No no no no no no no...

She did calm down slightly when the realization came either being found in a cell with an extra occupant or outside in an air duct the subsequent punishment she thought she would be on the receiving end on would be about the same. Feeling herself being lowered down Link quickly reached up and grabbed the grate then turned to look back at Galen.

“Wait, I’ll do it.” Link relayed.

Link waited as she was hoisted back up then she studied the grate. The grate itself was flush with the wall and the screw holes themselves recessed into the grate. Galen’s and Link’s saving grace however was substandard maintenance. These screws at least had not been properly tightened down, Link could get a grip on them and worked three out of their place. For the fourth screw, this one belonging to the lower right, Link loosened it part way then pulled the grate out partway letting it pivot on its remaining fastener.

“Higher,” Link indicated.

Briefly Link felt the hold on her being repositioned as she was boosted up higher. Scrambling to gain a better foothold Link worked herself inside. She realized that speed was the game here, one that the mentally perceived shrinking confines of the space reinforced in her mind. Moving was more of an awkward shuffle with only one arm and two legs to propel her, when she reached the central vent that from Link’s recollection of a SSD wiring schematics ran parallel to the detention level central corridor. Link made the decision to head deeper then work herself back to the entrance. Meandering her way down to the end, there was a shimmer in the air, reaching out to touch it and an electrical discharge arched out striking her hand. She tightly clamped her mouth shut, for once reflexively glad that she gotten use to not speaking.

Kriffing force shield, stupid Imperial paranoia for extending it into a vent that no one else can fit into.

She waved her hand briefly, the shock wasn’t nearly as bad as any of those stun batons. Turning around Link worked her way back checking into each side vent, every cell she came across was empty. Link was beginning to question this plan when she saw an occupied cell. From her estimation it was four cells deeper into the detention block than her own and across the corridor as well. Cautiously she peered through the grating and saw Terrin hunched over in a chair. From her angle she could make out most of the inside of the cell and by all indications he appeared to be alone.

“Galen I found Terrin,” Link tried to relay like before, not entirely sure if that ‘thing’ was still working.

Not waiting for a response Link began to lightly tap on her side of the grate.

Tap… Tap Tap… Tap… Tap Tap Tap…

C’mon Terrin notice me.

[ 02-26-2019 02:36 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Cel ]

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

...seconds that he was losing in finding Galen. Seconds that all of the people that had thrown their lot into this with him were in dire straits. He leaned over, head in his hands again, trying to ignore the screaming logic that he wasn’t going to be getting any of them out of this any time soon...

...when he heard it.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

Terrin looked up, frowning. Being the owner of an SSD himself, he knew this sound was not typical. And while perhaps someone was working on something nearby, the likelyhood of that was minimal. After all, the Empire...or at least, the Imperial officers aboard this ship...clearly wanted all of them detained and alone as much as possible.

The tapping continued.

Furrowing his brow, puzzled, Terrin began scanning the room, and looked in the general direction of the tapping sound. At first he didn’t see anything...

...but then his eyes caught something: in the grating to the air duct above, an eager, furry white face.

Terrin’s eyes widened.

Cel?!

Terrin really wanted to blurt the kid’s name out and head over to the air duct to find out just what the hell was going on, but he also had a sneaking suspicion there might be survelience of some sort around. He had no idea how Cel had managed what she had but he knew he didn’t have time to question it, nor did he care at the moment.

He took a precious few seconds to analyze how to communicate best with Cel without looking like he was communicating with anyone. He noticed the air duct was positioned juuuust above the bed.

Yep, that’ll do nicely....

He let his blue eyes stay on Cel for a moment, hoping she understood that he knew she was there, and very minimally raised a finger as if and in fact nonverbally asking her to wait just a moment.

Then, striving to look as though he was still in the same state of mind as he had been before to any outward observer, he raised a hand to rub across his face, taking a long breath. Then he stood, ambling over to the bed, sat on it, then turned and put his feet on it, laying down so that he was in a position to see the air duct above him and mouth words in Cel’s direction if and when the time came.

He hoped she was a good lip reader, cause who knew if there were any listening devices here or not...

For the moment, however, Terrin didn’t say anything, but instead let his blue eyes speak for themselves as he sent a curious and questioning look in her direction.

Bloody kriffing hell, he didn’t know how she’d managed to get up there, but however she had, she was good...

[ 02-26-2019 03:39 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Terrin Danner ]

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

They are probably monitoring the others more closely than me. I’m guessing the Imperials think I’m dosed out of my mind or cowering in a corner.

Until recently those Imperials would have been right on the second assumption. She shook her head driving that thought away, this wasn’t the time to have another breakdown. Opening her mouth to speak she paused before she could say anything.

We never did go over what the plan was, well what is the worse that can happen at this point.

Link took one more moment to think on the exact words she wanted to use and hopefully that could be understood by her mouthing them to Terrin as well.

“Try… not… to… be… excited…” Link mouthed in an exaggerated manner.

She waited for what she thought was enough time to process that statement, and then she dropped the bombshell.

“Galen… came… back… she… is… in… my… cell…” Link relayed.

Link knew that was in no way, shape, or form an adequate explanation, but she guessed Galen couldn’t come up with a better way either.

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

...but then he thought to Hell with it all. Because if this was in fact real...

”Galen?!?!?!?” he mouthed, his eyes probably widening even further.

Cel nodded in confirmation. A myriad of additional questions floated into Terrin’s mind: How? Had the Empire found her ship? But why would they have put her with Cel?

Had something else happened?!?

Mentally, Terrin scratched his head. He very much doubted it had anything to do with Jedi Jetiis’ad, dammit, but maybe something else...

He also knew they didn’t have time to communicate all that back and forth. In fact, if the Impys were keeping tabs on them like Terrin pretty much figured they were, there wasn’t time for much.

”We gotta get out of here!” he then mouthed Cel’s way.

Internally, a little sholder devil snorted. Well, duh, like she couldn’t figure that out, genious....

He didn’t know how they were going to get out of this, but he did know his ships, and that might help, especially since he sold capital ships and owned an SSD. If they could get to it....

He mouthed two final words at Cel, knowing the little gal would be smart enough to figure out what he was thinking. ”Yaoksi...Challenger....”

He quirked a brow minimally in Cel’s direction.

Bloody hell, if the stories of Han Solo and Princess Leia escaping a Death Star were true, then surely with what their little team knew they could get the Hell off this ISSD...

[ 02-26-2019 04:48 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Terrin Danner ]

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

“Be ready.”

She began to work her way back towards her own cell checking the ones in between as she went. When she reached her own and discovered that they all remained unoccupied Link grasped the pattern. Bypassing the others she headed four cells down the opposite direction from hers and across the way. Once again cautiously peering through the grate Link saw Yaoksi laying face up on his bunk. He looked like they put him through the ringer, not as bad as Link but still something that Link didn’t want to see. Her tears began to well up as she began to frantically tap at the grate.

“Papa… Papa… wake up Papa…” Link wordlessly pleaded.

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

This time I'm sure that under the tender auspices of the Interrogator Droid Mark Seven I blabbed everything from demons in secret hidey holes to towering horned people having weird powers to my Aunt Betsy's secret recipe for birthday cake icing. It is, after, the icing that makes the cake... and the icing coming from nowhere to "make" my personal one came wafting into my tired ears in the form of...

Tap... tap tap... tap-tap... tap...?

I groaned, certain I was hearing things, that I was affected more than I thought by the last bout of Imperial questioning I'd endured. For a moment I just lay there before wasting precious energy to lift and plop one arm over my face, and tried to go to sleep when that weird tapping grew impossibly louder.

Either the methods used to gain access to that icing recipe had left me with a weird and permanent kind of tinnitis, or...

I raised a cautious elbow, peeped around the room. Nothing untoward to be seen other than a few drops of blood on the decking, which spoke volumes, in a language and pitch that almost overcame...

Tap-tap-tap-tap...TAP.

I let my arm slide, now certain I was hallucinating, but obliged by repeating the gesture with my eyes, letting them slide around the room, seeing nothing but bulkhead and sink and head and tiny chair. I blinked, caught a flicker of movement out of the corner of my eye, turned my head slightly and raised them to...

Link? LINK?! Wha-? And more importantly...

HOW?

Never look a gift ronto in the mouth, I've always said. It was a damned good thing my body was aching entirely too much, and to such a degree that my instinctive reaction to flash to my feet was immediately aborted. I winced, falling back onto the hard little bunk, the short period of time that THAT little reaction took giving me a moment to get my act together and think.

Now I made an obvious effort to explain that movement, trying to come across that a muscle spasm entirely beyond my capability to endure had wracked me. I really didn't have to act much in that regard, truth be told, but the improbability that Yes indeedy, it really was Link's little white face I was seeing peering out from behind that air vent grating made it easy to ignore any rising pain that movement had caused.

I also realized that Big Eyes were probably everywhere. Just where exactly I didn't know, which was the problem. How do deal with this quandary? How to communicate? I figured she was bright enough to read lips, but more than likely so could Imperial computer programs, should they be fed images.

Inspiration struck again.

I shot a look straight into her eyes, widened my own, and then proceeded in the attempt to make it appear that delirium was beginning to overwhelm me, hoping like hell I would get my "words" across in a manner good enough for her to interpret. Now letting my head plop back upon the bunk, I likewise plopped my arm over my face once more, and began mouthing words.

"No... nooo... H-how, wha--?" I mouthed, trying to logically think exactly what a delirious person would indeed say while in the throes of said delirium, words that could carry upon their backs a simple yet hidden meaning of an entirely different context.

I repeated this little mantra, and then started panting heavily, now allowing my head to roll a bit from side to side, and in general putting on so grand an act that it seemed my... no, OUR! ...very life depended upon it.

Which of course was more than likely the case.

[ 02-27-2019 10:40 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Yaoksi Joao ]

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

Yaoksi’s act was convincing at least to Link, it at first filled her with panic how were they to effect their escape. Only as she watched losing hope did she register that Yaoksi was repeating himself, it was as if he was on loop and she caught that pattern. She breathed a few deep breaths to calm herself then studied Yaoksi. It took her around three repetitions to understand the message, Yaoksi purposefully slurring the words didn’t help. Once she got the message she gave a series of three quick taps to get his attention again. When he was once again looking at her Link thought about what to say, she wanted to tell him a million things but she needed a quick message for Galen and her slapped together plan.

“In my cell is Galen…” Link mouthed to Yaoksi. She added another word “Magic?” with an exaggerated shrug that she hoped he would catch.

Link gave Yaoksi a moment to process that gem of knowledge and when an appropriate amount of time by her estimate had passed she continued with her message.

“Escape Challenger… Be ready Papa.”

Finishing the message Link nodded to Yaoksi to give a response before she would head back to her own cell.

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

I caught "Galen," "magic," "Challenger" and...

Papa.

My heart swelled in direct proportion to the degree my eyes widened when I finally managed to decipher her words.

GALEN?

Well now, maybe there is such a thing as the cavalry galloping over the hill after all, even though I'd come to know she certainly didn't believe in it. She was always the feisty one to create her own circumstances, to take hold of current events and somehow twist them to her advantage, and to thus come out smelling like a flower in the Royal Gardens of Naboo.

Magic indeed.

I was no fool, quickly realizing that there indeed was something apparently afoot in our favor. It took every ounce of strength I possessed to turn my instinctive, responsive grin into a grimace.

"No, GO!" I now burst out, speaking the first word more quietly, letting the second carry, flailing my arms as if fighting off invisible demons. Quickly then, in more softly spoken and slurred words came "I'm not..." which trailed into a rather loud and explosive, "READY!"

I sat straight up with that, letting my eyes grow large and wide as I forced them to fixate upon a point exactly 16 centimeters to the front and slightly down to the left of the grating. I let one lid droop in a wink, followed smoothly by the other. My outstretched arms grew limp, and I flopped back on the bed, now turning to curl into a fetal position in order to hide the rather large smile I could no longer prevent from planting itself across my face.

[ 02-27-2019 01:58 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Yaoksi Joao ]

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

Ten meters, five meters, one meter, next left.

Rounding a corner all that was left was a straight section and up ahead she could see light streaming up from an opening. Even with this goal laid out before her the darkness driven by the stress of her ordeal crept in on the edge of her vision. Her breathing became quicker and soon she found herself struggling for the oxygen she needed to continue.

Not here Link, not inside the death vent, just a few more meters.

That mantra she kept repeating over and over, even when her vision faded completely to black and her quick shallow breaths didn’t actually take in air she pulled herself along. So focused she was on moving forward that all at once her hand did not meet the smooth metal surface of the vent and found nothing but air beneath her. This did not register in her mind as she fell headlong back into her cell, if not for a pair of waiting outstretched hands she would have likely slammed headfirst into the deck. Still visibly shaking and gasping for air it was the harsh light from the cell that shocked her back into normal function. Finally processing that she made it back Link took in a deep breath, dry heaving as she fought to control her own body. When she regained enough of her wits to form a coherent thought Link could see Galen in her armor holding Link to prevent her from hurting herself in a panic state. Link latched onto Galen, still decompressinging. After a short time Link released her death grip and found that she could now breath properly, looking back at Galen Link mouthed the words out for her.

“I found the others,”

Quickly Link pointed at their cell then pantomimed four cells deeper into the detention block and one across.

“Terrin” Link indicated.

She repeated the motion but in the other direction following it with, “Papa, Yaoksi.”

Indicating back to the deeper regions of the detention block Link stopped her had as if hitting a wall and relayed, “force shield.” This she followed with an exaggerated shrug while mouthing in question, “Jedi.” Link saw that Galen was nodding along seemingly understanding the layout.

“Terrin wants to escape on the Challenger, Papa Yaoksi agrees. What now?”

Leaving the question to Galen, Link had hoped she came up with something while Link had her adventure in the hell vent.

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

Her cell with Galen, Bloody Hell...

...Terrin sat back up on the bed, swinging his legs over the side of the bed and letting his feet hit the floor. Then he leaned forward, putting his elbows back on his knees, placing one hand then under his chin and the other across his mouth. He looked forward to a point in space about 2 meters to the left of the door to his “quarters,” so to speak, looking for all the universe like he was lost in thought.

While he was most certainly thinking, and....calculating...his ears were keenly attuned to any unusual noises and he was watching. All he really wanted to do for the moment, however, was to bust out of his blasted cell and get to Galen....

....and get her and everyone else the kriffing hell out of here before more of those Interrogation Droids returned....or worse. He scowled at the thought, trying not to analyze too closely what he may or may not have revealed on the thing’s last visit, instead wondering just how Galen had managed to get here...

...and really not having to think too hard to come up with an answer.

Dammit, Danner, you’ve seen it before, have known it all along...and it’s one of the millions of reasons why you love her.

He closed his eyes at the thought, seeing her in his inner eye once more, resting in that thought, and likewise becoming even more determined to do whatever he could to get them all out of this.

He wasn’t certain just how far away from the main hanger bay they all were, but he was certain that they were on the same level. That would be a point in their favor. But they were on an Imperial Super Star Destoryer, which was going to be bustling with activity from officers and troops. That was going to make this all very difficult. He highly doubted any of them had any weapons, for he had been searched, and was sure everyone else had been as well...

....except for Galen. Point in their favor, more than likely, he thought, remembering how she had been wearing Mandalorian armor to sustain herself on the crippled ship.

Chewing his lip a bit, Terrin remained as he was, hoping for action sometime soon....

...and making a final mental note of his own. Everyone was here, after all, because he had called in Tarnus for help, which in turn had lead this ISSD to be in the same space they were when they reverted. The Imperials already knew he was an escaped prisoner, and no doubt had more questions regarding the how...if he hadn’t told them already. He owed it to everyone who had been good enough friends to help him to get them out of here, and he had to get Galen out of this if and when the likes of Actar came back around. He didn’t know if Tarnus was going to make good on his promise that they could trust him...

...and now he might not regardless if the Impys ever found that lost Mandalorian ship that Galen was most definitely not on any longer. So if choices had to be made, to get everyone else safely away....

...Terrin was ready to make a choice, if need be.

[ 02-27-2019 09:29 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Terrin Danner ]

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

“Mandalorian armor is dangerous for the inexperienced,” was his only comment.

Kyan cautiously set his lightsabers on the deck and backed away, followed by removing his armor as well. Then the Imperials had gotten their first look at him and a few began to snicker at the image of an old man that Kyan was. Though sixty-two years of age he now appeared closer to ninety. This did not escape Kyan and though some of it could be blamed on the backlash for his forced methods to help Galen he knew that only accelerated to his underlying condition.

The Impeials under heavy guard moved his weapons, armor, and Kyan along to a new detention block. His belongings taken down a side passage to what he suspected was an armory. Making their way through a different detention block Kyan could perceive Yaoksi, Terrin, and Cel as he passed each of their cells. It troubled and angered him that the condition indicated by the earlier holo was kinder than reality. At the end of the detention block was his cell and once placed inside a static began to build in his skull one that Kyan knew as a Force Cage, a device that hinders the concentration required to use ones Force abilities. It was more of an inconvenience than anything else, a Jedi Master could overcome it too bad in his case that still left him with no Force Powers. So all he could do was meditate and watch the others while waiting. Because of his state he had to withdraw his watch on Galen to a level that could only register imminent physical harm. That was why he was just as surprised when at first Galen flickered in and out of little Cel’s prison, then suddenly she was there. He allowed himself a smile at the step forward she was taking.

The rest will be up to them, Gal’ika I fear that you need will need to learn the rest on your own at least without me.

He kept his watch as Cel made her way through the vent, mentally cringing when Cel touched the boundary of the shield surrounding him imprisonment. She moved on to Terrin, then Yaoksi before returning to her own cell.

That is one brave little Ryn.

Jedi had been dealt with before, in many cases much to the chagrin of the Empire and those supportive of it for their own greedy ends. Thus it was that there finally came a small sound, just the slightest little whoosh to break the silence in Kyan's cell as a door in high ceiling slid open and a durasteel-barred cage was lowered just a meter or so down.

Within was the wriggling form of a Ysalamiri, one which did not seem especially happy with its current state of affairs, and which was exuding a Force bubble of such size and strength as to encompass the entirety of the cell.

In the middle of which, of course, sat a quiet Kyan Jetii'sad.

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

"A, we get the hell out of here, B we get Terrin and Captain Joao and Master Kyan too, and C we sky!"

Exactly how we were to get from point "A" to "C" I had yet to completely work out. But as for point "A," I had a helluva simple idea.

If there was one thing my dad taught both Jharmeen and I, it was that the simple answer is oftentimes the correct answer. This was a maxim by which I tried to live most of my adult life, and I like to think I've adhered to it well, thank you very much. However, upon retrospect I could see that in the great majority of times when implementing said maxim into then-current situations, one could easily say I tended to react by operating "on the fly."

Such as now.

No time to discuss this as a committee anyway!

Now I turned my attention to the door of our cell. It sat there, all shining durasteel, as blank as a baby rancor's loving eyes, laughing at us. But that laughter was about to be nipped in the proverbial bud.

I turned my head to Link again.

"You're a slicer, right?" I said, thinking aloud, the whisper lowered even more until the words came out of my masked mouth as the merest zephyr. Her ears were as sharp as the weapon I was considering, however, and pricked up in an interested manner.

I didn't wait for an answer; the question was rhetorical anyway. I turned my attention back to the door, now tilted my head just a tad wee. I knew it was a "now or never" moment; it was one thing to bust out and possibly alert the guards in that manner, but I simply refused to hang here waiting for someone to glance idly at the monitor fed by our cell's hidden camera, thus making the discovery that hey! The Ryn's got company!

"I'm getting us the hell out of here," I whispered. "Once we get moving, the possibility that all hell will immediately break loose is very real. But if you could get to a computer port, and slice in, and create a little bit of a distraction, I can zip to Terrin's and Yaoki's cells and release them too.

"I know there are ports out there; if we're lucky you can get to one. If there's not one handy, well... there's strength in numbers. We can, if we're incredibly lucky, manage to get to the Control Room for this cell block after we release the others, and maybe from there create our little diversion so maybe we can get to Challenger."

I paused a moment, now looking down at her again. She stared up at me, her eyes wide and frightened, but in there depths I could read a glimmer of rising resolve.

I nodded, turned back to the door... and let my little vibroblade slide into my waiting hand.

Now, one would think that this kind of weapon wouldn't do diddly poo-doo against durasteel, and when it comes to cutting strength alone one would be right. However, one would be terribly remiss in that assumption, for one would not be considering all the facts concerning the construction of this handy-dandy little weapon.

Vibroblades operated by using ultrasonic energies to greatly increase the frequency of sound waves. Sound waves need a medium through which to travel... and sound passing through a material can impact its structure, resulting in a physical strain which can in turn change the conductivity of whatever it's passing through. This in turn affects how electricity passes through it, not to mention said electric currents can in turn be induced into lockstep with it...

And that cell door opened and closed in a simple mechanical manner, one operated by even simpler computer code passed along to it's tiny local brain...

By electricity.

It was great having a father who not only was a scientist, but as one who traveled hither and yon in his investigations needed to know how things operated: like ships and computers and the like.

And who taught his daughters that. Well, perhaps not Sissy-poops; she was never one for really getting her hands dirty. But me...

It was the epitome of Occam's Razor. I simply held the knife up flat against the wall, and activated it, taking great care to avoid its lethally whirring blade. With equal care I moved it about, following the frame of the door... until with a satisfying whoosh disruption occurred and the door slid obligingly open. Quickly then, I stuck my head out and took a peep up and down the corridor without.

So far so good; if there was an alert blinking on anyone's console hollering about a faulty door closure, no one had acted upon it yet. That gave us precious seconds in which to act.

"Where is everyone again?" I whispered to Link, now picking her up carefully in my free hand and smiling as her furry tail wrapped about the arm by which she was cradled against my armor. I hadn't seen any nearby computer data ports, so I figured to expedite matters I would simply carry her. She didn't object in the slightest, but merely pointed silently toward two doors across the corridor and down from her cell, four cells away in both accounts.

It took me a moment to repeat this process at the first cell I visited, nodding to an extraordinarily shocked and terribly injured Captain Joao who bless his heart managed to keep his yap shut even though the act of bolting upright on his bunk caused him obvious pain. I didn't bother taking the time to say anything, knowing that the figure of me standing there, fully armored and holding Link in my arm, would speak volumes.

But I did nod, and with no further ado gave Link a toss. She landed in the arms he held out to her, pain be damned, wrapping both her single arm and her tail around his neck... but remained blessedly quiet.

No time for family reunions... not even my own. I simply bee-lined to Terrin's cell, opened his door, and stood in the frame with a cautionary finger raised to my lips. Oh how I wanted to plant those lips on his, to grab him and hold him and never let go, but as I'd alluded earlier to myself:

No time for a committee, not even a homecoming one.

We moved quickly back into the corridor, stood for a moment in a comforting knot even as every instinct within me was waving it's red flags for all it was worth. Poised to move, I gave everyone the tiniest bit of time in which to simply let our rising courage become further bolstered by each other's presence. Then letting the vibroblade slide back into it's hiding place I whispered three words as softly as I could:

"Control Room? Kyan?"

[ 03-05-2019 10:56 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Galen ]

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

In fact, I had been dreaming, locked in a pain-induced nightmare from which I didn't think anything would bring me back to awareness, let alone lucidity. However, let it be said that drama as a rule never helped anyone other than to provide sheer entertainment; in my case my my very own wandering and miserable thoughts were truncated by the sudden opening of my cell door.

Framed in which was a... Mandalorian?

Holding... Link?!

I shot upright upon the sorry excuse of a bunk this little cell held, blinking my eyes and letting my jaw literally drop. I didn't have much time to process much else, however, as with one hand raised to place a finger against the mask the other launched Link directly toward me. Instinct made short shrift of pain; my arms shot out of their own accord to catch the flying body, and to hold her tightly against my own bruised and battered one.

"Link..." I murmured quietly, then raised a look toward our mysterious benefactor. That one, however, wasn't waiting around for the next transport's arrival; it whirled and on sandcat feet disappeared into the corridor beyond.

I looked down at Link, my own eyes now wide with shock and wonder and full of questions. But then I put all that aside, and gave her the strongest hug I could manage without putting much in the way of actual pressure upon her. I saw her one armed condition; anger began bubbling beneath the surface now, but something told me to squelch it.

Later. There will be time later. But now, an angry mind is a clouded mind. Or something like that, according to the Jedi...

For now, I simply let that anger channel sudden resolve... and bolster rising hope.

"C'mon, kid," I whispered as I rose to my feet and tiptoed out into the hall. There I simply stood, quietly holding my new adopted daughter, and watching as the mysterious figure released Captain Danner from his prison. To my consternation, rather than move away to seek the final member of our party, both figures came up to where I stood.

The Mandalorian whispered, "Control Room? Kyan?" and fell silent.

I looked to Link, then to Terrin, and then to the figure, raising a brow of my own now which carried upon it a million queries of my own, but remained silent and just nodded, indicating that whatever move was next in order...

I was game.

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

Slapped together plans were not Link’s forte, because of her species that eliminated her from most in person jobs available to those in her field. Also that forced her into the much higher end of the spectrum to secure work as a slicer so while Terrin might know more about the layout, hyperdrive specifications, armament, engine output when it came to the SSD. Link would have wagered a pretty credit that she knew more about the minute details of Imperial Security Systems and the electronic components associated with. So even without the tools of her trade Link knew what she needed to ply her art.

A means of interface: be it a datapad or security console.
Access credentials: an appropriate rank cylinder carried by an officer or under the correct circumstances an engineer.
An access point: once again a security console or data port.

Link knew most of these things where likely in the detention blocks control room, so when she and Yaoksi met up with Galen and Terrin Link nodded at Galens query. She did notice the hesitation both Yaoksi and Terrin displayed toward Galen, one that she surmised was surrounding the Mandalorian armor and their not connecting the dots. Granted Link actually saw Galen remove her helmet, so Link quickly gestured to Galen using her tail as a means of pointing.

“Galen,” Link mouthed at the pair.

This drew more confused looks both at Galen and Link.

Didn’t I already explain it was magic… wait neither one knows what happened earlier with the stun batons.

She gestured to her own bandaged throat using her tail, then gritted her teeth in bracing herself for the pain that would follow.

“Can’t speak,” Link said in her strained raspy voice.

This drew more pained and curious looks, ones with questions behind them. When she had the chance Link would tell them, or probably write out for them what had happened.

“Later,” Link mouthed at them. She pointed down deeper into the detention block. “There was a shield that prevented me from checking in that direction. I’d wager the Jedi is there.”

Pointing in the other direction Link continued.

“The control room for the block is that way. Get me inside and I can do real damage to the Empire’s systems from there.”

[ 03-05-2019 01:24 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Cel ]

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Force Cage, ey? Nasty things; well I recalled the time when Sorben and I were trapped inside one ourselves, courtesy of nasty canasta Darth Wicked...

I didn't want to mess with one again. Besides, there really wasn't anything I could do. Force Cages were energy not relying on the conductivity of material to work; well, they did run through the molecules of the atmosphere, but I didn't think my vibroblade trick would work against it as easily as it did the solid state components which operated the cell doors.

I nodded, and turned to face the opposite direction. Smiling behind my mask to see the confusion still planted on Terrin's and Yaoksi's faces, I simply nodded.

"That way? Let's do it before anyone comes along to rain on our parade. You know what they always say:

"In for a credit..."

With that I simply started moving in the direction Link's tail had pointed toward, hoping the Control Room wasn't all that far from where we were. I figured once there certain distractions could be implemented, and we could find a way to neutralize that infernal Force Cage, rescue Master Kyan, and get the hell out of Naboo.

Figuratively speaking, of course.

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

Terrin arched an eyebrow, leaving his cell, shaking his head a bit to clear the fog. As best as he could, at least. He idly wondered when anyone would notice he was no longer in his cell...

...and wondered even further why no one had seemed to notice when he and the Mandalorian benefactor joined up with. Cel and Yaoksi. Terrin initially was relieved to see both of them. But then he took notice of how Yaoksi was standing just so, and how Link was now missing her prosthetic arm. His blue eyes darkened a shade.

Dammit...

His head continued to throb as he listened to the short bursts of words going back and forth between Link and the other regarding Kyan and the control room. He nodded in agreement of the beginnings of a plan that they were making....

...anger rising even further when he realized that Cel was even more injured than he had originally realized. Let alone what kind of injuries Yaoksi was hiding from them all, for if his head felt anything like Terrin’s did....

....but Link....

Bloody Hell. She’s just a kid. This was so, so very wrong. And why hadn’t he been injured just as badly, headache be damned? It was almost as if....

The only thing that drew Terrin away from his darkening thoughts was the indication that they were about to get on the move...

...and the last four words that came out of the Mandalorian armored individual.

In for a credit...

Realitzation slammed into Terrin with the force of a tsunami. For knowing that she’d been using a Mandalorian suit to keep herself alive in the damaged ship and actually seeing her in one were two different things entirely, especially when one’s head wasn’t quite as clear as usual. But there was only one person he knew of that said that...

Galen....

Terrin shook his head again, trying to put things into focus. He spared ever the briefest moment, even as they got on the move, to let his blue eyes lock onto the T-visor of the Mandalorian helmet, seeking to connect with the big baby browns hidden within.

Terrin wondered once more why no one seemed to be noticing what was happening, every nerve cell within screaming that he needed to protect everyone, angry once more for what they had suffered, and not wanting a hand to be laid on Galen....

....and likewise still certain that something just wasn’t quite right about all of this. He kept his eyes peeled as they moved, expecting for something to happen at any moment. Getting into that control room without gaining attention, without certain precautions, was going to be a problem. Those guys, after all, weren’t going to evacuate post for anything short of fire or flood....

An idea was beginning to worm its way into Terrin’s head at that (or maybe it was just the drill still boring its infernal hole...). He kept his feet moving, but shot a look into Cel’s eyes. Terrin knew with her technological knowledge she could do what he was thinking...

...and if she couldn’t do it, something on Galen’s armor could certainly help. And it might just be enough to get the control room clear. He hoped the few words he was about to say, along with pantomime, would be enough for her to get his drift.

First he pointed in the direction of the control room. Then he said a single word. ”Wires.”\\ Next he placed his two pointer fingers together, crossing them, then moving one away to point towards a nearby control panel. Terrin knew if they crossed the right set of wires, they could do a multitude of things that might prompt an evacuation and give them some time, including but not limited to fire, light failure, potential alarms set for various ship emergencies, and so forth.

”Evacuation...” he added, falling silent then and arching an eyebrow.

For the fewer Impys they had to cross paths with while trying to get the Hell of this ship....

...the better.

[ 03-05-2019 06:02 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Terrin Danner ]

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This is a star ship, not a planetary base.

That key difference influenced the construction of… well everything. In the event the hard line to the computers central core was severed there would need to be a secondary system to ensure things like power, light, communication, and life support could continue. And because of the need to minimize battle damage breaking two systems simultaneously they took different paths. This is where the average slicer failed again, for they knew as long as the main hard line to the central core was intact using the secondary emergency systems would trigger all kinds of alarms and be shortly overridden. Link had a means of dealing with that eventuality. She pointed to the panel before mouthing she wanted to be set down so she could work. Looking it over Link then turned to Galen with an out stretched hand.

“Vibroblade,” Link mouthed.

There was a brief moment before a handle was slapped into her hand and Link began the process of prying loose the cover of the control panel. At first Link feared there would be a tangles mess of wires, and to her surprise it was a well labeled tangled mess of wires. Smiling to herself because the engineer who built this scrap heap labeled those wires to prevent an inept engineer at doing what Link now purposefully set out to do.

Okay trip the main breaker to the panel so they can’t see what I’m doing. Will likely notify a maintenance officer, but it could be a faulty panel I mean how could a prisoner escape their cell and gain access, still need to hurry. Next secondary systems overrides… life signs sensors into… fire suppression systems… and now the main power conduit loop back into the central core hard line.

If this had been any other part of the ship Link would not have attempted this plan, by its very nature the detention block proper was isolated from its respective control room when it came to systems such as life support. She hurried as fast as she was able, utilizing only the one hand did slow her down a tad. Once it was all in place she turned to the other, no time for an explanation of what was to happen she could only hope that they would just go with it.

“Stand by,” Link forced herself to say. She wanted their full attention.

Link tripped the first breaker. The panel came back to life no anomalies came to rear their heads. She tripped a second breaker. A cascade of sparks traveled back down to the hard line heading to the central core blowing out any security console in its path… and what Link hoped cascaded across the ship disabling all primary systems controlled by the central core. What Link had done was tie the main power conduit that feed that shield generator that kept Kyan in his cell back into a data hard line, real reason why those wires were labeled was to prevent this. Then Link tripped the third and final breaker of her plan. There was no obvious effect from their vantage point but Link knew that if she wired it correctly, which she was 98% confident she did, in the control room would be utter chaos.

Wire the life signs sensor for the control room to receive a constant signal indicating no life. Then trip the fire warning sensor for the control room, the best way to put out a fire on a ship… why that is to vent the air of course. Which would be prevented if the life signs sensor was working properly. Take that Imperial scum. Now with the rest of the ship likely crippled their maintenance personnel will be scrambling to reroute control to secondary systems, the Empire may train for this and be very good but that will still take time… Time we can use to escape.

Link motioned for Yaoksi to carry her again, if they needed to run then in her condition it would be faster than she could manage on her own. She pointed back down the corridor to the deepest cell, Then mouthed her explaination.

“I used the power from the shield generators protecting that area to fry the hard lines to the central core. It may have killed the shield as well, but the ships primary systems are going into failure manual overrides should allow us to make it back to the challenger in the chaos. Ohh and the guards in the control room are dead, possibly unconscious, but most likely dead.”

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

...and his jaw was probably somewhere on the deck. But not for the reason perhaps that others might have initially believed. And perhaps not for the reason Terrin even initially might have believed himself. Certainly, he’d really only been thinking of triggering one alarm or another to get the detention block control room clear, and not killing anyone....

But then his eyes reminded him of a few things. Cel was missing an arm. Yaoksi was obviously in pain. He didn’t even know what else had been done to them. And here they had complied with every step once they had been tractored onto the ISSD, never arguing, and telling the truth.

So damn them all.

So Terrin’s initial reaction shifted entirely to just what the little slicer extraordinaire had been able to do. His look shifted from one of surprise, to potentially awe, to determination. He let his blue eyes flick from one person to the next, even as Yaoksi picked up Cel. They all gathered back closely to one another, and Terrin gazed down the corridor in the direction already indicated by Cel.

”Let’s go get our Jedi and get the Hell out of here,” he said then, even as they began heading in that direction. After all, time was most definitely of essence...

...and Cel had most certainly given them well more of it than Terrin expected.

[ 03-05-2019 08:35 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Terrin Danner ]

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"Yes?" he said, his entire focus now upon the lieutenant who was currently monitoring incoming transmissions, their Major having gone off duty.

The lieutenant looked at his console again, then turned to his captain. "Sir, incoming transmission coming in from the Star Destroyer, Satyr. It appears one of their probe droids has picked up a signal similar in nature to the one found earlier; coordinates of the droid are-"

He was about to rattle off numbers, these particular ones being of much greater interest to Landarian, when all hell broke loose.

Lighting flipped off... followed by an eerie red glow as emergency lighting flicked into life.

Boards flickered, danced... and went dead.

Officers froze in their seats.

All except for Captain Landarian, who elevated to his feet with a roar.

"What the hell is happening!" The outcry was less of a query to the bridge in general than it was a command that everyone aboardship follow the unspoken command and find factual evidence NOW in order to determine the answer to that command.

He slammed his hand upon communication switches on his chair; nada. No way of contacting departments directly. Very well, there is the old fashioned way.

Knowing fully well that every engineer aboard the great Super Star Destroyer was occupied with digging into possible causal factors for so catastrophic an issue, he realized that his greatest enemy at the moment was simple lack of intership communication. Without communication, information could not flow, problems could not find solution.

And he would be literally left in the dark.

"Send runners to every major department, on every deck!" The words rang out in the eerie silence, echoing from the durasteel walls to ring in his subordinates' ears.

"I want to be kept informed of our status, and I want that information yesterday!"

The final syllable was still ringing in his own ears when two burly officers ran off to the doors which protectively separated the bridge from the rest of the ship. They set to work, rapidly moving beyond mere brute strength to blasters which they used to carve holes into the bulkhead, seeking the wiring controlling those doors so they could get them open and go off to implement Landarian's order.

Behind them, all Landarian could do was sit... stand again, and begin pacing angrily about the bridge. All around him, his officers frantically began pushing buttons or ripping off panels to gain access to wiring, all the while waiting for secondary systems to kick in.

Which was taking its sweet time in doing.

[ 03-06-2019 10:50 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Captain Landarian ]

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And waited a bit longer.

And frowned even more deeply.

"Sir," he interrupted the quiet conversation his captain was in the middle of having with another officer. "Relentless gives no acknowledgement of transmission, let alone a reply.

"Sir."

The captain's head turned to the officer, a responding frown now planted upon his own face. He placed his elbow on the arm of his command chair, rested a loosely fisted hand against his mouth while he assessed this unexpected information. Then his forefinger poked out straight as an arrow in direction.

"Divert a squadron of interceptors to Captain Landarian's last known position," he ordered. "This may not be anything but with all squadrons off-ship hunting for the Mandalorian target, someone unknown might have taken it upon themselves to try something."

In fact, he was certain this was so. Imperial Super Star Destroyers were built to withstand a lot, with secondary systems and tertiary systems all ready and able to leap into operation the moment a primary would fail. A lack of communication altogether boded ill for said ship, indicating there was greater mischief afoot.

He thought about it a bit more, then altered his command a bit.

"Direct the Squad Leader to send out an investigative probe-droid ahead of them, to check things out. I don't want to have them popping out in a potential combat situation.

"Assess and inform. Those are the orders."

He then turned back to the communications officer.

"Open a channel to Imperial HQ on Coruscant," he directed. "Keep it open, and wait for futher instructions."

His forefinger curled loosely back to join the others as he fell into silence, watching as his commands were carried out, his mind already six jumps into just as many potentially possible scenarios in order to act as quickly upon any of them should the need for it rear its head.

One action of course being that he alert HQ as quickly as possible, should visual inspection of Relentless as well as further communication attempts with her prove fruitless.

[ 03-06-2019 11:21 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by The Empire ]

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This blasted thing is giving me a migraine.

With nothing else to do for the moment Kyan waited for the inevitable interrogation that would soon come. He had a fair level of confidence that the Empires efforts could produce results but they would be in for a surprise once they found out most of the information he had was 25 years out of date. His goal then was to provide a distraction for the others to escape. It was then he heard, or did not hear several oddities. The background hum off the Force cage and the static like ultrasonic sound began to cut in and out intermittently.

I’ll take that as my cue.

Kyan approached the door and rested a hand upon it. He could feel a faint clicking vibrating through the door every second or two. Testing an idea he leaned on the door and it moved a fraction of a millimeter before being drawn back into place.

The mechanism that holds the door is failing, but who knows for how long.

Leaning back onto the door, Kyan let the door go through several cycles of moving infinitesimally then slamming shut. Satisfied he had the pattern down he moved to the far end of the room and lined up his approach then began his count.

One… two.. three… four… one… two… THREE

Kyan took off at a full sprint lowering his shoulder at the last possible moment. The door initially held against the impact but then when the power to the lock cycled the force of Kyan’s mass was still acting upon the door and caused it to swing out of the way. He continued to barrel down the corridor, the Ysalamiri’s bubble still extending beyond he cell and as such if there were guards Kyan was still blind to them. About three meters down the hall his vision kicked back in again and he saw a group of three rushing toward him.

One human female, two males… no wait a fourth, female ryn? Ohh Sith spit.

Quickly Kyan kicked off the floor redirecting himself off to the right to avoid bowling over the group. It was not exactly graceful so when it tripped up the aging Jedi he ducked into a roll dissipating much of his momentum before careening into a wall. It was briefly disorientating but he soon found hands helping him to his feet.

“I’m alright,” Kyan quickly offered. “I couldn’t see you until I got clear of that blasted Ysalamiri they kept in my cell.”

Taking a moment to scan his surroundings Kyan saw no sensed the pandemonium of the organized chaos that was thousands of people frantically moving about the Star Destroyer.

I always did hate helmet hair!

Then I nodded toward Link, who had found her way into Captain Joao's arms and was nestled there letting annoyance and relief take turns expressing themselves upon her face. That changed to something close to embarrassed acknowledgement combined with pride at my next words.

"We've got her to thank!" I said, waving a gauntleted hand her way. "I just busted us out of her cell; she's the one who got the major ball rolling."

I paused a moment, giving everyone time to take a breath and assess the situation. In complete synchronization then, that is other than Link, all present turned questioning eyes my way, accompanied by brows lifted in varying degrees. I now raised a hand; there would be a time for explanations later. At least I hoped there would be.

Including the hope that between now and then some kind of factual evidence explaining my sudden appearance would come magically into play. Or into my mind. Whichever came first.

The ghostly rising of sudden trepidation alerted my friends the geese to begin traipsing up and down my back, squawking with every step they took. Frowning to myself I shook them away, and with a facade denoting a much firmer resolve than I was actually feeling decided to simply go with the flow of the moment. We could worry about details later. Waving that raised hand, I addressed the group in general.

"Anyone know how we're going to get off this ship?" I asked of no one in particular. "I mean, does anyone know of our location relative to where they stashed your ship? SSD's are pretty damned big, and they have a helluva lot of detention centers and docking bays. And I'm the only one in anything remotely capable of hiding my identity, although I don't think Mandalorian armor is going to get us very far."

I took a brief moment to give everyone a direct look, ending with Terrin where I just stopped and let myself bask in the dear familiarity of his features.

Later, there will be time for that as well...!

[ 03-06-2019 03:05 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Galen ]

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With effort he jerked himself away from her baby browns and to the question at hand, even as a little shoulder being waved a flag saying, ”Hey, you know the answer to this one!”

“We were tractored into this ISSD, which means the Challenger is in her central hangar bay,” he stated simply.

Then he paused, chewing his lip a bit. While he hadn’t been moved via turbolift, he had been moved from his original detention cell. That meant they were further away from the Challenger than he would have liked.

“As to where we are in relation to that, I was never moved via turbolift, so we should still be on the same deck as that hanger bay. And knowing this type of warship, I can get us there.”

He trailed, pursing his lips, really wishing they did in fact have some other ways of protecting themselves. “I’m sure there’s also an armory nearby, if we really want to get armed. Most Star Destroyers have one near every detetention block, and we should be able to get in while systems are down. Still, these guys are well trained, and they are going to get their systems back up. So whatever we do we need to do it while the scramming is good and they can’t tractor us right back in...”

“....after all, surprise is probably our best weapon right now, and we have it.” Saying nothing further at that, Terrin waited to see if anyone else had anything further to add, ready to move just the same...

...and longing with every cell in his body for the time to simply hold Galen, having found her....

No, not having found her, not exactly. For certainly, she had done that herself...!

...but longing never to lose her again.

[ 03-06-2019 05:54 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Terrin Danner ]

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“I can confirm that neither time I was moved a turbolift was involved,” Kyan agreed. “The closest armory to here also houses my armor and lightsabers, probably other weapons as well that we can use. It appears it is along the path you want to take if I’m getting the feel for the layout correct. Link you can override the security door correct?”

There was the nodding of heads all around and Kyan took the lead heading to the entrance of the detention block. The door leading out to the rest of the ship was still secure but when Link motioned to a nearby panel she worked whatever slicer magic she knew and the door opened with a large mechanical whoosh as it retracted into the ceiling. Not wasting another moment Kyan rushed through the opening taking a left at a junction then partway down a corridor stopped at a security door. He had been keeping tabs on the frantic engineers, none had entered the same hallway as them yet, but with so many it would happen sooner or later. It was just to many people for him to actively keep track of. Inside the armory he could sense the occupants one guard two clerks.

“Three people inside, only one appears to be a stormtrooper,” Kyan relayed. “Link override the door, I’ll go right and neutralize the trooper and subdue the clerk. Gal’ika go left and handle the other clerk, the rest of you wait out here until we let you know its clear. We go when the door opens.”

Kyan stood a short distance from the door, slightly bent forward he focused on his prey. Galen appeared to fall in behind him and adopted her own ready stance. Link opened the control panel and with a little more slicer magic forced the door open. Not waiting for a verbal signal Kyan pounced, he charged in and made a quick pivot to the right. The trooper was good already bringing up his weapon to engage the intruder, but Kyan had decades of experience over the much younger man. Drawing within grapple distance much quicker than the trooper was expecting Kyan grabbed the other mans weapon arm and pulled it to him. At the same time his other arm was already following up with an elbow to the troopers throat. The bone sickening crunch filled the room as the trooper crumpled to the floor wet gurgling sounds emanated from the man as he slowly suffocated. Not wasting a moment Kyan turned to a stunned clerk and with a little more restraint grabbed the mans head slamming it into a nearby bulkhead. The clerk to crumpled to the ground unconscious.

“Clear right,” Kyan called out. He looked back to the left of the armory and saw Galen had neutralized her target. “Clear left, get in her and gear up.”

Kyan whirled and headed off to his preferred equipment, a pair of lightsabers and full set of Mandalorian Armor.

“Hopefully decked out is this those fools won’t have to learn the hard way that there is very little in Galactic Basic that invokes more dread than these three words.”