"Well that is something quite unfamiliar." I murmur, trying to examine it through the slight pixelation that the digital zoom has created.

"Something that doesn't belong out here at all."

--------------------

"You said you set this alarm; perhaps you can likewise determine just what this thing is," she said, now sending a look bearing her normal, signature haughtiness Phalomir's way.

"I have found the thing; it is your time to continue with it and discover what it is. But to me, it looks somewhat like-- like..."

The pretense of haughtiness fell a couple notches as she screwed her brows together, and leaned a bit forward to scrutinize the screen further.

"Some kind of ship," she said at last as she pulled back again, now seeking physical verification of Rykounagin's strength. Not that she wasn't strong enough in herself, mind you; but even she could recognize the concept of additive power. Each one of them unto his or herself might be uniquely powerful in his or her own way, but together their talents were multiplied.

Even him, a tiny portion of her unconscious admitted grudgingly as her eyes slid momentarily to Phalomir. Then they slid upward to her betrothed, and remained fixed there.

For he was right, as was Phalomir. This thing did not belong where it was; how could it have gotten there. And in all the vastness of the known universe, how could it have seemingly found them?

Halfling though she was, she was Warrior Sith through and through, and thus didn't believe one whit in the concept of coincidence. Her hand reached quietly toward her boot, reaching for the Tooth she had handily slid there.

--------------------

...something was certainly wrong. Or at least, it appeared to be wrong...

...especially now.

"Unless my sensors are wrong--and I don't think that they are--it is a ship."

She paused, her look darking as with effort she turned her attentions away from the controls and towards ShaRhylla. "The problem is that my navboard can't seem to make any sense of where we are...

...nor do my systems seem to pick up any planets or other bodies, recognizable or not, in the area."

Shayla quieted again, her eyes shifting ever-so-slowly to the still approachig thing in the viewscreen. "Which makes me wonder just where in all the known galaxy that approaching...

...thing might have come from..."

[ 02-08-2010 09:24 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

--------------------

"It's odd... it has all the appearance of a ship in shape, but it has a peculiar... texture. That doesn't look like simple durasteel construction..." I say, examining it. "Some sort of Xenos ship perhaps... like the ships that were fought at Bakura. Perhaps something we've not encountered before."

The notion is intriguing as it is frightening, though no fear is betrayed by his touch or expression. "Can we do further scans? Or is that the limit of the ship's capacity?"

--------------------

"Of course we're not going to find any planets or anything like that out here!" she stated with a little sniff.
"We're beyond the limits of our galaxy, aren't we?"

Her eyes slid to Phalomir, reading silent affirmation to her statement in his own troubled pair. Nodding, she nestled against Rykounagin, now taking the Tooth from her boot and beginning to toy idly with it.

"Doesn't anyone but me find it... odd that in all the great hugeness of space, this ship or whatever it is has managed to find us? And that after we landed here by accident."

Now she shot another dark look toward Shayla, as if their current situation had been entirely her fault. But the halfling being who and what she was, she naturally had to lay blame somewhere; since Shayla had plotted their course, it seemed logical to her that it was due to some mishap on the young woman's part that had landed them where there now were.

Which seemed so frighteningly very far away from home.

--------------------

"If it was an accident at all," Shayala ammended, unable to stop herself from shooting a somewhat accussatory look Phalomir's direction. With effort, the look faded and she was once more virtually unreadable.

"For all we know, if there are truly games being played by Powers that Be which we are not aware of..."

She trailed, scowling.

"...this could all be yet another move in the game."

Her lip twisted in a look of disgust once more at the suggestion that they were all being moved around as mere pawns. The very idea turned her stomach.

"But all speculation aside, whether we were placed here intentionally or not, it would seem that, for some reason or another...

...whomever or whatever is out there knows we are here, which almost suggests that they or it may somehow have a connection with someone or something onboard our own ship. And as for any further scans...

...my sensors detect metal and such as we would expect from any typical ship," she said, answering Rykounagin. "But you are also correct, there is something my scanners detect about the ship's outer hull that it has been trying to analyze and recognize...

...but it has been unsuccessful doing so."

[ 03-01-2010 09:21 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

--------------------

Moving with all the grace and speed of a sandcat, she was away from Rykounagin and back at the console.

"Let me..." she interjected rather roughly as with equal roughness she shouldered Shayla aside and reached for the zoom controls. The image on the screen came in a touch closer, and she had to strain to see its dim form against the blackness of intergalactic space. But even though it was at the limits of Preon's sensors, there was enough light being cast upon it from the galaxy behind them that, although tiny, it resolved into just a bit more clarity.

Everyone seemed to lean forward, all breath seemingly held. ShaRhylla let hers out in a quick huff as one slender, clawed finger tapped upon the image being presented by the screen.

Yes, it most definitely was a ship.

Yes, it was most definitely strange in outward appearance, seeming to be covered by a coating of something that seemed to...

Writhe.

She leaned in more closely, noticed something briefly revealed by the ship's strangely roiling cover.

A quick flash of letters, of words.

--il-Ma--

The flash of recognition within her escalated into a shiver that raced throughout her body. While the briefly exposed lettering didn't mean diddly to her, the substance covering the ship was familiar to her.

Very familiar indeed.

She sucked in a breath, catching her bottom lip between her fangs, and went back to Rykounagin. The move was not as if she was seeking safety, but rather seeking to...

Share.

"Do you remember?" she asked softly, her eyes glinting as they remained fixed on the image of the ship.

--------------------

“This ship,” he said to no-one in particular, “This looks like something one would expect to find in any spaceport, such as I have seen in the human worlds. Yet, something does indeed seem strange about it, something covering it in places… something else I have seen before…”

Walls.

Phalomir sat back abruptly as the image flashed before his eyes.

“Walls,” he murmured. “Cell walls…”

He struggled to remember, but the rest of this story would not play out. He knew the answer, he knew he had been somewhere and had seen things that would make this oh so clear, but it was just out of reach.

“Where have I seen this?” he asked, turning to the others. His eyes caught first with Rykounagin’s, and he saw that this troubled the youth as well.

But it was there… images of pain, of… torture? Wailing, darkness, suffering…

His thoughts were interrupted by a crackle that cut the silence like the claw of a rancor. Another crackle, then a hiss that tried to form into a voice.

“—ay care… contact-- ship. We-- adrift--- help… ”

Phalomir immediately snapped out of his thoughts and into the now. He reached for the com-link button but then paused. He then glanced around to the others.

“We still do not know what we are dealing with,” he said, “but they apparently know we are here as well.”

--------------------

I reach down to the controls and find a familiar symbol, pressing it into the console.

"Damaged vessel, your broadcasts are coming through as weak, say again, your broadcasts are coming through as weak. Please identify yourself."

I glance back over my shoulder at those in the cockpit, releasing the sigil that sent the frequency of my voice to the other ship. "What's the name of this ship anyhow?"

--------------------

The writhing blackness that covered the ship which floated helplessly nearby.

She more than well knew what that was, where it had come from. But so should have Rykounagin; because of her former connection with the Darker Realms, and the link she had maintained with it, she had easily felt within the very being of her husband-to-be that he had trafficked within them at one point himself.

One does not handily traipse into Hell and back without being a bit... touched by it...

And that touch had a blackly silken tendency to linger in one's memory, whether consciously or not.

A crackle of static assailed her ears, drawing her away from her thoughts. Plucking up the Tooth of S'slan once again, she ran its blade lightly up and down her thumb while she listened.

"--are. We say ...n, this is Devi- are..."

The voice lost itself to static, which filled their ship with an interfering hiss.

She looked from one to the other.

"Did anybody make that out?" she asked innocently, not really caring, just a simple statement of query that likewise faded into the electronic chatter arout them.

[ 03-04-2010 11:54 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by ShaRhylla ]

--------------------

An ever familiar item in my life.

However, it was the nervous trait, the tell she was displaying by holding it that worried me more. What was it that she had said?

Do you remember?

My eyes go back to the ship, trying to discern what she was-

Oh sacred feth.

I blink, realizing what I'd been missing. Yes, the texture was off because the texture wasn't solid. It was moving, so much like...

"That which doesn't belong is here." I murmur, looking back to ShaRhylla, and speaking more clearly now. "Yes, I remember."

--------------------

Good. He does remember...

Why this recognition on his part so pleased her she couldn't honestly fathom. Perhaps it was that there was now something more than a mere commonality between them.

They both had passed into the Darker Realms. They had both been touched by its eerie taint. And they both had come out again.

Alive... although it had taken certain magickal assistance from her Mother to make certain of that in her case.

Which brought up another question.

One hand now reaching up to draw a claw ever so lightly down the plane of Rykounagin's face, she spoke aloud and not to any one of them in particular.

"It is obvious this ship has come out of the Darker Realms," she said matter-of-factly, as if this remarkable event was nothing more than the most mundane of everyday occurances.

"Yet... how can this be...?"

She let the question drift off, drowned beneath the squawking static which conveniently hid the little tremor that had suddenly crept into her voice.

Was it Him? Was he coming now for her?

She shivered a little, dug the tip of the Tooth into the meat of her thumb so as to regain her composure. Lifting the wounded member to her lips to suck upon the richly purple blood now flowing out, she paused.

She had once relished this...

Hand halted midway to her mouth, she let it hang there, her blood now dripping down and away as she tried to pretend there was at the moment nothing in the entire universe more important than that mysterious little ship.

[ 03-04-2010 12:39 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by ShaRhylla ]

--------------------

Rather ignorant of a base response. I think, reaching out to my love and delicately pulling her to me, though I still look out of the glass at the other craft. Embracing her in my arms, I grip the hand she has idly picked at with the blade, and bring it to my lips, planting a kiss on the wounded digit, her blood leaving the slightest stain on my lips.

My focus wavers for a moment, and I find the cockpit dimly reflected in the glass by the lights that fill it.

I have to admit, it's a rather comfortingly macabre scene. My eyes idly roam over my love held in my arms, her hand still held up to my face, the slightest glimpse of her blood there on my lips.

"Let's board the ship." I finally say, drawing my focus away from the reflection, after briefly examining the others within it. "We're not going to get a clean communication with that mass there. Also, we're not exactly going anywhere until we figure out why we're both out here."

--------------------

"Yes!" she agreed with a flash of her eyes. "I find this entire happening to be too strange to warrant us just sitting here doing nothing. They--"

She nodded toward the monitor.

"--have too conveniently approached us, and after coming from the Darker Realms. I know this to be true, for remember I--"

She faltered a moment, not sure as how much she wanted everyone to know about her background. But then she realized that Phalomir more than likely knew everything there was to know about her anyway, thanks to his relationship with her mother; and as for Shayla, well...

What her yet shaky partner truly thought of her, she simply didn't care. She only cared about accomplishing what she had vowed she would, and that was the destruction of the Pretender, Phalomir, as well as her mother.

It irked her that Shayla seemed to think they yet needed Phalomir. Perhaps something would happen to him aboard the mystery ship.

"I once existed there."

She drew in a deep breath, then let it out as if it was the battle cry she would soon be singing, the thought of which was now sending her blood pounding through her veins.

"Let us delay no longer, but get ourselves to that ship and attach to it! Then we can board it, and find out once and for all just who and what is over there, as well as what infernal games they are playing with us!"

[ 03-04-2010 01:21 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by ShaRhylla ]

--------------------

"Before we board," he said, "We've all had dealings with the Darker Realms, and I'm not too anxious to get anywhere close to it again. Be careful about these weird coincidences, because I don't think that's what they are at all. And you ought to know something, I know that ship -- sort of. Back when we were doing things with Galen, there was that one guy... oh, what's name? Yukzi? Yookasi? Anyway, he had a ship that I remember pretty well because I loved the name -- Devil May Care. It sure looks like that ship to me. Except back then it wasn't covered in weird stuff and suspected of coming from the Darker Realms."

--------------------

...or at least, it used to be.

"He's right, that at least was Joao's ship," she finally admitted aloud. "Someone we know may be aboard," she observed, her voice even and unaffected despite the idea that someone of her acquantaince might be in dire straits. Pausing momentarily, Shayla turned to the navboard and keyed in a few commands. The ship's sensors began working once more.

"And what else would you prefer us do regarding them? Merely sit here and do nothing?" Shayla asked, turning a somewhat icy look Panthar's direction. "It would appear that if we don't board their ship, they may attempt boarding ours." As if on cue to that spoken thought, the sensors finished the work they had been doing, and something flashed into life on the navboard's central monitor.

The results of the scan she had implemented sent a shiver up Shayla's spine. "I get one humanoid life form reading from the ship...

...and multiple unknown readings as well."

(((OCC: I'm assuming that since the imps will be corporeal without powers, that ship sensors should pick them up somehow, even if they do not register as anything known. Feel free to correct me if this is the wrong assumption, but it certainly throws another proverbial monkey wrench into te current situation.)))

--------------------

He then turned to face the others.

"I say we try to board, or at least get closer where communication might better succeed. If this is indeed the ship belonging to our friend then we need to help. Shayla, this is your ship, you make the call."

--------------------

I look to Shayla, my next words implying something just short of a command. "Dock with the ship. Whatever is aboard cannot be more dangerous than us, short of there being a Rancor loose or a platoon of stormtroopers with blasters. Whatever is over there I doubt will be any more lethal than the rules of reach might imply."

I glance back out the viewport to the ship, still roiling in the mass that covers it. "Besides... We've made nice with the dark side before, haven't we?"

--------------------

"Boosting transmission to -- hope you -an hear. Engines weak, not enough -- to make a burn -- not -- how we came out here, but support failing and --"

More crackles.

"It appears we need to make our decision soon," said Phalomir. "If we are able to manuever, then perhaps it is time we did so. Whoever this is, they are apparently as lost as we are. Shall we take a chance?"

--------------------

"Oh, enough dallying about!" she finally exclaimed as with one swift and fluid movement she joined Shayla at the navigation console. There she paused, looking over the young human's shoulder for a moment before leaning down to put her lips close to Shayla's ear.

"Do it..." she breathed in a sultry whisper, although not one so low that none other could hear what she was saying. She straightened then, regaining her former air of hauteur.

"Dock with the ship-- oh, I shall do it myself!"

With that she gave Shayla a brusque push and positioned herself on the chair beside her. There was barely enough room for the two to share seating, but both were slim with plenty of motivation not to give in. Shayla of course wanted to be the one to pilot her own ship, but the halfling, used to getting her own way, was now joining her fiance in demanding that action be taken. Shayla appeared to be dragging her feet; ShaRhylla jockeyed to retain her precarious position and reached out to the controls.

"How does one do this? Has anyone docked with another vessel before? It can't be that difficult; what does this do?"

With that she pressed a particular control, and just by accident sent Preon into a slow but graceful slew in the direction of the unfortunate Devil-May-Care.

--------------------

"Wasn't that the point?" I ask Phalomir rhetorically, before moving up behind my love's appropriated chair, and bending over her shoulder to reach the controls.

Repairing ships was not something I was entirely skilled at, but piloting I could do just fine.

With a few adjustments, the ship adjusts, the sensors trying to identify an airlock. "This is going to be like putting an IV into a moving vein." I murmur, eyes locked onto the readout to pick up the sign of an airlock.

"There." I breathe quietly, making another adjustment and bringing the ship around to the side of the Devil May Care smoothly, connecting airlocks in a swift, and slightly ship-jarring motion.

"Time to meet the neighbors, I think."

--------------------

...and that was exactly what was happening. And while she agreed that they needed to take matters into their own hands before whomever or whatever was aboard the other ship did so, she did not dismiss the gravity of the situation either. Shifting a bit as the Preon docked with the Devil-May-Care, Shayla toggled a switch on the navboard to ensure that the two were securely attached. Then she turned and stood even as others began heading back towards the airlock. Her eyes fell on Panthar, who was looking rather hesitant.

"Look on the bright side," she said a bit darkly. "Whatever is over there was picked up by my sensors, and should therefore corporeal...

...and can be wounded if necessary."

As if to emphasize that final statement, her hand wandered towards her weapons belt which yet held the sword she had appropriated before leaving the Temple on Khar Delba.

--------------------

Shayla stood at the airlock controls and nodded to the others as they arrived. Phalomir watched her work the controls effortlessly, and in a moment the familiar hiss of a vacuum being filled and pressurized wafted through the cabin.

Phalomir stared through the portal at the other ship. It too had a portal on its airlock door, but all he could see was darkness within that ship.

“They may not have power to the airlock,” he said, musing. “I am no expert in this matter, how do we open their side if that is the case?”

--------------------

"I don't see--" she began with a sniff when she nipped her words off in mid-sentence.

"Wait; something is happening."

Gripping the Tooth of S'slan more tightly she lowered her center of gravity, twisting a bit sideways and shifting the position of her feet until they were perpendicular to each other, right leg stretched out behind her. Thus swiftly positioning her body into a battle-ready warrior's stance, she watched through glittering eyes as the porthole showing darkness within Devil-May-Care began to move to one side, indicating that the hatch to Yaoksi Joao's ship was opening.

--------------------

The door finished its journey to the side and a fine mist – or smoke – slowly crept into the small space between the ships. Several seconds passed and no other activity occurred, then suddenly a red hand shot from the dark mist and slapped against the hull. It was followed by a slumped figure that stumbled from the interior and fell to its knees inside the airlock.

Phalomir reached for the airlock button, hesitated for a second, then pushed it. The airlock door on their side slid open effortlessly and in an instant the figure on the other side fell through the opening, facedown at the feet of Phalomir and ShaRhylla.

Phalomir cast a quick look at ShaRhylla, then knelt down closer to the fallen stranger.

“Yaoksi?” asked Phalomir, placing a hand on the figure’s shoulder.

A groaning sigh came from the person, then a whisper.

“I don’t understand,” said Phalomir. He bent closer. “What are you trying to say?”

“—help them—“ came a louder whisper.

“Help them?” said Phalomir, looking up to the others. “The are others on board?”

Phalomir stood and raised his eyebrows. “I don’t like it, but there may be others on board. Take care of him, he appears to be Sith.”

Phalomir then stepped through the portal and into the airlock, disappearing into the mist of the other ship. Panthar sighed and followed.

Another groan came from the figure on the floor. “Help them,” came a voice.

--------------------