Then, still following standard protocol, he merely remained where he was, awaiting further orders.

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If indeed what he spoke of was truth and not just the results of over-indulging in too much ikopi pate...

"I see--" he began, leaning forward with carefully cultivated interest when the screen inset into the desk of his ready room bleeped politely for attention. Raising a hand to Darksaber, he cut his eyes downward, quickly reading the report now coming in from Kati'Shyyn.

"You will pardon me, please," he interrupted whatever Darksaber had been about to say, then quickly sent an order that the three people the squadron leader had been observing be allowed passage to Sormontato, there to be given audience with him concerning the mysterious ship and powerful civilization to which they alluded.

His eyes narrowed as he considered just all he had been told so far of Imperial doings, out there in the middle of nowhere...

...but were then drawn to the screen as once more it bleeped politely at him.

He read the words which quickly scrolled along, his face growing white. Then, flicking off the monitor he rose smoothly to his feet.

"What you have to say interests me, my good man," he told Darksaber as he began to escort him to the door of his ready room.

"...and I promise to give your words my utmost attention. But at the moment something has arisen which, unfortunately, demands more."

Giving the man a tight smile and a most unprofessional push into the corridor, Ahem then slammed his hand against the door's control, effectively locking himself into his ready room. He whirled, returned to his desk in but two gigantic steps, and opened an intra-ship command.

"Battle stations, battle stations; all hands to battle stations!"

Klaxons began to blare, and from without his closed door the sounds of pounding footsteps came, muffled, into his ears. One set in particular grew more than muffled until, without even bother to knock, their bearer keyed in a password to the ready room, by-passed the locking mechanism, and burst inside.

It was his Second, his entire face one gigantic question mark. General Ahem didn't stand on protocol; quickly, he informed his Second as to recent goings on...

Goings on in that very system the people with his trooper were trying to gain entry into...

His Second allowed himself the privilege of one short gape, then whirled and fled, running at top-speed until he had gained the bridge.

"Recall all troops immediately, and plot a course to Coruscant! When all are aboard, we leave!" he barked, saying no more but standing figuratively at the helm, watching as the men beneath him scurried obediently to obey that unexpected command.

((OOC: To see what provoked all this ruckus, please see page 8 of Destiny Uncertain in the "Jedi/Sith" forums, thank you.))

The trooper nodded, closing the comm, and with no further ado turned about and re-entered the Golden Galaxy. He wasted no time but marched right up to the table where he had left Cardissa and the others.

"The General wishes to speak with you," he said succinctly, turning sideways and gesturing toward the door.

"If you don't mind, we will escort you to Sormontato that you might speak to him of that which you have just presented to me."

His voice was unaffected, calm, expressionless, but somehow his body language spoke quite clearly of what circumstances would follow if they would suddenly change their minds...

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“Well,” I said to Cass, “Looks like maybe we’ll get there after all! See, just takes a while to get through the red tape.”

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"We would be most honored to join you and discuss this," she said then, motioning for him to lead on, cutting a brief yet warning look the furry blue alien's way before turning and following the trooper out to where they had landed their ships, motioning then for Rico to take the lead. "Hurry and get the ship ready for departure," she said then. "We wouldn't want to keep this man waiting," she observed, wondering just why the trooper had returned, so suddenly changing his mind...

...but deciding at the moment that the matter was irrelevant.

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The information was returned in a timely manner; scarce half a standard cycle had passed when he found himself spacebound, his little group once again surrounding the yacht which bore the three civilians, heading back into hyperspace and the Sormontato.

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“We got some issues here that we better get worked out before we get there,” I continued. “First, Blueberry over there is going to be a problem. Second, we need to get out story straight, and get on the same page about this. I mean, now that they know about the ships, we really need to put on that we are a research team, right? Maybe that can convince Bluecup to cooperate.”

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Pausing at that, Cardissa frowned thoughtfully. "Maybe I ought to have a word or two with our little blue friend," she observed then, rising to her feet and heading aft without so much as a word until she arrived at the bunk where Rico had deposited the Bothan.

"My dear Mr. Foyagee," Cardissa purred as she knelt by the Bothan, patting him on the shoulder, first softly and then with a bit more persistence. "There is much we need to speak of...and quickly."

She paused one more moment, leaning over to purr directly into his Bothan ear. "Wake up my friend, now."

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I looked around the corridore to see men rushing up and down the walkways, and heard the anouncement over the speakers.

"Battle stations, battle stations; all hands to battle stations!"

I sttod where I was and waited for the closest officer to walk by and stopped in his path. Judging by his rank he was an ensign, perfect for what I needed him to do.

I set the autopilot to follow the course given to us by Mr. Friendly the pilot, and turned around to see what was happening. “You probably will need to give him some smelling sa—“

Just then Bluebell’s eyes flew open and he let out a long scream right into Cass’ face. I stood to help out, but I figured I’d let him go. He kinda deserved a little release, after what he’d just been through.

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She paused, her dark black eyes pinning the Bothan. "You need to pull yourself together. I...

...we haven't come this far for it to all be thrown away, now have we?"

[ 01-15-2007 07:46 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Cardissa Mitra ]

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Turning then, Cardissa began to move back to the cabin of the yacht...

...but she suddenly paused, looking over at her shoulder at the Bothan. "I'd hate to see all your work go for naught if you dare keep acting in such a manner; we really wouldn't want the Imperials to have any suspicion of your...

...dislike of them now, would we?"

Arching a brow and casting an odd sort of smile at Bon, Cardissa then turned away from him all together, departing for the cabin of the ship once more.

[ 01-15-2007 09:45 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Cardissa Mitra ]

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Sure, if Cardissa would’ve stayed in the cockpit things might have been different. I’ve been real careful in my life not to fall for anyone. It’s dangerous and bad for business, and no room for it in the life of a spacer. I don’t know what it was about her, though. I mean, she was smart, and there was a lot going on behind those eyes of hers. But there was something else, too, something almost – I don’t know, naive? Maybe. Whatever it was, I had to be careful not to let my feelings get any worse than they already were, or they’d get in the way.

That’s probably why the trip seemed so long, because that same thought kept going on in my head. That, and Bluebell kept mumbling on in a deep low voice, some chant I think. I didn’t mind that too much, it kept him calm, like he was doing some meditation to get himself ready to face the Impies. I sure hoped it would work, because he had to stay focused and quiet through this or we were apt to spend our days in the brig. Well, I at least had something to fall back on if things went sour, but it would mean betraying the blue fuzzball.

I looked over at him, deep in his little trance. The guy had some points, being afraid of what the Impies could do and what their real motives were and all. But at the same time, I just didn’t know if that was the way to go about doing something about it. I mean, look what happened last time. Sure, there was a big rebellion that overthrew the bad guys, but another Empire just stepped in to take its place. And that whole thing with the invasion from those veggie dudes, I have to wonder how that would have gone if the old Empire was still around.

Maybe it was that I just didn’t see the big problem with having a police force. As long as they didn’t go forcing my world to bow to them and adopt one government or another, hell. If the money was there, I could work an honest job. I was mostly legit now, anyway.

By the time we got to that SSD, Bluebell was as calm as a rock. We met up with Stern and Cass after we docked, and got ready to talk to the big guys. Cass had a wry smile on her face, and I guessed she had been busy making sure there was nothing in the ship’s computers that would endanger us, just in case the Impies took a peek. From what she said before, though, this ship was kinda like her store front, so I felt pretty good about that.

A few minutes later we were walking through the docking bay, escorted by a few of the empire’s finest, towards an official looking guy in a uniform. A stray thought crossed my mind that if I had not been delayed on Sullust I would have been standing here signing delivery papers just as the bomb went off… funny how things work out sometimes.

[ 07-26-2007 09:36 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Rico Riven ]

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"Parties aboard," he announced succinctly, motioning with one finger that a cadre of guards be put around Cardissa's ship while his finest men, including computer experts, went to work upon it's innards.

"Aye, Sir!" came the immediate response.

The officer in charge had no sooner turned away to approach the newcomers when the great SSD moved out of orbit, altered her vector and burst into hyperspace the moment she had safely distanced herself from the planet's gravity well. In the blink of an eye she was gone, her destination:

Coruscant.

((OOC: Follow Sormontato and all aboard her into Back Into the Fire in the "Empire/New Republic" forums, thank you.))

[ 07-26-2007 11:14 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by The Empire ]

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Heaven's Forbiddance screamed from hyperspace mere hundreds of thousands of klicks from the orbit of Sullust, far closer than most navigators would have felt anywhere safe to perform such an act. For only a fool would run the risk of the gravitational havoc that would undoubtedly result from such a maneuver; as odd as it would seem, the little Bothan was far from being such.

It was just that her ship had been so wonderfully, delightfully upgraded by the Empire that she could scarcely believe her good fortune. A gravity manipulator, the precursor to the lethal gravity generators utilized on the SSDs, had been installed; it was this magickal little device that let her pull such otherwise seemingly foolhardy stunts.

I am willing to bet that I can even go to hyperspace inside the corona of a star, too! she exulted to herself as she brought her ship into an approach vector. Then she forced aside her momentary elation, and busied herself with the mundane chore of announcing her presence and requesting berth in SoroSuub. After a few moments of transmissional chatter she obtained what she needed, and soon found herself safely on the ground in the outskirts of the huge mining conglomerate.

Forbiddance whistled and yammered at her, bleeding off energy and various gases as it settled into slumber to await her return. Minna smiled, rose from her seat, and soon departed her beloved vessel, giving it a loving pat on the hull as she exited. The hatch slid closed behind her, locking itself against anyone and anything not bearing her retinal pattern.

Hefting the personal pack she carried over one shoulder, the little Bothan spy came to the end of the gangway and paused a moment to take stock of her situation. Ahead of her loomed the vast tarmac of Landing Facility 356, littered with vessels of varying natures. Beyond that was a rippling blob she knew to be composed of beings of many systems, many worlds, all going about their various and sundry businesses.

Amongst them she hoped to find a particular one she was searching for. She had to find Mitra, and if there was anyone in the galaxy who always knew what that pretty lady had up her sleeve, it was him.

Humming a tuneless little song to herself, Minna set out upon her task. She was certain it would be a short and sweet one, and that soon she would be congratulating herself with a nice, long, hot spring soak, accompanied by a long, tall glass of her favorite blue Corellian ale.

[ 12-28-2009 02:31 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Minna Manth ]

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