For the first time since he'd given his attention to Kay, the pilot looked over his shoulder. It was momentary, and from the the looks of things he was looking over to a group of his fellow pilots, as the immediate group behind him were wearing the same jet-black uniform he had. Of course, he said nothing to them and turned a drunken smile back to Kay, "Whole floor...? I like that idea...'s too loud in this place half the time anyway."
Garret:
Spoiler:
The second you pick up the object, you know its not what it appears to be. It weighs far too much to be a simple credit chip or datacard. In fact, even with its small size, its weight is comparable to a blaster pistol. The initial feeling of danger skyrockets when you pick it up, almost to the point of making it hard to hold.
Looking up for the robed man, you no longer saw him there. In fact, you couldn't see him anywhere around.
Garret's blood is pumping with adrenaline racing through his system. His heart starts racing and those who look at him may see a tell-tale reddening of his ears and nose as he makes quickly for Kay while trying not to be noticed. He goes quicker than he would like and there is a slight shake to his normally rock-steady hands as he approaches.
He speaks a little too quickly to her "Mistress, I am sorry to interrupt, but it is really time to go." He looks around, not quite frantically, for Duerr and then looks around to try to find the robed-one in the darkness and noise of the club. He almost unconsciously rubs against the carefully hidden blaster as he offers his hand to her, hoping that his borderline feeling of panic would not be noticed by the hopefully, drunk pilot, or Kay.
His only thoughts in this cacophony of emotions is of Sya .... and wishing he had his rifle with him.
[OOC: I wasn't exactly sure how I should play it this last moment or two, so I hope that I am handling this OK for you AMG, and that I took your clues well enough. ]
"Only two things can really move that fast in a craft,", Lia says as she looks over the information, "and still survive in the aftermath. Droids or... her voice trails off for a second. "Force users."
"I was thinking droids as well." Istara said, as she tried to pull anything more from the raw sensor data and Sara and Sya's analysis. "If Vader or one of his lackeys is taking a personal hand in things, we can't do anything about it. Droids, on the other hand..."
"Your timens 'sgreat, but your tone sucks Garret. Me and my friend here, he's the best pilot in the galaxy, we were about to go back to the otel. It quiter there, and we have a whole floor to relax in." Kay slurs a bit. "You may estort us there now. We'll talk abot sis later." she says firmly marred by the sloshing of her words.
Kay pulled the pilot up with her when she rose of his lap, making sure to squirm around a bit first. After they were standing, she leaned into him, putting herself under his arm and her head into the rook of his shoulder. "Shu ready to go back to my hotel room?" she asks the pilot.
The Imperial pilot sent a cautious almost-glare to Garret before turning his idiot grin back to Kay, as he came very close to failing to get to his feet. Once he found his footing, he remained surprisingly stable an laughed, "Jus lead the way."
As you turned to leave the Blue Moon, the robed man that Garret had been watching suddenly reappeared, as if out of no where. He came up behind Garret suddenly, obviously trying to stay out of sight before reaching out an arm and tightly gripping Garret's upper arm. Before he could fight back, the robed figure leaned in close, though Garret could still only see an unshaven mess of a jaw beneath the hood, and spoke forcefully and quietly enough that those close by likely couldn't hear, "The thing you picked up off the table...give it to me. Quickly."
The feeling from before, that intense stare-without-a-stare that seemed to bore into Garret's skull had returned, stronger than before. Now, though, Kay could feel it, too. Even though she was originally facing the other direction, she could feel eyes almost burning the back of her head with an intense gaze.
Apartment Group:
It was hard to glean much more from the data, as it wasn't really that much data in the first place. There was no real way to know if it was something mystical involved or mechanical, but you do know that the Empire has toyed with droid starfighters before. The last you knew of it, they were mostly relegated to a limited production run, cheap to build but not very effective in combat. Though you'd never actually seen one of the droid-operated TIEs, that was likely due to the only reports of them coming from backwater planets that even the Rebellion barely had a presence on.
From the data, it just didn't seem possible that whatever this was, it wasn't the droid TIE Fighters that were already in operation. They had too much of a reputation for being easy to shoot because they didn't react or maneuver quickly.
With all the remote hacking she could manage finished, and nothing more to be pulled out of the observational data, Istara switched her computer over to a fleet tactics simulation she had been working on. Trying to figure out how to best use a small fleet with few capital ships against the Imperial Navy was difficult, but every rebel officer had to deal with that reality.
So she set up a timer to remind her in an hour if the others didn't get back or call by then.
As a heads up, last week or so has been iffy for me but its settled into a good schedule now. Also, question. Is K2 over in the apartment or still back on the shuttle?
On that note, lets give this a bit of a kick.
Nightclub Group:
For a short moment, the Imperial pilot turned and stared blankly at the man who had grabbed Garret. But the moment passed and the pilot looked back to Kay, "Crazy locals 'r everywhere 'ese days...'s too bad we can't jus shoot em but appurently 'at's bad ferm...farm...frorm...'s bad somethin. Jus' best to ignores them."
He then did his best, in his drunken state, to exit the Blue Moon with Kay. The pilot managed to get outside to the open-air walkway before seemingly realizing he had no idea where Kay had been leading them. So he turned a questioning look in her direction.
The robed man only tightened his grip on Garret's arm, lowering his voice more and keeping his words firm, "Listen to me, son. That Kel Dor is a Rebel terrorist and you just picked up the bomb intended to take out all the Imperials in here. I don't know how long until it goes off, but with the way that boy ran off I'd expect its soon so either you get this out of here or I will."
Apartment Group:
It was only a few minutes into the simulation, which was of course not going well, when Istara's comlink beeped again. When it was answered, Sara's voice returned, though this time she sounded much less calm. Angry was probably the right word, "Istara...Lia...both of you. We have a bit of a problem. I noticed some odd readings on some of the sensor data while trying to find that ship again...but it was not a ship this time. I am fairly sure it was some kind of surveillance device or somthing similar. Sya agreed and got it in her idiotic brain to find the source. I have been trying to contact that bloody woman for the last ten minutes and either she is ignoring me or she has gone and proven her need for action truly is foolish. I would go after her myself, but I will not leave the ship alone, especially if we are under the eye of Imperial agents."
Deurr nudges Garret as if to ask if he required help. Barely hearing the words of the man as he came closer, he nods to Garret, thinking it might be best to obey.
OOC
FreeX hasn't been online for some time now. If you don't mind me stating his actions I'd say it would be best to obey the man, and hand him the thingy.
Sorry for the delay...we'll consider Garret on NPC status until further notice.
Nightclub Group:
Deurr's insistence seemed to bring Garret out of the slight state of shock the information had put him in. Quickly, he handed over the small device to the robed man. The man took it, nodded his head beneath the hood he wore, and then dashed off in the opposite direction, moving through the crowd as if the people weren't even there, and not actually barreling over anyone before you lost sight of him only seconds later. He was surprisingly fast.
"Where's 'e off to in such a hurry?" the young Imperial pilot had, for some reason, taken his attention off of Kay to see the man dart off, though he likely didn't hear the short conversation. Or, if he had, was probably too drunk to really comprehend. The young pilot shook his head a moment later, then mumbled to Kay, "You always keep such...such...intresting company aroun'?"
Apartment Group:
It took only a few minutes to get an air-taxi to take you back to the spaceport. The pilot only asked for a small amount of credits, to the point where you couldn't help but wonder how he stayed in business.
Once down on the ground level, you were once against surrounded by the citizens of Curamelle. With Corulag's sun having finally set, the streets were bathed in the light of countless glowrods that actually provided more light than there had been when you'd arrived earlier in the day. There did seem to be a few less people around, though the small market stands of various kinds that were scattered around were just as packed as they'd been before.
Many of the docking bays on the opposite end of the street looked to be closed, and you saw a couple of ships coming and going, but not much in the way of activity outside them. When the Vortex's bay came into sight, you noticed that it was in the same state. Yes, there were people on the street passing by, but even K2 could see nothing that indicated Imperial agents watching...if there were any, they were well hidden.
With nothing left keeping any of you at the Blue Moon, or rather, outside of it, Kay started to lead the way back to the apartment, which could be seen not too far off along the walkway. The night in the city was like night in most of the Core, with a black sky barely being able to be seen through the various lights of the city, along with countless airspeeders and even starships heading in and out.
But you only got a short distance away from the Blue Moon when there was an explosion. While it was not entirely unexpected, it was still very loud and strong enough to give the walkway a good shake. You couldn't see it, but from the sound, it seemed to be down below rather than on your level. And, of course, people began to panic.
The young Imperial pilot nearly fell over, likely more due to being drunk than the explosion, and spun around to look back in that direction. He muttered something surprisingly rude before speaking louder, "'s the damn Rebels again. Can't just...let em...can't jus..." he sighed heavily and turned an apologetic look to Kay, "Halfta find em if they're near still. Else they'll keep killin' more people...meet me back at that place tomorrow night."
He turned, almost collapsed, drew his blaster pistol, and ran as best he could towards the explosion, falling into a group of Imperials that exited the Blue Moon. There were even some Stormtroopers heading that direction, and more appearing out of almost no where, trying to contain the panic and possibly lock down the area entirely.
And then you saw him. Running straight towards you was the Kel Dor from before. You were sure it was him. He wore the same clothes and had the same coloured skin as the one in the Blue Moon from earlier, and though he was running away from where the explosion had been, he was doing quite a good job of staying within a crowd of others doing the same.
Apartment Group:
"Just a moment...I'll send you the stuff we picked up. Its kind of hard to read, but its the best we could do to trace the signals we picked up," Sara responded over the comm.
In a matter of seconds, Istara's datapad displayed a small map of the area. It was a crude, wireframe display that looked like the exact copy from the Vortex, but showed the area well enough. You could see where the ship was inside the hangar, the hangar itself, and the immediate area of the street where you were. Overlayed on top of that were a series of wavy lines that looked a bit like a topographical map. Except that they all came together inside the hangar two north of the Vortex's. While there were a couple other points on the street that had tighter lines, nothing was as obvious as the hangar section.
Before being able to act on any of the data, however, you both heard a loud explosion. It was above you, almost directly, and looking up quickly you could see the end of the flash and small pieces of debris began to rain down, thankfully mostly pebble-sized pieces of duracrete that didn't pose any serious threat. People began to panic and scatter, and in seconds it was a chaotic mess in the street.
Lia:
Spoiler:
You couldn't see much, but it doesn't seem to you like the explosion could have originated above you if it was on something. The pieces of debris were definitely from one of the large buildings that shot up into the sky, but it had been too low to be on one of the upper-level walkways that criss-crossed the sky.
"I suspect that's going to make our jobs more difficult." Istara said, hopefully so no one but Lia could hear, finding an overhang to stand under and brush herself off.
"However, some of our friends attract trouble like Hutts attract criminals, so..." She says, calling Kay on her commlink.
The overhang provided a good amount of cover, though it was made of a lighter brand of durasteel that clanged loudly as even small pieces of debris hit it. Thankfully, though, the shower of rubble was ending, even if the panic in the street was not. At least a few people looked injured, but upon a quick glance in your immediate area, there didn't seem to be anyone with more than a bruise or a somewhat-nasty scratch that wouldn't kill them.
While some took refuge under other overhangs, most were still out in the street itself, having panicked and stood in shock rather than duck out of the way as you had. While that meant more minor injuries, it also meant the two of you were likely not heard as most people weren't even paying any attention to you beyond a wide-eyed look of shock as they looked around to figure out what had happened.
Istara's comlink did not respond with Kay's voice, but instead two quick clicks...on and off, then on and off again. It was barely audible, but you were both able to hear it. Though that wasn't technically a signal of any kind, it did at least mean she was responding...or someone with her comlink was, at least.
At the same time, you could both see something more important than the panicked populace. There had been some Stormtroopers in the street, which wasn't anything out of the ordinary as far as you could tell from the short time on the planet, but now they were easy to spot. You could see at least five, quickly gathering at the entrance to some small shop that had cover from above and discussing something, though you couldn't hear. One of them, however, did have his hand up to the side of his helmet, something many of the troopers did when using their helmet comms.
Slowly, the chaos was settling. Many of the people, though shaken, were beginning to go back to wherever they had originally been heading. Some of the street-side business operators were trying to push the debris away in obvious hopes for at least some business to return. But the Stormtroopers clearly noticed the fact that people were heading away and started to spread out across the street.
"Hold it! This area is being locked down until further notice," one of the synthesized voices from their helmets called out as blaster rifles could be seen aiming at clearly innocent people who, intelligently, stopped trying to leave. Though there were only five of them, the troopers seemed to have the immediate area well covered...at least they didn't seem to be watching either of you.
It was hard to tell how much of the area they were saying was blocked off, though. The hangar where the Vortex's sensors had given odd readings, and the only lead to where Sya might have disappeared off to, was still two docking bays up the street. Sure, you could see the large structure, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary. One of the Stromtroopers was heading that direction, waving people off to the sides of the street and clearing the middle of the duracrete street for whatever reason. He didn't seem to be taking any interest in anything but getting people out of the way from the looks of it, though, and people weren't testing their luck and just backing off against the adjacent docking bay walls and looking around with clear worry and panic on their faces.
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