could have severe repercussions.

Once they had arrived at the station and boarded the Fortitude they were introduced to their fellow students they would be taking care of, Ashlaa, had been assigned to a human boy, named Eddard Thul-Drast, judging by his surname he probably had some distant relation to the Emperor and his bloodline, but, Ashlaa didn't let that phase her as the tour of the ship started. One of the first things asked was by her classmate Thyn, another Human boy. "Excuse me, Commander, will we be visiting the Reactor anything?" The question was innocent enough and Ashlaa knew that Thyn was rather interested in propulsion systems, so, she figured that it was a natural question. "Great question, cadet! Not at all, due to reasons I can't explain, the reactor section is off limits, to everyone! Now, let's get going." The Older commander replied with his stern voice.

If Ashlaa hadn't known Thyn she wouldn't have cared that his request to see the reactor was shut down, but, she did know him and she also knew that his sole reason for wanting to come to the ship in the first place had been to see the reactors. The tour went along rather smoothly after that, everyone seemed to be following along fine and answered whatever question they were given after a piece of equipment or section had had their purpose explained to them, to see if they followed along.

Around halfway through the tour Ashlaa looked to her right, where Eddard Thul-Drast should have been walking beside her, but instead found nothing. Her heart sank as she looked behind her and figured she saw a figure moving around a corner they had just turned. She glanced over towards the rest of the group and stopped. She and Eddard had been the last pair in the group and thanks to that she could stop and let the group march on through out the ship while she turned around and hurried down the hallway towards the corner. "Eddard! Come back here! You'll get me in trouble!" she called with a hushed voice, moving down the hallway they had walked moments before, spotting a door closing as she headed towards it, he better not get her in trouble, if that was the case, she didn't care if he was the Emperor's niece, she'd rat him out anyway.

@Nefieslab

 

[Nefieslab]

Young Eddard really did enjoy looking around naval vessels - there was just something so interesting in seeing a ship so powerful that it could destroy cities just floating there in space. It probably said something about him that at barely thirteen years of age he could actively tell that he was attracted to power and spaceships, to him, were a form of power made of metal and power and energy that was unavoidable.

Or maybe he was just going through the phase that his mother told him all teenage boys go through? The phase where spaceships were the best thing since blue milk.

He didn't know - he just knew that the tour group was hardly doing it justice so he was off as soon as he could get away from the group without being immediately spotted and stopped.

Annoyingly enough, it seemed that one of the older students had caught onto the fact that he was no longer with the group any longer. Sighing, he shook his head.

"Go back to the group - they'll miss you." he glanced over his shoulder at her with a cold expression that looked out of place on a thirteen year old boy, "I don't need you tagging along."

Heading to the reactor, Eddard made sure to increase his speed to that of a brisk walk so as to make sure he made up for the time he'd lost in speaking to her.

@Danee

 

[Danee]

Following the figure in through the door that had shut as she got up to it, she had to wait for it to open and once it did open, she spotted the young Eddard glancing over his shoulder and telling her to go back to the rest of the group. Confusion and slowly building anger appeared on her face as she walked after him, noticing that despite her being taller, though not much, he was still moving away from her. So, she picked up her speed to follow after him towards wherever he was going. Taking her eyes off of her annoyance she glanced around and took a moment to get her bearings before she realized where the little kid was heading. Stopping for a moment she took a deep breath and exhaled through her nose. The blasted brat was heading to the Reactor. She contemplated running back to the group and fetching the commander, his teacher or her teacher, either would do, but, she'd probably end up in an equal amount of trouble as well, probably more since she'd probably be seen liable for him sneaking off like that. No, she wasn't going to take shit because he couldn't keep himself in check. She had three more years before she could embark on her own career, she wasn't going to let a kid get in her way.

With her eyes open again she ran down the hallway the entire class had moved down earlier, to her knowledge there wasn't any personnel aboard the Frigate at this moment, most of them should have left for Alderaan before they even landed on the station above the surface. But, she couldn't be too sure, so, she kept her running as silent as possible until she caught up to the thirteen year old boy.

Latching onto his shoulder with her right hand she slowed him down enough to move in front of him, putting her arms out and glaring down at the boy. "Don't. Move. If you're going where I think you're going, I'm going to follow, but, you're the one who takes whatever crap we get thrown our way if they find us, okay?" She put on a rather stern looking face, the white marks going towards her lips on her skin distorted slightly by the clenching of her jaw. She was far from a physically strong person, she was more athletic, so, despite being three years older, she figured that if push came to shove, he'd probably have a fair chance at getting past her, but, not for too long as she'd eventually catch up anyway.

"If we don't get end up knee deep in bantha crap, well, I won't mention this side tour to anyone, ever, you have my word for that."

 

[Nefieslab]

Eddard was going to admit, here and now, that he was already getting rather tired of this woman following him. He was going to see something and she was making a nuisanse of herself by following him and, likely, trying to stop him from actually reaching his destination.

Well it was too bad for her because he would be damned if he let her stop him!

He wanted to see the reactor, the single most powerful part of the entire ship, and he was going to see the reactor no matter what she said or did. So when she moved quickly to stand in front of him, arms spread wide to keep him from progressing, he narrowed his eyes and listened as she went on to explain that she wasn't going to stop him but that she wanted him to agree that he would take responsibility for everything.

"Fine."

With her limbs spread to keep him contained, she left herself entirely open to his right foot swinging up between her legs and his booted foot kicking her right in the crotch. She wouldn't have chance to react so she would fall like a sack of bricks and he would carefully walk around her prone form as he continued on towards the reactor.

"I'll take responsibility for that as well, don't worry."

@Danee

 

[Danee]

When the young brat accepted the fact that he was to be blamed for everything that would have happened if they got caught she was going to relax her stance and let him pass her, but, she didn't have much of a chance to do so as before she could react, he had brought his foot up right between her legs in a surprisingly powerful kick, bringing her toppling down onto the floor and cursing to herself in Togruti as pain radiated through out her body. She saw his figure moving and tried to reach for him and grab his leg but her senses were a bit too focused on reeling in pain to properly move her hand fast enough.

Gritting her teeth she could feel her jaw clenching and relaxing over and over as she worked the pain away from the forefront of her thoughts and more to the back where it'd eventually fade away. Pushing herself up from the floor she dusted off her pants and scowled as she turned to walk in the direction he had disappeared off into. Moving at a much slower pace this time she moved carefully as to not cause further discomfort between her legs, damn the brat had one hell of a kick. If he wasn't going to end up pulling a career in the Navy he certainly had potential in Grav-ball. Bracing herself with one hand against the bulkhead as she headed down the hallway towards the reactor she slowly but surely managed to straighten her back and walk at a normal pace, though that was just about the time she reached the off limits reactor door.

Glancing around quickly to make sure there wasn't anyone around she opened the doors and stepped inside, looking for the blasted kid again. "Eddard! Get over here! Even if we are breaking the rules I expect you to at least be near me!". She called out again with her hushered voice.

@Nefieslab

 

[Nefieslab]

The reactor was going to be even more amazing than he had thought before, he could just tell. Already he was beginning to notice that it seemed to be pulsing, almost like a living heart, raw power coursing through it's entire being as he stared at it for a moment. In the end, he moved over to a transformer box and sat himself down atop of the electronic box as he just stared at the reactor for a long moment in silence.

When his 'minder' showed up again he just raised an eyebrow at her.

"Why?" He asked honestly before shrugging, "I'm not going anywhere just yet - I just want to sit here for now. Watch it."

Was it odd that he was a young man interested in watching a frigate's reactor at work? Maybe but he didn't care and he didn't care that he didn't care - a lovely little circle that meant he was wholly unconcerned right now. Humming as he watched the reactor, he pointed to one of the main power couplings.

"I want to be that." he told her honestly, "One day, I want to be like that coupling - I want to take the raw power of something and direct it best. So that it works best for the whole ship."

He glanced back at her.

"And you? What do you want to be if you ever decide to stop being a disappointment?"

@Danee

 

[Danee]

When the annoyance of a child once again questioned her she looked over the direction where it came from. Spotting him sitting on a transformer box she clenched her jaws shut as she fought back the urge to run up to him and wack him several times over the head. Walking over towards him she glanced around to see if they risked getting found out by some lingering mechanic or someone looking for them. Seeing that the coast looked clear enough she turned her attention back to the brat who sat atop the box with a raised brow. Listening to him mentioning his dream of wanting to be able to take power and direct it, well, that was what everyone wanted, wasn't it? It had been the goal of her family for generations to climb and reach those higher seats of power. She hoped that she'd be the one too do that. But, then he called her a disappointment, normally, she wouldn't have hesitated and thrown the first punch, but, the kid had some special surname and was probably some distant bastard relative to the Emperor, which made her a whole lot less eager to throw a punch at him for such a reason.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Ignoring your comment, but, I'm hoping to one day either reach rank of Admiral or Commodore." she said as she subconsciously straightened her back just slightly. Tilting her head she looked back to him with a raised brow.

"I take it that you too are aiming for naval command?" She asked and asked, knowing that she'd probably get a bite back in response from the brat child, but, what else could she expect from someone like him? Probably lived a rather pampered life too.

 

[Nefieslab]

Oh?

She wanted to become a naval commander? He looked at her for a moment and he could see that she had a few of the qualities he knew that the Imperials looked for in such officers. Of course he didn't know much about her so he wasn't sure if she actually had what it took to become either an admiral or a commodore.

For all he knew she could be so incompetent that she wouldn't manage to become the captain of a single ship, let along come to command a fleet.

"You assume you have the bearing to be someone of such authority over Imperials and Imperial assets?" he asked her with a raised eyebrow, "Maybe you might do one day... if you watch your defences in the future."

A cheap shot in reference to his earlier cheap shot.

He laughed.

It was not because it was funny - it was a calculated move to belittle her.

"I am aiming for control and prominence." he told her, as if explaining it to a very small child, "I shall become a commander of men, materials, assets and more."

He smirked ever so slightly.

"You should get used to the sight of me being raised higher than you."

@Danee

 

[Danee]

Ashlaa looked at Eddard with a raised brow as he took a rather cheap shot back at the kick he had delivered to her a few minutes earlier. Though she opted to not let the laughing get to her and instead just chose to ignore it as he began to outline his plans for the future. As she listened to him with a raised brow she tilted her head slightly, letting out a scoff and a shake of her head as he said she should get used to seeing him above her in rank. She doubted that, she'd have three years to try and get ahead of him, though, knowing how much of an advantage one had if ones blood could be traced to the Imperial bloodlines, well, she'd need those three years of head start.

She looked back towards the reactor, listening to the humming it produced as it sat idling. Returning her attention back to him she raised her chin slightly. "If that's what you believe will happen, you better grow a bit taller as well." She said, "I find it hard to take those shorter than me seriously." She looked back at the reactor for a few moments, she could practically feel the micro-vibrations in the air, it was an odd sensation.

With both her hands behind her back, one holding the other wrist she turned back to him. "Are you done watching the reactor? I'm heading back to the groupi and if you aren't there just after me, I might just have a slip of my tongue." With that said, she turned away from him and headed towards the door she had entered through. "Don't be late."

 

[Nefieslab]

Eddard almost rolled his eyes when her best comeback was a crack about his height. While not the tallest young man his age, Eddard wasn't short by any stretch of the imagination for his age. She had three years on him but he knew that he would be a tall man when he grew up regardless. So instead of rolling his eyes, the corner of his lips twitched up into a slight smirk as he looked her right in the eyes.

"Don't worry - when it comes time for you to take commands from me?" His eyes narrowed slightly, "You'll be doing it from bended knee."

He did roll his eyes at her question about him being done watching the reactor.

"As a matter of fact, I am." he declared as he smoothly dismounted from the transformer box and started to stride through the corridors back towards the group, "Thankfully I shall not have to put my trust in your tongue - no matter how skilled your instructors likely think it is."

He really did not care for this woman...

@Danee