As the top of K'kihl's head began to fade away in the blackness, Sullare realized that she was to follow. Not knowing what else to do with the glowstick, she held it in her teeth as she reached forward with both her hands to the ladder. After what seemed an eternity, she felt the cold metal beneath her fingers. Then she scooted closer to the shaft and reached down sideways with one foot until she felt a rung. This she gradually put her weight on, pulling herself upward with her hands, until she could reach the rung with her other foot.

At this moment, she began to realize that putting the glowstick in her mouth may not have been a great idea--or at least would not be if she left it there for long. She cautiously took her left hand off the upper rung and took the glowstick in it. It would make it slightly harder to climb, but she could handle that.

She peeked one last time at the ominous darkness below before quickly proceeding down the ladder after K'kihl.

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

"We saved Galen, and hopefully Loban, from certain death at the hands of a bouty hunter of some sort back on Sullust. My ship was left there, as we all boarded Galens Lambada to get off of that cursed planet. Currently I am trying to sort out our situation with my friends here." I pointed to Jebbua and Alexis.

"We don't wish to cause anymore, disturbances, on this massive ship." I looked again to my comrads. "Do as they instruct us to do. I'll handle the situation from here."

"Will we be provided with a com-system between the rooms? And when may I speak with Galen Danner?"

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

On and on they went, down and down. K'kihl kept an ear cocked upward, keeping track of Sularre's progress, and once again smiled inwardly to himself.

Showing strength and fortitude, is this one, he made another mental check upon a slowly growing list of the engineer's attributes. Perhaps a small promotion or recognition would be in order when this task was completed...

Abruptly his foot hit solid, flat durasteel. His other promptly followed, to stand beside it's companion. The visceral sense of being in a circular shaft immediately disappeared to be replaced by one telling him he was in a great and vast chamber of sorts. The very atmosphere seemed to hold a deep bass hum, the very molecules of the air seemed to vibrate in synchronization with that thrumming.

K'kihl nodded to himself and stepped to one side that Sularre had room to step off the ladder. Moving with quick yet solid assurance, he beelined in a particular direction, guiding himself by the varying thrums all about him and coming in between the source of that gut-level sound until his reaching hand hit a wall and triggered a switch.

Red emergency lighting popped on, displaying a great room filled with giant turbines, all churning busily away in the maintenance of the enormous task of keeping the super star destroyer alight. The main power cable they had been following snaked down from the shaft and crept along the deck, branching off toward each turbine to disappear into the deck in front of each one. Beneath the decking lay giant step-up transformers, to change the relatively low voltage put out by the turbines into the larger quantity the ship demanded.

K'kihl knew the breach would not be along an individual line leading from a particular turbine, but somewhere in the main power cable itself. He took a look about himself, then turned to Sularre, taking out his sensor as he spoke.

"And the main power cable, now we check," he chittered as if this would be nothing more than a walk in the park.

"All of it."

He held the sensor out to her, nodding once and pointing back in the direction of the shaft they had just finished crawling out of.

"The breach when you discover it, inform me you will. Nothing more, nothing less."

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

He paused for a moment then, his look yet totally inscrutable. "I will communicate to my boss your desire to communicate with Galen Danner. Until then, however, I unfortunately can do little else for you except request that you return to your room and be patient."

With that the officer fell silent, waiting to see just what Kelderon would choose to do.

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

We bagan walking down the hall. Two officers escorted Jebbua, and the Squad leader and another officer went with me.

I waved my hand through the air, using my JEDI powers, "You will take me to see Galen Danner now."

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

--or perhaps unfortunately for Kelderon--

--the Hornett's previous owner demaded to have nothing but the best in the way of crewmembers however, and that included security officers who could be tough and discerning.

The security officer reached for his comm, pressed a comm frequency in and then the send button. "Mr. Stanza, it would seem one of our guests, a Mr. Dash Kelderon, is demanding to see Galen Danner."

The officer fell silent at that, and at his desk a thundercloud exploded in Matt Stanza's eyes. Quietly yet succinctly, he replied, "You may escort Mr. Kelderon to my office...

...immediately."

The officer nodded once and turned his eyes back to Kelderon. "This way, please...

...and I'd suggest you cooperate."

Again the security officer motioned for Kelderon to follow him, all the while using a button on his commlink to call more security to Red Level...

...just in case...

[ 04-30-2003 09:04 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Terrin's Crew ]

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

"How much farther until we reach our destination? We've been walking forever!"

I could sense somthing was wrong. But I couldn't tell what... I'll just play along for now. This guy is nervous about something.

"Why are you sweating? Do I make you nervous? I have no ill intentions toward you or anyone on this ship. I simply wish to speak with Galen Danner. Now, how much longer until we get to her location?"

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

The security officer knocked once, and the door slid smoothly open, revealing a plush office. Leading Kelderon inside, the security officer then nodded to the short green-eyed man now standing behind the desk at the center of the office. With nothing more than that, the officer took a step back, and Matt pursed his lips, regarding Kelderon with his perceptive eyes. "What is this I hear about you demanding things from our staff here, Mr. Kelderon?" Matt questioned then quietly, his look entirely unreadable as he then waited for the reply.

[ 04-30-2003 09:27 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Matt Stanza ]

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

I paused a moment to regain my composure. I hated confrontations. "Now Mr. Stanza, when will I be taken to see Miss Danner? I have issues to discuss with her. And if things go as I expect them to in our discussions... Well, let's just say, there will be a few less JEDI on this ship for you to worry about!"

"Now if we can dispense with the formalities... the quicker I get to see Galen, the better. For everyone."

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

"Hey Jasyn, it's Matt," he started. "There apparently is a Jedi... friend of Galen's by the name of Dash Kelderon here demanding to see her, something about needing to discuss departure. Any ideas on where she is, and if she might even be up to dealing with this right now, cause he's rather insistent about taking care of his needs."

Leaving the comm frequency open then for an incoming reply, Matt simply waited, his green eyes never shifting from the form of Dash Kelderon.

[ 04-30-2003 10:48 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Matt Stanza ]

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

...but then they can always sense us with that eerie power they've got. What I wouldn't give for us to have the ZZ'Shzq again..."

Jasyn trailed at that, the mention of the ship triggering other memories. "All the Sith don't have the power Graysith, Roan and that Sith Sorceror guy has, do they...?" he continued, thinking aloud, "Maybe yaslamiri would be good enough to block our presence from them...

...at least long enough to get a ship and get the hell out. I think even Jedi can sense the bubble the ysalamiri create, so if we did that we'd have to move fast."

He paused at that, finally noting then that his commlink was blinking, indicating an urgent incoming message. "Excuse me a moment, something important is coming through via comm," he said then pressing the accept button. With that, Matt's voice came streaming across the frequency, just loud enough for everyone present in the room to hear. When the message ended, Jasyn looked up and quirked a very curious brow in Galen's direction.

These guys had some nerve, coming on a ship with people they barely knew and then demanding things...

[ 04-30-2003 11:15 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Jasyn Lancaster ]

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

Oh, great Khaandon's ghost...!

I lifted a pre-emptory hand, cutting Jasyn off before he could make a reply to the man, and from the look on his face probably cutting off as well some wonderful remark which was meant to fall from Aaron's lips, right in the bud.

I grinned, albeit a bit wanly, for the moment not replying to the plan Jasyn was beginning to put together.

"Just-- just let him in with us," I said, suddenly very tired. "It's ok."

I fell silent then, unconsciously stroking my Sith belt as I wondered if what Dash wanted was to up and leave us.

Here I had been thinking that he could help me....

[ 04-30-2003 11:16 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Galen ]

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

She managed to not show her feeling of panic as she dutifully accepted the sensor and turned her head in the dim light to peer at where K'kihl was pointing, even though she already knew where it had to be.

The shaft.

She sighed internally and paused for a moment to think. It would be best if she started on the deck, and then worked her way toward the shaft. Then, at least, she wouldn't have to risk climbing up and down the shaft twice needlessly.

She followed the main cable with her eyes until she saw the first branching point. That would make a good starting point, she decided. She knelt on one knee at the spot, holding glowstick and sensor side by side in front of her. Even with the emergency lights on, it was difficult to locate the buttons on the sensor without the help of the glowstick.

Peering more closely at the sensor, she found a small switch which she moved from the off position to the on position. A small screen lit up, making it almost easy for her eyes to see in the painfully dim light. Now there was only one button left to push--the conspicuously large red button in the center of the sensor.

She pushed it.

Nothing happened for a long moment. Then, a beep, accompanied by a short list of statistics appearing on the viewscreen. These she quickly scanned over, and, not seeing anything unusual about them, stood up and took several steps toward the shaft.

As far as she could remember, these sorts of sensors had radiuses of about 1 meter. Once she was approximately twice that distance from her previous focal point, she stopped. There was no real need to get closer to the cable, considering the 1 meter radius, so she remained standing as she pushed the button a second time. Still nothing out of the ordinary in the statistics.

Now that she thought about it, she remembered that she really didn't know what it was she was looking for, anyhow. But if K'kihl told her to use this sensor for the job, then whatever was wrong must be detectable with it.

She continued in this pattern for several minutes--taking several steps along the cable, activating the sensor, checking the readings--until at last she had reached the shaft. Reluctantly, she climbed up several rungs of the ladder and continued scanning the cable.

It was on the second scan she did since re-entering the shaft that she noticed something unusual. The voltage level at this height was decidedly higher than that down lower--about 50% so. Sullare frowned, wondering if this was the breach K'kihl had spoken of. It wasn't what she had been expecting to see, but it was different... She lowered herself 4 rungs and scanned again.
Odd... she spoke mentally. The volatage was still higher than it had been before. As she stood pondering this, she noticed a small mechanism on the side of the component that she immediately recognized--something with which to vary the scanned area. She used this to decrease the range of the sensor to about 15 cm, then pushed the button once again. It was back to being low again.

The corners of her mouth still drawn into a concentrating frown, she moved the sensor up and down the area of cable in front of her, pushing the button until she found...

She blinked. That was different. At one spot, the voltage suddenly dropped dramatically. This had to be it... or at least something of interest.

Her mind had made a conscious decision to alert K'kihl of the spot, yet her mouth had not yet moved. Finally she managed a weak cough, which loosened her vocal cords enough to get a few words out. "Er, I think I may have found something..." she called out into the dim light.

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

K'kihl nodded as he took the device from her hand.

"Indeed, potential differential there is, a drop where not there should be," he muttered thoughtfully as he stared at the orange screen. Although the instrument wasn't truly picking up the change in the actual current itself, since K'kihl had long ago thrown the main circuit breaker, it had the capability of showing electron flux thermal "ghosts." This was enough to show where any breaks or other disruptions could be in the power flow of the cable. "Something here there is, indeed."

Abruptly he slid the sensor into his tool belt and withdrew another glowstick, broke the seal to ignite it. This one was a more powerful magnesium based one, it flooded the shaft with its actinic light, making Sularre squint in spite of herself. K'kihl merely held it more closely to the power cable, and began minutely studying it's apparently unmarred surface.

Then he saw it. Small, insidious, and entirely out of place it was: a box no larger than the stock of a standard Imperial blaster, wedged away within a place somehow hollowed out of the very shaft. It's smooth metallic surface mimicked nearly exactly that of the wall into which it was snugged; K'kihl would have frowned if he could as he reached out a questing appendage and tried to yank it from it's resting place.

It remained stubbornly adhered; turning back to Sularre, he handed her his glowstick so as to free up his hands. Then he removed a 24-mm hydrospanner from his belt and set to work. After more effort than the seemingly simple task should have required he managed to loosen the strange little box. It came away from its hidden hollow... until stopped by the cabling which ran from its backside and into the wall, as well as by the suddenly exposed shorter and more tightly wound wire which connected it to the main power cable itself.

Now K'kihl was clacking his mandibles audibly. He dropped the box, letting it dangle, and waved his hand for the glowstick. Sularre slapped it back into his demanding appendage, whereupon he immediately held it to the hole into which the cable disappeared.

It went on beyond the limits of the light he held.

K'kihl drew back thoughtfully, glanced at the box. Obviously it was a resistor of sorts, piggy-backed to the main power cable to draw current off along its trailing cable. He held his glowstick steadily, then turned his shining eyes back into those of the Twi'lek. They glittered reflectively in the brilliance of the white light he was holding.

"What think you of this?" he asked at length.

[ 05-01-2003 11:50 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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

We don't need no stinkin' Jedi, he thought instead, his face probably reflecting his feelings more than he would like. Regardless of that, however, he drew his wristcomm closer to his lips after pressing the reply button.

"Galen's with me here, in Aaron's office. She says to send Kelderon over."

Then he lowered his arm, still scowling slightly...

...and not at all thrilled with the prospect of meeting this guy, if he was anything like Galen's other Jedi "friend"...

[ 05-01-2003 08:24 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Jasyn Lancaster ]

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

He fell silent for a moment at that, and then came from behind his desk, motioning for the security guard to step to the center of the office with he and Kelderon. "I will accompany you as well," he said to Dash, "I need to discuss the engineering situation with my cohorts."

He looked then to the security officer, "And you may return to your post. Thank you for dealing with this... situation efficiently."

The security officer saluted in respect, then backed out of the office, leaving Kelderon and Matt alone. Matt stepped towards the door himself, looking over his shoulder to Dash. "Follow me," he said, "Aaron's office is right down the hall."

With nothing futher than that, Matt then stepped out of his office, waiting for Kelderon to step out as well before securing the door and beginning to walk purposefully down the hallway.

He wondered what Aaron and Jasyn and Galen were discussing...

[ 05-01-2003 08:46 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Matt Stanza ]

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

"Well," she began, not having the slightest idea what she was intending to say until the words were forming on her lips, "since the voltage level drops at this point, that box must be diverting some of the energy away from the systems the main cable leads to. Maybe it's malfunctioning or something, and drawing too much energy away," she suggested, searching the Verpine's face for any indication of whether or not she was anywhere near the truth.

She was unable to determine his reaction. Well, if I can't look like I know something, I can at least look like I'm willing to find out, she thought. "Where does that cable lead to?" she asked, pointing to the wiring running from the small device to the wall.

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

"Unknown to this one, is the destination of that cable," he chittered in a tone that revealed how his estimations of Sularre's capabilities had just dropped a couple notches. "Belong here in this place that resistor does not."

He fell silent then, turning to the resistor and staring thoughtfully at it for a long moment. Then, the movements swift and sure, he removed a cutting tool from his belt and separated the box from the wire and cable which held it. He handed the box to Sularre, then turned back and quickly tied off the end of the dangling cable.

Then he retrieved the box from the Twi'lek and tucked it away in his tool belt.

"A mystery this is," he said as he began climbing back up the ladder. "Unknown it is, why power bleed some unknown being would perpetrate. Either to take for something, or from something to take."

He quieted then, concentrating only on scaling the ladder as fast and as surely as he could, that he could get this unsettling information to Aaron Barnes as quickly as possible.

[ 05-02-2003 12:53 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by K'kihl ]

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

I reached out with the force anbd sensed GALEN's AURA in the next room. Officer Stanza was kind enough to open the door for me, I stepped in.

"GALEN! I'm so glad to finally see you!" I ran to her and gave her a big hug. "I'm sorry I didn't come to the Med-centre with you and LOBAN. I thought you might want some space."

I then surveyed the office I was in.

"You!" I pointed to Jasyn Lancaster, "I recognize you! You were on Sullust about a month ago. You were felling a little...under the weather."

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

He cleared his throat, as though announcing his presence. "Some of us have dealt with the bad things that have happened in the past few months differently than others," he started out, eyeing Jasyn, who was still scowling. "And I'm Captain Aaron Barnes, by the way."

At that he fell silent for a moment, just long enough for Jasyn to blat forth, "Your buddy Jebbua Dahutt sure managed to get down to the medcenter, not that he did anything. I thought healing people was what..."

Aaron cut Jasyn off with a cautious look rather than a stern one. Then he turned back to Dash. "I was under the impression you had a request to make...?"

[ 05-03-2003 01:21 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Aaron Barnes ]

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

"To finish off your statement... You thought that JEDI have powers to heal injuries?!? Well some do... Unfortuantly for all of us, I do not have those powers. With my past, it's a wonder there is any good in me at all, let alone the power to heal others! But that is a different story." I trailed off.

"It is true that much attention was paid to LOBAN's condition during our flight here... but it was not me doing the healing. I meerly served as a BOOSTER for the true healer." I looked then to GALEN. "Yes, it was you who did all the healing in LOBAN, I simply assisted you by retarding the spreading of the poison, throughout LOBAN's body."

I could sense the uneasyness in the spacious office. Something was bothering Galen and Jasyn. And it wan't me!!! True, I had caused enough trouble by being in Engineering. But for the moment, I was actually a reprive from the turmoil.

I looked back to Captain Barnes, "I did have a request. I wished to gain transportation back to Sullust, but I think I am going to withdraw my request. I have a feeling I may be needed here!" I looked a GALEN knowingly.

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

She shrugged mentally to herself as she neared the portion of the ladder at which she had first gotten on. She would puzzle the resistor out when she had some time to think. Right now, she should just focus on not getting herself killed by falling off before she reached the top of the ladder.

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

"Not everything can one learn, a ship so great in size," he finally asserted, his face showing absolutely no expression but his tone becoming a touch thoughtful. "Perhaps more schooling, to learn specifics of area, something to consider is."

With that he turned away, but only after delivering a quiet nod to the Twi'lek. Then he seemed to have forgotten her altogether by the pace he set; the information he carried was of the utmost importance, and he had to get to the powers that be, but fast.

He came to the end of the tunnel and clambered out onto the deck near Engineering 47-A. This time he didn't even wait to see if Sularre was following him; without even taking a moment's pause he headed off to the nearest lift, and from there gained the level upon which Aaron Barnes maintained his ready room. It was only as the lift was coming to a halt that he realized he hadn't even sent a communique; clacking his mandibles at himself for his oversight, he hit the systems switch inside the liftcar, and with no preamble announced his immediate arrival at Captain Barne's ready room.

The door to the room whooshed open as he came upon it, allowing him entry. He came to a forced halt, a touch surprised by the unexpected appearance of so many others who stood there before Barnes. But what he had to announce was of major priority, and he took the gamble that as there was but one of the group who was not at least a department head of some sort, he could speak freely.

He took another small step forward, now raising the resistor high. It's cables dangled from his hand like immobile serpents.

"Power bleed to cause outage in Engineering 47-A, this has been ascertained," he clattered, waving the box. "Unknown it is as to who or why; known is the what."

He waved the box again and fell silent, his message dutifully delivered.

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

Maybe I have misjudged him, I thought to myself, arching my brows meaningfully at Jasyn, who was glowering like a Sullustan volcano. After all, he is a C'hiss; admittedly I don't know much about the race...

...other than the damned pheromones they radiate like heat on a summer's day.

I shook my head, irked at myself for the direction in which my thoughts had slyly travelled....

Yup. It's the pheromones, sure as there's Treasure on Roon.

...and finally spoke up. And after a moment's hesitation, I reached out a hand in Dash's direction.

"I thank you for the offered assistance," I started, doing my best to stifle the heat which rose up within me the moment he took my hand in his. "I'm going to need all the assistance I can get, from everybody."

Now I let his hand drop, and turned from one to the other. "I-- I'm not certain as to what this... this healing ability is which I suddenly seem to have developed; all I know is that whatever it is, it seems to come and go as it pleases. And in that regard, I'm the farthest thing from a Jedi; you ought to recognize that--"

Whatever else I would have said was nipped in the bud as the door to Aaron's ready room abruptly slid open, disgorging a highly excited Verpine from the hall without.

Well... at least I could tell K'kihl was excited; I've hung with him long enough to recognize the Verpine equivalent of one being beside oneself.

I didn't even have the time to say hello when he burst out with his discomforting news. And that, on top of everything else, was enough to stop my own words in my mouth.

I just arched a brow once again, and turned to Aaron. The closest I managed was to silently mouth one incredible word:

"Sabotage?"

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

"I don't know of too many folks who would want to sabotage a ship-building business..."

He paused a moment, frowning even as he thought, "...unless of course they are doing so on the assumption that we are aiding and abetting some of our consumers who might be somewhat...

... dissatisfied with the "new" Empire."

His look darkened at that. After some length of silence Aaron refocused his gaze on K'khil. "This has to have happened recently; I don't know how we would have missed something like it on our regular security sweeps...

"...which means someone here does not belong, someone high level who has access to the power generators."

Aaron leaned back a bit in his desk chair, his look turning thoughtful as he considered what to do about this. "K'kihl, any input you could give me on this would be greatly appreciated. Serial numbers on the resistor, estimates as to how long it's been in place...

... anything."

He paused another moment. Then, "And Matt, start looking back through our background checks on anyone hired within, say, the last six months. If anything looks suspicious, call them in on it."

Only after he had said all this did Aaron finally stop long enough to note the one person in the room who seemed out of place. She stood beside K'kihl quietly. Aaron arched an eyebrow at her, not recongizing her. Afer all, one rarely remembers the face of every worker on a ship as big as the Hornett.

"Who are you, and what is your involvement in all of this?"

He quieted at that then, his look clearly inquisitive but nothing more than that...

...for the moment, anyway...

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